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"The owners of DC Solar, a Benicia-based company, pleaded guilty today to charges related to a billion dollar Ponzi scheme— the biggest criminal fraud scheme in the history of the Eastern District of California. The government’s investigation has resulted in the largest criminal forfeiture in the history of the District with over $120 million in assets forfeited that will go to victims, and has returned $500 million to the United States Treasury, with more to come, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. Jeff Carpoff, 49, of Martinez, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. His...

By the time the House impeachment managers finally wrapped their opening arguments Friday, it had become painfully clear that their goal in this trial is simply to spend as much national-TV time as they can get denouncing President Trump as a menace to the nation and the world. It’s not about proving their case, or even making a real case for new witnesses and subpoenas; it’s not even about convincing “gettable” Republican senators to vote their way. You can tell by the way the “prosecutors” keep showing their contempt for those Republicans, from Jerry Nadler’s charge the first night that...

Long before Democrats finished making their marathon impeachment case Friday night, momentum had deserted them. The loops of repetition had gone from annoying to unbearable and the wild assertions got even wilder as their talk, talk, talk became a trial of its own. Despite the historic nature of the event, the public voted by staying away. Many gallery seats sat empty, a fact that recalls a gem from the late Yogi Berra that “If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s gonna stop them.” Still, even a fraudulent impeachment is not a laughing matter and until...

Called BAZ1B, it may also help explain why domesticated animals look cuter than their wild kin Domestic animals’ cuteness and humans’ relatively flat faces may be the work of a gene that controls some important developmental cells, a study of lab-grown human cells suggests. Some scientists are touting the finding as the first real genetic evidence for two theories about domestication. One of those ideas is that humans domesticated themselves over many generations, by weeding out hotheads in favor of the friendly and cooperative (SN: 7/6/17). As people supposedly selected among themselves for tameness traits, other genetic changes occurred that...

The “Donald Trump/Mike Pence Prayer Vigil” and “Pray for our American Heroes" Prayer Thread have Combined to Form the AMERICA PRAYER VIGIL Prayer Thread! Join with Fellow FREEPERS to Pray for our PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. 'And this is the Confidence that we have in Him, that, if we Ask Anything According to His Will, He Heareth us.' 1 John 5:14 Religion Forum Threads Labeled [Prayer] are Closed to Debate of Any Kind. Exodus 14:13 Fear not; Stand still (Firm, Confident, Undismayed) And See the Salvation of...

The Catholic faith of Kobe Bryant Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant died Sunday in a helicopter crash in Southern California, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.Bryant, the father of four, was Catholic.In all nine people were killed in the Jan. 26 crash.Bryant, 41, is widely considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He retired in 2016 after a 20 year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, in which the shooting guard won five NBA championships, a league MVP award, two scoring championships, and myriad other distinctions.Beyond basketball, Bryant was a husband and a father who in 2015 credited...

Aviation authorities on Friday said over 600 Chinese tourists who had entered the country on separate flights from the Chinese city of Wuhan must return home as scheduled in their package tours, giving them no time to extend their stay or to visit other parts of the Philippines. The unprecedented move to send home such a large number of tourists as soon as possible was approved by Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade on Thursday as the government tightened measures to isolate the country from the potentially deadly novel coronavirus that health experts said had originated in Wuhan.

January 27 2020 Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Sm 5:1-7, 10 All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said: “Here we are, your bone and your flesh. In days past, when Saul was our king, it was you who led the children of Israel out and brought them back. And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.’” When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron, King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD,...

NBA basketball star Kobe Byrant and eight others dead in a helicopter crash but first..... Security sources in Iraq say five rockets hit in Baghdad's Green Zone Sunday evening with at least one direct hit on the US Embassy. The Embassy's cafeteria was hit in the attack.... Reporting on injuries varies with some saying one was injured and others three injured..... While Israel's major political party leaders (Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud and Benny Gantz of Blue and White) headed to Washington to hear about the "Deal of the Century" peace plan involving Israel and the Palestinians, a prominent Palestinian leader...

A top aide to former national security adviser John Bolton is disputing part of a Sunday report in The New York Times, which claimed Bolton had shared a manuscript of his forthcoming book with "close associates" -- and Bolton's lawyer is saying the National Security Council's review process of pending manuscripts is "corrupted" and apparently prone to leaks. The Times reported that the manuscript included a bombshell claim that Trump explicitly linked a hold on Ukraine aid to an investigation of Joe and Hunter Biden. Trump told Bolton in August, according to a transcript of Bolton's forthcoming book reviewed by...

A source close to the Trump administration informs Breitbart News that Army Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, a senior ethics lawyer for the National Security Council (NSC), is in charge of reviewing all publications by current and former NSC officials. The New York Times reported Sunday evening that Bolton’s draft book manuscript, which had been submitted to the NSC for prepublication review on Dec. 30, alleged that President Trump told Bolton in August 2019 that he wanted to withhold security assistance to Ukraine until it agreed to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, among others. Bolton’s lawyer, Chuck Cooper, issued a...

Michael Caputo had a one hour presentation tonight on OAN devoted to the topic.

Former national security adviser John Bolton's forthcoming memoir is titled "The Room Where It Happened" and is scheduled to be released March 17, according to a posting for the book that went live Sunday night. The new details emerged hours after The New York Times reported a manuscript of the book contained details about an August exchange where President Trump told Bolton he would not lift a freeze on security aid for Ukraine until the country agreed to assist in investigations into his political rivals. The book's release could be affected if the White House attempts to block publication of...

Shannon Airport Shannon, Ireland 1:32 P.M. GMT THE VICE PRESIDENT: Morning, everybody. We’re the Pences. TROOPS: Morning, sir! THE VICE PRESIDENT: Great to see you all. And thank you for your service. This is — now, is this your unit out of Fort Worth and National Guard? Is this where — LIEUTENANT COLONEL KELLEY: Fort Bliss. But it’s a combination. This is mostly the National Guard guys and (inaudible). THE VICE PRESIDENT: Okay, so this is National Guard? LIEUTENANT COLONEL KELLEY: Some of my guys are over there, sir. THE VICE PRESIDENT: Okay, well, Fort Bliss and National Guard. Great....

Containment of nCoV is, and should be, the highest priority in China. This requires gov, health care/PH system & the public to work together to ID those w/ sx, get them tested rapidly, get them isolated (home or hospital), provide good med care while keeping HCWs protected. (2/x)The global community should be doing all it can to be helping China w/ the terrible set of challenges it is facing in its effort to contain nCoV. It is not only the right thing to do for China, but it is critical in trying to help prevent global spread. (3/x)We don’t know...

There is perhaps nothing quite like the struggle of unexplained infertility. It is baffling, it is exhausting, it is all-encompassing, and above all it is so, so hard. It is also confusing. For couples struggling with unexplained infertility, anything and everything can seem like the culprit behind the thwarted desire to have a baby. You wonder, maybe you’re not exercising or sleeping enough—then again, maybe you’re exercising and sleeping too much? Maybe it’s your diet—maybe you’re eating too much of something, or not enough of another? And while you run through the laundry list of possibilities, and long desperately for...

The BBC is being widely mocked online for showing footage of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James while airing a segment about the death of Kobe Bryant. Evening news program “BBC News at Ten” committed the embarrassing gaffe Sunday night — but later apologized and chalked it up to “human error,” according to The Daily Mail. The clip being distributed online begins by showing Bryant and his daughter Gianna — who both died Sunday morning in a California helicopter crash in Calabasas that killed at least nine. The footage then cuts to current Lakers great, Lebron James, high-fiving a fellow...

Mongolia has closed from Monday until Mar. 2 all universities and educational institutes to contain the spread of a deadly coronavirus sweeping China, state media Montsame said, citing a cabinet meeting. It has also closed border crossings for auto vehicles and pedestrian traffic, from Monday, and called for all public gatherings to be cancelled.

2744 cases confirmed, 5794 cases suspected, 80 people died.Video here.

Former national security adviser John Bolton was advised to purge potentially biased holdovers from the Obama administration from the Trump White House, according to a top Republican in Congress. House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes said on Thursday that he warned Bolton, whom Democrats want to testify in the Senate impeachment trial against President Trump, of an anti-Trump spying operation by members of the National Security Council. The California congressman also said he told H.R. McMaster, who preceded Bolton, and Robert O'Brien, the current national security adviser, to take steps to cull what he called a "den of thieves."...