What's in the news?

[Beguile's Mistress]

And with the chokehold on the media in N. Korea none of the citizens will learn about it. 

[RedRose]

Well, that's… decadent?

[Remiel]

I'm really not sure how I feel about the Trump - Kim summit.  I mean, I guess it's good that they're at talking, at least?  The more Kim feels legitimized as an actual leader, the less likely he's going to go off and do something insane -- right?

On the other, I think it's entirely telling that Trump appears to think nothing of insulting and provoking our allies in the Western world, while expressing admiration for despots and tyrants like Kim and Putin.  I guess Time Magazine had it right--he really does see himself as King Donald I.

[Lustful Bride]

I'm really not sure how I feel about the Trump - Kim summit.  I mean, I guess it's good that they're at talking, at least?  The more Kim feels legitimized as an actual leader, the less likely he's going to go off and do something insane -- right?

On the other, I think it's entirely telling that Trump appears to think nothing of insulting and provoking our allies in the Western world, while expressing admiration for despots and tyrants like Kim and Putin.  I guess Time Magazine had it right--he really does see himself as King Donald I.

Same. But I will be wiling to eat the crow if something positive does come out of all of this.

[TheGlyphstone]

The whole thing lasted less than two days, and only a single meeting. There wasn't ever going to be anything substantial produced. At best, it's the first brick in what could, maybe, a long way down the line, be productive discussion and agreement. At worst it was a one-off photo-op and diplomatic puff piece.

[Remiel]

Well, at least it wasn't the typical Trump sabre-rattling. 

[TheGlyphstone]

Thats next week.

[Shekinah]

Best thing of all, Trump is taking all the credit for this while actually everything that was talked about today, was already discussed earlier on when North Korea met South Korea.
Not to mention all the conservatives praising Trump for doing such a break through, two years ago when Obama went to Cuba and talk to them, he was burned down by the same conservatives for or breaking bread with totalitarian leaders.

Also Kim is actually the winner of everything because right now, everyone is focused on this meeting and the future disarmament of the nuclear arsenal of both Korea's. Nobody is even talking about the human rights in North Korea or Kim's leadership anymore. Heck China is even talking about lifting sanctions they placed on North Korea. And this is all playing into the hand of Kim.

[gaggedLouise]

The so-called "Culture profile", real name Jean-Claude Arnault, the man at the centre of the "Swedish Academy sex scandal" - of which I've posted a few times in this thread-  has been charged with two cases of rape, allegedly committed against the same woman (almost certainly a writer or a journalist, name so far unknown) seven years ago. It's likely going to be an uphill battle to get him sentenced: the criminal acts are not just old, and were not filed with the police at the time, one of the two occasions are also said to have happened while the woman was asleep. 

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/12/europe/nobel-prize-scandal-jean-claude-arnault-charged-rape-intl/index.html

[midnightblack]

I'm really not sure how I feel about the Trump - Kim summit.  I mean, I guess it's good that they're at talking, at least?  The more Kim feels legitimized as an actual leader, the less likely he's going to go off and do something insane -- right?

On the other, I think it's entirely telling that Trump appears to think nothing of insulting and provoking our allies in the Western world, while expressing admiration for despots and tyrants like Kim and Putin.  I guess Time Magazine had it right--he really does see himself as King Donald I.

Some experts on international affairs and the nuclear problem of NK that I've looked over are pretty mortified by the recent events (including the G7 summit) and see little to no positive outcome from them (i.e. positive for the western civilized world as a whole). I'm not shy of admitting that the whole picture is too much for my comprehension, so I'll refrain from making any definitive statements, but I assume that the final goal is to convert NK to the Chinese model. Make it a kind of capitalist communism, if that makes any sense, under the very talented and everlasting guidance of the Kim dynasty. And I assume that Trump & friends have more tangible gains in mind than just eternal glory and the Nobel Peace Prize. 

[Lustful Bride]

Seems someone celebrated too early.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/manafort-boasted-of-ukraine-operations-in-us-document/ar-AAyzzFQ?ocid=spartandhp

[Lustful Bride]

A painful look at the chemical weapons used in Syria. Might want to steel yourself before looking.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/watchdog-sarin-chlorine-likely-used-in-syria-in-march-2017/ar-AAyAvJc?ocid=spartandhp

[gaggedLouise]

Seems someone celebrated too early.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/manafort-boasted-of-ukraine-operations-in-us-document/ar-AAyzzFQ?ocid=spartandhp

His old boss does the same, saying Kim and North Korea are no longer (??) a nuclear threat:

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/13/politics/trump-north-korea-nuclear-threat/index.html

[gaggedLouise]

Also, North Korean state tv have declared that Trump will be invited for a state visit to the country - where he can inspect the next military parade and take some inspiration for that sort of festivities. I'm sure they announced this with the same excited brightness they always show in their tv statements. 

[gaggedLouise]

Finally found it - North Korean tv presenting the Kim-Trump summit!

I love their cheery female newsreaders (especially when they're presenting news of nuclear tests or reading out challenging rants at other countries) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-LDQrzSTIg

[Eye of Horus]

Also, North Korean state tv have declared that Trump will be invited for a state visit to the country - where he can inspect the next military parade and take some inspiration for that sort of festivities.

Trump does love a good military parade.

[gaggedLouise]

The Eiffel Tower is to be protected by an 8.2 feet (ca 2½ m) high wall of bulletproof glass, to prevent sudden terrorist attacks with guns. No doubt there will also be some roadblocks to prevent anyone from driving a rogue car or truck into the crowd waiting to ascend, even though the Tower is set in a park by the Seine and there are no auto streets leading right up to the structure itself.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/02/15/paris-protective-glass-walls-eiffel-tower-terrorism/97952678/

Terrorism has a way of forcing us to make cumbersome defenses. 

[Lustful Bride]

The Eiffel Tower is to be protected by an 8.2 feet (ca 2½ m) high wall of bulletproof glass, to prevent sudden terrorist attacks with guns. No doubt there will also be some roadblocks to prevent anyone from driving a rogue car or truck into the crowd waiting to ascend, even though the Tower is set in a park by the Seine and there are no auto streets leading right up to the structure itself.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/02/15/paris-protective-glass-walls-eiffel-tower-terrorism/97952678/

Terrorism has a way of forcing us to make cumbersome defenses. 

It is terrible that this has to be done, but the fact that the French government is being proactive says a lot. A cupful of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

[TheGlyphstone]

Heck, I wouldnt be shocked if someone tried to drive a truck bomb into a leg of the Tower itself.

[gaggedLouise]

Heck, I wouldnt be shocked if someone tried to drive a truck bomb into a leg of the Tower itself.

Each of the four legs are clad in (I think) concrete at the base, so a truck wouldn't slam into the steel structure itself. I kinda doubt that even a direct blast next to a leg base would be able to "break the foot" and make the tower tilt. An airplane hit higher up, but not an ordinary truck even stacked with explosives.

Pic of the base: https://www.tripadvisor.com.br/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g187147-d188151-i229956804-Eiffel_Tower-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

Plus there are safety barricades around it already, the glass wall is an upgrade. Last time I was in Paris, two years ago, there was a great deal of metal and wooden fencing in the park stretching southeast from the tower, the Fields of Mars. Much of that area was completely locked off - not the tower itself though. It was the same week as the Nice beach road massacre, and just after the Euro soccer cup set in France, but I'm not sure the fencing in the park was *only* to do with any sudden anti-terror measures; it was also part of the upkeep work in the area.

More about the glass enclosure project here: http://www.france24.com/en/20170308-france-paris-sneak-peek-eiffel-tower-bulletproof-glass-enclosure

[TheGlyphstone]

Thats good to know then.

[Cassandra LeMay]

Not from my part of the world, but still worth posting:

In what is believed to be a legal first in Canada, a court in Newfoundland and Labrador has recognized three unmarried adults as the legal parents of a child born within their "polyamorous" family.

[gaggedLouise]

Local news of the crazy kind. The police around here have made several busts at the homes of people who have smuggled in reptiles and snakes from Australia; they're all part of an animal smuggling ring. In the town of Helsingborg, around 150 Australian snakes, all smuggled in without permission and most of them very poisonous, were found in a basement storage room at the bottom of a multi-storey apartment house. What do you think the cops did? Seized all the snakes and took them to a safer place? No, no...they noted that there was no paragraph restricting the right to have these snakes privately, and "the snakes seemed to be mostly doing fine" so there was no suspicion of abusive treatment of animals. The danger to people, including children, didn't seem to count.

https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/helsingborg/150-giftormar-hittades-i-lagenhet-i-helsingborg (in Swedish, from public-service tv news site)

   

[Sara Nilsson]

As someone who adores snakes and spiders. As long as they follow the rules that exist and keep the pets in safe enclosures I don't see the big deal. And the article did say the risk of any snakes getting lose was minimal.

[gaggedLouise]

As someone who adores snakes and spiders. As long as they follow the rules that exist and keep the pets in safe enclosures I don't see the big deal. And the article did say the risk of any snakes getting lose was minimal.

If just one or two of them escaped during a break-in into the basement, or while the owner is bringing something other than the snakes out of the storage room, or just plain bad luck, the consequences could be disastrous. Many of those snakes belonged to lethally poionous species and if somebody is bitten, there's most likely no serum ready to use in Sweden.

Imagine a few of those super-toxic snakes crawling inside the pipes of the house adn emerging in a toilet or a ventilation shaft, or crawling into the back yard?