What's in the News? 2.0

[TheGlyphstone]

The real shocker here is Carlson doing the call-out. I didn't think anything could get him to be negative about a GOP politician in public.

[legomaster00156]

Insider trading is illegal. There doesn't need to be a reform. The law just has to be enforced.

[Kitteredge]

The real shocker here is Carlson doing the call-out. I didn't think anything could get him to be negative about a GOP politician in public.

Usually that's meant to be a circuit breaker. Suggests to me lots of insider trading: by throwing one Senator under the bus, they can stop the story into more.

[Beguile's Mistress]

It's not just the insider trading but the manipulation of the prices to cause a sell-off and the buying up stocks at low cost to profit when the prices go up.  It has been done for years but using the crisis to profiteer is disgusting.

[Mechelle]

It has been overshadowed by Coronavirus, but Alex Salmond, the former First Minister of Scotland, had faced several charges of sexual assault and rape against nine different women, but, following his trial, has been acquitted of all except one charge, and that was "not proven" under the Scottish legal system, which, in effect,means he is cleared.
He has come out fighting, saying this was a political witch-hunt, organised by his enemies. I think he must refer to people within his own party, the Scottish National Party, who are dominant in Scotland under his successor, Nicola Sturgeon.

[Markus]

Boris Johnson Coronavirus Positive

[Callie Del Noire]

Boris Johnson Coronavirus Positive

Pausing to consider the irony. Wondering if thanking him for his part of adding to the 'herd immunity' of the UK is too sarcastic. I figure that he'll literally have the best care in the country, but I do wonder what would happen if it's not enough.

[Orval Wintermute]

So Hungary is now effectively a dictatorship as Orban is now ruling by decree.

individuals who publicize what are viewed as untrue or distorted facts — and which could interfere with the protection of the public, or could alarm or agitate a large number of people — now face several years in jail.

Which looks like he's been given the power to lock up anyone who criticizes him.

https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-viktor-orban-rule-by-decree/

[Beguile's Mistress]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/01/cnn-msnbc-refused-carry-full-trump-coronavirus-briefing-yay/?utm_campaign=wp_opinions_pm&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_popns

CNN, MSNBC refused to carry full Trump coronavirus briefing. Yay!



And it isn't a tasteless April Fools prank either.

[Markus]

So Hungary is now effectively a dictatorship as Orban is now ruling by decree.

Which looks like he's been given the power to lock up anyone who criticizes him.

https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-viktor-orban-rule-by-decree/

just another authoritarian "strong" man.

[Beorning]

On related note, Polish ruling party (especially its leader, Kaczyński) seems to have gone totally insane.

Over at the coronavirus thread, I wrote how they are still pushing for the May presidential elections to happen... even though the country is in no shape to organize them. The reason? They are afraid of losing power if their candidate (Andrzej Duda, the current president) doesn't win.

So, what's the news? Yesterday, they presented yet another proposal for organizing the elections. This time, they want people to mail in their votes. Not as an option: there wouldn't be any polling stations, every voter would have to mail in their vote. This is... impossible to organize properly, not in a span of thirty-something days. Basically, PiS is pushing toward blatantly sham elections, even though basically everyone (the opposition, the legal experts, the health experts, even the leader of a small party that forms the ruling coalition with PiS...) keep telling them it's a horrid idea. It's as if Kaczyński and his minions have completely lost it...

[Lustful Bride]

I genuinely have no idea what Venezuela was thinking but find it funny that the Navy ship rammed a civie ship and the cruise liner was just fine

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/venezuelan-naval-boat-rams-cruise-liner-damages-itself-sinks/ar-BB128bKq?ocid=spartandhp

[Missy]

I genuinely have no idea what Venezuela was thinking but find it funny that the Navy ship rammed a civie ship and the cruise liner was just fine

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/venezuelan-naval-boat-rams-cruise-liner-damages-itself-sinks/ar-BB128bKq?ocid=spartandhp

carry on, let's all let dictators make like dictators wot?

[Callie Del Noire]

I genuinely have no idea what Venezuela was thinking but find it funny that the Navy ship rammed a civie ship and the cruise liner was just fine

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/venezuelan-naval-boat-rams-cruise-liner-damages-itself-sinks/ar-BB128bKq?ocid=spartandhp

This is why you need real captains with experience. Not cronies jump ahead of their knowledge. Knowing how to ram and when not to are important things you learn over your career. A ship designed for ice, literally has a ram to breaks its way thru.

[Markus]

Tigers not washing hands

[Orval Wintermute]

Tigers not washing hands

That's not good, animal shelters are already being overwhelmed by people abandoning pets to stay safe from covid-19. This will just fuel the insanity.

[Beorning]

Aaaaaand, back here, the government has forced their way through the parliament (the lower chamber, at least) with their project for sham presidential elections:

https://tvn24.pl/tvn24-news-in-english/poland-pushes-postal-vote-for-presidential-election-coronavirus-deaths-up-4545879

If this new bill becomes the law, then the presidential elections *will* happen in May. With the following problems:

• it will be the first mail-in elections in Poland *ever*... and the government has only a month to prepare the process from scratch
• the election cards will be distributed by Polish Post, which can unreliable in normal conditions - and, these days, is functioning really poorly... meaning, we have no guarantee that every voter will receive their voting card
• there's no guarantee the election cards will be free of the virus
• there's no guarantee everyone will be able to post their vote
• with the unavoidable organizational chaos, there's no guarantee that no votes will get lost
• Polish Post will also be responsible for counting the votes... with no outside control, most probably. And Polish Post is state-owned company, meaning it's controlled directly by the current government. Only a few days ago, the government put a new guy at the head of the company... who happens to be a former vice-minister of Defense
• each voter will have to include a signed statement along with their vote... meaing, the vote will not be anonymous
• with the epidemics going on, there's no possible way for the candidates to campaign
• all these changes to voting laws are unconstitutional, as - according to an already-existing ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal - the voting laws can be changed only up to six months before the elections

This is a total swindle, an attempt by PiS to have their candidate voted in by all means necessary, even if it means the elections won't be fair at all.. and whether it poses any risk for the public or not. I'm so angry!!! 

Can't other coutries help us? We're being trampled by a dictator here 

[Orval Wintermute]

• each voter will have to include a signed statement along with their vote... meaing, the vote will not be anonymous

That's the least worrying part. Every postal vote I've had has been signed (sort of). There are three things that get returned to the elections office:

• An outer envelope, that has election office address on
• An inner envelope, that has a voter ID number\barcode and space for a signature
• The voting paper

The signature on the inner envelope has to match a specimen signature linked to the ID number, otherwise it's rejected. There are machines that do signature checking, which work impressively quickly. The rejects can be assessed manually and then either accepted or handed over to the police to investigate electoral fraud.
All the accepted votes are opened in one area before being counted by a completely different set of people.

[Oniya]

I think Beorning's concern is that with a government that is getting very close to authoritarian, a vote that is not anonymous may hold the potential for future retaliation against people that voted 'the wrong way'.

[Orval Wintermute]

I get that but postal voting can't be completely anonymous because of the fraud risk. Even in person voting isn't 100% anonymous, every ballot paper has a number and when it's handed out they record who they handed the paper to, that way if the police have to become involved they have a place to start.

[SINless]

I get that but postal voting can't be completely anonymous because of the fraud risk. Even in person voting isn't 100% anonymous, every ballot paper has a number and when it's handed out they record who they handed the paper to, that way if the police have to become involved they have a place to start.

It's odd. In my country we have strict voter ID laws, but the ballots aren't numbered. We register who votes at what polling station, but that usually is around a thousand people. I've always wondered why the US and the UK don't have similar laws, and the arguments seem to boil down to "Asking people to pay $50/£40 every 5 years is way too much." Which is weird considering how much more people in both countries pay for services that need extra measures because they cannot demand ID. (think cheque clearing facilities for example)

[Sara Nilsson]

Getting an ID in the USa isn't always so easy thought. In some places the place where you can get an ID is only open a few hours a month and if you have to work those hours then well...

The good John Oliver has a story about just that in fact.

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

[Beorning]

That's the least worrying part. Every postal vote I've had has been signed (sort of). There are three things that get returned to the elections office:

• An outer envelope, that has election office address on
• An inner envelope, that has a voter ID number\barcode and space for a signature
• The voting paper

The signature on the inner envelope has to match a specimen signature linked to the ID number, otherwise it's rejected. There are machines that do signature checking, which work impressively quickly. The rejects can be assessed manually and then either accepted or handed over to the police to investigate electoral fraud.
All the accepted votes are opened in one area before being counted by a completely different set of people.

Well, we don't know whether this will look like this back here... You have to remember it'd be the first time ever the elections would be organized this way. The exact procedure is unknown. So far, I've heard about there being only *one* envelope, with both the voting paper and the voter's signed statement inside...

Yeah, it *is* the least of my worries... There will be bigger issues: there will be no way to control whether everyone received their voting package (what about people who don't live at their official addresses, for once?) or whether everyone will be able to post their vote (what about the elderly? What about people under quarantine?) - the government seems to basically not to care whether these elections would be representative in any way. And of course, there's the issue with everything being organized by the freaking Polish Post... Even putting politics aside, Polish Post organizing elections seems like a bad joke - this company is a nightmare, a virtual Soviet era relic with very poor service and organization. They would've trouble organizing elections under normal conditions, even so now, when they are riding on fumes (lots of their staff is on sick leave to avoid the virus). And then, there's the issue that this company is directly run by government's people... a perfect set up for electoral fraud...

I think Beorning's concern is that with a government that is getting very close to authoritarian, a vote that is not anonymous may hold the potential for future retaliation against people that voted 'the wrong way'.

PiS government isn't close to authoritarian. It *is* authoritarian, plain and simple.

Seriously, do you know how yesterday's vote on the new election law went? PiS submitted the bill for voting... and they lost the vote for some reason. So, later that day, they submitted another bill, a new one... which was, aside from minor modifications, the same bill as before! And here's the kicker: to submit this new bill, a number of their MPs needed to sign it. And... it turned out that the bill had signatures from MPs who weren't even in the capital yesterday! It seems that PiS forged signatures of their own MPs! Of course, the opposition MPs started asking: "How is it possible that this new bill is signed MP X who just said on Twitter that she's at her office in her home town"? Of course, the PiS leadership (including the parliament's speaker) just shrugged and voted that bill through...

So, if PiS is doing such swindles at the parliament, can you trust them not to swindle during the elections..?

[Markus]

Panda Fucking XXX

[Callie Del Noire]

Panda Fucking XXX

So.. 10 years of 'performance anxiety' at having an audience?

I remember seeing a panda baby in San Diego...

Crowd watching (including me)
- Baby tumbles out, looks around
- Audience (including me) AAAWWWWW..
- Baby crawls back in.