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ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A controversial law allowing superior court clerks to personally pocket money when processing passports could draw new scrutiny in next year’s General Assembly. “Concerned would be a mild word to use,” state Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick (R-Marietta) said.... ....An Atlanta News First Investigation uncovered in 2021 alone, Cobb Superior Court Clerk Connie Taylor raked in more than $220,000, while Fulton Superior Court Clerk Cathelene “Tina” Robinson pocketed more than $360,000 in passport processing fees. Those fees are in addition to their yearly salaries. All of this is completely legal but it comes as a big...

Users around the world struggled to access Twitter on Wednesday—even as an error message urged “don’t fret… Let’s try again. As intermittent outages spread, the hashtag #TwitterDown began to trend globally. “User reports indicate Twitter is having problems since 7:13 pm EST,” according to outage detection site Downdetector, where many of the issues were reported.... ...According to Downdetector, it was desktop users of the platform, rather than those accessing it on mobile, who were most likely to be affected....

Former President Donald Trump is celebrating the "death" of a subpoena from the House January 6 committee, while claiming that the panel investigating the siege on the U.S. Capitol knew he "did nothing wrong."... ...In a tweet, [Trump attorney] Dhillon also framed the withdrawal of the subpoena as a significant "win," claiming that "the committee waved the white flag." Dhillon said that the committee had "wasted millions for a purely political witch-hunt."...

While the incoming House GOP majority will likely eliminate proxy voting, an analysis of all the proxy letters sent to the House Clerk during the 117th Congress reveals that 77% of House GOP members used the practice, with 45 of them having sent more than 20 proxy letters. Furthermore, three of the five most frequent GOP proxy voters initially voted against the proposed rule that allowed for proxy voting to take place in the House. Among the 213 Republican House members in the 117th Congress, 164 of them have submitted at least one proxy letter. In other words, 76.99%, or...

President Biden’s fibs aren’t as bad as those of Rep.-elect George Santos, as far as MSNBC host Chris Hayes is concerned. The left-wing anchor was accused of blatant political bias after he pushed back on the inevitable comparisons being drawn between Mr. Biden and Mr. Santos, the New York Republican who has admitted to lying repeatedly about his biography. “I think there’s a line between ‘normal’ [politician] bs-ing and conman serial lying, and he‘s [Santos] got infractions on either side of that line. I mean it would have been a pretty big deal if it turned out Joe Biden didn’t...

Attorneys for Gabriel Paul Hall claimed that their client had a "no contact" order without consent from legal counsel while "awaiting trial after being indicted on a high-profile capital murder charge," but jail officials allowed Hall to be interviewed by Ross and a production team. Footage from "Jeff Ross Roasts Criminals: Live At Brazos County Jail" was then "introduced against Petitioner at the penalty phase of his trial, and he was sentenced to death," according to the petition. The petition described a "nine-person film crew led by actor and professional insult comic Jeff Ross" being allowed into the high-security area....

Independent voters have lost faith in President Joe Biden to handle the problems facing the United States and would choose former President Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis instead in 2024, according to a new post-election survey of the influential and growing group. In a new Zogby Poll shared with Secrets, just 36.9% of independents approve of Biden, with another 60.7% signaling disapproval, a huge gap for a president considering a reelection bid. Independent voters in the past have generally fallen in between Republicans and Democrats on key issues, though they have been trending in the direction of the...

The U.S. population expanded by 1.2 million people this year, with growth largely driven by international migration, and the nation now has 333.2 million residents, according to estimates the U.S. Census Bureau released Dec. 22. Regionally, the Northeast lost almost 219,000 people in a trend largely driven by domestic residents moving out of New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, as well as deaths outpacing births in Pennsylvania. The Midwest also lost almost 49,000 residents, driven in part by people moving out of Illinois and deaths outpacing births in Ohio. The Wall Street Journal reported that Massachusetts was a “big loser”...

British Prime Minister William Gladstone was born on this date 213 years ago in 1809. He was both a strong opponent of slavery and a statesman who tried to get people to see during the American Civil War that the confederacy’s determination to be independent could not be ignored. At the War's outset, the British politician opposed restoration of The Union by military force from the North. He is famous for saying: "We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of Peace." Iran's Women...

In an effort to preserve the families of those who may perish or be injured in armed conflict, the Russian government is taking steps to supply free access to sperm cryobanks for troops called up to fight in Ukraine. Families called up for military service as part of partial mobilization will receive a free quota for infertility treatment and storage of biomaterial in a cryobank, Igor Trunov, president of the Russian Union of Lawyers public organization, told TASS on Wednesday. "We received a response to my appeal to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation "On the creation...

Perhaps most outrageously, the bakery's industrial safe was taken, despite being screwed to the restaurant's basement floor. Meknassi told CBS Bay Area: 'I don't know what they did to unscrew it from the floor, but yeah. It's not like it's our first rodeo.' Le Marais Bakery was the victim of burglars for the sixth time on December 26 Burglars took iPads, materials from their sales counter and ripped out cables Owner Patrick Ascaso called out the area's liberal politicians after the theft Ascaso said: 'It happens over and over and nothing changes' A bakery in San Francisco has called out...

Type 2 diabetes mellitus can often lead to such as diseases of the heart, and increased risk of death, but preventive measures, such as a healthy diet, can reduce these risks. Now, a study has shown that xanthan gum-based fluid thickener can lower blood glucose levels after eating. Studies have shown that heart diseases and metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes, are associated with blood glucose levels after eating. However, certain foods are reported to help decrease these levels if eaten with a meal. Another food product that produces a similar effect are dietary fibers. These fibers are also...

Former President Donald Trump pledged he will never cut Social Security if elected again to the White House in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News here earlier in December. “We’re not cutting Social Security,” Trump said. “It’s very simple. It’s a simple answer. We’re not cutting Social Security.” *** “We have to protect it. It’s a contract with the people,” Trump said of Social Security. “They go in. They work and they do. They put their blood, sweat, and tears into Social Security and then you have a guy like a Paul Ryan or others that want to destroy it....

Members of the US national guard went door-to-door in some neighborhoods of Buffalo, New York, on Wednesday to check on residents who lost power during a winter storm earlier this week that killed nearly three dozen residents of the region. As the national guard made their way from house to house, members were confronted with the bleak possibility of encountering still more victims in frigid homes and piles of melting snow, according to the Associated Press. “We are fearful that there are individuals who may have perished, living alone, or people who are not doing well,” said Mark Poloncarz, the...

Take a grand tour of the solar system tonight (Dec. 28) as each of the planets in the solar system will be visible at the same time. As 2022 comes to an end, skywatchers can take in the rare sight of all of the planets in our solar system (aside from Earth) together in the sky. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all currently visible simultaneously with the naked eye. The two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, can meanwhile be observed with binoculars or a telescope. To celebrate this excellent skywatching opportunity, the Virtual Telescope Project is hosting a...

--A Brazilian Supreme Court judge on Wednesday issued a four-day ban on carrying firearms in the capital as a precautionary measure ahead of the January 1 inauguration of President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In his ruling that temporarily suspends the licenses of registered gun owners, Judge Alexandre de Moraes wrote that "terrorist groups financed by shameless magnates" have been committing crimes against the rule of law in recent weeks, which is why public safety had to be made secure via a temporary firearms ban. If a registered gun owner is caught in Brasilia with a firearm in those four...

Don’t count on seeing electric garbage trucks plowing snow from city streets any time soon. The city Department of Sanitation's goals to become carbon neutral are clashing with the limits of electric-powered vehicles. The department aims to switch all 6,000 vehicles in its fleet from gas to electric as part of the state’s goal to reduce emissions by 2040. But city officials say they haven’t found electric garbage trucks that are powerful enough to plow snow. The department has ordered seven electric rear loader garbage trucks, custom-made by Mack and costing more than $523,000 each, with delivery slated for the...

The political fiction that humans cause most or all climate change and the claim that the science behind this notion is ‘settled’, has been dealt a savage blow by the publication of a ‘World Climate Declaration (WCD)’ signed by over 1,100 scientists and professionals. There is no climate emergency, say the authors, who are drawn from across the world and led by the Norwegian physics Nobel Prize laureate Professor Ivar Giaever. Climate science is said to have degenerated into a discussion based on beliefs, not on sound self-critical science. The scale of the opposition to modern day ‘settled’ climate science...

“A servant will not be corrected by words: for though he understand he will not answer. Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him” (Proverbs 29:19-20).

Update from Ukraine | 10000 Ruzzian Soldiers are ready to attack | Belarus played the war scenario https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qElmveESM_g Follow on Instagram up to date uploads. https://www.instagram.com/denys_pilot/ SUMMARY Military Maps & Comment here: https://militaryland.net/maps/