Princess Turandot
Princess Turandot's Journal3 idiots, illegal roman candle fireworks, and an open window ....
So you've nuthin' to do on a Wednesday night in Brooklyn? Why not go out to a nearby 15' wide driveway between two houses and set off some roman candles! Why not point that roman candle horizontally, like a gun, and shoot the pyrotechnics sideways, barely missing your buddy (who doesn't seem to notice them flying by)? Why not go back inside and get more fireworks, oblivious to the fact that your last shot went through an open window, setting the room on fire?
I'm thinking an altered state of consciousness was involved here, given how long it takes them to actually notice the fire underway, neatly captured by a security camera on a nearby building.
The fireworks flasher was arrested for arson on last Thursday.
The 'money shot' occurs at around 11 seconds into the video below:
https://twitter.com/FDNY/status/1278770063391236099
The house post-fun doesn't even look all that bad, considering!
The house previous to that day, on Street View: https://goo.gl/maps/RY84B9QRhkLWHJbk6
According to FDNY, the incident took 12 units and 60 members to bring under control. Fortunately, no one was injured.
The San Diego Zoo offers this...
https://twitter.com/sdzsafaripark/status/1278484280532844544(During their covid hiatus, the large zoos have been cranking out animal videos at an impressive rate, and I've watched so many that I find myself wondering if I could keep a sea otter in my bathtub.)
He actually referenced a *tweet from Trump* while refuting one of the defenses they offered...
The APA requirement for a notice and comment period has an exception for situations were the notice might give rise to an even greater problem. DOJ argued that notice of the rule would cause asylum seekers to swarm at the border, jeopardizing life and creating general mayhem. Their evidence was a single WaPo article on a different immigration issue that discussed a hypothetical situation.
For example, according to one article, about a month before the Rule was promulgated, the
President tweeted twice that Guatemala was preparing to sign an agreement that would force
migrants crossing through it to apply for asylum there and block them from seeking asylum
elsewhere, including in the United States. AR at 635. But nothing in the record suggests that
those tweets caused a surge at the southern border.
As FA45 might say, it is a beautiful point!
Similar to the census question case, they seemed to be offering flat-out horsesh*t as their defense, because they didn't have one.
This should do it. You first need to copy the tweet's URL.
Open the specific tweet with the gif in twitter. There will be an icon at the bottom of the tweet that looks like a tray with an arrow pointing. Click on that, and you'll find a copy link menu item.
Then go here: http://twittervideodownloader.com/download
Paste the address into the search box on that page and click download. Links to one or more sizes of the gif/video will appear. Follow the brief instructions on the page to save one of them.
Edited to add: the videos to download are .mp4 versions, not gifs. They play just fine.
WaPo has an article that explains one significant source of the error..
They used tax return filings for 2018 and 2019 to identify people qualifying for a payment. Given that around 2.3 million people die annually, there were undoubtedly quite a few people who filed returns in those periods but died post-filing. While the Social Security Admin has detail records on deaths, those records weren't available to the Treasury Dept/IRS. That was also the case when stimulus checks were distributed in 2008.
In a 2013 review of what happened in 2008, the GAO noted the issue and recommended that the pertinent records be shared in the event of a similar distribution. However, in their rush to make the 2020 payments, they did not take the time to do this. When the GAO recently took a look at the 2020 payments, I assume they were able to get the SSA records to run against the Treasury disbursement records: that allowed them to determine payments to the dead.
Also, Treasury officials noted that the Cares Act mandated delivery of the economic impact payments “as rapidly as possible.” To fulfill this mandate, they used procedures that had been put in place for stimulus payments issued in 2008, and as a result did not use death records as a filter. The GAO noted that in 2013 it had identified weaknesses in IRS procedures that allowed payments to go to dead people, and had recommended corrective action. IRS subsequently implemented a process to use death records to update taxpayers’ accounts to identify and prevent improper payments.
(snip)
But this control was bypassed for the stimulus checks issued under the Cares Act, which “substantially increased the risk of potentially making improper payments to decedents,” the GAO said. It also said that according to a Treasury official from the Office of Tax Policy, Treasury had been unaware that payments might go to dead people.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/06/25/irs-stimulus-checks-dead-people-gao/
There are 16 decisions pending on argued cases...
The first opinion will be released at 10AM. There may be more than one opinion released, but there could also be only one.
Status of decisions:
Graphic is from https://www.scotusblog.com, the best source of information on SCOTUS activities.
A quick summary of outstanding and decided cases by month: https://www.scotusblog.com/statistics/
The cases that they consider to be the most high profile are listed in red. There are 8 of those still undecided.
Nashville Police have arrested a 25 year man for setting fire to the city's historic courthouse..
The fire occurred on Saturday night.
A civil rights protester? Sure.. More like a friggin' incel.
"Specialized Investigations Division detectives & SWAT officers moments ago arrested Wesley Somers, 25, on charges of felony arson, vandalism, & disorderly conduct for setting fire to Nashville's Historic Courthouse Saturday night."
https://twitter.com/MNPDNashville/status/1267264305961066500
Andrew Cuomo for the #HowAreYouReallyChallenge
This is a mental health awareness initiative on social media, being promoted by fashion designer Kenneth Cole and the Mental Health Coalition.
https://twitter.com/NYGovCuomo/status/1261703387172581376
Chris (the younger) Cuomo's interview with Tony Fauci tonight..
Two tangential remarks: Fauci has apparently had a long term relationship with the Cuomos, going back 35 years. And he still has a Brooklyn accent.
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