Lurker > WastelandCowboy

....is he just reversing all of Obamas shit out of spite or something? First the shooting hibernating bears bullshit, and now this.

Honestly whats the point?

People stopped buying papers and use Adblock so they spam the people that they can

Renewable energy projects have also been found in violation. In 2013, Duke Energy pleaded guilty to violating the act in connection with the deaths of two golden eagles at its wind projects in Wyoming, in what the Justice Department said was the "first ever criminal enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for unpermitted avian takings at wind projects."

The utility company was sentenced to pay fines, restitution and community service totaling $1 million. It was also placed on probation for five years. It is required to implement an environmental compliance plan aimed at preventing bird deaths at the company's four commercial wind projects in the state.

Collin O'Mara, president of the National Wildlife Federation, told the Post that neither administration had gotten it right: The interpretation was too broad before, and now it is too narrow.

"We're seeing the whipsaw from one extreme to the other," he told the newspaper, saying that in terms of Interior's energy policies, "one year in, there's been no balance. If the choice is between energy and conservation, energy always wins."

The Trump administration says it will no longer criminally prosecute companies that accidentally kill migratory birds. The decision reverses a rule made in the last weeks of the Obama administration.

A legal memo from the Department of the Interior posted Friday declares that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act applies only to purposeful actions that kill migratory birds, and not to energy companies and other businesses that kill birds incidentally.

"Interpreting the MBTA to apply to incidental or accidental actions hangs the sword of Damocles over a host of otherwise lawful and productive actions, threatening up to six months in jail and a $15,000 penalty for each and every bird injured or killed," the memo says.

The memo is written by Daniel Jorjani, Interior's principal deputy solicitor, a longtime adviser to libertarian billionaire Charles Koch.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates more than 30 million birds die each year in collisions with power lines and communications towers, and hundreds of thousands more in oil pits and wind turbines.

In its final weeks, the Obama administration issued a legal opinion stating that the law does include the incidental killing of birds, but in February, the Trump administration suspended that opinion pending review.

The National Audubon Society said the Trump administration's interpretation guts the treaty and runs counter to decades of legal precedent and conservation principles. "The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is one of the most important conservation laws we have," the group says.

The law protects more than 1,000 bird species, according to the society, because it requires industries to take certain steps to protect them, like covering tar pits and marking transmission lines.

"We just don't want to lose any incentive for the industry to come to the table and work through this with us," David O'Neill, the society's chief conservation officer, told The Washington Post. "And the solutions are out there."

At least one industry group praised the administration's decision.

"Over the last few years, the management of 'take' under MBTA has been riddled with flawed decisions that have created massive uncertainty," Tim Charters, senior director of government affairs for the National Ocean Industries Association, told the Post. "This common-sense approach ensures that lawful activities are not held hostage to unnecessary threats of criminalization."

BP pleaded guilty to violating the act with its actions related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. As part of its settlement, the oil company agreed to pay $100 million to the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund, money that was used for wetlands restoration and conservation well beyond the Gulf region where the spill occurred.

Ill bring the guac

I got the lube

I will lurk in the vicinity

I'll bring the feeling of ennui and regret.

Instead of posting near-daily topics about hating Trump, we can just assume you still hate Trump =p Personally, I'm continually amused by the hyperbolic stupidity embodied by the overly dramatic headlines and manufactured controversies. The NYT had an op-ed which succinctly discusses these issues:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/26/opinion/trump-liberals-armageddon.html

The End of Trump and the End of Days

To travel the liberal byways of social media over recent weeks was to learn that Donald Trump was on the precipice of axing Robert Mueller and was likely to use the days just before Christmas, when we were distracted by eggnog and mistletoe, to lower the blade.

Christmas has come. Christmas has gone. Mueller has not.

To listen to Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders, the tax overhaul that Trump just signed into law is no mere plutocratic folly. Its Armageddon (Pelosis actual word). Their opposition is righteous, but how will millions of voters who notice smaller withholdings from their paychecks and more money in their pockets square that seemingly good fortune with such prophecies of doom on a biblical scale?

Some of these Americans may decide that the prophets arent to be trusted and that the president isnt quite the pestilence they make him out to be.

Im not minimizing Trumps capriciousness or cupidity. He could yet fire Mueller, the special counsel. Some conservatives intensifying attacks on the counsel and the F.B.I. are clearly grist for that.

And the tax bill is indeed a messy, fiscally reckless means for Republican lawmakers to please their donors and crow that they are getting big things done.

But the end of the world? Come on. Thats not par-for-the-course hyperbole. Its peculiar-to-Trump hyperventilation, an understandable response to such an indecent president but quite possibly a tactical mistake. It could weaken the odds of hobbling him next fall, in the midterm elections, and of putting him far behind us in November 2020. And thats where I, for one, want him: in the rearview mirror, growing tinier and tinier as we zoom, pedal to the metal, toward a saner, more dignified horizon.

But I worry. When Trumps opponents react to so much of what he says and does with such unfettered outrage, that howl becomes background noise, and its harder to make sure that his unequivocally foul maneuvers stand out from his debatably foolish ones. When we constantly conjure the direst scenarios, we risk looking like ignorable hysterics and bolstering his grandiose claims of martyrdom if events unfold in a less damnable fashion.

Since 2010, Library of Congress has been archiving every single public tweet: Yours, ours, the president's.

But today, the institution announced it will no longer archive every one of our status updates, opinion threads, and "big if true"s. As of Jan. 1, the library will only acquire tweets "on a very selective basis."

The library says it began archiving tweets "for the same reason it collects other materials to acquire and preserve a record of knowledge and creativity for Congress and the American people." The archive stretches back to Twitter's beginning, in 2006.

But as anyone who's been following along can attest, Twitter and the way it's used has changed since then. First and foremost from a collection perspective: the sheer number of tweets.

"The volume of tweets and related transactions has evolved and increased dramatically since the initial agreement was signed," the library explains in a white paper accompanying the accouncement.

The library doesn't say how many tweets has in its collection now, but in 2013, it said it had already amassed 170 billion tweets, at a rate of half a billion tweets a day.

Tweets can now be longer, too: This fall, Twitter rolled out 280-character tweets to most users across the platform.

Another issue: Twitter only gives the library the text of tweets not images, videos, or linked content. "Tweets now are often more visual than textual, limiting the value of text-only collecting," the library says.

The library also has to figure out how to effectively manage deleted tweets, which aren't part of the archive.

The institution says it will continue to preserve its collection of tweets from the platform's first 12 years, but indicates that it has yet to figure out exactly how to make the archive public.

Researchers and archivists were delighted when the archive was first announced.

"This is an entirely new addition to the historical record, the second-by-second history of ordinary people," Fred R. Shapiro, associate librarian and lecturer at the Yale Law School, told The New York Times in 2010.

But from the start, the project struck some of us as a little perplexing: You guys know what Twitter's like, right? You really want ALL the tweets?

With this change, the library is acknowledging that, no, it doesn't want all the tweets.

"Given the unknown direction of social media when the gift was first planned, the Library made an exception for public tweets," it explains in the white paper. "With social media now established, the Library is bringing its collecting practice more in line with its collection policies," which are generally not comprehensive.

So what tweets will be archived going forward? It's a little unclear, but the library says it will collect tweets that are "thematic and event-based, including events such as elections, or themes of ongoing national interest, e.g. public policy." Which sounds more like Twitter's Moments feature.

Going forward, the library says it will focus on preserving the enormous collection of tweets that it has already amassed: a sort of oral history of the social media era.

"The Twitter Archive may prove to be one of this generation's most significant legacies to future generations," the library says. "Future generations will learn much about this rich period in our history, the information flows, and social and political forces that help define the current generation."

-30 today, and thats before wind chill

Fuck this shit

January 2018 Releases
Monday, January 1
Lovesick Season 3 - TV Comedy

Friday, January 5
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Seasons 1-9 - TV Unscripted
THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD - TV Comedy/Drama (U.K.)
DEVILMAN CRYBABY - TV Anime
BEFORE I WAKE - Supernatural Horror Film
ROTTEN - Documentary

Friday, January 12
Disjointed Season 1 Part 2 - TV Comedy
Tom Segura: Disgraceful - Stand-Up Comedy Special
MOB PSYCHO 100 - TV Supernatural Drama (Japan)
THE POLKA KING - Comedy Film
SOMEBODY FEED PHIL - Documentary

Tuesday, January 16
KATT WILLIAMS: GREAT AMERICA - Stand-Up Comedy Special

Thursday, January 18
TROLLS: THE BEAT GOES ON! - TV Animated Kids' Show

Friday, January 19
Grace & Frankie Season 4 - TV Comedy
DRUG LORDS - TV Drama
THE OPEN HOUSE - Thriller Film

Tuesday, January 23
TODD GLASS: ACT HAPPY - Stand-Up Comedy Special

Friday, January 26
One Day at a Time Season 2 - TV Comedy
LLAMA LLAMA - TV Animated Kids' Show
The Adventures of Puss in Boots Season 6 - TV Animated Kids' Show
A FUTILE AND STUPID GESTURE - Comedic Biopic Film
DIRTY MONEY - Documentary

Tuesday, January 30
BABYLON BERLIN Seasons 1-2 - Crime Drama (German)
RETRIBUTION - TV Drama

February 2018 Releases
Friday, February 2
ALTERED CARBON - TV Sci-Fi

Friday, February 9
THE TRADER (SOVDAGARI) - Documentary (Georgia)

March 2018 Releases
Friday, March 2
B: THE BEGINNING - TV Anime

Thursday, March 8
Jessica Jones Season 2 - TV Superhero Drama
LADIES FIRST - Documentary

April 2018 Releases
Friday, April 6
RAM DASS, GOING HOME - Documentary

Friday, April 20
Game Over, Man - Comedy Film

Viktor Vasilievich Nikiforov was a Soviet ice hockey player. He won a gold medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics. He was born in Moscow, Soviet Union.

Born: December 4, 1931

So I'm left wondering as I stare at this "toy" as to what I'm supposed to do with it.

kislev posted...

And calling it Xmas is pointless since the Greek letter X means Chi which is where the word Christ comes from

Because Christmas has fuck all to do with Christianity now. It's pretty much a consumer holiday.

More than 120 people are dead in the southern Philippines after a tropical storm caused massive flash flooding. At least another 160 people are still missing, according to the Associated Press.

Mudslides and landslides resulting from Tropical Storm Tembin's heavy rainfall carried people and houses away.

Officials from the Department of Interior and Local Government told the AP, that the Lanao del Norte and Zamboanga del Norte provinces reported the highest death tolls. Officials in Lanao del Norte reported 64 deaths, while those in Zamboanga del Norte reported 29. The province of Lanao del Sur, where at least 21 deaths were recorded, was also hit hard by the storm.

Tembin, also known as Vinta to the locals, strengthened into a typhoon Saturday night, and sustained maximum winds of 75 mph and gusts of 90 mph.

By Sunday morning, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, announced that the typhoon had "moved outside the Philippine area of responsibility."

The service still warned of heavy rains and potential flooding and landslides for residents in the Palawan province, and cautioned against sea travel.

The Philippine Inquirer reports that at least 57,000 people, who evacuated because of the storm, were still being cared for by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in more than 200 evacuation centers.

On Thursday, at least five people were killed when a ferry sank, after rough seas capsized the ship near the northeastern province of Quezon. Search and rescue operations saved at least 250 others.

More than 30 people were killed earlier in the week when Tropical Storm Kai-Tak hit the central Philippines, according to The New York Times.

The Philippines get hit by approximately 20 typhoons each year, making it one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, according to the AP.

aurora borealis, at this time of year, at this part of the equator, localized in your kitchen.

A tow truck driver from Modesto, Calif., is in custody and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

The FBI says Everitt Jameson, 26, told an undercover agent, who he believed to be with the Islamic State, that he wanted to conduct a violent attack on the popular San Francisco tourist spot Pier 39.

Alex Emslie of member station KQED reports for our Newscast unit:

"According to a special agent's affidavit filed in federal court Friday, Jameson got the FBI's attention by liking and loving pro-ISIS Facebook posts. Undercover agents posing as ISIS operatives contacted him asking him how they could help.

"Jameson allegedly said he'd like to use explosives and assault weapons to attack people near San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, and Christmas was the perfect day.

"On Monday, Jameson appears to have tried to back out, telling an agent that he'd reconsidered. The FBI searched his Modesto home two days later, recovering guns, ammunition and fireworks as well as a will and written statement about the attack."

Jameson, a former Marine, attended basic recruit training in 2009 and earned a sharpshooter rifle qualification. He was discharged for failing to disclose a history of asthma, the affidavit said.

The Associated Press reports Jameson referred to his military service in comments to undercover agents. "I have been trained in combat and things of war," Jameson told one agent.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a statement praising those involved in the investigation:

"Our incredible law enforcement officers have once again helped thwart an alleged plot to kill Americans. I want to thank the FBI agents and federal prosecutors and everyone else who helped make this possible. The threat from radical Islamic terrorism is realand it is seriousbut the American people can be assured that the Department of Justice remains vigilant in protecting our homeland."

The Merced Sun-Star reports that Jameson showed no emotion in court, but appeared to be listening intently to the proceedings.

"Jameson's attorney Eric Kersten, a federal public defender, said after the hearing that his client denied the allegation in a federal complaint accusing him of one count of violating the federal law making it illegal to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He will enter a plea at another court date, he said.

"Magistrate Barbara McAuliffe set a date of Dec. 28 for a detention hearing to discuss the condition of release. She also set a preliminary hearing for Jan. 5, but that's considered a formality because it is expected that an indictment will be issued by then, Kersten said."

If convicted, Jameson faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Steven010702 posted...

Does New Years not count?

Hmm. You're saying it's a season of many holidays?

I suppose...

ReturnOfFa posted...

Delicinq4 posted...

Classic early teenager opinion.

Classic complacent 'thinks-they-know-it-all-through-their-own-narrow-life-experiences' opinion lmao

Just described an early teen's opinion, tbh. And unless you're going into office yourself and Ted Cruz yourself so hard that nobody likes you enough to engage in the kind of horsetrading that goes on in DC, even you'd wind up the same eventually. While term limits could solve issues involving entrenched politicians, I'm not sure that we'd really see much improvement because it takes time for somebody to become effective in the first place.

NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless has died at the age of 80, NASA announced Friday. You may not know his name, but you most likely have seen him in one of the most famous pictures ever taken in space. In 1984, McCandless strapped on a jet-powered backpack and flew away from the shuttle, by himself, untethered, with Earth as a backdrop. It was the first time an astronaut had ever floated freely in space; McCandless had helped develop the technology.

McCandless had been an astronaut for a long time before he first flew in space aboard the shuttle. His was one of the voices that kept the first moon-landing crew in touch with mission control in 1969, telling Neil Armstrong, "There are a lot of us down here that would be willing to come along."

While supporting other missions and waiting his turn, he helped design what became known as the MMU the manned maneuvering unit.

McCandless first went to space in 1984 aboard the shuttle Challenger and took these jet-powered backpacks along. During the mission, McCandless climbed into the 300-pound contraption and slowly eased out of the shuttle's cargo bay. This time, it was mission controllers on the ground saying to him, "You have a lot of envious people watching you. Looks like you're having a lot of fun up there."

Armstrong was on McCandless' mind when he took that first untethered foray into space. More than three decades later, in an NPR interview, he remembered precisely what he said: " 'It may have been one small step for Neil. But it's a heckuva big leap for me.'

"My wife happened to be at mission control at the time and she says the laughter literally brought down the house. Which was sort of what I had intended because I wanted to loosen things up a little," he recalled.

Relative to Earth, he was flying at almost 18,000 miles per hour. But relative to the shuttle, he was moving at a leisurely 1 foot per second. He said he wasn't nervous. He found it effortless.

He had trained for that moment for years, ready for anything the suit's nitrogen propulsion system failing or problems communicating with the shuttle. But what he wasn't prepared for was the temperature in the suit: "I got quite cold. My teeth were chattering. I was shivering," he said.

The suit was designed so astronauts could work strenuously, but for that first six-hour test, he had moved little more than 300 feet away from the shuttle when the famous picture was taken, with Earth and space in the background.

"I had the gold sun visor down. So that in principle, people could imagine themselves inside of there instead of me," he said.

McCandless said he was most proud that, later in life, children came up to him to say they'd seen the picture. He hoped it would inspire the next generation of explorers. "I like to encourage folks to look at that and say, 'Well, I can do better than that.' "

Classic early teenager opinion.

You act like we don't have a chance to replace them every 6 years.

That happened in my current city. All the council members died. And now things are changing. We got a couple restaurants, we're getting some more, fixing up the city, etc.

Edit: Some did retire. And a few were pretty much forced to retire. Super old.

The dinosaurs retire and the lizard people replace them.

If you have to ask, you can't afford it. It's for absolutely loaded people who care about the prestige and perks.

I legit loved that movie. The VHS copy I had as a child was one of my most treasured possessions.

I'm gonna build an Olympic-sized swimming pool and fill it with pina coladas and a college sorority.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer predicted that Republicans will "rue the day" they voted for the tax bill.

That day was delayed because of Senate rules, which prevent the bill from including any measures considered "extraneous" to budget matters. After the House passed what was believed to be the final version of the bill on Tuesday, Democratic senators challenged provisions relating to education and a technical issue over the naming of the bill. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that they did not fit inside the budget rules that the bill is being passed under, which allow it to be approved by a simple 51-vote majority, bypassing any risk of a Democratic filibuster.