Beto O’Rourke publicly confronted Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, during a press conference on Wednesday about a mass school shooting in the town of Uvalde where 19 children and two teachers were killed.
As seen in a video of the press briefing published online, an off-camera O’Rourke is heard approaching the press conference table where several government officials, including Abbott, are seated onstage.
Press conference speakers can be heard instructing the Democratic gubernatorial candidate to “sit down” and telling O’Rourke that he is “out of line”. At one point, an official calls O’Rourke “an embarrassment”.
When O’Rourke gets closer to the stage, security that was present for the press conference begin directing him away from the table. Though parts of O’Rourke’s comments to the speakers are unintelligible, he is heard saying: “You are doing nothing. You are all doing nothing.”
As governor, the rightwing Abbott has presided over a weakening of gun regulations in Texas, despite repeated mass shootings in the state.
“This is totally predictable when you choose not to do anything,” O’Rourke continued as onlookers shouted that O’Rourke was out of line and should be escorted out.
“I can’t believe you sick son of a [b—-] would come to a deal like this to make a political issue,” said one speaker who appears off-camera as O’Rourke is accompanied out of the conference by security.
Before exiting, O’Rourke turned around to begin addressing Abbott and other speakers again. “This is on you,” he said.
“It’s on assholes like you,” shouted someone back as O’Rourke continued. “Why don’t you get out of here?”
Reaction from press conference observers appeared to be mixed….
It’s all falling apart for them. You can see it in the faces of the Conservative parliamentary party, as they sullenly watch Boris Johnson defend himself over Partygate. You can see it on the empty benches, as they scurry from the Chamber rather than defend the indefensible. The Government has entered a period of sustained decay. It is a moral decay. But it is also an electoral decay.
If those MPs were honest with themselves, they would have found a reassuring truth in the Chamber today: the Conservative party’s interest and the national interest are perfectly aligned. The Prime Minister must be removed from office. He is a threat to their election prospects and his continued presence in Downing Street degrades the basic legitimacy of British governance.
Sue Gray’s report was finally published today, after months of waiting. It confirmed, in forensic detail, the stories we’ve seen emerging from journalists since Partygate broke. Late night parties in No 10 and the Cabinet Office during lockdown. Vomiting, fights, karaoke sessions, red wine spilled all over the walls, broken children’s swings in the Downing Street Garden. Security and cleaning staff treated with sneering disdain by staff.
They knew what they were doing and what people would think about it. “A 200 odd person invitation for drinks in the garden of No 10 is somewhat of a comms risk in the current environment,” Lee Cain, No 10 director of communications, emailed his colleagues on 20 May 2020. After the party, Martin Reynolds, the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary, was pleased to have escaped any media scrutiny. “A complete non story,” he said, referring to some other issue, “but better than them focusing on our drinks (which we seem to have got away with)”.
A culture had taken root in Downing Street. It was one of boozing and misbehaviour, sure. But far more importantly, it was a culture of lawbreaking. A kind of feudal court, in which the rules which apply to others do not apply to the leadership caste.
Cultures like that come from the top. But when Johnson arrived in the Commons an hour later, he told a different story. It was lawyered to within an inch of its life. It sounded like a defence barrister casting doubt in the jury’s mind about whether the defendant was close to the scene of the crime.
…
By some miraculous turn of events, he had not heard these parties as they happened, despite the report stating that during one gathering: “people working elsewhere in the No 10 building that evening heard significant levels of noise”. He had not been informed they happened, despite repeated communication about them from senior members of his staff. And he had not realised they were against the rules, despite the people around him clearly joking about it in written communication.
And anyway, reforms had now been put in place. The No 10 operation was being rejigged. “The entire senior management has changed,” he said proudly. Everyone, that is, except him.
This was operation “Save Big Dog” – reportedly the name he himself gave the rescue operation for his career. First, he denied the parties ever happened. Then he lied about it. Then he insisted he could not talk about it because of the Gray report. And then finally, once it was published, he was prepared to speak about it only for as long as it took him to misrepresent it. After that, as he said at the close of his statement, it was time to “move on”.
…
…Johnson’s excuses were literally unbelievable. He would sacrifice anyone for his own advancement. He was bringing his office into disrepute and disgracing the party he leads. But it is not a truth the Tory party is prepared to hear.
Instead, they go grimly on. A zombie party, knowing what has happened is intolerable, and yet unable to admit it or act upon it. Every day they fail to do so, they take Johnson’s moral culpability and slather it on themselves.
In his statement, Trump made a peculiar stylistic choice and put the word massacre in quotes.
I suspect he is signaling to the gun nuts and MAGA-cultists that he doesn’t accept the “official narrative” about the shooting. Expect an address filled with batshit crazy claims of “false flag operations,” “crisis actors,” and that the shooter was a “transgendered, leftist, illegal.”
Because facts don’t mean anything if you don’t accept them.
The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” have independently verified that Russia has destroyed or damaged at least 56 Ukrainian schools in a manner that indicates a possible war crime, the Associated Press reports.
The Ukrainian government says Russia has shelled more than 1,000 schools, destroying 95. The accounting likely represents just a fraction of potential war crimes committed during the conflict and the list is updated daily.
A geography teacher, Elena Kudrik, lay dead on the floor of School 50 in the eastern Ukrainian town of Gorlovka. Amid the wreckage surrounding her were books and papers, smeared in blood.
In the corner, another lifeless body of Elena Ivanova, the assistant headmaster slumped over in an office chair, a gaping wound torn into her side.
“It’s a tragedy for us … It’s a tragedy for the children,” said school director Sergey But, standing outside the brick building shortly after the attack.
A few kilometers away, at the Sonechko pre-school in the city of Okhtyrka, a cluster bomb destroyed a kindergarten, killing a child. Outside the entrance, two more bodies lay in pools of blood.
Despite the widespread damage and destruction to educational infrastructure, war crimes experts say proving an attacking military’s intent to target individual schools is difficult.
Russian officials deny targeting civilian structures, and local media reports in Russian-held Gorlovka alleged Ukrainian forces trying to recapture the area were to blame for the blast that killed the two teachers there.
But the effects of the destruction are indisputable.
UNICEF communications director Toby Fricker, who is currently in Ukraine, agreed.
“School is often the heart of the community in many places, and that is so central to everyday life.”
As the war grinds on, millions of kids are continuing to go to school online. The international aid group Save the Children said it is working with the government to establish remote learning programs for students at 50 schools. UNICEF is also trying to help with online instruction.
“Educating every child is essential to preventing grave violations of their rights,” the group said in a statement to the AP.
Mass murders inside American schools have become so common that right-to-murder advocates no longer need to distribute talking points for each one. Fox News and the Republican politicos immediately called up to explain why it was important for each murderer to have access to their chosen weapons can simply crib from whatever they said last time, and nobody makes much of an effort to tailor their little performances to the actual facts of the newest murder.
You know what they’re going to say before they say it, and so do they.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says “We have to harden these targets.” The problem is not nationwide access to weapons of war—the problem is that we are not “hardening” our elementary schools to appropriate wartime standards. [Good point!]
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has remained indicted for seven long years on corruption charges and showed up for his Fox News interview about the dead elementary schoolers wearing his Ken Paxton campaign t-shirt, again suggests arming elementary school teachers. The problem is not that every aspirational mass murderer has easy access to weapons and body armor capable of holding off professional law enforcement officers; the problem is that the amateurs were not able to immediately open fire themselves when the mass murderer made it past the rest of the school’s security. [another good point]
Sean Hannity’s coverage—and the usual Fox procedure of having their Republican-campaign-backing pundit hosts “cover” breaking news events rather than leaving it to the network’s supposed professional journalists quickly showed the network’s intentions before anyone even opened their mouths—featured an important-sounding pundit offering up “something we discussed in the past, back in 2018.”
“Man traps,” he says. Schools need “a series of interlocking doors” that are “triggered by a tripwire,” thus trapping the mass murderer “like a rat.”
While Pat Brosnan’s resume insists he is a retired New York police detective who now, conveniently enough, runs a consulting business devoted to providing security solutions, it is more likely that he is an extraterrestrial who has never before visited an American school. American schools are spread-out affairs, with long fenced perimeters and entrances built to accommodate daily access by hundreds of small children, their parents, school staff, and others. Installing a series of “tripwires” and “interlocking doors” might be practical in some small subset of schools, presuming we are again willing to overlook the trauma of young children inevitably being caught in the “man traps” meant to keep their childhood lives as free of murder as is possible, in a hardened building in a war zone, but most schools would have to be demolished and rebuilt to these new “hardened” standards.
We should probably prove ourselves willing to provide every school with sufficient textbooks for every student before we go off making grand plans to rebuild schools according to Jigsaw standards.
But Brosnan mentioned 2018 very specifically. Is all of this sounding familiar yet? […]
Ah yes, there we go. Four years and one week after Texas politicians and Fox News hosts took to the airwaves to give their proposals for what ought to be done about a horrific mass murder inside a Texas school, the same politicians and hosts simply cribbed from their previous coverage to provide … a rerun. A rerun that again ignored the specific shooting they were supposed to be responding to, offering up the same pablum and fake solutions.
Why do we know each of these mass-murder advocates is offering fake solutions they don’t intend to ever even act on? Because we’ve already had this discussion many times. They’ve already offered these solutions many times. And then the cameras shut off and the schools are not “hardened” because no mass-murder advocate is willing to raise taxes to the extent that would be necessary to “harden” them, and teachers remain unarmed because the mass murder advocates never had any intention of paying for a statewide program training and equipping every school teacher for their own role in the performative little dance, and the “tripwires” usually consist of a handful of doors that can be remotely locked while the rest of the school remains as accessible as it always was because, again, nobody gives a flying damn about schools so long as the football fields remain watered and the parents have a place to get drunk and shout things on Friday nights.
[…] Mass murder advocates have been having an absolute fit over the idea that schools might tell children to keep masks on during a pandemic, and are currently engaged in a nationwide propaganda campaign to convince Fox News viewers that the teachers who are angry about murders in classrooms and about the indifference of schools and parents to basic pandemic security measures are, Actually, all pedophiles and child-groomers.
For four years those that advocate for the rights of mass murderers to murder children when “necessary” have spewed the same would-be solutions; for four years the murders have continued unimpeded, to the point that the talking points of four or ten or even twenty years ago can be used unaltered. Fox News could simply pop in the old tapes and the only way for anyone to tell which mass murder was which would be which president is being threatened with retaliation if they dare lift a finger to stop them.
So where’s the “hardening,” Republican-dominated states that have had two decades to “harden” things? Why aren’t elementary school teachers leaning over first-grade desks with loaded weapons dangling from their waists, prepared at any moment to fire on anyone who comes through the classroom door? Why have the “man traps” not foiled the gunmen looking to murder whole classrooms of children?
It’s all bullshit. Ken Paxton, Dan Patrick, Greg Abbott—all of the advocates for the rights of mass murderers have bragged over and over and over about their willingness to provide more guns to murderers with fewer restrictions on who can get them. […]
Their sole concern is advocating for the rights of American mass murderers to obtain whatever weapons they want, to purchase body armor capable of deflecting the bullets of armed police and guards and teachers, and to walk to the scenes of their planned murders in all this gear with all these weapons without being accosted by police until they pull the trigger—because walking around prepared to commit mass murder is, to Greg Abbott and others, the only “freedom” worth protecting.
They’re all fucking liars, a good chunk of them are supporters of an attempted rebellion against the United States, and we should stop listening to people who have spent their lives inventing “good” reasons why Americans ought to be allowed to murder each other so easily and quickly that even our now-militarized police departments cannot stand in their way.
Writing for The Daily Beast, indefatigable Russian media monitor Julia Davis reports that Putin’s favorite (so-far-unsevered) talking heads have been flipping out about a recent New York Times essay by Yale historian Timothy Snyder, titled “We Should Say It. Russia Is Fascist.”
In the piece, Snyder claims that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a hallmark of Russia’s current fascist leanings, writing, “If Ukraine does not win, we can expect decades of darkness.” And since Putin’s declared casus belli for his unprovoked invasion was the need to “de-Nazify” his neighbor, this accusation against Putin could not be allowed to stand.
In a broadcast of the state TV show The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov on Friday, the host of the program and its panel of pundits were breathing fire over the essay. Solovyov was so desperate to refute the article, in fact, that he resorted to lambasting one of the few Americans beloved by Russian state television: former U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Listen, you bastards,” Solovyov fumed in a direct address to Americans. “Let me tell you a secret: first of all, your signs are idiotic in their nature. Secondly, looking at your listed indications, how are they any different from the election campaign of Donald Trump? Down to his slogan, ‘Make America Great Again.’”
You’re getting warmer, Vlad …
Solovyov went on to list various signs of Trump’s “fascism,” without any mention of how those descriptions also applied to Putin. “Strong leader, with large crowds coming out in his support … Discussions of former greatness. Donald Trump promised to make America great again,” he said. Referring to visual symbols as a sign of belonging, Solovyov pointed out “Donald Trump’s red hats.” To emphasize his point about “mass events to support the leader,” the host asked: “Would you like me to put on a video of the dancing Trump?”
[video of dancing Sean Spicer available at the link]
Other than that, all I can say to Russian state media is … nailed it! (Though you might have also mentioned Trump’s attempts to overturn the legitimate results of a free and fair American election.) Now someone please go tell Moscow Mitch McConnell, and the rest of the fascist Putin-enablers in Congress.
Followup to a comment on the previous chapter of this thread, (“I know the gun lobby was a major force for decades. I’m not convinced that the gun lobby remains that powerful.”)
Josh Marshall:
In the interests of fairness and honesty with ourselves, we should be clear that this isn’t about standing up to the “gun lobby.” Yes, the NRA and other related groups play an important role coordinating messaging and operationalizing the desires of gun obsessives. But President Biden’s comment was one of the few times for me that he really did sound like someone speaking from a bygone era. A vast swathe of the population wants things exactly how they are. No restrictions on guns at all. The collateral damage is just tough shit basically.
I hesitate to say “majority” because intensity, geography, various idiosyncrasies of our political system and a bunch of other things magnify the political power of that part of the population. But in practice it’s a majority, a functional majority. Indeed, as we know, almost all of the policy movement in the country today is toward fewer restrictions — more open carry, concealed carry. It’s quite likely that the corrupt Supreme Court is about to invalidate the laws in cities like New York where there are actually pretty tight restrictions on guns.
We are also not captive to a constitution that may be out of date or rooted in outmoded rules. The entire individual right to bear arms is totally made up, a modern confection. The only power of those arguments — wholly empty by any historical analysis — is that a functional majority of the country chooses to pretend they’re true. [See this comment in the previous chapter for more information: “The Gun Lobby’s interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American People by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”]
This is the America a big, big part of the country wants. It’s not about money in politics or some powerful advocacy group or a breakdown in the machinery of government. It’s not about politicians lacking courage. This is the America something like half the country wants.
Facebook is denying Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) allegation that the gunman who killed 21 people, including 19 children, at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday posted publicly about the attack on its platform.
Abbott said during a press conference Wednesday that the gunman, Salvador Ramos, posted three times before the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
“There was no meaningful forewarning of this crime other than what I’m about to tell you,” Abbott said.
“As of this time, the only information that was known in advance was posted by the gunman on Facebook approximately 30 minutes before reaching the school,” he continued. “The first post was to the point of he said ‘I’m going to shoot my grandmother.’ The second post was ‘I shot my grandmother.’ The third post, maybe less than 15 minutes before arriving at the school, was ‘I’m going to shoot an elementary school.’”
Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone said shortly after those comments that the messages described by the governor were “private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred.”
”We are closely cooperating with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation,” he added.[…]
Governor Abbott presented misleading information. He was not careful will the facts.
[…] Shortly after news of the shooting began circulating, Cruz released a statement which said in part, “Heidi and I are lifting up in prayer the entire Uvalde community during this devastating time and we mourn the lives that were taken by this act of evil.”
That comment, which Cruz also published to his Twitter account, immediately drew criticism.
House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) replied with, “aren’t you slated to headline a speaking gig for the NRA in three days—in Houston, no less? You can do more than pray. Faith without works is dead.”
Cruz is in fact scheduled to speak at the National Rife Assocation’s (NRA) leadership summit in Houston over Memorial Day weekend.
He’s also received $176,274 in campaign contributions from the NRA, according to Brady United, a nonprofit advocating for gun control.
In Washington, Cruz spoke with reporters and said Democrats and the media pose solutions that, “try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. That doesn’t work, it’s not effective, it doesn’t prevent crime.”
Cruz continued to say that targeting felons and fugitives, those with mental illness, is a more effective strategy in preventing crime.
House Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) also had choice words for Cruz, tweeting at the Texas senator, “f*** you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but will let our children get slaughtered. Just get your a** to Cancun. You are useless.”
That’s in reference to Cruz flying to Cancun, Mexico while his home state of Texas experienced a severe power outage that left millions of Texans without heat or electricity in February 2021.
The backlash didn’t end there, Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement advocating for gun control, also singled out Cruz’s actions on gun rights.
“After 16 people were killed in a hot air balloon in Lockhart, Texas, Ted Cruz authored and passed federal legislation improving safety rules. But after the shootings in El Paso and Santa Fe, he blamed mental illness for gun violence.”
“Thank God there’s no hot air balloon lobby.”
Giffords, another gun reform advocacy group, also noted on Twitter that, “Texas has seen tragedy after tragedy, but Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn have done the unforgivable: block even the most commonsense gun reform at every turn.” […]
In 2019, during Beto O’Rourke’s short-lived run in the Democratic presidential primary, a white male terrorist entered a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, Beto’s home, and murdered 20 people. That was an explicitly racist mass killing event, and Beto was not shy about talking about who was inspiring that racism, and what mass shooters use to mass-shoot people. (It’s guns.) He said out loud over and over again that “This is fucked up.” And he ran on that, without shame. He didn’t win, obviously, but it mattered.
Now Beto O’Rourke is running for governor, and another gunman has murdered 21 in Uvalde, Texas. And the guy he’s running against, living breathing piece of shit Greg Abbott, had a press conference today. And Beto showed up. And you can say all you want about how Beto sure does know how to get the camera on him at times like these, and we’ll gently explain to you how that is called “politics.”
Beto was there to say, “You’re doing nothing. This is on you.” In response, one of Abbott’s loser white boy goons called Beto a “sick son of a [B-word]” and Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick took a break from spreading white nationalist great replacement conspiracy theories to say there’ll be “plenty of time” later on to decide what needs to be done about mass shootings.
As we all know, the only response Republicans think is appropriate is to say lame “thoughts and prayers” to a God who clearly doesn’t listen to them, and then go back to being fluffers for the NRA. So Dan Patrick is one of several people in this post who can go fuck himself. [tweet and video available at the link]
You can hear Ted Cruz’s smarmy shit-voice in the clip telling Beto to “sit down!” Other white man losers whine that Beto is “out of line and this is an embarrassment!” Some super-pathetic guy whined his big ass off about “YEEEEEW NEED TO GIT HIS ASS OUTTA HURRRRR! THIS ISN’T THE PLACE TO TALK THIS OVER!” He just barked and barked with that specific kind of southern accent that sounds like it came from the cutting room floor of 12 Years A Slave, screaming “SIR! YOU’RE OUTTA LINE!”
We will attempt to transcribe the sentence uttered by the person who called Beto a “sick son of a [B-word].”
SOME GUY: I cain’t believe you’re a sick son of a [B-word] that would come to a deal like this to make a political issue!
Whatever, dude.
The New York Times has more on the parts that are hard to hear in the video:
“The time to stop this was after Santa Fe,” Mr. O’Rourke said at the civic center, referring to the Texas high school shooting near Houston in 2018. “The time to stop this was after El Paso,” he added, referring to the Texas mass shooting at a Walmart in 2019.
“The time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing. You are offering us nothing. You said this was not predictable — this is totally predictable when you choose not to do anything,” he said.
We can’t hear this in the video either, but it happened as security was dragging Beto away:
On his way out, he could be heard telling the audience, some of whom were jeering him while others yelled to let him speak, “Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state, or they will continue to be killed.”
The Times reports that once mean Beto was gone, Greg Abbott, his hands covered in proverbial blood just like every other Texas Republican, just moaned like he actually cares about the kids who were murdered yesterday:
“There are family members who are crying as we speak,” he said. “Think about the people who are hurt and help those who are hurt.”
Mr. Patrick added: “This is not a partisan issue. This is not a political issue.”
Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick and everybody else on that stage, go fuck yourself.
These are not the only things Beto has said to Greg Abbott the past 24 hours. He’s also been talking to him on Twitter. [Tweets are available at the link]
Unfortunately, America’s mass shooting victims are unable to tell us whether they agree with the filthy [men] on that stage or whether they agree with Beto, because they’re all dead because of mass murderers aided and abetted by Republican gun policies. But we have a feeling what they might say.
[…] The bad faith takes came hot and heavy, even semi-automatically, you could say. There were old familiar favorites, like “Let’s arm the teachers,” and some very au courant blends of conspiracy theory with the latest rightwing mania.The shooter was an 18-year-old from Uvalde, but that didn’t prevent wingnuts from circulating rumors that maybe he was an undocumented border-jumper (A Florida GOP candidate was “just asking”), or spreading photos of a completely different transgender person and claiming they were the shooter. Actual Congressman Paul Gosar combined the two lies, insisting in a now-deleted tweet that the killer was a “Transsexual Leftist Illegal Alien,” and probably a soccer fan, too.
And from there, things got stupid.
How Dare Joe Biden Politicize A Tragedy By Talking About Preventing More Tragedies?
Tucker Carlson went with the classic, even stodgy technique of pretending to be outraged that someone would dare politicize this terrible event by suggesting we need to change the policies that contributed to it. In his remarks to the nation last night, President Biden said,
The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong. What in God’s name do you need an assault weapon for, except to kill someone? […]
Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? […]
It’s time to turn this pain into action.
Tucker Carlson was just sputtering mad about that, because it was so undignified, and the guy who complained that immigrants make America “poorer, and dirtier, and more divided” knows from dignified. But golly, Tucker was sad it came to this: [video at the link]
The President of the United States. Frail, confused, bitterly partisan, desecrating the memory of recently murdered children with tired talking points of the Democratic Party.
Dividing the country in a moment of deep pain, rather than uniting. His voice rising, amplified only as he repeats the talking points he repeated for over 35 years in the Senate.
Partisan politics being the only thing that animates him. Unfit to lead this country.
He went on, imagining a much kinder, more respectful America where Biden might have called on Americans to pray for the murdered children and teachers, and for their families, and simply left it there, without that very undignified senile talk about preventing it from happening again. To which, we can only answer, borrowing the words of Rep. Ruben Gallego to Ted Cruz yesterday, “Just to be clear fuck you [Tucker Carlson] you fucking baby killer.”
Mark Levin Botches School Prayer Cartoon We Remember From Columbine
Fox News talking bald head Mark Levin explained that we mustn’t fall prey to the simplistic thinking that we can ever hope to keep weapons designed to maim human beings out of the hands of 18-year-olds with murderous intent. Instead, he explained, we all need to turn to God, and once we’re a godly nation again and have mandatory school prayer again, well, we’d be godly.
I started typing “this sort of horror would never happen again,” but no, Levin didn’t even promise that. [Audio file at the link]
After some rambling thoughts about how schools should be teaching self defense instead of crazy socialist ideas, Levin sort of got to why we need to establish religious beliefs in the schools:
This is not so easily addressed by politics, “let’s pass a law.” These lunatics don’t really care what laws you passed, and if they had mental health issues they don’t even know what laws you passed. It’s of no consequence.
I think a little bit more faith would help in the schools and in the public square. It’s not such a terrible thing, and yet, we have secularized everything. I think a little bit more respect for the American people in the media rather than bringing on racists, some bigots who push their agenda. Couldn’t hurt.
Then Levin explained that, for weirdos who might not be Jewish or Christian, there’s no need to be offended by mandatory official religious observances, because after all this is a Judeo Christian nation, silly! We also like how Levin seems to think anyone who isn’t a Judeo-Christian must be a refugee, and pretty fresh off the boat, too:
We work to bring our culture together. Not just unite the American people as I said earlier, yes, but we have to — we need to celebrate our culture. We need to celebrate Americanism, we need to celebrate the Judeo-Christian principles that went into the founding of this nation.
And if you’re not Jewish, you’re not Christian, there’s no reason to take offense. You came here, a family member came here because of the nature of the country. You fled. You don’t have to be Jewish or Christian but facts are facts. It was founded on a Judeo-Christian belief system which embraces Western civilization and the Renaissance the Reformation, and all these things.
Honestly, if you can’t accept that, why did you even stay here, you ingrate?
Again, the very best part of this little speech is that while Levin may have started off intending to call for a spiritual renewal in America as the best way to end mass killings, he never got there. Maybe we’ll just love praying in school so much that no one would ever shoot one up. We kind of thought he was headed for this great old cartoon from 1999, but he lost the thread: [Cartoon at the link: “Why didn’t God stop the shooting?” “How could he? He’s not allowed in school anymore.”]
Laura Ingraham: Why Did Those Lazy Parents Let Their Kids Get Shot?
Finally, there’s Laura Ingraham, who ghoulishly agreed with guest Andre Pollack — the father of a girl murdered in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting — who carefully explained that after all this time, if kids are shot to death, it’s the parents’ fault for not forcing their schools to be high security fortresses. [video at the link]
Pollack said the Texas shooting made him “so angry and practically shaking right now at what happened and what these parents have to deal with.” No, not because it’s so easy for angry loners to get killing machines, not angry at the gun companies or their GOP enablers, but at the parents who let their precious children be murdered, the fools:
What I advocate a lot – because I get a lot of messages from parents – it’s the parents. It’s your responsibility where you’re send your children to school. You have to know now after these shootings – and every week there’s a shooting, whether it’s at a school or in a supermarket – that you need to check where your kids go to school. You need to go back to school and see. Is there a single point of entry? Do you have guards at the school?
I got a message tonight that made me feel kinda good from someone. They told me, “Thanks.” They thanked me because they listened to me and they took their kid out of public school and put them in a private school because a lot of these private schools, they take security way more serious. So parents, it’s your responsibility where you bring your children. And you have to know.
While he was at it, Pollack explained it was a scandal that the US is sending military hardware and ammunition to Ukraine when we could instead be up-armoring our own schools, the end.
The mob calling for former Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged during the attack on the U.S. Capitol reportedly prompted Donald Trump to remark that “maybe” Pence should be hanged, according to testimony provided to the Jan. 6 committee.
According to a report from The New York Times published on Wednesday, at least one witness has told the panel investigating the attack that it was Mark Meadows, Trump’s then-chief of staff, who divulged Trump’s remark about Pence made to colleagues at the White House on Jan. 6.
Meadows reportedly left Trump sitting in the dining room of the Oval Office where the 45th president was watching the melee unfold on television.
He [Trump] was irritated that Pence had been moved to safety, the witness said.
Once away from Trump, “Mr. Meadows… then told the colleagues that Mr. Trump had said something to the effect of, maybe Mr. Pence should be hung,” the Times reported.
The “tone” Trump used is unknown.
Trump’s alleged comment appears to have been corroborated, at least in part, by some of the testimony delivered to the committee by Cassidy Hutchinson, a onetime legislative aide to Trump.
[…] Hutchinson was first subpoenaed in November. In March, when the committee pursued records from Meadows in court, it revealed a partial transcript of her deposition.
She told investigators that during one planning call before Congress met to certify the electoral votes on Jan. 6, lawmakers like Reps. Scott Perry, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert (among others) were fervently calling for Congress to stop the count and suggested that Pence had the authority to do so.
He did not.
Hutchinson went on to say that Rep. Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, supported the idea of “sending people to the Capitol” on Jan. 6.
Perry was one of many Republican lawmakers hit with a request for cooperation over the course of the insurrection probe’s investigation. But after stonewalling the committee for weeks, a round of formal subpoenas were sent to him and others including Jim Jordan of Ohio, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama, and Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House GOP.
[…] Getting past the police and killing at least 21 people inside the school was made easier because the man who perpetrated all this had lethal weapons that are meant for killing with ease: an AR-15 assault weapon, a handgun and high-capacity magazines. […] And he had the willingness to use those weapons to maximum effect.
How could we expect a teacher — whose job it is to educate children, not protect them from highly motivated armed murderers — to handle the job more effectively in a moment of shocking chaos and terror? At best, supplying a teacher with a gun to confront a shooter is a mandate to have them sacrifice themselves while likely doing little to stop the attack; at worst, the teacher could accidentally harm or kill children, or even be mistaken for the shooter by responding officers.
An armed security guard faces grim odds as well. Mass shootings are not duels; they are ambushes. The element of surprise and war-like weaponry will always give the attacker an advantage. Consider that in the mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, this month, authorities said the gunman exchanged fire with an armed security guard before the guard died. The gunman arrived at the store with a semiautomatic assault-style weapon and wore a tactical helmet and body armor […].
Pointing out the futility of expecting teachers to fight back against people bent on mass murder doesn’t even address the likelihood of accidental discharges of weapons, the increased risk to children that accompanies having guns stored in schools or the social cost of further militarizing public spaces by having armed guards patrol every school.
Remarkably, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, said Tuesday that a solution was to “harden these targets so no one can get in, ever, except maybe through one entrance.” In other words, he’s floating the idea that schools should completely rebuild their architecture in ludicrously impractical and dangerous ways (what about emergency exits?) while doing nothing to address the reality that one entrance won’t be any harder to get through if someone is armed to the teeth.
The real issue is that America’s shelves are stocked with a shockingly high number of guns that are designed to kill huge numbers of people with extreme efficiency. We have few safeguards for ensuring that these guns are not grabbed up or held by people inclined to use them for murder, and we have a polity incapable of tackling the question of how to regulate civilian access to and possession of these weapons.
Despite their best efforts, police officers couldn’t stop the gunman in Uvalde before he took many lives. There’s little reason to believe an armed teacher would have halted his brutal slaughter. […]
He [Trump] was irritated that Pence had been moved to safety, the witness said.
Once away from Trump, “Mr. Meadows… then told the colleagues that Mr. Trump had said something to the effect of, maybe Mr. Pence should be hung [it’s actually hanged – SC],” the Times reported.
Nazi Billionaires author David de Jong joins this bonus episode The New Abnormal to discuss the findings from his book, including the ugly, anti-semitic history of German oligarchs, including the family who owns the German car brand BMW. Plus, co-hosts Molly Jong-Fast and Andy Levy discuss Kevin McCarthy’s latest witch hunt that somehow involves Nancy Pelosi and Peloton and roast George W. Bush and Justice Clarence Thomas for being really bad at telling jokes.
Kellyanne Conway’s new book makes very clear the people she has a grudge against, and the ones she doesn’t, according to Daily Beast media reporter Zach Petrizzo. He read the former Trump aide’s book and tells The New Abnormal podcast host Molly Jong-Fast that there are two people she goes after the most—Jared Kushner and her husband, George Conway III. Plus, Washington Post political enterprise reporter Robert Samuels talks about his new book with co-author Toluse Olorunnipa, ‘His Name is George Floyd’ and Molly and co-host Andy Levy analyze the right-wingers who attended CPAC in Hungary and why they (jokingly) think the Twitter user retweeted by Trump, ‘MAGA King Thanos’, will lead the next civil war.
Ukraine ‘badly’ needs launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower, Kuleba says
Ukraine continues to plead for more weapons, including multiple launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower.
“We need the help of our partners – above all, weapons for Ukraine. Full help, without exceptions, without limits, enough to win,” president Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba added his country “badly” needs multiple launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower.
Russia overwhelms Ukraine in a number of heavy weapons, but the biggest imbalance is with MLRS, mobile batteries of long-range rockets, he said.
Kuleba said he had come to Davos at a “very difficult moment on the frontline” as fighting rages in the eastern Donbas region.
“The battle for Donbas is very much like the battles of the Second World War,” he told journalists.
“Some villages and towns, they do not exist anymore,” he said.
“They were all turned into rubble by Russian artillery fire, by Russian multiple launch rocket systems. It’s devastating.”
Zelensky also told a traditional ‘Ukraine Breakfast’ event on the sidelines of the WEF: “Unity is about weapons. My question is, is there this unity in practice? I can’t see it. Our huge advantage over Russia would be when we are truly united.”
Zelenskiy rejects notion that Ukraine should cede territory to make peace
Zelenskiy has rejected the notion that his country should cede territory to make peace with Russia.
“Symptomatic editorials began to appear in some Western media stating that Ukraine must allegedly accept so-called difficult compromises by giving up territory in exchange for peace,” he said in his latest nightly address.
Those who advise Ukraine to give up territory fail to see the ordinary people, he said, “who actually live in the territory they propose to exchange for the illusion of peace.”
Zelenskiy said…those “stuck” in previous centuries are living in a time “when the interests of nations were indeed often traded for attempts to appease the appetites of dictators”.
“The gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary was inside the school for roughly an hour before a tactical unit from the Border Patrol shot and killed him, according to the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.”
An Arkansas federal judge sentenced former reality TV star Josh Duggar to more than 12 years in federal prison on Wednesday, according to court documents.
US District Judge Timothy Brooks also sentenced Duggar to 20 years of supervised release, a $10,000 fine and is ordered to have no unsupervised contact with minors during supervised release.
Duggar was found guilty by a jury of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography in December.
…
Duggar is the oldest son of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, whose family and devout Christian lifestyle were the subject of the TLC show “19 Kids and Counting.”
The show was canceled in 2015 in the wake of allegations that Josh Duggar had molested girls as a teen, including two of his sisters, Jessa Seewald and Jill Dillard, who spoke about the allegations in an interview with Fox News.
He was never charged in relation to those allegations.
On the ground, Ukraine’s military has been remarkably effective at halting Russian advances and extracting a price for every inch of ground surrendered. Oryx currently has Russia’s verified losses at over 4,000 pieces of equipment, including 715 tanks. By comparison, Ukraine’s documented losses are at just over 1,000 pieces of equipment and 177 tanks. Russia has been losing equipment at a rate that’s 4 times that of Ukraine. It still is.
Ukraine has also surprised Russia in the air. Not only was Russia’s initial attempt to take out Ukrainian air defenses ineffective, the Ukrainian Air Force is still flying. Despite the loss of multiple pilots and planes over the course of the war, it’s been making more sorties in the last two weeks than it did in the first two weeks (to be fair, so has Russia).
However, there was never any real contest when it comes to the water. The entire active Ukrainian Navy consists of 15 ships. And “ships” is being generous. The largest member of Ukraine’s fleet is a single landing ship, everything below that is essentially a patrol boat, better suited to chasing down smugglers than waging a war. In comparison, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet contains 20 large warships. That includes half a dozen guided missile frigates, each of which outweighs the entire Ukrainian fleet. There are also thought to be 6 or 7 diesel submarines based out of Sevastopol.
Any victories that Ukraine scores against the Russian Navy are likely to come from land. As did the sinking of the former Black Sea flagship, Moskva. Which is why news that Ukraine is getting truck-launched Harpoon missiles from Denmark so encouraging. [Tweet and image at the link]
These are mostly likely of a variety known as RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II […] These carry an advanced targeting system made by Boeing that allows them to target ships at sea, or in a distant port, or to even go after a target on land. They have a range of around 120 kilometers (75 miles).
That range is not enough to clear the Black Sea, but it is enough to tell a whole lot of Russian warships to go f#ck themselves if they come anywhere near Ukrainian ports. (It’s 180 miles from Odesa to Sevastopol, so Ukraine can’t sit back and lob missiles into Russian ships sitting in port. More’s the pity.)
Still clearing Russian ships away from Odesa and other ports along Ukraine’s far west coast is critical, because Russia is waging a blockade against the export of Ukrainian wheat and corn — a blockade that threatens to destabilize countries far outside Ukraine’s borders.
On Wednesday morning, The Washington Post looked at declassified documents from U.S. intelligence showing Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports.
Russia’s navy now effectively controls all traffic in the northern third of the Black Sea, making it unsafe for commercial shipping, according to a U.S. government document obtained by The Washington Post.
Ukraine provides about 10% of all the wheat exported around the world. Most of that wheat goes to nations in Africa and the Middle East. 95% of those exports go through Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
According to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, 20 million tons of wheat are currently trapped in Ukraine. Not only is Russia standing off at sea, ready to sink any ship leaving a Ukrainian port, but it has deliberately targeted grain warehouses and loading facilities. Even if Russia pulled out tomorrow, Ukraine would have difficulty getting its wheat where it’s needed.
Meanwhile, Russia is not only hording its own wheat crop, but also stealing everything it can find in fields, silos, and storehouses in the parts of Ukraine it currently controls.
It is doing this “as a form of blackmail,” said von der Leyen, “holding back supplies to increase global prices, or trading wheat in exchange for political support. This is using hunger and grain to wield power.”
A number of countries are cooperating in looking for solutions. Ukraine has already made agreements with Romania and Bulgaria that would allow them to move grain overland to the port at Varna. Some Ukrainian grain will be taking an even longer trip by land, and a far longer trip by sea, to reach its intended market. [tweet and image at the link]
It’s good to see some grain getting out, but it’s unlikely these routes will have anything like the capacity necessary to handle all of the Ukrainian crop, or even the part of it harvested in areas away from the battlefront.
In the meantime, Russia’s blockade has already driven the price of bread up by 70% in some areas of the Middle East. If prices remain high, or a genuine shortage develops, it could easily generate conflict inside, or even between, affected nations. Russia is holding hostage the food that supports millions of people around the world. They’re as responsible for any deaths that result in Lebanon or Lesotho as they are from those killed by bombs in Mariupol.
On two different occasions in 2021, the U.S. sent military vessels into the Black Sea, which greatly irritated Russia. But there are no ships there now. Not from the U.S. and not from most of the Western powers. Getting out the grain is going to be a challenge.
That is, unless Russia’s fleet keeps coming too close to those new missiles.
In an unnamed basement bar in central Kyiv, Ukrainian anarchists have created a headquarters where they gather supplies to send to their peers on the frontlines and welcome anarchists from abroad who have come to fight.
It is unusual to see anarchists supporting state structures, but they say taking action against Russia is necessary for their survival. “We are fighting to protect the more or less free society that exists in Ukraine,” said an activist, Dmytro. “Without which there would be no space for activism or underground movements.”
He added: “Putin’s terror is happening [in Ukraine] and it is indiscriminate. It is happening against every part of the population, but especially against the Russian-speaking parts of the population that Putin supposedly came here to liberate,” referring to the fact that the war has been heaviest in eastern and southern Ukraine.
“His regime is an ultraconservative, rightwing dictatorship that represses anarchists in Russia, the free press, LGBT networks. It scares even the most banal, grassroots initiatives, like animal rights activists. We see the conflict between Ukraine and Russia as a conflict between a more or less democratic state and a totalitarian one.”
The activist left is relatively small in Ukraine, where the memory of Soviet communism lingers, and its anarchist component is even smaller. But from 1917-21 Ukraine was home to one of the world’s most famous anarchist movements, which sprung out of the power vacuum created by the fall of Tsarist Russia.
Led by the anarchist Nestor Makhno, the movement argued for the rights of Ukraine’s peasantry and quickly grew in popularity under the slogans “Death to those who stand in the way of free working people” and “Power breeds parasites, long live anarchy!”
At the height of the movement, self-governing communes existed across most of southern and eastern Ukraine under the protection of Makhno’s army. His base was in Huliaipole, a town in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, which has been frequently fought over since February. The Bolsheviks defeated Makhno’s army and he died in exile in Paris.
Those at the Kyiv anarchists’ headquarters admit that these are no longer “Makhno times”. Today, the anarchist movement in Ukraine is small and a battalion acting independently would collapse on a modern-day battlefield, they say.
About 100 anarchists have signed up to fight in Ukraine’s army and territorial defence forces, according to Serhiy Movchan, the group’s spokesperson. In addition, about 20 foreign anarchists have signed up, including a Russian who fled his country three years ago. Others have come to Ukraine to work as volunteer paramedics….
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From their most recent summary:
Ukraine’s president and foreign minister have pleaded with the west to send more weapons to their military in the face of Russia’s intensifying assault on the eastern Donbas region. “We need the help of our partners – above all, weapons for Ukraine. Full help, without exceptions, without limits, enough to win,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Dmytro Kuleba told the World Economic Forum in Davos that Nato was doing “virtually nothing” to help Ukraine.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said Moscow was ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions. Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia invaded, with more than 20m tonnes of grain stuck in silos in the country. Kuleba poured scorn on Moscow’s claim and accused Russia of trying to “blackmail the world”.
…
Russian forces shelled more than 40 other towns in Donbas on Wednesday, Ukraine’s military said, threatening to shut off the last main escape route for civilians trapped in the path of their invasion.
Russia’s failure to anticipate Ukrainian resistance and the subsequent complacency of Russian commanders has led to significant losses across many of Russia’s more elite units, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence in its latest intelligence update on the war.
Ukraine’s governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Synyehubov, has said fighting is most intense in the Izyum region. He claimed: “The Russians are trying to improve the tactical situation in the area of the city of Izyum and resume the offensive on Slovyansk.”
…
Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, has told the World Economic Forum in Davos that he believes Russia still hopes to take control of the Ukrainian capital. He said everyone in the world understands it is not “a special operation”, but that it is a genocide against the Ukrainian people.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has told the World Economic Forum that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a thunderbolt, and that Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to win or to dictate peace terms.
British foreign secretary Liz Truss is expected to urge Britain’s allies to remain strong in support of Ukraine and not to appease Putin, in a speech later today.
Journalists from Western countries will be expelled from Russia if YouTube blocks access to Moscow’s foreign ministry’s briefings, the ministry said.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, who holds a weekly briefing, said the ministry had warned YouTube against blocking her content.
Zakharova was quoted by the Russian state-owned news agency Tass as saying:
We just came and told them: ‘You block another briefing, one journalist or American media outlet goes home. Another briefing is blocked and we will name a specific journalist or specific media outlet that will go home.’
She added that Moscow is working on measures against English-language media in response to what it considers “unfriendly actions” by foreign governments towards Russian news outlets. She did not provide further details.
Zakharova’s comments came after Russian lawmakers approved a bill giving prosecutors powers to shut foreign media bureaus if a Western country has been “unfriendly” to Russian media. The measure is meant to retaliate for the closure of some Russian state news outlets in the West.
…The claims reflect broader problems with racism and intolerance toward transgender people, and are an effort to blame the shooting on minority groups who already endure higher rates of online harassment and hate crimes, according to the disinformation expert Jaime Longoria.
“It’s a tactic that serves two purposes: it avoids real conversations about the issue [of gun violence], and it gives people who don’t want to face reality a patsy, it gives them someone to blame,” said Longoria, director of research at the Disinfo Defense League, a non-profit that works to fight racist misinformation.
…
…On the online message board 4Chan, users liberally shared the photos and discussed a plan to label the gunman as trans, without any evidence to back it up.
…
In some cases, misinformation about mass shootings or other events are spread by well-intentioned social media users trying to be helpful. In other cases, it can be the work of grifters looking to start fake fundraisers or draw attention to their websites or organizations.
Then there are the trolls. Fringe online communities, including on 4chan, often use mass shootings and other tragedies as opportunities to sow chaos, troll the public and push harmful narratives, according to Ben Decker, founder and CEO of the digital investigations consultancy Memetica.
“It is very intentional and deliberate for them in celebrating these types of incidents to also influence what the mainstream conversations actually are,” Decker said. “There’s a nihilistic desire to prove oneself in these types of communities by successfully trolling the public. So if you are able to spearhead a campaign that leads to an outcome like this, you’re gaining increased sort of in-group credibility.”
For the communities bearing the brunt of such vicious online attacks, though, the false blame stirs fears of further discrimination and violence….
For months, Sue Gray’s report on rule-breaking at the heart of Downing Street during the Covid pandemic has hung over Boris Johnson’s government like a dark cloud. Every time a new picture leaked or another allegation surfaced, there was one message from No 10: wait for Sue Gray’s report. Even as members of the government – including Johnson – and the civil service were being issued with police fines, the message stayed the same.
On Wednesday, it finally arrived. As our political correspondent Peter Walker tells Nosheen Iqbal, the day felt an important one from the very start. As the report landed on desks around Westminster, it was clear that the details were damning for Johnson’s government.
The columnist Jonathan Freedland was among those trying to quickly digest the report, which included details of a leaving party at which “one individual was sick”, partying until 4am and messages warning drunken staff to leave via the back entrance.
Standing up to give his statement to parliament on the report, Johnson said: “We are humbled”, and then corrected himself to say: “I am humbled.” But he did not say he would be resigning. Instead, he attempted to put the matter behind him, insisting lessons had been learned and it was time to move on. And while there are those in his party who feel the episode could cost them the next election, as the sun set on Sue Gray day, Boris Johnson remains, for now, in office[.]
Too much to excerpt, but I do like this quote from Stroop’s 2019 WaPo piece:
Evangelical subculture is pervasively authoritarian, and any time an arbitrary social hierarchy is imposed and defended, violence follows. Authoritarianism is inherently abusive, and where it reigns, abuse—physical, sexual, emotional and spiritual—will be pervasive.
[…]
Jean-Luc Martinez was charged Wednesday after being taken in for questioning along with two French specialists in Egyptian art, who were not charged […].
The case was opened in July 2018, two years after the Louvre’s branch in Abu Dhabi bought a rare pink granite stele depicting the pharaoh Tutankhamun and four other historic works for eight million euros ($8.5 million).
Martinez, who ran the Paris Louvre from 2013 to 2021, is accused of turning a blind eye to fake certificates of origin for the pieces, a fraud thought to involve several other art experts […]
The move comes after the German-Lebanese gallery owner who brokered the sale was arrested in Hamburg in March and extradited to Paris for questioning in the case.
French investigators suspect that hundreds of artefacts were pillaged during the Arab Spring protests that engulfed several Middle Eastern countries in the early 2010s, and then sold to galleries and museums that did not ask too many questions about previous ownership.
The Canard Enchaine reported that some of the same French experts who certified the Tutankhamun stele also certified another prized Egyptian work, the gilded coffin of the priest Nedjemankh, that was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2017.
After an inquiry by New York prosecutors, the Met said it had been a victim of false statements and fake documentation, and said the coffin would be returned to Egypt.
[…]
Turkish publishers are increasingly struggling to release new books and face agonising choices to survive amid the country’s economic crisis, according to some of Turkey’s most prestigious publishing houses.
Turkey’s rampant inflation, which officially reached 70 percent in May, has weakened the purchasing power of Turkish bookworms.
Meanwhile, with the Turkish lira slumping to record lows, books are becoming much costlier to produce.
According to February 2022 data from the Statistics Institute of Turkey, the annual increase in paper prices was a record 168 percent.
“We have to decide almost daily which titles to kill, or at least postpone indefinitely, because we have only so much paper,” Cem Akas, editor-in-chief at Can Publishing, told Al Jazeera.
[…]
These are worrying developments for a $1bn industry — more than 87,000 different titles were published in Turkey last year, putting the country sixth in the global publishing rankings.
And publishers say the industry is also vital for Turkey’s cultural vibrancy and as a space for freedom of speech.
[…]
“A tonne of high-quality paper used to cost 600 euros in 2021. Now it’s 1,150 euros,” Kenan Kocaturk, the head of Turkey’s Publishers Association, told Al Jazeera.
But he said paper was not the only issue.
“Today, Turkish publishers import everything: paper, ink, the glue used to bind books,” Kocaturk said. “Electricity prices, vital for printers, have skyrocketed.”
Meanwhile, he says Turkish publishers are reluctant to raise their prices amid a cost-of-living crisis — some have even reduced prices to attract customers and compete with online vendors.
[…]
[…] Kocaturk said the industry’s role as a relative haven for freedom of expression in Turkey, especially when compared with the pressures journalists face from the state, was under threat.
“With the deepening of the crisis, I fear that we’ll lose the plurality of our publishing tradition,” Kocaturk said.
[A co-founder of the Umami boutique publishing house, Secil Epik] said the Turkish publishing industry will struggle on in some form.
“But who will be able to afford to keep publishing and who will be left behind will determine how our cultural life will be shaped,” Epik said.
Before the pandemic, I booked a £2,000 retreat, hanging out with horses on a Canadian ranch, for May 2020. When lockdowns began, the ranch informed customers that no refunds would be given but that bookings would be honoured when they were ready and able to travel again. I knew they were a small family business so I accepted that. Now I’ve received a newsletter stating that vaccinated customers are not welcome as the vaccine could transfer to the animals. The ranch owner declares that we will not receive refunds because the business is “nearly bankrupt” and suggests we sell our holiday to someone unvaccinated.
[… O]wner [of the Equinisity ranch in British Colombia], Liz Mitten Ryan, reckons the vaccine is a bioweapon designed to reduce the population of the unaware and compliant. She is, she says, awaiting the great awakening when good will overtake evil [and defrauding people is legal]. In the meantime, she is unrepentant about pocketing the cash of the customers she’s banned. My business has been illegally shut down for two years by government mandates, she told me. We definitely don’t accept people who have succumbed to the bioweapon depopulation tool and can shed on our sacred land and animals [but we quite happy to keep your money and help spread the virus].
She repeated her suggestion that you find an unvaccinated person and sell your trip to them. As for how they would cross the border into Canada, where tourists must be fully vaccinated, Mitten Ryan says: We are encouraging the unvaxed to take advantage of fake vax cards and doctors’ notes of exemption.
Another setback for the Great Equine Empire, a supposedly-human quisling is a complete loon and happy to break, and encourage others to break, laws. Just send her some money, and she’ll happily keep it, no horses involved.
I’m sure she will be thrilled to see her exposed as a fraudster, etc., in an widely-read (international audience) reliable newspaper. Another nutcase taking strategic lessons from Putin?
StevoRsays
Today – 26th May – is Australia’s National Sorry Day :
This article contains mentions of the Stolen Generations, and policies using outdated and potentially offensive terminology when referring to First Nations people.
May 26 is National Sorry Day. On this day, we commemorate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families under government policies during the Assimilation era (officially 1910 to 1970).
Those children stolen from their families have become known as the Stolen Generations…. While this is a national day of commemoration, shamefully, it barely rates a mention in the media. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities however, never forget. How can we, when so many of our families have been impacted by this legacy?
The exact number of children who were removed may never be known. However, there are very few families who have been left unaffected. In some families, children from three or more generations were taken.
(Bolding orignal.)
I live on Kaurna land that was never ceded,.I’m not Indigenous, I’m only beginning to know a bit about this.
It’s something a lot more Aussies need to think about and know. Dark and hidden chapters of our history, just coming tolight for many but experienced first hand for over two centuries and counting by many more. Just down the road from my place we have Colebrook House and the Fountain of Tears as part of our local history and efforts at Reconciliation.
[…]
The Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz confronted a British reporter and angrily left an interview after he was asked why school shootings like that in Uvalde […] happen so often in the US.
I’m sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful, Cruz said. You’ve got your political agenda. God love you.
On Thursday, the news site Axios published a list of the leading recipients of gun lobby donations in the current Congress.
Cruz was clear at the top, with $442,000 donated to campaign organisations or political action committees.
Axios noted: “The figures are much higher if you count indirect contributions, like the NRA’s purchase of attack ads against opponents.”
[…]
On Wednesday Cruz spoke to Mark Stone, US correspondent for Sky News, at a vigil in Uvalde.
[…]
Stone asked: “Is this the moment to reform gun laws?”
Cruz said: You know, it’s easy to go to politics.
“But it’s important,” Stone said. “It’s at the heart of the issue.”
I get that that’s where the media likes to go, Cruz said.
Stone said many people at the vigil wanted gun reform. National polling consistently shows large majorities in support of such reform.
Cruz said reform proposals came from Democrats and the media, inevitably, when some violent psychopath murders people.
Stone pointed out that the 18-year-old gunman in Uvalde was a “violent psychopath who’s able to get a weapon so easily … two AR-15” assault rifles.
Cruz said: If you want to stop violent crime, the proposals the Democrats have, none of them would have stopped this.
Stone said: “Many people around the world just cannot fathom, ‘Why only in America? Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?’”
Cruz said: You know, I’m sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful.
Stone said he thought “this aspect of it” was awful.
You’ve got your political agenda, Cruz said, putting his hands on the reporter’s shoulders, saying God love you and walking away.
Stone and another reporter pursued, asking, “I just want to understand why you do not think that guns are the problem in America” and “Why is America the only country that makes this kind of mass shooting?”
Stone said: “You can’t answer that, can you, sir?”
Cruz turned. Leaning close to the reporter and jabbing his finger, he said: Why is it that people come from all over the world to America? Because it’s the freest, most prosperous, safest country on earth. And save me the propaganda.
There is a video of the encounter at the link (I haven’t watched it).
US regulators said social media firm gave advertisers information collected for security purposes
Twitter has been fined $150m (£119m) by US authorities after collecting users’ email addresses and phone numbers for security purposes but then using the data to target them with adverts.
The social media platform had told users the information would be used to keep their accounts safe, according to a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Trade Commission.
“While Twitter represented to users that it collected their telephone numbers and email addresses to secure their accounts, Twitter failed to disclose that it also used user contact information to aid advertisers in reaching their preferred audiences,” said a court complaint filed by the DoJ.
[…]
Twitter makes 90% of its annual revenue of $5bn (£3.8bn) from advertising. […]
[…]
“Twitter obtained data from users on the pretext of harnessing it for security purposes but then ended up also using the data to target users with ads,” said the FTC chair, Lina Khan, in a statement. “This practice affected more than 140 million Twitter users, while boosting Twitter’s primary source of revenue.”
The complaint also alleges that Twitter falsely said it complied with the European Union–US and Swiss–US privacy shield frameworks, which bar companies from using data in ways that consumers do not authorise.
Twitter’s settlement follows years of fallout over the privacy practices of tech companies. Revelations in 2018 that Facebook, the world’s biggest social network, was using phone numbers provided for two-factor authentication to serve ads enraged privacy advocates. Facebook […] similarly settled with the FTC over the issue as part of a $5bn agreement reached in 2019.
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 36
Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?’
Because it not only produces shits like Ted Cruz, but millions of jingoistic, racist, paranoid morons who would put the likes of Cruz into office.
StevoRsays
From that first linked article #34 :
“When Rudd delivered his apology 14 years ago, there were 9070 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care in Australia.
That number has since risen to about 18,900, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children now represent more than 41 per cent of all children in out-of-home care.”
Firearms were the leading cause of death for kids one and older for the first time in 2020, the most recent year for which CDC data is available.
The firearm death rate among children is steadily rising, as more kids are involved in gun-related homicides like Tuesday’s mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, as well as suicides and accidents.
Nearly two-thirds of the 4,368 U.S. children up to age 19 who were killed by guns in 2020 were homicide victims, per the CDC….
Another 30% of firearm-related child fatalities were suicides, 3% were accidental and 2% were of undetermined intent….
There were also stark racial disparities. The firearm death rate for Black children was more than four times that of white children, and white children were still more likely to be killed by motor vehicles than guns….
⚖️A treason conviction
Russia’s Southern District Military Court sentenced Senior Lieutenant Ruslan Artykov to 13 years in prison for treason. Arrested in 2019, Artykov confessed to leaking defense secrets to Ukraine.
🕵️Zeroing in on public enemies
Russian lawmakers drafted legislation that would equate defection to the side of the enemy during active hostilities with high treason, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The same would be true for confidential cooperation with foreign intelligence agencies. State Duma deputies also want to classify advocacy for the the implementation of activities directed against Russia’s national security as felony extremism, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Russia now ‘has the advantage’ in Luhansk, says Ukraine
A senior Ukrainian official has conceded that Russia at present has the upper hand in fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region.
General Oleksiy Gromov said at a briefing:
Russia has the advantage, but we are doing everything we can.
He added that Russia has been spotted moving Iskander missile systems to Belarus’ western Brest region.
This raised the possibility of new missile strikes on west Ukraine, Gromov said.
Russia has deployed mobile propaganda vans with large-screen televisions to humanitarian aid points in the captured city of Mariupol as the Kremlin has pushed forward with efforts to integrate newly occupied territories across the south of Ukraine.
Videos published by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations showed the vans, which it called “mobile information complexes”, playing state TV news segments and political chat shows where pundits support the invasion to locals in the ruined city that still lacks electricity and running water.
The Orwellian turn comes as much of Mariupol was destroyed in an artillery bombardment that left thousands dead. One of the vans was deployed near the ruins of the Mariupol drama theatre, where hundreds were killed in an airstrike in March.
Several of the trucks now patrol the city, mainly playing Russian television news segments. “The people of Mariupol have been held in a virtual informational vacuum for three months due to the lack of electricity,” wrote the emergencies ministry in a statement.
The mobile screens have reportedly been deployed to places where Mariupol residents are receiving humanitarian aid, Russian documents, and at points in the city where drinking water is available.
“The practice of ‘there is nothing to eat, so feed them lies’ is gaining momentum,” wrote Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol. It’s “cynicism of the highest level”.
“The truth and the propaganda,” wrote Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry, posting a video of the trucks superimposed over images of the ruins of the city. This is “the Russian world”, he added.
[…]
Ten-year-old Fabian usually listens to pop and rock music at home in Great Yarmouth, but watching the BBC’s Concert Orchestra live on stage, it was the calming notes of the violin that were his favourite.
Like many of the 200 pupils in the audience, it was his first experience of live orchestral music, and he was thrilled by it. From Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture — with plenty of interactive elements thrown in — the year 5 pupils listened intently to over an hour of music.
“I’ve never seen an orchestra in real life before,” said Fabian, a pupil at Edward Worlledge Ormiston academy. “It’s exciting how much louder it is and seeing how they all play.”
The show at St George’s theatre was part of the BBC Concert Orchestra’s three-year residency in Great Yarmouth, announced earlier this year, to inspire young people and improve wellbeing in the Norfolk seaside town, which has one of the highest deprivation rates in England.
Musicians have held workshops in every primary school in the town, and now are branching out into the wider community with a concert at the Hippodrome Circus this summer.
[…]
“There isn’t enough music in schools at the moment. I think back to when I was a child at school, if you heard a piece of music or something was presented to you, it meant so much,” said Ileana Ruhemann, principal flute in the orchestra, which has performed soundtracks for shows such as Blue Planet and regularly plays for BBC radio shows.
“It’s just such a privilege and it’s such a joyful thing to be able to maybe be the first person they’ve seen play the flute live, and certainly they don’t see an orchestra every day. It’s a great honour for us.”
[…]
In the image at the link, I noticed the musicians were all casually dressed (none of that formal wear) with some sort of event T-shirt (all I can make out is “Great Yarmouth”. Except for the conductor, who is dressed in a colourful astronomical-object decorated suit which reminds me of something that I cannot currently place. (At first I thought Eric Idea in Monty Python’s Galaxy Song, but no, he was wearing a pink suit.)
[…] Churches ran the communities, and the voter turnout was 100 percent, Barton said. That was for at least 70 years. When Daniel Webster ran for Congress, there were 5,000 voters in his district. Five thousand votes were cast, now he got 4,990 so the other guy — it must have been him and his family was all that voted for him — but nonetheless, it was still 100 percent turnout. We felt like that was a duty we would answer to God for [so there] was really high, high turnout {because} churches ran it.
Barton’s claim is absurd given that statistics show that voter turnout has never once reached 100 percent even in presidential elections. And while their are apocryphal reports that Daniel Webster won 4,990 out of 5,000 votes cast in the 1824 congressional election, such reports do not provide any information about how many people were eligible to vote in that election. Winning 4,990 out of 5,000 votes would only prove that Webster was a popular candidate; it says nothing about what percentage of eligible voters actually participated in the election.
Barton’s claim that the voter turnout was 100 percent … for at least {the first} 70 years of American history is debunked by historian Pauline Maier in her book, “Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution.” Maier reports that during the 1789 congressional race between James Madison and James Monroe in the inaugural election following ratification of the Constitution, more than half the Virginia voters didn’t even bother to participate:
When the election was over, Madison acknowledged that without his active campaigning, he would not have beaten the odds and won 1,308 votes to James Monroe’s 972 on February 2, 1789, a snowy election day when most of the district’s 5,189 voters stayed home.
There could hardly have been 100 percent voter turnout in every election in America for the first 70 years when in one of the very first elections in American history, 56 percent of eligible voters didn’t even cast a vote.
I’m surprised teh eejit didn’t go for 200% as women and uppity [n-word]s would also have voted if they had the opportunity. (I have no idea if teh eejit supports universal suffrage, if not that could be why they failed to make a bigger fool of themselves.)
* In Wisconsin, former state Rep. Dean Knudson resigned yesterday from his seat on the state’s bipartisan election commission for an unfortunate reason: The lifelong conservative accepts the reality of what happened in the 2020 presidential election, which made it impossible for Knudson to represent the GOP on the board.
* On a related note, as Knudson exits the Wisconsin Elections Commission, the panel will now apparently be chaired by Robert Spindell — who is perhaps best known to national audiences as one of the fake Trump electors from the Republicans’ legally dubious post-election scheme.
A disciplinary committee for the State Bar of Texas on Wednesday filed a professional misconduct lawsuit against Attorney General Ken Paxton for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential elections in four battleground states won by President Joe Biden.
The filing in Collin County by the Commission for Lawyer Discipline, a standing committee of the state bar, is an extraordinary move by the body that regulates law licenses in the state against the sitting attorney general. It stems from complaints against Paxton for a lawsuit that the U.S. Supreme Court threw out, saying Texas lacked standing to sue and that Paxton’s political opponents called “frivolous.”
It seeks a sanction against Paxton, which will be determined by a judge, that could range from a private reprimand to disbarment.
In its filing, the commission said Paxton had misrepresented that he had uncovered substantial evidence that “raises serious doubts as to the integrity of the election process in the defendant states.”
“As a result of Respondent’s actions, Defendant States were required to expend time, money, and resources to respond to the misrepresentations and false statements contained in these pleadings and injunction requests even though they had previously certified their presidential electors based on the election results prior to the filing of Respondent’s pleadings,” the lawsuit read.
The lawsuit also says Paxton made “dishonest” representations that an “outcome determinative” number of votes were tied to unregistered voters, votes were switched by a glitch with voting machines, state actors had unconstitutionally revised their election statutes and “illegal votes” had been cast to affect the outcome of the election.
The lawsuit says Paxton’s allegations “were not supported by any charge, indictment, judicial finding, and/or credible or admissible evidence, and failed to disclose to the Court that some of his representations and allegations had already been adjudicated and/or dismissed in a court of law.”
Documents from the Trump White House are already damning on a historic scale. But what about the materials Mark Meadows may have literally set on fire?
When taking stock of the Trump White House’s worst qualities, it’s easy to point to the former president and his team’s corruption, incompetence, mismanagement, bigotry, hostility toward the rule of law, wholesale indifference toward reason and evidence, and general disdain for democracy and the United States’ system of government.
And then there’s the issue of document retention.
Sure, it may not compete with Donald Trump’s efforts to prioritize his interests over the health and stability of the republic, but we’re occasionally reminded that these guys had a serious problem with the Presidential Records Act, which creates a legal requirement about the preservation and maintenance of presidential materials.
[…] The New York Times reported on the Jan. 6 committee obtaining evidence about Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, putting his West Wing fireplace to use.
The committee has … gathered testimony that Mr. Meadows used the fireplace in his office to burn documents, according to two people briefed on the panel’s questions. The committee has asked witnesses about how Mr. Meadows handled documents and records after the election. Mr. Meadows’s lawyer did not respond to a question about the testimony regarding the fireplace.
[…] The Washington Post also reported that some of the witnesses who’ve spoken to the bipartisan select panel “said Meadows used his fireplace to burn documents.”
The Republican obviously wasn’t the only one destroying materials in the White House. Donald Trump, for example, had a habit of tearing up official records into pieces the size of confetti — even after his attorneys told him to stop doing this.
A few months ago, there was related reporting about Trump, during his presidency, trying to flush documents down a White House toilet.
This week, evidently, we’ve gone from a “down the drain” problem to an “up in smoke” problem.[…] It’s hard not to wonder what might have been on the materials Meadows literally set on fire.
[…]
The attorney general of New York state said on Thursday Donald Trump and his children Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump had been ordered to testify under oath in her civil investigation of the former president’s business affairs.
In a tweet, Letitia James said: “A court has once again ruled in our favor and ordered Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump to appear before my office to testify under oath.”
[…]
James is African American. The former president[Wacko House squatter] has claimed she is racist.
[…] CNN’s Manu Raju asked the former football player [Herschel Walker, fresh off his Republican Senate primary victory in Georgia], “Do you support any new gun laws in the wake of this Texas shooting?” Walker responded, “What I like to — what I like to do is see it and everything and stuff.”
This morning, [Herschel Walker] shared some additional thoughts on the subject. After reminding viewers that “Cain killed Abel” — I’m not entirely sure how that’s relevant — Walker added:
“What we need to do is look into how we can stop those things. You know, they talk about doing a disinformation, what about getting a department that could look at young men that’s looking at women that looking at social media. What about doing that? Looking into things like that? If we can stop that that way?”
Is Herschel Walker trying to beat Sarah Palin’s record for spouting word salad and then dousing it with ignorance?
He proceeded to add some related garbled thoughts on mental health and the abandoned Homeland Security effort related to combatting foreign disinformation campaigns.
Keep in mind, this wasn’t a gotcha moment in which an aggressive journalist caught Walker off-guard with a difficult question on an obscure issue. It was two days ago when a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school. Over the course of 48 hours, this U.S. Senate candidate and his team had time to come up with his position on this life-or-death issue.
Walker then sat down with an overly friendly media outlet, and pitched creating a federal agency that would apparently be responsible for surveilling “young men that’s looking at women that looking at social media.”
[…] Walker expects to be a powerful federal policymaker next year. Scrutinizing his policy ideas, especially related to the nation’s most pressing issues, is an important part of the process.
[…] If this were simply a matter of a candidate who struggles to communicate substantive ideas on camera, it’d be a certain kind of problem. But as we’ve discussed, Walker’s troubles run deeper.
He’s pushing weird election conspiracy theories. He’s struggled to talk about key policies. He’s made demonstrably untrue claims about his business background, his educational background, and a controversial veterans charity he claimed to have created — despite the fact that it wasn’t a charity and he didn’t create it.
This week, Walker took the extra step of lying about lying, which was also weird.
Voters have also recently learned about allegations of domestic violence and other dangerous personal behavior from his past.
Republican primary voters in Georgia were obviously unmoved by all of this — Walker defeated his next closest GOP primary rival by nearly 55 points — and polling suggest he will be a highly competitive general candidate against Sen. Raphael Warnock in the fall.
Former president Donald Trump will headline a forum at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston this Friday — about a four-hour drive from where a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., killed at least 19 children and two teachers on Tuesday.
The Memorial Day weekend event is the year’s largest for the gun lobby meeting after cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s set to take place over three days and “showcase over 14 acres of the latest guns and gear,” according to its official website….
The forum is also slated to include Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, and North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson — all Republicans…..
Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R), a former Marine who strapped an assault rifle over her dress in a memorable campaign ad last year, is scheduled to headline an NRA Women’s Leadership Forum Luncheon Friday as part of the event in Houston.
[…]
Cruz tweeted Tuesday that he was “fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.”
[…]
For the last few weeks, most of the attention has been focused on two areas. One is that area north of Kharkiv, where Ukraine rapidly captured over two dozen towns and villages, pressing Russia back to the border and managing to get a force across the Siverskyi Donets River to threaten Russian supply lines. The other is in the east, where Russia has pushed through the captured town of Popasna, moving outward in all directions while conducting a daily assault all up and down the front at multiple areas, capturing a series of villages along with the town of Lyman.
Look at Kharkiv and it seems like, “All right! Ukraine is on the move.” Look at the east and it’s easy to see nothing but, “Damn. Russia is grinding this out.” But in the middle of these two is Izyum, and it’s here that what happens next may be decided. [map at there link]
When Russia first moved into Izyum, that city was at the end of a long, twisting salient that moved out of Russian-held territory to the east, crossed the Oskil River up miles to the north, then proceeded west before turning down a primary highway to reach Izyum. There it stopped for over two weeks before someone—reportedly a town official bribed by Russia—showed them a low-water ford on the river west of town, allowing Russian forces to push resistance out of the south end of Izyum and occupy the surrounding area.
Over the following weeks, Russia solidified their position in Izyum, clearing away pockets of Ukrainian regulars and territorial defense to open up new lines of supply. It then began to push out of Izyum, originally with the clear intent of pushing south along lines similar to the “April” position in this now-familiar chart that kos has written about a number of times. [map at the link]
More recently, Izyum has been the starting position for attempts to cut off a more modest portion of Ukrainian forces. It has also become the location with the highest density of Russian forces anywhere in Ukraine. An estimated 22 Battalion Tactical Groups are now based in and around Izyum, a force that should be equal to almost four brigades of soldiers along with tanks, artillery, and all the attendant weaponry and material.
All of which poses the question: Why is Russia still unable to move those forces out of Izyum?
Keen-eyed observers with a long memory might notice that on the top map, Russia’s southern push out of Izyum reached Pashkove over a month ago, and now it doesn’t even extend that far. Along the southern axis, Russia has advanced … in a retrograde manner.
In just the last week, Russia has tried to push west out of Izyum, southwest out of Izyum, southeast out of Izyum, and east out of Izyum. In those efforts, it has picked up approximately 0 kilometers of territory. Whatever is happening across the river at Lyman, Russia’s biggest collection of BTGs is still sitting at Izyum, where it’s been for the last six weeks and counting.
A second look at that map shows a wooded area just northwest of the city of Izyum that is sparsely populated and crisscrossed by logging roads. For the last two weeks, highly mobile Ukrainian forces have been harassing Russian forces that were apparently camped in this area. The resulting firefights have generated multiple fires in the forested area. That is still going on today, and the location of some of those hot spots shows that Ukraine’s forces are continuing to operate extremely close to Izyum itself. [map at the link]
Ukraine also appears to be threatening Izyum from a new direction. In the upper left of the top map is the small city of Balakliya (population 27,000). Ukrainian forces seem to be ranging out from this area on Thursday and moving down the P78 highway. There are even reports that Ukraine has recaptured the villages of Borodoyarske and Morozova. Those reports should definitely be given the tags #speculative and #optimistic at this point, even though there is evidence of Ukrainian soldiers near Savyntsi (that would be the westernmost red marker along that road). This does suggest Ukraine is still looking at ways to interfere with operations going in Izyum. Ukrainian forces operating east of Kharkiv also appear to have drawn some BTGs away from Izyum to fight in that area.
All those white markers south and east of Izyum indicate towns that are currently being shelled by Russian artillery. Russian propaganda has also put out this video, which supposedly shows the “hell” of incendiary weapons that are currently raining down on Ukrainian troops near Izyum (which would certainly explain why all those fires are starting in the area). [video at the link]
None of this seems to have moved the lines.
Russia never wanted to be at Izyum. They’re there because the original plan—capture Kharkiv in passing, then on to Kyiv—simply failed. But Izyum has become the heart of Russia’s offense. That heart still seems to be stalled.
Across the House and Senate, 251 Republicans voted on the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act — and 250 of them voted against it.
[…] NBC News reported:
Senate Republicans blocked the chamber from proceeding to a House-passed domestic terrorism bill that advanced earlier this month after what officials described as a racially motivated shooting in Buffalo, New York, left 10 people dead and three wounded.
As the vote wrapped up, the final tally was 47 to 47, with six senators — two Democrats and four Republicans — missing the vote. Their absence would not have changed the outcome: This was a procedural vote that required 60 senators in the majority.
That would’ve required at least 10 GOP members to break ranks. Instead, literally zero Republicans in the upper chamber voted for it.
This comes a week after the House passed the same bill with just one Republican — Illinois’ Adam Kinzinger — voting with the Democratic majority. […]
Given the scope of the Republican opposition, it might seem as if the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act is a wildly ambitious and/or overtly partisan proposal, but as we discussed last week, it’s really not.
As a separate NBC News report explained, the legislation is — that is, was — designed to create domestic terrorism offices within the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to facilitate better coordination and help the agencies identify risks and homegrown threats.
It also would require biannual reporting about the state of domestic terrorism threats, with a particular focus on combating “white supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration of the uniformed services.” [Sounds like a good idea to me.]
A New York Times report added that the bill is actually rather restrained: “[I]t would stop short of creating new federal powers to crack down on domestic terrorism; it would not create new criminal offenses or new lists of designated domestic terrorist groups, nor would it give law enforcement additional investigative powers.”
The same article added that Democrats negotiated internally “[…] narrow the definition of domestic terrorism and adding a provision to guarantee that individuals could not be put under surveillance for the mere act of taking part in a protest.”
That was enough to ensure unanimous support among House Democrats — and near unanimous opposition from congressional Republicans.
To appreciate the rationale behind the GOP opposition, consider this tweet from Sen. Marco Rubio, published a few days ago. “This week a democrat party [sic] infiltrated by marxists [sic] & left wing [sic] extremists will try to pass a bill giving them the power to go after anyone they decide to label as racists or extremists,” the Florida Republican wrote, sounding more like an angry online troll than the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
In reality, none of this made sense. The bill had nothing to do with giving the Democratic Party more power, and whether Rubio appreciates this or not, violent extremism is a real problem in the United States.
The New York Times recently reported, “Over the past decade, the Anti-Defamation League has counted about 450 U.S. murders committed by political extremists. Of these 450 killings, right-wing extremists committed about 75 percent. Islamic extremists were responsible for about 20 percent, and left-wing extremists were responsible for 4 percent. Nearly half of the murders were specifically tied to white supremacists.”
The data does not include the 10 people murdered by a suspected white-supremacist gunman at a Buffalo grocery store this month.
Improving coordination across federal agencies and identifying domestic security risks should be a bipartisan priority. Today, it was not.
The Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidates who the state found submitted thousands of fraudulent signatures will be kept off of the Aug. 2 primary ballot for now, after the state board that decides candidate qualifications split along party lines.
That includes the two frontrunners for the GOP’s nomination to run for governor, Perry Johnson and James Craig.
Several are expected to go to court to get their names on the ballot. The state’s elections director said Thursday that, in order for elections to run on time, ballots would need to be finalized by June 3.
The vote by the Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers — the same body that Donald Trump pressured to steal the election for him in 2020 — came after a parade of candidates and their lawyers cast themselves as victims of a ring of fraudulent signature-gatherers who took their money, but provided forged or otherwise invalid signatures in return.
[…] On Thursday, state officials said they spot-checked roughly 10% of suspect ballots against the state’s qualified voter file, or around 7,000. Jonathan Brater, the state’s director of elections, did separately confirm that the Bureau “looked at every line” of the suspect petition sheets. The state Bureau of Elections said it identified 36 signature-gatherers who it thought were responsible for the fraudulent signatures; on these individuals’ petition sheets, the state said, it could not find a single valid signature.
But that wasn’t enough for some candidates, who protested on Thursday that it was the state’s responsibility to confirm every single signature they ruled invalid. They’ll likely take that same argument to court.
[…] Michael Markey, a now-excluded candidate for governor and one of several who’ve promised to sue, compared his situation to beachgoers heading toward shark-infested waters, saying the state hadn’t warned the candidates sufficiently about the risk of hiring ne’er-do-well signature gatherers. Then he switched metaphors.
“Does anyone contend that every home run that Jose Canseco hit was due to steroids?” he asked. “No.” [WTF?]
An attorney for Craig, George Lewis, said that if the state felt it did not have enough time to review every single signature it ruled invalid, it should have allowed the candidates onto the ballot despite the indicators of fraud.
“Doesn’t the law put the burden on the candidate to submit a sufficient number of valid signatures?” Mary Ellen Gurewitz, the Board’s Democratic vice chair, asked Lewis.
“Yes ma’am it does, and it also puts the burden on the circulators not to commit fraud,” Lewis responded. “We put forth that we are as much victims as anyone else here.”
Several challengers to the Republicans also spoke, arguing that the Board was well within its rights to throw out every signature from circulators who presented a consistent pattern of fraud — and for whom the Bureau of Elections staff said they could not find a single valid signature after thousands of checks.
“These circulators lied on the circulator certificates, allowing the board to disqualify entire sheets,” said Mark Brewer, the former chair of the state’s Democratic Party.
[…] Some paid petition circulators, Allen said, had even submitted “virtually identical” signature sheets for both Dare and Amanda Shelton, whose wife Kay Shelton challenged Dare’s signatures. “And we had gotten ours from them weeks earlier.”
Speaking a few minutes earlier, Dare’s attorney Eric Doster quoted a 2012 case in which the state’s then-elections director, Christopher Thomas, said the standard for spotting frauds was that forgeries should “slap you in the face.”
Later, Gurewitz said that was exactly how obvious the fake signatures were.
“It’s not the kind of forgery where a handwriting analyst is necessary,” she said. “In Mr. Doster’s words, it slaps you in the face.”
The husband of one of the teachers killed Tuesday in the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting has died of a heart attack.
Joe Garcia, who was married to Irma Garcia for almost 25 years before she was killed by a gunman at Robb Elementary School, suffered a heart attack Thursday. The couple leaves behind four children between the ages of 13 and 23.
“EXTREMELY heartbreaking and come with deep sorrow to say that my Tia Irma’s husband Joe Garcia has passed away due to grief,” the Garcias’ nephew John Martinez wrote on Twitter Thursday afternoon.
[…] “My Tia Irma and Joe garcia were high school sweethearts and leave behind 4 beautiful children, their ages being 23, 19, 15 and the youngest only being 13 years old, no child should have to go through this, my heart breaks for them,” he wrote.
Irma Garcia, her co-teacher Eva Mireles and 19 elementary school children were killed by an 18-year-old shooter on Tuesday. Officials said the gunman was shot by authorities responding to the attack.
Good news, as presented by Wonkette: “Let’s Keep New Moms Healthy And Alive, OK?”
[…] In a reminder that government can do good things that make people’s lives measurably better, the US Department of Health and Human Services has announced that four new states will be extending postpartum Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) benefits from the usual 60 days after someone gives birth to a full 12 months.
Oregon, California, Kentucky, and Florida will join seven other states in offering the longer benefits, which are expected to help out about 126,000 low-income families in the four new states. Another nine states and the District of Columbia are also in talks with HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) about extending the benefit, too.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement,
The first year after giving birth is a critical period — and families deserve the peace of mind knowing they will be able to access the health care coverage they need, without interruption.
We like this thing where Joe Biden’s HHS is working with states to help people stay healthy and live better. It’s a lot nicer than when HHS emphasized kicking people off healthcare to convince them to stop being poor. Could we please not go back to that please?
The extended benefits are almost certain to save lives, too. As The 19th explains, that’s just math:
According to an HHS report, one in three pregnancy-related deaths occur between one week and one year after a person gives birth. About half of all births in the United States are covered by Medicaid. Without this kind of expansion, those same parents lose their health insurance coverage roughly two months after delivery of a child.
Once the additional jurisdictions get extended postpartum benefits in place, that means a full year of health benefits for a lot of Americans whose coverage would otherwise end 60 days after the mother gave birth. Again, this has real potential to save lives, since roughly a third of maternal deaths occur in people who were on Medicaid when they gave birth.
As we’ve discussed before, the US has an ongoing maternal mortality crisis because unlike civilized nations, healthcare isn’t considered a right here. Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US has twice the rate of maternal mortality of other wealthy nations. That crisis is, like damn near everything else in the US, far worse for Black women, who are three times more likely than white women to die within a year of giving birth. Those racial disparities persist independent of education and income level, though Crom knows being poor certainly exacerbates them.
During Black Maternal Health Week, back in April, CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a statement that her agency is committed to working with states to improve outcomes for parents who’ve had new babies, saying, “For too long, ingrained racism in our health care system has created devastating disparities in the care people receive and the health outcomes they can achieve. These disparities can be a matter of life and death.”
[…] In a world where all 50 states took the plunge and extended postpartum Medicaid and CHIP to a full 12 months, we’d be looking at 720,000 Americans who would benefit. The biggest gains would be for people who currently fall in the income gap between eligibility for Medicaid and qualifying for subsidized health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act. (Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act would have ended that gap for everyone in that hole, but … […])
Also, a bit more good news, which would be even better if more states expanded postpartum benefits: A study of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion found that states that put the expansion into place saw reduced racial disparities in health outcomes for Black Americans.
Gosh, more people having good health and staying alive to raise their children? It sounds like some kind of socialist utopia, doesn’t it?
The Miami Heat preceded their Wednesday night playoff matchup against the Boston Celtics with a moment of silence and a call to action in the wake of the elementary school shooting in Texas that killed 19 children and two teachers.
“The Heat organization, the Boston Celtics and the NBA family also mourn those who lost their lives in the senseless shooting that took place yesterday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas,” said the public address announcer at Miami’s FTX Arena. “Our thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends, and the entire Robb Elementary School and Uvalde community.”
After the moment of silence, the announcer urged people to contact their state’s senators “to leave a message demanding their support for common-sense gun laws.” He also encouraged fans to register to vote ahead of the fall elections.…
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said today that the military situation in eastern Ukraine is much worse than people say it is, reports Reuters….
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, said that “weapons, weapons and weapons again” are what the country needs.
Russia still has a weapons advantage, and Ukraine needs “more heavy weapons. Without these, we won’t be able to push them back,” he said in a Twitter q & a.
Asked about peace talks, he said:
The moment Russia requests a ceasefire will mean only one thing, that Russia is one step away from losing the war. Russia will not request a ceasefire while they are on the offensive. But when they request a ceasefire we will think twice and three times before considering.
KGsays
James Wharton, the chair of the regulator of England’s universities*, the so-called “Office for Students” (OfS) addressed the CPAC conference in Budapest by video, on the same day as the vile Hungarian racist Zsolt Bayer, who has described Jews as “stinking excrement”** and Roma as “animals” (yes, I know they are animals in the sense of organisms developing from a blastula, as are we all, but we all know what describing people in those terms means).
Wharton met with Jewish students, who raised concerns about his participation in the conference, and offered reassurances that he would continue to ensure the OfS is at the forefront of tackling racism and antisemitism. “I hope you will all accept that same reassurance and my ongoing commitment to supporting free speech and academic freedoms,” he wrote to OfS staff.
However, the letter did not mention his apparent endorsement during his pre-recorded video message to the conference of the recent re-election of the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who was the star speaker on the first day and has been accused of*** eroding democratic freedoms since taking power in 2010.
The Union of Jewish Students (UJS) said Wharton had apologised for any concern his video message had caused to Jewish students. “UJS were reassured by his commitment to future engagement and the sincerity of his apology and hope to continue to work together to support Jewish students,” a statement said.
Other speakers at the conference included Jack Posobiec, a far-right US blogger who has used antisemitic symbols, the former US president Donald Trump, and the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage.
THe UJS should be ashamed of themselves. And friend-of-fascists Wharton should be out of a job, but he won’t be.
*Note: Not all UK universities
**Unbelievably, the linked Guardian article says Bayer has been “accused of antisemitism”.
***Jesus wept! When will journalists drop this dishonest, cowardly crap of “has been accused of”, when the truth of the accusation is blindingly obvious?
WASHINGTON—In a press conference addressing the community of Uvalde, TX, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly urged those affected Thursday to get their crying done now because he wouldn’t be passing shit. “Go ahead and shed some tears, trot out the families of the victims, do whatever the fuck you’re going to do, and then we’re going to go back to pretending none of this happened,” said McConnell, urging the nation to go online and post whatever little impassioned rants or photographs of the bereaved they had, since he and his fellow lawmakers had decided their response to all of this would continue to be absolutely fucking nothing. “And yes, we know the parents of the victims will be burying 19 young children in the coming few weeks. Seriously, none of it matters to us. I don’t know how to make it any clearer. We simply couldn’t care less.” At press time, McConnell had returned to the podium to add that his thoughts and prayers were, of course, with the community and the grieving families.
KGsays
Lynna, OM@52,
It seems to me the “Ukraine updates” from Daily Kos have been far too optimistic (compare with the latest statements from Ukraine’s own leaders, e.g. from foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba – see SC’s #59), as has the general tenor of comments on that site, with most commenters apparently believing Russia has already lost the war. Of course, it hasn’t won, either; most likely, the war will last many months yet, if not years – always provided it doesn’t develop into WW3 and nuclear catastrophe.
(yes, I know they are animals in the sense of organisms developing from a blastula, as are we all, but we all know what describing people in those terms means)
I hope you don’t think my only point in this is this technical (though important) one! I’m well aware of the literature on “dehumanization” – my notes on David Livingstone Smith’s On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It run to several often angry pages (despite the fact that I thought it made some good points). The point I’m making about these terms is essentially the same as the one I’m making about terms like “primitive,” “savage,” and “barbaric,” and about misogynistic insults, except that the imagined “animal” category is at the root of all of these as well.
I object to these sorts of comments of course on the basis of what “we all know…describing people in those terms means” – placing them in a category of dirty, insidious, aggressive, dangerous, violent, weak, lesser, non-rights-bearing… beings who can be exploited, excluded, controlled, persecuted, and killed, and against which “we” define ourselves and our superior identity. Obviously this is bad! But I also object to any objection to the comparisons that accepts the existence of these categories and defends those compared to the despised group on that basis: “They’re not [b—–s]!” “They’re not [f—–s]!” “They’re not [n—–s]!” “They’re not savages!” “They’re not animals!” This isn’t helpful, and is in fact very harmful. These two objections are in my view consistent, valid, and necessary.
I’ve briefly made a few arguments here, but I’ll have to finish my post about it…
US to send long-range rocket systems to Ukraine – reports
The US is preparing to send advanced, long-range rocket systems to Ukraine after an urgent request from Ukrainian officials, multiple officials reportedly told CNN.
The Biden administration is leaning toward sending the systems as part of a larger package of military and security assistance to Ukraine, which could be announced as soon as next week, the outlet reported.
Senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, have pleaded in recent weeks for the US and its allies to provide the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS.
The US-made weapon systems can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of kilometres — much farther than any of the systems Ukraine already has — which the Ukrainians argue could be a game-changer in their war against Russia.
Earlier this week, Kuleba said Ukraine’s most urgent need is for multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to counter Russian superiority in heavy weaponry.
Zelenskiy also referred to the weapons as “the systems that are really needed to stop this aggression” in his latest address.
Russia has in recent weeks pummelled Ukraine in the east, where Ukraine is outmanned and outgunned, Ukrainian officials said.
Another system Ukraine has asked for is the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS, a lighter wheeled system capable of firing many of the same types of ammunition as MLRS.
Natasha Bertrand at CNN: “Among those who have been calling for the US to send the systems is @RepJasonCrow, who told CNN that the long range systems ‘could be a gamechanger, to be honest with you’, both for offensive & defensive purposes. ‘It would take away their siege tactics’, he said of the Russians.”
The Union of Jewish Students (UJS) said Wharton had apologised for any concern his video message had caused to Jewish students. “UJS were reassured by his commitment to future engagement and the sincerity of his apology and hope to continue to work together to support Jewish students,” a statement said.
Christopher Miller, Politico: “US MLRS & HIMARS are near the top of Ukrainians’ weapons wish list. Every commander I spoke to on the frontline in the Donbas this past week has said they desperately need these to fight against Russian forces, who have bigger, more, & longer range systems. They need them asap.”
ravensays
Another war crime by the Russians. They are systematically deporting Ukranians to Russia.
They are also replacing them with Chechens and Russians from Russia.
This is ethnic cleansing as part of a genocide program.
The numbers are high, up to 1.37 million including 200,000 children.
These Ukranians are being dumped in the worst and most remote parts of Russia. The high arctic on the arctic ocean. The Russian Pacific coast to near Japan on Sakhalin island.
So, what will happen to these Ukrainians? Probably a lot of them will just have short, miserable lives and die young.
Russia is depopulating parts of eastern Ukraine, forcibly removing thousands into remote parts of Russia
By Katie Bo Lillis, Kylie Atwood and Natasha Bertrand, CNN Updated 2000 GMT (0400 HKT) May 26, 2022
Washington (CNN)Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been processed through a series of Russian “filtration camps” in Eastern Ukraine and sent into Russia as part of a systemized program of forced removal, according to four sources familiar with the latest Western intelligence — an estimate far higher than US officials have publicly disclosed.
After being detained in camps operated by Russian intelligence officials, many Ukrainians are then forcibly relocated to economically depressed areas in Russia, in some cases thousands of miles from their homes, and often left with no means of returning, sources said.
Although some Ukrainians have voluntarily entered filtration camps to try to escape the fighting by entering Russia, many have been picked up against their will at check points and in bomb shelters. After spending an average of around three weeks at the camps — where sources and eyewitnesses say they are held in inhuman conditions, interrogated and sometimes tortured — some are sent across the border into Russia and given state documentation.
From checkpoints in Rostov and other Russian towns, many Ukrainians are then relocated to far-flung corners across Russia, the sources said. In some cases, Ukrainians have been sent to Sakhalin Island, a distant spit in the Pacific Ocean on Russia’s far east — 10,000 miles from the Ukrainian border. If they are fortunate, sources tell CNN, Russia will provide housing in residential areas and perhaps a Russian SIM card and a small amount of money.
Others are simply dropped off with nothing and expected to survive on their own. Still other Ukrainians are stuck in filtration camps inside Russia, close to their own homes, with no way to leave, other sources added.
Taken together, western intelligence reporting described by CNN sources offers new details that go beyond scattered eyewitness accounts from the region and paints a disturbing picture of a comprehensive resettlement process.
Claims of cultural genocide
It’s all part of Russia’s effort to cement political control over occupied areas, sources say — in part by eliminating Ukrainians believed to be sympathetic to Kyiv and in part by diminishing the Ukrainian national identity through depopulation and what some human rights activists term “cultural genocide.” It’s an indiscriminate system that Russia has employed before, notably during both Chechen wars.
Intelligence officials believe all Ukrainians entering Russia are being processed through these filtration camps. Top US diplomats have already publicly condemned the practice and said these actions constitute war crimes.
“Ukrainians do not necessarily have to be thrown on a back of a truck but many are put in a situation where they don’t have a choice: You get on the bus and go to filtration and then to Russia or you die in the shelling,” said Tanya Lokshina, Europe and Central Asia associate director for Human Rights Watch. “These are forced transfers forbidden under the laws of war.”
Russia’s Ministry of Defense did not respond to requests for comment.
It’s difficult to confirm precise numbers, and officially, Western estimates vary from tens of thousands to 1 million people.
But even the more conservative estimates hint at a massive program of forced dislocation on a staggering scale. And even as US officials have publicly cited much lower numbers, the sources say that in reality, it’s clear that at least hundreds of thousands of people have been pushed through the camp system and sent to Russia.
Late last week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russian armed forces are “doing everything to prevent deaths among the civilian population. Since the beginning of the special military operation, more than 1.37 million people have been evacuated from the dangerous regions of the people’s republic, as well as from Ukraine to Russia.”
Camps run by Russian intelligence
The camps and the processing centers inside Russia are largely run by the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency responsible for Moscow’s operations in Ukraine, according to three sources familiar with western and US intelligence. Before Russia invaded Ukraine, western intelligence had assessed that the agency had plans to establish and operate a filtration camp system to kill politically undesirable Ukrainians and ship the rest to Russia, according to two sources familiar with the assessments.
The human toll of Russia’s strategy is incalculable. Conditions at the camps are appalling, sources and eyewitnesses say. CNN earlier this week reported eyewitness accounts of beatings, dehumanizing and invasive identity checks, and a lack of sanitary facilities in ad hoc facilities, which are set up in tent camps, schools and hospitals. There has been a tuberculosis outbreak at one camp, while at another, Ukrainians have died from lack of medical care, according to a source familiar with western intelligence.
Ukrainians must endure a brutal ‘filtration’ process to escape Russian-held territory.
Those who survive the filtration process and are scattered across Russia face an odyssean journey to return home. Some have been able to make their way across the border into Georgia, Belarus or Estonia. But still others are likely stuck, thousands of miles from home with no passport, no financial resources, and few options, sources say.
“This way they are sure not to cause any problems [for Russia],” said one of the sources. “If they have money or access, they can probably catch a flight to Georgia. But that’ll be far and few between — they couldn’t afford to leave [Ukraine] in the first place, so that tells you something.”
According to one source familiar with western intelligence, the majority of Ukrainians who are being sent across the border are women, children and the elderly.
But not all Ukrainians who go through the filtration process in occupied Ukraine are sent to Russia.
Some disappear without a trace. Still others languish in the camps in Ukrainian territory, according to a report that Human Rights Watch is in the process of assembling.
Survivors of Mariupol
Lokshina, the Human Rights Watch official, said hundreds of Ukrainian men were taken from Mariupol and have been held in two eastern Ukrainian towns, Bezimenne and Kazatsoe. Some have been there for more than a month, held in school buildings and a local event hall.
“They were told they would be able to leave in 2 to 4 days, once they clear filtration, but their passports were not returned to them. So even though they are not under lock and key, they cannot leave. Without their passports it would be simply suicidal,” Lokshina said. “They are given no clarity as to their prospects and the purpose of their protracted detention.”
Just this week the Ukrainians in Kazatsoe were given back their passports and allowed to leave, but the Ukrainians in Bezimenne are still there. Their fate is unknown.
Detained Ukrainians are able to use their cell phones when they get Wi-Fi, she said. But they also have to be careful about what is on their phones because the devices are taken by Russian troops and plugged into computers that takes and appears to store their data — a complete violation of privacy, Lokshina said.
“They are fearful that so-called DNR will forcibly draft them to serve in their armed forces,” she said, using an acronym to refer to the self-proclaimed breakaway eastern territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
‘Serious and imminent’ risk of genocide in Ukraine – report
There is enough evidence to conclude that Russia is inciting genocide in Ukraine and committing atrocities intended to destroy the Ukrainian people, according to the first independent report into allegations of genocide committed by Russian troops in Ukraine.
More than 30 leading legal scholars and genocide experts have signed the report accusing the Russian state of violating several articles of the United Nations Genocide Convention, CNN reports.
The report warns there is a serious and imminent risk of genocide in Ukraine, accompanied by a long list of evidence including examples of mass killings of civilians, forced deportations and dehumanising anti-Ukrainian rhetoric used by top Russian officials.
It directly accuses Russian top officials of orchestrating incitement to genocide and laying the groundwork for future genocide by repeatedly denying the existence of a Ukrainian identity.
As examples, the report points to the dehumanising language used by Russian officials to describe Ukrainians, including words such as “bestial”, “subordinate” and “filth”, or Vladimir Putin’s statements that he believes Ukraine has no right to exist as an independent state.
Azeem Ibrahim, a director at the US-based thinktank New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, which put together the report, said:
What we have seen so far is that this war is genocidal in its nature, in terms of the language being used and the manner in which it is being executed. That’s very, very clear.
The experts also accused Russian forces of carrying out a “pattern of consistent and pervasive atrocities against Ukrainian civilians collectively” in the course of the invasion.
It said that well-documented massacres and summary executions in Bucha, Staryi Bykiv, and in Sumy and Chernihiv regions, Russia’s deliberate attacks on shelters, evacuation routes and healthcare facilities, as well the indiscriminate targeting and bombardment of residential areas, rapes, sieges, grain thefts and forced deportations to Russia all amount to “genocidal pattern of destruction”.
The report calls on the international community to act, warning that there is “no time at all”. Ibrahim said:
Every country that is a signatory to the Genocide convention, and that’s 151 countries including the Russian Federation, every country has to do whatever it can to put a stop to this, otherwise they will also be in breach of the convention.
Boris Johnson said Ukraine should be supplied with long-range multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to help Kyiv’s embattled forces prevent Russian invaders from gaining ground in the Donbas.
But the prime minister stopped short of committing the UK to sending the powerful M270 rocket system, which Kyiv has been pleading for from Britain, the US and other Nato members for several weeks.
Johnson said the MLRS would enable Ukraine “to defend themselves against this very brutal Russian artillery, and that’s where the world needs to go”, in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
He added that Putin’s forces were “continuing to chew through ground” in the Donbas region, making “slow, but I’m afraid palpable, progress” as they close in on Sievierodonetsk, the easternmost city held by Ukraine.
Johnson’s comments appear to confirm there has been a significant change of stance over the weapons among western nations.
The US previously rejected Ukraine’s request for the long-range rockets but overnight briefings suggested the White House was now willing to supply them. An announcement could come next week, CNN reported, for a weapon that could have a significant impact on the fighting.
Far more powerful than conventional artillery, M270 MLRS rockets can have a range of more than 100 miles (165km) and up to 12 rockets a minute can be fired from an armoured vehicle. Their firepower goes far beyond the original commitment made by Nato members to send only “defensive systems” to Ukraine when the war began.
KG @62, those updates from DailyKos are but one source among many. In this thread updates on the war are posted from many sources. It seems wise not to focus on just one source.
We’re watching what seems like at least a mini-exodus of musical acts and elected officials from the NRA conference in Texas. Arch jingoist Lee Greenwood is out. Gov. Abbott is now going to send a taped message rather than attending in person. Now we’ve learned that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, an even more antic rightwinger, is sending his regrets as well.
To be clear, all these worthies are claiming that their support for guns and the NRA is wholly undiminished. The elected officials also have something of an out since they can say that their decision isn’t about the NRA at all. They’re just urgently needed on the ground in Uvalde to deal with the aftermath of the shooting.
But actions here speak louder than words.
There are some specific nuances I wanted to share with you.
As Kate Riga and I discussed in this week’s podcast, the hallmark of post-Newtown NRA gun-messaging is that there’s no tension between the anguish of families reeling from the gun murder of their loved ones and pro-gun advocacy. None. That absoluteness of that axiom is critical. It is precisely that you need more guns in the right hands to stop such tragedies from happening again.
As we discussed in the pod, the extremity of these child massacres make affirmative arguments essential. The NRA realized that it just wasn’t workable to be saying things like “Even with a couple dozen mutilated children, our rights are our rights.” Or, “Yeah, it’s bad but your reforms go too far.” It doesn’t cut it. People are at risk of buckling when they try to make those arguments. You need to place yourself on the side of protecting the kids, stopping these massacres from ever happening again – even if your logic is basically absurd. As I noted in the pod, there is a real parallel to the evolution of “affirmative good” pro-slavery arguments in the three decades leading up to the Civil War.
So we’ve been watching the responses, and the statement from Patrick was notable. He didn’t try to pass it off on logistics during crisis or needing to be in Uvalde. He wrote: “While a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and an NRA member, I would not want my appearance today to bring any additional pain or grief to the families and all those suffering in Uvalde.”
That’s different. He’s breaching the seal. Gun advocacy is at least in some tension with the grief of families shattered by guns.
I don’t want to make this a bigger deal than it is. Nor am I trying to give these guys any credit. As I’ve noted over the last couple days, I’m definitely a short term and probably medium term pessimist on this issue. I’m not saying, ‘this time it feels different’ – at least not in the sense that there’s going to be any meaningful policy response. But if we’re going to understand the politics of these issues – which we need to do if we want to build the groundwork for future change – we need to be aware of the nuances and the subtle shifts.
It took more than three centuries, but the last Salem “witch” has been officially pardoned.
Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr, clearing her name 329 years after she was wrongly convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the Salem witch trials.
Johnson was never executed, but neither was she officially pardoned like others wrongly accused of witchcraft.
Lawmakers agreed to reconsider her case last year after a curious eighth-grade civics class at North Andover middle school took up her cause and researched the legislative steps needed to clear her name.
“They spent most of the year working on getting this set for the legislature – actually writing a bill, writing letters to legislators, creating presentations, doing all the research, looking at the actual testimony of Elizabeth Johnson, learning more about the Salem witch trials,” said North Andover teacher Carrie LaPierre whose students took on the research project.
“It became quite extensive for these kids,” she added. The students then sent their research to state senator Diana DiZoglio, a Democrat from Methuen.
Subsequent legislation introduced by DiZoglio was tacked onto a budget bill and approved.
“We will never be able to change what happened to victims like Elizabeth but at the very least can set the record straight,” DiZoglio said.
LaPierre echoed DiZoglio’s words, saying: “Passing this legislation will be incredibly impactful on their understanding of how important it is to stand up for people who cannot advocate for themselves and how strong of a voice they actually have.”
Johnson is the last accused witch to be cleared, according to Witches of Massachusetts Bay, a group devoted to the history and lore of the 17th-century witch-hunts. Not much is known about her, aside from the fact that she lived in an area that is now part of North Andover and never married nor had kids.
“For 300 years, Elizabeth Johnson Jr was without a voice, her story lost to the passages of time,” said state senator Joan Lovely, of Salem.
Twenty people from Salem and neighboring towns were killed and hundreds of others accused during a frenzy of Puritan injustice that began in 1692, stoked by superstition, fear of disease and strangers [?], scapegoating and petty jealousies. Nineteen were hanged, and one man was crushed to death by rocks….
The more the sports world gets involved in the conversation — on the side of reformers — the more pressure the GOP will face.
Given the popularity of sports in American society, it stands to reason that major American political parties would go out of their way to align themselves with assorted leagues. Over the last decade or so, Republicans just don’t seem to agree.
One of the first key examples of this came to the fore after the Affordable Care Act was approved. The Obama White House thought teams and athletes could help promote new benefits available to families, just as Mitt Romney’s gubernatorial administration had done in Massachusetts in 2006, but congressional Republicans had a different perspective.
In fact, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell contacted the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, PGA, and NASCAR directly in 2013, demanding that they play no role in helping inform the public about health care benefits. Others on the right threatened to retaliate against leagues that partnered with the government on any kind of public-information campaigns. [Whoa! I didn’t know that. Mitch is evil.]
In the years that followed, as we’ve discussed on multiple occasions, the connection between the GOP and sports leagues grew even more contentious. Donald Trump, for example, during his White House tenure, lashed out at professional football, professional basketball, and threatened a boycott of professional soccer.
More recently, after professional baseball took a stand in support of voting rights, an amazing number of Republicans responded with hysteria and threats.
Now, evidently, it’s Sen. Marco Rubio’s turn. The Miami Herald reported:
Sen. Marco Rubio offered a blistering critique of the Miami Heat after their playoff game Wednesday — and he wasn’t talking about their lopsided defeat to the Boston Celtics. In a trio of tweets sent late Wednesday and early Thursday, the state’s senior Republican senator criticized the Heat for a pair of politically themed messages about gun control and Florida’s new voting restrictions, asking why they hadn’t been similarly critical of China despite the country’s human-rights abuses.
Ahead of a playoff game this week, Miami’s NBA team held a moment of silence for the victims of the shooting in Uvalde, and then encouraged fans to call policymakers and “leave a message demanding their support for common-sense gun laws.” The over-the-loudspeaker message included the telephone number to the U.S. Capitol switchboard.
There were audible cheers from those in attendance.
Rubio, however, a fierce opponent of measures intended to address gun violence, apparently found all of this outrageous. (The Florida Republican whined some more a few hours later because the Heat was part of a separate information campaign about registering to vote.)
[…] The senator saw a basketball team encourage the public to get involved in a larger policy conversation by encouraging their elected representatives to help protect Americans from gun violence. Rubio wasted no time in pushing back — publicly and belligerently.
Of course, we’ll never know the degree to which the GOP incumbent — who’s up for re-election this year — was sincerely bothered by the message, though Rubio had reason to consider the broader context. As The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent wrote, “More broadly, the intersection of the gun debate with GOP attacks on the sports world could lead Republicans into dicey territory. What happens if the sports world becomes more vocal in calling for gun-safety measures?”
That is not a hypothetical question: Republicans already find themselves on the wrong side of public opinion in the debate over gun policy. […]
It was against this backdrop that NBC News reported overnight, “The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday dropped the usual game coverage that appears on their social media accounts, opting instead to use Twitter to highlight the brutal toll of gun violence in the United States.”
I have a hunch this wasn’t what Rubio wanted to see.
The family of the killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh has allowed her death to be added to a legal complaint being taken to the international criminal court, arguing that Israeli security forces have been systematically targeting Palestinian journalists in violation of international humanitarian law.
The case originally submitted in April by Bindmans had focused on four Palestinian journalists wearing press helmets and vests, two of whom were maimed and two shot dead. It also covers alleged attacks on Gaza media infrastructure in May 2021.
Lawyers from Bindmans and Doughty Street Chambers announced the addition of the death on 11 May of Abu Aqleh to the existing claim at a press conference in London.
They said the case was vital owing to the repeated failure of the Israeli security forces to investigate such incidents and the inability of Palestinian reporters to secure reparations in Israeli domestic courts.
Jennifer Robinson, from Doughty Street said: “The ICC prosecutor must investigate our complaints and prosecute those responsible to send a clear message not just to the Israeli forces and government, but to all governments that targeting journalists is a crime and journalists are not fair game.” She said the ICC prosecutor needed to open the case because it was emblematic of a problem that has been continuing for many years….
Bits and pieces of campaign news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
* At least for now, five Republican gubernatorial candidates in Michigan — including the GOP’s top contenders — have been disqualified by a state canvassing board after submitting thousands of forged signatures on their nominating petitions. A whole lot of lawsuits are now inevitable. […]
* While some incumbents intend to avoid debates this election season, Sen. Raphael Warnock isn’t one of them: The Democratic incumbent in Georgia announced yesterday that he’s committing to three debates. It’s not yet clear whether his Republican rival, former football player Herschel Walker, will agree to accept debate invitations.
* On a related note, Heritage Action for America has launched a new super PAC, called the Sentinel Action Fund, and its first $1 million is going into the Georgia race, where the conservative outfit hopes to boost Walker’s candidacy. […]
* While the post-census redistricting process is nearly done at the national level, it’s not yet over in New Hampshire: Gov. Chris Sununu said yesterday he’ll veto the legislature’s newest congressional map. It’s likely the Granite State will now end up with court-drawn districts.
* Speaking of New Hampshire, the National Republican Senatorial Committee last week was forced to pull an attack ad targeting Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan after its claim about gas taxes was debunked.
* Donald Trump declared yesterday that he would’ve severed all ties to Kellyanne Conway, despite her years of service to his campaign and in his White House, if she’d told him the truth about his 2020 defeat.
For years, Australia’s Liberal prime ministers have denied the need for action on the climate crisis and then delayed taking it. Last Saturday, it helped propel them to one of the worst election defeats in Australian political history.
Guardian Australia’s editor-in-chief, Lenore Taylor, tells Michael Safi that while it was not the only issue that led to Scott Morrison’s downfall as prime minister, his inaction on climate change was a major factor.
The nearly two-decade fight over how Australia should deal with global heating has been called the climate wars. On the one hand, there have been scientists and campaigners raising the alarm, arguing that the freak weather we’re seeing isn’t an accident. On the other, Australia’s powerful fossil fuel industry – and politicians unwilling to stand up to it.
But recent years have seen ever more serious bushfires, droughts and floods, forcing global heating to the top of the political agenda. Now, thanks in part to gains by independent and Green candidates, the Labor party has the chance to reset Australia’s climate policy and end the climate wars for good.
What are the connections between the past and modern politics? In Heritage and Nationalism: Understanding Populism through Big Data (UCL Press, 2022), Chiara Bonacchi, a Chancellor’s Fellow in Heritage, Text and Data Mining and Senior Lecturer in Heritage at History, Classics & Archaeology and Edinburgh Futures Institute at University of Edinburgh, explores the uses of heritage by contemporary populist politics. Drawing on ‘big data’ sources, including Facebook and Twitter, along with a deep theoretical engagement with digital humanities and heritage, the book compares and contrasts key political events in Italy, USA, and the UK to show how the ancient world is deployed by both politicians and audiences. The book is essential reading for both humanities and political science scholars, along with anyone interested in understanding the current populist moment….
There’s a link at the link to download the book for free! Cool methods.
Eric Eddings and Brittany Luse, hosts of the For Colored Nerds podcast, take Virginia on a wild ride through the wildly popular Internet subcultures of the Black Manosphere and its almost-counterpart, Femininity Coaching. They get into why Black men and women might feel drawn to these reactionary gender roles, and why it seems like each group is talking past the other.
Then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows burned papers in his office after meeting with a House Republican who was working to challenge the 2020 election, according to testimony the Jan. 6 select committee has heard from one of his former aides.
According to the reporting, Cassidy Hutchinson — a former Meadows aide whose name keeps coming up — told congressional investigators “that she saw Meadows incinerate documents after a meeting in his office with Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.).” Politico’s report added:
It’s unclear whether Hutchinson told the committee which specific papers were burnt, and if federal records laws required the materials’ preservation. Meadows’ destruction of papers is a key focus for the select committee, and the person familiar with the testimony said investigators pressed Hutchinson for details about the issue for more than 90 minutes during a recent deposition.
Perry, who currently chairs the far-right House Freedom Caucus, has long been a key figure in the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation. In fact, when the panel started requesting information late last year from sitting members of Congress, the first person the committee contacted was the Pennsylvania Republican. (Perry announced soon after that he would refuse to assist in the investigation.)
In the months that followed, the GOP congressman’s name has come to the fore quite a bit. In a court filing last month, for example, the Jan. 6 committee alleged that Perry was directly involved with White House talks as Donald Trump and his team explored how to claim power they hadn’t earned.
[…] according to evidence obtained by congressional investigators, Perry endorsed a plan “to direct thousands of angry marchers” to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
When CNN obtained thousands of text messages Meadows received from Republican allies in the runup to Jan. 6, many showed missives from Perry about efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
And it now appears that the then-White House chief of staff, after meeting with Perry, decided to set documents on fire.
[…] the documents we’ve already seen from the Trump White House are some of the most damning in American history. It’s hard not to wonder what might have been in the materials Meadows thought to throw in a White House fireplace.
Four years ago this month, Donald Trump spoke at the National Rifle Association’s annual gathering, and tried to make a provocative point. “It seems that, if we’re going to outlaw guns, like so many people want to do … we are going to have to outlaw, immediately, all vans and all trucks, which are now the new form of death for the maniac terrorists.”
There was, however, a nagging flaw in the then-president’s pitch. [Trump] didn’t seem to realize was that that vans and trucks have been heavily regulated for years. Indeed, van and truck drivers are required to have licenses and insurance; they’re tested by the state before they can legally hit the road; and it’s standard practice for government agencies to maintain extensive ownership and registration records, just as a matter of course.
Whether Trump understood this or not, if the United States treated guns the same way the country treats vans and trucks, it would likely help prevent a lot of gun deaths.
All of this came to mind after seeing Rep. Lauren Boebert try to make a related comparison. The Daily Beast noted overnight:
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on Thursday scoffed at the idea of common-sense gun reform measures following the Texas elementary school shooting that was carried out by a teenager with a semi-automatic rifle he had legally purchased. “When 9/11 happened, we didn’t ban planes,” Boebert said Thursday night on Hannity. “We secured the cockpit.”
By not thinking this through, the right-wing congresswoman accidentally stumbled onto a good point.
After Sept. 11, 2001, it’s true that we did not ban airplanes. But we also didn’t shrug our shoulders, say we “can’t legislate evil,” and wait for the next terrorist attack.
Instead, we temporarily grounded all flights. A series of security measures were immediately implemented in the interest of public safety — and more than two decades later, travelers still can’t board an airplane without careful screening.
In fact, travelers can’t even buy a ticket without having their names go through a background check of sorts: Those who are included on watch lists are not allowed to fly.
And really, this is just the start. The United States has an entire federal agency that’s responsible for heavily regulating the airline industry — including how planes are built and made to ensure the public’s safety — and creating rigorous standards for airports.
What’s more, when Americans want to fly, they have to show government-issued identification. When Americans want to become pilots, they have to go through extensive training before acquiring a government-issued license and operating an airplane.
If buying guns were in any way similar to getting on an airplane in post-9/11 America, the number of people killed by gun violence would fall dramatically.
The United States’s decision on whether to send MLRS/HIMARS rocket artillery to Ukraine has been painfully long and torturous, but they’re reportedly on the verge of making it happen. According to CNN’s sources, the problem is fear “Ukraine could use the systems to carry out offensive attacks inside Russia … The MLRS and its lighter-weight version, the HIMARS, can launch as far as 300km, or 186 miles.”
[…] the logic above is nonsensical. MLRS and HIMARS rockets (they use the same ammunition, HIMARS just has half the rockets per load than MLRS) have a real range of 32-70 kilometers (20-44 miles) depending on the specific rocket. As always, the longer the range, the fewer in the arsenal, the more expensive they are. (For context, M777 howitzers range from 21 kilometers (13 miles) for a standard round, which costs around $800, to 40 kilometers (25 miles) for a precision-guided Excalibur rounds, which cost about $1 million each).
The 186-mile figure comes from the ATACMS, a massive ultra-long-range ballistic rocket that costs about $5 million a pop. Ukraine wasn’t likely to get those anyway, obviating any concerns that Ukraine might launch them deep into Russian territory. The standard rockets already have a significant range advantage over traditional artillery, which is really what Ukraine wants. All of Russia’s recent advances have been thanks to their overwhelming artillery advantage. Ukraine just wants to even that playing field.
Ukraine is convinced MLRS/HIMARS will change its fortunes in Donbas, and allow it to more effectively go on the offensive to retake lost territory. Assuming Ukraine’s logistical chain can handle these thirsty systems […], there’s no doubt they would give Ukraine a major boost in combat capabilities. But perhaps not in the Severodonetsk salient, which Ukraine is defending at all costs. [map at the link]
I circled several key cities in the Battle of the Donbas. Lyman fell to Russia today as expected. No reason for Ukraine to seriously contest the city when it had more defensible positions right across the river—with high bluffs overlooking the river as well.
The main supply highway between Bakhmut and Lysychansk remains open, though under constant Russian shelling. As I write this, Zolote, north of Popasna, was still held by Ukrainian forces. As you can see on the map above, several major supply routes run through Bakhmut. Losing the city would essentially cut off that entire Lysychansk-Severodonetsk pocket, and Russia inched closer today, taking several small settlements on their push out of Popasna. However, Bakhmut had a pre-war population of 75,000—enough of an urban environment that Russia will have trouble entering. Furthermore, those Russian supply lines are starting to get long, and we know what happens when they are stretched out. This happens: [tweet and image at the link]
It had been a while since we’d seen the Javelin/NLAW anti-tank hunters in action. They are at their best with guerrilla tactics harassing Russian lines of communication, which is exactly what’s happening with Russian forces stretching out from Popasna. Russia’s artillery advantage is negated by these small, mobile kill teams.
As Mark wrote earlier today, the Izyum salient is dead in the water despite having had the largest concentration of Russian forces in the country. […] I’d be shocked of Russia hasn’t further moved forces from Izyum to the Popasna advance, as it’s been the first time in weeks Russia has actually moved forward.
I circled Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the map above as a reminder, that even if Russia takes Severodonetsk (probable) and Lysychansk (less probable), any such advance will crash at the gates of those two heavily fortified cities, with clear supply lines and artillery support to their west. Honestly, I’ve rarely questioned Ukrainian strategy, but their defense of Severodonetsk, on the wrong side of the Donets River, is truly perplexing.
Not only is Lysychansk much easier to defend behind the natural barrier of the river, but it is closer to Ukrainian artillery support. Even MLRS/HIMARS would be of little help in the defense of Severodonetsk, it’s just too far away from safe firing positions .
There is certainly propaganda value, as Russia wants to declare all of Luhansk Oblast conquered. Ukraine is down to the last 5-10% of the oblast. But so what if Russia takes it? There is a broader war to be fought. Russia can crow all it wants about taking a tiny slice of Donbas, but that won’t get it any closer to winning the war.
My guess is that Severodonetsk is the next Mariupol—a city that sucks up a disproportionate amount of Russia’s combat power in order to slow the invader’s advance. Ukraine needs two months to assemble all its reservists and western weaponry, every day that Severodonetsk holds out is one day closer to that magic future date. [tweet and image at the link]
The U.S. is sending its heavy vehicles by ship. There’s 200 of these on the way, plus hundreds of more Humvees, so this is likely more efficient than trying to fly them in. Also, it seems that things like artillery cannons and ammunition are higher priority for limited air transport space. I looked up shipping times from Georgia to France (no idea what port they’re going to), and it’s 24 days. Then they have to be unloaded and rail-shipped to Poland, and then transported across the border however that’s done (no one is talking about it for obvious reasons). So optimistically, all this armor won’t be in Ukraine’s hands for at least another 6-8 weeks.
Ukraine needs to buy time, and it seems that keeping Severodonetsk in Ukrainian hands for the next few weeks is part of that strategy.
Furthermore, there is suspicion in Ukraine that Russia is convincing its western allies to trade Ukrainian territory for a cease-fire. France and Germany certainly seem squishy, and Ukrainian media wasn’t happy when the United States and Russia re-established their military deescalation hotline. We might think, “good! Less chance of a misunderstanding escalating to nuclear war!” But Ukraine is convinced that Russia is in a full-court diplomatic press to freeze the conflict at its current status quo, averting a prolonged war (and its effects on the global economy and food supply), all for the low-low price of just the Donbas and Kherson.
Whatever Ukraine’s motivations, all indications are that the situation in the Donbas is desperate. [tweet and video at the link: "The situation for us at the frontline is extreme. We are shelled with long-range weapons, our front lines, our rears, and we have pretty much nothing to set against the enemy yet, except for the courage of Ukrainian soldiers..."]
Still, rather than retreat, reports are that Ukraine is actually sending more troops to Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, reinforcing the cities against the Russian onslaught. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to provide artillery cover in such a deep Ukrainian salient. Those reinforcements will likely be on their own. Hopefully, their defensive emplacements offer solid protection against artillery, because it’s going to rain fire. And no MLRS/HIMARS shipment, whether in two weeks or two months, can change that equation. [video at the link]
[…] Everything that is happening now is the culmination of incredibly shrinking Russian ambitions. Ukraine holds around 5,000 square miles of Donbas territory. That Lysychansk/Severodonetsk pocket would get Russia 5-10% of that territory. They’ve got a long way to go.
The regional governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Gaidai, has said Ukranian forces may have to retreat from Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk to avoid being surrounded. Let’s hope they don’t leave it too late: regrettable as it is to cede land to the invaders, maintaining viable and experienced forces is even more important.
The Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) hitherto loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate, held on Friday, May 27, in Kyiv, expressed disagreement with the position of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow regarding the war in Ukraine and adopted the necessary decisions and amendments to the Charter of the UOC, testifying to the complete independence of the church.
In addition, as stated in the decision on the UOC website on Friday, the participants of the council proposed to establish a dialogue with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
“The council condemns the war as a violation of God’s commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill!’ (Ex. 20:13) and expresses disagreement with the stance of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia regarding the war in Ukraine,” the council said.
The council adopted the appropriate additions and amendments to the Charter on the administration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, “testifying to the complete independence and independence of the UOC.”
“The council expresses deep regret over the lack of unity in Ukrainian Orthodoxy. The council perceives the existence of a schism as a deep painful wound in the church body. It is especially regrettable that the recent actions of the Patriarch of Constantinople in Ukraine, which resulted in the formation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, only deepened misunderstandings and led to physical confrontation. But even in such crisis circumstances, the Council does not lose hope for the resumption of dialogue,” the council said in the decision.
In order for the dialogue to take place, the representatives of the OCU need to…
I’ve long had a nagging sense that I don’t have a complete grasp what’s happening here, but they seem to be throwing around a lot of blame and making a lot of demands for people in their position.
The Federalist used the horrific Texas shooting to continue the conservative argument against public education.
[…] Over the last few months, we have not even had time to finish a cycle of mourning and remembrance before another shooting happens. Each is met with reality–defying talking points from Republicans. Rinse and repeat. More death.
And so to use this as a moment for shitposting would be obviously obscene when many are genuinely desperate for a solution.
Still, it happened.
Because this most recent shooting occurred, like Sandy Hook and Parkland and so many before it, in a school, some conservatives are adding a disgraceful, yet altogether unsurprising, wrinkle to the mix: It’s the schools themselves that are the problem.
Writing in The Federalist on Wednesday, staff writer Jordan Boyd argued that Tuesday’s tragedy made a “somber case for homeschooling.” More specifically, Boyd singles out “government schools” as the culprit. “The same institutions that punish students for ‘misgendering’ people and hide curriculum from parents are simply not equipped to safeguard your children from harm,” wrote Boyd.
Boyd continues, “You can’t protect your kids from everything. There’s no telling when a crazy gunman might open fire in a movie theater or a grocery store. You can, however, do your best to prevent them from being sitting ducks at frequently targeted locations such as schools by keeping them by your side.”
This is an unserious argument made in bad faith. The gunman at Sandy Hook was homeschooled. Initial reports of good guys with guns on the scene in Uvalde, do not fill one with confidence, either. Videos show police officers more concerned with restraining parents than with rushing in to stop the shooter. But, perhaps most importantly, Boyd is hiding the ball.
The article is using a horrific tragedy to shoehorn in another argument against public schools. These are the same people who have spent the last year leading an assault on public schools through the dueling moral panics of schoolteachers brainwashing children with critical race theory and sexually grooming them. The Federalist has often written about and boosted homeschooling as a bulwark against the idea of big government and has dutifully covered the critical race theory and grooming stories. The goal, with all of this, as the CRT-panic architect Christopher Rufo has repeatedly stated, is to rally parents behind a plan to “lay siege to the institutions,” with public education first on their proverbial hit list. Do they hate public education because it fails to protect children? Because it actually fills kid’s heads with bad ideas about race or gender or sexual identity? Or do they just hate public education because it’s public?
How to go about enacting, let alone passing, effective gun control in a country with a historically unprecedented number of firearms is, to be sure, a thorny and complex issue. Only in a monstrous society would children be so often sent to their death at the place they go to learn and socialize. Fixing the problem and its underlying issues deserves far more than a shoulder-shrug emoji in written form.
And so to offer a solution that is little more than part of a continuing war on public education? That makes a “somber case” for the nihilism of some on the right that allows them to use anything for their war on public schools—even mass shootings.
Student calls to 911:
12:03—whispered she’s in room 112
12:10—said multiple dead
12:13—called again
12:16—says 8-9 students alive
12:19—student calls from room 111
12:21—3 shots heard on call
12:36—another call
12:43—asks for police
12:47—asks for police
CNN had the full timeline earlier. It’s difficult even to see it on the screen.
The owners of Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the rifle apparently used in the massacre of 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., are deep-pocketed Republican donors, giving to candidates and committees at the federal and state level aligned against limits on access to assault rifles and other semiautomatic weapons.
[…] The spending by Marvin C. Daniel and his wife, Cindy D. Daniel, illustrates the financial clout of the gun industry, even as political spending by the flagship National Rifle Association has declined in recent years. And it shows how surging gun sales during the coronavirus pandemic have empowered manufacturers to expand their marketing and political advocacy […]
Daniel Defense manufactured about 52,000 firearms in 2020, compared to about 32,000 in 2019, according to data compiled by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
[…] “The industry is much better equipped to further its lobbying interests, independent of the NRA.”
The beneficiaries of the couple’s political contributions include at least one candidate who emerged victorious in Tuesday’s primary contests, Herschel Walker. The former football star is running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia with former president Donald Trump’s endorsement. Asked Tuesday night whether he would support new gun legislation, Walker said, “What I like to do is see it and everything and stuff.”
Recent recipients of spending by Daniel and his wife also include Republican Sens. Joni Ernst (Iowa), Tim Scott (S.C.) and John Neely Kennedy (La.), as well as Eric Schmitt, the attorney general of Missouri and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in that state.
[…] A statement posted on the company’s website says “it is our understanding that the firearm used in the attack was manufactured by Daniel Defense. We will cooperate with all federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities in their investigations.”
[…] Daniel and his wife have put $20,000 this cycle into the National Shooting Sports Foundation PAC, whose largest beneficiaries are Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Steve Scalise (R-La.), the No. 1 and No. 2 House Republicans.
[…] Daniel Defense had been scheduled to feature its wares at this weekend’s NRA meeting in Houston, where Trump, along with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Tex.), are expected to deliver remarks, though the governor’s office said Thursday his would be prerecorded. An online calendar of events lists appearances by celebrity shooters at Daniel Defense’s designated booth. But an exhibitor list no longer includes the company, and a floor plan shows Daniel Defense’s original location, booth 4839, now belonging to the NRA.
The rifle reportedly used in the shooting, the DDM4 V7, sells for about $2,000, according to Daniel Defense’s website. Promotional material on the company’s Facebook page includes a photo of the rifle leaning against a refrigerator and the caption, “Let’s normalize kitchen Daniels. What Daniel do you use to protect your family and home?” Another post describes the DDM4 V7 model as a “perfect do all rifle.”
[…] an image posted on the company’s Twitter account shows a child handling a rifle with the caption, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Shortly after the shooting, the company locked its Twitter account.
[…]
Political contributions by the gun manufacturer reinforce the identification of the gun lobby with the Republican Party and “keeps open the door of access,” said Robert J. Spitzer, a political scientist at SUNY Cortland and the author of “The Politics of Gun Control.”
[…] Increasingly, candidates make clear where they stand in the bluntest of ways, said Lytton, the Georgia State professor. He pointed to a campaign poster for Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.), one of the beneficiaries of recent donations from Daniel and his wife. The poster includes Clyde’s name, the office he’s seeking and a silhouette of a rifle. […]
“In north Georgia, the semiautomatic rifle has replaced the flag as the primary signifier of a particular congressional candidate’s political alignment,” Lytton said.
[…] The G.O.P. cannot afford to put much distance between itself and the gun lobby — and not simply because of the huge wads of cash that the N.R.A. has stuffed into the party’s coffers over the years. Increasingly, the party of Trump is about nothing more than ginning up fear and paranoia among its members, of peddling apocalyptic notions that civilization is on the brink of destruction and that armed conflict is just over the horizon. The gun lobby’s message and agenda jibe perfectly with this vision, indeed, nurture it. It is hard to think of a more suitable partner for Republicanism in its current sorry state.
For Mr. Trump, who never misses a chance to be fawned over, the show must always go on. The former president, in fact, suggested that his speech Friday would be vital to the healing process. “America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partisanship,” he asserted, without a speck of irony. “That’s why I will keep my longtime commitment” and “deliver an important address to America.”
Also in the category of Irony Is Dead: During that “important address,” organizers warned in advance, the Secret Service would be taking control of the hall and all guns, ammo, firearm accessories, knives, and other scary items — including laser pointers and selfie sticks — would be prohibited.
The organization is busy cultivating its next generation of Republican celebrities as well. Mr. Trump’s older sons, Don Jr. and Eric, were the scheduled stars at the N.R.A. Hunters’ Leadership Forum Dinner and Auction on Thursday night. Eric was tapped to keynote the event, and the group was bestowing its coveted leadership award on Don Jr., “who is out front and who has our backs.” The Trump boys are clearly considered important to the gun lobby’s future.
[…] Practically speaking, the N.R.A. desperately needs this weekend’s extravaganza to roll on largely as planned. The group has had a rough few years. After breaking the bank getting Mr. Trump elected in 2016, it has been plagued by infighting, scandal, legal troubles and the ongoing threat of financial ruin.
[…] To grasp the deep resonance of this American Carnage message in certain circles, it helps to understand what it’s like to grow up in the gun-culture bubble — in families and communities who believe that more firearms equal more safety. People outside this world often cannot fathom such an equation. With frustration bordering on fury, they point to studies and data suggesting that owning a gun is more likely to result in the death of a loved one — or oneself — than in the successful defense against an assailant or intruder.
But facts and figures can’t compete with the gut-level craving for a sense of control over one’s surroundings and fate. […]
Plenty of gun owners operate with [strong] delusion of being the exception to the rule […] They send friends and family members news stories about the rare instances in which an armed citizen took down an intruder or potential assailant. They tell themselves that, in a situation like Uvalde — or Buffalo or Parkland or Las Vegas or Pittsburgh or El Paso — they would be the one to beat the odds, to emerge not just unscathed but quite possibly a hero. [delusional for sure]
Plenty of Republican politicians, steeped in gun culture, may sympathize with or even wholeheartedly embrace this delusion. Others are gross opportunists looking to stoke people’s primal fears — and rake in big money from gun groups — in the service of their own ambitions. (It is hard to believe that the nakedly grasping Mr. Cruz, for instance, does anything for any reason other than his own political gain.) A smattering of both kinds of officials will be on display in Houston this weekend. It is hard to say which is more dangerous, and on some level it hardly matters. The tragic outcome, the continued failure to rationally address America’s deadly gun crisis, is the same.
Chris Hayes: “Something I am certain of is that the most wrongheaded, dystopian response to a tragedy like Uvalde is to call for ‘hardening schools.’”
Quoted in Lynna’s #86:
More specifically, Boyd singles out “government schools” as the culprit. “The same institutions that punish students for ‘misgendering’ people and hide curriculum from parents are simply not equipped to safeguard your children from harm,” wrote Boyd.
Unfortunately, it’s not included in the clip above, but just after that monologue Hayes interviews an expert who notes that crime in schools is very low and that schools are the safest space in many children’s lives. And this isn’t even to mention that the content of rightwing homeschooling curricula is inherently abusive, the relationships it forces kids into are primed for abuse (the Duggar kids – see #22 above – are all homeschooled), and this deprives children being abused or rejected at home of a place to find comfort or help.
[…] According to Raw Story, 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo told CNN she survived the shooting by smearing herself with her classmate’s blood and pretending to be dead. […]
Not just “warning signs,” but these were warnings in writing:
[…] According to the Buffalo News, officials are looking into whether a retired federal agent may have known about the gunman’s plans in advance, as the agent was one of six people who communicated with the suspect regularly. The agent, believed to be from Texas, was invited by the suspect into a chatroom in which the 18-year-old shared his plans around half an hour before he opened fire, killing 10 people and injuring three others.
Officials aren’t sure if the agent accepted the invitation, but they said they’ll be conducting interviews with the six people in regular communication with the suspect, who frequently posted in a white supremacist chat with other white supremacists. “These were like-minded people who used this chat group to talk about their shared interests in racial hatred, replacement theory, and hatred of anyone who is Jewish, a person of color, or not of European ancestry,” an official told the Buffalo News. “What is especially upsetting is that these six people received advanced notice of the Buffalo shooting, about 30 minutes before it happened.”
Ultimately, 15 people accepted the suspect’s invitation into a Discord chat room in which he laid out his plans and sent a link to his live stream of the attack—none of whom apparently notified law enforcement. In addition to seeking information from those who knew about the shooting ahead of time, officials are looking to identify someone known as “Sandman” who apparently offered advice to the gunman on his choice of weapons ahead of the attack. The suspect has been charged with first-degree murder and was indicted by a grand jury.
[…]
[Former Wacko House squatter hair furor] sued [New York state attorney general Letitia] James in federal court in upstate Albany, arguing the civil investigation into whether the Trump Organization misled banks and tax authorities about the valuations of its assets should be halted because he felt James, a Democrat, was using the case to further her political career.
James replied in a January court filing that Trump’s “allegations of political disagreement cannot insulate” him from the investigation.
US district judge Brenda Sannes dismissed the lawsuit on Friday, stating in a written decision there was “no evidence” that James’s investigation was undertaken in bad faith.
“No one in this country can pick and choose how the law applies to them, and Donald Trump is no exception,” James said in a statement. “We will continue this investigation undeterred.”
Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, said in a statement that he would appeal the decision, adding that James’ egregious conduct and harassing investigation met the definition of bad faith. […]
[… Hair furor] and his family’s armada of lawyers are facing a threat from within.
Her name is Alina Habba, and — almost out of nowhere — the relatively unknown New Jersey lawyer went from representing a college student ticked off at COVID-19 virtual learning to being one of the top attorneys defending the twice-impeached former president[Wacko House squatter] in some of the country’s most high-profile cases.
There’s just one problem for Habba: There’s hardly anyone in the Trump legal universe who can stand her.
Many of Habba’s fellow senior Trumpland attorneys […] have all privately vented that she has botched things or doesn’t know what she’s doing, according to Trumpworld legal sources intimately familiar with the topic. Some of them want her fired or sidelined.
Some of the Trump lawyers think her work is so bad — so self-interested, pointlessly aggressive, and sloppy — that they think Habba’s mere presence on the team increases the likelihood of Trump and his family facing court losses and legal peril.
[…]
For those wondering how [the 2010 graduate of Widener School of Law — ranked in the bottom 25 percent of law schools, according to US News and World Report —] has stuck around this long […] the answer lies with the TV-and-image-obsessed 45th president[former squatter].
In private, Trump has repeatedly commented on how much she “loves Trump” and has on many occasions gushed to close associates about her physical appearance — how she’s “a beauty” on TV and at his clubs, according to two sources who’ve talked to him about Habba in recent months.
[…]
Habba has also taken her role as Trump’s personal litigator and turned what would normally be staid courtroom arguments into showy antics that — to her deeply disdainful colleagues — seem like a constant audition for conservative television.
“If you want to be a lawyer you stick to the facts in the case. Stick to the law. If you want to be on some news show… then that’s probably where you should be,” one such lawyer told The Daily Beast.
Those theatrics were on full display last month in New York state court, when Habba argued against having Trump testify before New York Attorney General Letitia James by casting the entire investigation as a smear job and making snarky speeches parroting right-wing political talking points — including a non sequitur argument about Hillary Clinton. Habba was repeatedly reprimanded by a clerk for interrupting the judge and talking over him.
But it hasn’t just been her courtroom lawyering that’s drawn the ire of fellow Trump lawyers. Habba signed off on a court filing last month making assertions that were immediately countered by Trump’s own public statement the very next day.
While court papers said Trump denies knowledge about the way his brand value was used to inflate the value of business properties, Trump himself quickly turned around and publicly detailed exactly how he slapped a brand premium that inflated the value of some business properties in 2014. Attorneys at the James’ office seized on that and asked the judge to treat Trump’s statement as admissions, forcing Trump to testify for the office’s ongoing bank fraud and tax dodging investigation.
The US is expected to send long-range rocket systems to Ukraine that could be announced as early as next week, reports CNN.
Following military challenges in eastern Ukraine, US officials have confirmed that the US is prepared to send advanced, long-range missile systems to aid with fighting.
The rocket systems, Multiple Launch Rocket System or MLRS, have been a top request of Ukraine officials who say it is necessary to ward off Russia’s advancements.
The missile systems can fire a stream of rockets many miles further than current Ukraine weaponry, reports the Washington Post. The rocket system could be apart of a larger military package to Ukraine.
It takes a very weird bunch to stay loyal after the damning Sue Gray verdict on Partygate. They are that bunch
For followers of British politics, this week was probably best understood in terms of quantum physics. For the past six months, the prime minister and his cabinet explained that they couldn’t comment on the Partygate scandal because they were waiting for the Sue Gray report. Then, the very day that report was published, they explained it was in the past now and it was time to move on.
I know what you’re thinking: then WHEN?! When was the permitted moment to get some actual accountability?! Well, scientists estimate there were four picoseconds of liminal time on Wednesday when lawbreaking by lawmakers was an appropriate subject on which to challenge said lawmakers. It was hoped some challengers would be able to enter this witching moment without getting drawn into a black hole, and somehow extend the moment to try to work out what the hell the answers were.
A version of this device was used on an episode of Stargate once, so would probably only need minor adjustment for Westminster. But in fact, the window of opportunity — the window of “taking responsibility” — closed before it had even opened. Or to put it another way: if you’ve been sitting in your metaphorical cop car staking out Downing Street for six months, you now have jack shit to show for it bar severe doughnut-induced arterial hardening. And I should probably tell you that while you were waiting, like a coiled Krispy Kreme, the government junked its obesity strategy, so … thoughts and prayers. Oh, and while you were reading this, the prime minister changed the ministerial code so ministers accused of breaking it — eg him — don’t have to resign. Shitfinger strikes again! Seriously, everything he touches …
[… A] fascinating number [of nasty party alleged-MPs] still cling to Johnson. They’re not parasites, biologically speaking. They lack the drive of a flatworm, much less the root-for-me resourcefulness of the sort of alien you might expect to see protruding from a prime ministerial chest cavity. No, think of them more as a huge barnacle community living on the underside of a whale. […]
[…] The things Boris Johnson says to the [nasty party’s] 1922 Committee are far more revealing than the things he tells the silly old public, and on Wednesday he explained to backbenchers that Britain wouldn’t have won the second world war if Churchill hadn’t been pissed. This comparison simply makes me picture Churchill giving Johnson a hugely disdainful look up and down, and saying: “Well, sir, you are useless at your job. But I shall be sober in the morning.” You see, Johnson has made the classic mistake of comparing himself to people who are dazzlingly competent. […]
As an aside, Quote Investigator has traced forms of that riposte back to 1863, and pointed out it even used in the 1932 WC Fields movie It’s A Gift, Yes, I Am Drunk, But You Are Ugly. Tomorrow I Will Be Sober, And You Will Still Be Ugly: “QI believes that most of the retellings are fictional even the versions that purport to be non-fiction. If Churchill did deliver the famous rejoinder he was likely influenced by the long series of previous jokes involving members of the House of Commons.”
Back to the Grauniad’s snarking:
The Downing Street pandemic officials, in contrast, oversaw a catastrophically mismanaged response to Covid that resulted in thousands of people — probably tens of thousands — dying unnecessarily. The sole stellar bright spot — the vaccines taskforce — was worked on remotely by others. Quite why we’re expected to see the emotional-support booze suitcase as essential to this lot’s process has never been explained. […]
KGsays
Also in the category of Irony Is Dead: During that “important address,” organizers warned in advance, the Secret Service would be taking control of the hall and all guns, ammo, firearm accessories, knives, and other scary items — including laser pointers and selfie sticks — would be prohibited. – Lynna, OM@91 quoting NYT
The fools! They’ve forgotten dangerous pieces of fruit!
[…]
A country pub has received a framed apology from a fashion publishing giant after being threatened with legal action unless the landlords changed its name.
[…]
Condé Nast […] has since backed down, sending the pub a framed version of their apology.
Its parcel also included a handwritten note, which read: “From one Vogue to another — please accept our apologies.”
The pub’s landlord, Mark Graham, said he was taken aback by the response to news of the original letter after people from around the world, including Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and the US, got in touch to offer support.
[…]
“A few people have said, ‘I’ve never heard of your pub, but if I’m in Cornwall it is now on my bucket list to come and visit you’.”
Graham joked that the village had come up with a few ideas to “poke fun” at the publisher, which included starting a similarly titled parish magazine, and rearranging a version of Madonna’s hit song, Vogue, to be performed by “some of the village’s larger, hairier men in skimpy clothing” at this year’s ale festival.
He added: “To be honest I don’t think they {Vogue magazine} have done too badly out of this mistake either. We are all friends now.”
Condé Nast said its team, who “regularly monitor” the use of the name Vogue, were alerted through Companies House. They admitted that “further research” would have identified that a letter was inappropriate in this instance.
[…]
Back in March 2021 The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), an organisation focused on reducing strategic threats, created a simulation of a pathogen outbreak in the world. The virus they chose was monkeypox. In their simulation, a terrorist group released a modified version of it from a lab, which then spread across the globe.
The date they chose for the outbreak was June 5th this year — which some people have erroneously pounced on to argue that this means this is not a simulation but is happening now.
The spreading of false theories on social media forced the NTI to publish a statement.
The NTI said […] the “fact that several countries are currently experiencing an outbreak of monkeypox is purely a coincidence.”
The outcome of the simulation concluded that there is a gap in countries’ preparedness for a pandemic-like outbreak of monkeypox — and that more robust action was needed from the international community.
Pandemic threat simulations are fairly common practice. They are often conducted to test how prepared countries are to combat future viruses.
[…]
Large parts of the simulation were evidently fictional. For instance, monkeypox was described as being released from a lab after an attack. The NTI’s simulation also revolved around a fictitious country named Brinia […]
As images of Ukraine’s Azov fighters burning the Netherlands’ flag circulate, a deep dive and reverse image search gave different results — and the video isn’t even recent. Also, following the show’s success guessing other major world events, some social media users are claiming The Simpsons “predicted” the Monkeypox outbreak, but all isn’t as it seems. […]
The Azov–Netherlands’ flag video seems to be a previous Russian troll factory effort. (The flags of Netherlands🇳🇱 and Russia🇷🇺 have the same(-ish) colours, but in a different order (at least).)
A video claiming that voter fraud targeted far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has gained traction abroad. Users[Eejits] claim that Le Pen voter ballots were destroyed. In fact, unions were denouncing a €9 million loan that Marine Le Pen’s RN party (FN at the time)[teh le penazis] borrowed from a Russia-based bank. […]
Habba was repeatedly reprimanded by a clerk for interrupting the judge and talking over him.
OMG … and Trump hired her because she is pretty. Well, that seems to be just another way for Trump to shoot himself in the foot. This is good news for everyone but Trump:
Some of the Trump lawyers think her work is so bad — so self-interested, pointlessly aggressive, and sloppy — that they think Habba’s mere presence on the team increases the likelihood of Trump and his family facing court losses and legal peril.
[…] rearranging a version of Madonna’s hit song, Vogue, to be performed by “some of the village’s larger, hairier men in skimpy clothing” at this year’s ale festival.
Ah, good. That sounds like an excellent marketing campaign.
This was a painful press conference to watch: “Police admitted to a stunning string of failures — including driving right by the gunman — in responding to the Texas school shooting while children were being massacred inside, with the head of the state’s Department of Public Safety saying the time for making excuses about the botched response was over.”
After all the bad news, here is some news that is laugh-worthy:
With the conviction of Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, federal prosecutors still haven’t lost a Jan. 6 case that’s gone to trial: “A New Jersey man with alleged Nazi sympathies who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, tried and failed to convince a jury this week that he didn’t know the Capitol building is where Congress meets.”
blfsays
I was shocked by this. My general opinion / experience with younger French people is they are well-educated (their English, not their first language, seems like it is often better than mine, a native English-language speaker (albeit (regional-)idioms can be a problem)), and the people I’ve worked-with have excellent mathematical skills. France’s maths problem: Students lag behind other EU countries (video):
[…] France’s most recent education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, removed the often-unloved discipline from the common core teachings of French high schools in 2019. But with educators and economists ringing alarm bells about the importance of maths across multiple sectors, mathematics is expected to soon return to the classroom for all French high school students. […]
As I’ve mentioned previously, Blanquer was a disaster, and education (in general) was one of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s major campaign themes.
Multiple studies show that French students aren’t learning maths as well as they used to. Compared to other European nations, France came in last in a recent study on the maths level of 600,000 students. On top of that, many French students have decided not to take maths classes. At the baccalaureat level, the last year of high school, some 40 percent of French students did not take a single maths class.
[…]
blfsays
<rant> For some reason — probably coincidence, but more likely the mildly deranged penguin is up to something — I’ve had recently had “terrible” problems at restaurants. Some days ago I went to a highly-regarded place for dinner. I guessed it would be a busy night and I didn’t have a reservation, so I was semi-expecting to be turned away. To my delight, they had a few tables free, so I was seated, albeit (unsurprisingly) not at one of the best tables, but still entirely adequate. After that, things went wrong. An incorrect apéritif was delivered, the courses were exceptionally slow to arrive, and other such irritations. (The food and vin were great!) It was all a bit shocking, as I’m a “known person” there, and friends with the waiting staff. Oh well, there are off days…
Today, for lunch, I went to a reliable place with “average” food — this is France, so “average” is quite good — and indeed, the food was as expected: Good, but nothing special (by French standards). What was shockingly bad was the service: Extremely slow, without the excuse of being busy. Mindbogglingly slow. Again, I’m a “known person” there, and friends with some of the waiting staff. So I bit my tongue (figuratively), and didn’t complain, albeit at one point I did snap at a young lady. I gave up in disgust and left without either a café or dessert, which is very Very unusual for me, so much so it confused the staff. One of my friends did apologise and gave me a free digestif. What maybe irritated me the most — and the reason I snapped at the lady — is today is very hot, and there was no water. Fsmdamnit, the first thing you do on a hot day is bring water! (Or at least ask, and if “yes”, don’t delay.) Since a series of similar incidents some years ago, I got a clew and now always try to carry water; I almost broke out my own water as a signal of my irritation (which I have done previously). </rant>
Last week, Oklahoma lawmakers passed the country’s most restrictive abortion ban to date. The new law, part of House Bill 4327, bans abortion from the moment of fertilization, with few exceptions, and is enforceable by lawsuits from private citizens. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is expected to sign the bill by the end of the week, and it will immediately go into effect. The bill is the latest in a series of attacks on abortion rights by the state legislature. Days after the Supreme Court draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked on May 2, Stitt signed a bill into law modeled after Texas’ Senate Bill 8, banning abortion after six weeks.
Once the new bill is passed, it will become the strictest abortion ban to date, making Oklahoma the first state to successfully outlaw abortion and eliminate access while Roe v. Wade still stands. […]
According to 2017 data from Guttmacher, some 96% of Oklahoma counties had no clinics that provided abortions, and 53% of Oklahoma women lived in those counties. In 2017 there were only four abortion clinics in the state: two in Oklahoma City, and two in Tulsa. The same year, there were 4,780 abortions in Oklahoma. Oklahoma had recently experienced an increase in abortion patients after Texas’ SB 8 was passed in September 2021.
Gingrich-Gaylord said after SB 8 passed, Trust Women was booked three to four weeks in advance. Planned Parenthood providers in the state reported a 2,500% increase in patients from Texas in the first three months SB 8 was in effect. Once Stitt signs Oklahoma’s bill, patients will not be able to access care in the state.
[…] “We call upon all people who believe in personal autonomy, the right to choose abortions, and fundamental human rights to stand together in this unprecedented moment and support providers, clinics, and their communities,” Gingrich-Gaylord said. “I think [legislators] are reading the signals that they’re getting from the court. It is just gratuitous. It’s just really punching down on the people of Oklahoma.”
The bill’s passing while Roe still stands is unprecedented, and many advocates say it’s a result of a hostile federal court system that allowed SB 8 and Oklahoma’s six-week ban to continue despite Planned Parenthood’s legal attempt to block the legislation. Advocates say the high courts’ refusal to intervene has allowed these bans to go unchecked.
“The Supreme Court has had a few opportunities to intervene in the Texas case and failed to do so,” said Emily Wales, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. “It makes it really hard for us to challenge Oklahoma’s total ban.”
Wales said Planned Parenthood clinics will also stay open since they also provide contraception, STI testing and treatment, and cancer screenings. Their clinics were able to see up close what this crisis looked like and how desperate patients from Texas were.
[…] Advocates say the bill has not gone into effect yet and that abortion remains legal until the governor signs the bill. Once that happens, they advise pregnant people seeking abortion care to reach out to their local clinics or abortion funds, such as the Roe Fund, for more information on traveling out of state to Colorado, New Mexico, or Kansas for financial support.
The latest disclosures show how Trump abandoned his Oath of Office.
[video at the link]
Justice Matters — 05-26-2022
The New York Times reported that, during the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, as the angry mob was chanting “hang Mike Pence”, Donald Trump was “complaining that the vice president was being whisked to safety.” Trump then said, “maybe Mike Pence should be hanged.”
These almost unfathomable developments make a clear and compelling argument that Donald Trump committed the crime of treason, as set out in the United States Criminal Code: 18 USC section 2381.
This video discusses the crime of treason in light of these recent revelations.
[…] Attacking the Capitol to halt an Election — is an act of war against Democracy.
Cheering on the attackers is “giving them aid and comfort” — Tweeting them on, too.
Failing to intervene to protect the Capitol and halt those attacks — are the acts of a Traitor.
President Donald Trump attacked Vice President Mike Pence in a tweet on Wednesday as his supporters engaged in violence in Washington, DC, and stormed the US Capitol. […]
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!” Trump said. http://www.businessinsider.com — Jan 6, 2021
[…]
tomhsays
Re: # 112
Stitt signed the abortion bill Wednesday, 5/25.
Yesterday I wondered why Ukraine was so hell-bent on defending Severodonetsk, isolated on a deep salient surrounded on three sides and no natural barriers, when those forces could simply cross the river and hold out in a much more defensible Lysychansk. Retired Australian general Mick Ryan pondered the same today, noting that “the tactical and political necessity to hold out in Severodonetsk is questionable.”
The Ukrainian forces that might be lost in this Russian envelopment are too valuable to lose in such an action. As such, the Ukrainian high command will need to make a tough decision soon about ceding Severodonetsk and surrounding territory.
Not only would this preserve important Ukrainian Army brigades, but it might also shorten the ‘frontage’ or the length of the defensive front, that the Ukrainians need to defend in this part of the Donbas. It also lengthens Russian supply lines.
The past week offers an important lesson on war. There are times in war when the enemy succeeds, despite the best efforts of those who oppose them. Most times, this is unpredictable, regardless of previous results. Thus are the shifting tides of war. […]
[…] The Russians have used their main advantage – massed firepower through gun & rocket artillery – to slowly roll south and east behind devastating barrages. This is not very different to how the allies eventually made their operational breakthroughs on the western front in WW1.
Russia’s recent successes on the eastern Donbas front are, in large part, attributed to their short supply lines. Russia runs into problems when those lines are stretched. That wall of artillery they’ve rained on Ukrainian defensive positions? That gets a lot tougher when you have to truck ammunition to those thirsty artillery batteries kilometers from the railheads that feed the Russian army. Same with fuel.
Losing Popasna to the Russians wasn’t great, obviously, but their push from that new salient has already slowed to a crawl. And while Russia is gaining about a kilometer a day from the Popasna direction (not an exaggeration), a tactical local Ukrainian counterattack recaptured some ground—the town of Komyshuvakha directly north of Popasna: [map at the link]
This doesn’t mean Russia isn’t advancing, it doesn’t mean they might not retake Komyshuvakha tomorrow, it just means that advancing is hard, the fighting is fierce, and Russia still struggles to extend from its main supply depots. That’s why Ukraine’s insistence on defending Severodonetsk is so perplexing, regardless of how well they think they can defend it. As I keep pointing out, even if Russia takes the city and its neighbor Lysychansk, Ukraine has the twin stronghold cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the way of any further Russian advances, both far more defensible by Ukrainian artillery. [map at the link]
Russia’s strategy is to take the entire Donbas region, Ukraine’s is to bide time for western weapons (like MLRS/HIMARS) to arrive and its reserves to spin up. Like that new Ukrainian tank brigade recently activated near Kryvyi Rih, cobbled together from reservists, Polish tanks, and Dutch armored personnel carriers.
Ukraine just declared the brigade fully activated this week, and we’ve been wondering where it might show up. We know Ukraine has been reinforcing the Donbas front, so the was a logical destination. But this bit of surprising news suggests that they might have their sights set on Kherson in the south. [tweet and map at the link]
Igor Girkin was in charge of Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas during the 2014 war, and is a rabid Russian nationalist […] He remains well connected to Russian and separatist military sources. And what he’s saying in that tweet is that there was a tank breakthrough near the village of Davydiv Brid. (Ukrainian presidential advisor Aleksey Arestovych separately confirmed a counter-offensive in the area.) If Girkin is right, we’re talking here, where the red marker is: [map at the link]
This town is directly in the center of the most direct supply lines from Nova Kahkovka further south to Russian troops that have been reaching toward Kryvyi Rih (though observing them over time, they seem more interested in merely reaching the administrative borders of Kherson Oblast, which Russia is trying to annex).
Russian telegram accounts claim 10-15 Ukrainian tanks made a river crossing into Davydiv Brid, then pushed south down that highway to the village of Bruskynske, where fighting is ongoing.
If those accounts are accurate, it’s not a particularly large attack—about the size of a Russian BTG […] Ukraine’s brand new tank brigade has 100 tanks, plus another 70 or so armored personnel carriers, so there’s a lot more combat power somewhere. This might be a small blocking action, designed to merely cut off supply lines to Russian forces to the north. But, if we can dream, Nova Kahkovka would be an even juicer target than Kherson itself.
Nova Kahkovka is the source of water for all of Crimea, posing a major problem for Russia if it were cut off again (like it was pre-war). Just threatening the town should require Russia reinforce it, “fixing” Russian troops desperately needed for Kherson’s defense and the offensives out east. Ukraine’s control of Crimea’s water supply would be a massive bargaining chip in any future negotiations. And depending on whether bridges survived any action, Ukraine would have a western approach to Melitopol—the logistical hub for supplies coming from Crimea to Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine. It would be bye-bye “land bridge,” connecting Crimea to mainland Russia. [map at the link]
This effort is analogous to Ukrainian counter-offensives around Kharkiv in the north, which have put pressure on Russia’s supply lines to the Izyum salient. As a result, Russia has been forced to peel away forces from Izyum to reinforce their logistical hubs and arrest further Ukrainian gains toward the Russian border.
By all indications, the southern axis is Russia’s least-resourced. If Ukraine gets traction, Russia will need to divert critically needed units from the Donbas fight, and that, by itself, would be a major win.
tom @114, thanks for that update. I should have included that.
In Ukrainian news: “Look at this creepy-ass shit:”
On May 18, the heading “Denazification” appeared on the Telegram channel of one of the pro-Russian bloggers. He uploads videos every day, in which frightened and exhausted residents of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions repent of disloyalty to the Russians.
Almost every one of them confusingly pronounces a memorized speech, sometimes just reading from a piece of paper, but at the end people always say the phrase “I went through the full course of denazification.” […]
Wonkette: “How Are Women To Blame For The Mass Murders They Don’t Commit?”
Within the past month, we have had two major mass shootings committed by angry young men — one, a white supremacist radicalized by 4chan and angered by the same things that Tucker Carlson gets outraged over every night on FOX and another with a history of being aggressive and inappropriate with girls he knew. So who is to blame for all this, really? Women. Feminists in particular. [tongue in cheek … Wonkette writers do not believe this]
While at least this time they’re not claiming, Jordan Peterson-style, that these shootings could have been prevented by “enforcing” monogamy in order to make it easier for violent psychopaths to score a girlfriend, there’s no shortage of Twitter threads about how these tragedies happen because women don’t know their place anymore, because feminists murdered masculinity and won’t let any boys be “courageous” anymore, or because single mothers … exist.
Yes, that is correct, the same people who want to take our reproductive rights away are also pretty sure that single mothers are to blame for all of society’s problems, mass shooters in particular. [Tweets at the link]
This week, no one has gone harder on the “women are definitely to blame for all of this” jag than former ESPN person turned rightwing pundit Jason Whitlock (who, to be fair, also blames people who thought it was bad that the police murdered George Floyd).
In an appearance on Jesse Watters’s Fox show Thursday night, Whitlock explained how the reason these men are going on murder sprees is because we are all attacking masculinity and traditional male values at the behest of “pansies” in Northern California who run social media sites. That isn’t really a thing, but let’s hear him out.
Transcript via Media Matters:
JESSE WATTERS (HOST): What do you think is the main factor in our culture that’s triggering this kind of rise in mass shootings, especially at schools?
JASON WHITLOCK (BLAZETV HOST): Cowardice. Fear and cowardice. Our culture is controlled by fear and cowardice. Masculinity, traditional male values, are under attack. There’s — it’s not any mystery why young boys are confused, angry, confused about their identity, angry at the world. Their natural instincts have been under attack probably the last 50, 60 years and most acutely in the last 15 to 20 years since we turned over our culture to the pansies in northern California and their social media apps.
They’re imposing their view of the world, their standard for manhood on the rest of us. And we men have been cowards and have taken it. And so I look at that — your opening segment, and people are wondering why the police didn’t do anything, didn’t run in. They exist in a culture totally controlled by fear and cowardice.
We haven’t created a culture that supports men doing what comes natural to them — protecting women and children. That’s what comes natural to us when we’re allowed to be men. But this new culture we’ve built is set up to totally annihilate, eliminate our natural instincts and make us think, oh, the people in northern California know better than God about what a man is and what a man should do. Men, boys, under attack. They’re acting out angrily and we are too cowardly to do anything about it.
You know what seems super cowardly to me? Needing women to pretend to need your protection in order to feel like a man.
We had four years of what people like Jesse Watters and Jason Whitlock would consider a shining example of masculinity and traditional manhood in the White House. There are manly men like them constantly whining about how no one will let men be manly and courageous, […] talking about how frightened they are by LGBTQ people or how excited they will be when birth control and abortions are outlawed so they will never again be subjected to recreational non-procreative sex with a heterosexual woman, and watching Tucker Carlson documentaries about manhood featuring ripped men taking bubble baths outside. What more could any of these young men need?
[…] Perhaps they need to watch more videos of Jason Whitlock complaining about how very threatened he is by women in power? You know, if they really want to be macho enough to not shoot up a school and/or grocery store. [tweet and video at the link]
Whitlock also blamed this supposed “cowardice” culture for the fact that police didn’t go into the school to rescue the children, tweeting, “We’ve promoted cowardice and demonized masculinity and we’re shocked when we see cowardice.”
As mentioned, he also believes that the police officers would have rushed into the school to rescue the children had people given them a pass on killing George Floyd, tweeting, “I’m not defending the actions of the officers. But we’ve demonized law enforcement to the point that there are far fewer rewards for being a hero, for taking risks. When your culture makes George Floyd the hero, real heroes stand down. Cultural rot has consequences.”
I’m not really sure how courageous it is to need accolades and rewards and for other people to behave a certain way in order for one to not be a “coward.” It kind of seems like the opposite of that to me, but perhaps that is because I am a woman and therefore stupid and evil.
Whitlock was not the only one on this jag. Joining him, unsurprisingly, was Matt Walsh, who tweeted, “Can’t tell you how depressing it is that cops in Texas of all places were cowering outside while a maniac executed 19 children. We are witnessing the death of courage and masculinity in this culture.”
It should be noted that literally no one is stopping anyone from doing masculinity, whatever it is they think that means. I honestly cannot say I care what they do, so long as they don’t get in my face or expect anyone to be forced to go along with them. They can dress like the Brawny man, play sports, […] and no one will give a shit — as long as they don’t demand the rest of us go along with them.
Whitlock’s fellow BlazeTV commentator Allie Beth Stuckey also tweeted about how failing to promote “fatherhood, hard work and honor” and denying “innate gender differences” is what is leading these men to go on murder sprees. [tweets at the link]
Just to be clear — while mass shootings are a more recent phenomenon, male violence is definitely not. Serial killers, also known to have some issues with women, have been in steep, steep decline in the US for three decades now. Discover magazine reports that “189 people in the U.S. died by the hands of a serial killer in 1987, compared to 30 in 2015.” Violent crime has also sharply declined since the early 1990s. The only thing that has really increased has been these mass shootings, which for the most part have been committed by misogynists or racists.
Clearly, most of these shooters are listening to people like Jason Whitlock and Matt Walsh a hell of a lot more than they are listening to people like me or to “pansies in North California,” so perhaps they are the ones who need to be working on teaching them the gentlemanly art of not murdering a bunch of children at school or Black people at a grocery store.
For one hour each week, imprisoned Russian dissident Alexey Navalny is allowed to send and receive messages with the outside world.
Navalny’s hand-written missives are transmitted through his lawyer to his staff in exile in Vilnius, Lithuania, who work to share his calls for action against Russia’s war in Ukraine, expose Kremlin corruption and push back on disinformation and propaganda.
“He’s still very much involved in the functioning of our organization despite being in prison,”Vladimir Ashurkov, executive director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said in an interview with The Hill.
Navalny’s messages, written in a distinct voice – described as defiant, sarcastic, witty and still upbeat – are published to tens of millions of followers across social media.
A thorn deep in Vladimir Putin’s side, Navalny authored the Russian president’s profile in Time Magazine’s recent list of the 100 most influential people, calling him an “an evil madman with an army, nuclear weapons, and membership in the U.N. Security Council” who the world must stop.
Ashurkov describes communication with Navalny as a “trickle… but still effective.”
“He’s in good spirits and he is raising his voice against the war, even from the harsh conditions of Russian prison.”
Ashurkov spoke to The Hill in Washington, where he was meeting with members of Congress to raise the issue of efforts to break through Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine.
Navany and his team have one of the most popular Russian-language YouTube channels, which has racked up hundreds of millions of views on investigative videos exposing Putin’s lavish lifestyle and his inner circles’ hidden wealth.
Ashurkov says they have struggled to reach a broader audience with factual information about the war in Ukraine since tech giants were forced to shut down much of their operations in Russia.
Google, which owns YouTube, and Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, have had to scale back or end advertisement sales on their platforms there, limiting the reach Navalny’s video’s and posts. Google’s Russian subsidiary filed for bankruptcy last week after its bank account was seized by Russian authorities.
Navalny has issued a call for more resources to break through the propaganda blackout, with a post on his Twitter account last month calling it the “informational front” in the battle against Putin.
“Truth and free information hit Putin’s insane regime just as hard as Javelins,” read the tweet. “One shot from [a] Javelin costs $230,000. For the same money we would get 200 million ad views in different formats and provide at least 300,000 link clicks or at least 8 million views on a video with the truth about what is happening in Ukraine.”
The Anti-Corruption Foundation is also lobbying the Biden administration to sanction 6,000 Russians that the group has identified across the government, and individuals in business and culture that they say contribute to the propaganda supporting the Kremlin’s war.
[…] Ashurkov said their list focuses on the “next level of officials,” with an average age of 45, that they say still have a choice in abandoning Putin’s war.
[…] State Department spokesperson Ned Price told The Hill that they “will take a very close look” at the Anti-Corruption Foundation’s sanction request list.
[…] “A lot of us thought or worried that once Navalny was put away into a gulag that he would be forgotten, and that was the idea,” said Izabella Tabarovsky, senior program associate at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute.
“But he continues to speak to people, clearly his spirit hasn’t been broken, and his influence, I think, continues to remain strong,” Tabarovsky said.[snipped details of Navalny’s history]
Ashurkov called Navalny’s story “epic” and “miraculous.” “It’s gained [a] biblical scale over the last two years,” he said.
Navalny is currently serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for parole violation for leaving the country – despite the fact he was unconscious when he was first flown out of Russia. [How very Orwellian.]
He was convicted in March on further charges of fraud and contempt of court and sentenced to nine years. […]
“The denial of Navalny’s appeal is another example of the Kremlin’s quest to suppress dissent and civil society,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. […] European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borell denounced the Russian court’s decision deplorable and the charges politically motivated and called for Navalny’s “immediate and unconditional release.” “His transfer to a strict regime colony is another step to silence a critical voice,” Borell tweeted.
In his final appeal to the court, Navalny called the conviction and sentence against him “pointless.”
“You might intimidate someone in the short term… but in general, what you are doing, what your people are doing, is just historical nonsense,” he told the court. “And you will surely all suffer a historic defeat. Just like you will suffer a historic defeat in this stupid war that you started, that your Putin started, because it has no purpose and no meaning.”
[…] “One of Navalny’s messages has always been, ‘do not be afraid’ — this is why they’re doing such daring things,” Tabarovsky said. “He’s at Putin’s mercy, yet here he is sending an article to Time magazine about Putin – to me that’s a very powerful message, he’s saying ‘I’m not afraid and you shouldn’t be afraid either.’ I think that’s very, very powerful and very important.”
Young people who met the alleged gunman online said he had threatened to kidnap, rape or kill. But they said their reports were ignored.
He could be cryptic, demeaning and scary, sending angry messages and photos of guns. If they didn’t respond how he wanted, he sometimes threatened to rape or kidnap them — then laughed it off as some big joke.
But the girls and young women who talked with Salvador Ramos online in the months before he allegedly killed 19 children in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, rarely reported him. His threats seemed too vague, several said in interviews with The Washington Post. One teen who reported Ramos on the social app Yubo said nothing happened as a result.
Some also suspected this was just how teen boys talked on the Internet these days — a blend of rage and misogyny so predictable they could barely tell each one apart. One girl, discussing moments when he had been creepy and threatening, said that was just “how online is.” [aaarrrrggghhh]
[…] many have asked what more could have been done — how an 18-year-old who spewed so much hate to so many on the Web could do so without provoking punishment or raising alarm.
But these threats hadn’t been discovered by parents, friends or teachers. They’d been seen by strangers, many of whom had never met him and had found him only through the social messaging and video apps that form the bedrock of modern teen life
.
The Washington Post reviewed videos, posts and text messages sent by Ramos and spoke with four young people who’d talked with him online, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of further harassment.
The girls who spoke with The Post lived around the world but met Ramos on Yubo, an app that mixes live-streaming and social networking and has become known as a “Tinder for teens.” The Yubo app has been downloaded more than 18 million times in the U.S., including more than 200,000 times last month, according to estimates from the analytics firm Sensor Tower.
On Yubo, people can gather in big real-time chatrooms, known as panels, to talk, type messages and share videos — the digital equivalent of a real-world hangout. Ramos, they said, struck up side conversations with them and followed them onto other platforms, including Instagram, where he could send direct messages whenever he wanted.
But over time they saw a darker side, as he posted images of dead cats, texted them strange messages and joked about sexual assault, they said. In a video from a live Yubo chatroom that listeners had recorded and was reviewed by The Post, Ramos could be heard saying, “Everyone in this world deserves to get raped.”
A 16-year-old boy in Austin who said he saw Ramos frequently in Yubo panels, told The Post that Ramos frequently made aggressive, sexual comments to young women on the app and sent him a death threat during one panel in January.
“I witnessed him harass girls and threaten them with sexual assault, like rape and kidnapping,” said the teen. “It was not like a single occurrence. It was frequent.”
He and his friends reported Ramos’s account to Yubo for bullying and other infractions dozens of times. He never heard back, he said, and the account remained active.
Yubo spokeswoman Amy Williams would not say whether the company received reports of abuse related to Ramos’s account. “As there is an ongoing and active investigation and because this information concerns a specific individual’s data, we are not legally able to share these details publicly at this time,” she said in an email. Williams would not say what law prevents the company from commenting.
[…] when strangers do suspect something is wrong, they may feel they have limited ways to respond beyond filing a user report into a corporate abyss.
[…] Danielle K. Citron, a law professor at University of Virginia, said women and girls often don’t report threats of rape to law enforcement or trusted adults because they have been socialized to feel they do not deserve safety and privacy online. Sometimes, they don’t think anyone would help them.
Women and girls have “internalized the view, ‘What else do we expect?’” said Citron, […] “Our safety and intimate privacy is something that society doesn’t value.”
Ramos’ hatred toward women and obsession with violence were clear in the messages viewed and interviews conducted by The Post, but his identity was mostly hidden. The teens who spoke with The Post said they saw him on live videos he did on Yubo, then they exchanged Instagram user names to message with him.
[…] Whitney Phillips, a researcher joining the faculty of the University of Oregon this fall, said social networks could do more to push back on violent harassment toward women, but that the threats on their site are a reflection of a larger “boys will be boys” cultural attitude that normalizes men’s bad behavior online and offline.
“When someone says something violent to you or makes some sort of death threat to you, for many women that happens so often that it wouldn’t even register with them,” Phillips said.
For the third year, Americans are greeting the unofficial start of summer shadowed by the specter of the coronavirus amid rising covid-19 cases and hospitalizations across the country.
The United States is recording more than 100,000 infections a day — at least five times higher than this point last year — as it confronts the most transmissible versions of the virus yet. Immunity built up as a result of the record winter outbreak appears to provide little protection against the latest variants, new research shows. And public health authorities are bracing for Memorial Day gatherings to fuel another bump in cases, potentially seeding a summer surge.
[…] Back then [a year ago], coronavirus seemed to teeter on the brink of defeat as cases plummeted to their lowest levels since spring 2020 and vaccines became widely available for adults. Even the vaccinated and boosted now grudgingly accept the virus as a formidable foe that’s here to stay as governments abandon measures to contain it.
As the virus morphs and the scientific understanding of how it operates shifts with each variant, Americans are drawing their own lines for what they feel comfortable doing. [Or they are ignoring it entirely—and that is the approach most of the people in my state are taking.]
“This time last year, I was so hopeful,” said Margaret Thornton, a 35-year-old Philadelphia researcher preparing to spend her summer socializing mostly outdoors because of her weakened immune system. “Now, I don’t know when it’s going to be over, and I don’t think there is necessarily a light at the end of the tunnel. Or rather, if there is a light, is it an opening to get out? Or is it a train?”
[…] More than half of the U.S. population is living in areas classified as having medium or high covid-19 levels by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The latest cases have yet to overrun hospitals, but that could change as the virus spreads among more vulnerable people. The dominant strains circulating in the United States are the most contagious thus far.
“This one is really revved up, and it’s probably getting up there with something as transmissible as measles,” said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College, describing the BA.2.12.1 subvariant now accounting for more than half of new cases. “Over the Memorial Day holidays, if you are in settings where you are indoors with large numbers of people without masks … there is a good likelihood you will suffer a breakthrough infection.”
[…] Experts say the recently infected who also received booster shots can count on at least several months of immunity, while the unvaccinated should expect little protection.
“You should not think, ‘Oh, I had omicron, I don’t need any shots’ or ’I don’t need any more shots,’” said Melanie Ott, director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology […] “We are going into a surge of the omicron subvariants that are more and more able to infect people who have preexisting immunity.”
Experts say vaccines are still showing durability in protecting people against severe illness. But the initial burst of antibodies from shots or infections fades after several months, said Celine Gounder, an infectious-diseases specialist and senior fellow at Kaiser Health News. That means the virus can develop into an infection before the body’s immune system kicks in.
[…] Patti Kane-Wood, 78, entered the expo wearing a blue surgical mask but felt uncomfortable by how attendees “were squeezed in there like sardines” and didn’t stay long. She has heard about more people getting covid in the last month than in the last two years. While she feels well-protected from getting her second booster dose, she worries about long-term complications after watching friends develop persistent breathing problems following their illnesses. A recent study found vaccines may offer little protection against most long-covid symptoms.
“If I catch covid, even the slightest case of covid, it’s possible I have long covid and have issues for the rest of my life,” Kane-Wood said. “I’m very afraid because people are very relaxed now and understandably so, but it’s not a time to let our guard down.” […]
The language and imagery of the anti-abortion movement are ubiquitous in American life.
From legislation called “fetal heartbeat” bills to a constitutional amendment named “Value Them Both” to references to “abortionists” and “fetal pain” in the leaked draft Supreme Court majority opinion — they have permeated American political life.
But the messaging hasn’t been restricted to the community of policymakers and activists who debate these issues.
“Every single American has come into contact with anti-abortion messaging and fetal imagery at some point in their lives,” Jennifer Holland, assistant professor of U.S. history at the University of Oklahoma, told TPM.
That message discipline, often bolstered by pseudoscientific half-truths or unvarnished lies, is a hallmark of a movement on the precipice of its greatest success yet: bringing about the end of a constitutional right to abortion.</b.
In its earliest days, anti-abortion leaders were trying to figure out how to situate themselves in the national dialogue, how to present their mission in a sympathetic and compelling way to a populace that was, at the time, wary about the group imposing its religious views on other people.
[…] they struck gold in the early 70s, when they turned to the civil rights movement for inspiration.
“The anti-abortion movement was being born in a moment when the civil rights movement was being reimagined and placed within the tradition of American progress and rights expansion,” Holland said.
Anti-abortion activists could paint themselves as abolitionists, crusaders for a new kind of human right. It also made the movement attractive to young conservatives, who were eager to join what could be cast as a social justice movement.
Around the same time, the Holocaust was beginning to enter American consciousness in a new way. It was starting to be taught in schools, and became, as Peter Novick, author of “The Holocaust in American Life,” put it: “a shocking, massive, and distinctive thing.”
The anti-abortion movement saw in it another useful narrative.
“They immediately picked up on this and really relied heavily on the idea that America has turned away from its commitment to rights, and is also on a slippery slope towards Hitler’s Germany,” Holland said. “They said that when you devalue certain life, it opens up devaluing all life, like the killing of the elderly or anyone you see as lesser.” [OMG]
The comparison of abortion to the Holocaust and lynchings of Black people became a mainstay of the movement in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and still hasn’t completely died out: a 2009 article from the Ohio State student newspaper describes the “Genocide Awareness Project” placing on campus gory images of fetuses next to posters of a racial lynching, Holocaust victims and the September 11 attacks. In 2011, anti-abortion protesters at Princeton handed out literature depicting nooses, asserting that “in the new Klan, lynching is for amateurs.”
While they liken abortion to these historical atrocities, they also argued that abortion is worse since it has “killed” more people, and inherently precious ones.
“Unborn babies are innocent in a way that no one else can be,” Holland said.
As this language built over time and became subsumed into the movement, it helped lead to the rash of extreme violence at abortion clinics in the mid-1980s and 1990s. Termed the “rescue movement,” activists would physically blockade access to clinics, keeping patients and providers from entering the facilities. A successful day, the activists reasoned, was one where no abortions occurred.
That escalated into murders of abortion providers, clinic workers and security guards alongside shootings, bombings, kidnapping and arson.
During Justice-In-Waiting Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings, Democratic senators recalled that time in response to criticisms that Jackson had pejoratively described the anti-abortion protesters who scream at women on their way inside for the procedure.
“This was an atmosphere of guns, terror, screaming, murder — it was a grim time,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said.
The violence prompted passage of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) Act, signed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1994 — one of the very few pieces of abortion legislation passed on the federal level.
But it didn’t demolish the movement. Many anti-abortion activists feel just as ardently now as they did then that abortion is murder, and have amassed legislative and legal wins based on and infused with that “pro-life” conviction.
Bolstered By The Pseudoscientific
Along with painting itself as a critical civil rights movement, the anti-abortion movement from the beginning latched on to pseudoscientific claims to shroud itself in the terminology of biology and medicine rather than religion.
That effort involved a stable of anti-abortion physicians who would substantiate the movement’s claims, even when they were outside of the medical mainstream. It also presented a difficulty for the abortion rights movement that persists today: It’s much easier to fit “life begins at conception” on a bumper sticker than its medically valid rebuttal.
[…] “They want to be scientific, but again and again are discredited,” Carole Joffe, a sociology professor at the University of California, Davis’ center for global reproductive health, told TPM. [They] perpetuate the falsehood that abortion increases a woman’s chances of getting breast cancer.
There’s also been an effort in the movement to bolster claims that abortion presents a widespread and lasting harm to women’s mental health — something that the major medical associations have repeatedly debunked.
In some states, local laws mandate that providers regurgitate these lies, plucked straight from the anti-abortion movement, to pregnant patients.
“I was interviewing a clinic director from Texas who was telling us about what it’s like to tell patients lies,” Joffe recalled. “‘I was telling her that you may get breast cancer and may never conceive child if you get an abortion,’ the director said. The patient broke down crying, saying, ‘if it’s not true why are you telling me this?’”
[…] The NRA’s more than 150-year history spans three distinct eras.
At first the group was mainly concerned with marksmanship. It later played a relatively constructive role regarding safety-minded gun ownership restrictions before turning into a rigid politicized force.
The NRA was formed in 1871 by two Civil War veterans from Northern states who had witnessed the typical soldier’s inability to handle guns.
The organization initially leaned on government support, which included subsidies for shooting matches and surplus weaponry. These freebies, which lasted until the 1970s, gave gun enthusiasts a powerful incentive to join the NRA.
The NRA played a role in fledgling political efforts to formulate state and national gun policy in the 1920s and 1930s after Prohibition-era liquor trafficking stoked gang warfare. It backed measures like requiring a permit to carry a gun and even a gun purchase waiting period.
And the NRA helped shape the National Firearms Act of 1934, with two of its leaders testifying before Congress at length regarding this landmark legislation. They supported, if grudgingly, its main provisions, such as restricting gangster weapons, which included a national registry for machine guns and sawed-off shotguns and taxing them heavily. But they opposed handgun registration, which was stripped out of the nation’s first significant national gun law.
Decades later, in the legislative battle held in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and amid rising concerns about crime, the NRA opposed another national registry provision that would have applied to all firearms. Congress ultimately stripped it from the Gun Control Act of 1968.
Throughout this period, however, the NRA remained primarily focused on marksmanship, hunting and other recreational activities, although it did continue to voice opposition to new gun laws, especially to its membership.
A sharp right turn
By the mid-1970s, a dissident group within the NRA believed that the organization was losing the national debate over guns by being too defensive and not political enough. The dispute erupted at the NRA’s 1977 annual convention, where the dissidents deposed the old guard.
From this point forward, the NRA became ever more political and strident in its defense of so-called “gun rights,” which it increasingly defined as nearly absolute under the Second Amendment.
One sign of how much the NRA had changed: The Second Amendment right to bear arms never came up in the 166 pages of congressional testimony regarding the 1934 gun law. Today, the organization treats those words as its mantra, constantly citing them.
And until the mid-1970s, the NRA supported waiting periods for handgun purchases. Since then, however, it has opposed them. It fought vehemently against the ultimately successful enactment of a five-business-day waiting period and background checks for handgun purchases in 1993.
The NRA’s influence hit a zenith during George W. Bush’s gun-friendly presidency, which embraced the group’s positions. Among other things, his administration let the ban on assault weapons expire, and it supported the NRA’s top legislative priority: enactment in 2005 of special liability protections for the gun industry, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.
Having a White House ally isn’t everything
Despite past successes, the NRA has suffered from a series of mostly self-inflicted blows that have precipitated an existential crisis for the organization.
Most significantly, an investigation by the New York Attorney General, filed in 2020, has revealed extensive allegations of rampant cronyism, corruption, sweetheart deals and fraud. Partly as a result of these revelations, NRA membership has apparently declined to roughly 4.5 million, down from a high of about 5 million.
Despite this trend, however, the grassroots gun community is no less committed to its agenda of opposition to new gun laws. Indeed, the Pew Research Center’s findings in 2017 suggested that about 14 million people identify with the group. By any measure, that’s a small minority out of nearly 260 million U.S. voters.
But support for gun rights has become a litmus test for Republican conservativism and is baked into a major political party’s agenda. This laserlike focus on gun issues continues to enhance the NRA’s influence even when the organization faces turmoil. This means that the protection and advancement of gun rights are propelled by the broader conservative movement, so that the NRA no longer needs to carry the ball by itself.
Like Bush, Trump maintained a cozy relationship with the NRA. It was among his 2016 presidential bid’s most enthusiastic backers, contributing US$31 million to his presidential campaign.
[…] Only one sliver of light emerged between the Trump administration and the NRA: his apparent willingness to consider raising the minimum age to buy assault weapons from 18 to 21 – which has not happened. In 2022, a year after Trump left office, 18-year-olds, including the gunmen allegedly responsible for the mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo, were able to legally purchase firearms.
In politics, victory usually belongs to whoever shows up. And by showing up, the NRA has managed to strangle every federal effort to restrict guns since the Newtown shooting.
Nevertheless, the NRA does not always win. At least 25 states had enacted their own new gun regulations within five years of that tragedy.
Supreme Court ruling’s repercussions
These latest mass shootings may stir gun safety supporters to mobilize public outrage and turn out voters favoring stricter firearm regulations during the 2022 midterm elections.
But there is a wild card: The Supreme Court will soon rule on New York State Rifle & Pistol Club v. Bruen, the most significant case regarding gun rights it has considered in years. It’s likely that the court will strike down a long-standing New York pistol permit law, broadening the right to carry guns in public across the United States.
Such a decision could galvanize gun safety supporters while also emboldening gun rights activists – making the debate about guns in America even more tumultuous.
[…] The power that guns represent to them is (IMO) quietly admitting they have not earned the respect they crave, refusing to accept it was their choice, but wanting to feel important. It’s a defiance that they must have the respect they failed to earn and an insistence that people view them as being powerful and important. That’s where your point about the power of guns is absolutely correct.
Gun culture is about a lot of things. But they all manifest in the simplest path available to purchase power. Your job sucks, people on your commute suck, society sucks, government runs my life…
The simplest response is to easily buy what they feel gives them instant power. “I can blow that guy away! I am now tough and powerful”. […]
History is repeating itself as the National Rifle Association (NRA) lacks the decency to postpone their annual convention taking place in Houston, Texas, just days after the tragic mass shooting of children at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Before a single funeral has been held, the NRA is celebrating their sick and deadly obsession with gun culture and the manufacturers who profit from it.
[…] In the opening to his address, Trump exalted himself saying that “Unlike some, I didn’t disappoint you by not showing up,” Which is true. If anything, showing up was the actual disappointment. His speech was littered with tiresome tirades that have been festering within the pro-gun community for decades.
For instance, Trump whined about what he called “a grotesque effort by some in our society to use the suffering of others to advance their own extreme political agenda.” Which, of course, is what he and the NRA are doing. The allegedly “grotesque efforts” he is attacking actually reflect the majority will of the American people to prevent future massacres.
Then Trump added that “Even more repulsive is their rush to shift blame away from the villains who commit acts of mass violence and to place that blame onto the shoulders of millions of peaceful law abiding citizens who belong to organizations, such as our wonderful NRA.” Which, of course, no one is doing. Rather, concerned citizens are acknowledging the role that lax regulations and access to military-style assault weapons play in the body count of innocent victims of the “villains.”
Central to Trump’s message to the NRA-Theists is the classic gun-nut doctrine of absolving firearms of having any connection to the harm they cause, and chastising Democrats for daring to want to do something about it. Trump babbled that…
“Whatever our differences may be on other issues, what on Earth is stopping Democrats from immediately passing measures to ramp up school security? How many more tragedies will it take until they agree to set aside their far left political agenda and do what is really needed and actually works.
This is not about virtue cycling, and signing. This is about blaming your enemies. No, we don’t wanna do that. This is about saving our children’s lives. Yes, that’s what we want to do. Surely we can all agree that our schools should not be the softest target. Our schools should be the single hardest target in our country.”
[video at the link]
Let’s unpack that nonsense step by step. To begin with, Trump’s citing security cannot be taken seriously when the Uvalde massacre occurred despite the presence of many police officers who were too scared to confront a perpetrator armed with an assault weapon. Secondly, what Trump is maligning as a “far left political agenda” is actually the mainstream view of most Americans. Thirdly, what works are measures that restrict easy access to weapons of war. Fourth, accepting the definition of schools as “targets,” whether soft or hard, is patently offensive. They are learning institutions, not battlefields or prisons. The teachers are not soldiers and the students are not combatants.
What’s more, it’s hard to ignore how Trump stumbles in his remarks in a manner that exposes his mental frailty when he gets to the part about “virtue cycling, and signing.” The words he is mangling off of his TelePrompTer is the phrase “virtue signaling,” a derogatory reference to expressions of moral character. No wonder Trump is so agitated by it that he can’t even utter it correctly. But then he goes on to positively embrace the notion that “This is about blaming your enemies.” But when he heard himself make that gaffe, he pretended, as he often does, that he did it on purpose. This is the “stable genius” speaking?
Both Trump and the NRA refuse to acknowledge that guns are a significant factor in tragedies like the one that just occurred un Uvalde. They prefer to blame mental health, an issue that they are also resistant to resolving. In fact, they deliberately make it worse. The first bill that Trump signed when he began his occupation of the White House was one that reversed an Obama-era regulation that restricted gun purchases by people with mental illnesses. And Texas governor Greg Abbott cut $211 million dollars from mental health care services in his state.
The one constant in all of this is the determination of the right to shield guns, and the corporations that manufacture and market them, from any and all responsibility for the pain they inflict on innocent victims, including children. And Trump is only to happy to obediently subjugate himself to his corporatist masters in order to secure their assistance in his quest for wealth and power.
Trump also read the names of the victims in the Uvalde massacre, with a loud and weird church bell ringing between each name.
Self-proclaimed “prophet”/QAnon conspiracy theorist Mark Taylor says legislators in DC are intentionally creating food and baby formula shortages as payback for Roe v Wade likely being overturned because they work for Baal “whose food source is the aborted babies.”
Pastor says God revealed to him that “devilcrats” Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, and Beto O’Rourke were “jumping for joy” when they heard the news of the Ulvade school shooting.
Worrying article here on a celebrity trial that I haven’t been following but which has been horrific for domestic terrorism “violence” WARNING : Domestic violence, dusturbing & confronting material inlink below
Christine Scartz, the director of the family justice clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law, said the trial had bolstered damaging stereotypes of victimhood.
“I think it’s a really deeply ingrained myth that if you defend yourself or fight back… then you cannot be considered a victim because victims need to be guileless, innocent and terrified,” she said.
She placed what she called the “myth of the perfect victim” among other lofty gendered standards, such as those tied to motherhood, and said at the core of domestic abuse is a fight for power.
Seems the Gestapotato / Aussie Voldemort is going to become the new LNP leader unopposed. A huge mistake on their part. From a meme seen on fb :
For small screens that can’t see, text reads :
Dutton voted against
Increasing the age pension.
Treating the covid vaccine as a matter of urgency.
Letting all MPs or Senators speak in Parliament (procedural)
A carbon price.
Carbon farming
A fast transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
A mineral resources rent tax.
A royal commission into violence and abuse against people with a disability.
Considering legislation tocreate a federal anti-corruption commission (procedural)
Increasing transparency of big business by making information public.
Decreasing the private health insurance rebate.
Doctor-initiated medical transfers for asylum seekers.
Ending illegal logging
Ending immigration detention on Manus Island.
Ending immigration detention on Nauru
Extending government benefits to same sex couples.
Federal government action on plant and animal extinctions.
Fibre to the home (NBN)
Increasing availability of abortion drugs
Increasing consumer protections
Increasing funding for university education.
Same sex marriage equality
Stopping tax avoidance or aggressive tax minimisation.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency. (ARENA)
Increasing funding for vocational education.
Increasing investment in renewable energy
Increasing marine conservation
Increasing pernalties for breach of data
Increasing political transparency
Increasing proctection of Australia’s freshwater.
Increasing restrictions on gambling.
Increasing scrutiny of asylum seeker management
Increasing support for the Australian shipping industry.
Increasing the diversity of media ownership
Increasing support for the Australian film and TV industry
IIncreasing trade union’s powers in the workplace.
Re-approving / re-registering agvet chemicals.
Remioving children from immigration detention.
Requiring every native title claimant to sign land use agreements.
Restricting donations to political parties.
Restricting foreign ownership.
Stem cell research.
The carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
Tobacco plan packaging.
The list of NATO equipment headed into Ukraine continues to grow. On Sunday, it was reported that Poland is dispatching 18 AHS Krab self-propelled howitzers, which followed reports on Saturday that—though not an official part of any announced assistance package—the U.S. was sending an unknown number of self-propelled 155mm M109 howitzers. The last two weeks have seen a flurry of new announcements including armored transports, multi-launch rocket systems, anti-aircraft systems, and anti-ship missiles.
In addition to defensive systems, offensive weapons, supplies, and ammunition, there are a growing number of Ukrainian troops being trained to operate and maintain the new systems. Poland has reportedly already trained 100 Ukrainian soldiers to operate those AHS Krab, which are capable of firing a standard round 30km and an extended range round 40km, making them one of the longest ranged artilleries.
And there’s something else that makes this gift from Poland special: These guns are brand new. They’re not just sending Ukraine the latest design created for their own army, they’re sending over half of all the AHS Krab guns that have rolled off the lines. That’s an extremely high level of commitment.
But also in the last two weeks, it’s clear that Ukrainian officials fear it’s not enough. Even as a new brigade of Ukrainian forces trains in the west, President Volodomyr Zelenskyy has fretted over the exhaustion of forces in the east. The city of Severodonetsk is seeing both artillery fire and direct assault at a level that, in spite of dug in positions, dedicated forces, and all the new weapons that Ukraine can direct to the area, may be unsupportable.
Russian efforts both around Lyman and to the south at Popasna have followed the same pattern that they have throughout the invasion: Pushing forward with heavy losses and a half dozen failed advances for everyone that succeed. However, Russia has been taking ground in spite of those losses and Russian troops have occupied over two dozen towns and villages in the area in just the last week.
In no sense will the war be “over” if Russia takes Severodonetsk, but there are over 13,000 civilians remaining in the city, over 1,500 reported dead by the town’s mayor, and Ukraine is desperate to save not just the last major stronghold on the east side of the Siverskyi Donets River, but all those people and their homes. On a tactical map, the loss of the location doesn’t look all that significant. In fact, it looks like it would allow Ukraine to regroup behind the natural barrier of the river and present a much tougher target to Russian efforts at moving beyond Severodonetsk. Ukraine clearly doesn’t see it that way.
[…] It’s clear that Russia regards taking Severodonetsk as a prize worth an all out effort. Until the last week, Russia seemed to be continuing to hold a massive force in place at Izyum, with a plan of extending a salient to the south and potentially cutting off a massive chunk of both territory and the Ukrainian military. Russia now seems to have abandoned that plan to concentrate on taking the area at the extreme east of Ukrainian held positions.
[…] Russia is pouring everything in an effort to take that little slice out of Ukraine, and they’re doing it now. In fact, even this smallest blue arc now seems like an exaggeration, as Russia’s focus is well inside these lines. In the process, they’re concentrating their forces to a level that is generating notable fear from Zelenskyy and others that in this much-reduced effort, Ukraine may not be able to deliver the firepower necessary to reduce what remains of Russian forces quickly enough to halt the advance. [map at the link]
However, if Russia’s effort to take Severodonetsk is rapidly turning that city into the kind of hell all too familiar from images of Mariupol and Popasna, there is one thing concentrating all the forces there means: Russia is weaker everywhere else.
Ukraine appears to be taking advantage of this fact. In addition to the counteroffensive north of Kherson that has now been going on for three weeks, there are reports in the last two days of counterattacks near Kherson and Izyum as Ukraine takes advantage of Russia’s all-in-on-Severodonetsk position to recapture villages and pressure Russian positions.
As long as Ukraine can find sufficient forces to make this work, it presents three big opportunities.
First is the obvious one: Ukraine may retake ground and towns with less effort and fewer losses while the main Russian focus is elsewhere. Taking and holding a defended position is almost always a higher risk, higher cost operation than just trying to stick to a position you already heave. By a general rule of thumb, attacking forces need to outnumber defenders by 3 to 1 if they don’t want to suffer serious casualties in forcing defenders out. Ukraine isn’t immune to this rule. So hitting the spots where Russian troops are thin and can’t be rapidly reinforced allows Ukraine to make advances while not paying a high cost.
Second, is the possibility that these counteroffensives could actually prove as vital to Severodonetsk as anything happening in that city. If villages and towns in the west began to tip over rapidly, Russia will have little choice but to pull back some of those forces currently assaulting the east. If they don’t, they’ll be in the position of trying to recapture positions they now hold […] If Ukraine starts to threaten Russia’s control of Kherson, or makes a break toward the bridge at Nova Khakovka, or cuts into Russia supply lines in the north, Russia will have to respond. Because the price of saying “screw it, we’re just going to keep fighting at Severodonetsk” would be too high.
Third, Ukraine has been reportedly training a large new force in the west. Many of these troops are reserves, or territorial defense, or foreign volunteers, all of which may not be experienced in battle. Using them to take and hold villages at the periphery may be a much more effective means of getting them into combat, and giving them genuine experience with the definitely not textbook world of in-the-field combined arms tactics than feeding them directly into the eastern meatgrinder.
These actions may look small on the map, and at the moment they are small, but they may have significance that outweighs their scale. [maps at the link]
North of Kherson, Ukrainian forces reportedly crossed the Inhulets River at Davydiv Brid and began a swift move against villages south and west of that crossing. Ukrainian forces are also reported to be proceeding down the road in the direction of Bruskynske—a direction that definitely has to be a concern to Russia, because that’s on the straight path to Nova Khakovka. That doesn’t just threaten that critical bridge crossing; it’s also the site of the canal that sends Crimea most of its water.
Reports on Sunday put Ukrainian forces at Bruskynske and continuing to advance. This whole area is in a section of the line that previously had not been the most highly contested section of the Kherson area, so Ukraine may believe they found a real weak spot to punch through. Reports are that Russia has suffered heavy losses from what amounts to a surprise attack, but these reports are coming from Ukrainian sources, so apply appropriate salt.
A note of caution: Over a month ago, Ukraine seemed to be moving rapidly near Kherson, and there were even reports that Russian forces were preparing to pull out. Those reports turned out to be clearly wrong, and Russia has now put a huge amount of propaganda behind the idea that Kherson is “Russia forever.” Don’t expect this area to fold easily. [map at the link]
Some form of counteroffensive in Izyum was actually announced over two weeks ago. There was a period where Ukrainian forces seemed to be conducting a series of hit-and-run raids against Russian forces camped in the woods northwest of Izyum, but they didn’t seem to be taking and holding towns. On the other hand, neither did Russia. Despite having a reported 27 Battalion Tactical Groups on hand for weeks, Russian gains along the Izyum salient over the last month could be measured with a hand ruler.
Then some of those Russian forces were reportedly peeled off to deal with Ukrainian advances north and east of Kharkiv. Then more of those Russian forces were reportedly sent to assist in capturing Lyman and assaulting Severodonetsk. And then three BTGs were reportedly withdrawn from Izyum because they had suffered heavy losses. All of which results in a significant decrease in “density” of Russian forces near Izyum.
What’s going on now isn’t clear. There are mixed reports that Russia attempted multiple advances to the east, south, and west. All apparently failures. There were also reports from Ukrainian sources of Ukrainian troops reaching a point very near Izyum itself, but other than a cluster of hot spots on NASA FIRMS data, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of supporting evidence. At the moment, it doesn’t seem that Ukraine has mounted an effort aimed at liberating villages in the Izyum area, but such an effort wouldn’t be surprising considering the rapid decline in the number of Russian forces there. [map at the link]
Since Popasna was captured by Russian forces on May 7, the story out of that area has primarily been one of Russian advances. As in other areas, most of of those advances had been slow (though Russia gained a fair slice of essentially unprotected ground south and west of Popasna in a walk over), but some of them have been significant.
On Friday, Ukrainian forces apparently surprised Russia again when they moved against a trio of locations north of Popasna and recaptured them all — most notably the town of Komyshuvakna which holds a position on the road north from Popasna. These moves helped to alleviate some of the fear that Russia had managed to straddle the road between Bahkmut and Lysychansk, cutting a line of supply.
Since this action, Ukrainian forces have reportedly again been using the corridor out of Bakhmut both to bring materials in and to get civilians out of Severodonetsk. Russia has reportedly made a series of runs at recapturing Komyshuvakna as well as a number of towns nearby without success. On the map above, all the white towns represent failed Russian advances within the last day. The exceptions are Vasylivka, northwest of Popasna, a town that was formerly thought to be under Russian occupation, but now may be in dispute, and Pylypchatyne southwest of Popasna, where Russia may have gained control (Russia claimed to have it last night, and there have been no disputing reports since then).
Like Izyum, Popasna did have one of the highest concentrations of Russian forces — a reported 22 BTGs — and that concentration seems to have helped them make the initial breakthrough. But at this point, efforts to reinforce the assault on Severodonetsk, and all those failed advances, has left the force around Popasna a lot more questionable.
By the way, Russia is already reporting that it has captured Severodonetsk. It hasn’t.
Several videos of Russian stuff being blown up are available at the link, including a Ka-52 helicopter, supply vehicles, and a Russian BTR-82A APC.
Three seniors were left to die in a Chicago apartment complex after temperatures hit about 100 degrees and property managers refused to provide air conditioning, according to attorneys for two families of the victims. The bodies of 68-year-old Janice Reed, 72-year-old Gwendolyn Osborne and 76-year-old Delores McNeely were discovered on May 14 at James Sneider Apartments on Chicago’s North Side, ABC 7 Chicago reported.
Reed’s family announced at a news conference on Tuesday that his family would be suing owners and operators of the Sneider Apartments, the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation and Gateway Apartments, for alleged wrongful death and negligence. Noted civil rights attorney Ben Crump also spoke at the news conference and tweeted about residents who begged building management to lower “sweltering temperatures.”
“Trust has been betrayed because the James Sneider Apartments apparently put profit over safety,” Crump said. He later added: ”No human being should die in this horrible way, just needing a little air.”
Lorna Barnes, a resident at James Sneider Apartments, told ABC 7 she had seen one of the women before she died. “Janice asked for help,” Barnes said. “She went downstairs, and she asked for help like I did.”
The family buried Reed on Saturday, Tondolaya Blisset, a niece of Reed’s and a longtime family friend of mine told Daily Kos. “She was the most loving. I mean, God. You never saw her angry,” Blisset said of her aunt. “She always had a positive outlook on everything.”
Blisset said a maintenance worker found her aunt’s body when her best friend came by to check on her. They had a breakfast date planned. So when the woman asked to be let in Reed’s apartment, the maintenance worker went first. When he returned to Reed’s best friend, he told her to brace herself, Blisset said. The friend found Reed “laid up against the headboard with no top on,” Blisset said. When her sister was called to the complex, she noticed other ambulances arriving […] [tweet and video at the link]
Attorney Larry Rogers Jr. told ABC 7 that both residents and officials reported intense heat in the buildings but the complex did nothing to prevent the victims’ deaths, instead claiming that city ordinances required the heat to be on until June 1. Alderman Maria Hadden, of the 49th Ward, told ABC 7 that just isn’t true.
“To be clear, our ordinance does not require that heat is on in a building through June 1,” she said. “It does require that a minimum temperature is set at 66 at night and 60 in the day from about mid-September through June 1.”
Attorney Steve Levin, who is representing Osborne’s family, told ABC 7 the claim that building managers thought they couldn’t turn on air is “absurd.”
The Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, a not-for-profit advocate for affordable housing that manages 10,200 units, said in a statement ABC 7 obtained that its goal is “to help provide economic stability and housing security to people who need it most.”
Former President Trump was met with backlash for his bizarre reading of the names of victims of the tragic Texas elementary school shooting during his speech at the NRA convention on Friday night — which concluded with a … dance.
Trump’s appearance at the NRA event occurred just days after a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and killed 19 children and two teachers.
During his speech, Trump issued demands that other prominent Republicans have pushed in the wake of the shooting instead of common sense gun control reform: arming teachers with firearms, schools with a single entryway and armed guards at the entryway. The former president praised the NRA, saying that “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
In a jarring moment of his speech, Trump read the names of the Texas school shooting victims aloud, in which the sound of a gong was played after each name. [video snippets at the link]
Trump went on to conclude his speech by dancing to the 1966 song “Hold On, I’m Comin’” by Sam and Dave — a move that was swiftly slammed by Twitter users as a sign of disrespect in light of the lives lost during the tragic Texas elementary school shooting. [video at the link]
[…] [Responses to Trump dancing are available at the link]
Here are a few of those responses:
[Richard Marx] This is just eons beyond ignorant and soulless. If any decent person saw someone dancing after reading aloud the names of children slaughtered just days earlier, they’d know something is fundamentally wrong with that person’s psyche. If you admire this, you’re just as damaged.
———————–
[George Hahn] There never has been, there is not now and there never will be anything appropriate about this clown. Not. One. Thing.
——————–
[Steven Beschloss] Of course Donald Trump went to the NRA conference in Houston and finished his talk with a little dance. Because he’s a sociopath. Because he doesn’t value human life. Because the Russian-backed NRA gave him millions of dollars and that’s all he cares about.
———————-
[Rob Reiner] Trump read the names of the 19 children that were slaughtered in their school, then did a little dance. This sick treasonous fuck was once President of the United States. In the names of those children, NEVER AGAIN!
———————–
[Eric Swalwell] The kids died. Trump danced.
———————–
[Jay Willis] This is the most demented thing I’ve ever seen. They did a ‘Hunger Games’ bell????
Molly White, a veteran Wikipedia editor, is fast becoming the cryptocurrency world’s biggest critic.
In a strange, animated YouTube video, Cryptoland paints itself as the ultimate utopia, featuring luxurious villas, a casino and a private club, all located on a pristine island in Fiji. Built by and for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, it was looking for investors.
To Molly White, the project wasn’t just cringeworthy bluster, it was promotional material for yet another potential scam — one that was targeting the money of real people. Digging into Cryptoland’s organizing documents, she found a business plan full of contradictions and other red flags, like an address in the Seychelles islands, a tax haven which has hosted previous high-profile crypto scams.
White unpacked the project in a dashed-off Twitter thread, which went viral […] Now, Cryptoland’s website appears inactive, and supporters have abandoned it. […]
A 28-year-old software engineer who writes Wikipedia articles for fun, White is an odd figure to make the crypto industry cower. On her website, “Web3 is Going Just Great,” White documents case after case of crypto malfeasance: investments that turn out to be scams, poorly-run projects that collapse under mismanagement and hacks that drain supporters’ money.
As much of the financial and tech elite has rallied around crypto, White has led a small but scrappy group of skeptics pushing the other way whose warnings have seemed vindicated by the cratering in recent weeks of cryptocurrency prices.
“Most of my disdain is reserved for the big players who are marketing this to a mainstream audience as though it’s an investment, often promising to be a ticket out of a really tough financial spot for people who don’t have many options,” White said. “It’s very predatory.”
To White and her fellow critics, crypto company founders and the venture capitalists backing them are presiding over a massive, unregulated attempt to rid regular people of their money by exaggerating the potential of crypto technology. Years spent online, researching esoteric Internet cultures have made White a rare figure who can maneuver the technically complex, meme-filled world of crypto, translating it into digestible prose.
[…] White’s targets say her brand of criticism is too cynical, cherry-picking dramatic examples of failure to mischaracterize an entire industry that is mostly full of good people and good ideas. She in turn has been experiencing an uncomfortable form of vindication.
“I wasn’t the only crypto skeptic who expected some of these projects to fall apart, but it doesn’t make it fun to watch,” she said.
The cryptocurrency world and its boosters are forging on. Mega-investors such as venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which struck big years ago with early investments in Facebook, Skype and Airbnb, have put billions of dollars into the space. The debate over who crypto serves and who will ultimately win is far from over. White’s voice is rising, but the money and power plowing into crypto is, too.
[…] She posts to the site constantly, often writing several short dispatches a day. They’re written in a deadpan, straightforward style, with a few snarky flourishes […] The bottom-right hand corner adds up the money lost in the scams and hacks she’s documented. By mid-May, it was nearing $10 billion.
[…] White and her fellow skeptics say the traditional media has mishandled the story, treating bitcoin as an exciting innovation while underplaying the idea it could be a giant pyramid scheme. Crypto-focused publications tend to have ties to the industry, while financial news organizations treat it like an asset class. “The crypto industry has benefited from the siloing of journalism,” McKenzie said. “You have to step back […] and get outside the industry to get some perspective on what might be going on inside it.” […]
Sixteen people were injured at the Barclays Center in New York City on Sunday morning after false reports of an active shooter spread through the crowd at a boxing match.
A stampede occurred around 1:05 a.m. as the Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero boxing match was wrapping up, according to a New York City Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson.
The spokesperson said there were shouts about a shot fired, with the crowd “attempting to flee everywhere.”
After the frenzy, seven people were transported to local hospitals, and the remaining nine injured were treated on-site by medical staff, the NYPD said. The entire event unfolded over just a few minutes, lasting until police confirmed there was no active shooter. It’s unclear what exactly prompted the report of an active shooter. […]
StevoRsays
Notable quote from former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger here :
Meanwhile whilst it may well fizzle out and its rainy and overcast here a just remotely possible meteor storm has been predicted for the Tau Herculids – see here :
There is a harrowing TV video from a senior Russian general turned politician that just came out. Colonel General Shamanov is old, lies a lot, and is delusional.
Russian Army Chief Lists Ukraine Figures To Put on Trial Like ‘Nuremberg’
BY JACK DUTTON ON 5/30/22 AT 9:00 AM EDT Newsweek edited for length
A senior Russian military official has cited a list of Ukrainian figures, including several politicians and journalists, Russia intends to take to court for war crimes “like the Nuremberg trials.”
Russian State Duma Deputy Defense Committee Chairman Vladimir Shamanov, a former commander in chief of the Russian Airborne Troops, made the Nuremberg comparison in an interview on Russian television on Sunday.
Asked by a Russian journalist how Moscow would deal with Mariupol, the port city in southeastern Ukraine that has been bombarded and taken by Russian military, Shamanov said: “We’ll help with Mariupol.”
“We have the preliminary components to form an international tribunal. We’re holding discussions with China about that, along with other BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] countries. There will be an international tribunal, 100 percent, like the Nuremberg trials.”
He said that Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon and Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych would also face trial.
Shamanov was also asked by the host about what the territorial boundaries of Ukraine could be like at the end of Russia’s “special military operation,” which Russian President Vladimir Putin launched on February 24.
“This issue would be most difficult to predict. We don’t know the future mindset of the population or our future relations with neighboring countries which will certainly try and exert influence,” Shamanov said, citing the Baltic states and Poland as examples.
He said that Russia’s aim was to “fully demilitarize” Ukraine, and that would like take “five to 10 years.”
“Secondly, its denazification, which will be happening simultaneously and the formation of the government that wasn’t sullied by these neo-Nazis. This will be difficult to accomplish so we’ll have to see.”
It is Russia’s plan for Ukraine. It is genocide.
1. War crime trials.
2. Demilitarize Ukraine.
The only way that happens is if they conquer and destroy the whole country. The Ukrainians are fighting for their survival. Their choice isn’t win or lose. It is live or die.
3. Denazification.
Who knows what that means. The Russians are the Nazis.
It is probably code for Russification, replacing Ukrainian language and culture with Russian.
He is talking about the war lasting 5 or 10 years.
It could. The Russians could just keep on signing cease fires, absorbing territory, reinforcing their army, and then grabbing more territory.
ravensays
Colonel General Shamanov:
“We have the preliminary components to form an international tribunal. We’re holding discussions with China about that, along with other BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] countries. There will be an international tribunal, 100 percent, like the Nuremberg trials.”
I don’t believe this.
No one except maybe China and I doubt if the Chinese are that dumb, are going to be involved in fake show trials.
What will happen to the Ukrainian cultural and political elite is what happened to the elites of Poland, East Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia among others. They will be taken away to Russian prison camps, tortured and killed, and no one will ever hear from them again.
I know or know of two people that the Russians did that to.
My friends father was a German in Poland after the war. Taken away and never saw him again.
Another was a slave laborer in a Russian prison camp. His crime. Not being Russian.
ravensays
‘Left with nothing’ Russia in talks with China to create ‘war crime’ Ukraine tribunal
RUSSIA is in talks with China to hold a “war crime” tribunal targeting Ukraine, the Russian State Defense Committee Chairman has boasted on pro-Kremlin TV.
By TIM MCNULTY
12:08, Mon, May 30, 2022 | UPDATED: 12:08, Mon, May 30, 2022 Express
Shamanov told the Russian channel: “When the war ends, Ukraine will be left with nothing.”
“We see cities, like Mariupol, which were levelled,” pressed the presenter.
“Who will be restoring all of that?”
Shamanov argued: “We’ll help with Mariupol
Russian State Duma Deputy Defense Committee Chairman Vladimir Shamanov hinted at a 20-year plot to eliminate any sign of Ukraine’s independence and culture. Comparing Russia to other countries, he claimed that “Russian superiority is recognised worldwide” and warned Moscow could engage in 20 more years of war as Russia’s objective is to “fully uproot the disease” of Ukraine. He claimed “Russia stands far apart from other nations” as he attempted to argue Ukraine was as an operation necessary “to create normal conditions for future [Russian] generations”.
Transcript:
Shamanov claimed: “We will need 20 to 40 years to fully uproot this disease.
“It won’t be easy. It has to be under our control.
“There are studies on military capabilities which are renewed every five years.
“We stand far apart from other nations, surpassing all others.”
Putin’s general Vladimir Shamanov unveils horrifying 20-year plot to ‘uproot the disease’ of Ukraine
“No need to try comforting yourself, this is a long-playing record.
“And if we want to create normal conditions for future generations.”
The claims come as Russian troops have started intensifying attacks in the city of Sievierodonetsk, the largest city of the Donbas region.
More from General Shamanov.
“When the war ends, Ukraine will be left with nothing.”
Yeah, for sure. The Russian strategy is to level everything with artillery and aerial bombing, and then move in. They don’t care if tens of thousands of civilians die and countless cities are destroyed.
Why should they?
The Ukrainians aren’t Russians, and those cities they are destroying aren’t theirs. This is genocide.
He calls Ukraine a disease.
Says it could take 20 years to de-Ukrainianize Ukraine.
We all know what that means.
Claims that Russia has the best military in the world, “surpassing all others”.
Russian does have the largest nuke stockpile. The rest of their military probably isn’t even in second place.
The people who run CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference meetups that feature top Republican elected officials intermingling with the movement’s most notorious conspiracy cranks—but I repeat myself—have been attempting to expand internationally with conferences in Brazil and Hungary in recent years. The premise has been to attach themselves, suction-eel style, to autocratic nationalists in other countries. Whether this is an earnest attempt to promote their hoax-dependent fascism abroad or just another very gaudy grift is debatable.
In either case, the American far right has been falling over itself with admiration for the emerging Hungarian autocracy, with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson in particular promoting far-right nationalist Viktor Orban with a vigor that far eclipses his praise for any Republican here. CPAC Republicans are open in praising Hungary’s autocratic descent as being the road America itself should travel, but have been slightly vaguer in explaining why. That is because the Hungarian fascist movement is Extremely F–king Nasty, full of the same bigotries and conspiracy theories that animate neo-Nazi movements here and actual damn Nazis where they still exist elsewhere.
It looks like CPAC head Matt Schlapp and Carlson feel that the time is right to drop the charade, though. Recent CPAC events in Budapest, Hungary, boasted a notorious Hungarian antisemite, one who has publicly declared Jews to be “stinking excrement,” among their featured speakers. “Stinking excrement” is just one of the xenophobic and genocide-supporting rants that Hungarian television screamer Zsolt Bayer is known for. As reported by The Guardian, Bayer was a featured speaker at the allegedly conservative conference, holding forth as part of a speakers list that included Donald Trump, Mark Meadows, Carlson, and others.
Bayer’s views are not nuanced. It will come as no surprise that he is aggressively racist—it might be more eyebrow-raising to learn that he has particular contempt for Roma people in particular, resurrecting the genocidal conspiracy beliefs of Nazism. Even that, however, goes a long way towards explaining why Carlson, of all people, has chosen “gypsies” as one of his own baffling xenophobic targets. A 2017 Fox News segment entitled “GYPSIES: COMING TO AMERICA” and warning that the Roma “have little regard for law or public decency” remains one of the most batshit episodes of Tuckerism to be put on the network—but it seems that Carlson was already coordinating rhetoric with Europe’s far-far-right even then.
That has been a pattern. Carlson and other Republican would-be strategists have been experimenting to find what human targets American conservatism can be most riled to panic over. […]
The difference between Bayer and prime minister of Hungary Viktor Orban himself is not very great, however. Orban is viciously xenophobic and, as the Guardian notes in their own piece, a spreader of Europe’s home-grown antisemitic “great replacement” conspiracies. It is Orban who American sedition-backers have been trying to promote and butter up, and if that means licking the boots of open antisemites, then both Carlson and CPAC’s organizers are game.
We previously speculated that CPAC’s new international push could be a genuine attempt to promote fascist thinking abroad; that is probably the most charitable interpretation of their moves, even if it isn’t the most likely one. Even before the Trump era, CPAC conferences were a dodgy blend between ultra-powerful Republican elected leaders and absolute conspiracy cranks. Panels warned about the omnipresent dangers of the United Nations, which were going to take away your golf courses, close down your town’s roads to put in bike paths, and (I am not making this up) seize your children so that they could be reeducated according to “globalist” standards. Support for American democracy grew more and more tepid on the right after Barack Obama became president, a daily reminder of the tenuousness of the many generations’ worth of institutionalized racism that past “conservatives” had devoted themselves to.
[…] CPAC conservatives found new appreciation for international autocrats like Vladimir Putin. They allowed their existential panic over what would happen to suit-and-tie white racism in a nation in which white conservatives held less power than before to lead them to an obvious conclusion: We need to scrub out whatever parts of democracy are allowing that to happen. The international leaders willing to rewrite the rules of elections so that they always came out on top became the standard-bearers for American conservatives now increasingly convinced that such rewrites were now of dire American importance, and here we are.
[…] The far more likely scenario is that this is just a huge malevolent grift on the part of Republican powerbrokers. As evidence of that I direct our court’s attention to the following exhibits:
Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort.
Trump Deputy Campaign Chair Rick Gates.
Trump Foreign Policy “Adviser” Tom Barrack.
Trump National Security “Adviser” Michael Flynn.
Republican National Committee Chair Steve Wynn.
Republican National Committee Deputy Chair Elliot Broidy.
[embedded links for the list above are available at the main link for this article]
[…] secretly working the levers of power available to them for their own personal profit. Being “important” in American politics has long been a way to make millions by going abroad to advise wealthy kleptocrats in other nations how they can best get what they want. Sometimes it’s election advice. Sometimes it’s access to United States government agencies or to lawmakers. Sometimes it’s help crafting propaganda messages to justify authoritarian moves that may or may not be killing people in the streets. You know: Money.
[…] top Republican strategists are being paid far more money […] to promote Orban and Hungarian autocracy as The Natural Order of Things, and that promotion involves getting other top Republicans to trek all the way to Budapest to give a thin sheen of legitimacy to a bunch of well-heeled fascist monsters.
[…] the modern history of pro-Trump Republicanism shows us that seemingly every f–king Republican functionary who’s ever so much as been in spitting range of Donald Trump had a side job selling out democracy in exchange for truly petty amounts of cash.
There’s zero chance that people in the top ranks of Republican politics are not collecting checks in order to boost Orban’s autocratic ambitions, just as Manafort made piles of cash promoting the Russian oligarchy’s ambitions in Ukraine. Zero chance. There is absolutely zero-point-zero percent chance that Schlapp sending the whole CPAC entourage to Budapest, Hungary, is something that he is doing out of his deep support for Hungarian autocracy, rather than because money.
Every American version of CPAC is, essentially, a meet-and-greet for ambitious young radicals. The event is a get-together in which a pale white audience of mostly young males wanders the halls, “networking,” hobnobbing with others in the hopes of boosting their chances to work for a higher rung of Republican than they have yet been able to attract. They are overdressed, too slick for their ages, and each seems one hyper-racist rant away from getting their own flattering New York Times feature in which none of the racist bits are brought up but we learn that so-and-so rose through the ranks of his local Young Republican club by outing gay peers to their parents and videotaping the results.
What kind of conservatives make the trek to Budapest to hobnob with Europe’s own home-grown reactionaries? The kind who have money, and want more money. Everybody’s looking for a sponsor […]
Welcome to fascism, the franchise. You provide the money; we’ll provide the youthful and the ambitious people more than willing to promote whatever message the propaganda machine has found to test best in order to boost your own power by stripping it from others. There’s nothing complicated going on here. […]
[…] President Joe Biden was warmly greeted when he visited Uvalde Sunday, but Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott was loudly booed as he approached the makeshift memorial at the elementary school where 19 children and two teachers were killed last week in a mass shooting.
“Shame on you, Abbott!” a voice could be heard amid the boos and shouts from the crowd fenced off from officials visiting the site. […]
First of all I want all know I do remember all those having a hard time this Memorial day ..Especially this Memorial day. It takes a toll on combat vets and now sane people who are so upset over the massacre in Texas.
I did need a laugh but found myself just shaking my head over Marjorie Green’s latest tweet. Watch this nutcase and tell me again how those people from Georgia wanted her not to run were wrong. There should be an ad running over and over about her insanity.
The government wants to track our bowel movements plus they want to zap us via Bill Gates as they grow fake cheesburgers in a Peach dish.
McDonalds and Burger King should sue !!!!!
OMG…Does she go outside and do mushrooms before going on camera or is she just this insane naturally?
Peach Tree dish instead of petri dish. She talks to hear her own voice. She is not even halfway sensible. […]
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church since 2009, has long shared with Vladimir Putin a professed sympathy with the Russian flavor of fascism espoused by the late Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin. Among other things, when Russia invaded Ukraine Kirill publicly supported Putin’s line that Russian land includes Ukraine, Belarus and elsewhere.
So it’s remarkable that today [Sunday, May 29] at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Kirill reacted to this week’s decision by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to break away from Kirill’s control, saying that he understood the decision, and that:
We fully understand how the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is suffering today.
Although a small sign by itself, this is not the only evidence of cracks in the Moscow patriarchy’s support for the invasion of Ukraine. Kirill vigorously supports Putin’s rhetoric about the causes of the war, but he has not pulled out all the stops. As Paul Gobel wrote yesterday in Eurasia Review, Kirill has not explicitly supported the invasion, nor has the war received the patriarchy’s official blessing, which in any event would require approval of the patriarchy’s Holy Synod or Bishop’s Council.
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who in some sense is the number two in the Moscow patriarchy, was surprisingly conciliatory in recent ecumenical meetings with other branches of the Orthodox church, where the big topic is Ukrainian orthodoxy’s break with Moscow. Of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Hilarion said on Russian TV, “I don’t think we should consider them enemies.” Efi Efthimiou speculated Friday in the Orthodox Times that Hilarion is positioning himself as something of an alternative to Kirill’s support for the war. Perhaps Kirill’s expression of sympathy for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church today is a sign of further political maneuvering within the Moscow patriarchy.
Although these religious matters may seem unimportant to non-Christians, they are a big deal in Ukraine. Ukrainians are more religious than Russians and most other Europeans. To give some context, the Razumkov Centre’s 2021 survey found that:
– 23% of Ukrainians identified with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is part of Roman Catholicism and has never been part of the Moscow patriarchate. This church is mostly in the west of Ukraine.
– 22% identified with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), reestablished in 1990 as being independent from Moscow. Its 2019 recognition by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople angered the Moscow patriarchy.
– 21% identified with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which broke away from the Moscow patriarchy this week, after many of its parishes had already defected from it.
– 7% said “simply Orthodox”.
– 7% said “simply Christian”.
– 5% said “I do not belong to any religion”.
This week’s breakaway from Moscow by the UOC means that effectively Kirill has ceded control over the faithful in Ukraine, except for areas occupied by the Russian army. One cannot help but hope that faithful Christians within the Russian Orthodox Church can discourage Kirill from further cheerleading of Putin, and help put an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Faithful Christians” always strikes me as such an odd phrase. There’s so much cognitive dissonance stirred up by that phrase that it makes my eyes goggle.
The war continues and the disinformation battle continues with Russia claiming that they are on a humanitarian mission. Russian forces have improved their tactics and continue to rely on artillery bombardment. Severodonetsk has yet to be captured and a Ukrainian withdrawal to avoid encirclement is underway. Ukraine is conducting counterattacks in Kherson.
In the words of one middle-ranking official who has already got his family out of Russia: “Everyone knows this war is a catastrophe, except for the one man who could end it.”
Yet it is not just Putin that will have to accept that this is going to be a long, hard road. We live in an age of instant gratification and, while in public the West continues to be united in its commitment to supporting Ukraine and punishing Putin, behind the scenes there are the first signs of “Ukraine fatigue”.
The West likewise must not be seduced by the same delusion, that one last push, whether another economic sanction or another proposed negotiation, will bring a quick end to the conflict. Instead, we must continue to show unity, offer military and economic support to Ukraine and prepare as best we can for the economic damage and political turmoil we will suffer as a result. Wars, even economic and political ones, have their cost. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/28/desperate-putin-deluded-think-can-win/
[…]
Russian forces unsuccessfully attempted an offensive operation southeast of Izyum, likely in an effort to advance toward Slovyansk or Siversk. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces retreated after attempting to advance to Pasika, approximately 20 km southeast of Izyum. Russian Telegram channels reported that Russian forces successfully seized Pasika on May 28, but ISW cannot independently confirm this claim. Russian forces did not attempt to advance directly south of Izyum and are likely prioritizing an advance north of Lyman. The Ukrainian General Staff also noted that Russian forces continued launching air and artillery strikes on settlements near Siversk, approximately 30 km west of Severodonetsk. Russian forces from Izyum may join units in Lyman to conduct an offensive on Siversk or pursue a separate drive on Slovyansk. Russian forces are also reportedly transferring additional artillery and military equipment via Kupyansk, approximately 40 km west of the Russia-Kharkiv Oblast border. http://www.understanding war.org […]
[…] More information: Russians have reportedly begun releasing water from the the Dnieper dam [map at the link] This would suggest that Russia could be preparing for the possibility of blowing the dam.
This is a series of events that almost exactly mirrors the events that lead up to the 1941 destruction of the Dnieper dam, in which the Germans moved into Tomaryne and Beryslav and simply sat there and waited until Stalin ordered the destruction of the dam. […]
It was a major tragedy that killed many civilians. Blowing the dam today would be even worse and kill even more civilians.
[…] According to Lavrov, the environment created by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine “banned Russian education, media, culture, and the use of the Russian language in everyday life.” In contrast, Lavrov claimed that in the environment that Russia will foster, those who live in Russian-occupied territories “will be able to raise their children however they want, not how Zelenskyy and his team want them to.”
Lavrov also tried to argue that the extended duration of Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine was due to the absolute ban on any attacks on civilian infrastructure that the Russian military has to observe. However, it has been widely reported that Russia has been destroying civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.
[…] there is alot of macro evidence that the Russians are scraping the bottom of the barrel for front line armored vehicles. The movement of T-62s to the theatre has well documented, that is really desperate.
Russia is bringing ancient T62 tanks out of storage in the latest indication that the Kremlin is running out of armor following catastrophic losses in Ukraine
[…] In El Paso, Texas, after far-right trolls spread the bogus claim that a transgender person was the shooter in Tuesday’s massacre in Uvalde, thugs verbally and physically assaulted a transgender girl, calling her a “mental health freak.”
Further north in Arlington, a local pastor this week denounced the city’s support for its annual Pride events, claiming the Bible calls “homosexuals” criminals who should be put to death.
In Arizona, far-right troll Ethan Schmidt-Crockett posted videos in which he threatened to attack Pride displays at Target stores (as he’s done previously), and then filmed himself harassing workers at a JoAnn Fabrics store for their Pride display.
The mood at far-right chat rooms has grown more openly violent as well, particularly as white nationalists have embraced the Buffalo shooter and his eliminationist “replacement theory” motives—and the threatening rhetoric around Pride events such as the one planned in northern Idaho in June has sharpened. As this recent study warned, the previous year’s relative calm in terms of far-right violence is manifestly over.
Although the viciously bogus claim that the Uvalde shooter was transgender was quickly debunked, and several of its more prominent spreaders—such as Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar—deleted their tweets making the claim, it continued to spread anyway on social media, enjoying a robust zombie half-life as the trolls spreading it made plain that they didn’t care if it was a lie: They just wanted to scapegoat transgender people.
Moreover, its most prominent spreader—race troll Candace Owens—not only refused to delete the earlier tweets, but doubled down to her 3 million-plus Twitter followers:
FYI: The media still has not debunked the photo of the Texas shooter wearing female clothes (to which I was referring.)
Instead they are trying to conflate it with the obvious internet hoax photos featuring a guy in a skirt in front of a trans flag.
No such photos exist, of course. The person she’s describing wearing female clothes in the widely circulated photos identified herself and denounced the hoax. […]
“NATO is no longer bound by earlier commitments to refrain from deploying forces to Eastern Europe,” NATO Dep. Secr. General Mircea Geoană said.
He says Moscow has annulled the NATO-Russia Act from 1997 by attacking UA.
Good! Time for permanent bases in Central Eastern Europe!
I just saw this tweet.
It looks like things are rapidly unraveling or heating up if you will, in Eastern Europe. The head of NATO just said the last NATO agreement with Russia is dead.
Which was that NATO wouldn’t put permanent bases in the former captive nations of the USSR.
The Russians aren’t going to like this. Good.
ravensays
NATO is no longer bound by commitments to Russia and will beef up Eastern Europe presence, says deputy secretary general
Saulius Jakučionis, BNS 2022.05.30 12:01 LRT which is Lithuanian
The NATO-Russia agreement signed 25 years ago no longer binds the Alliance because Russia itself violated the agreement by invading Ukraine, says NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană, visiting Vilnius.
Under the 1997 NATO-Russia Framework Agreement, NATO has pledged not to permanently deploy significant forces in central and eastern Europe, including the Baltic states.
However, Russia has committed to refrain from aggression against its neighbours and is not complying, Geoană told BNS in an interview on Sunday.
As a result, he said, the Alliance is no longer bound by restrictions on the expansion of forces in its eastern flank.
“Russia has basically abolished any content of this founding act,” Geoană said in Vilnius. “It has taken decisions, it has made commitments not to commit aggression against its neighbours, which it does, and to consult regularly with NATO, which it does not.”
Russia has essentially withdrawn from the agreement, according to Geoană, “so now we no longer face any constraints to have a strong NATO presence in the eastern flank and to make sure that every square inch of NATO’s territory is protected by NATO’s Article Five and our allies.”
In response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO is considering how to reinforce its members close to Russia.
The Baltic countries are asking for international battalions to be replaced by brigade-sized units several times larger than those deployed there since 2017.
Geoană said that the Alliance’s presence in the region would be strengthened in various spheres, but the specific size of the force is not clear.
Final decisions will be made at the NATO summit in Madrid, he said.
“We understand the interest in quantity, but we also want to emphasise quality. We expect very important decisions from our leaders in Madrid,” said the deputy secretary general of NATO.
A new Strategic Concept for the Alliance is due to be adopted at the NATO Summit in Madrid in June.
I thought that tweet looked a bit unreal and tried to verify it. It is apparently real and comes from Vilnius, Lithuania.
I’ve lately read and dealt with a few people from the Baltic areas that are in or from the former captive nations of the USSR.
It is amazing how much they hate Russia. Not necessarily Russian people but Russia.
I can see why.
For decades and centuries they were serfs or slaves to the Russian empire and the USSR. Hundreds of thousands of them were arrested, deported, and killed. A lot of people there know of a family member or friend who disappeared one day.
They also lost a lot of territory as the Soviets kept readjusting the borders in their favor and removing the non-Russian population.
And now, for the first time anyone alive can remember, they are free to be Polish, Lithuanians, Estonians, etc.. They don’t have to worry about the knock on the door at 2:00 AM, the men with guns, and no one ever hears from you again. And, they aren’t going to go back to being Russian serfs again.
These people are scared and angry and they are going to fight.
ravensays
Russian state TV’s Olga Skabeyeva says it might be time to admit that the “special operation in Ukraine is over” Russia has now been “forced to demilitarise the whole of Nato”, she claims
Just so you know.
Russia has now conquered Ukraine.
It is now going to destroy NATO for their encore.
Olga Skabeyeva also frequently threatens to use nuclear weapons against someone for something. The Russians have made so many nuclear threats, that we’ve all lost track.
This is what happens when something like Fox NoNews actually owns and runs a country.
They aren’t even within cruise missile distance of reality.
Josh Marshall: “A Possible Glimmer of Hope Amidst the Wreckage”
[…] Uvalde/mass shooting editorial from The National Review. I found it notable for two very different reasons. The first is that the editorial states with a clarity, both horrifying and admirable, what we have been discussing over recent days: for pro-gun advocates child massacres are simply the very unfortunate price of being free. Here’s the key text: “We must reiterate that the Second Amendment protects a foundational individual right and that, however heartbreaking the behavior of their heinous criminals might be, free countries do not wantonly limit foundational individual rights that are, in well over 99 percent of cases, exercised by law-abiding citizens.”
The gun writing at National Review seems mostly under the influence of writer Charles Cooke, an immigrant from the UK who, if I’m remembering right, told me about a decade ago that it wasn’t that he was into guns personally but rather as an ideological and freedom thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In any case, it’s nice to see the reality of the position stated so clearly.
But there’s something else I wanted to note about this editorial. It advocates raising the age at which people can buy AR-15s and all long guns from 18 to 21. This also appears to be a focus of discussion on Capitol Hill – though I’m not foolish enough to get my hopes up.
When I first saw this proposed I considered it yet another in that list of farcically marginal reforms. Certainly it is woefully inadequate to the challenge. But as I’ve read more about it and considered it more, there’s more to it than that. It’s worth doing.
A stunningly large number of mass shooters are between the ages of 18 and 21. Uvalde shooter, 18; Buffalo shooter 18; Newtown shooter, 20; Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter, 19. In addition to those in this three year age range many others are just above it. The shooter in the 2019 El Paso mass shooting was 23; the shooter in the AME Church mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina was 21. This isn’t random chance. There’s a lot we know about the teenage and young adult male brain that makes 18, 19 and 20 much higher risk for this stew of interlocking behaviors than men ten or twenty or for that matter even five years older. (Check out the actuarial tables that put a premium for auto insurance for men under the age of 25.) The shooters in Buffalo and Uvalde both appear to have waited until their 18th birthdays to purchase assault rifles to use in their massacres.
Of course young sociopaths can find other ways to get AR-15s. But getting them illegally is another way to get caught. You might say, “Well, they could still just buy a hand gun.” But in fact they can’t. Perversely, federal law requires purchasers of handguns to be 21. But you can buy rifles and shotguns (which includes all assault rifles) when you’re 18.
It’s not a huge change. But it’s a bigger one than it seems on the surface. Florida changed its state law to require purchasers of long guns to be at least 21 in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. Like The National Review, many conservatives who are open to this reform say it must be done at the state level for all the standard and nonsensical ‘federalism’ reasons. But that likely still leaves a substantial opening at the federal level.
It seems possible to do. It’s worth doing. We should try very hard to do it.
My war coverage is anchored by one simple tenet: don’t expect Russia to do something it has never proven able to accomplish. Some day, Russia might get its shit together, but in three months of war, betting against Russia has always paid off.
We may soon be able to add the Popasna salient to that list of Russian failures. That breakthrough on the eastern front was supposed to collapse Ukrainian defenses in the area, leading to the encirclement of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. Almost two weeks later, Russia hasn’t been able to extend more than 15 kilometers from the town. Here’s the last eight days of progress: [map at the link]
Ukraine withdrew its forces south of Popasna to avoid encirclement, so that chunk of red looks good for Russia. But … that’s it. It’s been several days since Russia has even attempted to move. Ukraine General Staff says that “in the Bakhmut direction, russian [sic] occupiers are regrouping for a further offensive.” That was the same language used when Russia was stuck around Kyiv, and the same language when Russia got stuck around Izyum. “Regrouping for a further offensive.”
Sure, Russia may eventually get their shit together and finally prove me wrong, but I just don’t see how Russia pushes past that 15 km ring around Popasna. Remember, the further out they push, the longer the supply lines get, and the less protection those vanguard forces get from its artillery. The range of a Russian howitzer? 16 kilometers. It’s no coincidence that Russia’s offensive has stalled at the edge of its artillery range. Russian troops can only advance when artillery flattens defenses. And if that artillery is moved up closer to the front line, it makes it easier for Ukraine’s longer-range artillery and drones to find and destroy them. Ergo, they get stuck.
So let’s go back to this brilliant Reddit meme: [map at the link]
This meme was posted the first few days of May, when Russia really thought it could push from the Izyum salient down to Horlivka area in one massive, hundreds-of-kilometers-long sweep. The joke was that “by June, their goals will shrunk even further.” Thing is, it’s still May, and those June arrows are already obsolete. Russia has been unable to cross the Donets River near Lyman and Lysychansk, for the northern prong, and the southern prong at Popasna is dead in the water. So what’s left?
Russia’s mighty army, the second-best in their own estimation, failed to conquer Kyiv, failed to conquer Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv despite being on their border. They failed their broad encirclement of the entire Donbas region, a smaller encirclement of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, and the smallest encirclement of Lysychanks and Severodonetsk. What’s left is a direct assault on Severodonetsk against a resupplied and reinforced Ukrainian garrison. Past few days I’ve questioned the wisdom in defending the city […] But Ukrainian General Staff likely shares my underlying philosophy—don’t expect Russia to do something it has never proven able to accomplish. As of now, Russia has taken only two large cities—Kherson via bribe and treason, and Mariupol after 2 ½ months of siege, cut off from all resupply. There’s a rational reason to believe Russia will struggle at Severodonetsk.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the southern Kherson front is picking up steam. General Staff announced that Russian troops have withdrawn from Mykolaivka after suffering “significant losses.” That city lies south of Kryvyi Rih at the administrative border of Kherson (the top-right arrow in this map below). [map at the link]
[…] Russia was interested in claiming full control of Kherson’s borders, aiming to annex it into Russia proper.
The middle arrow is the attack around Davydiv Brid, where Ukraine appears to have advanced around 9 kilometers south. This middle prong threatens supply lines for those Russian troops in north Kherson oblast, further pressuring them to fall back.
Finally, there’s fighting in Snihurivka, the bottom-left arrow on the map above. Snihurivka was briefly in Ukrainian hands after its first counter-offensive in the war back on March 17. You might recall, Russia was trying to get to Odesa, but Mykolaiv was an impenetrable fortress, so Russian forces worked their way up the Southern Bug river, trying to route around it.
After Voznesensk, Ukrainian forces pushed Russia back 120 kilometers (75 miles), the first time Ukraine proved it could retake lost territory. Ukrainian forces got as far as Posad-Pokrovsikote and Snihurivka, until overwhelming Russian artillery halted the advance. Soon after, Russia retook Snihurivka in its push to secure the Kherson administrative borders. Back in March, Ukraine simply didn’t have the artillery resources it has today, and so was unable to press its advantage.
The territory in this region is flat and open, with little cover for advancing forces. This video shows what a typical engagement looks like, with Ukrainian artillery destroying a Russian vehicle attempting to run the gauntlet. [tweet and video at the link]
Two hundred American-donated M113s currently on a ship en route from the United States will prove hugely valuable in advancing amidst these artillery barrages. In fact, the brand new Ukrainian tank brigade likely part of this offensive boasts 70 Dutch M113 variants (along with 100 Polish-donated T-72s). No armored vehicle will survive a direct artillery hit, but those are rare without guided artillery shells (of which Russia has none). The key is to protect from flying shrapnel, which these vehicles do.
The situation at Snihurivka is unclear, with some Ukrainian social media sources claiming it’s been re-liberated, while Russian ones admit only to ongoing combat. I’d guess the latter until we get official confirmation or photographic evidence to the contrary.
If Ukraine can break through those defensive lines, it’s a 50 kilometer sprint down to Beryslav and Kozatske, just across the river from Nova Kakhovka, the main source of water for the entire Crimean peninsula. Kozatske is a reported location for one of those Nazi-esque “filtration camps” holding ~4,000 men from Mariupol. This pocket has immense value for Ukraine, both politically and strategically.
Two years ago, a telescope appeared on the Kickstarter site that intrigued me. It was from the French company Vaonis. I had already seen their radical Stellina instrument and the beautiful images it can produce, but the cost of that device ($4,000) was enough to put it in the “well, that would be nice, but …” category. This smaller device, then still in the works, was called Vespera. It was like Stellina’s little brother. By sneaking in at the Super Early Bird price, I was able to get it for an even $1,000. Still painful, but just doable.
I love astronomy, but I have a problem. If you’ve ever met me, you might have noticed I have the hands of Ben Grimm. That would be the character known as The Thing in Fantastic Four comic books (except I do, fortunately, have one more finger per hand than poor old Ben). Not only are my fingers way too big and blunt to handle anything with delicacy, as I’ve swung past 60, they’ve also become decidedly shaky. Let’s just say you don’t want me playing lead guitar in your band, or performing surgery on your … anything.
So while I’ve had a variety of telescopes throughout my life, using them was often a real frustration. Setting them up, getting them locked on a target, and tracking that target long enough to see anything has always been a challenge. The amount of time I’ve spent in dark fields wiggling things around as I desperately try to figure out why something lined up in my spotting scope but still wasn’t visible through the main scope is best described as Too Much Time. And even when everything else was perfect, the things I’ve seen most clearly in so many a high-powered eyepiece are my own eyelashes.
All of this made the Vespera really appealing to me.
In telescope terms, the best way to describe it is … not a telescope. There’s no eyepiece. No finder scope. It’s really kind of a big white pill, about 15” long and weighing around 11 pounds. The relatively small lens that it uses isn’t even visible when you’re setting it up.
The Vespera is better described as a dedicated space camera. Astrophotography—taking images of objects in space—is a great hobby. However, even more than just setting up a scope and catching a glimpse of something in the night sky, ending up with a nice image can be quite demanding in terms of both equipment and the skill necessary to capture and process an image. The Vespera makes it all easy. So easy, in fact, that those who have mastered all the steps of doing it the hard way are bound to consider this cheating.
To set up the Vespera, carry it to a relatively flat and clear area and level it using the adjustable feet on its small tripod. A small bubble level is included, which makes this simple, but I recommend setting up the Vespera while there’s still a little light in the sky so you can get a good look at how the scope is leveled and double-check that there’s a clear view in any direction you might want to look.
When turned on, the Vespera generates its own Wi-Fi network. Multiple people can connect to this network and, using the free app, view what’s going on with the scope. However, just one person is actually in charge of “driving” the Vespera at any given time. That person can hand off control to someone else on the network, but not having to fight anyone about where the Vespera is pointing is a Good Thing. […]
The new U.S. ambassador to Ukraine has arrived in Kyiv, marking the first time in about three years that America had an ambassador in the country.
Bridget Brink announced in a tweet on Monday that she is in now at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, where she said she is “honored” to join the team “as we stand with Ukraine.”
Her presence in Ukraine comes more than three months after Russia launched its invasion of the country on Feb. 24.
The last person to serve as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was Marie Yovanovitch, who then-President Trump ousted in 2019. She eventually became a key figure during Trump’s first impeachment proceedings.
The Senate confirmed Brink as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in a unanimous voice vote. President Biden nominated her to the post in April. She is a career foreign service officer who has spent much of her career focused on Europe and Eurasia, most recently as ambassador to Slovakia.
The U.S. suspended operations at its embassy in Kyiv in February, when Russia’s invasion was just beginning. Operations had initially been transferred from Kyiv to Lviv, located in the west of the country, before moving to Poland.
Earlier this month, however, American diplomats started arriving in Kyiv as the U.S. prepared to restart embassy operations in the capital city.
[…] The Wall Street Journal reported that officials are trying to walk a fine line between safeguarding the newly opened embassy without letting the security presence be perceived as an escalation by Russia.
“We’re a ways away from anything like that. We’re still developing courses of action, and none of that has been presented yet to the secretary,” Milley said of the plans.
ravensays
Russian state TV
Perhaps the time has come possibly
To admit that Russia’s special operation in Ukraine is over
In the sense that a genuine war has begun
What is more it is World War III
We are forced to demilitarize not just Ukraine but all of NATO
Well, I don’t have to wonder about what I’m doing next week.
According to Russian state TV, World War III has begun and Russia is going to demilitarize NATO. The USA is of course, a big part of NATO.
Strangely enough, I sort of agree with them.
We are in something that looks more and more like a war with Russia every day.
We disagree on who will win it though.
Jelani Cobb: “After mass shootings like those in Uvalde and Buffalo, pro-gun officials say they don’t want to politicize tragedy. But the circumstances that allow for the mass murder of children are inherently political.”
May, a month we traditionally associate with spring, Mother’s Day, and graduations, was defined this year by a far different rite: funerals. In a single ten-day stretch, forty-four people were murdered in mass shootings throughout the country—a carnival of violence that confirmed, among other things, the political cowardice of a large portion of our elected leadership, the thin pretense of our moral credibility, and the sham of public displays of sympathy that translate into no actual changes in our laws, our culture, or our murderous propensities. In the two deadliest of these incidents, the oldest victim was an eighty-six-year-old grandmother, who was shot in a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York; the youngest were nine-year-old fourth-grade students, who died in connected classrooms at Robb Elementary School, in Uvalde, Texas.
In the interim, there were other mass shootings, in Indiana, Washington State, Florida, California, Louisiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and elsewhere. Less than one per cent of gun deaths in the United States are the result of mass shootings. But the data are less salient than another element of the month’s tragedies: the images posted of the children who died, many of them smiling, blithely unaware of the flawed world they were born into. The knowledge that they are no longer alive—that any future iterations of those smiles have been permanently forestalled—is an indictment that we all have to live with.
Some of the victims of the shootings were killed evidently because they were Black; others were killed for reasons that are as yet indiscernible. The shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, though, bore notable similarities. Both were carried out by eighteen-year-olds who had legally purchased semi-automatic rifles shortly before their killing sprees. Both shooters began their attacks before entering the respective buildings. (The assailant in Uvalde shot and critically wounded his grandmother before going to the school.) And both shooters were confronted by armed defenders who failed to stop them. In Buffalo, Aaron Wallace Salter, Jr., a fifty-five-year-old retired police officer who worked security at the supermarket, was killed after firing multiple rounds and striking the shooter’s body armor. The Buffalo police commissioner, Joseph Gramaglia, noting that Salter’s engagement with the gunman gave people time to hide, said, “He undoubtedly saved lives.” […]
Ten years ago, in the aftermath of the horror in Newtown, Connecticut—where a twenty-year-old with a semi-automatic rifle entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and fatally shot twenty children and six adults—Wayne LaPierre, the C.E.O. of the National Rifle Association, said, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” The idea of vigilant protectors subduing armed antagonists spoke to a vision of a society in which firearms are as commonplace as cell phones, and where more guns mean more safety. If the idea seemed absurd then, the passage of time has only made it empirically so.
Two years ago, a study published in the journal Justice Quarterly examined the effects of gun laws in every state. Emma Fridel, an assistant professor of criminology at Florida State University, looked at gun-ownership rates and the proliferation of concealed-carry laws between 1991 and 2016. State lawmakers pushing for laxer laws have tended to argue that a more broadly armed public would serve as a deterrent to violence. Fridel found the opposite: gun-homicide rates in states with more permissive carry policies were eleven per cent higher than in states with stricter laws, and the probability of mass shootings increased by roughly fifty-three per cent in states with more gun ownership.
[…] “This is on you.” Beto O’Rourke, the former Democratic congressman and Presidential candidate, whose angry pledge to take away guns after the killings in El Paso was widely thought to have damaged his political prospects, is running for governor against Abbott this year. That likely explains, in part, why Don McLaughlin, the Republican mayor of Uvalde, who has appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show, called O’Rourke a “sick son of a [B-word]” and accused him of making the shooting “a political issue.” Senator Ted Cruz, who was also at the press conference, later said, “I get tired of all the politicking. It happens every time there is a mass shooting.” That Cruz used the phrase “every time there is a mass shooting” spoke volumes about how commonplace these abominations have become. Two days later, Cruz addressed the annual N.R.A. convention, in Houston.
O’Rourke did not politicize the shooting. The circumstances that make a mass murder of fourth graders possible are inherently political. The legal access to the weaponry involved is political. The most visible people refusing to see these things as political happen to be elected to political office. But O’Rourke was only partially right. Some of this is on Second Amendment fundamentalists and the politicians who translate their zealotry into law—the rest is on every one of us who has yet to find the courage, the creativity, or the resolve to stop it.
Who were the first people to migrate to the Americas? When did they arrive, and how? For centuries, those questions have been shrouded in mystery. No written records and very little archaeological evidence exists to provide clarity. In recent years, however, the examination of genetic data has revolutionized researchers’ ability to find answers. A recent family trip to the Grand Canyon furthered Chris’ interest in talking with one of the most celebrated scholars in the field. Dr. Jennifer Raff is an anthropological geneticist and associate professor at the University of Kansas. She’s also author of the New York Times best-selling book, “Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas.” Raff joins to discuss how the first people migrated to the Americas nearly 20,000 years ago, how genomes showcase the very close relatedness of humans across the globe and the impact of genetic discoveries on narratives.
Dr. Bruce Cohen is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Auckland. His career spans over thirty years where he has time and again used empirical research to tackle the numerous shortcomings of the psy-disciplines. With his upcoming book series, The Politics of Mental Health and Illness, he continues to expose how the psychiatric discourse “doesn’t work for us” but instead greases the wheels of a neoliberal capitalist society.
In this interview he talks about how the psychiatric discourse has left the clinic and entered workplace, how the DSM has been feminized to the detriment of women, how and why the ADHD diagnosis has shifted shape, and lastly, how the global move towards “mental health” and away from “mental illness” might not be positive or benign….
Kelly Carlin, daughter of the late comedian George Carlin, is mystified that Donald Trump followers and right-wingers have tried to claim her dad as one of their own. She came on the pod with comedian and director Judd Apatow to talk to hosts Andy Levy and Molly Jong-Fast about her dad, how they think he’d feel about Republicans today and about Apatow’s upcoming George Carlin documentary on HBO, which Apatow says “terrified” him at first.
In Episode 125 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues his deconstruction of the increasingly sinister, aggression-abetting politics of Noam Chomsky. In his recent interview with Current Affairs, Chomsky echoes Henry Kissinger‘s lecturing to the Ukrainians that they must capitulate to Russian aggression in the interests of global stability—a directive promptly repudiated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Chomsky has long been peddling historical revisionism on Ukraine, but his current convergence with Kissinger is a case study in imperial narcissism—an internalization of the imperialist perspective he has ostensibly dedicated his life to opposing. Fortunately, there is growing dissent on the left to Chomsky’s paradoxical Kissingerian line, including from Ukrainian-American scholars—and from Chomsky’s own Ukrainian translator, Artem Chapeye.
In this public News [Brief], we discuss the phoned-in, cynical response by Republicans to mass shooting and how they’ve devolved into a dark, meta self-parody.
This week, Grace talks to Nick Taylor and Sahil Dutta, two co-authors of Unprecedented?: How COVID-19 Revealed the Politics of Our Economy. They discuss the politics behind the economics of COVID—from debt to care to the labor market—and how the pandemic and current cost-of-living crises are likely to reshape the world going forward.
Idaho was once home to the headquarters of the Aryan Nations. Recently it has seen extremism creep into political power at local and statewide levels. Emboldened extremists are working to squeeze out Republicans who aren’t far right enough. Our guest is reporter Christopher Mathias of the Huffington Post. He recently spent a week traveling across Idaho and wrote about what he learned for the article “Living With the Far-Right Insurgency in Idaho.”
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 158
Once again, the gun nuts and yokel-fascists play while the Feds either cheer them on (i.e. Republicans) or cower in fear of blowback if they actually dealt with them (i.e. Democrats).
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
A senior Russian lawmaker has suggested kidnapping a Nato defence minister in Ukraine and bringing them to Moscow, Reuters reports.
In an interview late on Monday, Oleg Morozov, first elected to the Russian parliament in 1993 and a member of the dominant United Russia party, said on Rossiya-1 state TV:
You know, perhaps it is a fantastical plot that I have brewing … that in the near future, at some stage, a war minister of some Nato country will go by train to Kyiv to talk with [Ukrainian president] Volodymyr Zelenskiy. But he would not get there. And would wake up somewhere in Moscow.
In the interview on the “60 Minutes” talk show late on Monday, TV host Olga Skabeyeva asked Morozov, “you mean we abduct them?”, to which he replied “yes”.
The Canadian government has introduced legislation that would put a freeze on importing, buying or selling handguns.
“We are capping the number of handguns in this country,” said the prime minister, Justin Trudeau. The regulations to halt the growth of personally owned handguns is expected to be enacted this autumn.
“It will be illegal to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada,” the prime minister said.
Canada already has plans to ban 1,500 types of military-style firearms and offer a mandatory buyback programme that will begin at the end of the year.
Trudeau said if someone really wanted to keep their assault weapon it would be made completely inoperable.
Canada had already expanded background checks ahead of this total ban. Trudeau has long had plans to enact tougher gun laws but the introduction of the new measure comes after mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, NY, this month.
…
[Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair] said guns were often smuggled in illegally from the US, which he noted had one of the largest small arms arsenals in the world.
The Canadian government plans to fight gun smuggling and trafficking by increasing criminal penalties, providing more tools to investigate firearms crimes and strengthening border measures.
Trudeau said increased funding already helped border officials double the amount of smuggled guns confiscated at the US border. His government also said the bill would allow for the removal of gun licences from people involved in acts of domestic violence or criminal harassment such as stalking.
The bill would create a new “red flag” law allowing courts to require that people considered a danger to themselves or others surrender their firearms to police. The government said the measure would guard the safety of those applying through the process – often women in danger of domestic abuse – by protecting their identities.
Rifle magazines would be permanently altered so they can never hold more than five rounds, and the bill will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.
…
The new measures are likely to pass in Canada’s parliament as the ruling Liberals and leftist opposition New Democrats have enough votes….
[…] The Associated Press reported the other day on Paxton’s newest problem.
The State Bar of Texas sued Wednesday to punish state Attorney General Ken Paxton for his failed efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election based on bogus claims of fraud…. The state bar asked a Dallas-area court to impose unspecified discipline on the state’s top lawyer, alleging that Paxton’s petitioning of the U.S. Supreme Court to block President Joe Biden’s victory was “dishonest.”
[…] the controversy stems from Paxton’s December 2020 efforts, which included asking the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate election results he didn’t like.
[…] after Donald Trump lost his re-election bid, Paxton sued four states that had the audacity to support the Democratic ticket — Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — arguing that he disapproved of their pandemic-era election procedures. Paxton asked the high court to block those states from voting in the Electoral College.
Reuters’ Brad Heath explained at the time, Paxton was “literally asking the Supreme Court to throw out the results of other states’ presidential elections, set aside the millions of votes cast in states that are not Texas, and have other state legislatures make Trump president.”
It was an utterly bonkers gambit that failed. But since lawyers that pursue utterly bonkers gambits can face sanctions for professional misconduct, the Texas bar association moved forward with its own investigation into Paxton’s efforts, leading to the court case filed last week.
Under normal circumstances, this would be a rather significant problem for a sitting state attorney general, but what makes these circumstances extraordinary is the fact that this new investigation is part of a larger list.
[Paxton] was already under indictment on felony securities fraud charges when members of his own team made multiple criminal allegations against him in October 2020.
A couple of months later, FBI agents arrived at Paxton’s door — as a rule, that’s not a good sign for any politician — and in the months that followed, the Texan faced unpleasant scrutiny from a Texas district attorney’s office. Now, evidently, the State Bar of Texas has joined the club.
Common sense might lead one to believe that there’s simply no way an incumbent facing such circumstances could run and win a re-election campaign. Indeed, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush — a member of a once-powerful family in the Lone Star State — saw the attorney general as vulnerable and launched a primary campaign.
Republican voters in Texas didn’t care: Paxton crushed Bush, winning by roughly 36 points.
He’ll still have to compete in a general election, of course, and Paxton’s re-election bid four years ago was fairly close. That said, Texas is still a red state; 2022 is likely to be a good year for GOP candidates; and by most measures, Paxton is favored to win a third term.
With the one time frontrunners both now removed from the ballot, a new poll shows that the new leader in the Michigan GOP gubernatorial primary is Ryan Kelley, a man recorded in multiple videos as literally part of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol building on January 6th, 2021. It’s not much of a lead. He’s currently pulling 19% support in what is now clearly a highly unsettled race. He’s followed by Kevin Rinke at 15% and Tudor Dixon — the candidate now backed by the DeVos family — at 9%.
Jan. 6th may not have been Kelley’s first or only insurrection. Kelley was also at the center of the pandemic-era agitation that roiled Michigan in 2020 and 2021. He ran a militia-affiliated group called the American Patriot Council which called for the arrest of Gov. Whitmer and others the group identified as “traitors.” The APC’s events were also magnets for the men later charged with planning to kidnap and murder Whitmer.
Kelley later denounced efforts to murder Whitmer, which seems like a good thing to do, but also claimed the attempted assailants were left wing plants used to discredit his group.
A new study from the University of Chicago explains a backstory behind the horrific heatwave in late June to early July of 2021 that enveloped the Pacific Northwest. This data from the university should help project future heatwaves as ‘scientists worry that we are approaching—or have already approached—a tipping point in the alteration of the Earth’s atmosphere, after which extreme events become much more likely.’
As you recall, the temperatures were up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. Many US media outlets reported the extraordinary heat-killing of hundreds of people. […] Climate change is a planetary emergency, and it does not stop at the United States border. The actual death total was at least over 1000 Americans AND Canadians. A Canadian town was incinerated. And a billion marine animals died of high ocean temperatures.
The University of Chicago shares in their presser the work of Professor Noboru Nakamura, who laid out a set of diagnostics to measure the mechanics of sizeable atmospheric pressure events such as this particular event. The National Science Foundation paid for the study. Clare S.Y. Huang, Ph.D., was the other author of the study published by the AGU.
The heat wave began on June 26, 2021.
Previous record high temperatures shattered one after the other, by huge margins. Streetcar cables melted in Portland, Oregon; pavement buckled across the region. Before it was over, a town in Canadian British Columbia tied Death Valley for the highest temperature ever recorded in North America – 121 degrees Fahrenheit.
But the conditions had been set in motion weeks before. Using data collected from satellites and on the ground, UChicago scientists set out to re-create the sequence of events.
They found that in the week prior, a cyclone had formed over the Gulf of Alaska. Cyclones are large, spiral-shaped systems that form around a center of low pressure. (Think of the spiral clouds you see during hurricanes.) When clouds form out of water vapor, the process actually releases heat, which accumulated in the atmosphere.
Then, as the cyclone moved slowly away, it triggered the formation of an anticyclone to the east—a system that rotates slowly around a center of high pressure instead of low. These are known as “blocking” systems because they disrupt the normal eastward movement of weather systems. A blocking anticyclone acts like a blanket, trapping heat in a region.
The result was a warm, stagnant column of air that made it difficult for surface heat to escape to the upper atmosphere as it normally does.
Blocking systems are well known for causing heat waves in the mid-latitudes, explained Emily Neal, a UChicago undergraduate student in environmental science and first author on the paper. “But this was an extraordinarily strong blocking event,” said Neal. “Our analysis showed that the warmth of the air column within the blocking system was in the top 0.01% of all events along the same latitude in the past half a century.”
This study was the first time I have read a presser admitting that the planet has passed the tipping point. Every tenth of a degree temperature rise is critical to prevent as it will help slow the inevitable and help some species evolve in time to avoid extinction.
So, vote green for the Democratic party in 2022 and 2024. Republicans will never assist in this fight, […] Manchin and Mark Kelly joined republicans to prevent President Biden from declaring a climate emergency. We need more Senators of courage and reason. There are quite a few on the ballot this year; let’s elect them. [list at the link]
More than a dozen mass shootings took place as the U.S. marked Memorial Day. The incidents over the three-day holiday weekend saw nine people killed and 63 injured in the wake of the Uvalde elementary school shooting in Texas.
According to estimates from the Gun Violence Archive, 14 mass shootings took place over the three-day weekend from Saturday to Monday in 10 different states across the country including California, Michigan, Texas and Illinois.
The watchdog added that there have been 230 American mass shootings in 34 different states, including Washington, D.C., in the first 150 days of 2022.
The online archive of gun violence in the U.S., defines a mass shooting based only on the numeric value of 4 or more shot or killed, not including the shooter. […]
Memphis, Tenn.
Four people were shot and another person was injured at a car show in North Memphis on Saturday. Memphis Police Department took to Twitter to share that the investigation is still ongoing and one person arrested and charged with convicted felon in possession of a handgun.
Colorado Springs, Colo.
One person was killed and three people were injured at a shooting at a parking lot of a bar in Colorado on Saturday. […]
Fresno, Calif.
Three people were injured and one killed in a shooting in Fresno, Calif. An investigation is still ongoing […]
Malabar, Fla.
Four teenagers were injured in a shooting after an argument at a house party.
Chatanooga, Tenn.
Six teenagers between the ages of 13 and 15 were injured in a shooting on Saturday in Chattanooga, Tenn., which according to Mayor Tim Kelly (I), was believed to be “an altercation between teenagers.” He added that the incident was why he joined mayors from across the U.S. last week “to call on the United States Senate to pass common sense reforms to our gun safety laws,” including background checks, red flag laws, and “raising the age limit so that children can’t purchase assault rifles.”
Chicago, Ill.
Five people were shot in West Garfield Park in Chicago on Sunday, according to Fox32 Chicago.
Taft, Oklahoma
One person was killed and seven people were injured after a shooting took place in Taft, Okla., at a Memorial Day event that saw over 1,500 people in attendance […]
Chicago, Ill.
Four people were wounded and one was killed in a shooting in Chicago on Sunday […]
Houston, Texas
The Harris County Sheriff’s office said that one man was killed as a result of a “chain reaction” of events by a man who was driving to the hospital after being shot. He was driving with a woman and a child in the car, according to the sheriff’s office. The police added that at the original scene of the incident, they found an adult male and female with gunshot wounds, and an adult female who was pistol whipped.
Phoenix, Ariz.
Five people were injured and one person was killed in a shooting in Phoenix on Sunday […] They are all reported to be teenagers and police added it was an active investigation […]
Merced, Calif.
Merced County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Sunday that it is currently investigating a “deadly shooting” at a house party. The statement said that deputies found two juveniles and two adults had been shot […] Police added that one victim was pronounced dead at an area hospital while one victim is in critical condition, and two other victims were treated and released for non-life-threatening injuries.
Henderson, Nev.
Henderson Police Department said Sunday that it is investigating a highway shooting that involved members or affiliates of rival Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs), the Hells Angels OMG and the Vagos OMG. It added in a statement that they discovered multiple subjects who had sustained gunshot wounds. Six victims were transported to a local area hospital and two people were said to be in critical condition. One person arrived at a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries […]
Philadelphia, Penn.
Two people were killed and two others injured in a Memorial Day weekend shooting in Philadelphia. […] police found 47 spent shell casings at the crime scene and are considering the possibility that the incident involved multiple shooters and multiple weapons.
Benton Harbor, Mich.
One person was killed an six people were injured after an argument escalated over tickets to a concert […]
“BREAKING: Jury finds DC lawyer Michael Sussmann NOT GUILTY on charge of lying to the FBI – big loss for special counsel John Durham in 1st trial of his more than three-year investigation.”
It had better be the last trial. Long past time to bring this farce to an end.
KGsays
Boris Johnson faces growing Tory calls for confidence vote. If 54 Tory MPs (15% of the total of 359) write letters to Graham Brady, chair of the “1922 Committee” – the body to which Tory backbenchers belong (backbenchers are MPs not in the government or the corresponding “shadow” office-holders in opposition parties) expressing no confidence in the Tory leader (and don’t withdraw them – as far as I can tell, they can put letters in and retract them as often as they like), then a vote of all Tory MPs is triggered. The leader then needs a simple majority in that vote to stay in office. If they lose, there is then a contest for a new leader, in which the old leader cannot take part. If they win, no new vote can be triggered for a year. Despite the initial response to Sue Gray’s report among Tory MPs being “Meh”, there has been a continued trickle of them calling on him to go, as new revelations mean the brouhaha has not died down. Not all of these MPs going public have necessarily submitted letters, and others may have done so without going public. There seems to be a feeling among political journalists that the magic number will be reached if it hasn’t been already (Brady would probably wait until next week to announce it, as this Thursday is the 70th anniversary of Elizabeth Windsor’s coronation, and we are all instructed to rejoice unstintingly – by coincidence, I’ll be visiting the dentist that day to get a new crown fitted!). Johnson’s cronies claim to be confident he would win a vote, but then they would say that, wouldn’t they – perhaps particularly if they actually think he would lose, because as noted above, a win would leave him safe from deposition for a year.
Starting a fight between metric and imperial units of measurement seems, at first, like an odd choice for Boris Johnson…. But knowingly or not, by reigniting what 19th-century observers once called the “Battle of the Standards”, Johnson has tapped in to a long and wild history of anti-metric feeling that encompasses xenophobia, pseudoscience and fears over lost political sovereignty.
My own introduction to the subject came a few years ago when researching the history of measurement. I’d travelled to Paris to see the original metre and kilogram standards, kept under lock and key in France’s national archives alongside the last letter of King Louis XVI and the original engraving of the declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen. There, I learned how the history of the metric system is entwined with the events captured in these documents: the end of the French monarchy and the beginning of French republicanism.
…
…Here, the political intent of the metric system becomes clear: instead of trusting to the disembodied authority of a long-dead king, the revolutionaries chose to embrace rational knowledge and the shared inheritance of the Earth.
Naturally, this was the cause of a great deal of suspicion in the UK. And in the following century, as metric units spread across Europe and the debate over their adoption gained momentum in the UK, anti-metric campaigners marshalled all manner of bombastic arguments. They decried the metric system as overly complex, unnatural; the product of atheist revolutionaries, and – worst of all – foreign.
After a vote for metric conversion nearly passed through the House of Commons in 1863, an editorial in The Times warned that adoption of the metre and kilogram would fill every household in the land with “perplexity, confusion, and shame”. “It is of no use to urge that other countries have undergone this revolution, and survive,” thundered the author. “What are France, the Zollverein, and Portugal to us? They are accustomed to revolutions, earthquakes, and wars.” Sadly, such exceptionalism and xenophobia hardly sound out of place today.
…Ultimately,…the real reason the UK retained the imperial system is captured in the name itself: it was the economic weight and geographic span of the British empire that ensured that the threat posed by foreign measures could be safely ignored.
There are obvious reasons to cherish and respect imperial units of measure. They have a rich history; their origins date back hundreds of years before the empire ever existed. And their cultural significance remains undimmed in many areas of life. Very few of us would countenance the removal of pints from pubs, for example. But touting the “return” of imperial units to shops is just disastrously retrograde. The logistical burden it would place on supermarkets could lead to increased prices at a time when many household budgets are already stretched thin, while polls show that younger generations are increasingly happy with metric measures. By kindling this debate, Johnson and the Conservative party have certainly keyed in to an emotive and overlooked aspect of our history. But the return of imperial measures is simply unfathomable.
Meanwhile: Carrie. Quite a return for this character. As many will have noticed in recent months, Carrie had been entirely written out of the show – a bit like Chuck Cunningham, Richie and Joanie’s elder brother, who was judged not to have “worked” after season two of Happy Days and was never mentioned again. Not so with Downing Street. Carrie has come roaring back into the franchise in recent days, with Sue Gray and the Met’s failure to explore her so-called Abba party with “the gays” marking a stunning return to form for the establishment. Hats off to all involved, and I’ve no interest in spoiling the moment by suggesting that Chequers has always felt a very, very unexplored corner of Partygate.
The WSJ reported, citing anonymous sources in the White House, that the precision-guided rocket systems could arrive within weeks, and training on how to use them would take at least 10 days.”
“Personally, I don’t think it should have been prosecuted,” jury forewoman. The government “could have spent our time more wisely.”
A second juror told The Post that in the jury room, “everyone pretty much saw it the same way.”
“Meet the TX man who’s making customized caskets for each of the 19 young victims and two teachers from the school shooting in #Uvalde. Trey Ganem visited with the families last week so each casket is personalized to include each child’s interests….”
Q influencers are having a normal one after the Not Guilty verdict came in.
My favorite is Jordan Sather, who’s posted eight times this hour (and counting), including a warning that “frantic emotion kills common sense and critical thinking.”
…
For those of us who don’t follow QAnon plot lines: Sather and the anons are BIG MAD because they were supposed to “trust Durham,” whose investigation was gonna expose the Deep State cabal that framed Trump for Russia collusion.
This was also a popular take in right-wing media…
but my (100% subjective, it must be said) opinion is that your average Gateway Pundit reader or whatever didn’t attach much hopium to Durham — whereas for Q people, sources of hopium were few and far between. And Durham was a big one.
But don’t worry, they’ve already found the right spin. First it was random anons floating it…
and then it was Sather’s take, too:…
[Screenshots at the (Twitter) link. The spin is that the verdict is fine and even “not unplanned for” since the trial was to expose others in the cabal against whom cases will soon be brought. This…isn’t a legitimate purpose for a federal prosecution.]
Anyway, let’s close this by pointing out that the verdict has resulted in A LOT of very predictable calls for military tribunals of QAnon’s enemies.
QAnon is still a fascist execution cult: once Trump and the military kill all their enemies, they expect a golden age to bloom.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said today that Ukraine military forces have had some successes near the city of Kherson and are advancing in parts of the Kharkiv region, reports Reuters.
During late night remarks, Zelenskiy addressed the ongoing military situation and outlined some of Ukraine’s advancements.
Zelenskiy also added that the Russian army still has a significant advantage in terms of equipment and personnel:
Our defenders are showing the utmost courage and remain masters of the situation at the front despite the fact the Russian army has a significant advantage in terms of equipment and numbers.
This is hilarious in a way, (also pathetic and indicative of Trump’s vengeful spirit still managing to waste government money).
Yes, Durham “whose investigation was gonna expose the Deep State cabal that framed Trump for Russia collusion,” found fuck all. What he did try to prosecute was petty and not even material to the case. Total failure.
However, for three long years, Durham gave Trump and QAnon fuckwits something to hang onto. I’m glad it is over … mostly over. Trump and the QAnon clowns will never let it go no matter what.
So, three years later, the courts tell us what we already knew: there was no legitimate reason to launch a federal prosecution in the first place.
As Steve Benen pointed out:
For years, Donald Trump has asked, “Where’s John Durham?” We can now answer the question: Durham’s in court, losing in humiliating fashion.
More commentary:
Over the course of several months, Donald Trump has periodically blurted out special counsel John Durham’s name, hoping the prosecutor would bolster some of the former president’s conspiracy theories. Before leaving the White House, Trump even suggested Durham’s probe could serve as a possible vehicle for retaliating against his perceived enemies. [And William Barr let Trump believe that. I think Barr gave Durham to Trump like a parent gives a pacifier to a fussy child.]
But the longer the investigation continued, the more impatient the Republican become. “Where’s John Durham?” Trump asked in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
[…] NBC News reported:
A federal jury in Washington on Tuesday found Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann not guilty on a charge of lying to the FBI. Prosecutors from special counsel John Durham’s office had contended that Sussmann misrepresented himself during a meeting with the FBI’s general counsel in 2016 in hopes of orchestrating an “October surprise” against rival Donald Trump.
[…]
I wish media outlets would stop repeating the “Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer” bit. That had nothing to do with the information Sussmann presented to the FBI.
Durham and his team have been at this for nearly three years, and this was the first trial against someone charged by the special counsel’s office. It didn’t take jurors long to conclude that the case against Sussman was wrong.
[…] The original investigation into Trump’s Russia scandal, led by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, led to a series of striking findings: The former president’s political operation in 2016 sought, embraced, capitalized on, and lied about Russian assistance — and then took steps to obstruct the investigation into the foreign interference.
The Trump White House wasn’t pleased, and the Justice Department’s inspector general conducted a lengthy probe of the Mueller investigation. Not surprisingly, the IG’s office found nothing improper. [Investigate the investigators! Discover leftwing, Hillary-Clinton-driven cabals! Doofuses and Dunderheads at work.]
[…] then-Attorney General Bill Barr tapped a federal prosecutor — U.S. Attorney John Durham — to conduct his own investigation into the investigation in the fall of 2019.
After an extended period of apparent inactivity, the prosecutor last September indicted cybersecurity attorney Michael Sussmann for allegedly having lied to the FBI. Soon thereafter, evidence emerged that Durham’s indictment was misleading, relying on selective quotes and omitting relevant details from their proper context. In December, Sussman’s lawyers disclosed evidence that raised additional doubts about the reliability of Durham’s charges.
Indeed, the whole case was terribly odd. Sussman met with the FBI nearly six years ago to discuss alleged connections between the Trump Organization’s computers and the Kremlin-linked Alfa Bank. According to Durham, he claimed he wasn’t acting on Clinton’s behalf when he secretly was. Sussman’s defense team has said he never claimed not to have clients, and it didn’t much matter who he worked for anyway. [!!!! Correct.]
The case nevertheless went to trial, […] At this point, Durham’s investigation into the Russia scandal investigation has lasted longer than Mueller’s original probe.
Indeed, let’s not forget that during the Mueller investigation, Trump and his allies routinely made the case that the inquiry was taking too long, cost too much taxpayer money, and needed to wrap up. All the while, Mueller and his team put together an impressive list of criminal convictions.
Any chance we’ll hear related chatter now about Durham’s increasingly pointless exercise? […]
Donald Trump’s Save America PAC sent out an email blast Tuesday morning pushing bizarre claims Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s landslide win for the Republican nomination for governor was the result of voter fraud…. Under the heading, “ICYMI: Something Stinks in Georgia,” the Save America PAC linked to a five-day old article of the same name penned by journalist Emerald Robinson. The article, which argued that Kemp’s victory was “suspect” because a Trump endorsement is “the single most powerful force in the universe of American politics,” speculated that “obvious fraud” had rigged the election results.
LOL. What a bunch of hogwash.
Commentary:
[…] The incumbent governor won by roughly 52 points, humiliating former Sen. David Perdue who ran a ridiculous campaign based on little more than Trump’s discredited lies.
It was the third time in three weeks that a Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate lost in a Republican primary.
A sensible response would be for the former president and his operation to take stock, consider what went wrong, and adjust accordingly. After all, Georgia wasn’t exactly a nail-biter: Imagined “fraud” can’t explain away a blowout loss.
What Team Trump is instead doing is promoting a conspiracy theory about “obvious fraud“ despite the fact that there’s literally no evidence of fraud.
What’s more, it’s not just Georgia. Let’s not forget that it was two weeks ago today when Pennsylvania Republicans voted in their U.S. Senate primary. As vote tallies came in, and it was unclear whether Mehmet Oz had defeated hedge fund executive David McCormick, the former president told the celebrity doctor to simply declare victory anyway.
As we’ve discussed, Trump’s rationale was rooted in — what else? — the prospect of conspiratorial election mischief.
[…] Making matters considerably worse, the former president published another missive this morning, which read in part, “Stop FINDING VOTES in PENNSYLVANIA. RIGGED?”
[…] The conventional wisdom holds that Trump too often takes the position that any Democratic victory is, practically by definition, an illegitimate outcome. But we’re occasionally reminded that he has similar ideas about Republican victories if he considers them the wrong kind of Republican.
“I’m not prone to believing in conspiracies, yet I am getting closer and closer to think that editors of the @nytopinion and the @guardian’s opinion page teamed up to make Kissinger’s suggestions in Davos look reasonable by publishing some egregiously poorly argued takes….”
It’s hard to know what there is bad enough to say about the John Durham probe, which just saw its cause celebre indictment of lawyer Michael Sussmann drop kicked to eternity in a rapid acquittal. This was a corrupt effort from the git-go. Durham’s own deputy, who had worked with or for him for decades, felt obliged to resign because of pressure to produce meritless indictments to save Trump’s bacon in the dying days of his presidency.
Perjury and false statement cases are generally only brought when the evidence of deception is overwhelming. The cases most often turn on whether the deception was meaningful, material to an actual case. In this case the evidence that Sussmann deceived anyone was extremely thin. The argument that the notional deception was material to anything was even weaker.
Durham’s probe has gone on more than a year longer than the Mueller probe it was purportedly investigating. And it’s biggest “get” was this absurd indictment that was ignominiously tossed this afternoon. This was never a true investigation or prosecution. It was always a political assignment created by Bill Barr for the benefit of Donald Trump. Corrupt from the first moment, fruit of the poison tree.
This article is headed by a very scary photo of a bomb disposal group of three men at work.
This morning, U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink is back in Kyiv and has clearly adopted the appropriate Zelenskyy-inspired dress code [she is dressed in casual clothes: jeans, sweater, sneakers]. The return of U.S. embassy to Kyiv pretty much brings things back to full strength on a diplomatic front with a few exceptions … like Russia.
Meanwhile, Ukraine continues its counteroffensive northwest of Kherson. As of Sunday, Ukrainian forces had moved against Russian positions on at least three points of the line. Some reports indicated that this offensive had rapidly penetrated 9km or more beyond positions as they were understood last week.
The big question is: Is the Kherson counteroffensive the start of a general collapse of Russian forces in the area, as in the Battle of Kyiv, or is it a relatively small counteroffensive whose achievements may be momentarily spectacular, but not enough to shift momentum of the invasion, like the previous counteroffensive at Kharkiv? [map at the link]
KHERSON
Reports now indicate that Ukrainian forces have recaptured Mykolayivka at the northwest end of the Russian-occupied area and have struck against Russian troops in neighboring Ivanivka. Southwest of that position by 30km, Ukrainian forces that crossed the Inhulets River at Davydiv Brid are holding that city and have moved to recapture multiple villages in the area while pushing Russian forces to what appears to be the new front line at Bruskynske. And 30km southwest of that position, Ukrainian forces have moved to recapture the town of Snihurivka, which holds a significant crossroads north of Kherson. Some reports indicate Ukrainian troops have already captured Snihurivka, and have even reported that Russian forces surrendered, but these are almost certainly speculative. Most indications are that conflict in Snihurivka continues.
[…] Ukraine is not assaulting these towns with a barrage of artillery before moving in. They’re trying to take positions reasonably intact; a huge contrast with the Russian technique of blasting everything to rubble before trying to capture a location.
[…] Ukraine will keep probing for weaknesses, grabbing back what it can, going around Russian strongpoints where possible, and hitting locations that may be unexpected.
However, it’s unclear just how far Ukraine can push this counteroffensive. North of Kharkiv, after two weeks of astounding progress that saw Ukrainian forces pushing Russia back to the border at Ternova and threatening Russian supply lines east of Staryi Saltiv, Ukrainian movements seem to have ended. Ukraine has successfully defended its gains, including holding back repeated Russian assaults on Ternova, but it’s not known if they still hold any territory on the east side of the Siverskyi Donets River, or if they’ve made any further progress in dislodging Russian forces from their remaining locations on the west side of the river.
The whole operation in the Kharkiv area took place under an admirable blanket of operational secrecy. That made achievements like the capture of Staryi Saltiv, the race to Ternova, and putting Ukrainian forces on the east side of the river possible. But it makes it impossible to know why the counteroffensive seems to be over. Did Ukraine suffer enough losses that it had to regroup? Did the MOD determine that some of the troops involved were needed elsewhere? Did Ukraine simply achieve its goals by moving Russian forces away from the city of Kharkiv and forcing the relocation of Russian troops from Izyum. We don’t know.
Is the long-promised counteroffensive near Kherson also meant to achieve limited objectives, or to force Russia to withdraw forces from the conflict in the east? Stay tuned. [map at the link]
KHARKIV
[…] On May 22, Ukrainian forces had apparently pushed Russian troops out of Zarchine and Metalivka north of the Staryi Saltiv bridge and were contesting for the town of Buhaivka. Those reports first appeared in Telegram statements from Russian forces in the area and were later confirmed by a Ukrainian source. […]
Meanwhile, Russia appears to still be shelling Ukrainian positions from Vesele and locations NW of Lyptsi. Areas around Kozacha Lopan have been fortified. Russia has launched numerous attempts to retake areas, but Rubizhne appears to be the only town formerly reoccupied by Ukraine that is now in dispute. […]
Compared to the line west of Kherson, the area between Kharkiv and the Russian border is a very compact battlefield, where a small change in resources could make a big difference. However, for now, the area appears relatively stable as both sides are busy in eastern Ukraine. [map at the link]
SUMY
For about a week, there have been reports that Russian forces have been relocating from bases around Kursk to along the border with Sumy near the Russian town of Sudzha. These actions have come as Russian-controlled media outlets have repeated statements that Russia still intends to return to Kyiv and to capture all of Ukraine.
Is this an absolute feint, in the style of constantly having Belarus shift soldiers around while never bringing one across the border? It seems likely. For Russia to open up another area of conflict around Sumy doesn’t make any sense for them strategically other than as an effort to draw Ukrainian forces away from significant areas. […]
It’s likely that Ukraine will not shift significant forces to meet this threat unless they have intelligence indicating that there’s genuine action. There are territorial defense forces in the region, so Russia isn’t going to just drive down the highway to Sumy without a confrontation. [map at the link]
IZYUM
Izyum is standing in here not just for the Izyum salient, but the whole of eastern Ukraine. And it’s this area that the world is focused on for the moment.
Ukrainian forces appear to have captured the town of Velyka Komyshuvakha west of Izyum. This could be the start of turning what had been a hit-and-run counteroffensive in the area into the same sort of push seen first at Kharkiv and now at Kherson. Izyum was once home to 27 Russian Battalion Tactical Groups, but at this point well over half of those BTGs are absent. Some were sent north when it seemed Ukraine might threaten supply lines. Some have joined in the push at Severodonetsk. Some have simply been forced to leave and regroup after those Ukrainian attacks beat the holy hell out of them.
Russia is still moving out of Izyum, managing to capture small areas to both the south and east as they push toward joining up with forces at Lyman. […] Ukrainian attacks may make them turn around and look west.
However, the big action remains around Severodonetsk. Russian forces have reportedly occupied between a third and half of the town. Ukrainian troops put out a series of videos showing them moving peacefully through parts of the town to counter Russian propaganda that Severodonetsk had already fallen. However, there is no doubt that the pressure cooker is at a critical point. Russia has control of suburban areas on all sides and the concertation of forces is high.
Writing in the Ukrainian edition of Forbes, war reporter Ilya Ponomarenko paints the moment in terms that can only be described as dire ((translated using Google translate):
After weeks without progress, Russia has made important progress and brought Ukraine to the brink of a major catastrophe
The actions of Ukrainian troops forced the Russians to engage in extremely bloody and grueling urban battles in Severodonetsk. The tactical success of the Russians near Popasnaya in late May is really worrying. Russia managed to strengthen its marine units, as well as the 57th Motorized Rifle Brigade and the Wagnerians, break through the defenses of the Ukrainians and pass Popasna.
While Ukraine has since pushed back on some of the advances Russia made out of Popasna, Ponomarenko calls the speed of Russian movements in the area “ a very dangerous development.” Russia, he reports, enjoys a “ superiority in manpower, heavy weapons, and air support” that is making the situation untenable for Ukraine.
According to Ponomarenko, the possibility that as many as 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers could be “trapped, cut off from unoccupied Ukraine, and possibly exhausted and destroyed” is very real.
If so, it would be a genuine disaster, not just in terms of forces lost, but in the victory, it would hand to Putin and the unmistakable defeat it would give Ukraine. It would demonstrate that, no matter how poor their equipment has been, no matter how badly they have juggled logistics or command, and no matter how many times rumors spread that Russian forces were in despair, Russia can still execute its One Tactic: blow it up with artillery, then walk over it.
As reports continue to come in of Russia capturing more and more of Severodonetsk, perhaps the most frightening sign is how few locations in the city are currently being hit by artillery as indicated by NASA’s FIRMS data. In other areas, that kind of reduction in the number of strikes signaled Russia turning off the guns and rolling in the tanks. At this hour (12 ET on Tuesday), Russian forces are reportedly moving through the town block by block. [map at the link]
On the other hand, there’s something interesting in the FIRMS data — a cluster of what looks to be very recent hits near Borovenky about 9km to the north. It doesn’t make sense for Russia to be firing into this location … so who is? Of course, this whole area is in easy artillery range for guns across the river at Lysychansk.
There are multiple reports on Tuesday that signal Ukraine may be about to depart Severodonesk—a territorial loss that clearly carries a huge significance for both sides. However, it’s not worth losing a major portion of the Ukrainian army. Losing Severodonesk would be bad. Losing the defenders of Severodonesk would be a real disaster.
But in any case, this is not looking to be a good day on the extreme right of the Ukraine map.
Child labor? Some Republicans think we should have more of it.
[…]
DOOCY [“Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy]: So, one of the problems as well is, from your point of view, Mark, is the child labor laws, because there are certain restrictions on who you can hire. If they could change a law to be — you know, so that it’s fair for you and fair for the families, how would that look?
LAWRENCE [Mark Lawrence, owner of Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour].: It’s quite simple. A high school student can play sports. They can go to an away game for sports and by the time they get back from their away game, it can be 11:00 at night or later on a school night. However, federal labor laws state that during the school year an employee — a high schooler can only work until 7:00 at night. Well, especially in my business, in the ice cream industry, 7:00 at night is when you’re just starting to get rolling.
DOOCY: Yeah, exactly.
LAWRENCE: That would be one of the biggest things.
DOOCY: Sure. That’s a great idea.
Commentary from Wonkette:
[…] Can’t imagine why there might be a distinction between school activities and labor laws. You know, for minor children who are students.
But look, dude needs some kids to get in here and sling some damn ice cream, he ain’t got time for details. We’re sure he is also highly encouraging of strong immigration policies that give a pathway to citizenship for people who are already here, maybe they could work at his ice cream shoppe? If not why not?
We must confess that we know little about this dude or his ice cream shoppe, save for the fact that when “Fox & Friends” asked him if he wants to come on TV and moan he apparently was like “yeah.” So that tells us something.
In summary and in conclusion, fuck this guy, the end.
[…] Biden and members of the Korean pop group BTS discussed a rise in hate crimes and discrimination against Asians that began in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Members of BTS also appeared at the White House briefing on Tuesday.
“Meanwhile in Russia, propagandists on Kremlin-controlled state television are having another normal day, arguing that the war against Ukraine can be over only after they move the borders far enough and drive a stake through Zelensky’s heart. Watch:…”
Two schools of thought in Q land after the Durham failure: one is that every loss just means a bigger win down the road, and the other is that it was always rigged because something something Clintons.
[Screenshots at the (Twitter) link.]
I write a lot in THE STORM IS UPON US about the ability of prophecy believers to absorb crushing losses as brilliant wins, and why Q being wrong about everything all the time means Q believers love him even more.
Q never mentioned Sussman except for quoting one story about him. But Durham really was Q’s last best hope for mass arrests, to the point where the last drop Q made that used text was just the word “Durham.”
Sadly, Q believers never feel they’ve been cheated by Q.
Fox last hour before Sussman was found not guilty: An acquittal in the Sussman trial “could raise doubts about the legal merits of Durham’s entire investigation.”
Fox this hour after Sussman was found not guilty: THE JURY WAS RIGGED, ANOTHER BLACK EYE FOR OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM
“To be sovereign is to not be subject to another’s authority, another’s desires, or another’s gaze but rather to be the author of one’s own history.” This conviction founds Simone Leigh: Sovereignty, the artist’s new body of work created for the U.S. Pavilion of the 2022 Venice Biennale. Leigh is the first Black woman to be awarded the prestigious commission.
Comprised of towering bronze works and ceramics, the exhibition continues Leigh’s questions about self-determination, historical erasure, and Black femme subjectivity. She explores both interiority and what it means for Black women, who she’s repeatedly described as her primary audience, to move through the world.
While largely sculptural, Sovereignty opens with Leigh’s reinterpretation of the pavilion’s Palladian-style facade. A thatched roof and wooden columns cloak the stately architecture in reference to the 1931 Paris Colonial Exposition, which celebrated French dominance and extracted and exoticized objects, images, and materials of African cultures….
Inside are additional figurative works, including the soaring, abstract bronze piece titled “Sentinel,” which has a wide, sloping head and echoes the squat “Satellite” at the exhibition’s entrance. Evoking the artistic traditions within Africa and of the diaspora, many of the pieces address questions and themes that recur in Leigh’s practice, although they extend her oeuvre, as well. As with her earlier works, cowrie shells make an appearance, emerging from a large, ceramic jug and resting atop a raffia dome in “Cupboard.”…
“In order to tell the truth, you need to invent what might be missing from the archive, to collapse time, to concern yourself with issues of scale, to formally move things around in a way that reveals something more true than fact,” she says in a statement about Sovereignty, adding in her opening remarks that, “Black women and Black people in general across the diaspora … We often are getting information from someone who had a different intention than we have.”
In addition to Sovereignty, Leigh’s monumental bust “Brick House,” which was stationed at the High Line through May of 2021, is included in the Biennale’s international exhibition The Milk of Dreams, on view through November 27. “Brick House” also won a Golden Lion, the exhibition’s highest award.
Photos of the powerful art at the link.
ravensays
Exclusive: Leading experts accuse Russia of inciting genocide in Ukraine and intending to ‘destroy’ Ukrainian people By Ivana Kottasová, CNN Updated 0703 GMT (1503 HKT) May 27, 2022 edited for length
(CNN)Russia’s actions in Ukraine provide enough evidence to conclude that Moscow is inciting genocide and committing atrocities intended to destroy the Ukrainian people, according to the first independent report into allegations of genocide in that country.
The legal report, signed by more than 30 leading legal scholars and genocide experts, accuses the Russian state of violating several articles of the United Nations Genocide Convention. It warns there is a serious and imminent risk of genocide in Ukraine, backing the accusations with a long list of evidence including examples of mass killings of civilians, forced deportations and dehumanizing anti-Ukrainian rhetoric used by top Russian officials.
The report was put together by New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, a US-based think tank, and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights which is based in Canada, and is set to release on Friday, with the authors sending copies to parliaments, governments and international organizations around the world. An advance copy of the report has been shared exclusively with CNN.
Under the UN Genocide Convention, its signatories have a legal obligation to prevent genocide — and the report is urging the international community to act.
The report points finger directly at Moscow, accusing Russia’s top officials of orchestrating incitement to genocide and laying the groundwork for future genocide by repeatedly denying the existence of a Ukrainian identity.
What is genocide
Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Source: Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
As examples of the evidence that Russia is breaching the convention, the experts highlight repeated statements made by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin who has made it clear he believes Ukraine has no right to exist as an independent state.
They also point to the dehumanizing language used by top Russian officials to describe Ukrainians — including worlds like “bestial,” “subordinate” and “filth” — as well as their portrayal of Ukraine as a “Nazi state” and an “existential threat” to Russia.
Ukrainians must endure a brutal ‘filtration’ process to escape Russian-held territory. Here’s what that means
It says that the well-documented massacres and summary executions in Bucha, Staryi Bykiv, and in Sumy and Chernihiv regions, Russia’s deliberate attacks on shelters, evacuation routes and healthcare facilities, as well the indiscriminate targeting and bombardment of residential areas, rapes, sieges, grain thefts and forced deportations to Russia all amount to “genocidal pattern of destruction.”
CNN has independently confirmed many of the atrocities mentioned in the report.
There is a new report out that calls the Russian invasion of Ukraine a genocide.
No surprise, that is exactly what it is.
From the article:
“Ukrainians must endure a brutal ‘filtration’ process to escape Russian-held territory. Here’s what that means
It says that the well-documented massacres and summary executions in Bucha, Staryi Bykiv, and in Sumy and Chernihiv regions, Russia’s deliberate attacks on shelters, evacuation routes and healthcare facilities, as well the indiscriminate targeting and bombardment of residential areas, rapes, sieges, grain thefts and forced deportations to Russia all amount to “genocidal pattern of destruction.”
Add to this that ca. 30,000 civilians have died, 1.3 million civilians have been deported to Russia, including over 200,000 children. If past Russian behavior holds, many of most of those people will end up disappeared, and no one will know what happened to them. They are being sent to the remotest parts of Russia, the high arctic and Pacific coasts.
The Russians aren’t hiding it either.
They frequently say that Ukrainians don’t really exist and there is no such thing as the Ukrainian language. They’ve been saying that periodically since the days of the Russian empire before the USSR was formed.
ravensays
One of the frequent claims of the Russians is that Ukrainians and the Ukrainian language don’t really exist. They are just imperfect Russians.
They also often claim that Russian and Ukrainian are closely related languages with some degree of mutual intelligentability.
That isn’t really true either.
Ukrainian is closest to Belarusian and then Polish and Slovakian. It’s distantly related to Russian. And most Ukrainians can understand Russian because it has been the language of the conqueror and dominant government for most of two centuries.
Odd factoid. Their war time leader, Zelenskiy is a native Russian speaker.
KGsays
SC@173, Lynna, OM@175,
There should surely be an investigation into the investigation into the investigation :-p
KGsays
But Durham really was Q’s last best hope for mass arrests, to the point where the last drop Q made that used text was just the word “Durham.” – SC quoting Mike Rothschild@183
Well of course Q wasn’t referring to John Durham and his false flag investigation at all! But to Durham, England, which is the real location of the server that changed all the election results so Trump appeared to lose an election which actually he won by a landslide! The server is probably in the crypt of the Cathedral, which belongs to the Church of England, a known nest of Cultural Marxists and Critical Race Theorists!
StevoRsays
The world has a new champion for largest plant -at least in area :
Athough this is rather old news. Dunno if things have changed there since 2018..
blfsays
SC@177, I’m rather confused which Grauniad opinion(s?) is being talked about. A quick search failed to find any which mentioned (in regards to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine) Kissinger, Davos, giving up territory, etc. Indeed, a snippet from their latest editorial, The Guardian view on the EU’s oil embargo: ramping up the cost of Putin’s war, rather suggests otherwise:
The goal, as Mr Putin’s appalling war of choice continues, must be that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian people are enabled to negotiate its end from a position of strength and dignity. If this is to be achieved, it will be through a combination of economic pressure on Moscow and military resistance. Russia’s armed forces are being steadily and damagingly depleted, even as incremental territorial gains are made. […]
I suspect @177 is referring to the Grauniad’s pet rightwing loon, Simon Jenkins, who recently vomited froth The EU should forget about sanctions — they’re doing more harm than good. I normally don’t bother to read any of that loon’s putrid rants, but this time held my nose and did to try and verify my suspicion. Teh nutcase is roughly saying the same thing as Kissinger, that the economic blowback from sanctions is unacceptable, yadda yadda yadda. To give Jenkins a tiny bit of credit, he doesn’t seem to echo Kissinger about trading land-for-peace. However, there are no suggestions at all on how to stop the invasion, and like Kissinger, Ukraine’s input and views are completely ignored. (Teh loon also doesn’t mention UK or States sanctions, going on only about the EU’s sanctions.)
Note, b.t.w., the Gruaniad’s editorial is directly contradictory to their pet lunatic columnist’s opinion.
That leads me to suspect @177 confused the Grauniad’s position / editorials with opinions expressed by individual — in this case, just one — columnist. (My recollection is Grauniad editorials are collectively agreed-on by the editorial team, or “editors”, contrary to @177 is asserting.) Al Jazeera deals with this same sort of confusion by appending to each of its columnist’s columns / opinions the disclaimer:
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
SC@177, I’m rather confused which Grauniad opinion(s?) is being talked about. A quick search failed to find any which mentioned (in regards to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine) Kissinger, Davos, giving up territory, etc.
There have been several “egregiously poorly argued takes” of this sort. I’ve linked to one or two (my mini-spiel about one in early May, for example), and I believe KG might have as well.
They’ve published a range of views, some I agree with and some I don’t. That’s fine. But there’s no need for the NYT or the Guardian to “balance” solid, well-argued takes with shoddy, weak, or even propagandistic ones.
As Iran’s nuclear program reaches a new, dangerous level, it’s worth reflecting on how serious a mistake Donald Trump made when he abandoned the JCPOA.
In February, Biden administration officials held a closed-door briefing with senators on Iran’s nuclear program, and as we discussed soon after, it was apparently a sobering discussion: Politico reported that U.S. intelligence agencies believe Iran is now at a stage in which it could produce enough material for a nuclear bomb in as little as two months.
[…] NBC News reported yesterday on the latest findings from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran has accumulated enough enriched uranium to build a nuclear bomb, according to new findings from the United Nations atomic agency. The International Atomic Energy Agency also said in a separate report that Iran has failed to provide credible explanations about nuclear material found at several sites in recent years, raising questions about the nature of its nuclear work.
From the United States’ perspective, broadly speaking, I think that there are a couple of angles to this that are worth keeping in mind: How we reached this point, and what we’re going to do about it.
On the former, I feel like I’ve been banging my head against this wall for a long while, but we’re still dealing with the consequences of Donald Trump’s policy toward Iran. It was Joe Cirincione, whose expertise in international nuclear diplomacy has few rivals, who wrote a piece for NBC News last year explaining that the international community has been tasked with trying to “undo the damage Donald Trump caused when he left an agreement that had effectively shrunk Iran’s [nuclear] program, frozen it for a generation and put it under lock and camera.”
I continue to believe this is an underappreciated truth. As we’ve discussed, the Iran deal — formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (or JCPOA) — did exactly what it set out to do: The agreement dramatically curtailed Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and established a rigorous system of monitoring and verification. Once the policy took effect, each of the parties agreed that the participants were holding up their end of the bargain, and Iran’s nuclear program was, at the time, on indefinite hold.
And then Trump took office and got to work abandoning the policy for reasons he was never able to explain.
The West lost verification access to Tehran’s program, and Iran almost immediately became more dangerous by starting up advanced centrifuges and ending its commitment to limit enrichment of uranium.
What’s more, Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that after Trump’s decision, Iranian attacks on U.S. personnel in the region got worse, Iranian support for regional proxies got worse, and the pace of the Iranians’ nuclear research program got “much worse.”
And now, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran’s nuclear program — the one that was “frozen for a generation” and “put under lock and camera” as part of Barack Obama’s breakthrough success — has reached a new, dangerous level.
To the extent that accountability matters, Trump and those who celebrated his decision to abandon a policy that was working have some explaining to do.
As for the near future, the Biden administration still hopes to undo Trump’s mistake and strike a new international agreement, though those talks have faltered in recent months, and a breakthrough, at least for now, appears unlikely.
Daryl Kimball of the Arms Control Association think tank told NBC News yesterday that the International Atomic Energy Agency’s findings “underscore the urgency of restoring compliance” with the international compromise deal.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From there:
The expected loss of Sievierodonetsk “is unlikely to be the crux” of Russia’s Donbas campaign, a Western official said, in a war that could now grind on “to the end of the year” given the slow rate of Moscow’s advance.
The average gain of Russian forces in Popansa south of Sievierodonetsk has “averaged between 500m and one kilometre” a day in the last month, the official added, meaning capturing the remainder of the Donetsk region in the Donbas would take months more at least.
Russia would have to achieve “further challenging operational objectives” to declare victory on the Kremlin’s now reduced campaign terms, the official said. That would require taking the city of Kramatorsk, more of the M04 main road between the Ukrainian-held city of Dnipro and the Russian-held city of Donetsk, they added, and more rivers would have to be crossed in the process.
The official said in a briefing:
Although we see Russia is starting to learn from its mistakes and make advances in the Donbas, I think it’s important to stress that the battle for Sievierodonetsk is is unlikely to be the kind of the crux of the Donetsk campaign.
Russian casualty rates were dropping because of the increasingly concentrated fighting in the Donbas, and were probably “not necessarily significantly more” than a previous estimate of 15,000 killed given in April. The number of Russians wounded, since the war began, is estimated at around 40,000.
The west believes that Ukraine’s estimate that it is losing 60 to 100 troops a day killed in the current fighting is “pretty credible” although troop morale remains far higher than the invaders, where the official argued there was “growing disillusionment” with Russia’s slow-moving campaign among junior soldiers and more senior ranks.
Russia may slow down its offensive after capturing Sievierodonetsk to regroup, in what could amount to a pause.
The official said it was unlikely the Russian invaders would be “in a position to continue to exploit immediately” once the city, the last held by Ukraine in the Luhansk region, fell. Instead, Moscow’s forces could be forced into “a kind of an operational pause” to “reconstitute and resupply,” they said.
From their most recent summary:
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Ukraine has given “assurances” that it will not use long-range weapons systems provided by Washington against targets on Russian territory. Blinken’s remarks came after the US president, Joe Biden, confirmed he will send the more advanced, longer-range rocket systems to Kyiv, a critical weapon that Ukrainian leaders have been asking for as they struggle to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the supply of US advanced rocket systems to Ukraine increases the risk of a “third country” being dragged into the conflict. Lavrov’s deputy, Sergei Ryabkov, said that Moscow viewed US military aid to Ukraine “extremely negatively” and that it would increase the risk of a direct confrontation.
In another wild week for right-wing Fever Dreams, Ted Cruz is all about door control now, Dinesh D’Souza has new competition from the MyPillow guy in the fight for the craziest documentary about what Democrats supposedly did to steal the 2020 election, and much more as host Will Sommer and guest host Zachary Petrizzo help navigate the madness, with an assist from “Unholy” author and Christian nationalism expert Sarah Posner.
Colonial Myanmar was teeming with animals, both wild and domesticated. Yet few histories have devoted close attention to the importance of animals to British colonial rule in Myanmar. Jonathan Saha’s new book, Colonizing Animals: Interspecies Empire in Myanmar (Cambridge UP, 2021), does exactly this. According to Saha, imperialism was an “interspecies affair”. Colonial empires would have been impossible without the human mobilization and management of various animal species to first conquer, and then to maintain these empires. Saha brings together the emerging field of animal studies with the more established field of postcolonial studies to produce a new history of colonial Myanmar where the relationship between humans and animals is front and centre. In doing so. Saha highlights the importance of the lives of “non-human” animals in how we understand Southeast Asian history.
With partners and allies stepping up big, Ukraine’s once long list of weapons requests has gotten shorter and shorter over time, and has been whittled down these past two weeks to one final request: MLRS, MLRS, and MLRS. It doesn’t mean they don’t need everything else, and more of it, but long-range artillery has been Ukraine’s final missing piece toward putting together the kind of army that won’t just hold off Russia, but pushing them out of Ukraine.
MLRS is “multiple launch rocket system,” or rocket artillery, and as I’ve written about several times, this is what I did for three years in the Army. MLRS. And specifically, I was fire direction for a MLRS platoon, managing fire missions and, more importantly, its logistics—fuel, water, food, ammunition (for the three M270 launchers), and mechanics for all the things that broke down. There were around 60 vehicles supporting nine launchers in my batter, and it was rare when we had all nine operational. I read somewhere that a MLRS unit has the highest per-mile logistical cost in the entire Army. And while I haven’t verified that “fact,” my experience certainly backs up an extremely high operational challenge. I’ve been horrified at the idea of Ukraine having to manage that kind of logistical and mechanical challenge in the middle of a war, without an established NCO corps with MRLS experience. The alternative, the wheeled, simplified version of the M270, the M142 HIMARS, is objectively a better option. And it’s what the United States will send to Ukraine. [snipped reference to other detailed explanations about HIMARS and MLRS]
Oh good, the swivel mechanism has been upgraded since my time, that’s big. The U.S. says they can train Ukrainians on HIMARS in two weeks. The maintenance/mechanics crowd, that won’t be enough time. But the guys inside the cab? They can train those in one day. I was fire direction, but I got to sit in the M270 and fire rockets several times, for fun, and it was a computer, type in the coordinates, and press a button. That was it. I can’t imagine things have gotten any more complicated than that in the last 30 years. The bigger learning task is loading the pods onto the launcher, so sure, that could take a day or two along with the ammo truck guys. Easy enough. They’ll get these on the front line in short order.
Let’s talk about range using standard rounds, which are by far the most common in the battlefield. Specialty extended-range rounds are rare and expensive.
Russian D30: 15.4 km (9 mi)
Russian 2S19: 25 km (16 mi)
NATO M777: 29 km (18 mi)
Russian GRAD (MLRS): 45 km (28 mi)
Russian SMERCH (MLRS): 70 km (43 mi)
NATO M142 HIMARS: 70+ km (43+ mi)
As far as I can tell, there aren’t many SMERCH systems in Ukraine, and they are nowhere near as mobile and flexible as HIMARS (read the Theiner thread above). Theiner also points out that HIMARS has a longer range than the official numbers. Back in my time, our fire direction computers let us plot targets beyond rated range, so that tracks.
As you can see above, the M777 howitzers that have been streaming into Ukraine already outgun everything except Russian rocket artillery. With HIMARS, no Russian artillery will be safe. No supply depot will be safe (Kupiansk, supplying the entire northern Donbas front, is in range!). No Russian advance will be safe.
There is a potential role for M270 MLRS if the U.S. decides to clear out obsolete early versions of the system—urban defense. Place a platoon, three M270 launchers, somewhere on the outskirts of frequently targeted towns like Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv, in an abandoned barn. Pinpoint the source of any incoming artillery, roll them out, fire a volley, then have them roll into the neighbor’s barn (in case Russia counters with long-range ballistic missiles). As long as the M270s don’t have to move much, they might hold up well enough as semi-fixed local defense.
Let’s take a look at the battlefield. When you read this, Russia may have full control of Severodonetsk. [most reports still say Russia controls only half of Severodonetsk.]
[…] Lysychansk is everything you want in a defensive position. [map at the link]
Not only is the town protected behind a river Russia has thus far proven incapable of crossing, but a network of bluffs and hills overlook Severodonetsk and the river between them, offering effective firing positions to any direct approaches. Hills on the south edge of town make any approach difficult if Russian forces ever manage to break out of the Popasna salient.
Speaking of, the last I saw from Popasna was pro-Russia Telegram accounts screaming that Wagner mercenaries had been mauled trying to break out of the pocket to the north, and that they were forcing Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) troops to take the vanguard. Didn’t sound too promising for them, if real. What we do know for sure is that Russia is attempting to advance in three different directions out of Popasna, in case you thought Russia had finally learned to focus its efforts. [map at the link]
Back to Lysychansk, its supply lines are threatened by Russian artillery, but they remain open. And there’s plenty of friendly territory to its west for artillery to operate. It’s still out on a limb, but a far more defensible one. Pretty soon, HIMARS will offer even more dramatic coverage of this entire area. [tweet and video available at the link]
A well-supplied battery of nine launchers could easily cover the entire Donbas front, or even a platoon of three, raining a steady stream of rockets wherever Russia tried to advance. Ukraine isn’t lying when they say it’s going to be game-changing, and Russia really can’t afford any further attrition. […]
In yesterday’s discussion, I mentioned one more thing that Ukraine was still asking about—improved air defense systems. In recent days, Russia has been more willing to risk aircraft, so long as those aircraft are flying low over the Donbas or far out along the Russian border. That air support has been critical in Russia’s ability to make advances in eastern Ukraine, and while human-carried systems are capable of making a direct attack on nearby aircraft, Ukraine was looking for more systems capable of longer range defense. […]
This system, built by Diehl, incorporates a modified version of the IRIS-T missiles used by numerous fighter jets into a truck-based system that first rolled out in 2014. The system is rated to take out targets 40km (25 miles) away, and the ground-based version can chase down targets at altitudes up to 19km (12 miles).
The system is reportedly highly mobile and relatively simple to use. It offers a large improvement over the aging Soviet systems Ukraine now depends on. A few other air defense systems have been sent, but “few” is the word. Like … one S-300 system, and one Strela. Hopefully, the number of IRIS-T SLM systems will be more than one.
The question is: How quickly will Germany deliver? Slow action on the part of Germany in meeting past promises has generated a lot of (often unwarranted, sometimes warranted) criticism of Scholz.
The United Kingdom is asking the U.S. to sign off on a plan to send advanced, medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine within a few weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter and a document outlining the proposal, a move that follows President Joe Biden’s announcement that he’s sending similar weapons.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke with Biden about the transfer of the U.S.-made M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems on Wednesday morning, to be followed by a discussion between U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday morning, the person familiar with the schedule said. The U.S. must officially approve the move due to export regulations, though the Biden administration is near certain to give the green light.
…
The M270 can strike targets roughly 50 miles away. The range of the rockets has been a sticking point in discussions over the past few weeks, as Ukrainian officials have clamored for the weapons as their troops in the East have endured heavy Russian artillery barrages. Western officials have worried that providing Kyiv with rockets that could strike inside Russian territory could provoke President Vladimir Putin into escalating the conflict, including using chemical or even nuclear weapons.
The news comes a day after the Biden administration announced that it had decided to send the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System and munitions with a range of 48 miles to Kyiv. The HIMARS is a mobile rocket launcher that can strike targets from 40 to 300 miles away, depending on what type of rocket it fires. The administration ultimately opted to send the shorter-range munitions.
Another person familiar with the discussions between the U.S. and Ukraine told POLITICO this week that one factor that weighed into the Biden administration’s decision to send the more modern HIMARS to Ukraine instead of the MLRS was a desire to lead by example and push allies to send their own MLRS to Ukraine. The U.K. would be the first country to send the U.S.-made MLRS.
The HIMARS and MLRS provide similar capabilities and ranges, but the HIMARS is a lighter version that moves on a wheeled chassis. The MLRS moves on tracks, meaning it doesn’t move as quickly as the HIMARS, which can reach speeds of over 50 miles per hour, giving the Ukrainians the ability to fire and flee before Russian drones can spot them. The HIMARS can fire six rockets at a time, while MLRS can launch 12.
Fourteen countries from Finland to South Korea field versions of the U.S.-made MLRS, and the list of operators aligns with countries that have attended two recent high-level meetings dedicated to finding ways to further arm Ukraine, the latest of which happened on May 23. The Ukraine Defense Contact Group is scheduled to meet again in Brussels on June 15.
Only the U.S., Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Romania operate the HIMARS, making it a relatively rare asset that places Ukraine in a small club. Poland and Australia have each ordered 20 HIMARS in recent years but have not yet received them.
[…] Russia’s military certainly isn’t in good shape. Definitely not the juggernaut it was thought to be the day before the invasion began, and things have only gotten far worse. Some recent revelations:
– Russian conscripts from Donbas are showing up on the front line carrying WW2-era Mosin-Nagant bolt action rifles. While a very good rifle and one of the most widely manufactured firearms in history, it was first produced in 1891 (it saw service in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War) and production of the weapon ended in 1973. And while a good rifle, it’s still a 5-shot bolt action rifle being sent into action against troops armed with AK-74 assault rifles.
– Despite supposedly having many thousands of T-72 and T-80 tanks on paper as well as it’s supposedly cutting edge T-90 and AT-14 tanks at it’s disposal, Russia has started sending T-62 tanks to serve in the Kherson area. The T-62 was last produced in 1975, and has a smaller gun and thinner armor than the other tanks previously mentioned, and requires an extra crew member because it lacks an autoloader system. The T-62 is also of a different design lineage than the T-72 or T-80 and so requires a different supply stream of parts for maintenance and repair (and Russian logistics have, shall we say, seemed to be lacking already).
– Speaking of logistics, much has already been written on Russia’s logistical woes. Reports of thousands of tanks in storage rendered unusable due to poor maintenance and even outright theft of important components, reports of vehicles breaking down due to lack of maintenance, etc.
– Su-34’s have been shot down in Ukraine that were found to have commercial GPS units taped to the control panel. Russian vehicles have been captured and found to have 1980’s paper maps of Ukraine in them.
– Captured or destroyed Russian equipment has been found to have been jury-rigged using components like semi-conductors and chips from Ukrainian household appliances like dishwashers and refrigerators.
– A recent article that discussed interviews with five recently captured conscripts from the Donbas region noted that 4 of the 5 had been sent to the front with no training at all (one, a student, had been sent to join a mortar team, despite having never seen a mortar outside of movies).
– Russian prisoners and deserters (and intercepted communications) indicate frustration with the poor quality of personal equipment they have been issued. Some soldiers are being forced to supplement their Russian-issued gear by purchasing their own boots, camp stoves, etc. — even body armor, because they either did not receive them or they were such poor quality as to be useless. In the early weeks of the invasion, some Russian troops were suffering frostbite due to lack of proper cold weather gear.
So no, Russia’s military hasn’t collapsed yet. But it’s certainly not at all well. And of course the low morale among them is pretty widely known as well, with entire units refusing to go into combat when ordered. […] Russian BTG’s paper strength differs from their actual field strength and those Russian BTG’s are almost certainly severely undermanned and underequipped. Experts have assessed that Russia’s offensive capability is nearing “culmination,” meaning that before much longer, Russia will have so depleted it’s capabilities that it will no longer be able to carry out any type of major sustained offensive. Some think this latest Russian offensive at Severodonetsk is pretty much Russia’s last gasp as far as major offensives is concerned. The fact that the Russians seem to have given up on encircling Severodonetsk and instead seem to be resorting to brute force frontal attacks to take the city may actually be an indication that this is happening.
[…] Putin has not mobilized the reserves. Even if he were to do so immediately, it would be September at the earliest that any of them could show up at the front — assuming they receive full training and, unlike the poor bastards from Donbas that Russia shoved into uniforms and sent to the front that I mentioned above, aren’t just sent off with no training. An untrained or poorly trained soldier isn’t much of an asset to an army, and the learning curve is potentially lethally steep. On-the-job training in a war zone is a helluva way to get trained.
And those reserves are not all they’re cracked up to be. “Reserves” in Russian parlance pretty much means “anyone who’s ever served in the military and is of serviceable age.” So, someone who was a conscript at 19 years old and is now a forty-year old manager in an office somewhere complete with fifty pounds of middle-age spread is considered a “reserve,” despite never having had a single minute of refresher training since his 12 months as a conscript expired 20 years ago. On paper, Russia has about 2 million of these reservists. But that doesn’t mean a damned thing if they’re not mobilized.
Logistics is a further issue. You might have noticed in the previous section how I noted that soldiers were buying their own equipment, that conscripts were showing up on the frontline with ancient bolt-action rifles, and the Russians are sending Vietnam-era tanks to Ukraine? If that’s the case NOW, how is Russia going to equip, say, a million mobilized reservists? And Russia is having trouble supplying its current army in the field — adding another million men to supply with food, weapons, vehicles and ammunition isn’t going to help their problems.
[…] while it’s true that certain personages in Europe are making some noises that Ukraine should trade territory for a cease-fire, that doesn’t seem to be the majority outlook, nor a popular one. […]
Western official, speaking today, says Russian rate of advance has been 500 metres to 1km per day: “incremental but pretty steady gains…at a relatively slow pace.” Severodonetsk “unlikely to be the crux of the campaign”. More river crossings needed even after closure of pocket.
In Kherson “Ukrainian forces have gone on the offensive, making gains in an area relatively lightly held by Russia.” Russia forced to defend its operational flanks. “And I think that’s going to be an indicator of how the conflict may will unravel over the coming days and months”.
HIMARS “particularly effective in terms of being able to engage targets & move or engage multiple targets in very quick succession, and it outperforms” systems Russia is deploying. Enables Ukr to go after Ru artillery, but also—with 80km range—interdict Russian supply in depth.
HIMARS “not going to turn the tide of the campaign [but] going to enable the Ukrainians to be much more effective in how they operate”, as part of “much wider package of support”. Adds: “no one thing is going to be a critical thing which turns the tide”.
On arms provision: “certainly all the efforts of a whole range of nations is to recognise that we’re in this now for a long campaign and therefore people are looking … at ways in which we can be more innovative in terms of what we what we provide”
On Zelensky statement of 60-100 Ukr soldiers being killed every day: “it is difficult to establish exact ground truth, but I think those are those are broadly accurate numbers… that’s pretty accurate and I wouldn’t dispute those figures”
Western official: “couple of weeks ago…the Russian ground force…written down to about sort of 58% combat effectiveness [of initial strength]…We think that’s gone down by a few percentage points over the last few weeks—above 50%, but a remarkable write-down of capabilities”
Western official: “time is is going to be is going to be a significant factor…the operation will endure for a long period of time. And that means that it comes down to commitment, and ensuring that we’ve got the commitment to support the Ukrainians through that very long fight”
“On [Russian] TV the rhetoric is now moving from a special operation towards a large scale war with Nato, and of winning such a confrontation. Warmongers like these will bring ruin to their country. But we have better take note….”
SC @201, yeah, that detail plus the other revealing details really illustrate the degraded condition of the Russian military. I’ve seen photos of Russian soldiers with those bolt-action rifles.
Some Ukrainian snipers buy their own rifles, getting rifles, scopes, etc. shipped from the USA. Then there is a problem getting the best ammunition for a sniper rifle. Seems like the USA could fix that problem easily.
In other news, here are some campaign tidbits, as summarized by Steve Benen:
* A Pennsylvania court recently ruled that state election officials had to count mail-in ballots from voters who failed to fill in the date on their ballot envelopes. Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court put that ruling on hold. The outcome of this legal fight might very well determine who won the commonwealth’s Republican U.S. Senate primary. [Effing conservative Supreme Court justices!]
* On a related note, as the recount process gets underway in Pennsylvania, hedge fund executive Dave McCormick’s campaign team said yesterday that it will request a hand-recount in 12 counties. An NBC News report added that the campaign wants to target specific precincts where there are undervotes “outside the norm.” [WTF?]
* In Ohio’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll found Republican author J.D. Vance with a narrow lead over Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, 42 percent to 39 percent.
* Though it seems unlikely that Donald Trump will ever forgive Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for honoring his state’s 2020 election results, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the Republican governor, facing a competitive re-election campaign,” is hoping for a détente that could at least scale down the vitriol” from the former president. [Ha! Not likely. This might play to Stacey Abram’s advantage.]
* New Hampshire finally completed its post-census redistricting process yesterday, with a court-appointed special master leaving the existing map largely intact. The New Hampshire Supreme Court unanimously approved the minor tweaks.
* On a related note, the post-census redistricting process is now over in every state.
* To the relief of incumbent Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, local media anchor Cory Hepola is no longer moving forward with a third-party gubernatorial campaign in Minnesota.
* And in New York’s newly drawn 10th congressional district, the Democratic primary just got a little messier: Daniel Goldman, a former federal prosecutor who served as counsel for House Democrats during the first Trump impeachment inquiry, has joined a field that also includes incumbent Rep. Mondaire Jones, former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, and New York Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou.
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 201
Does one soldier hold the rifle while the other holds the ammo? (e.g. The beginning battle in the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates.)
Four people have been charged by the Met Police for allegedly breaking Covid-19 lockdown rules while attending a Sarah Everard vigil in south London.
Hundreds went to an unofficial event at Clapham Common in March 2021 after Ms Everard was kidnapped, raped and murdered by Met officer Wayne Couzens.
The vigil, on 13 March, saw clashes between police and some of those there.
Four people are due before Westminster Magistrates’ Court accused of gathering when London was in Tier 4 restrictions.
An official vigil had earlier been called off by the organisers, Reclaim These Streets.
[The four people – I snipped their names] all face a charge of participating in a gathering of more than two people in a public outdoor place in a Tier 4 area.
Further charge details say they allegedly gathered on “Saturday 13 March, 2021 at Clapham Common bandstand without reasonable excuse and other than as permitted by the regulations,” and that they allegedly “participated in a gathering in the Tier 4 area of London, taking place in a public outdoor space as defined in paragraph 4(4) of Schedule 3A to the regulations, namely Clapham Common bandstand and consisting of more than two people”.
It comes a day after the Met Police was refused permission for a second time to appeal against a High Court ruling that said the force breached the rights of the organisers of the official vigil when it told them they faced £10,000 fines and prosecution if it went ahead.…
“And perhaps most important of all, the Met chose to bring prosecutions in these particular cases, when no one would have noticed if the charges were quietly dropped.”
[…] If some tragedies prompt GOP policymakers to take a renewed interest in the issue [the issue of mental health services], and the interest endures, that might very well be a positive development.
There are some relevant concerns, though.
First, some of those pushing the message are poor messengers. The day after the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, for example, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that the gunmen had a “mental health challenge” and the state needed to “do a better job with mental health.” What [Gov. Abbott] neglected to mention was that, just one month earlier, Abbott slashed $211 million from the department that oversees mental health programs in Texas.
In fact, the 2021 State of Mental Health in America report ranked states in terms of overall access to mental health care. Texas ranked last — a problem the GOP governor has shown little interest in addressing over the course of his eight years in office.
Second, the underlying point is itself flawed. NBC News reported:
In the wake of yet another mass shooting, some Texas politicians have called for increased mental health services to help prevent the next tragedy. But experts working in the field warn that there is no fully effective solution to stop these shootings before they happen, with some saying that blaming mental health is a deflection from the fact that gun control is a necessary part of prevention.
For many, there’s a temptation to assume that anyone who’d pick up an AR-15 and shoot up a school — or a grocery store, or a house of worship, or a movie theater, etc. — must be, in a word, “crazy.” Therefore, the thinking goes, addressing mental health would prevent mass shootings.
But the fact remains that those who suffer from mental illness are more likely to be a victim of violence than to commit acts of violence themselves. What’s more, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “only 3%-5% of violent acts can be attributed to individuals living with a serious mental illness.”
Indeed, there are people with mental illnesses in every country around the world. Most of those countries don’t have American-style mass shootings — not because of their focus on mental health, but because powerful weapons aren’t readily available.
Finally, even if we were willing to put all of these relevant details aside, The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell noted in her latest column that Medicaid is the single largest payer for mental health services in the United States.
And yet, Republicans in 12 states — including Texas — continue to reject Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act.
If Abbott’s rhetoric was sincere, and he and other GOP policymakers genuinely want to “do a better job with mental health,” great. I can think of a few obvious places to start.
The other possibility, of course, is that Republicans aren’t being sincere about the issue, and their interest is temporary — lasting just long enough to get the party through some news cycles. If this is the case, GOP officials won’t take any of the aforementioned details seriously, and there will be no meaningful changes to making mental health care more accessible.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham knows exactly where the blame lies for the Uvalde elementary school massacre and other shootings: Not the mountains of the military-style assault weapons available for purchase all over the country or the lax gun laws that allowed the shooters to buy said weapons legally, but marijuana.
Ingraham complained on Tuesday night that not enough people were talking about what she called “the pot psychosis-violent behavior connection.” The reason for that, according to the Fox host, is because of Big Pot perpetuating a “pro-marijuana bias” in the media “that’s so powerful because billions are on the line with it nationwide.”
A personal message from Ewan McGregor. Video is available at the link.
Excerpt:
[…] It seems that some of the fan base has decided to attack Moses Ingram online and send her the most horrendous, racist [direct messages]. I heard some of them this morning, and it just broke my heart. Moses is a brilliant actor. She is a brilliant woman. And she is absolutely amazing in this series. She brings so much to the series, she brings so much to the franchise. And it just sickened me to my stomach that this had been happening. I just want to say as the lead actor in the series, as the executive producer on the series, that we stand with Moses. We love Moses. And if you’re sending her bullying messages, you’re no Star Wars fan in my mind. There’s no place for racism in this world. And I totally stand with Moses.
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 209
Ingraham’s next big project: Refer Madness II: The Stonening.
The Biden administration plans to sell Ukraine four MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones that can be armed with Hellfire missiles for battlefield use against Russia, three people familiar with the situation said.
The sale of the General Atomics-made drones could still be blocked by Congress, the sources said, adding that there is also a risk of a last minute policy reversal that could scuttle the plan, which has been under review at the Pentagon for several weeks.
Ukraine has been using several types of smaller shorter range unmanned aerial systems against Russian forces that invaded the country in late February. They include the AeroVironment RQ-20 Puma AE, and the Turkish Bayraktar-TB2.
But the Gray Eagle represents a leap in technology because it can fly up to 30 or more hours depending on its mission and can gather huge amounts of data for intelligence purposes. Gray Eagles, the Army’s version of the more widely known Predator drone, can also carry up to eight powerful Hellfire missiles.
The sale is significant because it puts an advanced reusable U.S. system capable of multiple deep strikes on the battlefield against Russia for the first time.
The administration of President Joe Biden intends to notify Congress of the potential sale to Ukraine in the coming days with a public announcement expected after that, a U.S. official said.
…
Money from the recently passed $40 billion Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative has been set aside to fund both the possible sale and the training needed for the drones, the U.S. official and one of the people familiar said.
“Generally the MQ-1C is a much larger aircraft with a max take-off weight around three times that of the Bayraktar-TB2, with commensurate advantages in payload capacity, range, and endurance,” said drone expert Dan Gettinger with the Vertical Flight Society.
The MQ-1C is also compatible with a greater variety of munitions than the Bayraktar-TB2….
Training on the UAV system made by General Atomics usually takes months, Gettinger said, but a notional plan to train experienced Ukrainian maintainers and operators in a handful of weeks has been proposed in recent weeks, the sources said.
Arming the drones with Hellfire missiles will be done via a future Presidential Drawdown Authority once training on the drones has been completed, the U.S. official and one of the sources said….
Remember the “HAIL TO FAUCI!!” guy at a school board meeting? I’m going to start calling that “shouty mode” in whatever way is effective at the moment.
Lithuanian Minister of National Defense: “Agreement was signed in [Turkey] today with the President of the Turkish Defense Agency prof. Ismail Demir on cooperation with the Ministry of National Defense of [Lithuania]. [!] This agreement paves the way for the purchase of #Bayraktar, for which Lithuanians raised almost 6 mln. € in 3 days!”
Some Lithuanian people basically had a Go Fund Me to buy Ukraine a drone, and they’ve done it.
I left Ukraine this morning. After almost a month in Donbas, an overwhelming but vital experience in so many ways, my present trip has come to an end. A few thoughts below.
Ukrainian troops are fighting for every inch of land in Donbas. They are giving everything trying to repel a foreign invader set on destroying them as a people. The courage and sheer force of will of the men (and women) I saw on the frontlines amazed me.
But they are dying. In their hundreds and thousands, they are dying, being ground down by Russia’s war machine. The effects are clear: so many still have the will to fight, but they are exhausted and outgunned. Image
Ukraine can win this war. For the sake of Europe and the world, Ukraine must win this war. It must be given – its people must be given – the heavy weapons, financial support, and aid in rebuilding they need to repel this genocidal war of aggression….
That leads me to suspect @177 confused the Grauniad’s position / editorials with opinions expressed by individual — in this case, just one — columnist.
As suggested @ #193, I think the reference to the “editors of the @nytopinion and the @guardian’s opinion page” publishing bad takes wasn’t to editorials but to some of the opeds, either by regular columnists or others, that they’ve published (and solicited?). The example from the NYT the tweet provides is an oped by Christopher Caldwell.
I’m testing out “nazi-babblers” with respect to hyperbolic political use of Nazis in response to reasonable requests, like aerosol filters and virus laden saliva.
That political use of the suffering of others looks like a similar kind of appropriation as “pedo joe” and the accusations of grooming focused at LGBT+ education and sex education.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their most recent summary:
…In her first public speech since leaving office about six months ago, Angela Merkel has described Russia’s war on Ukraine as a “barbaric war of aggression” [This is driving me to distraction. Aside from how offensive it is, just find some new fucking words!] which amounted to a “far-reaching turning point”. She said whilst she was reluctant to give her views from the sidelines as the former German chancellor, she could not avoid talking about the most “glaring breach of international law” in the history of Europe since the end of the second world war.
…
Foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said Ukraine is working with international partners to create a United Nations-backed mission to restore Black Sea shipping routes and export Ukrainian farm produce.
…
Ukraine’s football victory over Scotland in their Fifa World Cup playoff semi-final last night [they next face off against Wales] gave the country, in the words of Zelenskiy, “two hours of happiness to which we are not accustomed.”…
Here’s a link to the Guardian’s UK liveblog. From there:
Republican campaigners have applauded a decision by Scottish Green MSPs to boycott a Scottish parliament debate celebrating the platinum jubilee by walking out en masse.
All seven Scottish Green MSPs, including two government ministers – Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater – left the Holyrood chamber as Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister and Scottish National party leader, led celebrations of the Queen’s 70 years as monarch.
The most overtly pro-republican demonstration yet seen in Holyrood was heavily criticised by Scottish Conservative MSPs. Sharon Dowey, the Tories’ culture spokesperson, said every other party had joined in thanks for the Queen’s service.
She said:
The Greens’ refusal to do so is petty, student politics at its worst. Their transparent attempt to woo anti-monarchy voters will frustrate the vast majority of Scots who recognise [the] celebrations as a chance to show our gratitude for Her Majesty’s tireless dedication.
Graham Smith, the director of the anti-monarchist campaign group Republic, said the Greens’ actions were symptomatic of growing republican sentiment, particularly among younger voters and in Scotland.
He said:
I think it’s quite extraordinary. There are big political changes across the whole of the UK and certainly in Scotland. It wouldn’t have happened 10 years ago.
The Scottish Green MSPs decline requests to discuss their walkout, but a spokesperson said on Wednesday that the party believed Scotland needed an elected head of state.
We respect others hold different beliefs. Our MSPs decided to absent themselves from today’s short debate and instead spend their time serving their constituents.
Celebrations of the jubilee in Scotland appear more muted than in other parts of the UK. While central London is festooned in union flags and vast crowds gather for the weekend’s pageantry, there are no mass-participation events planned in Scotland.
Here’s a link to the Guardian’s US liveblog. From there:
House judiciary committee begins hearing on gun-control bill
The House judiciary committee hearing to mark up Democrats’ gun-control bill, known as the Protecting Our Kids Act, has now started.
The omnibus bill includes a number of proposals to strengthen America’s gun laws, including raising the age requirement for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.
The hearing comes less than two weeks after the devastating shooting at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which resulted in the the deaths of 19 children and two teachers….
Nadler condemns inaction on gun control: ‘What the hell are you waiting for?’
The Democratic chairman of the House judiciary committee, Jerry Nadler, condemned congressional inaction on gun-control legislation in the wake of the Uvalde tragedy.
Noting that it has been 23 years since the shooting at Columbine High school, Nadler dismissed Republicans’ suggestions that Democrats are moving too quickly to pass stricter gun laws.
“Too soon, my friends? What the hell are you waiting for?” Nadler said in his opening statement at the markup hearing.
Nadler acknowledged that the provisions in the Protecting Our Kids Act would not end all gun violence in America, but he argued the policies could save many lives.
“It might have saved those children in Uvalde,” Nadler said. “The American people are begging for us to address this crisis. Let us not wait one second longer.”
Tulsa Chief of Police Wendell Franklin just named the victims in yesterday’s shooting, two of them were doctors.
The Chief of Police just identified the suspect. He says he received treatment for back pain, was discharged a week ago and repeatedly sought additional treatment thereafter for back pain
The Chief of Police says the shooter purchased his AR-15 just two hours before the shooting from a local gun store, having previously bought a handgun a few days earlier from a pawn shop.
“We found the suspect, and we rescued a female who was hiding under the desk at the suspect’s foot. She was there when the suspect took his life. She did not appear to be injured. Officers rescued [her], but officers also located another deceased victim next to the suspect.”
Frankling says the shooter “came in with the intent to kill Dr. Phillips and anyone who got in his way. He blamed Dr. Phillips for the ongoing pain following [his recent] surgery.”
[The four victims: Dr. Preston Phillps, Dr. Stephanie Husen, Amanda Green, William Love]
KGsays
SC@225,
I applaud my party’s MSPs for their walk-out, but I disagree with their view that Scotland should have an elected head of state. If we need one at all, they should be chosen by lot. Anyone who wants to be head of state can put their name forward, they then need to sit an exam to make sure they could actually do the job (however that job is defined), and among those who pass, a name is drawn out of a hat – with a couple of deputies so the whole thing doesn’t have to be run again if the winner hands in their dinner pail while in office.
What a story: last week, Lithuanian citizens crowdfunded $6m to buy a Turkish drone for Ukraine. They signed an agreement yesterday. A few hours ago, the Bayraktar manufacturer announced they will give the drone for free, said the money should be used for humanitarian aid.
The area east of the Izyum salient continues to be the zone of hottest contention, and on Thursday the pattern there hasn’t changed—Russia, having concentrated heavy forces in the area, is slowly grinding forward, capturing more villages, and moving closer to major targets like the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. There are heavy losses on both sides and continued reports that Russia is pushing Battalion Tactical Groups (BTGs) forward that are far below full strength, but so far the sheer numbers, and the punishment of Russian artillery, has been enough to keep Russia on the offensive. [map at the link]
In the last 24 hours, Russia has expanded control of the area around the recently captured town of Lyman. This includes taking several outlying villages like Dibrova. It also places Russian-occupied territory within 10km of Slovyansk, with the town of Raihorodok next up on the Russian agenda. Russian sources are providing plenty of images meant to show that Ukrainian forces left behind a lot of equipment in the woods near Dibrova. [Tweet and images at the link]
But there’s one thing about Russia’s next step on that road to Slovyansk that bears closer examination. Something that explains why it won’t be as simple as moving to those villages around Lyman. Here’s the area around Raihorodok in detail. [map/image at the link]
If that twisty line in the middle of the image looks familiar, that’s the by now well-known Silverskyi Donets River. The area north of Raihorodok includes not just across the river itself, but on the other side of a marshy area of streams, meanders, oxbow lakes … everything not conducive to moving heavy equipment. […] right now the best word for that whole area, at the end of the rainy season and with summer coming on, is “swamp.”
But there’s more going on here than just getting across the bridge. See the little red Russian-occupied marker on the north side of the river? That’s the village of Staryi Karavan. It’s elevation is 73m (240 feet) above sea level. The area around Raihordok isn’t much higher … except for that white area on the map just above the highway and the current bridge. Those are the “Chalk Mountains.” They may not be mountains in most people’s book, but they do rise up about 130m (425 feet) above the surrounding terrain, giving them a commanding view and excellent firing position when looking down at the river valley below.
To get to Slovyansk, Russian forces still need to cross the Donets. Their best shot is probably in the area to the right of that highway into Raihorodok. But Russia still needs to clean up about half a dozen Ukrainian-controlled villages on the north side of the river, find or create a route through that swampy area to reach the river, then bridge the river—and they need to do it without a repeat of what happened when they tried to cross near Bilohorivka and lost the better part of three BTGs.
Don’t expect that last 10km to Slovyansk to come quickly.
In the meantime, fighting continued on Thursday in Severodonetsk. While pulling out remaining Ukrainian forces and reforming in the much more easily defended position of Lysychansk continues to look like the sensible, and maybe inevitable, move, Ukrainian forces reported on Thursday morning that they had actually retaken some parts of Severodonetsk. However, the majority of the city remains under Russian control, and no one should be shocked if Ukraine decides that the cost of continuing there is too high, no matter how much symbolic value it holds
Over near Popasna, Russia made another run at retaking Komyshuvakha, which Ukraine took back from Russia last week. Once again, Ukraine held the position. The same is true of Ukrainian forces holding a pair of flanking villages near Komyshuvakha. On the west side of Popasna, Russia claimed to have taken the village of Pylypchatyne on Tuesday, but on Thursday the location is once again in dispute.
As all of this is taking place, there is action down in the southern part of Ukraine at locations I’ve largely been ignoring. Active fighting is taking place at a series of villages northwest of the city of Donetsk. Over to the west, Russia seems to be sending a very large stack of very old equipment toward the city of Zaporizhzhia, and there is action at multiple points along the line in between.
How badly have I ignored this area? Every day, I tend to add towns and villages to the map as they get mentioned in combat reports. The same thing happens with the lines of control. I try to adjust them as reports come in, marking off areas of recent change, and setting Russia’s occupation roughly halfway between known points of control, with adjustments for natural obstacles like rivers. That’s how the area around Izyum ended up looking as it does in the top map. Constant fidgeting.
And now, here’s how the same map currently looks on the south end of this theater. [map at the link]
[…] Kharkiv has gotten attention. Kherson has gotten attention. Izyum has gotten attention. But the area between Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia has been carefully hidden from view, because I haven’t touched it. So … that ends today.
In particular, I’ve marked out the town of Hulyaipole. I’ve done so because I recently saw a report of fighting in the south that included an interview with two women who live in this town. They had a complaint that went beyond the bombs and shells that were crushing their homes. That complaint was: Why was no one was talking about it? Popasna was getting attention. Izyum was getting attention. Everywhere else that Russia was attacking was getting attention. Why was no one talking about the suffering of Hulyaipole?
Ladies, I know you’ll never read this. But later today, we’ll be looking at Hulyaipole.
The Biden administration is canceling another $5.8 billion in student debt for 560,000 students who were defrauded by Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit chain that went under in 2015. The debt relief will be automatic and apply to every student who got federal loans to attend Corinthian. Many will get refunds for past payments.
“For far too long, Corinthian engaged in the wholesale financial exploitation of students, misleading them into taking on more and more debt to pay for promises they would never keep,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Wednesday. Vice President Kamala Harris, who as attorney general of California won a $1.2 billion judgment against the education chain, will be formally announcing the move.
When she filed suit, in 2013, Harris said, “The predatory scheme devised by executives at Corinthian Colleges, Inc. is unconscionable. Designed to rake in profits and mislead investors, they targeted some of our state’s most particularly vulnerable people—including low income, single mothers, and veterans returning from combat.” The findings in that suit included that Corinthian misled prospective students about job placement rates.
Under President Barack Obama, the Education Department announced debt relief for those defrauded by Corinthian, but Donald Trump and his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, put the brakes on that effort. Now President Joe Biden will make it real. […]
Stochastic terrorism and the scripted violence that comes with it have become essential features of post-insurrection Trumpism and its unfolding strategy: claim your political opponents are literally satanic pedophiles conspiring to traffic your children and destroy America by replacing white people, and then tell your army of True Believers the names and identities of these fiends. Paint targets on them.
It’s a strategy that’s already come home to roost in Buffalo, El Paso, and elsewhere. And we can see it unfolding in real time in Missouri, where a far-right organization has published an interactive graphic called the “Woke Heat Map,” which lists and identifies specific schools in Missouri engaged in allegedly promoting “crazy ideas” ranging “from Critical Race Theory to grooming toddlers with sexually explicit books.”
So far, the outfit calling itself the Liberty Alliance has collected 12 “hot spots,” including a well-regarded private school in Kansas City and St. Louis University. When you click on the tag for each one on the map, the site takes you to articles or videos explaining why each of the schools identified has become part of “woke” activity in the state.
[…] “The first step in fighting back is uncovering their crazy ideas […] “That is why we have officially launched the Woke Heat Map — an interactive tool designed to expose the insane actions of the radical Left. This map will alert Missourians of craziness happening in their own communities.”
Some tweets have made the Liberty Alliance’s alignment with the Patriot Movement clear […]
One of the links in the map takes users to an article by Christopher Rufo, one of the primary promoters of the fraudulent claims about “critical race theory” being foisted upon students as part of a “cultural Marxism” program. Others go to right-wing “PragerU” disinformation videos claiming that all Missouri schools incorporate “CRT” into students’ curriculum, or link to smear tweets from LibsOfTikTok.
Liberty Alliance founder Kenneth Bone complained to a right-wing news outlet that the publication of a HuffPost piece by Mary Papenfuss exposing his website’s dubious tactic has led to him receiving a flood of disapproving mail and death threats. […]
“They’re the ones saying that we’re dangerous, which is crazy because they’re the ones who are threatening us,” Bone said, then continued: “I think this just shows exactly why this is necessary. I think it validates everything that we’re doing. I think we’re on the right side of this.”
In addition to its map targeting schools, the organization also appears to be targeting Pride events in Missouri, including this weekend’s “Burg Pride” festival in Warrensburg. Reminiscent of the threatening rhetoric of Idaho’s Panhandle Patriots regarding a June 11 Pride gathering, its tweet warns: “An All-Ages Drag Show is just another example of grooming.”
As HuffPost noted, little is known about the Liberty Alliance’s funding. It’s registered as a social welfare organization rather than a political action committee under 501(c)(4) of the IRS code, which enables it to evade campaign-finance filing requirements.
The Missouri Democratic Party claimed in a complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission that the group is involved in elections and thus should face penalties. However, the complaint was dismissed.
[…] “I think it’s disappointing that the MEC is unwilling to address dark money groups engaging in election advocacy without disclosing their donors,” Missouri Democratic Party Executive Director Lauren Gepford told The Missouri Times. “Missouri voters have said they want transparency in their elections, and groups like Liberty Alliance are set up to bypass transparency. If the MEC won’t act then we need to change the laws, that’s why we’re fighting to elect lawmakers that will reform our campaign finance laws.”
The strategy of targeting small local entities like schools, school boards, and other similarly vulnerable operations for bellicose campaigns of intimidation with explicit threats of violence carried out by others has been intensifying over the past year. In the meantime, the violence associated with all this has similarly compounded. That’s how stochastic terrorism and scripted violence work.
As Chip Berlet explains in his essay on scripted violence:
The potential for violence in a society increases when the mass media carries rhetorical vilification by high profile and respected figures who scapegoat a named ‘Other’. This dangerous ‘constitutive rhetoric’ can build an actual constituency of persons feeling threatened or displaced. Or to put it another way, when rhetorical fecal matter hits the spinning verbal blades of a bigoted demagogue’s exhortations, bad stuff happens.
The resulting violence can incite a mob, a mass movement, a war, or an individual actor. Individual actors who engage in violence can emerge in three ways. They can be assigned the task of violence by an existing organizational leadership; they can be members or participants in an existing organization, yet decide to act on their own; or they can be unconnected to an existing organization and act on their own. […] The person committing the violence may expect or even welcome martyrdom, or may plan for a successful escape to carry on being a political soldier in a hoped-for insurgency. Either way, the hope is that ‘a little spark can cause a prairie fire’. Revolution is seldom the result, but violence and death remains as a legacy.
This plays a key role in how violence created by a tide of young men radicalized online by far-right ideologues and conspiracy theories is spread. Having a figure like Trump both normalizing their extremism and encouraging violence in support of it means that it is being spread throughout American society.
The way this finds expression is with men like Cesar Sayoc (the #MAGABomber), and the Buffalo shooter: men who see themselves as “warriors” in a larger fight against evil itself, which in their view is embodied by liberals and leftists. This is why so many right-wing Trumpists speak so eagerly of launching a “civil war” against urban liberals.
No actual war ever arrives, of course. But a lot of people get hurt and even killed when the True Believers finally act out.
I both love and hate Ukrainian aid announcements from the Pentagon. Here’s the latest:
– High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and ammunition
– Five counter-artillery radars
– Two air surveillance radars
– 1,000 Javelins and 50 Command Launch Units
– 6,000 anti-armor weapons
– 15,000 155mm artillery rounds
– Four Mi-17 helicopters
– 15 tactical vehicles
– Spare parts and equipment.
Ilove them because hey, Ukraine is getting more of what they need to win this war. And the inclusion of HIMARS will mark a significant upgrade in Ukraine’s ability to beat back the Russian aggressors, just like Ukraine credits the M777 with helping it hold the line in the eastern Donbas front. This new aid package brings the US contribution to around $5.3 billion so far, with another $10.3 billion available as part of the recently passed aid package. So yes, this is exciting. So why do I also hate it?
Each announcement of aid, whether from the United States or any other ally, is inevitably accompanied by a chorus of wailing and complaining: it’s not enough, it’s too late, it’s taking too long, why won’t they do more, etc, etc, etc. Amazon has pre-conditioned people into thinking Ukraine could just order up whatever, and hey, there it is three days later with free shipping!
[…] It matters because such thinking is counter-productive, ignorant, and stupid, and betrays a lack of understanding of the actual situation.
First of all, Russia’s entire annual military budget is $60 billion, and that includes a large navy, tactical nukes, strategic air defenses, and other big-ticket budget items. The United States alone is on track to deliver 25% of that budget to Ukraine in a matter of months, with billions more donated by other partners. (Ukraine might even be close to actual parity given the amount of grift in the Russian armed forces.) The investment the U.S. and its allies have made in this war is massive and remains open-ended. Systems, supplies, ammunition, and parts are being delivered daily. But people seem to forget all that other stuff, or don’t care. They see “$700 million” as if that was the sum total of war assistance. Same people will have the same reaction next week when the next tranche is announced.
Second of all, it’s not too late. This war isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Do we wish Ukraine had all this stuff earlier? Sure! Even better would’ve been before the war began! But no one knew how quickly the war would end. It wasn’t too long ago that the U.S. dumped billions of dollars in military equipment on a weak government. It was possible that Ukraine could’ve pulled an Afghanistan, and it wasn’t unreasonable to let the first few weeks play out. The initial tranche of weapons helped Ukraine survive the schock-and-awe of those first few days and weeks of war. Ukraine had to prove it was worthy of the investment, and it did. Harsh but true. [Not sure I agree.]
Next, logistical lines had to be established, first by establishing a supply hub near the Ukrainian border (at Rzeszow, Poland), getting those supplies across the border (in a way that made it hard for Russia to interdict), and then distributing it to the front lines in wartime conditions. Nothing about logistics is easy, even in the most peaceful conditions, so the way the allies and Ukraine developed theirs on the fly and in a war zone will be a great book someday. So at the start, it was challenging enough getting Javelins, rifles, helmets, and Stingers to the front lines, forget trying to move equipment and weapons weighing in the tons. All of that had to be scaled up. And in just three months, they have.
Take HIMARS. The vehicle weighs 18 tons. That’s a lot, sure. But the ammo is the real beast. An MLRS/HIMARS pod carries six missiles, and weights 2.5 tons. That’s a single volley, enough for just seconds of firing time, and each one weighs 2.5 tons.
There’s been no talk about support vehicles, but Ukraine will need HEMTTs to lug these pods. Lots of them, since the bottleneck to the HIMARS (and M270 MLRS donated by Germany and the U.K.) will be the ability to supply and transport these rocket pods. Each truck can carry two pods, four if it has a trailer. So we’re talking 5-10 tons of rocket pods on a single truck, or enough for about 30 minutes of fire missions given HIMARs five-minute reload time. (Likely more, because the HIMARS will want to move to a new location to foil counter-battery efforts, but still, you get the point.)
A C-5 cargo plane can carry 140 tons of cargo, or 56 rocket pods—just 10-12 hours of fire missions for a single launcher. And those pods have to travel 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from Rzeszow, Poland, to the edge of Ukrainian-occupied Donbas. That’s a serious challenge, almost impossible. Like the M113 armored personnel carriers on a ship somewhere in the Atlantic right now, this stuff will need to be shipped via ocean freight from the United States (backfilling German and UK stocks that can be delivered fastest).
And that’s just getting it to Poland. The pods would still need to be delivered by train closer to the front, and then delivered to the HIMARS themselves. That was my job! Yes, I had to make sure everyone in my platoon had food, fuel, water, and maintenance supplies. But that was the easy part. Keeping our launchers loaded with rockets? That was the real challenge. And in our war gaming during peacetime, it was hard to launch more than a few fire missions per day. MLRS/HIMARS are the most logistically challenging weapons system in the U.S. arsenal for a reason.
Wartime makes things both harder, because someone is shooting back, but also easier, because a desperate army will do whatever needs to get done to get those pods to the front faster and more efficiently. But the only reason we’re even talking about this now is because Ukraine has spent three months building, refining, and optimizing their supply lines. There’s no way they could’ve handled HIMARS in the early days of the war. It was hard enough to get troops (and especially their artillery) ammo.
So no, this shipment is not too late, and it won’t be too late when it finally hits the front in about a month. There’s no way this could’ve been delivered sooner, not without impacting the other desperately needed supplies that have been flowing into Ukraine. It’s not as if everyone was sitting around waiting for decisions to be made.
In addition to needing more weapons, an army’s ammunition consumption is frighteningly high. Equipping hundreds of thousands of reservists with body armor, helmets, and rifles is a real challenge. Don’t forget fuel. For three months, those supply shipments haven’t slowed a bit. We still have multiple cargo planes from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, and elsewhere landing at Rzeszow on a daily basis. This operation is massive, it’s ongoing, and it’s been running full-speed from before the start of the war. […] There were other priorities earlier in the war, but it wasn’t only until recently that they were in a place to beg for MLRS.
Related, people are complaining that it’s taking too long to get these HIMARS to Ukraine. People think three weeks is too long. I can’t believe that they’ll get HIMARS to the front in three weeks! Or better yet, I can believe they can get the launcher there, but as noted, the real challenge is in the rocket pods. An empty launcher is useless. A launcher that fires 1-2 fire missions then sits around for a week waiting for the next ammo shipment is a little useful, but mostly useless. HIMARS and M270 MLRS will have the impact we want it to have only if it is accompanied by an endless stream of rocket pods. That is what is going to take three weeks to set up, to establish those logistics.
Finally, there are those complaining that the four launchers announced is not enough. No matter what is announced, it’s not enough. When the Pentagon announced 18 M777 howitzers, the wails of “that’s it?” were deafening, when it was obvious that it was just the first shipment of many. To date, the U.S. has sent 108 M777s, and there’s nothing saying that more won’t be on their way in the months ahead. Once the proper logistics are established for HIMARS/MLRS, more will obviously arrive.
But again, note that the problem isn’t the number of launchers. Four HIMARS in the middle of Ukrainian-held territory in the Donbas can more than cover the entire front so long as it is properly supplied. [map at the link]
Heck, one HIMAR launcher could do so much damage given a steady diet of rocket pods.
So to sum all that up, the United States has done plenty, delivering what Ukraine has needed at every stage of the war, this initial shipment is by itself an amazing contribution to the war effort, and the delivery timeline is a marvel of logistics.
1/ Old rations, faulty vehicles, missing radios, under-strength units: corruption has been blamed for hollowing out Russia’s military and undermining its war in Ukraine. It’s worth examining this problem and seeing how it’s affected the Russian armed forces. 1st 🧵 in a series.
2/ Russia is one of the world’s most corrupt countries – Transparency International (TI) rates it 136th of 180 countries. State corruption is endemic. TI found that between 2008 and 2020, current and former Russian officials owned 28,000 properties in 85 countries. [map and charts at the link]
3/ It’s not just the top brass who cash in. Even if you’re only a middle-ranking official in Russia, your life goals are likely to be to set up your family in comfort in western Europe and send your children to a posh British school. Corruption is how you’ll achieve that.
4/ Scams and cheating are ubiquitous. If you ever wondered why Russian dashcam videos are all over YouTube, it’s because drivers use dashcams as protection against scams such as pedestrians throwing themselves onto cars to claim insurance payouts.
5/ Corruption is the thread which holds Putin’s regime together, and money (in dollars or Euros, naturally, not low-value rubles) is its lifeblood. And nobody has more of it than Putin himself – at least an estimated $200 billion, salted away in secret funds worldwide.
6/ Like every other state institution in Russia, the armed forces are riddled with corruption at every level. This is nothing new: in his 1854 Sevastopol Sketches, Tolstoy wrote of Russian officers: “While they are in the service their main aim is the acquisition of money.”
7/ In 1998, Russia’s Prosecutor General called the Russian Armed Forces “the most corrupt government structure in Russia”. If anything, it’s got worse since then. How does corruption in the Russian military operate, from the bottom to the top?
8/ Corruption starts even before someone joins the military. As @kamilkazani has noted, only the poor or the stupid allow themselves to be conscripted. The rest get out of it by bribing a doctor or recruiting officer. The ‘fee’ was reportedly between $5,000-$10,000 in 2007.
9/ Up to 70% of those summoned for conscription buy their way out of it, leaving the armed forces with the poorest and least healthy. This leaves the Russian military with chronic problems of fitness and efficiency.
10/ Col Gen Vladimir Mikhailov stated in 2007 that more than 30 percent of the 11,000 men conscripted annually into the Russian Air Force were “mentally unstable,” 10 percent suffered from alcohol and drug abuse, and 15 percent were ill or malnourished.
11/ If you get conscripted, you’ll be treated as the lowest of the low and exploited ruthlessly by older soldiers, known as ‘dyedi’ (‘uncles’). This could include being forced into prostitution, doing unpaid labour, or even selling your own blood to earn a few rubles.
13/ Other soldiers spoke of being “sent out to the park to earn money”. It was reportedly possible to pick up a soldier in the centre of Moscow or visit a nearby military base where clients could choose one for $100-500 – money that would go to the dyedi, not the conscript.
14/ If you’re a contract soldier – a military professional – you’re a step up but are still exploited. Salaries are low ($240 monthly before the Ukraine war). You may well need to buy your own uniforms, boots and fuel.
15/ Newer uniforms and boots of the right size are often unavailable because they’ve been stolen and sold off, so you’ll need to purchase them online. Ironically, ex-NATO surplus boots are reportedly favourites for their comfort and durability.
16/ You may also need to pay for your own accommodation. Although you will get a bed in a barracks for free, you may find that it’s unheated because the money for electricity has been stolen or otherwise gone unpaid. Not much fun in Russia’s cold climate
17/ There are, however, compensations to being a low-ranking soldier or junior officer – you may be posted to a military depot. These offer endless opportunities for theft. Avito, Russia’s equivalent of eBay, is full of adverts for likely stolen items of military equipment.
18/ Russian bloggers are currently crowdsourcing money to buy equipment for the frontline troops in Ukraine. Ironically, many of the items they’re buying were likely stolen from Russian military depots in the first place. These are very good times for corrupt quartermasters.
19/ Even tanks aren’t immune to the plague of looting. When reserve T-72s were shipped from storage depots to go to Ukraine in March 2022, they reportedly arrived without electronics, optics or even engines – all looted or stripped out. Only 1 in 10 was reportedly usable.
20/ In one remarkable instance, a 72-ton prefabricated Pantsir-2PU command bunker was stolen from a military base at Myaglovo, Leningrad Oblast in early 2020. Investigators were unable to discover what had happened to it, but it was most likely taken for the metal’s scrap value.
21/ In a similar incident, a submariner in the Northern Fleet stole parts of devices for controlling a nuclear submarine’s reactor. He stole and sold rheostats made of a very expensive palladium-vanadium alloy, but disabled the reactor in the process. Not a good idea!
22/ Let’s move up to the mid-ranking officers. Life is a lot cushier at this level as you can sign contracts, command troops and oversee bases. There are a lot more opportunities for corruption at ranks from major through colonel.
23/ Your perks may include using conscripts to build your dacha, or hiring them out to others to work in building sites, fields or factories. Naturally, the conscripts get no compensation for this work. Even Russia’s elite missile forces have not escaped this kind of abuse.
24/ You also have the possibility of stealing your men’s wages, as they are paid in cash. Or manipulating budget allocations to claim money for non-existent extra personnel and pocket the difference. Non-existent troops are known as ‘dead souls’, after a classic Gogol poem.
25/ ‘Dead souls’ are nothing new. In 1854, the Economist newspaper noted how much the Russian forces in the Crimean War were under strength. “The Russian armies are often armies on paper only.
26/ “The colonels … and officers … have a direct interest in having as large a number on the books and as small a number on the field as possible – inasmuch as they pocket the pay and rations of the difference between these figures.” Plus ça change.
27/ Remarkably, the Russian Army doesn’t know how many soldiers it has. In 2001, Gen Nikolai Kormiltsev stated that the army had accounted for only 82% of its authorised personnel – something that was regarded as a major achievement. Things are unlikely to have improved since.
28/ Figures leaked to Novye Izvestia newspaper in 2003 indicated that there were at least 30,000 “dead souls” in the armed forces. The 2012 case of Col Sergey Ustinov and Maj Hovik Babayan, two Eastern Military District officers, illustrates how this scam works.
29/ Babayan was responsible for providing food services to troops under Ustinov’s command. He forged documents, signed by Ustinov, showing 29,000 more soldiers were being fed than actually existed. The pair pocketed 6 million rubles for feeding the surplus ‘dead souls’.
30/ Researchers estimate that as many as one in ten Russian officers are corrupt. Military procurement is particularly rife with corruption. Let’s first consider the case of Colonel Sergei Serkin, formerly the chief provisions officer for the North Caucasus Military District.
31/ In only two years in his position, Col Serkin acquired several apartments, a house and an Audi car with a total value of about $200,000. One of his schemes was accepting bribes to purchase 3,500 tons of low-quality codfish, normally used as cattle food, for army rations.
[…] We have known that Grassley was prepared to substitute for Pence on 6 January 2021 because of [Pence’s] reluctance to comply with Trump’s demand to provide a bogus pretext for overthrowing the government.
The day before the 1/6 insurrection, Chuck Grassley tweeted that he (rather than Pence) would be supervising the election certification. This Chesebro memo of 13 December 2020 shows how the insurrection plan would unfold and nearly did with plenty of conspirators likely to be identified by the Select Committee. [Tweets from Hugo Lowell available at the link]
It was meant to be a coup and it’s set up in the memo. Pence was supposed to “recuse himself,” despite the fact that Gore didn’t recuse himself, Dan Quayle didn’t recuse himself, the Vice President has one duty. Had Pence recused himself, it would’ve been the end of democracy in America. […]
To some of us, it is clear that Pence was run out of the Senate chamber at the exact time that Pence decided to do his job, the exact time that Pence began to do his job (Remember the Trump tweet? Pence let us down?) which was the backup plan to this memorandum, where Pence was supposed to step aside willingly. Adam Schiff said that the most chilling words he had heard in the entire investigation were Mike Pence’s words to the Secret Service that he wasn’t getting in the SUV to be whisked away. Pence knew they were trying to get rid of him, get him away from the Capitol so that Grassley would count the Electors and reject those from the contested states.
[Tweet from Kyle Cheney available at the link.]
The memo, authored by attorney Kenneth Chesebro, described what he called the “‘President of the Senate’ strategy,” an effort to convince Mike Pence to assert control of the Jan. 6 count of electoral votes. […]
Chesebro’s memo lays out a day-to-day plan of action beginning Jan. 3 with hearings by Sen. Graham. A Graham spokesman emphasized that no hearings were ever held but declined to address whether Graham was ever approached about this strategy. […]
Chesebro then argued to let the chips fall. No one could predict what SCOTUS would do and Trump could very well still lose, he said. But he said the effort would be worth it and could even result in an unexpected outcome, like Pence becoming president. […]
The document: It’s a Dec. 13, 2020, email from a little-known attorney who had been advising Donald Trump’s legal team, Kenneth Chesebro. He sent it to Rudy Giuliani, sketching out a plan for then-Vice President Mike Pence to halt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021. He dubbed it the “‘President of the Senate’ strategy.”
Chesebro’s memo became public last week as a little-noticed exhibit in a legal battle between the Jan. 6 select committee and John Eastman, who conferred with Chesebro about that last-ditch strategy to delay or prevent the certification of Biden’s election. U.S. District Court Judge David Carter described the memo in his March ruling as perhaps “the first time members of President Trump’s team transformed a legal interpretation of the Electoral Count Act” — the law that governs the transition of power — into a day-by-day plan of action.” Carter wrote in his opinion that this memo “likely furthered the crimes of obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States.” He ordered it released to the select committee under the “crime-fraud” exception to attorney client privilege.
The strategy: The plan offered by Chesebro depended on the existence of competing slates of presidential electors in a handful of states where Biden won the popular vote. In fact, just a day after Chesebro sent his memo to Giuliani, pro-Trump activists gathered in several state capitals and signed documents falsely claiming to be the true presidential electors from their states.
Then, Chesebro’s strategy required Pence to “firmly take the position that “he, and he alone, is charged with the constitutional responsibility not just to open the votes, but to count them—including making judgments about what to do if there are conflicting votes.” […]
Something stinks in Miami and the stench, it would appear, is wafting in from members of the neofascist group known as the Proud Boys.
A report by The New York Times published Thursday dives into the rapidly expanding political landscape in Dade County where the Miami-Dade Republican Party has now accepted a number of people affiliated with the extremist group into the ranks of its executive committee.
[…] The Republican Party continues its lurch toward extreme right-wing ideology and divisions continue to be inflamed by the party’s darlings like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the twice-impeached former president-turned-Florida-resident Donald Trump.
According to the chair of the GOP’s executive committee in Miami, Rene Garcia, they are aware of the “fringe elements” present in the influential panel. But having a few Proud Boys on board—including those charged with obstructing Congress or impeding police on Jan. 6, 2021—is, apparently, just par for the course.
[…] In February, the Miami Herald reported at length on the spread of extremist right-wing ideologues into Florida life and politics. In fact, in terms of January 6 defendants, the outlet noted, no other state claimed more defendants than the Sunshine State. Granted, there are 21 million people that live in Florida, therefore increasing the probability of their presence in the defendant pool.
But it’s not just a numbers game.
A plethora of the nation’s most prominent right-wing figures call Florida home including Roger Stone and Michael Flynn. The onetime president of the Proud Boys, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, is also from Miami and the group has had significant success disseminating its message within and outside of the state’s borders.
The Southern Poverty Law Center remarked on this phenomenon to the Miami Herald.
Rachel Carroll Rivas, a senior research analyst for SPLC said in February:
“Those national players can speak to audiences around the country — they choose to be based in Florida, but they’re also influenced by the politics of Florida and influence Florida politics. And in that way, they actually export Florida culture across the country.”
There are also a large number of hate groups that call Florida home. In the last two decades, extremist groups of all types have expanded in the state from right around 40 groups in 2000 to 68 identified today.
[…] analysis has shown an increase in the number of Proud Boys chapter divisions cropping up in the U.S.
[…] Today, the Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee members include Jan. 6 defendants Gilbert Fonticoba and Gabriel Garcia, for example.
Fonticoba was charged with obstructing Congress on Jan. 6. He faces a a number of other charges and has pleaded not guilty. According to an order from the U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly in Washington, D.C., Fonticoba’s next appearance is slated for August. In advance of his trial, Fonticoba has asked for additional time to review the “voluminous discovery” presented to him by prosecutors.
Gabriel Garcia, who faces charges including entering a restricted area on Jan. 6, violent entry, disorderly conduct and more, also sits on the Miami Republican Party Executive Committee.
[…] Prosecutors said that Garcia screamed at U.S. Capitol Police on Jan. 6, calling them “fucking traitors” as he allegedly urged those around him to storm the Capitol.
“USA!” Garcia was heard chanting in a Facebook video he uploaded. “Storm this shit!”
In another video, Garcia is heard allegedly taunting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, asking her to “come out and play.”
Garcia has railed against claims that the Proud Boys are a hate group. When he ran for a House seat in Florida last year, the former U.S. Army Captain said those descriptions were false. He has pleaded not guilty. […] Garcia deflected the accusations and blamed antifa for violence in the U.S.
Another member of the committee is Chris Barcenas. Though Barcenas did not go into the Capitol on Jan. 6 and has not been charged with any crimes, he was at the Capitol that day and has been identified by groups like Miami Against Fascism as a member of the Proud Boys. […]
Another member of the GOP’s executive committee, Barbara Balmaseda, recently stepped down when pictures started to circulate of her on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. She said her resignation was based on her wish to focus on other work and that she felt the executive committee had become a drama-filled “waste of time.”
Balmaseda once interned for Florida Senator Marco Rubio and worked as a campaign organizer for Ron DeSantis. She was also a field organizer for the GOP in Florida […] Though she recently left the executive committee, she has opted to remain on the board of the Miami Young Republicans.
Notably, online sleuths have claimed that they have identified Balmaseda at the rally on Jan. 6 and in proximity to alleged Jan. 6 conspirator and Proud Boy Ethan Nordean. […]
Russian wants to pay in Rubles when many contracts specify payment in dollars.
NEW YORK/LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) – Russia’s failure to pay $1.9 million in accrued interest on a dollar bond will trigger payouts potentially worth billions of dollars, a panel of investors determined on Wednesday, as the country teeters on its first major external debt default in over a century. read more
Sanctions imposed by western countries and their allies on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, as well as counter measures by Moscow, have all but excluded the country from the global financial system. The lapse last month of a key U.S. license allowing Russia to make payments put the prospect of the country defaulting back into focus.
The country has the means to avoid default, with nearly $650 billion of available gold and currency reserves prior to the Ukraine invasion, which it calls a “special military operation”, and makes billions of dollars a week selling oil and gas.
Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said last month that Moscow will service its external debt obligations in roubles if the United States blocks other options and will not call itself in default as it has the means to pay. Not all bonds allow for payment in roubles, however.
[Tweet from Seth Hettena available at the link: “A derivatives panel has formally ruled that Russia defaulted on its sovereign debt.”]
I hope Russia’s creditors give Russia all the consideration Russia is giving Ukraine.
In theory, former Attorney General Bill Barr finds himself in a difficult position. [Barr] tapped special counsel John Durham to investigate the investigation into the Russia scandal, and the entire three-year effort is proving to be a fiasco. Durham’s failed and misguided prosecution of Michael Sussmann this week was the latest embarrassment, but it doesn’t stand alone.
It was against this backdrop that Barr turned to Fox News last night to brag about how “very proud” he is of the prosecutor’s work. The former attorney general added:
“While he did not succeed in getting a conviction from the D.C. jury, I think he accomplished something far more important…. I think he crystallized the central role played by the Hillary campaign in launching as a dirty trick the whole Russiagate collusion narrative and fanning the flames of it.”
JFC.
In all likelihood, Barr knows better. Donald Trump’s Russia scandal wasn’t just some “narrative,” launched as a “dirty trick”; it was a genuine scandal about a Republican presidential candidate whose political operation sought, embraced, capitalized on, and lied about assistance from a foreign adversary — and then took steps to obstruct the investigation into the foreign interference.
What’s more, as the former attorney general also probably knows, Hillary Clinton and her campaign didn’t “launch” the scandal; federal law enforcement began scrutinizing the controversy on its own based on ample evidence.
[…] Barr’s on-air rhetoric last night was jarring for a reason: [He] effectively made the case that Durham’s pointless prosecution doesn’t matter because the politicized special counsel investigation contributed to a partisan smear of Hillary Clinton.
Sure, federal prosecutors obtaining convictions is nice, but for Barr, fueling anti-Clinton theories is “far more important.”
The former attorney general isn’t the only one thinking along such ridiculous lines. Two weeks ago, the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal published a bizarre piece with an over-the-top headline — “Hillary Clinton Did It” — claiming that the former Democratic candidate “approved a plan to plant a false Russia claim with a reporter.”
Predictably, the piece was a hit in Republican circles — despite being filled with painfully obvious falsehoods.
It might be tempting to think the humiliating demise of Durham’s case against a former Clinton attorney might lead conservatives to shift their focus, but there’s ample evidence pointing in the opposite direction. On Tuesday night, Sen. Marsha Blackburn published a tweet that read, simply, “Investigate Hillary Clinton.” The Tennessee Republican — a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee — didn’t say why, exactly, Clinton should be investigated, but it’s likely that Blackburn and those who retweeted her missive weren’t overly concerned with sensible rationales.
A day later, former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, a leading Republican Senate hopeful, also called for an investigation into Clinton, suggesting GOP leaders “with a backbone” should agree with him.
[…] in Trump’s first year as president, the Republican and his party couldn’t shake their Clinton preoccupation. The then-president couldn’t stop talking and tweeting about his 2016 rival. His aides appeared fixated on Clinton. Congressional Republicans even launched investigations related to Clinton.
By October 2017, the former secretary of state joked, “It appears they don’t know I’m not president.”
[…] In 2019, when Trump launched his re-election campaign, he excoriated Clinton seven times over the course of 30 minutes in his kickoff speech, apparently indifferent to the fact that she wasn’t running. As Election Day 2020 grew closer, the then-president called for Clinton’s incarceration, pushed then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to uncover and release Clinton emails, and lobbied then-Attorney General Barr to prosecute Clinton for reasons unknown.
She wasn’t on the ballot. Trump seemed desperate to run against her anyway.
After Trump’s defeat, it seemed plausible that Trump and his followers would finally move on — if for no other reason than because they had fresh political targets, in the form a new Democratic president, a new Democratic vice president, a new Democratic Senate majority leader, et al. Clinton left office a decade ago, and it was finally time for obsessive GOP critics to find a new hobby.
And yet, here we are.
In February, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley suggested on Fox News that Clinton should be incarcerated. A month later, Trump filed an anti-Clinton lawsuit for reasons that defied comprehension.
Now, Barr, Blackburn, Greitens, et al. are reminding the political world that Republicans still can’t shake their obsession, even when it would be in the GOP’s interests to do so.
Last year, Saphinah Kenyando was struggling to decide whether to get vaccinated against Covid. Kenyando, who is 38 and teaches chemistry and biology at a high school in Kenya, had read about horrifying side effects—blood clots, long-term disabilities—that sounded worse than the virus itself. She watched a (possibly doctored) clip from former US President Donald Trump saying that the effects included gruesome facial deformities that develop as a person ages. And she wondered whether the rumors circulating on Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube were true—that a person could take the jab and drop dead shortly thereafter.
In addition to her academic role, Kenyando also serves as the school chess coach, a duty she takes very seriously. She believes the game imparts valuable lessons to students: Make the right move, and you’ll reap the benefits. Make the wrong one, and you’ll be forced to deal with the fallout. “Chess is life,” she says. “Every decision we make in life is about the game of chess.” That’s how Kenyando framed her own decision on whether to get herself and her children vaccinated against Covid. She decided to hold off until she had more information.
The misleading posts Kenyando had seen were just a small portion of the avalanche of disinformation that flowed through social media in Kenya as the pandemic intensified and the virus infiltrated the households of everyday Kenyans. Wanja Kimani, a house cleaner in Nairobi, read that the vaccine could cause mental illness. Lucy Wambui, a human rights activist in Nairobi, heard that Covid doesn’t exist in the slum where she lives and concluded that the vaccine is a way to control populations in neighborhoods like hers. She warned her own elderly father that he shouldn’t get vaccinated.
In the United States, the proliferation of disinformation about Covid vaccines and treatments has been widely publicized, and most of these myths come from a few powerful influencers. Last year, the anti-extremism group Center for Countering Digital Hate found that 65 percent of vaccine disinformation on Facebook and Twitter came from just 12 people, including the activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the natural lifestyle influencer Dr. Joseph Mercola. The target audience, the media reports, is in bastions of American conservatism—in rural communities, among evangelical Christians, and among Trump voters.
[…] there is increasing evidence that American vaccine disinformation campaigns don’t stop at the borders. Over the last year, global public health experts have documented rising rates of vaccine hesitancy in other parts of the world, from Africa to South Asia, from Eastern Europe to South America. While some disinformation is locally sourced, these experts have traced many of the myths to American anti-vaccine activists who create an onslaught of social media content at virtually no cost says Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, based in Washington, DC, and the United Kingdom. They […]
Covid didn’t create vaccine skepticism. The health experts we spoke to described how anti-vaccine groups began sowing the seeds of distrust in the developing world long before the pandemic. But much as in the United States, what started as a fringe phenomenon in many countries has been gaining momentum. The biggest worry is that this rising tide of vaccine hesitancy could undo 100 years of progress in combating the spread of infectious disease, bringing back polio, measles, and many other easily preventable deadly illnesses. […]
In 2019, Steven Lloyd Wilson, an assistant professor of politics at Brandeis University who studies disinformation, was invited by a colleague to participate in a World Health Organization conference about vaccine hesitancy. At the time, he was only vaguely aware of the anti-vaccine movement, and what he knew of it was mostly based in the United States. “I’m a political scientist. I’m looking at political issues,” he said. “It just wasn’t on my radar—anti-vaccination is a public health thing. This isn’t political.”
Nevertheless, one of his colleagues persuaded him to launch a study about the influence of foreign disinformation on vaccine acceptance around the world. In February 2020, he teamed up with a doctor in South Africa to collect and analyze negative social media posts about vaccines and compare that data with vaccination rates and attitudes.
Wilson wasn’t anticipating much to come out of the analysis. “I expected there to be some little statistically significant effect,” he recalled. So he was floored when the study ultimately found that negative vaccine posts were highly correlated with both skepticism of vaccines and declining vaccination rates all over the world. “We were very happy that our research design really worked,” he said. “And simultaneously very disappointed in the state of the world, that this was something real and worldwide.”
In part, the breathtaking success of worldwide anti-vaccination campaigns is due to the fact that there is an entire, incredibly lucrative cottage industry devoted to pumping out vaccine disinformation. Many of the most successful anti-vaccine activists rake in advertising money from their popular YouTube channels; some further enrich themselves through sales of supplements, detox regimens, and other wellness products […] Social media makes it cheap and easy to reach international customers—and international versions of popular social media platforms lack even the basic disinformation censors found in American versions. Children’s Health Defense, the prominent and influential anti-vaccine group led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recently launched a European version of its site. Joseph Mercola, the influential anti-vaccine osteopath, offers Spanish and French editions of his site; his videos have been translated into many languages […] In a 2017 affidavit, Mercola reported his net worth to be in excess of $100 million.
American influencers’ messages often resonate with communities that seem to have little in common with the United States, says Joe Smyser, CEO of Public Good Projects, a nonprofit in Washington, DC, that collaborates with UNICEF on studying vaccine hesitancy. Recently, his team followed the path of an American op-ed criticizing pandemic restrictions from its origin in the United States all the way to East Timor, where it took off on local social media. And when Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said he opposed government vaccine mandates, “that got a lot of traction in social networks across Vietnam,” Smyser says. “It was used to push back against the Vietnamese government and Vietnamese public health officials.”
[…] Wilson’s team found that foreign governments—particularly Russia—were amplifying all kinds of messages both in support of and against vaccines. This is a well-established destabilization tactic that leverages social media to polarize an entire population around a particularly contentious issue—Russia used it to undermine the 2016 US presidential election, for example. The point isn’t to promote any single viewpoint; it’s to sow chaos. “A lot of the time, you’ll have bots pushing six completely contradictory, mutually exclusive stories,” Wilson says. “But what unifies all of them is trying to get people to throw up their hands and say, ‘I guess it’s impossible to know what the truth is.’”
[…] In May 2020, Kenyan evangelical pastor Fred Akama posted a rant on Facebook, which began “THE GATES OF BILL SHALL NOT PREVAIL.” Bill Gates “predicted that a viral pandemic would hit the world,” the post continued, with the clear implication that the philanthropist was somehow complicit in and profiting from the creation and spread of Covid. Akama also accused Gates of having unethically close ties with the World Health Organization and vaccine producers and called him an enemy of the Christian faith. […]
Akama wasn’t the only social media influencer in Kenya warning about Bill Gates’ motives. “If you look at the kind of stuff that is circulating in East Africa…you find that the content seems to be very similar,” says Eric Mugendi, who works at Meedan, a San Francisco–based technology nonprofit supporting fact-checking and verification of organizations. “The kind of language that was being used and the types of people who were spreading it—a lot of times it was religious leaders,” Mugendi says, arguing that anti-vaxxers often link their arguments to Gates and liberal philanthropist George Soros. They accuse them of wanting to test vaccines’ efficacy on Africans, profit from vaccine sales, control the human population through microchipping, and prevent the growth of the African population.
[…] In the United States, a widely shared video called Plandemic popularized the conspiracy theory about Gates early in the pandemic. This strain of disinformation is particularly effective in Africa because of deep-seated anxiety that Western governments want to slow population growth in the developing world […]
The anti-abortion movement in Africa has employed this tactic for at least a decade. […] an ongoing campaign by Human Life International, a hardline US anti-abortion group, operates around the world. Its mission? To spread the message that “Western governments and NGOs are using great sums of money and influence to destroy the traditionally life-loving African culture.”
[…] In 2020, CitizenGo posted an online petition titled “Bill Gates and WHO: Hands Off Africa” intended to send a “firm message to the Bill Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization that Africa is not a test lab, Africans are people with human dignity and Africans will not be used to try vaccines whose purpose is not known.” […]
[…] In 2014, the Kenya Catholic Bishops Association fought vigorously against a tetanus vaccination campaign in the country. Perhaps the most prominent anti-vaxxer was Dr. Stephen Karanja, previously the chair of the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association. (In addition to his assault on the tetanus vaccine, Karanja opposed schoolgirls being vaccinated against cervical cancer, arguing that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was unnecessary because it affected those “whose lifestyle involves irresponsible sexual behaviors.”) And in 2019, a Facebook post by a Kenyan user that was made to look like a news article made the rounds in Kenya, announcing: “Abortion drugs discovered in Bill Gates’ vaccines. UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been accused of secretly sterilizing millions of women in Africa by doctors in Kenya after abortion drugs were discovered in tetanus [vaccines].”
Unsurprisingly, when Covid vaccines became available in Kenya in 2021, Karanja came out vehemently against them, recommending hydroxychloroquine tablets instead. He died of complications from Covid last year. […]
In Kenya, vaccine denial and rejection also fosters a dangerous economy of charlatans “selling health misinformation,” says Mugendi of Meedan. The Kenyan health system is biased toward the rich. Those who can afford good treatment buy it. Those who can’t, take shortcuts. People try dangerous treatments to find a silver-bullet cure at low cost, which creates an underground market of false cures and false hope. It also “makes people question genuine actors in the space,” Mugendi says.
[…] Through word of mouth, says Public Good Project’s Smyser, anti-vaccine messages take on a life of their own. In one case study in Papua New Guinea, the team looked at the spread of vaccine disinformation in a remote village. “Nobody had a phone, except for one guy who used to climb up to the top of the hill, and climb a tree, and hold the phone up, and download a bunch of stuff,” Smyser recalled. “And then he’d bring it back down and the whole village would read it.”
[…] The global development nonprofit IREX has developed media literacy curricula that it tailors to individual countries. “It’s going to look different depending on the content and the context, geography, culture,” says Katya Vogt, the director of the project. “You can’t just create one multi-use tool.” In Ukraine, for instance, the group worked within the school system, weaving lessons on how to identify disinformation tactics into the literature, social studies, and history lessons. In Tunisia and Jordan, the program administrators determined that it would be more effective to train youth leaders to teach groups of their peers and create their own social media content about spotting disinformation.
In Kenya, nonprofits are working to improve media and digital literacy. Africa Check has hired a slew of Fact Ambassadors to promote accurate information through Kenya’s social media and other channels. Those ambassadors “will come back to us with anecdotes about how they sent something to one of their relatives in a WhatsApp group who kept on sending all these conspiracy theories and treatment regimens for Covid-19,” says Shiundu of Africa Check. “And these people, after they reluctantly read, they were exposed to accurate information, and they slowly updated their beliefs.”
Last year, Kenyando, the school teacher who wavered on the Covid vaccine, was virtually introduced to Peter Ongera, a Fact Ambassador, who helped correct some of the misinformation and disinformation she’d absorbed over the past two years. Kenyando had another compelling reason to get the jab: One of her students had qualified for the African Individual School chess championship, and Kenyando needed to be vaccinated to travel to Ghana, where the tournament would be held.
Kenyando got the shot. Then she took her children to get vaccinated. “I took them having done my own analysis,” she says. She listed her reasoning as wanting to “protect myself and family because of the nature of [my] work. As a teacher […] I interact with so many people,” and because it “was a requirement from the employer to have all teachers vaccinated.”
But she worries that the same myths she saw are still circulating. “The falsehoods about the Covid vaccine, much of it was online,” she says. “There is power in information. Irrespective of how it comes, the first moment that somebody gets the information, they take it as the true Gospel.”
Russia has accused the son of a Conservative MP of involvement in the killing of a Chechen brigade commander in Ukraine, after footage emerged of the British national fighting in the country.
Russia’s National Guard, a force also known as Rosgvardia, said in a statement posted on its website that one of its commanders, the Chechen fighter Adam Bisultanov, was killed on 26 May in a clash with a “group of mercenaries from the UK and the USA” that included the “son of a British parliamentarian,” Ben Grant.
Grant first arrived in Ukraine in March, when he told the Guardian he was moved to volunteer after seeing footage of a Russian bombing of a house where a child could be heard screaming. He said he went without telling his mother, MP Helen Grant, he was going.
In dramatic footage posted online this week, Grant, who is a veteran of Afghanistan and a former Royal Marine, can be heard saying “go, go” as he and his unit exit a patch of woods and fire a Matador anti-tank missile at what is believed to be a Russian BTR-80 armoured personnel carrier.
Rosgvardia in its statement said that the Chechen commander Bisultanov was killed when his BTR-80 vehicle was hit three times by the foreign fighters, posting a picture of the vehicle’s carcass online.
Ben Grant (right) and other foreign fighters from the UK posing for a picture as they prepared to depart for Ukraine on 5 March.
In separate video, published by the Telegraph, Grant is seen dragging another British volunteer to safety after a Russian ambush in a woodland north of Kharkiv.
Grant told the newspaper that his unit of 15 British and American volunteers and two Ukrainian interpreters had been preparing an assault on a Russian-held target when they came under heavy Russian fire earlier this month.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life. I was terrified but driven to complete my most important goal, which at the time was getting him and my team out of the danger,” Grant said.
Since Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the creation of the International Legion of Ukraine in March, thousands of people from around the world, some with a military background and many without, have arrived in Ukraine.
In a briefing on Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defence said that it had “eliminated hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine,” [doubtful] adding that 3,500 foreign fighters were currently in the country. The ministry also warned that captured foreign soldiers will not be treated under the standards of international humanitarian law.
Russia: winning the propaganda war by drawing attention to the heroic deeds of handsome British volunteers.
The White House announced a fresh round of sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, targeting Russian government officials and elites as well as several yachts linked to President Vladimir Putin. The sanctions were announced as Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said he was “grateful” to the US and its secretary of state, Antony Blinken, for a new $700m weapons package for Ukraine.
EU ambassadors dropped the leader of Russia’s Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, from a proposed blacklist, according to diplomats. The removal of Patriarch Kirill from the list of sanctioned individuals allows the EU to agree on a new round of sanctions after opposition from Hungary.
European Parliament bans Russian lobbyists from premises
The European Parliament announced on Thursday that it has banned all Russian lobbyists from its premises to prevent them spreading Moscow “propaganda” about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reports.
“Effective immediately, Russian company representatives are no longer allowed to enter European Parliament premises,” the European Parliament president Roberta Metsola said on Twitter.
Metsola urged all other EU institutions, including the European Commission and the European Council, to follow suit.
A parliament spokesman said the ban was a response to “Russia creating and spreading false narratives about the war in Ukraine through multiple channels, including through state-owned companies”.
The prohibition applies to Russian companies listed as employing lobbyists to the EU as well as those on the bloc’s sanction blacklist.
The parliament in 2015 had already banned Russian diplomats from its premises, which include chambers and annexes in Brussels and the French city of Strasbourg, in response to Moscow banning several EU politicians vociferous over its annexation of Crimea.
German MEP Erik Marquardt, of the Greens, welcomed the ban saying that “especially oil and gas lobbyists” working on behalf of Russian companies had been trying to “spread propaganda and disinformation” in recent months.
…A powerful standards watchdog has accused Boris Johnson of failing to allay fears that he and his ministers consider themselves above the rules, as his support continued to ebb away in the wake of the Partygate scandal. Jonathan Evans, the chair of the committee on standards in public life, criticised a planned overhaul to the way the ministerial code is policed, saying they undermined the role of Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser, Christopher Geidt [yes, one would think].
Angela Rayner has repeated calls for the introduction of an ethics and integrity commission and says Boris Johnson is unfit to uphold standards in public life. The deputy leader of the Labour party said: “Boris Johnson has shown himself unfit to uphold high standards in public life and is lowering the bar each and every day he clings to office, trying to rig the rules as he faces investigation for deliberately misleading Parliament.”
…
The UN refugee agency has said “a clear majority” of people arriving in the UK by small boats across the Channel should be considered to be refugees, in a challenge to the home secretary, Priti Patel. Patel told MPs and peers last year that 70% of people making the crossing were “single men who are effectively economic migrants”, and the government has repeatedly referred to them as “migrants”.
Asylum seekers who went on hunger strike over plans to send them to Rwanda have been threatened with faster deportation by the Home Office if they do not eat. [!!!!!!!] At least 17 people from Syria, Egypt and Sudan, who are being held at the Brook House immigration removal centre near Gatwick airport, began the protest when they were told they would be sent to Rwanda on 14 June as part of a controversial new scheme….
William Barr, who served as attorney general under former president Donald Trump, on Thursday met with the House select committee investigating January 6, CNN reports.
Barr met for two hours with lawmakers investigating the assault on the US capitol, and discussed his interactions with Trump before and after the 2020 election, CNN said, citing sources familiar with the investigation. The network also saw him in the room where interviews are done.
The meeting dealt with Barr’s interactions with Trump before and after the election, as well as his conclusion that the 2020 election was not affected by fraud, as the former president claims.
The committee’s chairman Bennie Thompson said in January that the former attorney general had spoken to the panel repeatedly. Barr was accused of turning the Justice Department into the then-president’s tool during his time as attorney general, but ultimately resigned before the end of Trump’s term.
A Florida legislative map that favors Republicans is set to stay in place during the state’s upcoming elections after a court declined on Thursday to block it.
The ruling, reported by Politico, adds to the woes facing Democrats in Congress, where court rulings have given Republicans an edge in redistricting, while President Joe Biden faces low approval ratings.
The Florida case centered on a Congressional district map drawn, in an unusual move, by Republican governor Ron DeSantis, rather than the legislature. Civil rights and voting groups had sued over the map, arguing it violates anti-gerrymandering clauses in the state’s constitution.
The decision by the state supreme court not to intervene in the case means an appeals court will likely decide the matter, but not before the state’s August 23 primary. The map gives Republicans an advantage in congressional districts and also dismantles the district of House Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat representing North Florida.
Biden will deliver a primetime address at 7.30pm ET on “the need for Congress to act to pass commonsense laws to combat the epidemic of gun violence”, the White House said. The speech comes less than two weeks after a mass shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers. The massacre has intensified calls for national gun-control legislation, but it remains unclear whether any bill can pass Congress.
Ohio is poised to allow teachers and other school employees to forgo hundreds of hours of training normally needed to carry a gun at work under a bill awaiting the governor’s signature.
House Bill 99 will streamline the process for school employees to carry weapons on campus, and has been welcomed by Republican governor Mike DeWine. “My office worked with the General Assembly to remove hundreds of hours of curriculum irrelevant to school safety and to ensure training requirements were specific to a school environment and contained significant scenario-based training,” he said in a statement.
The bill, which passed the Senate Wednesday, has raised eyebrows given its passage following a wave of mass shootings, including at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
The Associated Press reported that it’s opposed by teachers unions, gun control advocates and law enforcement groups, and supported by some police departments and school districts. Republicans who backed the law see it as a work around for a recent court ruling that said school employees must undergo a lengthy training process before coming to work armed.
There’s a simple test of whether or not Top Gun: Maverick will work for you. How high is your tolerance for Tom Cruise worship, by every character in the movie? A movie in which even those who stand in the way of the great Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) only do so because they have not yet realized the full goodness and greatness he possesses, and they have tragically misunderstood? If that reflex in the back of your throat isn’t tickled just a tad by this notion, you’ll be fine. Otherwise, feel free to join me in longing for Cruise to stop denying his age, and finally take on interesting roles again that aren’t simply about risking physical danger to prove he’s still got…something….
From the looks of things, it’s one of very few negative reviews, but the movie as described is pretty much what I expected. (I haven’t seen it, and don’t plan to see it or any other Cruise vehicle.)
Speaking of cults, a couple of weeks ago I mentioned the new Hulu limited series about Teal Swan, “The Deep End.” It’s odd to me that so few people seem to be talking about it because it’s staggering. I’m very concerned about some of the people who appear in it. Here’s a six-part podcast series about Swan from 2018 by Gizmodo reporter Jennings Brown: “The Gateway: Teal Swan.”
Ukrainian forces have had some success fighting Russians in the city of Sievierodonetsk but the overall military situation in the Donbas region has not changed in the last 24 hours, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.
In a late night video address, Zelenskiy thanked US President Joe Biden for promising to send missiles and said he expected good news about weapons supplies from other partners.
This is disturbing. Ohio apparently passed something called the “Save Women’s Sport Act.” It would include examining the genitals of young women who have been accused of being trans. https://twitter.com/MorganTrau/status/1532417493658177536
The House Judiciary Committee [met today] to discuss a package of bills that would stiffen gun laws in the nation after three separate mass shootings in the past 10 days. The Democratic-led panel is trying to get bipartisan agreement, but that, as we know, is highly unlikely.
The Democrats are hoping to push the “Protecting Our Kids Act” in front of the full House as soon as next week […] The bill will then move to the Senate, where Republicans are historically loath to touch anything that puts the Constitution’s hallowed Second Amendment and America’s love of guns in jeopardy.
If you have hope that things could change anytime soon, look no further than Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert’s comments today, where he angrily accused the Democrats of “controlling” cities with the “worst murder rates.” See how he’s flipping this?
“Your ideas have been shown to get people killed. Are you here for the murder, the murderers in Chicago? In Philadelphia? And these other major cities? Cause you’re wanting to do nationally what is being done by Democrats in those big cities,” Gohmert said, appearing virtually during the House meeting. “We care about people. We care about their lives … we care deeply. How dare you. How dare you. You arrogant people,” he spit out. [Video is available at the link. Gohmert looks insane, and also likes his head might explode at any time.]
Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon responded to Gohmert’s allegations that Philadelphia’s homicide rate is due to Democratic leadership by explaining that the Commonwealth’s Republican-led legislature “for decades” has “blocked city leadership from passing the types of commonsense gun safety laws we are considering today.”
Scanlon went on to say that “like most Americans,” she is “sickened” and “sick to death” of the “gun carnage” seen in the nation daily.
“I will not sit idly by watching preventable tragedies play out over and over again … whether the children and teachers slaughtered in Texas last week, the community members murdered in Buffalo the week before, or the more than a dozen people gunned down in Philadelphia during the Memorial Day weekend.
“In cities and towns across the country, we are mourning too many people whose lives have been cut short … We are not helpless here. We can change this. We can pass gun violence prevention laws that are Constitutional and save lives. All it takes is political courage. A willingness to put American lives above gunmaker profits.” [More video available at the link.]
But just before Scanlon spoke about common sense and rational gun laws, Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube ridiculously brandished several handguns during the hearing, all while complaining about which of his beloved guns and magazines the Democrats’ proposed gun law would ban. [Well that is a painful video to watch. Steube is fondling his guns while he participates in the hearing via video conference from his home. ]
Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin blamed everyone and everything from the “real mental health crisis” in the country, to the FBI, to the “defund the police movement,” to the school system’s attempt to “replace the family by withholding information from parents about their own children.” [video at the link]
Thankfully, Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from Texas, called the GOP what it is: a party of “extremism.” She added: “They post ghoulish photos of themselves with weapons of war, and use it as their Christmas cards … they participate in congressional hearings virtually adorned with them.” [video at the link]
Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee talked about the conversations she’d had with surviving children and parents in Uvalde, Texas, and how for years the Democrats have attempted to push laws forward that would restrict gun ownership.
“This [bill] is a combination of humanity, courage, decency, and action …. I asked [National Rifle Association leader Wayne Robert] LaPierre to join us. We’re in the crisis of death. We have a war on the children of America,” Lee said.
There is, in fact, a war on our children in this country, as well as on adults and innocent bystanders.
The problem isn’t what we know: it’s what we’re unwilling to face up to and do something about.
As Mara Liasson, national political correspondent for NPR said clearly in a recent interview about what’s stopping gun prevention laws from passing, “88% of voters tell pollsters they’re for background checks. Sixty-seven percent of voters say they’re for an assault weapons ban. But because we have a system that advantages minority rule in the United States Senate, Republicans don’t really have to cater to that majority opinion.
“You know, the Senate is an institution that was designed by the founders to protect the minority party’s rights. But over time, because of the way the population has sorted itself out, we pretty much have minority rule. Right now 50 Democrats in the Senate represent 44 million more people than the 50 Republicans. And that means that Republicans really don’t run any political risk for voting against popular gun control measures,” Liasson said.
A funny thing happened on the way to Russia’s capture of Severodonetsk. After reports from Ukrainian officials that Russia held about 80% of the city, and a full week after Chechen forces claimed to have taken the whole city (which never happened), Ukraine now appears to hold more of Severodonetsk than it did on Wednesday.
Some statements are now going as far as saying that Severodonetsk was a trap to lure in Russian soldiers. There are now claims that Ukrainian troops haven’t just held on to their corner of the city, but have spread out, taken prisoners, and are prepared to expel the remaining Russian forces from the city. Which, if true, is just … wow. […]
However, there are other statements saying that while Ukrainian forces did recapture some blocks of the city on Thursday, they are still vastly outnumbered and are holding positions to allow more civilian evacuations. I absolutely want to believe the reports that Ukraine is about to pull off what would be a mid-level miracle. But I’m not investing in these reports too deeply at this point.
In a story that sounds all too familiar, The Guardian reports that a large number of people are hiding below a factory site in Severodonetsk.
About 800 people, including children, are hiding beneath a chemical factory in the key eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, now 80% held by Russian troops, as more western allies promise additional missile systems and arms to Kyiv.
This would seem to set up an almost Mariupol-like situation, though it’s unlikely that any other site is as well prepared for invasion as the Azovstal plant.
Right now, please take all reports out of Severodonetsk with a coffee cup full of salt. Both sides have a lot invested in this location on a symbolic basis, which means it’s extremely open to a propaganda push from either side. [map at the link]
After a week in which relatively little ground has changed hands, there is action today north of Kharkiv. Ukraine has captured the town of Vesele, where Russian forces had been dug in since the start of the counteroffensive in the area. Russian troops have retreated to the area of Lyptsi, and reportedly made an unsuccessful attempt to advance to the south.
At the same time, pro-Russian sources are reporting a large Russian advance in the area, one in which Russia has apparently captured not just Ternova but Staryi Saltiv and multiple villages. Please note that, while this “big Russian advance” map is circulating widely on Twitter, there is no (as in zero) evidence that such a Russian attack exists in any form, not even in Telegram chatter. Someday, Russian propagandists are going to get tired of claiming that Russia has retaken Ternova. Today is not that day. [tweet and map at the link]
As promised, the map of the area east of Zaporizhzhia has gotten some attention today. Russia is making a number of pushes in this area, but so far has been unsuccessful at translating them into genuine gains. A number of villages are in dispute east and south of Hulyaipole, which has been shelled heavily for weeks. Another group of villages have faced assault near Orikhiv, but there’s no clear evidence that any have changed hands.
What’s making the Zaporizhzhia area particularly interesting right now is what’s reported to be coming. In the last few days, several small groups of Russian soldiers or isolated vehicles have been destroyed attempting to advance along the highway on the east bank of the Dnipro River. But these are reported to be the vanguard of a large Russian force—a force equipped with T-62 tanks. This force has supposedly rolled through Melitopol headed north, but it’s hard to believe Russia will actually use these tanks for more than patrolling areas solidly under their control.
Over the last several weeks, there have been several flip-flops when it comes to control of the villages along the border of Russian-occupied territory, but now Russia does seem to be moving forward from that border with more purpose—though what that purpose might be is not clear.
Last week, a village near Hulyaipole was the site for this demonstration of Ukrainian artillery skill. [video at the link]
And finally, I’m bringing you this fine example of Tucker Carlson / Pillow Guy quality propaganda for your enjoyment. Honestly, the production values here make me feel safer. [Silly, laughable video is available at the link.]
You see, comrade? Russia is taking these cities without even firing a shot. Nothing in this city has been damaged. There are people playing games, strolling the sidewalks, out for dinner and shopping. They love Russia! They also love wearing their winter coats in June! Ukrainians, such interesting people!
Germany is being impacted by cutting of Russian oil imports. So, they have become creative in an attempt to :
– Help people with fuel cost
– Trying to save 21.3 metric tons of carbon emissions
– […] plan future investments in public transport
They are doing this by cutting the cost of a multi-pass (which covers all public buses, subways and trains) in Germany to 9 euros a month for the summer. This will save folks more than 90 euros a month if they were using public transport. If they weren’t the hope, is they will to start saving on fuel cost, and to give feedback to the government on gaps in the current public transport system.
Sometimes when handed lemons you make lemonade… the reason this information hit me is all the whining I hear from Americans about the cost of fuel, up to 6 dollars a gallon. Instead of being like the Germans who are using this hardship as a chance to test new solutions, and plan for the future – we whine and complain. I’d like to see the US use this as an opportunity to address climate change, the inevitable shortages of fuel in the future, increased mileage requirements for cars, or electric cars… or public transport. Or any solution at all vs complaining that life is changing.
Just in-case you are planning a trip to Germany, even tourists can get the pass […]
Wonkette: “Republicans Very Mad At Dems For Pointing Out They Aren’t Doing Shit To Stop Kids Getting Shot”
“How dare you. You think we don’t have hearts?” screeched Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert during this morning’s House hearing on gun control.
In point of fact, we do think that. What other possible conclusion is there when an entire party refuses to take any action to keep Americans safe from being shot in their homes, churches, schools, hospitals, malls, and movie theaters? If your “family values” require children to go to school in a war zone so that you can amass a stockpile of cool murder sticks, then, yeah, you have no heart. Would a person with a functioning heart look at 19 dead kids and insist that it was more important for teenagers to be able to wander around with weapons of war strapped to their bodies than for kindergartners to be able to go to school without coming home in body bags? Not likely!
And yet there was Gohmert, howling away that it was really the Democrats who kill people, not ready access to automatic weapons. [video at the link]
“We care about people. We care about their lives, and lives have been so trivialized. We care deeply. How dare you. How dare you, you arrogant people, attributing murder to those of us that want to do things to stop it,” he said, without explaining exactly what he and his party were doing to “stop it,” adding, “Because we’ve seen what your ideas do, they create more murder.”
Haha, remember when Bill Clinton passed that assault weapons ban and it created more murder? Or, you know, the opposite of that.
There have been at least 17 mass shootings in America since an 18-year-old gunman in Uvalde, Texas, murdered 19 fourth graders and two teachers last week. Republicans have offered many explanations for the ongoing carnage, including abortion, video games, wokeness, mental health, and doors. Guns appear nowhere on this list, although America, a country awash in firearms, is the only place where this happens every goddamn day.
“What good would laws do,” ask the same people passing draconian bills to regulate uteruses. Of course, the Uvalde shooter waited until he was 18 and could legally buy the murder weapon, but that’s just, like, new math, or whatever.
Republicans have made totally clear that they’re not going to do shit to stop this plague of murders.
“We can do a lot of things, and Texas has done a lot of things after the Santa Fe shooting,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Tucker Carlson. “Obviously we have to do more. We have to harden these targets so no one can get in ever except from one entrance.”
Why would an elementary school be a “target”? And if there are so many people targeting schools, why would we do nothing to stop these maniacs from buying guns that can fire a shitload of bullets in rapid succession?
These are questions that do not trouble today’s GOP. In fact, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has virtually guaranteed that nothing will get in the way of Texans’ ability to purchase high capacity firearms and a mountain of ammo with no waiting period.
He recently called for a committee to study school safety and mass violence. Safe bet this vaunted committee, assuming it does anything at all, will not call for gun control legislation. But even if it did, it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference because committees, like every public space in America, are where things go to die. If Abbott were remotely seriously about doing something, he’d have called the legislature into special session. The way he just did when they had to enact “emergency” legislation on so-called voter integrity and the frightening scourge of transgender kids existing. […]
Meanwhile in the Senate, Mitch McConnell has signaled his seriousness of purpose by deputizing Texas Sen. John Cornyn to negotiate some kind of gun safety bill. Cornyn, whose sanity is only measurable by comparison to Ted Cruz and Louie Gohmert, will no doubt propose a red flag bill on trans kids buying guns, and then accuse Democrats of sabotaging bipartisan efforts when they refuse to go along with it.
It’s a brutal, brutal country, filled with rugged individualists, AKA selfish assholes.
Happy Pride! So excited to celebrate with all my LGBTQIA+ friends and fans 🏳️🌈 Art by Paulina Ganucheau for @DCComics ✨
StevoRsays
Astronomers have waited a very long time for this – albiet seems we’ll have to wait another month or so still :
Although the Webb team has shared several images already, these were all interim alignment images taken to evaluate the observatory’s capabilities. The July 12 images will come after each instrument is “calibrated, tested, and given the green light by its science and engineering team,” according to NASA.
NASA emphasized that despite all the months of careful alignment since the Dec. 25, 2021, launch of Webb, it is difficult to predict exactly how the new images will look. The high-resolution infrared view of the universe will be unique, as Webb operates in deep space and has an 18-segment hexagonal mirror that collects sharp images expected to show the first galaxies, early in the history of the universe.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From there:
The UK has taken in fewer Ukrainian refugees per capita than all but one of 28 European countries, a Guardian analysis of official figures from across the continent has found.
Seven million people have fled Ukraine for other European countries since Russia invaded on 24 February, according to the United Nations high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR).
The Home Office put the number of Ukrainians who had arrived in the UK as of 29 May at 65,700 – equivalent to about 10 refugees per 10,000 population.
As of 11 May, 720,000 Ukrainian refugees had arrived in Germany, which has a population of similar size to the UK’s, working out at 87 per 10,000 population.
France is the only European country with a roughly equivalent per capita figure to the UK’s, with just over 57,500 arrivals as of 25 May, or nine refugees per 10,000 population – although figures from individual prefectures indicate that 93,000 have now arrived in the country, significantly more than the most recently available official figure.
Some much smaller countries by population, including Austria, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, have admitted many more refugees in both absolute and relative terms, according to their governments. Bulgaria, for example, was the initial destination for more than 290,000 people fleeing the war, equating to 423 per 10,000 population.
The countries bordering Ukraine have, as would be expected, admitted many more still: UNHCR data shows that a combined 5 million refugees have entered Poland, Romania and Hungary. Poland has admitted the highest rate of Ukrainian refugees of any EU country, taking in 957 refugees per 10,000 population.
A man has shot and killed two women in the parking lot of a church in Iowa and then turned the gun on himself, police said, adding three more dead to the national toll from a series of recent shootings that have rocked the United States.
The Iowa shooting took place on Thursday shortly after president Joe Biden delivered a major address on gun violence in the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York; Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, in recent weeks.
Meanwhile another shooting on Thursday wounded two people attending a burial at a cemetery in Racine, Wisconsin.
The Iowa shooting took place outside Cornerstone Church, a fundamentalist Christian church east of the city of Ames about 37 miles (60km) north of Des Moines, while a church program was on inside, said Nicholas Lennie, chief deputy of the Story county sheriff’s office.
…
Moments before, Biden urged Congress to ban assault weapons, expand background checks and implement other gun control measures to address the mass shootings.
“Enough, enough!,” the president said.
The United States has been shaken in recent weeks by the mass shootings that killed 10 Black residents in upstate New York, 19 children and two teachers in Texas, and two doctors, a receptionist and a patient in Oklahoma.
In Racine, Wisconsin, multiple gunshots were fired into a crowd of mourners attending a graveside funeral on Thursday, wounding two people, Racine police Sgt Kristi Wilcox told reporters.
One victim was treated at a local hospital and discharged, the other was flown to a Milwaukee hospital, apparently suffering more serious injuries, Wilcox said. No suspect was taken into custody.
Eleven people are dead and more than 20 missing after Hurricane Agatha struck Oaxaca state in Mexico, the state’s governor says.
Agatha made landfall on Monday as a category two hurricane, the strongest to hit Mexico’s Pacific coast in the month of May since records began in 1949.
Heavy rain brought by Agatha triggered landslides and flash flooding.
Most of the victims were swept away by rivers or buried in mudslides.
Agatha arrived on Mexico’s coast near Puerto Ángel with wind gusts of up to 169km/h (105mph) but lost strength as it moved inland.
However, torrential rains caused rivers to overflow and mountainsides to give way. Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat said that at least five people had been swept away by rivers.
Villages in the mountains are amongst those worst hit….
…
Scientists from the US weather service have predicted a very active hurricane season for this year with above average numbers of named storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes.
Zelenskiy declares ‘victory will be ours’ on 100th day of war
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, marked the 100th day of war with a video message in front of the presidential office in Kyiv where he pledged that “victory will be ours”.
Flanked by some of his closest allies, including Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, and presidential advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, Zelenskiy says:
The leaders of parliamentary factions are here. The president’s chief of staff is here. Prime Minister of Ukraine Shmyhal is here. Podolyak is here. The president is here.
Our team is much bigger. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are here. Most importantly, our people, the people of our country, are here.
He adds:
We have been defending Ukraine for 100 days. Victory shall be ours. Glory to Ukraine.
The video, posted today, echoes a similar video the president posted on 25 February, a day after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, in which he says “we are all here” while standing with his team.
A Washington state Guardsman received a phone call from a Ukrainian who has an issue with the Javelin. Guardsman talked him through it. 30 minutes later, Guardsman gets a call from the Ukrainian who just blew up a Russia vehicle.
This Guardsman and Ukrainian befriended each other during a relatively recent Washington deployment to the country before the war.
Does not technically qualify for a CAB [Combat Badge, I think]. But is indeed a solid note for an NCOER [Noncommissioned Office Evaluation Report Form, used to evaluate performance of NCOs].
Dmitry Ivanov, a pro-democracy activist and computer science student who runs the “Protest at MGU” [Moscow State University] Telegram channel, has been put into a pre-trial detention facility and faces up to 10 years in prison.
Our Pjotr Sauer spoke to Ivanov for a story we published in March about Russian anti-war activists who refused to flee the country despite the risks.
[Sauer’s tweets, at the link:
Dmitry Ivanov, who runs the “Protest at MGU” telegram channel has been sent to a pre-detention facily. He is one of the few anti-war activists still in Russia. “I don’t think I should be afraid or run away. This is my country,” he told us in March
Every single person that we talked to for this story has either been jailed, fined or fled the country]
StevoRsays
Ethics 101?
Please do NOT confuse “strength” for cruelty or bullying others. Real strength lifts weaker others up not punches them down. World has too much meanness in it already without needing any more added by anyone. Kindness please.
Thankyou Pharyngulites among others.Learnt this here. Among other places.
Dunno if this is silly, profound or something in between good or terible right now FWIW but – Aspire 2b / If X -Y
If you are strong, lift others up.
If you are smart, be wise.
If you are human, it’s ok
If you be anything be kind.
If things are bad, make them better.
If there is love, respect.
If there is hate, restraint.
If there is despair, defy.
If there is hope, work to make it so.
If there is joy, embrace.
If there is terror, face.
If there are others, do unto.
If there is you be you.
If there’s the world, improve.
At this point, Democrats have confirmed Joe Biden’s judicial nominees at a pace unseen in six decades, but they have a lot more to go and not much time.
Just 10 days after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, NBC News reported that the new White House team and Senate Democrats were “embarking on a mission to shape the courts after Republicans overhauled them in the last four years.”
[…] it looks like that mission is going pretty well for the party. The Washington Post reported this week:
While some major pieces of President Biden’s legislative agenda remain stalled, he has enjoyed more success than recent predecessors in winning Senate confirmation of judicial nominees. In a statement Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) noted that last week, his chamber confirmed the 66th of Biden’s judicial nominees to a lifetime appointment on the bench.
Part of Schumer’s boast was rooted in the diversity of the judicial nominees the Biden White House has chosen and Senate Democrats have confirmed: The Senate majority leader’s statement noted that 75 percent of the judges confirmed since last year are women, and nearly two-thirds are people of color. Biden, more so than any modern president, has also prioritized nominations for public defenders and civil rights attorneys. [Good news!]
The other part has to do with speed: No president of either party has seen this many judicial confirmations at this point in his term since John F. Kennedy’s term six decades ago.
In fact, across the judiciary — district courts, circuit courts, and the Supreme Court — the Senate has now confirmed 66 of Biden’s nominees. At this same point in Donald Trump’s term, the total was 39. In Barack Obama’s first term, it was 26.
As we’ve discussed on several occasions, Republicans in the Trump era prioritized judicial nominees above almost every other consideration. The campaign was as relentless as it was effective: The former president managed to appoint about 230 judges to the federal courts. That’s not as many as his recent two-term predecessors, but it was a striking tally for a failed one-term president who never won the popular vote.
With this in mind, the Biden White House has emphasized judicial nominees to a degree without modern precedent, and the narrow Democratic majority in the Senate appears to have taken the matter seriously.
There are, however, some caveats. Of Biden’s 66 jurists, only 16 are judges on the circuit appellate courts, which Republicans prioritized far more than lower district courts. Indeed, while Biden’s overall total easily surpasses Trump’s total at this point into their respective presidencies, Trump actually leads in overall number of circuit court confirmations, 17 to 16, suggesting an area of emphasis for Democrats in the coming months.
What’s more, I wrote “coming months,” and not “coming years,” because it appears Republicans are well positioned to reclaim the Senate majority, at which point all judicial confirmations will effectively end. In fact, the reason Biden’s total is so much higher than other recent presidents is that his modern predecessors and their partisan allies weren’t racing against an unfriendly calendar.
As for the near future, there are currently 73 vacancies on the federal bench — more if we include the Court of International Trade and the Court of Federal Claims — and that number is likely to grow as sitting judges retire and take senior status. Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said last year that filling every vacancy by the end of 2022 is his party’s “very prudent goal.”
That’s an ambitious target, which will require a concerted effort on the part of Democratic leaders. […]
Traditionally, U.S. Senate candidates have gone to great lengths to appear responsible and mature, avoiding outlandish rhetoric that might make them look foolish. In contemporary Republican politics, things work a little differently: GOP Senate hopefuls running in competitive primaries often go out of their way to say ridiculous things, hoping to get some attention and impress the party’s far-right base.
With this in mind, Rep. Billy Long, running in a competitive Senate primary, has a strong incentive to make bizarre comments. Yesterday, for example, the GOP congressman unveiled what he described as his “platform” — which included having President Joe Biden making Donald Trump the vice president. [oh my]
[…] Around the same time, as HuffPost noted, the Missouri Republican shared some thoughts on mass shootings.
Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) was asked during an interview with Missouri radio station The Eagle 93.9 on Wednesday whether there was any appetite among Republicans in Congress to pursue changes to gun laws. It came in the wake of a gunman’s massacre of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. Long, who is running for the U.S. Senate, said guns aren’t the issue…. He said there are a few solutions but that the problem can be traced back to when abortion became legal nationwide.
[oh my]
“[S]omething has happened to our society,” Long said. “I go back to abortion, when we decided it was OK to murder kids in their mothers’ wombs. Life has no value to a lot of these folks.”
[…] he caused a stir by connecting mass shootings to abortion without regard for reason or propriety.
[…] Sen. Ron Johnson blamed society’s “secularization,” and when that didn’t prove persuasive, the Wisconsin Republican lamented “teaching wokeness” and suggested critical race theory was partially responsible for the bloodshed.
At an NRA gathering last week, Sen. Ted Cruz turned his attention to absent fathers, declining church attendance, social media, and video games. The Texas Republican added that “good guys” with guns can stop “bad guys” with guns — despite the painfully obvious fact that what transpired in Uvalde left this tired talking point in taters.
[…] John Harwood noted last week, “Rarely does one event expose the emptiness of a political party’s arguments as clearly as Uvalde has exposed Republican arguments against action on guns.”
[…] There’s a difference between bad arguments and unserious arguments, and if recent events have proven anything, it’s this: The problem is not just that Republicans’ claims are wrong, it’s that they’re not even trying to be right. In true post-policy form, the party is wholly indifferent to governing on the issue, since solutions might prove ideologically unsatisfying.
The result is a dynamic in which GOP is peddling ideas that are effectively policy gibberish in the hopes that some combination of time, distractions, legislative abuses, and policy inertia will once again leave gun laws unchanged. […]
I too was glad to see that Peter Navarro was indicted. That guy is the epitome of Trump-affiliated doofuses who think they can get away with anything.
Commentary from Steve Benen:
When it comes to the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack, there are some complex dimensions to the probe, but enforcement of subpoenas doesn’t have to be one of them. As regular readers know, Peter Navarro was a key insider in Donald Trump’s White House; he has important information; he was subpoenaed to cooperate with the bipartisan investigation; and he refused.
With this in mind, House Democrats — who didn’t want congressional subpoenas to be seen as optional invitations — voted two months ago to hold Navarro in contempt and referred the matter to the Justice Department.
Evidently, this did not go unnoticed at Main Justice. NBC News reported:
Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro has been indicted on contempt of Congress charges, the Department of Justice said Friday. Navarro, 72, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday on two counts of contempt after snubbing a subpoena from the House committee investigating Jan. 6 seeking testimony and documents.
Coincidentally, Navarro appeared on MSNBC yesterday afternoon and “The Beat” host Ari Melber reminded his guest of the irony of the circumstances: Navarro is willing to talk to the media about his perspective, but not Congress. “You do realize these investigators can hear you when you talk on TV?” Melber asked. [LOL]
The question took on some additional significance today.
According to the Justice Department’s statement, each count of contempt of Congress carries a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in jail, as well as a fine of up to $100,000.
In case this isn’t obvious, Navarro is not an obscure figure in Trump World. On the contrary, as we’ve discussed, Navarro was a key White House insider; he appears to have highly relevant information; and he’s boasted about his role in trying to overturn Trump’s 2020 defeat.
He has boasted over and over again! He also seems to think that it matters if he calls his attempts a “strategy” instead of a coup plot.
The fact that congressional investigators would want to seek answers from him was inevitable. The fact that he’s been indicted for ignoring a legal summons was not inevitable.
If this broader legal dynamic sounds at all familiar, it’s not your imagination. The House voted last fall to hold Steve Bannon in contempt when he ignored a Jan. 6 committee subpoena, and soon after, the former White House strategist was indicted. Democratic lawmakers also voted to hold former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in contempt when he refused to honor a subpoena, but at least for now, he hasn’t been charged.
It’s difficult to say with any confidence why the Justice Department treated the cases differently — there may very well be a rationale tied to a larger case — but Navarro has found himself in Bannon’s category, not Meadows’.
Navarro will now likely be treated like any other criminal defendant in the federal court system: He’ll be arraigned; he’ll enter a plea; and if he pleads not guilty, a judge will set a trial date. Navarro’s initial court appearance is expected this afternoon.
This is a breaking news story, which will be updated.
Here is a good link on Twitter that provides video snippets from Ari Melber’s questioning of Peter Navarro. The snippets include Navarro making some threats if Republicans take back the house and the Senate.
Navarro is really irritating. He keeps trying to question Melber instead of answering questions. Have to give some kudos to Melber for keeping his cool and for constantly redirecting Navarro to the questions.
Taking a closer look at Doug Mastriano, Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial nominee.
[…] the far-right candidate has said he intends to force everyone in Pennsylvania to re-register to vote if they want to participate in future elections. The Associated Press reported yesterday, “The concept flatly violates federal law, legal scholars say, and may conflict with state law, not to mention constitutional protections. It is also a throwback to laws designed by white people in past eras to keep Black people or newer European immigrants from voting.”
Today I’ll follow up on Mark’s on-the-ground update from yesterday, as all three major fronts (Kharkiv in the northeast, Donbas on the east, and Kherson in the south) have suddenly lit up.
Most notably, after feigning a fighting retreat of Severodonetsk—a city way out on a salient, isolated and exposed to assault from multiple sides—Ukraine’s defenders unexpectedly stiffened up, halted the Russian advance, and perhaps even retook some ground. Some claim Ukraine laid a trap modeled after the famous Russian defeat in Grozny during the first Chechen war, where rebels famously lured Russian troops into the city center before trapping and massacring a whole lot of them.
I and many others have spent the last week commenting about the folly of defending Severodonetsk when Ukraine can fall back behind the river and hold a much more defensible (and higher elevation) line at Lysychansk. […] But for whatever reason, despite horrific losses in the Donbas front (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says 80-100 Ukrainian dead every day, and another 500 injured), Ukraine has decided this city utterly lacking in strategic value is worth the blood.
Still, what the decision lacks in any obvious strategic value, it definitely makes up in unimaginable valor and bravery. In a war that has created so many icons like the Azovstal defenders, Severodonetsk may very well bid for legendary status. [tweet and map at the link]
My guess is that as long as Ukraine disproportionately bleeds Russian forces, they’ll continue the defense and help stall Russian advances elsewhere. But this is not a place for a final last stand. Ukraine doesn’t intend another Mariupol. At some point, the remaining defenders will cross the last bridge standing (which Russia has left intact because it wants those defenders out), blow that bridge, and Russia can disperse that mass of forces back to the Izyum and Popasna pockets.
Meanwhile, NASA FIRMS satellite imagery has lit up around both Kherson and Kharkiv as Ukrainian forces make new moves on Russia’s under-resourced fronts. The imagery is designed to track forest fires, but turns out it’s a wonderful tool for tracking the front lines of a bloody war.
Kharkiv
My brother took NASA FIRMS fire data and overlaid them over Nathan Ruser’s maps with yellow dots to give us some idea of what is happening on the ground. [map at the link]
Just a few days ago, Mark was wondering whether Ukrainian forces east of Staryi Saltiv had been withdrawn. Things had gotten that quiet, with no evidence of any activity or presence. That changed yesterday as fires showed up all along both sides of the Donets River.
Generally speaking, fires in a city indicate that Ukraine has control. Russia’s one and only tactic is to try and flatten anywhere Ukrainian troops are present with artillery, before trying to occupy the rubble with their infantry. […]
The two fires on both side of the Staryi Saltiv bridge can be easily explained—Russia is targeting Ukrainian supply routes to the east bank. But the other four are all in supposedly Russian-held territory. The evidence strongly suggests that Ukraine is making headway, and Russia is shelling Ukrainian troops before they have a chance to dig in and establish defensive positions.
There is a caveat—you can see a road running down from Starytsia to Buhaivka, before it hits the bridge on the eastern bank opposite Staryi Saltiv. Those fires could be Ukrainian artillery hitting supply routes and convoys. Hitting an ammo truck could shine brightly enough for NASA to pick it up. The fog of war is thick. What we do know is that things are picking up in a place that had otherwise been recently quiet.
Also, this happened: [tweet and map at the link: 🇺🇦 have recaptured Vesle, Northeast of Kharkiv...]
While the map has changed slowly, there has been fierce fighting in the region as Russia attempts to push Ukraine back from the border. The invaders want Kharkiv back in artillery range, and their own Belgorod out of Ukrainian range. And Russia is spooked enough about those small but steady gains that it has begun digging defensive lines at Kupiansk, Russia’s most important logistical hub for its entire northeastern war effort. […]
Kherson
Ukraine has launched a three-pronged counter-offensive north of Kherson, in Ukraine’s southern front. Much like in Kharkiv, Ukraine seems to be moving slowly and deliberately, lacking the strength to fully collapse Russian lines, but pushing them methodically back. Here’s yesterday’s FIRMS fire location near the Davydid Brid section of the front lines. [map at the link]
Up in the northeastern quadrant of this map, you see the Ukrainian push out of its bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Inhulets River. Those fires match up perfectly with territory Ruser has marked as contested. Ukrainian forces are likely under fierce artillery barrage in territory we’ve seen time and time again as inhospitable for anyone on the attack—flat, open, lacking cover. […]
But there are indications that Ukraine is less interested in advancing than in cutting that road south of Davydid Brid. Russian forces on the approaches toward Kryvyi Rih north of here depend on that road for supplies. If Ukraine can cut that supply route, it could very well force a Russian retreat from the north.
Moving on down the map, we see fires on Ukrainian held territory on the road to Snihurivka (upper-middle of the map, with the arrow pointing right). Weirdly, the map labels the tiny settlement of Pavlivka while omitting the much-larger Snihurivka (pop. 12,000) directly to its west on the other side of the Inhulets. These fires confirm reports of Ukrainian forces advancing on Snihurivka, while the fire inside Snihurivka itself is evidence of otherwise sketchy rumors that Ukraine has gotten a foothold in the town.
That last fire, on the bottom left, is perfectly matched to the location of a Russian advance in open space. That one is most likely Ukrainian artillery making life miserable for advancing Russians […]
Unlike other MLRS, a TOS-1 thermobaric launcher has a short range. And what happens when other artillery outranges you? This happens.
Sign of hope?
Russian propagandists with Tos-1 flamethrower.
50 seconds after the first launch, Ukrainian counter artillery fire begins.
130 seconds after the first launch, they are running for their lives.
It’s been clear that the long-running radicalization of the Republican Party, both at its highest reaches and among its rank-and-file membership, has sharply intensified since the Jan. 6 insurrection—reflected in the GOP’s simultaneous embrace both of denialism about who was culpable and conspiracist claims that Trump was the victim of “election fraud.” It’s the kind of radicalization into an anti-democratic entity that raises serious doubts that the Republican Party can be a reliable partner in a viable democratic system.
So the Southern Poverty Law Center set about to determine just how deeply this radicalization process has [gone] by partnering with Tulchin Research to poll 1,500 Americans about their political beliefs and attitudes. The findings are disturbing: Nearly 70% of Republicans believe in the “Great Replacement” theory—claiming that liberals are plotting to replace white Americans with brown immigrants, a belief that fueled the recent mass shooting in Buffalo—and even more of them believe that the 2020 election was “stolen.”
[…] Other studies have demonstrated the saturation of QAnon conspiracist-cult beliefs into the Republican power structure and its voting base. […]
Among the SPLC’s findings in the recent poll:
– Nearly 7 in 10 Republicans believe that America’s ongoing demographic changes are being purposefully driven by liberal and progressive politicians intent on “replacing conservative voters”—a partisan variation on the long-running “Great Replacement” theory that’s been the basis of white-nationalist recruitment and rhetoric for a decade, but has increasingly found a home among conservative pundits like Tucker Carlson.
– These beliefs correlate strongly with the belief that the 2020 election was “stolen” promoted by Donald Trump, and that the government is now using the Jan. 6 insurrection to persecute conservatives. Over 75% of respondents who agreed that the 2020 presidential election was “fraudulent, rigged and illegitimate” also subscribe to replacement theory—the same percentage of belief in the theory as what they found among those who agree that conservative Americans are being politically persecuted for the insurrection.
– While most Americans overall view the country’s changing demographics positively, Republicans decidedly do not, with 67% viewing it as a threat to white people. In contrast, some 64% of Democrats responded that they find the country’s increasing diversity to be at least a somewhat positive development […]
– The majority of Republicans perceive the 2020 racial-justice protests as an attack on white people. Their preferred response when asked about the protests was that they were destructive and an “overreaction that has unfairly made white people the enemy in America.”
– The poll also found a growing sentiment among right-wing Americans that transgender people and “gender ideology” constitute a threat to children and the larger society. […]
The overall picture is one that makes clear that American democracy is being seriously challenged by anti-democratic forces from within. Notably, the increasingly violent and threatening nature of right-wing extremism is instilling a like-minded response throughout the populace: “Across the political spectrum,” the report warns, “we found substantial support for threatening or acting violently against perceived political opponents.”
[…] The polling found that Republicans more often agree that “some violence may be necessary to get the country back on track.” Many Americans are increasingly pessimistic: 44% of the respondents—53% of Republicans and 39% of Democrats—say the “U.S. seems headed toward a civil war in the near future.”
“Each side has radically different visions of America: On the right, a large faction is invested in pushing back against pluralism and equity, while the left largely embraces those values,” the report observes.
There’s also a stark difference in the two sides’ views of the viability of democracy:
Just over half of people overall agree that the government “has become tyrannical,” including 70% of Republicans and 78% of those who consider themselves “very conservative.” Only 29% of Republicans say they have even a fair amount of trust in the Federal government, compared to 60% of Democrats. Significantly more Republicans have faith in their state and local governments—51% and 59%—while Democrats’ level of confidence remains steady across those institutions.
Earlier this year, the SPLC’s annual report on hate groups in America noted that, while the sheer numbers of such groups have been in decline in recent years, the underlying extremist beliefs that have always fueled them have spread widely into the mainstream under the aegis of the Republican Party. There are fewer hate groups because their beliefs are no longer contained to hate groups. These numbers tell us not only how far these beliefs have spread, but are ample warning that democracy itself is nearing a crisis stage.
Rightwing, ultra religious doofuses make commencement speeches:
[…] this is a new, callous America — where some commencement speakers offload political polemics and religious rants on a gobsmacked audience. Take River Valley HS, Marion County, OH. An alumnus, Jim McGuire, a local businessman, decided that making the students the subject of their own graduation was not the point. Instead, he decided to share his opinions on God, calendars, and marriage.
He started his message with an admonishment to fly right by God, his son, and his book,
“We are sending you into places that we cannot go. It is currently some people’s thoughts to be in vogue to diminish or play down biblical principles. It is what established us, it is what continues to establish us through the years. Everyone in every country in [sic] this planet lives by calendar [sic] that was based on 2022 years ago, it was established by Jesus Christ, and we need to remember that. I promise any time you spend learning God‘s word will not be subtracted from your life.”
The man is a moron. To say that every country on this planet lives by the Christian calendar is an example of some Americans’ arrogant ignorance. […]
The Gregorian calendar is international so everyone is on the same page (literally). But domestically, China (pop. 1.4 billion) uses the NongLi (Farming Calendar). Hindus (1.2 billion) use the Panchanga. And Muslims (1.8 billion) use the Hijri. This means the majority of people do not use the Christian calendar in their daily lives.
Then McGuire lectured on marriage.
“Friends and family. Choose a spouse, I suggest. I also strongly suggest to make sure to choose biblical principles, you know a male with a female and female with a male.”
Every American has the right to follow their faith, including none. But no American has the right to lecture a captive audience with the dogma of that faith. At least he did not tell the audience to marry within their own race.
If you are still wondering about the McGuire’s age, politics, and ethnicity, he made it clear by invoking his patron saint:
“I want you to be competent and I want to be comfortable in what you do and I want you to make other people feel comfortable. Personally, I like to do like Ronald, President Ronald Reagan did, and he normally used levity and jokes. I personally like to use them in first person and I always start a project meeting or a board meeting off with some type of levity.”
As might be expected from someone who has to explain how he tells jokes, he offered up a dad joke which had no relevance to anything he said. He then told a story of how he terrified three toddlers in the bath by using ketchup to fake a fatal wound. What a putz. […]
Alexis Osipow, a 2018 graduate of the school, who was there for her younger sister, reported on the audience’s mixed reactions.
“When he made the comment that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, my jaw dropped to the floor, and I honestly thought I was hearing it wrong.”
“I had to look around and see if other people were having the same reaction that I was, and they were. I felt like crying when I heard some people in the crowd clapping. But I was absolutely outraged and so were my parents and brother. I heard people behind me whispering about how inappropriate the comment was as well.”
Marion County voted for Trump by almost 40% over Biden. But even in MAGA country, Maguire’s remarks went too far for the majority of the audience.
The school district ran away from this miserable man, but only after the damage was done, with a lame “it’s not our fault”.
As with all alumni speeches in past ceremonies, the speech was not reviewed by anyone on the RV Administrative team or Board of Education. Any views expressed by the speaker during his commencement speech reflected his personal beliefs. He was not speaking as an official representative of River Valley Local Schools.
I am the last person to suggest censoring speeches, but what about guidelines? If the speaker must drag God in, make the reference generic. It is a public school, not a seminary. […] And do not tell jokes unless you are good at it. […]
Ukrainian forces recapture 20% of territory lost in Sievierodonetsk
Ukrainian forces have recaptured around 20% of the territory they lost in Sievierodonetsk since Russia’s invasion, according to Ukrainian officials.
“Whereas before the situation was difficult, the percentage (held by Russia) was somewhere around 70%, now we have already pushed them back by approximately 20%,” Serhiy Gaidai, the head of the eastern region of Luhansk, announced on national television on Friday.
Gaidai said that Russian forces were attacking and advancing upon Ukrainian positions for hours, only to be driven back by defenders who were not injured.
“This is how they are moving forward, step-by-step, because with artillery, aircraft, mortars, they are simply destroying everything,” he said.
“But as soon as we have enough Western long-range weapons, we will push their artillery away from our positions. And then, believe me, the Russian infantry, they will just run.”
Since the invasion, Russian forces have swarmed into the city in attempts to capture it in order to achieve its stated aim of controlling the entire Luhansk province. On Thursday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that Ukrainian forces have had some recent successes in the region.
This is Day 100 of the illegal and unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine. Or, as Euromaidan Press put it, this is day 100 of an 8-year war that has been going on for centuries.
Going into this war, advisers inside the Kremlin were genuinely predicting to Vladimir Putin that Russian forces would be inside Kyiv in no more than three days, that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would flee the nation before the first Russian tank crossed the border, and that Russia would have no problem at all installing a puppet regime that would surrender to Russia before breaking Ukraine into bite-sized pieces.
It’s starting to look as if those guys might have been slightly off.
On Thursday, President Zelenskyy said that Russia now controls about 20% of Ukraine. Whenever we’re looking at maps of the country, it’s very easy to concentrate on the red areas—the areas that are occupied by Russian forces. But this seems like a much better day to look at all the yellow on this map from Nathan Ruser (@Nrg8000). [map at the link]
There’s a huge amount of area around Kyiv, taken back in a battle that cost Russia over 10,000 soldiers and thousands of vehicles. There’s the area in the southwest, where Russia’s area of control once ran far north of Mykolaiv as they searched for a way to get at Odesa. There’s the area by Kharkiv, which Russia held even after retreating from the cities of Sumy and Chernihiv, but is now falling to Ukrainian advances. There are areas all over the east and south where Russia was momentarily successful, only to find that latest advance or salient beaten back by Ukrainian forces.
Russia may now hold about 20% of Ukraine. But it once held a lot more. Then it lost ground. It can lose again.
On day 100, Oryx verifies that Russia has lost 4,214 pieces of equipment, including 751 tanks. That’s an average of over 42 vehicles, including 7 tanks, a day. And these are minimum numbers—only the equipment whose loss can be verified by photos or video released to the public. The real numbers are higher; we just don’t know by how much.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense estimates that Russia has lost 32,000 soldiers killed in 100 days. That’s 320 a day.
The Ukrainian government estimates that 1,014 villages and towns have now been recaptured from Russia. That’s more than 10 a day. Actually, it’s a lot more once you realize that the recapturing of lost ground didn’t start until weeks into the invasion.
We don’t often mention it in these updates, but Russia’s economy also continues to suffer as a direct result of Putin’s illegal invasion. On Thursday, the European Union added still more Russian companies and Russian oligarchs to their sanctions list and, most importantly, moved ahead with a plan to phase out imports of Russian oil and natural gas into Europe (with a few exceptions, namely Hungary under Orban). This week, Ireland joined several other nations that recognize Putin’s efforts in Ukraine as genocide. The diplomatic isolation and economic damage Putin has generated with this war will be felt in Russia for generations.
Ukraine has also suffered losses. Those losses have been tremendous. They’ve lost lives, equipment, 40% of their economy, and whole cities to Russia’s bloody destruction and theft. But they are still on their feet. 50+ embassies are back up and working in Kyiv months after most of the world thought it was lost. The possibility that Ukraine could actually win this war, not in the sense of a partisan underground, striking back at an occupying government, but in the form of an actual military victory over Russia in the field, has gone from unthinkable to almost undeniable.
It’s been an amazing 100 days. It’s been difficult and heartbreaking, especially when dealing with the utter destruction in places like Mariupol, the mass deportation of Ukrainian citizens to Russian labor camps, and the mass graves in places like Bucha. But it’s also been defiant, surprising, and uplifting, especially when witnessing the continued determination and spirit of the Ukrainian people in unimaginable conditions.
However, according to Axios, something else has happened in the last 100 days. Something that seems all too predictable: Americans are tuning out the war. [chart at the link]
Let me say this is not happening here. At Daily Kos, the attention level given Ukraine updates continues to be high. Frankly, there have been several times when we discussed cutting back on the frequency of the updates, giving them less time and attention, and maybe doing something more like a summary every few days.
The reason that hasn’t happened is that the Daily Kos community has continued to show unbroken interest. The Ukraine updates are, almost without exception, some of the most viewed and most commented on articles each day. We continue to scan Russian Telegram accounts, and follow the action village by village, detail the effectiveness of various military systems, and update all those darn maps—because 100 days in, you’re still eagerly following the plight of a poor, determined country fighting to prevent a militaristic dictator at the head of the world’s second-largest army from swallowing up their nation.
100 days in, you’re still interested. That’s also amazing. Stay tuned for further developments.
The pressure campaign to sway then-Vice President Mike Pence into stealing the 2020 election for Donald Trump led Pence’s chief of staff to alert Pence’s security detail, and included an extremely Trumpian quid pro quo, The New York Times reported Friday.
In the days ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, Pence was under sustained pressure from the then-President to use his ministerial (but largely symbolic) role in counting Electoral College votes to, instead, throw out the votes and deliver the election to Trump.
That pressure campaign ultimately led Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short to fear for Pence’s safety, the Times reported.
The day before the Capitol attack, Short warned Pence’s lead Secret Service agent that then-President Donald Trump was going to turn against Pence, and, in the Times’ words, that “there could be a security risk to Mr. Pence because of it.”
That warning was one of several indicators listed in the report that Trump was attempting to turn the screws on Pence: Trump reportedly sought to arrange a meeting between Pence and Sidney Powell, the Trump-allied lawyer that falsely alleged a vast conspiracy to rig the election. Some on Pence’s team were suspicious Powell would serve Pence with legal papers, the Times reported.
Separately, Pence reportedly received a memo from the Trump aide and noted football trickshot artist John McEntee with the text, “JEFFERSON USED HIS POSITION AS VP TO WIN.”
But most intriguingly, the Times reported that Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, informed Short that Trump was withholding transition funds for Pence that could be used to establish a post-White House office. That development, per the report, “left the Pence team on high alert about the pressure campaign.”
The funds were ultimately approved, the Times reported — soon after Jan. 6.
It’s worth noting that Navarro, who is right now outside the courthouse pontificating on the legality investigation and his legal strategy, is not a lawyer.
johnson catmansays
re SC @281: Just in case anyone questioned that he is still in the running for the stupidest person in Congress (and beyond), Louis Gohmert opened his mouth and removed all doubt.
Sgt. 1st Class Chris Freymann never thought he’d have such a direct role in the fight against Russian forces invading Ukraine. But as the war raged, he became a kind of ad hoc, over-the-phone tech support for Ukrainians trying to use Javelin missiles while under fire.
They messaged with questions; Freymann sent answers. In return, he got photos and videos of the Russian tanks they destroyed.
Before the war, Freymann, a cavalry scout in the Washington state National Guard, had been the lead instructor in the U.S. military’s program that trained soldiers in Ukraine how to use the shoulder-fired tank-killing missiles. He trained about 200 Ukrainian troops during his months with the program.
Russia launched its invasion in February, after U.S. trainers left. But the relationships Freymann made remained. His former students — now troops fighting on the front lines — again reached out for help on operating the Javelins as they encountered technical issues or forgot details.
“When the war started, I had a lot of guys hitting me up on WhatsApp,” Freymann told Military[dot]com. “One of our linguists, her husband was one of the few soldiers who were left. A lot of the students trained by the other [Guard units] died.”
Freymann would relay information on operating the Javelin to the linguist. Her husband, who was in the fight, would then send Freymann photos and videos of destroyed Russian tanks. Freymann says at least four tanks were destroyed after some of his over-the-phone coaching.
…
Freymann’s previous students worked through the linguist, who had assisted the National Guard during the earlier deployment, to get past the language barrier. Though some Ukrainians reached out to him directly, Freymann said he often had to use Google Translate to make sense of their questions.
…
The technical support and over-the-phone retraining is all on Freymann’s own time. Toward the end of his deployment in Ukraine, he had a stroke and is still recovering at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
Meanwhile, the Javelin has become the signature weapon of the war in Ukraine, playing a massive role in the underdog military halting the movement of Russian armor and killing scores of soldiers — forcing Putin to move his forces east and abandon plans to take the capital, Kyiv.
The National Guard has been training Ukrainians since 2015, with units from numerous states rotating through on generally nine-month missions. The Florida National Guard was pulled from Ukraine just before Russia invaded but has continued training fighters in Germany.
“I’m sitting here still getting messages of ‘thanks’ from these guys and that’s the payoff,” Freymann said.
In a move that could tip the scales in the war against Russia, U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have reached an agreement to ship Americans’ four hundred million firearms to Ukraine.
“The Second Amendment calls for a well-regulated militia necessary to secure a free state,” Biden said. “I can’t think of a better description of what’s going on in Ukraine right now.”
Zelensky said that he welcomed the transfer of armaments to Ukraine, but expressed surprise that the cache included more than twenty million assault rifles.
“We, of course, could really use military-style weapons, because we were invaded by Russia,” he said. “But why on earth did so many Americans have them? Were they afraid of being invaded by Canada?”
The man who police say shot and killed two women before killing himself Thursday had been arrested days before on harassment charges in connection to one of the victims, officials said Friday.
Authorities identified the shooter as Johnathan Lee Whitlatch, 33, of Boone, Iowa, who they say confronted three women in the parking lot of Cornerstone Church on Thursday evening, said Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald at a news conference Friday.
Whitlatch shot and killed two women, who were identified as Eden Montang, 22, and Vivian Flores, 21, both students at Iowa State University. One of the women had previously been in a relationship with Whitlatch. The third woman was not injured.
Whitlatch did not attempt to enter the church after committing the “targeted act of violence,” Fitzgerald said. He died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Fitzgerald said.
Two days before the shooting, Whitlatch had been charged with harassment and impersonating a public official, and the Tuesday charges were “directly related” to one of the victims, Fitzgerald said.
The shooter used a 9 mm pistol and authorities later found 9 mm ammunition in his truck along with a receipt of purchase from one hour before the shooting, officials said.
The shooting happened just before 7 p.m. local time as about 80 college and high school students were in the auditorium of Cornerstone Church, a megachurch 30 miles north of Des Moines, where a bible study group was being held.
…
Court records show the suspect had several domestic cases where he was accused of violent or inappropriate actions toward women, including one incident that led to criminal charges.
One woman he previously dated and had a child with filed and received a domestic abuse protective order in 2017 after she said the suspect grabbed her by the throat and made a motion as if to punch her, but stopped before the blow landed. The woman wrote he threatened to come to her home and kill her.
He was also charged in November after a woman accused him of groping her at a bar. He faced charges of intent to commit sexual assault, an aggravated misdemeanor, after surveillance footage confirmed the incident, records show.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said the shooting was an “act of senseless violence.”
“Tonight’s act of senseless violence took the lives of two innocent victims at their place of worship. Kevin and I grieve for the families who have suffered an unfathomable loss,” Reynolds wrote on Twitter. “And while the investigation continues and we learn more, we ask that Iowans pray for the victims and their families, the members of Cornerstone Church, and the entire Ames community.”…
Rep. Chris Jacobs has announced he will not seek another term in Congress, after the Republican faced rising backlash from the right following his announcement last week that he would support new gun control measures.
“It would be an incredibly divisive election for both the Republican Party and the people of the 23rd District,” Jacobs said Friday afternoon at a press conference in Buffalo. “The last thing we need is an incredibly negative half-truth filled media attack funded by millions of dollars of special interest money coming into our community around this issue of guns and gun violence and gun control.”
Jacobs’ departure from the race will likely lead to a scramble among Republicans in what will now be an open contest in New York’s reddest seat.
Jacobs, a resident of suburban Buffalo, has spent the past two years representing a seat in the northwest corner of the state. Hours after new maps were released on May 21, he announced plans to run for a new district along New York’s border with Pennsylvania, which most closely resembles the seat that was recently vacated by Republican Tom Reed.
In the aftermath of a shooting at a supermarket near his district, he declared he would support measures such as a ban on semiautomatic rifles and a new minimum age of 18 to purchase firearms.
That quickly led to an uproar among his fellow Republicans.
…
There’s a chance the race could get crowded. Buffalo developer Carl Paladino, the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nominee, told Spectrum News earlier Friday he would run if Jacobs ended his bid.
Paladino was endorsed by fellow New York Republican Elise Stefanik less than an hour after Jacobs bowed out…. [JFC]
Russia—and specifically forces controlled by Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov—made a video to gloat about their capture of Severodonetsk. Twice. A week apart. The only problem is that it didn’t happen, either time. Chechen propagandists were also a little premature with that video that showed how happy the people of Severodonetsk were to be “liberated from Ukrainian Nazis” by their friends the Chechens. [doofuses and dunderheads]
On Saturday, Ukraine is still fighting in Severodonetsk, in spite of the intense pressure Russia has brought against the city from three directions. What’s more, throughout the day on Friday and into Saturday, Ukraine seems to have regained control of a majority of the city.
[…] Russia has reportedly rushed even more forces to Severodonetsk, according to a briefing from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. But Ukraine also has additional forces in the city, including elements of the “Ukraine Foreign Legion.”
The regional governor of Luhansk issued a statement saying that the situation was “very difficult,” and that fighting is intense. “The Russian army, as we understand, is throwing all its power, all its reserves in this direction. This is now their main target.”
Because of the close proximity of forces, and the way that troops from either side are often entangled from one block to the next, Russia apparently cannot make effective use of its one real weapon in this war: artillery. A NASA FIRMS map of the area reveals a zone of intense fire at a few blocks in the city center, which was recaptured by Ukrainian forces on Friday. Otherwise, artillery strikes on areas of the city have been scattered and sporadic.
[…] for the last two days, it does seem that Ukraine has not just held on to the areas of the city it controlled, but pushed back the Russians in block-by-block fighting. Ukraine seems to have driven Russian forces out of a string of outlying villages on the city’s east side, including the village of Metelkino. [map at the link]
Russian artillery has reportedly been directed at bridges over the last day with the intention of preventing Ukraine from bringing in more reinforcements or supplies. In the detail above, the black lines are rail lines running into the city center, which is now under Ukrainian control. The single highway bridge to Lysychansk reportedly has been damaged but is still passable. The rail bridges seen in this images crossing the river near Rubizhne are reportedly out as are bridges to the south.
The small geographic extent of this battle, and the large number of forces being brought to bear, means that control in Severodonetsk is subject to potential rapid change. If Russian forces get the upper hand—or Russian leadership decides that dropping artillery fire on their own men is an acceptable action—Ukraine might still withdraw to the south. But so long as Ukraine is holding or gaining ground, and Russian forces are continuing to suffer disproportionate losses … they’re going to stay.
Just looking at this location on a map makes the last few days seem incredible. Russia has every advantage. They have a large numerical edge. They control the surrounding territory. They hold multiple highways and rail lines that reach into the city. Their control lines are short. They’ve even been able to overfly the area with bombers. Every day, every hour, that this fight continues is both a puzzle and a kind of military miracle.
Oh, and one of the most ironic things about this fight so far: the big complaint on pro-Russian media on Saturday is that Ukraine “brought in foreign mercenaries.” Upping the irony significantly is that some of these complaints are coming directly from Chechen fighters. Depending on the message, the foreign volunteers are all either “Polish Army” or “UK special forces.” Whoever they actually are, their presence in Severodonetsk certainly shows that foreign volunteers are not sitting back in western Ukraine handling menial tasks. This is as much “on the frontlines, in the heat of battle” as possible.
And if you’re worried that Kadyrov has paused in putting out those videos that show a perfectly peaceful Severodonetsk where Ukrainians happily greet their Chechen “liberators” … don’t be. Reality is never an obstacle.
One last statement from the Ukrainian regional governor of Luhansk. “Russia previously managed to capture most of the city, but now our military has pushed them back. They are really suffering huge losses”.
For everyone who was expecting conscripts to go home at the end of 90 days, listen in on this conversation.
Intercepted call: the Russian invader is losing it while speaking on the phone with his mother. He is desperate to get home, but to no avail. Highly suggest listening to the audio to get an idea of the tone […]
Full text with commentary: [Translation at the link]
There will be no withdrawal since there is no such directive that the special fucking operation will last for 90 days. They said up to A YEAR they can keep us here! […] they took their weapons, they are now sitting in a school for four days! Just sitting! They are being told how much of f***ots they are, traitors worse than shit-eaters! You’re not men, you’re women! And they are sitting there listening to it all, with a hope to be discharged! Fuck no! Until you get to Russia – no fucking way you can get discharged! AT ALL! But how can you even get to Russia? FSB at the border […] I have no fucking clue how to get out of here! […]
these [B-word, plural] are not paying me anything.
[Mother] Why is …by the way…why is nothing (the operation) coming to an end?
[Russian soldier] It’s because we can’t even advance one bit! Our army – sucks! Frankly – it sucks! We have no one, no one to advance, do you understand? Eight people to the a village! Eight, mom!!! […]
[…] Catherine Belton, formerly the Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, writing for the Washington Post, relies on Russian sources to explain how the long-term perspective of Putin’s aims reflect his perception of Western weakness and vacillation when faced with the prospect of the slow, grinding assault he envisions for Ukraine.
Putin “believes the West will become exhausted,” said one well-connected Russian billionaire, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Putin had not expected the West’s initially strong and united response, “but now he is trying to reshape the situation and he believes that in the longer term he will win,” the billionaire said. Western leaders are vulnerable to election cycles, and “he believes public opinion can flip in one day.”
Belton’s sources believe that the impact of global inflation, higher energy costs and potential food shortages will gradually erode public support in Europe for continuing punitive sanctions on Russia. She quotes close Putin ally and fellow former KGB head Nikolai Patrushev (who Putin briefly placed in charge of the country while he was undergoing surgery three weeks ago), expressing his conviction in multiple interviews since the Ukraine invasion that Europe will fall into crisis as a result of its sanctions against Russia –particularly its energy sanctions — “in which rising inflation and falling living standards were already impacting the mood of Europeans, while a fresh migrant crisis would create new security threats.”
Of course Patrushev is an ideological bobblehead to Putin, infected with the same zealotry and delusional fanaticism in his hatred of Ukraine. But his opinions are not without basis. In the United States, despite what may be the most singular threat to the NATO alliance in seventy years, 57 Congressional Republicans voted against providing military and economic aid to Ukraine. In the Senate, Ky. Republican Rand Paul held up that aid for days, citing what he called his concerns about rising gas prices and economic fallout to the U.S. resultant from aiding the Ukrainian people. He was joined in opposing that aid by 11 Republican Senators, including Missouri Sen Josh Hawley, who claimed that the aid did not reflect the goals of what he believed should be a “nationalist” foreign policy.
The anonymous “Russian billionaire’s” reference to “election cycles” is particularly telling. Lurking in the shadows of these, Patrushev, Putin and Hawley’s, sentiments — and still fresh in the mind of our European allies — is the specter of Donald Trump, and the unfortunate possibility that in 2024 he may once again, as Commander-in-chief, preside over the NATO alliance.
It doesn’t take a genius to project what that would mean for NATO, for Ukraine, and for the remainder of the Western world that still clings to the promise of democracy in the face of autocracy and incipient fascism. Trump — more than “arguably,” and despite the hysterical declamations of the American right — owes his first administration’s existence to Russian meddling. He very likely would not have been elected president without Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election, and he made that fact abundantly clear in his obsequious pandering to the Russian leader during his four-year tenure in office.
A second Trump term would be a gift to Putin like no other, and one can easily imagine a Republican Congress already prostrate in its gratitude to comply with whatever Trump directed — overtly or through intimidation — in terms of the “Ukraine question.” The people who guide Trump’s mercurial and infantile persuasions on foreign policy are not only anti-democratic, they are assiduously pro autocrat, and implicitly (if not explicitly) pro-Putin. Putin represents an unrealized ideal to them, in his blithe and cruel exercise of power, his dominance over opposing public opinion, and his pseudo-religious brand of ethno-nationalism.
This twisted ethic that prioritizes self-interest with a winking acceptance of national treachery was already fully in bloom during Trump’s administration, and there is no reason to expect it not to resurface in full measure — with a vengeance — if Americans are foolish enough to give him a second opportunity. Stripped of its forceful pretensions, NATO as it is currently constituted exists only because of U.S. leadership at its helm. Trump, who threatened to abandon NATO unless it complied with his spurious whims, will dissolve this country’s commitment to that alliance with a small bit of prodding from his Russian benefactors, carefully coordinated with their complicit media allies in the U.S. Putin knows this; in fact, he doubtlessly holds that certitude tenderly and close in his heart.
Europe also knows this, and that is why they are reacting to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine the way they are, by arming themselves in the prospect of an American abandonment of leadership like no other that has ever occurred after World War II. They are sensibly hedging their bets — and fortifying their defenses — against the face of a terrible, uncertain future: an America they can no longer trust.
He [Putin] doesn’t have to bet on Trump — the Republicans are moving further right and will soon see Trump as too liberal. There are […] other republican leaders that are in love with Putin’s style of power and want that themselves. Trump will soon be irrelevant.
——————
The weakness in a GQP-Putin drift to the far right is that they cannot pull enough of their erstwhile supporters along with them… with each lurch further to the right they shed some votes. More who have gone along will eventually say these guys are nuts. Enough to keep things from going too far. Trump’s coup attempt was the road to autocracy triggering the change event too soon and that will hopefully be enough of a warning to enough Americans who were sleepwalking towards authoritarianism.
————————-
I hope you’re correct. But, I won’t be holding my breath.
———————–
Putin put a lot of resource, time, and effort into conquering the GOP and he expects that to pay him dividends going forward with his conquering of Ukraine. Sadly, he might very well be right.
————————
Tonight Tucker Carlson was pushing Russian talking points to his Fox News viewers, how bad the sanctions are and how they are actually hurting us more than they are hurting Russia. Just shaping maga opinions in Putins direction
———————–
Let’s not forget that Russia’s explicitly and repeatedly stated aims are the complete elimination of the Ukrainian people, and erasure of their identity, language, and history. And this is explicitly what Tucker, Fox News, the American right, and Donald Trump support […]
Steve Benen says, “I generally think punishments like these should be far more common.” I agree.
A Washington state nonprofit group and its attorney have been fined more than $28,000 by the state Supreme Court for making legally meritless claims alleging widespread vote fraud.
The Washington Election Integrity Coalition United was ordered to pay nearly $9,600, and its Sequim-based attorney, Virginia Shogren, was ordered to pay nearly $18,800 for suing Gov. Jay Inslee in October.
Those fines were imposed last month and announced Wednesday by Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office, which defended Inslee in the case. Ferguson said his office also intends to file a bar complaint against Shogren.
The sanctions were the latest defeat for the “Stop the Steal” movement stoked by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Those claims have been rejected in dozens of lawsuits and audits across the country and in Washington.
Loren Culp, the Republicans’ 2020 gubernatorial candidate who lost by 545,000 votes, filed a lawsuit alleging widespread fraud, only to drop the case after a threat of legal sanctions against his attorney for making baseless claims in a court of law.
In the latest case, the election integrity coalition had petitioned the state Supreme Court in October, seeking a ruling that Inslee violated his constitutional duties by allegedly allowing or encouraging the state Department of Licensing to register noncitizens to vote. The court dismissed the case earlier this year — and took the unusual step of granting the state’s motion to impose sanctions over its frivolous nature […]
With the concentration of forces—and attention—on the Battle of Severodonetsk, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the war to expel Russian invaders continues from Kharkiv to Kherson. Nathan Ruser has prepared a pair of images to show the movements across the entire face of Ukraine over the last month, and what those images show is not only very little overall change, but as many Ukrainian advances as Russian advances. Anyone not fixated on particular small areas would call this attack “stalled.” [Tweet and map at the link]
KHERSON
The biggest news in the Kherson region on Saturday may be that multiple Ukrainian aircraft have taken part in the counteroffensive along the line northwest of Kherson. Advancing without air support is much more difficult, and in this area at least, Ukraine appears to have used multirole aircraft to clear the way for advancing armor. Ukrainian aircraft have reportedly hit multiple Russian locations in villages at the center of the line. [map at the link]
[…] Last week, the Ukrainian Air Force announced that a MiG-29 operating in the Kherson area had shot down a Russian Su-35. Despite the relative ages of the two planes—the first MiG-29s rolled out in 1983, while the Su-35 is one of Russia’s newest and most advanced fighters, first coming into service in 2014, this is more believable than it sounds at first. For one thing, most MiG-29s are a lot younger than that first-off-the-line date, and they have all been significantly upgraded. Second, the Su-35 is a multi-role fighter, designed to support forces on the ground as well as engage in air-to-air combat. The MiG-29 can do other things, but it primarily exists to kill planes.
MiG-29s are certainly not invulnerable. Ukraine has lost at least ten of them since the war began, all of them to ground-based air defenses. But they are nimble and capable. Also, Ukrainian pilots seem to have gotten at least some training in actual dogfighting. The total amount of time devoted to this training in the modern Russian Air Force is reportedly zero. Their pilots are trained to fly point A to point B, then release missile or bomb C. Return to A. Getting a MiG-29 in their grill is definitely not on their agenda. […]
But the big story in all this is just the continued presence and engagement of the Ukrainian Air Force. Getting these guys some more planes? Good idea.
Before we leave Kherson, take a look at this.
At some point in your life, you’re bound to have encountered one of those little “what’s different between these two images” games in the pages of a newspaper or puzzle book. Let’s try it now. Here’s a picture of the area just west of the town of Davydiv Brid in Kherson oblast. Most of the image is high resolution satellite imagery taken around the start of the year. The little inset on the left is lower resolution imagery of that section of river taken on May 21. [image at the link]
Now, here’s a second image. Most of it should appear exactly the same. It’s just that the inset dates from May 31. [image at the link]
See the difference? Okay, even with this big of a bullseye directed to it, it can be tough. Here’s a closer look at that inset on the two different days. [image at the link]
The two pictures were taken at somewhat different times of day, resulting in slightly different shading and shadows, but the big difference — the important difference — is inside that yellow circle on the right. That’s a pontoon bridge that was erected previous to the Ukrainian advance across the Inhulets River, rendered in a couple of gloriously fuzzy 10m resolution pixels.
One of the things that seems to be different about the advance of Ukrainian armor in this area is that it looks like what all the textbooks predict when they talk about an armored advance rather than the kinds of movements we’re used to seeing in Ukraine up to this point. Thanks to relatively dry conditions when compared to the east, and a sandy, less muddy / swampy terrain, Ukrainian tanks across the Inhulets haven’t been restricted to moving along the roads. In fact, they seem to be more or less ignoring the roads, where Russian forces may already be dug in, and are moving across the flat fields. In the top images, you can pretty much see that there’s a ridge of hills off to the northwest, but all the rest of the terrain in the image is a river bottom, flat as an ironing board except for a few scattered mounds. Tank country.
For all this, not much really seemed to change hands today, through reports of fighting at multiple points continue.
I can’t say it’ll convince anyone, but it can’t hurt to point out that guns kill “more bigly” than knives. Acting like a gun can kill on my it’s own is treating your political opponent like a child anyway.
KHARKIV
[map at the link in comment 300] Ukraine continues to carve into remaining Russian area north of Kharkiv
On Thursday, Ukraine recaptured the town of Vesele and associated villages. That freed up travel along another of the main highway routes in the area and allowed Ukraine to continue pushing Russian forces back away from artillery range of Kharkiv.
The most interesting news on Saturday is reports out of the Ukrainian MOD indicating that Ukraine has taken positions at Hlyboke, a good 5km into what had been considered Russian occupied territory. It’s been clear for some time that Russia’s position at Lyptsi is actually on the west side of that town. Ukraine seems to have taken advantage of that to move up the highway, bypassing Lyptsi, hitting the next village north. This opens the possibility of Ukraine proceeding to the north, or attacking Lyptsi from a new direction.
Meanwhile, Russia has made another run at Ternova, and the area north of that town appears to be in dispute. Maybe the fifteenth time will be the charm for Russia … temporarily. Russia also lobbed artillery at several locations, including at a series of towns north of Kharkiv. Interestingly enough, there was also artillery fire north of Bohaivka on the east side of the river, which could be a good indicator that Ukrainian forces are still present and active in the area.
Finally, late on Friday someone absolutely pounded the snot out of an area east of the bridge at Starytysa to the north. This would seem to be well beyond the area of Ukraine’s concern at the moment, since all the available information suggests that Russia is largely in control of Rubizhne. However, this pattern of heavy fire east of the bridge exactly matches the pattern seen at Staryi Saltiv and then at Rubizhne as Ukrainian forces advanced along the river. This could be a good indicator that Starytsya is in dispute. For now, I’ve marked the location of the heavy fire with a fire icon on the map.
IZYUM
This week, Russia captured Lyman, moved into Severodonetsk, and seemed on the verge of closing the “pocket” that had extended up to Oskil. But at the moment, Ukraine is continuing to press back in Severodonetsk, Studenok is still untaken, and there are still several uncaptured villages north of the river. Over on the east side of the area, Russia is still bouncing off of Komyshuvakha, north of Popasna, which Ukrainian forces recaptured last week and have held onto against multiple assaults. Russian forces reported that it had been captured on Friday, but that does not seem to be true. [map at the link]
Ukrainian forces have reportedly withdrawn from the village of Sosnova, though there is no news that Russia has occupied the position at this point. However, Russia has engaged with Ukrainian forces at Svyatohirske, another of those wrong-side-of-the-river villages. Russian forces have reportedly taken parts of the town, while Ukrainian forces continue to fight back, including from the heights on the other side of the river. [video of Ukrainian forces eliminating Russian tanks and other vehicles even though those vehicles are positioned between civilian buildings and homes in the village of Yarova]
There is also news on Saturday that Russian forces are going to attempt another river crossing in the area of Bilohorivka. If that name sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the site of the previous disastrous attempting crossing […] Why would Russia return to the scene of this mess? There are not a lot of great candidates for crossing. Many areas on the Ukrainian side of the river are marked with steep bluffs, giving a extremely powerful firing position toward any attempted crossing. Also, many areas on the north or east side of the river are low-lying and swampy, with a lot of marshy woods, ox-bow lakes, and streams. Russia needs a spot where they can not just build a bridge, but get their vehicles to the bridge, across the bridge, and onto the opposite side without having to cross kilometers of swamp or driving into withering fire. There aren’t many such locations.
Pontoon vehicles were seen in the Rubizhne area on Saturday, reportedly headed for this new crossing attempt. Stay tuned.
At last reports, the fighting in Severodonetsk continues to be intense. Whether Ukraine is continuing to gain ground, or Russian reinforcements have reversed the flow, won’t be known for a few more hours. There are now reports that Ukrainian forces on the ground are directing precision fire for artillery located on the bluffs across the river at Lysychansk. When it comes to a trap … that may be the best that Ukraine could hope for. [tweet and map at the link]
But this effort certainly isn’t without cost. Of the international volunteer unit that entered the city yesterday, at least four have already been killed. That includes an Australian soldier seen in several videos on Friday. [tweet and images at the link, no translation]
ZAPHORIZHZHIA
While no positions seem to have changed on the ground in this area, there has been a fairly extensive exchange of fire from the sky.
Russia fired several missiles into the area on Saturday and also conducted air strikes all the way up the river north of Zaporizhizhia. There were also peculiar reports of Russian forces firing multiple rocket-propelled grenades into the town of Hulyaipole, which seems like more of a fear tactic than anything with an actual military objective.
Meanwhile, Ukraine went on the offensive with air strikes of their own. It’s always been one of the peculiarities of the way the borders fell after the 2014 invasion that Donetsk—de facto capital of the DNR—is right on the edge of Russian-occupied territory. On Saturday Ukraine reportedly carried out an air strike on Donetsk, possibly accompanied by artillery fire from Ukrainian-held territory. These reports are coming out of Russian sources, so details are both vague and unreliable, but there does seem to have been a strike in the city of some kind.
That’s also true down at Pohony on the south edge of the map. Whether this is in advance of an general assault on the area … we should know shortly. [video at the link]
Meanwhile, as in Kherson, Ukraine seems to be more and more willing to fly its jets near Russian positions in eastern Ukraine. [video of Ukrainian SU-25 fisher jets in the sky over Donbas, plus videos of Russian stuff blowing up and Ukrainian women singing]
Even more proof that Russians are like Republicans. They both think land counts more than people.
A map for the day. The point here is to look at the population density of the two regions Russia has captured in this war. They are among the least urbanized regions of Ukraine. What Russia has mainly conquered is a lot of farmland.
[…] Russia appears to be gathering forces in an attempt to cross the Siverskyi Donets River. For the last two days, it has been driving at the village of Raihorodok. [map at the link]
It’s possible that the village of Sosnova has already been completely occupied by Russia, though this is not yet confirmed. Ukrainian forces apparently did not contest this position.
On Saturday, Russia claimed to have captured Dovhen’ke, but Ukraine says that assault was repulsed. Russia is continuing to attack Studenok, but Ukraine still holds it as of a few hours ago.
At Raihorodok, some Ukrainian forces […] have repositioned to hills on the south side of the river, but there doesn’t seem to be any sign that Ukraine is abandoning this position.
Since Donald Trump came down the escalator of Trump Tower to launch his run for president, we have found ourselves asking questions we never believed we would have to ask about our leaders. The loudest of those questions concern Trump’s criminal activity. While we know that Trump was perhaps the most blatantly criminal person ever to occupy the White House, it’s quite another matter to be able to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
That effort has been hindered by the longstanding Department of Justice (DOJ) policy against indicting sitting presidents for crimes committed while in office. That policy did not anticipate a situation where a president’s political allies were willing to look the other way when said president essentially ran the White House and the country as a crime syndicate.
In 2019, former FBI director Robert Mueller released the results of his special counsel investigation into Russia’s attempt to hack the 2016 election for Trump. While Mueller outlined at least ten potential instances in which Trump obstructed justice, he concluded that none were egregious enough to merit a criminal referral. By the time Trump left office, the already limited window to prosecute him for these potential crimes was even narrower, given that much of the time in the five-year statute of limitations had already elapsed. The ticking clock has only added to frustrations inside and outside this country about the prospect of Trump never facing justice for his actions.
Fortunately, two of Trump’s biggest gadflies in Congress—Reps. Jerry Nadler of New York and Adam Schiff of California—realize that even if we can’t make Trump stand trial for his crimes in office, we have to prevent the possibility of another criminal president avoiding accountability. They have introduced legislation that would all but eliminate the statute of limitations for presidents who commit crimes while in office. […]
President Emmanuel Macron of France, who has sought to position himself as the world’s chief negotiator with the Kremlin, pleaded Saturday to not “humiliate” Russia.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said Macron’s advice “can only humiliate France.”
batu kutelia:
French meditated 6 point cease-fire agreement between Russia and Georgia of 2008 is still unfulfilled – after 14 years France is again EU council president – time to learn some lessons (price is very high though)
Ulrich Speck:
If someone got humiliated in the French-Russian relationship recently, it is France — driven out of Mali by the Kremlin-controlled Wagner group.
Darth Putin:
Day 102 of my 3 day war. My army has strategically shifted to rearward advance at city of Sievierodonetsk.
[…] Russians are not cornered. The Russian army is not cornered. It is an invading force. When defeated, units just retreat across the border to Russia.
[…] It is hard for people in other societies to grasp that Putin is a dictator who controls his country’s media. He rules by changing the subject. Putin changes the subject all the time. The last time Russia invaded Ukraine, its media changed the subject to Syria from one day to the next, and Russians went along.
When Russia invaded Ukraine this February, the media quickly adjusted from saying that invasion was impossible to saying it was inevitable. Russians went along.
If defeated in reality, Putin will just declare victory on television, and Russians will believe him, or pretend to. He does not need our help for that. It is senseless to create an “off-ramp” in the real world, when all Putin needs is one in a virtual world he completely controls. Talking of “off-ramps” just gives Russian leaders something to laugh about in what are otherwise difficult times.
To be sure, Putin might err and wait too long to declare victory in the virtual world. In that case he loses power. We cannot save him from such a misjudgment, and it is misguided to try. [Are you listening, Macron?]
Putin’s power over media will be complete until the moment when it ceases. There is no interval where our actions in the real world will make a difference. Either our off-ramps are unnecessary or they are irrelevant.
It is grotesque to ask the Ukrainians to make decisions about the war for the comfort of Russian television producers, who don’t take direction from the real world anyway. Misunderstanding Russia through clichés of “cornering” and “off-ramps” will make the war last longer, by distracting from the simple necessity of Russian defeat.
Ukraine is a very different story. Zelensky, unlike Putin, is democratically elected, feels responsible for his people, and governs in a world where others matter.
Ukraine has a press that the government does not direct. Zelensky cannot simply change the subject. He has to bring his people along on any major decision. Unlike Putin, Zelensky has to make a case to his people to end this war. He therefore does need help, both to win the war and in telling Ukrainians what comes next.
Unlike Russian soldiers, Ukrainians have nowhere else to go. They cannot just go home. The war is fought in their country. They will return to their homes and rebuild.
Ending the war means thinking more about the Ukrainian people and their future, and and worrying less about problems that Putin does not in fact have. […]
Reuters: “Ukraine signs deal with Westinghouse to end Russian nuclear fuel needs”
Ukraine has signed a deal for the U.S. nuclear power company Westinghouse to supply fuel to all of its atomic power stations in an effort to end the country’s reliance on Russian supplies, Ukraine’s state nuclear company said on Friday.
The agreement also increases the number of new nuclear units Westinghouse will build to nine from an earlier five, and the company will establish an engineering centre in the country.
Ukraine has four working nuclear power stations, the largest of which, in Zaporizhzhia, fell under Russian control days after the Russian invasion began in February but is still operated by Ukrainian technicians.
Building on earlier agreements, the deal with Westinghouse stipulates that the company will supply fuel to all of Ukraine’s atomic plants.
Nuclear power covers around a half of all Ukrainian electricity needs and the energy minister said that in future Ukraine could also be a supplier of electricity to western Europe.
“We will modernise our fleet of nuclear power units, which will produce clean, safe and reliable energy without any Russian influence,” Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said, according to a statement by the state atomic energy company Energoatom.
Energoatom on Thursday denied a report that it might shut down the Zaporizhzhia plant if Kyiv loses control of operations at the site.[…]
Ukraine has repeatedly raised safety concerns about the plant since Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24. On Friday, it warned that it was running out of spare parts.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their most recent summary:
President Vladimir Putin said Russia would strike new targets if the US started supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles, the Russian state Tass news agency reported on Sunday.
Ukraine’s state-run nuclear power operator Energoatom said a Russian cruise missile flew “critically low” on Sunday morning over an important nuclear power plant.
As of this morning, 262 children have been killed and 467 injured, according to the latest figures from Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament.
Control of Sievierodonetsk is split in half between Ukrainian and Russian forces, Serhiy Gaidai, governor or the Luhansk region where the eastern city is located, said on Sunday.
Ukraine’s air force and the Kyiv mayor have said Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers launched missiles at Kyiv from the Caspian Sea early on Sunday and two of the Ukrainian capital’s eastern districts were rocked by explosions in an attack that targeted railway infrastructure in Kyiv.
…
Britain’s Ministry of Defence says Ukraine has counterattacked in the contested city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, “blunting the operational momentum Russian forces previously gained through concentrating combat units and firepower”.
France is in talks with the United Arab Emirates to replace Russian oil purchases, which will stop after the imposition of a European Union ban on Russian crude after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, said Bruno Le Maire, the finance minister.
As if the radicalization of the Republican Party weren’t already clearly enough established, a number of GOP candidates—notably, ex-football star Herschel Walker, the nominee in the race against incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat—have begun advertising on the white-nationalist-friendly platform Gab.
The list also includes some less surprising names, such as Republicans’ go-to white nationalist in the House, Paul Gosar of Arizona, and the QAnon-loving keynote speaker for the white-nationalist “America First” conference earlier this year, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
As Alex Kaplan reports at Media Matters, Gab last August introduced a new feature enabling people to advertise on the site. Founder Andrew Torba called it “a huge step forward for our vision of a parallel economy” comprising clients who have been removed from other platforms for terms-of-use violations.
Walker has been among the more prolific advertisers. One ad, saying “we need your support today,” depicts Warnock as “celebrity funded” and “celebrity approved,” while another shows a lineup of liberal celebrities who have donated to Warnock’s campaign and asking, “Georgia Values? Or Hollywood Values?,” adding: “I need your help to WIN.”
Other “Team Walker” ads on Gab claim “the race is in a dead heat,” claim that “the Liberal Media is out to get me,” and “the road to defeating the Biden Agenda runs right through Georgia.”
As The Informant’s Nick Martin notes, it’s not clear whether Walker himself has an account at Gab. One unverified page with 7,000 followers uses his name and photo, but it has only posted there once—three days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, when its owner wrote: “Hey everyone. Coming on over to Gab after the sad news about Parler.”
Among the other Republican candidates advertising on Gab has been Jerrod Sussler of Washington state’s 4th Congressional District, who is seeking to unseat incumbent Republican Congressman Dan Newhouse, who was targeted for primary defeat by Donald Trump after he voted for Trump’s impeachment in January 2021.
Gosar, who also delivered a taped speech at the white-nationalist America First convention in February, asked “every America First Patriot” to chip in to defend his reelection bid. He has previously praised Gab as comprising “people who respect real diversity, diversity of opinion, thoughts, and views.”
OMG. First a misuse of the word “patriot,” and then an opposite-world, alternate-facts description of Gab.
Greene’s ads on Gab have featured her aiming a .50-caliber sniper rifle (“Enter to win MTG’s gun!”) and posing with former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka with an “Impeach Biden” sign. “Joe Biden must be impeached,” the text reads. “Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next year. NOW … before it is too late!”
Gab established itself in 2016 as a friendly environment for right-wing extremists. “When a group of people are being systematically dehumanized and labeled as the alphabet soup of phobias,” Torba wrote, “they will look for a place that will allow them to speak freely without censorship and devoid of Social Justice bullying.”
The reality is that the site has been a free-for-all of bigotry, conspiracism, and violent rhetoric. Posts with headlines like “Satanic PizzaGate Is Going Viral Worldwide (Elites Are Terrified)” are standard fare. Antisemitism flourishes in the comments, where a mere downvote can get users accused of being a “#Jew.”
Pittsburgh mass shooter Robert Bowers was a regular Gab user, and posted his final threat (“Screw your optics. I’m going in”) to the site before embarking on his 2018 rampage inside a synagogue that left 11 people dead. Gab was largely deplatformed in the aftermath of that incident, but eventually found a hosting service with the Northwest-based Epik, which also hosts Alex Jones’ Infowars operation.
Torba’s own antisemitism is well established. Speaking at the February America First gathering, he told the audience he “rebukes the Synagogue of Satan.” He also called for “a parallel Christian society,” because “we are fed up with the Judeo-Bolshevik one.”
When criticized, Torba responded: “Sadly many Christians today are so afraid of being called a silly meaningless name by the world (bigot, antisemite, homophobe) that they refuse to even remotely share or discuss the Gospel in their daily lives, let alone live it,” adding: “You reveal your anti-Christian hatred when you refer to Biblical Truth as ‘antisemitism.’”
After its post-Pittsburgh downturn, Gab has worked to reestablish itself among far-right activists; in 2019, it was able to return to financial stability thanks to an online crowdfunding strategy. After the Jan. 6 insurrection—particularly the demise of Parler, which had become an effective competitor for the same audience—it once again became a popular place for extremists to gather and share their violent seditionist worldviews.
Media Matters noted that Gab also introduced targeted advertising recently. That means that there may be other Republican candidates buying ads on the platform whose activity is not immediately visible.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Sunday that blaming the design of school doorways for gun violence in the U.S. is the “definition of insanity.”
During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” moderator George Stephanopoulos asked Buttigieg what he would be doing about the problem if he were still the mayor of South Bend, Ind.
“Well, the worst part of the job of being mayor is talking to families of people who have lost their loved ones and knowing that nothing you can do will bring those loved ones back,” Buttigieg told Stephanopoulos.
Buttigieg also said there is “a horrific scourge of gun violence in this country,” adding that “every mayor is doing around the country, you take the steps that you can to reduce community violence, to invest in partnerships, to make sure that you’ve taken the steps you can locally.”
“But you’re also looking at Washington to say ‘Will anything be different this time?’ Will we actually acknowledge the reasons why we are the only country, the only developed country where this happens on a routine basis?” he asked.
“And the idea that us being the only developed country where this happens routinely, especially in terms of the mass shootings, is somehow a result of the design of the doorways on our school buildings, is the definition of insanity if not the definition of denial,” he said. […]
Excerpt from a much longer Washington Post article by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein:
[…] Another dominating personal trait binds Nixon and Trump together: Each viewed the world through the prism of hate.
Woodward visited Trump on Dec. 30, 2019, at Mar-a-Lago to interview the president. The Democratic-controlled House had voted to impeach him for withholding military aid to Ukraine at the same time he was asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.
After an hour of Trump defending his request to Zelensky, Trump’s media director, Dan Scavino, joined the interview. Trump asked that Scavino open his laptop and show a clip of the president’s 2019 State of the Union speech. Instead of Trump’s words, hyped-up elevator music played as the camera panned for extended shots of members of Congress watching and listening to the president.
The first shot was of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who looked bored.
Trump was watching over Woodward’s shoulder and was agitated.
“They hate me,” the president said. “You’re seeing hate!”
The camera stopped on Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts liberal. She was listening and had a bland, unemotional look on her face.
“Hate!” Trump said.
A shot of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was next. She had no expression on her face.
“Hate! See the hate!” Trump said.
The camera lingered a long time on Sen. Kamala Harris. She would be chosen as Biden’s running mate the next year. She had a bland, polite look on her face.
“Hate!” Trump said loudly within inches of Woodward’s neck. “See the hate! See the hate!”
It was a remarkable moment. A psychiatrist might say it was a projection of his own hatred of Democrats. But it was so intense that it did not resemble the subdued reaction of the Democrats. His insistence that it was “Hate!” was unsupported by the images on Scavino’s computer. […] this Trump spectacle was unforgettable and bizarre. […]
So you’ve never done anything deserving of hatred? We should be fawning over you just because you’re you, Donnie?
StevoRsays
So it good to a real change of era of world leaders with the Murdoch losing another one – Netanyahu gone, Trump gone, Scummo gone and now maybe BJ on his way out too? :
UK Tory MPs will hold a no-confidence vote in Johnson this evening. That means at least 54 of them sent letters to Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, demanding such a vote. General opinion among journalists seems to be that Johnson will win (he needs a majority, but whether that’s a simple majority of those voting, or a majority of those 359 entitled to vote, I don’t know). General opinion is also that if he wins by even one vote, he will cling on to power, although if it’s at all close, he will obviously be weakened. Teresa May won such a vote, but nevertheless resigned as leader and PM within six months. The mere fact that the vote is taking place weakens the Tory government.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From there:
‘The Russians are levelling Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk’ – Luhansk governor
There have been some more updates on Telegram from civic leaders in Ukraine.
Oleksandr Senkevych, mayor of Mykolaiv, has said “Explosions are heard in the city. Friends, I ask everyone to go to the shelters. At the very least, follow the rules of the two walls.”
Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, said that where were no air raid warnings overnight – in contrast to Kyiv region which was struck by missiles.
Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has added some more detail to his reports of the situation around Sievierodonetsk. He posted that “the number of shellings in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk increased tenfold. In the Luhansk region there are many cities with a situation comparable to Mariupol: Now the Russians are levelling Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.”
ravensays
It wouldn’t be a day ending in a y if someone somewhere doesn’t threaten to kill me.
Usually these days, it is the Russians and the murder weapon is to be a nuclear weapon.
Strangely enough, today it isn’t me.
It is Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, and Sweden.
Rogozin threatened my homeland [Bulgaria] with a Sarmat [nuke] rocket, because we, Montenegro and North Macedonia refused to let Lavrov visit Serbia. The whole Balkan peninsula, but mostly the “Bulgarian cowards” and… Sweden?
“What is good is that “Sarmat” will not ask for consent to fly from
cowardly Bulgarians, vengeful Romanians and Montenegrins who betrayed
our common history. Like the others, the Swedes.”
Some context.
Rogozin is a high party functionary, now head of their space program Roscosmos. Bulgaria just closed their air space to Russia. Sarmat is their latest ICBM carrying multiple nuclear warheads.
So the Russians today are threatening to nuke Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, and Sweden. It is going over as well as can be expected.
If the Russians keep threatening to nuke everyone they don’t like which is most of the world, I’m sure a lot of countries are thinking seriously about developing their own nuclear weapons. After all, no one invades a country with nukes. And the technology is old and they aren’t that hard to make. The South Africans made 4 nuclear weapons.
Ukrainian partisans in occupied areas of the country are increasing attacks and sabotage efforts on Russian forces and their local collaborators, with organised underground efforts appearing to spread.
…
The increase in partisan warfare, particularly in the country’s south around Kherson, follows warnings at the outset of Russia’s war against Ukraine that any area under occupation was likely to see the emergence of guerrilla warfare.
The subject is one of the murkiest of the war in Ukraine. Both sides have an interest in exaggerating its prevalence: the Russians to justify crackdowns in areas they occupy and the Ukrainians to demoralise Russian troops.
Also complicating the issue is assessing the extent to which attacks are being carried out by Ukrainian military sabotage groups or homegrown resistance groups.
…
Some analysts believe they are seeing evidence that partisan activity in Ukraine is escalating. Among them is Alexander Motyl, a historian and Ukraine expert at Rutgers University.
Writing for the defence-focused website 1945 last week, Motyl noted: “I gathered the data from Ukrainian websites that explicitly identified the perpetrators of these actions as partisans.
“It is, of course, possible that Ukrainian special forces may have been involved in some of these actions; it is also likely that the data are incomplete, inasmuch as some actions probably went unreported.
“Even so, the number of guerrilla actions is impressive and bespeaks a trend toward ever-greater partisan activity.”
…
The Institute for the Study of War, a US thinktank, suggested that Russian authorities in Luhansk oblast – which has been the scene of the heaviest recent fighting – were gearing up for an increase in partisan attacks in the area.
…
While claims Russian soldiers fed poisoned pies are impossible to verify, there have been credible reports of collaborators and Russian soldiers killed or disappeared. Some claims suggest the number of soldiers killed by partisans so far could be in the low hundreds.
What is clear is that the plan for partisan warfare was long and well prepared.
Ukrainian partisan forces started being trained after Russia’s intervention in 2014 but they became part of Ukraine’s state structures last summer, according to Serhii Kuzan, head of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation, a Ukrainian thinktank that specialises in military analysis.
Partisan forces, along with Ukraine’s territorial army, were part of new self-defence measures introduced across the country, said Kuzan.
While thousands had joined the territorial army, hundreds had also volunteered to be trained as Ukrainian partisans, said Kuzan. Both forces are made up of people from a given region.
The Ukrainian partisan forces were trained to be an underground resistance movement in the event their region became occupied, said Kuzan. Their task is to build networks of informants, launch information campaigns against the occupiers, pass information back to the Ukrainian authorities, and to kill high-level political collaborators and the occupying commanders, said Kuzan.
Ukrainian partisans were led and trained by Ukrainian special forces, who were responsible for carrying out the higher-level acts of subversion, said Kuzan.
“The idea is for the occupier to always feel the presence of the partisans and for them never to feel safe,” said Kuzan. “Recently, the partisan forces in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions carried out a coordinated sticker and flyer campaign against the so-called Russian world.”
As Ukrainian partisan fighters are legally part of Ukraine’s defence forces, the Ukrainian state is obliged to look after them. The families of most of the partisans were evacuated from areas that could be occupied before or just after the invasion, said Kuzan.
Ukrainian partisans operated only in occupied Ukraine and did not stray across borders because that would be seen as a pretence for escalation by Russia, said Kuzan.
But it’s clear that some subversive activity is being carried out on the other side of the border. As well as the claimed attack on the border guards, Russian oil storage facilities, railway lines, and Russian ministry of defence buildings, near the Ukrainian border, appear to have been targeted since the war started in February.
“We all understand that oil depots and military bases in Russia have been blowing up over the last few months,” said Kuzan. “But the Ukrainian official response is ‘someone was smoking in the wrong place and they must have done it themselves’. They joke about it and make it clear that it’s no one’s business.”
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian UK liveblog. From there:
More than half Tory members want their MPs to get rid of Johnson, ConservativeHome survey suggests
The ConservativeHome website has now released the results of its own poll of members on whether or not Tory MPs should vote to remove Boris Johnson and this shows a narrow majority (55%) saying they should get rid of him. Another 41% say the MPs should back him.
This is worse for Johnson than the YouGov poll covering the same question (see 3.38pm) which found a narrow majority of members saying MPs should not remove Johnson. It is hard to poll party members propery (because there are relatively few of them), but the ConservativeHome results have a good track record – and their sample today involved more than twice as many members as YouGov’s.
This is from the anaysis of the findings by Paul Goodman, the ConservativeHome editor.
This is the first time that the panel has concluded that [Johnson] should go, though the prime minister was at the foot of our Cabinet League Table last month, and in negative ratings.
To say that the position has worsened for him again since May 29, the date of our last survey, is a statement of the obvious, and I won’t attempt an exhaustive analysis of why this might be so.
Other than to point out that the long period of Jubilee celebration hasn’t done him any good with the panel.
For better or worse, party members don’t have a vote later today, and MPs must ultimately make what they believe is the right decision for the country (or so we hope).
But at over a thousand replies in a day this is a very substantial survey return – our highest this year.
And, for the record, the panel hasn’t changed much since it gave Johnson a 93 point approval rating in the wake of the 2019 general election.
Please correct me if this is wrong, but I believe I heard this morning that it’s a secret vote. Johnson is meeting with Tory MPs right now.
And here’s a link to today’s Guardian US liveblog. From there:
In an eight to zero opinion (Amy Coney Barrett was recused from this case), Thomas issued the decision that the court essentially said an airline worker is not required to go to arbitration over her pay dispute with Southwest and can fight her case in the courts.
The founder of the People of Praise, a secretive charismatic Christian group that counts supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett as a member, was described in a sworn affidavit filed in the 1990s as exerting almost total control over one of the group’s female members, including making all decisions about her finances and dating relationships.
The court documents also described alleged instances of a sexualized atmosphere in the home of the founder, Kevin Ranaghan, and his wife, Dorothy Ranaghan.
The description of the Ranaghans and accusations involving their intimate behavior were contained in a 1993 proceeding in which a woman, Cynthia Carnick, said that she did not want her five minor children to have visitations with their father, John Roger Carnick, who was then a member of the People of Praise, in the Ranaghan household or in their presence, because she believed it was not in her children’s “best interest”.
Cynthia Carnick also described inappropriate incidents involving the couple and the Ranaghan children. The matter was eventually settled between the parties.
StevoRsays
@273.Lynna, OM :
StevoR @259, thank you for that.
Those poetic lines are economical in their presentation, but forceful. It is effective, and it makes one think.
To my mind, you have one weak line that could be altered or deleted: “If there is you be you.”
Russian General Roman Kutuzov has been killed on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, Russian state-owned media reported Sunday.
If confirmed by the Russian military, Kutuzov would be at least the fourth Russian general killed in more than three months of fighting in Ukraine.
…
Kutuzov commanded the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic 1st Army Corps, according to Ukrainian naval infantry officer Dmitry Ivanov.
Kutuzov had ordered his troops to storm a Donetsk region settlement Sunday and “was forced to lead the assault,” Ivanov wrote on Facebook.
Russian media has reported on the deaths of three generals since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s General Staff claims at least 12 Russian generals killed.
At least 317 Russian officers have been killed in Ukraine, a third of whom are majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels, independent Russian media reported in April, citing publicly available data.
The deaths of senior officers jeopardize the army’s capacity to plan and execute military operations and are a blow to morale on the frontline.
Mass burials, poor access to clean water lead to a critical situation in Russian-occupied Mariupol, said Deputy Health Minister Ihor Kuzin. The ministry began monitoring suspected cases of cholera in the region on June 1.
Jeff Mason, Reuters: “SCOOP: @POTUS will use executive action Monday to kickstart solar projects in the U.S. that are stalled by a Commerce Dept tariff probe, and he will invoke the Defense Production Act to spur domestic production of solar panels and other clean energy projects, sources tell me”
The Guardian UK liveblog (link @ #315) has a collection of tweets from reporters covering Johnson’s meeting with the Tory MPs, which is already over. It doesn’t sound like it went that well for him. He reportedly used much of his speech to attack and blame the media.
From the Guardian liveblog: “Boris Johnson’s declaration to Tory MPs (as reported by Patrick Maguire from the Times) that he would ‘do it again’ regarding Partygate may turn out to be a major blunder….”
Sure hope so, not only because of how it shows how insincere his little contrition act was but because it’s another sign that he’s working from the aspiring dictator’s playbook: openly displaying contempt for honesty, decency, and law (see also KG’s #83 above), continuing to push the envelope, and daring people to stop him.
Akira @311, not only does Trump think everyone should be fawning over him, he also sees “hate!” where there is only opposition. Trump is paranoid. He was looking right at a video of Elizabeth Warren’s attentive face when he declared attention to be “hate!”
That was a very telling episode. Trump sees everything but abject obsequious adoration as hate. That’s got to be some kind of mental illness.
Andrea Bernstein introduces Will Be Wild, a new 8-part series about the forces that led to the January 6th insurrection and what comes next. Through in-depth stories from a wide range of characters – from people who tried to stop the attack to those who took part – hosts Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz explore the ongoing effort to bring autocracy to America, the lasting damage that effort is doing to our democracy, and the fate of our attempts to combat those anti-democratic forces. Because January 6th wasn’t the end of the story, January 6th was just a practice run.
The Labour party has said that tomorrow it will force a vote in the Commons on a motion saying the government should implement in full recommendations from the Committee on Standards in Public Life proposing to beef up the ministerial code. Boris Johnson was widely criticised last week when he issued a revised draft of the code that ignored many of these recommendations and effectively watered down the code in some respects.
Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said:
The Committee on Standards in Public Life was founded by Sir John Major a quarter of a century ago but its role has never been more important in upholding standards in the wake of sleaze, scandal and shame.
Labour is urging MPs of all parties to support this independent, cross-party package of reforms to tackle decaying standards. if they fail to back this move to clean up politics, it is they who will have to look their constituents in the eye.
Followup to SC’s comment 291, with some background on Carl Paladino that includes racist, sexist and hate-filled a statements he made during past political campaigns:
[…] Paladino, an elected city school board member, took part in a survey […] in which Buffalo residents were asked what they wished for in 2017. In answering what he’d like to happen most next year, the former New York GOP gubernatorial candidate replied:
Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford. He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to [senior White House advisor] Valerie [Jarrett], who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.
And when asked what he would most like to see go in 2017, he responded:
Michelle Obama. I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.
[…] in a lengthy response sent to the media on Friday, Paladino said his comments have “nothing to do with race.”
In 2010, he lost the race for New York governor against Democrat Andrew Cuomo, after the Paladino campaign was mired in a scandal involving racist and sexually explicit emails, according to The New York Times. One message included a video of dancing Africans in traditional garb entitled, “Obama Inauguration Rehearsal.”
Cuomo said in a statement Friday that Paladino’s latest comments were “racist, ugly, reprehensible remarks” against the Obamas, and added that “he has embarrassed the good people of the state with his latest hate-filled rage.”
Paladino, who was spotted at Trump Tower earlier this month, was one of the president-elect’s earliest supporters.
He took heat in July for reportedly sending an email to a female anti-Trump Utah GOP delegate saying she should be “hung for treason” and promised to “be in your face” at the convention.
‘Epidemic’ of cholera ‘already begun’ in Mariupol, says official
Russian officials in occupied Mariupol have shut down the southern port city for quarantine over a possible cholera outbreak, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, told Ukrainian television that the city is bracing itself for an epidemic as dead bodies and litter are piling up in the city.
Andryushchenko, who left the city early on the in the war, cited his sources still in the city, saying:
The word ‘cholera’ is increasingly heard in the city among local officials and their supervisors. As far as we can see the epidemic has more or less begun already.
He said they were aware of isolated cases in Mariupol, where most of the city’s infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian air strikes….
Former news executive advises January 6 committee on hearings
The January 6 committee has enlisted James Goldston, a former ABC News president who ran the shows “Nightline” and “Good Morning America,” to advise the committee on how to televise its hearings beginning Thursday, according to Axios.
Axios reports:
I’m told Goldston is busily producing Thursday’s 8 p.m. ET hearing as if it were a blockbuster investigative special.
He plans to make it raw enough so that skeptical journalists will find the material fresh, and chew over the disclosures in future coverage.
And he wants it to draw the eyeballs of Americans who haven’t followed the ins and outs of the Capitol riot probe.
Goldston will apparently have a lot of material to work with. The committee reportedly plans to show never-before-seen photos from inside the White House on January 6, and new security-camera footage from the Capitol, taken as the insurrection occurred, will also be shared.
The committee has already conducted more than 1,000 depositions and interviews as part of its investigation, and clips from those conversations are expected to be played during the hearing.
Meanwhile, Republicans are busy planning a counter-messaging program to challenge the committee’s findings. According to Axios, House Republican leaders and outside conservative groups will paint the panel as hyperpartisan to try to discredit their conclusions.
At some points in the war, it’s been not only possible, but sensible, to doubt reports from either side, especially when they have sounded too rosy. Russia has repeatedly made claims or even shown videos that were absolutely at odds with the reports of those on the ground—that includes happy-happy-joy-joy videos showing smiling people in the areas occupied by Russia going about their day in cities unscarred by weeks of pounding artillery. There’s absolutely no doubt that Ukraine has also applied spin to the public information it releases, in part to protect troops in the field, and in part to move the news needle in ways that make it more likely to receive the support required to survive the invasion.
But when it comes to what’s happening in Severodonetsk, there’s not much doubt about what’s happening. […] that’s because from the town of Lysychansk, just across the river, it’s possible to look down into the streets of Severeodonetsk. That means not just that Ukrainian soldiers in those streets are able to guide artillery to very precise locations, it also means that observers have a ringside view to what — according to some of those gathered — has been Russia’s worst loss since the war began.
On Thursday, Russia had taken 80% of Severodonetsk. Pro-Russian sources were bragging that the city had already fallen, and Chechen baddie Kadyrov’s forces put out their second video in which they pretended to be walking around in a peacefully captured Severodonetsk, surrounded by adoring fans. Then on Friday, Ukraine began a counterattack that seemed to quickly retake about 20% of the city. Even then, Russian media outlets insisted that Ukraine was simply wasting the effort. Ukraine was, it said, “sending in foreign mercenaries because it had no other troops to send,” and even those mercenaries were “suffering 90% losses” as Russia took what remained of the town.
Except by Saturday, Ukraine again controlled at least 50% of Severodonetsk. And at the end of the day on Sunday, that number appears to be more like 70%. [map at the link]
Meanwhile, in the area near Izyum, Russia reportedly captured Dovhen’ke on Saturday, but subsequent reports indicate that Ukrainian forces there once again repelled an attack. Instead, Russian forces shifted to the southwest, attacking down the road toward Barvinkove, but getting stopped just east of the village of Virnopillya.
Further to the east, Russia had more success, finally taking the town of Studenok, along with two other villages on the east side of the river. Ukrainian troops have reportedly either moved back from another pair of villages, and may be preparing to relocate across the river at Svyatohirske, which would essentially cede the north bank of the river in that area. Ukraine still has control of bridges and the ability to withdraw in good order. So far, Russia doesn’t appear to have made a crossing in the area west of Severodonetsk.
At the far end of the area on the map, Russia has apparently surrounded the town of Komyshuvakha, a few kilometers north of Popasna, which Ukraine snatched back over a week ago. At the moment, there still seem to be some Ukrainian forces in the town, and Russia has been repulsed on several previous attempts, but this time is looking tough. [map ap the link]
In the Kherson area, Russia has reportedly rushed more forces into Davydiv Brid, but Ukraine doesn’t actually appear to be trying to actively take the town. Instead, they’re guarding against Russian forces moving down from that direction and steadily widening the bridgehead around their pontoon bridge about 4km to the south. Russia reportedly made two attempts to take back Vysokopillya at the northern point of this area, but both were repelled. [map at the link]
At the far end of the line, Ukraine is continuing to press the counteroffensive that has recaptured several villages west of the Siverskyi Donets in the last two days. […]
One of Dimitri’s latest translations helps to explain why few DPR and LPR infantry units are being mentioned in recent news.
“…both the People’s Militia of LPR, and the People’s Militia of DPR, if we consider their composition as of Feb. 24, most of them died in the first weeks, if not days, of the war.” … “Poor training, poor equipment, shoddy supply and the shoddy quality of most of the imported “advisors,” has systematically reduced the combat readiness of the troops…”
Dmitri:
The LPR blogger who told the story of the Russian 35th army a few days ago, shared today some more interesting details about the mobilisation process in Donbas, going over the terrible preparation of the Russian airforce along the way […]
Kyle Rittenhouse, the right-wing media darling who was acquitted on all charges last year after fatally shooting two people at a Black Lives Matter protest, was delighted to announce last week that he was going to Texas A&M University.
Except Texas A&M University doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
“He has not been admitted as a student this summer or fall,” Kelly Brown, a spokesperson for the school, told the Dallas Morning News on Sunday via email.
It’s the second time a university’s refuted Rittenhouse’s claims about his supposed studies at said university.
After Rittenhouse claimed in November that he was “studying nursing” at Arizona State University, ASU said that Rittenhouse had enrolled as a non-degree seeking online student but hadn’t gone through the admissions process with the university and wasn’t enrolled in its nursing school.
Later in November, ASU said Rittenhouse was no longer a student.
“Our records show that he is not currently enrolled,” ASU spokesperson Jay Thorne said at the time. “There was no action taken by the university.”…
The Biden administration said that more than 45,000 Americans have applied to sponsor a Ukrainian refugee since the sponsorship program was announced in late April. Under Uniting for Ukraine, U.S.-based individuals and groups agree to financially support Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion. […] more than 6,000 applicants have arrived to the U.S. under the policy, while nearly 30,000 have been approved.
“The number of applications and case approvals indicate the Uniting for Ukraine program could quickly become the largest official private refugee sponsorship initiative in U.S. history, eclipsing a program shut down in the 1990s that allowed U.S. groups to finance the resettlement of 16,000 refugees over six years,” the report said.
[…] U.S. applicants under the program must provide the federal government with income information and pass a background check. “Unlike most U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) programs, which require paper records and typically take months or years to process cases, Uniting for Ukraine requests are being adjudicated in a matter of weeks or even days, a senior DHS official told CBS News.”
Ukrainian refugees under the program arrive through humanitarian parole, which allows them to live in the U.S. for a period of time but does not confer permanent status. Like tens of thousands of Afghan refugees who were previously evacuated to the U.S. under Operation Allies Rescue, they need permanent relief, either through the backlogged asylum program, or congressional action.
The Biden administration in October announced a program allowing private individuals and community groups to sponsor Afghan refugees, though the Sponsor Circle Program for Afghans has not had as large an impact as the Ukrainian program. U.S/global migration analyst Cris Ramón was among the voices that said the new policy could be a game-changer and it appears that’s what could be happening right now.
“Unlike Canada and some European countries, the U.S. had not, until now, embraced private sponsorship of refugees,” immigration reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez tweeted. “But the Biden administration is planning to create a private sponsorship pilot for all refugees by the end of 2022, a State Department spokesperson told CBS News.”
Lawmakers have previously urged the Biden administration to address the “stark inconsistencies” when it comes to the treatment of Ukrainian and Afghan refugees who are seeking safety in the United States. They noted that while nearly 6,000 Ukrainians have been granted humanitarian parole, just 270 Afghans have been approved, and under a much more complicated process demanding a much higher burden of proof. […]
Apropos of nothing(burp!) muc(burp!)h, that worked ra(burp))ther well — (hastily takes some anti-bur(burp)ping substance kindly pro(burp)vided by the mildly deranged penguin)… A few days ago, I made some gazpacho (not the eejit thug’s nazi kind, the edible “liquid salad” kind (of the sort which doesn’t include bread but does include cucumbers)), but noticed when I was scrapping it out of the food processor into a jar in which to chill (not to be confused with chilies, of which it contained some), that it was extremely thick, not very fluid at all. I decided to “worry” about that later.
Yesterday, when I had the very cold soup, I decided to try and thin it with the “vin” I was having, an organic Greek (actually from Greece) retsina — which, in my opinion, goes rather well with gaspacho and other “Mediterranean”-ish dishes. (Not everyone agrees, the mildly deranged penguin asserts disagreements over retsina(-and-food combinations) is the major cause of inter-Balkans wars, even those she wasn’t involved in. (Retsina is often(?) described as “tasting like turpentine” (paint thinner) — a description which is understandable, albeit few (modern-)people have probably actually tasted genuine turpentine (it’s now known to be toxic).))
That did not work. Drinking retsina whilst supping on gazpacho — Ok. Thinning gaspacho with retsina — um, no. Just no. End result is I wound up with some gazpacho-with-retsina leftovers.
Tonight, for dinner, and in need to empty the refrigerator for tomorrow’s outdoors market, I decided to try cooking some fresh clams in the gazpacho-with-retsina “sauce”. That actually worked extremely well, even without the accompanying vin (a very nice “natural” Alsace since you didn’t ask). Slurp slurp slurp, gobble gobble gobble, burp burp burp!!
In his speech to Tory MPs earlier Boris Johnson promised to use deregulation to cut the cost of living for people. According to a text of his remarks released to journalists, he said:
Why should the cost of transport be inflated by outdated practices that have nothing to do with safety?
Why should the cost of childcare be pushed up by unnecessary rules on child-minding?
Why should the cost of energy be pushed by everything from the life cycles of the crustacea that may form on the legs of offshore windmills to the system that enables all electricity producers to charge the top marginal rate?
“Unnecessary rules on child-minding.”
Theresa May has arrived to vote. She looks like she has dressed for a special occasion – presumably a dinner engagement later although, given her feelings about Boris Johnson, perhaps the no-confidence ballot itself is a moment for celebration.
blfsays
Some snippets from the Meduza live blog (in reverse chronological order, i.e., most recent first):
✈️No-Lavrov zone
Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Montenegro have all closed their airspace to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, forcing him to cancel a visit to Serbia that had been planned for June 6–7. Lavrov himself called the move outrageous and unthinkable.
🕯️A solemn Journalist’s Day
Ukraine’s Culture and Information Policy Ministry announced that 32 journalists have been killed in Ukraine since the war began. According to Current Time, the list of victims includes journalists from Ukraine, Russia, France, the US, and Lithuania.
📃 Officially done with the ECHR
Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced that a law officially ending Russia’s observance of decisions made by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will be adopted this week. The ECHR has become a tool in the political fight against our country in the hands of Western politicians. Several of its decisions have directly violated the Russian Constitution, our values, and our traditions, said Volodin.
My added emboldending:
📺No more Russian TV in Latvia
Latvia’s National Electronic Mass Media Council banned the broadcasting of about 80 Russian channels that were still accessible on Latvian territory. The ban was imposed in accordance with a new law Latvia’s parliament passed in late May that allows the restriction of foreign programs that “threaten the country’s sovereignty.” On the other hand, one Russian channel was given a license to begin broadcasting: Dozhd (TV Rain), an independent network that was blocked in Russia on March 1 and suspended operations days later.
🎁A longtime Russian journalist gets a new home
Russian-born journalist Alexander Nevzorov and his wife, Lidia, have become Ukrainian citizens. According to Anton Herashchenko, advisor to the head of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an order granting them citizenship “for their outstanding service to the country.” In March, a criminal case was opened against Nevzorov in Russia after he shared photos of civilian victims of Russian shelling in Mariupol.
Again, my emboldening:
📺Trouble in Krasnoyarsk
Vadim Vostrov, the executive producer for the TV network TVK Krasnoyarsk, has been fined 40,000 rubles ($431) for quoting an article from Meduza on his Telegram channel. The article, which was written by journalist Shura Burtin, was an investigation of why Russians support the war in Ukraine. Vostrov was charged with “discrediting” the Russian army.
🌾Not theirs to take
Volodymyr Saldo, the head of Russia’s occupation government in Ukraine’s Kherson region, said that the majority of this year’s harvest from Kherson’s farmers will be sent to Russia. […]
🌐Don’t tell them they can edit it themselves
Russia’s censorship agency Roskomnadzor demanded that Wikipedia delete two articles about events in the war in Ukraine: “Battle of Kharkiv (2022)” and “The use of phosphorous bombs during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.” According to Roskomnadzor, the articles contain inaccurate information about civilian casualties and attacks on civilian targets, as well as false information about the death of Russian soldiers. The agency gave Wikipedia one day to delete the articles.
🖥️Blocking the workaround
Roskomnadzor confirmed that it’s working on blocking VPN services in Russia, including Proton VPN. The agency revealed the move in an interview with Interfax in response to a question about users having difficulty connecting to Proton.
[… A]t Proton, our mission is to defend online freedom, anywhere in the world, and we remain committed to serving users in Russia for as long as possible. Proton services are used by many to ensure the free flow of information, which is increasingly important in these times.
Sanctions against Russia mean that most of the usual methods of paying for our services will fail.
[…]
If none of these payment options work for you, please contact our Support team, who will be happy to offer every assistance possible.
During this difficult time, we are committed to not cutting off any users in Russia for financial reasons, for as long as possible. If you are able to use alternative payment methods, your support will ensure that we can continue to serve Russian users in the years to come. Thank you again for supporting our mission.
One of the advantages of Proton, besides top-class security, is a commitment to providing uncensored access. As one example, they run an annual programme to grant worthy NGOs &tc full access to their services, gratis.
Back to Meduza:
🛢️Another embargo with an enforcement problem
Despite America’s Russian oil ban, Russian oil is still getting into the US. According to the Wall Street Journal, oil traders are finding ways to circumvent the ban by hiding Russian oil in refined products such as gasoline and diesel fuel. Shipments of products containing Russian oil arrived in New York and New Jersey from Indian refineries in May.
💸Starting to feel the sanctions
In April 2022, against the backdrop of “unprecedented sanctions,” Russia’s GDP fell by 3 percent compared to the same month last year after increasing by 1.3 percent in March, according to the country’s Economic Development Ministry.
🚰Forced to work for water
Russian troops occupying Mariupol have been forcing local residents to work for water, according to the city’s mayor, Vadym Boychenko. “They brought in the ‘DNR Emergency Situations Ministry’ to deliver water. But yesterday, Mariupol residents informed us that they’re still being mistreated: rather than giving water out for free, [the Russian occupiers] want residents to go sort out the rubble, collect [bodies], and help them bury the dead — to hide the war crimes. Mariupol residents are working for water,” he said, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
🚫More demands for Google
Citing a ruling by a court in Saratov, Russia’s federal censor has demanded that Google remove the Tor Browser from the Google Play app store. The court also ordered a ban of Tor itself, arguing that the software application allows access to prohibited content and facilitates the commission of criminal offenses. In mid-May, the Russian state media reported that Google’s legal entity in Russia has filed for bankruptcy, following a series of large fines imposed by regulators for noncompliance with censorship demands. Google has promised to continue providing access to users in Russia, though the company has reportedly started disconnecting some ISPs in Russia from its Google Global Cache system.
🧠A conspiracy theory that says more about the theorist
Russian National Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said in a speech in Kazan on Tuesday that Poland has begun to seize western Ukrainian territories as part of a plot by the West to take advantage of the current situation for its own selfish interests. As evidence to support this outlandish claim, Patrushev cited remarks by the Polish president during a recent visit to Kyiv about vanishing boundaries between Ukraine and Poland. Patrushev did not say if Moscow is participating in this partition of Ukraine, though Russia has annexed the Crimean Peninsula and occupied large regions of eastern Ukraine, including areas outside the Donbas, where two separatist republics claim independence.
🏴☠️Yo ho mateys
The head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, announced on Tuesday that his forces have seized several foreign ships docked at Mariupol’s port. The vessels, which reportedly come from at least six different countries, will form the basis of the DNR’s merchant fleet. […]
Fears are growing over the safety of a British journalist and a Brazilian Indigenous expert who have disappeared in one of the remotest corners of the Amazon just days after receiving threats.
Dom Phillips, a longtime contributor to the Guardian in Brazil, was last seen over the weekend in the Javari region of Amazonas state – a vast region of rivers and rainforests near the border with Peru.
The reporter was traveling with Bruno Araújo Pereira, a former government official tasked with protecting Brazil’s uncontacted tribes, who has long received threats from the loggers and miners seeking to invade their lands.
Phillips, who is working on a book about the environment with support from the Alicia Patterson Foundation, is based in the Brazilian city of Salvador and has been reporting on Brazil for more than 15 years for newspapers including the Guardian, the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Financial Times.
On Monday local Indigenous leaders sounded the alarm after the two men vanished during a reporting mission into the network of rivers around the town of Atalaia do Norte, the entry point into the Javari reserve.
In a statement, the Indigenous group Univaja said Phillips and Pereira had set off last week by boat for a region known as the Lago do Jaburu, reaching their destination on Friday evening.
At about 6am on Sunday, after two days in the field, the pair are thought to have started returning by river to Atalaia do Norte. The journey should have taken no more than three hours but a search party was sent out at about 2pm after they failed to arrive.
“We need an urgent search mission. We need the police, we need the army, we need firefighters, we need civil defense forces. We have no time to lose,” said Beto Marubo, a prominent Indigenous leader from the region who knows both of the missing men.
A spokesperson for Guardian News & Media said: “The Guardian is very concerned and is urgently seeking information about Mr Phillips’ whereabouts and condition. We are in contact with the British embassy in Brazil and local and national authorities to try to establish the facts as soon as possible.”
…
Federal police officials in the capital of Amazonas, Manaus, said they were aware of the disappearances and were working on the case. The navy was also thought to be mobilizing troops to help in the search but a spokesperson for the Amazon Military Command said the army had yet to receive orders from Brasília to join the hunt. “We have been informed of the occurrence … and we are waiting to be actioned by one of the relevant ministries … so that if we are actioned, we are ready to carry out this humanitarian search and rescue mission in the Javari valley region.”
Independent search parties were also being organized by indigenous and environmental activists.
…
Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tweeted his concern for the pair. “Phillips interviewed me for the Guardian in 2017. I hope they are found quickly and that they are safe and well,” Lula wrote.
Marubo said the Javari region, a vast expanse of jungle which is home to more than 20 Indigenous groups, had grown increasingly tense and perilous in recent years – particularly after the 2019 murder of an indigenous protection official called Maxciel Pereira dos Santos.
“Under the Bolsonaro government the pressure has increased even more because the invaders felt empowered and became more aggressive,” added Marubo who said “systematically organized gangs” of illegal miners and hunters were “plundering” the region’s forests and rivers with impunity.
“They are veritable gangs and they are very violent,” the Indigenous leader said.
Relatives of Phillips in the UK urged Brazil to act….
[…] It can be frustrating, but the vast majority of the time, stations don’t want to be in the business of deciding which commercials are so brazenly dishonest that they’re ultimately unsupportable. Stations much prefer to let campaigns and parties deliver their messages, while fact-checkers and voters draw their own conclusions.
Yes, it is frustrating. I don’t being shown lies over and over again on my TV machine. One ad that I see often here in Idaho is one that claims Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi want to take away everyone’s guns … all the guns. The ad’s sound track is deceptively edited. That’s just one example.
There are, however, occasional exceptions.
Three weeks ago, for example, a National Republican Senatorial Committee was pulled from New Hampshire airwaves after it claimed Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, during her tenure as governor, increased gas prices 23 percent. For support, Republicans referenced a report from New Hampshire Public Radio.
The problem, of course, was the attack ad wasn’t true: Gas prices in New Hampshire actually fell during Hassan’s time as governor and the New Hampshire Public Radio report cited by the NRSC didn’t say what Republicans claim it said. The commercial was taken down on May 19.
Last week, as The New York Times reported, the National Republican Senatorial Committee ran into a little more trouble. This time, it was an attack ad targeting North Carolina’s Cheri Beasley, falsely accusing her of freeing “a child porn offender” during her tenure as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
On Friday, five TV stations in Raleigh and Charlotte said they would pull the ad or that they had “paused” it pending an examination of its claims, according to emails from the stations to Courtney Weisman, a lawyer working for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which were reviewed by The New York Times. On Thursday, two Charlotte stations took the ad off the air. A representative for the stations, WXAN and WSCO, explained in an email to Ms. Weisman that the ad’s claim about Ms. Beasley “is in error, as it appears the defendant was not set free” by the State Supreme Court decision.
As is often the case with criminal proceedings, the details of the case are a little complicated, and involve an appeals court ruling that there was an illegal search of a man convicted of possessing lewd images of minors on a computer thumb drive. The state Supreme Court, with Beasley in the majority, agreed in 2019 to send the case back to the trial court for reconsideration. The convict, however, remained in prison at the time.
With this in mind, no matter how one tries to slice the truth, it’s difficult to defend the NRSC’s claims that Beasley “set [the convict] free.” (The ad shows jail bars sliding open.)
For those keeping score, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has now had two television ads pulled over the course of three weeks. Election Day 2022 is still 22 weeks away, and I don’t imagine anyone would be too surprised if that total grows.
Let’s rejoice every time the liars are slowed down or stopped.
Just in:
Top Proud Boy figures are now facing federal charges of Seditious Conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, and Joe Biggs are among those charged.
[links to documents at the (Twitter) link.]
Members of the Oath Keepers, including the group’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, are also facing that charge of Seditious Conspiracy. [They were charged in January.]
Previously, another Proud Boy named Charles Donohoe, was charged alongside Tarrio, Biggs, Nordean, and others.
In April, Donohoe agreed to plead guilty.
As DOJ noted: “Donohoe has agreed to cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigation.”
Oh no. More racist assholery from an Arizona politician:
Just when you think Republicans can’t get any more loathsome, another steps up to unleash even more racist, conspiratorial rhetoric. Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters is the latest gem.
[…] during an April interview on The Jeff Oravits Show podcast, Masters offered his theory on why America has such a horrific gun violence issue: It’s the “Black people,” he says. No wonder he’s endorsed by former President Donald Trump. […]
Masters acknowledges that there is a problem with gun violence in the nation, but it’s not the proliferation of weapons or the fact that it’s easier to get a gun than Sudafed. Nope. The “gangs” are the problem, he claims. “It’s people in Chicago and St. Louis shooting each other,” he says, and “very often, Black people, frankly.”
[…] Masters alleges that the “Democrats don’t want to do anything” about gang violence.
But just when you think Masters is racist, he doubles down and calls Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson an “affirmative action candidate” for the Supreme Court. [painful]
“It’s her legacy. She was chosen for her race and gender, and I think that’s pretty messed up,” Masters says, claiming that “most Americans want to stop obsessing about race all the time.” And then he blamed the Democrats again, only this time it’s for “dividing people on the basis of race.”
[…] Business Insider reports that at one point, Masters’ campaign posted a pledge on its website plainly stating he would only vote to confirm federal judges “who understand that Roe and Griswold and Casey were wrongly decided and that there is no constitutional right to abortion.” That has since been removed. So Masters not only claims that President Biden nominated Justice Jackson based only on her race and gender, he also wants Roe overturned as soon as possible.
To give you some background on Masters, he’s a tech entrepreneur who’s generously supported by Peter Thiel, a conservative Silicon Valley billionaire. He’s also a darling of the white nationalist group VDARE for his xenophobic stance on immigrants […]
Trump has called Masters “a great modern-day thinker,” CNN reports, and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson refers to him as “the future of the Republican Party,” according to Politico.
“President Trump is a great man and a visionary,” Masters said in a statement to CNN. “It’s incredible to have his endorsement. I wish everyone could know how this feels.”
Masters is also a “Big Lie” theorist and a proponent of the “great replacement” ideology.
“Blake knows that the crime of the century took place, he will expose it, and also never let it happen again,” Trump said.
[…] But let’s get back to Masters’ blaming of gun violence on Black Americans.
Perhaps the Stanford University grad, who “hates” Silicon Valley but has financially benefited from it, missed or didn’t take any classes in American history. He seems to be blanking on the parts about racial disparity as a result of centuries and generations of oppression and bias, and how this country is based on a system that keeps Black and brown communities chronically underfunded and over-incarcerated.
And by the way, most mass shootings are committed by white Americans, according to Statista Research Department. “Between 1982 and June 2022, 68 out of the 129 mass shootings in the United States were carried out by white shooters. … Broadly speaking, the racial distribution of mass shootings mirrors the racial distribution of the U.S. population as a whole.”
What Republicans like Masters need to do is stop pointing the finger at everyone and everything except guns, the ease with which Americans can get guns, and how we’re perpetually incapable of passing even the most modest of sensible gun reforms.
We need to ban assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and bump stocks today. And we need to have required background checks and waiting periods. This is not a Black people issue or a gang issue. This is a gun issue.
After announcing the numbers, Sir Graham Brady said that meant the Conservative party has confidence in Boris Johnson.
There was loud, and sustained desk banging from Johnson’s supporters.
But by no stretch can this be described as a good result for Johnson. He has lost the support of a larger proportion of the parliamentary party than Theresa May did when she faced a no confidence vote in 2018. Within eight months of that result, May was out.
What if I told you that there was a denomination of fundamentalist Christians whose military chaplains are actively working to undermine military chapels – while being paid at taxpayer expense? That this denomination’s scheme is to use the military as a “mission field” to be “harvested” for new converts to their denomination by luring military members and their families away from military chapels to the churches that they’re “planting” near military bases? That once these military members and their families are converted they will be expected to carry this denomination’s beliefs and mission to their future duty stations, where more churches will be “planted” and more service members converted, thus “multiplying” this denomination’s hold on the military?
The denomination is the Southern Baptist Convention, and the above has been their plan and modus operandi for years. Now, a new doctoral dissertation written by a very recently retired U.S. Army chaplain, who in fact was working on his doctoral plan to subvert military chapels while still on active duty, has laid out the plan in stark detail.
The dissertation, titled “The United States Military: A Field for Great Commission Fulfillment,” was written by William C. Harrison, a Southern Baptist Army chaplain for 27 years, who just received his doctorate in “missiology,” defined in the dictionary as “the study of religious (typically Christian) missions and their methods and purposes,” from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
There is nothing particularly new in Harrison’s dissertation, as we at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) well know. We have seen the workings of the Southern Baptists in our military. In fact, in the majority of complaints we’ve received the culprit has turned out to be Southern Baptist, whether a chaplain, an organization, or a commander.
Southern Baptist chaplains, such as the one at 1:18 in the following video, proudly proclaim that they see themselves as “government-paid missionaries,” exploiting the military as a mission field to fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28, to “go and make disciples of all nations.” […]
Re: Trump and characterizing opposition as “hate”.
That is a common kind of political rhetoric. Disparaging something as “hate” or “fear” to dismiss it. If Trump puts passion into it that just looks like more rhetoric to me. I ask the people seeing it to show it and I get nothing.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, via a spokesperson, confirmed to The Daily Beast that far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos is now an intern in her D.C. office. [Daily Beast link at the link]
Milo Yiannopoulos was credited with arranging for Marjorie Taylor Greene to speak at white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ conference in February. He has also been working with Church Militant, an anti-LGBTQ hate group that recently scored an interview with the congresswoman.
This is pretty clearly an internship in name only. Yiannopoulos is 37 and is a big influence on Greene. I’d like to know how he’s made money recently. Other reports indicate the “internship” is unpaid. So has he been paid by someone with an interest in Greene’s votes?
I’m struggling to think of any matter on which she wouldn’t naturally vote for evil. It’s unsettling that someone like him will be in the building, learning the security protocols and so forth.
Ukrainian forces facing a fierce Russian military onslaught in Donbas region are “standing strong”, the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said in his Monday night video address.
Zelenskiy said his troops are not giving up positions in Sievierodonetsk, a city where some of the war’s biggest ground battles have been taking place, and which he earlier called “a dead city”.
“Our heroes do not give up positions in Sievierodonetsk. In the city, fierce street fighting continues,” Zelenskiy said, according to Reuters.
Referring to the broader industrial Donbas region where Sievierodonetsk is located, Zelenskiy said: “And the Ukrainian Donbas stands, stands strong”.
blfsays
From today’s (6th June) Generalissimo Google™ doodle, it’s Angelo Moriondo‘s 171st birthday. Mr Moriondo is apparently the inventor — or at least the first to patent (in 1884) — that critical tool, the espresso machine.
That sort of categorically empty reference to hate and fear is more and more getting a standard response of “So? I need more than points finger ‘Basic emotional response!'”.
Supreme Court asks Justice Department to say whether spyware firm is immune from WhatsApp lawsuit over alleged hacking.
The United States Supreme Court wants the administration of President Joe Biden to weigh in on whether NSO Group has sovereign immunity from civil litigation in US courts to assess whether a lawsuit by WhatsApp against the Israeli spyware company can proceed.
NSO Group’s lawyers had argued that because the company’s product is used by foreign governments and law enforcement agencies, the firm is protected from civil lawsuits on US soil.
What an absurd argument. Name something which isn’t used by some “government” or “law enforcement agency” somewhere — including for example, paper cups and potable water — and why the feck would such usage mandate “protect[ion] from civil lawsuits”.
Last November, a US Court of Appeals dismissed NSO Group’s push to assert legal immunity, but on Monday the top US court asked the US Department of Justice to “file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States”.
[…]
The Israeli firm has sparked outrage from rights groups after a 2021 investigation by international media outlets revealed its Pegasus spyware was used by security forces and authoritarian [and other!] governments [and other!] in several countries.
[… more on NSO’s bullshites…]
Last year, the Biden administration sanctioned NSO Group — adding it to the “Entity List” of companies considered to be engaged in activities contrary to US foreign policy and national security — after accusing it of enabling “transnational repression” with its spyware.
[…]
Last year, [NSO] also dismissed the findings of the investigation into Pegasus, which was based on a major data leak, as uncorroborated theories.
But rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accused the group of flouting its “human rights responsibilities”, calling on the Israeli government to revoke the firm’s permits.
[…]
The CBS and YouGov poll returned familiar results, including 62% support for a nationwide ban on semi-automatic rifles, the kind of gun used in Uvalde, Texas.
[…]
In the CBS/YouGov poll, support for [“red flag” laws designed to stop gun purchases by people deemed a potential danger to others or themselves] laws ran at 72%. Support for federal background checks on all gun purchases ran at 81%.
[…]
Asked if mass shootings were “unfortunately something we have to accept as part of a free society” or “something we can prevent and stop if we really tried”, 72% of respondents said such shootings could be stopped.
Among Democrats, 85% of respondents said mass shootings could be stopped if US politicians would only try. Among independents, the figure was 73%.
But 44% of Republicans said mass shootings should be accepted as part of a free society.
[… R]espondents were also asked: “Regardless of how you feel about the issue, how likely do you think it is that Congress will pass any laws in the next few months that will make significant changes to gun policy?”
Only 7% thought it was “very likely” Congress would finally act, while a combined 69% thought it was “not very” or “not at all” likely.
[…]
The [non-profit Gun Violence Archive] says there have been 246 mass shootings in the US in 2022, considerably more than one a day.
[…]
ravensays
Someone added up all the excess deaths in the USA for the entire Covid-19 virus pandemic. The tl;dr version. “I get 1,428,767 Americans dead from COVID.”
The tabulated deaths are known to be an undercount. The actual number is 40% larger.
Some of these excess deaths are going to be indirect, people crowded out of hospitals by Covid-19 virus patients, who then die from lack of timely medical care.
So, how many COVID deaths really?
prophet
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Monday May 30, 2022 · 6:37 AM PDT
How many people have died of COVID so far? The numbers vary a bit (not too much) depending on where you look:
The New York Times reports 1,003,167 Americans.
Johns Hopkins reports 1,004,733 Americans.
Worldometer reports 1,031,273 Americans.
The CDC reports 1,001,313 Americans.
But, we know that the number of true COVID deaths is higher than reported for a variety of reasons: fewer primary care physicians, less access to health insurance, more people dying at home, and political motivations. Estimates of undercounting range from 20% to 36% (see here, here, and here). Taking an average of the number of deaths listed above (1,010,122), we can calculate that the true number of COVID deaths is somewhere between 1,262,653 and 1,578,316 Americans. If we go with the halfway point, that would be 1,420,484 Americans.
There is an alternative to complex statistical analyses that we plebes can use to get a sense of the number of unreported deaths. We just download and use the data on weekly reported deaths per year. Most, if not all states, have statutes making it illegal to NOT report a death (something about the improper handling of a corpse). So, almost all deaths are reported to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
This is a graph of the weekly deaths for the years 2015 to 2019. You can see that the number of deaths per week each year doesn’t change much. The lines overlay pretty well. The black line is an average of those years.
So, what do deaths during the years 2020 — 2022 (current) look like when plotted over the 2015 — 2019 average? Quite striking. Don’t forget that the number of deaths for the years from 2020 — 2022 includes deaths from other causes—the background death number if you will.
So, let’s make a “daisy chain” of the 2020-2022 data so that we see the entire 2½ years in one go, and do the same with the average death data from 2015 — 2019 (it’s ok, the average background death number probably won’t change much). Again, the numbers for the deaths from 2020 — 2022 INCLUDE the background death numbers (deaths from other causes).
Because the numbers for the deaths from 2020 — 2022 include the background death numbers (the black line from above), we can subtract the background death numbers from the numbers in the 2020-2022 red line to get a net number of deaths due to “some other cause” outside of all other causes. Doing that and laying the resulting graph over the graph of US Covid deaths from Worldometer (the pale graph) shows just how well one tracks with the other (you could use the NYTimes death graph but the format sucks). The consistency between the two graphs appears to confirm that all those extra deaths resulted from COVID.
Ah. So now the pièce de résistance. If I added up all the net deaths per week for the entire 2½ years illustrated in the above graph, how many COVID deaths are there?
I get 1,428,767 Americans dead from COVID.
It’s a simple calculation based on real data that is required to be reported (even in FL).
It’s an awful number.
StevoRsays
TV ALERT : On ABC c2 tonight on Assange and his father’s fight to free him. Details via ABC online TV Guide :
Ithaka: A Fight To Free Julian Assange
Tuesday, 7 Jun
Series 1 | Episode 1
8:32 PM – 9:32 PM [60 mins] mCCRepeated on Thursday 9 Jun at 10:35 PM, ABC TV
Filmed over two years across the UK, Europe and the US, this 2-part documentary follows 76-year-old retired builder, John Shipton’s tireless campaign to save his son, Julian Assange.
Haven’t seen it before so hopefully it will be good and interesting. Expect it will be available on iView afterwards.
KGsays
Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced that a law officially ending Russia’s observance of decisions made by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will be adopted this week. – blf@338, quoting Meduza
The total of 148 Tory MPs voting against Johnson was higher than any prediction I saw. He and his cronies are of course pretending it was “decisive”, and saying that everyone should now “move on”. No chance. I’m pretty certain his opponents within the party, however, lack the integrity to take action which could force him out – such as joining with the opposition in a house of Commons vote of no confidence, or to vote down all legislation until he goes.
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 356
There is so much are supposed to “put up with” in the name of freedom. We have to put up with gun deaths so that firearms fetishists can have freedom. We have to put up with millions dead from COVID so that anti-vax and anti-mask rednecks can have freedom. We have to put up with fascist terrorism and hate speech so that white supremacists can have freedom We have to put up with climate change and environmental destruction so that the rich can have the freedom.
A small NYC-led cancer trial has achieved a result reportedly never before seen – the total remission of cancer in all of its patients.
To be sure, the trial — led by doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering and backed by drug maker GlaxoSmithKline — has only completed treatment of 12 patients, with a specific cancer in its early stages and with a rare mutation as well.
But the results, reported Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine and the New York Times, were still striking enough to prompt multiple physicians to tell the paper they were believed to be unprecedented.
One cancer specialist told the Times it was an “unheard-of” result….
Erin Burnett on CNN interviewed one of the researchers last night. Wild.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer report for us:
Russia’s assault on Ukraine’s east has brought it some battlefield success as its military has advanced slowly in fierce fighting in Donbas. But those gains have come at a high price for the Russian invasion force, with evidence that high-level casualties are growing and that some units may be approaching exhaustion as the war moves past its 100-day mark.
As the conflict drags on, some fighters have gone public with appeals to Vladimir Putin for an investigation into battlefield conditions and whether their deployments to the front are even legal.
In two videos, fighters from Russian-controlled east Ukraine complained about poor conditions and long terms of duty at the front leading to exhaustion. “Our personnel have faced hunger and cold,” said fighters from the Russian-controlled 113th regiment from Donetsk in one video posted online. “For a significant period, we were without any material, medical or food support.”
The fighters added: “Given our continuous presence and the fact that amongst our personnel there are people with chronic medical issues, people with mental issues, many questions arise that are ignored by the higher-ups at headquarters.”
And in an interview, a Russian soldier who had fought near Kyiv, Kharkiv, and was now in eastern Ukraine, complained of exhaustion, saying he had even contacted a lawyer and complained that he had not seen his wife for months.
“I have been fighting in Ukraine since the start of the war, it has been over three months now,” Andrei, who serves with the 37th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade headquartered in Buryatia in Siberia, told the Guardian. “It is exhausting, my whole unit wants a break, but our leadership said they can’t replace us right now.”
Oleksandr Stryuk, head of Sievierodonetsk’s military administration, has been speaking on Ukrainian television where he said the situation in the frontline eastern city remained very difficult.
Russia was sending more troops with the goal of capturing the entire city, Stryuk said. He added:
Our armed forces have strengthened their positions and are holding the line.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian UK liveblog. From there:
MPs set to back Labour motion saying government should implement recommendations to strengthen ministerial code
In the Commons MPs are debating a Labour motion saying a motion saying the government should implement in full recommendations from the Committee on Standards in Public Life proposing to beef up the ministerial code. Boris Johnson was widely criticised last week when he issued a revised draft of the code that ignored many of these recommendations and effectively watered down the code in some respects.
Michael Ellis, the Cabinet Office minister and paymaster general, was speaking for the government, responding to Angela Rayner, who opened for Labour. As he finished his speech Ellis said the government would abstain on the motion. He said the government was still considering how it wanted to respond to all the recommendations from the committee.
This means the Labour motion will be passed. This is what it says.
That this house recognises the importance of the ministerial code for maintaining high standards in public life; endorses the Committee on Standards in Public Life report entitled Upholding Standards in Public Life, final report of the Standards Matter 2 review; calls on the government to implement all of the report’s recommendations as a matter of urgency; and further calls on the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster [Stephen Barclay] to make a statement to the house on the progress made in implementing the recommendations by 20 July 2022, and each year subsequently.
And here’s a link to today’s Guardian US liveblog. From their opening post:
Here’s what’s on the agenda:
The Senate judiciary committee’s hearing titled “Examining the ‘Metastasizing’ Domestic Terrorism Threat After the Buffalo Attack” will include Garnell Whitfield, Jr, a former Buffalo fire commissioner whose mother was killed in the shooting. Elsewhere in Congress, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will testify before the Senate finance committee on Biden’s budget proposal.
Voters are heading to the polls in California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota to choose candidates for the upcoming midterm elections. At the local level, voters in San Francisco are weighing whether to oust District Attorney Chesa Boudin amid rising concerns about crime and homelessness in the city.
President Joe Biden is signing nine bipartisan bills aimed at improving care for veterans.
Speaking of bipartisanship, Democrat[ic] and Republican senators are continuing talks over whether to enact new gun laws in the wake of mass shootings that left scores dead in Uvalde, Texas, Buffalo, New York and elsewhere. Yesterday, the Senate Republican leader said a deal could come “this week”.
Former congresswoman and gun-control activist Gabby Giffords is setting up a memorial on the National Mall in Washington that displays 40,000 flowers – each representing an American that died from gun violence in the past year.
Also from there:
Fox News will be the only major network not airing the January 6 committee hearing live on Thursday, the company confirmed.
The network said it would “cover the hearings as news warrants”. Once the hearing concludes, three Fox News hosts will “anchor a two-hour live special” with analysis of the testimony.
Instead, Fox hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will anchor special coverage of the hearing on Fox Business Network, starting at 8pm ET. The hearing will also be livestreamed on Fox News Digital, Fox News Audio and Fox Nation.
Every other major network — including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC — is expected to show the primetime hearing in full.
Fox’s decision heightened concerns that the network and its anchors would attempt to discredit the findings of the January 6 committee, as Donald Trump and his allies prepare to launch a counterprogramming effort against the hearing.
Host Tucker Carlson, who will just be beginning his show as the hearing gets underway on Thursday night, recently mocked the January 6 committee as “grotesque”.
Pakistan’s polio eradication campaign is in disarray after an alarming jump in cases last week. Eight polio cases have now been reported in children over the past month in North Waziristan district, bordering Afghanistan. They are the first cases in more than a year.
This new outbreak, officials believe, is due to parents falsely marking themselves and their children as vaccinated, and the government has launched an investigation into the outbreak.
North Waziristan is a former Taliban stronghold in north-west Pakistan, where high vaccine refusal rates are thought to be behind the new cases.
“Fake markings and refusals are two key reasons in the recent outbreak, with polio staff conspiring with parents to miss the vaccination,” said an official at Pakistan’s polio eradication programme, referring to how parents suspicious of immunisation have got hold of special pens used by health workers to mark vaccinated children’s fingers.
…
Before this surge, the last case of child paralysis as a result of polio was reported in January last year.
…
Nationwide vaccination drives have been carried out door-to-door for the past 25 years. The teams are mostly female health workers, often volunteers, who have to be escorted by security guards.
Three such campaigns have been carried out in January, March and May this year. During the March campaign in north-western Pakistan, gunmen shot and killed a female polio worker. In January, also in the north-west, assailants shot and killed a police officer providing security to the polio team.
Militant groups in Pakistan have killed more than 100 health workers and their security guards since 2012.
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan is one of only two countries, with Afghanistan, where the wild polio virus is still endemic.
Anti-vaccination sentiment in Pakistan is deeply rooted. Clerics and others have spread myths that vaccines are a conspiracy by the west to sterilise Muslim children, and a husband was allowed to divorce his wife for vaccinating their children against polio.
In April 2019, more than 25,000 children were rushed to hospital during a mass panic in north-west Pakistan after the spread of unfounded rumours about polio vaccines causing fainting and vomiting.
Brad speaks with journalist Elle Hardy about her new book, Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity is Taking Over the World. How has a Christian movement, founded at the turn of the twentieth century by the son of freed slaves, become the fastest-growing religion on Earth? Pentecostalism has 600 million followers; by 2050, they’ll be one in ten people worldwide. This is the religion of the Holy Spirit, with believers directly experiencing God and His blessings: success for the mind, body, spirit and wallet. Pentecostalism is a social movement. It serves impoverished people in Africa and Latin America, and inspires anti-establishment leaders from Trump to Bolsonaro. In Australia, Europe and Korea, it throws itself into culture wars and social media, offering meaning and community to the rootless and marginalized in a fragmenting world.
The part about Guatemala is particularly upsetting and important.
In Episode 126 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg marks the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989—”6-4,” as it is known in China, or “63+1” or “65-1,” in a game of keeping ahead of online censors. With the massacre commemoration first exiled from Beijing to Hong Kong, it has now been exiled from Hong Kong to New York City as police-state measures are extended from the mainland. But China’s official denialism about the massacre extends even to the US, where both the sectarian left and “paleoconservatives” echo Beijing’s revisionist line. Both regime proponents and detractors share the consensus that the massacre and subsequent wave of repression across China was a “red terror,” carried out as it was by a “Communist Party.” A case can be made, however, that it was actually a “white terror,” enforcing China’s capitalist conversion. The recent crackdown on dissident workers and Marxist student activists in China—complete with extrajudicial “disappearances“—reveals “Xi Jinping Thought” to be (like Putinism and Trumpism) an updated variant of fascism.
Late last year, we got some eye-opening reports on how hard the pandemic has been on Scientology from someone inside the organization. We dubbed them The Insider, and they told us about chaos caused by Covid, new details on the ‘Chase Wave’ financial debacle, a detailed description of the Ideal Org scam, and even told us about the new ‘Golden Age of Admin’ that was on the way.
We’ve really enjoyed talking to this new source, and now they’ve decided to provide even more detail by talking to Chris Shelton. Here’s Chris’s description of today’s video…
“…my guest this week is the very same Insider who has been providing all of us information on this very blog. He contacted me and we set up interviewing him on my podcast and here is our first effort. We go into detail on how the Church of Scientology has been dealing with Covid, conspiracy theories and how decisions being made at every level of Scientology are making members so angry, they are apparently leaving in higher numbers than ever. It’s entirely possible all of this could change, but right now Miscavige is making some pretty surprisingly poor choices.”
Soixante ans après les faits, des archives publiées lundi 6 juin par le site Mediapart éclairent sous un nouveau jour le massacre du 17 octobre 1961 et les connaissances du chef de l’État de l’époque, Charles de Gaulle, à ce sujet.
Alors que la guerre d’Algérie touchait à sa fin, une manifestation de Français musulmans d’Algérie (FMA) avait été violemment réprimée à Paris. Pendant plusieurs décennies, le bilan officiel a été de trois morts. Aujourd’hui, il est établi à au moins 48 morts pour cette seule nuit d’octobre, même si pour nombre d’historiens, il dépasse largement la centaine.
“Grâce à des ouvertures toutes récentes, bien que partielles, des archives sur la guerre d’Algérie, on a pu avoir accès à un certain nombres de documents issus de la présidence De Gaulle, qui montre que le chef de l’État de l’époque a tout su, et très vite, du crime, c’est-à-dire de la participation de la police dans ce qu’on peut appeler un crime d’État et de l’ampleur de la tragédie”, explique le journaliste de Mediapart Fabrice Arfi, invité sur l’antenne de France 24.
…
À l’occasion d’une cérémonie pour le 60e anniversaire du massacre, la présidence française a reconnu en octobre 2021 pour la première fois que “près de 12 000 Algériens furent arrêtés et transférés dans des centres de tri au stade de Coubertin, au Palais des sports et dans d’autres lieux. Outre de nombreux blessés, plusieurs dizaines furent tués, leurs corps jetés dans la Seine”. Emmanuel Macron avait dénoncé, dans un communiqué, des “crimes inexcusables” commis “sous l’autorité de Maurice Papon”.
Mais les manifestants, témoins du drame, familles de victimes, associations ou encore historiens réclament encore la reconnaissance d’un “crime raciste” et d’un “crime d’État”. Présente le 17 octobre 1961, Djamila Amrane se bat depuis des années pour que ce massacre “entre dans l’Histoire de France”. “Cela ne s’est pas passé à Alger, cela s’est passé à Paris”, insiste-t-elle auprès de France 24. “Il faut que la France reconnaisse qu’il y a eu un massacre sur des gens qui manifestaient pacifiquement.”
Malgré tout, elle note que la mise en lumière de cet épisode sombre s’est améliorée et elle se félicite de la découverte de ces nouvelles archives. “L’an dernier, pour la première fois, un préfet et un président sont allés sur les quais de Seine pour l’anniversaire. Cela commence à se savoir que ces personnes ont été massacrées et que pour certaines on ne s’est même pas ce qu’elles sont devenues. Cela ne peut pas rester dans l’oubli”.
Labour forced a division on its motion on beefing up the ministerial code (see 1.48pm), even though the government was not voting against. (You can do that by getting someone to shout ‘No’ when the Speaker calls the vote, and putting up tellers for the no side. [OK…]) The motion was passed by 215 votes to 0.
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 367
…offering meaning and community to the rootless and marginalized in a fragmenting world.
Opium. That’s all the these philosophical smack dealers are offering: 100% pure, uncut, opium of the masses.
Texas isn’t just facing questions about the state of its power grid, it’s also struggling with rising energy prices. Sen. Ted Cruz, however, has a message for his constituents: Blame the White House. The Republican senator tweeted over the weekend:
“The impact of President Biden being beholden to the Green New Deal radicals in his party has electricity costs through the roof in Texas.”
The same tweet referred readers to this Dallas Morning News report on rising energy prices in the Lone Star State.
So, a few things.
First, as Cruz almost certainly knows, Texas has its own independent system of power. Indeed, as regular readers may recall, in the continental United States, every state has to answer to federal regulators — except Texas, which goes its own way, with its own power grid.
What does the White House have to do with electricity costs in Texas? Effectively nothing, making the senator’s accusation plainly ridiculous.
Second, I don’t doubt that some far-right activists get worked up by mere references to the Green New Deal, but the climate goals haven’t been approved, and they also have nothing to do with the prices Texans are paying. (The senator lashed out again at the Green New Deal agenda yesterday, skipping past the nagging deal that the agenda hasn’t actually passed.)
Third, in an ironic twist, the Dallas Morning News article that Cruz referred people to quoted Alison Silverstein, an energy consultant who formerly worked with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Public Utility Commission of Texas, explaining, “Wind and solar are saving our wallets.”
In other words, the kind of renewable energy projects that Republicans are so skeptical of — for entirely political reasons — are actually helping consumers in Texas.
But as important as these details are, at its core this is a classic example of the senator’s cynicism. There are too many elected lawmakers on Capitol Hill whose intellects fall far short, but the problem with Cruz has never been that he’s dumb. The problem with Cruz is that he seems to think everyone else is dumb.
He knows Texas’ power grid is separate from the United States’ network. He knows President Joe Biden is not driving up energy costs in his home state. He knows the Green New Deal is a set of climate goals that haven’t been approved. It’s a safe bet he also knows that renewable energy projects are benefiting his constituents.
But Cruz hopes that voters aren’t as informed as he is, making them susceptible to absurd talking points that might benefit his political party. The problem is not just that the GOP senator is wrong, it’s that he doesn’t care about being right.
Rather, what Cruz seems to care about is what level of dishonesty he can manage to get away with.
In his opening statement, Chuck Grassley, the Republican ranking member of the Senate judiciary committee, made a point to condemn extremist violence from “all sides of the political spectrum”.
However, studies show that the vast majority of recent incidents involving extremist violence were carried out by attackers with far-right views.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, political extremists have committed about 450 murders in the US over the past decade.
Of those 450 killings, 75% were carried out by right-wing extremists. Nearly half of the murders were specifically linked to white supremacists.
In comparison, Islamic extremists committed about 20% of the 450 killings documented by the ADL, while left-wing extremists were involved in 4% of the murders.
So while left-wing extremist violence is certainly occurring, right-wing extremists carry much more responsibility for this alarming trend. For example, the suspect in the Buffalo shooting expressed support for racist conspiracy theories, such as replacement theory. Ten people were fatally shot in Buffalo, and most of them were Black.
Garnell Whitfield Jr, whose mother was among the victims in Buffalo, said at the hearing today, “I ask every one of you to imagine the faces of your mothers, as you look at mine and ask yourself, is there nothing that we can do? Is there nothing that you personally are willing to do to stop the cancer of white supremacy?”
I’ve long had trouble with these numbers. First, Islamists are rightwing – I see no reason to exclude them from the category of rightwing perpetrators. Second, the relatively tiny category categorized as leftwing extremism is left very vague by the ADL in its reports. They’ll often include, say, anarchists or animal liberation or environmental “extremists” in the category even when none of the reported killings were committed by people from these groups, creating a misleading impression; the small number of such crimes appear overwhelmingly to be carried out by people associated with NoI or other “black nationalist” groups, which don’t really belong in the same group. I think the true figures if the categories were properly defined would be around 95% rightwing perpetrators, 4-5% “black nationalist” and other ideologies that are harder to place on a single spectrum, and a trivial number (and in many years zero) of killings committed by “leftwing extremists.” The vagueness on the part of the ADL leads to unnecessary and counterproductive hedging of the sort we see here: “while left-wing extremist violence is certainly occurring…”
ravensays
Former #Russian Prime Minister Dmitry #Medvedev: “People often ask me why my Telegram posts are so harsh. The answer is that I hate them. They are bastards and scum. They want death for us, for #Russia. And as long as I’m alive, I’ll do anything to make them disappear”.
Here is our daily threat from Russia.
This morning they skipped the nuclear weapons and went for genocide.
Dmitry Medvedev is the former President of Russia, a high position currently held by Putin. This is not a random internet troll.
He is threatening to disappear them. And who is them? The Ukrainians mostly, I guess.
I’m sure you could add NATO, the USA, the EU, and my cat to his list.
He is also delusional. The Ukrainians and the rest of the world really don’t much care about Russia. We all just wish they would go away and play with the toys their oil money bought them.
Russia is what you get when people like Fox NoNews, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, and Alex Jones run a country.
[…] Russian troops have left their fallen comrades to rot on the battlefield while scampering off with their loot. But the video below shows perhaps the most daring and courageous Ukrainian military operation of the war; It is a testament to the bravery and skill of Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter crews who faced daunting odds to deliver ammunition, food, water, and medicine more than 60 miles behind enemy lines to the besieged defenders at the Azovstal steel plant in the occupied port city of Mariupol.
One mission carried 72 Azov Regiment fighters to reinforce the garrison, and another carried a volunteer medical team. On the return leg, some of the missions carried wounded soldiers evacuated from the plant.
This video was only recently released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s Chief Intelligence Directorate and shows views from the helicopter flight deck as the aircraft flew very low over the sea and Mariupol’s docks, as well as a brief shot of the helicopter on the ground at the Azovstal plant. [video at the link]
Major General Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, told The War Zone website, in an interview posted May 25, that a total of 16 Mi-8 helicopters took part in seven resupply missions, flying two at a time and once four at a time to Azovstal. ‘“All deliveries were successful,’ Budanov said. But on the 5th and 7th missions, two helicopters were shot down. A third helicopter coming to the rescue on one of those was also destroyed.”
[…] The first public mention of the helicopter supply mission came on April 22 when Ukrainskaya Pravda interviewed Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. Danilov said: “It is not necessary to say, but I will tell you that when we started sending helicopters there at night and when they asked what was necessary, they asked for ammunition. Not water, not food, although it was also delivered.”
On May 17, the Ukrainian military command stated that the Mariupol garrison had completed its combat mission and ordered the commanders at Azovstal to save the lives of the defenders. On May 20, the last defenders had left the sprawling steel works. Russia claimed that its forces had captured 2,439 Ukrainian fighters.
[…] A few days later, Andriy Biletsky, the founder and first commander of the Azov Regiment, praised “the heroism and professionalism of Ukrainian pilots” in an interview with Ukrainskaya Pravda in which he provided more details about the helicopter missions to Azovstal.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has said the helicopters flew seven missions to resupply the Azovstal defenders. Two helicopters were lost on the last two missions. Biletsky said one of the Azov fighters flown in to reinforce the garrison was killed in action a day after arriving. He added that some flights carried out wounded soldiers on the return leg.
Biletsky said that on the last flight, a civilian medical team from the city of Dnipro—including a nurse, an anesthesiologist, and two surgeons—volunteered to be flown into Azovstal. “They flew, clearly realizing that the probability (of dying) is just huge. But they flew because they understood that our people were dying there,” he said.
“There have never been such operations in the history of mankind,” Biletsky said.”Maybe after the war, or even during the war, it will be shown as a film. This is a story for a movie. But the man should tell it himself. It has to be told by the officer, the pilot. And he has something to tell. He is alive and well.”
And that pilot told the story in a video released on June 2 by the Ukrainian military, according to Ukrainskaya Pravda. The pilot, whose identity was disguised in the video, said: “The main difficulty was that it was necessary to deliver the cargo into the depth of the enemy-held area, which was larger than 100 km (60 miles). The enemy’s air defense was very dense throughout this area, and it was not only difficult—it was almost impossible to achieve. But practice has shown that it is possible, and we achieved it.”
He said there were three different anti-aircraft missile systems that covered the landing area at Azovstal, and the Ukrainian pilots had to make use of natural and man-made obstacles en route to the landing site. […]
“But once [we arrived] in Mariupol, when the cargo was being unloaded, the feeling was one of euphoria. It seemed to us that since we succeeded in arriving and standing here—within reach of three anti-aircraft missile systems—and we were unloading, we are like kings of the world, we had already won, and everything would be fine.
On the return leg, three minutes after take-off, the pilot said his helicopter was hit by MANPADS portable anti-aircraft missile and one engine failed. The helicopter behind his was also hit by a missile, crashed, and everyone aboard was killed.
“After the missile hit, we had an adrenaline rush—and we just did what we had to do. There were 20 wounded on board, and we understood that if we were to land somewhere in the field, how would they be picked up and evacuated further? Another helicopter would be needed, and this would become an unplanned operation—so we just flew to the landing site.” [video at the link]
[…] On Monday, The Associated Press reported that Russia has begun turning over the bodies of dozens of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks. The bodies were transferred to Kyiv, where DNA testing is underway to identify the remains, according to both a military leader and a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.
On Monday, Zelenskyy confirmed that more than 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers who were defending the Azovstal plant are currently held by Russia. He told a news conference that the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense is working on freeing them through a prisoner exchange.
“We know what it’s like to cut deals with Russia, we know the price we will have to pay. We know that they cannot be trusted. …The Chief Intelligence Directorate has to continue working on this issue and has to find a solution. There is only one possible solution—to return those people home,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian flag that fluttered over Azovstal during the siege has been transferred to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in Kyiv. [Photo at the link. That is one battered flag.]
At this point, trying to say anything about Severodonetsk beyond “fighting continues” is pointless. We know this much about the sequence of events: Ukraine quickly fell back as Russian forces first entered the city, allowing them to capture as much as 80-90% of the area; Ukrainian forces then surged forward, in concert with artillery firing from across the river in Lysychansk, and quickly retook about half the city; by Sunday, it was Russia that was down to less than a third of the city, but Russia responded by pushing more troops into the city and more artillery into the outskirts; since then the battle has surged back and forth through the city streets, with neither side able to fully gain the upper hand. Russia doesn’t control as much as it did at its peak. Neither does Ukraine. The losses for both sides are both sickening and mind-boggling. On Saturday, Russia may have suffered its highest level of losses for any single day of the invasion, but it’s possible that the same could be said about Ukraine.
Based on the most reliable reports available on Tuesday morning, Ukraine has suffered a serious setback in its efforts to recapture and hold the city. Ukrainian troops still control the western industrial areas of the city and are fighting in the east. Russia essentially holds the north and parts of the city center, except that Russian attempts to advance are still being obliterated by the artillery on the opposing bluff. The most accurate thing to say at the moment is that no one controls Severodonetsk.
Over the last 24 hours, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made statements suggesting that Ukraine may soon withdraw from the city. Whether these are preparing the Ukrainian public for losing the city, goading NATO countries into hurrying up with new hardware, or luring Russia in for another round of pulverizing … it’s impossible to tell. Possibly it’s all three.
Again, Ukraine set up a situation where Russian forces in the Donbas suffered horrific losses. And Russia is still coming. Because until those losses reach a level of making Russian forces ineffective, they simply don’t care.
Any map pretending to have a street-by-street-level mapping of the current situation in Severodonetsk is just that, a pretense. It’s possible the next hours will decide the fate of the city. It’s more likely that the next time we update, the phase “fighting continues” will still be all we know. One quick warning when looking for information on this battle: pro-Russian trolls and bots are out in extreme numbers, proclaiming that Severodonetsk is already taken, that there never was any counteroffensive in the city, and that the “foreign mercenaries” were all easily wiped out. Just take the fact that Russia is throwing up such a high level of smoke as good evidence that the fire is still burning.
ZAPORIZHZHIA AREA [map at the link]
Meanwhile, something distinctly odd is going on in southern Ukraine. At point after point, from Vasylivka down to Melitopol and beyond, observers are noting that Russian checkpoints have been “abandoned.” There are even reports that Russian troops have been withdrawn from much of the area, with some sources—including Russian Telegram accounts—saying that troops have been shifted into the Kherson area.
This could be something as simple as a “rotation” of new troops to the front lines. Russia very clearly hasn’t left behind this whole area. Fighting continues between Hulyaipole and Polohy, as well as south of Orikhiv. This whole area represents that “land bridge” between the Donbas and Crimea. It’s not something Russia would walk away from, even if it was desperately trying to throw more troops into the battle elsewhere.
[…] That reorganization may create some possibilities for Ukraine, but if a large attack force moves on Zaporizhzhia, even if it is, as rumors suggest, using old T-62 tanks and scraped together forces, stopping that attack is going to become the major focus in the area.
KHARKIV AREA [map at the link]
We’ve been noting for some time that there were odd patterns of artillery fire in the area of Staryi Saltiv. When Ukraine first rolled into the area in May, there was a clear pattern: with each step up the map, Ukraine bombarded the area across the river in an effort to clear a potential bridgehead. Though, since those bridges were out, any crossing would require repairs or a pontoon bridge.
Over the last week, that pattern has been playing out again. The red spots on this map represent one week’s worth of artillery activity in the area around Staryi Saltiv. The small amount of activity north of Buhaivka is a good indicator that Ukrainian troops are still present on that side of the river, though not in enough force to make a serious advance on Vovchansk. But the heavy concentrations of fire in the area across the bridge from Rubizhne, and even up the river at Starytysa, are a genuine mystery.
Unfortunately, clouds in the area mean that the last good satellite data for the Rubizhne area is from all the way back on May 23. [image at the link]
In this image, it’s easy to see the gap in the middle of the Rubizhne bridge, which was blown open by Russian forces as Ukrainian troops moved toward the area at the start of May. Unlike Staryi Saltiv—which is located on a reservoir above a dam, making the Siverskyi Donets over a kilometer wide—the river above the Rubizhne bridge is less than 100m wide. In fact, in the area where a lot of that artillery has been falling, the river is divided by an island resulting in channels that max out at about 60m. It’s certainly an area that would be easier to cross with a pontoon bridge.
Is Russian firing artillery at a Ukrainian crossing attempt? Probably not, since the morning report from the Ukrainian MOD complained about Russian mines on the road south of Rubizhne. Russia has held most of the town for the last two weeks, with an ongoing skirmish around the south side. That would seem to make it more likely that Ukraine is pounding these positions—possibly to prevent the movement of Russian artillery into the area. Possibly to clear an area for their next step.
A Russian footballer has spoken out against the war in Ukraine, saying she “can’t just look at this inhumanity and stay silent”.
Nadya Karpova, a member of the Russian women’s team and striker for Espanyol in Spain, is one of the very few Russian sportspeople to have publicly come out against what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, “took everything from us, he took our future”, Karpova said in an interview with the BBC in Barcelona, adding:
At the same time, he did it with our tacit consent. They [the government], didn’t witness strong resistance. Most people were just closing their eyes to injustice, thinking it’s not their business.
She said people in Russia who justify the war in Ukraine are “hostages to propaganda” and that she “feels sorry for them”, adding: “I believe we need to do everything to release them from it.”
Karpova added:
I wish more and more Russians – Russian athletes, too – would speak out so other people who are against the war know that they are not a minority. You can’t just pretend that nothing is happening, not any more. The time of silence should be over.
[This government] will go away one day, they are all old. When this happens, we will still be alive, and we should be ready to sort everything out. I hope it will happen very soon.
Judging from Russian milbloggers being so [bothered] these days, Western-provided artillery in Donbas is working exactly the way we wanted it to, killing Russian guns from safe distances.
More, much more weapons are still needed.
Russian proxy fighters in east Ukraine have said they are opening a trial against two Britons, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, who were captured fighting alongside Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol.
The two men, who are serving in the Ukrainian military, and Ibrahim Saadun, a captive from Morocco, were shown sitting in a courtroom cage reserved for defendants in a video released on pro-Russian social media channels on Tuesday.
Prosecutors from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, a proxy government in east Ukraine controlled by Russia, have said that the men face the death penalty for “terrorism” and for fighting as “mercenaries” against the Russian invasion.
Aslin and his fellow defendants have said they were regular soldiers fighting in the Ukrainian military and should be treated as prisoners of war.
If the images from the courtroom are confirmed, the men would be the first Ukrainian soldiers to be tried by pro-Russian forces in what observers warn could be a series of show trials meant to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Do you know the information in your indictment,” an interpreter asked Aslin, a 28-year-old from Newark, Nottinghamshire, who was sitting in a metal cage reserved for defendants. “Tak tochno,” he replied, a military response meaning “affirmative.” Shaun Pinner, 48, from Watford and Bedfordshire, also said he understood the charges against him.
Russian officials have threatened to hold military tribunals they’ve dubbed “Nuremberg 2.0” meant to mirror war crimes trials being held in Kyiv for atrocities committed by invading Russian soldiers. Observers say the trials may be deliberately constructed to put maximum pressure on the west and to prompt prisoner exchanges for Russian soldiers captured and tried in Ukraine.
The daily White House press briefing has started, and at the podium is actor and Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey, who is making his pitch for gun control.
McConaughey said he’d spent the past week in his hometown and was now in Washington to share stories of the victims and their families in hopes of swaying lawmakers skeptical of gun control legislation.
“While we honor and acknowledge the victims, we need to recognize that this time seems that something is different,” McConaughey said, speaking from behind the White House podium. “There’s a sense that perhaps there’s a viable path forward. Responsible parties in this debate seem to at least be committed to sitting down and having a real conversation about a new and improved path forward.”
“I’m here today in hopes of applying what energy, reason and passion that I have and to try to turn this moment into a reality. Because as I said, this moment is different. We are in a window of opportunity right now that we have not been in before. A window where it seems like real change. Real change can happen,” he continued.
He’s still speaking, telling the stories of the victims. It’s very emotional. He was just describing how much destruction the gun caused to the bodies of the victims – they needed DNA tests to identify some. “These children were left not only dead but hollow.”
“[Michael Kofman]: ‘Russian mil has structural problem w/ force availability & not designed to sustain war of this scale at peacetime strength…tho’ the local military balance in the Donbas appears favorable to Russia, overall trends…still favor Ukraine'”
Commentary concerning the fact that Fox News will NOT air the public hearings of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol:
[…] There are numerous reasons one can point to for why Fox won’t air the coverage, starting with the fact that the constant stream of bullshit from off-the-rails GOP faves Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham garners the network millions of eyes nightly. The loss of revenue is probably a consideration since the network has spent every second since Jan. 6 assuring its viewers that the entire event was a tourist trip and the investigating committee is a witch hunt.
But another important reason is the direct involvement of many of Fox News’ biggest players on Jan. 6 itself—the day a bunch of white supremacists and QAnon-ers stormed the Capitol, cheered on by Trump and assured by Fox News that the election had been stolen.
As we reported in January, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, and Jeanine Pirro, to name a few, were on the Oval Office’s speed dial, and on Jan. 6, Ingraham, Brian Kilmeade, and Hannity all texted Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, in the hopes of getting him to intervene during the insurrection.
“Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home,” Ingraham wrote, per The Washington Post. “This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.”
Kilmeade urged Meadows to get Trump “on TV” and stop the terrorists, and Hannity begged Meadows to demand Trump “make a statement” and “ask people to leave the Capitol.”
According to CNN, one of the last texts on the chain of the 2,319 texts to and from Meadows starting from Election Day 2020 to President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration was from Hannity.
The Fox News host shared the video of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell denouncing Trump from the Senate floor, saying the insurrectionists were “provoked by the President and other powerful people.” Hannity’s text read: “Well this is as bad as this can get.”
Hannity has been remarkably comfortable appearing in public with former President Donald Trump for years. He appeared on stage with Trump during a midterm election rally in Missouri in 2018, where he had the audacity to call the assembled media covering the event “fake news,” just as he’s referred to the five Democrats and two Republicans on the select committee continuously as “fake,” The New York Times reports.
[…] Philip Bump, a national correspondent with The Washington Post, compared coverage of Jan. 6 by Fox News with its competitors MSNBC and CNN to find that on average, Fox rarely mentioned it at all—less than 1% during any 15-second segments in a week. They also rarely, if ever, mentioned the House select committee, the riot at the Capitol, the Proud Boys, the bogus GOP electors, and certainly not text messages from Meadows. [charts at the link]
[…] Bump also sites Fox’s coverage of Trump’s impeachments. During impeachment hearing number one, the networks aired it without sound, allowing its hosts to babble on about it audibly. And during impeachment hearing number two, “the network cut away at key points,” Bump writes.
At least one Republican lawmaker has spoken up about Fox News’ cowardly decision not to air the hearings. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois wrote on Twitter, “If you work for Fox News and want to maintain your credibility as a journalist, now is a good time to speak out, or quit. Enough is enough.” […]
European Parliament to recommend EU leaders to grant Ukraine candidate status.
European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee chairman David McAllister said on June 7 that Ukraine should be provided with requested weapons and equipment, in addition to candidate status as a “clear political signal of solidarity with the courageous people of Ukraine.”
Nearly all of the five members of the Proud Boys extremist group who were indicted by federal authorities this week for seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol are veterans, according to court documents and the military services.
The indicted men include an Army combat veteran with a Purple Heart, two Marines who served in the infantry and logistics, and a sailor recruit who washed out in boot camp. The only non-veteran of the group was Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the Proud Boys, a far-right group that formed in 2016 and played a key role in the violence in Washington last year.
The charges released Monday allege that the four men were the vanguard among hundreds of pro-Trump rioters gathered to disrupt Congress from certifying the presidential election that day. They were the first to push past police barricades and the first to break windows in the Capitol as part of a seven-hour riot that left 114 police officers injured and caused $1.5 million in damages, according to the indictment and a government watchdog report.
“What we saw in the lead-up to Jan. 6 was that [veterans] were the ones making the decisions about how the group was going to behave, how it was going to organize on Jan. 6,” Michael Jensen, a senior researcher at the University of Maryland who studies extremism, told Military[dot]com in a phone interview.
The Proud Boys’ veteran status and alleged roles in Jan. 6 raise new questions about the connection between military service and extremist activity following similar sedition charges in January against the Oath Keepers and its founder Stewart Rhodes, an Army veteran and former paratrooper. Authorities say the Oath Keepers created a military-style “quick reaction force” to violently oppose the transition of power to President Joe Biden after he won the 2020 election.
Sedition charges are rare, and the Capitol attack has no parallel in modern U.S. history. Of the 16 people the government has now charged with sedition crimes stemming from Jan. 6, more than half served in the military.
…
Another Proud Boy — Charles Donohoe, a former Marine — is mentioned in the indictment as a participant in the riot and leader, but he was not indicted alongside the four veterans and Tarrio on Monday. Court records show he pleaded guilty to two charges in April and has been cooperating with the government.
…
Monday’s indictment of the Proud Boys alleges the men were also key in raising money, recruiting volunteers, and making plans to attack the Capitol. Although there is no reference to any of the men directly employing their military training, experts have previously told Military[dot]com that veterans — even those with minimal experience — are valuable to extremist groups.
“One of the reasons why veterans are so appealing to these organizations is because they assume leadership roles in the group right away,” Jensen told Military[dot]com.
Jensen said Oath Keepers members skew older and are less likely to have actual combat from service in the post-9/11 era. Meanwhile, Proud Boys are a younger group, thus more likely to have veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars within its ranks, and more prone to committing violence.
None of the five indicted Proud Boys is older than 44 years of age. Nordean is the youngest at 31 and Pezzola is 44, according to the court document. In contrast, the indicted Oath Keepers were between 44 and 67 years of age.
“The Proud Boys are attracting that kind of younger man for the most part, younger veteran that has combat experience, that still desires that kind of camaraderie and sense of mission that the military gives,” he said. “They’re attracted to a group that sold themselves as a group that’s going out there and fighting on behalf of the cause.”
There’s no evidence suggesting veterans or active service members are more or less likely to join extremist groups such as the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers.
However, experts are growing increasingly concerned that veterans are more likely to be targeted for recruitment because of their tactical knowledge and the inherent social credibility they carry. A court document filed by Biggs’ defense team even noted that the Army combat veteran “did use his planning and leadership roles honed in the military to plan several Proud Boys events in and out of Florida.”
Even a rudimentary understanding of basic combat tactics and military mission planning can be difficult for law enforcement to combat….
Yet the number of veterans who do become radicalized makes up an extreme minority of the military community.
“There’s concern about what [extremism] does to the reputation of military service and the veteran community. Whenever a veteran does something violent, it generates a lot of negative news that reflects poorly on the veteran community,” Jensen said. “What we lose in that news cycle is the fact that there are millions of veterans that are never going to radicalize.”…
House Democrats are investigating former President Donald Trump’s “apparent failure to account for gifts from foreign government officials while in office” after learning there may be thousands of dollars-worth of items that are either missing or were not tracked properly, according to a new letter sent to the National Archives by the House Oversight and Reform Committee chairwoman and first obtained by CNN….
There’s likely no form of corruption or abuse of power Trump and his “administration” didn’t engage in. Just a matter of time, probably, until they’re all revealed.
Moscow’s Chief Rabbi has reportedly fled Russia, after coming under pressure to support Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Journalist Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt tweeted late on Tuesday: “Can finally share that my in-laws, Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt and Rebbetzin Dara Goldschmidt, have been put under pressure by authorities to publicly support the ‘special operation’ in Ukraine — and refused.”
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 391
Ugh! Don’t read the replies to Hemet’s tweet. Far too many faitheits spewing ”no true Christian” bullshit.
This year, the UK implemented a law requiring chain restaurants to list calorie counts on their menus. Where did these policies come from? What impact do they have? And why is a Julia Roberts quote from 1990 the best way to describe them?
“Follow The Data” is the name of a Bloomberg Philanthropies podcast that debuted 2016. “How Data Analysis Is Driving Policing,” a 2018 NPR headline read. “Data suggests that schools might be one of the least risky kinds of institutions to reopen,” an opinion piece in The Washington Post told us in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Over the last 20 or so years, a trend of labeling concepts as “data-driven” emerged. It applied, and continues to apply, to policies affecting everything from education to public health, policing to journalism. Decisions affecting these areas will be more thoughtful, the idea goes, when informed and supported by data. In many ways, this has been a welcome development: The idea that a rigorously scientific collection of information via surveys, observation, and other methods would make policies and media stronger seems unimpeachable.
But this isn’t always the case. While gathering “data” is a potentially beneficial process, the process alone isn’t inherently good, and is too often used to obscure important and requisite value-based or moral questions, assert contested ideological priors and traffic in right-wing austerity premises backed by monied interests. When our media tell us a largely unpopular, billionaire-backed idea like school privatization, “targeted” policing, or tax incentive handouts to corporations have merit they’re backed by “the data,” what purpose does this framing serve? Where does the data come from? Who is funding the data gathering? What data are we choosing to care about and, most important of all, what data are we choosing to ignore?
On today’s episode, we’ll look at the development of the push to make everything data-driven, examining who defines what counts as “data,” which forces shape its sourcing and collection, and how the fetishization of “data” as something that exists outside and separate from politics is more often than not, less a methodology for determining truth and more a branding exercise for neoliberal ideological production and reproduction.
Our guests: Abigail Cartus is an epidemiologist at Brown University. She focuses on perinatal health and overdose prevention in her work at The People, Place & Health Collective, a Brown School of Public Health research laboratory.
From the newest development in the Capitol riot investigations, with Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy indictments, to Kevin McCarthy’s war with MAGA hardcore believers, Will Sommer and guest host Zachary Petrizzo break down the state of the political right in this week’s episode of the Fever Dreams podcast. As for the guest this week, the duo was joined by documentary filmmaker Brian Knappenberger who is behind the upcoming [Netflix] docuseries Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies, and the Internet.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their most recent summary:
…Ukraine and Russia each handed over the bodies of 50 of their deceased soldiers in an exchange that included 37 Ukrainian soldiers killed at Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks, the Ukrainian ministry for reintegration has confirmed. The exchange took place on the front lines in the southeast Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, the ministry said.
Ukrainian forces are finding it hard to stave off Russian attacks in the centre of Sievierodonestk but Moscow’s forces do not control the frontline eastern city, regional officials say…. Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, vowed that “nobody is going to surrender Sievierodonetsk”.
Ukraine has filed eight more war crimes cases to court in addition to the three sentences already handed down to Russian soldiers, according to its prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova. So far, Ukraine has opened more than 16,000 investigations into possible war crimes by the Russian army since the conflict began, Venediktova added. Ukraine is launching a ‘Book of Executioners’, a system to collate evidence of war crimes, President Zelenskiy said.
Millions of people could die of hunger unless Russia lifts the blockade on Ukraine’s ports on the Black Sea, Italy’s foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, has warned. Lebanon’s minister for foreign affairs, Abdallah Bou Habib, told a meeting of Mediterranean ministers that rises in fuel and basic food stuffs were exacerbating the crisis in his country….
StevoRsays
Even in the best case scenario two thirds of the Siberian tundra is doomed apparently :
Belgium’s King Philippe reaffirmed his deepest regrets on Wednesday for the exploitation, racism and acts of violence during his country’s colonisation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but again stopped short of formally apologising.
Philippe became the first Belgian official in 2020 to express regret for colonisation, and some Congolese hoped he would issue a formal apology during his first visit to Congo since taking the throne in 2013.
“Even though many Belgians invested themselves sincerely, loving Congo and its people deeply, the colonial regime itself was based on exploitation and domination,” he told a joint session of parliament in the capital Kinshasa.
“This regime was one of unequal relations, unjustifiable in itself, marked by paternalism, discrimination and racism,” he said.
“It led to violent acts and humiliations. On the occasion of my first trip to Congo, right here, in front of the Congolese people and those who still suffer today, I wish to reaffirm my deepest regrets for those wounds of the past.”
Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and many politicians have enthusiastically welcomed Philippe’s visit. Large numbers of ruling party supporters waved Belgian flags, and a banner hanging from parliament read: “A common history.”
But many Congolese were likely to be disappointed by the absence of an apology.
By some estimates, killings, famine and disease killed up to 10 million Congolese during just the first 23 years of Belgium’s rule from 1885 to 1960, when King Leopold II ruled the Congo Free State as a personal fiefdom.
Villages that missed rubber collection quotas were notoriously made to provide severed hands instead.
“They left us isolated, abandoned. They pillaged all our resources, and today you invite the Belgian king again?” said Junior Bombi, a salesman in Kinshasa’s central market.
Antoine Roger Lokongo, a professor at the University of Joseph Kasa-Vubu in southwestern Congo, said before the speech that he would be waiting to see if Philippe formally apologised.
“The simple regret that you have expressed is not sufficient,” Lokongo said.
…
Some Kinshasa residents said they hoped the visit would bring investment and a renewed focus on the conflict in the east of the country.
“My feeling is that we should start having good Congolese-Belgium relations again, like before,” said Antoine Mubidiki. “Despite what the Belgians did to us during colonisation, we are ready to forgive.”
Philippe also offered a traditional mask of the Suku people to Congo’s national museum as an “indefinite loan” [!]. The mask has been held for decades by Belgium’s Royal Museum for Central Africa.
“I am here to return to you this exceptional work in order to allow Congolese to discover and admire it,” he said.
Belgium has traditionally said little about colonialism, and the subject has not been extensively taught in Belgian schools.
But there have been the beginnings of a historical reckoning in recent years. During anti-racism protests sparked in 2020 by the police killing in the United States of George Floyd, demonstrators targeted statues of King Leopold II.
Belgium’s parliament established a commission soon after to examine the historical record. It will issue its final report this year.
Belgium will also hand over a tooth, suspected to be the only remains of Congo’s first prime minister Patrice Lumumba, to his family this month. The Belgian government took partial responsibility in 2002 for Lumumba’s death in 1961. [The US, as far as I know, has yet to do so.]
All the best people flock to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, including anti-semitic, homophobic foreign agents.
Ordinarily, gubernatorial press secretaries are not recognized at a national level. In fact, there are 50 governors in the United States, and off the top of my head, I can only name one of their press secretaries: Christina Pushaw, the controversial spokesperson for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Last summer, for example, Twitter felt the need to briefly suspend Pushaw’s account for violating rules on “abusive behavior.” Around the same time, the CEO of the Associated Press reached out to Florida’s Republican governor, urging him to address his press secretary’s “harassing behavior.”
A few months later, Pushaw made strange and provocative comments about an eastern European country adopting “vaccine passports” following a meeting with the Rothschilds — a popular boogeyman for anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists. (Confronted with a backlash, she walked all of this back soon after.)
Earlier this year, Pushaw made headlines again for making homophobic comments in defense of her boss’ controversial policy that critics have labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Now, the Florida Republican is back in the news for unfortunate reasons. NBC News reported this morning:
A spokeswoman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis registered this week as a foreign agent for her previous work for a former president of Georgia, her lawyer told NBC News. Christina Pushaw worked for former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, […] from 2018 to 2020, focusing on the need for free and fair elections in the eastern European country, her attorney, Michael Sherwin, said.
According to a Washington Post report, the Floridian press secretary belatedly registered as a foreign agent “following contact from the Justice Department.”
I don’t have any additional information on this, but as a rule, when the Justice Department “contacts” someone about their work for a foreign government, the situation has advanced to a rather serious stage.
As for the bigger picture, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes added this morning that it’s “absolutely astounding the raw percentage of America First types who are literal foreign agents.”
It’s an important point: Michael Flynn was also a foreign agent when Donald Trump appointed him as the White House national security advisor.
[U.S. District Court Judge David Carter] ruled that more of Trump lawyer John Eastman’s documents and emails must be turned over to the committee, because they pertain to the likely crime and thus they are not privileged. And in doing so, Carter offered a notable account of the plot. He said the “plan to disrupt the Joint Session” of Congress on Jan. 6 — the crime he says was likely committed — “was fully formed and actionable as early as December 7, 2020.”
Commentary:
[…] we knew that Trump, Eastman, and their allies plotted against a joint session of Congress, when lawmakers were tasked with certifying the results of the 2020 election. What these new revelations suggest is that the plot was “fully formed” much earlier than previously known.
Indeed, by all accounts, Eastman formally joined the Republican’s campaign legal team on Dec. 6, 2020. Evidently, the attorney brought a coup plan with him, since the scheme was “actionable” one day later.
According to a Politico report, the latest revelations also included an email from an unidentified attorney encouraging the then-president’s team not to pursue a case in court related to the Jan. 6 session of Congress — because an adverse ruling could “tank the January 6 strategy.”
As attorney Luppe Luppen (known on Twitter as “southpaw”) summarized this morning, “[A]ccording to a federal judge, the then-sitting president likely engaged in a monthlong criminal conspiracy to disrupt the joint session of Congress. The conspirators considered and jettisoned the idea of testing the legality of their plans in court. That same president then went out and fomented the mob violence that disrupted the joint session of Congress.”
Well, sure, when you put it that way, it sounds bad.
Of course, all of this comes in advance of the Jan. 6 committee’s public hearings, which begin in earnest tomorrow night. The fact that these Eastman materials are reaching Capitol Hill for review before the prime-time event is no doubt good news for investigators.
There’s a reason Ukraine’s western allies gave serious preference to Soviet-era weapons systems. People fixate too much on learning to operate weapons systems, when the real challenge is in maintaining them.
[Shashank Joshi tweeted] One interesting thing I learnt recently: Ukraine is losing a lot of artillery because of poor maintenance: some of it is having to be sent back to Poland for repair. On the one hand, Ukraine absorbing Western hardware much faster than some expected. But this isn’t without issues.
Joshi is talking about the M777, the towed artillery system Ukraine has received from the United States, Canada, and Australia. It’s not a very complicated system. In fact, the initial training for an artillery mechanic is only 15 weeks—just over three months.
Canada spent several weeks training Ukrainians on operating the M777 in Poland, but I never did see anything about training maintenance crews. It certainly hasn’t been three months since these units were delivered to Ukraine.
What’s more, those 15 weeks are only the initial training. Graduates from AIT (advanced individual training) then go to their units where they continue their training under experienced NCOs (non-commissioned officers, or sergeants), many with over a decade of experience doing the job. The training is ongoing, for years. That’s how you keep complex military gear up and running The operators are only a small part of the equation, and quite irrelevant if their equipment can’t run.
MLRS/HIMARS is a far more complex system than the M777. The training program is 19 weeks long—a month-and-a-half longer than for the M777. For the M1 Abrams tank, it’s 24 weeks, half a year. For the Patriot air defense system, it’s 53 weeks, a whole year. And remember, this is just the initial training. NATO countries aren’t holding back western weapons for the heck of it.
In wartime, timetables can be compressed. But there’s a limit to how much knowledge you can squeeze into just weeks of training. And then what? There are no experienced NCOs in the Ukrainian army to continue training those mechanics. So the inevitable result is this—broken down equipment that needs to be shipped out of country so experienced mechanics can bring them back online.
Now, everyone is excited about M270 MLRS and HIMARS entering Ukraine. And it is exciting. But if Ukraine is having a hard time keeping relatively simple M777s operational, things are about to get much worse as more complex western weapons systems arrive in Ukraine. I say this not to dissuade those systems from being donated, but to explain why so many are taking so long to arrive (the Germans, in particular, are getting slammed for their seemingly slow timelines), and why some systems (like Patriots or F-16) couldn’t realistically be introduced in time to make an impact this war.
[…] On Sunday I wrote about Dovhen’ke, the little strategic town (pre-war population 850) that has halted the Russian advance south of Izyum. [tweet and images at the link]
The moon-like scarred terrain around Dovhen’ke will be inhospitable to life for decades. Russian ordinance has a dud rate of around 30%. That means the number of unexploded shells in that one picture alone likely runs in the hundreds. Top right, that’s a 40-foot crater where an ammonium fertilizer warehouse once stood on the outskirts of the hamlet.
On Monday, according to Ukrainian General Staff, Russia “focuse[d] the main efforts on the continuation of the attack in the directions of the settlements of ízyum and Slaviansk. Trying to move towards the settlements Dovgenke [Dovhen’ke] and Valley.” Those attacks got nowhere, and on Tuesday, at least for one day, whatever life is left in that town had a brief moment of respite.
“Meanwhile in modern Russia: a screaming match on state TV as to whether captured British citizens Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin should be shot, hanged, quartered or exchanged for ransom (the release of Russia’s frozen assets), as they hope to cause a rift in British society.”
Boris Johnson used to work for the the Daily Telegraph and, according to Dominic Cumming, he used to call it his “real boss”. But if he read it today, he will have been horrified. What the academic Tim Bale calls the “party in the media” is particularly influential in Tory politics, and today’s edition suggests the Telegraph, which used to support Johnson solidly, is close to giving up on him.
…
Perhaps most significantly of all, the letters page is devoted to letters almost exclusively criticising Johnson….
Afternoon summary
Boris Johnson has said “absolutely nothing and no one” will stop him continuing in office, during his first prime minister’s questions since an unconvincing victory in a confidence vote among Tory MPs.
Sajid Javid has said he would like to see the government “do more on tax cuts”, adding to the pressure on Johnson from senior Conservatives after the damaging revolt over his leadership.
More talks will be held this week between unions and rail industry leaders in an attempt to avoid a week of national strikes that will shut down much of Britain’s rail network in late June.
YouGov suppressed polling in last few weeks of the 2017 election campaign because it was too positive about Labour, a senior former employee has said.
Boris Johnson has been warned by his Irish counterpart that ditching the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland would be a “historic low point”, citing the outbreak of war in Ukraine as a reason why international law must be respected.
Priti Patel’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as soon as next week is facing a legal challenge under emergency proceedings launched in the high court on Wednesday.
The Scottish government has been urged to “come clean once and for all” about whether it has the power to legislate for a second independence referendum at Holyrood.
Alok Sharma, the UK cabinet minister who led last year’s Cop26 climate summit, is in the running to be the UN’s global climate chief, at a crucial time for international action on greenhouse gas emissions.
Last night, Audrey Trujillo became the latest 2020 election denier to win her party’s nomination to oversee a state’s elections.
The New Mexico Republican is part of a wave of candidates beholden to conspiracy theories about election hacking and fraud who are seeking to lead elections in more than a dozen states — including in many states that were decisive in President Biden’s victory….
If they’re victorious in November, election watchers fear, these candidates could disregard or intentionally violate security measures. They could also refuse to certify legitimate results or spread unfounded doubt if their preferred candidate loses….
Trujillo has been outspoken in her baseless criticism of the 2020 contest. She has called Biden’s 2020 election victory a “coup” and compared U.S. voting systems to “any other communist country like Venezuela or any of these other states where our elections are being manipulated,” per the New York Times.
Trujillo’s Twitter account also posted tweets mocking Mexicans and suggesting Jews played a nefarious role in developing coronavirus vaccines, per the Albuquerque Journal.
Trujillo, who was unopposed for the nomination, is essentially the second election denier to win her party’s nomination as secretary of state.
Michigan Republican Kristina Karamo won the endorsement of GOP state leaders last month to be the party’s nominee for secretary of state in November. Karamo has echoed former president Donald Trump’s false election fraud claims and attended rallies aligned with the fringe QAnon conspiracy group.
Election denier Doug Mastriano also won Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial primary, which will allow him to appoint that state’s top election official if he wins in November. He’s said he’ll appoint someone who will require all of the state’s residents to re-register to vote. And there’s more:
Big secretary of state primary fights featuring election deniers are also coming up in Arizona and Colorado. Less prominent races are taking place in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota and Massachusetts.
On the extreme end: Colorado secretary of state candidate Tina Peters (R), has already been indicted on a charge of endangering the security of election machines after the 2020 election. As clerk of Mesa County, Colo., Peters allegedly allowed an unauthorized third party to secretly copy election equipment hard drives. She’s been barred from overseeing the county’s 2022 elections.
It gets weirder: On the most extreme end, Wisconsin Republican Jay Schroeder is running for secretary of state claiming the 2020 election was illegitimate — even though the Wisconsin secretary of state doesn’t oversee elections. Schroeder argues he’ll assume responsibility for elections and then reform them.
About 3.9 million years ago, one of the earliest of our hominid predecessors, the proto-human Australopithecus Afarensis—of which the famed “Lucy” is a specimen—emerged onto a newly open south African landscape in the middle Pliocene.
Coincidentally, last Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration took note that its carbon dioxide measuring instruments atop the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawai’i’s Big Island registered a record high of 421 parts per million in May. That’s 1.8 ppm above May a year ago. Scientists say the last time carbon dioxide was that thick in the atmosphere was around 4 million years ago, before even those primitive, chimp-sized Australopiths had made the scene. The emergence of Homo sapiens was still 3.6 million years in the future.
No member of our supposedly savvy species has of course ever experienced a world with Pliocene levels of carbon dioxide. But for the past 250 years, we have literally burned fossil fuels as if there is no tomorrow, slowly at first, unnoticeable and unmeasured, now faster and with impacts that cannot be ignored no matter how many times some shill for the American Enterprise Institute, Koch Industries, or a hefty chunk of Congress have disinformed the public about what’s happening and going to happen to the climate.
In the past couple of years, a fair number of Republican politicians who rejected what climatologists told us ever more urgently over the past 40 years have shifted gears since outright science denial is no longer tenable. Especially given young people’s views on the climate crisis and their views about rightwing obstructionism against policy to address it. The GOP has to think about the midterms […]. So, a year ago, they put together a task force, which put together a plan, which is now the Republican Party’s “climate plan.” […]
Don’t be fooled. This is election PR, mostly a retread of an old package with one great big flaw: It’s an “all of the above” plan, a recipe for disaster.[…] The plan goes heavy on support for fossil fuels, “streamlining” permitting of projects, and “modernizing” the environmental regulatory regime. There is mention of renewables, especially an increase in hydropower, and more support for nuclear. And carbon capture, carbon capture, carbon capture, the ingredient they apparently think will let them drill, frack, dig, and burn deep into the 22nd Century even though carbon capture has yet to prove its economic viability.
The plan is no surprise given that several of the 17 members of the task force are outright climate science deniers. The League of Conservation Voters calculates the lifetime environmental score of all 17 combined averages a pitiful 10%.
[snipped details of Republican congress critters denying various aspects of climate science]
Yes, the climate does always change. But the speed with which it is doing so is what has scientists alarmed. For some reason, Graves and other task force members, including the ones who don’t openly reject climate science, cannot seem to hear those scientists who are practically screaming that we can no longer have an “all of the above” energy policy if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Graves offers this upside-downism in his Siegel interview:
“We are creating a clear coherent energy strategy that returns the U.S. to an emissions reduction trajectory as opposed to what we are seeing under the Biden administration, which is failing every test, whether it be affordability, emissions or security.”
Just before the pandemic began in 2020, David Roberts at Vox took note of a Graves-led alternative to Democratic plans on climate:
This is the argument Rep. Garret Graves, a Louisiana Republican who is leading GOP climate efforts, uses: “Fossil fuels aren’t the enemy. It’s emissions. So let’s devise strategies that are based on emissions strategies, not based on eliminating fossil fuels.”
This makes no sense if interpreted literally. The plan Graves was talking about carefully avoids endorsing policies that directly go after emissions, such as a carbon tax or pollution regulations. It avoids setting any particular targets for emission reductions. It avoids mention of most of the technologies and policies with the most potential to reduce emissions, like renewable energy and performance standards.
In other words, the 2022 plan is just like the 2020 plan—a PR deception. Nowhere does the [Republican] task force show the slightest inclination toward urgency.
The responses have been scathing. Jamal Raad, executive director at the climate advocacy group Evergreen Action, succinctly summed up the plan:
Kevin McCarthy’s so-called climate strategy appears to be little more than a how-to guide for accelerating the climate crisis. Real and effective climate solutions are at our fingertips, but McCarthy and his caucus are so beholden to their donors in the fossil fuel industry that they’d rather double down on the technologies of the past that are poisoning our communities and cooking our planet. Every election year, Republicans in Congress try to greenwash their records to mislead voters who overwhelmingly support common-sense climate action—and every time they seize power, they stand in the way of real solutions and subsidize the industries that are fueling this crisis. This stunt is a not-even-thinly veiled attempt to bullshit the press and the public. It’s time to stop falling for it.”
[…] Clearly the messaging of “climate change is real but not that bad so we should burn more fossil fuels” is slightly different from Trump’s approach of climate change is a hoax so we should burn more fossil fuels, but the policy platform has remained exactly the same.
[…] It’s not as if there aren’t some worthwhile ideas in the task force’s plan. For instance, streamlining permitting could be a good thing if done right. Which means ensuring that the protection regulations are designed to provide remain in place even as permit approvals are accelerated. But, as with so much else, Republican duplicity is at the heart of the party’s streamlining approach. Permitting takes so long in large part because Republicans have worked diligently to cut staff and budgets at the Environmental Protection Agency ever since Ronald Reagan’s head-on assault on the EPA. Want quicker permitting results? Hire enough people to do the job. What Republicans really mean by streamlining is demolishing.
For two decades, I’ve warned that when it comes to climate policy delay is denial. This year, in the wake of the most devastating report yet from the U.N. International Panel on Climate Change, Secretary-General António Guterres said, “Delay is death.” At its core, delay is what the Republican “climate plan” is really about.
tomh @406, speaking of clueless Republican candidates:
Garrett Soldano is one of the leading Republican gubernatorial candidates in Michigan. He’s also a former Western Michigan University (WMU) football star, Kalamazoo-based chiropractor, devout anti-vaxxer, and best of all … a firewalking instructor.
What he isn’t is someone who understands contraception or how conception even works. In recent footage from Heartland Signal, the anti-choice extremist was asked about banning Plan B if he were elected. He offered a completely clueless response.
“Like the after morning… If conception happens, you can’t use it,” he said while chewing gum.
“So that would be something you would try to do as governor,” the interviewer presses.
“Yeah, if conception happens, you can’t— Like, that’s just— That’s my belief. Now, if you can prove that conception didn’t happen, you can use it. Fine, it’s like contraception to me. But as soon as that joins, it’s over. That’s DNA, man,” Soldano says. [video at the link]
Of course, there’s no way to “prove conception didn’t happen.” It can’t be proven with any current tools at our disposal, and even getting proof that conception has occurred won’t come from a pregnancy test until at least 10 days have passed—and even then, it’s unreliable. Plan B is used in the first three days after intercourse, which is why it’s called “the morning-after pill.” But Soldano, 43, has a history of missteps in his understanding of science.
Last year, The Detroit News reported that Soldano had been permanently banned from YouTube for “severe or repeated violations” of the site’s guidelines after spreading misinformation about COVID-19. Many of his videos included assertions that kids can be hurt by wearing masks (untrue), and that because they have a natural immunity to COVID-19 (very untrue), they don’t need vaccines (the most untrue).
More frightening even than his nonsense around masks and vaccines are his militant “100% unapologetically pro-life” views—even in the case of rape or incest.
Michigan Dems reports that Soldano is a proponent of the outdated 1931 Michigan law that criminalizes abortion—a law that, if reinstated, would make reproductive health care providers felons. Soldano has vowed to revive the law if elected.
During a January interview on the Face the Facts podcast, Solando said that when it comes to a person’s choice to get an abortion in the case of rape, “I’m always going to fight for life.”
[…] During the interview, Soldano told a story about a “friend” who was adopted at birth. While researching his birth mother, this friend discovered that the woman who had given him up for adoption had been “gang-raped in a subway train station by five guys.” Soldano explained that, although devastated, his friend began to “appreciate and understand” what his birth mother went through and that she’d had the “courage” to deliver him. He went on to say that rape survivors are “heroic” and that “God put them in this moment.” […]
Democratic State Sen. Erika Geiss called Soldano’s comments “disgusting.” In a tweet, Geiss fired back: “We should be inspiring women who’ve been raped to press charges & we should have a system that takes them seriously. We should have a world where men don’t think they’re entitled to women’s bodies. We should have a world where ppl respect #ReproRights.” [video at the link]
Soldano, who is also the author of God’s True Law, a Parent’s Guide To Raising Successful Children, has never run for office before. His turn to politics began in 2020 with a Facebook page opposing Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “excessive quarantine” policies […]
A rightwing, anti-government extremist killed a judge:
When a retired Wisconsin judge was murdered in his home in the town of New Lisbon last Friday by a Trump supporter who shot himself but survived, police found a “hit list” on his person indicating he intended to target a number of prominent politicians. A Milwaukee radio station, WTMJ, reported that “sources close to the investigation” had identified the killer as a member of a militia group.
These reports set off a wave of concerns that the killing heralded a wave of militia-organized assassinations looming on the national landscape. Many of those concerns now appear somewhat overblown: The killer appears to have primarily targeted the judge because the latter sentenced him to six years in prison in 2005, and he doesn’t appear to have been active in any militia groups or even advocated for them. However, the more we learn about 56-year-old Douglas K. Uhde, the clearer it becomes that his act was both personal retribution and deeply political—and emblematic of a more general and widespread threat: that of radicalized antigovernment extremism.
The retired judge, 68-year-old John Roemer, was at his home when Uhde arrived, gun in hand, on Friday morning. Roemer’s son was in a second bedroom when he saw Uhde through a window approach the house with his gun, though Uhde didn’t see him; the son then climbed out the window and ran to a neighbor’s house, where he called a 911 dispatcher.
When police arrived and were at the door, they spoke with Uhde while he was still inside and tried to negotiate with him. After Uhde fell silent, they rushed inside and found him in the basement with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, but still alive; they summoned medical help, and he was transported to a local hospital, where he remains in custody.
There was no reason to summon help for Judge Roemer, who police found in the kitchen, shot in the head. He had been zip tied to a dining-room chair.
As Uhde was being transported to the hospital, police went through his clothing and found a political “hit list,” whose full contents have not been disclosed. Among the people on it, according to police sources, were Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
[…] Notably, it turned out that Roemer, a longtime Juneau County Circuit Court jurist, had sentenced Uhde to six years in prison in 2005 as the culmination of a complicated series of appeals involving Uhde’s long criminal record, which included armed burglary with a dangerous weapon, possessing a short-barreled shotgun, and carrying a concealed weapon. Uhde later escaped custody briefly and was charged with felony escape, and then was charged with eluding an officer in a vehicle in 2007.
Moreover, journalists who spoke with Uhde’s friends and neighbors uniformly reported that, while Uhde was a flaming antigovernment extremist, none of them were aware of any connection to a militia group. […] “He’s a Trump supporter. He was an obvious Republican,” the man said.
Heavy also surveyed Uhde’s social-media output and similarly found that, while he regularly posted far-right memes and directed violent rhetoric at Democratic politicians, he never promoted militias or “Patriot” movement ideology, or indicated any kind of affiliation with such ideologies. He did sometimes dabble in Patriot conspiracism, including posts about “FEMA camps” and looming martial law.
There was no shortage of extremism. “Make America great again, duct tape this lying b****’s mouth shut,” read a meme Uhde that shared in October 2016 showing Hillary Clinton with her mouth duct-taped.
He also promoted Trumpist “Stop the Steal” lies, including those with antisemitic undertones. “We the People demand George Soros to remove his voting machines from all states!” read one of the memes he posted. Others expressed fears about gun confiscation. In another Facebook post, Uhde urged people to vote for Trump because he is not controlled by government. “Trump is my president,” read another meme.
[…] while it is unlikely that Roemer’s assassination heralds a wave of organized militia-based killings—a very specific but narrow kind of threat—it is certainly reflective of a threat that arises from a much broader bandwidth of right-wing extremism: The likelihood that antigovernment conspiracism can and will unleash unpredictable violence at nearly anyone in public service, and the public as well.
We already have seen the power of Trumpism to compel its adherents into acts of violence. This is not a phenomenon that has receded since his presidency, but indeed seems to be intensifying.
It’s not necessary for an occupying power to win a battle in order to cause irredeemable damage. They don’t even have to destroy a building. After all, they have something that gives them a leverage unmatched by the people giving everything in the effort to drive them out: hostages. Thousands, even millions, of hostages.
In the Kherson region, those hostages mean that while Russia is free to unlimber all the artillery it wants at Ukrainian positions, Ukraine is extremely reluctant to point its big guns back toward the towns and villages where Russian forces are crouching. Just like any advance, retaking a position requires application of more force than holding it, and when the people on one side are more concerned about capturing territory without destroying homes and threatening civilians, that difficulty goes up by an order of magnitude.
What Russia did in capturing territory was amputation. What Ukraine is trying to do now is surgery. It’s harder. It takes longer. It’s frustrating to those who want a quick response.
Unfortunately, that delay means that Russia is also using its hostages in another way. In several areas controlled by Russia, but in Kherson in particular, those hostages are being subjected to a daily gamut of challenges meant to break their will, change the way they think, and surrender their hope.
Across the city, Russia is taking away signs, papers, and books written in Ukrainian and replacing them with ones written in Russian. Citizens are being drafted to help in this effort in an extremely effective way. Russian troops have erected checkpoints throughout the city, halting and demanding papers from those who try to pass. People have been, and are still being, shot in the street for being out without proper paperwork. How to get proper paperwork? Agree to help in remaking the city into a Russian colony.
Schools, which are preparing to reopen in the area, are being given Russian textbooks and a Russian curriculum—a curriculum that teaches that the nation of Ukraine does not exist, and that anyone who claims otherwise is a traitor. So far, only two out of 60 school administrators have agreed to go along with this, but don’t expect that opposition to last. During the first days of Russian occupation, there were many images of citizens in Kherson protesting against Russia. Such events have become much less common, not because the people there have decided Russia is not so bad, but because they’ve seen how hundreds have been hauled away, never to reappear, when they’ve said something judged to be anti-Russian or pro-Ukrainian. […]
From a distance, the idea that people pointing a gun at everyday citizens, demanding papers, and then taking them away for any sign of opposition might claim to be “getting rid of Nazis” seems ironic. From up close, it just seems terrifying.
People in Kherson are now able to get only Russian phones. Watch only Russian television. Read only Russian newspapers. Moscow has put in place procedures which will, in the next few weeks, make them all “Russian citizens.” There has been some pretense, off and on, of having a “referendum” in the city to officially align Kherson with Russia. But that’s not really necessary. The Kremlin has declared that Kherson is “Russia forever.” […]
According to the Ukrainian southern command, things in Kherson are getting steadily worse. Russia has tightened up the borders of the region, making it much more difficult to escape from the occupied area. In fact, just about the only road available leads straight out of Kherson and … into Crimea. The crackdown on what Russia now views as dissidents is getting harder. The transformation of the city into a Russian outpost is accelerating. The numbers of those being disappeared is growing.
As Ukrainian forces attempt to move toward the city, Russian forces are engaged in a predictable response—they are shelling every village and town that Ukraine captures, making the approach of the Ukrainian army something like the trumpet of doom. They’re creating the destruction Ukraine has been working to avoid.
In some areas, like the bridgehead established across the Inhulets River south of Davydiv Brid, Ukraine seems to be taking these actions into account. They’re not driving to take and hold that town, or others along the river. They’re not driving village to village over the highways. They’re establishing a broad front, moving across fields, taking advantage of the weather and terrain to advance without creating unnecessary confrontations. But that can’t continue. No matter what route Ukraine takes into the city, there is going to be destruction. Because Russia is not about to let Kherson go without causing as much pain as possible. [map at the link]
There are fights going on at so many points along the line between Ukrainian forces and Russian forces in Kherson oblast, that almost every point of intersect might be considered an area of active fighting. At the northern end of the line, Ukrainian troops are still attempting to seize Vysokopillya, which Russia has turned into a regional nexus for command and control. Taking that town could be especially important in thwarting what is rumored to be a Russian force organizing for another run toward Kryvyi Rih to the north.
In the middle of the line, that bridgehead on the east of the Inhulets continues to expand, in spite of Russian claims that it has been eliminated. Reports have put forces much farther south than indicated here, but without any details or confirmation, I’m leaving the borders where they are for the moment. Even if this force is driving hard for the bridge at Nova Kakhovka, as many tweets and Telegram messages insist, it seems impossible for them to get there without first pushing past significant Russian defenses.
At the south end of the line, Ukrainian forces are once again within 15 km of Kherson. But just ahead of them are two sets of Russian defensive lines. One just south of Kyselivka and another immediately outside the city. As in the force south of Davydiv Brid, there have been confusing reports, including some that suggest Ukrainian forces are in the immediate suburbs of Kherson. But there seems no evidence to support this claim. For now. […]
SEVERODONETSK
At this point, Severodonetsk might as well be it’s own “front” (though if Russian forces manage to get close to Lysychansk from another direction, that could change). [tweet and map at the link]
[…] As far as what’s going on in the city … fighting continues. There have been claims from Russia and from the Luhansk nationalists that LNR forces killed Ukrainian soldiers in the industrial zone overnight. Didn’t happen. There have been claims that either Russia or Ukraine has “begun to withdraw.” Hasn’t happened. Russia still seems determined to capture the city by the arbitrary deadline of June 10. Ukraine still seems determined to fight it out. But there is little doubt both sides, and the civilians trapped in the battered city, are taking tremendous losses. Ukraine still might decide to withdraw, and has the opportunity to move across the river if things get desperate.
On Wednesday, President Volodomyr Zelenskyy praised the “heroic defense” of the city, but also admitted that Russian forces outnumber Ukrainian forces in the city and stated that withdrawal is an option.
KHARKIV
In spite of continued gains by Ukrainian forces in the area, Russian troops on Tuesday and Wednesday engaged in the one thing they are still capable of in the Kharkiv area—lobbying artillery and missiles into the city to cause pain and misery for civilians. These attacks don’t even have the appearance of a military objective. They’re just trying to hurt people. And so long as Russia holds on to Lyptsi, less than 20km from the city, they can do this easily and cheaply. So they are. [map at the link]
Not much has really changed hands in the area since Ukraine took Vesele and outlying villages over the weekend. Russia reports on Sunday had it fully capturing Ternova, but the latest word is that Russia is “continuing to expel the enemy” from Ternova. Which translates to: Ukraine has Ternova.
Maybe the most interesting thing in Russian reports is that they mention fighting on the east bank of the Siverskyi Donets River at Rubizhne. That seems to confirm Ukraine’s continued presence on the east bank, and at a spot well to the north of anything previously known. Russia is also bragging about how they have mined every possible way into Rubizhne, something that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense was complaining about earlier in the week. [map at the link]
The latest satellite images show that the former bridge at Rubizhne is still unrepaired, but there has been too much cloud cover in the area over the last two weeks to determine if Ukraine has erected a pontoon bridge in the area. In any case, artillery fire near the bridge landing on both sides of the river continues to be heavy. On Tuesday, there was also a burst of artillery fire well over to the east, which could signal Ukrainian forces that had been near Buhaivka making a move.
IZYUM
The big news at Izyum is not good. Russia has apparently taken Svyatohirske, one of the last Ukrainian-held towns on the north bank of the river east of Izyum. […] at the same time, Russia may have managed to get forces across the river to the village of Tetyanivka. [map at the link]
Images late on Monday, as Ukrainian forces were still fighting in Svyatohirske, showed that the single bridge leading across the river at that point was heavily damaged, but not actually down. It’s possible that bridge isn’t capable of allowing heavy equipment across, but is still sturdy enough for infantry and lighter transports. Descriptions of the force reportedly in Tetyanivka would support that idea.
Ukraine has been counting on river crossing to give them a chance to inflict more disasters on Russia. They not only have to get across almost 100m of water, but climb steep banks to get away from the bridgehead, while Ukraine looks down from the heights. […]
We doubt anybody was particularly surprised Fox News has chosen to be the only network in existence not to show the January 6 hearings, which begin in primetime this Thursday. […] That’s Tucker’s time, to do auditions for Russian state TV and say Great Replacement theories. They’ve decided to put it on Fox Business instead, the thing people aren’t watching when they’re watching Tucker […].
Oh yes, and Tucker spends a lot of time defending the January 6 terrorists. We almost forgot. That’s what comes on when Thursday’s primetime coverage of the hearings starts.
Everybody else is showing it, pretty much, the news networks and the main big networks like NBC, ABC, and CBS. Because when the hearings about how the former president ordered an attack on the United States come on, and the congressional committee doing the investigation is getting ready to provide damning evidence of how deep and how seditious the conspiracy to plan that attack really was, you put it on the TV.
The Wrap explains that Fox News will also, at 11 p.m. Eastern, pre-empt “Gutfeld!” so it can air a two-hour reaction special, to the thing the network just refused to air. This, we assume, is so pundits can scream “Pshaw!” and “It was rigged!” and “WHAT ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN!”
Fox News scoffing lady Laura Ingraham said the quiet part loud last night, or however you want to describe what she did, explaining why exactly Fox News would not be showing the hearings on the terrorism Donald Trump ordered and that Tucker Carlson regularly lies about.
Like DURRRRRRRRR, she essentially said, affecting that eye-rolling “I used to date Dinesh D’Souza on purpose, you just hate me ’cause you ain’t me” attitude she always does, like she’s better than you. Fox News viewers don’t want to watch this thing we’ve brainwashed them into believing all kinds of lies about. We’ve trained them that well.
Those weren’t her exact words, obviously: [video at the link]
INGRAHAM: They’re all upset that Fox isn’t covering it live. We actually do something called, you know, cater to our audience, our audience knows what this is …
If you were wanting a Fox News host to mount a rousing defense of how they DO TOO do responsible journalism, showing the American people what they need to know instead of just doing whatever will activate the hate-pleasure sensors in their viewers’ brains over and over and over, then you are out of luck. Laura Ingraham did not do that last night, and she will not do it tonight, because Fox News only exists to mash its viewers’ […] hate buttons.
And if that involves lying to their viewers, night after night after night after night, well then they’re just “catering” to their audience.
It was weird how she kind of stopped herself before settling on the word “cater.” Wonder what other verbs came to mind before she settled on that one. […]
[…] Here’s what the Wisconsin Republican told CNN:
“My main point on any kind of gun control is, let’s enforce the laws that we have. And let’s do it within a justice system that applies the laws equally. Maybe we should start with what Hunter Biden did in terms of his own background checks.”
Soon after, a Washington Post reporter asked Johnson about waiting periods for gun sales to buyers under the age of 21. “Before we pass anything new,” the GOP senator replied, “let’s enforce the laws we already have. Let’s start with Hunter Biden.”
[…] it’s worth noting for context that the Wisconsin Republican is running for re-election this year in a state President Joe Biden narrowly won two years ago. With this in mind, in theory, one might assume that Johnson would take this opportunity to present himself to voters as a responsible and mature mainstream policymaker interested in solving problems that matter to the public.
In practice, however, the incumbent senator appears far more interested in positioning himself as a far-right ideologue and conspiracy theorist. […]
In Buffalo, Republican congressional hopeful Carl Paladino apparently promoted a crackpot conspiracy theory on Facebook, sharing a post which claimed recent mass shootings were false flag operations. Paladino has already been endorsed by House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, who represents a nearby district in upstate New York.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Border Patrol agents are generally shielded from lawsuits that allege the use of excessive force, the latest in a series of decisions narrowing the legal avenue for alleged victims of abuse by federal officers.
The 6-3 ruling, penned by Justice Clarence Thomas, broke along ideological lines, with the court’s conservatives comprising a majority over the dissent of the court’s three liberals.
The case concerned whether a lawsuit should be allowed to move forward against a Border Patrol agent accused of using excessive force during his search of an inn located just south of the U.S.-Canada border.
[…] The court’s three liberals dissented from the majority’s rejection of Boule’s Fourth Amendment claim and accused the conservatives of distorting precedent.
“If the legal standard the Court articulates to reject Boule’s Fourth Amendment claim sounds unfamiliar, that is because it is,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote. “Just five years after circumscribing the standard for allowing Bivens claims to proceed, a restless and newly constituted Court sees fit to refashion the standard anew to foreclose remedies in yet more cases. The measures the Court takes to ensure Boule’s claim is dismissed are inconsistent with governing precedent.”
Video at the link. Lieu cited the many times GOP lawmakers have gone after LGBTQ people on the one hand, and then called themselves Christians on the other.
[…] Today, in testimony before Congress, a local Uvalde pediatrician, himself a graduate of Robb Elementary, offered graphic testimony. He gave his audience a clear picture of what photographs [if there were any photographs] would show.
Here is Dr. Roy Guerrero’s description of what he saw at the hospital after the Uvalde school shootings:
“I had heard from some of the nurses there were two dead children who had been moved to the surgical area of the hospital. As I made my way there I prayed that I wouldn’t find her.
I didn’t find Alaina but I did find something no prayer will ever relieve. Two children whose bodies had been pulverized by bullets fired at them decapitated, whose flesh had been ripped apart, that the only clue of their identities was the blood-spattered cartoon clothes clinging to them, clinging for life and finding none.”
The conservative reflexive position on school massacres – under the rubric of “it’s too soon” – is to claim that liberals are “politicizing” tragedy. And that the parents and families of the dead children should be allowed time to mourn. However, not doing anything is politicizing school shootings by taking the gun lobby’s position.
Further, if you listen to the parents of many children who have been shot dead, their only comfort is their belief their child’s death would not be in vain if it leads to actions that would reduce the number of future dead children. […]
[…] In a “whip notice” sent to rank-and-file members on Tuesday afternoon, House GOP leadership urged a “no” vote on all eight bills, referring to the seven-bill package as the “Unconstitutional Gun Restrictions Act.” They wrote that House Democrats had “thrown together this reactionary package comprised of legislation that egregiously violates law-abiding citizens’ 2nd Amendment rights and hinders Americans’ ability to defend and protect themselves and their families.”
It is complete bullshit. In the Heller v. DC decision, in which the Supreme Court’s conservative majority declared that the second amendment guaranteed the right to have a gun, Justice Scalia was clear that 2A is not unlimited – and restrictions on the sale and carrying of guns were constitutional.
But the GOP is not scared to lie while children die.
[…] The annoying, far-right duo that is Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) both argued from the House floor that if Congress was serious about curbing school shootings, they’d present legislation to eradicate laws that mark schools as gun-free zones. […]
MSNBC has a two-hour special about January 6th called “An American Coup” on tonight, hosted by Chris Hayes. Mo Brooks, who refuses to cooperate with the committee, is going to be on in a minute.
It almost seems to me like some folks over inthe States won’t be happy until they do get a second Civil War underway. Let’s hope this time the racist Slaver states don’t get off so lightly or allowed to retain their delusions that the side they were fighting for was in any way good or justified.
will be launching rockets soon with permission from and consultation with the Indigenous Gumatj.
blfsays
Nasa/JPL’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity still hasn’t flown again since the low-power-induced reboot some weeks ago. Mars is entering winter, colder with more dust in the atmosphere, and Ingenuity cannot recharge its batteries sufficiently to keep the heaters going throughout the night. Hence, they are shut off, subjecting the components to temperatures they were never designed to handle, so that there is sufficient power for further flights. One of the components now failed, albeit not one used in-flight, but nonetheless critical to pre-takeoff measurements. Fortunately, similar components provide some redundancy, and anticipating the problem, there has been a software patch “waiting in the wings” for some time now, which is now being uploaded to the helicopter.
The failed component is the inclinometer, which provides gravity data prior to flight, allowing for the helicopter to stablise itself on takeoff (rise up vertically rather than at an angle should the landing field not be essentially flat). The inclinometer uses accelerometers, and there are additional accelerometers (plus other sensors) in the inertial measurement unit, which the patch will substitute for those in the failed inclinometer. After the patch is download, further on-Martian-ground tests are necessary before the next attempt at flight.
Some snippets from the Meduza live blog (in reverse chronological order, i.e., most recent first):
💱Here today, yuan tomorrow
On June 7, Russia’s dominant lender Sberbank suspended transactions by entrepreneurs under foreign trade agreements in Chinese yuan. Spokespeople told the state news agency RIA Novosti that the bank is working to restore payments in yuan, but they advised customers to work through “partners and other authorized banks” in the meantime. Following the invasion of Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, and numerous countries targeted Sberbank in economic sanctions against Russia. In late May, the EU even removed the bank from the SWIFT international banking system, effectively cutting it off from global financial networks.
In other words (as I read the above snippet), Russian bank Sberbank shot itself in the foot by refusing Big China’s yaun, and having now been (finally!) largely cutoff from most(? “Western”?) global finance, is backtracking. (Both the yaun and Russia’s ruble are generally considered to be non-convertible currencies; i.e., broadly speaking, the issuer impose restrictions on conversions to- or from-foreign currencies, and/or by foreigners or foreign-banks, etc.)
🕵️Lobbying for a stronger SORM
Russia’s Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media Ministry has proposed reforms that would fine telecoms operators a percentage of their gross income for failing to install the hardware required to operate the System for Operative Investigative Activities (SORM) — wiretapping equipment that allows law enforcement officials to monitor telephone conversations, text messages, and Internet traffic. The ministry also wants to require the Federal Protective Service’s approval before issuing new telecoms operating licenses (making SORM installation necessary to receive a licenses). Additionally, the fee for obtaining one of these licenses would jump 133 times to 1 million rubles (almost $17,000), ostensibly to lock out dubious services.
Whilst not a telcom operator (under any sensible definition of the term), that is probably also an attack on VPN service providers: One of the advantages of using a (true-)VPN is neither the ISP (or, broadly, telcom operator) or intelligence services have any idea who you are connecting-with (again, broadly speaking, remnants / traces on your disc, etc., can provide powerful clews — e.g., whilst I use a VPN to connect to FtB, etc., it wouldn’t be too hard to work out who I, “blf”, am, from various sources, some public). However, with more care than I exercise, it can be very Very difficult.
📉Huawei’s disappearance
Russian retailers that specialize in selling products from Huawei are shutting down across the country, sources told the news agencies RBC and RIA Novosti. Four of 19 vendors have already closed. The closures are reportedly the result of supply shortages and declining demand for smartphones in Russia. The manufacturer of 40 percent of all smartphones imported into Russia in 2020, Huawei has since lost its market share in the country, slipping to just 3 percent of imported smartphones by 2021.
⚖️He’s got hurt feelings
Dmitry Kachan, the head of a law firm based in Russia’s Primorsky Krai, is suing the Swedish clothing company H&M for allegedly discriminating against Russian customers on nationality grounds. He seeks 700,000 rubles (almost $12,000) in emotional damages because H&M’s website currently will not ship products listed as “in stock” to locations inside Russia. In early March, in response to the invasion of Ukraine, H&M suspended operations in Russia and closed its 155 stores nationwide, joining roughly 1,000 other foreign companies in a boycott of Russia.
I don’t know if H&M is currently shipping to Ukraine — but assuming they are, then one solution to Mr Kucklehead’s problem is to place an order with the invaders. They’ll happily loot it all, especially if you can repatriate them from Ukraine along with those ill-gotten goods.
👮Moscow’s patriot police
Sergey Mironov, the head of the nominal opposition party Just Russia — For Truth, complained in a Telegram post on Wednesday that Moscow city inspectors ordered him to remove a pro-invasion banner displayed in his office, citing numerous appeals from citizens. Mironov questioned the existence of these appeals, accusing city officials of preventing “patriotic” displays in the capital that mention “the war in which the country’s fate is being decided.”
I read the above as Mr Mironov’s allegedly pro-invasion poster said or hinted-at “unprovoked war / invasion” rather than a special military operation to denazify.
🤝The Russians are coming (to the “DNR”)
Denis Pushilin, the head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, fired his government on Wednesday and replaced the cabinet with multiple ex-Russian state officials […]. Pushilin said the personnel changes are needed “to strengthen integration processes.” For months, rumors have circulated that the Kremlin plans to stage referendums in occupied regions of Ukraine as a prelude to annexation.
☭Return of the Young Pioneers
On Tuesday, Russia’s State Duma will consider a bill creating a new children and youth program called Recess[Reactionary Regression]. The bill was introduced on the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Soviet Young Pioneers. President Vladimir Putin himself will be in charge of the new program.
🚨Wanted in Russia
Journalist Andrey Soldatov, an expert on Russia’s secret services, said on June 6 that he found his name on the Russian Interior Ministry’s wanted list. Soldatov also learned that all of his bank accounts in Russia had been frozen. The charges against Soldatov remain unclear, as the Interior Ministry’s wanted persons registry says only that he is wanted for violating an article of the Criminal Code.
In the eurozone area, the annual inflation rate was ranked at approximately 7.5 percent.
Meanwhile, Eurostat estimates that France’s inflation is at about 5.4 percent — lower than the eurozone average, and considerably below the countries such as Estonia (19 percent), the Netherlands (11.2 percent), Spain (8 percent), and Germany (7.8 percent).
Meanwhile in the UK inflation stands at 9 percent, and in the US at 8.3 percent.
I had my first knowingly-observed encounter with recent inflation on this week’s outdoors market. As I’ve mentioned previously, I usually get my (non-penguin) eggs from a particular vendor, and have done so for years. The eggs I usually buy are XXL organic, which an Ostrich would be proud to lay, whose shell is perhaps St Javelin-proof, and at least in the spring, contains so many yolks you need an electron microscope to find any trace of egg whites. (One some of that is exaggerated.) For years and years and years, and probably a few more years, they cost 3,50€ per half-dozen (not “inexpensive” by local standards, but given the quality, worthwhile). About the beginning of this year, they started costing 3,60€ per six. This week? 3,80€, a rise of 0,30€ over about six months, or (quick calculation) almost 8%. The vendor was very apologetic.
The above-snippeted article claims an important reason France’s official inflation rate is comparatively low is most of the electricity is produced by nuclear power, not fossil fuels (read: Russian gas, etc.). My first though was “semi-bullshite, the Uranium probably comes from Russia, so the knock-on effect is just delayed”, but this is (apparently) incorrect on at least two points: Most of France’s Uranium apparently comes from Africa (especially Niger); and Kazakhstan (which is not Russia but is sometimes confused with Russia) is apparently the world’s main producer of Uranium. Nonetheless, in parts of the EU, Russian Uranium is important Russia’s uranium remains off the European sanctions radar (paywalled), May 2022, a snippet:
The set of 14 [Russian-design] VVER-440 reactors still operating in the EU (in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Finland) have no alternative: Rosatom is the only company in the world to offer compatible uranium. “But these are countries that count strategically much less than those that are dependent on Russian gas,” says Tomas Vlcek, a professor of international relations specializing in nuclear energy at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, explaining the difference in treatment between gas and uranium. […]
Yes, I’m a broken record: From a military standpoint, the battle for Severodonetsk makes no military sense. [map at the link]
Isolated and exposed in a deep salient, on the wrong side of a river, Severodonetsk shouldn’t be worth a single Ukrainian life. It has zero value to Ukraine’s ultimate war aims, particularly since next-door Lysychansk is protected not just by the river, but by altitude, overlooking the surrounding areas.
Russia’s desperate designs on the city are similarly ill-advised. Reportedly half of its entire army in all of Ukraine has been deployed in the Severodonetsk area. Rather than use those troops around its Izyum and Popasna salients to try and encircle Ukrainian defenders in this pocket, Russia decided to assault the heavily fortified city with Ukrainian supply lines intact. This is not Mariupol, which held out for two and a half months under complete siege. Ukraine has options.
Russia should’ve kept the city’s defenders pinned down while the bulk of its forces worked on that encirclement. But its motivations here aren’t military. Vladimir Putin is reportedly demanding the city fall by June 10 so that he can declare the whole of Luhansk Oblast (half of the Donbas region) conquered. It’s a political-propaganda assault, not a strategic one. Both sides are spilling a lot of blood over a piece of land with little actual military significance.
Yet Ukraine seems to have made lemonade out of lemons, and the battle’s current trajectory suggests that there was a method to Ukraine’s madness.
On the first day of its assault, Russia declared control of 80% of the city as Russian sources gloated over a mass Ukrainian retreat. Chechen leader/puppet Ramzan Kadyrov took to TikTok to declare the entire city liberated. From all indications, it appeared Ukraine was doing the sensible thing—a fighting retreat to Lysychansk, behind its river, to its higher ground.
Then a funny thing happened. Reports claimed Ukraine had laid a trap, lulled Russia into the city’s center under a false sense of security, then pounced. There were claims that Ukraine had recaptured 50-70% of the city. Then, a day later, Russian forces were seemingly back in near-full control, with Ukrainian forces hunkered down in the large Azot chemical plant on the edge of town. After claiming Ukrainian control over half the city on June 5, Ukrainian Luhansk governor Sergei Gaidai said on June 6 that “[t]he situation in Severodonetsk has worsened for us. We continue to control the city’s industrial zone.”
Was that Ukrainian counter-offensive just a rumor? Fictional propaganda? A consensus began emerging that it was all likely a mirage. But new evidence from both Russian and Ukrainian sources paint a more complex picture, one in which control of the city is fluid and ever-changing, and Gaidai further explained in an interview what was happening:
The situation in Severodonetsk is very difficult. For the Russians, this (the capture of the city – ed. ) is fundamental, because they have already lied that they completely control it, but in fact there are battles in the city. Therefore, they throw all their reserves there and fire with everything they have.
A couple of days ago, the special forces really came in and cleared almost half of the city. When the Russians realized this, they simply began to level it with airstrikes and artillery. It makes no sense to sit in some high-rise building and wait until everything is completely destroyed.
Therefore, ours now again control only the outskirts of the city. But the fighting is still going on, Severodonetsk is being defended by us, it is impossible to say that the Russians completely control the city. And in the near future, I hope that this will not happen.
Ukrainian special forces reportedly operate at night, clear blind Russians from positions, then retreat when Russia responds with its typical smash-everything artillery barrage. With nothing but rubble left standing, Ukraine is no longer restricted by its desire to protect urban infrastructure. Thus, Ukraine can now rain its own artillery and mortar fire from Lysychansk’s high ground anytime Russian forces expose themselves amidst the rubble. [Tweet and photos at the link]
The Institute for the Study of War concludes that “Ukrainian forces are continuing to conduct a flexible defense of Severodonetsk and are likely focusing on inflicting high casualties on Russian personnel rather than seeking to hold the entire city.” That’s a clever way to put it. Holding the city is of little military value … unless Russia mangles its assault to the point that allows Ukraine to inflict a disproportionate amount of damage to the Russian invaders.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Aleksey Arestovych confirms that Ukraine is less interested in holding the city itself, than in using it as fly paper to kill as many Russians as possible. [Tweet from Dmitri at the link]
The key here, to be clear is “Ukraine also retreated.” The ground isn’t important. What matters is the damage inflicted.
Meanwhile, Ukraine appears to be getting its western longer-range artillery systems and counter-battery radar into Lysychansk, as NASA FIRMS imagery seems to suggest: some interesting fire patterns. [Image at the link]
Those circled fires are about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Lysychansk’s bluffs, and what else would Ukraine be hitting in some fields behind the front lines? In fact, the cluster of fires at the top right are on a bluff. I’d bet those were artillery positions.
As for the fires in Severodonetsk itself? As Arestovych says, the city is no longer an infantry battle. It’s yet another artillery duel […]. You have to think Ukraine is okay with that, since it is Russia under real pressure to actually occupy and clear the city.
Meanwhile, the open supply lines into Severodonetsk means Ukraine can rotate troops and supplies in and out of the city. Here is one unit rotating out:
Talked to a foreign fighter currently deployed to Severodonetsk. He’s confident that Ukrainian forces there will hold, but his unit is rotating out after heavy losses – 3 killed, 6 wounded from his unit of 24 in just 24 hours of fighting
While others rotate in:
Large group of Georgian fighters have arrived in the Severodonetsk axis to support Ukrainian forces.
As seen many times, Georgian and Azerbaijani fighters are actively joining Ukrainian ranks against Russia.
At some point, Ukraine will have to pull out of Severodonetsk. The alternative would be the full collapse of the Russian army, and it doesn’t seem we’re quite there yet. And Ukraine doesn’t need boots inside Severodonetsk to shell Russian positions from Lysychansk. But as long as the city resists, Ukraine locks up an inordinate amount of Russia’s combat power in this corner of the map, far from other key fronts. And in places like Kherson and Kharkiv, it’s thinning out Russian forces to the point that makes new Ukrainian territorial gains possible.
It never fails. Start any online conversation about the issue of gun violence, and it won’t take five minutes before someone rushes in to ask, “What about Chicago?” That’s because right-wing media has long been selling the idea that America’s cities are hellscapes, overrun with violent drug gangs, gunning people down by the score. That is, those cities that were not burned to the ground by violent Black Lives Matter and Antifa mobs, which is also a thing that right-wing media pushes and right-wing social media constantly repeats. Chicago in particular is the go-to case for anyone who is in a hurry to tell you that “gun control doesn’t work.”
Gun violence is so often associated with cities that the term “urban gun violence” is often passed off as the only kind there is. But the truth is that cities are much safer than rural areas when it comes to gun violence, and the states pro-gun fanatics like to finger are actually much safer than the rural states where guns are more common.
It’s not the cities that are hotspots for either gun violence in general, or for mass shootings. Looking at the school shootings that have happened since Columbine:
Parkland, Florida, has a population of 33,000.
Uvalde, Texas: 16,122.
Newtown, Connecticut: 27,173.
Blacksburg, Virginia—scene of the nation’s largest school shooting—is a relative goliath at 44,395.
Littleton, Colorado, home to Columbine, was about 33,000.
Gun violence isn’t just killing kids in large numbers. It’s killing them specifically in the kinds of rural areas where firearm mortality is worst.
The firearm mortality in New York state is 5.3 people per 100,000. Even that number is very high compared to nations around the world. Still, it’s lower than the 10.8 rate in Illinois. So that claim about Chicago is … completely wrong. Not when states like Louisiana and Mississippi have death rates from guns over 25. Just to hammer that home, the rate of firearm mortality in these states is five times that in New York and over twice that of Illinois. No wonder these are considered “deep red states.”
Why would that be? Because the rate of gun ownership in New York is 20%, while in both Louisiana and Mississippi, the number is greater than 50%. Illinois is in the middle with 28%.
More guns, more deaths by gun.
Yes, it’s easy to point at cities like Chicago and make a weak argument about gun control laws not working, but the fact is that Chicago is directly adjacent to Indiana. What’s in those little blocks just across the line? Gun shops. Lots of them. Proving nothing more than if you make it dead simple to get deadly weapons people will still end up … dead. New York, where state law is more comprehensive and neighboring states are less willing to make a quick profit from selling murder machines to out-of-state residents, has fewer guns and many fewer deaths.
But even in Illinois, Chicago is not the hotspot for gun deaths. The numbers out of Chicago are waved around by pro-gun forces because: 1) That false perception that it has some very tough restrictions, and 2) the pervasive idea that it’s a hotbed of gang violence (an idea reinforced not just by right-wing media but by the genuinely pervasive cop TV that fills broadcast airwaves). But the truth is the only thing that makes Chicago seem to stand out is that it’s large. With 9.5 million people in the Chicago metropolitan area, it contains by far the greatest bulk of Illinois’ 12.7 million population.
Even so, notorious Cook County has a rate of 13 deaths per 100,000—that’s higher than the state average, but a lot less than smaller counties like Vermillion, which tops 15. Or the downstate county of St. Clair that touches 20. Tiny Massic county, with a total population of 14,041 and a statue of Superman in its capital city of Metropolis, has a rate of firearm mortality that is well above that of Chicago.
As Bloomberg reports, the situation with Chicago and the rest of Illinois is far from unique. In fact, when it comes to a measure of death from “external causes” (a measure that excludes factors such as accidental self-poisoning and health risks associated with weight), “the more urban your surroundings, the less danger you face.” In some cities, the surrounding ring of suburban counties was less dangerous than the core urban county. However, the overall risk of death from external causes is “three times higher in rural and small-town America than in the country’s largest city.”
[…] The kind of gun violence most likely to affect people in rural and urban areas is different. For people in urban areas, homicide is the biggest threat, with a rate of just under 6 per 100,000. That is genuinely higher than the rate of homicides in rural areas. For rural areas, it’s suicide that is the much larger threat, averaging 11 per 100,000 people.
There’s one more reason cities are so tied to gun violence in the mind of much of the public: Racism. There’s a reason that “urban” slips into the conversation so often when Republicans are talking about gun violence. It not only reassures their rural base that they have nothing to worry about, but also points a finger at the constantly referenced “Black on Black” crime. And, of course, some Republicans are not so subtle.
As Rebekah Sager reported on Monday, Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters admitted that there was a problem with gun violence in America, but he knew exactly where to find it. “It’s people in Chicago and St. Louis shooting each other,” said Masters, “very often, Black people, frankly.”
Masters was right about one thing: At 23.9 per 100,000, Missouri has one of the highest rates of gun violence in the nation. However, his explanation falls a bit short when looking at the state with the third-highest rate of firearm mortality overall: Wyoming. Wyoming has a rate of 25.9 gun deaths per 100,000. it also has a population that is 92% white. A resident of Caspar, Wyoming, is more likely to die from gun violence than a resident of Chicago. In fact, so is a resident of Phoenix, Arizona. Which seems like something that Masters should know.
Republicans don’t just want to “other” the people of cities, they want to other the victims of gun violence, too. That way they can protect what matters most to them … gun money.
[…] a politicization of the [coronavirus] vaccine saw Republicans—overwhelmingly white Republicans—rejecting the vaccine due to what seemed like an unending list of ridiculous conspiracy theories.
While Black neighborhoods were desperately asking to be allocated more vaccines, Republicans and right-wing media were actively working to undermine the vaccine. As early as the first week of March, vaccination sites set up in Republican-heavy areas were seeing vaccine thrown into the trash after only a tiny percentage of the population turned up to be vaccinated. Even just a few weeks into the vaccine rollout, a direct correlation could be drawn between areas of low vaccination rates and those that voted for Trump. Some Republican states went so far as to pay people to refuse the vaccine.
And now no one should be able to say that they didn’t see this New York Times article coming: “Over the past year, the COVID-19 death rate for white Americans has been 14% higher than the rate for Black Americans and 72% higher than the Latino rate, according to the latest C.D.C. data.”
[…] I argued on several occasions that COVID-19 could not be allowed to become endemic. It turns out that it certainly can … so long as America is willing to accept hundreds of deaths each day and a legacy of lasting health effects that will disrupt life over decades. […]
Right now, in spite of an abundance of at-home testing, almost none of which gets reported to any health officials, the U.S. is averaging over 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 a day. New hospital admissions are up to over 4,000 cases a day. To absolutely no one’s surprise, Florida continues to top the charts, with over 11,000 cases on Wednesday. U.S. deaths from COVID-19 are currently running around 300 a day, That’s not the unbelievable 4,000 a day that we hit in early 2021. But it’s more than the number of Americans killed by guns or in highway accidents combined. […] white Americans have moved to the top of the death charts.
That wasn’t true early on. Black communities had much higher death rates early on, in the pre-vaccine days, for the reasons that Black communities always have higher death rates: poor health care availability and quality. The same was true of immigrant communities in many areas, and in Native American nations. The Navajo Nation in particular was ravaged by COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic. When treatment for COVID-19 pre-vaccine meant availability of high-quality care and equipment such as ventilators, the advantage that the white community had was simply huge.
As vaccines became available, the gap between these communities closed. Community organizers in Black neighborhoods worked tirelessly to obtain more vaccine and to make it available to people who normally had little access to healthcare. The same thing happened in the Navajo Nation, where dedicated volunteers and community leaders brought their community to one of the highest vaccination levels in the U.S.
But even as these communities were working harder and harder to get vaccines to everyone, Republican leaders and right-wing media were working harder and harder to stop vaccines from becoming universal.
Only about 60 percent of Republican adults are vaccinated, compared with about 75 percent of independents and more than 90 percent of Democrat […] And Republicans are both disproportionately white and older. […]
To reach the point where the white death rate from COVID-19 is higher than that in the Black and Latino communities, the vaccination rate among white Americans had to be so poor that it more than overcame the quality of care available to those communities. Republicans are so dedicated to the idea of using the vaccine as a means of showing their distrust of government that they literally threw away all the advantages that were inherent in the health care system.
White Republicans have been worrying about some kind of conspiracy to replace them with Black people or immigrants. It turns out there is such a conspiracy. And white Republicans are running it.
So far in 2022, national gas prices have averaged $3.77 for the year. That number is almost certain to go up; current prices are hovering around $4.70. Efforts to restrict Russia’s access to the global oil market are creating a shortfall that currently has oil trading at around $120 per barrel. But no matter how many times somber newsreaders talk about these record highs, the truth is, we’ve been here before—and not that long ago.
There have been several points in the past where the price of gas was well above the equivalent of $4 in current cash. That includes 2008, when the average over the whole year was $4.32, and 2012, when it was $4.47. That’s not a one-week high—in both years, inflation-adjusted prices were above the current level for brief periods—that’s an average across the whole year.
The reason for those peaks is pretty much the same every time: mismatch between supply and demand, with a healthy side order of oil investor speculation. Two of the biggest peaks in the past, including that one in 2012, were caused by OPEC creating a deliberate shortage to drive up prices. Taking Russia out of the system is generating a similar rise, because oil is—as it has always been—a global commodity. A shortage anywhere in the world increases prices everywhere in the world.
No one should be surprised. And if you need someone to blame, blame Vladimir Putin … and Donald Trump. Because when it comes to U.S. production, Trump presided over the biggest oil crash in history.
Here’s a graphic you’re unlikely to have seen on the news when the Very Serious People are making vague statements about how President Biden’s policies have affected oil prices. [Trump Oil Crash chart is available at the link]
The greatest single drop in U.S. oil production in history happened under Donald Trump. This came even as Trump was chopping away environmental regulations and delaying higher requirements for automobile mileage. It happened in spite of Trump authorizing pipelines and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and opening up national parks to exploitation. It happened because Trump so mismanaged the economy under the pandemic that not even his favorite industry could avoid taking a nose dive.
Trump’s handling of the economy was so chaotic that it created a disruption in oil production from which the industry has still not recovered. That’s something that both Republicans and the media pretend never happened.
Since Trump left office, U.S. production has gone up, not down. The fact that prices were increasing before Russia’s invasion is explained by two simple facts: 1) Speculators were already doing what they do—speculating—by guessing that Russia was going to invade, and 2) Joe Biden’s economic policies were driving up growth in the U.S. generating a rising demand for oil.
[…] as soon as he reached office, Trump began the process of rolling back fuel efficiency requirements. […]
Which helps to explain sad tales like this “empty wallets, empty tanks” story in The Washington Post. The article may not be the most ridiculous thing ever published in the Post, but it’s up there. […]
The article proceeds with statements like this: “Filling up a tank of gas, depending on the vehicle, can cost more than $100, which is the equivalent of 14 hours of after-tax income for certain low-wage workers.” Yes, it’s certainly possible to do that. At $4.70, a $100 fill-up buys 21 gallons of gas. Cars.com lists eight vehicles with gas tanks above that size, all of which are SUVs or pickups. The list starts with an Audi Q7 with a 22.5-gallon tank and ends with a Ford Super Duty pickup with a whopping 48-gallon tank. Amazing what those low-wage workers are driving these days. […]
Then there is this terrible plea for help.
Back in South Texas, Alaniz said fuel prices have forced changes in his commute and college plans. He used to make the roughly 60-mile drive from his family’s ranch near Alice to Corpus Christi, where he attends college, in his Chevy Silverado 2500, a large pickup that he estimates squeaks out 14 mpg on the highway.
Even with a part-time job, the charges have become unbearable. “You’re talking about $60 gives me half a tank,” he said.
So he’s trading in his Chevy for a smaller truck that gets better mileage.
A Silverado 2500 is a “super duty” truck that supposedly starts around $40,000, but with actual dealer prices of upward of $87,000. It’s twice as expensive as a plain vanilla Silverado. College student Alaniz is right in that it averages around 14 mpg, making it one of the least efficient vehicles available to consumers.
This guy isn’t running a construction company or towing cattle to the feedlot. He’s a college kid with a “part-time job.” Who happens to be driving a massively expensive, hugely inefficient truck to commute to classes. […]
Highlighting this as an example of how gas prices are affecting America is ludicrous. And it falls right in line with a whole series of silly examples from the Post and other outlets designed to hype the impact of inflation into a disaster that’s somehow the Worst Thing Ever.
There are hundreds of vehicles available that get much better gas mileage and cost much less. The top five hybrid automobiles all average over 50 mpg and all start well under $30,000. […]
Vladimir Putin is to blame for the gas prices. So is Donald Trump. So is every Republican and every auto executive who, over the years, fought against improvements to fuel efficiency standards, assuring that American roads are filled with massive, inefficient vehicles. All of them contributed to either pushing down the supply or raising the demand for oil, which is why current costs are where they are. […]
Quite a banner week for Republican New York House hopeful Carl Paladino.
On Thursday, MediaMatters unearthed a local radio interview Paladino gave on Feb. 13 last year in which he cited Nazi ruler Adolf Hitler as a model for a leader who gets the people jazzed about taking action.
The radio host, Peter Hunt, had asked Paladino how to “rouse the population” and “get people thinking about the possibility of change.”
“I was thinking the other day about somebody [who] had mentioned on the radio Adolf Hitler and how he aroused the crowds,” the Republican replied. “And he would get up there screaming these epithets and these people were just — they were hypnotized by him.”
“I guess that’s the kind of leader we need today,” he continued. “We need somebody inspirational. We need somebody that is a doer, has been there and done it, so that it’s not a strange new world to him.”
Paladino’s kudos to Hitler resurfaced about 48 hours after it was discovered that the House candidate — who’s been endorsed by House Republican Conference chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) — had posted a conspiracy theory claiming that the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings were false flags on his Facebook page on June 1.
Paladino initially insisted on Wednesday that he hadn’t posted the screed, didn’t know how it ended up on his page and that he didn’t even know how to use Facebook.
But when it was also discovered that Paladino had not only posted the tirade on Facebook but had also emailed it out, the Republican quickly backpedaled and admitted that he had, in fact, posted the rant.
“I didn’t write it but did carelessly republish it without clearly reading it,” he told Spectrum News 1. […]
Vladimir Putin suggested on Thursday that it’s time for Russia to stay in the business of territorial expansion — drawing direct allusion to long wars with the West to that end.
It comes as the Russian army has spent weeks trying to take the Donbas — Ukraine’s eastern region that, according to Kremlin propaganda, should be full of ethnic Russians waiting for Moscow’s arrival.
Instead, and after earlier retreats from Ukraine’s north, Putin has found himself stuck in a slow, slogging campaign. Russian rhetoric and saber-rattling has increased as the stagnation continues.
So on Thursday, after visiting an exhibition dedicated to Peter the Great’s 350-year anniversary, Putin remarked on how little had changed over the intervening centuries.
“Peter I fought the Northern War for 21 years,” Putin remarked. “It seemed then, fighting with Sweden, that he took something away … but he wasn’t taking anything away, he was returning!”
Putin added that Peter I founded Russia’s imperial capital — St. Petersburg — on territory taken from Sweden during that war.
“When he laid the new capital, not one country of Europe recognized this territory as Russia, they all recognized it as Sweden’s,” Putin said. “And there, since time immemorial, the slavs had lived alongside the Finno-Urgic peoples, and this territory was located under the control of the Russian state.”
It’s another dubious history lesson from a leader who launched his war against Ukraine with two lengthy lectures and an essay expounding on his view of the circumstances that led to the creation of modern Ukraine, from Kyivan Rus to 1991.
But Putin inserted another reference in his Wednesday remarks: Peter the Great’s campaign to take Narva, a city that’s currently part of Estonia.
Peter I fought two campaigns for the city — the first one, an embarrassing failure. The second was a success.
“It’s the same in the Western direction, with Narva, his first campaigns,” Putin said. “Why did he go that way? He was returning and fortifying [this land] — that’s what he did.”
Putin added that Russia’s destiny today is the same: returning and fortifying lost slavic lands.
“Judging from everything, it’s fallen to us to also return and strengthen,” he added. “And if we start from these basic values forming the foundation of our existence, we will unconditionally succeed in solving the tasks that stand before us.”
Beykush winery struggled to get bottles to judges in UK from its site on edge of Russian-occupied territory
A small Ukrainian winemaker whose vineyards sit on the edge of territory newly occupied by Russia has won gold in the prestigious Decanter World Wines awards.
“I can’t say we were surprised that we won because our wine is really, really good,” said Svitlana Tsybak, the chief executive of Beykush winery and president of the Ukrainian association of craft winemakers.
[…]
The number of small wine producers in Ukraine started to grow after Russia’s first intervention in 2014. In early 2015, Ukraine’s currency devalued by two-thirds, making imported goods expensive and prompting a burst of Ukraine-made consumer goods such as clothes, food and furniture.
Beykush winery is near the town of Ochakiv, in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region. It is still under Ukrainian control but Russian forces have set their eyes on the area, which is home to a strategic naval base.
This is the third year Beykush has submitted its wine. As exporting alcohol from Ukraine is expensive and difficult and visas for Ukrainians into the UK until recently near impossible, Tsybak and her team went to great lengths to get bottles to Decanter judges.
Two years ago they sent some bottles with a Ukrainian diplomat flying to London. Last year, they drove their wine case by case to Spain and then shipped it to the UK. This year they sent it to Hungary. They moved six cases over the border, one at a time. But their friend in Hungary was then unable to take it to the UK.
By that time, the war had started in Ukraine and so a friend stepped in to help. “A Ukrainian who lives in London offered to fly to Hungary with two suitcases. He filled them up with 30 bottles and took them to the UK,” said Tsybak.
Tsybak has recently secured an importer in the UK. The wines the winery sent to western Ukraine are now in a van making its way across Europe.
[…]
“Our region is shelled regularly so we just work when we can,” said Tsybak. “There was a while when we didn’t have access to our warehouse because of the fighting. As soon as we got access, we put as much as we could in a lorry and shipped into western Ukraine.”
[…]
Fifty wines were awarded gold by expert judges flown into London. A total of 18,244 producers worldwide submitted their wines. The tasting at the Decanter awards is blind, so the judges had no idea they would be the bearers of rare good news for a war-struck producer.
[…]
Ryan Kelley was arrested on Thursday morning while his house near Grand Rapids was searched by federal agents, the Detroit News reported. An indictment released by the US district court for Washington DC, which is handling most of the criminal cases arising out of the January 6 insurrection, charged Kelley with “disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds”.
Kelley, a real estate agent, is one of five Republican candidates remaining in Michigan’s primary gubernatorial race, which will be held in August. His arrest throws the contest into further disarray: five other Republican candidates have already been disqualified having been accused of submitting fraudulent petitions to get on to the ballot.
Alls teh mostingbester wannabe-daleks.
Video footage captured during the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 appears to show Kelley climbing the outer steps of the compound shouting [presumably in Russian]: Come on, let’s go! This is it! This is war baby!
[…]
The Michigan Democratic party responded swiftly to Kelley’s arrest. Lavora Barnes, the party chair, told the Detroit Free Press: “Just days after their field was cut in half due to corruption and mass fraud, Republican gubernatorial candidates’ callous disregard for the principles of democracy was on full display again today.”
Betsy DeVos is the latest member of Donald Trump’s team to denounce him. The former Education secretary joins an amazingly long list.
When it comes to prominent members of Donald Trump’s team, Betsy DeVos seemed like an unlikely critic of the former president. After all, the former Republican Education secretary has earned a reputation as a far-right ideologue and a GOP megadonor — who served for nearly four full years in the Trump cabinet — not a moderate who was likely to have a problem with the former president’s abuses.
But as DeVos prepares to release a new book, she talked to USA Today’s Ingrid Jacques about when she reached her breaking point.
[…] Secretary Betsy DeVos says she watched with horror as the events of Jan. 6, 2021, unfolded at the nation’s Capitol. She could no longer stand by the president, whom she believed was culpable in the violence that day through his actions — and inaction. And so the next day she submitted her resignation letter to then-President Donald Trump.
The former cabinet secretary wrote in her not-yet-released book, “To me, there was a line in the sand. It wasn’t about the election results. It was about the values and image of the United States. It was about public service rising above self. The president had lost sight of that.”
What’s more, DeVos told USA Today that in the aftermath of the attack on the Capitol, she thought it was at least possible that the White House cabinet would try to remove Trump from office by way of the 25th Amendment. In fact, according to the former Education secretary’s version of events, it was on Jan. 7 when she personally spoke with other cabinet members about this possibility — and even talked to then-Vice President Mike Pence about the process.
“I spoke with the vice president and just let him know I was there to do whatever he wanted and needed me to do or help with, and he made it very clear that he was not going to go in that direction or that path,” DeVos said.
Later that day, she resigned.
To be sure, the former Education secretary is hardly the first former administration official to try to rehabilitate her image and sell some books. The fact remains, however, that by any fair measure, DeVos was extraordinarily bad at her job. The United States has never seen a fiercer opponent of public schools leading the Department of Education.
But that doesn’t make her perspective irrelevant.
For one thing, if DeVos’ version of events is accurate, it’s significant that she’s confirmed conversations from early last year — among members of Trump’s own cabinet — about trying to remove him from office.
For another, the list of former officials who were close to Trump, who’ve since denounced him, keeps growing.
A month ago, for example, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who worked alongside Trump for a year and a half, publicly declared that the former president is unsuited for public office. Esper went on to agree that Trump represents “a threat to democracy.”
[…] Former Attorney General William Barr recently rejected the idea of Trump returning to the White House. Former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton hasn’t just denounced Trump, Bolton also agreed that the former president would be a national security threat to the United States if given a second term.
John Kelly, meanwhile, served as Trump’s White House chief of staff for 17 months, working side-by-side with the then-president every day in the West Wing. Now, Kelly can barely contain his visceral contempt for Trump.
[…] In June 2020, former Defense Secretary James Mattis, wrote a rather extraordinary rebuke of Trump, condemning the president for being divisive, immature, and cavalier about abusing his powers.
Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shared some uncomplimentary thoughts of his own about Trump. According to the nation’s former chief diplomat, the then-president is “pretty undisciplined,” “doesn’t like to read,” and “often” urged Tillerson to pursue policies that were inconsistent with American laws.
And these are just the top-level officials who served at the cabinet level. The list grows much longer if we include other federal officials who worked with Trump just below the cabinet level.
[…] Many of these former officials had a front-row seat, watching how [Trump] tried to lead, how he processed information, how he evaluated evidence, and how he made decisions.
And now that these men and women have left the administration and had an opportunity to reflect on their time on Team Trump, they’re eager to let the public know that Trump is unsuited for national leadership.
History offers plenty of examples of presidents who’ve clashed with one aide or another, but we’ve never seen anything like this.
In addition to Ryan Kelley’s arrest, the Republican field of gubernatorial candidates in Michigan was revealed to be even more corrupt when five other contenders were removed from the ballot. Those five had submitted thousands of forged petition signatures.
VoteVets created a commercial criticizing Republican Herschel Walker over his “Patriot Support” program, which preyed upon veterans and service members while simultaneously defrauding the government.
[…] Exorcist: trained teams needed in parishes to fight evil spirits [is] the splash headline in this week’s Irish Catholic, Ireland’s biggest-selling religious newspaper.
Fr[uitcake] Pat Collins, a priest of the Vincentian order and a prominent Dublin-based exorcist, told the weekly there was an urgent need for deliverance ministry to help people who feel oppressed by evil spirits.
As Ireland has secularised, there is a crisis of truth, and a crisis of meaning — people are getting into all kinds of things they wouldn’t have got into before. As a result, people are more open to spiritual forces that can be negative.
Unlike exorcism, which is conducted by priests given special permission from the Catholic church [🙄rolls eyes!], deliverance ministry is prayer for people who are distressed and wish to heal emotional wounds, including those purportedly caused by evil spirits [🙄🙄FTL eye rolling🙄].
[…]
The priest, a trained psychologist [huh?], had made similar calls before. In 2018 he told Irish Catholic of being inundated with people who believed they were afflicted by evil spirts.
I think in many cases they wrongly think it, but when they turn to the church, the church doesn’t know what to do with them and they refer them on either to a psychologist or to somebody that they’ve heard of that is interested in this form of ministry, and they do fall between the cracks and often are not helped, he said[babbled before before breaking out in an off-pitch wailing yodel then eating a pea, spittle & slimy green foam spittle flying from his mouth as a squadron of crack coocoo bats flew in one ear and out the other].
It was only a matter of time before Republicans responded to mass shootings by talking about school prayer. Alas, this is unwise for a variety of reasons.
In the aftermath of deadly mass shootings, Republicans have gotten creative in trying to deflect attention away from guns. Assorted GOP voices have blamed the multitude of doors at schools, abortion, video games, “secularization,” absentee fathers, and possibly even marijuana.
It was only a matter of time before the party turned its attention on school prayer. HuffPost noted:
According to House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), if everyone had just prayed more, 19 children and two teachers might not have been massacred by a gunman in a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school last month.
Gohmert helped get the ball rolling during a House committee hearing yesterday, declaring, “Look, maybe if we heard more prayers from leaders of this country instead of taking God’s name in vain, we wouldn’t have the mass killings like we didn’t have before prayer was eliminated from school.”
Around the same time, Scalise spoke at a Capitol Hill press conference and told reporters, “We had AR-15s in the 1960s. We didn’t have those mass school shootings. Now, I know it’s something that some people don’t want to talk about, but we actually had prayer in school during those days.”
At this point, we could point to examples of mass school shootings that occurred in that era. We could also reflect on why it’s a terrible mistake to look at that era through rose-colored glasses.
But stepping back, I think there are a couple of other problems Republicans like Gohmert and Scalise don’t understand, though they definitely should.
The first is that when GOP officials claim that prayers have been “eliminated” from public schools, they’re demonstrably wrong. As we’ve discussed, voluntary prayer was never removed from schools. What court rulings did was require public schools to remain neutral on matters of faith, leaving religious guidance in the hands of parents, families, and faith leaders.
What Scalise and Gohmert seem to prefer is the old model: A system in which students pray on their own isn’t as good as one in which school officials intervene in children’s religious lives.
Or put another way, the Republican congressmen look back wistfully at a time when government’s reach was bigger than it is today.
All of which leads to a less obvious problem: Republicans don’t trust public school educators when it comes to race, history, and respect for LGBTQ Americans, but Republicans are nevertheless eager to give educators firearms while empowering them to lead in-class religious exercises?
If you don’t pray enough, God will send a killer to massacre a lot of children.
No sooner were balls in the air at the inaugural LIV Golf Series event than the PGA Tour announced indefinite bans for those among their membership – including Phil Mickelson – who are featuring at the Centurion Club.
In a letter to the PGA Tour membership, the commissioner, Jay Monahan, listed 17 golfers who are not eligible to compete in upcoming competitions. They include Sergio García, Dustin Johnson, Branden Grace, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Kevin Na, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Lee Westwood, who have resigned PGA Tour membership. Others, including the life member Mickelson, have not.
These players have made their choice for their own financial-based reasons,” said Monahan. “But they can’t demand the same PGA Tour membership benefits, considerations, opportunities and platform as you. That expectation disrespects you, our fans and our partners. […]
The PGA did the right thing by suspending these jerks. Their new golf league is a Saudi Arabia/Trump joint project, and should be boycotted by the fans, as well.
The whole thing is reminiscent of that nascent American football league that Trump got involved in and subsequently destroyed.
It looks like Mickelson, Garcia and the other Saudi-Trump stooges hitched their wagons to the wrong star.
Today’s LIV Tournament start was probably timed to distract from tonight’s Jan. 6 Committee Hearings. It’s unlikely the players were expecting expulsion from the PGA. Good riddance.
The LIV schedule includes Trump’s Bedminster golf course.
Thailand’s capital sees an explosion of glamour, gilt, and glitter on Sunday, June 5, as the country’s LGBTQ+ community celebrates their first Pride parade in almost 16 years, but attendees warn true equality is still distant.
There’s supposedly a video at the link, but it’s not working for me; here is a direct link to the video.
Pour one out for the Michigan GOP, y’all, because it is just having a hard time getting to the finish line with an actual eligible living human breathing nominee for the position of governor.
Today, Ryan D. Kelley, the leading frontrunner favorite guy for the nod, was arrested and had his house raided on charges related to how he allegedly did a wee spot of terrorist-ing at the US Capitol on January 6. Just misdemeanor stuff, no big, just four itsy bitsy charges. If he’s convicted, he might have to go to jail for a year.
He expressed regret as he pulled out of the race for haha just kidding no he didn’t pull out, Jesus shit, we bet he gets a bump in the polls from this.
But look, it’s fine. He started his campaign saying the Capitol attack where he, per the Washington Post, “waved on mob” and “tore inauguration scaffolding,” was an “energizing event.” According to the indictment, he was kind of one of the guys telling the other rioters where to go. “As far as going through any barricades, or doing anything like that, I never took part in any forceful anything,” he told MLive back in March of 2021. “Once things started getting crazy, I left.”
All of this would just be, again, a wee spot of bother, if it weren’t for how everything has been such a shitshow in the GOP primary for Michigan governor. Last month, half of the candidates the primary — FIVE! — got kicked out of the primary because their nominating petitions were full of bullshit signatures. Two of them — James Craig, the former Detroit chief of police, and Perry Johnson, who is a man of business — were leading the race. Just thousands and thousands of fuckin’ fraud signatures, because these goddamn fools can’t even play fair when they’re running against each other.
The Post reports that kicked-off candidates have been in court begging to be reinstated, but it hasn’t worked so far.
So the Michigan GOP is left with old Arresty McGillicuddy, plus these four who haven’t been arrested or allegedly committed fraud, although the campaign isn’t over yet:
In addition to Kelley, the remaining GOP gubernatorial candidates are business executive Tudor Dixon, pastor Ralph Rebandt, former auto dealer Kevin Rinke and chiropractor Garrett Soldano.
Anything you want to tell us about, Tudor or Ralph or Kevin or Garrett, if that is any of your real names?
But again, it’s fine. the Michigan GOP is rallying around its boy Ryan Kelley, who got arrested for “Capitol.” He has the endorsement of the Michigan Three Percenters militia. He is a Big Lie-believing asshole, he is very mad at the voting machines for saying Joe Biden won, and back in January, he had this one idea for (white Republican) Michigan voters, if they think they see any funny business going on at the polls:
“If you see something you don’t like happening with the machines, and you see something going on, unplug it from the wall,” Kelley said.
So that goes great with all the GOP’s other plans for stealing the midterms, many of which are coming directly out of Michigan.[…]
And here is what a couple of his opponents had to say about it:
“We extend our prayers to the Kelley family,” Soldano tweeted Thursday afternoon. “It’s a sad day in America when the FBI has become an arm of the Democrat Party. Biden’s FBI is busy targeting parents and intimidating Republicans while crime runs rampant across America.”
Rinke also tweeted that he’s praying for Kelley and his family. […] “I respect Ryan Kelley and have met him out on the trail. My hope is that the FBI is acting appropriately, because the timing here raises serious questions,” Rinke tweeted.
Right, because you know how the FBI is always colluding with the … goddamnit these people are fucking morons.
In summary and in conclusion, either this is the day Kelley cinched the nomination, or his opponents are competing to see who can slobber all over him the best, in case he has to pull out for some reason.
Moscow-backed Luhansk region in Ukraine to send liberated grain to Russia […]
Yuri Pronko, agricultural minister of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic, said that until now, the grain had been sent by truck in relatively small amounts.
Tomorrow is a historical moment — the first wagons of grain will go Russia, 50 wagons, more than 3,000 tonnes, Tass cited him as saying.
A Russian-backed tribunal in the separatist Donetsk region has sentenced two Britons and a Moroccan man to death, Russian state media reported Thursday — the first foreign fighters to be sentenced since the start of the war.
The men — Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner of Britain and Brahim Saadoune of Morocco — were charged as working as foreign mercenaries in the self-declared breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic, which Moscow recognized as independent on the eve of the invasion. The court in which they were tried is not internationally recognized.
The three fighters will have 30 days to appeal; if a pardon is granted, the death penalty can be replaced with a 25-year prison sentence. Executions in the DPR are carried out by firing squad; the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that the men would be shot.
The sentence could set a worrying precedent for other foreign fighters captured by pro-Russian troops. Moscow’s Defense Ministry has warned that they would not be treated as soldiers entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions. […]
“Tune out the ‘it won’t matter’ coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings,” by Jennifer Rubin, writing for the Washington Post.
Republicans have played this game before. They insist that exposing an indefensible deed committed by one of their own “won’t matter” because those who have made up their mind (i.e., themselves) won’t be swayed. (Tautology alert!) The media repeats this talking point to sound “balanced” or sophisticated. Polls after the proceedings show that opinion has not shifted much. Republicans then exult: See, we were right! (Funny how they never voiced this argument regarding the Benghazi hearings.)
Such inane and irrelevant commentary is now coursing through mainstream media today regarding the House select committee’s hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection, even though the hearings involve the fate of our democracy and the worst betrayal by an American president in history. Giving the party responsible for the attack on the Capitol veto power over whether the investigation “matters” is, sadly, what much of the news coverage has come to. The only thing worse is pronouncing investigations into hugely important topics “boring.” Ignore it. [Correct!!]
How is it that so many in the media don’t recognize that serious public investigations do not set moving poll numbers as their primary purpose? Congress conducted its 9/11 investigation not to change how the public felt about President George W. Bush or national security, but because it was lawmakers’ solemn obligation to construct a definitive account of the first attack on the homeland since Pearl Harbor, apportion responsibility and make recommendations to protect the country.
Republicans and many in the mainstream media apparently cannot conceive that the substance of governing is important. Have they entirely forgotten that investigations are undertaken to inform, educate, set the historic record and avoid repetition of the disaster? […]
In an effort to prevent further gun deaths among minors, Congress passed a new law Thursday safeguarding 50 million children from threats of gun violence by adding them to the Supreme Court. “This law will do the important work of protecting these kids from those who wish to harm them with guns by putting them on the bench of the US Supreme Court,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), explaining the children would have the same 24/7 Secret Service detail that is offered to all justices, agents who are willing to take a bullet for the youth when they’re at the playground, a public pool, or school. “Now that these children are members of the highest court in the land, they will no longer have to worry about a rogue gunman taking their lives. This law could protect millions of children, as anyone who is found carrying a firearm in their near vicinity will be immediately detained and face criminal charges.” At press time, Pelosi emphasized that the children would be forced to recuse themselves in cases involving gun rights, due to a conflict of interest.
Lauren Witzke — a Russia-loving white nationalist and conspiracy theorist who was the Delaware Republican Party’s nominee for the US Senate in 2020 — claimed that the recent mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in which 21 teachers and children were killed was a federal operation to prevent Hispanic voters from supporting Republican candidates in the midterm elections.
[…] [O]f course I think about the conspiracy behind all of it, Witzke said. What do they gain from this, besides the gun control push? Hispanics are starting to vote Republican and conservative. They specifically targeted a school in an area that is majority Hispanic — it’s essentially Mexico is what it is — and they went specifically for a Hispanic district. Murdered 19 {children}. Of course, if this was a false flag or {the shooter} was an MKUltra,[†] there was a reason behind this because they’re watching as the Hispanics are starting to lean more conservative.
[… more incoherency…]
† Good grief, whilst MKUltra was a real project, “an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the [CIA and ended in 1973]. The experiments were intended to develop procedures and identify drugs such as LSD that could be used in interrogations to weaken individuals and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture”, what the feck an MKUltra shooter is I, like, Ms “MKNutso” Witzke, have no idea, but unlike Ms “MKNutso”, I know I have no idea.
On Gab and other fringe platforms where the far right gather, many asserted without evidence that it was a false flag operation staged by federal authorities to justify tighter control of guns, or to deflect from other news stories.
[…]
One of the more obscure narratives that animated some of these unfounded accusations involved a secret project that ended in 1973, called MK-ULTRA. In that program, the CIA sought methods of mind control on human subjects through the use of LSD or psychological torture.
After the shooting in Uvalde, some took to social media with baseless inferences to suggest that the program was somehow accountable for the gunman’s violence.
The children’s executioner was 18 years old and so never alive when that CIA project was torturing people, having ended about 40 years ago.
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 448
The conspiracy kooks still think the project is ongoing or that the techniques they supposedly gleaned from the original MK-ULTRA are being used to brainwash current agents of the NWO.
Mark Burns, an unabashed Christian nationalist MAGA pastor who is running for Congress in South Carolina, declared that if he is elected, he will reinstate the House Un-American Activities Committee so that the government can start executing people guilty of treason. Who does Burns believe is guilty of treason? Republican Sens Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham whose supposed crime is potentially supporting some gun control measures, and LGBTQ-supporting parents and teachers.
[…]
Burns was asked by guest host Lauren Witzke [Ms “MKNutso”! see @448] what he would do to fight LGBTQ indoctrination if elected to Congress. Burns replied that the LGBTQ agenda represents a national security threat and therefore anyone promoting it is guilty of treason and should be executed.
I vote to make sure that those parents be held for child abuse, Burns said. There is no such thing as trans kids, there are only abusive parents who are pushing that evil, evil sexual orientation onto their child’s mind.
[… incoherent burbling…]
Burns then declared that the current situation in the United States is Nazi Germany all over again, claiming that students today are being indoctrinated just as they were by the Nazis to become future stormtroopers and members of the hit squads, the murder squads.
[… by now they were both frothing so much the interview was temporarily halted so the studio could be dug out and deep-cleaned…]
[…]
MK-Ultra is a wild conspiracy theory that has infiltrated certain corners of the internet. Its believers are convinced that whenever a celebrity or politician acts strangely on camera, they aren’t just nervous or butchering their lines, but are victims of a top secret mind control division of the US government.
The conspiracy theory extends to more sinister acts as well, and is often referenced in combination with other conspiracy theories: there are dozens of Reddit threads suggesting the gunmen behind attacks including Sandy Hook and Columbine were not terrorists or fanatics but rather MK-Ultra puppets conducted by sinister forces to carry out these atrocities.
[…]
“MK-Ultra sounds so cartoonish, almost like the dastardly scheme of a Bond villain,” Michael Wood, a lecturer at the University of Winchester’s Department of Psychology, says, “but its origins are based on verifiable facts and that gives it an uncomfortable edge.”
[…]
“MK-Ultra is now used in a particular rhetorical way when you’re talking about something being an inside job,” says Wood. “It’s because MK-Ultra has shown the US government is not above committing horrible acts against its own people. Whenever something goes wrong, MK-Ultra is an easy thing to blame and an easy online buzzword to use.”
[…]
[Scott Wark, a researcher in meme theory at the University of Warwick, said:] “[…] MK-Ultra [conspiracies are] also the canary for something all too apparent about the present: when it’s easier to blame a conspiracy about mind control than it is to face our political differences then something is very wrong.”
Akira MacKenziesays
@451
That’s the problem with conspiracy kooks: They take tiny snippets of truth and blow them up into absurdity.
The Jan. 6 committee promised never-before-seen footage in its first public hearing Thursday night, and it delivered. In addition to interviews with members of Donald Trump’s inner circle (Hi, Ivanka!), the committee showed a powerful video that included not just footage of the mob breaking into the U.S. Capitol, but stitched together a narrative of the day that shows cause and effect.
The video demonstrates part of how Trump incited the attack, cutting from his rally speech that day to the mob following through on his extremely unsubtle encouragement. It shows a group of Proud Boys marching on the Capitol as he spoke, and the dawning realization on the part of the police of what they were facing. It shows those notorious chants of “Hang Mike Pence,” counterposed against Trump’s ranting against Pence. It shows a stack of Oath Keepers making its way through the crowd into the Capitol.
It’s a must-watch for understanding how the day played out.
Officer Edwards was standing behind a line of bike racks that marked the perimeter of the Capitol grounds. She tried to prevent an angry crowd from advancing on the Capitol but she was overrun, knocked unconscious.
Nick Quested was a few yds away, shooting footage.
Officer Caroline Edwards begins. “I was called a lot of things on Jan. 6, I was called Nancy’s Pelosi’s dog, called incompetent, a hero and a villain”
She says, in actuality, she was none of those things.
“I was an American.”
[…] 8:12 Video of Bill Barr […] “I did not agree with this stuff, which I told the president was bullshit,” he says in his nasal whine. “You can’t live in a world where the incumbent stays in power based on its unsupported view that the election was stolen.”
8:14 Wow, Thompson isn’t sugarcoating it.
“Donald Trump as at the center of this conspiracy to march down the Capitol to subvert democracy.”
And, “Jan 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup.”
And, “The violence was no accident, it represents Trump’s last stand.”
[…] 8:19 Cheney says you’re going to hear testimony from Trump’s own aides who told him he had to call off the rioters.
“Maybe our supporters have the right idea…Mike Pence deserves it,” he said, when told that the mob was shouting to “Hang Mike Pence.”
8:22 Now Cheney’s schooling us on the seditious conspiracy indictments of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. Which y’all knew about, but maybe not everyone does.
8:29 Cheney says there was a seven-part plan to overturn Biden’s win.
The second hearing will show that Trump and his advisors knew they’d lost the election, and they lied to the public deliberately.
First clip played is Jason Miller says that on November 6, Trump’s top data guy told him he was going to lose.
Second clip is Alex Cannon, Trump campaign lawyer, saying that he told Mark Meadows in mid-late November that there was no evidence of fraud
“So there’s no there there?” Meadows responded, before going on to tell lies about pervasive fraud to this day.
Ewww, Bill Barr again, testifying that he told Trump there was no fraud and that the allegations of Dominion rigging the vote were “complete nonsense” and “a great disservice to the country.”
Oooh, it’s Vanky! She says she respected Bill Barr and believed that he was telling the truth about there being no real fraud.
[…] 8:30 Cheney’s on to the Justice Department coup where environmental lawyer Jeff Clark tried to get the DOJ to send letters to states announcing investigations of non-existent fraud as a pretext to recast the Biden electors for Trump, and the only thing that stopped him was a threat by the top lawyers at the DOJ in the White House to resign en masse.
8:32 Oh, HAI Scott Perry! Cheney says that the Pennsylvania congressman who spearheaded the Justice Department coup contacted the White House about getting a pardon.
Perry refused to speak to the committee, and Clark took the 5th.
Mmmhmmm.
8:36 Pence chief of staff Marc Short said his boss “ultimately knew that his fidelity to the Constitution was his first and foremost oath.”
[…] 8:45 Cheney points out that Trump was totally checked out, refused to do anything to call off the mob. Not via his social media platforms, and not via the military.
By contrast, Gen. Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs, testified that Pence was “explicit” and issued “unambiguous” orders to bring out the military and the National Guard. Unlike Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows who was mostly concerned that they “kill the narrative” that Pence had made all the decisions.
[…] LOL, we’re about the watch video of Jared getting interrogated by Cheney about his response to multiple threats by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone to resign if Trump didn’t quit trying to mount a coup.
“I kind of, my interest at that time was to get as many pardons done as possible,” he said, displaying maximum douchebaggery and unseriousness.”
“I kind of took it to be whining,” he shrugged.
OH MY GOD, DUDE.
8:50 Liz Cheney has a final message to her fellow Republicans.
“There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone. But your dishonor will remain.”
That’s the problem with conspiracy kooks: They take tiny snippets of truth and blow them up into absurdity.
Or: They search an entire beach, find one grain of sand, and ignore all the others; i.e., wildly extrapolate from a tiny snippet of misunderstood reality, and ignore overwhelming rest of reality.
Those aren’t the only problems, I’ll speculate, adding (as some examples (not a complete or even necessarily-correct list, and in no specific order)): Extremely unlikely to meaningfully reevaluate or change, often instead digging deeper and deeper under that one tiny misunderstood grain; Confusing / conflating criticisms of their pet “theory” with attacks on them; Then doing that themselves, i.e., attacking the critics not the criticisms; Hence, a tendency to project, and thus lie; and so on — probably including the Dunning–Kruger effect.
I know there have been studies of various sorts, and presume there are other common, or perhaps even necessary, traits. And that everyone — including the readers of this blog (such as myself) as well as poopyhead — have some rather kooky ideas (glances at the mildly deranged penguin, who gives me a piece of cheese (not chewed too much), flies up, and pats me on the head).
StevoRsays
Great news for the Biloela family now finally back in Bilo :
Now if only they’d get permanent citizenshipor atleats residency secured and we’d change the appalling disgarce that is our off shore (non-)processing refugee policy.. Still, for today, just wonderful to see.
Plus a plastic eating worm that could come in real handy here :
The Guardian’s “key takeaways” from last night’s hearing (this appears to have been written by someone falling asleep; I didn’t cut anything off – that’s how it ends):
The committee made the case that the attack on January 6 was the “culmination of an attempted coup.” Presenting an overview of this hearing and the ones to come, House Select Committee chair Bennie Thompson and vice-chair Liz Cheney presented their finding that the violent mob that descended on the Capitol was no spontaneous occurrence. Video testimony from Donald Trump’s attorney general, his daughter, and other allies make the case that the former president was working to undermine the election results and foment backlash. “The central question is whether the attack on the Capitol was coordinated and plan that you witnessed this what a coordinated and planned effort would look like,” Thompson said. “It was the culmination of months long effort spearheaded by President Trump.”
Even as Trump carried on his lies that victory was stolen from him, his own administration and allies agreed there the election was legitimate. Former attorney general William Barr testified that he expressed that Trump’s claims of a stolen election were “bullshit”. A Trump campaign lawyer told Mark Meadows in November “there’s no there there” to support Trump’s claims of widespread fraud. Even Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, said she was convinced by Barr that the election was legitimate.
Graphic footage and harrowing testimony from officer Caroline Edwards, who on the first line of defense against the attacking mob, reiterated the terror of the insurrection. Edwards compared the scene to a war zone, saying she was slipping on others’ blood as she fought off insurrectionists. “It was carnage. It was chaos. I can’t even describe what I saw,” she said. The officer sustained burns from a chemical spray deployed against her, and a concussion after a bike rack was heaved on top of her. Officers and lawmakers watching the hearings teared up as they relived the violence of that day.
As the attack was being carried out, and the mob was threatening vice president Mike Pence’s life, Trump and his team working to undermine the election carried on their work. After Pence refused to block the election certification, Trump and his supporters turned against him, and Trump fomented resentment in his tweets. As the mob cried “Hang Mike Pence!” the committee presented evidence that Trump suggested that might not be a bad idea.“Mike Pence deserves it,” the president then said. As violence ensued, “the Trump legal team in the Willard Hotel war room,” continuing attempts to subvert the election results, Cheney said.
Footage and testimony from filmmaker Nick Quested, one of two witnesses at the hearing, suggested that the Proud Boys had planned to attack. On morning of January 6, Quested testified that he was confused to see “a couple of hundred” Proud Boys walking away from Trump’s speech and toward the Capitol. The committee implied that this might have allowed them to scope out the defenses and weak spots at the Capitol. The group
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
A senior adviser to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Mykhailo Podolyak, has criticised comments by Vladimir Putin in which the Russian president attempted to justify his invasion of Ukraine.
Putin compared himself to the 18th-century Russian tsar Peter the Great, drawing a parallel between what he portrayed as their twin historic quests to win back Russian lands after visiting an exhibition dedicated to the tsar yesterday.
Podolyak tweeted:
Putin’s confession of land seizures and comparing himself with Peter the Great prove: there was no “conflict”, only the country’s bloody seizure under contrived pretexts of people’s genocide.
He said there should be no talk about “saving Russian face” but about its “immediate de-imperialisation”.
Ukrainian military casualties are between 100 and 200 a day, according to Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Zelenskiy, who spoke with the BBC on Thursday. The Ukrainian president said last week that the Ukrainian army was losing 60 to 100 soldiers a day.
Ukrainian troops claim they have advanced in fierce street fighting in Sievierodonetsk but say their only hope of turning the tide is with more artillery to offset Russia’s massive firepower. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the country was “holding on” to key frontline cities in Donbas. “Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk and other cities in Donbas, which the occupiers now consider key targets, are holding on,” he said, adding that Ukraine had had some success in Zaporizhzhia.
Finland’s government is planning to amend border legislation to allow the building of barriers on its eastern frontier with Russia, it said. The move to amend border legislation comes as the Finnish government rushes to strengthen border security amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Finland’s move to join the Nato military alliance.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, described Britain’s reaction to the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner in Russian-separatist controlled Donetsk as “hysterical”.
Writing on Telegram, Zakharova said Britain should appeal to the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) – which is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine – over the cases.
Earlier, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov declined to comment on the cases, saying they are under the jurisdiction of the DPR.
…“If something noteworthy happens we will bring it to you immediately,” Carlson had said during his opening monologue.
It turned out that Carlson has an unusual definition of noteworthy, given that as the committee was detailing how Trump, on hearing that his supporters were chanting that Mike Pence should be hung [sic], said: “Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it,” Carlson was merrily chatting with Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic representative who was railing against Congress passing a $40bn aid bill for Ukraine.
Gabbard – who has kept a relatively low profile since she gave a spirited defense of Vladimir Putin days before the Russian leader ordered the invasion of Ukraine – seemed happy to join Carlson in downplaying what was taking place, insisting that Congress should be focussing on other matters.
Carlson happily took up that theme. Several times he opined on why Congress was holding this two-hour hearing when gas prices have gone up, there are drug deaths, and, most memorably: “this country has never in its history been closer to a nuclear war”….
Ukraine’s defence ministry said it had struck Russian military positions in the southern Kherson region, one of the first areas to be seized by Moscow’s troops after it invaded the country in February.
The ministry said launched new airstrikes on “a series of strikes on enemy bases, places of accumulation of equipment and personnel, and field depots around five different settlements in the Kherson region” in a statement this morning.
Ukraine has launched an offensive to recapture territory in Kherson. On Thursday, the ministry said its forces had won back some territory from Russian forces.
It gave no details but said the Russian forces had “suffered losses in manpower and equipment”, mined territory as they were pushed back and erected barricades for the Ukrainian troops.
It has not been possible to independently verify these claims.
Teal Swan is a highly controversial New Age guru with millions of online followers. Teal specifically markets her services to vulnerable, often suicidal individuals, and advances highly controversial and/or damaging beliefs and techniques including:
– Encouraging graphic suicidal ideation.
– Nurturing false memories and false accusations of ritual abuse by family members through thoroughly debunked recovered memory techniques.
– Waterboarding as a trauma treatment.
– Downplaying the severity of death by suicide by likening it to “hitting the reset button” into a future reincarnated life.
Teal’s practices are covered more thoroughly in the recently released Hulu series entitled “The Deep End.” Several deaths by suicide have been attributed to Teal’s practices.
In today’s episode we interview Diana Hansen Ribera, who was one of Teal’s closest childhood and adolescent friends. In her interview, Diana provides thorough detail to challenge Teal’s false claims of being a victim of satanic ritual abuse and sex trafficking as a child, and explains how Teal developed her coercion skills and harmful techniques with Diana — that Teal would eventually employ on a broader scale.
Warning: This interview contains graphic and disturbing content. Viewer and listener discretion is advised.
An alternate title could be “Childhood of a Cult Leader.” (The comparisons to Joseph Smith were interesting!) I mentioned “The Deep End,” the Hulu limited series about Swan, @ #243 above. The fourth and final episode aired last night, so now the full series is streaming. You can read and listen to the stories of former cult members or sometimes get isolated video or audio clips, but it’s incredible to see it all playing out before your eyes on film. (Here’s an interview with the filmmaker Jon Kasbe in which he describes the process. it really is beautifully filmed, edited, and scored.)
The version of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy who spoke at a Capitol Hill press conference yesterday was not exactly the same as the version of McCarthy we saw last year. The trouble is, the latest iteration is much worse.
A week after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, for example, the California Republican appeared on the House floor and declared that Donald Trump “bears responsibility“ for the insurrectionist violence. Yesterday, a reporter asked McCarthy if he still agrees with his own statement. He responded:
“Look, I’ve answered that many times. I thought everybody in the country beared [sic] some responsibility, based upon what has been going on. The riots on the streets, the others.”
As a factual matter, this didn’t make any sense. A group of pro-Trump radicals attacked our democracy and our seat of government, and the idea that “everybody” in the United States is partly to blame for the violence is both ridiculous and at odds with traditional conservative values regarding personality responsibility.
But just as important is the fact that McCarthy used to know better. We know this for sure because he got this right last year, both publicly and privately.
In other words, the House GOP leader, confronted with overwhelming evidence, is actually regressing. A Washington Post report highlighted a related example:
In the space of 60 seconds, McCarthy was asked five times whether President Biden’s win in the 2020 election was legitimate. Each time, he declined to answer — saying merely that Biden is the president, while not addressing the “legitimate” part — and claiming he had answered the question.
It was a frustrating display. When a reporter ultimately explained that it’s a “very simple question” — either he believes in the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s presidency or he doesn’t — McCarthy said, “We’ll move on now.”
But as exasperating as this back-and-forth exchange was, it was also at odds with the Republican leader’s positions from last year. In May 2021, McCarthy told reporters, “I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election.”
During a brief Q&A in front of the White House, the House minority leader added, “I think that is all over with.”
[…] at yesterday’s press conference, McCarthy would only say that Biden “is” the president — deliberately sidestepping the point of the question — before adding that he believes “there’s a lot of problems still within the election process.”
What the public saw was a politician who was right a year ago, but who’s moving further away from his own positions. […]
Too many Republicans have lied about Jan. 6, but last night, the truth stood tall in the spotlight, and it shined in ways that won’t soon be forgotten.
[…] Some takeaways of note:
1. Donald Trump bears responsibility for the attack on the Capitol.
Amidst the powerful testimony and never-before-seen videos of the violence, there was a common thread tying it all together. As an NBC News report summarized, “Trump fed the lie that the election was stolen, stoked anger among his supporters who stormed the Capitol and then did nothing when lawmakers, aides and family members implored him to stop the attack.”
It was the former president who summoned radical followers, lied to them, deployed them, and took satisfaction in their violence. As a New York Times analysis added, those who saw the hearing were presented with an indictment of sorts, not just of a rogue president, but of “a would-be autocrat willing to shred the Constitution to hang onto power at all costs.”
Or as Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair of the committee, put it, “President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.”
2. Trump was told the truth about his election defeat, but he didn’t care.
Over the course of the two-hour hearing, it became painfully obvious that senior members of the then-president’s team, including influential members of his own family, had repeatedly told Trump that he lost the 2020 election. The group included, among others, then-Attorney General William Barr and Ivanka Trump, who said she trusted Barr’s judgment about the integrity of the results.
It was also of great interest to see a videotaped deposition in which Alex Cannon, a Trump campaign lawyer, testified that he informed then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that he and his team “weren’t finding anything that would be sufficient to change the results in any of the key states.” Meadows responded, “So there’s no there there.”
Jason Miller, another Team Trump insider, told investigators the then-president’s campaign team told the Republican in “clear terms” that he’d lost.
What viewers saw, in other words, was evidence that Trump knew the truth, but perpetrated a fraud anyway. That’s not just politically shocking, it’s also legally relevant.
3. Trump sided with the rioters, even against his own vice president.
As rioters launched their assault, the then-president said his radicalized followers — the ones he’d lied to — “were doing what they should be doing.” Cheney added that testimony will also show that when told of the “Hang Mike Pence” chants, Trump responded, “Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it.”
What’s more, amidst the violence, Trump didn’t call any governmental office or agency to defend his own country’s seat of government.
4. Trump’s enablers matter.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the panel, reflected on Republican members of Congress who’ve defended Trump and the rioters. “I’m from a part of the country where people justify the actions of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan and lynching,” the Mississippi congressman said. “I’m reminded of that dark history as I hear voices today try to justify the actions of the insurrectionists.”
Cheney added, “Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible. There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”
5. The focus on right-wing paramilitary organizations matters.
There were multiple references last night to radical groups such as the Proud Boys, who investigators believe played a key role in the Jan. 6 violence.
An Associated Press report added, “Thompson said Trump’s call for people to come on Jan. 6 ‘energized’ members of the Proud Boys and other extremist groups. They highlighted Trump’s comment at a presidential debate that the Proud Boys should ‘stand back and stand by.’ The panel showed video testimony with a witness named Jeremy Bertino, a member of the Proud Boys, who said the group’s membership ‘tripled, probably’ after Trump’s comment.”
6. There’s a lot more to come.
As NBC News’ report added, “The hearing served as something of a teaser. Over the coming weeks, the panel plans to hold at least six more public hearings and flesh out various pieces of the plot to keep Trump in power.”
7. Once in a while, the truth wins.
Too many Republicans have spent too much time lying, not just about the attack on the Capitol, but also about the Jan. 6 investigation itself. Last night, however, the truth stood tall in the spotlight, and it shined in ways that won’t soon be forgotten. […]
Pierce R. Butlersays
Lynna @ # 462: Ukrainian military casualties are between 100 and 200 a day, according to Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Zelenskiy
“Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results,” he wrote on his fake Twitter app, TRUTH Social. “She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!).”
[…] Key evidence lay in Ivanka Trump’s response to the committee asking her during her interview how Barr shooting down her father’s voter fraud lies affected how she saw the election.
“It affected my perspective. I respect Attorney General Barr,” she replied. “So I accepted what he was saying.” […]
For many of those watching the first night of the Jan. 6 hearings, the footage from that day was as visceral and disturbing as ever. The sounds of the crowd, the sight of all those waving banners, the brutal scenes of Trump supporters battering police to the ground, and then breaking into the Capitol were shocking then. They’re shocking now. For many Americans, they’ve lost none of their poisonous impact.
Unless, of course, you’re a Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee, whose response to the hearing was a perfect distillation of their need to ignore what happened. The one tweet that the GOP members of the judiciary sent last night? “All. Old. News.” Sure, we tried to overthrow the nation, begged for pardons, lied about it, tried to keep these hearings from happening, and still want to convince Americans that the 2020 election was a fraud—but we failed. Now, let’s get back to the important work of pretending that Joe Biden is somehow raising your gas prices.
What won’t be old news? When some of those same Republicans members of the judiciary committee—which includes Jim Jordan, Louie Gohmert, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, and Darrell Issa—turn up on the promised list of those who went begging to Donald Trump for a pardon over the role they played in taking the nation to the brink of destruction.
Because Thursday night’s hearing wasn’t the climax: It was the prelude to what’s coming.
While testifying on Thursday night, documentary filmmaker Nick Quested stated that, as he followed the Proud Boys from point to point on Jan. 6, he watched the crowd turn from “protesters to rioters to insurgents.” […]
We saw what’s coming in a single slide of conversations between Fox News’ Sean Hannity and former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, in which they openly weighed removing Trump under the 25th Amendment. We saw what’s coming in all the scenes—from a slouching William Barr, to Ivanka’s dead-eyed stare—where Trump ally after Trump ally admitted that they had always known there was nothing to the lies about a stolen election. And that Trump knew it, too.
We heard that tantalizing hint that there exists a list of Republicans who contacted Trump between Jan. 6 and the end of his time in the White House, seeking a pardon for their part in the conspiracy. […]
On Jan. 6, Quested saw the crowd around him cross the line from lawful protest to lawless rioting to seditious insurrectionists. But the truth is that many of those he had come there to film—the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers among them—started out that morning already standing on that final square. They came to Washington, D.C., not with the intention of attending a protest, but of participating in an insurrection they had been planning for weeks. That’s exactly the charge many of them are already facing.
What should be causing many Republicans to check the list of nations that make extradition to the U.S. especially difficult were all the scenes in Thursday’s hearing that were not explicitly about the action of the mob on Jan. 6. Because the members of the committee have made it clear that the rest of this process is not going to be about revealing more shocking footage of jackasses in faux military gear strolling through the Capitol building. That part of the show is over.
The rest of the hearing is going to be building the case, brick by brick, to show how Donald Trump committed the same crime to which some of the Proud Boys have already pleaded guilty. It’s going to show how Trump and his followers engaged in a seditious conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States, using a pretense of election fraud that he, and everyone around him, knew was absolutely false right from the beginning. It’s going to show how they set up the situation on Jan. 6 to maximize pressure on Mike Pence and any others who were wavering in their support for Trump. It’s going to show how they used the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and every other member of that screaming mob as a weapon—one pointed at the heart of the nation.
And the committee is going to detail everyone who was a member of that conspiracy. It is going to name names. It is going to be All. New. Information.
Oh, and Jim Jordan? If you pick Bhutan for your exile, you’re going to need a jacket.
Fox News made headlines earlier this week with the announcement that they would be the only network to not provide live coverage of the House Jan. 6 committee hearing, but instead would “cover the hearings as news warrants.” Which meant an uninterrupted Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity—they had no commercial breaks—providing a full-throated defense of Donald Trump. They brought in a pack of lying grifters to help, as The Washington Post’s Philip Bump called them, the “who’s who of the Carlsonverse.” Carlson made clear early on what to expect.
“The whole thing is insulting. In fact, it’s deranged,” Carlson said. “And we’re not playing along. This is the only hour on an American news channel that will not be carrying their propaganda live. They are lying, and we’re not going to help them do it.” By which he meant they were not showing the reality of that horrific day. Literally. An NBC News producer captured what Fox was doing in this clip: [tweet and video available at the link]
I lined up the Jan. 6 committee hearing footage with Tucker Carlon’s show and found that Fox News cut away from clips that showed rioters breaking into the Capitol
That, as Bump says, is far worse than just ignoring the hearing. It, as usual, presented an alternate reality in which nefarious Democrats were pushing propaganda to distract the nation. […]
While the committee was airing new, raw, and grisly footage of the attack on the Capitol, the attack on police, the mob trying to break onto the House floor where members of Congress were trapped, Carlson was blaring “political theater.”
When injured police officer Caroline Edwards was testifying about her injuries, about being tear-gassed, about the “carnage,” the “hand-to-hand combat” and how she was “slipping in people’s blood,” Hannity had Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) discuss how the committee was fueling “more unhinged anti-Trump rage,” and attack Democratic committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD). Here’s one banner displayed during Edwards’ testimony, declaring they had “exposed” the committee as a “partisan sham.” [image at the link] […]
Carlson, Hannity, and the entire network are functioning as the propaganda arm of the MAGA/GOP, and Republicans like Mike Lee are enthusiastically on board. They’re going to present a flurry of conspiracy theories and lies as their rebuttal against the very real news that was presented Thursday night, and that is coming in the days ahead.
As Mark Sumner writes, the previews of what’s to come in follow-up hearings is very, very bad for Donald Trump, and very, very bad for Republicans. Especially those who participated in what the committee is on its way to proving: a seditious conspiracy. Oh, and Sean Hannity? Don’t think you’re not going to feature in it.
Winged intruder ‘put in a fantastic performance’ after arriving in Sadler’s Wells auditorium amid a staging of The Rite of Spring
Audience members at Sadler’s Wells theatre in London were taken aback when a bat unexpectedly flew in and out of a production of The Rite of Spring on Wednesday night.
A company of 24 dancers were mid-performance when the bat appeared, flapping its way around the stage and into the auditorium before returning to its roost after the show had finished. Alistair Spalding, artistic director and chief executive of Sadler’s Wells, said: “We had an extra cast member join us at The Rite of Spring for one night only. It didn’t quite learn the choreography but it put in a fantastic performance.”
The creature’s surprise appearance heightened the drama of Pina Bausch’s masterpiece about a sacrificial maiden, driven by Stravinsky’s stirring music and danced on a stage covered with peat.
[…] The tour has been a mammoth undertaking, with 157 visas issued for a team with dancers from 14 African countries. More than 2,700 Covid tests have been administered on the journey so far.
Howard Clark, director of visitor experience at Sadler’s Wells, said that when the venue reopened after lockdown, they found that they had welcomed some bats as new residents. The theatre’s building services and housekeeping teams are following guidance from the Bat Conservation Trust and working with a local bat protection group. “The special guest fluttered its way to the curtain call for a well-deserved round of applause,” said Spalding.
[…]
When I was living in London, Salder’s Wells, along with the Tricycle Theatre and the Donmar Warehouse, was one of my favourite venues. No bats, however, except perhaps an actor dressed in a costume (or a bat in a brilliant costume?). Full credit to both Salder’s Wells and the audience for not freaking out, and working to accommodate the bats. (No penguins either, but there was an excellent cheese shop very close to the Donmar Warehouse…)
Ukraine General Staff updated on delivery of Western weapons systems.
I am happy to inform you that Polish self-propelled artillery units AHS Krab are ready to carry out combat missions at the front.
After M777 and FH70 howitzers, CAESAR self-propelled howitzers and M109A3, these units are the 5th type of 155 mm artillery that we managed to obtain.
The war has become a WWI-style artillery slugfest, with Russia enjoying a massive advantage in guns and ammo. With its Soviet-caliber ammunition running out, Ukraine and its partners have worked feverishly to transition to NATO standard guns.
With 18 new Polish Krabs, Ukraine now has over 150 155mm guns, and 60 more Krabs will be arriving over the coming months, hot off the factory line. Meanwhile, new American M777s were photographed being loaded on transport planes headed to Ukraine, so the total number will soon be over 200. […]
We don’t know exactly how much artillery Russia has in Ukraine. I just spent an hour researching various types of Russian units and their artillery components, did some dirty math, and finally deleted the entire paragraph. Reality is, Russia has a lot. And while Ukraine claims it has destroyed 1,393 tanks and 3,429 infantry armored vehicles, the numbers for artillery systems are much smaller—213 MLRS vehicles and 703 artillery guns. Prior to the invasion, Russia claimed it had 6,000 artillery guns in its army, and while we now know those numbers were grossly exaggerated (thanks to grift and incompetence), Russia likely has multiple thousands artillery and MLRS pieces in Ukraine.
(For their part, Ukraine claimed 1,960 artillery pieces before the invasion, plus 2,000 tanks and 2,870 armored vehicles).
Back to Ukraine’s general staff:
To this date, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has ensured the supply of 150 artillery platforms of 155 mm caliber to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The stockpiles of ammunition of this caliber are already 10% larger than the stockpiles of Soviet-type large-caliber shells that existed before 24 February 2022. Moreover, these new shells are more effective than their Soviet equivalents, and hence their consumption is lower.
This is incredible information—right now, Ukraine has 10% more 155 mm artillery shells than its entire stockpile the day Russia invaded. And given the increased accuracy of Western systems, they don’t need to use as much to accomplish any given mission. Their burn rate is slower. Donor countries include Australia, Canada, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom.
At the same time, more than 50 other large-caliber cannons were supplied to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This includes projectiles for them, which constitute over 75% of the amount that existed at the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion.
These are artillery systems larger than 155 mm. Ukraine operates the Soviet-era 203 mm Pion self-propelled gun, and had 99 before the war started, but no one has announced sending more of those. […] NATO doesn’t have anything larger. So no clue what they’re talking about, but glad they got more of them, whatever they are!
Dozens of Soviet-type MLRS units and tens of thousands of shells, hundreds of mortars and hundreds of thousands of projectiles for them have strengthened our defence capabilities during this period.
NATO countries from the former Warsaw Pact have emptied their coffers of all their Soviet-era MLRS systems, including Bulgaria, Czechia (20+), and Poland (20+).
The Ministry of Defence is competing with the russian army for leadership in the supply of tanks and other Soviet-type armored vehicles. We`re talking about hundreds of units.
This is incredible. Poland has sent 230 T-72 tanks, and Czechia 40 more. Those, plus the tanks Ukraine has captured and returned to service from Russia itself has given them parity against the invaders. Heck, Ukraine might even have more tanks at this point.
We received around 250 armored vehicles of Western models (M113 TM, M113 YPR-765, Bushmaster, Mastiff, Husky, Wolfhound etc.) from our partners. This line of work continues.
In addition to new unannounced M777 shipments, the US is also sending more M113s beyond the first 200 on a boat hopefully arriving to Ukraine soon (if it hasn’t already). Given that the U.S. has 5,000 M113s, virtually all of them retired, the supply of those should be essentially unlimited.
It is worth noting, for instance, that the initial request of the Armed Forces regarding 155 mm artillery units has been 90% fulfilled by the Ministry of Defence.
For all the people who scream that Western allies are holding back, this confirms that in reality Ukraine has gotten most of what it has requested, and artillery systems continue to stream in. That doesn’t mean Ukraine can’t and won’t ask for more, but Ukraine’s allies are being responsive in this category.
Important announcement has been made recently: our American and British partners have decided to provide Ukraine with MLRS units. I must note that our soldiers have been learning to operate those weapons for some time.
Ukraine has only gotten a fraction of the units it has requested. Four HIMARS launchers are coming from the U.S., while the UK is handing over a similarly small number of M270 MLRS launchers. Germany promised another half-dozen or so, then came up with a cockamamy “software update” excuse for delaying the delivery until winter.
As I have written, the small number of HIMARS is likely an initial tranche given the insanely complex logistical demands of NATO MLRS systems. More will be coming, but the problem isn’t getting launchers to Ukraine, it’s getting ammo pods to those launchers. Those logistics will be worked out in time, but it does take time.
I had many discussions with foreign colleagues to launch early training for teams with different types of weapons that do not yet have political decisions regarding their supply. Training with some of those weapons began in March. More than 1,500 of our servicemen are currently undergoing training or will begin their training shortly.
This is a fascinating admission: Ukraine has been training since March on systems that have not yet been cleared for delivery. […]
They sum up most of their most pressing needs:
• to obtain a significant amount of NATO-type MLRS units with ammo;
• to ensure complete replacement of some existing Soviet-type calibers (worn guns, shells not produced or scarce) with platforms that are common in NATO countries and equipped with ammo
Yup, MLRS and more MLRS and then some additional MLRS. Again, ammo supply is the real challenge here.
• to agree with partners regarding the transition from supplies of separate platforms to integral organic units immediately ready for combat. This will significantly boost efficiency on the battlefield;
• to ensure the supply of hundreds of heavy armored vehicles, without which effective counterattack is impossible. It should be considered that Soviet equipment is mostly obsolete and needs to be prepared for combat. Meanwhile, we are receiving only light armor from partners, not necessarily with weapons
M113s are light armor with no guns. They’re armored personnel carriers, rather than infantry fighting vehicles. Ukraine needs more of the latter. I still don’t understand why we aren’t giving them our M2 Bradleys, which replaced the M113s in our armed forces, before they themselves being phased out. (The M113 is two generations old.) We have thousands of those, and the only thing I can think of is logistical/maintenance concerns. Six countries are sending M113s to Ukraine (Australia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the US), which simplifies supply and maintenance requirements. But Ukraine needs infantry movers with cannons, and the Europeans don’t have anything comparable available in volume like our Bradleys.
• to obtain fighter jets, anti-aircraft and missile defence systems to protect our skies.
[…] Those are systems that take years for the maintenance crew to learn and master. Even if they started training on those systems in March, it’ll be a while before they can be deployed. Maybe it’s why this is the last bullet point in their wish list—they know it’s the least likely to happen anytime soon.
Regardless, this is an excellent, realistic summary of the state of Ukraine’s weapons deliveries and continuing needs. Yes, Ukraine has serious needs, but Western allies have stepped up big-time to fill the gaps, and a lot more remains to be sent.
Supplying Ukraine is a big job. Big, complicated, on-going.
Republicans hit some new lows as they tried to discredit the findings of the January 6 Committee. For an example, see Matt Gaetz:
On Wednesday, a clip of Florida man and suspected child sex trafficker Rep. Matt Gaetz speaking with carpetbagger Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene went around the internet. In it, Gaetz said that Rep. Jamie Raskin was “unable” to do his job as a Jan. 6, committee member. Why? Because Rep. Raskin’s son died by suicide. “What I worry about with Raskin, in all seriousness—when people encounter trauma, they often associate a lot of the other things around that trauma with it, even if they don’t naturally or even rationally associate.”
That’s the low point Greene and Gaetz dug to in their attempts to discredit what will likely be a barrage of revelations about how involved they both were in the failed coup d’etat on Jan. 6. Rep. Raskin, for all of the tragedy he has endured, has more integrity in a clipped fingernail than Reps. Gaetz and Greene have in their entire family tree at this point.
On Thursday, in the hours before Rep. Raskin and the Jan. 6 committee brought the case against treasonous Big Lie proponents to the public, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decided to defend her fellow Congressman and, justifiably, size down the very small person that is Matt Gaetz.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez wrote: “Rep. Raskin is a greater statesman, Congressman, human being than most of us. History will remember him. Tommy was a remarkable person and testament of his parents’ love.”
In comparison, she also wrote: “Gaetz is a bad haircut in a cheap suit, a feat of mediocrity given that he’s here on papa’s money. Bye.”
Godddaaaaammnnnnn! The truth cuts like a knife, don’t it?
AOC’s tweet, and a video of Gaetz speaking, are available at the link. Excerpt from the nonsense Gaetz spewed: “The country shouldn’t have to go through all that with him.” Gaetz is basically saying that we shouldn’t have to be exposed to news about the death of Jamie Raskin’s son; and that Raskin is now a whackadoodle because grief made him crazy.
[quoting Matthew Gertz]: Fox News isn’t just letting Tucker Carlson do his regular show, they’re airing it without commercials. They want to push his propaganda so much that they are leaving money on the table to do it.
————–
Sam Stein responds: “the only logical explanation for this is that they don’t want viewers leaving during commercials and clicking on the hearing testimony. Why else?”
Wonkette: “We Still Don’t Know Why The National Guard Was Late On January 6”
Last night’s first hearing by the House January 6 Select Committee clarified several aspects of the attack on the Capitol, including the moment when Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) confirmed what had seemed pretty obvious all along: Donald Trump never lifted a finger to send law enforcement or the National Guard to stop the invasion of the Capitol. But there was a surprise: Mike Pence was way more “presidential” than Trump, not only because he finally decided he couldn’t try to steal the election, but also in taking steps to get rampaging Trump supporters out of the Capitol.
Cheney said,
Not only did President Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he placed no call to any element of the United States government to instruct that the Capitol be defended. He did not call his secretary of Defense on January 6. He did not talk to his attorney general. He did not talk to the Department of Homeland Security. President Trump gave no order to deploy the National Guard that day. And he made no effort to work with the Department of Justice to coordinate and deploy law enforcement assets. Vice President Pence did each of those things.
As historian Heather Cox Richardson points out, Pence’s actions appear to be part of “an unexplained breakdown in the usual chain of command.” Pence was acting like a president, and the military leadership acted like generals, but the White House couldn’t be bothered to think about the security of Congress […]
The important thing to Trump’s people — a group that no longer included Pence — was how it all looked:
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley testified that Pence was very clear that the military needed to turn up and fast to “put down this situation.” In contrast, [White House Chief of Staff Mark] Meadows talked to Milley not about protecting the Capitol, but to say “we have to kill the narrative that the vice president is making all the decisions.” Milley said he saw this as “politics, politics, politics.”
Even now, it’s all about the narrative: The hearings can’t possibly matter to Republicans, because the facts make them look bad. So right before the start of yesterday’s hearings, Republicans were right back to presenting alternative “facts” about the insurrection.
At a presser a few hours before the hearings, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Indiana), who thank Crom is not actually on the select committee, Just Asked some Questions that have in fact already been answered, although that hasn’t diminished Republicans’ zeal in trying to shift blame away from Trump and his people. Banks wanted to know,
Was Speaker Pelosi involved in the decision to delay National Guard assistance on Jan. 6? Those are serious and real questions that this committee refuses to even ask. Speaker Pelosi doesn’t want to answer those questions because she knows that the answers to those questions leave a trail of bread crumbs right back to her office, underscoring her negligence, her lack of leadership as the speaker of the House.
The idea that Nancy Pelosi gave a stand down order at Capitolghazi is one of Donald Trump’s favorite lies, although in his telling it’s usually accompanied by a second lie in which he insists he ordered 10,000 Guard troops to protect the Capitol, which Pelosi foolishly rejected. Multiple fact checks debunk this […]
If you enjoy Hollow Mordant Laughter, the AP factcheck points out that the claim that Pelosi stopped the National Guard was pushed by a tweet from (drum roll please) Rep. Jim Banks himself back on July 20, 2021: “@SpeakerPelosi, why did you block the National Guard from protecting the Capitol?” Indiana Rep. Jim Banks tweeted.
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy posed a similar question on Fox News saying, “Was there a decision by the Speaker not to have the National Guard at the Capitol that day?”
As the AP explains, the actual decision, prior to January 6, had been made by
the Capitol Police Board, which is made up of the House Sergeant at Arms, the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Architect of the Capitol. The board decided not to call the guard ahead of the insurrection but did eventually request assistance after the rioting had already begun, and the troops arrived several hours later.
The House Sergeant at Arms reports to Pelosi and the Senate Sergeant at Arms reported to McConnell, a Republican who was then Senate Majority Leader. There is no evidence that either directed the security officials not to call the guard beforehand, and [Pelosi spokesperson Drew] Hammill said after the insurrection that Pelosi was never informed of such a request.
We’re looking forward to next week’s hearings to learn more about what exactly went so wrong inside the Pentagon once the insurrection was underway, and why the Guard took so long to deploy. Maybe it was lizard people!
More commentary regarding how Trump reveals that he is worried, and how Trump is still trying to rewrite history:
[…] As a New York Times analysis of last night’s primetime hearing explained, “In the entire 246-year history of the United States, there was surely never a more damning indictment presented against an American president than outlined on Thursday night in a cavernous congressional hearing room where the future of democracy felt on the line.”
With this in mind, [Trump] is eager to push back against the revelations. As Yahoo News noted, it led Trump to publish a striking message to his social platform yesterday. The missive read in part:
“The Unselect Committee didn’t spend one minute studying the reason that people went to Washington, D.C., in massive numbers, far greater than the Fake News Media is willing to report, or that the Unselects are willing to even mention, because January 6th was not simply a protest, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again.”
So, a few things.
First, that is a very long, 63-word sentence.
Second, the bipartisan select committee didn’t scrutinize Trump’s discredited election conspiracy theories because — and this is important — [those theories are] discredited election conspiracy theories.
Third, I loved the former president’s complaint about journalists not reporting about how “massive” the Jan. 6 crowd because, as he’s made painfully clear, no detail about Jan. 6 is more important to Trump than the number of people who showed up for his pre-riot rally. [LOL]
But putting all of that aside, what obviously stands out about the Republican’s message yesterday was his insistence that Jan. 6 “represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again.” [eyebrows raised]
With this assertion, Trump effectively came full circle.
During the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the then-president sat on his hands and ignored calls to intervene. More than three hours after the violence began, Trump released a video urging his mob of radicalized followers to disperse.
But even then, the Republican made clear that he and the rioters were on the same side. In the video he released at the time, Trump told his supporters that there had been “an election that was stolen from us.” He added, “We love you. You’re very special.”
[…] Regardless of party or ideology, every prominent political voice [except Trump] agreed that participating in an insurrectionist riot inside the nation’s seat of government is indefensible.
And so, Trump, mindful of the public’s revulsion toward the assault, shifted his message in order to be seen as a mainstream figure. As regular readers know, the then-president said on Jan. 7, “Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem.” He went on to describe the riot as a “heinous attack.”
Reading from a prepared text, Trump added, “The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy…. To those who engage in the acts of violence and destruction: You do not represent our country, and to those who broke the law: You will pay.” [Trump read that with a flat aspect, like a prisoner. It was very weird.]
Five days later, [Trump] condemned the “mob [that] stormed the Capitol and trashed the halls of government.” On the final full day of his term, again reading from a script, Trump added, “All Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol. Political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans. It can never be tolerated.”
In the months that followed, Trump struggled to keep up the pretense that he almost certainly never believed in the first place. By May 2021, the former president was suggesting the rioters were victims. He eventually started describing them as “patriots.” Around the same time, the former president broached the subject of extending pardons to convicted radicals.
And now, the multi-step process has brought Trump back to the beginning:
– Trump “loved” the rioters.
– Trump then condemned the rioters’ “heinous attack.”
– Trump then said the rioters may not have been so bad after all.
– Trump then said the rioters are innocent “patriots” and their attack “represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again.”
Presidential historian Michael Beschloss wrote yesterday about what future Americans might say about Jan. 6, and the degree to which the answer depends on whether the United States is a democracy or an autocracy. “If the latter,” Beschloss wrote, “the nation’s authoritarian leaders might celebrate January 6 as one of great days in U.S. history.” [shudder]
One former president apparently doesn’t need to wait for the future to draw such a conclusion.
We had some idea about Ginni Thomas lobbying GOP legislators to ignore voters’ will. Newly disclosed emails point to an even more expansive effort.
In recent months, we’ve learned quite a bit about Ginni Thomas’ political efforts, but it’d be a mistake to assume the full picture has come into focus. On the contrary, The Washington Post reported striking new information earlier today.
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed 29 Republican state lawmakers in Arizona — 27 more than previously known — to set aside Joe Biden’s popular vote victory and “choose” presidential electors, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.
29 lawmakers!
If this sounds at a little familiar, it’s not your imagination. The Post reported a month ago on Thomas pressing GOP state legislators in Arizona to ignore the will of the voters and appoint their own “clean slate” of electors. At the time, the article referenced two Republicans who were on the receiving end of Thomas’ lobbying.
[…] her efforts were far more expansive. […] on Nov. 9, 2020 — two days after the race was called and Joe Biden became the president-elect — Thomas “sent identical emails to 20 members of the Arizona House and seven Arizona state senators. That represents more than half of the Republican members of the state legislature at the time.”
What’s more, Thomas gave the Arizona legislators radically bad advice: In a state the Democratic ticket narrowly won — according to counts, recounts, and audits — the far-right activist wrote that responsibility to choose electors was “yours and yours alone.”
In other words, Thomas suggested they had the legal authority to ignore the will of Arizona voters. They did not.
But the aggressive lobbying campaign continued anyway. In fact, Thomas emailed Arizona Republican lawmakers more than once: Her Nov. 9 message was followed by related emails a month later — targeting 22 state House members and one state senator — sent the day before members of the electoral college met.
It’s important to emphasize, of course, that Thomas’ lobbying efforts did not work, but that doesn’t negate the significance of the fact that she invested time and effort into an anti-election scheme designed to undermine our democracy.
[Ginni Thomas] routinely meet with Donald Trump during his White House tenure, handing him lists of people to hire and fire.
The report quoted one former official saying, “These f***ing lists were so insane and unworkable. A lot of them were dripping with paranoia and read like they were written by a disturbed person.”
All the while, Thomas also worked with political organizations that had a stake in decisions before the Supreme Court — where, incidentally, her husband works as one of nine sitting justices.
She became even busier in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s defeat. For example, Thomas attended the pre-riot “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6. […]t she also played an organizing role in the pro-Trump gathering just south of the White House.
She also had extensive communications with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, with whom Thomas discussed strategies to overturn the election results. Thomas also reportedly pressured congressional Republicans to do more to overturn the election, including calling on lawmakers to go “out in the streets.” By some accounts, she even reached out to Jared Kushner about legal options surrounding the larger offensive.
This is not a situation in which the spouse of a sitting justice simply expressed political opinions. As The New York Times recently explained, the text messages between Thomas and Meadows “demonstrated that she was an active participant in shaping the legal effort to overturn the election.”
And it was against this backdrop that Clarence Thomas heard arguments in election-related cases, even siding with Team Trump on matters related to disclosing important information to Congress. [!!!]
The Republican-appointed jurist recently insisted that our system is threatened if Americans are unwilling to “live with outcomes we don’t agree with.” If only his wife agreed.
Aubrey Marcus really wants to not be a cult leader. He really wants Fit For Service to not be labeled a cult. He’s come out and said so, in a bold but vague response to criticism of his content from our podcast. Matthew takes him at his word, and puts on his cult research hat to give some pointers on how Aubrey can avoid abusing his power. Key bits of advice include: rejecting high intensity recruitment techniques, not depicting the world outside Fit For Service as “upside down” or insane, and not platforming alleged child rapists like Marc Gafni.
While this open letter is addressed to Aubrey, his Fit For Service clients might also find it useful as they decide whether to keep spending up to 20K USD per year participating in the program. Also, if Aubrey feels that this episode contains information that will help current and future participants assess whether he is really making good on his promise to provide “radical self-sovereignty,” we at Conspirituality Podcast would happily give permission for this episode to be included with Fit For Service materials, pro bono.
This letter is also open in a broader sense, because it contains solid tips for all earnest charismatic influencers who want to improve their ethics game. We believe you can do it, influencers! You can dig deep, and live your better life, by fucking over fewer people!
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their most recent summary:
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned the world would face an “acute and severe food crisis and famine”, addressing delegates at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore. Ukraine is unable to export enough food because of the Russian blockade.
Ursula von der Leyen to meet with Zelenskiy and discuss EU membership. Returning to Kyiv on Saturday for a meeting with Zelenskiy, the president of the European Union commission said they will discuss Ukraine’s reconstruction and progress towards EU membership.
…
Intense fighting continues in Sievierodonetsk, according to UK intelligence. The UK MoD also says that Russia is resorting to inefficient weapon systems that risk “significant collateral damage and civilian casualties” because it is running short of more precise modern missiles.
Hopes of finding a British journalist and a Brazilian guide faded on Friday as police announced an unsettling development in the search for the two men last seen five days ago on a remote river in Amazonia.
“Search teams found on the river, near to Atalaia do Norte, apparently human organic material,” Brazil’s federal police said in a statement.
Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were reported missing on Sunday morning after they failed to show up in the town of Atalaia do Norte at the end of a reporting trip near Brazil’s border with Peru.
Police also confirmed blood had been found on a boat belonging to Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, a man police arrested earlier this week in connection with their disappearance.
Although police said they had no evidence directly tying da Costa de Oliveira to any crime, nor even if the blood on the boat was human or animal, the announcement was a blow to hopes the two men, now missing for more than five days, would be found alive.
Police said the material was being sent for examination and took DNA from Phillips’ home in Salvador and from the family of Pereira in Recife.
“The genetic material collected will be used in comparative analysis with the blood found on the boat,” they added.
Phillips, 57, had been resident in Brazil for 15 years and was a longtime contributor to the Guardian, the Washington Post and other international publications.
He was in the Amazon reporting for a book on sustainable development and was accompanied by Pereira, an explorer and Indigenous advocate who had years of experience in navigating the rivers and forest in what is one of the remotest parts of the rainforest.
…
Pereira had been threatened before for his work in the area, helping indigenous communities protect their traditional lands from invaders.
Da Costa de Oliveira was arrested with arms and ammunition and sources said he threatened Phillips, Pereira and a group of 13 Indigenous people on Saturday morning as they stopped at a community on the Itaquaí river.
President Joe Biden on Friday weighed in on the importance of the congressional hearings about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying that Americans should know what unfolded and that “the same forces that led to Jan. 6 remain at work today.”
New York Times:
More than 19 million people watched the first prime-time hearing of the House Select Committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on Thursday night, according to preliminary ratings figures from Nielsen. That number will grow in the coming hours, as more networks are tallied and out-of-home viewing is factored in.
Yes, more people watched the Committee’s hearing than watched Fox News. However, way too many people were still exposed to Tucker Carlson’s lies on Fox News. .See SC’s comment 463, and my comments 471 and 476.
A New York judge on Friday dismissed the National Rifle Association’s claims that the state attorney general’s investigation into allegations of widespread fraud and mismanagement at the gun group is unfair political retaliation.
Also from NBC News:
Days after a gunman murdered 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, National Rifle Association CEO Wayne La Pierre highlighted his organization’s efforts to bolster security at schools…. But in reality, the NRA has devoted only a fraction of its budget to protecting schools.
[…] The total amount of NRA funds given to schools to improve security since the program began in 2014 is less than $2 million, or .08 percent of the $2.2 billion in revenue the NRA and its associated foundation have raised in the same timeframe, from 2014 to 2019, according to an NBC News review of charitable tax filings and information from the Second Amendment organization.
The NRA has not granted any money to schools to increase safety since 2019 due to the pandemic, according to NRA spokesperson Andrew Arulanandam. Since then, the NRA’s website for School Shield grant information has remained dormant, encouraging schools that need funding to submit email addresses for future grant program updates. According to an NRA adjunct instructor, the School Shield office was shut down in March 2020 and all three of its employees were “furloughed.” Grant and training activity has not resumed.
[…] “It’s total bulls—,” the former NRA adviser, who did not want to be named for fear of litigation, said. “I actually thought we were doing something good. It just wasn’t something they were ever interested in.” […]
ZAPORIZHZHIA AREA
There’s supposedly a lot of action in this area, including several reports that Ukrainian forces have advanced multiple kilometers into formerly Russian occupied territory. But … you wouldn’t know that from this map, which actually shows more villages either held by Russia or in dispute than the last version. That’s not a function of a Russian advance. It’s more due to my having largely ignored this area until the last few weeks and failing to do the kind of village-by-village confirmations that have added detail to the Kherson and Kharkiv maps. [map at the link]
Basically, Ukraine has repelled a number of Russian attempts at a breakthrough along a line that runs from Kamyanske to Orhikiv to Hulyaipole. Back on June 4, there were also reports that Ukraine was pushing south with the intention of capturing Polohy. However, other than a couple of notable explosions at ammunition dumps in the area, there doesn’t seem to be any indication that Ukraine was more successful in this advance than Russia has been in theirs.
For all the Telegrams and Tweets indicating that Ukraine has taken X number of villages, or moved Y number of kilometers, I don’t have the detail — yet — to seriously define the boundaries in this area.
KHERSON AREA
After moving across the Inhulets River south of Davydiv Brid, Ukrainian forces seemed to quicky expand the bridgehead and move swiftly east to liberate a number of small villages. However, Ukrainian movements toward the northern bridge at Nova Kakhovka continue to be mostly held up at Bruskynske, a location that has been reportedly “heavily fortified” by Russia. In a reversal of the normal reporting of events during this war, Ukraine had made multiple moves toward Bruskynske, but has been repelled by dug in Russian forces. However, fighting in the area continues. [map at the link]
[…] On the southern end of the line, along the highway heading straight into Kherson, there are reportedly a lot of battery-counterbattery artillery battles underway. Whether Ukrainian forces in the area have any of the new Western artillery to engage with isn’t clear.
Ukrainian forces are reportedly in Davydiv Brid, actually fighting to take the town at this point. But a video on Saturday morning showed Ukrainan troops attempting to make a landing in the town from the west side using an inflatable boat, being hit and, at least, severely injured by an explosion guided by a Russian drone. I’m not showing that one.
KHARKIV AREA
On Friday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced that a Russian battalion — the motorized infantry of the 1st Army Corps — had “refused to participate in hostilities” in the Kharkiv region due to “losses received in combat with Ukrainian defenders.” Keep in mind that this is the Ukrainian military making a statement about the Russian military, so the possibility of a pure propaganda statement here is high. But let’s hope it’s true. [map at the link]
The focus of much of the fighting appears to be over in the western half of this area. There were reports on Friday that Ukrainian troops were on the edge of eastern Lyptsi, but frankly … they’ve been there before. It’s been clear for awhile that Russia’s artillery positions were actually west of the town proper, so removing this threat requires Ukraine to fight through the town and force Russia to retreat from those positions to the west. The rest of this western line seems to be held by trenches that Russia dug along a line near the village of Dementiivka and up around the long established stronghold at Kozacha Lopan. If Ukraine can come around the right side at Lyptsi, not only might they finally start to significantly erase this holdout area of Russian control, they could finally — finally — end the daily hate-shelling of Kharkiv.
The big surprise on this map? Look way over on the lower right. Look lower. Okay, there are reports that Ukraine has not just assaulted, but recaptured Khotimlya. That east side of the river bridgehead is expanding. But if there’s one area on this map that is still getting whacked by artillery, it’s also over on that east side in the disputed area around Buhaivka and Metalivka (that’s the next white dot to the south). Most of these actions on the east side still seem to be relatively small. It’s unclear how much force Russia has detached to deal with these fights, but as Ukraine threatens their supply lines in two locations, expect that to change.
GRADUATION WEEK
Earlier this week, we had a striking image of young woman wearing her prom dress in the ruins of the high school where she was supposed to graduate. That was in Kharkiv. Here are two groups of students in Chernihiv who took a pair of graduation photos that seem absolutely appropriate. [photo available at the link] […]
Details, “a committee source provided CNN the following description of the “sophisticated seven-part plan”:
[…] “President Trump oversaw a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the 2020 election and prevent the transition of presidential power.
– President Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information to the American public claiming the 2020 election was stolen from him.
– President Trump corruptly planned to replace the Acting Attorney General, so that the Department of Justice would support his fake election claims.
– President Trump corruptly pressured Vice President Pence to refuse to count certified electoral votes in violation of the US Constitution and the law.
– President Trump corruptly pressured state election officials, and state legislators, to change election results.
President Trump’s legal team and other Trump associates instructed Republicans in multiple states to create false electoral slates and transmit those slates to Congress and the National Archives.
– President Trump summoned and assembled a violent mob in Washington and directed them to march on the US Capitol.
– As the violence was underway, President Trump ignored multiple pleas for assistance and failed to take immediate action to stop the violence and instruct his supporters to leave the Capitol.
These are initial findings and the Select Committee’s investigation is still ongoing. In addition, the Department of Justice is currently working with cooperating witnesses, and has disclosed to date only certain of the information it has identified from encrypted communications and other sources. […]
WHOA Cheney says the committee will provide proof that Rep. Scott Perry and other GOP members of Congress sought pardons for their actions after Jan. 6
George Takei:
I’m sleeping a wee better tonight knowing that multiple GOP Congressmembers who sought pardons from Trump for Jan 6 are going to be tossing and turning tonight.
Thoughts and prayers.
Preet Bharara:
Who among you have sought a preemptive pardon for merely assisting tourists?
Thousands of people in rain slickers and T-shirts poured into Washington Saturday to rally against the nation’s epidemic of gun violence and to demand that Congress take steps to end it.
They gathered on a gray morning on the Mall to join the rally staged by March for Our Lives, the organization founded by student survivors of the 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla.
[…] People carried placards reading: “School Should Not be a War Zone” and “Thoughts and Prayers are Not Bulletproof.”
[…] Other rallies were scheduled in towns and cities across the country.
As demonstrators arrived, President Biden voiced his support in a tweet Saturday morning:
“Today, young people around the country once again march with @AMarch4OurLives to call on Congress to pass commonsense gun safety legislation supported by the majority of Americans and gun owners,” he said. “I join them by repeating my call to Congress: do something.”
In Washington, the crowd began forming on the north side of Lincoln Memorial, and mingled amid the soggy grass and light rain.
[…] Most appeared young — college and high school students, along with a few parents with younger children. They spoke with excitement as hit songs blared from the staging area _ Harry Styles’ “As It Was” and Ed Sheeran’s “Shivers.”
Near the National Museum of African American History and Culture, demonstrators were greeted by a huge field of of orange and white artificial flowers that represent gun violence deaths. “Around 5,000 more people died in 2020 than 2019,” a nearby sign read. “The orange flowers symbolize the increase in lost lives.”
Authorities appeared prepared for the day as well, with several ambulances idling along the street corners at edge of monument and a dozen DC police squad cars packed together a block away at Virginia and Constitution avenues.
The event comes four years after the organization held a huge rally in Washington to plead for action in the wake of the Parkland shooting that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. […]
The March for Our Lives organization can claim some victories at the state level, for example, increasing the age at which one can buy an AR-15 style rifle in Florida; and increasing voter turnout for citizens 18 to 25 years old in several states. However, they have had less success at the Federal level, with Republicans in the Senate still blocking most gun safety legislation. These rallies represent a renewed push to urge Congress to act; and to urge voters to make gun safety a deciding factor when they decide which politicians to support in the mid-term elections.
Oh, irony. Sweet, sweet irony. I remember you—hale and hearty, pink-cheeked Pollyanna—living the life of Riley before Republicans curb-stomped you to death […]
While scrolling through Twitter, I discovered that congressional Republicans’ assignment for Tuesday was to falsely blame President Joe Biden for our current high gas prices (though, somehow, Donald Trump still gets a pass for having the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover). I also stumbled on this gem: An Iowa family drove to Washington, D.C., and, for some reason, decided their idea of a good time was listening to the Senate’s second-longest-serving member solemnly reflect on his 40-plus years of distinguished government service before artfully segueing to the months-old Egg McMuffin he found in his suit coat pocket this morning.
Seriously, folks. What’s wrong with this picture [photo at the link]
GRASSLEY: “Met w the Sparlin family from Preston today. They drove to DC from Iowa so we talked about soaring ga$ price$”
So the obvious remedy for sky-high gas prices is … don’t drive 1000-plus miles for a bracing mouthful of Sanka breath, COVID-19, and lies, when you could get the same bullshit spin from a phone call or email. Gas prices are high for several reasons—none of which have anything to do with President Biden. […]
There were many memorable lines, and even a few revelations, in the long-awaited House select committee prime-time hearing on the harrowing events of January 6, 2021. Viewers on Thursday night learned that Donald Trump’s own Attorney General, Bill Barr, had dismissed his “rigged election” claims as “bullshit.” They learned that Trump’s own daughter Ivanka agreed with Barr. And they learned that Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had been informed of the complete and utter emptiness of Trump’s false election claims by one of Trump’s own campaign lawyers. “There’s no there there?” Meadows asked the lawyer.
But the most unforgettable words were those of Liz Cheney, the Wyoming Republican who, in defiance of her party, is helping to lead the investigation by the House panel. Speaking directly to her fellow-Republicans in Congress, the vast majority of whom have continued to support and promote Trump even after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol and sent them fleeing for their lives, she concluded her presentation with a warning: “There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”
In the course of a searing forty minutes, Cheney was given the starring role in laying out the select committee’s case against Trump. She marshalled the evidence—much of it new, much of it devastating—to show how the former President knew that his claims about the election were a lie but used them to inflame his followers and summon them to the Capitol anyway. She nailed it.
It was, in the end, appropriate that it should be a Republican who emerged as the most brutally effective prosecutor of Trump, the former President who has not only escaped being banished and disgraced by his party but remains its leader and the putative front-runner for its Presidential nomination, should he run again in 2024.
At the end of her presentation, Cheney showed what might have been the night’s most revealing witness statement—a short clip of Jared Kushner. In it, Kushner was asked about the repeated threats to resign made by Trump’s White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, and his staff, as they sought to stop Trump from unconstitutionally seeking to overturn the election. Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who served as one of the former President’s close advisers throughout his four disruptive years in the White House, said that he did not take Cipollone’s threats to resign seriously. He thought that Cipollone was just “whining.”
It was a brutal moment. Kushner did not believe Trump’s false claims about the election. But he, like so many others surrounding Trump, like so many of Cheney’s Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill, who knew full well that everything Trump said about the election was a lie, chose to wash his hands of the matter. Instead of trying to stop the President, he and Ivanka purchased a 32.2-million-dollar lot on an exclusive private island near Miami, in December, 2020, and he started writing his memoir. Whining, indeed.
[…] Fox News did not dare to broadcast Liz Cheney’s remarks—or to air the full hearing live, as the other networks did. Instead, it chose to run its regular evening programming of Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and the rest of the Trump propaganda machine.
There is a moment, often replayed in the various January 6th retrospectives, that always hits me like a gut punch. It is the frantic call over a police radio at around 2:30 p.m. on January 6th. “We lost the line! We’ve lost the line,” an officer screams. It was the moment when the Capitol was overrun, ransacked, and occupied by a hostile force for the first time since the War of 1812. I wanted to cry listening to it again on Thursday night.
[…] the Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, said on Thursday was a “sprawling, multipart conspiracy aimed at overturning the Presidential election.” Cheney declared it a “sophisticated seven-part plan,” and future hearings will dive deeper into its components […]
[…] After less than two hours, it was clear that much of the most damaging information from the committee’s probe will come from Trump’s aides, advisers, and even family members. Jason Miller, a Trump campaign adviser, was shown testifying that Trump had been clearly and unambiguously informed by his campaign’s data expert that he would certainly lose. […]
unfortunately, the true scandal of January 6th had always been apparent, long before the House select committee made it clear once again on Thursday night: the mob never would have been there had Donald Trump not lied about the election he lost.
A federal judge did in Louisiana what activists could only hope for in Georgia. Shelly Dick, of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, actually stood in the way of gerrymandering efforts from Republican state legislatures attempting to minimize the impact of population growth in Black communities. In a 150-page order […], Dick required the State Legislature to redraw congressional districts to create a second majority-Black district. Dick instructed the state to push back the filing deadline for House candidates from June 22 to July 8, and required the State Legislature to revise its map by June 20.
“Today’s decision is welcome news for Black voters in Louisiana who, for decades, have been racially gerrymandered into a single district that has diluted the power of their vote and their ability to elect candidates of their choice,” Mike McClanahan, president of the Louisiana State conference of the NAACP, said in a statement. “A new map with two majority-Black districts will finally give Black voters the full representation that is their right.”
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, vetoed the bill Republicans initially passed, preventing GOP legislators from pushing through their redistricting plan. “Out of the 163 total districts created by the Legislature in the various bills passed, not a single additional majority minority seat was created, despite the fact that the percentage of the Black population increased and the white population decreased,” Edwards’ office wrote in a news release. Edwards cited in the release U.S. Census data showing that Black voters make up nearly a third of the state’s voters.
“It is my firm belief that this map violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and further is not in line with the principle of fundamental fairness that should have driven this process,” Edwards wrote in his veto letter.
That element of the Voting Rights Act prohibits discriminatory voting procedures on the basis of race. Edwards said in his veto letter that while the number of Black voting-age Louisianians increased by 4.4% from 2010 to 2020, the GOP’s map “preserved the status quo,” passing a map in which Black voters in five of the state’s six congressional districts “are deprived of the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.”
“As eloquently discussed by Senator Cleo Fields on the floor of the Senate, only five Black members from Louisiana have been elected and seated in the United States House of Representatives since statehood,” Edwards said. “This injustice cannot continue.” […]
While the Supreme Court has allowed states to pass maps that weaken the power of the Black vote, citing a Supreme Court decision requiring courts to avoid changes too close to an election to avoid confusion, Judge Dick argued the principle wasn’t applicable in Louisiana, The Times reported.
“Placing a bureaucratic strain on a state agency in order to rectify a violation of federal law is not analogous to a natural disaster,” she wrote. “Protecting voting rights is quite clearly in the public interest, while allowing elections to proceed under a map that violates federal law most certainly is not.”
Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin has filed a notice of appeal, which could end in a U.S. Supreme Court weigh-in on the matter, Politico reported. If that happens, a similar case in Alabama paints a grim picture of the possible outcome. [yikes, yikes, yikes. Could be bad news to come if the Republican dunderheads on the Supreme Court weigh in.]
The top court reversed a lower court’s decision to require Republicans to redraw its congressional maps after obvious examples of attempted gerrymandering.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent that the majority opinion “does a disservice to the District Court, which meticulously applied this Court’s longstanding voting-rights precedent.” She added: “And most of all, it does a disservice to Black Alabamians who under that precedent have had their electoral power diminished—in violation of a law this Court once knew to buttress all of American democracy.”
[…] Tucker Carlson then quoted a statement from (Coach Ron) Rivera that read in part,
I want to make it clear that our organization will not tolerate any equivalency between those who demanded justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the actions of those on January 6 who sought to topple our government.
Carlson reacted by saying, “If you can think of a line more filled with cant dishonesty and propaganda than that, send us text and tell us what it is because we can’t. That’s just flat-out Maoist.” […]
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in hundreds of protests across the country Saturday to push lawmakers to take action on gun violence in the wake of recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.
Protesters are turning out to more than 450 rallies nationwide […]
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser drew loud cheers from the crowd as she called for common sense gun laws, including mandatory background checks and a ban on assault rifles.
“We don’t have to live like this,” she said, adding that people in other countries “don’t live like this.”
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., shared a story of having been in an abusive relationship when she was younger in which her partner shot at her multiple times. “That moment when gun violence strikes is so dramatic and so preventable,” she said. “I didn’t know when he would stop.”
The rallies were organized by March for Our Lives, a youth-driven organization first created by students who survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
In Parkland, where the movement began, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Pine Trails Park Amphitheater Saturday morning to demand background checks for all gun sales, the implementation of “red-flag” laws and an increase in the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.
Manuel Oliver, whose son, Joaquin, was among those killed in Parkland, also addressed the crowd in Washington. “Our elected officials betrayed us and have avoided the responsibility to end gun violence,” he said, calling for students not to attend school until elected officials “stop avoiding the crisis of gun violence in America.”
[…] As talks on gun restrictions continue on Capitol Hill, the House passed a “red-flag” bill Thursday that would allow a judge to take firearms away from individuals who pose an imminent danger to themselves or others. The legislation, which drew five Republican votes, is viewed as having a greater chance of advancing than some of the other bills in the evenly split Senate.
On Wednesday, the House also passed a series of new gun measures, which include raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. That legislative package is all but guaranteed to fail in the upper chamber because of Republican opposition.
“We need to put aside our politics and save our kids and loved ones from this senseless and horrific violence before it impacts them,” David Hogg, a 2018 graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the co-founder of March for Our Lives, said in a statement ahead of the rallies.
According to Serena Rodrigues, a national coordinator for March for Our Lives, the organization participated in 71 meetings with elected officials on Capitol Hill this past week.
“I feel confident that we’ll get something probably like universal background checks,” she told NBC News. “But we’ll keep pushing for more.”
[…] At least 254 mass shootings have taken place in the U.S. so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. These include the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings. […]
The charges are the second time a bar office has taken action against Trump’s former attorney.
The District of Columbia office that polices attorneys for ethical misconduct filed charges on Friday against President Donald Trump’s former attorney, Rudy Giuliani, over baseless claims he made in federal court alleging the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
The D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel alleges that Giuliani, who is a member of the D.C. bar, made baseless claims in federal court filings about the results of the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania.
[…] The charges come a day after the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol had its first prime-time hearing in which it outlined evidence that Trump and his allies sought to overturn the 2020 election and incite throngs of his supporters to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.
Giuliani, a former U.S. Attorney in Manhattan and New York City mayor, has been among Trump’s most fervent supporters, and repeatedly claimed without evidence that the election had been stolen.
The new ethics charges center on a series of legal challenges Giuliani made in Pennsylvania federal court in 2020. The charges were filed with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility. […]
Such a nice schadenfreude moment to see Giuliani being slammed with new ethics charges. He so deserves it.
Remember the tankies? Quick recap: Tankies believe that all the world’s evils are the product of imperialism and the only country capable of imperialism is the United States. They count among their number such luminaries as Glenn Greenwald and Noam Chomsky.
[posted by Glenn Greenwald] Noam Chomsky, in an interview this week, says “fortunately” there is “one Western statesman of stature” who is pushing for a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine rather than looking for ways to fuel and prolong it.
“His name is Donald J. Trump,” Chomsky says
The Greenwald post is from May 1, 2022.
Other high-profile tankies include Jill Stein, Tulsi Gabbard, Max Blumenthal, and Oliver Stone. Most of these where on “our” side when the topic was American imperialism in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they never escaped the idea that “America is bad,” even when Russia is the actual aggressor today. Yes, it’s true—our country can sometimes do the right thing!
So let’s check in with the Tankies see what they’re up to recently. […]
Weird that an alliance based in Europe, a result of a World War that killed 40-50 million people, and designed to counter the Soviet Union, would be white countries. But wait, is Turkey a white country? It has the second largest army in the alliance. What about Albania, with its 61% Muslim population?
Then there’s Russia, which spans 11 time zones. You want white supremacy? How about a country that sends its ethnically Asian soldiers to die, while sparing white ethnic Russians in Moscow and St. Petersburg? But sure, NATO is the problem.
One could argue that Ukraine gets a disproportionate amount of attention and assistance compared to wars in Africa or Asia (like Myanmar). I’m even sympathetic to some of those argument, as I myself focus nearly exclusively on Ukraine, to the exclusion of those other conflicts. But that’s not this argument. [Tankies apologizing for fascism by claiming Japan was right to attack Pearl Harbor in 1941 … image available at the link]
It’s always the U.S.’ fault. Always.
Yeah, Putin and his fascist ilk hate the new all-inclusive pride flag too. This isn’t my house, but I also fly both of those. If that’s “the current thing,” then good. [photo of house with flags is available at the link]
[…] Tankies don’t just take Russia’s side in their genocidal war of conquest. China gets a pass as well. Of course, if someone points out that these Tiananmen Square protests were brutally suppressed, with up to thousands killed inside the square, they’d accuse you of lying […]
Indeed, there is a whole tankie effort to discredit evidence of the Chinese genocide of Uyghur people. [image at the link]
[…] Here at home, tankies want the systemic destruction of the United States, so that their dreamed-of nirvana can finally be ushered in. [https://twitter.com/ashenthorn/status/1531487804684963843 ]
It’s no surprise that the tankie advocating for “a 4 year bath of pain” is a white dude—the kind of person least likely to suffer pain under fascist Republican control. And not sure what these people think would happen if Republicans got their hands on the entire electoral and judicial apparatus. Maybe they should pay more attention to the January 6 commission hearings.
Tankies are a worldwide phenomenon. […]
Remember, no one has agency, just the United States. Everyone else does its bidding. It can’t be that Lithuania has real historical issues with a colonial power that murdered and subjugated its people. The United States literally has nothing better to do than to order its supposed puppet colony to remodel a public square?
Of course, these same people are nowhere to be found when Russia literally proclaims itself a colonial power. […]
Russia isn’t just proclaiming itself a colonial power, it is claiming the right to erase the history of any other country not at its level. So Lithuania’s history is Soviet history, and if Lithuania decides otherwise by reclaiming its own voice, then Russia threatens violence and invasion.
And of course, the tankies blame the U.S.
This about sums it up: [Russian/Tankie BINGO at the link]
[…]
Pierce R. Butlersays
Lynna @ # 496. quoting Kos: Tankies … count among their number … Noam Chomsky.
An unfair, though not completely unjustified, smear. Chomsky does seem to evade a lot of important questions about the Ukraine war, but he continues to understand nuance and trade-offs.
I think Chomsky does us a favor by keeping the risks of nuclear war front and center. (The Kos commentariat, though … [shudder])
The Idaho police arrested a group of wannabe terrorists, the badly misnamed Patriot Front in Coeur d’Alene. They were going to riot at a Pride Parade.
This wasn’t all that well though out or maybe it was.
Coeur d’Alene is a small city in the middle of nowhere.
They were going to stand out, which is what happened to them.
31 people with ties to White nationalist group arrested for conspiracy to riot near a Pride parade in Idaho
By Andy Rose, CNN Updated 7:18 AM ET, Sun June 12, 2022
(CNN)Idaho police officers on Saturday arrested 31 people who are believed to be affiliated with the White nationalist group called Patriot Front, after they were seen gathering near a Pride parade in the city of Coeur d’Alene, police said.
“It is clear to us based on the gear that the individuals had with them, the stuff they had in their possession, the U-Haul with them along with paperwork that was seized from them, that they came to riot downtown,” Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said during a news conference.
The FBI is assisting local police in its investigation, according to FBI Public Affairs Specialist Sandra Yi Barker. Barker said Coeur d’Alene police are the lead law enforcement agency investigating the situation.
The people who were arrested were all wearing similar clothing associated with Patriot Front, including identical insignia, and there was at least one smoke grenade in their possession, police said. They were still being processed at the time of the news conference and have not yet been identified.
White said the group was equipped with “shields, shin guards and other riot gear with them,” along with papers he described as “similar to an operations plan that a police or military group would put together for an event.”
The 31 individuals were arrested for conspiracy to riot, which is a misdemeanor, White said, adding the suspects came from at least 11 states.
The operation in Coeur d’Alene began when a concerned citizen informed police “approximately 20 people jumped into a U-Haul. They had shields and looked like a little army,” White said.
There was no violence or significant disruption before the arrests were made, White said, adding, “Today ended up being relatively uneventful overall.”
More re #494 – Guardian – “‘This is on you’: Beto O’Rourke confronts Texas governor over mass shooting”:
He spoke to reporters outside after he left.
Ian Dunt at i News – “Tory backbenchers can no longer ignore that a liar is sitting at the heart of government”:
Since it’s a new chapter of the Thread, here are some liveblog links again:
Today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog.
Meduza’s ongoing Ukraine/Russia liveblog.
Today’s Guardian US-politics liveblog.
Today’s Guardian Partygate liveblog.
@ 498
I suspect he is signaling to the gun nuts and MAGA-cultists that he doesn’t accept the “official narrative” about the shooting. Expect an address filled with batshit crazy claims of “false flag operations,” “crisis actors,” and that the shooter was a “transgendered, leftist, illegal.”
Because facts don’t mean anything if you don’t accept them.
Maya Yang at the Guardian liveblog:
“Poland, Ramzan Kadyrov has set his eyes on you
(with subtitles, including all ‘dons’ for purposes of accuracy)…”
Video at the (Twitter) link.
Fox and Texas Republicans respond to newest school murder with talking points from the last ones
Media Matters – “Alex Jones says that the timing of the Uvalde school shooting is ‘opportunistic'”: “Jones also spread the false conspiracy theory that the shooter was trans….”
Video and transcript at the link.
[…] While defending Putin, Russian state TV accidentally admits Trump is a fascist
Followup to a comment on the previous chapter of this thread, (“I know the gun lobby was a major force for decades. I’m not convinced that the gun lobby remains that powerful.”)
Josh Marshall:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/candor-2
Akira also addressed the same issue in comment 474.
Facebook rejects Abbott allegation about Texas shooter’s posts
Governor Abbott presented misleading information. He was not careful will the facts.
Senator Ted Cruz:
Link
Wonkette: “So Beto’s Pissed”
Wonkette:
Link
Jan. 6 committee: During Capitol attack, Trump reportedly approved of ‘Hang Mike Pence’ chants
More at the link.
Check out the Onion today.
Link
Holy shit!
New episodes of The New Abnormal (both were recorded before the massacre in Texas):
“The German Billionaires With a Grotesque Anti-Semitic History”:
“Kellyanne ‘Glorifies Trump’ but Skewers Jared and Her Hubby”:
Two very different books and authors.
Guardian liveblog:
Guardian liveblog:
“The gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary was inside the school for roughly an hour before a tactical unit from the Border Patrol shot and killed him, according to the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.”
NYT link at the (Twitter) link.
CNN – “Josh Duggar sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for child pornography conviction”:
Ukraine update: Russia is blockading Ukraine, but it’s blackmailing the world
Guardian – “‘Putin’s terror affects everyone’: anarchists join Ukraine’s war effort”:
More at the link.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From their most recent summary:
Guardian liveblog:
Guardian – “False conspiracy theories flourish after Texas shooting in familiar pattern”:
Unrelated, also in the Guardian – “How to Murder Your Husband writer found guilty of murdering husband.”
Guardian podcast – “Sue Gray day: the Partygate finale?”:
Chrissy Stroop and Jessica Johnson at Religion Dispatches – “It’s the Theology, Stupid: Why the Shocking SBC Report is Anything But Surprising”
Too much to excerpt, but I do like this quote from Stroop’s 2019 WaPo piece:
I’d missed this Religion Dispatches piece last month, but it’s also worthwhile – “What Most Critics Missed About Dustin Lance Black’s ‘Under the Banner of Heaven’.”
The headline is slightly misleading, Jean-Luc Martinez was the Louvre’s president at the time, Former president of Louvre museum charged in art trafficking case:
A cartoon by M.Wuerker (apparently for Poltico), , which is being used by France24 to illustrate its latest In The Press show, NRA convention is ‘slap in the face’ to Texans after Uvalde school shooting (video).
In Turkey, book publishers face agonising choices to survive:
A snippet from a customer rights column in the Grauniad, Anti-vaxxer Canadian ranch retreat has lassoed my £2,000:
Another setback for the Great Equine Empire, a supposedly-human quisling is a complete loon and happy to break, and encourage others to break, laws. Just send her some money, and she’ll happily keep it, no horses involved.
I’m sure she will be thrilled to see her exposed as a fraudster, etc., in an widely-read (international audience) reliable newspaper. Another nutcase taking strategic lessons from Putin?
Today – 26th May – is Australia’s National Sorry Day :
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/2022/05/25/sorry-day-we-need-action/
(Bolding orignal.)
I live on Kaurna land that was never ceded,.I’m not Indigenous, I’m only beginning to know a bit about this.
It’s something a lot more Aussies need to think about and know. Dark and hidden chapters of our history, just coming tolight for many but experienced first hand for over two centuries and counting by many more. Just down the road from my place we have Colebrook House and the Fountain of Tears as part of our local history and efforts at Reconciliation.
See also :
https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/stolen-generations
& yes, we need to respoect and act on this :
https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement/
Can’t recall if shared here before but on Colebrook House and the Fountain of Tears :
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/culture/indigenous/display/50688-colebrook-blackwood-reconciliation-park-fountain-of-tears-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colebrook_Home
& https://guides.slsa.sa.gov.au/Aboriginal_Missions/Colebrook
Ted Cruz angrily quits interview after being confronted about gun control:
There is a video of the encounter at the link (I haven’t watched it).
Yet another reason to never, ever, have a twittering account, Twitter fined $150m for handing users’ contact details to advertisers:
@ 36
Because it not only produces shits like Ted Cruz, but millions of jingoistic, racist, paranoid morons who would put the likes of Cruz into office.
From that first linked article #34 :
Axios:
Guns have become the leading cause of death for American kids
Caitlin Owens / May 26,2022
Snippets from the Meduza live blog:
Guardian liveblog:
In the UK, ‘I’ve never seen one in real life’: orchestra wows young audience in Great Yarmouth:
In the image at the link, I noticed the musicians were all casually dressed (none of that formal wear) with some sort of event T-shirt (all I can make out is “Great Yarmouth”. Except for the conductor, who is dressed in a colourful astronomical-object decorated suit which reminds me of something that I cannot currently place. (At first I thought Eric Idea in Monty Python’s Galaxy Song, but no, he was wearing a pink suit.)
Making nonsense up again, pseudo-historian David Barton Falsely Claims Voter Turnout in Early America Because (RWW edits in {curly braces}):
I’m surprised teh eejit didn’t go for . (I have no idea if teh eejit supports universal suffrage, if not that could be why they failed to make a bigger fool of themselves.)
Bad political campaign news from Wisconsin:
Link
Going from bad to worse.
Texas Tribune:
Texas state bar files professional misconduct lawsuit against Ken Paxton for attempt to overturn 2020 presidential elections
JAMES BARRAGÁN / MAY 25, 2022
Sheesh.
Mark Meadows reportedly used a White House fireplace to burn docs
Documents from the Trump White House are already damning on a historic scale. But what about the materials Mark Meadows may have literally set on fire?
Trump and two of his children must testify, says New York attorney general:
Another example of going from bad to worse:
Is Herschel Walker trying to beat Sarah Palin’s record for spouting word salad and then dousing it with ignorance?
Cartoon: At this difficult time.
WaPo:
Trump to speak at NRA meeting in Texas days after school shooting
By Adela Suliman and Isaac Arnsdorf / May 25, 2022
Ukraine update: Russia massed its forces at Izyum, and those forces have gone exactly nowhere
Senate Republicans derail bill to address domestic terrorism
Across the House and Senate, 251 Republicans voted on the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act — and 250 of them voted against it.
They got caught. They were kicked off the ballot. For now.
It’s Official: Michigan GOPers Who Submitted Forged Signatures Are Off The Ballot
Jimmy Kimmel delivers powerful monologue about do-nothing politicians, Dallas station cuts away
The video of the monologue is available at the link.
Husband of teacher killed in Texas shooting dies of heart attack
Good news, as presented by Wonkette: “Let’s Keep New Moms Healthy And Alive, OK?”
CBS – “Miami Heat urge fans at playoff game to demand gun reform in wake of Texas school shooting”:
Video at the link – tweet here. Good for them.
Guardian liveblog:
James Wharton, the chair of the regulator of England’s universities*, the so-called “Office for Students” (OfS) addressed the CPAC conference in Budapest by video, on the same day as the vile Hungarian racist Zsolt Bayer, who has described Jews as “stinking excrement”** and Roma as “animals” (yes, I know they are animals in the sense of organisms developing from a blastula, as are we all, but we all know what describing people in those terms means).
THe UJS should be ashamed of themselves. And friend-of-fascists Wharton should be out of a job, but he won’t be.
*Note: Not all UK universities
**Unbelievably, the linked Guardian article says Bayer has been “accused of antisemitism”.
***Jesus wept! When will journalists drop this dishonest, cowardly crap of “has been accused of”, when the truth of the accusation is blindingly obvious?
Onion – “Mitch McConnell: ‘Get Your Crying Done Now Because We’re Not Passing Shit’”:
Lynna, OM@52,
It seems to me the “Ukraine updates” from Daily Kos have been far too optimistic (compare with the latest statements from Ukraine’s own leaders, e.g. from foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba – see SC’s #59), as has the general tenor of comments on that site, with most commenters apparently believing Russia has already lost the war. Of course, it hasn’t won, either; most likely, the war will last many months yet, if not years – always provided it doesn’t develop into WW3 and nuclear catastrophe.
KG @ #60:
I hope you don’t think my only point in this is this technical (though important) one! I’m well aware of the literature on “dehumanization” – my notes on David Livingstone Smith’s On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It run to several often angry pages (despite the fact that I thought it made some good points). The point I’m making about these terms is essentially the same as the one I’m making about terms like “primitive,” “savage,” and “barbaric,” and about misogynistic insults, except that the imagined “animal” category is at the root of all of these as well.
I object to these sorts of comments of course on the basis of what “we all know…describing people in those terms means” – placing them in a category of dirty, insidious, aggressive, dangerous, violent, weak, lesser, non-rights-bearing… beings who can be exploited, excluded, controlled, persecuted, and killed, and against which “we” define ourselves and our superior identity. Obviously this is bad! But I also object to any objection to the comparisons that accepts the existence of these categories and defends those compared to the despised group on that basis: “They’re not [b—–s]!” “They’re not [f—–s]!” “They’re not [n—–s]!” “They’re not savages!” “They’re not animals!” This isn’t helpful, and is in fact very harmful. These two objections are in my view consistent, valid, and necessary.
I’ve briefly made a few arguments here, but I’ll have to finish my post about it…
Guardian liveblog:
“[The New York Yankees] [and the opposing Tampa Bay Rays] are tweeting nothing but gun violence stats the entire game:…”
Links at the (Twitter) link.
Natasha Bertrand at CNN: “Among those who have been calling for the US to send the systems is @RepJasonCrow, who told CNN that the long range systems ‘could be a gamechanger, to be honest with you’, both for offensive & defensive purposes. ‘It would take away their siege tactics’, he said of the Russians.”
Hallelujah. Get them there.
Rob Lee re #64: “This is a big deal and it is a significant factor in whether Ukraine will be able to retake terrain from Russia over the summer.”
Well, that’s fucking stupid!
Christopher Miller, Politico: “US MLRS & HIMARS are near the top of Ukrainians’ weapons wish list. Every commander I spoke to on the frontline in the Donbas this past week has said they desperately need these to fight against Russian forces, who have bigger, more, & longer range systems. They need them asap.”
Another war crime by the Russians. They are systematically deporting Ukranians to Russia.
They are also replacing them with Chechens and Russians from Russia.
This is ethnic cleansing as part of a genocide program.
The numbers are high, up to 1.37 million including 200,000 children.
These Ukranians are being dumped in the worst and most remote parts of Russia. The high arctic on the arctic ocean. The Russian Pacific coast to near Japan on Sakhalin island.
So, what will happen to these Ukrainians? Probably a lot of them will just have short, miserable lives and die young.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
KG @62, those updates from DailyKos are but one source among many. In this thread updates on the war are posted from many sources. It seems wise not to focus on just one source.
Josh Marshall:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/cracks-in-the-facade#more-1416994
Guardian – “Last Salem ‘witch’ pardoned 329 years after she was wrongly convicted”:
Why Rubio’s complaint about the NBA and its message on guns matters
The more the sports world gets involved in the conversation — on the side of reformers — the more pressure the GOP will face.
Guardian – “Shireen Abu Aqleh: killing of reporter referred to international criminal court”:
Bits and pieces of campaign news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
Link
Some new podcast episodes:
Guardian – “How the climate crisis upturned Australian politics”:
NBN – “Chiara Bonacchi, Heritage and Nationalism: Understanding Populism through Big Data“:
There’s a link at the link to download the book for free! Cool methods.
This Is Critical – “Demystifying the Black Manosphere”:
Followup to comment 47.
Additional details:
Link
Boebert accidentally makes a good point
Ukraine Update: Severodonetsk is exposed, isolated, under assault. Why doesn’t Ukraine retreat?
You really couldn’t make it up – but there’s no need to do so anyway: Johnson has rewritten the ministerial code (which is supposed to regulate the behaviour of UK ministers, and one of the key points of which is to forbid them to lie to Parliament), to remove the provision that ministers who break it have to resign! He’s also rewitten the forward he wrote himself in 2019, removing all references to integrity, objectivity, accountability, transparency, honesty and leadership in the public interest.
Lynna, OM@81,
The regional governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Gaidai, has said Ukranian forces may have to retreat from Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk to avoid being surrounded. Let’s hope they don’t leave it too late: regrettable as it is to cede land to the invaders, maintaining viable and experienced forces is even more important.
Sorry, @83 I meant to give a link to the report of Gaidai’s words.
Kyiv Post – “Ukrainian Orthodox loyal to Moscow break with Moscow Patriarchate”:
I’ve long had a nagging sense that I don’t have a complete grasp what’s happening here, but they seem to be throwing around a lot of blame and making a lot of demands for people in their position.
For the Right, Everything Is Fodder for the War on Public School—Even Mass Shootings
The Federalist used the horrific Texas shooting to continue the conservative argument against public education.
KG @ #82:
You really couldn’t. And he’s going to keep going as long as they let him.
Crushing:
CNN had the full timeline earlier. It’s difficult even to see it on the screen.
“1:29 p.m. CT, Houston”
Photo of a large protest outside the NRA venue at the (Twitter) link.
Washington Post link
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/opinion/nra-trump-texas-guns.html
All In with Charis Hayes last night (YT ink) – “‘Enraging’: Hayes On Dystopian Call To ‘Harden The Schools’ After Shootings”:
Quoted in Lynna’s #86:
Unfortunately, it’s not included in the clip above, but just after that monologue Hayes interviews an expert who notes that crime in schools is very low and that schools are the safest space in many children’s lives. And this isn’t even to mention that the content of rightwing homeschooling curricula is inherently abusive, the relationships it forces kids into are primed for abuse (the Duggar kids – see #22 above – are all homeschooled), and this deprives children being abused or rejected at home of a place to find comfort or help.
Happy platypuses
Survivors of mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, share their stories
Great Twitter thread with photos and videos by Steven Monacelli reporting from the protest outside the NRA meeting.
Not just “warning signs,” but these were warnings in writing:
Link
Trump loses bid to thwart New York inquiry into his business practices:
Don’t recall that bottom-feeding ambulance chaser before. From the Daily Beast, The One Trump Lawyer the Rest of Trump’s Legal Team Loathes (March 2022):
Alls teh besteresting peoples!
“The #Uvalde timeline offered by Texas officials right now is gutting. There were 19 police officers in the hallway who made the decision not to break into the room, at the same time children inside were alive and calling 911. One begged ‘please send police now’.”
Guardian liveblog:
Grauniad snarking, No drive, no spine, very little vision: even science can’t explain the creatures clinging on to Johnson:
As an aside, Quote Investigator has traced forms of that riposte back to 1863, and pointed out it even used in the 1932 WC Fields movie It’s A Gift, Yes, I Am Drunk, But You Are Ugly. Tomorrow I Will Be Sober, And You Will Still Be Ugly: “QI believes that most of the retellings are fictional even the versions that purport to be non-fiction. If Churchill did deliver the famous rejoinder he was likely influenced by the long series of previous jokes involving members of the House of Commons.”
Back to the Grauniad’s snarking:
The fools! They’ve forgotten dangerous pieces of fruit!
Follow-up to @45(previous page): About two weeks ago Cornish pub receives framed apology from Vogue publisher after name row (Grauniad edits in {curly braces}):
Loons don’t like coincidence, Monkeypox Hoax: Conspiracy theories stir across social media over latest outbreak spreads:
No, The Simpsons did not “predict” Monkeypox (video):
The Azov–Netherlands’ flag video seems to be a previous Russian troll factory effort. (The flags of Netherlands🇳🇱 and Russia🇷🇺 have the same(-ish) colours, but in a different order (at least).)
This is rather amusing — even the announcer spotted the video was misrepresented (so did I for the same reason) — Debunking claims that France’s Le Pen was a victim of voter fraud (video):
Text quoted by blf @97:
OMG … and Trump hired her because she is pretty. Well, that seems to be just another way for Trump to shoot himself in the foot. This is good news for everyone but Trump:
Text quoted by blf @102:
Ah, good. That sounds like an excellent marketing campaign.
This was a painful press conference to watch: “Police admitted to a stunning string of failures — including driving right by the gunman — in responding to the Texas school shooting while children were being massacred inside, with the head of the state’s Department of Public Safety saying the time for making excuses about the botched response was over.”
After all the bad news, here is some news that is laugh-worthy:
I was shocked by this. My general opinion / experience with younger French people is they are well-educated (their English, not their first language, seems like it is often better than mine, a native English-language speaker (albeit (regional-)idioms can be a problem)), and the people I’ve worked-with have excellent mathematical skills. France’s maths problem: Students lag behind other EU countries (video):
As I’ve mentioned previously, Blanquer was a disaster, and education (in general) was one of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s major campaign themes.
<rant>For some reason — probably coincidence, but more likely the mildly deranged penguin is up to something — I’ve had recently had “terrible” problems at restaurants. Some days ago I went to a highly-regarded place for dinner. I guessed it would be a busy night and I didn’t have a reservation, so I was semi-expecting to be turned away. To my delight, they had a few tables free, so I was seated, albeit (unsurprisingly) not at one of the best tables, but still entirely adequate. After that, things went wrong. An incorrect apéritif was delivered, the courses were exceptionally slow to arrive, and other such irritations. (The food and vin were great!) It was all a bit shocking, as I’m a “known person” there, and friends with the waiting staff. Oh well, there are off days…Today, for lunch, I went to a reliable place with “average” food — this is France, so “average” is quite good — and indeed, the food was as expected: Good, but nothing special (by French standards). What was shockingly bad was the service: Extremely slow, without the excuse of being busy. Mindbogglingly slow. Again, I’m a “known person” there, and friends with some of the waiting staff. So I bit my tongue (figuratively), and didn’t complain, albeit at one point I did snap at a young lady. I gave up in disgust and left without either a café or dessert, which is very Very unusual for me, so much so it confused the staff. One of my friends did apologise and gave me a free digestif. What maybe irritated me the most — and the reason I snapped at the lady — is today is very hot, and there was no water. Fsmdamnit, the first thing you do on a hot day is bring water! (Or at least ask, and if “yes”, don’t delay.) Since a series of similar incidents some years ago, I got a clew and now always try to carry water; I almost broke out my own water as a signal of my irritation (which I have done previously).
</rant>Oklahoma defies Roe’s legality and bans abortion entirely
Kirschner explains How Trump committed Treason, given the new “Executive Time” disclosures on 1/6
Re: # 112
Stitt signed the abortion bill Wednesday, 5/25.
Ukraine Update: Ukraine makes a move in Kherson, while things remain desperate in the east
tom @114, thanks for that update. I should have included that.
In Ukrainian news: “Look at this creepy-ass shit:”
https://twitter.com/dkaleniuk/status/1530244810837311489
Wonkette: “How Are Women To Blame For The Mass Murders They Don’t Commit?”
Navalny in prison: How a thorn in Putin’s side reaches the outside world
“Before massacre, Uvalde gunman frequently threatened teen girls online.”
Washington Post link
Young people who met the alleged gunman online said he had threatened to kidnap, rape or kill. But they said their reports were ignored.
More at the link.
“Covid was vanishing last Memorial Day. Cases are five times higher now.”
Washington Post link
More at the link.
Inside The Anti-Abortion Movement’s Uber Successful Messaging Campaign
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/anti-abortion-movement-language
Looking at the NRA in a wider context:
Link
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/readers-on-guns-1
HOLY CR**: Trump’s NRA Speech Showed He’s Still Angry, Ignorant, and Severely Mentally Dysfunctional
Trump also read the names of the victims in the Uvalde massacre, with a loud and weird church bell ringing between each name.
Right Wing Watch:
https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1529177770026225671
video at the link
https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1530262007701770241
video at the link
Storm warning here for me and others in Adelaide -l iteral storm of the windy rainy variety :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-29/weather-warning-for-much-of-south-australia/101108586
Worrying article here on a celebrity trial that I haven’t been following but which has been horrific for domestic terrorism “violence” WARNING : Domestic violence, dusturbing & confronting material inlink below
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-29/johnny-depp-amber-heard-domestic-violence/101093294
Excerpt :
Seems the Gestapotato / Aussie Voldemort is going to become the new LNP leader unopposed. A huge mistake on their part. From a meme seen on fb :
Oh and finally as something beautiful and moving artwork created to the words of the Uluru Statement from the Heart on youtube with Midnight Oil. (4 min 20 secs length.)
Twitter thread:
UN Global Assessment Report – the report in question
Ukraine update: As Russia presses in on Severodonetsk, other areas are open to counterattack
Several videos of Russian stuff being blown up are available at the link, including a Ka-52 helicopter, supply vehicles, and a Russian BTR-82A APC.
To top things off: https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1530943234909818882
Video of young, female Ukrainian military medics under heavy Russian artillery fire. I will look for a translation later.
Link
‘Soulless’: Trump Torched For Dance At NRA Event After Reading TX Shooting Victims’ Names
Here are a few of those responses:
“First she documented the alt-right. Now she’s coming for crypto.”
Washington Post link
Molly White, a veteran Wikipedia editor, is fast becoming the cryptocurrency world’s biggest critic.
More at the link.
Stampede injures 16 at New York’s Barclays Center after false alarm over active shooter
Notable quote from former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger here :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2022/05/29/attention-spans-are-ridiculously-short/#comment-2136359
Meanwhile whilst it may well fizzle out and its rainy and overcast here a just remotely possible meteor storm has been predicted for the Tau Herculids – see here :
https://www.space.com/meteor-storm-tau-herculids-shower-webcast
With a live youtube stream in 15 hours time from now.
Plus here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-05-30/tau-herculid-meteor-shower-astronomers-storm/101076526
For the southern hemisphere take on them.
There is a harrowing TV video from a senior Russian general turned politician that just came out. Colonel General Shamanov is old, lies a lot, and is delusional.
It is Russia’s plan for Ukraine. It is genocide.
1. War crime trials.
2. Demilitarize Ukraine.
The only way that happens is if they conquer and destroy the whole country. The Ukrainians are fighting for their survival. Their choice isn’t win or lose. It is live or die.
3. Denazification.
Who knows what that means. The Russians are the Nazis.
It is probably code for Russification, replacing Ukrainian language and culture with Russian.
He is talking about the war lasting 5 or 10 years.
It could. The Russians could just keep on signing cease fires, absorbing territory, reinforcing their army, and then grabbing more territory.
I don’t believe this.
No one except maybe China and I doubt if the Chinese are that dumb, are going to be involved in fake show trials.
What will happen to the Ukrainian cultural and political elite is what happened to the elites of Poland, East Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia among others. They will be taken away to Russian prison camps, tortured and killed, and no one will ever hear from them again.
I know or know of two people that the Russians did that to.
My friends father was a German in Poland after the war. Taken away and never saw him again.
Another was a slave laborer in a Russian prison camp. His crime. Not being Russian.
More from General Shamanov.
“When the war ends, Ukraine will be left with nothing.”
Yeah, for sure. The Russian strategy is to level everything with artillery and aerial bombing, and then move in. They don’t care if tens of thousands of civilians die and countless cities are destroyed.
Why should they?
The Ukrainians aren’t Russians, and those cities they are destroying aren’t theirs. This is genocide.
He calls Ukraine a disease.
Says it could take 20 years to de-Ukrainianize Ukraine.
We all know what that means.
Claims that Russia has the best military in the world, “surpassing all others”.
Russian does have the largest nuke stockpile. The rest of their military probably isn’t even in second place.
CPAC is boosting the antisemitic Hungarian right. Who’s paying them to do it?
Cartoon: Another typical week
Link
Video at the link.
Video at the link.
I forgot to include a link in comment 141. Here is that link: The white headed hyena makes me ashamed to be a Georgia woman.
Representative Hakeem Jeffries:
https://twitter.com/RepJeffries/status/1530761096767754241
Patriarch Kirill sends up a carefully coded distress flare
“Faithful Christians” always strikes me as such an odd phrase. There’s so much cognitive dissonance stirred up by that phrase that it makes my eyes goggle.
Ukraine Invasion Day 96: no memorial day in sight
Much more at the link
Link
More awfulness, including details of bullying LGBTQ people, available at the link. Trigger warning is appropriate here.
I just saw this tweet.
It looks like things are rapidly unraveling or heating up if you will, in Eastern Europe. The head of NATO just said the last NATO agreement with Russia is dead.
Which was that NATO wouldn’t put permanent bases in the former captive nations of the USSR.
The Russians aren’t going to like this. Good.
I thought that tweet looked a bit unreal and tried to verify it. It is apparently real and comes from Vilnius, Lithuania.
I’ve lately read and dealt with a few people from the Baltic areas that are in or from the former captive nations of the USSR.
It is amazing how much they hate Russia. Not necessarily Russian people but Russia.
I can see why.
For decades and centuries they were serfs or slaves to the Russian empire and the USSR. Hundreds of thousands of them were arrested, deported, and killed. A lot of people there know of a family member or friend who disappeared one day.
They also lost a lot of territory as the Soviets kept readjusting the borders in their favor and removing the non-Russian population.
And now, for the first time anyone alive can remember, they are free to be Polish, Lithuanians, Estonians, etc.. They don’t have to worry about the knock on the door at 2:00 AM, the men with guns, and no one ever hears from you again. And, they aren’t going to go back to being Russian serfs again.
These people are scared and angry and they are going to fight.
Just so you know.
Russia has now conquered Ukraine.
It is now going to destroy NATO for their encore.
Olga Skabeyeva also frequently threatens to use nuclear weapons against someone for something. The Russians have made so many nuclear threats, that we’ve all lost track.
This is what happens when something like Fox NoNews actually owns and runs a country.
They aren’t even within cruise missile distance of reality.
Josh Marshall: “A Possible Glimmer of Hope Amidst the Wreckage”
Ukraine Update: Ukraine launches legit three-pronged Kherson counter-offensive
Interesting article about telescopes:
Link
More at the link.
Good News.
New US ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink arrives in Kyiv
Well, I don’t have to wonder about what I’m doing next week.
According to Russian state TV, World War III has begun and Russia is going to demilitarize NATO. The USA is of course, a big part of NATO.
Strangely enough, I sort of agree with them.
We are in something that looks more and more like a war with Russia every day.
We disagree on who will win it though.
Jelani Cobb: “After mass shootings like those in Uvalde and Buffalo, pro-gun officials say they don’t want to politicize tragedy. But the circumstances that allow for the mass murder of children are inherently political.”
New Yorker link
More at the link.
Some podcast episodes:
Why Is This Happening? – “‘A Genetic History of the Americas’ with Jennifer Raff”:
Mad in America – “The Failings of ‘Mental Health’: How a Seemingly Benign Concept Might be Dangerous”:
The New Abnormal – “George Carlin’s Daughter Says He’d ‘Roll Eyes’ at Far Right”:
Some more podcast episodes:
CounterVortex – “Chomsky and Kissinger: paradoxical unity”:
Citations Needed – “News Brief: Rightwing Media’s Increasingly Goofy, Hyper-Militarized Non-Solutions to Mass Shootings”:
A World to Win – “Pandemic Political Economy w/ Sahil Dutta and Nick Taylor”:
New QAnon Anonymous – “Episode 190: Idaho’s Far Right Insurgency Groyper Edition feat Christopher Mathias”:
@ 158
Once again, the gun nuts and yokel-fascists play while the Feds either cheer them on (i.e. Republicans) or cower in fear of blowback if they actually dealt with them (i.e. Democrats).
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Guardian – “Canada plans complete freeze on handgun ownership”:
Cartoon: Republicans call for school control
State Bar of Texas adds to Ken Paxton’s troubles with new lawsuit
Unfuckingbelievable.
Josh Marshall:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/storming-the-capitol-literally
Oh yeah, Kelley seems like a normal Republican candidate for office.
Link
Link
“BREAKING: Jury finds DC lawyer Michael Sussmann NOT GUILTY on charge of lying to the FBI – big loss for special counsel John Durham in 1st trial of his more than three-year investigation.”
It had better be the last trial. Long past time to bring this farce to an end.
Boris Johnson faces growing Tory calls for confidence vote. If 54 Tory MPs (15% of the total of 359) write letters to Graham Brady, chair of the “1922 Committee” – the body to which Tory backbenchers belong (backbenchers are MPs not in the government or the corresponding “shadow” office-holders in opposition parties) expressing no confidence in the Tory leader (and don’t withdraw them – as far as I can tell, they can put letters in and retract them as often as they like), then a vote of all Tory MPs is triggered. The leader then needs a simple majority in that vote to stay in office. If they lose, there is then a contest for a new leader, in which the old leader cannot take part. If they win, no new vote can be triggered for a year. Despite the initial response to Sue Gray’s report among Tory MPs being “Meh”, there has been a continued trickle of them calling on him to go, as new revelations mean the brouhaha has not died down. Not all of these MPs going public have necessarily submitted letters, and others may have done so without going public. There seems to be a feeling among political journalists that the magic number will be reached if it hasn’t been already (Brady would probably wait until next week to announce it, as this Thursday is the 70th anniversary of Elizabeth Windsor’s coronation, and we are all instructed to rejoice unstintingly – by coincidence, I’ll be visiting the dentist that day to get a new crown fitted!). Johnson’s cronies claim to be confident he would win a vote, but then they would say that, wouldn’t they – perhaps particularly if they actually think he would lose, because as noted above, a win would leave him safe from deposition for a year.
James Vincent in the Guardian – “Boris Johnson’s move to bring back imperial units is pure piffle – and simply unfathomable”:
More at the link. Also, LOL at this from Marina Hyde’s latest, “Pounds, ounces, pints! Johnson is offering a whole bushel worth of phoned-in gibberish”:
“WSJ: US to provide Ukraine with artillery with over 60 kilometers in range.
The WSJ reported, citing anonymous sources in the White House, that the precision-guided rocket systems could arrive within weeks, and training on how to use them would take at least 10 days.”
Re #167:
“Meet the TX man who’s making customized caskets for each of the 19 young victims and two teachers from the school shooting in #Uvalde. Trey Ganem visited with the families last week so each casket is personalized to include each child’s interests….”
Indescribably sad photos at the (Twitter) link.
Also re #167:
Guardian liveblog:
Followup to SC in comments 167, 171 and 173.
This is hilarious in a way, (also pathetic and indicative of Trump’s vengeful spirit still managing to waste government money).
Yes, Durham “whose investigation was gonna expose the Deep State cabal that framed Trump for Russia collusion,” found fuck all. What he did try to prosecute was petty and not even material to the case. Total failure.
However, for three long years, Durham gave Trump and QAnon fuckwits something to hang onto. I’m glad it is over … mostly over. Trump and the QAnon clowns will never let it go no matter what.
So, three years later, the courts tell us what we already knew: there was no legitimate reason to launch a federal prosecution in the first place.
As Steve Benen pointed out:
More commentary:
I wish media outlets would stop repeating the “Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer” bit. That had nothing to do with the information Sussmann presented to the FBI.
Link
Daily Beast:
LOL. What a bunch of hogwash.
Commentary:
Link
“I’m not prone to believing in conspiracies, yet I am getting closer and closer to think that editors of the @nytopinion and the @guardian’s opinion page teamed up to make Kissinger’s suggestions in Davos look reasonable by publishing some egregiously poorly argued takes….”
Fresh NYT example at the (Twitter) link.
Josh Marshall:
Link
Ukraine update: The beginning of a breakthrough, the brink of disaster, or neither of the above
This article is headed by a very scary photo of a bomb disposal group of three men at work.
Child labor? Some Republicans think we should have more of it.
Commentary from Wonkette:
Well that’s different:
Washington Post link
At the link there is a photo of the K-pop supergroup BTS standing behind Karine Jean-Pierre like they are her backup singers.
“Meanwhile in Russia, propagandists on Kremlin-controlled state television are having another normal day, arguing that the war against Ukraine can be over only after they move the borders far enough and drive a stake through Zelensky’s heart. Watch:…”
Video with subtitles at the (Twitter) link.
Mike Rothschild:
Lis Power, Media Matters:
Video (of the second part) at the (Twitter) link.
“If we can live well without causing unnecessary harm, why wouldn’t we?” – @genebaur
Lovely video at the (Twitter) link.
Colossal – “Artist Simone Leigh Embodies Self-Determination in the Historic ‘Sovereignty’ at the Venice Biennale”:
Photos of the powerful art at the link.
There is a new report out that calls the Russian invasion of Ukraine a genocide.
No surprise, that is exactly what it is.
From the article:
“Ukrainians must endure a brutal ‘filtration’ process to escape Russian-held territory. Here’s what that means
It says that the well-documented massacres and summary executions in Bucha, Staryi Bykiv, and in Sumy and Chernihiv regions, Russia’s deliberate attacks on shelters, evacuation routes and healthcare facilities, as well the indiscriminate targeting and bombardment of residential areas, rapes, sieges, grain thefts and forced deportations to Russia all amount to “genocidal pattern of destruction.”
Add to this that ca. 30,000 civilians have died, 1.3 million civilians have been deported to Russia, including over 200,000 children. If past Russian behavior holds, many of most of those people will end up disappeared, and no one will know what happened to them. They are being sent to the remotest parts of Russia, the high arctic and Pacific coasts.
The Russians aren’t hiding it either.
They frequently say that Ukrainians don’t really exist and there is no such thing as the Ukrainian language. They’ve been saying that periodically since the days of the Russian empire before the USSR was formed.
One of the frequent claims of the Russians is that Ukrainians and the Ukrainian language don’t really exist. They are just imperfect Russians.
They also often claim that Russian and Ukrainian are closely related languages with some degree of mutual intelligentability.
That isn’t really true either.
Ukrainian is closest to Belarusian and then Polish and Slovakian. It’s distantly related to Russian. And most Ukrainians can understand Russian because it has been the language of the conqueror and dominant government for most of two centuries.
Odd factoid. Their war time leader, Zelenskiy is a native Russian speaker.
SC@173, Lynna, OM@175,
There should surely be an investigation into the investigation into the investigation :-p
Well of course Q wasn’t referring to John Durham and his false flag investigation at all! But to Durham, England, which is the real location of the server that changed all the election results so Trump appeared to lose an election which actually he won by a landslide! The server is probably in the crypt of the Cathedral, which belongs to the Church of England, a known nest of Cultural Marxists and Critical Race Theorists!
The world has a new champion for largest plant -at least in area :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-06-01/worlds-largest-plant-seagrass-meadow-shark-bay-giant-clone/101112726
A clonal seagrass of this botanical species :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posidonia_australis
Whilst sadly things look worrying for the future of the previous cloned champion & still largest plant on land :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-10-18/pando-aspen-clone-utah-collapse/10383562
Athough this is rather old news. Dunno if things have changed there since 2018..
SC@177, I’m rather confused which Grauniad opinion(s?) is being talked about. A quick search failed to find any which mentioned (in regards to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine) Kissinger, Davos, giving up territory, etc. Indeed, a snippet from their latest editorial, The Guardian view on the EU’s oil embargo: ramping up the cost of Putin’s war, rather suggests otherwise:
I suspect @177 is referring to the Grauniad’s pet rightwing loon, Simon Jenkins, who recently vomited froth The EU should forget about sanctions — they’re doing more harm than good. I normally don’t bother to read any of that loon’s putrid rants, but this time held my nose and did to try and verify my suspicion. Teh nutcase is roughly saying the same thing as Kissinger, that the economic blowback from sanctions is unacceptable, yadda yadda yadda. To give Jenkins a tiny bit of credit, he doesn’t seem to echo Kissinger about trading land-for-peace. However, there are no suggestions at all on how to stop the invasion, and like Kissinger, Ukraine’s input and views are completely ignored. (Teh loon also doesn’t mention UK or States sanctions, going on only about the EU’s sanctions.)
Note, b.t.w., the Gruaniad’s editorial is directly contradictory to their pet lunatic columnist’s opinion.
That leads me to suspect @177 confused the Grauniad’s position / editorials with opinions expressed by individual — in this case, just one — columnist. (My recollection is Grauniad editorials are collectively agreed-on by the editorial team, or “editors”, contrary to @177 is asserting.) Al Jazeera deals with this same sort of confusion by appending to each of its columnist’s columns / opinions the disclaimer:
The Grauniad doesn’t put perhaps should?
blf @ #192:
There have been several “egregiously poorly argued takes” of this sort. I’ve linked to one or two (my mini-spiel about one in early May, for example), and I believe KG might have as well.
A couple others:
(Former consultant to the Kremlin) Angus Roxburgh, April 27: “Further arming Ukraine will only destroy it. The west must act to end this war now.”
Anatol Lieven, May 5: “Ukraine is already winning: victory can be achieved without risking nuclear war.”
They’ve published a range of views, some I agree with and some I don’t. That’s fine. But there’s no need for the NYT or the Guardian to “balance” solid, well-argued takes with shoddy, weak, or even propagandistic ones.
As Iran’s nuclear program reaches a new, dangerous level, it’s worth reflecting on how serious a mistake Donald Trump made when he abandoned the JCPOA.
Link
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From there:
From their most recent summary:
New podcast episodes:
Fever Dreams – “Pizzagate Is Back, Baby! Feat. Sarah Posner”:
NBN – “Jonathan Saha, Colonizing Animals: Interspecies Empire in Myanmar“:
Ukraine Update: HIMARS it is, as Ukraine gets the rocket artillery it’s been begging for
Politico – “U.K. seeks U.S. approval to send rocket systems to Ukraine”:
More details regarding the war in Ukraine:
Link
More from the briefing @ #195:
Wow.
“On [Russian] TV the rhetoric is now moving from a special operation towards a large scale war with Nato, and of winning such a confrontation. Warmongers like these will bring ruin to their country. But we have better take note….”
Batshit 3-minute video at the (Twitter) link.
SC @201, yeah, that detail plus the other revealing details really illustrate the degraded condition of the Russian military. I’ve seen photos of Russian soldiers with those bolt-action rifles.
Some Ukrainian snipers buy their own rifles, getting rifles, scopes, etc. shipped from the USA. Then there is a problem getting the best ammunition for a sniper rifle. Seems like the USA could fix that problem easily.
In other news, here are some campaign tidbits, as summarized by Steve Benen:
@ 201
Does one soldier hold the rifle while the other holds the ammo? (e.g. The beginning battle in the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates.)
“NEW: U.S. believes that Russia has not made a ‘breakout’ in Ukraine’s Donbas region despite ‘incremental gains’ including the taking of many towns in Luhansk oblast: DoD policy chief.
Colin Kahl said he does not think three weeks will be too late for [Ukraine] to push back [Russian] gains.”
BBC – “Sarah Everard vigil: Met Police charges four attendees”:
Twitter thread about the total lack of transparency in the process @ #206.
“And perhaps most important of all, the Met chose to bring prosecutions in these particular cases, when no one would have noticed if the charges were quietly dropped.”
Link
Oh, FFS.
Link
https://twitter.com/starwars/status/1531804726165401600
A personal message from Ewan McGregor. Video is available at the link.
Excerpt:
@ 209
Ingraham’s next big project: Refer Madness II: The Stonening.
It occured to me in a gun exchange that there are friedyums to go with the frozen peaches on other issues.
Reuters – “EXCLUSIVE U.S. plans to sell armed drones to Ukraine in coming days -sources”:
Remember the “HAIL TO FAUCI!!” guy at a school board meeting? I’m going to start calling that “shouty mode” in whatever way is effective at the moment.
Forgot the link to the shouty guy.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/anti-vaxxers-go-off-the-rails-at-san-diego-county-board-of-supervisors-meeting-scream-heil-fauci
Lithuanian Minister of National Defense: “Agreement was signed in [Turkey] today with the President of the Turkish Defense Agency prof. Ismail Demir on cooperation with the Ministry of National Defense of [Lithuania]. [!] This agreement paves the way for the purchase of #Bayraktar, for which Lithuanians raised almost 6 mln. € in 3 days!”
Some Lithuanian people basically had a Go Fund Me to buy Ukraine a drone, and they’ve done it.
Neil Hauer:
Photos at the (Twitter) link.
Several people have been shot and at least three killed in a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The shooter is also reportedly dead.
The Tulsa death toll is now four. (“Harden the hospitals!”)
Chauncey DeVega at Salon – “Donald Trump, criminal mastermind: Scholar Gregg Barak on the supreme con artist of our time”:
Too much to excerpt. I don’t agree with everything here, but it’s worthwhile.
I just noticed this – blf @ #192:
As suggested @ #193, I think the reference to the “editors of the @nytopinion and the @guardian’s opinion page” publishing bad takes wasn’t to editorials but to some of the opeds, either by regular columnists or others, that they’ve published (and solicited?). The example from the NYT the tweet provides is an oped by Christopher Caldwell.
I’m testing out “nazi-babblers” with respect to hyperbolic political use of Nazis in response to reasonable requests, like aerosol filters and virus laden saliva.
That political use of the suffering of others looks like a similar kind of appropriation as “pedo joe” and the accusations of grooming focused at LGBT+ education and sex education.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their most recent summary:
Here’s a link to the Guardian’s UK liveblog. From there:
Here’s a link to the Guardian’s US liveblog. From there:
Update to #s 218/219:
SC@225,
I applaud my party’s MSPs for their walk-out, but I disagree with their view that Scotland should have an elected head of state. If we need one at all, they should be chosen by lot. Anyone who wants to be head of state can put their name forward, they then need to sit an exam to make sure they could actually do the job (however that job is defined), and among those who pass, a name is drawn out of a hat – with a couple of deputies so the whole thing doesn’t have to be run again if the winner hands in their dinner pail while in office.
Update to #216!:
Ukraine update: Russia pushes out from Lyman, but runs into a very familiar obstacle
Good news: Biden administration to forgive $5.8 billion in debt for students defrauded by Corinthian Colleges
Right-wingers are creating targets for violence.
Link
Ukraine Update: Not enough? Here’s the challenge of moving even four HIMARS
Photo at the link.
Speaking of grift in the Russian armed force:
https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1531716422220632067
Many photos are available at the link.
Chuck Grassley was in on the attempted coup
Proud Boys keep securing political footholds in Florida
Russia misses $1.9 million interest payment and is on the verge of Default on its Sovereign Debt
Oh, FFS!
Republicans still can’t shake their Hillary Clinton obsession
JFC.
How American Influencers Built a World Wide Web of Vaccine Disinformation
From the Guardian Ukraine liveblog:
Russia: winning the propaganda war by drawing attention to the heroic deeds of handsome British volunteers.
From the Guardian UK liveblog summary:
From the Guardian US liveblog:
What could go wrong?
This article at the Daily Beast, “Tom Cruise’s Dark, Twisted Journey to Scientology’s Top Gun,” had a link to an interesting review of the new Top Gun movie – “‘Top Gun: Maverick’: The only movie review you need if you’re being honest about Tom Cruise”:
From the looks of things, it’s one of very few negative reviews, but the movie as described is pretty much what I expected. (I haven’t seen it, and don’t plan to see it or any other Cruise vehicle.)
Speaking of cults, a couple of weeks ago I mentioned the new Hulu limited series about Teal Swan, “The Deep End.” It’s odd to me that so few people seem to be talking about it because it’s staggering. I’m very concerned about some of the people who appear in it. Here’s a six-part podcast series about Swan from 2018 by Gizmodo reporter Jennings Brown: “The Gateway: Teal Swan.”
Guardian liveblog:
This is disturbing. Ohio apparently passed something called the “Save Women’s Sport Act.” It would include examining the genitals of young women who have been accused of being trans.
https://twitter.com/MorganTrau/status/1532417493658177536
Republicans show they’re the NRA’s servants during House meeting on gun reform
Cartoon: Hardening Schools
Ukraine update: Fighting continues in Severodonetsk, and things are definitely not going as expected
And all the women love kissing Russian soldiers.
Germany turning lemons into lemonade
Wonkette: “Republicans Very Mad At Dems For Pointing Out They Aren’t Doing Shit To Stop Kids Getting Shot”
https://twitter.com/RealLyndaCarter/status/1532024708077600784
Astronomers have waited a very long time for this – albiet seems we’ll have to wait another month or so still :
https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-first-images-july-12
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Guardian – “Iowa: man kills two women and then himself in latest US shooting”:
Tropical storm warnings have been issued for Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas for what could become Tropical Storm Alex.
This storm is potentially forming from the remnants of Hurricane Agatha, which hit Mexico on Monday. BBC – “Hurricane Agatha: 11 dead and dozens missing in Mexico”:
Guardian liveblog:
Steve Beynon:
Guardian liveblog:
Ethics 101?
Please do NOT confuse “strength” for cruelty or bullying others. Real strength lifts weaker others up not punches them down. World has too much meanness in it already without needing any more added by anyone. Kindness please.
Thankyou Pharyngulites among others.Learnt this here. Among other places.
Dunno if this is silly, profound or something in between good or terible right now FWIW but – Aspire 2b / If X -Y
If you are strong, lift others up.
If you are smart, be wise.
If you are human, it’s ok
If you be anything be kind.
If things are bad, make them better.
If there is love, respect.
If there is hate, restraint.
If there is despair, defy.
If there is hope, work to make it so.
If there is joy, embrace.
If there is terror, face.
If there are others, do unto.
If there is you be you.
If there’s the world, improve.
1st draft, feedback welcome.
SC @254, and yet those shootings will not be added to the database of mass shootings because fewer than four people were killed.
Why Senate Dems are bragging about their judicial confirmations
At this point, Democrats have confirmed Joe Biden’s judicial nominees at a pace unseen in six decades, but they have a lot more to go and not much time.
Oh, my. [eyebrow-raising news]
Link
“Peter Navarro, former Trump economic adviser who played role in effort to overturn the election, has been indicted for contempt of congress.”
So much everywhere and evermore :
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/global-plastic-waste-on-track-to-triple-by-2060-oecd-report-finds/u5vhsfb9w
Our closest quasar puzzles :
https://www.space.com/quasar-supermassive-black-hole-radio-glow-unknown-structure
Plus the latest Sammy J musical-political brilliance here Stephen Hawking’s 80th Birthday
@ SC (Salty Current) :263 : Good.
Do we need a Litany against Hate as well as Dune‘s litany against fear and if so how would it go?
& yeah I know Dune is ..problematic in alotta ways too. (Cough white saviour, apprropriaition,Aristocracy, Plus more..
In the unlikely off chance anyone else is intrested the Monaco F1 GP is being replayed right now on TV c132 ten Bold at least SAA wise.
c12
c = channel SAA = SA aka South Australia possiby / probly national for Oz.
Yeah I can’t type for shit evene at the best of times which now ain’t.
Yup motorsport = guilty pleasure (hooked sinmce Adelai8de 1985) but advances tech and is its own awesome bubble of skills,.
Followup to SC @263 and StevoR @265.
I too was glad to see that Peter Navarro was indicted. That guy is the epitome of Trump-affiliated doofuses who think they can get away with anything.
Commentary from Steve Benen:
He has boasted over and over again! He also seems to think that it matters if he calls his attempts a “strategy” instead of a coup plot.
Link
Followup to comment 270.
Here is a good link on Twitter that provides video snippets from Ari Melber’s questioning of Peter Navarro. The snippets include Navarro making some threats if Republicans take back the house and the Senate.
https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1532499173463019546
Navarro is really irritating. He keeps trying to question Melber instead of answering questions. Have to give some kudos to Melber for keeping his cool and for constantly redirecting Navarro to the questions.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/feds-escalate-probe-trump-ally-navarro-hit-with-subpoena-after-maga-plot-admission-141190725836
Link to full presentation of Ari Melber’s segments.
StevoR @259, thank you for that.
Those poetic lines are economical in their presentation, but forceful. It is effective, and it makes one think.
To my mind, you have one weak line that could be altered or deleted: “If there is you be you.”
Taking a closer look at Doug Mastriano, Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial nominee.
Associated Press link
Ukraine Update: As Russia focuses on a single city, Ukraine makes moves near Kharkiv and Kherson
Unlike other MLRS, a TOS-1 thermobaric launcher has a short range. And what happens when other artillery outranges you? This happens.
https://twitter.com/JulianRoepcke/status/1532695309943463939
Video at the link.
Far-right extremist beliefs, including eagerness for violence, saturate GOP now, SPLC poll finds
Rightwing, ultra religious doofuses make commencement speeches:
The conceptus>fetus is equivalent to “spectral evidence” in the abortion debate. You can make one say what you want like a hand puppet.
! – Guardian liveblog:
“Rep Louie Gohmert on Navarro indictment: ‘If you’re a Republican, you can’t even lie to Congress or lie to an FBI agent or they’re coming after you'”
Video clip at the (Twitter) link.
Ukraine update: On day 100, Ukraine is still defying the odds
Warnings To Pence About Jan. 6 Included Another Trumpian Quid Pro Quo
Marcy Wheeler’s Twitter thread reporting from Navarro’s hearing. He’s an arrogant jerk, as always.
It’s worth noting that Navarro, who is right now outside the courthouse pontificating on the legality investigation and his legal strategy, is not a lawyer.
re SC @281: Just in case anyone questioned that he is still in the running for the stupidest person in Congress (and beyond), Louis Gohmert opened his mouth and removed all doubt.
More of the story of #257 above, from Military[dot]com – “Meet the Guardsman Helping Ukrainians Blow Up Russian Tanks over the Phone”:
“The supergroup Metallica raised and released more than 1 million dollars to support Ukraine.”
Good for them! It’s going to support World Central Kitchen.
Satire from Andy Borowitz:
New Yorker link
Follow-up to #254 – USA Today – “Man who fatally shot 2 women outside Iowa church had harassed one of the victims, police say”:
Oh fuck you.
Politico – “New York Rep. Chris Jacobs ends reelection bid following support for gun control”:
Ukraine update: Battle of Severodonetsk continues, Russian forces are ‘really suffering huge losses’
For everyone who was expecting conscripts to go home at the end of 90 days, listen in on this conversation.
https://twitter.com/mdmitri91/status/1533088615839956993
Excerpts:
See also:
https://wartranslated.com/intercepted-call-what-strong-russian-army-its-a-fcking-sham-army/
Putin is counting on Trump and the GOP’s pro-Russia lackeys to stab Ukraine in the back
Followup to comment 294.
Posted by readers of the article:
Steve Benen says, “I generally think punishments like these should be far more common.” I agree.
Seattle Times link
Good if disturbing Al Jazeera article here :
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/5/31/the-civil-war-that-is-here-and-the-one-that-may-yet-come
Happy (if that’s the word?) World Environment Day today everyone.
See :
https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Environment_Day
&
https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/world-environment-day-2022-history-importance-and-why-it-is-celebrated-7952481/
Not that we really needed another issue like this but :
https://www.space.com/reactive-chemical-hydrotrioxides-atmosphere
Meanwhile back on Earth other species need much more land set aside for them :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-06-03/biodiversity-nearly-half-earth-land-surface-needs-protection/101110926
Whilst we now have a new video view of Jupiter from Juno :
https://www.space.com/jupiter-whirling-world-juno-spacecraft-images
among other spaaaaace neeeeeewws as Colbert might put it.
Ukraine update: Air strikes, intense fighting, and Ukraine is still kicking butt in Severodonetsk
I can’t say it’ll convince anyone, but it can’t hurt to point out that guns kill “more bigly” than knives. Acting like a gun can kill on my it’s own is treating your political opponent like a child anyway.
Ukraine update, continued from comment 300.
Link, (same link as in comment 300).
Link
New York Times:
batu kutelia:
Ulrich Speck:
Darth Putin:
Followup to comment 304.
Link
Reuters: “Ukraine signs deal with Westinghouse to end Russian nuclear fuel needs”
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their most recent summary:
Republican politicians running ads on white-nationalist platform Gab, including Herschel Walker
Herschel Walker is a Black man.
OMG. First a misuse of the word “patriot,” and then an opposite-world, alternate-facts description of Gab.
Buttigieg: Blaming gun violence on school doorways is ‘definition of insanity’
Excerpt from a much longer Washington Post article by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein:
Washington Post link
@ 310
So you’ve never done anything deserving of hatred? We should be fawning over you just because you’re you, Donnie?
So it good to a real change of era of world leaders with the Murdoch losing another one – Netanyahu gone, Trump gone, Scummo gone and now maybe BJ on his way out too? :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-06/boris-johnson-will-face-vote-of-no-confidence-tories/101130188
Hopefully, looking like..
UK Tory MPs will hold a no-confidence vote in Johnson this evening. That means at least 54 of them sent letters to Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, demanding such a vote. General opinion among journalists seems to be that Johnson will win (he needs a majority, but whether that’s a simple majority of those voting, or a majority of those 359 entitled to vote, I don’t know). General opinion is also that if he wins by even one vote, he will cling on to power, although if it’s at all close, he will obviously be weakened. Teresa May won such a vote, but nevertheless resigned as leader and PM within six months. The mere fact that the vote is taking place weakens the Tory government.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From there:
It wouldn’t be a day ending in a y if someone somewhere doesn’t threaten to kill me.
Usually these days, it is the Russians and the murder weapon is to be a nuclear weapon.
Strangely enough, today it isn’t me.
It is Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, and Sweden.
Some context.
Rogozin is a high party functionary, now head of their space program Roscosmos. Bulgaria just closed their air space to Russia. Sarmat is their latest ICBM carrying multiple nuclear warheads.
So the Russians today are threatening to nuke Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, and Sweden. It is going over as well as can be expected.
If the Russians keep threatening to nuke everyone they don’t like which is most of the world, I’m sure a lot of countries are thinking seriously about developing their own nuclear weapons. After all, no one invades a country with nukes. And the technology is old and they aren’t that hard to make. The South Africans made 4 nuclear weapons.
“‘The occupier should never feel safe’: rise in partisan attacks in Ukraine”:
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian UK liveblog. From there:
Please correct me if this is wrong, but I believe I heard this morning that it’s a secret vote. Johnson is meeting with Tory MPs right now.
And here’s a link to today’s Guardian US liveblog. From there:
@273.Lynna, OM :
Thankyou. Very much appreciated.
Moscow Times – “Russian General Reported Killed in Ukraine”:
Kyiv Independent:
Jeff Mason, Reuters: “SCOOP: @POTUS will use executive action Monday to kickstart solar projects in the U.S. that are stalled by a Commerce Dept tariff probe, and he will invoke the Defense Production Act to spur domestic production of solar panels and other clean energy projects, sources tell me”
The Guardian UK liveblog (link @ #315) has a collection of tweets from reporters covering Johnson’s meeting with the Tory MPs, which is already over. It doesn’t sound like it went that well for him. He reportedly used much of his speech to attack and blame the media.
Axios – “At least 54 injured, 11 killed in 7 separate mass shootings this weekend.”
From the Guardian liveblog: “Boris Johnson’s declaration to Tory MPs (as reported by Patrick Maguire from the Times) that he would ‘do it again’ regarding Partygate may turn out to be a major blunder….”
Sure hope so, not only because of how it shows how insincere his little contrition act was but because it’s another sign that he’s working from the aspiring dictator’s playbook: openly displaying contempt for honesty, decency, and law (see also KG’s #83 above), continuing to push the envelope, and daring people to stop him.
Akira @311, not only does Trump think everyone should be fawning over him, he also sees “hate!” where there is only opposition. Trump is paranoid. He was looking right at a video of Elizabeth Warren’s attentive face when he declared attention to be “hate!”
That was a very telling episode. Trump sees everything but abject obsequious adoration as hate. That’s got to be some kind of mental illness.
The final episode of this WNYC podcast was released today, just in time for the public hearings. I recommend it.
” Introducing Will Be Wild”:
Guardian liveblog:
Followup to SC’s comment 291, with some background on Carl Paladino that includes racist, sexist and hate-filled a statements he made during past political campaigns:
Link
From text SC quoted:
More re #321 – Guardian liveblog:
The no-confidence voting has started.
Guardian liveblog:
Ukraine update: 70% of Severodonetsk is back under the control of Ukraine, heavy fighting continues
TPM – “Rittenhouse Announces He’s Going To Texas A&M, Which Is News To Texas A&M”:
Link
Apropos of nothing(burp!) muc(burp!)h, that worked ra(burp))ther well — (hastily takes some anti-bur(burp)ping substance kindly pro(burp)vided by the mildly deranged penguin)… A few days ago, I made some gazpacho (not the eejit thug’s nazi kind, the edible “liquid salad” kind (of the sort which doesn’t include bread but does include cucumbers)), but noticed when I was scrapping it out of the food processor into a jar in which to chill (not to be confused with chilies, of which it contained some), that it was extremely thick, not very fluid at all. I decided to “worry” about that later.
Yesterday, when I had the very cold soup, I decided to try and thin it with the “vin” I was having, an organic Greek (actually from Greece) retsina — which, in my opinion, goes rather well with gaspacho and other “Mediterranean”-ish dishes. (Not everyone agrees, the mildly deranged penguin asserts disagreements over retsina(-and-food combinations) is the major cause of inter-Balkans wars, even those she wasn’t involved in. (Retsina is often(?) described as “tasting like turpentine” (paint thinner) — a description which is understandable, albeit few (modern-)people have probably actually tasted genuine turpentine (it’s now known to be toxic).))
That did not work. Drinking retsina whilst supping on gazpacho — Ok. Thinning gaspacho with retsina — um, no. Just no. End result is I wound up with some gazpacho-with-retsina leftovers.
Tonight, for dinner, and in need to empty the refrigerator for tomorrow’s outdoors market, I decided to try cooking some fresh clams in the gazpacho-with-retsina “sauce”. That actually worked extremely well, even without the accompanying vin (a very nice “natural” Alsace since you didn’t ask). Slurp slurp slurp, gobble gobble gobble, burp burp burp!!
Guardian liveblog:
“Unnecessary rules on child-minding.”
Some snippets from the Meduza live blog (in reverse chronological order, i.e., most recent first):
My added emboldending:
Again, my emboldening:
I myself use Proton VPN, which has previously stated (How to pay for Proton services in Russia, my added emboldening):
One of the advantages of Proton, besides top-class security, is a commitment to providing uncensored access. As one example, they run an annual programme to grant worthy NGOs &tc full access to their services, gratis.
Back to Meduza:
“In his latest video, Ramzan Kadyrov explains what he’d do if he were in charge of Russia…”
Video with subtitles – dons included – at the (Twitter) link.
SecDef Lloyd Austin:
Hee. (Twitter link.)
Guardian – “Fears for safety of British journalist missing in Brazilian Amazon”:
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has had two television ads pulled over the course of three weeks. That’s both unusual and embarrassing.
Yes, it is frustrating. I don’t being shown lies over and over again on my TV machine. One ad that I see often here in Idaho is one that claims Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi want to take away everyone’s guns … all the guns. The ad’s sound track is deceptively edited. That’s just one example.
Let’s rejoice every time the liars are slowed down or stopped.
Tom Dreisbach, NPR:
“Boris Johnson wins confidence vote by 211 votes to 148
Sir Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative 1922 Committee, says 359 votes were cast. There were no spoilt ballots.
Confidence in Boris Johnson: 211
No confidence in Johnson: 148
That means more than 40% of Tory MPs voted against Johnson.”
148 is bad for him.
Ian Dunt: “He’s fucked.”
Oh no. More racist assholery from an Arizona politician:
Link
The article is accompanied by a photo of Blake Masters holding what looks like a weapon of war.
Guardian liveblog:
Former Army chaplain’s PhD dissertation reveals Southern Baptist blueprint to convert the military
Lots more at the link.
Re: Trump and characterizing opposition as “hate”.
That is a common kind of political rhetoric. Disparaging something as “hate” or “fear” to dismiss it. If Trump puts passion into it that just looks like more rhetoric to me. I ask the people seeing it to show it and I get nothing.
Nick Martin:
I’m struggling to think of any matter on which she wouldn’t naturally vote for evil. It’s unsettling that someone like him will be in the building, learning the security protocols and so forth.
Guardian liveblog:
From today’s (6th June) Generalissimo Google™ doodle, it’s Angelo Moriondo‘s 171st birthday. Mr Moriondo is apparently the inventor — or at least the first to patent (in 1884) — that critical tool, the espresso machine.
That sort of categorically empty reference to hate and fear is more and more getting a standard response of “So? I need more than points finger ‘Basic emotional response!'”.
Top US court seeks Biden input on lawsuit against Israel’s NSO:
What an absurd argument. Name something which isn’t used by some “government” or “law enforcement agency” somewhere — including for example, paper cups and potable water — and why the feck would such usage mandate “protect[ion] from civil lawsuits”.
Nearly half of Republicans think US has to live with mass shootings, poll finds:
Someone added up all the excess deaths in the USA for the entire Covid-19 virus pandemic. The tl;dr version.
“I get 1,428,767 Americans dead from COVID.”
The tabulated deaths are known to be an undercount. The actual number is 40% larger.
Some of these excess deaths are going to be indirect, people crowded out of hospitals by Covid-19 virus patients, who then die from lack of timely medical care.
TV ALERT : On ABC c2 tonight on Assange and his father’s fight to free him. Details via ABC online TV Guide :
Haven’t seen it before so hopefully it will be good and interesting. Expect it will be available on iView afterwards.
Johnson is planning a similar move.
The total of 148 Tory MPs voting against Johnson was higher than any prediction I saw. He and his cronies are of course pretending it was “decisive”, and saying that everyone should now “move on”. No chance. I’m pretty certain his opponents within the party, however, lack the integrity to take action which could force him out – such as joining with the opposition in a house of Commons vote of no confidence, or to vote down all legislation until he goes.
@ 356
There is so much are supposed to “put up with” in the name of freedom. We have to put up with gun deaths so that firearms fetishists can have freedom. We have to put up with millions dead from COVID so that anti-vax and anti-mask rednecks can have freedom. We have to put up with fascist terrorism and hate speech so that white supremacists can have freedom We have to put up with climate change and environmental destruction so that the rich can have the freedom.
Freedom is a suicide pact.
NBC New York – “NYC Cancer Trial Delivers ‘Unheard-of’ Result: Complete Remission for Everyone”:
Erin Burnett on CNN interviewed one of the researchers last night. Wild.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian UK liveblog. From there:
And here’s a link to today’s Guardian US liveblog. From their opening post:
Also from there:
Guardian – “Polio outbreak in Pakistan worsens as eighth child reported paralysed”:
Some podcast episodes:
SWAJ – “Pentecostalism is Taking Over the World”:
The part about Guatemala is particularly upsetting and important.
CounterVortex – “Tiananmen Square: ‘6-4’ and ‘Xi Jinping Thought’”:
The Underground Bunker – “The Insider speaks: Scientology’s recent crises, now in a podcast with Chris Shelton”:
France 24 – “Massacre du 17 octobre 1961 : les preuves que De Gaulle savait”:
Guardian liveblog:
@ 367
Opium. That’s all the these philosophical smack dealers are offering: 100% pure, uncut, opium of the masses.
Texas has its own independent power grid. So why is Ted Cruz blaming the White House for Texans’ increased electricity costs?
Guardian liveblog:
I’ve long had trouble with these numbers. First, Islamists are rightwing – I see no reason to exclude them from the category of rightwing perpetrators. Second, the relatively tiny category categorized as leftwing extremism is left very vague by the ADL in its reports. They’ll often include, say, anarchists or animal liberation or environmental “extremists” in the category even when none of the reported killings were committed by people from these groups, creating a misleading impression; the small number of such crimes appear overwhelmingly to be carried out by people associated with NoI or other “black nationalist” groups, which don’t really belong in the same group. I think the true figures if the categories were properly defined would be around 95% rightwing perpetrators, 4-5% “black nationalist” and other ideologies that are harder to place on a single spectrum, and a trivial number (and in many years zero) of killings committed by “leftwing extremists.” The vagueness on the part of the ADL leads to unnecessary and counterproductive hedging of the sort we see here: “while left-wing extremist violence is certainly occurring…”
Here is our daily threat from Russia.
This morning they skipped the nuclear weapons and went for genocide.
Dmitry Medvedev is the former President of Russia, a high position currently held by Putin. This is not a random internet troll.
He is threatening to disappear them. And who is them? The Ukrainians mostly, I guess.
I’m sure you could add NATO, the USA, the EU, and my cat to his list.
He is also delusional. The Ukrainians and the rest of the world really don’t much care about Russia. We all just wish they would go away and play with the toys their oil money bought them.
Russia is what you get when people like Fox NoNews, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, and Alex Jones run a country.
That should read: and a trivial number of killings (and in many years zero) committed by “leftwing extremists.”
Deputy Labour Leader Angela Rayner tweeted:
Remember Azovstal: This video shows perhaps the most daring Ukrainian military mission of the war
Ukraine update: What’s going on in Severodonetsk defies description as both sides pound the city
Guardian liveblog:
Illia Ponomarenko:
Guardian liveblog:
Guardian liveblog:
He’s still speaking, telling the stories of the victims. It’s very emotional. He was just describing how much destruction the gun caused to the bodies of the victims – they needed DNA tests to identify some. “These children were left not only dead but hollow.”
“WASHINGTON (@CNN) — Senate Minority Whip John Thune defended individuals owning AR-15s this morning, telling @mkraju they are a ‘sporting rifle’.
‘In my state, they use them to shoot prairie dogs, other types of varmint’, the South Dakota Republican said.”
STFU. Then STFU again.
“[Michael Kofman]: ‘Russian mil has structural problem w/ force availability & not designed to sustain war of this scale at peacetime strength…tho’ the local military balance in the Donbas appears favorable to Russia, overall trends…still favor Ukraine'”
“Matthew @McConaughey’s wife Camilla holds green high-top Converse shoes of the one of the Uvalde, TX victims.
‘These are the same green Converse on her feet that turned out to be the only clear evidence that could identify her after the shooting’.”
Video at the (Twitter) link.
Commentary concerning the fact that Fox News will NOT air the public hearings of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol:
Link
Lynna @ #385, they’re very busy – it’s caravan season!
Kyiv Independent:
Military[dot]com – “Veterans Make Up Most of Proud Boys Members Indicted on Sedition for Jan. 6 Violence”:
Much more at the link.
CNN – “First on CNN: House Democrats investigating whether foreign gifts to Trump went missing”:
re SC @389: WOW!!! What a surprise!!
“On Sunday, Christian hate-preacher Dillon Awes said that the government should execute every gay person. All of them.
‘They should be lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head! That’s what God teaches. That’s what the Bible says’.”
Video and link at the (Twitter) link.
johnson catman @ #390, I know – shocker.
There’s likely no form of corruption or abuse of power Trump and his “administration” didn’t engage in. Just a matter of time, probably, until they’re all revealed.
Guardian liveblog:
@ 391
Ugh! Don’t read the replies to Hemet’s tweet. Far too many faitheits spewing ”no true Christian” bullshit.
Some podcast episodes:
Maintenance Phase – “Calorie Menu Labeling”:
(This is the second part of a two-part episode; the first was “The Trouble With Calories.”)
Citations Needed – “Episode 162: How the ‘Data-Driven’ Label Sanitizes Cruel Austerity Politics”:
Fever Dreams – “Milo Goes To Congress feat. Brian Knappenberger”:
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their most recent summary:
Even in the best case scenario two thirds of the Siberian tundra is doomed apparently :
https://www.space.com/vanishing-siberian-tundra
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian UK liveblog.
And here’s a link to today’s Guardian US liveblog.
Reuters – “Belgian king reiterates regrets for colonial past in Congo but does not apologise”:
All the best people flock to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, including anti-semitic, homophobic foreign agents.
Link
Washington Post:
Commentary:
Link
Ukraine update: Switching to NATO weapons isn’t as simple as people think it is
“paranoid eliminationist fascist”, I should have been using this a long time ago.
“Meanwhile in modern Russia: a screaming match on state TV as to whether captured British citizens Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin should be shot, hanged, quartered or exchanged for ransom (the release of Russia’s frozen assets), as they hope to cause a rift in British society.”
Video with subtitles at the (Twitter) link.
Guardian liveblog:
WaPo:
Another 2020 election denier will be on November’s ballot
Analysis by Joseph Marks with research by Aaron Schaffer
June 8, 2022
Republican task force’s labeling their work a ‘climate plan’ is part of their ruse
As the January 6 public hearing approaches, cable news commentators are once again turning into theater critics.
tomh @406, speaking of clueless Republican candidates:
Link
A rightwing, anti-government extremist killed a judge:
Link
Ukraine update: Russia wants to turn Kherson into a colony to feed Putin’s dreams of an empire
Wonkette:
Asked about gun violence, Ron Johnson talks about Hunter Biden
Followup to comment 329.
NBC News link
Supreme Court shields Border Patrol agents from excessive force suits
Not good news.
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1534571404271661056
Video at the link. Lieu cited the many times GOP lawmakers have gone after LGBTQ people on the one hand, and then called themselves Christians on the other.
Two decapitated, bullet-pulverized children – a Uvalde doctor’s story
More at the link.
Link
That video of Gaetz, (and other videos showing Republicans saying dumb stuff about guns today), is available at the link.
MSNBC has a two-hour special about January 6th called “An American Coup” on tonight, hosted by Chris Hayes. Mo Brooks, who refuses to cooperate with the committee, is going to be on in a minute.
The JWST has had a hit from a space rock :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-09/meteorite-strikes-james-webb-telescope/101137762
Ist basically okay though and no real harm done. But 5th one already since launch.
Apologies if I already posted this here before but interesting if disturbing Al Jazeera article here :
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/5/31/the-civil-war-that-is-here-and-the-one-that-may-yet-come
It almost seems to me like some folks over inthe States won’t be happy until they do get a second Civil War underway. Let’s hope this time the racist Slaver states don’t get off so lightly or allowed to retain their delusions that the side they were fighting for was in any way good or justified.
Also from AJ :
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/5/25/how-alternative-facts-threaten-us-democracy
Whilst from the Aussie ABC this preview of (our?) expectatuons here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-09/january-six-public-committee-hearing-explained/101134444
FWIW.
Meanwhile the HST isn’t done yet even if this stunning set of extremely distant and ancient / young galaxy images :
https://www.space.com/hubble-space-telescope-largest-infrared-image?fbclid=IwAR20C3WyASvctSw5452aJyb7DN4gg32p2n1rGA5gLtF3j8qBgWTJETIh6ac
is designed for its successor topick targets from.
Whilst much nearer and closer to us intime we have this set of footprins found :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-07/dinosaur-therapod-footprints-skenes-creek-great-ocean-road/101121278
Oh and in the very near furure looks like the new Arnhem Space Centre
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-09/nasa-rocket-launch-arnhem-land-tourism-hopes/101135646
will be launching rockets soon with permission from and consultation with the Indigenous Gumatj.
Nasa/JPL’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity still hasn’t flown again since the low-power-induced reboot some weeks ago. Mars is entering winter, colder with more dust in the atmosphere, and Ingenuity cannot recharge its batteries sufficiently to keep the heaters going throughout the night. Hence, they are shut off, subjecting the components to temperatures they were never designed to handle, so that there is sufficient power for further flights. One of the components now failed, albeit not one used in-flight, but nonetheless critical to pre-takeoff measurements. Fortunately, similar components provide some redundancy, and anticipating the problem, there has been a software patch “waiting in the wings” for some time now, which is now being uploaded to the helicopter.
The failed component is the inclinometer, which provides gravity data prior to flight, allowing for the helicopter to stablise itself on takeoff (rise up vertically rather than at an angle should the landing field not be essentially flat). The inclinometer uses accelerometers, and there are additional accelerometers (plus other sensors) in the inertial measurement unit, which the patch will substitute for those in the failed inclinometer. After the patch is download, further on-Martian-ground tests are necessary before the next attempt at flight.
See Keeping Our Sense of Direction: Dealing With a Dead Sensor, or Mars helicopter Ingenuity has a dead sensor but its team aims to keep flying.
Some snippets from the Meduza live blog (in reverse chronological order, i.e., most recent first):
In other words (as I read the above snippet), Russian bank Sberbank shot itself in the foot by refusing Big China’s yaun, and having now been (finally!) largely cutoff from most(? “Western”?) global finance, is backtracking. (Both the yaun and Russia’s ruble are generally considered to be non-convertible currencies; i.e., broadly speaking, the issuer impose restrictions on conversions to- or from-foreign currencies, and/or by foreigners or foreign-banks, etc.)
Whilst not a telcom operator (under any sensible definition of the term), that is probably also an attack on VPN service providers: One of the advantages of using a (true-)VPN is neither the ISP (or, broadly, telcom operator) or intelligence services have any idea who you are connecting-with (again, broadly speaking, remnants / traces on your disc, etc., can provide powerful clews — e.g., whilst I use a VPN to connect to FtB, etc., it wouldn’t be too hard to work out who I, “blf”, am, from various sources, some public). However, with more care than I exercise, it can be very Very difficult.
I don’t know if H&M is currently shipping to Ukraine — but assuming they are, then one solution to Mr Kucklehead’s problem is to place an order with the invaders. They’ll happily loot it all, especially if you can repatriate them from Ukraine along with those ill-gotten goods.
I read the above as Mr Mironov’s allegedly pro-invasion poster said or hinted-at “unprovoked war / invasion” rather than a .
Absurd Guardian opinion article by a former “intelligence” officer, suggesting Ukraine should end the war a.s.a.p. Absurd because there’s not the slightest sign Putin is interested in anything short of crushing Ukraine completely if at all possible.
One snippet from How is France keeping its inflation rate comparatively low? (possibly paywalled, whilst the source is generally trustworthy it can be rather erratic):
I had my first knowingly-observed encounter with recent inflation on this week’s outdoors market. As I’ve mentioned previously, I usually get my (non-penguin) eggs from a particular vendor, and have done so for years. The eggs I usually buy are XXL organic, which an Ostrich would be proud to lay, whose shell is perhaps St Javelin-proof, and at least in the spring, contains so many yolks you need an electron microscope to find any trace of egg whites. (One some of that is exaggerated.) For years and years and years, and probably a few more years, they cost 3,50€ per half-dozen (not “inexpensive” by local standards, but given the quality, worthwhile). About the beginning of this year, they started costing 3,60€ per six. This week? 3,80€, a rise of 0,30€ over about six months, or (quick calculation) almost 8%. The vendor was very apologetic.
The above-snippeted article claims an important reason France’s official inflation rate is comparatively low is most of the electricity is produced by nuclear power, not fossil fuels (read: Russian gas, etc.). My first though was “semi-bullshite, the Uranium probably comes from Russia, so the knock-on effect is just delayed”, but this is (apparently) incorrect on at least two points: Most of France’s Uranium apparently comes from Africa (especially Niger); and Kazakhstan (which is not Russia but is sometimes confused with Russia) is apparently the world’s main producer of Uranium. Nonetheless, in parts of the EU, Russian Uranium is important Russia’s uranium remains off the European sanctions radar (paywalled), May 2022, a snippet:
Ukraine Update: Ukraine’s strategy in Severodonetsk coming into clearer view
Republicans don’t want to admit that the highest rates of gun deaths are in ‘blood red states’
It turns out there is someone trying to kill off white Republicans. And it’s white Republicans.
If you’re looking for someone to blame for high gas prices, try Vladimir Putin … and Donald Trump
Followup to comments 291, 329, and 414.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/carl-paladino-hitler-leader-inspirational
Words of delusion from Putin:
Putin Suggests Russia Is Entering A Period Of Indefinite Expansion
This is from a few days ago, Ukraine winery in area shelled by Russia wins gold at Decanter wine awards:
Michigan candidate for governor arrested for participating in Capitol
riot[insurrection]:Alls teh mostingbester wannabe-daleks.
blf @433, such fine good news!
In other news: Even Betsy DeVos agrees: Trump crossed a ‘line in the sand’
Betsy DeVos is the latest member of Donald Trump’s team to denounce him. The former Education secretary joins an amazingly long list.
Followup to blf @434.
In addition to Ryan Kelley’s arrest, the Republican field of gubernatorial candidates in Michigan was revealed to be even more corrupt when five other contenders were removed from the ballot. Those five had submitted thousands of forged petition signatures.
VoteVets created a commercial criticizing Republican Herschel Walker over his “Patriot Support” program, which preyed upon veterans and service members while simultaneously defrauding the government.
https://twitter.com/votevets/status/1534884065744125952
“It isn’t actually a charity at all.” […]
Walker took part in an insurance scam.
And now fer things ta fecking matter (mumbled in a bad Irish accent), Irish exorcist calls for extra help for people oppressed by evil spirits:
Martyn Turner in the Irish Times, The Show Must Go On… (cartoon).
Followup to comment 418.
The misguided, illegal, and ironic GOP push for school prayer
It was only a matter of time before Republicans responded to mass shootings by talking about school prayer. Alas, this is unwise for a variety of reasons.
If you don’t pray enough, God will send a killer to massacre a lot of children.
PGA Bans Phil Mickelson and his 16 Trumpy Co-Conspirators
The LIV schedule includes Trump’s Bedminster golf course.
Bangkok celebrates first Pride parade in 16 years (
video(see below)):There’s supposedly a video at the link, but it’s not working for me; here is a direct link to the video.
Wonkette: “Oh No, All Michigan GOP Gov. Candidates Arrested Capitol Rioters, Frauders, Or Just Morons”
https://www.wonkette.com/-2657484506
A snippet from AL Jazeera’s current one madman’s war live blog:
Followup to SC @380.
Washington Post:
“Tune out the ‘it won’t matter’ coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings,” by Jennifer Rubin, writing for the Washington Post.
The Onion, New Law Safeguards 50 Million Children From Threats Of Gun Violence By Adding Them To Supreme Court (quoted in full):
This is not The Onion, Lauren Witzke Says Uvalde Shooting Was ‘A Federal Operation’ to Prevent Hispanics From Supporting the GOP:
† Good grief, whilst MKUltra was a real project, “an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the [CIA and ended in 1973]. The experiments were intended to develop procedures and identify drugs such as LSD that could be used in interrogations to weaken individuals and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture”, what the feck an is I, like, Ms “MKNutso” Witzke, have no idea, but unlike Ms “MKNutso”, I know I have no idea.
Apparently, blaming MKUltra for the Uvalde child executions is a thing, per NPR’s The Uvalde shooting conspiracies show how far-right misinformation is evolving (May 2022):
The children’s executioner was 18 years old and so never alive when that CIA project was torturing people, having ended about 40 years ago.
@ 448
The conspiracy kooks still think the project is ongoing or that the techniques they supposedly gleaned from the original MK-ULTRA are being used to brainwash current agents of the NWO.
Also not The Onion, MAGA Candidate Mark Burns Says Those Promoting Should Be Executed for Treason:
Akira MacKenzie@449, Ah! Thanks, I was completely baffled. Wired concurs with your assessment, The conspiracy theorists convinced celebrities are under mind control (2019):
@451
That’s the problem with conspiracy kooks: They take tiny snippets of truth and blow them up into absurdity.
The hearing is starting.
The Guardian is liveblogging the January 6th hearing.
Akira @452, exactly!
Must watch: Jan. 6 committee airs never-before-seen footage
Videos at the link.
https://twitter.com/Brandi_Buchman/status/1535068100206669824
Excerpt from Wonkette’s live coverage:
https://www.wonkette.com/liveblog-watch-the-january-6-committee-hearings-with-your-wonkette
Or: They search an entire beach, find one grain of sand, and ignore all the others; i.e., wildly extrapolate from a tiny snippet of misunderstood reality, and ignore overwhelming rest of reality.
Those aren’t the only problems, I’ll speculate, adding (as some examples (not a complete or even necessarily-correct list, and in no specific order)): Extremely unlikely to meaningfully reevaluate or change, often instead digging deeper and deeper under that one tiny misunderstood grain; Confusing / conflating criticisms of their pet “theory” with attacks on them; Then doing that themselves, i.e., attacking the critics not the criticisms; Hence, a tendency to project, and thus lie; and so on — probably including the Dunning–Kruger effect.
I know there have been studies of various sorts, and presume there are other common, or perhaps even necessary, traits. And that everyone — including the readers of this blog (such as myself) as well as poopyhead — have some rather kooky ideas (glances at the mildly deranged penguin, who gives me a piece of cheese (not chewed too much), flies up, and pats me on the head).
Great news for the Biloela family now finally back in Bilo :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-10/nadesalingam-biloela-family-asylum-seeker-tamil/101140502
Now if only they’d get permanent citizenshipor atleats residency secured and we’d change the appalling disgarce that is our off shore (non-)processing refugee policy.. Still, for today, just wonderful to see.
Plus a plastic eating worm that could come in real handy here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-06-10/superworm-eats-polystyrene-has-recycling-potential/101128630
As well as a magnificent new fossil found here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-06-10/dinosaur-largest-meat-eater-europe-found-isle-of-wight/101142412
revealing a new European spinosaurus.
The Guardian’s “key takeaways” from last night’s hearing (this appears to have been written by someone falling asleep; I didn’t cut anything off – that’s how it ends):
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Guardian – “As America watched Capitol attack testimony, Fox News gave an alternate reality”:
More at the link.
Guardian liveblog:
Someone on the “Neoreactionaries, a gang of idiots” thread linked to this episode of the Mormon Stories podcast – “1607: Growing up with Teal Swan – Diana Hansen Ribera”:
An alternate title could be “Childhood of a Cult Leader.” (The comparisons to Joseph Smith were interesting!) I mentioned “The Deep End,” the Hulu limited series about Swan, @ #243 above. The fourth and final episode aired last night, so now the full series is streaming. You can read and listen to the stories of former cult members or sometimes get isolated video or audio clips, but it’s incredible to see it all playing out before your eyes on film. (Here’s an interview with the filmmaker Jon Kasbe in which he describes the process. it really is beautifully filmed, edited, and scored.)
Fresh evidence that Kevin McCarthy appears to be regressing
In primetime presentation, Jan. 6 committee delivers the goods
Too many Republicans have lied about Jan. 6, but last night, the truth stood tall in the spotlight, and it shined in ways that won’t soon be forgotten.
Lynna @ # 462: Ukrainian military casualties are between 100 and 200 a day, according to Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Zelenskiy
This high-end estimate almost exactly matches the official/undercounted current US Covid-19 death rate.
Daddy Trump throws Ivanka under the bus:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ivanka-trump-barr-discredit-testimony
Pierce @468, good point.
In other news, The first public hearing from the Jan. 6 committee should be scaring the $#!& out of Republicans
Fox News did cover Jan. 6 committee hearing—as Trump’s defense team
Stage flight: theatregoers aflutter after bat swoops into London show (video):
When I was living in London, Salder’s Wells, along with the Tricycle Theatre and the Donmar Warehouse, was one of my favourite venues. No bats, however, except perhaps an actor dressed in a costume (or a bat in a brilliant costume?). Full credit to both Salder’s Wells and the audience for not freaking out, and working to accommodate the bats. (No penguins either, but there was an excellent cheese shop very close to the Donmar Warehouse…)
@ #472: bats
The story reminded me of a professional basketball game a few years ago in San Antonio when a bat appeared during play and freaked out some of the players. Manu Ginobili, an Argentinian, reached up, knocked it out of the air, and calmly picked it up and walked off the court with it.
Ukraine Update: As Western arms flow to Ukraine, they do some accounting
Supplying Ukraine is a big job. Big, complicated, on-going.
Republicans hit some new lows as they tried to discredit the findings of the January 6 Committee. For an example, see Matt Gaetz:
Link
AOC’s tweet, and a video of Gaetz speaking, are available at the link. Excerpt from the nonsense Gaetz spewed: “The country shouldn’t have to go through all that with him.” Gaetz is basically saying that we shouldn’t have to be exposed to news about the death of Jamie Raskin’s son; and that Raskin is now a whackadoodle because grief made him crazy.
https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1535060256174252037
Wonkette: “We Still Don’t Know Why The National Guard Was Late On January 6”
More commentary regarding how Trump reveals that he is worried, and how Trump is still trying to rewrite history:
Link
Newly disclosed emails make Ginni Thomas’ efforts look worse
We had some idea about Ginni Thomas lobbying GOP legislators to ignore voters’ will. Newly disclosed emails point to an even more expansive effort.
29 lawmakers!
I’ve had my criticisms of this podcast, but this is a stellar episode – Conspirituality – “107: An Open Letter to Aubrey Marcus”:
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their most recent summary:
Update to #342 – Guardian – “Hopes fade of finding missing men as Brazilian police report finding ‘apparently human’ material”:
NBC News:
New York Times:
Yes, more people watched the Committee’s hearing than watched Fox News. However, way too many people were still exposed to Tucker Carlson’s lies on Fox News. .See SC’s comment 463, and my comments 471 and 476.
Good news, as reported by NBC News:
Also from NBC News:
Ukraine update: In Kherson and Kharkiv the roles are reversed. Ukraine advances as Russia digs in
Details, “a committee source provided CNN the following description of the “sophisticated seven-part plan”:
Link
Sarah Wire:
George Takei:
Preet Bharara:
March for Our Lives 2022: Shooting survivors protest gun violence
Washington Post link
The March for Our Lives organization can claim some victories at the state level, for example, increasing the age at which one can buy an AR-15 style rifle in Florida; and increasing voter turnout for citizens 18 to 25 years old in several states. However, they have had less success at the Federal level, with Republicans in the Senate still blocking most gun safety legislation. These rallies represent a renewed push to urge Congress to act; and to urge voters to make gun safety a deciding factor when they decide which politicians to support in the mid-term elections.
Link
Brian Tyler Cohen:
Dishonor, Trump’s and His Party’s, Is the Real January 6th Takeaway. That is a New Yorker link to an article by Susan Glasser.
Judge blocks Louisiana GOP’s attempt at gerrymandering away Black voters’ power
Ah, yes, this is the “free speech” being championed on Trump’s “Truth Social” platform:
Related censorship info, posted by Adam Kinzinger:
https://www.politicususa.com/2022/06/09/fox-news-1-6-footage.html
Protesters will be participating in more than 450 rallies across the country Saturday in an effort to advance “common sense national and state gun safety restrictions,” organizers said.
Giuliani hit with ethics charges by D.C. authorities over false election claims
The charges are the second time a bar office has taken action against Trump’s former attorney.
Such a nice schadenfreude moment to see Giuliani being slammed with new ethics charges. He so deserves it.
Ukraine Update: Russia declares itself an imperial power, while tankies still blame U.S.
The Greenwald post is from May 1, 2022.
Lynna @ # 496. quoting Kos: Tankies … count among their number … Noam Chomsky.
An unfair, though not completely unjustified, smear. Chomsky does seem to evade a lot of important questions about the Ukraine war, but he continues to understand nuance and trade-offs.
I think Chomsky does us a favor by keeping the risks of nuclear war front and center. (The Kos commentariat, though … [shudder])
Pierce @497, I agree.
Great Scott Manley space (& more) news summary here :
Which is 16 mins long.
Marvellosu piece here on seeing an occultation of Pluto from the Aussie outback here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-12/nasa-scientists-in-australian-outback-searching-for-pluto/101130096
Plus : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-11/sirens-coming-corrupt-cops-queensland-sex-work/101060804
The Idaho police arrested a group of wannabe terrorists, the badly misnamed Patriot Front in Coeur d’Alene. They were going to riot at a Pride Parade.
This wasn’t all that well though out or maybe it was.
Coeur d’Alene is a small city in the middle of nowhere.
They were going to stand out, which is what happened to them.