Creepy...

 

Warped...

A quick turnaround on impeachment articles, an event of historic significance, a vital moment of moral reckoning for the nation, will occur over the sleepy holiday season when Americans’ attention is sparse.

The Senate trial, will  force Senators Booker, Klobuchar, Sanders and Warren to cease campaigning in the crucial month before the Iowa caucuses to return to sit as jurors. Rushing to draft articles also means that crucial information about the Ukraine scandal will not be made public.

More broadly, such a narrow and quick impeachment process risks being not only politically wasteful for the Democrats, but cowardly as well, in the admittedly warped logic of American political messaging.    Just a thought.

Produce...

Just when you thought dairy and raw meat were more likely to get you sick, it turns out that produce may actually be the biggest culprit.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, produce is the culprit for about 50 percent of all foodborne illnesses. However, meat and poultry are only involved in about 22 percent of the cases, in comparison.

Recent research from the FDA has proven the risk unwashed produce can do for your health.

In one experiment, the Food and Drug Administration tested the bacteria existing in avocados and guacamole, later determining that E. coli and Salmonella were present in most of the samples. Furthermore, three out of the four subjects that tested positive for listeria came from domestic suppliers.

Facial...

China put into effect new regulations that require Chinese telecom carriers to scan the faces of users registering new mobile phone services, a move the government says is aimed at cracking down on fraud.  

The rules mean millions more people will come under the purview of facial recognition technology in China.

Supermarkets, subway systems and airports already use facial recognition technology. Alibaba hotel in its headquarters city of Hangzhou where guests can scan their face with their smartphones for advance check-in.

The metro systems of some major Chinese cities will use the technology to "classify passengers" for "different security check measures."

Fast...

 To give guns to criminal organizations was questioned during the operations by a number of people, including ATF field agents and cooperating licensed gun dealers. During Operation Fast and Furious, the largest "gunwalking" probe, the ATF monitored the sale of about 2,000^[1]:203[15] firearms, of which only 710 were recovered as of February 2012. None of the targeted high-level cartel figures had been arrested.^[6]

Guns tracked by the ATF have been found at crime scenes on both sides of the Mexico–United States border, and the scene where United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in December 2010. The      .
"gunwalking" operations became public in the aftermath of Terry's murder.^[2] Dissenting ATF agents came forward to Congress in response.

 According to former Mexican Attorney General related firearms have been found at numerous crime scenes in Mexico where at least 150 Mexican civilians were maimed or killed.^[17] Revelations of "gunwalking" diplomatic relations were damaged.^[2]

Was that a high crimes and misdemeanor?

Crashes...

The number of Americans who died from firearms surpassed those who died in car accidents for the first time in 2017, according to a new far-reaching report on gun violence.

The report, released by the congressional Joint Economic Committee (JEC), found that nearly 40,000 people were killed in the U.S. by a gun, including approximately 2,500 school-age children.

In 2017, 37,133 people died in motor vehicle crashes, according to the Department of Transportation.

Additionally, the report found that race and where you live are key indicators in tracking gun violence and deaths. The report found that rural states have the highest rates of gun violence “measured as a share of their economies.” 

States with the highest rates of gun ownership, including Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, West Virginia and Wyoming have the highest rates of gun suicides. 

Sixty percent of the total number of people who died from firearms died by suicide.

Fizzled...

Sen. Kamala Harris of California dropped out of the Democratic presidential race on Tuesday, ending a once-promisingcampaign that began with an explosion of enthusiasm but fizzled quickly.

Her exit comes just weeks before the deadline to get off the ballot in California, a move that could spare her some embarrassment if she thought she would lose in her home state. 

Then, at the first Democratic debate in June, she drew notice for attacking former Vice President Joe Biden for his stance on busing and school segregation. After that, her polling numbers shot into the double digits, including registering at 13 percent in the national NBC/WSJ poll.

She attacked Biden then that was all.

Deport...

Democratic and Republican lawmakers from New York had lobbied for Malachy McAllister to be allowed to stay in the United States despite a 2017 immigration policy change that raised the legal bar for temporary relief for deportation. He had been due to be deported last week.

McAllister was convicted in Northern Ireland of charges related to serving as a lookout in a 1981 attack on a police officer in Northern Ireland, according to U.S. court documents. He also was convicted of plotting to shoot and kill another officer. He was jailed for seven years but freed on early release in 1985.

A U.S. immigration appeals board ruled in 2003 that McAllister had engaged in terrorist activities and ordered his deportation. 

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision in 2006 - 

Exotic...

I think of this retiring abroad or living abroad thing as such an exotic experience." "But, daily life within these walls isn't much different than it would be if we were still in New York or if we were in Paris."

"Certainly, there are cultural differences."  "But, we go to bed and get up, we take a shower and brush our teeth, we make a list and go to the grocery store, we make meals, we wash dishes, and we wash and dry clothes just like everybody else does. We just do it here."

Carry on...

The first gun rights case before the U.S. Supreme Court in nearly a decade boiled down to a debate over whether there's still a case at all.

The New York City law in question -- which had banned the transportation of licensed, locked and unloaded handguns outside city limits -- was voluntarily rescinded last year and New York state later passed a new law mandating that no such restrictions ever be re-imposed.

The National Rifle Association and other pro-gun organizations, insist the argument is still very much alive. They want court to expand Second Amendment protections to explicitly include transport of lawfully possessed arms to a second home or gun range.

Whatever the decision is, just proceed. There is more to life than just gun and gun rights.