Diary (December 17, 2020)

Online diary of Karl Jones for Thursday December 17, 2020.

Previous: Diary (December 16, 2020) - Next: Diary (December 18, 2020)

Diary

Gallery

• 

  Still Life with Light

• 

  Sidney Powell

• 

  Mary Cartwright - Wikipedia page screenshot.

Whistleblower Brian Murphy pressed to exaggerate leftist role in urban protests

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former acting chief of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence office has told Congress that DHS leaders pressed him to overstate illegal border crossings from Mexico and overplay the role of far left groups in violence during anti-government protests last summer, his lawyer said.

In testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, former intelligence chief Brian Murphy accused department leadership of urging him to "blame Far Left groups in an exaggerated fashion" for violence during summer protests in Portland, Oregon, according to lawyer Mark Zaid.

In closed-door committee hearings last Friday and Monday, Murphy acknowledged that Far Left protesters were responsible for some of the violence, Zaid said.

In a Sept. 8 whistleblower complaint, Murphy accused President Donald Trump’s acting DHS chief, Chad Wolf, of having told him to hold back on circulating assessments of the threat of Russian interference in the approaching Nov. 3 election in part because it "made the President look bad." Wolf also asked Murphy to play down U.S. white supremacist activity, the complaint said.

Zaid said the committee questioned Murphy about allegations in his complaint that DHS officials pressured him to support greatly exaggerated claims about the number of people entering from Mexico suspected of plotting attacks on the United States.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen delivered congressional testimony which amounted to a "deliberate submission of false material information," according to an initially anonymous whistleblower complaint Murphy submitted to DHS’ inspector general.

An Intelligence Committee spokeswoman said the panel welcomed Murphy’s testimony and that the panel would share the results of its investigation with the public.

• U.S. whistleblower was pressed to exaggerate leftist role in urban protests, lawyer says by Mark Hosenball @ Reuters

A Minneapolis cop told Somali American teens he was proud U.S. troops killed ‘you folk’ during Black Hawk Down

The cell phone recording went viral around the world: a 24-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department threatening to break the leg of a teenager if he didn’t cooperate when stopped by police in March 2015.

“If you fuck with me, I’m gonna break your leg before you even get a chance to run,” Officer Roderic Weber told one of the four Somali American teens in the car. “I don’t screw around.”

“Can you tell me why I’m being arrested?” one of the teens asked.

“Because I feel like arresting you,” Weber replied.

• A Minneapolis cop told Somali American teens he was proud U.S. troops killed ‘you folk’ during Black Hawk Down. The police union fought to keep his job anyway.

Sidney Powell's secret source

Sidney Powell's secret source who used the pseudonym 'Spider' and identified himself as a military intelligence expert in her evidence-free election fraud lawsuits is actually an IT consultant, report says

The "former military intelligence official" who is cited under the anonymous name "Spider" in Sidney Powell's election lawsuits reportedly has no intelligence expertise and is an IT consultant, according to a Washington Post report.

Joshua Merritt, a 43-year-old information technology consultant, confirmed his identity as "Spider" to the Post.

He acknowledged that being cited as an expert was misleading.

• Sidney Powell's secret source who used the pseudonym 'Spider' and identified himself as a military intelligence expert in her evidence-free election fraud lawsuits is actually an IT consultant, report says @ Business Insider

Santa Santa Claus

"Santa Santa Claus" - Words and music copyright ©1984 by Howard Ashby Kranz
 

     A                 C#7                  F#m                    F#7

1. Marmalade, mincemeat pie, better watch out, don’t you cry

A          E        F#m        Bm A      E        A         E    

coming at you from the sky, Santa Santa Claus.

     A                         C#7               F#m                    F#7

2. Chocolate fudge, lemon drops, soldier dolls with guns that pop

A          E            F#m   Bm     A      E        A         A7    

this is where the dollar stops, Santa Santa Claus.

 

                D       F#m     Bm    D             A           E             A           A7

Bridge:  Get in on that giveaway, hey, come pa rum pum pum pum

  D          F#m Bm        D            E             B7          E         E7

Gets you anything you say, just don’t ask where it comes from.

 

     A                 C#7                  F#m              F#7

3. Makes a list, checks it twice, guess you’d better pay his price,

A          E        F#m           Bm     A      E        A         E    

he’s the one that cuts your slice, Santa Santa Claus.

 

    A          C#7      F#m              F#7

4. Fa la la, la la la, Santa Claus, Santa Claus

A       E       F#m  Bm A      E       A         A7    

ho ho ho ho ha ha ha, Santa Santa Claus.

 

                D       F#m     Bm    D             A           E             A           A7

Bridge:  Get in on that giveaway, hey, come pa rum pum pum pum

  D          F#m Bm        D            E             B7          E         E7

Gets you anything you say, just don’t ask where it comes from.

 

     A                 C#7                  F#m              F#7

5. Tell your ma, tell your pa, he’s not taking any jaw,

        A               E      F#m      Bm  A      E        A        E        A      E        A 

he’s quick, he’s easy, he’s the law, Santa Santa Santa Santa Santa Santa Claus.

Erwin Schrödinger on everything that really matters to us

Science puts everything in a consistent order but is ghastly silent about everything that really matters to us: beauty, color, taste, pain or delight, origins, God and eternity.

—Erwin Schrödinger

TO_DO - source

Capitol Hill Lutheran Church

Capitol Hill Lutheran Church is a congregation in the East Village of Des Moines, Iowa. Our members were born on five different continents and are from 23 different countries and live throughout the metro area. We celebrate our cultural and ethnic diversity in all that we do. This makes things a little messy from time to time, but we think that’s a genuine expression of the body of Christ. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

• About CHLC

Border wall pork barrel

CNN (20 May 2020) — Company touted by Trump wins billion-dollar border wall construction contract

A construction company that has been repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump and his allies has been awarded a major border wall construction contract valued at more than $1.2 billion, a US Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday.

North Dakota company Fisher Sand and Gravel was awarded the contract for "border barrier infrastructure" on May 6, the spokesperson said.

The Arizona Daily Star first reported the Fisher contract, which has not been announced by the Defense Department or Customs and Border Protection.

News of the deal comes as the company's December border contract -- worth $400 million -- continues to be reviewed by the Defense Department inspector general in response to a request from Congress. House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said at the time that a series of actions "raise concerns about the possibility of inappropriate influence" on the decision to award the firm a contract.

"I am requesting that you review the award of this contract to ensure that the bid submitted by Fisher Sand and Gravel Co. met the solicitation standards and that USACE made the award in accordance with federal procurement law and regulations," Thompson wrote at the time, referring to the US Army Corps of Engineers. While the President has publicly touted Fisher, the company has a history of red flags -- including more than $1 million in fines for environmental and tax violations. A decade ago, a former co-owner of the company pleaded guilty to tax fraud and was sentenced to prison.

• [1] @ CNN

Living on volcanoes

A hungry man feels no future.

Think about people living on the slopes of active volcanoes. All around the world, countless thousands of people live on the slopes of active volcanoes.

From the comfort and safety of my little house in Ely, it's easy to think, "Fuck me, who would live on the slope of an active volcano? You would have to be crazy! Go! Get the hell out of there!"

And yet there they are, people living on the slopes of active volcanoes.

I can only conclude that those people have no options — they are *stuck* on those volcanos.

• Comment @ Facebook

Fiction cross-reference

• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles