Scott

WASHINGTON — Guy Reffitt, a Texan who prosecutors said “lit the match” of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was sentenced to 7 1/4 years in prison on Monday, the longest sentence of any rioter to date but less than what the Justice Department had pushed for. Reffitt, a 49-year-old from Wylie, was the first rioter to to be convicted at trial in March when a jury found him guilty on five counts: two counts of civil disorder and one count each of obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining on restricted grounds with a firearm and obstruction of justice. Reffitt, who was a recruiter for the antigovernment movement The Three Percenters, never entered the Capitol but helped ignite the crowd “into an unstoppable force” against police officers who were attempting to protect the Senate wing doors, a prosecutor at the trial said. He was equipped with a handgun, body armor, a helmet, radio and flex cuffs. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/01/guy-reffitt-jan-6-riot/

TAMPA, Fla. - Hurricane Ian's track has shifted south of the Tampa Bay area Tuesday evening, but the storm continues to strengthen as it moves toward Florida's Gulf Coast. The storm could make landfall as a Category 3 or Category 4 storm Wednesday afternoon or evening. In its 5 p.m. update Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center shows Hurricane Ian as a Category 3 storm, spinning southwest of the Florida Keys and northeast of Cuba. https://www.fox13news.com/weather/hurricane-ian-category-3-tuesday-impacts

This topic is attracting some unwanted attention. //Closed//

European countries on Tuesday raced to investigate unexplained leaks in two Russian gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea near Sweden and Denmark, infrastructure at the heart of an energy crisis since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Experts and also Russia, which built the network, said the possibility of sabotage could not be ruled out. Sweden’s Maritime Authority issued a warning about two leaks in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, shortly after a leak on the nearby Nord Stream 2 pipeline was discovered that prompted Denmark to restrict shipping in a five nautical mile radius. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/energy/nord-stream-pipeline-leaks/index.html

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I believe you can assign a value to thing but if you want to steer clear of problems with the IRS, it's best to have some realistic reason for the value you assign to it. When it comes to property, there are professional assessors who do it. I had some inherited farm land that after years we decided to sell. Fortunately, there was a pretty comprehensive evaluation of the property made, it included the type of land (based on soil samples), it included wet land areas, it included pasture land and it assigned value to all buildings. It also deducted from the overall evaluation issues that may require upgrading prior to sale -- such as a septic system. When it was sold, years later, some family thought we could value it higher than the assessment and thereby avoid capital gains taxes. I resisted. It was not worth the risk. There was a fair value (no other land sales in the area differed by much at that time). I know a few people that have run afoul of the IRS and it's a very unpleasant organization. I certainly wanted to stay on the safe side.

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I am not wishing to get into the discussion on abortion per se, but when I was working in Bosnia-Herzegovina after the Balkan war, there were quite a number of Muslim women who were pregnant from having been raped by Serbian soldiers. Abortion wasn't an option legally or religiously. I remember well one young lady who had requested an abortion, but couldn't get it. She was counseled that as soon as the child was born, it could be removed and would be placed for adoption. She did not want that because, in her thinking, it would still be around. She had the baby and through a number of agencies was given a lot of support in caring for the child. It seemed to be going fairly well and she appeared to have bonded with the child. She had several months of intensive help. However, even with all the assistance, support and help, the first time she was left alone with the baby she killed it. When she was questioned about her choices, she stated that the child was the product of an evil act and that evil would be alive unless the child died. Abortion may have been a better option, had it been available. At least for her, the misery would have ended rather than the jail term she eventually was sentenced to.

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The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will help determine if intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its course.NASA/Johns Hopkins, APL/Steve Gribben The mission, known as DART, or the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, will attempt a method of planetary defense that could save Earth from an asteroid on a potential collision course with the planet. It's a rare opportunity to conduct a real-world experiment on an asteroid that doesn't pose a threat to Earth, said Bruce Betts, the chief scientist at the Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization that conducts research, advocacy and outreach to promote space exploration. Betts called the DART mission "a big step forward for humanity," saying it will not only help scientists assess one of the most popular ideas for planetary defense but also provide an exciting way to raise awareness about the need to plan ahead for such circumstances. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/nasa-crash-spacecraft-asteroid-mission-one-day-humanity-rcna48918

HAVANA, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Cubans approved gay marriage and adoption overwhelmingly in a Sunday referendum backed by the government that also boosted rights for women, the national election commission said on Monday. More than 3.9 million voters voted to ratify the code (66.9%), while 1.95 million opposed ratification (33%), Alina Balseiro Gutierrez, president of the commission, said on state-run television on Monday. "Justice has been done," Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote in a tweet. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cubans-approve-gay-marriage-by-large-margin-referendum-2022-09-26/

Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday granting Russian citizenship to the US whistleblower Edward Snowden. Snowden, 39, a former US intelligence contractor, has been living in Russia since 2013 to escape prosecution in the US after leaking secret files, published by the Guardian, that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the US National Security Agency. In 2020, Snowden said that he and his then-pregnant wife were applying for Russian citizenship in order not to be separated from their future son in an era of pandemics and closed borders. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/26/putin-grants-russian-citizenship-to-us-whistleblower-edward-snowden

An Arizona judge on Friday ruled in favor of a 1901 law that would ban abortions in the state at nearly all stages of pregnancy. Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson granted a request by Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich to lift a court injunction that had been in place since the Supreme Court's decision in the Roe v. Wade case, according to CNN. "The court finds that because the legal basis for the judgment entered in 1973 has now been overruled, it must vacate the judgment in its entirety," Johnson wrote in the ruling, per CNN. https://www.businessinsider.com/arizona-uses-121-year-old-law-near-total-abortion-ban-2022-9

Sept 25 (Reuters) - Russia has sought to defend its seven-month old war, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov telling the United Nations that regions of Ukraine where widely-criticised referendums are being held would get Russia's "full protection" if annexed by Moscow. The votes in four eastern Ukrainian regions, aimed at annexing territory Russia has taken by force since its invasion in February, were staged for a third day on Sunday. The Russian parliament could move to formalise the annexation within days. By incorporating the four areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into Russia, Moscow could portray attacks to retake them as an attack on Russia itself, a warning to Kyiv and its Western allies. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/shelling-hits-southern-ukraine-russia-un-spotlight-over-escalation-2022-09-25/

Sept 25 (Reuters) - Russia has sought to defend its seven-month old war, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov telling the United Nations that regions of Ukraine where widely-criticised referendums are being held would get Russia's "full protection" if annexed by Moscow. The votes in four eastern Ukrainian regions, aimed at annexing territory Russia has taken by force since its invasion in February, were staged for a third day on Sunday. The Russian parliament could move to formalise the annexation within days. By incorporating the four areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into Russia, Moscow could portray attacks to retake them as an attack on Russia itself, a warning to Kyiv and its Western allies. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/shelling-hits-southern-ukraine-russia-un-spotlight-over-escalation-2022-09-25/

North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into the waters off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, according to officials in both South Korea and Japan. The short range missile was fired early Sunday morning local time from the Taechon area of North Pyongan Province, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). It said the South Korean and US militaries are maintaining “full readiness posture” and closely cooperating following the launch, which it described as a “significant provocative action that harms peace and safety of the Korean Peninsula as well as the international community.” https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/24/asia/north-korea-ballistic-missile-intl-hnk/index.html

Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney said at The Texas Tribune festival Saturday that if former President Donald Trump becomes the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2024, she will not remain a Republican. “I’m going to make sure Donald Trump, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he is not the nominee. And if he is the nominee, I won’t be a Republican,” Cheney said. Cheney also said she will campaign for Democrats to ensure that Republican candidates who promote election lies do not get elected. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/24/politics/liz-cheney-republican-party-donald-trump-2024/index.html

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According to several posts on the Internet, Jinping, who was recently in Samarkand for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, or SCO, summit, was removed as the chief of China’s People’s Liberation Army, or the PLA Xi Jinping recently attended the SCO summit in Uzbekistan's Samarkand (File/Reuters) HIGHLIGHTS BJP's Subramanian Swamy tweeted about Xi Jinping's house arrest rumours Some on social media claimed Li Qiaoming has been made China's President There has been no official confirmation of the news yet As India fights the Chinese on the northern borders, speculation about Chinese President Xi Jinping being put under house arrest has taken over the social media. According to several posts on the Internet, Jinping, who was recently in Samarkand for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, or SCO, summit, was removed as the chief of China’s People’s Liberation Army, or the PLA. However, there has been no official confirmation yet from the Chinese Communist Party or the state media. “New rumour to be checked out: Is Xi jingping under house arrest in Beijing ? https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/xi-jinping-under-house-arrest-in-china-bjp-subramanian-swamy-tweet-sets-social-media-abuzz-2004296-2022-09-24

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Northern News Net As police cleared the woman's car from the scene, a train barreled through the cruiser -- with her in the back seat. A 20-year-old woman has been hospitalized with "serious bodily injuries" after the police patrol car she was placed in was struck by a train. Per the Colorado Bureau of Investigations, the incident went down in Fort Lupton, Colorado on Friday, September 16 -- after officers responded to a call about an alleged road rage incident involving a firearm. They located the vehicle and made a traffic stop "just past" railroad tracks, with police pulling behind the car on the tracks themselves. https://toofab.com/2022/09/20/platteville-colorado-police-train-tracks/