from https://www.farandwide.com/s/hilarious-terrible-maps-ed81c3193fbb4d98

https://www.farandwide.com/s/hilarious-terrible-maps-ed81c3193fbb4d98

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/27/hearse-with-body-stolen-los-angeles-chase

It has all the hallmarks of an only-in-Los Angeles crime: a thief stole a hearse – with a body inside - that went on a wild ride, ending with a chase and a crash on a busy freeway.

Authorities say they found the body undisturbed inside a casket Thursday morning and took someone into custody after the crash, which closed the 110 Freeway during the morning commute.

The crime began on Wednesday night, when the thief stole the black Lincoln Navigator from outside St Anthony Greek Orthodox Church in East Pasadena. In a widely shared post online, the Los Angeles sheriff’s department pleaded with the thief on social media to return the body.

“Out of all the bad decisions you have made, at least make one good one & bring back the deceased person & casket inside the Navigator,” the authorities tweeted.

https://twitter.com/LASDHQ/status/1232896629360877568

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200225-sitrep-36-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=2791b4e0_2

Data as reported by 10AM CET 25 February 2020*

HIGHLIGHTS

• Four new Member States (Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, and Oman) reported
cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

• For healthcare workers and public health professionals, WHO has an online
course titled Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) for Novel Coronavirus
(COVID-19). You can access the course through the following link:
https://openwho.org/courses/COVID-19-IPC-EN. This course provides
information on what facilities should be doing to prepare to respond to a case
of an emerging respiratory virus such as the novel coronavirus.

• The WHO-China joint mission concluded on 24 February. The team has made
a range of findings about the transmissibility of the virus, the severity of
disease and the impact of the measures taken. Please see here for more
information regarding the findings of the mission.

• A joint WHO and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
mission arrived in Italy on 24 February to support Italian authorities on the
COVID-19 situation. More information can be found here.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/15/this-is-how-democracy-dies-full-view-public-that-couldnt-care-less/

The French philosopher Montesquieu wrote in 1748: “The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.” We are seeing his warning vindicated. President Trump is increasingly acting as a tyrannical (and erratic) prince. And yet much of the public is so inured to his misconduct that his latest assaults on the rule of law are met with a collective shrug. Public passivity is Trump’s secret weapon as he pursues his authoritarian agenda. “I have the right to do whatever I want,” he says, and the lack of pushback seems to confirm it.

So much bad has happened since Trump was unjustly acquitted by the Senate of two articles of impeachment on Feb. 5 that it’s hard to keep it all straight.

Trump fired Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman for complying with a congressional subpoena and providing truthful testimony about Trump’s attempts to extort Ukraine into aiding him politically. Also ousted was Vindman’s brother, who did not testify. This sends a mob-like message: If you turn stool pigeon, your family gets it, too.

Trump’s ongoing quest for retribution has also claimed Jessie K. Liu, who was abruptly removed as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and replaced by a close aide to Attorney General William P. Barr after prosecuting Trump loyalists, including Michael Flynn and Roger Stone. Now Liu’s nomination to a senior Treasury Department position has been withdrawn. Next on the chopping block may be Elaine McCusker, the Pentagon official who tried to tell the Office of Management and Budget that Trump had no right to withhold aid to Ukraine. The New York Post reported that her nomination to be Pentagon comptroller will be withdrawn. (McCusker denies the report.)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/14/are-they-mean-donald-trump-obsessed-with-badgers-new-book-claims

Of all the topics to occupy the mind of the most powerful person in the United States, one would not expect badgers to make a frequent appearance.

But the rotund, hairy omnivores were apparently an alarmingly regular topic of conversation in the White House during the early months of Donald Trump’s presidency, according to Daily Beast reporters Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng.

The authors detail Trump’s preoccupation in their new book, Sinking in the Swamp: How Trump’s Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington.

Along with detailing “the murky underworld of President Trump’s Washington, dishing the hilarious and frightening dirt on the charlatans, conspiracy theorists, ideologues, and run-of-the-mill con artists who have infected the highest echelons of American political power”, they also discuss Trump’s fascination with badgers.




The President of the US obsessed with freaking BADGERS ? Oy vey. No offense to badgers and University of Wisconsin fans, but our POTUS is a moron (yes we already knew that).

Source: CNN

Emboldened after his impeachment acquittal, President Donald Trump now openly admits to sending his attorney Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine to find damaging information about his political opponents, even though he strongly denied it during the impeachment inquiry.

The reversal came Thursday in a podcast interview Trump did with journalist Geraldo Rivera, who asked, "Was it strange to send Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine, your personal lawyer? Are you sorry you did that?" Trump responded, "No, not at all," and praised Giuliani's role as a "crime fighter."

"Here's my choice: I deal with the Comeys of the world, or I deal with Rudy," Trump said, referring to former FBI Director James Comey. Trump explained that he has "a very bad taste" of the US intelligence community, because of the Russia investigation, so he turned to Giuliani.

"So when you tell me, why did I use Rudy, and one of the things about Rudy, number one, he was the best prosecutor, you know, one of the best prosecutors, and the best mayor," Trump said. "But also, other presidents had them. FDR had a lawyer who was practically, you know, was totally involved with government. Eisenhower had a lawyer. They all had lawyers."

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/13/politics/trump-rudy-giuliani-ukraine-interview/index.html

---

https://www.spreaker.com/user/9809239/roadkill-potus = interview with Geraldo

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/13/uk/big-ben-restoration-wwii-damage-scli-gbr-intl/index.html

London (CNN) Workers have discovered "extensive" World War II bomb damage on the tower that houses London's famous Big Ben clock, which will force the cost of restoring it to rise by £18.6 million ($24.3m).

In a statement, the House of Commons -- which is housed in an adjoining part of the same building -- said remnants from Nazi Germany's bombing campaign in London were discovered along with pollution and asbestos in the Elizabeth Tower -- more commonly known by the name of its iconic clock.

The 19th century Gothic building has been wrapped in scaffolding since 2017, and the cost of restorations will now rise from £61.1m to £79.7m ($79.7m to $104m). Plans are still on track to complete the restoration in 2021, the statement said.

Decay and damage to "hundreds of intricate carvings," an "extensive use" of toxic lead paint and broken glass in the clock dials were also discovered, and the commission managing the project said an additional clock expert was also needed.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/trump-fires-defense-official-refusing-to-break-law-elaine-mccusker.html?utm_source=tw

Two days after Senate Republicans acquitted President Trump on both counts of impeachment, the Trump administration fired a number of national-security officials: European Union ambassador Gordon Sondland and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council staffer, for voluntarily testifying before the House, as well as the latter’s twin brother, Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman, for being related to Alexander. Now, the “Friday Night Massacre” is extending into this week. The New York Post reports that the administration is retaliating against Elaine McCusker, whose nomination for Pentagon comptroller and chief financial officer has been pulled.

What’s especially chilling about this move is the reason for the retaliation. McCusker is losing her job because she attempted to follow the law. There’s no cover story to rationalize it. That is the cover story. “This administration needs people who are committed to implementing the president’s agenda, specifically on foreign policy, and not trying to thwart it,” a White House official tells the paper.

McCusker’s crime is quite literally having attempted to follow the law. Over the summer, the Office of Management and Budget was trying to hold up aid for Ukraine that Congress had passed into law, because it was trying to extort Ukraine to investigate Trump’s rivals. Defense Department officials, who were supposed to allocate the funds, attempted to implement the policy. Just Security obtained the email chain.

The emails show McCusker advising budget officials as to what the law said. She was not acting especially rigid about it. As Just Security’s summary notes, “The emails show officials bending over backwards to make every conceivable accommodation to keep the process moving without actually being able to obligate the funding.” One message shows McCusker writing to another official, “We need to continue to give the WH has [sic] much decision space as possible, but am concerned we have not officially documented the fact that we can not promise full execution at this point.” That is, she was trying to do everything in her power to give White House officials room to set the policy as they saw fit, without violating the law.

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@realDonaldTrump
- we know many of the same people in NY. Behind your back they laugh at you & call you a carnival barking clown. They know you inherited a fortune & squandered it with stupid deals and incompetence.

I have the record & the resources to defeat you. And I will.

https://twitter.com/MikeBloomberg/status/1227951551068721154

ZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!! Ouch, that one had to kick him in the groin! Say what you will about Bloomberg, he knows how to hurt Trump's fragile ego.