Tuesday, November 05, 2019

Curiosity on Mars


Curiosity is in the news.  Scottie Andrew (CNN) reports:


On the most recent leg of its solo mission, the rover captured images of a somewhat eerie vista.
The image shows the distant rim of the Gale Crater, a dried-up lake with a mountain in its center, though much of it is concealed by dust. NASA scientists have tasked the Curiosity with exploring it to search for signs of past life.
Curiosity photographed the Martian horizon while traveling up Central Butte, a sloping rock structure where it's searching for sedimentarysignals that suggest water might've flowed there, US Geological Survey planetary geologist Kristen Bennett said.
The Curiosity is a sophisticated machine that was built to explore and probe Mars by itself after NASA lost contact with the Opportunity roverduring a Martian dust storm.





At SCIENCE ALERT, Michelle Starr analyzes a photo Curiosity took and EXPRESS TECH notes:


The Curiosity rover on September 24, conducted a special chemistry experiment called “wet  chemistry” for only the second time after landing on our neighbouring planetin August 2012. The rover dropped a drilled sample in a special solvent that will help it identify the organic molecules which are containing carbon.

Curiosity rover’s mission team has taken this measure as the rover is now exploring a location called “Glen Etive” which is a part of clay-bearing unit, the US space agency said in a statement. Clay is good for preserving various chemical compounds and holdevidence of the existence of water on the surface of Mars.


So that's what Curiosity's been up to.  Now let me note this about Iraq.



Essa, 23, shakes a can of red spray paint, crouches over the sidewalk near Baghdad's Tahrir Square and scrawls something shocking about Iran's supreme leader.

"Khamenei is an ass," it reads.

The insult to Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, spray painted without fear, would have been unimaginable before anti-government protests swept from Iraq's southern coast to its capital in the past month. Demonstrators accuse Iran and Iran-backed politicians of of controlling Iraq and harming the country's interests. Iran has strong links to Iraqi security and intelligence forces, and even perceived insults have led to threats.

Essa says he's not afraid. He has nothing to lose. He's a laborer but he has no work. And like most of the protesters, he blames their entrenched poverty on corrupt Iraqi politicians who put other countries' interests first.

The protests, the biggest since 2003, have shaken the foundations of the Iraqi government. More than 250 protesters have been killed and thousands more wounded since the demonstrations began in early October, demanding jobs and better public services.




That's Jane Arraf so take it with a grain of salt.  Not an Arraf fan.  As for the biggest since 2003, these protests are huge but I would love to know how she's making that call.  I think she's basing it basically on Baghdad.  These are huge protests but I'd need to hear from someone I respect (Ned Parker, for example) to know that these are the biggest since 2003.  Especially since so many -- including Jane Arraf -- have ignored previous protests.  Ned, by contrast, covered all of them while he was in Iraq.  I trust him.


We talk about the protests at THIRD in "Roundtable" and be sure to check out Ava and C.I.'s "TV: It's tricky,"



"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Tuesday, November 5, 2019.


In Iraq, the question remains: Where is Saba Al Mahdawi?


 1 hour ago
has been missing for 3 days. The 35 year old activist and medic was kidnapped by armed men on her way home from Tahrir Square, Baghdad. The car plate is known and so are the perpetrates. The has done nothing to rescue her.
 
 


In the US, another question remains -- why is Joe Biden still in the race?  Yes, trash like Alyssa Milano will forever try to prop him up.  Otherwise?  His support is dropping.  Young adult Americans have never been behind him.




  1.  Nov 1
Lily Levin of Buzzfeed had the audacity to ask Joe Biden about his SuperPAC support and climate change. His reply: “Take a look at my record, child. Look at my record.”
14 replies47 retweets94 likes
 
 
 Oct 31
Opinion: I Asked Joe Biden A Tough Question, So He Called Me A Child. He Wants To Be President? - πŸ‘ I’m with Lily Levin! Such a bright, respectful but assertive young woman. You were right. He was wrong. With the youth is where our country needs to lead
 
 
 Oct 31
Replying to   and 
Lily Levin for President!
2 likes
 
 
 Oct 31
Yea. This interaction between Lily Levin, a young activist, and was super cringy. If Biden hopes to attract young people, this is definitely not the way to do it.
1 like
 
 
 Oct 31
Today in teens vs. boomers: Here's 18-year old Lily Levin writing about her encounter with Joe Biden, who interrupted her question with "Look at my record, child". She's not impressed!
24 replies56 retweets147 likes
 
 



Tom Gara is incorrect.  Joe Biden is not a baby boomer.  He predates the baby boom by a few years  Basic demographics argue the boom begins in 1946.

Joe's disrespecting young voters and, especially, young women voters, with his response to Lily Levin.  Cedric ("Joe wants your vote but he doesn't want to interact with you"), Wally ("THIS JUST IN! WORTHLESS JOE BIDEN INSULTS YOUNG VOTERS!") and Ann ("Neither Joe Biden nor Alyssa Milano give a damn about women") addressed this issue.


While some agree with Lily Levin:

 Nov 1
is a rising star!
stay holding our politicians accountable!! Biden’s support for former fossil fuel executives shows that he has continued to undermine low income communities of color—specifically Indigenous & Black communities—through environmental racism and injustice, both…
 
 


Some do not:

 Nov 1
: lily - I too am concerned but I am also a pragmatist. Biden’s not perfect but he has compassion earned by tragic life experiences; he has a good heart. Job #1: defeat Trump. In spite of your experience with him, he still has the best opportunity to win. Peace.
 
 


Lily can take comfort in the fact that Servere13 is a raging idiot.  In the Tweet above he wants you to know that Joe Biden is someone who "has compassion earned by tragic life experiences."  What a load of nonsense.  Joe does love to play drama queen and cry in public; however, there's no sign that he has compassion.  Compassion would not have supported an illegal war on Iraq -- a war that continues.  Compassion would not have looked the other way at Nouri al-Maliki's secret prisons and torture chambers and insisted Nouri get a second term after the Iraqi people voted him out.  Compassion would not have led to silence from Joe as Nouri went on to spend his second term targeting Sunnis -- this targeting is what led to the rise of ISIS in Iraq.  That happened under Joe's watch.  Drama Queen Mother Joe had a lot of misfortune and, goodness knows, he loves to whine about it, but there's no indication that this misfortune made him more sensitive to the needs of others.  And "he"?  I'm finding it hard to believe that a woman would write a defense for the Clinton marriage.  I think most women would either be silent on the topic or react the way Rosie O'Donnell did in her standup in the early '00s.  Hillary chose to be a doormat.  That's her choice.  But I don't see many women rushing forward to say, "It's true love!"  We tend to realize it's a man who knows he can cheat on his wife having his cake and his neighbor's cake and eating everything he can.  I guess, to some men, that might be an attractive marriage.  But women aren't really sitting around talking to each other asking, "Do you think the most romantic moment in the marriage was when Bill cheated on Hillary as governor or when he cheated on her as president?"


Along with an inability to relate to young adults, Joe's still got his Hunter Biden problem.


 9 hours ago
John Solomon obtained emails showing Hunter Biden's Ukrainian gas firm Burisma indeed used an intermediary to reach out to the Obama admin to shape gov's perception of the company as "corrupt," name-dropping Hunter secure a meeting
10 replies39 retweets76 likes
 
 
Show this thread



  1.  38 minutes ago
.: "We also now know the name of the whistleblower. The whistleblower needs to come forward as a material witness bc he worked for Joe Biden at the same time Hunter Biden was getting money from corrupt oligarchs. I say tonight to the media, do your job & print his name."
/>
0:11
102 replies24 retweets70 likes
 
 
 1 hour ago
Sen. : "Hunter Biden made $50,000 a month. That's the definition of corruption. We know he got it only because of his family connections."
/>
120 replies37 retweets84 likes
 
 


I didn't realize the leaker wasn't being named by the press.



  1.   Retweeted
     Nov 2
Eric Ciaramella: - Sent by to the - Worked for - Advised on “Ukraine policy” - Invited operative to NSC - Coordinated illegally with as fake whistleblower Understand?
1,048 replies10,441 retweets15,315 likes
 
 


That's the leaker.  If he wants to try to start impeachment, he needs to appear publicly.  He's not a rape victim.  He's someone who insists that someone, somewhere, saw something and passed it on to people who told people in a Faberge Organics Shampoo kind of way.




And, according to the leaker, eventually it reached him.

You can't make charges for impeachment from behind a screen.  He's a leaker, he's not the great and powerful Oz.


The protests continue in Iraq.  In "Analyst: Iraq protests have 'overcome sectarianism," (ALJAZEERA), Ghassan al-Attiya observes:
For weeks before the protests, there were ongoing discussions around the extent to which the public has become frustrated with the political elite. The protests, however, started in Baghdad as completely peaceful demonstrations. Groups that are far removed from any political parties were responsible for organising the demonstrations.
Yet, the security forces responded to the demonstrations with heavy-handed tactics. But as the protests continued demonstrators from southern and central areas of Iraq joined the movement. That is when the protests became more violent as a Shia-Shia battle began to emerge. Protesters burned down the headquarters and offices of Shia political parties and armed groups.

There are regional and international powers that have an interest in the continuation of the protests. They have resorted to the media to serve this interest. There is no proof the movement has received any financial or military support from an external power, however.


REUTERS notes today, "Internet access in the capital Baghdad and much of Iraq has been cut off, internet blockage observatory NetBlocks said late on Monday as the country experiences a wave of anti-government protests."

 1 minute ago
Iraq shuts down internet again as protests intensify
 
 


 17 minutes ago
Cyber security NGO NetBlocks says that the blackout is 'the most severe telecommunication restriction to have been imposed by Iraq's government since protests began' on October 1.
 
 



ALJAZEERA reports 8 protesters killed yesterday (five in Baghdad).  REUTERS notes that 13 have been shot dead in the past 24 hours.  And Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) reports:


 Talks on amendments to the Iraqi constitution began on Tuesday as internet access was cut in Baghdad amid renewed clashes in the capital.
The first meeting of a parliamentary committee that was formed last month to oversee the drafting of constitutional adjustments took place in parliament, with officials hoping it will help meet the public's demands and calm weeks of widespread protests.
Iraq has experienced massive anti-government demonstrations in Baghdad and across the mostly Shiite south since the beginning of October.
Protesters are calling for an overhaul of the political system established after the 2003 US-led invasion.
"The committee is represented by Iraq's three main components and all minorities," an Iraqi official, who wished to remain anonymous, told The National.




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