Thousands of Ukrainian children have been transferred to Russia. “I didn’t want to go,” one girl told The New York Times from a foster home near Moscow.
As Russian forces laid siege to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol this spring, children fled bombed-out group homes and boarding schools. Separated from their families, they followed neighbors or strangers heading west, seeking the relative safety of central Ukraine.
Instead, at checkpoints around the city, pro-Russia forces intercepted them, according to interviews with the children, witnesses and family members. The authorities put them on buses headed deeper into Russian-held territory.
“I didn’t want to go,” said Anya, 14, who escaped a home for tuberculosis patients in Mariupol and is now with a foster family near Moscow. “But nobody asked me.”
In the rush to flee, she said, she left behind a sketchbook containing her mother’s phone number. All she could remember were the first three digits.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February, Russian authorities have announced with patriotic fanfare the transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia to be adopted and become citizens. On state-run television, officials offer teddy bears to new arrivals, who are portrayed as abandoned children being rescued from war.
In fact, this mass transfer of children is a potential war crime, regardless of whether they were orphans. And while many of the children did come from orphanages and group homes, the authorities also took children whose relatives or guardians want them back, according to interviews with children and families on both sides of the border.
As Russian troops pushed into Ukraine, children like Anya who were fleeing newly occupied territories were swept up. Some were taken after their parents had been killed or imprisoned by Russian troops, according to local Ukrainian officials.
This systematic resettlement is part of a broader strategy by the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, to treat Ukraine as a part of Russia and cast his illegal invasion as a noble cause. His government has used children — including the sick, poor and orphaned — as part of a propaganda campaign presenting Russia as a charitable savior.
Through interviews with parents, officials, doctors and children in Ukraine and Russia, The New York Times identified several children who had been taken away. Some returned home. Others, like Anya, remain in Russia.
The Times interviewed Anya several times through instant messages, exchanged voice memos with her and verified key details through her friends, photographs and a journal she kept identifying other children she had been with. She asked reporters not to contact her foster parents, who had told her not to talk to outsiders.
Anya had lived apart from her mother and was in only sporadic contact with her before the war. Without the phone number, Anya said she could not reach her.
At first, reporters could not, either.
The Times is not identifying Anya’s full name. A shy girl with a passion for drawing, she said that her Russian foster family treated her well but that she ached to return to Ukraine. Soon, though, she said she would become a Russian citizen. “I don’t want to,” she said. “My friends and family aren’t here.”
Anya and others described a wrenching process of coercion, deception and force as children were shipped to Russia from Ukraine. Together, their accounts add to a growing body of evidence from governments and news reports about a removal-and-adoption policy that targets the most vulnerable children in the most dangerous situations.
Transferring people out of an occupied territory can be a war crime, and experts say the practice is especially thorny when it involves children, who may not be able to consent. Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of perpetrating a genocide. The forced transfer of children, when intended to destroy a national group, is an act of genocide under international law.
Russian officials have made clear that their goal is to replace any childhood attachment to home with a love for Russia.
[…] While the resettlement of children from newly occupied lands has so far been sporadic, the Russian government recently announced plans to resettle these children more efficiently, raising the prospect of many more transfers.
Russia’s wartime tactic exploits some of the thorniest and most intimate family dynamics. Russian families spoke of adoption as a matter of patriotism, but also expressed a heartfelt desire to provide a better life for the children. And while many Ukrainian parents try to recover their children, others do not, whether for financial reasons or because their relationships were severed even before the war.
n the Siberian city of Salekhard along the Arctic Circle, Olga Druzhinina said she adopted four children, aged 6 to 17, from around the Ukrainian city of Donetsk more than 1,600 miles away. Russia recently illegally annexed the Donetsk region and three others in eastern and southern Ukraine.
“Our family is like a small Russia,” Ms. Druzhinina said in an interview. “Russia took in four territories, and the Druzhinin family took in four children.”
She said she was awaiting a fifth child and considered the children fully Russian. “We are not taking what is not ours,” she said. [JFC]
[…] Children in government homes are often labeled orphans, but most do have families. Ukraine makes it easy for parents struggling with illness, substance abuse or financial hardships to place their children — temporarily or permanently — in state-run institutions. The United Nations estimated that about 90,000 children were in such homes across Ukraine before the war.
Many parents rescued their children from Anya’s building. Others did not, whether because they could not make their way through the war zone or, like Anya’s mother, they were unreachable.
A Ukrainian volunteer crammed Anya and the 20 or so remaining children into an ambulance bound for the city of Zaporizhzhia, other children recalled. But they were rerouted at a Russian checkpoint, they said, and ended up with dozens of children at a hospital in the city of Donetsk, the capital of a region that Russia has occupied since 2014.
This region is the heart of Russia’s removal-and-adoption policy. Since the invasion began, Mr. Putin’s government has promoted the systematic transfer of children from the area’s orphanages and group homes.
For Anya and others taken from newly occupied territories in Ukraine, Donetsk also served as a sort of way station en route to Moscow.
Ivan Matkovsky, 16, said he, too, ended up in a Donetsk hospital after fleeing a government boarding school in Mariupol and being rerouted at a Russian checkpoint.
[…] “They were promised a new, wonderful life,” said Natalia, a foster mother from Mariupol. Her 15-year-old foster son agreed to go to Russia, she said. She asked not to be identified by her full name because she worried it would make it harder to get him back. “These are children of a difficult fate,” she said. “They are easily deceived.”
Timofey Chmel, 17, who was in the Donetsk hospital with Anya, said the authorities promised lives of leisure and love in Moscow.
“We were told: ‘If you need gadgets or clothes, just tell us. We will buy everything. If you want, you can just go and relax. We will show you Moscow,’” he said. “‘If your parents abandoned you, they do not need you. We will help you.’”
[…] While Ivan was waiting for the headmaster to pick him up, he said, the other children were put on a bus for Russia. They protested. “No one listened to them,” Ivan said. “They had no choice.”
[…] The Russian government carefully choreographs the pipeline from the Donetsk region to Moscow.
“Now you are at home, in a circle of friends,” the Russia-imposed mayor of Donetsk told a group of boys from Mariupol. He shared a video of the moment on Telegram.
Russian officials in Donetsk invite reporters into group homes to witness children receiving cellphones, gifts and clothes. State-run television airs the children’s arrival in Moscow by train.
Mr. Putin instituted a streamlined process in May allowing the swift nationalization of Ukrainian children. The first group became Russian citizens in July, officials announced. […]
The only way to end a fascist threat is to get rid of the fascists
You can’t solve fascism by becoming fascist.
Fascists want to kill people for reasons which those people cannot change and are usually not their fault (skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability). There is nothing their victims can do to avoid the persecution except flee — and not everybody can meaningfully flee.
People who want to kill fascists? You can permanently escape them by not being fascist any more. It is entirely within your own control.
The two positions are not the same, not morally or ethically equivalent, and people who try to pretend otherwise are a large chunk of the reason we have such a problem with fascists now. Violence against fascists works — even ignoring the flippant “we haven’t heard a word from Adolf Hitler in decades”, look at what happened when Richard Spencer got punched on video: his entire organization fell apart, he lost basically all his listeners, and he’s basically gone. If you’re not interested in punching Nazis, fine, but stop getting in the way of the people who want to, because they’re the ones saving your bacon.
tomhsays
@ #2
What’s your favorite method for killing those fascists? Drowning? Shooting? Vaporizing? So many choices, so few fascists.
Akira MacKenziesays
For Tethys‘ next amazing feat of logic, they’ll explain how Antifa are the real fascists.
StevoRsays
@2. The Vicar (via Freethoughtblogs) : Chalk it up. I agree with you here. Maybe not so much on actually killing them since “martyrdom” and all but ceratinly the punching them and using force against them where necessary part. Those first two paragraphs especially – truth.
There’s a serious problem that badly needs addressing here and ignoring Nazis won’t make them go away any more than it will with Global Overheating.
StevoRsays
@3. tomh : .. So many choices, so few fascists.
Oh If only those last two words there were true. IF. Only. Sadly they are not.
As Jan 6th and the Trump cultist deplorables among other things show.
ravensays
Here is a model from a Swedish company for what happens if and when the Russians destroy the Kakhovka dam.
The worst flooding will be on the left bank which is now occupied by Russia.
It is a war crime listed in the Geneva conventions, but that never stops Russia.
It was a war crime to invade Ukraine.
Worst case modelling for Nova Kakhovka dam break
skriven av Lars Wilderang 2022-10-22 07:28
A worst case modelling for a russian demolition of the Nova Kakhovka Dnipro river dam show that the worst flooding will take place on the left (south east) side of the river bank. A 4 – 5 m wave will hit the Antonovsky bridge east of Cherson city after 19 hours, and there will be a backswell flooding up the Inhulets river, and after 4 – 5 days there would be some flooding up the river Bug to Mykolaiv. The demolition of the Nova Kakhovka dam is a war crime according to the Geneva Convention, but Russia has already systematically broken the Geneva convention during it’s illegal war in Ukraine.
Model of the flooding
First off, dams like the Dnipro dam in Nova Kahkovka are protected by the laws of war and the Geneva convention. Destroying it would be considered a weapon of mass destruction and an indiscriminate war crime. Article 56 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I provides:
“Works and installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population. Other military objectives located at or in the vicinity of these works or installations shall not be made the object of attack if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces from the works or installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian population.”
The following modelling of the worst-case dam break have been done by the Swedish hydrological engineering company Dämningsverket.
It is modeled using the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) software HEC-RAS 6.3, which is available here. The terrain data comes from Nasa.’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and are available from the United States Geographical Survey (USGS) here.
A model is a model. It is not reality. The CEO of Dämningsverket writes:
“As you know, all models are wrong, but some models are useful. This one is guaranteed to be wrong as I have nothing to calibrate it against, plus a host of other unknown parameters that I’ve just come up with, but I’d say it gives a picture of a worst-case scenario in case the Russians get around to blowing up the dam . I find it hard to see how it could get any worse than this, although it’s probably bad enough.”
The model is thus not based on actual measurements of the current state of the Dnipro flow, waterline, temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed and anytning else which would affect the model, but on assumptions for a worst case.
Assumptions include that the water-level in the dam is 13 meters above the Dnipro downstream, and that the dam break over an hour expands to a width of approximately 200 meters break in the dam.
Detail of the effects around Cherson City and the Antonovsky Bridge
When the wave hits the Antonivsky Bridge it will be between 4 and 5 meters of height. Wheter the severly damaged bridge would withstand the increased waterflow is not modeled.
The wave will be higher further upstream, and both speed and height of the wave is higher closer to the dam. It will take approximately 19 hours for the wave to hit Cherson City in this model, as the water spreads out over the lowlands and does not just rush forwards. The flooding will be much worse on the left side of the river (left/right side is when you are looking in the direction of the river flow, in this case towards the Black Sea – generally in this case the left side is the south or east side of the Dnipro). Most of Cherson City will not flood, but the harbour and the docklands including the island in the south of the city will be flooded.
Parts of Cherson which would be flooded closest to the camera, this side of the river
Photo: YevheniiaKudrova/Depositphotos
Several smaller towns or villages on both sides of the Dnipro will be flooded and when the wave hits it will probably be very dangerous and lives will be lost.
There will be a backswell up the Inhulets river. In 4 – 5 days the swell will cause some flooding up the river Bug up to Mykolaiv. The isthmus at the end of the bay outside the Dnipro delta will be severly flooded and almost completely drowned, although this will start approximately 50 hours after the dam break.
The modelled flow will peak at 14 000 cubic meters of water per second (m3/s), which could be compared to the Niagara Falls average flow of 2 400 m3/s the Dnipro average according to Wikipedia of 1 670 m3/s. The flow will diminish over time.
This model is a worst case model and a simplification of reality as all models are. The reality will be something else if this war crime were to be commited by Russia.
Animation of the dam break below.
Note the time stamp in the upper left corner
The model would be an indication of which areas should be evacuated if Russia were to commit the war crime of blowing the Nova Kakhovka dam. There would also be probable secondary effects including the cutting of cooling water for Europe´s largest nuclear power plant ZPP, which requires cooling even for the shut down reactors. A radiological disaster is a separate model, but with prevailing winds blowing eastwards it would generally be worse in the by Russia temporarily occupied territories or even within Russia itself if any fallout reaches the internationally accepted borders of Russia east of the Donbas. Exact results would be highly dependent on the weather conditions.
Comments are disabled on this post in order to avoid russian trolls and russian propaganda. I ordinarily only write articles in Swedish, but make an exception in this case. The article could be discussed after the post on Twitter.
Slava Ukraini! Do peremohi!
Meanwhile on Russia’s state-funded RT, director of broadcasting Anton Krasovsky suggests drowning or burning Ukrainian children, makes hideous comments about the rapes by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, says Ukraine should not exist and Ukrainians who resist Russia should be shot.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From there:
G7 condemns Russia’s ‘kidnapping’ of nuclear plant leaders
The Group of Seven industrialised nations condemned Russia’s kidnapping of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant leadership and called for the immediate return of full control of the facility to Ukraine.
“We condemn Russia’s repeated kidnapping of Ukrainian ZNPP [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant] leadership and staff,” Reuters reported the G7 nonproliferation directors general as saying in a statement on Saturday.
We urge Russia to immediately return full control of the ZNPP to its rightful sovereign owner, Ukraine.
…
The International Ski Federation has agreed to maintain a ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus from all competition in light of the invasion of Ukraine.
…
Agence France-Presse also reported that the FIS ban means Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be able to compete in alpine skiing, nordic skiing, freestyle and snowboard. They are already suspended by the International Biathlon Union.
Their absence will be of little significance for alpine skiing, but Russia is a powerhouse in cross-country skiing, having won a third of all medals available at the last Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in February.
Power partially restored, says Zelenskiy
Power has been restored to some areas where it was cut off by Russian attacks on energy infrastructure on Saturday, President Zelenskiy has said.
More than a dozen missiles hit facilities across Ukraine over the course of the day, causing widespread blackouts.
Speaking in his nightly address, Zelenskiy said electricity supplies had been partly restored in the southern region of Odesa and the western regions of Khmelnytsky and Rivne.
“There are positive reports from other regions as well,” he said. “But in many cities, in many districts, recovery work is still ongoing. We are trying to return power to people as soon as possible.”
He urged residents to be careful in their use of electricity and to limit their use of any appliances that use a lot of power….
Russia is attempting to cut off telecommunications in Kherson in order to stop opposition figures [?] within the city sending information to the Ukrainian armed forces, Ukraine’s government has said.
It comes amid the withdrawal of Russian troops from the west of the Kherson region ahead of an expected counteroffensive by Ukraine to recapture the city.
According to a report by the government-run Centre for National Resistance, Russia has begun dismantling communication equipment at the local television centre.
“In the future, the Russians plan to leave the city completely without communication, television, and radio broadcasting,” it said.
“In this way, the Russians are trying to informationally isolate Kherson in order not to allow the [underground resistance] to transmit information to the Armed Forces of Ukraine during counteroffensive actions.”
A Russian fighter plane has crashed into a residential building in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, the regional governor has said.
Posting to Telegram on Sunday, Igor Kobzev said the plane hit a two-story house and that its two pilots had both been killed.
He added that there had been no other casualties.
Footage included in the post showed emergency workers moving among the wreckage and working to put out fires at the site.
It is the second such incident in six days, Reuters reports. Last Monday, at least 15 people were killed after a fighter plane hit an apartment block in the southern city of Yeysk, near the Ukrainian border.
Photos and video at the (Twitter) link. You could subtitle the video to have them describe this new art installation and how it captures the absurdity and futility of contemporary Russian actions and it would be as useful as whatever they’re actually saying.
The company was founded by Adolf “Adi” Dassler who made sports shoes in his mother’s scullery or laundry room in Herzogenaurach, Germany after his return from World War I. In July 1924, his older brother Rudolf joined the business, which became “Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory” (Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik).
Dassler assisted in the development of spiked running shoes (spikes) for multiple athletic events. To enhance the quality of spiked athletic footwear, he transitioned from a previous model of heavy metal spikes to utilising canvas and rubber. In 1936, Dassler persuaded U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens to use his hand made spikes at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Following Owens’ four gold medals, the name and reputation of Dassler shoes became known to the world’s sportsmen and their trainers. Business was successful and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes every year before World War II.
Both Dassler brothers joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in May 1933 and became also members of the National Socialist Motor Corps. Furthermore, Adolf took the rank of Sportwart in the Hitler Youth from 1935 until the end of the war. During the war, the company was running the last sport shoe factory in the country and predominantly supplied the Wehrmacht with shoes. In 1943 the shoe production was forced to cease operations and the company’s facilities and workforce was used to manufacture anti-tank weapons. From 1942 to 1945 at least nine forced labourers were working at both sites of the company.
The Dassler factory, used for production of anti-tank weapons during World War II, was nearly destroyed in 1945 by US forces, but was spared when Adolf Dassler’s wife convinced the American soldiers that the company and its employees were only interested in manufacturing sports shoes. American occupying forces subsequently became major buyers of the Dassler brothers’ shoes.
Governments which still have not banned RT must watch this excerpt. This is what you side with if you allow RT to operate in your countries. Aggressive genocide incitement (we will put this person on trial for it), which has nothing to do with freedom of speech. Ban RT worldwide!
Video of the Irkutsk crash @ #10 at the (Twitter) link. I saw someone earlier describing it as the plane having fallen on a house, and I thought it was odd phrasing, but it really does just fall from the sky.
French police said Friday they’re investigating multiple cuts to fiber-optic cables in France’s second-largest city. Operators said the cables link Marseille to other cities in France and Europe and that internet and phone services were severely disrupted.
The disruptions in Marseille were a taste of what analysts warn could be far larger problems in other cases if cables are systematically attacked. The vulnerability of fiber-optic cables, especially those underwater, and other key infrastructure was highlighted by the sabotage last month in the Baltic Sea of natural gas pipelines from Russia.
The damage in the city in southern France also appeared to resemble suspected acts of sabotage to other cables in the country earlier this year.
French cable operator and internet service provider Free said its repair teams were mobilized before dawn Wednesday to deal with “an act of vandalism on our fiber infrastructure.”
It said the attacks were simultaneous and on multiple spots of its fiber network near Marseille. Photos that Free published on Twitter showed multiple cables completely severed in their concrete housings buried in the ground. It said the cuts led to major disruptions to its network and phone services in the Marseille area.
A spokeswoman for Marseille police said Friday that the judicial police were investigating multiple breakages to cables on the city’s outskirts.
Cybersecurity company Zscaler said the severed cables link Marseille to Milan, Barcelona and the French city of Lyon. It said the cuts “impacted major cables with connectivity to Asia, Europe, (the) U.S. and potentially other parts of the world.”
The damage also slowed some network traffic from Europe to India, company CEO Jay Chaudhry said.
“Since Zscaler controls the network, we were able to re-route the traffic and mitigate the issue for our global users,” he posted.
In the case earlier this year, France’s domestic intelligence agency was recruited to help with the investigation into suspected sabotage of French fiber-optic cables.
Photos posted then by Free showed damage that looked much like the latest cuts in Marseille, with multiple cables severed in their apparently pried-open concrete housings.
Internet service was disrupted in several regions around France in that case, requiring the call-out of repair teams in the middle of the night. The Paris prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation and said the French internal intelligence service, known as the DGSI, was also enlisted, along with the judicial police.
The prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation in that case on charges of “damaging goods of a nature of harming the fundamental interests of the nation,” as well as “obstruction of an automatic data processing system” and criminal association.
tomhsays
@ #6 StevoR
They’re probably hiding under your bed…but you didn’t say what your preferred method for killing them is. Inquiring minds want to know.
[…] this is a picture of “Dragon teeth” from a line near Belgorod, not the line in Donbas. [photo at the link] However, they look similar enough that I am operating under the assumption they are the same. If so, these things are utterly pointless and have near zero military application. The other day when I wrote this article on dragon teeth I guessed that the Russians might not be doing it correctly, but I had no idea it was this bad.
WWII style dragons teeth were placed on a concrete mat that was a meter or two deep. This concrete mat is somewhat essential to prevent the teeth from sinking as well as easily being disrupted by other measures. The Russians are using simple triangular pyramid concrete blocks left loose in the field. I had thought they would at least be more like an obelisk buried in the ground to provide some level of robustness. What the Russians are doing here has SO many problems. Lets us count the ways.
First, in anything but frozen solid ground when a tank encounters this in the field it will either push it to the side or drive it into the soil.
Second, any vehicle with some sort of plow or bulldozer attachment will easily push these aside. Look at the crane being used to move them, it’s not like its anything more than a simple contractors crane. A jersey barrier weighs a lot more than these do.
Third, a 155mm artillery round hitting close enough will be able to move them. A simple but intense barrage of artillery on the line of teeth before attacking it should clear a hole for vehicles.
Fourth, if you look closely at the picture in the upper right of the tweet, you can see the rebar loops where the crane operator attaches the crane to move them. The morons left those facing up instead of at the very least rolling the tooth so that those are on the bottom. Left on top, a soldier can attach a cable and a vehicle can just pull it away. You’re just clearing an opening so it doesn’t even need to be moved far.
Fifth, some strong guys with a good bar could probably roll one out of the way without even needing a vehicle.
Sixth, this makes great cover for attacking infantry. Yes they need to expect landmines, but they need to worry about that anyway.
These are seriously just decoration. The only good side is that the farmer will be able to easily remove them later.
As was noted before, this looks like a surreal art installation. Let’s add some interpretative dancers. Are the Wagner mercenaries mocking war? Mocking themselves? Setting up a photo shoot they can use to impress Putin?
StevoRsays
@16. tomh : My preferred method is the legal arrest of them by the authorities for their crimes including hate speech and inciting violence for most of them.
Sadly, I have little faith in the authorities – especially in the USA where thankfully I do NOT live – to deliver on that. Given, y’know, the widely known records regarding US cops and all.
What are your preferred methods of dealing with violent Nazis and Slaver State bigots and extremist genocidal homophobic, misogynist transphobes?
I’m well aware they aren’t hiding under my bed.* That doesn’t stop them existing in disturbingly large numbers elsewhere. Or having power or trying to seize power elsewhere.
What do you suggest we do to remedy that?
.* Though they are present in my home town as with many other places too. See :
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Sunday slammed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for suggesting a Republican-controlled Congress would not guarantee additional military aid for Ukraine, accusing him of aligning with Russia and seeking “political gain.”
Cheney told NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd that McCarthy “always chooses to serve his own political purpose.”
“The notion that now Kevin McCarthy is going to make himself the leader of the pro-Putin wing of my party is just a stunning thing,” she said, referencing Russian President Vladimir Putin. “It’s dangerous, he knows better.”
Last week, McCarthy said there would be no “blank check” to Ukraine if Republicans win control of Congress after the midterm elections.
“I think Ukraine is very important. I support making sure that we move forward to defeat Russia in that program. But there should be no blank check on anything. We are $31 trillion in debt,” the GOP leader told CNBC. “We’ve got to eliminate the wasteful spending in Washington.”
A majority of Republicans supports Ukraine in its defense against Russia, but a small faction have voiced disapproval with sending more and more money to the embattled nation.
In May, 57 House Republicans voted against a $40 billion security supplemental for Ukraine and some expressed concerns about the $12.2 billion tacked onto a stopgap funding bill this fall because only a minority of the funds were used for defense aid.
Ukrainians are waiting to see what the results of the midterm elections will be as a Republican Congress may be more skeptical of the massive supply of funding they have relied on.
Cheney, who has split with former President Trump and a majority of Republicans on the causes of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, said on Sunday it mystifies her how McCarthy would not completely support a nation’s fight for freedom.
“The fact that he’s willing to go down the path of suggesting America will no longer stand for freedom, I think tells you he’s willing to sacrifice everything for political gain,” Cheney, who was defeated in an August primary, said.
“China’s Communist Party hands Xi an endless rule for flexing power.” Washington Post link
A somber Xi Jinping walked across the plush red stage of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and took his place at the center. A line of men followed silently behind, falling in on both sides of him.
And with that one short, stiff walk and a quick wave, Xi was anointed Sunday as China’s uncontested leader for five, if not many more years, as he concentrates power to a degree not seen since the days of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, and positions his country defiantly against the West.
It marks the pinnacle of a decade of consolidating power and a new chapter of uncertainty for the ruling Communist Party as Xi upsets norms decades in the making.
At a party plenum on Sunday that followed the close of the twice-a-decade Communist Party congress, Xi secured a third term as general secretary and head of the Central Military Commission, the party’s two most important positions. The men at his side, all allies, make up the newly chosen members of the seven-member standing committee, the party’s apex of power. Xi is at the top.
[…] By not stepping down after two terms, Xi has defied unspoken rules that previous leaders instated in hopes of institutionalizing peaceful transitions of power and preventing a return to Mao-style one-man rule. The 69-year-old Xi — who in 2018 abolished presidential term limits, a sign that he would not follow the unspoken principle — has not designated a potential successor.
“There is no bottom line. All the rules have been broken,” said Cai Xia, a former professor at the Central Party School who was expelled from the party in 2020 for criticizing Xi. “Before there was still resistance, but this time you can see that China’s future is entirely driven by Xi’s will.” […]
On the wide and shallow Larnaca beach, a group of young, pale men huddled over their phones disrupted the otherwise idyllic scene of blissful, tanned British and German tourists lying on the neatly arranged beige loungers.
“Yes! He crossed into Kazakhstan,” Ruslan shouted in Russian, taking a triumphant sip of Keo, an inexpensive locally brewed lager. His friend had just texted that he escaped Russia after an agonizing three-day wait at the border, where he feared a notice from an enlistment office might derail his plan to avoid the trenches in Ukraine.
Since late September, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to enlist at least 300,000 men to help his flagging invasion of Ukraine has been at the heart of discussions among Russians in the increasing number of emigre communities around the world, many of which have experienced a steep increase in new arrivals, including in Larnaca.
Putin’s mobilization prompted hundreds of thousands of fighting-age men to flee Russia, many abandoning their families to cross land borders with Georgia, Kazakhstan and, in rare cases, Finland and Norway, if they held a coveted Schengen visa. Those visas, granting entry to 26 countries, most in the European Union, are now extremely difficult to get as Moscow faces international isolation over the war.
Since then, Finland has followed the Baltic countries — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — in denying entry to Russians with visitor visas, essentially sealing shut Russia’s borders with the European Union. In Georgia, officials said they are considering terminating an existing visa-free regime with Russia. Turkey, another major hub for Russians, is tightening requirements for immigrants hoping to open a bank account.
Cyprus, a small, sunny island in the Mediterranean divided by its own historical territorial dispute between Turks and Greeks, remains one of the last few havens for Russians running away from the uncertainty and doom Putin’s war in Ukraine has created back home.
As the E.U.’s most easterly member, Cyprus has long been a go-to destination for Russian companies and wealthy individuals due to its relatively easy immigration process, low taxes, and openness to attracting as much foreign business as possible. Its beaches are also a plus.
So after the tanks rolled into Ukraine, a significant part of Russia’s highly educated, middle- to upper-class workforce — mostly IT workers — flocked to Cyprus […] up to 50,000 people have moved to Cyprus since February, mostly Russians and Ukrainians looking to start a new life away from the war.
Most Russians try to settle in Limassol, sometimes dubbed “Moscow on the Med” or “Limassolgrad,” where Russian speech can be heard everywhere due to the sheer size of the existing community […]
The sudden influx in the spring saw the real estate market booming, rental car companies scrambling to meet demand and newly arrived parents fighting over spots in English-speaking schools. Those who came in the summer, or as part of the second wave triggered by the Sept. 21 mobilization announcement, typically have been forced to settle in Larnaca or Nicosia, which are relatively less popular.
[…] The Russian government has tried to fight the high-tech brain drain with various sweeteners including lower mortgage rates and, more recently, exemptions from military service. But those tactics have mostly failed as few trusted that their lives would be untouched by the war.
That mistrust proved justified Friday when a lawyer who tried to stop the mobilization of a 33-year-old IT worker reported that his client had died last week in Ukraine.
The IT worker, Timur Ismailov, qualified for exemption as he held a key role in one of the biggest Russian banks. But the lists filed by his employer did not reach the military’s general staff in time, and Ismailov, who received a summons for duty on Sept. 23, soon ended up in the trenches only to be killed a few weeks later in a mortar attack […]
Cyprus, however, has long a long history of welcoming Russians, their businesses, and their money.
This open-arms approach caused a backlash when E.U. officials voiced unease over the so-called golden passport program by which Cyprus offered rich investors a path to citizenship, while also making it easier for dirty money to flow into Europe.
In 2020 Cyprus suspended the program, but it is still relatively easy to set up a company in Cyprus and obtain residency permits for highly skilled workers who meet the 2,500 euro a month salary threshold, about five times Russia’s median wage.
[…] after a brief hesitation, Cyprus threw its weight behind Ukraine and the E.U. sanctions to punish Moscow, while also signaling that it would not close the door to individual Russians.
[…] “I would really like to come back and live there,” Korneeva said. “But even if I brush aside the issues regarding my views and overall prospects of living in Russia in general, there is now no practical way to do that: all game development left Russia and that amazing industry it had before Feb. 24 no longer exists.”
Directed by ground controllers tracking a drone on radar, a Ukrainian fighter jet pilot, code-named Juice, streaked through the sky in pursuit, hoping to sneak up behind the slow-moving Iranian-made craft and take it down with a missile.
But on this day, as on many others, Juice found nothing.
Shooting down noisy, propeller-driven Iranian-made drones is a frustrating business and harder than it might seem. It takes multiple actors on the ground and in the air working closely together for 24 hours a day.
“The last few weeks were very busy, very exhausting for us,” Juice said of the air war against the drones, dozens of which Russia has deployed daily. “It’s still very, very difficult to shoot them down.” […]
Since Russia began terrorizing Ukrainian cities in September with the drones, Ukraine has turned its focus to an intense counter-drone strategy, made up on the fly but often surprisingly successful.
Currently, it consists of three layers of protection: fighter jets that patrol around the clock; ground-fired antiaircraft missiles; and teams of soldiers with machine guns who try to shoot the drones down as they fly past.
The hardest part is simply finding the drones, Juice said. On radar, the small, plodding drones can be confused with migrating birds or trucks on a highway. Ground controllers identify potential targets and direct jets to intercept them, but often the pilots come up empty.
Despite the hurdles, the Ukrainian military is now routinely shooting down more than 70 percent of the Shahed-136 drones Russia purchased from Iran in August, Yuriy Sak, an adviser to the Ukrainian minister of defense, said in an interview. [sounds a bit optimistic to me, but I have seen other sources that say Ukraine is shooting down 50% of Russia’s Shahed-136 drones.]
Ukraine shot down the first such drone in the country’s east on Sept. 13 and has since downed at least 237, the Ukrainian military said in a statement last week. “We are trying to quickly adapt to the new reality,” Mr. Sak said.
[…] One Ukrainian MiG pilot won folk hero status in Ukraine this month for shooting down five Iranian Shahed-136 drones over the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, only to be forced to eject after crashing into the debris of the last one. The pilot, Karaya — who identified himself by only his nickname, according to military policy — told the local news media afterward, “Within a short period of time, we are adapting to this kind of weapon and are starting to destroy it successfully.”
After colliding with the airborne debris, he said, Karaya steered his MiG away from Vinnytsia and ejected. The jet crashed into houses in an outlying area, but injured nobody on the ground. Karaya later visited the site to apologize.
[…] “It’s frustrating that we must hit these drones with expensive missiles,” he said. “What else can we do? This is the reality now.”
[…] In August, the United States promised that within the next nine months it would deliver to Ukraine a small, compact counter-drone missile system that could be mounted on the back of an ordinary pickup truck. The so-called Vampire system is a newly developed anti-drone technology that can reach out farther than a machine gun, but is portable enough to be driven quickly into the path of incoming drones.
After a drone swarm attack on Kyiv on Monday, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, appealed to Israel for air defense weapons. The plea was rebuffed by Israel’s minister of defense, Benny Gantz, largely because Israel depends on Russian cooperation for the Israeli Air Force to conduct raids in Syria. [JFC] Israel, he said, would provide early warning systems, but not air defense weapons.
Mr. Sak, the adviser to the Ukrainian defense minister, said Israel could be missing an opportunity to hone its tactics in facing down threats in its own territory by assisting in the counter-drone efforts now underway in Ukraine.
“These Iranian drones that are hitting Ukrainian cities were not developed, not meant for Ukraine,” Mr. Sak said. “They were developed as a mass capability to strike Israel. They are using Ukraine as a testing ground, to see weaknesses, to perfect them, and sooner or later they will use them against Israel.” […]
The drones, when in flight, also have a distinctive buzz from their small engines, which has proved a vulnerability.
In Kyiv, three policemen shot down one drone with their Kalashnikov rifles after hearing the buzz, described by witnesses as sounding like a chain-saw engine, and then seeing the triangular weapon fly toward them over rooftops.
“There was very little time to make a decision,” said Sgt. Oleksandr Kravchuk, who is a shooting instructor with the police department.
He said he fired all 30 rounds in his magazine, trying to aim in front of the craft to account for its speed in flight. The drone veered off course and crashed, blowing up about 75 yards from where he was standing, Sergeant Kravchuk said in an interview.
“We heard it, we saw it, then we opened fire,” he said.
Media: Russian collaborator’s car reportedly blown up in Kherson.
Russian news agencies reported that one person was killed, and three people were injured by the explosion in Russian-occupied Kherson.
Most, a Kherson-based news outlet, reported that the bomb was meant to kill Oleh Tyutyrai, the head of a Russian detention center in Kherson Oblast. His condition is unknown.
It’s not just the Ukrainian community that finds him revolting. Add the Polish-Americans, and all the other hyphenated Americans: the Lithuanians, Latvians, Czechs and Slovaks and the Estonians.
They might just save US Foreign Policy from the Putinistas.
Among this war’s many casualties, Russia’s vaunted propaganda machine stands out. The same people who helped elect Donald Trump and fueled Brexit are now struggling to deal with a bunch of cartoon shiba inus on Twitter. On the diplomatic stage, no one believes Russia’s claims, not even supposed allies like Cuba, China, and India. Only North Korea, Belarus, Eritrea, and Nicaragua play along.
So when Russia claimed Ukraine was planning on blowing the dam at Nova Kakhovka, as a pretext to something, not even pro-Russian Telegram sources bought it. Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, on their GreyZone Telegram channel, were explicitly dismissive: “The enemy has absolutely no motive to blow up the hydroelectric power station. The Armed Forces of Ukraine want to take Melitopol in the spring, the front of the battle for it is planned to be opened from the Zaporozhye region, and also, in fact, to attack from Kherson.” Seems obvious, right?
Other outlets have pointed out that the left bank (that is, the southern and eastern sides) of the Donetsk will suffer significantly greater flooding, which also happens to be the side that Russia is withdrawing toward. This modeling confirms that Russia would flood the lower-elevation side, which is also the side Russia is moving to.
So to recap:
1) Ukraine wouldn’t blow the dam, because that’s the route toward Melitopol and Crimea. They need the bridge intact.
2) Russia wouldn’t blow it, because it would flood their own retreat and defensive positions south of Kherson.
So why has Russia been making those claims? Beats me. Could simply be a way to instill the proper urgency in its loyal civilians in Kherson, to get them to move out ASAP. Ironically, Kherson city would be mostly spared, except for the harbor and docklands. Or it could be simple Russian idiocy.
(Incidentally, Russia isn’t evacuating all civilians from Kherson, just Vichy traitors, Russian officials, their families, civilians brought in for the “referendum,” and imported teachers needed because Ukrainians refused to teach the approved propagandist curriculum.)
Anyway, the dam threats were starting to wear thin, no one giving them much heed, so Russia has moved to a new, more hysterical one—Ukraine is ready to detonate a nuclear “dirty bomb”—a crude device that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu literally called up the defense ministers of Turkey, France, and the U.K. today to share this claim. So what is going on here?
No, Ukraine isn’t going to detonate anything nuclear on their own soil. That is beyond ridiculous. But Russian leadership and state TV have been threatening nuclear reprisal against Ukraine for months. Heck, Vladimir Putin himself threatened a nuclear response to anyone who helped arm Ukraine the first days of the war. Everyone ignored him and his threat was, as usual, empty.
Indeed, the West has made very clear that if Russia escalates by using a tactical nuke, it will draw the NATO alliance into the war. While the details of any Western reprisals have been vague in substance, they’ve explicitly ruled out a nuclear response. There would be no need for one, as NATO could use conventional means to target what’s left of Russia’s shredded military in the region, including its Black Sea fleet.
Perhaps by creating the information conditions to blame Ukraine for any nuclear detonation, Russia thinks it might avoid the consequences of its own actions.
Yet a tactical nuclear detonation would look a lot different than a “dirty bomb”—a conventional explosion laced with radioactive material. The difference would be immediately obvious. So would Russia rig up a dirty bomb for this pathetic ruse? And if so, to what end, as that would have a far more limited impact on the battlefield. So what exactly would that accomplish?
[…] So what, Russia drops this nuke or dirty bomb on a cluster of its own forces? Okay, NATO doesn’t respond, but what has Russia accomplished, other than murdering its own troops and irradiating a chunk of Ukraine for a few millennia? (This is nothing new for Ukraine, look at Chernobyl.)
It’s all very odd, as if Russia hasn’t fully gamed out the consequences. It’s a lose-lose proposition, with a greater chance of drawing in a NATO response than in accomplishing anything that might actually help Russia win the war.
In Kherson, nothing new has been confirmed since Mark Sumner’s last update. I’ll update this story with any new developments on the ground. What is clear is that Russia is pulling out its “experienced” combat forces (which is a relative term) and replacing them with conscripts. No one expects the mobiliks to be anything more than a speed bump, even if, optimistically, it’s just about Ukraine managing mass surrenders.
GreyZone, the Telegram channel managed by Wagner mercenaries, is really frustrated. It doesn’t understand why, while Ukraine systematically uses HIMARS and artillery to degrade Russia’s military infrastructure, Russia would rather terrorize civilians with drone attacks. “This, by the way, is about the fact that the enemy stubbornly hit the bridge for three months, while we rejoice at the arrivals of [Iranian drones] that do not affect absolutely anything [in the war],” they wrote.
We’ve noted that from the beginning of the war—how key Ukrainian military infrastructure remains inexplicably intact (like the Ministry of Defense building in Kyiv!) while Russia lobs expensive missiles at civilian apartment complexes and playgrounds. If you want a visceral look at what that really looks like, check out this tweet: (You can click on the image, it’s not sensitive) [Tweet and video available at the link]
We have video of a train carting off at least a half dozen damaged Russian vehicles to Ukraine’s rear, where they will be repaired, refurbished, updated, and then released back into the wild against their former owners. That’s cool enough, but what else do we see?
This rail yard is a critical transportation and supply hub for sustaining Ukraine’s defense. It is full of rail cars used to transport troops and war material to the front, keeping its soldiers well supplied and armed. All of this would be effective military targets for those Iranian drones, able to hit anywhere in Ukraine. The rail lines themselves are easy to repair, but systematically hitting key switches, supply warehouses, headquarter and logistics headquarters, and repair and maintenance equipment would significantly hinder and delay Ukrainian supply efforts.
In the background we can also see grain cars. Hit these railways and cars, and you’re not just impacting the war effort, but also degrading Ukraine’s economy, hindering its ability to sustain its war effort, and placing greater stress on its Western backers. (You already see MAGA Republicans crying about American aid to Ukraine, and that will only grow over time, and that dynamic is playing out with the Far Right in Europe as well.)
Russia’s refusal to systematically hit key military targets, even thought it clearly has the ability to do so, is one of the greatest mysteries of this war. What kind of perverted honor code spares some of the most important military targets, yet hits civilian bus stops, busy intersections at rush hour, and shopping malls?
Russia is a sad, dystopian place.
Russian mother gets a phone call from Ukraine, telling her that her son has been captured by the Ukrainian Army.
She proceeds to ask the most important question.
Is the iPhone 13 he was gifted back home whole & safe?
Maybe they can send the phone back?
[Video available at the link]
She doesn’t even ask where her son is, if he’s okay, and if he can come home. Believe it or not, she might even be disappointed, given this:
“Women say: there is no work, men drink alcohol, they will die anyway, and mobilization means money and benefits in the future”, – a practical explanation why so many wives and mothers in Russia are ok with mobilization.
[video available at the link]
“My worthless unemployed son/husband will drink himself to death anyway, at least this way I get some money out of it” might be some of the bleakest shit I’ve ever seen.
[…] This is crazy!
Absolutely insane and chaotic combative footage from a UKR tank. Russian convoy runs straight into UKR 25th brigade fighting near Kherson. Date Unknown. [video available at the link]
People are pointing out how the tank commander almost dies twice, including the sniper bullet ricocheting off the open ammo cover of his machine gun. That’s intense, yes. And then people marvel at the tank running into supply trucks (which are taken out by infantry). What people are missing, however, is that those trucks are towing artillery. That means that wherever this is in Kherson, Ukrainian forces have outrun the front lines and are wreaking havoc in the rear. Remember, artillery sits back at least 10-15 kilometers from the front. If Ukrainian tanks are running into the enemy’s artillery, that’s terrible news for Russia, and supports rumors that Ukraine is pushing deep into Russian lines in Kherson.
Remember when Republicans were all about tort reform because they thought plaintiffs were mucking up the judicial system with supposedly frivolous “nuisance” lawsuits? Sigh. I miss the days when Republicans put forth a consistent, coherent platform of insensate evil instead of this higgledy-piggledy paella of Trump brain pan effluent. I mean, at least you knew where they stood.
[…] you’d think Donald Trump would be focused on the numerous wolves baying at his doorstep. Instead, he’s fixing to sue the Pulitzer organization for giving out Pulitzer Prizes to someone other than Sean Hannity. And, naturally, the hammer is coming down in two weeks [LOL, LOL, LOL]
At last night’s Loser-Palooza rally in Texas, Trump claimed that the Pulitzer people were in mega-MAGA trouble, and they better watch out, because a killer lawsuit is coming in just a fortnight!
TRUMP: “They gave out the Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Russia hoax, okay, reporting on Russia, Russia, Russia. So you have reporters from The Washington Post, The New York Times that got Pulitzer Prizes and they reported the exact wrong thing. So within the next two weeks we’re suing the Pulitzer organization to have those prizes taken back. We’ll be doing that over the next two weeks. [Oh FFS] I think it’s a very good lawsuit, but we’ll see. But, ah, we’re suing. Think of it, they got the Pulitzer Prize for wrong reporting. But other people should have gotten the Pulitzer Prize, because frankly they got it right for years. And they don’t do Pulitzer Prizes for guys like Sean Hannity, but they should, by a different name. And Tucker Carlson, and Jeanine Pirro, and Laura [Ingraham]. And so many different people, but they don’t get it. They give Pulitzer Prizes to the people that got it wrong. Remember this. By allowing these people that got Russia, Russia, Russia wrong, they’re actually libeling me because they’re say they got it right, and it turned out to be a hoax, and everybody now has admitted it was a hoax. Even the Times and even The Washington Post, they said it’s a hoax. So if it’s a hoax, then let them give the Pulitzer Prizes back or take them back. They shouldn’t be allowed to keep them.”
I have thoughts.
1) The Russia, Russia, Russia thing was only a hoax if you think a candidate’s campaign manager giving internal polling data to a Russian with ties to the Kremlin somehow isn’t collusion. Or that at least 10 clear instances of obstruction of justice spelled out in the summary of a 22-month-long investigation somehow fail to amount to … erm … obstruction.
2) Shouldn’t Trump’s lawyers be focusing on keeping him out of prison? This feels a bit like going in for a chin tuck and eyelid lift after your pet chimp has already mauled your face off.
3) Not sure if Trump meant that Sean Hannity should get a Pulitzer under a different name or if the name of the Pulitzer Prize should be changed just for him. If the former, I nominate “Edward R. Fucknuts.”
Of course, as HuffPost notes, Trump has been promising for months now that a Pulitzer-pulverizing lawsuit was right around the corner.
Trump first threatened to sue over the awards in June. But in July the Pulitzer board rejected his repeated demands to revoke the 2018 national reporting awards given to the two newspapers, noting that reviews found no reason to rescind the prizes.
“No passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes,” the board said in a statement. “The 2018 Pulitzer Prizes in National Reporting stand.”
They weren’t discredited by any facts? Well, they’re going to need to do better than that, because Trump isn’t the least bit interested in facts. You’d think pretty much every media organization in the world would know that by now.
Personal evidence that #russian occupation of my home #KhersonRegion might be coming to an end: an acquaintance of ours working now for russian administration in a small town tried to hide in our neighbors’ house, temporarily abandoned #ukrainecounteroffensive
[…] Ron DeSantis’ test was not for thoughtfulness but for unquestioning submission and a willingness to pretend he was smarter than she was.
Via Financial Times:
At Yale, he also found refuge at the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, an athlete-heavy club that featured barrels of beer and prominent former members, including the Bushes and Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh. In his recent pandemic memoir, What Just Happened: Notes on a Long Year, the author and critic Charles Finch recalled two things about his former classmate, known then as “D”: he did an uncanny impression of baseball star Jose Canseco and, according to a friend, would tell dates he liked Thai food, but pronounced it “thigh”. If they corrected him, Finch wrote, he would find an excuse to leave. “He didn’t want a girlfriend who corrected him.”
Of course he didn’t.
I can’t help but feel some kind of relief knowing that I would dodge a Ron DeSantis-sized bullet even before I knew he was a jackass. I absolutely would correct someone who said that, not for reasons of pedantry — I certainly wouldn’t do it in a mocking way or in front of other people — but for the same reason I would tell them if they had spinach in their teeth or toilet paper attached to their shoe. Because I care and would not want them to make a fool of themselves in front of others or take that act on the road. I would hope that someone would care enough about me to tell me, in a kind and gracious way, when I’m incorrect or have accidentally tucked my skirt into my tights.
DeSantis, however, wants to be a naked Emperor. He actually wants the power surge of going around pronouncing something a ridiculous way and having people, women in particular, just go along with him because they wouldn’t dare correct him. […]
Boris Johnson was waging an all-out effort Sunday to be prime minister again hopeful for redemption and a coronation, soliciting support largely out of public view without formally announcing his candidacy.
His supporters claimed late Sunday that he has enough backers to stay in the race — he needs at least 100 Conservative members of parliament by 2 p.m. London time Monday. But only about 60 had declared for Johnson publicly compared to 150 for Rishi Sunak and 27 for Penny Mourdant.
But the problem for the mop-headed former leader ousted in July is this: a lot of his fellow Conservative Party lawmakers, alongside so-called Tory grandees and once-friendly tabloid hacks, think his return to power would spell “disaster.”
Their word, not ours. Even some of Johnson’s once closest allies are wary. “Go back to the beach,” his former Brexit sidekick David Davis says.
“It is part of Boris Johnson’s weird political genius that he should be considered for an encore at all,” wrote Charles Moore, his old boss and a columnist at the Telegraph, who warned, “True Boris fans will have the courage to tell him to sit this one out.”
[…] People have seen the movie, which ended when weighed down by scandal Johnson was forced to quit in July after more than 50 ministers and aides resigned, calling him unfit to lead.
The sequel — or “Johnson 2.0” as the British press have taken to calling it — will not escape the plot points of the original.
For starters, he is still facing a perilous investigation in Parliament over whether he lied to lawmakers about covid lockdown parties at 10 Downing Street. This is a serious charge — which could see him censured or worse — and would likely make headlines for months, a constant reminder of his ouster as party leader and prime minister in July. […]
Excerpts from the Washington Post report that SC mentioned in comment 27:
Irena Stolar has voted Republican for over half a century, from Richard M. Nixon to Donald Trump. But in the midterms, Stolar, 73, said she will cast her first vote for a Democrat. Originally from Ukraine, Stolar refuses to support J.D. Vance, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Ohio, who has said he wants to cut off aid to the war-torn country.
“Definitely not this year, with J.D. Vance saying that Ukraine doesn’t matter,” said Stolar, during a break from her shift as host at Olesia’s Taverne, a busy Ukrainian restaurant. She recalled being upset earlier this year, when Vance said on a podcast interview just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “I gotta be honest with you. I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.”
Vance later recalibrated, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin “is the bad guy” and “we want the Ukrainians to be successful.” But for Stolar, the damage was done. “If he said one thing, then backs down on it, you can’t trust someone like that,” she said. “I’d like our senators to continue supporting Ukraine, sending arms as much as they can.”
[…] Parma, a city of 80,000 near Cleveland that has one of the largest Ukrainian American populations in the state. Many said they would not vote for Vance. In a tight contest, such sentiments could have far-reaching implications.
Polls show that Vance and Rep. Tim Ryan (D) are in close competition as the race nears its conclusion, and with Democrats trying to retain their narrow Senate majority, the stakes are especially high. There are about 41,000 people with Ukrainian heritage in Ohio, according to the Census Bureau, and many have felt the effects of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine more acutely and personally than most Americans.
[…] “We’ve got to stop the money spigot to Ukraine eventually,” Vance said in an interview with an ABC News affiliate in September. “We cannot fund a long-term military conflict that I think ultimately has diminishing returns for our own country.”
[…] These days, many of Parma’s residents wake every morning to updates from family members in Ukraine. Some are sheltering in bunkers; others are preparing to fight.
[…] “My father’s 97, and he’s on a computer trying to find out where all these cousins are,” Liscynesky said. “He goes, ‘This is like World War II.’”
Liscynesky has shelved his political alliances in light of the war. “I’m a Republican, but I’m backing Biden’s efforts in Ukraine,” he said, withholding his voting plans for this election.
[…] Anna Barrett, president of the credit union, said she will vote for a Democratic candidate for the first time in her life. “I certainly could not support Mr. Vance based on what he has said,” she said. Like others, Barrett has been working around-the-clock to fundraise and send supplies to Europe.
Michael Dobronos, a second-generation Ukrainian American, has brought the war home to Parma, taking in 10 relatives who arrived as refugees in recent months. […] five women and five children are living in his house in Cleveland.
“They’re traumatized,” Dobronos said at Rudy’s Strudel, an Eastern European bakery next to the Ukrainian Village. “They remember hearing bombs dropped, artillery, […]
A staunch conservative, Dobronos said he is troubled about the upcoming elections. “I voted for Trump twice, but I cannot believe the Republican Party has abandoned Ukraine and its fight for freedom,” he said. “I’ve always voted for conservative candidates. However, I will break that tradition in this midterm. I cannot support J.D. Vance because of his anti-Ukrainian views.”
[…] “We’re all very supportive of Ukraine and our efforts to oppose the Russians,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “Everybody I know is, except J.D. Vance. For whatever reason, Vance is on the wrong side, and I expect it to cost him votes.”
[…] “My cousin and her husband were driving when a rocket went right past them,” Stolar said. “Tim Ryan says Ukraine matters — and it does. We’re the country that is saving Europe from Russian aggression.”
A different perspective was evident at a clambake in Strongsville, Ohio, about 10 miles southwest of Parma, where a couple hundred Vance supporters pulled clams from their shells under a marquee. They clapped as Vance told them that the fighting spirit he wants to take to Washington came from his grandmother, who he said had 19 loaded handguns around her house. In a speech, he said he wanted to crack down on crime and Mexican cartels. He slammed Ryan and sought to link him to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). [JFC]
[…]
Update to #s 9 and 13 above: “RT just fired Krasovsky. Too little, too late, in light of their pervasive propaganda that contributed to this war and ongoing promotion of Russia’s genocidal invasion.”
Meanwhile in Russia: genocidal denials of the Ukrainian identity from the host and his guest. They claim that Ukrainians are just mentally ill Russians, whom they will “cure” once Russia wins. They propose destroying all Holodomor memorials. They discuss killing Americans. Watch:…
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link. Sick.
StevoRsays
@16. tomh : BTW. You didn’t read my original comment #5 very well did you? I specifically wrote :
@2. The Vicar (via Freethoughtblogs) : Chalk it up. I agree with you here. Maybe not so much on actually killing them since “martyrdom” and all but certainly the punching them and using force against them where necessary part. Those first two paragraphs especially – truth.
Emphasis added.
What I’d like is for nazism to end and people to see through the toxic ideology and stop believing in it. Killing needs to be a very last resort. Jailing and deradicalising and discrediting them is much better than just killing them. Punching them is better than killing them especially if it embarrases them and stops them being nazis or influential.
Ukraine abolished their military draft a few days ago.
In the middle of a bloody war with Russia.
The comparison with Russia is extreme.
In Ukraine, they have too many people volunteering for their military than they have space and weapons for.
In Russia, the authorities are randomly grabbing anyone they can find and taking them away. Something like 1/2 million Russian men have fled the country and are sitting out the war any place they can.
One country is fighting aggressive invaders for their survival.
Russia is fighting an aggressive war for no good reason, for Putin and the Nationalists. I doubt if most of the oligarchies support that war.
Ukraine scraps conscription for compulsory military service in wartime
October 19, 2022, 03:17 AM New Voice of Ukraine
The Verkhovna Rada has abolished conscription for compulsory military service while martial law is in effect, Member of Parliament from the Holos (Voice) parliamentary faction Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on Telegram on Oct. 18.
The bill, No. 8109, on the specifics of conscription for military service and the operation of conscription commissions, was backed by 318 lawmakers.
According to the new law, from now on, during the martial law:
there is no conscription for military service;
conscription commissions are to be established for considering if persons on military registration fit for military service for health and other reasons:
(they shall) conduct medical examinations of individuals who have reached the age of 27 and are in the military register of conscripts, registering them for or removing them from the military register;
(they shall decide to) send/not to send conscripts planning to get enrolled in higher military educational institutions or military educational units of higher education institutions for preparing for entrance exams and passing them.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier canceled the autumn conscription and postponed the planned demobilization.
“The decision on additional mobilization will be taken by the General Staff,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said. According to him, “There are certain steps, including those related to the formation of the reserves, their preparation.”
We, the Foreign Ministers of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, reiterate our steadfast support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression. We remain committed to continue supporting Ukraine’s efforts to defend its territory for as long as it takes.
Earlier today, the defence ministers of each of our countries spoke to Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu at his request. Our countries made clear that we all reject Russia’s transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory. The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation. We further reject any pretext for escalation by Russia.
The Foreign Ministers also discussed their shared determination to continue supporting Ukraine and the Ukrainian people with security, economic, and humanitarian assistance in the face of President Putin’s brutal war of aggression.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Russia faces ‘inevitable defeat’ in Kherson, former UK army chief says
A former chief of the British army has said Russia faces an “inevitable defeat” in Kherson ahead of an expected battle.
Residents in the Russian-occupied region have been urged to flee, with all men who choose to stay behind being invited to join a newly formed militia.
Gen Lord Dannatt has claimed Vladimir Putin’s troops are attempting to save face to make their defeat appear “less chaotic”.
“The Russians are obviously thinking about trying to turn what is probably an inevitable defeat there into some kind of managed withdrawal to make it appear less chaotic from their point of view,” he told Sky News.
Dannatt suggested Russia was targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as they were “still on the back foot” on the battlefield.
Russia’s grip on the city of Kherson appeared increasingly fragile after a weekend in which all civilians were ordered to evacuate immediately in the face of the advancing Ukrainian counteroffensive. The US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War said the urgent call indicated that the occupiers “do not expect a rapid Russian or civilian return” to the city, and appeared to be trying to depopulate it to damage its “long-term social and economic viability”.
All men remaining in Kherson have been invited to join a newly formed local militia. In a notice on Telegram, the occupation authorities said men had the “opportunity” to join territorial defence units if they chose to remain in Kherson of their own free will. Compelling civilians to serve in the armed forces of an occupying power is defined as a breach of the Geneva Conventions.
A Russian TV presenter has apologised for claiming children who opposed Russia should be drowned in a river.
Russia Today anchor Anton Krasovsky said was “really embarrassed” after getting “carried away” with his comments.
“Well, it happens. You’re on air, you get carried away, and you can’t stop. I ask for the forgiveness of everyone who was stunned by this,” he said.
The state broadcaster suspended Krasovsky shortly after his remarks, and suggested the incident was a result of “temporary insanity”.
Yet it appears he crossed the line with Russia’s state investigative committee confirming it was looking into and would produce a report on the matter. [LOL]
The presenter’s controversial comments came last week in a broadcast in which he was responding to an account by science fiction author Sergei Lukyanenko about his first visit to Ukraine in the 1980s during which children told him they would live better lives were it not for Russian occupiers.
“They should have been drowned in the Tysyna. Just drown those children, drown them,” he said.
Sure, we’ve all been there. You’re stressed out, you skip a meal, and you find yourself gleefully inciting genocide.
Major Loon is so fixated on Putin’s invasion of Ukraine really being some nefarious plot by the usual suspects (Biden, Nato, the voices babbling in his head, etc.), he simply asserts (not even an attempt at an explanation): [… W]ithin a month of her time as prime minister, Truss has proved that Zelensky curse is real. And A significant part of Britain’s travails today stems out of the West’s sanctions against Russia, whilst never mentioning brexit.
Later, Major Loon blurts: Both in terms of the class war at home and Britain’s war against Russia and China abroad, no serious shift can be expected out of a regime change calibrated by the Deep State. The only silver lining is that Britain’s capacity to fuel the Ukraine war has drastically diminished as it fights its own battle for survival. With a 80,000-strong standing army — one-fourth the size of Eritrea’s — Britain was anyway punching far above its weight in Ukraine.
The right thing to do is for the next UK prime minister to visit Washington without delay and prevail upon President Biden to end this senseless war in Ukraine and lift the sanctions against Russia, which bled the economies of the UK and other European allies. The heart of the matter is that Europe’s prosperity was built on the availability of cheap, reliable, energy supplies from Russia in huge volumes.
Perhaps the only thing he doesn’t get wrong — often rather badly wrong — is the size of the UK’s standing Army (it’s actually a bit less than 80,000); if you include the Navy, RAF, etc., the total is almost 150,000; and then there are the reserves, etc. It’s also largely not-relevant.
[… T]he Deep State’s fun and frolic in Kiev is no longer affordable.
The [unidentified] reports from Moscow suggest that Russians have hard intelligence to the effect that Washington has demanded from President Zelensky some spectacular performance on the battlefield as the midterms in the US on November 8 is round the corner.
Major Loon takes an several fecktons of Putin’s media and cronies claims literally, as in literally true, eventually concluding [Gen Sergei ‘Armageddon’] Surovikin did not take to hyperbole but instead chose to communicate directly, realistically. He echoed Putin’s priority to take all necessary measures and resources in accordance with the operational and tactical situation at the front with the supreme objective of saving the lives of Russian soldiers and local civilians.
Earth to Major Loon, Earth to Major Loon, Please stop taking your Delusion Pills…
Leading lawyers have sounded the alarm over Jacob Rees-Mogg’s proposals for post-Brexit legislation that could result in 2,400 laws disappearing overnight – including a ban on animal testing for cosmetics, workers’ rights and environmental protections.
Lawyers including one former UK government legal official who designed the concept of EU-retained law for Theresa May branded the move as “anti-democratic” and “completely barking”.
Swathes of laws including equal pay for men and women, pension rights for same-sex married couples, food standards and aviation safety rules could accidentally disappear or be redrafted poorly, they warn.
The retained EU law (revocation and reform) bill will get its second reading on Tuesday. It was designed in such a way that 47 years of laws devised during EU membership will be switched off on 31 December 2023 under a so-called sunset clause.
“A lot of laws are going to be changed without any scrutiny at all by a dying government that few people respect,” said George Peretz KC, a specialist in European law.
The Unison general secretary, Christina McAnea, said: “This is a countdown to disaster for all working people. It would mean turning the clock back to Dickensian times when workers had no rights.
“In a financial crisis with a headless government, people need stability and support, not a bonfire of numerous employment rights.
…
“We are a democracy and we have a process of making law in parliament. People can write to their MPs, industry gets consulted, we have debates in the House of Commons and in the Lords. This is a completely anti-democratic process,” [Peretz] added.
Eleonor Duhs, a partner at the City law firm Bates Wells and a former government lawyer who helped design the concept of retained EU law, said the government’s plans were completely at odds with May’s vision to remove EU laws with “full scrutiny and proper debate”.
The concept of retained law was created for a smooth transition, not as a target practice for Brexiters, she argued.
“This bill gives ministers powers to repeal and replace a vast body of what is now domestic law at speed and without proper scrutiny. This is unprecedented, reckless and undemocratic,” said Duhs.
She also raised questions about the use of precious legal drafting resources within Whitehall.
…
The notion that 2,400 laws could be expunged in little over a year was “completely barking”, said Peretz, but possible because of the “extraordinary power” the government was giving itself to push laws over the December 2023 cliff.
“There is no requirement anywhere on ministers to consult anybody. Under this bill, ministers can just let vital rights and protections for consumers, workers, the environment and animal welfare fall without parliament having any chance to stop that happening,” he said.
“This is nothing to do with whether you support Brexit or not. You can be a fanatical supporter of Brexit and still think this is not the right thing to do.
“All of this is being done in the most immense rush, and when you do things in a rush there is a risk that mistakes are made.”
The bill also gives ministers the powers to rewrite or “update” the rules, with no requirement to consult and at most only a two-hour debate in parliament to say yes or no, but, despite promises from Rees-Mogg that Brexit could mean higher standards than the EU’s, it does not confer power to improve standards and protections, but only to reduce them.
Environmental campaigners including Chris Packham have already sounded the alarm on the threat to disapply environmental rules protecting rare flora and fauna in the 38 new investment zones in England to enable “accelerated development”.
The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office has referred to the US Department of Justice and Arizona Attorney General’s Office a report of voter intimidation, Murphy Hebert, spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, confirmed to CNN on Wednesday.
The unidentified voter reported that they were approached and followed by a group of individuals when the voter was trying to drop off their ballot at an early voting drop box on Monday, according to Hebert.
CNN on Thursday obtained from the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office the report in which the voter detailed the alleged incident. It occurred, the voter wrote, around 6:40 p.m. at the Juvenile Justice Court drop box in Mesa, within Maricopa County.
The voter wrote that a “group of people” filmed, photographed and raised accusations against them as they attempted to return their early ballots.
“There’s a group of people hanging out near the ballot dropbox filming and photographing my wife and I [sic] as we approached the dropbox and accusing us of being a mule,” the voter said, adding that the group took photographs of them, their license plate and followed them out of the parking lot.
The secretary of state’s office talked to the voter, informed Maricopa County, and referred the report to the DOJ and Arizona attorney general for further investigation.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer held a news conference last week and told reporters that people had been recording voters dropping off their ballots at the Mesa drop box. But this new complaint is an escalation from those initial reports….
UK intelligence: Ukraine gets better at downing Iranian drones.
Russian troops keep using kamikaze drones against Ukraine, but Ukraine’s Armed Forces got increasingly better at shooting them down, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Oct. 24.
“Russia is likely expending a high number of Iranian Shahed-136 UAVs to penetrate increasingly effective Ukrainian air defenses… using them as a substitute for Russian-manufactured long-range precision weapons,” reads the report.
The Russians are not preparing to leave the city of Kherson, says [Ukrainian] Defense Intelligence Chief Budanov
The Russians merely create the illusion that they are leaving Kherson, but in fact, they are bringing in new military units and preparing for the city’s defense.
[…] Without a proper oven, I’m eating like a bin-diving gull
We’ve got builders in and are now kitchenless, with only a microwave, a kettle and our terminal toaster, limping on with 0.5 functioning slots, for sustenance. Perfect, you would think, for a woman who declared she was never cooking again once her kids left home. Ideally, I would now assume my ultimate form, living off olives and dry martinis like a Dorothy Parker tribute act, but I fear it’s too soon for that: we’re all going to have to work until we’re 100 now the government has trashed our pensions. I’m unclear if I even have one, and if you can’t locate your pension, it’s best to assume you’re never retiring.
So the microwave it is. […] I’ve been scouring healthy eating blogs for what to make without a work surface. Tinned beans and sweet potatoes (high on my vegetable blacklist) feature heavily — worthy but unappealing.
Amusingly, I just finished a sweet potato & shallots spicy curried soup — from fresh ingredients and not made in a nuke, it was great (burp!) — to which I considered added (yes, tinned) beans, but ultimately decided not to.
Having exhausted all the invitations I can hint and cajole out of friends and family, we’ve become feral, squabbling over who gets the microwave first, then frying our brains staring into it and seeing how many Doritos we can eat in four minutes. We are tumbling, fast, into individualised pits of culinary depravity: concocting appalling food combinations like bin-diving gulls, then prepping them on the actual bin lid. I drown everything in chilli oil and crispy onion bits; my husband is risking his French citizenship with meals of tinned corn, vinegar and blue cheese. […]
I’ve never owned a nuke (and have no significant interest in getting one), but it’s the mildly deranged penguin who detests them. She claims they are a Major Branch of All Evil, one who’s name must not be spoken, attractive to Walruses (dunno about carpenters (the wood-working type, not the wooden singing type)), a manifestation of horses, a Manchurian Cooking plot by teh peas, probably Davros in disguise, …(several hours later (without even breathing, as far as I can tell))…, and besides all that, she doesn’t like them.
(The authour is also asking for helpful suggestions.)
Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the Delays in the Black Sea Grain Corridor’s Operations
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is concerned by the Russian Federation’s actions leading to delays in operations of the grain corridor through the Black Sea.
Starting from 14 October 2022, Russia’s inspectors assigned to the Istanbul Joint Coordination Centre have been significantly prolonging the inspection of vessels, which are heading to Ukraine’s ports for grain loads, or have already been loaded and are on their way to the final destination. As a result, more than 165 vessels have been stuck in a queue near the Bosporus Strait, and this number continues to grow daily.
We have reason to believe that the delays in Russia’s inspections of the grain initiative’s vessels are politically motivated. Recently, the Russian leadership tried to question the grain corridor without any legitimate grounds, demanding new benefits for Moscow’s consent to renew the deal.
Russia’s actions undermine global food security, in particular in the Global South. The inspection delays have already prevented Ukraine from exporting an additional 3 million tons of grain. 10 million people across the world have not received food in time because of Russia’s political agenda.
We call on the international community, in particular African and Asian states who rely on Ukraine’s grain exports, to demand that Russia immediately stops these artificial delays in the inspections of the grain corridor vessels. We must not allow the Kremlin to keep millions of people hostage to its hunger games.
Ukraine has also requested the Secretariat of the Joint Coordination Centre to urgently address Russia’s delays, including by increasing the number of inspectors in the Bosporus Strait.
We remain committed to continue working closely with the United Nations and Türkiye in order to ensure the unimpeded functioning of the Black Sea grain corridor.
The United Nations has said “urgent” steps are needed to relieve a backlog of more than 150 ships involved in a deal which allows Ukraine to export grain from ports in the Black Sea.
The comments by Ismini Palla, a UN spokesperson for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, come as Ukraine accused Russia of blocking the full implementation of the agreement….
Nothing will come of this. Ever since Oklahoma City, the Dems have had a cower-under-the-desk policy when dealing with right-wing terrorists. They’re afraid the inevitable conservative/gun-nut/Bible-fucker hue-and-cry of “persecution of patriotic Americans” would make them look bad.
It’s also why every one of the fascist traitors who took part in Jan 6 are getting handclaps for sentences rather than the rope.
[…]
At 9pm on Sunday, the Daily Telegraph published online a glowing endorsement of Boris Johnson by the former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi. Headlined Get ready for Boris 2.0, the man who will make the Tories and Britain great again [MATBGA], the piece set out a case for why the former prime minister would imminently return triumphant to Downing Street.
Unfortunately for Zahawi, his piece was published at the exact moment that Johnson told reporters he was dropping out of the leadership contest. Within minutes, the Telegraph had made the unusual decision to wipe Zahawi’s article from the internet without following the standard journalistic practice of offering an explanation or leaving an editor’s note.
Telegraph journalists have privately mocked the decision, suggesting it was an attempt to spare the blushes of a senior Conservative politician — only for it to rapidly backfire as archived copies circulated online.
[…]
The Daily Mail[Heil], which had remained loyal to the king[krackpot] over the water in the Caribbean, ran the front-page headline Could Boris and Rishi now unite to save Tories? next to an editorial urging Johnson and Rishi Sunak to put their egos aside.
The Mail and the Telegraph have had their fingers burned by enthusiastic backing for Liz Truss and her financial policies, only to watch as the candidate they pushed into Downing Street imploded on contact with economic reality.
[…propoganda quotes for teh boris with about the same ineptitude and believablity as what Putin’s tame “media” upchucks on the invasion of Ukraine…†]
† I’d use up all the eejit quotes electrons to excerpt even some of them. Just one example, teh daily heil on the boris’s not standing for a second cosplay at being “PM”, a remarkable gesture of magnanimity from a remarkable politician — perhaps the most brilliant of his generation. The daily torygaffe’s opinion column by Zahawi is just as bad (see archive link embedded above).
BREAKING: As I typo this, I just got an alert from the Grauniad that Mordaunt has also pulled out, meaning Sunak is now the only “candidate” and automatic “winner”, having already qualified under the nasty party’s hastily cobbled-together rules.
A Brazilian politician is in custody after throwing grenades at police officers who came to his house in Rio de Janeiro state to arrest him.
Roberto Jefferson, an ally of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, wounded two officers before surrendering on Sunday.
A Supreme Court judge earlier ordered his detention for insulting Chief Justice Cármen Lucía. He was already under house arrest for threatening her.
Mr Bolsonaro reacted by saying those who fired at police should be arrested.
The two officers were wounded by shrapnel from a grenade during the attack in Comendador Levy Gasparian, north of the state capital Rio de Janeiro. They were taken to hospital and later discharged.
Mr Jefferson, the 69-year-old former leader of the PTB political party, also fired a number of shots from a rifle, shattering the windshield of a police car…
ravensays
This tweet directly contradicts what the news article said in #39 “Ukraine scraps conscription for compulsory military service in wartime”
I’m not sure what is going on here.
It looks like Ukraine isn’t that unified a society and different groups have different ideas.
I’m sure if you are the head of the army in war time with Russia, however many troops you have aren’t enough.
The USA did one thing right though.
We abolished the draft 50 years ago and nothing much happened. Except the military costs more and works better.
NEXTA @nexta_tv
‼️The chief military commissar in #Kyiv, Yuriy Maksymov, said that the #Ukrainian army needs “additional manning,” and therefore mobilization in Ukraine will continue.
All conscripted #Ukrainians under the age of 60 can wait for a summons.
“A resident in Russian-occupied Kherson city confirmed [Russia] withdrawing its administrative services. Said many residents have stayed behind awaiting #Ukraine’s liberation. Passport center for issuing [Russian] passports; pension funds & police etc. all left.”
See also lumipuna’s #31 above.
ravensays
Things are unraveling still more for the Russians.
Azerbaijan has just taken the side of Ukraine.In times past, the next day, Soviet (or Russian) armed forces would be paying them a visit.
All the central Asian states know that if Ukraine goes, they are next to be invaded by the Russians. They’ve been there before, being captive nations for 70 years.
Azeris are a Turkish group.
They also make up 16% of the population of Iran which is a multi-ethnic state.
The current head of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei is half Azerbaijani.
Tweet
NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 @NOELreports
Azerbaijjan officially sides with Ukraine. Today they called Russia an occupier, aggressor and condemned Moscow for crimes against humanity in Ukraine on national television. They also threatened Iran with the separation of Azerbaijanis from Tehran’s rule.
Days after the 2020 election, supporters of then-President Trump began falsely accusing Dominion Voting Systems of rigging the vote. Anderson Cooper reports on what happened next….
ravensays
The Russians are claiming that Ukraine is preparing to use a radioactive materials bomb.
Which is cuckoo.
The ISW is claiming that the Russians are trying to split NATO.
This isn’t going to work. No one believes anything the Russians say any more.
They are getting more pathetic and more desperate by the day.
FWIW, the fallout bombs would just be a terror weapon.
They likely don’t have much in the way of military effectiveness.
Lyudmila Troitskaya October 24, 2022
ЧИТАТИ УКРАЇНСЬКОЮ The Institute for the Study of War believes that the Russian Defense Minister’s horror story about an alleged “dirty bomb” in Ukraine was invented to stop Western aid to Kyiv.
Recall the history of the issue. The Minister of Defense of the aggressor country of Russia, Shoigu, called the Ministers of Defense of France and Turkey and said about some kind of “dirty bomb” that the Ukrainian authorities were allegedly preparing to use in order to later blame Russia for this. According to him, this is not a nuclear bomb, but a simple ammunition, but with a nuclear filling. If it is blown up, then radioactive substances will enter the atmosphere.
After a series of calls to Shoigu, France, Britain and the United States issued a joint statement calling Shoigu’s “dirty bomb” speculation a lie that looks like a pretext for escalating the war.
Experts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) also believe that the Kremlin, apparently, is preparing an informational background for a subsequent provocation, in order to later blame Ukraine for this.
The ISW also believes that these lies are intended to stop Western military assistance to Ukraine and sow division within NATO. Experts also recalled that even before the start of a full-scale invasion, the Russian Federation unfoundedly accused Ukraine of seeking to seize weapons of mass destruction and use them.
They also believe that these calls to Shoigu are unlikely to indicate preparations for the use of “non-strategic nuclear weapons.”
It’s working. Once ahead in the polls, Democrat Mandela Barnes, the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, is now trailing Republican incumbent Ron Johnson in the state’s race for U.S. Senate, a shift also seen recently in other important races. One factor is an onslaught of negative messaging that seeks to paint Barnes as a crime-loving radical. A key word here is “paint.”
One of the ads, from the National Republican Senate Committee, ends with a shot that brands Barnes, who is black, as “different” and “dangerous” as it pictures him alongside three congresswomen of color who are members of “The Squad,” none of whom has campaigned with him. For good measure, the state Republican party sent out a mailer in which the color of Barnes’s skin has clearly been darkened. Here’s a side-by-side comparison that appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: [images at the link]
A similar alteration recently happened with Stacey Abrams, who is facing off against Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp. His campaign team took an image of Abrams from an ad that she had run and made her complexion noticeably darker. Here’s a screenshot of a side-by-side that ran on WXIA-TV in Atlanta: [images at the link]
Kemp himself used a photo of Abrams in which her skin appears to have been darkened in a September 26 tweet: [Tweet and image at the link]
[…] The campaign of incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler ran an ad in which the skin of Democrat Raphael Warnock, who is black, has clearly been darkened. It actually used some of the same images as in another Loeffler ad in which this darkening did not occur. The campaign spent more than ten times as much money airing the ad with the darkened images as it did to boost the ad with normal coloration.
[…] Meanwhile, the campaign of Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue had to yank an ad that showed his Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff, with an enlarged nose. The Perdue campaign blamed “the graphic design process handled by an outside vendor,” adding, “Anybody who implies that this was anything other than an inadvertent error is intentionally misrepresenting Senator Perdue’s strong and consistent record of standing firmly against anti-Semitism and all forms of hate.”
Ossoff was unpersuaded. “Senator, literally no one believes your excuses,” he tweeted. “This is the oldest, most obvious, least original anti-Semitic trope in history.”
[…] Clearly, we have entered a different era when it comes to casual expressions of racism in the political sphere. Crude appeals to bigotry may or not get candidates elected, but they will no longer get them in hot water. That’s not progress.
It’s not enough to say the tradeoff between democracy and gas prices is misguided. It’s important to also note that the tradeoff is illusory.
To say that gas prices are climbing as Election Day approaches isn’t quite right: National averages show prices falling in recent weeks, following a late-summer climb, and consumers aren’t paying nearly as much at the pump as they were in June.
That said, it’s also true that prices are higher than they were a year ago at this time, and polling suggests it’s an issue on the minds of many voters. It’s not surprising that Republicans have made this one of the centerpieces of their midterm strategy.
[…] A variety of prominent observers have argued that gas prices matter, but Americans would be wrong to overemphasize the issue given the nation’s other challenges.
The headline on Paul Krugman’s latest New York Times column, for example, reads, “Will Gas Prices Doom Democracy?” The column began:
Will the price of gasoline — a price that has very little to do with which party controls the government — nonetheless determine the outcome of the midterm elections, and quite possibly the fate of American democracy? I wish that were a silly question, but it isn’t.
The point of the piece was obvious: As a radicalized GOP grows more hostile toward democracy, the party may very well end up in a position of power because too many voters prioritized gas prices over their own system of government.
Krugman’s colleague at the Times, Charles M. Blow, had a related piece a few days earlier, with a headline that read, “The Battle Between Pocketbooks and Principles.” Blow, as part of a column that emphasized reproductive rights, asked, “What is the point of a cheaper tank of gas, if it must be had in a failed democracy that polices people’s most intimate choices about their own bodies?”
The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols raised a related point via Twitter over the weekend. “The United States is facing the greatest danger to its constitutional system since at least the 1950s, if not the 1850s, and millions of people are like: ‘Yeah, but gas, man,’” Nichols wrote.
Ann Telnaes, The Washington Post’s editorial cartoonist, even had a memorable image along these lines last week. The political cartoon showed a Republican voter in truck, having knocked down a pillar of democracy, declaring, “Yeah, but I’ll get cheaper gas.”
[…] Republicans might make big gains in the midterm elections, but they won’t lower gas prices.
In other words, it’s not enough to say the tradeoff between democracy and gas prices is misguided. It’s important to also take the next step and note that the tradeoff is illusory: Congress has no meaningful influence over gas prices or the energy marketplace.
[…] GOP candidates and officials won’t be able to deliver cheaper gas. The party isn’t even pretending to have a credible plan that would make a difference.
David Atkins had a good piece on this for the Washington Monthly last week, “There is nothing Republicans can or will do to ‘fix’ this.”
It’s very much in line with how the GOP talks about inflation: Republicans aren’t making much of an effort to present realistic plans for making a problem better, but they’re hoping voters overlook pesky details and reward the GOP for talking about an issue that the public considers important.
But those planning to vote for Republicans, counting on them to somehow lower prices at the pump, are going to be disappointed.
Despite a rash of unsubstantiated claims lobbed against his company, the CEO of Dominion Voting Systems, John Poulos, has remained largely silent. That changed Sunday night on 60 Minutes when Poulos sat down with Anderson Cooper, saying irreparable damage has been done to his company and his employees.
“People have been put into danger. Their families have been put into danger. Their lives have been upended and all because of lies,” Poulos said. “It was a very clear calculation that they knew they were lies. And they were repeating them and endorsing them.”
“It’s important to you people admit what they said was wrong?” Cooper asked.
“It’s important to me. It’s important to all the people whose families have been impacted by this. Anderson, my kids still are not allowed to get any package from the front door until we verify that it’s actually from a trusted sender,” Poulos said.
Days after the 2020 presidential election, lawyers supporting then-President Donald Trump, including Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, began spreading unsubstantiated claims that Dominion Voting Systems, an American company, had rigged the election. They said Dominion was backed by Venezuela and that its machines and software switched millions of votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.
They never showed any evidence, but that didn’t stop pro-Trump attorneys from making baseless claims, or conservative news networks from giving them plenty of airtime.
Poulos went through a number of their claims with Cooper, dismissing each one.
“Were you associated with the late Hugo Chavez?” Cooper asked.
“Absolutely not,” Poulos said.
“Do you use a Venezuelan company’s software that’s been used to steal elections in other countries?” Cooper asked.
“Absolutely not,” Poulos said. “Anderson, I can, I can cut all of this short. We were founded in Toronto, which is where my family was from. And there’s nothing to do with Venezuela.”
“Can you flip votes in the computer system?” Cooper asked. “Can you add votes that did not exist?”
“Absolutely not,” Poulos again responded.
President Trump first mentioned Dominion in a tweet on November 12, 2020, and recorded a video a few weeks later, posted on Facebook, in which he said: “We have a company that’s very suspect. Its name is Dominion. With the turn of a dial or the change of a chip, you could press a button for Trump and the vote goes to Biden. What kind of a system is this? We have to go to paper. Maybe it takes longer. But the only secure system is paper.”
“We do have paper ballots,” Poulos said. “What the machines do is they count those paper ballots– in a way that makes it very easy for people to verify after the fact through the means of audits and recounts.”
Dominion makes two types of machines. One is called a ballot marker. It’s a touch screen device that a voter can use to mark their choices and then print the ballot. The second machine is a scanner that reads that paper ballot, counts the vote and immediately stores the ballot securely.
“A voter takes a paper ballot,” Poulos said. “They’ve made their marks however they make their marks depending on the jurisdiction. As they deposit it into the ballot box, it goes through a digital scanner and then drops into the ballot box. So how do you hack a paper ballot?”
He showed Cooper how the machines work.
“This is the scanner that sits atop a locked and sealed ballot box,” Poulos said. “This is how they cast their ballot, goes through scanner and now we have an image of the ballot that we just cast, and we have the paper ballot that is used for recounts.”
Poulos said watching the presidential recounts in Florida in 2000, with arguments over hanging chads, got him interested in improving how paper ballots were marked and counted. He was an engineer working at a startup in Silicon Valley and began looking at ways to make it easier to recount paper ballots and to help people with disabilities vote without assistance.
“Our goal was to allow any voter to make their marks on a paper ballot in a very clear, unambiguous way,” Poulos said, “regardless of physical ability.”
Now, he says, he and his company are the targets of lies, threats and harassment.
“Do you ever think to yourself,” Cooper asked, “‘I got into this to help paraplegics and blind people vote more easily and look what’s happened?'”
“I think about it all the time,” Poulos said.
Dominion has filed eight lawsuits seeking more than $10 billion in damages against Fox News, and other networks, corporations and individuals.
In a statement to 60 Minutes, Fox said it’s confident it will prevail in the Dominion litigation, citing protections of the First Amendment. Fox also say it was reporting on newsworthy allegations by then-President Trump, and that it aired segments fact-checking the allegations against Dominion.
Efforts by Fox News and other defendants to have the Dominion lawsuits dismissed have been rejected by the courts.
What I found shocking, (even though I had seen it before), was watching Sidney Powell lie … and lie, and lie. That woman is almost robotic as she lies. She does not betray even a hint of feeling. She just lies during all of her appearance on Fox News and other rightwing channels.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged Israel to join the fight against Russia and repeated an appeal for Israeli air defence systems.
Zelenskiy said in a video speech to a conference for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz:
Isn’t it time for your state to choose who you are with as well? Is it with the democratic world, which is fighting side by side against the existential threat to its existence? Or with those who turn a blind eye to Russian terror, even when the cost of continued terror is the complete destruction of global security.
Israel has refused to sell air defence weapons to Kyiv, wary of straining relations with Moscow despite reports that Iran is providing support for Russian pilots flying Iranian-made drones to bomb civilian targets in Ukraine.
Moscow has denied its use of the Iranian drones against Ukrainian cities, but Tehran officials have confirmed it and said they will also supply ballistic missiles to help replenished Russia’s dwindling armoury.
Israel has condemned Russia’s invasion and has limited its assistance to deliveries of humanitarian aid and defensive equipment. Most recently it offered to help Ukrainians develop air attack alerts for civilians.
Speaking today, Preisident Zelenskiy said that was not enough and asked that Israeli leaders reconsider sending air defences as well.
“New: Attorney General Merrick Garland, DAG Monaco, FBI Director Wray and NatSec AAG Olsen will host a press conference at 1:30p ET discussing alleged criminal activity by a nation-state actor in the US”
This is in about 30 minutes.
Reginald Selkirksays
@67: … and repeated an appeal for Israeli air defence systems.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday granted Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) request to temporarily shield the South Carolina Republican from testifying in probe of alleged pro-Trump election interference in Georgia.
The move comes after Graham on Friday filed an emergency request to Thomas, who handles matters arising from Georgia, and follows a ruling by a lower appeals court declining to halt Graham’s testimony before a Fulton County, Ga., special grand jury.
The court this weekend requested a response from Fulton County, which is due on Thursday, so it is likely the Supreme Court will act again in the case soon. Thomas has the option to handle the application himself or refer the matter to the full court.
In court papers filed Friday, Graham urged the court to find that constitutional protections for lawmakers should shield him from being forced to comply with a subpoena issued by District Attorney Fani Willis (D).
Graham’s emergency application came after the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit last week said that questioning of Graham, within certain limits, could proceed. […]
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday said the U.S. has “never given a blank check” to Ukraine, a week after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) warned a Republican-controlled House would not write a “blank check” to the war-torn country.
“Someone made a statement of we’re not giving a blank check to Ukraine. We’ve never given a blank check to Ukraine,” Pelosi said during a joint press conference in Croatia alongside Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Monday.
“Ukrainians have dealt with any assistance we have given them, and I’m sure you have given them, with great integrity, with great compliance, with great accountability, and with great transparency,” she added.
Pelosi is in Zagreb, Croatia, representing the U.S. at the First Parliamentary Summit of the International Crimea Platform, which is focused on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. [Good. Glad she is there.]
[…] Without naming McCarthy, the Speaker said the GOP leader’s comments insinuated the U.S. would cease aid to Ukraine if Republicans control the House next year, which is “not true.”
“The inference to be drawn from that is we wouldn’t be giving them help, that’s not true, and that there has been a blank check, that’s not true. This has been a relationship of great integrity for democracy and freedom throughout the world,” she said. […]
Ken Dilanian: “The 1:30 presser by AG Garland and FBI Director Wray is expected to detail some Chinese espionage cases, including against a pair of alleged intelligence agents who tried to gather inside info on the prosecution of Huawei. Nothing earth shattering.”
A double agent passing classified info, bitcoin, jewelry, PRC intel officers and more – extraordinary info in a recently unsealed criminal complaint pointing to the PRC’s efforts to obstruct and impede the US’s investigation of what appears to be Huawei.
OK, then.
Reginald Selkirksays
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday said the U.S. has “never given a blank check” to Ukraine
Seriously, most of the U.S. contribution goes to U.S. weapons suppliers. Odd to see a Republican claim to be upset about that.
The New Right blogger has been cited by Blake Masters and J.D. Vance. What exactly is he advocating?
In September 2021, J.D. Vance, a GOP candidate for Senate in Ohio, appeared on a conservative podcast to discuss what is to be done with the United States, and his proposals were dramatic. He urged Donald Trump, should he win another term, to “seize the institutions of the left,” fire “every single midlevel bureaucrat” in the US government, “replace them with our people,” and defy the Supreme Court if it tries to stop him.
To the uninitiated, all that might seem stunning. But Vance acknowledged he had an intellectual inspiration. “So there’s this guy, Curtis Yarvin, who has written about some of these things…”
Nearly a decade earlier, a Stanford law student named Blake Masters, asked by a friend for reading recommendations for a book club, emailed a link to a set of blog posts. These posts made an argument that was quite unusual in the American context, asserting that the democratically elected US government should be abolished and replaced with a monarchy. Its author, then writing pseudonymously, was Yarvin.
Masters is now the GOP Senate nominee in Arizona. At a campaign event last year, according to Vanity Fair’s James Pogue, he was asked how he’d actually drain the swamp in Washington. “One of my friends has this acronym he calls RAGE — Retire All Government Employees,” Masters answered. You’ve probably guessed who the friend is.
In many thousand words’ worth of blog posts over the past 15 years, computer programmer and tech startup founder Curtis Yarvin has laid out a critique of American democracy: arguing that it’s liberals in elite academic institutions, media outlets, and the permanent bureaucracy who hold true power in this declining country, while the US executive branch has become weak, incompetent, and captured.
But he stands out among right-wing commentators for being probably the single person who’s spent the most time gaming out how, exactly, the US government could be toppled and replaced — “rebooted” or “reset,” as he likes to say — with a monarch, CEO, or dictator at the helm. Yarvin argues that a creative and visionary leader — a “startup guy,” like, he says, Napoleon or Lenin was [eyebrows raised] — should seize absolute power, dismantle the old regime, and build something new in its place.
To Yarvin, incremental reforms and half-measures are necessarily doomed. The only way to achieve what he wants is to assume “absolute power,” and the game is all about getting to a place where you can pull that off. Critics have called his ideas “fascist” — a term he disputes, arguing that centralizing power under one ruler long predates fascism, and that his ideal monarch should rule for all rather than fomenting a class war as fascists do. “Autocratic” fits as a descriptor, though his preferred term is “monarchist.” You won’t find many on the right saying they wholly support Yarvin’s program — especially the “monarchy” thing — but his critique of the status quo and some of his ideas for changing it have influenced several increasingly prominent figures.
Besides Vance and Masters […], Yarvin has had a decade-long association with billionaire Peter Thiel, [Thiel! of course] who is similarly disillusioned with democracy and American government. “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible,” Thiel wrote in 2009, and earlier this year, he declared that Republican members of Congress who voted for Trump’s impeachment after the January 6 attacks were “traitorous.” Fox host Tucker Carlson is another fan [Tucker, of course], interviewing Yarvin with some fascination for his streaming program last year. He’s even influenced online discourse — Yarvin was the first to popularize the analogy from The Matrix of being “redpilled” or “-pilled,” suddenly losing your illusions and seeing the supposed reality of the world more clearly, as applied to politics.
Overall, Yarvin is arguably the leading intellectual figure on the New Right — a movement of thinkers and activists critical of the traditional Republican establishment who argue that an elite left “ruling class” has captured and is ruining America, and that drastic measures are necessary to fight back against them. And New Right ideas are getting more influential among Republican staffers and politicians. Trump’s advisers are already brainstorming Yarvinite — or at least Yarvin-lite — ideas for the second term, such as firing thousands of federal civil servants and replacing them with Trump loyalists. With hundreds of “election deniers” on the ballot this year, another disputed presidential election could happen soon — and Yarvin has written a playbook for the power grab he hopes will then unfold.
So these ideas are no longer entirely just abstract musings […] And after the 2020 election crisis, the fall of American democracy seems rather more plausible than it used to. To better understand the ideas influencing a growing number of conservative elites now, and the battles that may lie ahead, then, I reviewed much of Yarvin’s sizable body of work, and I interviewed him.
During our lengthy conversation, Yarvin argued that the eventual fall of US democracy could be “fundamentally joyous and peaceful.” [Red flag for delusional] Yet the steps President Trump took in that direction after the 2020 election were not particularly joyous or peaceful, and it was hard for me to see why further movement down that road would be.
[…] It’s not just the current government that sucks — democracy sucks, too. Sometimes he denounces democracy entirely, calling it a “dangerous, malignant form of government.” Sometimes he says democracy doesn’t even practically exist in the US, because voters don’t have true power over the government as compared to those other interests, which function as an oligarchy. Sometimes he argues that organizations in which leadership is shared or divided simply aren’t effective.
Far preferable, in his view, would be a government run like most corporations — with one leader holding absolute power over those below, though perhaps accountable to a “board of directors” of sorts (he admits that “an unaccountable autocracy is a real problem”). [sounds like worship of corporations]
This monarch/CEO would have the ability to actually run things, unbothered by pesky civil servants, judges, voters, the public, or the separation of powers. “How do we achieve effective management? We know one simple way: find the right person, and put him or her in charge,” he writes.
[…] He gained one prominent reader — Thiel, who had written about his own disillusionment with democracy, became a Yarvin friend, and funded his startup. “He’s fully enlightened,” Yarvin later wrote of Thiel in an email, “just plays it very carefully.” [Thiel is “enlightened”!?? Sheesh.]
[…] It is basically a set of thought experiments about how to dismantle US democracy and its current system of government. Writer John Ganz, reviewing some of Yarvin’s proposals, concluded, “If that’s not the product of a fascist imagination, I don’t know what possibly could be.” Many of these are similar to events preceding the fall of democracies elsewhere in the world. […]
[…] Yarvin has suggested that a new president should simply say he has concluded Marbury v. Madison — the early ruling in which the Supreme Court greatly expanded its own powers — was wrongly decided. He’s also said the new president should declare a state of emergency and say he would view Supreme Court rulings as merely advisory.
Would politicians back this? J.D. Vance, in the podcast mentioned above, said part of his advice for Trump in his second term would involve firing vast swaths of federal employees, “and when the courts stop you, stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did, and say, ‘The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’”
[…] Moving forward in the state of emergency, Yarvin told Anton the new government should then take “direct control over all law enforcement authorities,” federalize the National Guard, and effectively create a national police force that absorbs local bodies. This amounts to establishing a centralized police state to back the power grab — as autocrats typically do.
[…] Yarvin’s long-term ambitions for the new regime matter less than his ideas about how the old one could fall. Yarvin’s popularity among rising Republicans and New Right intellectuals reveals this cohort is more and more willing to entertain ideas that are out of the mainstream. Some ambitious figure, or even Trump himself, could well try to follow his playbook in a future crisis. […]
cicelysays
Talked to my (Oklahoma-resident, evangelical Christian-Dominionist-adjacent) sister-in-law last night.
Every single long-since-debunked conspiracy theory. Every bogus Biden anecdote. banging head softly on desktop
I am depressed.
@48
I have a microwave.
I allow neither peas nor Horses to manifest therein, for they are Anathema, and an Abomination Unto Nuggan.
@61
“The Russians are claiming that Ukraine is preparing to use a radioactive materials bomb.
Which is cuckoo.”
As early voting has begun in some states and some campaigns head to the final stretch, we are getting mixed messages as we approach an uncertain future. Let’s dive right in.
On “Meet The Press,” Wyoming’s outgoing Congresswoman Liz Cheney was given 24 minutes to get the same questions she has answered many times before but this time from Chuck Todd (huge downgrade). But it was a brief optimistic view of the future for her party at the end of the interview that caught our attention because, sadly, it comes off as hopelessly naive and bordering on delusional [video at the link]
TODD: Donald Trump ends up the nominee in 2024, you’ve said you’re not going to be a Republican anymore. So, it implies you think the Republican Party can be saved?
CHENEY: I think that the party has either got to come back from where we are right now, which is a very dangerous and toxic place, or the party will splinter and there will be a new conservative party that rises. And if Donald Trump is the nominee of the Republican Party, the party will shatter and there will be a conservative party that rises in its place.
In honor of the season finale of the “Game Of Thrones” spin-off “House Of The Dragon,” we’ll let Ramsay Snow answer that. Because, sorry Liz Cheney, this has always been who Republicans are. Trump just gave them permission to not give a fuck about being seen as cruel villains anymore.
With Friends Like These…
While Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on CBS’s “Face The Nation” making the case for Democrats in this election, Texas (supposedly Democratic) Congressman Henry Cuellar was on “Fox News Sunday” undermining her and the party like a common Tulsi Gabbard. [video at the link]
When asked whether the border is secure by host Shannon Bream, Cuellar was indistinguishable from every other GOP politician who spews propaganda on Fox News.
CUELLAR: You know, first of all, no, the border is not secure. When you have 1.7 million individuals last year, and now another 2.7, that’s over 4.5 million individuals encounter at the border, plus the — if you add the getaways, that’s going to be over 5 million individuals in just two years. No, the border is secure — it’s not secured, and we’ve got to make sure that we have repercussions there.
Are conservatives confused about what the words encountered or apprehended mean? By their very definitions, it means these individuals faced our secure border security and are being processed through the immigration system as intended. It’s the literal repercussions that Cuellar insists we need. But somehow, deep down, they know this is bullshit. Which is why they add the hypothetical “got-aways” to inflate their rhetoric. It allows them to artificially inflate the numbers and undermine the fact that border security stopping people and drugs at record numbers STILL means they stopped them.
Or as the old saying goes: “If your aunt had a penis, she’d still be your aunt because we don’t subscribe to transphobic bullshit ‘jokes’ here.” But we digress …
Kari Lake/Katie Hobbs Non-Debate Debate 3 (Sort Of)
Speaking of people who use the “got-aways” to inflate their border fearmongering, Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake was on ABC’s “This Week” for the third (and hopefully last) version of the indirect debates with Democratic opponent Katie Hobbs. Hobbs was mainly ignored and asked again about not debating Lake. But something different happened this time when Kari Lake was interviewed: Actual Journalism! [video at the link]
Playing a portion of their interview from Friday, Kari Lake was not allowed to use the special lighting and soft-focus set-up of her home studio to soften the crazy. Another change is that, unlike a debate stage or a live interview with an unprepared and maybe unwilling to pushback journalist, Lake was not only confronted on her lies during the interview but ABC News also fact-checked her after. For every unsubstantiated claim, Jonathan Karl provided the real facts. So, what was shown was actually informative rather than a passive vessel for lies to go unchallenged.
During the interview, Lake did subtly hint at what her claim of fraud will be in the event she loses the election.
KARL: Why it is that you have not said — or maybe you’ll do it now — you have not said that you will accept the certified results of this election even if you lose this election?
LAKE: I will accept the results of this election if we have a fair, honest and transparent election, absolutely, 100 percent.
KARL: So if — if — if you were to lose — and you’re ahead, but if you were to lose, and you had all your appeals; they went through…
LAKE: As long as it’s fair, honest and transparent.
KARL: And certified. I mean, who’s going to determine that? Are you going to determine that, or — or what, if…
LAKE: It looks like my opponent might have to determine that. That’s an interesting…
KARL: Well, she is the secretary — she is the secretary of state.
LAKE: That’s an interesting conundrum, isn’t it?
If Lake wins, she will call it “fair, honest and transparent.” But IF she loses, suddenly the same secretary of state that would have certified her win will have “stolen” it from her. It’s Trump’s pre-2020 election and post-2020 election result strategy again. As we see ourselves as this chaos goes further in Arizona, it will partly because Trump and most of his insurrectionist co-conspirators have not been held to account.
Talked to my (Oklahoma-resident, evangelical Christian-Dominionist-adjacent) sister-in-law last night.
Every single long-since-debunked conspiracy theory. Every bogus Biden anecdote. banging head softly on desktop
There’s an election coming, so it’s time for news organizations to send reporters out on Cletus Safaris to try to figure out what makes the MAGA pigs oink. Why do they hold what is, at this point, an essentially religious belief that the 2020 election was stolen? And are they really just all very “economic anxiety”?
So we learn from the New York Times that “In Fort Bend County, Texas, things are changing.” Oh, no. Probably a good reason for some reactionary white people to overthrow democracy, we reckon. (This is the southwestern suburbs of Houston.)
“Mosques and Hindu temples draw thousands, farmland is giving way to suburbs and some Republicans feel their county is becoming more like majority-minority Houston.” Good heavens, not majority-minorities or mega-mosques! Where will the white mega-churches go?
The headline of the piece is “Their America Is Vanishing. Like Trump, They Insist They Were Cheated.” In case you were unclear whether you were supposed to have sympathy for these people, or at least view them like anthropological curiosities.
As the Times explains, Fort Bend County is represented by noted election conspiracy theorist denier fucker moron Troy Nehls. And it is getting more diverse. Nehls apparently says they should “build a wall” between the district and Houston, and that Houston should pay for it. How cute.
The Times does provide some information in this Cletus Safari that’s useful, though, namely that its analysis has found a specific correlation between the 139 Republican congressmen who voted to overthrow the government for Donald Trump and districts where the white percentage of the population is shrinking significantly:
The portion of white residents dropped about 35 percent more over the last three decades in those districts than in territory represented by other Republicans, the analysis found, and constituents also lagged behind in income and education. Rates of so-called deaths of despair, such as suicide, drug overdose and alcohol-related liver failure, were notably higher as well.
This reminds us of the analysis of the January 6 terrorists by Robert Pape from the University of Chicago, which found that many J6-ers actually came from Biden counties, people governed by a sense of grievance that their majority status is disappearing. The Times says these seditionist districts are notable in that they tend to feature both the changing racial demographics and the socioeconomic issues. The theory appears to be that one feeds the other, i.e. they go full-on racist seditionist “let’s destroy democracy” because they blame all the non-white people around them for their problems. (Little surprise, then, that the Times suggests that things like the Great Replacement Theory might have more traction in these kinds of districts.)
There are apparently 12 districts in America represented by Republicans that have become minority-white in recent years, and they are mostly in California and Texas. According to the Times, 10 of those districts have congressmen who voted to overthrow the government. Similarly, the lower the rate of college graduates — and high school graduates — in a Republican-held district, the more likely that Republican congressman is a seditionist. As is so often the case, education is a factor.
The article features other places with their own sets of circumstances. For example there is Montgomery County in southwest Virginia, home of Virginia Tech, which is represented in Congress by Rep. H. Morgan Griffith. This is the poverty-stricken, opioid-addiction, coal country side of the equation, and the health statistics provided by the Times are heartbreaking.
A nurse practitioner in that district says patients come into her clinic with tooth decay and heart problems, and now they ask about stolen elections: “‘Did you see that box of votes that was thrown away? Did you see they found extra ones?’ This is what we hear from our patients,” she said. [aiyiyiyi]
[…] Oh, there’s one other big find here about the districts represented by seditionists, and it’s not surprising: There are more evangelical protestants in these places. Magical thinking begets magical thinking.
[…] We guess these places are also marked by a higher susceptibility to bullshit. Did we mention this county holds weekly screenings of Dinesh D’Souza’s hilariously debunkedpiece of shit movie 2,000 Mules? […]
Violently confronting students of Iran’s Ivey League school to not let male & female simply eat lunch together. The degree regime forces go to maintain gender apartheid and separation shows how they see it as fundamental to regime survival.
Following yesterday’s violent attack to prevent female-male students from eating together in Iran’s prestigious Sharif Uni., the administration closed the lunch space all together today. Students fought back by rolling out a food spread outside and eating together.
Okay, I’m sure I remember there being a better way to do the linky thingy, but I don’t remember how. Can some kind soul take pity on me and ship me a clue?
Sunday’s report from Ukraine’s southern command was … light, announcing just seven Russian troops killed in a single counter-battery radar system. Given that the usual number is in the dozens to low hundreds, it signaled that absolutely nothing happened on that front. This is likely the reason: [Bad weather report chart]
Rain and cloud cover mean everything grinds to a halt. Satellites can’t get a good look at what’s happening on the ground, and drones can’t do their work. At this point, it’s clear that Ukraine does very little without eyes in the sky. Look at this assault by the Georgian Foreign Legion on a Russian trench in Kherson—all of it tracked by drone. (Warning, it’s graphic at the end.) [video at the link]
Drones give assaulting forces advanced reconnaissance, they correct mortar and artillery fire, they give advance warning of any enemy counterattacks. That intelligence is just too valuable to forgo on a cloudy, rainy, and windy day.
Kherson will see more rain Tuesday and Wednesday, at the least (it might be dry Thursday and Friday in the latest forecast). Either way, expect slower movements this week.
Meanwhile, hopes that Russia was walking away from Kherson have been dashed by Ukraine’s intelligence service.
Budanov, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, says Russia is not preparing to abandon Kherson and is instead reinforcing the city. It’s evacuating non-essential personnel so it would be able to withdraw quickly if Ukraine seizes the Kakhovka dam, cutting off the Russian force.
Russia has been evacuating the families of officers and Russian administrative officials, while collaborators, teachers imported from Russia (since the locals refused to teach the Russian propagandist curriculum), and Ukrainians who took Russian passports are also fleeing. By clearing out their loyalist civilians now, barges and pontoon bridges can be used exclusively for military equipment and personnel if and when the time comes to evacuate. At least, that’s the theory.
We’ve seen Russian troops heading out of the Kherson pocket on barges, and we know that conscripts are being rushed in—speed bumps if Ukraine gets serious about pushing forward again. What we don’t know is if serious combat forces are also coming in, which would make this a routine troop rotation. That would be new for Russia, and particularly surprising given the difficulty in moving gear in and out. For context, Ukraine tries to rotate its front-line troops every three days (though that wasn’t the case earlier in the war on the Donbas front.)
We do know from multiple sources that Russian artillery has mostly ceased in Kherson, as supplying thirsty batteries becomes increasingly challenging. It would be odd to be using sparse transport capabilities to rotate troops while starving them of the ammunition they need to conduct Russian-style artillery-heavy combat action. So it’s all very peculiar. As always, the fog of war obscures much, if not all, of what’s currently happening in Kherson.
Meanwhile, we’re seeing some movement on other fronts.
Report from Bakhmut: it took russki wagnerites couple months and tons of cannon fodder to reach the strategic position they proudly called “the putin’s crossroad”. Then it took Ukrainian army 48 hours to re-capture the same crossroad and push the poor russkies 2km away from it 🤷🏻♂️
We definitely see a more aggressive Ukrainian posture around Bakhmut, the site of Russia’s (really, Wagner mercenaries’) bizarre obsession. As always, it doesn’t matter if Russia captured Bakhmut. It gets them nothing strategically. Look at the map. Bakhmut is utterly irrelevant to anything. [map at the link]
Sure, it’s a transportation hub, but it’s currently offline. Sivers’k, to the north, can be supplied from Sloviansk. There are no rail lines from the east that Russia could use to improve its logistics moving forward. And sure, it would be an important waypoint if Russia had the juice to push to Kramatorsk, but it doesn’t. Not even close.
Similarly, it makes little sense why Ukraine fights so hard for it. Look at the map of the city: [map at the link]
A river runs through the eastern third of the city, dividing the industrial zone from the residential and commerical parts of town. All of it is flattened and in ruins, so offers little to anyone. There’s absolutely zero chance Wagner could cross that river, swelled by fall rains. Yet like Severodonetsk, Ukraine has a policy of surrendering nothing without a fight, and it sure is embarrassing that Wagner hasn’t just failed to get to the river, but has now been fully pushed out to the M03 highway, which cuts diagonally at the top right-hand corner of the map above.
Here’s what the asphalt plant, the scene of much recent fighting, looks like after Wagner was pushed out: [video at the link]
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have been pushing back northeast of Bakhmut, though with conflicting reports of success. Either way, seems doubtful Wagner can gather enough prison labor to feed their human-wave attacks at the city. While I was premature in announcing Wagner’s culmination on this front a week ago, it’ll happen soon. It’s inevitable.
And further good news, after a week of uncertainty, Ukraine announced the liberation of several new cities on the approach to Svatove, up north. [Tweet and map at the link]
Remember that Ukraine doesn’t announce liberations until an area is secure, and its forces are further ahead. Indeed, there were reports yesterday that Ukraine was contesting the settlements of Chervonopopivka and Zhytlivka, which are to the east of the towns above. By most indications, Ukraine is now 10 to 15 kilometers from Svatove, and even closer to those high bluffs overlooking the city from its western approach. Once Ukraine takes those high positions overlooking the city, its defense is finished. Once Svatove is taken, the entire strategic calculation up north shifts dramatically. […]
In addition to approaching Svatove, once Ukrainian forces take that road that runs north-south just west of the city (the P66), Russian troops further south in Kreminna will be in particular difficulty. In fact, Russian occupation officials have already started looting in anticipation of a strategic retreat.
[video at the link] Chaos and disorder in #Kreminna. Shops are being plundered. I can’t make up what type of people they are, but i bet they like the occupation forces or are russians themself. They are recorded stealing all kinds of appliances.
Getting ready for retreat?
The babushka in the video is actually scolding the looters. Russians in Kreminna can still retreat to the east, toward Rubizhne and Severodonetsk, but the closer Ukraine approaches from the north on the P66, the easier it will be to maintain fire control over that retreat route—that is, the ability to lay artillery fire on any retreating forces.
cicely @81, for one thing, you only need the part of the Twitter link that is before the ? mark. All of the URL after the question mark can be deleted.
Look for the text that describes links beginning with <a href=” (followed by the insertion of the link, with no spaces inserted anywhere), and then another quotation mark, and the closing tag of a less-than symbol, a backslash, the letter a, and the greater than symbol.
Followup to cicely @81, and my comment 83: I did not do a good job of explaining that. For one thing, I left out the need for a greater-than symbol between “and then another quotation mark,” and “and the closing tag of a less-than symbol.” And I left out the fact that you must type something, (like the title of an article) after the greater-than symbol mentioned above, and before the closing tag. I just do this stuff automatically anymore. I don’t think about it. Thanks to repetition, the code is in my brain but I don’t really need to be aware of it for it to appear onscreen as something I typed. I apologize. Hopefully, someone else who posts here can do a better job.
The more GOP secretary of state nominees push utterly bonkers conspiracy theories, the more dangerous their 2022 candidacies become.
As unhinged conspiracy theorists go, Jim Marchant is unreserved when pushing ridiculous ideas. The Nevada Republican, naturally, believes Donald Trump won the Silver State, actual election results notwithstanding. But there’s no reason to stop there: Marchant, who’s been accused of having QAnon ties, has also told Nevadans, “Your vote hasn’t counted for decades. You haven’t elected anybody. The people that are in office have been selected.”
It now appears his interests extend beyond Nevada: Marchant has begun insisting that prominent Democratic lawmaker — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, et al. — also shouldn’t be seen as having won legitimate elections, despite their landslide victories.
It’s certainly tempting not to care. Marchant is, after all, a former state legislator who lost his re-election bid after serving just one term, before launching a failed congressional campaign. His utterly bonkers ideas might strike many as irrelevant.
But it’s not that simple. As Dana Milbank noted in an important Washington Post column:
The (Republican) secretary of state, who vigorously defends the integrity of the 2020 election, is term-limited, and the GOP nominee to replace her, Jim Marchant, leads a national group of election deniers running for office. Marchant is on record saying that if he and his fellow candidates are elected, “we’re going to fix the whole country, and President Trump is going to be president again.”
The reference to Marchant’s cohorts was of particular interest. It was earlier this year when the Nevadan had a notable chat with Steve Bannon, boasting that there’s a “coalition” of GOP secretary of state candidates who are united in their commitment to an “America First” agenda.
A few weeks ago, standing alongside Donald Trump at a rally, Marchant not only blamed Trump’s (and his own) defeat on fraud that didn’t happen in reality, the Nevadan again referenced the “coalition of secretary of state candidates,” who apparently intend to “fix the whole country.”
In other words, the GOP nominee for secretary of state in Nevada is pushing ridiculous-even-by-2022-standards conspiracy theories, but he might nevertheless be elected to oversee his state’s system of elections — at which point he intends to “fix” things that aren’t broken.
His likeminded allies, including Arizona’s Mark Finchem and Michigan’s Kristina Karamo, have similar ambitions.
I’m occasionally reminded of something Trey Grayson, Kentucky’s former Republican secretary of state, said several months ago. “There’s a lot of crazy going around,” Grayson told NPR. “You have people running for these offices where the most important duty is counting the votes and accepting the results even if you don’t like the outcome, and these folks don’t appear to be well-positioned to do that.”
Circling back to our earlier coverage, I remain mindful of the fact that for many voters, secretary of state — at the state level, not the cabinet secretary who leads the U.S. State Department — is probably a fairly obscure office. These officials tend to work behind the scenes on unglamorous tasks such as election administration, and few reach the household-name level.
But in the wake of Jan. 6, the Republican Party’s brazen lies and conspiracy theories, and Donald Trump’s fixation on installing election-denying allies in key positions, secretaries of state — and this year’s campaigns to elect secretaries of state — have taken on extraordinary importance.
In practical terms, we’re talking about officials who could take radical and undemocratic steps before Election Day — Marchant has said he intends to eliminate early voting, voting by mail, and all electronic voting machines — and then make matters worse after Election Day by refusing to certify election results they don’t like, including vote tallies in the 2024 presidential election.
When observers warn that the future of our democracy will be shaped in large part by this year’s elections, it’s best not to see those claims as hyperbolic.
“I do not believe we are heading for a conventional war with Russia,” [Ståle Ulriksen, a researcher at the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy] said. “But a hybrid war … I think we are already in it.”
I have a medical question to the commentariat.
.
Most of us may be familiar with aphasia, when some relative has a stroke and has problems finding the right word.
But there is another condition I do not recall the name of, it was in an episode of House MD.
It manifests as a person getting the memory broken up in fragments, and reassembled incorrectly.
-It shows up on TV when a patient at three occasions give three different versions of what has happened, adding later elemnts of her meeting with House in a narrative of events that happened earlier.
(As House earlier has insulted the patient, he remarks, “instant forgiveness”)
I think a vulnerable elder woman I know has this problem of fragmented, mixed memories but I need to know the medical term if I am going ro help her contact health care.
Yours Birger Johansson
The letter from the Progressive Caucus members would have some heft if it were endorsed by Ukrainian progressives and their organizations. I wonder why they haven’t signed on… Oh, right, because they’re fighting off a genocidal imperialist invasion and enduring daily terrorist attacks. Maybe Russian progressives? Murdered, imprisoned, or in exile.
“We don’t want a corrupt system; we don’t want a murderer guest.” At Khajeh Nasir University, this is how students received Raisi government’s spokesman. They also chant: “get lost.”
Hey Rep. Jayapal, here’s an opportunity for you to swoop in and bring compromise and peace!
The astonishing thing about these appeasement demands is that they seem to have no connection to what’s happening on the battlefield in Ukraine or on the ground elsewhere. They talk about the situation like nothing’s changed since May or June. It’s completely bizarre.
Thank you [Emily Sheffield, LBC] for an opportunity to say a few words about the situation in Ukraine today.
Preparing for this I realized that in just about a week we’ve had 3 major escalation threats from Russia: dirty bomb; blowing up Kakhovka dam; new invasion from the north.
And that’s on top of intensified air attacks and regular power outages. Everyone I know is mentally and physically exhausted from it all, but they press on.
It made me think of how much mental resilience we’ve all developed.
I often hear people around me, in Ukraine, blame themselves for not coping well enough, or not working hard enough, or not being as productive as they used to.
I tell them and myself: If you can get through this time at all, that’s enough, and you get an A, period.
This, by @RepRashida, @RepRoKhanna and other progressives is unbelievably naive and stupid, asking for “diplomacy” with a murderous terrorist regime literally raping and pillaging through Ukraine. Biden tried diplomacy to prevent the war. Only overwhelming force will now end it
Which Ukrainians do these “progressives” want abandoned to mass murder and rape, in their attempt to prop up a flailing Russia? The only way to end this war is to help deliver a decisive Ukrainians victory.
ravensays
@88 Birger.
Good question.
I haven’t come across something exactly like that before.
It could be this.
Wikipedia
Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome
Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome (WKS) is a severe neurological disorder caused by thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency, and is usually associated with chronic excessive alcohol consumption. It is characterized clinically by oculomotor abnormalities, cerebellar dysfunction and an altered mental state. Korsakoff’s syndrome is also characterized by profound amnesia, disorientation and frequent confabulation (making up or inventing information to compensate for poor memory).[28][29] A survey published in 1995 indicated that there was no connection to the national average amount of alcohol ingested by a country in correlation to a range of prevalence within 0 and 2.5%.[30]
Symptoms of Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome include confusion, amnesia, and impaired short-term memory. WKS also tends to impair the person’s ability to learn new information or tasks. In addition, individuals often appear apathetic and inattentive and some may experience agitation. WKS symptoms may be long-lasting or permanent and its distinction is separate from acute effects of alcohol consumption and from periods of alcohol withdrawal.[28]
It is not unusual for older people with memory problems to attempt to recreate their memories.
They remember bits and pieces and in the words of Wikipedia, “…frequent confabulation (making up or inventing information to compensate for poor memory).
What they are doing here is filling in the blanks in their memories.
I’ve seen that many times, usually in very old people.
The strangest one I’ve seen not that long ago was an old friend from college. He left the bar late, riding his bicycle, without a helmet on. Someone found him off the path where he had hit his head hard on rocks.
He was in the hospital in a coma and survival wasn’t guaranteed.
He did recover and enough to go back to work.
All his memories of his previous life were gone. He has no idea who I am.
He has no idea who anyone he used to know is.
ravensays
Which Ukrainians do these “progressives” want abandoned to mass murder and rape, in their attempt to prop up a flailing Russia? The only way to end this war is to help deliver a decisive Ukrainians victory.
Well, there was that case where the allies with Neville Chamberlain delivered Czechoslovakia to the German Nazis which saved Europe from a World War.
Hmmm, now that I think about it, sacrificing the Czechs and Slovaks didn’t stop the Nazis for very long. Neither did dividing Poland up with the Soviet Russians.
Even if we sacrificed a few million Ukrainians and 20% of their territory to the Russians, it wouldn’t stop the war. Or not for long. All it would do is teach the Russians that aggression, murder, rape, looting, and any other war crimes they can think up, will pay off for them with no real consequences.
You don’t negotiate with terrorists, murderers, and genocidal maniacs.
All the Russians understand is force and that is where we are in the Real World.
FWIW, all the progressives and leftists I know or am around (which is quite a few) all stand with Ukraine and condemn Russia.
Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos is accusing Fox News of knowingly fueling fake MAGA conspiracy theories that claimed his voting tech firm hacked the 2020 election and stole it from ex-President Donald Trump.
Poulos, who is suing Fox and several of its top anchors for defamation in a $1.6 billion suit, asserted during a pre-taped “60 Minutes” interview that aired on Sunday that the “easiest part” of his lawsuit is proving that the right-wing network knew it was spreading “lies” about Dominion.
“We told them. We told them in real time,” Poulos said. “Others told them. Government officials told them. Partisan government officials told them. People inside the Trump administration told them. Local election officials on both sides of the aisle told them.”
“This is not a matter of not knowing the truth,” he added. “They knew the truth.”
Lee Levine, a retired First Amendment lawyer whose old firm is representing Dominion in the Fox lawsuit, told “60 Minutes” that beginning on Nov. 12, 2020, Dominion sent information sheets “on a regular basis” to every Fox producer on every show that was hosting Sidney Powell and ex-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani – aka the loudest proponents of the Dominion conspiracy theories (besides Trump himself).
Poulos said he and his employees have been “put into danger” due to the lies Fox amplified, which sparked threats that have continued to this day, nearly two years after the election.
“This is something that continues to happen every single day for us,” he said. “Last Friday we had an office on lockdown.” […]
This week veteran journalist Bob Woodward will release twenty taped interviews he made while interviewing Trump for his book, Rage, which was released in September, 2020. The ostensible reason Woodward is releasing them now is to promote an audiobook he’s created featuring those tapes. Leaving aside the fact that in doing this Woodward joins a long line of people with firsthand knowledge and access to Trump’s tenure in the Oval Office who’ve withheld critical insight and information from the public about the man’s behavior until they’ve had an opportunity to profit from it, the tapes themselves are nonetheless revealing.
Put bluntly, they reveal that everything Democrats have said from the outset about Trump’s character — or lack thereof — and his sheer pathology and disregard for anyone except himself, are wholly accurate. What is really new here is that you can hear the malice in his voice, firsthand.
In an interactive piece published in Sunday’s Washington Post, Woodward includes audio snippets of those tapes, together with their transcription. He emphasizes at the outset that the printed version doesn’t do justice to the sheer malevolence that Trump displays in his responses to Woodward’s questions — specifically his tone, his volume, and his mannerisms — and he’s right. Listening provides a much clearer picture of what we were all forced to deal with for those four awful years. Because the way Trump speaks — his constant self-aggrandizing tone, his sneering self-certainty — would qualify as a caricature, taken straight from any film or depiction of an organized crime mob boss.
The audio cannot be embedded here, and the Post’s article is behind a paywall so the only way you’ll be able to appreciate that — until the tapes themselves are released and (presumably) disseminated on public forums — is by purchasing a Post subscription. However, many of the quotes Woodward cites in the Post article have been publicly aired on CBS’s Sunday Morning: [video at the link]
Woodward had previously released segments of these interviews in September of 2020 (again in conjunction with a book release (Rage) in which he quoted these same interviews), most notably the revelation — obtained by Woodward six months before — that Trump had deliberately played down the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic (by the time Woodward saw fit to release these segments, hundreds of thousands of people were already dead, many of them due directly to denial and skepticism about social distancing, masking and business closures inculcated by Republican governors seeking to curry favor with Trump). In May of 2020 Woodward had interviewed Trump’s national security advisor, Robert O’Brien, who explained how he and others had warned Trump in January of the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential magnitude. Woodward states that it was only then that he fully appreciated Trump’s “abdication of presidential responsibility.”
I then went back and reviewed Trump’s comments to me and his public statements after that Jan. 28 warning. It was clear that Trump never communicated the magnitude of the threat to the American people. It amounted to a large-scale deception and coverup.
Woodward also notes that subsequent interviews show how Trump “edited” his own statements with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, it’s not until a July 21, 2020 interview that Trump tells Woodward that he just “noticed” the virus had escalated into a global pandemic. During that same interview Trump acknowledges that — months into the pandemic — he does not yet have any plan to combat it but advises Woodward to wait four weeks and his “plan” would materialize. Trump also backhandedly acknowledges that his “plan” to combat COVID-19 was wholly tied to his electoral prospects in 2020:
You will see the plan, Bob. I’ve got 106 days. That’s a long time. You know, if I put out a plan now, people won’t even remember it in a hundred — I won the last election in the last week.
The interviews and their tone paint a clear picture of Trump’s egomania and narcissism, his complete lack of empathy or compassion to the victims of a raging virus, and his reflexive habit of demeaning and belittling anyone who disagrees with him. For example, asked whether the CIA’s assessment that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was ‘cunning, crafty but ultimately stupid,’ was in fact correct, Trump takes offense at this characterization, because no one could possibly know more about the North Korean despot than Trump, who calls him “very smart.”
Because they don’t know. Okay? Because they don’t know. They have no idea. I’m the only one that knows. I’m the only one he deals with. He won’t deal with anybody else …
The word chemistry. You meet somebody and you have a good chemistry. You meet a woman. In one second you know whether or not it’s all going to happen. …
Woodward updates the impression he reached at the end of his prior book, Rage, in which he concludes Trump was simply “the wrong man for the job”
Two years later, I realize I didn’t go far enough. Trump is an unparalleled danger. When you listen to him on the range of issues from foreign policy to the virus to racial injustice, it’s clear he did not know what to do. Trump was overwhelmed by the job. He was largely disconnected from the needs and leadership expectations of the public and his absolute self-focus became the presidency.
The problem for Woodward, though, is that most of us recognized Trump was an “unparalleled danger” to the country years ago, and this was most visibly confirmed on Jan. 6, 2021, when he tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the U.S. government so he could remain in power, even after a majority of Americans had tossed him out of office.
Woodward emphasizes one revealing quote. When asked whether he’d prepared a speech about “law and order” himself, Trump provides an essential insight into what motivates him:
I get people, they come up with ideas. But, the ideas are mine, Bob. Want to know something? Everything is mine.
Taken in isolation, Trump’s verbal spew is alarming enough. But considering the fact that he continues to dominate the entire Republican party — and by extension that half of the American electorate who continue to hang onto his words as if they were gospel truth — it is nothing short of horrifying.
Putting Trump into a position where he could wield real power was the biggest mistake this country ever made. The problem is, it’s still making it.
Five takeaways for @cepa on my latest stays in #Ukraine, most recently in the midst of heightened [Russian] missile/drone attacks:
…constant fight for normalcy, to live with dignity. “We don’t have fear, unlike February”, I often heard. Many daily examples of resilience.
Resistance is underpinned by a strong social fabric of civil society – and ordinary citizenry. Many doing sthing for someone/public interest. Professionals turned volunteers, taking to new levels the volunteer movement of 2014. Leadership in #Ukraine is often bottom-up.
An often overlooked factor given war and geopolitical prism (as in 2014-), there’s progress on reforms, specially in the judicial sector. If uneven, remarkable for a country fighting for its existence. Determined not to spend the boost by the granting of EU candidate status.
Traumatized, if strong, society. “Facebook is a necrology” (a friend). Losing some of the best in the finest Ukrainian generation in decades. Plus deportation of children to [Russia], unearthing of mass graves in liberated areas,etc. In any path for peace, justice must be central.
This must not be normalized: a nuclear, permanent member of the UN Security Council inflicting, with impunity still, WWII type of destruction on a smaller neighbor. And yet “my mitsnyshayemo z kozhnoyu vtratoyu” (we get stronger with every loss), in the streets of #Kharkiv…
Lynna @ #103, I think it’s worse – they’re disinformed. It seems like as Russia’s wider propaganda operation has become less effective and more difficult their efforts might have become more targeted. Based on what I’ve seen in the responses on Twitter, I imagine there must be a firehose of disinformation aimed at influential people in certain groups (Bernie bros and rightwing tech bros, understood broadly, for example). It’s even harder to deal with because they think they are informed.
SC @108, yes, I think you are right. Still I’m sticking a “dunderheads” label on them for this. If I can tell the difference between disinformation and reliable information, certainly our legislators should be expected to do so.
A lighter moment: Humor from Andy Borowitz:
Americans were seething with envy after the U.K.’s most prominent malignant narcissist decided not to run for that nation’s highest office again, interviews with U.S. citizens have revealed.
From coast to coast, Americans expressed bitter jealousy of the British for having an incompetent former leader who, though maniacally self-absorbed and attention-craving, nevertheless possessed enough realism to depart the public stage after only twenty-four hours of hogging headlines.
Carol Foyler, who lives in Akron, Ohio, was openly covetous of the U.K.’s malignant narcissist. “People in Britain are suffering right now because the government just wrecked their economy,” she said. “But at least they have a malignant narcissist who knows when it’s time to go away.”
“When I read that the U.K’s malignant narcissist decided not to run again, I got really mad,” Harland Dorrinson, a resident of San Jose, California, said. “Why do they get a malignant narcissist like that?”
“People say that the only reason he decided not to run again was because he knew he was going to lose,” Tracy Klugian, who lives in Milwaukee, said. “But he’s not going around the country claiming he’s been persecuted. He’ll probably fly back to the Dominican Republic, lie on the beach, and get wasted. If you have to have a malignant narcissist, that’s the kind you want.”
Any time you find yourself on the same side as Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Green, you might want to think hard about proceeding. In a letter to President Joe Biden, 30 House progressives want the United States to “negotiate” with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Given the destruction created by this war for Ukraine and the world, as well as the risk of catastrophic escalation, we also believe it is in the interests of Ukraine, the United States, and the world to avoid a prolonged conflict. For this reason, we urge you to pair the military and economic support the United States has provided to Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire.
This is beyond naive, stupid and irresponsible. Let us count the ways:
This is Ukraine’s war with Russia. The idea that the United States can waltz in and dictate terms to a foreign country would validate every accusation that Ukraine is America’s puppet, and validate tankie claims that the United States is an imperialistic power that can dictate the world order. Very ironic, indeed, from a caucus that bills itself as committed to anti-imperialism. [Good points]
The United States and Biden, along with our European allies, engaged in a strong diplomatic effort to prevent this war from starting in the first place. A lack of Western and American diplomacy isn’t what’s keeping the war going, it’s that Russia has zero interest in anything resembling honoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity. It has literally “annexed” four Ukrainian provinces it doesn’t even occupy, along with Crimea, which it annexed back in 2014. You think Russia is going to willingly surrender territory it considers part of Russia itself? [more good points]
Russia doesn’t honor agreements anyway. See this thread for more.
Russia would kill for a ceasefire right now. In fact, it is literally doing that as it targets civilian infrastructure. Russian troops are being pushed back in three (and maybe four) of the oblasts (provinces) it currently occupies. They are so bereft of armor, that it has appropriated Belarus’ old shit tanks and armored personnel carriers for itself (as well as ammunition). It is begging Iran for suicide drones, rockets, and body armor and helmets. It has mobilized around 300-500,000 Russians and is shipping them to the front lines with little or even no military training. A ceasefire would allow them to lock in current gains—gains that it is losing daily—as well as train, equip, resupply, and set up better defenses.
In other words, a ceasefire would mark the end of Ukraine’s ability to retake its lands, and condemn its civilians behind enemy lines to rape and murder. [Correct!]
The letter eventually gets to its point:
The conflict has also contributed to elevated gas and food prices at home, fueling inflation and high oil prices for Americans in recent months.
Goddam gas prices are the root of evil. The day when we can get off that godforsaken dead-dinosaur juice will be the day that tyrants like Vladimir Putin and the House of Saud can no longer hold the world hostage to their depravities.
Much better use of their time would’ve been to push more loudly for a windfall tax on oil companies celebrating record profits. [Yes!]
Exxon alone reported a profit of $17.9 billion – the highest quarterly profit reported by any oil company in history – while Chevron reported $11.6 billion, Shell reported $11.47 billion, and BP reported $8.45 billion. These are record-shattering figures for the companies and the result of them reaping enormous profits on the backs of hardworking families.
For context, in all of 2020, Exxon had profits of $8.9 billion, and $23 billion in 2021. And here it is, earning $17.9 billion in a single three-month quarter. But sure, blame Ukrainians fighting desperately and dying for their lands and, even more importantly, for its people trapped behind enemy lines.
The MAGA crowd like Boebert, Taylor Green, J.D. Vance, and Donald Trump must be thrilled that House progressives are giving Putin aid and succor as his army desperately clings to their ill-gotten gains. They must all be thrilled that the war criminals in the Kremlin are getting support because, you know, gas prices are high. (For the record, natural gas prices in Europe are lower now than they were a year ago, and nothing has been more directly impacted by the war than European natural gas prices.)
The letter was signed by Reps. Pramila Jayapal (WA, leading the pack), Earl Blumenauer (OR), Cori Bush (MO), Chuy Garcia (CA), Raul Grijalva (AZ), Sara Jacobs (CA), Ro Khanna (CA), Barbara Lee (CA), Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Sheila Lee Jackson (TX), Mark Pocan (WI), Nydia Velazquez ( NY), Gwen Moore (WI), Yvette Clark (NY), Hank Johnson (GA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), AOC (MA), Mondaire Jones (NY), Peter DeFazio (OR), Jamaal Bowman (NY), Marie Newman (IL), Alma Adams (NC), Chellie Pingree (ME), Jamie Raskin (MD), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ), Mark Takano (CA), Andrew Carson (IN), Donald Payne (NJ), and Mark DeSaulnier (CA).
Those are all great Democrats, but they are incredibly wrong on this issue. One House progressive who didn’t sign the letter was Rep. Ruben Gallego.
The way to end a war? Win it quickly.
How is it won quickly? By giving Ukraine the weapons to defeat Russia.
Sure beats joining the MAGA caucus to give Putin what he desperately needs to get away with his murderous invasion. At a time when he’s under intense domestic and international pressure, this must have him giddy.
Watch Russian state TV have a propaganda field day with this letter.
ravensays
Natural gas prices in Europe have collapsed.
They are 1/3 of what they were a month ago.
Russia has declared war on the West in general and the EU in particular.
They were going to freeze EU people this winter and destroy their energy intensive industries.
Cheap Russian gas wasn’t really cheap.
They also demanded your national sovereignty, your national security, and…44 million Ukrainians. It wasn’t worth it.
Fortunately, Russia has quickly lost this battle.
Investing.com European Gas Prices Slump Again on Warm Weather, Full Storage
Sun, October 23, 2022 at 9:52 PM·2 min read
By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com — European natural gas futures slumped again in early trading in Europe on Monday after forecasts of warmer-than-usual weather over the next week for most of the continent.
By 04:45 ET (08:45 GMT), front-month Dutch TTF futures, which serve as a benchmark for northwest Europe, were down over 10% at 101.39 euros a megawatt-hour, having opened at a new four-month low of 100 EUR/MWh.
The main driver for the move was weather forecasts suggesting that temperatures in continental Europe will be between 4 and 8 degrees Celsius warmer than the seasonal average this week, implying lower demand and allowing importers to continue injecting surplus gas into storage.
A mild start to the winter heating season, coupled with aggressive buying of liquefied natural gas on spot markets, has allowed Europe to fill its storage facilities ahead of schedule, easing the pressure created by Russia’s effective shipment stop.
ravensays
US natural gas prices are also down.
In Texas’s Permian basin, natural gas prices are heading to zero.
They are producing more natural gas than they have pipeline capacity to take it away.
Texas Natural Gas Prices Sink Close To Zero
oilprice.com
By Julianne Geiger – Oct 24, 2022, 2:00 PM CDT
While U.S. natural gas futures gained more than 4% on Monday, natural gas in the Waha part of the Permian Basin was falling and trading close to zero, traders told Bloomberg on Monday.
Flourishing natural gas production in the Permian has swamped pipelines, putting an undue burden on takeaway capacity, resulting in an oversupply situation that has caused natural gas prices to sag to as low as 20 cents per MMBTU, traders have reported, and up to 70 cents per MMBTU.
That compares with overall U.S. natural gas futures that are trading at more than $5 per MMBTU. Meanwhile, Europe’s nat gas prices are upwards of $25 per MMBTU. U.S. natural gas futures were up on Monday as hopes that several LNG plants were expected to come back online soon after weeks of maintenance, including Cove Point LNG and Freeport. Those prices were as high as $8 per MMBtu in September.
But scheduled maintenance for Gulf Coast Express and El Paso Natural Gas pipeline systems continue to dampen exports for Waha. Kinder Morgan is conducting maintenance at its Gulf Coast Express Pipeline beginning on October 25 at its Rankin, Devils River, and Big Wells Compressor Station. KMI expects the volumes to be reduced to 1,325,000 on Tuesday and Wednesday, and to 1,125,000 on Thursday and Friday. KMI’s EL Paso Natural Gas Company is expected has had a rash of maintenance performed on multiple lines since the beginning of October.
U.S. natural gas production was up last week, and the warmer weather has added to U.S. storage inventories.
Waha is the key natural gas pricing point for Mexico.
The Permian basin has been plagued by takeaway capacity constraints, “making the region more susceptible to sudden gluts and price volatility,” Campbell Faulkner, chief data analyst at OTC Global Holdings LP, told Bloomberg.
Waha gas went negative 20 times in the last 3 years, data analyzed by Bloomberg showed.
The term “virtue signaling” is overused, but sure seems to fit here.
Rep. Jayapal confirms that the Progressive Caucus supports Biden’s Ukraine policy and has no actionable ideas to improve it, they just wanted to draw attention to themselves and say they like peace.
This virtue signaling wasn’t costless. It gave fuel to Putin apologists who (mis)cast their pro-appeasement position as pro-peace, will likely be seen in Russia as a sign Western unity will crack under pressure, and made Dem infighting a public focus shortly before the election.
Rep. Jayapal’s “clarification” at the (Twitter) link. So fucking irresponsible.
Meanwhile in Russia: TV hosts clearly regretted the moment they asked an expert for his opinion regarding the Kremlin’s allegations of a so-called “dirty bomb” Ukraine is supposedly planning to detonate.
Nazis seldom seem to have trouble sleeping, but they should preemptively try Alfred Hitchcock’s insomnia cure, just in case. And nobody should ever be prosecuted for forcing it upon them, remembering that they have, at any and all times, the ability to escape the whole debate by — simply ceasing to be Nazis. I refuse to waste tears or anguish on any misfortune which befalls somebody who wants to kill half the friends I’ve had in my lifetime (to say nothing of a large-ish chunk of the commenters here on this board) and in most cases me as well. And if you have a problem with that, I suggest you take it up with them. If you can get them to stop being advocates for murder of the innocent and purveyors of political violence, I’ll be happy to ignore them and drop all animosity. Complaining to me just means you’re closer to being aligned with Nazis than with me, and I find that easy to believe.
StevoRsays
WARNING : Sexual assault & rape culture references esp at links.
Bruce Lehrmann is very clearly guilty of rape by any reasonable human being’s assessment of the evidence – Brittany Higgin’s testimony – and only those perverted by misogyny and rape culture would say otherwise. Sadly, it seems there’s an Australian jury with rape apologists and misogynists on it deliberating now :
The laws need to be changed the law to state that rape and sexual assault victims must be believed unless there is overwhelming reason to do otherwise. Yes, reverse the presumption and make it one of guilt because the statistics are very clear that the system does NOT work here and juries need to be vetted to remove any members who are misogynist or have ingrained false beliefs caused by our rape culture. Juries should be told false rape claims are NOT an actual thing that happens and that rapists need to be made fully responsible and it this needed to start, well, years ago but as of now a serious conversation and serious reforms need to occur.
Americans were seething with envy after the U.K.’s most prominent malignant narcissist decided not to run for that nation’s highest office again, interviews with U.S. citizens have revealed.
From coast to coast, Americans expressed bitter jealousy of the British for having an incompetent former leader who, though maniacally self-absorbed and attention-craving, nevertheless possessed enough realism to depart the public stage after only twenty-four hours of hogging headlines. – Andy Borowitz quoted by Lynna, OM@109
Borowitz’s satire is as usual most amusing, but I think slightly mis-states what’s happened in the UK. First, Johnson almost certainly withdrew because he simply couldn’t get the 100 nominations from Tory MPs he needed to get to the vote of the party membership, which he would probably have won. (There are reports, allegedly coming from the 1922 Committee who were organising the selection of the new party leader, that he’d managed to get to 102, but if you added the number publicly backing Sunak to the numbers claimed for Johnson and the third candidate, Mordaunt, they added up to more than the total number of Tory MPs.) Second, the big difference is that it was Johnson’s own fellow Tory MPs who pushed him out, because he’d clearly become an electoral liability, not the voting public. And they were able to do it with 2 1/2 years left before a general election has to be called, giving them time to recover support. But it’s a nice irony that if Johnson hadn’t been so self-indulgently lazy since resigning (three luxury foreign holidays, all probably paid for by others, the latest while Parliament was sitting and Truss was on the skids), he might have succeeded in his attempt.
One more point is that Johnson hasn’t gone away permanently. Once the shine wears off Sunak, Johnson will be loooking for an opportunity. This winter is going to be very tough for millions of people in the UK, Sunak is going to impose cuts and tax rises making it even tougher, and the ongoing wave of strikes is going to intensify. Next May there are local elections across England (not in Scotland, don’t know about Wales), and if the Tories do very badly and Johnson’s personal ratings have recovered significantly (both likely), his supporters will be launching a new “Bring Back Boris” campaign.
Big Rip, no, Big y-Ray Burst, yes and the new space telescope’s new look at the “Pillars of creation” nebula.
Also a refresher on the Lehrmann case here ( WARNING Sexual assualt references,) thanks to the original 4 Corners episode which is approx 45 mins long – rounded down.
whilst more astronomy news here with our new understanding of asteroid Ryugu here :
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. Their latest summary:
The Donetsk oblast was hit hard in the past day, with at least 15 Russian strikes killing seven civilians and injuring three more. The Ukrainian national police said the strikes also destroyed 19 residential buildings and one power line.
Further south, a car explosion near the office of Russian propaganda channel ZaTV in Russia-occupied Melitopol has injured at least five people, including company employees, authorities said. While investigators are still looking into the blast, Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed occupied Zaporizhia oblast official, has purportedly told Russian state media that the car explosion near the office of Russian propaganda channel ZaTv in Russian-occupied Melitopol was a terrorist attack stemming from an “improvised explosive device”. He wrote on Telegram that the power of the explosion was the equivalent of 2 kilograms of TNT.
Amid air raid sirens, Germany’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, arrived in Kyiv for his first trip to Ukraine since Russia invaded. His surprise visit comes six months after the Ukrainian government snubbed the Social Democrat’s offer of a visit over his past role in brokering closer economic ties between Germany and Russia.
Meanwhile, in Berlin, European leaders convened for a conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the conference in a video address that more than a third of the country’s energy sector has been destroyed by rockets and Iranian drones. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, spoke strongly about the need to aid Ukraine in its reconstruction, especially as it pertains to the country’s ascension into the European Union.
Ukrainian authorities are now estimating that Russian forces have lost nearly 68,420 personnel since the start of the invasion.
Also from there:
Alleged recordings of the head of a major Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer accused of aiding the Russian military – saying he “completely understands” why a Russian missile was fired at his factory – have been released by Kyiv’s security services after his arrest at the weekend.
Vyacheslav Boguslaev, the president of Motor Sich, has been charged with treason after a raid at the weekend on his home in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. The manufacturing heavyweight is suspected of selling engines – before and after the invasion – for Russian attack helicopters that have been used extensively against Ukrainian troops.
The release of the alleged recordings have served as a reminder of the historic ties between veteran figures in the two countries’ arms industries and Ukraine’s internal battle to root out collaborators.
Answering questions from journalists at a Kyiv courthouse about whether or not he had contracts with companies that work with the Russia military, Boguslaev said he was not “in the loop” and that Motor Sich produced some of the “best helicopters”.
A lawyer for Boguslaev said his client had poor hearing and had not yet listened to the recordings released by Ukraine’s security services . The lawyer added that Boguslaev would explain his position during the trial. A judge ordered for Boguslaev to be held for two months without the possibility of bail.
Rachel Maddow catches viewers up on the cases against right-wing political activists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman who tried to intimidate Black voters with a robocall ahead of the 2020 election, and looks at new right-wing voter intimidation tactics for the 2022 election that are already being taken to court.
Marc Elias, election lawyer and founder of Democracy Docket, talks with Rachel Maddow about a new lawsuit against right-wing activists deluded by election conspiracy theories carrying guns and wearing tactical gear to intimidate Arizona voters at ballot drop boxes.
The suit was filed yesterday, and Elias tells Maddow that the judge has scheduled a hearing for this morning.
I recently watched the 2019 film Mr. Jones. I have some issues with it, but I would say it’s worthwhile and relevant.
They note at the end that Walter Duranty’s Pulitzer hasn’t been revoked, and this is evidently still the case. From Wikipedia (citation numbers removed):
The concern over Duranty’s reporting on the famine in Soviet Ukraine led to a move to posthumously and symbolically strip him of the Pulitzer Prize he received in 1932.
In response to Stalin’s Apologist (1990), the critical biography by Sally J. Taylor, The New York Times assigned a member of its editorial board, Karl Meyer, to write a signed editorial about Duranty’s work for the Times. In a scathing piece, Meyer said (24 June 1990) that Duranty’s articles were “some of the worst reporting to appear in this newspaper.” Duranty, Meyer said, had bet his career on Stalin’s rise and “strove to preserve it by ignoring or excusing Stalin’s crimes.” The Pulitzer Board in 1990 reconsidered the prize but decided to preserve it as awarded. Four years earlier, in a review of Robert Conquest’s The Harvest of Sorrow (1986), former Moscow bureau reporter Craig Whitney wrote that Duranty effectively ignored the famine until it was almost over.
In 2003, following an international campaign by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Pulitzer Board began a renewed inquiry, and The New York Times hired Mark von Hagen, professor of Russian history at Columbia University, to review Duranty’s work as a whole. Von Hagen found Duranty’s reports to be unbalanced and uncritical, and that they far too often gave voice to Stalinist propaganda. In comments to the press he stated, “For the sake of The New York Times‘ honor, they should take the prize away.” The Times sent Von Hagen’s report to the Pulitzer Board and left it to the Board to take whatever action they considered appropriate. In a letter accompanying the report, The New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. called Duranty’s work “slovenly” and said it “should have been recognized for what it was by his editors and by his Pulitzer judges seven decades ago.”
Ultimately, Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prize board, declined to revoke the award. In a press release of November 21, 2003, he stated that with regard to the 13 articles by Duranty from 1931 submitted for the award “there was not clear and convincing evidence of deliberate deception, the relevant standard in this case.”
The standard described @ #29 sounds better: “No passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes.” In any case, Gissler’s decision is strange.
Thinking more about it (I haven’t had my tea yet this morning!), I guess they could be seen as two levels: if you were to find that contentions, etc., had been discredited subsequent to conferral of the prize, you would then need to determine whether the contentions had been the result of deliberate deception. In the Trump-Russia case, the submissions haven’t been discredited, so the question of deception doesn’t even arise. But in the Duranty case, major elements of the submissions were subsequently discredited and there’s substantial evidence of journalistic malpractice. The requirement to show “deliberate deception” (which was arguably met here anyway) sounds extreme.
I’m sticking a “dunderheads” label on them for this. If I can tell the difference between disinformation and reliable information, certainly our legislators should be expected to do so.
Yes, they especially should be expected to do so. They and their staffs should have trainings and briefings on this, and they should keep holding public hearings to inform the public about what’s happening. We’ve all had to work over the past several years to understand how propaganda and disinformation operate now, and the least we should expect is that legislators not allow themselves to be manipulated into a precipitous and irresponsible stunt.
Russian court upholds nine-year sentence for US basketball star Brittney Griner
A Russian court today rejected an appeal by US basketball star Brittney Griner against her nine-year prison sentence.
The two-time Olympic gold medallist has been in Russian custody since she was arrested 17 February at a Moscow airport. Russian authorities said they found vape cartridges in her possession that contained cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia. She was sentenced on 4 August to nine years in a penal colony.
Her family has decried her detention as politically motivated, with many of her supporters raising concerns for her safety, in regards to her race and sexuality. Griner is married to a woman. The US has characterised Griner’s arrest and subsequent sentencing as a “wrongful detention”.
“President Biden has been clear that Brittney should be released immediately,” Jake Sullivan, national security advisor, said today. Sullivan called today’s rejected appeal “another sham judicial proceeding”.
More on that letter from the Democratic party Progressive caucus.
It isn’t quite as bad as has been portrayed. On example. The two-page statement points to the death and destruction Russia’s war in Ukraine is causing in Ukraine and the harmful effects it is having outside the war zone, acknowledges that engaging with Russia is difficult, and reiterates that any resolution needs to be “acceptable to the people of Ukraine.” Stating the obvious here.
Then they contradict this and go off on an irrelevant direction.
If we could negotiate our way out of this war with Russia, we would, and it would have already happened. Russia wants to genocide the Ukrainians, and steal all their land and stuff!!! This isn’t negotiable. They have no real legitimate cause to wage war on Ukraine.
“Talking Point Memo’s Josh Marshall calls the letter’s arguments “completely incoherent” and “contradictory on the key points.”
Some of them are walking it back at least.
They wrote this letter in July and never released it for 3 months. This makes no sense.
They really need to just admit they made mistakes and walk the whole thing back.
SAY ANYTHING
House Democratic progressives release, walk back letter to Biden on Ukraine war policy
PETER WEBER October 25, 2022 3:38 AM theweek
Thirty members of the House Progressive Caucus released a letter to President Biden on Monday that begins by supporting and praising his Ukraine war policy and ends by urging Biden to “make vigorous diplomatic efforts in support of a negotiated settlement and ceasefire, engage in direct talks with Russia, explore prospects for a new European security arrangement acceptable to all parties that will allow for a sovereign and independent Ukraine,” and generally make giving peace a chance “America’s chief priority.”
The two-page statement points to the death and destruction Russia’s war in Ukraine is causing in Ukraine and the harmful effects it is having outside the war zone, acknowledges that engaging with Russia is difficult, and reiterates that any resolution needs to be “acceptable to the people of Ukraine.” A lot of people were confused.
The letter “is remarkable in that it mostly calls for what the U.S. is already doing — arming Ukraine, wanting a diplomatic solution, recognizing Russia isn’t currently open to one — but presents this as if it would be a big change,” writes University of Illinois political scientist Nicholas Grossman. The CPC’s concerns “seem to be more about vibes than the actual policy, which makes the pre-election timing particularly curious,” agrees political journalist Ben Jacobs. Talking Point Memo’s Josh Marshall calls the letter’s arguments “completely incoherent” and “contradictory on the key points.”
One of the signatories, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), essentially disavowed the letter, and another, Rep. Marc Pocan (D-Wisc.), said the draft he signed was in July. CPC member Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who did not sign the letter, tweeted: “The way to end a war? Win it quickly. How is it won quickly? By giving Ukraine the weapons to defeat Russia.”
CPC chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) released a statement Monday evening “clarifying” the letter’s intent.
The White House said Biden will continue providing Ukraine aid for as long as it takes. “We’re not going to have conversations with the Russian leadership without the Ukrainians being represented,” White House spokesman John Kirby said. “We’d all like to see this war end today, and quite frankly it could end today if [Russian President Vladimir] Putin did the right thing and pulled his troops out.”
A handful of Republicans have voted against military aid for Ukraine, but Democrats have supported Biden’s requests to send aid and weapons. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) suggested last week that if the GOP wins control of the House, Ukraine aid will be cut or approved only in exchange for policies House Republicans prioritize.
For six months, homes in Ukraine’s southern coastal city of Mykolaiv have been without clean drinking water.
Military and UN experts have told a BBC investigation they believe Russian forces deliberately cut off the water supply last April.
Satellite imagery and data suggest the pipeline to the city was deliberately destroyed while under Russian control…
Today is exactly 8 months of full-scale war. What has been achieved over this time?
We have defended the independence of our state – and Russia cannot change that already. We are liberating the Ukrainian land step by step. Donbas, Kharkiv region, Kherson region are now heard. But Zaporizhzhia region and Crimea will be heard as well – the time will come and all of Ukraine will be free.
Ukraine is breaking the so-called “second army of the world” – and from now on, Russia will only be a beggar. They are begging for something in Iran, they are trying to squeeze something out of Western countries making up various nonsense about Ukraine, intimidating, deceiving…
Never again will Russia be a subject that can dictate something to someone. It no longer has the potential to dictate. The world sees that. Russian potential is being wasted now on this madness – on a war against our state and the entire free world.
There was gas influence – not anymore. There was military influence – it is evaporating. There was political weight – now there is an increasing isolation. There were ideological ambitions – now there’s only disgust.
And this is a very important change in the configuration in our part of Eurasia – the more of its potential Russia loses now, the more real freedom all peoples will get both next to Russia and within its borders. Ukraine – first of all.
On February 24, the Kremlin could not even think about it, although they should have. But now, on October 24, there is no Russian official or propagandist who does not understand where all this is going for them. They started to recall 1917 long ago. The feeling of failure in Russia is getting stronger.
But, realizing all this, we have no right to relax. We still have to go the way to Ukrainian victory. This is a difficult path.
We’ll have to pass this winter, which will be the most difficult in our history. To do the necessary part of the work in autumn, winter and spring in order to get the desired results for the state. To maintain the maximum mobilization of our partners for the sake of the struggle for freedom and not allow our common enemy to split the global pro-democracy coalition.
This is what we do, all Ukrainians, Europeans, all people of the world who value freedom….
TASS just reported that Russia’s Security Council pledged to “desatanize” Ukraine. The “desatanization” of Ukraine is becoming increasingly urgent, said Alexei Pavlov, deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, because “hundreds of sects” are now operating in Ukraine.
ISW: Ukraine will likely liberate Kherson by end of 2022.
Russian troops are preparing to defend the city of Kherson and are not fully withdrawing from the north of Kherson Oblast, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment.
However, Ukraine’s Armed Forces may liberate Russian-occupied areas on the right bank of the Dnieper, including Kherson, by the end of 2022 as Russia’s positions there are “likely untenable,” the think-tank said.
There are unconfirmed reports of significant progress toward Svatove as well.
We’ll have to pass this winter, which will be the most difficult in our history.
This isn’t exactly wrong but it is arguable.
.1. The famines of Stalin killed 3.9 million Ukrainians.
Around 3.9 million Ukrainians died during the Holodomor of 1932-33 (as established in a 2015 study by a team of demographers from the Ukrainian Institute of Demographic and Social Studies, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill).
Holodomor | Holocaust and Genocide Studies https://cla.umn.edu › chgs › resource-guides › holodomor
.2. The Russians say often that they lost 25 million people during World War II.
7 million of them were Ukrainians.
The Germans swept through Ukraine on their way to Moscow, occupied Ukraine, and then retreated through Ukraine.
.3. The Russians invaded Ukraine in February, 2022.
The deaths and damage they have done to Ukraine aren’t done yet but it will be a lot.
I’m seeing a pattern here.
These people have had an incredibly dismal 20th century. They deserve better and it is their time to have a normal 21st century existence.
@81. cicely : “Okay, I’m sure I remember there being a better way to do the linky thingy, but I don’t remember how. Can some kind soul take pity on me and ship me a clue?”
House progressives are considering withdrawing a letter calling on President Joe Biden to engage in direct diplomacy with Russia less than 24 hours after it sparked intense backlash from other Democrats, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The about-face comes as some Democratic lawmakers vent their fury [c’mon] that the letter backing talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin — originally drafted and signed in June — wasn’t recirculated before its public release on Monday. That release made it appear that the 30 House Democrats who signed on, all lawmakers in the roughly 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, were urging the Biden administration to push for diplomacy immediately despite Russia’s engagement in war crimes and indications of a military escalation against Ukraine.
Making the timing of the letter even more politically perilous: Ukraine is not ready for negotiations at this point, especially because its months-long counteroffensive has been successful to date, and there’s no indication Putin is ready to deal either.
The letter to Biden was released without the knowledge of many Democratic lawmakers who put their name on it, several people told POLITICO, speaking candidly on condition of anonymity. While it was partially updated with new information about Russia’s war on Ukraine and sent to other lawmakers to reach a threshold of 30 signees, POLITICO has learned, the letter got released mostly in its original form.
The original release date for the letter was August 1, a congressional aide said, adding that it was never made clear why there was a delay. Its text was circulating on the Hill during August’s weeks-long legislative recess.
“Once you sign on to a letter, it’s up to the original drafters and unfortunately not all of them will keep folks updated,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the Progressive Caucus whip and a signatory of the pro-Russia-diplomacy letter, tweeted Tuesday. “That’s why some of us don’t sign on to letters without direct insight into when or how it will be released.” [?]
Other signatories and congressional aides blamed the Progressive Caucus’ office for releasing it as questions swirl over whether Republicans would continue funding Ukraine’s defense if they win the House majority in two weeks, as is expected [by some].
…
Other signatories of the letter quickly clarified their own positions, and more are expected to speak out as soon as Tuesday. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who also chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, released a statement Monday declaring continued support for Ukrainian self-determination: “Only Ukrainians have a right to determine the terms by which this war ends.”
The saga [oy] could have implications beyond the Ukraine funding efforts, given Jayapal’s leadership ambitions. And Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who also signed the letter, is vying for the party’s top post on the powerful House Oversight committee.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who is running against Raskin for that job, released a statement Tuesday blasting “magical thinking regarding the nature of the Russian threat” — though without mentioning the letter or Raskin.
“Rep Jayapal withdraws controversial progressive caucus letter to the White House seeking diplomacy with Russia. ‘The letter was drafted several months ago, but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting. As Chair of the Caucus, I accept responsibility for this’.”
Raskin Restates the Fundamental Importance of the Ukrainian Struggle for National Sovereignty, Democracy and Freedom
October 25, 2022
I am glad to learn of the withdrawal of the letter of October 24, 2022, which—because of its unfortunate timing and other flaws—led to the conflation of growing Republican opposition to support for Ukraine, as exemplified by recent statements of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, with the polar-opposite position of dozens of Democrats like me who have passionately supported every package of military, strategic and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people and are determined to see the Ukrainian people win victory over Vladimir Putin and expel his imperialist forces from their country.
In the eight months since Russia began its atrocity-filled and illegal war of aggression against the people of Ukraine, the Ukrainian people have given Americans not just the chance to defend the values of national sovereignty, democracy and pluralism but also great hope for the world’s future. Had Ukrainians been quickly defeated by Putin’s army, as so many people expected, had Volodymyr Zelensky fled the country, as so many people expected, then a dangerous tyranny would have destroyed a nascent democracy, and prospects for democratic causes everywhere in the world would have darkened. Large countries would have felt emboldened to attack small countries everywhere.
But today there is hope because of the strength of President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people, and the cause of democracy and freedom in Ukraine is the cause of the democratic world. We should unite around this just struggle and stay focused on it.
Ukraine has given the world a lesson in anti-imperialism and how to fight a just war of self-defense even amidst enormous civilian suffering. Putin has claimed, as European colonizers did for hundreds of years, that the Ukrainian state and the Ukrainian nation do not exist. This obvious lie has been his rationale for an increasingly genocidal war of destruction, the openly avowed goal of which is the destruction of the Ukrainian people as such. These last weeks and days, Russian propagandists have repeatedly appeared on television to urge the murder of Ukrainian children and violence against the Ukrainian population.
It is a bad colonial habit to suppose that ultimately peace depends upon the wishes of the great powers and the great powers alone, and even progressive and liberal people can fall into this colonialist reflex.
Ukraine’s struggle embodies a democratic future. Its civilian and military leadership is young and diverse, representing a post-Soviet generation that has learned to treasure freedom and value democracy. Its president, who is Jewish and thus belongs to a small national minority, was elected with 73% of the population, and now has even higher levels of support, thanks to his extraordinary wartime leadership. Thousands of Ukrainian women are fighting on the front, and a woman serves as deputy minister of defense. Sexual minorities are represented within the Ukrainian armed forces. Ukrainians soldiers routinely speak two languages. Ukraine has displayed a striking degree of toleration and decency during a war.
The Ukrainians also inspire democratic forces all over the world with their example of civil society. This war is fought and won on the Ukrainian side with the help of countless civilians, organized informally into small horizontal groups, who fill the gaps in logistics. An emblematic image of this war is of the vans driven to the front by civilians to supply soldiers. Where conscripted Russians destroy Ukrainian homes, neighbors come to help. Another common image of this war is the partially repaired house: in the regions from which Russia has been forced to retreat, Ukrainians do what they can to rebuild their neighbors’ homes.
Moscow right now is a hub of corrupt tyranny, censorship, authoritarian repression, police violence, propaganda, government lies and disinformation, and planning for war crimes. It is a world center of antifeminist, antigay, anti-trans hatred, as well as the homeland of replacement theory for export. In supporting Ukraine, we are opposing these fascist views, and supporting the urgent principles of democratic pluralism. Ukraine is not perfect, of course, but its society is organized on the radically different principles of democracy and freedom, which is why Russia’s oligarchical leaders seek to destroy it forever. I am proud to have been banned from Putin’s Russia for my pro-Ukrainian legislative activism, and I look forward to visiting Ukraine.
Ukrainians provide us with an example of courage in defense of national sovereignty and democracy. They are defending their democratic right to choose their own leaders and live in freedom and peace, and they are doing so at great risk and staggering personal cost.
Ukrainians today give the democratic world a chance for a critical and historic victory, and we must rally to their side. It is important to be on the right side of a just war, and it is even more important to be on the right side and win. Just as Ukrainian resistance gives us hope, a Ukrainian victory would give us an opening to a much better future for all humanity. All champions of democracy over autocracy—whether they call themselves progressives, conservatives or liberals—should be doing whatever we can to ensure that Ukraine wins this just war as quickly as possible. Diplomacy by the Biden administration will inevitably follow as sustained diplomacy always marks the conclusion of war—even with tyrants and despots. But first Ukraine must win—let us continue to unite as Americans and focus on that central and historic imperative.
Biden-era deficit reduction has been so impressive, Republicans ought to be impressed. Instead, they’re pretending not to notice the developments.
“By the end of this year,” President Joe Biden boasted in his State of the Union address, “the deficit will be down to less than half what it was before I took office.” The Democrat added that he would soon become the only president “ever to cut the deficit by more than $1 trillion in a single year.”
That was in March, when it wasn’t altogether clear whether his claim would prove true. As The New York Times reported, however, Biden was able to deliver.
The federal budget deficit fell to $1.4 trillion for the 2022 fiscal year, from $2.8 trillion a year ago, a reduction driven primarily by the winding down of pandemic emergency spending and a surge in tax receipts, according to the Treasury Department. President Biden trumpeted the deficit reduction on Friday morning, saying the fact that it was cut roughly in half was evidence that his economic policies were working.
“Today, we have further proof that we’re rebuilding the economy in a responsible way,” Biden said at the White House, adding, “We’re going from a historically strong economic recovery to a steady and stable growth while reducing the deficit.”
Reminding the public about his immediate predecessor’s record, the incumbent president went on to note, “Congressional Republicans love to call Democrats ‘big spenders,’ and they always claim to be for less federal spending. But let’s look at the facts: The federal deficit went up every single year in the Trump administration, every single year he was president. It went up before the pandemic. It went up during the pandemic. It went up every single year on his watch.”
This had the added benefit of being true.
If you didn’t hear about any of this, that’s not too surprising. While Republicans occasionally pretend to care deeply about the deficit, now that it’s shrinking quickly under a Democratic president, the Republican National Committee didn’t bother to issue a statement about the latest data. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy similarly had literally nothing to say in response to the latest developments.
To help contextualize the data, I put together this chart, with red columns from Republican administrations, blue columns from Democratic administrations, and red-and-blue columns from fiscal years that included both Republican and Democratic administrations. [chart available at the link]
[…] As The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell explained before the Covid-19 crisis, “Federal deficits have widened immensely under Trump’s leadership. This is striking not only because he promised fiscal responsibility — at one time even pledging to eliminate the national debt within eight years — but also because it’s a historical anomaly. Deficits usually narrow when the economy is good and we’re not engaged in a major war. … Trump’s own policies are to blame for this aberration.”
The analysis was plainly true. Team Trump and congressional Republicans swore up and down in late 2017 that they could slash taxes for the wealthy and big corporations without increasing the deficit because, as they repeatedly insisted, “tax cuts pay for themselves.” We didn’t need additional evidence that their ridiculous belief was, and is, wrong, but the evidence soon followed anyway.
Then, of course, the pandemic hit, at which point the annual deficit ballooned to over $3 trillion. Biden set out to make the deficit vastly smaller, and thanks to economic growth, robust job creation, and reduced Covid investments, he’s following through.
[…] Americans have endured a remarkably consistent pattern for four decades.
It starts with a Republican presidential candidate denouncing the deficit and vowing to balance the budget if elected. That Republican then takes office, abandons interest in the issue, and expresses indifference when the deficit becomes vastly larger. Then a Democrat takes office, the deficit invariably shrinks — a development Republicans tend to ignore — at which point the entire cycle starts over.
As the cycle spins, polls continue to show that most Americans see Republicans as the party most trustworthy to reduce the deficit, despite reality, because some partisan branding is tough to change, even in the face of four decades’ worth of evidence.
Finally, every time we discuss the deficit, I feel compelled to point out anew that I’m not a deficit hawk, per se, and deficit reduction is not always a worthwhile goal. But I’m also a fan of fiscal debates rooted in facts, and the fact is that Biden-era growth has generated the kind of deficit reduction that the GOP should love.
In an excellent conversation with @RishiSunak we agreed to write a new chapter in 🇺🇦-🇬🇧 relations but the story is the same – full support in the face of Russian aggression. I appreciate PM’s first call to Ukraine. And always grateful for the support of the 🇬🇧 people.
Former President Barack Obama appears in new ads in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Illinois.
Former President Barack Obama will be campaigning in new ads for several Democratic candidates — Senate candidates John Fetterman, Pa. and Mandela Barnes, Wis., as well as Democratic governors J.B. Pritzker, Ill. and Tony Evers, Wis.
In two new ads in Pennsylvania — one digital and one radio — the former president focuses on access to abortion rights and protecting democracy as reasons to vote for Fetterman in November’s midterm election.
“When the fate of our democracy and a woman’s right to choose are on the line, I know John will fight for Pennsylvanians,” Obama says in the digital ad, which is 30 seconds long. [video available at the link]
In a 60 second radio ad, Obama also focused on Fetterman’s work on criminal justice.
“John has always cared about making our communities stronger. As mayor he worked to stop gun violence which helped lead to five years of zero gun deaths,” Obama says.
He adds, “As Lieutenant Governor, John chairs the Board of Pardons and has helped people who were wrongfully convicted.”
In a digital ad in Wisconsin, Obama tells viewers, “I’m proud to endorse Mandela Barnes, someone with humble roots who understands the challenges folks are facing.”
In another, he tells viewers “If you care about protecting your right to vote, protecting access to abortion and investing in our kids’ public education, you need to get out and vote for my friend, Governor Tony Evers.” [video at the link]
[…]
After the Jan. 6 attack, a Republican senator said Ted Cruz had “a lot of soul searching to do.” Alas, that search apparently hasn’t gone well.
The fact that Sen. Ted Cruz peddled transparent nonsense during a Fox News appearance on Sunday night was not surprising. What made the Texas Republican’s drivel amazing, however, were the details and larger context.
Cruz argued, for example, that the Justice Department shouldn’t care about Donald Trump taking highly sensitive national security secrets to a glorified country club and refusing to give them back. “Every former president has taken documents from his administration,” the senator claimed. “Barack Obama did that. Bill Clinton did that. George W. Bush did that.”
As Cruz probably knows, this claim was debunked weeks ago, and no former president has ever faced allegations along these lines.
[Cruz] went on to insist that Obama successfully weaponized the Justice Department as a political tool to target his political enemies, which remains hopelessly bonkers. In fact, if Cruz were serious about these concerns — he’s obviously not, but if he were — I’d refer him to the extensive evidence of Donald Trump and George W. Bush doing exactly what the senator is falsely accusing Obama of having done.
It was emblematic of one of Cruz’s biggest problems as a politician: his unshakeable cynicism. I’ve followed his career for a while now, and I’m convinced that the Texas Republican’s most glaring flaw isn’t that he’s dumb, it’s that he thinks everyone else is dumb, which is why he keeps pushing ridiculous nonsense, confident that much of the public won’t know the difference.
[…] Cruz, in the same Fox News appearance, also let viewers know that his new book would soon present the “first inside account of what happened” on Jan. 6. The senator added that he’d take readers “through the evidence of election fraud and voter fraud in November 2020, which the Democrats and the corporate media insists doesn’t exist.”
Let’s start with the most glaring problem: Cruz’s book does not actually present any credible evidence of election fraud and voter fraud from the 2020 election cycle. As Philip Bump explained today in a Washington Post analysis:
The book was released on Tuesday. This particular “corporate media” outlet can now report that, in fact, rampant fraud continues not to exist — as demonstrated, here at least, by Cruz’s failure to present any of his promised evidence of election or voter fraud.
In other words, Cruz assured Fox News viewers that his book would tell them exactly what they wanted to hear, and the senator would finally present “the evidence of election fraud and voter fraud” they’ve been longing to see, but his promises proved hollow. The former lawyer ultimately had no case to make because the underlying claims remain absurd.
But making matters worse is the inconvenient fact that Cruz knows full well that his party’s “Big Lie” is ridiculous — because he’s said so. As a separate Post analysis explained yesterday, “He called Trump’s voter-fraud claims ‘reckless’ and ‘irresponsible’ and ‘way too far over the line’ — despite having offered to argue Trump’s case — and even said Trump ‘plainly bears some responsibility‘ because of his ‘angry rhetoric.’”
That, of course, was the iteration of Cruz we saw last year. The new iteration, who realizes that his party’s radicalized base won’t tolerate such criticisms of Trump or Jan. 6 rioters, has decided the smart political move would be to release a book that embraces conspiratorial nonsense, indifferent to the fact that the book’s purported “evidence” isn’t true.
In the wake of the insurrectionist violence, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” and said that Cruz was not only “complicit in the Big Lie,” the Texan was also one of the GOP lawmakers who had “a lot of soul searching to do.” […]
The good news is, Lake is no longer claiming to have secret evidence. The bad news is, she’s instead sharing evidence that appears to be entirely made up.
In early September, gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake, a relentless election denier, argued that she’d seen evidence to substantiate her conspiracy theories, but she wouldn’t share it. “I’m not comfortable sharing it with the media,” the Arizona Republican said, adding, “Why would I hand anything over to the fake news?”
It was an odd position to take. Much of Lake’s rise to far-right prominence has been driven by her outlandish election claims, and if she had proof to support her conspiracy theories, it’d certainly be in her interests to present it to the public. Even if the GOP candidate doesn’t trust “the fake news,” Lake could simply publish her evidence online for everyone to see, or she could share it with one of the several outlets aligned with Republican politics.
The good news is, [Kari Lake] is no longer claiming to have secret evidence. The bad news is, Lake is instead sharing evidence that appears to be entirely made up. As a Washington Post analysis noted yesterday:
It’s telling that, in an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake invoked untrue “facts” in defense of her efforts to undermine confidence in her state’s elections.
[“untrue facts” are lies]
As part of the ABC report, Lake peddled a series of lies, which she described as “facts,” to reporter Jonathan Karl, starting with a claim that “2,000 mail-in ballots were accepted by Maricopa County after Election Day in 2020 — after Election Day.” Karl, to his credit, told viewers that the claim is “just not true.”
But the Republican conspiracy theorist just kept going, pushing other bizarre assertions, none of which has been supported with any proof, and each of which Lake characterized as “facts.” [A Gish Gallop of lies]
All things considered, the gubernatorial candidate probably should’ve stuck to the whole “secret evidence” posture.
But just hours after her interview with ABC aired, The Arizona Republic published a related report on its interview with Lake, in which she reflected on her confidence on her state’s electoral system.
“I wish I could sit here and say I have complete faith in the system, I don’t have faith in the system,” the Republican said. “And that’s why I’m going to work with lawmakers to come up with a way that we have secure elections.”
Part of the problem with this is that Lake’s rationale is built on a foundation of quicksand: The candidate doesn’t “have faith in the system” because she believes conspiracy theories she can’t substantiate.
But I’m also reminded of a good point the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent raised last week:
The state of Arizona recently passed a law requiring proof of citizenship to vote, which the Brennan Center for Justice called “one of the worst voter suppression laws in the nation.” That law was passed in the name of achieving “election integrity.” Mysteriously, however, Lake is still declaring with direct-to-camera sincerity that people continue to have good reason to doubt election outcomes, even to the point of justifying her refusal to commit to accepting a loss.
Quite right. When GOP legislators passed an “election integrity” bill, they said it was necessary to “restore confidence” in Arizona’s system of elections. Those wildly unnecessary restrictions are now in place.
And yet, there’s the Republicans’ gubernatorial nominee, disregarding her party’s “election integrity” measure, claiming that she still lacks confidence in the system for reasons she won’t explain, all while opening the door to even more onerous limits on voting.
It’s almost as if unneeded measures, ostensibly designed to “restore confidence,” are little more than partisan scams […]
Understated snark at the end there.
Oggie: Mathomsays
From Lynna’s at 160:
I’m convinced that the Texas Republican’s most glaring flaw isn’t that he’s dumb, it’s that he thinks everyone else is dumb,
For a Republican, the ‘everyone’ who matters, the GOP voters, are dumb. Not stupid, just intentionally ignorant of reality. Which is why Cruz et. al. keep getting reelected.
Here’s my hunch abt what happened here. Look at the Quincy Institute. They were apparently the organizers of the effort. That’s not secret. A lot of members signed it and then nothing happened. Kind of odd in itself. I suspect Quincy and other allied groups were really hots …
to push this out before the election. They probably had some staffers at the Prog caucus who were on board with that. Perhaps even ex-colleagues if theirs. Somehow they came up with a way to push it public. It’s clear that most of the reps, I think actually all of …
Mearsheimer is an “expert” at the Quincy Institute.
[…]“Very simply, Ukraine needs drones,” [Mark] Hamill, an ambassador for Ukraine’s Army of Drones project, told host Joe Mathieu in a recent interview with Bloomberg Radio’s Sound On.
“They define war outcomes, they protect their land, their people, they monitor the border, they’re eyes in the sky. I was really shocked because they give me these updates at least two or three times a week about what’s going on and they said they’ve received over 500 drones since I started this.”
It’s understandable that watching Ukrainian civilians get shelled and otherwise abused by Putin’s garbage army might make us all feel helpless at times, but Hamill reminds us that there are tangible steps we can take to help.
The Military Times:
The program through which Hamill was able to donate is called “UNITED24,″ which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy created to collect donations for the National Bank of Ukraine. The funds are used for the most pressing war needs, according to its site.
“The new ambassador introduction took place during an online call with the President of Ukraine,” a Ukrainian government site states. “Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to Mark Hamill for supporting Ukrainian people since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
So far, donations through UNITED24 have reached more than $210 million. The site also vows transparency, offering weekly spending updates.
This tweet is perfection. [tweet and image at the link] It translates to “may the Force be with you,” of course.
In another quote, Hamill shows that he understands the importance of this moment in history, and knows that Ukraine is currently standing in the gap as a bulwark against fascism, genocide, and Putin’s imperial adventurism.
“In this long and unequal fight, Ukraine needs continuous additional support,” Hamill said. “That’s why I was honored President Zelenskyy asked me to become an ambassador for the Army of Drones. I know for certain that Ukrainians need drones to protect their land, their freedom, and the values of the entire democratic world. Right now is the best time for everyone to come together and help Ukraine stand up in this war with the evil empire.”
And whether he’s destroying the Death Star or delivering for Ukraine, young Master Skywalker always gets the job done.
[…] Let’s just hope it takes far less than 43 years to de-Putinize Eastern Europe.
[…] Charlie Kirk was at some circle-jerking Aryan fap fest for his Turning Point USA this week, and as reluctant as he really is to talk about race — HE HATES IT OMG HE HATES IT — he made an exception and talked about race. [video at the link]
KIRK: So I hate talking about race.
As we were saying.
I do.
He does.
I hate it because I don’t think race matters at all. I think it’s — I hate the whole conversation around it.
Obviously.
Except:
But I have to say this next part that might get me in trouble — there is a deliberate and venomous anti-white campaign in our country and it drives me crazy and we shouldn’t put up with it.
He hates to talk about race but just wants the white people to know that THEY ARE OUT TO GET YOU AND YOU SHOULDN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE, AIYEEEEEEEEEEE!
It’s evil from the pit of hell when they’re going out on television and saying whiteness this and whiteness that. It would be wrong if you replaced any other race.
It is evil from the pit of hell when somebody suggests that white supremacy and/or white privilege could be problematic? Is that what he is saying? We want to make sure we understand what he is saying.
So, my message to rural America in that regard, which is overwhelmingly white, is you shouldn’t put up with it.
Charlie Kirk’s message to country white folk is that there is a race war declared on them and they “shouldn’t put up with it.” Noted.
It is racism, it is wrong, it is bigotry, it is being taught in our schools.
Blah blah blah.
So, and just, I had to say that.
He never says things like this, but he did his affirmations in the mirror and he found his courage to say the white supremacist propaganda you want to see in the world.
And the media is nuts when I talk about anti-whiteness. It’s true. It exists institutionally in more ways than one.
Okeydoke, Charlie. We get it, you hate talking about race.
Meanwhile in Russia: one state TV panelist ruins the host’s pompous announcement that Russia’s war against Ukraine is becoming “the people’s war” when he foams at the mouth about circulating proposals to draft “bums and deadbeats.” There’s some obligatory racism and much more….
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link. It’s incredible how often they say things like “The main goal of this war is the destruction of Russia. For now, the territory of Ukraine was chosen for this.” YOU INVADED UKRAINE.
Joe Kent, a Trump-backed House contender in Washington state, reported making $122,110.36 from a company that does not appear to exist.
ravensays
Charlie Kirk lying:
So, my message to rural America in that regard, which is overwhelmingly white, is you shouldn’t put up with it.
You can count on Kirk or just about any GOPer to lie.
Rural USA isn’t overwhelmingly white.
It is 75% white which is higher than then national average of 58% white but hardly a monoculture of whites. The Native American population is partly rural and parts of the Hispanic population have always been rural. Just where do you think those farm workers live anyway?
As my source notes, rural America is following the USA as a whole in becoming…more diverse.
Rural America remains predominately non-Hispanic White with 35 million White residents constituting 76 percent of the rural population according to the 2020 Census. This represents a decline from 79.8 percent in 2010. There are roughly 2.0 million fewer rural Whites in 2020 than in 2010.May 25, 2022
Growing Racial Diversity in Rural America: Results from the …
The 19-year-old gunman who killed two people at a St. Louis high school Monday was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and over 600 rounds of ammunition, and left behind a note referencing mass shootings, police said.
whheydtsays
Re: Lynna, OM @ #171…
That raises an interesting question… Not being an ammosexual myself, just how much do 600 rounds for an AR-15 weigh?
Message of the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to russian soldiers.
We call on everyone who wants to live to surrender.
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link. I don’t know why I find it so entertaining. The voice. The font for the phone numbers. It’s beautiful.
“…or use the chatbot ‘I want to live’ in the Telegram messenger…”
“This is better than being a dead occupier in a foreign land.”
blfsays
whheydt@172, “how much do 600 rounds for an AR-15 weigh?”
Not a lot, apparently. I also had no idea, so asked Generalissimo Google™. I found sites selling the stuff in cases of 1000 (yes, one thousand) rounds for $500–$600, with a claimed weight of around 30 pounds (14kg).
At one of the sites, an alleged customer commented Fraud voting and current state of politics… good investment, ammo will be gold very soon.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Over the past day, Russian forces have launched five rockets, 30 air strikes and more than 100 multiple-launch rocket system attacks on more than 40 settlements all around Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian general staff of the armed forces. Russian forces have continued their sustained offence on the strategically placed [ahem] towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka in Ukraine’s industrial heartland of Donbas, killing one civilian yesterday in Bakhmut. However, Ukrainian authorities believe that Russian forces are digging in for the “heaviest of battles” in the strategic southern region of Kherson. Russian authorities spent yesterday relocating civilians in the region, blaming the oncoming onslaught of the Ukrainian armed forces for why they had to leave.
A Russian missile attack killed two people in Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth-largest city. One of those who died was a pregnant woman. The office of the prosecutor general of Ukraine has launched a pre-trial investigation into the attack.
Vladimir Putin entered the invasion of Ukraine with the term “denazification” – now his security council is pivoting to the term “desatanisation”.…
The armed forces of Ukraine are estimating that about 480 Russian soldiers were killed yesterday alone, bringing the total to 68,900 personnel lost so far in the invasion of Ukraine.
The Nobel Foundation has made the decision to not invite the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors to its storied prize ceremony this year, even though the foundation typically extends an invitation to all ambassadors stationed in Sweden….
Russia is purportedly recruiting members of Afghanistan’s highly respected national army commando corps to fight in Ukraine, Foreign Policy is reporting. These are the commandos that were trained by US navy seals and British armed forces. About 20,000 to 30,000 of the volunteer commandos were left behind when the US left Afghanistan in Taliban control in August 2021.
Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu held a phone call with his Indian counterpart and raised Russia’s concerns about the possible use of a “dirty bomb” by Ukraine, Shoigu’s ministry said….
Farcical.
The Kremlin also said assets in the four Ukrainian regions that Russia claimed it had annexed last month may in future be transferred to Russian companies.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was obvious that “abandoned assets” could not be left inactive, and the government would deal with the issue….
This statement is very easily understood when you remember £1.5bn worth of British contracts for Qatar WC, Britain has sold at least £6bn worth of typhoon jets to Qatar and British RAF planes will defend the skies at the tournament
And that’s before you recall that the British foreign office previously sent an email to English FA encouraging solely positive messaging in meetings with Qatari WC organisers
– On 24 October 2022, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region announced that an explosive device had damaged the railway near the village of Novozybkovo, approximately 15km from the Russia-Belarus border. The line is the main rail link between Russia and southern Belarus.
– The Russian anti-war group ‘Stop the Wagons’ (STW) claimed responsibility for the incident. This is at least the sixth incident of sabotage against Russian railway infrastructure claimed by STW since June.
– This is part of a wider trend of dissident attacks against railways in both Russian and Belarus. The Russian authorities have previously clamped down on STW’s online presence.
– The Russia military primarily relies on rail transport for deploying forces to Ukraine, but with a network extending to over 33,000km, largely transiting isolated areas, the system is extremely challenging to secure against physical threats.
– The Russian leadership will be increasingly concerned that even a small group of citizens has been sufficiently opposed to the conflict to resort to physical sabotage.
(I see periodic reports of a shortage of cassette bearings creating serious problems for the Russian rail system, but I can’t tell how accurate they are.)
Up to 70 Australian defence force personnel will be deployed to the UK to train Ukrainian troops in the latest increase in Australia’s support for Kyiv.
The Albanese government announced the decision late on Wednesday while emphasising that the ADF members would not be entering Ukrainian territory.
It also said it would provide Ukraine with 30 more Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles, bringing to 90 the total number promised since Russia’s invasion.
The government has been signalling for months that Australia might join other countries in training Ukrainian troops as part of longer term assistance, but has not confirmed the details until now.
It says up to 70 ADF members will fly to the UK in January to join Operation Interflex, a mission that also involves personnel from other countries including New Zealand, Canada, Sweden and Finland. Ukrainian troops, including new recruits, have been travelling to the UK for training under this program.
“Col-Gen Ramzan Kadyrov declares a ‘great jihad’ after a Ukrainian strike in Kherson killed or inured close to 100 Chechen troops: ‘We will not be taking these devils prisoner. We will burn them alive. We will not stop. Odessa, Kyiv, Kharkiv, all of Ukraine is Russian territory’.”
Back in the USSR, graduating with a university degree required taking a course in Scientific Communism. Mandatory ideological education was reviled by undergraduates across the Soviet Union, and made many a student turn away from philosophy and history, mangled as those subjects were by the state’s ideological agenda. Now, ideological instruction is making a comeback in Russia’s higher education system. Meduza […] spoke with two Kremlin insiders about the current plans to introduce Russian Ideology as a required subject across universities in Russia. The new curricular model, they explain, may lead to the purging of Russian schools of all nonconformist, liberal-thinking faculty.
Young people need to understand ideology — that is, where Russia is going, and why, says one of our sources close to the Russian President’s Office.
Russia’s public schools have already introduced an ideological module, in the form of the required weekly Conversations About What Matters. The purpose of the module is to get the kids to believe that Russia was forced to begin its special military operation in Ukraine: the Ukrainian nationalists simply left it no choice.
Next, Russian ideology is to become a required part of university education. This new ideological curriculum is overseen by none other than Sergey Kiriyenko, first deputy head of the President’s Administration. On top of this, instead of the Kremlin’s department for social projects (which usually deals with the higher education system), it is the State Council (an advisory body that usually manages elections) that has been charged with developing the required curriculum.
The State Council is headed by a close associate of Kiriyenko’s, Alexander Kharichev. Another expert involved in the project is Andrey Polosin, the head of regional relations at Rosatom (Russia’s state nuclear-energy corporation, where Kiriyenko worked for some time in the past). The grunt work of curriculum development has been delegated to Znanie (“Knowledge”), an organization whose board of overseers, too, is headed by Kiriyenko.
The new subject will hit the higher-ed curricula next fall, at the start of a new academic year. Students specializing in STEM disciplines will be required to take a year of ideology studies. Several years of Russian ideology will be required of humanities students; as for history and political science majors, they’ll have to take it for the entire duration of their course of study.
The ideological curriculum will be subdivided into four modules […: historical, ‘Cultural Code’, ‘Russia in the World’, and ‘Envisioning a Future’.]
The exact contents of each module are still unknown. What’s clear, though, is the complete loyalty of all four […] prospective curricular leads to the current regime and its needs and preferences. […]
[… The apparent curricular lead of the Russia in the World module, political scientist Sergey] Karaganov who described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as “Russia’s fate”[†] — Russia itself being, in his words, destined for the avant-guard.We must unite, hold our own, and win, he went on[,] The huge entirety of the West is against us, but sooner or later it’ll begin to crumble. A great many countries are in our favor, because they’re pleased that we’ve undermined, and continue to undermine, the US and Western domination. Most countries in the world are ready to interact and cooperate with us.
Two Kremlin insiders have told Meduza that the main outlines of the new ideological curriculum will be established at the “Russia’s DNA” conference, held by Znanie and slated to begin on October 26 in Sochi.
[… One probable speaker is sci-fi writer Sergey] Pereslegin[, whose]’s views are actually quite exotic: he believes that global warming will benefit humankind, and actively promotes the theory of inclusive capitalism, which divides humanity into the elites and the disempowered masses, whose livelihood depends on the ruling class. [… However, Russian ideology will] stick to the outlines of the conservative ideology famously favored by Putin. Roughly, one of our sources said, it’ll amount to this message: The West is in decay. It always hated Russia, but its time is up — while our own future is shining. We have a rich history and culture, and must take advantage of this crisis to make the most of it.
The introduction of mandatory ideological studies may help the regime “cleanse” Russian colleges and universities from liberal-minded faculty members who criticize it now. Since all faculty might be expected to pass some kind of attestation in Russian ideology, this requirement may turn into a de-facto “oath of allegiance,” said one of our sources. “There’s an understanding that the figurative ‘Shulmans’ and ‘Yudins’ have no place in higher ed,” he said, referring to the political scientists Ekaterina Shulman and Grigory Yudin, known for their criticism of the Kremlin.
Broadly, it sounds like having now destroyed Russia’s standing in the world, Russia’s economy, caused skilled individuals to flee, show the Russian military is a complete shambles, etc., etc., Putin is now trying to destroy Russian universities. Rather like hair furor or the former USSR, etc.
† Not set in eejit quotes because Putin’s invasion of Ukraine probably is determining “Russia’s fate” — albeit not towards the imperialistic authoritarian RussiaPutin-worshiping empire Karaganov, et al., say they want.
In the five weeks since Russia’s mobilization drive began, hundreds of thousands of draft-eligible people have fled the country. While the authorities have vowed to grant draft deferments for certain people such as select government officials and IT workers, these promises have not always been enough to keep people in those groups from getting conscripted. According to the independent media outlet Verstka, many government employees have decided not to take their chances: numerous people who work for both the Moscow city government and Russia’s federal ministries have fled the country in recent weeks. The majority of them have been fired soon after leaving, but some have flown under the radar and remain on the payroll. […]
[…]
Citing numerous sources from the government, Verstka reported that in some of the Moscow city administration’s departments, as many as 20–30 percent of employees have left Russia. Most of the draft evaders have been programmers, system administrators, and other IT workers. Their sudden absence has created difficulties for other departments, some of which have reportedly “sat idle for days due to the lack of IT specialists, or have been unable to use electronic document management capabilities.”
According to Verstka, many Moscow government employees have not been granted the draft exemptions the authorities promised them. “So they’ve gotten out of there like bats out of hell. It’s ridiculous: they leave without even gathering their things from their desks at work — without even washing their mugs,” one source told journalists.
Verstka reported that sources also confirmed cases of employees from Russia’s Education Ministry, Digital Development Ministry, and Central Bank fleeing the country. […]
At the same time, according to Verstka, the Russian government is taking no pains to keep the now-missing employees on board: most of those who have fled have been fired immediately after leaving. Some have been granted permission to work remotely, but only temporarily — ”until human resources or accounting, for example, discovers it.”
[…]
The plausible claim that most of the fleeing people are “programmers, system administrators, and other IT workers” reminds me of a previous (Meduza?) article some time ago (which I excerpted in this series of poopyhead threads) to the effect that people who could read foreign languages (usually(?) English) and had Internet access (often via a VPN), such as University professors / scientists, were extremely unsupportive of Putin’s war… because they had the ability to seek out non-Putin-controlled media and other sources (including contacts in Europe). Skilled programmers, etc., would also meet that criteria — can (probably) read English and almost-certainly have the opportunity, ability, skills, and contacts.
LGBT football fans who attend the World Cup in Qatar should show “a little bit of flex and compromise”, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said.
Speaking to LBC on Wednesday, he told fans travelling from England and Wales to be “respectful of the host nation”, where same-sex activity is illegal.
Within hours, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said LGBT fans should not be expected to “compromise who they are” if they visit Qatar for the World Cup…
As the Putin administration struggles to field an army capable of holding occupied territory in Ukraine, state officials, propagandists, and pro-invasion pundits have resurrected historical analogies to notorious Nazi collaborator Andrey Vlasov in a campaign to discredit and intimidate Russians now fleeing mobilization. In a guest essay for Meduza, Dr Jade McGlynn, a specialist in Russian memory and foreign policy at the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies, explains how Vlasov’s memory has entered the Kremlin’s contemporary narrative and what it says about the course of the war.
Andrey Vlasov, the infamous Russian officer who switched sides to the Nazis during World War II, was executed by hanging in 1946. More than seven decades later, his specter still haunts Russian cultural memory, albeit drowned out by pobedobesie (Moscow’s hyperbolic Victory Day celebrations) and the Kremlin’s insistent efforts to straitjacket the tragic nuances of Russian history into a usable and unifying narrative.
[…]
Vlasov created the Nazi-sponsored Russian Liberation Army, which had up to 800,000 former Soviet soldiers, mostly ethnic Russians. […]
Since February 24, written references to Vlasovites have increased to levels that usually accompany the release of a popular new book on the subject. Some of the mentions are indirect references to the Free Russia Legion, a contemporary formation that by its own account comprises two battalions of Russian volunteers and POWs fighting for Ukraine against the Russian Army.
The parallels are obvious if imperfect.
Invoking General Vlasov (and his fate as a traitor) is also a useful, indirect way to remind young men of the costs of collaborating with the enemy (still steep today). Thanks to recently adopted legislation, any Russian soldier who “voluntarily surrenders” during an armed conflict faces up to 10 years in prison, with “mobilization, martial law, and wartime” codified as aggravating circumstances.
On social media, for example, prominent nationalist figures have branded Russians fleeing mobilization as Vlasovite deserters. […]
After criticizing Russia’s war on Ukraine, independent journalist Dmitry Kozelev received a flood of messages bearing the same text: Only Vlasovites discredit the army. But it’s not just the POWs and reporters who disparage Russia’s armed forces: military-focused bloggers and war correspondents have also shared vocal criticism, prompting the Kremlin to crack down recently on some of these writers, suggesting that the Putin administration may be losing some confidence in its own popularity (which has at times struggled to harness the unwieldy power of ethnic nationalism).
I have only the faintest recollection of Andrey Vlasov. Ye Pffft! of All Knowledge has this interesting tidbit:
In 2016, in his habilitation thesis, Russian historian Kirill Alexandrov analyzed the careers of 180 Soviet generals and officers who joined the Vlasov army. He concluded that most of them personally experienced atrocities committed by the NKVD during the Great Purge and previous purges in the Red Army, which made them disillusioned with the leadership of Stalin and motivated them to defect to the Nazis. Alexandrov’s work was reported to the FSB by Russian nationalists as inciting hatred but his university, regardless of the political pressure, voted in favor of its scientific value.
Interestingly, apparently near that war’s end, Vlasov defected again, ordering his Russian Liberation Army to fight against the nazis during the Prague uprising (May 1945), albeit “[s]ome historians maintain […] the sole purpose of this action was to win favor from the western Allies and possibly even the Soviet side, in the light of the nearly completed military annihilation of the German Reich.” (There are other theories as to why he defected again.)
Moscow’s goal might be to gauge the West’s reaction, two sources told The Financial Times. The possibility of Russia carrying out a nuclear strike has been a topic of debate since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, but many experts have predicted that Vladimir Putin would initially use less extreme methods of escalation such as mobilization and attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. The Russian president is currently utilizing both methods, and according to the New York Times, it will likely take him several months to determine whether they’ve been effective. It’s unclear what the next stage of the war will hold, but, as Meduza has previously reported, if Russia uses nuclear weapons, the US will likely respond asymmetrically, such as by using conventional weapons.
This is the first(?) hypothesis about that “dirty bomb” nonsense which makes any sense to me. It would be completely mad for Ukraine to build one or use one, doubly mad to use one within its own borders (occupied or not), and triply mad to use one in Russia. For the most part, Ukraine’s actions to-date cannot be called “mad”, except by Putin and his acolytes. To a rational actor, it would also be mad for Russia to use one (anywhere), and doubly mad to call it Ukraine false flag — albeit we are talking about Putin here, so “rational actor” seems a bit of a stretch.
ravensays
This news is called unconfirmed.
Russia is moving to a wartime economy.
That special military operation isn’t so special any more.
The Russian people shouldn’t like this but since they get no say, the government isn’t going to care about that.
I don’t see that it will make much difference though.
Russia already doesn’t spend much on infrastructure, health, education, etc.. What money they do get is diverted by the leadership and the oligarchies.
FWIW, much of a war’s cost is in the aftermath.
Veteran’s benefits, surviving children and spouse benefits, disability of wounded soldiers, etc..
We will be paying for those from our recent wars into the next century.
Tweet Euromaidan Press @EuromaidanPress
Russia officially moves to a wartime economy
This means all war-related expenditures are prioritized, while everything related to development – infrastructure, education, health goes into the background.
The aftereffects of wars lingers for many decades. Or even over a century.
The US civil war ended in 1865.
We were still paying survivor benefits up until 2012.
I suspect Russia might just not bother with details like survivor benefits and veteran pensions. It’s not like they really care about their people or anything.
They’ve been sending untrained and underequipped called up people to the front where they are quickly dying.
The last Union pensioner was Albert Woolson who died in 1956, but that was not the end of Civil War pensions. The last known widow died in 2008 and there were still at least two dependents receiving benefits in 2012.
Civil War Pensionshttps://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com › civil-war-p…
A startup called PairWise is out to help change the way we eat by making fruits and vegetables more appealing. The company is zeroing in on traits that may deter people from consuming produce and tweaking those traits using CRISPR gene editing…
Given that the genomes of PairWise products are modified, some consumers may want to know whether the fruits and vegetables are classified as genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
The short answer is no. The USDA doesn’t regulate gene-edited plants as long as their traits could have occurred through traditional breeding methods or a whim of nature. The CRISPR technique PairWise uses involves manipulating genes that exist naturally in a given species’ genome. “The changes PairWise has made in our greens are no different than what can be achieved through conventional breeding, contain no foreign DNA, and therefore are not considered GMOs,” Adams said…
The first product PairWise will bring to market is a milder-tasting version of mustard greens…
Another is seedless berries, including blackberries and raspberries. Hate how those tiny seeds get stuck in your teeth, always in the hardest-to-reach places? CRISPR to the rescue.
One of the company’s most intriguing projects, in my opinion, is pitless cherries…
ravensays
The dirty bombs or radiological weapons are overrated.
They are mainly weapons of terror of low military significance.
Wikipedia
Several analyses have predicted that radiological dispersal devices will neither sicken nor kill many people.[5]
Tests
Israel carried out a four-year series of tests on nuclear explosives to measure the effects were hostile forces ever to use them against Israel, Haaretz reported in 2015. According to the report, the high-level radiation was measured only at the center of the explosions, while the level of dispersal of radiation by particles carried by the wind was low. The bombs reportedly did not pose a significant danger beyond the psychological effect. [37]
The main danger from these bombs is the explosion, a proven way to kill people.
The radiation part is invisible and it may make a few people sick or kill them but they won’t show any chronic effects for years or decades.
It’s also really hard to get enough radioactive waste together in one place safely to wrap it around a bomb. Anyone who doesn’t have access to advanced robots to do the work is going to die soon of radiation poisoning.
It will terrorize people, inconvenience them, and cost money for the cleanup.
Everyone is paranoid about radiation and radioactive materials.
Former President Barack Obama dropped a video to encourage young people to vote, the U.K.’s new prime minister is the wealthiest person ever to hold that office, and Adidas finally did the right thing and ended their partnership with Kanye West.
Things have gotten a lot crazier over the past few years for award-winning former CBS News war correspondent Lara Logan. Now reinvented as a far-right commentator, she was most recently kicked off Newsmax after appearing on Eric Bolling’s primetime program and launching into a QAnon-themed rant on air, claiming world leaders drank children’s blood and made people eat insects, among other notable wild conspiracies. Elsewhere in the episode, Maurice Chammah, a reporter at The Marshall Project and author of Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty, talks American sheriffs and their far-right tendencies. In the podcast’s “Fresh Hell” segment, the hosts discuss reports of intimidation at early ballot drop boxes, particularly in Arizona from those who are hyped up by Dinesh D’Souza’s debunked conspiracy film, 2000 Mules.
Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russian forces in the southern Kherson region is proving more difficult than it was in the northeast because of wet weather and the terrain, Ukraine’s defence minister said.
Kyiv’s forces are piling pressure on Russian troops in the strategically important Kherson region occupied by Moscow since the start of its invasion, threatening president Vladimir Putin with another big battlefield setback, Reuters reported.
“First of all, the south of Ukraine is an agricultural region, and we have a lot of irrigation and water supply channels, and the Russians use them like trenches,” defence minister Oleksii Reznikov told a news conference. “It’s more convenient for them.”
“The second reason is weather conditions. This is the rainy season, and it’s very difficult to use fighting carrier vehicles with wheels,” he said, adding that this reduced the options for Ukraine’s armed forces.
“The counter-offensive campaign in the Kherson direction is more difficult than in the Kharkiv direction,” he added.
The mildly deranged penguin points out Cherries are very tame, and like to sleep on — or more commonly, down behind the cushionsof — your couch / favorite chair / pillow fort. This is to their (the Cherries) detriment, as they are notoriously fragile physically, despite their stony guts. That so-called “heart of stone” is probably, she claims, where the rumour of Cherries being “pitiless” comes from. They are quite safe.
Unless, that is, there is a fruitcake around (either the flour variety or the swivel-eyed loon variety). They are tossed into one and baked; the other is a tosser with half-baked conspiracy theories. Both annoy Cherries, and can provoke them into… sulking. In extreme cases, a foul rot.
Quite importantly, she says, they are not any threat to your cheeseboard. Nor to the cheeses. However, they do like to jump in bottles of beer (usually lambic), hence earning them the name kriek, which she asserts is mildly deranged Flemish for kookoo.
I had mentioned the new Rachel Maddow podcast when it started a few weeks ago. It’s now four episodes in and it’s very good – “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra.”
Brad speaks with Dr. Lucas Kwong, creator of the SWAJ spinoff podcast series Monster in the Mirror – first episode drops Halloween 2022.
They discuss how Christian nationalism is a story – a story about empire, fear of replacement, and anxiety about the other. In this story, White Christian invent monsters that they then blame for “destroying” the nation and the culture they want to protect. So, political enemies become demons. Elections become apocalyptic events. And the stakes are reduced to a battle between the Good Guys and the monsters they have invented. This explains how 19th century Gothic literature such as Dracula and War of the Worlds provides a map for understanding the monsters that contemporary American Christian nationalists have invented.
I adore the podcast It’s Christmastown. It’s delightful. And the guests for the latest episode are Sam Adler-Bell from Know Your Enemy and Jonathan Katz, author of Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire, which is wild.
A Hasidic school in Brooklyn will pay $5 million in fines after it was caught stealing millions of dollars from government programs – much of it meant to provide free meals to students in need, according to federal prosecutors.
The Central United Talmudic Academy, which serves more than 5,000 students in Williamsburg, agreed to the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement on Monday, which included an additional $3 million the school has already paid in restitution. The school is the largest private Hasidic school in New York….
Federal authorities said the school engaged in “several overlapping frauds,” including diverting more than $3 million in federal funds meant to pay for meals for school children. An investigation found an “overwhelming majority of meals” were fabricated – and that funds were instead used for private parties thrown by adults.
The school also admitted to creating no-show jobs for some staffers and compensating employees through vouchers and cash to allow them to qualify for government benefits, according to court documents.
[…]
The agreement comes at a moment of growing scrutiny around New York’s yeshivas, as the state begins implementing new regulations in response to years-long complaints about a lack of secular education standards at the schools.
In 1978, the communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan took over that country in what was called the Saur Revolution and immediately imposed a harsh crackdown on opponents and established one-party rule. The government they overthrew had taken power in 1973 in a coup and … immediately launched a harsh crackdown on opponents and established one-party rule. That government had ousted Afghanistan’s royal family and replaced the long-serving king with a president. A president who also happened to be the legislature, and the foreign minister, the chief of the army, and president-for-life, as well as a member of the ousted royal family. But not king.
Following that second revolt in 1978, forces loyal to the just-ousted coup government, and forces seeking a restoration of the royal family, and forces trying to turn back the clock to the 8th century Umayyad Caliphate, all put together makeshift armies and went to war in a round-robin of shifting alliances.
By the spring of 1979, the PDPA government controlled only about half the country, and things had barely started getting messy. Because the PDPA itself was cracking up, splitting into two groups. What followed was a cascade of assassination and counter-assassination, purge and counter-purge; a heaping helping of good old bloody vengeance. This went on until, at last, a guy named Babrak Karmal—who had survived one round of purging by escaping to Prague and been saved from another assassination attempt by the KGB—ended up as General Secretary of Afghanistan on Christmas Eve … at the head of the invading Soviet Union 40th Army.
The driving factor behind Russia’s invasion was something called the Brezhnev Doctrine, which was sort of an inverse Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine stated that the United States would provide assistance—both economic and military—to any democratic government in danger of being taken over by a non-Democratic government. Which basically translated into fighting communists. The Brezhnev Doctrine stated that any threat to a communist government was a threat to all and required that the Soviet Union intervene.
It was good old domino theory politics on both sides, with each trying to flip the dominos in their direction. When Reagan did a rebrand on the Truman Doctrine in the ‘80s, he specifically tied this to fighting any nation under threat from the Soviet Union, a clarification that was meant to underscore U.S. support for rebels fighting the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan … and to excuse some shenanigans involving a birthday cake, some missiles, and about a thousand felonies.
From the last days of 1979 until the early months of 1989, the Soviet Union tried its best to quash rebellion in Afghanistan and keep the PDPA in power. Their invasion put the Soviets on the receiving end of a truckload of international sanctions, including the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics (sorry, Misha). It put the Afghan rebels on the receiving end of spotty support from the U.S. in terms of crates of weapons and mostly a cheery wish that they kill lots of Soviets. Over those ten years, the Soviets watched their men, tanks, and fortune all go up in flames in the deserts, mountains, and scrublands of Afghanistan as everyone—east and west—utterly failed to learn to learn a damn thing in spite of very painful lessons.
It was also ten years in which Soviet troops brutally raped thousands of Afghan women, butchered civilians wholesale and buried them in mass graves, set up torture chambers throughout the country, and engaged in massive looting. Presumably meaning that any washing machines left Afghanistan along with the Soviet troops in 1989. The Soviets also engaged in deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure, including the irrigation systems that had made food production possible across a large area of Afghanistan. The crumbling cities and barren fields that we think of as characteristic of Afghanistan aren’t the nation the Soviets entered. It’s what they left in their wake.
The enormous expense of that failed war in Afghanistan was directly tied to the rise of reformist Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of the Soviet Union. It was also directly tied to the creation of al-Qaida, turning Osama bin Laden into a leader, and the fall of the twin towers. And for Afghanistan … let’s just say, no one won.
The Russian Federation would not be the Russian Federation if not for what happened in Afghanistan. In many ways, it’s the reversal of Afghanistan—the unmaking of those events—that Vladimir Putin has been trying to achieve through all his many invasions ever since. All of this means that these last nine paragraphs are just one very long, and hopefully ironic, introduction to this tweet. [Tweet and image at the link]
New: Members of Afghanistan’s former elite army commando corps say they are being contacted with offers to join the Russian military to fight in Ukraine
Many of those who are the targets of this Russian outreach are the same Afghan soldiers who fought with the U.S. to remove the Taliban government and install the short-lived Republican that seemingly beat U.S. forces to the planes in an effort to get out of Kabul.
The rapid fall of the Afghanistan government and the failure of that government to engage in an effective defense against the Taliban has led to the impression that the members of the military there simply laid down their weapons and went home, or switched sides. But that’s really not the case. Not only were many of them highly effective as partners to the U.S. while U.S. forces were in Afghanistan over the last decade-plus, but those Afghan forces also engaged in some hard-fought and effective actions on their own.
Somewhere north of 20,000 members of the Afghan National Army Commando Corps were left behind when the U.S. departed. These are the elite of the Afghan military, with U.S. training, familiarity with combined arms tactics, knowledge of U.S. systems, and long experience in fighting in harsh conditions.
Now, they are jobless and hopeless, many commandos still waiting for resettlement in the United States or Britain, making them easy targets for recruiters who understand the “band of brothers” mentality of highly skilled fighting men. This potentially makes them easy pickings for Russian recruiters, said Afghan security sources. A former senior Afghan security official, who requested anonymity, said their integration into the Russian military “would be a game-changer” on the Ukrainian battlefield, as Russian President Vladimir Putin struggles to recruit for his faltering war and is reportedly using the notorious mercenary Wagner Group to sign up prisoners.
Compared to either the prisoners being converted from new recruits to corpses in front of Bakhmut, or the “mobilized” conscripts now stumbling into bunkers all over Ukraine, these guys would be absolute Sardaukar. And the offers being waved in front of them are hard to resist for guys who are sitting in a country now ruled by their enemies, locked out of even the most menial job.
If the U.S. wants to do something now that would be highly effective in saving lives and ending the war in Ukraine, without putting any U.S. boots on the ground, try this: Accelerate resettlement of these soldiers, who originally fought alongside U.S. forces, in the United States.
Absolutely no one in the U.S. should want to see members of the Afghan army fighting members of the Ukraine army in the service of Russia.
As you might guess from the prolonged ramble through history, I’m utterly lacking in Big Breaking News of new cities liberated and Russian forces sent packing.
The overnight news from Ukraine is replete with lots of “Ukrainian forces moving closer to Beryslav” posts in Telegram, but without any of the specificity to know if this means 10km closer, or 10cm. The level of “oh, I wish I could tell you what I know, but OpSec…” posts is enough to raise the Smugometer to 11. I can only hope these guys know what they’re talking about and that we’re soon to see some of these posts […]
On the Russian side, more videos were supposed to show Ukrainian forces suffering huge setbacks, specifically in Kherson, and again it seems that those videos came from months ago and other places.
It’s safe to say that Ukraine has taken out several Russian ammunition and supply depots in the Kherson region using a combination of HIMARS, artillery, and drones. Also in Kherson, someone fired what appears to be an antitank weapon right in the middle of the city, blasting into an office of the occupation government. There continues to be a mixture of reports that Russia is either 1) abandoning positions or 2) sending in mobilized recruits to reinforce positions. Take your pick.
Up to the north, Ukraine is continuing to move toward Svatove, though many of the towns officially announced as liberated on Wednesday are actually ones that Ukraine has held for weeks, well away from the current lines. Meanwhile, Russian military bloggers seem to be afraid to post anything but the most flattering maps and posts, no matter how unrealistic. They’re probably thinking of WarGonzo’s missing toes. For a few weeks there, Russian Telegram posts had been some of the best information on what’s happening, but now it’s all back to stock repetitions of propaganda.
Two things worth noting this morning: Reports of artillery overnight and on Wednesday morning outside Rubizhne and reports that Russia has moved forces from Lysyschansk back to Severodonetsk. There were reports on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces were on the P66 highway north of Kreminna, and videos last week hinted that other Ukrainian forces had crossed the Siverskyi Donets near Bilohorivka. At least one of those videos on Tuesday ended with a Ukrainian soldier saying they were heading to Rubizhne. Maybe so. I’ll have an updated map of the area as soon as I hear anything definitive.
There have been a lot of videos of captured Russian equipment, both north and south, in the last two days that seem to be unconnected to earlier large advances. I don’t know where this stuff is coming from. [tweet and video at the link]
In the last two days, something like 90% of Russian missiles have reportedly been shot down. In part, that’s because of the German IRIS-T system gaining praise near Kyiv. But it may also have something to do with this… [tweet and image at the link] Translation: “Two NASAMS air defense batteries from the United States are already in Ukraine, – Greg Hayes, CEO of Raytheon Technologies”
I discovered recently that the Guardian liveblogs the Great British Bakeoff, so that’s fun. I can’t follow along live because the new episodes air in the UK on regular TV (with ads and all) on Tuesdays but we don’t get them in the US on Netflix until Fridays. (GBBO still isn’t very vegan-friendly – in fact, it’s performatively anti-vegan at times – which is unfortunate, but it’s manageable.)
Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana took time away from voting in favor of allowing companies to continue to price-gouge Americans for insulin, to do a campaign theater photo shoot. Sen. Young is currently in a tight race with Democratic candidate Tom McDermott. Young knows where his bread is buttered—corporate price-gouging inflation! No, silly! Joe Biden’s ability to control both the weather and world inflation! Young tweeted out an image showing himself, standing very still—even for a still photograph—play-acting at getting ready to pump some gas.
With the tweet came Young’s condemnation of President Joe Biden. “Stopped to fill up in Gary while on my Hoosier Jobs Tour. A gallon of gas was under $2 when President Biden took office. It’s now nearly $4 dollars.” It was a bit much, even for a Republican. As with most political theater, the disingenuous quality of it all hit harder than the sophomoric point Young was attempting to score points with.
Here’s a nice chart showing the “average retail price” of gas in the United States from 2020 until now, care of GasBuddy.com [chart at the link]
Here is Todd, filling up his invisible car in Gary, Indiana—according to Todd, at least. [image at the link]
And here are some of the responses. [Responses making fun of Todd are available at the link] Here are a few excerpts: Interestingly, 21 cents/gallon in 1944 is equivalent to $3.54 today, which isn’t that much different than the actual price! The more things change, the more they stay the same?
——————–
Hey @ToddYoungIN I’ll send 100.00 to the charity of your choice if you can satisfactorily tell me precisely how President Biden has affected the price of gas
——————
[chart showing that Biden apparently raised the price of gas, (according to Todd it all Biden’s fault] in the UK, Germany, Canada, and France]
—————-
[Requisite Lebowski meme] “Where’s your car, Dude?]
—————–
Huh. I wonder what was going on in 2020 that made gas so cheap? Does anyone remember? [pandemic that shut everything down]
Marjorie Taylor Greene is trending once again, and as always, it’s not for a good reason. This time, MTG is facing backlash after calling a voter “too old” to speak or have a view on abortion rights.
During a call-in show, Night Talk, on North Georgia’s UCTV on Monday night Monday, a woman caller confronted Greene. She said, “My body is my body, and I don’t want the government telling me what I can do with my body.”
In response, Greene asked, “Ma’am, are you having children any time soon?” Without pausing for an answer, she continued: “That’s my question, I’m asking a legitimate question.”
Greene continued speaking, claiming “abortion is murder” before diverting back to her initial question about the caller’s age.
Based only on the caller’s voice, Greene assumed she was “old” and would not be having children anytime soon, but also implied that, because of assumptions about her age and ability to have children, this voter’s opinion did not matter.
“I don’t think you’re having children anytime soon,” Greene said. “So I appreciate your interest in women’s rights, but killing an unborn baby is not a woman’s right, and that’s not health care.”
When the caller then referenced the case of the 10-year-old girl who was raped in Ohio and had to go out of state to get an abortion, Greene argued, “That is a very rare, rare, rare occasion, so that should not be the entire premise of the argument on abortion.”
She then repeated her speculation that the caller would not be having children soon.
“Again, ma’am, I know you say it’s your body, your choice, but I don’t think you’re having any children any time soon, and I think we need to focus on the future of America, and that’s our children… and the unborn, they’re our future also,” Greene said. “So let’s focus on protecting their lives instead of being focused on the lie that abortion is women’s health care because that’s not health care.” […]
Speaking of Republican spending, the party is reportedly pouring an additional $6 million into Pennsylvania’s Senate race, hoping to push Oz over the top.
In the debate, Fetterman said: “I had a stroke. He’s [Oz has] never let me forget that. And I might miss some words during this debate, mush two words together. It knocked me down, but I’m gonna keep coming back up.”
In the debate, Oz said: “I don’t want the federal government involved with that at all. I want women, doctors, local political leaders letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves.”
Steve Benen: “Democrats in the Keystone State want nothing more than to talk about Oz’s far-right plans on reproductive rights, and last night, he made their job easier.”
The debate format was particularly brutal for Fetterman. Auditory processing difficulties forced him to reply based on transcriptions of questions, etc. The two candidates were given only 15 seconds to respond in some cases. Part of Fetterman’s response time was taken up by waiting for the transcription to appear on screen. That’s not fair. He doesn’t have a cognitive failure. He has an auditory processing lag that is the result of the stroke. And he has had only a few months to recover.
At one point, OZ nastily noted that perhaps Fetterman had not heard him correctly.
General Staff: Ukraine repels Russian attacks near 11 settlements in Donetsk Oblast.
According to the General Staff’s recent update, Ukrainian forces also hit 3 Russian military command points, 6 spots with Russian troops and military equipment, and 2 ammunition depots.
That seems like kind of a lot for a random regular update.
“In most countries, we believe it’s a network of individuals, rather than … a physical police station where people will be dragged into,” said Laura Harth, a campaign director at Safeguard Defenders.
“It’s completely illegal under international law. It’s a severe violation of territorial sovereignty.”…
The embassy said the overseas service stations are staffed by volunteers who are “not Chinese police officers” and are “not involved in any criminal investigation or relevant activity.”…
Vegas Golden Knights forward Phil Kessel …
After matching defenceman Keith Yandle’s record for consecutive games played on Monday against Toronto, Kessel broke the mark Tuesday night when he appeared in the Knights’ game at San Jose for his 990th consecutive game played…
“This flyer was shared around LA.
I’m trying to replace my anger with a fervent plea to get out & vote. Vote for candidates that represent your values & the values you want our country to represent.”
“Burn in hell you piece of shit,” the man shouted from the gallery of the Waukesha County courtroom at Darrell Brooks as the jury’s verdict was read aloud by Judge Jennifer R. Dorow.
Dorow immediately had the man — whose identity was not clear — taken out of the courtroom…
Top Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov endorses Kadyrov’s proclamation that Russia is embroiled in a jihad against Ukraine. He calls it a holy war. Solovyov sighs, moans and angrily ponders whether Russia actually has the nukes, since everything else is in such short supply….
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link. From the emo stylings of Vladimir Solovyov:
“Oy, Lordy. That’s it, that’s it.”
“We’re fighting the entire Satanic machine of the West!”
As fall weather ramps up and hunting season continues, remember that in West Virginia, a purple stripe means “no trespassing,” so if you see one, don’t go beyond it.
In §61-3B-1 of the West Virginia State Code, boundaries that are marked with “a clearly visible purple painted marking” are included in the legal definition of “Posted land” on which trespassing is prohibited…
The only way to facilitate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is helping Kyiv to defend itself militarily, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni told parliament.
“Peace can be achieved by supporting Ukraine … it is the only chance we have for the two sides to negotiate,” Meloni told the Senate ahead of a confidence vote on her newly appointed rightist government.
Meloni has repeatedly pledged support to Kyiv, while her coalition allies Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini have been much more ambivalent on the issue due to their historic ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Reuters reported.
Meloni said that while the arms Italy supplies to Ukraine are not decisive for the outcome of the war, they are vital for Italy to maintain its international credibility.
HOUSTON — Tony Earls hung his head before a row of television cameras, staring down, his life upended. Days before, Mr. Earls had pulled out his handgun and opened fire, hoping to strike a man who had just robbed him and his wife at an A.T.M. in Houston.
Instead, he struck Arlene Alvarez, a 9-year-old girl seated in a passing pickup, killing her.
A new law allowing people to carry handguns without a license has led to more spontaneous shootings, many in law enforcement say.
“Is Mr. Earls licensed to carry?” a reporter asked during the February news conference, in which his lawyer spoke for him.
He didn’t need one, the lawyer replied. “Everything about that situation, we believe and contend, was justified under Texas law.” A grand jury later agreed, declining to indict Mr. Earls for any crime.
The shooting was part of what many sheriffs, police leaders and district attorneys in urban areas of Texas say has been an increase in people carrying weapons and in spur-of-the-moment gunfire in the year since the state began allowing most adults 21 or over to carry a handgun without a license.
Far from an outlier, Texas, with its new law, joined what has been an expanding effort to remove nearly all restrictions on carrying handguns. When Alabama’s “permitless carry” law goes into effect in January, half of the states in the nation, from Maine to Arizona, will not require a license to carry a handgun.
The state-by-state legislative push has coincided with a federal judiciary that has increasingly ruled in favor of carrying guns and against state efforts to regulate them.
But Texas is the most populous state to do away with handgun permit requirements. Five of the nation’s 15 biggest cities are in Texas, making the permitless approach to handguns a new fact of life in urban areas to an extent not seen in other states.
….In and around Houston, prosecutors have received a growing stream of cases involving guns brandished or fired over parking spots, bad driving, loud music and love triangles.
“It seems like now there’s been a tipping point where just everybody is armed,” said Sheriff Ed Gonzalez of Harris County, which includes Houston.
[…]
Big city police departments and major law enforcement groups opposed the new handgun law when it came before the State Legislature last spring, worried in part about the loss of training requirements necessary for a permit and more dangers for officers.
But gun rights proponents prevailed in the Republican-dominated Capitol, arguing that Texans should not need the state’s permission to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
[…]
Recent debates over gun laws in Texas have not been limited to handgun licensing. After the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, gun control advocates have pushed to raise the age to purchase an AR-15-style rifle. And after the Supreme Court struck down New York’s restrictive licensing program, a federal court in Texas found that a state law barring adults under 21 from carrying a handgun was unconstitutional. Gov. Greg Abbott has suggested he agreed, even as the Texas Department of Public Safety, which oversees the state police, is appealing.
[…]
“Now that everybody can carry a weapon, we have people who drink and start shooting each other,” said Sheriff Tom Schmerber of Maverick County, which includes Eagle Pass. “People get emotional,” he said, “and instead of reaching for a fist, they reach for a weapon. We’ve had several shootings like that.”
[…]
Rachel Malone, of Gun Owners of America, outlined some of her group’s priorities for the next legislative session.
“I think it would be appropriate to move the age for permitless carry to 18,” she told the committee. “There’s really no reason why a legal adult should not be able to defend themselves.”
ravensays
The spot price for natural gas in Europe is now below zero.
The Russian economic war on the EU isn’t working very well.
The Russians forgot that the EU lived without them for a century and they can live without Russia again for another century.
Russia has nothing to offer the world but natural resources, problems, and death.
The mass media keeps saying that next year will be harder for various reasons.
They were wrong about this year so why should we believe them.
Europe now has a whole year to figure out what to do next.
Europe now has so much natural gas that prices just dipped below zero
By Anna Cooban, CNN Business
Published 10:03 AM EDT, Wed October 26, 2022
Europe has more natural gas than it knows what to do with. So much, in fact, that spot prices briefly went negative earlier this week.
For months, officials have warned of an energy crisis this winter as Russia — once the region’s biggest supplier of natural gas — slashed supplies in retaliation for sanctions Europe imposed over its invasion of Ukraine.
Now, EU gas storage facilities are close to full, tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) are lining up at ports, unable to unload their cargoes, and prices are tumbling.
The price of benchmark European natural gas futures has dropped 20% since last Thursday, and by more than 70% since hitting a record high in late August. On Monday, Dutch gas spot prices for delivery within an hour — which reflect real time European market conditions — dipped below €0, according to data from the Intercontinental Exchange.
Prices turned negative because of an “oversupplied grid,” Tomas Marzec-Manser, head of gas analytics at the Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS), told CNN Business.
It is a hugely surprising turn of events for Europe, where households and businesses have been clobbered by eye-watering rises in the price of one of its most important energy sources over the past year.
Warm weather to the rescue
Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president of gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie, says unseasonably mild weather is largely responsible for the dramatic change in fortune.
“In countries like Italy, Spain, France, we’re seeing temperatures and [gas] consumption closer to August and early September [levels],” he told CNN Business. “Even in countries in the Nordics, the UK and Germany, consumption is way below the average for this time of the year,” he added.
The European Union has also built substantial buffers against any further supply cuts by filling gas storage facilities close to capacity. Stores are now almost 94% full, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe. That’s well above the 80% target the bloc set countries to reach by November.
“That’s an extremely high level,” Di Odoardo said, noting that the maximum storage level averaged 87% of capacity over the past five years.
Europe’s efforts to secure as much fuel ahead of winter as possible has caused a backlog of LNG tankers at European ports, made worse by a shortage of LNG import terminals.
The bloc has ramped up imports of LNG from the United States and Qatar as natural gas imports from Russia plummeted.
Felix Booth, head of LNG at data firm Vortexa, told CNN Business that as many as 35 vessels are either floating near, or sailing very slowly towards, ports in northwestern Europe and the Iberian peninsula because of a lack of storage options.
Those ships will “likely take another month to find home for the cargoes,” he said.
Together, they’re carrying about $2 billion worth of LNG, according to Kpler, citing energy market data provider Argus Media.
Higher prices next year
Despite the recent slump, at around €100 ($100) per megawatt hour European natural gas futures are still 126% above where they were last October, when economies started to reopen from their pandemic lockdowns and demand spiked.
Prices could rise sharply again in December and January as the weather turns colder, providing an incentive for some of those tankers to wait offshore a while longer before coming into port to unload, said Booth.
And despite the fact that Russia’s share of Europe’s total gas imports has fallen from 40% to just 9%, the region could be in a difficult spot next summer as it tries to replenish its stores ahead of the following winter.
Prices are expected to hit €150 ($150) per megawatt hour by the end of 2023, said Bill Weatherburn, a commodities economist at Capital Economics.
“Filling storage ahead of next winter will require the EU to import even more LNG because there is a need to replace lost Russian gas imports for an entire year,” he told CNN Business.
Iranian security forces have clashed with people taking part in a memorial for Mahsa Amini, according to a semi-official news agency, as thousands gathered in her hometown of Saqqez to mark 40 days since her death.
“A limited number of those present at Mahsa Amini’s memorial clashed with police forces on the outskirts of Saqqez and were dispersed,” ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday. “Following the scattered clashes, internet in Saqqez was cut off due to security considerations.”
Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died in the capital, Tehran, on September 16 after being detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly wearing improper hijab. Her family have challenged a state investigation that blamed pre-existing conditions for her death which, it said, was not the result of Amini being hit.
The weeks-long protests first broke out in Saqqez, in the northwestern Kurdistan province. They have since spread quickly across the country, persisting amid severe internet restrictions that remain in place.
The 40th day since someone’s funeral, known as “chehelom”, holds cultural significance in Iran and religious importance for Shia Muslims.
On Wednesday, videos circulating on social media showed large crowds marching and driving towards the Aychi cemetery in Saqqez, where Amini was laid to rest.
Those gathered included people converging from other cities and appeared to number in the thousands. Many chanted “woman, life, freedom” and “freedom, freedom”, slogans that have been widely used in the demonstrations across Iran, as well as in solidarity protests that have been organised outside the country.
Speaking from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said an estimated 10,000 people were reportedly in attendance at the cemetery to pay their respects to Amini.
“Following the services that took place, when people were dispersing that’s when the disputes erupted between the people there and the security forces – as a result of which, we heard that the government there has decided to cut off the internet due to security considerations,” added Jabbari.
“That means that nearly 1.5 million people in Kurdistan province will not have access to the internet for the foreseeable future.”
Earlier on Wednesday, all schools and universities across the province had been ordered closed, with officials citing an “increase in the spread of influenza” as the reason.
There were reports that popular figures like legendary footballer Ali Daei had travelled to Saqqez for the memorial, and that authorities had closed off roads into the city, leading people to cross rivers and walk long distances to get to the cemetery, all of which were rejected by state-affiliated media.
Esmail Zarei Kousha, the governor of Kurdistan, said on Wednesday foreign-based media were trying to use Amini’s chehelom as an excuse to sow unrest.
Iran’s foreign ministry this week imposed sanctions on several Europe-based Persian-language channels for “inciting terrorism” in relation to their coverage of the protests.
In the capital, Tehran, videos circulating on social media on Wednesday appeared to show demonstrations in several neighbourhoods and universities, as well as closed shops.
Protests continue regularly in universities, with videos showing students chanting anti-establishment slogans. Government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi visited several universities this week and held “dialogue” sessions but faced interruptions by chanting students.
In the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran and other universities in the capital and other cities, male and female students broke into dining halls together, defying decades-long, gender-separating restrictions. Authorities in several universities then closed down the eating spots altogether, leading students to eat lunch outdoors seated next to each other on the ground….
42-year-old Jacob Runyan and 35-year-old Chase Cominsky were indicted after allegedly placing weights and fish fillets inside their tournament-winning catch.
Re: SC (Salty Current) @ #195…
I’ve seen analyses that Ukraine forces are in sort of a holding pattern until the get a hard freeze. At that point, wheeled military vehicles can be used off road. While things are still very muddy, they would be in the same situation that Russian forces were at the beginning of the war: confined to roads where they’re (relatively) easy to pick off or stall into traffic jams.
Mark Sumner continues to update the post @ Lynna’s #200 above.
…Telegram channels related to LPR forces—the supposedly independent Russian occupied area of Luhansk—are reporting fighting near both Svatove and Kreminna with “sad results” for the Russian side.
There are reports this morning that Ukraine is moving closer to Svatove. On Tuesday, fighting was happening between Kovalivka and Nezhuryne. Now that fighting appears to be east of Nezhuryne, approaching the P66 highway. That puts the combat within about 4km of Svatove. It also means that Ukrainian forces have reached a position where they can fire down into the city.
Additional fighting is reportedly happening to the north, about 11km away near Kuzemivka.
More reports of a battle going on at the P66 highway north of Kreminna near the village of Chervonopopivka. This could be the source of the artillery noise being heard down at Rubiznhe, which is less than 20km away….
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 226
Gasp! You mean that ridiculous religious dogma doesn’t repress human sexual desire!? The Devil you say?
SC @224, that was funny and well done. On the money.
In other news, but somewhat related:
Another woman has come forward alleging that Herschel Walker pressured her to have an abortion after she became pregnant during a longterm extramarital affair with the former football star. This alleged incident occurred in Texas in the 1990s. The woman, who did not show her face during a virtual press conference today, appeared with her lawyer Glorida Allred.
Now a South Carolina judge is siding with Georgia investigators who want answers from Meadows about the calls Meadows and Trump made to Georgia officials asking them to “find” new votes for Trump that would erase Joe Biden’s win of the state. Mark Meadows must appear for testimony in response to a Georgia subpoena, ruled South Carolina Judge Edward Miller. Meadows’ testimony “is material and necessary to the investigation.”
If this all sounds familiar, it’s because Meadows has been trying to dodge his Georgia subpoena just as the Trump-toadying South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has been trying to dodge his own. Graham and Meadows have both portrayed testifying about their involvement in a possible criminal act as far too burdensome for someone of their stature—with Graham capping his own attempts to dodge investigation with a new, novel legal theory insisting that members of Congress are allowed to commit criminal acts due to the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. Graham’s lawyers have essentially argued that even if Graham called up Georgia elections to issue a bomb threat, it doesn’t matter because of his protected rights to Speech and/or Debate. [LOL]
This has widely been regarded by legal scholars as, to use the technical jargon, Completely Fking Wrong, but the Supreme Court justice whose spouse was an active member of the plot to overthrow the U.S. government has put a last-ditch stop to Graham’s testimony so that the full Supreme Court can evaluate this “Senators can break the law whenever they want” theory.
Another top Trump confidant who fought bitterly to avoid testifying in the Georgia investigation, Rudy Giuliani, tried to duck out of answering questions by arguing that despite his recent trips to Europe, his health was simply far too precarious for him to manage to make it to Atlanta. It didn’t work, and Rudy was obliged to show up. Rudy is a target of the Georgia investigation, however, so it’s likely he used his Fifth Amendment rights to avoid providing the answers Georgia officials most wanted to hear.
Mark Meadows’ arguments for not testifying have been pretty tame in comparison to Graham’s “I am above the law” and Rudy’s “I am but a frail man who cannot possibly survive a journey on one of your modern aeroplanes.” The Meadows version is basically “because I don’t want to.”
His insistence might have something to do with the extent of Meadows’ efforts to help Trump dispute the election results, including an “unexpected” appearance in Georgia in December 2020, when he showed up to ask that he be allowed to watch a vote-auditing process being conducted to verify absentee ballot signatures.
Meadows wasn’t an idle bystander here, either in Republican Party attempts to “find” new votes for Trump, or in Trump’s organization of a violent mob bent on blocking the certification of his election loss by force. Meadows was on the ground, coming up with the rationales Trump could use to further his hoaxes.
Meadows “plans to appeal the ruling,” reports CNN. But again, there’s nothing of substance to really argue here. He’s not going to get a ruling in his favor unless he manages to get up to his fellow crooks on the Supreme Court, and almost certainly not even then. Like Lindsey Graham and the others, he’s just attempting to stonewall for as long as he possibly can.
blfsays
raven@220, writing about natural gas, asserts “The Russians forgot that the EU lived without them for a century […].”
Eh?
The EU is generally considered to have started with the WU (Western Union) formed in 1948, which is less than one century ago. That is, the EU, even counting its earliest forms, is less than one century (100 years) old, and so that unsourced and unevidenced claim is apriori impossible. (The EU as such only dates back to 1993 and the Maastricht Treaty, about 30 years ago.)
I presume “EU” is a code for some part of “Europe” — a rather common confusion / conflation — but that doesn’t help the deciphering.
The first gas pipeline from Russia to Europe was the “Druzhba pipeline [from the USSR] to supply allies in the Eastern Bloc was put into operation in 1964” during the so-called Cold War. So presumably this “century [without Russian gas]” ended in approximately that timeframe.
The first natural gas well (world-wide) dates back to the 1820s, but prior to the early 20th Century, wasn’t used much. So, waving hands somewhat, Europe has only been using natural gas for about a century, the last 100-and-a-bit years; half of that time the gas used wasn’t from historical (Tsarist) Russia or its successor, the USSR.
All that makes me think what is meant is something like: “Until the 1960s, Europe did not import gas from the USSR or its predecessors, so for the first century or so of gas use, Europe did not use Russian gas.”
And PLEASE, It would help if links to the sources were provided, especially — but not exclusively — to the sources which are quoted.
ravensays
Probably more than you wanted to know about Kanye West’s latest troubles.
Adidas dissolved their partnership which was apparently a licensing arrangement with his shoe and apparel company.
“… the Yeezy brand has little remaining income and a bleak future outlook.”
It is literally costing him billions of USD to mouth off about Jews and whatnot. Hardly worth the (negative) attention.
He is still worth $400 million though.
Fortune Kanye West is keeping quiet after reportedly losing his coveted billionaire status. Here’s the money he’s lost
Sophie Mellor
Wed, October 26, 2022 at 5:17 AM·4 min read
Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, is staying markedly silent after self-destructing his partnership with German sportswear giant Adidas—a move that reportedly left a $1.5 billion dent in his net worth.
Ye’s net worth without Adidas is now around $400 million, according to new reports from Forbes, as the market valuation of Yeezy, Ye’s sneaker and apparel business, has plummeted after losing its partnerships with Gap and Adidas.
Ye first made an appearance on Forbes’ Billionaire List in April 2020 and has prided himself on his self-made billionaire status, most of which hinged on Yeezy’s successful partnership with Adidas.
But following the end of their collaboration after a viral video of Ye circulated on social media taunting Adidas by saying “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what? Now what?” his billionaire status evaporated in a matter of minutes.
The Yeezy business alone, of which Ye is the sole proprietor, was once valued at between $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion by UBS Group in 2021, according to Bloomberg. Bank of America estimated in 2019 that Yeezy’s future royalties from his collaboration with Adidas would range from $1.75 billion to $3 billion.
Since Adidas terminated its partnership with Yeezy on Oct. 25 following repeated anti-Semitic remarks from Ye, the Yeezy brand has little remaining income and a bleak future outlook. While Yeezy could try to partner with other fashion houses and resume collecting royalties, there may not be many clients willing to work with the toxic Ye brand.
Wonkette: “Genius Trump Lawyer Says Trump Can’t Wait To Testify To January 6 Committee During Infrastructure Week”
Alina Habba, Trumpland’s nuttiest lawyer this side of Rudy Giuliani, is wilding out. Again.
Last night she did her daily Newsmax hit to explain that actually the former president is delighted to be subpoenaed by the House January 6 Select Committee. He’s got nothing to hide, so why wouldn’t he answer questions, she insisted. [video at the link]
Asked whether Trump would defy the subpoena issued by the House January 6 Select Committee, Habba said she “would recommend that he cooperate, because when you have nothing to hide, that’s what I always recommend.”
“He has no issue being deposed, even though the leftwing media would like to pretend that he does,” she went on. “He has no issue being subpoenaed and answering questions about what happened that day, and he shouldn’t.”
Why, yes, that is the same Alina Habba who spent years fighting in court to block the New York Attorney General from deposing Trump and his family as part of her investigation into the Trump Organization. Habba even filed a preposterous federal complaint demanding that a US district judge make that mean lady Tish James stop bullying her client. In fact, Habba managed to get her client held in contempt of court for refusing to respond adequately to a subpoena for documents. And when he was finally forced to sit down for a deposition, he threw a tantrum and then pled the Fifth in response to every question.
Three guesses which lawyer represented Trump at that deposition!
Not content to lie about her own client, Habba went on to accuse House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of staging an assault on Congress as some kind of … ploy for attention? [video at the link]
First Habba repeated the rightwing talking point that Trump had warned that there needed to be more military at the Capitol to deal with the huge crowd he’d summoned to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral win.
“He was concerned himself. He said ‘Let’s get extra military, we will give you people to come in and make sure that the Capitol is safe,'” she said, accusing Pelosi of refusing Trump’s generous offer.
“Well, now we see why,” she went on. “It was orchestrated, because she said this is her moment, this is her moment. No, it’s not your moment.”
This bullshit is coming back up after CNN released footage of Speaker Pelosi when the Capitol was under siege calling the governors of Virginia and Maryland, as well as the secretary of Defense, and begging them to get troops down to restore order.
“I worry about you being in that Capitol room. Don’t let anybody know where you are,” Pelosi told Mike Pence, who was then huddled in a loading dock underneath the Capitol with his security detail and staff praying that the crowd braying for his head wouldn’t discover their location and kill them.
Habba’s version of events, trying to cast Pelosi as somehow to blame for the mob Trump assembled and unleashed on Congress, is a persistent rightwing lie which has been roundly debunked. In point of fact, Trump offhandedly suggested on January 5 that there would need to be troops for crowd control at the Ellipse, but never signed an order to make it happen. And he sat on his hands for hours as his supporters ransacked the Capitol, refusing to call off the mob or issue an order to activate the National Guard. Order was only restored when Mike Pence stepped in and authorized the Defense and Justice Departments to deploy troops — troops which were at no point under Nancy Pelosi’s control.
But Alina Habba’s got big plans, and she’s not going to let a little thing like objective reality get in the way of achieving her dreams. [Tweet nd image at the link]
Yes, that’s right, Habba is now a senior advisor for MAGA Inc., a new Trump super PAC with its eyes on the midterms. Obviously. Isn’t that what you were thinking when you saw that picture? AHEM.
Police revealed that the gunman in Monday’s shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School had made a “forced entry” into the school.
Months before a 19-year-old shooter opened fire Monday inside a St. Louis high school, his family told police he had a gun and had it removed from the home, officials said Wednesday.
The family was aware the gunman had mental health struggles and did “everything that they possibly could have done” to help him —including getting him therapy, medication and committing him on several occasions — but, “sometimes that’s not enough,” interim St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Michael Sack said during a news conference.
The chief did not disclose how the shooter acquired an AR-15-style rifle after police removed a weapon months before the shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School. He also declined to discuss how the gunman entered the building despite locked doors, security guards and metal detectors at the school.
“I understand that that’s something everybody would like to know, but the reality is every building — a school, a business, a police headquarters — has weaknesses,” Sack said, adding that sharing the specifics of how the shooter entered the school could adversely impact the school district.
When asked if the gunman had to break glass to enter the building, the chief said he “did have to force entry.”
The shooter’s family was “aware” that he had obtained the gun, though it’s not clear when he got the weapon, Sack said. An investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is underway to track the source of that gun sale.
“[The family] worked with our department to transfer that to an adult who could legally possess one,” the chief said.
He said he believes the firearm the family contacted police about may have been the same AR-15-style rifle he used in the school shooting.
“[The family] contacted us and said he had a firearm, I believe it could have possibly been this gun. The officers, in their response, handed it over to somebody else, an adult who was lawfully able to possess it,” Sack said.
It’s not clear who the gun was transferred to or their relationship with the family.
“The mother wanted it out of the house, so they facilitated it, the party had it. How he acquired it after that, we don’t know. We’re looking into it,” he said.
Sack said the interaction with the gunman’s family and police likely took place within the past few months, though he didn’t know the specific date.
The shooter’s family has been cooperative with police, Sack said.
“The mother, the adult daughter, they worked with him. They kind of had a system where they would track what might come in the mail, his interaction with others and try to make sure that he’s engaging people, that he feels loved,” he said.
The shooter, who left behind a note describing himself as a loner and referred to mass shootings, died after exchanging gunfire with law enforcement.
Jean Kuczka, 61, a health teacher, and Alexzandria Bell, 15, a student, were killed in the shooting, officials said.
“Mental health is a difficult thing. It’s hard to tell when someone is violent and going to act out,” Sack said.
“I’ve got to give credit to the family, they made every effort that they felt they reasonably could,” he continued. “That’s why the mother is so heartbroken over the families that paid for his episode.”
“Normal people understand it’s wrong to go after a man’s family,” Wemple quoted Carlson as having stated. “But you don’t because you’re a soulless ghoul who literally works for Jeff Bezos. Go f— yourself.”
Shakhtars’k is about 50 kilometres from the current battlefront. It’s a Ukrainian town that has been controlled by the Russian fascist invaders since 2014.”
Busan ― Kang Dong-wan, 48, a professor of political science at Dong-A University based in the southern port city of Busan, carefully takes out product packaging each kept in plastic bags, just like an enthusiastic archeologist handles newly excavated artifacts.
Bags of different sizes and miscellaneous marine debris that he collected from different seaside areas, as well as the border area between China and North Korea, such as paintings and pottery, are placed on the floor one after another.
With the various items on the floor, his office looks like a treasure trove of North Korean objects at an excavation site rather than a private space for an academic…
“Tonight, Narmak neighborhood, Tehran. Protesters chant, ‘We fight, we die, we take Iran’. People seem to have more hope that they will finally succeed than the regime, losing a faction of its base daily.”
StevoRsays
Shit. Our legal system is so broken :
The jury in the rape trial of Bruce Lehrmann has been discharged without a verdict after a juror admitted to accessing information that was not presented as evidence in court.
.. (snip) ..The trial ran for 12 days and saw 29 witnesses take the stand, including Liberal senators Linda Reynolds and Michaelia Cash.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said today that she had learned at least one juror had obtained relevant material that was not included in the trial. She summoned the 12 jurors to the ACT Supreme Court this morning to question one of them about a research paper that a security officer had found.
Chief Justice McCallum said she had no other option than to discharge the remaining jurors…(snip) .. The court heard the paper related to the “unhelpfulness of trying to quantify” how often false rape accusations were made.
Pell case all over again among so many others. We need immediate changes and reviews to deliver anything close to actual justice and when victms cannot get justice in the court system how are they meant to get it and what are they meant to do?
Ukraine downs 19 kamikaze drones in Odesa, Mykolaiv, Vinnytsia oblasts.
The Air Force reported that within two hours on Oct. 26, air defense forces shot down 17 Iranian-made kamikaze drones, while two more Shahed-136 drones were downed by other units of the defense forces.
… “They are victims,” a British journalist friend covering the Russian exodus, argued at a recent dinner party in Tbilisi. “They are, but they are also the perpetrators,” said the host.
The confusion stems partially from the nature of Russian colonialism. Over the centuries, while European powers conquered overseas territories, Russia ran a land empire that absorbed its neighbors. While Europeans instilled the notion that their subjects were “different” from them, Russians conquered using another device: “sameness.”
“Russians chose ‘sameness’ as an instrument of domination. The message of Western colonialism was: ‘you are not able to be like us,’ while the message of Russian colonialism was ‘you are not allowed to be different from us,’” explained Ukrainian philosopher Volodymyr Yermolenko at the recent Tbilisi Storytelling Festival (ZEG) co-hosted by Coda Story, the newsroom that I run.
The idea of “sameness as an instrument of domination” also explains why most well-meaning Russians I meet seem weirdly unaware of their country being perceived as a colonial master.
…
One reason why the debate about colonialism is missing from the Russian liberal discourse is because Russia is missing from the debate about colonialism in the West. Yermolenko, the Ukrainian philosopher, believes it is because when it comes to colonialism, the Western intellectual elite went from one extreme in the 19th century to another in the 21st.
“They went from saying ‘we are the best and no one can compare to us’ to saying ‘we were the worst and no one can compare to us,’” Yermolenko said during a panel discussion at ZEG.
At the heart of this inability to understand, accept and analyze other forms of colonialism, lies “paradoxically, the West’s own colonial mentality” argued Georgian historian Lasha Bakradze. “This is where skeletons of Western colonialism are really buried,” he said.
For two decades, these self-imposed limits of Western debate about colonialism have given the Kremlin an enormous propaganda advantage, enabling Putin to position Russia falsely as an anti-colonial power, and himself as the champion of all the victims of European colonialism.
The war in Ukraine may have seriously undermined the Kremlin’s narratives, but it didn’t shatter them. This is why, across Latin America, Asia and Africa, in places where the Soviet Union was linked to liberation movements from European colonialism, Russia continues to work hard at its image as an anti-colonial power, reaping benefits in the form of UN votes and trade agreements.
At the same time, as kamikaze drones kill civilians in Kyiv, many Western intellectuals provide fodder to the Russian state propaganda machine as they continue to argue about the rights and wrongs of the NATO enlargement and not the fact that a sovereign country has the right to break away from its colonial masters.
“At last my poor country will be blessed with freedom,” Maro Makashvili wrote just before Russians began to pour into the country, fleeing the Bolshevik revolution, in 1918. For the following years, she documented the birth of one of the most liberal, most progressive democracies in Europe, a place where women could vote and minorities were granted rights.
But few knew about Georgia’s ambitious democracy, or how tragically it ended.
Maro was killed, along with thousands of others, when the Red Army invaded in 1921 occupying Georgia for the following 70 years. In Georgia today, she is a national hero. But unless her story becomes part of the global anti-colonial narrative, Putin or whomever succeeds him in the Kremlin, will continue to win.
More at the link. Great piece.
KGsays
The 40th day since someone’s funeral, known as “chehelom”, holds cultural significance in Iran and religious importance for Shia Muslims. – SC@221 quoting al Jazeera
Duirng the last period of the Shah’s regime, I read that there was a 40-day rhythm to the unrest: the Shah’s forces would kill demonstrators, and 40 days afterwards crowds would be out to mark their “chehelom”, and the Shah’s forces would kill again.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Moscow’s announcement earlier this week that its city mayor would coordinate the “development of security measures” in Russia’s regions will likely lead to greater involvement of regional officials and a closer interlinking of regional governors into Russia’s national security system, according to the latest British intelligence report.
It is a further measure to organise society and the greater involvement of regional officials is likely designed to deflect public criticism away from the national leadership as Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to be under pressure, the UK Ministry of Defence report reads.
However, it will “likely make it more difficult for the Kremlin to insulate Russian society from the effects of the ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine,” according to the ministry.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed Ukrainian forces have downed almost 250 Russian helicopters throughout the course of the war.
Zelenskiy made the claim in his latest national address on Wednesday night:
The total number of downed Russian helicopters is already approaching 250.
The Russian occupiers have already lost as much equipment – aircraft and other – as most of the world’s armies simply do not have and will never have in service.
Russia will not be able to recover these losses. I thank all our fighters for such a gradual and irreversible demilitarisation of the enemy.” [heh]
Estonia has called on the UK’s new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to commit to raising defence spending amid the war in Ukraine.
Sunak has not matched a pledge by his predecessor Liz Truss to boost defence spending from 2% to 3% of GDP by 2030, having previously described such targets as “arbitrary”. Asked in a BBC interview if Nato countries should aim to spend 3% of GDP on defence, the Estonian foreign minister Urmas Reinsalu said: “Absolutely.”
He also said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “gamechanger”, adding:
Autocrats are investing in weapons. They believe in (the) power of arms. To defend our values – the rules-based order – we need also to invest in the weapons.
A new timetable of scheduled blackouts will be introduced in Kyiv and Kyiv region over the coming days, after Iranian drones caused more damage to energy infrastructure in Kyiv region last night, Kyiv city’s administration said.
The new timetable of blackouts is designed to prevent uncontrolled blackouts and will be stricter and longer than those recently announced by Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s state energy company.
Residents in Kyiv apartment buildings have started leaving small packages of snacks [and other items] in lifts to be used in case people get stuck during a blackout.
Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine’s occupied region of Zaporizhzhia ordered phone checks on local residents on Thursday, announcing the implementation of military censorship under Russian president Vladimir Putin’s martial law decree.
“From today in the Zaporizhzhia region, law enforcement officers have begun a selective preventing check of the mobile phones of citizens,” Moscow-appointed official Vladimir Rogov said.
He said those subscribed to “propaganda resources of the terrorist Kyiv regime” will receive a warning, before being fined.
He also warned that there will be “criminal liability” for “malicious violations of a law on the activities of foreign agent”.
While Rogov has said the new regulations were tied to military censorship, Russian occupation forces have also been targeting the phones of residents in areas under their control to search for those it believes may be linked to Ukrainian partisans and special forces operating in the country’s south.
Earlier this year reports emerged on social media and elsewhere of Russian forces checking phones and online content to try and identify partisans or those sympathetic to partisans with some residents suggesting they were looking both evidence of sympathies on phones and also those with phones that were suspiciously clean.
It has been a week of firsts in British politics. The country has rightly celebrated the fact that it has its first Asian-heritage and Hindu prime minister. A rather less noted milestone, however, is that Britain also has its first investment banker PM.
Rishi Sunak’s first job was at the US investment bank Goldman Sachs. He went on to spend 14 years in the sector before becoming an MP. In many ways, his unelected appointment marks the highpoint of big finance’s takeover of Britain’s political and economic system – a quiet infiltration of Westminster and Whitehall has been taking place over several decades and gone largely unremarked.
…
…Since the 1980s, Britain’s industrial decline and its financial expansion have been as pronounced as in any leading economy. Productivity and levels of R&D spending compare very poorly, too, because investors demand quick returns and rising share prices over long-term investment. Regional and class inequalities have grown ever-larger.
And an overpowered financial sector has certainly not been conducive to good governance, either. There’s nothing democratic about extensive public service cuts being used to pay for saving the private banking sector, as in the aftermath of the 2008 crash, or the bond markets determining the credibility of governments, or the fact that the bankers and hedge funds are the biggest single source of Conservative party donations. Nor is trust in British democracy likely to be enhanced by a super-rich PM who has allegedly avoided taxes and made a fortune as a financier at the nation’s cost.
During Liz Truss’s short premiership, there was much talk about the power and influence of the Tufton Street network of opaque rightwing thinktanks. But actually, the longer-term driving force of UK economic policy, there in front of us all this time, has been the City of London. It’s time to open our eyes and look more closely.
A Thai celebrity media tycoon – who is a transgender woman – has bought the company that runs the Miss Universe beauty pageants for $20m (£17.1m).
Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip is the boss of JKN Global Group, which makes television shows in Thailand.
She has starred in the Thai versions of popular reality shows Project Runway and Shark Tank.
Her purchase of the company, which was once co-owned by Donald Trump, comes as the pageant becomes more inclusive…
ravensays
This is a thread about what is happening to the Russian mobilized men in Ukraine.
The source is a Russian video translated by ChrisO
They are treated pretty badly and often end up dead.
No training, no food, underequipped, incompetent officers.
A lot of people have noted the passivity of Russians. After a few centuries of being ruled by dictators, and frequently slaughtered for no good reasons, they have learned that there isn’t much they can do.
They don’t seem to live life, but merely try to survive it.
They Russian conscript cannon fodder occasionally get it together enough to shoot their officers for stealing from them and mistreating them. It’s not common but it has happened.
6h • 6 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Mobilised men of the Russian 55th Motorized Rifle Brigade deployed near Lyman in Ukraine have little water, no food, fake training, only small arms, a tank with no fuel and are taking heavy casualties. Their relatives complain that they are being treated like pigs.
2/ The men’s relatives, from Serov in Sverdlovsk region, have recorded a video appeal about their plight. They say that the men have no food and are being given only 1.5 litres of water to last two days, for two people.
3/ One of the soldiers tells his partner in a recorded phone conversation that they took a beating three times from the Ukrainians but he hadn’t even fired a single shot. Some men were blown up by a mine. They were given only fake training for TV cameras.
4/ The men have a tank they can’t drive because it has no fuel, and the relatives say that officers took away the men’s personal equipment and confiscate humanitarian aid sent by the relatives.
5/ The men are being given raw potatoes to eat, which they’re not allowed to cook because making fires is forbidden. The dead are not being collected but are being buried by the men themselves, but being listed as ‘missing’ by the army. /end
Efforts to prevent a young Sudanese woman being stoned to death, after she was convicted of adultery, are being hindered by the absence of government ministers in the country.
Sudan has been run by a military junta since a coup one year ago.
Campaigners say the 20-year-old didn’t get a fair trial and should be freed.
A government official agreed that the trial was “a joke” but added: “We don’t have a minister who can intervene to demand her release.”
…
It may be the oldest story in warfare. It’s certainly among the oldest that anyone ever bothered to record in songs, poems, or prose. Someone holds control over a city. Someone else wants it. Now what?
For a few days last week, hope was so thick you could practically walk on it. When word came of evacuations in Kherson, it really did look as if Russia meant to not just move out its officials and quislings, but its military. There were videos of ferries shuttling military units to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, both at Kherson and Nova Kakhovka. There were official statements from the Ukrainian ministry of defense citing abandoned Russian positions near the front line. There were statements from Russian military bloggers, including the Telegram channel associated with the Wagner mercenary group, whining about how Russia was leaving Kherson without a fight.
It really did seem as if the only question was whether Ukraine should just wait until the last Russian climbed onto a boat, or whether they should swoop in early to capture a bounty of equipment lined up at the docks. That didn’t happen.
Instead, the conventional wisdom has flipped 180 degrees in less than a week. Rather than waving bye to Russians retreating across the Dnipro, everyone—from Ukrainian officials to television analysts—are now expecting Ukraine and Russia to face off for The Mother of All Battles III: Kherson Showdown. The number of articles in the last few days saying that Ukraine will face a “tough fight” in Kherson likely exceeds Russian casualties in the war. This Newsweek article is typical, with the inclusion of this stomach-dropping quote:
“The Russians are going to leave behind nothing but dust,” one former resident predicted. “The only question I have is whether it will be worse than Mariupol, or only as bad as Mariupol.”
The article points out that Russia is fortifying the city, filling it with “fresh-faced” recently mobilized troops, and backing it with ranks of artillery located over on the eastern bank, where they don’t face the supply issues that are currently making guns go near-silent along the Kherson front lines. Once Ukraine begins fighting in Kherson, the theory goes, Russia will artillery the city to rubble — Russian troops and all—giving Ukraine an, at best, pyrrhic victory; turning all those incompetent, untrained Russian soldiers into ‘great martyrs’; and leaving behind a ruin that’s more of a burden than a prize.
But Ukraine doesn’t have to follow Russia’s plan. There are other ways to take a city, and when it comes to legendary victories, it’s those other ways, not hammering through defenses, that have earned a place in history.
One of those is simply an extension of what Ukraine has already been doing: siege warfare. Battles conducted by siege are so old that they’re a major theme in the epic of Gilgamesh. And even then, they were clearly something that had been around so long they had already grown both conventions and countermeasures. For Ukraine, sieging the city of Kherson means doing more of what they’ve already done: Restrict Russia’s ability to supply its forces on the west side of the Dnipro, engage at a level that tests those locations and keeps Russia expending ammunition, and take territory when it’s clear that Russia has either fallen back or can no longer defend a location. As for the artillery that Russia has reportedly put in place across the river, emplaced artillery is practically the definition of dead artillery on a modern battlefield, even without HIMARS. If Ukraine doesn’t have a good idea of how to deal with massed artillery at this point, this whole war effort is in trouble.
It’s not a strategy that makes people who want to daily update their maps with newly liberated villages (ahem) all that excited, but it’s a strategy that minimizes both Ukrainian losses and damage to civilian infrastructure. No one says Ukraine has to capture Kherson this week, or this month. Just keep up the squeeze and let it come when it comes.
And, of course, there’s the other way to take a city; the way we really remember. What way is that? It’s a wooden horse filled with silent soldiers. It’s forces discovering that a flood—or a drought—has opened the way to an area that defenders haven’t bothered to protect. It’s those bastards who sneak into one end of the city while everyone is celebrating at the other end. It’s doing something clever and new that doesn’t fit the script for how everyone knows this is going to go down.
Ukraine is going to liberate Kherson. Liberating Kherson that still looks like Kherson, and doing it without losing unnecessary numbers of Ukrainian troops is the challenge.
But hey … how nice is it that all anyone is talking about is just the details of how Russia is going to lose?>/b>
When it comes to what’s going on in the northeast right now, there are reports of battles all up and down the line from near Kupyansk to just north of Kreminna. [map at the link]
Going from south to north, the first of these fights (it’s unclear if it’s a skirmish or a battle) is taking place north of Kreminna, with Ukrainian forces pushing toward the P66 highway in the area of Zhytlivka. Many analysts are now predicting that the capture of this area, the isolation of Kreminna, and the restriction of Russian troop movements along the highway are critical for taking Svatove and points east. Russia seems to understand this as well. That’s why both sides have reportedly been pushing more troops into this area, and why Russia has tried to push west to disrupt Ukrainian plans.
Now that Ukraine seems to hold all the towns along that smaller road to the west, it’s been moving to find the right point to hit Russian locations to the east. Zhytlivka may be that place. However, there’s an issue beyond just Russian forces in the area, and it’s one that you’ll hear again today: Mud. It’s been raining, and there are no good, well-paved highways shooting over to the east at this location. There’s a nice valley through the hills, which would work great in dry weather, but it’s not dry weather, and it won’t be for a while. So things are moving at the speed of slog. Some Ukrainian vehicles reportedly got mired trying to make this trek on Wednesday and had to be dragged back.
As might be expected, fights are going on right there in the Svatove area. In the last few days, fighting has reportedly moved east of the village of Nezhuryne, which puts Ukrainian forces very close to the highway intersection overlooking Svatove. However, the area is reportedly backed by three rings of Russian forces. It seems amazing that Ukrainian forces should get this close just plunging in from the west, rather than attempting to encircle Svatove. If they can press just one or two kilometers from the current position, they might not need anything else to break up the Russian hub.
Ukrainian forces have also reportedly been engaged in fighting further north. After largely ignoring the area northeast of the highway from Kupyansk, that’s changed in the last couple of days. But at both the reported locations, Ukraine is again facing the issue of trying to make progress on poor road conditions and in driving rain.
Military channels on Telegram are already warning that the weather conditions today are bad enough that no one should be expecting any rapid movements. But then, this could be exactly the kind of day when someone gets surprised. Maybe it won’t be a wooden horse. Maybe it will be some well-armed ducks. [Tweet and video about Ukrspec Systems demonstrating a “drone shark”]
Ukraine hit two fuel depots at the same time in the occupied city of Shakhtarsk. The flames have been spectacular. In addition to damaging the tanks and the loss of fuel, at least one of these strikes also damaged a number of train cars and rail tracks through the city. [images at the link]
Well, this is horrific. The reduction of Soledar using thermobaric weapons. These things are rat bastards. [tweet and video at the link]
ravensays
Putin gave a speech today.
It’s more or less standard Russian propaganda.
It is also a lot of lies strung together.
Reuters 10/27/2022
“Confidence in their infallibility is a very dangerous state,” Putin said, adding that Russia would never accept the West trying to tell Russia how to act. “Unlike the West, we do not climb into other peoples’ yards.”
This is all why Russia has an army in Ukraine and is trying to genocide the Ukrainians and steal their land and stuff.
Still, speaking to experts from 44 different countries, Putin said that Russia did not consider itself an enemy of the West.
Oh really?
This is the guy who cut off natural gas to the EU in the hope that EU citizens would freeze all winter and their energy intensive economies would fall apart.
This is the country that repeatedly and often threatens to nuke the West when they aren’t coming up with other threats such as radiological bombs and shooting down our satellites.
There is no doubt whatsoever that Russia is the enemy of the West and most of the rest of the world as well.
“Now officially! Proud to present our new drone – #SHARK
We started working on it already after Feb 24, in conditions of full-scale invasion of the rf.
And in less than half a year, SHARK was already flying.
Completely [Ukrainian] drone – from idea to production.
Just beautiful & effective”
KG @ #250, the regime went to great lengths to deny the teenager and protest leader Nika Shahkarami a real funeral (including allegedly stealing her body), but it seems a funeral was held by her family on October 2, so that chehelom should be November 11.
Meanwhile in Russia: since the Kremlin is losing to Ukraine on the battlefield, state TV propagandists are forced to resort to nuclear intimidation of the U.S. and its allies — with the help of Tucker Carlson. They promise to help Carlson to campaign against Biden.
#TuckyoRose
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link.
This is just pathetic and sad. Amusing that they include the part where the guest talks about the potential for Putin’s desperate resort to nuclear weapons “if Russia was in danger of being pushed out [of Ukraine] and defeated on the battlefield.”
“1. Now in their sixth week, nationwide protests in Iran continue with intensity. In the city of Mahabad–Iranian Kurdistan– thousands of protesters chant ‘woman, life freedom’ (zhan, zhian, azadi)
A reminder of how Iran’s Islamist revolutionaries established their authority in Kurdistan four decades ago….”
Any Putin‘s speech can be described as “for Freud”. The one who invaded foreign country, annexed its land and committed genocide accuses others of international law/ sovereignty of other countries violation? One truth: “Who started a wind, will get a storm”. The storm is coming.
Reginald Selkirksays
@266: They promise to help Carlson to campaign against Biden.
Someone should inform them that Tucker Carlson is not actually running for any office. He prefers to stick to his specialty – poo flinging.
Presidential portraits reflect how art can mark and shape their places in history. MSNBC’s Ari Melber brings you those classic paintings and reports on a new form of art created through artificial intelligence. You will see how this astonishing new platform, whimsically called DALL-E works in real time — drawing on 650 million images in the world to swiftly create new images.
Russian journalist and Putin’s rumoured goddaughter flees to Lithuania
The Russian journalist and TV personality Ksenia Sobchak – the daughter of Vladimir Putin’s one-time boss – has fled to Lithuania, intelligence services in Vilnius said, after police in Moscow raided one of her homes.
A well-known media figure in Russia, Sobchak first became famous as a reality show presenter before embarking on a career in journalism. She also ran for the Russian presidency in 2018, a move her critics said was a publicity stunt intended to help the Kremlin create the impression of competitive elections.
She is the daughter of the former mayor of St Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak, whom Putin has previously described as his mentor. She is rumoured to be Putin’s goddaughter, and though that is unconfirmed her longstanding family connection to the Russian president has been a source of mistrust among sections of the opposition.
Russian media said Sobchak had fled Russia on Tuesday night, crossing the Belarus-Lithuania border after tricking the Russian authorities by buying plane tickets from Moscow to Dubai via Istanbul.
… It was during this battle that a man named Albuquerque Head pulled Fanone away from his fellow officers, wrapping his arm around Fanone’s neck, tearing him into the crowd, according to court documents, which consumed Fanone and beat him unconscious.
“These were some of the darkest acts on one of (our) darkest days,” district Judge Amy Berman Jackson said before handing down the sentence Thursday…
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition, meaning it develops when the body’s immune system starts to attack itself…
We found that one previously unknown species of bacteria was present in the intestines of around 20% of people who were either diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis or produce the antibodies that cause the disease…
We also found that these bacteria can activate specialized immune cells called T cells in people with rheumatoid arthritis…
Rubio was the Republican establishment’s choice to defeat Donald Trump in 2016, and he briefly gave a convincing performance as a person who was anguished by Trump’s abuse and lies. That he appears perfectly comfortable to work within a party that is developing a racist paramilitary wing is the clearest sign of the party’s complete surrender to extremism.
In downtown Windhoek, Namibia — at the intersection of Fidel Castro Street and Robert Mugabe Avenue — there’s an imposing gold building with an affectionate nickname: the Coffee Maker. This notable structure was built to commemorate Namibia’s fight for independence from apartheid South Africa, which it achieved in 1990. And for many of the visitors, the museum feels like a huge achievement. But for a museum that commemorates throwing off the chains of colonialism and forging a new era of self-determination, it has one pretty strange feature. It wasn’t designed by a Namibian architect. It wasn’t even designed by an African architect. It was built by North Korea’s state-run design studio, which has long been a prolific maker of statues around the world….
Despite significant headwinds, the economy started growing again over the summer, with new GDP data that exceeded expectations.
When there’s good economic news to share, the White House tends not to waste any time, and this morning was no exception. “For months, doomsayers have been arguing that the US economy is in a recession and congressional Republicans have been rooting for a downturn,” President Biden said in a written statement. “But today we got further evidence that our economic recovery is continuing to power forward.”
The Democrat’s positive attitude was understandable. Despite significant headwinds, the economy started growing again over the summer, and as NBC News reported, the new GDP data looked even better than expected.
The U.S. economy posted its first period of positive growth for 2022 in the third quarter, at least temporarily easing inflation fears, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday. GDP, a sum of all the goods and services produced from July through September, increased at a 2.6% annualized pace for the period, against the Dow Jones estimate of 2.3%.
In the first and second quarters of the year, the economy contracted a bit, sparking overwrought political chatter about whether the country had dipped into a “recession.” That hasn’t happened — at least not yet — and the data released this morning should bring that conversation to a close.
Indeed, while inflation clearly casts a long shadow over the economy, there’s plenty of evidence that points to an ongoing recovery. As Biden boasted, accurately, “Our economy has created 10 million jobs, unemployment is at a 50 year low, and U.S. manufacturing is booming. Today’s data shows that in the third quarter, Americans’ incomes were up and price increases in the economy came down.”
Before noting the Republican reactions to the news, let’s note for context that three months ago, when the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that gross domestic product fell 0.6% in the second quarter, it took House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy just 22 minutes to announce that the United States was “in a recession.” The California Republican took the same message to the airwaves about an hour later.
As we’ve discussed, around the same time, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell did the same thing, seizing on the data he found politically convenient to denounce Democratic governance.
[…] three months later, in the midst of an election season, economic growth is looking pretty good, and job growth is even better. GOP leaders had literally nothing to say a few weeks ago when the unemployment rate matched a 50-year low, and those looking for them to respond to today’s good news were left wanting.
As of this minute — more than four hours after the GDP figures were released to the public — the collective number of statements this morning about economic growth from McCarthy, McConnell, and the Republican National Committee is zero.
Imagine that.
Postscript: It’s worth clarifying that today’s 2.6% quarterly figure refers to growth at an annualized rate, which is the standard way of reporting the data. In other words, if we saw 12 months of economic activity like what we saw in the fourth quarter, the economy would grow by roughly 2.6%.
You may also see some focus today on a different figure: 0.6%, which reflects the change between the second quarter and the third quarter.
Imagine waking up every morning and thinking, “If only it were 1952, things would be swell.”
Welcome to the world view of some two-thirds of Republicans. A new poll released Thursday added a twist to the right track/wrong track question, asking respondents whether they agreed with a clarifying follow-up: “Since the 1950’s, American culture and way of life has mostly changed for the worse.”
Two-thirds of Republicans agreed with that statement, while 50% of independents did, and 30% of Democrats did. The only other group that was more nostalgic about the ’50s than Republicans was white evangelicals, 71% of whom longed for a return to last century.
“This 1950s question has been a key predictor of support for Trump/Republicans over the years,” tweeted Natalie Jackson, research director of PRRI. [chart at the link]
[…] some two-thirds of that discontent isn’t about charting a new or different path forward for the country. Rather, it’s at least partially driven by a desire to turn back the clock to a different era—one in which women were still effectively confined to the home, abortion was banned, a Catholic and a person of color had yet to be elected president, segregation was still rampant, landmark civil rights and voting rights laws hadn’t been enacted yet, and LGBTQ Americans still lived in fear of losing their friends, family, and livelihoods if anyone uncovered their secret.
As veteran journalist John Harwood noted, “Two-thirds of Republicans believe America’s culture and way of life were better in the 1950s—a concise explanation for this political moment.”
Utah Republican incumbent Senator Mike Lee is looking surprisingly dumb big loser in his race against independent candidate Evan McMullin, to the point that we would not be entirely shocked by an upset. Between Lee going on the Tucker show and literally groveling and begging for Mitt Romney’s endorsement and that little stunt a few days back when he wrote an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper, endorsing himself in the third person, let’s just say we’ve been waiting for him to poop his pants in public a third time.
These things usually come in threes, after all.
Now, he has bravely rejected the opportunity to debate McMullin in the Republican snowflake safe space zone of Fox News, specifically with host Bret Baier. This should be a slam dunk for him! Bret Baier should be able to ask Lee a question Republicans might like — something like “WILL YOU PROMISE AS SENATOR TO BAN HUNTER BIDEN FROM PERFORMING A DRAG SHOW ABOUT CRITICAL RACE THEORY INSIDE A LITTERBOX AT AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?” — and Lee should be able to spend a solid minute spouting seditionistfascist Christian gibberish about fuckall, and he should be declared the winner.
Why is Mike Lee scared to have a Fox News free love party with Bret Baier?
Better question: Why is Mike Lee scared to debate Evan McMullin again? Because it went so badly the first time?
Better question: BAWK BAWK BAWK BAWK BAWK!
Sorry, that was not a question, that was an interrupting chicken.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Baier got in touch with both campaigns and wanted to do a debate on his show November 1. McMullin said definitely for sure, I’ll fuck up that clownhead again. Lee said no.
Lee’s campaign said Baier offered either a debate or a one-on-one interview. The email they sent McMullin’s campaign does not mention a one-on-one interview, just a “debate or town hall.” Who knows?
McMullin responded to his opponent’s refusal to debate:
“It’s a shame that Senator Lee can’t find the time to debate me on Fox News. Utahns deserve a full airing of the issues in this race, but Utahns won’t get that chance because Senator Lee won’t show up to defend his record,” McMullin said.
“I hope Senator Lee reconsiders his refusal to debate,” McMullin added.
Russians can’t do anything right.
Lately, they’ve been too busy threatening to shoot down our satellites to threaten to kill us all.
This is late but at least they remembered.
Yes, me and my cat and a few tens of millions will die from Russian nuclear bombs.
Because, no we don’t understand.
Understand why you keep making threats while losing a war to a victim 1/4 your size.
The Red army marching through Europe was a nice touch.
They don’t have 10 million rifles though. In fact they are about out of rifles.
I suppose they will issue one for every 20 soldiers or something.
The Russians always say they won World War II.
Half true.
They provided the soldiers while the allies provided the money and weapons.
US lend lease made a huge difference and the allies did a little fighting themselves, about half of the total at the Western front.
Tweet
Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en
We’ll put 10-15 million of people “under rifle” [mobilize] and we’ll take a walk across Europe.
If they don’t understand something – there’s nuclear weapon to clarify.” – Solovyev
Another stupid Russian threat.
They keep threatening to shoot down our satellites.
This is dumb.
.1. They can’t actually do that.
There are thousands of commercial satellites.
Starlink alone has 2,300.
They could get a few but that is about it.
.2. We could you know, just shoot down their satellites.
.3. This would quickly wreck the near earth space.
The satellite killer + dead satellite produces huge amounts of space debris.
Enough of that and the entire world would have trouble putting up and keeping up satellites.
The entire world would get really angry when they can’t watch their favorite TV programs.
.4. The main point is that this is…an act of war against the USA/EU!!! Yo, Russians.
Say hello to Article 5 of the NATO agreement.
They were better off when they were threatening to flood the UK with a nuclear tidal wave.
Ukrayinska Pravda Russia threatens to shoot down Western commercial satellites used to help Ukraine
Ukrainska Pravda
EUROPEAN PRAVDA – THURSDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2022, 11:11
Konstantin Vorontsov, senior official of the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that Russia may regard Western commercial satellites as legitimate targets if they are used to help Ukraine in the war.
Source: European Pravda, with reference to TASS, Russian state-owned news outlet, quoting Vorontsov
Vorontsov is the Deputy Director of the Department of Non-Proliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Foreign Ministry. His statement was made at the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly.
Vorontsov called the “use by the United States and its allies of civilian, including commercial, infrastructure elements in outer space for military purposes” to be “an extremely dangerous trend … that has become apparent during the latest developments in Ukraine”.
“Quasi-civilian infrastructure may become a legitimate target for retaliation. Western actions needlessly put at risk the sustainability of peaceful space activities, as well as numerous social and economic processes on Earth that affect the well-being of people, first of all in developing countries.” Vorontsov said.
The Starlink satellite communication system from SpaceX plays an extremely important role for Ukraine.
In addition, Ukrainian volunteers used the funds, which were initially raised for the purchase of three Bayraktar drones, to purchase access to information from the group of satellites of the ICEYE Finnish company. The access was purchased for more than a year, as well as full access to one of the satellites until the end of its orbital life.
ravensays
Imagine waking up every morning and thinking, “If only it were 1952, things would be swell.”
Oh Cthulhu please no.
I’m a Boomer, old enough to have grown up in the 1950s.
It was a bleak, gray time when the big excitement was fallout shelters and duck and cover drills to survive a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. We all knew adults around us who limped in various ways because of polio.
Then the 1960s happened.
The world expanded and kept on expanding.
Hobby Lobby founder David Green announced through an Oct. 21 op-ed at Fox News that he’s giving up his company, and that he “chose God” over wealth.
Green credited his faith and higher power as the “true source” of his success, noting that “God was the true owner of my business,” and felt that passing the company down to his children and grandchildren would’ve been the wrong move…
In a separate interview with Fox & Friends, Green said 100% of the company’s voting stock has been moved to a trust. Separate details of how he’s giving away the company were not revealed…
A former paramedic and a 20-year veteran of the New York City police, DeFlorio and his wife, Harmony, became devoted to serving others through their church. He said he came face-to-face with the devil while teaching in Africa. Since then his mission has been to visit people who claim to be afflicted by witchcraft, hauntings and possession. His tools: prayer and the Bible. His message: Demonic terror is happening and may be closer than you think…
DeFlorio will travel to The County soon. He did not reveal details to protect the victim, but said the person provided evidence of witchcraft being used against them, describing lights going on and off, doors slamming and damage to the home, which began after an altercation with an aggressive person, he said.
The agricultural pests known as plant bugs can be a farmer’s worst enemy. These winged insects—the size of a pea or smaller—suck the sap from apples, lettuce, and other crops, causing millions of dollars in damages globally each year.
A Costa Rican flower has turned this foe into friend, however, according to a new study. One species of the so-called arum plant has evolved to attract a species of plant bug instead of a typical beetle pollinator, helping them spread their pollen far and wide. The find is the first known example of a plant harnessing plant bugs to help them reproduce…
Intrigued, Etl performed a chemical analysis of this morning perfume. Colleagues at the University of Regensburg synthesized its major component: a previously unknown chemical they named gambanol.
When Etl coated white paper cones with the chemical, the cones attracted large numbers of the plant bugs, he and colleagues report this month in Current Biology. Moreover, when Etl covered the arum plant’s natural flowers with a fine mesh to exclude the plant bugs, no seeds were produced. “This suggests plant bugs play a key role in the pollination process,” Ren says…
whheydtsays
Re: Lynna, OM @ #275…
1952 again? That would mean Sen. Joe McCarthy up to the same crap he pulled then. I can’t really claim to remember 1952, but I was around at the time. Still…NO. Don’t want that.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Election Day is 12 days away. But in courtrooms across the country, efforts to sow doubt over the outcome have already begun.
More than 100 lawsuits have been filed this year around the Nov. 8 elections. The legal challenges, largely by Republicans, target rules for mail-in voting, early voting, voter access, voting machines, voting registration, the counting of mismarked absentee ballots and access for partisan poll watchers.
The cases likely preview a potentially contentious post-election period and the strategy stems partly from the failure of Donald Trump and his allies to prevail in overturning the free and fair results of the 2020 presidential election that he lost to Joe Biden.
That was an ad hoc response fronted by a collection of increasingly ill-prepared lawyers that included Rudy Giuliani. The current effort, however, is more formalized, well-funded and well-organized and is run by the Republican National Committee and other legal allies with strong credentials. Party officials say they are preparing for recounts, contested elections and more litigation. Thousands of volunteers are ready to challenge ballots and search for evidence of malfeasance.
[…]
The RNC said it has a multimillion-dollar “election integrity” team. It has hired 37 lawyers in key states, held more than 5,000 training sessions to teach volunteers to look for voter fraud — which is rare and isolated — and filed 73 suits in 20 states. Other Trump-allied legal teams, including America First Legal, run by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, are involved.
The Democrats’ legal effort focuses on making voting easier and helping those denied a chance to vote. A team led by lawyer Marc Elias and his firm is litigating roughly 40 cases in 19 states, though many are interventions in Republican-led suits.
Elias said he is bracing for a deluge of challenges to election results. Some Republican candidates have already said they will not accept a loss or have planted doubt on the election process despite no evidence of fraud.
“The problem with the Republican Party right now is that conceding you lost an election is the only thing that will hurt you,” Elias said. “Contesting an election that is clearly lost is now where all the incentive structure is, and that is incredibly corrosive for democracy.”
[…]
In 2020, pro-Trump lawyers filed roughly 60 suits and asked judges to set aside votes. Those suits were roundly rejected. Trump’s own leadership found the election was fair, and state election officials saw no widespread evidence of fraud….
At that time, the Republican establishment had not adopted Trump’s lies about the election. Since then, the falsehoods have taken root within the GOP.
[…]
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Two right-wing conspiracy theorists who placed thousands of robocalls with false information to largely minority and Democratic voters in Cleveland in the months before the November 2020 election pleaded guilty on Monday to a felony charge.
Jacob Wohl, 24, of Irvine, California, and Jack Burkman, 56, of Arlington, Virginia, face a maximum of a year in prison after they pleaded guilty to a fifth-degree felony charge of telecommunications fraud…
Richard Mack has built a “Constitutional sheriff” movement to resist state and federal authority on guns, COVID-19 and now election results. A new survey shows just how many sheriffs agree with him.
After nearly four decades of service, the legendary Hellfire missile has a replacement on the way in Lockheed Martin’s AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM). On August 30, the U.S. Army approved the JAGM for full-rate production.
This new weapon system may look an awful lot like its predecessors, but the JAGM builds upon the Hellfire’s low-cost, high-accuracy legacy by mashing multiple targeting systems into a single weapon. This results in one missile that can do the job of both Hellfire missiles currently in American and allied inventories…
Today’s primary family of Hellfire missiles includes the AGM-114R Hellfire II, commonly known as the Hellfire Romeo, and the AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire. These two missiles share several elements, including warheads. Yet, they differ dramatically when it comes to targeting, forcing users to maintain separate inventories of each. The AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) will replace both of these specialized weapons…
Stating that he was tiring of the media’s “ ‘gotcha’ questions,” Herschel Walker said that it was unfair to expect a man to remember “every single abortion” that he has ever paid for.
“Everywhere I go, people say, ‘Did you pay for this abortion, did you pay for that abortion?’ ” the Republican Senate candidate told supporters. “How are you supposed to remember every single abortion? This is why people no longer trust the media.”
Speaking hypothetically, Walker added, “Let’s say you paid for ten abortions, or twenty, thirty, forty. You mean to tell me you’d remember every last one, clear as day? The answer is no, you wouldn’t.”
“There’s no way a man could remember every single solitary abortion unless he kept an abortion journal, and I don’t know anyone who does that,” Walker said, before aides grabbed him and ushered him away from the microphone.
This is a followup to #285. White House vows response if Russia attacks U.S. satellites
Not unexpected.
The Russians could not expect us to just sit there and watch our satellites get blown up.
Destroying satellites could backfire on them quickly.
If near earth space becomes unusable due to space debris, then the Russians can’t use it either.
1 minute readOctober 27, 20228:39 AM PDTLast Updated 8 hours ago White House vows response if Russia attacks U.S. satellites
Reuters
WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Any response on U.S. infrastructure will be met with a response, the White House said on Thursday after a senior Russian foreign ministry official said Western commercial satellites could become legitimate targets for Russia if they were involved in the war in Ukraine.
White House spokesman John Kirby, speaking to reporters, added that publicly available information shows Russians have been trying to pursue anti-satellite technologies.
ravensays
This is one reason why the Russian army doesn’t work very well.
They are putting the prisoners and newly mobilized at the front with little training or weapons.
If they retreat, they get shot by the second or third line.
No wonder morale is so low.
There is also a lot of callous cruelty about the whole army.
Those on the front line aren’t expected to survive.
They are just speed bumps.
Russia Now Has a Second Frontline Set Up Just to Kill Its Deserters: Intel
DON’T TURN BACK
Russian soldier on leaked call said: “If someone runs back, we snuff them out.”
Allison Quinn News Editor Published Oct. 27, 2022 8:34AM ET
thedailybeast
Russian’s Vladimir Putin sparked the wrath of his own people by drafting hundreds of thousands to join the war against Ukraine, and now it seems some of those men were sent not to fight the so-called “enemy” but to “snuff out” any of the Russian troops who dare to retreat.
Ukrainian intelligence on Thursday released an audio recording that appears to capture in disturbing detail the mayhem and internal rifts between Russian troops on the battlefield. In the five-minute clip, described as an intercepted phone conversation between a Russian soldier and his wife, the man says he and the other men in his unit are a comfortable distance from the actual fighting.
“They moved us back to the second line, there’s shooting somewhere ahead of us, but we’re back here for now in the trenches,” he says, before boasting that he’d been lucky and found a “Rosneft jacket covered in blood, but warm.”
“They brought the inmates here… from prison. But they led them somewhere way up front. And we’re sitting here as a retreat-blocking detachment, fuck. If someone runs back, we snuff them out.”
“What a nightmare,” his wife says.
“That’s how we have it set up. We sit on the second line, guarding the first. Behind us, there’s another line. If you go that way, you also won’t make it. So it’s impossible to run away. They shoot their own.”
“If someone goes [that way], you need to wipe him out,” he said.
While both the purported soldier and his wife suggested they’d tried to complain about conditions with appeals to an unspecified “committee,” the man seemed convinced any kind of outcry would be futile, noting that Russian defense officials had cleverly listed him and other men in his unit as being “in training” and not on the battlefield.
MILWAUKEE — Kopp’s Frozen Custard said it made a “mistake” when it dished out politics in October’s flavor forecast.
The Wisconsin custard company released its October flavors Saturday. Included, originally, was a “Hey Cupcake” flavor, featuring vanilla custard, yellow cake, fudge and rainbow mini chips.
Originally, “Hey Cupcake” was set to scoop Oct. 9, which is “National Pro-Life Cupcake Day.” Kopp’s included the day in its flavor preview, under a special section that read “HAVE FUN WITH THESE CELEBRATED NATIONAL SPECIAL DAYS IN OCTOBER.”
That flyer has since been replaced and the section does not include “National Pro-Life Cupcake Day.” …
On Oct. 3, Kopp’s released a statement apologizing for “linking ‘National Pro-Life Cupcake Day’ with [the] long-running flavor ‘Hey Cupcake.’”
whheydtsays
Re: raven @ #299…
A number of things come to mind…
Those in the front line can try to lay low and wait for the Ukraine forces to get close enough to surrender to them.
There was an incident during Falklands War when an Argentine unit was told that if they ran, their own officers would shoot them. They got caught in a cross fire between Scots Guards and Gurkhas. The Argentine troops ran towards their own officers, that being the least dangerous direction (not as good shots and only armed with hand guns).
And finally, this is likely to increase the number of “accidentally” dead Russian officers.
Well, stone the flamin’ crows, NT businesses have been warned to keep their eyes peeled for fake bank notes, which were stolen from a local film and TV company in Alice Springs.
But forget Banjo Paterson, Dame Nellie Melba and David Unaipon appearing on the notes, the fake notes feature portraits of Steve Irwin and Home and Away‘s Ray Meagher.
The fakies also feature:
‘Straylia’ instead of ‘Australia’
A mining haul truck instead of the Australian Masked Owl and native wattle
John Farnham instead of the Shrine of Remembrance
As a resident of the Milwaukee metro area, I’ve enjoyed many a cheeseburger or turtle sundae from Kopps. You can imagine my horror when this story first hit the wires, and I had reluctantly decided to boycott them, Not sure if this news will change my mind. I’ll have to think on it.
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 298
Great, we can either have a nuclear war that will end human civilization, or start off a Kessler syndrome that would permanently throw society back nearly a century!
whheydtsays
Re: Akira MacKenzie @ #305…
Wide spread dependence on orbital assets is a lot more recent that “nearly a century”. The first object that got into orbit (and not for terribly long) was 65 years ago. I’d put the strong influence of having stuff in orbit no more than 40 years, and really more like 30.
Operational Command “South” said that over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces killed 44 Russian soldiers; destroyed Su-25 aircraft, Ka-52 helicopter, 2 mortars and 3 armored vehicles.
In the Beryslav district of Kherson Oblast, Russian troops lost two ammunition depots. The command also reported that they had a successful hit on a Russian pontoon crossing with military equipment.
“Top Twitter execs, including CEO Parag Agrawal, policy head Vijaya Gadde, CFO Ned Segal, and general counsel Sean Edgett have been fired by Elon Musk as he takes over the company:…”
Large crow[d] in Tehran chanting ‘This is the year of blood, Seyed Ali [Khamenei] will be overthrown’ and ‘freedom, freedom’.”
With due respect to the crowd’s courage, I do like the idea of a large crow chanting this message – maybe the “monstrous crow, as black as a tar-barrel” that scared Tweedledum and Tweedledee. That would be a portent indeed!
He did not reveal details to protect the victim, but said the person provided evidence of witchcraft being used against them, describing lights going on and off, doors slamming and damage to the home, which began after an altercation with an aggressive person, he said.
kook
Kooks, plural. One of them believes they are being harassed by witchcraft, the other one believes in demons and magic. Not much to choose between those perspectives, but for what it’s worth the former one might have an organic cause — apparently a significant number of people who think they are having supernatural experiences of that type are actually having gas leaks and other paranoia-inducing problems (see this story, for instance). Seal up the leak (or stop whatever the cause is) and the problem resolves itself. No such likelihood for the loon who thinks he’s going to wave his bible at the problem and make it go away, though.
KGsays
Akira MacKenzie@305
From your link;
However, even a catastrophic Kessler scenario at LEO would pose minimal risk for launches continuing past LEO, or satellites travelling at medium Earth orbit (MEO) or geosynchronous orbit (GEO). The catastrophic scenarios predict an increase in the number of collisions per year, as opposed to a physically impassable barrier to space exploration that occurs in higher orbits.
whheydt@306,
I guess it depends on what you count as “strong influence”. Telstar 1, which provided the first transatlantic live TV feed, was launched on 10th July 1962. It would be interesting to research whether it caused a sharp increase in correlations between political events in North America and Europe.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Russia has bolstered its troops with “mobilised reservists” west of the Dnieper River, the UK’s MoD says. Over the past six weeks, its ground forces have transitioned to a “defensive posture” on the frontline, likely due to being “severely undermanned” and “poorly trained”.
The US and its allies condemned Russia for wasting the time of the UN security council and spreading conspiracies by again raising its accusation that the US has ‘military biological programmes’ in Ukraine.
“How much more of this nonsense do we have to endure?” the UK’s ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, asked the council….
Standing in the dark beside the wreckage of a downed drone, Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed that widespread Russian attacks on power plants would not break Ukrainian spirits.
The Ukrainian president made his daily address outside after Russia aimed missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles at Ukraine’s electricity generating network over the last two weeks, causing major damage and triggering blackouts.
“Shelling will not break us – to hear the enemy’s anthem on our land is scarier than the enemy’s rockets in our sky. We are not afraid of the dark,” Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine has shot down more than 300 Iranian Shahed-136 ‘kamikaze’ drones so far, air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told a briefing on Friday….
“As believers, we train ourselves to be valuable to the marketplace,” [nauseating] said the minor-league baseball player-turned-real-estate investor Jason Benham. “How do we use the talents, opportunities, abilities and resources that God has given us so that the Kingdom of Heaven may come to Earth through us?”
Jason and his twin brother, David, were our emcees for the day at Life Surge, a Christian finance conference in Denver. A blending of faith and finance, Life Surge tours the nation offering both motivational and practical lectures on building wealth the Christian way, with emotionally charged, musical worship services peppered throughout the day. The former NFL superstar and evangelical hero Tim Tebow and Willie Robertson of the hit reality show Duck Dynasty were among a host of conservative celebrities speaking at the event, catered by the fast-food restaurant Chick-Fil-A – a pariah among liberals and martyr to the religious right for executives’ public opposition to gay marriage.
Life Surge follows a long tradition of evangelists offering financial advice through the lens of morality and the supernatural. The Iowa farming community I grew up in during the 80s and 90s was steeped in these institutions, which vampirically drained my family and community’s economic momentum. Many of our church’s leaders attended Oral Roberts University, named for the televangelist most associated with the “prosperity gospel”, which explained that your financial success or failure was directly tied to your Christian morality.
These teachings often find the most success in economically impoverished communities and developing [sic] countries. During the farm crisis of the 1980s – which radiated out into all avenues of the Iowa economy – many desperate families in my hometown were susceptible to the get-rich-quick opportunities offered by proponents of the prosperity gospel. But they were often left with little but shame and debt.
…
This was the overarching theme of the day: Christianity is under attack in America, cancel culture is silencing us, so God commands you to earn a lot of money (which we’ll teach you to do, via the stock market and real estate) in order to fight the culture war and recruit new believers.
“Why on earth are we not buying Twitter?” asked David Benham. “Why can’t we get our money together and buy Disney, who have been so open minded their brains are falling out? How many of you are sick and tired of seeing the devil take all the influence in this culture?”
The crowd rose to their feet and cheered.
Shortly after this, a flood of beach balls descended from the arena rafters as the crowd danced to uptempo worship music, many with eyes closed and hands waving….
…
Hysterical fear of a coming socialist takeover of America was at the heart of both the conservative movement of Barry Goldwater and the apocalyptic fever of evangelicals. Throughout the 90s, our Left Behind rapture novels and televangelists like Pat Robertson linking the Book of Revelation with the day’s headlines kept us in a constant state of panic, ready to blindly follow any conservative huckster with a surefire escape plan.
In addition to fears of Armageddon, the existential [?] fear that you’re spending too much time at work and too little with your family is a common tactic among evangelicals preaching finance. Multilevel marketing companies (often pejoratively referred to as “pyramid schemes”) like AmWay are often founded by evangelicals, and use churches as recruitment centers, offering the opportunity to “be your own boss” and have more family time. (This was a common refrain at Life Surge as well.)
Believers are often encouraged to go deep into debt for these schemes, told to employ a “fake it till you make it” approach, growing their businesses and living a flashy lifestyle long before any profit comes in.
“The evangelical community has been one of the more susceptible groups that have been so infected by this and still is today,” says Robert FitzPatrick, author of Ponzinomics: The Untold Story of Multi-Level Marketing. “It spreads through churches, and is presented with this moral authority, you are told not to argue with anybody who criticizes it, they are non-believers … And in the end, only a fraction of one per cent of people who get into multi-level marketing ever turn a profit.”
…
While there was significantly less materialism (only a few mentions of sports cars and mansions) than the AmWay or Oral Roberts seminars of years past, and a good deal more practical financial strategy than Tammy Faye Bakker ever offered, the Life Surge call to earn wealth in the name of spreading the gospel is just as insidious and manipulative a grift as any in the history of evangelical conmen.
It communicates that poverty is a reflection of sin, not circumstance. If attendees fail to become wealthy enough to fund missionaries, or Christian entertainment, or Christian politicians, it is explained, they will fail to convert potentially thousands to Christianity, damning them to an eternity of torture in hell.
I am sorry, you all aren’t “anti war protesters”, you are dangerous propagandists who are literally making a mockery of the anti war movement.
I have never had the pleasure of responding to [Russian] ridiculous internet disinformation in person before. Thank you for the opportunity
[video at the (Twitter) link]
I am amazed at the nerve that some people have to not be upset with the country literally waging war, but at the country defending itself and those helping them do that.
I was even told by one of these people tonight, “it’s America that started the Russia war”, seriously wtf.
The pro-Putin Left have humiliated themselves so thoroughly they are forcing AOC and Omar to explicitly defend arming Ukraine from a progressive platform. Their failed PR stunts are actually consolidating support for Ukraine.
‘Despite hundreds of deaths and over 12,000 arrests, Mr Khamenei’s forces have failed to quell the revolt. “We’re not a movement any more,” says a protester at a university in Tehran. “We’re a revolution that’s giving birth to a nation.”…’
‘For the first time in the Middle East, women have been leading the protests. They have had enough of men in turbans controlling how they must dress, travel and even work. By law, they still need male guardians to go between provinces or stay in hotels.’
‘Six weeks on, the Islamic Republic is in retreat. Women walk the streets and ride the Tehran underground without headscarves. Some raise a finger at security forces when they pass. Others offer hugs to male strangers.’
Iranian jails. ‘Fellow inmates included atheists, Shia reformists, Sunnis, Sufi mystics, Bahais, Christian converts and even jihadists loyal to Islamic State. Much as leftists and Islamists both did under the shah, they have honed their ideas and plans of action inside.’
‘“The IRGC are seeing the ground shift and are holding back,” says Sadegh Zibakalam, a political scientist in Tehran. A former diplomat in Iran agrees. “Maybe some of the commanders are supporting the crackdown, but the rank and file sympathise with the protesters,” he says.’
“What is certain is that Mr Khamenei and the Islamic regime are both in deeper trouble than at any time since the shah was toppled in 1979…The beginning of the end of the Islamic regime must surely be in sight”
New Lines – “A New Iran Has Been Born — A Global Iran”: “An interview with the scholar Asef Bayat widely shared by Iranians — and now banned by the Tehran authorities — is published by New Lines in English translation for the first time…”
…No matter what happens to this uprising, this movement at this very point has already made significant achievements. We are witnessing a crucial paradigm shift in the subjectivity of Iranians. In large and small cities, even in villages, among parents and young people, among ethnic groups and the lower and middle classes, a new “nation” seems to have been born — one that insists on reclaiming life and living with dignity. And it shouts it out in the streets of the uprising. Many things are unlikely to go back to the way they were before. Maybe this is the de facto end of the morality police, even if they don’t abolish it officially. New norms have imposed themselves on the reality of public life. Maybe the “optional hijab” is one of these norms.
MSNBC is reporting that Nancy Pelosi’s husband was “violently assaulted” early this morning in their home in San Francisco (she’s not there). He’s in the hospital and “expected to make a full recovery.” A suspect is in custody.
Fairly grim warning from the Airbus CEO this morning as Russian airlines continue to operate the company’s planes without the usual monitoring & support
“We are worried about the conditions for maintenance as actually the planes are flying a lot”
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 315
Many of our church’s leaders attended Oral Roberts University, named for the televangelist most associated with the “prosperity gospel”, which explained that your financial success or failure was directly tied to your Christian morality.
This nonsense goes back a lot further than Oral Roberts; e.g. John Calvin, the puritans, the “Protestant Work Ethic,” etc..
quotetheunquotesays
Re: #316
Doesn’t surprise me – I have a reproduction of a Mondrian (Tableau No. II with Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, and Gray, ca. 1925) that’s been haning in my living room (various locations, as we moved about) since 1987. It’s on its side (rotated 90º), just to fit the wall better, and nobody’s ever commented at all.
(On the other hand, I’ve not had thousands of art afficianados trooping through my living room looking at it.)
The Tesla Cyberquad for Kids, an all-terrain vehicle modeled after Tesla’s Cybertruck, has been recalled for not meeting safety standards, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday. Anyone who owns one of the $1,900 ATVs should stop using it immediately, the CPSC said…
KGsays
There has been a lot of comment on this blog, quite rightly, about transphobia in the UK. But it’s worth noting that the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill passed its Stage 1 in the Scottish Parliament yesterday by 88 votes to 33, supported by all parties other than the Conservatives (and even one Tory voted for it). Although certainly not perfect, the Bill, assuming it comes into law, will among other changes remove the requirement for transgender people to obtain medical diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate, which legally recognises their preferred gender (one of the flaws is the lack of recognition for nonbinary identities). It now goes for further discussion in committee, where hopefully it can be further improved. That it should be brought forward without further delay was one of the conditions my own party, the Scottish Greens, made for entering a partial coalition with the SNP, but the support of the Labour and Liberal Democratic parties should also be noted. As should the fact that the Guardian chose to headline the backbench SNP transphobes voting against!
Now researchers have analysed the skulls of more than 300 species of extinct and living placental mammals – a subgroup that makes up 94% of mammals alive today – to unpick the trends in their evolution and reveal what their last common ancestor might have looked like.
The results suggest placental mammals got their break around the time of the mass extinction 66m years ago, when an asteroid ploughed into Earth and wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs and a host of other life…
Dozens of Iranians have gathered in Kyiv in protest of Iran’s government allegedly delivering drones to Russia.
The demonstrators gathered in the city’s Maidan Square holding signs reading “the Iranian people stand with Ukraine”, and waving both countries’ national flags….
Based on the size of the shark-shaped blob, the researchers estimated that the “Meg” was about 50-feet long and weighed around 40 tons! However, their excitement was short-lived.
“We waited for one of the rods to go off. However, much to our disappointment, the shape started to transition into a large school of Atlantic mackerel that hung around the boat for about 15 minutes,” The Atlantic Shark Institute explained.
In his closing submissions in Australia’s federal court in Sydney, the barrister of the country’s most decorated living soldier argued: “This trial, which has lasted over 100 days, has been called a great many things: the trial of the century, a proxy war crimes trial, and an attack on the freedom of the press. It is none of these. It is a case which has been brought because the respondents chose to defame Mr Roberts-Smith.”
Ben Roberts-Smith is suing three Australian media companies for defamation, over reports he alleges wrongly portray him as a war criminal and murderer. The case has contained shocking details and extraordinary allegations.
As the Guardian Australia reporter Ben Doherty tells Michael Safi, it has shone a glaring light on Australia’s Special Air Service, revealing a troubled institution, deeply riven by internecine fighting over decorations and medals: in thrall, on some evidence, to a “warrior culture”.
Roberts-Smith has rejected all allegations of wrongdoing. Now with the court adjourned, the country awaits the judgment.
It didn’t take long for the racist trolls to return to the platform most had been long banned from. In fact, within what seemed like a few hours after Elon Musk closed his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter and his firing of several executives, the flood of racist, antisemitic bigots returned in droves.
Just before midnight Thursday, Musk tweeted, “the bird is free,” and with that, all hell broke lose—or at least a little bit of fresh hell.
upporters shouting the N-word all over the platform.” And a simple search of the word proves this, not to mention the responses to this tweet alone.
CNN reports that Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has been transparent about plans to change the platform’s current rules to a more “free speech” approach, and he has said he may allow former President Donald Trump back in. In a conference in May, Musk said, “I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump; I think that was a mistake.”
Covering his bases for advertisers, we imagine, Musk recently wrote that he doesn’t want Twitter to become a “free-for-all-hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences.”
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” he said.
Well, that train seemed to leave the station last night as the N-word, as well as a slew of other slurs, were omnipresent in tweet after tweet. […]
Examples of tweets containing racial slurs, images of Hitler and other garbage available at the link. Holy …
Twitter’s more lenient rules on free speech aren’t flying outside of the U.S. BBC reports that Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner for the internal market, tweeted Thursday, “In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules.”
But so far, Musk, the world’s richest person at a net worth of about $221.2 billion, hasn’t cracked down on the garbage pit that the platform is at this moment, and Republicans aren’t breaking a stride in embracing him.
Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Gov. Ron DeSantis, tweeted a whole boatload of bogus election bullshit, including this rant, which is divorced from reality on a number of points:
“Since Twitter is allowing free speech now, I’ll say it: The @AP is not a news organization. It is a propaganda factory. American Pravda should not be allowed to “call” elections. That should be up to the Department of State in each state, in a timely & transparent manner. […]
Former GOP governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, tweeted, “Thank you @elonmusk for cleaning out the totalitarian rats & roaches who hated free speech. The world sings the great @Skynyrd anthem “FREEBIRD!” […]
Matt Schlapp, the Kansas chair of CPAC, tweeted, “We need you on that wall.” […]
One of the more terrifying Musk Twitter happenings is that several handles are reporting that they’re losing followers. One comes from the Auschwitz Memorial, which tweeted, “We are observing a strange decrease of number of followers. Almost 2,5k from yesterday evening. Weird things happen here on @Twitter. Help @AuschwitzMuseum & encourage others to follow.” […]
By Friday morning, some of the banned Twitter users began flooding back in.
Early this morning, there were a series of reports from the Svatove area that Ukrainian forces had made a sudden breakthrough north of the city and were advancing toward Nyzhnia Duvanka. The reports suggested that Ukrainian forces had pushed from the areas around Berestove and Kuzemivka, broken Russian lines, and moved “deep” into Russian-occupied territory. [map at the link]
There were multiple reports in the last month suggesting that when Ukraine moved for Svatove, it wouldn’t coming at the city directly, but seek to take Nyzhnia Duvanka and approach from the north, so this fits right in with those claims. However, not long after these reports first appeared, other sources denied that this breakthrough had happened. Then silence.
Right now, I can’t confirm anything, or even get good second source claims on either advance or no advance. It’s worth remembering that at least two previous “too good to be true” reports of Ukrainian advances turned out to be actually underselling the level of breakthrough. Is this another? Maybe. So, as I’ve said way too many times, stay tuned. It’s likely there’s action going on, but it may not be as hugely successful as the first reports indicated. Or maybe it was. Or maybe it’s nothing. We’ll know soon. There’s no doubt Svatove remains a target in the north, and Ukraine is advancing toward the city from multiple locations.
In the meantime, there are also reports that Ukraine may have liberated a string of towns further north, closer to the crossing at Kupyansk. Expect an update on this soon.
Is Russia withdrawing from Kherson, or is it reinforcing the area? The latest assessment from the U.K. Defense Intelligence joins other sources in coming down somewhere squarely in between. As with other sources, they indicated that Russia is, in fact, moving in new troops. But, also, as with other sources, they state that these new troops are the poorly trained, poorly equipped “mobilized reservists.” And take special note of how few troops the U.K. believes are really being sent:
“Russian officers described companies in the Kherson Sector as consisting of between six and eight men each. Companies should deploy with around 100 personnel.”
That’s not a withdrawal, but it’s certainly a long, long way from a dedicated defense. […]
Multiple reports on Thursday, including one from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, suggested that what Russia intends to do in Kherson is put up a token resistance, turning the mobilized troops into “great martyrs” while avoiding claims that Russia had abandoned a city that it had declared “Russia forever.” That’s not nearly as attractive as the idea that Russia was going to roll out of Kherson and leave the city to advancing Ukrainian forces, but it’s a whole lot better than claims that Russia was going to fill the Kherson region with reinforcements and fight for every inch tooth and nail.
So let’s hope that these claims, which are coming from the analysts paid to do this work, are more reliable than the reports that were flying through Telegram and Twitter two weeks ago.
On the other hand, many of those claims about what happens next in Kherson also included Russia setting up extensive artillery positions on the eastern bank of the Dnipro to “punish” the city across the river. Let’s hope they’re wrong on that part.
While waiting to find out more about what’s happening north of Svatove, here are some details on what’s happening just to the southwest. [map at the link]
Messages overnight identified the location of one of those battles taking place near Svatove as Popivka—a village so small (as in, about a half dozen houses) that I didn’t previously have it on the map. The area has reportedly been all but razed over the past day in an artillery duel between Ukrainian and Russian forces, showing again that no place is so remote or bucolic that it can’t be destroyed by war.
Between the slightly larger Nezhuryne and Popivka is a road. It’s the same road that runs north from that intersection east of Lyman, through Nevske and Makiivka, before angling east at this point to connect to the P66 highway. Considering current weather conditions in this part of Ukraine, it’s almost certain that Ukrainian forces are attempting to advance along this road. Popivka is just 2km from where that connection happens and just over 5km from the outskirts of Svatove. This is tantalizingly close. However, there are still reports of heavy Russian reinforcement in the area, and those fleeing from Popivka and Nezhuryne report very intense fighting.
If you want a lesson in how even a difficult image can be geolocated, it’s hard to do much better than this article from Bellingcat, in which they walk through how they started with a group photo of some people standing on the steps of a building, and worked it up to a street address in Moscow. That street address — Znamenka 19 — happens to be where the programmers behind missiles being launched into civilian neighborhoods in Ukraine are located. There, in nice clean uniforms, and a nice, undamaged building, they sit and target areas in Ukraine where pensioners, pregnant women, and 5-year-olds on their way to kindergarten are going to die.
Once again, that address is Znamenka 19. And yes, it is available on a map. With latitude and longitude.
It’s hard to imagine a more mismatched pair of well-known people than this, or two people who have used their fame in a more diametrically opposed fashion. But maybe it will happen.
[José Andrés tweeted] .@elonmusk “welcome” to Twitter. Can you find time to come with me to @Ukraine to see all the suffering of the Ukranian people? @SpaceX Starlink has been a blessing,we need to keep supporting @ZelenskyyUa and the Ukranian people on their fight for freedom. Ukraine for Ukrainians!
As I was writing this morning, fresh Telegram and Twitter reports were indicating that Ukraine has successfully cut the P66 highway north of Kreminna, presumably in the area of Chervonopopivka and Zhytlivka, where fighting was going on Thursday.
Here’s a repeat of yesterday’s map from that area. [map at the link]
[…] And ten minutes later, it looks like the P66 highway hasn’t be cut near Chervonopopivka at all. However, it does look as if Ukrainian forces have advanced to cut the highway at the intersection east of Ploshchanka. There are multiple reports pointing to this location. [map at the link]
If correct, this would also suggest that the town Ploshchanka has been liberated, but I’ve left it as “in dispute” here while moving out the area of Ukrainian control to show the reported area of breakthrough. Not only would Ukraine holding this highway block the flow of supplies and forces between Kreminna and Svatove, it also gives a nice paved route into either.
Paved routes are particularly valuable during the rainy season.
If CNN’s report that the attacker yelled “Where is Nancy?” is accurate, this was an assassination attempt on the official second in line to succeed the president.
The United States Capitol Police, FBI, and San Francisco police are carrying out a joint investigation of the attack. The San Francisco police chief will speak to the media at some point.
Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is in the hospital after “an assailant broke into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and violently assaulted” him early Friday morning, spokesman Drew Hammill said in a press release. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Pelosi’s assailant is in custody. The motivation for the attack is not yet known but is under investigation. The speaker was not in San Francisco at the time.
Most of you good readers who are old enough probably remember all the talk about the Ozone layer from the 70’s and 80’s.
In fact, climate deniers often use that as an example of how “the science was wrong” because “look, the Ozone layer is fine.” Of course, that also completely ignores the fact that the Ozone layer became less of a concern SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE we put regulations in place to protect it…. meaning, how the world reacted to the Ozone layer problem is a clear-cut model for how we could and should react to climate change now.
And that specific reaction was The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. This treaty was built to protect the ozone layer, it was a big deal when ratified back in 1987.
Well, there is a new item added in 2016 called the Kigali Amendment.
When the original protocol was put into place, CFC’s were curtailed (resulting in a MUCH improved Ozone layer mentioned above). However there was an unanticipated issue, CFCs were often replaced with HFCs which are VERY powerful greenhouse gases. The Kigali Amendment, aims to zero out HFCs as well.
[…] Biden signed on to the agreement […] that would lead to at least 33,000 new manufacturing jobs in the US, another $4.8 billion in exports, with an overall positive impact on the U.S. economy to the tune of $12.5 billion every year. Does anyone honestly think Trump would have signed on to this were he in office today? […]
And…. wait for it….
The treaty was ratified in the Senate with 69-27 vote. Yes, it even included Mitch McConnell. Why did the GOP go along with this? According to Vox, this may have something to do with it.
Part of the reason for Kigali’s success may be that conservative stalwarts Margaret Thatcher, a former chemist, and Ronald Reagan, a skin cancer survivor, were framers of the initial Montreal Protocol.
The GOP never stops amazing me with their cult worship behavior. “If St. Reagan and Queen Thatcher were for it 30 or 40 years ago then damn it, so are we!” Imagine how bad things could get if they were to have a leader that wanted to… I don’t know… take down our democracy or something. They would follow a Lemming off of a cliff as long as it was wearing GOP bumper sticker on its ass.
Whatever, this is a HUGE win for the environment! And a fantastic win for the Biden administration. […]
One of the most powerful and wide-reaching communication tools in human history is now owned by a narcissistic, sociopathic, 4chan troll. The bullying, the harassment, the doxxing, the misinformation, the lies that get people killed … the worst behavior imaginable will now be a feature that you can’t turn off. And all those horrible people who were deplatformed long after they should have been? Get ready for them all to come back, louder and more cruel than ever. They and their violent followers will be empowered, and out for revenge. It’s about to get real, real bad.
Twitter was already a cesspool of toxicity, but at least there were people inside the building trying to clean it up. They’ll all be gone by the end of next week if not tonight, and before we even realize it has happened, Twitter will be a weapon in the hands of the most dangerous people on Earth.
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said on Wednesday that if the GOP wins a majority in Congress, it will investigate companies that stopped donating to them after the Capitol riot. [Posted by Citizens for Ethics.]
Business Insider:
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said on Wednesday that if the GOP wins a majority in Congress, it will investigate companies that stopped donating to them after the Capitol riot.
Speaking on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Greene accused unnamed businesses of “corporate communism.” She suggested that she and her Republican colleagues should probe such companies for their conduct.
“You know what they did after January 6, Steve? They stopped donating. All the lobbyists, all the big corporations stopped donating to a whole bunch of my Republican colleagues that they used to donate to,” Greene said.
“They said: ‘Oh no, we can’t support you because of the big lie,’ or whatever they want to call it,” she continued.
“There is going to be investigations coming,” Greene added. “And there should be. There definitely should be, because the way corporations have conducted themselves, I’ve always called it corporate communism.”
Commentary:
Trump Republicans, like their infantile leader, are very vindictive. So accordingly starting a swarm of trumped up investigations will be at the top of the Republican Party’s agenda, should they win the House. Americans should expect 2 years of partisan political theater if Republicans do win the House, with little to nothing being done to address America’s most urgent issues. Women’s healthcare will be under attack nationally. Issues like climate change will get ignored, or more likely we will go backward as a country. Dozens of needed initiatives will be neglected by the vindictive Republicans. […]
So vote like your country’s future depended on it!
Some quite astonishingly frank remarks from Germany’s president in an address to the nation today
Steinmeier – for years one of Europe’s biggest advocates of compromise with Russia – says there should be no peace until Russia quits Ukraine entirely.
Tesla is said to be facing a criminal investigation launched by the U.S. Department of Justice facing claims made by the company regarding its “Autopilot” capabilities, Reuters reports, citing “three people familiar with the matter.” The inquiry was launched last year per the sources and was initiated following over a dozen accidents involving the active use of Tesla’s Autopilot system, some resulting in fatalities.
Tesla, and in particular CEO Elon Musk have been bold in their claims regarding Autopilot’s capabilities: The company’s so-called “Full Self-Driving” or FSD (which is not that at all, by the way, even by the admission of the company’s own materials) beta launched in October of 2020, and now has over 100,000 members enrolled from the larger global Tesla owner population, according to the most recent public numbers.
The automaker still cautions users of “Autopilot,” “Enhanced Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving Capability” that they must remain “alert,” with their “hands on the steering wheel at all times” and that they “maintain control of [their] car.”
That said, Musk himself has suggested FSD could be “safer than a human” before the end of this year in an earrings call from January. It was a reiteration of a claim from a year prior he made on Twitter, noting that FSD would “work at a safety level well above that of the average driver this year.”
Note that just because the DoJ is investigating doesn’t mean criminal charges will necessarily result — they could opt to pursue civil action, do nothing at all or level charges.
“People need to understand that they can’t do this, or anything like this, again,” a federal judge reminded a Jan. 6 rioter who attacked the police.
During the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, a man grabbed Police Officer Michael Fanone, dragged him into a mob, all while boasting, “I got one!” At that point, pro-Trump rioters tased the officer, took his badge and radio, and threatened to murder him with his own gun.
The criminal who dragged Fanone was later identified as Albuquerque Head, a 43-year-old Tennessee man who also used a police shield to push against a line of police officers in the Capitol’s lower west terrace tunnel, where the insurrectionists were especially violent.
Yesterday, as NBC News reported, he was sentenced to prison.
[Head] was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison, a bit shy of the 96 months prosecutors had requested but still one of the longest sentences to date in the Capitol riot cases. Head will get credit for the roughly 18 months he has spent locked up already…. Jackson said it was important to send a message to those who would seek to overturn elections in the future.
In fact, just as notable as the prison sentence itself was the way in which U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson contextualized the circumstances.
“Mr. Head didn’t just get caught up in something. This case is not about getting carried away,” the jurist explained. She added that Fanone, she said, “was protecting America. That’s who Officer Fanone was. That’s what Officer Fanone was doing.” She added that the officer, unlike the rioter, “was protecting the very essence of democracy, the peaceful transfer of power after a democratic election.”
Jackson went on to explain, “People need to understand that they can’t do this, or anything like this, again. They can’t try to force their will on the American people once the American people have already spoken at the ballot box. That’s the opposite of democracy — it’s tyranny. And the threat to democracy, the dark shadow of tyranny, unfortunately, has not gone away.
“There are people who are still disseminating the lie that the election was stolen. [All too true!] They’re doing it today,” she continued. “And the people who are stoking that anger for their own selfish purposes, they need to think about the havoc they’ve wreaked, the lives they’ve ruined, the harm to their supporters’ families, even, and the threat to this country’s foundation.”
I can’t say with confidence whether Head fully understood the message, but he’ll apparently have several years to think about it.
If Jackson’s name sounds at all familiar, it was last month, while sentencing a different Jan. 6 rioter, when the judge argued that it’s up to the courts to help draw the line against democratic dangers.
“[The judiciary] has to make it clear: It is not patriotism, it is not standing up for America to stand up for one man — who knows full well that he lost — instead of the Constitution he was trying to subvert,” Jackson said in September.
She also marveled at the extent to which GOP leaders are so beholden to “one man” that it has become “heresy” for Republicans to contradict Trump’s election lies.
A month earlier, with another Jan. 6 defendant in her courtroom, Jackson reminded a rioter, “You called yourself and the others ‘patriots,’ but that’s not patriotism. Patriotism is loyalty to country, loyalty to the Constitution, not loyalty to a single head of state. That’s the tyranny we rejected on July 4th of 1776.”
It’s unexpected, but one of the nation’s most eloquent voices on the significance of Jan. 6 isn’t a politician or a media professional, it’s a federal judge.
[…] as Election Day nears, […] we’ll all have to be patient as Pennsylvania tallies its votes. It took a while to learn in the spring who won close GOP primary contests in the state, and it’s also likely to take time before we know the general election results.
It was against this backdrop that Sen. Ted Cruz asked a provocative question via Twitter yesterday:
“Why is it only Democrat blue cities that take ‘days’ to count their votes? The rest of the country manages to get it done on election night.”
As part of the missive, the Texas Republican referred readers to a New York Post article, which the senator apparently hadn’t read before promoting — since it largely answered the question Cruz raised in the tweet.
In fact, the Post’s piece noted an on-air interview between NBC News’ Chuck Todd and Leigh Chapman, Pennsylvania’s acting secretary of state, in which the official conceded the vote tallies could take “days” to complete.
The newspaper went on to note, “The acting secretary added that the state has received about half of the 1.3 million absentee and mail-in ballots requested by Pennsylvania voters. Those ballots cannot be opened until 7 a.m. on Election Day, unlike other states that ‘pre-canvass’ mail-in ballots.”
It’s an important point. Part of the problem with Cruz’s point is that it’s factually wrong: Plenty of Democratic areas are able to report election results quickly, and plenty of other areas don’t “get it done” the night of the election. Another part of the problem is practical: Some major metropolitan areas with large populations need more time to tally votes because, well, they’re major metropolitan areas with large populations.
But more specifically, the GOP senator pointed to Pennsylvania, where election officials could start counting mail-in ballots before Election Day, leading to faster turn-arounds on reporting the results, but the commonwealth’s Republican-led legislature refuses to allow that to happen. [Republicans want to preserve their stupid rule because it allows them to claim, falsely, that there are some sort of shenanigans going on when it comes to main-in ballots. A lot of people buy into that lie.]
All of which leads to a larger concern: Cruz almost certainly knows all of this — none of these details are new — and there’s reason to believe he’s failing to approach the issue in good faith. [Ha! You think?]
Indeed, let’s not overlook the reason why Republicans in states like Pennsylvania insist on delaying the vote-counting process: The GOP-imposed delays fuel conspiracy theorists, who use changes in tallies as proof of nefarious election mischief.
Again, the Texas senator is not a rookie or a low-information observer unfamiliar with how elections work. But he appears to publish tweets like these to raise doubts about the integrity of the system, as part of a cynical game.
If there’s a defense for such tactics, I can’t think of it.
Faced with calls to share the oil industry’s 2022 windfall with the American people, Exxon CEO Darren Woods says he’s doing just that — in the form of a big dividend payout to shareholders. No really. I’m not kidding. “There has been discussion in the U.S. about our industry returning some of our profits directly to the American people,” says Exxon Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods. “That’s exactly what we’re doing in the form of our quarterly dividend.”
In case you live under a rock, shareholder dividends are not actually sent to the American people. They’re sent to the owners of Exxon, shareholders. So Exxon is sharing the wealth with the American people in the sense of making a lot of profits for Exxon and sharing it with the company’s owners.
Obviously sometimes people just say dumb things that don’t make any sense. What strikes me as rather wild is that this wasn’t an off-the-cuff remark. Bloomberg reports it comes from prepared remarks Woods will give on an investor conference call today.
For what it’s worth, I’m not sure anyone has called on Exxon to send checks to every American. I think President Biden is jawboning the oil companies to keep prices down, at the expense of currently wild profit margins. Whether you agree with that or not is another matter. But issuing fat dividends isn’t sharing the wealth with the American people. I think we can all agree on that.
Reginald Selkirksays
@350: Is there any data on what fraction of Exxon stock is owned by U.S. citizens?
[…] The fact is, pretty much all of the things people are saying “now that they are free” were being said prior to Musk taking over Twitter, including the racial, ethnic and homophobic slurs and anti-trans nonsense. They’ve been promoting The Big Lie and other election misinformation all along. Matt Walsh, Ben Shapiro, and Dinesh D’Souza have been on this platform all along. There have been TERFs on this platform all along. The only real difference now is that these people will now be able to troll other users of the site and target them for harassment slightly more freely than they were previously able to do.
The Right frequently likes to insist that Twitter is “the new town square” and that this means that they should be able to say anything they want there without any repercussions. You know, like how they are able to go stand on a bustling thoroughfare in any major city and just scream racial slurs to their heart’s content without anyone having a single problem with that. It makes sense as a comparison because usually when people are expressing themselves in the “town square” they are harassing other people who don’t want to interact with them — like Chicago’s State Street preacher Samuel Chambers, who stands around all day every day telling people that they are Jezebel whores who are going to hell.
Of course, most of these people rarely actually pick up a soap box and head on over to their own town square to share their thoughts. It’s almost as if they think standing in the middle of town screaming racial slurs might end poorly for them in one way or another.
The thing is, even being terrible on Twitter is not going to give them what they so desperately crave — legitimacy and acceptance. What they want is for their terrible opinions to not be seen as terrible but as entirely reasonable, which is why they go around trying to claim that they are being censored for not wanting kindergarten classes to watch Debbie Does Dallas. They want their behavior to be seen as socially acceptable — indeed, this was a large part of the reason they elected Trump. They thought if the president acted the way they did, harassed people the way they did, that people would stop judging them for being assholes.
There is an incredible amount of social power in being able to be an absolute jackass and have people put up with your shit anyway — in getting to be the most popular kid in school by bullying other kids, in getting to be the person about whom people say “Oh, he acts like a jerk, but once you get to know him he’s super cool,” in snapping fingers at waitstaff or barking orders at retail workers, and in, yes, grabbing women by the [P-word] and having them “just let you” because of who you are. There is power in being so terrible that people are afraid to speak up for themselves or be themselves or otherwise come out of the closet. There is power in being able to say terrible things and face no repercussions […] This is the power they crave.
But as horrible as it is that Elon Musk is taking over Twitter — and to be sure, it’s probably gonna be a big ol’ dumpster fire, especially given his plans to turn it into an app that does literally everything, including payment processing and ridesharing, and it’s going to make life a whole lot less safe for a whole lot of people — he can’t give them that power. He can’t give them what they want. Sure! They can go crazy using racial slurs, but being able to post them on Twitter doesn’t actually mean that it won’t make them social pariahs otherwise. They can post about Ivermectin or magic bleach or black salve, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be taken seriously. [“Ivermectin” is trending on Twitter.]
At the end of the day, they don’t really win until they are able to intimidate us, and that isn’t something Elon Musk can ever give them.
“NEW: San Francisco police say David Depape, 42, is the man who allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home this morning and he will be charged with attempted homicide.”
The State Medical Board of Ohio is threatening to limit, suspend, or even permanently revoke the medical license of Sherri Tenpenny, the infamous anti-vaccine doctor who made headlines last year for falsely testifying to state lawmakers that COVID-19 vaccinations make people magnetic—among espousing other nonsensical anti-vaccine-related conspiracy theories…
[Quoting the WSJ:] “The suspected attacker has espoused extreme right-wing views on social media, including conspiracy theories about Covid-19, according to one of the law-enforcement officials.”
[Via NBC:] Paul Pelosi undergoing brain surgery after being attacked with a hammer by an intruder trying to find Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In a ruse to expose tolerance for violence against immigrants, we told GOP Rep. Paul Gosar that we’ve been shooting “illegals” on our ranch in Southern Arizona.
Said Gosar: “Say a prayer because this country needs you. There’s a bunch of people that are ready to go into action.”
ACTIVIST: My family’s ranch is down in Yuma and we have illegals on our land a lot. We’ve shot at them, and you know our Second Amendment rights to stand our ground. I’m worried that the Democrats are going to send me to jail if I hit one of them.
GOSAR: They have more rights than we do.
ACTIVIST: Yeah, it’s like I can’t shoot at them as they cross the border and stuff. I mean, I think I might have hit someone … I was distressed about it for a week.
GOSAR: Say a prayer because this country needs you. There’s a bunch of people ready to go into action.
This is where the whole stunt almost fell apart, because what weak-kneed, multi-gendered liberal weenie would feel bad about shooting a migrant? […]
But anyway, don’t feel bad about almost pretend-murdering someone, Fake Guy from Yuma. Paul Gosar does Nazi a problem.
Gosar then plumped for Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake to declare a state of emergency and put National Guard troops on the border. “Then you’re gonna see a response,” he says, ominously. Great, let’s hope it’s nothing like the response among the National Guard troops that Texas Governor Yosemite Greg Abbott has stationed on his state’s border with Mexico. The suicide count among those poor kids was five in the past year as of three weeks ago.
Having shown a knack for domestic policy, Gosar then decided to insert himself into a foreign policy mess […] Obviously we mean Russia’s war in Ukraine: [tweet at the link]
Gosar is very “troubled” about the lack of peace efforts, and what better way to kick-start them than locking Putin and Zelenskyy in a conference room at the Sky Harbor Hilton and letting them hash it out? Frankly, we think this would work better as a threat: You two make peace between your nations or we’ll force you to spend a week in Phoenix.
There are a multitude of reasons why Ukraine and Russia don’t appear to have tried to hash out a peace agreement lately: Ukraine’s recent victories on the battlefield give it little incentive to negotiate […] Russia has nowhere near run out of random citizens it can send to the frontlines with no training in the hope that the Ukrainian military will be slowed down by all their corpses lying on the roads, Vladimir Putin is basically a Fox News-loving grandpa and we know how calm and reasoned and ready to compromise guys like that usually are. (They are nowhere near calm and reasoned and ready to compromise, ever, and they will feed their own grandchildren into a meat shredder before giving up on whatever nonsense Tucker Carlson has been pumping into their veins.)
Also there is the little matter of Putin having been sanctioned by the United States after the invasion, an action that might preclude him traveling here even if he is the head of a sovereign nation. Details, details.
But just for kicks, we checked Gosar’s committee assignments to see if he served on anything foreign policy-related. That was when we remembered that Democrats stripped him of all his committee assignments last year for tweeting death threats at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an act for which as far as we know, he has yet to apologize. At least to her. He quickly apologized to his own caucus, presumably for saying the quiet part out loud.
Anyway, responsibility for foreign policy falls mostly to the Executive Branch, not to dentists whose own families hate them.
Let us hope that Gosar does not try to sweeten the deal by telling Putin he can go on a desert migrant hunt while he’s cooling his heels in Phoenix. Putin would probably enjoy that.
[…] Which absolute sicko would Wonkette readers like to hear about this Friday morning?
Kanye, who apparently wanted to call his last record “Hitler” because he reportedly thought he was such a swell guy?
Lara Logan, whom Newsmax couldn’t even stomach anymore after her antisemitic QAnon rant last week? She went on the MyPillow Guy’s Frank Speech mom’s basement-style network and doubled down with claims that “hundreds of thousands” of kids disappear in America every year (???) and the Biden administration is paying churches and nonprofits to help disappear them (???) and why won’t anybody talk about how they do this because child blood is the secret to anti-aging (does she think it’s an anti-wrinkle cream?) and ARE THEY USING BABY BLOOD FOR THE MIRACLE ANTI-AGING SOLUTION?
No, that’s enough about them. Instead, here are Tucker Carlson and Chris Rufo, the guy who admits he made up the white racist panic over Critical Race Theory, and who has apparently moved on to lying about and inciting hatred against LGBTQ people. Why? Don’t know.
As for Tucker, there is evidence that suggests that anti-gay feelings are a deep and longstanding complex for Tucker. His rhetoric against LGBTQ people has been escalating lately. It’s been getting more violent. He delivers lies, and then incitement. Lies, and then incitement.
At the end of the clip below, Tucker suggests that people need to be armed, to defend children against drag queens.
(Reminder: kids are far more likely to be in danger around conservative Christians than they are around drag queens. Just check the headlines week after week after week after week after week. We are aware of SEVEN STORIES AND COUNTING this week of kids being sexually abused or assaulted by Christian youth leaders and pastors. SEVEN. JUST THIS WEEK.)
[Tucker Carlson video at the link]
Tucker begins by saying Rufo has been studying Drag Queen Story Hours for a month. Rufo says that “parents” are wondering “why is an adult male putting on women’s clothing and dancing and talking about sexual themes with other people’s children?” Rufo is almost certainly lying or at least radically interpreting the text when he says drag queens are “talking about sexual themes with other people’s children.”
But it’s important to note that he clearly sees the very act of a man wearing women’s clothing and a child seeing that to be offensive and threatening. In the deranged white conservative Christian mind, drag is inherently sexual. Normal people see a funny person in a funny costume doing funny lip synching.
(And yes of course, drag can be sexual, just like anything else can be sexual. Repressed conservative Christian losers think everything is sexual, because their lives are governed by shame. […])
Rufo says parents are scared to say anything about Drag Queen Story Hour. Rufo says the people who “founded the Drag Queen Story Hour movement” want to “sexualize children” and “subvert the middle-class family.” He says they want to “create a sexual connection between adult and child.”
Tucker utters the words “Stay away from the children, creep, or you’ll regret it” and asks, “Why would any parent allow their child to be sexualized by an adult man with a fetish for kids?” Notice how Tucker just pulled that whole “adult man with a fetish for kids” thing right out of his ass? See how this works? Chris Rufo’s evidence-free lies and insinuations become a springboard for Tucker Carlson to accuse drag queens of being pedophiles.
([…] [Rufo] is completely and absolutely full of shit. For fucks sake, he’s been open for several months now about how he’s manufacturing this controversy just like he did with CRT.)
At the end, Rufo says people should “arm themselves with the literature” on this “deeply disturbing sexualization of children.”
Tucker simply replies that people should “arm themselves.”
The lies, then the incitement. The lies, then the incitement. [Yikes]
Not coincidentally, Jesse Watters also spread a bunch of Rufo’s bullshit on Fox News yesterday. The network is running this garbage all hours of the day, we guess.
Also, there’s a reason we included the Kanye stuff and the Lara Logan stuff in this post. It should all be viewed as part of the same story. We don’t know what the endgame is in these people’s brains, for LGBTQ people or for Jewish people or for anybody else they incite hatred against, but we feel like we should assume the absolute worst, just to be on the safe side.
Meanwhile in Russia: top pro-Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov (who is Jewish) and his guest Yevgeny Satanovsky (who is an atheist) vehemently agree with Ramzan Kadyrov (a Muslim) that Russia is engaged in jihad against Ukraine and the West as a whole. Mind-numbing nonsense.
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link.
“[Ramzan] Kadyrov has traditional values. His holiness [Patriarch] has traditional values. I am an atheist, why do I have the same values?…”
“Maybe you aren’t really an atheist.”
“No, 100% [atheist], I’m an old Soviet person. That’s why they call them traditional values…”
Quite – they’re fucked-up authoritarian values which are the product of abusive authoritarian societies and institutions and not specific to any specific religious tradition.
This is the transcript of the speech he gave this week in Amsterdam.
ravensays
[Via NBC:] Paul Pelosi undergoing brain surgery after being attacked with a hammer by an intruder trying to find Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Oh Cthulhu.
This is truly horrible.
Brain traumatic injuries are always worse in older people for a number of reasons including that the brain shrinks with age, meaning it has more room to bounce around and tear blood vessels.
And they don’t do brain surgery unless there is no alternative.
It’s never good news when they open up the skull.
The news reports saying Paul Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery don’t know that right now. He may not.
Probably more than you want to know about traumatic brain injuries in older adults.
These can be and frequently are life altering injuries.
I do hope that Paul Pelosi makes a good recovery.
And it is obvious that he took the hammer blows that were meant for Nancy Pelosi.
This was an assassination attempt, no doubt about it.
(I would think that after this, the Pelosis are going to have Secret Service protection.)
What is true about older adults and TBI?
On average, older adults with TBI experience higher morbidity and mortality, slower recovery trajectories, and worse functional, cognitive and psychosocial outcomes than younger individuals do [3].Sep 20, 2018
Traumatic brain injury in older adults: do we need a different … https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles › PMC6199670
Oggie: Mathomsays
From 300:
Navy F-35C Surfaces Wearing New Mirror-Like Skin
I swear the military stays up night trying to find ways to make life even more difficult for fine scale modelers who do not use airbrushes. This new paint scheme looks almost impossible if you use an airbrush, but absolutely impossible for those old fashioned people like me who use actual paint brushes.
HELSINKI, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Finland and Sweden will joint NATO at the same time, their prime ministers said on Friday, presenting a united front to Turkey which has raised questions about both their applications.
The Nordic neighbours asked to join the alliance in May in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but ran into objections from Turkey which accused the two of harbouring groups it deems terrorists.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Friday Turkey’s president had told her he had more questions for Sweden than for her country. But she said she would not leave Sweden behind in the process.
In collaboration with colleagues from Austria, University of Cambridge researchers have found that tetrataenite, a ‘cosmic magnet’ that takes millions of years to develop naturally in meteorites, can potentially be used instead of rare earth magnets.
Previously, attempts to make tetrataenite in the laboratory have depended on extreme and impractical methods, but this is set to change with the researcher’s use of the common element phosphorus. By using phosphorus, there is a possibility to produce tetrataenite artificially and at scale, without any specialised treatment or expensive techniques…
One of the most promising alternatives for permanent magnets is tetrataenite, an iron-nickel alloy with an ordered atomic structure. The material forms over millions of years as a meteorite slowly cools. This offers the iron and nickel atoms enough time to order themselves into a particular stacking sequence within the crystalline structure, resulting in a material with magnetic properties similar to those of rare earth magnets…
The team studied the mechanical properties of iron-nickel alloys containing small amounts of phosphorus, which is present in meteorites. Inside these materials were a pattern of phases that indicated the expected tree-like growth structure called dendrites.
“For most people, it would have ended there: nothing interesting to see in the dendrites, but when I looked closer, I saw an interesting diffraction pattern indicating an ordered atomic structure,” said first author Dr Yurii Ivanov, who completed the work while at Cambridge and is now based at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa…
whheydtsays
Re: Reginald Selkirk @ #373…
Don’t mess with the Finns. They held off the Russian Army for 105 days, without any help from anybody. Did kind of help that it was in winter and the Russian Army of the time didn’t have useful things like white battledress to wear when surrounded by snow.
Jamshedpur, Oct 26 : Chakulia and nearby areas continue to be the horrendous setting for ‘Man-vs-Wild’ with wild pachyderms continuing to wreck havoc by destroying crop fields and houses and crushing human lives through several years while the authorities of the forest division of East Singhbhum that includes territories encompassing Chakulia, Baharagora, Dhalbhumgarh and Ghatshila look on helplessly in spite of best efforts, to contain the rampaging elephants who accounted for another life, that of 62 year old Sukra Munda of Shakhabhanga police station area in Chakulia who had ventured out to defecate only to be crushed under the feet of a wild elephant…
For about a month now, Turkey and Hungary have been the last two Nato members to not yet ratify Finland and Sweden’s accession. Hungary’s decision is thought to hinge on Turkey, for whatever reasons. Turkey is playing its own weird game that might go on for quite a while, without any significant progress happening. Sweden’s new rightwing government might be more willing than the previous one to trade on human rights, though.
Seemingly every week or so, Finnish PM or Foreign minister assures in some context or other that we are committed to joining Nato “hand in hand” with Sweden. It remains unclear how strong this commitment actually is, if it happened that Turkey (and then Hungary) ratified accession for Finland only. By doing so, Turkey would take a clear stand against Sweden’s accession and face increased political pressure from the Nato community. Meanwhile, Finnish government would be torn between signing up for Nato immediately vs. waiting likely for a long time for Sweden.
In August, a former co-founding executive of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG),William Wilkerson, filed a whistleblower claim with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against his employer and the sketchy shell company trying to take Truth Social public. Earlier this month, Wilkerson went public with his complaint. And now, some of the documents Wilkerson shared with the SEC have come to light.
Here are some of the major Truth investors, according to those filings, as first reported by Reuters:
Karl Pfluger, president of the Texas oil company Oryx Midstream and brother of Congressman August Pfluger, has put nearly $10 million towards Truth social since December 2021. Rep. Pfluger has been an outspoken supporter and endorsee of Trump. He was one of the many politicians who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election, and just recently started receiving fundraising dollars from Amazon’s corporate PAC.
Patrick Walsh, CEO of Empire Holdings—a company that manages multiple gym brands—has invested $6.2 million with Truth.
Kenny Troutt, a Texas telecoms billionaire who has donated to Trump before, forked over $4 million for Truth.
Roy Bailey, the co-finance chairman for Trump’s 2016 election campaign and later a lobbyist for the administration, gave at least $200,000 towards Truth.
George Glass, a real-estate developer from Oregon who was appointed to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Portugal during Trump’s presidency, dumped in at least half a million.
Bob McNutt, fittingly the CEO of a mail-order fruitcake company, made a modest $100,000 contribution to Trump’s social media platform.
Obviously, that still leaves about $10 million unaccounted for…
Paul Pelosi was admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he underwent ‘successful surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands. His doctors expect a full recovery’.”
Steven Mnuchin, who was Treasury secretary under President Donald J. Trump, moved faster than previously known to obtain billions of dollars in investments from Persian Gulf royal families after leaving government, two Democratic lawmakers said in a letter on Thursday.
The letter noted that Mr. Mnuchin filed papers to create a precursor to his new investment firm, Liberty Strategic Capital, just one day after leaving government, according to Delaware state records.
Mr. Mnuchin then visited the capitals of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar a total of 11 times over the next five months, according to a letter to the Treasury Department from Representative Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, the chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
The speed of Mr. Mnuchin’s pivot to private business in the gulf, they said, “raises serious concerns about Mr. Mnuchin’s actions in office and whether his personal financial interest influenced U.S. policy.” […]
The New York Times reported this year that Mr. Mnuchin raised $2 billion in investments from funds run by the governments of those three gulf monarchies in the months after leaving government. The Times also reported that as Treasury secretary, Mr. Mnuchin had visited those countries far more extensively than his predecessors, meeting frequently with the heads of their sovereign wealth funds and returning to meet with them again in his final days before leaving government.
Over his four years as Treasury secretary, Mr. Mnuchin made a total of 18 visits to four gulf monarchies, including Kuwait, and met with their sovereign wealth fund managers a total of 27 times, the Democrats’ letter notes, including several meetings in the final weeks of the Trump administration.
PHOENIX (AP) — A federal judge Friday refused to bar a group from monitoring outdoor ballot boxes in Arizona’s largest county where watchers have shown up armed and in ballistic vests, saying to do so could violate the monitors’ constitutional rights.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi said the case remained open and that the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans could try again to make its argument against a group calling itself Clean Elections USA. A second plantiff, Voto Latino, was removed from the case.
Liburdi concluded that “while this case certainly presents serious questions, the Court cannot craft an injunction without violating the First Amendment.” The judge is a Trump appointee and a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization.
ravensays
This didn’t take long.
Russia unblocked twitter after Elon Musk bought it.
Elon Musk leans towards Russia, which doesn’t make this too surprising.
It also is yet again, another reason to stay away from…Elon Musk.
Tweet Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv
And there you go..
“Russian Duma allowed the unblocking of Twitter in the Russian Federation after the acquisition of the social network by Elon Musk
This was stated by Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy Andrey Svintsov.”
What they did was put together a display called “The Eucharistic Miracles Recorded by Carlo Acutis,” named after a teenager who researched all the information on the Internet before he passed away.
On Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 3 and 4, it will be on display at St. Emma Monastery in Hempfield Township (Pennsylvania, USA). It will be open to visitors from 1 to 8 p.m.
Posts on one of David Wayne Depape’s blogs show he was into QAnon conspiracy theories like Hilary Clinton eating babies and adrenchrome, as well as many conspiracy theories about Jewish people, black people and the Ukraine war.
Some of them are so extreme I can’t really share.
A man broke into the San Francisco home of Nancy Pelosi sometime around 2 AM on Friday morning, with the apparent intent of of assassinating the speaker of the House and second in line to the presidency. In this effort, the man assaulted Pelosi’s 82-year-old husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer, causing serious injury. Paul Pelosi has been hospitalized and is reportedly undergoing brain surgery related to the injuries incurred in the attack.
The attacker, 42-year-old David Depape, has now been identified as a racist, transphobic conspiracy theorist who seems to have expressed his belief in all things “Q.” According to CNN, Depape had links on his Facebook page (which has now been taken down) with “multiple videos produced by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell falsely alleging that the 2020 election was stolen.” Depape also used his Facebook account to support former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, the murderer of George Floyd; to post multiple transphobic images and memes; and to push ideas about the “Great Reset” conspiracy theory in which “elites” were supposedly using COVID-19 in a plot to gain more power.
All the evidence shows that Depape is highly prone to believing in conspiracies. And he found a one-stop shop for all the conspiracies he could handle: the Republican Party and right-wing media. That’s why his page was filled with very familiar lies about the 2020 election, COVID-19 vaccines, and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
It’s not surprising that some of the things packed into Depape’s online accounts are videos from conspiracy pusher Mike Lindell. Claims about fraud in the 2020 election were reportedly thick on Depape’s Facebook page before it was taken down. So were claims that the Jan. 6 attack was a ‘false flag’ operation. Through many of these conspiracy theories, antisemitism is a running thread.
suspect in attack on Paul Pelosi seems to be a fan of a seemingly pro Putin/pro Assad YouTube conspiracy theorist named Jimmy Dore and anti Semitic. One of his recent posts says the war in Ukraine will make it easier for the Jews to buy up the land. https://t.co/rBMeAv6xbv pic.twitter.com/4FrGcYL2oL — Laura Rozen (@lrozen) October 28, 2022
But Depape didn’t just have a Facebook page: He also had his own blog. And on that blog he was very open about what he was all about—like every conspiracy theory ever. From alien human hybrids to Atlantis, he was there for every one of them. But mostly he was heavily into the idea that “big brother and the global elite” were censoring right-thinking people and covering up for the “Satanic Hollywood pedophiles.”
He was not just openly antisemitic, he was openly and violently racist against Black people. The N-word is repeatedly and frequently used to attack Black people who, according to Depape, are steeped in “communist ideology.” Just as frequently (and often in the same sentence), Depape flings insults at LGBTQ people, and against trans people in particular.
Running down the page of Depape’s blog is like taking a stroll through the mind of anyone who takes Tucker Carlson’s evening performances seriously. There are claims that Black people get special privileges denied to whites, insults against every letter of the LGBTQ community, claims that both Hollywood and libraries are filled with pedophiles, complaints that men aren’t allowed to criticize women, and an overall theme about how the global elites want everyone indoctrinated into their “satanic pedophile communist cult.”
There’s no doubt that Depape is at the very least highly suggestible, if not outright delusional. He’s also weirdly obsessed with taking kids’ movies and dubbing in beeps, followed up with claims that the movies have been “censored.”
But Depape’s violent anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-Black, antisemitic tendencies were inflated to extremes precisely because he found Republicans at all levels willing to feed him the conspiracy that he wanted—one that said a white male who hated Blacks, women, immigrants, trans people, and Jews was right, and it was just that “cancel culture” of Hollywood elites keeping him down. […]
Depape isn’t so much a conspiracy theorist as a conspiracy addict. And the Republican Party is his pusher.
SCOTTISH PIG producers are demanding that something be done about the tide of illegal meat coming into the UK via Dover before the worst happens, and African Swine Fever comes in with it…
Wonkette: “Nancy Pelosi’s Husband Paul Will Be Fine After Gddamn Fcking HAMMER Attack, Fox News Will Not”
A while back, House Minority Leader and human Q-tip Kevin McCarthy made a solemn vow to a bunch of Republicans at a fundraiser. After the Tennessee GOP congressional delegation presented him with an oversized gavel, McCarthy promised that when his party took back the House majority and Nancy Pelosi handed him the Speaker’s gavel, they could all watch him beat her with it.
Ha ha, ideations of violent misogyny against an 82-year-old woman are tight! […]
Anyway, some conservative nut apparently couldn’t wait until January. So he broke into Pelosi’s home in San Francisco, asked her startled husband Paul where she was, and then proceeded to treat Paul like a ten-penny nail at an Amish barn-raising:
The intruder shouted, “Where is Nancy?” before attacking her husband, one of the officials said.
The intruder broke in through a sliding-glass door and beat Mr. Pelosi with a hammer, one of the officials said, leaving him badly injured with wounds to the head and body. The alleged assailant was arrested.
If that sounds creepy, it is remarkably similar – okay, exactly the same – as what some rioters chanted as they prowled the halls of Congress during the January 6 attack, going so far as to tear apart Pelosi’s office while her terrified staff barricaded themselves in a conference room and called for help.
The suspected attacker has espoused extreme right-wing views on social media, including conspiracy theories about Covid-19, according to one of the law-enforcement officials.
Now if you are even just a decent human being, you might simply say, “That is terrible, we are glad to hear that Mr. Pelosi’s injuries were apparently not life-threatening and he will recover, and we hope the legal system will pursue all appropriate charges against the perpetrator, whom we are grateful to learn was immediately taken into custody.”
Since conservatives are not that, we instead have gotten a lot of “Stephen A. Smith is sensitive to the Holocaust, BUT” mealy-mouthing: [videos at the link]
Fox attacks the White House for condemning the attack against Paul Pelosi and not every other hammer attack. […]
Yes, Joe Biden promised to try and bring the nation together. Every president of our lifetime before Donald Trump promised to do the same. But even if national unity midwifed by a president is even possible and not some generic campaign jibber-jabber, Biden can’t do it by himself. He needs willing partners, and Fox News proves every day that it is most definitely not willing.
We guess it was just asking too much to ask for decency on the same day that certain wingnuts decided that they are suddenly free to shout the n-word on Twitter. Maybe tomorrow, fellas?
We would be remiss if we didn’t also mention this jackass: [Rand Paul tweeted: No one deserves to be assaulted. Unlike Nancy Pelosi’s daughter who celebrated my assault, I condemn this attack and wish Mr. Pelosi a speedy recovery.]
Yr Wonkette would like to note that Alexandra Pelosi is a private citizen, not a member of Congress. We would also like to note that the Paul case was reportedly over a dispute between neighbors over the dumping of yard waste, not a politically motivated attack. Also, reportedly, Rand Paul was being [an asshole].
And we would further note that you can just extend your well-wishes to someone who has just suffered a trauma without making it another link in the long, long, long chain of personal grievances that you carry around with you every single day of your life.
Anyway, a speedy recovery to Paul Pelosi and good LORD are we done with today yet?
Oggie: Mathomsays
I’m watching the World Series and, of course, the political ads are coming fast and furious. A couple of observations:
The GOP adverts spend as much time attacking Pelosi and Biden as they do going after Fetterman himself. And they keep claiming that he wants to raise taxes on real working Americans (odd, the only tax increase I have run across that Fetterman is proposing is to raise taxes on the top 5% of filers (which, I guess, to the GOP are the actual working Americans)).
The Fetterman ads either attack Oz and what he has actually said and done, or telling us his actual plans in congress.
The Oz ads are full of empty platitudes (I’m a doctor and doctors help people (bleah)) and either contextual misrepresentations of Fetterman’s past or outright fabrications.
The Oz campaign keeps hammering Fetterman because he had help from his parents until he was about 40 years old and that he paid his taxes late 67 times and then make the claim that he is out of touch with America. I helped support my kids as long as they needed it — Boy until he was in his 30s. I have also been late on my taxes many times (not sure it was 76 times) — city income tax, city per-capita tax, city EMS tax, county property taxes, city property taxes, city school property tax, state tax, and federal income tax. All it takes is a few years of really tight finances and, low and behold, you have been late on your taxes umpty-ump times. Sounds to me like Fetterman is really in touch with what America is like for all but the top 5%. I wonder if Oz has ever had to choose paying the mortgage over paying a tax bill on time?
A really weird advert claiming that the reason we have inflation, low wages, and high crime is because we have sent $660 billion (there was fine print at the bottom which actually read $65.9 billion, but the voice over said $660 billion) and all those weapons (worth billions more) to Ukraine and that now there’s going to be a nuclear war. They flashed and said the name of the PAC so fast that I missed it. [UPDATE] Saw it again: Citizens for Sanity. Which “is a conservative nonprofit whose leaders are associated with the America First Legal Foundation, which was founded by former Trump administration official Stephen Miller.” (from Politifact) Their Politifact scorecard is half ‘mostly false’ and half ‘false.’ No surprise.
I finally noticed what it is that bugged me about Mastriano’s campaign materials. All of campaign signs (not a link to his campaign website) have a blue star on a white field with a red circle around the star. And it was bugging me that I recognized it as an air force insignia but could not place it. I thought it might be North Korea, but the PRK insignia has a second blue circle on the roundel. Then it hit me. It is the early Communist Jugoslav Air Force insignia. Why is a GOP candidate using a communist air force roundel as his campaign symbol? And how fast would the GOP attack a progressive candidate using the same symbol as a being a commie-socialist-Nazi-liberal-pinko?
An overall observation is this: if it is a Democratic advertisement, I can depend on it to be relatively honest about both the D candidate and the R candidate. If it is a GOP advert, most I have seen (along with the mailers) are strong on outright fabrication or contextual dissimulation about the D candidate’s stands, while saying virtually nothing about the R candidate’s stands.
Oggie: Mathomsays
Sorry for the wall of text. Tried to number the six middle paragraphs. They were there in preview. Not sure what happened.
ravensays
@ Oggie: Mathom #390
Sorry for the wall of text. Tried to number the six middle paragraphs. They were there in preview. Not sure what happened.
There is a weird bug in Freethoughtblogs that sometimes makes left margin numbers disappear.
There is a fix for it.
I always use (period number period). .1.
.1.
.2.
.3.
.4.
No idea why it works but it just works.
No idea why FTBs software hates numbered paragraphs and points.
Oggie: Mathomsays
Thanks, ravnen. I’m sure I will forget that before the next time I actually need to remember it.
ravensays
.1. One estimate of the Killed in Action of Russians in Ukraine is 60,000, 120,000 Wounded in Action.
.2. This is a terrible ratio of KIA to WIA at 1:2.
.3. The usual ratio in war is stated as 1:3 to 1:4
.4. It was 1:8 for the USA in Iraq and Afghanistan.
.5. Russian battlefield medicine is said to be equal to everything else their army does, which is to say, terrible.
Tweet (((Tendar))) @Tendar
Military economist Marcus Keupp: “Russia has realistically lost 60,000 as KIA and 120,000 as WIA, numerically seen everyone they have sent in the beginning in February.” #Ukraine
(FWIW, I numbered these statements and they disappeared in preview.
Then I added left side periods and they show up.
This is a weird FTBs bug.)
ravensays
Reuters
OCTOBER 28, 202211:39 AMUPDATED 10 HOURS AGO Russian state journalist killed by stray bullet at Crimea base -officials
Oct 28 (Reuters) – A Russian journalist working for a major Kremlin-backed media group died on Friday in a shooting accident at a military training ground in Crimea, Russian-installed officials and state media outlets said.
Svetlana Babayeva was head of the Rossiya Segodnya media group’s bureau in Simferopol, the second-largest city on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The RIA Novosti news agency, a subsidiary of Rossiya Segodnya, reported Babayeva was killed by a stray bullet during shooting practice. It provided no further details.
I don’t know what to make about this story.
You don’t just get fired from jobs in Russia.
You often end up dead in implausible accidents.
Svetlana Babayeva was the head of RT propaganda in Crimea.
She somehow managed to get shot at a Russian military base in Crimea by a “stray bullet”.
Well, sometimes a stray bullet is just a stray bullet but it wouldn’t surprise me if someone decided she was in the way and had to leave this earth.
NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai issued a statement Friday night condemning guard Kyrie Irving’s decision to promote an antisemitic film and book on his social media accounts…
For some couples, the risk of death in Ukraine has crystallized their intentions toward each other. For others, formalizing their relationship is a way to get access to benefits — including free public transport and payouts for children — that are promised to serving men’s families, as well as compensation of over 5 million rubles ($81,443) in the event of death in combat.
Thelast paragraph of that alst one is spot on -and scary.
Can we not arrest Murdoch and his lik for inciting violence and hatred now please?
ravensays
Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en
Explosions in Sevastopol harbor last night.
According to some sources, several Russian warships of the Black Sea Fleet were blown up – including a fregate and a landing ship.
Some good news to start the weekend.
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian Black sea fleet was successful.
Several ships were blown up in Sevastopol last night.
No details yet but Sevastopol is a long way from Ukrainian held territory.
And, if you can hit the Sevastopol harbor then….
ravensays
This BBC article confirms there was a large drone attack on the Sevastopol fleet.
The real details aren’t known yet.
Russia claims it was a mix of aerial drones and sea going drones and didn’t do much damage. (Russians lie a lot.)
Ukrainian sources are claiming that several Russian ships were damaged or destroyed. We will have to wait for more information.
‘Massive’ drone attack on Black Sea Fleet – Russia
By Hugo Bachega in Kyiv and James Gregory in London
BBC News October 29, 2022 edited for length
Ukraine has carried out a “massive” drone attack on the Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, damaging one warship, Russia says.
Nine drones were used, a top official said. Ukraine has not commented.
Without providing evidence, Russia accused British troops of being involved in Saturday’s attack – and in blowing up gas pipelines last month.
In recent weeks, several attacks have hit the peninsula, where the Russian army has built up a large presence.
Sevastopol is the largest city in the region and home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet.
Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russian-installed governor of the city, said Russia’s navy had repelled the latest attack – the “most massive” on the city since February.
He said that all unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) had been shot down and no “civilian infrastructure” had been damaged.
At least one vessel sustained minor damage, the Russian ministry of defence said.
“In the course of repelling a terrorist attack on the outer roadstead of Sevastopol, the use of naval weapons and naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed four marine unmanned vehicles, three more devices were destroyed on the internal roadstead,” a statement from the ministry read.
Without providing any evidence, the Russian defence ministry also accused British navy specialists of helping Ukrainian forces prepare the attack on Saturday morning.
It also said the same unit was “involved in plotting, organising, and implementation of the terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on 26 September this year to blow up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines”.
But Russia complains that its own exports are still hindered, and has previously suggested it might not renew the deal.
In recent days, Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately delaying the passage of ships, creating a queue of more than 170 vessels.
On Friday night, Ukraine launched an attack on the Crimean port of Sevastopol. Russian sources have reported that this attack included at least nine UAVs (drones) and seven UMV (automated boats). Ukrainian sources have called these claims ridiculous. But however it was achieved, there are reports of damage to a number of Russian naval vessels, including the Frigate Admiral Makarov. At least three of the ships damaged are reportedly those which were have launched Kalibr missiles into Ukrainian cities. [tweet and image at the link]
Images from the event show a series of explosions. In the immediate aftermath, Russian news outlets attributed the blasts to a “training exercise.” Then Russia claimed that Ukraine had launched their incredible air-sea drone combo punch, but had only taken out a fishing trawler. Russia later acknowledge damage to a minesweeper.
However, it was evident from the beginning that several large ships were ablaze in the harbor. With the coming of the morning, some of these ships can be identified. The Admiral Makarov — a 122m (400’) long ship that was just launched in 2015 — appears to have suffered heavy damage and has now been burning for hours. The harbor may be too shallow for it to join the cruiser Moskva at the bottom of the sea, but there’s little doubt that the Makarov will be out of action for an extended period. [tweet and video at the link]
The power of the explosions is clear. Less clear is what Ukraine actually used to carry out this mission (based on recent experience, Russia is likely to blame NATO-trained dolphins and attack mosquitos). Adding to the wonder over just how badly Russia handled this, even on the propaganda front, just minutes before the explosions Russian officials reported that Ukraine had launched drones toward Sevastopol, but all those drones have been destroyed.
In April, Russian ships were forced to move farther away from the Ukrainian coast after Ukraine gave a vivid demonstration of their ability, and of Russia’s inadequate defenses, by sinking the Moskva, which was at that point the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. With the Moskva out of action, Russia needed a new flagship and, this is true, the selection was … the Admiral Makarov. So Ukraine may have just sunk the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet. Again.
In September, Russia reportedly relocated its Kilo-class submarines from Sevastopol to the Russian port of Novorossiysk in Krasnodar Krai. This came after a series of explosions in Crimea whose origin seemed to baffle the Russian military. Some planes from Crimean air fields were also relocated back to the other side of the soon-to-be damaged Kerch Bridge. However, Sevastopol is almost 300km from the nearest Ukrainian-controlled territory, well outside of the longest range attack from HIMARS and at the limit of operations for the Bayraktar drone. Despite the handful of earlier explosions, it seemed that Russia didn’t think its Black Sea Fleet was in serious danger.
They thought wrong. Those subs over at Novorossiysk better make room. They’re likely to have some new neighbors … assuming those neighbors are capable of making the journey. And now I’m going to link my own tweet, because I want to share the meme, and because I can barely resist typing “wessels” every time it comes up. [tweet and image at the link, three of the ships damaged were those carrying Kalibr missiles.]
This morning I need to offer both a retraction and an apology. The retraction comes because, after I published the initial update yesterday, I updated again with news that Ukrainian forces had crossed the P66 highway north of Kreminna and were in control of the road. In particular, the town of Ploshchanka was mentioned as the site of this important change in control.
My sources on this were a pair of highly reliable Ukrainian Telegram accounts, and their sources were even better—because the statement came from Serhii Haidai, head of Ukraine’s Armed Forces in Luhansk. That would seem hard to beat.
Hard, but not impossible. Because hours later, the commander of Operational Command “East,” Major General Serhiy Nayev, called out Haidai by name for spreading false information and potentially causing damage to Ukrainian operations in the area. According to Nayev, Ukraine holds fire control over an extended stretch of the highway, but is not in physical possession of the highway in the area Haidai cited.
Whether this means that Ukraine has taken the road, but doesn’t want it talked about, or hasn’t taken the road and is angry that Haidai jumped the gun, or whether this is all still another level of OpSec … I don’t know. But for now, I’m pulling back that control line and saying “never mind” to the update stating that Ukraine held the highway near Ploshchanka.
The apology comes because I had hinted at a second update yesterday, but didn’t actually get that accomplished. In part, that was because some asshole broke into Nancy Pelosi’s house hoping to murder her and ended up sending her 82-year-old husband to the hospital for emergency surgery.
But it was also because I got involved in a project that is Coming Soon. Here’s your sneak peak… [Image of Field guide to the Drones of Ukraine]
This one has been on the map for a week, but it’s always good to have confirmation, especially considering how close this is to Svatove. [Tweet and video showing visual confirmation that Stelmakhivka has been liberated by Ukrainian forces.]
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Russia has reportedly suspended participation in the grain deal to export agricultural produce from Ukrainian ports after attacks on ships in Crimea, according to Tass. The UN secretary general had urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the grain deal that has seen more than 8m tonnes of grain exported from Ukraine and brought down global food prices. The agreement between Ukraine and Russia was due to expire on 19 November.
The United Nations is in contact with Russian authorities following reports that Moscow has suspended participation in a deal that resumed Ukrainian Black Sea grain and fertiliser exports, Reuters reports.
“It is vital that all parties refrain from any action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative which is a critical humanitarian effort that is clearly having a positive impact on access to food for millions of people around the world,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
“Memorial was not allowed to host its annual commemoration for victims of Stalinist terror. Across the world people read the names, while in Moscow, Memorial held a small ceremony and people laid flowers on the Solovetsky Stone.”
NYT link at the (Twitter) link.
ravensays
Ukrainian sources don’t say they were involved in the Sevastopol attacks.
However, they seem to have drone video footage taken from the drones involved.
I’m sure this is just a coincidence.
At least 3 ships were seriously damaged including their flagship, the frigate Admiral Makarov.
Exclusive footage of burning Russian ships in Sevastopol: At least 3 caliber carriers were damaged. VIDEO
Video Censor.NET War in Ukraine
As a result of the night explosions in the occupied Sevastopol, at least 3 Russian “Calibre” carrier ships were damaged
This was reported by sources to law enforcement agencies, Censor.NET reports .
As a result of the night explosions in the occupied Sevastopol, at least 3 Russian “Calibre” carrier ships were damaged
This was reported by sources to law enforcement agencies, Censor.NET reports .
Among them is the Admiral Makarov frigate. There is a good chance that several ships are not just damaged, but sunk.
It should be noted that none of the security forces officially confirms that the Ukrainian special services may be behind the explosions.
We have warned of Russia’s plans to ruin the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Now Moscow uses a false pretext to block the grain corridor which ensures food security for millions of people. I call on all states to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations.
Well, the midterms’re just around the corner, and things’ve gone more or less apeshit. Welcome to election season in the madhouse; sure am glad everybody’s so heavily armed.
So, turns out, when you spend a couple years driving folks violently insane with persecution fantasies, your politics turn a bit screwy. In a lot of ways, it’s surprising it took us this long to arrive at the Hammer-Wielding Assassin phase of the show.
But we’re there, folks.
Masked maniacs in tactical gear menacing voters in Arizona. Election policy succumbing to the demented demands of conspiracy theorists in a rural Republican community in Nevada. Election offices hemorrhaging staff under a bombardment of harassment and nuisance requests. Fast-congealing plans to use the coming results in Pennsylvania to test-drive new attacks on the election system, as MAGA gears up for the big one in 2024.
[…] the Republican Party has declared open season on democracy, and now we get to find out how many furious weirdos answer the call this time ‘round, […]
God knows Paul Gosar’s ready to boogaloo. Lookit the way he lights up at the mere mention of shooting immigrants. […]
“Oh Cap, that’s just how Republicans are nowadays, they’re angry and racist and growing more authoritarian by the dang minute and they spend their time daydreaming about violence.” I suppose you’re right; I guess I’m just attached to the old-fashioned notion that every single step these freaks and losers take towards fascism deserves to be front page news.
Like, when Kanye showed up to the picnic unexpectedly bearing a tuna casserole and Stormfront-level anti-Semitism, they slid him into the conga line without missing a beat or making a fuss. […]
(Watching the Pelosi story unfold while I draft this post. Hammer Dork spent his life in the wingnut disinformation bubble, you say? Hours flinging all the latest lies around Facebook, you say? Huh.)
As expected, the Pennsylvania Senate debate offered Republicans an irresistible opportunity to once again prove Adam Serwer’s famous hypothesis, and also for dog-torturing telequack Mehmet Oz to opine that abortion decisions really oughta stay between a woman, her doctor, and “local political leaders,” yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes.
Since they’re to be deputized as Junior Theocrat Rangers in charge of every womb that wanders within 100 yards, let’s check in some of those “local political leaders,” shall we? See what they’re about?
Obviously, Herschel Walker is ready to hit the ground running here, given his extensive, hands-on experience with the abortion issue, which it feels like we’re learning more and more about every day. […] I’d like to find out how many abortions financed it takes to get to that elusive candy center where wingnut evangelicals actually hold themselves to those standards they’re always bellowing about.
[…] with Marsha Blackburn cavorting with Proud Boys at an anti-trans hate rally, and Marco Rubio’s campaign hiring white supremacist canvassers, we have to ask, does this apply only to elected officials, or would the umbrella extend to any brownshirts in their entourage?
Precisely how many militarized incels will be consulted in each individual birthing vessel’s reproductive health decisions?
Will the “local political leaders” all be as craven and obsequious as Blake Masters and JD Vance? And, if so, how will they balance these new slut-flogging duties with their time-intensive day job, tongue-bathing the hindquarters of a guy who’s spent years boasting about passing a cognitive test?
(What’s that? Glenn Youngkin debuted his tight five on the Pelosi attack while her husband was still hospitalized with injuries inflicted by a MAGA terrorist? On the campaign trail, no less? Gee, there’s certainly no culture-wide rot there!)
Maybe we’re just not getting local enough. Let’s check in on the gubernatorial candidates, I’m sure they will prove qualified, trustworthy supervisors to the nation’s assorted whores and jezebels.
The Mastriano campaign was unavailable for comment, as they were far too busy impugning the Jewishness of opponent Josh Shapiro, and spending Gab founder Andrew Torba’s money, but you know Dougie’s always down for a little dominionism.
But you’ll have to speak up if you want Tudor Dixon to hear you over the brain-devouring maggots. Dixon, who we must assume is, as the party’s nominee for governor of the whole state, the very best Republican in all of Michigan, apparently believes Covid-19 was part of a decades-long Democrat conspiracy to reinstate slavery, […]
(Oh, and I see the Everything I Don’t Want to Believe is a False Flag contingent completed its thorough study of the Pelosi/hammer incident. Say what you will about their conclusions, they’re speedy.)
Really, the only prerequisite to obtain the uterus-policing powers of a Local Political Leader™️ is blind fealty to the ever-expanding litany of Crazy Fake Shit MAGA Believes, like “medication designed to deworm livestock will cure a virus” or “Donald Trump, a 239-pound man who cares about ordinary people like me, won the 2020 presidential election.” Shit, New Hampshire Senate candidate Don Bolduc gets pissy when you understate the length of his cult membership.
If anybody’s looking to snap that last thread and go stark raving nuts tonight, may I recommend the article in the Times documenting the mad tangle of pillow money and Mike Lindell’s personal mental health issues fueling the spread of the Big Lie? Don’t read this one over any vats of experimental chemicals, folks.
Boy, if there’s one thing recent American history has taught us, it’s that there’s no practical limit to the damage one emotionally stunted rich [man] can inflict with a sufficiently large platform. Good thing nobody’s selling any massive social media platforms to thin-skinned manchildren, huh?
(Hammer Dork shared Lindell’s videos on Facebook, you say? And me without my fainting couch.)
Incidentally, while I appreciate the contribution to the historical record, I fear Bob Woodward’s Trump tapes are hitting the market at a commercially suboptimal moment; I’m not sure anyone’s hoping Santa leaves Hours of Narcissistic Pandemic-Era Whining in their stocking, y’know?
I tell you what, I bet nepotism is nothing to fuck with when you’re dealing with the spawn of the very mouth of ascendant American fascism; anyway, Tucker Carlson named his kid “Buckley,” because fucking of course he did.
I see the Trump/DeSantis softboi slapfight is heating up, and golly, that’s gonna be embarrassing. Two lumps of weapons-grade mediocrity dueling for the MAGA mob’s attention and adulation. […]
With all the grim shit going down, I thought it was right kind of Ted Cruz to waddle out and step on a few rakes for our amusement. In these post-decency days, nothing warms the soul quite like watching people remind an asshole he’s an asshole.
…except maybe watching the gears of justice work their slow n’ steady will on these thugs. Another clock just ran out on Mark Meadows, I always enjoy those stories. Our old pal Jacob Wohl swung by, to plead guilty to felony fraud. Remember Jacob Wohl? Simpler times, man. Nobody was gonna build a gallows because they thought Elizabeth Warren was gettin’ a piece on the side, y’know?
Nowadays the right-wing kooks are more like Albuquerque Head, who earned every minute of his 7 1/2 year sentence at the Capitol Riot. Or, you know, the fellow who broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home with a hammer and sent her husband to the hospital.
So yeah, this was the one where the guy tries to kill Nancy Pelosi with a hammer, and I dunno about you folks, but I’ve never been so excited to VOTE IN THE GODDAMN MIDTERMS. Something about a tornado of malice and violence just makes me feel like standing up to be counted. You stay safe out there, so you can do the same. […]
I’m just going to say it. Russia is falling apart rapidly.
They are now taking away the passports of doctors. (The translation here isn’t clear but it is the doctors who are having their passports taken away.)
This is to keep them from fleeing the country.
When you have to keep your own citizens captive, that says a lot about what it is like to live in Russia.
You aren’t a citizen, you are a prisoner of a corrupt, dysfunctional, failing dictatorship.
It has begun: in the Russian Federation, doctors begin to have their passports taken away.
Physicians of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Rostov region were obliged to “deposit” their passports so that they do not have time to travel abroad. On October 27, a letter from the authorities came to the chat of employees of the Rostov hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where employees of the internal affairs bodies and their families are treated. All doctors were required to bring passports, hand them over to the personnel department for signature, after which they would be sent “for storage to Glavk.”
This is reported by the TG channel of Ksenia Sobchak, the hospital management received a similar order from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Rostov Region. ” Objections are not accepted ,” – summed up, probably, the head physician. Those who cannot find and hand over a passport will have to write an explanatory note about its loss. After that, the passport will be cancelled.
Recall that on October 28, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the end of “partial” mobilization in Russia. If this were true, then, most likely, no one would demand passports from doctors and impose restrictions on leaving the country. Meanwhile, those mobilized from Penza also said that before being sent to the front, the authorities settled them in a barn. Of course, there is no question of any conditions – the “mobiles” all began to get sick indiscriminately and complain about the attitude of the commanders. Other Russians who are going to be transferred to Ukraine testified that they are not even given machine guns during the exercises.
What does the one have to do with the other? Why should attacking military vessels during wartime have any linkage to the transport of grain on cargo vessels?
A new report from the United Nations’ International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that disruptions to global energy supplies caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will actually speed up the world’s transition to green energy sources, helping to get the planet a little closer to meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement. The world’s biggest energy users will need to work harder to meet those goals, but the report emphasizes that holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees F) above preindustrial levels by the end of the century is still achievable if nations can reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. And every bit closer we get to that goal is vital to preventing the most catastrophic effects of climate change.
In the short term, the report says, Europe may actually use more oil and coal to generate electricity, especially this winter, but this year’s disruptions to natural gas shipments from Russia are ultimately going to result in faster adoption of wind, solar, clean hydrogen, and in some cases, nuclear energy. In addition, greater use of clean technology like electric vehicles, heat pumps, and energy-efficient appliances and building methods will clean things up on the demand side.
Even when the war in Ukraine ends, Russia is extremely unlikely to ever again supply 30 percent of the international natural gas market, the rate before the invasion. The demand just won’t be there as other countries go with greener electricity sources that aren’t subject to sudden shutdown. Now that large-scale clean generation options are affordable, developing nations like India and even China are likely to meet growing electricity demands with green energy instead of fossil fuels, too.
Also too, for the first time ever, the annual IEA projects that demand for fossil fuels of all kinds will peak in the next few decades, with rapidly declining fossil fuel use to follow.
While “horrible deadly land war in Europe” isn’t anyone’s idea of a good idea for speeding up the transition to clean energy, that does look like what’s happening. Not the silver lining anyone would prefer, but if it kicks the world’s ass to take action, at least that’s better than a retrenchment of fossil fuels.
The New York Times notes that the transition is already well along the way, all over the world:
In the United States, Congress approved more than $370 billion in spending for such technologies under the recent Inflation Reduction Act. Japan is pursuing a new “green transformation” program that will help fund nuclear power, hydrogen and other low-emissions technologies. China, India and South Korea have all ratcheted up national targets for renewable and nuclear power.
And yet, the shift toward cleaner sources of energy still isn’t happening fast enough to avoid dangerous levels of global warming, the agency said, not unless governments take much stronger action to reduce their planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions over the next few years.
If you want some talking points to use the next time some Republican insists the answer is to DRILL BABY, DRILL, you can arm yourself with the report’s executive summary, which finds that energy markets are already in the process of “rebalancing” toward renewables and nuclear power over coming decades, and that any increase in coal and oil are only going to see temporary growth.
Existing coal-fired power plants may increase output in the near term, but there’s little economic sense in building new ones. Yes, even in the developing world. And yes, especially in China, so could we please bury forever the outdated claim that China will be ramping up coal use for decades and decades? It’s simply not the case; the report notes that “New targets continue to spur the massive build-out of clean energy in China, meaning that its coal and oil consumption both peak before the end of this decade.”
[…] Under current energy policies across the world, we’re not on track to reach the Paris goals: Carbon emissions will likely peak in the middle of this decade and start declining, but we’d still see a 2.5 degree C rise in average temperature by 2100. The only solace there is that it’s a full degree C lower than the pre-Paris baseline predicted. But if all countries actually met their existing carbon reduction goals, we’d be in better shape, with a much sharper reduction in total emissions by 2050, resulting in a 1.7 degree C increase in global average temperature at the end of the century — resulting in a far more livable planet.
And again, the IEA lays out an updated roadmap for how the world could reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which actually would meet the desired goal of 1.5 degrees warming by 2100. It wouldn’t be easy, requiring rapid growth of clean energy, including nuclear as part of the mix, sharp reductions in carbon emissions, and 60 percent of car sales being EVs by 2030. The upside would be millions of jobs created to reach that goal, plus the whole thing where human civilization and most of the world’s ecosystems survive, which seems like a pretty good thing to shoot for.
Spend a little time poking around the report today — you might just find yourself feeling a bit more optimistic about the prospects for what Mark Twain called “the damned human race.”
As Carl Sagan said, we’re all we’ve got. [video at the link]
One of the primary rules of the conspiratorial Right is that no one associated with them can ever do anything bad, and if it looks that way, it’s a false flag or is actually an example of someone on the Left having done something terrible and everyone conspiring to make the Right look bad in some capacity. The funny thing about this is that they think that we think anything has to be done to make them “look bad.” Were this our goal, surely we could rest on the laurels of “they think Tom Hanks eats babies and advertises this fact by wearing red shoes sometimes” — though clearly they have no idea how truly batshit that actually sounds or else I suppose they would be less inclined to believe it.
In any case, Paul Pelosi’s attack by a guy who believed in all of the QAnonsense, as well as a variety of conspiracy theories promoted by Tucker Carlson and other members of the Fox News brain trust? Well that can’t be true. After all, there has never been any known instance of right-wing terrorism or violence in all of known history.
So they have concocted their own story. It’s hard to tell where it first originated, but the going theory is that, actually David DePape was there to have sex with Paul Pelosi, either as his lover or as a male prostitute, and “things got out of hand” during a lover’s spat and DePape attacked him.
They claim that this is true because DePape was in his underwear when the police arrived — but this was only reported by one outlet, which later deleted that detail and added a correction note reading “an earlier version of this story misstated what clothing the suspect was wearing when officers found him.” Even if it were true, the guy has been identified as a “nudist protester,” so it wouldn’t be too terribly shocking. […]
They are all now naturally very outraged about the media’s “coverup” of the story they invented. [tweet and video at the link]
Yeah. But they’re not the only one’s blaming the left for a QAnon lunatic attacking Nancy Pelosi with a hammer. Bill Maher has also decided that it is our fault because we shut them up and banned them from Twitter and now they’re mad. [video at the link]
He said:
When you tell people they can’t be heard, they don’t go away. Donald Trump has been off Twitter. He didn’t go away. He’s going to absolutely get the Republican nomination next time. And his people, they didn’t go away. They didn’t self-deport because he wasn’t on Twitter.
And you see, there was an attack at a drag queen story hour at a Portland pub, I don’t know why people are bringing their children to a pub, but okay. Then Nancy Pelosi as you mentioned, somebody attacked her thinking she was home, she was not, her husband got attacked in his home.
You know, this is this cold civil war that we’re in, that we’ve been hearing about. Civil war, it’s not going to be like the last civil war. It’s going to be this kind of stuff. And I think when you shut off that valve of letting people talk, I think that stuff only gets worse.
[JFC. Bill Maher is awful.]
Somehow Maher’s description of the attack on Paul Pelosi was not the most confused part of this. For the record, David DePape had not one but two blogs. He was very able to express himself and share his thoughts on “the Jews,” on Black people, and on trans people, he was free to go on and on about his belief in various conspiracy theories. He was very actively expressing himself, which is how we know he believed all of these batshit things.
No one has barred people from talking or writing or sharing their thoughts. There have been a small amount of limits set regarding what can and cannot be said on a particular platform — and it is pretty much limited to things that are harmful to other people or things that would make the platform unusable for a significant number of people. For instance, Trump’s insistence upon claiming that the election had been stolen from him led to hundreds of people invading congress and now many of them are in prison. Spreading fake cures for COVID is also harmful, because it could kill people. Allowing trolling and targeted harassment would lead to everyone but trolls leaving the platform en masse, which would then fuck them with advertisers.
Rudely, Maher has yet to formulate a plan for how much attention we should give these people in order to keep them from having to attack Paul Pelosi with a hammer. If we listen to their thoughts on “the Jews” for fifteen minutes a day, will that do it?
If Bill Maher so desperately wants to hear what these people have to say, I would be happy to direct him to the many, many places where they are sharing their many fascinating thoughts. If he wants those people to be heard, why doesn’t he go to them? Or is it just us non-mega-rich leftists that are supposed to be taking this all in? Perhaps he could even have them on his show? As much as I don’t think giving these people a platform is a great idea personally, if Maher thinks that this could prevent another violent hammer attack, then is it not his duty to bring these people on and engage with them?
But of all the ways the Left bashed Paul Pelosi over the head with a hammer repeatedly, perhaps the most poignant way was by demoralizing the police by making a whole thing about it when they kill an unarmed Black person. Clearly, if we had cheered more for them, they would have been able to prevent the attack, as well as all of the other crime. [Tweet and video at the link]
Cops, apparently, operate on Tinkerbell rules. If you don’t clap for them while saying “I believe in qualified immunity” over and over again, they are forced to stand around and mope all day instead of doing their jobs […]
It should probably be noted that San Francisco no longer has a progressive prosecutor for a DA, having replaced Chesa Boudin with a “tough on crime” prosecutor who is very excited to go back to the very successful War on Drugs. This was supposed to make all of the crime in the city go away, though this has yet to occur.
Now, this is just this afternoon. Surely by tomorrow there will be some great theories about how this was all caused by concern over climate change, the mere existence of drag queens and, of course, critical race theory.
Sad. Predictable. Wife and I discussed this last night and wondered how long it would be before the non-existent radical left would be blamed.
Conservatives have been claiming, since before Saint Ronald (who would be drummed out of the current GOP as too far to the left (he NEGOTIATED with DEMOCRATS!)), that they are the party of personal responsibility. For the last decade or so, the left has been denigrated as professional victims. But when is the last time a conservative actually took responsibility for anything?
ravensays
Tweet Geopolitical Hub @GeopoliticalGu1
Another #Russian source stating Col General #Lapin will not return to his Central Military District post. MOD source states he will head to the hospital “to heal”. Not sure if he was wounded or has an illness but reports are that he was just plain ol’ incompetent #Ukraine #Russia
Once again, one of the heads of the Russian invaders in Ukraine has been dismissed, General Lapin.
The hospital is an ominous place for people like him to go to.
They frequently have fatal accidents in those places.
To call General Lapin incompetent is too easy.
He was playing a bad hand just by being Russian with the Russian army and Russian society.
General Lapin is famous for…”2 days ago — Sota: Colonel General Lapin personally threatened retreating mobilized soldiers in Svatovo by putting a gun to their heads.”
Something isn’t right here.
If you have to shoot your own soldiers to keep them from retreating, maybe you are in the wrong war in the wrong place.
FWIW, the Ukrainians have found a few Russian officers that were shot in the back of their heads.
Meanwhile in Russia: several panelists threw some truth grenades at the stunned TV hosts, look how those angry propagandists pummeled the pundit who said that by destroying the infrastructure, Russia is waging a cruel, sadistic war against civilians. He won’t be invited back.
UPDATE: Saturday, Oct 29, 2022 · 11:57:13 AM Mountain Daylight Time · Mark Sumner
And exactly why are Republicans standing in the way of a plan to provide assistance to Ukraine using funds recovered from seized Russian assets? According to The Washington Post…
A group of House and Senate Republicans have objected to a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act conference report that would allow the United States to transfer the proceeds of forfeited Russian property to Ukraine, according to people involved with the negotiations. …
The dispute over the measure comes amid questions about the future of Republican support for Ukraine’s war effort.
Republicans are making a lame procedural argument about sending this idea back for further review by House committees, but there’s little doubt the goal here is to protect Russia and starve Ukraine. [The Putin wing of the Republican Party.]
UPDATE: Saturday, Oct 29, 2022 · 9:49:47 AM Mountain Daylight Time · Mark Sumner
Looking at the design of the Ukrainian USV, the whole thing probably cost less then $10k in parts (not counting the explosives). If I had to guess, I’d bet the gimbaled camera and control systems came by simply disassembling a consumer drone, likely one from DJI. This is fantastic use of readily-available materials and just damn clever engineering. Add Starlink antenna, jet ski motor, batteries, and a nose full of boom.
This is the kind of thing that should be making the “great navies” of the world tremble, not zillion mile an hour super-hyper-expo-sonic missiles that cost as much as a frigate.
If this attack was as successful as it seems to be, expect a lot more such exploits in the future.
There are several points to be made here.
Republicans complain about “Cancel Culture”, but we see who goes to censorship and even book burnings when they get some power.
She has a point in picking out divorce as an issue; for Christians this should be a much higher priority than gay marriage, etc. Jesus H. Christ spoke clearly against divorce, as reported in all 4 canonical gospels, while he said nothing about homosexuality, gay marriage or even abortion.
snarkratessays
Drove north from Maryland through Gettysburg to join a bunch of other rock (the mineral kind) nerds at a swap yesterday. In Gettysburg, you see slightly more signs for Shapiro and Fetterman. Out in the countryside it’s all Oz and Mastriano. It’s going to be all about turnout and whether more folks vote in the cities. Get out and vote PA voters.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Ukrainian electricity supplies were recovering after concerted Russian attacks on generating plants but emergency blackouts may still be needed, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. “Today there are already significantly fewer stabilisation [measures] and emergency blackouts … but restrictions are still possible in some cities and districts.”
The United States has accused Russia of ‘weaponising food’ after Moscow announced it was immediately suspending its implementation of a UN-brokered grain deal that has seen more than 8m tonnes of grain exported from Ukraine during the war and brought down soaring global food prices….
Poland and its European Union partners stand ready to provide Ukraine with further help in the transportation of essential goods after Russia pulled out of a grain deal, the foreign ministry in Warsaw said.
Russia’s decision to exit the UN-brokered deal that enabled Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea offered “yet more proof that Moscow is not willing to uphold any international agreements,” the ministry added on Twitter….
The UK government has been urged to launch an urgent investigation after reports that former prime minister Liz Truss’s phone was hacked.
The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported that while Truss was foreign secretary private messages between her and foreign officials, including about the Ukraine war, were hacked.
The paper reported agents suspected of working for Russia had been responsible for the alleged hacking, citing unnamed sources. The BBC and Sky both reported they had not been able to verify this.
The breach was said to have been discovered when then-foreign secretary Truss was running for the Tory leadership in the summer, but details were suppressed by then-prime minister Boris Johnson and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, The Mail on Sunday claimed.
Opposition parties are demanding a probe into the alleged attack….
Michael Gove, the UK’s levelling up secretary, has pointedly declined to deny a report that former prime minister Liz Truss’s personal phone was potentially hacked by Russian agents, as Labour accused the government of “not taking national security seriously enough”, the Guardian’s Peter Walker reports….
…Since 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government came to power, India’s 200 million minority Muslims say they have been subjected to persecution, violence and state-sponsored discrimination. Under the Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) agenda – which aims to establish India as a Hindu nation, rather than a secular state – Muslim civilians, activists and journalists have been routinely targeted, Muslim businesses boycotted and Islamophobic rhetoric used by BJP leaders, while lynching of Muslims has been on the rise.
Mosques have begun to be caught up in a wide-ranging project under the BJP to rewrite India’s history according to Hindutva ideology. The version of history now propagated by BJP leaders, government-backed historians and school curriculums is that of an ancient Hindu nation oppressed and persecuted for hundreds of years by ruthless Muslim invaders, particularly the Islamic Mughal empire that ruled from the 16th to the 19th century.
The alleged destruction of Hindu temples to build mosques has been central to this narrative. In May, a senior BJP leader claimed that Mughals had destroyed 36,000 Hindu temples and they would “reclaim all those temples one by one”.
But Richard Eaton, a professor of Indian history at the University of Arizona, said there was no historical evidence for this, with Mughals thought to have torn down only about two dozen temples. “Claims of many thousands of such instances are outlandish, irresponsible and without foundation,” he said.
Historians have accused the BJP of not only rewriting, but “inventing” India’s history in their own image. Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, a professor of Mughal history at Aligarh Muslim University, described the BJP’s polarised version of Indian history as “fantasy, nothing more than fiction” invented to serve their political agenda. “The history of India is being painted as a black and white narrative of Hindus versus Muslims,” said Rezavi. “But it was never so.”
Yet Indian historians whose work contradicts this version of history, or who have spoken out, have found themselves sidelined, penalised or ousted from government bodies and academic institutions which rely on government funding.
Rezavi is one of the few historians in India who still dare to speak; many approached by the Observer declined, citing fears over their jobs or their safety. Foreign historians have also been targeted. Audrey Truschke, a history professor at Rutgers University in the US, has faced death threats, allegedly from Hindu rightwing groups, for her work on Mughals.
Rezavi likened the attacks and silencing of historians and scholars to the targeting of academics in Nazi Germany. “A large number of historians are afraid to speak up openly,” he said. “I have been a victim of discrimination and persecution because of speaking up. But show me one Indian historian worth his salt who is with the government? There is not one.”
As the impetus to avenge and reclaim India’s history for Hindus has gained traction, dozens of petitions have been filed by right-wing Hindu groups against mosques across the country. India has a law which explicitly protects places of worship from being disputed post-1947 but judges are allowing cases….
“The week around the world in 20 pictures”: “Thousands mourn Mahsa Amini in Iran; Russian attacks on critical facilities in Ukraine; Just Stop Oil activism in London; and flooding in Australia – the most striking images this week…”
The pattern of Russian behavior is so predictable: if they commit a crime in the evening, expect them to propose ‘talks’ in the morning. Yesterday they put millions of people at the risk of hunger, today they imitate readiness for negotiations. No one should get fooled by this.
Governor: Russian troops blow up bridge over Krasna River in Luhansk Oblast.
According to Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhii Haidai, the Russian forces are “afraid” that Ukrainian forces “are very close,” as Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the region continues.
Thousands of people are making their way towards the Republican palace, demanding a return to civilian government.
The people of #Sudan are taking to the streets for the second time this week, rejecting military rule as they march for freedom and democracy.”
Videos at the (Twitter) link.
ravensays
So, what is going on in Kherson, Ukraine?
No one knows for sure. It doesn’t even look like the Russians know.
The Russians are looting the city, removing statues and historical artifacts.
The administration of the city has left for further into occupied areas.
They are now forcibly removing the population around Kherson.
“The Ukrainian military’s Operational Command South reported that the Russian occupation authorities continues to forcefully evict residents of Kherson city and Kherson Oblast.
Locals near Kherson were given two days to leave their homes.”
They can’t flee to Ukraine so they are being deported towards Russia. This is yet again, another war crime.
It is likely they are doing this so if and when there is a battle, they can just level Kherson and the sourrounding villages. It was what they did in Mariupol.
British intel sees Russian intent to expedite withdrawal from Kherson
October 30, 2022, 01:36 AM The New Voice of Ukraine
The Russian occupation authority in Kherson is forcing residents to leave the occupied city, while also looting the city’s relics and monuments, which likely “pre-empts Russian intent to expedite withdrawal from the area,” UK Defense Intelligence said in their Oct. 29 update on Twitter.
According to the tweet, the Russian-appointed governor of the occupied Kherson Oblast, Vladimir Saldo, said on Oct. 27 that over 70,000 residents had left the city.
On Oct. 26, the collaborator also claimed that the remains of 18th century Russian statesman, Prince Grigory Potemkin, had been removed from his tomb in Kherson’s cathedral.
“In the Russian national identity, Potemkin is heavily associated with the Russian conquest of Ukrainian lands in the 18th century, and highlights the weight Putin almost certainly places on perceived historical justification for the invasion,” the update said.
“This symbolic removal of Potemkin and the civilian exodus likely pre-empts Russian intent to expedite withdrawal from the area.”
The Ukrainian military’s Operational Command South reported that the Russian occupation authorities continues to forcefully evict residents of Kherson city and Kherson Oblast.
Locals near Kherson were given two days to leave their homes.
In October, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin declared “martial law” in the occupied part of Kherson Oblast, and the occupying “authorities” closed the region for entry. At the same time, there were many news reports that the “administration” was leaving Kherson and other cities on the right bank of the Dnipro River.
Earlier, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that the Ukrainian offensive in Kherson Oblast was slowing because of the rainy weather. He also said all the bridges in the region were under Ukrainian fire control, cutting off Russian avenues of escape.
Russia is sending mobilized soldiers to the region, while preparing defenses in the streets of Kherson city, according to Chief of Ukraine’s Main Defense Intelligence Department Kyrylo Budanov.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that rumors that Russian invaders were fleeing the occupied city of Kherson amounted to “an informational attack.”
johnson catmansays
re SC @431: Even if Paul Pelosi was drunk off of his ass, he was in his own home and the right-wingnut broke into the home and attacked him and would have attacked Nancy if she had been there. So, completely irrelevant. Musk is definitely proving which side he is on.
It shouldn’t take a violent attack to remind the country’s GOP leaders that their words to demonize Democrats have dangerous ramifications, but it did. The unthinkable has once again happened. Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, was brutally attacked on Friday morning. “Yesterday morning, a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to confront me and brutally attacked my husband Paul,” Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to her colleagues on Saturday. A spokesperson earlier broke the news on Friday, releasing a similar statement.
Now it’s been nearly 48 hours, and Republicans don’t appear to be any more willing to take responsibility for their words and actions than before the attack. When Sen. Rick Scott was asked on Sunday if Republicans should do more to reject conspiracy theories and dangerous rhetoric, he avoided the questions, saying we have to “condemn the violence” and “make sure people feel comfortable” about elections.
Fox News calls the kettle black in framing of brutal attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
DANA BASH: Should Republicans do more to reject conspiracy theories and dangerous rhetoric?
RICK SCOTT: *immediately pivots to flirting with election conspiracy theories, doesn’t answer the question*
DANA BASH: Do Republicans want to cut Medicare and/or Social Security?
RICK SCOTT: Absolutely not, and you know the Democrats just cut $280 billion out of Medicare
BASH: Democrats didn’t cut benefits. Their plan allowed for negotiating prescription drug prices.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene did even less to take responsibility for her part in spreading violent rhetoric. She tweeted on Friday: “Violence and crime are rampant in Joe Biden’s America. It shouldn’t happen to Paul Pelosi. It shouldn’t happen to innocent Americans. It shouldn’t happen to me.”
Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern had to remind Greene that she called for Pelosi to be executed. “YOU said she should be hung for treason,” McGovern tweeted, tagging Greene. “And now that someone listened, you’re making Paul Pelosi’s attack about YOU. This is what Republicans stand for, America. It’s sick.”
Though former President Barack Obama didn’t name names, he made a similar point when he spoke on Saturday at North Division High School in Milwaukee. He made the trek to Wisconsin to campaign for Democrats running in the state including Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul, who are up for reelection, and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is running for the U.S. Senate.
Obama said of Barnes, the first Black person to serve as Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor and the second Black person to hold statewide office, that he’s working to bring manufacturing jobs to Wisconsin and help small businesses compete against mega-corporations. He is the son of a third-shift auto worker and a public school teacher who grew up in one of Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods.
He’s “worked as an organizer, served as a state legislator, now lieutenant governor,” Obama said.
“If that’s not a true-blooded Wisconsin American, I don’t know what is,” the former president added.
Still, it wasn’t lost on Obama that Barnes stands to face the same scrutiny that Obama did when he ran for president in 2008.
“Just because he’s a Democrat with a funny name, he must not be like you. He must not share your values. We’ve seen this,” Obama said. “It sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it? So Mandela, get ready to dig up that birth certificate.”
The former president gave the warning using a lighthearted tone. He referred to the time in which former President Donald Trump demanded that Obama produce his birth certificate as the “good ole days,” when that was the “craziest thing the people said.”
Republican efforts to ostracize Democrats of color have sense intensified following Trump’s open support of white supremacist hate groups.
Now, politicians are doing their best “deliberately to stir up division, to make us angry and afraid of each other just for their own advantage,” Obama said.
He called the attack on Paul Pelosi part of the aftermath, and Obama asked for a prayer for the 82-year-old. “Somebody breaks into his house looking for his wife, the speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, beats him with a hammer,” Obama said. “Doctors fortunately believe that he’s going to be okay, and we’ll let the investigators do their jobs.
“But I think one thing is clear, this habit that we’ve seen (…) of saying the worst about other people, demonizing people, that creates a dangerous climate.”
Obama called for elected officials to do more “explicitly to reject this kind of over the top crazy rhetoric” and stop “tacitly supporting it” or “encouraging it.”
“If they’re telling supporters, ‘you got to stand outside of polling places armed with guns and dressed in tactical gear,’ you know, that’s the kind of thing that ends up getting people hurt,” Obama said.
He also reminded the audience that political issues haven’t always been strictly partisan. “It used to be that there were GOP members who championed progress and civil rights and rule of law, folks who were with me in the 2008 election,” Obama said.
He talked about reaching all people regardless of party to discuss how they could collectively move the country forward. “So that’s my instinct,” Obama said. “I’m not somebody who believes that some party label defines us, but I have to speak the truth, which is these days just about every Republican politician seems obsessed with just two things—own the libs (…) and getting Donald Trump’s approval. That’s their agenda.”
When the crowd started to boo, Obama stopped them. “No, no, no, don’t boo,” he said. “Vote. Nobody can hear you boo outside this auditorium, but they’ll hear your vote.”
Obama went on to say that this current crop of Republican politicians isn’t interested in solving problems. “They’re interested in making you angry and then finding somebody to blame,” he said. “And they’re hoping that that will distract you from the fact that they don’t have any answers of their own. That’s their obsession. That’s their formula.”
Obama said Evers is obsessed with growing the economy and providing a quality education for all students in the state while his opponent, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels, called increasing funding for public schools the “definition of insanity.” […]
Obama also zeroed in on gerrymandering […]
Journalist Ari Berman wrote in the article:
“If the redistricting maps drawn in secret by Republican staffers and passed by the GOP-controlled legislature in 2011 were unfair, the new maps adopted by Republicans in 2021, over Evers’ objections, are even more one-sided. As a result, the number of GOP-leaning seats in the state assembly has increased from 61 to 63 out of 99 and from 21 to 23 out of 33 seats in the state senate. Democrats would have to win the statewide vote by 12 points just to get to 50 seats in the assembly, according to calculations by Marquette University Law School research fellow John Johnson, while Republicans could garner a majority with just 44 percent of votes.”
Obama pressed his audience to think about that. “Think about any other thing you do in life where 44 percent are on one side, 56 percent on the other, and 44 wins. It don’t make sense. That is correct,” Obama said. “And if they pick up a few more seats in both chambers they’ll be able to force through extreme unpopular laws on everything from guns, to education, to abortion, and there won’t be anything Democrats can do about it.”
As of now, Evers is the only person standing in Republicans’ way, Obama said.
Michels promised to eliminate the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission and instate in its place Republican oversight. He said in July that he would “need to see the details” before deciding on an effort to overturn presidential election results in Wisconsin.
“I know Tony’s low key. He’s self-deprecating. You know, he’s got a little more of a Clark Kent vibe than a Superman vibe, but don’t let the glasses and the necktie fool you ’cause Tony is tough,” Obama said. “He’s singlehandedly keeping Republicans from driving the car off the road. He might be democracy’s best hope in Wisconsin.”
Lots of video snippets are available at the link. It’s a pleasure to see Obama campaigning. He does it well.
ravensays
I’m going to amplify the comment at #431 SC about Hillary Clinton and Elon Musk about the Paul Pelosi attack.
Because it proves once again that Elon Musk is a mentally and morally defective personality.
He is simply a terrible, malign person.
Elon Musk tweets rumor about Paul Pelosi
Sara Fischer author of Axios Media Trends October 30, 2022 edited for length
It’s been just two days since Elon Musk officially bought Twitter.
Hillary Clinton: Clinton tweeted a Los Angeles Times article about the suspect, David DePape, 42, who spread QAnon and other far-right conspiracies: “The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories. It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result.”
Elon Musk“There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” Musk said in response to a tweet from Hillary Clinton.
(My comment) This “tiny possibility” is a lie from some kook that claims Paul Pelosi was drunk and in a fight in a gay bar or something similar. A total lie contradicted by all the evidence from a lunatic fringe lie website.
Axios. Early on Sunday, Musk cited a widely-discredited website that implied the brutal attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, wasn’t carried out by an unhinged far-right blogger — but rather was linked to an anti-LGTBQ “theory” about a skirmish at a local bar.
Elon Musk is implying with no evidence whatsoever that maybe Paul Pelosi was attacked after getting drunk and getting into a fight in a gay bar in San Francisco.
I’m sure Elon Musk can go lower but I’m unable to imagine how low he can go.
Environmental damage done by Russians to protected areas:
[…] Kinburn isn’t the only protected area or park in Ukraine that has been either destroyed, burned or damaged by the Russian invasion.
“20% of protected areas are now affected by this war. The threatened zone includes 9 million hectares of territories that are part of the Emerald Network [network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest set up by the Council of Europe] and 17 Ramsar sites [an international Convention on Wetlands] with an area of more than 600 thousand hectares”, the Minister reported.
The Russians have also occupied 8 Ukrainian nature reserves and 12 national nature parks.
“The Russian Federation has demonstrated what life is like under Russian occupation. Almost 80% of the territory of the Holy Mountains National Nature Park was destroyed. In May, the Kinburn Spit burned for a whole week due to the fighting. Relict forests have been destroyed by fire.”
.1. We’ve seen enough of Elon Musk to know that he is a far right loon and a mentally and morally defective person.
He is just a terrible, malign human.
In the Paul Pelosi case, he is trying to blame the victim, an 82 year old man who just survived a murder attempt, for almost getting killed by a right wingnut wannabe killer.
By repeating a clumsy lie from some other kook.
.2. He says that twitter isn’t going to turn into a troll and Nazi hellscape.
We can already see how this will work and yes, it will turn into a troll and Nazi hellscape.
Reports are that the Russians are already back and lying like they always do.
.3. I will never buy anything associated with Elon Musk.
Not giving a creep like Musk any of my hard earned money.
I don’t even have a twitter account.
You can read what you need without having an account anyway.
PS And Hillary Clinton was right.
Wherever you have hate speech, you always get…hate violence.
[…] Musk’s “source” on this “story” is not exactly a reputable media outlet. Which raises the question: why exactly does Musk follow such trash? Galaxy trash brain? From the LA Times, August 2021:
…the “Santa Monica Observer,” owned by onetime City Council candidate David Ganezer, is notorious for publishing false news. In 2016, for example, it claimed that Hillary Clinton had died and that a body double had been sent to debate Donald Trump. Months later it reported, incorrectly, that Trump had appointed Kanye West to a high-level position in the Interior Department. Last year, it reported falsely that sunlight could be a remedy for COVID-19 sufferers and that Bill Gates, a major funder of vaccine research, had been responsible for a polio epidemic.
[tweeted example of Musk being unable to tell reliable sources from trash as Musk retweets trash]
Two possible paths in this choose-your-own-adventure story: either Musk gives up control of Twitter, or Twitter dies. Well, I guess there’s a third choice: Musk drives away all the advertisers who pay for Twitter, but instead of giving it up he subsidizes it to the tune of, what, half a billion a year or so? It might be worth it to him, just for the ego-gratification of seeing his tweets out there. What a world.
[…] Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, responds [to Hillary Clinton] with… absolute dreck. Beyond disgusting. If there were any standards, this alone would get him barred from Twitter for life. I’m not even going to link to it, just post the screen shot, but it’s a real tweet, still up there, and you’re welcome to look it up if you wish. […]
Me, I’m going to stick with Twitter for the time being, so long as the dozen good folks I follow stay there. For example, I learned about this story through… Twitter.
[Judd Legum tweeted] .@elonmusk has been the sole owner of Twitter for 48 hours, and is now using the platform to promote vile conspiracy theories against Nancy Pelosi’s husband, who is still in the hospital after being violently assaulted with a hammer
[…] if this keeps up, expect a stampede out of that schlock, and the complete collapse of a once useful service.
Ukraine Update: “Ukraine invasion Day 249: new maritime strike capability amid improved artillery deployment”
In the southern Kherson region, Ukraine now has the advantage in range and precision guidance of artillery, rockets and drones, erasing what had been a critical Russian asset. [maps at the link]
[…]
More details are emerging about the Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in occupied Crimea. Lots more clarity to come in the following days, but a few immediate observations are possible. 1/20 🧵 #Sevastopol [video at the link shows footage from one of the marine drones. It took a lot of incoming fire!]
2/ […] it is clear that #Ukraine’s ability to target Russian forces continues to expand beyond the battlefield. Operational and strategic targets are now in their sights, underpinned by good intelligence and long range strike tools like #HIMSRS and maritime drones.
3/ This will place even more stress on a Russian military that is struggling to hold its ground in the areas of #Ukraine they have occupied. Mobilized troops will be little help in preventing the kind of attacks that just occurred in #Sevastopol
4/ Second, Ukraine continues to focus on military targets in these operational and strategic strikes. With these #Sevastopol strikes, Ukraine is degrading the capacity of the Russians to launch sea-based missiles at Ukraine.
5/ Ukraine is also sending the message to Russia, as well as Ukraine’s supporters in the west, that Ukraine is fighting against the Russian military and NOT the Russian people. This is important strategic messaging.
6/ Third, the Ukrainian cost-benefit analysis for this attack would have considered whether Russia would stop grain exports as a result. But, once again, the strategic messaging of Russia doing so is all bad for Russia. washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/…
7/ Fourth, this attack again shows how adaptive the Ukrainians are. They have rapidly developed a new maritime strike capability, adding to their growing long range strike arsenal. Ukraine’s New Weapon To Strike Russian Navy In Sevastopol – Naval News
8/ Importantly, Ukraine has integrated this new weapon into their operational and strategic strike concepts. Having a new weapon is good; being able to cleverly integrate it into military warfighting concepts is [a priority].
9/ Fifth, Ukraine is serious about taking back its territory in #Crimea. President @ZelenskaUA has spoken about his several times in the past. These strikes are slowly corroding Russian military capacity in Crimea, and force Russia to look at its force deployment priorities.
10/ Here is a speech he gave on this topic recently: president.gov.ua/en/news/povern…
11/ Sixth, once again the Russians are showing that they are not taking their adversary seriously. The Ukrainians have previously attacked #Sevastopol with a drone, as well as other targets in Crimea.
12/ And, the Russians knew Ukraine has been developing this capability. It has been in the open press. Where did the Russians think they were going to use it?
13/ Therefore the Russian inability to adapt quickly to such overt and obvious threats is yet another indication of their sloppy professionalism and inability to conceive that they are fighting a Ukrainian military that is a world class military institution.
14/ Seventh and finally, both sides are increasingly resorting to remotely operated or autonomous systems in their operational and strategic strikes.
15/ While both sides have used UAVs for recon, surveillance and tactical strike throughout the war, the Russian use of Iranian drones and Ukraine’s use of maritime drones at #Sevastopol is a broadening of their use. @SamBendett is an expert on this topic.
16/ These systems, while cheaper to procure than crewed systems or more sophisticated missiles, still require good intelligence for targeting and post-strike assessment however. This element of long-range strike is not cheap and takes a lot of effort to develop.
17/ Both sides will have to invest even more in counter-drone and counter-autonomy systems. The object is to reduce the cost and manpower requirement of such systems so they are cheaper than the drones they destroy.
18/ As such, the war in Ukraine will be a testbed for these counter-drone systems, in all domains, as a ‘cost imposition’ capability.
19/ Anyway, these are just some very initial thoughts on the implications of the strike on #Sevastopol. We are sure to learn much more in the coming days. End.
The largest city in Crimea and the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet woke up to heavy explosions and anti-aircraft fire during an attack Russian officials say included aerial drones and especially unmanned surface vessels (USV), both of which were ‘suicide’ or ‘kamikaze’ types mean to explode when they arrive at their targets.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have since released incredible footage purportedly from aboard several unmanned surface vessels used in the attack. The video shows the purported attack run on a guided missile frigate and Russian forces engaging the USVs with machine-gun fire.
Russian officials claimed that only one vessel was slightly damaged while all Ukrainian aerial drones were destroyed and that “British specialists” were involved, without offering any proof. Russian-installed officials in occupied Crimea call it “the most massive since the beginning of the special operation.”
The low-light footage clearly shows a Project 11356R Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate — one of Russia’s most modern and powerful warships — underway, as well as Sevastopol harbor. There are reports that the Admiral Makarov, reportedly the Black Sea Fleet’s new flagship after the Project 1164 Slava-class cruiser Moskva sank in April, was damaged in the attack. At this time, The War Zone cannot independently confirm reports about damage to the Admiral Makarov, though the low-light footage from the USV appears to show it getting very close to the missile frigate before cutting to other video of the harbor and an explosion on CCTV.
[…] The Black Sea Fleet has three Grigorovich-class frigates, all of which are capable of firing Kalibr cruise missiles. A Ukrainian decision to target Kalibr-capable frigate at this time makes sense given the intensified Russian drone and missile strike campaign targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure. If Kyiv ordered this attack, it would have been a proportionate, even restrained, response to the extensive Russian strategic bombing campaign attacking civilian targets throughout Ukraine over the past few weeks.
In a meme for which I don’t have a link, Ukrainian losses are pictured: 20,356 washing machines; 152,409 toilets; 21,223 refrigerators, etc.
blfsays
I’m sure Elon Musk can go lower but I’m unable to imagine how low he can go.
Remember the Thai boy’s soccer team that was trapped in a cave by monsoon rains? (They were all rescued alive.) Mush-for-brains claimed one of the rescue divers was a pedophile. Why? Because that experienced (cave?-)diver had told Eloony the submarine his engineers were building wasn’t needed and wouldn’t work in that particular cave.
Ukraine is tight-lipped about its advances, and Russia has effectively muzzled its Telegram milbloggers, forcing them to report on Russia’s glorious victories under threat of imprisonment. So getting accurate information has suddenly gotten a bit tougher, and the fog of war has always been a challenge to see through.
The front around Svatove and Kreminna is a perfect example, with claims and counter-claims and rumors muddying the picture. Mark Sumner worked hard all week to peer through the fog, but confirmed news is hard to come by. The best he had was educated guesses.
Today is no less certain, but Russia has taken two curious actions suggesting Ukrainian advance are, indeed, coming along—they blew the rail bridge north of Svatove, and they blew another bridge leading into the town of Krasnorichens’ke, south of Svatove. [map at the link]
As Mark wrote yesterday, there are rumors that Ukrainian forces are working their way north of Svatove, attempting to surround the city from multiple sides. Blowing a key bridge north of Svatove suggests those rumors have merit. The bridge into Krasnorichens’ke is even more intriguing, as it is located not just well east of the P66 highway that runs north and south west of those two towns, but also on the other side of the cliffs that run parallel to the highway. [map at the link]
If you look closely at the map, you’ll see that Krasnorichens’ke has the only road east through those hills anywhere between there and Svatove. It’s a military checkpoint. If Russia blew the bridge into town, it almost assuredly means that Ploshanka, to its west, is in Ukrainian hands. Whether Russia still holds positions on the hills remains to be seen, but Ukraine doesn’t have to walk into town to dramatically impact Russia’s positions on this front. Holding the high positions will give it fire control into that entire string of towns, and the roads that help supply Svatove.
Remember, if Svatove falls, another major slice of Ukraine is immediately liberated, and opens up the road toward Starobilsk, which would single-handedly liberate the entire northeast corner of Ukraine. [map at the link]
Look at how EVERY road in their regions go through Svatove and Starobilsk (circled, from left to right). Liberating Starobilsk would also cut the last supply line from Belgorod in Russia to the Ukrainian front lines, requiring Russia to completely rejigger their already-strained supply efforts. Taking those two cities would literally turn all this red on the map liberated yellow—both a massive propaganda victory for Ukraine, and a substantial strategic blow to Russia’s war effort. As much as we want to see Kherson liberated, taking these two cities would have the biggest immediate impact on Russia’s war effort.
Just a day or two after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautioned that Russia wasn’t pulling out of Kherson, and that any claims otherwise were Russian disinformation, the Ukrainian General Staff reports that … Russia is pulling artillery out of the Kherson pocket.
🇷🇺 are preparing withdrawal of (heavy) artillery units from right-bank part of #Kherson region. Most likely they will be transferred to other areas – General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine
long expected move, bc lack of ammo supplies, prob. new defence line closer to the city
Now, this isn’t incompatible with a Russian defense of Kherson, it just requires really tight defense lines close to both Kherson and Nova Kakhovka—critically important for Russia because it is the source of occupied Crimea’s water supply. It makes sense logistically, as artillery is thirsty and Russia is limited to what it can get into the Kherson pocket via barge or ferry.
YouTube link to SNL spoof of Kanye West’s visit to Skechers.
Oggie: Mathomsays
I cannot believe that This Idiot is only half a point behind in the polls. His definition of ‘man’ means that I am now married to a . . . man?
Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker had a hard time defining the word “man” last week during a campaign appearance.
For the past year, Republicans have tried to get liberals to define the word “woman,” often getting upset when they’re told that gender isn’t about genitalia. The few Republicans who tried to define the word themselves didn’t do a good job either, with some – like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) – relying entirely on misogyny.
But few Republicans have asked what a “man” is or provided a definition themselves. Until last week.
Walker was having a friendly discussion with Rock Springs Church’s Pastor Benny Tate in Milner, Georgia, and he started making fun of transgender people, comparing living one’s life authentically to identifying as a cat.
“I’ve preached here 32 years, and I’ve always said, you got a man, you got a woman, womb-man,” Tate replied. “If you don’t know what you are, if you have a womb, you’re a woman.”
Walker decided to jump in with the definition of a man.
“If you can’t have, if you can’t produce a child, you’re a man,” he said, sounding satisfied that he achieved the same level of wordplay that Tate did even though he missed the mark. The audience laughed.
Online, people pointed out that there are many people who aren’t men who can’t produce children, making the point that providing a definition that is broad enough to include everyone who is a man or a woman and narrow enough to exclude everyone who isn’t is actually complicated.
This appearance occurred several days before yet another woman came forward and said that Walker drove her to a clinic to have an abortion after she became pregnant by him. Walker, as a political candidate, is strictly against abortion.
According to RealClearPolitics’ average of polls, Walker is basically tied with his Democratic opponent, Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock (D). Warnock has a 0.5% advantage over the most recent polls.
Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska made a video appearance at a rally in Prague, Czech Republic, which on Sunday drew tens of thousands of Czechs who voiced their support for Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Speaking in Ukrainian, Zelenska encouraged people not to look away from the war.
“We will not let Russia drag us or the whole world into darkness,” she said. “Darkness will never win. As long as people don’t close their eyes to war, our light will never go out.”
The Czech demonstration, which protested rising populist and extremist sentiment, was held by political organisation A Million Moments for Democracy. The group’s founders told demonstrators that, in spite of fears over the energy crisis fuelled by the war in Ukraine, democracy remains at stake.
Sunday’s protest took place in the same location where, two days prior, another rally was held by a coalition of far-right groups, fringe movements and the Communist party, during which organisers who oppose Nato and the European Union called for direct talks with Russia about gas supplies.
It looked like the apocalypse had hit, one witness said — an evening of panic and disarray that would have sounded like a scene from a horror movie on any other Halloween.
The bodies of several lifeless people were sprawled on the ground in the Itaewon neighborhood on Saturday night, their shirts pulled over their faces after rescuers checked for acute injuries, videos reviewed exclusively by The Washington Post showed.
Bodies lay across the ground near the Atelier club, steps from the narrow alley where a crowd crush led to over 150 deaths. People frantically performed CPR in the area, with police running in and out of the scene.
One man had a red soccer jersey pulled over his face as he was treated with a defibrillator. A woman’s body was covered, with blood on the ground next to her. Several lay in the street with their mouths open, appearing to be dead.
Joshua and Angela Smith, siblings from Florida who booked a room at the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon to experience a Korean Halloween, watched the disaster unfold in the alley from a ninth-floor window.
Joshua first saw three gurneys being wheeled out of the hotel that evening as emergency workers used a hand pump to provide oxygen. A fourth gurney transported a body in a bag, and Angela heard screams coming from around the alley.
“It was horrible, horrible to see,” Joshua said.
They watched from above as people scrambled to save others on the ground, they said. Eventually, at least seven bodies were visible, with police searching their clothes for IDs before bagging or covering them.
“Once we saw them doing that, that’s when the music, the lights, finally got shut down,” Joshua said. “That’s when it turned dark.”
Sophia Akhiyat, a 31-year-old doctor from Florida, was led to the alley by a worried police officer some time after 11 p.m. to help those who had been hurt. She saw people marking the dead with makeup, she said, recalling a “pile of humans” at the mouth of the narrow street preventing ambulances from entering the area.
“These people, I think most of them were near death or dead by the time we were helping them,” she said.
“It was almost post-apocalyptic. It was almost all civilians, no medical personnel, trying to save these people,” said her friend, 24-year-old tech worker Yoon-sung Park. He had helped carry injured people to safer ground, where they could receive CPR.
“People were laid across here all the way down, about a half mile,” he added, gesturing toward Itaewon’s main market street, where emergency responders had wheeled covered corpses into ambulances. “There were so many bodies.”
Dozens of reporters lingered in the streets until about 5 a.m. Sunday morning as officials from the Yongsan Fire Department provided routine updates. Bodies covered in blue sheets were wheeled past the crowd and placed into the back of ambulances in several waves throughout the night; the atmosphere was somber, with journalists speaking in a whisper, if at all, as they waited for updates on what turned out to be a swiftly increasing death toll.
[…] Several people recalled seeing only a few police officers in the area before the crush, directing traffic on the main market street near the subway stations. South Korea’s interior minister said Sunday that many officers were assigned to monitor a protest a few miles away, in the Gwanghwamun area, and that the police had not anticipated unusually large crowds on Halloween weekend. […]
At least 153 people were killed and about 82 were injured in a crowd crush during Halloween celebrations in the narrow streets and alleys of the Itaewon area of Seoul on Saturday night. The tragedy has prompted debate over the role of national and local agencies and who should be accountable.
With 80% counted, Lula is up 50.5-49.5 – almost a million votes.
KGsays
SC@455,456,
I’m following it on the Guardian</> live feed, which says 92.8% of districts counted, with Lula on 50.6%. I’ve been feeling sick most of the day – were Bolsonaro to win, I’d be close to despair – but it looks like Lula will just do it. Still alarming that almost half of Brazilians are voting for tyranny and evil.
KG @ #457, he killed hundreds of thousands of Brazilians and mocked their deaths and their families’ grief, and more than 50 million people voted to reelect him. I have a hard time accepting it.
A reminder that as Brazilians headed to the polls for the second time in a month, there were alarming reports of voter suppression, with members of the federal highway police – a notoriously pro-Bolsonaro security force – setting up roadblocks in Lula strongholds in the country’s north-east.
Brazil’s opposition denounced the unusual operations, which were reportedly planned during a meeting at Bolsonaro’s official presidential residence, as a deliberate attempt to prevent Lula voters reaching their polling stations.
“There is only one name for this: a desperate attempt to clobber our democracy,” tweeted Marina Silva, a prominent centrist politician who has backed Lula’s campaign.
Moraes demanded an immediate end to the police operations and summoned the highway police’s director – who reportedly posted a pro-Bolsonaro message on social media on the eve of the election – to explain why his forces were defying a judicial decision outlawing such activities on election day.
Lula supporters flooded social media with calls for police to “let the north-east vote”.
Randolfe Rodrigues, an opposition senator who is a key member of Lula’s team, demanded the immediate arrest of the highway police director, Silvinei Vasques.
“Crooks! Criminals! Bolsonaro is using the government apparatus to try to stop poor people voting … We must unite for our democracy and for our people,” Rodrigues tweeted.
Unusual security operations involving the military police and army were also reported in Rio de Janeiro.
A recent investigation by the magazine Piauí revealed that Vasques was appointed at the suggestion of Bolsonaro’s senator son, Flávio Bolsonaro. “Since taking over the corporation, Silvinei Vaques has strictly adhered to the Bolsonarista playbook,” Piauí reported.
Addressing the media on Sunday, De Moraes cautioned against overstating the impact of the police operations on voters but said an investigation would look at whether there had been an abuse of authority…
Oggie: Mathomsays
Of course, we still do not know if Bolsonaro will accept defeat or Trump it.
KGsays
Oggie: Mathom@461,
No indeed – if we go by what he has said, he will not accept it. Inaugauration is not until January 1st, so he has plenty of time to arrange a military coup, assassination, arrest on trumped-up charges, etc. But if it comes to violence, it’s still important to be on the side that has the electoral mandate.
KGsays
The Supreme Electoral Court has confirmed Lula’s win!
Brazil’s electoral authority has called the runoff for leftist Lula da Silva, which means he has won presidential election, defeating far-right incumbent Bolsonaro.
This is the most important result in decades for one of the world’s largest democracies –and for the future of the Amazon and the planet.
And now it’s official. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the new president of Brazil. His victory has been confirmed with the Supreme Electoral Court. With 98.86 % of the votes counted Lula has 50.83 % and Bolsonaro has 49.17%.
Brazil’s former leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has sealed an astonishing political comeback, beating the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in one of the most significant and bruising elections in the country’s history.
With 99% of votes counted, Silva, a former factory worker who became Brazil’s first working-class president exactly 20 years ago, had secured 50.8% of the vote. Bolsonaro, a firebrand who was elected in 2018, received 49.1%.
A few streets away on Paulista Avenue, one of the city’s main arteries, ecstatic Lula supporters gathered to celebrate his victory and the downfall of a radical rightwing president whose presidency produced an environmental tragedy and saw nearly 700,000 Brazilians die of Covid.
“Our dream is coming true. We need to be free,” beamed Joe Kallif, a 62-year-old social activist who was among the elated throng. “Brazil was in a very dangerous place and now we are getting back our freedom. The last four years have been horrible.”
Gabrielly Soares, a 19-year-old student, jumped in joy as she commemorated the imminent victory of a leader whose social policies helped her achieve a university education.
“I feel so happy … During four years of Bolsonaro I saw my family slip backwards and under Lula they flourished,” she said, a rainbow banner draped over her shoulders.
Ecstatic and tearful supporters of Lula – who secured more than 59m votes to Bolsonaro’s 57m – hugged and threw cans of beer in the air.
“This means we are going to have someone in power who cares about those at the bottom. Right now we have a person who doesn’t care about the majority, about us, about LGBT people,” Soares said. “Bolsonaro … is a bad person. He doesn’t show a drop of empathy or solidarity for others. There is no way he can continue as president.”
There was celebration around the region too as leftist allies tweeted their congratulations. “Viva Lula,” said Colombia’s leader, Gustavo Petro.
Australians who use Android devices are being warned that malicious apps may be hiding on their phones.
The apps can drain the phone’s battery life and slow its hardware performance, according to a recent McAfee blog post.
The company’s security researchers announced they had identified the malicious new “clicker” malware that sneaked into Google Play, pretending to be standard, useful software. The malicious code was found on applications like flashlight (torch), QR readers, camera, unit converters, and task managers.
“In total 16 applications that were previously on Google Play have been confirmed to have the malicious payload with an assumed 20 million installations,” McAfee said.
“McAfee security researchers notified Google and all of the identified apps are no longer available on Google Play.”
Reginald Selkirk @ #466, right? The Russian Mission to the EU tweeted earlier: “[!] On October 29, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched massive air and sea strikes using drones against the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s ships and infrastructure at the naval base in Sevastopol.”
Everyone’s like, “Yeah! You invaded their country and they’re at war with you!”
They’re treating ordinary military actions like they’re some great violation of…something – I don’t even know what response they’re looking for.
In a new blog post, Amsterdam computer support company Threat Fabric warns Android users about a new banking Trojan designed to steal your login info, account number, and other financial information that might help the attackers steal your hard-earned cash. Like the Greek’s Trojan Horse, which from all appearances was a gift to the city of Troy only to be filled with Greek soldiers inside, Trojan malware ambushes users by looking like a legitimate app…
Recover Audio, Images & Videos – 100,000 downloads
Codice Fiscale 2022 – 10,000 downloads
Zetter Authentication – 10,000 downloads
File Manager Small, Lite – 1,000 downloads
My Finances Tracker – 1,000 downloads
Reginald Selkirksays
They’re treating ordinary military actions like they’re some great violation of…something
… while invading another country and routinely engaging in war crimes such as targeting civilians.
This is a long interview with Kurt Volker, former ambassador to NATO.
He pretty much says what everyone already knows.
.1. Ukraine will eventually have to be part of NATO to deter the Russians from attacking over and over again.
.2. If Ukraine goes, so does Moldova and Georgia. Kazakhstan and the other central Asian countries are next to go.
.3. Russia is losing.
Those terrorist attacks on civilians with drones and missiles are a last ditch effort.
You don’t waste your ammo on civilians unless it won’t do much good on opposing soldiers.
.4. If Russia uses nukes, there has to be a massive worldwide response back.
Volker: “We can’t live in a world where the use of nuclear weapons is tolerated or countries can do it and get away with it. ”
‘Using nuclear would be the end of Russian military’ – interview with former US ambassador Kurt Volker edited for length
Andrius Balčiūnas, LRT.lt (Lithuanian)
Kurt Volker / E. Blaževič/LRT
Moscow will inevitably lose the war in Ukraine, but Russia’s threat to its neighbours will not go away, so the only way to ensure security in Europe is to admit Ukraine – as well as Georgia and Moldova – into NATO, says former US ambassador Kurt Volker.
In an interview with LRT.lt, he says the war may end next year and it will not be a success for Moscow. And if Vladimir Putin were to resort to nuclear weapons out of desperation, it would have catastrophic consequences.
“The Russians know that this would be the end of the Russian military if they did it,” says the former ambassador.
Volker served as Washington’s ambassador to NATO in 2008-2009 and as US special representative for peace talks in Ukraine in 2017-2019. Volker had to testify in the impeachment inquiry against former US President Donald Trump who allegedly tried to involve Kyiv in settling score with his domestic political rivals.
No, I don’t see it at all. I think that Putin has committed himself to a set of military objectives in Ukraine that he does not have the ability to achieve. And he is increasingly desperate to try to achieve these objectives. He’s committed and will not back down.
Yeah, final throws of the conflict. It’s gonna take a little while, it’s not going to be over this year. But first off, what we are seeing in terms of the drone strikes and the aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities is a sign of Russia’s weakness.
They don’t have the ability to advance on the battlefield. They can’t seize new territory. They can’t even hold the territory that they have, and the Ukrainians will be pushing back on that. They don’t have their own weapons, so they’re going to Iran to get drones, they’re going to North Korea to ask for missiles, they’re going to Belarus and taking out ammunition from stockpiles.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainians are highly motivated, they are well equipped by the West they have taken care of their personnel throughout the war, so they’re in a better shape and they are pushing back on Russian forces. We’re seeing reports that they are making fresh gains in Kherson Oblast, they are likely to retake Kherson city and all of that oblast west of the Dnipro River before the winter.
The final thing I think we’re going to see is continued attacks by the Ukrainians on Russian logistical supply chains: the Kerch Strait bridge, where there’s a rail line, the road connection from Rostov through Donbas, Mariupol, Melitopol, Zaporizhia, Kherson. Ukrainians want to disrupt that supply chain and make sure it’s not usable.
Do you think the Ukrainians are capable of fully recapturing the territory occupied by Russia?
Yes, I think so. Provided we continue the supply of arms that that we started with. And I think they have not only the capability, they have the determination to do it. They look at the 2014, 2015 settlement [Minsk accords] as one that empowered Russia, it accepted a Russian occupation of parts of Ukrainian territory. And that set the stage for Russia’s further aggression in 2022. I think they’re determined now to reverse all of this.
He always struck me as someone who was sincerely committed to supporting Ukraine, changing the system, fresh approach to politics. It turned out that after he was in power for a few years, his popularity went down because governing a place like Ukraine is very difficult and there are lots of vested interests. But when Russia launched these new attacks in February, he’s exactly the right person for the job. He has the ability to channel the spirit of the Ukrainian people, communicate that internationally, show determination and resolve, which is what the Ukrainians needed at that time.
Kurt Volker / E. Genys/LRT
And are you concerned that Russia might use nuclear weapons?
First off, yes, we should be concerned that this is a possibility. They have tactical nuclear weapons and there is a chance that they could use them. So any use would be devastating and we have to think about that.
That being said, I don’t think it is the most likely scenario. I think it will not achieve a military objective for Putin. You can’t seize and hold territory if you make it radioactive. It would also damage his own forces, they’re not prepared.
They also know that there would be a devastating military response against Russian forces if they did it. And there’s been a clear warning from national security advisor Jake Sullivan, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, some military officers from the US. So I think the Russians know that this would be the end of the Russian military if they did it.
This is important because it’s not only about Russia and Ukraine, it’s about the use of nuclear generally. We can’t live in a world where the use of nuclear weapons is tolerated or countries can do it and get away with it. So we have to prevent it and if it’s done, there has to be a response.
Ukraine / AP
Do you think that the West and NATO have done enough to support Ukraine? And will their support continue, especially after the midterm elections in the US?
I would split this in two pieces. First, we’ve already been through eight months of the war and Ukraine would not be standing today without the support that was given by the United States. over 15 billion dollars worth of military equipment along with the advice and training that goes with that support from European countries. And financial support, 1.5 billion dollars from the US every month. This has been essential.
That being said, we have been slow and restricted in what we’ve given to Ukraine, we have said no to things before we changed our minds and said yes. We originally said no Stinger missiles and then we gave them Stingers, we said no to artillery, then we gave them artillery, we said no Himars, then we gave them Himars, we said no fighter aircraft and I think that’s also going to change at some point.
Air defence is another one – we knew months ago that the only recourse Putin has as he’s losing the war is to hit Ukrainian cities with random bombings. And that’s in fact what we’re now seeing. Why didn’t we give them their defences two months ago? So those are the things where I think we could have and should have done a lot better. But nonetheless, we’ve done enough and Ukraine is going to win.
As far as the future goes, we have a near term period after the midterm elections of about two years, where I think we can be very confident about continued US support for Ukraine on a bipartisan basis, both in the House and in the Senate.
And I know people will have seen the presumptive speaker Kevin McCarthy’s remarks saying, well, there’s no blank cheque for Ukraine. But I view that as kind of astute politics by McCarthy. He’s not saying we’re going to decrease support for Ukraine. He’s saying it has to be accountable. There’s no blank cheque, we have to know where it’s going why it’s there. It’s a way of sending a signal to the far right that it’s not open-ended, we’re not just giving away resources with no result, we’re going to pay attention to this. But it’s also, therefore, a way of keeping them onboard while we continue our support to Ukraine.
Kevin McCarthy / AP
I am more concerned about when we head into a presidential election two years from now. Then I think we run the risk of a re-domesticating Ukraine as a domestic political issue – just what we saw in 2019 and it was disastrous for our Ukraine policy. We don’t want to go through that again, but there’s a risk as quite possibly it’s going to be former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden squaring off in the next election.
I hope that two years is enough for Ukraine to win the war. And I think we’ll see this change next year. Russia is already losing so it’s most likely that the war will end next year sometime.
What about the future of Ukraine, can it become a NATO member or receive some other security guarantees?
I think the only long-term security for Ukraine – and, for that matter, Europe – is for Ukraine to be in NATO, I don’t see any other way.
People are looking for alternatives: what about security guarantees for Ukraine, what about helping Ukraine build up a modern professional military with all the best equipment, be like Israel in Europe? But if you’re willing to do that, then why not NATO?
Take it from a US point of view – if the US is going to give a security guarantee to Ukraine and mean it, why would we do that by ourselves? We want 30 other countries to join in this, to make it more solid. Similarly if you’re Poland or the UK – if US is not offering a security guarantee, why would you? We all have to do this together.
I understand why this is not a topic of discussion today. No one wants to create the image that this is a NATO war against Russia. It’s not, this is Russia’s war against Europe, Russia’s war against Ukraine. And we don’t want to confuse the optics of this. But when the war is over and Ukraine has won, has its territory back, and Russia is going through some soul-searching, we have to think about what it will take to actually have security. That will mean deterring future Russian attacks. And the best way is for Ukraine and Georgia and Moldova to be parts of NATO.
ravensays
This is an important point that we keep dancing around.
If Russia uses nukes, there has to be a massive worldwide response back. Volker: “We can’t live in a world where the use of nuclear weapons is tolerated or countries can do it and get away with it. ”
We can’t let use of nuclear weapons become normalized in the world.
That just sets up a condition where countries settle their disputes by nuking each other.
And it won’t end with tactical nuclear weapons either.
If Russia uses nukes and there isn’t an adequate after the fact deterrence, the rest of the world will scream about it and then move on.
And a huge number of countries will quietly start building nuclear weapons.
Because no one attacks countries with nuclear weapons.
Old estimates are that at least 50 countries in the world are capable of building nuclear weapons. They are based on 1940s technology and not hard to make. South Africa made 4 of them.
And eventually somewhere for some reason, they will be used again. And again.
Reginald Selkirk@472,
It raises the question: would dwarf giant crocodiles be larger or smaller than giant dwarf crocodiles? And if, subsequently, crocodiles are discovered which are more closely related to these giant dwarf crocodiles than to anything else, but half the size, wouldf they be dwarf giant dwarf crocodiles?
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Russia launched a wave of cruise missiles at hydro electric dams and other critical infrastructure across Ukraine on Monday morning, with explosions reported near the capital, Kyiv, and in at least 10 other cities and regions.
Ukraine’s air command said it shot down 44 out of 50 enemy rockets. Video footage suggested several missiles were intercepted in the skies around Kyiv soon after 8am local time. Air raid sirens went off nationally, with citizens told to seek shelter.
But others penetrated Ukraine’s defences. The governor of Kyiv, Oleksiy Kuleba, said “massive shelling in the region” had damaged electricity and energy infrastructure. He said residents should expect emergency power cuts. He added: “There is currently one victim. We are clarifying the information.”
The cruise missiles were fired from Russian Tu-90 and T-60 aircraft flying north of the Caspian Sea and the Rostov region. They hit targets in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv oblasts, as well as in the areas of Mikolaiv, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad and Chernivtsi.
Hyrdoelectric power stations were among the targets hit by Russia this morning, according to Herman Halushchenko, Ukraine’s energy minister. In a statement on Facebook, Halushchenko described it as “another barbaric [sic] attack”, adding that “electric substations, hydropower and heat generation facilities were hit by rockets”.
As a result, scheduled partial blackouts and emergency blackouts have been introduced in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, and Poltava regions, he said.
Isobel Koshiw reports that fragments from a Russian rocket, shot down by Ukrainian air defence, landed in Naslavcea, Moldova, damaging some houses, and buildings, according to Moldova’s interior ministry.
She notes that this is “the first spillover since the war began”….
Twelve grain export ships have left from Ukraine today, despite Russia pulling out of the Turkey-UN brokered grain deal, according to Ukraine’s minister of infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov.
Turkey will continue its efforts to support the Black Sea grain export deal despite Russian hesitancy, president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday after Russia suspended its participation in the initiative at the weekend.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed his forces repelled a “fierce offensive” by Russian troops in the eastern Donetsk region. “Today they stopped the fierce offensive actions of the enemy,” Zelenskiy said in his Sunday night address. “The Russian attack was repelled.” The fiercest fighting in Donetsk region has been around the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
Protesters holding a pro-democracy vigil outside the Iranian embassy in Berlin were beaten and threatened at gunpoint by unknown assailants over the weekend, German police have said.
An officer guarding the building saw three men with face coverings tear down flags and banners reading “Iranians want democracy” and “Women Life Freedom” from a caravan parked in Dahlem district, in the capital, at just after 1am on Sunday morning.
The have been numerous skirmishes near Iranian embassies around Europe since the start of the protests, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested in Tehran for wearing an “improper” hijab….
New equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has paused work to ban conversion therapy since taking over the role last week, ITV News understands.
On her return to the equalities department, where she previously worked as a junior minister, she asked to review the current plans.
While it isn’t unusual for a new minister to take stock before committing to a policy, the change in personnel means a further delay to outlawing the practice.
ITV News understands that Ms Badenoch’s predecessor in the role, Nadhim Zahawi, had agreed that a Joint Committee of MPs and Lords would scrutinise a bill next year to finally introduce a ban.
The idea was to expedite the legislation during the fourth session of parliament, due to begin in the spring.
However, those plans are now on hold until the new equalities minister has agreed to them.
There is frustration that a ban still hasn’t been brought forward four years after Theresa May first promised on ITV News that the practice would be ended.
ITV News understands that Conservative MPs have been engaging with Downing Street over the issue, in the hope that new prime minister Rishi Sunak will make a clear commitment.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know
Under Boris Johnson’s government, the ban was watered down by removing trans conversion therapy from the scope of any legislation, only including conversion therapy focused on “changing” someone’s sexuality. Some campaigners were hoping the Joint Committee – which would take oral and written evidence from interested parties – would allow them to reinsert a ban on trans conversion therapy. It would also allow those opposed to voice their concerns.
Ms Badenoch has already clashed with elements of the LGBT+ community since she was appointed last week, accusing some campaigners of using equality as a “sword” to attack others rather than a “shield” to protect their rights.
She has previously been accused of having an ambiguous position on banning conversion therapy….
A whole company of “mobiks” abandoned their positions in the Lugansk region after shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and fled to the rear, where they were declared traitors and threatened to be shot. The Russian media learned about dozens of mobilized Russians from the Moscow region, who, without preparation, were transferred near Svatovo, where, after several days, under shelling by artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, they fled to the rear, abandoning their positions.
Refuseniks were declared traitors, and last Saturday, LPR militants held Muscovites at gunpoint, forcing them to return to the front.
A company of mobilized refuseniks from the Moscow region was subjected to bullying for refusing to fight – the men were not allowed into the location of the unit, deprived of food and threatened with a tribunal.
And most importantly, there is no support from the command, no support from the army, and no support, probably, from the state, because the guys are just left on the front lines.”
The mobilized Russians are working out as expected.
This is pointless cruelty not military tactics.
They are dumped on the front lines with no support and frequently no food or water.
There is no planning and no good reason for them to be there.
They are just speed bumps, cannon fodder expected to die and delay the Ukrainians for a few hours.
Other reports are that they are getting killed by the hundreds.
Ukraine is claiming Russian losses of 500 to 1,000 a day.
““Up to 400 people were killed and wounded,” Russian “mobiles” from Transbaikalia came under artillery attack by the Armed Forces of…”
The Russian military spend some regions’ annual budgets in hours just to hit [Ukrainian] civilian infrastructure. In the meantime, a quarter of Russia’s housholds doesn’t have canalization. Think toilets, not missiles.
ravensays
The Russians are running short on artillery and artillery ammunition.
To compensate, they are using more and more air strikes from helicopters and jets.
Which isn’t too smart.
They are also losing helicopters and jets at a rapid rate as they get shot down.
It’s not a good substitution.
Artillery is cheap compared to helicopters and jets.
Russia may not even be able to replace some of their helicopters.
The helicopter engines were made in Ukraine by a Ukrainian company.
October 31, 2022
“Occupiers in a dead-end despair” – Evil Odessa about the serious problems of the Russian Federation at the front
Due to tangible losses, the Russians are forced to take risks and use aviation instead of artillery at the front.
Due to heavy losses in Ukraine, the Russian occupation army was forced to switch to the combined use of Ka-52 and Mi-28N attack helicopters. Moscow is experiencing a serious shortage of artillery systems in the combat zone and is forced to use helicopter aircraft to compensate for the lack of artillery.
“The Russians are now trying to compensate for the lack of artillery in the combat zone with aviation. A bunch of Ka-52 and Mi-28N is, rather, not a” brilliant “tactical move, but a consequence of serious losses,” he stressed.
At the same time, the more intensive use of aviation is causing a sharp increase in losses – over the past few weeks, the number of Russian helicopters destroyed in the combat zone has increased dramatically.
A Ukrainian energy company has said it is running out of equipment to repair infrastructure damaged in Russian missile strikes.
DTEK was able to buy some spare parts to fix the power lines but needs millions of dollars worth more to restore the system after this morning’s attacks.
One of its facilities sustained damage in the strike leading to severe power cuts across its network.
It executive director, Dmytro Sakharuk, said:
We have already used up the stockpiles of equipment which we had in our depots after the first two waves of attacks since 10 Oct.
Shanghai Disney has become the latest high-profile venue to shut its gates thanks to China’s strict zero-Covid policy, trapping visitors inside.
People have been told they will not be allowed out of the theme park until they can show a negative test…
However, those awaiting their freedom at Shanghai Disney can console themselves with one positive: rides are continuing to operate for those trapped inside The Happiest Place on Earth…
“Indian police raid the houses of the editors of the news website The Wire in response to a complaint alleging they ‘defamed’ the head of the ruling party’s social media division.”
“Journalist Marzieh Amiri has been arrested and transferred to Tehran’s Evin prison, her sister said on social media. More than 40 journalists have been arrested amid the protests in Iran, incl two who reported on #mahsaAmini’s hospitalization & funeral.”
“Russians fired at civilian tugboats transporting a barge with grain near Ochakiv, the Operational Command ‘South’ reported. Two crew members were killed, and one with injuries was rescued. The fate of another one is not yet known.”
Meanwhile in Russia: top Kremlin propagandists ponder what their victory would look like and express their gratitude to Trump and the coronavirus for allowing their economy to survive the sanctions and be able to handle Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link. Their thinking is not the clearest of late.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1583628452904804353
Great video at the Tweet. Joe Biden tweeted, accurately:
Excellent video.
Using Adoptions, Russia Turns Ukrainian Children Into Spoils of War
New York Times link
Thousands of Ukrainian children have been transferred to Russia. “I didn’t want to go,” one girl told The New York Times from a foster home near Moscow.
@#498, Tethys
Fascists want to kill people for reasons which those people cannot change and are usually not their fault (skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability). There is nothing their victims can do to avoid the persecution except flee — and not everybody can meaningfully flee.
People who want to kill fascists? You can permanently escape them by not being fascist any more. It is entirely within your own control.
The two positions are not the same, not morally or ethically equivalent, and people who try to pretend otherwise are a large chunk of the reason we have such a problem with fascists now. Violence against fascists works — even ignoring the flippant “we haven’t heard a word from Adolf Hitler in decades”, look at what happened when Richard Spencer got punched on video: his entire organization fell apart, he lost basically all his listeners, and he’s basically gone. If you’re not interested in punching Nazis, fine, but stop getting in the way of the people who want to, because they’re the ones saving your bacon.
@ #2
What’s your favorite method for killing those fascists? Drowning? Shooting? Vaporizing? So many choices, so few fascists.
For Tethys‘ next amazing feat of logic, they’ll explain how Antifa are the real fascists.
@2. The Vicar (via Freethoughtblogs) : Chalk it up. I agree with you here. Maybe not so much on actually killing them since “martyrdom” and all but ceratinly the punching them and using force against them where necessary part. Those first two paragraphs especially – truth.
Of course, its also that true brute force and murder are the nazis preferred tactic and metaphorical ground and as this 43 min long video I’m currently watching makes clear they are well-armed, violent and many have links with the US military themselves too.
There’s a serious problem that badly needs addressing here and ignoring Nazis won’t make them go away any more than it will with Global Overheating.
@3. tomh : .. So many choices, so few fascists.
Oh If only those last two words there were true. IF. Only. Sadly they are not.
As Jan 6th and the Trump cultist deplorables among other things show.
Here is a model from a Swedish company for what happens if and when the Russians destroy the Kakhovka dam.
The worst flooding will be on the left bank which is now occupied by Russia.
It is a war crime listed in the Geneva conventions, but that never stops Russia.
It was a war crime to invade Ukraine.
@5 There’s also this good video from Vice news too which is 45 mins long.
Not sure if someone has already posted on this but via Aussie ABC news :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-23/yevgeny-prigozhin-the-rise-of-vladimir-putins-so-called-chef/101555386
Whilst if people want a happy “palate cleanser” as Phil Plait might once have said :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-22/the-comedy-wildlife-photography-awards/101561274
some of those are just classic!
Julia Davis:
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From there:
“The construction of a new Wagner cope line is under way Belgorod.”
Photos and video at the (Twitter) link. You could subtitle the video to have them describe this new art installation and how it captures the absurdity and futility of contemporary Russian actions and it would be as useful as whatever they’re actually saying.
BuzzFeed – “Here’s What’s Happening With Kanye West, David Schwimmer, And The Controversy Surrounding Ye’s Adidas Partnership.”
Incidentally, from the Wikipedia entry on Adidas (citation numbers removed):
Dmytro Kuleba re #9:
“Russia may not produce their own kamikaze drones but it certainly has its own kamikaze SU’s”
Video of the Irkutsk crash @ #10 at the (Twitter) link. I saw someone earlier describing it as the plane having fallen on a house, and I thought it was odd phrasing, but it really does just fall from the sky.
ABC – “French police probe multiple cuts of major internet cables”:
@ #6 StevoR
They’re probably hiding under your bed…but you didn’t say what your preferred method for killing them is. Inquiring minds want to know.
Today’s Today in Q from Tony Ortega: “Q patriots aren’t happy about Lara Logan getting booted from Newsmax.”
Followup to SC’s comment 11
Ukraine: Those “dragon teeth” are even more useless than I thought
As was noted before, this looks like a surreal art installation. Let’s add some interpretative dancers. Are the Wagner mercenaries mocking war? Mocking themselves? Setting up a photo shoot they can use to impress Putin?
@16. tomh : My preferred method is the legal arrest of them by the authorities for their crimes including hate speech and inciting violence for most of them.
Sadly, I have little faith in the authorities – especially in the USA where thankfully I do NOT live – to deliver on that. Given, y’know, the widely known records regarding US cops and all.
What are your preferred methods of dealing with violent Nazis and Slaver State bigots and extremist genocidal homophobic, misogynist transphobes?
I’m well aware they aren’t hiding under my bed.* That doesn’t stop them existing in disturbingly large numbers elsewhere. Or having power or trying to seize power elsewhere.
What do you suggest we do to remedy that?
.* Though they are present in my home town as with many other places too. See :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-20/adelaide-teenager-will-confess-to-possessing-extremist-material/101556506
&
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-08/two-arrested-over-explosives-extremist-material-in-adelaide/100054938
&
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-30/cameron-brodie-hall-applies-for-home-detention-bail/101388046
This is not unusual or unexpected, sadly. Some of it is certainly imported from elsewhere because, well, originality, not really a nazi thing is it?
Nazis in 2022 .. for fucks sake. So sick of them and so thought and hoped they’d been relegated to history’s garbage bin.
Do I want them dead? Not necessarily but I certainly don’t want them staying nazis, staying powerful and staying a threat to me and others. Do you?
But here we are.
Cheney: ‘McCarthy is going to make himself the leader of the pro-Putin wing’ of GOP
“China’s Communist Party hands Xi an endless rule for flexing power.”
Washington Post link
“Cyprus, a haven for Russian expats, welcomes techies fleeing Ukraine war.”
Washington Post link
With an intense, hastily assembled effort, the Ukrainian military is pioneering successful techniques in the difficult art of anti-drone warfare.
New York Times link
“Let’s take a closer look at the man running Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign: Jacob Rees-Mogg…”
Video at the (Twitter) link.
Kyiv Independent:
“Undeterred, Sharif University students show their defiance once again: ‘Freedom, Freedom, Freedom!’ What bravery…”
Video at the (Twitter) link. As usual, and despite its consisting of a single word, nice rhythm to this chant.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves tweeted a link to a WaPo report about many people in the Ohioan Ukrainian community being hostile to JD Vance, adding:
Ukraine Update: Russia claims Ukraine will detonate ‘dirty bomb’ in weirdest false flag effort yet
The farce continues:
Link
Lynna @ 29
“So within the next two weeks…”
Is Trump talking about his health care plan again?
Re: SC at 25 – Apropos, this tweet is from my colleague at the university of Helsinki:
https://twitter.com/herzon_irina/status/1584237484845645824
Would YOU Pass Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ First Date Test?
https://www.wonkette.com/ron-desantis-thai-food-date
larpar @30, LOL.
In other clownish politician news: Boris Johnson drops bid to return to power in U.K., reports say.
Washington Post link
Excerpts from the Washington Post report that SC mentioned in comment 27:
Update to #s 9 and 13 above: “RT just fired Krasovsky. Too little, too late, in light of their pervasive propaganda that contributed to this war and ongoing promotion of Russia’s genocidal invasion.”
For the record, a screenshot of Krasovsky on RT earlier (Twitter link). He was talking about children.
Julia Davis:
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link. Sick.
@16. tomh : BTW. You didn’t read my original comment #5 very well did you? I specifically wrote :
Emphasis added.
What I’d like is for nazism to end and people to see through the toxic ideology and stop believing in it. Killing needs to be a very last resort. Jailing and deradicalising and discrediting them is much better than just killing them. Punching them is better than killing them especially if it embarrases them and stops them being nazis or influential.
Punching them also produces some satisfying schadenfrauedelicious karmic clips of bad guys in life occassionally getting at least a small taste of what they arguably deserve I think.
Ukraine abolished their military draft a few days ago.
In the middle of a bloody war with Russia.
The comparison with Russia is extreme.
In Ukraine, they have too many people volunteering for their military than they have space and weapons for.
In Russia, the authorities are randomly grabbing anyone they can find and taking them away. Something like 1/2 million Russian men have fled the country and are sitting out the war any place they can.
One country is fighting aggressive invaders for their survival.
Russia is fighting an aggressive war for no good reason, for Putin and the Nationalists. I doubt if most of the oligarchies support that war.
The FMs of France, the UK, and the US issued a joint statement last night:
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Sure, we’ve all been there. You’re stressed out, you skip a meal, and you find yourself gleefully inciting genocide.
More snippets of teh burblings of Major Loon (MK Bhadrakumar, a former Indian ambassador to Turkey and Uzbekistan), The wasteland of British politics (dated about one week ago).
Major Loon is so fixated on Putin’s invasion of Ukraine really being some nefarious plot by the usual suspects (Biden, Nato, the voices babbling in his head, etc.), he simply asserts (not even an attempt at an explanation): And , whilst never mentioning brexit.
Later, Major Loon blurts:
Perhaps the only thing he doesn’t get wrong — often rather badly wrong — is the size of the UK’s standing Army (it’s actually a bit less than 80,000); if you include the Navy, RAF, etc., the total is almost 150,000; and then there are the reserves, etc. It’s also largely not-relevant.
At another site, about two days ago, Major Loon blurts some more, Ukraine war is ‘Biden’s war’ now. Some snippets:
Major Loon takes an several fecktons of Putin’s media and cronies claims literally, as in literally true, eventually concluding
Earth to Major Loon, Earth to Major Loon, Please stop taking your Delusion Pills…
Guardian – “Rees-Mogg move to axe 2,400 laws is ‘anti-democratic’, say legal experts”:
CNN – “Arizona refers voter intimidation report to Justice Department”:
Re #44, now they’re covering their license plates.
Kyiv Independent:
More from Ukrainian intelligence:
It’s cheap, it’s quick, it’s a pit of culinary depravity — save me from the microwave (the authour is in teh “U”K):
Amusingly, I just finished a sweet potato & shallots spicy curried soup — from fresh ingredients and not made in a nuke, it was great (burp!) — to which I considered added (yes, tinned) beans, but ultimately decided not to.
I’ve never owned a nuke (and have no significant interest in getting one), but it’s the mildly deranged penguin who detests them. She claims they are a Major Branch of All Evil, one who’s name must not be spoken, attractive to Walruses (dunno about carpenters (the wood-working type, not the wooden singing type)), a manifestation of horses, a Manchurian Cooking plot by teh peas, probably Davros in disguise, …(several hours later (without even breathing, as far as I can tell))…, and besides all that, she doesn’t like them.
(The authour is also asking for helpful suggestions.)
CREW:
Video at the (Twitter) link.
Ukrainian MFA:
Guardian liveblog:
Nicola Jennings in the Grauniad, On the Tories’ electoral prospects (cartoon).
Also in the Grauniad, […] Liz Truss’s wobbly policies: Edith Pritchett’s week in Venn diagrams (cartoon).
@ 44 & 45
Nothing will come of this. Ever since Oklahoma City, the Dems have had a cower-under-the-desk policy when dealing with right-wing terrorists. They’re afraid the inevitable conservative/gun-nut/Bible-fucker hue-and-cry of “persecution of patriotic Americans” would make them look bad.
It’s also why every one of the fascist traitors who took part in Jan 6 are getting handclaps for sentences rather than the rope.
In teh “U”K,
Telegraph[Daily Torygaffe] quickly deletes pro-Boris Johnson article after he quits Tory race:† I’d use up all the electrons to excerpt even some of them. Just one example, teh daily heil on the boris’s not standing for a second cosplay at being “PM”, . The daily torygaffe’s opinion column by Zahawi is just as bad (see archive link embedded above).
BREAKING: As I typo this, I just got an alert from the Grauniad that Mordaunt has also pulled out, meaning Sunak is now the only “candidate” and automatic “winner”, having already qualified under the nasty party’s hastily cobbled-together rules.
“Raisi spox Jahromi shouted down at Khajeh Nasir University in Tehran…”
Video at the (Twitter) link.
Brazil politician throws grenades at police in Rio de Janeiro state
This tweet directly contradicts what the news article said in #39
“Ukraine scraps conscription for compulsory military service in wartime”
I’m not sure what is going on here.
It looks like Ukraine isn’t that unified a society and different groups have different ideas.
I’m sure if you are the head of the army in war time with Russia, however many troops you have aren’t enough.
The USA did one thing right though.
We abolished the draft 50 years ago and nothing much happened. Except the military costs more and works better.
“A resident in Russian-occupied Kherson city confirmed [Russia] withdrawing its administrative services. Said many residents have stayed behind awaiting #Ukraine’s liberation. Passport center for issuing [Russian] passports; pension funds & police etc. all left.”
See also lumipuna’s #31 above.
Things are unraveling still more for the Russians.
Azerbaijan has just taken the side of Ukraine.In times past, the next day, Soviet (or Russian) armed forces would be paying them a visit.
All the central Asian states know that if Ukraine goes, they are next to be invaded by the Russians. They’ve been there before, being captive nations for 70 years.
Azeris are a Turkish group.
They also make up 16% of the population of Iran which is a multi-ethnic state.
The current head of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei is half Azerbaijani.
60 Minutes last night (YT link) – “Dominion Voting Systems and the baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 Election”:
The Russians are claiming that Ukraine is preparing to use a radioactive materials bomb.
Which is cuckoo.
The ISW is claiming that the Russians are trying to split NATO.
This isn’t going to work. No one believes anything the Russians say any more.
They are getting more pathetic and more desperate by the day.
FWIW, the fallout bombs would just be a terror weapon.
They likely don’t have much in the way of military effectiveness.
Oh, FFS. Attack Ads Are Darkening the Skin Tone of Black Candidates
While those responsible claim innocent technical problems, the larger pattern is consistent. So is the effect: heightened white racial anxieties.
The missing element in the political debate over gas prices
It’s not enough to say the tradeoff between democracy and gas prices is misguided. It’s important to also note that the tradeoff is illusory.
63% of all legal contracts are gender-biased
Followup to SC in comment 60.
That was a good 60 minutes segment. Informative.
Dominion Voting Systems CEO speaks out against conspiracy theories
What I found shocking, (even though I had seen it before), was watching Sidney Powell lie … and lie, and lie. That woman is almost robotic as she lies. She does not betray even a hint of feeling. She just lies during all of her appearance on Fox News and other rightwing channels.
Saudi Arabia Breaks Ground on Massive Sci-Fi Megacity
Guardian liveblog:
“New: Attorney General Merrick Garland, DAG Monaco, FBI Director Wray and NatSec AAG Olsen will host a press conference at 1:30p ET discussing alleged criminal activity by a nation-state actor in the US”
This is in about 30 minutes.
Israel invests a lot in air defence.
Iron Beam, Israel’s laser air defense system, could be ready in 2-3 years
JFC.
Justice Thomas agrees to halt Graham testimony in Georgia election probe
Pelosi on McCarthy comment: ‘We’ve never given a blank check to Ukraine’
Ken Dilanian: “The 1:30 presser by AG Garland and FBI Director Wray is expected to detail some Chinese espionage cases, including against a pair of alleged intelligence agents who tried to gather inside info on the prosecution of Huawei. Nothing earth shattering.”
Oh.
Peter Strzok:
OK, then.
Seriously, most of the U.S. contribution goes to U.S. weapons suppliers. Odd to see a Republican claim to be upset about that.
Curtis Yarvin wants American democracy toppled. He has some prominent Republican fans.
The New Right blogger has been cited by Blake Masters and J.D. Vance. What exactly is he advocating?
Talked to my (Oklahoma-resident, evangelical Christian-Dominionist-adjacent) sister-in-law last night.
Every single long-since-debunked conspiracy theory. Every bogus Biden anecdote.
banging head softly on desktop
I am depressed.
@48
I have a microwave.
I allow neither peas nor Horses to manifest therein, for they are Anathema, and an Abomination Unto Nuggan.
@61
“The Russians are claiming that Ukraine is preparing to use a radioactive materials bomb.
Which is cuckoo.”
Which is probably Projection—like Republicans.
Reginald @74, good point.
In other news: Did Jonathan Karl Just Actually Fact-Check Kari Lake’s Lying Ass?
cicely @ #76:
Ugh. Sympathies.
Wonkette:
https://www.wonkette.com/new-york-times-cletus-safari
More re #26:
Yesterday:
Today:
Photos and video at the (Twitter) link.
https://twitter.com/k_sonin/status/1584567674352197633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1584567674352197633%7Ctwgr%5E2c92f8cd9668b2e4b7ad12a7b6053c8fe1284d86%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redditmedia.com%2Fmediaembed%2Fliveupdate%2F18hnzysb1elcs%2FLiveUpdate_f50d19d0-53bc-11ed-9180-8216f3a197fb%2F0
look at Preview, flinch
Okay, I’m sure I remember there being a better way to do the linky thingy, but I don’t remember how. Can some kind soul take pity on me and ship me a clue?
Ukraine update: Russia isn’t pulling out of Kherson—at least not yet
cicely @81, for one thing, you only need the part of the Twitter link that is before the ? mark. All of the URL after the question mark can be deleted.
More here: https://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html
Look for the text that describes links beginning with <a href=” (followed by the insertion of the link, with no spaces inserted anywhere), and then another quotation mark, and the closing tag of a less-than symbol, a backslash, the letter a, and the greater than symbol.
Followup to cicely @81, and my comment 83: I did not do a good job of explaining that. For one thing, I left out the need for a greater-than symbol between “and then another quotation mark,” and “and the closing tag of a less-than symbol.” And I left out the fact that you must type something, (like the title of an article) after the greater-than symbol mentioned above, and before the closing tag. I just do this stuff automatically anymore. I don’t think about it. Thanks to repetition, the code is in my brain but I don’t really need to be aware of it for it to appear onscreen as something I typed. I apologize. Hopefully, someone else who posts here can do a better job.
In other news: Why the latest conspiracy theories from Nevada’s Jim Marchant matter
The more GOP secretary of state nominees push utterly bonkers conspiracy theories, the more dangerous their 2022 candidacies become.
euronews – “Fears grow as more suspicious drones appear above Norway’s offshore facilities.”
“Prominent talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has severed ties with Kanye West after the rapper’s antisemitic remarks prompted condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League and others.”
Shameful, Adidas.
Tweet o’ the day.
I have a medical question to the commentariat.
.
Most of us may be familiar with aphasia, when some relative has a stroke and has problems finding the right word.
But there is another condition I do not recall the name of, it was in an episode of House MD.
It manifests as a person getting the memory broken up in fragments, and reassembled incorrectly.
-It shows up on TV when a patient at three occasions give three different versions of what has happened, adding later elemnts of her meeting with House in a narrative of events that happened earlier.
(As House earlier has insulted the patient, he remarks, “instant forgiveness”)
I think a vulnerable elder woman I know has this problem of fragmented, mixed memories but I need to know the medical term if I am going ro help her contact health care.
Yours Birger Johansson
Progressive Caucus:
Seriously, STFU.
@88: Psychogenic amnesia?
I never watched House.
Lynna @83, Thanks!
And @84, I used to do this stuff automatically, too; but I didn’t used it, and so I losed it.
At least I remembered about Preview….
The letter from the Progressive Caucus members would have some heft if it were endorsed by Ukrainian progressives and their organizations. I wonder why they haven’t signed on… Oh, right, because they’re fighting off a genocidal imperialist invasion and enduring daily terrorist attacks. Maybe Russian progressives? Murdered, imprisoned, or in exile.
More re #55:
Hey Rep. Jayapal, here’s an opportunity for you to swoop in and bring compromise and peace!
Secretary of Transportation on Elon Musk’s Hyperloop: ‘Not on Our Dime’
Oldest Human DNA Found in the UK Reveals Origins of Early Britons
The astonishing thing about these appeasement demands is that they seem to have no connection to what’s happening on the battlefield in Ukraine or on the ground elsewhere. They talk about the situation like nothing’s changed since May or June. It’s completely bizarre.
Olga Rudenko:
@birgerjohansson #88
Maybe you mean Korsakoff’s syndrome?
Markos Moulitsas (Kos of Daily Kos):
@88 Birger.
Good question.
I haven’t come across something exactly like that before.
It could be this.
It is not unusual for older people with memory problems to attempt to recreate their memories.
They remember bits and pieces and in the words of Wikipedia, “…frequent confabulation (making up or inventing information to compensate for poor memory).
What they are doing here is filling in the blanks in their memories.
I’ve seen that many times, usually in very old people.
The strangest one I’ve seen not that long ago was an old friend from college. He left the bar late, riding his bicycle, without a helmet on. Someone found him off the path where he had hit his head hard on rocks.
He was in the hospital in a coma and survival wasn’t guaranteed.
He did recover and enough to go back to work.
All his memories of his previous life were gone. He has no idea who I am.
He has no idea who anyone he used to know is.
Well, there was that case where the allies with Neville Chamberlain delivered Czechoslovakia to the German Nazis which saved Europe from a World War.
Hmmm, now that I think about it, sacrificing the Czechs and Slovaks didn’t stop the Nazis for very long. Neither did dividing Poland up with the Soviet Russians.
Even if we sacrificed a few million Ukrainians and 20% of their territory to the Russians, it wouldn’t stop the war. Or not for long.
All it would do is teach the Russians that aggression, murder, rape, looting, and any other war crimes they can think up, will pay off for them with no real consequences.
You don’t negotiate with terrorists, murderers, and genocidal maniacs.
All the Russians understand is force and that is where we are in the Real World.
FWIW, all the progressives and leftists I know or am around (which is quite a few) all stand with Ukraine and condemn Russia.
Young North Fork (New York, USA) Step Dancers Win Big At Ireland World Championships
SC at 92, 96, nd 99: Looks like an ill-informed, or simply uninformed letter to me.
WTF? There’s excuse for legislators to be that uninformed. I am appalled.
Followup to comments 60 and 65.
Link
Video available at the link.
Woodward’s tapes of Trump reveal what we already knew: he’s a damaged, nasty, ignorant piece of work
Good thread:
Republican National Committee sues Google over email spam filters
If they don’t like being spam-binned, maybe they shouldn’t fill their emails with lies and disinformation.
Lynna @ #103, I think it’s worse – they’re disinformed. It seems like as Russia’s wider propaganda operation has become less effective and more difficult their efforts might have become more targeted. Based on what I’ve seen in the responses on Twitter, I imagine there must be a firehose of disinformation aimed at influential people in certain groups (Bernie bros and rightwing tech bros, understood broadly, for example). It’s even harder to deal with because they think they are informed.
SC @108, yes, I think you are right. Still I’m sticking a “dunderheads” label on them for this. If I can tell the difference between disinformation and reliable information, certainly our legislators should be expected to do so.
A lighter moment: Humor from Andy Borowitz:
New Yorker link
House progressives join the crazy #MAGA cult on Ukraine
Natural gas prices in Europe have collapsed.
They are 1/3 of what they were a month ago.
Russia has declared war on the West in general and the EU in particular.
They were going to freeze EU people this winter and destroy their energy intensive industries.
Cheap Russian gas wasn’t really cheap.
They also demanded your national sovereignty, your national security, and…44 million Ukrainians. It wasn’t worth it.
Fortunately, Russia has quickly lost this battle.
US natural gas prices are also down.
In Texas’s Permian basin, natural gas prices are heading to zero.
They are producing more natural gas than they have pipeline capacity to take it away.
I agree with this assessment:
Rep. Jayapal’s “clarification” at the (Twitter) link. So fucking irresponsible.
Julia Davis:
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link.
“Rep. Mark Pocan D-WI signed that letter to Biden about Ukraine. He claims it ‘was written in July & I have no idea why it went out now.’ Someone wanted it out.”
That would explain the disconnect I noted @ #96.
@#3, tomh:
Nazis seldom seem to have trouble sleeping, but they should preemptively try Alfred Hitchcock’s insomnia cure, just in case. And nobody should ever be prosecuted for forcing it upon them, remembering that they have, at any and all times, the ability to escape the whole debate by — simply ceasing to be Nazis. I refuse to waste tears or anguish on any misfortune which befalls somebody who wants to kill half the friends I’ve had in my lifetime (to say nothing of a large-ish chunk of the commenters here on this board) and in most cases me as well. And if you have a problem with that, I suggest you take it up with them. If you can get them to stop being advocates for murder of the innocent and purveyors of political violence, I’ll be happy to ignore them and drop all animosity. Complaining to me just means you’re closer to being aligned with Nazis than with me, and I find that easy to believe.
WARNING : Sexual assault & rape culture references esp at links.
Bruce Lehrmann is very clearly guilty of rape by any reasonable human being’s assessment of the evidence – Brittany Higgin’s testimony – and only those perverted by misogyny and rape culture would say otherwise. Sadly, it seems there’s an Australian jury with rape apologists and misogynists on it deliberating now :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-25/jury-returns-to-deliberate-in-bruce-lehrmann-trial/101575192
The laws need to be changed the law to state that rape and sexual assault victims must be believed unless there is overwhelming reason to do otherwise. Yes, reverse the presumption and make it one of guilt because the statistics are very clear that the system does NOT work here and juries need to be vetted to remove any members who are misogynist or have ingrained false beliefs caused by our rape culture. Juries should be told false rape claims are NOT an actual thing that happens and that rapists need to be made fully responsible and it this needed to start, well, years ago but as of now a serious conversation and serious reforms need to occur.
See :
https://www.thecut.com/article/false-rape-accusations.html
& https://www.ourresilience.org/what-you-need-to-know/myths-and-facts/
Borowitz’s satire is as usual most amusing, but I think slightly mis-states what’s happened in the UK. First, Johnson almost certainly withdrew because he simply couldn’t get the 100 nominations from Tory MPs he needed to get to the vote of the party membership, which he would probably have won. (There are reports, allegedly coming from the 1922 Committee who were organising the selection of the new party leader, that he’d managed to get to 102, but if you added the number publicly backing Sunak to the numbers claimed for Johnson and the third candidate, Mordaunt, they added up to more than the total number of Tory MPs.) Second, the big difference is that it was Johnson’s own fellow Tory MPs who pushed him out, because he’d clearly become an electoral liability, not the voting public. And they were able to do it with 2 1/2 years left before a general election has to be called, giving them time to recover support. But it’s a nice irony that if Johnson hadn’t been so self-indulgently lazy since resigning (three luxury foreign holidays, all probably paid for by others, the latest while Parliament was sitting and Truss was on the skids), he might have succeeded in his attempt.
One more point is that Johnson hasn’t gone away permanently. Once the shine wears off Sunak, Johnson will be loooking for an opportunity. This winter is going to be very tough for millions of people in the UK, Sunak is going to impose cuts and tax rises making it even tougher, and the ongoing wave of strikes is going to intensify. Next May there are local elections across England (not in Scotland, don’t know about Wales), and if the Tories do very badly and Johnson’s personal ratings have recovered significantly (both likely), his supporters will be launching a new “Bring Back Boris” campaign.
Good snippets of astronomy in this video here
____________ ^ news_________________ That is.
Big Rip, no, Big y-Ray Burst, yes and the new space telescope’s new look at the “Pillars of creation” nebula.
Also a refresher on the Lehrmann case here ( WARNING Sexual assualt references,) thanks to the original 4 Corners episode which is approx 45 mins long – rounded down.
whilst more astronomy news here with our new understanding of asteroid Ryugu here :
https://www.space.com/asteroid-ryugu-cold-outer-solar-system
Plus on a very seared, distant golden world :
https://www.space.com/super-earth-planet-no-atmosphere-too-hot
here.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. Their latest summary:
Also from there:
Rachel Maddow last night (YT links):
“Law Catches Up To 2020 Right-Wing Election Scammers As 2022 Sees New Intimidation Tactics”:
“Voting Rights Groups Turn To Courts To Fight Ballot Box Vigilantes”:
The suit was filed yesterday, and Elias tells Maddow that the judge has scheduled a hearing for this morning.
I recently watched the 2019 film Mr. Jones. I have some issues with it, but I would say it’s worthwhile and relevant.
They note at the end that Walter Duranty’s Pulitzer hasn’t been revoked, and this is evidently still the case. From Wikipedia (citation numbers removed):
The standard described @ #29 sounds better: “No passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes.” In any case, Gissler’s decision is strange.
Thinking more about it (I haven’t had my tea yet this morning!), I guess they could be seen as two levels: if you were to find that contentions, etc., had been discredited subsequent to conferral of the prize, you would then need to determine whether the contentions had been the result of deliberate deception. In the Trump-Russia case, the submissions haven’t been discredited, so the question of deception doesn’t even arise. But in the Duranty case, major elements of the submissions were subsequently discredited and there’s substantial evidence of journalistic malpractice. The requirement to show “deliberate deception” (which was arguably met here anyway) sounds extreme.
Update!: “Breaking News: Adidas cut ties with Kanye West, ending what may have been his most significant corporate fashion partnership after he made antisemitic remarks.”
“Ukrainian PM Shmyhal: Thanks to IRIS-T air defense systems [from Germany], Ukraine downs 9 out of 10 Russian missiles”
Can the same technology that tracks meteors also track Dark Matter too? Here’s the plan to find out :
https://www.space.com/find-dark-matter-with-meteor-radar
Oh Great, Britain’s New Prime Minister is a Crypto Bro
Ahhhh, tea. :)
Lynna @ #109:
Yes, they especially should be expected to do so. They and their staffs should have trainings and briefings on this, and they should keep holding public hearings to inform the public about what’s happening. We’ve all had to work over the past several years to understand how propaganda and disinformation operate now, and the least we should expect is that legislators not allow themselves to be manipulated into a precipitous and irresponsible stunt.
Guardian liveblog:
PZ reports that Rees-Mogg is out.
LOL. (Twitter link.)
More on that letter from the Democratic party Progressive caucus.
It isn’t quite as bad as has been portrayed. On example.
The two-page statement points to the death and destruction Russia’s war in Ukraine is causing in Ukraine and the harmful effects it is having outside the war zone, acknowledges that engaging with Russia is difficult, and reiterates that any resolution needs to be “acceptable to the people of Ukraine.” Stating the obvious here.
Then they contradict this and go off on an irrelevant direction.
If we could negotiate our way out of this war with Russia, we would, and it would have already happened.
Russia wants to genocide the Ukrainians, and steal all their land and stuff!!! This isn’t negotiable. They have no real legitimate cause to wage war on Ukraine.
“Talking Point Memo’s Josh Marshall calls the letter’s arguments “completely incoherent” and “contradictory on the key points.”
Some of them are walking it back at least.
They wrote this letter in July and never released it for 3 months. This makes no sense.
They really need to just admit they made mistakes and walk the whole thing back.
Russia accused of sabotaging Ukraine water pipe to Mykolaiv
Too Much Gas. Europe’s Energy Crisis Takes a Surprise Turn
Transcript of Zelenskyy’s address last night from the Kyiv Post:
Um…:
Kyiv Independent:
There are unconfirmed reports of significant progress toward Svatove as well.
Andriy Yermak, an hour ago:
Wow:
This isn’t exactly wrong but it is arguable.
.1. The famines of Stalin killed 3.9 million Ukrainians.
.2. The Russians say often that they lost 25 million people during World War II.
7 million of them were Ukrainians.
The Germans swept through Ukraine on their way to Moscow, occupied Ukraine, and then retreated through Ukraine.
.3. The Russians invaded Ukraine in February, 2022.
The deaths and damage they have done to Ukraine aren’t done yet but it will be a lot.
I’m seeing a pattern here.
These people have had an incredibly dismal 20th century.
They deserve better and it is their time to have a normal 21st century existence.
Rep. Sara Jacobs:
Why was this released now? Why weren’t the original signers consulted before it was?
@ #116 Vicar
Huh?
Good job by Jon Stewart here. (Twitter link.)
@ The Vicar (via Freethoughtblogs) :
Please will you check out this :
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2022/10/20/its-always-projection-with-these-guys/#comment-2154692
& give your thoughts on it? I’d like to know.
Iranian man who didn’t wash for half a century dies at 94
Hope so! (Twitter link.) (In French.)
Because there’s an election coming up on Nov 8.
@81. cicely : “Okay, I’m sure I remember there being a better way to do the linky thingy, but I don’t remember how. Can some kind soul take pity on me and ship me a clue?”
I’m not sure if this will help :
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2021/10/16/infinite-thread-xxi/comment-page-3/#comment-2117142
(Comment #327)
But hope it does.
Its the techmagic that enables you to link things without embedding them on this blog courtesy of Silentbob if that’s of any use? here.
Politico – “House progressives weigh retraction of Russia-diplomacy letter amid Dem firestorm” (“firestorm” is a bit of an exaggeration):
Sheesh.
“Rep Jayapal withdraws controversial progressive caucus letter to the White House seeking diplomacy with Russia. ‘The letter was drafted several months ago, but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting. As Chair of the Caucus, I accept responsibility for this’.”
Good.
Aaron Blake, WaPo:
Tweet o’ the day.
Guardian – “Iran protests and a supreme cat show: Monday’s best photos.”
Rep. Raskin has released a statement:
New data shows Biden delivering on deficit-reduction boast
Biden-era deficit reduction has been so impressive, Republicans ought to be impressed. Instead, they’re pretending not to notice the developments.
Another profession:
Zelenskyy:
Obama featured in new digital ads in battleground states
Former President Barack Obama appears in new ads in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Illinois.
On Trump and Jan. 6, Ted Cruz’s shamelessness reaches new depths
After the Jan. 6 attack, a Republican senator said Ted Cruz had “a lot of soul searching to do.” Alas, that search apparently hasn’t gone well.
“This is a beautiful video from the northern city of Gorgan. Good to see these faces and smiles. Iranians deserve better. Much better. #MahsaAmini #مهسا_امینی #Iran #IranProtests2022″
Video at the (Twitter) link.
Kari Lake gives away the game on ‘restoring confidence’ in voting
The good news is, Lake is no longer claiming to have secret evidence. The bad news is, she’s instead sharing evidence that appears to be entirely made up.
Understated snark at the end there.
From Lynna’s at 160:
For a Republican, the ‘everyone’ who matters, the GOP voters, are dumb. Not stupid, just intentionally ignorant of reality. Which is why Cruz et. al. keep getting reelected.
Twitter thread by Josh Marshall (pretty much my interpretation as well):
Mearsheimer is an “expert” at the Quincy Institute.
Link
Wonkette:
https://www.wonkette.com/charlie-kirk-anti-white-racism
Well, that was painful.
“You’re A Disgrace”: Baseball Fans Hurled Insults At Ted Cruz While He Attended A Yankees Game
Julia Davis:
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link. It’s incredible how often they say things like “The main goal of this war is the destruction of Russia. For now, the territory of Ukraine was chosen for this.” YOU INVADED UKRAINE.
Mystery Surrounds Company Paying MAGA Candidate’s Salary
You can count on Kirk or just about any GOPer to lie.
Rural USA isn’t overwhelmingly white.
It is 75% white which is higher than then national average of 58% white but hardly a monoculture of whites. The Native American population is partly rural and parts of the Hispanic population have always been rural. Just where do you think those farm workers live anyway?
As my source notes, rural America is following the USA as a whole in becoming…more diverse.
NBC News:
Re: Lynna, OM @ #171…
That raises an interesting question… Not being an ammosexual myself, just how much do 600 rounds for an AR-15 weigh?
Urainian MoD:
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link. I don’t know why I find it so entertaining. The voice. The font for the phone numbers. It’s beautiful.
“…or use the chatbot ‘I want to live’ in the Telegram messenger…”
“This is better than being a dead occupier in a foreign land.”
whheydt@172, “how much do 600 rounds for an AR-15 weigh?”
Not a lot, apparently. I also had no idea, so asked Generalissimo Google™. I found sites selling the stuff in cases of 1000 (yes, one thousand) rounds for $500–$600, with a claimed weight of around 30 pounds (14kg).
At one of the sites, an alleged customer commented
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Farcical.
Guardian:
“Xi Jinping has purged China of hope – but he can’t stamp out small acts of resistance”: “The country has been changed utterly under its ‘red emperor’. Now I fear we’ll give up on imagining an alternative…”
“Hu Jintao argued about official papers before being escorted out of congress”: “Footage shows former Chinese president involved in apparent disagreement over documents…”
“Cut meat consumption to two burgers a week to save planet, study suggests”: “Climate crisis report says ‘we are not winning in any sector’ as experts call for urgent action on fossil fuels…” (Also an option: not eating animals at all.)
Theo Usherwood:
Adam Crafton:
I’m reminded of this podcast about Marc Bennett I linked to recently…
Kyiv Post – “British Defence Intelligence Update Ukraine – 26 October 2022”:
(I see periodic reports of a shortage of cassette bearings creating serious problems for the Russian rail system, but I can’t tell how accurate they are.)
Guardian liveblog:
Thousands of people walking to Mahsa Amini’s grave. Video at the (Twitter) link.
“Col-Gen Ramzan Kadyrov declares a ‘great jihad’ after a Ukrainian strike in Kherson killed or inured close to 100 Chechen troops: ‘We will not be taking these devils prisoner. We will burn them alive. We will not stop. Odessa, Kyiv, Kharkiv, all of Ukraine is Russian territory’.”
New Zealand Uber Drivers Win Landmark Case Declaring Them Employees
Meduza, Russian universities will soon have a new required subject — perhaps best described as “Studies in Russian Greatness”:
Broadly, it sounds like having now destroyed Russia’s standing in the world, Russia’s economy, caused skilled individuals to flee, show the Russian military is a complete shambles, etc., etc., Putin is now trying to destroy Russian universities. Rather like hair furor or the former USSR, etc.
† Not set in because Putin’s invasion of Ukraine probably is determining “Russia’s fate” — albeit not towards the imperialistic authoritarian
RussiaPutin-worshiping empire Karaganov, et al., say they want.Meduza, ‘Like bats out of hell’ Many of the draft evaders fleeing Russia for Central Asia have been government workers:
The plausible claim that most of the fleeing people are “programmers, system administrators, and other IT workers” reminds me of a previous (Meduza?) article some time ago (which I excerpted in this series of poopyhead threads) to the effect that people who could read foreign languages (usually(?) English) and had Internet access (often via a VPN), such as University professors / scientists, were extremely unsupportive of Putin’s war… because they had the ability to seek out non-Putin-controlled media and other sources (including contacts in Europe). Skilled programmers, etc., would also meet that criteria — can (probably) read English and almost-certainly have the opportunity, ability, skills, and contacts.
LGBT football fans told to be respectful at Qatar World Cup
Meduza, General Vlasov’s return — Scholar Jade McGlynn explains how Putin’s is losing to reality in Ukraine. This essay by Dr McGlynn is perhaps too intricate and detailed to fairly excerpt, so only a few snippets:
I have only the faintest recollection of Andrey Vlasov. Ye Pffft! of All Knowledge has this interesting tidbit:
Interestingly, apparently near that war’s end, Vlasov defected again, ordering his Russian Liberation Army to fight against the nazis during the Prague uprising (May 1945), albeit “[s]ome historians maintain […] the sole purpose of this action was to win favor from the western Allies and possibly even the Soviet side, in the light of the nearly completed military annihilation of the German Reich.” (There are other theories as to why he defected again.)
Interesting snippet from Meduza about Putin’s “dirty bomb” nonsense, ‘A pretext for escalation’ — What you need to know about Moscow’s claims that Ukraine is building a ‘dirty bomb’ (all emboldening in the original):
This is the first(?) hypothesis about that “dirty bomb” nonsense which makes any sense to me. It would be completely mad for Ukraine to build one or use one, doubly mad to use one within its own borders (occupied or not), and triply mad to use one in Russia. For the most part, Ukraine’s actions to-date cannot be called “mad”, except by Putin and his acolytes. To a rational actor, it would also be mad for Russia to use one (anywhere), and doubly mad to call it — albeit we are talking about Putin here, so “rational actor” seems a bit of a stretch.
This news is called unconfirmed.
Russia is moving to a wartime economy.
That special military operation isn’t so special any more.
The Russian people shouldn’t like this but since they get no say, the government isn’t going to care about that.
I don’t see that it will make much difference though.
Russia already doesn’t spend much on infrastructure, health, education, etc.. What money they do get is diverted by the leadership and the oligarchies.
FWIW, much of a war’s cost is in the aftermath.
Veteran’s benefits, surviving children and spouse benefits, disability of wounded soldiers, etc..
We will be paying for those from our recent wars into the next century.
The aftereffects of wars lingers for many decades. Or even over a century.
The US civil war ended in 1865.
We were still paying survivor benefits up until 2012.
I suspect Russia might just not bother with details like survivor benefits and veteran pensions. It’s not like they really care about their people or anything.
They’ve been sending untrained and underequipped called up people to the front where they are quickly dying.
From Pitless Cherries to Softer Kale, This Startup Is Using CRISPR to Make Better Produce
The dirty bombs or radiological weapons are overrated.
They are mainly weapons of terror of low military significance.
The main danger from these bombs is the explosion, a proven way to kill people.
The radiation part is invisible and it may make a few people sick or kill them but they won’t show any chronic effects for years or decades.
It’s also really hard to get enough radioactive waste together in one place safely to wrap it around a bomb. Anyone who doesn’t have access to advanced robots to do the work is going to die soon of radiation poisoning.
It will terrorize people, inconvenience them, and cost money for the cleanup.
Everyone is paranoid about radiation and radioactive materials.
I keep reading that as “pitiless cherries.”
Martin Rowson in the Grauniad On Rishi Sunak’s new team (cartoon): “Sunak Unveils Fresh Tory Team”.
Last night’s Colbert monologue – “Obama Connects With The Youths | Rishi Is Richer Than The Royals | Adidas Drops Ye”:
New Fever Dreams – “Mule [Mania] w/ Maurice Chammah”:
Guardian liveblog:
£420k payout for woman harrassed at work with peach emoji messages
The mildly deranged penguin points out Cherries are very tame, and like to sleep on — or more commonly, down behind the cushionsof — your couch / favorite chair / pillow fort. This is to their (the Cherries) detriment, as they are notoriously fragile physically, despite their stony guts. That so-called “heart of stone” is probably, she claims, where the rumour of Cherries being “pitiless” comes from. They are quite safe.
Unless, that is, there is a fruitcake around (either the flour variety or the swivel-eyed loon variety). They are tossed into one and baked; the other is a tosser with half-baked conspiracy theories. Both annoy Cherries, and can provoke them into… sulking. In extreme cases, a foul rot.
Quite importantly, she says, they are not any threat to your cheeseboard. Nor to the cheeses. However, they do like to jump in bottles of beer (usually lambic), hence earning them the name kriek, which she asserts is mildly deranged Flemish for kookoo.
Assorted recommendations:
I had mentioned the new Rachel Maddow podcast when it started a few weeks ago. It’s now four episodes in and it’s very good – “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra.”
SWAJ also has a new spinoff podcast coming out this week – “Dracula, QAnon, and Crumbling Christian Empires”:
I adore the podcast It’s Christmastown. It’s delightful. And the guests for the latest episode are Sam Adler-Bell from Know Your Enemy and Jonathan Katz, author of Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire, which is wild.
“120 – A Floating Meatball of Barbarism”:
(I’ll spare everyone my rant about “barbarism” today. :))
Gothamist:
Brooklyn yeshiva will pay $8M in fines, restitution after ‘overlapping frauds’
October 26, 2022
Ukraine update: Russia wants the people who beat them last time to fight the people beating them now
Shooting down Russian missiles is good news.
More recommendations:
I discovered recently that the Guardian liveblogs the Great British Bakeoff, so that’s fun. I can’t follow along live because the new episodes air in the UK on regular TV (with ads and all) on Tuesdays but we don’t get them in the US on Netflix until Fridays. (GBBO still isn’t very vegan-friendly – in fact, it’s performatively anti-vegan at times – which is unfortunate, but it’s manageable.)
I’m also enjoying Magpie Murders on PBS. Here’s a Salon interview with Anthony Horowitz about his work on it – “‘Magpie Murders’ is a metafiction marvel: Anthony Horowitz on adapting his mystery within a mystery.”
Everyday Americans catch what Sen. Todd Young’s staffers missed in failed photo stunt
Marjorie Taylor Green flees interview after telling a woman she’s too old to have an opinion on abortion
Video at the link.
Quebec separatist party calls for split with British monarchy
https://twitter.com/JohnFetterman/status/1585273092812709888
Video shows OZ saying that he wants “local political leaders” involved in a woman’s decision about her pregnancy.
Not a perfect ad, but Fetterman’s staff put that together overnight in response to last night’s debate. Quick turnaround.
Followup to comment 205.
Steve Benen:
Mark Meadows ordered by court to testify in Georgia 2020 election meddling probe
3 men convicted of supporting plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer
Followup to comment 205.
In the debate, Fetterman said: “I had a stroke. He’s [Oz has] never let me forget that. And I might miss some words during this debate, mush two words together. It knocked me down, but I’m gonna keep coming back up.”
In the debate, Oz said: “I don’t want the federal government involved with that at all. I want women, doctors, local political leaders letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves.”
Steve Benen: “Democrats in the Keystone State want nothing more than to talk about Oz’s far-right plans on reproductive rights, and last night, he made their job easier.”
The debate format was particularly brutal for Fetterman. Auditory processing difficulties forced him to reply based on transcriptions of questions, etc. The two candidates were given only 15 seconds to respond in some cases. Part of Fetterman’s response time was taken up by waiting for the transcription to appear on screen. That’s not fair. He doesn’t have a cognitive failure. He has an auditory processing lag that is the result of the stroke. And he has had only a few months to recover.
At one point, OZ nastily noted that perhaps Fetterman had not heard him correctly.
Kyiv Independent:
That seems like kind of a lot for a random regular update.
RCMP investigating Chinese ‘police’ stations in Canada
The Kessel Run: 990 games in under 12 parsecs
“This flyer was shared around LA.
I’m trying to replace my anger with a fervent plea to get out & vote. Vote for candidates that represent your values & the values you want our country to represent.”
Photo at the (Twitter) link.
A man shouted ‘burn in hell’ and profanity in court as the Wisconsin parade attacker was convicted on all 76 charges
Julia Davis:
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link. From the emo stylings of Vladimir Solovyov:
“Oy, Lordy. That’s it, that’s it.”
“We’re fighting the entire Satanic machine of the West!”
“That’s that, guys, that’s that.”
“Ugh.”
“That’s it…that’s it.”
What do purple fence posts mean in West Virginia?
Guardian liveblog:
“Mahsa Zhina Amini and the slogan of Iran’s nationwide protests—Woman, Life, Freedom—light up NYC Times Square.”
Photo at the (Twitter) link.
NYT:
Texas Goes Permitless on Guns, and Police Face an Armed Public
By J. David Goodman / Oct 26, 2022
A new law allowing people to carry handguns without a license has led to more spontaneous shootings, many in law enforcement say.
The spot price for natural gas in Europe is now below zero.
The Russian economic war on the EU isn’t working very well.
The Russians forgot that the EU lived without them for a century and they can live without Russia again for another century.
Russia has nothing to offer the world but natural resources, problems, and death.
The mass media keeps saying that next year will be harder for various reasons.
They were wrong about this year so why should we believe them.
Europe now has a whole year to figure out what to do next.
AJ – “Clashes as thousands attend Mahsa Amini memorial in Iran’s Saqqez”:
Bond set for 2 fishermen indicted on criminal charges from Lake Erie Walleye Trail Tournament cheating scandal
“Armenia has banned RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan from entering the country.”
Tweet o’ the day.
Re: SC (Salty Current) @ #195…
I’ve seen analyses that Ukraine forces are in sort of a holding pattern until the get a hard freeze. At that point, wheeled military vehicles can be used off road. While things are still very muddy, they would be in the same situation that Russian forces were at the beginning of the war: confined to roads where they’re (relatively) easy to pick off or stall into traffic jams.
Even nuns watch porn, Pope says
Mark Sumner continues to update the post @ Lynna’s #200 above.
@ 226
Gasp! You mean that ridiculous religious dogma doesn’t repress human sexual desire!? The Devil you say?
SC @224, that was funny and well done. On the money.
In other news, but somewhat related:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/and-another-9
Top Trump ally Mark Meadows loses in court, must testify in Georgia probe of Trump election schemes
raven@220, writing about natural gas, asserts “The Russians forgot that the EU lived without them for a century […].”
Eh?
The EU is generally considered to have started with the WU (Western Union) formed in 1948, which is less than one century ago. That is, the EU, even counting its earliest forms, is less than one century (100 years) old, and so that unsourced and unevidenced claim is apriori impossible. (The EU as such only dates back to 1993 and the Maastricht Treaty, about 30 years ago.)
I presume “EU” is a code for some part of “Europe” — a rather common confusion / conflation — but that doesn’t help the deciphering.
The first gas pipeline from Russia to Europe was the “Druzhba pipeline [from the USSR] to supply allies in the Eastern Bloc was put into operation in 1964” during the so-called Cold War. So presumably this “century [without Russian gas]” ended in approximately that timeframe.
The first natural gas well (world-wide) dates back to the 1820s, but prior to the early 20th Century, wasn’t used much. So, waving hands somewhat, Europe has only been using natural gas for about a century, the last 100-and-a-bit years; half of that time the gas used wasn’t from historical (Tsarist) Russia or its successor, the USSR.
All that makes me think what is meant is something like: “Until the 1960s, Europe did not import gas from the USSR or its predecessors, so for the first century or so of gas use, Europe did not use Russian gas.”
And PLEASE, It would help if links to the sources were provided, especially — but not exclusively — to the sources which are quoted.
Probably more than you wanted to know about Kanye West’s latest troubles.
Adidas dissolved their partnership which was apparently a licensing arrangement with his shoe and apparel company.
“… the Yeezy brand has little remaining income and a bleak future outlook.”
It is literally costing him billions of USD to mouth off about Jews and whatnot. Hardly worth the (negative) attention.
He is still worth $400 million though.
Wonkette: “Genius Trump Lawyer Says Trump Can’t Wait To Testify To January 6 Committee During Infrastructure Week”
St. Louis school shooter obtained a gun after his family worked with police to have one removed from their home, officials say
Police revealed that the gunman in Monday’s shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School had made a “forced entry” into the school.
Tucker Carlson Lashes Out at Washington Post Writer Asking About Alleged Nepotism Surrounding Son: ‘Go F*** Yourself’
Certainly a class act such as Tucker Carlson would never go after someone’s family.
Tucker Carlson Asked for Hunter Biden’s Help Getting His Son Into College
LOL. (Twitter link.)
“Tonight, Tehran. Protests in so many neighborhoods continued. This is far from over. The regime’s escalation in crackdown has backfired. The repression machinery is exhausted.”
Video at the (Twitter) link.
“Tank cars containing oil are on fire in Shakhtars’k in temporarily-occupied Donetsk region.
Shakhtars’k is about 50 kilometres from the current battlefront. It’s a Ukrainian town that has been controlled by the Russian fascist invaders since 2014.”
Video at the (Twitter) link.
Estonia’s PM: Russia nearing ‘breaking point’ in war
Joint press point with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the Prime Minister of Romania, Nicolae Ciucă
The Meaning Behind Colour-Coded Dog Leashes and Collars
“#BREAKING: Ukraine president Zelensky says Ukraine has started cooperation with Israel in the field of intelligence and defense”
“Today there were protests in at least 30 Iranian cities on the 40th day of #MahsaAmini’s death in custody. Over the past six weeks, there have been protests in 119 cities across Iran.”
Video at the (Twitter) link.
Professor combs through trash for clues about North Korea
“Tonight, Narmak neighborhood, Tehran. Protesters chant, ‘We fight, we die, we take Iran’. People seem to have more hope that they will finally succeed than the regime, losing a faction of its base daily.”
Shit. Our legal system is so broken :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-27/jury-discharged-in-trial-of-bruce-lehrmann-brittany-higgins/101583486
Pell case all over again among so many others. We need immediate changes and reviews to deliver anything close to actual justice and when victms cannot get justice in the court system how are they meant to get it and what are they meant to do?
Kyiv Independent:
Natalia Antelava at CNN – “Opinion: How Russia uses ‘sameness’ as an instrument of domination”:
More at the link. Great piece.
Duirng the last period of the Shah’s regime, I read that there was a 40-day rhythm to the unrest: the Shah’s forces would kill demonstrators, and 40 days afterwards crowds would be out to mark their “chehelom”, and the Shah’s forces would kill again.
@ KG : “chehelom” = ???
Latest Musk / Tesla news here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-27/tesla-under-probe-for-self-driving-claims/101584262
& https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-27/elon-musk-enters-twitter-headquarters-with-sink/101583212
& surprised no one has yet noted this story here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-27/men-convicted-of-supporting-plot-to-kidnap-governor/101583588
Unless I’ve missed it?
Our home. Very wide view. That’s us. All of humanity in a little grey marble seen by an advanced robot of our species construction.
https://www.space.com/earth-moon-photos-from-lucy-asteroid-mission
(Channeling Carl Sagan a bit.)
@208
StevoR@251,
See the definition in the text I quoted @250.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Also #236. :)
Guardian – “With Rishi Sunak, the City’s takeover of British politics is complete”:
Thai transgender tycoon buys Miss Universe contest
This is a thread about what is happening to the Russian mobilized men in Ukraine.
The source is a Russian video translated by ChrisO
They are treated pretty badly and often end up dead.
No training, no food, underequipped, incompetent officers.
A lot of people have noted the passivity of Russians. After a few centuries of being ruled by dictators, and frequently slaughtered for no good reasons, they have learned that there isn’t much they can do.
They don’t seem to live life, but merely try to survive it.
They Russian conscript cannon fodder occasionally get it together enough to shoot their officers for stealing from them and mistreating them. It’s not common but it has happened.
Sudan: ‘No-one to intervene’ for woman sentenced to stoning
Livetweeting of Putin’s Valdai speech.
Ukraine update: The idea that Ukraine has no choice but to take Kherson in a ‘great battle’ is wrong
Putin gave a speech today.
It’s more or less standard Russian propaganda.
It is also a lot of lies strung together.
This is all why Russia has an army in Ukraine and is trying to genocide the Ukrainians and steal their land and stuff.
Oh really?
This is the guy who cut off natural gas to the EU in the hope that EU citizens would freeze all winter and their energy intensive economies would fall apart.
This is the country that repeatedly and often threatens to nuke the West when they aren’t coming up with other threats such as radiological bombs and shooting down our satellites.
There is no doubt whatsoever that Russia is the enemy of the West and most of the rest of the world as well.
“Now officially! Proud to present our new drone – #SHARK
We started working on it already after Feb 24, in conditions of full-scale invasion of the rf.
And in less than half a year, SHARK was already flying.
Completely [Ukrainian] drone – from idea to production.
Just beautiful & effective”
Video at the (Twitter) link. It’s so cute!
KG @ #250, the regime went to great lengths to deny the teenager and protest leader Nika Shahkarami a real funeral (including allegedly stealing her body), but it seems a funeral was held by her family on October 2, so that chehelom should be November 11.
Julia Davis:
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link.
This is just pathetic and sad. Amusing that they include the part where the guest talks about the potential for Putin’s desperate resort to nuclear weapons “if Russia was in danger of being pushed out [of Ukraine] and defeated on the battlefield.”
“1. Now in their sixth week, nationwide protests in Iran continue with intensity. In the city of Mahabad–Iranian Kurdistan– thousands of protesters chant ‘woman, life freedom’ (zhan, zhian, azadi)
A reminder of how Iran’s Islamist revolutionaries established their authority in Kurdistan four decades ago….”
Video and photo at the (Twitter) link.
Mykhailo Podolyak:
Someone should inform them that Tucker Carlson is not actually running for any office. He prefers to stick to his specialty – poo flinging.
New York Post Says Tweet Calling for AOC’s Assassination Was the Result of a Hack
Walker to be joined by Cruz in Georgia as GOP stands by its man after new abortion allegation
Consider how horrible your ratings must be if appearing with Ted Cruz is expected to improve your popularity.
Ari Melber yesterday (YT link) – “From Obama’s Only Trump Meeting To A ‘Van Gogh JFK,’ See Dazzling A.I. Tech Upending Politics [?]”:
Guardian liveblog:
Man who pulled officer Fanone into mob during US Capitol attack sentenced to over 7 years
Newly discovered species of bacteria in the microbiome may be a culprit behind rheumatoid arthritis
Jonathan Chait in New York magazine – “Why Are Florida Republicans Paying a White Supremacist Goon?”
99% Invisible – “Episode 506: Monumental Diplomacy”:
Biden has good reason to tout the new data on economic growth
Despite significant headwinds, the economy started growing again over the summer, with new GDP data that exceeded expectations.
Link
Wonkette: “Mike Lee Bravely Runs Away From Fox News Safe Space Debate Against Evan McMullin”
https://www.wonkette.com/mike-lee-debate-bret-baier
Fetterman Raised $2 Million in Less Than 24 Hours After Oz’s Debate Abortion Comments
Russians can’t do anything right.
Lately, they’ve been too busy threatening to shoot down our satellites to threaten to kill us all.
This is late but at least they remembered.
Yes, me and my cat and a few tens of millions will die from Russian nuclear bombs.
Because, no we don’t understand.
Understand why you keep making threats while losing a war to a victim 1/4 your size.
The Red army marching through Europe was a nice touch.
They don’t have 10 million rifles though. In fact they are about out of rifles.
I suppose they will issue one for every 20 soldiers or something.
The Russians always say they won World War II.
Half true.
They provided the soldiers while the allies provided the money and weapons.
US lend lease made a huge difference and the allies did a little fighting themselves, about half of the total at the Western front.
Mormon Church in Canada moved $1B out of the country tax free — and it’s legal
Remote-controlled machine helps ‘eat’ land mines in Ukraine
(video 01:18)
Another stupid Russian threat.
They keep threatening to shoot down our satellites.
This is dumb.
.1. They can’t actually do that.
There are thousands of commercial satellites.
Starlink alone has 2,300.
They could get a few but that is about it.
.2. We could you know, just shoot down their satellites.
.3. This would quickly wreck the near earth space.
The satellite killer + dead satellite produces huge amounts of space debris.
Enough of that and the entire world would have trouble putting up and keeping up satellites.
The entire world would get really angry when they can’t watch their favorite TV programs.
.4. The main point is that this is…an act of war against the USA/EU!!! Yo, Russians.
Say hello to Article 5 of the NATO agreement.
They were better off when they were threatening to flood the UK with a nuclear tidal wave.
Oh Cthulhu please no.
I’m a Boomer, old enough to have grown up in the 1950s.
It was a bleak, gray time when the big excitement was fallout shelters and duck and cover drills to survive a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. We all knew adults around us who limped in various ways because of polio.
Then the 1960s happened.
The world expanded and kept on expanding.
Hobby Lobby founder says he’s giving away his company because ‘wealth is a curse’
In other words, it’s a tax dodge.
A demonologist is coming to Aroostook (Maine, USA) to banish a curse
kook
Plant turns suspected crop pest into pollinator
Re: Lynna, OM @ #275…
1952 again? That would mean Sen. Joe McCarthy up to the same crap he pulled then. I can’t really claim to remember 1952, but I was around at the time. Still…NO. Don’t want that.
AP:
Election Day is Nov. 8, but legal challenges already begin
By COLLEEN LONG / October 27, 2022
Jacob Wohl, Jack Burkman plead guilty to felony for 2020 election robocalls targeting Cleveland voters</a)
Does Your Sheriff Think He’s More Powerful Than the President?
“Large crow[d] in Tehran chanting ‘This is the year of blood, Seyed Ali [Khamenei] will be overthrown’ and ‘freedom, freedom’.”
Video at the (Twitter) link. They somehow manage to make all these chants about blood and death sound joyous and fun.
Kyiv Independent:
AGM-179 JAGM: Replacing the legendary Hellfire missile
Satire from Andy Borowitz:
New Yorker link
This is a followup to #285.
White House vows response if Russia attacks U.S. satellites
Not unexpected.
The Russians could not expect us to just sit there and watch our satellites get blown up.
Destroying satellites could backfire on them quickly.
If near earth space becomes unusable due to space debris, then the Russians can’t use it either.
This is one reason why the Russian army doesn’t work very well.
They are putting the prisoners and newly mobilized at the front with little training or weapons.
If they retreat, they get shot by the second or third line.
No wonder morale is so low.
There is also a lot of callous cruelty about the whole army.
Those on the front line aren’t expected to survive.
They are just speed bumps.
Kopp’s removes ‘pro-life’ custard from October’s flavor forecast
Re: raven @ #299…
A number of things come to mind…
Those in the front line can try to lay low and wait for the Ukraine forces to get close enough to surrender to them.
There was an incident during Falklands War when an Argentine unit was told that if they ran, their own officers would shoot them. They got caught in a cross fire between Scots Guards and Gurkhas. The Argentine troops ran towards their own officers, that being the least dangerous direction (not as good shots and only armed with hand guns).
And finally, this is likely to increase the number of “accidentally” dead Russian officers.
Warning As Fake Bank Notes Featuring Steve Irwin, Ray Meagher Stolen In NT
Navy F-35C Surfaces Wearing New Mirror-Like Skin
@ 300
As a resident of the Milwaukee metro area, I’ve enjoyed many a cheeseburger or turtle sundae from Kopps. You can imagine my horror when this story first hit the wires, and I had reluctantly decided to boycott them, Not sure if this news will change my mind. I’ll have to think on it.
@ 298
Great, we can either have a nuclear war that will end human civilization, or start off a Kessler syndrome that would permanently throw society back nearly a century!
Re: Akira MacKenzie @ #305…
Wide spread dependence on orbital assets is a lot more recent that “nearly a century”. The first object that got into orbit (and not for terribly long) was 65 years ago. I’d put the strong influence of having stuff in orbit no more than 40 years, and really more like 30.
Kyiv Independent:
“Top Twitter execs, including CEO Parag Agrawal, policy head Vijaya Gadde, CFO Ned Segal, and general counsel Sean Edgett have been fired by Elon Musk as he takes over the company:…”
NYT link at the (Twitter :() link.
“Two amazing footages of the impressive attendance of people at the #NikaShakrami and #MahsaAmini’s
40th ceremony….”
Videos at the (Twitter) link. I’m confused – I didn’t think it was Nika Shahkarami’s 40th day yet.
SC@265,
The chehelom appears to be on the 40th day after the death, not after the funeral, but that doesn’t explain Nika Shahkarami’s.
@294
With due respect to the crowd’s courage, I do like the idea of a large crow chanting this message – maybe the “monstrous crow, as black as a tar-barrel” that scared Tweedledum and Tweedledee. That would be a portent indeed!
@#288, Reginald Selkirk:
Kooks, plural. One of them believes they are being harassed by witchcraft, the other one believes in demons and magic. Not much to choose between those perspectives, but for what it’s worth the former one might have an organic cause — apparently a significant number of people who think they are having supernatural experiences of that type are actually having gas leaks and other paranoia-inducing problems (see this story, for instance). Seal up the leak (or stop whatever the cause is) and the problem resolves itself. No such likelihood for the loon who thinks he’s going to wave his bible at the problem and make it go away, though.
Akira MacKenzie@305
From your link;
whheydt@306,
I guess it depends on what you count as “strong influence”. Telstar 1, which provided the first transatlantic live TV feed, was launched on 10th July 1962. It would be interesting to research whether it caused a sharp increase in correlations between political events in North America and Europe.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From there:
@ 312
Ah, OK.
Guardian – “Get-rich-quick schemes drained my town’s wealth. At a Christian conference, their legacy lives on”:
Art.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/oct/28/mondrian-painting-has-been-hanging-upside-down-for-75-years
Ilhan Omar (who was herself a war refugee):
Oz Katerji:
Shashank Joshi quoting a piece in the Economist (link at the – Twitter – link):
Spanish fan detained in Iran while hiking to World Cup
New Lines – “A New Iran Has Been Born — A Global Iran”: “An interview with the scholar Asef Bayat widely shared by Iranians — and now banned by the Tehran authorities — is published by New Lines in English translation for the first time…”
MSNBC is reporting that Nancy Pelosi’s husband was “violently assaulted” early this morning in their home in San Francisco (she’s not there). He’s in the hospital and “expected to make a full recovery.” A suspect is in custody.
Yikes:
@ 315
This nonsense goes back a lot further than Oral Roberts; e.g. John Calvin, the puritans, the “Protestant Work Ethic,” etc..
Re: #316
Doesn’t surprise me – I have a reproduction of a Mondrian (Tableau No. II with Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, and Gray, ca. 1925) that’s been haning in my living room (various locations, as we moved about) since 1987. It’s on its side (rotated 90º), just to fit the wall better, and nobody’s ever commented at all.
(On the other hand, I’ve not had thousands of art afficianados trooping through my living room looking at it.)
Arrgh, edit to 324 – “that’s been hanging…”
Tesla Cyberquad for Kids $1,900 ATV Recalled for Safety Violations
There has been a lot of comment on this blog, quite rightly, about transphobia in the UK. But it’s worth noting that the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill passed its Stage 1 in the Scottish Parliament yesterday by 88 votes to 33, supported by all parties other than the Conservatives (and even one Tory voted for it). Although certainly not perfect, the Bill, assuming it comes into law, will among other changes remove the requirement for transgender people to obtain medical diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate, which legally recognises their preferred gender (one of the flaws is the lack of recognition for nonbinary identities). It now goes for further discussion in committee, where hopefully it can be further improved. That it should be brought forward without further delay was one of the conditions my own party, the Scottish Greens, made for entering a partial coalition with the SNP, but the support of the Labour and Liberal Democratic parties should also be noted. As should the fact that the Guardian chose to headline the backbench SNP transphobes voting against!
Shrew-like creature was placental mammals’ last common ancestor
Update to #321: MSNBC is now reporting that Paul Pelosi was attacked with a hammer.
KG @ #327, that’s great news!
Rishi Sunak: How the US shaped Britain’s new leader
No need to thank us. (roll-eyes)
Guardian liveblog:
Sonar image appears to show ’50-foot megalodon’ shark near boat. This is what it really was
Gisele Bündchen Officially Files for Divorce from Football Player
Guardian podcast – “War hero or war criminal? Australia’s defamation trial of the century”:
In other egal news, Tony Ortega is covering the Danny Masterson rape trial in California. The analysis on his Substack podcast has been interesting.
Elon Musk supporters flood Twitter with the N-word following closure of the billionaire’s $44B deal
Examples of tweets containing racial slurs, images of Hitler and other garbage available at the link. Holy …
Ukraine update: Reports of advances near Svatove, vastly undermanned Russian positions in Kherson
Paved routes are particularly valuable during the rainy season.
Reports indicate Speaker Nancy Pelosi was target of attack that hospitalized her husband
Tweet o’ the day.
Link
SC @339, such a good photo!
In other news: Twitter is now owned by a narcissistic, sociopathic, 4chan troll
#321 @329
Three sources tell CBS News a suspect has been arrested.
Business Insider:
Commentary:
Link
Exxon Reports Highest Profit in History, Beating Expectations
Parched Mississippi River Slows Fertilizer Delivery to US Corn Belt
Positive development:
This is from the other day but I didn’t have access to the Reuters article – TechCrunch – “Tesla said to face criminal investigation by the Department of Justice over self-driving claims”:
This has always been insane.
In Jan. 6 case, judge warns of ‘the dark shadow of tyranny’
“People need to understand that they can’t do this, or anything like this, again,” a federal judge reminded a Jan. 6 rioter who attacked the police.
Link
Followup to Reginald @344.
Exxon Chief: We’re Getting Rich on Behalf of the American People
@350: Is there any data on what fraction of Exxon stock is owned by U.S. citizens?
Followup to comment 336.
https://www.wonkette.com/elon-musk-twitter-racial-slurs
“NEW: San Francisco police say David Depape, 42, is the man who allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home this morning and he will be charged with attempted homicide.”
@351: Such data do exist.
Institutional investors hold a majority ownership of XOM through the 58.52% of the outstanding shares that they control. This interest is also higher than at almost any other company in the Integrated Oil industry.
Doc who thinks vaccinated people are magnetic is in big trouble with med board
Leah McElrath:
Posted by Lauren Windsor:
https://twitter.com/lawindsor/status/1585734115323584513
Video at the link.
Commentary:
https://www.wonkette.com/gosar-border-arizona-ukraine
Link
New Zealand Girl Sends Prime Minister $5 ‘Bribe’ To Fund Dragon Research
Kyiv Independent:
’20 to 30 foot long black shape’ spotted on Loch Ness webcam by Nessie hunter
Loch Ness Monster 2022: Australian woman ‘solves’ mystery of Scotland’s Nessie
“Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) seems to joke about the assassination attempt on Speaker Nancy Pelosi while campaigning for GOP congressional candidate Yesli Vega:
‘There’s no room for violence anywhere, but we’re going to send her back to be with him in California’.”
Video at the (Twitter) link. True colors.
Julia Davis:
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link.
“[Ramzan] Kadyrov has traditional values. His holiness [Patriarch] has traditional values. I am an atheist, why do I have the same values?…”
“Maybe you aren’t really an atheist.”
“No, 100% [atheist], I’m an old Soviet person. That’s why they call them traditional values…”
Quite – they’re fucked-up authoritarian values which are the product of abusive authoritarian societies and institutions and not specific to any specific religious tradition.
Illia Ponomarenko in the Kyiv Independent – “Illia Ponomarenko: Ukraine has proved that hard choices pay off.”
This is the transcript of the speech he gave this week in Amsterdam.
Oh Cthulhu.
This is truly horrible.
Brain traumatic injuries are always worse in older people for a number of reasons including that the brain shrinks with age, meaning it has more room to bounce around and tear blood vessels.
And they don’t do brain surgery unless there is no alternative.
It’s never good news when they open up the skull.
The news reports saying Paul Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery don’t know that right now. He may not.
Andriy Yermak a few minutes ago:
Probably more than you want to know about traumatic brain injuries in older adults.
These can be and frequently are life altering injuries.
I do hope that Paul Pelosi makes a good recovery.
And it is obvious that he took the hammer blows that were meant for Nancy Pelosi.
This was an assassination attempt, no doubt about it.
(I would think that after this, the Pelosis are going to have Secret Service protection.)
From 300:
I swear the military stays up night trying to find ways to make life even more difficult for fine scale modelers who do not use airbrushes. This new paint scheme looks almost impossible if you use an airbrush, but absolutely impossible for those old fashioned people like me who use actual paint brushes.
Oh, I see – Jerry Lee Lewis has died.
But possibly a double meaning as well.
6 people shot outside Pittsburgh church during funeral, officials say
They do not mention whose funeral it was.
Rettig out as IRS commissioner
@368: Yes, it would be difficult, I have read in some articles that the reflectivity of the coating varies depending on direction.
BTW, the B-21 bomber is supposed to be officially announced in December. It should be among the stealthiest aircraft.
Finland, Sweden promise to join NATO together in united front to Turkey
Potential rare earth magnet replacement has been discovered
Re: Reginald Selkirk @ #373…
Don’t mess with the Finns. They held off the Russian Army for 105 days, without any help from anybody. Did kind of help that it was in winter and the Russian Army of the time didn’t have useful things like white battledress to wear when surrounded by snow.
Chakulia (India) chokes under continued pachyderm attack, another villager crushed
Coun. Dan McLean ‘sincerely apologizes’ for past mistakes after racist videos posted on social media
(Calgary, Canada)
Re 373:
For about a month now, Turkey and Hungary have been the last two Nato members to not yet ratify Finland and Sweden’s accession. Hungary’s decision is thought to hinge on Turkey, for whatever reasons. Turkey is playing its own weird game that might go on for quite a while, without any significant progress happening. Sweden’s new rightwing government might be more willing than the previous one to trade on human rights, though.
Seemingly every week or so, Finnish PM or Foreign minister assures in some context or other that we are committed to joining Nato “hand in hand” with Sweden. It remains unclear how strong this commitment actually is, if it happened that Turkey (and then Hungary) ratified accession for Finland only. By doing so, Turkey would take a clear stand against Sweden’s accession and face increased political pressure from the Nato community. Meanwhile, Finnish government would be torn between signing up for Nato immediately vs. waiting likely for a long time for Sweden.
We Finally Know Who Funded Trump’s Truth Social
An Ad Replaying Oz’s Terrible Abortion Comments Will Air During the World Series
“Breaking from Speaker Pelosi’s office:
Paul Pelosi was admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he underwent ‘successful surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands. His doctors expect a full recovery’.”
New York Times:
Link
Group can monitor Arizona ballot drop boxes, US judge rules
This didn’t take long.
Russia unblocked twitter after Elon Musk bought it.
Elon Musk leans towards Russia, which doesn’t make this too surprising.
It also is yet again, another reason to stay away from…Elon Musk.
Display of Eucharistic miracles coming to St. Emma Monastery
Man who tried to assassinate Nancy Pelosi is racist, transphobic, antisemitic conspiracy theorist
Investigation finds illegal pork entering UK at Dover
Wonkette: “Nancy Pelosi’s Husband Paul Will Be Fine After Gddamn Fcking HAMMER Attack, Fox News Will Not”
I’m watching the World Series and, of course, the political ads are coming fast and furious. A couple of observations:
The GOP adverts spend as much time attacking Pelosi and Biden as they do going after Fetterman himself. And they keep claiming that he wants to raise taxes on real working Americans (odd, the only tax increase I have run across that Fetterman is proposing is to raise taxes on the top 5% of filers (which, I guess, to the GOP are the actual working Americans)).
The Fetterman ads either attack Oz and what he has actually said and done, or telling us his actual plans in congress.
The Oz ads are full of empty platitudes (I’m a doctor and doctors help people (bleah)) and either contextual misrepresentations of Fetterman’s past or outright fabrications.
The Oz campaign keeps hammering Fetterman because he had help from his parents until he was about 40 years old and that he paid his taxes late 67 times and then make the claim that he is out of touch with America. I helped support my kids as long as they needed it — Boy until he was in his 30s. I have also been late on my taxes many times (not sure it was 76 times) — city income tax, city per-capita tax, city EMS tax, county property taxes, city property taxes, city school property tax, state tax, and federal income tax. All it takes is a few years of really tight finances and, low and behold, you have been late on your taxes umpty-ump times. Sounds to me like Fetterman is really in touch with what America is like for all but the top 5%. I wonder if Oz has ever had to choose paying the mortgage over paying a tax bill on time?
A really weird advert claiming that the reason we have inflation, low wages, and high crime is because we have sent $660 billion (there was fine print at the bottom which actually read $65.9 billion, but the voice over said $660 billion) and all those weapons (worth billions more) to Ukraine and that now there’s going to be a nuclear war. They flashed and said the name of the PAC so fast that I missed it. [UPDATE] Saw it again: Citizens for Sanity. Which “is a conservative nonprofit whose leaders are associated with the America First Legal Foundation, which was founded by former Trump administration official Stephen Miller.” (from Politifact) Their Politifact scorecard is half ‘mostly false’ and half ‘false.’ No surprise.
I finally noticed what it is that bugged me about Mastriano’s campaign materials. All of campaign signs (not a link to his campaign website) have a blue star on a white field with a red circle around the star. And it was bugging me that I recognized it as an air force insignia but could not place it. I thought it might be North Korea, but the PRK insignia has a second blue circle on the roundel. Then it hit me. It is the early Communist Jugoslav Air Force insignia. Why is a GOP candidate using a communist air force roundel as his campaign symbol? And how fast would the GOP attack a progressive candidate using the same symbol as a being a commie-socialist-Nazi-liberal-pinko?
An overall observation is this: if it is a Democratic advertisement, I can depend on it to be relatively honest about both the D candidate and the R candidate. If it is a GOP advert, most I have seen (along with the mailers) are strong on outright fabrication or contextual dissimulation about the D candidate’s stands, while saying virtually nothing about the R candidate’s stands.
Sorry for the wall of text. Tried to number the six middle paragraphs. They were there in preview. Not sure what happened.
@ Oggie: Mathom #390
There is a weird bug in Freethoughtblogs that sometimes makes left margin numbers disappear.
There is a fix for it.
I always use (period number period). .1.
.1.
.2.
.3.
.4.
No idea why it works but it just works.
No idea why FTBs software hates numbered paragraphs and points.
Thanks, ravnen. I’m sure I will forget that before the next time I actually need to remember it.
.1. One estimate of the Killed in Action of Russians in Ukraine is 60,000, 120,000 Wounded in Action.
.2. This is a terrible ratio of KIA to WIA at 1:2.
.3. The usual ratio in war is stated as 1:3 to 1:4
.4. It was 1:8 for the USA in Iraq and Afghanistan.
.5. Russian battlefield medicine is said to be equal to everything else their army does, which is to say, terrible.
(FWIW, I numbered these statements and they disappeared in preview.
Then I added left side periods and they show up.
This is a weird FTBs bug.)
I don’t know what to make about this story.
You don’t just get fired from jobs in Russia.
You often end up dead in implausible accidents.
Svetlana Babayeva was the head of RT propaganda in Crimea.
She somehow managed to get shot at a Russian military base in Crimea by a “stray bullet”.
Well, sometimes a stray bullet is just a stray bullet but it wouldn’t surprise me if someone decided she was in the way and had to leave this earth.
Ukrainian mortar crew wrestles with ammo shortage, dud shells
Nets condemn Kyrie Irving’s promotion of antisemitic film
Creepy clown broke into church and stole only candy
WI-Sen: RoJo The Clown Is So Worried About Election Fraud That’s He Urging His Voters Not To Vote
What causes armies to lose the will to fight? Here’s what history tells us – and what Putin may soon find out
Russia Sees Wedding Boom as Draftees Rush to Tie the Knot
The employee contribution limit for 401(k)s will now jump to $22,500 for 2023 — the largest-ever hike due to inflation. Here’s how that really helps your retirement goals
Pelosi’s residence broken into and her husband attacked apaprently bya Trumpist see :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-29/nancy-pelosi-husband-paul-assaulted-in-home-invasion/101593120
& https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-29/mike-pence-condemns-attack-nancy-pelosi-husband-republican/101594164
Plus :
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/28/nancy-pelosi-husband-assaulted-00063965
Thelast paragraph of that alst one is spot on -and scary.
Can we not arrest Murdoch and his lik for inciting violence and hatred now please?
Some good news to start the weekend.
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian Black sea fleet was successful.
Several ships were blown up in Sevastopol last night.
No details yet but Sevastopol is a long way from Ukrainian held territory.
And, if you can hit the Sevastopol harbor then….
This BBC article confirms there was a large drone attack on the Sevastopol fleet.
The real details aren’t known yet.
Russia claims it was a mix of aerial drones and sea going drones and didn’t do much damage. (Russians lie a lot.)
Ukrainian sources are claiming that several Russian ships were damaged or destroyed. We will have to wait for more information.
Followup to raven @403 and 404.
Ukraine update: A night attack on the port in Sevastopol damages at least three Russian ships
More updates coming soon.
More Ukraine updates.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Guardian liveblog:
“Memorial was not allowed to host its annual commemoration for victims of Stalinist terror. Across the world people read the names, while in Moscow, Memorial held a small ceremony and people laid flowers on the Solovetsky Stone.”
NYT link at the (Twitter) link.
Ukrainian sources don’t say they were involved in the Sevastopol attacks.
However, they seem to have drone video footage taken from the drones involved.
I’m sure this is just a coincidence.
At least 3 ships were seriously damaged including their flagship, the frigate Admiral Makarov.
Dmytro Kuleba:
Link
Hee. (Twitter link.)
I’m just going to say it.
Russia is falling apart rapidly.
They are now taking away the passports of doctors. (The translation here isn’t clear but it is the doctors who are having their passports taken away.)
This is to keep them from fleeing the country.
When you have to keep your own citizens captive, that says a lot about what it is like to live in Russia.
You aren’t a citizen, you are a prisoner of a corrupt, dysfunctional, failing dictatorship.
Russia Moves to Pull Out of Ukraine Grain Deal After Blasts Hit Crimean Port
What does the one have to do with the other? Why should attacking military vessels during wartime have any linkage to the transport of grain on cargo vessels?
South Korea Halloween crush kills 59, injures 150 – officials
Good news hidden the bad news:
Link
https://www.wonkette.com/paul-pelosi-hammer-attack-theories
Lynna @418:
Sad. Predictable. Wife and I discussed this last night and wondered how long it would be before the non-existent radical left would be blamed.
Conservatives have been claiming, since before Saint Ronald (who would be drummed out of the current GOP as too far to the left (he NEGOTIATED with DEMOCRATS!)), that they are the party of personal responsibility. For the last decade or so, the left has been denigrated as professional victims. But when is the last time a conservative actually took responsibility for anything?
Once again, one of the heads of the Russian invaders in Ukraine has been dismissed, General Lapin.
The hospital is an ominous place for people like him to go to.
They frequently have fatal accidents in those places.
To call General Lapin incompetent is too easy.
He was playing a bad hand just by being Russian with the Russian army and Russian society.
General Lapin is famous for…”2 days ago — Sota: Colonel General Lapin personally threatened retreating mobilized soldiers in Svatovo by putting a gun to their heads.”
Something isn’t right here.
If you have to shoot your own soldiers to keep them from retreating, maybe you are in the wrong war in the wrong place.
FWIW, the Ukrainians have found a few Russian officers that were shot in the back of their heads.
The wheels are coming off – Julia Davis:
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link.
“On the day the head of IRGC threatened people to return home, they gathered at the City Theatre metro station in Tehran and chanted: ‘Khamenei is a murderer; his rule is invalid’.”
Video at the (Twitter) link. I could watch this on a loop.
Tweet o’ the day.
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1586431830961844224
An artist carves great-looking sculpture into the side of a trench.
Video at the link.
Ukraine Update:
Michigan GOP candidate Tudor Dixon wants a new book ban: No divorced characters
There are several points to be made here.
Republicans complain about “Cancel Culture”, but we see who goes to censorship and even book burnings when they get some power.
She has a point in picking out divorce as an issue; for Christians this should be a much higher priority than gay marriage, etc. Jesus H. Christ spoke clearly against divorce, as reported in all 4 canonical gospels, while he said nothing about homosexuality, gay marriage or even abortion.
Drove north from Maryland through Gettysburg to join a bunch of other rock (the mineral kind) nerds at a swap yesterday. In Gettysburg, you see slightly more signs for Shapiro and Fetterman. Out in the countryside it’s all Oz and Mastriano. It’s going to be all about turnout and whether more folks vote in the cities. Get out and vote PA voters.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Guardian – “Thousands of mosques targeted as Hindu nationalists try to rewrite India’s history”:
Also in the Guardian (support them if you can!):
“Revealed: TE Lawrence felt ‘bitter shame’ over UK’s false promises of Arab self rule”: “Deleted chapter of book by British spy who supported Arab revolt reveals his true feelings about insincere pledge of self-government…”
“Experts fear rising global ‘incel’ culture could provoke terrorism”: “Almost 1,000 references to misogyny and violent action are recorded each day on dedicated incel forums…”
“Church of Scientology plays down links with high-profile #MeToo cases”: “While the church says it abides by ‘all laws of the land’, lawyers previously asked courts to bar Scientology references at trial…”
(They quote Tony Ortega.)
“The week around the world in 20 pictures”: “Thousands mourn Mahsa Amini in Iran; Russian attacks on critical facilities in Ukraine; Just Stop Oil activism in London; and flooding in Australia – the most striking images this week…”
“This exchange between @HillaryClinton and @elonmusk should kill any remaining confidence advertisers had in the platform.”
Screenshot at the (Twitter) link.
Dmytro Kuleba:
Kyiv Independent:
Sunak hasappointed Maria Caulfield, a forced-birther, as Minister for Women. Along with the appointments of Braverman, Badenoch and Oliver Dowden this makes it clear that Sunak is a social authoritarian, well to the right in this respect of Truss or Johnson.
The Mormons were wrong!
They believe that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri, USA. But actually, it is in Kansas, USA.
The Garden of Eden – Lucas, Kansas
There’s an extra bonus! The Mormons won’t offer to let you see their creator!
Many Atheists Know God Exists — They’re Just Angry That We Depend on Him
Dismal stuff.
Non-theistic Christianity: How One Can Be A Christian and an Atheist
I suppose it’s possible, but why would want want that?
“#Sudan: another day of mass protests against military rule in the capital #Khartoum.
Thousands of people are making their way towards the Republican palace, demanding a return to civilian government.
The people of #Sudan are taking to the streets for the second time this week, rejecting military rule as they march for freedom and democracy.”
Videos at the (Twitter) link.
So, what is going on in Kherson, Ukraine?
No one knows for sure. It doesn’t even look like the Russians know.
The Russians are looting the city, removing statues and historical artifacts.
The administration of the city has left for further into occupied areas.
They are now forcibly removing the population around Kherson.
“The Ukrainian military’s Operational Command South reported that the Russian occupation authorities continues to forcefully evict residents of Kherson city and Kherson Oblast.
Locals near Kherson were given two days to leave their homes.”
They can’t flee to Ukraine so they are being deported towards Russia. This is yet again, another war crime.
It is likely they are doing this so if and when there is a battle, they can just level Kherson and the sourrounding villages. It was what they did in Mariupol.
re SC @431: Even if Paul Pelosi was drunk off of his ass, he was in his own home and the right-wingnut broke into the home and attacked him and would have attacked Nancy if she had been there. So, completely irrelevant. Musk is definitely proving which side he is on.
After Paul Pelosi attack, Obama has to remind GOP ‘demonizing people’ creates ‘dangerous climate’
Lots of video snippets are available at the link. It’s a pleasure to see Obama campaigning. He does it well.
I’m going to amplify the comment at #431 SC about Hillary Clinton and Elon Musk about the Paul Pelosi attack.
Because it proves once again that Elon Musk is a mentally and morally defective personality.
He is simply a terrible, malign person.
Elon Musk is implying with no evidence whatsoever that maybe Paul Pelosi was attacked after getting drunk and getting into a fight in a gay bar in San Francisco.
I’m sure Elon Musk can go lower but I’m unable to imagine how low he can go.
Environmental damage done by Russians to protected areas:
Link
This is the tl;dr version of #442.
.1. We’ve seen enough of Elon Musk to know that he is a far right loon and a mentally and morally defective person.
He is just a terrible, malign human.
In the Paul Pelosi case, he is trying to blame the victim, an 82 year old man who just survived a murder attempt, for almost getting killed by a right wingnut wannabe killer.
By repeating a clumsy lie from some other kook.
.2. He says that twitter isn’t going to turn into a troll and Nazi hellscape.
We can already see how this will work and yes, it will turn into a troll and Nazi hellscape.
Reports are that the Russians are already back and lying like they always do.
.3. I will never buy anything associated with Elon Musk.
Not giving a creep like Musk any of my hard earned money.
I don’t even have a twitter account.
You can read what you need without having an account anyway.
PS And Hillary Clinton was right.
Wherever you have hate speech, you always get…hate violence.
Followup to raven @442 and SC @431.
Link
Dumbest advice of the week:
Elon Musk needs to win back everybody’s trust to turn Twitter around
“Win back”? How many people have ever trusted Elon Musk?
Ukraine Update: “Ukraine invasion Day 249: new maritime strike capability amid improved artillery deployment”
In a meme for which I don’t have a link, Ukrainian losses are pictured: 20,356 washing machines; 152,409 toilets; 21,223 refrigerators, etc.
Remember the Thai boy’s soccer team that was trapped in a cave by monsoon rains? (They were all rescued alive.) Mush-for-brains claimed one of the rescue divers was a pedophile. Why? Because that experienced (cave?-)diver had told Eloony the submarine his engineers were building wasn’t needed and wouldn’t work in that particular cave.
Ukraine Update: The noose tightens around Svatove, as Russia blows key bridges
YouTube link to SNL spoof of Kanye West’s visit to Skechers.
I cannot believe that This Idiot is only half a point behind in the polls. His definition of ‘man’ means that I am now married to a . . . man?
Guardian liveblog:
Also in the Guardian:
More context for #422 – “Iranians hold large rallies in defiance of warning by Revolutionary Guards head”: “Raids on student campuses spark protests despite threats made by chief of security force about response to further unrest…”
“‘He must be stopped’: emotions run high as Brazil’s voters go to polls”: “Jair Bolsonaro’s opponents look to momentous election to bring an end to far-right president’s ‘Brazilian catastrophe’…”
‘So many bodies’: Seoul witnesses recall Halloween night of true horror
Washington Post link
Lula has taken the lead with 71% reporting.
With 80% counted, Lula is up 50.5-49.5 – almost a million votes.
SC@455,456,
I’m following it on the Guardian</> live feed, which says 92.8% of districts counted, with Lula on 50.6%. I’ve been feeling sick most of the day – were Bolsonaro to win, I’d be close to despair – but it looks like Lula will just do it. Still alarming that almost half of Brazilians are voting for tyranny and evil.
From the Guardian’s Brazil election liveblog: “Pollster DataFolha is projecting a win for Lula, the newspaper Folha (Brazil’s largest) reports:…”
KG @ #457, he killed hundreds of thousands of Brazilians and mocked their deaths and their families’ grief, and more than 50 million people voted to reelect him. I have a hard time accepting it.
Guardian liveblog:
Of course, we still do not know if Bolsonaro will accept defeat or Trump it.
Oggie: Mathom@461,
No indeed – if we go by what he has said, he will not accept it. Inaugauration is not until January 1st, so he has plenty of time to arrange a military coup, assassination, arrest on trumped-up charges, etc. But if it comes to violence, it’s still important to be on the side that has the electoral mandate.
The Supreme Electoral Court has confirmed Lula’s win!
Guardian liveblog:
Tweet o’ the day.
Russia alleges Canadian-made parts in drones targeting ships
Yes, and…?
Stock futures are little changed with Dow on track for best month since 1976
Because it recovered from big losses it suffered before then.
The Dow is currently at 32861.80. It peaked at over 36000 in November and December 2021, and its 5 year low came in March of 2020 at ~ 19174.
McAfee issues urgent warning for 20 million Android users
Reginald Selkirk @ #466, right? The Russian Mission to the EU tweeted earlier: “[!] On October 29, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched massive air and sea strikes using drones against the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s ships and infrastructure at the naval base in Sevastopol.”
Everyone’s like, “Yeah! You invaded their country and they’re at war with you!”
They’re treating ordinary military actions like they’re some great violation of…something – I don’t even know what response they’re looking for.
Delete these five apps now from your Android phone before your bank account is threatened
… while invading another country and routinely engaging in war crimes such as targeting civilians.
UI-led researchers discover long-extinct giant dwarf crocodile species
Giant dwarves? I wonder how that works.
One way to fight a deadly pandemic: ‘yogurt for bats’
Qlon Musk news crossposting :
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2022/10/28/that-didnt-take-long-3/comment-page-1/#comment-2155798
First Dog on the Moon in the Grauniad, Could Twitter actually get any worse? Hold Elon’s beer (cartoon), “With any luck he will kill it through hubris and we will be free! FREE!”
Amusingly, First Dog mentions Mastodon, which poopyhead also mentions from time-to-time (most(?) recently in the Not a great start thread).
So tomorrow is melbourne Cup day inOz which is huge and yet many people are saying Nup to the Cup for very good reasons here.
Oh and here too:
https://horseracingkills.com/
American fascists are already extending the “Stop The Steal” lie to the Brazilian elections: Steve Bannon Says Bolsonaro Can’t Concede As He Rails Against Biden and CIA
Oh, this is going to be… fun.
This is a long interview with Kurt Volker, former ambassador to NATO.
He pretty much says what everyone already knows.
.1. Ukraine will eventually have to be part of NATO to deter the Russians from attacking over and over again.
.2. If Ukraine goes, so does Moldova and Georgia. Kazakhstan and the other central Asian countries are next to go.
.3. Russia is losing.
Those terrorist attacks on civilians with drones and missiles are a last ditch effort.
You don’t waste your ammo on civilians unless it won’t do much good on opposing soldiers.
.4. If Russia uses nukes, there has to be a massive worldwide response back.
Volker: “We can’t live in a world where the use of nuclear weapons is tolerated or countries can do it and get away with it. ”
This is an important point that we keep dancing around.
If Russia uses nukes, there has to be a massive worldwide response back.
Volker: “We can’t live in a world where the use of nuclear weapons is tolerated or countries can do it and get away with it. ”
We can’t let use of nuclear weapons become normalized in the world.
That just sets up a condition where countries settle their disputes by nuking each other.
And it won’t end with tactical nuclear weapons either.
If Russia uses nukes and there isn’t an adequate after the fact deterrence, the rest of the world will scream about it and then move on.
And a huge number of countries will quietly start building nuclear weapons.
Because no one attacks countries with nuclear weapons.
Old estimates are that at least 50 countries in the world are capable of building nuclear weapons. They are based on 1940s technology and not hard to make. South Africa made 4 of them.
And eventually somewhere for some reason, they will be used again. And again.
Akira MacKenzie@477,
It seems most of Bolsonaro’s political allies in Brazil have conceded Lula’s victory. Early days, of course – he has two months to work mischief. Anyone know why Brazil – and the USA – have such a long gap between the election and inaugauration?
Reginald Selkirk@472,
It raises the question: would dwarf giant crocodiles be larger or smaller than giant dwarf crocodiles? And if, subsequently, crocodiles are discovered which are more closely related to these giant dwarf crocodiles than to anything else, but half the size, wouldf they be dwarf giant dwarf crocodiles?
Reginald Selkirk@472
KG@481
Did they feed on jumbo shrimp?
Another snippet of good news from Brazil: two transgender candidates were elected to the Chamber of Deputies. OTOH, the right hold nearly half the seats; Lula will need the support of almost all the “centre” to govern effectively, although there are of course things he can do without congressional support.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Guardian – “Protesters attacked near Iranian embassy in Berlin”:
ITV – “Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch delays conversion therapy ban”:
There are few worse people for this position.
The mobilized Russians are working out as expected.
This is pointless cruelty not military tactics.
They are dumped on the front lines with no support and frequently no food or water.
There is no planning and no good reason for them to be there.
They are just speed bumps, cannon fodder expected to die and delay the Ukrainians for a few hours.
Other reports are that they are getting killed by the hundreds.
Ukraine is claiming Russian losses of 500 to 1,000 a day.
““Up to 400 people were killed and wounded,” Russian “mobiles” from Transbaikalia came under artillery attack by the Armed Forces of…”
Andriy Yermak:
The Russians are running short on artillery and artillery ammunition.
To compensate, they are using more and more air strikes from helicopters and jets.
Which isn’t too smart.
They are also losing helicopters and jets at a rapid rate as they get shot down.
It’s not a good substitution.
Artillery is cheap compared to helicopters and jets.
Russia may not even be able to replace some of their helicopters.
The helicopter engines were made in Ukraine by a Ukrainian company.
Chickasha Leg Lamp modeled after movie prop gets lampshade
Guardian liveblog:
Shanghai Disney: Visitors unable to leave without negative Covid test as park shuts
“NBC News: Paul Pelosi remains in the ICU, surrounded by family members.”
“US Army shoots candy at children from a missile launcher. I’m not sure if this is super cute or super twisted:…”
It’s super twisted, and also I laughed.
@ 490
It’s a major award!
“Indian police raid the houses of the editors of the news website The Wire in response to a complaint alleging they ‘defamed’ the head of the ruling party’s social media division.”
“Journalist Marzieh Amiri has been arrested and transferred to Tehran’s Evin prison, her sister said on social media. More than 40 journalists have been arrested amid the protests in Iran, incl two who reported on #mahsaAmini’s hospitalization & funeral.”
“Russians fired at civilian tugboats transporting a barge with grain near Ochakiv, the Operational Command ‘South’ reported. Two crew members were killed, and one with injuries was rescued. The fate of another one is not yet known.”
Julia Davis:
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link. Their thinking is not the clearest of late.