Gorth

Indirectly. He was elected by the electoral college. The federal government was appointed by him, not elected per se. The state electors were appointed by the states according to each states rules (the majority allocating all electoral slots to the popular winner of the states votes)

That's what I keep telling my self when doing my tax returns...

Makes you wonder if the FAA is an independent organization, or are they completely under the thumb of other interests, political or otherwise? No sooner did the plane get the FAA certification and someone cries "foul". Never mind that the FAA and it's certifications is worth **** all in large part of the rest of the world by now and will require recertification by other authorities because there is no trust left at all when it comes to the FAA. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55372499 US Senate investigators say that Boeing officials "inappropriately coached" test pilots during efforts to recertify the company's 737 Max aircraft. The planes were grounded in March 2019 following two deadly crashes. Investigators accused Boeing and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials of "attempting to cover up important information".

No. It's not a small price. Ask the board members from the US how much friction you always end up with when the federal government overrules state decisions and legislation. Here we're not talking about states that are only a couple of centuries old at best, but countries, many of which have been self governing for a millennia or more. But that is sort of besides the point. Back when it was still the EC (the predecessor of the EU). Brussels was something too far away, with a commission that worked more like a board of directors, all of it's members being appointed, not elected. The European parliament has always been a joke. Back when I was still living there, it was a meme, that politicians who fell from grace in their home countries for this and that scandal would get the "golden handshake". Which was sending them to the European Parliament where they would spend all their time lining their pockets with unbelievable salaries and tax benefits. Out of sight, out of mind, not doing too much damage anymore in their country of origin. Which means, the real power is the commission. EU was the move to centralize legislative power in Brussels, gradually turning national parliaments into something that is just a token gesture while all decision making should be done in Brussels, overriding any national legislation the member countries. I.e. effectively turning member countries into vassals of a powerful Brussels, which as mentioned before is not ruled by an elected body. It makes it too easy for large and powerful corporations, banks, other interest groups etc. to assert themselves, because there is only one point they need to convince if they want local laws changed to suit their needs. Don't like the minimum wages in country x, y and z? No worries, tell your lobbyists in Brussels to "get it fixed" and local law making bodies can do nothing. So no, I don't think the EU is beneficial to Europeans. It's predecessor organization was, because it was a trade block, benefitting the member countries. The current project is just a power grab by the eurocrats in Brussels, wanting a strong, centralized power in a new "super state", doing away with the member countries sovereignty. So yeah, as far as I'm concerned, the EU can rot and burn and I'll happily watch the flames while sipping aforementioned Cognac, pondering the folly of man who just can't seem to learn anything from history. The bigger they become, the harder they fall. I would like to invite you to the anarchists club, but there is no organization you can join, too disorganized

Ouch... https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55359568 Sony has pulled Cyberpunk 2077, one of the year's most-anticipated games, from its store and offered refunds to all players. The unprecedented move follows complaints that the game has been riddled with bugs and glitches, and is prone to crashes. Microsoft later said it would also refund any dissatisfied Xbox players.

Maybe it was the Saudis price for improving relations with Israel. Just need a big enough ship (with a freezer) to ship it

EU lost its way when they decided they wanted to be a giant nation state rather than a trade block. (proud "no!" voter to the Maastricht treaty 1992) Not living there anymore, I'm slightly indifferent to the whole thing (unlike in 1992 when the referendum was taking place in Denmark), but if Poland decides to pack up and leave some day, I'm going to laugh my ass off at the British. As mentioned previously, the lack of a mechanism for stopping the Polish immigrants moving to the UK was constantly repeated argument for the 'leave' side. Take control of our border, we are a sovereign nation... all the usual nationalist rhetoric. If it in 5-10 years turns out they could have saved the whole referendum thing and uncountable billions of British Pounds... then yeah, I'll sit and chuckle while sipping on my Cognac (made in France) The Fish and Chips were Ok though.

She'll probably outlive most of them...

Nobody seems to have built a giant marshmallow man with a sailor hat yet...

This is a bit bigger than my fridge magnets... https://www.iter.org/mach/Magnets Went looking for the rest after reading an article about the magnets used in Iter (a fusion reactor being built in France). It's presumably so strong it would be able to lift an airplane out of the ocean. Of course the BBC article didn't specify if they were talking about a Cessna or an Airbus 320. Mind you, those big plasma chambers will need a lot of magnetism to keep the plasma contained.

Too many links to chose from, but it seems to be official now. Electors cast their votes and no "Faithless" electors this year. Of course, that isn't the end of the process, but I guess the only thing left for Trump is to wring as much money as possible out of his cultists now (edit: I know, pretty much continue with business as usual since he lost the election). It will be interesting to see how much time the congress will use when it comes to that day in January where they have to accept or contest the electoral college votes for individual states.

Oh, those subtle jabs Didn't Barr leave the sinking ship with the other rats already weeks ago? I don't remember the exact incidence, but there was something about him seeing the writing on the wall and distancing himself from the legal circus

Underestimate Putin's Russia at your own peril, but you do have a good point. Too easy to point fingers at the first name the springs to mind. I do not doubt that China is putting some of all that manpower to work on cyber warfare either, but honestly, if I had to make a serious guess, I would say it's the work the Israelis. They had Trump bowing and scraping before them and Biden may not be somebody who responds to Israeli demands the same way Trump did (probably thanks to Jared Kushner). Israel does have the resources to pull something like that off (and frame the Russians in the process)

I guess if Putin can't have his own pet president, he figured he would need a back door... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55265442 The US has issued an emergency order after revealing that its treasury and commerce departments had been hacked. All federal civilian agencies have been told to disconnect from SolarWinds, a computer network tool that is being exploited by "malicious actors". The US has not publicly identified who is behind the attack. The incident comes less than a week after cyber security firm FireEye disclosed that its hacking tools had been stolen in a breach.

I've yet to watch a single episode

I suddenly feel a lot smarter than I am! Wait...

@Gromnirmentioned rain a few posts ago (hope the dog is ok!)... Had a bit of rain in SE Queensland too this weekend. Accompanied by wind speeds of cyclone strength, despite there being no cyclone. Up to 450mm rain overnight here (that's 17.7" for those of you across The Pacific). Things are a bit soggy and humid today Parts of inner QLD got 700mm (27.5") of rain. The silver lining however.... it helped getting the bush fires on the neighboring Fraser Island contained (after weeks of being out of control) https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/batten-down-the-hatches-cyclonic-storms-to-batter-the-south-east-20201213-p56n1j.html

I do miss the 80's...

Only in West Australia... https://thoughtcatalog.com/callie-byrnes/2017/10/this-man-couldnt-get-the-atm-to-work-so-he-taped-a-fish-to-it-for-a-truly-bizarre-reason/ "I think every normal human being has gotten frustrated with an ATM that’s out of order. But at the end of the day, do we really do anything about it? Usually I just end up going home angry and annoyed. But not Troy Buswell. He’s a man of action and quite possibly the most unconventional hero I’ve ever seen. When he noticed his ATM was STILL out of order, he did what any desperate person would do — he taped a fish to the machine." Edit: The mans message to the bank, weird sentence structure included (probably rage messaging) "hey COMMONWEATH bank, how about you SERVICE your ****ING atms in BUNBURY so punters like ME will not hav to TAPE FISH to them so youll have NO CHOCE but to come and FIX THEM. i have more fish and tape and will,, power than youre intire organisation. FIX THEM NOW."

Bought and watched "Suicide Squad". It was fun. Not pretending to be any Haute Couture, just a good old fashioned action romp (Dirty Dozen Lite). Story was weak in several places (hey, it's a super hero universe, no big surprises there), but the acting was generally good and while some characters felt tacked on as the token characters, most of them were interesting enough. Special fx were decent. Not bad for an approx 6 us dollars dvd purchase. I know I've spent a lot more money on way worse entertainment.

Dusting off my old DVD collection, I rewatched Finding Nemo for the umpteenth time. One of my favourite movies As a counterpoint, wash away the sweet taste, Event Horizon was next. Somehow that movie always make me think of the WH40k universe

A bit more Rammstein...

It was so long ago that I've responded with a "no known allergies" when a doctor asked me, but because it was so long ago, I've almost forgotten that my smallpox vaccination almost killed me as a kid. My body reacting very violently to it. I better remember that if asked again. Sort of related to a previous post of mine, but I noticed an interesting little detail that had escaped my notice so far (AZD1222 is the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/11/astrazeneca-to-trial-combination-with-russian-covid-19-vaccine "While the Sputnik V jab uses human adenovirus vectors, AZD1222 relies on adenovirus from chimpanzees. Both are administered in two doses." I see all kinds of potentials

Switzerland.... the country famous for its mercenary activities (even more so than its cheese) I wonder how much China is paying for this kind of access to just swoop in and retrieve people? At least the CIA does it covertly when it abducts people and hide them in secret prisons around the world https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/11/china-to-renew-secret-deal-with-switzerland-over-nationals "Switzerland gave Chinese security agents free run inside its borders and the rest of Europe for five years as part of a secretive immigration agreement between the two countries, according to human rights watchdog Safeguard Defenders. While the agreement officially expired this week, Safeguard Defenders warned that it was up for renewal in a report released on Thursday."

Was that the supreme court lawsuit? If so, it got summarily dismissed by the court https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55283024 "The lawsuit, filed this week by the state of Texas, sought to invalidate results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. President-elect Joe Biden won all four. The lawsuit was supported by 19 state attorneys general and 127 Republican members of Congress. But the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Texas did not have legal standing to bring the case, in a brief order rejecting the bid."