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President Trump showed off a draft of a letter firing the chair of Federal Reserve, Jerome H. Powell, during a meeting with roughly a dozen House Republicans on Tuesday night, polling them as to whether he should do it and indicating that he likely would, according to two people briefed on the meeting.

The NYT contains several quotes from the CBS story ,but skips much of the name calling Trump uses against Powell.

I like this soup. I've tried several pre-made soups that were not worth comment (crab & corn, clam chowder, vegetable barley), but the Italian Wedding soup hit all the right notes for my pallet. I found the broth sufficiently chicken-y (rather than watery) and found the meatballs to be delightful.

I do prefer more vegetables in my soup, but adding extra spinach didn't improve it much for me. I did find that tossing in some leftover brussel sprouts that I'd tossed in olive oil and italian seasoning then roasted with and romano cheese -- well, that took the soup from a comforting liquid to a transformed and wondrous almost-stew.

On their own, leftover brussel sprouts get mushy and I don't have much use for them, but mushy works in soup! The sprouts' bitterness became a delightful contrast to the broth and the spices all mixed together well.

Again, the Italian Wedding Soup is very nice by itself. I merely wanted to let the interested know how a random addition improved it for me. Your tastes may not agree with mine.

I warmed it on the stovetop (not microwave) and found it lacking, but acceptable.

After adding:

• tamarind paste,
• onions,
• bell peppers,
• a thai hot pepper,

and then topping with:

• cilantro,
• fresh lime, and
• some chopped up roasted peanuts,

... the additions (standard ingredients) made it much better.

Still, it was missing the contrast of bean sprouts. It isn;t the same without them and if I'd had bean sprouts, I would have added, but at that point I might have opted to just make my own pad thai -- which would have tasted better for almost the same amount of cook/prep time.

Costco has brought back Margherita pizzas, but now they are rectangular -- not round, and no longer have basil. Basil is a key ingreditent and they've gotten rid of it in favor of their oily, salty, pesto topping. Also, the dough is no longer pizza dough, but this foccia-like flat bread that is far too tough. So we have an oily mess on hard bread with way too much salt and not much else in flavor. It is edible, but not worth the price ($16.99 -- item #1816582).

Before you read that, see also: Choreographed celebrations in Venezuela as Maduro claims win

There are some things that are indisputable. Some which I, as an observer on the ground, was witness to.

There were the huge queues at polling stations, but only tiny amounts of people being let in at one time.

This led to accusations of deliberate delays, perhaps in the hope some people would give up and go home.

When our BBC team arrived at one polling station, the organiser of the station took a call saying the international media were there. 150 people were then suddenly allowed to be admitted.

There were some poll stations that didn’t open at all, leading to protests and clashes with the authorities.

There were allegations that some of those who work for the state, including police students, were told how to vote.

The protest coverage says:

The opposition has disputed Mr Maduro's declaration of victory as fraudulent, saying its candidate Edmundo González won convincingly with 73.2% of the vote.

A heavy military and police presence, including water cannons, was on the streets of Caracas with the aim of trying to disperse protesters and prevent them from approaching the presidential palace.

In some areas, posters of President Maduro were ripped down and burned while tyres, cars and rubbish have also been set alight.

Armed police, military and left-wing paramilitaries who are sympathetic to the government clashed with protesters and blocked off many roads around the city centre.

See also similar coverage from Al Jazeera: Protests break out as Maduro declared winner of disputed Venezuela election (archive)

ghost archive | Article has several recipes from author's new book. Sodah has been writing recipes in "The new vegan" column for about seven years, totaling 348 recipes.

The recipes are heavy on Asian ingredients and include: Simple tomato dal, Turnip cake, and Sesame noodles with spicy fried soya mince.

FYI to U.S. readers: aubergine=eggplant and courgette=zucchini.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/15211295

After adding operatic vocals to Gojira's rendition of "Ah! Ça Ira," a song popular during the French Revolution, she went on to sing a portion of Georges Bizet's Carmen.

From NME:

The heavy metallers performed ‘Ah, Ça Ira!’ (which translates to ‘It’ll be fine’), a song that was popular during the French revolution, during a segment titled ‘Liberté’ (in reference to France’s famed motto ‘Liberté, égalité, fraternité’) that celebrated one of the most famous events in French history, as well as the nation’s emphasis on freedom.

Gojira appeared on the side of a castle surrounded by fire and bursts of red streamers to represent blood, with Viotti later appearing on a moving prop boat. Their performance followed a portion dedicated to Les Miserables and came just after a beheaded Marie Antoinette was shown singing.

Traditional lyrics translated at wikipedia (linked above) Gojira's lyrics translated via redditors:

"Oh. It'll be okay, be okay, be okay,
Hang the aristocrats from on high!
Oh. It'll be okay, be okay, be okay,
The aristocrats, we'll hang 'em all.
Despotism will breathe its last,
Liberty will take the day,
Oh. It'll be okay, be okay, be okay,
We don't have any more nobles or priests,
Oh. It'll be okay, be okay, be okay,
Equality will reign everywhere,
The Austrian slave will follow him,
To the Devil will they fly.
Oh. It'll be okay, be okay, be okay,
To the Devil will they fly."

Article details how reporter -- pre-armed with relevant facts and cameras -- confronts neoNazis in Tennessee. | Excerpts:

Members of the Goyim Defense League harassed people in the heart of Nashville's entertainment district, berating a lesbian mom who had just left a restaurant.

Later, the neo-Nazis assaulted a bartender who had confronted the group.

"I'm curious: Why Nashville? Why did you guys choose Nashville?" I asked Minadeo.

A fellow GDL member, Nicholas Bysheim, quickly answered.

"It's the only place that respects freedom of speech," Bysheim said.

Minadeo added, "Yeah, this city respects freedom of speech, but communist Jews like yourself don't."

A Californian who moved to Florida, Minadeo leads the hate group as it goes around the country trying to create scenes that they hope will bring them attention and followers.

One of their favorite tropes: Falsely accusing Jews of being pedophiles.

Over and over, it became clear that these are people who are blind to any facts that don't support their hate.

These are really pathetic human beings.

They are the only ones who seem not to know it.

For 12 years, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) has pushed for a ban on congressional stock trading, calling the practice “corrupt,” “unacceptable” and “wrong.”

Now, Merkley is confident an amended version of the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act has enough bipartisan support that it will come out of a markup meeting with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Wednesday with the votes necessary to present the amendment for a vote.

EDIT: It passed out of committee, so now it can go to the floor. https://www.businessinsider.com/senate-new-ban-stock-trading-merkley-ossoff-hawley-2024-7

One key difference between this bill and previous proposals is that it doesn't allow for lawmakers to continue holding stocks via "blind trusts," which some have criticized as insufficient.

There are still certain assets that lawmakers and their families could continue to hold, such as mutual funds, US Treasury bills, and municipal bonds.

Despite the progress represented by Wednesday's committee vote, it's unclear when or if the bill will come up for a vote.

Just a few weeks of session remain for the rest of this year, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has historically been hesitant to bring up bills that don't already have enough votes to pass. It's unclear if that's the case with this bill.

The hydrothermal explosion happened around 10 a.m. in Biscuit Basin, a collection of hot springs a couple miles north of the famous Old Faithful Geyser.

No injuries were reported, but the Biscuit Basin area was closed for visitor safety. The eruption damaged a boardwalk that keeps people off Yellowstone’s fragile and often dangerous geothermal areas.

On occasion they get much bigger: The largest known crater from a hydrothermal explosion on Earth is in Yellowstone and measures 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) across, Poland said. Scientists theorize that a series of hydrothermal explosions created that crater some 13,800 years ago in the Mary Bay area on the northeastern side of Yellowstone Lake.

By comparison, the crater from Tuesday’s explosion will likely be measured in feet, Poland said.

“What we saw today was spectacular and definitely hazardous. But on the scale of what the Yellowstone system has done in the past, it was relatively small,” he said. “It’s a very good reminder of an underappreciated hazard in Yellowstone.”

The hydrothermal explosion did not indicate new activity within the volcanic system, which remains at normal levels, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Excerpts from very detailed article:

Look, cybercrime is a real thing, from pig butchering to ransomware, and there's real, global harms that can be attributed to it. Cybercrime is transnational, making it hard for cops in any one jurisdiction to handle it. So there's a reason to think about formal international standards for fighting cybercrime.

But that's not what's in the Cybercrime Treaty.

In authoritarian states like China and Russia (whose delegations are the driving force behind this treaty), "cybercrime" has come to mean "anything the government disfavors, if you do it with a computer." "Cybercrime" can mean online criticism of the government, or professions of religious belief, or material supporting LGBTQ rights.

This is the granddaddy of tech free speech fights.

Miller appeared on Fox News on Sunday, where he went off on a rant about the Democratic votes were thrown away as the party rallies around Vice President Kamala Harris.

"They held a primary. They had ballots. They filled out circles!" Miller shouted on Fox News. "They went to the voting booths. They spent money on advertisements!"

Still yelling, Miller says that Republicans also spent money running against Biden.