Scott

Lawmakers in the Missouri House of Representatives this week adopted a stricter dress code for women as part of a new rules package, and now requires them to cover their shoulders by wearing a jacket like a blazer, cardigan or knit blazer. The addition, which was proposed by Republican state Rep. Ann Kelley, sparked outrage from some Democrats who said the change was sexist because the dress code for men was not altered. Men in the Missouri House of Representatives are required to wear a jacket, shirt and a tie. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/13/politics/missouri-dress-code-lawmakers-house/index.html

U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman has a Christian nationalist flag connected to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol displayed outside his congressional office. On Friday morning, Grothman posted a picture of the flag — which shows an image of a pine tree and the phrase “An Appeal to Heaven” on a white background — to his Twitter account with a message inviting people to visit him in the Longworth House Office Building. “With the 118th Congress underway, the People’s House has finally reopened to visitors,” Grothman wrote. “If you’re in Washington DC, I encourage you to stop by my office and say hello!” https://www.rawstory.com/gop-congressman-displays-christian-nationalist-flag-outside-his-congressional-office/

House Republicans are investigating the discovery of classified documents at President Joe Biden's home and office. The inquiry comes as the White House faces questions over the timing of the files' disclosure. The first tranche of documents was found in November, just ahead of the 2022 midterm election that gave Republicans control of the lower chamber of Congress. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64270906

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Just days after attending the 2023 Golden Globes, Lisa Marie Presley was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital where she was later pronounced dead at 54. "It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us," Priscilla confirmed in a statement to People Jan. 12. "She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known. https://www.eonline.com/news/1361252/lisa-marie-presley-dead-at-54

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Prince Harry's Memoir Is the Fastest Selling Nonfiction Book in UK The only books that sold more on their first day featured a very different Harry: Harry Potter. Prince Harry's memoir Spare hit shelves globally yesterday to much fanfare. Not only has it garnered media attention, however, but it is breaking sales records. In the UK, Spare just became the fastest selling nonfiction book ever. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a42460584/prince-harry-spare-memoir-fastest-selling-nonfiction-book/

Europe's largest deposit of rare earths - which are used from mobile phones to missiles - has been found in Sweden. No rare earths are mined in Europe at the moment and a Swedish minister hailed the find as a way of reducing the EU's dependence on China. The discovery is also being seen as "decisive" for the green transition, given the expected rise in demand for electric vehicles and wind turbines. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64253708

An American Navy veteran who has been detained in Russia for nearly a year was released from Russian custody on Thursday, his family’s spokesperson told CNN, after months of negotiations spearheaded by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Taylor Dudley, 35, of Lansing, Michigan, was detained by Russian border patrol police in April 2022 after crossing from Poland into Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave which is territory governed by Moscow between Poland and Lithuania. He was in Poland attending a music festival, and it is not clear why he crossed the border. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/12/politics/taylor-dudley-navy-veteran-released-russia/index.html

One of Australia's top politicians has admitted wearing a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday party and has apologised. New South Wales (NSW) premier Dominic Perrottet, 40, revealed the incident on Thursday, two days after a colleague raised it with him privately. He said it was a terrible mistake, made when he was young and naïve. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-64245422

Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to take over the investigation into President Joe Biden's potential mishandling of classified documents. The special counsel is Robert Hur. The appointment is a major moment for Biden, who has mostly been able to steer clear of legal problems during his time in the White House. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/garland-attorney-general-statement-01-12-23/index.html

Federal prosecutors could decide soon whether to indict the president’s son on tax and gun charges, and he faces a fresh round of hostile congressional hearings. But a close look at his story shows that it differs in important ways from the narrative promoted by Republicans. The way Republicans tell it, President Biden has been complicit in a long-running scheme to profit from his position in public life through shady dealings around the world engineered by his son, Hunter Biden. Taking a first step in their long-promised investigation, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday demanded information about the Bidens’ banking transactions from the Treasury Department. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/us/politics/hunter-biden-investigations.html?searchResultPosition=1 Story also available here: https://www.yahoo.com/news/hunter-bidens-tangled-tale-comes-124714839.html

It seems that the Executive Branch needs to review it's procedure for handling of Classified documents -- and probably all papers that are ultimately removed from the White House. I suspect a lot of other agencies will need a review as well. Many years ago, I dealt with classified documents. The receipt of the document was logged in and they were delivered to the proper person. Some were sealed so that the person delivering them couldn't review them. Some were not, it depended on how sensitive it was. When a document was delivered to the authorized person it was logged out and when it was returned it was logged back in and someone with a higher clearance than mine was responsible to file them. The difficulty with ordinary classified documents was that the recipient had no time limit on how long they could keep it. The documents that we dealt with were not top secret.

BREVARD, Fla. — NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin are faced with extending their stay aboard the International Space Station by several months and will require a new ride home after their Russian MS-22 Soyuz spacecraft sprang a leak last month. The trio was supposed to use that spacecraft to return to Earth in March. Wednesday, NASA and Russian space officials unveiled a plan to launch an empty Soyuz capsule to the ISS to ferry them back instead. That means the three men will spend several more months at the ISS. https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-russian-astronauts-stuck-waiting-015404901.html

There has been a stark drop in support for leaving the European Union in member states across the continent in the aftermath of the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, new data shows. In a European Social Survey, respondents were asked how they would vote in a hypothetical referendum on whether their country should remain in the EU, first in 2016-2017 and again in 2020-2022. Support for leaving the EU fell in every member state for which results are available across that time period, led by a drop of 11.8 percentage points in Finland, 10 percentage points in Slovenia, 8.8 in Austria, and 8.6 in Portugal. https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/2023/01/10/collapse-in-support-for-leaving-eu-in-member-states-since-brexit/

The former King of Greece, Constantine II, has died at the age of 82, CNN affiliate CNN Greece reported on Tuesday. According to CNN Greece, the former King had experienced serious health problems in the past few months and recently contracted coronavirus for the second time, which appeared to have significantly worsened his condition. Constantine first tested positive for Covid-19 in January 2022, after being hospitalized with pneumonia the previous month, CNN Greece reported. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/europe/king-constantine-ii-greece-dies-intl-scli

Elon Musk has broken the world record for the largest loss of personal fortune in history. From November 2021 to December 2022 he lost around $165bn, Guinness World Records said in a blog on its website. The figures are based on data from publisher Forbes, but Guinness said other sources suggested Mr Musk's losses could have been higher. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64236726