Communick News

Several Republican senators are complicating a White House plan to leave an enduring imprint on the judiciary long after Donald Trump leaves office by throwing up obstacles for a handful of his judicial nominees in the final weeks of their Senate majority.

In Texas, outgoing Sen. John Cornyn has expressed reservations about a top Justice Department official who has been nominated for a federal judgeship in the Dallas area. The two Arkansas senators, both Republicans, opposed a Trump nominee to a powerful appeals court seat, forcing the White House to withdraw Trump’s pick this week. And in Oklahoma, an appointed GOP senator has thrown up sudden objections to a district court nominee after earlier giving him the green light.

Central to this effort are Cornyn and retiring North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, both of whom serve on the Judiciary Committee and are using their leverage to effectively block nominations on behalf of Republicans who aren’t on the panel. Though it comes after the midterm losses that weakened Trump’s political standing, this under-the-radar judiciary fight is more about Republicans asserting their powers over the administration’s judge selections, which has long been a cherished prerogative for senators, particularly for their home states.

I got me a free coffee from Starbucks and some free breakfast from Waffle House so I got that goin' for me.

But with all the "THANKS YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE" and all the "YOU'RE A CHILD KILLING WAR CRIMINAL WHO FOUGHT FOR OIL COMPANIES" it just is a weird fucking thing.

As most of you might be guessing, I got lied to be a recruiter when I was 17. I was graduating high school, about to turn 18, and had 0 idea what to do. My parents weren't poor, but college without debt was absolutely out of the question for me.

The recruiter sold me on the idea of free college, an easy ass IT job, "Hey kid, most jobs in the military aren't combat! And plus, you can go on missions which are like paid vacations!"

All that jazz, so I signed up with parental approval and by 18, I was off to basic which I cried myself to sleep every night in lol. AIT was chill tho and I got a CCNA and Sec+ cert which I 100% cheated my way through. If you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'.

But even before combat, the work was hardly ever a 'chill IT job'. I often was in the motorpool working on cars, taking DAYS to dispatch a fucking truck, getting snark from the mechanics, and staying way passed 1700. It was a good day and early out if you got out at 1700.

Missions were often worse. If you're IT in the Army? You are first in, last out. If you go on a mission, it is fucking over a month as you gotta set up all the IT shit for the combat boys, ensure it works, and then tear down after they left. So while the infantry guys were on training mission for 2 weeks? I was usually there for 45 days and working daily 12 hour shifts.

I think my favorite story to tell people is this one time we got a new piece of IT equipment to field and test out. We could not get any of these shits working. I soon called up the hub and asked what the fuck and they notified us that they weren't set up to have their satellites communicating with these things. It was an issue on THEIR end.

But our Company First Sergeant, who was a fat as fuck former infantry guy, told us "IN OUR TIME, WE TROUBLESHOT THINGS! KEEP FUCKING TRYING AND STOP WITH YOUR SORRY ASS EXCUSES!" This was a like month and a half time in my life where we would show up to work at 0600 and leave usually around 2100 or 2200. 1SG later came out to let us know it was an issue with the hub and not on us. Thank you first sergeant, very cool.

But then what of combat? I was in Iraq in 2019 around the time COVID was hittin'. We weren't allowed to leave post and working daily 12 hour shifts except for Sunday where you'd get a half day if you were either religious or lucky. We slept in shipping containers with constant AC going because the government, and I think it was the Iraq government and not the US, said it was cheaper.

My job was literally just going into a closet for 12 hours a day and using a shitty ass laptop to oversee the network and make sure things were good so some general could check their email or something. I don't know, I just did as I was told. Sometimes we'd get calls from people about their account or printers or shit.

We were only in Iraq because the locals got really fucking pissed at us and we were worried they'd run us out and take over, so we moved over to Kuwait which was fine. Same shit, mostly but I was moved over to an office instead of a closet but my job was about the same. We weren't shelled that often and it was usually the Embassy that ISIS would attack, but when the holidays rolled around it was every fucking day. I worked night shift, so I'd be asleep during the day and hearing all of it. Earplugs never worked.

I remember coming back and we were told no celebration would be had due to COVID, so we all just got in our cars and drove off. Work was more of the same, but working 12 hours a day, daily for 6 months, evacuating, and then doing it again for another like 3 months? I was worn out.

I was a big fan of Alpharad back in the day, and I heard his song Silver Lining by his band Ace of Hearts and cried. The song is about an abusive relationship and I realized I am in one with the Army.

They ask everything of you, to be better than your absolute best, and if you get hurt or fall apart, you get mocked for it. Asked why YOU let it happen when they grind you into the dust.

And then coming out of it all, again you either get "THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE" or "YOU WAR CRIMINAL" as if all I am is who I was. A desperate 17/18 year old who wanted to afford college.

And yet, I can't really vent. Weirdly, as abusive as the Army is it will give you everything you want. I got IT certs for free, I got a degree for free, I always had a place to sleep, I always had food, I always had a paycheck, and I always had work to do. I made some amazing friends in the Army, one of whom nabbed me a pretty good contractor job.

I still play games with some of my friends I made in the Army, and yet I carry a certain weight with me. I want people to just see me, but "SOLDIER FOR LIFE" and it fucking sucks. I'm not very hooah. I'm progressive and I have a transgender girlfriend. And yet even with that, I think of Barry Winchell. A fellow US Army soldier who in 1999 was murdered because he had a transgender girlfriend too.

And then trying to get a new job, every company says they support their veterans, but I have heard, 3 times now, my IT experience in the Army isn't applicable to what they are looking for. I am far from the only one hearing this. My friend who worked Supply got told by a warehouse his Army experience working in a warehouse didn't translate. Turns out this happens a lot. They say they support you and stab you in the fucking back.

I dunno, man. It is just weird being a veteran. I am happy for as much I feel guilty for. I hate the virtue signaling praise but hate the scorn more of people calling me a war criminal. I am so grateful for the friends I made while in and detest how people who didn't serve can't seem to get it.

I dunno, just talking generally. Anyone else here someone who served? The free waffles and coffee were nice.

In 1958, French paediatrician Marthe Gautier helped produce the laboratory evidence linking Down's syndrome to an extra chromosome at the Armand-Trousseau children's hospital in Paris.

Her contribution became the subject of a long-running dispute after Jérôme Lejeune emerged as the best-known figure associated with the discovery, while a 2014 assessment by France's medical research institute stressed Gautier and department head Raymond Turpin's indispensable roles.

In 1956, researchers established that human cells normally contain 46 chromosomes, prompting Turpin to investigate a chromosomal cause for Down's syndrome.

Gautier had learned cell-culture techniques during a scholarship at Harvard in 1955 and brought that expertise back to Paris.

Gautier developed a method for growing cells from children with the condition, using rooster plasma and her own blood serum.

The preparations made it possible to examine chromosomes, although the laboratory lacked equipment to photograph the smallest structures clearly.

Who first counted 47 chromosomes remains contested. Gautier's 2009 account described her role in preparing and examining the cells, while Lejeune's laboratory notebook, cited by his foundation, records a 47-chromosome observation in a child with Down's syndrome on 22 May 1958. A second entry on 13 June referred to a different condition.

The foundation also points to a letter Turpin sent Lejeune on 27 October 1958, saying Gautier and another researcher, Mrs Massé, were still obtaining counts of 46.

Although the notebook evidence challenges the claim that Gautier alone made the first count, it does not diminish her role in developing the cell-culture method.

Lejeune presented the finding at McGill University in 1958, before the research was published in January 1959, listing him first, Gautier second and Turpin last, with Gautier's surname misspelled as 'Gauthier'; a second communication followed in March.

did it get rebooted or something? what did I miss?

Now they're the perfect length.

Democratic nominee Scott Colom extended his lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi Senate election by more than 4,400.

If Colom is elected, he would be the first Black senator from Mississippi since the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War.

Ethics watchdogs question necessity of the US secretary of state flying between DC and Gainesville so often

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, has emerged as a superfan of the University of Florida’s football team, spending more than $1.2m of taxpayers’ money on frequent personal trips to watch them play, a report published on Wednesday claims.

Ethics watchdogs have questioned the necessity of the country’s top diplomat shuttling so often between Washington DC and Gainesville, where his son Anthony has a walk-on role as a running back for the team known as the Gators.

An investigation by the Washington Post found that Rubio has attended at least 10 games in the last two seasons, including five this fall, and that of 23 total trips made to Gainesville on military aircraft, 15 were “personal” in nature.

This model has been in testing for 3 years and it passed all tests so far.

It already past sevral test and it solves a lot of problems that require dark energy or matter. And problems introduced by the James Webb telescope. It also confirmed cosmic chronometer findings on the expansion history.

It does not disprove models, it just shows that dark matter and energy are not needed and explains why we can't find them.

Things this model would solve

Link to the article.

Another article

University article

Would you sell Dieke your share of the moon?

Hopefully this is easier for phone people to read than my previous strip.

xkcd #3323: Meteor Fear

Title text:

Don't worry--even though small and potentially deadly meteors hit the ground all the time, statistically you're actually much more likely to die from a rare large one that destroys your whole area!

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3323/

explainxkcd for #3323

Please no doomer responses.

I’ve been playing my guitar a fair bit. Relearning the solo dem another brick in the wall pt 2 because I never learned it right whe I was in high school and really wanna get that 5 fret bend down right. Havent learned a solo in a while, pretty easy reintro to solos.

Been getting my old anet 8 3d printer working again for a project for my girlfriend. Pretty fun iterativeprocess.

Also fucking around with retro games on an old pi I had sitting around. Contra hard corps is hella fun.

So what do you like doing? What have you been having fun with? What do you like?

Annual reminder: you may have unclaimed funds that are being held by your state (US) or other government.

There are many reasons you might have unclaimed funds: abandoned accounts, unclaimed deposits or refunds, uncashed checks, misspelled names, estate funds, incorrect addresses, misplaced inheritance and trusts, etc, and your government is required to hold your property until you claim it.

They will not seek you out, and most people are completely unaware they may have lost funds or property being held by the state.

Every state in the US and most governments worldwide have an official website where you can check whether you have unclaimed property and submit a claim. There are typically no fees, and you shouldn’t need an attorney or solicitor to claim them.

Just search ‘[my state] or [my country] unclaimed property’ or ‘biens non réclamés’.

Make sure you’re at the official site for your government and not one of the many scam sites trying to get a cut by doing this for you. The official sites are typically easy and should not require a 3rd party. There should be no extra fees.

If you’re in the US, check every state you’ve lived in. Moving state is one of the major reasons this happens, and your unclaimed funds will not move to a new state with you.

Here’s my previous year’s thread on this, with more discussion. This isn’t sovcit bullshit. It’s real.

Also note that you’re unlikely to find life-changing amounts this way. Most people report a few dollars to a few thousand. Large amounts motivate lawyers to seek you out.

If you find unclaimed funds, I’d love to hear about it!

Inspired by a comment from @Sundray@lemmus.org

A Trump administration proposal aims to tighten income and asset requirements for federal food assistance, potentially causing more than 6 million Americans to lose SNAP benefits and threatening access to free school meals.

The post Trump Administration Moves to Cut Food Stamps for 6.3 Million Americans, Threatening Children’s School Meals appeared first on The Washington Informer.

Pete Hegseth was in a celebratory mood after Republicans successfully blocked his impeachment in the House of Representatives on Tuesday night, gloating with Donald Trump about the failed effort to boot him from the Pentagon. The following day called for a more solemn demeanor, however, as Hegseth and Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to commemorate Veterans Day.

Hegseth’s party didn’t get the memo. On Wednesday afternoon, CNN released footage of an Army sentinel castigating Hegseth and his advisers when they started laughing after taking photos in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, one of the nation’s most sacred war memorials.

“All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times!” the sentinel yelled shortly after laughter emanated from Hegseth’s group, before the group continued up the steps in front of the memorial.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery is a burial site for an American soldier who died during World War I. An Army sentinel from the Third Infantry has guarded the tomb 24 hours a day since 1948, with a guard-changing taking place every half hour.