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

[Catlady in training]

"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.

So russian trolls are ready to admit he's alive now? They claimed to kill him how many times?

[Catlady in training]

I wouldn't call Uronazis "people", but yes, many Mariupol residents tell how they would hole up in their homes, fight from there, then torching them when leaving, if they had the time. Most of the damage seen, it's from fires, not shelling.

Video of those Mariupol residents?

[Dalak]

With all the reporters who went to Bucha, and they had to conduct this interview on the phone? Also, "the Russians were killing everyone in the territories under their control"? Satellite images show up to 7 bodies, for the whole time the Russians were there, and when Ukrainian troops entered the village, they described the corpses as those of soldiers. Add to that, people leaving the area by bus on April 2nd, made no mention at all of anything remotely resemblant, they complained about some "ass" stealing their phone, though. The major apparently was equally oblivious to all this, when he recorded his message on March 31.



Believe what you will.

According to their facebook page the maker of this video is VERY Pro-Ukraine and Anti-Russia, so I wonder if our propagandist has watched any of their other vids.

[Catlady in training]

Lindsey Graham said Joe Biden is ‘best person’ to lead US, tapes reveal

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...n-donald-trump

Democrat Joe Biden is “the best person” to lead the US, the Republican senator and fervent Donald Trump supporter Lindsey Graham said in tapes released on Monday by the authors of a bestselling political book.

The South Carolina senator was speaking on and shortly after 6 January 2021 to Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, now authors of This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future.

“Moments like this reset,” Graham said that day, in a tape played on CNN on Tuesday.

“People will calm down. People will say, ‘I don’t want to be associated with that.’ This is a group within a group. What this does, there will be a rallying effect for a while, [then] the country says ‘We’re better than this.’”

Asked if Biden could help the country come together again, Graham said: “Totally.”

“He’ll maybe be the best person to have. I mean, how mad can you get at Joe Biden?”

[Tami]

The Russians Lost Nearly An Entire Battalion Trying To Cross A River In Eastern Ukraine

The better part of a Russian army battalion—50 or so vehicles and up to a thousand troops—in recent days tried to cross a pontoon bridge spanning the Siverskyi Donets River, running west to east between the separatist provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian artillery caught them at the river bank—and destroyed them. The rapid destruction of around three dozen tanks and other armored vehicles, along with the bridge itself, underscores Russia’s deepening woes as its troops try, and fail, to make meaningful gains in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

“We still assess Russian ground force in the Donbas to be slow and uneven,” an unnamed U.S. Defense Department official told reporters on Tuesday. The Russians’ inability to cross rivers might explain their sloth.

[Tami]

@CNN
showed how the Russian military killed 2 unarmed men on March 16. At first,the Russians asked the two Ukrainians for cigarettes, and when they left, they shot them in the back. The victims are the owner of a car salon and a 68-year-old security guard

Twitter Link


The long version makes clearer that the Russian troops shot these men probably only to be able to loot their offices (see the last sequences). And, that one men survived for a while, but could not be rescued as the Russians opened fire against men who tried to help him.

[Tami]

As Roe v. Wade repeal looms, video game industry stays mostly silent

In the wake of a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion essentially confirmed that Roe v. Wade’s days are numbered, most of the video game industry’s biggest companies have remained conspicuously quiet — though not all.

Shortly after Politico first reported on the leaked Supreme Court draft on May 2, Sony-purchased “Destiny 2” studio Bungie published a statement in support of reproductive rights, calling Roe v. Wade’s demise a “blow to freedom in America” and “a direct attack on human rights,” and prompting fans to donate to reproductive-rights-focused organizations. In the following days, indie developers and a handful of other studios like “Psychonauts 2” creator Double Fine and “Guild Wars” developer ArenaNet published brief statements of their own.

A handful of workers also told The Post they would participate in a week-long Mother’s Day strike aimed at protesting the potential overturn of Roe v. Wade, with permission from their companies to stop work this week.

But the majority of gaming’s heaviest hitters appear to have kept both their mouths and wallets closed. This silence is especially conspicuous following the industry’s near-uniliteral support of causes like Black Lives Matter in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and anti-Asian hate as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. In both of those cases, many big companies released statements, donated to charitable causes, updated internal policies and added in-game features to allow players to express their support.

The Washington Post contacted 20 major video game companies about whether they planned to make a statement regarding Roe’s potential repeal or provide employees with monetary aid in places where abortions would no longer be available. Only Microsoft and Activision Blizzard responded with statements.

“Microsoft will continue to do everything we can under the law to protect our employees’ rights and support employees and their enrolled dependents in accessing critical health care — which already includes services like abortion and gender-affirming care — regardless of where they live across the U.S.,” reads a statement issued to The Post. “This support is being extended to include travel expense assistance for these and other medical services where access to care is limited in availability in an employee’s home geographic region.”

[Ozymandias]

Twitter Link


The long version makes clearer that the Russian troops shot these men probably only to be able to loot their offices (see the last sequences). And, that one men survived for a while, but could not be rescued as the Russians opened fire against men who tried to help him.

Do you have a link for the longer version?

[Malvolio]

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

Sounds like an episode of that old show Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

[Tami]

Do you have a link for the longer version?

That is the link.

[Tami]

Woman sentenced to 30 years in prison for abortion in El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — A court in El Salvador has sentenced a woman who suffered an obstetric emergency that ended her pregnancy to 30 years in prison for aggravated homicide, according to a nongovernmental organization assisting in her defense.

The Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion said Tuesday in a statement that a woman they identified only as “Esme” was sentenced Monday. The woman had already been in pre-trial detention for two years following her arrest when she sought medical care in a public hospital.

“The judge acted with partiality, giving greater weight to the version offered by the Attorney General’s Office, which was loaded with stigmas and gender stereotypes,” the group said. They said they would appeal.

The sentence could not be immediately confirmed because the courts were closed Tuesday for Mother’s Day.

[Ozymandias]

That is the link.

True, after the end of the previous news-piece, about 10 seconds in. I hope they can prosecute those two.

[Panfoot]

As Roe v. Wade repeal looms, video game industry stays mostly silent

It's bad when one of the few companies put out any sort of statement is the dumpster fire that is Activision Blizzard.

[JB]

As Roe v. Wade repeal looms, video game industry stays mostly silent

Some other companies are apparently being advised to stay silent as well.

PR giant advising corporate clients to stay silent on abortion rights
https://popular.info/p/pr-giant-advi...te-clients?s=r

A massive public relations firm, Zeno, is privately advising its high-profile corporate clients to avoid commenting on the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, according to an internal communication obtained by Popular Information.

Zeno is a multinational company with almost $120 million in annual revenue and a roster of blue-chip corporate clients including Coca-Cola, Salesforce, Hershey's, Netflix, and Starbucks. Zeno is also a part of Daniel J Edelman Holdings, the world's largest public relations conglomerate. According to Zeno CEO Barby Siegel, the firm's mission is to "champion the courageous to achieve something better for humankind."

That mission is not reflected in an email sent to Zeno staff this week by Katie Cwayna, Zeno's Executive Vice President for Media Strategy. Cwayna's message includes "a template email to share with client contacts" regarding the leaked Supreme Court opinion which would end all constitutional protections for abortion rights. The template tells clients that "the media" and others "will look for corporations to take a stand and make their views known." Zeno's advice, however, is to keep quiet:

"Do not take a stance you cannot reverse, especially when the decision is not final. This topic is a textbook "50/50" issue. Subjects that divide the country can sometimes be no-win situations for companies because regardless of what they do they will alienate at least 15 to 30 percent of their stakeholders… Do not assume that all of your employees, customers or investors share your view."

[worstblogever]

In 2015, as well as 2016, and 2017, that “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published profiles of former Minnesota State Senator Sean Nienow, a man who prior to running for office, was a key ally of legendary FRED Michelle Bachmann who during his tenure, was sued by the Small Business Association for failing to pay off $613,000 in loans. The company in question folded in less than a year, and taxpayers would thus have to pay for its bankruptcy. Nienow has repeatedly shown himself to support bans on same sex marriage, stricter Voter ID measures that disenfranchise voters in order to combat the statistically non-existent problem of “in-person voter fraud”, and has voted against equal pay for women. Nienow’s must discouraging political alliance, however, would be how one of his own legislative assistants, Michelle Lentz, was a member of the Minnesota Child Protection League, which is classified as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Nienow was mercifully defeated in the 2016 GOP Primary for his seat in the Minnesota State Senate, so we'll move on and start profiling a different wacky Republican on this date instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 674-30, since this was established in July 2014.)



On this date in both 2018, 2019, 2020, as well as 2021, that “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” first profiled Tennessee State Senator Joey Hensley, who served ten years in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 2003-2012 before making the jump to the upper chamber to serve District 38 starting in the 2012 elections. Now, Hensley fancies himself a “Family Values” Republican, who has a history as a legislator to back that up, sponsoring harsh anti-choice legislation, the fact that he was the sponsor of a bill that would have prohibited public school teachers in sex education classes from daring to even breath a word about the existence of homosexuality in April of 2012, and that he also sponsored a bill to allow Christian counselors at public schools and universities to use their “religious freedom” to refuse to help LGBTQ students, whatsoever.

Maybe if he was really all about family values, Joey Hensley would not have ended up being married and divorced four times, and his last wife accused him during their divorce of hitting her twice with his car during a domestic dispute. She later withdrew the allegations, but not before Hensley filed a bill concerning how judges could divide marital assets during a divorce, a bill he admitted was based on his own life circumstances. Also, perhaps Joey Hensley wouldn’t have seem his name come up during the divorce proceedings of his second cousin. Why would that happen? Well, Joey’s a doctor, she’s his nurse, and he’s apparently been having an affair with one of his relatives. Who he also illegally prescribed opioids to. And the affair happened in hotels believed to have been paid for with taxpayer money.

We’ll repeat that. Joey Hensley is a cousin-f***ing hypocrite who also violates medical ethics by dating his nurse/patient/cousin, and expecting taxpayers to foot the bill for whatever place they choose for their incestuous love shack.

At this point, looking at the rest of Hensley’s voting record is just overkill as to why he deserves a profile, including how he voted for HB 368, to limit teachers’ ability to challenge students who give “opposing viewpoints” on scientific theories in public school classrooms (In other words, deny the existence of evolution, or the age of the Earth.), and co-sponsored HJR 587, a resolution against the United Nations Agenda 21 treaty, for fears from hard-right conspiracy theorists that it’s a plot to establish global domination. He also supported HB 3808, a bill that would “require the publication of abortion statistics” that also included the addresses of the people performing, and receiving the procedure. Because the radical anti-choice movement wouldn’t then harass or attack those people at their own homes, like they already do, and is so “pro-life” that he also voted for SB 2580, to allow the return of the electric chair as a means of execution in the state of Tennessee., and sponsored HB 1023, a bill inspired by the John Birch Society’s paranoia about fluoridated water, and restrict the amount of fluoridation in the drinking water in Tennessee. He also voted for HSR 467, to plead with the Attorney General of the state to file a lawsuit over Syrian refugees being allowed to resettle Tennessee. and the highly unconstitutional HB 615, a bill created by Tennessee Republicans to try and make the King James Bible the state book.

We know that we’ve had our fair share of radical lunatics that we’ve profiled in the Tennessee state legislature, but a state senator who’s banging his cousin is a new low, even for the Republican Party. We’ll note that in spite of the scandal, and in spite of the ethical violations that were dug up as a result… Joey Hensley has not resigned from office, and is not up for re-election again until 2020. He’s trying currently to rally support to overlook the whole incestuous love affair thing by submitting legislation that would place fees on money transfers in between the citizens of the United States and those of Mexico that would have that cash set aside to fund Donald Trump’s stupid f***ing border wall, and he also sponsored legislation to outlaw same sex couples being able to adopt children into loving homes. As of February of 2020, Hensley’s greatest cause for concern was that women might not be taxed heavily enough for their tampons. Because, y’know, he’d like to use that taxpayer money to pay for his hotel stays with mistresses.

We’ll note that while he’s still a physician, he was using his medical background to call for Tennessee to reopen as early as April 7th, 2020 thinking it was time to end social distancing, against the advice of every national public health expert, because this motherf***er obviously puts partisan ideals ahead of people’s actual lives.

Frankly, we were hoping Hensley just skulked off into the backwoods like most extras from Deliverance would. But no, he won re-election in 2020. He has gone back to work doing what you’d expect a cousin-f***er in Tennessee would… trying to protect the legacy of the founder of the Ku Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest, by dismantling the historical commission that could order monuments to him removed… and he literally submitted a bill so poorly written that it would declare any citizen who completed an eight hour enhanced handgun carry permit would qualify as a “law enforcement officer” without having any knowledge of any of the laws they would be enforcing.

This… this guy just keeps getting ***ing dumber.