Congress Wants to Block New D.C. Criminal Laws: Too Soft, They Say

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Leslie Park

On the morning of the last day of February at Columbia Heights in D.C., sirens were wailing on the 14th and Meridian Place, NW. One incident happened in the area around 11:30 p.m. on Monday night, and police were involved in a shooting. According to the DC Police Department’s Twitter, Police shot at a suspect who was said to be armed, and the suspect fled, shot, and killed himself. On its Twitter account, “Assistant Chief Parsons provides an update on the officer-involved shooting in the 1400 block of Park Road NW.” Additional information is not yet available.

Recent Criminal code reformation in DC is bringing more attention to the lawmakers in the Capitol. Mitch McConnell, the minority leader of the House said that “D.C.’s radical local government” has failed to control crime in the city. According to DCist.com, Congress blocked the bill from taking effect.

“The D.C. Council has responded to the crime wave, listen to this, with a new bill to make the city even softer on crime. It lowers maximum penalties for violent crimes and creates new ways to shorten the sentences of incarcerated felons. Well, the good news is the Constitution actually gives the Congress final say over issues in our nation’s capital,” Rep. McConnell added.

“When the soft-on-crime local government has become this completely incompetent when members of Congress cannot go about their daily lives without being attacked and families cannot come [to] visit our Capitol in safety, then it’s about time our federal government provides some adult supervision,” he added.

United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said on February 14 about this bill,

“Carjackings have increased consecutively five years year over year. In the past three years, the number of carjackings in the District of Columbia has tripled. Homicides— 200 homicides in the past two years. And today, in February, we’re running 20 percent ahead of where we were last year in terms of the number of homicides committed here in the District of Columbia. Sexual abuse is up 82 percent, motor vehicle theft [is] up 96 percent, and property theft, in general, is up 19 percent.

I implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join this effort. Let’s send our resolution of disapproval to President [Joe] Biden’s desk. I can’t believe that President Biden wants to encourage more crime here in the District of Columbia. Combating crime should not be a Republican or a Democrat issue— it should be a commonsense issue, a bipartisan issue.” The House passed this resolution and it will be debated and voted on the Senate floor in early March, according to Sen. Hagerty’s office website.

Both chambers are working to block D.C. City Council from implementing the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 (RCCA) from taking effect, considering the laws within to be too liberal and too “dangerous.”

Car-related Crime Soars in DC; even Police Cars are Unsafe

Posted on February 27, 2023 by Leslie Park

Recently, car-related crimes have surged in DC metropolitan areas, as evidenced by teens’ “Kia Challange” going on around the DMV area.

This time, the carjacking happened at 12:20 a.m. Monday at the Dupont Circle neighborhood. According to DC Police, the victim encountered a group of men armed with multiple cars. They got out of their vehicles, pointed guns at him, and stole the victim’s Porsche.

The stolen car is a gray 2013 Porsche Cayenne. Police didn’t release the suspect’s photos, videos, or the victim’s information.

Mayor Bowser joined with MPD on Feb. 23 to offer free steering wheel locks to District residents. Starting on Feb. 24, residents who own a 2011-2021 Kia or Hyundai vehicle became eligible to receive a carlock from a nearby MPD District station, as part of a partnership agreement with Kia and Hyundai. The move followed a social media challenge that encouraged car thieves to use a USB cable to steal these types of cars, leading to a significant upswing in such thefts. according to Georgetowner.com.

“Car theft is a serious problem – it’s incredibly stressful and often costly and time-consuming for the victims, and it’s dangerous to have these stolen cars on the road,” said Mayor Bowser. “I encourage all D.C. residents who own a 2011-2021 Kia or Hyundai to pick up their free steering wheel locks as soon as possible from a District station to prevent theft. As MPD and our public safety partners work together to prevent car theft and hold accountable those who are stealing cars in our city, this is one way we can work together to proactively prevent crime.”

D.C. Police patrol cars were also vandalized over the weekend in front of their downtown police headquarters by a person. According to a police report, after calling for help, the caller smashed the headlights and taillights of a marked van and cruiser.

If you have Kia or Hyundai 2013-2023 models, you can get free software updates to protect your car from these heinous criminals at your local dealership.

50-Year-Old Woman Crashes Popeyes

Posted on February 23, 2023 by Leslie Park

A Georgia woman by the name of Belinda Miller (50) crashed into a Popeyes restaurant, making headline news locally to nationwide. Belinda found her favorite biscuits missing from her order at Popeyes after she opened up her food. The incident happened last Saturday around 7:45 p.m. Richmond County sheriff’s deputies in Augusta responded to an accident with injuries.

The restaurant manager told deputies that Ms. Miller drove her SUV into the east entrance after she became upset that her order did not have any biscuits. Miller’s order was corrected after her complaint, and she received biscuits prior to the incident, but she “was still not happy,” prior to the incident, Miller made several threats to staff, even calling and threatening to drive her car into the building,” According to USA Today.

One of the employees was standing by the entrance and was almost struck by the car during the incident, noted the deputies. Miller continuously hit the building until her car was stopped by debris, according to the arrest warrant. After crashing into the restaurant, Miller fled from the scene. Her car was later found at her home with front and end damage.

Miller was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault and criminal damage to property in the first degree.

Winter Storm Olive will hit Northwest to Northeast in coming weekend

Posted on February 22, 2023 by Leslie Park

The National Weather Service predicts heavy snow and high winds in the Northwest coast to Northeast coast due to a winter storm, “Olive.” The winter storm will start in Northern California, specifically the Sierra Nevada mountains, and central California valleys with light snow from Wednesday night to next weekend.

Olive will bring gusts of up to 80 mph across the West and the High Plains states on Wednesday. Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, and most of Minnesota have heavy snow as well with 13 Fahrenheit temperatures until Thursday at 0 Fahrenheit. Michigan is under Winter Storm Warning until Thursday, February 23.

More than 150 million residents of southern states might deal with flash flooding with temperatures over 70 Fahrenheit. From this weekend to next weekend, residents will experience extreme weather conditions before cherry blossom season begins.

Travelers from the sky to roads need to be wary of special weather forecasts due to the varied weather patterns caused by Olive. Many flights will be canceled or delayed.

Jupiter and Venus Are Inch Closer from Feb. 22 to March 1 to our naked eyesights

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Leslie Park

Photo From CNet

The Solar system will make a new show from February 22 to March. The king of planets, Jupiter will see Venus after sundown. According to NASA, look west an hour after sunset on Wednesday, Feb. 22, and you will see Jupiter and Venus getting closer to the Moon.

For your convenience, wear binoculars if you have them or look at the sky after dusk. You may also see a livestream from Rome, Italy at 11 a.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday through Youtube.

From tomorrow to March 1, you will see the bright night out event, and you don’t have to wait the midnight to see the event as long as there are no clouds in the sky.

Class Action Lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Escalating After Train Derailment

Posted on February 16, 2023 by Leslie Park

Lawsuits are being filed for damages arising from released toxic chemicals after the Norfolk Southern (NS) train derailed between eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania, forcing thousands of locals to evacuate. On Wednesday, the plaintiffs’ law firm Morgan & Morgan filed a class-action suit in federal court in Ohio on behalf of two women living in East Palestine, near the derailment that happened on Feb. 5, 2023.

Following the derailment, NS said 20 of the more than 100 cars on the train were classified as carrying hazardous materials. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said 11 pressure tank cars carrying hazardous materials derailed, five of which were carrying vinyl chloride. At a Feb. 5 news conference, NTSB said a mechanical problem with a railcar axle caused the derailment. NTSB member Michael Graham said the three-member train crew received a detector alert about the mechanical defect “shortly before the derailment,” but said the Board was still working to determine which railcar experienced the problem. He said investigators identified the exact “point of derailment,” but did not disclose the location, according to Railwayage.com.

“Norfolk Southern discharged more cancer-causing Vinyl Chloride into the environment in the course of a week than all industrial emitters combined did in the course of a year,” the suit alleges, claiming that the company chose to burn the vinyl chloride, turning it into a highly toxic gas, rather than disposing of it safely.

“From chemicals that cause nausea and vomiting to a substance responsible for the majority of chemical warfare deaths during World War I, the people of East Palestine and the surrounding communities are facing an unprecedented array of threats to their health,” Morgan & Morgan attorneys said in a statement.

The suit claims that “thousands of residents” in rural eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania could have been exposed to the toxins, According to CBS. At least six other lawsuits have been filed against the NS’s negligence and seeking payment for property damage, and economic loss due to the exposure to hazardous chemicals. According to CBS News Detroit, State, and local authorities are investigating the incident.

NS was in the news again Thursday when one of its trains derailed in Van Buren Township, Michigan. Roughly 30 cars came off the track, including one containing liquid chlorine, but local public safety officials said on Facebook that there is no evidence of a chemical spill. State and local authorities are investigating, according to CBS News Detroit.

M 5.7 Earthquake Jolts the Ground Already in Flood Aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle Hits In New Zealand

Posted on February 15, 2023 by Leslie Park

Photo captured from USGS

A magnitude of 5.7 earthquakes struck the Cook Strait by New Zealand on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. In the aftermath of the cyclone, Gabrielle hits the country disabled by the landslides and flooding. New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Center tweeted that the shake was “widely felt in the North Island.” There were no immediate reports of damage or injury and no tsunami warning.

According to USGS, The location of New Zealand is the “3000 km long Australia-Pacific Plate boundary” extending from south of Macquarie Island to the southern-Kermadec Island chain which is two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi) and a transpressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.

Due to the transformation of the tectonic plates, convergence, and subduction activities have occurred. The Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone generates many large earthquakes on the interface between the descending Pacific and overriding the Australian plates. Since 2009, one of the largest normal faults (outer rise) earthquakes has ever been recorded as of M 8.1 at the south of Samoa, 40 km east of the Tonga trench, generating a tsunami that left 180 people dead.

The earthquake occurred at the depth of 74km (50 miles) between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is experiencing landslides and flooding due to cyclone Gabrielle, which has been causing havoc in the northern part of the country leaving four people dead this week.

More heavy rain is on the way toward the area as water undertakes the whole region and 5 million people are at risk according to ABC News. In 2011, an earthquake jolted at the South Island leaving 185 people dead. As long as the nation sits on the “Ring of Fire”, more earthquakes will visit the country in the future.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Shows 10 Sample Tubes on Mars for Future Mission

Posted on February 14, 2023 by Leslie Park

Perseverance’s Portrait of the Sample Depot: An annotated version of the portrait captured by NASA’s Perseverance shows the location of the 10 sample tubes in the depot. The “Amalik” sample closest to the rover was about 10 feet (3 meters) away; the “Mageik” and “Malay” samples farthest away were approximately 197 feet (60 meters) from the rover. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS.

NASA just announced the Perseverance rover began building a sample depot on Mars on December 21, 2022, and its 10 titanic tube samples at specific places were completed. The 10 sample tubes are on the surface of Mars where future missions of its “sample retrieval lander” will be part of the campaign, from another planet to Earth to study, according to NASA. “Perseverance built the depot at “Three Forks,” a location within Jezero Crater. Billions of years ago, a river flowed into the crater, carrying sediment that formed a steep, fan-shaped delta that the rover will drive up in the months ahead.”

The 10-tube samples for Mars are astrobiology that seeks the signs of ancient microbial life and the rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate for human exploration of the Red Planet. The first mission will be collecting and caching Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) are cooperating on this mission, and they will send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed tube samples from the surface to bring them to deep analysis.

Eight tubes are filled with rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), one is an atmospheric sample, and one is a witness tube. The rover photographed the depot using the Mastcam-Z camera on the top of its mast, or “head,” on Jan.31, 2023. The color has been adjusted to show the Martian surface closely as it would look to the human eyes. The rover collected 18 tube samples for backup originally.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover. Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in collaboration with the Neils Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen on the design, fabrication, and testing of the calibration targets.

Mary Queen of Scot’s Encoded Letters Deciphered by an International Cryptographers’ Team

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Leslie Park

This figure shows the cipher used to decode Mary Stuart's letters. The researchers deciphered the meaning of the symbols used in Mary Stuart’s letters. Credit: Lasry, Biermann, Tomokiyo

Five centuries of secrets have been unearthed by a team of international cryptographers. The protagonist of the 16-century significant political turmoil in Great Britain, Mary the queen of Scots had sent letters to the French ambassador that were decoded with the help of computers recently.

It was more than 50 letters from Mary the Queen of Scots, sent between 1578 and 1584 to the French ambassador, Michel de Castelnau Mauvissière during the rule of Elizabeth I. The letters from Queen Mary I called Mary Stuart, included concerns about her health issues and hopes for release from her imprisonment by Queen Elizabeth I. Mary Stuart was in the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury because her sister’s political power collided with hers. A letter was written in 1586 that led to Mary’s doom.

One of Elizabeth’s spies, Sir Francis Walsingham, tricked Mary into believing her letters were secure and intercepted one supporting Elizabeth’s assassination. As a result, Mary would be beheaded for treason in 1587, according to ScientificAmerican.com.

Cryptographer George Lasry of the DECRYPT Project, which is a collaboration of historical ciphers at multi-universities around the globe, have been combing through the archives at BnF when they came across pages of ciphers mixed in with documents from Italy dating to the early 1500s. The ciphered letters were believed to be Italian, and the researchers began to try to crack the code. They found the letters used a homophonic cipher that used certain letters, “e” in particular symbols. Lasry says Mary’s cipher used symbols which it was high-frequency words and common word segments. “The cipher was quite complex, and we worked in phases,” Lasry says.

“It’s a stunning piece of research, and these discoveries will be a literary and historical sensation,” said Dr. John Guy of Clare College Cambridge, the leading historian of Mary Queen of Scots.

MH17 Crash that Killed 298 Civilians Most Likely Due to Putin

Posted on February 8, 2023 by Leslie Park

An International team of investigators announced Wednesday that there are “strong indications” Russian president Putin was the person who approved the supply of anti-aircraft weaponry (Buk missile system) to Ukrainian separatists who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014, killing all 298 onboard. A Buk missile system from the Russian military’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, based in the city of Kursk, was used to bring down MH17, according to FoxNews.

Four suspects were involved in the case but one was acquitted due to a lack of evidence, and three men: Two Russians and one pro-Russian-Ukrainian who didn’t present at the trial. The three men are charged with multiple murder charges.

The clearest evidence of Russian involvement presented for the MH17 downing was the Buk missile which came from a Russian military base indicating Moscow had a role in this case. Russia has always denied involvement.

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Monthly Archives: February 2023