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"Red Sparrow" Mariia Butina Accused of Being Russian Agent
The gunslinging Russian woman accused of cozying up to American officials to infiltrate the U.S. political system — at the behest of her Kremlin-linked mentor and with the help of her American boyfriend — allegedly tried to trade sex for influence.
The "Red Sparrow" scenario was unveiled Wednesday in a government memorandum that laid out the reasons why prosecutors believe Mariia Butina, 29, should remain jailed until trial.
During a detention hearing in federal court on Wednesday afternoon, Butina pleaded not guilty to being an unregistered foreign agent and was again ordered held without bail.
Should I apply for a management position?
I've been working for the same company for 13 years - 10 of which have been in my current role. I do application support for a highly customized, business critical application. I'm good at my job. I've automated most of the job away. I can fix any issue that comes up. It's easy.
A manager position has just opened up to manage the team I am currently a member of. I'm not sure if I should apply or not.
One one hand, I know the company well. I know the functions of the group intimately. I am familiar with the business processes and know most of the key people on the business side of the house and have good relationships with them. I'm good at fixing problems. I'm good at working with others to get a problem solved. I like running meetings (I like the showmanship). I've been doing the same thing for a long time. I'm comfortable.
On the other hand, I'm not all that organized. I don't like screwing around with excel. I hate powerpoint. Basically, I hate all of office. Managers at my organization tend not to last more than a couple years. I have a solid pension that if I can hang in here until I'm 55, I could retire. I'm also tired all the time from my baby. We are going to get pregnant again soon so I'm not going to be any less tired for the forseeable future. I don't know if I have the energy.
Should I give up a good cushy job that allows me to dick around on the Internet for most of the day? The management position would probably come with a raise, but it probably wouldn't be that much extra (I'd guess +15%ish, maybe). I'm bored of my current job and feel stagnant in life, but I'm also exhausted.
What do you say? Stay and keep my chair warm for another 20 years to retire with pension at 55, or try for the manager position and get some experience that I will need a couple years later after the next round of 'restructuring'?
Herpetology's #MeToo Moment
Congrats France& Russia!🇫🇷🇷🇺
Congratulations to France, who played extraordinary soccer, on winning the 2018 World Cup. Additionally, congratulations to President Putin and Russia for putting on a truly great World Cup Tournament -- one of the best ever! breitbart.com/sports/2018/07/15/party-begins-as-delirious-french-revel-in-world-cup-victory
Looking forward to meeting with President Putin in Helsinki tomorrow! Unfortunately, no matter how well I do at the Summit, if I was given the great city of Moscow -- always so much fun -- as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia over the years, I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough -- that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition! Much of our news media is indeed the enemy of the people and all the Dems know how to do is RESIST & OBSTRUCT! This is why there is such HATRED & DISSENSION in our Country -- but at some point, I will heal it! 💉😷💉
Joint Press Conference from Helsinki, Finland: pscp.tv/w/bhy5sDFvTlFs…
New Grow Light in Cannada
New Grow Light Technology Being Tested in Canada
A new, broad-spectrum light that mimics sunlight more closely than others is being tested in Canada, the Edmonton Journal reports. The light is manufactured by Edmonton-based G2V Optics and was originally designed to test solar cells at the University of Alberta.
Michael Taschuk, the developer of the light, previously managed a team of researchers at the University of Alberta. The lights have been in use at Endless Sky Canna Corp in British Columbia, Canada.
Endless Sky’s CEO Travis George reports that the lights are twice as effective as other grow lights the company has used.
NASA Training 17-Year-Old Girl to DIE ON MARS
HOME / INSPIRING
NASA Is Training This 17-Year-Old Girl to Become One of the First Humans on Mars
Better than dying on the Space Shuttle, I suppose.
Did not know that! Sock city exists!
A guy i know makes socks geared towards bicyclers (geared! get it?). His business is Sneaky Socks.
He was telling us about making socks (more interesting than you'd think) and he says it's hard to produce socks like China at their price because they have ENTIRE CITIES based on making things for your body:
Sock city: an entire city based on the production (and support) of socks.
They also have entire cities doing sweaters, shirts, pants, etc.
Imagine trying to compete with that.
He also says that they use cheap wool and nylon and the fibers are run between ropes drenched with kerosene in order to keep the 'fuzzing' down: better socks are made with better fibers and this is not needed.
It was, really, more interesting than i thought.
Two quick searches led me to these:
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/24/business/worldbusiness/in-roaring-china-sweaters-are-west-of-socks-city.html/
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/sep/09/sock-city-decline-china-economy
Ask Soylent: any reason NOT to ditch NATO?
This is a story. And I made it into a Sub. But I'm putting it in my journal too. Due to the very sad situation with OBSTRUCTIONIST Editors blocking my Subs. Enjoy!!!
"In an early morning tweet Tuesday, President Trump wrote: 'Getting ready to leave for Europe. First meeting - NATO. The U.S. is spending many times more than any other country in order to protect them. Not fair to the U.S. taxpayer. On top of that we lose $151 Billion on Trade with the European Union. Charge us big Tariffs (& Barriers)!'
And in another tweet President Trump wrote: 'NATO countries must pay MORE, the United States must pay LESS. Very Unfair!'
................
NATO was formed to defend against the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. But the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact died in 1991 – and NATO’s original mission died then as well. Soviet tanks are no longer primed to head into Europe to conquer our NATO partners. NATO is now a world-class military alliance looking for a mission." foxnews.com/opinion/2018/07/10/trump-is-right-nato-is-obsolete-and-hes-delivering-that-message-loud-and-clear.html
"In a new assessment of the NATO spending and burden-sharing issues, the Center for Strategic and International Studies called Trump's language 'uniquely divisive' and said NATO members' contributions should be measured by more than simple budget numbers. The think tank was referring to the pledge at NATO's 2014 summit meeting that members would 'aim to move toward' spending at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense by 2024. By its count, only four of NATO's 29 member countries met the 2 percent goal in 2017. They were the U.S., Greece, Britain and Estonia." foxnews.com/us/2018/07/10/trumps-attacks-on-nato-raise-questions-about-its-future.html
Thank you, Estonia! We love Estonia. But unfortunately, very small Country. By the way here's the link to the Report. Graph 3 has the percentage of GDP. USA has the biggest percentage BY FAR. And the biggest GDP. So unfair! nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2018_07/20180709_180710-pr2018-91-en.pdf
Puerto rico no go
With the USgov seemingly unwilling to aid Puerto Rico, wouldn't it be something for Putin to step in and say Russia will send aid.
I'd bet you'd see a US 180° turn.
And Putin might then win the Nobel peace prize? :) Yeah, right.
Is SoylentNews dieing?
Great story about Judge Brett, I made a tweet to it, no problem. 2nd tweet, big problems. Because the Website told me "404 File Not Found." I didn't say, find me the 404 File. I was trying to tweet. And it kept telling me that. Then my tweet went through -- but it went through twice! Making me look very foolish. And now I'm trying to write in my journal. And it looks so different, it looks very special. Like Arik's tweets.
