Engineers develop a 'lava-like' material similar to the highly radioactive molten nuclear fuel created during the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters to investigate ways to clean up the ruined power station sites

• Lava-like Fuel Containing Materials (LFCM) were created in nuclear meltdown
• Contain highly-radioactive nuclear fuel mixed with reactor building materials
• This molten material spread throughout the reactor site and is 'truly unique'
• Little is known about the material and scientists don't know how to remove it 
• Creating a structure that behaves similarly will allow for the development of techniques and robots to help neutralise the material 

By JOE PINKSTONE FOR MAILONLINE   PUBLISHED: 30 January 2020

A substance has been made in a laboratory which mimics an extremely dangerous material created during the nuclear reactor disasters of Chernobyl and Fukushima.

The material is intentionally similar to the Lava-like Fuel Containing Materials (LFCMs) created by the extreme and unique conditions only found during a nuclear meltdown. 

Researchers from the University of Sheffield say it is so radioactive it cannot be safely studied and its properties remain a mystery to scientists.  

This means it cannot be removed from the sites and is therefore obstructing decommission efforts and posing an ongoing radiological risk to the environment.

The artificial version is similar in its structure and properties to the enigmatic original material, which means it behaves in a similar way but is safe to use.

Scientists hope this material can aid in the creation of tools and processes to help rid the sites of LFCMs and aid in decommissioning them.   

Scientists believe they can help clean up Chernobyl and Fukushima

A substance has been made in a laboratory (pictured) which mimics an extremely dangerous material created during the nuclear reactor disasters of Chernobyl and Fukushima. The material is intentionally similar to the Lava-like Fuel Containing Materials (LFCMs)

The 100-ton mass of the glass-like lava at Chernobyl spread to sub-reactor rooms, solidifying in large masses and creating, among other things, the infamous 'elephants foot' (pictured)

Researchers from the University of Chernobyl created a material designed to replicate the highly-radioactive rocks created in unique conditions to form Lava-like Fuel Containing Materials (LFCMs). Pictured, a Chernobyl rock

Chernobyl's catastrophic meltdown on April 26, 1986 'caused 31 direct deaths and a mass evacuation from a 30-km exclusion zone surrounding the reactor, that remains in place today', the authors write in their study, published today in the journal Nature Materials Degradation.

The formation of LFCMs at Chernobyl is well-known and the problems they pose are well documented. 

LFCMs are a mixture of highly radioactive molten nuclear fuel and building materials that fuse together.

For example, during the meltdown of Chernobyl's reactor core, temperatures exceeded 1600°C and the uranium fuel melted with the zirconium cladding.

This formed a radioactive molten mush that remained at an extremely high temperature. Propelled by its own weight, it then mixed with steel, concrete, serpentine and sand.

The 100-ton mass of the glass-like lava then spread to sub-reactor rooms, solidifying in large masses and creating, among other things, the infamous  'elephants foot'.

The researchers say there are relatively few samples of meltdown materials available for study and creating an artificial version is the best option. 

Dr Claire Corkhill from the University of Sheffield's Department of Materials Science and Engineering said: 'Understanding the mechanical, thermal and chemical properties of the materials created in a nuclear meltdown is critical to help retrieve them, for example, if we don't know how hard they are, how can we create the radiation-resistant robots required to cut them

The team of researchers developed the material in the lab to try and imitate the 'truly unique nuclear materials' at the centre of Chernobyl and Fukushima. 

They have a similar internal structure (as confirmed by scanning electron images), composition and behaviour to the real thing.   

Researchers suspect LFCMs have also formed at the site of Fukushima's doomed nuclear power plant, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 2011. 

It killed more than 21,000 people and the reactor is now still submerged in water used to cool the melted core.

Dr Corkhill is collaborating with researchers at the University of Tokyo and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency to see what happens to the highly radioactive dust that billows out from the surface of LFCM when water is removed. 

Dr Corkhill added: ''Thanks to this research, we now have a much lower radioactivity simulant meltdown material to investigate, which is safe for our collaborators in Ukraine and Japan to research without the need for radiation shielding. 

'Ultimately this will help advance the decommissioning operations at Chernobyl and also at Fukushima too.'

WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE 1986 CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR DISASTER? 

On April 26, 1986 a power station on the outskirts of Pripyat suffered a massive accident in which one of the reactors caught fire and exploded, spreading radioactive material into the surroundings.

More than 160,000 residents of the town and surrounding areas had to be evacuated and have been unable to return, leaving the former Soviet site as a radioactive ghost town.

+5

 A map of the Chernobyl exclusion zone is pictured above. The 'ghost town' of Pripyat sits nearby the site of the disaster

The exclusion zone, which covers a substantial area in Ukraine and some of bordering Belarus, will remain in effect for generations to come, until radiation levels fall to safe enough levels.

The region is called a 'dead zone' due to the extensive radiation which persists. 

However, the proliferation of wildlife in the area contradicts this and many argue that the region should be given over to the animals which have become established in the area - creating a radioactive protected wildlife reserve.

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REAL VERSUS SIMULANT CHERNOBYL LAVA 

 PROPERTY

UO2% 

DENSITY

MELT TEMP (°C)  

 REAL

7.8 

 1.8 – 3.5 g/cm3  

 ~1,450

SIMULANT 

8

3.054 g/cm3 

 1280 

THE PRESIDENTS MEN IN THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL RAISED CROWDSTRIKE

CANADA WINTER FORECAST 2019-2020

Trump’s border wall, vulnerable to flash floods, needs large storm gates left open for months

Border wall construction continues outside Douglas, Ariz. Gaps in the new border fence indicate where washes and other construction challenges appear along the border. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Post)

The wall at the southern border likely will need hundreds of storm gates that must be kept open every summer, said officials, agents and engineers. The open, unmanned gates already have allowed smugglers and migrants to enter easily.

• By Nick Miroff

THE ABOVE STORY IS BEHIND A PAYWALL HERE IS A PORTION OF IT

Trump’s border wall collapsed in the wind — now questions raised about what happens when it rainsJanuary 30, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris


Just this week a part of President Donald Trump’s border wall collapsed under heavy winds. It highlighted one of the obstacles to Trump’s Mexico border barrier.

Ironically, the threat of climate change will be brutal on Trump’s wall. Flash flooding, high winds, hurricanes and other storms, and dramatic swings in temperature can ultimately make the wall more susceptible to issues.

The Washington Post reported that the Trump border barrier project will require the installation of hundreds of large storm gates that will remain open for months every summer to keep the border wall from being damaged or falling over.

Lee Baiza, who was previously the park superintendent for the Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument explained that the president’s border project will further increase the risk for flood damage, because the work crews have loosened dirt, plants and rock along the road, which can be more easily carried away in floodwaters.

“It’s a fragile environment, so if you go drive across that country you will loosen up the soil and brush,” the Post quoted Baiza. “The more activity, the more it gets run over, the more debris you create.”

“Another section of border barrier toppled in 2014 near Nogales, Ariz., when U.S. agents failed to open the floodgates in time, sending mud and stones into nearby homes,” the report explained. “And in 2008, two people in the Mexican city of Nogales, just across the border, were killed in catastrophic flash floods that inflicted millions of dollars in damage, with some of the blame falling on a Border Patrol project that placed bars into cross-border culverts intended to block illegal crossings.”

Having open gates to protect against flooding for months on end poses questions about the function of the wall itself. Read the full report from the Washington Post

A newly-built chunk of Trump's new border wall blew over in heavy wind and landed in Mexico
insider@insider.com (Rosie Perper), Business Insider•January 29, 2020

Part of Trump's new border wall blew over into Mexico
VIDEO https://news.yahoo.com/video/part-trumps-border-wall-blew-130039914.html
The fallen length of wall was around 130 feet 

A portion of President Donald Trump's border wall blew over onto the Mexican side due to strong winds, according to NBC News-affiliate KYMA.

Video of the event showed the border wall section swaying in the wind as crews tried to stabilize it.

The section of the wall was under construction as part of Trump's signature policy. It replaced existing wall rather than extending the overall coverage any further.


A Customs and Border Protection agent told CNN that the wall was newly installed and had been set in concrete that had not yet cured.


Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A portion of President Donald Trump's border wall blew in strong winds and fell into Mexico, according to NBC News-affiliate KYMA.

The border wall collapsed around midday local time on Wednesday, and landed on a row of trees, according to police in Mexicali, a town on the Mexico-California border.
 

Mexicali map Google Maps/Business Insider

The fallen length of wall was around 130 feet long.

Agent Carlos Pitones of the Customs and Border Protection sector in El Centro, California, told CNN that the wall was newly installed and had been set in concrete that had not yet hardened.

According to CNN, the National Weather Service recorded wind gusts up to 37 mph when the wall fell down.

Video showed the border wall section swaying in the wind as crews tried to stabilize it.

—Qasim Rashid for Congress (@QasimRashid) January 30, 2020

It was being put up as part of Trump's signature policy to reinforce and extend the physical barrier diving Mexico from the US.

His original ambition to swiftly erect a full new barrier along the entire 1,954-mile border has been repeatedly scaled back.

This section of wall was being built to replace a part of the border that already exists.

According to KYMA, nobody appears to have been hurt by the collapse.

In January, the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration was preparing to divert $7.2 billion from the Pentagon's budget to pay for wall-building.

Trump replaced a decaying portion of the border partition with a 14-mile stretch of 18- to 30-foot slatted fence in September.

When Trump visited the $147-million border wall replacement project in Otay Mesa, California, he called the design "amazing" and signed his name in Sharpie pen.

But Trump's border plans have faced criticism both for their cost and effectiveness.

A video that went viral in December showed people easily sliding down the border wall slats like a fireman's pole before running away as a Border Patrol vehicle pulls up.

Other videos have emerged showing people as young as eight-years-old scaling an 18-foot replica of the wall. One man was able to climb while juggling.

Read the original article on Business Insider

‘I don’t believe this anymore’: What it’s like to escape an abusive, right-wing religion 

(AMERICAN HOMEGROWN PROTESTANT EVANGELICAL FUNDAMENTALISTS)
January 31, 2020 By Valerie Tarico- Commentary


Americans are leaving their religions at a faster rate than ever before, and that means more are looking for help with the transition. People who are casually religious may walk away and not look back. But for others religion is at the very heart of their identity, worldview and community, and having a safe place to process doubts can be a metaphorical godsend.

“Reclaimers,” people who are actively working to rebuild their lives after a period of religious immersion, may struggle with harmful ideas and emotions from the beliefs they once held or the behavior of fellow believers. Alternately, they may find that leaving is lonely and disorienting. Marlene Winell, a human development consultant who assists people leaving their religion, coined the term Religious Trauma Syndrome to describe a pattern she saw in some clients, in particular those leaving closed, authoritarian, fear-based communities. But even doubters who don’t experience this level of distress may find themselves feeling confused, afraid, self-doubting or overwhelmed.

Since 2009, a small nonprofit called Recovering From Religion, has worked to serve this population by establishing peer support groups, organizing “Recovering Your Sexuality” classes, and providing a matchmaking service for clients seeking therapists who are committed to a secular approach. In March, Recovering From Religion launched a hotline, 1-84-I-DoubtIt, staffed by a cadre of volunteers trained in listening and crisis triage techniques. From years of daily emails and calls to their office, the staff knew there was an unmet need. Even so, they were caught off guard by the response—over 1,000 calls in the first six weeks.

In this interview, Sarah Morehead, executive director of Recovering From Religion, talks about why her work is a personal passion and about the recovery hotline itself.

Valerie Tarico: Your commitment to supporting people in religious transitions comes from your own transition, which started with you as a life-long member of the Southern Baptist Convention and ended with you as an atheist.

Sarah Morehead: Yes. It was a long journey. Twelve years ago, I separated from my Promise Keeper husband. He had been violent toward me, but when he turned that on our kids, it was over for me. I found myself strapped financially, and in desperation I went to the benevolence committee at my church and asked for $600 to help pay the bills. This was a huge, successful mega-church, and the benevolence committee was their mechanism for helping members in need. The committee—all men—said they needed to pray about my request, and that regardless I needed to go to counseling about how to be a more godly wife so that I could lead my husband back to Christ through my submissiveness. They said this even though they knew he was physically abusive. Then, after praying, they let me know that Jesus wasn’t keen on them giving me the money.

As I was leaving I pushed open the church door and bumped into someone etching decorations on the outside, and I had an odd thought. I had just heard that God didn’t want me to have the $600 but this etching on the doors was totally cool with him. I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time, but that was the point that it stopped adding up. You question one piece and then another and then another. Eventually my conscience outweighed my creedal viewpoint.

VT: The heart of your Christianity was belief in God and his word and your relationship to Jesus. But this question of compassion and support is what rattled you and created that first crack.

SM: It was a combination—the disorienting lack of support on the inside and then equally disorienting support from an outsider. We had neighbors, two men who lived caddy-corner across the alley. We kept our children away from their children because they had a flag that I thought was satanic. Now I know it was just pagan. They would have bonfires in their back yard, and it was terrifying to me.

After I got home from the church, there was a knock at the door and it was one of the guys from across the alley way. He said, “We don’t talk much but I know there’s a lot going on for you guys and here is a casserole.” It was one of the more surreal moments in my life. I remember standing there and in my mind asking God what he was trying to tell me. Would Satan tempt me through the kindness of macaroni and cheese?

Our homeschool support groups pulled away when they heard of the divorce, and then when they learned I wasn’t going to that church anymore they stopped letting their kids hang out with my kids. It was very isolating and scary because I didn’t know anyone, other than the neighbor I had met, who had really survived this idea of reconsidering religion.

VT: You were really on your own.

SM: The only people who had the courage to say that they didn’t have all of the answers were this couple, who as it turned out were gay—of course they were, but it took me a while to figure that out because they couldn’t be gay because they were nice and gay people were pedophiles.

VT: So there you were, trying to juggle the loss of your faith and your entire community, while taking care of your children, who were also dealing with abandonment.

SM: The loss of my faith wasn’t all at once, as it isn’t for many people. At first the changes were tiny. I remember the moment when I had the epiphany that American Baptists might not burn in hell. Later, Bible-believing Christianity stopped working for me, but for a long time I thought that was a problem with me, not with the religion. I was probably destined for hell, but I just couldn’t figure it out. Eventually I tried out more liberal religious viewpoints, like the Unitarian Church. When I finally realized I don’t believe this anymore, I didn’t know where I fit.

I had come on this huge, huge journey with no map, and I didn’t know where I was. But you go on the internet and connect with people who are struggling, people who are going through the same things. So, that’s my motivation. There are people who are scared and lonely and afraid and who think they are the only person on the planet who can’t figure it out. The relief some of these people experience when I talk to them—being able to offer them that bridge when there’s nowhere else to go—that is one of the most rewarding things imaginable.

VT: So tell me about Recovering From Religion—the organization.

SM: It was founded by Psychologist Darrel Ray in 2009, after he wrote The God Virus. The book kicked off conversations that made the need apparent, so he started the network of peer support groups. But his time was limited. I came on board in 2011 and started developing it into a cohesive program.

The hotline project came about because of the emails that we get daily. People need someone to talk to, and the groups themselves—we will never have enough locations that everyone has somewhere to go. So we thought, what if everyone could call and talk with one person, just someone respectful? There’s a lot out there that mocks religion and hates on religion. There’s a place for that, but for people who are gently feeling out where they are, they need a place that lets them have one foot in and out.

VT: You feel strongly about giving people space to be where they are at.

SM: We created a tool called the spectrum of belief and disbelief. It ranges from polytheism to atheism, so that people can consider where they want to be. Maybe a caller thinks, there’s something out there but it doesn’t tell me how to have sex and I don’t have to tithe. If that’s where people are at we respect that. The relationship and the person matter more than the religion.

I’m huge on boundaries. Religion takes away boundaries—you tell children from day one that there’s something out there that can see their thoughts—so people in recovery are just learning that they can have boundaries and ideas and limits and can say, no you don’t have access to that part of me. We want to give that back.

VT: So how do you train volunteers for the hotline?

SM: We have a training program vetted by two psychologists to make sure we stay within the bounds of peer support. It’s about 10 hours of training—software and process and simulated calls. Our volunteers don’t provide counseling; it’s really active listening. If the person has a belief in God we don’t question or challenge that. If they say they don’t believe but want somewhere to go, then we might help them create an action plan. When people have safe way to explore their doubts they often do start letting go and they feel good and empowered and that’s a really cool thing to have happen, but we are serious about simply providing respectful support, so we provide careful training and oversight.

We have sophisticated (and I might add, expensive!) call management technology. It’s the same system used by the Trevor Project which works to prevent suicide for gay youth. The system lets both callers and volunteers remain anonymous, and a supervisor can move between calls without being intrusive. All calls are monitored to some extent. We can flag calls if there are any concerns and review them and then provide feedback. There are a lot of pieces to this, which is why it took us two years to get this up and running.

VT: So tell me about that unexpected grand slam opening.

SM: We opened March 1 from 6pm-midnight during the week and 24 hours on the weekend. Within six weeks we had 1,000 calls come in! A thousand calls was a big surprise. Imagine trying to figure out how to staff for call volume when you have no idea what to expect. We estimated based on contacts to the office line. But it’s different when people actually see a banner that says 1-84-I-DoubtIt.

We are getting calls from all demographics, all ages. Some of the calls leave you in tears. People feel so isolated and alone because religion has permeated every aspect of their community. We get calls from people who are being threatened that their kids will be taken away because of their nonbelief. We get calls from teens who are being kicked out because they’ve decided they’re not the same religion as their parents.

We had one lady who called and said that she saw the hotline article on CNN, and she held onto the number for three weeks. She said that it was the first time in her life that she said the word atheist even though she had been for years. Isolation, desperation—people get trapped in their circumstances and for a whole lot of reasons many can’t just pick up and move. Most people don’t want to be famous or activists. They just want to be able to not go to church and have it be ok.

VT: Sometimes you try to hook callers up with other resources, especially resources in their own communities. What are the biggest service gaps? What do you wish existed?

SM: We’ve been out for two months, and we’ll have a better assessment after a year. Right now we’re still in the discovery process. For example, we just got introduced to Footsteps, which supports people leaving Orthodox Judaism. So, we’re not at the point of saying this doesn’t exist, we need it; we’re saying this is probably out there, let’s find it.

When people call in crisis or with urgent needs that are beyond our scope, then processing questions about religion takes back burner to managing that need. If they are in active crisis when they call, like active domestic violence, or suicidal, there are fantastic crisis-trained hotlines out there. We try to keep them on the line and give them the number and make sure they are connected.

Alternately, they may be in urgent need of a place to stay. We refer to social service networks in their area if they are comfortable sharing their location or to general crisis services, if they are not.

VT: What’s your next big challenge?

SM: The challenge is maintaining the staff at a rate that can take all the calls. We have about 40 volunteers in training. We will be expanding to 24/7 and then will integrate an online system that lets us take calls from around the world. Right now our volunteers are everywhere, but we only serve Canada and the U.S. We want to be a resource to people who aren’t local to North America.

Funding is also a huge challenge. None of the staffing or supervision is paid, including my position, which isn’t sustainable indefinitely. Here is the really hard part about funding: The people we are helping are unable to fund the service. We can’t ask for money when, for example, a caller is struggling to keep their business and all of their clients are at their church. So we are going to need support from the secular community as a whole and people who see the value in what we do.

Also, donor development is really tough for many former fundies. We’ve been drilled from day one that you don’t ask for money. Yes, there’s the hypocrisy that you give all of your money to the church, but you don’t ask for things for yourself. Former minister Teresa McBain and much loved atheist blogger Neil Carter have joined the team. But we’re very wary of the flashy, believe-in-us mentality, so we’re trying to find the right balance. We’re working with people who have more skill in that regard than we do.

‘They want to kill our cows’: Trump says liberals kill cows and ‘you’re next’ — forgetting where steaks come from

TAKING A LINE OF ATTACK FROM HIS OLD PAL MODI OF INDIA 

January 30, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris

President Donald Trump bizarrely proclaimed that Democrats want to kill your cows,” while at a speech in Iowa Thursday evening.

Trump, who never met a Big Mac he didn’t like, is known for frequently spending his Saturday nights at his Washington hotel eating a “well-done” steak with ketchup.

Trump then warned that if Democrats want to kill cows, then “you’re next,” threatened.

The Green New Deal talks about methane that often comes from cows, which is presumed that cows have flatulence, in fact it’s cow belches that cause methane emissions. One of the greatest producers of methane, far surpassing that of cows, are termites, who eat and expel massive quantities of wood.

It’s unclear whether Trump actually believes that Democrats want to kill humans as part of the Green New Deal, but he provided no proof of it.

Aside from vegetarians, many Democrats, like hamburgers and steaks. Former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke made Whataburger one of the key campaign stops during his Senate race.



You can watch the video below — and see some of the tweets:

Trump: "They want to kill our cows. That means you're next."

Me: [unironically chomping into a Farmer Boys burger]
 

#TrumpRallyIA pic.twitter.com/53rTSbANHV
— Santa Claus, CEO (@SantaInc) January 31, 2020

“That’s a real beauty,” says Trump of @aoc.
Goes on to summarize the Green New Deal as “they want to kill our cows.”
— Niall Stanage (@NiallStanage) January 31, 2020

Trump mentions @AOC at his rally, the mention of her name generates boos. He brings up the Green New Deal.
“They want to kill our cows, that means you’re next,” he said.
— Jake Webster (@JakeDaveWebster) January 

Trump rifts on @AOC's GND: "They want to kill our cows. You want to know why?…Want to know why? They want to kill your cows–that means your next."
— Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) January 31, 2020

Jeeze, he's in Iowa, he should be saying "They want to kill our cows. You know why?"
A. Bacon
— J Hougen (@HougenJ) January 31, 2020

@SenJoniErnst
Just wanted you to know who you're playing political suicide for Joni.
"They want to kill our cows. That means you're next." — Donald Trump, just now, in Iowa.
Are you really going to stand behind these comments?
— Gemini Ginger (@ICanBeAHandful) January 31, 2020

Trump is losing what little mind capacity he had!!! This is as dumb a statement as any that has ever come from anyone in the oval office!!!

‘They want to kill our cows’: Trump says liberals kill cows and ‘you’re next’ — forgetting where steaks come from https://t.co/ASnuHwytuT
— Bad Karma – #ProudToBeScum (@BadKarmaIn2020) January 31, 2020

@realDonaldTrump Dumbest jackass on the planet. Are those burgers from McDonalds he eats all the time plant based? Even his crowd thought he looked stupid. https://t.co/0aI3FDo3RV
— Shirley Little (@ShirleyLittle51) January 31, 2020

Trump: "They want to kill our cows. You know why?"
A: Steaks. https://t.co/BCSU3qsgln
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) January 31, 2020

‘You can’t make this up!’: Senate erupts in laughter when Adam Schiff reveals DOJ lawyers just completely contradicted Trump’s impeachment defense

January 30, 2020 By Cody Fenwick, AlterNet - Commentary


To defend against Democratic allegations of an illicit cover-up, President Donald Trump’s lawyers have argued fervently that the second article of impeachment in the Senate trial charging him with obstructing Congress is completely unwarranted. Instead of charging Trump with obstructing Congress, they’ve argued, Democrats should have taken the president to court to enforce subpoenas of his aides and requests for documents.

But on Thursday, a Justice Department attorney — who, ostensibly, works for the president — completely contradicted this argument.

There’s long been a tension in the president’s impeachment defense and his administration’s position in court, as many have pointed out. Trump’s impeachment attorneys have argued that Congress shouldn’t have charged Trump with obstructing their investigation but instead worked out disputes in the judicial branch. But when Congress has taken the administration to court to enforce its subpoenas, Justice Department attorneys have argued that judges can’t resolve the dispute between the legislative branch and the executive.

Basically, combining these two arguments, Trump’s lawyers are saying Congress should go to court to enforce its subpoenas, and then it should lose in court — essentially implying that lawmakers should have no power at all to compel evidence from the executive branch. If this were true, the power of impeachment would essentially be nullified.

Previously, some Trump administration lawyers have been reluctant to say in court whether Congress could or should use the impeachment to enforce its subpoenas, instead urging that lawmakers could withhold funds from the administration to exert pressure for compliance. But on Thursday, in an ongoing fight over the 2020 Census, Justice Department lawyer James Burnham said that the House can legitimately use its impeachment powers to respond to a president who defies subpoenas, as CNN reported.

Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow has argued, however, that the proper place to resolve the dispute over subpoenas is courts and not impeachment, according to Politico.

“The president’s opponents, in their rush to impeach, have refused to wait for judicial review,” Sekulow argued to the Senate.

And legal scholar John Turley, who testified on behalf of Republicans in the House impeachment proceedings, warned against “making a high crime and misdemeanor out of going to the courts.”

House impeachment manager Adam Schiff (D-CA) pointed out the glaring inconsistency and hypocrisy on Thursday in his remarks to the Senate, drawing laughter from the audience.

“Today, while we’ve been debating whether a president can be impeached for essentially bogus claims of privilege, for attempting to use the courts to cover up misconduct, the Justice Department in resisting subpoenas is in court today … because, as we know, they’re in here arguing Congress must go to court to enforce its subpoenas, but they’re in the court saying ‘Congress, thou shalt not do that,’” he explained. “So the judge says: ‘If the Congress can’t enforce its subpoenas in court, then what remedy is there?’ And the Justice Department lawyer’s response is ‘Impeachment! Impeachment!’”

At that, the Senate chamber burst into laughter.

“You can’t make it up!” Schiff said. “What more evidence do we need of the bad faith of this effort to cover up?”

SCHIFF: "While we've been debating whether POTUS can be impeached for bogus claims of privilege, the DOJ is resisting subpoenas in court today… the judge says 'if Congress can't enforce its subpoenas, what remedy is there,' & DOJ's response is impeachment! You can't make it up" pic.twitter.com/Tim1HHDgBO

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 30, 2020

Trump’s lawyers have tried to suggest that the House manager’s position is itself similarly contradictory because they’ve tried to enforce their subpoenas through both the courts and through impeachment. But there’s nothing incongruous about believing that House subpoenas can be enforced through two different avenues.

What’s so duplicitous about the Trump lawyers’ position is that it means that House subpoenas would be entirely unenforceable, not even worth the paper they’re printed on — but they refuse to admit this outright.

Senate stunned as Schiff reveals DOJ just argued in court that defying subpoenas is an impeachable offense

January 30, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris


President Donald Trump’s Justice Department appeared in court Thursday as part of the Houses’ ongoing attempt to enforce subpoenas for information they’ve sought in other cases.

Schiff quoted the DOJ legal team’s argument in court that judges “have no place to enforce subpoenas because of the impeachment power.”

It’s a point that Schiff has pointed is in constant contradiction with the case the White House has made in the impeachment proceedings. The White House lawyers have said that the House impeachment investigation needed to play out in court. They claimed that subpoenas for witnesses and documents must take place in the courtroom because the judicial branch is an essential check on the legislative branch.

Yet, in court, they claimed that the judicial branch has no place.

“Schiff stunned the room just now when he informed senators that JUST TODAY, as Trump’s lawyers argue in the Senate the House should’ve gone to court to enforce subpoenas, DOJ lawyers argued in COURT that judges have no place to enforce subpoenas because of the impeachment power,” Crooked Media Brian Beutler.

Schiff stunned the room just now when he informed senators that JUST TODAY, as Trump’s lawyers argue in the Senate the House should’ve gone to court to enforce subpoenas, DOJ lawyers argued in COURT that judges have no place to enforce subpoenas because of the impeachment power
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) January 30, 2020


SCHIFF: "While we've been debating whether POTUS can be impeached for bogus claims of privilege, the DOJ is resisting subpoenas in court today… the judge says 'if Congress can't enforce its subpoenas, what remedy is there,' & DOJ's response is impeachment! You can't make it up" pic.twitter.com/Tim1HHDgBO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 30, 2020

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The FBI is reportedly probing a notorious Israeli spyware company that was linked to the Jeff Bezos phone hack

NSO has also been accused of supplying software used to surveil Jamal Khashoggi before his murder by Saudi Arabia in October 2018.

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Samantha Lee/Business Insider


The FBI Israel's NSO Group over the use of its software for hacks of US citizens and companies, according to Reuters.

The Israeli spyware company has been linked to several high-profile hacks, most recently to an attack on the phone of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

NSO has also been accused of supplying software used to surveil Jamal Khashoggi before his murder by Saudi Arabia in October 2018.

The FBI is probing the use of spyware from the Israeli company NSO Group, which has been linked to hacks on Saudi dissidents and US companies, according to the Reuters news agency.

The investigation began in 2017, when FBI officials wanted to work out whether NSO possessed code which could infect people's phones, according to a source who was interviewed by the FBI.

News of an FBI investigation into the company follows reports that the iPhone of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Guardian first reported earlier this month that bin Salman helped steal data from Bezos' phone after sending an unsolicited video that contained a malicious file in 2018.

The hack is believed to have happened after the two men spoke on WhatsApp on May 1, 2018, weeks after meeting at a dinner in Los Angeles.

Saudi Arabia has denied that bin Salman was involved, and called the allegations "absurd."

Last week, a United Nations report said that bin Salman likely was involved in hacking Bezos' phone. It said that a forensic analysis of the phone said it was "likely" to have been carried out with the sort of software NSO has.

NSO Group did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for more information.

The spyware firm has been linked to several high-profile hacks in recent years.

Researchers at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk School identified 36 operators that used NSO Group's technology on targets in 45 countries.
In May 2019, WhatsApp was hacked, and, according to The Financial Times, the hackers installed sophisticated NSO spyware on an unknown number of phones.

In June 2018, Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi activist in exile in Canada, had his phone targeted with NSO spyware by Saudi agents.

Abdulaziz said in a lawsuit filed in December 2018 that the same spyware was used to target Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered by Saudi agents in October 2018.

And on Tuesday, New York Times Beirut bureau chief Ben Hubbard reported that his phone had been targeted by Saudi agents. He said technology researchers determined the attack was also likely carried out with NSO technology.

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