Monthly Archives: February 2021

The UAE Probe ‘Hope’ Has Successfully Reached Mars – ExtremeTech

Posted: February 10, 2021 at 1:21 pm

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The United Arab Emirates has joined the ranks of just a handful of countries to successfully send a mission to the Red Planet. The UAE probe Hope successfully entered orbit on Tuesday after a 27-minute rocket burn slowed the craft enough for Mars gravity to capture it.

Hope is a satellite designed to study Martian weather over the short and long term, including measurements of dust storms and the ongoing loss of the Martian atmosphere to space. The spacecraft is powered by a pair of 900W solar panels and it includes a digital camera, infrared spectrometer, and an ultraviolet spectrometer to measure the upper atmosphere.

Hope will be the first satellite devoted to the study of the Martian atmosphere, and the first to track its climate over the long Martian seasons. Mars has a reputation for being a barren, cold hunk of rock because thats what it is but unlike, say, the Moon, Mars has a genuine climate and seasons that change over the course of a Martian year. While other probes have taken measures of Mars atmosphere, Hope is the first vehicle dedicated specifically to that task.

The data Hope gathers may help us understand how Mars transformed from a world where liquid water flowed across its surface into the dry and barren place it is today. There is substantial evidence that the Martian atmosphere was once much thicker and capable of warming the planet via a substantial greenhouse effect. There is evidence for substantial erosion and weathering across Mars in planetary features that date to the Noachian period (4.1B 3.7B years ago) but by the beginning of the Hesperian period, 3.7B years ago, Mars was cooling down. By 3B years ago, Mars largely resembled its current state, though theres still evidence of local or regional flooding in specific areas after this date.

What ancient Mars might have looked like. Image by Ittiz, CC BY-SA 3.0

We know that the collapse of the Martian magnetic field helped the sun blow its atmosphere away and that the planets lower mass made it more difficult for the planet to retain an atmosphere long-term. Its thought that periodic huge impacts could have played a role in keeping Mars warm, but the total amount of energy available on Mars has always been a fraction of that on Earth, due to its smaller size, lower percentages of radioactive materials, and the lower amount of energy Mars receives from the sun. Understanding the existing weather patterns on Mars and the interaction between the solar wind and the upper Martian atmosphere will help us better understand why Mars is still losing its hydrogen and oxygen into space.

Any serious effort to colonize Mars will require an understanding of prevailing weather patterns. Martian dust storms can become powerful enough to cloak the entire planet, making solar power useless. Well need to be able to predict Martian weather, at least to some extent, if we ever hope to settle there.

Feature image by MBRSC

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The UAE Probe 'Hope' Has Successfully Reached Mars - ExtremeTech

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Elon Musk’s Mars plan rocked as SpaceX CEO fears humans will ‘self-extinguish’ before 2050 – Daily Express

Posted: at 1:21 pm

Elon Musk explains risks of moving to Mars

The tech mogul previously detailed plans to colonise the Red Planet by building a one-million-strong city before 2050, but received a blow to that when the Starship SN9 prototype crashed and exploded after its first high-altitude test flight last week. Mr Musk said he hoped to one day produce 1,000 spaceships over 10 years and launch three a day. The rockets would blast off from Earth, each carrying roughly 100 tonnes of equipment, as well as 100 people in the hope of building a permanent settlement on Mars.

And the SpaceX CEO gave an insight into the rollercoaster ride hed already experienced during the 2020 Mars Society Virtual Convention.

He said: Weve gone through many iterations, starting from not really knowing how to build rockets at all, with Falcon One and having three failures before reaching orbit.

We only barely survived, I was at zero cash basically when we got this fourth one to orbit if that didnt work it would have been curtains.

I think its helpful to have as the objective the creation of a self-sustaining city on Mars.

This has to be the objective, not simply a few people or a base, but a self-sustaining city.

The acid test really is if the ships from Earth stop coming for any reason, does Mars die out?

Mr Musk made reference to the Great Filter theory the idea that somewhere along the trajectory of life's development, there is a massive and common challenge that ends life before it becomes intelligent enough and widespread enough in the universe.

He said: If the ships stop coming for any reason does the city on Mars die out?

If it does were not in a secure place, I mean I think this really might come down to the great filter front.

READ MORE: Elon Musk's plan to send one million people to Mars boosted with colonisation 'solution'

Are we going to be able to create a self-sustaining city on Mars before or after World War 3?

Hopefully there is never a World War 3, but the probability of launching after World War 3 are low.

We should try to make this city self-sustaining before any possible World War 3.

Mr Musk said the success of his project hinges on this, but he does not think the outlook is great.

He continued: Really we just face a series of probabilities. Theres some chance we could have a giant war, a supervolcano, or a comet-strike or we might just self-extinguish.

Quite frankly, right now, civilisations not looking super strong, you know, were looking a little rickety right now.

Its not an escape vehicle unless Mars is made self-sustaining, which will probably not happen in my lifetime.

Its meaningless to have an escape lifeboat if youre simply moving to another place where you will soon die out. That doesn't count.

This is really about minimising existential risk for civilisation as a whole and having a future where we are a spacefaring civilisation and a multi-planet species.

Global catastrophic risks also include anthropogenic risks caused by humans, such as through technology, governance and climate change.

Express.co.uk has today launched a revolutionary campaign to help save Britain's environment and give a 21billion boost to the economy.

Along with green entrepreneur Dale Vince, we are calling on the Government to scrap VAT on green products and to make more space for nature.

An exclusive poll commissioned by the Daily Express revealed 66 percent of adults are worried by the state of the planet, climate change and the decline of wildlife and nature.

The majority are also in favour of changing the tax laws to encourage a greener approach and to make polluters pay.

Express.co.uk is calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to show world leadership on the issue in the run-up to the G7 summit in Cornwall in June and the crunch Cop 26 climate change summit in Glasgow in November.

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Hilltown internet coverage is expanding, but affordability is still a concern – The Altamont Enterprise

Posted: at 1:21 pm

HILLTOWNS Some Hilltown residents are now able to sign up for satellite internet service provided by the SpaceX program Starlink as part of a massive service expansion subsidized by the Federal Communications Commission, but steep sign-up costs and monthly subscription fees may prevent people from getting online, highlighting the importance of affordability.

Coverage is primarily available in Rensselaerville, while coverage in Knox, Westerlo, and Berne is projected to be available by the end of the year, according to the Starlink website.

SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002 with the goal of reducing the cost of space transportation so that Mars can be colonized. In 2015, Musk announced the development of Starlink, a satellite constellation, to provide broadband internet service.

When The Enterprise first reported on the FCCs subsidization program in December, all that was known was that companies who secured contracts with the FCC had 10 years to expand their services to areas deemed underserved, or else they would lose the portion of the $20 billion they received and have to pay back whatever amount they used.

These first steps toward service expansion come as frustrations mount in the Hilltowns over the failure of higher levels of government to establish the necessary infrastructure. Internet connection has become more crucial as the COVID-19 pandemic forces some families to work, learn, and attend local government meetings from home.

At its Jan. 20 meeting, the Berne Town Board authorized Supervisor Sean Lyons to write a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo demanding that the state follow up on promises to enhance rural broadband access.

Lyons suggests in his letter that internet access will be important in combating stereotypes he says have been associated with the Hilltowns since at least his childhood, when his father worked under supervisors at General Electric who claimed employees from the remote Hilltowns were not suited for professional work and instead just laborers.

Every day our youth fall behind the rest of the connected world, Lyons writes in the letter. Will our youth be labeled for labor only without the proper tools and access to make them competitive? The [Berne-Knox-Westerlo] school district has been deploying buses with Wi-Fi hot spots to multiple locations in the Hilltowns to allow our children to connect with their classes and teachers.

The state began subsidizing internet service expansion in 2015, when it launched a three-phase Broadband for All program that would provide nearly $750 million in private and public funds dedicated to coverage.

Lyons told The Enterprise this week that his home on Bradt Hollow Road was meant to be covered in the third phase of the program, the awards for which were announced in 2018, but that hes yet to see any benefit nearly three years later, even though fiber-optic cables were installed last summer.

They call it a success, Lyons said in an email. I say not yet. I live in one of the most rural parts of Berne and Albany county and have had fiber optic broadband service hanging on the pole outside my house since early summer as part of this phase 3, and am still not even being offered connection plans?

In Westerlo, Planning Board Chairwoman Dotty Verch, who also heads the towns broadband committee, said at a town board meeting earlier this month that shed been in contact with state Senator Michelle Hincheys office and indicated that Hinchey would be getting involved in expansion efforts, though Westerlo Supervisor Bill Bichteman voiced some pessimism about the chance of any meaningful progress.

What Im concerned about, Bichteman said, is that were going to get the token response, and whatll end up happening is the next populated area will be a short segment and its never going to be enough to do the total amount we have to do. Anything is better than nothing, but it just seems they dont really want to attack it like a real problem.

Join my frustration, Bill, Verch replied.

Part of the problem in getting money for broadband coverage lies in the way the government measures access, according to Hudson Valley Wireless General Manager Jason Guzzo, who explained to The Enterprise last year that existing coverage is measured by census block. But because census blocks in rural areas are relatively large, whole swaths of a town can be considered covered even if only one household in that block has internet capabilities.

Identifying partially served census blocks is very difficult without local knowledge of the community, Guzzo said at the time. Some homes with long driveways may have cable passing by the mailbox and cant afford to extend service to the house.

In Rensselaerville, the towns broadband committee developed a survey with the help of Boston University to better locate coverage gaps, though the committee has decided to prioritize lobbying on already-available data, which indicates that more than half of the parcels in Rensselaerville are without access, committee Chairman Hans Soderquist told The Enterprise in January.

While SpaceX appears on track to address issues of coverage, affordability is still an obstacle in the Hilltowns, where the poverty rate hovers around 6 percent, according to census data.

According to pre-pandemic 2018 data from the State Education Department, 32 percent of BKW students are eligible for free lunches and 6 percent are eligible for reduced-price lunches, an indicator of poverty.

To use Starlinks satellite service, residents will have to front $500 for the necessary hardware, as well as shipping and tax, which bring the total sign-up cost to nearly $600. Service will cost $99 per month, which is nearly twice as expensive as the cheapest rate advertised by Hudson Valley Wireless.

On Jan. 12, Cuomo announced his intent to propose legislation that would require internet service providers to supply connection to low-income families for $15 per month. However, Cuomo failed to sign legislation state lawmakers passed that would study and map the current state of internet affordability in the state, claiming that the $3 million cost of the project wasnt covered in the 2021 budget although he added it would be part of budget discussions.

Internet affordability at least for those who teach or are in school is also a focus of FCC Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who is considering an expansion of the commissions E-Rate program.

The E-Rate program currently makes telecommunications and information services more affordable for schools and libraries, according to the FCC website, but some lawmakers have called on the commission to include residential offerings in the program.

Last March, before Rosenworcel was acting chair, she indicated support for E-Rate expansion in a Verge op-ed.

With schools closing and learning migrating online, Rosenworcel wrote, this is the right moment to adjust FCC rules to expand how we think about internet access and the traditional classroom.

When asked last month whether he felt it was affordability or infrastructure that prevented Rensselaerville residents from securing access, Soderquist said that while coverage is a massive issue, affordability is absolutely a concern not solved merely by improving coverage.

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Cybernauts Called to PLANETXXI to Save Planet Earth – Send2Press Newswire

Posted: at 1:21 pm

CHICAGO, Ill., Feb. 8, 2021 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) PLANETXXI, an exoplanet and mirror to Earth, has recently picked up chatter and cries for help to save planet Earth. Their voices were heard in CyberCity, PLANETXXIs satellite communications center saying that planet Earth is in trouble. Sandra Snowden, Founder of PLANETXXI LLC and newly launched online entertainment broadcasting website, PLANETXXITV.com, says she and her company are ready to help save planet earth.

PHOTO CAPTION: Celestina Xi at PLANETXXI CyberCity.

Through her cosmic character aka Celestina Xi, Ambassador from PLANETXXI, she is sending out an SOS to recruit a new generation of futurists and visionaries Cybernauts. Together, they will work to solve Earths environmental crisis and save the planet.

Concerned students are afraid that the future of the planet is grim and they are looking for ways to help. Becoming a PLANETXXI Cybernaut is one way to be a catalyst for change.

While NASA has astronauts travel the universe on space missions, PLANETXXI Cybernauts zoom at warp speed into cyberspace from CyberCity and connect with their counterparts in a Think Tank of Tomorrow where theyre challenged to create The First Eco City of the Future on PLANETXXI.

Using a blank canvas, students can Dare to Dream Big on their vision quest and design the kind of sustainable, and eco-friendly world they would like to live in and inherit. This eco-city will be their future. Through their illustrations, inventions, and innovation, PLANETXXI Cybernauts can change the paradigm and the course of history. They can also showcase their ideas and videos for all the world to see on PLANETXXI TVs YouTube Channel.

This is no time to stand on the sidelines and watch others take control of your future. Space greats already have plans to build cities on Mars and to create colonized habitats in space so people will have a safe place to live as Earth becomes more and more uninhabitable, Celestina says.

Celestina agrees that as the climate clock ticks, planet Earth may cease to exist by 2100 and believes that together, a sustainable future can be achieved on Earth and PLANETXXI.

Shes calling all futurists and visionaries, especially Generation Zers, to become part of the mission. In addition, teachers and classrooms are also invited to join PLANETXXI Cyber Schools of the Future in helping to create a new eco-friendly planet at: http://www.planetxxitv.com/.

Cybernauts will receive membership to Club PLANETXXI, along with a virtual passport giving them access to participate in all cyber events and virtual activities in CyberCity. Cyber Kids of the Future can also become a Cyber Pal to planet Earth and PLANETXXI. (PLANETXXI is COPPA compliant)

For more information:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PLANETxxi-104345174620968

VIDEO YouTube: https://youtu.be/X7ryR8X0xOM

GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/planetxxi-cyber-school-of-future

*PHOTO link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/21-0208s2p-celestinaxi-300dpi.jpg

*Caption: Celestina Xi at PLANETXXI CyberCity.

News Source: PLANETXXI LLC

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Police find wild cat native to Africa in North Las Vegas – FOX5 Las Vegas

Posted: at 1:20 pm

'); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(""+val.title+""); // if (window.location.hostname == "www.kmov.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kctv5.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.azfamily.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kptv.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.fox5vegas.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.wfsb.com") { if (val.poly != "" && val.polyimg != "") { $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append('"+val.ihtml+""); $("#expandable-weather-block .weather-index-alerts").show(); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body h2").css({"font-family":"'Fira Sans', sans-serif", "font-weight":"500", "padding-bottom":"10px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body p").css({"font-size":"14px", "line-height":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body span.wxalertnum").css({"float":"left", "width":"40px", "height":"40px", "color":"#ffffff", "line-height":"40px", "background-color":"#888888", "border-radius":"40px", "text-align":"center", "margin-right":"12px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body b").css("font-size", "18px"); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body li").css({"font-size":"14px", "line-height":"18px", "margin-bottom":"10px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body ul").css({"margin-bottom":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body pre").css({"margin-bottom":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body img").css({"width":"100%", "margin-bottom":"20px", "borderWidth":"1px", "border-style":"solid", "border-color":"#aaaaaa"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).css({"borderWidth":"0", "border-bottom-width":"1px", "border-style":"dashed", "border-color":"#aaaaaa", "padding-bottom":"10px", "margin-bottom":"40px"}); }); } function parseAlertJSON(json) { console.log(json); alertCount = 0; if (Object.keys(json.alerts).length > 0) { $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body ").empty(); } $.each(json.alerts, function(key, val) { alertCount++; $("#mrd-wx-alerts .alert_count").text(alertCount); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body ").append(''); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(""+val.title+""); // if (window.location.hostname == "www.kmov.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kctv5.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.azfamily.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kptv.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.fox5vegas.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.wfsb.com") { if (val.poly != "" && val.polyimg != "") { $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(''); } else if (val.fips != "" && val.fipsimg != "") { // $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(''); } // } //val.instr = val.instr.replace(/[W_]+/g," "); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(val.dhtml+"

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Suspect in deadly Las Vegas police shooting had other run-ins with police – FOX5 Las Vegas

Posted: at 1:20 pm

'); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(""+val.title+""); // if (window.location.hostname == "www.kmov.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kctv5.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.azfamily.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kptv.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.fox5vegas.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.wfsb.com") { if (val.poly != "" && val.polyimg != "") { $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append('"+val.ihtml+""); $("#expandable-weather-block .weather-index-alerts").show(); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body h2").css({"font-family":"'Fira Sans', sans-serif", "font-weight":"500", "padding-bottom":"10px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body p").css({"font-size":"14px", "line-height":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body span.wxalertnum").css({"float":"left", "width":"40px", "height":"40px", "color":"#ffffff", "line-height":"40px", "background-color":"#888888", "border-radius":"40px", "text-align":"center", "margin-right":"12px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body b").css("font-size", "18px"); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body li").css({"font-size":"14px", "line-height":"18px", "margin-bottom":"10px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body ul").css({"margin-bottom":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body pre").css({"margin-bottom":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body img").css({"width":"100%", "margin-bottom":"20px", "borderWidth":"1px", "border-style":"solid", "border-color":"#aaaaaa"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).css({"borderWidth":"0", "border-bottom-width":"1px", "border-style":"dashed", "border-color":"#aaaaaa", "padding-bottom":"10px", "margin-bottom":"40px"}); }); } function parseAlertJSON(json) { console.log(json); alertCount = 0; if (Object.keys(json.alerts).length > 0) { $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body ").empty(); } $.each(json.alerts, function(key, val) { alertCount++; $("#mrd-wx-alerts .alert_count").text(alertCount); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body ").append(''); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(""+val.title+""); // if (window.location.hostname == "www.kmov.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kctv5.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.azfamily.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kptv.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.fox5vegas.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.wfsb.com") { if (val.poly != "" && val.polyimg != "") { $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(''); } else if (val.fips != "" && val.fipsimg != "") { // $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(''); } // } //val.instr = val.instr.replace(/[W_]+/g," "); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(val.dhtml+"

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Mary Wilson, founding member of The Supremes, dies in Las Vegas – FOX5 Las Vegas

Posted: at 1:20 pm

'); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(""+val.title+""); // if (window.location.hostname == "www.kmov.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kctv5.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.azfamily.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kptv.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.fox5vegas.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.wfsb.com") { if (val.poly != "" && val.polyimg != "") { $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append('"+val.ihtml+""); $("#expandable-weather-block .weather-index-alerts").show(); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body h2").css({"font-family":"'Fira Sans', sans-serif", "font-weight":"500", "padding-bottom":"10px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body p").css({"font-size":"14px", "line-height":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body span.wxalertnum").css({"float":"left", "width":"40px", "height":"40px", "color":"#ffffff", "line-height":"40px", "background-color":"#888888", "border-radius":"40px", "text-align":"center", "margin-right":"12px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body b").css("font-size", "18px"); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body li").css({"font-size":"14px", "line-height":"18px", "margin-bottom":"10px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body ul").css({"margin-bottom":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body pre").css({"margin-bottom":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body img").css({"width":"100%", "margin-bottom":"20px", "borderWidth":"1px", "border-style":"solid", "border-color":"#aaaaaa"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).css({"borderWidth":"0", "border-bottom-width":"1px", "border-style":"dashed", "border-color":"#aaaaaa", "padding-bottom":"10px", "margin-bottom":"40px"}); }); } function parseAlertJSON(json) { console.log(json); alertCount = 0; if (Object.keys(json.alerts).length > 0) { $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body ").empty(); } $.each(json.alerts, function(key, val) { alertCount++; $("#mrd-wx-alerts .alert_count").text(alertCount); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body ").append(''); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(""+val.title+""); // if (window.location.hostname == "www.kmov.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kctv5.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.azfamily.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kptv.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.fox5vegas.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.wfsb.com") { if (val.poly != "" && val.polyimg != "") { $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(''); } else if (val.fips != "" && val.fipsimg != "") { // $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(''); } // } //val.instr = val.instr.replace(/[W_]+/g," "); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(val.dhtml+"

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Mary Wilson, founding member of The Supremes, dies in Las Vegas - FOX5 Las Vegas

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Senators to hear opening arguments as Trump fumes over trial – Las Vegas Sun

Posted: at 1:20 pm

Gerald Herbert / AP

President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021 in Washington. The President is traveling toTexas.

By Lisa Mascaro, Eric Tucker, Mary Clare Jalonick and Jill Colvin, Associated Press

Published Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021 | 11:55 p.m.

Updated 12 minutes ago

WASHINGTON Prosecutors in Donald Trumps impeachment trial said Wednesday they would prove that Trump was no innocent bystander but the inciter in chief of the deadly attack at the Capitol aimed at overturning his election loss to Joe Biden.

Opening the first full day of arguments, the lead House prosecutor said they will lay out evidence that shows the president encouraged a rally crowd to head to the Capitol, then did nothing to stem the violence and watched with glee" as a mob stormed the iconic building. Five people died.

To us it may have felt like chaos and madness, but there was method to the madness that day, said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

The day's proceedings were unfolding after an emotional Tuesday start to the trial that left the f ormer president fuming after his attorneys delivered a meandering defense and failed to halt the trial on constitutional grounds. Some allies called for yet another shakeup to his legal team.

Trump is the first president to face an impeachment trial after leaving office and the first to be twice impeached. The riot followed a rally during which Trump urged his supporters to fight like hell, words his lawyers say were simply a figure of speech. He is charged with incitement of insurrection.

Senators, many of whom fled for safety the day of the attack, watched Tuesdays graphic videos of the Trump supporters who battled past police to storm the halls, Trump flags waving. More video is expected Wednesday, including some that hasnt been seen before.

House Democratic prosecutors on Wednesday plan to use Capitol security footage that hasnt been publicly released before as they argue that Trump incited the insurrection, according to Democratic aides working on the case.

Security remains extremely tight at the Capitol, fenced off with razor wire and patrolled by National Guard troops.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would not be watching the trial.

Joe Biden is the president, hes not a pundit, hes not going to opine on back and forth arguments, she said.

The House impeachment managers described police officers maimed in the chaos and rioters parading in the very chamber where the trial was being held. Trumps team countered that the Constitution doesnt allow impeachment at this late date.

Thats a legal issue that could resonate with Senate Republicans eager to acquit Trump without being seen as condoning his behavior.

Lead defense lawyer Bruce Castor said he shifted his planned approach after hearing the prosecutors emotional opening and instead spoke conversationally to the senators, saying Trumps team would denounce the repugnant attack and in the strongest possible way denounce the rioters. He appealed to the senators as patriots first, and encouraged them to be cool headed as they assessed the arguments.

Trump attorney David Schoen turned the trial toward starkly partisan tones, arguing the Democrats were fueled by a base hatred of the former president.

Republicans made it clear that they were unhappy with Trumps defense, many of them saying they didnt understand where it was going particularly Castors opening. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted with Democrats to move forward with the trial, said that Trumps team did a terrible job. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who also voted with Democrats, said she was perplexed. Sen. Lisa Murkowki of Alaska said it was a missed opportunity for the defense.

Six Republicans joined with Democrats to vote to proceed with the trial, but the 56-44 vote was far from the two-thirds threshold of 67 votes that would be needed for conviction.

At one pivotal point, Raskin told his personal story of bringing his family to the Capitol that day to witness the certification of the Electoral College vote, only to have his daughter and son-in-law hiding in an office, fearing for their lives.

Senators, this cannot be our future, Raskin said through tears. This cannot be the future of America.

The House prosecutors had argued there is no January exception for a president to avoid impeachment on his way out the door. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., referred to the corruption case of William Belknap, a war secretary in the Grant administration, who was impeached, tried and ultimately acquitted by the Senate after leaving office.

If Congress stands by, it would invite future presidents to use their power without any fear of accountability," he said.

It appears unlikely that the House prosecutors will call witnesses, and Trump has declined a request to testify. The trial is expected to continue into the weekend.

Trump's second impeachment trial is expected to diverge from the lengthy, complicated affair of a year ago. In that case, Trump was charged with having privately pressured Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, then a Democratic rival for the presidency.

This time, Trump's stop the steal rally rhetoric and the storming of the Capitol played out for the world to see.

The Democratic-led House impeached the president swiftly, one week after the attack.

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Americans must be better than this cynical desensitization to violence – Las Vegas Sun

Posted: at 1:20 pm

Seth Wenig / AP

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks during a news conference in the Queens borough of New York, Monday, Feb. 8,2021.

Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021 | 2 a.m.

Theres bullying, and then theres the right-wing hate machines abuse of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

In falsely claiming that Ocasio-Cortez reported being inside the Capitol during the attack and then ridiculing her based on an equally false claim that shed exaggerated the danger she faced, the partys extremists and their allies in far-right media have once again revealed that theres no limit to their cruelty, bigotry and capacity to poison Americans with misinformation.

Here are the facts: In an Instagram Live video posted Feb. 2, the New York congresswoman said she was in her office in the Cannon House Office Building, situated on the Capitol complex, as the violence took place. She heard several loud bangs on the door, along with someone shouting Where is she? A staff member advised her to hide, and she did so in her office bathroom. As it turned out, the voice belonged to a police officer who was carrying out orders to evacuate the building. Ocasio-Cortez was taken to another building, where she hid out again in a colleagues office.

Recounting the trauma of the experience, her voice quivering with emotion, she revealed that she was a survivor of sexual assault earlier in her life.

Immediately, the GOP extremists ganged up on her. And theyve been at it ever since, piling on falsehoods and further victimizing Ocasio-Cortez. On TV news programs and in social media posts shared by hundreds of thousands of people, they mocked her for making up an imaginary mob and compared her to actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of staging a hate crime against himself in 2019.

AOC wasnt even in the Capitol Building during her near-death experience. One big lie, read a Facebook post viewed more than 100,000 times, according to the Associated Press.

The editorial cartoonist of a local news publication not the Sun even got in on the hatred this week with a cartoon in which a garishly drawn version of Ocasio-Cortez talks about nearly dying from a paper cut she received while looking at a map showing the Cannon building a half-mile away from the Capitol.

Never mind that the Cannon building was evacuated, as already noted. Or that its connected to the Capitol by tunnels that allow lawmakers easy access. Or that one of the people arrested in connection to the violence tweeted assassinate AOC, according to federal prosecutors not to mention similar posts that reportedly went up on Parler before it was shut down.

Lets state what should be obvious: Theres nothing funny about Ocasio-Cortezs experience that day.

This is someone who has faced death threats regularly throughout her service in Congress, after the GOP made her one of its biggest punching bags over her progressive policies and undoubtedly over her gender and ethnicity as well. These werent idle threats, either, as evidenced by the high-profile 2019 arrest of a Coast Guard lieutenant and white nationalist who allegedly included her on a list of progressives he planned to execute with an arsenal of weapons he had stockpiled. As Ocasio-Cortez told Vanity Fair, the abuse eventually spread to people around her: her mother, brother and even her former dean at Boston University were targeted.

Then came the Jan. 6 riot, the Feb. 2 video and the massive campaign to discredit her.

This reveals something especially sinister about the far right and not just the violent groups in its midst, like the Proud Boys and white supremacists, but also the propagandists for the likes of One America News Network and Breitbart News, and others who post and share abusive information online.

Far from condemning the violence or expressing sympathy to those who were traumatized, these forces are continuing to fan the hatreds that led to the insurrection. Ocasio-Cortez isnt alone in that regard, as extremists have continued to vilify any number of others in Democratic Party leadership and even members of their own party who have failed to show complete loyalty to former President Donald Trump.

To the many responsible members of the Republican Party, this should serve as a call to action. Its time to counter your partys lies with truth, support rational candidates and stop the extremism that has grown malignant in the GOP. Its not too early to start gearing up for the 2022 primaries now, by making plans to run for office or by encouraging your moderate friends to do so. Then help drive turnout to the primary among middle-of-the-road Republicans so that those candidates can beat back the extremists.

America needs a sane and respectable Republican Party. Democracy thrives when groups with opposing views come together to hash out their differences and construct policy.

But a GOP that doubles down on the horrors of Jan. 6 by re-victimizing survivors and continuing to foment anti-government hatred will only cause more destruction.

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Americans must be better than this cynical desensitization to violence - Las Vegas Sun

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Germany to let citizens store ID cards on smartphone – Las Vegas Sun

Posted: at 1:20 pm

Published Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021 | 9:46 a.m.

Updated 29 minutes ago

BERLIN (AP) Germany says its citizens will be able to use smartphones to store their government-issued ID cards and prove their identity online.

The move is part of a broader effort to haul Germany's decidedly analogue bureaucracy into the 21st century.

The Interior Ministry said Wednesday that from this fall, citizens will be able to use the electronic ID stored in their smartphones together with a PIN number to prove they are who they claim to be when communicating with authorities or private businesses.

Germans are frequently required to present credit card-sized cards featuring their photo and personal details, such as when applying for benefits, opening bank accounts or registering a vehicle. While there are already ways of doing this online, the physical card and a card reader are currently required.

Separately, the ministry said the Cabinet has agreed on a bill that will make government-generated data openly available to businesses and private individuals where possible, to spur the development of new applications.

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Germany to let citizens store ID cards on smartphone - Las Vegas Sun

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