Posts from — October 2017

Whether you celebrate Celtic New Year’s Eve [Samhain], the evening before All Saints Day [Halloween], or the 500^th anniversary of the posting of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 [Reformation Day], have a happy one.

Wikipedia does its normally thorough job of covering all of the bases on the holidays that share October 31^st.

These are my remembrances of a traditional American Halloween.

Locally we are having preemptive lawn drowning to prevent people at the ‘Autumn Festival’ from parking on our grass.

Anyone in the Federal courthouse where the Mueller grand jury is sitting could have told reporters that Mueller had submitted a sealed indictment on Friday. When the special prosecutor and the foreman of his grand jury meet with a Federal judge, it is almost certain that the grand jury has issued a ‘true bill’, indictment. A glance at the docket in the clerk’s office would show the addition of an indictment for arraignment. There would be no indication of any of the details of the indictment, and the arraignment date would be the date information would probably be public. A member of the cleaning staff could have tipped off the press, or a reporter who covers the courthouse.

Popehat [Ken White] who is regularly referenced on Techdirt for his free speech efforts has a couple of explainers for people who are interested: The George Papadopoulos Guilty Plea and The Manafort/Gates Indictment.

Position: 31.0N 75.0W [ 4PM CDT 2100 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [020°] near 46 mph [74 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 70 mph [115 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 230 miles [370 km].
Minimum central pressure: 991 mb ↓.

Currently about 290 miles [ 470 km] South of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

All watches and warnings have been cancelled. This is the final NHC advisory.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 24.8N 82.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [015°] near 24 mph [39 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1003 mb ↑.

Currently about 25 miles [ 40 km] Northwest of Key West, Florida.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Isla de la Juventud, La Habana, Ciudad de la Habana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Villa Clara; Northwestern Bahamas.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Central Bahamas; Florida coast from Craig Key to Golden Beach.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

A grand jury in Washington, DC, has issued a sealed indictment in the Mueller investigation according to a CNN report.

Sources have indicated that the first arrest or arrests could occur as soon as Monday. Anyone who feels guilty should enjoy their last weekend of freedom, lawyer up, and make friends with a bail bonds company.

A lawsuit in Georgia about reports of Russian hacking during the 2016 election just got weird:

Plaintiffs in the case have argued that data from last November’s election and a special June 20th congressional runoff cannot be trusted due to the unresolved flaws in the machines. And while the election server would have gone a long way toward answering that concern, it was wiped clean on July 7 — just four days after the lawsuit was filed. Two backup servers were subsequently wiped clean on August 9, just as the case was moving to federal court.

I’m going to take a wild guess that the data center does not do off site archiving of data.

At some point the FBI took an image of the disk, but had no reason to preserve it if it had served the Bureau’s purpose. Getting access to the image, if it still exists, will require a subpoena.

Position: 18.2N 84.4W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [005°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb ↓.

Currently about 370 miles [ 595 km] South-Southwest of Havana, Cuba.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Isla de la Juventud, La Habana, Ciudad de la Habana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Villa Clara; Northwestern Bahamas.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Central Bahamas.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Look at the video to see a short but great rant. ‘The Guy’s A Bridge Troll!’: CNN Panelist Shreds Trump Over Claim Media Makes Him Look ‘Uncivil’.

At the same event he again claims Mrs. Johnson is wrong about his phone call, and adds that he didn’t approve the Niger mission. Again it was “the generals” who were responsible. He wants all of the credit and will accept none of the blame.

He is traveling to Asia shortly. Has anyone explained that he will be going into the range of North Korea’s existing missiles and really should stop attacking Kim Jong-Un as a matter of personal safety?

Crooks & Liars features a new CNN ad that is simple and effective.

The counter-punching Senators:

To be clear, John McCain doesn’t call Trump a draft-dodger. To paraphrase Francis Urquhart [original BBC House of Cards]: “You might well think that, [but he] couldn’t possibly comment.”

Then there is Sen. Bob Corker: ‘The President has great difficulty with the truth.’

And we finish with ‘I Will Not Be Complicit!’: Sen. Flake Brings Fire To Senate Floor In Retirement Speech.

If they really want to stop Trump, all they need to do is leave the current Republican caucus and shift to the Democrats. There would be a change of leadership and stalemate in Congress. Trump could be taught about separation of powers.

From the BBC – Iditarod race: Dallas Seavey named in doping scandal. The Iditarod Trail Committee is saying that several dogs on Dallas Seavey’s second place team tested positive for the painkiller Tramadol.

What would be the advantage of giving the dogs a pain killer? Tramadol can cause seizures, drowsiness, breathing issues, etc. in people and dogs. Everyone knows that the teams will be tested for drugs after they finish. Why would Dallas do something that would probably make his team slower and be detected?

The ITC didn’t ban him, but Dallas said he wouldn’t be running in next year’s race. He is not a happy musher. His Dad, Mitch, beat him in this year’s race, and the Tramadol might be the reason.

Over at Charlie Pierce’s place Robert Bateman provides background on the attack in Niger. He also reports on the duty specialties on those who were killed: Staff Sergeants Bryan Black [Green Beret & Medic}, Dustin Wright {Green Beret & Engineer], Jeremiah Johnson [Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Specialist], and Sergeant La David Johnson [Light Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic]. That makes it look like a “hearts & minds” mission, not combat.

Lawrence O’Donnell provides some background on John Kelly.

Rachel Maddow reports on the inexplicable Trump travel ban decision that preceded US Niger exposure. Fox & Friends attacks her reporting and Trump repeats the attack on Twitter.

Back to Congresswoman Wilson. She wears the hats in memory of her grandmother. While Trump may find honoring your elders to be “wacky”, but it is a rather mainstream concept in most religious beliefs. She explained her relationship with the area in Africa where the soldiers were killed. She is certainly more familiar with the area than Trump, and possibly Kelly. She has visited as part of her desire to find and release all of the girls kidnapped from school by Boko Haram. She supports our involvement in the area.

On a personal note: General Kelly’s suggested script for the call to Mrs Johnson was the dumbest damn thing I could have imagined. Wives and mothers will accept sympathy, but you don’t try to convince them that it was anything other than a tragedy. That script might be acceptable to two old soldiers, one of whom may regret a child’s decision to follow him into the military, but don’t try to sell that to a civilian. Also, the printing of Sgt. Johnson’s name obviously wasn’t large enough for Trump to read. Just contact the volunteers at Arlington, they know how to do this.

Trump apparently believes that the rest of the world wants his advice. The British government is not amused: Anger over Donald Trump’s UK crime tweet.

The BBC also noted that Obama and Bush decry deep US divisions without naming Trump. The CBC takes it a bit further: ‘The old guard in revolt’: Why ex-presidents are violating code of silence to fight ‘Trumpism’.

While all five of the living former Presidents are at a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, the current holder of the title was playing golf at one of his clubs, as usual.

Actually, no: Video Of Rep. Wilson’s FBI Building Dedication Proves Gen. Kelly Lied.

It’s really simple, Donald Trump politicized his son’s death, and John Kelly attacked a Congresswoman who complained about Trump, lying to do it.

Charlie Pierce notes that General Kelly embraces the dark in his support of Trump’s conduct in the call to Sergeant Johnson’s family. But Jake Tapper realized that the General’s account indicates that Trump said what Congresswoman Wilson reported and Trump lied about it.

Apparently General Kelly is upset that Congresswoman Wilson noticed what Trump said and repeated it. The General seems to think that the family is at fault for not understanding what Trump supposedly meant in his comment to Mrs. Johnson.

The General noted that President Obama didn’t call him after his son’s death, but didn’t mention that his son’s wife would have been the next of kin, not him. I’m sure that that was just an oversight and not an intentional swipe at President Obama.