>Hoppy?
The beer I'm drinking is so hoppy it tastes like grapefruit rind.
>Hermeus on Thursday announced a contract with the U.S. Air Force and the Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate to develop a hypersonic aircraft for the presidential fleet
is it above sea level?
>https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/aug/8/edward-snowden-nsa-leaker-sanctioned-in-federal-co/
Edward Snowden, NSA leaker, sanctioned in federal court for refusing to cooperate in civil suit
Edward J. Snowden was sanctioned in federal court Friday after a magistrate judge found he acted in bad faith by refusing to produce documents relevant to a civil lawsuit he lost.
Mr. Snowden, a former U.S. government contractor admittedly responsible for leaking classified intelligence to the media, was sued last year after he wrote about it in his memoir.
A federal judge ruled in December against Mr. Snowden in the matter and said the U.S. government is entitled to all proceeds made from book sales and related speaking events.
>https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8606999/Explosion-Sussex-port-sends-black-smoke-cloud-seen-miles-sky.html
'Explosion' at Sussex port sends thick black smoke cloud that can be seen for miles into the sky - as dozens of firefighters battle blaze
Firefighters are tackling a huge blaze tearing through an industrial building in Sussex.
Huge plumes of thick black smoke billowed from the unit in Newhaven and nearby residents are being urged to keep doors and windows closed.
Witnesses have reported a 'big explosion' in the building - which is just yards away from the port.
East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said 12 fire engines were at the scene in Beach Road. There were no reports of injuries.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/national-crime-agency-carries-out-18425303
National Crime Agency carries out operation at Liverpool car dealership
15 JUN 2020
Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) conducted searches during an operation at a Liverpool car dealership today.
Wearing facemasks to protect against coronavirus, the officers could be seen checking the boots of cars on the Wavertree Car Centre showroom car park and appearing to speak to staff.
Witnesses described officers carrying bags of items out of the centre into NCA vehicles.
Alongside officers wearing NCA branded uniforms, a Merseyside Police Matrix van and other officers from the force were visible at the scene.
Merseyside Police confirmed it had assisted with the operation but a spokesman said the activity was led by the NCA.
A member of staff at the car centre, on Wavertree High Street, said he could not comment when asked what was going on by an ECHO reporter.
A National Crime Agency spokesman said: “On 15 June NCA officers arrested a man in his 30s at an address in Wavertree, Liverpool, as part of an ongoing investigation. As enquiries are continuing we are unable to comment further.”
>https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news
https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/three-charged-in-international-drug-investigation-linked-to-encrochat
Three charged in international drug investigation linked to Encrochat
Three men have been charged in the UK and Netherlands following the seizure of over 50 kilos of class A drugs in a joint operation involving the National Crime Agency and Dutch law enforcement.
Flounced drugs 2Mark Youell, 63, Alfred Rumbold, 64, and Brian Wright, 72, were arrested on 29th July as part of an ongoing NCA investigation into a transport firm allegedly involved in drug trafficking.
Wright, from Folkestone in Kent, was detained by Dutch police as he slept in his removals lorry north of Utrecht.
The drugs – 30 kilos of heroin, 20 kilos of cocaine and three kilos of MDMA - were recovered from the rear of the truck. If sold in the UK they would have had a potential street value of £3.2 million.
Shortly afterwards NCA officers moved in to arrest Youell and Rumbold at their homes in Clacton, Essex, and Orpington in Kent.
Officers searching Wright’s home recovered a hand gun, ammunition and £10,000 in cash.
All three men have since been charged on suspicion of importing class A drugs.
The investigation forms part of Operation Venetic, which has seen hundreds of people arrested in the UK following the infiltration of the encrypted communications platform Encrochat.
Youell and Rumbold are due to appear at Medway Magistrates Court tomorrow, Saturday 1st August.
NCA branch commander Peter Stevens said:
“This operation has prevented millions of pounds of dangerous class A drugs from reaching the UK, where they would have been sold on by gangs involved in violence and exploitation.
“It demonstrates the value of international co-operation in combatting organised crime.
“Our investigation into the circumstances surrounding this seizure, and those suspected of being behind it, continues.”
Huge plumes of thick black smoke billowed from the unit and nearby residents are being urged to keep doors and windows closed
https://nypost.com/2020/08/08/nyc-councilman-credits-hydroxychloroquine-for-covid-19-recovery/
NYC Councilman Paul Vallone credits Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 recovery
A Democratic New York City Councilman says hydroxychloroquine saved his life after a near-fatal run-in with COVID-19 in March.
Paul Vallone, who represents northeast Queens, took the drug along with a standard flu Z-pack, and came back from the brink almost immediately.
“I couldn’t breathe, very weak, couldn’t get out of bed. My doctor prescribed it. My pharmacy had it. Took it that day and within two to three days I was able to breathe,” Vallone told The Post. “Within a week I was back on my feet.”
Though Vallone went public with his coronavirus diagnosis in an April 1 Twitter post, saying he was experiencing “mild symptoms,” his actual condition was considerably more severe. Vallone’s initial prognosis was particularly grim, as he also suffers from sarcoidosis, an auto-immune disease that attacks his lungs.
“We were in panic mode when I went down because I didn’t have a lot of immune response,” he said. “I needed something to stay alive.”
Hydroxychloroquine “worked for me.”
Vallone’s brother Peter, a former City Councilman and a current civil court judge in Queens, also became a convert after his brother’s illness.
“I guess all those doctors who are prescribing it are right. This drug is already on the market and the patent is up so it’s cheap. A new drug won’t be. So big money does not want this drug to be used. Always follow the money,” Peter Vallone said in a May 12 Facebook post, sharing a link to an NYU study touting the drug.
“[It] saved my life,” Paul Vallone said in the comments.
Hydroxychloroquine, a Malaria medication which has been on the market since 1955, came back into the spotlight this year as a potential pandemic miracle cure. President Trump has frequently touted the drug and even took it himself for a time to help ward off the virus — and has been criticized for it.
“You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the frontline workers before you catch it. The frontline workers — many, many are taking it,” Trump said in May.
The drug has proven controversial. In June, the Food and Drug Administration declared hydroxychloroquine “unlikely to be effective in treating #COVID19.”
Scientific studies about the drug’s efficacy have been mixed.
Paul Vallone, however, remains grateful for the president’s advocacy.
“At that time, there was only fear and panic, he offered hope in a possible treatment when there was none. With my sarcoidosis and then my COVID symptoms, It basically saved me. For that my family will always be thankful,“ he said.
>Hydroxychloroquine “worked for me.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-emirates-blaze-idUSKCN2512JS
Large fire in closed market in Ajman, UAE, under control
>https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1292153619920359431
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/us/marines-training-accident-recovered.html
Remains of Sailor and 7 Marines Killed in Training Accident Are Recovered
The remains of seven Marines and one sailor killed in a training accident off the coast of Southern California late last month were recovered on Friday in a U.S. Navy underwater salvage operation, according to the authorities.
The servicemen’s remains will be sent to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before being released to their families, the I Marine Expeditionary Force said in a statement. The amphibious assault vehicle they were in was also recovered, and the accident remains under investigation.
Last week, after a 40-hour search, the eight missing servicemen were presumed dead, and the search-and-rescue effort became a recovery operation.
On Sunday, the seven Marines whose remains were found, all riflemen, were identified as Pfc. Bryan J. Baltierra, 18; Lance Cpl. Marco A. Barranco, 21; Pfc. Evan A. Bath, 19; Pfc. Jack-Ryan Ostrovsky, 20; Cpl. Wesley A. Rodd, 22; Lance Cpl. Chase D. Sweetwood, 18; and Cpl. Cesar A. Villanueva, 21.
The sailor whose remains were recovered was identified as Hospitalman Christopher Gnem, 22.
One Marine, Lance Cpl. Guillermo S. Perez, 19, also a rifleman, was pronounced dead shortly after the accident, which left two other Marines injured.
All 16 service members aboard the amphibious assault vehicle were assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Pendleton, in the San Diego area.
“Our hearts and thoughts of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit are with the families of our recovered Marines and sailor,” Col. Christopher Bronzi, the unit’s commanding officer, said in the statement. “We hope the successful recovery of our fallen warriors brings some measure of comfort.”
At the time of the accident, the vehicle was traveling from San Clemente Island back to a ship that was more than 1,000 meters off shore, Gen. David H. Berger, commandant of the Marine Corps, said last week.
Around 5:45 p.m., the personnel onboard reported that the vehicle was taking on water. Two nearby amphibious assault vehicles witnessed it sink and were able to pinpoint its exact location, General Berger said.
Camp Pendleton is the largest Marine base on the West Coast, and Marines often practice beach assaults there using the amphibious troop transport vehicles.
Marines have used the vehicles to move troops from the sea and land since the 1970s. In 2017, 15 Marines were wounded when an amphibious vehicle they were training in caught fire at Camp Pendleton.
tell me about the eskimo nebula
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-drops-insensitive-nicknames-cosmic-objects/
>https://justthenews.com/government/congress/more-two-dozen-senators-call-justice-department-investigate-planned-parenthood
<two letters
https://www.loeffler.senate.gov/loeffler-leads-more-two-dozen-senators-calling-doj-treasury-investigate-planned-parenthood
https://www.loeffler.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/Planned%20Parenthood%20letter%20to%20Treasury.pdf
https://www.loeffler.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/DOJ%20Planned%20Parenthood%20letter.pdf
>https://www.loeffler.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/Planned%20Parenthood%20letter%20to%20Treasury.pdf
>https://www.loeffler.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/DOJ%20Planned%20Parenthood%20letter.pdf
>Meme Warehouse is growing.
nice digits
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/02/video-social-networking-app-musically-agrees-settle-ftc
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/02/video-social-networking-app-musically-agrees-settle-ftc
The operators of the video social networking app Musical.ly, now known as TikTok, have agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company illegally collected personal information from children. This is the largest civil penalty ever obtained by the Commission in a children’s privacy case.
The FTC’s complaint, filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Commission, alleges that Musical.ly violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which requires that websites and online services directed to children obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under the age of 13.
“The operators of Musical.ly—now known as TikTok—knew many children were using the app but they still failed to seek parental consent before collecting names, email addresses, and other personal information from users under the age of 13,” said FTC Chairman Joe Simons. “This record penalty should be a reminder to all online services and websites that target children: We take enforcement of COPPA very seriously, and we will not tolerate companies that flagrantly ignore the law.”
The Musical.ly app allowed users to create short videos lip-syncing to music and share those videos with other users. To register for the app, it required users to provide an email address, phone number, username, first and last name, a short biography, and a profile picture. Since 2014, more than 200 million users have downloaded the Musical.ly app worldwide, while 65 million accounts have been registered in the United States.
In addition to creating and sharing videos, the app allowed users to interact with other users by commenting on their videos and sending direct messages. User accounts were public by default, which meant that a child’s profile bio, username, picture, and videos could be seen by other users. While the site allowed users to change their default setting from public to private so that only approved users could follow them, users’ profile pictures and bios remained public, and users could still send them direct messages, according to the complaint. In fact, as the complaint notes, there have been public reports of adults trying to contact children via the Musical.ly app. In addition, until October 2016, the app included a feature that allowed users to view other users within a 50-mile radius of their location.
The operators of the Musical.ly app were aware that a significant percentage of users were younger than 13 and received thousands of complaints from parents that their children under 13 had created Musical.ly accounts, according to the FTC’s complaint.
The complaint alleges that the operators of the Musical.ly app violated the COPPA Rule by failing to notify parents about the app’s collection and use of personal information from users under 13, obtain parental consent before such collection and use, and delete personal information at the request of parents.
In addition to the monetary payment, the settlement also requires the app’s operators to comply with COPPA going forward and to take offline all videos made by children under the age of 13.
The Commission vote to authorize the staff to refer the complaint to the Department of Justice and to approve the proposed consent decree was 5-0. Commissioner Rohit Chopra and Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter issued a separate statement.
The DOJ filed the complaint and proposed consent decree on behalf of the Commission in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. NOTE: The Commission authorizes the filing of a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. Consent decrees have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.
The FTC would like to thank the Better Business Bureau’s Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) for helping to bring attention to this matter.
The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about consumer topics and file a consumer complaint online or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357). Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, read our blogs, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.