One of the first acts of the new far-right governing board for Ottawa County, Michigan, after taking over in January was a symbolic one: changing the county’s motto. The old one, “Where You Belong”—instituted in 2017 by the old mainstream Republican board—was deemed to have promoted “the divisive, Marxist ideology of the Race Equity movement,” and so replaced with “Where Freedom Rings.”
As symbolism goes, the change rang true: As we have seen with far-right takeovers of local democratic institutions around the nation, the new cadre running the show has embarked on a path of dysfunction and disruption, not to mention malfeasance and incompetence. At the same time it changed the motto, the board also fired the longtime county administrator, shut down the county’s relatively new Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and replaced both the county’s administrative health officer and its corporate counsel.
Their replacements all met the requirements of the new board—nine of whom were elected through a local campaign in the 2022 elections by a far-right activist group called Ottawa Impact, which pledged to “recognize our nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage and celebrate America as an exceptional nation blessed by God”—for ideological alignment:…
…
It’s a scenario we have watched unfold already in a number of locales around the nation:…
…
As these kinds of scenarios—organized efforts to hollow out democracy from the ground up—become increasingly common, ordinary citizens will be looking for ways to fight back and revive their local democratic institutions. In fact, a simple blueprint does exist: The smallish Washington seaside town of Sequim, for example, found its city council overtaken by a QAnon faction that immediately began turning local governance on its head. But a determined group of local citizens organized a counter-slate for the following election and drove them all from office, primarily by appealing to citizens’ common good sense.
The key, as Devin Burghart of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights told CityLabs’ Laura Bliss, is for citizens to end their reflexive denial and recognize that they have a real problem on their hands. He noted that the candidates’ success began with repeatedly calling attention to their opponents’ affiliations with QAnon, as well as their excessive devotion to non-local issues, and was sealed by their strategic and energetic combined organizing and door-knocking during the campaign.
“That combination is going to be a key for defeating far-right efforts to take over local government around the country,” he said.
By scheduling a “political stunt” in Ohio, Donald Trump is bringing fresh attention to his awful record on rail safety and hazardous chemicals.
[…] East Palestine, Ohio, is still trying to recover from a disastrous train derailment and chemical release, and Republicans have tried to exploit the fact that some prominent Biden administration officials have not yet visited the local area.
With this in mind, the former president saw an opportunity: He’d visit this reliably red community in a reliably red state, appear concerned, blame Democrats, and claim the high ground.
There is, however, one big hurdle in the way: Trump’s record. Politico reported this morning:
Donald Trump’s visit to the site of a toxic train derailment in Ohio is offering a political opening to Biden administration officials — by calling new attention to the former president’s record of rolling back regulations on both rail safety and hazardous chemicals.
In general, Trump’s record on rail safety and hazardous chemicals has been easily overshadowed by the former president’s many other scandals, and the issue hasn’t generated broad national attention.
But by trying to exploit the East Palestine community, the Republican has brought all of this back to the fore. From Politico’s report:
Trump’s administration withdrew an Obama-era proposal to require faster brakes on trains carrying highly flammable materials, ended regular rail safety audits of railroads, and mothballed a pending rule requiring freight trains to have at least two crew members. He also placed a veteran of the chemical industry in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s chemical safety office, where she made industry-friendly changes to how the agency studied health risks.
The Trump administration also tried to slash the EPA’s budget for investigating and prosecuting environmental crimes.
Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Republican member of Congress, told Politico, in reference to Trump’s trip, “It’s clear that it’s a political stunt. If [Trump] wants to visit, he’s a citizen. But clearly his regulations and the elimination of them, and no emphasis on safety, is going to be pointed out.”
The former president, in other words, is inadvertently drawing fresh attention to something he should probably try to hide, effectively leading with his chin.
For his part, President Joe Biden issued a statement last night, updating the public on his administration’s efforts, including the EPA ordering Norfolk Southern to pay for the clean-up and disposal of hazardous materials. He also commented on why the Department of Transportation can’t go further in implementing new rail safety measures.
“For years, elected officials — including the last [administration] — have limited our ability to implement and strengthen rail safety measures. Heck, many of the elected officials pointing fingers right now want to dismantle the EPA — the agency that is making sure this clean up happens,” Biden wrote. “Rail companies have spent millions of dollars to oppose common-sense safety regulations. And it’s worked. This is more than a train derailment or a toxic waste spill — it’s years of opposition to safety measures coming home to roost.”
Trump has been on the wrong side of this fight for years […]
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has clarified how her proposed “national divorce” might look, and it’s as disturbing as it sounds. … In Greene’s estimation, a so-called national divorce would not bring a civil war but would instead give states more power to govern themselves. Under this system, Greene suggested, red states could temporarily strip Americans who move from blue states of the right to vote and could implement laws to openly discriminate against LGBTQ people […].
[…] she’s not a serious policymaker; and no one in positions of authority will subject her “plan” to serious scrutiny.
But that doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant.
First, we’re still waiting for GOP officeholders to make clear that they have no use for such madness. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox condemned Greene’s rhetoric as “evil” this week, and Sen. Mitt Romney, a fellow Utahan, made related comments yesterday, describing her vision as “insanity.” But among prominent GOP officials, Cox and Romney were the exception, not the rule, and the party’s position thus far has been to simply look the other way.
[…] Second, it was easier to dismiss Greene as a marginal clown before House GOP leaders rewarded her radicalism with roles on the House Oversight Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee. When a Republican lawmaker in a position of influence talks up the idea on unraveling our national union, it’s tough to simply shrug and move on.
But let’s also not skip past the remarkable fact that Greene simply won’t stop talking. After repeatedly pushing the “national divorce” line via social media, the right-wing Georgian started making appearances in conservative media, including a prime-time appearance on Fox News last night, during which Sean Hannity presented her “plan” as if it were credible.
Indeed, Greene told the Fox host that her extremist proposal is in line with the Founding Fathers’ vision — which is ridiculous — before raising the specter of another American civil war.
The longer Republican leaders tolerate such madness and keep her on the House Homeland Security Committee, the more it will appear that they’re comfortable with Greene’s extremist pitch.
Greene is moving the Overton window, and Republican leaders are letting her do so. Rightwing news outlets are featuring Greene as if she were credible.
Who could possibly have predicted this one? Everyone. Everyone could have predicted that Twitter’s verification-for-pay system would open the door to even more disinformation and propaganda. And when you open the door to disinformation and propaganda, you get Russians.
Reset, a nonprofit research group, shared findings with The Washington Post identifying a dozen accounts pushing Russian propaganda, especially around the country’s invasion of Ukraine, that have recently gotten blue checkmarks—and are benefiting or will soon benefit from Elon Musk’s policies giving people who are paying for blue checkmarks added prominence on Twitter. One of these accounts has gotten a direct boost from Musk himself replying to it.
The pro-Russian accounts claim to be located outside of Russia, because U.S. sanctions would bar people inside Russia from paying Twitter for verification. But they are “openly sharing content from Russian state media, Kremlin-aligned disinformation about the conflict in Ukraine and outright war propaganda” and offer up biographies like “Doing my part to stop Western support for the Ukrainian war machine, one taxpayer at a time,” or, “No woke. No BLM. No gender pronouns … Just Anti-Imperialism.” [Putin’s administration seems to be better at this than they are at actually making war on their neighbors.]
One of the accounts regularly follows Vladimir Putin’s lead in attempting to tie Ukraine to Nazism, tweeting things like: “Modern Ukraine has had a strange obsession with Nazism.” One is what its name says it is: @PutinDirect, video after video of the Russian leader. Then there’s @Runews, a seeming favorite of Musk’s. When @Runews tweeted, falsely, that 157,000 Ukrainian troops and 2,458 NATO soldiers have died in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Musk responded, “A tragic loss of life.” In reality, no NATO troops are directly involved in the war, but Musk’s credulous (or convenient) response helped boost @Runews’ profile. These days, “Tweet impressions from the @runews account soared past 10 million and remain much higher than before, according to a Post analysis of public data.”
The blue-checked Russian propaganda accounts come amid a broader resurgence of Russian propaganda on Twitter. A Russia-based researcher and supporter of imprisoned Putin opponent Alexei Navalny “told The Post that through September he’d never counted more than 500 Russian-allied accounts simultaneously active on Twitter, but that lately he has been seeing more than 800.” Meanwhile, Marc Owen Jones, a professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, told the Post that he’d seen a large number of bots, many created more or less simultaneously, amplifying claims that the U.S. had caused the earthquake in Turkey in retaliation for Turkey’s opposition to expanding NATO, and nearly 1,000 such accounts also amplified claims that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a war criminal.
[snipped details of Musk’s supposed “peace” plan]
Musk used similar language more recently in threatening to cut off Ukraine’s use of the SpaceX satellite internet service Starlink so that it could not be used for drones. “Starlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine,” Musk tweeted, but SpaceX “will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.” In other words, he has repeatedly framed Ukrainian resistance to Russia’s brutal invasion as the thing that will escalate the conflict. […] Responding approvingly to Russian propaganda accounts is right in line with what we know of Musk’s take on this war—and of his partisan affiliations, as Republicans more and more actively oppose U.S. support for Ukraine. Musk aligning himself with Russian propaganda and Musk aligning himself with the far right in the U.S. are not two separate phenomena.
Russia’s offensive in Ukraine has accelerated a campaign of “de-Russification” in the major port city of Odesa. It’s a delicate process in a city that has long been influenced by Russian language and culture. From changing street names to dismantling statues and removing Russian literature from library shelves, the war has removed previous resistance to the idea….
President Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv generated praise across the Western world. However, there is one place—other than Fox News—where the response was less enthusiastic. As might be expected, Biden’s visit came in for state-sponsored disdain on Russian media. What might not be expected is just how much despair the hosts of Russia’s top propaganda program revealed and how much they let slip their actual feelings about the demonstration of U.S. commitment to Ukraine.
“Right now, Biden looks like a hero,” says one of the regular panel members on the show. “He wasn’t afraid to come to a zone of military conflict.”
When the host of the show says that Biden was only able to come to Kyiv because Vladimir Putin gave him permission, the others look at him with the disdain most people might reserve for… thin Russian propaganda. ”He asked for our permission,” insists Vladimir Solovyov. “Asked for our permission.”
But he can’t even convince the people sharing the stage. As the next speaker makes it clear, yes, the U.S. did inform Russian authorities that Biden was on the way, but it wasn’t asking permission. It was a warning. It was Biden informing Putin, “Don’t make any sudden moves.” [video at the link]
Another of the panelists dismissed the whole argument around permission vs. warning. “This is not good. In reality, Biden came to Kyiv. … Biden carried out an excellent PR operation. Which is a very important thing during a hybrid war. It’s very important! People in America had started to wobble. They said, ‘he will get us into World War III!’ But Biden goes there and says ‘Guys, what are you talking about? What World War III? … Russians fear me!”
It’s also very clear that Russian state media has a firm grasp on who they can reach out to in America for help. “Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump, and Ron DeSantis, along with Marjorie Taylor Greene can get lost with their claims about World War III!” says a Russian panelist.
Then they go back to arguing, with increasing venom, over Biden informing Russia that he was going to enter Ukraine. Because, clearly, attempting to twist this into “asking permission” is all they have. If nothing else, it’s a good preview of what you should expect to hear from … Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and Marjorie Taylor Greene
Astronomers have discovered what appear to be massive galaxies dating back to within 600 million years of the Big Bang, suggesting the early universe may have had a stellar fast-track that produced these “monsters.”
While the new James Webb Space Telescope has spotted even older galaxies, dating to within a mere 300 million years of the beginning of the universe, it’s the size and maturity of these six apparent mega-galaxies that stun scientists. They reported their findings Wednesday…
Wonkette: “GA Grand Jury Foreperson Is Telling Us What We Want To Hear. She Should Stop That.”
I agree. Emily Kohr’s press tour is wacky and weird.
You have the right to remain silent. Sometimes you have the obligation to remain silent. And there are times where you have no obligation to remain silent, but you really should STFU all the same. This is one of those times, Emily.
We are speaking of course about Emily Kohrs, the foreperson of the Fulton County Special Purpose Grand Jury, which investigated efforts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. Kohrs has been flapping her yap all over the media about all the indictments the jury recommended to District Attorney Fani Willis.
“It’s not a short list,” she giggled on CNN. [video at the link]
Kohrs, who says she did not vote in the past two presidential elections and was only dimly aware of Trump’s effort to overturn the election in her home state, was first tracked down by the AP. She regaled reporters with her impressions of the witnesses, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom she described as “a really geeky kind of funny,” and Sen. Lindsey Graham, characterizing him to NBC as “personable,” “forthcoming,” and “very willing to just have a conversation.” Later she blabbed to the New York Times about fangirling over Rudy Giuliani who was “almost like a myth figure in my head, so I’m already intimidated.”
STAHHPPPPPPPPP.
Kohrs says that the jury began its inquiry with Trump’s phone call to Raffensperger pressuring him to “find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.” (He did not win the state.) The fake electors were also a focus — ““How could they not be?” — as was “December and things that happened in the Georgia legislature.”
Kohrs described multiple witnesses testifying under immunity deals, with some being immunized while on the witness stand after first refusing to answer questions.
“It is not going to be some giant plot twist,” she told the Times. “You probably have a fair idea of what may be in there. I’m trying very hard to say that delicately.”
When asked directly whether the grand jury had recommended an indictment for the former president, she said coyly, “You’re not going to be shocked. It’s not rocket science.”
And, please, let your Wonkette be the first to say, LORD, LET IT BE SO. They should only indict every one of those treasonweasels for their assault on American democracy. If it’s what she says, we love it, especially later in the summer.
But there is a reason that supervising Judge Robert McBurney refused to publish the jury’s report in its entirety. As he noted in his order unsealing a limited excerpt, both the integrity of the DA’s investigation and “the constitutionally protected due process rights of anyone who may be named in the final report” require that parts of the document remain sealed for now. And while Kohrs may be honoring the letter of the order, she seems to be disregarding the spirit.
But, more to the point, her giddy babbling may jeopardize the very exercise she’s clearly so invested in. As former prosecutor Elie Honig told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “It’s a prosecutor’s nightmare.”
“Mark my words, Donald Trump’s team is going to make a motion if there’s an indictment to dismiss that indictment based on grand jury impropriety,” Honig warned. “She’s not supposed to be talking about anything, really. But she’s really not supposed to be talking about the deliberations.”
And indeed Trump is already yammering about it on his dumbass fake Twitter site.
So, yes, thank you for your service, Emily Kohrs. We owe you a debt for putting in months of diligent effort. And also, could you just not, please?
An independent scientific agency that advises the federal government on policies that could impact marine mammals said there is no evidence linking site preparation work for offshore wind farms with a number of whale deaths along the U.S. East Coast.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Marine Mammal Commission became the third federal agency to reject a link between the deaths and the offshore wind energy industry, despite a growing narrative among offshore wind opponents that probing the ocean floor to prepare for wind turbine projects is killing whales.
Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said there is no evidence linking offshore wind development with whale deaths…
PHOENIX — Nearly a year after the 2020 election, Arizona’s then-attorney general Mark Brnovich launched an investigation into voting in the state’s largest county that quickly consumed more than 10,000 hours of his staff’s time.
Investigators prepared a report in March 2022 stating that virtually all claims of error and malfeasance were unfounded, according to internal documents reviewed by The Washington Post. Brnovich, a Republican, kept it private.
In April, the attorney general — who was running in the GOP primary for a U.S. Senate seat — released an “Interim Report” claiming that his office had discovered “serious vulnerabilities.” He left out edits from his own investigators refuting his assertions.
His office then compiled an “Election Review Summary” in September that systematically refuted accusations of widespread fraud and made clear that none of the complaining parties — from state lawmakers to self-styled “election integrity” groups — had presented any evidence to support their claims. Brnovich left office last month without releasing the summary.
That timeline emerges from documents released to The Post this week by Brnovich’s successor, Kris Mayes, a Democrat. She said she considered the taxpayer-funded investigation closed and, earlier this month, notified leaders on Maricopa County’s governing board that they were no longer in the state’s crosshairs.
The records show how Brnovich used his office to further claims about voting in Maricopa County that his own staff considered inaccurate. They suggest that his administration privately disregarded fact-checks provided by state investigators while publicly promoting incomplete accounts of the office’s work. The innuendo and inaccuracies, circulated not just in the far reaches of the internet but with the imprimatur of the state’s attorney general, helped make Arizona an epicenter of distrust in the democratic process, eroding confidence not just in the 2020 vote but in subsequent elections.
[…]
In releasing materials that Brnovich’s administration had kept from public view, Mayes said she was reorienting the work of the attorney general’s office — away from pursuing conspiratorial claims of fraud and toward protecting the right to vote, investigating the few cases of wrongdoing that typically occur every election and preventing threats against election workers.
“The people of Arizona had a right to know this information before the 2022 election,” Mayes said in an interview. “Maricopa County election officials had a right to know that they were cleared of wrongdoing. And every American had a right to know that the 2020 election in Arizona, which in part decided the presidency, was conducted accurately and fairly.”
[…]
Pierce R. Butlersays
SC… @ # 492 in previous iteration of this thread: It’s depressing how many people I recognize from their solid critical work on the US or capitalism have turned into wackadoos when it comes to COVID or Russian imperialism or both.
Depressing/enraging/perplexing. Does anybody here have any clues/insight as to what has lately pulled so many professional progressives towards the (de facto) right?
Money may account for some instances (looking at you, consortiumnews.org), but I doubt it motivates, say, Medea Benjamin or Noam Chomsky to say what they’ve said (and omit what they’ve not said) over the last year.
If it’s what she says, we love it, especially later in the summer.
I know this is a riff on the Jr. email, but how about fucking NOW? I would like it now. I don’t know if the people involved – including Willis with her clarification of “legal imminent” – recognize how depressing, upsetting, enraging, and dangerous it is to have these corrupt criminals operate with impunity for this long. These crimes in Georgia happened in fucking December of 2020, and the recording was made public like the next day. It’s 2023, FFS. I agree that the foreperson probably shouldn’t be having these conversations with the press, but some of their findings have been released already and it’s evidently not illegal, so I can’t bring myself to give much of a shit that someone is hinting that Trump and his lackeys might possibly begin to face some accountability somewhere for something after more than two fucking years. I’ve had it with the cowardice, lethargy, and inaction. These people at all levels of government need to do their fucking jobs and put an end to the impunity. It’s immensely harmful to the country and the world. /rant
After initially scrambling to counter a Daily Beast story that he wasn’t paying his lawyers, the notorious right-wing media personality Steve Bannon has been sued for owing a single New York attorney a whopping $480,487.
On Friday, the Manhattan firm of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron took the rare step of suing its former client over unpaid bills for a mountain of work a lawyer did defending him for two years against Congress, the feds, and a local district attorney.
On top of the half million dollars he allegedly owes, the firm is now asking that a New York judge force Bannon to pay interest—plus the cost of the lawyer who filed this lawsuit…
Followup to comment 499 in the previous chapter of this thread.
More Ukraine updates:
[…] In advance of Putin’s state of the union address before a very distant collection of very bored sycophants, Russia conducted a launch of a new SARMAT “heavy” ICBM with the capability of carrying multiple warheads. That launch was reportedly meant to underline Putin’s announcement that he was suspending Russia’s participation in the New START agreement.
However, according to U.S. military sources, this three-stage, 200-tonne, 36-meter-long punctuation mark failed to make the final draft of Putin’s speech for one simple reason. It failed.
According to CNN, the test occurred on Monday just before President Biden crossed into Ukraine for his historic meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. It was clearly meant to be a symbolic signal that Biden’s entry into Ukraine could lead to a nuclear conflict.
However, having produced a squib, or as they say at SpaceX, experienced “rapid unplanned disassembly,” Putin failed to drop any mention of his missile test in his lengthy, rambling, and exceeding dull speech.
Just like the T-14 Armata “super tank,” the SARMAT II was meant to be part of Russia’s arsenal long before now. In fact, this is supposed to be Russia’s only land-based missile at this point. With a short boost-phase design that’s meant to evade interception, high speed, long-range, and large capacity, this is Russia’s replace-them-all warhead carrier. When it was announced in 2014, it was said the SARMAT would replace 100% of Russia’s existing missile fleet by 2021.
As of 2023, it has replaced exactly 0%.
Just a year after that first announcement, development of the SARMAT II was already running behind schedule. One test flight was made in 2017, another in 2018, but neither of these reportedly went more than a few kilometers and it’s unclear if they tested more than the first state of the missile. Considering that the SARMAT is intended to boost warheads into space and is supposedly capable of traveling 35,000 km, two short flights doesn’t seem all that impressive. Another test flight was reportedly conducted in April 2022, as Putin was warning the West against arming Ukraine, but there seems to be no public information about this other than an announcement that it took place.
Russia followed up that claimed 2022 test with a report on state media that 15 of the missiles were “combat ready.” However, none of these missiles seem to have been deployed. The failed test on Monday is a good indicator that the best thing for everyone would be … if Russia went ahead immediately with replacing 100% of their missile fleet with SARMAT II, just as planned. [LOL]
Meanwhile, in Mariupol… [Tweet at the link] Last night, Ukraine reportedly hit nine cities occupied by Russia, including 15 strikes at Russian bases and stockpiles in and around the battered city of Mariupol. Those strikes included sightings of objects blazing across the sky at extreme high speed in a way that seemed unfamiliar to any of the observers on the ground.
While Ukraine has previously hit targets around other Russian-occupied cities in the Zaporizhzhia area, including Melitopol, Mariupol is way down on the coast, about 80 km from the nearest Ukrainian-controlled area near Vuhledar.
Unless a HIMARS system was dragged right to the front lines in that highly active part of the battlefield—something Ukraine is unlikely to risk—Mariupol would be out of range of the missiles the U.S. has currently provided to Ukraine. Additionally, the movement and nature of these strikes seemed different than previous hits, with some videos showing objects (of the non-balloon variety) moving rapidly across the sky before impacting with a sound like rolling thunder. In city after city, Russian occupiers launched air defense missiles or let loose with anti-aircraft guns. [Tweet and video at the link]
But this doesn’t appear to have stopped Ukraine from making strikes in location after location.
As the tweet above notes, rumors are flying that Ukraine has some kind of new weapon—one that gives it extended range, has precise targeting, and evades Russia’s attempts to take it down.
Some are speculating that the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB) systems that the U.S. had promised to Ukraine, but which were expected to take months to arrive, are actually already on the ground and in use. There are even half-joking statements that Biden brought them along on his visit. The early arrival of these weapons would be a genuinely amazing development, and yes, Mariupol is well within range of GLSDB.
Other analysts have gone beyond GLSDB and suggested that the U.S. slipped Ukraine some of its MGM-140 ATACMS, which can be launched from a M270 or HIMARS, but has a range of up to 300 km. The U.S. just got through saying that it couldn’t supply ATACMS to Ukraine because it didn’t have an adequate supply for its own use in other potential situations. That could have been a ruse, but burning through so many of these missiles in a single attack seems unlikely.
Still others speculate that the overnight attacks on Russian positions came courtesy of Ukraine’s new home-grown missile system. For months, as Ukraine negotiated to get Western weapons and asked for systems like ATACMS, there have been reports that the Ukrainian military was also building its own longer-range weapons. The need to disrupt Russian supply lines, and to strike against bases and stockpiles that Russia is locating at distances outside the normal HIMARS range, has had Ukraine seeking this capability almost since the invasion began. So maybe what hit Mariupol overnight wasn’t ATACMS or GLSDB. Maybe it was UOLRS—Ukraine’s own long-range solution.
In any case, it’s striking (pun intended) that even as Russia is failing to demonstrate its new long-range missile system, Ukraine is demonstrating an absolutely functional new ability to reach out and “touch” Russian assets at longer range.
Among the sites hit in Mariupol overnight was reportedly a large ammunition depot and a loading facility for Russian ships.
Today in Moscow, Russia conducted the next stage of its invasion propaganda campaign. This time, it involved roping a bunch of people into a stadium for bad music and a half-baked spectacle. According to Ukrainian Pravda, extras were paid 500 roubles to fill up the stands.
Hard to believe when they were provided with entertainment like this [/sarcasm]. [Tweet and video at the link]
Here is a part of the verse from his song: “I’m not afraid to get my hands bloody. It’s war and we didn’t start it, but we’ll finish it. The bright red flag will fly over Berlin.”
You can practically feel the excitement radiating from the people in the background. And here’s a very special part of the program—one that is certain to get a response in Ukraine and worldwide. Though maybe not the response Russia wants.
Children from #Mariupol presented like zoo animals thank their kidnappers [video at the link]
The crowd just recently shuffled out of the stadium, leaving with all the fans’ enthusiasm at a football game where neither team managed to score. Maybe they’re realizing that they have only begun to lose. […]
Good to see “Witch” still around and uninjured as she tells the story of one of those much fought-over locations near Bakhmut. [video at the link]
I’m not embedding this tweet [embedded link available at the main link], which shows a genuine pile of corpses, reportedly those of former members of Wagner Group killed last week near Bakhmut. But I’m mentioning it because this image is reportedly being circulated by Wagner Group itself, as part of its ongoing argument that it isn’t getting the supplies or support it needs from the regular military.
This morning, as it has every morning for more than six months, Bakhmut holds.
A 3 hour long battle that lasted on the outskirts of Bakhmut yesterday night resulted in 7 Ukrainian special forces soldiers with support of snipers repelling an assault of more than 40 Russian soldiers who took 20+ casualties and retreated.
[…] just barely speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has given over 44,000 hours of tapes related to the Jan. 6 insurrection “exclusively” to Fox News’ biggest proponent of white supremacy, political violence, and sexier candies, Tucker Carlson.
McCarthy claimed to have handed the videos to Carlson in order to make them available to the public. What he did was exactly the opposite of what he promised to do. All it would take to make the video fully available to the public is for McCarthy to make them fully available to the public. Just as the Jan. 6 committee made their final report and supporting materials available to everyone. It would take McCarthy not even one minute to order the videos placed on a government site where anyone could access them, look at them in detail, and see every image in context.
Instead McCarthy gave the videos only to Carlson, a man who has consistently chopped up the news and patched it together in ways that generate false associations and unsupportable claims. In what universe would Kevin McCarthy handing over video to Tucker Carlson be considered making it “fully available to the public?”
Why … in the one where McCarthy is making money off the deal. Which is exactly what’s happening now.
After handing Carlson videos that lawfully belong to the United States on Monday, this is how McCarthy followed up on Wednesday. [Tweet showing McCarthy fundraising off of giving Tucker Carlson access to the 1/6 surveillance tapes.]
Once you get past the headline, McCarthy continues to pretend that he has somehow “released” the videos. He hasn’t. He’s handed them to Carlson, and what the public gets to see is completely up to the biggest name in fake news.
How long will it be before we get blurry two-second clips from this video that Carlson claims show police enticing Trump supporters into invading the Capitol? How long before we see freeze frame images that Carlson claims show that antifa was at the heart of the insurrection? How long before we’re treated to images of Nancy Pelosi walking along a corridor with Carlson begging his viewers to question where she’s going? Maybe to open a door so antifa agitators can slip inside? Sorry, make that woke antifa agitators.
If that sounds unlikely, Carlson was the producer of a “documentary series” that insisted the entire Jan. 6 insurrection was a “false flag” event. As NPR reports, in that series, Carlson ran interview footage claiming that the people attacking the Capitol that day were actually employees from federal offices dressed up as Trump supporters to damage the conservative movement. That guy now has 44,000 fresh hours of video from which to cut and paste to generate new attacks on reason, justice, and the nation.
And when it comes to refuting Carlson’s claims, what is the rest of the news media going to do when they do not have access to the information that the Fox propagandist has been handed?
McCarthy has taken something that is public property, and not given to the public, but given it over to his political favorites to curry favor and raise funds. It’s exactly the sort of thing that should be front and center at the House Ethics Committee—had McCarthy not made a pre-emptive strike on the function of that committee. It’s no different than if McCarthy were selling off the speaker’s podium and pocketing the change. Except it’s worse.
It is hard to see this as anything other than McCarthy stealing a public good—something that has both value and represents genuine security concerns—and handing it off to someone who seeks nothing more than to use that item to cause public harm. The United States loses, Kevin McCarthy wins.
FFS, Fox News is even more horrible than I thought they would be when it comes to covering Biden’s trip to Ukraine.
Monica Crowley is one of those Fox News idiots whose name you probably hear and think, “Wait, which one is that?” Hard to say, but let’s crash course real quick.
She’s a massive plagiarist, having gotten caught doing it both in her Ph.D. dissertation and in her 2012 book. She thought Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs was mentally unstable because she laughed during her swearing-in. She said it meant Hobbs knew she was “illegitimate.” So she’s on team Kari Lake Vaseline Filter. That really tells you everything, but we can tell you more.
She’s a Trump idiot, who served as a deputy assistant Treasury secretary, we are guessing because Trump saw her on Fox News and not because of her qualifications. Trump hires random people he thinks look good on TV, because he’s dumb and shallow like that.
Crowley is an unhinged conspiracy theorist, who leaned heavy into the Barack Obama secret Muslim birther shit. “Can he be both loyal to Islam and loyal to the United States?” is a question she asked once.
Based on all that, we assess her to be quite stupid, batshit, and also a bigot.
So of course she’s on Fox News commenting on Joe Biden’s trip to Ukraine.
Normal people consider Biden’s trip a triumph and a humiliation to Vladimir Putin, and normal people want Ukraine to beat back genocidal shithole Russia that invaded it and started exploding its kids. But Fox News has to paint the trip as a failure, and we don’t just mean Tucker Carlson essentially reading out the Kremlin’s press releases on live TV.
For a really good look at how deep the Russian propaganda has infected the brains in Imaginary Fox News Bonkers Land, check out this quick exchange between Crowley and host Jesse Watters, who is definitely also a real foreign policy expert just like Crowley is a real foreign policy expert. [video at the link]
As the clip begins, the on-screen graphic says “Biden’s Bad Trip.” His interview with Crowley begins with conspiracy theories that Joe Biden is not in charge. That Biden doesn’t understand things. That he’s senile. That he can’t walk. All of this is projection, after these asses spent an entire presidency defending a president who couldn’t stop bragging that he correctly identified the camel on the dementia test, and who looked like this [embedded link available at the main link] walking down a ramp at West Point.
[…] Jesse asked:
Is the national security state telling Joe what to do? Is this the CIA and the Pentagon and some of these more hawkish advisers, are they just barreling Joe Biden towards a confrontation with Russia? Or is Joe Biden really calling the shots here?
Crowley said, “Hard to tell, Jesse.” She made up a lie, or repeated a lie, about how the generals wouldn’t tell Biden about the Chinese spy balloon for four days “because they knew he’s really out of it and they were afraid he was going to blurt out the secret.” […] She lied that “we have a commander-in-chief who is clearly not sentient most of the time.”
Then she just started projectile barfing out Russian propaganda, with a soupçon of anti-Semitic dogwhistling.
CROWLEY: I think the national security state has a vested interest in keeping this war going, which is why you haven’t seen any diplomatic efforts whatsoever toward peace.
WATTERS: None.
There will be no “peace” without Ukraine beating the living shit out of Russia […] (Here’s an article about Putin’s plan to go after Moldova next. Here’s one about his plans to officially steal Belarus. [embedded links available at the main link]) All else is Russian propaganda dedicated to making you think Russia has some sort of valid opinion here, some kind of legitimate foreign policy aims. Putin wants to conquer and kill in the name of his warped fantasies of Making Russia Great Again.
There is no “peace plan,” Elon Musk. there is no “peace plan,” Donald Trump. There is no “peace plan,” MAGA trash.
You want peace? You help Ukraine win.
CROWLEY: Because we’re all making a fortune off of this. Right. This is a — this is a massive money laundering operation for the globalists and the ruling elite around the world. […] And Joe Biden is right there. Joe Biden has a long-standing history with Ukraine in terms of that corrupt regime and corrupt entities there pouring tens of millions of dollars into the Biden family. So he doesn’t have an incentive to end this war either.
And now she’s just babbling conspiracy theories without even a scintilla of evidence. It is literally the shit Donald Trump was trying to get Ukraine to make up for him, as he extorted them into helping him steal the 2020 election in exchange for protection from Russia.
[…] This is the shit they’re funneling into your Nana’s impressionable brain. We’re not surprised anymore. We’re just typing it down for the record.
In related news, here is Donald Trump Jr. saying Joe Biden only went to Ukraine to bury Hunter’s laptop in the backyard or something. [video at the link]
Well, who knows anyway?
It is clear that Russia will take over Moldova if they can.
It is 2.6 million Moldovans to 144 million Russians. No contest.
What is the situation on the Ukraine-Transnistria border and what can be expected from Russia on February 24
Author
Publication date
18:51, 22.02.23
What is the situation on the Ukraine-Transnistria border and what can be expected from Russia on February 24
The expert does not rule out that the Russians will try to attack the Odesa region.
Against the background of a series of alarming news about threats to Moldova from Russia and, accordingly, to Ukraine, Ukrainian border guards reported that the protection of the section of the state border of Ukraine in the direction of Transnistria remains strengthened.
What is the current situation on this part of the border and what development of events is not excluded – this was reported by border guards and military analyst Oleksiy Hetman in a comment for TSN.ua.
“If we talk about the border with Transnistria, considerable attention has been paid to this direction since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine. We understand that Russia has a significant influence on this territory (Transnistria – Ed.) and can also use it This direction has long been strengthened to ensure the security of Ukraine,” the spokesman of the State Security Service of Ukraine Andriy Demchenko told us .
In turn, military analyst Oleksiy Hetman does not rule out that in the coming days Moldova may be restless. He does not rule out that a surprise from Russia could happen on February 24.
“There is currently an operational group of Russian troops in Transnistria. It consists of approximately 6.5 thousand people – a large number of service personnel and about 2 thousand who can conduct combat operations. It is impossible to expect any breakthrough from this group. But the fact is , that a few days ago there was information in the Internet media that a coup d’état was being prepared in Moldova, that the removal of the president was possible. That is, the political crisis could turn into a coup. There was also information that “Kadyrivs” could be sent there to support the coup and seize Moldova.” , – says Oleksii Hetman.
He adds: “Why is Transnistria important? It can hardly be considered an attempt to attack Odesa from Transnistria. The enemy does not have the forces and means there. The operational Russian group is located in Transnistria because there are very large warehouses with shells left there . It is impossible to move these warehouses to the Russian Federation, but it is quite possible to create a group there that will use ammunition. I assume that they want to send Kadyrivs or other special forces to Moldova to seize power in Moldova, to create a group and attack Odessa. I think our intelligence and defense forces are doing the smart, right thing by beefing up border security.”
Russia’s ammunition shortage in eastern Ukraine is reportedly so severe that its troops there have reportedly been issued with completely unusable munitions, including shells which are so rusty they have simply disintegrated.
After complaints from Yevgeny Prigozhin about Wagner fighters being denied ammunition, Alexander Khodakovsky of the pro-Russian Vostok Battalion has written that the situation is the same for everyone – indicating an extreme case of ‘shell famine’.
The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel has posted photos of some of the ammunition that it says Russian regular forces have been issued. This suggests that the shortage isn’t just confined to ‘independent’ mercenary or militia groups but also affects the army itself.
The supplies include “cases of inadequate quality ammunition, including category 2 and 3 (with defects or generally unsuitable for combat use)”. As can be seen from the pictures, the ammunition now is unusable and probably unsafe, likely resulting from poor storage conditions.
This is the craziest trailer for a movie I have ever seen.
Don’t know anything about it except it looks AWESOME!”
Twitter link.
johnson catmansays
re SC @15:
From the studio behind John Wick
I have enjoyed the John Wick series of movies. They are so over-the-top as to be comic book depictions. Pure escapism of the one-man-against-the-world-and-winning genre. SISU looks like something that I would enjoy. Thanks for sharing! I will be looking out for it. Bonus points for killing Nazis!!
Russia’s ammunition shortage in eastern Ukraine is reportedly so severe that its troops there have reportedly been issued with completely unusable munitions, including shells which are so rusty they have simply disintegrated.
This is actually worse than simply not having ammunition, because the faulty shells still had to be dug out of some warehouse and shipped off to the front. Every case of faulty shells is wasted time and fuel, as well as a missed opportunity to ship something that might actually help.
But I guess that’s the thing with corrupt and autocratic systems. Someone was ordered to ship X number of shells, so they did. Their job didn’t including caring about whether the shells worked, so they didn’t.
A Toronto-based filmmaker from India has been granted protection from India’s highest court after facing multiple police investigations and death threats over a depiction of a Hindu goddess on her movie poster.
“I feel really heard,” said Leena Manimekalai, who is currently the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).
Manimekalai says she has received thousands of death and rape threats as a result of a movie poster she tweeted promoting her film, Kaali — which uses an alternate spelling of the goddess’s name. The poster showed the Hindu goddess Kali smoking and holding a Pride flag. ..
johnson catman @ #16, that’s how I saw it. I really hate violence so I probably won’t see it…but I might…, but the violence in the trailer was so over the top that it was funny. I gasped but then gasp/laughed.
A hybrid breed of super pigs—a mix of a domestic pig and a wild boar—is running wild in Canada. And now they have their sights set on the United States.
Originally crossbred to help farmed pigs grow larger and tolerate the cold temperatures of Canada, a drop in the market about two decades ago led some farmers to let their hybrid pigs run free. Now they’re running very free, according to Field and Stream. The super pigs are coming south, likely heading to Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan…
Justice Amy Coney Barrett called for a recess in arguments before the Supreme Court so that she could search the Bible for God’s views on the Internet.
After several Justices expressed confusion about the technological issues before them, Barrett clapped her hands impatiently and said, “It doesn’t matter what we think about the Internet. What does God think about it?”
Barrett then withdrew to her chambers, where she had her clerks comb the Bible for the Almighty’s opinions on digital matters.
As of Wednesday, Barrett’s clerks had failed to find any mention of the Internet in the books of Genesis, Exodus, or Leviticus, but were said to be “holding out hope” for the Book of Numbers.
Wang Yi, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s senior foreign policy adviser, gave one of the strongest indications yet of Russia and China’s strengthening ties on Wednesday.
Washington Post:
Accounts pushing Kremlin propaganda are using Twitter’s new paid verification system to appear more prominently on the global platform, another sign that Elon Musk’s takeover is accelerating the spread of politically charged misinformation, a nonprofit research group has found.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
Russia is intensifying hostilities in Ukraine a year after its invasion in a deliberate attempt to deplete Ukrainian forces, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday. The fiercest fighting remained around the eastern city of Bakhmut, Brig Gen Oleksiy Gromov said, according to Reuters.
Finland will send three Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, the country’s defence ministry said, according to Reuters.
The founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force has said much-needed ammunition for his troops has been dispatched, after a public row in which he accused the military leadership of treason. In an audio clip on Thursday, Prigozhin said he felt the pressure he and others had put on the defence ministry had paid off, and he had been told that ammunition was now on its way.
A Russian fighter plane crashed and the pilot was killed in Russia’s Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine, on Thursday . The cause of the crash was a “technical malfunction”, according to preliminary information. The plane crashed in an uninhabited area and there were no reports of other damage.
Sweden is open to sending some of its Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine as it prepares to present another package of aid to help Kyiv fight off the Russian invasion, the country’s defence minister said.
Moldova dismissed an accusation by Russia’s defence ministry on Thursday that Ukraine planned to invade the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria after staging a false-flag operation, and called for calm.
The US Treasury secretary stepped up calls for increased financing support to Ukraine, as the US readies an additional $10bn in economic assistance in the coming weeks. Janet Yellen said it was critical for the IMF to “move swiftly” towards a fully financed loan programme for Ukraine.
‘I think he is not going to stop’, the UK defence secretary has said of Vladimir Putin’s war. Ben Wallace said the conflict in Ukraine could last another year. PA news also reported that Wallace stressed that the war was “not a Nato conflict”.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has arrived in Kyiv to meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy as the first anniversary of the Russian invasion approaches. Sánchez said: “I’m back in Ukraine a year after the start of the war. We will stay by Ukraine’s side until peace returns to Europe.”
The town of Vuhledar, in southern Donetsk oblast, has experienced heavy shelling again, according to the UK MoD’s latest defence intelligence update. “There is a realistic possibility that Russia is preparing for another offensive effort in this area despite costly failed attacks in early February and late 2022,” the update on Thursday morning said.
The Chinese government did not consult with Kyiv when preparing its peace plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official said on condition of anonymity….
Also from there:
Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said a series of cyberattacks on Wednesday targeting Italian companies and public institutions, including the websites of the defence ministry and police, were “a threat, a warning” from Russia after prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s visit to Ukraine this week.
The attacks, which caused limited damage due to strong cyber defence systems being in place, were claimed by the Russian group, NoName057, which wrote on Telegram that Italy was “Russiaphobic”, while referring to the government’s approval of a 6th military aid package for war-torn Ukraine.
Tajani made the comments to reporters on the sidelines of the UN’s emergency special session marking one year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in New York.
Meloni met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Tuesday in what was her first visit to the country since she came to power in October.
Meloni reiterated Italy’s “unwavering” support for Ukraine while pledging that the country would continue to give “military, financial and civil support”.
“Those who support Ukraine, even militarily, are those who work for peace,” she said.
Over the past decade, the US has experienced a succession of monumental climate disasters….
But the disasters themselves are only half the story. The real story of climate change begins only once the skies clear and the fire burns out, and it has received far less attention in the mainstream media.
In the aftermath of climate disasters, as victims try to cope with the destruction of their homes and communities, they start to move around in search of safe and affordable shelter. Many of them have no choice but to move in with family members or friends, while others find themselves forced to seek out cheaper apartments in other cities. Some rebuild their homes only to sell them and move to places they deem less vulnerable, while others move away only to return and lose their homes again in another storm or fire.
We as Americans don’t often hear about this chaotic process of displacement and relocation, but the scale of movement is already overwhelming: more than 3 million Americans lost their homes to climate disasters last year, and a substantial number of those will never make it back to their original properties. Over the coming decades, the total number of displaced will swell by millions and tens of millions, forcing Americans from the most vulnerable parts of the country into an unpredictable, quasi-permanent exile from the places they know and love.
This migration won’t be a linear movement from point A to point B, and neither will it be a slow march away from the coastlines and the hottest places. Rather, the most vulnerable parts of the United States will enter a chaotic churn of instability as some people leave, others move around within the same town or city, and still others arrive only to leave again. In parts of California that are ravaged by wildfire, disaster victims will vie against millions of other state residents for apartments in the state’s turbulent housing market. In cities like Miami and Norfolk, where sea levels are rising, homeowners may watch their homes lose value as the market shies away from flood-prone areas. The effects will be different in every place, but almost everywhere the result will be the same: safe shelter will get scarcer and more expensive, loosening people’s grip on the stability that comes with a permanent home.
…
The federal government has the resources to help address this chaos. Lawmakers could ramp up programs that protect against floods and fires. They could give people money to relocate from vulnerable homes or to find new jobs if climate change makes their old jobs impossible or dangerous. Meanwhile, the White House could take a leading role in planning for future migration, incentivizing growth in places that are less vulnerable and easing the transition away from the riskiest places.
But doing any of these things would first require government officials to acknowledge the scale of climate displacement that has happened already, and shed light on a crisis that has for too long gone ignored.
As they note, Bittle’s book The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration was published this week.
…Big digs aren’t the big idea they once were: mapping the human archaeological record is now moving upward, into the sky.
Lidar – short for light detection and ranging – has emerged as one of the most widely used technologies for rapid archaeological documentation. Lidar works by sending pulses of light out from a transmitter often mounted to the skid of a helicopter, then recording how long it takes for those pulses to return to a sensor. A virtual 3D map can be generated from a single large-scale survey in less than a day. Archaeological sites that would require years and years of fieldwork to excavate can now be mapped in a single afternoon, their every surface feature captured down to millimeter-scale resolution.
Thickets and woods, even entire rainforests, are no obstacle. Because individual bursts of light can pass through the tiniest gaps separating branches and leaves in a forest canopy, lidar is also able to map archaeological features beneath heavily overgrown landscapes. The technique’s accuracy, combined with its declining cost as new devices and firms enter the market, means that lidar has found enthusiastic uptake in everything from urban mapping projects and geological hazard management – such as finding previously unknown fault lines – to, of course, archaeology.
…
Processing the results is another story. A single survey can produce several terabytes’ worth of data, requiring powerful software to analyze and present the findings….
…
The scope of all that remains to be discovered – whether lost in the algorithm or yet to be scanned – is astonishing. Even in the UK, where there are no tropical rainforests hiding lost cities and even the most remote site is only a couple of hours away from the nearest road, undiscovered landscapes lie in wait….
(Am I the last person to learn that a lot of phones have lidar sensors?)
Eighty-seven percent of Ukrainians oppose territorial concessions, according to the results of a survey the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology conducted between Feb. 14-22.
Furthermore, only 9% of Ukrainians surveyed believe that some territories can be given up in order to achieve peace and preserve independence.
The survey also notes that these results are more or less standard across all regions of Ukraine, with 82% in the east of Ukraine being opposed to concessions and 86% in south of the country.
2,002 respondents aged 18 and older across Ukraine, excluding the temporarily occupied-territories, were surveyed by telephone.
The results are noteworthy on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. In an interview with the BBC on Feb. 16, President Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out territorial concessions to Russia.
“Any territorial compromises are only going to weaken our country,” Zelensky said. “It’s not about comprise. We make millions of compromises every day. But the question is: Will Putin? No, because we don’t trust Putin.”
“Our defense is holding,” Zelensky added. “We need powerful modern weapons (to win). They’re the only language Russia understands. We’re responding in their language.”
Millions of Russians in almost a dozen cities throughout the country were greeted Wednesday morning by radio alerts, text messages, and sirens warning of an air raid or missile strikes that never occurred. The warnings were later blamed on hackers.
According to reports from news operations in Russia, a woman’s voice was broadcast through a number of radio stations – including Relax FM, Avatoradio, Yumor FM, and Comedy Radio – saying, “Attention, an air raid warning is being announced. Go to the shelter immediately. Attention, Attention, threat of a missile strike.”
The broadcasts were played in at least 10 cities – Pyatigorsk, Tyumen, Voronezh, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Magnitogorsk, Stary Oskol, Ufa, and Novouralsk.
Local officials in some of the cities, including in the Belgorod and Kurgan regions, quickly announced that the alerts were fake and the country’s Ministry of Emergency Situations later accused unidentified miscreants of initiating the broadcasts…
The Ministry said the broadcasts and text messages were the result of an attack on a a satellite operator’s infrastructure and that “an unauthorized tie-in is going on the air…
StevoRsays
I know its extremely short notice & not sure if anyone else from SA is even here still – but :
PROTEST against the removal of a magnificent old Eucalyptus @ 270 Brighton Road, Adelaide South Oz at 7:30am this Friday 24th.
@29: LIDAR is RADAR with shorter wavelengths: “light” instead of “radio”. The wavelengths of light may not be visible light, i.e. it could be ultraviolet or infrared. Different wavelengths are useful for different appliactions. LIDAR is also a big thing in self-driving cars.
Oggie: Mathomsays
Reginald Selkirk @2
Marine commission: Whale deaths not linked to wind prep work
I heard this on NPR last night. Apparently, one of the groups heading the fight against wind power is a right wing group that has been consistent in opposing any non-fossil fuel power source.
For more than 80 days, the Russians bombarded Mariupol, determined to take the port city even if they had to raze it to the ground first.
After Russian forces finally crushed Ukrainian resistance last May, they set about putting their stamp on Mariupol, erasing evidence of the recent atrocities and of past Ukrainian history in the city.
A year on from the invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian tells the story of Mariupol – perhaps the bloodiest and most shocking chapter of Russia’s brutal war….
There’s something about the color-palette slide in the Russian reconstruction plan that gets to me.
…
From where we are, we couldn’t see the Russian positions. But from the recon drone I can see them constantly mucking about in the rear. So I said, ‘What if we put a Mark 19 on a pickup truck, race up the ‘Road of Life’ [one of the few supply lines Ukraine maintains with Bakhmut] stop behind a hill and lob a full magazine of grenades at them. There’s enough time to empty out all 32 grenades and be gone before return mortar fire reaches us. I did the math!”
…
Four people have been arrested after protesters painted the road outside the Russian Embassy in London in the colours of the Ukrainian flag.
Led by Donkeys covered the street in Kensington Palace Gardens in yellow and blue paint ahead of the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
The group said it wanted to remind Russia’s president of Ukraine’s “right to self-determination”.
The Met Police said three men and one woman remained in custody.
Led by Donkeys, which began in 2018 as an anti-Brexit group, said it had poured 170 litres of yellow paint on the eastbound carriageway of Bayswater Road and a similar amount of blue paint on the westbound side, with passing traffic then spreading the colours along the road…
ravensays
Tweet
Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en
Russian propagandists complain that they need more allies and no one is really coming to their side.
Skabeyeva consoles them that as soon as Russia has real successes, allies will appear.
I’ve got bad news for her.
Russia does have a few allies. Iran, Syria, Serbia, North Korea.
All of the outcast nations band together.
Potentially, it does have an important one. China.
China would rather make money selling stuff than support a pointless war in Europe but poking the West with a stick is worth something.
The rest of their NATO equivalent, the CTSO such as Kazakhstan, Armenia, etc.. aren’t really supporting Russia. For good reasons.
They aren’t allies, they are future victims.
Once Russia has conquered Ukraine, the rest of the former SSRs not in NATO are literally, history.
Ukraine’s Armed Forces carried out an artillery shelling on a Russian ammunition storage point in the vicinity of one of the temporarily occupied settlements of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The NRC reports that the exact information from the local resistance movement helped to find out about the location of the storage point and adjust the targeting…
Ukraine’s central bank unveiled a commemorative banknote on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, with one side depicting three soldiers raising the national flag.
The other side of the 20-hryvnia ($0.54) note features an image of two hands tied with tape, an apparent allusion to alleged war crimes Kyiv has accused Russian forces of committing in Ukraine…
Thanks to billions of dollars in foreign aid from Western partners, Ukraine’s hard currency reserves have grown to nearly $30 billion, slightly higher than at the start of the war…
They said they were already planning new notes to commemorate victory and Ukraine’s reconstruction…
Twitter has been overrun by Russian trolls.
As time goes on, it gets more and more dysfunctional and useless and there is no bottom in sight.
“Although Russia requires its Internet service providers to block access to Twitter…”
Twitter is banned in Russia but overrun with Russian trolls in the West.
Insight News Media
Russian propagandists get Twitter verification to spread fakes on Ukraine war
Russia / By Mike Oaks / February 23, 2023 / 7 minutes of reading
Accounts spreading Kremlin propaganda use Twitter’s new paid verification system to appear more prominently on the global platform. It is another sign that Elon Musk’s takeover is accelerating the spread of politically charged misinformation, a nonprofit research group has found.
The accounts claim to be based outside Russia, so they can pay for verification without violating U.S. sanctions. But they pass along public media articles, statements from Russian officials and lies about Ukraine from Kremlin allies, according to the research group Reset, which shared its findings with The Washington Post.
One of the accounts describes itself in English as “No woke. No BLM. No gender pronouns… Just anti-imperialism. Claiming to be based in San Francisco, its profile picture shows a blonde woman wearing a fur hat with a hammer and sickle badge. Another of the account’s biographical states that it is “Doing my part to stop Western support for the Ukrainian war machine, one taxpayer at a time.” He regularly tweets videos that he says show Russians killing Ukrainian soldiers.
Most of the dozen such accounts identified by Reset were created last year during the first phase of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Archived web pages show that the accounts needed blue check marks recently after new owner Elon Musk introduced a pay-to-play model. He said he would phase out legacy checks that identified politicians, journalists and other notable figures and weed out imposters.
Musk said that in the future, tweets and replies from these paid subscribers would appear even more prominently in Twitter’s news feed and search. But some of the accounts have already gotten more views in recent weeks.
Musk revived one of the accounts by replying to his tweets, including one spreading a lie that thousands of NATO troops had died in Ukraine.
Twitter allows anonymous accounts to buy verification
Reset said the outbreak showed a significant problem with a system that allows anonymous accounts to buy verification, giving them better placement in searches, mentions and replies. The accounts it discovered are “openly sharing Russian state media content, Kremlin-aligned disinformation about the conflict in Ukraine and outright war propaganda,” the group wrote.
Twitter labels the primary subscriber of the three million RT account “Russian State Affiliated Media” and carries a blue check inherited to be notable and not an impostor. Newly verified accounts do not have such a label.
Former employees and disinformation researchers have previously blamed the company for firing numerous regional experts evaluating influence operations, disbanding a security advisory board and bringing back accounts banned for hate speech and spreading lies.
At least two prominent members of the Afghan Taliban regime also paid $8 or $11 a month for blue checks until the media reported it last month. Their checks were removed after the reports.
Twitter’s treatment of Russia under scrutiny
Twitter’s treatment of Russia has been scrutinized, as Musk has a complex but critical role in the Ukrainian conflict. His company SpaceX has been crucial to Ukraine’s defense, providing thousands of Starlink satellite communication terminals that have allowed Ukraine to maintain Internet service despite Russian attacks on infrastructure. But he also said Starlink should not be used for offensive military purposes. He tweeted a proposal to resolve the war that Russia welcomed.
Although Russia requires its Internet service providers to block access to Twitter, the platform has remained a place where Russians can share news and debate anonymously. People in Russia can access the service via virtual private networks or proxy systems while growing ranks of expatriates contribute freely.
Russian troll factories on Twitter
Russian activity on platforms outside the country has been controversial since shortly after the 2016 presidential election when the Russian Internet Research Agency was revealed to be behind polarizing content on Twitter and Facebook to influence the election in favor of Donald Trump. As with some of the new accounts, the “troll factory” operatives generally claimed to be patriotic Americans.
Last week, sanctioned oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a close ally of Putin and the owner of the infamous private military group “Wagner”, said he created, funded the Internet Research Agency, and directed it.
He said he had also interfered in those U.S. contests just before the November midterms.
Yoel Roth, Twitter’s chief trust and security officer until November, told two allies that he stayed on Twitter after Musk’s takeover to fight such deceptive foreign influence on the election. He resigned immediately and testified before the Senate this month that thousands of automated Russian propaganda accounts are still on the platform.
Musk’s sweeping job cuts and resignations have drastically reduced the number of employees dedicated to combating influence campaigns. According to two people who worked with the person, the platform’s last Russian expert recently left.
Twitter’s similar loss of Chinese expertise has made it harder for exiled critics to overcome suspensions or inappropriate search bans, the victims said in interviews. They sent The Post screenshots of dozens of accounts not appearing in search results or being banned for spamming behavior, actions that lasted for weeks. Spam also overwhelmed reports from Chinese cities last fall about dramatic protests against coronavirus blockades.
Neither Twitter’s new head of trust and security nor Musk responded to emails Tuesday seeking comment.
The verified pro-Russian accounts identified by Reset take a variety of approaches. Some present themselves as independent media outlets. Another, called @LogKa11, created in February 2022, primarily shares pro-Russian war content in English with its more than 30,000 followers, including stories of war correspondents embedded with Russian troops and videos of successful attacks. He has repeatedly linked Ukrainians to Nazis, writing in December that “modern Ukraine has had a strange obsession with Nazism.” This echoes one of President Vladimir Putin’s main justifications for the invasion.
One, called @PutinDirect, publishes videos of comments by the Russian leader with English captions and links to full speeches.
Russian disinformation on Twitter by @runews
Among the most popular is @Runews, which existed for over a decade before getting a blue check. Describing itself as a “citizen journalist,” it reaches 260,000 subscribers with sometimes blunt propaganda, such as its recent repeated suggestions that Ohio “should declare itself part of Ukraine in hopes of receiving help from the Biden administration.” (The statement omitted the word “the,” which is a common mistake among native Russian speakers.)
The account “regularly interacts with content from Russian state media such as RT International @RT_com or editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan @m_simonyan. He also shares videos from Russian media or other pro-Russian channels with content mocking the EU, NATO, Ukraine, the West as a whole and supporting Russia’s actions in the war,” Reset wrote. “It also produces content geared toward the American Republican Twitterverse.”
Runews received a blue check in mid-January. On Feb. 6, Musk boosted the account’s profile by responding to its claim that 157,000 Ukrainian and 2,458 NATO troops died in the war with the comment, “A tragic loss of life.”
Another response from Musk to the same account brought it up in the “For You” display of a Post test account that did not follow Runews. NATO has not deployed troops to Ukraine, though Russia has called Ukraine a puppet of the U.S.-EU alliance.
Tweet impressions of the @runews account have surpassed 10 million and remain much higher than before, according to a Post analysis of public data.
Troll accounts are still suspended, according to a researcher who supports jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny and tweets as @Antibot4Navalny. But that takes time, while new accounts are constantly being uploaded.
The researcher, who lives in Russia and agreed to speak on condition of anonymity to protect his safety, told the Post that until September, he had never counted more than 500 simultaneously active Russian allied accounts on Twitter. Still, lately, he has seen more than 800. Most have few followers, but they can overwhelm discussions on tweets with replies favoring Putin’s positions.
He worries about what lies ahead, with a gutted trust and security team, reduced access for researchers, and blue ticks to sell to government allies who might put more energy into hiding their purpose.
In addition to human-powered troll accounts, automated accounts have pushed pro-Russian disinformation, according to longtime researcher Marc Owen Jones, a professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar.
Disinformation tweets synchronized amplification
Jones found that a key group of influencers was promoting a conspiracy theory that the United States caused the earthquake in Turkey as punishment for the country’s opposition to NATO expansion and that their tweets were amplified by thousands of accounts, including hundreds of accounts created simultaneously in a few days last October and April.
To remain a trustworthy platform, Twitter must reinvent an algorithm to ban accounts that spread apparent disinformation, propaganda, fake news, and war-mongering.
I’ve listened to HOURS of Alex Murdaugh calling his family from jail. He uses the same techniques to manipulate and control everyone he loves. I’ve heard it. It’s horrific.
Just a reminder that *less than a year ago* UK lawyers working for the guy now toddling around Bakhmut with a machine gun dressed in military fatigues were claiming he had suffered “great distress” from allegations he had *anything* to do with mercenary activity.
Here is the section of Prigozhin’s English high court claim where his lawyers outlined the apparently unbelievable and outrageous allegations made against their client in his libel case against @EliotHiggins:…
And here is the part where the lawyers told the court about the “damage and distress” these allegations had caused Prigozhin, and the “grave damage” it had inflicted on his reputation:…
SC @38, my god. It was difficult to read about that situation, let alone to imagine people living (and dying) there. It is obvious that scars of all kinds will persist in Mariupol no matter what happens in the future.
That account also makes it so clear that the Russians committed war crimes … and that the Russians can be counted on to be ruthless and duplicitous.
Right-wing extremists committed every ideologically driven mass killing identified in the U.S. in 2022, with an “unusually high” proportion perpetrated by white supremacists, according to a new report published Thursday.
The high number of killings linked to white supremacists was “primarily due to mass shootings,” the report released by the Anti-Defamation League found.
Although there was a decrease in extremist killings in 2022 from 2021, the number was comparable to the number of extremist killings in 2020.
The report noted that 60% of the deaths stemming from extremist mass killings in 2022 came from two incidents: the racist mass shooting in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York and a mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.
The number of mass killings linked to extremism in the U.S. in the past decade was at least three times higher than any decade since the 1970s, per the report.
Between 2011 and 2020, there were 21 mass killing incidents in the U.S., compared to only five from 20001 to 2010.
From 1991 to 2000, there were seven mass killing incidents in the U.S., and only two from 1981 to 1990, and six between 1971 to 1980.
“The 26 mass killing incidents over the past 12 years actually exceed those from the previous 40 years,” the report stated. The number of deaths associated with mass killing incidents has also risen.
Between 2010 and 2020, 164 people died in ideological extremist-related mass killing incidents, more than in any other decade other than the 1990s — in which nearly all the deaths were associated with one event, the Oklahoma City bombing.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that we live in an age of extremist mass killings,” the report said.
It was on Monday when the public first learned that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy provided Fox News’ Tucker Carlson with exclusive access to thousands of hours of sensitive Jan. 6 security camera footage. […]
Yesterday, at long last, the Republican speaker finally made public comments about the burgeoning controversy — as part of an effort to turn the gambit into a fundraising opportunity.
“Patriot, you deserve the facts — all of the facts,” McCarthy wrote in his appeal to prospective donors. “I promised I would give you the truth regarding January 6th, and now I am delivering. I have released the full 44,000 hours of uncut camera surveillance footage.”
To the extent that reality still has any meaning, this was a curious boast: There’s obviously a difference between “releasing” 44,000 hours of uncut camera surveillance footage and giving exclusive access to a controversial political ally at a conservative media outlet aligned with Republican politics.
McCarthy’s fundraising pitch added, “A commitment to ALL of America requires truth and transparency over partisan games. Now, we are delivering. Would you consider chipping in $25, $50, or $100 to help House Republicans keep delivering on our commitments to America?”
I’m going to hope that the speaker wasn’t involved in writing such a nonsensical appeal. Giving Tucker Carlson exclusive access to sensitive footage, and then using the move to beg for money, is not an example of putting “truth and transparency over partisan games.” It’s actually the opposite.
But as appalling as this unseemly fundraising tactic was, it was not the only thing McCarthy had to say on the subject. The New York Times reported:
“I promised,” Mr. McCarthy said on Wednesday in a brief phone interview in which he defended his decision to grant Mr. Carlson exclusive access to the more than 40,000 hours of security footage. “I was asked in the press about these tapes, and I said they do belong to the American public. I think sunshine lets everybody make their own judgment.”
Who wrote these talking points for the speaker? McCarthy thinks “sunshine lets everybody make their own judgment”? That might be a coherent response if he’d just released the whole package of footage to everyone, but he didn’t: McCarthy gave exclusive access to one Fox News program, which already has a dreadful record related to Jan. 6 coverage.
Or as the Times put it, “[T]he sunshine Mr. McCarthy referred to will, for now, be filtered through a very specific prism — that of Mr. Carlson, a hero of the hard right who has insinuated without evidence that the Jan. 6 attack was a ‘false flag’ operation carried out by the government.”
McCarthy went on to suggest to the newspaper that once Carlson has had his chance, others would gain access to the same footage. That’s nice, I suppose, though by that point, the speaker’s allied conspiracy theorist will likely have already aired cherry picked footage and presented a counter-narrative to challenge the reality of the insurrectionist violence.
The Times added, “In granting exclusive access to Jan. 6 Capitol surveillance footage to a cable news host bent on rewriting the history of the attack, the speaker effectively outsourced a politically toxic re-litigation of the riot.” [Correct!!]
The fact that McCarthy is doing this while patting himself on the back for putting “truth and transparency over partisan games” adds insult to injury.
A good trend: An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll shows President Joe Biden’s standing improving: The survey found Biden with “up to 46% approval with all respondents and an even higher 49% with registered voters.”
The Democratic Party in New York has a basic problem … not enough people, and not a big enough operation on the ground. From The New York Times:
New Hampshire, a state with roughly half the population of Queens, has a Democratic Party with 16 full-time paid staff members. New York’s has four, according to the state chairman, Jay Jacobs. One helps maintain social media accounts that update only sparingly. Most state committee members have no idea where the party keeps its headquarters, or if it even has one.
Summarized from NBC News: While GOP leaders continue to insist their party intends to leave Social Security and Medicare alone, former Vice President Mike Pence reiterated his belief yesterday that the popular social insurance programs should be “on the table for the long term.”
The Kerch bridge, which connects mainland Russia to the occupied Crimean peninsula, has reopened to road traffic, deputy prime minister Marat Khusnullin has announced.
The bridge, which has served as a vital transport link for carrying military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, was partially destroyed by a deadly blast in October.
The exact cause of the blast remains unclear. Russia blamed Ukraine for the explosion, but Kyiv has not claimed responsibility.
In a statement posted to Telegram, Khusnullin said:
All lanes of the Crimean bridge are fully open to car traffic 39 days ahead of schedule.
He said the reopening of the bridge was a “big gift for the Defender of the Fatherland Day” national holiday celebrated in Russia today.
He added that “work was carried out round-the-clock” by around 500 people to complete the repairs, and that other parts of the bridge were still being restored.
Spain is now saying it will send 10 Leopard 2s. Finland has announced that it is sending 3 Leopards specially modified for mine clearing (provably the 2R AEV). These may be the most nightmarish things on the battlefield, even if they’re a lot less deadly to enemy forces than a regular Leopard 2. [Tweet and image at the link]
Overnight, the Ukrainian military produced its usual graphic showing Russian losses in the illegal invasion. Those losses include 708 men lost in 24 hours. That might seem extraordinary, but over the last month, such numbers have become absolutely typical as Russia has engaged in repeated fruitless attacks against well-defended positions. [List at the link]
What is astounding in the numbers reported for Wednesday is the hardware: 16 tanks, 24 APCs, and 7 artillery batteries were lost in a day. That’s amazing. How and where did Russia manage to render so many tons of armor into scrap?
The biggest news of the day may be simply how disappointed Vladimir Putin will be. Because in advance of the anniversary of his invasion, it appears his forces have delivered to him … nothing.
The answer doesn’t seem to be a single massive Russian defeat. Instead, that pile of broken vehicles appears to result from another impressive number, out of the Ukrainian military reports on Tuesday morning: In a single day, Ukrainian forces repelled no fewer than 90 individual assaults on Ukrainian positions from one end of the line to another.
Ukraine repelled assaults on Stelmakhivka west of Svatove, and Bilohorivka south of Kreminna. Interestingly enough, Kreminna itself was on the list of failed assaults. A Russian attempt to remove those Ukrainian forces from the south and west of the city was reportedly one of the biggest failures of the day. [Tweet and video at the link]
Russian forces failed in attacks in at least six different areas around Bakhmut. That includes three separate attempts to cross the M03 highway between Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Berkhivka, and more attempts to cross into Bakhmut around that cluster of highway crossings. [map at the link]
Interestingly, the command only reported a single failed assault south of the city. Earlier in the week, that effort to cross the highway south of Ivaniske and move toward Chasiv Yar seemed to be the main thrust of Russian activity in the area, but over the last two days, this effort appears to have fizzled.
Oh, and … Bakhmut holds!
In the area west of occupied Donetsk, Russia made assaults toward Novobakhmutivka, Avdiivka, Vodiane, Nevelske, Mariinka, Pobieda, Vuhledar, and Prechystivka. That’s a long list, but thankfully the list of successful advances can be summed up as none of the above. And that assault on Vuhledar? Once again, that’s reportedly one of Russia’s big losses on the day, as they apparently can’t resist decorating those extensively mined fields south and west of the town with still more dead armor.
An attack east of Prechystivka, about 8km west of Vuldehar, appeared to represent a new vector for Russian assaults. However, it ended as all the others launched on Wednesday: by going nowhere.
Shelling continued along the Zaporizhzhia line and across the river into Kherson, where Russia likes to remind the city they are “Russia forever” by sending them festive incendiary bombs.
A small business owner near where I live in rural, deep red Pennsylvania recently spent $150K to put up an electronic billboard with rotating messages of hate. The billboard was placed on a busy road that also serves as a school bus route, so that elementary school children would pass by it every day. The messages included rants against critical race theory (image above) [“WHITES ARE UNDER ATTACK STOP IT NOW!! STOP TEACHING CRITICAL RACIST THEORY TO OUR KIDS”], attacks on same sex marriage, and even a sign comparing the FBI to the Gestapo, complete with swastika [photo at the link]. After an outcry from local religious leaders, the swastika -themed message was taken off, but the other messages are still running. […]
Not yucky … nice response:
In response, the local Democratic party put up a billboard across the street with a message of inclusion and tolerance. “No matter what you look like, who you love, what your religion, where you’re from, you’ve got a friend in Armstrong County.”]
Worse than yuck:
It seems that local bigots where outraged that somebody would dare to characterize the citizens of this county as welcoming and tolerant, and they started making death threats to the people who operated the billboard. [photo at the link] The billboard was taken down after less than a week.
It is unfortunately not surprising that the same people who defended the messages of intolerance as ‘free speech’ were ready to use any means necessary, including violence, to suppress a message of inclusion.
More Elon Musk being stupid and horrible. “Musk accuses the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, of warmongering in this conflict.”
According to Musk, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is all the fault of Victoria Nuland.
Who? I’ve never even heard of her.
She is the US undersecretary of state for political affairs.
I guess we now know who really runs the world, an anonymous bureaucrat in Washington DC.
Or, Musk is an idiot and Putin is the dictator who runs Russia.
Musk Names the Person Who He Says Pushes the Russia-Ukraine War (It’s Not Putin)
Tesla’s CEO, who supplies satellite internet to Ukraine, accuses a U.S. diplomat of warmongering.
Luc Olinga
3 hours ago
Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is now into year two and is escalating.
And as the rhetoric mounts on both sides, observers seeking a peaceful resolution seem to have lost hope.
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur, is one of those supporters of Ukraine who has been seeking a solution. The conflict gave Musk international prominence and geopolitical influence after he supplied Starlink satellites to Ukraine. Starlink is the satellite-internet-access service developed by SpaceX, the space-technology company founded by the tech mogul.
For many observers Starlink has been a game-changer in the war. The service has given Ukrainians uninterrupted, independent and secure Internet access after Russia destroyed the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.
‘Nuclear War Probability Is Rising’: Musk
The billionaire says, however, that the conflict presents enormous risks. He says he fears it will turn into a third world war with disastrous consequences for not just Ukraine but the whole world. That’s because he does not exclude the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin might use nuclear weapons if Russia found itself in a position to lose this conflict.
“Nuclear war probability is rising rapidly,” the billionaire warned last October.
That same month, Musk appeared even more pessimistic about the war.
“Most probable outcome by far is a horrible war of attrition that destroys Ukraine & severely damages Russia, with massive body count on both sides. And, in the end, the same outcome. So why?” the billionaire warned on Oct. 20.
This pessimism, even despair, had led him a few days earlier to propose a controversial peace plan. accepting many or most of Putin’s demands. The proposal, one of his first big mistakes on the world stage, brought him severe criticism from all over.
It is in this context that one can understand his recent refusal and that of SpaceX to allow Ukraine to use Starlink antennas to run Ukrainian drones. SpaceX has put in place measures to curtail the Ukrainian military’s use of Starlink to control drones.
“We are not allowing Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes,” he said on Jan. 31. Five months earlier, the billionaire asserted that Starlink was a tool for “peaceful use only.”
Musk Blames Victoria Nuland
The billionaire has for months been preoccupied with finding a peaceful way to solve the conflict. For now, Musk seems to have found the culprit for the escalation of the war. What’s surprising is that he does not fault the belligerents but rather an American diplomat.
Musk accuses the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, of warmongering in this conflict.
It all started with a Twitter thread from the Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, who shared a Newsweek article in which the Russian journalist Igor Korotchenko claimed on state television that the U.S. had declared war on his country.
The journalist blasts the Biden administration for supporting Ukrainian strikes in Crimea, a peninsula Russia annexed in 2014.
In the same article, Nuland indicated that the U.S. supported Ukrainian attacks on military targets in Crimea.
“No matter what the Ukrainians decide about Crimea in terms of where they choose to fight etc., Ukraine is not going to be safe unless Crimea is at a minimum, at a minimum, demilitarized,” Nuland said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
These remarks seem to have been enough for Musk to blame her for the escalation of the conflict.
“Nobody is pushing this war more than Nuland,” the billionaire said on Feb. 22.
The billionaire’s accusation sparked a torrent of negative comments about him. Many comments pointed out to Musk that it was not Nuland who invaded Ukraine but Putin.
“So Putin invades a sovereign nation and it’s everybody else’s fault. What am I missing?” commented one Twitter user.
“Putin, for example. No?” added another Twitter user.
“More disinfo marching orders arriving from Moscow for Peterson & his eager acolyte: @elonmusk is a truly pathetic shill,” said Canadian diplomat Chris Alexander.
Musk hasn’t yet responded to the criticism. Nor has Nuland responded to Musk.
PRIGOZHIN MAKES PROMO VIDEO ONE DAY AFTER WAVING PICTURE OF DEAD MERCENARIES
Wagner group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin showed up in Bakhmut today to shoot a little promo video from the occupied area on the east end of Bakhmut. In this case, he was near the grounds of the all too familiar winery. [tweet and image at the link]
I’ll spare you the actual pep talk for cannon fodder, but you have to wonder why he didn’t include that image of bodies of former Wagner Group mercenaries stacked like cordwood that Prigozhin was showing around yesterday as he complained about inadequate support from the military.
LOSSES BEING DETAILED IN NEAR REAL-TIME
Because so many of the losses are now happening in Russian assaults on Ukrainian positions, vehicles are often filmed by drones and right out in the open for ID. As a result, Oryx is tallying Russian losses about as fast as the Ukrainian military reports them. Here are the items added in just the last day. [Tweet with list at the link]
MARIUPOL MYSTERY WEAPON
This morning there were at least three more explosions around Mariupol, which sent Russia’s fighter jets scrambling into the air. But even as they searched for something to shoot, two suggestions were circulating about how Ukraine suddenly managed to touch a location that Russia thought was safely out of range.
The first may be the simplest.
I don’t think Ukraine is hitting Mariupol because they have longer range weapons, I think they are hitting it because Russia’s artillery in the Vuhledar area is failing to provide a great enough threat to stop Ukraine from moving m270s close enough to the line to fire to Mariupol
Sure. 80 km is close to the limits of what the longest-range M30 rockets that the U.S. has made available to Ukraine can accomplish, but if Russia’s artillery skills are proving to be laughably poor, then why not drag a gun right up to the last screen of trees and take advantage of every meter of that range? Ukraine may feel that it’s worth risking a single launcher if it can make Russia go into a high panic, which it has.
There’s also another possibility. [tweet and map at the link] It’s been some time since the Bayraktar TB2 has come up in discussions about activities in Ukraine, but several of these heroes of the early fighting are still around. In the period before the arrival of western artillery and HIMARS, it was the Bayraktar that generated so many hits against Russian targets far from the front lines that it got its own theme song.
As months passed, the Bayraktar became less of a threat to Russian forces. Just as Ukraine quickly learned to shoot down Iranian Shahed-136 drones, turning them from a wave of destruction to an evening of target practice, Russia grew more skilled against the Bayraktar over time. By August, reports of effective strikes from the Turkish drone had all but stopped. [Tweet and video at the link]
However, it’s been a long time since then. Plenty of time for Russian skills to get rusty and for other weapons, including other drones, to become a distraction. The Bayraktar has an enormous range and is easily capable of making it to Mariupol and back. Its presence in the area might explain why Russia spent Thursday morning with fighter jets zipping back and forth over Mariupol … though they didn’t report bagging any targets.
[snipped Led by Donkeys details as that was covered by Reginald in comment 43]
RUSSIAN TROOPS REPORTEDLY REBELLING SOUTH OF VUHLEDAR
Failed attempts to capture Vuhledar, bypass Vuhledar, or come anywhere near Vuhledar have become an almost daily occurrence. Several of these failed assaults have resulted in losses so significant they’ve been compared to the Bilohorivka bridge debacle in terms of both the men and machines lost.
This morning, there are multiple reports that Russia mounted another such assault on Tuesday, resulting in another round of losses on the same stretch of road where literally dozens of burned-out Russian vehicles already litter the shoulders. The reason for that seems to be some severe pressure being applied to Colonel General Rustam Muradov, who is in charge of Russian forces in the area. [UK MOD update available at the link]
Muradov was actually promoted following the first two big failures at Vuhledar, but he was apparently sent back with orders to make it happen. That led to another assault on Wednesday in which at least a half dozen more armored vehicles were reportedly destroyed, along with unknown numbers of troops.
But even if Muradov is feeling the pressure to organize another attack, After watching their fellow soldiers walk to their deaths along the same stretch of road over and over, the Ukrainian ministry of defense reports that Russian forces in the area appear to have a different idea.
“Troops from the so-called volunteer Cossack Detachment, attached to the 155th Marine Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet, are refusing to continue to take part in offensive operations due to the failure of the offensive and significant personnel losses near Vuhledar.”
This may or may not be accurate. But it’s not hard to understand if those troops decided this has become ridiculous. [Tweet, images, and video at the link, followed by tweet from Ukrainian soldier, “Hello from Bakhmut! We hold the line!”]
Link in comment 60. Scroll down to view these additional updates.
Details from the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio:
The National Transportation Security Board (NTSB) on Thursday issued its preliminary report on the derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month, tentatively corroborating reports that a wheel bearing severely overheated ahead of the accident.
In its preliminary report, NTSB said investigators have examined the first car to derail, the 23rd overall, as well as local surveillance cameras and signal data. A nearby residence’s surveillance footage seemingly shows a wheel bearing in late-stage overheat failure immediately ahead of the accident, according to the preliminary report.
At the time of the accident, the report states, the train had passed through several hot bearing detectors (HBDs), which repeatedly tested as hotter than average and, by the third HBD, was 253 degrees above average, which meets Norfolk Southern’s criteria for “critical.” The train applied brakes at that point, but was unable to stop, according to the preliminary report.
At an NTSB press conference Wednesday, Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy confirmed the initial fire was started by a combination of an overheated axle and a car containing plastic pellets.
[…] NTSB investigators have taken possession of the wheel bearing in question as well as the affected wheel mechanism, according to the preliminary report. The investigation is ongoing and will further examine the design of the vinyl chloride tank cars and the derailment damage. It will also analyze the immediate response, in which first responders burned the five vinyl chloride tank cars to prevent a possible explosion. […]
Aiyiyiiyi, JFC, FFS, (and other expressions of dismay):
In yet another signal that Republicans are very serious about governing now that they control the House of Representatives, Rep. Barry Moore (R-Alabama) is introducing a bill to declare the AR-15 (and its knockoffs) the “National Gun of America.” Rep. Moore, who was elected to Congress in 2020 and sworn in just in time to vote with the Sedition Caucus on January 6, 2021, explained at a gun shop in Troy, Alabama, that
The anti-Second Amendment group won’t stop until they take away all your firearms… One rule to remember: any government that would take away one right would take away them all.
The Second Amendment is as American a right as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. Second Amendment rights are worth protecting and must not be infringed, and we must send a message that we will meet every attack on any of our constitutional rights
And then everyone in England, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, and other industrial democracies with strict firearms laws sarcastically said, “Yeah, right, we have no freedom and no rights, and also we don’t have more mass shootings than days in the year.”
Also we are pretty sure approximately one gabillion Americans with uteri might have a tiny objection to that “any government that would take away one right would take away them all” crack.
Mind you, any symbolic designation of a “national gun” would have fuck-all to do with the continued legality of any firearms […] Yes, the bald eagle is the national symbol of the USA, but the birds and their habitats were protected because of the Endangered Species Act, only being delisted in 2007 after they had made a spectacular comeback under the law. They’re also much better for the ecosystem than the AR-15.
[…] While the full text of the bill hasn’t yet been posted, a placeholder on the congressional webpage says it would “declare an AR-15 style rifle chambered in a .223 Remington round or a 5.56x45mm NATO round to be the National Gun of the United States.”
As of yet, the bill has only three Republican cosponsors: Reps. George Santos (New York) [LOL], Lauren Boebert (Colorado) [Sheesh], and Andrew “normal tourist visit” Clyde (Georgia) [FFS]. That makes all sorts of sense since Clyde is the bozo who distributed all those AR-15 lapel pins Republicans wore during Joe Biden’s State of the Union address two weeks back, we guess to demonstrate that the GOP has become an actual death cult.
The USA saw two new mass shootings in the last 24 hours, according to the Gun Violence Archive. In Orlando, Florida, yesterday, a 19-year-old gunman killed three people, one of them a nine-year-old girl, and wounded two others. And in Daphne, Alabama, a 21-year-old man was arrested after allegedly killing four people, all members of his family. Daphne is not in Rep. Moore’s district, for what that’s worth.
It appears the Orlando shooter was carrying a handgun when he was arrested; we haven’t yet seen any specifics on the firearm used in the Alabama killings. So maybe the AR-15, that beautiful glorious freedom machine that so perfectly represents America in the 2020s, wasn’t involved, although it does tend to be the favorite weapon of mass shooters. But it’s also the reason we remain free, according to sociopaths, so there’s that.
This GOP guy in Alaska is pro-child abuse, but especially if it is fatal. Because nothing says pro-life like cheering on fatal assaults on children. “In the case where child abuse is fatal, obviously it’s not good for the child, but it’s actually a benefit to society because there aren’t needs for government services and whatnot over the whole course of the child’s life,” Eastman said during the hearing on Monday.
His logic is a bit flawed.
If we killed everyone, then our society wouldn’t have to provide any services for anybody ever. Zero Social Security or Medicare.
He will probably be reelected.
MAGA Lawmaker Censured for Calling Fatal Child Abuse a ‘Benefit to Society’
Ryan Bort
Thu, February 23, 2023 at 9:03 AM PST·3 min read
It’s hard to imagine a Republican politician saying something so abhorrent that the party would actually discipline them for it. The GOP has tolerated if not condoned white nationalism, calling for violence against political opponents, an attempt to overthrow the democratic process, and fabricating an entire backstory to con voters in a swing district.
The party, at least in Alaska, seems to have drawn a line at touting the benefits of children dying from rampant abuse, with the state House voting 35-1 on Wednesday to censure Rep. David Eastman for doing just that during a committee hearing on Monday. Eastman cast the lone dissenting vote.
“In the case where child abuse is fatal, obviously it’s not good for the child, but it’s actually a benefit to society because there aren’t needs for government services and whatnot over the whole course of the child’s life,” Eastman said during the hearing on Monday.
Eastman was asked to clarify. “Talking dollars,” he said, adding that “it gets argued periodically that it’s actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive.”
Eastman is a die-hard Trump supporter with ties to the Oath Keepers. He recently fought off an effort to boot him from the state legislature for violating the “disloyalty clause” in Alaska’s constitution by rallying for Trump in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, although he says he never entered the Capitol.
Eastman has been censured before, too. The Alaska state House, then controlled by Democrats, voted in 2017 to rebuke Eastman for telling multiple news outlets that some women get pregnant on purpose so they can travel to a big city. “We have folks who try to get pregnant in this state so that they can get a free trip to the city, and we have folks who want to carry their baby past the point of being able to have an abortion in this state so that they can have a free trip to Seattle,” he told the Associated Press.
“You have individuals who are in villages and are glad to be pregnant, so that they can have an abortion because there’s a free trip to Anchorage involved,” he later told Alaska Public Media.
Eastman has lashed out at Democrats this week for criticizing his position that children dying from abuse is a good thing, arguing that he could never “support child abuse when I’ve staked my entire political career arguing for the opposite,” according to the AP.
Eastman described abortion as the “ultimate form of child abuse” in a 2017 resolution.
The party, at least in Alaska, seems to have drawn a line at touting the benefits of children dying from rampant abuse, with the state House voting 35-1 on Wednesday to censure Rep. David Eastman for doing just that during a committee hearing on Monday. Eastman cast the lone dissenting vote.
“In the case where child abuse is fatal, obviously it’s not good for the child, but it’s actually a benefit to society because there aren’t needs for government services and whatnot over the whole course of the child’s life,” Eastman said during the hearing on Monday.
Eastman was asked to clarify. “Talking dollars,” he said, adding that “it gets argued periodically that it’s actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive.” …
Yet another reason to get vaccinated for the Covid-19 virus.
These new autoimmune diseases may partially explain Long Covid.
This is a large study so the results are more convincing.
Live Science
COVID-19 linked to 40% increase in autoimmune disease risk in huge study
756
Carissa Wong
Wed, February 22, 2023 at 8:32 AM PST·4 min read
Catching COVID-19 may raise the risk of developing autoimmune disease by 43% in the months following the infection, according to the largest study of its kind.
“The impact of this study is huge — it’s the strongest evidence so far answering this question of COVID-19 and autoimmune disease risk,” said Anuradhaa Subramanian, a research fellow in health informatics at the University of Birmingham, who was not involved in the study. The new research, which has yet to be peer reviewed, was posted Jan. 26 in the preprint database medRxiv.
Scientists previously linked COVID-19 to an increased risk of autoimmune disease, in which the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy parts of the body. However, this research was limited to small studies that focused on just a few conditions, such as autoimmune hemolytic anemia, which affects red blood cells, and Guillain-Barre syndrome, which affects nerve cells.
Now, researchers have analyzed the health records of 640,000 people in Germany who caught COVID-19 in 2020 and 1.5 million people who didn’t knowingly catch the coronavirus that year to explore how the infection might affect the risk of developing any of 30 autoimmune conditions.
They examined the rate at which people were newly diagnosed with autoimmune diseases in the three to 15 months after they tested positive for COVID-19. They compared these rates to those of the people who hadn’t caught COVID-19. Roughly 10% of the participants in each group had preexisting autoimmune diseases.
Among the people with no history of autoimmunity, more than 15% of people who’d caught COVID-19 developed an autoimmune disease for the first time during the follow-up period, compared with roughly 11% of the people who hadn’t caught COVID-19. In other words, the COVID-19 group had a 43% higher likelihood of autoimmune disease than the control group.
Among those with existing autoimmunity, those who caught COVID-19 had a 23% higher chance of developing an additional autoimmune disease in the follow-up period.
COVID-19 was most strongly linked to an increased risk of vasculitis, which causes inflammation of the blood vessels; the previously infected group had a 63% higher rate of a type of vasculitis called arteritis temporalis than the uninfected group did. Autoimmune-driven problems with the thyroid, a butterfly-shaped organ in the throat that releases hormones, and the skin condition psoriasis were also strongly linked to prior COVID-19 infection, as was rheumatoid arthritis, which causes swelling in the joints.
—In a 1st, scientists use designer immune cells to send an autoimmune disease into remission
“These findings just cannot be ignored,” Subramanian said. “We need to pursue research into how COVID-19 is potentially triggering autoimmunity because many people are continuing to suffer from the effects of COVID-19.” There are several hypotheses as to how COVID-19 might trigger autoimmunity, and it’s possible that different mechanisms affect different organ systems, the researchers noted.
“Understanding how COVID-19 impacts autoimmune disease risk will help in executing the prevention measures and early treatments to prevent associated morbidity and mortality,” said Jagadeesh Bayry, a professor of biological sciences and engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Palakkad who was not involved in the study.
Other viral infections, including influenza, have been linked to autoimmune disease, so more research is needed to establish what effects are specific to COVID-19, Bayry said. Future studies should also examine these links in diverse populations, beyond people living in Germany, Subramanian said.
Although the large sample size makes this a strong study, it is worth noting that it “only shows an association between COVID-19 and autoimmune disease but doesn’t prove causality,” said Dr. Atsushi Sakuraba, an associate professor of gastroenterology at the University of Chicago who was not involved in the research.
Another limitation is that there may have been people in the study’s uninfected group who actually caught COVID-19 but developed little to no symptoms, and thus didn’t know they’d been infected. The study also can’t show whether different coronavirus variants are linked to a higher or lower risk of autoimmune disease, or how COVID-19 vaccination affects that risk.
lumipunasays
Re: The film Sisu (per SC at 15 and johnson catman at 16)
I’ve seen some Finnish media interviews of the director of that film. Apparently, he mainly just wanted to create an 80’s Hollywood style action film without further philosophy. I’ve considered seeing it, based on another trailer I saw, thinking it was maybe a semi serious WWII film, but now it seems way over the top. Also, I didn’t realize before that the dialogue is in English, which is just too corny for me. The actors, like the characters, include Finns and Germans.
Nazi soldiers are always politically convenient villains – though I get a sense that here they’re depicted as some kind of generically cruel, heavily armed bandits, probably detached from the Nazi ideology and almost detached from even the WWII.
The film is apparently set in September 1944, when Finland had just flipped from the Axis to the Allied side (as I said, politically convenient villains!), after starting to loose the fight with Soviet Union. At that point, the German troops stationed in northern Finland suddenly turned from comrades-in-arms into an occupying force. Consequently, the previously cozy relations between them and the local civilian population turned sour, as they burned many settlements while retreating towards northern Norway.
The story location is apparently in the wilds near the Norwegian border – there’s actually a little gold to be found in them thar hills. The main protagonist is an older Finnish guy named Aatami Korpi who, according to the backstory, became a misanthropic gold prospector after losing his home and family during the 1939-40 Soviet invasion of Finland (resulting in territorial concessions, which largely motivated Finland’s 1941-44 enmity with Soviet Union). I imagine he’s embittered further in 1944 when it becomes certain that he won’t get his old home back. Then he finds gold, instantly loses it to passing Hollywood Nazi robbers, and snaps into a righteous revenge mode.
Just want to say that if you’ve dealt with a pathological liar/ narcissist in your life, listening to Alex Murdaugh can be very triggering.
Please take care of yourselves and turn it off if you need to.
His fixation on rigid gender roles is really interesting.
Southern Command: Mariupol ‘no longer completely unreachable’ for Ukrainian military.
Ukraine’s Southern Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk said on Feb. 23 that the area of Russian-occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast was “no longer completely unreachable.”
Earlier the same day, the city council reported three explosions in Mariupol with “a high probability” of hitting the area where Russian troops had been temporarily stationed.
The UN voted by 141 to 7 with 32 abstentions to call for Russia to immediately and unconditionally withdraw from Ukraine, a sign that the international community has not wavered in its determination to condemn Russia’s actions.
In the last vote taken immediately after Russia had annexed republics in the east of Ukraine, Russia was condemned 143 to five with 35 abstentions, the bulk of these in Africa.
Applause broke out when the result was announced.
Russia had worked hard to try to end its isolation by pointing to the damage the west was caused by pouring arms into the region or by pointing to the growing hunger crisis that it blamed on western sanctions.
Ukraine foreign minister Dymotro Kuleba said:
By voting in favour of today’s UNGA resolution 141 UN member states made it clear that Russia must end its illegal aggression.
Ukraine’s territorial integrity must be restored. One year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion global support for Ukraine remains strong.
The seven countries voting against the resolution were Belarus, Mali, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea.
The resolution was adopted after amendments proposed by Belarus that would have stripped much of the language were resoundingly defeated.
Foreign ministers and diplomats from more than 75 countries addressed the assembly during two days of debate, with many urging support for the resolution that upholds Ukraine’s territorial integrity, a basic principle of the UN charter that all countries must subscribe to when they join the world organisation.
Irish agricultural megacorp Dole has confirmed that it has fallen victim to a ransomware infection that reportedly shut down some of its North American production plants.
In a statement posted on its website, the produce giant said it “recently experienced a cybersecurity incident that has been identified as ransomware,” adding that the impact to operations was “limited.” Dole said it notified law enforcement and was cooperating with the investigation…
The truth is out and we now know that Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s year-long investigation turned up no evidence of a stolen election in Arizona in 2020.
I can only imagine the relief felt by some of the state’s leading election deniers…
Here’s what (Wendy) Rogers had to say after Wednesday’s release of the AG’s findings:
Nothing.
… (Mark) Finchem actually tried to decertify the 2020 election, so I can only imagine how chastened he must now feel. Here’s his reaction to the AG report:
Nothing.
… Senate President Warren Petersen was a driving force behind the scenes in pushing for the Cyber Ninjas audit.
He appointed Wendy Rogers as the Republicans’ point person on election bills this year and proceeded to contract with Gina Swoboda to assist her.
Swoboda, who is big in election denial circles and has ties to both the Trump and Lake campaigns, is being paid $15,000 a month to act as a senior policy adviser to Rogers’ Elections Committee, according to records unearthed by reporter Dillon Rosenblatt on his Fourth Estate 48 Substack.
When former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon and Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn took control of a MAGA-branded cryptocurrency in December 2021, the venture seemed poised for success.
A white-hot crypto market had set the stage for high returns. And in an industry that relies on promotion and marketing savvy, the two high-profile Trump associates quickly leveraged their enormous megaphones to attract throngs of buyers.
Within weeks, the currency’s value soared. Bannon and Epshteyn, two original architects of Donald Trump’s political operation, promoted it relentlessly on social media and on Bannon’s hit podcast, positioning it as a rejection of President Joe Biden and an alternative currency for conservatives that would support job creation and regularly donate to charities.
The name of the coin itself sought to capitalize on political divisions; dubbed $FJB, the currency takes its name from the shorthand version of the vulgar MAGA expression “F— Joe Biden.”
“We are now saying, ‘Screw Joe Biden,” Bannon said on his War Room podcast shortly after announcing his acquisition of the $FJB operation in December 2021. “It shows your total and complete independence … you’re going to very quickly have non-reliance on their financial system.”
But now, thirteen months on, the cryptocurrency has fallen on hard times. $FJB, now officially said to stand for Freedom Jobs Business, has lost 95% of its value, at least in part due to an industry-wide downturn. And some of those who say they bought the coin are flocking to social media with complaints about the fund’s management and allegations that the coin’s leadership and representatives have made false promises — including accusations that they’ve failed in their commitment to continue to donate portions of the coin’s proceeds to the Wounded Warriors Project and other charities.
Compounding the coin’s lackluster performance is a growing concern among self-identified buyers that Epshteyn and Bannon have, in effect, jumped ship.
Critics say $FJB represents the latest in a string of ill-fated efforts to leverage MAGA support for financial returns — particularly on the part of Bannon, who in September pleaded not guilty to unrelated charges that he defrauded donors with the promise of building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
A monthslong review by ABC News of $FJB representatives’ and followers’ weekly meetings and social media activity, as well as interviews with former company insiders and self-identified coin holders, details how $FJB plummeted under the weight of market trends, internal dysfunction, and allegations of unfulfilled promises….
The shoddy saga of another hate-fueled grift at the link.
A U.S. Justice Department attorney urged a federal appeals court on Thursday not to block a Republican congressman’s cellphone from investigators working on a probe into efforts by then-President Donald Trump to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
U.S. Representative Scott Perry – a Trump ally who helped spread false claims that the 2020 election was stolen through widespread voting fraud – has sought to prevent the Justice Department from reviewing the contents of his cellphone since it was seized last summer.
At the heart of the legal dispute is whether the contents of his cellphone are shielded from disclosure under a provision in the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress members immunity from civil litigation or criminal prosecution for actions that arise in the course of their legislative duties…
Aiding the overthrow of the legitimate government does not fall into “the course of their legislative duties.”
WTF?
Excerpts from a Fox News segment hosted by Laura Ingraham, with commentary from Wonkette:
[…]
GAETZ: I’m not for a national divorce, but I do think the federal government should have to spend the night on the couch for a while like, you know, Bill Clinton had to after the Monica Lewinsky stuff.
OK, weirdo.
He added:
GAETZ: Hey, it would be one thing to reject a national divorce more fervently if we didn’t have our leaders cheating on the country with Ukraine, which is what we saw with President Biden recently!
At that point Gaetz and Ingraham whined that even Senate Republicans are on board with helping Ukraine […] (It’s true, Mitch McConnell has been really strong on this lately and Senate Republicans seem to be mostly staying in line, for which we give him credit.)
We are not going to comment too much more on Gaetz’s bullshit about Ukraine […] If you don’t understand why our support for Ukraine is a moral necessity in the fight to preserve freedom and democracy around the world, and to stand up to one of the world’s trashiest scourges, Vladimir Putin, then just fuck you. If you insist on trying to make Ukraine our enemy and Russia our friend, fuck you. We don’t have to type out an explanation every time. (This article is a good explanation of things at the one-year mark of Putin’s genocidal war, though.)
Ingraham eventually tried to get Gaetz back on track to talk about how they shouldn’t be arguing for a national divorce, since Democrats are just going to remind them of it every day and use it against them. (Yep!) Gaetz responded that [Marjorie Taylog] Greene is making an “invigorated argument for federalism.” Is that what the fascist kids are calling it these days? Gaetz said he wants the House of Representatives to use this opportunity to defund the woke government. And then you don’t have to have a national divorce!
And Ingraham said maybe we can ban TikTok!
Greene responded to Gaetz’s tweet and video with another 40,000 word tweet of her own, because stupidass apparently is incapable of writing a press release like a damned adult. A sample:
And Matt Gaetz is right when he says our government constantly cheats on it’s [sic] own people with foreign countries and America First policies is the marriage counseling we all need.
[…] Another sample:
Just like the prodigal son, once the left gets to truly live in their own filth they have created without us, then they will be able to realize the error of their ways.
Our favorite part of all of this is the delusional fantasy that if liberals and progressives were denied the pleasure of living around MAGA troll people, we’d “realize the error of [our] ways” and beg for them to take us back. [That is funny.] We feel like it’s tied to their delusional fantasy that if only TEH SHADOWBANNERS didn’t prevent everyone on Twitter from seeing their brilliance, then they’d be super-popular.
[…] But whatever, we’re not the ones calling for a national divorce here, no need to blab about it any longer, Matt Gaetz is gross and weird, the end.
I’ve seen some Finnish media interviews of the director of that film. Apparently, he mainly just wanted to create an 80’s Hollywood style action film without further philosophy. I’ve considered seeing it, based on another trailer I saw, thinking it was maybe a semi serious WWII film, but now it seems way over the top.
Definitely, this trailer didn’t give the impression of anything intellectually serious! More like a hyperviolent Nazi-killing romp which happens to be set in Finland.
If anyone’s looking for something more serious, incidentally, I recently read The Disappearance of Josef Mengele (which was my kind of fiction, in that it’s barely fiction).
“In the case where child abuse is fatal, obviously it’s not good for the child, but it’s actually a benefit to society because there aren’t needs for government services and whatnot over the whole course of the child’s life,” Eastman said during the hearing on Monday.
Eastman was asked to clarify. “Talking dollars,” he said, adding that “it gets argued periodically that it’s actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive.”
Re: SC 76
‘“We are now saying, ‘Screw Joe Biden,” Bannon said on his War Room podcast shortly after announcing his acquisition of the $FJB operation in December 2021. “It shows your total and complete independence … you’re going to very quickly have non-reliance on their financial system.”’
Really? It looks like you are still hiding fuck under screw. So much for independence.
Donald Trump made a campaign stop in East Palestine, Ohio, yesterday so he could pretend to make everything better there, bringing along a couple pallets of bottled water from his cheesy resorts and lying that his visit was the only reason the Biden administration is “finally” helping the community.
In mere reality, federal agencies have been in the small town on the border between Pennsylvania and Ohio since right after the February 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train resulted in a huge spill of toxic chemicals. President Joe Biden has been in regular contact with Gov. Mike DeWine, and EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited East Palestine last week.
During a 10-minute speech in the town’s firehouse, Trump lied to the small crowd, claiming, “They were intending to do absolutely nothing for you.” Trump also bragged about having a strong working relationship with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, noting that it initially had not planned to assist relief efforts. Trump claimed, without evidence, that the Biden administration only directed more resources because he announced that he would visit East Palestine.
“They changed their tune,” Trump said. “It was an amazing phenomenon.”
[…] On Monday, the EPA ordered Norfolk Southern to take full responsibility for cleaning up the toxic mess, warning that if the railroad slacks off, the EPA will do the cleanup and charge the company triple the cost.
Trump also made a few other brief stops in the town, accompanied by Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway. He drove around in a motorcade so he could pretend to be president still, and during his visit, he posed for a photo next to a pallet of Trump-labeled water that’s normally sold at his trash resorts. He claimed he was “bringing thousands of bottles of water—Trump Water, actually. Most of it. Some of it, we had to go to a much lesser quality water. You want to get those Trump bottles, I think, more than anybody else.” [WTF?!]
He also rolled up to the town’s McDonald’s, where he made a show of ordering food for first responders and everyone in the restaurant, so his idiot sycophants could post fawning tweets about how Trump had done far more for the people of East Palestine than Joe Biden, who didn’t buy anyone any fast food at all. Professional rightwing trolls Brigitte Gabriel and Nick Adams both enthused that Trump water is in fact the very best water known to humanity, because even if it’s bottled by some generic company that slaps a Trump label on it, that makes it the best. We’re absolutely sure the McDonald’s food in East Palestine also tasted better than at any other franchise in America, at least for the five minutes Trump was there.
In a pathetic attempt to diminish the miracle of water and fast food, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates pointed out that, at the urging of railroad lobbyists, Trump had rolled back Obama-era regulations requiring faster electronic braking systems on some trains carrying hazardous liquids. Bates said in a statement, “Congressional Republicans laid the groundwork for the Trump administration to tear up requirements for more effective train brakes, and last year most House Republicans wanted to defund our ability to protect drinking water.”
[…] This is where we point out, again, that if the train that crashed had had an electronic braking system, it may not have derailed at all, because the train’s old-fashioned air braking system applies brakes from one car to another as the air pressure changes, which causes cars at the end of the train to bump into those slowing ahead of them. Electronic brakes apply evenly to all cars at the same time, so that even if a car derails due to an axle or wheel bearing problem, there’s less likelihood of a pile-up of multiple cars following the derailment.
[…] In any case, now that Trump has graced East Palestine with his presence, everything will just naturally be fine. Transportation Secretary Mayor Pete Buttigieg will visit the town today, no doubt because Trump made him do it, and the cleanup is continuing. But we bet Buttigieg won’t be anywhere near as wonderful as Trump, who, in typical bizarre fashion, told folks in East Palestine to “have a good time.”
You know, just like he did to the Puerto Rico hurricane victims. And after Hurricane Florence.And Hurricane Harvey. It’s just one of those mangled ways he speaks. [video of Trump saying, "Have a good time," and "Have fun everybody."]
[…] If you don’t understand why our support for Ukraine is a moral necessity in the fight to preserve freedom and democracy around the world, and to stand up to one of the world’s trashiest scourges, Vladimir Putin, then just fuck you. If you insist on trying to make Ukraine our enemy and Russia our friend, fuck you.
QFT.
I couldn’t say it any better.
This is what is noteworthy about the Russian invasion and attempted genocide of Ukraine. It is one of the clearest examples of the endless battles of Light against Dark.
We usually live in a world where things aren’t that simple. There are no shades of grey here, no slippery slopes. Russia is all wrong on every level, Ukraine has the right to exist and be…Ukraine.
johnson catmansays
re Lynna @82: Is there any footage of The Orange Idiot throwing bottles of water out to the crowd like he threw the rolls of paper towels in PR? That is about what I would expect of him.
ravensays
That National Divorce of Marjorie Taylor Greene is her usual level of dumb.
Of course, we (meaning they) already tried that. That Civil War event of 1860.
And, how did it work out, Ms. Greene?
As I recall, it ended with Sherman burning Atlanta, Georgia to the ground and the South lost big time. Y’all had to free your slaves and find some other way to make a living.
But there is still hope for her National Divorce.
Rather than destroy a nation of 333 million people, we could just…grant MTG a divorce. She could take Trump and Bannon with her. It is a free country and she can leave any time or simply disengage from our society. Plenty of out of the way places even in Georgia to go off the grid and leave our society behind.
A Texas judge has tossed out a disciplinary case against attorney Sidney Powell finding state bar regulators failed to present enough evidence to keep alive claims that she violated ethics rules by filing frivolous post-election lawsuits.
…
The Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline filed a case against Powell last March in state district court in Dallas County, accusing her of professional misconduct. Bar regulators won an earlier round, with Judge Andrea Bouressa denying Powell’s motion to dismiss the case last summer.
But in a four-page order entered on Wednesday, Bouressa, a Republican appointee of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, found that the commission failed to meet its burden on several claims it had lodged against Powell and simply failed to respond to Powell’s challenges to others…
ravensays
Tweet
WhereisRussiaToday @WhereisRussia
Yet another powerful oligarch has died under mysterious circumstances.
Vyacheslav Rovneiko, an ex-KGB spy turned oil magnate was found in an unconscious state at his Moscow home.
His condition rapidly deteriorated and he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
#Putin #Russia
8:06 AM · Feb 23, 2023
Wonder what he did to deserve that.
Actually, I don’t really care that much.
Even being ultra-rich in Russia is hard.
You have to be friends with the head of the power structure, which is Putin.
You have to siphon off Russian wealth with kickbacks to all the right people including Putin and don’t you dare miss anyone.
Then you have to get your money out of Russia and launder it.
Finally, you have to get out of Russia yourself, lay low, and never, ever stand too close to a window for the rest of your life.
·
The UK environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has caused a furore after she suggested people should “cherish” seasonal foods such as turnips as bad weather cleared supermarket shelves of tomatoes and other fresh produce.
“It’s important to make sure that we cherish the specialisms that we have in this country,” Coffey told parliament. “A lot of people would be eating turnips right now rather than thinking necessarily about aspects of lettuce and tomatoes and similar.”
With a love of turnips more commonly associated with the long-suffering manservant Baldrick in Blackadder, Coffey handed her critics the kind of material they could normally only dream of.
“Let them eat turnips!” suggested the Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, using the hashtag #TomatoShortages, as “turnips” started to trend on Twitter timelines for possibly the first time.
…
Was a bounty of this unloved root vegetable part of the promised Brexit dividend? people asked, as they shared doctored images of campaign buses emblazoned with “forget tomatoes, let’s eat turnips instead”.
…
The realities of eating seasonally – and not relying on imported food – were not lost on people who persevere with their veg box delivery through the winter months. As the parsnips, swedes and butternut squash pile up in kitchen cupboards, many could be forgiven for shedding a tear just thinking about cherry tomatoes….
On Friday morning, Ukrainians will wake up to an anniversary like no other: a year since Russia invaded their country and began a campaign of terror, striking civilian areas, targeting critical infrastructure and weaponising the freezing cold. Russia has been accused of war crimes including torture, raping women and children and carrying out mass executions.
At least 8,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, though the true number is likely much higher. This figure includes 487 children. The war has turned more than eight million Ukrainians into refugees.
Today, we will be looking back at the first year of the war in Ukraine, as well as reporting the day’s news and analysis on what might come next.
My name is Helen Sullivan, and I’ll be bringing you news, photos and analysis throughout the day….
StevoRsays
Live now with experts answering questions on the Putin’s invasion and war on Ukraine :
Meanwhile, the current leadership of Der Linke remains squeamish about actually marching with Nazis, while their former leader, Sahra Wagenknecht, is happy to do so but asks them please to leave the swastikas at home. The article notes that parts of the German “left” have also joined with Nazis in supporting SARS-CoV-2. I haven’t seen much of the latter in the UK, but we did see a de facto alliance in the cause of Brexit. The overlap between Lexiters (the pro-Brexit left) and “peace now” Putin stooges is, I judge, considerable but by no means complete – I know both Lexiters who are supporting Ukraine, and Remainers who are Putin’s useful idiots – the latter including most of the peace movement I supported for half a century. In that regard, taking up the question raised by Pierce R. Butler@4, opposition to military support for Ukraine on the left seems to me, in the UK at least, to stem from two distinct sources, although both are sometimes found in the same person or group:
(1) A failure to recognise that anyone other than the USA or its allies can be imperialist, with consequent support for any regime, however vile, that is or appears to be anti-American.
(2) A profound (and of course justified) fear and hatred of war and particularly nuclear war, sometimes but not always amounting to complete pacifism. This is coupled with a failure to realise that war may sometimes be the lesser evil, and that rewarding a nuclear-armed power’s invasion and attempted conquest of one of the few countries ever to give up nuclear weapons (a) is likely to encourage and perpetuate that power’s aggressive actions, and (b) will give out the clear message to all states capable of developing or acquiring such weapons – get them as quick as you can.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has pledged to push for victory this year as Ukraine marks the sombre first anniversary of the Russian invasion, an event the president called “the longest day of our lives”.
Funerals for the recently killed were taking place across the country on Friday morning alongside church services to commemorate the fallen, in a grim reminder of the relentless attrition of the continuing war.
As morning broke on a day of commemorations and reflection, Zelenskiy struck a tone of grim defiance as he congratulated Ukrainians on their resilience in the face of Europe’s biggest and deadliest war since second world war. He said they had proven themselves to be invincible over “a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity”.
Sitting at a desk, dressed in a blue sweatshirt with Ukraine’s trident emblem, Zelenskiy paid homage to cities that have become bywords for alleged Russian war crimes, such as Bucha, Irpin and Mariupol, describing them as “capitals of invincibility”.
“We survived the first day of the full-scale war. We didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but we clearly understood that for each tomorrow, you need to fight. And we fought,” he said in an early morning video address.
The longest day of our lives. The hardest day of our modern history. We woke up early and haven’t fallen asleep since.
In a further address in Lithuania given via video link, Zelenskiy said Russia has to lose its war in Ukraine so it stops seeking to conquer territories it once controlled. “Russian revanchism must forever forget about Kyiv and Vilnius, about Chișinău and Warsaw, about our brothers in Latvia and Estonia, in Georgia and every other country that is now threatened,” he said.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the only way for Moscow to eventually ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine was to push back its own borders as far as possible, “even if these are the borders of Poland.”
Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said on Friday more talks between parliamentary groups were needed before Hungary’s ratification of Finland and Sweden’s Nato membership, which lawmakers will start debating next Wednesday.
The Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, went to Kyiv on Friday in a show of support to Ukraine, government spokesperson Piotr Muller wrote on Twitter.
Britain is prepared to supply fighter jets to eastern European allies to enable them to release their Soviet fighters to Ukraine, defence secretary Ben Wallace has said. Wallace also said Britain is taking steps to rebuild its stockpiles of munitions which have been depleted by the war in Ukraine.
The US has announced new military aid for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia and its supporters, including Chinese companies, to demonstrate resolve on the anniversary. The military assistance package will include several new drone and anti-drone systems the US has not previously made available as well as equipment to help Ukraine counter Russian electronic warfare. The US commerce department will list over 80 companies from Russia, China and other countries accused of sanctions busting, including “backfill activities in support of Russia’s defence sector”, replenishing material that Moscow has used up in the invasion.
Japan is considering new sanctions against Russia in line with moves by other Group of Seven (G7) countries, prime minister Fumio Kishida has said.
Speaking ahead of a call with other G7 leaders and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy scheduled later today, Kishida said he would present new ideas for sanctions but did not give any details.
At a news conference to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Kishida said Moscow was refusing to change their “hardline stance”, adding:
The international community must come together and show solidarity and impose strong sanctions against Russia.
Kishida, who will host the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May, said he was considering travelling to Ukraine in a show of solidarity.
Japan tightened sanctions against Russia last month, including banning some exports and freezing the assets of Russian officials and entities. Japanese firms have however maintained stakes in Russian oil and gas projects seen as critical to Japan’s energy supplies.
The panel includes among others Andrei Yermak, head of the Office of the Ukrainian Presidency, and a Putin-stooge, Sevim Dağdelen, a Bundestag member of Der Linke.
From her “contribution”:
While Nato and its allies are engaged in economic warfare and the massive delivery of ever heavier weapons to Kiev, the vast majority of countries around the world are not taking sides.
The vast majority of countries around the world took sides with Ukraine and against Russia literally last night, voting 141-7 to demand Russia’s immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Two radio stations in…Crimea broadcast the Ukrainian anthem, followed by a brief address from Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov.
Both Ukrainian and Russian media sources confirm the broadcast, in which Budanov spoke (in Russian) to Ukrainians in the annexed [occupied] regions:
Ukrainian citizens, this is Kyrylo Budanov. Ukraine is taking back all of its occupied territories. The Donbas and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea will be coming home forever. We are going to find every traitor to Ukraine, wherever they might be. All of them will be destroyed. I say to all the patriots: the time has come to act. Stay tuned. We’re coming to you. Glory to Ukraine!
RIA Novosti confirms that a number of Crimean radio stations had been hacked….
On Friday, the one-year anniversary of the war’s start, Paisley is releasing a new song called “Same Here,” featuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking proudly about his country and people.
The song is Paisley’s first from his new record, “Son of the Mountains,” to be released later this year on Universal Music Group Nashville…
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the only way for Moscow to ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine was to push back the borders of hostile states as far as possible, even if that meant the frontiers of NATO member Poland…
“That is why it is so important to achieve all the goals of the special military operation. To push back the borders that threaten our country as far as possible, even if they are the borders of Poland,” said Medvedev…
I think they may have misinterpreted him. It reads to me like he is saying push the Ukrainian border all the way back to Poland, which is not the same as pushing into Poland.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to the Telegram app about the visit of Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki to Kyiv today. Zelenskiy writes:
Poland was with us even before the start of the full-scale war, was with us every minute of this year and, I am sure, will be with us until our victory. Our joint victory!
Today, during the talks with prime minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, we discussed the entire range of defence issues. Talks concerned weapons for Ukraine, thanks to which Russia’s defeat on the battlefield will be speeded up, and new sanctions against Russia. Separately, I would like to note our cooperation regarding the treatment and rehabilitation of Ukrainian soldiers. I am sure that it will remain a good memory in the history of nations.
I am thankful to Mateusz Morawiecki and all our Polish brothers for understanding the situation and needs of Ukraine.
Over in Greece foreign minister Nikos Dendias has taken to Twitter to express his country’s support for Ukraine as the world marks the first anniversary of an invasion Russia still insists on calling a “special military operation.”
“One year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine: Greece has been and remains by the side of the Ukrainian people, committed to its principles of respect for international legality and the territorial sovereignty of all states and against any revisionism,” Dendias wrote.
The Greek government’s stance has resulted in a scuppering of ties with fellow Orthodox Russia, once a close ally. Moscow’s displeasure with Nato-member Greece was conveyed in a message tweeted by the Russian embassy in Athens earlier this week in which Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, was quoted as saying:
We were friends with the Greeks. We noted the transformations in the country’s leadership. She was forced, or agreed, to submit to American demands. We have drawn conclusions in regard to those who so happily supported aggression against Russia.
[“aggression against Russia”]
Meanwhile, officials attending the second European Conference in border management in Vouliagmeni outside Athens observed a minute of silence in tribute to the victims of the war.
The EU’s home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, who is in attendance vowed the 27-member bloc would be standing by Ukraine for as long as it takes.
“Ukraine can win this war, but we will be with Ukraine as long as it takes,” she told the AFP on the sidelines of the conference.
Poland’s deputy interior minister, also attending the conference, said Warsaw was braced – and would welcome – the ever more Ukrainians who could be forced to seek refuge in the neighbouring country if Moscow went ahead with a widely anticipated spring offensive.
“We have this contingency planning,” the minister, Bartosz Grodecki, said. “I hope that it will not be necessary (but) … we’ve been trained, planned properly, and we know how to be prepared,” he also told the AFP.
This is an opinion piece from Yale.
I can’t confirm it but suspect they are overstating their case, hopefully not by much.
“It appears Russia is well on its way toward its long-held worst fear: becoming a weak economic dependent of China–its source of cheap raw materials.
The Russian economy is being propped up by the Kremlin
Russia is mostly a commodity exporter of oil, natural gas, food, fertilizer, and metals.
It is relatively easy to replace commodity suppliers or so this article claims.
“Tightening these screws will help improve the chances that before this time next year, Russia will realize it does not need Putin, just as the world has already realized it does not need Russia.”
This is obviously true.
Russia has nothing to offer anyone and no one is going to miss Russia.
The same can be said for Putin. Most of the world is now hoping he really is sick and will die soon.
Faculty Viewpoints
A Year after the Invasion, the Russian Economy Is Self-Immolating
Economic pressure and a talent drain are driving Russia into permanent irrelevance, write Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian.
Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld
Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies & Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management
Steven Tian
Director of Research, Chief Executive Leadership Institute
February 21, 2023
This commentary originally appeared in Fortune.
A year after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, some cynics lament that the unprecedented economic pressure campaign against Russia has not yet ended the Putin regime. What they’re missing is the transformation that has happened right before our eyes: Russia has become an economic afterthought and a deflated world power.
Coupled with Putin’s own misfires, economic pressure has eroded Russia’s economic might as brave Ukrainian fighters, HIMARS, Leopard tanks, and PATRIOT missiles held off Russian troops on the battlefield. This past year, the Russian economic machine has been impaired as our original research compendium shows. Here are Russia’s most notable economic defeats:
Russia’s permanent loss of 1,000+ global multinational businesses coupled with escalating economic sanctions
The 1,000+ global companies who voluntarily chose to exit Russia in an unprecedented, historic mass exodus in the weeks after February 2022, as we’ve faithfully chronicled and updated to this day, have largely held true to their pledges and have either fully divested or are in the process of fully separating from Russia with no plans to return.
These voluntary business exits of companies with in-country revenues equivalent to 35% of Russia’s GDP that employ 12% of the country’s workforce were coupled with the imposition of enduring international government sanctions unparalleled in their scale and scope, including export controls on sensitive technologies, restrictions on Russian elites and asset seizures, financial sanctions, immobilizing Russia’s central bank assets, and removing key Russian banks from SWIFT, with even more sanctions planned.
Plummeting energy revenues thanks to the G7 oil price cap and Putin’s punctured natural gas gambit
The Russian economy has long been dominated by oil and gas, which accounts for over 50% of the government’s revenue, over 50% of export earnings, and nearly 20% of GDP every year.
In the initial months following the invasion, Putin’s energy earnings soared. Now, according to Deutsche Bank economists, Putin has lost $500 million a day of oil and gas export earnings relative to last year’s highs, rapidly spiraling downward.
The precipitous decline was accelerated by Putin’s own missteps. Putin coldly withheld natural gas shipments from Europe–which previously received 86% of Russian gas sales–in the hopes freezing Europeans would get angry and replace their elected leaders. However, a warmer-than-usual winter and increased global LNG supply mean Putin has now permanently forfeited Russia’s relevance as a key supplier to Europe, with reliance on Russian energy down to 7%–and soon to zero. With limited pipeline infrastructure to pivot to Asia, Putin now makes barely 20% of his previous gas earnings.
However, Russia’s energy collapse is also triggered by savvy international diplomacy. The G7 oil price cap has achieved the once unimaginable balance of keeping Russian oil flowing into global markets while simultaneously cutting into Putin’s profits. Russian oil exports have held amazingly consistent at pre-war levels of ~7 million barrels a day, ensuring global oil market stability, but the value of Russian oil exports has gone from $600 million a day down to $200 million a day as the Urals benchmark crashed to ~$45 a barrel, barely above Russia’s breakeven price of ~$42 per barrel.
Even countries on the sidelines of the price cap scheme, such as India and China, ride the coattails of the G7 buyers cartel to secure Russian supply at deep discounts of up to 30%.
Talent and capital flight
Since last February, millions of Russians have fled the country. The initial exodus of some 500,000 skilled workers in March was compounded by the exodus of at least 700,000 Russians, mostly working-age men fleeing the possibility of conscription, after Putin’s September partial mobilization order. Kazakhstan and Georgia alone each registered at least 200,000 newly fleeing Russians desperate not to fight in Ukraine.
Moreover, the fleeing Russians are desperate to stuff their pockets with cash as they escape Putin’s rule. Remittances to neighboring countries have soared more than tenfold and they rapidly attracted ex-Russian businesses. For example, in Uzbekistan, the Tashkent IT Park has seen year-over-year growth of 223% in revenue and 440% growth in total technology exports.
Meanwhile, offshore havens for wealthy Russians such as the UAE are booming, with one estimate claiming 30% of Russia’s high-net-worth individuals have fled.
Russia will only become increasingly irrelevant as supply chains continue to adapt
Russia has historically been a top commodities supplier to the world economy, with a leading market share across the energy, agriculture, and metals complex. Putin is fast making Russia irrelevant to the world economy as it is always much easier for consumers to replace unreliable commodity suppliers than it is for suppliers to find new markets.
Supply chains are already adapting by developing alternative sourcing that is not subject to Putin’s whims. We have shown how in several crucial metals and energy markets, the combined output of new supply developments to be opened in the next two years can fully and permanently replace Russian output within global supply chains.
Even Russia’s remaining trade partners apparently prefer short-term, opportunistic spot-market purchases of Russian commodities to capitalize on depressed prices rather than investing in long-term contracts or developing new Russian supply.
It appears Russia is well on its way toward its long-held worst fear: becoming a weak economic dependent of China–its source of cheap raw materials.
The Russian economy is being propped up by the Kremlin
The Kremlin has had to prop up the economy with escalating measures, and Kremlin control is increasingly creeping into every corner of the economy with less and less space left for private sector innovation.
These measures have proven costly. Government expenditures rose 30% year-over-year. Russia’s 2022 federal budget has a deficit of 2.3%–unexpectedly exceeding all estimates despite initially high energy profits, drawdowns and transfers of 2.4 trillion rubles from Russia’s dwindling sovereign wealth fund in December, and asset fire sales of 55 billion yuan this month.
Even these measures of last resort have been insufficient. Putin has been forced to raid the coffers of Russian companies in what he calls “revenue mobilization” as energy profits decline, extracting a hefty 1.25 trillion ruble windfall tax from Gazprom’s corporate treasury with more raids scheduled–and forcing a massive 3.1 trillion ruble issuance of local debt down the throats of Russian citizens in the autumn.
More can be done
Although 2023 will exacerbate each of these trends and further batter the Russian economy, there is even more that can be done to grease the skids.
A crackdown on sanctions evasion and smugglers, perhaps through secondary sanctions in the case of Turkey and other chronic offenders, will ensure that bad actors do not feed Putin’s war machine.
Sanctions provisions across technology, financial institutions, and commodity exports can be escalated. Pressure on companies remaining in Russia to fully and immediately exit the country must be maintained. Some $300 billion in frozen foreign exchange reserves could be seized and committed to the reconstruction of Ukraine
Tightening these screws will help improve the chances that before this time next year, Russia will realize it does not need Putin, just as the world has already realized it does not need Russia.
Only then will the Russian economy and people stand a chance of returning to prosperity.
Here is what it is like to be a Wagner mercenary.
The recruitment package from prison was actually quite generous. $2600 a month and an erased conviction. The drawback was that most of them would end up dead first.
“Almost 1,000 of the 5,000 Wagner Group fighters who signed up for Ukraine were killed within weeks.”
Insight News Media
Captured Wagner mercenaries told their horrific stories to The Mirror
Russia, Russia war / By Mike Oaks / February 24, 2023 / 5 minutes of reading
Two captured Russian Wagner mercenaries told the British newspaper Mirror how they signed up for the frontlines in Ukraine after being convinced they were at war with the West.
One of Russian president Putin’s close allies, Wagner private military group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin, recruited the mercenaries. A convicted killer and a thug sentenced for brawling were both in prison.
Two Wagner mercenaries interviewed by The Mirror
Wagner mercenaries’ horrifying stories, disclosed in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror, were obtained during negotiations with Ukrainian authorities ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion on February 24.
It is claimed that this is the first time a British newspaper has interviewed detained Wagner Group mercenaries.
Both Russian mercenaries wore balaclavas for their protection, as their Ukrainian military agreed to keep their identities hidden.
Convicted murderer who stabbed a Chechen in a bar brawl
Convicted murderer Viktor, a married father of two from the Stavropolsky district of Kavkaz in southeast Russia, was imprisoned for fatally stabbing a Chechen in a bar brawl.
The mercenary joined the Wagner group in his ninth year of a 20-year sentence. Wagner’s owner Prigozhin flew to his penal colony jail to recruit fighters.
“We were told other nations, including Britain, were involved in the war in Ukraine and that we were defending Russia against international terrorists,” the 32-year-old told the journalists.
Read on this topic in our article Africa – Russia: friendship for convenience – grain and military mercenaries.
“I had murdered a man and was in the ninth year of my sentence. He was in a club with a group of Muslims and Chechens when a knife fight broke out. I killed him. (…) I met Yevgeny Prizoghin, and 200 of us agreed to join the Wagner group in exchange for a fresh start, money, and the ability to find work after leaving Ukraine.”
“With a criminal record, I couldn’t get a job, and I felt I had no choice but to join Wagner, even though it took me a week to decide”, the prisoner of war said.
Viktor said his experience was “regrettable” but an unavoidable setback.
Joining Russia’s mercenary organization Wagner guaranteed him $2600 per month and the deletion of his criminal record.
After signing up in September 2022, he was sent to Rostov, near Ukraine, and then to Luhansk, in Donbas, within Ukraine, together with 200 other inmates from his prison.
Convict from Samara recruited by Wagner for war in Ukraine
Anatoliy, a 26-year-old car technician from Samara in central Russia, was jailed and got a three-year and six-month term for brawling. As Prizoghin came into his prison looking for recruits, he had 18 months left on his term.
“Putin’s cook” Prigozhin recruited mercenaries in Russian prisons
Prigozhin, imprisoned for nine months for crimes, made a fortune cooking for Putin’s major Kremlin social gatherings.
“I noticed a distinction between the Wagner and the regular Army. We conducted full-scale attacks, and I was involved in five major engagements. The Wagner group was always one step ahead of the Army”, he exclaimed with astonishing pride.
Ukrainian forces captured Anatoliy after he and his Wagner mates were ordered into a battle in Donbas against the Ukrainian soldiers.
He acknowledged that Ukrainian forces severely outperformed Wagner fighters in terms of military tactics.
“First, a sniper killed ten of my fellow troops. Another guy was hurt, so I offered him first aid. The Wagner group sent in another group of ten troops, and the sniper killed five. And finally, I was alone and surrounded by Ukrainian forces”, he said.
Despite Wagner Group’s horrible history of crimes against people involving rape, torture and murder, even recruiting sex attackers, the mercenary asserts that he did not observe such cases.
Thousands of Wagner mercenaries killed in the Ukraine war
Almost 1,000 of the 5,000 Wagner Group fighters who signed up for Ukraine were killed within weeks. It is thought that up to 50,000 were dispatched in total.
They underwent six weeks of “hard training” with assault rifles, machine guns, mines, rocket-propelled grenades, and sniper rifles.
Following training, they were deployed into war in assault squads, rapidly realizing they had been duped.
Even Viktor’s time in one of Russia’s “strict regime penal colonies,” where he was subjected to daily knife fights, beatings, and even killings, had not prepared him for war. “It was frightening,” he stated. In battle, I saw limbs and legs being shot off. It was terrifying and shocking. Then a thousand of us were massacred.”
Sergey was injured in the back and neck by shrapnel after only four “battles” in Donbas. The Ukrainian military captured him as he lay dying.
“I know I killed Ukrainian soldiers, but I don’t know how many. When we joined, we were shown a movie claiming we would be killed if captured. I was not beaten, and the Ukrainians treated me kindly. I don’t have anything against them”, he claims.
Both Wagner mercenaries interviewed by the British journalists were clothed in military uniform. Considering these two men’s atrocious backgrounds, Ukrainian officials ordered extra precautions to prevent them from being identified by Wagner hit squads.
In December, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration announced introducing new restrictions on the export of technology for the Russian armed formation “Wagner Group.” The main goal is to further cut off supplies to the private military company because of its role in the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Members of the European Parliament called to list Russian PMC Wagner as a terrorist organization for their crimes against humanity in the wars in Ukraine, Syria, and African countries.
The time has come to see Wagner militants and those who run the military group hold responsibility for the crimes that they committed in Africa, Ukraine, Syria, and other countries.
Zelenskiy, speaking at a press conference, says he wants to have a summit between Ukraine and Latin American countries, which he says he would attend in person “even though it’s very difficult for me to leave Ukraine”.
He says he also wants to have India and China participate in a “peace summit” to end the war in Ukraine.
On the subject of China, Zelenskiy says it is a good thing that China is talking about Ukraine and that Beijing’s interest is “not bad”.
China’s statement “respects our territorial integrity”, Zelenskiy says, adding that there are some thoughts in Beijing’s declaration that are “understandable” to him and others that he disagrees with.
China has started talking about Ukraine, and that is not bad. The Chinese statement respects our territorial integrity.
An Azerbaijani journalist asked if he could take a selfie with President Zelenskiy in the middle of a news conference, before asking a question about Ukraine’s relationship with Azerbaijan.
Asked to share a moment of the war he found most difficult, Zelenskiy replied:
Bucha. The moment we de-occupied Bucha. What I saw. It was horrible. What we’ve seen… the devil is not somewhere below us – he’s among us.
Asked what the chances are of him negotiating with Vladimir Putin, Zelenskiy said he had a message for Moscow:
Respect our right to live on our land, get out of our territory, stop bombing us, stop killing civilians… stop the bombardments.
The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to force former Vice President Mike Pence to testify fully in front of a grand jury investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, seeking to cut short any attempt by Mr. Trump to use executive privilege to shield Mr. Pence from answering questions, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The request — amounting to a pre-emptive motion to compel Mr. Pence’s testimony — came before the former vice president had even appeared in front of the grand jury, and before any privilege claims had actually been raised in court.
The sealed motion, filed in recent days in Federal District Court in Washington, is the latest step in a long-running behind-the-scenes struggle, first by the Justice Department and now by the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, to cut through the various assertions of privilege that witnesses close to Mr. Trump have repeatedly raised in an effort to avoid answering questions.
Asked if Australia should reopen its embassy in Kyiv, Zelenskiy says he would like to shake hands with the returning Australian ambassador. He says:
Please come back. But on a Bushmeister. We need one more.
ravensays
Thread
NATO [8/10]
NATO @NATO
🗣️ Ukraine is hosting one of the great epics of this century
❝We are Harry Potter and William Wallace, the Na’vi and Han Solo. We’re escaping from Shawshank and blowing up the Death Star. We are fighting with the Harkonnens and challenging Thanos.❞
February 23, 2023
The conflict in Ukraine is one of the best examples of the Battles of Light against Dark.
Russia is Apokalips and Putin is Darkseid.
Russia is Mordor and Putin is Sauron.
The Russian trolls on Twitter are very upset.
Bits and pieces of news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office has announced a boycott of MSNBC (my employer) and NBC News. The Republican’s complaint stems from a recent Andrea Mitchell interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. [Mitchell asked V.P. Harris about Black history. See The Hill for more details. “What does Governor Ron DeSantis not know about Black history and the Black experience when he says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida schoolchildren?”]
————————
Policymakers in Minnesota are moving forward with a proposal to restore voting rights to tens of thousands of former felons who’ve been disenfranchised. https://boltsmag.org/minnesota-voting-rights-restoration/
The fact that Daily Kos has featured consistent coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine since before the Russian tanks actually rolled in a year ago, and that this coverage often includes encouraging the U.S. government as well as NATO allies to send additional support to Ukraine, may strike some as puzzling. So does the idea that this coverage regularly celebrates Ukrainian victories on the battlefield. There’s a good portion of the populace that seems to correlate progressive with pacifist, and who assume that anti-war means being pro-surrender. Those people are wrong. [see raven’s comment 57, and other comments from raven that support the fact that Ukraine, and other democracies, must not surrender to Russia]
There’s also a thankfully small proportion of those once on the left who somehow believe that, having once been fooled over the idea of the Soviet Union as a worker’s paradise, they are now contractually obligated to support Russia in all its actions. How these Corbynites, Greenwaldians, and Hershists manage to convince themselves that the cause of justice lies with a brutal autocratic dictatorship destroying whole cities, creating torture chambers, and kidnapping children by the thousands to support a racist, homophobic, neo-fascist agenda is something I do not want to understand. These people are sick.
Instead, I’ll say that Daily Kos holds to the same position it had at its founding: We are against illegal, unprovoked invasions. We’re against the loss of life. We’re against the displacement and trauma. We’re against the the destruction and disruption that every such invasion brings, and how any war brings the possibility of even greater war.
We follow Ukraine day by day, and we do everything we can to support the Ukrainian cause, because we believe now as we did 20 years ago, when this site was founded in the run-up to another invasion, that peace is not a state of idleness, or something achieved through ignoring wrongdoing. Peace is something active, something that must be sought and must be protected—even when the price seems very dear.
Here are a pair of stories that appeared this week. First, in The New York Times:
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the West formed what looked like an overwhelming global coalition: 141 countries supported a United Nations measure demanding that Russia unconditionally withdraw. By contrast, Russia seemed isolated. North Korea was one of only four countries that backed Russia and rejected the measure. But the West never won over as much of the world as it initially seemed. Another 47 countries abstained or missed the vote, including India and China. Many of those “neutral” nations have since provided crucial economic or diplomatic support for Russia.
If this seems frustrating or even enraging after everything Russia has done in Ukraine, hang in there. Here’s another story, this time from The Washington Post:
Clement Manyathela, who hosts a popular and influential talk show on South Africa’s Radio 702, remembers the outrage he felt when Russian troops first surged into Ukraine. He had believed Russia’s insistence that it wasn’t planning to attack and felt cheated when war broke out. But as the fighting continued, he, and many of those who call in to his show, began to ask questions: Why had President Vladimir Putin deemed it necessary to invade? Was NATO fueling the fire by sending so many weapons to Ukraine?
Again, that anyone, anywhere, could fail to see the falsity of Putin’s claims or the injustice of Russia’s actions is so baffling as to be infuriating. However, the key to understanding how many around the world feel—how millions, if not billions of people around the world feel—can be found in the next sentence of that Post story.
How could the United States expect others around the world to support its policies when it had also invaded countries?
There’s no doubt that some of the leaders in these countries—whether it’s Brazil or India or China—are more than happy to feed public disillusionment toward the United States and other Western countries because it serves their own purposes. There’s also no doubt that when people in some of these countries look at the team that is backing Ukraine, what they see isn’t some shining constellation of justice and democracy. They see the people who had their boots at their throat in support of empire, theft, and subjugation. And it was not that long ago.
They know well enough that many of these same Western countries were making the same flowery speeches about freedom and democracy as they were driving people in Africa and Asia off their land and enforcing policies that treated the people in non-Western nations as less valuable than whatever resource was currently being stolen.
Glenn Greenwald may be nothing short of an asshole when he pretends to believe Russian conspiracy theories and champions the cause of a murderous dictator. Seymour Hersh may be simply delusional when he dismisses those who “rely on facts.” That doesn’t mean that Western colonialism was any less than horrible, that America’s “overseas adventures” were not both misguided and immoral, and that the deep-seated distrust of the West felt especially by many in the southern hemisphere is anything less than real.
How do you heal that rift? By holding America and Western allies to the standards they profess to believe, and by never pretending that something is right just because we did it.
What we hope to do in our war coverage at Daily Kos is as simple as half a sentence. Where right-wing media and MAGA politicians often want to stop Carl Schurz’s 1872 statement at “My country, right or wrong,” Daily Kos tries to provide the rest. “If right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”
As it happens, the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine falls within a month of the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. If you look back to the earliest days of Daily Kos, in 2002 and 2003, the biggest topic of conversation, and in fact the daily focus of that time, can be found in this page, titled “War Archives.” Take a look at Forbes in 2003, and you’ll find Daily Kos at the top of the list for “Best War Blogs.”
Daily Kos began as a blog that fought daily against the idea of a U.S. invasion of Iraq. Because that invasion was wrong. […]
Wars have costs, and sometimes the least of those is found on the battlefield.
For the U.S., the invasion of Iraq still generates a high cost when it comes to trying to justify actions in Ukraine or elsewhere. It’s become a handle by which enemies can drag America down from any attempt to find a moral high ground […]
We were wrong then. Russia is wrong now. […]
That’s a sin that shouldn’t be forgiven or forgotten, and we do ourselves no favors by pretending that we’re somehow pure because well, that was George W. Bush, it wasn’t us.
Daily Kos followed that war because it wanted it to end. We follow the invasion in Ukraine for the same reason. You don’t make things better by forgetting. You make them better by being better; by seeking peace. Which is not the same as surrender.
After a series of teasers, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis released his detailed legislation to turn Florida’s public colleges and universities into right-wing indoctrination factories, and it’s as bad as he promised it would be. DeSantis is, on the one hand, moving to ban virtually any viewpoint he doesn’t like and, on the other hand, setting up a core curriculum that reflects his specific political agenda.
On the banned list: Not only whatever the people DeSantis puts in charge decide are “Critical Race Theory,” but literally all diversity, equity, and inclusion programming. Majors or minors in gender studies. Any general education course that “defines American history as contrary to the creation of a new nation based on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.”
Yes, DeSantis is attempting to write into law that any history that suggests the United States did not always fully live up to the “universal principles” of the Declaration of Independence (a document written by a slave-owner!) is not fit for inclusion as a general education course—the ones that students will be required to take. Those general education courses will be five courses designated within each of five areas (communication, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, natural sciences) from which students must choose. The direct requirement of the bill would be history courses that didn’t admit to the existence in U.S. history of slavery or the internment of Japanese people during World War II. […]
The legislation would weaken faculty tenure, but what’s much worse is what it would do to faculty hiring:
Each state university board of trustees is responsible for hiring faculty for the university. The president of the university may provide hiring recommendations to the board. The president and the board are not required to consider recommendations or opinions of faculty of the university or other individuals or groups.
These trustees will effectively be DeSantis political appointees—for instance, when he put six new people on the board of trustees at the New College of Florida, they included Christopher Rufo, the right-wing think-tanker whose attacks on public education have included being the architect of the campaign against “critical race theory” in schools; the superintendent of a religious charter school; a dean from Hillsdale College, a private Christian school; and the viciously transphobic president of a conservative think tank. That’s the type of people DeSantis is putting in charge of all faculty hiring in Florida’s public colleges and universities.
And no, this isn’t just a formality where the board won’t really exert control:
The board of trustees may delegate its hiring authority to the president; however, the president may not delegate such hiring authority and the board must approve or deny any selection by the president.
[…] Ukraine has gotten this far because it has always worked to undermine Russia’s logistics. It’s why they are screaming for longer-range rockets, to hit Russian ammo depots further behind enemy lines and force those supplies even further back. Ukraine’s success in shrinking the active front line is also its great challenge, as Russia squeezes more men into a smaller space.
But Ukraine won’t win by killing 300,000 Russians. It will do so by cutting off their food and ammunition. Russia lost the war because of logistics, and Ukraine will win it for the same reason.
The former president reportedly spins ’80s showtunes and Celine Dion from his iPad on Thursdays at Mar-a-Lago. This is the next best thing to him being in jail.
“”All the extremist-related murders in 2022 were committed by right-wing extremists of various kinds,” the ADL report said.
Meaning that the other 20% were by right wingnuts who weren’t white racists.
You don’t hear much about left wing terrorism in the USA any more.
Mostly because it more or less doesn’t exist.
Reuters
White supremacists behind over 80% of extremism-related U.S. murders in 2022
Kanishka Singh
Thu, February 23, 2023 at 3:30 PM PST·2 min read
By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Mass shootings in the United States accounted for most extremism-related fatalities last year in the country with over 80% of those murders committed by white supremacists, data released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) showed on Thursday.
The advocacy group labeled 25 murders in 2022 as “extremist-related,” with 18 of those “committed in whole or part for ideological motives.”
Two mass shootings – one in May in Buffalo, New York, wherein an avowed white supremacist fatally shot 10 Black people, and another in November in Colorado Springs wherein five people were killed in an LGBTQ nightclub – accounted for most of the extremist-related murders of 2022, the ADL report showed.
White supremacists commit the highest number of domestic extremist-related murders in most years, but in 2022 the percentage was unusually high: 21 of the 25 murders were linked to white supremacists, according to the ADL report.
“All the extremist-related murders in 2022 were committed by right-wing extremists of various kinds,” the ADL report said.
ADL’s Center on Extremism reported an overall decrease from 2021 when 33 extremist-related killings were documented. ADL had documented 22 extremist-related killings in 2020.
Human rights groups have raised concerns over white supremacy in the United States in recent years.
President Joe Biden has labeled white supremacy as poison and called on Americans to reject it. In December, he established an inter-agency group to coordinate efforts to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination.
The issue of white supremacy came back into headlines late last year when former President Donald Trump hosted white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his private club in Florida. Trump said the encounter with Fuentes happened inadvertently while he was having dinner with Ye, the musician formerly known as Kanye West.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio)
KG @ # 94: … opposition to military support for Ukraine on the left seems to me, in the UK at least, to stem from two distinct sources, …:
(1) A failure to recognise that anyone other than the USA or its allies can be imperialist…
(2) A profound (and of course justified) fear and hatred of war and particularly nuclear war…
Agreed, though I can’t help but wonder how people who’ve previously shown themselves capable of big-picture strategic thinking could turn that off [re: (1)] or fail to consider how sacrificing Ukraine might increase, rather than reduce, the risks of (2).
And as SC… pointed out (previous instance of this thread), the rightward drift has also pulled along former progressives concerning COVID-19 and some “culture war” issues (take a bow, TERFs!). This involves (I think) more than the occasional tendency of ageing to produce conservatism, and it particularly puzzles me to see it more in organizational leaders than in the grassroots (though I’ll admit I stay more out of circulation these infectious days, and have probably missed a lot).
The numbers of dead and wounded in the Russian invasion of Ukraine aren’t all that well known for a lot of reasons.
.1. “8,006: Confirmed civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, through Feb. 15, according to the U.N. human rights office.”
This is way less than the likely number of civilians dead. There is no access to the Russian held areas.
It could be a lot more than 100,000 civilian dead.
.2. “Around 200,000: Western Estimate of Russian troops killed and wounded. Britain’s Ministry of Defense has estimated 40,000-60,000 Russian troops have died fighting in Ukraine.”
The Ukrainians are claiming 145,000 Russian troops killed.
I would guess the actual number is closer to the Ukrainian number of 145,000 than the UK number of 60,000.
.3. 9,000 : Ukraine’s most recent count, of its troops losses since the invasion provided in August by Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.
More than 100,000: Estimate of Ukrainian troops killed or wounded, according to Western officials.
I’d guess that the Ukrainian dead and wounded are closer to 100,000 than their claimed 9,000.
It is clear that Ukraine is taking heavy losses in attritional close quarters warfare.
.4. 8.1 million: Refugees who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion, based on figures provided by national governments. The number includes more than 5.2 million in over 40 European and central Asian countries, including nearly 1.6 million in Poland, over 880,000 in Germany and nearly 2.9 million who went to Russia, according to U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.
That is a huge number for a country of 44 million people.
It is going to put a major strain on their society.
Both the Russian and Ukrainian soldier losses are high and this is also going to put a lot of strains on their society.
Associated Press
The calculus of war: Tallying Ukraine toll an elusive task
JAMEY KEATEN
Thu, February 23, 2023 at 11:43 PM PST·5 min read
GENEVA (AP) — Quantifying the toll of Russia’s war in Ukraine remains an elusive goal a year into the conflict.
Estimates of the casualties, refugees and economic fallout from the war produce an incomplete picture of the deaths and suffering. Precise figures may never emerge for some of the categories international organizations are attempting to track.
U.N. human rights experts count civilians killed and wounded, but know their tally falls significantly short. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has provided an updated accounting of their troop losses.
Even the scope of the weaponry that Western countries have sent Ukraine is murky.
Here’s a look at some of the numbers as Friday marks one year since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, with no end to the war in sight.
THE EVOLUTION OF AN INVASION
Roughly 5,000 missile strikes, 3,500 airstrikes and 1,000 drone strikes: Firepower that Russia has launched against Ukraine over the past year, according to Brig. Gen. Oleksiy Hromov, a senior official in the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
18: The percentage of total Ukrainian land controlled by Russian forces as of Thursday, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a think tank. That’s down from 27% on March 23, before Ukrainian counteroffensives recaptured vast swaths of land — but up from the 7% held by Russia and Russia-aligned separatists before Feb. 24, 2022, as part of an armed rebellion in eastern Ukraine that began in 2014, and Russia’s annexation of Crimea that year.
71,905: Potential Russian war crimes — killings, kidnappings, indiscriminate bombings and sexual assaults — that are under investigation by Ukraine’s prosecutor-general. Reporting by The Associated Press and “Frontline,” recorded in a public database, has independently verified 639 incidents that appear to violate the laws of war.
THE CASUALTIES
8,006: Confirmed civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, through Feb. 15, according to the U.N. human rights office. The office uses strict methodology and says verification of thousands of reported casualties is still pending in Russian-occupied cities such as Mariupol, Lysychansk, and Sievierodonetsk.
3,382: Civilian deaths in Ukraine recorded by the U.N. rights office for March 2022, the highest number for a single month of the war.
13,287: Civilians injured in the conflict over the last year, according to the U.N.
5,937: Russia’s most recent count, from September, of its troops killed in Ukraine since February 2022.
Around 200,000: Western Estimate of Russian troops killed and wounded. Britain’s Ministry of Defense has estimated 40,000-60,000 Russian troops have died fighting in Ukraine.
9,000 : Ukraine’s most recent count, of its troops losses since the invasion provided in August by Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.
More than 100,000: Estimate of Ukrainian troops killed or wounded, according to Western officials.
REFUGEES AND DISPLACED PEOPLE
8.1 million: Refugees who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion, based on figures provided by national governments. The number includes more than 5.2 million in over 40 European and central Asian countries, including nearly 1.6 million in Poland, over 880,000 in Germany and nearly 2.9 million who went to Russia, according to U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.
5.4 million: People who were driven from their homes but stayed inside Ukraine, according to a Jan. 23 count by the International Organization for Migration. The number of internally displaced people peaked in early May 2022, when IOM reported there were more than 8 million.
5.6 million: Ukrainians who have returned to their homes, either from within Ukraine or abroad, according to the latest IOM figures.
17.6 million: People in Ukraine needing humanitarian aid, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
ECONOMIC COST
$138 billion: The total damage caused to Ukraine’s infrastructure due to the war, according to the latest Kyiv School of Economics figure from Jan. 24.
33%: Minimum drop in Ukraine’s gross domestic product in 2022 expected by the International Monetary Fund. Final numbers are pending.
2.2%: Expected decline in Russia’s GDP in 2022, according to the IMF.
30%: Decline in the value of Ukrainian exports in 2022, as reported by the World Trade Organization
16% : Increase in the value of Russian exports in 2022, according to the WTO. It noted that the volume of Russian exports may have declined slightly, but the value was up because of price increases for fuels, fertilizers and cereals that Russia produces.
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE
$113 billion: Emergency funding for the Ukraine response approved by U.S. Congress last year. Includes about $62 billion to be provided through the Defense Department, nearly half of it for weapons, training and other “direct security assistance,” and $46 billion through the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development, according to the Pentagon and an inter-departmental report issued last month.
$78 billion: Total U.S. commitments made directly to Ukraine over most of last year and through Jan. 15, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. The Germany-based institute says its figure excludes funds that were over-reported, have gone unused, or actually go to Ukraine’s neighbors or to U.S. domestic programs. Its tally doesn’t include more recent U.S. pledges to Ukraine, such as for 31 M1 Abrams tanks.
$59 billion (55 billion euros): Total commitments to Ukraine from European Union member nations and EU institutions, according to IFW Kiel.
$14 billion (13 billion euros): Pledges and allocations from non-country donors, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
50%: Rough estimate by IFW-Kiel of aid disbursed as a percentage of commitments made by various donors.
Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
It’s been one year since Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, but residents of Crimea have been living under Russian occupation for nearly a decade. And while Moscow’s oppressive policies and arbitrary arrests have affected people of all stripes, there’s no question that the peninsula’s Crimean Tatar population has been disproportionately targeted. Dozens of Crimean Tatars have been arrested on charges of “extremism,” while many more have been forced to leave the peninsula altogether. After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s proxies in Crimea cracked down on local Tatars even harder; human rights advocates have compared the mobilization campaign there to genocide. Meduza explains how nine years of Russian occupation have affected the Crimean Tatar population, and how Moscow is forcing this group to fight a war against the country it considers its own….
It was last summer when Sen. Rick Scott first started telling Americans that rascally Democrats had cut Medicare by $280 billion. By any sensible measure, the Florida Republican was brazenly lying: […] the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act empowered Medicare to negotiate lower prices for consumers on prescription medications, generating dramatic savings.
In the English language, there is no credible definition of “cut” under which this falls.
And yet, the GOP senator kept repeating the line, even as journalists kept reminding him of reality. More recently, as the Floridian found himself on the defensive over social insurance programs, Scott once again embraced the same lie, telling the public anew that Democrats cut Medicare, sparking a new round of fact-checking.
That was before the 2022 midterm elections. Now, the public is hearing yet another round of claims about Medicare “cuts” that aren’t actually cuts.
In fact, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which Scott no longer runs, issued a statement just last week insisting that the White House “is trying to gut Medicare benefits,” which was a line the NRSC echoed in a new attack ad. A group representing insurance companies recently began airing related commercials, warning of Medicare “cuts.”
And why, pray tell, is this happening right now, more than 20 months before the next Election Day? As Roll Call reported, the insurance industry and Republicans are trying to “fend off changes to private Medicare Advantage plans”:
So far this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released two rules aimed at reducing overpayments to Advantage plans while increasing oversight — moves long recommended by nonpartisan government watchdogs and economists. But those rules are being framed by Republicans as cuts to Medicare amid a debate over the solvency of the program, the 2024 elections and the national debt.
As readers might assume, the granular details get very complicated, as HuffPost’s Jonathan Cohn explained very well in a terrific piece this week.
But to briefly summarize, the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services is recalibrating its Medicare payments and trying to rein in overpayments, as insurers claim that the changes represent undue cuts.
David Lipschutz, associate director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, told Roll Call, “Implying that what they perceive to be cuts to Medicare Advantage payments runs afoul of President Biden’s promise or pledge not to cut Medicare … that’s disingenuous. It’s conflating a stand against indiscriminate budget cuts to the Medicare program with a regulator trying to more accurately pay one of its contractors.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was less diplomatic. “Any claim that this Administration is cutting Medicare is categorically false. Leave it to deep-pocketed insurance companies and industry front groups to characterize this year’s increase in Medicare Advantage payments as a cut,” the cabinet secretary said in a written statement. “Disinformation being pushed out by high-paid industry hacks and their allies hurt Medicare beneficiaries and the Medicare Trust Fund.”
[…] It’s something to keep in mind if the latest round of advertising reaches your television screen.
House Republicans, led by loudest maniac Jim Jordan, had high hopes of stealing some of President Joe Biden’s thunder after his historic surprise trip to Kyiv, Ukraine. “Oh, yeah,” you could hear them squeaking. “We’ll show him.” So in the best tradition of nativist, isolationist know-nothingism, they headed for the southern border to put on a show of hunting for the crisis of the hordes invading “our” country. What they got was … not that.
“As they rumbled along the entry port of San Luis, a dam along the Colorado River and more desolate sections of the U.S. border between Arizona and Mexico, though, their search came up empty,” a reporter on the scene described. “Hours later, immigration officials would spot a group crossing north, but it was long after Congress members had retired for the night.”
This was part of what they’re calling a “field hearing” by the House Judiciary Committee, explaining Jordan’s, ahem, leadership. […] The “convoy” included “more than a dozen congressional Republicans, a large contingent of staffers and a handful of reporters.” Having turned the trip into some kind of sick safari, the group thwarted their own goal.
“Jordan’s group was told that around 4,000 immigrants cross the U.S. border near Yuma each day, but its conspicuous presence thwarted the expedition’s goal of spotting immigrants attempting an unobtrusive entry.” You don’t say. They did spot a bus parked across the border, however. No one came out of it to make a run for the border. [OMG, what a farce. LOL]
No Democrats participated in what ranking committee Democrat Jerry Nadler called a “stunt hearing,” though he did say that some Democrats from the committee would go to the border next month to to “hear from the community and government officials on the ground.”
The big convoy also help put the lie to the GOP’s government spending obsession. This is the third trip to the border by some contingent of GOP House members in the new Congress, with Barely Speaker Kevin McCarthy having already gone to try to score points, as well as members of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
The Homeland Security Committee has what they’re calling a “border bootcamp” for Republican freshmen members, and the Oversight Committee has plans to go in the near future, too. That’s one way to stop illegal crossings: Just keep sending down convoys of GOP representatives to play border patrol.
All that’s pretty expensive. The GOP Judiciary Committee alone has requested $262,400 for travel this session. In 2022, with Democrats in charge of the committee, they spent $7,986.
When it comes to actual border policy rather than publicity and preening, they’ve got nothing. Or rather they’ve got an interparty fight, as Gabe Ortiz reported. Their first go at an immigration bill “was so extreme it derailed itself, after so-called moderates refused to sign on.”
<blockquote<[…] with Republicans in control of the House, legislation to end military aid to Ukraine has indeed been introduced by none other than Matt Gaetz, sponsored by his usual clown car of troglodyte buddies. This is probably not an imminent threat, but nor is it an idle one: In May of last year, 57 House Republicans were already willing to vote against a bill providing assistance for Ukraine. […]Link
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says Ukraine has received its first Western main battle tanks — four German-made Leopard 2 tanks sent by Poland — on the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Shmyhal posed for photographs Friday in front of the tanks with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, as well as crews of military vehicles. Ukrainian tank crews have been training for weeks in Poland on operating the Leopard 2s. [Photo at the link, and video at the link]
Morawiecki said he had brought the first four Leopard tanks from Poland so Ukraine “could defeat as quickly as possible the Russian aggressors. Thank you for your courage and struggle.”
The four tanks are the first of 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks that Poland has pledged to send Ukraine.
Morawiecki has also promised to send 60 modernized PT-91 tanks. The PT-91 is a Polish-made battle tank developed from the Soviet-era T-72 range that came into service in the 1990s.
Last year, Poland sent 250 Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine.
At a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, Morawiecki said that Ukrainian tankers are receiving intensive training on how to operate the Leopard 2s. […]
“Our instructors are very impressed with how quickly Ukrainian tankers master modern tanks,” Morawiecki said.
“We can transfer our next Leopard tanks very quickly. But also in the next few days we will transfer very good PT-91 tanks and the next 60 tanks will arrive in Ukraine,” he added.
[…] German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said his country will supply Ukraine with 18 Leopard 2A6 tanks instead of the 14 previously announced. He said that combined with the tanks that Portugal and Sweden plan to deliver, Ukraine will be able to form an entire battalion of Leopard 2A6 tanks. A standard Ukrainian battalion has 31 tanks. […]
Israel in a pre-revolutionary era which is tearing its fragile social economic and existential fabric. The radical religious messianic right wing government aims to creat theocratic dictatorship is challenged by democratic liberal masses. A compromise is less&less possible.
Benjamin Netanyahu spoke today with members of his cabinet about the Israelis protesting against his government’s anti-democratic campaign. He said: “I want to give you a fist to punch them.”
Just a couple of days ago, Russian state propagandists lamented their lack of allies in their illegal and murderous invasion of Ukraine. [Tweet and video at the link]
It was a remarkable segment, not just for admitting their inability to rally anyone to their cause, but also their inadvertent admission that one year in, they’ve suffered nothing but failure: [video at the link]
“As soon as we begin to really succeed, then our allies will appear” is quite a bizarre thing to say. Do they mean that Russia’s pals are all fair-weather friends? That they can’t actually depend on their “allies” in their time of need? Ukraine rallied 50+ nations in support during their darkest hour, when most people expected Kyiv to fold in a matter of days. Why is Russia so bereft of similar help, including from the Chinese, who signed a treaty promising “friendship without limits” just days before the invasion?
At the United Nations, a new vote confirmed that Russia still lacks any allies outside the pariah world: [Tweet and image at the link.]
Belarus is essentially occupied by Russia. North Korea, Syria, and Eritrea are repressive pariah states. Mali is occupied by Wagner mercenaries. Nicaragua has its issues, but nothing like the rest on this list. Not even Cuba or Iran voted with Russia.
[…] Still, no matter how you look at it, Russia’s international standing has suffered because of the war.
World’s second-best army
It’s better to be thought a fool, than to open one’s mouth and erase all doubt.
Russia’s influence was, in large part, predicated on the assumption of a fearsome war machine. It allowed it to cow many of its neighbors into submission, and brought the country credibility and prestige on the global stage.
Russia never had the word’s second-best army. And now, it’d be lucky to crack the top 20. Of course, it always has its nuclear arsenal to lean on, but even that …
Russia notified the United States in advance of the launch through deconfliction lines under its New START treaty obligations, one official said, adding that “such testing is routine.” Another official said that the test did not pose a risk to the United States and that the US did not view the test as an anomaly or an escalation.
The test of the heavy SARMAT missile – nicknamed the Satan II in the West and capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads – appears to have failed, officials said.
That doesn’t imply that they don’t have an effective nuclear deterrent. Only one needs to work. But their ability to project power, as they’ve been doing in Africa, Syria, and some of the former Soviet republics, has certainly suffered a serious blow.
NATO expansion
[…] no one wants Russia.
Thanks to its invasion, however, two gray countries on its border—Finland and Sweden—have abandoned generations of neutrality to join the Western alliance. Hungary (pro-Russian) and Turkey (domestic politics) are holding up their applications, but they are already de facto members, and their ascension is just a matter of time.
And while Russia might’ve been able to negotiate Ukrainian neutrality before invading, it’s pretty much a given that Ukraine itself will be a NATO member as soon as the war is over.
Poland
Poland took a look at Germany and France’s tepid initial reaction to Russia’s invasion, and said NOPE. And while it trusts the United States right now, no one’s forgotten that Donald Trump intended to pull the U.S. out of the alliance in his second term. With MAGA-ism running strong in our country, there’s plenty of reason for our European allies to feel insecure.
So Poland set out to arm itself, and in five years will have one of the largest armed forces in the world. Its arms buying spree includes:
Growing its ground forces from 150,000 to 300,000
394 M1 Abrams battle tanks
1,000 K2 Black Panther Korean battle tanks
288 K239 Korean MLRS
500 HIMARS launchers and a metric f-ton of ammunition
672 K9 Korean self-propelled howitzers
800 additional domestically produced self-propelled howitzers
1,470 infantry fighting vehicles (domestically produced)
94 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters
For context, Britain has 227 tanks, France has 222, and Germany has 320. (The U.S. has around 2,500.)
The rest of Europe is finally rebuilding its tattered defense capabilities.[…] Rather than improve its security, Russia has spurred a massive arms buildup among its neighbors. […]
Kazakhstan
Oil-rich Kazakhstan shares a massive border with Russia, and has been a founding member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a NATO-style military alliance that includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. A month before Russia’s invasion, its VDV paratroopers flew into the Kazakh capital to prop up its dictator, who was then facing severe public unrest.
Throughout this past year, the relationship has deteriorated into outright hostility, with Russian state propaganda personalities calling for another “special military operation” to occupy the country. In fact, Putin and Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev literally traded barbs on stage at a gathering of central Asian leaders. Putin ultimately said that all the former Soviet republics—of which Kazakhstan is one—historically belonged to Russia. It couldn’t have been clearer to all of those former republicans that after Ukraine, they were possibly next. [Tweet and video at the link.]
Whatever relationship the two countries had is gone […]
Speaking of the CSTO
Last fall, Armenia was invaded by neighboring Azerbaijan. It appealed for military help, as allowed in the CSTO charter. No one came to its aid. Russia, certainly, was in no position to help, with 98% of its forces committed in Ukraine. Armenia thus declared the alliance dead, and has been making kissy faces with Europe (and France, in particular), and even hosted a Nancy Pelosi visit late last September.
It was clear the CSTO “alliance” was simply a way for Russia to exert its dominance over several of its former colonies. With Ukraine shredding Russia’s military might to pieces, the CSTO alliance is all but dead.
Serbia
Serbia’s anti-NATO fervor runs deep, as the Western alliance thwarted its genocidal campaign to keep the former Yugoslavia intact. Think of them as a mini-Russia, in words and deeds. It’s no surprise that Serbia has long been Russia’s most reliable ally in Central Europe.
Yet in January, Serbia’s president said, “We said from the beginning that we cannot support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For us Crimea is Ukraine, Donbass is Ukraine—it will remain so.” Serbia has refused to join economic sanctions against Russia. Moscow has been a strong defender of Serbia in its ongoing conflict with Kosovo. Yet he also committed to moving Serbia westward, with an eye to membership in the European Union.
Finally, just this week, Serbia announced it would give up its Russian MiG-29s and buy French fighter jets instead.
China
[…] China’s leadership is growing worried that increased Western military support for Ukraine will severely weaken Russia, a key partner for Beijing in its heightened competition with the U.S. and its allies.
Ukraine’s robust battlefield resistance has prompted a rethink in Beijing, making it more inclined to push for a cease-fire to prevent further Russian setbacks […]
American intelligence has warned that China is already shipping non-lethal military aid to Russia, and that it is seriously considering arms and ammunition as well. While I once posited that China would benefit greatly from a weakened Russia (such as moving into Kazakhstan), this story suggests the opposite: If China hopes to see a global counterbalance to Western power, it needs a strong Russia as backup.
Indeed, the two are pillar countries of the BRICS pseudo alliance—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. They fashion themselves part of the “global South,” along with a rising Africa and Latin America, that would offset the global economic powerhouses comprising the Western alliance—the U.S., Canada, the European Union, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and increasingly, Taiwan.
But by bolstering a faltering Russia, China will come into direct conflict with Europe and the U.S., leading to a further deterioration of diplomatic relations, increased military saber-rattling, and greater incentives for the kind of Western economic decoupling that has already harmed Russia […]
So what happens to China’s billion+ population when Apple moves its iPhone production to India or even onshored back to the U.S., and thousands of companies follow suit? What happens when China’s dominant position as the world’s manufacturing hub is shattered because of a belligerent foreign policy and support for Russia?
As for BRICS, this is from the Russian state propaganda video at the top [image at the link: “But BRICS, pardon me, are allies of the U.S., India for example.”]
Yeah, it’s not really a thing. None of those “BRICS” countries voted with Russia at the UN.
Rather than project strength and dominance, Putin’s Russia has exposed itself as weak, impotent, and incompetent. This will have grave consequences for the country for decades to come.
In the early hours of February 24, 2019, a seventeen-foot-long fishing boat entered a narrow coastal inlet near Beaufort, […] a bridge loomed up in the dark, and the boat hit pilings before running up the nearest bank, with a gashed hull. Three of the six people on board, all young adults, were thrown into the icy water. Two resurfaced, but there was no sign of the third, a nineteen-year-old named Mallory Beach. Her body was found a week later, in a marsh a few miles away.
There was some uncertainty at first about who was steering the boat at the moment of impact, but it was known to be one of two young men. […] But there was a significant disparity of power and privilege: Connor was a construction worker, and Paul was a Murdaugh.
[…] Four of the survivors of the boat accident were brought to the hospital, where an officer entered Paul’s room to take a statement. Paul was just starting when his father and his grandfather barged in. “I am his lawyer starting now,” the grandfather, Randolph Murdaugh III, told the officer, according to law-enforcement records. “He isn’t giving any statements.” While Randolph stood watch, Alex Murdaugh began wandering around the hospital, in an apparent effort, as one witness put it, “to orchestrate something.”
[…] A hospital employee heard him repeatedly warn Connor Cook not to say anything. In a later deposition, Cook recalled Alex promising him that “everything was going to be all right. I just needed to keep my mouth shut and tell them I didn’t know who was driving.”
As the investigation continued, however, Cook and his parents came to suspect that the Murdaughs were trying to pin the blame on him, possibly with the connivance of local law enforcement. Fortunately for Cook, the other survivors eventually testified with near-certainty—in one case revising a previous statement—that Paul had crashed the boat, and in April, 2019, Paul was charged with three crimes, including boating under the influence resulting in death. But the Murdaughs’ ability to shape events was far from exhausted.
Judges in South Carolina are elected not by voters but by the state’s General Assembly. To defend Paul, who pleaded not guilty, the Murdaughs hired Dick Harpootlian, a powerful state senator and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Harpootlian’s edge is his built-in advantage with the judges,” a prominent Charleston attorney told me. […]
But there would be no trial. On the night of June 7, 2021, the case took the first in a series of brutal swerves that were to become its hallmark. Paul and his mother, Maggie, were found dead outside the kennels at Moselle, the Murdaughs’ seventeen-hundred-acre hunting estate.
Like most observers, I assumed that the murders were vengeance (or preëmptive justice) for Beach’s death. […]
Three months later, another swerve: Alex again called 911, telling the dispatcher that he’d been shot in the head by a stranger while changing a flat tire on his car. His story seemed to confirm the existence of a wrathful nemesis stalking the family. But a passerby who also called 911 reported that the scene looked like a “setup,” and Alex’s story quickly unravelled. While the fabrication was falling apart, the Murdaughs’ law firm—known by the unfortunate acronym pmped—disclosed that he had been pushed out of the firm a day before the incident, for allegedly misappropriating funds. […] [snipped details of the claimed opioid addiction … way too much money was stolen to be accounted for simply by buying drugs]
Alex was in rehab, full of remorse and asking for prayers. And he’d revised his account of the roadside incident: he claimed that, overwhelmed by the loss of his wife and son, he’d persuaded a distant cousin who did odd jobs for him, Curtis (Eddie) Smith, to shoot him dead and make it look like murder, so that his surviving son, Buster, could collect on a ten-million-dollar life-insurance policy. Cousin Eddie had botched the job.
Alex and Eddie were promptly charged with attempted insurance fraud. But the picture soon blurred again. […] Eddie was denying everything. “If I’d a shot him, he’d be dead,” he told reporters.
[…] a county employee explained to me that some locals were too afraid of Alex to talk openly.
By now, Alex’s lawyers had confirmed that their client was indeed a person of interest in the killing of his wife and son. […]
More jolting swerves followed the murder of Paul and Maggie, as the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division announced that it was examining two more fatalities potentially connected to the Murdaughs.
The first, from 2015, involved a young nursing student, Stephen Smith, who had been found dead in the middle of a road near Hampton, with a serious head injury. Superficial appearances suggested that he’d run out of gas, begun walking home, and been accidentally hit by a vehicle. But none of the usual evidence of a hit-and-run had been found. “I saw no vehicle debris, skid marks, or injuries consistent with someone being struck by a vehicle,” a highway-patrol officer at the scene reported.
Days after the killing, Smith’s mother told the police she’d heard that Paul and Buster Murdaugh were behind it. Officers investigated the tip, and the possibility of a hate crime emerged: Smith was gay, and his name was linked with Buster’s in the gossip mill of former high-school classmates. […] But before the officers could track the rumor to its source, the pathologist in the case described Smith’s death as the result of being struck by a motor vehicle—contradicting the opinions of the county coroner and at least one highway-patrol investigator. No Murdaughs were ever questioned.
The second fatality involved Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaughs’ housekeeper for twenty-four years. In 2018, she died after apparently tripping on the steps outside the house at Moselle. In 2022, investigators obtained permission to exhume her body. Authorities have yet to reveal any evidence of foul play in the deaths of Smith or Satterfield. But a long-concealed insurance matter arising from Satterfield’s death provided the public with a major revelation: Alex’s alleged financial crimes had extended far beyond misappropriating office funds. Moreover, it appeared that some significant members of the Lowcountry’s business and legal community had facilitated his deceptions for years.
[…] More than half a million dollars had evidently been awarded to her two sons, Tony and Brian. Tony read Matney’s [a local reporter’s] article and was shocked: neither he nor Brian had been told of the settlement. All they knew was that after their mother’s death, the previous year, Alex had approached the family with a generous-seeming proposition: he would help them sue him over their mother’s death, in order to collect a large sum from his insurance. (He had a homeowner’s policy with Lloyd’s.) To that end, he’d recommended a lawyer named Cory Fleming. He didn’t tell them that Fleming was his close friend.
Eric Bland, a malpractice attorney whom the Satterfield brothers hired after learning of the settlement, talked me through the cold-blooded scheme behind the scheme. In the fall of 2018, Cory Fleming learned that Lloyd’s would pay out in full on Alex’s policy. The law required Fleming to inform the personal representative of the Satterfield estate about the settlement. At the time, the personal representative was Tony. But, for the plot to work, Tony had to be replaced by someone in Alex’s pocket. Alex and Cory Fleming told him that the case was getting complicated, and that he should let a professional banker become the representative. Needless to say, they had a name to suggest.
Much more at the link, including details demonstrating that Alex used a corrupt banker to steal insurance money from Tony and Brian, the Murdaugh’s housekeepers sons. There are also facts showing that Alex had a habit of mishandling other large insurance settlements. That was one of his go-to scams for making money. Alex was aided in these scams by a panoply of local dunderheads who propped up what amounted to a caste system with a few rich white men at the top of the pyramid.
The saddest part about the war is that this is a war that should have never happened. So now it happened. Now you have to get people in a room, you have to knock heads, and get it done. That would mean saying things to Putin and saying things to Zelenskyy that they’re not going to want to hear, and getting them into a room, and getting it done.
JFC.
Commentary:
[…] In Trump’s mind, he can simply “knock heads” and resolve seemingly impossible crises. If that were true, his presidency wouldn’t have been such a failure.
World landmarks were lit up in the colors of Ukraine’s national flag as people across the globe threw their support behind the country Friday on the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower and Sydney Opera House gleamed in yellow and blue in solemn remembrance of the outbreak of the war on Feb. 24, 2022. […]
One of the hallmarks — if not the most significant hallmarks — of the QAnon movement has been randomly accusing all kinds of people of being pedophiles. And not just pedophiles, mind you! Cannibalistic, Satanic pedophiles who drain children of their “adrenochrome” in order to get high. […]
But twist! QAnon Lady Deborah Sullivan — who calls herself The Meme Queen even though there is a much better known QAnon Lady who also calls herself The Meme Queen — has a son, Michael Aaron Wall, who was just found guilty on two counts of child sexual abuse. She claims he is innocent and is asking both Donald Trump and QAnon Guy The Praying Medic to help her get him out.
On Truth Social she wrote:
[…] Even though I’ve helped fight many years, to help drain the swamp, creating 4500 memes, to assist, I still believed a jury couldn’t convict with zero evidence. But I didn’t account for a crooked DA.
This case is in Canadian County Oklahoma.
Respectfully Sir, Q said our families would be safe. My son is not. And neither are his sons or any other innocent man or woman, for that matter.I know there’s no one that understands, wrongful accusations, better than you. And you’re one of the few people, on the planet that I trust. […]
Yes, surely the deep state is conspiring to stop her from telling the truth by falsely convicting her son of child molestation. Because they are frightened of her 4,500 memes. Like this one that she posted to Telegram of Vladimir Putin holding a tiny sign that says “Save The Children,” with accompanying text reading “The number of people, I TRUST these days, is a very very small one. But, if you’re AGAINST the Biden Crime Family, the Cabal, Satanic Pedophiles and Child Sex Trafficking? Then, we’re on the same TEAM. Remember, there are only TWO.” [Laughably poorly photoshopped image is available at the link]
So, just to be clear, Sullivan is accusing people of some pretty serious crimes without any evidence at all other than her personal belief, and is currently mad that her son has been convicted of a serious crime that actually includes a complaining witness.
While Sullivan does not say what, exactly, her son is accused of, court documents obtained by VICE show that Wall’s crime was raping his 12-year-old daughter over a period of three years. [snipped details, which are available at the link]
[…] The thing is, these people imagine they and Donald Trump are heroically fighting some all-powerful Satanic child-molesting cabal, when the truth is that actual sexual assault, child sexual abuse and even child trafficking are so much more banal than that. Those who commit these crimes are far more likely to be friends, family members, pastors and priests than some mysterious “elites.” They’re not doing occult rituals in capes […] or talking about pizza or doing any other kind of symbolism. And the fact is, the reality is a lot scarier. […]
House Democrats are up in arms after a GOP lawmaker suggested Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), the nation’s first Chinese American congresswoman, is disloyal to the United States.
Rep. Lance Gooden, a third-term Texas Republican, suggested this week that Chu should be denied access to sensitive classified materials — and investigated — after she defended Dominic Ng, President Biden’s selection to lead U.S. trade interests in Asia, from accusations that Ng is working on behalf of communist leaders in Beijing.
“I question her either loyalty or competence,” Gooden told Fox News on Wednesday. “If she doesn’t realize what’s going on then she’s totally out of touch with one of her core constituencies.”
Chu issued a statement Thursday calling Gooden’s remarks “racist,” and her Democratic allies in the House are now rushing to Chu’s defense and demanding an apology from Gooden.
“At a time when anti-Asian hate continues to threaten communities, it’s critical that we condemn these racist and xenophobic attacks immediately and hold our fellow colleagues accountable to rid our politics of such dangerous statements and hatred,” Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), head of the Democrats’ campaign arm, said Friday in a statement.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) also blasted Gooden, suggesting the Texas Republican was disloyal himself for siding with the majority of House Republicans who had voted in 2021 to overturn the presidential election results in favor of President Trump.
“Lance Gooden’s slanderous accusation of disloyalty against Rep. Chu is dangerous, unconscionable and xenophobic,” Jeffries said Thursday in a statement. “Congressman Gooden appears to sympathize with violent insurrectionists and spreads big lies to the American people, having voted not to certify the election of President Joe Biden. Look in the mirror, Lance. You have zero credibility.”
Gooden quickly responded by doubling down and accusing both Jeffries and Chu of disloyalty.
“Rather than following facts that indicate the presence of Chinese espionage, Chu and Jeffries are playing the race card in a sick display of disloyalty to our nation,” Gooden said in an email. […]
ravensays
Rep. Lance Gooden, a third-term Texas Republican, suggested this week that Chu should be denied access to sensitive classified materials — and investigated — after she defended Dominic Ng, President Biden’s selection to lead U.S. trade..
Yeah, this is pure racism from some Texas white guy.
The sole evidence that Judy Chu is a Chinese spy is that…her name is Judy Chu.
She is a second and third generation American born in Los Angeles.
Wikipedia:
Early life
Chu was born in 1953 in Los Angeles. Her father, Judson Chu, was a Chinese American World War II veteran born in California, and her mother, May, was a war bride originally from Jiangmen, Guangdong.[6] Chu grew up in South Los Angeles, near 62nd Street and Normandie Avenue, until her early teen years, when the family moved to the Bay Area.[7][8]
ravensays
I’d never heard of Dominic Ng.
He has a WIkipedia page.
Dominic Ng is a banker with a notable career which includes being on the board of the Federal Reserve bank.
The only evidence that he is a Chinese spy is that his name is Dominic Ng.
If you compare Texas Rep. Lance Gooden to either Judy Chu or Dominic Ng, they are by far more educated and accomplished than he is.
Wikipedia:
Dominic Ng (simplified Chinese: 吴建民; traditional Chinese: 吳建民; pinyin: Wú Jiànmín) is an American banker who is Chairman, President and CEO of East West Bank in California.
Ng transformed East West Bank from a small savings and loan association with $600 million in assets, in 1991, into the full-service commercial bank with total assets of $62.6 billion as of September 30, 2022.[1]
Early life and education
In 1959, Ng was born in Hong Kong.[2]
Ng holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston, an honorary doctor of law degree from Occidental College[3] and an honorary fellowship from Lingnan University in Hong Kong.[4][5]
and
From 2005 to 2011, he served on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Los Angeles Branch.[11] Dominic Ng’s previous board service also includes the Asia Society,[12] Los Angeles Mayor’s Trade Advisory Council,[13] United Way of Greater Los Angeles,[14] PacifiCare Health Systems[15] (formerly NYSE: PHS), Town Hall Los Angeles, The Anderson School at UCLA,[16] and California State Treasurer’s Financial Institutions Advisory Committee (chair), among other organizations.
In 2019, Ng became a board member of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.[17]
The end of 2021 closed out a very busy year for the actors at the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater in Mariupol. As celebrated by the city’s tourism site, the theater building, constructed from blocks of stone quarried in Crimea and decorated with neoclassical arches and sculptures, had just celebrated its 60th anniversary. Audiences that year had enjoyed plays by Russian playwrights Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov, but also by French author Molière and by some guy named William Shakespeare.
In addition to plays, the building was the venue for rock concerts, art shows, folk music productions, student works, and classical music performances. It played a role in many festivals, but then, Mariupol is the city of festivals. It’s right there on their tourism page. A page you can still access today.
That page will tell you everything you need to know to prepare for your visit to the beautiful city of Mariupol. It features a seemingly endless list of lovely parks, intriguing museums, art galleries, ancient churches, and of course, sandy beaches featuring the warmest waters in Ukraine. It’s filled with unique local restaurants serving an incredible variety of cuisine, and with places to stay that will immerse you in “Ukraine’s grand capital of culture.” [Tweet and video at the link]
Just over two hours drive to the north, the city of Bakhmut also welcomed visitors to tour its historic and labyrinthine mines for rock salt. When guests returned to the sunlight, they could sit down for a glass of sparkling wine at the Artemivsk Plant, enjoying wine produced from locally grown grapes where the high levels of gypsum in the soil were thought to produce a unique flavor.
While in the city, visitors to Bakhmut could also stop by one of the oldest churches in Ukraine: the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, a saint known for his gentle demeanor, for halting the execution of men condemned to death, and for shaming officials who ordered such executions. There are two bell towers on the church, an older one ordered up by a Russian ruler and a newer one built by local donations.
The city is also home to what might be the best local museum, or at least the one with the best name: the Bakhmut Museum of Local Lore, with 30,000 exhibits ranging from ancient pottery to new paintings created by local artists, all of it dedicated to a unique city by a populace deeply proud of their home’s long and complex history. [Tweet and images at the link]
In the capitol in Kyiv, the first week of December 2021 wasn’t exactly festive. Sure, there were a lot of people in the streets, and there were a lot of Ukrainian flags flying. However, those people were out in in thousands to protest the government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian president had suggested in the previous month that Ukraine might conduct direct negotiations with Russia over the status of Crimea and the occupied portions of Luhansk and Donetsk. For many Ukrainians, this was a sign that Zelenskyy was going to be too soft on Russia, and that he was considering giving away parts of their country at the stoke of a pen. So they did what people in democratic countries do: They protested.
Still, as the end of the year approached, more attention was focused on the coming holiday and the year ahead. Parents searched for last-minute Christmas gifts along busy streets. Christmas fairs offered up local crafts alongside factory made goods. Children went sledding and ice skating in local parks. And at the heart of the city, traditions went on, just as they had year after year. [Images at the link]
At the end of the year, Russian forces were gathering around Ukraine in the east and in Belarus to the north. The United States was warning the government in Kyiv that even though Russia had staged many such buildups in the past only to withdraw forces after getting a moment of attention on the world stage, this was different. American satellites could see that Russia was bringing in the supplies it would need for sustained combat and ordering its forces for invasion. This wasn’t just another false alarm.
Still, most people in Kyiv ended 2021 under the assumption that 2022 was going to be a good year. A year of growth and improvement for Ukraine.
FEBRUARY
When the war came, it came exactly on schedule and exactly as expected. Russian forces moved out from the border between Kharkiv and Belgorod, from the already occupied regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, and up from occupied Crimea. In a single day, the story of the war seemed to be everywhere.
There was that long convoy—20 kilometers? 40?—pressing down from Belarus and capturing the corrupted “red forest” around the wreck of Chernobyl. There was the desperate effort to dislodge Russian forces that had captured Gostomel Airport, and to prevent the landing of large planes carrying troops and armor straight to Kyiv—a fight that had it been lost might have ended the war almost as quickly as Vladimir Putin had expected. There was the fighting over the long Antonivsky Bridge, at Kherson with Russian forces that had pushed up from Crimea—fighting that was only decided when an official on the Ukrainian side betrayed his own forces and ordered the defenders back from the place they had held to that point, allowing Russian tanks and troops to pour across a bridge that would be absolutely critical to Russia’s ability to sustain their position west of the river. [Tweet and video at the link]
Another bridge went down, this one in Irpin right outside of Kyiv, as Russian forces closed on the Ukrainian capital. That long convoy of Russian armor had been harassed and picked off by small groups of soldiers carrying the man-portable anti-tank systems that would soon be declared unofficial “saints” of the early fighting, and the first disorganized groups of Russian vehicles that reached the suburbs of Bucha and Irpin were met with the first real armored resistance the invasion had seen. But the Russians kept coming, overwhelming places that were easily close enough to central Kyiv that the sight, sound, and smell of battle washed across the city.
MARCH
By the time the first week of the war was over, the level of destruction that Russian forces were bringing to Ukraine was already hard to comprehend. Missiles had lanced through skyscrapers in Kyiv, artillery was arching daily into Kharkiv, bombs were already pounding Mariupol. In the suburbs north and west of the capital, the first scattered Russian forces had been replaced by a longer stream of forces. Tanks driving through the streets of Bucha and Irpin blasted families fleeing in cars and sent shells into homes and businesses. As packed evacuation trains left the station in Kyiv, those who had tried to remain outside the city were desperately trying to get in, making their way over bridges that had been collapsed by bombs, weaving their way past barricades. Many did not get out at all. [Images at the link]
But even as Russian forces seemed to be everywhere and Ukrainian cities appeared to be falling by the day, something else was obvious: The Russian forces were not 7 feet tall. They were not some well-oiled murder machine, an unstoppable tide of terminators sweeping over Ukraine. Where Ukraine could muster pockets of organized resistance, Russian forces could be slowed, or even sent back in disarray. Those long convoys were shedding trucks, tanks, and APCs with rotten tires and empty fuel tanks. Military analysts kept claiming that Russia was still holding back its best, because clearly this couldn’t be it. This couldn’t be the “second most powerful army in the world” that had generated so much fear over so many years. This couldn’t be all that Russia had … could it? [video at the link]
APRIL
When the first day of the new month rolled around, the only April fool to be found was Vladimir Putin. On that day, the Ukrainian military made an announcement that followed a week of collapse and retreat by the Russian forces that had seemed so close to crushing Kyiv: “Russian military presence northwest, west, and east of Kyiv has ceased to exist.” The Battle of Kyiv was, incredibly, over.
Russia seemed better able to move in reverse than it ever had when driving forward, and Ukraine hurried them along, chasing Russian forces back out of not just Kyiv, but Sumy, Chernihiv, and along the highways to the city of Kharkiv. Every single day brought a fresh catalog of towns and villages as the Russian tide rolled back across thousands of square kilometers. [images at the link]
In the wake of that retreating tide, Russian forces left behind almost 2,000 vehicles. Some were destroyed, others were simply abandoned when they ran out of fuel or suffered some mechanical failure. Many would eventually find themselves in a Ukrainian army for which Russia remains the biggest supplier. But the other thing that was revealed as Russia retreated were incredible scenes of atrocity.
The Battle of Kyiv and the Russian occupation of northern Ukraine may have lasted only a few weeks, but in that time the horrors that Russian forces carried out seemed unlimited. In towns like Bucha and Irpin, bodies lay strewn along the street, uncollected for weeks. In many places, homes had been converted into torture chambers, and mass graves marked the locations where people who had survived Russia’s approach did not live through the days of their occupation. The end of the first great battle of the invasion revealed to the world a level of cruelty and barbarism so great that many still want to pretend it wasn’t real.
MAY
Throughout the first two months of the war, Ukrainian forces in Mariupol had conducted an incredible defense against Russian forces that had ringed that city from the opening weeks. Against overwhelming odds and a rain of both artillery and aerial bombs, those forces held a perimeter and did their best to preserve a city and its populace, even as they were being torn apart. [Photo at the link]
But by the end of April, the area that Ukrainian forces were able to hold was shrinking. The whole city had become a vast prison camp, short on food, no electricity, no water, and seemingly no escape. In spite of some genuinely astounding efforts to resupply forces in the city—including running helicopter routes right under Russia’s nose for weeks—the remaining Ukrainian forces were increasingly being forced back, and increasingly unable to save their home.
On the fourth day of the month, more than 600 children were gathered in the basement of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater. The historic theater had been selected as a bomb shelter, a place of safety in the midst of all the destruction going on across the city. Outside, large signs had been painted on the streets to indicate that children were sheltering within. Those signs were made to be read by planes passing overhead. A Russian pilot saw those signs … and bombed the theater.
JUNE
As many expected, spring in Ukraine had seen the return of a familiar opponent on the battlefield: General Mud. As rains spread from Kharkiv to Kherson, Ukrainian forces spent much of May and early June engaged in small offensives. There was a race for the last intact bridge over the Siverskyi Donets river above Kharkiv with hopes that Ukraine might be able to interfere with the big Russian supply depots at Vovchansk. There was an offensive northwest of Kherson that saw Ukrainian forces slip in below a town named Davydiv Brid.
But in other areas it was Russia on the offense. In the last week of May, the town of Popasna—reduced to the point where not a single building still remained to shelter defensive forces—was finally overrun by Russian troops. That began a series of movements west and north, with Russia capturing small towns and villages in the Donbas. In the middle of the month, we were forced to say this:
There’s no way around it. In spite of taking heavy losses. In spite of an artillery exchange that at the moment seems to seriously favor Ukraine. In spite of bad organization, bad logistics, bad leadership, bad training, and bad maintenance … Russia is still putting enough forces into place in eastern Ukraine to slowly grind their way toward the objective of capturing critical sites in Luhansk and Donetsk.
In the first weeks of June, that largely meant the battle for Severodonetsk. The fight for that city was the first great effort of Ukrainian forces to hold against Russian forces pressing in from three sides. For more than three incredible weeks, the fighting there was so overwhelming that it seemed impossible it could continue a moment later. But it did. Until June 25, when the last Ukrainian forces hurried to escape across a makeshift bridge, leaving the broken remains of Severodonetsk to Russia.
JULY
As summer came on, Russia seemed to have regained its footing. It wasn’t taking Ukraine with the kind of blitzkrieg Putin had expected—neither its forces nor its leadership were up to any kind of large coordinated effort. But the pattern of pushing artillery forward to pound the next target into dust while advancing small knots of infantry under the cover of that fire proved to be sufficient to take town after town. Lysychansk, which looked to be the next Ukrainian stronghold after Severodonetsk, held out for not even a week.
And another name was becoming a bigger factor in Russia’s slow advance across Donetsk oblast. [Wagner unit tweet]
By the end of June, Russian forces that had pressed through Popasna had advanced far enough that they began to shell their next big target: a city called Bakhmut. As Russian troops massed east of that location for a predicted big advance, the Wagner Group mercenaries appeared to take charge of the effort.
Meanwhile, across the Dnipro River, Ukrainian forces stepped up the tempo in Kherson. Fighting was going on around towns like Snihurivka and Zolota Balka, but more importantly a new word had entered the vocabulary of the war. That was because on July 11, a newly arrived HIMARS system reached across the river to spectacularly explode a Russian ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka. It was absolutely a sign of things to come. [HIMARS image at the link]
AUGUST
By the middle of August, things were beginning to turn again. The same tactics that allowed Russia to begin advancing again in the east following the rout in northern Ukraine turned out to have their own weakness. Given a supply of M777 and other comparable artillery, Ukraine didn’t have to just retreat before the press of Russia’s big guns. In fact, the precision of the new weapons allowed Ukraine to reach behind Russian lines and take out supply depots and massed forces before they could be deployed at the front. “Large artillery depot explodes” became a daily event … until Russia learned to move back those ammo supplies.
That included Ukraine firing back into Russian bases near the town of Belgorod, across the border from Kharkiv. [Video of ammunitions warehouse burning and detonating]
Across the east, the lines of battle had become more static. Russia was already pounding on Bakhmut, but efforts to extend the fighting south from Russian-occupied Izyum failed again and again. So did efforts to close the “pocket” of Ukrainian control in the east. Even Putin’s greatly reduced goal of capturing all of Donetsk seemed to be spinning its treads.
As Ukraine demonstrated an ability to hit targets from Crimea to Russia, there was only one question on the mind of Russian forces and Russian military bloggers: “What is air defense doing?”
SEPTEMBER
At the end of August, daily updates were heavily focused on Ukraine’s bridgehead across the Inhulets River in Kherson and the capture of a few small villages southwest of Davydiv Brid. That was still the case on Sept. 6, when reports of a Ukrainian breakthrough near the town of Balakliya in Kharkiv Oblast were just one in a list of Good News! reports for the day. Sure, Ukrainian forces had taken a small village, but then, villages were being exchanged almost every day. On that same day, Ukraine had taken villages in Kherson, made a counterattack into Zaporizhzhia, and captured two locations in the northern part of Kharkiv. Balakliya seemed like one bullet point on a long list (and in fact, that’s exactly that it was in that morning update). [photo at the link]
Only by the end of that day, it was clear that something different was happening in Kharkiv. Ukrainian forces weren’t just moving, they were going pedal to the metal across Kharkiv Oblast, tearing past Russian defensive positions and ripping into the supply lines that sustained the whole salient that reached out of Luhansk Oblast and down to Izyum. It took two days for Ukrainian forces to push all the way across Kharkiv Oblast to Kupyansk. It took one day more before Russian forces were in full flight everywhere in Kharkiv, leaving behind their gear, scattered groups of soldiers who would be picked up as prisoners, and Ukrainian cities suddenly liberated after months of occupation. [Photo at the link]
If there has been a more feel-good moment in any conflict than watching people run into the streets to greet Ukrainian liberators—some of them on hand to free their own home towns—that archive has not yet surfaced.
The most incredible thing about Ukraine’s Kharkiv counteroffensive was how long they were able to sustain it. By Sept. 23, Ukrainian forces had made bridgeheads across the Oskil River in three different places and were continuing to press Russian forces that were trying to reform a new line of defense. Early on in this advance, it seemed like Lyman would be swiftly added to the list of cities liberated in a counteroffensive that had already freed over 10,000 square kilometers. But in the last five days of September, busses in the area began to unload thousands of fresh Russian forces—the first of the conscripts called up by Putin’s “partial mobilization.” They were poorly trained, poorly led, and poorly armed, but they were present in large numbers. Bolstered by those new troops and by forces that had retreated from the area around Izyum, Russia created a new defensive line around Lyman.
OCTOBER
Ukraine’s lightning movement across Kharkiv turned into a careful day-by-day advance, liberating small villages, dealing with the return of General Mud, and gradually encircling Lyman while forces to the south kept up a drumbeat of probing assaults. It wasn’t until the first of October that Ukrainian forces actually entered Lyman. When that was done, they successfully drove east out of that city and in the next days all the various bridgeheads across the Oskil River were connected as Ukraine cleaned up locations and reconnected its forces on the east side of that river.
The next goals were in sight: Take Svatove and Kreminna, then move east to Staroblisk and south to Severodonetsk. But General Mud and masses of Russian forces were ahead and the once-concentrated Ukraine forces in Kharkiv were spread out over a long front. Even as the conflict in the north was pressing into Luhansk, it was coming to a standstill, and to the south human wave attacks were leaving literal piles of bodies in the streets of Bakhmut. The bright days of September seemed to be getting buried under the mud of October.
But back on Aug. 26, Ukraine had taken an action that would soon trigger another massive victory. That was the day it first used HIMARS to strike the Antonovsky Bridge leading across the Dnipro River at Kherson. More attacks followed, both on this bridge and on the bridge across the Kakhovka Dam to the north. Russian attempts to build a new bridge were regularly taken out as fast as they could be put up. Russian forces were being forced to supply their troops west of the Dnipro with barges, and even those were subject to being hit by precision rocket strikes or pesky drones. [Tweet and video at the link]
In the first week of October, Ukraine began a press from the north of the Russian-occupied area west of the river. Towns that had long acted as “hard points” in the Russian line collapsed under the renewed pressure, and for the next week Ukrainian forces literally strolled over much of the area, often with little to no resistance. But even as Russian authorities were announcing a general evacuation of the area and those who had assisted Russian forces in Kherson, Russia appeared to be digging in, refusing to give up the city of Kherson and the surrounding towns.
NOVEMBER
At the end of October, there were numerous reports that Russian forces were looting their way across southern Kherson and that many of them were leaving on the chains of barges moving across the river. Ukrainian forces might have pressed the attack at this point, and there were several heavy exchanges as Ukraine probed at Russian positions in the south.
But for the most part, Ukraine seemed content to wait and trust that the strategy of cutting Russia’s supply lines would continue to do the job. And it did.
On Nov. 9, Russia announced that it was withdrawing its forces from the area west of the Dnipro. At that point, it became a question of whether Russia would be allowed to withdraw intact, or whether Ukrainian forces would pursue them in an effort to capture both men and materiel that would be denied to Russia in the future. The answer turned out to be a little of both. Ukraine did harass units in villages north and south of Kherson city but, sensitive to the idea of firing into the city, largely let Russian forces simply load onto barges and go. [Tweet and video at the link: (A Ukrainian soldier returns to his own home in Kherson and finds his grandmother)]
And maybe there are scenes even better than those from the counteroffensive in Kharkiv. [Tweet and video at the link]
DECEMBER
With the city of Kherson liberated and the counteroffensive in Kharkiv caught in the mud west of Svatove and Kreminna, much of the attention in Ukraine returned to the east and to the incredible long-running combat around Bakhmut.
But even as the forces there were fending off endless wave attacks from Wagner’s prison “recruits,” other areas of Ukraine were seeing a much more pleasant end of the year. In Bucha and Irpin, burned out Russian armor was dragged off the streets, temporary bridges opened to restore connections to Kyiv, and an incredible number of shops, restaurants, and stores reopened—in spite of shortages of power and large areas of unrepaired damage.
By the second week of December, reports were pouring in that the situation in Bakhmut was “critical,” with some reports that Ukrainian forces were fleeing the city. Except they didn’t. [Photo of Zelenskyy in Bakhmut, Dec. 20, 2022.]
Two weeks after Russia first claimed that Bakhmut had been totally destroyed and that Ukraine had abandoned the location, Zelenskyy came to the city to thank the defenders. Bakhmut stood then. It still stands today.
JANUARY
All through October and November, as Ukrainian forces wallowed in the mud along the western edge of Luhansk, everyone waited for the cold weather to set in so that vehicles wouldn’t be restricted to trying to move along roads. Only the cold weather failed to appear. Across Europe, the winter of 2022-2023 brought record high temperatures, and along the front lines in Ukraine, there was never the long period of consistent cold weather that would turn fields into tank highways.
For Ukraine’s efforts to capture Kreminna and Svatove, this was a frustration. Meanwhile, Russia continued to attack Bakhmut.
But the mud that slowed Ukraine at the end of its Kharkiv counteroffensive also served to gum up the works when Putin pressed Russian forces to try and turn the tables in January. That meant that Russian forces trying to move west from Kreminna found themselves swimming in the same sea of gunk that had made it nearly impossible for Ukraine to approach along the same route. Russia was able to make advances near Bakhmut, but these were mostly restricted to waves of raw infantry, with little armored support, advancing through the method of simply not giving a damn about thousands of casualties.
However, in the south, Russia did try to make a big armored advance. They chose a location near the town of Vuhledar, but they had no choice but to line up their tanks along the single road into the town. Then they gave a great demonstration of why Ukraine never tried to push such an attack. [Tweet and video at the link]
FEBRUARY
Obviously, this review of the last 12 months barely touches on events in Ukraine. Enough has happened in every month—in every week—to fill books. Those books will get written. There will be tomes about Russia’s disastrous attempt to build a bridge at Bilohorivka, military textbooks looking at the tactics employed in both Kharkiv and Kherson, and endless discussion of the intelligence failures that led to Russia’s amazing series of initial mistakes.
It’s not just the battles at Bakhmut, Severodonetsk, and Mariupol that are bound to become feature films. Every town and village has its own story. They all deserve to be told.
Unfortunately, it’s not just Bucha and Irpin that revealed atrocities in the wake of Russian departures. The mass graves, torture chambers, and discarded bodies found there were just a preview of horrors found all across Ukraine. And along the way, tens of thousands of Ukrainians were forced into labor camps in Russia while thousands of their children have been kidnapped.
This has been just the lightest gloss over a year of war in Ukraine. It is not possible to give what has happened there justice in even an article of this length. The best way to give them justice is to see that this war ends quickly. We never have to do such a compilation again. [Photo of Mariupol]
A coalition of state attorneys general is suing the Food and Drug Administration, accusing the agency of excessively regulating the abortion pill mifepristone.
Mifepristone was approved more than 20 years ago to induce first-trimester abortions in combination with a second drug, misoprostol. The lawsuit (full text), filed in federal court in Washington state by a dozen Democratic state attorneys general, asks the FDA to lift additional layers of regulation above and beyond those for typical prescription drugs.
It accuses the FDA “singling out mifepristone…for a unique set of restrictions,” and asks the court to declare the drug to be safe and effective, and invalidate the additional regulation, known as a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy or REMS.
In an interview with NPR, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who co-led the suit, noted that the REMS has been applied only to a few dozen high-risk prescription drugs — such as fentanyl and other opioids.
Regarding mifepristone, “what we’re asking the court to do is remove those restrictions and make access to this important medication more available to women across the country,” Ferguson says.
Since it was approved in 2000, mifepristone has been the subject of heated political debate surrounding abortion. For years, reproductive rights advocates and major medical groups have pushed for removing the REMS. In recent years, the Biden administration has loosened some requirements, allowing the drug to be delivered by mail and making it easier for major pharmacies to eventually dispense the drug. But prescribers are still subject to additional rules such as special certification requirements.
The lawsuit comes as a federal judge in a separate case in Texas is considering whether to overturn the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug, setting up the possibility of conflicting rulings by different federal judges.
“So you’ll have two federal judges potentially looking at the future of mifepristone, whether to expand access to it or eliminate access altogether,” Ferguson says.
He says the question of how to regulate mifepristone could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Major medical groups including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association filed an amicus brief in the Texas case calling mifepristone “thoroughly studied” and “conclusively safe.”
StevoRsays
Wow! F N L ..
Singaporean man sues woman for $3.24 million after she declined to turn friendship into romance
… A Singaporean women’s rights group says the litigation paints “an alarming picture of male sexual and romantic entitlement” even after a woman has communicated her discomfort and lack of interest.
“Women do not owe men their time or attention, much less their friendship, love, sexual activity or emotional labour,” Aware Singapore said in a recent statement.
“Concepts such as the ‘friendzone’ — which implies that women should by default be sexually attracted to the men in their lives — are part of this spectrum of male entitlement.
“We need to dismantle toxic masculinity and the patriarchal mindsets that underpin this behaviour.”
At a time when almost all software contains open source code, at least one known open source vulnerability was detected in 84% of all commercial and proprietary code bases examined by researchers at application security company Synopsys.
In addition, 48% of all code bases analyzed by Synopsys researchers contained high-risk vulnerabilities, which are those that have been actively exploited, already have documented proof-of-concept exploits, or are classified as remote code execution vulnerabilities…
What I’ve said many times.
We in the West are spending money, and not even all that much for what we are getting from Ukraine. Containment of Russia, the current number one threat to the world and destruction of the Russian army. Money comes and goes and is replaceable each budget cycle.
The Ukrainians are spending the blood and lives of their children and at high levels at that. Estimates are up to 100,000 dead soldiers.
These aren’t replaceable at all. Each death wrecks a family somewhere forever.
“The strategy before this invasion was appeasement: let us give him [Putin] something so that he would not do anything stupid. But it never worked,” she said.
Lithuania’s prime minister states the obvious.
We tried appeasement, ignoring Putin’s invasions of Georgia and Crimea and look how well that worked.
It is time to grow a backbone and stop Russia before the other SSRs get taken over.
Lithuania’s prime minister says Ukrainians should get all the weapons they want because they are dying for Europe’s safety: ‘We’re just losing some money’
SINÉAD BAKERFEB 24, 2023, 18:55 IST
Lithuania’s prime minister says Ukrainians should get all the weapons they want because they are dying for Europe’s safety: ‘We’re just losing some money’
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and her Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal visit the Ukrainian town of Borodianka in April 2022.Ukrainian Governmental Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
Ukrainians are dying to help protect European security, Lithuania’s prime minister told Insider.
That’s why Ukraine should get the weapons it needs, including offensive weapons, she said.
Ukraine’s allies should support Ukraine with whatever weapons it needs because Ukrainians are dying to protect Europe from Russia, Lithuania’s prime minister said in an interview with Insider.
Ingrida Šimonytė spoke to Insider on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
She described Russia as a threat to Europe, and said Ukrainians are dying to protect the continent’s security and should be given advanced offensive weaponry.
“We are not losing people. We’re just losing some money. I say we are losing, [but] I think we are investing in a way, investing into our security,” she said.
“The least thing we can do is to support Ukraine with anything it needs,” she added.
Lithuania’s prime minister says Ukrainians should get all the weapons they want because they are dying for Europe’s safety: ‘We’re just losing some money’
Lithuania has been among Ukraine’s strongest backers, and has advocated for giving the country advanced weapons, striking a much less cautious tone than many of its other allies.
Lithuania was sending Ukraine weapons even before Russia’s invasion began last February, at a time when Ukraine was fighting Russian-backed separatists in its east.
Šimonytė said supporting Ukraine is an obvious human reaction, but also one that protects her country and Europe.
“It’s sort of a cliche to say that Ukrainians are fighting this war for all of us,” she added.
But “it is a very practical thing because President Zelenskyy actually says that bluntly: that if you want to stop Russia at the borders of Ukraine, you better provide Ukraine with all the weapons that Ukrainian army needs, because otherwise there might be no end to the war in Europe for a very significant period of time,” she told Insider.
Lithuania, like its neighbors Latvia and Estonia, was once part of the Soviet Union, but is now a member of NATO and the EU.
All three countries warned of the growing risk from Russia before its invasion of Ukraine started, and have boosted their own defenses since, believing Russia could turn to other European countries if it wins in Ukraine.
While Ukraine’s other backers have given more offensive weapons to Ukraine as the war progressed, Lithuania is urging them to send still more, including granting Ukraine’s request for fighter jets.
Šimonytė said that the time taken for countries to debate whether to send such weapons “costs people lives.”
She also stressed that arguments for only giving Ukraine defensive weapons don’t make sense, because Ukraine can’t push Russia out if it doesn’t have the ability to attack.
“How can you push back the Russian army from the territory of Ukraine, which we all know should happen, if you do not have heavy weapons?”
In fact, she said the invasion proves the Western strategy for dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent years — during which time his country attacked Georgia in 2008 and invaded eastern Ukraine and annexed the Crimea region — hasn’t worked.
“The strategy before this invasion was appeasement: let us give him [Putin] something so that he would not do anything stupid. But it never worked,” she said.
She added: “I think for the democratic leaders, there are no illusions anymore that you somehow can turn a blind eye on what is happening in Russia, because the signs of this coming should have been seen for a very long period.”
ravensays
Liveuamap @Liveuamap
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Russian oil tycoon, co-founder of Urals Energy N.V. and Nafta (B) N.V. and former general director of Interregional fuels union, 59y.o. Vyacheslav Rovneyko was found dead at his residence in Odintsovo of Moscow region
Another oil Russian billionaire dead.
That is the second one this week.
I’d wonder what he did but why bother.
Probably nothing lately. It was just useful for people with more power than him that he end up dead.
I’m guessing when these guys die, their assets get taken over by the Russian state. And, who is going to stop them? The other oligarches would rather go to his funeral than go to their own.
Of necessity, I’ve ended up looking at the cutures of both Ukraine and Russia while following the Russian invasion.
Ukraine has a very deep and complicated culture that looks interesting and humane. Among other things, they seem to have a thing for dogs and cats. It is also adaptable and changing rapidly as they move towards the West and away from…their former imperial warlords, Russia.
Russia’s culture almost doesn’t exist.
What they do have isn’t anything I would want to visit much less live with.
It’s cruel, brutal, and dysfunctional
To take one example, they recently legalized domestic violence because it was so common and so embedded in their culture that no one wanted to prosecute it.
Here is the Russian government’s attitude towards their citizens.
Human life is cheap and you can die any time it is useful for the rulers.
OPINION Russia’s cult of death
BY ALEXANDER J. MOTYL, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR – 02/21/23 7:00 AM ET
Russia appears to be in love with war and death. “War is victory, war is a friend, war is love” is how one Russian official, a middle-aged woman who could be a mother or grandmother, recently put it to an audience consisting of young boys and girls.
Last May, school children, tots really, were dressed up as tanks and fighter planes in celebration of Victory Day, which commemorates the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany.
Russian Orthodox clergy routinely bless tanks and encourage Russian soldiers to defend Mother Russia with their lives. A holy picture, issued by the Bryansk Eparchy, informed them last year that “Your task [is] to wipe the Ukrainian nation from the face of the earth.”
In June 2022, the director of the world-famous Hermitage Museum termed its exhibits abroad as “our special operation,” explicitly referencing Vladimir Putin’s euphemism for the war against Ukraine (a “special military operation”). As if that weren’t enough, he went on to call these exhibits “a great cultural offensive.”
In early 2023, the Russian propagandist and popular television talk-show host Vladimir Solovyov matter-of-factly informed viewers that “Life is highly overrated.” His two guests nodded in agreement, adding that Russians used to live from day to day, but now they have “nonmaterial dreams” and “lofty goals” — namely, war. Besides, intoned Solovyov, who has pointedly refrained from offering his services on the front, “Why fear what is inevitable? Especially when we’re going to heaven. Death is the end of one earthly path and the beginning of another.”
What’s going on? Why this obsession with war and death?
For starters, keep in mind that the Russian army has suffered at least 200,000 dead and wounded, according to Western estimates, and over 140,000 dead alone, according to the Ukrainian General Staff’s estimates. (The two numbers aren’t necessarily incompatible, as there are numerous reports of Russian soldiers leaving their wounded comrades on the battlefield to die. That would “artificially” inflate the number of dead and reduce the number of wounded.) Whatever the exact figure, it’s staggering, especially in light of the fact that the Soviet Union lost 13,310 soldiers in nine years of war in Afghanistan. At the current rate, Russia will have lost about 275,000 soldiers by the end of 2023.
Given these numbers, it’s no surprise that Russian officialdom is making a virtue of necessity and glorifying war and death. As Solovyov said, why fear death if it’s inevitable — especially for growing numbers of poorly trained and poorly equipped draftees whose role in the war is that of cannon fodder?
But there’s also a longstanding Russian tradition of employing unrestrained violence and treating its own people as expendable pawns.
Muscovy, as the Russian Empire was called until the early 18th century, expanded into Siberia by destroying the native peoples and their cultures. Imperial Russia did the same in Belarus, Ukraine, the North Caucasus, and Central Asia. The Soviet Union, Imperial Russia’s successor, established the Gulag, engineered a famine-genocide in Ukraine, and slaughtered hundreds of thousands in waves of terror.
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is thought to have overseen the bombing of several Russian apartment buildings in 1999, waged a savage war in Chechnya, and ordered the assassination of at least a score of political opponents. His genocidal war in Ukraine is only the latest manifestation of his own, and Russia’s, propensity for violence.
Official Russia’s indifference to human life evidently extends to many average Russians as well. General Mikhail Kutuzov defeated Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812 by pursuing a scorched-earth policy that made large swaths of Russia uninhabitable. The Bolsheviks slaughtered millions of Russians in the Civil War of 1918-1920. Joseph Stalin sent millions of soldiers to their deaths in poorly planned assaults on the German Wehrmacht.
Finally, there’s the nature of the regime that Putin has assiduously constructed over the past two decades. Regardless of what his regime is called, there are striking similarities between it and Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. All three were illiberal, deeply authoritarian polities that were ruled by a charismatic leader with a personality cult and war-making and empire-building agenda.
Not accidentally, all three also glorified violence and death. Only violence could destroy their political opposition, and only violence could guarantee the state’s imperial aspirations. Since war was central to their identities, all three polities logically had to glorify the soldiers and heroes who died for the cause, whether in street battles or on the front.
Most Germans continued to give their lives for the regime, even if unwillingly, until the end of World War II in 1945. The Italians proved to be rambunctious fair-weather friends of Benito Mussolini and turned against him in 1943.
Which way will Russians go?
Thus far, the question remains unanswered. Russians did protest in the early days of the war, and thousands were arrested. Draft boards continue to be fire-bombed, flowers continue to be placed in public spaces in commemoration of Ukrainian war dead, and soldiers continue to throw down their arms and desert. “Hidden resistance” appears to be widespread.
At the same time, political passivity, love of the “good tsar,” popular indifference to the costs of war, the all-pervasive Putinite propaganda, and the coercive powers of the state stand in the way of open protest.
How many hundreds of thousands of Russians must die on the front before their friends and relatives say “enough”? Putin obviously believes that Russians are cattle, and that Russia is an abattoir. It’s up to them to show him that they aren’t.
Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires and theory, he is the author of 10 books of nonfiction, as well as “Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires” and “Why Empires Reemerge: Imperial Collapse and Imperial Revival in Comparative Perspective.”
ravensays
Some points from the article, written by someone who knows far more than me about Russia.
Russian Orthodox clergy routinely bless tanks and encourage Russian soldiers to defend Mother Russia with their lives. A holy picture, issued by the Bryansk Eparchy, informed them last year that “Your task [is] to wipe the Ukrainian nation from the face of the earth.”
The Russian Orthodox church is a propaganda arm of the state.
They have endorsed the Russian genocide of Ukraine.
So much for the xian religion of peace and love.
Official Russia’s indifference to human life evidently extends to many average Russians as well. General Mikhail Kutuzov defeated Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812 by pursuing a scorched-earth policy that made large swaths of Russia uninhabitable. The Bolsheviks slaughtered millions of Russians in the Civil War of 1918-1920. Joseph Stalin sent millions of soldiers to their deaths in poorly planned assaults on the German Wehrmacht.
He forgot the Holodomor, the human made famine that killed 4 million Ukrainians in 1933, as well as millions more in Russia and Kazakhstan.
But there’s also a longstanding Russian tradition of employing unrestrained violence and treating its own people as expendable pawns.
Sums up the Russian governments from the Tsars, to the commies, to Putin’s Fascist dictatorship.
How many hundreds of thousands of Russians must die on the front before their friends and relatives say “enough”? Putin obviously believes that Russians are cattle, and that Russia is an abattoir. It’s up to them to show him that they aren’t.
Good luck with that.
The Russian people have never lived in a democracy.
They almost always just take whatever the state does to them without trying to change anything.
More than 271,000 Ukrainian refugees have been admitted to the United States since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began one year ago, according to the Department of Homeland Security, far above President Joe Biden’s stated goal of admitting 100,000.
The U.S. is markedly increasing the number of troops deployed to Taiwan, more than quadrupling the current number to bolster a training program for the island’s military amid a rising threat from China.
The death toll from the massive earthquake that hit parts of Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6 continues to rise as more bodies are retrieved from the rubble of demolished buildings. … The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria now stands at 47,244.
The World Health Organization is working with Cambodian authorities after two confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu were found among one family in the country. Describing the situation as “worrying” due to the recent rise in cases in birds and mammals, Dr Sylvie Briand, the director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters in a virtual briefing that WHO was reviewing its global risk assessment in light of the recent developments.
Sometimes, often in fact, the conspiracy theories that capture significant portions of the public seem so odd, so massively impossible, so just plain dumb, that it’s hard to fathom how they gained traction with anyone, much less became a theme that fueled people to threaten local school employees or march around in front of medical clinics.
IIf you haven’t noticed, such a theme is rapidly building on the right when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It’s a genuinely facepalm inducing claim; one that goes beyond the previous position that we shouldn’t care about what Russia is doing, or even that we should be on the side of autocratic monsters.
This new conspiracy is being pushed by some of the biggest names in social media and now in right wing broadcast media. And that claim rapidly gaining adherents on the right, is simply this: The war in Ukraine does not exist. [Tweet at the link]
I’ve blurred out the ID on this tweet and posted it as an image, because the last thing I want to do is inadvertently give that tweet some additional attention that encourages Twitter’s profoundly broken algorithm to stick it in front of still more susceptible eyeballs. However, I’ll say that the post above is from a broadcast newsman who knows people who have died covering the war in Ukraine. That didn’t stop him from promoting this claim.
You might detect, just from the tenor of the first paragraph, that this isn’t the origin story for this conspiracy theory. In fact, this is simply piling on top of tweets that are being pushed by some of the most followed accounts on the right—including accounts whose past tweets have been promoted by Elon Musk. Tweets testing the water for this theory have been circulating for months, and now accounts that have the weight of hundreds of thousands of followers—not all of whom are Russian bots—are starting to join in.
You might think that responding with some of the thousands of hours of video or millions of photographs might be enough to rightfully dismiss such ludicrous contentions, but that assumes those posting these ideas are legitimately concerned over the lack of Ukraine footage in their feed. They are not. This is just another means for Russian propagandists to undercut Western, and particularly U.S., support for Ukraine. It’s the close sibling of Marjorie Taylor Greene claiming that the assistance being sent to Ukraine is somehow a payoff for something something Hunter Biden. Or Tucker Carlson running shows about how the government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy really is loaded up with Nazis.
That’s right. According to Carlson’s pal Dore, the money going to Ukraine is being denied to “the Nazis here at home who are trying to buy eggs.” As with the “there is no war” theory, it does not have to make sense. The less sense it makes, the better. The goal is simply to forward the meme, not engage in discussion. In this, they are being successful. Just one of the tweets pushing the inane “the war doesn’t exist” theory has racked up 4.5 million views in the last day. [video at the link]
I realize that this is not a typical topic for the daily Ukraine update, which usually focuses on events in (checking notes) … Ukraine. However, it still needed to be discussed. Because those launching this are acting as tools for Russia in an effort to diminish vital Western support for Ukraine. As amazingly foolish as this seems, it’s potentially far more deadly than any T-90M tank roaming around Ukraine.
I would say those involved are unwilling tools, but no. On that point, they know exactly what they’re doing, and precisely who they serve.
One Democratic senator has a solution for the problem of the lone extremist judge in Texas who could take the option of abortion medication away from all Americans: Ignore him. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) spoke on the Senate floor recently, and made that case. Through what Wyden deems “court-washing,” Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a “lifelong right-wing activist, a partisan, an ideologue, an antiabortion zealot who was handpicked by Donald Trump and the Federalist Society to pretend to be an impartial judge on the bench,” will try to claim the power to put a national injunction on the use of mifepristone. That’s the abortion drug used in about 50% of abortions, one that has proven safe and effective for decades.
“The power of the judiciary begins and ends with its legitimacy in the eyes of the public,” Wyden said. “If that’s what the ruling would do, the answer is to ignore it, at least until there is a final ruling on the underlying matter by the Supreme Court.”
His case is a good one on the merits: the safety of the drug, the truly ridiculous lack of standing of the plaintiffs, and actual existing federal law. Wyden makes the larger case that the right-wing takeover of the courts has resulted in the erosion of the legitimacy of the courts, and increasing lawlessness on the part of those judges. The answer, he says, is “saying enough” and taking them on.
[…] Here’s the legal part of his argument: “The Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone 23 years ago. For those looking to challenge that approval, a little late. The statue of limits allows challenges to food and drug procedures for six years,” Wyden said.
“As part of an amendment of the Food and Drug Act, any drug, any drug previously approved by the agency was deemed to be in compliance with new rules governing the Food and Drug Administration,” Wyden continued. “Mifepristone is covered by that amendment made by the legislative branch. There is no reasonable argument to the contrary.”
There’s the ridiculous claim of standing claimed by the plaintiffs, shredded by Wyden. “They argue—denying science and fact—that some unknown future patient may take mifepristone, experience a highly unlikely side effect, and then somehow find their way into one of their exam rooms for treatment,” Wyden explained. “If a standing claim that ridiculous and overly broad passes muster, then I think it’s time to rip up the legal textbooks in America and start over.”
”That could mean anybody can wander into federal court and seek relief against anybody based on wild dreamed up scenarios, hypothesizing that somehow, some way somebody might be injured in the future. Legal logic be damned. The plaintiffs know that Judge Kacsmaryk is sure not going to let pesky facts get in the way of their agenda that he shares. That’s because Donald Trump and conservative activists planted him to be on that bench in the Amarillo courtroom right now.”
”To make this more frightening, if and when Kacsmaryk tosses out FDA approval, Americans can’t count on the appellate courts to step in and do what’s right, do what’s constitutional. The appeal would land at the activists Fifth Circuit court of appeals
.
“This is the same court that allowed Texas bill SB8, effectively an abortion ban to go into effect before the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs. From there any appeal would presumably head to the very same Republican majority on the Supreme Court that overturned Roe. The Roberts court doesn’t even wince at revoking constitutional rights and upending decades of precedent on legal grounds that are flimsy. […]
The harm that will result from this decision can’t be overstated. Cut off from care they need, Mr. President, women will die. While this wouldn’t be the first time a judicial decision has caused irreparable harm, this case is particularly offensive. It will come from a lawless judge, picked by the litigants with no standing to bring a case that should be barred by the statute of limits and has absolutely no merit.
The answer? “Americans and their leaders must look at circumstances like this and say enough, not ‘we’ll see what Congress might do or what the appeals court might do. […] What’s needed now is to just say enough.” He points to President Abraham Lincoln’s response to Dredd Scott. “Lincoln’s directive […] was that it’s the constitutional duty of elected officials to resist unconstitutional decisions of the courts, even the Supreme Court, if the rulings will harm the nation and its people.”
“If Judge Kacsmaryk can violate his oath, if the Fifth Circuit and Supreme Court bless such a ruling as legitimate, we are going to see an affront to the Constitution,” Wyden concluded. “As Lincoln told his fellow Americans, the Supreme Court is not the Constitution. Neither is Judge Kacsmaryk. The Constitution and the rights it affords American women are what this country must defend. I’m here to say enough—and defend it.”
This is absolutely the time and place for Democrats, especially President Biden, to start fighting what they’re up against: right-wing judicial tyranny where the deck is stacked against the American people—and unconstitutional judicial acts are the result. It’s time for the rest of the Senate Democrats to follow Wyden in going there.
VUHLEDAR
That Russia would still want to capture the town of Vuhledar is understandable. Not only does Ukrainian artillery based there have the range to reach Russian supply lines to the east, but there have been suggestions that the attacks on Russian facilities around Mariupol originated with M30-class rockets fired from M270 MLRS or HIMARS brought close to the line in the Vuhledar area.
After Russian forces in the area suffered a series of absolutely devastating defeats, the Russian military took the only possible course … by promoting the man in charge. [tweet and photo at the link]
Now Colonel-General Muradov has reportedly been sent back to Vuhledar with orders to get it done. However, what he doesn’t seem to have is any new gear or any new ideas about how to accomplish the goal of capturing Vuhledar. The UK Ministry of Defense is just one source that believes “it is unlikely Muradov has a striking force capable of achieving a breakthrough.”
They’ve tried driving armor in a slow column up a single road, ala Battle of Kyiv. They’ve tried sending waves of unprotected men across open fields, as in the Battle of Bakhmut. Only Muradov doesn’t seem to be stocked with an unlimited supply of readily disposable prison troops. He might switch to the only tactic that seems to be effective for Russia and just bombard Vuhledar for the next four, or five, or eight months. But that’s apparently not fast enough for Muradov’s bosses, and the town is already a ruin.
All of which is just a prequel to this: [Tweet and video at the link]
In the town of Vuhledar itself, Ukrainian forces are in control of the area. However, “area” is really the best way to describe it. There’s already not much left in terms of standing buildings or structures that would have supported a pre-war population of 14,000. Russia is plowing the rubble there with fresh artillery by the hour. None of that gets around the fact that to advance to Vuhledar Russia has to cross kilometers of open ground, along just one or two possible paths, and those paths are heavily mined with the mines being constantly replenished by Ukrainian artillery spraying the area with the RAAM shells that kos discussed in detail back on Feb. 13.
Russia can try to cover the area quickly, in which case it’s vehicles run into mines and are destroyed or disabled, or it can try to pick its way through carefully, in which case Ukrainian forces have time to pound them to shrapnel with precision artillery and MANPADS launched from distant lines of trees. So far, Russia seems to have no solution to this quagmire corner of the front.
On Saturday, Russian forces attempted to advance on Vuhledar again, lost numerous vehicles, the attack was once again reduced to clots of infantry running around in a minefield while artillery and drones surrounded them with blasts, and then what remained of that force retreated. [video showing recent drone footage from Vuhledar: "According to a few Americans, this is all CGI and none of this is happening."]
The only good news for Muradov seems to be that he found some troops willing to take his orders. Because on Friday, there were reports that a large number of troops were unwilling to repeat this folly.
It’s probably going to be even harder to find someone to make the next attempt. Oh, and notice how awareness of that “no one can possibly believe that!” conspiracy theory is coloring even pro-Ukrainian reporting?
BAKHMUT
The most important thing that needs to be said about the situation in Bakhmut is simply this.
Ukraine update🧵 February 24th
Bakhmut is controlled by Ukrainian troops on the 1 year day of the full scale invasion. [map at the link]
Russian Telegram channels are running video this morning that shows Ukrainian vehicles flying down a road being plagued by nearby artillery strikes (which miss). The video is accompanied by claims that Wagner Group now has “the road into Bakhmut” under artillery fire.
However, the road in the video appears to be the M03 highway on the north of the city, not the road through Khromove that has reportedly served as the main route in and out of the city for weeks. That M03 route has likely been targeted by Russian artillery since Soledar was overrun, so it’s hard to think why the claims about it would be made now—other than that Russia is looking for anything to feel good about as we move into the second year of the war.
The UK Ministry of Defense believes that Russia has simply run out of Iranian drones. [Intelligence Update at the link]
Mariupol residents who lost their homes and had to abandon everything they had, made a video from their pre-war footage. [video at the link]
Link Scroll down to view these additional updates.
This is a followup to Lynna’s #150 on the Texas religious fanatic pretending to be a judge, “A devout Christian, Matthew Kacsmaryk has been shaped by his deep antiabortion beliefs.”
This guy is bad news, appointed by Trump.
He is a rabid fundie xian religious fanatic.
The senator Wyden is right.
Are we going to let 6 unelected judges on the US Supreme Court wreck a nation of 333 million peope?
The courts have no way to enforce their decisions.
We can just ignore them by not enforcing them.
WashingtonPost
POLITICS
The Texas judge who could take down the abortion pill
A devout Christian, Matthew Kacsmaryk has been shaped by his deep antiabortion beliefs
By Caroline Kitchener and Ann E. Marimow
February 25, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EST
ABILENE, Tex. — Matthew Kacsmaryk was a 22-year-old law student when he drove to a small city in west Texas to spend a day with a baby he would probably never see again.
He was in Abilene to support his sister, who, pregnant at 17, had fled to a faraway maternity home to avoid the scorn she feared from their Christian community. But holding his nephew in his arms — then leaving the baby with adoptive parents — also solidified Kacsmaryk’s belief that every pregnancy should be treasured, his sister recalled, even those that don’t fit neatly into a family’s future plans.
Almost sixteen years later, in 2016, Kacsmaryk drove back to Abilene for his first meeting as a board member of Christian Homes and Family Services, the organization that had taken in his sister when she chose adoption over abortion.
“He’s very passionate about the fact that you can’t preach pro-life and do nothing,” said Kacsmaryk’s sister, Jennifer Griffith. “We both hold the stance of you have to do something. You can’t not.”
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Now 45 and a federal judge, Kacsmaryk (kaz-MARE-ik) has the opportunity to impose the most far-reaching limit on abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
The judge, nominated by President Trump and confirmed in 2019, will soon rule on a lawsuit seeking to revoke U.S. government approval of mifepristone, a key abortion medication. That outcome could, at least temporarily, halt over half the legal abortions carried out across the country, including in states led by Democrats where abortion rights are protected.
While many experts have said the case relies on baseless medical claims, it is Kacsmaryk’s role as presiding judge that has the abortion rights movement bracing for another crippling defeat.
The abortion pills lawsuit, which Kacsmaryk could rule on any day, is the latest in a long line of politically explosive cases to appear on the judge’s docket. In a practice known as “forum shopping,” conservative groups have zeroed in on the Amarillo division of the Northern District of Texas as a go-to place to challenge a wide range of Biden administration policies. Because Amarillo is a federal district with a single judge, plaintiffs know their arguments will be heard by Kacsmaryk — who, like any federal judge, is positioned to issue rulings with nationwide implications.
Appeals from Kacsmaryk’s district follow a path that has regularly yielded favorable outcomes for conservatives — reviewed first by the 5th Circuit, which upheld a strict Texas abortion ban long before Roe v. Wade was overturned, then ultimately by the conservative-controlled Supreme Court.
Trump’s lasting legacy on the judiciary is not just at the Supreme Court
Kacsmaryk, who ascended to the federal bench from the conservative legal group First Liberty Institute, has defended his ability to be impartial in his work as a judge. Nonetheless, many of his recent decisions have been wins for the right, including one that struck down new Biden administration protections for transgender people and another that forced thousands of asylum seekers to return to Mexico while they awaited processing.
(Kacsmaryk is also presiding over a lawsuit filed by anti-vaccine activists led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accusing several media outlets, including The Washington Post, of colluding to censor their views on coronavirus vaccines.)
The Washington Post interviewed 20 people who know Kacsmaryk — who declined to comment for this story — including his close friends, former colleagues and family members. What emerges is a portrait of a religious conservative who is widely regarded as a thorough and analytical legal thinker but who also comes to his judicial work with a long history of activism rooted in his religious beliefs. This account includes previously unreported details about the nature and strength of his antiabortion convictions.
Downtown Amarillo, Tex. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
Lawyers for the Alliance Defending Freedom, the law firm behind the abortion pills case, would not say whether Kacsmaryk’s presence impacted their decision to file in Amarillo. But other conservative lawyers say it makes sense to bring cases before Kacsmaryk, whom they describe as a “textualist” who adheres closely to the text of the law and the constitution — an interpretive approach that can lend itself to conservative outcomes on issues like abortion.
Liberal advocates accuse Kacsmaryk of making decisions based on personal ideology rather than the law.
“The evidence does not suggest he is a textualist,” said Rachel O’Leary Carmona, the executive director of the Women’s March, who lives in Amarillo and led a protest ahead of Kacsmaryk’s ruling on abortion pills. “The evidence suggests that he is an activist.”
When Kacsmaryk appeared before the Senate in 2017, he vowed to be fair.
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“As a judge, I’m no longer in the advocate role,” he said. “I’m in the role of reading and applying with all good faith whatever Supreme Court and 5th Circuit precedent is binding.”
Many close to Kacsmaryk say he would not allow his own opinions to affect his legal judgments.
“He has never struck me as someone who is out there to remake the world or to remake the law in his own way from the bench,” said Ephraim Wernick, a former federal prosecutor and Kacsmaryk’s law school classmate and friend. “I would never expect him to impose his personal beliefs on others.”
Still, Griffith, Kacsmaryk’s sister, said she is glad her brother will be the one deciding whether to ban the country’s most common form of abortion care.
“I feel like he was made for this,” said Griffith, who remains staunchly opposed to abortion. “He is exactly where he needs to be.”
When Kacsmaryk left home at age 18, he drove two-and-a-half hours from Fort Worth to Abilene Christian University — a deeply conservative campus known for its Bible major and mandatory daily chapel. He joined 3000 of his peers every day at 11 a.m. as they filed into the basketball arena, coming together in prayer and four-part harmony.
On a campus just miles away from the maternity home where his sister would a few years later seek refuge, Kacsmaryk soon became a leader of the College Republicans. He was outspoken about his conservative beliefs from the start, several friends and professors recalled.
A few months into his freshman year, he wrote a letter to the editor of the student newspaper about abortion.
“The Democratic Party’s ability to condone the federally sanctioned eradication of innocent human life is indicative of the moral ambivalence undergirding this party,” Kacsmaryk wrote, endorsing a Republican Party platform that would grant a fetus the full legal protections of a person.
Democrats, he added, had “facilitated the demise of America’s Christian heritage” and mounted a “contemptuous assault on the traditional family.”
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Faith was the “driving force and line” for Kacsmaryk growing up, said Griffith. Raised by two born-again Christians in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Kacsmaryk and his two sisters attended the West Freeway Church of Christ, part of a group of Christian churches that emphasizes the importance of biblical scripture. The West Freeway community permeated every aspect of their lives, Griffith said, their childhood schedules crowded with youth camps and ski trips with fellow church members.
The kids all learned early that abortion was wrong.
“It was known, kind of like my faith,” Griffith said.
Their mother, Dorothy, a microbiologist, was particularly passionate about antiabortion issues, Griffith said. Once she joined the Church of Christ in Fort Worth and decided to stay home with her children, Griffith said, she started questioning much of what she learned as a scientist, especially that a fetus was “just a clump of cells.” She worked with nearby crisis pregnancy centers, antiabortion organizations that try to persuade women to carry their pregnancies to term.
Kacsmaryk’s mother did not respond to a request for comment.
Students and their families move through a small bridge at an Abilene Christian University dorm. (Ronald W. Erdrich/The Abilene Reporter-News/AP)
In the fall of 2000, after Griffith gave birth, Kacsmaryk returned to law school at the University of Texas and focused his attention on the legal foundations for abortion rights. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), who attended meetings of the conservative Federalist Society in law school with Kacsmaryk, said the two would regularly talk about Roe v. Wade and what they viewed as Supreme Court overreach on abortion.
“I very clearly remember having conversations at length about how the Supreme Court had contorted itself to achieve the ends of a policy outcome the result of which was tearing asunder the fabric of our country,” said Roy, who is still friends with Kacsmaryk.
More than a decade later, Kacsmaryk would criticize Roe in an article for Public Discourse, a conservative legal journal, claiming that seven justices had “found an unwritten ‘fundamental right’ to abortion hiding in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the shadowy ‘penumbras’ of the Bill of Rights, a celestial phenomenon invisible to the non-lawyer eye.”
Through college and law school, Kacsmaryk was developing the “philosophical underpinning” for his antiabortion beliefs, said Kevin Christian, one of Kacsmaryk’s closest friends. But, he said, the issue didn’t become “real” for Kacsmaryk and his wife until 2006, when they lost their first baby at birth, a daughter they named Tyndale.
“It gave experience to something that had been probably a lot more academic,” said Christian. The experience, he added, prompted a “much deeper, radical change.”
Asked how many children he has today, Kacsmaryk will say six — “five living and one in heaven.”
Every year at Christmas, he and his wife hang six stockings above the mantle, Christian said, each paired with a photo.
Five smiling children, ages 6 through 15 — and then Tyndale, on the end, stillborn.
Tyndale’s death was a major factor in Kacsmaryk’s decision to join the board of Christian Homes and Family Services, said President Sherri Statler.
Trustees of Christian Homes and Family Services, including Matthew Kacsmaryk, third from right, convene in 2016 for a board meeting in Texas. (Courtesy of Christian Homes and Family Services)
He became a trustee in 2015, according to public records. At that point, the organization was doing the same kind of work it did when Griffith lived there in 2000, offering housing and adoption services to women facing unexpected pregnancies — with the goal of providing an alternative to abortion. For the years Kacsmaryk served on the board — until 2019, when he became a judge — he was “incredibly passionate” about the mission, Statler said, and was always among the most prepared when the trustees convened three times a year.
“I knew immediately he was thinking about the work our ministry does all the time outside of board meetings,” said Statler.
With a hectic job and five kids, Kacsmaryk didn’t have time for many extracurriculars, said Christian, Kacsmaryk’s longtime friend. But he made time for Christian Homes — the only board he served on at the time of his nomination to the federal bench.
Even now, Statler said, he and his wife remain donors.
“Matt has always been driving towards action,” said Christian. His role at Christian Homes “was a great way for him to apply actively what he believed: his philosophical goals for protecting the unborn.”
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By the time Kacsmaryk sat for his Senate confirmation hearing in 2017, the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee had learned about many of his socially conservative convictions. One by one, the senators quizzed Kacsmaryk on the commentary and legal briefs he’d signed in recent years.
Recognizing same-sex marriage will send the country “on a road to potential tyranny.”
The push for “so-called marriage equality” has been a “complete abuse of rule of law principles.”
The sexual revolution ushered in a world where an individual is “an autonomous blob of Silly Putty unconstrained by nature or biology” and where “marriage, sexuality, gender identity and even the unborn child must yield to the erotic desires of liberated adults.”
In a crisp navy blue suit, Kacsmaryk addressed each quote in a calm, measured voice. During the hearing and in his written responses to senator’s questions, he stressed that he could preside fairly over any matter, regardless of his past statements.
“I cannot think of any cases or category of cases requiring recusal on grounds of conscience,” he wrote. “If I am confirmed, I will fully and faithfully apply the law of recusal.”
Kacsmaryk appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017. (Senate Judiciary Committee)
Like many of Trump’s judicial picks, Kacsmaryk is White, male and affiliated with the Federalist Society. He has a long history of volunteering on Republican campaigns, including those for Texas senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, according to the questionnaire he submitted to the Judiciary Committee. On the 17 different campaigns listed, Kacsmaryk said he helped with rallies, made calls and participated in get-out-the-vote efforts.
After several years working at a law firm, and then for the U.S. attorney’s office, Kacsmaryk in 2014 became deputy general counsel for First Liberty Institute, a conservative legal group that has challenged anti-discrimination laws, arguing that companies should not be compelled to make business decisions that go against their religious views. Among his clients were the Christian owners of a bakery in Gresham, Ore., who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
Almost every morning, Kacsmaryk commuted an hour from his home around Fort Worth to the First Liberty office in Plano.
“On his commute he was passing places where he could have pulled off and made 10 times the money,” said Hiram Sasser, who worked with Kacsmaryk at First Liberty.
But Kacsmaryk had a deep passion for religious freedom, Sasser said.
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One particular area of interest for First Liberty was birth control. Two months before Kacsmaryk’s initial nomination to the bench, he was at the White House for a meeting with Trump administration budget officials, making the case that regulations requiring employers to cover contraception should protect objections “on the basis of ‘religious beliefs’ or ‘moral convictions,’” according to his written responses to the Judiciary Committee.
Friends and former colleagues described a religiosity so strong it comes through in all aspects of Kacsmaryk’s life.
Faith is not a “suit he keeps in his closet and only takes out to go to Church on Sunday,” said Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group, and a friend of Kacsmaryk’s. He prays often, several friends said, and is constantly rereading the Bible.
In his confirmation hearing, Kacsmaryk was asked whether judges ever apply their religious beliefs when ruling on a case.
“They should not,” he told Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
“Do you believe they do?” Blumenthal asked.
“I can’t recall an instance when I observed a judge imposing their religion,” Kacsmaryk said. “But I will say for the record that it is inappropriate for an Article III judge to do so.”
Despite assurances of his impartiality, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine joined every voting Democrat in opposition to Kacsmaryk because of his record opposing LGBTQ rights and what she called his “extreme statements” in opposition to Roe v. Wade.
Kacsmaryk was confirmed by the majority Republican Senate in June 2019 by a vote of 52 to 46.
On a Wednesday morning in early February, Kacsmaryk’s courtroom was more crowded than usual — with a mother and five children sitting side by side in the gallery’s wooden pews.
“Let us pray,” said one of Kacsmaryk’s clerks as the judge bowed his head. “God save the United States and this honorable court.”
The children turned to look at their father, the defendant charged with trafficking methamphetamine, in a green prison uniform and chains. Then his daughter, 9 years old, took the stand.
“He has been a very important role in my life,” she said, struggling to get out words through her sobs. “He showed me how to lift myself up.”
Kacsmaryk offered a box of tissues and a promise.
“We will make recommendations for programs that will allow your dad to return to you the man you know him to be — and the man God intended him to be,” he said.
Then he delivered a sentence he described as the minimum time recommended by federal guidelines: 14 years.
Day-to-day, most of Kacsmaryk’s cases have nothing to do with hot-button social issues. Because Amarillo sits at the crossroads of I-40 and I-27 in the Texas panhandle, a large portion of his caseload is drug-related — people traveling through with fentanyl or meth from California to Texas. Dallas-Fort Worth is the state’s closest major metropolitan area, a five-hour drive away.
The Big Texan, a draw for tourists in Amarillo thanks to a gift shop and a 72-oz steak challenge. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
For a lot of people, Amarillo is a pit stop. In the middle of Route 66, the city is peppered with old western-themed motels and souvenir shops selling plastic cattle horns and personalized Texas Ranger badges. The most famous restaurant in town is known for its 72-ounce steak challenge — where most nights, a few brave souls take the stage and attempt to eat a steak larger than their head while the whole thing is live-streamed on YouTube.
Mike Berry, vice president of external affairs at First Liberty, said out-of-state lawyers and plaintiffs will often tell him they want to file a case in Amarillo. They’ve heard lore of Judge Kacsmaryk, Berry said — and they think he’ll be their best shot at a win.
“I’m always like — ‘have you been to Amarillo? You know he’s not the only conservative judge in Texas.’”
Nevertheless, many far-flung lawyers and plaintiffs decide to make the journey.
The lead plaintiff in the abortion pills case, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, incorporated in Texas — with a “registered agent” in Amarillo — several months before the lawsuit was filed. While the group’s website does not include any location or contact information, records filed with the Texas Secretary of State show that the group’s mailing address is in Tennessee.
Julie Marie Blake, senior counsel at the firm representing the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, said the group’s decision to incorporate in Texas predates the abortion pills lawsuit.
“I think they had decided to incorporate in Texas and put everything together quite some time ago,” said Blake, adding that the firm also selected Kacsmaryk’s court because another plaintiff in the case — a doctor — practices in the area.
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Brought by four antiabortion medical groups and four doctors, the case aims to undo the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of mifepristone, which is used along with another drug, misoprostol, to facilitate a medication abortion. While misoprostol is widely used on its own to perform abortions around the world, studies show it is less effective than the two-step regimen and usually causes more cramping and bleeding.
The FDA has repeatedly deemed the two-step medication abortion protocol to be a safe and effective alternative to surgical abortions. But the conservative group’s lawsuit argues that the FDA chose politics over science when it approved “chemical abortion drugs,” purposely ignoring what the plaintiffs claim are potentially harmful side effects.
“The FDA’s job is to protect the health, safety and welfare of America’s women and girls,” said Blake. “These dangerous drugs should never have been allowed on the market.”
A potential ruling by Kacsmaryk against the FDA could take mifepristone off the market, said Liz Wagner, senior federal policy counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
“It would essentially be a national ban on medication abortion,” she said.
Protesters gather outside the Amarillo courthouse ahead of Kacsmaryk’s ruling on abortion pills. (Photo by Shannon Richardson for Women’s March)
Officials within the Biden administration have taken note of the conservative lawyers flocking to Amarillo. In February, the Justice Department cited alleged forum shopping when it asked Kacsmaryk to transfer a lawsuit against the Labor Department out of his Amarillo court, which the government says has “no connection whatsoever to this dispute.” Such a transfer, the government argued, would “avoid the appearance that plaintiffs can, in effect, choose their judge by selecting a division in which a single judge sits.”
Forum shopping is a tactic employed by lawyers across the ideological spectrum, experts say, with left-leaning legal groups also at times seeking out judges and jurisdictions they think are more likely to rule in their favor.
“That’s what good lawyers do,” said Severino at the Heritage Foundation. “They consider, ‘Where might we have a venue that maximizes the chances of victory?’”
Kacsmaryk has occasionally ruled against conservatives. Twice, he dismissed challenges to the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive coverage requirement. But many of his rulings have given conservative lawyers ample reason to return.
In December, Kacsmaryk sided with a Christian father who did not want his daughters to access birth control without his permission, challenging a federal program that provides low-cost or free contraception, including to teens without parental consent. Kacsmaryk agreed with the father that a provision of Title X violates the constitutional right of parents to “direct the upbringing of their children.”
“Contraception is a serious matter — both medically and for parents’ rights to control the upbringing and education of their children,” Kacsmaryk wrote. “The courts that have denied parental consent rights apparently presume contraceptive drugs are ‘no big deal.’”
The Biden administration announced last week that it will be appealing Kacsmaryk’s decision.
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Separately, Kacsmaryk has twice blocked the Biden administration from quickly ending a Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program, which sent asylum seekers back across the border to await decisions on their applications for U.S. protection. The Fifth Circuit upheld Kacsmaryk’s decision, but the Supreme Court reversed it in June, saying Biden had the right to end the program. Kacsmaryk, the court said, had gone too far in requiring the president to keep in place policies that interfere with his ability to enforce immigration laws and shape foreign policy.
The justices sent the case back to Kacsmaryk to determine whether the administration’s plans complied with administrative law. Kacsmaryk again blocked the Biden administration’s efforts in December, finding it had not considered the policy’s “deterrent effect on illegal border crossings.” (The policy is not currently in effect because the Mexican government opposes its reinstatement.)
Kacsmaryk has received plenty of backlash from the left for his rulings, and for how he might rule in decisions still to come.
Over 150 people recently showed up outside Kacsmaryk’s courthouse to support access to medication abortion, an unusual show of force for the heavily-conservative Texas panhandle. The activists marched around downtown Amarillo, chanting and holding signs that read, “We are not your breeding cattle” and “Rural women fight back.”
Kacsmaryk didn’t see them. He was out of the office, miles away from the people who had traveled hours to denounce him.
The judge is happy in his new hometown, his friends and colleagues say — way out in Amarillo, with all its cowboy nostalgia, sitting at his desk beneath smiling pictures of his children and a bobblehead figurine of Justice Clarence Thomas.
He has learned to tune out the things people say, said Sasser, his former colleague at First Liberty.
“If someone threw a spitball at him, he wouldn’t even look at them.”
Alice Crites and Perry Stein contributed to this report.
Roe v. Wade and abortion access in America
In June 2022 the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, which for nearly 50 years has protected the right to abortion. Read the full decision here.
What happens now? The legality of abortion is left to individual states. The Post is tracking states where abortion is banned or under threat, as well as Democratic-dominated states that moved to protect abortion rights enshrined in Roe v. Wade.
Abortion pills: Many conservatives have complained that abortion bans have not been enforced and fear that the growing availability of illegal abortion pills has undercut their landmark victory. Meanwhile, abortion advocates are concerned about an upcoming decision on a Texas lawsuit seeking to revoke the approval of a key abortion drug. The FDA is now allowing pharmacies to dispense abortion pills, here’s what to know.
Post-Roe America: With Roe overturned, women who had secret abortions before Roe v. Wade felt compelled to speak out. Other women, who were and seeking abortions while living in states with strict abortion bans shared also shared their experience with The Post through calls, text messages and other documentation that supported their accounts. Here are photos and stories from across America since the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
KGsays
Russia’s culture almost doesn’t exist. – raven@143
Raven, lay off this stupid, racist garbage. It’s just the same sort of dehumanization as the Allies aimed at Germans (“Huns”) in WW1, and the Japanese in WW2, and Putin’s stooges aim at the Ukranians now.
ravensays
It is likely that the Texas court in Armarillo will outlaw abortion drugs.
It is entirely possible the next level up, the 5th circuit court will also.
Eventually, it gets up to the US Supreme court, which might sustain that ban.
Then what?
It won’t stop abortions, even medical abortions using the two drugs, misepristone and misoprostol.
Ceausescu tried it in Romania and it didn’t work, but it was a disaster.
We can’t stop heroin or fentanyl so how could we stop the abortion drugs.
They already are and will be sold underground.
It just makes abortion a lot less safe.
Instead of being done by health care workers, they will be done DIY, by girls and women who have zero medical training.
ravensays
KG the creepy troll:
Raven, lay off this stupid, racist garbage.
Oh,
A control freak.
You don’t tell me what to do, now or ever. Get lost creep.
The Lee County Florida Republican Executive Committee voted this week to approve a “Ban the Jab” resolution, which they now plan to send to Ron DeSantis in hopes of convincing him to make the vaccine illegal in Florida on the grounds that it is a biological weapon and a violation of the Nuremberg Code. The resolution required a two-thirds majority to pass, which means that two-thirds of the 350 or so members of the Lee County Republican Executive Committee are completely out of their goddamned minds. […]
The resolution was written by Dr. Joe Sansone, who is not a medical doctor but a psychotherapist who specializes in hypnotism, according to his Psychology Today profile. Sansone has many, many interesting beliefs about the vaccine, all of which he appears to have pulled out of either his own ass or someone else’s.
Whereas strong and credible evidence exists that Covid I9 and Covid 19 injections are biological and technological weapons,
Whereas Pfizer’s clinical data revealed 1223 deaths, 42,000 adverse cases, 158,000 adverse incidents, and approximately 1,000 side effects,
Whereas an enormous number of humans have died and or have been permanently disabled,
Whereas strong and credible evidence exists that Covid mRNA shots alter human DNA,
Whereas government agencies, media and tech companies, and other corporations, have committed enormous fraud by claiming Covid injections are safe and effective,
Whereas a statewide grand jury is investigating Covid vaccine crimes,
Whereas continued experimentation on humans and denial of informed consent are violations of the Nuremberg Code and therefore constitute crimes against humanity …
Be it Further Resolved: On behalf of the preservation of the human race, the Lee County Republican Party calls upon Governor DeSantis and the state legislature to prohibit the sale and distribution of Covid injections and all mRNA injections in the state of Florida, and for the state Attorney General to immediately seize all Covid injections and mRNA injections in the state of Florida and have a forensic analysis conducted.
Sansone carefully sourced all of these claims with links to Infowars and other reliable sources. [LOL] The only thing that is actually true here is that Florida has indeed set up a grand jury to investigate “vaccine crimes,” but since that jury has yet to come back, Sansone clearly had to get a little creative with the rest of it.
“The Lee County Republican Party is going to be on the vanguard of this campaign to stop the genocide because we have foreign non-governmental entities that are unleashing biological weapons on the American people,” this man, who I must reiterate is out there in Florida giving other people psychological help, told reporters from WINK news, adding that “If you got this shot, you go home and hug your pregnant wife; she can have a miscarriage through skin contact.” [mind boggling]
[…]
raven and KG, a discussion concerning culture in Russia is a good topic. Aiming personal insults at other commenters is not recommended.
I would appreciate it if the discussion of culture in Russia were presented on a more factual level, with examples. Keep it short, if possible. Thank you.
During his train wreck, water-distribution tour of East Palestine, OH, Trump said he was not responsible for what happened during his administration. When a reporter asked him about his “pulling back rail regulations,” Trump replied, “I had nothing to do with it.” Not much of a profile in courage. Apparently, during Trump’s one term, the buck stopped somewhere else.
Trump continued by attacking Pete Buttigieg. He blamed the Transport Secretary for America’s “third world nation” airports. It was his usual fact-free shtick. The Biden administration has provided $15 billion for airport repair and upgrades in its Infrastructure bill. During Trump’s time, infrastructure got “a week” but no funding. The man is still incapable of shame.
In response, Buttigieg challenged Trump to do the right thing. During his trip to the crash site on Thursday, a reporter asked Pete:
“You mentioned the national political figures decided to get involved, it sounds like you’re talking about Trump. And then you said, ‘I need your help.’ How can he help?”
Buttigieg replied:
“Well, one thing he could do is express support for reversing the deregulation that happened on his watch. I heard him say he had ‘nothing to do with it,’ even though it was in his administration. So if he had nothing to do with it, and they did it in his administration against his will, maybe he could come out and say that, that he supports us moving in a different direction.”
“Against his will?” You can hear the steel scraping the ribs as Pete twists the knife. […] The icing is the “aw shucks” placid demeanor Pete assumes with well-modulated good humor. That’s how you do “patronizing.”
Buttigieg had more:
We’re not afraid to own our policies when it comes to raising the bar on regulation. And I’ve got to think that him indicating that this is something that everybody, no matter how much you disagree on politics and presidential campaigns, can get behind — higher fines, tougher regulations on safety, […] all the other things that go with it that’d be a nice thing for him to do.
Here Pete’s genius is to tell the audience that Trump supports something so beneficial no one could find objection to it. Trump is on the horns of a dilemma. He can either agree with a course of action promoted by a Democrat. Or he can slam Buttigieg’s words and, in doing so, make himself look beholden to special interests.
Trump will brush it off. The MAGAs will not understand the subtext. But independents and the “please make Trump go away” Republicans will admire the verbal knockdown.
Now that Buttigieg has visited the crash site, Fox News has had to move on from its “where is Secretary Pete?” hysteria. And it landed on Buttigieg’s footwear. Still smarting from Ron DeSantis’s white boot follies after Hurricane Ian, Fox snarked that Buttigieg was wearing “dress boots.”
Under the banner headline “Buttigieg mocked for appearing to wear dress boots while on the ground in East Palestine, Ohio,” reporter Houston Keene wrote,
“Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg appeared to wear dress boots while surveying the train derailment on the ground in East Palestine, Ohio.”
And in case you missed the boots, two sentences later he adds: “The secretary appeared to be wearing leather dress boots, instead of heavy-duty shoes like work boots, while surveying damage in the city.”
As a slam, this is second-rate stuff. […] has Houston looked at the pictures in his article? Those are not “dress boots” — look at the thickness of the sole. They are also well-worn — something Pete uses regularly and has not bought or borrowed for the occasion.
Third, what did Houston think Pete was there for — to swing a shovel? Why does he need work boots? […]
I think the failed attempt to shame Pete Buttigieg’s footwear is just another way for rightwing media to remind their viewers that Pete is gay.
ravensays
Aiming personal insults at other commenters is not recommended.
I agree.
KB has been stalking me on and off for a few years now and has insulted me many times.
We are done here.
I’m not reading or responding to anything he writes ever again.
If he keeps stalking me, I will complain to the blog owner, PZ Myers.
I would appreciate it if the discussion of culture in Russia were presented on a more factual level, with examples. Keep it short, if possible. Thank you.
I backed up my claims with examples and an article from an expert, that culture of death one.
What I said is widely known and has been written about often.
Calling me a stupid racist isn’t exactly a reply to my claims.
We can drop this right now and that is what I’m going to do.
Or, anyone who wants to can continue it, without me.
This isn’t how I’m going to spend my time.
So, Marjorie Taylor Greene wants a divorce. Wouldn’t it be lovely if it were that simple? To just herd all the weirdos into Florida, and let Bugs saw ‘em right off the continent? Sit on the beach, watch ‘em float away into the Atlantic, that endless, inescapable whining growing fainter and fainter…oh man, life would be one big Corona commercial.
I want to go to there. But I’m stuck here. With Marjorie Taylor Greene, which I don’t think is fair. Stuck in the United States of America during this golden age of mass killings linked to extremism, because the American Right refuses to entertain alternatives to the “radicalize idiots all day” turnout strategy that’s failed them in three consecutive elections.
[…] when voters decide they don’t want to be governed by psychopaths, which is reasonable of them, you invent bigger lies, and drive yourselves crazier and crazier, until some of you snap and do terrorism, and maybe, just maybe, it’s time to try something else.
[…] Michigan Republicans, in their wisdom, elected deeply insane failed Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo as state chair, indicative of the party’s broader losers-who-won’t-go-away problem, which they have so richly earned. Look, winners don’t ingest livestock medication, and I can’t be any clearer than that.
[…] there’s one bright spot for the butcher of Mariupol [Putin], it’s his growing support within the Republican Party. Me, I would hesitate to side with hospital-bombing child traffickers, but I’m not Marjorie Taylor Greene, who once again made the Orwell for Dummies Hall of Fame, with her dippy “this war against Russia in Ukraine” framing. […]
I had been blissfully unaware of Vivek Ramaswamy’s existence until this week, when he announced his presidential candidacy on Tucker Carlson, and oh my goodness, a tedious nerd grousing about wokeness is exactly what this clown car field needed. Plant this dork on the far end of the debate stage, in the Marianne Williamson spot […]
Your party’s voters died rather than take that vaccine. By the thousands.
[…] As for the frontrunner, well, he proposed a nationwide federal takeover of discipline in public schools, which is…wow. You gotta pass a lotta cognitive tests to come up with something like that.
[…] Republican Congresscreep Barry Moore proposed a bill designating the AR-15 as the “national gun of America,”honoring the weapon of choice of so many of our world-renowned school shooters. We should have an official national cancer, too. I propose lung, any dissenters?
While we are on the always fruitful topic of Republican ghoulishness, Alaska state Rep. David Eastman felt compelled, for whatever reason, to celebrate the fiscal benefits resulting from the deaths of abused children. If you were thinking that David sounds like the kind of young man who would pose for a photograph next to a wall-sized Hitler quote, congratulations on your instincts. […]
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog, which is now closed. From there:
The EU has agreed to slap a 10th package of sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, just in time for a self-imposed deadline to mark the first anniversary of the war. The latest round of sanctions tackled the banking sector, Russia’s access to technology that can be used for civilian and military purposes, and advanced technologies, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell said. Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he expects “decisive steps” against the Russian nuclear industry and the Rosatom corporation, and more pressure on Russia’s military and banking.
Russia appears to have run out of its current stock of Iranian-made drones and will seek to resupply, according to the latest update by the UK Ministry of Defence. The MoD said Russia most likely sees the drones as “useful decoys which can divert Ukrainian air defences from more effective Russian cruise missiles”.
Explosions have reportedly been heard in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, according to Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the exiled city’s mayor. The explosions were reported in the location of a large Russian military personnel cluster, he said. “It’s a good trend,” he added. [LOL] Ukraine’s armed forces have in recent days claimed strikes on Mariupol, previously thought to be outside the effective range of Ukrainian missiles.
Hungary has indicated a further possible delay in ratifying Finland and Sweden’s bid for Nato membership, as Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff said a vote may take place in the second half of March, Reuters reports.
“Parliament will put this on the agenda on Monday and start debating the legislation next week,” Gergely Gulyas, Orbán’s aide, told a press conference.
“Based on Hungarian procedure, adopting legislation takes about four weeks, so it follows that parliament can have a vote on this sometime in the second half of March, on the week of March 21.”
The ratification process has been stalled in Hungary’s parliament since July. A legislative agenda published this week on the parliament’s website indicated a final vote on the Nato applications could occur on the week of March 6.
On Friday, Orbán aired concerns from ruling party lawmakers, including what he described as Finland and Sweden spreading “outright lies” about the health of democracy and rule of law in Hungary.
A protest in Berlin against sending weapons to Ukraine drew 10,000 people on Saturday, Reuters reports.
The “Uprising for Peace” was held around the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin, a day after the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The event was partly organised by politician Sahra Wagenknecht, a member of Germany’s left-wing Die Linke party.
Signs at the protest bore statements such as “Negotiate, not escalate” and “Not our war”. The demonstration’s website reads: “We call on the German chancellor to stop the escalation of arms deliveries. Now!…Because every day lost costs up to 1,000 more lives – and brings us closer to a 3rd world war.”
Police deployed 1,400 officers to keep the peace and enforce bans on military uniforms, Russian and Soviet flags, Russian military songs and right-wing symbols. A police spokesperson said the protest was peaceful and there was no sign of right-wing groups in attendance.
German finance minister Christian Lindner reacted to the demonstration by tweeting: “Whoever does not stand by Ukraine is on the wrong side of history.”
Why they’re quoting the finance minister I have no idea.
Poland’s largest oil company, PKN Orlen, has stopped receiving oil via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia, its chief executive officer, Daniel Obajtek, has said.
Posting to Twitter, Obajtek said:
We’re effectively securing supplies. Russia has halted supplies to Poland, for which we are prepared.
Orlen said it could fully supply its refineries via sea and that consumers would not be affected by the halt.
The Druzhba pipeline, which supplies oil to Poland and Germany, as well as to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, was exempted from EU sanctions to help countries with limited options for alternative deliveries.
Russian oil accounts for about 10% of Polish supply after Warsaw cut imports after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
In the months following the invasion of Ukraine, cryptic anti-war graffiti began popping up across Russia. People started writing out the phrase “no war” using asterisks instead of the various letters in order to disguise the meaning of the message. Then back in September, a woman in Russia wrote out the Russian word for “no” in chalk in the street. But then instead of writing out the Russian word for “war” – Войнa – she wrote just the first and last letters of the Russian word, with asterisks in between. Russian authorities had caught on to this trick with asterisks by this point, so the woman was detained by police and tried in court. In her defense, she claimed the missing letters were not actually from the word war, but rather a type fish that is spelled similarly. She was released by the judge, and now fish have become anti-war symbols!
This kind of cunning protest art makes for a good story. It shows how creative and resilient people can be in the face of political repression. But it can be hard to gauge its real-world impact. Painting a fish on the side of a wall probably isn’t going to bring down the regime. But there is an example from Soviet history of a time when art and humor made a massive difference in the trajectory of a different country: Poland. In the 1980s a Polish anti-communist group called the Orange Alternative also used a seemingly random symbol to spread its message: a mythical creature with a tiny pointed hat. And that innocent image amplified a powerful political message to the world, which ultimately contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union….
Minister: Guatemala to join Core Group on Special Tribunal for Russian crime of aggression.
Guatemala will join the Core Group on the Special Tribunal for the Russian crime of aggression, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said after meeting his Guatemalan counterpart on Feb. 24. Guatemala is the first Latin American country to confirm their participation in the EU-led initiative.
Lithuanian public broadcaster raises $14 million to buy air defense radars for Ukraine.
The campaign was launched by Lithuanian National Radio and Television and a coalition of other Lithuanian organizations on Jan. 30, initially hoping to raise 5 million euros to purchase multifunctional tactical radars for Ukraine’s military.
Zelensky: Unity of free world will help Ukraine win war in 2023.
The comments were made by Zelensky in a video address to a Feb. 25 event held by the German President’s office on solidarity with Ukraine, attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as well other officials and public figures. “Can we win? Yes, we are capable of it. United. Determined. And unbreakable. We are able to end the Russian aggression this year already,” Zelensky said in the address.
General Staff: Russia intensifies persecution of civilians in occupied areas.
Russians are increasingly pressuring civilians and raiding their homes in the occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported on Feb. 25.
Media: Ukrainian children showcased at Moscow event lost their mother to Russian shelling in Mariupol.
Two abducted Ukrainian children showcased at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s propaganda concert in Moscow on Feb. 22 had lost their mother to Russian shelling in Mariupol earlier in the war, independent Russian media outlet Important Stories reported.
Zelensky: Russia occupies 1,877 Ukrainian cities and villages.
Russian forces currently occupy 1,877 Ukrainian cities and villages, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, speaking online at the German government’s Ukraine solidarity event on Feb. 25.
{War criminal] Igor Girkin says Russia needs a Chinese “lend-lease” if it’s to continue fighting in Ukraine “with any level of success”
He complains that Russian generals led by the “cretin” Gerasimov are burning through armour at a rate that Russian defence plants can’t withstand
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link.
whheydtsays
Re: raven @ #152…
Ah, Abilene, TX. While my father was a field service engineer working with the Air Force, we lived there for a year. That covered the 1956-57 school year when I was in second grade. Abilene, at least at that time, had three Bible colleges in town. It also had a thriving Unitarian fellowship…tow which many of the local oil geologists belonged, what with creationism and oil geology not being particularly compatible.
Texas had “local option” liquor laws. That is, counties could be either wet or dry. The county Abilene is in was “local option”. That is, it went by town. Abilene was dry. There were a bunch of bars just over the city limits to the north of town. That’s where you found all the Bible college students on Friday nights. (Which, to be fair, has more to do with the characteristics of college-age people than it does with religious strictures.)
I’ve heard that some years later, the area north of town incorporated and voted wet.
An employee of the Russian consulate in Rio de Janeiro slapped a woman who had come to the consulate on February 24 to protest the war in Ukraine.
The woman who was slapped is a Russian national. Her friend filmed the episode. Both women were taken to a police station, where they wrote a statement about the incident.
A Meduza source said the woman is getting threats from the consulate, allegedly saying the consulate will open a criminal case against her.
Alexey Stolyarov, the son-in-law of Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu, clicked “like” on an antiwar post by journalist Yury Dud. After it was brought to the attention of the Russian media, Stolyarov denied that he’d like the post.
The post in question appeared on Instagram. It was dedicated to the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which Dud called “a bloody and senseless war, which Putin and his cronies unleashed.”
The like on Dud’s post soon disappeared, and Stolyarov posted on his own Instagram account that he “didn’t like anything.” He added, “Don’t let yourself be manipulated by photoshop. Hugs to everyone!”
The publication Poligon.media, however, revealed that Stolyarov had previously liked two other posts from Dud. One like was for an interview with the film director Alexander Molochnikov, who fled Russia after criticizing Putin, and the other was an interview with Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov.
Stolyarov’s social media activity also attracted the attention of Wagner Group founder Evgeny Prigozhin. “You should catch him and send him to me. I’ll train him for six weeks and […] then I’ll send him to combat,” the tycoon said.
Newspapers across the country dropped the Dilbert comic strip this week following a particularly unhinged racist rant from creator Scott Adams in which he encouraged white people to “get the fuck away” from Black people and vowed to stop helping Black people — which no one, least of all Black people, had any idea he was doing in the first place.
The source of Adams’ initial upset was a Rasmussen survey finding that only 53 percent of Black people agree with the sentiment “It’s okay to be white,” entirely ignoring the fact that the whole “It’s okay to be white” thing is a racist troll campaign first started by racist jackasses on 4chan and swiftly adopted by the larger white supremacist movement.
“The original idea behind the campaign,” a summary on Anti-Defamation League’s website explains “was to choose an ostensibly innocuous and inoffensive slogan, put that slogan on fliers bereft of any other words or imagery, then place the fliers in public locations. Originators assumed that ‘liberals’ would react negatively to such fliers and condemn them or take them down, thus ‘proving’ that liberals did not even think it was ‘okay’ to be white.”
Or, as I explained here in 2017 when this first became a thing:
The hope here, as detailed in the initial 4chan post, is that we will all reveal our secret hatred of white people and then other people will go “Oh man, but I am a white person! WHY DO THEY THINK IT IS NOT OK FOR ME TO HAVE BEEN BORN WHITE??? Obviously anti-racism is code for Give Todd Low Self Esteem!”
And then, naturally, Todd turns to the only people who will every truly love him for who he is — neo-Nazis.
It is of course tradition for right-wing assholes like Adams to purposely confuse “not falling for a stupid troll” with some form of aggression against them. [video at the link]
Adams started out by explaining that, because of this survey, he will no longer be “identifying as Black,” which he claims he has been doing for some time now out of a desire to be on the “winning team,” and will go back to “identifying as white” because he doesn’t want to be “part of a hate group” — which is what he believes Black people who refuse to fall for a stupid 4chan troll are.
“Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people. Just get the fuck away,” Adams said in response to the survey. “Wherever you have to go, just get away. Because there’s no fixing this. This can’t be fixed. So I don’t think it makes any sense as a white citizen of America to try to help Black citizens anymore. It doesn’t make sense. There’s no longer a rational impulse. So I’m going to back off on being helpful to Black America because it doesn’t seem like it pays off. Like I’ve been doing it all my life and the only outcome is I get called a racist.”
It is not clear how the Dilbert Guy thinks he has been so fabulously helpful to “Black America,” or to anyone else for that matter. Although one would have to assume that if you are spending your whole life “being helpful to Black America” and people just keep calling you a racist, that you just may be doing it wrong.
On Saturday, Adams got weird again. He explained that this is all exactly like a movie, then went on about being “canceled,” expressed feigned shock over the idea of Cleveland having a newspaper (the Cleveland Plain Dealer decided to stop running Dilbert, explaining in a statement that “We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support.”), explained that he would never discriminate against an individual and then comparing his not wanting to be around Black people “as a group” would be like Black people not wanting to live in a neighborhood full of neo-Nazis, said that he was being taken out of context and that this is all a hoax against him because people didn’t listen to his whole video (I do not blame them, I am slogging through this one and it is exhausting), asked over and over and over again if anyone would think that he would ever tell people to shun their Black neighbors or co-workers or if anyone thinks that he, of all people, would not like the constitution, claimed that it would be racist “but ethical” of a Black person to work for a Fortune 500 company because of how they are all chomping at the bit to hire Black people and … and then finally explained that his decision to not want to be around Black people is the same thing as Mike Pence’s rule about not taking meetings with women without someone else there in order to avoid being falsely accused of sexual misconduct.
Kelly Weill at The Daily Beast reports:
He went on to criticize efforts to include more women and racial minorities in the workplace as having an “expense” for those people.
“The expense is, you can have what you want, but I don’t want to be near you,” he said. “Do you remember the ‘Pence rule?’ The Pence Rule was he wouldn’t go to lunch or dinner with a woman who is not his wife. Now, do you think that Pence does not like women? Would that be a reasonable conclusion? […] Is that an anti-women thing? By the way, that’s totally right. Here’s how I interpret it. It has nothing to do with anything to do with any individual woman. [Mike Pence is not saying] ‘this jezebel wants to go to lunch with me.’ He’s not saying that. He’s just playing the odds. He’s just playing a statistical game.” […]
He went on to liken Black people’s complaints of racism to women’s complaints of sexual harassment.
“Would you expect that they would be primed to see racism everywhere? Of course, that’s just how it works,” he said. “The Mike Pence rule would say, you wanna get some distance. Now is that racist? Yeah, by definition. But it’s racist in a personal success context, which is completely allowable.”
To be clear — yes. Yes we all think Mike Pence hates women and yes it is an anti- woman thing, just as his thing is racist both in and out of a “personal success context.”
Adams himself admits that he is going to lose a very substantial portion of his income due to these statements, so it really doesn’t seem like his “personal success context” racism is working out all that well for him.
Earlier this month, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican, addressed the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, whose purview runs from this small resort city up along the Washington state border. Before she spoke, a local pastor and onetime Idaho state representative named Tim Remington, wearing an American-flag-themed tie, revved up the crowd: “If we put God back in Idaho, then God will always protect Idaho.”
Greene’s remarks ran nearly an hour and touched on topics dear to her far-right fans: claims about the 2020 election being “stolen,” sympathy for those arrested in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and her opposition to vaccine mandates.
She then insisted that Democrats in Washington have abandoned God and truth — specifically, the “sword” of biblical truth, which she said “will hurt you.”
The room of partisans applauded throughout, sometimes shouting “Amen!”
The event may be the closest thing yet to Greene’s vision for the GOP, which she has urged to become the “party of Christian nationalism.” The Idaho Panhandle’s especially fervent embrace of the ideology may explain why Greene, who has sold T-shirts reading “Proud Christian Nationalist,” traveled more than 2,300 miles to a county with fewer than 67,000 Republican voters to talk about biblical truth: Amid ongoing national debate over Christian nationalism, North Idaho offers a window at what actually trying to manifest a right-wing vision for a Christian America can look like — and the power it can wield in state politics.
North Idaho has long been known for its hyperlibertarians, apocalyptic “preppers” and white supremacist groups who have retreated to the region’s sweeping frozen lakes and wild forests to await the collapse of American society, when they’ll assert control over what remains.
But in recent years, the state’s existing separatists have been joined by conservatives fleeing bluer Western states, opportunistic faith leaders, real estate developers and, most recently, those opposed to coronavirus restrictions and vaccines. Though few arrived carrying Christian nationalist banners, many have quickly adopted aspects of the ideology to advance conservative causes and seek strength in unity.
[…] The Redoubt is growing rapidly, bolstered by conservative flight chiefly from California.
[…] The influx has given birth to a phalanx of “Redoubt Realtors” who specialize in resettling transplants. Chris Walsh works for Revolutionary Realty, whose webpage features images of bald eagles, American flags and a banner that welcomes visitors to the “heart of the Great American Redoubt, North Idaho!”
Walsh, munching on a sandwich at a diner in Coeur d’Alene, explained that clients seek him out to locate property that is “defensible,” with clear “firing lanes” in the event of invasion. His customers, overwhelmingly preppers, also typically claim the Christian faith. “I don’t remember the last time that I met somebody that wasn’t a Christian,” he said.
[…] Walsh added that the latest, and by his estimate the largest, concentrated wave of newcomers came during the pandemic.
“The covid thing really drove a lot of people to get out of Portland, Seattle, San Francisco — anyplace where the government was acting very tyrantlike in terms of lockdowns,” he said.
[…] Wilson’s [Reformed pastor Douglas Wilson’s] congregation has doubled over the past four years. “A lot of the fomented discontent of the last two years, I would say, is 80 percent of the reason people come here,” Wilson said during a recent interview in his office. The pastor himself, while claiming his take on pandemic rules is more nuanced, has made dismissive fun of mask-wearing and argued in favor of fake vaccine cards for the unvaccinated.
[…] Wilson doesn’t hesitate to describe his vision of a Christian America. Laws would ban abortion, he said, and while leaders would strive to “maximize religious liberty for everyone,” Catholics are unlikely to feel welcome — “I think it has to be a pan-Protestant project,” he said — nor would Christians who disagree with his stridently patriarchal social norms. When it comes to major social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, his theology represents a majority of only two major U.S. Christian groups, according to recent surveys — White evangelicals and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[…] The Idaho Family Policy Center’s head, a recent transplant, has described himself as a Christian nationalist, and the group’s board includes two men connected to Wilson’s churches and schools in Moscow.
[…] In September, the Reawaken America tour, an unabashed Christian nationalist traveling exhibition that mixes right-wing politics, baseless claims and antipathy toward coronavirus restrictions, hosted one of its rallies in Post Falls, a short drive from Coeur d’Alene. In addition to speakers such as former Trump adviser Michael Flynn, as well as Trump’s son Eric, the two-day festival included nighttime baptisms overseen by Shea and a minister from Altar Church.
[…] While sectarian varieties of Christian nationalism certainly exist, the version most ascendant — and the kind activists say is working its way through the state legislature — relies not on theological purity but an alliance between conservative Christians who collectively oppose liberal policies and what they deride as secular culture. […]
FWIW I don’t think this is the first gas giant found around red dwarfs although the mass ratio may be a bit exceptional and the star particularly low mass even for a red dwarf. In fact, if it’s really 4 times Joves size in mass as opposed to size diameter~wise I’d have thought that would make it an exoplanet itself or, at best, a brown dwarf star rather than a red one. Still
ravensays
Anyone who has read this thread now knows I’ve been stalked and harassed by the troll called KG for years, it’s probably been 5 or so.
The internet doesn’t forget, and I’ve got the documentation from the archives to prove this.
This guy is one sick in head psycho.
This ends right now.
I now know who this guy is in real life and where he lives. This is a message for Nicky.
Nicky, I know who you are and where you live.
Your middle name is Mark and your birthday is 1954-05-22. If you forgot your phone number, I’ve got that too, just ask.
Stop stalking, harassing, and insulting me.
If you don’t, things are going to get real ugly, real fast in what passes for your real life.
You thought you found yet again, another easy victim.
Stupid troll, you guessed wrong. I’m a highly educated, highly functional adult who has dealt with far more dangerous people than a trivial UK internet troll.
It’s no secret I’ve received hundreds of death threats. Some of those weren’t kidding and a few of them are in prison.
Find some easier victims to stalk and harass.
ravensays
This is to Lynna.
Thanks for not doing your job and letting a troll get away with more stalking.
To be fair, you didn’t know the history of KG aka NG stalking me going back years.
And oh yeah, I’ve just decided the Infinite thread isn’t a good use of my time.
I mostly don’t read anything the idiot says, but the Infinite thread doesn’t appear on the sidebar and sometimes I accidently read one of his insults.
I just decided today that I’m not going to be a victim any more, not that a supposedly anonymous kook from Scotland is much of a threat.
This ends today one way or another.
I really do know who this guy is. He has his own website and there are even photos of him on the net.
And I can and will stop him from going after me, without anything to do with Freethoughtblogs.
He picked the wrong person to go after.
I’m not going to PZ because I’m now capable of taking care of Nicky, the troll by myself. He is actually very, very stupid and anyone can think rings around him.
But, as a moderator, you are certainly free to transfer this whole mess up to PZ Myers.
I don’t care.
The whole atheist movement is a product of our society and stalking and harassing people who are considered vulnerable is normal and accepted.
Freethoughtblogs isn’t immune from this and is in fact, getting slowly overrun by trolls.
I’m now asking myself often, why am I still here.
One of both of us will likely get banned.
I don’t care.
I have the right and duty to defend myself and that is what I’m doing.
[…] If you’re not familiar with “Reclaim Idaho,” let me say a word […]
We are a grassroots organization that began when a small team of volunteers in Sandpoint launched the campaign to expand Medicaid—a campaign that would eventually win a landslide victory with 61% of the vote statewide.
When Idaho’s political establishment responded to our success by attempting to shut down the initiative process, we filed a lawsuit asking the Idaho Supreme Court to protect the initiative process. In August 2021 the court sided with Reclaim Idaho and restored our initiative rights, declaring the initiative process a “fundamental right” of the people of Idaho.
Most recently, we collected over 100,000 signatures to put the Quality Education Act on the ballot. This initiative would have made large-scale investments in K-12 education, paid for with modest tax increases on corporations and the wealthiest Idahoans. During an emergency special session, the Idaho Legislature enacted a law that blocked our initiative from taking effect while also increasing public school funding by $410 million a year.
Even as the Legislature subverted the Quality Education Act and undermined the initiative’s tax proposal, they nonetheless handed a huge victory to our grassroots movement. Together with over 1,000 volunteers, we essentially forced the Legislature to make the largest investment in public schools in a generation. The Idaho Statesman put it this way:
“Credit for this goes above all to Reclaim Idaho, who got the Quality Education Act on the ballot, producing enough political pressure to break through the logjam that has long failed Idaho’s children.”
Now, as the next legislative session begins, we’re doing all that we can to stop the Idaho Legislature from enacting a school voucher program. Vouchers would siphon tax dollars out of public schools in order to subsidize private-school tuition. Such a policy would do irreparable harm to our schools and our communities.
From the beginning, the mission of our organization has been to set aside partisan differences and organize around issues that bring people together: strong public schools, healthcare for working families, and the right of every Idahoan to participate in the political process. We are committed to making our government work for all Idahoans, not just those with the most money and political influence. […]
If you want to donate to activists in Idaho who are not “Christian Patriots” and who do not support Marjorie Taylor Greene, this organization is a good place to start. There’s a donation button on the homepage of their website. They do not focus on divisive politics: “We wage campaigns that focus not on political candidates or political parties but on issues that bring Idahoans together—issues like Medicaid Expansion and increased funding for K-12 education.”
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
US president Joe Biden has said the prospect of China negotiating peace between Ukraine and Russia is “just not rational”. Speaking on ABC News about China’s peace plan, he said: “I’ve seen nothing [that] would indicate there’s something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia. The idea that China is gonna be negotiating the outcome of a war that’s a totally unjust war for Ukraine is just not rational.”
China has not moved towards providing lethal aid that would help Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, and the US has made clear behind closed doors that such a move would have serious consequences, White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday. “Beijing will have to make its own decisions about how it proceeds, whether it provides military assistance, but if it goes down that road, it will come at real costs to China,” Sullivan said in an interview with CNN’s State of the Union programme.
The German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said it was up to Kyiv to decide when, and under what conditions, to enter talks with Moscow. He suggested the same was true for any decision on recapturing the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus and a close ally of the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, will visit Beijing this week, China’s foreign ministry confirmed. Spokesperson Hua Chunying said Lukashenko was due to visit between Tuesday and Thursday, but gave no details about his agenda, the Associated Press reported.
Algeria will reopen its embassy in Kyiv one year after it was closed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Algerian state television said on Sunday, citing a foreign ministry statement. “This decision falls within the framework of preserving the interests of the Algerian state and the interests of the national community in this country,” state TV quoted the foreign ministry statement as saying.
Ukraine has reportedly intentionally blown a dam to the north of Bakhmut, flooding what looks to be a relatively small area. Trying to collect details and see how this affects the area.
For right now, I’m going to assume that only the northern dam has been breached, as breaching the southern would cut the road to Khromove, which has lately been the main route in and out of the city. The river on that side of the city is flowing to the north, as can be seen by the relationship of the reservoirs and dams, so this could potentially flood areas in the direction of Yahidne and Pidhorodne.
Someone already did the math.
I mapped out the flood area for the dam Ukraine destroyed in Bakhmut today. I don’t know if there is enough water to impact all of this, but this is the area downstream. [map at the link]
From best descriptions, the dam that was breached was actually on the west side of the city, between Khromove and Yahidne. There are two small reservoirs there, with the northern one covering about 15 hectares and the southern about 25. [map at the link]
Speaking of conspiracy theories…
Russian media is spreading the rumour that Ukraine will strike Transnistria to open a second front as it is running out of ammunition
It is also warning that Ukrainian Nazis will carry out a false flag atrocity in Odesa to get the West to back their aggression on Transnistria
The government in Moldova seems to understand well enough that this is a Russian ploy. It’s unclear how it would help Ukraine to open another front, or why it would strike into Moldova. Whether this is a prelude to some Russian action — such as a large missile strike against Odesa — is hard to determine. It’s also had to determine how the limited Russian forces in Transnistria could be of any use to Russia in attacking Ukraine.
Fifty-eight people, including children, died when a wooden sailing boat crashed against rocks off the coast of Italy’s Calabria region.
Many of the people, believed to be refugees, were reported to have washed up on a tourist beach near Steccato di Cutro, while others were found at sea.
According to survivors, there were about 140 to 150 people onboard the boat before it crashed into the rocks. Eighty-one people survived, with 20 of them taken to hospital, Manuela Curra, a provincial government official, told Reuters.
Antonio Ceraso, the mayor of Cutro, told reporters: “It is something one would never want to see. The sea continues to return bodies. Among the victims are women and children.”
The wreck of the boat was reportedly seen by a fishers early on Sunday. “You can see the remains of the boat along 200-300 metres of coast,” Ceraso added. “In the past there have been landings but never such a tragedy.”
Rai News reported that the boat “snapped in two”, citing sources as saying that those onboard “didn’t have time to ask for help”. The vessel is believed to have departed from Turkey with people from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan onboard.
The Italian coastguard, firefighters, police and Red Cross rescue workers attended the scene.
Italy is one of the main landing points for people trying to enter Europe by sea. The so-called central Mediterranean route is known as one of the world’s most dangerous.
More than 100,000 refugees arrived in Italy by boat in 2022. The prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government, which came to power in October, imposed tough measures against sea rescue charities, including fining them up to €50,000 if they flout a requirement to request a port and sail to it immediately after undertaking one rescue instead of remaining at sea to rescue people from other boats in difficulty.
Rescues in recent months have resulted in ships being granted ports in central and northern Italy, forcing them to make longer journeys and therefore reducing their time at sea saving lives. Charities had warned that the measure would lead to thousands of deaths.
In a statement, Meloni expressed her “deep sorrow” for the lives cut short by “human traffickers” while repeating her government’s commitment to “preventing departures and along with them the tragedies that unfold”.
“It is criminal to launch a boat of just 20-metres long with as many as 200 people onboard in adverse weather forecasts,” she added. “It is inhumane to exchange the lives of men, women and children for the price of a ‘ticket’ paid by them on the false perspective of a safe journey.” [Fuck you.]
…
According to the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants project, 20,333 people have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean since 2014.
“Saturday Night Live” targeted former President Trump’s visit to the town in Ohio where a train derailment has sparked environmental and public health concerns in its latest cold open, mocking Trump’s off-the-cuff public speaking style.
“I’m here and I brought hats, cameras and hats,” the fake Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, said at a podium, clad in Trump’s red “Make America Great Again” hat. “Earlier today, a farmer came up to me, big fella, and he said, ‘Sir, we have nothing to eat because our dirt is poison.’ And I said, ‘Well what are you doing eating the dirt? Don’t eat the dirt folks.’ ”
[…] “I had to come here and see these wonderful people who have been abandoned by Biden,” the fake Trump said in the “SNL” skit. “He’s on spring break in Ukraine with his friend Zelensky.”
[…] “Who do we blame? We blame Buttigieg,” the fake Trump said in the skit. “This was his responsibility. Unfortunately, he was too busy being a nerd and being gay.” […]
YouTube link to the video. The video is 5:30 minutes long.
ravensays
raven @ #s 174 and 175, your posts are totally inappropriate. I hope PZ removes them.
This is a stalking situation that has been going on for many years, at least 5.
That is 5 years too long.
I have the right to defend myself from stalking and harassing internet trolls.
It’s PZ’s blog and he can do whatever he wants and I’m perfectly OK with that.
If I get banned, what I lose is a few stalkers. Works for me.
I was reading and commenting with PZ from the Sciblogs days to when FTBs was started.
Things have gone downhill lately and I’ve picked up probably a dozen internet stalkers in the last few years.
I’m probably going to get banned or move on myself.
I haven’t had problems with most of the posters, who are mostly good and decent people and aren’t internet trolls, so I’ll say it was fun for a while and good luck and good bye.
Vladimir Putin has accused the west of seeking to “dismember” Russia and and to turn the vast country into a series of weak mini-states.
In an interview with the state Rossiya TV channel on Sunday, Putin claimed the US and its Nato allies wanted to “inflict a strategic defeat on us”. The aim, he said, was to “make our people suffer”, adding: “How can we ignore their nuclear capabilities in these conditions?”
Russia’s president said this alleged plot had been under way since the collapse of the USSR. “They tried to reshape the world exclusively on their terms. We had no choice but to react,” he said, adding that the west was complicit in Ukraine’s ‘crimes’.
If Washington got its way, Russia would be divided into Moscow, the Urals, and other disparate regions, he continued, claiming there was “written proof” for his assertion.
The remarks come at a time when Russian troops have made local gains in Ukraine’s east but have failed to achieve a major breakthrough. Moscow’s military focus is to capture the entirety of the Donbas region, much of which remains under Kyiv’s control.
For the record, the remarks also come at a time when:
Russia has invaded several neighboring countries;
Russia occupies parts of several neighboring countries;
Russia has interfered violently and otherwise in multiple countries’ domestic politics;
Russian officials and state media frequently proclaim imperialist views and openly discuss imperialist projects;
the Ukrainian and Moldovan governments have solid evidence of Russia’s plans to attack Moldova and/or topple its government;
Russian plans to absorb Belarus entirely have come to light and basically been confirmed by Lukashenko;
the Kremlin lies incessantly;
and the Kremlin regularly accuses others of plotting to do or doing the very things they themselves are transparently engaged in.
Trans news continues to be overwhelmingly bleak and grim, thanks in no small part to Republicans […] Trans folks already face disproportionate levels of violence, live with higher reported rates of depression and suicidal ideation, and are more likely to become homeless and drop out of high school without a diploma. And that’s been the case before the recent onslaught of anti-trans legislation coming out of conservatives.
The big angles are […] sports, health care, and bathrooms. All three are still (sadly) part of the Republican talking guide, but they’ve expanded into fresh versions of hate, like insidious book bans and Don’t Say Gay bills. It’s a scary time, and progressives need to get on board in this very real and necessary fight.
One recent example if you’re looking to get involved: We need eyes on Texas right now.
Thanks to SB 1029—filed by Republican state Sen. Bob Hall of Texas, who has a history of outrageous beliefs—there’s a considerable chance almost all forms of safe and age-appropriate gender-affirming health care will be made illegal in the state. And that includes trans adults. In fact, it not only covers both youth and adults but even nonsurgical treatments. The legislation also seeks to allow medical malpractice lawsuits for life against providers and insurers who cover gender-affirming care.
For emphasis: This anti-trans health care bill isn’t seeking to only bar youth from safe, age-appropriate health care. It’s seeking to stop adults from accessing it, too.
The bill argues that these procedures are not in the “best interest of the health of the patient” but instead are being offered for the “monetary gain” of “health care facilities.”
The bill seeks to ban public funding for any and all gender modifications, including vasectomies, hysterectomies, and castration. It also seeks to limit puberty blockers and hormones used to “affirm the patient’s perception of the patient’s sex.” […]
In terms of possible malpractice claims, the bill seeks to establish providers as liable, including for the patient’s medical, pharmaceutical, and mental health costs post-procedure. This bit isn’t the most eye-catching, admittedly, but it’s deeply concerning because of the possible fallout. It’s hard to find safe and affordable gender-affirming care as it is. If physicians are worried about such a wide-ranging and lifelong liability, it’s entirely possible folks will just … stop offering it.
If you’re thinking: Well, that’s a concern about physicians who provide abortions too, isn’t it? That it’s so hard to actually provide the care in some places, it just disappears? In a word: Exactly. […]
ravensays
It’s time.
This is my last post on FTBs.
It was fun for a long time and most of the posters here are good people and I’m glad I got to know them even if only on the internet.
This isn’t a safe space for me any more and I’m going to take a break from the internet.
Good bye and good luck to (almost) everyone.
PZ Myers is one of the best and I did and still do have the highest respect for him and all that he does. Don’t ever give up, the world needs you.
I might be back later, might not.
Ukrainian women who are recognized for their leadership:
Oksana Markarova, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States
Oksana Zabuzhko, Ukrainian novelist
Olesya Khromeychuk, novelist, speaker, director, Ukrainian Institute London
Nataliya Mykolska, a businesswoman and an activist
Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine
8 Ukrainian women made it to the list of the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women in 2022:
Kristina Berdynskykh, Journalist
Iryna Kondratova, Paediatrician
Oleksandra Matviichuk, Human rights lawyer, 2022 Nobel Prize winner
Yuliia Paievska, Paramedic
Yuliia Sachuk, Disability leader
Maryna Viazovska, Mathematician
Olena Zelenska
Yana Zinkevych, Politician and front-line medical volunteer
The United States is in the midst of a religious revolution. Or, perhaps it is better to say a non-religious revolution. Around a quarter of US adults now say they have no religion. The great majority of these religious “nones” also say that they used to belong to a religion but no longer do. These are the nonverts: think “converts,” but from having religion to having none. Even on the most conservative of estimates, there are currently about 59 million of them in the United States.
Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America (Oxford UP, 2022) by Professor Stephen Bullivant explores who they are and why they joined the rising tide of the ex-religious. It draws on dozens of interviews, original analysis of high-quality survey data, and a wealth of cutting-edge studies to present an entertaining and insightful exploration of America’s ex-religious landscape. While American religion is not going to die out any time soon, ex-Christian America is a growing presence in national life. America’s religious revolution is not only a religious one—it is catalyzing a profound social, cultural, moral, and political transformation.
US corporations have mounted a fierce counterattack against the union drives at Starbucks, Amazon and other companies, and in response, federal officials are working overtime to crack down on those corporations’ illegal anti-union tactics – maneuvers that labor leaders fear could significantly drain the momentum behind today’s surge of unionization.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency that polices labor-management relations, has accused Starbucks and Amazon of a slew of illegal anti-union practices, among them firing many workers in retaliation for backing a union. Nonetheless, many workplace experts question whether the NLRB’s efforts, no matter how vigorous, can assure that workers have a fair shot at unionizing….
It was in an old university stockroom, with wooden tables salvaged from a junkyard, that Raquel Fortun began to investigate the merciless crackdown launched under the former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.
Fortun, one of only two forensic pathologists in the country, has now spent more than 18 months examining the exhumed remains of dozens of victims of the so-called “war on drugs”, revealing serious irregularities in how their postmortems were performed – including multiple death certificates that wrongly attributed fatalities to natural causes.
Most recently, her findings have raised questions about examinations carried out on the body of Kian delos Santos, a 17-year-old boy whose death at the height of the shootings provoked global outrage.
The Philippines does not automatically provide postmortems in cases of violent death, says Fortun. The standard, where they do occur, is poor, with evidence often missed.
“We have very weak institutions, unqualified people. We have a law that’s so ancient. And here comes a madman, ascending to the top as president, and I think he just took advantage,” she says.
Duterte repeatedly ordered the police to kill drug suspects. “And that’s it – they did,” says Fortun.
The international criminal court (ICC) said in January that it would proceed with its investigation into the killings, which it estimates led to between 12,000 and 30,000 deaths. Its work had been suspended while it assessed a claim by the Philippines, which said it had begun its own investigations and therefore the case should be deferred – an argument that was rejected.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr – who took office last year after a joint campaign with Duterte’s daughter, Sara, who is now vice-president – has called the ICC investigation an “intrusion into our internal matters”, saying that the country has a “good” police and judicial system.
For campaigners, however, Fortun’s findings are further proof that the Philippines’ institutions are failing to deliver justice. She is aware of 12 death certificates, including 11 from the 74 remains she has examined, that wrongly attribute deaths to natural causes, such as pneumonia or sepsis. “It would make one wonder, were they involved, were they complicit? Was it just them making a short cut?” says Fortun….
Germany’s interior minister has warned of a “massive danger” facing Germany from Russian sabotage, disinformation and spying attacks.
Nancy Faeser said Vladimir Putin was putting huge resources into cyber-attacks as a key part of his war of aggression.
“The cybersecurity concerns have been exacerbated by the war. The attacks of pro-Russia hackers have increased,” she said in an interview with the news network Funke Mediengruppe published on Sunday.
Since Germany started supporting Ukraine with weapons deliveries and by introducing sanctions against Russia, cyber-attacks have been on the rise, in particular against energy providers and military organisations. Security experts have been warning of the considerable danger these pose to German domestic security, specifically the cyber-attackers’ ability to target critical infrastructure, as well as political operations such as the Bundestag.
Opposition group: Russian aircraft damaged by explosions in Belarus.
Two explosions were heard at the Machulishchy airfield near Minsk on Feb. 26, Bypol, a Belarusian opposition group, reported. A Russian military aircraft was damaged following the explosions, Bypol said.
Now this is big. Belarusian Partisans reportedly blew up a Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft at Machulishchy airfield near Minsk. According to the BYPOL initiative, the front and central parts of the plane, avionics and radar antenna were damaged.
There are 180 political prisoners being held in Crimea, according to Ukraine’s rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.
Sky News reported that Lubinets wrote on Telegram: “Due to the constant fear of Ukrainian resistance, Russia does not stop harsh repression and persecution of our citizens in the temporarily occupied Crimea: illegal searches, fabricated criminal cases, fabricated sentences, in particular, against representatives of the indigenous people of the peninsula – the Crimean Tatars.”
The Ukrainian official added the recent deaths in the Kremlin cells of two tortured political prisoners was a “flagrant violation of fundamental human rights and norms of international law by Russia”.
This is a followup of sorts to comment 176. In that comment grassroots organizations attempting to protect public schools in Idaho are discussed. This comment focuses on a similar situation in Kansas,
In Kansas on Wednesday, through bipartisan work, a piece of legislation aimed at ending public education as we know it through vouchers was defeated in committee. HB 2218 would have allowed parents to set aside a portion of public school funding—about $5,000 per student—for use at private or home schools, including unregulated, unaccredited schools. But that’s not the only bill on the table:
House Bill 2048 would expand a tax credit that allows taxpayers to write off up to $500,000 worth of scholarships they provide for private schools. A similar bill, Senate Bill 128, would give taxpayers a refundable income tax credit when their K-12-aged children are not enrolled in public schools.
Opponents say the programs could be used to divert personal or business tax liabilities from the state’s general fund into private school scholarships.
“Holy tax scams, that is a masterful shell game,” said Rep. Mari-Lynn Poskin, an Overland Park Democrat, during a recent committee hearing. “Any religious organization of dark money special interest group can basically divert their group’s entire Kansas tax liability … for distribution to private schools that are not subject to the same oversight as our Kansas public schools.”
[…] Rather than talk only about those bills, I thought I’d take a second to reminisce about what education meant to me personally, and what we lose when we forgo public education. I will never forget attending school on a Tuesday morning as a teacher played “Imagine” and we all sat in silence while she cried and explained what it and John Lennon’s death meant to her. I was in early elementary school when this occurred, but the impact? We talked about our feelings openly because the teacher didn’t try to hide her own emotions from us. This was in Mountainburg, Arkansas, not some liberal bastion, and it was during the Reagan administration.
Our society is in the middle of a period right now where we have come to despise public education to such a high degree that we are intolerant of just learning: learning about each other, learning about culture, about art, about where we come from, and our shared dreams.
[…] My parents were conservative, but they were advocates for disability care before the American Disability Act, and they were forced to sue and fight at every step of the way to defend their children. What united all of us through it was the classroom and the library. The glory of a public library and a school library that could order books for us from anywhere in the world. When we wanted to learn something we didn’t know anything about, all it took was for the library interchange to ask if another library had it and they would ship it to us, free, in our small corner of Southeast Kansas.
It is clear that conservatives are moving against public education through their use of vouchers, book bans, and generalized antagonism toward public schools and teachers. I remember watching the Challenger explode live as my entire middle school gathered to watch on a small TV on a cart. Although devastating, this led to meaningful discussions about our feelings and about science. Now teachers are seemingly cut off from having those discussions.
[…] While conservatives seek to gaslight us about the past, we have to remember it is the way we remember the past and move to be better that makes us a “more perfect union.” We are not perfect, we are a nation striving to become better every day. The only way we get there is by looking back honestly at our own mistakes and faults and being vulnerable to them and saying we can do better.
If we expect everyone around us to learn from their own mistakes, why are conservatives so intent on deciding that there are never any mistakes to ever learn from? You can say that I’m a dreamer, but in a small, rural, Arkansas classroom as a young boy, I wasn’t the only one touched by John Lennon’s lyrics and my teacher’s tears. I knew that we can all learn something about who we are when we share experiences together.
SC @193, thank you for posting that additional information. I hadn’t seen that.
Continuing with other news, this is a followup to comment 194, with discussion posted by readers of the article:
[…] speaking of private schools, nobody is pointing out the problem with that bit of “parental choice.” The fact is that even with vouchers, a lot of families aren’t going to be able to afford private-school tuition. And even if they can, private schools have their own rules and their own standards. They don’t have to accept your kid if they don’t want to, and if they don’t, you have no recourse. [Correct. The voucher system will increase disparities based on the wealth or poverty of the parents. That’s not fair to children.]
Here in OK [Oklahoma], the move to undermine public ed is ramping up in the legislature. But what’s encouraging is that a good many school districts are apparently not buying it. We had an election last week, and every school-bond issue that was on the ballot passed. Those districts are going to get new schools, and improvements to existing schools. Public schools.
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Republicans oppose many public things: public schools, public libraries, public transportation and public health for starters. They want to privatize so much, although in their hypocrisy, they want the government to pay for their privatization (school vouchers, socialize giant corporate losses, etc.). This goes to the heart of the difference between Democrats and Republicans, and should be part of the debate at all times.
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RW extremists learned how effective Fox and radio propaganda is on their adult base.
Now they want to replicate that at the youth level through indoctrination of their agenda controlled via private schools, with alternative ideas diminished as much as possible in what remains of public schools that they try to decimate.
This is a battle in which we must engage more ferociously.
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Same nonsense here in Iowa as the Republican-dominated legislature and governor […] are drunk with power, feverishly working to DeVos-state our educational system.
If this is allowed to stand, I fully expect these for-profit con artists to come swooping in to suck up the revenue. […]
Last night, Woody Harrelson — a very good actor who has always been a little off — hosted “Saturday Night Live.”
During his opening monologue, he indulged in a thinly veiled attack on pharmaceutical companies and vaccines by talking about how he had a script for a movie with a plot so ridiculous he just threw it away. [video at the link]
“So the movie goes like this,” Harrelson explained. “The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians, and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes, and people can only come out if they take the cartel’s drugs. And keep taking them over and over.”
And then there’s the M. Night Shyamalan twist of “the drugs are free and if people don’t take them, they will get sick and make other people sick and a decent amount of those people will die or at the very least take up all the beds in emergency rooms and cause other people to die because they can’t get treated for other health emergencies?”
Naturally, there were tons of admirers swooning over Harrelson “taking on Big Pharma,” which is not what this was. The issue with “Big Pharma” is not that they create life-saving drugs or any other drugs in the first place, or that people have to take vaccines during an epidemic, it is that they fuck us over by charging exorbitant prices for those drugs. We have in fact created a whole system in which they are able to absolutely fuck us in order to turn a profit […]
[…] And then we claim that it’s worth it to overpay because we’re funding research and development, which we’re actually not doing very much at all.
Now, I’m not saying that pharmaceutical companies are not profiting off of the vaccines. Of course they are. But because we did things the right way with this, they were not able to fuck us nearly as much as they might have otherwise been able to. Of course, because this is America, our government will cease buying vaccines in bulk this fall and they will cost us up to $130 a pop.
The thing that kills me is that this is the thing that makes people think pharmaceutical companies are corrupt. Like, they’re okay with people spending over $300 a month for insulin, they’re okay with these companies forming PACs and spending millions to woo politicians to their favor, they’re okay with Epi-pens being $700. They’re okay with pharmaceutical companies being allowed to advertise on television. Or, at least, they’re not particularly het up about these things.
They have no problem claiming, with a straight face, that we have to pay so much more than the rest of the world does for medications because these poor companies need that money to fund research and development, when we know for a fact that they are not doing that. When we know for a fact that most of their profits go towards further enriching themselves and their investors through dividends and stock buybacks. When we know that much of the money earmarked for “research and development” ends up going towards making teeny tiny changes to existing drugs explicitly for the purpose of getting to file new patents on them and continue charging exorbitant prices.
They ignore the fact that we spend more on healthcare per capita than any other developed country while having the worst health outcomes.
But what finally gets these people upset at pharmaceutical companies, what makes Woody Harrelson decide to take a big stand on Saturday Night Live, is a vaccine that they don’t have to pay for. That’s where the greed is just too much for them. Let’s make that movie, okay? Or don’t, because it wouldn’t be all that interesting. It’s mostly just pretty sad.
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would actually start to think that these complaints about “Big Pharma” and the vaccine were put out there by Big Pharma themselves to make everyone who complains about them look like an idiot conspiracy theorist. To make the term “Big Pharma” itself seem annoying and ridiculous. I don’t believe that, of course, but they really couldn’t have come up with a better plan to discredit legitimate criticism if they tried.
On a recent episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” a prime-time show on Fox News, Tucker Carlson introduced his first guest, Mark McCloskey, at the end of a long segment on how “self-defense is becoming illegal” in America. McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, were the St. Louis couple made briefly and ignominiously famous for brandishing weapons at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their Midwestern palazzo. “So they’re racist,” Carlson said, with a squeaky, cartoonish emphasis.
“There’s that stupid voice,” Kat Abughazaleh, a twenty-three-year-old senior video producer for the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America, said. She and I were watching Carlson’s show in side-by-side cubicles at her organization’s offices, in Washington, D.C. Abughazaleh […] was flagging moments from the episode to post online. One clip, of Carlson declaring that “the F.B.I., as an organization, has joined in the hunt for Christians,” went immediately to Twitter. […] Abughazaleh films her roundups on Fridays and posts them to TikTok, where she’s building a following. Her most popular video, which includes a clip of a Fox News host comparing Washington, D.C., to Somalia, has just under a million views.
“I watch Tucker Carlson so you don’t have to,” the bio spaces of her social-media accounts read. Abughazaleh has been professionally watching Carlson, who has around three million viewers a night, for nearly two years. “You don’t know Fox News until you are watching it for a job,” she said. “You see all these patterns emerge.” The Fox universe is a place with a different “news” sense than most of the country, she said—narratives about I.R.S. armies, food shortages, race wars, and predatory trans activists—but its niche story lines are likely predictive of what we’ll be talking about over the next two long campaign years. […]
A recent theme on Carlson’s show is food shortages supposedly caused by the war in Ukraine; Tiara Soleim, a.k.a. the Chicken Lady, a throaty-voiced blonde who was once a contestant on “The Bachelor,” has come on to talk about it. On a recent show, Carlson spent a segment dissecting a kiss hello between Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff at the State of the Union; the accompanying graphic read “Wife Swap.” Carlson’s show, aside from the opening monologue, is manically paced, and guests often have trouble getting a word in edgewise. […] the show’s rhetoric is muscular and alarmist. On the episode I watched with Abughazaleh, the conservative media pundit Matt Walsh was a guest, talking about his anti-trans testimony before the Tennessee state legislature. “He’s in favor of cutting the breasts off girls?” Carlson said, of one legislator. “I mean, how could anybody get to a place where that’s O.K.?”
To Abughazaleh, the often ludicrous quality of Carlson’s show is exactly what makes it so dangerous. “People need to know that the scary things are stupid as well,” she said. “They either go all in on ‘Oh, my God, this is so funny’ and ‘Fox News is technically entertainment,’ or they go all in on ‘This is so scary, blah blah blah.’ It’s both things. Two things can be true at once.” At the same time, perhaps because she follows him so closely, Abughazaleh is skeptical of the conventional wisdom that Carlson is one of the most powerful people in the United States. […] “it’s just a Pavlovian response to put on Fox News at eight o’clock,” Lawrence said. “Tucker needs the eight-o’clock hour on Fox News way more than Fox News needs Tucker.”
Fox News has been the country’s most watched cable channel for twenty-one years. That impressive streak belies how few Americans actually watch it—the network averaged 2.33 million viewers a night in 2022—but it remains something of a thought leader for the conservative movement. […] The network’s stars, such as Carlson, are savvy operators, eager to keep ratings up, even if what they’re peddling is patently false. […]
More at the link. Dangerous and, unfortunately, entertaining.
Cold War armies were organized around the division. For the U.S., it looked like this:
Field Army. 50,000 soldiers. (last used in Gulf War)
Corps. 20-45,000 soldiers. Two divisions.
Division. 10-15,000 soldiers. 3 brigades
Brigade/Regiment. 2-5,000 soldiers. 3-5 battalions
Battalion/Squadron. 500-1,000 soldiers. 3-5 companies/battery/troop
Company/Battery/Troop. 60-200 soldiers. 3-4 platoons
Platoon. 20-50 soldiers. 3-4 squads
Squad. 5-10 soldiers.
“Batteries” are artillery, “companies” are armor and infantry, and troops and squadrons are used by cavalry units. A regiment is generally units of the same kind—all tanks, all infantry, all artillery. A brigade is combined arms, so it takes pieces from various regiments and melds them together into a unit that can fight as a self-contained force.
Traditionally, the division “owned” critical assets like aviation, artillery, engineering, and most important of all, logistics. Therefore, a division couldn’t send one of its armored or infantry brigades to fight on its own, as those units lacked all other stuff that makes combined arms function. It was either send that massive, lumbering 15,000-personnel creature, or nothing. For rapid reaction deployments, the Army had (and still has) the Ranger battalion and the 101st and 82nd airborne divisions. But those are light, unarmored units.
In order to be more nimble, the Army is now organized around the Brigade Combat Team (can be armored, Stryker, or infantry), allowing the army to deploy smaller integrated units. For example, an infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) looks like this:
Cavalry Squadron
Infantry Battalions (x3)
Artillery Battalion
Engineer Battalion
Support Battalion (logistics!)
That BCT has everything it needs to fight as a combined arms unit. So for example, when I served, I was part of divisional artillery of the 3rd Infantry Division. Today, 3ID has two regular army Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCT) and one National Guard IBCT that can all deploy independent of the division. There is still a divisional artillery unit, but it has no guns. It just manages things like training of the artillery assets now directly assigned to each ABCT. The only asset still owned by the division is aircraft (transport and attack helicopters).
The Russians did something similar with their Brigade Tactical Group (BTG). But there was a massive difference in the American and Russian approach. This chart compares their BTG with an American armored IBCT: [chart at the link]
The obvious difference is that the US Army’s core deployable unit is much larger than the Russian’s. The second is how important artillery is to Russian doctrine. Both the ABCT and the BTG have the same number of guns, yet as a percentage of the overall force, the difference is massive. The US depends a great deal more on air power.
Remember my rule of thumb on logistics—about 15% of a given force pushes a button or pulls a trigger that fires something, everything else is supporting that 15%. We’re talking truck drivers, fuel tankers, mechanics, medics, repair technicians, command and control, etc. In an ABCT, that means around 700 soldiers doing the direct fighting. In a BTG, that’s just 120. And a US Army analysis came to the same conclusion:
BTGs deploy from garrison with about 200 infantrymen in four maneuver companies. According to Russian Army manuals, in the field as many as 50 percent of infantry soldiers can be required for local security and routine administrative tasks. This leaves relatively few infantrymen available for mounted squads.
So 100 infantrymen for mounted squads, plus 30 tankers for the 10 tanks in the BTG … 130! Yup, my 15% rule still holds up. Then again, that assumes the BTG was deploying at full strength. That never happened in this war. From Day One, Russia attacked with a BTG structure that could barely muster 100 fighting men at a time. Suddenly, it’s easier to understand how Ukraine was able to fight off what seemed, on paper, to be a massive Russian horde.
There was a good reason for the BTG, however. A Russian regiment has several BTGs. Thus, a commander could stand up one combat-ready BTG while pilfering the supplies of the other 2-3 in his regiment. Entire BTGs could exist on a spreadsheet, but the money for them syphoned off for dachas and mistresses. Moscow would be none the wiser, as the single functional BTG was always available for the typical Russian mission—Syria, Georgia, Moldova, etc.
Unfortunately, Putin believed the spreadsheets, and thus fielded an army that existed mostly on paper. We’ve since seen the consequences.
Now, it wasn’t long before Russian BTG doctrine starting going by the wayside. As early as April, we starting seeing things like this: [Tweet and image at the link]
A metrologist isn’t a misspelled weather man (as I originally thought). It’s someone who calibrates equipment measurements. There are lots of obvious military applications, such as calibrating artillery measurement devices that allow for greater accuracy. Yet by April, Russia was already throwing support personnel into front-line combat units. That was the end of me talking about the 15% rule.
Yet for every support personnel used as cannon fodder, that meant one less support personnel to, you know, support combat arms units. We can only speculate about what that metrologist did, but we do know that Russian artillery has shit accuracy. If a mechanic, or truck driver, or, heck, meteorologist is thrown at the front lines, there are consequences in the rear.
We’ve even seen multiple videos of Russian artillerymen complaining about being thrown into the front as infantry fodder. That’s great news! Artillery is far more destructive.
One last point about the BTG—Russia never managed the ability to attack with mass, or display any combined arms abilities. The largest attacks reported were 2-3 BTGs at a time, and I doubt those were full-strength BTGs. We’ve never seen a video of 20-30 tanks and 120 infantry fighting vehicles swarming down a field toward an objective. The U.S. could easily manage that with a BCT. […]
Over the last few months, whatever notion of a Russian BTG still remained had long since passed. Russia’s tactics devolved to massive artillery barrages followed by suicidal infantry attacks against Ukrainian defensive positions. Rarely, armor makes an appearance, like the repeated (also suicidal) attacks around Vuhledar, and recent Russian efforts round Kreminna. But mostly, it’s just meat-grinder tactics. So finally, Russia has given up any pretenses. [Tweet and image at the link]
There’s some great stuff in that thread, written by a Ukrainian army officer.
The Assault Detachment is customizable to mission requirements and consists of 2-3 assault companies, a command unit, an artillery support unit, and other groups: recon, tank, EW, AD, fire support, UAV, Medevac, flamethrowing, assault engineering, reserve, equipment recovery.
Assault unit armament:
– Three T-72 tanks
– Two Zu-23, and 3 MANDAPS [air defense]
– 12 man-portable flamethrowers
– Six SPGs (2S9) [self-propelled artillery]
– Six Towed artillery guns (D30)
– Two AGS-17 [grenade launchers]
– Two Kord HMGs [heavy machine guns]
– Two ATGMs [anti-tank guided missiles]
– Two sniper pairs
– BREM-L [recovery vehicle, to tow back broken vehicles]
Additionally, the Assault Detachment has 12 infantry fighting vehicles. Initial thoughts: their BTG was already too small for operational effectiveness. They’ve gone even smaller. Yet despite cutting armor by 70%, artillery has only shrunk from 18 to 12 guns. The flamethrowers are good for clearing trenches, I think? So this looks like Russia is accepting their dramatically reduced stocks of armor, and are going to lean even more heavily on artillery and infantry.
Main assault provisions:
• The pause between the assault and artillery fire on fortified positions should be no longer than one minute
• Using UAVs for reconnaissance is advised, but it is not recommended to use them for battle monitoring to avoid the loss of the UAV.
Given Russia’s lack of artillery accuracy (I bet zero metrologists are left), there is absolutely no way they can coordinate a one-minute pause between artillery and infantry assault. As it stands, Russia has already suffered heavy friendly fire casualties from mistargeted artillery.
And having UAV (drone) coverage of an ongoing operation is invaluable for alerting soldiers on the ground of changing battlefield conditions (such as, for instance, alerting friendlies to an enemy flanking maneuver). Given Russia’s communications woes, maybe it’s irrelevant—I doubt cannon fodder is being equipped with valuable radios. But the callous disregard for lives, in order to avoid the loss of a cheap freakin’ drone, is unbelievable. Heck, monitoring the battle might even inform Russian commanders of changing Ukrainian tactics!
I’d guess the real reason they’re discouraging drone monitoring is to eliminate evidence of incompetence and callous disregard for the lives of their men.
• Occupying abandoned trenches is prohibited because they may have been booby-trapped or could have been prepared as targets for artillery strikes.
• Assaulters cannot evacuate the wounded themselves; they must relay the wounded’s coordinates to the evacuation team.
Interesting information on the trenches. This means Ukraine has been effective in booby trapping their trenches, and in accurately landing artillery on those coordinates. As for the wounded, once again, Russia shows its callous disregard for the lives of its men. We all know there’s no “evacuation team” coming. This is all about pushing the infantry forward until they’re all dead. And valuable meters might be lost if anyone stops to actually help a wounded comrade.
• The platoon commander controls mortar fire.
• The platoon/company commander decides on artillery targets, but only the unit commander can provide the air support.
This is a change in Russian doctrine, in which on-the-ground commanders have zero authority to deviate from whatever master plan has been handed on down. Russian Telegram has, from nearly the start, complained that targets of opportunity are missed because it takes hours or even days to approve coordinates sent to artillery commanders.
Good luck changing that, in the middle of war, with little incentive for artillery commanders or senior officers to cede any of their power. […]
• During an assault, it is prohibited for an assault company or platoon to move through open spaces and they should instead move solely within the treeline.
This is a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Out in the open, it’s easier for drones to spot the movement. But the tree line is easier to hit with artillery, as the coordinates are well defined.
This decision seems to be influenced by Wagner’s advances in the Bakhmut area and the decreased availability of vehicles and weaponry since February 2022. Unlike BTG, assault detachments doesn’t seem to have a logistics or MLRS units in their structure.
There are no organic logistics in these units, meaning, they don’t have trucks directly assigned to supply with ammo, food, water, spare parts, lubrication, fuel, medical gear, and all the other things that a war machine needs. So what could go wrong?
The problem with the BTG was always its small size and Russia’s inability to coordinate with other BTGs to bring massed armor to offensive operations. Shrinking its operational unit even further doesn’t seem to address that core problem.
But if Russia’s plan is to keep trickling assault groups forward of 6-8 men at a time to expose Ukrainian defensive positions so they can subsequently be targeted by artillery, then I guess this does the trick.
If getting infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus was nothing more than a kind of flu that you could catch again just weeks after your last infection, that would be bad enough. If it was just something that involved a kind of Russian roulette where the bullet was hidden in a hundred barrels, that would be terrifying. But it’s worse than that.
Because for a lot of people an infection with COVID-19 means developing some symptoms of “long COVID.” Depending on the study and the criteria used, symptoms that linger beyond three months after the initial infection may affect as few as 10% of those infected, or as many as 43%. Considering that some of the first people to come down with COVID-19 in the United States are still displaying symptoms, there’s every reason to believe that some of those who contract long COVID may find themselves with possibly debilitating issues for the rest of their lives.
Many of those who have recovered from the “active” phase of COVID-19 find that they are left with a heart that races after even minor exertion, with pains at various locations, with crushing exhaustion, with that peculiar loss of the sense of smell, and with bouts of “brain fog” that make it hard to think clearly. […]
the truth may be that all of this is in the mind … or rather, in the brain. The cluster of persistent symptoms that we’ve come to identify as the lingering effects of a COVID-19 infection appear to be neurological.
COVID-19 is far from the first virus to leave behind lingering symptoms, and among viruses neurological damage is one of the better-known consequences. HIV is an example of another viral infection that generates neurological damage in the brain. […]
Someone who is blasé about infection may think again if they realize the closest analog isn’t the seasonal flu, but HIV. As one of the researchers says, “I now think of COVID as a neurological disease as much as I think of it as a pulmonary disease, and that’s definitely true in long COVID.”
[…] Vaccination appears to reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of developing long COVID. Repeated infection increases the risk.
Contrast all this with this astoundingly destructive article published in Time this week and entitled “The COVID-19 pandemic will be over when Americans think it is.” That article doesn’t just dismiss the lingering threat of the the virus and rewrite history to suggest that America experience some protracted universal “lock down” that never happened; it actively encourages contracting COVID-19 as somehow patriotic. […]
New courageous “accept exposure” policies, public education, and behavior change strategies are needed to capture the benefits of the new paradigm.
President Biden analyzes the peace plan proposed by China:
President Biden said a Chinese-brokered peace plan between Russia and Ukraine is “not rational” in a new interview, noting that the proposed plan would only benefit Russia.
ABC News’s David Muir asked Biden in an interview released Friday what he thought of Chinese peace proposal that Russian President Vladimir Putin applauded last week.
“I think you answered the question, Putin’s applauding it, so how could it be any good? I’m not being facetious. I’m being deadly earnest,” Biden told Muir. “I’ve seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia if the Chinese plan were followed.”
“It’s the idea that China is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war that’s a totally unjust war for Ukraine is just not rational,” he continued.
China called for a cease-fire in the Ukraine-Russia war on Thursday and outlined a 12-point plan to negotiate peace. The plan includes ending hostilities, resuming peace talks and addressing the humanitarian crisis the war created.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled some openness to China’s proposal, saying that China discussing Ukraine “was not bad” at a press conference on Friday, The Associated Press reported. However, he also said that he disagrees with some of the plan’s proposals, but wants to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this month that China is “strongly considering” sending Russia “lethal assistance” in its war with Ukraine. The Pentagon warned this week China would face “consequences” if it does provide weapons to Moscow. […]
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
…Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Monday that talks with Sweden and Finland regarding their Nato membership bids would resume on 9 March, after a delay in January in the wake of a Qur’an-burning protest. The meeting will take place in Brussels and will include discussion on the implementation of the memorandum signed between the countries. It later emerged that the Qur’an-burning incident in Stockholm was funded by a far-right journalist with links to Kremlin-backed media.
Respect for human rights has gone into reverse, the United Nations chief warned Monday, calling for a renewal of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 75 years after its signing. Pointing to the war raging in Ukraine, and threats to rights from soaring poverty, hunger and climate disasters, António Guterres said the declaration was “under assault from all sides”. He said the “Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most massive violations of human rights” being witnessed in the world today. “It has unleashed widespread death, destruction and displacement,” he said.
The UK’s ministry of defence has claimed that “Russia will likely be concerned that unexplained explosions are occurring” in and around Mariupol, a location “at least 80km away from the frontline … [which] it had probably previously assessed as beyond the range of routine Ukrainian strike capabilities.”
The US is “confident” that China is considering providing lethal equipment to support Russia in Ukraine, according to the CIA director, William Burns. In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Burns said he was “confident that the Chinese leadership is considering the provision of lethal equipment” but noted “we also don’t see that a final decision has been made yet, and we don’t see evidence of actual shipments of lethal equipment”.…
Also from there:
A Ukrainian Nobel peace laureate has called for the swift creation of a special tribunal to try Vladimir Putin and his associates for the crime of aggression, arguing that it could have “a cooling effect” on atrocities committed by the Kremlin’s invading forces.
Oleksandra Matviichuk, the head of the Centre for Civil Liberties, also said a speedy start to war crimes trials against the Russian president and soldiers could save people’s lives by deterring Russian forces from committing further crimes.
Starting legal proceedings could have “a cooling effect” on the brutality of human rights violations that Russian troops were committing daily in Ukraine, she told the Guardian in an interview.
Some troops, perhaps not all, would realise that Putin’s authoritarian regime had an end date, Matviichuk said, if they knew they would be held to account. The possibility of justice would help them realise “I will not be able to hide under abstract Putin and maybe I will have to be responsible for every thing which I commit by my own hands,” she said.
Belarusian anti-war partisans claim to have severely damaged a Russian military aircraft in what an opposition leader has called the “most successful diversion” since the beginning of the war.
BYPOL, the Belarusian partisan organisation, said it had used drones to strike the Machulishchy airfield 12km from Minsk, severely damaging a Beriev A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft (Awacs).
“One of the nine Awacs of the Russian aerospace forces worth $330m (was destroyed),” the group said. “These were drones. The participants of the operation are Belarusians. (They have attained) ‘Victory’ and are now safely outside the country. Everyone has escaped.”
The plane “definitely won’t fly anywhere”, it added.
According to some reports, the aircraft was hit by munitions dropped by two drones. A second munition reportedly hit close to the cockpit. “The front and middle section of the aircraft were damaged, as well as avionics and a radar antenna,” said a report attributed to BYPOL.
The damage to the aircraft has not been independently confirmed, although both Russian and Belarusian military bloggers have reported explosions on Sunday at the airfield. One also confirmed “damage to a Russian military transport plane”.
“This is the most successful diversion since the beginning of 2022,” wrote Franak Viačorka, an adviser to the Belarusian opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsihanouskaya. “Two Belarusians conducted the operation. They used drones for this operation and have already left the country and are in safety now.”
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, declined to comment on reports of the attack on Monday. “We have nothing to say about this,” he told journalists on Monday.
The Beriev A50 represents old technology, built around the air frame of an Ilyushin transport plane. While first coming into service in the mid-1980s, it is also still a key military technology.
With about 40 of the aircraft built – and nine reportedly still in active service – they are able to detect when air defence systems are activated and where, allowing Russia to target those air defences. More broadly, such so-called airborne early warning and control aircraft are used to detect aircraft, shipping, missiles, and other incoming projectiles at long ranges, surveil the battlefield and help with battlefield management.
What is concerning for Moscow is that the airbase has also been hosting at least one MIG-31 interceptor, which is capable of carrying a nuclear capable hypersonic missile, aircraft whose launches have been responsible of a number of recent air alarms in Ukraine.
Belarusian opposition forces have previously used drones to strike government targets. As early as 2021, the Black Stork group used drones to drop incendiary devices on riot police headquarters and other government buildings. Belarusian cyber-partisans have also been fighting the government since the 2020 protests against the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko. In 2022, members of the group told the Guardian they had hacked the Belarusian railways to disrupt Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine.
“We don’t want Russian soldiers in Belarus since it compromises the sovereignty of the country and puts it in danger of occupation,” the member of the Cyberpartisans told the Guardian. “It also pulls Belarus into a war with Ukraine. And probably Belarusian soldiers would have to participate in it and die for this meaningless war.”
Lukashenko announced on Monday that Moscow had delivered more weapons systems to the country, including an Iskander short-range ballistic missile system and an S-400 air-defence missile system….
Scores of Israeli settlers have gone on a violent rampage in the northern West Bank, setting alight dozens of cars and homes after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman.
Palestinian medics said one man was killed and four other people were badly wounded in what appeared to be the worst outburst of settler violence in decades.
…
Palestinian media said about 30 homes and cars were torched. Photos and video on social media showed large fires burning throughout the town of Hawara – the scene of the fatal shooting earlier in the day – and lighting up the sky.
In one video, a crowd of Jewish settlers prayed in front of a burning building. Earlier, a prominent Israeli cabinet minister and settler leader had called for Israel to strike “without mercy”.
Late on Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry said a 37-year-old man was shot and killed by Israeli fire. The Palestinian Red Crescent medical service said two other people were shot and wounded, a third person was stabbed and a fourth was beaten with an iron bar. Ninety-five others were being treated for teargas inhalation.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, condemned what he called “the terrorist acts carried out by settlers under the protection of the occupation forces tonight”.
“We hold the Israeli government fully responsible,” he added.
The European Union said it was “alarmed” by the violence in Hawara and that “authorities on all sides must intervene now to stop this endless cycle of violence”. The UK’s ambassador to Israel, Neil Wigan, said “Israel should tackle settler violence, with those responsible brought to justice”.
As videos of the violence appeared on evening news shows, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appealed for calm and spoke against vigilante violence. “I ask that when blood is boiling and the spirit is hot, don’t take the law into your hands,” he said in a video statement.
The Israeli military said its chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzl Halevi, had rushed to the scene. It said troops were being reinforced in the area as they worked to restore order and search for the gunman. [Rest easy, everyone, the Israeli military is there to “restore order.”]
Ghassan Douglas, a Palestinian official who monitors Israeli settlements in the Nablus region, said settlers burned at least six houses and dozens of cars in Hawara, and he reported attacks on other neighbouring Palestinian villages. He estimated about 400 Jewish settlers took part in the attack.
“I have never seen such an attack,” he said.
…
Prominent members of Israel’s far-right government called for tough action against the Palestinians over the shooting.
The Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a settler leader who has been put in charge of much of Israel’s West Bank policy, called for “striking the cities of terror and its instigators without mercy, with tanks and helicopters”.
Using a phrase that calls for a more heavy-handed response, he said Israel should act “in a way that conveys that the master of the house has gone crazy”.
Late on Sunday, however, Smotrich appealed to his fellow settlers to let the army and government do their jobs. “It is forbidden to take the law into your hands and create dangerous anarchy that could spin out of control and cost lives,” he said.
Earlier, an Israeli ministerial committee gave initial approval to a bill that would impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted in deadly attacks. The measure was sent to lawmakers for further debate.
…
Sunday’s shooting in Hawara came days after an Israeli military raid killed 10 Palestinians in the nearby city of Nablus. The shooting occurred on a major road that serves both Palestinians and Israeli settlers. The two men who were killed were identified as brothers, aged 21 and 19, from the Jewish settlement of Har Bracha.
It’s amazing how much this reads like a dispatch from a European colony in a previous century.
(Interesting: “Vocal on social justice issues, Schlein, an Italian-American national, has been compared in Italy to the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She rejoined the Democratic party after leaving in 2015 out of frustration over the direction the party was taking under its then leader and former prime minister, Matteo Renzi.”)
This particular recipe doesn’t appeal to me, but the other food pictured looks delicious. “Together, they are trying to fight back, and although the number of people identifying as vegan is still tiny, the 1.2 billion-strong continent could yet prove vital for the direction of the global vegan movement.”
It’s amazing how much this reads like a dispatch from a European colony in a previous century. – SC@202
Yes, amazing in one way, but in another, not at all. The Zionist project leading to the establishment of the state of Israel, while it clearly had unique featues related to the precarious and often oppressed status of Jews in Europe, was often seen, including by Zionists themselves, as a chapter in European colonization, bringing “civilization” to “primitive” areas (an interesting article in Haaretz here. The false claim that Palestine was a “land without a people” (Israel Zangwill) echoes the doctrine of “terra nullius” used as justification for seizing indigenous peoples’ land.
SC @203: “(I’ve neither read the book nor seen the movie, so can’t really speak to this one way or the other.)”
I did watch the new version of All Quiet On The Western Front. It is mostly an anti-war movie. You see very young men pressed into war by old men with dubious goals. This is true on both sides. You see one helluva lot of mud and death. The old men continue to press young men to run straight into machine gun fire long after it is obvious that the war is lost. Naturally, the audience identifies with the young soldier who is shown onscreen most often, and who struggles mightily to survive. French generals are depicted as having forced the Germans into an “unfair” surrender. It is all basically stupid and messy. The movie aptly depicts the horrors of trench warfare.
The German army is not well fed, not well managed, etc. The troops are treated like cannon fodder.
No good reasons, not even necessity, are ever presented as excuses for the war. War just seems to spring up from collective human stupidity, and is quickly followed by the sights of people doing whatever they have to do to survive.
The movie might be interesting to cinematographers and directors. It makes interesting use of those skills to depict the story and the overall mood.
I do not recommend it.
KGsays
Lynna, OM@207,
Thanks for that brief review! I’m unlikely to watch the movie, but it would be tricky to explain “The Origins of the First World War” in less than days or even weeks in screen time! And the best treatment of that issue I’ve read is Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers, the title of which indicates that he took, in the end, much the same view as you say the film suggests.
…Once the bulk of the 300,000 mobilized reservists had arrived with units in Ukraine Putin began allowing the Russian MoD to reassert its primacy over all Russian forces. Putin named Gerasimov overall theater commander on January 11, subordinating Surovikin to him. The Russian MoD began actively integrating the 1st and 2nd (DNR and LNR) army corps into the conventional Russian military and is reportedly removing proxy commanders, measures that are generating backlash within the ultranationalist community. The Russian MoD is also attempting to restrict Wagner from receiving state ammunition and stopped Wagner’s prisoner recruitment in favor of its own prisoner recruitment efforts. Gerasimov stripped Wagner of responsibility for Bakhmut, began introducing Russian conventional military reinforcements into the area, and ordered official Russian channels to use a euphemism for Wagner forces without using the Wagner name. The Russian MoD is reportedly entertaining ideas to restrict milbloggers’ operations on the frontlines and is introducing new operational security and discipline regulations. These controversial measures are all part of the Russian MoD’s rushed attempts to unwind and resolve the aftermath of Putin’s refusal to order involuntary mobilization in May 2022.
Putin’s clear efforts to prepare the Russian people for a protracted and painful war suggest that he has realized that only the Russian MoD can actually sustain the large mechanized forces he needs to have any hope of achieving his ambitions in Ukraine. Putin has apparently still hesitated to order the additional reserve call-up that Russian officials were reportedly preparing at the start of 2023. He has not turned back to voluntary recruitment and is unlikely to do so, but he seems to remain nervous about how much sacrifice he can impose on his people.
Putin’s need for the ultranationalist community has changed but has not vanished. Putin no longer needs that community to draw volunteers to allow him to avoid involuntary mobilization at this time, but he still needs it to serve as the most reliable pro-Kremlin voice sustaining support for the war effort. He is unlikely, therefore, to allow the MoD fully to censor or shut it down, but he may allow Gerasimov to sideline or remove entirely some milbloggers who have been too strident in their criticisms now that their services as active recruiters are no longer necessary.
Putin may find himself facing another dilemma after another wave or two of reserve call-ups, as the pool of reservists appropriate for front-line fighting is finite. The Russian conscription system generates roughly 260,000 new soldiers each year, drawn in two semi-annual call-ups. The combination of the pre-war reserve call-up, the recruitment efforts that drew partly on reservists, and the partial reserve call-up of September have likely made significant inroads into the available reserve manpower in the age groups and with the experience appropriate to replace losses in front-line combat units. Putin may need to consider expanding conscript service itself, drawing a higher proportion of young Russian men against their will into military service each year. But demographics do not favor such an approach. Roughly 800,000 young men turn 18 each year in Russia. Expanding conscription much beyond the 260,000 of those already forced into military service risks not only taking young men with physical conditions unsuitable for war but also beginning to pull too many young men out of the Russian economy, which Putin is simultaneously attempting to put on a war footing.
The specter of limitless Russian manpower is a myth. Putin has already been forced to make difficult and suboptimal choices to offset the terrible losses his war has inflicted on the Russian military, and he will face similarly difficult choices in 2023 if he persists in his determination to use military force to impose his will on Ukraine and the West. Russia can mobilize more manpower, and Putin will likely do so rather than give up. But the costs to Putin and Russia of the measures he will likely need to take at this point will begin to mount rapidly….
It later emerged that the Qur’an-burning incident in Stockholm was funded by a far-right journalist with links to Kremlin-backed media.
Sheesh. Russian provocation on all sides and at all levels. You can see how they are trying to scuttle the NATO expansion. Pretty crude techniques, but still apparently successful.
Lukashenko announced on Monday that Moscow had delivered more weapons systems to the country [Belarus], including an Iskander short-range ballistic missile system and an S-400 air-defence missile system…
Sigh. The situation in Belarus is trending in the wrong direction.
House Republicans are gearing up a new round of attacks on federal workers. And while some of the specific attacks are following in Donald Trump’s footsteps, the basic goal is a longstanding Republican one: break the government, so that you can attack the government as broken.
What Republicans are claiming is that they just want to be able to make sure federal workers are doing their jobs. “Fire people if they don’t do things they’re supposed to do,” Rep. Virginia Foxx said. But the real plan, beyond the simple degradation of the government into something no one can rely on, is to enable political purges. A bill from Rep. Chip Roy would strip federal workers of civil service protections, making them at-will employees who could be fired for any reason. Say, because they weren’t loyalists of whoever happened to be in power at the moment.
Trump already made moves in that direction in 2020, with an executive order effectively imposing a political loyalty test on any federal worker whose job involves policy in any way. […]
To that end, Republicans also reinstated the Holman Rule, which allows members of Congress to target specific agencies or federal employees for cuts—including pay cuts for individual workers. This rule was dropped in 1983 until Republicans reinstated it in 2017. When Democrats took control of the House in 2019, they let it lapse again. Now it’s back.
As Rep. Jamie Raskin told The Washington Post, “Essentially, they want to wage war on the federal workforce—with the possible exception of certain parts of the military” […]
“Weaponization of the government is not their target — weaponization of the government is their purpose,” Raskin said.
[…] All that is in addition to the predictable, nonstop Republican efforts to cut the budgets of agencies that exist to help regular people.
Even if the Senate and Biden are able to block House Republican efforts to weaken civil service protections and cut federal worker pay or benefits, the attacks have an effect. “House Republicans “can still score points by making government less attractive, and damage is done when you disparage federal employees just as we’re trying to make federal employment more attractive,” Rep. Gerald Connolly told the Post. […] Republicans weaken the government even if their immediate plans are blocked for now.
Among the most surprising elements of the Justice Department’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack came to public light last August. Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the chair of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, announced that three FBI agents approached him while he was traveling with his family, and one agent “seized” his cell phone.
As we discussed at the time, it’s not at all common for federal lawmakers to approach a sitting member of Congress as part of an apparent law enforcement operation. It’s even less common for the FBI to take a lawmaker’s phone.
In the six months that followed, the GOP congressman waged a lengthy fight to prevent law enforcement officials from accessing and using the contents of cell phone. As Politico reported, Perry’s efforts haven’t gone especially well.
The chief judge of the federal district court in Washington, D.C., secretly rejected Rep. Scott Perry’s bid to shield more than 2,000 messages relevant to Justice Department investigators probing efforts by Donald Trump to subvert the 2020 election, according to newly unsealed court filings. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell unsealed her extraordinary Dec. 28 decision on Friday evening, determining that the “powerful public interest” in seeing the previously secret opinion outweighed the need for continued secrecy.
At issue are 2,219 documents, which the Republican hoped to keep from investigators, arguing that they were shielded as part of the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause (which keeps coming up in a variety of contexts), including his private interactions with the White House.
The judge in the case didn’t buy it: Howell allowed Perry to withhold 161 of the items, but she also ordered him to disclose the rest to the Justice Department, including his 960 interactions with the Trump administration, concluding that his lawyers’ “astonishing“ argument would elevate members of Congress above the law. [Correct.]
Note, Howell’s ruling was handed down in December, but it wasn’t disclosed until Friday. A Washington Post report explained that the judge in the case “said the Justice Department agreed to unseal details Friday because a federal appeals court held fast-tracked public arguments this week after staying Howell’s order and approved the release of her key opinions to certain members of Congress and the House general counsel’s office.”
In other words, as things stand, the Justice Department still doesn’t have the contents of the Republican’s phone because of an appeals court order. Meanwhile, some elements remain under seal, including federal prosecutors’ specific allegations about the contents of Perry’s phone and how they might relate to alleged crimes. […]
The Jan. 6 committee highlighted a Dec. 21, 2020, White House meeting focused on the Republican scheme to overturn the presidential election. Among the participants was Scott Perry.
A month earlier, we learned at a different Jan. 6 hearing about GOP lawmakers who allegedly sought pardons from Trump before he left office. Among them was Scott Perry.
Around the same time, we saw testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who said under oath that Trump discussed ideas with allies about going to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Among those the then-president talked to about this was Scott Perry.
A month before that, we learned of allegations that then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows literally set fire to papers in his office after a meeting with a congressional Republican. The lawmaker was Scott Perry.
The text messages Meadows shared with the Jan. 6 committee showed that one member of Congress sent some truly nutty messages to the Trump White House after the 2020 election, pushing the idea that secret Italian satellites rigging American voting machines and the Trump-appointed CIA director was in cahoots with the British. The member was Scott Perry.
In fact, just weeks after the Jan. 6 attack, we learned how Trump came to be in contact with anti-election lawyers such as Jeffrey Clark, who was a relatively obscure Justice Department official at the time. It turns out, one House Republican helped put Clark on the then-president’s radar. The Republican was Scott Perry.
[…] The reality of the situation is that big corporations like Norfolk Southern spend millions in Washington for lax regulation and our railroad infrastructure is woefully aged and deficient – and not just for freight rail. Virtually every upgrade to the country’s railroad infrastructure and the quality of its rail stock pays dividends either in safety or efficiency. Republicans are simultaneously calling out corporations for not caring about ordinary Americans while carrying their anti-regulatory water on Capitol Hill. Democrats should run a freight train right through that contradiction. […]
Democrats should pound on the fact at every opportunity that the Trump White House not only rolled back those regulations but Trump literally bragged about doing so on Twitter.
But that’s hardly enough. Democrats, led by the White House, should immediately bring forward expansive legislation to bring America’s railroads up to code, to not only add additional health and safety regulations but change the formulas and frameworks through which new regulations are promulgated. (They’re currently held captive by a framework of narrow cost benefit analysis which does not take into account the true externalities and consequences of man-made disasters like these.) That legislation is the answer to every Republicans’ crocodile tears about how did this happen? Why was Norfolk Southern allowed to do this? How do we prevent this from ever happening again?
[…] For Democrats, the policy and the politics line up exactly. They should be leaning into it. Yes, Republicans react to their own policy failures with performative pearl-clutching. […]
Introduce the legislation and push it hard. Make clear to everyone what the problem is and where everybody stands and increase the chances of actually improving things. Policy and politics line up precisely.
[…] A tumor had burst through the wall of her uterus. Doctors performed an emergency hysterectomy and removed what cancer they could reach. She needed multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, expensive stuff. […]
Luckily, or so Martin thought, she had placed her trust — and her money — in Liberty HealthShare. Liberty is what’s known as a health care sharing ministry, a nonprofit alternative to medical insurance rooted in Christian principles. […]
[…] Liberty covered her bills at first, but then, without warning or explanation, the payments stopped. […] She spent hours pleading over the phone with Liberty, straining to focus as the toxic drugs she was taking sapped her energy. […]
Martin died in July 2022 at age 63. Liberty never settled the bills that she had begged them to pay.
[…] For generations, members of the Beers family of Canton, Ohio, have used Christian faith to sell health coverage to more than a hundred thousand people like Martin. Instead they delivered pain, debt and financial ruin […]
the ministry enrolled members in almost every state and collected $300 million in annual revenue. Liberty used the money to pay at least $140 million to businesses owned and operated by Beers family members and friends over a seven-year period […]The family then funneled the money through a network of shell companies to buy a private airline in Ohio, more than $20 million in real estate holdings and scores of other businesses, including a winery in Oregon that they turned into a marijuana farm. […]
Despite abundant evidence of fraud, much of it detailed in court records and law enforcement files […] members of the Beers family have flourished in the health care industry and have never been prevented from running a nonprofit. […] there’s no indication that the IRS has investigated how several members of one family amassed such substantial wealth in just seven years by running a Christian nonprofit.
[…] using money intended to cover members’ medical bills to buy an airplane, a tour bus and several Honda Gold Wing motorcycles […] County property records show that Beers and his wife received a 5,000-square-foot house on the estate and paid nothing for it.
“A Criminal Enterprise”
[…] With subscribers’ fees going elsewhere, medical bills began to go unpaid. […]
Beers dodged the judgment for almost 20 years but negotiated a new settlement with the charity, paying it $210,000 early last year. The verdict “doesn’t mean what we did was wrong,” he told a local newspaper […]
Reboot
[…] Liberty’s CEO was Dale Bellis, Dan Beers’ close friend and business partner and the former communications director for the Brotherhood. Bellis and Beers are also connected through marriage; Bellis’ sister was married to Beers’ uncle.
[…] Liberty resembled the Brotherhood in another way: It soon began contracting out services to companies owned and operated by family members and friends.
[…] Liberty masked payments that were going to the company by reporting that those millions of dollars were spent on members’ medical costs […]
[…] Liberty enrolled 50,000 members in its first two years, more than the entire industry had covered before the Affordable Care Act. Marketing flyers from that era show Liberty urging people to “join the movement” and “opt out of Obamacare.” […]
Between 2015 and 2021, Liberty collected at least $1.9 billion in revenue […] hypothetical accounts accomplished two things, according to current and former employees. They gave the appearance that Liberty was sending far more money to medical providers than it was, and they gave Liberty cover from regulations. If Liberty was pooling members’ funds into bank accounts, insurance commissioners could argue that the company was selling insurance. The software, however, made it look as if each person had an individual account. In reality, Liberty controlled every dollar.
The Conglomerate
[…] Danny and Ronnie Beers and Fabris created a dizzying array of businesses, real estate holding companies and shell companies — entities that conduct no business but hold assets and move money. [money laundering]
[…] Other Lazy L businesses popped up: Lazy L Ranch Trucking, Lazy L Ranch Meats, Lazy L Ranch Cattle and Lazy L Ranch Leasing. [sounds like Trump’s many-layered scams]
[…] Through a common arrangement that kept their names out of public records, family members purchased a controlling stake of Ultimate Air Charters, a boutique airline that specializes in shuttling passengers from Canton to gambling locales such as Atlantic City. (Ultimate Air Charters recently made headlines when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis used the company to shuttle immigrant families to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.) [LOL, scammers flocking together]
[snipped details about the marijuana farm]
[…] “I believe this company is a total PONZI SCHEME,” reads one complaint, from Georgia. “Shameful that a company as deceitful as this portrays itself as a Christian-based company. As a Christian myself, this façade is deplorable.”
“Remarkably Similar to the Brotherhood”
Dr. John Hunt became Liberty’s chief medical officer in 2017. He joined the ministry in the hope of serving a Christian alternative to a health care system he viewed as rigged against consumers. He soon learned he’d misplaced his faith. Hunt was disturbed to find that nearly all of Liberty’s top executives had worked at the Christian Brotherhood Newsletter, and he saw that Dan Beers, the person at the center of that scam, was clearly involved in running Liberty.
[…] a deal was struck, with that group agreeing to pay $6.4 million to the state, most of it intended to help Liberty members with their medical expenses. […] That figure appears to have done little for members who were sent into debt by the ministry’s failure to reimburse them […]
The Bank
In early 2018, as the Ohio attorney general’s office began its investigation, Danny and Ronnie Beers and Brandon Fabris and his father paid $7.3 million to buy Farmers State Bank, a small chain that served rural communities at the foot of the Missouri Ozarks. […]
The bank is the linchpin of the family’s next business venture.
They renamed the chain LimeBank and applied for federal approval to take control. The filing included a letter from Liberty’s board committing to shift the nonprofit’s money to LimeBank.
[…] In their filings, the Beerses and the Fabrises explained that the bank would use special software to create accounts for Liberty’s members, track their funds and make thousands of transfers every day to pay bills.
[…] Instead of using “hypothetical accounts,” the health care sharing ministry would give individual members real bank accounts.
However, there was a catch: Members would have to sign power of attorney for the account over to Liberty. Again, the nonprofit would control their money. [Sheesh! Such an obvious scam!]
[…] The plan was simple. Liberty would open an account for each member. LimeBank would charge $16.50 for every new account and then a $6.50 monthly fee on every existing account, several former bank employees told ProPublica. Liberty’s membership alone in 2019 would have generated more than $7 million a year in bank fees.
[…] Beers was assertive when he spoke at a 2019 event sponsored by CPAC. In a video from that conference, Beers described how he’d ascended from convicted felon to a magnate overseeing “23 businesses.”
He misspoke at that conference, he now claimed. “I was referring to our family — not me,” he said. “I don’t own a single company.”
[…] Asked about the many similarities between Liberty’s funneling of cash to family companies and the activities of the Christian Brotherhood Newsletter, which investigators had alleged two decades earlier constituted conspiracy and money laundering, Beers rejected the question.
“There’s no money laundering,” he said. “Zero. It’s not even worth discussing. There’s no money laundering.”
Much more at the link. I snipped a lot.
KGsays
Russia’s culture almost doesn’t exist. – raven@143
Raven, lay off this stupid, racist garbage. It’s just the same sort of dehumanization as the Allies aimed at Germans (“Huns”) in WW1, and the Japanese in WW2, and Putin’s stooges aim at the Ukranians now. – me@153
I would appreciate it if the discussion of culture in Russia were presented on a more factual level, with examples. Keep it short, if possible. Thank you. – Lynna@157
My point @153 was that saying “Russia’s culture almost doesn’t exist.” is not only absurd, it’s dehumanizing. Of course it’s valid to criticize aspects of Russian or any other culture, but culture is a human universal, so saying “Russia’s culture almost doesn’t exist” is saying that the nearly 150 million inhabitants of the Russian Federation (by no means all ethnic Russians, of course) are scarcely human. And if we turn to what’s sometimes called “high culture”, Russians and other inhabitants of the RF and its predecessor Russian states have made remarkable contributions to music (Stravinsky, Shostakovich), literature (Dostoevsky, Chekhov), the visual (Chagall, Osipov) and performance (Bolshoi Ballet) arts, science (Mendeleyev, Luria, Vygotsky, Vavilov), mathematics (Lobachevsky, Kovalevskaya, Kolmogorov, Perelman), political and social philosophy and activism (Kropotkin, Emma Goldman, Sakarov)… Many countries and cultures have at times fallen and others (including the USA) appear currently in danger of falling to toxic chauvinism and authoritarianism. That the RF and apparently most of its population have currently done so is tragic, and perilous for the world, but dehumanizing its people (raven is by no means the only person doing so) makes things worse, not better.
SC@177,
Thanks! But I really did LoL at raven’s ridiculous claims and threats in #174 and #175. I have not, of course, done anything like “stalking” raven: I have no idea who raven is, have made no attempt to find out, and have no intention of doing so, although the converse is evidently not true. I admit I have responded with a degree of scorn when raven seems to me to have a particularly ridiculous bee in the bonnet (as now about the supposed worthlessness of Russia and Russians), but have enjoyed and learned from many of their other comments.
The Federal Election Commission ruled last year that members of Congress can hire bodyguards with campaign funds. That was a reasonable response to an alarming increase in threats against lawmakers, their families, and staff. House members will also receive up to $10,000 to upgrade security in their homes.
This grim new reality isn’t a total bummer. It does offer some potential grifting opportunities. This brings us to our favorite plucky independent, Krysten Sinema from the Sinema Party. The Daily Beast reports that the senator from Arizona spends more of her considerable campaign funds on personal security than any other Congress member — an estimated $560,000 since late 2021. Sure, an armed man showed up outside Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Seattle house shouting racist obscenities. However, Sinema was almost forced to interact with her own constituents […] The horror! [Tweet and video at the link]
Federal campaign finance filings reveal that Sinema’s campaign committees have paid $307,000 in security expenses to an Arizona-registered entity called TOA Group LLC. According to official documents, TOA Group LLC is a slightly unusual organization. It has just one officer: Vrindivan Gabbard Bellord. And, yes, Bellord is the sister and sometime spokesperson for former Democrat turned Russian propagandist Tulsi Gabbard.
The connection isn’t totally random. Gabbard and Sinema are old buddies who served in the House together. Here’s a quick and nauseating paragraph from DuJour’s 2014 article “The Gifts of Gabbard.”
In Washington, Gabbard’s striking looks make her a standout against Congress’ tableau of white men in dark suits. Kyrsten Sinema, a young Democrat from Arizona, was impressed the first time they met, at an event honoring women leaders under 40. “She’s beautiful, of course,” Sinema recalls. “But I was struck by how calm she is, and super cool. She really represents her state.”
You know what they say about “frauds of a feather.”
Bellord, a former US marshal and the body woman for her sister’s 2020 laugh riot campaign, has been the “security director” in Sinema’s office since fall 2021, for which she’s paid $50,000. That doesn’t seem like a lot to keep a sitting US senator alive. Public servants, which Sinema technically is, aren’t paid a whole lot but they have to compete with Kardashians for security detail. […]
Note also that Bellord is the exclusive security provider to Sinema’s campaign and apparently has no other clients. However, Sinema’s campaign committee and personal PAC have shelled out more than $240,000 on airfare, lodging, meals, and other “benefits” that are classified as “security-related expenses.” Hmmm …
The Daily Beast digs deeper:
In 2022, Sinema’s campaigns spent over $56,000 for security detail lodging at Marriott hotels alone. Notably, there are also two separate charges totaling over $100,000 for “security detail vehicle.” [sounds fishy]
Bellord may have also benefited from Sinema campaign expenses that were not listed as specifically security-related. In February 2022, Sinema’s personal PAC paid $95 to a “fat bike” tour company in Park City, Utah. Days before, Bellord posted a photo to Instagram showing two bikes—with fat wheels—in snowy mountain surroundings. In response to a comment from Gabbard, Bellord said, “thanks to our friend,” with a winky-face emoji. (Sinema liked the post.)
Wow, nothing says, “This is so not sketchy!” like the winky-face emoji!
Saurav Ghosh, a former campaign finance attorney now at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, said the $300,000-plus that Bellord received from Sinema was “eye-opening.” He also considers it a red flag that Sinema is Bellord’s only apparent client. Arizona’s other senator, Mark Kelly, reportedly spent $562,000 on security over the past two years, but that sum is spread out over roughly a dozen people, several of whom are former law enforcement officers, not just his friend’s sibling. He also hasn’t paid exorbitant amounts for his security detail’s meals, lodgings, or “fat bike” rentals.
Other campaign finance law experts agree that Sinema and Bellord’s previously unreported arrangement raises serious ethics concerns that the senator should explain, but Sinema never explains herself to anyone. That’s part of her problem.
There’s no obvious reason for Congress to take an interest in the ongoing dispute between DirecTV and Newsmax. The former, a prominent content provider, and the latter, a controversial far-right cable channel, have been engaged in the kind of lengthy fight over finances that occasionally comes up in the telecommunications industry. Last month, the disagreement led DirecTV to cut ties with Newsmax.
For Newsmax’s audience, all hope is not lost, and the outlet’s content is available for free in a variety of ways. But for many Republicans on Capitol Hill, this isn’t nearly good enough.
As my MSNBC colleague Ja’han Jones explained last month, GOP lawmakers “are up in arms that DirecTV might pull the plug on a major source of right-wing disinformation, and they’re trying to throw their weight around to stop it.” In the days that followed, Republican apoplexy intensified, with one House Republican going so far to as to characterize DirecTV’s decision as “an attack on members of Congress.” [Oh FFS]
Two weeks ago, in response to GOP demands for information, the provider sent a detailed written response to lawmakers, explaining over the course of nearly 1,100 words that this really should be seen as “a typical business dispute that has nothing to do with ideology, politics or censorship.” DirecTV’s letter also reminded Republicans, “[W]e were one of the first pay TV operators to distribute Newsmax when the channel was founded nearly a decade ago.”
The unsigned statement added, “Ultimately, contracts require an agreement between parties. That’s what the free market is all about. We continue to be willing to negotiate with Newsmax in good faith, but believe it is our duty to protect our customers and preserve our right to provide the network at the right price, if we choose to do so.”
The reference to “the free market” stood out in large part because it seemed like a reminder to GOP lawmakers: This is about capitalism, not a conspiracy against conservatives. For a party that’s supposed to believe in the government steering clear on the free market, this should effectively end the conversation.
Republicans don’t quite see it that way. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer appeared on Newsmax on Friday and pushed a curious message:
“I’m very concerned. I’m very upset that DirecTV does not have Newsmax on there. I’ve been in constant communication with the leadership at AT&T and DirecTV. I have strongly encouraged them to meet with your CEO, Mr. [Chris] Ruddy, to get this worked out — or else.”
The Kentucky Republican went on to suggest that the Oversight panel was prepared to investigate the matter further, because the committee’s GOP members are “passionate” about the controversial channel. “We’re all huge fans of Newsmax,” Comer added.
The congressman went on to say, “I’m doing everything in my ability to see that this gets worked out. If it doesn’t, then I would expect the Republican majority to begin to take steps to take action in this.”
[…] The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who appears to have quite a few official duties, hasn’t just pried himself away from his many Hunter Biden conspiracy theories, he’s also been “in constant communication” with telecommunications executives over a licensing fee dispute between two private parties.
None of this has anything to do with government, taxpayer money, or any public agency. […]
How important are conservative media outlets to the contemporary Republican Party? Comer is helping answer the question in an emphatic way.
Hard to imagine it is possible, but Newsmax is even more rightwing than Fox News. Newsmax pumps out a huge amount of lies and disinformation on a daily basis.
Divisive social media influencer Andrew Tate will continue to spend time in Romanian detention after losing a court appeal. On Monday a Romanian court upheld a February 21 decision to detain Mr Tate for a third 30-day period.
Akira MacKenziesays
Now that our nation’s intelligence and espionage agencies are out of Trumpist hands, why are Orban and Bolsonaro still alive? A lot of our problems with the far right would be solved if Brandon would order the CIS/NSA for these two (and others) to have “accidents” or a “sudden, fatal illness.”
Oh, that’s right! The United States only assassinates leaders when they interfere with our millionaire/billionaire masters ability to make more money. We don’t kill fascists, we put them in power.
Akira in comment 221, please do not suggest violence as a solution … not even ironically, nor as satire, humor, or political opinion. Thank you.
Satire from Andy Borowitz:
Representative George Santos hastily removed an entry from his résumé indicating that he had worked at a biological laboratory in Wuhan, China, the congressman’s office has confirmed.
The entry, which said that Santos worked at the lab in late 2019, disappeared with no explanation in the early hours of Monday morning.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Santos said that he had “no idea” how the Wuhan job wound up on his C.V.
“I haven’t even spent time in China since 2007, when I invented the iPhone,” he said.
On Friday, we looked at tankie and MAGA tweets in the run-up to Russia’s illegal and murderous invasion of Ukraine. Today, let’s look at how #ConfidentlyWrong they were in the days after.
Just days after writing this…
NATO is mistaken if they think that a Russian offensive would be met by resistance from Ukraine. Majority of Ukrainian soldiers will lay down their arms & join the Russians before they shoot a brother. The west will never understand the cultural link between Russians & Ukraine.
This joker writes this:
1 hour and 22 mins — Russia disables the entire Ukrainian military. BREAKING: RUSSIAN MOD –“Military infrastructure, air defense facilities, military airfield and aviation of the Ukrainian army have been disabled by high-precision weapons.”
I don’t feel like doing the math, but it’s been a lot longer than one hour and 22 minutes since Russia invaded, and the entire Ukrainian military doesn’t appear so disabled. […]
The 1:22 thing was apparently a talking point. And a stupid one. […] We’re at around 8,800 hours […]
Many people are predicting that a Russian invasion of Ukraine will look like the failed Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. They’re wrong. The world will be shocked by the swiftness of Russian victory. We’re about to witness a Sputnik moment.
Did Sputnik crash and burn—taking down Russia’s military might and international prestige in one fell swoop?
[Tweet about Ukrainian hopium crashing and Russian military being a “superlative machine.”] Ukrainian hopium gave way to Russian copium.
Literally every sentence in that tweet is false.
[Tweet from Max Blumenthal] It shouldn’t be surprising that Max Blumenthal is also an Assad apologist, given his tankie support for Putin. […]
Mark Sumner came in on his day off Sunday to post a Bakhmut update in our company Slack. What follows is him: [map at the link in comment 223]
“An update on Bakhmut. Russian forces appear to be advancing west of the intersection in the area of Yahidne. They’re still about 5km from the road through Khromove, but the threat of cutting off this road is real.
On the south side, Ukraine says they have won a series of small victories around Ivaniske and pushed back Russian forces. I haven’t really changed the lines in the area because I don’t have any details, but it looks like the Chasiv Yar end of the road is safe for now. Ukraine also seems to be more than holdings its own in Bakhmut itself, possibly recapturing areas in the northeast. However, unless they can do something about the Russian forces moving down from the M03, their time in Bakhmut is seriously limited.
Russia tried to attack to the west near Orikhovo-Vasylivka and was reportedly repulsed, as was another attack to the south midway between there and Yahidne.
This afternoon, one Ukrainian channel was posting claims that Ukraine had struck the Russian advance from the west and “destroyed” the Wagner forces. That claim has been repeated on Twitter, but many other channels are saying it is not true and that this claim is giving people false hope. Video associated with the claim appears to be old.”
It’s me, Kos, again.
Zelenskyy says the situation around Bakhmut is “more and more complicated,” as he seems to be setting the rhetorical groundwork for a retreat. The city itself has little strategic value. Russia has focused on it simply because it’s the easiest line of advance to supply, given their rickety logistics. Ukraine has defended it tenaciously because, if not Bakhmut, Russia will raze the next city down the line.
But there is a next line of defense, and there is a very real possibility we will see the area west of Bakhmut start to resemble Vuhledar, where the wide-open fields approaching the town have become a graveyard of Russian vehicles and men. [Graphic video at the link]
Intense street-fighting inside Bakhmut: [video at the link]
Meanwhile, Russia continues to do that thing in Vuhledar: [video at the link]
If at first you don’t succeed, try and try and try and try and try….
This guy is being very helpful: [annotated images at the link] As of four hours ago, he’s at 98 armored vehicles destroyed in that Vuhledar approach.
[snipped details related to new Pentagon budget and discussion of weapons to be sent to Ukraine.]
155mm rounds: $227.1m; 155mm Excalibur: $202.6m An Excalibur laser-guided precision artillery shell costs around $100,000, and a regular artillery shell around $800. [snipped details about an increase in mine-clearing charges]
Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire conservative media mogul who owns Fox News Channel, acknowledged that top hosts at his network endorsed former President Trump’s false claims of a fraudulent election in 2020, court documents filed on Monday show.
[…] “In fact, you are now aware that Fox endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election?” one of Dominion’s lawyers asked Murdoch during his deposition, the court filing shows.
“Not Fox, No. Not Fox. But maybe Lou Dobbs, maybe Maria, as commentators,” Murdoch replied.
“Some of our commentators were endorsing it,” the media tycoon replied when pressed again if the hosts endorsed Trump’s claims of a fraudulent election. “Yes. They endorsed.”
[…] Fox has so far unsuccessfully moved to have the case dismissed on First Amendment grounds […]
Last week, Dominion made a separate court filing containing pages of text messages, emails and testimony that outlined how top Fox executives and hosts cast doubt on Trump’s claims, and worrying about how fact-checking his statements on the air might be received by the conservative media outlet’s audience.
Among them were top host Tucker Carlson, who Dominion alleged confronted pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, saying “you keep telling our viewers that millions of votes were changed by the software. I hope you will prove that very soon. You’ve convinced them that Trump will win. If you don’t have conclusive evidence of fraud at that scale, it’s a cruel and reckless thing to keep saying.”
Dominion’s filing also includes excerpts from its deposition of former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, who sits on the board of Fox Corp. and was advising the Murdochs in the post-election period.
Ryan told Dominion’s lawyers that he knew that “these conspiracy theories were baseless” and that Fox “should labor to dispel conspiracy theories if and when they pop up,” according to the filing.
Ryan said he believed “there ought to be a listing of all the allegations and then all the evidence or the validation or invalidation of those [election fraud] allegations just for the viewers’ sake,” and wrote to the Murdoch after the election saying, “that Fox News should not be spreading conspiracy theories.”
On Jan. 5, 2021, a day before the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, Dominion alleges Murdoch wrote to Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott saying, “It’s been suggested our prime time three should independently or together say something like ‘the election is over and Joe Biden won,’” and that such a move “would go a long way to stop the Trump myth that the election stolen.”
[…]
Nope. Fox News never had its prime time three hosts get together and say any such thing. Then the January 6 attack on the Capitol took place.
whheydtsays
From the Kyiv Independent, the question we all have….
Can Ukraine maintain and optimally use its modern Western tanks?
by Igor KossovFebruary 27, 2023 9:20 pm
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Can Ukraine maintain and optimally use its modern Western tanks?The first batch of the Leopard 2 tanks arrives from Poland to Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2023. (Polish Chancellery of Prime Ministry / Krystian Maj / Handout / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Future Ukrainian counterattacks using modern Western combat vehicles are being discussed everywhere, from Washington news conferences to Ukrainian military expert circles.
Ukraine hopes to receive up to two brigades of tanks, on top of many infantry vehicles from Western allies. But there are two main obstacles to using the tanks — the first being their delivery schedule and the second being logistics and maintenance.
Western tanks are complicated, expensive, and there are multiple different types, each of which will require its own parts, tools and training. Ukrainian forces will be able to do limited repairs near the front; to replace expensive systems, the tanks will probably have to go to Poland.
Operating new battalions of Leopard 2s and smaller numbers of Abrams and Challenger 2 tanks will test the Western allies’ commitment and ability to keep the parts and ammo flowing. And they will test Ukraine’s warfighters and mechanics’ ability to learn quickly and integrate so many different systems into a coherent fighting force.
“The happiness from the fact that they’re giving us tanks is a little bit eclipsed by the great difficulties of maintaining them in fighting shape,” said Viktor Kivliuk, a former Ukrainian officer and analyst at the Center for Defense Strategies. “We cannot do it by ourselves, at least in the short term.”
However, Ukrainian forces are so used to maintaining and effectively combining mind-boggling menageries of tanks and other systems, it is a challenge they can expect to overcome, Ukrainian and foreign analysts believe.
“If you asked on Feb. 24, will Ukraine be able to operate all these different types of artillery, infantry fighting vehicles, people would have said no,” added Phillips O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at St. Andrew’s University.
“No Western force does that. At least now, Ukraine has shown that they have the ability to do that and the experience, unlike any army I think now in the world.”
Tailored challenges
As John Amble, the editorial director of the Modern War Institute pointed out, integrating the supply of parts and ammunition unique to these foreign-made vehicles will be a particular challenge.
“Each Leopard (or Abrams, or Challenger) tank will have individual parts that are different from anything else Ukraine is sending through its logistics pathways,” he wrote.
“How well and how quickly it can get a single one of those parts into the country and to the unit whose tank has broken down will play an influential role in determining how much that tank contributes to the fight.”
Leopard 2 tanks are expected to arrive the soonest and in the greatest numbers, making them the mainstay of the modern main battle tanks on their way to Ukraine — four have already arrived from Poland. This is fortunate, as Ukraine will have the least trouble operating them, Kivliuk said.
One complication is that Ukraine will receive different versions, including the Leopard 2A4, a widespread model from the 1980s and 1990s as well as the 2A6, which is a significantly upgraded version, with better protection, turret control and an improved 120 mm gun.
Spare parts remain a key obstacle to providing Western tanks to Ukraine – especially for the Leopards, according to Polish defense minister Mariusz Blaszczak. He suggested that the German defense industry has been sluggish to make enough, which led to huge problems with modernizing the Leopards that Poland uses.
The British Challenger 2 has some of its own unique supply and maintenance challenges. Its rifled 120 mm barrel differs from the smooth bores of the Abrams and the Leopard 2s, meaning they have to use different ammo.
The U.K.’s Daily Telegraph also noted that Challenger 2 tanks, whose biggest improvement on the Challenger 1 are their newer turrets, require two sets of tools because of the turret’s different units of measurement from the hull.
Leopard 2 and Challenger 2 tanks run on diesel. The U.S.’s Abrams tank uses a gas turbine engine that burns expensive jet fuel and at prodigious rates. Not only will Ukraine have to keep supply lines for different types of fuels, it will require a lot of aviation fuel to keep the Abrams running.
Turbine-powered tanks aren’t new to Ukraine though. Ukraine has been using turbine-powered Soviet T-80s for quite a while – there are about 30 of them in the Ukrainian armed forces at the moment, according to Oleg Katkov, an expert with the think-tank Defense Express.
Ukrainian experience
Ukrainian mechanics will have to learn quickly, to the point where they are able to reliably train other Ukrainians to maintain the complex machines in the future.
But training or not, the range of repairs Ukraine will be able to accomplish in its own territory will be limited, at least for a good while.
So while replacing basic parts can be done relatively close to the front, if any of the tanks’ sensitive systems like fire control computers go down, the tanks will probably have to be shipped to Poland to get restored. If Ukraines’ allies operated repair depots in Ukrainian territory, it would mean their direct participation in the war.
The long round trip from eastern or southern Ukraine to Poland will mean a longer time out of the fight. Russian forces routinely have to send heavily damaged tanks back to Russia for repairs, which adds to the invader’s significant logistics problems.
However, Ukrainians can go to Poland to work alongside foreign technicians and, over time, gain a mastery of switching out or repairing some of the more complex systems. Ukraine has always had a high level of technical education and engineering capabilities. Since 2014, it has also acquired a great deal of maintenance experience as well.
As for the tanks’ variety, Ukraine has experience with that as well. Katkov said that Ukraine currently operates 33 different types of tanks, including multiple different modernizations of T-64s, T-72s, T-80s and T-84s, as well as captured Russian T-80s and T-90s.
“With the Western tanks, we will be up to 38 or 39,” he said. “The ‘tank zoo’ is still growing.”
KGsays
“The happiness from the fact that they’re giving us tanks is a little bit eclipsed by the great difficulties of maintaining them in fighting shape,” said Viktor Kivliuk, a former Ukrainian officer and analyst at the Center for Defense Strategies. “We cannot do it by ourselves, at least in the short term.” – whheydt quoting Kyiv Independent@226
Yes, I’ve seen on various DailyKos threads that the question whether to give Ukraine complicated military machine X is above all about maintenance. But this does raise the question of whether these things are simply over-engineered for use in an actual war, because what they were really designed for was to maximise arms industry profits.
StevoRsays
Trio of rather grim news links from Phys Org with revelations about record low Antarctican sea ice, speeding glaciers and double whammy hurricanes here :
Of how little splash this amde and a good sign here. ^
StevoRsays
PS. Sorry if others have already posted some of those news stories. Also this one ditto :
New editions of Ian Fleming’s classic James Bond series will be released with racial words removed and other “very small” changes to mark the 70th anniversary of Casino Royale. … (snip) .. When Live and Let Die was first released in the United States in 1955, Mr Fleming’s family said, the publisher “deleted or changed passages or words” they felt were “racially troubling” and would be considered “deeply offensive” today.
This made the book different to the original edition released in Britain.
The family said they had used this approach as a starting point for the new editions as they said “it seems Fleming preferred the amended US version”.
The family said it made the decision to apply the “sensibilities” in the US version of Live and Let Die consistently across all books.
“Some racial words likely to cause great offence now, and detract from a reader’s enjoyment, have been altered, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period,” the family said in a statement.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
Russia’s Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg temporarily suspended all flights on Tuesday amid unconfirmed media reports of an unidentified object such as a drone being seen nearby. Some flights were diverted back to Moscow while the airport was shut for about an hour. Russia’s ministry of defence later announced there had been a training exercise between air defences and civilian aviation authorities.
Emergency services put out a fire at an oil depot in southern Russia overnight after a drone was spotted flying overhead, the RIA news agency said on Tuesday. The fire in the Russian town of Tuapse, Krasnador, was reported at 2.30am local time and spread to an area of about 200 sq metres before it was extinguished. “The oil tanks were not affected. There was no spill of oil products. No injuries,” said Sergei Boyko, who leads the local administration.
…
A hacking attack caused some Russian regional broadcasters to put out a false warning on Tuesday urging people to take shelter from an incoming missile attack, the emergencies ministry said. “As a result of the hacking of servers of radio stations and TV channels, in some regions of the country information about the announcement of an air alert was broadcast. This information is false and does not correspond to reality.” A similar attack caused commercial radio stations in some Russian regions to send air alarm messages on Wednesday last week.
The military situation is becoming increasingly difficult around the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday as many of Ukraine’s battlefields turn to mud. “In the Bakhmut sector, the situation is constantly becoming more difficult,” the Ukrainian president said in his nightly address. “The enemy is constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions for fortification and defence.”…
The loss of an A-50 Mainstay would be significant as it is critical to Russian air operations for “providing an air battlespace picture”, the UK Ministry of Defence has said in response to earlier claims from Belarusian anti-war partisans to have severely damaged a Russian military aircraft on Sunday.
China has “very clearly” taken Russia’s side and has been “anything but an honest broker” in efforts to bring peace to Ukraine, US department of state spokesperson Ned Price said at a news briefing on Monday. China has provided Russia with “diplomatic support, political support, with economic support, with rhetorical support”, he added.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Tuesday pledged support for Kazakhstan’s independence on a trip to boost influence in central Asia.
The airline carrier Wizz Air has announced it will suspend flights to Moldova’s capital, Chișinău, from 14 March because of concerns about the safety of its airspace. In a statement, the company said it had taken the “difficult but responsible” decision to suspend flights because of the “high, but not imminent” risk in Moldova’s airspace. [Wizz Air is Hungarian.]
The oil depot that caught fire in Tuapse, Russia, is 690km southeast from closest Ukraine-controlled territory.
Russians say it was attacked by drones.
quotetheunquotesays
@SteveR #229: At first glance, I was expecting that to be a New Yorker style satire, but no, apparently not. It’s so hard to tell these days.
Will they be taking out Bond’s general misogyny and outright sexual abuse next? How much of the books would be left?
(Never was much of a fan of Ian Fleming in the first place, but his stuff has only become more odious to me over time.)
On Monday morning, the FSB raided the homes of several Moscow anarchists, in connection with an inquiry into the existence of a Moscow branch of Network (“Set”), a leftist political association labeled “terrorist” and banned in Russia.
In 2020, nine of the group’s activists from Penza and St. Petersburg were prosecuted and sentenced to prison terms of 5.5–18 years. Many of them claim having confessed under torture.
Several convicted members of Network were recently questioned at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow, testifying against the mathematician Azat Miftakhov, a former graduate student now serving time for breaking into a United Russia office together with other Moscow anarchists.
Miftakhov is now being investigated in connection with a hypothetical “Moscow branch” of Network. His attorney says that her client has no connection to Network or its activities.
Miftakhov’s current prison term will be over in September 2023.
Human remains were found on a Caspian Sea beach in Makhachkala, Dagestan, the Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti reported on Monday, citing local law enforcement.
The republic’s Investigative Committee told RFE/RL’s North Caucasus service, Kavkaz[dot]Realii, that 18 human skeletons were found on the beach during the course of construction work. “Presumably, these are remains from the 1930s,” the agency said in a statement.
Local authorities have reportedly opened an investigation into the findings.
The local Telegram channel Online Dagestan published a photo of the skeletons and reported that some of the skulls had holes in them.
In April of last year, an art teacher in Russia’s Tula region asked her sixth-grade class to draw pictures to show support for the Russian military in Ukraine. When one girl drew an anti-war image instead, the teacher immediately called the police. By the end of the following day, the Russian FSB and child protective services were involved. Now, the student’s single father is facing felony charges, and the student herself is at risk of being sent to live in a shelter….
“It’s just one politician — but Sahra Wagenknecht of Germany’s leftist party Die Linke suggests the rape of Ukrainian women is just tough cookies and part of war (everyone does it kind of argument). Her comments have created a stir here. Wow:…”
Der Spiegel link (in German) at the (Twitter) link.
A newly released bombshell filing in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News has revealed previously unknown details about Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch’s knowledge of the network’s lies about voter fraud and Dominion after the 2020 election.
According to the filing, Murdoch was closely tied to White House senior adviser Jared Kushner during the 2020 campaign and provided him with confidential previews of the Biden campaign’s political ads and strategies. From the filing (citations removed):
During Trump’s campaign, Rupert provided Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, with Fox confidential information about Biden’s ads, along with debate strategy … (providing Kushner a preview of Biden’s ads before they were public).
…
Are these ads the Biden campaign paid to run on Fox? Because presumably the advertising contracts with networks don’t allow for them to secretly provide information about the ads to the opposing campaign before they run. Also, how is this not illegal? It’s a giant campaign contribution.
…CARUSONE: Because the Fox News is a political operation. And I think some of the stuff that came out of this was not just about this case, but more broadly how Fox operates. I mean, Rupert Murdoch gave Joe Biden campaign ads to Jared Kushner, confidential ads before the election, giving insight into strategy and confidential information because it helped the Donald Trump campaign. I mean, they provided material to sort for political purposes all across the way. And it’s because they function like a political operation….
I can’t imagine my candidate[‘]s ads being given to the opponent by the TV station. The Biden campaign should sue for all of the costs and damages. Kushner was a federal employee at the time as well. Take the fucking gloves off Biden. Enough is enough.
‘Northern Ireland will have access to the UK market and to the European single market, and that’s an incredibly attractive proposition for investors’. Rishi Sunak just now.
“When I go round the world and talk to businesses, they’re very surprised when I tell them that there is a small part of the UK that technically hasn’t done the insanely stupid thing that I am in favour of.”
After the foreperson of the Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump and a push to overturn the 2020 election spoke out in several headline-making interviews, the judge overseeing the case told ABC News on Monday that jurors “can talk about the final report.”
McBurney said in an interview that after the grand jury submitted its report in January, he held a “farewell session,” at the request of the district attorney, in which he “reminded them of their oath, which is a statutory obligation that they not discuss with anyone outside their group their deliberations — that’s the one word that’s in the oath.”
McBurney emphasized that “it’s important for people to understand that witness testimony is not deliberations.”
“I explained you don’t talk about what the group discussed about the witnesses’ testimony, but you can talk about witness testimony,” he said. “You could talk about things that the assistant district attorneys told you. … And then finally, you can talk about the final report because that is the product of your deliberations, but it’s not your deliberations.”
Last week, the grand jury foreperson, Emily Kohrs, gave interviews to news outlets regarding her work as a juror, including confirming that the panel had recommended indictments against multiple people.
Kohrs also gave details on testimony from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham and others in Trump’s orbit.
Kohrs’ statements sparked criticism from some, including Trump’s lawyers, who argued in an interview over the weekend that the investigation “has been compromised” and “if any indictments were to come down, those are faulty indictments.”
McBurney, however, emphasized that the special grand jury was essentially investigative and did not have the ability to bring indictments.
That decision that would ultimately rest with another grand jury, should Fulton County District Attorney Fanni Willis pursue a case. Trump has denied wrongdoing.
“This grand jury’s sole role was to prepare a report that was merely a set of recommendations for the district attorney — full stop. Nothing more,” McBurney said. “And so folks should think long and hard about what impact, at all, this special purpose grand jury’s work would have should there be an indictment down the road.”
[…]
The judge said people may be “more familiar with federal grand jurors and a more extensive oath of secrecy than is the case in Georgia.”
“It’s just important not to apply the wrong standard to grand jurors in this jurisdiction,” he said. “Their oath requires them to keep secret their deliberations, and it is a different oath than what federal grand jurors take.”
The House engaged in a rare and overwhelming act of bipartisanship on Monday, voting 414 to 2 on a resolution regarding the devastating earthquake in Turkey. But … 414 to … 2? Guess who that was, and if Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is not one of your guesses, you might want to recalibrate your political sense. The other was Rep. Thomas Massie.
What on earth is going on here? Neither has tweeted about the vote as of this writing, but the text of the resolution opens up a theory: They didn’t like its criticism of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The resolution includes a number of nonbinding opinions:
1.) It “mourns the horrific loss of life in Turkiye and Syria.”
2.) It “expresses its deep condolences to the families of the many earthquake victims.”
So far you would have to be an incredible piece of crap to vote against this, right? Continuing on:
3.) It “applauds the heroic work of humanitarian aid and rescue workers on the ground to save lives and provide care for victims,” going on to name a list of such groups.
4.) and 5.) It applauds the U.S. government, other governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the Turkish and Syrian civilians who “have selflessly volunteered to assist with response to the devastating aftermath.”
Yes, Greene and Massie voted against all of this.
6.) It “urges the international community to support heroic disaster response efforts in Turkiye and Syria, including those by the Syrian Civil Defense, the White Helmets.”
7.) It “condemns efforts by the Assad regime to cynically exploit the disaster to evade international pressure and accountability, including by preventing the United Nations from providing assistance through multiple border crossings between Turkiye and Syria.”
Hmm … interesting. Is this what Greene and Massie have a problem with?
Points 8 through 12 of the resolution call on the Biden administration to make diplomatic efforts to open border crossings between Turkey and Syria, call for international disaster relief assistance in northern Syria, call for the Biden administration to simultaneously support the Syrian people and ensure that U.S. aid does not go to the Assad regime, and “welcomes the Republic of Turkiye’s continuing support to Syrian refugees in Turkiye and in northwestern Syria.”
There are two possibilities here—both of which could be at play. One is that Greene and Massie don’t mourn the tens of thousands of victims of this earthquake and don’t want to applaud rescue and humanitarian efforts. I wouldn’t put it past them to believe that Congress should not be taking the time to mourn deaths of Turkish and Syrian people. The other is that Greene and Massie do not want to condemn an authoritarian dictator’s ongoing brutalization of the people of his country. They stand with Bashar al-Assad here.
As an additional wrinkle, the resolution notes that “the Russian Federation and People’s Republic of China have used their veto power at the United Nations Security Council to restrict the number of United Nations-authorized border crossings between Turkiye and Syria from four to just one—Bab al-Hawa.” So Greene and Massie also ally themselves here with Russia and China’s efforts to restrict border crossings in support of Assad. […]
Virtually everyone in the House just voted that Assad is not only not trusted with relief efforts but is attempting to block them and that the U.S. government must use diplomatic means to push back on that attempt.
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie disagreed. They are with the dictator here.
These images of the crashed UJ-22 are now being used in a claim that the drone was in the suburbs southeast of Moscow—a completely different distance and direction than earlier reports. I don’t think we can trust anything about what’s being said on this concerning the location where it was found.
We can’t even be sure this was even in Russia, or that the image is new.
On Tuesday, a drone reportedly crashed in Russia, some 460km from the nearest border with Ukraine. Wreckage indicates that this was a UKRJET UJ-22. It’s a fairly large (4.6-meter) winged drone powered by a single gas-driven engine driving a propeller. The top speed is about 160 kph, but the cruising speed is a considerably lower 120 kph (75 mph). It’s not stealthy. It’s not speedy. And yet … it was still somehow able to cross hundreds of kilometers of Russian airspace without being detected. [Tweet and images at the link]
Reports on the crashed drone are emphasizing that the wreckage was found near a gas compressor station. How near? Not very, as that station seems to be invisible in shots taken from multiple angles except for a couple of small pipes that are clearly not large transmission lines. While this is being pushed as if the station was the target of the drone, there are a couple of problems with this. One is that a gas compression station makes a lousy target. The whole thing is little more than a few exposed pipes (I grew up next to one, and even the dedicated attention of a dozen bored teens never managed to damage the thing). It would take a significant, precise hit to score any damage, and both cutting off gas flow and repairing the station would be fairly minor efforts. It is not the thing Ukraine would fly hundreds of kilometers to hit.
There are at least two better theories on what that drone is doing in that place.
One is simply that it was never meant to be there. The UJ-22, which was covered back in the Field Guide to Drones of Ukraine, is primarily a reconnaissance drone. Yes, it can carry up to 20 kg of gear, so, in theory, a bomb could be strapped under there. However, it’s very large and slow to serve as any kind of suicide drone. It’s also pretty costly compared to a small consumer drone. It looks very much like a half-scale model of a Cessna.
The real way in which this particular drone is usually flown is at high altitude, with a pack of hi res cameras, IR cameras, and radar systems pointing down. It’s operated by a ground station that uses a HOTAS setup (think flight simulator controls) rather than the kind of controller used for smaller drones.
Operators fly the UJ-22 over an area and produce strategic mapping. They’re not using this drone to search for a Russian soldier hiding in a trench. They’re using it to see where Russia is digging new trenches—and there they are piling up ammo and gear. The simplest explanation for who the drone ended up in the snow in a part of Russia southeast of Ukraine is this: An operator, probably near Odesa, launched the drone from a runway in that area, flew it over Crimea, and lost communications somewhere along the way. The drone then kept flying until it ran out of gas and crashed. There seems to be no indication that it was shot down by Russian forces.
The presence of a gas-pressurization station in the area is a coincidence. Odds are good this drone wasn’t even carrying any sort of weapon. That’s one good theory. Here’s another one.
Last April, StopFake.org reported on how Russian sources had publicized the supposed wreckage of Ukrainian drones at two locations inside Russia. One of those drones reportedly went down near Kursk in mid-April, while the other was found in the Bryansk region, about 50 km from the Russian border, a month before. However, a quick examination showed that this was actually two sets of photos showing the same wreckage.
To give the Russian Telegram sources at least a little credit, this doesn’t seem to be the same UJ-22 that was found last April. Or maybe it is … only one has been confirmed lost since the start of the invasion. In any case, at least it’s different parts than what appeared in other images. But no one should be assuming that the location where this was reportedly found, or even the presence of a drone at all, is a given. Russian sources are not only willing to fake these events, they’ve been caught at it before.
One thing that smaller quadcopter drones can do well is this kind of flyby showing the horrifying levels of destruction in and around Bakhmut. [Tweet and video at the link]
There are more reports this morning that Ukraine has pulled forces that were still east of the small river that runs north-south through the city. Fighting still appears to be going on, block by block, in the north of the city, with continued fighting near the “hell intersection” where the M03 highway and other roads come together in a set of complex exchanges north of Bakhmut.
The big concern remains a Russian push to the south a few kilometers west of the city. While some sources kept insisting on Monday that the extension of the Russian lines was a trap meant to draw Russia into that area before a Ukrainian counteroffensive, those claims seem to be coming from the same place as earlier Russian claims that Ukraine was being lured into a trap in Kharkiv or Kherson—it’s one of those things people say when things are going badly and they don’t want to accept it. Right now, there is no sign that this Russian advance has been cut off or destroyed, as some sources have claimed.
In Bakhmut, things right now are going badly. Ukrainian forces are continuing to make Russia pay for almost every block, but the time when they can be effective there, and when they can make the ratio of Russian losses many times that of Ukrainian losses, may be close to an end.
Images are now showing Wagner Group forces apparently walking without opposition through the Stupka district of Bakhmut. The Zabakhmutka and Myasokombinat neighborhoods in the east also appear to be lost.
However, Ukrainian forces still hold the center of the city. […]
Ukraine continues to repel Russian attempts to advance south of the city, so the “Road of Life” running west from Bakhmut through Khromove to Chasiv Yar remains open. But that push from the north and the loss of sections of Bakhmut proper are making things exceedingly difficult. Magyar seems exhausted. I’m sure he is.
So long as Ukraine was able to hold well-defended positions and fire into Russian forces trying to cross open areas or assault defended buildings, Ukraine could be certain that even a Russian “victory” in the Bakhmut area came at a lopsided cost. As the fighting grows closer and Ukraine leaves those long-held positions in the east, casualties between the two sides will likely be more even. If Russia can close the road into the city, there’s a risk of a significant force of Ukrainian troops and equipment being lost. That’s the kind of loss Ukraine does not want to take. One of the most important parts of a defense like the one Ukraine has waged in Bakhmut is knowing when to leave.
All that has to be weighed today before we can say “Bakhmut holds!” again tomorrow.
The trouble began last year when Florida Republicans advanced a proposal critics have labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” policy. Disney, a powerhouse in the Sunshine State and Florida’s largest private employer, eventually criticized the GOP’s anti-LGBTQ measure.
Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t just disagree with the company’s opinion, he set out to punish Disney for daring to issue mild and inconsequential criticisms of a measure he signed into law.
The Republican initially planned to revoke Disney World’s designation as a special tax district, but when that proved untenable — the policy would’ve raised taxes on many nearby Floridians — DeSantis settled on a plan that gave him greater control over the local district’s board. He signed the new policy into law yesterday.
But soon after, the governor added a related and unexpected thought. The Washington Post reported:
Though the board is tasked with overseeing duties such as sewage treatment and road maintenance at Disney’s properties, DeSantis suggested Monday that he is also expecting it to act as a sort of moral arbiter for the company he has described as a “woke Burbank corporation” that is “trying to inject woke ideology” on children.
“When you lose your way, you’ve got to have people that are going to tell you the truth,” DeSantis said. “So we hope they can get back on. But I think all of these board members very much would like to see the type of entertainment that all families can appreciate.”
The Post’s report added that the new board member won’t have direct control over Disney’s creative content, “but because the new appointees hold purse strings over infrastructure projects, they could influence Disney’s decisions.” [Yep.]
So let’s take stock. DeSantis decided to use the power of his political office to punish a company, not for engaging in wrongdoing, but for expressing an inconsequential opinion he didn’t like. After advancing that policy, the GOP governor publicly raised the prospect of his political appointees using their official influence to nudge an entertainment company to produce content in line with DeSantis’ preferences.
[…] When Chris Sununu, New Hampshire’s Republican governor, recently suggested that DeSantis was becoming a “big-government authoritarian,” he clearly had a point.
[…] when Donald Trump took office and the Republican tried to bully all kinds of companies into submission, including Goodyear. And GM. And Harley-Davidson. And Nordstrom, Amazon.com, and AT&T, among others.
But to fully appreciate the degree to which Republicans have gone from denouncing to embracing “gangster government,” look no further than Florida’s state capital.
DeSantis held a press conference today in which he referred to Disney’s programming choices as “inserting sexuality into children’s programs.” Sheesh.
[…] Four months ago, when Smith [Special counsel Jack Smith] was appointed to oversee the criminal investigations into Trump, the former president’s initial focus was on the process: [Trump] didn’t question the special counsel so much as condemned the idea that a special counsel was necessary.
That didn’t last. [He] eventually turned his attention to Smith personally, labeling him a “Trump Hater” and “political hit man” who shouldn’t be “allowed” to investigate him because someone Smith is related to doesn’t like Trump. The Republican soon after condemned Smith as a “fully weaponized monster.”
Last month, [Trump] went considerably further, calling Smith a “thug” in a “mental state of derangement” who “may very well turn out to be a criminal.”
And why, pray tell, might the special counsel turn out to be a criminal? Trump didn’t say, and no one seems to have any idea what he was talking about.
This past weekend, [Trump] apparently thought it’d be a good idea to kick things up a notch, using his social media platform to condemn Smith as a “mad dog psycho” [Projection?] and a “Trump Hater … of historic proportions.”
At one point, the former president also put the special counsel’s name in scare quotes, followed by a question mark — reinforcing Trump’s apparent belief that Jack Smith’s name is not actually Jack Smith. Why he keeps bringing this up is something of a mystery.
As we’ve discussed, the point goes well beyond Trump’s incoherent rants and the degree to which they’re detached from reality. Rather, what matters most is the former president’s apparent panic: He appears desperate to discredit a highly respected career prosecutor, and he apparently believes frantic online tantrums will do the trick. […]
Reuters reports that Chinese private space company Spacety has been blacklisted by the U.S. for providing satellite imagery to Russia, and particularly to Wagner Group. There seem to be a couple of possibilities from this that are interesting: Either Russia’s own imagery is proving inadequate or the Russian military is refusing to share imagery with Wagner.
[…] As always, the level of Ukrainian aviation operating near the front continues to be amazing. [Tweet and video at the link. Scroll down to see this additional info.]
Remember this village? It’s likely to go down as one of the most important locations of the entire war. This is the point where Russia’s Izyum salient ran out of steam, and where their last push toward Slovyansk and Kramatorsk from the north was broken by a much smaller Ukrainian force operating from these hills. Russia held Svyatohirske across the river. Their forces were pressing from north and west, but they could not crack this nut. A “hero village,” even if no village is left to accept the medal. [Tweet and images at the link]
A breakdown of the Russian losses at Vuhledar. At this point, I honestly can’t tell you if this includes all the attempted advances there, just the last attempted advance, or something in between. But the details are incredible. It’s up to 101 vehicles lost. [Tweet and images at the link]
No matter where you are in the world, money cannot buy taste.
Putin bought for his mistress, Alina Kabajeva, the most expensive apartment in all of Russia*.
Like I say, it has nothing to do with NATO, the West or rainbow-colored unicorns. This war only aims to protect Putin’s insatiable greed & corruption.
Into that category place the sexy dance with nothing but a towel that Lt. Gen. Alexander Matovnikov — Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces of Russia, commander of forces in Belarus and hero of Russia — did for his girlfriend (or whoever) that was — coincidentally? — leaked the day after his forces allowed a Russian air base to be penetrated by Belarus partisans who blew up a $300 million Russian AWACS plane known as an A-50.
So, after being humiliated by partisans, he gets to be humiliated by all of Russia.
The video says sensitive. Fortunately the “sensitive’ parts are blurred in the video. If I had to see the unedited version, I might need therapy.
Lockheed Martin has announced that it’s doubling the capacity of its HIMARS production plant from 48 to 96 launchers per year. This follows a reported order for up to 500 HIMARS launchers from Poland.
Around 20 HIMARS systems are currently thought to be in Ukraine at the moment, in spite of Russia claiming that have destroyed 260% of the units shipped. [LOL] The performance of those units has provided a big publicity boost for Lockheed’s missile system.
In Ukraine currently, the reported shortage isn’t launchers, but missiles. The latest assistance package for Ukraine, announced on Feb 24, includes additional HIMARS ammunition. But while exact numbers were given for some other systems, the amount of HIMARS ammunition isn’t clear.
Monday, we reported about a proposed bill in South Carolina that would charge new South Carolina residents a $500 one-time fee to obtain a driver’s license and car registration [Seems really a high price!] — a “Yankee tax,” if you will.
[…] It’s true that calling the fee a “Yankee tax,” even if ironically, seems like South Carolina lawmakers are outright broadcasting their discriminatory intent. Granted, this is the same state that unironically flew the Confederate battle flag over the capitol. They like to give discrimination a bullhorn down in South Carolina.
As for what makes a Yankee, growing up in South Carolina, it seemed the unofficial classification for “Yankee” was anyone from a state that hadn’t fought to keep my ancestors in chains. “Yankee” was usually a pejorative, and that’s how Republican state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, the “Yankee tax” bill author, seemed to use the term when discussing the bill during an appearance on Fox News yesterday.
[…] Goldfinch told Strohmier that he came up with the bill because “locals are losing their quality of life.” He noted that a million new people moved to South Carolina in the past decade and they expect another million in the next decade. Population growth is good […] yet Goldfinch insists South Carolina is “inundated with people, mostly from the northeast.” This is flat-out untrue: Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, for instance, had fewer transplants to South Carolina in 2019 than Kentucky and Tennessee. Texas contributed more to South Carolina’s population that year than New Jersey. And more Floridians headed north than New Yorkers headed south.
He whined some more about newcomers overwhelming South Carolina’s infrastructure, again ignoring President Joe Biden’s big daddy infrastructure bill, which will deliver an estimated $6 billion over the next five years in federal funding for the state’s highways and bridges.
[…] Strohmier suggested that the $500 fee wasn’t punitive enough for those fancy-pants residents of “blue states” where “dinner with your husband or wife on a random Wednesday is upwards of $500.”
Maybe that’s her New York City life, but it’s not everyone’s. I had my drag queen Satanic Bible study on Wednesdays, and it was potluck. Goldfinch agreed with Strohmier that Yankees are already used to “paying a lot of money.” Then she thanked him for explaining the “new tax [he’s] proposing.” […]
Re: Lynna, OM @ #245…
I keep waiting for Disney to decide to shut down the Florida park and cite–as the reason for doing so–“unfavorable business climate.” Thus sticking the local counties with the accumulated debt and no way to service it all while giving Florida a black eye in the business community as a government that can’t be trusted to keep its word.
In a clever bit of regulation, the Biden administration announced this week that if chip manufacturing companies want in on the $39 billion in funding being made available to subsidize new factories through the CHIPS and Science Act, they’ll need to provide a plan for making sure their employees have access to affordable, quality childcare — both for the construction workers who build the factories and for the folks who work in them. The Commerce Department will be publishing a new rule today to make that requirement official.
The idea is to create a domestic chip manufacturing industry that’s not just good for the companies that make chips and need chips for manufacturing cars, appliances, […] but also to make sure the tech workplace is friendly to women and working families. It’s pretty nifty as industrial policy: You want to get some of the government funding, then you’ll need to have policies consistent with Biden’s goal of expanding the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, instead of just throwing taxpayer funds at billionaires and corporations, then hoping maybe they’ll hire people.
As Axios explains […]
[…] manufacturing plants will be required to submit a plan explaining how facility workers, as well as construction workers, will access child care, according to a presentation from the Commerce Department shared with Axios.
• The agency is agnostic on how companies get this done. They could build company-run onsite facilities, or outsource to a vendor. Companies could sponsor care directly or provide vouchers, discounts or cash.
• They’d need to understand what kind of care is actually available in the region, amid a nationwide shortage with a lot of regional variation.
[…] Will there be complaints that Joe Biden is trying to sneak socialist family-destroying big government daycare into industrial policy? Maybe! The real challenge will be getting this past the Supreme Court, which may decide that the Founders actually wanted child labor to be a part of any computer chip manufacturing plan instead.
So it looks like Russia’s intelligence services are hard at work destabilizing Moldova. Very similar to Ukraine 2013/14
Faces covered? Huh! Russia’s latest attempt to throw Moldova into chaos has been in the works since late 2021. Just don’t understand why the international community doesn’t act quicker to stop Russia’s plots
This guy is from Russia. So why attend a protest in Moldova? Really this is so similar to what Russia was doing in Ukraine a decade ago prior to illegal annexation and occupation…
Videos of “protesters” at the (Twitter) link. No subtitles, but I saw a tweet earlier translating what the guy in the last one is saying as “I don’t understand your language. I’m from Russia.”
whheydt @254, LOL. Maybe? I doubt it though. You should videotape yourself trying that tactic.
In other news: The tech company Wirecard was embraced by the German élite. But a reporter discovered that behind the façade of innovation were lies and links to Russian intelligence.
Late in the spring of 2020, Jan Marsalek, an Austrian bank executive, was suspended from his job. He was a widely admired figure in the European business community—charismatic, trilingual, and well travelled. Even at his busiest, as the chief operating officer of Wirecard, Germany’s fastest-growing financial-technology company, he would assure subordinates who sought a minute of his time that he had one, just for them. “For you, always,” he used to say. But he would say that to almost everyone.
Marsalek’s identity was inextricable from that of the company, a global payment processor that was headquartered outside Munich and had a banking license. He had joined in 2000, on his twentieth birthday, when it was a startup. He had no formal qualifications or work experience, but he showed an inexhaustible devotion to Wirecard’s growth. The company eventually earned the confidence of Germany’s political and financial élite, who considered it Europe’s answer to PayPal. When Wirecard wanted to acquire a Chinese company, Chancellor Angela Merkel personally took up the matter with President Xi Jinping.
Then, on June 18, 2020, Wirecard announced that nearly two billion euros was missing from the company’s accounts. The sum amounted to all the profits that Wirecard had ever reported as a public company. There were only two possibilities: the money had been stolen, or it had never existed.
The Wirecard board placed Marsalek on temporary leave. The missing funds had supposedly been parked in two banks in the Philippines, and Wirecard’s Asia operations were under Marsalek’s purview. Before leaving the office that day, he told people that he was going to Manila, to track down the money.
[…] Philippine immigration records show that Jan Marsalek entered the country four days later, on June 23rd. But, like almost everything about Wirecard, the records had been faked. Although Austrians generally aren’t allowed dual citizenship, Marsalek held at least eight passports, including diplomatic cover from the tiny Caribbean nation of Grenada. His departure from Bad Vöslau is the last instance in which he is known to have used his real name.
The rise of Wirecard did not occur in a vacuum. Rather, it reflected a convergence of factors that made the past half decade “the golden age of fraud,” as the hedge-fund manager Jim Chanos has put it. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, governments sought to revive depressed economies, and central banks suppressed interest rates, making it cheaper for businesses to get loans. The venture-capital and tech worlds, awash in easy money, developed a culture of selling narratives and vaporware—lofty and sometimes fantastical ideas, with no clear path to implementation. […]
German institutions supported Wirecard. The country’s traditional industry is in cars and energy systems—BMW, Volkswagen, Daimler, Siemens. Wirecard represented the nation’s challenge to Silicon Valley, its leap into financial technology and the digital era. “German politicians were proud to be able to say, Hey, we have a fintech company!” Florian Toncar, a German parliamentarian, observed. Wirecard’s rising stock price was regarded as a sign that the business was dependable, that its critics were clueless or corrupt. […] it was not regulators or auditors who ultimately took the company down; it was a reporter and his editors, in London.
Dan McCrum often jokes that his marriage was a minor fraud—his wife met him when he was a banker, but she ended up with a journalist instead. When McCrum was in his mid-twenties, he worked at Citigroup in London for four years […] One evening, he went out for dinner with a group of colleagues “and everybody was [complaining] about their jobs,” he said. A young woman suggested that they go around the table and share their real aspirations, most of which required years of training or an advanced degree. “And when it came to me, without hesitation, I was, like, ‘I’d be a journalist,’ ” he said. […]
The timing was serendipitous; eighteen months later, in July, 2008, as a fledgling reporter at the Financial Times, McCrum was sent to New York, where he witnessed the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the chaos that ensued. By the end of the year, Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme had unravelled, leaving investors some sixty-five billion dollars poorer. “It felt as if we were through the looking glass,” McCrum recalled. “If a fraud of that magnitude was hiding in plain sight, then anything could be fake.”
In the summer of 2014, McCrum was casting about for story ideas in London when a hedge-fund manager asked him, “Would you be interested in some German gangsters?” He added, “Be careful.”
In 2000, a year after Wirecard was formed, it nearly imploded—partly because it had hired Jan Marsalek to oversee its transition to the mobile era. “The first warning sign was when the company’s systems crashed and Wirecard’s engineers traced the problem to Marsalek’s desk,” McCrum later wrote […] “In an ‘accident,’ he’d routed all of the company’s internet traffic through his own PC, rather than the dedicated hardware in the server room—a set-up ideal for snooping.” But Marsalek, a talented hacker, couldn’t be fired; his job was to rebuild from scratch the software that the company used to process payments, “and the project was too important and too far along to start over with someone new.”
[…] In the early two-thousands, Wirecard’s company culture resembled that of a frat house. Marsalek took new hires for bottle service at night clubs, and sometimes sent clients back to their hotels with models in tow. […]
Wirecard’s new C.E.O. was a tall, somewhat awkward consultant from Vienna named Markus Braun. He lacked Marsalek’s charisma and affability, but he claimed to have a Ph.D. in social and economic sciences, which gave outsiders the impression that he was a quiet visionary. Under his leadership, Wirecard expanded its payment processing to the world of online gambling—legal in some jurisdictions, prohibited in many others. Wirecard skirted rules by acquiring companies in other countries and routing payments through them. “By allowing third parties to serve as the primary processor or acquirer, Wirecard is not directly identified” by Visa or Mastercard, a critical investor report later noted. “Some of these partners may ultimately lose their own license, but Wirecard’s remains intact.”
The core tenet of the business was that for anything to be sold there must be a way to pay. The fewer the options for payment, the higher the fees; the higher the legal risk, the more complex the transaction.
[…] Wirecard apparently laundered at least a billion and a half dollars’ worth of gambling proceeds, through deliberate miscoding alone […] many of Marsalek’s extracurricular activities had some tie to the Russian state. Wirecard had no business presence there, no subsidiaries. But Marsalek travelled to Russia constantly—often on private jets, sometimes landing after midnight and leaving before dawn.
According to the investigative outlet Bellingcat, his international travel was closely monitored by the F.S.B., Russia’s primary security service. “His immigration dossier numbers 597 pages, much more than any foreigner’s file we have come across in over five years of investigations,” Bellingcat’s lead Russia investigator reported, years later. In Munich, Marsalek decorated his office with a collection of Russian ushanka military hats and a set of matryoshka dolls depicting the past century of Russian leaders, from a tiny Lenin to a bloated Putin. He also hosted secret gatherings at a mansion across the street from the Russian consulate in Munich, which he rented for six hundred and eighty thousand euros a year.
[…] In Vienna, Marsalek and Braun mingled with far-right politicians who held openly pro-Russia views.
[…] In 2016, Marsalek helped facilitate a deployment of Russian mercenaries into Libya. […] it is the first known instance, in the chaos following Muammar Qaddafi’s death, of an armed Russian deployment on Libyan ground.
[…] In the years that followed, Russia strengthened its relationship with the Libyan commander in the area, and deployed some twelve hundred soldiers from the Wagner Group. They seized oil fields, expanded Russia’s security footprint, and influenced economic and political affairs in Africa.
[…] The headline said “forged contracts”; the subtitle, “Falsification of Accounts.” The article wiped five billion euros from Wirecard’s value in a single afternoon. A follow-up piece, published two days later, knocked off three billion more.
The response in Germany was reflexively defensive, as if the F.T.’s reporting were an attack on the country itself. “Another fake news article from Dan McCrum,” a Commerzbank equities analyst wrote […]
On February 18, 2019, Germany’s financial regulator, known as BaFin, issued a ban on creating new short bets against Wirecard, citing the company’s “importance for the economy.” “It was at that moment that they sided with criminals,” a German parliamentarian later said. The same day, prosecutors in Munich confirmed to a German newspaper that they had opened a criminal investigation. But they weren’t going after Wirecard—they were going after the F.T. […]
For Wirecard’s leadership, Germany’s criminal investigation into the Financial Times did not come as a surprise […]
McCrum had continued to investigate Wirecard’s activities in Asia. Half of its global sales appeared to come through three clients: one in Dubai, one in Singapore, and the third, called PayEasy, in the Philippines. […]
Marsalek had fully entrenched himself in the affairs of his Russian mercenary friend, Stanislav Petlinsky. […]
Dan McCrum sent Wirecard a series of questions, revealing he knew that most of the company’s operations in Dubai were centered on fake customers. […]
In the year leading up to Wirecard’s collapse, in June, 2020, the leadership plotted a takeover of Deutsche Bank—an acquisition so huge that Wirecard’s balance-sheet fraud might be buried in the deal. […] the auditors
[…] Auditors asked Wirecard to prove that it controlled the funds by transferring four hundred million euros to one of its accounts in Germany. When Wirecard failed to perform the transfer, the auditors contacted the Philippine banks directly—both of which replied that Wirecard’s accounts did not exist.
[…] In Germany, there was a raft of resignations and firings: Felix Hufeld, the head of BaFin; the head of Germany’s audit regulator; several leading Wirecard analysts at other European banks. […] Olaf Scholz, Angela Merkel’s finance minister, who oversaw BaFin, told the parliamentary inquiry that he bore no direct responsibility for what had taken place under his watch. Later that year, he became the Chancellor of Germany.
[…] It is unclear what Marsalek was up to. He seemed to take every opportunity to play a part in political matters, no matter how strange or futile. At one point, he involved himself in an effort to relocate Austria’s Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem, to align with the policy of President Donald Trump. Marsalek’s name was found on a list of possible seed investors in a company that would buy the remains of Cambridge Analytica, the data-collection firm that was mired in scandal for its role in influencing elections.
[…] In 2014, Marsalek led an effort at Wirecard—in partnership with private Swiss and Lebanese banks—to issue anonymous debit cards that could be preloaded with up to two million euros per year. In his pitch, he told Mastercard that such cards would spare ultra-high-net-worth individuals the annoyance of being asked for stock tips, for example, when a waiter took a credit card and learned the client’s name. But it is difficult to conceive of a more useful setup for covert operational expenses—an anonymous asset, accepted by everyone, perfect for bribing politicians, paying assassins, or moving large sums of cash across borders.
[…] Jan Marsalek’s getaway jet landed in Minsk. From there, he continued to Moscow, on a fake passport, likely with the assistance of Petlinsky, […] Last summer, a grainy photo appeared to show Marsalek in an upscale Moscow neighborhood, wearing a red Prada jacket and climbing into an S.U.V. […]
Much more at the link. A picture is painted of financial shenanigans at the highest levels, of people who are too easily scammed, of lax regulation, and of rightwing criminals using every level of misdeeds to fund campaigns in Russia’s interest.
Tethyssays
Russian fascists in Chişinău? Again!?
There is a good case to be made that Russian fascists creating mayhem in Chișinău led directly to both World Wars, and the eventual rise of Red Russia, the USSR, and it’s current Putinesque incarnation.
Same song, same verse. It’s a template for anti-immigrant rhetoric and violence, driven by the same ideology of racial purity and nationalism which became Nazism.
STEVEN J. ZIPPERSTEIN’S POGROM: Kishinev and the Tilt of History is, among many other things, the story of how the word pogrom became one of the surprisingly few Russian words that have ever made it into English. It was the 1903 massacre of Jews in Kishinev (now Chişinău in the post-Soviet Republic of Moldova) that made pogrom a household word, but why? It was neither the first nor the worst such atrocity in the history of Russia’s Jews. What was different about it?
I saw Romanian reporting that some of the Russian(-backed) protesters in Chișinău tried to break into the government building, but I don’t see that in the wire reports. They (ABC link) do note that:
The protest also comes a day after Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service, SIS, said it had expelled two foreign nationals who were caught carrying out “subversive actions” to destabilize Moldova.
The SIS said that the pair were actively monitoring and documenting social and political processes in Moldova, including protests it said were “organized in the capital by certain political forces.”
“Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘I’m completely against the war in Ukraine….You know who’s driving it? It’s America. America needs to stop pushing the war in Ukraine’.”
LOL, her claims about hating the US (If only we weren’t “such hypocritical, deceitful, disgusting creatures”…) and not caring for international travel aren’t very convincing!
Tethyssays
Lynna 248
Thanks for the addition information regarding the 1903 massacre.
You’re welcome. The history of Imperial Russia is not taught in US public schools in any detail, but for most Eastern Europeans and Jewish people, the word Chișinău is synonymous with Pogrom.
Russia still had serfs until 1861. It’s certainly improved socially since then, but it has never experienced anything resembling a democratic society.
The Pale of Settlement that codified where Jewish people were allowed to live was official Imperial Law, though Eastern Europe was never Russian in population. Eastern Europe has always been a highly diverse region, due to geography and ancient human travel/trade networks. Russia has been trying to rule them all since the days of the Ottoman Empire, complete with yet another Crimean War.
StevoRsays
On a newly discovered very low mass (M9 V) red dwarf star duo ( LP 413–53AB) with a record 17 hour orbit around their common barycentre (centre of gravity) :
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. Their latest summary:
Finnish MPs will vote this afternoon on speeding up the Finland’s Nato accession process. Both Finland, which has one of Europe’s longest borders with Russia, and Sweden dropped their decades-long policies of military non-alignment and applied to join Nato in May last year in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Facing fewer diplomatic hurdles than Stockholm, Helsinki wants to move forward even before Finland’s general elections in April, as public opinion also supports membership. [Update: according to the liveblog, this passed overwhelmingly, “with 184 members of the 200-seat parliament voting in favour, seven against and one abstaining.”]
Hungary’s president, Katalin Novák, urged lawmakers on Wednesday to ratify Finland and Sweden’s Nato entry “as soon as possible” as deputies started debating the motions after months of the bills being stranded in parliament. Hungary and Turkey are so far the only two Nato countries not to ratify their admission. Talks between Turkey, Sweden and Finland are set to resume in Brussels on 9 March.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to president Volodymr Zelenskiy, has denied that Ukraine mounts attacks within Russian territory. On Tuesday Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of launching a spate of attempted drone strikes targeting infrastructure inside Russia, including near Moscow, after a fire broke out at an oil depot in Tuapse, Krasnodar and authorities briefly closed airspace above St Petersburg. The Kremlin responded to Podolyak’s statement on Wednesday by saying it did not believe it.
Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne reports that two people were injured following Russian shelling in Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region, and that over the last 24 hours, five people died and seven were injured by shelling in the Kherson region, while three were killed and four injured in Donetsk region.
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken was due in New Delhi on Wednesday alongside Russia’s Sergei Lavrov for a G20 meeting. A meeting was seen as unlikely between the two men, who have not been in the same room since a G20 meeting in Bali in July when, according to western officials, the Russian foreign minister walked out. An EU source has said the EU delegation would not support a statement at the G20 meeting in India if it did not include condemnation of the war.
On Tuesday the Biden administration pledged to support the independence of the five Central Asian nations, with Blinken saying that no country – particularly those that have traditionally been in Moscow’s orbit – can afford to ignore the threats posed by Russian aggression to not only their territory but to the international rules-based order and the global economy.
A government official in Poland said on Wednesday that Russia was behind a hacking attack that blocked users’ access to the online tax filing system.
Russia brought new law amendments to parliament on Wednesday that further strengthen the country’s censorship laws, envisaging up to 15 years in jail for discrediting the armed forces and voluntary military organisations such as the Wagner group. Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, said that “any public dissemination of knowingly false information about the forces” will be punishable
The US does not expect Russia to make significant territorial gains in Ukraine in the near term, a US undersecretary of defence has said. Describing the frontlines as a “grinding slog”, Colin Kahl told a House of Representatives hearing: “I do not think that there’s anything I see that suggests the Russians can sweep across Ukraine and make significant territorial gains anytime in the next year or so.”
Also from there:
Ukrainian troops could “strategically pull back” from the key eastern stronghold of Bakhmut if needed, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, amid relentless Russian attacks on the small Ukrainian city.
Russian forces continue to make incremental gains in Bakhmut and do “not stop assaulting the city”, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said in an update this morning.
Russia is trying to encircle Bakhmut and using their “best” and “most well trained and the most experienced” troops from the mercenary Wagner group, Ukraine’s economic adviser Alexander Rodnyansky told CNN on Tuesday. He said:
Our military is obviously going to weigh all of the options. So far, they’ve held the city, but, if need be, they will strategically pull back – because we’re not going to sacrifice all of our people just for nothing.
It was up to the Ukrainian military to decide if a withdrawal was needed, he said. A military spokesperson said today that “there is no such decision now” to withdraw from the eastern city.
Rodnyansky added that the region west of Bakhmut had been fortified:
If we were to pull back, that wouldn’t necessarily mean that the Russians would be able to advance very quickly, afterward. Make no mistake, our counter-offensives will be around the corner soon.
The battle for Bakhmut, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance amid a relentless Russian offensive that has sought for months to capture the city.
Several thousand civilians, including children, are still believed to be in the city, which is mostly cut off from humanitarian relief.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Donetsk regional military administration told CNN today:
About 4,500 civilians remain in Bakhmut. Including 48 children who cannot be evacuated because they live in places that are no longer accessible.
Civilians have been urged to evacuate as Russian forces continue to advance on the city. “The situation is extremely dangerous for civilians,” the spokesperson said.
Some of Washington’s most powerful lobbyists are providing their services to Ukraine for free – but at the same time, they are taking in millions in fees from Pentagon contractors who stand to benefit from the country’s war with Russia.
Following Vladimir Putin’s internationally condemned decision to invade Ukraine there was an outpouring of support to the besieged nation from seemingly every industry in America. But, arguably, one of the most crucial industries coming to Ukraine’s aid has been Washington’s powerful lobbying industry.
Russia’s invasion has led some of the lobbying industry’s biggest players to do the unthinkable – lobby for free. While the influence industry may have altruistic reasons for representing Ukraine pro-bono, some lobbying firms also have financial incentives for aiding Ukraine: they’ve made millions lobbying for arms manufacturers that could profit from the war.
Catherine Dior, sister of the house’s founder, Christian, was a member of the French resistance, who gathered information on the movements of German troops and warships under the code name “Caro”. Arrested by the Gestapo, she was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp before escaping in 1945, and later awarded the French Légion d’honneur. Her emaciated form and traumatised personality was a key catalyst for her brother, whose postwar New Look silhouette was in part an attempt to gift hope and optimism to women like his sister, who had suffered during the war.
Young women, members of Iranian Gen Z, led the protests in Iran.
Now they’re being deliberately poisoned at schools across various cities in Iran (700+) to take revenge and prevent them from attending. At least one already died.
This is a hospital in Tehran today.
Parents chant outside a school in Iran (unclear where): “Death to the child-killing regime! Death to the dictator!”
One woman yells, “Enough is enough! We have to rise up… Or else they’ll take us one by one to the hospital,” referring to poisonings.
This is outside an elementary school in Narmak, a Tehran suburb. The students have been poisoned at this school and a high school nearby. Very worried parents have gathered to learn of their child’s health.
Fight breaks out as parents chant, “Dishonorable!”
Videos at the (Twitter) link. It’s been difficult to get good information about this.
BREAKING: Israeli minister of finance Bezalel Smotrich: “The Palestinian village of Hawara should be wiped out of the earth. The Israeli government needs to do it and not private citizens”
Last week, during a raid in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces shot and killed at least 4 unarmed Palestinians in Nablus that didn’t appear to pose any threat, our new visual investigation shows (paywall-free link):…
In total, 11 people were killed and over 100 wounded, per the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israel Defense Forces reported no injuries. Palestinian officials said this was the deadliest start to a year in the occupied territory since 2000, the start of the First Intifada.
We obtained security camera footage, witness video and testimony from multiple locations in Nablus, and reviewed Telegram posts and Facebook live streams to understand how the raid unfolded and establish where, when and under what circumstances the Palestinians were killed.
The raid was aimed to apprehend three members of the Lions’ Den allegedly involved in terrorist activities. When they refuse to surrender, a firefight breaks out and they’re killed. So is another Palestinian gunman who takes aim at an Israeli vehicle, as seen in this footage….
But in other cases, Israeli forces used deadly force against unarmed Palestinians:…
…
As @Seharrison7 notes, U.S. officials are required under the Leahy laws to evaluate footage like this to assess whether Israeli military units should remain eligible for security assistance….
Images, videos, and NYT link at the (Twitter) link.
“The people at Fox News are following one of the most reliable recipes for really destructive, dangerous, cruel behavior,” says Chris Hayes. “They’ve got a lot of power, but they are terrified of losing it.”
Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted under oath that election lies were knowingly endorsed by hosts including Sean Hannity and Maria Bartiromo. Elsewhere, Florida’s governor released an exceptionally stupid book, and the feds finally caught up with a costumed Jan 6 insurrectionist.
Wagner Group founder Evgeny Prigozhin appealed to the State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, asking him to exclude “constructive criticism” of Russia’s top military officials from the draft law that criminalizes “discrediting” the participants of Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The new amendment to the law against “discrediting the military” is designed to discourage public criticism of the Russian troops taking part in the invasion.
It was Prigozhin himself who’d proposed this amendment, claiming it was necessary to punish all public criticism of his “volunteers,” recruited to join Wagner Group in Russian prisons, in exchange for pardons.
Shortly afterwards, Volodin tasked the State Duma with drafting the new legislation, but Prigozhin is now concerned that the law might be too broadly inclusive in its protections.
Wagner Group and Prigozhin himself have frequently criticized Russia’s Defense Ministry. Prigozhin is known to have used obscene insults in speaking to Russia’s Chief of Command Valery Gerasimov. His concern is not to criminalize public criticisms of Russia’s army command (as well as Wagner Group leadership, he adds).
Prigozhin’s letter to Volodin explains that he wants to avoid criminalizing “public and constructive criticism” of the officials and their actions.
At an interfaith breakfast in New York City yesterday, Mayor Eric Adams’ chief adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, delivered a striking message to attendees. “We know in government, many times, it is said that one has to separate church from state, but we have an administration that doesn’t believe in that,” the Christian chaplain said.
Soon after, as Politico reported, the mayor proved her right.
“When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools,” Adams said to applause from hundreds of religious leaders gathered at an annual event in Manhattan. … “Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state. State is the body, church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies,” Adams said.
In case there are any lingering questions about the mayor’s political affiliations, Adams is a Democrat, though his rhetoric yesterday was indistinguishable from the messages pushed by far-right televangelists and their GOP allies who still see school prayer as a culture war issue.
In fact, it was just last year when House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a very conservative Louisiana Republican, 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.”
Adams’ rhetoric yesterday was similar, but by most measures, he was even more overtly hostile toward a bedrock principle of the American government.
Part of what made the mayor’s rhetoric so bizarre was the factual error at the heart of his argument: As Adams sees it, “we” took prayers out of schools, which in turn opened the door to gun violence in schools. This isn’t even close to being true.
Even if we put aside the fact that there were examples of mass school shootings that occurred before the Supreme Court rulings in question, the more relevant detail is that voluntary prayer was never removed from public schools. As we’ve discussed, what court rulings did was require public schools to remain neutral on matters of faith, putting religious guidance in the hands of parents, families, and faith leaders, instead of government employees.
What Adams, many Republicans, and the religious right movement prefer is the old model: A system in which students pray on their own isn’t as good, they say, as one in which public school officials intervene in children’s religious lives. […]
For much of Joe Biden’s presidency, a variety of Republicans have pointed to fentanyl seizures at the U.S./Mexico border as proof of lax security measures. That’s never made any sense — the claims are inherently self-defeating — but an amazing number of GOP officials have spent the last couple of years pushing the line.
This came up again yesterday during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, when Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene pointed to the Biden administration successfully seizing fentanyl before it reaches American soil as evidence of the Biden administration failing to stop fentanyl before it reaches American soil.
That was, to be sure, quite weird, but it wasn’t the Georgia congresswoman’s only misstep. Greene also published this missive to Twitter:
“Listen to this mother, who lost two children to fentanyl poisoning, tell the truth about both of her son’s murders because of the Biden administrations [sic] refusal to secure our border and stop the Cartel’s [sic] from murdering Americans everyday [sic] by Chinese fentanyl.”
The tweet came with a video of Rebecca Kiessling, a Michigan woman who told lawmakers about losing two sons to accidental fentanyl overdoses.
But while Greene saw Kiessling’s tragic story as proof of the Biden administration’s policies, there was a fairly obvious problem with this attempt at blame: Kiessling’s sons died in 2020, when Biden was a private citizen.
[…] it was part of a curious recent pattern in GOP politics: Republicans keep forgetting who was president in 2020.
Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, for example, recently blamed Biden for “paying people to stay home” in 2020, referring to a law that Donald Trump signed the year before Biden took office.
The same week, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado blamed the Democratic president for Covid-related school closures in 2020 — which, again, was a year that Biden spent on the campaign trail, not in the Oval Office.
It also wasn’t too long ago when former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also pointed to crime data from 2020 to blame Biden for the U.S. murder rate, apparently unaware that it was her former boss who was president at the time.
[…] in 2015, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas suggested Barack Obama was to blame for the economic crash of 2008, which began several months before the Democrat was elected president.
Two years earlier, a poll found that nearly a third of Louisiana Republicans blamed Obama for the dreadful federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Of course, in reality, Katrina made landfall in August 2005, and Obama was inaugurated in January 2009.
Now, it seems much of the GOP has become calendar-challenged once again.
[…] In August 2020, William Saletan put together a timeline of events for Slate, and in hindsight, it’s tough to read the piece without cringing. On Jan. 10, for example, after Trump received a briefing on developments in Wuhan, the then-American president told Fox News, “We have a great relationship with China right now, so I don’t want to speak badly of anyone.”
Nearly two weeks later, Trump assured the public that China “is in very good shape” and he was “not at all” concerned about a possible pandemic. When CNBC asked the Republican on Jan. 22, “Do you trust that we’re going to know everything we need to know from China?” Trump responded, “I do. I have a great relationship with President Xi.”
On Jan. 30, the then-president told an audience of supporters, “We’re working very strongly with China on the coronavirus. … We think we have it very well under control. … We think it’s going to have a very good ending for it. So that, I can assure you.”
A week later, Trump turned to Twitter to tell the public that the Chinese president “is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus.” The Republican added, “Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation.” When a reporter asked Trump the same day whether China was hiding Covid information, he replied, “No.”
On Feb. 10, again on Fox News, Trump again vouched for Beijing’s transparency.
This is just a sampling; the list of related instances keeps going. The more voices in the U.S. questioned China, its handling of the crisis, and its candor, the more Trump stood up for officials in Beijing. […]
Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado:
[…] President Trump was in office when the Covid virus was released from a lab in China, from the Wuhan lab. And he tried to make that very clear that this came from China, and reporters regularly dismissed that.
So, Trump has a complicated and contradictory record when it comes to Covid, (and when it comes to the “lab leak” theory), but Boebert is going to simplify that for us. According to her, Hair Furor was always correct, was always the smartest cult leader, and he will always be right.
The Supreme Court heard two cases this week that could upend Silicon Valley. On this week’s On The Media, a look at the fragile law holding the modern internet together. Plus, how a century-long PR campaign taught Americans to love the free market and loathe their own government.
1. Emily Birnbaum [@birnbaum_e], tech lobbying reporter with Bloomberg, Mark Joseph Stern [@mjs_DC], senior writer at Slate, and Emma Llanso [@ellanso], director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, on two cases argued in front of the Supreme Court this week and how they could impact the future of the internet. Listen.
2. Naomi Oreskes [@NaomiOreskes], professor of the history of science at Harvard University and the co-author, with Erik M. Conway, of “The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market,” on century-old PR campaign, conducted by big business, to imbue Americans with a quasi-religious belief in the free market.
3. China Miéville, a speculative fiction writer and author of the recent book, “A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto,” on the ebb and flow of the text’s popularity through the decades, and what we might draw from it today.…
Russian tankers (or rather, Russian ex-tankers) provided a firsthand account from the road to Vuhledar. [Tweet and video at the link: “[…] It’s a fuckfest, but we are pushing!” Russian tankmen send regards from Vuhledar against the backdrop of their dying tank and wounded Andryuha, who has been lying on the side of the road for two days. Everyone is lucky, except for the leg and the tank. Both were crushed.]
Posted by Zarina Zabrisky:
5 km from frontline near #Bakhmut, Paul Conroy @reflextv explains how the frontline works. A war photographer and a former British military, Paul knows what he’s talking about. [video at the link
More from the update:
On Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning in Ukraine, there was clearly heavy fighting going on around Bakhmut. The counterattack that had supposedly pushed Russian forces away was clearly nothing but hopeful rumors; Russian forces were continuing to drive south from the area between Yahidne and Berkhivka, and reports at the end of the day placed Russian troops within 1 km of the vital “road of life” connecting Bakhmut to forces outside the city. [map at the link]
The map above is actually more reflective of where things stood at the end of the day on Tuesday. It doesn’t reflect changes due to fighting overnight or on Wednesday morning, because I don’t have the information to accurately map those changes.
Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from the eastern third of the city, Russia appears to have secured the complex of roads to the north that had become the “hell intersection” and there has been renewed fighting in the south. Operational security was tightened on Tuesday evening, and, the obvious assumption was that Ukraine was planning to withdraw its forces from the city under cover of darkness.
That didn’t happen. As of Wednesday in Ukraine, Bakhmut holds, and according to at least one official source, more Ukrainian forces are on their way in. [video at the link]
The situation around Bakhmut hasn’t just appeared to be critical for the last month, it has been critical. After Russia occupied the town of Soledar to the north in January, it set up a situation in which Russia could both attack Bakhmut from the north and potentially encircle the city from that direction. Then, at the beginning of February, Russia managed to capture the town of Klishchiivka to the south, including a point of high ground that seemed to position Russian forces to push further west.
Just days into February, the M03 highway on the north, and the T0504 highway on the south were both under fire control from Russian positions. Video showed that Ukraine still made runs down each road (until a downed bridge stopped traffic on the T0504), and Ukrainian armor confronted Russian troops that tried to cross the M03 in mid-month, but for any series transport of men and materiel in or out of Bakhmut, Ukraine was reduced to a single, smaller paved highway, one that runs through the village of Khromove before joining another highway at the town of Chasiv Yar. That road became Bakhmut’s “road of life.”
Russia seemed absolutely aware of this weakness and immediately announced that it was moving for Chasiv Yar. In fact, Russian sources—including state media—reported that it had already taken Chasiv Yar. Instead, Ukrainian forces near Ivaniske successfully threw Russia back to that hill near Klishchiivka. Despite repeated attempts, Russian forces south of Bakhmut have still not been able to cross the T0504 highway and approach the western end of the road of life.
The big threat has been, and likely remains, that Russian push from the north. While descriptions in the media insist on calling it “pincers closing around Bakhmut,” for the most part, the southern line has been stagnant for the last month. Movement on the north has threatened to cut off access and effectively encircle the city. [Video posted by Ukrainian airborne assault troops in the Bakhmut area.]
The pro-Ukraine Telegram channel Deep State called the Russian assault on the north and east of Bakhmut on Wednesday morning “colossal.” Even so, there are also reports that Ukraine engaged with Russian forces at almost every point of the line, especially in that area around Yahidne on the north, and regained some of the territory lost in the last few days. Deep State is also reporting, incredibly, that as many as 4,500 civilians remain in Bakhmut, including 48 children, despite months-long efforts to get them to evacuate. [yikes]
Both Ukrainian and Russian planes and helicopters were active over the city on Tuesday and Wednesday. Russia may now believe it has incapacitated Ukrainian anti-aircraft positions in the city as they seem to be flying many more sorties and striking locations closer to central Bakhmut.
What happens next is currently confusing—and that’s probably on purpose. At around midnight Eastern time, the Ukrainian military indicated that they were sending more forces into Bakhmut. Three hours later, and advisor to President Zelenskyy indicated that Ukraine was considering “strategically pulling back” and said “We’re not going to sacrifice all of our people just for nothing.”
The feeling on some Telegram channels is that Ukraine has been continuing to hold at Bakhmut because they feel Russia’s assault is close to culmination — that if they can hold out just a little longer, not only will it force Russia to continue expending huge numbers of men, it will leave the Russian force so depleted that Ukraine can mount an effective counteroffensive. […]
Bakhmut is at a logistically simple location. Russia can unload men and artillery there with an ease it enjoys at few other points along the line. That’s precisely why they keep attacking at Bakhmut—because they can. Those same logistical factors make it unlikely that the assault on Bakhmut would culminate in the historic sense without a collapse of Russian defenses at other points coming first.
Overnight, Polish television reported that both U.S. Bradley fighting vehicles and German Leopard 2 tanks were approaching Bakhmut. One DPR commander said on Telegram that Leopards were already in the area and engaging with Russian forces north of the city. All of these accounts are, to put it mildly, extremely unlikely. The first Ukrainian crews just finished training on the Bradley yesterday. The first Leopards aren’t due to reach Ukraine before the end of the month. There is no indication that new Western tanks or fighting vehicles are being directed to this area.
It would be nice to think that Gandalf is going to appear over the hill, leading the forces of Rohan to relieve the siege of Bakhmut. But whether on a white horse or a Challenger tank, this is extremely unlikely. Ukraine has fought their way through another day. They still have access to the road of life. Whether they use that road to bring people in or send people out is a terribly difficult decision, and none of us outside the battle have the information needed to make that call.
The biggest win for President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats this week isn’t going to happen in the House or Senate. It’s from the work they did last session. Drugmaker Eli Lilly has announced that it is going to cap the cost of its insulin products at $35 or less per month for everybody—even the uninsured—effective immediately. That’s happening now, while it is also cutting the cost of the most commonly prescribed insulins by 70%.
“While the current healthcare system provides access to insulin for most people with diabetes, it still does not provide affordable insulin for everyone, and that needs to change,” said David A. Ricks, Lilly’s Chair and CEO. “The aggressive price cuts we’re announcing today should make a real difference for Americans with diabetes. Because these price cuts will take time for the insurance and pharmacy system to implement, we are taking the additional step to immediately cap out-of-pocket costs for patients who use Lilly insulin and are not covered by the recent Medicare Part D cap.”
Democrats fought hard for that over the last session of Congress, first trying to get it passed in the Biden’s sweeping Build Back Better package, which failed, and then in the Inflation Reduction Act reconciliation bill they passed at the end of last year. They had a provision in that bill that would have capped insulin at $35/month for everyone, but Republicans defeated it. They ended up cutting the cost for Medicare enrollees, which was a significant win. But this one is even bigger. About 3 in 10 people who use insulin use a Lilly product, and Lilly is specifically calling out the other companies to match their efforts, which seems almost inevitable.
That’s a huge win for diabetics, and for Biden and the Democrats. […]
Meanwhile, here’s some news describing what Republicans are doing:
On Tuesday, House Republicans (along with useless Democrat Jared Golden of Maine) voted 216-204 to overturn a Department of Labor rule to encourage fiduciaries of pension plans to take environmental, social, and governance—or ESG—factors into consideration when choosing retirement investments. The Senate is taking it up Wednesday. It’s a Congressional Review Act resolution, a process that Congress can use to reverse executive-branch actions within 60 legislative days. It is not subject to a filibuster, and it’s privileged in both the House and the Senate—meaning it has to be taken up.
Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) sponsored it in the Senate, and he’s got Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on board. [Fuck you, Joe Manchin] Because of course he is. Republicans are trying to get more Democrats with them on this, which is one reason we saw this on Tuesday; an op-ed from Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in the Wall Street Journal explaining what a ridiculous issue this is.
ESG opponents are trying to turn it into a dirty acronym, deploying attacks they have long used for elements of a so-called woke agenda. They call ESG wokeness. They call it a cult. They call it an incursion into free markets. We’ve heard it all before. I say ESG is just common sense.
Republicans conveniently ignore something very important: America’s most successful asset managers and financial institutions have used ESG factors to minimize risk and maximize their clients’ returns. In fact, according to McKinsey, more than 90% of S&P 500 companies publish ESG reports today.
He’s not wrong about the opponents. The extremist behind this campaign is none other than Leonard Leo, Federalist Society leader who has succeeded in taking over the federal judiciary, and particularly the U.S. Supreme Court, to advance his white evangelical nationalist ideology with billions in dark money. […]
Biden has promised to veto the bill if it gets through the Senate. But, coming full circle, there’s already a legal challenge from Republican states and the oil industry. They brought that challenge to a federal court in Texas. To U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo. Yes, the same Leonard Leo pick elevated by Trump who is systematically attempting to undo the 20th century.
He’s the flashpoint right now in the rigged judiciary system created by Leo, Mitch McConnell, and Trump because he’s the guy who could block 50% of abortions in the entire country with just one ruling, a ruling that will be handed down any day now.
This is a huge week in contrasts: the massive win by Democrats for affordable, life-saving health care versus a bullshit, ginned-up culture war on behalf of Big Oil using dark money-rigged courts. That’s 2023 in a nutshell.
A Russian man has been detained for making anti-war statements and his 12-year-old daughter temporarily taken into state care after the family faced pressure from authorities for drawings the girl made at school depicting Russia bombing a family in Ukraine.
Alexei Moskalyov, a single parent from the town of Yefremov, 150 miles south of Moscow, has been arrested for making anti-war statements on Odnoklassniki, a Russian social network.
He was detained on Wednesday, his house searched and his daughter put in a state-run shelter until her father is released or another guardian is found, a lawyer for Moskalyov told the Guardian.
“She’ll be under state care until her father’s fate is decided,” said Vladimir Bilienko, a lawyer for Moskalyov. Asked what could happen if he was convicted, he said that if no close relative could be found, then a “single option would remain: an orphanage”.
“That would be a blow to a girl who has lived with her father her whole life,” he told the Guardian by telephone. “So tomorrow we’re going to do everything possible to ensure that her father remains free. And so that she can live at home with him.”
The family said they had faced pressure from police since last April when Maria, a sixth-grader, refused to participate in a patriotic class at her school and made several drawings showing rockets being fired at a family standing under a Ukrainian flag and another that said “Glory to Ukraine!”.
…
“We do think that the drawing was the main trigger that drew police attention to the father and because of that they looked at his social media,” Maria Kuznetsova, a spokesperson for OVD-Info, told the Guardian.
“It’s important to understand that the Moskalyov case is a part of a larger horrifying trend – as a part of a wider wartime crackdown the regime is routinely persecuting anti-war minors and their families, while squeezing the Russian youth into a heavily militarised culture,” Kuznetsova said.
“According to our data, at least 544 minors were detained in anti-war protests in the past year, and seven minors are currently criminally prosecuted for their anti-war positions. At least 19 anti-war teachers were fired … In particular, minors are targeted for sharing posts or comments about anti-war rallies, leaflets against mobilisation, holding solo demonstrations, expressing anti-war views during school events, demonstrating anti-war clothing, making anti-war inscriptions.”
In the Moskalyovs’ case, FSB agents suggested his daughter “lead some youth team in support of the Russian troops, but I gently refused – she has a lot of classes and clubs, there is no time left,” the father said. Since last year, Russia has ordered an overhaul of patriotic education, including the introduction of “conversations about important topics” at school that are seen as vehicles to indoctrinate students.
The school in Yefremov, a small city, had hosted other events in support of the Russian army, including a “festive event in support of a special military operation” called “For peace, for Russia, for the president”. The school repeatedly used the Latin letter “Z”, a symbol of the war.
Moskalyov faces three years in prison. He is being held at the city’s Investigative Committee offices and on Thursday will be sent to a temporary detention facility while awaiting arraignment.
His daughter was unlikely to be transferred to her mother’s care, said Bilienko. Nearly 10 other people in the community had also offered to take the girl into their care, he said, and that could be an alternative to an orphanage if approved by a court. “Thank God there are people like that,” said the lawyer.
Overnight, Russia charged Ukraine with making a drone attack on Moscow and Ukraine denied it. Ukraine may be lying to some degree, but it’s impossible at this point to determine to what extent because Russia has lied about every possible aspect of the events on Tuesday.
Images of what certainly appears to be carefully laid-out debris from a single Ukrainian UJ-22 surveillance drone have been released by Russian sources are reported as found at two different locations, hundreds of kilometers apart. There were reports of drones (or UFOs) in the air near St. Petersburg and a significant air space was closed to civilian traffic for over an hour. There was an apparent attack on an airbase at Yelsk, across the Sea of Azov from Mariupol. But before Russia began claiming that Ukraine had attacked Moscow, it claimed that the airspace closures were part of a “public safety exercise” and even though images show what appear to be facilities exploding at Yelsk, Russia continues to insist that never happened, and that explosions in the area were due to “military training.” [Tweet and image at the link]
Ukraine’s denial also seems to have a good degree of the theatrical, apparently being done for Western politicians who somehow worry that Ukraine striking at any target across the border might somehow “escalate the conflict.”
Moscow is now claiming that a “wave of drones” was sent into Russia. However, there’s very little evidence for this wave other than that one wrecked UJ-22—a drone that would be a very poor instrument for any kind of serious attack.
Probably Ukraine attacked Yelsk. Likely they sent a surveillance drone into the area near St. Petersburg. Likely both things made Russia panic. But we can’t be sure about any of it at this point.
As March begins, Ukrainian officials are pointing out that Russia has lost another big strategic “battle”—the one to freeze out Ukrainian civilians over the winter. [Tweet and image at the link: “They wanted to freeze us and throw us into darkness. We survived!
Today is the first day of spring.
Life, light, love defeat death.
Ukraine will win.”]
Putin was convinced that attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure would have civilians freezing in their homes and overthrowing the Zelenskyy government. Like the capture of Bakhmut, it became not just a thing they thought would happen, but something that state media and Russian social media sources reported several times as already happening.
Remember when Russia claimed that cutting off natural gas would bring Germany’s economy to a halt, that Europe would turn on Ukraine, and that energy prices would increase by 1000%, leaving Russia sitting pretty as it decided who was worthy of sipping from its pipelines?
Russia’s economic strategy in this war may have been worse than the planning for the Battle of Kyiv.
The New York Times reports this morning about the series of Russian defeats at Vuhledar. It recounts the story of a Ukrainian tank crew driving an older T-64 and going up against some of Russia’s newest armor.
Blown up on mines, hit with artillery or obliterated by anti-tank missiles, the charred hulks of Russian armored vehicles now litter farm fields all about Vuhledar, according to Ukrainian military drone footage. Ukraine’s military said Russia had lost at least 130 tanks and armored personnel carriers in the battle.
There’s a vicious feedback loop at work for Russia.
Step one: Russia has lost so many experienced soldiers trained to use tanks and fighting vehicles that it’s now sending those vehicles forward with raw recruits who have little training or understanding of how to operate the armor.
Step two: These inexperienced crews rack up a very high loss rate, leaving the area around Vuhledar strew with flaming wrecks.
Step three: Russia loses so many armored vehicles that it switches to human waves, but those attacks are no more successful than the armored assaults and result in ridiculously high numbers of casualties.
Step four: Russia decides to send in more armor … see step one. [Tweet and video at the link]
The Russian army has focused on, and even mythologized, tank warfare for decades for its redolence of Russian victories over the Nazis in World War II. Factories in the Ural Mountains have churned out tanks by the thousands. In Vuhledar, by last week Russia had lost so many machines [they could no longer] sustain armored assaults [they] changed tactics and resorted only to infantry attacks, Ukrainian commanders said.
That’s an absolutely amazing paragraph.
On Tuesday, Russia did decide to switch things up. Rather than attack Vuhledar along the road that runs west of the town, they went with the one on the east. The end result was the same, but the Ukrainian soldiers probably appreciated the variety.
House Oversight Chair James Comer is coming for the Biden kid. No, not Hunter … Beau. Yeah, that’s right —[Comer] is shit-talking the president’s dead son. Because there is no low too low for these people. […]
Comer’s main topic was “the Joe Biden influence peddling orbit.” Naturally.
“This is very serious, and I think the evidence is overwhelming that this family’s been involved in some very shady business dealings that could compromise national security,” Comer intoned, before launching into extended, evidence-free arglebargling, as Dobbs clapped along like an aging seal, determined to cash in on the fishy dregs of his final grift.
“The problem with Hunter Biden is the evidence is overwhelming that he was paid millions and millions of dollars just for being a Biden,” said the man unconcerned that the Saudi sovereign wealth fund gave Jared Kushner TWO BILLION DOLLARS for being Trump’s son-in-law. That would be Donald Trump, the man who was trying to build a Trump Tower in Moscow when he ran for president and who maintained multiple properties which rented blocks of hotels and offices to foreign governments, many of which were never even used. FFS, Trump forced American planes to refuel in Scotland so troops could be billeted at his private hotel.
But back to the utter depravity of James Comer. First Comer insisted that the senator from a home state has control over who the president appoints as US attorney, even if the president is from the opposing party.
“People assume that because that US Attorney was appointed by Donald Trump that he’s going to be a model conservative and he’s going to do the right thing, and he’s not going to worry about the Bidens or the Democrat party or whatever. But I know that in Kentucky, even when Obama was president, McConnell had a big say in who got to be US Attorney,” he went on. And that is true, as far as it goes — Senators Coons and Carper did recommend US Attorney David Weiss to the Trump administration. But there’s a reason that Attorney General Bill Barr tasked Weiss with investigating Hunter Biden in 2018, and it isn’t because Barr figured Weiss would go easy on the Biden family. In fact, it was likely the opposite of what Comer went on to imply.
“But this US attorney had had an opportunity to go after the Bidens years ago,” he continued. “In fact, it was Beau Biden, the president’s other son, that was involved in some campaign donations from a person that got indicted, as well as Joe Biden was involved in some of these campaign donations when he was a senator, and then when he ran for president against Obama.”
As the Daily Beast points out, Comer is referring to a straw man donor scheme by a bundler for Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign. The bundler, a Biden family friend named Chris Tigani, claimed that Joe Biden and his son Beau, then the Delaware state attorney general, knowingly accepted illegal campaign contributions. At Weiss’s behest, Tigani wore a wire for months trying to prove it and apparently came up empty. From which Comer infers that Weiss is a Democratic plant, and not, say, someone who’d like another bite at the Biden apple.
“Nothing ever happened,” Comer complained. “So I don’t know much about this US attorney other than he’s had an opportunity to investigate the Bidens before and he chose not to. We all know that he’s just been silent for a long time.”
“There’s enough to indict Hunter Biden now, there was enough to indict Hunter Biden three or four years ago with what’s on the laptop,” Comer prattled on, seemingly oblivious that the laptop was full of heartbreaking images of Beau Biden’s death from brain cancer in 2015. Because it’s fun to talk shit about a dead man who can’t defend himself. Nor is it clear how Comer, with his BS in agriculture from Western Kentucky University, is better qualified to opine on the propriety of criminal charges than actual prosecutors. But this way madness lies … and indeed it lies deeply and all over the Oversight Committee now that Comer has control of the gavel.
On the plus side, this guy seems dumber than Devin Nunes and marginally less immune to shame, so perhaps he’ll just tire himself out with this shit before he can do any real harm.
As Iran’s nuclear program advances, it’s important to understand just how spectacularly Donald Trump’s policy failed and in turn created the current mess.
About a year ago, Biden administration officials held a closed-door briefing with senators on Iran’s nuclear program. Politico reported soon after that members exited the briefing feeling rattled, with one senator describing the information as “sobering and shocking.”
While the discussion was held behind closed doors, officials warned lawmakers that Iran “could produce enough material for a nuclear bomb in as little as two months.”
As Reuters reported yesterday, federal lawmakers received an even more unsettling timeline yesterday.
Iran could make enough fissile for one nuclear bomb in “about 12 days,” […] a top U.S. Defense Department official said on Tuesday, down from the estimated one year it would have taken while the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in effect. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl made the comment to a House of Representatives hearing when pressed by a Republican lawmaker why the Biden administration had sought to revive the deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
As part of his testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, Kahl explained that Iran’s nuclear progress since Donald Trump abandoned the international nuclear agreement has been “remarkable.” The Pentagon official added, “Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb’s worth of fissile material. Now it would take about 12 days.”
The testimony coincided with a Wall Street Journal report, which added that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded after a recent inspection that it had “found traces of near weapons-grade nuclear material at Iran’s underground Fordow facility.”
[…] the political world should pause periodically to come to terms with just how severe the consequences of Donald Trump’s policy toward Iran have been. […]
It was Joe Cirincione, whose expertise in international nuclear diplomacy has few rivals, who wrote a piece for NBC News two years ago 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, froze it for a generation and put it under lock and camera.”
I continue to believe this is an underappreciated truth. The international agreement with Iran did exactly what it set out to do: The policy 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.
[…] 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.”
This week, according to information from the Defense Department and the IAEA, the picture is even more alarming. There is no ambiguity here: Trump’s decision made us less safe.
[…] Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis, White House National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford. Each of the officials told Trump the same thing: It was in the United States’ interest to preserve the existing JCPOA policy.
[Trump] expected his team to tell him how to get out of the international agreement, not how to stick with it. When his own foreign policy and national security advisers told him the policy was working, Trump “had a bit of a meltdown.”
Soon after, he abandoned the JCPOA anyway, not because it was failing, but because Trump was indifferent to its success.
The Biden administration has tried to undo Trump’s mistake and strike a new international agreement, though those talks have faltered, and the process appears to be effectively dead.
Nevertheless, a basic truth appears unavoidable: Had Trump not failed so spectacularly, the increasingly serious international security problem almost certainly would not exist.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca held talks Wednesday with his visiting Moldovan counterpart as the two neighbors seek to boost ties amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
Ciuca met with new Prime Minister Dorin Recean at the government headquarters in Bucharest, where the two leaders discussed topics including regional security, economy, energy cooperation. They also discussed Romania’s assistance to Moldova in its bid to one day join the European Union.
In a news conference afterwards, Ciuca noted that the war in Ukraine has had “massive consequences” on Moldova, an EU candidate country since last June, and he vowed to continue supporting the former Soviet republic’s path toward the 27-nation bloc.
“We are witnessing more and more attempts to destabilize the Republic of Moldova by artificially creating tensions, as well as hostile narratives,” Ciuca said, adding that Romania will stand by Moldova “to overcome the current crises and hybrid pressures” it faces.
He added that the two countries, which both border Ukraine, will look to “speed up interconnection projects in the field of electricity,” which he said is important for ensuring Moldova’s energy independence. In recent months, Moldova faced a severe energy crisis after Russia dramatically reduced its gas supplies.
The pro-Western Recean, who took office on Feb. 16 after the previous prime minister quit, called Romania his country’s “most important partner” and said he wants to “deepen the strategic partnership.”
“Bucharest has helped us enormously in overcoming the energy crisis,” he said, adding that Romania also “remains our advocate in all European institutions so that we can rapidly advance the European path.”
…
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Moldova, a country of about 2.6 million, has faced a long string of crises.
These include several missiles that have traversed its skies from Russia’s war next door; skyrocketing inflation; a huge inflow of war refugees, and ongoing anti-government protests supported by Moldova’s Russia-friendly[/-created/-backed] Shor Party.
Recean also met Wednesday with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
A number of big names are skipping the annual conservative gathering, whose chair faces a sexual misconduct lawsuit.
Many of the Republican Party’s marquee players — including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and the top GOP leaders in Congress — will skip this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, dealing a significant blow to the annual gathering’s stature.
The abandonment of CPAC, which runs from Wednesday through Saturday, comes as its chairman, Matt Schlapp, defends himself against a lawsuit alleging that he fondled a male aide to then-Senate candidate Herschel Walker in Georgia in October, without the aide’s consent.
In a filing in a Virginia court this month, Schlapp’s lawyers wrote that he denies having committed sexual battery.
Despite the mass exodus, the party’s most dominant figure — former President Donald Trump — plans to speak at the conference late Saturday afternoon, according to his spokesman, Steven Cheung.
[…] The list of luminaries skipping CPAC is long and prestigious: Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin are among them.
[…] Both Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, are named in the lawsuit, which includes allegations that they participated in smearing the man who accuses Matt Schlapp of sexual misconduct.
[…] Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who recently launched her presidential 2024 bid, still plans to attend, an aide confirmed. Other speakers on the agenda include Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York.
The conservative Club for Growth will hold its annual donor retreat in Florida this week at the same time. DeSantis, Pence, Haley and others are scheduled to speak at that event; Trump is not.
…Adams is a Democrat, though his rhetoric yesterday was indistinguishable from the messages pushed by far-right televangelists and their GOP allies who still see school prayer as a culture war issue.
Ahhh… yet another example of the Democrat’s “Big Tent.” It soooooo nice they don’t have ideology litmus tests like those Republicans. They might become unified under a set of beliefs and we can’t have that. It wouldn’t be bipartisan.
On Tuesday, Russia did decide to switch things up. Rather than attack Vuhledar along the road that runs west of the town, they went with the one on the east. The end result was the same, but the Ukrainian soldiers probably appreciated the variety.
LOL.
Oggie: Mathomsays
I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but as I read about the war in Ukraine, I find myself (internally) celebrating victories, large or small, by Ukrainians. At the same time, I read about the successes and victories by Ukraine and mourn the Russian soldiers who are dying to prop up the ego of an irredentist murdering dictator. I know that what the Russian soldiers are fighting for — the destruction of Ukraine, the destruction of Ukrainian culture — is reprehensible. I know that many of the Russian soldiers have committed war crimes. I know that the Russian government is using these soldiers to commit war crimes. Yet I still mourn for the lost lives on both sides.
I first became aware of this part of myself back in high school (1980s). I was (and still am) a student of military history. I remember seeing a photo taken during the siege of Stalingrad. As the Luftwaffe tried to supply the 6th Army, cargo planes (some purpose built, some repurposed bombers) flew food and ammunition into the cauldron, and then flew wounded soldiers out. The cargo planes were especially vulnerable on takeoff — overloaded and operating in conditions never dreamt of by the designers. In this photo, a Junkers Ju-52 3m had taken off from one of the airfields, was hit by anti-aircraft artillery, and was caught, for ever, in a vertical dive, about to crash into the frozen ground. And part of me thought it was a cool photo. And then another part of me thought about the crew of three on board, plus the (probable) wounded on board, who died moments after the photo was taken.
I have never forgotten that photograph, or my reaction. How could I have been so callous before that day? I had seen that photo before and, before that day (I was about 18), had never thought of those who died. I can still appreciate and be amazed by the photo. I can still read, and enjoy, military history. But, thanks to that photo, I can never read military history without wondering about the Japanese soldiers on Guadalcanal who suffered and died, or the Soviet soldiers forced to march across minefields as part of a punishment battalion, or a Vietnamese soldier living in the tunnels of Cu Chi, or German soldiers in trenches during WWI, or, or, or . . .
As I read SC’s snippet at 288, specifically
The end result was the same, but the Ukrainian soldiers probably appreciated the variety
I can appreciate and enjoy the humour but, at the same time, mourn for the lives lost. Yes, even the lives of Russian soldiers who are fighting to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians, and recreate the Russian Empire (Soviet or Imperial).
I know, kinda personal on my part. But I think we all need to remember that the people dying are people, not statistics. I do.
Oggie @289: “I can appreciate and enjoy the humour but, at the same time, mourn for the lives lost. Yes, even the lives of Russian soldiers who are fighting to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians, and recreate the Russian Empire (Soviet or Imperial).”
I feel the same way. Defeating the Russians is necessary, but that doesn’t mean we can’t mourn the deaths of all those Russian soldiers, especially those being used as cannon fodder.
Feeling that way still does not cloud my mind so much that I would advise the Ukrainians to negotiate with Putin for peace. At least not now, or not yet. Negotiating with Putin would only make things worse … and not just for Ukrainians.
[…] as many people pointed out, regardless of what you believe about how secure our border is, and no matter your opinion on “war on drugs” policies, President Joe Biden wasn’t even a Senator in 2019, when this poor woman lost her children to overdose. In 2019 the Senate and the Presidency were controlled by Marjorie Taylor Greene’s party.
The internet and reporters brought up this fact (even Twitter’s dubious moderation team had to flag her tweet), and the MTG team’s response was wild.
[…] Ms. Kiessling has suffered the kind of brutal loss that millions of Americans have suffered. It can only be an unimaginable amount of pain to endure. How she manages her grief is not something I’m interested in discussing here.
However, Marjorie Taylor Greene is interested in using Kiessling’s grief as an emotional prop to score political points. The moment she chose to blame President Biden, instead of simply pushing for her decades-tested (and failed) “war on drugs” policies, she helped cheapen Ms. Kiessling’s grief in the public sphere. She turned the deaths of these three young people into a crass and truly ignorant political statement.
Daniel Dale is a senior reporter for CNN who runs fact-checks on the president and other high-profile political figures. On Wednesday morning, he wrote, “I asked Greene’s office last night about her tweet blaming the Biden administration for these deaths in 2020 under Trump. Spokesman Nick Dyer responded by saying lots of people have died from drugs under Biden and ‘do you think they give a fuck about your bullshit fact checking?’”
But that’s not all from the classy organization of civility in discourse that is Marjorie Taylor Greene and her staff, writing, “I also gave Greene congressional spokesman Nick Dyer an opportunity to comment regarding Greene’s multiple false claims yesterday about the 2020 election, such as the lies that Trump won Georgia and that there were thousands of dead voters there. His response: ‘Fuck off.’”
[…] Dyer has been promoted to Rep. Greene’s Deputy Chief of Staff. Before that, he was Greene’s communications director, and managing communications with the press is the number-one job he has—supposedly.
Wow, Marjorie Taylor Greene and her staff really, really hate being fact-checked.
Posted by readers of the article:
Unreal.
On the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. These are the same people who blamed Obama for the Bush response to hurricane Katrina. We’re not exactly dealing with intellectual titans.
The MTG crowd is proving, once again, that imbecility and moral depravity are not mutually exclusive.
————————-
There you have it cartoonists. MJT standing atop two caskets, one foot on each, marked “soapbox’”
Oggie: Mathomsays
Lynna @290:
Oh, no question. Russia must not be allowed to eliminate Ukraine and Ukrainians. Didn’t mean to imply otherwise.
Over the past five years, it’s become sadly common for Republicans at every level to repeat Russian talking points and support dictator Vladimir Putin. Many of them are not even hiding from the fact that they celebrate the brutal Russian authoritarian oligarchy.
It’s more rare, in a party that constantly levels accusations about even the most remote connection to “the Chinese Communist Party” as if they are proof of treason, for a member of the Republican Party to quote Chinese government propaganda on the floor of the House.
What may be absolutely unique is for a member of Congress to use Chinese propaganda to attack an American official and promote Russian talking points. It’s like a propaganda grand slam: something that could only be achieved by someone who both lacks all regard for morality, and is also gullible enough to completely overlook the source of a convenient lie.
Not surprisingly, the someone who pulled off this smooth move is Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz.
As Hunter reported, last week Republicans fuming over the threat of those Chinese communists devolved into Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas questioning the loyalty of Rep. Judy Chu, because she happens to be Chinese American. No other reason—she’s just not white. That was enough for Gooden to demand that she be investigated for “loyalty.”
But if Americans with Chinese ancestry are immediately suspect, the force field of whiteness continues to protect Republicans like Matt Gaetz, who came into a Tuesday hearing packing an article from a paper called the Global Times—which is simply a propaganda outlet for the Chinese government. [video at the link]
The State Department under Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo designated the Global Times and several other Chinese state media outlets as “foreign missions” that were “effectively controlled by the government of the People’s Republic of China.”
Over the past decade and particularly under General Secretary Xi Jinping’s tenure, the CCP has reorganized China’s state propaganda outlets disguised as news agencies and asserted even more direct control over them. He has stated “Party-owned media must. . . embody the party’s will, safeguard the party’s authority … their actions must be highly consistent with the party.” In short, while Western media are beholden to the truth, PRC media are beholden to the Chinese Communist Party.
It would seem as if someone would have to be pretty poorly informed to bring an article from one of these “state propaganda outlets disguised as news agencies” into a hearing and use it in an attempt to bludgeon a Defense Department official. But, again: Matt Gaetz.
As The Washington Post reports, “Some media scholars have likened the Global Times to China’s Fox News.” That may have been enough to make Gaetz feel right at home with the outlet. But even setting aside that he was holding an article from what has been described as China’s “24/7 propaganda machine,” there’s another issue here: What was Gaetz trying to ask?
What Gaetz was pushing involved a report that the Azov battalion in Ukraine was a recipient of U.S. weapons. Why does Gaetz care about this?
The Azov battalion got its start as a start as an alt-right paramilitary unit—the kind of thing that in the U.S. might be called a “militia.” And just like militias in the U.S., from the Michigan Militia to the Oath Keepers to the Proud Boys, the group attracted members that were fond of guns, God, and Hitler. Racist and antisemitic attitudes weren’t universal, but they were certainly tolerated, even in some of the symbols used by that militia.
But that was a long time ago, before Azov was rolled into the national guard. Before many of the original members drifted away to other groups. Before the battalion became local heroes for their defense of Mariupol in both 2014 and 2022.
As the Center for Civil Liberties states: “The short answer to the question is no, Azov is not a neo-Nazi regiment.” It’s no longer a militia. It contains people of many different ethnic origins. It’s another unit in the Ukrainian military, one that is the subject of a lot of local pride, but still carries around baggage from its founding.
So why does Gaetz care if the people who defended Mariupol to the bitter end, then spent months in Russian prison camps being starved to the point where one of the leaders died from the aftereffects of malnutrition, received any U.S. weapons?
Because it’s a Russian talking point. That’s why.
The idea that Azov is a “neo-Nazi militia” is at the center of Vladimir Putin’s claims to have invaded Ukraine for “denazification.” So much so that “Azov battalion” is treated as if it’s a synonym for “neo-Nazi,” no questions asked.
[…] Gaetz tried to lay this trap about Azov not out of real concern over the unit’s beliefs, but entirely because just asking the question supports Putin’s efforts to create a fracture in America’s solid support for Ukraine. Gaetz’s aim here is to please Putin, even if that means generating harm that costs lives. And to do it, he was willing to read quotes from a Chinese propaganda outlet.
It’s certainly an achievement. Hopefully one that will never be matched.
[…] n 30 counties contacted, only one city’s local first responders had been paid for their time working at a Trump rally.
Trump owed more than $11,000 to Sioux City, Iowa, city and fire departments, as well as rented parking spaces from a November 2022 rally […] It was only after immense pressure from city officials and reporting by the Sioux City Journal that the debt was eventually repaid.
[…] An anonymous source from Warren, Michigan, told The Daily Beast that its city has never seen a penny paid for the time cops worked a MAGA rally on Oct. 1, 2022. And local police from Lorain County, Ohio, said they were never reimbursed for a June 2021 rally in their city.
[…] according to reporting by CTV News, the tab for Trump MAGA rallies across the nation exceeded $2 million. This from a man who, as of September 2022, according to Forbes, is worth $3.2 billion. His real estate in New York City alone totals about $880 million, and his golf clubs and resorts are valued at $740 million.
Going back to long before he was in politics, the magnate had a record of stiffing employees.
[…] “At least 60 lawsuits, along with hundreds of liens, judgments, and other government filings reviewed by the USA TODAY NETWORK, document people who have accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them for their work,” USA Today’s Steve Reilly wrote in 2016.
Trump has continued to paint himself as a man of the people. In reality, he’s a wealthy douchebag who treats the people who work for him like they should be paying him for the pleasure. Somehow, despite that, the twice-impeached architect of the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol remains beloved by millions and a strong contender for a second term in the White House.
As a result of the conference held in Moscow on February 14, dedicated to ideological immigration to Russia, it was announced the creation of a Coordinating Headquarters for assistance to immigrants from NATO countries. This decision may give rise to a new direction in the migration policy of the Russian Federation, the main task of which will be the resettlement of residents of the United States and the European Union who are friendly towards Russia towards Russia.
Outlining the tasks of the coordinating headquarters, Dmitry Gusev, the first deputy head of the A Just Russia – For Truth faction in the State Duma, noted that one should not persuade those who do not love her to return to their homeland, but help those who consciously want to move to the Russian Federation. Since such a decision is closely related to the worldview and religious affiliation of potential migrants, their immigration is called ideological.
As an incentive for resettlement in Russia, D. Gusev at the end of January proposed to provide migrants from the USA and Europe with 10 hectares of land, hoping that up to 7 million people could take advantage of this offer. This proposal was not mentioned in the announcement about the creation of a coordinating headquarters for ideological immigration. Although the work of the headquarters was planned to be discussed at a closed meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Sources are in Russian, so I used an excerpt from an article posted here.
Oggie @292: “Russia must not be allowed to eliminate Ukraine and Ukrainians. Didn’t mean to imply otherwise.” I didn’t think you meant to imply that at all. In my reply I was referencing others who do think Ukraine should sue for peace now. I did not make that clear. My apologies.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Wednesday that white supremacists are currently the “most dangerous and most lethal” domestic terror group in the United States, an assessment that falls in line with recent reports on the threat that far-right extremists present.
[…] Republicans on the panel seized the opportunity to elevate right-wing criticism of the DOJ. Questions were focused on, among other things, the Justice Department’s investigation(s) into former president Donald Trump, the rising fentanyl crisis, Fox News’ grievances about the U.S.-Mexico border, and attacks on pregnancy centers and abortion clinics.
After Garland was accused by Republicans of “selective prosecution on abortion issues,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) stepped in to defend the AG, arguing that anti-abortion extremists have been responsible for “11 murders, 26 attempted murders, 42 bombings, 194 arsons, and thousands of other criminal incidents” since 1977. […]
To combat [violent acts no matter the ideology of the perpetrators], the attorney general said that the DOJ has allocated a “significant” amount of resources. The national security division has created a domestic extremist unit to “further track and try to interdict these actions,” and the FBI is likewise meeting the issue with “enormous seriousness of purpose.”
“We are going to do everything we can to deter and prosecute,” he said.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s call for the Palestinian village of Hawara to be wiped out by the Israeli government is “irresponsible, repugnant and disgusting,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday.
The Federalist Society co-chairman’s lifestyle took a lavish turn after he became Donald Trump’s adviser on judicial nominations.
A network of political non-profits formed by judicial activist Leonard Leo moved at least $43 million to a new firm he is leading, raising questions about how his conservative legal movement is funded.
Leo’s own personal wealth appeared to have ballooned as his fundraising prowess accelerated since his efforts to cement the Supreme Court’s conservative majority helped to bring about its decision to overturn abortion rights. Most recently, Leo reaped a $1.6 billion windfall from a single donor in what is likely the biggest single political gift in U.S. history.
[…] his money-raising benefited his own bottom line. And it shows how campaign-style politics — and the generous paydays that go along with it — are now adjacent to the Supreme Court, the one U.S. institution that’s supposed to be immune to it.
A POLITICO investigation based on dozens of financial, property and public records dating from 2000 to 2021 found that Leo’s lifestyle took a lavish turn beginning in 2016, the year he was tapped as an unpaid adviser to incoming President Donald Trump on Supreme Court justices. It’s the same period during which he erected a for-profit ecosystem around his longtime nonprofit empire that is shielded from taxes. Leo was executive vice president of The Federalist Society at the time.
[…] One of those nonprofits paid the for-profit $33.8 million over two years.
“That’s a classic type of situation the IRS looks into if it appears you [via a nonprofit] are shoveling money to yourself in a for-profit context,” said Philip Hackney, an expert on tax law and charities who worked in the Office of the Chief Counsel at the IRS.
[…] The majority of CRC’s payments came through The 85 Fund, a rebranded dark money group that Leo has said he plans to use to fund conservative causes nationwide. Corkery and his wife, Ann, founded and ran the nonprofit under a different name for more than a decade, during which time Leo directed funds toward it. Such nonprofits are exempt from taxes and not required to disclose donors. It is now run by Carrie Severino, a former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas.
[…] payments to CRC over two years from Leo-aligned nonprofits represent an increase over the already significant $15 million a separate Leo for-profit entity, known as BH Group, took in over four years during Supreme court nomination public relations campaigns beginning in 2016.
[…] spending by Leo-aligned non-profits on his for-profit businesses coincided with changes in his personal lifestyle and finances.
[…] Leo’s recent wealth accumulation has included two new mansions in Maine, four new cars, private school tuition for his children, hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to Catholic causes and a wine buyer and locker at Morton’s Steakhouse […]
One month after Leo formed his BH Group in 2016, Trump released an updated list of conservative jurists who were suitable candidates for nomination to the Supreme Court that included Neil Gorsuch. Leo was the first person from Trump’s team to reach out to Gorsuch in December of 2016.
Thereafter, Leo’s personal wealth appears to have skyrocketed in tandem with major victories on the road to an ultraconservative court.
Weeks after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, in August of 2018, Leo paid off the mortgage on his home in Virginia after making numerous renovations.
[…] The wealth accumulation of Leo and a small circle of associates shows how they benefited from the making of the court’s current conservative majority, said Herrig.
“His lifestyle upgrade was made possible by using his network of nonprofits to pour money into his for profit consulting firm,” he said. “This raises serious questions about how he will spend the $1.6 billion from a rightwing billionaire.”
Oggie @ #289 and Lynna @ #290, I like dark humor. Films I’ve enjoyed include: Heathers, Wild Tales, Four Lions, Parasite, A Simple Favor, the Death of Stalin, and Get Out.
I think I probably have about the same line as Mark Sumner and Kos, as I tend to be offended or not offended by many of the same things as they are. My experience on Twitter since the start of the full invasion confirms my appreciation of gallows humor from Ukraine, the Baltic countries, and Russia.
Sumner’s wry comment played on the absurdity of this invasion. It’s all absurd – Putin’s pronouncements and events, the Chechen TikTok Brigade, the very online warbloggers, the open infighting (see #273), the deluded tankies and staged protests, the Kremlin propagandists (#261), the fixation on Bakhmut, the months of fighting over square inches of ground, the endless claims that they’ve seized this town they’ve long demolished, and especially their inexplicable persistence in repeating the same stupid approach week after week. I mean, we all want them to act as stupidly as possible, but it’s baffling! And absurd!
Anyway, sometimes when I need to smile I think of this guy who expected, with reason, to be making his big dramatic stand when he drank poison in the court at the Hague, and then there was some news report about Paul Manafort or the Mueller investigation or something and he stopped trending on Twitter in like an hour and was then completely forgotten.
“Sara Netanyahu is rescued by special forces [LOL] from the siege on her hair salon by pro-democracy protesters who had faced arrests, beatings, cavalry, and water cannons. Outside my apartment.”
SC @299. I too like dark humor. Also, I think that both doctors and soldiers indulge in dark humor as a survival mechanism. I heard one commentator on Nicole Wallace’s show say that soldiers fight more effectively when they can laugh.
In a way, laughter shows that one understands the situation.
tomhsays
New GOP state bills aim to restrict transgender health care for adults Most proposed restrictions on transition-related care had targeted people under 18. But now, Republican lawmakers in at least five states are pushing bills to limit such care for adults.
By Maham Javaid / March 1, 2023
Republican state Sen. Jack Johnson stood on the Tennessee Senate floor last month to open the discussion on a bill he is co-sponsoring. The measure would limit gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for minors.
“Let’s put children first and look out for them first and let them make those decisions as adults,” he said. “I support your right to do so, when you’re an adult, not when you’re a child and you do not have the mental capacity to do so.”
But Johnson is also backing another bill, HB1215, that would effectively cut off access to gender-affirming care for low-income people, including adults. The measure prohibits Tennessee’s Medicaid program from working with health insurance companies that cover gender-affirming care.
As of late February, Republican lawmakers in at least five states have introduced legislation that would limit such care for adults. Until this year, most proposed restrictions on transition-related care targeted people under 18. Some of the new measures prohibit it for individuals up to age 21, while others block Medicaid from covering for it for all ages.
“It’s interesting that initially we heard that this was a thing to protect youth, but now we are seeing that it’s really about all transgender people,” Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) said while HB1215 was being discussed on Feb. 21 in the Tennessee House.
“Last year, the rhetoric was to protect kids, but now they are going after adults,” said Allison Chapman, a legislative researcher and transgender rights advocate based in Virginia.
In Oklahoma, House Republicans also approved a bill Tuesday that would prohibit any facility that receives public funds from offering gender-affirming care for minors or adults, as well as blocking insurance coverage for it. Another bill would make it a felony for a physician to provide transition-related hormone treatments or surgeries to anyone under the age of 26. In Kansas and Mississippi, legislators wanted to ban gender-affirming care for people up to age 21. In South Carolina, a measure would block the state’s Medicaid program from covering any transition-related medications or procedures.
Tennessee Rep. Tim Rudd (R-Murfreesboro), who supports HB1215, said on Feb. 21 that the bill was not making transgender health care illegal because people could still obtain it privately. Instead, it was “simply taking away a service” that does not align with the “values of most Tennesseans.”
But Angel Luci Pellegrino, a 38-year-old transgender man based in Chattanooga, Tenn., said the measure, if passed, would probably end his access to gender-affirming care. “My doctor informed me that if this bill passes, insurance will no longer cover my medicines, my doctor’s appointments and my laboratory tests,” he said, adding that he is on disability and “can’t afford private health care.”
Transgender advocates said the push to extend restrictions to those over 18 should not come as a surprise. They view bans on gender-affirming care for minors as part of a broader attack on transgender rights.
“Both kinds of legislation [for minors and adults] are equally detrimental for the overall health of trans people,” Chapman said. “First, we were fighting for the kids; now we will fight for ourselves.”
Terry Schilling, president of the conservative American Principles Project, said his organization wants gender-transition procedures for minors and adults to be unthinkable in the future. “I want transition care to be thought of as horrific medical practices that happened in the past,” he said.
Focusing on protecting children first was obvious, according to Schilling, because “they are so vulnerable.” But when it comes to adults, he said, he doesn’t want to ban gender transition care but rather use the threat of malpractice suits to discourage health-care providers from offering it. He said he wants to make it so that “anyone who is forced into these surgeries can become a millionaire later.”
The American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the Endocrine Society and other major medical organizations oppose restrictions on gender-affirming care. The American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement in August that called such care “medically necessary and appropriate” for some minors and criticized the “rampant disinformation” spread by those seeking restrictions.
[…]
Oklahoma state Rep. Jim Olsen (R), who wrote a bill that prohibits health-care professionals from providing referrals for puberty blockers, hormones and gender-transition surgeries to trans youths and adults up to the age of 21, said he wanted to match the age limit for drinking alcohol.
“It’s a very big, big decision, so people are realizing that you should be older when you make it,” Olsen said. The legislator also wrote a bill to lower the minimum age to carry a firearm from 21 to 18.
So far, Republican legislators in four states have passed bans on gender-affirming care for minors…. In Florida, the state Board of Medicine has approved a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and the state no longer allows Medicaid to cover it for anyone, regardless of age.
The Endocrine Society has called the Florida ban on gender-affirming care for minors “blatantly discriminatory” and said it “contradicts medical evidence.” Major medical groups have also filed an amicus brief in support of Medicaid recipients in Florida who are challenging the state’s ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care in court. Despite the lawsuit, a judge has allowed the policy to take effect.
Re: SC (Salty Current) @ #303…
Hmm… I don’t go armed into areas with demonstrations (or riots…take your pick) and shoot people. So…no, I don’t think anyone is going to come after me.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
Ukrainian forces hung on to their positions in the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut early on Thursday under constant attack from Russian troops seeking to claim their first major [well,…] victory for more than half a year. Russia says seizing Bakhmut would open the way to fully controlling the rest of the strategic Donbas industrial region bordering Russia, one of the main objectives of the invasion it launched on 24 February 2022. Ukraine says Bakhmut has limited strategic value but has put up fierce resistance….
Russia attacked a five-storey residential block in Zaporizhzhia overnight, killing three people and injuring six others. Rescuers are searching for survivors under the rubble. One of the people evacuated from the building was a pregnant woman. The building was “almost completely destroyed”, the city’s acting mayor, Anatoly Kurtev, said. The Zaporizhzhia regional military administration said Russia appeared to have used a S-300 missile for the strike. A spokesperson for Russian proxies in the partially occupied region which the Russian Federation claims to have annexed said – without producing any evidence – that the strike was the result of the actions of Ukrainian air defences….
Also from there:
The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, one of Denmark’s most notable landmarks, has been vandalised with a Russian flag painted across its base.
The colours of the red, white and blue ensign were daubed overnight on Thursday on the rock on which the statue of the heroine from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale rests.
Copenhagen police said they had attended the scene and recorded “a case of vandalism” and that they were trying to find “traces” in the area.
An investigation has been opened into the act seen as a sign of support for Moscow in the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has been speaking at a soft power summit in London, where he was asked by the journalist Mishal Husain about the “striking difference” in polls that showed support for Ukraine between western countries and countries such as India and Turkey.
Kuleba said there was a broad notion that the countries in the Global South was against Ukraine, but the reality was far more nuanced.
He said there were three rules that he used in communicating with countries: First, he had “to speak with them. The more you speak, the more familiar they get with the issue.”
The second was that he had to address them “with a lot of respect. Most of these countries are traumatised with their own history.”
Finally, what really worked was “putting them in our shoes”, he said.
What really works is just to say, are you ready to concede a square kilometre of your own country to your neighbour, simply because your neighbour decided to take the square kilometre away from you?
The answer is always no.
The Kremlin claimed Russia had been attacked by “terrorists” after conflicting reports of firefights emerged from the Bryansk and Kursk regions, which Russian media blamed on Ukrainian “sabotage groups” and Ukrainian sources called a “provocation”.
The reports of fighting in Russia near the Ukrainian border began on Thursday morning. The head of the Bryansk region claimed that a “sabotage group opened fire on a moving automobile. As a result, one resident was killed; a 10-year-old child was injured.”
Other reports of hostages being taken or schoolbuses being fired upon have been discredited, even by local Russian officials. In an online statement later corroborated by the independent Russian news site iStories, a group called the Russian Volunteer Corps claimed its fighters had crossed the border into Russia on Thursday but denied reports of civilian casualties.
The reports of the attack set off a flurry of activity in the Kremlin and at Russia’s security services. Russia’s FSB security service claimed it had launched an operation “to destroy armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border”.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the president, Vladimir Putin, would plan to hold a meeting of the security council, Russia’s main military decision-making body, on Friday. Peskov said he [Putin] had also cancelled a trip to Stavropol. [LOL]
He said:
We are talking about a terrorist attack. Measures are being taken to eliminate them.
In Ukraine, the reports of firefights emerged from the Bryansk and Kursk regions were quickly interpreted as a “false flag” attack launched by Russia to discredit the Ukrainian armed forces.
“The story about [the Ukrainian] sabotage group in [Russia] is a classic deliberate provocation,” wrote Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser.
[Russia] wants to scare its people to justify the attack on another country and the growing poverty after the year of war. The partisan movement in [Russia] is getting stronger and more aggressive. Fear your partisans …
I’ve been seeing an increasing amount of crap from western pro-Putin keyboard warriors about how images from Ukraine are somehow fake. This is my fifth trip and the horror of what I’m seeing and my sense of outrage is only getting stronger. Listen to the people who are here.
The Department of Homeland Security has widened its investigation into migrant children found cleaning slaughterhouses and is now working with the Justice Department to examine whether a human smuggling scheme brought migrant children to work in multiple slaughterhouses for multiple companies across multiple states, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the investigation.
At the heart of the investigation is determining how Central American children, some as young as 13, wound up working dangerous jobs that are legal only for American adults by presenting identification stolen from U.S. citizens, the officials said.
Last month, the Labor Department found that Packers Sanitation Services Inc., known as PSSI, employed 102 children at 13 slaughterhouses across eight states. The children were cleaning blood and animal parts off the floor of meatpacking plants by night and going to school by day, the Labor Department investigators said.
So far the investigation is focused on smugglers who may have provided the children with false identities and possibly led them to dangerous jobs. The companies themselves are not targets of the investigation, the officials said. [Heaven forfend.]
…
The U.S. officials familiar with the investigation described it as “ongoing and robust,” and stretching across multiple law enforcement field offices….
Akira MacKenziesays
@ 303
If they can come after me, they will come after you…
Oh, if only that were true. However, in my experience, I find that liberals are more than willing to allow racists, fascists, capitalists, and theocrats live, work, and plot against civilization unmolested and unpunished.
Moldova’s parliament adopted a declaration on Thursday condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine which has contributed to a rise in tensions between Moscow and Chișinău.
A narrow majority of 55 lawmakers in the 101-seat assembly voted for the declaration, which stated that Moscow’s invasion began with the seizure of the Crimea peninsula in February 2014 and demanded the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukraine.
Reuters reports the declaration said Russia was waging an illegal, unprovoked and unfounded war of aggression in Ukraine that violated the principles of international law, and echoed calls by Kyiv for an international tribunal to prosecute war crimes.
Tensions between Russia and Moldova, which borders Ukraine and Moldova, have grown sharply since the war began.
The tiny former Soviet republic has protested to Moscow that Russian missiles aimed at Ukraine have entered Moldovan airspace, and that missile debris has landed inside Moldova, and has accused Moscow of plotting to topple the pro-European government in Chisinau….
The ‘Russian Volunteer Corps’ (RDK), the combat unit on the [Ukrainian] side who claims to have made an incursion into Bryansk [Russia] (i.e., likely not a ‘false flag’), are led by a figure well known to myself and those who follow the transnational far right: Denis Kapustin (aka Nikitin)
The RDK was founded in Aug 2022, made up largely of ostensible anti-Putin Russian far-right extremists in Ukraine. Kapustin, leader, is a Moscow-born neo-Nazi who spent time living in Cologne [Germany] and speaks German and English fluently in addition to his native Russian
Do any simple search of ‘Denis Nikitin’ and you’ll find out what you need to know: a violent far-right extremist who has long been active organizing European combat sports events, combat training sessions and other transnational far-right extremist events…
More at the (Twitter) link. They’re more knowledgeable about this than I am, but they appear to be reading a lot about Ukraine’s knowledge or approval of this from a couple of vague and changing statements. That said, I agree the Ukrainians should keep a serious distance from anything involving these scumbags (and even setting aside their political agenda, Colborne notes that “while there’s no hard proof, apparently German intel thought he might have ties to Russian security services”).
KGsays
Colborne notes that “while there’s no hard proof, apparently German intel thought he might have ties to Russian security services” – SC@310
That suggests it could indeed be, in effect, a false flag action.
In hindsight, Matt Gaetz probably shouldn’t have invited an accused murderer to lead the House Judiciary Committee in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Rep. Matt Gaetz caused a bit of a stir this week when he accidentally promoting Chinese propaganda during a committee hearing [see comment 293], but as it turns out, it was not his only problem on Capitol Hill. Rolling Stone reported:
Rep. Eric Swalwell called him out for inviting Corey Beekman, a combat veteran, to lead the Pledge of Allegiance ahead of the year’s first Judiciary Committee hearing. “It is my pleasure and distinct honor to introduce to the committee Staff Sergeant Corey Ryan Beekman, an American hero and a constituent of mine residing in Pensacola, Florida,” Gaetz said. As Swalwell pointed out on Tuesday, Beekman is an accused murderer who wound up in a standoff with police.
Some context is probably in order.
As MSNBC’s Alex Wagner explained last night, GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee started the new Congress with an odd fight over how many times members should participate in the Pledge of Allegiance. The idea, evidently, was to challenge Democrats’ patriotism, which seemed ironic given the larger circumstances.
The Democratic members of the panel didn’t fall for it, and they said they’d be happy to say the Pledge at the start of hearings. They did, however, suggest a minor tweak: Insurrectionists shouldn’t be invited to lead the committee in the recitation of the Pledge.
Republicans were not impressed, insisting that no member would invite criminals to participate in the patriotic exercise. Rep. Tom McClintock of California was especially incredulous, insisting during the debate that “nobody who committed murder” would be welcomed to recite the Pledge with the House Judiciary Committee.
We now know that was probably the wrong thing to say. As Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell explained this week, Gaetz invited an accused murderer to lead the panel in the Pledge of Allegiance. [video at the link]
“That’s why there’s a trust deficit here,” Swalwell told his GOP colleagues. “You pull off a public stunt to try to ‘own the libs,’ and what you did is you brought in a guy who allegedly shot two people and killed one of them. That’s where the trust deficit is.”
It’s worth noting for context that Gaetz ultimately apologized to the family of the accused murderer’s victims, who recently said seeing the alleged shooter on Capitol Hill, as an honored guest, “was like getting a dagger stuck in our heart again.”
As of early afternoon in Ukraine … Bakhmut holds. As expected, Russian forces have moved into the eastern areas of the city on the other side of the narrow Bakhmutovka River. Fighting is still reported in the area, but that could be fire from across the river. On Thursday morning, Wagner Group was busy filming a new promotional video down along Patrisa Lumumby Street, gloating over their occupation of all those buildings that were fought over for so long. The trash dump, the concrete factory, the winery—it’s all destroyed, but it’s all in their control now.
Fighting continues in the city; block-by-block fighting is going on in both the north and the south. Russia has reportedly used a TOS-1 to launch thermobaric bombs into the city’s core. I have no idea at this point what has happened to the civilians who remain in Bakhmut or where they could possibly be living. [Tweet and video at the link]
Bakhmut, Mariupol, Bucha, and innumerable smaller towns and villages across Ukraine now testify to what the coming of Russia means. This isn’t an abstract change in leadership in some faraway capital or the redrawing of some lines on a map. It’s the erasing of joy, freedom, and life. [Tweet and images at the link]
For Russia, Bakhmut has been little more than a convenient location, a point at which it can unload large amounts of men and materiel and advance them toward a point along the front. In a way, that they were attacking this location at all is a demonstration of their inability to juggle logistics and supply a field army more than a few kilometers from a disembarkation point. [video at the link]
Just a year before the war came to the city, the Ukrainian army was in Bakhmut for a very different reason: Adding still more trees to a city already known for its parks and verdant pathways. [tweet and images at the link]
All those trees lie in splinters now, and the only “landscaping project” that Bakhmut has seen over the last eight months is one that involves craters and ruin.
For Ukraine, Bakhmut has been a terrible, but necessary sacrifice. It has been the city that served as a killing ground for those Russian forces by the hundreds and the thousands. It’s been the graveyard of Russian tanks, fighting vehicles, artillery, helicopters, and jets. It’s been the place where the fight was happening, every day, 24/7, since Russian forces reached the area at the end of May last year. [Tweet and images at the link]
Just like the many Ukrainian soldiers who have been lost, Bakhmut has laid down its life, brick by brick, so that other cities and other towns might be spared. The fight has been there, so that it would not be elsewhere.
This isn’t an obituary. On this day, Bakhmut holds … but it holds by the skin of its teeth. Whether it’s now prudent to maintain forces in Bakhmut and to keep the fight there a few days (or weeks?) longer is unclear. Ukrainian officials have admitted that the time for withdrawal may be near. Ukrainian soldiers are still sending out messages from inside the city, reassuring their nation and the world that they are still ready to fight for every meter. [Tweet and video at the link]
But Bakhmut has given almost everything it has. These forces have done almost everything they can. Unless the Ukrainian military has some kind of miracle jarred up, ready to be unleashed, these guys deserve the chance to leave Bakhmut, wash away the dust and the blood, and fight again before Russia brings its idea of “liberation” to another city.
On Thursday, Bakhmut holds. But it’s almost time for the city to rest. Until later.
The ACLU announced this week that it is launching an Abortion Criminal Defense Initiative. It is offering legal representation, or assistance in finding a lawyer, for individuals facing criminal investigation or prosecution related to abortion care.
If you are being investigated, threatened with arrest or criminal charges, or charged with a crime for allegedly:
having obtained an abortion from a doctor or other health care professional,
having helped someone get an abortion or
having provided an abortion, we may be able to help you or help find a criminal defense lawyer to represent you.
The first step is to fill out this short secure form. After that, we will reach out within one business day to find out more and determine whether we can help.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chatted briefly on the sidelines of a Group of 20 meeting in India on Thursday, the first meeting between the top diplomats since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Their encounter involved less than 10 minutes of discussion […]
Blinken urged Moscow to reverse Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision last month to suspend New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the world’s two largest nuclear powers. […]
Blinken also reiterated the need for the Kremlin to release “wrongfully detained” U.S. citizen and former Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in Russia in 2018 on espionage charges that he and Washington have denied. Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in jail in 2020. Blinken noted that the U.S. had put a proposal on the table for his release and said Russia should accept it.
“The United States has put forward a serious proposal. Moscow should accept it,” Blinken told reporters Thursday. “We’re determined to bring Paul and every other American citizen who is unjustly detained around the world home. We won’t rest until we do.”
Additionally, Blinken underscored continued U.S. support for Ukraine, including his proposals for a just and durable peace that respects the United Nations Charter and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the State Department official said. Blinken stressed that Ukraine and the U.S. want Russia’s war to end on that basis, but that a similar determination from Moscow continues to be missing.
“End this war of aggression. Engage in meaningful diplomacy that could produce a just and durable peace,” Blinken told reporters, referring to his conversation with Lavrov. “[Ukrainian] President Zelenskyy has put forward a 10-point plan for a just and durable peace. The United States stands ready to support Ukraine on the diplomacy to end the war on this basis.”
“[Russian] President Putin has demonstrated zero interest in engaging, saying there’s nothing to even talk about, unless and until Ukraine accepts and I quote ‘the new territorial realities’ while doubling down on his brutalization of Ukraine,” he added. […]
One old enemy now apparently giving some assistance to Ukraine in the fight to hold that final paved road in and out of the city—General Mud. Over the last week, temperatures around Bakhmut have notched up several degrees. The snow has melted everywhere except in the shadow of some ruined buildings, and Russian efforts to drive that advance south from the area between Berkhivka and Yahidne have run into an uncomfortable issue: There are no roads there. Or at least, no paved roads. [map at the link]
Attempts to bring up Russian armor have resulted in the same kind of wallowing in mud that stalled Ukrainian progress toward Kreminna and Svatove in the fall. The issue affected Russian progress outside the city so strongly on Wednesday that it’s not clear there was any Russian progress on Wednesday. The lines west of the city look to be almost exactly where they were a day before.
Defensive positions are also miserable, with trenches half full of icy, muddy water. But even getting infantry across the fields above the “road of life” appears to be a challenge. Now it’s inside the city— where Russian forces can walk without sinking to their knees, and vehicles can roll from block to block—where Russian forces are making small advances.
If that mud bath west of the city makes it difficult for Russian forces to advance (and leaves forces who attempt to advance almost at the mercy of artillery), it also makes it tactically difficult to send any relief force that might strike that Russian advance from the side.
Both President Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have mentioned the possibility of withdrawing from Bakhmut in the last day, and even some of the soldiers on the ground have posted videos saying that it’s time to come out and “straighten the front line” so that it can be better defended.
If the weather is affecting Russian movements as strongly as some sources indicate, then it seems Ukraine may have a window. They could use that time to bring more forces down the paved road from Chasiv Yar to reinforce the city. They could use that time for forces inside the city to continue extracting a high price for every Russian advance. Or they could use that time to withdraw from Bakhmut before Russia is able to bring the exit route under fire control.
The big news in Russia on Thursday is the war in Russia. According to officials in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast, a group of “Ukrainian saboteurs” crossed the border, entered the village of Liubechane, and fired on vehicles driving down the street. Later Russian propaganda claims showed pictures of a bullet-ridden school bus, but local officials denied that any such shooting of a bus took place. The group, which was described as 40-50 people, then went to the village of Sushany and apparently terrified the population there. Russian state media claims the group took six people in Sushany temporarily hostage before being driven off by Russian national guard troops .[map at the link]
While Russian state news agencies are have described the group as a “sabotage and reconnaissance group” from the Ukrainian military, Ukraine is denying any involvement in these cross-border attacks. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called the Russian claims a “classic provocation” and indicated that this is a “false flag” operation. The Ukrainian military has also denied any involvement, but military officials did seem to indicate that some kind of attack did actually take place in the Bryansk area.
As it happens, there is a group very willing to take responsibility for these actions. The group that is claiming to be behind the Bryansk attack is an actual neo-Nazi militia—a group that believes Putin is not Russian enough, in that he’s not demanding that Russia become an all-white Russian ethnostate and drive out those other groups that happen to occupy much of Russia simply because it’s been their home for centuries, if not millennia. [video at the link]
This group was founded by Denis “WhiteRex” Kapustin—a genuine fascist Russian asshole—who has previously organized far-right militants along the Ukraine-Russia border. The flag the group is carrying is the flag of the ROA, a Russian group that collaborated with the Nazis in World War II.
So, is this the group actually behind what looks to be a minor skirmish in a pair of small border villages? Possibly. Ukraine has been pretty scrupulous about not crossing the hundreds of kilometers of border it shares with Russia, partially because it’s one of those things that seems to bother Western nations who are providing assistance to Ukraine. The few cross-border actions Ukraine has undertaken have been extremely targeted actions like the attacks on ammunition and fuel storage at Belgorod, across the border from Kharkiv.
However, many observers have pointed out that the uniforms of these Russian fascists seem a bit too clean, and their production values a bit too good, for people actually involved in any kind of military raid. So there’s some doubt that Kapustin was actually behind this, no matter how eager he may be to claim it. [video of Putin speaking about "terrorist attacks"]
But the most amusing part of this whole thing is that Vladimir Putin seems to have canceled a trip to southern Russia that was planned for today because of concerns about this “sabotage group.”
You read that right. Joe Biden recently visited Kyiv during an air raid. Zelenskyy is out there every day. But following a small attack on two tiny border villages, Vladimir Putin has canceled a visit to a whole area of Russia. Putin is afraid to travel in his own country.
Speaking of people going berzerk over the smallest thing, there were reports earlier in the week of an “attack” on an airbase in Belarus, with claims going all up and down the scale, including claims that a Russian Beriev A-50 AWACS plane had been destroyed. As with the attack on the border villages, Russia quickly pointed the finger at Ukraine.
The truth seems to be that local Belarus partisans flew a drone into the area of the airport, cheekily pausing for a moment to actually land on the A-50, but causing no apparent damage. [video at the link]
It’s a shame that the partisans didn’t actually have a bomb, because it seems that the opportunity was there. Maybe someone in Poland should try releasing a few balloons. Belarus and Russia could be in a panic for weeks.
Russian forces reportedly flew a drone over Kherson and used it to drop bombs on volunteers handing out food and water to local civilians. [Tweet at the link]
It’s s**t like this that makes it hard to have the slightest sympathy for anyone on the Russian side.
Gisele Barreto Fetterman, wife of the Pennsylvania Democratic senator John Fetterman, who remains hospitalised for treatment for depression, has responded to attacks from rightwing figures including the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who claim she has pushed her husband too far.
Barreto Fetterman tweeted: “In the worst moments of our lives, women are told it’s their fault. In case you need to hear it today: It’s. Not. Your. Fault. I will keep living and fighting with love. We all need more of it.”
She accompanied her message with a link to a Washington Post column by Monica Hesse, under the headline “How Gisele Fetterman became the right wing’s favorite super villain”.
Hesse’s column highlights Carlson’s segment on John Fetterman and Joe Biden on Tuesday, in which he said the senator was too ill and the president too old to fill their respective offices.
Saying “a woman, a spouse, who loved her husband” would keep him away from campaigns, Carlson called Dr Jill Biden “a ghoulish, power-seeking creep”.
His guest, Candace Owens, said: “Absolutely. These women are monsters.”
Hesse cited comments from another Fox News host, Laura Ingraham (“Jill Biden and Gisele Fetterman should be ashamed of themselves”), radio host Jesse Kelly (“Who’s the bigger elder abuser, Jill Biden or Gisele Fetterman?”) and the rightwing Washington Examiner, which ran a column under the headline “Jill Biden and Gisele Fetterman are failing their husbands”, in which the writer said the two men were “arguably victims of terrible women”….
Dana Nessel, the Democratic attorney general of Michigan, said earlier she was among targets of a man charged with threatening to kill state officials who are Jewish.
“The FBI has confirmed I was a target of the heavily armed defendant in this matter,” Nessel wrote. “It is my sincere hope that the federal authorities take this offense just as seriously as my Hate Crimes and Domestic Terrorism Unit takes plots to murder elected officials.
The Associated Press reports that Jack Carpenter III, of Tipton, Michigan, tweeted on 17 February that he was returning to his home state to “carry out the punishment of death to anyone” who is Jewish in Michigan government “if they don’t leave, or confess, and now that kind of problem. Because I can legally do that, right?”
According to the criminal complaint against Carpenter, he also declared a new country – “New Israel” – around his home.
He was arrested in Texas four days later. According to prosecutors, when Carpenter was “arrested in his vehicle, [officers] found approximately a half-dozen firearms and ammunition”.
The complaint against Carpenter did not name any alleged targets.
The US justice department has said Donald Trump is not entitled to absolute immunity in civil lawsuits related to the US Capitol attack on 6 January 2021, which he incited in an attempt to stop certification of his election loss to Joe Biden and which is now linked to nine deaths, including law enforcement suicides.
Trump faces civil cases brought by congressional Democrats and US Capitol police officers who fought his supporters on January 6. His lawyers have urged dismissal. A Washington DC appeals court asked the Department of Justice for its opinion.
Trump argued that he could not be sued for statements made before the riot, when he was still president, because presidents enjoy wide-ranging protections when performing their official duties.
Government lawyers disagreed, saying in a new court filing: “Speaking to the public on matters of public concern is a traditional function of the presidency, and the outer perimeter of the President’s Office includes a vast realm of such speech.
“But that traditional function is one of public communication. It does not include incitement of imminent private violence.
“In the United States’ view, such incitement of imminent private violence would not be within the outer perimeter of the Office of the President of the United States.”
Trump is the subject of an ongoing Department of Justice investigation, led by the special counsel Jack Smith. The House January 6 committee, which disbanded when Republicans took control after the midterms, made four criminal referrals of Trump to the DoJ.
Lawyers for Trump have until 16 March to respond to the DoJ brief about civil cases.
Air raid alerts have been reported across Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv.
Euan MacDonald of the New Voice of Ukraine has posted a map showing which regions of Ukraine are covered by the air raid alerts, adding that a MiG-31K fighter jet has taken off in Belarus.
Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, has said his country faces “some difficult choices” as he reconsiders its relationship with its traditional Slavic ally, Russia. [Good news.]
In an interview with Politico, Vučić indicated that he believed the time had come to rethink Serbia’s refusal to join western sanctions against Russia. He said:
You’re going to get one sentence from me: Serbia will remain on its EU path. Okay, draw your own conclusions. But I think you understand me.
He added:
We’ll have some difficult choices in the future, no doubt. That’s all I can say.
[“You’ll get one sentence from me. OK, two. Three, tops.”]
Vučić reiterated that Russia should halt its efforts to recruit Serbs to fight alongside its Wagner paramilitary group in Ukraine.
The Serbian legislature bans the participation of its citizens in conflicts abroad and several people have been sentenced for doing so.
Serbs who’ve been recruited to fight in Ukraine “are going to be arrested when they come back to Serbia and [are] within reach of our institutions. You don’t recruit like that in a friendly country,” Vučić added.
Serbia is a candidate to join the EU, its main trade partner and investor, but it also maintains trade and military cooperation with Russia, a traditional Slavic and Orthodox Christian ally.
Although it repeatedly condemned Russia’s invasion against Ukraine at the UN and several other international forums, Belgrade has also refused to impose sanctions against Moscow.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner group, has published a video which he said shows his fighters in the key eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
In a post on Telegram, uniformed men are seen lifting a Wagner banner on top of a heavily damaged building. One of the men is shown dancing and holding a guitar, a reference to Wagner’s informal nickname of “the musicians”.
Prigozhin was quoted by his press service as saying:
The lads are mucking about, shooting home video. They brought this from Bakhmut this morning, practically the centre of the city.
The video has been geolocated to the east of Bakhmut, about 1.2 miles from the city centre, where Wagner fighters have been for a while.
Ukrainian forces were reported to be hanging on to their positions in Bakhmut earlier today, but to be under relentless attacks from Russian forces.
A Russian regional politician is to appear in court to face accusations that he discredited the armed forces by posting a video of himself listening to a speech by Vladimir Putin with spaghetti draped over his ear.
Mikhail Abdalkin, a Communist party lawmaker in the Samara regional parliament, said his case would appear before the Novokuybyshev city court next week.
Abdalkin posted his video on “V Kontakte”, Russia’s equivalent of Facebook, shortly after Putin’s state of the nation speech on 21 February.
Accompanying the video was a caption saying he had been asked to watch the speech by the deputy chair of the Samara parliament.
The video referred to the Russian saying that when noodles have been hung on someone’s ear, that person has been strung along or deceived.
“We will fight to prove our non-involvement and innocence,” Abdalkin said.
A (moderately) good follow up to this story. The lawyer tells me Masha’s father has been put under house arrest until March 27, so he can go home. He’ll pick her up tomorrow from the rehabilitation centre where she’s being kept. But he still faces trial.
Temporary reprieve while they go after Noodle Ear.
For those keeping score, Republican Rep. George Santos is now facing local, state, federal, international and congressional ethics investigations.
For the last few months, House Republican leaders have clung to a specific talking point like a life preserver in response to questions about Rep. George Santos: It’s a matter for the Ethics Committee.
In fact, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reiterated the line this week. “I’ve always said from the very beginning, Ethics will get together, I think Ethics is gonna look into the situation. If something arises to that point, there’s consequences for actions that you take,” the Californian told The Hill.
It’s long been a flawed response, in part because GOP leaders could take action immediately, as they have in the recent past in response to other scandal-plagued members. But just as notable was the fact that the House Ethics Committee — the entity that was apparently supposed to be dealing with the truth allergic New York Republican — hadn’t actually done anything, despite Santos’ many scandals.
This afternoon, that changed. The House panel issued this relatively brief press statement, kicking off the process:
[T]he Committee unanimously voted on February 28, 2023, to establish an Investigative Subcommittee. Pursuant to the Committee’s action, the Investigative Subcommittee shall have jurisdiction to determine whether Representative George Santos may have: engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign; failed to properly disclose required information on statements filed with the House; violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services; and/or engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual seeking employment in his congressional office.
The committee’s four-member investigation will apparently be led by Republican Rep. David Joyce of Ohio and Democratic Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania. They’ll be joined by Republican Rep. John Rutherford of Florida and Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland.
[…] At this point, we’re still pretty early in the process, and these investigations generally take months, during which time the public can expect to hear very little about incremental developments. But House Ethics Committee investigations come with a range of possibilities, from complete exoneration to a recommended expulsion vote, and plenty of options in between.
For his part, Santos published a tweet this afternoon, which read in its entirety, “The House Committee on Ethics has opened an investigation, and Congressman George Santos is fully cooperating. There will be no further comment made at this time.”
If the freshman lawmaker believes this will curtail questions about his many controversies, he’s likely to be disappointed.
5 individuals (4 men, 1 woman) have been arrested for seven bombing incidents in and around Fresno, CA. I was surprised because I had not heard there were serial bombers active in Fresno. I know Fresno isn’t LA or New York but you think it might’ve made a blip on the national news.
Scott Anderson, 44, the suspected bomber, was arrested together with Frank Rocha, 56. Two other men are in custody after they were arrested in Fresno: Steven Burkett, 51; and Paul New, 55. Also arrested was Amanda Sanders, 41.
In a revelation that will surprise nobody here, they were well armed Nazi scumbags with ties to hate groups.
From The LA Times:
Police also encountered flags, signs, clothing, cups, banners and patches with white supremacist and Nazi paraphernalia
[…] “At this point, we can’t say that the motivation was a hate crime, or whether the victims were targeted because of their race,” (Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama).
[…] It is good they caught these people because, also according to the police, the bombs were getting more sophisticated and powerful each time.
Their targets were mostly cars (with one mailbox) but how long until they would have graduated to synagogues and mosques?
A showdown is brewing between Bernie Sanders and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who has been accused of frustrating efforts by the company’s employees to unionize. Here’s the latest on the dispute, from the Guardian’s Michael Sainato:
Starbucks is under fire over the company’s response to unionization efforts as senator Bernie Sanders threatens to call its chief executive before his committee on alleged labor violations and staff petition for it to end “intimidation” of organizers.
Sanders, chairman of the Senate health, education, labor and pensions (Help) committee, announced on Wednesday that the committee will be voting on whether to issue a subpoena to compel Starbucks chief Howard Schultz to testify about Starbuck’s federal labor law violations, and to authorize a committee investigation into labor-law violations committed by major corporations.
“For nearly a year, I and many of my colleagues in the Senate have repeatedly asked Mr Schultz to respect the constitutional right of workers at Starbucks to form a union and to stop violating federal labor laws,” Sanders said in a press release confirming the 8 March vote.
“Mr Schultz has failed to respond to those requests. He has denied meeting and document requests, skirted congressional oversight attempts, and refused to answer any of the serious questions we have asked. Unfortunately, Mr Schultz has given us no choice but to subpoena him.”
The move came after 44 employees at Starbucks headquarters in Seattle and 22 additional anonymous employees signed on to a petition calling on the company to reverse a return-to-office mandate and “to commit to a policy of neutrality and respect federal labor laws by agreeing to follow fair election principles, and allow store partners, whether pro- or anti-union, to decide for themselves, free from fear, coercion, and intimidation.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry claims that Ukraine could launch a radiation attack near Transnistria. Ukraine will accuse Russia of leaking radioactive material through indiscriminate strikes.
Russia says Ukrainian ports like Odesa and Chornomorsk could transport this radioactive material
Russia’s conspiracies about Ukraine invading Transnistria could be used as a pretext for suspending the Black Sea grain deal, which depends on these ports
Why would Ukraine launch a radiation attack on Transnistria, but we all know why Russia would..
——————–
Isn’t it great that russia tells you what they want to do, and to blame Ukraine, so they can say “told you”
Russia recruits Palestinian youth, mainly from the Lebanese Ein Al-Khalwa refugee camp via Hezbollah and Syrians via PMC Wagner, for the war against Ukraine. Palestinian youth are driven by despair and joblessness, while high salaries lure Syrians.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) criticized Chief Justice John Roberts’ fixation on the “fairness” of the Biden administration’s student debt relief plan Thursday, which he and his right-wing peers brought up repeatedly during oral arguments earlier this week.
“When Justice Roberts asks about fairness rather than focusing on statutory interpretation or constitutional issues, he’s becoming a super legislator. That’s not his job,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told TPM. “It is not the role of the United States Supreme Court to make those judgements.”
“And that means this Court is trying to pull more power into itself and away from the elected officials whose jobs it is to make those decisions,” she added. “This is not about a Court that is promoting small government. This is about a Court that is promoting big court.”
Roberts, joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, repeatedly asked the U.S. Solicitor General about the fairness of the plan, with Roberts conjuring up a hypothetical person who forewent college to start a lawn care business to torque up the sympathy.
The liberal justices pushed back.
“Congress passed a statute that dealt with loan repayment for colleges and it didn’t pass a statute that dealt with loan repayment for lawn businesses — so Congress made a choice,” Justice Elena Kagan said, referring to the 2003 law on which the Biden administration’s proposal is based.
The statute in question says that the Secretary “may waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial assistance programs” as the Secretary “deems necessary in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency.”
Reactions to the arguments from Senate Democrats who champion student debt relief ranged from gloomy to irate.
“I was disappointed,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told TPM. “And obviously it’s a majority conservative court that seems to indicate where they may go. So I’m very disappointed.”
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) added that Democrats will have to “keep exploring” other avenues for debt relief, should the Supreme Court knock down the program.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that the administration does “not have another plan,” and that they believe in the legality of their relief program.
Given the composition of Congress, an effort to pass relief through legislation seems unlikely to succeed. In one of the cases the Supreme Court heard Tuesday on the relief plan, the two plaintiffs — holders of student loan debt who are, in a convoluted argument, trying to knock down the plan to get more relief via a different law — are at least nominally pushing the administration to use different statutory authority to relieve student debt. But the Supreme Court’s hostile posture to executive branch exercises of power, at least while a Democrat lives in the White House, makes such a gambit seem destined to fail.
Warren too declined to engage in hypotheticals about what other pathways to relief might be available, should the Supreme Court invalidate Biden’s plan.
“The President has the legal authority to cancel that debt,” she said. “And I know that because President Trump canceled billions and billions of dollars of student loan debt and not a single Republican lifted a little finger to try to stop it,” she added, raising her pinky to demonstrate.
Authoritarian Russia or Republican Texas? There really isn’t that much of a difference, when you get right down to it. Take this latest brilliant idea from GOP state Rep. Bryan Salmon, who is proposing property tax cuts for married straight people who are committed to breeding. Starting at four children, you get a 40% tax cut. Ten kids? 100% tax break. No property taxes at all. “With this bill, Texas will start saying to couples, ‘Get married, stay married, and be fruitful and multiply,” Slaton said in a statement. [raises eyebrows]
Married people would catch a deal too with a 10 percent tax trim, even if they don’t have kids. But there are caveats. The married couple must be a man and a woman. There is no requirement on how long they have to have been married. They can not have been divorced.
There’s a high degree of Christofascism going on here, since it’s all about straight marriage, premised on the assumption that you are already homeowners and thus high up enough on the social ladder to be worthy of this state-sponsored beneficence.
t’s heavy on the culture war, something that Stalin and Putin didn’t have the luxury of demanding. But that’s certainly where the scheme originates.
In 1944, following a decade of his purges, as well as massive losses in WWII, Stalin decided Russians needed to start replenishing the population. In came the “Order of Maternal Glory,” encouragement of Russian women to become “Hero mothers.” It didn’t really matter to Stalin if they were married or not—he just needed the production.
Along with some snazzy medals (first-class to mothers who bore nine children—they didn’t all have to still be alive; second-class to mothers of eight; third-class to mothers of seven) the Hero Mothers also got perks, including childcare assistance, boosts to their pensions, and priority access to foods and other goods that were in constant short supply. The award existed until 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved. Most of the former republics ended it.
Then in 2022, Putin revived it, again looking at the demographic necessity of decades of a declining population and a new war. That and a decided bent toward reviving Stalinism. The revived “Mother Heroine” award comes with a million rubles, about $16,500 in 2022 dollars. Putin is stingier than Stalin, though—mothers can only get it with 10 children once that 10th kid turns 1 year old, and all of the other children have to have survived.
Kristin Roth-Ey, an associate professor at University College London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies, said its comeback is “obviously a conscious echo of the Stalinist past.” She added that it is “part of being a good Russian citizen,” as is common in other “authoritarian … nationalist movements that we see in places like Hungary and other parts of Central and Eastern Europe.”
On at least four occasions since 2019, Elon Musk has predicted that his medical device company, Neuralink, would soon start human trials of a revolutionary brain implant to treat intractable conditions such as paralysis and blindness. Yet the company, founded in 2016, didn’t seek permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) until early 2022 — and the agency rejected the application, seven current and former employees told Reuters. The rejection has not been previously reported.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, the Republican who wore a wig, a pearl necklace, and a short-skirted cheerleader’s uniform for a football game in high school, today signed the nation’s first statewide restrictions on drag performances.
In a major escalation of his war with Disney, Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has rounded up several of the company’s characters at Walt Disney World and put them on a bus headed for New York City.
At least a dozen characters, including Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Elsa, were swept up in the shocking daytime raid, as children visiting the theme park screamed in horror.
A merciless DeSantis explained the seizure of the characters at a midday press conference, in which he claimed that “all of these characters, especially the mice, are card-carrying members of the wokerati.”
The Governor seemed indifferent to the fate of the Disney characters once they arrive in New York. “Let them wander Times Square with Elmo,” he said.
Good thing the republicans are for freedom of speech and small government and against excessive regulation. They’re really hypocrite snowflakes with no self-awareness. But IOKIYAR.
KGsays
AFAIK, none of these “Breed, damnit, breed!!” schemes of authoritarian rulers have ever had the intended result. I’d be interested if anyone can point to a counterexample. Even the most grotesque and cruel example, Nicolae Ceaucescu’s “Decree 770”, which banned abortion and contraception for almost all Romanian women, only produced a slight delay in the downward trending birthrate, and cost many thousands of women their lives. Modern capitalism (and authoritarian pseudo-socialism) has needed women in the employed workforce, resulting in them having both less time for parenting and more independence (hence more say in whether they get pregnant). The availability of low-cost, high-quality childcare, and persuading men to do more housework and parenting, may at least halt the downward trend, although of course we can reasonably ask if that is itself a desirable goal.
KGsays
#341 was a response to Lynna’s #335. Most annoyingly, when I first go to Pharyngula after having hibernated my machine, I am sometimes shown as logged in, but when I try to comment, am told I have to be logged in to do so. I then have to click on “go back”, copy my comment, log out, being asked if I really want to, log in again and repaste the comment. Grrr! In doing so this time, I left off the opening “Lynna, OM@335,”!
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Belarus has sentenced the Nobel peace prize-winning dissident Ales Bialiatski to 10 years in prison as part of Alexander Lukashenko’s purge of opponents after the 2020 pro-democracy protests against his rule. Bialiatski, a pro-democracy activist, is the founder of Viasna, the authoritarian country’s most prominent human rights group. He was detained in July last year and charged with smuggling cash into Belarus to fund his group’s activities, but is widely recognised as being persecuted for his opposition to Lukashenko. Bialiatski was awarded the Nobel peace prize alongside the Russian human rights organisation Memorial, and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties, in October.
Joe Biden, the US president, and Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor, will focus their discussions in Washington on Friday on war aid for Ukraine and may also touch on concerns that China may provide lethal aid to Russia, a senior US administration official has said.
The US will announce a new military aid package for Ukraine on Friday, worth roughly $400m and comprised mainly of ammunition, two officials and a person familiar with the package have told Reuters.
Ukraine has ordered a mandatory evacuation of families and vulnerable residents from Kupiansk and adjacent northeastern territories, amid fears that Russian forces will retake the frontline eastern city and rail hub.
Russian troops retreated from key cities in the northeastern Kharkiv region, including Kupiansk, and Ukraine recaptured it last September.
The Kharkiv regional military administration said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday evening:
Mandatory evacuation of families with children and residents with limited mobility began in Kupiansk community.
The evacuation order was due to the “unstable security situation” caused by Russia’s “constant” shelling of the town and its surroundings, it said.
Those evacuated would be provided with assistance, including accommodation, food, humanitarian aid and medical support, it added.
Ukrainian forces have blown up a railway bridge inside the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, according to a report.
Video of the controlled explosion, posted on social media and geolocated by CNN, was shared widely today along with unconfirmed reports that it was a sign that Ukraine was preparing to withdraw from the city.
Ukraine’s 46th Brigade, which is operating in the city, denied the reports, saying the bridge was already unusable.
The unit said:
The bridge that is now being shown as proof that we are leaving was blown up a long time ago. Those who are in Bakhmut know that. Now it was just a control shot. Don’t spread panic. And yes, one can cross the river there without a bridge.
(FWIW, I remember reports of them blowing up a bridge a little while back, which was reported at the time as a sign that withdrawal was imminent. Could have been a different bridge, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same one.)
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree enabling the Russian state to suspend the directors and shareholders of any companies that fail to meet state defence contracts under conditions of martial law.
The new decree would apply to companies that “violate their obligations under a state contract, including failing to take measures to guarantee production deliveries”, Reuters reports.
The decree would allow the industry ministry to name a new external administrator to take over the running of such companies.
Asked earlier today if martial law could be introduced in certain regions of Russia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that was the president’s prerogative, but did not say whether Putin planned such a move.
Richard “Alex” Murdaugh has been found guilty of the murders of wife Maggie and son Paul, after a six-week televised trial that culminated with the defendant unexpectedly taking the stand to plead his innocence.
The jury returned with the verdict after three hours of deliberation. Murdaugh was judged guilty on two counts of murder and two weapons-related charges.
…
“He may be taken away,” the judge, Clifton Newman, said as Murdaugh was led out. He will be returned to court on Friday for sentencing. Newman has discretion to pass a sentence of 30 years to life without parole for each of the murder convictions.
Neither of Murdaugh’s brothers were in court despite one, John Marvin, testifying on his elder brother’s behalf. Murdaugh’s defense counsel immediately called for a mistrial, which Newman denied.
“The circumstantial evidence, direct evidence, all of the evidence, only pointed to one conclusion – the conclusion that you all reached,” he said before dismissing the jury.
Murdaugh, 54, had been held in jail in South Carolina since October 2021 on felony counts of fraud, after millions of dollars went missing from a settlement involving the death of a housekeeper.
…
The case, the subject of a recent Netflix documentary, has been an opportunity to examine power and corruption in South Carolina’s low country, where the Murdaughs had established deep roots of power in the region as moonshiners during Prohibition.
…
Outside the court, South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson said he hoped the verdict would restore faith in the justice system. He noted that many had had misgivings that Murdaugh could be successfully held to account.
“No one, but no one, is above the law,” he said. “Our justice system gave voice to Maggie and Paul who were brutally mowed down by someone they loved and trusted.”
Juror Craig Moyer said on Friday morning that, during deliberations, after two jurors thought the father was not guilty and one was unsure, the panel talked the case through for between 45 minutes and an hour and agreed on the guilty verdicts, which Moyer had believed throughout.
“He was a good liar, but not good enough,” Moyer told the Good Morning America show of the defendant.
Moyer was solidly convinced most particularly by the presentation of cellphone video that son and victim Paul Murdaugh sent to a friend minutes before he was killed, which featured the voice of his father.
“I heard his voice clearly and everyone else could, too,” Moyer said.
Moyer also said he was sitting very close to the defendant and observed a lack of compassion from Murdaugh when he took the stand and did not believe that the father was really crying when he showed emotion.
“He didn’t cry, all he did was blow snot. I saw his eyes. If you look at everything it’s all plain and clear,” he said of Murdaugh’s guilt.
The verdict does not resolve questions over at least two other deaths connected to Alex Murdaugh, the disbarred lawyer whose family had lorded over this slice of the swampy low country for close to a century.
Going back three generations, the Murdaughs held considerable sway over the judiciary, as state attorneys general, and via a prominent legal firm that brought profitable civil-award malpractice cases that companies would sooner settle than let go to trial. Locals called the five-county district around the family’s seat in Hampton “Murdaugh country”.
…
The case leaves many issues unresolved. South Carolina state investigators are still looking into two deaths that preceded the murders of Maggie and Paul – housekeeper Gloria Satterfield in 2018 and Stephen Smith three years earlier….
Re: KG 341
When I think about childhood development and what our primate relatives have with respect to parental time investment I rage with where we are as a society and what should be. No bonding time, parents having to choose who gets to bond and who works, if they can. That’s on top of the other health consequences of the economic system. It can’t go fast enough.
StevoRsays
Five new studies show what a smashingly significant impact the DART mission had on the asteroidal moon Dimorphis as it circled it “parent” asteroid Didymos :
More than half of the world’s population will be overweight or obese by 2035 unless governments take decisive action to curb the growing epidemic of excess weight, a report has warned.
About 2.6 billion people globally – 38% of the world population – are already overweight or obese. But on current trends that is expected to rise to more than 4 billion people (51%) in 12 years’ time, according to research by the World Obesity Federation.
…
Prof Louise Baur, the federation’s president, said the stark findings were “a clear warning that by failing to address obesity today, we risk serious repercussions in the future.
“It is particularly worrying to see obesity rates rising fastest among children and adolescents.”
Countries need to take “ambitious and coordinated action” as part of a “robust international response” to tackle the growing health and economic crisis that obesity involves, the federation believes….
The more I learn about this issue, the more I tend to regard this as dangerous, unscientific panic-mongering. Here are two podcastepisodes to which I’ve previously linked for some context.
The Guardian presents the World Obesity Federation as “an alliance of health, scientific, research and campaign groups” which “works closely on obesity with various global agencies,” failing to note that
World Obesity receives funding in the form of project and educational grants from sources including Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Lilly, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Rhythm Pharmaceutical, Vivus, IFA , Boehringer Ingelheim and Wellcome Trust.
This pharma funding is relevant and should be acknowledged at the very least, as should the dreadful history of “anti-obesity” campaigns.
Last month the American Academy of Pediatrics released a new set of guidelines for “childhood obesity.” We have some comments.
lumipunasays
KG at 342:
Most annoyingly, when I first go to Pharyngula after having hibernated my machine, I am sometimes shown as logged in, but when I try to comment, am told I have to be logged in to do so. I then have to click on “go back”, copy my comment, log out, being asked if I really want to, log in again and repaste the comment. Grrr!
Grrr indeed.To me, it seems to happen about two days after my most recent login, as the cookies expire. Instead of logging out, I just refresh the page after copying or cutting my comment, and then I’m out. Before that, to recover my comment, I need to go back using my browser’s reverse button, rather than anything offered by WordPress.
One of the Republican Party’s most profound hypocrisies is its stance that the single most important thing a government can do is to not govern. The problem is, the Republican Party continues to be the only political entity in the United States wielding the power of the federal and state government in an attempt to claw back the rights of Americans.
The Republican wafer-thin majority in the House means one thing to the party of “small government”: Lots of wasting of taxpayer dollars investigating things that will obfuscate from government doing the work it needs to do to come up with solutions to help everyday Americans. Right now, grotesque jokes like Rep. Jim Jordan, are creating subcommittees that hope to muddy the waters of justice surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.. A cosplaying William Jennings Bryan named Sen. John Kennedy is trying to make the government complicit in violence against teachers and educators, and by extension, labor unions. While Florida man, Rep. Matt Gaetz has been performing one of his many dangerous political stunts in the hopes of fundraising money.
[snipped bit about Republicans taking away women’s reproductive rights]
With all of those realities at the top of the news, the official Twitter account of the Republican National Committee had 11 words to string together on social media that put the “What?” in WTF.
Government should be so small you don’t even realize it’s there.
You can imagine how well that sentiment went down with the public.
like an IUD.
————
So small it fits in your pants.
—————-
Except for book banning, taking away the rights of women and LGBTQ+, and Social Security and Medicare that we’ve paid for, right?
But there are times when the Republican Party wants to make sure the government does very little in regards to intervening in people’s lives.
But also: Palestine, Ohio. Invisible government is so real.
——————-
So small it can’t do anything about a rail derailment, am I right?
A logistics query.
Yeah, that’s how a nation of 332,000,000 people works. Like magic!
One of the real answers to the question posed.
You mean so small theres no oversight to keep you frauds in line.
And finally.
So when I call the police, or the fire department, I shouldn’t know it’s there? When I retire, I shouldn’t know I have social security? The military should be invisible?
What the fuck does this even mean? It’s a monumentally dumbass fucking thing to say.
———————
They mean
“You should vote for us and then immediately stop paying attention to every move we make. We’ll decide what’s best for you, you just focus on pumping out babies & working your fingers to the bone for $7.25 and hour”
Russian sources have indicated that Russian forces have advanced into the villages just outside Kupyansk. This hasn’t been confirmed by the Ukrainian military, but the action on Friday seems to indicate that the situation there is not stable.
Ukraine has ordered a limited evacuation from Kupiansk
A sign that Ukraine is concerned that Russia’s spring offensive might include a foray into liberated Kharkiv
Official rhetoric from pro-Kremlin figures has tended to focus on Zaporizhzhia as an offensive destination
All of the locations in the area that had traded hands are small villages, many of which had never really been garrisoned by Ukrainian troops. So much of this “offensive” on the part of Russia is just walking from point X to point Y in an essentially undefended area. But the fact that they are close enough to Kupyansk to spur this action is concerning, especially considering the importance of the P07 highway that runs east to Svatove.
Looks like Ukrainian forces are still confident of their ability to get people in and out of Bakhmut [tweet and image at the link]
During the darkness of Thursday evening, Ukraine reportedly withdrew much of the armor that had been inside or near Bakhmut to a location further west. Troops in parts of the city have also reportedly been withdrawn. Before dawn, the bridge leading to “the road of life” through Khromove was deliberately blown, then a few hours later a rail bridge connecting the east and west sides of the city was taken down.
However, Bakmut has not yet fallen into Russian hands. There are reports that Ukrainian forces remain in the western part of the city, along with some heavy equipment, fighting the forces of the Wagner Group and Russian military as they advance into the ruins of Bakhmut. What Ukrainian forces there are doing now is unclear. Hopefully they are few. Hopefully they have a way out. [tweet and video at the link]
Some of the faces that have become familiar from videos inside the city are among those who have made it out, as Ukrainian forces prepare the new line of battle. They’re not going in the direction they wanted, but it’s hard to say that these are not men who have given everything they possibly can. [Tweet and video at the link]
Frequently seen Ukrainian Army commander “Magyar” has also reportedly been evacuated from the city. Local unit commander Olga Bigar, call sign “Witch,” hasn’t been on video since Feb. 26, but she may have already been out of the area at that time. Videos on Thursday also showed Ukrainian forces evacuating at least a few of the civilians who had remained in Bakhmut until the bitter end.
Early morning assumptions that Ukraine had withdrawn all forces appear to be in error. While initial reports suggested that Ukraine had left the core of the city for Russia to stroll in, later reports indicate continued fighting, and that there are still Ukrainian forces, and even armor, within Bakhmut. If Bakhmut still holds, it is doing so by its fingernails. However, the city has not been surrendered.
[map at the link] This map represents the best estimate of where things stood on Friday morning. A renewed Russian attack in the south had reportedly brought fighting back to the area of Ivaniske, but Ukraine reportedly repulsed that attack. There still seems to be a clear space around the western end of “the road of life” at Chasiv Yar. Russian forces have pressed further into the city on the north and east, and also reportedly moved down the western side of a reservoir between Yahidne and Khromove. Most of the video seen from Bakhmut over the last few weeks originated from the area at the core of the city, east of the rail line—roughly where the Bakhmut tag is sitting on the map—but it’s not clear where remaining Ukrainian forces are situated now.
The bridge through Khromove is most definitely out. However, like most of the rivers around Bakhmut, the stream it crosses isn’t exactly a raging torrent. The result is more of a speed bump than an insurmountable obstacle. [tweet and video at the link]
Certainly trucks could come right up to the other end of that fallen bridge and troops could be evacuated. Whether it’s possible to get a vehicle across it is a different issue. Ukraine has been bringing down bridges and breeching dams on the small reservoirs around Bakhmut over the last week, with the obvious intention of slowing Russia’s progress. There is still a reservoir south of this downed bridge that might be breeched if Ukraine wants to make things as difficult as possible.
Within the city, it appears that a pair of street bridges into the eastern half of Bakhmut were already down, and now Ukraine has taken out the rail bridge. [Tweet and video at the link]
Reuters reports that Ukrainian forces have dug a new series of trenches, forming defensive positions to protect access to the Khromove. The bridge may be down, but it seems that Ukraine isn’t ready to give up the road. This makes it seem that there’s a definite plan to keep extracting a cost from Russia as it attempts to advance into the city. Or maybe those remaining troops are turning the ruined hulk of Bakhmut into a series of booby traps.
Ukrainian soldier Kyianyn, who issued a message from central Bakhmut three days ago, still reports as if the fighting today is just an extension of the fighting that has been going on for weeks. But he’s no longer speaking from inside the city. [tweet and video at the link]
What we know for sure is that the bridge is down, some forces have come out, some armor has been relocated away from the city, and some level of Ukrainian resistance remains in Bakhmut.
[…] Meanwhile, Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin was filmed in Paraskoiivka, just north of Bakhmut, sanctimoniously insisting that Ukraine withdraw its forces from Bakhmut to keep them from being killed by his men. His video is deliberately not included here.
Instead, here’s what we can only hope some of those who have been long stationed at Bakhmut are allowed to do before they return to the front anywhere else. [tweet and video at the link, a soldier wakes his sleeping children and hugs them. The looks on the children's faces when they realize it is their father ...]
Heading into the 2022 midterm elections, there were still 12 states that refuse to embrace Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act. On Election Day, voters in South Dakota successfully lowered that total to 11 states.
Now, the number is on track to shrink to 10. The News & Observer in Raleigh reported:
The [North Carolina state] House and Senate have agreed to pass Medicaid expansion, reaching a breakthrough after years of debate. House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger held a joint news conference on Thursday at the Legislative Building announcing the compromise between the Republican-majority chambers. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has been a longtime supporter of expansion, which would provide health insurance coverage to hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians.
Some caveats are in order. The state’s Democratic governor, an enthusiastic proponent of Medicaid expansion, wasn’t involved in the negotiations, so the bill won’t necessarily reflect all of his priorities. What’s more, the legislation still has to actually pass the Republican-led legislature.
That said, there’s clearly reason for optimism.
“An agreement by legislative leaders to expand Medicaid in North Carolina is a monumental step that will save lives and I commend the hard work that got us here,” Cooper said in a written statement. “Since we all agree this is the right thing to do, we should make it effective now to make sure we leverage the money that will save our rural hospitals and invest in mental health. I look forward to reviewing the details of the bill.”
Soon after, President Joe Biden was also in a celebratory mood. “I work every day to bring down health care costs, and I’ve called on leaders to do the same. This is what I’m talking about: This bipartisan deal would expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of people,” the Democrat wrote on Twitter. “That’ll be 40 states who’ve expanded. 10 more to go.”
The president’s statistic wasn’t an exaggeration: If the state successfully expands Medicaid through the ACA, an estimated 600,000 low-income North Carolinians will finally have access to affordable health care.
All of this comes roughly two years after voters in Oklahoma and Missouri approved Medicaid expansion, which followed similar votes in Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah, where locals also ignored the wishes of their GOP-led state governments and also backed Medicaid expansion at the ballot box.
As for the 10 remaining holdouts, these are the remaining states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Of these 10, Kansas, where Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is starting her second term, is the probably the next state where health care advocates should look for a possible breakthrough.
[…] those watching the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) received a timely reminder about their divisions yesterday.
… Scott took aim at his fellow Republicans. While he did not cite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by name, he criticized “establishment Republicans” that he said have repeatedly capitulated to Democrats.
“It’s not just the Democrats in Washington who are destroying our country,” the senator said. “You’ve heard the famous quote: We’ve met the enemy and he is us. Unfortunately, some of the leaders of our own Republican establishment, they’ve been in Washington way too long and they’ve forgotten why they came here. They’ve gotten used to caving in to the Democrats.”
The idea that McConnell is contributing to the destruction of the United States, and Scott sees him as an “enemy,” represents a new rhetorical escalation from the far-right Floridian.
And in case there were any doubts as to which of his GOP colleagues he was referring, The Hill’s report went on to quote Scott saying, “When I took on Sen. McConnell, I knew it would be hard, and I assumed I would have a hard time winning. But we have to start somewhere. Everyone in Washington said I was nuts, and I might be. But we can’t put up with this b.s. anymore.”
He added, “My belief is that my challenge to Sen. McConnell was not the end of something, it was the beginning of something.
[…] the burning fire of contempt between Scott and McConnell is a sight to behold.
The animosity between the Republicans was painfully obvious last year, leading the duo to trade shots in public, with the Floridian writing a column in September 2022 that threw around words like “cowardice” and “treasonous” in apparent reference to McConnell.
After the 2022 midterm elections, Scott took the tensions to a new level: Hoping to parlay failure into a promotion, he ran against McConnell for Senate GOP leader. As we’ve discussed, the incumbent prevailed with relative ease, though it was the first challenge of McConnell’s tenure, and the fight was emblematic of the deep division between the two Republicans.
Last month, McConnell — on the heels of stripping Scott of a committee assignment he wanted — raised the stakes a bit more, denouncing an element of his GOP colleague’s radical policy blueprint, and at CPAC this week, Scott returned rhetorical fire, suggesting McConnell is helping “destroy our country.”
[…] It’s unlike any intra-party fight we’ve seen in many years.
Republicans fighting each other is usually good news for the Democratic Party.
Also, I seldom agree with Mitch McConnel,l but when he criticized Rick Scott’s ridiculous policy blueprint he was definitely correct. At the time, Scott’s plan included a proposal to sunset all federal legislation in five years, including Medicare and Social Security. Scott later tried to backpedal but the damage was done … and Scott seemed to be trying to deliberately deceive the public.
Conclusion: McConnell is awful most of the time, but Rick Scott is worse. Scott is always awful.
Of course Scott would seize the opportunity of the CPAC cesspit to flaunt his slimy character while continuing to attack slightly less slimey Republicans.
It was last August when Rep. Jim Jordan first referenced a group of FBI insiders, whom he referred to as “whistleblowers.” As the Ohio Republican put it at the time, these unidentified individuals had privately shared provocative information with him about the politicization of the bureau, fueling GOP conspiracy theories.
Almost immediately, the far-right congressman’s story was, in a rather literal sense, unbelievable.
As we’ve discussed, the FBI already has an established process in place for employees to report wrongdoing, including the option of reaching out to the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office. Jordan, however, appeared to be referring to a far more informal process in which a group of FBI employees quietly circumvented official channels and contacted a relatively powerless member of the House minority. It was difficult not to be skeptical.
Nearly eight months later, Jordan is now chairing both the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, and the Ohioan is still excited about his “whistleblowers.” But as it turns out, Democratic members of the weaponization panel have taken a closer look at Jordan’s star witnesses, as The New York Times reported, they’ve uncovered a few problem.
[T]he first three witnesses to testify privately before the new Republican-led House committee investigating the “weaponization” of the federal government have offered little firsthand knowledge of any wrongdoing or violation of the law, according to Democrats on the panel who have listened to their accounts. Instead, the trio appears to be a group of aggrieved former F.B.I. officials who have trafficked in right-wing conspiracy theories, including about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, and received financial support from a top ally of former President Donald J. Trump.
[“received financial support from a top ally of former President Donald J. Trump” !!!]
The 316-page report from the Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee was released to the public last night, and it includes extensive documentation about the GOP’s witnesses.
[…] Jordan’s “whistleblowers” are not actual whistleblowers, and more importantly, they’ve “engaged in partisan conduct that calls into question their credibility.”
[…] Rolling Stone reported this week that no one is impressed.
[S]o far, Republicans have brought only three of those whistleblowers to Capitol Hill for questioning. … In the interviews conducted to date, witnesses have offered contradictory responses, maintained fringe and violent online presences that undermine their credibility, and failed to demonstrate first-hand knowledge of alleged FBI wrongdoing. The results have left Democrats gleeful and even some Republicans deeply unimpressed. A “dumpster fire,” is how one Democrat with knowledge of the at-times combative interactions terms the proceedings. “Clearly there is room to grow and improve before [more] public hearings,” a Republican familiar with the process tells Rolling Stone. But the work so far, the Republican says, has been “very much amateur hour,” adding that airing this “stuff on live television would make us look like morons.”
[LOL]
When House Republicans launched their misguided “weaponization” committee, it was intended to strike fear in the hearts of their perceived political foes. […]
But the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government isn’t scary; it’s pitiful.
The evidence emerging from the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News has the quality of liberal fever dreams. What’s the worst you can possibly imagine about Fox? What’s the most cartoonish caricature, the worst it could possibly be? Well, in these emails and texts you basically have that. Only it’s real. […]
In a moment like this it’s worth stepping way, way back, not just to the beginning of Fox News in 1996 but to the beginning of the broader countermovement it was a part of and even a relatively late entry to.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s there was something historians and critics of the time called the post-war liberal consensus. It was not liberal in ways we’d recognize today.[…]. But it did represent an important level of elite consensus about state intervention in the economy and openness to a more restrained version of the American state created by the reformist periods of the first half of the 20th century.
Though what was then sometimes called “the race question” was “complicated” and not something that could be resolved overnight, there was also in elite opinion a general assumption that the South’s system of legalized apartheid was a source of embarrassment and something from the past that the country had to outgrow, even if not any time soon. (Just as is the case today, what is actually more properly called cosmopolitanism was sometimes misportrayed as liberalism: a general belief in pluralism […].)
I mention all this because, in the early 1950s and 1960s, what we now recognize as the embryonic modern conservative movement could rightly sense that there were assumptions embedded in elite culture that viewed certain of their core values and aims as backward, retrograde, archaic. […]
Over the course of the 1960s and 1970s they set about trying to build a series of counter-institutions, ones that wouldn’t, in their mind, have their sails angled permanently toward the winds of liberalism. One key moment in this story was the founding of The Heritage Foundation in 1973. Heritage was founded to be the counter to the “liberal” Brookings Institution. But Heritage was never anything like Brookings, even though in the D.C. of the ’80s and ’90s they were routinely portrayed as counterpoints — one representing liberalism and the other conservatism. Brookings was mainstream, stodgy, quasi-academic. Heritage was thoroughly ideological and partisan. In practice it was usually little more than a propaganda mill for the right. This pattern was duplicated countless times. […]
What we see today in Fox News is most of the story: a purported news organization that knowingly and repeatedly reports lies to its viewers, whose chief executive brazenly works with and assists one party’s candidates by sharing confidential information about the other. What has always been the tell about Fox News is the tagline and motto: fair and balanced. The operation’s very branding is an aggressive bit of trolling. An unabashedly partisan and ideological operation selling itself under the heading of “fair and balanced.” It’s less a lie than a knowing taunt.
Here we get to the nub of the issue. Because this is not the entirety of the story. One of the things that is clear from the very start of the conservative movement was a basic failure to quite understand the thing they rallied themselves against, […] And when they went to build their own versions of these institutions they patterned them off their own cartoonish understandings of how these operations functioned. The idea that institutions like CBS News or The New York Times were, whatever their faults and unexamined biases, fundamentally rooted in an ethic of news gathering and reporting was really totally lost on them.
So how do we get from this elemental misunderstanding to the raw and casual lying of the Fox of today? Well, that’s the thing: we don’t. Both were there from the very start. It’s all but impossible to disentangle the culture clash, the inability and refusal to really grasp what these institutions were, and the more open culture of propaganda, lying and mendacity. […]
One further nugget brings the story nearer to our time from the distant past of the early Cold War and the origins of modern conservatism. Today we know Tucker Carlson as the preppy boyishly middle aged white nationalist who is the current center of gravity to Fox News. But that wasn’t always his public presentation. Always a conservative, his younger incarnation held an air of ironic and quasi-urbane detachment from full wingnut intensity. Back in February 2009, in a moment of mid-career identity crisis, he gave a speech at CPAC which bundled together much of what we’re discussing here. The fact that no one took conservative news organizations and journalists seriously, he told the crowd, wasn’t a matter of liberal bias or anything about the establishment. It was because they weren’t really journalists. Needless to say, he wasn’t speaking to a terribly receptive audience. “If you create a news organization whose primary objective is not to deliver accurate news, you will fail,” he said. “The New York Times is a liberal paper, but it is also…a paper that actually cares about accuracy. Conservatives need to build institutions that mirror those institutions.” [video at the link. LOL, with eyebrows raised]
As you can see in this clip, this wasn’t really a condemnation of conservative news outlets. He actually praises Fox and he sort of jumps back and forth in response to boos from the crowd. But there was some getting at the root of the matter.
As soon became clear, Carlson was not only the John the Baptist of this clarion call but the Jesus too. A year later he launched The Daily Caller expressly on the model of the speech he’d given a year earlier at CPAC. But what quickly became clear is that there was little audience, market or demand for that kind of conservative publication. To whatever extent Carlson had ever really been committed to creating that kind of publishing operation, he quickly lost patience with it and shifted gears to the publication we’ve been familiar with for the last dozen years: a slightly less transgressive and racist version of Breitbart. There simply wasn’t any future or money in that other kind of operation. So, after briefly trying to go semi-legit, he shifted gears and went full-steam-ahead into the white nationalism and lying business.
As I say, this duality has always been at the heart of conservative media. Carlson embodies it as much as anyone. And so it’s fitting that he’s at the heart of this most recent set of revelations.
Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow and noted Trump acolyte, has vowed to support election administrators in Shasta County, California, after they upended the county’s election process over some officials’ belief in conspiracy theories about a stolen 2020 election.
[…] the Shasta County Board of Supervisors announced that they were canceling the county’s contract with Dominion Voting Systems, citing debunked conspiracy theories promoted by Fox News and other right-wing media outlets about the security of the company’s machines. […]
Supervisor Kevin Crye also announced that he’d been in touch with none other than Lindell – an election denier and chief proponent of the lies about Dominion – about the issue. Lindell offered to support a pilot voting system to replace the machines and help the county fend off any possible legal challenges, Crye said.
[…] In a statement to the Times, a Dominion spokesperson said the vote to remove the machines was “yet another example of how lies about Dominion have damaged our company and diminished the public’s faith in elections.” [True]
[…] Lindell told the Times on Wednesday that he was “pretty proud” of the county, and said that every county should follow in their footsteps.[…] I will provide all the resources necessary, both including financial and legal, for this fight.” Lindell later confirmed to the Times that he would “absolutely” support the county financially if necessary.
[…] “After hitting the jackpot with Donald Trump’s endorsement for MyPillow and after a million-dollar bet on Fox News ads had paid out handsome returns, Michael Lindell exploited another chance to boost sales: marketing MyPillow to people who would tune in and attend rallies to hear Lindell tell the ‘Big Lie’ that Dominion had stolen the 2020 election,” the complaint said.
Lindell tried to get the case dismissed, but the Supreme Court refused to take up his case.
I rather hope that Lindell runs out of money soon. A destitute Mike Lindell would be less dangerous.
Posted by readers of the article:
Lindell’s lawyers, if he still has any, should be either in professional counseling or on suicide watch, or possibly both.
——————-
Shasta County is the size of Delaware but with the population of Akron, where 100% of the economy is based on one form of government welfare or another. It’s exactly the type of vast, underpopulated welfare state where right wing white grievances take hold.
————————
This is going to help Dominion’s damages case.
————–
With Mike Lindell in their corner…
Just THINK what they can accomplish!!!
———————-
Lindell found a way to make money by selling what are literally bags filled with industrial waste.
Top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and its subcommittee investigating the so-called “weaponization” of the federal government released a 316-page report on Thursday […] skewering House Republicans and casting doubt on the three GOP “whistleblowers” who have testified in front of the committee.
The lengthy report, penned by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-U.S. Virgin Islands), comes in reaction to one of the countless stunt investigations House Republicans are conducting into the Biden administration. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) — chairman of the panel — and other Republicans have been loudly claiming for months that they have testimony from numerous whistleblowers that will somehow show government agencies, like the FBI, are targeting right-wing individuals and groups.
Since the new year, three of the GOP witnesses — George Hill, a retired FBI supervisory intelligence analyst from the Boston field office, Stephen Friend, a former special agent who worked in the Daytona Beach office, and Garret O’Boyle, a suspended special agent from the field office in Wichita, Kansas — have testified behind closed doors.
But the report from Democrats suggests that instead of legitimate whistleblowers the trio appears to be a group of conspiracy theorizing, embattled former FBI agents who were compensated and supported by allies of former President Donald Trump.
Here are four key takeaways from the House Democrats’ report: At least two of the so-called whistleblowers received financial support from a Trump ally
Two of the witnesses, O’Boyle and Friend, testified that they have received financial support from Kash Patel — a Trump loyalist and high-ranking official in the former president’s administration who advanced conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the Russia probe.
During his testimony, Friend detailed that Patel sent him “$5,000 almost immediately after they connected in November 2022.”
Witnesses have ties to MAGA Trump allies
Patel didn’t just provide financial assistance to the so-called whistleblowers.
“Based on this evidence, committee Democrats conclude that there is a strong likelihood that Kash Patel is encouraging the witnesses to continue pursuing their meritless claims, and in fact is using them to help propel his vendetta against the F.B.I., Justice Department, and Biden administration on behalf of himself and President Trump,” the report said.
According to the report, Patel found Friend his current job, working as a fellow on domestic intelligence and security services at the Center for Renewing America. The center is led by Russell Vought — a former Trump official — and largely funded by the Conservative Partnership Institute, an organization run by former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC).
Patel also arranged for Jesse Binnall — who served as one of Trump’s lawyers when he falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen — to be O’Boyle’s attorney.
“When Committee Democrats asked O’Boyle about this financial connection, Binnall appeared to surprise his client with an announcement that he was now representing O’Boyle pro bono,” according to the report. [Posted by a reader: So is it actual pro bono, or is someone else footing the bill, and if so, who.]
All three seem to embrace conspiracy theories and extremist views
[…]“Each endorses an alarming series of conspiracy theories related to the January 6 Capitol attack, the COVID vaccine, and the validity of the 2020 election,” […]
In a social media post Hill claimed that the Jan. 6 attack was a “set up” and part of a “larger #Democrat plan using their enforcement arm, the #FBI,” according to the report.
Friends also embraced similar conspiracy theories. He sent FBI Director Christopher Wray a public letter in Dec. 2022, asking “what he described as tough but fair questions such as, Will you commit to educating executive management personnel that J6 protesters did not kill any police officers?” and “Why didn’t the FBI open a civil rights violation investigation concerning the killing of Ashli Babbit?” […]
Witnesses don’t meet the legal definition of a whistleblower
Per the report: “Federal law only protects FBI employees from retaliation when making claims that they ‘reasonably believe’ provide evidence of ‘(A) any violation of any law, rule, or regulation; or (B) gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.’ None of the three witnesses interviewed to date comes close to meeting that definition.”
[…] “None of the witnesses have provided evidence related to a violation of law, policy, or abuse of authority. None are whistleblowers in any sense recognized by federal law or any federal agency,” the report read.
johnson catmansays
re Lynna @359:
Lindell offered to support a pilot voting system to replace the machines and help the county fend off any possible legal challenges, Crye said.
This !NEW! pilot voting system consists of a paper with the republican candidates listed and pre-marked checks beside the names. The !ballots! will be “counted” by hand, and the resulting 100% victory for the republican candidates will “prove” that the Dominion systems were fraudulent.
What do you do when you claim to own a region of another country, only you don’t control the capital and largest city of that region? Why, you reorganize! That’s just what Russia did today in Zaporizhzhya, where they’ve named Melitopol as the new capital and redrawn the lines for districts within the oblast.
[…] Ukraine reportedly shot down a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber on Friday morning. This makes 19 of the planes Russia has lost since the invasion began [Tweet and video at the link]
The interesting thing about this particular shoot down is the where, since the plane apparently took a missile hit near the occupied down of Yenakiieve in Donetsk Oblast. That’s better than 20 km from the nearest area of Ukrainian military control. Exactly what took down the jet isn’t clear, but it may have been a missile fired from a Ukrainian pilot operating near the line of conflict. It’s also a good signal that there is nowhere in Ukraine that Russian pilots can fly with impunity.
Russia has confirmed the loss of 71 combat aircraft since the invasion began. The updated Su-34M is regarded as Russia’s most advanced plane and only entered service in the last year. It’s unclear how many of the Su-34s shot down in Ukraine were of this upgraded type.
Canadian volunteer DeFacto reporting on her humanitarian work in Ukraine. The area she’s describing is along the road between Lyman and Kreminna. [Tweet and videos at the link]
It’s been a month now since Russia launched it’s “big offensive” at Kreminna. If you haven’t seen a lot of reporting on it, that’s because there hasn’t been a lot to report. Just as Ukraine found going the other way, the mud has restricted Russia to a few possible routes, and those routes are heavily contested. So fighting right now is still going on in almost exactly the same locations where it was when the offensive began.
Russia has, in fact, had so little success at Kreminna, that they reportedly took forces away from that location and sent them to somewhere they thought was more promising. I’m not making this up. They sent those forces to Vuhledar.
Let’s check in and see, in formal terms, What is Vuhledar Doing? Vuhledar is doing this. [poster of losses at the link] That poster? It’s actually a week out of date. Since then, Russia has failed in at least two more advances at Vuhledar from the east. These later assaults have been mostly infantry, because Russia is apparently convinced that, having failed to cross the flat, empty, heavily-mined field in armor, it will be better on foot. Still, recent failures have added this to the total. [Tweet and video at the link]
[…] More evidence that the explosions that took place at the Russian military base in Yelsk, across the Sea of Azov from Mariupol, were more than just a “training exercise.” [Tweet and image at the link] Were planes destroyed, or did Russia decide to relocate assets after discovering that 150 km from the front lines is too close? That’s not known.
Daily Kos is lucky enough to count KyivGuy among the members of the community, and his answers to questions about everyday life in Ukraine away from the front lines have been a terrific addition.
Here’s another little slice of life from Kyiv: Yaroslava Antipina lives in Kyiv with her son. Though she left the city to join her mother in the weeks after the invasion began, she soon returned to her home in Kyiv and has become famous for her daily “war coffee” diary in which she visits places around Ukraine, just looking for a cup of coffee (black, no sugar), and to see how things are going around the city. She frequently records a brief part of these strolls through Kyiv, and the one minute videos act as nice moments of meditation on normal life interrupted. For the most part in these videos, nothing happens. Just walking. Just people going about their business. And that’s exactly what you want to see. [Tweet and video at the link: “It’s warm in Kyiv. Spring is in the air.”]
If you’ve spent any time on social media in the last few years, browsed a web page, or turned on a television, you may have seen some of the dreamy, ecstatic advertising for a massive planned community known as NEOM, or “The Line.” What is NEOM? Why, it’s “the future of urban living,” a city built across four climatic zones from mountain to seashore […] a “hub for innovation,” an “entirely new model of sustainable living,” and “home to a community of free-thinkers” who are building the “future of humanity.”
Where is NEOM? Well, it’s in Saudi Arabia. Where free-thinkers were welcomed to mass executions by beheading last year for failing to properly support the dictatorship of brutal killer Mohammed bin Salman. And where hundreds more are executed annually for daring to question the teachings of a very specific form of Islam that just happens to endorse bin Salman’s authority.
So what is NEOM really? Why, it’s a glossy toy for a guy who thinks cutting up journalists with a bone saw is great fun. Welcome to the future, free-thinkers.
Now Donald Trump, who helped bin Salman cover up murder, has decided he’d like a toy of his own. In fact, he’d like ten of them. And he wants you to build them for him, on public land.
As Politico reports, Donald Trump will release a video sometime on Friday in which he calls for a contest to build ten “Freedom Cities.” These are to be all new cities built “from the ground up,” with that ground being federal land donated to the project.
Trump wants these new cities to be serviced by vertical take off and landing aircraft (i.e. flying cars), and wants them to become “hives of industry” that will foster new industries (i.e. Spacely Sprockets and Cogswell Cogs). While Trump doesn’t seem to mention trains or anything else that would make a new city practical. Since most of the federal land Trump is talking about is in remote areas of western states with little existing access or infrastructure, it’s a good thing he’s talking about cities that wouldn’t need roads. Or water. Or any of that other old stuff. [LOL]
What these cities do need is babies. Lots and lots of babies. […] Trump’s idea for these Freedom Cities includes:
A population surge sparked by “baby bonuses” to encourage would-be-parents to get on with procreation.
Don’t think this means he’s about to support feeding, caring for, or educating those babies. He’s still a Republican, after all. He’s just proposing a cash payment to people who pop them out. […]
Trump is describing all this in the most glowing terms as something that would “reopen the frontier” and “give hundreds of thousands of young people and other people” a shot at “the American Dream.” How those residents of Freedom Cities are to be selected is something of a mystery, but Republicans can certainly be counted on to come up with a few … standards.
But the biggest thing missing from Trump’s bin Salman envy is one simple point: America already has cities. America has a lot of cities. An estimated 83% of the American population already lives in urban areas; areas that are not currently bare, dry, unproductive, and poorly located federal land. [Correct!]
As you might expect, there’s nothing in this plan that involves improving conditions for the hundreds of millions of Americans who live in existing cities. Those cities have systematically been starved for infrastructure, education, and jobs by policies that have funneled vast wealth into the suburbs. […] Republicans have been able to use control of sparely populated rural areas to gleefully punish cities that are already hubs of innovation, already centers of industry, and already home to the majority of the population.
Instead, Trump’s plan boils down to the ultimate suburbs. It’s a scheme that treats the rest of America like a disposable cup that can be ditched in favor of something new, shiny, and only for the select few.
Someone will probably jump on the opportunity to design these Trumpvilles. Some of those designs may even be good. But then, it’s easy to make something look pretty and clean if you start by simply ignoring all the existing problems and all the damage that your new shiny thing will create.
The article is illustrated with an image of Jesus Christ saying, “WTF?”
On behalf of 112 junior enlisted military personnel and the senior NCO who was speaking for them, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has stopped yet another fundamentalist Christian officer from attempting to convert their subordinates via mandatory military training.
This time, it was mandatory training titled “Leadership Lessons of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
When confronted by the senior NCO, who happens to be Jewish, (although the 112 junior enlisted come from all religious persuasions, including Christianity, as well as non-religious), the “Officer in Charge” (OIC) who came up with this clearly proselytizing training ludicrously claimed that it was not religious, but would “only focus on Jesus the military leader.” Jesus the military leader? What Bible is this guy reading?
The OIC further said that he chose Jesus as the subject for this mandatory military training “because Jesus is respected as a model of Godly leadership by all worldwide even if you’re not yet a Christian” [OMFG]
NOT YET a Christian? Apparently, this proselytizing officer expects those service members who are NOT YET Christian to BECOME Christian. But that’s not surprising considering that this OIC belongs to Cadence International, one of the large fundamentalist Christian parachurch organizations found on every military base, an organization that has declared that “The Military is Our Mission Field” and that “the U.S. military community has proven to be one of the largest, most responsive sub-cultures today.” Cadence is “dedicated to reaching the military communities of the United States and of the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ,” […]
The senior NCO’s conversation with the OIC ended with the OIC telling them, “if you or the other objectors didn’t like it you can complain to my chain of command.”
But it wouldn’t be the NCO who would go to this obstinate OIC’s chain of command to stop his malfeasant mandatory Jesus training. It would be MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein.
The NCO, after getting nowhere with the OIC, went to one of their base’s MRFF representatives. MRFF has volunteer representatives on nearly every military installation, many of them active military themselves.
Mikey contacted the OIC’s chain of command, and the next thing the MRFF representative heard from the senior NCO was that the mandatory “Leadership Lessons of the Lord Jesus Christ” training had been canceled by the OIC’s commander. Mission accomplished for those 112 junior enlisted personnel and their senior NCO! […]
More at the link, including the email an MRFF representative sent to the senior NCO.]
[…] Trump collaborated on a song with a group of Jan. 6 inmates.
Trump and the prisoners — dubbed the “J6 Prison Choir” — released “Justice for All” on Thursday, a roughly 2 1/2-minute track that features the former president reciting the Pledge of Allegiance cut with the inmates singing the national anthem. The track ends with the prisoners chanting “USA! USA! USA!” in the same cadence that rioters chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” on the day of the insurrection.
According to Forbes, which broke the story, Trump recorded his part of the track at Mar-a-Lago last month, while the inmates sang over a jailhouse phone. A HuffPost report added, “On YouTube, Trump is credited as the composer of the track.” [Oh FFS]
For now, I’ll put aside the temptation to play music critic and instead focus on the degree to which Trump has come full circle when it comes to the rioters.
[…] during the Jan. 6 attack, 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.”
It was soon after when [Trump] started to realize that this, at least at the time, was a politically untenable position: His own Cabinet had begun conversations about removing Trump from office by way of the 25th Amendment. He and his team decided he needed “cover” to remain in the White House.
And so, Trump shifted his message: 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.”
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, however, Trump struggled to keep up the pretense that he almost certainly never believed in the first place. [understatement] By May 2021, [Trump] was suggesting the rioters were victims. He eventually started describing them as “patriots.” Around the same time, he first broached the subject of extending pardons to convicted radicals, which was soon followed by vows of financial support.
And now, Trump has reached a new extreme, releasing a song with Jan. 6 inmates.
The multistep process has not only brought Trump back to the beginning, he has actually gone further than ever before.
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.”
Trump now wants to give them pardons, apologies, financial support, and a musical platform.
Presidential historian Michael Beschloss recently wondered 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.”
One former president apparently doesn’t need to wait for the future to draw such a conclusion.
SC @350, at the same G20 Summit event, Lavrov also said that Russia is “trying to stop” the war in Ukraine. It’s as if Lavrov is no longer bothering to try to make his lies believable. Or perhaps he is practicing for his standup-comedian career.
Attorney General Merrick Garland reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to hold Russia accountable for war crimes it has committed in an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Friday, multiple outlets reported.
A Justice Department (DOJ) spokesperson told The New York Times that Garland met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and law enforcement officials in the western city of Lviv while at the United for Justice Conference. Garland said at an address that the conference’s mission is to hold Russian leaders accountable for the actions its military has taken during the war in Ukraine.
[…] Garland also previously visited Ukraine in June to discuss the prosecution of Russian war crimes.
[…] At least 20 torture chambers, which were funded by the Kremlin, were found in Kherson after a Ukrainian counteroffensive freed the region late last year, according to a report released this week.
Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist under the Trump administration, tore into Fox News and the Murdoch family on Friday afternoon over the network’s coverage of former President Trump, who is mounting a second bid for the presidency.
“Note to Fox News senior management: When Donald J. Trump talks, it’s newsworthy,” Bannon said during a fiery speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), blasting Rupert Murdoch, the owner and co-chairman of Fox Corp, saying, “You’ve disrespected Donald Trump for long enough.”
Bannon, an icon in the conservative media ecosystem who has been hosting his popular “War Room” podcast from CPAC this week, blasted Fox for cutting away from Trump’s speech announcing his candidacy for president last November and what he said was a lack of coverage of his recent visit to East Palestine, Ohio.
“Is there really that much going on at two in the afternoon on Fox News that you can’t cover him live,” Bannon said. “They don’t respect you, read the depositions. They have a fear, a loathing and a contempt for you.”
Trump’s former top aide was referencing recent court filings from a deposition of Murdoch and other top Fox executives as part of a defamation lawsuit the outlet is facing from Dominion Voting Systems. […]
Boris Johnson faces a battle for his future in parliament after a cross-party committee found there was significant evidence he misled MPs over lockdown parties, and that he and aides almost certainly knew at the time they were breaking rules.
The damning report includes one witness saying the then prime minister told a packed No 10 gathering in November 2020, when strict Covid restrictions were in force, that “this is probably the most unsocially distanced gathering in the UK right now”.
Other new evidence includes a message from a No 10 official in April 2021, six months before the first reports of parties emerged, saying a colleague was “worried about leaks of PM having a piss-up – and to be fair I don’t think it’s unwarranted”.
The details came in a report from the Commons privileges committee, a seven-strong group of MPs, four of them Conservatives, which has been tasked with discovering whether Johnson misled parliament in denying any wrongdoing, and then if this was deliberate.
While the 24-page document is only an interim report, intended to give Johnson notice of lines of inquiry before he testifies later this month, its damning findings and wealth of newly released information make grim reading for the former prime minister and his allies.
“There is evidence that the House of Commons may have been misled in the following ways, which the committee will explore,” the report said, giving four examples, all backed up by lengthy footnotes.
A formal finding that Johnson deliberately misled parliament could see him suspended. Under parliamentary rules, an exclusion of 14 days or longer would mean Johnson’s constituents could seek a recall petition to remove him as their MP, a viable occurrence given the slim majority in his west London seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Johnson – who was forced out as prime minister last summer after Conservative MPs tired of repeated controversies – responded to the report with an immediate and orchestrated fightback, seeking to discredit the findings and the committee.
Aided by statements from supportive MPs, Johnson said it was “surreal to discover that the committee proposes to rely on evidence culled and orchestrated by Sue Gray, who has just been appointed chief of staff to the leader of the Labour party”.
Gray, the senior Cabinet Office official who led an internal inquiry into the events, which reported last May, quit on Thursday to become Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, prompting accusations from Johnson and his supporters that her report – which Johnson accepted in full at the time – could not now be trusted.
A spokesperson for the privileges committee dismissed Johnson’s arguments, saying the findings were “not based on the Sue Gray report” but on witness accounts and evidence supplied by the government.
…
There are also apparent signs that Johnson and his then government tried to impede the committee’s work by withholding or redacting evidence.
…
A final conclusion is expected to take months, with Johnson expected to give evidence in the week beginning 20 March….
From the closing summary at the Guardian liveblog:
…Serbia has denied that it has supplied weapons to Ukraine, its foreign minister said on Friday. Following Russia’s demand on Thursday to know whether Serbia provided thousands of rockets to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, Serbia foreign minister Ivica Dacic said that zero weapons have been exported from the country to any parties involved in the “conflict.”
…
Russia is deploying the most experienced units of the mercenary Wagner group and the country’s army in an attempt to seize the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian military has said. The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, was pictured visiting the frontline city today for briefings with local commanders on how to boost defence capacity.
…
The US has imposed sanctions on a number of Russian individuals connected to the arbitrary detention of the prominent Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, who has been jailed in Moscow for nearly a year after speaking out against the war in Ukraine.
As reporters milled around the back of the Potomac Ballroom at National Harbor just outside Washington, D.C., waiting for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference to begin, there was one thing on everyone’s mind: The WiFi wasn’t working.
“They know it’s out. They’re working on it,” a CPAC volunteer told a journalist, and then another, and then another.
It was a fitting beginning to an event struggling to remain relevant amid a rapidly radicalizing, fracturing conservative movement. There were rows and rows of empty seats at the conference, which runs through Saturday, and few newsworthy or memorable moments throughout the first day. [photo of empty seats at the link]
The lifeless atmosphere may be a consequence of CPAC’s internal turmoil, as the organization’s chairman, Matt Schlapp, faces a report that he sexually assaulted a staffer on Herschel Walker’s senate campaign. He avoided a reporter’s question about the alleged incident in the hallway outside the main stage. Schlapp’s leadership is also under increased scrutiny, with massive staff turnover in recent years and an expected lawsuit from a former employee who says she was fired “in retaliation for complaining about a co-worker’s sexist and racist comments,” according to The Washington Post.
Most of the speeches and panels were forgettable, meandering, and filled with stale cliches even by the low standards of conservative political rhetoric. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) made a joke about kale tasting bad. A panel featuring anti-LGBTQ activist Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok was littered with anti-trans comments. Schlapp opened the event alongside Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) with warmed-over comments about Russian collusion. Just outside the ballroom, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, recording his War Room podcast, insisted Trump won Pennsylvania in 2020. There were too many half-hearted criticisms of “woke” ideology to count. People booed when they aired a clip of Anthony Fauci.
The day’s headliner, The Daily Wire’s Candace Owens, gave a phoned-in speech anchored by the anti-trans rhetoric that’s ubiquitous among conservative commentators. Her hateful comments drew applause, but the performance was perfunctory, its banality belying the dangers facing trans people throughout the country. In that way, she was the perfect avatar of CPAC in 2023.
“You have men that are mutilating their bodies so that they can’t reproduce; you are having women that are mutilating their bodies so that they cannot reproduce,” Owens said. “You are having people that are confused, people that are taking so much medication after they realize, of course, that mutilating your own body does not change your sex.”
Overall, the first day left the impression that CPAC’s speakers and organizers were unable to find a message to excite their attendees, frequently relying on anti-trans bigotry just to keep the sparse audience’s attention. Indeed, if there is a single issue which seemingly every speaker and attendee here agreed on, it was that trans people are the enemy — an increasingly genocidal impulse that’s now common on the right.
Despite the weak start, it would be a mistake to write CPAC’s obituary. Some Republican heavy hitters are skipping this year, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run in the Republican presidential primary, former Vice President Mike Pence, and Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel. Unlike in previous years, the Republican National Committee isn’t a sponsor this year. Perhaps even more importantly, Fox News isn’t a sponsor either.
But Trump is scheduled to close out the event on Saturday, and new polling continues to place him over DeSantis in the primary. Former Brazilian President and proto-fascist Jair Bolsonaro is also scheduled for the final day. Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes was spotted outside the main hall as the day ended. None of the other conservative conference competitors to CPAC have dethroned it, yet. The politicians, right-wing media stars, and activists here are still dangerous, even if they’re also incredibly boring.
KGsays
SC@369,
It’s amusing (and very Trumpish) that Johnson is trying both to discredit the committee, and argue that their interim report exonerates him!
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Ukrainian resupply routes out of the besieged city of Bakhmut are becoming “increasingly limited”, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
In its latest intelligence update, the MoD tweeted that Kyiv is “reinforcing the area with elite units” and destroying key bridges, but Russian forces are making further advances.
“The Ukrainian defence of the Donbas town of Bakhmut is under increasingly severe pressure, with intense fighting taking place in and around the city,” the MoD said.
“Regular Russian Army and Wagner Group forces have made further advances into the northern suburbs of the city, which is now a Ukrainian-held salient, vulnerable to Russian attacks on three sides.
“Ukraine is reinforcing the area with elite units, and within the last 36 hours two key bridges in Bakhmut have been destroyed, including a vital bridge connecting the city to the last main supply route from Bakhmut to the city of Chasiv Yar.
“Ukrainian-held resupply routes out of the town are increasingly limited.”
The deputy mayor of Bakhmut has spoken of the situation in the city saying there is fighting in the streets.
Oleksandr Marchenko told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
There is fighting in the city and there are also street fights but thanks to the Ukrainian armed forces they still haven’t taken control over the city.
He said of the Russian attack:
Their only goal is killing people and the genocide of the Ukrainian people…the tactic that the Russians are using is the tactic of parched land.
They want to destroy Bakhmut, they want to destroy the city…and I honestly can’t understand why they’re doing this.
He said they believed there were approximately “4,000 or 4,500” Ukrainian civilians in the city adding that “they did not know for sure” the exact number.
Those who are in Bakhmut are living in the shelters “there’s no water or gas or electricity”, he said, but they have been given heaters.
He added:
The city is almost destroyed and there’s not a single building that has remained untouched in this war.
There are completely detroyed, districts, buildings and apartment blocks.
Mandy Matney was at her home in Hilton Head, South Carolina, video-chatting with true-crime fans when a Colleton county jury found Alex Murdaugh guilty of killing his wife and son on Thursday.
“I wasn’t mentally prepared for this to happen today!” exclaimed the foremost chronicler of the Murdaugh dynasty’s collapse.
Not only has she been reporting on the family since Alex’s son Paul emerged as a central figure in a 2019 boat crash that left a 19-year-old woman dead, Mandy kept a harsh light on the family despite their sweeping power in the state’s Lowcountry and the threats to her career and mental health.
It was only after her podcast about the family’s unsolved mysteries, Murdaugh Murders, became a runaway sensation that her courage and persistence were validated, and the walls finally closed in on Alex – who, on Friday, was sentenced to consecutive life terms in prison.
As her phone buzzed with notifications from family, friends and fans expressing their shock, we discussed what the verdict means for Alex’s other crimes, how the prosecution won without actual smoking guns, and whether good ol’ boys everywhere should be running scared.
…
One thing I found especially self-indulgent was the folksy act he put on in the dock, in a clear effort to win over rural jurors.
I keep using this phrase, but he was gaslighting everybody. I think it’s so powerful that these common people of Colleton county were like, ‘This is complete bullshit.’ His lawyers, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, underestimated their common sense. Six weeks of testimony, and they came back in less than three hours. Also, Alex was a very difficult client.
I found it telling that Dick didn’t call Alex to the stand. He said Alex “wants to take the stand”, sounding deflated and looking resigned.
Alex behaves like he believes his best skill is talking his way out of anything. He’s done it his entire career. So of course he was going to stand because he believes he can still fool everybody.
But the lines about Maggie! “Such a feminine person” … “a girl” who “became a boy’s mom”. He went on and on about what a pain in the ass she was while pregnant. [I noted this @ #70. I didn’t even hear the pregnancy part!]
One of my girlfriends who just had a baby was like, “I hope that’s not how my husband remembers me 20 years later.” He just could not fake being a normal person. He really tried.
I thought the prosecution did a masterly job of marrying Alex’s pathological lying to his abuse of power: the police blue lights in his private car, the assistant solicitor badge he kept out at all times, etc.
I applaud the strategy very much, but at the same time I want the attorney general’s office to fucking go after that. There needs to be an investigation into the office of SC solicitor Duffie Stone [great name], who empowered Alex all this time.
Even after seeing video of Alex at the hospital after the boat crash, I totally missed the badge hanging out of his pocket, as if he left his fly purposefully undone.
But it’s also hard for prosecutor Creighton Waters, who’s a part of the same system, to call that out. Because then it gets into a territory of, “Do I look bad because I’m part of the same system?” But I’m really glad he showed the jury this was a guy who had every advantage, including a badge and blue lights.
On the bright side, this is over for Alex’s defense team. And yet I can’t help but feel a bit for Jim Griffin, who seemed like he gave it his best.
Yeah, Dick Harpootlian has made his name and his millions and can go to Slovenia and be with his wife, US Ambassador Jamie Lindler Harpootlian. But I always got the sense from Jim that he wanted to believe Alex was his friend. And I think that he was fooled.
Well, he’s in good company. Alex charmed so many for so long.
The case is a huge wake-up call to people who have been abusing the system and relied on old traditions and horrible ways of thinking. Pretty much all of Alex’s victims are Black people, children and the infirm. They’re getting justice, too.
…
[Alex’s elder son] Buster, though, would appear to be left even more adrift. Not only is his Dad now behind bars on consecutive life sentences, but the verdict likely further complicates his ability to inherit family assets.
I still don’t know what I think about Buster. Learning so much about how his father and family operate – the passing of the John Grisham novel, which got Alex another contraband charge – it shows they think they’re above the law and can do whatever. At the end of the day I don’t think Buster ever had any normalcy. It’s amazing that he’s still with us….
Andrey Botikov, one of the creators of the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, was reportedly killed in north-west Moscow, during a domestic dispute. Botikov was an employee of Moscow’s Gamaleya National Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology.
An employee of Moscow’s Investigative Committee reports that in an apartment in north-west Moscow, a 29-year-old guest argued with the apartment’s owner and then strangled him with a belt. The Investigative Committee did not disclose the victim’s identity.
A source for RIA Novosti reported that the victim was Andrey Botikov, and also that the suspected assailant has already pleaded guilty to murder charges.
Botikov was a senior research scientist at the Gamaleya Center. Along with others involved in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, he was awarded a medal “for merit to the fatherland.”
The Gamaleya Center’s press service refrained from commenting, writes RBC, and recommended contacting law enforcement agencies.
NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, U.S. Army General Christopher Cavoli, said that Russia has lost more than 200,000 troops since the start of its invasion in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, describing the extent of the war as “unbelievable.”
He added that over 1,800 Russian officers were killed or wounded, German magazine Der Spiegel reported.
Cavoli also said that Russia has lost “far more” than 2,000 large battle tanks and that its army fires an average of 23,000 artillery shells per day.
The U.K. Defense Ministry previously estimated that Russia’s army and private mercenary groups have likely lost 175,000-200,000 people in Ukraine, with up to 60,000 killed. According to a report, prisoners recruited by the Kremlin-backed private mercenary Wagner Group have suffered a casualty rate of up to 50%.
“The Russian casualty rate has significantly increased since September 2022 when ‘partial mobilization’ was imposed,” reads the report.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on March 4 that Russia had lost 152,190 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 last year.
This number includes 820 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
KGsays
If you create a news organization whose primary objective is not to deliver accurate news, you will fail,” he said. “The New York Times is a liberal paper, but it is also…a paper that actually cares about accuracy. Conservatives need to build institutions that mirror those institutions. – Tucker Carlson(2009 version) quoted by Josh Marshall quoted by Lynna, OM@358
Presumably Carlson later realised reality has a leftist bias, so accurate reporting would inevitably make your news organisation lefty.
On Thursday, Oryx added a new page to their dedicated coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That page provides, not a list of what has been destroyed in Ukraine, but a list of everything that has not. However, don’t go into this page expected to see a tank countdown. You won’t see “Russia has 1,200 T-72s remaining, oh wait, they tried for Vuhledar again, now it’s 1,100.” There aren’t any numbers on this page.
This is just types of equipment that have not so far been reported. Think of it as Ukrainian BINGO. Any day now they’ll get to cross off a BMD-4 infantry fighting vehicle or a Kornet-D anti-tank missile. Though much of the equipment remaining are experimental prototypes and tiny variants that might not be recognized if they showed up to get smashed.
If you go to this page, and scroll down the brief list of tanks that have not yet participated in the turret tossing championships, right down at the bottom you’ll find this entry: Armata T-14. That’s a vehicle that has appeared in these updates several times, even if it’s never moved an inch into Ukraine. That’s because the T-14 is a prime example of how under Vladimir Putin, corruption and incompetence have made it almost impossible for Russia to actually take a new weapons system past the concept stage.
Only now, with Western tanks soon to make an appearance in Ukraine, Russia is claiming that their own “super tank” is on the way. That’s an interesting claim, because the number of production models of the T-14 is essentially zero.
Development of the T-14 goes back to a project called Object 187 that was initially designed in the late 1980s. It was meant to directly address some of the traditional shortcomings of Russia’s fast-and-cheap tanks, without driving the cost per vehicle through the roof. [Tweet and image at the link]
The size and weight of the tank was raised from the 43 tonne size of a T-80, up to around 55 tonnes, putting it closer to the size of the original Abrams M1. That allows it to carry a good deal more armor, as well as a bigger engine and better gun. Also, the autoloader was redesigned in a way that is meant to avoid repeats of the astoundingly common ammo cookoff and turret toss that has been seen again and again in Russian tanks deployed in Ukraine.
Also there’s even been thought into something radically new in Russian tanks: Protecting the tank crew. That includes moving all of that crew down and forward, leaving the smaller turret in which no one rides. There are even some analysts who think the tank is equipped with a “hard kill” system that shoots down incoming anti-tank missiles. A system that would not just be effective against the older TOW generation missiles, but even Javelins and their equivalent.
It’s a very different tank than anything Russia now fields. There’s not a lot of evidence that it would be “super” in the sense of better than the Western tanks about to take the field, but on paper it certainly seems more competitive than anything Russia now has rolling around.
The problem for Russia has been building them.
The first T-14 rolled out in a parade in 2015. Russia signed a contract for a “test batch” of 100 tanks in 2016. None of them had been delivered as of 2020. Actual production of the test batch didn’t get underway until 2021.
Right now, depending on who you believe, there are somewhere between 15 and 40 T-14 tanks in existence. However, all of those tanks are part of that test batch. Some of them aren’t even full blown tanks, they are “test articles” created to debug issues with some specific issue of the frame, engine, or other systems. All of the T-14 tanks that exist to this point are early models created to test not just the systems in the tank, but the processes on the assembly line. Russian operators who have climbed into the existing handful of T-14s that will actually move around and shoot have had very little good to say about them. From the way they have reacted both in both parades and field demonstrations, these early prototypes appear to be more than a little unreliable and fragile.
In the last week, as the date for Western tanks to appear on the front lines draws closer, Russian sources have been repeatedly insisting that the T-14 Armata is coming. Maybe it is. However, it if does, there won’t be many, every one of them will be its own one-off beta test in building this tank, and absolutely no one in the Russian military will have any idea of how to maintain it or use if effectively.
In some ways, it would be kind of nice to see one hit the mud in Ukraine … long enough to see what a Challenger 2 can do with it.
So, my birthday was this week, and I asked the Birthday Fairy for one week without assholes, so I could blog about something pleasant, like cupcakes, or cowboy movies, but the Birthday Fairy told me he wasn’t a fucking magician, so I guess we’ll do what we we usually do instead.
Kellyanne Conway is sick of all the dishonesty, you guys. She’s had it up to here (indicating the scar she received at the Bowling Green massacre) with the malignant mendacity of “the people whose job it is to tell you the truth, in the media,”as she put it to Sean Hannity, who agreed that lying is a very bad thing indeed. They were really quite indignant about it. [LOL]
To be clear, I am, in fact, talking about the Sean Hannity from the Dominion lawsuit filings. In case you thought I meant some other, non-propagandist Sean Hannity, one with decency and shame […] The one on Fox News.
Oh Fox. You blight. You tumor. If you weren’t ripping my country apart, I’d almost admire the way you’ve built an audience that shrugs off mountains of evidence as you lie to them about the most important things in the world. The tensile strength of the bubble is impressive, is all I’m saying.
In California, one wingnut-dominated county board just cancelled their contract with Dominion, at massive expense to taxpayers. Yes, after days of global headlines about Fox’s lies. […]
Tucker Carlson understands that Fox’s audience doesn’t want news, they want a news-shaped excuse to hate the people they already hate. Which Fox provides […]
I always enjoy watching Paul Ryan’s sham intellect fail him. His floundering failure to defend his complicity in Fox’s fuckery was…perfect. In the party of Lauren Boebert, Paul’s a “thought leader;” in the real world, you’d think twice about entrusting him with the shift manager’s keyring.
Bless their unteachable hearts, House Republicans stomped back to their little hearing rooms this week, more determined than ever to broadcast their many derangements to the electorate. “HEY AMERICA!” they bellow, for reasons I have struggled to grasp, “LOOKIT ALL THE STUPID FAKE SHIT WE BELIEVE!”
Um…okay. If you insist.
“NO SERIOUSLY THERE IS NO HOAX TOO BUFFOONISH FOR US TO UNCRITICALLY PLATFORM!”
That’s nice. Look, I’m meeting somebody for lunch, so-
“FRAZZLEDRIP JADE HELM DEEP STATE BENGHAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!”
…okay. Well, it was nice catching up!
“(FURIOUSLY GUZZLES IVERMECTIN SMOOTHIE)”
Carnies in Tim Burton movies are less weird than the parade of whackjobs Jim Jordan trotted out as “whistleblowers,” or the freaks n’ geeks on the coronavirus subcommittee. It was thoughtful of Matt Gaetz to spice up the proceedings with some Chinese propaganda for a change, though. Variety’s nice. […]
Awful, crazy people screaming awful, crazy shit at the top of their lungs. And they never stop.
…but Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks she’s the one who needs a safe space. Me, I would enjoy inhabiting a space safe from the loser terrorist who targeted Jewish officials in Michigan and the “King of the KKK” who just got charged with hate crimes and the Nazi memorabilia-collecting pipe bomber.
Also from anybody who would buy a children’s book from the Libs of TikTok lady, or listen to a musical collaboration between Donald Trump and an insurrectionist fuckwit prison choir. Not because you’re dangerous, because you’re too embarrassing to be around. […]
did you the see the cabal of theocrat perverts DeSantis installed on this Disney oversight board? Oh, and Ron has designs on the content, too. […]
Jeb(!) Bush, who apparently still exists, endorsed DeSantis this week, and I think that’s just adorable. […]
Apropos of nothing in particular, I’m fairly certain Hell is being trapped in an elevator with Elon Musk and the Dilbert guy while they whine about getting cancelled. The reason you dorks are going to lose this culture war is that you are fucking unendurable. Just a heads-up.
Anyway. I’m finding my silver lining this week in the sea of empty chairs at CPAC.
I don’t have the strength for CPAC right now, though I would like to offer my thoughts and prayers to what I’m sure will be an lengthy procession of frustrated congeniality consultants tasked with drawing humanity out of Mike Pompeo.
Yeah, short one tonight, and I know I missed a bunch of stuff. Bear with me […] You stay safe out there, m’loves.
One of the things that is clear from the very start of the conservative movement was a basic failure to quite understand the thing they rallied themselves against, […] And when they went to build their own versions of these institutions they patterned them off their own cartoonish understandings of how these operations functioned. The idea that institutions like CBS News or The New York Times were, whatever their faults and unexamined biases, fundamentally rooted in an ethic of news gathering and reporting was really totally lost on them.
This reminds me so much of an episode of Why Is This Happening from back in 2018 in which Chris Hayes talks to David Roberts about the epistemological crisis in the US. The particularly relevant part starts around 21:00 in, and the most pertinent segment around 28:00. I’m sure I linked to it at the time or when he reran it in 2020. Roberts says that the right has created “a sort of simulacrum” of the legitimate knowledge-producing institutions “that sort of apes the kind of the gestures and the tone” of actual evidence-based research and analysis:
If you look at the stuff coming out of rightwing think tanks, it looks and kind of sounds like actual inquiry, but it’s not the same thing. It’s like you’re acting it out, without the spirit of it.
(They go on to discuss the roots of all this in the tobacco companies’ campaign against medical science and similarly corporate-driven AGW denial.)
That’s also what the Jordan Committee is – a simulacrum of congressional oversight.
In comments on Friday there was an extended discussion about the rate of loss for Ukraine vs. Russia. Daily Kos frequently posts the numbers of estimated Russian losses as issued by the Ukrainian general staff. We rarely cover Ukrainian losses, and when that happens it’s generally when covering a statement from U.S. or U.K. military intelligence in which they give a vague figure for estimated losses to date.
There are places we can go for a clue about what’s happening. For example, Oryx publishes only verified numbers concerning equipment losses, and from those it’s possible to determine something about the nature of losses in Ukraine. [chart of equipment losses in Ukraine]
I’m using these categories since they seem more indicative of “front line losses” involving vehicles carrying servicemembers than others such as towed artillery, SPGs, etc. (Why the huge difference between IFVs and APCs? Because Russia has a lot of BMP-3s and treats them like all purpose transports … it also loses a lot of BMP-3s.)
The overall ratio that this gives is about 3.4:1. If this accurately reflects the relative rate of troop losses throughout the invasion, then it suggests that, if Russia has lost 152,000 soldiers—the latest estimate from the Ukrainian military—then Ukraine has lost about 57,000. If Russia has actually seen only around 50,000 losses (a number recently cited by U.K. military intelligence), then Ukraine might be expected to have suffered around 17,000 lost.
There are reasons to doubt this estimate. For example, if Ukraine were losing vehicles in areas being rapidly overrun by Russian forces, those vehicles may be less likely to make an appearance on social media and get tallied by Oryx. However, Russians also have smartphones and Russian Telegram is replete with images showing the destruction of Ukrainian equipment and captured or abandoned vehicles. Oryx gets all that. I don’t have any compelling reason to believe that, just because a Ukrainian vehicle was lost in territory now occupied by Russia, it is less likely to be cataloged.
Overall, throughout the war, a three to one ratio of men and material lost seems about right.
However, there are certainly exceptions. No one could watch the multiple fruitless attempts to take the town of Vuhledar, leaving at least 130 tanks and other armored vehicles scattered across fields, without seeing a ratio that’s almost incalculably high. Vuhledar, to date, has been a shooting gallery for Ukrainian artillery, anti-tank weapons, and snipers. Put a number on it as high as you like, and it’s probably still not high enough.
But far more importantly, there are estimates from the troops and unit commanders who have been fighting for months at Bakhmut. For many of those months, Russia prosecuted action in the area by sending out “zerg” attacks in which infantry units played the role of sensors; advancing until they were taken down, then replaced by another that advanced until it was eliminated, rinse, repeat, many times daily. Some have declared that the ratio there is close to 10:1, but there’s another number that has come up repeatedly. [Tweet and video, Ukrainian snipers in Bakhmut]
According to a commander of Ukrainian forces long stationed at Bakhmut, and reported in Ukrinform, the ratio of Russian losses to Ukrainian losses at Bakhmut is around 7 to 1.
That number shouldn’t be surprising. The long held general rule for a successful military advance is for the offensive side to hold a 3:1 advantage at the point of conflict. Go far above that, and it can help turn the operation into a rout. Fall much below it, and the advance is likely to fail.
Superior equipment and training can certainly alter this number significantly, as can the tactical advantages of terrain. Huge forces of untrained local citizens trying to retake their land have been reliably defeated by relatively tiny numbers of well-trained and better equipped forces holding a reinforced position (see just about any slaughter from the centuries of British colonialism that clog most lists of “greatest military victories”).
Until the fall of Soledar, Bakhmut was a situation where very badly trained, poorly equipped prison troops “recruited” by Wagner Group were being thrown at Ukrainian defenders who had established positions in hardened buildings. To win a battle like that, Russia needed to be able to field a huge numerical advantage, but it’s logistical and command structure didn’t support delivering such numbers. So they failed. A lot.
[map at the link] What was the secret sauce that allowed Russia to finally crack Soledar and then other areas around Bakhmut? More. It just brought more. More regular army troops in addition to the Wagnerites. More of the “mobiks,” many of whom have now had something that actually looks like training. More equipment. More artillery. More drones. More air strikes.
The Russian force fighting against Ukraine at Bakhmut is essentially two armies, which don’t cooperate well and each of which has its own issues with bringing significant power to bear. In no sense is the Russian army at Bakhmut working as well as it could be. However, it’s working as well as it needs to be to force Ukraine to surrender ground around the city.
If there’s any one factor which has plagued militaries throughout history it’s simply that: More. What do you do when your opponent marshals more than that 3:1 advantage? What do you do when they have enough numbers in place to overcome any deficit they may face in training, equipment, or position?
There’s another factor in this, as well. That 3:1 number is the standard for offensives that expect to succeed without taking undue casualties. What do you do when an enemy believes the short term advantage of winning a confrontation is great enough that almost any level of casualties is acceptable? That 3:1 requirement is not a thing if you’re willing to leave two-thirds of your force on the ground to win the battle at hand. Russia seems to be willing.
Put it all together and you get two seemingly contradictory things: At Bakhmut, Ukraine has killed 7 Russian soldiers for every 1 Ukrainian soldier lost, but they’re also on the edge of losing Bakhmut.
Russia has won a Pyrrhic victory. The question is whether, unlike Pyrrhus of Epirus, Vladimir Putin has enough in reserve that he can continue. Because there’s no evidence that the next town is going to be sold any cheaper.
BAKHMUT TODAY
There were contradictory indications in Bakhmut on Friday. Not only did Ukraine manage to bring General Oleksandr Syrskyi into the city to consult with local unit commanders, there was news late in the day that the “road of life” was not the only lifeline out of the city after all. Reports indicated that, despite a planned explosion that reportedly took out a bridge southwest of Ivaniske, the T0504 highway to Kostyantynivka was open and that Ukrainian vehicles were moving both ways — though some of those vehicles reportedly had to hotfoot it after Russian artillery started hitting segments of the road. [Intelligence Update graphic at the link]
A similar situation appears to have been underway on the road of life through Khromove to Chasiv Yar. Russia brought up infantry north of the M03 around Paraskoiivka and managed to take a section of the Khromove road under fire. Combined with the deliberate downing of a bridge there on Friday morning that slowed traffic getting onto and off the road, and the route became difficult.
Earlier in the week, there had been reports that new units were being brought into Bakhmut. Now multiple sources are indicating that those units were not brought in to fight in the city, but are positioned along new trenches dug west of Bakhmut for the purpose of holding open the roads.
However, Ukraine is definitely not done fighting in Bakhmut as of Saturday morning.
Incredible footage of combat in the residential area of Bakhmut. The enemy is on the same street as the Ukrainians, 15 meters away. The task, at a minimum, is to create a flurry of fire to prevent enemy assault. [video at the link]
According to The Kyiv Post, Ukraine appears to be conducting a “fighting withdrawal” from the city. They’re still extracting a cost from the Russian forces as they advance, but they’re also not making unproductive “last stands” to hold the rubble choked streets.
This thread, from retired Australian general Mick Ryan, does a good job of walking through why such withdrawals are necessary, and how they can best be conducted. [Thread link available at the main link]
This quote from Australian Army doctrine is also useful: “Withdrawal is a task employed regularly during mobile defence or the delay to accomplish the overall aim of resuming offensive action…it should be treated as a routine tactic rather than a harbinger of disaster.”
Ukraine is leaving Bakhmut not so it can fall back and wait for Russia to hit it again in some other place, but so that it can retake the offensive in the spring. And spring … is coming soon.
Even now, the movements around Bakhmut are costing Russia dearly. This actually looks to be near the small reservoir directly south of Berkhivka — one of the few in the area that has not been deliberately breeched. [Tweet and video at the link]
PUTIN’S OTHER ARMY
The best thing I can say about this statement from MTG is that she gave it to a half-empty room at a CPAC conference so poorly attended that it’s clear something is badly broken in the power structure of the Republican Party. Whether this means that the Trump-Gaetz-Greene powered CPAC is now seen as out of step, or if the GOP is simply fragmenting into groups around the various 2024 candidates, it’s hard to tell.
In any case, Marge is doing a lot of heavy lifting for her friend Vladimir at this event.
Time to defund Ukraine. Time to impeach Joe Biden for authorizing a terrorist attack on the Nord Stream pipelines and basically committing an act of war without congressional approval. Stop sending money and the war will end in an instant.[video at the link]
Where is that bold leader of the Russian Federation anyway? Not anywhere in public. After cancelling a trip to southern Russia because of two reported skirmishes in border villages hundreds of kilometers from his destination, Putin pulled off this amazing show in Moscow — table length: infinite.
Absurd scenes as Putin “opens” a new metro line in Moscow via video call [video at the link]
Biden went to Kyiv. Zelenskyy went to Bakhmut. Putin is afraid to go to Moscow.
GOOD STUFF IS COMING
The 90 Stryker AFVs announced in an US military aid package in January have reached Germany and are ready to be transported to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russian forces are also getting … something.
From claiming to be the 2nd strongest army in the world to welding decades old (developed in the 1940s) 25mm 2M-3 naval canons on top of MT-LBs as if this is an ISIS cell in the Syrian desert.
This speaks volumes in what pathetic state the Russian arms industry has turned into. [images at the link]
Taliban law has voided thousands of divorces, experts say, and many remarried women are now considered adulterers.
After her stepfather sold her into marriage at the age of 13 to support his drug habit, the young Afghan woman fought for years to escape an abusive husband. She eventually fled his home, secured a divorce and remarried […]
Now, under Taliban rule, she’s suddenly on the run again, at risk of imprisonment for adultery.
Under the previous government, this woman from western Afghanistan could get a divorce by testifying that her first husband was physically abusive, even though he refused to appear before the judge. But under the Taliban’s draconian interpretation of Islamic law, her divorce is invalid and, as a result, so is her second marriage.
Former judges and lawyers estimate that thousands of Afghan women who earlier secured divorces without a husband’s consent are now in danger under Taliban rule, facing potential imprisonment and violent reprisals.
The “one-sided” divorces under the previous government were largely granted to women trying to escape abusive or drug-addicted husbands, according to the former judges and lawyers. Since that government’s collapse in 2021, power has shifted in the favor of the divorced husbands, especially those with Taliban ties.
Changes to the country’s marriage laws are another wrenching example of how the Taliban has stripped women of their rights. Taliban rule also has severely restricted their access to education and employment, banned them from public parks and mandated ultraconservative female dress.
“I was living a new life — I was happy. I thought I was safe from my [first] husband; I didn’t think I would be hiding again,” said the woman from western Afghanistan, speaking on the condition of anonymity, like all the women interviewed for this article, to protect her safety.
The woman, originally from a rural area, had been living safely in an urban area for several years. But when the previous government was ousted, the legal system and security forces that once shielded her dissolved overnight.
The woman, now 22, said she began to get threatening calls from her ex-husband just weeks after the Taliban takeover. He told her that he had informed Taliban members in her home village about what she had done and that they were helping him find her and seek revenge.
Last year, her second husband abandoned her, fearing that he could also be charged with adultery because their marriage was no longer considered valid. She was left behind with her two young daughters from her first marriage and four months pregnant with his child. “I never heard from him again,” she said. […]
Afghanistan’s deeply conservative society made it difficult for women to secure a divorce even under the previous government.[…]
Despite social and family pressure, one 36-year-old woman recounted, her marriage had been so abusive that she felt she had no choice but to seek a divorce. “It was a shameful thing for me to ask for a divorce,” she said. “Both sides of my family were threatening to kill me if I didn’t return to my husband.”
After she was granted the divorce, she contacted her brothers to see if she could return to their family home. They refused to help. “They said the only option is if you take rat poison and kill yourself,” she said.
The sole family member she’s still in touch with is her sister, whose husband also beats her. “She told me, ‘I wish I had been as clever as you and escaped before, but now [under the Taliban] that’s impossible,’” she said.
[…] Under the Taliban, local aid groups that provided shelter and counseling for women seeking to escape abusive relationships have been shuttered.
[…] “The Taliban have created the perfect situation for men seeking revenge,” she [female lawyer] said. “The courts have lost their effectiveness and instead we see on the news women receiving [public] lashings for adultery.”
Masha Moskaleva, from the city of Yefremov in Russia’s Tula region, was sent to a social rehabilitation center after her father, Alexey Moskalev, was arrested for “discrediting” the army. The shelter told a correspondent from the online publication 7×7 that she will not be released.
In April 2022, Masha drew an anti-war picture in school art class. The teacher had asked students to draw pictures in support of Russia’s troops in Ukraine.
Svetlana Davydova, the head of Yefremov’s commission for juvenile affairs, told Russian state broadcasting company RBC that her department filed a lawsuit in January to limit the parental rights of Moskaleva’s father, as well as her mother, who lives in a different city. Davydova claims that the family has been on a register of “families in socially dangerous situations” since 2022.
Alexey Moskalev’s lawyer says that he was never notified of the lawsuit. The attorney says he has sent complaints to the Prosecutor General and the local ombudsman regarding violations of the father’s and daughter’s rights:
Alexey is under house arrest. According to the court order, he’s allowed contact only with his lawyer, an investigator, and anyone who lives in the apartment, which is only Masha. My client is out of food, I live [far away], an investigator won’t bring him food, and they won’t release Masha […] even though she has a constitutional right to live with her father. Even if a neighbor drops off food, this will be considered a violation of the terms of house arrest, and could risk returning [Alexey] to jail.
whheydtsays
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/albuterol-shortage-akorn-shutdowns-fda/
It’s about shortages of Albuterol. I have mixed feeling about the shortage. On the one hand, it’s a beneficial medication for many people. On the other hand, at one point when it was administered to me, it would have killed me if I hadn’t already been in a hospital intensive care ward.
The latest note from the Ukrainian general staff just appeared. They call the Russian attempt to encircle Bakhmut on Saturday “unsuccessful,” and say that Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks at Vasyukivka, Zaliznyanske, Dubovo-Vasylivka, and Orikhovo-Vasylivka north of the city. They also report Russian artillery fire in Bakhmut itself, and at Klishchiivka, Ivanivske, and Chasiv Yar on the south.
Klishchiivka is a particularly interesting name on this list. Russia had earlier occupied this area fully and pushed Ukrainian forces back toward Ivanivske. However, Ukraine had reported more success on the south in the last few days. If Russia is back to bombing Klishchiivka, Ukraine may have moved the line to the south more than anyone had realized.
Videos still rolling out of Bakhmut today showing Ukrainian forces in control of the central part of the city. Mapping these, along with the earlier video showing a Ukrainian strike on Russian forces near Berkhivka, gives some sense of where fighting is currently happening.
The area that these videos are coming from is still clearly free from Russian forces. [videos at the link]
Most of the time, when we say that a city has been “flattened” by artillery, it’s an exaggeration. Yes, buildings may be damaged and broken, streets may be filled with rubble, but many of the structure still stand, even if damaged. Marinka … has been pretty much flattened. [Tweet and images at the link]
Know your audience before making a request.
The mobilised Russians from Irkutsk who filmed a video appeal to Vladimir Putin a few days ago to save them from “slaughter” have reportedly been sent into a fresh assault against fortified Ukrainian positions at Avdiivka. Many are likely now dead.
Mobilised Russians from Irkutsk are being sent “to slaughter” in Ukraine and have been told that they are “expendable”. Their commanders have fired at them to ‘motivate’ them and their unit has taken so many casualties that it has had to be reconstituted six times.
[…] [We are] in close proximity to the front line without any training, equipment or support. Initially we were prepared as a territorial defence unit, but in fact we were thrown in as an assault group. We have already lost 19 wounded and two dead within two days
We are not receiving any pay, we eat and buy water at our own expense, we live in completely insanitary conditions, we are treated [for injuries] by our own forces at our own expense, they equipped us only with bulletproof vests of class four and a B2 helmet.
We ask you to take us out of the zone of contact and sort it out, [deal] with the people responsible for this outrage, who have sent unprepared mobilised men to the front line, [and ask you] to avoid large unjustified losses.
On arrival at the new unit, it was made clear to us by the new command that we were now not the territorial defence soldiers we had been trained to be, but combat-ready assault units ready to storm buildings and fortifications.
In our unit, the average age of the troops is about 35-40 years old. Many have chronic illnesses, are overweight and have other medical limitations. Thus, it is difficult to imagine how such a unit can carry out combat missions involving assault.
The men also sent a written appeal to Putin and the Russian military prosecutor’s office. In it, they wrote that their commanders were threatening them with death, and that DNR troops were refusing to evacuate the wounded because “they are afraid of losing their equipment.”
The men say that the DNR evacuation teams will only take their own wounded fighters, not the Russians, and only evacuate those with minor injuries, leaving behind the heavily wounded and killed […]
despite all the appeals the men were sent into yet another likely failed assault. A survivor tells the channel: “Nothing has changed at all, although we had high hopes.”
For the last several years, conspiracy theorists on the Right have been predicting that John F. Kennedy, Jr. will come out of hiding, announce that he faked his death in 1999, that he was actually the mysterious “Q” of Qanon fame, and that he will be Donald Trump’s vice president.
That seems less and less likely to happen with each passing day, but there is another Kennedy with his eye on the White House. One who, despite his fierce opposition to vaccines, is not a dead Kennedy. That Kennedy, of course, is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., son of former Presidential hopeful Robert “Bobby” F. Kennedy, Sr., nephew of President John F. Kennedy, author of a book about how his one cousin didn’t murder a girl he almost definitely murdered and one of America’s foremost anti-vaccine wackadoos.
On Friday […] RFK Jr. told a crowd during a speech he was giving at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire that he was considering challenging Joe Biden in 2024.
“I’m thinking about it, and I’ve passed the biggest hurdle, which is my wife has green lighted it,” he told the crowd of anti-vaxxers, environmentalists and whoever the hell else would go to that kind of thing. This apparently included state Democratic party chairman Ray Buckley.
The speech was the usual dizzying mix of the entirely normal commentary and wacky anti-science commentary that we have come to expect from RFK Jr. He spoke about helping the poor, which is great, he spoke about lowering pharmaceutical prices, which is also great. Then, you know … his pharmaceutical commentary took bit of a turn and he started spouting the same anti-vaccine nonsense that got him kicked off of Instagram. And also whining about getting kicked off of Instagram.
[…] Kennedy also told the New Hampshire crowd that he personally supports them going first in the primary schedule, even though the Democratic Party voted last year to switch it to South Carolina.
“We have the president of our party, the President of the United States, who feels like he needs to move this primary to a state where he can better control the outcome. What does that say to people?” he asked, making it unfortunately clear that he would be running as a Democrat and not as a Republican. [Fuck no. Wish it wasn’t so.]
I would hope that Robert Kennedy has done enough damage to his reputation that he would not be able to woo the “Kennedys Are Magic” crowd, but you never can tell with these things. People are weird about the Kennedys. […]
Scarily enough, New Hampshire Public Radio reported that “some of Biden’s staunchest 2020 backers turned out Friday to hear Kennedy” and that “[s]everal said it was a mistake to write off Kennedy prematurely.”
“He’s got the name, and that opens a lot of doors,” said Democratic state senator Lou D’Allesandro.
Yes, but he’s also batshit crazy, and that should close a few of them.
I would now like to retract my previous “Please, someone, anyone else run, if only to make the debates less weird” wish that I made upon Marianne Williamson’s announcement that she would be seeking the Democratic nomination as well. Because this will not, in fact, make the debates less weird, by any stretch of the imagination. I apologize and hereby promise to throw this damn monkey’s paw right out the window toot suite.
Democratic Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs announced on Friday that she will not allow the state to execute death row inmate Aaron Gunches, despite the state Supreme Court having put him on the schedule for next month. This goes along with her previous promise to pause executions until the states can figure out why it keeps botching them in horrific and unbelievably disturbing ways and figure out a way to not do that.
“Under my administration, an execution will not occur until the people of Arizona can have confidence that the state is not violating the law in carrying out the gravest of penalties,” Hobbs said on Friday in a statement.
The thing is, this is not an Arizona-specific problem. It’s not just Arizona that is botching lethal injections. It’s every state that has them. In fact, right now, it is not likely that anyone is going to figure out a way to do them that is not ‘cruel and unusual,’ that is not going to involve hours of suffering for the victims of these bizarre chemical experiments.
The reason executions keep getting botched in Arizona and everywhere is well-known — these states can’t get the usual drugs used for executions because the fiercely anti-death penalty EU has barred the export of goods “for the purpose of capital punishment or for the purpose of torture,” and many companies simply will not make the drugs or will not allow them to be used for capital punishment due to public pressure. Thus, states that are truly dedicated to killing people have to keep experimenting with other drugs that they can get, and that keeps going very, very wrong.
Lethal injection is actually far more cruel and painful than many other methods of execution, but people are more comfortable with it because it sounds more modern-thinking and humane than methods like firing squads, hanging or electrocution.
The state’s new Attorney General, Democrat Kris Mayes, has also vowed to not seek any court orders for executions while Hobbs’ office is doing its investigation.
The state’s Supreme Court is not happy about this at all and insists that Hobbs’ review “does not constitute good cause for refraining from issuing the warrant” — meaning that they really just want to be able say “Fuck it, we don’t know how to do this in a non-cruel and unusual way, but let’s just roll the dice do it anyway. For funsies!”
Gunches, who was sentenced to death after having been found guilty of the 2002 shooting of his girlfriend’s ex-husband, had actually initially put in a request to be executed and then withdrew it, citing three recent horrifically botched executions that more or less amounted to torture.
Some of us, of course, happen to believe that all executions are cruel and unusual and that it is objectively horrifying that so many states insist upon continuing the practice. There are a whole lot of countries that we think we are better than from a human rights standpoint that don’t execute people, and I find it odd that so many people do not find that at all concerning. Russia — Russia! — hasn’t executed anyone since 1996. Sure, they’ll invade Ukraine and make it illegal to be publicly gay (though to be fair, a lot of Americans want that here) but capital punishment is where they draw the line. Is this a clue? I feel like it might be.
As much as I would love Hobbs’ to say “Guess what, we’re not executing anyone no matter what, because all executions are ‘cruel and unusual,'” that’s probably not going to happen. So whatever way we go about not doing state-sponsored killing is always going to be a plus in my book, so good for her!
“Andrew Tate became the single most popular person on the internet globally by talking about masculinity, the personal responsibility men have, etc. etc.” Tucker Carlson opined on Friday night. “He also became really hated on the Left for some reason.”
Yes. “For some reason.” Who among us can say what that reason is. Could it perhaps be the human trafficking? Like the actual, real kind that you can get sent to a Romanian jail for […] Could it be the horrible things he says about women? The fact that he is encouraging young men to treat women like shit so they can be “masculine” like him? Could it be that he literally said he was moving to Romania because they were less likely to prosecute rape there and he likes “freedom?”
No, it’s probably just because we don’t want men to get to be manly like all these shirtless, ball-tanning men in Tucker Carlson’s weird documentary that I never ended up actually watching. [video at the link]
Carlson ran a whole segment about Tate, who is currently imprisoned in Romania where he is fighting ghosts and lying about growing a full head of hair, all about how his human rights are being violated and he is probably only being kept there because American liberals don’t like him. Oh, also because “Joe Biden’s state department” loves it so much.
Tucker Carlson was joined by Tina Glandian, Tate’s American legal representative and the two of them talked about how the whole thing is ust a “set-up.” [video at the link]
Transcript via Media Matters:
TINA GLANDIAN (GUEST): Right now, unfortunately, because there is an ongoing criminal investigation, we aren’t allowed to actually discuss all of the evidence that is very favorable that shows that they didn’t commit any crimes in this case.
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Pretty obviously a set-up, Tina. I mean, let’s stop lying. These guys were super unpopular with the people in charge and now they’re in a “Romanian jail” under “Romanian law.” Like, obviously no?
GLANDIAN: I think you said it yourself, Tucker.
CARLSON: Yeah, I did. Because let’s stop pretending. Let’s stop playing. That’s exactly what this is. But I appreciate the update.
GLANDIAN: Sure. I was going to say it’s frustrating to be on the defense right now, unable to respond to all of the one-sided leaks that have come out when we have exculpatory evidence but we’re not able at this point to discuss it yet and to put it out for the world to see and for the brothers to start to get the truth out and to clear their names.
CARLSON: Yeah, because we know for a fact they tried to set him up for sexual assault before. The woman who was supposedly assaulted by him said, “No, that’s my boyfriend.” Right. So there’s a lot of lying going on here, a lot. And everyone in our country seems to be believing it but we don’t.
[…] Carlson can air quote all he wants, but it actually does not seem that “Romanian jail” is any worse than “American jail” and may actually be less terrible in terms of human rights violations. They don’t even have capital punishment there. […]
With the sexual assault reference, Carlson appears to be referring to a video of Tate whipping a woman who later said it was consensual. He does not, however, refer to any of the other sexual assault accusations against Tate from other women who did not consent.
Tucker Carlson does not mention the recordings of Tate literally admitting to forcible rape and strangulation. [Tweet and video at the link. Excerpt: Among the dozens of messages and voicenotes that Tate sent the woman is a voicenote in which he says, “Am I a bad person? Because the more you didn’t like it, the more I enjoyed it. I fucking loved how much you hated it. It turned me on. Why am I like that?” […] “Sometimes you forget exactly how lucky you were to get fucked by me.” And there’s more about how he only strangled her a little bit.]
Perhaps Carlson can do his next manliness documentary on that?
Romania is a very socially conservative country. They don’t even have actual sex-ed in schools despite an incredibly high pregnancy rate — 5 to 10 percent of teenage girls end up pregnant. They are far behind when it comes to LGBTQ rights and they have the prison and justice system that Carlson is complaining about here.
As desperately as he may want to believe, Romanian authorities are not big liberals who have a vendetta against Tate because he is conservative and ever-so manly.
The UK will give 28 Challenger 2 main battle tanks instead of the earlier promised 14, Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.K. Vadym Prystaiko told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in an interview.
“If we were promised 14 tanks, then as a result of President (Volodymyr) Zelensky’s visit, that number will double,” Prystaiko was quoted as saying.
Prystaiko said that the U.K. is talking to Ukraine, not in terms of what specific platforms it needs, but what battlefield challenges it intends to solve.
The UK pledged the Challenger 2s as part of the Western allies’ assistance package. Multiple countries promised to send dozens of German-made Leopard 2 tanks, and the U.S. promised to send 31 Abrams tanks later this year.
German industrial factory Rheinmetall is in talks with Ukraine about building a 200 million euro tank factory on Ukrainian soil, German publication Rheinische Post reported on March 4. The plant would be able two produce up to 400 newly created Panther tanks per year.
Air defense systems would ensure the plant’s security, Rheinmetall chairman Armin Papperger told Rheinische Post in an interview.
He was quoted as saying that while Western allies are sending enough weapons to Ukraine to defend itself, the embattled country lacks the firepower to return captured territory. Rheinmetall estimates that Ukraine needs up to 800 tanks to be able to secure victory over Russia.
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov claimed that the country needs 300 western tanks to turn the tide against Russia. Ukraine is currently expecting multiple sets of Western main battle tanks, including the German-made Leopard 2, British-made Challenger 2, and American-made Abrams.
The first of the Leopard 2 tanks arrived in Ukraine from Poland last month.
I wouldn’t care to bet that the proposed tank factory would deliver any new tanks in less than a couple of years, even if they broke ground on it immediately. Still…assuming Ukraine survives the war, it will probably be in a position to very quickly come up to NATO standard equipment for its forces.
KGsays
lumipuna@352,
Thanks for that advice – I’ll try it next time!
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
Kyiv said it was holding off attacks from Russian troops still attempting to surround Bakhmut. The Ukrainian general staff said “more than 130 enemy attacks” had been repelled over the past day adding: “The enemy continues its attempts to encircle the town of Bakhmut.”
The death toll from a Russian missile strike that hit a five-storey apartment block in southern Ukraine on Thursday has risen to 11, Ukraine’s emergency services said on Saturday.
A woman and two children were killed in Russian mortar shelling of a village in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office said on Sunday.
Bakhmut’s deputy mayor Oleksandr Marchenko has told CNN evacuations from the frontline have dropped to just five to 10 people each day compared with up to 600 who were leaving the city when evacuations were at their peak.
…
The latest intelligence briefing from the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) says recent evidence suggests an increase in “close combat” in Ukraine, probably due to Russia’s shortage of “munitions”. It also refers to Russian mobilised reservists being ordered to assault a Ukrainian concrete strong point armed with only “firearms and shovels”. These shovels are likely to be the outdated MPL-50 entrenching tools used in hand-to-hand combat [WTF]….
StevoRsays
State lawmakers in Florida are being slammed for a “downright authoritarian” bill introduced to the legislature that would ban the state’s Democratic Party under the ostensible pretence of disenfranchising political parties that supported slavery in their national platforms.
The bill, called “The Ultimate Cancel Act,” was filed on Tuesday by GOP state Senator Blaise Ingoglia, and would require the state’s Division of Elections to “immediately cancel” any filings originating from a political party whose platform “previously advocated for, or been in support of, slavery or involuntary servitude.”
The bill doesn’t explicitly name the Democratic Party, but critics claim it was crafted specifically to target the Republicans’ political opponents.
Russia has “wasted huge amounts of human resources, armaments, and materials” during the war in Ukraine, and it will likely run out of offensive potential by late spring, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with USA Today published on March 5.
Budanov predicted that neither the economy nor domestic military industrial complex will be able to help Russia, and it will lack resources to wage war against Ukraine if it “fails in its aims this spring.”
The intelligence chief did not elaborate further on Moscow’s specific war airms in the coming weeks.
Budanov said “a decisive battle” is set to take place this spring, and predicted that “this battle will be the final one before this war ends,” USA Today reported.
Russia intensified its offensive operations in late January, when it began to launch large scale attacks against Ukrainian lines in Donbas, focusing on the sectors near Vuhledar in the south of Donetsk Oblast and Lyman in the north.
Only around Bakhmut have Russian forces made meaningful advances since the new year, those being carried out mostly by the Wagner paramilitary organization’s troops, and with very high reported casualties.
Two ambulances that were supposed to be sent to Ukraine were set on fire in Radłów on March 3 at around 10 p.m., as reported by Polish media TVN 24. Police officers say that the evidence points at arson. A 35-year-old suspect has been arrested and is yet to be questioned.
Both ambulances were supposed to depart to Ukraine on March 4 within a humanitarian convoy organized by the Moc Przyszłości Foundation. Ten vehicles were to be sent to Ukraine – six ambulances and two pickup trucks.
After the fire, the convoy was depleted to four ambulances and two pickup trucks. The second part of the transport – two trucks with medical equipment – remained undamaged and were successfully sent to Ukraine.
The damaged ambulance was to be sent to a Kharkiv hospital.
“The hospital director cried when I said the ambulance was on fire,” commented president of the foundation Diana Dembicka-Mączka, as quoted by TVN24.
Now, the foundation is raising money for a new ambulance for the Kharkiv hospital. The description on the fundraising call says that “we cannot remain indifferent to the needs of the hospital that was waiting for this ambulance.”
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has been a significant supplier of humanitarian aid and ammunition.
On Feb 21. Poland’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said that Poland will supply Ukraine with 14 Leopard tanks in the “next two weeks” after Ukrainian troops complete their training.
Hundreds of protesters rallied in Tunis on Sunday, demanding the release of more than 20 opposition figures who were arrested in recent weeks. The demonstration came a day after more than 3,000 joined a rally organised by the UGTT trade union against what Amnesty International has called a “politically motivated witch hunt”. Protesters also condemned the violent attacks sub-Saharan nationals have faced in recent days, following an anti-immigration speech made by President Saïed on February 21….
Hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants fled Tunisia on repatriation flights Saturday after a surge in racist attacks in the North African country following a controversial speech from President President Kais Saied. As tensions reach boiling point, FRANCE 24 talked to Patrick*, a Congolese student who decided to stay despite fearing for his safety….
A mob of men wielding sticks and knives attacked a shelter for LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers from sub-Saharan Africa on February 23. Police called to the site arrested at least eight people from sub-Saharan Africa, even though they have refugee status and are therefore legal residents in Tunisia. This is the latest violence to occur in a climate of growing hostility towards Black Africans, spurred by a campaign of repression by the authorities and xenophobic comments made by the Tunisian president….
Intense fighting has continued in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut as both Kyiv and Moscow seemingly struggle with ammunition shortages and mounting casualties.
Russian oligarch, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who controls the mercenary Wagner force that is leading the Russian offensive in Bakhmut, warned late on Saturday that if his men were forced to withdraw, it could lead to a collapse of the entire Russian frontline. [Splendid!]
Prigozhin has complained that the Russian ministry of defence is not supporting Wagner’s efforts in terms of men and ammunition.
In a video address on Sunday, Prigozhin said:
If the private mercenary force Wagner retreats from Bakhmut, the whole front will crumble … to the Russian borders and maybe further.
Wagner is the cement … we are drawing the entire Ukrainian army on ourselves, breaking them and destroying them.
A top Ukrainian commander, Volodymyr Nazarenko, described the situation in the city as “hell” in an interview with Ukraine’s Kyiv24 on Sunday, but said that they had stabilised the frontline and that Russian forces were still on the outskirts.
Nazarenko said that Russian forces lacked ammunition and were shelling the city chaotically. But, likewise, Ukrainian forces told the BBC in February that they were also running out of firepower.
Russian forces now occupy areas on three sides of the city to the east, north and south – and there is only one road connecting the city with Ukrainian-controlled territory. However, the Washington-based thinktank, the Institute for the Study of War, said the Russians were unlikely to be able to encircle the city soon as their advances were still “slow and gradual”.
Today’s Ukraine update comes to us thanks to community member CyberMindGirl, who last week highlighted a new Russian program aiming at recruiting 7 million citizens of the United States and Europe as immigrants to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Not just any immigrants, mind you. The Moscow kleptocracy is specifically looking for “ideological immigration” from white European conservative-minded adventurers who are angry that their own countries give too many rights to LGBT+ citizens, who are angry about their nations’ continued opposition of Russia, or who are simply angry at the presence of so many ethnic people in their home countries.
If you fit that criteria—for example, if you’re an avid Tucker Carlson viewer—and don’t mind moving to an authoritarian nation where authorities can and will kill or imprison you for speaking out against Putin, his allies, or his underlings, good news. There’s a plot of barren Russian land out there just waiting for you to build the compound of your dreams.
Via Google translation:
As an incentive for resettlement to Russia, D. Gusev proposed to provide 10 hectares [25 acres] of land to settlers from the United States and Europe at the end of January, hoping that up to 7 million people could take advantage of this offer.
You’ll note that the enticement there is 25 acres of what Russia has the most of: land. You’ll note that there’s no promise that your new plot of land will come with a shelter, or electricity, or an outhouse. We’ve been seeing more and more of late that highlights the lifestyles of most Russians who live outside the major cities, but conservative Russia-backers may or may not be aware that in modern day Russia, toilets are considered a luxury item.
There’s a reason that not just toilets, stoves, dishwashers, and washing machines but even the most trivial of home appliances are being looted in bulk from Ukrainian homes “liberated” by Russia and delivered back to the homeland. It’s because stealing those things is the only way for the average non-connected Russian to get them.
If you’re a Tucker Carlson conservative who’s looking to emigrate to a place that oppresses all the people you want them to, you’ll have either dig your own poop-pit or import your own toilet. You’ll have to import a dozen, in fact, because the odds of any one of those toilets reaching you through the theft-rampant national postal service is something close to zero.
There’s a reason Russia is looking for new recruits—er, new “ideological immigrants.”
The main argument in favor of such a policy is the high demographic losses that Russia suffered during the COVID-19 epidemic, as well as two waves of “anti-war” emigration.
We don’t have a good handle on Russian pandemic deaths because, as in China, Florida, and other regimes run by lying autocrats, there’s no incentive for the government to release accurate data. Worldometer puts Russian pandemic deaths at around 400,000; Reuters counted at least twice that many before stopping updates in July of last year. The real number is likely to be larger.
Russians fleeing the country to avoid conscription into the nation’s ramshackle and incompetent military, however, is probably a more immediate problem. Between 500,000 and one million Russians have fled from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began. While many of those emigrants are trying to escape the harsh sanctions levied by the world against the Russian economy, it’s Russian men of conscription age that are disproportionately looking to leave.
That’s because nobody with a brain in their head wants to be marched to the Ukrainian frontlines with a museum-quality rifle, if that, and cold weather gear that consists of whatever their families can hastily scrounge up. Getting shipped to Ukraine as an untrained conscript is a death sentence; Russia has long ago been reduced to using officers and elite forces as cannon fodder for the war effort, so newly conscripted Russian nobodies can expect worse treatment than even that. Yeah, anyone with the smarts of a moist towelette has either left or is still trying to.
That leaves Russia with a big problem. They need a new influx of people who can be outsmarted by a moist towelette, and when it comes to a segment of the white, European or American population that would fit the bill even Russia knows where to look. The white nationalist movements of Europe and the United States are filled with those people, and they’re just what Russia is looking for.
Russia isn’t facing a population problem, in government minds, they’re facing a “demographic” problem. With the flight of urban-area Russians, the country is becoming less “European” and, well, let’s take a look. If you’re a Tucker Carlson viewer or a white nationalist spouting “Great Replacement” theory, this will all sound uncannily familiar.
Since it is likely not possible to quickly increase the birth rate, immigration remains the only way to make up for demographic losses, that is, the resettlement of the population to Russia for permanent residence. But it obviously needs a selective approach based on ethnocultural intimacy with displaced persons. Mass immigration of the foreign cultural population from Asian CIS countries, which is still predominantly a form of labor, will lead, and in the most attractive regions for migrants already leads to a change in the ethnic structure of the population.
Yep, that’s the “Great Replacement” theory, Russian nationalist edition; “European” Russians are dying or leaving, and “mass immigration” from Asian countries is changing the “ethnic structure” of the cobbled-together nation these floorboard-stealing nationalist chuckleheads have put themselves in charge of.
As a result, there is a deterioration in the criminal situation, an increase in the number of conflicts with the local population and representatives of other ethnic diasporas, and an aggravation of interethnic relations.
Damn, Tucker Carlsonski here is just letting it all hang out.
Roughly 200,000 Russians have died in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, by U.S. estimations, but the Putin government has gone to such lengths to hide the true body count that that approximation may still be substantially off the mark. Another million or two million Russians have either died in the pandemic or fled the country.
You can see, then, why the Russian government feels that gaining new bodies is a priority. The nation is running out of conscriptable men with no useful connections to the kleptocracy; it’s time for some, literally, new blood.
All of that said, you will note that there is no thundering celebration of Russia’s new 25-acres-and-no-mule recruitment drive among American and European white nationalist assholes. Tucker Carlson and his fellow Putinophiles love European nationalist movements that target immigrants and LGBT citizens, but there’s been no mass migration of militant racists.
Russia, after all, has far stricter gun laws than the United States. Russia is a nation in which those that criticize the government—a white supremacist obsession—tend to fall out of apartment windows on a regular and now-escalating basis. Russia’s nationalists aren’t particularly welcoming of new white nationalist arrivals because Russian nationalism is explicitly contemptuous of those who aren’t Russian.
It’s possible that Tucker Carlson has the connections to get a toilet delivered to a barren plot of land somewhere in rural Russia, but your average Proud Boy or Oath Keeper doesn’t have a prayer of it and even they know it.
It’s a shame, really. Getting rid of up to 7 million of the most authoritarian-minded cranks in the United States and Europe sounds like a deal Western governments could all get behind; if Russia was proven to be serious in its plans to court our most militant and racist dregs, our own government could likely arrange for 7 million toilets to be delivered free of charge.
It doesn’t look like 7 million people are going to take Russia up on that offer, though. It doesn’t look like 7,000 will either. It’s one thing to wave guns around and bellow about the indecencies to be found in library book collections; it’s another to put yourself at the mercy of the sort of autocratic nationalist government you claim to want.
Prigozhin claiming Ukr has withdrawn from bakhmut. I’m reliably told fighting still ongoing in town. Supplies being delivered and injured evacuated. Ukrainian side claims 250+ Wagner dead in last 24. Likely Ukr losses are lower, but given fight proximity not by as much as before
Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) on Sunday said former President Trump’s 2024 message appeals to an “angry mob” in response to remarks Trump made at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, in which he pitched himself as fighting a “final battle” for “retribution.”
Hutchinson called Trump’s remarks “troubling.” […]
Trump took the stage at CPAC, blasted his own party and declared that “I am your retribution.”
[…] Even if Trump hadn’t tipped his hand when he declared early in his remarks to a mostly full ballroom of diehards in MAGA hats that “we are never going back to the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove and Jeb Bush,” the rest of his speech represented a fundamental repudiation of that era of the Republican Party. But more than that, it represented a reversion toward a pre-World War II GOP, with doses of both populism and paleo conservatism.
Perhaps the most jarring change from the past was Trump’s derision of U.S. aid to Ukraine, just days after the Eastern European country marked the one-year anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion. For over a half-century, hawkish interventionist foreign policy—especially towards Russia—had been one of the fundamental principles of the Republican Party. Trump’s election, especially given the questions about Russia’s efforts to sway the 2016 presidential race, put this into question. But Trump’s speech, which followed harsh attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky throughout the three-day conference from speakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), made it clear how severely that the GOP had shifted towards isolationism in recent years. [And towards pro-Putinism]
In his CPAC speech, Trump compared foreign aid […] to a business investment which should be rewarded with an equity stake. “In business, you put up the money, seed money . . . you end up owning the country by the time it’s over.” At another point in the speech, he suggested that U.S. foreign aid to countries should be tied to preferential tariff treatment.
He paired this with a grim view of the United States, rooted in “the American carnage” which defined his 2017 inaugural speech that pitted his supporters against shadowy elites—including the “Marxists” he derided in his remarks. For his supporters, he declared “I am your warrior, I am your Justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution,” as he pledged to “eradicate the Deep State,” a group that he blamed so much of his personal ills as well as those of his supporters.
[…] While abortion was rarely mentioned on stage at CPAC and gay marriage seemed almost as archaic a topic of political debate as aid to the contras, transgender issues provoked perhaps Trump’s most fervent applause. Trump said, if elected, he would sign a bill banning sex change procedures for minors, which he characterized as “chemical castration and genital mutilation,” and he received a standing ovation from the ballroom.
[…] Trump spoke only hours after former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s speech, and Brazilian flags could be spotted throughout the crowd, alternating in patches with the Stars and Stripes and, above all, red MAGA hats. CPAC has increasingly embraced the global right—holding a pro-Viktor Orban event in Hungary last year, and partnering with those who minimized and denied war crimes in World War II in Japan.
Not all of this is foreign to American politics—after all, the America First slogan was first used by the isolationists who railed against the United States supporting the Allies in World War II before Pearl Harbor. But this strain of politics had remained submerged on the right, popping up in Pat Buchanan’s speeches and Ron Paul’s newsletters. That’s not the case anymore. The question is just how dominant it will be in 2024 and moving forward.
Jutting out of the permafrost on a mountainside on Spitsbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, the entrance to the world’s “doomsday” seed vault is worthy of any James Bond movie. Surrounded by snow, ice and the occasional polar bear, the facility houses 1.2 million seed samples from every corner of the planet as an insurance policy against catastrophe. It is a monument to 12,000 years of human agriculture that aims to prevent the permanent loss of crop species after war, natural disaster or pandemic.
The Global Seed Vault in the Norwegian Arctic, which opened in 2008, is closed to the public and shrouded in mystery, the subject of numerous internet doomsday conspiracy theories. Now, to celebrate the vault’s 15th anniversary, everyone is invited on a virtual tour to see inside the vast collection of tubers, rice, grains, and other seeds buried deep in the mountain behind five sets of metal doors.
The deep-freeze, designed to last forever, is co-managed by the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust and NordGen, the genebank of the Nordic countries. The seeds could hold answers to agricultural challenges posed by climate crisis, invasive species, pests, changes in rainfall patterns […] and it opens three times a year to accept new deposits from other seed banks around the world. […]
“It is a bit like being in a cathedral. It has high ceilings and when you’re standing inside the mountain, there’s hardly any sound. All you can hear is yourself,” says Lise Lykke Steffensen, executive director of NordGen, which is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the vault. “When you open the door [to the collections], it’s -18C—the international standard for conserving seeds—which is very, very cold. Then you see all of the boxes with seeds from all of these countries.[…]”
After the Aleppo seed bank was destroyed in the Syrian civil war, the vault was used to replenish seeds for the first time by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, a regional hub based in Aleppo to study crops from the cradle of civilization where agriculture first began. Research into the resilience of these crops and plant species could be vital as the planet heats in the coming decades.
Away from the panoramic view of the Arctic night from the vault’s entrance, the virtual tour takes you down a long tunnel deep into the mountain. Eventually, you arrive at the “cathedral,” home to the three seed chambers, each of which can store nearly 3,000 seed boxes. Each species is sealed in an aluminum airtight bag and kept in its country’s box. As you make your way between what look like the shelves of a DIY warehouse, you can click on a country’s box to find out more.
In theory, the seeds are safe, although the entrance to the facility flooded with meltwater in 2017 after a heatwave in Svalbard. The island is the most rapidly warming part of the planet but experts say the deposits are buried so deep in the permafrost that they will be safe for centuries. Seeds are replaced every few decades and if the cooling system ever failed, it would probably take hundreds of years for the temperature inside the vaults to rise above zero.
[…] “What is secured inside the vault is one of the most important global public goods we have on Earth. But we need to protect them, secure them and to make sure that they are conserved in perpetuity.”
This week, the vault welcomed first-time deposits from Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia and Benin, alongside wild strawberry varieties from a German research institute. Plants such as these could be key to helping humanity feed growing populations in a warmer world, says Schmitz.
“These wild strawberries are amazing. They have proved simply by their ability to survive in nature for millions of years that they are robust,” says Schmitz. “They can withstand changes in climate, they can withstand harsh situations with hardly any soil and that is exactly what plant scientists and breeders are interested in. Today, we can start breeding from varieties that are resilient to harsher climates.”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Sunday said he has “no indication” that Capitol Police vetted the footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that Fox News host Tucker Carlson says he plans to air.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave Carlson access to some 41,000 hours of footage last month in a move widely criticized by Democrats over security concerns.
[…] “We’re releasing footage into the public domain in an era where political violence is on the rise, and there are people, including the former president, who fan the flames of extremism.”
[…] Carlson has teased that he would begin airing some of the footage this week but House Republicans have tried to pump the brakes on releasing it to the public. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), the chair of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, said last week that his panel is working with the sergeant-at-arms and Capitol Police to make sure the footage that is released will not pose a security risk.
During his big, over 100-minute-long speech last night to tens of people [LOL] at the annual CPAC, Donald Trump told a lot of lies. Lie after lie after lie. He lied about the murder rate in Manhattan going up when it’s in fact going down, about having “completed” the wall, about having presided over the best economy in history, which is not remotely true. He lied about having “finished some old wars,” which he explicitly did not do.
He lied, quite hilariously in fact, about America being a “Marxist Communist country” now — which is pretty hilarious in light of the fact that we are the only developed nation in the world (and one of the only nations, period) without socialized medicine, guaranteed paid time off, just-cause terminations and all of the other nice things people in other countries get to have.
[Video snippets posted by Aaron Rupar are available at the link]
Then he sought to set himself apart from other Republicans by promising to keep Social Security and Medicare around, both of which are socialist programs. [More video snippets at the link, BTW, Trump stated his willingness to cut “entitlements” several times in the past.]
He also recently recorded a “song” in which he recited the Pledge of Allegiance, written by socialist minister Francis Bellamy. Clearly, like so many other Americans, he secretly loves socialism without even knowing it.
He did, however, get one thing right. During a particularly weird part of his speech, he told what we can assume was the rapt audience “In 2016, I declared: I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.” [video snippets at the link]
Right, because these people need retribution for what? For people blocking them on social media and not inviting them to Thanksgiving dinner? For varieties of people they don’t like existing without asking their permission first? For what?
That being said, he is not wrong in that another Trump term would certainly be a misery for the rest of us, just as the first one was. In fact it is hard to think of anything else that would be quite as unpleasant off the top of my head. Except perhaps a Ron DeSantis presidency, which might just be worse (not to give them any ideas).
About all the snowstorms that have hit the state of California:
[…] climate scientists attribute these wild oscillations in extreme wet and dry periods to the warming climate. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture — sucking up more during dry periods and deluging during wet ones — while also breaking down typical jet stream patterns, allowing cold air to move further south than normal.
Even after all this rain and snow, state authorities have yet to declare the drought officially dead. But the water supply — and projections for once the snow starts melting in the spring — have dramatically improved. The Federal Drought Monitor on Thursday reported that the percentage of California experiencing at least moderate drought conditions had fallen from 84.6 percent to 49.1 percent in the past week. Major reservoirs across the state are at 96 percent of average levels.
But the extraordinary snowpack has been predominantly in the central and southern parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains, less in the north, where some of the state’s largest reservoirs remain far below capacity. The state’s groundwater supplies, drawn down during the past dry decade, will also not recover quickly, water authorities said.
“It takes more than a single wet year to really recover a lot of those groundwater basins that have been critically overdrafted for so many years,” said Sean de Guzman, manager of the snow surveys and water supply forecast unit at the California Department of Water Resources.
On Friday morning, de Guzman and his colleagues trudged across a snowy field south of Lake Tahoe and plunged a hollow metal pole into the depths, part of the monthly snow surveys that take place across the state. They found snows more than 9 feet deep, or 177 percent of average for that date.
The state’s record snowpack came in the winter of 1982-83. The snows this year have nearly matched those heights from four decades ago.
“With the next few storms here, throughout this month, we could actually surpass that,” de Guzman said.
The blizzard conditions have made it difficult in some areas to even assess what’s out there. A team hired to measure snow depths in Sequoia National Park had to be evacuated by a Navy helicopter on Thursday, as they were marooned in a cabin near Mt. Whitney.
[…] This year’s snowpack, in addition to its size, has other attributes encouraging for the state’s water supply. It is a cold snowpack, water managers say, which could help it persist into the spring before turning to runoff. More storms are on the way for the Sierras, although some are expected to be warmer — which has raised concerns that rain-on-snow events could lead to flooding. [Yeah, that seems likely.]
“A lot of this warm storm will basically melt that low- to mid-elevation snow,” de Guzman said. “We should see an increased amount in runoff but nothing that the reservoirs shouldn’t be able to capture.” […]
[…] Republican governor Ron DeSantis has proposed or endorsed policy after policy that has enthralled his supporters and alarmed his detractors: Allow Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit or training. Ban diversity and equity programs at public universities. Expand school vouchers. Allow a death sentence without a unanimous jury. Make it easier to sue the news media. Further restrict abortion.
Most — and perhaps all — of Mr. DeSantis’s wishes will likely soon be granted by the Republican-held State Legislature, giving him a broader platform from which to launch a widely expected 2024 presidential campaign. Ahead of the annual session, scheduled to begin on Tuesday and last 60 days, Republican lawmakers have given every indication that they will be guided by whatever the governor wants.
“We’re going to get his agenda across the finish line,” Kathleen Passidomo, the Republican Senate president, said last month.
[…] last year DeSantis redrew congressional districts to give Republicans an even bigger advantage in the state.[…]
Mr. DeSantis already called lawmakers into a special session in February to address problems with laws they had previously passed at his behest — chiefly a 2022 budget provision that allowed him to spend $12 million to transport unauthorized migrants out of Florida. […]
During the special session, lawmakers [amended a bill] allowing the DeSantis administration to transport migrants from anywhere in the United States. Mr. DeSantis has requested another $12 million for the contentious program, […]
He has also requested $31 million and 27 new positions for the state’s Office of Election Crimes and Security, which he created last year to investigate election fraud. Mr. DeSantis announced 20 arrests by the office in August, but shortly thereafter, judges dropped charges against several of the defendants.
[…] The school voucher bill, which critics say would defund public schools to a dangerous extent, would make available vouchers currently worth about $8,200 a year to K-12 students, with few eligibility restrictions, not only for use at private and religious schools but also for home-schooling, private tutoring and other education-related expenses.
[…] some of his other priorities would erode academic and press freedoms, and risk an increase in gun violence.
The higher education bill would, among other things, ban gender studies majors and minors, prohibit public colleges and universities from spending money on activities that “espouse diversity, equity and inclusion,” allow tenure reviews of faculty members at any time and allow presidents and trustees to hire faculty without considering recommendations from existing faculty. […]
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Intense fighting continues in and around the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut as Kyiv and Moscow seemingly struggle with ammunition shortages and mounting casualties.
The head of the mercenary Wagner group that is leading the Russian offensive in Bakhmut claimed in a video published on Saturday that if his men were forced to withdraw, it could lead to the collapse of the entire Russian frontline.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed the situation with senior commanders, and two top generals supported continuing to defend the eastern city against Russian forces, Zelenskiy’s office said on Monday.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, “spoke in favour of continuing the defensive operation and further strengthening [Ukrainian] positions in Bakhmut,” it said in a statement on its website.
Thousands of people have been killed and injured in the battle and videos from the city in the past week show many buildings charred, collapsed or without windows.
The few thousand civilians still there have been confined to living in basements for months with no running water, electricity or gas.
The Associated Press reported:
Over the bitterly cold winter months, the fighting has largely been deadlocked. Bakhmut does not have any major strategic value, and analysts say its possible fall is unlikely to bring a turning point in the conflict.
The city’s importance has become psychological – for Russian president Vladimir Putin, a victory there will finally deliver some good news from the battlefield, while for Kyiv the display of grit and defiance reinforces a message that Ukraine is holding on after a year of brutal attacks to cement support among its western allies.
Even so, some analysts questioned the wisdom of the Ukrainian defenders holding out much longer, with others suggesting a tactical withdrawal may already be under way.
Michael Kofman, the director of Russia studies at the CAN thinktank in Arlington, Virginia, said that Ukraine’s defence of Bakhmut has been effective because it has drained the Russian war effort, but that Kyiv should now look ahead.
“I think the tenacious defence of Bakhmut achieved a great deal, expending Russian manpower and ammunition,” Mr Kofman tweeted.
“But strategies can reach points of diminishing returns, and given Ukraine is trying to husband resources for an offensive, it could impede the success of a more important operation.”
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based thinktank, noted that urban warfare favours the defender but considered that the smartest option now for Kyiv may be to withdraw to positions that are easier to defend.
The Russian capture of Bakhmut has been “imminent” for several weeks now.
The founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that his representative had been denied access to the headquarters of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine after Prigozhin complained about a lack of ammunition.
Prigozhin had previously said that his troops fighting to seize the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut were being deprived of ammunition and that, if they were forced to retreat, the entire front would collapse.
Prigozhin said via his press service that he had written to the army’s top brass, saying his men urgently needed ammunition, Reuters reported.
“On 6 March, at 8 o’clock in the morning, my representative at the headquarters had his pass cancelled and was denied access to the group’s headquarters,” Prigozhin said.
Russia’s prosecutor general said has said it is labelling German-based anti-corruption group Transparency International an “undesirable organisation”.
“It was found that the activities of this organisation clearly go beyond the declared goals and objectives,” it said.
The label “undesirable” has been applied to dozens of foreign groups in Russia since it started using the classification in 2015, and often serves as a precursor to the Justice Ministry banning an organisation outright, Reuters reported.
Most of Ukraine’s winter grain crops – winter wheat and barley – are in good condition and could produce a good harvest, Ukraine’s academy of agricultural science was quoted as saying on Monday.
A British-led £520m international fund to provide fresh weapons for Ukraine and intended to be “low bureaucracy” has been plagued by delays, with only £200m allocated amid warnings that the rest of the funding will not provide arms at “the front until the summer”.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Israeli cities for the ninth straight week on Saturday to fight a government plan to overhaul the country’s court system.
Saturday night’s demonstrations in Tel Aviv and other locations began peacefully. However, footage released by police later showed protesters breaking down barriers in Tel Aviv and igniting fires as they blocked roads. Police sprayed water cannons at the protesters.
“I came to demonstrate against the regime revolution, which the Israeli government forced upon us,” 53-year-old history teacher Ronen Cohen told Reuters. “I hope that this huge demonstration will effect and prove that we are not going to give up.”
The marches have attracted huge crowds on a weekly basis since early January, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government took aim at the Supreme Court.
The protesters oppose legislation that Netanyahu and his right-wing and religious allies hope to pass that would limit the Supreme Court’s powers to rule against the legislature and the executive, while giving lawmakers decisive powers in appointing judges.
Proponents say [ugh!] the Supreme Court needs to be reined in from overreaching into the political sphere. Critics say [ugh!] the plan will weaken the courts, endanger civil liberties and harm the economy along with ties with Western allies.
The intensity of the protests have [sic] been heightened since Wednesday, when Israeli police fired stun grenades and scuffles broke out in Tel Aviv during a nationwide “day of disruption” .
“There’s a great danger that Israel will turn into a dictatorship,” 68-year-old high school teacher Ophir Kubitsky said on Saturday. “We came here to demonstrate over and over again until we win.”
Israeli lawmakers advanced a bill on Monday that could allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep a $270,000 donation he received from a relative to pay for his legal fees as he battles corruption charges.
Netanyahu is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of scandals involving wealthy associates and powerful media moguls. He denies wrongdoing and says the accusations are part of a “witch hunt” orchestrated by a biased media, law enforcement and justice system.
The bill is part of a proposed overhaul of Israel’s legal system by Netanyahu’s new government. For over two months, the plan has drawn fierce protests in Israel, the largest seen in years.
Last year, Israel’s high court ordered Netanyahu to pay back the $270,000 given by a late cousin to cover the legal expenses for him and his wife. Aside from the protracted corruption trial, the Netanyahus have had to contend with fees surrounding a number of defamation suits both brought by them and against them.
Netanyahu and his wife Sara have earned a reputation for enjoying lavish lifestyles, both at the taxpayers’ expense and thanks to other people’s largesse. In one of the affairs Netanyahu is charged in, he is suspected of receiving boxes of cigars and champagne, as well as expensive jewelry for his wife, from the Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.
Netanyahu has long been saddled with an image of a being a cigar-smoking, cognac-swilling socialite. Together with his wife, he is seen by many Israelis as being out of touch with their day-to-day struggles. A recent parliamentary committee decision to approve new funding for the family’ s private residences in an exclusive seaside town and in Jerusalem, as well as an increase in spending on clothing expenses, only helped cement that feeling.
Monday’s bill, which passed 53-49, came a day after a ministerial committee also approved it. The bill still must overcome several votes before becoming law. But with Netanyahu’s government a majority in parliament, it is likely to be approved.
The bill would allow public officials accept donations for legal or medical bills, despite vocal objection by the country’s attorney general that this would promote corruption.
Netanyahu and his allies are pushing forward a series of proposals that would weaken the power of the country’s Supreme Court and judiciary. His allies say that the powers of unelected judges must be curbed. Critics say [good grief!] the changes will give too much power to the prime minister, eroding a system of checks and balances. They also say that Netanyahu has a conflict of interest by pushing forward the overhaul at a time when he is on trial.
Sara Netanyahu became caught up in the anti-overhaul protests last week, when demonstrators gathered outside a ritzy Tel Aviv salon where she was having her hair done. Scores of police officers were called in to escort her out of the salon and away from the jeering crowd.
This is what happens, US officials, when you allow this sort of timid, half-assed, slow-motion prosecution that fails for years to hold anyone accountable.
The European Union is edging closer to a landmark move into joint procurement of ammunition to help Ukraine and replenish members’ stockpiles but major questions regarding funding and scale remain to be resolved, Reuters reports.
EU defence ministers will this week discuss plans to speed up the supply of 155mm ammunition to Ukraine, which is pleading for more such artillery shells to fight Russia’s invasion, and to order more munitions together.
Hanno Pevkur, the defence minister of Estonia – which has led a push for the EU to order millions of shells – said he believed ministers would reach a “political consensus” to pursue joint procurement when they meet in Stockholm on Wednesday.
But he noted key issues were still up for debate, such as how to pay for joint purchases. Pevkur insisted EU members could not rely on funds already committed for military aid to Ukraine.
“We need a clear consensus that there has to be new money for this initiative,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s government has sentenced opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in absentia to 15 years in prison.
The Belarusian state media, which is under the control of Lukashenko’s regime, stated that Tsikhanouskaya was guilty of aiming to seize state power in an “unconstitutional way,” creating an “extremist formation”, and “harming” the national security of Belarus.
In response to the news, Tsikhanouskaya said, “I don’t think about my own sentence. I think about thousands of innocents, detained & sentenced to real prison terms. I won’t stop until each of them is released.”
Tsikhanouskaya ran against Lukashenko for the presidency in 2020 after her husband, pro-democracy blogger Sergei Tsikhanousky, was arrested and jailed. Her campaign platform included the release of political prisoners and strengthening democratic institutions in Belarus.
In August 2020, Tsikhanouskaya fled abroad after Lukashenko proclaimed 80% victory, which came under international scrutiny. Since then, Tsikhanouskaya has continued advocating for a free and democratic Belarus in meetings with world leaders and international institutions.
According to the U.K. Defense Ministry’s intelligence update on March 6, the Russian military has been deploying 60-year-old T-62 main battle tanks as a result of continued heavy equipment losses.
Furthermore, there is a “realistic possibility” that the 1st Guards Tank Army, Russia’s elite tank force, will be re-equipped with the T-62s, the U.K. Defense Ministry added.
According to the ministry, about 800 T-62s have been taken out of storage and equipped with better sighting systems that will “highly likely improve” their performance during nighttime operations.
The report also states that Russian BTR-50 armored personnel carriers, first fielded in 1954, have also been deployed in Ukraine in recent days.
According to the defense ministry, these older tank models are subject to “many vulnerabilities on the modern battlefield” due to the lack of modern explosive reactive armor.
According to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Russia has lost 3,423 tanks, 6,703 armored fighting vehicles, 5,307 vehicles and fuel tanks in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
Protesters clashed with police in Atlanta at the site of a training centre which opponents say will fuel police militarisation and also uses valuable forest land.
Hundreds of people attended a concert at the site and police said a group then threw rocks and firebombs at officers.
Thirty-five people were arrested, police said.
Images of the protests on social media showed several fires.
The planned Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, dubbed “Cop City”, is being built on land owned by the city in South River Forest.
After the clashes began, police locked down the area and a Swat team was in attendance.
Police said the group of protesters had used the peaceful demonstration as cover to “conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers”.
Several pieces of construction equipment were destroyed, the statement said.
“The illegal actions of the agitators could have resulted in bodily harm. Officers exercised restraint and used non-lethal enforcement to conduct arrests,” it added.
Opponents say the site is a vital green space for the city and describe it as the “lungs of Atlanta”.
“We call on all people of good conscience to stand in solidarity with the movement to stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest,” a statement on the Defend The Atlanta Forest website said.
More protest events are planned for the days to come. Atlanta police say they have prepared a “multi-layered strategy that includes reaction and arrest”.
In January there was a protest at the site after police killed a 26-year-old activist during a raid to clear the site. Demonstrators set fire to a police car and smashed windows.
Police say the activist fired first and injured a state trooper. Those opposing construction at the site have called for an independent investigation….
This piece is slightly better than the US coverage, but the ratio of police statements and claims to those of the defenders of the forest is like 5:1.
Voters in Estonia elected a new parliament Sunday with initial results suggesting the center-right Reform Party of Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. one of Europe’s most outspoken supporters of Ukraine, had won overwhelmingly with nearly all votes counted.
Kallas faced a challenge from the far-right populist EKRE party, which seeks to limit the Baltic nation’s exposure to the Ukraine crisis and blames the current government for Estonia’s high inflation rate.
Nine political parties in all fielded candidates for Estonia’s 101-seat parliament, or Riigikogu. Over 900,000 people were eligible to vote in the general election, and nearly half voted in advance.
With 99% of votes counted, Reform Party had taken 31.4% of the votes, followed by EKRE with 16.1% percent and the Center Party, traditionally favored by Estonia’s sizable ethnic-Russian minority, 15%.
“This result, which is not final yet, will give us a strong mandate to put together a good government,” Kallas told her party colleagues and jubilant supporters at a hotel in the capital, Tallinn.
“I think that with such a strong mandate, the (aid to Ukraine) will not change because other parties, except EKRE and maybe Center, have chosen the same line,” she said.
Preliminary results suggested six parties passed the 5% threshold of support needed to be in parliament, including newcomer Eesti 200, a liberal centrist party. Voter turnout was 63.7%, according to initial information.
The initial results mean the Reform Party is in a remarkably strong position to take a leading role in forming Estonia’s next government; its support translates into 37 seats in the legislature. But it will need junior partners to form a coalition with a comfortable majority to govern.
Kallas has ruled out being in a government with EKRE due to ideological differences, and is likely to turn to former coalition partner the Center Party and outgoing coalition partners – the small conservative Fatherland party and the Social Democrats – for a pact.
Newcomer Eesti 200 is also likely to be included in government talks with Reform.
National security in the wake of neighboring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and socio-economic issues, particularly the rising cost of living, were main campaign themes….
Gabrielle Bauer of the Brownstone Institute tacitly admits that the central premise of the Great Barrington Declaration was badly wrong, but brushes it off a just “details.”…
Remember the uproarious laughter that erupted at the G-20 conference in Delhi, when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lied about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? On Russian state TV, they pretended it never happened by turning the sound way down….
At CPAC, failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake won a straw poll for her party’s 2024 vice presidential pick. Her political operation issued a statement soon after, saying, “We’re flattered, but unfortunately our legal team says the Constitution won’t allow for her to serve as Governor and VP at the same time.” (Lake likes to pretend she was elected last year, despite losing.)
President Joe Biden shared some difficult truths with the crowd assembled yesterday to commemorate the 58th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when Selma, Alabama, police officers brutally beat Black civil rights marchers. He somberly observed that voting rights are still under attack. President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced the Voting Rights Act days after “Bloody Sunday,” but the conservative Supreme Court has actively undermined the law.
“Selma is a reckoning. The right to vote … to have your vote counted is the threshold of democracy and liberty. With it anything’s possible,” Biden said. “Without it, without that right, nothing is possible. And this fundamental right remains under assault. The conservative Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act over the years. Since the 2020 election, a wave of states and dozens and dozens of anti-voting laws fueled by the ‘Big Lie’ and the election deniers now elected to office. [Fact check: all true, all correct]
Voting rights activists understand what’s at stake and while most appreciate that Biden is keeping the issue in the spotlight, they also would like to see actual progress made. Biden said, “We know we must get the votes in Congress,” but there’s no longer any viable path now that Republicans control the House and would probably actively remove Black people’s voting rights if they could. […] The John Lewis bill would’ve strengthened the Voting Right Act, and the For the People Act would’ve restricted partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts (arguably, how Republicans “won” their piddly ass majority), removed hurdles to voting, and addressed a corrupt campaign finance system.
Sen. Joe Manchin opposed the For the People Act, claiming “that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy.” That’s of course gibberish. Republicans are the ones attacking voting rights and democracy itself, so any realistic response would be “partisan.” It’s not a shock that Republicans didn’t support “Stop Republicans From Cheating” bills.
Manchin and literally one other Republican announced a “bipartisan compromise” on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, but neither Manchin nor Sen. Kyrsten Sinema from the Sinema Party would bend on the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to pass anything.
[…] “History matters,” Biden said. “The truth matters, notwithstanding what the other team is trying to hide. No matter how hard some people try, we can’t just choose to learn what we want to know and not what we should know. […] We should learn everything. The good, the bad, the truth, who we are as a nation. Everyone should know the truth of Selma.”
When Biden spoke, marchers shouted “We love Joe” and “Bring it home.” Black voters will prove key to Biden’s re-election, and while there’s frustration over lack of movement on voting rights, there is collective appreciation for the administration’s other achievements. Tornadoes devastated Selma early this year, and yesterday, Mayor James Perkins declared that “we will build back better.” He also thanked Biden for his disaster declaration that helped the city with debris cleanup and removal.
But true friends can maintain their affection while also keeping it real. The Rev. William Barber II, a co-chair of Poor People’s Campaign, and six other activists wrote Biden and members of Congress to demand an “action-rooted commemoration of Bloody Sunday.”
If the President or other politicians are going to come to Selma, they should come on Bloody Sunday, when John Lewis and others were beaten and almost killed, to declare that the fight for voting rights and the restoration of what they marched across that bridge for is not over.
Emissions from the food system alone will drive the world past 1.5C of global heating, unless high-methane foods are tackled.
Climate-heating emissions from food production, dominated by meat, dairy and rice, will by themselves break the key international target of 1.5C if left unchecked, a detailed study has shown.
The analysis estimated that if today’s level of food emissions continued, they would result in at least 0.7C of global heating by the end of the century, on top of the 1C rise already seen. This means emissions from food alone, ignoring the huge impact of fossil fuels, would push the world past the 1.5C limit.
The study showed that 75% of this food-related heating was driven by foods that are high sources of methane, ie those coming from ruminant livestock such as cattle, and rice paddy fields. However, the scientists said the temperature rise could be cut by 55% by cutting meat consumption in rich countries to medically recommended levels, reducing emissions from livestock and their manure, and using renewable energy in the food system.
Previous studies have shown the huge impact of food production on the environment, particularly meat and dairy, but the new study provides estimates of the temperature rises their emissions could cause. These could be a significant underestimate, however, as the study assumed animal product consumption would remain level in the future but it was projected to rise by 70% by 2050.
“Methane has this really dominant role in driving the warming associated with the food systems,” said Catherine Ivanovich, at Columbia University in the US, who led the research. “Sustaining the pattern [of food production] we have today is not consistent with keeping the 1.5C temperature threshold. That places a lot of urgency on reducing the emissions, especially from the high-methane food groups.”
“We have to make the goal of sustaining our global population consistent with a climate-safe future,” she said.
The contribution of global food production to the climate crisis is complex because it involves several important greenhouse gases, all of which have different abilities to trap heat and persist in the atmosphere for different amounts of time. Previous studies have converted the impact of methane and other gases into an equivalent amount of CO2 CO2 over 100 years, but this underplayed the high potency of methane over shorter timescales.
The research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, treated each greenhouse gas separately for 94 key types of food, enabling their impact on climate over time to be better understood. Feeding this emissions data into a widely used climate model showed that the continuation of today’s food production would lead to a rise of 0.7C by 2100 if global population growth was low, and a 0.9C rise if population growth was high.
“As we had already reached more than 1C warming above pre-industrial levels by 2021, this additional warming [from food production] alone is enough to surpass the 1.5C global warming target,” the scientists concluded. “Our analysis clearly demonstrates that current dietary production and consumption patterns are incompatible with sustaining a growing population while pursuing a secure climate future.”
…
“We already know that livestock production has a disproportionate contribution to climate change – even using traditional metrics, in 2021 we showed that 57% of emissions from the food system arise from animal agriculture,” said Prof Pete Smith, at the University of Aberdeen, UK. “This very neat study uses a simple climate model to show the disproportionate impact of methane emissions from agriculture on temperature increases, and throws light on the importance of reducing methane emissions from the food system.”
Only a third of the world’s countries have included policies to cut emissions from agriculture in the climate plans they have submitted under the UN Paris agreement. The researchers said their work was aimed at increasing the understanding of the impact of global food consumption on future global heating. Ivanovich also said policies to cut emissions had to protect access to food and livelihoods for vulnerable populations.
(I’ve left their terminology…unannotated, but don’t like it.)
Now that their most urgent priority—the creation of multiple new committees that will allow the loudest sedition-backing crackpots to yell at people on television—has been dealt with, it’s time for House Republicans to at least pretend to take on the task of legislating. That will happen this week as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unveils a new and very expansive Republican overhaul of federal energy and environmental regulations.
As for why the first big-ticket bill from the new Republican majority is a so-called energy bill, you don’t need to read too much into it. It’s mainly because every other high priority item on their agenda is still mired in Republican infighting, but pretty much all of them can agree that when it comes to energy policy, the only plausible solution is to drill, baby, drill.
Politico brings us some quotes and spin, and whether it’s because they’re a harder-right outlet now or because political reporters are the most scrupulously gullible people on Earth, there’s a lot of deference to the notion that, no, no, this isn’t about gutting environmental laws and cranking up fossil fuel extraction for the sake of industries that have Washington, D.C., in their back pocket, this is about an “all-of-the-above” energy approach that will also benefit solar and wind and other projects because, you know, reasons. […]
“While conservatives have demanded a kind of “open season” for amendments, GOP leaders sense that could be a risky strategy,” says Politico. So House leaders might announce that this bill, which collects about 20 different smaller bills from various committees into one big package, isn’t subject to such shenanigans.
While House Republicans are giving quotes suggesting that this bill will be a bipartisan affair, or at least be a little bipartisan, nearly all of that bipartisanship appears to be resting on pro-coal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin […]
Looking into the actual structure of the Republican bill, however, reveals it to be the usual Republican wishlist:
More drilling on federal lands and waters, requiring the federal government to “immediately” resume oil lease sales and fast-track permits for such projects.
Blocking presidential power to veto some projects, a response to former President Barack Obama’s veto of the Keystone XL pipeline. […]
“Reforming” the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act to speed up environmental reviews for energy projects […] The lion’s share of the benefit would go to new drilling and mining projects. [When Republicans say “reforming” they mean gutting.]
A loosening of environmental regulations on hard rock mining.
The repeal of the $27 billion greenhouse gas reduction fund designated in the Democratic Congress’ Inflation Reduction Act.
The repeal of incentives to curb methane emissions designated in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Changes to the Clean Water Act.
A resolution expressing support for the export of American fossil fuels.
And so forth. The bulk of the nearly two dozen bills being considered for collection into the big-ticket Republican energy plan consist of speeding up extraction permitting, reducing the environmental considerations those projects are scrutinized for, and blocking local power to do anything about it. It’s the same drill, baby, drill plan Republicans have been pushing for years, and nobody is trying all that terribly hard to pretend otherwise.
The only real Republican attempt at a “clean energy” program anywhere in the mix is the argument that if we scrap as many environmental regulations as possible, that’ll benefit new large-scale solar and wind farms too […]
That’s true, of course. But it’s also true that whatever climate mitigation those projects might provide could be vastly outweighed by the damage done by ramping up even more fossil fuel use at a time when catastrophic climate change is already almost certainly on its way. It’s a maliciously insincere argument, but that’s nothing new for drilling-obsessed Republicans.
There are six states in which the loser of a major party primary may not appear on the ballot as an independent. Three of them are swing states, the other three are red. They total a full third of the necessary 270.
Thanks to the laws in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Arkansas and Alabama, if Trump launched a third-party attempt he would immediately find himself with a deficit of 91 electoral votes of the 270 required to capture the White House.
[…] “Productive morning with Senator Fetterman at Walter Reed discussing the rail safety legislation, Farm Bill and other Senate business,” Jentleson [a top aide to Sen. John Fetterman] wrote in a tweet. “John is well on his way to recovery and wanted me to say how grateful he is for all the well wishes. He’s laser focused on PA & will be back soon.”
Fetterman’s office revealed that he was hospitalized on Feb. 15 for treatment. Jentleson said at the time that the Pennsylvania Democrat has experienced depression “off and on throughout his life,” but that it had become “severe” in the weeks before checking into the hospital. […]
Links aren’t working on Twitter due to an “internal change” that had “some unintended consequences.”
If you were accustomed to a time when Twitter — while far from perfect — was a place where you could dependably digest a wide range of breaking news, politics, celebrity gossip, or personal musings, it’s time to accept a new reality.
Twitter is becoming a degraded product.
In the four months since Elon Musk took over the company, the app has experienced major glitches — such as when, on Monday, all links to external websites stopped working. (Twitter has acknowledged the error, posting on a company account that “parts of Twitter are not working as expected” due to “an internal change that had some unintended consequences,” and that it’s trying to fix the problem.) Twitter’s social media dashboard application that’s popular with super users, Tweetdeck, also appeared to be down. It’s not the first time: Last month, users around the world couldn’t post tweets, send messages, or follow new accounts for several hours. […] under Musk, the app’s unpredictability isn’t just limited to technical issues. Musk’s erratic decisions are degrading the integrity of Twitter’s core product and alienating wide swaths of users.
[…] Musk, apparently livid because his tweets about the Super Bowl were getting fewer views than President Joe Biden’s, flew to Twitter’s headquarters and ordered engineers to change the algorithm underlying Twitter’s main product to boost his own tweets above everyone else’s so that they show at the top of Twitter users’ “For You” page. Musk’s cousin, James Musk — who is now a full-time employee and a reported “fixer type” within the company — reportedly sent an urgent 2 am message asking all capable engineers to help, and the company tasked 80 engineers to manually tweak Twitter’s underlying system to promote Musk’s tweets. [Pathetic]
Soon after the change, many users started noticing their feeds had been bombarded with Musk’s tweets. […]
The episode demonstrates how Twitter has become less and less dependable. The platform’s basic product design is now tailored to the whims of Musk, a leader who seems to prioritize his own image and “free speech absolutist” ideology above business interests.
[…] Even if Musk’s conservative fans love how he’s running Twitter, if the app is glitchy and more users leave the platform altogether, it won’t be of much use to them anymore. Nor will it be for Musk, who needs a healthy, money-making app in order to pay back some $13 billion he borrowed from creditors to buy Twitter.
Businesses treating disabled workers with disrespect … and getting paid to do so:
Here in the United States, the federal minimum wage is $7.25. It’s not a lot. In fact, it is now worth less than the minimum wage was worth before it was raised to $7.25 in 2009 (A whopping $7.25 in 2023 dollars is $5.20 in 2009 dollars […]).
As little as the minimum wage is worth these days, there are still some people getting paid even less than that — and I’m not even talking about servers, who should also get paid the minimum wage (plus tips). In most states, employers are able to pay disabled workers less than minimum wage — an average of $3.34 an hour. This has been changing recently, with 13 states enacting laws requiring employers to pay people with disabilities the minimum wage.
Kansas, you will be shocked to discover, is not one of those states. There is, however, a program that offers tax credits for buying from vendors that employ people with a “physical or mental impairment that constitutes a substantial barrier to employment.” It’s not great, but it’s not bad. It’s certainly at least an incentive for businesses to hire people with disabilities and pay them at least the minimum wage.
Unfortunately, that may change soon if some lawmakers get their way. A new bill proposes to extend the tax credits to businesses that pay workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage, as well. This means that employers will be able to benefit threefold — from the labor provided by these workers, from getting to pay them less than they would have to pay workers without disabilities and from the tax credit. That doesn’t seem right.
Many disability rights activists, understandably, are not too happy about this.
[…] The sub-minimum wage allowance for disabled people was initially established in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. While there was a lot of good in the FLSA — it set the first minimum wage, regulated child labor, established the 44-hour work week that would go down to a 40-hour work week two years later — there wasn’t a lot of good for everybody. In order to get Southern lawmakers on board with it, it was adjusted to ensure it didn’t benefit Black people too much. Thus, farm workers, domestic workers, food service workers, and other jobs predominantly held by people of color were exempt from the new standards. Employees with disabilities were also exempt.
There are some good points to the bill — that the program is being extended to begin with, along with a provision that “would also eliminate a requirement that individuals with disabilities work a minimum number of hours per week to qualify for health insurance coverage.” But anyone who works deserves at least the paltry minimum wage we have in this country, and that needs to include people with disabilities.
Here we are again. Matt Walsh from the Daily Wire is saying grotesque, sick things about how it’s a “fate worse than death” to have transgender kids. And Matt Walsh is a father of six, so we should keep in mind that he’s not talking about some hypothetical unimaginable future tragedy where he was allowed to be a parent. This is after several weeks ago, when Walsh was being similarly disgusting and saying he would “rather be dead” than have a transgender child.
You know, because this is all about him. If he has a trans kid that’s something that’s happening to him, as opposed to being a story about the life of his child.
This is also happening as Walsh’s vile Daily Wire stable-mate Michael Knowles is insisting that when he says he wants to eradicate “transgenderism” he isn’t issuing some kind of Hitler-esque call to eradicate transgender people. Knowles and the Daily Wire are having insane temper tantrums about this.
But we want to put a fine point on what is happening here, with Walsh’s statements and with Knowles’s statements, the rhetorical games they’re playing, because they’re actually very familiar conservative Christian rhetorical games.
First, here is your gross sick video of gross sick Matt Walsh, where he says having trans kids is a “fate worse than death.” The transcript is below: [video and transcript available at the link]
[…] Conservative Christians have been lying to themselves since time immemorial about a lot of things. When the focus was primarily on gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, they lied and convinced themselves that sexuality was a choice. They brainwashed themselves into believing that if they raised their kids in a certain way, if they homeschooled them, if they didn’t expose them to secular culture, and so on, their kids wouldn’t grow up to be gay. They hid from reality with spooky campfire stories about how kids had to be “recruited” into homosexuality, or “exposed” to it, or worse, sexually abused. They soothed themselves with lies that if their kids did say they were gay, they were merely being tempted by Satan, they were “struggling” with their sexuality,” and they could change if they just loved Jesus enough. They could pray it away.
And here’s where their rhetorical tricks came in. Conservative Christians didn’t want to eliminate gay people. They simply wanted to impose their beliefs on them and force them to pray it away, or at least pretend they have prayed it away, to keep the conservative Christian lies intact. Love the sinner, hate the sin, eliminate the homosexuality, not the homosexual.
[…] But all these millions of gay kids just keep coming out of conservative Christian homes, often with horror stories and scars to show for it. Sometimes worse. It turned out that when scientists and educators and gay people themselves explained for decades that sexuality wasn’t a choice and that gay folks simply exist, regardless of how much fundamentalists homeschool their kids, they weren’t lying. Kids didn’t “become” that way because they were “exposed” to something. They weren’t “groomed.” They simply were and are. […]
There is nothing new under the sun, gentle readers. Just replace “gay” with “trans” in the preceding paragraphs. Now that there is more of a public movement for trans folks to be understood and respected and allowed to live their damn lives in peace, the religious Right is applying the same playbook of lies to the trans issue that they did to the gay issue.
Before Matt Walsh launched into the tirade above, he talked about the “mutilation of truth,” and denied the very idea that transgender people truly exist. Michael Knowles is playing cute with words, saying he wants to “eradicate transgenderism,” not trans people, as if there is any difference out here in the real world. There is only a difference when you’re trying to preserve the conservative Christian lies about what it means to be trans.
[…] Conservative Christian mommies and daddies? Having gay kids is not about you, and you don’t have a say in it, and having trans kids is not about you, and you don’t have a say in it. We are not being unkind. We are saying grow the fuck up. Many of you have gay kids, and many of you have trans and non-binary kids. It’s not about you. […]
The only thing you have a choice in — and indeed, it’s your actual responsibility as parents — is whether your LGBTQ+ kids will grow up never questioning whether they’re loved and supported, or if they’ll fall into depression, addiction and/or risk of suicide stemming from the self-hatred that comes from familial rejection.
That’s the part of this that’s about you. That’s it. […]
Now, do society’s messages make a difference? Sure as hell, they do. Because when an LGBTQ+ kid is enduring the hell of living in an unloving conservative Christian home, a stray message from the outside world that says they’re OK might just be the thing that saves their life. It might be the thing that says there’s a world out there for them if they can just steel themselves and survive until they have a chance to get out. It could even be seeing Sam Smith and Kim Petras at the Grammys and going “Oh wow, those people look like they’re doing OK.”
[…] In the sob story Matt Walsh tells, the main character is poor, put-upon, vile, hateful parents whose grooming has failed, in which case, they’re not losing their child. They’re losing the manufactured vision board child they’ve created in their own hateful image.
Their actual kid didn’t go anywhere. They’re right there, asking their parents to love them more than they love their fucked up, hateful and childish religious beliefs. […]
Let me try that again. Comment, comparison and question…
According to local (SF Bay Area) news sources, The Sierra have gotten some 4 inches less snow than the record 2016-2017 season. That doesn’t count anything from the storm that is moving through as I type this, let alone the storm that is supposed to move through the Bay Area starting on Thursday and drop an estimated 5 feet of new snow.
For any of you that live in normally snowy areas, the accumulated total so far is 47.5 feet of snow.
Since the last time the Union Pacific used its rotary plows was 2017, has anyone heard if they are using them this year….yet?
(One problem with using rotary plows in the Sierra is that once you start using them in any given season, you have to keep using them until the end of the season and the snow all melts.)
[This article is accompanied by a photo of 29-year-old Ukrainian combat medic Yana Rykhlitska who was killed by Russian artillery on March 3]
Bakhmut holds. But maybe it shouldn’t.
We’ve long talked about Bakhmut’s lack of strategic importance. [map at the link]
Russia has focused on Bakhmut for the last eight months because it could. It has a unique network of rail and roads that has made supply to that front relatively easy.
Ukraine has defended it because if not, the next town to the west will be the next to be leveled to the ground. And, for a while, it provided a lopsided casualty balance, with Russia taking disproportionately heavy casualties compared to its dug-in Ukrainian defenders.
But that balance has tilted in the past weeks, and the clear-cut advantages of the city’s defenses have evaporated.
All this leads to terrifying casualties of both dead and wounded. “The battalion came in in the middle of December… between all the different platoons, there were 500 of us,” says Borys, a combat medic from Odesa Oblast fighting around Bakhmut. “A month ago, there were literally 150 of us.”
“When you go out to the position, it’s not even a 50/50 chance that you’ll come out of there (alive),” says the older Serhiy. “It’s more like 30/70.”
That’s reporting from the Kyiv Independent. Not all is well in the city’s defense.
The matter is likely exacerbated by a quality disparity in the forces defending the city. There have been multiple indications that Ukraine is rushing its own mobilized soldiers to the city’s trenches with minimal training. One report put it at five days. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s best, most experienced forces are training for the spring offensive, in Germany, in Poland, or in the rear learning how to use Western armor and drilling NATO-style combined-arms tactics.
Remember the river that runs through the eastern one-third of Bakhmut? Russia has gotten that far. And spring has arrived early, bringing back the miserable mud. [Tweet and and video of evacuation of wounded man … much mud. “Ukrainians report many jeeps and trucks were lost in the mud and only the caterpillars could pass. With more rain expected, once the RAF advances a couple of kilometers to the first lines in Bakhmut, it’ll be impossible to withdraw the rest of the equipment. (They claim the most expensive equipment was withdrawn) Zelensky is trying to keep the city to the last, even under threat of encirclement.”]
The fear of having the next town over leveled by Russia is real, but Russia has also shown very little ability to push beyond its core supply lines. Look at that map above again: The front line is flat. A Russian-held Bakhmut would undoubtedly provide a launching pad for further advances, but there are multiple defensive lines to the city’s west, overlooking open fields like around Vuhledar (where hundreds of Russian armored vehicles and countless Russian corpses litter the surroundings, with minimal corresponding Ukrainian casualties). Look at the hills west of Bakhmut: [map at the link]
Russia will have to attack uphill toward Chasiv Yar, just like they’ve struggled to do so around Vuhledar. [Tweet and images at the link]
(The thread has counted 103 destroyed Russian vehicles in latest attack, while Ukraine claims 130 total. This isn’t counting failed efforts last year.)
Vuhledar isn’t the only analogy. The other is Izyum, which Russia captured April 1, yet they were never able to push more than 25 kilometers from the town in any direction. Heck, one little dot on the map, my favorite hero city of Dovhen’ke (pre-war population: 800) and its defenders single-handedly held off the Russian hordes for months.
Ten months later, Russia may be close to capturing Bakhmut, but Izyum is liberated and free, and far from any active front line.
HUGE TRIGGER WARNING.
I hesitated whether to include this here, but it is one of the clearest examples of a Russian war crime we’ve seen on video. [Tweet and video at the link: “Footage has emerged showing what appears to be Russian soldiers executing a Ukrainian solider for the words “Glory to Ukraine.” It’s unclear where the video comes from, but would on face value be an indisputable war crime.”]
[…] And in case someone is thinking “horrible things happen in the heat of war,” look at the glee and celebration on Russian Telegram. [Image of Russian Telegram messages, with translation. Awful stuff.]
Ukraine is already rallying around this brave martyr. [meme at the link]
And he was the topic of Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelenskyy’s evening address today: [Tweet and video at the link]
Just one of thousands of similarly tragic stories.
Yana Rykhlitska, a 29-year-old paramedic of the 93rd brigade, died near Bakhmut. She was evacuating the wounded when the car she was in got shelled. Yana was a true hero, ready to risk her life to help others. […]
Slava Ukraini! Glory to Ukraine. Russians today posted a video showing how they shoot an unarmed Ukrainian POW dozens of times for saying “Glory to Ukraine”. The video is the most sinister thing I ever saw. So I don’t want to post it.
I just want you to see the face of the hero. That’s him moments before Russians shot him from different sides.
Any yes, here is a video of a rotary snowplow working on Donner Pass on February 9, 2023 YouTube link
UP pulled the Rotary out to cut back the snow bank on the uphill side of Track 2. The spreader was first dispatched from Truckee on Track 1 to push the core between the 2 rails onto the #2 and then the Rotary started at Cisco on Track 2 to scoop up and thrown all that over to the downhill side of the slope. Once they reached the summit, they ran light to Truckee to tie down for the day. This video captures that trip in 3 areas.
More video from February of Union Pacific’s rotary snow plow on Donner Pass: Link
You have to skip occasional advertisements to watch the whole video, but it’s good. About 22 minutes.
Israel Defense Forces reservists’ threat to not report for duty is an “existential” threat to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday as doctors, pilots and other senior military personnel have said that they refuse to serve as long as the government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary is pushing forward.
Speaking at a religious ceremony for the Jewish holiday of Purim in the settlement of Beit Horon, Netanyahu said that the refusal to show up for duty is unacceptable, “also in the public arena.”
“I am convinced that we’ll get over the objection this time,” he said, adding that Israeli society has always rejected conscientious objectors and “sanctified the joint service… We never gave these objectors a foothold anywhere, neither in the regular army nor in the reserves.” [Well, that’s pretty disturbing.]
The premier warned against the expansion of the phenomenon, saying that if it is legitimized, “the scourge of refusal” will become a norm.
Later on Monday, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi wrote that the objectors are “impudent” and “the people of Israel will get along without you, and you can go to hell.”
Responding to Netanyahu’s speech, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid posted a tweet writing that “the one responsible for the chaos and deep rifts in Israeli society and the IDF is only the most destructive government in the country’s history,” referring to the current government, Israel’s most right-wing government in its history.
The prime minister’s comments were made after several reports came out saying that various reserve units in the IDF intend to refuse orders to report to duty due to the ongoing efforts of Netanyahu’s government to pass legislation that will drastically change Israel’s judicial system. On Sunday, an overwhelming majority of reserve pilots in an elite air force unit notified their commanding officers in the Israeli Air Force that they would not participate in a training operation slated for next week.
Earlier on Monday, all the living former commanders of the IAF called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt all legislation related to the judicial overhaul and to “find a solution to the situation as soon as possible.”
Reserve soldiers, and former members of the security establishment in particular, continue to take an active part in leading the protests. On Friday, hundreds of veterans of the Shin Bet security service and Sayeret Matkal (the fabled commando unit of the Entebbe raid) protested in front of the home of Avi Dichter, a former Shin Bet chief and now agriculture minister in Netanyahu’s government.
Around 150 Israeli army reservists who serve as cyber specialists announced Friday that they will stop reporting for duty if the judicial overhaul led by Netanyahu’s far-right government is advanced. Among the reserve personnel are officers in the ranks of colonel, lieutenant colonel and major.
Turkey’s often divided opposition parties have come together to choose a single candidate to face President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in May’s election.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu leads the main secular opposition party, the centre-left Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Polls suggest a tight race in a country highly polarised after two decades of Mr Erdogan’s authoritarian rule.
Economic crisis and errors during last month’s earthquake may make him more vulnerable than in previous elections.
A huge crowd of supporters cheered Mr Kilicdaroglu, a former civil servant, as he was chosen by a six-party opposition alliance.
Known as “Gandhi Kemal” or “Turkey’s Gandhi” for his resemblance to Indian civil rights leader Mahatma Gandhi, the quiet-spoken 74 year old offers a radically different vision in both substance and style to the fiery, charismatic Mr Erdogan’s.
However, some of Mr Kilicdaroglu’s allies fear he lacks drawing power.
He promised his supporters that he would govern Turkey through consensus and consultation.
“Our table is the table of peace,” he said, quoted by Reuters news agency. “Our only goal is to take the country to days of prosperity, peace and joy.”
He also said he would return the country to a parliamentary system – Mr Erdogan oversaw a transition to a presidential system in 2018, gaining sweeping powers.
The CHP was created by modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and is the country’s oldest political party, though it has been out of power centrally since the 1990s.
However, Mr Kilicdaroglu has broadened its appeal by embracing minority groups and has formed alliances with right-wing parties.
He has also shown himself willing to challenge Mr Erdogan, a leader who has become increasingly intolerant of criticism.
In February’s earthquake, in which more than 45,000 people were killed in south-eastern Turkey, Mr Kilicdaroglu led attacks on the government, which he said had allowed corruption and poor building standards.
In an interview about gun control with Oklahoma State Senator Nathan Dahm, Jon Stewart argues Dahm’s support of anti-drag show laws directly conflicts with the logic he uses for loosening gun restrictions.
LGBT Americans in Alaska no longer have most of the legal protections against discrimination they had last year. […] while nobody was looking, Alaska’s Republican attorney general quietly informed the state’s State Commission for Human Rights that anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity no longer apply in any situation other than in the workplace.
Housing, financial, and other forms of discrimination against LGBT Alaskans are now again deemed to be legal, and the commission has dropped the investigations that stemmed from those complaints.
[…] After the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that workplace discrimination against Americans for their sexual orientation or gender identity was illegal, the outcome of Bostock v. Clayton County, Alaska and other states moved forward under the presumption that that meant identical discrimination in housing, banking, or government services would also count as civil rights violations. Alaska’s human rights commission adopted new guidelines stating as such in 2021, and began accepting complaints about such discrimination.
In 2022, however, after a heated Republican primary for the governorship that saw Gov. Mike Dunleavy painted as a veritable leftist by his Republican challengers, Dunleavy-appointed state attorney general Treg Taylor ordered the Commission for Human Rights executive director to reduce the scope of those protections via an email. The Taylor argument was that the Supreme Court only weighed in specifically on whether workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation was a civil rights violation, it didn’t say landlords or banks or government agencies couldn’t discriminate.
The logic: If the Supreme Court wants to ban discrimination in all those other forms, they’re going to have to name each of them specifically. And while the state Supreme Court has also ruled that the Civil Rights Act must be the basis for Alaska’s own anti-discrimination laws, that apparently also doesn’t count. Either Alaska lawmakers make it explicit in the law, or it’s up to each new government-appointed top lawguy to interpret those anti-discrimination provisions however broadly or narrowly as they see fit.
[…] Taylor is Dunleavy’s third appointed attorney general; the first resigned for apparent sexual harassment of a young employee, and the second resigned before being indicted on three felony counts of sexual abuse of a minor. Dunleavy’s been racking one heck of a record when it comes to attorney generals, and none of it speaks to state Republicans having much authority on questions surrounding sex and gender. Yeeesh.
Alaska’s also part of a multi-state lawsuit looking to limit the Supreme Court’s anti-discrimination ruling only to private workplaces, arguing that discrimination against LGBT Americans should still be allowed in schools and other government-run venues.
[…] Even the hardliner Supreme Court is willing to allow that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is a civil rights violation, but conservative officeholders who hold even harder-right views aren’t about to roll over. They’ll drag this out as long as they can, hoping that an even more conservative Supreme Court will erase the Bostock precedent at some point in the near future.
A federal judge on Friday denied a Jan. 6 defendant’s request to delay her imminent trial in order to review thousands of hours of security footage recently made available by Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Volcanologist Þorvaldur Þórðarson believes it likely that Askja volcano is at an advanced stage in the process of preparing for an eruption. The events that have taken place in the last few weeks, such as increased seismic activity and the increase in surface water temperature, fit the pattern of the volcano being well advanced in that preparation.
“There may be an eruption tomorrow, but it may also take months, even years, to prepare for an eruption. But you have the impression that the volcano has come a considerable distance in this process of preparing for an eruption. The fact that the magma has come that far indicates that it is not too long in the process of being ready to take off and show something on the surface,” Þórðarson tells mbl.is.
Þorvaldur Þórðarson, volcanologist at the University of Iceland.
Þorvaldur Þórðarson, volcanologist at the University of Iceland. mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
The turmoil has opened the cracks
The University of Iceland’s Volcano Research Laboratory and Natural Hazards Authority reported earlier this week that a satellite image from Monday showed that Askja lake is steadily heating up. Much of it is now above two degrees, which is considered to be high for winter conditions.
The analysis revealed that the hottest part was the one nearest to Mývatningahraun lava. It had a temperature of over 28 degrees, and the heating currents reached into the lake.
Þórðarson says that the flow of hot water is clearly increasing in the Askja lake caldera.
“This means that the release of geothermal energy is heating up there and is very likely related to the turmoil that has been there and the ensuing uplift. It has opened the cracks of the caldera, and then hot water flows back to the surface and the heat flow increases. That is what is causing this ice melt and this warming of the water.”
Over half of the ice cap has melted.
Over half of the ice cap has melted. mbl.is/Árni Sæberg
Some event could speed up the process
Clearly, Askja has been preparing for an eruption since 2012, and this increase in water temperature is just one aspect of that preparation. But for the first time, scientists will now have the opportunity to observe the process with modern instruments.
“We are seeing that it takes time to prepare. It is a long process, but everything that has been going on, especially the last year, has caused an uplift of magma inside the caldera at Mývatningahraun lava, in a similar location to the increase in geothermal heat. What is causing this uplift is at a rather shallow depth, it’s about three kilometres or something like that, and it’s very likely magma that is causing the caldera floor to lift up. Which means that magma has entered and is making room for itself.”
Þórðarson also points out that seismic activity in the area picked up a bit in February, which fits in well with the pattern of the volcano preparing for an eruption.
“It takes a little more time, then some event can speed it up and then it may go off quickly. It’s a thing we don’t know much about.”
WASHINGTON — Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday released security video from the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, using footage provided exclusively to him by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to portray the riot as a peaceful gathering.
Carlson acquired the tapes as part of a deal for McCarthy, R-Calif., to win the speaker’s gavel. When McCarthy was struggling to gather the votes to lead the House, Carlson used his program to list two “concessions” he could make to win over far-right Republicans.
“First, release the January 6 files. Not some of the January 6 files and video — all of it,” Carlson, the most-watched host on cable news, said after McCarthy faced three failed votes. “So that the rest of us can finally know what actually happened on January 6, 2021.”
In the two months since McCarthy won the gavel, he has granted both. Carlson announced in late February that McCarthy had given him exclusive access to 44,000 hours of security video from the deadly riot before he unveiled some clips of the video on his show Monday night.
Carlson focused Monday’s segment on promoting former President Donald Trump’s narrative by showing video of his supporters walking calmly around the U.S. Capitol. He asserted that other media accounts lied about the attack, proclaiming that while there were some bad apples, most of the rioters were peaceful and calling them “sightseers,” not “insurrectionists.”
“The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress,” Carlson told his audience Monday. “Instead it shows police escorting people through the building, including the now-infamous ‘QAnon Shaman.’”
He continued: “More than 44,000 hours of surveillance footage from in and around the Capitol have been withheld from the public, and once you see the video, you’ll understand why. Taken as a whole, the video does not support the claim that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim.”
Video that Carlson didn’t air shows police and rioters engaged in hours of violent combat that resulted in injuries to hundreds of police officers. Two pipe bombs were also planted nearby but were not detonated.
Nearly 1,000 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack. About 140 officers were assaulted that day, and about 326 people have been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees, including 106 assaults that happened with deadly or dangerous weapons. About 60 people pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement.
[…]
Carlson said he plans to air additional video on his show Tuesday night.
StevoRsays
For this week’s Endangered Species of a Week a species few were expecting to see – and few ever will – the spectacular, vivid pink Aussie mollusc, the Mount Kaputar Pink Slug (Triboniophorus aff. graeffei or Triboniophorus sp. nov. ‘Kaputar’) found only on the summit of the eponymous extinct volcano. Scientifically described just a decade or so ago*, this is one special bright slug with theories on it’s colour ranging from disguising itself as Snow Gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora) leaves to the simple one offered by ranger, biologist specialising in land snails & photographer Michael Murphy in the Australian Geographic article linked here :
“..It might just be that if you’re a giant slug way up on an isolated mountain top, you can be whatever colour you like.”
This extraordinary large mollusc grows up to 20 cm in length – the size of a paperback novel – on a diet not of vegetables like the familiar garden pests but rather on fungi, mosses and algae growing on tree trunks. Found on trees, on rocks and, especially in drier times of day, in the leaf litter; this giant pink slug has a highly restricted range which extends no more than 10 km by 10 km – or if you’d rather 6 square miles. An isolated sub-alpine wet forest the temperature here is ten degrees cooler than its lower plain surroundings creating a “sky island” refuge witha very different ecological community rather reminiscent of the plateau full of fictional surviving dinosaurs – and cavemen – in Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Lost World’ novel! However, instead of megalosaurs, pterodayls and other prehistoric giants, this literally out standing isolated refuge harbours an amazing biodiversity of invertebrates especially including land snails with no less than 3 cannibal snails, the Katupur Hairy Snail and dozens of others as well as this Week’s Species.
This remarkable creature was nearly wiped out in the 2019 bushfires losing 90% of its population yet surprisingly enough managed to survive perhaps by hiding deep in rock cracks. Unfortunately, Global Overheating threatens to drive this spectacular slug and its brethren totally out of existence as a rise of just a few degrees is likely to make the previous wet and cool summit zone here uninhabitable for it and its other Aussie mollluscan little battlers – as well as driving more frequent and deadly bushfires, heatwaves and other extreme weather events. Whilst many will find it easy to dismiss the loss of this special, slimey animal and other slugs and invertebrates in general as Michael Murphy observes :
“‘People tend to focus on the cute and cuddly bird and mammal species like koalas. But these little behind-the-scenes invertebrates really drive whole ecosystems.”
– Michael Murphy, Sydney Morning Herald article by Ben Cubby
May 29, 2013 – link here : (Note : Only one free article per month then you are paywalled there I gather so folks may not want to click that if they think they’ll want to see other SMH articles.)
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Belarus has detained what it described as a “terrorist” and more than 20 accomplices working with Ukrainian and U.S. intelligence services over attempted sabotage at a Belarusian airfield, Reuters cited president Alexander Lukashenko as saying.
Belarusian anti-government activists said last month they had blown up a sophisticated Russian military surveillance aircraft in a drone attack at an airfield near the Belarusian capital Minsk, a claim disputed by Moscow and Minsk….
Poland is to send more tanks to Ukraine this week, the country’s defence minister said on Tuesday.
“Four (tanks) are already in Ukraine, another 10 will go to Ukraine this week,” Mariusz Blaszczak told a news conference. Poland had promised to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks in total.
Ukraine’s military on Tuesday identified a soldier who it said was shot dead by “Russian invaders” in a video spread on social media, and hailed him as a hero whose death would be avenged.
In a Facebook post, the 30th Mechanized Brigade named the man as Tymofiy Shadura. Reuters reports. It said he had been missing since 3 February after hostilities around the eastern city of Bakhmut, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the war in Ukraine.
“According to preliminary information, the deceased is a serviceman of the 30th separate mechanized brigade, Tymofiy Mykolayovych Shadura,” the brigade’s Facebook post said.
Formal confirmation would be made once his body was returned from territory occupied by Russian forces, said the brigade, which is part of Ukraine’s Ground Forces.
The claims have not been independently verified.
On Monday Ukraine urged the international criminal court to investigate the footage circulating on social media that appeared to show Russian fighters killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.
In the graphic clip that first circulated on Telegram, a detained combatant is seen standing in a shallow trench and smoking a cigarette. The soldier says “Glory to Ukraine” and is then apparently shot with automatic weapons.
The United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, will meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Wednesday to discuss extending a deal with Moscow that allows the Black Sea export of Ukraine grains amid Russia’s war in the country, Reuters reports….
The situation is “stable and controlled” in the Luhansk region the governor, Serhiy Haidai, has said.
In a post on Telegram, Haidai said the number of attacks in the direction of Bilohorivka and Kreminna had increased. Today, he said, the Russians have “pulled back to replenish their reserves”….
A court in Moscow has sentenced a student activist to eight and a half years in prison for social media posts criticising Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Dmitry Ivanov was convicted on Tuesday of spreading false information about the Russian army, AP reports. That was made a criminal offence under a new law Russian lawmakers rubber-stamped a week after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.
Ivanov was charged over a number of posts in his Telegram channel that called Russia’s campaign in Ukraine a “war” and talked about Russian forces attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, committing war crimes in the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha and Irpin, and targeting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Most were reposts from other sources.
The legislation has been used to prosecute individuals who deviate from the government’s official narrative of the conflict that the Kremlin insists on calling “a special military operation.”
Prominent opposition politicians, such as Ilya Yashin, who is serving an eight-and-a-half-year prison term, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is in jail awaiting trial, also were charged with spreading false information about the military.
Jan Gagin, an adviser to the Russian-installed leaders in the occupied portion of Donetsk, has claimed that Russian forces control about half of Bakhmut and have control over all the asphalt roads in the area. None of the claims about the situation in Bakhmut have been independently verified.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine is committed to defending the embattled city despite a partial encirclement. The Ukrainian president said he had held a meeting with senior generals and commanders in which it was resolved that there was “no part of Ukraine” that “can be abandoned”.
Ukraine’s ongoing defence of Bakhmut is forcing Russian to engage in a costly battle for a city that “isn’t intrinsically important operationally or strategically”, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Agence France-Presse is carrying some comments it attributes to founder of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin. It reports that Prigozhin would not comment on defence minister Sergei Shoigu’s earlier remarks that the capture of the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut was key to launching a further offensive in the wider region.
In remarks carried by his press service, Prigozhin urged against “putting the cart before the horse, saying that we have taken Bakhmut and what will happen after”.
He estimated that between “12,000 and 20,000” Ukrainian troops were still defending the city.
“It is very complicated to kill between 12,000-20,000 Ukrainian soldiers by tomorrow morning. Such masters only exist in the depths of the general staff or at Soyuzmultfilm,” he said, referring to the Russian cartoon studio founded in the Soviet era….
“Check their shoes and look for mud!” shouted one Atlanta police department officer to another.
The sun was setting against a tree line growing greener daily due to recent balmy, spring-like weather in Atlanta, but the bucolic setting of a Sunday in the sun at a free music festival abruptly became panic and chaos.
Dozens of law enforcement officers, many with automatic weapons [JFC], swarmed into a forest of hundreds of acres, seeking to find any of the 200 or so activists who had set fire to a bulldozer, trailer and other infrastructure used for construction on “Cop City”, a $90m, 85-acre police and fire department training center, about an hour earlier.
The clash was just the latest dramatic chapter to hit the Cop City project, which has already seen one environmental activist shot dead by police – the first incident of its kind in the US – and drawn national and international attention to the fight to save the Georgia forest where the giant project is planned.
The one officer’s frenzied order about dirty footwear seemed as absurd as any part of the Sunday night operation, since Georgia rains had left muddy patches all over the forest, and at least 600 people were lying on the grass, or camped among the trees, or entering the forest to catch an evening’s music under the stars or leaving – thus many had mud on their shoes.
But such was the situation on Sunday night, on the second night of the fifth “week of action” by activists over the last year dedicated to protecting the land called South River forest on municipal maps and Weelaunee forest by activists – using the Muscogee (Creek) word for “brown water”.
The scene included police running through trees, arresting a legal observer from the National Lawyers Guild, sending a negotiator to agree on terms with five randomly chosen individuals for letting about a hundred music festival audience members safely leave the forest, and detaining journalists for questioning on “what they were there to cover”.
…
Police officers had…threatened to arrest the hundred or so people who were lolling about in the field and listening to music only hours earlier if some agreement couldn’t be reached for their evacuation, said Jeff Simms, a retired federal endangered species biologist who was there.
Simms – who had come to the forest from Tucson, Arizona, to spend the week camping in the forest with his 21-year-old daughter, Alyssa – found the two of them thrust into unexpected positions as members of a five-person negotiating team on Sunday night.
Simms had watched dozens of police officers entering the forest from various sides and thought: “We’re all going to jail.”
…
On Sunday night, even as music continued on stage – mostly soft folk tunes, Simms said – police formed a line on the field. One had an AR-15 assault-type rifle, he said. Another announced on a bullhorn that they had a negotiator, and asked for five people to step forward.
“My daughter and I went, along with three others, and we all took turns speaking,” the 61-year-old said. The officer assured the team that they weren’t setting a trap, and said the crowd, which included at least one elementary school-aged child, would have 10 minutes to clear the field – or “we will arrest you for domestic terrorism”, Simms said the police told him.
…
Eventually, the crowd was able to leave – even as officers in other parts of the forest were attempting to find, and arrest, anyone who had participated in vandalizing the construction equipment.
Simms and his daughter returned to the forest on Monday, to camp for the rest of the week. “I want to take notes about the biology of this forest,” he said. “I came here to do that.” The Center for Biological Diversity, a national organization, recently issued a statement calling for protecting the forest due to its biological and ecological importance.
Mariah Parker, a union organizer, rapper and former Athens-Clarke county commissioner, went to the forest for the first time on Sunday. She had already been public in her opposition to the Cop City project for months, based on concerns about the increasing militarization of police and mass incarceration, particularly in Black communities.
After spending an afternoon in the forest and at the music festival, she said: “It was so beautiful – seeing people building community. I was feeling excited for what this space could be, what kind of a world we could really have.” Parker, who is Black, had met a Black mother and her two children who lives near the forest, other rap artists, and local community gardeners and teachers.
She left at about 5.30pm – right before activists entered the training center construction site. Several hours later, friends in the forest texted her, frightened. “People were hiding in the woods, and not sure how to get out – and they weren’t even involved [in the vandalism],” she said.
Several of Parker’s friends were Black. For them, she said, “it must have been one of the worst moments of their lives, not being able to leave, or know what would happen. Particularly for Black folks, it must have felt like, ‘This is how I’m going to die.’”
MSNBC does have a reporter, Blayne Alexander, reporting from the scene, but they seem to be restricting her coverage to hold to their political line and preserve their access to local officials.
Ukrainian forces have ‘likely stabilized’ their defensive perimeter in Bakhmut following Russian efforts to encroach from the north of the city, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry’s daily intelligence update published on March 7.
Both sides are suffering heavy losses in and around Bakhmut, the ministry said.
…
The ministry added that ongoing disputes between the Russian military and the Wagner private mercenary group over weapons allocation highlight a larger issue for the Russian military in maintaining its attack.
Russia has sustained “20,000 to 30,000 casualties’’ – killed and wounded – in trying to capture Bakhmut, western officials estimated at a briefing on Tuesday. While no firm figure was offered for Ukrainian losses, the official said it was “significantly less”.
The official speculated that a high proportion of those casualties, many of which will be prisoners recruited by Wagner, could have been killed. “The death rates of Wagner has [sic] been significantly higher than the Russian armed forces,” they said, which have been estimated at three wounded to one killed.
The figures are crude estimates and impossible to verify, but if broadly accurate would mean that Russia may have sustained more casualties than the US did in 20 years of operations in Afghanistan, where a little less than 21,000 were killed and wounded.
The officials said they believed that Ukraine is still able to hold and resupply its military in Bakhmut, although the city is surrounded from three sides and said the defenders could “last for another month” – or chose to make a tactical withdrawal “within a week”. But the course of the long-running battle remained uncertain, they added.
StevoRsays
Hmm..
A terrestrial planet hovering between Mars and Jupiter would be able to push Earth out of the solar system and wipe out life on this planet, according to a UC Riverside experiment. ..(snip)… To fill them in, Kane ran dynamic computer simulations of a planet between Mars and Jupiter with a range of different masses, and then observed the effects on the orbits of all other planets. The results, published in the Planetary Science Journal, were mostly disastrous for the solar system. “This fictional planet gives a nudge to Jupiter that is just enough to destabilize everything else,” Kane said. “Despite many astronomers having wished for this extra planet, it’s a good thing we don’t have it.” ..(snip).. Depending on the mass and exact location of a super-Earth, its presence could ultimately eject Mercury and Venus as well as Earth from the solar system. It could also destabilize the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, tossing them into outer space as well.
The Associated Press reported that over the past 11 months, a massive number of fake, automated Twitter accounts — “perhaps hundreds of thousands of them” — have been created to praise Donald Trump and deride his intra-party rivals. It’s unclear who or what is responsible for the accounts.
Over the past 11 months, someone created thousands of fake, automated Twitter accounts — perhaps hundreds of thousands of them — to offer a stream of praise for Donald Trump.
Besides posting adoring words about the former president, the fake accounts ridiculed Trump’s critics from both parties and attacked Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador who is challenging her onetime boss for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
When it came to Ron DeSantis, the bots aggressively suggested that the Florida governor couldn’t beat Trump, but would be a great running mate. [Unlikely!]
As Republican voters size up their candidates for 2024, whoever created the bot network is seeking to put a thumb on the scale, using online manipulation techniques pioneered by the Kremlin to sway the digital platform conversation about candidates while exploiting Twitter’s algorithms to maximize their reach. […]
In Minnesota, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz on Friday signed into law a measure that restores voting rights to former felons who’ve served their sentences. Minnesota Public Radio called the measure, which Republicans have long opposed, “the largest voting rights expansion the state has seen in decades.” MPR News link
Some of the people who broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, could be seen in some security camera footage walking around and not breaking things or assaulting any Capitol police officers. Thanks to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, that’s the case Tucker Carlson is using his unfettered access to Jan. 6 security footage to make on Fox News.
Forget all the footage of violence, Carlson told his viewers on Monday night. Forget the testimony of police officers about the assaults and injuries they faced at the hands of the Trump-supporting mob. It really was a normal tourist visit.
“It was something like I had seen out of the movies,” U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards told the Jan. 6 committee on live national television. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were officers on the ground they were bleeding. They were throwing up. … I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people’s blood.” Edwards herself suffered a concussion.
But Carlson found footage over which to put this voiceover: “They were orderly and meek. These were not insurrectionists, they were sightseers. Footage from inside the Capitol overturns the story you’ve heard about January 6. Protesters queue up in neat little lines. They give each other tours outside the speaker’s office. They take cheerful selfies and they smile. They’re not destroying the Capitol, they obviously revere the Capitol. They’re there because they believe the election was stolen from them. They believe in the system.”
Tours outside the speaker’s office? Was that before or after they broke into the office? Before Bigo Barnett, with a stun gun tucked inside his pants, put his feet on Nancy Pelosi’s desk and left her a note calling her a [B-word]?
“They’re there because they believe the election was stolen from them”—but they’re just there on a nice little sightseeing visit, not to do anything about their belief that the election was stolen? At least 1,000 people have been arrested and 500 have pleaded guilty for their participation in the insurrection. Two Oath Keeper leaders were found guilty of seditious conspiracy and three others were found guilty of charges including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiring to prevent officers from discharging their duties, and civil disorder.
Carlson went on to spend some time arguing that Jacob Chansley, the so-called QAnon shaman, was a peaceful visitor who was given a personal tour of the Capitol by several police officers. “To this day, there is dispute over how Chansley got into the Capitol building,” Carlson said. The reality is different. [Tweet and video at the link. Tucker is lying.]
Even if you don’t know that the door was breached less than 40 seconds earlier, you can see people climbing in through a window in that picture. It’s a clue that this is not a standard tourist visit. Other footage shows Chansley outside the Capitol close to the front of a mob breaking through police barriers.
As I said, even by Carlson’s standards, this is an elaborate and brazen lie.
Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell responded directly to Carlson’s report with photos of his injuries: [Tweet at the link]
The family of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died following the attack on the Capitol, released a blistering statement. “Carlson’s ‘truth’ is to pick and choose footage that supports his delusional views that the Jan 6th Insurrection was peaceful,” they wrote. In doing so, he is “downplaying the horrid situation faced by the USCP and the DC Metro Police who were incredibly outnumbered and were literally fighting for their very lives.”
Later in the statement, they ask, “What will it take to silence the lies from people like Carlson? What will it take to convince people that the Jan 6th Insurrection was very real, was very violent, and that the event was orchestrated by a man who is every bit as corrupt and evil as Vladamir Putin?”
But Carlson is not only using the footage to argue that the attack on the Capitol was not a violent attack but was a sightseeing visit by people who revered the Capitol. He’s using it to revisit lies about the 2020 election having been stolen—the argument is that these people were not violent but that they had every right to be.
“The protesters were angry. They believed that the election they had just voted in had been unfairly conducted,” Carlson said. “They were right. In retrospect, it is clear the 2020 election was a grave betrayal of American democracy. Given the facts that have since emerged about that election, no honest person can deny it.”
This is, of course, false. The Trump campaign and its allies took claims of fraud and theft to court dozens of times. Since then, Republicans in multiple states have combed through ballots looking for evidence of theft, and repeatedly failed to find it. There are no facts that would lead an honest person to even question the validity and integrity of the 2020 presidential election. Carlson is strenuously working to get the Fox News audience on board with the next coup attempt by painting this one as innocent patriotism. And he’s been enabled in this by McCarthy giving him this footage ahead of any other news organization, so that Carlson can feed his viewers lies that they will then cling to when more footage emerge.
Meanwhile, Tucker should get right on this: [Tweet: “TUCKER CARLSON EXCLUSIVE! Newly released footage PROVES that in 1941 the Nazis were simply tourists in Paris!” [video at the link]]
Here are some more reminders of what really happened on Jan. 6, 2021: [photos and video at the link]
SC @438: Your tweet of the day was swamped by terrible responses. Every comment was negative (though I just stopped reading after a bit), most were stupid and misinformed. Tankies and bots, I imagine. Really disheartening, but that seems to be Twitter now. (I’m not aiming this at you, of course; about the only time I look at twitter is to see your TOTDs.)
Pierce R. Butlersays
Lynna @ # 455 quoting some Kossack: There are no facts that would lead an honest person to even question the validity and integrity of the 2020 presidential election.
Except widespread voter suppression in Florida and other states, of course. Why do denialist debunkers never mention that?
Donald Trump and some of his Republican allies are seizing on Tucker Carlson’s misleading Jan. 6 footage in sad but predictable ways.
The Republicans’ theatrical production in recent weeks has been exasperating to watch. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy started the first act by giving Fox News’ Tucker Carlson exclusive access to sensitive Jan. 6 footage, despite — or more likely, because of — the television personality’s ridiculous record of covering the insurrectionist attack on the Capitol in irresponsible ways.
Naturally, [McCarthy] exploited the move by turning it into a fundraising appeal — claiming that he was advancing “truth and transparency over partisan games,” when he was obviously doing the opposite.
The Fox host aired the second act on his program last night, doing exactly what everyone knew he would do: Carlson cherry-picked footage that was designed to bolster the counter-narrative that the controversial television personality has pushed for two years.
This, naturally, set the stage for the third act: Many Republicans, sticking to the partisan script, are seizing on Carlson’s predictable coverage to advance their predetermined agenda.
Take Donald Trump, for example.
Two years ago, the former president saw a political benefit to condemning the attack and the rioters who targeted the Capitol at his behest. In time, Trump ultimately defended the insurrectionists, embraced them, offered them pardons, and even recorded a weird song with some of them.
But Carlson’s show has given the former president a whole new reason to abandon the pretense he tried to maintain in the immediate aftermath of the Capitol violence. Last night, for example, [Trump] turned to his social media platform to condemn the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation as a “scam,” adding, “‘Trump’ and most others are totally innocent.” (I have no idea why he referred to himself in third person with quotes around his name.)
The former president soon after praised McCarthy for helping create the scheme, before adding, “A whole new, and completely opposite, picture has now been indelibly painted. The Unselect Committee LIED, and should be prosecuted for their actions.”
This morning, he went even further. The Washington Post reported:
Former president Donald Trump continued Tuesday to voice solidarity with the mob that overran the U.S. Capitol more than two years ago, writing in a social media post, “LET THE JANUARY 6 PRISONERS GO. THEY WERE CONVICTED, OR ARE AWAITING TRIAL, BASED ON A GIANT LIE, A RADICAL LEFT CON JOB,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform.
To the extent that reality still has any role in the discussion, Trump’s claims were utterly bonkers, but some of his GOP allies have begun pushing the same line. Before Carlson’s program last night was even over, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, for example, accused the bipartisan select committee that investigated the attack of having “LIED to America,” adding, “They must be held accountable.” Around the same time, Rep. Mike Collins, also of Georgia, published a tweet that read, “I’ve seen enough. Release all J6 political prisoners now.”
Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii told NBC News yesterday, “Electorally, it’s not to their advantage to be on the side of insurrectionists. But hasn’t stopped them before.”
Evidently, it’s not stopping them now, either.
In fairness, it’s important to emphasize that plenty of other Republicans, most notably in the Senate, have not taken a Trump-like position on Carlson’s coverage. Some GOP senators this morning rejected the Fox host’s conclusions in candid terms.
But the House Republican Conference is nevertheless helping promote Carlson’s segment, and the former president is seizing on it to call for the release of suspected criminals.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered floor remarks this morning, accusing the Fox host of telling “disgraceful lies” and airing “one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen on cable television.” The New York Democrat went to say Carlson has sided with “the enemies of democracy.”
Unfortunately, Carlson apparently isn’t the only one.
This article is topped by a photo of Ukrainian combat medic Yuliia Paievska, Azovastal defender and former POW. She will receive the International Women of Courage Award from Jill Biden at a White House ceremony.
Yesterday I wrote that it was for Ukraine to retreat from Bakhmut. Since then, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed that the city is being reinforced, and Ukraine has no plans to surrender it. Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen. It’s in Ukraine’s interest to have Russia keep funneling forces toward Bakhmut, even if it plans an eventual retreat. [Tweet and video at the link]
But today is less about Bakhmut and more about perspective. [map at the link]
I created this map weeks ago and you know what Russians have achieved ever since? Nothing, except grinding their troops in Vuhledar, Kreminna and Bakhmut down. The strategic Ukrainian defense is more than intact and even some Russians are starting realize that it is over.
So that is not totally accurate. Russia gained a bit more than 80 square kilometers around Bakhmut in that time. That’s 30 square miles, or a 5-mile-by-6-mile grid. Still, you can’t see that on the map above because it is a militarily insignificant gain. And if you don’t already know where Bakhmut is on that map, good luck finding it. (It’s the middle red arrow.)
All the orange arrows are the locations of Russia’s big winter offensive. Remember back in February, when everyone was like “RUSSIA’S WINTER OFFENSIVE IS COMING!”, and then they were like, “Wait, is this the winter offensive?” In reality, the last two months have been more of the same self-destructive Russian tactics—mostly frontal assaults against deeply entrenched Ukrainian positions. Both sides may be suffering brutal casualties, but the Pentagon estimates a 5-1 Russian-to-Ukraine casualty ratio. Ukraine will take it. (They claim 7-1, for what it’s worth.)
We have seen some Russian armor, but Ukraine has really perfected its destruction. I’ve linked to this several times, but it never ceases to amaze me: [Tweet and images at the link]
Ukraine claims 130 Russian pieces of armor destroyed in the last month around Vuhledar, where the supposed “elite” Russian Naval Infantry (aka Marines) got absolutely decimated. The thread above counts 102 pieces of armor and one helicopter, making Ukrainian claims credible.
Back in the fall, we hoped for a big Ukrainian winter offensive once the ground froze. Maybe we’d see Svatove and Kreminna liberated in the north! Instead, something better happened—Western nations finally pledged serious armor. At last count, Ukraine should be getting several hundred main battle tanks and over 1,000 infantry fighting vehicles over the next two months. The U.S. is training Ukrainian officers in combined arms warfare in Germany. Ukrainian troops are currently learning how to operate their new vehicles, and whatever combined-arms lessons are learned in Germany, those Ukrainian units will need to spend several months drilling lessons learned to work out the various kinks.
Indeed, as much as everyone talks about a spring Ukrainian counteroffensive, don’t be surprised to see it dragged out closer to summer. With Russia hellbent on depleting itself using ineffective infantry Zerg rushes, it makes military sense for Ukraine to whittle them down for as long as it takes its offensive firepower to prepare in the rear.
The tragedy is that Ukraine is manning many of its front-line trenches with their own mobilized units, with minimal training and inadequate support. It’s short-term pain in service of Ukraine’s long-term goals, and it freakin’ sucks for those being asked to make that sacrifice. They are buying the time Ukraine needs to prepare with their own blood.
That sacrifice isn’t in vain, as Russia’s big winter offensive has barely budged the lines. The longer defenses hold, regardless of the cost, the better Ukraine’s new armored vanguards will be prepared to liberate their country later this year.
[tweet and video at the link]
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham stated today that he is preparing to present Legislation to the Senate that would allow for the deployment of U.S. Military Forces to Mexico; this comes after 4 Americans were Kidnapped with 3 most likely being Killed by the Gulf Cartel on Friday.
No, we shouldn’t invade Mexico. What the f is wrong with those people?
130 more Ukrainian heroes were freed from Russian captivity today. [Tweet and video at the link] The bulk were Azovstal defenders.
[Tweet and video at the link] Woah, what’s a Ukrainian medic doing in the White House? Seemed like a story worth digging into.
Before she was captured, Paievska, better known throughout Ukraine as Taira, had recorded more than 256 gigabytes of harrowing bodycam footage showing her team’s efforts to save the wounded in the besieged city of Mariupol. She got the footage to Associated Press journalists, the last international team in Mariupol, on a tiny data card.
The journalists fled the city on March 15 with the card embedded inside a tampon, carrying it through 15 Russian checkpoints. The next day, Taira was taken by pro-Russia forces.
Three months passed before she emerged on June 17, thin and haggard, her athlete’s body more than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) lighter from lack of nourishment and activity. She said the AP report that showed her caring for Russian and Ukrainian soldiers alike, along with civilians of Mariupol, was critical to her release
…
The camera was on when she intervened to treat a wounded Russian soldier, whom she called “sunshine,” as she does nearly everyone who comes into her life. She chronicled the death of a boy and the successful effort to save his sister, who is now one of Mariupol’s many orphans. On that day, she collapsed against a wall and wept.
Reviewing the video, she said it was a rare loss of control.
“If I cried all the time, I wouldn’t have time to deal with the wounded. So during the war, of course, I became a little harder,” she said. “I shouldn’t have shown that I was breaking down. … We can mourn later.”
The children weren’t the first or the last she treated, she said. But they were part of a larger loss for Ukraine.
“My heart bleeds when I think about it, when I remember how the city died. It died like a person — it was agonizing,” she said. “It feels like when a person is dying and you can’t do anything to help, the same way.”
Republicans are effectively being asked to choose between siding with the Capitol Police and siding with Fox News. Mitch McConnell prefers the former.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger saw Fox News’ Tucker Carlson use exclusive access to Jan. 6 footage and twist it into a distorted picture. As NBC News reported, Manger was not impressed.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger on Tuesday ripped Fox News host Tucker Carlson for spreading “offensive and misleading conclusions” about the Jan. 6 insurrection, including a “disturbing accusation” that Officer Brian Sicknick’s death had nothing to do with the riot. In a letter to the Capitol Police force that was obtained by NBC News, Manger conveyed his outrage over the way Carlson portrayed footage aired on his prime-time program on Monday night. The security video was exclusively provided to Carlson by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
“The program conveniently cherry-picked from the calmer moments of our 41,000 hours of video,” Manger wrote in the letter. “The commentary fails to provide context about the chaos and violence that happened before or during these less tense moments.”
The chief went on to note that the controversial television personality and his team “never reached out to the Department to provide accurate context,” adding that some of the host’s assertions were “outrageous and false.”
At face value, this was a significant development, in part because it puts Republicans in a position in which they’ll have to choose between siding with law enforcement and siding with allied cable network that partners with the party.
But it became even more notable this afternoon when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell picked a side.
Asked if it was a mistake for McCarthy to provide Carlson with special access, McConnell told reporters, “My concern is how [the footage] was depicted. Clearly the chief of the Capitol police, in my view, correctly describes what most of us witnessed firsthand on Jan. 6. It was a mistake, in my view, for Fox News to depict this in a way that’s completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here at the Capitol thinks.”
The Kentucky Republican, well aware of the placement of nearby cameras, held up a copy of Manger’s letter as he spoke to reporters. The GOP leader added that he wanted to “associate myself entirely with the opinion of the chief of the Capitol police about what happened on Jan. 6.”
McConnell was given a variety of opportunities to criticize McCarthy, but he very carefully declined. That said, the Senate Republican leader didn’t offer any words of support for his House colleague, either.
On more than a few occasions in recent months, the top two GOP leaders have not been on the same page. It appears we have yet another example to add to the growing list.
[…] “The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress,” Carlson told his audience on Monday. “Instead it shows police escorting people through the building.”
[…] Carlson used select frames of the security footage […] to try and reinforce his false narrative that the Jan. 6 attack was nothing more than a bunch of peaceful “sightseers” touring the Capitol building with police escorts.
“‘Deadly insurrection.’ Everything about that phrase is a lie,” Carlson added. “Very little about Jan. 6 was organized or violent. Surveillance video from inside the Capitol shows mostly peaceful chaos.”
This is all, of course, not true. The majority of Americans watched the violent attack on the Capitol unfold on live TV. Hundreds of rioters have been charged for violently breaching the building. Members of the far-right group Oath Keepers have already been convicted of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the coordinated attack on the Capitol. Members of another far-right extremist group, the Proud Boys, are facing similar charges. As the Jan. 6 select committee found, insurrectionists attacked the Capitol in an effort to stop the peaceful transfer of power and many of them believed they were acting on directives from then-President Donald Trump.
But it seems Tucker Carlson’s MAGA-landish take on the painfully selective footage might have convinced at least one person: Elon Musk, the guy who has ruined Twitter for everyone.
Following the show, Musk went on one of his bizarre Twitter rants to attack several lawmakers that were a part of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack last year, ironically accusing them of “misleading the public” and latching onto debunked conspiracy theories about the FBI and law enforcement’s response on Jan. 6.
Responding to a tweet about the two Republicans on the committee, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and co-chair former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), Musk said they were guilty of withholding evidence and added their actions were “deeply wrong.”
“Besides misleading the public, they withheld evidence for partisan political reasons that sent people to prison for far more serious crimes than they committed,” Musk said. “That is deeply wrong, legally and morally.”
In a separate tweet, Musk called the footage “shocking indeed.” [FFS. Musk is such a gullible fool.]
[…] Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and several other Senate Republicans also criticized Carlson’s characterization of the deadly Capitol riot as a “mostly peaceful chaos.”
[…] “I think it’s bullshit,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told reporters in the Capitol, according to NBC News.
“I was here. I was down there and I saw maybe a few tourists, a few people who got caught up in things,” he added. “But when you see police barricades breached, when you see police officers assaulted, all of that … if you were just a tourist you should’ve probably lined up at the visitors’ center and came in on an orderly basis.”
I understand that people are outraged by the Tucker Carlson/Kevin McCarthy video stunt. It’s natural and understandable to react negatively and angrily to liars and traitors. But this is not at all the best or most effective response. The first response is simply mockery. That’s the most logical response and also the most effective. Watch these videos. They’re moments when the insurrectionists weren’t breaking down doors or hitting Capitol Police over the head with flag poles. This is like showing a Zapruder film containing just the part where JFK is happily waving to the crowd in Dealey Plaza. He’s having a great time. Why does Oswald get such a bad rap? Similarly, it’s been shown that probably 99% of the time Osama bin Laden wasn’t blowing up anything. And yet, look at what’s gotten all the focus.
This is more Saturday Night Live skit than outrage.
Yet there’s something in the liberal mentality that makes this emotive register sometimes hard to operate in. It’s not funny! It’s super serious, I hear again and again. Well, yes it is. But it’s also hilarious. And mockery is often a more powerful weapon than outrage.
This deserves mockery because it is a lame and transparent effort on the part of the 20% to 25% of the population (and their Fox News cheerleaders) which endorses and supports the insurrection to repackage their degenerate values as a kind of evidentiary breakthrough. The insurrection was traitorous and disgusting; clumsily edited video of an insurrectionist putting back upright a flipped over chair is hilarious because it’s so stupid. We should treat it as such.
It’s also another opportunity to remind voters in 2024 of the main reason they turned against Republicans in 2022: their obsession with taking away rights and supporting violent extremists to overthrow the federal constitution. […] insurrection-supporting members of Congress have been on Twitter over the last 24 hours demanding that all violent insurrectionists, convicted or awaiting trial, be immediately freed in the wake of this new “evidence.”
What can be done about this? Just make a note of every affirmative statement and every refusal to comment and cue it up for use in 30 second ads. It’s true that most of those who publicly state their support for the insurrectionists and future violence against the constitution are from fairly safe districts. But that hardly matters. It’s the support of the entire GOP caucuses in the House and Senate and, in truth, in every legislative chamber across the country which puts radicals and extremists like these in positions of power. The same goes for presidential candidates. Donald Trump demanded the release of all the most violent insurrectionists who supported his call to attack the Capital. But no other Republican presidential candidate, declared or expected, has denounced this latest wave of stated support for the January 6th attack.
The real lesson of the 2022 election is that the country is ready to move on from extremists and traitors. And yet they’re going right back to it because it’s who they are. We hear constantly how the GOP is moving on from Donald Trump and yet not a single Republican of any standing is ready to denounce him when he promises a 2024 election in which he pledges “I am your retribution.” Democrats need to make that clear again and again until the insurrection is clobbered out of them by loss after loss.
A Missouri law banning local police from enforcing federal gun laws is unconstitutional and void, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes ruled the 2021 law is preempted by the federal government under the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause.
“At best, this statute causes confusion among state law enforcement officials who are deputized for federal task force operations, and at worst, is unconstitutional on its face,” Wimes wrote.
The Missouri law had subjected law enforcement agencies with officers who knowingly enforced federal gun laws without equivalent state laws to a fine of $50,000 per violating officer.
Federal laws without similar Missouri laws include statutes covering weapons registration and tracking, and possession of firearms by some domestic violence offenders.
Conflict over Missouri’s law wrecked a crime-fighting partnership with U.S. attorneys that Missouri’s former Republican attorney general, now-Sen. Eric Schmitt, touted for years. Under Schmitt’s Safer Streets Initiative, attorneys from his office were deputized as assistant U.S. attorneys to help prosecute violent crimes.
The Justice Department, which last year sued to overturn the Missouri law, said the Missouri state crime lab, operated by the Highway Patrol, refused to process evidence that would help federal firearms prosecutions after the law took effect.
The Missouri Information and Analysis Center, also under the Highway Patrol, stopped cooperating with federal agencies investigating federal firearms offenses. And the Highway Patrol, along with many other agencies, suspended joint efforts to enforce federal firearms laws.
Wimes said police can now work with federal partners without worrying about breaking the voided law. […]
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) blasted Walgreens on Monday for its decision to stop dispersing abortion pills in 20 states and said California will not be conducting business with the company.
“California won’t be doing business with @walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk. We’re done,” Newsom tweeted on Monday.
Walgreens announced last week that it will no longer sell abortion pills by mail in 20 states after attorneys general in those states warned that the company and CVS could face legal consequences for selling the pill. The states include Iowa, Alaska, Arkansas, Alabama, South Dakota, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas; several of the states have strong restrictions on abortion.
“California is reviewing all relationships between Walgreens and the state. We will not pursue business with companies that cave to right wing bullies pushing their extremist agenda or companies that put politics above the health of women and girls,” a spokesperson for Newsom said in an emailed statement to The Hill. […]
Senator Mitt Romney added: “Any attempt to normalize what was a violent attack on the United States Capitol only makes it more intriguing for people to do such a thing in the future,” he said, comparing Carlson to Alex Jones’ false portrayal of the Sandy Hook shooting.
Excerpts from the statement from Officer Brian Sicknick’s family:
“Every time the pain of that day seems to have ebbed a bit, organizations like Fox rip our wounds wide open again and we are frankly sick of it,” the Sicknick family said. […]
“FOX has shown time and time again that they are little more than the propaganda arm of the Republican Party and like Pravda, will do whatever they are told to keep the hatred and the lies flowing while suppressing anything resembling the truth,” the family said. “Fox does this not for any sense of morality as they have none, but for the quest for every penny of advertising money they can get from those who buy airtime from them.”
Sen. Joe Manchin’s opposition to Sohn helped seal her fate: “Gigi Sohn, a consumer advocate who faced an unprecedented wave of personal attacks, has withdrawn her candidacy to join the Federal Communications Commission. Sohn would have been both the first openly gay FCC commissioner and the rare commissioner who spent her career working in the nonprofit and advocacy realm, rather than the telecommunications industry that the FCC regulates.”
“FCC nominations and confirmations are usually uneventful, but Sohn’s became a combative and drawn-out affair.”
[…] Sohn said: “The unrelenting, dishonest and cruel attacks on my character and my career as an advocate for the public interest have taken an enormous toll on me and my family.” […]
A Calamitous Day At The ‘Fair And Balanced’ Network
I’m not sure longtime Fox News critics and observers could have imagined a day like Tuesday ever coming to pass. The cable news net’s lies, fabrications, bamboozlement, and misinformation all came home to roost in spectacular fashion.
On a day that not so long ago would have seen Fox News preening over its top star’s bogus Monday night segment downplaying the Jan. 6 attack, Rupert Murdoch’s baby was instead lambasted by Republicans and law enforcement and humiliated by more revelations from the titanic defamation case pending against it.
Tuesday marked a collision between the Dominion Voting Systems $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News over its Big Lie claims during the 2020 election and the network’s latest Big Lie: that Jan. 6 was a hoax, a peaceful saunter of the citizenry through the halls of the Capitol. One Big Lie begat another, both centered on the 2020 election and its aftermath. All in service of Donald Trump, its own ratings, and the warped worldview that sustains a propaganda network for more than quarter of a century.
In the end though, what was most striking about yesterday was Fox News starting to eat its own. No one deserves it more than the personalities, hosts, and would-be journalists who populate the Fox News shows.
Fox v. Fox! In a remarkable segment Tuesday night, Fox News host Bret Baier and congressional reporter Chad Pergram effectively counter-programmed Tucker Carlson’s Jan. 6 whitewash from the night before.
The segment starts off as you might expect, touting Carlson’s “new” surveillance video containing images that “were hidden from the public for more than two years.” But then you can almost hear the tires screeching and the gears grinding as Baier hits the breaks and reverses course, kicking it to a pre-recorded report from Pergram on the Hill, where pushback was fierce all day.
The segment ends with an amazing and hilarious “to be sure” closing from Baier: “And to be clear, no one here at Fox News condones any of the violences that happened on Jan. 6.”
Gretchen Carlson Was Having None Of It
The fiercest reaction to the Baier segment came from Gretchen Carlson, the former host of the rancid Fox & Friends morning show who left the network in 2016 after she sued longtime Fox News boss Roger Ailes for sexual harassment. Ailes resigned soon after and died less than a year later. Fox settled Gretchen Carlson’s case for $20 million and a public apology. Gone yesterday was Carlson’s ex-pageant queen “Minnesota nice,” replaced with the kind of salty language you’d have expected from Ailes himself:
This is F’in bs — have your “straight” news anchor call out total fabricated lies and an injustice to the American public by promoting lies via Tucker Carlson and pretend it’s not your network. WTF –
More at the link, including: “McConnell Renounces Tucker Carlson Segment,” “Capitol Police Chief Rips Tucker Carlson,” “Tucker Carlson on Trump: ‘I hate him passionately’ ” and more.
Two days before Jan. 6, Carlson texted a colleague: “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait.”
More Carlson on Trump: “I hate him passionately. … What he’s good at is destroying things. He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong.”
Carlson on the eve of touting the bogus claims about Dominion: “The whole thing seems insane to me. And Sidney Powell won’t release the evidence. Which I hate.”
Oh, dear, more fighting in the Republican playground:
On Tuesday night, after Senate Republicans came after Tucker Carlson for his reckless and entirely false claims that the Jan. 6 insurrection was really more of a sightseeing misadventure, Carlson went on the air and slammed people like Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for “living in splendor on Chinese money.” In fact, he upped the recklessness of this endeavor by saying people need to “keep a list” of politicians that oppose Carlson. […]
TBILISI — Georgia’s opposition has called for new protests after dozens of activists were detained during clashes with police while demonstrating against parliament’s move toward approving a controversial “foreign agent” law that has drawn sharp criticism from the West.
Nika Melia, chairman of the main opposition United National Movement (ENM), called for Georgians to gather at 3 p.m. (1100 GMT) on March 8, while rights groups plan to hold further actions outside of parliament later in the day.
Protesters clashed with police inside and outside of Georgia’s parliament on March 7 as lawmakers took up the controversial “foreign agent” law that critics say will harm press freedoms and push the country toward authoritarianism.
The proposed legislation, which is backed by the ruling Georgian Dream party and was approved in a first reading on March 7, forces civil society organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to be classified as “foreign agents.”
Some have likened the bill to legislation passed in Russia, where all organizations or individuals receiving financial support from abroad can be declared “foreign agents,” a label that stigmatizes them and forces them to submit to audits. [Yep. That bill is Putin-inspired.]
Later revisions of the law targeted foreign-funded media.
The clashes are the latest blow to what was once one of the EU’s best relationships with an aspiring member state, after years of souring ties between Brussels and Tbilisi over what EU officials say is a slide towards a less democratic form of government. Tbilisi has also offered only tepid support for Kyiv and refused to join in western sanctions against Russia after last-year’s invasion of Ukraine. That stance defies large public support for the war-torn country that echoes painful memories of a disastrous five-day war with Russia that cost Georgia a fifth of its territory.
Georgian Dream, the ruling party backed by reclusive billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, has defended the draft law as a measure against “spies” and “agents of foreign influence” it claims are paid to criticise the government and the Georgian Orthodox Church.But the US, EU and Georgia’s own president have fiercely criticised the law, which its critics say marks a lurch towards Russia-style repression even though the constitution mandates Georgia to “take all measures” to join the EU and Nato.
Salome Zourabichvili, Georgia’s president, said she would veto the bill and backed the protesters in a video shot by the Statue of Liberty in New York.“I stand beside you because today, you represent a free Georgia!” she said. “A Georgia that sees its future in Europe and that will not allow anyone to deprive [us] of this future.
This proposed law seems similar to the proposed law in Florida that would require bloggers who discuss the governor or state legislators to register with the state.
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The proposed law is pushed by the pro-Russian majority party but the pro-European president has promised to veto it.
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How did the reach of authoritarianism from Florida to Tbilisi come about?
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Georgia is/was if anything much further along the path to compliance with the acqui (the body of law and regulations) necessary for EU accession than Ukraine. The proposed new law would mean a considerable setback on that path although it would provide the EU Commission with a good excuse to fasttrack Ukraine ahead of them.
Bidzina Ivanishvili is basically a Russian post-Soviet kleptocrat who cashed out and returned to his native Georgia. He is another of Putin’s cronies. It also looks suspiciously like the same thing has happened to the Orthodox church in Georgia as happened in Ukraine with allegiance more to Moscow than their congregations.
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Georgia – yet another country being f’d over by a billionaire and his Russian friends.
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Is the Georgian Dream party in Putin’s pocket enough for this to require *them* to be classified as “foreign agents”?
Leaked emails give a glimpse of the religious-right networks behind transgender healthcare bans.
On a Saturday afternoon in August 2019, South Dakota Republican state Rep. Fred Deutsch sent an email to 18 anti-trans activists, doctors, and lawyers with the text of a bill he planned to introduce that would make it a felony for doctors to give transgender children under 16 gender-affirming medical care. “I have no doubt this will be an uphill battle when we get to session,” Deutsch warned the group. “As always, please do not share this with the media. The longer we can fly under the radar the better.”
The message was one in a trove of emails obtained by Mother Jones between Deutsch and representatives of a network of activists and organizations at the forefront of the anti-trans movement. They show the degree to which these activists shaped Deutsch’s repressive legislation, a version of which was signed into law in February, and the tactics, alliances, and goals of a movement that has sought to foist their agenda on a national scale.
In messages back and forth, some members of the group pushed Deutsch to make the bill even more restrictive. […]
[…] Deutsch’s bill has proved influential in the recent surge of anti-LGBTQ lawmaking. This legislative session, at least 18 states have considered bills containing language closely resembling the text of the Vulnerable Child Protection Act. The leaked emails reveal how Deutsch’s proposal helped proponents of the national movement to restrict gender-affirming care establish a playbook for their now-common attacks. […]
The emails demonstrate close collaboration between groups working behind the scenes to push bills banning transgender health care, including ADF [conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom ]—which has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people in Europe—and the ACPeds [American College of Pediatricians]—which has opposed adoption by gay couples and supported conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth. In recent years, ADF has drafted legislation banning trans children from using school restrooms or playing on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. (Both groups are also staunchly anti-abortion; ADF, which drafted the Mississippi abortion ban at the heart of the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, is currently representing ACPeds in a closely-watched lawsuit to ban an abortion pill, mifepristone, nationally.)
“These are groups who we know are not interested in the best-practice care for trans kids,” says Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign. “These bills are coming from national organizations whose purpose is to harm LGBTQ people.” […]
The Justice Department (DOJ) has completed its investigation into the Louisville Metro Police Department, finding that the department and the local government have engaged in a pattern of behavior that deprives people of their rights.
The DOJ issued a scathing report on Wednesday that said the police department and Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government have regularly used excessive force, conducted searches without valid warrants, used no-knock warrants, discriminated against Black people in law enforcement activities and took other actions that violate the Constitution and federal law.
The DOJ launched the investigation in April 2021, in the aftermath of the death of Breonna Taylor, an African American woman who was killed in 2020 by police following a no-knock warrant being executed at her apartment.
Wonkette: “Uh Oh, Idaho MAGA Found Some Woke, It Is In This 6000-Student Tech Training Community College”
Is the woke in the welding program or the commercial truck driver certification?
It’s always worrying when I see that Idaho, my home state, has made the New York Times again, and the headline on Monday’s story was a doozy: “The MAGA-fication of North Idaho College.” It turns out that the community college, which is hardly a hotbed of wokeness, has been subjected to the tender mercies of board candidates backed by the super-rightwing Kootenai County Republican Party, that fun-loving bunch of MAGA loons who endorsed a raving antisemitic creep for a local school board (he lost) and also unsuccessfully tried to take over the local Democratic Party and steal its donations, through ratfucking most foul.
Once the Kootenai GOP decided to push candidates for the board of trustees for North Idaho College (NIC) — officially nonpartisan seats, but nothing is nonpartisan here — things went weird quickly, as the Times explains.
For most of the past two years, the college’s governing board has been a volatile experiment in turning grievances into governance. Trustees backed by the county Republican Party hold a majority on the board. They have denounced liberal “indoctrination” by the college faculty and vowed to bring the school administration’s “deep state” to heel and “Make N.I.C. Great Again.”
The problem for the culture warriors who took over the NIC board of trustees seems to be that there simply wasn’t a lot of radical Marxism to weed out at the school, which as the Times says is “better known locally for its technical training programs than the politics of its faculty.”
But that was no reason not to sow chaos: The conservative majority on the board has chewed through several NIC presidents, resulting in votes of no confidence from the college faculty and the student government and departures of faculty and administrators, and all that instability led to warnings from the regional accrediting agency that the college was in danger of losing its accreditation. The agency put the college on notice in late February that it must “show cause” for keeping its accreditation, and that was quickly followed by a downgrade of NIC’s bond rating by Moody’s, which cited the warning and the “dysfunction” in the college’s governance.
If North Idaho College loses accreditation, that would essentially shut it down after 75 years of operation, since students’ credits for any future classes would no longer be transferable. [Yikes!]
In the latest development, a degree of stability has been imposed on the college. Last Friday, a judge ordered the board to reinstate NIC President Nick Swayne, whom the board voted in December to put on administrative leave … for no reason. Monday night, the board voted, grudgingly, to reinstate Swayne and put Greg South, the interim president with whom it replaced Swayne, on leave.
[…] So how the hell did this mess get started? This being North Idaho, a magnet for far-Right crazies of all sorts, the local population is already full of angry MAGA folks and anti-government loons; Donald Trump won 70 percent of the vote in 2020 and some Republicans think the election had to be rigged because how was it that low? [LOL]
[…] the Kootenai GOP felt it had to get involved for the first time ever in the NIC board elections back in 2020, after the college’s diversity council endorsed protests for social justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, including those organized by Black Lives Matter. […] This translates into NIC supporting Black Lives Matter and guilting white male students.”
So clearly, voters needed to take action, and they did, electing the two candidates endorsed by the Kootenai GOP. […]
In an email to a conservative student, Mr. Banducci wrote that he was “battling the N.I.C. ‘deep state’ on an almost daily basis,” and complained that “the liberal progressives are quite deeply entrenched.” […]
In a conversation after the election, Mr. Banducci chided [Rick] MacLennan, then the college president, for his wife’s support for Hillary Clinton and told him that he would give him “marching orders,” according to Mr. MacLennan.
[…] Ultimately the the board shitcanned MacLennan — without cause, because it could, and then hired NIC’s wrestling coach to be interim president. We should note here that it was not Jim Jordan; that was Ohio. The Times sums up the ensuing clusterfuckery:
A power struggle ensued, with the state education board at one point appointing several interim trustees who hired a new president. […] candidates backed by the G.O.P. committee once again claimed a majority and replaced him, too.
Along the way, there have been other … moments, let’s say. In December far-Right antisemitic podcaster Vincent James Foxx, who lives in the area, bragged online about harassing a student at a NIC board meeting:
“He’s like, ‘Oh wow, you’re like a literal Nazi, aren’t you?’ And I was like, ‘You’re like a literal f—t, aren’t you?” Foxx said, laughing. “He walked away with his head down. He did, like, the virgin walk down the whatever, down the hallway.”
[…]
With the reinstatement of Swayne this week, the temperature may be dialed down a bit, maybe, as the college prepares its reply to the “show cause ” order and tries to keep its accreditation. […]
Sounds like everything should be smooth sailing, then. […] if worse comes to worst, and NIC loses accreditation, we bet the State of Florida would be happy to accredit whatever’s left.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed into law this week legislation that rolls back significant portions of the state’s child labor protections.
The law eliminates requirements for the state to verify the age of children younger than 16 before they can take a job.
Sanders believes the provision was “burdensome and obsolete,” spokeswoman Alexa Henning said in an emailed statement….
Federal officials have pledged to crack down on child labor law offenses after regulators discovered hundreds of violations in meatpacking plants and after press reports emerged of children working in hazardous occupations around the country.
The Labor Department fined Packers Sanitation Services, a subcontractor for meatpacking plants, $1.5 million in February for illegally hiring children, some of whom sustained chemical burns after working with caustic cleaning agents.
Other states are also considering loosening child labor protections. A bill advancing in Iowa would allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work certain jobs in meatpacking plants and would shield businesses from civil liability if a youth worker is sickened, injured or killed on the job.
[…]
For nearly two years, Sanders was Trump’s chief spokesperson, sparring with reporters over his policies and rhetoric. She also acknowledged having provided false information in his defense. The daughter of former governor Mike Huckabee used her high-profile job and family ties to realize her own political ambitions, becoming Arkansas’ first female governor.
Wonkette: “Maria Bartiromo Is Scared And Sad! And More LOL Highlights From Last Night’s Fox News Document Dump!”
A whole bunch of new texts and and emails were unsealed last night in the $1.2 billion defamation case Dominion Voting Systems filed against Fox News, and boy howdy. The amount of shit these people talk about each other, about Donald Trump, and the obvious sneering contempt they have for the viewers they lie to.
Let’s read some together!
We’ve already talked about Tucker this morning: “I hate Trump passionately.” So do we. This may be the first time we’ve ever vehemently agreed with Tucker.
One More Funny Thing, Though.
Here’s another Tucker, for your “they knew they were lying to people” file.
A producer for Tucker Carlson noted “One funny thing” during a Nov. 20, 2020, exchange with an unidentified person.
“Dominion was used in Ohio and Florida,” Alex Pfeiffer wrote. “Trump won them. Did they forget to rig those or all part of the plan?”
Yep, that sure is funny.
Let’s talk about Maria Bartiromo’s garbage show now, because that is some hilarious dirt.
How Do You Solve A Problem Like …
The Washington Post reports on the deposition from David Clark, who’s in charge of the weekends on Fox, which means he’s in charge of Bartiromo’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Asked whether he considered that show to be a “credible source of news,” Clark answered: “I don’t know.”
A Dominion lawyer followed up, incredulously: “You don’t know as the executive in charge of Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, whether her show is a credible source of news?”
Clark replied: “I am going to answer the question yes.”
I don’t know. Yes. Sure. Why not? Yes, my answer was yes the whole time!
Clark also did not think Hannity or Tucker were good sources of news, though he said he knew that their viewers thought so.
Speaking of Bartiromo’s lack of credibility, on November 10, 2020, she was texting with Steve Bannon (as one does), and this is what was said:
“I am watching the world move forward. & it’s so upsetting steve,” she wrote.
“I want to see massive fraud exposed Will he be able to turn this around. I told my team we are not allowed to say pres elect at sll [sic]. Not in scripts or in banners on air. Until this moves through the courts.”
Bannon wrote, “71 million voters will never accept Biden. This process is to destroy his presidency before it starts; IF it even starts.”
“But I’m scared & sad,” Bartiromo wrote.
Bannon responded, “You are our fighter. Enough with the sad ! We need u.”
He then suggested that she run for Senate against Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “This is your moment,” he wrote.
“1. We either close on Trumps victory or delegitimize Biden. 2. Win both seats in Georgia. 3. Win back house in 2022 4. Elect u to the Senate. 5. IF we don’t close on Trump victory now have Trump declare for 2024 the day after taking back House and you win in Nov 2022.”
Wooooooooooow.
As Wonkette’s Liz Dye wrote at Above The Law yesterday, it does appear Fox News’s defense with Bartiromo is going to be that she’s just really, really gullible. […]
Rupert.
Some stuff in here should amaze us, but somehow doesn’t. For instance, emails where we see Rupert Murdoch slipping Biden ads to Jared Kushner under the table, just to help a buddy out. (Fox News’s spox says PFFFFFT, the Biden ad was already on YouTube.)
There’s also Rupert shooting the shit with former House Speaker (and current Fox boardmember) Paul Ryan in a January 12, 2021, email, over whether maybe Trump could resign before Joe Biden’s inauguration and have Mike Pence pardon him and then go away forever. “Would Pence agree?” Murdoch asked.
But really, Rupert Murdoch just has an amazing kind of contempt for Trump, and for Rudy Giuliani, and for all their election fraud lies. Here’s what he had to say after that one Rudy press conference on November 19, 2020, when his hair dye was leaking out of his face:
“Stupid and damaging. The only one encouraging Trump and misleading him. Both increasingly mad. The real danger is what he might do as president. Apparently not sleeping and bouncing off walls! Don’t know about Melania, but kids no help.”
He wasn’t wrong.
And he also wasn’t wrong when he called Sidney Powell “that crazy, would-be lawyer.” (Everybody hates Sidney Powell, sounds like. Fox News senior vice president Raj Shah called her “MIND BLOWINGLY NUTS.”)
Another random Rupert quote: “I hate our Decision Desk people! And pollsters!” (They were fixin’ to say Joe Biden had won.)
Oh yes, and he admitted in an email to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott on January 21, 2021, that “Maybe Sean and Laura went too far” in spreading election fraud lies to their viewers.
You know, perhaps.
The Primetimers Hate The ‘News’ People And The Network Brass Is Just LOL-ing About All Of It.
Sean Hannity at one point texted with “Fox & Friends” idiot Steve Doocy […] about how angry they were that the “news” portion of Fox News was pissing off the base. “We might as well tell ppl to stop watching at 9am and ‘turn the Tv back on tonight at 9!'” said Steve Doocy.
That comes up a lot in these documents, Fox News people going after the “news” side from all directions.
Laura Ingraham texted the other primetimers on November 15, “My anger at the news channel is pronounced.” That group text continued like this:
“It should be,” Carlson responded. “We devote our lives to building an audience and they let [Fox News Sunday host] Chris Wallace and [correspondent and anchor] Leland f—— Vittert wreck it.”
“Let’s be honest,” Hannity joked. “Without Chris Wallace where would we be? We owe him everything.”
Ingraham then prods her peers, saying “We have more power than we know or exercise.”
[I conclude that the primetime hosts hate reality.]
Ingraham also hated the Decision Desk, just like Rupert did: “We are officially working for an organization that hates us.”
Even the brass got in on the action. After then-Fox News White House reporter Kristin Fisher tore apart the Giuliani hair dye presser on November 19 on Dana Perino’s show, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott wrote to Fox News President Jay Wallace, “I can’t keep defending these reporters who don’t understand our viewers and how to handle stories. The audience feels like we crapped on [it] and we have damaged their trust and belief in us.”
Yes, even though Rupert was saying all those mean things about Rudy and they all knew he was off his nut.
Speaking of off his nut, Fox News people said all kinds of mean shit about Lou Dobbs. Jay Wallace emailed Scott and Fox News PR Chief Irena Briganti in September 2020 and said “the North Koreans do a more nuanced show” than Lou Dobbs did. The Washington Post cites a later text from Tucker Carlson to his producer about Dobbs, saying, “I know for a fact Rupert could not stand Lou’s show and has felt that way for many years.”
Sometimes it was serious people appalled that the “news” side was selling its soul to become more like the lying primetimers. In one memorable exchange, Bill Sammon and Chris Stirewalt — the election numbers nerds who got fired for being good at their jobs and calling the 2020 race correctly — talked about how appalled they were that, one month after the election, Bret Baier, supposedly the nighttime “news guy,” was still doing conspiracy theories about election fraud. “It’s remarkable how weak ratings make good journalists do bad things,” said Sammon. “But sadly no surprise based on the man I saw revealed on election night,” said Stirewalt. [Tweet at the link]
Indeed, there are quite a lot of emails and texts from people on the “news” side who have now left or been forced out. Here’s an example:
[Former “Special Report” producer] Phil Vogel wrote he was taking a pay cut and forgoing six weeks paid leave to get out. “The post election coverage of ‘voter fraud’ was the complete end,” Vogel wrote, citing the birth of his daughter. “I realized I couldn’t defend my employer to my daughter while trying to teach her to do what is right.”
[…] There is so much more, and we don’t know how all this will shake out. But we’ve got to think this is real fuckin’ embarrassing for Fox News, especially when you consider that the rest of the news about them this week is about Tucker’s big 1/6 recruitment porn video failures.
On Tuesday, Russian state media featured presenter Olga Skabeyeva explaining how people in the United Kingdom are being forced to eat squirrels because of the “food shortage.” According to Skabeyeva, people in Britain are willing to sacrifice to support Ukraine to the extent that, “They will eat squirrels, but still supply howitzers.” [Tweet and video at the link. “Russian propagandist Skabeyeva says that some restaurants in Great Britain started serving squirrels because of the food shortage in the country.”]
It may sound strange that even a propaganda show on Russia’s all propaganda network would blithely pretend the people of the U.K. are forced to eat rodents to keep up their support for the Ukrainian government. However, this is part of the ongoing narrative; one that says Germany is facing economic disaster, the European Union is about to splinter, the United States is on the brink of civil war, and only Russia is really capable of ruling—sorry, make that saving—the world.
But if there’s anything fragile and prone to breakage at the moment, it’s the fantasy Russia has woven to hold its own people in check. How tattered that illusion is becoming was very visible overnight in the first place that Russia dragged its army in the post-Soviet era.
On Russian media, Russia is weathering the war just fine, stronger than ever, while the rest of the world suffers the withdrawal of Russia’s loving embrace. It’s just one part of a propaganda bubble that’s necessary to allow a guy who is desperately afraid to travel even in his own country to still keep up the pretense of being a strong leader. The narrative—Russia strong and good, everyone else weak and corrupt—is what keeps the Russian people willing to hand over their lives and their children so that Putin and his oligarchs can convert them into mansions and yachts. [video of riot police in Russia apparently killing a woman with a baton strike to the head]
At points in the past year, that narrative has looked a little frayed around the edges, but Putin has moved quickly to quash any evidence of unrest using his trademark application of excess force to deal with the first sign that someone isn’t following the script. Putin has every reason to believe his bubble will hold inside Russia. He has fear and ignorance on his side […] But where Putin’s grip is not so tight, things look to be slipping a bit sideways.
See if any of this sounds familiar: After the fall of the Soviet Union, […] Russia sent former Soviet forces into a section of the country and fostered a “separatist” region, sparking an internal conflict that ended with a ceasefire agreement and an uneasy, frequently broken peace. While the separatist areas were ostensibly operating on their own, Russian soldiers and military equipment were constantly on hand and the local government was completely under the thumb of Russian advisers and political operatives.
Meanwhile, in the remainder of the former Soviet nation, struggles with democracy and corruption made the path forward anything but straight. The curves sometimes sent the nation leaning back toward Moscow until a peaceful “revolution” brought in a new government that took a turn toward the West and democracy. That included a vocal desire to become part of NATO.
Russia immediately objected. They made it clear that the reason they were supporting the separatists was because they didn’t want a competent, pro-Western democracy on their border. They also made it clear that any move to join NATO would be seen as an attack on Russia.
Even as everyone else was cheering the new democracy rising, Russia moved to recognize the areas it controlled as independent nations. The larger government responded by asking for international peacekeepers to monitor the border situation. Russia replied by providing the separatists with more weapons, and within a few weeks a low-key war burned all along the border between the separatist regions and the rest of the nation.
When the government refused to back away, Russia invaded, indiscriminately bombed civilian areas, leveled towns with artillery, blockaded the coast, occupied port cities, and sent missiles raining down on the capital. Less than two weeks after the invasion began, Russia forced on the nation an agreement that said Russia was blameless for the invasion, would pay no reparations for the damage done, and demanded international recognition of the Russian-occupied separatist regions.
If that last part sounds different, it’s because this was Georgia, not Ukraine.
The Rose Revolution that brought a pro-democracy, pro-Western government to power in Georgia happened in 2003, over a decade before the Maidan “Revolution of Dignity” in Ukraine. It was five years later when Russian tanks rolled on Georgia […]
Some of the events of the war in Georgia seem painfully familiar, from images of burned out and bomb-blasted buildings to numerous reports of war crimes. However, one critical part seems very, very different: Just one day after the first bombs fell in Tbilisi, government offices were evacuated. Three days later, negotiations began. In two weeks, it was over … or at least, back to low-level fighting along the separatist border.
Oh, and the situation in Georgia wasn’t helped by the fact that at the time Russia launched the invasion, 2,000 of Georgia’s best troops were in Iraq, serving as part of the U.S.-led coalition in that country. To what extent the shortage of those troops contributed to Georgia quickly agreeing to negotiate isn’t clear. That the whole U.S. entry into Iraq had contributed to the idea that international borders were something powerful states ignored definitely was clear.
To be fair to Georgia, the deal they signed onto wasn’t by any means one-sided. Yes, Russia had to pay for none of their destruction and Georgia had to bend a ceremonial knee by agreeing Russia had done nothing wrong, but Russian forces agreed to leave the areas they had occupied and open the ports. Even the end state for the separatist regions was still up for question. To get the war over and their territory at least back to where it was at the outset—plus some calls for international arbitration—likely looked like a pretty decent arrangement.
What Putin got out of Georgia was mostly a few points designed for global consumption:
Russia was still capable of using its military in the post-Soviet era.
It would consider any move to join NATO to be justification for invasion.
It would foster local knots of trouble makers, providing them with weapons and training, to keep its neighbors fighting internal fires and remind them that things could always be worse.
What Georgia got following the war was some good old-fashioned ethnic cleansing that saw ethnic Georgians killed and displaced from the Russian-occupied areas. It also got a slow backslide away from moving to European-style democracy and toward supporting more kleptocratic authoritarianism.
It also got Georgian-Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili. Ivanishvili, who fattened up on Russian banking after the Soviet collapse, wasn’t even a Georgian citizen when he wandered into the country in 2011 and started his new “Georgian Dream” political party. [See comments 470 and 471]
He quickly discovered that he had no problem manipulating the vote in the traditional way, by buying it, or getting the press to go along by buying [the press]. For a couple of years, Ivanishvili was prime minister, but for most of the last decade-plus he’s been content to run things through his underlings—the way Putin did before he got around to destroying all safeguards in the Russian constitution.
Ivanishvili has maintained good relations with other Russian oligarchs (including during the invasion of Ukraine), and in 2018 his party took care of the threat that they might be removed from power through popular vote by changing the Georgian constitution to make it very difficult for that to happen. This led to protests, which led to the Georgian Dream party agreeing to a compromise, which was followed by Georgian Dream walking away from the compromise. The current prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, is a member of Georgian Dream as well as a long-time employee of one of Ivanishvili’s companies.
Georgia’s current president, Salome Zourabichvili, is a more puzzling figure. She’s actually French, the daughter of Georgian immigrants, and was living in Paris when she helped to negotiate that 2008 treaty with Russia. She speaks only limited Georgian. Though she was endorsed by Georgian Dream, she has actually called herself an independent. As the first woman elected to high office in post-Soviet Georgia, she’s spoken out against the misogyny of many governments. On the other hand, she’s been at best lukewarm in supporting LGBTQ rights after saying “our country is dealing with enough controversies and doesn’t need any further provocation from any side of the LGBTQ debate.” Her election might be seen as a repudiation of at least some part of the Georgian Dream agenda, but the legislation has already taken the opportunity to largely gut the role of president.
That brings us up to date in Georgia: an increasingly authoritarian party in charge backed by a oligarch with both his money and his support in Moscow; a prime minister who is a tool of that oligarch; a president who has been pulling away from that party; a populace that is royally pissed at that party over its ties to Russia.
Take a breath. Because all of that is just background. Here’s what happened yesterday in Georgia. [Tweet and video at the link. Georgian riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas against protestors.]
On Tuesday, the legislature in Georgia came one step closer to approving a new piece of legislation that requires registration of foreign agents and assigns penalties to those who do not comply. On the surface, that doesn’t sound extraordinary. After all, the United States has just such a system: FARA. A violation of the FARA laws was one of the charges levied against former Donald Trump Campaign Chief Paul Manafort. That operatives of foreign governments should be listed doesn’t seem that bad.
In fact, the group inside Georgia that first proposed this law, an organization called “People’s Power,” insisted that it was modeled after U.S. law—which is strange, because People’s Power is a pro-Russian group that exists to spread propaganda about the West.
And in fact, the proposed law in Georgia goes well beyond FARA.
Following the Soviet collapse, Georgia was one of the countries that was very open to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) coming in to assist. As a result, NGOs played a very significant role in both helping Georgia set up its initial government and meeting many of the needs of a populace in the midst of an imploding infrastructure. This actually did include NGOs funded by that great boogey of the far-right, George Soros, as well as assistance from the U.S. government.
[…] NGOs—large and small—remain a significant part of the Georgian economy and social system, with many Georgians employed by NGOs. They’re seen as both powerful and influential on the nation’s politics.
Members of People’s Power have admitted that just putting the bill out there was designed to undercut support for NGOs and make people suspicious of who is actually behind them.
The new law would mean that not only are all those NGOs in Georgia on the list of potential foreign agents, so are all their employees. Many Georgians see this as an outright power move by Georgian Dream to not just remove the thorn of groups that might pester them about “rights,” but to put everyone involved on notice that they can be arrested at any time, for any reason. Under FARA, only those NGOs that are themselves controlled directly by a foreign government are required to register. (In the U.S., that means about 5% of NGOs.)
The other massive difference between FARA and the law in Georgia is that it isn’t restricted to those who represent foreign governments, it affects anyone who receives foreign funding, even indirectly. It wouldn’t matter if you’re the vice president of Google’s local operations or a shelf-stocker at The Gap—both would go on the list. So would every company that is a subsidiary or partner with firms outside of Georgia. [Radio Liberty tweet and image at the link]
The proposed law prohibits foreign agents from a number of activities, including a completely undefined prohibition on taking part in “politics.” People in Georgia—and outside of Georgia—have noticed that this law isn’t like FARA. In fact, it’s a way of putting a large portion of the population on a list that allows them to be prosecuted for any kind of political activity. And that includes members of the press, who have already found their protections heavily eroded over the last five years.
Many worry that this bill isn’t the end goal, it’s the first step toward a total lockdown of Georgian society that would leave Ivanishvili and crew in charge while silencing all opposition. […] It’s seen not just a pro-Russian law, but as a law that sends Georgia down the road to being as repressive and authoritarian as Russia. [Tweet and video at the link]
Will this uprising result in the Georgian Dream party being pushed out of power? Impossible to say at this point. The Georgia Dream party has already made claims about modifying the bill in an effort to cool the flames. Zourabichvili might move to make reassurances, or might join the protests. Garibashvili could always offer to resign—after all, Ivanishvili has other stooges to take his place. Maybe there will be another Maidan, a Rose Revolution 2.0. But events like that aren’t just about getting a big crowd out on any given night, it’s about keeping the pressure up over weeks.
This is definitely a “stay tuned” situation.
In any case, Russia’s sway over Tbilisi seems to be in definite peril, and a large part of that goes right back to the invasion of Ukraine, and the memory of the Georgian people.</b?
GOP leaders made budget vows they couldn’t keep, adopting a “we’ll figure it out later” posture. Now, “later” is approaching, and Republicans have no plan.
The Washington Post published a good profile over the weekend on a congressional staffer most Americans have probably never heard of. His name is Dan Meyer, he’s House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s chief of staff, and as the Post put it, “no other person — save McCarthy — is expected to play a more pivotal role this year in trying to steer House Republicans through a series of potentially explosive conflicts.”
Of particular interest in the piece was Meyer’s concerns about rank-and-file House Republican members making demands on spending “that will prove difficult, if not impossible, for McCarthy to reconcile.” From the article:
The party’s demands for spending cuts have also become increasingly outlandish. On a recent private phone call with a longtime colleague after McCarthy was elected speaker, Meyer marveled at the seeming absurdity of his position. As Meyer told his friend, McCarthy is in a nearly impossible bind, having vowed to advance a budget proposal that eradicates the deficit in a decade without touching Medicare and Social Security or increasing taxes.
[Not possible.]
None of this should surprise anyone. McCarthy is not a congressional rookie, and he must’ve understood that he was making promises that he couldn’t possibly keep: Balancing the federal budget in a decade without raising taxes on anyone, and without touching social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare, would require GOP lawmakers to propose brutally ridiculous cuts to practically every other part of the federal budget.
[…] McCarthy knew this. He nevertheless adopted a “we’ll figure it out later” posture with his own members.
Now, “later” is quickly approaching, and the Times reports that conservative House Republicans are moving forward with a budget plan that would “make deep cuts to health care, food assistance and housing programs for poor Americans in their drive to balance the federal budget.”
What’s wrong with that? For one thing, it would impose dramatic hardships on millions of struggling families, even as the GOP pushes for more tax breaks for the wealthy. […]
A degree of schadenfreude among Democrats might seem understandable.
But just below the surface, there’s a larger problem: The more the far-right Republican majority in the House finds itself in a bind of its making, the more likely it is that we’ll see a default and government shutdowns later this year.
[scroll down at the link to view these updates]
On Monday, it was reported that Russian forces had closed off the “road of life” through Khromove, leaving Ukraine with only the dangerous T0504 highway to the southwest and some unpaved, and very muddy, routes in and out of Bakhmut. [tweet and images at the link]
However, on Tuesday Ukraine reportedly conducted a pair of counteroffensives in the area, restoring control of the Khromove road as well as pushing Russian forces at least 1 kilometer back from the T0504 near Ivaniske. [map at the link]
There is a bridge down along the T0504 south of Ivaniske, as well as a bridge out on the road through Khromove. Both of these appear to have been taken out by Ukrainian forces as a precaution meant to slow any Russian advance, but at the moment it’s Ukraine that has to work around this issue. In any case, Ukraine likely has better access now than it has held at any time in the last week or more.
A Video that is reportedly from today that shows Ukrainian Forces utilizing the O0506 Highway to the Northwest of Bakhmut; this Road was said to have been under Russian Control as of a few days ago however it appears that at least the Section near the City is passable again.
Ukrainian Forces were said to have Blown a Bridge over this Road a few days ago but it appears that in the Video you can see a Temporary Bridge has been set in its place. [video at the link]
Russia appears to have completely occupied the area inside Bakhmut east of the river. However Ukrainian forces appear to be holding at this point and reportedly made some advances on the north side of the city.
For days, the idea of Bakhmut being taken or Ukraine withdrawing has seemed imminent, but in the last couple of days it has seemed less likely to happen at any moment, even though increasing Ukrainian losses in the area could certainly make such a withdrawal a good idea. The military command in the area seems to be betting that Russian attempts to advance are near culmination, leaving Ukraine an opportunity. Let’s hope they’re right.
[Tweet and video of Ukrainian artillery targeting Wagner mercenaries.]
[…] On Monday, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed a law that allows county clerks to refuse to marry same-sex, transgender, and mixed-race couples if they disagree with the union, The New Republic reports.
The bill, which now moves to the state Senate, reads: “a person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage if the person has an objection to solemnizing the marriage based on the person’s conscience or religious beliefs.”
In December, President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, but the new law in Tennessee takes advantage of religiously affiliated organizations’ long refusal to issue licenses for same-sex marriages. […]
Tennessee Stands, a conservative religious group, offered its support and hope in favor of passing the bill.
“Our religious beliefs are sacred, and the exercise of those beliefs is a right that has been given to us by God and is protected by our Constitution,” read a letter Tennessee Stands sent to its followers. “Therefore, all those who perform marriage ceremonies in the state of Tennessee should not be forced by law to perform a ceremony that falls outside of their religious beliefs. They should have the ability to object to participating, without fear of reprisal.”
Many supporters of full marriage equality have expressed fear that Biden’s Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t go far enough. […] Essentially, it gives religious groups and states way too much room for bias against LGBTQ people.
[…] It’s worth noting that this is the same state legislature that voted on a bill in April 2022 that wouldn’t name a legal age for marriage, leading opponents to ask about child sex abuse.
[…] Today, as Politico reported, the President Biden’s team broke new ground.
The White House joined in widespread condemnation of Fox News star Tucker Carlson on Wednesday, singling out the prime-time ratings king for his misleading portrayal of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. […] the White House joined Republican Senate leaders and Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger, who a day earlier assailed Carlson’s broadcasts of selected assault footage as being “filled with offensive and misleading conclusions.”
“We agree with the chief of the Capitol Police and the wide range of bipartisan lawmakers who have condemned this false depiction of the unprecedented, violent attack on our Constitution and the rule of law — which cost police officers their lives,” Bates said.
The presidential spokesperson added, “We also agree with what Fox News’s own attorneys and executives have now repeatedly stressed in multiple courts of law: that Tucker Carlson is not credible.”
At face value, this might not seem especially provocative. A Democratic White House taking rhetorical shots at outlet aligned with Republican politics is probably in line with many observers’ expectations.
But these developments aren’t normal at all: The Biden White House does not generally engage in these fights, and Democratic leaders on the Hill do not routinely slam outlets or specific television personalities.
[…] the Democratic Party’s entire approach to the network is changing quickly — on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
[…] “It’s deceptive and irresponsible,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D- MA) told TPM. “But that’s pretty much par for the course for Tucker Carlson.”
Warren also echoed Democrats’ long-standing warning that giving 40,000-plus hours of security footage – that includes paths for emergency exits and locations of security cameras – to Carlson and his team creates a serious threat to the security of the Capitol building and those who work there. […]
Carlson’s Monday night Jan. 6 segment — made up of selective security footage that created a painfully misleading narrative about the reality of the Capitol attack — was the first in a series of segments Carlson said he would roll out after getting exclusive access to over 40,000 hours of tape from McCarthy last month.
Carlson characterized the deadly Capitol riot as a “mostly peaceful chaos” and falsely claimed that the attack was nothing more than peaceful “sightseers” touring the Capitol building with police escorts.
“It’s shameful,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) told TPM. “I thought it was so shameful that Jan. 6 happened and he just picked those aspects of the thousands of hours [of footage] to push out that these were just a group of tourists.”
“It’s such bullshit I can hardly stand it,” she added.
Carlson’s commentary has also sparked a firestorm of criticism from Republicans, leading many to denounce him publicly, including Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
It’s “really sad to see Tucker Carlson go off the rails like that,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told reporters on Tuesday, according to NBC News, adding that Carlson is “joining a range of shock jocks that are disappointing America and feeding falsehoods.”
“The American people saw what happened on Jan. 6,” Romney said. “They’ve seen the people that got injured. They saw the damage to the building. You can’t hide the truth by selectively picking a few minutes out of tapes and saying this is what went on. It’s so absurd. It’s nonsense.”
“It’s a very dangerous thing to do, to suggest that attacking the Capitol of the United States is in any way acceptable and it’s anything other than a serious crime, against democracy and against our country,” he added. “And people saw that it was violent and destructive and should never happen again. But trying to normalize that behavior is dangerous and disgusting.”
Congratulations to Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who joins the ranks of so many Republican leaders in protecting children from burdensome regulations which prevent them from being chewed up by the rapacious maw of capitalism before they’re old enough to drive a car. Priorities!
This morning Governor Nepo Baby, whose greatest claim to fame was two years of lying for Donald Trump, signed HB 1410, dubbed the “Youth Hiring Act of 2023.” The Arkansas bill ditches the requirement that employers get a work permit for kids under 16, with the signature of a parent or guardian and a description of the work to be performed, i.e. a certification that the child is not being employed in a dangerous or exploitative capacity. So congrats to all the kids under 16 in Arkansas who are now free to work eight hours a day, six days a week, all year long. Because children are our most precious resource, and there’s no time like the present to begin exploiting them.
Let us pause to note the clanging irony of Sanders congratulating herself on becoming the youngest governor in the country at the ripe old age of 40, and then immediately turning around and farming her state’s children out for parts. It’s particularly gross coming less than two weeks after the company Packers Sanitation Services Inc. agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine for employing children as young as 13 in meatpacking plants across eight states, including Arkansas. But Sarah Huckabee Sanders didn’t get where she is in this life by being burdened with human emotions like, say, shame. Or, as her spokeswoman put it, “The governor believes protecting kids is most important, but doing so with arbitrary burdens on parents to get permission from the government for their child to get a job is burdensome and obsolete.”
The legislative debate was no less gross. Senator Terry Rice lamented that kids today are turning into helpless snowflakes.
“They cannot function, they cannot communicate, they cannot do a lot of things that we did at 11 years old,” he said. “I don’t want them being abused, but at 14 and 15, if they want to work, that’s the best training they will get.”
Were you thinking that the “best training” for kids is school, i.e. their real job? Oh, you sweet summer child! And while we are glad to hear that Senator Rice doesn’t “want them being abused,” he seems willfully unconcerned that removing the requirement that parents sign off before their kids can work for 48 hours a week under God only knows what conditions might lead to that very thing he doesn’t “want.”
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Clint Penzo, pointed to his own formative experience in his family’s construction business.
“I worked all through school, and I think we need to see more of that in our society,” he insisted, while neglecting to mention how requiring a work permit would interfere with the character-building aspect of manual labor. He, too, failed to grapple with the fact that poor and immigrant kids are being farmed out as cheap labor across the country, not to build character, but to feed their families (and in some cases traffickers!) and subsidize remittances to send back home. Nor does he acknowledge that, in a tight labor market, child labor might drive down wages for adults, who aren’t working as part of an exercise in moral improvement but are trying to raise their families out of poverty.
[…] Perhaps we should be grateful that Arkansas hasn’t copied Iowa’s new bill, which explicitly immunizes employers from lawsuits if kids get sick or injured on the job. Although we note that Arkansas still exempts children 16 and older from all labor protections if “the boy or girl is married or is a parent.” […]
Wife and I, both disabled, decided we had to get out of our sedan (because we were having real problems getting out of our sedan) and traded in our ’20 Elantra on a ’23 Tucson (decent mileage for the class). And my insurance dropped $45 a month. Apparently it has so many safety features (ABS, Stability control, automatic braking for possible collisions with cars, bicycles or pedestrians, blind spot monitoring, cross traffic warning for backing up, rear camera, airbags (lots of them), etc.) that I am far less likely to be in an accident.
However, and here comes the rant, it took me three days to hook up my phone through Android Auto and my mp3 player. Plus, the center console has so many things that can be on the screen (maps, especially) that it can be, if I am not careful, distracting. There are also four different driving modes, automatic engine off at a stoplight (which can be toggled on or off), auto detent on steep hills (which can be toggled on or off), auto follow cruise control (which I can adjust how closely I follow), an automatic transmission that, in addition to the four shift modes, can also be a straight auto, or a super-aggressive auto, or a manual automatic, plus all kinds of information available between the tach and the speedo (mileage since last fill up, mileage since last zeroing, mileage since last start up, lane following (which has four different settings), digital speedo, what my four wheel drive is doing, etc (but, amazingly, only four door cupholders and four center console cupholders (front and back) (I remember when the number of cupholders was the way to tell how ‘family-friendly’ a vehicle was (of course, I remember when cars had 8 passenger seats, seat belts only in the front, and six ashtrays))). How do the expect me to drive safely with all these different things I need to do to drive, all the information that is available (and I am a control freak, so the more info the better), all the options, and all the neat things the center TV screen does?
I know, first world problems. And yes, Wife and I are privileged to be able to afford this one-step-above-entry-level-trim vehicle, so my complaints are kinda stupid. BUT!!!!!1!!Eleventy!!!!!11! I start to understand old people (yeah, at 57 I qualify as one for most people on earth) who complain about how complex things have become.
Tucker Carlson stirred controversy by broadcasting edited video that seemed to show that the Fyre Festival was a phenomenal success.
Introducing the footage, the Fox News host told his audience, “For years we’ve been told that the Fyre Festival was a fiasco of monumental proportions. The video you’re about to see tells a different story.”
The video that followed, which seemed crudely edited at times, appeared to show a gigantic, appreciative crowd cheering the performances of Beyoncé, Metallica, Paul McCartney, and Kanye West, among other artists.
Some viewers, however, questioned the authenticity of one section of the video, which showed a performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Jimi Hendrix.
Carlson responded to those viewers on the air. “Some of you have asked, ‘Isn’t Jimi Hendrix dead?’ ” he said. “All I can say is that’s what certain people want you to believe.”
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday it will review the Memphis Police Department, including its use of force and de-escalation tactics, in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ death following a police beating.
NBC News:
The Louisville Metro Police Department and the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro government engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional behavior by routinely using excessive force, conducting searches based on invalid warrants and unlawfully discriminating against Black people in enforcement activities, a wide-ranging federal investigation found.
Six Democratic senators, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), wrote to Walgreens late Tuesday requesting answers on whether and where the company will dispense abortion pills.
U.S. auto safety regulators have opened an investigation into Tesla’s Model Y SUV after getting two complaints that the steering wheels can come off while being driven.
New York Times:
The Federal Trade Commission is intensifying an investigation into Twitter’s data and privacy practices and is seeking testimony from Elon Musk, who has laid off the bulk of Twitter’s work force since acquiring the company last year.
The progressive veterans advocacy group VoteVets is out with a new ad that calls for military bases to stop airing Fox News given its tendency to push disinformation.
I think my doctor’s office, the place where I get the oil changed on my truck, and my dentist’s office should also stop airing Fox News.
David Neiwert at Daily Kos – “When extremists take over local Michigan governance, disruption is followed by dysfunction”:
Much more at the link.
Followup to comments 477 and 478.
By scheduling a “political stunt” in Ohio, Donald Trump is bringing fresh attention to his awful record on rail safety and hazardous chemicals.
Link
It just gets worse and worse:
Marjorie Taylor Greene Shares Unhinged Details Of Her ‘National Divorce’ Idea
Commentary from Steve Benen:
Greene is moving the Overton window, and Republican leaders are letting her do so. Rightwing news outlets are featuring Greene as if she were credible.
Another pro-Putin move from Elon Musk: Twitter’s sale of blue checks is enabling spread of ‘Kremlin-aligned disinformation’
France 24 – “War in Ukraine: ‘De-Russification’ on the rise in Odesa”:
Ukraine update
:-)
More Ukraine update coming soon.
Space telescope uncovers massive galaxies near cosmic dawn
Wonkette: “GA Grand Jury Foreperson Is Telling Us What We Want To Hear. She Should Stop That.”
I agree. Emily Kohr’s press tour is wacky and weird.
Marine commission: Whale deaths not linked to wind prep work
Republicans doing Republican things.
WaPo:
Arizona’s top prosecutor concealed records debunking election fraud claims
By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Isaac Stanley-Becker / February 22, 2023
SC… @ # 492 in previous iteration of this thread: It’s depressing how many people I recognize from their solid critical work on the US or capitalism have turned into wackadoos when it comes to COVID or Russian imperialism or both.
Depressing/enraging/perplexing. Does anybody here have any clues/insight as to what has lately pulled so many professional progressives towards the (de facto) right?
Money may account for some instances (looking at you, consortiumnews.org), but I doubt it motivates, say, Medea Benjamin or Noam Chomsky to say what they’ve said (and omit what they’ve not said) over the last year.
Quoted in Lynna’s #1:
I know this is a riff on the Jr. email, but how about fucking NOW? I would like it now. I don’t know if the people involved – including Willis with her clarification of “legal imminent” – recognize how depressing, upsetting, enraging, and dangerous it is to have these corrupt criminals operate with impunity for this long. These crimes in Georgia happened in fucking December of 2020, and the recording was made public like the next day. It’s 2023, FFS. I agree that the foreperson probably shouldn’t be having these conversations with the press, but some of their findings have been released already and it’s evidently not illegal, so I can’t bring myself to give much of a shit that someone is hinting that Trump and his lackeys might possibly begin to face some accountability somewhere for something after more than two fucking years. I’ve had it with the cowardice, lethargy, and inaction. These people at all levels of government need to do their fucking jobs and put an end to the impunity. It’s immensely harmful to the country and the world. /rant
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester to run for 4th term in Montana
Steve Bannon’s Lawyer Sues Him Over Unpaid Bills
Followup to comment 499 in the previous chapter of this thread.
More Ukraine updates:
Link
The NYT is reporting that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have been subpoenaed in the J6 investigation.
I saw that tweet last night. Was hoping they would cover it in the Ukraine Update!
Kevin McCarthy’s next step after giving Jan. 6 video to Tucker Carlson: A seedy cash grab
FFS, Fox News is even more horrible than I thought they would be when it comes to covering Biden’s trip to Ukraine.
https://www.wonkette.com/monica-crowley-biden-ukraine
What is the situation on the Ukraine-Transnistria border and what can be expected from Russia on February 24
Well, who knows anyway?
It is clear that Russia will take over Moldova if they can.
It is 2.6 million Moldovans to 144 million Russians. No contest.
ChrisO_wiki:
Photos and link at the (Twitter) link.
LOL, holy shit (it kind of ruins it, but I feel like I have to warn that this is SUPER violent):
“SISU / @Lionsgate
This is the craziest trailer for a movie I have ever seen.
Don’t know anything about it except it looks AWESOME!”
Twitter link.
re SC @15:
I have enjoyed the John Wick series of movies. They are so over-the-top as to be comic book depictions. Pure escapism of the one-man-against-the-world-and-winning genre. SISU looks like something that I would enjoy. Thanks for sharing! I will be looking out for it. Bonus points for killing Nazis!!
This is actually worse than simply not having ammunition, because the faulty shells still had to be dug out of some warehouse and shipped off to the front. Every case of faulty shells is wasted time and fuel, as well as a missed opportunity to ship something that might actually help.
But I guess that’s the thing with corrupt and autocratic systems. Someone was ordered to ship X number of shells, so they did. Their job didn’t including caring about whether the shells worked, so they didn’t.
Conservative entrepreneur and ‘anti-woke’ crusader Vivek Ramaswamy launches GOP presidential campaign
This could split the Indian-Bigot-American vote.
Putin spots “Nazism” in Ukrainian Edelweiss Brigade, but Russian National Guard had a unit with same name
India’s Supreme Court grants protection to filmmaker attacked for movie poster featuring Hindu goddess
johnson catman @ #16, that’s how I saw it. I really hate violence so I probably won’t see it…but I might…, but the violence in the trailer was so over the top that it was funny. I gasped but then gasp/laughed.
Cruz blasts Merchant Marine Academy superintendent’s ‘flawed understanding’ of First Amendment
I know you’ll shocked to hear that, since this article originated with FauxNews, it merely quotes Cruz’s position at length with no attempt to find someone competent or impartial to comment.
Highly Intelligent and Possibly Invincible Super Pigs Are Invading America
(((Tendar))):
OSINTtechnical:
Videos at the (Twitter) links.
Satire from Andy Borowitz:
New Yorker link
NBC News:
Washington Post:
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
Also from there:
Jake Bittle in the Guardian – “The American climate migration has already begun”:
As they note, Bittle’s book The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration was published this week.
Guardian – “The big archaeological digs happening up in the sky”:
(Am I the last person to learn that a lot of phones have lidar sensors?)
Kyiv Independent – “Survey: 87% of Ukrainians oppose territorial concessions”:
Russian authorities claim Ukraine hackers are behind fake missile strike alerts
I know its extremely short notice & not sure if anyone else from SA is even here still – but :
PROTEST against the removal of a magnificent old Eucalyptus @ 270 Brighton Road, Adelaide South Oz at 7:30am this Friday 24th.
“At the OSCE, a Latvian deputy showed the way for the [Russian] delegation to move – the same way a [Russian] warship went a year ago. During the speech of the representative of the [Russian] Federation, the participants of the meeting began to demonstratively leave the hall. #UkraineWillWin”
Video at the (Twitter) link.
Longer video of the intervention @ #33, tweeted by the deputy himself. Tweet o’ the day.
@29: LIDAR is RADAR with shorter wavelengths: “light” instead of “radio”. The wavelengths of light may not be visible light, i.e. it could be ultraviolet or infrared. Different wavelengths are useful for different appliactions. LIDAR is also a big thing in self-driving cars.
Reginald Selkirk @2
I heard this on NPR last night. Apparently, one of the groups heading the fight against wind power is a right wing group that has been consistent in opposing any non-fossil fuel power source.
@36: I cannot tell you how shocked I am.
From a whole team of Ukraine correspondents at the Guardian – “Mariupol: The ruin of a city”:
There’s something about the color-palette slide in the Russian reconstruction plan that gets to me.
Reginald Selkirk @ #35, yes, there are so many cool applications!
Alex Murdaugh is testifying in his trial right now. NBC is covering it live.
Rolling Stone – “Netflix Probes Alex Murdaugh’s Trail of Dead Bodies and Missing Millions”: “Streamer’s three-part docuseries Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal takes viewers inside one twisted, powerful South Carolina family…”
For all of the background, the Murdaugh Murders Podcast.
The Witch of Ukraine Reveals How ‘Teeny-Weeny’ American Weapons Are Beating Russians
WTF is with this testimony? It’s ludicrous, and he appears to be trying to blame the dogs again.
Mandy Matney of the Murdaugh Murders Podcast is livetweeting (unthreaded).
Led By Donkeys paint Russian Embassy road in Ukrainian flag colours
Russia does have a few allies. Iran, Syria, Serbia, North Korea.
All of the outcast nations band together.
Potentially, it does have an important one. China.
China would rather make money selling stuff than support a pointless war in Europe but poking the West with a stick is worth something.
The rest of their NATO equivalent, the CTSO such as Kazakhstan, Armenia, etc.. aren’t really supporting Russia. For good reasons.
They aren’t allies, they are future victims.
Once Russia has conquered Ukraine, the rest of the former SSRs not in NATO are literally, history.
Ukrainian partisans help Armed Forces destroy Russian ammunition storage point in southern Ukraine
Ukraine unveils banknote for anniversary of Russian invasion
Russian propagandists get Twitter verification to spread fakes on Ukraine war
Twitter has been overrun by Russian trolls.
As time goes on, it gets more and more dysfunctional and useless and there is no bottom in sight.
“Although Russia requires its Internet service providers to block access to Twitter…”
Twitter is banned in Russia but overrun with Russian trolls in the West.
Mandy Matney:
I Commanded U.S. Army Europe. Here’s What I Saw in the Russian and Ukrainian Armies.
_
Miles Johnson, FT:
Screenshots at the (Twitter) link.
SC @38, my god. It was difficult to read about that situation, let alone to imagine people living (and dying) there. It is obvious that scars of all kinds will persist in Mariupol no matter what happens in the future.
That account also makes it so clear that the Russians committed war crimes … and that the Russians can be counted on to be ruthless and duplicitous.
Axios:
All U.S. extremist mass killings in 2022 linked to far right, report says
Ivana Saric
Kevin McCarthy has had plenty of time to come up with a defense for giving Tucker Carlson exclusive access to Jan. 6 footage. He hasn’t come up with much.
A good trend: An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll shows President Joe Biden’s standing improving: The survey found Biden with “up to 46% approval with all respondents and an even higher 49% with registered voters.”
The Democratic Party in New York has a basic problem … not enough people, and not a big enough operation on the ground. From The New York Times:
Summarized from NBC News: While GOP leaders continue to insist their party intends to leave Social Security and Medicare alone, former Vice President Mike Pence reiterated his belief yesterday that the popular social insurance programs should be “on the table for the long term.”
Remote Tajikistan region shaken by magnitude 6.8 earthquake
QFT.
Something like 300,000 of the 400,000 people living in Mariupol are either dead, deported to Russia, or refugees elsewhere.
Ironically, before the Russian invasion, Mariupol was the most pro-Russian city in Ukraine.
Being pro-Russian didn’t get them very far.
Brazil Suspends Beef Exports to China After Mad Cow Case
Guardian liveblog:
The End, LOL.
Ukraine update: As anniversary of invasion approaches, Russian forces have no presents for Putin
More Ukraine updates coming soon.
Yuck:
Not yucky … nice response:
Worse than yuck:
Link
Musk Names the Person Who He Says Pushes the Russia-Ukraine War (It’s Not Putin)
More Elon Musk being stupid and horrible.
“Musk accuses the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, of warmongering in this conflict.”
According to Musk, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is all the fault of Victoria Nuland.
Who? I’ve never even heard of her.
She is the US undersecretary of state for political affairs.
I guess we now know who really runs the world, an anonymous bureaucrat in Washington DC.
Or, Musk is an idiot and Putin is the dictator who runs Russia.
Followup to comment 60.
More Ukraine updates:
Link in comment 60. Scroll down to view these additional updates.
Details from the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio:
Link
Aiyiyiiyi, JFC, FFS, (and other expressions of dismay):
https://www.wonkette.com/we-pledge-allegiance-to-the-ar-15-with-misery-and-carnage-for-all
MAGA Lawmaker Censured for Calling Fatal Child Abuse a ‘Benefit to Society’
This GOP guy in Alaska is pro-child abuse, but especially if it is fatal. Because nothing says pro-life like cheering on fatal assaults on children.
“In the case where child abuse is fatal, obviously it’s not good for the child, but it’s actually a benefit to society because there aren’t needs for government services and whatnot over the whole course of the child’s life,” Eastman said during the hearing on Monday.
His logic is a bit flawed.
If we killed everyone, then our society wouldn’t have to provide any services for anybody ever. Zero Social Security or Medicare.
He will probably be reelected.
MAGA Lawmaker Censured for Calling Fatal Child Abuse a ‘Benefit to Society’
COVID-19 linked to 40% increase in autoimmune disease risk in huge study
Yet another reason to get vaccinated for the Covid-19 virus.
These new autoimmune diseases may partially explain Long Covid.
This is a large study so the results are more convincing.
Re: The film Sisu (per SC at 15 and johnson catman at 16)
I’ve seen some Finnish media interviews of the director of that film. Apparently, he mainly just wanted to create an 80’s Hollywood style action film without further philosophy. I’ve considered seeing it, based on another trailer I saw, thinking it was maybe a semi serious WWII film, but now it seems way over the top. Also, I didn’t realize before that the dialogue is in English, which is just too corny for me. The actors, like the characters, include Finns and Germans.
Nazi soldiers are always politically convenient villains – though I get a sense that here they’re depicted as some kind of generically cruel, heavily armed bandits, probably detached from the Nazi ideology and almost detached from even the WWII.
The film is apparently set in September 1944, when Finland had just flipped from the Axis to the Allied side (as I said, politically convenient villains!), after starting to loose the fight with Soviet Union. At that point, the German troops stationed in northern Finland suddenly turned from comrades-in-arms into an occupying force. Consequently, the previously cozy relations between them and the local civilian population turned sour, as they burned many settlements while retreating towards northern Norway.
The story location is apparently in the wilds near the Norwegian border – there’s actually a little gold to be found in them thar hills. The main protagonist is an older Finnish guy named Aatami Korpi who, according to the backstory, became a misanthropic gold prospector after losing his home and family during the 1939-40 Soviet invasion of Finland (resulting in territorial concessions, which largely motivated Finland’s 1941-44 enmity with Soviet Union). I imagine he’s embittered further in 1944 when it becomes certain that he won’t get his old home back. Then he finds gold, instantly loses it to passing Hollywood Nazi robbers, and snaps into a righteous revenge mode.
Mandy Matney:
Mandy Matney:
His fixation on rigid gender roles is really interesting.
Kyiv Independent:
Check out the photo of Alex Murdaugh they are running with this article
Snot dripping from his nose.
Guardian liveblog:
Richard Walker, DW:
Boards at the (Twitter) link.
Dole production plants crippled by ransomware, stores run short
No stolen election. And no apologies from Wendy Rogers and the conspiracy squad
ABC – “Internal chaos plagues Bannon-fronted $FJB cryptocurrency, critics say [LOL]”:
The shoddy saga of another hate-fueled grift at the link.
U.S. Justice Dept seeks to search Republican congressman’s cellphone in Jan. 6 probe
Aiding the overthrow of the legitimate government does not fall into “the course of their legislative duties.”
WTF?
Excerpts from a Fox News segment hosted by Laura Ingraham, with commentary from Wonkette:
Video at the link.
Thanks, lumipuna @ #69.
Definitely, this trailer didn’t give the impression of anything intellectually serious! More like a hyperviolent Nazi-killing romp which happens to be set in Finland.
If anyone’s looking for something more serious, incidentally, I recently read The Disappearance of Josef Mengele (which was my kind of fiction, in that it’s barely fiction).
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: SC 76
‘“We are now saying, ‘Screw Joe Biden,” Bannon said on his War Room podcast shortly after announcing his acquisition of the $FJB operation in December 2021. “It shows your total and complete independence … you’re going to very quickly have non-reliance on their financial system.”’
Really? It looks like you are still hiding fuck under screw. So much for independence.
Sigh. Trump visited East Palestine, Ohio.
Link
QFT.
I couldn’t say it any better.
This is what is noteworthy about the Russian invasion and attempted genocide of Ukraine.
It is one of the clearest examples of the endless battles of Light against Dark.
We usually live in a world where things aren’t that simple. There are no shades of grey here, no slippery slopes. Russia is all wrong on every level, Ukraine has the right to exist and be…Ukraine.
re Lynna @82: Is there any footage of The Orange Idiot throwing bottles of water out to the crowd like he threw the rolls of paper towels in PR? That is about what I would expect of him.
That National Divorce of Marjorie Taylor Greene is her usual level of dumb.
Of course, we (meaning they) already tried that. That Civil War event of 1860.
And, how did it work out, Ms. Greene?
As I recall, it ended with Sherman burning Atlanta, Georgia to the ground and the South lost big time. Y’all had to free your slaves and find some other way to make a living.
But there is still hope for her National Divorce.
Rather than destroy a nation of 333 million people, we could just…grant MTG a divorce. She could take Trump and Bannon with her. It is a free country and she can leave any time or simply disengage from our society. Plenty of out of the way places even in Georgia to go off the grid and leave our society behind.
johnson catman @ #84, Joy Reid just showed a clip of him handing out MAGA hats.
Trump 2020 Fraud Backer Sidney Powell’s Texas Ethics Case Tossed
Wonder what he did to deserve that.
Actually, I don’t really care that much.
Even being ultra-rich in Russia is hard.
You have to be friends with the head of the power structure, which is Putin.
You have to siphon off Russian wealth with kickbacks to all the right people including Putin and don’t you dare miss anyone.
Then you have to get your money out of Russia and launder it.
Finally, you have to get out of Russia yourself, lay low, and never, ever stand too close to a window for the rest of your life.
·
Hahaha – Guardian – “Environment secretary urges Britons to ‘cherish’ turnips amid food shortages”:
It’s the 24th in Ukraine (and a number of other places), and the Guardian’s Ukraine liveblog is already underway:
Live now with experts answering questions on the Putin’s invasion and war on Ukraine :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-24/live-updates-russia-ukraine-war-anniversary-expert-qanda/102003228
In case folks were intrested in getting involved there plus this :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-24/how-does-russian-war-in-ukraine-end/101877842
analysis of how the war might end..
Spaaace neeews!
https://www.space.com/mars-reconaissance-orbiter-zhurong-rover-images
Seems like China’s Mars rover has stopped working.
https://www.space.com/russia-replacement-soyuz-ms-23-spacecraft-launch-success
A second Soyuz has been sent up.
https://www.space.com/discovery-new-salt-europe-streaks-mystery
A salty Europan find there.
A few interesting Guardian articles on Ukraine:
First, China continues its hypocritical and self-contradictory burblings.
More generally: “How will the war in Ukraine develop during 2023? Our panel look ahead”. The panel includes among others Andrei Yermak, head of the Office of the Ukrainian Presidency, and a Putin-stooge, Sevim Dağdelen, a Bundestag member of Der Linke.
Meanwhile, the current leadership of Der Linke remains squeamish about actually marching with Nazis, while their former leader, Sahra Wagenknecht, is happy to do so but asks them please to leave the swastikas at home. The article notes that parts of the German “left” have also joined with Nazis in supporting SARS-CoV-2. I haven’t seen much of the latter in the UK, but we did see a de facto alliance in the cause of Brexit. The overlap between Lexiters (the pro-Brexit left) and “peace now” Putin stooges is, I judge, considerable but by no means complete – I know both Lexiters who are supporting Ukraine, and Remainers who are Putin’s useful idiots – the latter including most of the peace movement I supported for half a century. In that regard, taking up the question raised by Pierce R. Butler@4, opposition to military support for Ukraine on the left seems to me, in the UK at least, to stem from two distinct sources, although both are sometimes found in the same person or group:
(1) A failure to recognise that anyone other than the USA or its allies can be imperialist, with consequent support for any regime, however vile, that is or appears to be anti-American.
(2) A profound (and of course justified) fear and hatred of war and particularly nuclear war, sometimes but not always amounting to complete pacifism. This is coupled with a failure to realise that war may sometimes be the lesser evil, and that rewarding a nuclear-armed power’s invasion and attempted conquest of one of the few countries ever to give up nuclear weapons (a) is likely to encourage and perpetuate that power’s aggressive actions, and (b) will give out the clear message to all states capable of developing or acquiring such weapons – get them as quick as you can.
From the Guardian liveblog (link @ #90):
KG @ #94:
From her “contribution”:
The vast majority of countries around the world took sides with Ukraine and against Russia literally last night, voting 141-7 to demand Russia’s immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Meduza, yesterday – “‘Stay tuned. We’re coming to you.’ Ukraine Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov broadcasts statement on Crimean radio.”:
Brad Paisley pens country song featuring Ukraine’s Zelenskyy
Tucker Carlson provides platform to Marjorie Taylor Greene, runs chyron proclaiming “ANOTHER $10 BILLION FOR THE UKRAINIAN PIMP”
Russia’s Medvedev floats idea of pushing back Poland’s borders
I think they may have misinterpreted him. It reads to me like he is saying push the Ukrainian border all the way back to Poland, which is not the same as pushing into Poland.
Marianne Williamson confirms she will enter 2024 presidential race as Dem challenger to Biden
Pres. Biden tweeted:
The replies are completely flooded with rightwing and pro-Kremlin trolls, bots, and propagandists. This is Musk’s Twitter.
Guardian liveblog:
Alex Murdaugh is being cross-examined. Mandy Matney is again livetweeting.
A Year after the Invasion, the Russian Economy Is Self-Immolating
Economic pressure and a talent drain are driving Russia into permanent irrelevance,
This is an opinion piece from Yale.
I can’t confirm it but suspect they are overstating their case, hopefully not by much.
“It appears Russia is well on its way toward its long-held worst fear: becoming a weak economic dependent of China–its source of cheap raw materials.
The Russian economy is being propped up by the Kremlin
Russia is mostly a commodity exporter of oil, natural gas, food, fertilizer, and metals.
It is relatively easy to replace commodity suppliers or so this article claims.
“Tightening these screws will help improve the chances that before this time next year, Russia will realize it does not need Putin, just as the world has already realized it does not need Russia.”
This is obviously true.
Russia has nothing to offer anyone and no one is going to miss Russia.
The same can be said for Putin. Most of the world is now hoping he really is sick and will die soon.
The Reichstag is flying the Ukrainian flag today, the first time they’ve flown another country’s flag since 1945.
Photos at the (Twitter) link.
Captured Wagner mercenaries told their horrific stories to The Mirror
Here is what it is like to be a Wagner mercenary.
The recruitment package from prison was actually quite generous. $2600 a month and an erased conviction. The drawback was that most of them would end up dead first.
“Almost 1,000 of the 5,000 Wagner Group fighters who signed up for Ukraine were killed within weeks.”
Guardian liveblog:
NYT:
Special Counsel Seeks to Force Pence to Testify Before Jan. 6 Grand Jury
By Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman / Feb. 23, 2023
Guardian liveblog:
The conflict in Ukraine is one of the best examples of the Battles of Light against Dark.
Russia is Apokalips and Putin is Darkseid.
Russia is Mordor and Putin is Sauron.
The Russian trolls on Twitter are very upset.
Bits and pieces of news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
‘This Is Harassment’: Alex Jones Says the DOJ Wants to Seize His $2,000 Cat
Who wants to put money on the premise that he is accurately describing the situation?
Slava Ukraini!
Link
Link
Much more at the link.
Donald Trump Moonlights As a DJ Now
White supremacists behind over 80% of extremism-related U.S. murders in 2022
“”All the extremist-related murders in 2022 were committed by right-wing extremists of various kinds,” the ADL report said.
Meaning that the other 20% were by right wingnuts who weren’t white racists.
You don’t hear much about left wing terrorism in the USA any more.
Mostly because it more or less doesn’t exist.
Two Germans parked a mangled Russian tank in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin as an anniversary gift
Hacker group defaces Russian websites to display the Kremlin on fire
KG @ # 94: … opposition to military support for Ukraine on the left seems to me, in the UK at least, to stem from two distinct sources, …:
(1) A failure to recognise that anyone other than the USA or its allies can be imperialist…
(2) A profound (and of course justified) fear and hatred of war and particularly nuclear war…
Agreed, though I can’t help but wonder how people who’ve previously shown themselves capable of big-picture strategic thinking could turn that off [re: (1)] or fail to consider how sacrificing Ukraine might increase, rather than reduce, the risks of (2).
And as SC… pointed out (previous instance of this thread), the rightward drift has also pulled along former progressives concerning COVID-19 and some “culture war” issues (take a bow, TERFs!). This involves (I think) more than the occasional tendency of ageing to produce conservatism, and it particularly puzzles me to see it more in organizational leaders than in the grassroots (though I’ll admit I stay more out of circulation these infectious days, and have probably missed a lot).
Mike Lindell says he will sue McCarthy for sharing Jan. 6 footage only with Tucker Carlson
I hope your lawyers get paid before you lose your own lawsuit.
The calculus of war: Tallying Ukraine toll an elusive task
The numbers of dead and wounded in the Russian invasion of Ukraine aren’t all that well known for a lot of reasons.
.1. “8,006: Confirmed civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, through Feb. 15, according to the U.N. human rights office.”
This is way less than the likely number of civilians dead. There is no access to the Russian held areas.
It could be a lot more than 100,000 civilian dead.
.2. “Around 200,000: Western Estimate of Russian troops killed and wounded. Britain’s Ministry of Defense has estimated 40,000-60,000 Russian troops have died fighting in Ukraine.”
The Ukrainians are claiming 145,000 Russian troops killed.
I would guess the actual number is closer to the Ukrainian number of 145,000 than the UK number of 60,000.
.3. 9,000 : Ukraine’s most recent count, of its troops losses since the invasion provided in August by Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.
More than 100,000: Estimate of Ukrainian troops killed or wounded, according to Western officials.
I’d guess that the Ukrainian dead and wounded are closer to 100,000 than their claimed 9,000.
It is clear that Ukraine is taking heavy losses in attritional close quarters warfare.
.4. 8.1 million: Refugees who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion, based on figures provided by national governments. The number includes more than 5.2 million in over 40 European and central Asian countries, including nearly 1.6 million in Poland, over 880,000 in Germany and nearly 2.9 million who went to Russia, according to U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.
That is a huge number for a country of 44 million people.
It is going to put a major strain on their society.
Both the Russian and Ukrainian soldier losses are high and this is also going to put a lot of strains on their society.
Meduza – “‘We don’t have another motherland’ Nine years into Russian occupation and oppression, Crimean Tatars hold out hope for Ukraine’s return”:
Before the 2022 elections, Republicans pointed to Medicare “cuts” that weren’t real. There’s a reason the public is confronting similar messages now.
Jordan’s big, spendy border safari is a flop
<blockquote<[…] with Republicans in control of the House, legislation to end military aid to Ukraine has indeed been introduced by none other than Matt Gaetz, sponsored by his usual clown car of troglodyte buddies. This is probably not an imminent threat, but nor is it an idle one: In May of last year, 57 House Republicans were already willing to vote against a bill providing assistance for Ukraine. […]Link
Apologies for messing up the block-quoting code in comment 126.
Ukraine receives its first Western tanks on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, more to come
Yossi Melman:
Ori Nir:
For some reason, no one wants to hang out with loser Russia
Excerpts from a longer New Yorker article written by James Lasdun.
The Corrupt World Behind the Murdaugh Murders
Much more at the link, including details demonstrating that Alex used a corrupt banker to steal insurance money from Tony and Brian, the Murdaugh’s housekeepers sons. There are also facts showing that Alex had a habit of mishandling other large insurance settlements. That was one of his go-to scams for making money. Alex was aided in these scams by a panoply of local dunderheads who propped up what amounted to a caste system with a few rich white men at the top of the pyramid.
Trump’s peace plan:
JFC.
Commentary:
Link
Eyebrow-raising tale:
https://www.wonkette.com/deborah-sullivan-pedophile-son
Democrats erupt with fury after Republican questions ‘loyalty’ of Rep. Chu
Yeah, this is pure racism from some Texas white guy.
The sole evidence that Judy Chu is a Chinese spy is that…her name is Judy Chu.
She is a second and third generation American born in Los Angeles.
I’d never heard of Dominic Ng.
He has a WIkipedia page.
Dominic Ng is a banker with a notable career which includes being on the board of the Federal Reserve bank.
The only evidence that he is a Chinese spy is that his name is Dominic Ng.
If you compare Texas Rep. Lance Gooden to either Judy Chu or Dominic Ng, they are by far more educated and accomplished than he is.
Slava Ukraini: A year in disaster, a year in heartbreak, a year in triumph, a year in Ukraine
NPR:
Democratic state attorneys general sue Biden administration over abortion pill rules
February 24, 2023
Wow! F N L ..
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-25/singaporean-man-sues-woman-for-refusing-to-date-him/102002170
That woman’s group is right.
In other news .. :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-25/penguin-publishes-classic-roald-dahl-books-alongside-new-edition/102023194
Sigh
Atleats some good news here :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-25/sa-cuttlefish-on-national-heritage-list/102023608
At least one open source vulnerability found in 84% of code bases
Lithuania’s prime minister says Ukrainians should get all the weapons they want because they are dying for Europe’s safety: ‘We’re just losing some money’
What I’ve said many times.
We in the West are spending money, and not even all that much for what we are getting from Ukraine. Containment of Russia, the current number one threat to the world and destruction of the Russian army. Money comes and goes and is replaceable each budget cycle.
The Ukrainians are spending the blood and lives of their children and at high levels at that. Estimates are up to 100,000 dead soldiers.
These aren’t replaceable at all. Each death wrecks a family somewhere forever.
“The strategy before this invasion was appeasement: let us give him [Putin] something so that he would not do anything stupid. But it never worked,” she said.
Lithuania’s prime minister states the obvious.
We tried appeasement, ignoring Putin’s invasions of Georgia and Crimea and look how well that worked.
It is time to grow a backbone and stop Russia before the other SSRs get taken over.
Another oil Russian billionaire dead.
That is the second one this week.
I’d wonder what he did but why bother.
Probably nothing lately. It was just useful for people with more power than him that he end up dead.
I’m guessing when these guys die, their assets get taken over by the Russian state. And, who is going to stop them? The other oligarches would rather go to his funeral than go to their own.
Russia’s cult of death
Of necessity, I’ve ended up looking at the cutures of both Ukraine and Russia while following the Russian invasion.
Ukraine has a very deep and complicated culture that looks interesting and humane. Among other things, they seem to have a thing for dogs and cats. It is also adaptable and changing rapidly as they move towards the West and away from…their former imperial warlords, Russia.
Russia’s culture almost doesn’t exist.
What they do have isn’t anything I would want to visit much less live with.
It’s cruel, brutal, and dysfunctional
To take one example, they recently legalized domestic violence because it was so common and so embedded in their culture that no one wanted to prosecute it.
Here is the Russian government’s attitude towards their citizens.
Human life is cheap and you can die any time it is useful for the rulers.
Some points from the article, written by someone who knows far more than me about Russia.
Russian Orthodox clergy routinely bless tanks and encourage Russian soldiers to defend Mother Russia with their lives. A holy picture, issued by the Bryansk Eparchy, informed them last year that “Your task [is] to wipe the Ukrainian nation from the face of the earth.”
The Russian Orthodox church is a propaganda arm of the state.
They have endorsed the Russian genocide of Ukraine.
So much for the xian religion of peace and love.
Official Russia’s indifference to human life evidently extends to many average Russians as well. General Mikhail Kutuzov defeated Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812 by pursuing a scorched-earth policy that made large swaths of Russia uninhabitable. The Bolsheviks slaughtered millions of Russians in the Civil War of 1918-1920. Joseph Stalin sent millions of soldiers to their deaths in poorly planned assaults on the German Wehrmacht.
He forgot the Holodomor, the human made famine that killed 4 million Ukrainians in 1933, as well as millions more in Russia and Kazakhstan.
But there’s also a longstanding Russian tradition of employing unrestrained violence and treating its own people as expendable pawns.
Sums up the Russian governments from the Tsars, to the commies, to Putin’s Fascist dictatorship.
How many hundreds of thousands of Russians must die on the front before their friends and relatives say “enough”? Putin obviously believes that Russians are cattle, and that Russia is an abattoir. It’s up to them to show him that they aren’t.
Good luck with that.
The Russian people have never lived in a democracy.
They almost always just take whatever the state does to them without trying to change anything.
NBC News:
Still seems like a small number.
Wall Street Journal:
Associated Press:
Reuters:
Ukraine update: The conspiracy theory so ridiculous, that it’s certain to be believed
More Ukraine updates coming soon.
Link
Followup to comment 149.
More Ukraine updates:
Link Scroll down to view these additional updates.
The Texas judge who could take down the abortion pill
This is a followup to Lynna’s #150 on the Texas religious fanatic pretending to be a judge, “A devout Christian, Matthew Kacsmaryk has been shaped by his deep antiabortion beliefs.”
This guy is bad news, appointed by Trump.
He is a rabid fundie xian religious fanatic.
The senator Wyden is right.
Are we going to let 6 unelected judges on the US Supreme Court wreck a nation of 333 million peope?
The courts have no way to enforce their decisions.
We can just ignore them by not enforcing them.
Roe v. Wade and abortion access in America
In June 2022 the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, which for nearly 50 years has protected the right to abortion. Read the full decision here.
What happens now? The legality of abortion is left to individual states. The Post is tracking states where abortion is banned or under threat, as well as Democratic-dominated states that moved to protect abortion rights enshrined in Roe v. Wade.
Abortion pills: Many conservatives have complained that abortion bans have not been enforced and fear that the growing availability of illegal abortion pills has undercut their landmark victory. Meanwhile, abortion advocates are concerned about an upcoming decision on a Texas lawsuit seeking to revoke the approval of a key abortion drug. The FDA is now allowing pharmacies to dispense abortion pills, here’s what to know.
Post-Roe America: With Roe overturned, women who had secret abortions before Roe v. Wade felt compelled to speak out. Other women, who were and seeking abortions while living in states with strict abortion bans shared also shared their experience with The Post through calls, text messages and other documentation that supported their accounts. Here are photos and stories from across America since the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Raven, lay off this stupid, racist garbage. It’s just the same sort of dehumanization as the Allies aimed at Germans (“Huns”) in WW1, and the Japanese in WW2, and Putin’s stooges aim at the Ukranians now.
It is likely that the Texas court in Armarillo will outlaw abortion drugs.
It is entirely possible the next level up, the 5th circuit court will also.
Eventually, it gets up to the US Supreme court, which might sustain that ban.
Then what?
It won’t stop abortions, even medical abortions using the two drugs, misepristone and misoprostol.
Ceausescu tried it in Romania and it didn’t work, but it was a disaster.
We can’t stop heroin or fentanyl so how could we stop the abortion drugs.
They already are and will be sold underground.
It just makes abortion a lot less safe.
Instead of being done by health care workers, they will be done DIY, by girls and women who have zero medical training.
Oh,
A control freak.
You don’t tell me what to do, now or ever.
Get lost creep.
Out of their goddamned minds:
Link
raven and KG, a discussion concerning culture in Russia is a good topic. Aiming personal insults at other commenters is not recommended.
I would appreciate it if the discussion of culture in Russia were presented on a more factual level, with examples. Keep it short, if possible. Thank you.
Buttigieg calls Trump’s train crash bluff while Fox News criticizes Pete’s shoes
I think the failed attempt to shame Pete Buttigieg’s footwear is just another way for rightwing media to remind their viewers that Pete is gay.
I agree.
KB has been stalking me on and off for a few years now and has insulted me many times.
We are done here.
I’m not reading or responding to anything he writes ever again.
If he keeps stalking me, I will complain to the blog owner, PZ Myers.
I backed up my claims with examples and an article from an expert, that culture of death one.
What I said is widely known and has been written about often.
Calling me a stupid racist isn’t exactly a reply to my claims.
We can drop this right now and that is what I’m going to do.
Or, anyone who wants to can continue it, without me.
This isn’t how I’m going to spend my time.
Who Would Get Custody of the Space Lasers?
More at the link. I snipped a lot.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog, which is now closed. From there:
Why they’re quoting the finance minister I have no idea.
Podcast episodes:
If Books Could Kill – “The Clash of Civilizations”:
99% Invisible – “Orange Alternative”:
Bribe, Swindle[,] or Steal – “Maria Ressa on Holding the Line”:
From the Kyiv Independent news feed:
Francis Scarr:
Subtitled video at the (Twitter) link.
Re: raven @ #152…
Ah, Abilene, TX. While my father was a field service engineer working with the Air Force, we lived there for a year. That covered the 1956-57 school year when I was in second grade. Abilene, at least at that time, had three Bible colleges in town. It also had a thriving Unitarian fellowship…tow which many of the local oil geologists belonged, what with creationism and oil geology not being particularly compatible.
Texas had “local option” liquor laws. That is, counties could be either wet or dry. The county Abilene is in was “local option”. That is, it went by town. Abilene was dry. There were a bunch of bars just over the city limits to the north of town. That’s where you found all the Bible college students on Friday nights. (Which, to be fair, has more to do with the characteristics of college-age people than it does with religious strictures.)
I’ve heard that some years later, the area north of town incorporated and voted wet.
Meduza:
“Employee of the Russian consulate in Rio de Janeiro slaps an antiwar protester”:
“Shoigu’s son-in-law likes an antiwar Instagram post; Prigozhin offers to ‘catch him and send him to combat’”:
Black TikToker Says Woman Called the Cops on Him for Shoveling Snow
Dilbert Guy Explains He Is Just Doing The Mike Pence Rule, But With Black People
https://www.wonkette.com/dilbert-guy-racist-rant
‘Christian patriots’ are flocking from blue states to Idaho
Washington Post link
More at the link.
Lady Gaga sued by woman involved in kidnapping her two dogs for not paying $500,000 reward
Trump lawyer says he shouldn’t be charged in Georgia probe after jury forewoman’s interviews
And yet, the ex-presi-taint has been talking on that subject at every opportunity. Why is his taint OK, but any opposition taint not OK?
Jill Biden talks safe sex, condoms with Kenya’s young adults
Red dwarf TOI 5205 has a Jovian gas giant orbiting it – which poses a bit of a puzzle for planetary formation theories :
https://en.as.com/latest_news/an-impossible-planet-discovered-where-is-toi-5205b-and-why-shouldnt-it-exist-n/?omnil=resrelrecomv
FWIW I don’t think this is the first gas giant found around red dwarfs although the mass ratio may be a bit exceptional and the star particularly low mass even for a red dwarf. In fact, if it’s really 4 times Joves size in mass as opposed to size diameter~wise I’d have thought that would make it an exoplanet itself or, at best, a brown dwarf star rather than a red one. Still
Anyone who has read this thread now knows I’ve been stalked and harassed by the troll called KG for years, it’s probably been 5 or so.
The internet doesn’t forget, and I’ve got the documentation from the archives to prove this.
This guy is one sick in head psycho.
This ends right now.
I now know who this guy is in real life and where he lives. This is a message for Nicky.
Nicky, I know who you are and where you live.
Your middle name is Mark and your birthday is 1954-05-22. If you forgot your phone number, I’ve got that too, just ask.
Stop stalking, harassing, and insulting me.
If you don’t, things are going to get real ugly, real fast in what passes for your real life.
You thought you found yet again, another easy victim.
Stupid troll, you guessed wrong. I’m a highly educated, highly functional adult who has dealt with far more dangerous people than a trivial UK internet troll.
It’s no secret I’ve received hundreds of death threats. Some of those weren’t kidding and a few of them are in prison.
Find some easier victims to stalk and harass.
This is to Lynna.
Thanks for not doing your job and letting a troll get away with more stalking.
To be fair, you didn’t know the history of KG aka NG stalking me going back years.
And oh yeah, I’ve just decided the Infinite thread isn’t a good use of my time.
I mostly don’t read anything the idiot says, but the Infinite thread doesn’t appear on the sidebar and sometimes I accidently read one of his insults.
I just decided today that I’m not going to be a victim any more, not that a supposedly anonymous kook from Scotland is much of a threat.
This ends today one way or another.
I really do know who this guy is. He has his own website and there are even photos of him on the net.
And I can and will stop him from going after me, without anything to do with Freethoughtblogs.
He picked the wrong person to go after.
I’m not going to PZ because I’m now capable of taking care of Nicky, the troll by myself. He is actually very, very stupid and anyone can think rings around him.
But, as a moderator, you are certainly free to transfer this whole mess up to PZ Myers.
I don’t care.
The whole atheist movement is a product of our society and stalking and harassing people who are considered vulnerable is normal and accepted.
Freethoughtblogs isn’t immune from this and is in fact, getting slowly overrun by trolls.
I’m now asking myself often, why am I still here.
One of both of us will likely get banned.
I don’t care.
I have the right and duty to defend myself and that is what I’m doing.
Followup to comment 169.
There’s another side to Idaho.
https://www.reclaimidaho.org
If you want to donate to activists in Idaho who are not “Christian Patriots” and who do not support Marjorie Taylor Greene, this organization is a good place to start. There’s a donation button on the homepage of their website. They do not focus on divisive politics: “We wage campaigns that focus not on political candidates or political parties but on issues that bring Idahoans together—issues like Medicaid Expansion and increased funding for K-12 education.”
raven @ #s 174 and 175, your posts are totally inappropriate. I hope PZ removes them.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
Ukraine Updates:
Link
Guardian – “Children among 58 people killed in sail boat crash off Italy’s coast”:
‘Saturday Night Live’ mocks Trump visit to East Palestine
Link
YouTube link to the video. The video is 5:30 minutes long.
This is a stalking situation that has been going on for many years, at least 5.
That is 5 years too long.
I have the right to defend myself from stalking and harassing internet trolls.
It’s PZ’s blog and he can do whatever he wants and I’m perfectly OK with that.
If I get banned, what I lose is a few stalkers. Works for me.
I was reading and commenting with PZ from the Sciblogs days to when FTBs was started.
Things have gone downhill lately and I’ve picked up probably a dozen internet stalkers in the last few years.
I’m probably going to get banned or move on myself.
I haven’t had problems with most of the posters, who are mostly good and decent people and aren’t internet trolls, so I’ll say it was fun for a while and good luck and good bye.
Luke Harding in the Guardian liveblog:
For the record, the remarks also come at a time when:
Russia has invaded several neighboring countries;
Russia occupies parts of several neighboring countries;
Russia has interfered violently and otherwise in multiple countries’ domestic politics;
Russian officials and state media frequently proclaim imperialist views and openly discuss imperialist projects;
the Ukrainian and Moldovan governments have solid evidence of Russia’s plans to attack Moldova and/or topple its government;
Russian plans to absorb Belarus entirely have come to light and basically been confirmed by Lukashenko;
the Kremlin lies incessantly;
and the Kremlin regularly accuses others of plotting to do or doing the very things they themselves are transparently engaged in.
Texas Republican files bill to ban almost all gender-affirming health care for adults—yes, adults
It’s time.
This is my last post on FTBs.
It was fun for a long time and most of the posters here are good people and I’m glad I got to know them even if only on the internet.
This isn’t a safe space for me any more and I’m going to take a break from the internet.
Good bye and good luck to (almost) everyone.
PZ Myers is one of the best and I did and still do have the highest respect for him and all that he does. Don’t ever give up, the world needs you.
I might be back later, might not.
Ukrainian women who are recognized for their leadership:
Oksana Markarova, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States
Oksana Zabuzhko, Ukrainian novelist
Olesya Khromeychuk, novelist, speaker, director, Ukrainian Institute London
Nataliya Mykolska, a businesswoman and an activist
Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine
8 Ukrainian women made it to the list of the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women in 2022:
Kristina Berdynskykh, Journalist
Iryna Kondratova, Paediatrician
Oleksandra Matviichuk, Human rights lawyer, 2022 Nobel Prize winner
Yuliia Paievska, Paramedic
Yuliia Sachuk, Disability leader
Maryna Viazovska, Mathematician
Olena Zelenska
Yana Zinkevych, Politician and front-line medical volunteer
New Books Network – “Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America“:
Guardian – “‘Old-school union busting’: how US corporations are quashing the new wave of organizing”:
Much more at the link.
Guardian – “‘They were shot in the head’: morgue gives up truth of Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war”:
Much more at the link.
Guardian liveblog:
Kyiv Independent:
Re #191 – Belarusian journalist Tadeusz Giczan:
Guardian liveblog:
This is a followup of sorts to comment 176. In that comment grassroots organizations attempting to protect public schools in Idaho are discussed. This comment focuses on a similar situation in Kansas,
Public school taught me so much, and now Republicans want to rob others of that experience
More at the link.
SC @193, thank you for posting that additional information. I hadn’t seen that.
Continuing with other news, this is a followup to comment 194, with discussion posted by readers of the article:
https://www.wonkette.com/woody-harrelson-vaccines
Excerpts from an article written by clare Malone of the New Yorker: Watching Tucker Carlson for Work.
More at the link. Dangerous and, unfortunately, entertaining.
Ukraine Update: Russia’s ‘BTG’ was always a joke, and now it’s dead
Long COVID may be all in the brain, yet it’s anything but imaginary
More at the link.
President Biden analyzes the peace plan proposed by China:
Link
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
Also from there:
They also link to their article with more about the reports @ #s 191 and 192 above – “Anti-war partisans in Belarus claim to have damaged Russian plane”:
Guardian – “Israeli settlers rampage after Palestinian gunman kills two”:
It’s amazing how much this reads like a dispatch from a European colony in a previous century.
Also in today’s Guardian:
“Elly Schlein voted leader of Italy’s most important leftwing party in surprise win”: “First female leader of Democratic party promises it will become ‘a problem’ for Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government…”
(Interesting: “Vocal on social justice issues, Schlein, an Italian-American national, has been compared in Italy to the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She rejoined the Democratic party after leaving in 2015 out of frustration over the direction the party was taking under its then leader and former prime minister, Matteo Renzi.”)
“Rainbow plates: the chefs reawakening Africa’s taste for vegan food”: “Can innovative cooks and entrepreneurs take the continent back to its plant-based roots? We’ve included chef Marie Kacouchia’s recipe for Senegalese cauliflower yassa so you can judge for yourself…”
This particular recipe doesn’t appeal to me, but the other food pictured looks delicious. “Together, they are trying to fight back, and although the number of people identifying as vegan is still tiny, the 1.2 billion-strong continent could yet prove vital for the direction of the global vegan movement.”
“Germans are right to be incensed by All Quiet on the Western Front: it paints them as the good guys”: “Making changes to a classic novel is always questionable – but could there be a worse time to risk glorifying invaders?…”
(I’ve neither read the book nor seen the movie, so can’t really speak to this one way or the other.)
An interesting video essay about effective altruism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm0vHQYKI-Y
Yes, amazing in one way, but in another, not at all. The Zionist project leading to the establishment of the state of Israel, while it clearly had unique featues related to the precarious and often oppressed status of Jews in Europe, was often seen, including by Zionists themselves, as a chapter in European colonization, bringing “civilization” to “primitive” areas (an interesting article in Haaretz here. The false claim that Palestine was a “land without a people” (Israel Zangwill) echoes the doctrine of “terra nullius” used as justification for seizing indigenous peoples’ land.
Religion Dispatches – “The ‘Dreher Affair’ Highlights the Right’s International Networks.”
SC @203: “(I’ve neither read the book nor seen the movie, so can’t really speak to this one way or the other.)”
I did watch the new version of All Quiet On The Western Front. It is mostly an anti-war movie. You see very young men pressed into war by old men with dubious goals. This is true on both sides. You see one helluva lot of mud and death. The old men continue to press young men to run straight into machine gun fire long after it is obvious that the war is lost. Naturally, the audience identifies with the young soldier who is shown onscreen most often, and who struggles mightily to survive. French generals are depicted as having forced the Germans into an “unfair” surrender. It is all basically stupid and messy. The movie aptly depicts the horrors of trench warfare.
The German army is not well fed, not well managed, etc. The troops are treated like cannon fodder.
No good reasons, not even necessity, are ever presented as excuses for the war. War just seems to spring up from collective human stupidity, and is quickly followed by the sights of people doing whatever they have to do to survive.
The movie might be interesting to cinematographers and directors. It makes interesting use of those skills to depict the story and the overall mood.
I do not recommend it.
Lynna, OM@207,
Thanks for that brief review! I’m unlikely to watch the movie, but it would be tricky to explain “The Origins of the First World War” in less than days or even weeks in screen time! And the best treatment of that issue I’ve read is Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers, the title of which indicates that he took, in the end, much the same view as you say the film suggests.
From the latest ISW assessment:
More at the link.
SC @201,
Sheesh. Russian provocation on all sides and at all levels. You can see how they are trying to scuttle the NATO expansion. Pretty crude techniques, but still apparently successful.
Sigh. The situation in Belarus is trending in the wrong direction.
House Republicans want to undermine federal workers’ job protections and put targets on their backs
Why the fight over Rep. Scott Perry’s phone is so important
Josh Marshall:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/bring-it-the-fk-on
Sunak and von der Leyen have agreed what they are presenting as a modification to the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit treaty. I don’t know whether this will have to be validated by the various EU bodies (Parliament, Commission, Council of Ministers) – if it alters the treaty, it surely will. I’d be astonished if the DUP, ERG and Johnson accept it, but if it goes through it will be a real political boost for Sunak and, I’d admit, rightly so.
A Christian Health Nonprofit Saddled Thousands With Debt As It Built A Family Empire Including A Pot Farm, A Bank And An Airline
Much more at the link. I snipped a lot.
My point @153 was that saying “Russia’s culture almost doesn’t exist.” is not only absurd, it’s dehumanizing. Of course it’s valid to criticize aspects of Russian or any other culture, but culture is a human universal, so saying “Russia’s culture almost doesn’t exist” is saying that the nearly 150 million inhabitants of the Russian Federation (by no means all ethnic Russians, of course) are scarcely human. And if we turn to what’s sometimes called “high culture”, Russians and other inhabitants of the RF and its predecessor Russian states have made remarkable contributions to music (Stravinsky, Shostakovich), literature (Dostoevsky, Chekhov), the visual (Chagall, Osipov) and performance (Bolshoi Ballet) arts, science (Mendeleyev, Luria, Vygotsky, Vavilov), mathematics (Lobachevsky, Kovalevskaya, Kolmogorov, Perelman), political and social philosophy and activism (Kropotkin, Emma Goldman, Sakarov)… Many countries and cultures have at times fallen and others (including the USA) appear currently in danger of falling to toxic chauvinism and authoritarianism. That the RF and apparently most of its population have currently done so is tragic, and perilous for the world, but dehumanizing its people (raven is by no means the only person doing so) makes things worse, not better.
SC@177,
Thanks! But I really did LoL at raven’s ridiculous claims and threats in #174 and #175. I have not, of course, done anything like “stalking” raven: I have no idea who raven is, have made no attempt to find out, and have no intention of doing so, although the converse is evidently not true. I admit I have responded with a degree of scorn when raven seems to me to have a particularly ridiculous bee in the bonnet (as now about the supposed worthlessness of Russia and Russians), but have enjoyed and learned from many of their other comments.
Krysten Sinema’s $$$ Security Detail Just Tulsi Gabbard’s Sister … We’re Sure That’s Legit.
New opportunities for scams and grifts:
The GOP chairman of the Oversight Committee has been “in constant communication” with telecommunications executives over a licensing fee dispute. Why?
Hard to imagine it is possible, but Newsmax is even more rightwing than Fox News. Newsmax pumps out a huge amount of lies and disinformation on a daily basis.
Good :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-28/andrew-tate-detention-appeal-lost/102031230
Now that our nation’s intelligence and espionage agencies are out of Trumpist hands, why are Orban and Bolsonaro still alive? A lot of our problems with the far right would be solved if Brandon would order the CIS/NSA for these two (and others) to have “accidents” or a “sudden, fatal illness.”
Oh, that’s right! The United States only assassinates leaders when they interfere with our millionaire/billionaire masters ability to make more money. We don’t kill fascists, we put them in power.
Akira in comment 221, please do not suggest violence as a solution … not even ironically, nor as satire, humor, or political opinion. Thank you.
Satire from Andy Borowitz:
New Yorker link
Ukraine update: Bakhmut and Vuhledar updates, plus another year-ago look at Tankie/MAGA tweets
More at the link.
Followup to comment 223.
More Ukraine updates:
Fox lawsuit docs show Murdoch acknowledged several hosts backed Trump’s fraud claims
Nope. Fox News never had its prime time three hosts get together and say any such thing. Then the January 6 attack on the Capitol took place.
From the Kyiv Independent, the question we all have….
Yes, I’ve seen on various DailyKos threads that the question whether to give Ukraine complicated military machine X is above all about maintenance. But this does raise the question of whether these things are simply over-engineered for use in an actual war, because what they were really designed for was to maximise arms industry profits.
Trio of rather grim news links from Phys Org with revelations about record low Antarctican sea ice, speeding glaciers and double whammy hurricanes here :
https://proxy.freethought.online/oceanoxia/2023/02/22/research-suggests-were-under-estimating-global-warming-feedbacks/#comment-27273
Whilst this :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-28/robodebt-scheme-royal-commission-stuart-robert-legal-advice/102014796
Is bloody infuriating if typical.
Also postive analysis :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-26/anthony-albanese-first-prime-minister-march-mardi-gras-matters/102017878
Of how little splash this amde and a good sign here. ^
PS. Sorry if others have already posted some of those news stories. Also this one ditto :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-28/ian-fleming-james-bond-books-changes-to-new-editions/102035958
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
The liveblog links to a tweet by Kyiv Independent journalist Oleksiy Sorokin about the second item @ #230:
@SteveR #229: At first glance, I was expecting that to be a New Yorker style satire, but no, apparently not. It’s so hard to tell these days.
Will they be taking out Bond’s general misogyny and outright sexual abuse next? How much of the books would be left?
(Never was much of a fan of Ian Fleming in the first place, but his stuff has only become more odious to me over time.)
Meduza:
“FSB raids Moscow anarchists’ homes, possibly trying to mount terrorism case against imprisoned mathematician Azat Miftakhov”:
“Eighteen human skeletons found on Dagestan beach, where they may have been buried in 1930s”:
Meduza – “‘The FSB said I’m raising my daughter wrong’ A single father faces felony charges after his daughter drew an anti-war picture at school”:
Much more at the link. Sick.
“It’s just one politician — but Sahra Wagenknecht of Germany’s leftist party Die Linke suggests the rape of Ukrainian women is just tough cookies and part of war (everyone does it kind of argument). Her comments have created a stir here. Wow:…”
Der Spiegel link (in German) at the (Twitter) link.
MMFA:
“New Dominion filing: Rupert Murdoch provided Jared Kushner with confidential information about Biden campaign ads”:
Are these ads the Biden campaign paid to run on Fox? Because presumably the advertising contracts with networks don’t allow for them to secretly provide information about the ads to the opposing campaign before they run. Also, how is this not illegal? It’s a giant campaign contribution.
“Angelo Carusone on MSNBC: Rupert Murdoch giving confidential information about Biden’s ads to Jared Kushner shows that Fox is a political operation”:
Political consultant Fred Wellman:
LOL:
LOL:
Twitter links. Graphic at the first link.
LOL – paraphrasing Sunak:
“Absolutely heartbreaking and horrific — At least 50,288 people have died across Syria and Turkey following the deadly earthquakes on February 6.”
ABC News:
Judge overseeing Trump Georgia grand jury speaks after foreperson’s controversial interviews
By Olivia Rubin / February 27, 2023
Followup to SC @240.
House votes 414-2 on Turkey earthquake resolution. Guess who the two ‘no’ votes were
Ukraine update: Bakhmut holds, but Russian forces have entered the city on north and east
More updates coming soon.
DK – “Katy Perry Breaks Down in Tears. ‘Our Country Has Failed Us!'”
To appreciate the degree to which Republicans have gone from denouncing to embracing “gangster government,” consider Gov. Ron DeSantis’ approach to Disney.
DeSantis held a press conference today in which he referred to Disney’s programming choices as “inserting sexuality into children’s programs.” Sheesh.
Link
Followup to comment 243.
More Ukraine updates:
Link
Anti-drag Tennessee governor runs from a reporter when confronted with a photo of himself in drag
LOL
Link.
Scroll down at the link to view the blurred version of the video. Only the genitals of Matonvnikov are blurred. You can still see his smarmy face.
Ukraine update:
Wonkette link
Re: Lynna, OM @ #245…
I keep waiting for Disney to decide to shut down the Florida park and cite–as the reason for doing so–“unfavorable business climate.” Thus sticking the local counties with the accumulated debt and no way to service it all while giving Florida a black eye in the business community as a government that can’t be trusted to keep its word.
Link
Re: Lynna, OM @ #251…
Should I wish to move to SC (I don’t), I wonder if citing the portrait of an ancestor of mine, held by the Charleston Museum, that commanded a warship in the SC Navy would get me out of the “Yankee tax”?
See: https://www.charlestonmuseum.org/research/collection/captain-william-hall/C6817C6A-A013-4A49-8CC3-475248257440
Olga Lautman:
Videos of “protesters” at the (Twitter) link. No subtitles, but I saw a tweet earlier translating what the guy in the last one is saying as “I don’t understand your language. I’m from Russia.”
whheydt @254, LOL. Maybe? I doubt it though. You should videotape yourself trying that tactic.
In other news: The tech company Wirecard was embraced by the German élite. But a reporter discovered that behind the façade of innovation were lies and links to Russian intelligence.
New Yorker link
Much more at the link. A picture is painted of financial shenanigans at the highest levels, of people who are too easily scammed, of lax regulation, and of rightwing criminals using every level of misdeeds to fund campaigns in Russia’s interest.
Russian fascists in Chişinău? Again!?
There is a good case to be made that Russian fascists creating mayhem in Chișinău led directly to both World Wars, and the eventual rise of Red Russia, the USSR, and it’s current Putinesque incarnation.
Same song, same verse. It’s a template for anti-immigrant rhetoric and violence, driven by the same ideology of racial purity and nationalism which became Nazism.
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/inventing-the-pogrom-assigning-meaning-to-the-kishinev-massacre/
Tethys, “Russian fascists in Chişinău? Again!?”
It’s amazing how they keep running the same fascists plays over and over again. Thanks for the addition information regarding the 1903 massacre.
I saw Romanian reporting that some of the Russian(-backed) protesters in Chișinău tried to break into the government building, but I don’t see that in the wire reports. They (ABC link) do note that:
Tense situation.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘I’m completely against the war in Ukraine….You know who’s driving it? It’s America. America needs to stop pushing the war in Ukraine’.”
Julia Davis/Russian Media Monitor (YT link) – “Head of RT bashes America, pines for the lost might of the USSR.”
LOL, her claims about hating the US (If only we weren’t “such hypocritical, deceitful, disgusting creatures”…) and not caring for international travel aren’t very convincing!
Lynna 248
You’re welcome. The history of Imperial Russia is not taught in US public schools in any detail, but for most Eastern Europeans and Jewish people, the word Chișinău is synonymous with Pogrom.
Russia still had serfs until 1861. It’s certainly improved socially since then, but it has never experienced anything resembling a democratic society.
The Pale of Settlement that codified where Jewish people were allowed to live was official Imperial Law, though Eastern Europe was never Russian in population. Eastern Europe has always been a highly diverse region, due to geography and ancient human travel/trade networks. Russia has been trying to rule them all since the days of the Ottoman Empire, complete with yet another Crimean War.
On a newly discovered very low mass (M9 V) red dwarf star duo ( LP 413–53AB) with a record 17 hour orbit around their common barycentre (centre of gravity) :
https://universemagazine.com/en/astronomers-find-the-closest-system-of-ultracool-dwarfs/
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. Their latest summary:
Also from there:
Also in the Guardian:
“Nigeria’s ruling party candidate Tinubu wins presidential election – electoral commission”: “Former Lagos governor polled ahead of Abubakar and Obi in Nigeria’s most competitive election since end of military rule in 1999…”
“Number of UK children in food poverty nearly doubles in a year to 4m”: “Support grows for expansion of free school meals to struggling families in face of rising hunger…”
“Dior goes back to the 1950s as Paris fashion week opens.”
Interesting:
Slate – “How Did Children End Up as Factory Workers in America Again?”: “Kids as young as 12 or 13 work in jobs that are prohibited, dangerous, and grossly inappropriate places for minors….”
Holly Dagres:
Videos at the (Twitter) link. It’s been difficult to get good information about this.
Barak Ravid:
Video (no subtitles) at the (Twitter) link.
Christiaan Triebert, NYT:
Images, videos, and NYT link at the (Twitter) link.
Thread by Oz Katerji.
“ISIS couldn’t break us. You think a handful of bigots working at a shite blog will?
Fuck. Off.”
Chris Hayes was on a tear last night (YT link) – “Hayes: Why Fox is ‘the most destructive institution in all of American politics'”:
Last night’s Colbert monologue (YT link) – “Murdoch Admits Fox Lied For Money | Factchecking DeSantis’ Dull Book | FBI Nabs Sedition Panda”:
Meduza – “Prigozhin asks legislators not to outlaw ‘constructive criticism’ of top military officials”:
Say what now?
<a href=”https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/new-york-city-mayor-flunks-test-separation-church-state-rcna72889
Republicans keep forgetting who the U.S. president was in 2020
Trump, China, and Covid:
Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado:
Link
So, Trump has a complicated and contradictory record when it comes to Covid, (and when it comes to the “lab leak” theory), but Boebert is going to simplify that for us. According to her, Hair Furor was always correct, was always the smartest cult leader, and he will always be right.
New On the Media – “Who Profits?”:
Ukraine update: After a night and morning of fierce fighting, Bakhmut still holds
Posted by Zarina Zabrisky:
More from the update:
More Ukraine updates coming soon.
Democrats score a big win on insulin, while GOP continues to fight dirty with dark money
Meanwhile, here’s some news describing what Republicans are doing:
Update to #234 – Guardian – “Russian detained over anti-war statements and daughter taken into care”:
Followup to comment 278.
More updates from Ukraine:
Oversight Chair James Comer Wonders When Prosecutors Will Lock Up … Beau Biden???
The scope of Trump’s failed Iran policy comes into sharper focus
As Iran’s nuclear program advances, it’s important to understand just how spectacularly Donald Trump’s policy failed and in turn created the current mess.
AP – “Moldova’s new PM visits neighboring Romania to boost ties”:
Possibly sort of good news?
GOP stars flee CPAC
A number of big names are skipping the annual conservative gathering, whose chair faces a sexual misconduct lawsuit.
More from Paris Fashion Week – Guardian – “Kyiv-made: Litkovska brings chic clothes and Ukraine strength to Paris”: “Camel, toffee and charcoal feature in Ukrainian collection created under Russian bombs…”
Ahhh… yet another example of the Democrat’s “Big Tent.” It soooooo nice they don’t have ideology litmus tests like those Republicans. They might become unified under a set of beliefs and we can’t have that. It wouldn’t be bipartisan.
LOL.
I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but as I read about the war in Ukraine, I find myself (internally) celebrating victories, large or small, by Ukrainians. At the same time, I read about the successes and victories by Ukraine and mourn the Russian soldiers who are dying to prop up the ego of an irredentist murdering dictator. I know that what the Russian soldiers are fighting for — the destruction of Ukraine, the destruction of Ukrainian culture — is reprehensible. I know that many of the Russian soldiers have committed war crimes. I know that the Russian government is using these soldiers to commit war crimes. Yet I still mourn for the lost lives on both sides.
I first became aware of this part of myself back in high school (1980s). I was (and still am) a student of military history. I remember seeing a photo taken during the siege of Stalingrad. As the Luftwaffe tried to supply the 6th Army, cargo planes (some purpose built, some repurposed bombers) flew food and ammunition into the cauldron, and then flew wounded soldiers out. The cargo planes were especially vulnerable on takeoff — overloaded and operating in conditions never dreamt of by the designers. In this photo, a Junkers Ju-52 3m had taken off from one of the airfields, was hit by anti-aircraft artillery, and was caught, for ever, in a vertical dive, about to crash into the frozen ground. And part of me thought it was a cool photo. And then another part of me thought about the crew of three on board, plus the (probable) wounded on board, who died moments after the photo was taken.
I have never forgotten that photograph, or my reaction. How could I have been so callous before that day? I had seen that photo before and, before that day (I was about 18), had never thought of those who died. I can still appreciate and be amazed by the photo. I can still read, and enjoy, military history. But, thanks to that photo, I can never read military history without wondering about the Japanese soldiers on Guadalcanal who suffered and died, or the Soviet soldiers forced to march across minefields as part of a punishment battalion, or a Vietnamese soldier living in the tunnels of Cu Chi, or German soldiers in trenches during WWI, or, or, or . . .
As I read SC’s snippet at 288, specifically
I can appreciate and enjoy the humour but, at the same time, mourn for the lives lost. Yes, even the lives of Russian soldiers who are fighting to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians, and recreate the Russian Empire (Soviet or Imperial).
I know, kinda personal on my part. But I think we all need to remember that the people dying are people, not statistics. I do.
Oggie @289: “I can appreciate and enjoy the humour but, at the same time, mourn for the lives lost. Yes, even the lives of Russian soldiers who are fighting to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians, and recreate the Russian Empire (Soviet or Imperial).”
I feel the same way. Defeating the Russians is necessary, but that doesn’t mean we can’t mourn the deaths of all those Russian soldiers, especially those being used as cannon fodder.
Feeling that way still does not cloud my mind so much that I would advise the Ukrainians to negotiate with Putin for peace. At least not now, or not yet. Negotiating with Putin would only make things worse … and not just for Ukrainians.
Followup to comment 275.
Link
Wow, Marjorie Taylor Greene and her staff really, really hate being fact-checked.
Posted by readers of the article:
Lynna @290:
Oh, no question. Russia must not be allowed to eliminate Ukraine and Ukrainians. Didn’t mean to imply otherwise.
Matt Gaetz used Chinese propaganda to support a Russian talking point against Ukraine
Deadbeat 45th president owes millions in unpaid bills to local cops for working his MAGA rallies
A plan for conservatives to immigrate to Russia:
Sources are in Russian, so I used an excerpt from an article posted here.
Oggie @292: “Russia must not be allowed to eliminate Ukraine and Ukrainians. Didn’t mean to imply otherwise.” I didn’t think you meant to imply that at all. In my reply I was referencing others who do think Ukraine should sue for peace now. I did not make that clear. My apologies.
In other news: AG: White Supremacists Are The ‘Most Dangerous and Most Lethal’ Domestic Terrorists
Axios:
Dark money and special deals: How Leonard Leo and his friends benefited from his judicial activism
The Federalist Society co-chairman’s lifestyle took a lavish turn after he became Donald Trump’s adviser on judicial nominations.
Oggie @ #289 and Lynna @ #290, I like dark humor. Films I’ve enjoyed include: Heathers, Wild Tales, Four Lions, Parasite, A Simple Favor, the Death of Stalin, and Get Out.
I think I probably have about the same line as Mark Sumner and Kos, as I tend to be offended or not offended by many of the same things as they are. My experience on Twitter since the start of the full invasion confirms my appreciation of gallows humor from Ukraine, the Baltic countries, and Russia.
Sumner’s wry comment played on the absurdity of this invasion. It’s all absurd – Putin’s pronouncements and events, the Chechen TikTok Brigade, the very online warbloggers, the open infighting (see #273), the deluded tankies and staged protests, the Kremlin propagandists (#261), the fixation on Bakhmut, the months of fighting over square inches of ground, the endless claims that they’ve seized this town they’ve long demolished, and especially their inexplicable persistence in repeating the same stupid approach week after week. I mean, we all want them to act as stupidly as possible, but it’s baffling! And absurd!
Anyway, sometimes when I need to smile I think of this guy who expected, with reason, to be making his big dramatic stand when he drank poison in the court at the Hague, and then there was some news report about Paul Manafort or the Mueller investigation or something and he stopped trending on Twitter in like an hour and was then completely forgotten.
“Sara Netanyahu is rescued by special forces [LOL] from the siege on her hair salon by pro-democracy protesters who had faced arrests, beatings, cavalry, and water cannons. Outside my apartment.”
Video at the (Twitter) link.
SC @299. I too like dark humor. Also, I think that both doctors and soldiers indulge in dark humor as a survival mechanism. I heard one commentator on Nicole Wallace’s show say that soldiers fight more effectively when they can laugh.
In a way, laughter shows that one understands the situation.
New GOP state bills aim to restrict transgender health care for adults
Most proposed restrictions on transition-related care had targeted people under 18. But now, Republican lawmakers in at least five states are pushing bills to limit such care for adults.
By Maham Javaid / March 1, 2023
“Kyle Rittenhouse is on Tucker asking people to send him money for the lawsuit against him: ‘This lawsuit is very frustrating and it’s upsetting .. If they can come after me, they will come after you’.”
Re: SC (Salty Current) @ #303…
Hmm… I don’t go armed into areas with demonstrations (or riots…take your pick) and shoot people. So…no, I don’t think anyone is going to come after me.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
Also from there:
Peter Beaumont, Guardian:
NBC – “Feds expand probe into migrant child labor in slaughterhouses”:
@ 303
Oh, if only that were true. However, in my experience, I find that liberals are more than willing to allow racists, fascists, capitalists, and theocrats live, work, and plot against civilization unmolested and unpunished.
Guardian liveblog:
Michael Colborne, Bellingcat:
More at the (Twitter) link. They’re more knowledgeable about this than I am, but they appear to be reading a lot about Ukraine’s knowledge or approval of this from a couple of vague and changing statements. That said, I agree the Ukrainians should keep a serious distance from anything involving these scumbags (and even setting aside their political agenda, Colborne notes that “while there’s no hard proof, apparently German intel thought he might have ties to Russian security services”).
That suggests it could indeed be, in effect, a false flag action.
KG @ #311, I almost added that!
Matt Gaetz’s Pledge of Allegiance stunt took an unfortunate turn
In hindsight, Matt Gaetz probably shouldn’t have invited an accused murderer to lead the House Judiciary Committee in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Ukraine Update:
Link
More updates coming soon.
The ACLU announced this week that it is launching an Abortion Criminal Defense Initiative. It is offering legal representation, or assistance in finding a lawyer, for individuals facing criminal investigation or prosecution related to abortion care.
From the Intake Page
Blinken and Lavrov meet on G-20 sidelines in first meeting between the top diplomats since the Ukraine war began
More at the link.
Followup to comment 314.
More Ukraine updates:
Link.
Scroll down to view these additional updates.
What Russia does – Guardian – “Bakhmut burning: fires everywhere as Russians close in on city’s capture.”:
From the Guardian US liveblog:
Guardian liveblog:
The Ukrainian MoD doesn’t fuck around. This is terrifying.
“Occupier, beware.”
(Twitter link)
Tweet o’ the day.
Guardian liveblog:
The video referred to @ #323 (Twitter link).
Update to #280:
Temporary reprieve while they go after Noodle Ear.
About damned time.
House Ethics Committee announces probe into GOP’s George Santos
For those keeping score, Republican Rep. George Santos is now facing local, state, federal, international and congressional ethics investigations.
Nazi scum arrested for serial bombing the Fresno area
Guardian liveblog:
Conspiracy theory being promoted:
https://twitter.com/SamRamani2/status/1630985099524145168
From comments posted by readers:
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1630974835193937924
“White House says it will not meet with Israel’s Bezalel Smotrich when he visits the US – Jewish Telegraphic Agency”
Why are they letting this genocidal maniac visit the US?
@ 326
The House can do whatever they want. It’s not as if the Republicans will let Santos be removed regardless of him being a lying sack of shit.
@ 331
<
blockquote>Why are they letting this genocidal maniac visit the US?
<
blockquote>
Because pandering. Like most American presidents, Brandon can’t hope to win reelection without the blessing of AIPAC.
(That and, let’s face it, Brandon probably thinks what Israel does to Palestine is perfectly kosher.)
Warren Accuses John Roberts Of Acting As ‘Super Legislator’ During Student Debt Oral Arguments
Link
CNBC:
MSNBC:
Satire from Andy Borowitz:
New Yorker link
Our esteemed host again lives dangerously without leaving his chair: Florida bill would require bloggers who write about governor to register with the state (yes, the proposed law does include fine$).
@339
Good thing the republicans are for freedom of speech and small government and against excessive regulation. They’re really hypocrite snowflakes with no self-awareness. But IOKIYAR.
AFAIK, none of these “Breed, damnit, breed!!” schemes of authoritarian rulers have ever had the intended result. I’d be interested if anyone can point to a counterexample. Even the most grotesque and cruel example, Nicolae Ceaucescu’s “Decree 770”, which banned abortion and contraception for almost all Romanian women, only produced a slight delay in the downward trending birthrate, and cost many thousands of women their lives. Modern capitalism (and authoritarian pseudo-socialism) has needed women in the employed workforce, resulting in them having both less time for parenting and more independence (hence more say in whether they get pregnant). The availability of low-cost, high-quality childcare, and persuading men to do more housework and parenting, may at least halt the downward trend, although of course we can reasonably ask if that is itself a desirable goal.
#341 was a response to Lynna’s #335. Most annoyingly, when I first go to Pharyngula after having hibernated my machine, I am sometimes shown as logged in, but when I try to comment, am told I have to be logged in to do so. I then have to click on “go back”, copy my comment, log out, being asked if I really want to, log in again and repaste the comment. Grrr! In doing so this time, I left off the opening “Lynna, OM@335,”!
3rd March is World Wild life Day – see :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wildlife_Day
& https://www.wildlifeday.org/en
Plus :
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/03/1134082
Given the current Anthropocene Mass Extinction event we’re causing and living in; I’m not sur ewe can say happy World Wildlife Day but..
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
(FWIW, I remember reports of them blowing up a bridge a little while back, which was reported at the time as a sign that withdrawal was imminent. Could have been a different bridge, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same one.)
Guardian – “Alex Murdaugh found guilty of murder of wife and son”:
Re: KG 341
When I think about childhood development and what our primate relatives have with respect to parental time investment I rage with where we are as a society and what should be. No bonding time, parents having to choose who gets to bond and who works, if they can. That’s on top of the other health consequences of the economic system. It can’t go fast enough.
Five new studies show what a smashingly significant impact the DART mission had on the asteroidal moon Dimorphis as it circled it “parent” asteroid Didymos :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2023-03-02/nasa-dart-asteroid-mission-studies/102036038
The Guardian has an article, “More than half of humans on track to be overweight or obese by 2035 – report”:
The more I learn about this issue, the more I tend to regard this as dangerous, unscientific panic-mongering. Here are two podcast episodes to which I’ve previously linked for some context.
The Guardian presents the World Obesity Federation as “an alliance of health, scientific, research and campaign groups” which “works closely on obesity with various global agencies,” failing to note that
This pharma funding is relevant and should be acknowledged at the very least, as should the dreadful history of “anti-obesity” campaigns.
So just seen this on the telly – Stephen Colbert being aweome especially at the 8 mins 12 secs mark here in a clip of 9 min 33 secs length total.
Made my morning:
Video clip at the (Twitter) link.
So Maintenance Phase has a new episode related to #348 – “Doctors Have a New Plan for Fat Kids”:
KG at 342:
Grrr indeed.To me, it seems to happen about two days after my most recent login, as the cookies expire. Instead of logging out, I just refresh the page after copying or cutting my comment, and then I’m out. Before that, to recover my comment, I need to go back using my browser’s reverse button, rather than anything offered by WordPress.
Republican National Committee tweets out world’s most ludicrous comment: People respond en masse
Ukraine update: Situation at Bakhmut critical as bridge is blown and some troops withdraw
More updates coming soon.
There are still 11 states that refuse to embrace Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act. Now, the number is on track to shrink to 10.
Good news. And, about damned time.
Rick Scott has taken plenty of rhetorical shots at Mitch McConnell, but at CPAC, the Floridian threw fuel on the burning fire of contempt.
Republicans fighting each other is usually good news for the Democratic Party.
Also, I seldom agree with Mitch McConnel,l but when he criticized Rick Scott’s ridiculous policy blueprint he was definitely correct. At the time, Scott’s plan included a proposal to sunset all federal legislation in five years, including Medicare and Social Security. Scott later tried to backpedal but the damage was done … and Scott seemed to be trying to deliberately deceive the public.
Conclusion: McConnell is awful most of the time, but Rick Scott is worse. Scott is always awful.
Of course Scott would seize the opportunity of the CPAC cesspit to flaunt his slimy character while continuing to attack slightly less slimey Republicans.
When the GOP launched its “weaponization” committee, it was intended to strike fear in the hearts of their foes. But the panel isn’t scary; it’s pitiful.
The Deep Archeology of Fox News, by Josh Marshall.
The lies, and the consequences, go on and on:
Link
I rather hope that Lindell runs out of money soon. A destitute Mike Lindell would be less dangerous.
Posted by readers of the article:
Followup to comment 357.
re Lynna @359:
This !NEW! pilot voting system consists of a paper with the republican candidates listed and pre-marked checks beside the names. The !ballots! will be “counted” by hand, and the resulting 100% victory for the republican candidates will “prove” that the Dominion systems were fraudulent.
Followup to comment 354.
More Ukraine updates:
Link
Scroll down to view most of these additional updates from Ukraine.
Donald Trump wants to throw America away and start over, and he wants you to pay for it
MRFF stops mandatory military training titled “Leadership Lessons of the Lord Jesus Christ”
The article is illustrated with an image of Jesus Christ saying, “WTF?”
More at the link, including the email an MRFF representative sent to the senior NCO.]
Link
SC @350, at the same G20 Summit event, Lavrov also said that Russia is “trying to stop” the war in Ukraine. It’s as if Lavrov is no longer bothering to try to make his lies believable. Or perhaps he is practicing for his standup-comedian career.
Garland reaffirms US commitment to holding Russia accountable in surprise Ukraine visit
CPAC sludge alert:
Link
Bannon went on to insist that, “The Murdochs immediately have to start covering President Trump.”
Guardian – “Boris Johnson in battle for political future amid fresh evidence he misled MPs”:
From the closing summary at the Guardian liveblog:
Sounds like the kind of failure we like to see: Stale jokes and empty seats as CPAC falters on its first day
SC@369,
It’s amusing (and very Trumpish) that Johnson is trying both to discredit the committee, and argue that their interim report exonerates him!
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Also in today’s Guardian – “End ‘colonial’ approach to space exploration, scientists urge”: “Focus should shift away from seeking to exploit discoveries on other planets, researchers say…”
Guardian – “‘He was gaslighting everybody’: reporter Mandy Matney on exposing Alex Murdaugh”:
Meduza – “Moscow researcher, who helped create the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, reportedly killed in domestic dispute”:
Kyiv Independent – “NATO commander in Europe: Russia’s losses in Ukraine amount to over 200,000 troops”:
Presumably Carlson later realised reality has a leftist bias, so accurate reporting would inevitably make your news organisation lefty.
Ukraine update: Russia claims to be sending their own ‘super tank’ to Ukraine
More updates coming soon.
Link
Josh Marshall quoted @ Lynna’s #358:
This reminds me so much of an episode of Why Is This Happening from back in 2018 in which Chris Hayes talks to David Roberts about the epistemological crisis in the US. The particularly relevant part starts around 21:00 in, and the most pertinent segment around 28:00. I’m sure I linked to it at the time or when he reran it in 2020. Roberts says that the right has created “a sort of simulacrum” of the legitimate knowledge-producing institutions “that sort of apes the kind of the gestures and the tone” of actual evidence-based research and analysis:
(They go on to discuss the roots of all this in the tobacco companies’ campaign against medical science and similarly corporate-driven AGW denial.)
That’s also what the Jordan Committee is – a simulacrum of congressional oversight.
Followup to comment 379.
More Ukraine updates:
SC @381: “That’s also what the Jordan Committee is – a simulacrum of congressional oversight.”
Exactly. Well said.
Divorced and remarried, these Afghan women are outlaws under Taliban rule.
Washington Post link
Taliban law has voided thousands of divorces, experts say, and many remarried women are now considered adulterers.
More at the link.
Update to #325 – Meduza – “Child who drew an anti-war picture stuck in shelter, her father deprived of parental privileges”:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/albuterol-shortage-akorn-shutdowns-fda/
It’s about shortages of Albuterol. I have mixed feeling about the shortage. On the one hand, it’s a beneficial medication for many people. On the other hand, at one point when it was administered to me, it would have killed me if I hadn’t already been in a hospital intensive care ward.
Followup to comments 379 and 382.
Ukraine update:
Not good:
Wonkette link
Sensible action from Katie Hobbs:
https://www.wonkette.com/katie-hobbs-cancels-execution
https://www.wonkette.com/tucker-carlson-andrew-tate
https://kyivindependent.com/news-feed/ambassador-uk-to-provide-twice-the-promised-challenger-2-tanks-to-ukraine
https://kyivindependent.com/news-feed/rheinische-post-rheinmetall-in-talks-to-build-200-million-euro-tank-factory-in-ukraine
I wouldn’t care to bet that the proposed tank factory would deliver any new tanks in less than a couple of years, even if they broke ground on it immediately. Still…assuming Ukraine survives the war, it will probably be in a position to very quickly come up to NATO standard equipment for its forces.
lumipuna@352,
Thanks for that advice – I’ll try it next time!
Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian (support them if you can!) Ukraine liveblog. From their latest summary:
Source : https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/blaise-ingoglia-republicans-democrats-florida-bill-b2293196.html
Wow. They aren’t hiding their outright fascism anymore in the slightest huh. FFS!
Also in the Guardian:
“High seas treaty: historic deal to protect international waters finally reached at UN”: “After almost 20 years of talks, United Nations member states agree on legal framework for parts of the ocean outside national boundaries…”
“New analysis of ancient human protein could unlock secrets of evolution”: “The technique – known as proteomics – could bring new insights into the past two million years of humanity’s history…”
“Prof Nita Farahany: ‘We need a new human right to cognitive liberty’”: “The author of The Battle for Your Brain has serious reservations about neurotechnology, from the surveillance of mental experiences to ‘brainjacking’…”
Kyiv Independent (support them if you can!):
“Budanov: Russia likely to run out of ‘military tools’ by end of spring”:
“TVN 24: Ambulances intended for Ukraine set on fire in Poland”:
France 24:
Very informative piece – “Tunisia’s anti-migrant discourse: ‘A way to distract from the country’s problems'”:
“Sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia living in ‘climate of fear’ after surge in racist attacks”:
“Mob attacks two Tunis shelters for LGBTQ people from sub-Saharan Africa”:
The second article @ #398 links to this open letter in Le Monde by Saadia Mosbah and Fatma Bouvet de la Maisonneuve – “« La question très taboue du racisme en Tunisie n’a jamais fait l’objet d’un débat national ».”
Isobel Koshiw at the Guardian liveblog:
Ukraine update: Russia is inviting the pro-Putin American right to come join them (but BYO toilet)
Oliver Carroll:
Lynna @ #401, that was an entertaining article.
Trump’s 2024 message appeals to ‘angry mob’
“Troubling” is an understatement. Trump is repeating the idea that his candidacy is a “final battle” for “retribution.”
SC @403, agreed! It was amusing and right on target.
In other news: Donald Trump is now fully at war with the Republican Party’s past
Trump took the stage at CPAC, blasted his own party and declared that “I am your retribution.”
A Peek Into the Arctic Seed Vault That Could Save Humanity
I am all for wild strawberries.
Link
I do not think the House Republicans or Tucker Carlson are capable of vetting the footage from the January 6 insurrections.
Wonkette:
About all the snowstorms that have hit the state of California:
Washington Post link.
Worse news for Florida:
New York Times link
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
The Russian capture of Bakhmut has been “imminent” for several weeks now.
Reuters – “Israelis rally again against government’s judicial overhaul”:
AP – “Israeli lawmakers advance bill on $270,000 gift to Netanyahu”:
This is what happens, US officials, when you allow this sort of timid, half-assed, slow-motion prosecution that fails for years to hold anyone accountable.
Guardian liveblog:
Kyiv Independent:
“Belarus sentences Tsikhanouskaya in absentia to 15 years in prison”:
“UK Defense Ministry: Russia deploying ‘vintage’ tank models following heavy equipment losses”:
BBC – “Atlanta ‘Cop City’: Arrests as protesters clash with police”:
This piece is slightly better than the US coverage, but the ratio of police statements and claims to those of the defenders of the forest is like 5:1.
AP – “Party of Estonian PM, strong Ukraine backer, gains big win”:
More at the link.
MSNBC now has breaking news about the “VIOLENT PROTESTS” in Atlanta, with footage helpfully provided by the Atlanta police.
Respectful Insolence – “Gabrielle Bauer admits that the Great Barrington Declaration was wrong”:
VegNews – “Yep, It’s Possible to Make French Cheese Without Dairy—Here’s How”:
Follow-up to #350 – Russian Media Monitor (YT link) – “Russian state TV pretends no one laughed at Lavrov at the G20”:
WTF?
LOL
Kari Lake wins CPAC vice president poll, topping DeSantis, Haley
Wonkette: “Joe Biden Marches For Truth In Selma”
Guardian – “Meat, dairy and rice production will bust 1.5C climate target, shows study”:
(I’ve left their terminology…unannotated, but don’t like it.)
A followup of sorts to SC’s comment 422.
The new House Republican energy plan is a wish list stripping 50 years of environmental progress
Interesting:
Link
Good news:
Link
Musk’s Twitter is getting worse
Links aren’t working on Twitter due to an “internal change” that had “some unintended consequences.”
Much more at the link.
Businesses treating disabled workers with disrespect … and getting paid to do so:
Wonkette link
Comment, comparison, and question….
https://www.wonkette.com/matt-walsh-michael-knowles-transgender
Let me try that again. Comment, comparison and question…
According to local (SF Bay Area) news sources, The Sierra have gotten some 4 inches less snow than the record 2016-2017 season. That doesn’t count anything from the storm that is moving through as I type this, let alone the storm that is supposed to move through the Bay Area starting on Thursday and drop an estimated 5 feet of new snow.
For any of you that live in normally snowy areas, the accumulated total so far is 47.5 feet of snow.
Since the last time the Union Pacific used its rotary plows was 2017, has anyone heard if they are using them this year….yet?
(One problem with using rotary plows in the Sierra is that once you start using them in any given season, you have to keep using them until the end of the season and the snow all melts.)
Ukraine update: It’s time to pull back from Bakhmut
Nika Melkozerova, Politico:
Photo at the (Twitter) link.
@430, see YouTube link That’s from six years ago.
This is from January 2022: YouTube link
It’s amazing to watch.
Any yes, here is a video of a rotary snowplow working on Donner Pass on February 9, 2023 YouTube link
More video from February of Union Pacific’s rotary snow plow on Donner Pass:
Link
You have to skip occasional advertisements to watch the whole video, but it’s good. About 22 minutes.
Followup to comment 433.
Those track clearing locomotives have support crews. I found that interesting.
Haaretz – “Netanyahu: Reservists’ Threat to Not Report for Duty Over Judicial Coup Is ‘Existential’ Threat to Israel”:
BBC – “Kemal Kilicdaroglu: Opposition picks ‘Turkey’s Gandhi’ to challenge Erdogan in election”:
Cool video:
(Twitter link)
CNN – “Jon Stewart to conservative state senator: ‘you don’t give a flying f**k'”:
Video at the link.
Tweet o’ the day.
Alaska re-legalizes most forms of LGBT discrimination on guidance from Republican attorney general
Politico:
Thank goodness for that denial.
And now for something completely different…
https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/2023/03/04/there_may_be_an_eruption_tomorrow/
NBC News
Tucker Carlson, with video provided by Speaker McCarthy, falsely depicts Jan. 6 riot as a peaceful gathering
March 6, 2023, 8:04 PM PST
By Sahil Kapur
For this week’s Endangered Species of a Week a species few were expecting to see – and few ever will – the spectacular, vivid pink Aussie mollusc, the Mount Kaputar Pink Slug (Triboniophorus aff. graeffei or Triboniophorus sp. nov. ‘Kaputar’) found only on the summit of the eponymous extinct volcano. Scientifically described just a decade or so ago*, this is one special bright slug with theories on it’s colour ranging from disguising itself as Snow Gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora) leaves to the simple one offered by ranger, biologist specialising in land snails & photographer Michael Murphy in the Australian Geographic article linked here :
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2023/03/hello-power-whats-the-future/
This extraordinary large mollusc grows up to 20 cm in length – the size of a paperback novel – on a diet not of vegetables like the familiar garden pests but rather on fungi, mosses and algae growing on tree trunks. Found on trees, on rocks and, especially in drier times of day, in the leaf litter; this giant pink slug has a highly restricted range which extends no more than 10 km by 10 km – or if you’d rather 6 square miles. An isolated sub-alpine wet forest the temperature here is ten degrees cooler than its lower plain surroundings creating a “sky island” refuge witha very different ecological community rather reminiscent of the plateau full of fictional surviving dinosaurs – and cavemen – in Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Lost World’ novel! However, instead of megalosaurs, pterodayls and other prehistoric giants, this literally out standing isolated refuge harbours an amazing biodiversity of invertebrates especially including land snails with no less than 3 cannibal snails, the Katupur Hairy Snail and dozens of others as well as this Week’s Species.
This remarkable creature was nearly wiped out in the 2019 bushfires losing 90% of its population yet surprisingly enough managed to survive perhaps by hiding deep in rock cracks. Unfortunately, Global Overheating threatens to drive this spectacular slug and its brethren totally out of existence as a rise of just a few degrees is likely to make the previous wet and cool summit zone here uninhabitable for it and its other Aussie mollluscan little battlers – as well as driving more frequent and deadly bushfires, heatwaves and other extreme weather events. Whilst many will find it easy to dismiss the loss of this special, slimey animal and other slugs and invertebrates in general as Michael Murphy observes :
We forget that at our peril – as well as theirs.
.* It would be fascinating to know what the Indigenous First Peoples here make of it – but, sadly, I can’t seem to find any info on that.
PS. Here’s an amazing, beautiful brief – 1 min 5 secs – time laspe of this hot pink slug in the wild.
Dóh! Take II sorry. First link is this one :
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013/06/the-giant-pink-slugs-of-mount-kaputar/
here.
Here’s a link to today’s Guardian Ukraine liveblog. From there:
Guardian (this is how you do it, MSNBC) – “‘This is how I’m going to die’: police swarm activists protesting ‘Cop City’ in ‘week of action’”:
MSNBC does have a reporter, Blayne Alexander, reporting from the scene, but they seem to be restricting her coverage to hold to their political line and preserve their access to local officials.
Kyiv Independent – “UK Defense Ministry: Ukrainian forces have ‘likely stabilized’ their defensive perimeter in Bakhmut”:
Also in the Guardian:
“Fox News hit with election complaint after Biden ad given to Trump son-in-law”: “Media Matters for America raised issue of Murdoch handing Jared Kushner confidential information about a Biden ad with the FEC…”
“Journalists go on trial in Egypt for ‘offending MPs’”: “Mada Masr, Egypt’s only remaining independent news outlet, reported alleged corruption among supporters of President Sisi…”
“Lauren Fleshman: ‘There is a betrayal of women’s bodies in the sports system’”: “The former US 5000m champion believes that elite sports are guilty of erasing women’s bodies, leading to unnecessary problems for competitors…”
Guardian liveblog:
Hmm..
Source : https://phys.org/news/2023-03-planet-life-earth-solar-fragility.html
Italics original.
^ Excluding Ceres of course which I (& originally Asimov) noted is our 4 & 1/2th planet.. Vesta and a couple of other asteroids may almost count too?
The Associated Press reported that over the past 11 months, a massive number of fake, automated Twitter accounts — “perhaps hundreds of thousands of them” — have been created to praise Donald Trump and deride his intra-party rivals. It’s unclear who or what is responsible for the accounts.
Thousands of pro-Trump bots are attacking DeSantis, Haley
In Minnesota, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz on Friday signed into law a measure that restores voting rights to former felons who’ve served their sentences. Minnesota Public Radio called the measure, which Republicans have long opposed, “the largest voting rights expansion the state has seen in decades.” MPR News link
That’s good news.
Republican Party of Minnesota fined over $100,000 by FEC
The penalties stem from campaign finance violations during the 2018 and 2020 election cycles.
Followup to tomh @442.
Link
SC @438: Your tweet of the day was swamped by terrible responses. Every comment was negative (though I just stopped reading after a bit), most were stupid and misinformed. Tankies and bots, I imagine. Really disheartening, but that seems to be Twitter now. (I’m not aiming this at you, of course; about the only time I look at twitter is to see your TOTDs.)
Lynna @ # 455 quoting some Kossack: There are no facts that would lead an honest person to even question the validity and integrity of the 2020 presidential election.
Except widespread voter suppression in Florida and other states, of course. Why do denialist debunkers never mention that?
Followup to Pierce @457.
Too many in GOP seize on Carlson’s Jan. 6 report in misguided way
Donald Trump and some of his Republican allies are seizing on Tucker Carlson’s misleading Jan. 6 footage in sad but predictable ways.
Ukraine update: Russia’s big winter offensive has managed zilch gains
This article is topped by a photo of Ukrainian combat medic Yuliia Paievska, Azovastal defender and former POW. She will receive the International Women of Courage Award from Jill Biden at a White House ceremony.
On Jan. 6, McConnell sides with Capitol Police chief over Carlson
Republicans are effectively being asked to choose between siding with the Capitol Police and siding with Fox News. Mitch McConnell prefers the former.
Tucker Carlson Convinces At Least One Guy With His Jan. 6 Nonsense: Elon Musk
Josh Marshall:
Link
Good news:
Link
Link
Followup to comment 460.
Excerpts from the statement from Officer Brian Sicknick’s family:
Sen. Joe Manchin’s opposition to Sohn helped seal her fate: “Gigi Sohn, a consumer advocate who faced an unprecedented wave of personal attacks, has withdrawn her candidacy to join the Federal Communications Commission. Sohn would have been both the first openly gay FCC commissioner and the rare commissioner who spent her career working in the nonprofit and advocacy realm, rather than the telecommunications industry that the FCC regulates.”
Gigi Sohn withdraws from running for FCC commissioner
“FCC nominations and confirmations are usually uneventful, but Sohn’s became a combative and drawn-out affair.”
In The Smoldering Wreck Of Fox News, They All Deserve Each Other
More at the link, including: “McConnell Renounces Tucker Carlson Segment,” “Capitol Police Chief Rips Tucker Carlson,” “Tucker Carlson on Trump: ‘I hate him passionately’ ” and more.
Followup to comment 468.
Oh, dear, more fighting in the Republican playground:
Link
Radio Free Europe:
Followup to comment 471.
Financial Times:
Followup to comments 470 and 471.
Posted by readers of the articles:
Inside the Secret Working Group That Helped Push Anti-Trans Laws Across the Country
Leaked emails give a glimpse of the religious-right networks behind transgender healthcare bans.
More at the link.
DOJ issues scathing civil rights report on Louisville police
Wonkette: “Uh Oh, Idaho MAGA Found Some Woke, It Is In This 6000-Student Tech Training Community College”
Is the woke in the welding program or the commercial truck driver certification?
WaPo:
Arkansas Gov. Sanders signs law loosening child labor protections
By Jacob Bogage / March 8, 2023
Wonkette: “Maria Bartiromo Is Scared And Sad! And More LOL Highlights From Last Night’s Fox News Document Dump!”
tomh @476, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is so despicable. This weakening of protections for children is a new low for her.
Ukraine update: Russia has more to worry about than just Ukraine
More updates from Ukraine coming soon.
GOP leaders find themselves in a budget bind of their own making
GOP leaders made budget vows they couldn’t keep, adopting a “we’ll figure it out later” posture. Now, “later” is approaching, and Republicans have no plan.
Followup to comment 479.
Ukraine update: Bakhmut holds
Tennessee passes bill allowing courts to refuse to marry same-sex, mixed-race, transgender couples
Link
Dems Join Senate GOP In Pummeling McCarthy And Tucker Over ‘Bullsh*t’ Fox Segment
Stephen Colbert UNLOADS on Tucker Carlson for preposterous portrayal of 1/6 Riot
Video at the link.
Followup to comments 476 and 478.
Wonkette link
This is not a news link or comment.
This is a modern culture comment.
Wife and I, both disabled, decided we had to get out of our sedan (because we were having real problems getting out of our sedan) and traded in our ’20 Elantra on a ’23 Tucson (decent mileage for the class). And my insurance dropped $45 a month. Apparently it has so many safety features (ABS, Stability control, automatic braking for possible collisions with cars, bicycles or pedestrians, blind spot monitoring, cross traffic warning for backing up, rear camera, airbags (lots of them), etc.) that I am far less likely to be in an accident.
However, and here comes the rant, it took me three days to hook up my phone through Android Auto and my mp3 player. Plus, the center console has so many things that can be on the screen (maps, especially) that it can be, if I am not careful, distracting. There are also four different driving modes, automatic engine off at a stoplight (which can be toggled on or off), auto detent on steep hills (which can be toggled on or off), auto follow cruise control (which I can adjust how closely I follow), an automatic transmission that, in addition to the four shift modes, can also be a straight auto, or a super-aggressive auto, or a manual automatic, plus all kinds of information available between the tach and the speedo (mileage since last fill up, mileage since last zeroing, mileage since last start up, lane following (which has four different settings), digital speedo, what my four wheel drive is doing, etc (but, amazingly, only four door cupholders and four center console cupholders (front and back) (I remember when the number of cupholders was the way to tell how ‘family-friendly’ a vehicle was (of course, I remember when cars had 8 passenger seats, seat belts only in the front, and six ashtrays))). How do the expect me to drive safely with all these different things I need to do to drive, all the information that is available (and I am a control freak, so the more info the better), all the options, and all the neat things the center TV screen does?
I know, first world problems. And yes, Wife and I are privileged to be able to afford this one-step-above-entry-level-trim vehicle, so my complaints are kinda stupid. BUT!!!!!1!!Eleventy!!!!!11! I start to understand old people (yeah, at 57 I qualify as one for most people on earth) who complain about how complex things have become.
Satire from Andy Borowitz:
New York link
NBC News:
NBC News:
Politico:
Associated Press:
New York Times:
MSNBC:
I think my doctor’s office, the place where I get the oil changed on my truck, and my dentist’s office should also stop airing Fox News.