All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Kevinroc]

https://twitter.com/jackcalifano/sta...92127742283776

The “groomer” & “pedophile” thing are the clearest moment where I’ve thought “oh, wow, they really are planning on killing a lot of people eventually”

This is extreme dehumanizing language designed to prepare right wing fascists to feel no remorse over genocidal acts of violence. I’m not sure what other serious or responsible explanation one could give for it…

[Ozymandias]

"All this with the acquiescence of the west"

So if we intervene we're imperials and if we don't, we deserve what we get. And Russia can't be held responsible for their own damn government.

Got it

Who said they didn't intervene? They were accomplices in the fight against the possible resurgence of communism in Russia. Do you think that 5 decades of cold war government apparatus was fired overnight? That they were idle? Look up Boris Berezovski, for example, one of the first to be "oppressed" by Putin. Hint, according to MSM, he was a businessman.

There's a difference between intervening to weaken a country, and helping to ensure it develops. Not just economically, but also politically. Most communist countries were a mess after the disappearance of the USSR. While some got help, others were intervened. To expect that Russia was in any position to get itself out of the hole by itself, amid foreign intervention, is to ignore what Russia was going trough as well as what the western countries (US in particular) were up to.

[Ozymandias]

There are major differences between Democrats and Republicans.[...]

Zelensky did not invade Russia, so his actions don't contradict a desire for peace.

You also did clearly say that you create your own narrative, writing "I tend to fill in the blanks between the facts, creating another narrative." I do not believe I have taken you out of context. This view has some implications as the narrative will be shaped by some of your blind spots and misunderstandings, just as it would for anyone.

There are no differences where it counts. With FDR, the wealthiest in America payed over 90% in taxes. By 1960, it was already below 60%. This is what's happened since then:



A desire for peace?:

Zelensky approves Strategy toward ending Russian occupation of Crimea

"The document defines a set of measures of a diplomatic, military, economic, information, humanitarian and other nature, aimed at restoring territorial integrity and state sovereignty of Ukraine within internationally recognized borders through the de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea,"

This was signed in the midst of the Defender-Europe 21 manoeuvres, conducted by the United States and its Nato partners, to simulate a confrontation with Russia.

In that vein, the bulk of the Ukrainian army was stationed in the Donbass, in anticipation of the offensive which started with preparatory shelling in February 16. Exactly the date Biden predicted for the start of the Russian invasion. Part of the press was even getting impatient, when it didn't happen.

These are all facts, no need for any narrative to fill any holes. Unless you think that events randomly overlap, of course.

[Catlady in training]

Communism is one of the evil ideologies, along with fascism and nazism and is probably responsible for more human suffering than those other two. Of course it should be taught in schools.
Since it's in Florida, I would be worried like other posters, that some teachers might falsely equate it with social democracy, universal healthcare and other things that Republicans tend to label as "communist". Also, current russia is not a communist country anymore, more like plutocracy or kleptocracy

[Catlady in training]

Finland must apply to join Nato without delay, say president and PM

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...y-president-pm

Finland must apply to join Nato without delay, its president and prime minister have said, confirming a radical change in the Nordic country’s defence policy triggered by the Ukraine war after decades of military non-alignment.

Sauli Niinistö and Sanna Marin made the call in a joint statement, adding: “We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.”

Thank you, Putler. Finland will be a great ally.

[Catlady in training]

As if the news of the war and of women losing their right to safe abortion weren't horrible enough separately, there is also the horror of losing the right to safe abortion as a refugee:

https://www.theguardian.com/global-d...-abortion-laws

In Ukraine, abortions are legally provided on request in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, oral contraception is sold over the counter without prescription and the morning-after pill is readily available. In Poland, abortion is almost completely outlawed and access to contraception is ranked as the worst in Europe, according to the European Parliamentary Forum. Many doctors refuse to prescribe emergency contraception or even IUDs (intrauterine devices) on ethical grounds, arguing that they are akin to an abortion.

“[Ukrainian refugees crossing the border] are completely unprepared for the situation here, they don’t know the law. Even if someone has read an article somewhere about abortion in Poland, [many] still think, ‘OK, so they don’t do abortion on demand, but if there is a good reason then they will do it,’” she says.

“It’s difficult because you don’t want to re-traumatise these women just after they are so happy to be safe again. It doesn’t feel like the right moment to tell them the truth.”

[Mister Mets]

Good to know. Now, I wonder how long it will be before DeSantis and the Florida Republican legislature decide that this is something that shouldn't be taught? Tell you what, we can revisit this if and when the Florida Legislature decides to undo the law you cited and force schools not to teach about the Holocaust.

I am willing to say right now that I do not think that DeSantis will make any effort to force schools not to teach about the Holocaust, or even to remove the requirement that schools teach the Holocaust.

Limiting to communism, of course, is about being able to tar democrats as 'commie socialists' and paint them with the brush of Stalin's dead. That's all it's ever been.

He's limiting it to communism because the things mainstream Democrats want covered are already mandatory (History of the Holocaust with a mandatory Holocaust Education week, History of African Americans from their ancestors pre-slavery to current contributions, kindness to animals, conservation of natural resources, the study of Hispanic contributions to the United States, the study of women’s contributions to the United States, etc.)

The history of red baiting in the US makes me think it's a very bad idea.

It's messy as some of the conspiracy theories were confirmed by Soviet archives.

[Tami]

Man dies while burying woman he strangled, South Carolina officials say

TRENTON, S.C. — A 60-year-old man who strangled his girlfriend died of a heart attack while burying her body in their South Carolina backyard, investigators said.

Deputies found Joseph Anthony McKinnon’s body Saturday after neighbors called and reported an unconscious man in a yard in Trenton, the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

As they investigated McKinnon’s death, deputies found a body wrapped in trash bags in a freshly dug hole and determined it was his girlfriend, Patricia Ruth Dent, 65, investigators said.

An autopsy on Dent determined she had been strangled and neighbors told officers they saw McKinnon digging a hole in his yard the day before, deputies said.

An autopsy on McKinnon determined he died of a heart attack. Deputies said it appeared he was nearly done filling the grave when he set the shovel down, walked away and collapsed

[Tami]

I am willing to say right now that I do not think that DeSantis will make any effort to force schools not to teach about the Holocaust, or even to remove the requirement that schools teach the Holocaust.

He's limiting it to communism because the things mainstream Democrats want covered are already mandatory (History of the Holocaust with a mandatory Holocaust Education week, History of African Americans from their ancestors pre-slavery to current contributions, kindness to animals, conservation of natural resources, the study of Hispanic contributions to the United States, the study of women’s contributions to the United States, etc.)

It's messy as some of the conspiracy theories were confirmed by Soviet archives.

In his fight against ‘woke’ schools, DeSantis tears at the seams of a diverse Florida - February 7, 2022

But as Florida lawmakers consider legislation to police what students are taught, Miami Beach Senior High School teacher Russell Rywell wonders if he will still be able to discuss how some of his students’ ancestors arrived in the United States.

“How do you teach slavery? The slave trade? The Holocaust?” asked Rywell, a speech and debate teacher who has taught in Miami-Dade County’s public schools for 11 years. “How do you teach these issues without talking about the participants and the roles they played?”

As part of the “stop-woke” agenda of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Florida lawmakers are now considering bills that would allow almost anyone to object to any instruction in public school classrooms. DeSantis wants to give people the right to sue schools and teachers over what they teach based on student “discomfort.” The proposed legislation is far-reaching and could affect even corporate human resources diversity training.

In speeches, DeSantis has sought to frame his “anti-woke” agenda as pushback against “a form of cultural Marxism” that elevates some historical lessons while downplaying others.

“The goal is to delegitimize the founding of this country, the principles that the founders relied on, our institutions, our constitution, to tear basically at the fabric of our society,” DeSantis said in a recent speech at the Common Sense Society, an international research institute popular with conservatives. “And they want to replace it with effectively left-wing ideology as the founding ethos of America. That would be a disaster.”.

Vonzell Agosto, a professor of curriculum studies at the University of South Florida, said the Stop Woke Act looks very similar to an executive order signed by then-President Donald Trump in 2020 that barred the use of “divisive concepts,” including the idea that the United States is “fundamentally racist or sexist.”

If it becomes law in Florida, she said, teachers will abandon lessons on issues ranging from the history of civil rights to the Holocaust.

“Part of the way you teach the Holocaust in the state of Florida is associating it with prejudice and racism,” Agosto said. “Once you make teaching racism taboo, you’ve made it very difficult to teach about antisemitism. … I don’t understand how you’d teach the civil rights movement without connecting it to economic injustice and racism.”

[Tendrin]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ategory=foryou

I'm sure they were 'ukronazis' though, right?

[Tendrin]

Man dies while burying woman he strangled, South Carolina officials say

JimCorrigannoddingapprovingly.jpg

[Dalak]

If you say things that are untrue and go on to insult me, I will point out when you are mistaken.

The view that the facts don't matter but that what matters is being on the right side is a toxic one, embraced by people you disagree with, so it's a worrisome perspective.

You are changing the goalpost here by pretending that your argument is that a reporter could have lied. You were rather explicit that it is so obvious that the reporter lied that this makes it okay for you to insult me for suggesting the reporter might be correct. Changing your story several times is rather hypocritical when accusing anyone of gaslighting.

I say trust the Facts over the Reporter, and I'm advocating "the facts don't matter"? When I first realized you were gaslighting it was because when I explained how the reporter was lying, no matter how simply, you would disagree without addressing my points - You are continuing here. Once the study was posted and we could look at it to compare what the reporter said to the actual results it was obvious he was lying, but you have done practically everything but put your fingers in your ears to deny it and claim it's the truth.

Just stop pretending Mets.

He's limiting it to communism because the things mainstream Democrats want covered are already mandatory (History of the Holocaust with a mandatory Holocaust Education week, History of African Americans from their ancestors pre-slavery to current contributions, kindness to animals, conservation of natural resources, the study of Hispanic contributions to the United States, the study of women’s contributions to the United States, etc.)

The Anti-CRT bill that goes beyond anything textbook CRT and "Don't Say Gay" bill would like to say hi as the tip of the iceberg. What Tami posted was also another a great response to this.

[Ozymandias]

If it was on purpose, targeting civilian, most probably. It's what they do.

[Ozymandias]

"Super" sniper Wali, returns home like many foreign fighters, "with their tails between their legs".

I've seen this guy on TV a couple of times. First at the end of March, amid Kiev's "counter-offensive" when he looked happy and forecast a quick finish. Then another in mid-April, when he was no longer so chipper in the Donbass front, and anticipated a long, WWI trench-type war.

I guess he no longer believed in Ukraine's victory anymore (in any way, shape or form) and decided to cash in his chips while he was still alive.

Unlike the Ghost of Kiev, he never killed anyone.

[Tendrin]

If it was on purpose, targeting civilian, most probably. It's what they do.

So, we have actual video of actual Russian soldiers shooting actual Ukranian civilians, but they're nazis, so it's okay?