RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper
Volume XVI, Issue #3,895
Steemit Edition -- Wednesday, January 24th, 2018
Web Edition: http://rationalreview.com
Email Edition: http://eepurl.com/bSo8ST
TODAY'S NEWS
Tillerson takes aim at Russia after alleged gas attack by Syrian regime
Ursula K. LeGuin, 1929-2018
Congressional corruption: Courts reject Brown’s bids to stay out of prison
US regime says Turkish invasion of Syria is disruptive (apparently the US invasion of Syria isn’t?)
Venezuela: Regime says “petro” cryptocurrency pre-sale will be in hard currency
Report: Comey, Sessions were questioned for hours in Russiagate probe
USS Little Rock, Navy’s newest ship, is stuck in ice in Montreal
FL: Voters to decide on ending lifetime ban on voting for felons
Report: WWII soldiers dumped into mass grave after shipwrecks scavenged
New York City: Regime files frivolous lawsuits vs. drug companies over opioid epidemic
HI: Missile alert stand-down delayed by governor’s forgotten log-in
Spacewalking astronauts give new hand to robot arm
1.7-billion-year-old chunk of North America found in Australia
Was Bob Costas dumped by NBC over concussion talk?
NFL rejected a “Please Stand” ad, veterans group says
Tsunami warnings canceled after magnitude-7.9 earthquake off Alaska
CA: Elon Musk’s Boring Company presents LA tunnel plan
FL: Video shows Border Patrol thugs hijacking bus, abducting passenger
Report: Fewer and fewer Americans can bring themselves to pretend that Budweiser is beer
Meteor credited for bright light, noise rattling Michigan
Canada, TPP members agree to revised deal without the US
UK: Regime blocks Fox’s buyout of Sky
South Korea: Regime continues assault on cryptocurrency
MT: Bullock decrees that would-be state contractors must implement corporate welfare for Big Data
Report: FBI director threatened to resign amid Trump, Sessions pressure
Tillerson takes aim at Russia after alleged gas attack by Syrian regime
Source: Reuters
“U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday the Syrian government may still [sic] be using chemical weapons against its own people following a suspected chlorine attack in a rebel enclave, and he said Russia bore ultimate responsibility. … Russia is a close ally of Assad, providing direct military support in Syria against the various rebel groups trying to oust him and also diplomatic cover in the U.N. Security Council. Tillerson was speaking during a meeting hosted by France on an initiative to target those responsible for chemical attacks, largely in Syria, after an international investigation into who is to blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria ended in November after Russian opposition.” (01/23/18)
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Ursula K. LeGuin, 1929-2018
Source: New York Times
“Ursula K. Le Guin, the immensely popular author who brought literary depth and a tough-minded feminist sensibility to science fiction and fantasy with books like ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ and the Earthsea series, died on Monday at her home in Portland, Ore. She was 88. … Much of Ms. Le Guin’s science fiction has a common background: a loosely knit confederation of worlds known as the Ekumen. This was founded by an ancient people who seeded humans on habitable planets throughout the galaxy — including Gethen, Earth and the twin worlds of her most ambitious novel, ‘The Dispossessed,’ subtitled ‘An Ambiguous Utopia’ (1974). As the subtitle implies, ‘The Dispossessed’ contrasts two forms of social organization: a messy but vibrant capitalist society, which oppresses its underclass, and a classless ‘utopia’ (partly based on the ideas of the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin), which turns out to be oppressive in its own conformist way. Ms. Le Guin leaves it up to the reader to find a comfortable balance between the two.” [editor’s note: Libertarian novelist L. Neil Smith says The Probability Broach started as a riff on the “Propertarians” mentioned in The Dispossessed – TLK] (01/23/18)
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Congressional corruption: Courts reject Brown’s bids to stay out of prison
Source: Orlando Sentinel
“Former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown can’t stay free while she appeals felony convictions and she can’t delay reporting to prison, a pair of orders from separate federal courts said Monday. Brown’s motion to stay free was rejected by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta the same day that the judge in Jacksonville who sentenced Brown to five years behind bars turned down a request to delay the start of her sentence by another month. Brown, a Democrat who represented parts of Orlando, remains scheduled to enter prison by noon Jan. 29, the same deadline set for the founder of One Door for Education, a bogus charity Brown was convicted of using to enrich herself. … Brown was convicted in May of 18 felonies, most involving fraud or tax crimes. The bulk of the charges involved misuse of money that Brown, a 12-term congresswoman, helped raise for One Door, which received more than $800,000 over several years but spent little on actual charitable projects.” (01/23/18)
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-corrine-brown-report-to-prison-20180123-story.html
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US regime says Turkish invasion of Syria is disruptive (apparently the US invasion of Syria isn’t?)
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
“Turkey’s air and ground offensive against Kurds in northwestern Syria has distracted from international efforts to finish off the Islamic State group and has disrupted humanitarian relief work, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday. Mattis raised the matter in an exchange with reporters after unrelated meetings in the Indonesia capital with senior government officials. He made clear that while the U.S. sympathizes with Turkey’s concerns about border security, Washington wants the Turks to minimize their military action inside Syria.” (01/23/18)
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Venezuela: Regime says “petro” cryptocurrency pre-sale will be in hard currency
Source: Reuters
“Venezuela’s ‘petro’ cryptocurrency will initially be offered in a pre-sale in hard currency and other cryptocurrencies, the government said on Tuesday, and not initially available in the country’s collapsing bolivar currency. Leftist President Nicolas Maduro is hoping to capitalize on the success of cryptocurrencies by creating one for Venezuela as the bolivar plunges to all-time lows and the country struggles with hyperinflation. In his surprise announcement late last year, he said the petro would be backed by Venezuelan crude reserves, the world’s largest, although the political opposition says this would be illegal. Critics decry the petro as simply a way for the cash-strapped government to issue debt without being constricted by U.S. sanctions. But the U.S. Treasury last week warned that Americans engaging with the petro could still find themselves in violation of those sanctions.” [editor’s note: As much as I dislike the Venezuelan regime, I’m tempted to buy a “petro” just as a flip-off to the US regime – TLK] (01/23/18)
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Report: Comey, Sessions were questioned for hours in Russiagate probe
Source: New York Times
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned for several hours last week as part of the special counsel investigation, and the former F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, was interviewed by the office last year, according to two people briefed on the meeting. The interview with Mr. Sessions marked the first time that investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, are known to have questioned a member of President Trump’s cabinet.” (01/23/18)
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/politics/jeff-sessions-special-counsel-russia.html
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USS Little Rock, Navy’s newest ship, is stuck in ice in Montreal
Source: USA Today
“Christened in the northern Wisconsin town of Marinette and commissioned in snowy Buffalo in December, the USS Little Rock’s bloodlines run more Yankee than Dixie. Which should serve the ship and her crew well while they’re locked in the ice near Montreal. Much like her troubled class of Littoral Combat Ship, the Little Rock remains dead in the water. In the early 2000s, Navy officials had envisioned the LCS program as a revolutionary way to produce ships quickly, less expensively and outfit them with gear that could be swapped out when missions dictated. Dozens of them were expected to patrol the shallow coastlines of some the world’s hot spots, searching for submarines or conducting counter-mine missions. That didn’t happen.” (01/23/18)
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FL: Voters to decide on ending lifetime ban on voting for felons
Source: Raw Story
“Floridians will be asked in November whether to restore voting rights to people convicted of serious crimes who have completed their sentence after campaigners collected enough signatures on Tuesday to get the proposal included on the ballot. Nearly 1.5 million Floridians who have completed their sentences after a felony conviction remain disenfranchised, campaigners for the constitutional amendment say. Almost all states deny incarcerated people the right to vote, but Florida, an often crucial state in presidential elections, is one of only four to not automatically restore the franchise to people after they have completed their sentence.” (01/23/18)
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/floridians-decide-ending-lifetime-ban-voting-felons
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Report: WWII soldiers dumped into mass grave after shipwrecks scavenged
Source: Fox News
“Their metal coffins ripped apart in the ocean, World War II sailors have reportedly found a new home: a shallow mass grave. Months after reporting that metal scavengers had destroyed some 40 British, American, Australian, Dutch, and Japanese warships in the Java Sea, the Guardian now describes what happened to some of the sailors aboard who lost their lives during the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942. According to Indonesian and Dutch media, the bones of hundreds of sailors from British and Dutch warships were dumped in a mass grave near the port of Brondong in East Java. One salvage company employee tells Tirto.id that skulls, jawbones, ribs, hipbones, and feet and hand bones were bagged and buried in a grave only a few feet deep. They included remains of British sailors from the HMS Electra and HMS Encounter, which has prompted the UK’s Ministry of Defense to speak out, reports the International Business Times.” (01/23/18)
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New York City: Regime files frivolous lawsuits vs. drug companies over opioid epidemic
Source: Raw Story
“New York City on Tuesday sued eight companies that make or distribute prescription opioids, blaming them for fuelling a deadly epidemic afflicting the most populous U.S. city. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the lawsuit sought $500 million of damages to help fight the crisis, which kills more people in the city annually than homicides and car accidents combined, including more than 1,100 from opioid-induced overdoses in 2016. ‘Big Pharma helped to fuel this epidemic by deceptively peddling these dangerous drugs and hooking millions of Americans in exchange for profit,’ de Blasio said in a statement. The defendants include manufacturers Allergan Plc , Endo International Plc, Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma LP and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, and distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and McKesson Corp.” (01/23/18)
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/new-york-city-sues-drug-companies-opioid-epidemic
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HI: Missile alert stand-down delayed by governor’s forgotten log-in
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Forgotten Twitter log-in details have been blamed for delaying a public correction to Hawaii’s missile alert earlier this month. Governor David Ige was told two minutes after a text message was issued by the Emergency Management Agency (EMA) that the threat warning was a false alarm. But his office did not share the information via social media until about 17 minutes later. On Monday, Mr Ige acknowledged he had failed to recall his social media ID. ‘I have to confess that I don’t know my Twitter account log-ons and the passwords, so certainly that’s one of the changes that I’ve made,’ he said after his State of the State address, according to local newspaper the Honolulu Star Advertiser. The governor added that he now stored the details on his smartphone to avoid a repeat blunder.” (01/23/18)
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42787419
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Spacewalking astronauts give new hand to robot arm
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
“Spacewalking astronauts gave a hand to the International Space Station’s big robot arm Tuesday. As the federal government geared back up 250 miles below, NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Scott Tingle successfully installed the new mechanical gripper. Because of the lingering effects of the government shutdown, the spacewalk got started in the morning without coverage on NASA TV. An on-air message simply stated: ‘We regret the inconvenience.’ Nearly an hour into the spacewalk, however, NASA TV came alive and began broadcasting the event with typical blow-by-blow commentary.” (01/23/18)
http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Astronauts-go-spacewalking-to-give-new-hand-to-12517522.php
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1.7-billion-year-old chunk of North America found in Australia
Source: USA Today
“Eons ago, the land Down Under wasn’t so far away after all. Rocks recently discovered in Australia bear striking similarities to those found in North America, a study finds. The sandstone sedimentary rocks the scientists uncovered are not ‘native’ to present-day Australia, but instead are common in eastern Canada. The rocks were found in Georgetown, Queensland, Australia, which is some roughly 250 miles west of Cairns in the northeastern part of the continent. Scientists believe that one region of what’s now modern-day Australia was once attached to North America, but broke away 1.7 billion years ago. After drifting around for some 100 million years, the chunk eventually crashed into what’s now Australia, forming the ‘supercontinent’ Nuna. Researchers then determined that when Nuna broke apart an estimated 300 million years afterward, that chunk of land did not drift away. It instead became a new piece of real estate permanently stuck to Australia.” (01/23/18)
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Was Bob Costas dumped by NBC over concussion talk?
Source: Fox News
“Bob Costas had circled Feb. 4 as his NFL broadcasting send-off, revealing last February Super Bowl LII would be the last one he’d host on NBC. On Monday, Costas’ name was nowhere to be found on the network’s press release announcing its on-air and studio teams for the game between the Patriots and Eagles. NBC named Dan Patrick and Liam McHugh hosts of the Super Bowl pregame show, which also will include ‘Football Night in America’ mainstays Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Mike Florio and Chris Simms. The scheduling decision comes as a surprise after Costas, NBC’s prime-time host for every Olympics on the network since 1992, conceded a year ago he was turning Olympics duties over to Mike Tirico but had one more Super Bowl in him before assuming a lesser role with NBC. The 65-year-old has hosted six Super Bowls throughout his career. ‘I’ve been lucky to have such a long and enjoyable run,’ Costas told USA Today at the time. ‘So I just thought, better to leave before they ask me to leave.’ That development was nine months before Costas had some scathing words for the prevalence of head injuries in football during a roundtable discussion in November.” (01/23/18)
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NFL rejected a “Please Stand” ad, veterans group says
Source: Raw Story
“A veterans group is criticizing the National Football League for refusing to allow its advertisement encouraging players and fans to stand during the national anthem to air as part of the Super Bowl broadcast. AMVets National Commander Marion Polk tweeted that the group will ‘not tolerate’ the NFL’s censorship [sic]. The TV ad shows three service members holding an American flag and the hashtag #PleaseStand. ‘@AMVETSHQ will NOT tolerate the @NFL refusing #Veteran right to free speech. We fought for it!’ Polk tweeted on Monday.” [editor’s note: Mr. Polk needs to go read that constitution he swore to defend; “free speech” is something GOVERNMENT is forbidden to abridge, while a private entity supposedly has “freedom of association.” Or is he now claiming “special rights” as a “discriminated class,” so we not only have to run his ads but bake his specialized cakes? – SAT] (01/23/18)
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/nfl-rejected-please-stand-ad-veterans-group-says
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Tsunami warnings canceled after magnitude-7.9 earthquake off Alaska
Source: CNN
“Forecasters canceled tsunami warnings for Alaska and the US and Canadian west coasts Tuesday after an earthquake in the Gulf of Alaska stoked fears of damaging waves. The tsunami alerts were canceled ‘because additional information and analysis have better defined the threat,’ said the National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska. Small tsunami waves of less than 1 foot were reported in Alaska, the center said. The minor tsunami was triggered by a magnitude-7.9 earthquake that struck the Gulf of Alaska shortly after midnight.” (01/23/18)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/23/us/alaska-earthquake/index.html
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CA: Elon Musk’s Boring Company presents LA tunnel plan
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Elon Musk’s Boring Company has presented plans to build a Hyperloop tunnel under Culver City, California. The plans were presented at a council meeting on Monday by Jehn Balajadia, operations co-ordinator of the firm. She said: ‘The purpose of Boring Company is to alleviate soul-destroying traffic and augment public transit.’ Mr Musk, also chief of Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp, didn’t speak at the meeting. A report by the Culver City manager’s office stated: “The Boring Company has proposed a privately funded human transportation tunnel that would run underneath the Westside of Los Angeles.” (01/23/18)
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42788510
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FL: Video shows Border Patrol thugs hijacking bus, abducting passenger
Source: Washington Post
“As a Greyhound bus pulled up to a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., station on Friday afternoon, en route from Orlando to Miami, the driver announced there would be a ‘routine’ security checkpoint. Two uniformed officers boarded the bus and introduced themselves as Border Patrol agents, passengers told the Florida Immigrant Coalition, an advocacy group. … About halfway down the aisle, the officers stopped to question a woman of Caribbean descent: ‘Do you have luggage?’ He pulled a red roller suitcase from the overhead bin. ‘This is yours?’ he asked. Then the two officers escorted the woman off the bus. The woman was later arrested, transported to a Border Patrol station for questioning and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for removal proceedings, the Border Patrol confirmed to the Miami Herald.” (01/23/18)
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Report: Fewer and fewer Americans can bring themselves to pretend that Budweiser is beer
Source: CNN Money
“Budweiser is no longer one of America’s three most popular beers. Before 2001, Budweiser was the top-selling U.S. beer, but it relinquished that crown to Bud Light. Coors Light knocked Budweiser out of the second spot in 2011. Now Miller Lite has taken over third place, relegating Bud to No. 4, according to sales estimates from the trade publication Beer Marketer’s Insights, which has kept track since the mid-1970s. … The rise of craft beers, drinkers’ changing tastes and a booming wine and spirits industry have pressured global brewers like Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), which makes Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, Natural Light and Busch, as well as Coors Light and Miller Lite parent Molson Coors (TAP). Big brewers have suffered ‘injury by a thousand cuts’ as ‘consumers have been bitten by the flavor bug,’ said Duane Stanford, the editor of trade publication Beverage Digest.” [editor’s note: Well, Budweiser has a flavor … Clydesdale urine! – TLK] (01/23/18)
http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/22/news/companies/budweiser/index.html
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Meteor credited for bright light, noise rattling Michigan
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
“Experts say a bright light and what sounded like thunder in the sky above Michigan was a meteor. The American Meteor Society says it received hundreds of reports of a fireball Tuesday night over the state, including many in the Detroit area. Reports also came in from several other states and Ontario, Canada. Some Michigan residents reported their homes shaking. The society says the reports suggest a space rock penetrated deep into the Earth’s atmosphere before it broke apart. The U.S. Geological Service says it registered as a 2.0 magnitude earthquake in Michigan. Bill Cooke with NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office tells The Detroit News it was ‘definitely a meteoroid’ and a rare sight for Michigan. Other states where people reported seeing a fireball included Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri.” (01/23/18)
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Canada, TPP members agree to revised deal without the US
Source: Toronto City News [Canada]
“Canada and the remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreed Tuesday to a revised trade agreement without the United States. The deal, confirmed by Singapore’s government, follows two days of high-level talks in Tokyo between Canada and the 10 other remaining TPP economies. The partners will now work toward signing the agreement by early March, Singapore’s trade and industry ministry said in a statement.” (01/23/18)
http://toronto.citynews.ca/2018/01/23/canada-tpp-deal/
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UK: Regime blocks Fox’s buyout of Sky
Source: CNet News
“A government regulator has set back Fox’s buyout of Sky, saying the deal wouldn’t be in the public interest. The provisional ruling by the Competition and Markets Authority found that Fox taking full control of the UK broadcaster would raise media plurality concerns by giving the Murdoch Family Trust (MFT), ‘too much influence over public opinion and the political agenda’ in the UK. It currently has a 39 percent stake in Sky and was aiming to buy the other 61 percent.” [editor’s note: So, when is the CMA going to break up BBC and sell its parts? Oh, wait, it’s only “private sector” actors who aren’t supposed to influence public opinion – TLK] (01/23/18)
https://www.cnet.com/uk/news/foxs-takeover-of-sky-blocked-by-uk-regulator/
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South Korea: Regime continues assault on cryptocurrency
Source: PYMNTS.com
“South Korean crypto enthusiasts will no longer be able to use anonymous bank accounts for coin trading starting on January 30th. The move was designed by regulators to make bitcoin a less useful tool for money laundering and other financial crimes [sic]. … South Korean regulators and leaders have been casting a more skeptical eye on cyrpto trading in recent weeks — and as of last week, the nation’s top financial cop noted that the government may even consider shutting down local digital exchanges. South Korea’s Presidential office has clarified that an outright ban on trading on the virtual currency exchanges is only one of the steps being considered, and not a measure that has been finalized.” [editor’s note: My guess is that the South Korean regime is doing this by way of serving as a test bed/ laboratory for the US regime’s own crypto suppression plans – TLK] (01/23/18)
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MT: Bullock decrees that would-be state contractors must implement corporate welfare for Big Data
Source: Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
“Most efforts underway to restore so-called net neutrality face big obstacles and would take many months, if not years, to succeed. But in Montana, the governor has used the stroke of a pen to bring the rules to broad parts of his state. Through an executive order, Gov. Steve Bullock declared Monday that any Internet service provider with a state government contract cannot block or charge more for faster delivery of websites, two core aspects of net neutrality, to any customer in the state. Many major landline and mobile broadband providers hold government contracts in the state. The new requirements apply to new and renewed contracts signed after July 1, 2018.” [editor’s note: Hopefully, the next time the state government puts a job of this type for bid, they’ll find that there are no takers – TLK] (01/23/18)
http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2018/jan/23/net-neutrality-decreed-in-montana-20180/
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Report: FBI director threatened to resign amid Trump, Sessions pressure
Source: Axios
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions — at the public urging of President Donald Trump — has been pressuring FBI Director Christopher Wray to fire Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, but Wray threatened to resign if McCabe was removed, according to three sources with direct knowledge.” (01/23/18)
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RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
Editors:
Thomas L. Knapp
Steve Trinward
Editors Emeritus:
Mary Lou Seymour
R. Lee Wrights