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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Electoral College makes it official: Biden won (AP) The Electoral College formally chose Joe Biden on Monday as the nation’s next president, giving him a solid electoral majority of 306 votes and confirming his victory in last month’s election. The state-by-state voting took on added importance this year because of President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede he had lost. Heightened security was in place in some states as electors met on the day established by federal law. Electors cast paper ballots in gatherings with masks, social distancing and other virus precautions the order of the day. The results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside. For all Trump’s unsupported claims of fraud, there was little suspense and no change as all the electoral votes allocated to Biden and the president in last month’s popular vote went officially to each man. Biden renewed his campaign promise to be a president for all Americans, whether they voted for him or not, and said the country has hard work ahead on the virus and economy.

The Electoral College, an unlovable compromise (AP) For a compromise that has lasted more than 200 years, the Electoral College doesn’t get a lot of love. According to the National Archives, more Constitutional amendments have been proposed to alter or abolish the Electoral College than on any other subject—more than 700 proposals in the nation’s history. It was James Madison who drew up the system, a compromise between those who wanted the states to select the president and those who wanted direct election by qualified voters. Each state was to select a number of electors equal to its representation in Congress (senators and representatives). Under the Constitution, the president must be elected with a majority of electors. If no one wins a majority, the House of Representatives decides. The national popular vote plays no part; five men have been elected president though their opponent won more votes, most recently Donald Trump in 2016. The electors meet and vote in their states on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December.

Hospitals Prepare for First Shots as Virus Vaccine Shipments Blanket U.S. (NYT) Trucks and cargo planes packed with the first of nearly three million doses of coronavirus vaccine fanned out across the country on Sunday as hospitals rushed to set up injection sites and their anxious workers tracked each shipment hour by hour. The distribution of the first federally approved vaccine marked the start of the most ambitious vaccination campaign in American history, a critical, complicated feat that one top federal official compared to the Allied landings at Normandy during World War II. Now, the United States is trying to turn the tide of battle against a virus whose spread has killed nearly 300,000 people, ravaged the economy and upended millions of lives. The first doses will go to health care workers, who could start receiving shots by Monday. Residents of nursing homes, who have suffered a disproportionate share of Covid-19 deaths, are also being prioritized and are expected to begin getting vaccinations next week.

Lessons (Pew Research Center) A large majority of U.S. adults (86%) say there is some kind of lesson or set of lessons for mankind to learn from the coronavirus outbreak, and about a third (35%) say these lessons were sent by God. In open-ended survey responses collected by the Center in the summer, Americans pointed to practical lessons, such as wearing a mask; personal lessons, such as remembering the importance of spending time with family and loved ones; and societal lessons, such as the need for universal health care. Other responses were political in nature, including criticisms of both major parties and concerns about the politicization of the pandemic. Among those who say there is a lesson about religion within the pandemic, some respondents point to the role God has in humans’ lives. For instance, a 53-year-old woman writes that “whether you believe it or not, God is in control and we must have God at the center of our lives. He is our savior.” Many respondents mention lessons about changes people should make in their personal lives and relationships with others. One 46-year-old woman says people need to “think about what is REALLY important and how your time is REALLY spent … hopefully this is an opportunity for people to rethink their priorities.” Similarly, a man in his 40s writes, “Life moves too quickly and people don’t slow down long enough to see their lives pass by. The virus has shown us that life doesn’t need to fly by so quickly. We can enjoy the moment more.” Many respondents also frame the coronavirus as a simple reminder to treat others well. A 54-year-old woman says that “we should always be kind to one another regardless of race, religion, or political belief. The virus does not discriminate, and neither should we.”

Russian Hackers Broke Into Federal Agencies, U.S. Officials Suspect (NYT) The Trump administration acknowledged on Sunday that hackers acting on behalf of a foreign government—almost certainly a Russian intelligence agency, according to federal and private experts—broke into a range of key government networks, including in the Treasury and Commerce Departments, and had free access to their email systems. Officials said a hunt was on to determine if other parts of the government had been affected by what looked to be one of the most sophisticated, and perhaps among the largest, attacks on federal systems in the past five years. The motive for the attack remains elusive, two people familiar with the matter said. One government official said it was too soon to tell how damaging the attacks were and how much material was lost, but according to several corporate officials, the attacks had been underway as early as this spring, meaning they continued undetected through months of the pandemic and the election season.

Blocked to fly, free to sue (CNN) In an 8-0 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that three Muslim men who wanted to sue FBI officials for financial damages were clear to proceed, finding that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act allowed suits against individual agents. It’s a really interesting case: in 2013, Muhammad Tanzir, Jameel Algibhah and Naveed Shinwari say the FBI attempted to recruit them to become informants, and when they declined the offer they allege the agents retaliated by putting them on no-fly lists, preventing them from getting on any plane that arrives, departs, or passes through the U.S. This, they argue, carried significant financial damages, and they would like to sue to get them. The Justice Department wanted the case thrown out, though the court unanimously held the case could proceed.

Venezuela’s Isolation Increases After Panama Suspends Flights (Bloomberg) Panama has suspended flights from Venezuela, cutting off one of the few remaining air corridors out of the country. Panama’s aviation authority said Sunday that it took the measure after Venezuela restricted access to a Panamanian airline while demanding increased slots in Panama for Venezuelan airlines. The suspension will apply from Sunday until Panama receives “equal and fair treatment,” the authority said in a statement. More than a dozen foreign airlines have stopped servicing Venezuela since 2014, including Delta Air Lines Inc., Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Avianca Holdings SA.

Bolsonaro bump (Foreign Policy) Even as a local newspaper blames his “homicidal negligence” in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is seeing record approval ratings. A recent poll by Brazilian firm Datafolha found that 37 percent of Brazilians see his government as great or good, while the number viewing it as bad or terrible reduced 2 points to 32 percent. Bolsonaro’s relatively solid approval is likely due to his support for a cash benefit for low-income residents hit by the pandemic, which Bolsonaro recently extended until the end of the year.

Daytime darkness: Total solar eclipse wows in Latin America (AP) Thousands of people gathered in the Chilean region of La Araucanía on Monday to witness a solar eclipse, rejoicing in the rare experience even though visibility was limited because of cloudy skies. Skies were clear in northern Patagonia in Argentina, where people also watched the moon briefly block out the sun and plunge daytime into darkness. Many people wore masks to curb the spread of COVID-19, though they crowded together in some places in Pucón and in other areas of La Araucanía, 700 kilometers (430 miles) south of Santiago, the Chilean capital. Thousands jumped and shouted happily in the drizzle when the sun was completely covered by the moon and then silence descended for a few moments. People again screamed and whooped excitedly when the sun appeared again. During the brief period of darkness, only the lights of cell phones were visible. The next total solar eclipse in Chile is expected to occur in 28 years. Another is expected to be visible in Antarctica by the end of 2021.

Ministers warn supermarkets to stockpile food amid no‑deal Brexit fears (Times of London) Supermarkets are this weekend stockpiling food and other goods after being told by ministers that a no-deal Brexit is on the cards. Food producers have warned there will be shortages of vegetables for three months and emergency planners predict that no-deal would spark panic-buying on a scale that could dwarf the coronavirus crisis. In a sign of what might be to come, lorries were backed up for three miles on the A20 outside Dover yesterday, after Calais suffered 10-mile tailbacks on Friday. Hauliers blamed the jams in Kent on “stock-building”.

Protesting Indian farmers call for 2nd strike in a week (AP) Tens of thousands of protesting Indian farmers called for a national farmers’ strike on Monday, the second in a week, to press for the quashing of three new laws on agricultural reform that they say will drive down crop prices and devastate their earnings. The farmers are camping along at least five major highways on the outskirts of New Delhi and have said they won’t leave until the government rolls back what they call the “black laws.” They have blockaded highways leading to the capital for three weeks, and several rounds of talks with the government have failed to produce any breakthroughs. Protest leaders have rejected the government’s offer to amend some contentious provisions of the new farm laws, which deregulate crop pricing, and have stuck to their demand for total repeal.

China’s Combative Nationalists See a World Turning Their Way (NYT) In one Beijing artist’s recent depiction of the world in 2098, China is a high-tech superpower and the United States is humbled. Americans have embraced communism and Manhattan, draped with the hammer-and-sickle flags of the “People’s Union of America,” has become a quaint tourist precinct. This triumphant vision has resonated among Chinese. China’s Communist Party, under its leader, Xi Jinping, has promoted the idea that the country is on a trajectory to power past Western rivals. China stamped out the coronavirus, the messaging goes, with a resolve beyond the reach of flailing Western democracies. Beijing has rolled out homegrown vaccines to more than a million people, despite the safety concerns of scientists. China’s economy has revived, defying fears of a deep slump from the pandemic. “In this fight against the pandemic, there will be victorious powers and defeated ones,” Wang Xiangsui, a retired Chinese senior colonel who teaches at a university in Beijing, averred this month. “We’re a victor power, while the United States is still mired and, I think, may well become a defeated power.” The firm leadership of Mr. Xi and the party has earned China its recent success, say newspapers, television programs and social media. “Time to wake up from blind faith in the Western system,” said a commentary in the state-run China Education News last week. “Vicious partisan fighting has worsened in certain Western countries, social fissures have deepened, and a severe social crisis is brewing.”

Europe-Iran relations (Foreign Policy) European nations have pulled out of a Europe-Iran business forum in protest over the execution of dissident journalist Rouhollah Zam over the weekend. Zam had been kidnapped from Iraq and taken to Iran to face charges of fomenting dissent during anti-government demonstrations in 2017. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was also due to take part in the forum, which has now been cancelled. Iran summoned the German ambassador to Tehran over the European actions, and blasted the “interventionist statements” made in the wake of the execution.

Oil tanker attacked in Saudi Arabian port by “booby-trapped boat” amid ongoing war in Yemen (CBS News) An oil tanker off Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jiddah was attacked on Monday by smaller “boobyt-trapped boat” rigged with explosives, causing a small fire on the ship, Saudi state TV reported, citing an official from the state energy ministry. Earlier a shipping company said the tanker had suffered an explosion after being hit by “an external source,” suggesting another vessel had come under attack amid Saudi Arabia’s years-long war in Yemen. The attack on the Singapore-flagged BW Rhine, which had been contracted by the trading arm of the kingdom’s massive Saudi Arabian Oil Co., marks the fourth assault targeting Saudi energy infrastructure in a month. It also apparently shut down Jiddah port, the most-important shipping point for the kingdom. The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations, an organization under Britain’s royal navy, urged ships in the area to exercise caution and said investigations were ongoing. It later said Jiddah port had been shut down for a “duration unknown,” without elaborating.

#headlines #news

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dorsethomeimprovementcontractors · 6 years ago

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Bathroom Renovation Weymouth

Let Us Help Turn Your Idea In A Reality Weymouth Property Contractors

Interesting Bathroom Designs

Want to change your dull and gloomy bathroom into something worthy of praise and admiration? You can change it into something that you can be proud of with a modern bathroom design. No longer is the fusion of fixtures like a tub/shower, sink, toilet, and cabinet with mirror the gold standard in bathroom design because today’s bathroom designs for small spaces are a lot more chic and sophisticated. Majority of popular small bathroom design ideas are creative and contemporary, making us rethink what a bathroom should look like. You will see the toilet and sink attached to the wall, Maximizing the available room and creating a new look to the bathroom. Cabinets no longer have doors and if they do, glass designs are often the way to go. Trendy simple bathroom designs can make the biggest splash to a small bathroom with the use of bold patterns and textures. Modern designs and layouts are completely changing our perception on what our bathroom should look and feel like. You might struggle coming up with a unique design that suites your bathroom needs and desires especially if you’re a newbie who doesn’t know where and how to start. In case you get stuck in the process, you can consider hiring an expert contractor in Weymouth like Dorset Home Improvement Contractors to give you some much needed guidance.

Let an experienced contractor be in charge of the drawers and counter-tops in your bathroom remodeling

Calling in a contractor is the smart move you can make in case your planning to put up a bathroom extension that entails new cabinets and counter-tops. The main benefit in allowing an expert contractor to manage all the needed work in installing your cabinets and counter-tops is unmatched convenience. An expert builder like a contractor has all the needed proficiency, tools, and technicians to set them all up a whole lot quicker and easier than you can ever imagine accomplishing on your own. By doing superb work on the cabinets and counter-tops, a contractor can also bring the best out of your bathroom and house extension ideas. What’s more, you can simply tell the professional home builder what your house extension cost would be and they can pair the best vanity options to your bathroom if its a bit smaller in space. They will even match the perfect countertop designs and deliver the right balance to the area. Plenty of people would agree that the cheapest way to extend a house is by following a DIY(do it yourself) job and if ever your considering one, remember that it will only be effective if your working on a small bathroom. If you want to work on a larger bathroom, your better off working with a master craftsman like Dorset Home Improvement Contractors. The best and finest workmanship, that’s what we have consistently delivered to all our clients in Weymouth, and we can do the same if not more for you if you call us today!

Employing a contractor is your best choice

You could be right to presume that the cheapest way to extend a house or the bathroom, is to proceed with a DIY(do it your own) job. Nevertheless, it truly will be a tough one to succeed on. For instance, setting up a shower all by yourself is a tall order especially when your creating a personal shower pan and wall with tile. A DIY(do it yourself) project is certainly a possible option, but majority of people will favor the work of professionals for such a challenging ordeal. Working on a pre-fabricated shower stall could be a job possible for a DIY but nevertheless, this task will still ask you to have at least some basic skills and understanding on how it works. And if you really think about it, majority of home extensions will follow the same requirements if not even higher. There’s also a chance that you will attain a permissible outcome if you decide to do the refinishing of your tub or shower yourself. But with the help of a contractor, the results are just exceptional, mainly because they can conduct the entire prep work on a higher level. In the end, you can benefit tremendously if you allow a qualified contractor in Weymouth, to work on every aspect of the project, as much as possible. If you don’t have the patience and need a ton of help in working with your new shower or tub, Dorset Home Improvement Contractors can help you enjoy unmatched services on all your extension needs and desires!

Including a glass shower door to your shower room design

You can find numerous small bathroom design ideas at present that defy the norms on what a bathroom should be. A new bathroom design that’s gaining popularity nowadays substitutes a bathtub for a cutting edge walk-in shower system that’s confined with fine glass. This kind of bathroom design is a superb option to open up large areas of space in a small bathroom. Fine glass doors are normally priced higher than typical shower curtains but they are however, more resilient to damage. This design element can also boost your home’s market price by bringing in a sense of opulence and class to your bathroom. There is an assortment of simple bathroom designs which incorporates this distinct fixture installation and opting on any of them is surely a decision you won’t regret making. There’s no need to force yourself on replacing your tub with a shower though, as its still possible to retain it and still achieve a deluxe finish both at the same time. This entails installing a flawless glass tub enclosure for a classy look and finish. Are there any bathroom designs for home that you want to add to your bathroom? It might be best to hire a contractor in Weymouth if you want to experience the best possible results.

Conducting a Bathroom Installation

If you look at the bathroom, it dwarfs in size next to other primary areas of your house like the living room and bedroom but amazingly, it will take plenty of time, energy, and resources to get a regular bathroom installation job done properly. To begin with, there’s not much room to move around even in bathroom suites that have relatively larger settings. From plumbing, wiring, floors, walls, storage units, fixtures, etc., and extra upgrades like TV’s and heating systems, you'll need fit all these and perhaps even more in a room that’s less than a hundred square feet. With so many things to do on such a constrained space, there is just one approach to remodeling a bathroom and that is through gradual progression. You need to complete one task at a time simply because it’s what the limited area permits. Thus, your bathroom ideas will all have to come to life one by one and this means that time management is very important. Once the local shower installers have done their work, you can’t allow several days to pass by for the electrician to start. Once a task is completed, the next one should follow immediately before the passing of the day because the longer the renovation drags on, the more stressful it becomes. So be very selective on your options when it comes to hiring a contractor in Weymouth who will remodel your bathroom. Make sure that you bring in a contractor that is experienced, qualified, reputable, and a popular choice among homeowners, just like Dorset Home Improvement Contractors. Give us a call and we can start laying out the remodeling plans for your bathroom!

Why it's more efficient to hire a professional

Many people beleive that the cheapest way to extend a house is by taking the DIY(do it yourself) path. And maybe the most powerful factor into play when you decline hiring a professional is because of a lower bathroom extension cost? There is no argument however, that anyone, including you, can complete a number of things on your project all alone, from screwing the mirror to the wall to installing new flooring. You will only succeed in such an endeavour however, if your looking at a small project. When your working a bigger project, it would be wise to call for professional help mainly because doing the job alone would entail several months of labor and hassle in your part. What’s more, you’ll want to call in plumbers, electricians, and other skilled personnel if your thinking about making those house extension ideas into a reality. But if we are talking about simple tasks which do not involve plumbing or electrical wiring however, you can choose to DIY them but bear in mind that you will still need to face certain risks and possible issues with such a decision. Nonetheless, you'd be better of hiring a contractor in Weymouth who can complete all the needed tasks of your project in break neck speed and superior results. This means that you will need to make the best decision for you and that is opting with an expert home builder like Dorset Home Improvement Contractors!

Original post: https://homeimprovementdorset.co.uk/weymouth/bathroom-renovation.php

from Dorset Home Improvement Contractors https://homeimprovementdorset.co.uk/weymouth/bathroom-renovation.php

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