What's in the News? 2.0

[TheGlyphstone]

[Oniya]

He gets a 'warning' on the forum.  I'm betting his C.O. has something more than a warning waiting for him.

[Haibane]

Wow. That is shocking. The fragility of the human ego right there.

The comment on the link Sara posted was:

"ByBakamoichigei

...okay, this is legitimately goddamn funny. And it just goes to show how dangerous discussion forums bullshit can be; some people will go to any lengths to win an argument on the internet."

[Sara Nilsson]

https://www.salon.com/2021/07/18/conservative-pornstar-derails-turning-point-usas-right-wing-youth-gathering/

Turning Point USA, the right-wing youth student organization led by Charlie Kirk, found itself in an unusual controversy Friday night after "conservative pornstar" Brandi Love was allowed into a Florida conference and welcomed as an "Adult VIP," sparking backlash.

The drama began early in the night when the adult entertainer's presence in Tampa was first discovered by a follower of white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes and former Kansas State student Jaden McNeil, who wrote on Telegram, "Turning Point USA has a pornstar as a VIP at their Student Action Summit."

"Imagine sending your kids to this conference think they're gonna learn about Christian Conservative values, and they come home with photos with pornstars," he added, attaching a photo of Love snapping a picture with a TPUSA attendee.

Yeah imagine that. How horrible.. wait how did they know she was a porn star and how would the kids know? oh right.

Also christian conservative values... lol! your glorious leader rawdogged a pornstar, bragged about grabbing women by the pussy. Don't fucking dare talk about christian values.

However, Love wasn't buying it and said the Republican Party is "broken" due to TPUSA officials giving her the boot. "Can't make this shit up lol!! I just watched Charlie Kirk, Dan Bongino, Rick Scott, Kat Timpf, speak about freedom, censorship, how inclusive the 'movement' is," she stated. "And then they had me thrown out of the Turning Point USA conference. The Republican Party is broken."

Hypocrisy, your name is american conservatives

[Skynet]

The remains of nine Lakota children murdered at an Indian boarding school have been returned to their ancestral lands.

Funerary rites were held for them.

Their bodies were gathered by a large amount of people, with relatives escorted by caravan back over a several day journey.

Parts of these events were recorded via camera on Twitter and elsewhere.

[Skynet]

Sean Hannity experiencing an "are we the baddies?" moment.

He urges his audience to get vaccines and announces that he "believes in science."

Even so, he's still on a leash, disparaging the idea of a mandate for vaccinations while also bringing up a rare case where doctors advised against one person getting it due to her unique biology.

That awkward moment of self-awareness when you realize that you're in a death cult, but then you self-correct before the death cult directs too much of its anger at you.

[Beorning]

It's so hard to believe that those Fox News people are so irresponsible  >:(

Here in Poland, the government just entered a full-on collision course with the European Commission and the European Court of Justice:

https://notesfrompoland.com/2021/07/16/polish-government-not-planning-to-implement-eu-court-rulings/

The EU responds by threatening serious financial consequences:

https://notesfrompoland.com/2021/07/20/eu-gives-poland-deadline-to-implement-ecj-rulings-or-face-fines/

Oh, and here's a lovely bit from our parliament's Speaker regarding the EU:

https://notesfrompoland.com/2021/07/19/this-is-poland-not-the-eu-says-speaker-of-parliament/

[Haibane]

It had to happen. The Polish govt's right wing stance on LBGT rights, abortion rights, freedom of speech and several other issues had set it on a collision course with the EU long ago.

For that politician to say "This is Poland not the EU" merely shows the attitude. Of course a number of sovereign rights issues were behind Brexit and in essence that's one major factor why the UK left - because a majority of her people who voted had a lot of disagreement with EU rulings that over-ruled UK law. The same is happening in Poland and the Bad Ending result to this dangerous game is that Poland is ejected. She won't leave voluntarily because she gets too much EU money but if she is ejected then a very weak right-wing Poland falls slap into Putin's lap.

I wonder how the fines, if they are imposed, will be collected? A deduction from Polish subsidies?

Its not looking good for your average Polish citizen (who isn't right wing), or the EU.

[Beorning]

It had to happen. The Polish govt's right wing stance on LBGT rights, abortion rights, freedom of speech and several other issues had set it on a collision course with the EU long ago.

Absolutely true, although do note that this particular conflict between EC / ECJ and Polish government is about the judicial reforms that have happened in the last few years (which drastically increased the government's influence over courts).

For that politician to say "This is Poland not the EU" merely shows the attitude. Of course a number of sovereign rights issues were behind Brexit and in essence that's one major factor why the UK left - because a majority of her people who voted had a lot of disagreement with EU rulings that over-ruled UK law. The same is happening in Poland and the Bad Ending result to this dangerous game is that Poland is ejected. She won't leave voluntarily because she gets too much EU money but if she is ejected then a very weak right-wing Poland falls slap into Putin's lap.

Yup :(

I wonder how the fines, if they are imposed, will be collected? A deduction from Polish subsidies?

Possibly. Also, there's the whole UE's post-Covid rebuilding plan which also includes immense funds for individual countries... which can be frozen if the country doesn't follow the rule of law.

And speaking of Poland's collision course, the government is really trying to push the modifications to the media law aimed clearly at dismantling the biggest independent news station, TVN. Which happens to be a major US investment:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/17/polands-attack-an-american-owned-tv-network-requires-strong-us-response/

[Haibane]

British Neo-Nazi jailed for seven years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-57920928

Hurrah!

[Sara Nilsson]

https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/calls-growing-for-tarrant-city-councilmans-resignation-after-using-racial-slur-in-meeting/

Alabama councilman is urged to resign after he, used the words

“The n-word. The n-word. Let’s get to the n-word. Hey. Do we have a house n***** in here? Do we? Hey. Would she please stand up?”

While singling out a black woman.

And he thinks this is totally ok. No problem. He was just repeating what someone else said. His excuse is really shit to be fair.

“It is ok for me to repeat it because as I said before, I wanted everybody to know what the mayor had said. He said it in a derogatory manner, I said it so that people would know what the mayor said,” Bryant said.

Yeah.. he is way to comfortable using that word around people of color in my opinion, but I am as painfully white as you can get.

[Haibane]

It shocks me that there's a massive, colossal, vast difference between the use of racist slurs in the USA vs in the UK. Such a speech in a UK political meeting (or any meeting, anywhere outside of a neo-nazi BBQ maybe) would be the complete and sudden end of that person's career. No ifs no buts. Out. Thrown out by their own party.

Yet will this person remain? I won't be surprised if he does. Saddened but not surprised..

[legomaster00156]

It shocks me that there's a massive, colossal, vast difference between the use of racist slurs in the USA vs in the UK. Such a speech in a UK political meeting (or any meeting, anywhere outside of a neo-nazi BBQ maybe) would be the complete and sudden end of that person's career. No ifs no buts. Out. Thrown out by their own party.

Yet will this person remain? I won't be surprised if he does. Saddened but not surprised..

In the Republican party? Being an unrepentant racist is a positive.

[Oniya]

Now in the 'stupid legal decisions' (passed onto me by Mr. Oniya, who got it from Steve Lehto)

https://www.newsweek.com/new-mexico-supreme-court-rules-gas-stations-can-liable-drunk-driving-1611194

Now, unless you live in New Jersey - where you legally have to have an attendant pump your gas - it is possible to conduct fuel transactions without even seeing another human being.  How the absolute fuck are they supposed to know if they're selling to an intoxicated person?

[Sara Nilsson]

As you said, it would make sense here in NJ but.. ..

my head hurts

Vigil added that it's unclear how much investigation gas stations will have to do to determine whether a person may be intoxicated when trying to refuel a vehicle, particularly when many drivers pay at the pump rather than dealing with a worker inside.

The dissenting judge even realized the problem! And the others where like.. yeah fuck it not our problem lets snort coke of hookers asses. I assume.

[Sara Nilsson]

https://gizmodo.com/u-s-intel-officials-eyed-dlive-as-recruitment-vehicle-1847307137

Growing interest among a host of violent extremists in a lesser-known livestreaming app—one that’s largely geared toward younger gamers—prompted U.S. intelligence officials in January to circulate warnings to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies only days after the violent siege at the U.S. Capitol.

Analysts charged with keeping tabs on violent extremist organizations warned of streaming service DLive’s rising popularity for “recruitment and propaganda distribution,” while pointing to the app’s use by pro-Trump insurrectionists who breached deep inside the Capitol building on Jan. 6.

Some of them earning almost 100.000 dollars while spewing out stuff that we should kill legislators etc.. Some did get banned but DLive seems very very lax in its enforcement of that.

[Skynet]

CW: Sexual Assault and Harassment, Suicide re: Activision Blizzard Lawsuit

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, a popular video game company.

The allegations center around a hostile and sexist work environment for female employees who compromise 20% of the workforce. Examples include "cube crawls," a tradition where male employees get drunk and harass women workers, delegating heavier workloads to women while paying them less and passing them up for promotion in favor of their male counterparts, and an incident where an employee took her own life after nude photos of her were passed around at a company holiday party.

[Lustful Bride]

Chinese Prosecutor, and Ex NYPD have been arrested under charges of harassment and threatening people to return to China. This is something that Uighurs in America have been saying has been happening, with their families being threatened if they speak out about China's genocide, so its good some of these perpetrators were actually caught.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/chinese-prosecutor-ex-nypd-cop-charged-with-stalking-harassing-u-s-residents-on-behalf-of-china/ar-AAMrs44?ocid=msedgntp

Honestly I'd charge them with Espionage. That feels like a suitable charge as well given they are acting on behalf of a foreign government without permission and tossing around cash, blackmail, threats of bodily harm and who knows what else?

[Haibane]

Yes, the denials of China are reaching a critical level now. Their human rights abuses and threats to those who leave via their families is just ... its disgusting. I don't know how these people sleep at night. I feel that a crunch is coming between the west and China, possibly in the next 5 to 10 years, not just over human rights, but Taiwan, the 9 Dash Line and other issues.

[Lustful Bride]

Considering how horribly the government always treats soldiers (And the abomination that is the VA hospital)....I'm not surprised with this latest stunt from Congress.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/national-guard-unit-starts-to-make-cuts-after-congress-fails-to-pay-for-capitol-security-mission/ar-AAMuHjs?ocid=msedgntp

[Annaamarth]

Considering how horribly the government always treats soldiers (And the abomination that is the VA hospital)....I'm not surprised with this latest stunt from Congress.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/national-guard-unit-starts-to-make-cuts-after-congress-fails-to-pay-for-capitol-security-mission/ar-AAMuHjs?ocid=msedgntp

To save the click - US Congress isn't paying the bill for the National Guard deployment to the US Capitol, so the National Guard is running out of funds to support things like qualification exercises.

Speaking as someone who has been directly impacted by congressional failures with regards to the US military, I cannot describe my feelings about this in a way that would convey the emotional weight.

[Skynet]

To save the click - US Congress isn't paying the bill for the National Guard deployment to the US Capitol, so the National Guard is running out of funds to support things like qualification exercises.

Speaking as someone who has been directly impacted by congressional failures with regards to the US military, I cannot describe my feelings about this in a way that would convey the emotional weight.

I'm sorry to hear that. You have my condolences.

[Haibane]

But is the US National Guard usually funded by some other means? Is there an argument to say this is just another deployment for them and their home states should fund it? Is there a procedural loophole here perhaps since DC is not a state? I'm just wondering if there's more to this story than "tight-fisted miserable government".

[Annaamarth]

The National Guard is funded within the state for actions within the state.  Normal qualifications, local emergency and disaster response and similar concerns are internal, state concerns.  The Federal government subsidizes this in order to have the resource "on-hand" and because, in general, having a reserve to call upon is a useful resource to "provide for the common defense", as mentioned in the preamble of the US Constitution.  A National Guard unit is therefore under "dual control" of both the Federal Government and whatever their home state (or territory) is.

A Federally-required deployment of National Guard forces - whether to the sandbox or to the Capitol, especially for an extended duration, such as reinforcement and garrison duties lasting for six-ish months - is an additional onus above and beyond the state-level expectation of the National Guard.  When under such orders the unit is "Federalized", which means in Federal service, which in turn should mean on the Federal dime.

Also worth noting that some of the states described in the article may be less prosperous states to begin with, making an extended National Guard deployment disproportionately onerous.

Further worth noting that the Federal government doesn't have a great record of treating their troops well.  These are the same Guardsmen who were, at one point, relocated to sleep in parking garages in January.  Likely the only reason that was corrected was because it was leaked.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/01/25/national-guard-has-no-plans-investigate-leaked-photos-of-troops-parking-garage.html

"Three- or four-star generals and command sergeant majors have been out walking and talking to guardsmen," Walker said. "... If you had a problem with the break area, let someone in command know and we'll fix it. But there is no investigation."

As someone with experience - that's ... possibly not a lie, but fundamentally untrue.  You can run a complaint up the flagpole, but if you don't get the civilian world - and congresspeople - involved, the "fix" is likely to take months to resolve.  (Disclaimer - I am unquestionably biased, because in my anecdotal case of command-level malfeasance causing harm to hundreds of personnel, there was a fix - about six months after the problem started.)

Other examples of poor military treatment include the oft-maligned status of the Veteran Affairs hospital system, the continuing high operational tempo of the Navy which has resulted in numerous accidents over the last several years, including ship collisions, the post-WW1 Bonus Army ... heck, you can even look as far back as the failure of the government to provide pensions for the wounded and crippled of the Revolutionary War for 35 years after the fact - by which point, the War of 1812 had already concluded.

I'm sorry to hear that. You have my condolences.

Appreciated.

[Skynet]

We need to stop bailing out corporations when they continue doing this shit.

The Disney corporation may get half a billion dollars in tax incentives for moving offices to Lake Nona...

While for years refused to pay their laborers a living wage.

“Instead of going to the City for general purposes, almost all of Disney’s transient occupancy, sales and real property taxes go to payments on the bonds, which will not be paid off until 2036. Disney got a rebate of the best kind: it got its taxes back before it paid them.”

In a February 2018 report, Disneyland employees cited high instances of homelessness, low wages and food insecurity. The report was compiled for the Coalition of Resort Labor Unions by researchers at Occidental College and the Los Angeles-based Economic Roundtable.

According to the Coalition of Resort Labor Unions, more than 85% of union workers at Disneyland earned less than $15 an hour at the time of the 2018 report, which was released before Measure L was approved.