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The witness aspect of the impeachment trial for President Trump has been the controversy on Capitol Hill this week, especially after Former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s book preview insinuated he may have relevant information. Democrats, who have historically demonized Bolton, immediately pounced and demanded Bolton testify. Most Republicans have united against a hypothetical Bolton testimony, on account of national security, and dragging the taxpayer funded impeachment charade on longer than necessary. As multiple GOP senators pointed out, the timing of the leak of Bolton’s memo to the New York Times is suspicious, at best.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)...

Most Democratic voters say that billionaire politicians are out of touch with the average American, according to the latest Hill-HarrisX poll released on Wednesday. Sixty-nine percent of Democratic voters in the nationwide survey said that billionaires don’t understand the problems facing the majority of Americans. Another 31 percent of Democrats said they thought billionaire candidates are better equipped to focus on the needs facing the majority of voters across the country.

New numbers from China coming in shortly

China claims virus spread is declining

In this essay, I introduce a slew of neologisms—new words—to capture the tone and substance of much discourse, rhetoric, dysfunction, and bias in academia and psychology. It’s partly inspired by an article entitled ‘Lexicon for Gender Bias in Academia and Medicine’ by Drs Choo and May in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), although that one was coming at this from a different perspective. They argued that “mansplaining” was just the “tip of the iceberg” and so coined terms such as “Himpediment,” defined as a “man who stands in the way of progress of women.” Adminomania: A delusion that increased administrative...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7941211/Flight-carrying-240-Americans-evacuated-Wuhan-diverted-military-airbase.html

A consortium of tech companies wants a $350 million refund on H-1B visa application fees—and it’s willing to sue U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in order to get it. USCIS “has unlawfully charged United States companies approximately $350 million dollars in visa fees (likely more) over the past six years,” reads the lawsuit (PDF), filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “Plaintiffs now seek a refund.” (Hat tip to NFAP for posting the link to the court documents.) In addition to the IT Serve Alliance, which claims it has more than 1,250 tech companies as...

It was clear to Senate Republicans on Wednesday after a morning meeting between Senate Majority Leader (R-Ky.) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that the question of having additional witnesses is settled, and the Senate will vote Friday to wrap up the impeachment trial of President Trump.There was no discussion of witnesses at a Senate GOP lunch meeting Wednesday, which was held a couple hours after McConnell and Murkowski met for about 20 to 30 minutes.That was seen as a sign by several senators that Democrats will fail to convince four Republicans to join them in calling for witnesses. Without a...

RUSH: So McConnell “doesn’t have the votes,” eh? He “doesn’t have the votes” to stop any witnesses, “doesn’t have the votes.” That was the big news that broke late yesterday afternoon; everybody ran with it. When what McConnell said was he didn’t have the votes…yet. Of course, Senator McConnell is very sly, very crafty, and I think it’s maybe a bit of misdirection. Time will tell. Of course, there continues to be this mad dash, quasi-panic about whether or not John Bolton should be called to testify. You know, one of the ways of looking at this — and there...

We all get robocalls. Sure, there are apps to download to reduce the number of robocalls, but they do not solve the problem. The best solution is to ignore and do not answer any name or number you do not recognize. You can add them to your blocked calls list, but that is pointless. Because as you probably know, these scammers and spammers hijack telephone numbers to display on your Caller ID. If you're like me; you routinely get calls from your area code and prefix with the last 4 digits being different. I'm not sure why they think this...

Apple today released iOS 13.3.1, iPadOS 13.3.1, and macOS Catalina 10.15.3 Samuel Axon for Ars Technica: Today, Apple released updates for its operating systems for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, Mac, HomePod, and Apple TV devices. iOS 13.3.1 is the most substantial of the updates, but they are all incremental updates that fix bugs or address user complaints or privacy concerns. macOS 10.15.3 The macOS Catalina 10.15.3 update improves the stability, reliability and security of your Mac, and is recommended for all users. This update: Optimizes gamma handling of low gray levels on Pro Display XDR for SDR workflows...

Lev Parnas, the former Rudy Giuliani associate who has been thrust into the center of Congress’s impeachment proceedings, got a ticket to attend the Senate’s trial on Wednesday but won’t be able to attend due to his ankle bracelet, his lawyer said. Joseph Bondy, Parnas’s attorney, said his client had received tickets to attend Wednesday’s proceedings from Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). Schumer’s office confirmed it offered the tickets. “Although we couldn’t arrange to have Lev Parnas watch the trial with us because his GPS ankle monitor is not allowed, Lev will join us in DC tomorrow to show...

Lev Parnas, who has been federally indicted for fraud, is being held up as a legitimate witness this week by Democrats on Capitol Hill desperately trying to impeach President Trump. Why? Because Parnas, who President Trump called a "groupie" and has been accused of buying his way into Trump world as a grifter, has suddenly changed his opinion. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has taken note and invited Parnas to be his guest in the Senate today. Electronics of any kind are banned from the chamber, which has created an issue. Ted Cruz ✔@tedcruz Scenes from the impeachment trial: Schumer...

john Bolton, during a 2005 Senate confirmation process, was accused by a female government contractor of harassing 'her relentlessly,' chasing her around a hotel, criticizing her weight and 'hinting' she was a lesbian. Melody Townsel described his behavior in a 2005 letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he was under consideration for the UN Ambassador position. 'Mr. Bolton proceeded to chase me through the halls of a Russian hotel — throwing things at me, shoving threatening letters under my door and, generally, behaving like a madman,' she wrote. 'John Bolton hounded me in such an appalling way that...

RUSH: Yesterday — toward the end of the day, last night — around 6 p.m., somehow the news leaked that Mitch McConnell said that he does not have the votes, as of now, to prevent witnesses. It was right there on the Drudge Report, and every Drive-By news outlet ran with it. But in truth, nothing had changed. All that the Turtle had said was he didn’t “have the votes yet.” The potential or prospective Jeff Flakes all want to decide at the last minute to garner maximum attention. There’s four of these Republicans, and they know the attention is...

There’s a reason Mitch McConnell has been Senate Majority Leader for the past 13 years: He gets the job done. And the biggest part of that job is keeping the GOP caucus, however necessary. At this point, he appears to have pulled off the feat once again.

While much of the world is focused on the coronavirus outbreak, influenza continues to take its toll in the United States, where an estimated 15 million people have been infected and 8,200 have died from the disease so far this flu season. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said those numbers aren't unusually high, they're far higher than the 4,583 cases of coronavirus and 106 deaths confirmed worldwide as of Tuesday morning. Five people have been stricken with coronavirus in the U.S. and no deaths have been reported. Overall, the World Health Organization estimates that the flu...

Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign has released a plan to combat the spread of infectious diseases in the wake of the recent coronavirus outbreak....

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A closely watched bond market phenomenon has again flashed yellow, but investors are loathe to give it much weight. Yields on the 10-year Treasury note briefly fell below those of the 3-month bill early Tuesday for the first time since October, on concerns over the economic impact of the coronavirus. An inverted yield curve has historically been an indicator of looming recession as it tends to reflect worries over future growth among bond investors. However, worries about the coronavirus have so far done little to shake the upbeat growth views many investors and analysts had going...

I explore Surah 76, and explain how Islamic "paradise" is simply a reflection of Muhammad's own base desires. I also point out how Muhammad repeatedly violated commandments from God.