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Fulton County special grand jury completes its criminal investigation into Donald Trump. Now comes the fun part.

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When Fulton County Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis convinced a judge to let her empanel a special grand jury nearly a year ago, it was because she was tired of having to wait for regular grand juries to become available. She wanted her own dedicated grand jury so she could move ahead at full speed.

The one catch with a special grand jury is that it can’t bring indictments. Once its work is done, the prosecutor then has to take the completed criminal case to a regular grand jury and have it bring the indictments.

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Yesterday we all learned that the Fulton County special grand jury has completed its criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s election crimes. There’s a lot of media hubbub about whether the judge who approved the special grand jury will now publicly release some or all of the special grand jury’s report, but that’s a red herring.


The point of a special grand jury isn’t to issue a report to the public. The point of a special grand jury is to tee up criminal indictments so the DA can have a regular grand jury spit out those indictments. This is just a formality, as the DA simply has to quickly present the completed case to a regular grand jury and get the indictments.

So even though we’re about to hear a lot of media buzz over a court hearing about a special grand jury report, that’s not the story. That’s just judicial oversight after the fact. The real (and only) story here is that the Fulton County DA now has completed criminal cases in hand against Donald Trump and other targets, and simply has to present it to a grand jury to bring indictments. We’re now that close. Any procedural moves about this “report” will not in any way interfere, impede, or slow down what’s important here, which is that Trump is now finally on the verge of being criminally indicted.

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Turns out Special Counsel Jack Smith has already sent grand jury subpoenas to numerous Donald Trump people

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One of the tricky parts in following any federal criminal investigation is that 99% of the progress takes place in secret, and even when something does leak out to the media, it’s usually only a small piece of the story and arrives belatedly. Those who don’t know any better often end up concluding that “nothing” is being done.

Case in point: in the roughly six weeks since Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed, we’ve seen scattered reports that this or that person has been subpoenaed or has testified to a grand jury. But this kind of thing typically only comes to light when a hostile subpoena recipient blabs about it to the media, or someone randomly spots a high profile witness entering a courthouse. In fact most of the “news” that’s broken over the past six weeks about the DOJ probe into Trump has turned out to be things that happened before Smith even took the job, and were – as usual – being reported belatedly.

Now that’s happening yet again, but in what appears to be far more meaningful fashion. CNN is reporting tonight that Jack Smith subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani for documents last month, and that Smith has also subpoenaed numerous Trump associates involved with his post-2020 Super PAC. Why does this matter?

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First of all, this doesn’t appear to be a matter of just one disgruntled subpoena recipient running to the media to try to complicate Smith’s life. The way CNN is reporting it, just about everyone around Trump has been subpoenaed since Smith took over. So it makes you wonder who’s tipping the media off about this, and if perhaps this is Smith’s way of steering the general public toward the end of the indictment process so it’s prepared for impending indictments.


Second, Smith reportedly sent the grand jury subpoena to Giuliani more than a month ago, which means that – as usual – the investigation is way ahead of the reporting. More importantly, while congressional subpoenas can be dragged out in court for years, grand jury subpoenas are easily enforceable via the threat of contempt of court. The deadline for the Giuliani subpoena has likely already come and gone, so unless Giuliani has secretly been held in contempt of court, it would suggest that he’s complied and turned over the documents.

Third, these subpoenas make clear that Special Counsel Jack Smith is following the money. Donald Trump has long been widely suspected of using his post-2020 Super PAC as a personal piggy bank. If Smith can prove as much, he can nail Trump on the kinds of financial crimes that make for easy convictions in court, on top of the trickier charges along the lines of espionage and insurrection.

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European satellite launch fails to reach orbit

2023-01-10T00:10:28Z

The first attempt to launch a satellite from western Europe appeared to have failed early on Tuesday when Virgin Orbit reported an “anomaly” that had prevented its rocket from reaching orbit.

The mission had left from the coastal town of Newquay in southwest England, with Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket carried under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 and later released over the the Atlantic Ocean.

Virgin Orbit (VORB.O), part-owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, had planned to deploy nine satellites into lower Earth orbit (LEO) in its first mission outside its United States base.

“We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit,” the company said. “We are evaluating the information.”

Related Galleries:

Technicians work on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket, attached to the wing of Cosmic Girl, a Boeing 747-400 aircraft, ahead of UK’s First launch, at Spaceport Cornwall at Newquay Airport in Newquay, Britain, January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Technicians work on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket, attached to the wing of Cosmic Girl, a Boeing 747-400 aircraft, ahead of UK’s First launch, at Spaceport Cornwall at Newquay Airport in Newquay, Britain, January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

A replica model of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket sits in a media area ahead of UK’s First launch at Newquay Airport in Newquay, Britain, January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

A replica model of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket sits in a media area ahead of UK’s First launch at Newquay Airport in Newquay, Britain, January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

CEO of Virgin Orbit Dan Hart, Deputy CEO of UK Space Agency Ian Annett and Head of Spaceport Cornwall Melissa Thorpe take part in a news conference at Newquay Airport, ahead of UK’s First launch of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket, in Newquay, Britain, January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

A logo for Start Me Up, the UK’s First launch of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket, is seen on a podium during a news conference at Newquay Airport in Newquay, Britain, January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
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Bolsonaro in Florida hospital; over 1,500 supporters detained after Brasilia riots

2023-01-10T00:02:00Z

Supporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro broke through a blockade set up by security forces and invaded ministries and the Congress building in Brasilia on Sunday (January 8).

Far-right former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was admitted to a hospital in Florida on Monday as more than 1,500 of his supporters were rounded up in Brasilia after storming the capital over the weekend.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a leftist who took office on Jan. 1 after defeating Bolsonaro in an October vote, promised to bring those responsible for the violence to justice. The mobs rampaged through Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential offices, smashing windows, furniture and artwork.

Bolsonaro went to a hospital in Orlando on Monday with intestinal pains related to a stabbing he suffered during the 2018 election campaign, his wife, Michelle, said on Instagram. His doctor said he has an intestinal blockage that was not serious and would likely not need surgery.

Bolsonaro faces several investigations before the Supreme Court in Brazil and his future in the United States, where he traveled with a visa issued to heads of state, diplomats and other government officials, is in question.

Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democratic lawmaker in the U.S. Congress, said on CNN that the United States should not give refuge to an “authoritarian who has inspired domestic terrorism” and should send Bolsonaro back to Brazil.

The U.S. government declined to comment on Bolsonaro’s visa.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said a person who entered on a visa for foreign officials must depart the country within 30 days or apply for a change of immigration status if they are no longer engaged in official business.

Restoring order in the Brazilian capital, Brazilian soldiers backed by police on Monday dismantled a two-month-old camp opposite the army’s headquarters where Bolsonaro supporters have been protesting since he lost the election, according to Reuters witnesses.

Some 1,200 people from the camp were detained for questioning on Monday, authorities said, after about 300 arrests on Sunday.

Thousands of Bolsonaro’s backers set off from that encampment on Sunday before storming the presidential palace, Supreme Court and Congress in the worst attack on state institutions since Brazil’s return to democracy in the 1980s.

Lula, who was back at work at the ransacked Planalto palace, met with his defense minister and commanders of the armed forces to discuss the violence reminiscent of the assault on the U.S. Capitol two years ago by backers of former President Donald Trump.

U.S. President Joe Biden joined other world leaders in condemning Sunday’s riots, calling them “outrageous,” while Bolsonaro, who is now in Florida, denied inciting his supporters and said the rioters had “crossed the line.”

In a phone call on Monday, Biden invited Lula to visit Washington in early February, according to a statement from the White House.

Pro-Bolsonaro truckers, who have caused intermittent havoc on Brazil’s highways for months, held more protests through Sunday night. Police on Monday removed their blockade of the BR 163 highway that cuts through Brazil’s top grain-producing state Mato Grosso and on another highway in Parana state.

“There are still people trying to block roads and access to oil refineries,” presidential spokesman Paulo Pimenta told reporters. State-run oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) said its refinery operations and fuel supplies had not been affected.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the governor of Brasilia removed from office late on Sunday for 90 days over alleged security failings and demanded that social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and TikTok block accounts of users spreading anti-democratic propaganda.

Facebook parent Meta (META.O) and Google’s (GOOGL.O) video platform YouTube said on Monday they were removing content supporting or praising the weekend actions. Telegram said it was working with Brazil’s government and fact-checking groups to prevent the spread of content inciting violence.

TikTok and Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.

Brazil’s financial markets held steady after an early drop, with the Bovespa benchmark stock index (.BVSP) edging higher in afternoon trading and the currency closing 0.4% weaker against the U.S. dollar. Some analysts said Sunday’s violence could strengthen Lula politically.

Related Galleries:

A demonstrator reacts next to members of security forces as supporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro leave a camp outside the Army Headquarters, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 9, 2023. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

Supporters of Brazil’s far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro who dispute the election of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gather near Brazil’s Congress after protesters had invaded the building as well as the presidential palace and Supreme Court, in Brasilia, Brazil January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Antonio Cascio

Supporters of Brazil’s far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro who dispute the election of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gather at Planalto Palace after invading the building as well as the Congress and Supreme Court, in Brasilia, Brazil January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Antonio Cascio

Police cars are pictured amidst tear gas after being pushed off the road by supporter of Brazil’s far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro who dispute the election of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, during protests, in Brasilia, Brazil January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Antonio Cascio

Supporters of Brazil’s far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro who dispute the election of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gather outside Brazil’s Congress after protesters had invaded the building as well as the presidential palace and Supreme Court, in Brasilia, Brazil January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Antonio Cascio

Police block supporters of Brazil’s far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro who dispute the election of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva outside Brazil’s Congress after protesters had invaded the building as well as the presidential palace and Supreme Court, in Brasilia, Brazil January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Antonio Cascio

A supporter of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro prepares to leave a camp outside the Army Headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil, January 9, 2023. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli


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Teacher shot by 6-year-old hailed as a hero for evacuating kids

2023-01-10T00:05:22Z

Police vehicles are seen parked outside Richneck Elementary School, where according to the police, a six-year-old boy shot and wounded a teacher, in Newport News, Virginia, U.S., January 6, 2023, in this screen grab from a handout video. WVEC via ABC/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Police on Monday hailed a 25-year-old Virginia teacher as a hero for evacuating students from her classroom even after she was shot by a 6-year-old student.

The teacher, Abigail Zwerner, was in stable condition on Monday, following the Friday afternoon shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, Police Chief Steve Drew told a news conference.

Meanwhile the 6-year-old boy was in temporary custody at a medical facility, and a judge had until Tuesday to determine whether to extend a temporary order keeping him in custody, Drew said.

It was too soon to determine whether the boy’s parents might be charged with a crime for failing to secure the weapon, which the boy’s mother had bought legally, he said.

The police chief called Zwerner “a hero.”

“She made sure that every one of those kids were out of that room, that she was the last one to leave. And she took it upon herself in that situation, after suffering a gunshot wound, to make sure that her students … were safe,” Drew said.

The boy had taken the 9 mm Taurus handgun from home, placed it in his backpack and removed it while Zwerner was teaching class, Drew said. He pointed and fired once. Zwerner, who took a defensive posture, was shot through the hand and into the chest.

After the shot, another woman who works at the school rushed into the classroom and held the boy down while Zwerner escorted the estimated 16 to 20 students out, Drew said. When police arrived, they found the gun on the floor.

“I wish that we never had to have it asked. How does a 6-year-old know how to use a firearm? I don’t know that I could give you an adequate answer,” Drew said.

While police and prosecutors continued their investigation, educators vowed to re-examine security protocols.

Newport News Public Schools Superintendent George Parker told reporters the school was unprepared for a 6-year-old bringing a gun to school and firing it, saying this marked only the third time since 1970 that a child aged 6 or younger had discharged a weapon at a U.S. school.

Until now, security measures focused on using metal detectors at high schools and drilling for active-shooter situations at all levels.

“I hate to be at this point where I’m where I’m considering this …. It may warrant us to reconsider metal detectors at all of our buildings,” Parker said.


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U.S. House adopts rules sought by hardliners to control McCarthy

2023-01-10T00:17:18Z

U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) wields the Speaker’s gavel after being elected the next Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in a late night 15th round of voting on the fourth day of the 118th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 7, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Monday adopted a package of internal rules that give right-wing hardliners more leverage over the chamber’s newly elected Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy.

Lawmakers voted 220-213 for the legislation, with only one Republican voting against. All 212 Democrats voted against the rules package, saying it was full of concessions to the right-wing of the Republican Party.

The rules package, which will govern House operations over the next two years, represented an early test of McCarthy’s ability to keep his caucus together, after he suffered the humiliation of 14 failed ballots last week at the hands of 20 hardliners before finally being elected speaker on Saturday.

The legislation includes key concessions that hardliners sought and McCarthy agreed to in his quest for the speaker’s gavel. The changes include allowing a single lawmaker to call for his removal at any time. Other changes would place new restrictions on federal spending, potentially limiting McCarthy’s ability to negotiate government funding packages with President Joe Biden, whose fellow Democrats control the Senate.

Democrats denounced the legislation as a rules package for “MAGA extremists” that would favor wealthy corporations over workers, undermine congressional ethics standards and lead to further restrictions on abortion services. “These rules are not a serious attempt at governing. They’re essentially a ransom note to America from the extreme right,” Representative Jim McGovern said.

Republicans have a narrow majority of 222-212 in the House, after winning fewer seats than expected in November’s midterm elections. This has amplified the hardliners’ power and raised questions about how the divided Congress will function.

Lawmakers face critical tasks in the year ahead including addressing the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt limit. Failure to do that, or even a long standoff, would shake the global economy.

Other changes include a 72-hour waiting period between when a bill is introduced and when it can get a vote, a cap on government spending at 2022 levels and the creation of a committee to investigate the Justice Department.

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Flood, mudslide threats prompt evacuations along California coast

2023-01-10T00:20:21Z

Torrential downpours and damaging winds had left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power in California on Sunday (January 8) after a deadly week of weather, and the state was still bracing for more heavy rain and snow to fall through Tuesday.

Roughly 25,000 people in California were ordered evacuated on Monday, including the entire town of Montecito and nearby areas of the Santa Barbara coast, due to heightened flood and mudslide hazards from a recent string of deadly storms, officials said.

Montecito and the surrounding areas are among 17 California regions where authorities worry a series of torrential downpours since late December could unleash deadly cascades of mud, boulders and other debris in hillsides stripped bare of vegetation by past wildfires.

The evacuation alert for Montecito, tweeted by the local fire department, came five years after heavy rains struck fire-scarred slopes and canyons around the affluent Southern California community, causing mudslides that killed more than 20 people in January 2018.

Among the nearly 9,000 residents of Montecito with opulent homes in the picturesque coastal enclave are such celebrities as media mogul Oprah Winfrey and Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan. It was not immediately clear whether they were among those forced to flee the area. Winfrey was known to have been in Hawaii over the New Year’s holiday.

All 15 districts of Montecito were ordered immediately evacuated along with portions of the city of Santa Barbara and adjacent areas of Carpinteria and Summerland where “burn scars” posed a threat of mudslides, the Montecito Fire Department said.

Los Angeles-area television station KTLA quoted fire officials as saying Montecito had received more than 5 inches of rain between 3 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. PT (1100 to 1730 GMT), with showers continuing the drench the region.

At least a dozen fatalities have been attributed to several back-to-back storms that have lashed California since Dec. 26, including a toddler killed when a redwood tree was blown over his family’s trailer home last week.

To the north along the central California coast, some 14,000 people were ordered evacuated early on Monday from four Santa Cruz County communities inundated with flash floods, extreme tides and heavy runoff from local mountains, said Brian Ferguson, a spokesperson for the state Office of Emergency Services.

Nearly 4,000 more people in the town of Wilton remained under evacuation orders due to flood threats from breached levees along the Cosumnes River south of Sacramento, the state capital. Another 42,000 residents of roughly a dozen counties were under evacuation warnings, Ferguson said.

The torrential rains, along with heavy snow in mountain areas, were the product of yet another “atmospheric river” of dense moisture funneled into California from the tropical Pacific, powered by sprawling low-pressure systems churning offshore.

Experts say the growing frequency and intensity of such storms, punctuating extreme, prolonged drought, are a symptom of climate change that will increase the challenge of managing California’s precious water supplies while minimizing greater risks of floods, mudslides and wildfires.

The six storms since just after Christmas have been accompanied by pounding surf that has battered seaside communities, as well as fierce, gale-force winds that have uprooted thousands of trees weakened by prolonged drought.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned the latest onslaught would impact most of California’s 39 million residents, with up to 5 inches of additional rain expected to fall near the coast and more than a foot of snow on the Sierra Nevada mountains over the next few days.

The high winds have wreaked havoc on the state’s power grid, knocking out electricity to tens of thousands of Californians. As of Monday morning, some 120,000 homes and business were without electricity, according to data from Poweroutage.us.

U.S. President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate disaster relief efforts and mobilize emergency resources in California.

Related Galleries:

A drone view of a tree that fell during a winter storm with high winds in Sacramento, California, U.S. January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

A driver navigates a flooded intersection after winter storms brought high winds and heavy rain in Sacramento, California, U.S. January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

A view of a scene where a homeless woman was killed by a falling tree branch during a winter storm, at the bank of the Sacramento River in Sacramento, California, U.S. January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

A drone view of residents looking a tree that fell during a winter storm with high winds in Sacramento, California, U.S. January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Fred Greaves
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Here Are the Implications of Prince Harry Saying That He Killed 25 Taliban Fighters

Prince Harry has been the subject of criticism from the military community and beyond after stating in his memoir Spare that he killed 25 members of the Taliban, according to reporting from leaked copies.

Aside from other shocking accusations—such as the claim that his brother, Prince William, knocked him to the floor during an argument—the 38-year-old also spoke of his decade-long service in the British army, which included being in charge of firing missiles from an Apache attack helicopter.

The Duke of Sussex wrote that he killed 25 suspected Taliban insurgents during his two tours of Afghanistan. According to reports from the leaked manuscript he said he was neither “satisfied” or “embarrassed” by the fact. “In truth, you can’t hurt people if you see them as people,” Harry said. “They were chess pieces taken off the board, bad guys eliminated before they kill good guys. They trained me to ‘other’ them and they trained me well.”

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

It is perhaps the only major revelation to emerge from Spare that has clear real-world implications beyond the international sport of royal watching. Former U.K. military officers have criticized Harry’s publication of the details. But experts say that Prince Harry’s comments also get at something deeper about how service members process the violence that they experience in war.

Prince Harry Is Redeployed To Afghanistan
John Stillwell–Pool/Getty ImagesHELMAND PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN – SEPTEMBER 7: Prince Harry (L) is shown the Apache flight-line by a member of his squadron (name not provided) at Camp Bastion on Sept. 7, 2012 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Prince Harry has been redeployed to the region to pilot attack helicopters.

Criticism from the U.K.

Prince Harry’s comments stoked condemnation from British military figures like Richard Kemp, a former British Army colonel, who warned in the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper that his actions could “provoke” the Taliban and their followers to “carry out attacks against the UK.”

The response from the Taliban was swift. “The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans; they had families who were waiting for their return,” tweeted Anas Haqqani, a senior member of the Taliban government and a member of the Haqqani Network, which the U.S. and U.K. label as a terrorist organization.

Former head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Lord West, told the U.K. Sunday Mirror newspaper that Harry was putting the security of the Invictus Games—a sporting competition that spotlights wounded and injured veterans that was founded by Harry—into jeopardy, calling his publication of his wartime actions “very stupid.”

And Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the Defence Select Committee in the U.K. Parliament and a former British army captain, told press that “there is the unwritten assumption that nobody publicly discusses kill counts for the principal reason that it can have security repercussions.”

Bigger questions

But Jessica Wolfendale, a professor of philosophy with Case Western Reserve University’s Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, says that such accusations are likely overblown. “I don’t really think they’re harmful in terms of endangering British forces. They could be harmful in the sense of creating hostility towards British forces, if it’s believed that his attitude is representative of the British forces.”

Instead, she and other experts tell TIME, Prince Harry’s statement brings to light an important question about the type of training service members receive in order to be able to carry out their role in the military. Increasing the physical and psychological distance from their actions in war can help service members get past the natural human resistance to killing, Wolfendale says.

She adds that despite graphic memoirs from special operations soldiers about their time in war—including some like American Sniper that have become Hollywood blockbusters—the concern surrounding Harry’s rhetoric has more to do with his nonchalant manner of speaking.

“It’s not so much the fact of talking about having killed but the attitude that he seems to express in the way he talks about it,” Wolfendale tells TIME.

Harry’s comments are also reminiscent of a separate controversy during a 2013 interview where he compared his control of the weapons system as a “joy,” likening it to “playing PlayStation and Xbox,” according to the Guardian.

“I do hear that as literally objectifying something that is deeply human with great moral costs attached to it,” said David DeCosse, the Director of Religious and Catholic Ethics and Campus Ethics Programs at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. “That language is regrettable to me, in fact, it sort of dehumanizes these people.”

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Rocket released in Europe“s first satellite launch

2023-01-09T23:29:30Z

Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket was released from its carrier aircraft late on Monday, a key stage of Western Europe’s first satellite launch that took off from the coastal town of Newquay in southwest England.

The rocket was released from under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 out over the Atlantic Ocean, at about 35,000 feet (10,668 meters). Nine small satellites will be deployed from the vehicle.

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