Here is a list of News Blogs ordered by Last Viewed, posted by members. A Blog is a journal you may enter about your life, thoughts, interesting experiences, or lessons you've learned. Post an opinion, impart words of wisdom, or talk about something interesting in your day. Update your blog on a regular basis, or just whenever you have something to say. Creating a blog is a good way to share something of yourself with others. Reading blogs is a good way to learn more about others. Click here to post a blog.
House of Representatives approves both articles of impeachment for full house vote
From ABC News;
In response to:
Impeachment vote: House committee approves charges against President Trump
The House Judiciary Committee voted to approve two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump Friday morning.
By LISA MASCARO and MARY CLARE JALONICK
Updated a minute ago
WASHINGTON -- Democrats propelled President Donald Trump's impeachment toward a historic vote by the full U.S. House on Friday, as the Judiciary Committee approved charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. It's the latest major step in the constitutional and political storm that has divided Congress and the nation.
The House is expected to approve the two articles of impeachment next week, before lawmakers depart for the holidays.
Trump is accused, in the first article, of abusing his presidential power by asking Ukraine to investigate his 2020 rival Joe Biden while holding military aid as leverage, and, in the second, of obstructing Congress by blocking the House's efforts to probe his actions.
"Today is a solemn and sad day," Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., told reporters after the session, marking the third time in U.S. history the panel had voted to recommend impeaching a president. He said the full House would act ''expeditiously."'
Voting was swift and solemn, with none of the fiery speeches and weighty nods to history that have defined the previous debating, including 14 hours that stretched nearly to midnight Thursday. Nadler abruptly halted that session so voting could be held in daylight, for all Americans to see.
Nadler, who had said he wanted lawmakers to "search their consciences" before casting their votes, gaveled in the landmark but brief morning session.
Trump is only the fourth U.S. president to face impeachment proceedings and the first to be running for reelection at the same time. The outcome of the eventual House votes pose potentially serious political consequences for both parties ahead of the 2020 elections, with Americans deeply divided over whether the president indeed conducted impeachable acts and if it should be up to Congress, or the voters, to decide whether he should remain in office.
The outcome came quickly after two days of hearings at the Capitol and the rancorous 14-hour session that was shut down when the Democratic majority refused to be forced, after a long and bitter slog through failed Republican amendments aimed at killing the impeachment charges, into midnight voting. Instead, the impeachment charges against Trump were aired in full view.
Impeachment vote: House committee approves charges against President Trump
The House Judiciary Committee voted to approve two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump Friday morning.
By LISA MASCARO and MARY CLARE JALONICK
Updated a minute ago
WASHINGTON -- Democrats propelled President Donald Trump's impeachment toward a historic vote by the full U.S. House on Friday, as the Judiciary Committee approved charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. It's the latest major step in the constitutional and political storm that has divided Congress and the nation.
The House is expected to approve the two articles of impeachment next week, before lawmakers depart for the holidays.
Trump is accused, in the first article, of abusing his presidential power by asking Ukraine to investigate his 2020 rival Joe Biden while holding military aid as leverage, and, in the second, of obstructing Congress by blocking the House's efforts to probe his actions.
"Today is a solemn and sad day," Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., told reporters after the session, marking the third time in U.S. history the panel had voted to recommend impeaching a president. He said the full House would act ''expeditiously."'
Voting was swift and solemn, with none of the fiery speeches and weighty nods to history that have defined the previous debating, including 14 hours that stretched nearly to midnight Thursday. Nadler abruptly halted that session so voting could be held in daylight, for all Americans to see.
Nadler, who had said he wanted lawmakers to "search their consciences" before casting their votes, gaveled in the landmark but brief morning session.
Trump is only the fourth U.S. president to face impeachment proceedings and the first to be running for reelection at the same time. The outcome of the eventual House votes pose potentially serious political consequences for both parties ahead of the 2020 elections, with Americans deeply divided over whether the president indeed conducted impeachable acts and if it should be up to Congress, or the voters, to decide whether he should remain in office.
The outcome came quickly after two days of hearings at the Capitol and the rancorous 14-hour session that was shut down when the Democratic majority refused to be forced, after a long and bitter slog through failed Republican amendments aimed at killing the impeachment charges, into midnight voting. Instead, the impeachment charges against Trump were aired in full view.
online today!
Nocturnal emissions...
I was a preteen when this all started. My family moved to Florida in the 1960's and we stayed in a motel on Miami Beach while my parents shopped for a house. My parents became friends with an older couple from New Jersey who came to Florida only in the winter. They owned a restaurant at the time that was up for sale. When it was sold, they retired and moved to stay in Florida year round. The house they bought was an hour north of Miami and my parents would visit once or twice a month, usually on Sunday afternoon and we would head home after dark.
That's when I first saw it... Grundig. It was a radio. Not just any radio. Grundig was a multi-band short wave radio a monster sized piece of furniture in a honey brown colored wooden case with buttons, dials and a display that would light up to show the tuning frequency.
A quick lesson in radio waves. They usually travel in straight lines. If there are no obstacles, radio waves (like FM radio) can travel hundreds of miles. Often, you can see antennas on the mountain tops that transmit signals over large areas. Depending on the frequency, the lower band signals can travel for thousands of miles.
A unique thing about the earth is there are layers in the atmosphere, curved layers and some are affected by solar radiation. This energy makes the edge of each layer act as a mirror to radio waves. Some waves pass through the layers and some are actually reflected back to earth. Since the layers are curved, it's predictably unpredictable as to where the signals will bounce back to.
In the daytime, there are lots of bouncing signals... literally noise in the lower bands. But at night, noise drops out and only the low bands (called short wave) come through clearly. Radio stations from around the world can be heard!
The FCC allocated different bands, some for business, many for commercial use, lots for amateur operators and they reserved 11 meters for Citizens Band radio. It was only good for mobile radios using 5 watts (legally) that could communicate a few miles. What they didn't count on was sunspots and increased radiation had the same effect as some amateur bands. During the day you could hear other radio operators from a few thousand miles away. Sometimes, the signals were perfectly clear and other times it was garbled.
Talking long-distance became my hobby.
We started out with AM transmissions and later switched to a different type of signal called single-sideband (SSB) that used 25 watts and could filter our much of the noise that affected AM. When conditions were perfect, I could communicate with friends in South America using a high-gain antenna on my car. Lucky for me, I had a job that had me on the road 3-4 hours a day and it was easy finding someone to chat with.
At home, I had some large multi-element antennas and on weekends would stay up in the middle of the night with perfect conditions to communicate with radio operators in Europe! Faint signals, often strong signals open band for a few minutes and sometimes for hours.
Part of the hobby was to exchange the other operators information... typically a post office box so you could send and receive post cards to confirm your long distance communication. I collected hundreds of cards over the years until I dropped out of the hobby.
In preparation for selling my house, I went through boxes in my shed and came across some of my gear... out dated now but it reminded me of those nocturnal emissions!
Thanks for reading my blog!
That's when I first saw it... Grundig. It was a radio. Not just any radio. Grundig was a multi-band short wave radio a monster sized piece of furniture in a honey brown colored wooden case with buttons, dials and a display that would light up to show the tuning frequency.
A quick lesson in radio waves. They usually travel in straight lines. If there are no obstacles, radio waves (like FM radio) can travel hundreds of miles. Often, you can see antennas on the mountain tops that transmit signals over large areas. Depending on the frequency, the lower band signals can travel for thousands of miles.
A unique thing about the earth is there are layers in the atmosphere, curved layers and some are affected by solar radiation. This energy makes the edge of each layer act as a mirror to radio waves. Some waves pass through the layers and some are actually reflected back to earth. Since the layers are curved, it's predictably unpredictable as to where the signals will bounce back to.
In the daytime, there are lots of bouncing signals... literally noise in the lower bands. But at night, noise drops out and only the low bands (called short wave) come through clearly. Radio stations from around the world can be heard!
The FCC allocated different bands, some for business, many for commercial use, lots for amateur operators and they reserved 11 meters for Citizens Band radio. It was only good for mobile radios using 5 watts (legally) that could communicate a few miles. What they didn't count on was sunspots and increased radiation had the same effect as some amateur bands. During the day you could hear other radio operators from a few thousand miles away. Sometimes, the signals were perfectly clear and other times it was garbled.
Talking long-distance became my hobby.
We started out with AM transmissions and later switched to a different type of signal called single-sideband (SSB) that used 25 watts and could filter our much of the noise that affected AM. When conditions were perfect, I could communicate with friends in South America using a high-gain antenna on my car. Lucky for me, I had a job that had me on the road 3-4 hours a day and it was easy finding someone to chat with.
At home, I had some large multi-element antennas and on weekends would stay up in the middle of the night with perfect conditions to communicate with radio operators in Europe! Faint signals, often strong signals open band for a few minutes and sometimes for hours.
Part of the hobby was to exchange the other operators information... typically a post office box so you could send and receive post cards to confirm your long distance communication. I collected hundreds of cards over the years until I dropped out of the hobby.
In preparation for selling my house, I went through boxes in my shed and came across some of my gear... out dated now but it reminded me of those nocturnal emissions!
Thanks for reading my blog!
New Russian mobilization in September?
Rumors are beginning to spread (fueled by some new laws in Russia coupled with some announcements from Moscow) of a new mass mobilization of Russian men to occur in September. The new draft will include men up to age 65 and could possibly impact as many as one million Russian men..
We can view it as proof of Russia's desperation and inability of their army to hold the lines in Ukraine with their present strength. It is not clear how such a sweeping round up of males in Russia will effect production in Russia's factories.
The new changes and announcements indicate that the call up orders may arrive by paper OR by electronic media OR both. Announcements by Moscow indicate that when a name is chosen for activation Border Police will be among the first notified and then other legal agencies involved. When that is done then the notifications will be sent out. I
n short if you are Russian you may already have been secretly drafted, but won't know of it until you show up at a border crossing trying to leave the country, or get pulled over for a traffic stop, or go to a bank to get a loan, etc. At that time you will be told you have been called up and turned over to the military. Or maybe you will be one of the lucky ones who first learns of it by email, which is better than a couple of guys in uniform knocking at your door to give you a piece of paper to read as they drag you away.
It is such fun being Russian these days.
We can view it as proof of Russia's desperation and inability of their army to hold the lines in Ukraine with their present strength. It is not clear how such a sweeping round up of males in Russia will effect production in Russia's factories.
The new changes and announcements indicate that the call up orders may arrive by paper OR by electronic media OR both. Announcements by Moscow indicate that when a name is chosen for activation Border Police will be among the first notified and then other legal agencies involved. When that is done then the notifications will be sent out. I
n short if you are Russian you may already have been secretly drafted, but won't know of it until you show up at a border crossing trying to leave the country, or get pulled over for a traffic stop, or go to a bank to get a loan, etc. At that time you will be told you have been called up and turned over to the military. Or maybe you will be one of the lucky ones who first learns of it by email, which is better than a couple of guys in uniform knocking at your door to give you a piece of paper to read as they drag you away.
It is such fun being Russian these days.
Trump - breaking the law (again) in encouraging others to break the law.
Yesterday from VOX;
In response to:
Trump keeps telling people to vote twice, even though that’s a crime
The president’s baseless campaign against mail-in voting continues.
By Cameron Peters
9/12/2020
President Donald Trump violated Twitter rules once again on Saturday, by encouraging North Carolina voters to commit a felony offense.
In a tweet, the president urged voters in the state, which is expected to feature a number of competitive races in November, to vote twice — once by mail and once in person. Voting twice is illegal in the state of North Carolina, as it is in all states. Twitter quickly hid the tweet for violating site rules about protecting “civic and election integrity,” though it has not been taken down, having been deemed to be of public interest.
Not only is voting twice is a crime in North Carolina, even Trump’s tweet might be a violation of North Carolina election law, which specifies that “to induce another to [commit a fraud to register or vote at more than one precinct or more than one time], in the same primary or election” is unlawful.
Saturday’s tweet is not the first time Trump has made the suggestion that it would be wise to vote twice, which, again, is very much illegal. He also urged voters to vote twice earlier this month at a campaign stop in Wilmington, North Carolina, and he has repeatedly railed against mail-in voting, though there is no evidence that the system is any more vulnerable to fraud than in-person voting (all forms of voter fraud in the US are vanishingly unlikely).
In addition to being illegal, Trump’s advice is also wrong. As North Carolina board of elections director Karen Brinson Bell explained the first time Trump suggested double voting, “absentee ballots that are received on Election Day are not counted until after the election.”
In other words, if a North Carolina voter’s mail-in ballot hasn’t been counted by Election Day, that doesn’t mean anyone is trying to “take your vote away” — their ballot will still be counted as long as it’s postmarked by November 3 and received by November 6. Those who requested a mail-in ballot, but did not use it, are still allowed to vote in person, however.
It’s also not a great idea for voters who have already cast a ballot to be thronging to polling places on Election Day from a logistics perspective. As Bell notes, “it would lead to longer lines and the possibility of spreading Covid-19.”
The president has made it clear that the real motivation for his attacks on mail-in voting is political. In March this year, he told Fox & Friends that he was opposed to Democrats’ efforts to make it easier to vote because “if you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
In other words, his opposition to vote-by-mail — and his advocacy for double voting — are nakedly political gambits, ones made all the more transparent for the fact that he himself voted by mail in the Florida primary recently.
However, Trump could actually be undermining his own chances this November, particularly with respect to his attacks on mail-in voting. According to Politico’s Anita Kumar, some Republican strategists are worried that the president’s fusillade of anti-mail-in voting rhetoric could drive down turnout and cost him the election.
Though an overwhelming majority of all registered voters, and a slimmer majority of Republicans, reported confidence in mail-in voting in a recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted by Ipsos, a far higher proportion of Republicans than Democrats and independents indicate that they are not confident in a mail-in ballot being accurately counted.
Trump keeps telling people to vote twice, even though that’s a crime
The president’s baseless campaign against mail-in voting continues.
By Cameron Peters
9/12/2020
President Donald Trump violated Twitter rules once again on Saturday, by encouraging North Carolina voters to commit a felony offense.
In a tweet, the president urged voters in the state, which is expected to feature a number of competitive races in November, to vote twice — once by mail and once in person. Voting twice is illegal in the state of North Carolina, as it is in all states. Twitter quickly hid the tweet for violating site rules about protecting “civic and election integrity,” though it has not been taken down, having been deemed to be of public interest.
Not only is voting twice is a crime in North Carolina, even Trump’s tweet might be a violation of North Carolina election law, which specifies that “to induce another to [commit a fraud to register or vote at more than one precinct or more than one time], in the same primary or election” is unlawful.
Saturday’s tweet is not the first time Trump has made the suggestion that it would be wise to vote twice, which, again, is very much illegal. He also urged voters to vote twice earlier this month at a campaign stop in Wilmington, North Carolina, and he has repeatedly railed against mail-in voting, though there is no evidence that the system is any more vulnerable to fraud than in-person voting (all forms of voter fraud in the US are vanishingly unlikely).
In addition to being illegal, Trump’s advice is also wrong. As North Carolina board of elections director Karen Brinson Bell explained the first time Trump suggested double voting, “absentee ballots that are received on Election Day are not counted until after the election.”
In other words, if a North Carolina voter’s mail-in ballot hasn’t been counted by Election Day, that doesn’t mean anyone is trying to “take your vote away” — their ballot will still be counted as long as it’s postmarked by November 3 and received by November 6. Those who requested a mail-in ballot, but did not use it, are still allowed to vote in person, however.
It’s also not a great idea for voters who have already cast a ballot to be thronging to polling places on Election Day from a logistics perspective. As Bell notes, “it would lead to longer lines and the possibility of spreading Covid-19.”
The president has made it clear that the real motivation for his attacks on mail-in voting is political. In March this year, he told Fox & Friends that he was opposed to Democrats’ efforts to make it easier to vote because “if you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
In other words, his opposition to vote-by-mail — and his advocacy for double voting — are nakedly political gambits, ones made all the more transparent for the fact that he himself voted by mail in the Florida primary recently.
However, Trump could actually be undermining his own chances this November, particularly with respect to his attacks on mail-in voting. According to Politico’s Anita Kumar, some Republican strategists are worried that the president’s fusillade of anti-mail-in voting rhetoric could drive down turnout and cost him the election.
Though an overwhelming majority of all registered voters, and a slimmer majority of Republicans, reported confidence in mail-in voting in a recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted by Ipsos, a far higher proportion of Republicans than Democrats and independents indicate that they are not confident in a mail-in ballot being accurately counted.
A Blog is a journal you may enter about your life, your thoughts, interesting experiences, or lessons you have learned. It's your own page on Connecting Singles that you can update on a regular basis, or just whenever you have something to say. You can write about an opinion, impart words of wisdom, or talk about something interesting in your day. Creating a blog is a good way to share something of yourself with Connecting Singles members. Reading blogs is a good way to learn more about members you have met here. Please be sure to read the blog rules before posting.
Would YOU like to post a blog on Connecting Singles? Have you written blogs that you'd like to share with other members? Posting your blogs shows your skill and creativity and helps members get to know you better. Your blog will appear on the Connecting Singles Blogs page and also in a link on your profile page. Click here to post a blog »