What's in the news?

[Sara Nilsson]

<giggles like a 10-year old> TOP Stories. Because she may or may not have her top off. Get it?!?!?!?!?!

*painful groan*

[ShadowFox89]

Like many people, I'm keeping an eye on the latest about Hurricane Irma, seeing if it's changed course, etc.  So I googled it just now for the latest.

Seriously, Fox News? Seriously?

I'm so, so hoping that's just something done by a bored hacker, but I'm terrified that it isn't.   

Fox has always used targeted ads for it's most common readers, males in their mid 30's to 40's.

[gaggedLouise]

It ain'r Irma la Douce who's coming... 

[Lilias]

I downloaded an app, and suddenly was part of the Cajun Navy.

Long and uncomfortable read, but necessary.

[Cognitive Brainfart]

Yesterday morning I open the news:

08.09.2017 from Slovakia. The court Senate of the Supreme Court, led by a Supreme Court judge (who is also former Minister of Justice), has released a man who, in February 2017, assaulted a French student of dark skin. The man attacked the student in a pub in Banská Bystrica with a broken glass and cut his face open. According to witnesses, during the assault, the man was yelling at the student things such as "you black dick" and "you fucking nigger". He was released from the charges after the court hearing because, according to the senate, it can't be conclusively proven that these words were a sign of racial hatred and they may have simply been a case of attributing certain characteristics to an individual which has these characteristics.

This was a translated summary. You can find the article (in Slovak) here if you want:

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

https://www.etrend.sk/ekonomika/senat-stefana-harabin-prepustil-utocnika-ktory-napadol-studenta-tmavej-pleti.html

The article didn't mention the race of the student, by the way, it simply said "with dark skin".

This is pretty shitty for several reasons. I'll give a quick summary.

For one, and this is a more personal reason, I've also studied at the university in Bystrica, both my BA and MA, and I remember it as a great place for students. It makes me pretty sad that it's apparently no longer the case.

The other reason is that Bystrica is the home to the Slovak National Uprising Museum, which was an event that basically ousted Nazis from the country back in the day. Currently, the mayor of the town is a guy who is also the leader of an openly Nazi-supporting political party. I'm talking uniforms, banners, old Nazi greetings, etc. This party also currently sits in the parliament with around 8% support (I think it's around that, I will need to check).

What this means, basically, is that the whole state is slowly nodding to practices which are aimed against people of other nationalities and races. The court system has just proven that it doesn't care. Of course, there are protests against these decisions. Even the Supreme Court Chairman is protesting it, but I highly doubt anything will ever come of it. It never does.

I could go more in-depth on this political party and the overall attitudes here but that would probably need its own topic.

[ShadowFox89]

 This seems to be the trend these days, unfortunately. More and more political parties with far-right leanings gaining power.

[Lustful Bride]

Hurricane Jose his on the path to Category 5.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/storm/jose-nearing-category-5-status-threatens-second-blow-to-islands-already-hit-by-irma/ar-AArwYWW?li=BBnb4R7&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

Oh my god 3 massive hurricanes in just a few weeks?

[TheVillain]

And there's still people that deny that human-influenced Climate Change is a thing.

If that doesn't prove that Climate Change Deniers aren't operating on Facts, I'm not sure anything can.

[Lustful Bride]

And there's still people that deny that human-influenced Climate Change is a thing.

If that doesn't prove that Climate Change Deniers aren't operating on Facts, I'm not sure anything can.

Problem is you have people spouting false information and data, claiming it all to be illuminati lies or 'propaganda by the west' (I have seen that a lot online for some reason) and it starts to muddy things. Lies spread faster than truth. :(

[TheVillain]

I almost start to doubt the "propoganda from the west" angle at this point. Did you know that the GOP are the only major political party on the planet that flat out denies climate change? The closest you get is in Turkey where one of their major political parties is of the position that it's happening, but it's the West's fault so they shouldn't have to clean up the mess.

[Lustful Bride]

I almost start to doubt the "propoganda from the west" angle at this point. Did you know that the GOP are the only major political party on the planet that flat out denies climate change? The closest you get is in Turkey where one of their major political parties is of the position that it's happening, but it's the West's fault so they shouldn't have to clean up the mess.

But that doesn't really help against the conspiracy nuts since they always need their bad guy :/

[MiraMirror]

Problem is you have people spouting false information and data, claiming it all to be illuminati lies or 'propaganda by the west' (I have seen that a lot online for some reason) and it starts to muddy things. Lies spread faster than truth. :(

Or people claiming that "God's angry because gays and lesbians", and that's why we have hurricanes.   

[TheVillain]

I'm reminded of a scene in the Newsroom where Will MacAvoy gave us this immortal line.

"I'm actually a Registered Republican, I only seem liberal because I believe that hurricanes are caused by high barometric pressure and not gay marriage."

[Lilias]

Viking warrior discovered in Sweden was a woman, scientists confirm.

[Beorning]

I almost start to doubt the "propoganda from the west" angle at this point. Did you know that the GOP are the only major political party on the planet that flat out denies climate change?

Eh, not really. Here in Poland, our Minister of Enviroment has commented that the climate change observed in Poland happens only because of hot air being blown over from Sahara... And overall, I'd say that at least some people on the right (be it politicians, or ordinary voters) don't believe in climate change, either.

On another note - members of Polish metal band Decapitated have been arrested in the States on the suspicion of kidnapping:

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/sep/09/members-of-heavy-metal-band-decapitated-arrested-f/

Now this is interesting...

[TheGlyphstone]

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/guy-tries-to-rob-mma-gym-at-gunpoints-leaks

There's some Darwinian self-selection at work right there.

[AmberStarfire]

Inspired by pirates. 

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/wtf/mans-pirateinspired-summer-music-festival-hack/news-story/172d4be6d758ed65d997248aef9fb74d

[gaggedLouise]

With two massive military maneuvers going on in the Baltic Sea and in nearby Russia, Sweden and Belarus - Nato/Swedish exercice Aurora 17 and Russian/Belorussian Zapad /West/  - and little direct communication in realtime between the two blocks, Sweden does the sensible thing and sets up a direct hotline from Stockholm to the Russian military HQ in Moscow, to avoid shot down planes and overheating tensions. Many of the countries taking part have frozen down their diplomatic relations to Russia over the last three years due to the troubles. Obviously either side will try to get as close as they can to one another anyway to peep in on new hardware, inter-country operational capacities and military radio traffic.

https://www.svd.se/svensk-direktlinje-till-ryssland-ska-forhindra-incidenter (in Swedish)

[TheVillain]

So Senator Ted Cruz's personal twitter account just liked a porn vid for 40 minutes or so before someone noticed. Lol.

[Oniya]

I'm just going to think twice about what I was going to ask here.  As Mr. Oniya often says:  'Do you really want the answer to that question?'  And this time, the answer is 'No, I really don't.'

[TheVillain]

I'm just going to think twice about what I was going to ask here.  As Mr. Oniya often says:  'Do you really want the answer to that question?'  And this time, the answer is 'No, I really don't.'

Too bad!

I personally was only surprised that it wasn't gay porn.

[gaggedLouise]

Too bad!

I personally was only surprised that it wasn't gay porn.

"Hot Latina MILFs" maybe? He's half Hispanic... 

[Beorning]

Wait, link...? :)

[Sara Nilsson]

Wait, link...? :)

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sen-ted-cruz-likes-porn-video-twitter-article-1.3488752

Seems to contain the best image of the kind of porn he was liking.

[Beorning]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sen-ted-cruz-likes-porn-video-twitter-article-1.3488752

Seems to contain the best image of the kind of porn he was liking.

Oops! 

Although I really wouldn't be surprised if that was a set-up of some kind. Would a politician really be as non-tech-savvy to like a porn video on Twitter using his official account..?