What's in the News? 2.0

[Beorning]

Well, various PiS politician have congratulated her... But I don't believe they are being honest. Only a day or two ago Kaczyński has gave a public speech where - among other things - he said that many members of Polish cultural elite are "working for our enemies" and they they need to be "publicly branded". And that PiS will stop artists who "hurt Poland's international reputation" by creating works that show bad things about Poland... I have no doubt that Tokarczuk is being counted by many PiS members as one of the artists that "hurt Poland's reputation" and "need to be branded".

[gaggedLouise]

Richard Dearlove, head of the British spook service MI6, has gotten himself into a somewhat rancorous debate with John le Carré, the master of spy novels (and once in his youth an employee and fellow spooky analyst at the agency) and Stella Rimington, a former head of the agency who also wrote a memoir about her years in the secret world plus some agent novels. Truelove thinks Le Carré's long series of famous books, starring George Smiley and others, has given the world a much too dark idea of how spying and intelligence work operates, and besides both Le Carré (aka David Cornwell) and Rimington should have kept their mouths shut about some aspects of their world out of professional courtesy. Mr. Dearlove even hints that the two are halfway tro being spies themselves, in the sense of helping foreign powers with information by writing novels. Hey, it's only 55 years or so since Le Carré quit MI6! :)

As a more positive and trustworthy image of how British agents and counter-intelligence people work, Truelove suggests - James Bond.  ;D

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/29/ex-mi6-chief-says-british-spies-angry-john-lecarre-making-look/  (first saw about this in Parisian paper Le Figaro at the local library - the French must be loving this story!) :)

[gaggedLouise]

Sorry for cutting in, but...

... Polish author Olga Tokarczuk wins Nobel Literature Prize!!! Gah! Squeee..!!!

*jumps around happy*

Two days after the Nobel Prize double (both 2018 and 2019) announcements, Sara Danius, former general secretary* and main spokesperson of the Swedish Academy, has passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer, aged just 57.  :-( Danius became the first woman to hold the highly prestigious post, and she landed in the news throughout much of the world when she announced the prize to Bob Dylan in 2016. Barely a year later, the Nobel prize, and the Academy, were derailed by the infamous sex scandal involving the husband of one of its members, the member herself and internal conflicts reaching both into the academy and into circles of the mass media. The man, J-C Arnault (aka "the Culture Profile" in much of Sweden's news media) was alleged to have committed scores of rapes and serious sexual harassments, plus economic corruption and tax evasion regarding funds provided by the Academy - in the end, he was convicted on two counts of rape against one woman, while many of the other allegations were so old that they were either outright expired or were seen as difficult to bring to court and prove due to the amount of time that had gone by and other circumstances.

The whole brew of scandal led to a barrage of allegations, rumours and public invective, and serious damage (for better or for worse) to the reputation of several people and of the Academy itself ; I'm sure some here at E will remember hearing about it. Ms Danius became the public face of an effort to drain the trouble from within the Academy, bring Arnault to justice and to make the old, venerable and secretive institution more transparent; in the eyes of many people, and a good part of the media, "the good angel" of the Academy versus other wicked angels. :) After half a year of vituperation and entrenched conflict, Danius stepped down from her post in April last year as part of a deal to try to defuse the situation; the member who was married to Mr. Arnault also agreed not to take part in the work of the Academy from that point on. Both women formally resigned from the Academy in early 2019; back in 2018 it wasn't legally possible to leave one's seat unless one had committed extremely serious crimes, such as murder or treason against the king.

Danius was both a seasoned academic scholar, a careful literary critic and determined to help break down some of the gender barriers within literary scholarship and the media. She was also a lady with spectacular sense of fashion and elegance, as showcased at lots of public occasions, not least the Nobel banquets. She will be missed and mourned by many.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/first-female-head-of-nobels-literature-award-body-has-died/2019/10/12/bfe43af0-ecdf-11e9-a329-7378fbfa1b63_story.html
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https://www.svt.se/kultur/sara-danius-dod (from SWedish public-service television site; in Swedish)

*The actual title is "permanent secretary", though no one holding the office in the last century has died in office: normally they'll hold the office between ten and fifteen years. It's equal to the title of "general secretary" or chairman in many other organizations.

[TheGlyphstone]

Most people have probably heard by now who'd find it relevant, but Shepard Smith has abruptly resigned from his job at Fox News.

For the non-USA members, Shep Smith was generally regarded as the sole voice of sanity and reasonable, honest factual reporting left at Fox News, more or less perpetually at war with the more popular and famous opinion-hosts who generated the propaganda Fox is famous for.

Fittingly, Last Week Tonight included a appropriately entertaining farewell tribute to Shep in its Sunday episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MvNadIxra8

[Giantmutantcrab]

Fucking morons indeed. >_<

On a strictly business perspective, Walmart panders to its customers. Here in Canada, Walmart sells mostly airsoft and paintball stuff, and a VERY small selection of firearms. And they are still selling video games.

In the US, they will never stop selling guns as that would be considered cowardly or even treasonous. Second amendment and all.

Walmart makes money. It is a business corporation. The problem are those who argue against the modification of amendments, including numero 2.

[Lilias]

The fallout continues...

https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/hevrin-khalaf-kurdish-politician-who-championed-christians-executed-in-syria/

[Mechelle]

There was an unpleasant incident in the football match between Bulgaria and England in Sofia yesterday. What seems to be have been an organised group of far right Bulgarians made monkey noises at England's black players, gave Nazi salutes and proudly wore their "No respect" tee shirts for all to see. UEFA's protocol of two warnings before the match is abandoned actually worked very well, as following the second warning, the group left the ground without being forced, or so it appeared. Some people thought the players should have walked off, rather than let the UEFA protocol work its way. Subsequently, the Bulgarian prime minister has forced the head of Bulgarian football to resign (I thought political interference in football was against UEFA rules, as UEFA consider themselves to be above domestic rules).

There was a fine display of sanctimony and hypocrisy by our offended commentators and politicians, as England supporters have done similar in the past, and the likes of "Tommy Robinson"  still try to get support for right wing politics through football, but this is usually in the past in Britain. I was very surprised and shocked to hear some blatant racist abuse at a club match two years ago - I and many others did take action (not violent) and the offending person left the ground without being forced, just like the Bulgarians.

All this, incidentally, has served to overshadow some statistics which came out today, showing that hate crimes have risen since the Brexit referendum.

[Beorning]

Happening in Poland right now:

The parliament will be working on a new law (pushed by some conservative circles) that would penalize "promotion of sexual activity among minors". The way the law is written makes it clear that the aim of the law is to effectively ban any kind of sex education. If this new law passes, any educator that organizes a meeting for teenagers about the dangers of unprotected sex, recognizing sexual predators or the basics of contraception, will face up to *five years of prison time*. The law is so broad that even a doctor who prescribes contraceptives to a teenage girl will be prosecutable.

This is insane - and yet, the ruling party has already voiced its "unconditional support" for this act...

[Tolvo]

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/17/770851734/maryland-democratic-rep-elijah-cummings-dies-at-68?utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews

Rep Elijah Cummings has died. I'm not sure if a cause of death is known but it sounds like it was likely related to a surgical operation.

[Oniya]

He's apparently had some on-going health issues.  Haven't seen a specific cause of death, but there's a massive outpouring of sympathy on my Twitter feed.

[Skynet]

When you're a feminist but hate trans people so much you end up going onto a sexual predator and white supremacist's podcasts b/c most of your ideological peers call you a bigot.

[Lustful Bride]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/venezuela-wins-seat-on-un-rights-body-despite-opposition/ar-AAIVBZY?ocid=spartanntp

...I don't even need to say anything this speaks for itself.

[gaggedLouise]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/venezuela-wins-seat-on-un-rights-body-despite-opposition/ar-AAIVBZY?ocid=spartanntp

...I don't even need to say anything this speaks for itself.

''


*nods* That's the same "human rights council" whose advisory panel (for recruiting independent advisors) is chaired by - Saudi Arabia.  O:)

[Tolvo]

When you're a feminist but hate trans people so much you end up going onto a sexual predator and white supremacist's podcasts b/c most of your ideological peers call you a bigot.

Yeah they do this a lot, appear on sputnik news, protest LGBTQIA+ rights at the supreme court, threaten to kill people, try to shut down charities for children. There is no depth they won't sink to.

[Lilias]

Legendary Cuban ballerina Alicia Alonso has died, aged 98.

https://www.dancemagazine.com/alicia-alonso-obituary-2641008472.html

[gaggedLouise]

The US military has taken a bold leap forward and decided to retire the use of floppy disks in controlling the launches of their nukes. :D


https://www.engadget.com/2019/10/18/us-military-nuclear-missiles-floppy-disks

[Lustful Bride]

It does make sense though since older technology is harder to hack into. Hopefully they didnt end up using Nintendo 64 tech. XD

[TheGlyphstone]

We'll upgrade to using hole punch cards now. A 'highly secure solid-state data storage solution' indeed.

[gaggedLouise]

It does make sense though since older technology is harder to hack into. Hopefully they didnt end up using Nintendo 64 tech. XD

Is this the kind of Nintendo shooter you're thinking of, Miss? :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPf-6urZqWY

[Oniya]

It does make sense though since older technology is harder to hack into. Hopefully they didnt end up using Nintendo 64 tech. XD

MY N64 STILL WORKS!

*cough*

[Mechelle]

A refrigerated lorry has been stopped at the port of Purfleet in Essex in England, containing 39 dead bodies. It is assumed they are migrants although their home country is unknown, as is the lorry's route.

The Northern Irish driver of the lorry, which is Irish-owned but has Bulgarian plates, has been questioned on suspicion of murder. I think this may be more of a device to encourage him to tell what he may know of the people traffickers.

The House of Commons was united, for once, in sympathy.

[Ket]

A refrigerated lorry has been stopped at the port of Purfleet in Essex in England, containing 39 dead bodies. It is assumed they are migrants although their home country is unknown, as is the lorry's route.

The Northern Irish driver of the lorry, which is Irish-owned but has Bulgarian plates, has been questioned on suspicion of murder.

I read about this earlier, but to be honest the article I found wasn't exactly well written and was rather difficult to follow. Based on what I read, it sounded as if they were going to charge the driver with murder, but I couldn't quite figure out why they thought he had done it.

Now part of this is from a difference in language. I understand a lorry is a shipping vehicle, but I'm unsure if it's similar to a semi where the cargo is separate from the truck or if it's all in one combined.

I also wasn't quite understanding if the driver owned the lorry or if he was just working for a company.

[Blythe]

...what's going on in Spain lately is absolutely terrifying. Few days late but still. Damn. Protests and riots have been massive.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/18/catalonia-general-strike-protests-independence

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2019/oct/19/catalonia-protests-key-moments-from-a-week-of-unrest-video

[gaggedLouise]

The thirty-nine persons who perished locked up inside a freight trailer near London were - Chinese. ::)

Have they really travelled all the way across Eurasia to get to Britain? And are conditions in China so dire that people are driven to such measures?  ???

[Mechelle]

The thirty-nine persons who perished locked up inside a freight trailer near London were - Chinese. ::)

Have they really travelled all the way across Eurasia to get to Britain? And are conditions in China so dire that people are driven to such measures?  ???

It has happened before. Anybody from the north west of England, like me, will remember the case of the Chinese cockle pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay some years ago. Essentially, they were tricked and misled into coming here, and forced to work in a dangerous job, where they had no proper protection. I imagine something similar would have been the plan this time, had they survived, with my apologies if that sounds brutal and abrupt.

On Ket's earlier question, a "lorry" is just British English for "truck". This lorry was in two parts, with the driver travelling in the cab from Ireland to Holyhead, in Wales, and then across Britain where he picked up the container, which had been shipped up from Zeebrugge in Belgium. Within an hour, the police were aware, so I really don't understand how he can be questioned for murder; it may even have been him who alerted the police.

No doubt, more will come to light soon.