It's Sunday Night

Zuzana Hecko is a Slovakian lawyer that works with intellectual property.

Zuzana Hecko explains what it is
like to be an IP lawyer in
Slovakia

For the third in the series, (click here) we travel 900 miles south east to Bratislava, Slovakia where IP lawyer Zuzana Hecko at Allen & Overy fights counterfeiters, battles getting confused with Slovenia and dreams of working in Hong Kong. 

The AmeriKat's professional life, be it on the Kat or sat at her desk litigating her hours away,involves a huge amount of coordination, support and opposition with lawyers from all over the world. One of the IPKat's key objectives is to bring this global IP community closer together by sharing IP decisions, legislation and practice from across the world with our readers, with the aim that by understanding our unique perspectives on the culture of IP practice we can work together to make IP a success story for innovators, creators, users and the public. With those grand aims, the AmeriKat thought it would be worthwhile to ask the next generation of global IP lawyers to illuminate IP practice in their jurisdiction, as well as to give readers some fun reading over their lunch-al-desko...

Slovakia - Slovensko - Slovak Anthem - Slovenska hymna (click here for the official government website - thank you)

"Nad Tatrou sa blýska"

"Lightning over the Tatras"

Nad Tatrou sa blýska
Hromy divo bijú
Zastavme ich, bratia
Veď sa ony stratia
Slováci ožijú

There is lightning over the Tatras
Thunders loudly sound
Let us stop them, brothers
After all they will disappear
The Slovaks will revive

To Slovensko naše
Posiaľ tvrdo spalo
Ale blesky hromu
Vzbudzujú ho k tomu
Aby sa prebralo

^{That Slovakia of ours
Had been sleeping by now
But the thunder's lightnings
Are rousing the land
To wake it up}

Only the first two stanzas have been legislated as the anthem

Už Slovensko vstáva
Putá si strháva
Hej, rodina milá
Hodina odbila
Žije matka Sláva

Slovakia is already rising
Tearing off Her shackles
Hey, dear family
The hour has struck
Mother Glory is alive

Ešte jedle rastú
Na krivánskej strane
Kto jak Slovák cíti
Nech sa šable chytí
A medzi nás stane

Firs are still growing
On the slopes of Kriváň
Who feels to be a Slovak
Let him take a sabre
And stand among us

December 7, 2018
By Alexia Walters

Susan Bro, mother to Heather Heyer, speaks during a memorial for her daughter at the Paramount Theater on Aug. 16, 2017 in Charlottesville, Va.

Charlottesville – A Kentucky native (click here) who drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters at a white nationalist rally in Virginia has been convicted of first-degree murder.

In delivering its verdict late Friday afternoon, the jury rejected arguments by lawyers for James Alex Fields Jr. that he acted in self-defense.

Prosecutors said Fields drove his car directly into a crowd of counterprotesters at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, 2017, because he was angry after witnessing earlier violent clashes between the two sides. The rally was held to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Fields’ lawyers told the jury he feared for his life after witnessing the violence.

The 21-year-old Fields of Maumee, Ohio, faces up to life in prison at sentencing....

June 27, 2018
By Katie Brenner and Hawes Spencer

...The charges stood in contrast to President Trump’s (click here) refusal to condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazis after the woman, Heather Heyer, was fatally struck. He declared that “many sides” shared blame as the violence touched off a firestorm over race relations in the United States.

“Last summer’s violence in Charlottesville cut short a promising young life and shocked the nation,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement on Wednesday. “Today’s indictment should send a clear message to every would-be criminal in America that we aggressively prosecute violent crimes of hate that threaten the core principles of our nation.”...

...Thomas Cullen, the United States attorney for western Virginia, called the 30-count indictment the culmination of a 10-month investigation that involved searching the social media accounts where Mr. Fields showed an interest in harming minorities.

“We have to get into somebody’s head, and that takes time,” Mr. Cullen told reporters in Charlottesville on Wednesday. Few people noticed Ms. Heyer’s mother and father slip into the back of the room as the news conference began.

Her mother, Susan Bro, declined to say what punishment Mr. Fields should receive and said she would “leave that to the process to decide.” Mr. Sessions has not determined whether to seek the death penalty.

General Joe Dunford is retiring.

December 6, 2018
By Jim Garamone

Washington -- Near-peer (click here) competition and the United States retaining its military competitive edge were among the issues the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff discussed today in an interview with Washington Post associate editor David Ignatius.

The interview – broadcast as part of the Post’s “Transformers” series – looked at the ways warfare and security are changing.

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford addressed the challenges coming from Russia and China first off, using the Russian seizure of Ukrainian boats off Crimea as an example. “What took place in the Sea of Azov is consistent with a pattern of behavior that really goes back to Georgia, then Crimea and then Donbass in Ukraine,” he said.

Russia is stopping short of open conflict, the general said. Instead, he explained, Russian leaders push right to the edge. “What the Russians are really doing is testing the international community’s resolve in enforcing the rules that exist,” Dunford said.

In this case, he said, clear violations of sovereignty and signed agreements have taken place. The international community “has got to respond diplomatically, economically or in the security space,” he added, or Russia “will continue what it’s been doing.”...

There is an entire dialogue missing.

Most Americans are aware of Trump's womanizing and the way he covers it up, through "Nondisclosure Agreements." Along comes Trump's Former Secretary of State saying Trump asked him to conduct illegal procedures in his capacity as a Cabinet member.

Isn't Trump doing the same thing here? One cardinal law of journalism is that nothing is truly a viable report, when it is second hand knowledge, unless there are two accounts of the same event.

The statements by Former Secretary Tillerson alone has no standing because it is just him stating his experience. But, when linked to other crimes committed by people surrounding Trump the statement by Secretary Tillerson takes on the reporting of a "character flaw" of Donald Trump. Trump engages in illegal behavior, but, at the expense of "the other guy."

In the case of Former Secretary Tillerson, there was refusal to commit a criminal act. In the case of Michael Cohen, he pushed past the law and committed the criminal act. The common denominator is Donald Trump. Just because Secretary Tillerson is an honorable man with his character firmly anchored in a lawful life doesn't mean Trump is an innocent party. Trump is not. Trump GAINS from the criminal acts of others that he is fully aware is occurring. Trump is not simply an innocent bystander, he is paying others. In the case of Secretary Tillerson, there is payment by the people of the USA in service to the President. Donald Trump is directly involved in the criminal implications of his payments.

December 7, 2018
By Timothy L. O'Brien

...It also offered (click here) a detailed description of Cohen's orchestration of hush-money payments to two alleged Trump paramours -- Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal -- to prevent them from publicly revealing details about their past encounters with Trump during the 2016 campaign. Prosecutors noted that Cohen "acted in coordination and at the direction of" a person they don't identify to arrange the payments, but that individual is clearly Trump (whom Cohen has recorded discussing the payments).

In addition to noting Cohen's willingness to sacrifice his accountant to save himself, the Manhattan prosecutors also take issue with the idea that Cohen's cooperation emerged from some a newfound sense of duty, "personal resolve" or a "selfless" and "unprompted about-face." They plainly state that Cohen cooperated to save his hide and avoid a harsher penalty. To that end, they asked that he get a "significant" prison sentence....

One other thing.

The extreme right wing of the Republican Party have demanded for decades through laws and decisions by the courts to have THEIR HANDS CLEAN of any malicious use of USA dollars for payment of abortions or contraception. The Hyde Amendment has existed for decades now. How then do these same people continue to impose their theocratic political dogma on the American people when in fact they stand with Donald Trump in all his dealings. I remind, these same people that want pure souls for their heaven as they look the other way to Trump's womanizing and illegal dealings. 

How can the Hyde Amendment, other laws and court decisions stand when they are contrived, through manipulation of science, law and language, out of political convenience to expedite an agenda of the extreme right wing Republicans? The anti-voting agenda, the Voter ID agenda, the anti-LGBTQ agenda, the White Supremacist agenda, any non-national security war that cause deaths and hardship of peoples of other countries, as well as the anti-woman agenda are backed within a political party that encourages strong Pro-Trump rallies and wrongful moral content.

These measures are anti-American no matter how anyone looks at them and the only reason Trump has a right to carry out any of these ideas is because the so called moral right wing is more than willing to allow a criminal in the White House to enact their priorities. When examined for moral content these priorities have no place in the moral social contract of the American people.

December 7, 2018
By Sharon LeFraniere, Benjamine Weiser and Maggie Haberman

Federal prosecutors (click here) said on Friday that President Trump directed illegal payments to ward off a potential sex scandal that threatened his chances of winning the White House in 2016, putting the weight of the Justice Department behind accusations previously made by his former lawyer.

The lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, had said that as the election neared, Mr. Trump directed payments to two women who claimed they had affairs with Mr. Trump. But in a new memo arguing for a prison term for Mr. Cohen, prosecutors in Manhattan said he “acted in coordination and at the direction of” an unnamed individual, clearly referring to Mr. Trump.

In another filing, prosecutors for the special counsel investigating Russia’s 2016 election interference said an unnamed Russian offered Mr. Cohen “government level” synergy between Russia and Mr. Trump’s campaign in November 2015. That was months earlier than other approaches detailed in indictments secured by prosecutors....

Donald Trump broke the law to enter the White House. That is completely illegal and highly immoral. Either the USA Congress acts upon laws to uphold them as well as pass them and carries out impeachment or they are not strong enough to be called Americans.

Federal prosecutors and a Special Prosecutor in Former Director Mueller have placed a high priority in finding the truth in these cases. This is the American tax dollar at work. NO CONGRESSIONAL MEMBER OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BETTER LOOK THE OTHER WAY!

Breaking USA law means something and that meaning does not stop at the boundary line of Washington, DC.

THIS IS NOT A WITCH HUNT!

NOW! There is absolutely no reason to wait for January!

September 7, 2018
By Betsy Klein

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (click here) weighed in on the issue of a presidential indictment and impeachment on Friday, an issue on which he has largely declined to comment.

Asked by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt whether he believes a president can be indicted, the Senate Majority Leader indicated that a president should be subject to a political -- rather than a judicial -- remedy.

"I'm a lawyer, but not a good one. The Justice Department, I gather, has taken the position under a president of both parties that the appropriate remedy for presidential misbehavior is impeachment," McConnell told Hewitt in a taped MSNBC interview. "I'm not an expert on this, but I hear that's the case."

During Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, the Supreme Court nominee invoked the Federalist Papers, including Federalist 69, which says a president may only be impeached.

Kavanaugh avoided answering a question on whether a president is subject to subpoena, and asked his opinion on the matter, McConnell declined to say, as well.

"Yeah, that'll be up to the courts to decide. I have no idea what, how they would rule," McConnell said....

December 8, 2018
By Ken White

Federal prosecutors (click here) filed three briefs late on Friday portending grave danger for three men: the former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, the former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, and President Donald Trump. In an age when Americans usually get mere squibs of breaking news from Twitter, Facebook, and red-faced cable shouters, many started their weekend poring over complex legal filings and peering suspiciously at blacked-out paragraphs. The documents were stunning, even for 2018....

Odd expert witness at the Flint criminal hearings.

December 7, 2018
By Ron Fonger

Flint -- Only a few court appearances (click here) remain for Flint water crisis defendants before the end of 2018, when a new attorney general takes office and the direction of the prosecutions could change.

Preliminary examinations for four current and former employees of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality resume Monday, Dec. 10, before Genesee District Court Judge Jennifer Manley.

Liane Shekter-Smith, Patrick Cook, Stephen Busch and Micheal Prysby face a variety of charges, all related to allegations of criminal wrongdoing during the water crisis.

Shekter-Smith, the only state government employee to lose her job for her actions during the water crisis, faces criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty....

October 5, 2018
by Jake May

Kettering University (click here) professor Laura Sullivan testifies at the preliminary examination for four current and former employees of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018 at Genesee District Court in downtown Flint.

What?

The Kettering University (click here) facilities staff proactively follows precise procedures to ensure the quality of the University’s water supply. These include safety procedures and independent testing of campus drinking water for general quality purposes. In 2015, amid concerns about the city of Flint’s water supply, Kettering University staff increased the frequency of its independent tests and began sharing those results publicly at kettering.edu/water. Kettering University’s water is safe to drink and no issues with contaminants have been detected....

...Kettering University was recognized by the Harvard University Kennedy School for Public Policy for its response to the water emergency....

I recognize that Kettering had their own concerns about the water on campus, but, what has that to do with the lead contamination in Flint?

I mean no disrespect to Dr. Sullivan, but, what is a mechanical engineer have to do with clean water and service pipes in Flint?

NORMALLY, I would expect to find a person with a degree and experience in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines. It is helpful to have an engineering background as a minor aspect of the qualifications employed in such assessments, but, a mechanical engineer isn't what I would call qualified to testify regarding the degree of negligence allowed by Snyder when he dismantled Flint's water supply.

I applaud Dr. Sullivan for taking all her initiatives to help Flint and she could add dimension to the facts surrounding this ecological disaster, but, I would not expect her to carry expert testimony regarding the water or the deaths and maiming of this poisoning in Flint. I think the proceedings are odd and quite frankly easily appealed for any conviction.

Dr. Laura Sullivan, (click here) professor of Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University, has been appointed to the Flint Water Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

Sullivan’s interdisciplinary role is to continue to build trust between local and state governments, stakeholders in Flint and citizens in the community. The task force is made up physicians, scientists, citizens and expert advisors and serves to advise the city of Flint on how to remedy the current water challenges in Flint.

“My role is to make sure the people of Flint understand that this time things are going to be different,” Sullivan said. “This time, there’s a voice for individuals in this community. I will help lead collaboration between all levels of government and the scientific community in order to achieve an optimal solution for Flint’s water issues.”

On January 6, 2016, the State of Michigan officially declared a State of Emergency due to elevated levels of lead found in sections of the Flint water supply.

Sullivan received her doctorate in Materials Engineering from the University of Texas - Arlington. She has served as a professor at Kettering since 1992. Sullivan is also the faculty advisor for Kettering’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders. In this role, she has helped develop and install filters to remove bacterial contamination in water supplies in the developing world....

December 7, 2018

Have the questions changed?

November 12, 1991
By Sharon LaFraniere

...William Pelham Barr, (click here) bureaucrat, whose legal career began only 14 years ago with night law classes at George Washington University. President Bush's nominee for attorney general arrives at his confirmation hearings today before the Senate Judiciary Committee through the wildly unusual route of government service.

Legal observers compare Barr's nomination to President Jimmy Carter's selection of Benjamin R. Civiletti, a consummate professional who became attorney general after a similarly rapid rise through Justice Department posts. Like Civiletti, Barr is known as a cool-headed manager without political ambitions.

In 18 months as deputy attorney general, Barr was considered a conciliator at a Justice Department in turmoil during most of Attorney General Dick Thornburgh's (click here) tenure. Department officials say Barr tempered candor with discretion, a strong will with a tolerance for the personalities and views of others.

But the favorable reviews that are expected to win Barr easy confirmation are accompanied by uncertainties for some senators and former Justice Department officials. Is Barr too much an advocate for presidential power? Does his nomination mean the final ascendancy of the White House counsel over the role of attorney general? Barr owes his advancement partly to powerful White House counsel C. Boyden Gray (click here), who controlled the administration's civil rights policy during Thornburgh's tenure....

Finally, inside of Trump's cabinet tells the truth about the level of corruption Trump expects.

Rex Tillerson has too much integrity to simply spread rumors for the sake of spreading rumors. He is also very aware of laws and their impact after managing an international petroleum company. Laws were second nature to the CEO.

December 8, 2018

...The biting words came after Tillerson, (click here) in an appearance at a charity event in Houston, said their relationship soured over Trump's repeated demands that Tillerson do things that were illegal.

"So often, the president would say, 'Here's what I want you to do, and here's how I want you to do it,' " Tillerson said at a fundraiser for the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, in his first public remarks about his truncated tenure since he was let go in March.

"And I would have to say to him, 'Mr President, I understand what you want to do. But you can't do it that way. It violates the law,' " he said.

As if to confirm how toxic their interactions had become, Trump praised Tillerson's successor, Mike Pompeo, and dismissed the abilities of Tillerson, who ran Exxon Mobil before stepping down to work for Trump....

In defense of Twitter, I doubt seriously the inventors ever intended it as a tool for politics. Twitter serves many people globally when nothing else is available. It has a noble purpose, it is just that politics seems to have tainted it's purpose.

But, I think Secretary Tillerson is correct in stating not so many words, Americans need to get serious about their country and not act on emotions of the moment. Some take history of the country too far and others simply like an alternate reality. Few seem to want to take the time to understand a subject before they render an opinion.

...saying Trump was elected using modern-day tools to tap into strong emotions, he added, "I will be honest with you. It troubles me that the American people seem to want to know so little about issues that they are satisfied with 128 characters.

"I don't want that to come across as a criticism of him. It's really a concern I have about us as Americans, and us as a society, and us as citizens."...

Trump's administration is practicing Extinction standards at US Fish and Wildlife for the purpose of profits and wealth taking.

December 6, 2018
By Coral Davenport

Washington  — The Trump administration (click here) on Thursday detailed its plan to open nine million acres to drilling and mining by stripping away protections for the sage grouse, an imperiled ground-nesting bird that oil companies have long considered an obstacle to some of the richest deposits in the American West.

In one stroke, the action would open more land to drilling than any other step the administration has taken, environmental policy experts said. It drew immediate criticism from environmentalists while energy-industry representatives praised the move, saying that the earlier policy represented an overreach of federal authority.

“This is millions and millions of acres of Western land that stretch across the spine of this nation,” said Bobby McEnaney, an expert in Western land use at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. “With this single action, the administration is saying: This landscape doesn’t matter. This species doesn’t matter. Oil and gas matter.”

Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, an association of independent oil and gas companies based in Denver, said in an email, “These plans will conserve the sage grouse without needlessly stifling economic activity.”...

That is a lie. The Sage Grouse is endangered because of LOSS OF HABITAT. Losing more habitat to the petroleum industry will not return greater numbers of viable birds.

In reviewing the report (click here) there is absolutely no evidence of a rebounding species.

The sample sizes from either 1965-2015 and 2005-2015 show a declining species number due to habitat loss. The reporting shows either a 2% to 2.1% decline every one of those years stated leading to approximately 66% drop in populations up to 2015. Sorry, but, no species short of an ant will rebound to a successful number of birds in three years. 

The Trump Administration will cause the extinction of the Sage Grouse if it continues along this path.

Once extinct, who care then?

If the METHODOLOGY differs from state to state then there are reasons for it to differ. Trump is trying to say that since the methods of different then the information is faulty. "W"rong. There is no top down method that will work for every state in the country. California is different from Wyoming and they are different from Nevada. 

The green color in the picture is historical territory of the grouse and it is diminished by at least 50%. The "scattered" appearance in the above map also indicates within the existing range there are disruptions that allows for continuity. So, the sage grouse is declining because OF THE EXISTING RANGE REMAINING there are significant areas of FRAGMENTATION. That fragmentation impacts on the bird and causes it to lose numbers needed to rebound.

Making claim that the existing REMAINING habitat can be FRAGMENTED MORE is pure idiocy and makes no sense at all. How is a species with fragmented and diminished quality and quantity of habitat going to rebound with more of the same?

A dearly loved late uncle would have stated, "Trump has no scruples."

My late father would have called him a shyster. Both would have been correct.

December 6, 2018
By Dan Alexander

On the day Donald Trump became president (click here) of the United States, while inauguration festivities were still in full swing, he officially launched his 2020 reelection campaign. Donations poured in from more than 50,000 people across the country. But according to the latest federal filings, Trump still has not donated a penny of his own, while his businesses continued to charge the campaign for hotels, food, rent and legal consulting. That means the richest president in American history has turned $1.1 million from donors across the country into revenue for himself....

...Then there are the payments flowing into Trump Plaza LLC, a Trump-owned entity that has taken in $42,000 of campaign money since November 2017. Although federal filings list the purpose of those payments as “rent,” it is difficult to tell what the campaign is actually renting. Trump Plaza LLC controls a retail space, garage and two brownstones near Third Avenue in New York City. The retail space at Trump Plaza shows no signs of campaign activity, and a non-Trump company seems to sub-lease the garage from Trump Plaza LLC—leaving just the two brownstones. But they are not open to the public, making it difficult to see who the tenants are, and whether they include the president’s campaign....

Fairwell. The reaction by America was surprising to some. George H. W. Bush as a decent man.

December 6, 2018
By Camila Domonoske

Former president George H.W. Bush (click here) was remembered by his grandson as gracious, decent and humble, as he received his final public memorial ceremony at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston on Thursday. The funeral came after several days of remembrance in the nation's capital.

Bush died last week at the age of 94. He will be buried in a private ceremony on Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday, the former president received a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral in the nation's capital, with all five living presidents in attendance.

His casket then traveled to Texas, where it lay in repose at St. Martin's Episcopal Church on Wednesday night. About 12,000 people came to view the casket, Houston Public Media reports. The member station spoke to several mourners:

"Denton Ragland said he worked on Bush's presidential campaign in 1988, and that he's gotten more emotional about Bush's death than he expected.

" 'He's an enduring example of what we should all strive for in our personal lives and the life of our country,' he said, choking up....

Don't hold your breath to have the south reform it's politics. It is corrupt as ever.

December 6, 2018
By Amy Gardner and Beth Reinhard

Bladenboro — When GOP Rep. Robert Pittenger (click here) lost his primary by a narrow margin in May, he suspected something was amiss.

The congressman turned to a group of friends and family who had gathered with him on election night at a steakhouse near Charlotte and blamed the “ballot stuffers in Bladen,” according to three people at the gathering.

Pittenger’s concern stemmed from the vote tallies in rural Bladen County, where his challenger, a pastor from the Charlotte suburbs named Mark Harris, had won 437 absentee mail-in votes. Pittenger, a three-term incumbent, had received just 17.

In the days immediately after the race, aides to Pittenger told the executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party and a regional political director for the National Republican Congressional Committee that they believed fraud had occurred, according to people familiar with their discussions....

While tampering with legitimate ballots has nothing to do with Voter ID, Raleigh Republicans like to lie about the fact their bill will protect from such mishandling. That is not the case. Deliberate mishandling of legitimately filed votes is NOT an issue of Voter ID, it is an issue for criminal intent in fixing an election through mishandling of votes.

Putting Voter ID on a state constitution stills allow for review by the courts and declaring it unconstitutional.

December 6, 2018
By Lynn Bonner

Raleigh -  A bill requiring North Carolina voters (click here) show photo identification before casting ballots at the polls beginning next year won final approval in the state Senate.

The voter ID bill that now goes to Gov. Roy Cooper for his signature was approved as scrutiny of possible election fraud in the 9th Congressional District intensifies. The investigation is focused on mishandling of absentee ballots....

...Voter ID is a long-held Republican goal. A 2013 voter ID law in North Carolina was struck down in federal court in 2016. Republicans this year put a constitutional amendment for voter ID on the ballot. It passed with about 55 percent of the vote.

Opponents have traveled to Raleigh to speak against and protest the bill. Protesters sang and carried signs in the rotunda outside the gallery soon after the 25-7 vote to approve the bill with little debate.

Cooper said last week there was no need for photo ID, and called it “wrong for our state.” He did not say whether he would veto legislation.

An audit of 4.8 million votes cast in the 2016 election found one instance of in-person voter impersonation that could have been prevented by photo identification....

How cool is this story?

A rare beer is reconstituted after two hundred and twenty-two years. Nice.

7 December 2018
By Fiona Stocker

Australia (click here) is a nation built on beer. When Port Jackson, the site around which the city of Sydney sprang up, was settled in the late 1700s, the people there were hungry not just for food, but for a steady supply of ale and other types of liquor.

Foundering off Tasmania’s treacherous north coast near the aptly named Preservation Island, the Sydney Cove ground to a halt on a sandbank and sank slowly while the crew salvaged what they could. Artefacts from excavations of the survivors’ camp indicate that this included some of the beer.

Two hundred and twenty years later, I was standing below the ship’s towering rudder, the centrepiece of the Sydney Cove shipwreck exhibition at the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania. The ship may have failed to steer its course to Sydney, but the remaining beer survived for around 200 years on the icy seabed. In the 1990s it was recovered from the wreck during excavations led by Mike Nash, a marine archaeologist with the Australian Historic Shipwrecks Team, and sent to the museum in Launceston for preservation. And now the beer is back, renewed and re-brewed courtesy of a partnership between the museum and Australian brewing company James Squire....

It is a national security issue. Unless, a country is an ally of the USA they shouldn't be installing cloud technology meant to be impenetrable.

What was she taking home to China? Interesting she should try to make her exit of North America through Canada. Perhaps the heat in the USA was getting to obvious.

There is no human rights violation to Ms. Meng Wanzhou. China and Russia don't worry about leasing space to run it's hijacking of USA intelligence. The biggest complaint by the Techy Sector is internet spying and stealing their technology. That is what this is all about. The question is how much and what did she steal and was she acting as a spy for her company or her government or both?

NATO should demand the USA limit the degree in which communist countries are allowed to participate in the USA economy. The US uses that clout for sanctions, but, to some extent when foreign companies of countries like China treat the USA's democracy as a toy, there needs to be an end to that abuse. 

December 6, 2019

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (click here) says his government had no involvement in the arrest of a top executive from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

Meng Wanzhou was detained at Vancouver airport on Saturday on an extradition request from the US.

China has demanded her release, calling the arrest a human rights violation.

The charges have not been made public. Huawei said it was "not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms Meng".

She faces a bail hearing on Friday.

Earlier reports suggested the arrest could be related to a US investigation into a possible violation of sanctions against Iran.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton declined to comment on this when questioned by journalists....

Huawei United States (click here)

Facing the future, (click here) Promoting the “All Cloud” Strategy to Enable Digital Transformation

Update about jet crash.

December 6, 2018

The United States Marine Corps (click here) confirms that two Marines have been found. One is in fair condition and the other has been declared deceased by competent medical personnel.

The search and rescue operations continue for the remaining five U.S. Marines who were aboard the KC-130 Hercules and F/A-18 Hornet involved in a mishap about 200 miles off of the coast of Japan around 2:00 a.m. Dec. 6.

The aircraft were conducting routine training and aerial refueling was a part of the training; as to what was taking place when the mishap occurred, that is under investigation.

U.S. 7th Fleet is supporting ongoing search and rescue efforts with a Navy P-8A Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft flying out of Kadena Air Force Base, along with assistance from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Japanese Coast Guard. We are thankful for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's, the Japanese Coast Guard's, and the U.S. 7th Fleet's efforts as they continue to respond to the search and rescue operation.

We will provide additional information as it becomes available.

Media can contact the III Marine Expeditionary Force media desk at IIIMEFMEDIA@usmc.mil.

December 6, 2018

Toronto - Canadian authorities (click here) said Wednesday that they have arrested the chief financial officer of China's Huawei Technologies, who is facing extradition to the United States.

Justice Department spokesman Ian McLeod said Meng Wanzhou was detained in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday. He said Meng is sought for extradition by the U.S.

McLeod said a publication ban had been imposed in the case and he could not provide any further details. The ban was sought by Meng, who has a bail hearing Friday, he said.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese tech giant Huawei violated sanctions on Iran....

December 6, 2018

New York — A federal jury (click here) convicted a Hong Kong businessman Wednesday of bribing the presidents of two African nations to secure oil rights for a Chinese energy conglomerate, a case that stretched from the halls of the United Nations and highlighted the often blurry line between nongovernmental organizations and private enterprise.

Dr. Chi Ping Patrick Ho was found guilty of seven of eight counts, including conspiracy, money laundering and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in a case that involved several former presidents of the United Nations General Assembly.

Ho's attorneys did not dispute that he made the payments, including $2 million secreted in gift boxes delivered to the president of Chad in 2014. But they insisted the transactions were charitable donations intended to foster goodwill in Chad and Uganda and expand the business of CEFC China Energy .

Ho, 69, showed little emotion after the verdict was announced. He addressed reporters briefly in Cantonese as he left the courtroom, saying the outcome had been "expected."...

December 6, 2018

Dallas — A U.S. Border Patrol agent (click here) has been charged with capital murder after telling investigators he killed four sex workers whom he considered worthless and that he thought he was performing a service for his Texas border hometown, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said he will seek the death penalty if Juan David Ortiz is found guilty in the September slayings.

"The scheme in this case, from Ortiz's own words, was to clean up the streets of Laredo by targeting this community of individuals who he perceived to be disposable, that no one would miss and that he did not give value to," Alaniz said at a news conference. Ortiz, 35, thought he was doing his civic service by killing the women, the prosecutor said.

A suspect can be charged with capital murder if he is suspected in more than one killing in the same scheme with an overarching motive, Alaniz said. Three of the women were shot to death and one died of blunt force trauma....

There may have been an explosion without a chance of a rescue operation.

December 6, 2018

Two United States Marine aircraft (click here) are reported to have crashed off the coast of Japan today.

Search and rescue operations are underway.

The aircraft are a KC-130 refuelling plane and an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet.

US Marines tweeted: "Search and rescue operations continue for a KC-130 and an F/A-18 that were involved in a mishap off of the coast of Japan around 2:00 a.m. Dec. 6."...