Random News not worthy of own thread

[matthewfarmery]

The House select committee will be releasing Trump's tax returns, 6 years worth. Also Trump had maintained he was under Audit from the IRS and he couldn't release his taxes. Well, guess what? he wasn't!!! In fact, he was under audit for one year, but then the IRS didn't bother to do so until the day that the house select committee asked for the records.

In in the coming days, they should be released. But already, from some news channels, Trump didn't pay any taxes, because he never made any money! In fact, there seems to be a few questionable payoffs and red flags.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/jet-costs-s ... -1.1862023

Again, if this was any other person, they wouldn't have got away with half of this crap that Trump is getting away with.

But yeah, I bet Bunker boy is hopping mad and fuming now that his dark secrets will be in the public domain soon. He not going to enjoy this year very much and more bad news will be coming.

[chew-ie]

Yep, the reworking of the Trump-incident is progressing quite nicely. Shame all the helpful idiots who believed / supported him won't get it - that would require something only very few people are capable of: reflection & apologizing [for all the harm done].

[matthewfarmery]

Indeed, this is true, especaiilly the trading card scam which he recently did. Just shows, he is desperate for money. but his gullible supporters still fall over themselves in buying into his BS and money making schemes. Even the FBI is now begging congress to pass a law preventing Trump from doing any more fundraising stuff.

things need to change, maybe now, with his tax returns released, they might. But who knows.

[felter]

Yeah, it is looking like his taxes are problematic for him especially the charitable donations as no one thinks he actually made any but is claiming tax relief against them, we all know he has a tendency to exaggerate numbers in written which could possibly be what he has done with those. Honestly, the guy is his own worse enemy and if anyone is going to get him sent to jail, it will be of his own stupid doing, there is a reason when you google stupid you get a picture of Donald Trump in the suggestions.

It's also the part where he has always stated that he was being audited, and it turns out the IRS were not actually auditing him at all, the thing is while being the president you are supposed to be audited every year, and he wasn't, would be interesting to know if they forgot to audit Pence at the same time, or if it was just Trump that was getting special attention, or should we say the lack of.

[matthewfarmery]

What I can gather with the IRS audit thing with Trump, it was assigned to one agent with the IRS, they looked at the documents and passed it up, due to been too much work. Also, the GOP has been slowly crippling the IRS for years. It does raise some major questions mind. I doubt the GOP will really do anything. But yeah, Trump's tax returns show a very bad picture for Trump, and especaily as he trying to make money from his gullible supporters whenever he can. Once thing for sure, now that his records are going to be public domain, cases against him like the NY AG case that will be coming next year, will be a lot stronger. Just another nail in Trump.org coffin.

Plus I think this will heavily deflate his ego, now that people know the truth. Hiding his tax returns was a shield, so he could always maintain that his businesses were doing great and he is a billionaire. Which isn't true at all. I think this will cripple him even more.

Edit

I think the NY AG has Trump's tax returns already, but anyway, for other cases against him, if any concerning his fiances, having those tax returns will certainly help.

[chew-ie]

Germany keeps on cleaning up: BND employer taken into custody - suspicion is treason / that he spied for Russia.

@source: German state media: https://www.tagesschau.de/eilmeldung/ei ... -6955.html

[mr.WHO]

I guess this was easy to predict, but seem like another YT adpocalypse is coming:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzTObouN9D0

With YT constantly changing ToS and algorythms without telling anything to anyone, it's really toxic environment to be a YT creator.
No wonder 90% of Youtubers I've been watching, dropped or switched to streaming in last few years

[mr.WHO]

Seem like people who get Noble price for Quantum Physics, made another breakthrough, that might allow us to research fragile quantum states without breaking them:
https://www.aalto.fi/en/news/researcher ... ng-at-them

In short - still no chance to FTL/quantum communication, but this will unlock much more research routes within quantum physics.
If now we can observe quantum pair without breaking them, then maybe one day we will be able to interact with them, control their interaction, which could be turn into FTL communication.

[chew-ie]

So they finally "voted" for Kevin McCarthy after repeating the vote 15 times? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... se-speaker

From an outside perspective this is laughable at best - "voting" until getting the "desired" result.

[matthewfarmery]

So they finally "voted" for Kevin McCarthy after repeating the vote 15 times? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... se-speaker

From an outside perspective this is laughable at best - "voting" until getting the "desired" result.

It is laughable to be sure. It also shows how badly crooked some aspects of America's democracy system is, and why it's still under threat. What is more, McCarthy thanked his Mob leader, even though the former president hasn't helped at all.

Much of America's rules need major reform, and with so many cracks showing, it does show them up. And makes America a huge laughing stock of the world.

The question is, will McCarthy do Trump's bidding? and what deals those two will or have made? The GOP seem to be headless chickens, even though they finally got a speaker for the house, the GOP are just clowns, the lot of them.

Then again, the GOP do only have a minor margin of control in the house, so many of GOP's plans that they had will fail, but still, they will do many investigations now, which may also backfire on them, if they overreach their power.

I personally wish it was someone else other then McCarthy for speaker, another dark day for America democracy as we know it.

While many are congratulating the new speaker, one on the other hand is saying a different tone,

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, struck a different tone in his reaction, claiming McCarthy made concessions to get the position and could further cave to "extremists in his party."

"Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s dream job could turn into a nightmare for the American people," Schumer wrote." To get the votes, he surrendered to demands of a fringe element of the Republican party. Kevin McCarthy’s concessions to the extremists in his party make it far more likely that the MAGA Republican-controlled House will cause a government shutdown or a default with devastating consequences to our country."

He added: "Americans want Congress to build on the historic bipartisan achievements from the last two years, not more gridlock. House Republicans will have to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats if there is any hope of getting things done to improve the lives of the American people or to prevent a government shutdown or default."

Schumer also encouraged McCarthy to "work with Democrats in a bipartisan way to help America’s working families."

"Democrats are ready to get to work," the New Yorker added.

This is what I fear, what demands will those that he surrendered too, make of him? Including trump I would imagine? I would also say that McCarthy dream job will turn into a nightmare, as he will have to cave into demands on all sides, but unable to please them all. I still maintain this is a dark day for America and its failing democracy.

[mr.WHO]

Voting for the same thing 15 times definetly look like a sad joke.

[mr.WHO]

Seem like fate is smiling upon Europe once again:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64253708

[Alan Phipps]

Hmmm, let's hope somebody else doesn't fancy taking a piece or all of it.

[exogenesis]

This is great news, although they said it may take more than 10-15 years to get to mining it
(in an environmentally safe way, c.f. China),
by which time some of the rare earths will have 'run out', even from China.

Thing that made me chuckle in an older related article was that on a 50-euro bank note
in the UV-light flourescing anti-counterfeiting shapes they use europium.

"Those stars contain europium," he says, grinning broadly.
"This tells me that there is someone with a sense of humour at the beating heart of the European Union."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26687605

[Warenwolf]

Hmmm, let's hope somebody else doesn't fancy taking a piece or all of it.

Russians would not dare to move against Kiruna now. More likely is that they will use hybrid methods to indirectly use local organizations and environment protection groups to protest against extractions (similarly as KGB probably used Nuclear Winter theory to undermine west back in 1980s).

That being said, there is probably more rare earth sources in europe than those already found.

[burger1]

It looks like MSI Afterburner is made by one person Alexey Nicolaychuk who lives in Russia and hasn't gotten to his salary or maybe been paid his salary in 11 months. Money might be being held vs no payments (same as youtube).

https://www.pcmag.com/news/future-of-ms ... -sanctions

[matthewfarmery]

While justice seems to be very slow catching up to Trump, (at least the DOJ seems to be) A woman named E. Jean Carroll is suing Trump for two things, Rape and defamation. Trump had to sit for a deposition late last year. Trump has tried to get the case thrown out, (its going ahead in April) Also parts of the deposition has been unsealed.

https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/s ... sition.pdf

At the bottom in yellow text. You can easy see that Trump isn't very bright, and Trump's lawyers have tried to keep this sealed, but a judge has unsealed part of it.

The lawyer for E. Jean Carroll tripped Trump up in the first question

As flagged by Politico's Kyle Cheney, the transcript shows that an attorney representing Carroll asked Trump about a social media post he made in which he accused Carroll of getting "paid by a radical, left-leaning publisher to say bad an untrue things."

The attorney then asked if Trump could specify which publisher he was talking about.

"No," Trump replied. "I just heard it was a publisher that did some very bad books on us."

"I'll represent to you that her publisher was Harper Collins," the attorney informed him.

"Yeah and they haven't been great," Trump shot back.

The attorney then informed Trump that Harper Collins published the book written by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

"Could be, but they published some very bad ones too," Trump insisted.

LOL LOL LOL

Unsealed part of the deposition can be read here. Also for the record, Trump hasn't given any DNA, (which would have cleared him if the DNA hadn't matched.

I think this is going to be an open and shut case, I bet he is guilty, and I hope the woman is successful on nailing him to the wall. Also, when asked if he had ever touched a woman in inappropriate places, I would say that he had done, touching his eldest daughter inappropriately, as there are photos of them and Trump's hands are seen close to her breasts.

So yeah, going to be interesting seeing how this case proceeds. That lawyer who is representing E. Jean Carroll, clearly shows she knows her stuff. And will run rings around Trump and his brain dead offerings.

[felter]

It's as though he has no idea what the court case is about, as he seems to think it is about the rape, but it is not about that it's about slander and defamation, it's about what he allegedly said about E. Jean Carroll, not about what he allegedly did to her. That small part of the deposition all but proves the case against him as he admits and confirms it is him himself that makes the posts, that it's not others who do it in his stead, while it also shows and confirms that he will post lies and attack others just by using offensive names against them.

As for the allegations of the rape, if he did not do said rape, rather than attacking his accuser in the manner he did he should have brought a legal case against her for slander and defamation, the only reason for him not to do so is there is a possibly that the claim against him is genuine and true, and he would lose that case if it came to trial.

[matthewfarmery]

It's as though he has no idea what the court case is about, as he seems to think it is about the rape, but it is not about that it's about slander and defamation, it's about what he allegedly said about E. Jean Carroll, not about what he allegedly did to her. That small part of the deposition all but proves the case against him as he admits and confirms it is him himself that makes the posts, that it's not others who do it in his stead, while it also shows and confirms that he will post lies and attack others just by using offensive names against them.

As for the allegations of the rape, if he did not do said rape, rather than attacking his accuser in the manner he did he should have brought a legal case against her for slander and defamation, the only reason for him not to do so is there is a possibly that the claim against him is genuine and true, and he would lose that case if it came to trial.

Technically, there are two lawsuits against Trump, one is moving forward and has been set for April 17th, as for the other, that may or may not proceed.

What's the latest?

On Thanksgiving Day, Carroll's lawyers filed a second lawsuit against Trump, alleging a second act of defamation for statements he made on October 12, on Truth Social, calling Carroll's allegation "a Hoax and a lie."

That lawsuit also includes a battery claim against Trump for the alleged rape. Previously, Carroll had not been able to sue Trump for the alleged rape itself, because the statute of limitations had expired. But a new New York law, the Adult Survivors Act temporarily allows the filing of sexual assault lawsuits in cases where the statute of limitations had expired.

Trump won't be able to invoke the Westfall Act in Carroll's second lawsuit, which means at least one of her defamation claims will likely move forward.

So Trump has tried and failed to get both cases tossed out, but no, one is moving forward. I think from the above, Trump is going to really mess up badly on the witness stand. He won't be able to tell the truth, and E Carroll lawyer will run rings around them. And as this will be held in NY, then a good judge will also get fed up of Trump's long nonsense answers. And I'm sure that the jury won't be too happy either.

All Trump needs to do is provide some DNA, if a court can force him to do that, i'm not sure. But as he hasn't willingly done so, I think is very suspect.

But yeah, really does seem to twist stuff and doesn't really have a clue. I'm sure his lawyers will be panicking around now. How can they control their client and control what Trump says? They can't, I suspect they will try and object to many questions been asked, and the Judge will hammer them. Then again, from what I read, at least one judge has given them a hammering already.

So yeah, not going to be a good year for anyone named Trump. (and notice that he describes himself as third person a lot of the time? He clearly lost it.

[clakclak]

The German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has stepped down. She will always be remembered as a motiviational example to everyone in this nation! If Christine Lambrecht was able to become Defense Minister while knowing, quite frankly, less about the military than the average Call of Duty player, was able to hold her post amit scandles of using the military to ferry her family around and only had to resign after what was possibly the most tone deaf public statement of any politician in recent German history, than you can accomplish your dreams as well and in this country you have to be neither competent not intelligent just stubborn.