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....