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Dem Sen. Kyrsten Sinema doubles down on protecting filibuster: 'She is not open to changing her mind'
January 25, 2021
Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona recently doubled down on her objections to eliminating the Senate filibuster rule.
A Washington Post report on Monday pointed out that many Senate Democrats believe that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will continue a pattern of obstruction if the filibuster rule is left in place.
<p>“There is absolutely no reason to give Senator McConnell months and months to prove what we absolutely know — that he is going to continue his gridlock and dysfunction from the minority," Fix Our Senate spokesperson Eli Zupnick told the paper.</p><p>Democrats have a slim majority, meaning that even one defection could derail the effort to overturn the filibuster rule.</p><p>Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has emerged as the most vocal Democratic opponent of filibuster reform.</p><p>But Sinema has also made it clear that she will not go along with her Democratic colleagues. Her office said recently that she is "not open to changing her mind."</p><p>A spokesperson for Sinema told the <em>Post</em> that the senator is “against eliminating the filibuster, and she is not open to changing her mind about eliminating the filibuster."</p>
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'You're all dead': Dominion lawsuit details Trump supporters' violent threats after Giuliani smear campaign
January 25, 2021
Dominion Voting Systems' newly filed defamation lawsuit against Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani details the violent threats company employees received thanks to Giuliani's conspiratorial rants against them.
The lawsuit notes that Giuliani on Christmas Day last year devoted his personal podcast to falsely claiming that Dominion voting machines illegally switched votes from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden, which spurred some Trump supporters to remark that Dominion employees needed to be "executed for treason."
<p>The threats against Dominion employees grew even more deranged, as evidenced by one message left on the company's customer service line as cited in the lawsuit.</p><p>"You're all f*cking dead," the Trump supporter said in their message. "We're bringing back the firing squad and you f*ckers are all dead, everybody involved up against the wall you motherf*ckers."</p><p>Another Trump supporter made a similar threat through Dominion's main office line.</p><p>"F*ck you, f*cking scumbags," the Trump supporter said. "We're gonna blow your f*cking building up. Piece of f*cking sh*t."</p><p>Dominion argues that these threats forced it to spend significant sums just to keep its workforce safe from Trump supporters.</p><p>"Because of these threats and numerous others, Dominion has made significant expenditures to protect its people from harm -- including by employing on-site police and security," the lawsuit states. "Since the beginning of the viral disinformation campaign, Dominion has spent more than $565,000 on private security for the protection of its people."</p><p><a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.226485/gov.uscourts.dcd.226485.1.0.pdf" target="_blank">Read the whole lawsuit here (PDF)</a>.</p>
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Decades worth of archaeological finds went on public display Monday in Pompeii, shedding further light on the ancient Roman city destroyed by a volcanic eruption nearly 2,000 years ago.
One is a sorcerer's toolbox including dozens of amulets, rings, statuettes and other good luck charms made of ivory, bronze, glazed ceramics and amber -- that were clearly not enough to protect the city from doom.
<p>"It's one of the most peculiar things we found during our excavations: amulets we found in a box in a house... which seem to belong to a woman -- or a man, perhaps -- who used magic," said Massimo Osanna, the director of the Pompeii archaeological park near Naples in southern Italy.</p><p>He was speaking at the inauguration of the Antiquarium, a refurbished museum housing bronze statues, frescoes, gold and silver jewels as well as the haunting casts of those killed when Vesuvius erupted in October 79 AD.</p><p>"You have some of the most important objects uncovered here since the 19th century. So really, this Antiquarium takes you through the centuries of Pompeii's history, up until the fateful day of the eruption," Osanna told AFP.</p><p>The room that chronicles the last days of the city is "the most poignant part (of the exhibition)," the Italian archaeologist added.</p><p>The plaster casts of the dead, including small children, were made by filling voids left by their bodies in the calcified layers of ash.</p><p>- Strong stench of wine -</p><p>Osanna has headed the Pompeii park since 2014 and overseen a major conservation project, mostly funded by the European Union, which revitalised a UNESCO world heritage site formerly plagued by neglect and building collapses.</p><p>Last month, archaeologists announced the unique discovery of a thermopolium, a fast-food bar.</p><p>It had surviving polychrome decorations and traces of food and wine that offered an unprecedented glimpse of the snacking habits of the ancient Romans.</p><p>A team found duck bone fragments as well as the remains of pigs, goats, fish and snails in earthenware pots, one of which "gave off a very strong stench of wine", archaeologist Teresa Virtuoso said.</p><p>The frescoes decorating the site included electioneering slogans and graffiti, scribbled over the image of a dog, in which a man -- presumed to be a former slave -- was accused of practising sex with dogs.</p><p>- 'Reduced to silence' -</p><p>In 2019, Pompeii had more than 3.9 million visitors, making it Italy's third most popular tourist destination after the Colosseum and Roman forum complex and the Uffizi Galleries in Florence.</p><p>But, like most other cultural sites in Italy, it has been mostly shut in recent months due to the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>It reopened on January 18 but has admitted fewer than 100 visitors per day, compared to a pre-Covid-19 average of around 8,000.</p><p>"We've lost 80 percent of our visitors, and this also means 80 percent of our ticket revenues," Osanna said, adding that the site had to rely on generous subsidies from the Italian culture ministry to keep going.</p><p>On Monday, the vast archaeological park looked deserted, save for the journalists who came for the museum opening and the usual presence of archaeologists, restorers, guardians and unemployed tourist guides.</p><p>Its current state is surreal, but Osanna said it was nevertheless a great time to visit.</p><p>"It is almost as if you can see Pompeii's inner soul, its spirit," he said.</p><p>"This is an abandoned city, and seeing it empty of tourists perhaps makes you think harder about the dreadful catastrophe that forever ended life here and reduced to silence a place that was bustling."</p><p>© 2021 AFP</p>
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