What's in the news?

[Lustful Bride]

Hotel in Turkey stages a fake terrorist attack as 'Entertainment' and scares the shit out of patrons.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/staff-stage-fake-terror-attack-at-hotel-in-turkey/ar-BBlIqsO?ocid=HPCDHP

They are lucky non of the people there thought it was real and decided to go down fighting.

[Ironwolf85]

Apparently a very smart scentist lady has discovered a way to geneticly modify yeast to ferment into carcinogens in order to create morphine and other painkillers for much cheaper, largely to provide these medicines to third world countries that lack it.
The current dosage is so small it's unusable but it's promising.

unfortinately it may also make the ingrediants for other drugs from sugar if modified, the FDA and DEA have stepped in to monitor all samples.

[Beorning]

Hotel in Turkey stages a fake terrorist attack as 'Entertainment' and scares the shit out of patrons.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/staff-stage-fake-terror-attack-at-hotel-in-turkey/ar-BBlIqsO?ocid=HPCDHP

They are lucky non of the people there thought it was real and decided to go down fighting.

It seems almost as good idea for "entertainment" as that Egyptian TV prank with Paris Hilton from not so long ago...

[Blythe]

Oklahoma keeps getting all these extra earthquakes

Kinda surprised to see how high the number has been the past year, too.  :-\

[Cycle]

Obama releases his playlist.  I gotta go check this out.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/14/politics/barack-obama-spotify-playlist-white-house/index.html

[Dashenka]

So this radio host said he thinks breastfeeding in public is wrong, which I totally agree with. Maybe the way he said it, it being unnatural and all, was offensive to some?

Anyway, the BBC has suspended him over that.



So saying you very much dislike women popping their teets out in public to breast feed a screaming little human is no longer allowed in the UK?

I'm moving back to Russia soon. At least there is more freedom of speech there...


http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-33904758

[Caehlim]

So saying you very much dislike women popping their teets out in public to breast feed a screaming little human is no longer allowed in the UK?

I'm moving back to Russia soon. At least there is more freedom of speech there...

In related news.

Russian Gay Activists Detained After Unsanctioned LGBT Rights Rally In Moscow

[Dashenka]

You searched for news from May to counter the BBC's stupidity?

We've expected it from Russia. I always thought the UK was free country.

[Caehlim]

You searched for news from May to counter the BBC's stupidity?

Actually I thought it would rank the articles chronologically but it just sorted it by relevance to search query instead. Sorry, my mistake, I just noticed the date myself. However nothing has changed with Russia's "anti gay propaganda" laws since May. Would you like me to get more recent articles?

[Dashenka]

No I know nothing has changed :) But as I said, I've come to expect it from Russia, not the UK. Especially not the BBC. If I want censored media I can go back to Russia...

[Caehlim]

I'm sorry, I didn't catch the sarcasm in your original post. I get what you were saying now. My apologies.

[Dashenka]

:P It's ok :)

[Ironwolf85]

Oklahoma keeps getting all these extra earthquakes

Kinda surprised to see how high the number has been the past year, too.  :-\

one word: Fracking.

Anyone else notice nations that look up to Russia taking a homophobic turn lately as a result of Russian policies? I have an artist friend in Venezuela who is seriously scared and is now trying to immigrate to the US due to the new policies there and the brewing civil war as a result of both the repression and Chavez's legacy of a shitty economy.

as he put it "No we don't need to invest in food, buy more MIG's from russia..."

[Dashenka]

So... because of Russia's law saying you cannot shove your homosexuality down everybody's throat (read: children), Russia is homophonic and Venezuela (correct spelling :D) is scaring it's citizens?


Last time I checked, gay marriages aren't as accepted as they should be in the US either. Does that make the US homophobic as well and does that scare people in Venezuela as well? Compared to countries like Denmark and the Netherlands, the US really is homophobic, just as much as Russia is, if not more. Trust me on that.

[Lustful Bride]

I think were all getting abit over excited here. Everyone take a step back and cool off, no need to go crazy.

[Dashenka]

*steps back* :P

[Cycle]

We really need a separate "Bash US/Bash Russia/Bash [insert name of country here]" thread.

[Lustful Bride]

We really need a separate "Bash US/Bash Russia/Bash [insert name of country here]" thread.

Sad but true.

[Ironwolf85]

So... because of Russia's law saying you cannot shove your homosexuality down everybody's throat (read: children), Russia is homophonic and Venezuela (correct spelling :D) is scaring it's citizens?


Last time I checked, gay marriages aren't as accepted as they should be in the US either. Does that make the US homophobic as well and does that scare people in Venezuela as well? Compared to countries like Denmark and the Netherlands, the US really is homophobic, just as much as Russia is, if not more. Trust me on that.

Nah I'm not bashing Dashenka.

What I'm saying is when the political big guys make a decision the little guys who align with them do so as well. Some of them take it to the extreme.
Russia banned gay pride stuff such as pink shirts with male symbols as "gay propaganda" and went pro-nationalist.

Venezula on the other passed a law where you can receive between 2 months to 5 years for "homosexual actions" the definition of which is left very vague. Then goes from semi-communist to ultra-nationalist propaganda.
This law is being used sporadically to jail opposition leaders as the country is in a state of unrest at the moment. :-\
So yeah... popular gay artist who draws girly boys for a well known anthro-comic magazine starts filing for a US visa...

Incidentally their "official story" blaring on state news channels blames Brazil and the US as the enemies lurking in the shadows as the powers behind the protests and riots... because your citizens couldn't possibly be pissed due to the 6 hour wait in line for toilet paper and the sky-high price of bread. Nah it's gotta be Brazilians selling their stuff for cheaper and easier to access on the black market and the evil american imperialists pulling their strings. ;)

Modify note: "This Mini-me to the extreme" isn't limited to Pro-russian states, some of those within European, US, and Chinese spheres of influence do it too. I think Russia just has more of the crazy mini-mes left over from the cold war since most of the Pro-US guys got let down easy in the 90's and the Pro-USSR ones got dropped off a cliff when the eastern bloc imploded.

[kylie]

     The IMF continues to warn that Greek debt must be chopped before it will become more involved in funding for Greece.

the IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde, told eurozone ministers the deal did not go far enough in tackling the woes of a country grappling with a steadily shrinking economy and a growing debt burden. “I remain firmly of the view that Greece’s debt has become unsustainable,” Lagarde said. She called on Europe to make “concrete commitments … to provide significant debt relief, well beyond what has been considered so far”.

Lagarde also said she will not commit the IMF to joining the latest bailout until the board has reviewed the agreement, probably in the autumn. Officials said they want to see more details about reforms, particularly to pensions, but the delay will also give European leaders time to consider their stance on debt relief.

Germany holds more Greek debt than any other eurozone country and has repeatedly rejected any “haircut” on what Athens owes, but is also keen to keep the IMF involved in the bailout.

[Jazra]

     The IMF continues to warn that Greek debt must be chopped before it will become more involved in funding for Greece.

The IMF is correct. Debt relief is both needed and inevitable. While the situations are not entirely analogous, Germany itself enjoyed significant debt relief itself after World War II.

[Ironwolf85]

The IMF is correct. Debt relief is both needed and inevitable. While the situations are not entirely analogous, Germany itself enjoyed significant debt relief itself after World War II.

I think the German banks and the IMF have cut Greece a lot of slack, and are going to cut them more, then Greece is invetibly going to slowly give in and repair it's economic imbalances... the German people themselves however are getting sorta fussy in a "Ireland is friggin booming, Italy is stable, Spain could use higher employment but at least it got it's act together, and you little (insert German for ingrates here) are rioting and protesting? AFTER we saved you from complete ruin? what zee hell!" sort of way.

Mind you that seems to be the perspective of the German public, the actual terms of the deal are diffrent and it's a massive complex issue.

[Zakharra]

 How much debt should be forgiven though? At this point, it looks like Greece is more than willing to be demanding money for a bailout, but is willing to do what is needed to reform its internal policies enough so it will not immediately slide right off another financial cliff 6 months down the road. The attitude I am seeing on the news of the Greek population seems to be a collective 'Give us money and fuck you!' from Greece to the EU (and Germany). Unless Greece makes the changes, as painful as they will be, this is going to be just kicking the can down the road.

[Ironwolf85]

http://www.businessinsider.com/young-mississippi-couple-highlights-americas-isis-problem-2015-8

Goddamnit if we don't get on top of these things there will be a big backlash... I'm worried it might go full on anti-islamic McCarthyism, bet that's what those assholes want too.
I'm going to still try and be a voice of reason, the better educated people are about how the religions of the world actually work and what they really promote. With a willingness to sit down and talk with kids about this kind of shit the less susceptible people will be to this ISIS bullshit.

Seriously it's like trying to counter cults from the 80's and 90's... except with higher stakes.

[TaintedAndDelish]

http://www.businessinsider.com/young-mississippi-couple-highlights-americas-isis-problem-2015-8

Goddamnit if we don't get on top of these things there will be a big backlash... I'm worried it might go full on anti-islamic McCarthyism, bet that's what those assholes want too.
I'm going to still try and be a voice of reason, the better educated people are about how the religions of the world actually work and what they really promote. With a willingness to sit down and talk with kids about this kind of shit the less susceptible people will be to this ISIS bullshit.

Seriously it's like trying to counter cults from the 80's and 90's... except with higher stakes.

We could start teaching young people how to think critically and see how advertisers, politicians and religions gain power by controling the belief system, but I don't think that would fly well with many people; it would cause a lot of friction and would likely get watered down to a mostly ineffective teaching as a result. My kid actually had a class in school that taught kids to spot the tactics that advertisers use, but they didn't go as far as they could have with this lesson.