What's in the News? 2.0

[Haibane]

Marjorie Taylor Greene stripped of her two assignments on the education and budget panels.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55940542

[Hades]

Smartmatic, one of two voting technology companies targeted by the reality-challenged right-wing sphere, filed suit against Fox News, three of its hosts, Rudy Guillani and Sydney Powell for a combined total of $2.7 billion USD on February 4th.   But the part I love the most about this new is if you read the filing they submitted (found on their website under the Complaint Filed link), you will find what has to be one of the best tossing of shade in a legal document in recent times. 

INTRODUCTION1

1. The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won
the 2020 election for President and Vice President of the United States. The election was not stolen,
rigged, or fixed. These are facts. They are demonstrable and irrefutable.

2. Defendants have always known these facts. They knew Joe Biden and Kamala
Harris won the 2020 U.S. election. They knew the election was not stolen. They knew the election
was not rigged or fixed. They knew these truths just as they knew the Earth is round and two plus
two equals four.

If snark like this can be included, maybe I was wrong all those years ago about thinking I'd end up in contempt in under five minutes if I became a lawyer.   >.>

[Mechelle]

This has gone viral in Britain since last night, and, supposedly, around the world too.  Handforth is a suburb of Wilmslow, very near where I live, which has its own parish counciil. That's the very lowest level of local government, which not all areas have, which typically deals with matters like planting flowerbeds.

However, it seems there had been problems with bullying on the council after which Jackie Weaver, the Chief Officer of the Cheshire Association of Local  Councils, which covers Handforth, was called in to offer support and run the zoom meeting. She is the hero of the meeting and has suddenly become nationally famous, with "You have no authority, Jackie Weaver" becoming a catchphrase, which was uttered by one of the aggressive councillors, immediately before she cut him off,

The link is to the shorter version of the meeting. There is a longer one, which includes the later part of the meeting when only the pleasanter councillors, such as John and Sue, remain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB3P_0GAi0I

[Haibane]

The week in pictures.

[Haibane]

This tore me to pieces and left me in floods of tears. This is the wicked, corrupt and downright evil face of North Korea.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55651578

[TheGlyphstone]

Japan doesn't come across looking very good there either. How can you just ignore the obvious lies you're being fed, from a country you don't like anyways?

[stormwyrm]

Japan doesn't come across looking very good there either. How can you just ignore the obvious lies you're being fed, from a country you don't like anyways?

That's the reality of international diplomacy. You can't always just go in shouting when the fates of nations and peace in the region hang in the balance. There might have been a better way, but if other big international players aren't cooperative, what's the Japanese government going to do?

[Avalon29]

Well it's happened. The growing "prank" culture has gotten someone killed. It was just a matter of time with how pranks have been turning from fun innocent things to well stupid and malicious. It's just a prank bro doesn't help when you seriously hurt someone or in this case get yourself killed. It's just sad that it had to come to this.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tennessee-man-shot-killed-after-youtube-video-prank-goes-wrong-n1256940

[Chaeronea]

Well it's happened. The growing "prank" culture has gotten someone killed. It was just a matter of time with how pranks have been turning from fun innocent things to well stupid and malicious. It's just a prank bro doesn't help when you seriously hurt someone or in this case get yourself killed. It's just sad that it had to come to this.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tennessee-man-shot-killed-after-youtube-video-prank-goes-wrong-n1256940

Prank? A prank is something mischievous or funny, even if it has to be cleaned up (TP'ing a front yard, putting talcum powder in a dryer, etc). A couple of guys brandishing butcher knives as they approach a group of people in a parking lot in the dark of night, in a state where anyone 21 or older who passes a background check can purchase a handgun  isn't a prank - it's a Darwin Award which some idiot won.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[Shekinah]

Well it's happened. The growing "prank" culture has gotten someone killed. It was just a matter of time with how pranks have been turning from fun innocent things to well stupid and malicious. It's just a prank bro doesn't help when you seriously hurt someone or in this case get yourself killed. It's just sad that it had to come to this.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tennessee-man-shot-killed-after-youtube-video-prank-goes-wrong-n1256940

Prank? A prank is something mischievous or funny, even if it has to be cleaned up (TP'ing a front yard, putting talcum powder in a dryer, etc). A couple of guys brandishing butcher knives as they approach a group of people in a parking lot in the dark of night, in a state where anyone 21 or older who passes a background check can purchase a handgun  isn't a prank - it's a Darwin Award which some idiot won.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

It is as Chaeronea says, how is that a prank? That's just wanting to frighten people and being bullies. It's the same as those scary clowns a couple of years ago on Halloween who even invade back yards and such to be "funny" and scare people.

I mean what's funny about it? We mugged you and scared the shit out of you and probably scarred/frightened you for life but hahahaha it's just a joke, it's just a video we make to try and be popular for five minutes on youtube, here is your stuff back.....

I'm sorry but I can't really feel any sympathy for the guy who lost his live. I'm sorry for his family that they have to go through this kind of loss but for the guy himself, no.

[Oniya]

Didn't people try to pass off SWATting as a 'prank'?  (The tactic of calling in an anonymous tip, designed to get law enforcement to interrupt someone's online activity, usually competitive gaming or broadcasting.)

If so, that particular 'prank' has already been fatal at least once.  The victim wasn't even the guy that was targeted, but some poor guy who had moved into the target's previous address.

[stormwyrm]

Well it's happened. The growing "prank" culture has gotten someone killed. It was just a matter of time with how pranks have been turning from fun innocent things to well stupid and malicious. It's just a prank bro doesn't help when you seriously hurt someone or in this case get yourself killed. It's just sad that it had to come to this.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tennessee-man-shot-killed-after-youtube-video-prank-goes-wrong-n1256940

Brandishing deadly weapons like butcher knives at someone in a threatening manner by itself is already legally assault. As per Tennessee law § 39-13-101:

39-13-101. Assault.

(a) A person commits assault who:
(1) Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another;
(2) Intentionally or knowingly causes another to reasonably fear imminent bodily injury; or
(3) Intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with another and a reasonable person would regard the contact as extremely offensive or provocative.

Emphasis added. Even if someone didn't get killed what they tried to do is already freaking illegal.

[Shekinah]

Didn't people try to pass off SWATting as a 'prank'?  (The tactic of calling in an anonymous tip, designed to get law enforcement to interrupt someone's online activity, usually competitive gaming or broadcasting.)

If so, that particular 'prank' has already been fatal at least once.  The victim wasn't even the guy that was targeted, but some poor guy who had moved into the target's previous address.

yeah there was that too!

Sorry but if you bring harm to a person physically or mentally you can't call it a prank anymore in my opinion. A prank is something that should be funny for everyone and even the one getting pranked should be able to laugh at it after it's over.

[Avalon29]

Agreed these recent stream of "pranks" that are deliberately made to scare or hurt random people are not what I consider pranks. The whole "It's just a prank bro" thing that has  been growing for a while and being used as an excuse to be mean and cruel to people for youtube likes is not okay.   Pranks need to be something people can laugh about after and don't run the risk of hurting or scaring people. The fact that it has gotten to the point where people are getting killed over these "pranks" is what's sad. Nobody should get killed over a prank. Nobody should have to live the rest of their lives mourning the death of a family member or living with the guilt of killing someone who you later find out didn't actually mean you harm even if you made what you thought was the best call at the time to protect yourself and your friends and family.

And the worst part is, I'm not sure people are going to learn from this as long as this kind of thing continues to bring in the views and likes. The call for 15 minutes of fame is hard to resist.

[Oniya]

I think I can suggest when this all started.  'America's Funniest Home Videos' debuted in 1989.  Yes, there were a lot of adorable, genuinely funny vids, but there were always a few where someone got nailed in the crotch or did a slip-and-fall.  And they got audience responses, and won cold, hard cash.

[Haibane]

Agree. There was a long-running UK TV show called "You've Been Framed" where people were paid £250 to send in funny videos. It was clear that a proportion were set up or acted.

How does this get addressed? YT banning such videos? How does it do that? It would ned some extremely complex algorithms to identify events in a video as being a prank or even a "dangerous" prank.

[Beorning]

I've long hated these "prank" videos. Even when they weren't truly dangerous, they were based on doing something annoying or disgusting to unsuspecting people and, then, selling it online as "look how silly people overreact to a joke!".

Because, obviously, it's so silly if you react strongly to a stranger who seemingly is trying to vomit at you in the middle or the street. Or when, you're walking along an empty street in the evening and some moaning people stagger out of the bushes and start running towards. Ha ha, can't you see they are supposed to be zombies? How foolish of you to run away!

*groans*

In other news...

Huge media protest is taking place in Poland today! Major privately-owned TV stations, radio stations and Internet news sites went into blackout to protest the new tax the government wants to put on them. The tax is obviously designed to weaken independent media and help move Poland toward the monopoly of state-owned, government-worshipping media akin to the one existing in Hungary:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56007942
https://notesfrompoland.com/2021/02/04/polish-government-says-planned-advert-tax-will-help-free-media-but-private-outlets-fear-attack/

I hope this wakes some people up. I can't believe this disgusting government still has some major support!

[Haibane]

Two Buffalo police officers accused of assault in pushing a 75 year old protestor to the ground last summer have the case against them dismissed in a closed court.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56040320

Not a good result. Why was the court closed? To me this smells bad.

[Aiden]

Fuck these officers and the people who defend them, including those compliant.

[Beguile's Mistress]

Two Buffalo police officers accused of assault in pushing a 75 year old protestor to the ground last summer have the case against them dismissed in a closed court.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56040320

Not a good result. Why was the court closed? To me this smells bad.

This was a grand jury decision.  These proceedings are usually closed whether an indictment is handed down or not.  Please read the article at the cited link.

[Aiden]

This was a grand jury decision.  These proceedings are usually closed whether an indictment is handed down or not.  Please read the article at the cited link.

I read the article.

No accountability again which continues to protect police brutality.

[Beguile's Mistress]

I'm not agreeing with the decision but a grand jury proceeding is not a cover up just because it is secret.

[Gadifriald]

A major reason why grand jury proceedings are generally kept secret is to protect the members of the jury from potential retaliation if their identities become public.

[Missy]

And American Gerrymandering rears is ugly head, I mean really the mere seggustion had ought to be a crime by statute, for fucks sake

[Haibane]

The whole system is rotten and requires review.