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☆ SuperLimbs: Wearable robotic limbs could help astronauts recover from falls
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-14 | by ( Amy Gunia | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

That includes researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who are developing a set of wearable robotic limbs to help astronauts recover from falls. When the wearer falls over, an extra pair of limbs can extend out to provide leverage to help them stand, conserving energy for other tasks. The study found that falls were more common when, like Duke, astronauts were collecting samples or using tools – tasks that Artemis astronauts are likely to undertake. Kim Shiflett/NASA NASA astronaut Eric Boe wears Boeing's new spacesuit designed for astronauts who will fly on the CST-100 Starliner. Ballesteros plans to spend the next few years of his PhD using a “Swiss Army Knife technique” to turn SuperLimbs into a system for astronauts that can “address different important use cases, but all be one unified design.”SuperLimbs could help astronauts recover from falls, move efficiently, and do work.

Persons: haven’t, Artemis, Charlie Duke, Duke, Walter M, Schirra Jr, Donald K, Slayton, John H, Glenn Jr, Scott Carpenter, Alan B, Shepard Jr, Virgil I, Grissom, Gordon Cooper Jr, John W, Michael Collins, Edwin E, Aldrin Jr, Buzz Aldrin, Neil A, Armstrong, Aldrin, Joe Engle, Richard Truly, John Young, Bruce McCandless, McCandless, Robert L, Stewart, Michael J, McCulley, Franklin R, Chang, Diaz, Ellen S, Baker, Shannon W, Donald E, Williams, Michael Fincke, Yury Lonchakov, Kennedy, Center's Neil A, Jessica Watkins, Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, Samantha Cristoforetti, Kim Shiflett, Eric Boe, Boeing Dustin Gohmert, NASA's, Joel Kowsky, NASA Kristine Davis, SuperLimbs, Harry Asada, Erik Ballesteros, Ballesteros, it’ll, ”, Jonathan Clark, ” Ballesteros, Ana Diaz Artiles, Kalind Carpenter, Preston Rogers, Mirza Samnani Organizations: CNN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, University of Michigan, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, Mercury, Command, NASA Space Shuttle, Challenger, NASA's, NASA NASA, Russian Sokol, International Space, SpaceX, Armstrong Operations, Boeing, Orion, Space, Space Center, Extravehicular Mobility, UPI, Jet Propulsion, SuperLimbs, Neurology, Space Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, Swiss Locations: Tranquility, Russian, Washington ,, Washington, Japan, Mars . China

☆ Convicted Oath Keeper's attorney says it's 'ridiculous' prosecutors appealed for a harsher sentence and that the feds should 'channel their inner Elsa and just let it go'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Sonam Sheth | Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A lawyer for a convicted Oath Keeper slammed the DOJ for appealing his client's sentence. Prosecutors requested a 10-year sentence for David Moerschel; he was ultimately sentenced to three. "I wish they would channel their inner Elsa and just let it go." "Typical DOJ, they got their pound of flesh and still want more," Scott Weinberg, who represents David Moerschel, told Insider. The defendants whose sentences the DOJ appealed are Moerschel, Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, and Edward Vallejo.

Persons: David Moerschel, Elsa, Scott Weinberg, Donald Trump, Moerschel, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, Edward Vallejo, Amit Mehta, Rhodes, Robert Mueller Organizations: Prosecutors, Service, Justice Department, Capitol, DOJ Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Prosecutors are 'sending a message' by asking for harsher sentences for Oath Keepers defendants: DOJ official
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The DOJ wants harsher sentences for eight Oath Keepers members convicted over the Capitol riot. One department official told Insider the DOJ is "really sending a message" by appealing the 8 defendants' sentences. "It's very unusual for DOJ to appeal, but these are unusual cases and unusual times," said the Justice Department official, who requested anonymity to speak about the cases. The DOJ appeal filing didn't include details laying out prosecutors' reasoning; the department official told Insider those details will be laid out in court later. "Typical DOJ, they got their pound of flesh and still want more," Moerschel's lawyer Scott Weinberg told Insider.

Persons: it's, Andrew Weissmann, Robert Mueller's, Weissmann, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, Amit Mehta, Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, Edward Vallejo, David Moerschel, It's, Moerschel, Scott Weinberg, Elsa, Weinberg, William Shipley, Minuta, Meggs, Harrelson, Watkins, Hackett, Vallejo Organizations: DOJ, Capitol, Service, Department, Justice Department, Organization Locations: Wall, Silicon, Robert Mueller's Russia

☆ Judge who sentenced Oath Keeper for her role in the Capitol riot said she could have used her identity as a trans woman to be a role model, rather than a riot leader
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A judge sentenced Oath Keeper Jessica Watkins to 8-and-a-half years in prison on Friday. He said Watkins could have used her identity as a trans woman to be a role model. US District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Watkins to eight-and-a-half years in prison on Friday. "And you are to be held out as someone who can actually be a role model for other people in that journey. Despite his empathy for Watkins, Mehta said, "Your role that day was more aggressive, more assaultive, more purposeful than perhaps others," CNN reported.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Friday sentenced Harrelson to four years in prison. Earlier on Friday, the judge imposed a prison sentence of eight and a half years for Watkins. Members of the Oath Keepers, founded in 2009, include current and retired U.S. military personnel, law enforcement officers and first responders. Some of the Oath Keepers, including Watkins and Harrelson, breached the Capitol, a few clad in paramilitary gear. Four other Oath Keepers members convicted of seditious conspiracy in a second trial are due to be sentenced next week.

The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol following his conviction on seditious conspiracy. Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November along with Kelly Meggs, a fellow Oath Keepers member who will be sentenced later Thursday afternoon. "I had no idea that any Oath Keeper was even thinking about going inside or would go inside," Rhodes said. With Trump (preferably) or without him, we have no choice," Rhodes wrote in a message ahead of Jan. 6. "Patriots, it was a long day but a day when patriots began to stand," Rhodes wrote the night of Jan. 6.

Persons: Stewart Rhodes, Amit Mehta, Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Meggs, Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson, Thomas Caldwell, Watkins, Harrelson, Peter Schwartz, Schwartz Organizations: Trump, Patriots Locations: Olive Garden, Virginia

[1/2] Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is seen on video during the hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 9, 2022. The Justice Department is also seeking a sentence of 21 years for another Oath Keepers leader, Kelly Meggs, who was also found guilty in November of seditious conspiracy by a Washington, D.C., jury. The same Washington jury that convicted Rhodes and Meggs cleared three other co-defendants, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell, of seditious conspiracy. The charges of seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding each carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Four other members of the Oath Keepers were convicted in January of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the attack.

A jury on Monday convicted four members of the extremist group the Oath Keepers of seditious conspiracy. The trial, which started Dec. 12, included testimony from Brian Ulrich, a member of the Oath Keepers’ Georgia chapter who had pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding. ... I’m not afraid and I’m ready to f---ing go.”The four defendants were charged as part of the same seditious conspiracy case involving Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes that went to trial in October. Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, the leader of the group’s Florida chapter, were convicted of seditious conspiracy in November. The maximum sentence for seditious conspiracy — a rarely used Civil War era statute — is 20 years in federal prison.

The first full-color image released from the next-generation James Webb Space Telescope is the sharpest infrared image of the distant universe ever produced, according to NASA. Space Telescope Science Institut / NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERONASA released the first batch of images from the tennis court-sized observatory to much fanfare in July. The exoplanet HIP 65426 b in different bands of infrared light, as seen from the James Webb Space Telescope. Back to the moonFifty years after the final Apollo moon mission, NASA took key steps toward returning astronauts to the lunar surface. Chinese officials have also said they intend to use the space station for space tourism and commercial space initiatives.

☆ U.S. Capitol riot sedition prosecutions won't get easier, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Prosecutors secured a victory when two key figures in last year's U.S. Capitol attack were convicted of seditious conspiracy. It marked the first time in nearly three decades that federal prosecutors won a conviction for seditious conspiracy. At the same time, co-defendants Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell were acquitted of seditious conspiracy, and the verdict was mixed on two other conspiracy charges. The obstruction and the seditious conspiracy charges each carry potential 20-year prison sentences. For example, the four defendants in the next Oath Keepers trial played secondary roles similar to the defendants acquitted of seditious conspiracy in the Rhodes trial.

☆ Guilty: Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in the most significant January 6 case yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A jury found Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes guilty of engaging in a seditious conspiracy. Three other members of the far-right group were found not guilty of joining in that conspiracy. Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy alongside Kelly Meggs, another member of the Oath Keepers. "Now, going forward, there are people higher up than the Oath Keepers who were potentially involved in the conspiracy," he told Insider. Just as he distanced himself from Oath Keepers who entered the Capitol, Rhodes sought to downplay the far-right group's references to quick reaction forces, or QRFs, in his testimony before jurors.

☆ Oath Keepers founder found guilty of seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 case
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Daniel Barnes | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

WASHINGTON — A federal jury in Washington found Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. All five defendants faced felony counts of seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, and conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging their duties. Three of the defendants — Rhodes, Caldwell and Watkins — took the stand in their own defense, with Rhodes telling jurors it was "stupid" for Oath Keepers to go inside the Capitol. While three other Oath Keepers pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, none of them testified during the trial. Four other Oath Keepers charged in conjunction with Rhodes — Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel and Ed Vallejo —are set to go to trial in early December.

[1/3] Oath Keepers militia founder Stewart Rhodes holds a radio as he departs with volunteers from a rally held by U.S. President Donald Trump in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. October 10, 2019. Rhodes in 2009 founded the Oath Keepers, a militia group whose members include current and retired U.S. military personnel, law enforcement officers and first responders. Prosecutors during the trial said Rhodes and his co-defendants planned to use force to prevent Congress from formally certifying Biden's election victory. Caldwell, who like Rhodes did not enter the Capitol building and never formally joined the Oath Keepers, tried to downplay some of the inflammatory texts he sent in connection with the attack. Four other Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy are due to go to trial in December.

He is the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, which U.S. officials have described as an anti-government group. According to the indictment, Rhodes began encouraging his Oath Keepers followers in November 2020 to "oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power." Caldwell has denied he was a member of the Oath Keepers, but prosecutors have said he has strong ties to the group. KENNETH HARRELSONHarrelson, 41, of Titusville, Florida, helped Meggs organize the Florida Oath Keepers and was part of the militia group that stormed into the Capitol building, according to the indictment. JESSICA WATKINSWatkins, 40, of Woodstock, Ohio, led the Ohio team of Oath Keepers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to the indictment.

☆ Jury to begin deliberating in Oath Keepers' Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III is facing trial alongside four other defendants: Jessica Watkins, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell. Watkins, Meggs and Harrelson went inside the Capitol during the attack, while Rhodes and Caldwell were present on restricted Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. Federal prosecutors have not proven that the Oath Keepers had an organized plan to storm the Capitol before Jan. 6. Three defendants — Rhodes, Caldwell and Watkins — took the stand in their own defense during the trial, which began with opening arguments on Oct. 3. In 1995, a jury convicted "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel-Rahman and others on seditious conspiracy charges in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

“For these defendants, the attack on the Capitol was a means to an end,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy told jurors. Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP fileBright told jurors there was not evidence of a "meeting of the minds" on seditious conspiracy. “We’ve had 50 witnesses in this case, not one person has testified to you there was a plan,” Bright said. Oath Keepers were upset about the results of the 2020 election, but them venting their frustrations to each other doesn’t constitute a conspiracy, Bright argued. Rhodes told you in his own words he was prepared to start a rebellion the day that president Biden took office,” Rakoczy said, referring back to Rhodes’ testimony in his own defense.

WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - A federal prosecutor on Friday urged a Washington jury to convict far-right Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four of his associates for plotting to use force on Jan. 6, 2021, to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election. The government asserts the Oath Keepers conspired to use force to keep Republican former President Donald Trump in power by stopping Congress from certifying Biden's election victory, with defendants Meggs, Watkins and Harrelson entering the building clad in tactical gear. Prosecutors also allege the Oath Keepers staged a "quick reaction force" in a nearby Virginia hotel, a plan which entailed stockpiling firearms that could be ferried across the river into the capital if needed. More than 900 people have been charged in the Capitol attack, which led members of Congress to run for cover as thousands of Trump's supporters stormed the building. Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Howard GollerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

In the United States and some other countries, 'Black Friday' is a bargain shopping day that marks the start of the holiday shopping season. The government contends the Oath Keepers plotted to use force to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election victory, with defendants Meggs, Watkins and Harrelson entering the building clad in tactical gear. Prosecutors also allege the Oath Keepers staged a "quick reaction force" in a nearby Virginia hotel, a plan which entailed stockpiling firearms that could be ferried across the river into the capital if needed. Then this week, defendant Thomas Caldwell, the only other defendant in this case apart from Rhodes who did not physically enter the building, also testified in his own defense. Caldwell later broke down crying as he recalled his wife's reaction on the day the FBI searched his home.

During hours of testimony, Rhodes told jurors that going into the Capitol was "stupid" because it "opened the door for our political enemies to persecute us, and that’s what happened, and here we are." Meggs, Harrelson and Watkins went inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Rhodes said that he was "concerned" on Jan. 6 that Oath Keepers would get caught up "in all the nonsense with the Trump supporters" around the Capitol and that he sent a message on the encrypted app Signal asking Oath Keepers to gather at a spot near the Capitol for that reason. Yet as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, Rhodes praised the "patriots" and compared their actions to those of the country's founders, according to government evidence presented at trial. Rhodes said that he and the Oath Keepers were prepared to walk the “founders' path” but that even today he hopes conflict can be avoided.

☆ Oath Oath Keepers founder used money donated to the far-right group for holiday travel and personal expenses: January 6 trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Rakoczy then pressed him, asking if he'd tapped into Oath Keepers funds "quite a bit" to cover personal expenses. Rhodes, who remained outside the Capitol, testified that he thought it was "stupid" for Oath Keepers members to enter the building. From the Oath Keepers' founding, the group was focused on "forceful opposition to the government, isn't that right?" In her questioning, she also noted that the Oath Keepers provided ammunition for AR-15 rifles during the 2014 standoff at the Bundy Ranch. For Rakoczy, Rhodes' preferred image of the Oath Keepers was belied by his own messages with fellow members.

☆ Stewart Rhodes testifies in Oath Keepers Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers organization is testifying in his own defense at his seditious conspiracy trial on Friday. Stewart Rhodes is on trial along with Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell in connection with their actions surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The government rested its case on Thursday without calling cooperating witnesses who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. Rhodes, talking about Jan. 6, said in the recording that his "only regret" was that they did not have guns that day. A government exhibit showing individuals associated with the Oath Keepers.

☆ Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes slipped and testified he supports the 'right to riot' at his January 6 trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes took the risky step of testifying in his own defense. Rhodes said he founded the Oath Keepers as a community service-minded group. "I support the right to riot," Rhodes testified, before correcting himself to say, "I support the right to protest." "Like I said," Rhodes testified, "we supported the right to protest." Rhodes also bristled at the characterization of the Oath Keepers as a racist group.

☆ DOJ rests in Oath Keepers trial without calling witnesses who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors rested their case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four other members of the far-right organization on Wednesday without calling three cooperating defendants who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. But the government did not call for three members of the group who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy — Joshua James, Brian Ulrich and William Todd Wilson — before resting their case. Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington on Jun. Susan Walsh / AP fileProsecutors may have decided that presenting any of the three defendants who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy would be too much of a risk on cross examination. Prosecutors also can't explicitly argue that because a witness pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy that the defendants are guilty of the same charge, which limits the value of their testimony.

☆ An Oath Keeper thought the Electoral College was a place where politicians 'went to get educated,' defense lawyer says at trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Defense lawyers argued at trial the Oath Keepers were a community-minded service group. In their month-long case, federal prosecutors presented text messages and other evidence detailing the Oath Keepers' planning ahead of January 6. Rhodes is standing trial alongside Harrelson and three other Oath Keepers members — Jessica Watkins, Kelly Meggs, and Thomas Caldwell — on charges related to January 6. In another opening statement Thursday, a defense lawyer for Oath Keepers member Kelly Meggs argued that the group was providing security on January 6. "The testimony in this case will show the Oath Keepers chose community involvement, disaster recovery, security, personal security," Woodward said.

☆ Oath Keepers begin defense in trial over U.S. Capitol attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Chris Gallagher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Defense lawyers on Thursday opened their case in the trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and four others over their alleged roles in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, arguing the defendants were in Washington to do security work and did not plot to stop the transfer of presidential power. The first defense witness, Watkins’ fiancé Montana Siniff, testified that Watkins had had no intention to try to stop the election certification. Prosecutors presented evidence including text and audio communications among the defendants in the run-up to Jan. 6, and called witnesses including FBI agents and former members of the Oath Keepers. Stanley Woodward, an attorney for Meggs, said in an opening statement that he would present an alternative motive for Meggs' actions. Rhodes, a Yale-educated attorney and former U.S. Army paratrooper, is expected to take the stand at some stage as the defense presents its case.

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