Coup in Myanmar

Quote:

Myanmar’s army has declared that it has taken control of the country and announced a state of emergency, hours after it detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party. Phone and internet access to the capital Naypyitaw were lost on Monday morning, state-run MRTV television said it had been unable to broadcast, and soldiers were reportedly deployed outside City Hall in the main city of Yangon on Monday morning. Military television later reported that the army had taken control of the country for one year, with power handed to commander-in-chief General Min Aung Hlaing. It said it had detained senior government leaders in response to fraud during last year’s general election.

Link

Not that long ago, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Aung San Suu Kyi was a hero of the democratic struggle. I wonder if there will be as much of an outcry now that the military have taken over, as there would have been only a few years ago.

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Forgiveness

Certain religions make a big deal out of the concept of "forgiveness." It's generally considered a virtue.

Their justification is that, hey, God has to forgive our sins (mistakes) because if he didn't, we would otherwise all deserve to fry in hell because no one is perfect, and so if he didn't forgive us, then there would be no hope for us.

I have to say, I don't get it. Can someone please explain to me the concept of "forgiveness" and why it is a good thing?

The problem with the God situation I gave above is that "frying in hell" is not necessarily a reasonable response for the magnitude of the sin. Even if God didn't forgive our sins, he wouldn't need to throw us in hell. He could just provide a proportional punishment.

It's even worse among people. If someone wrongs me, why should I forgive them? Why shouldn't I expect them to face consequences for their actions? Sure, if they have done so, I can say let bygones be bygones - you messed up, paid your dues as a result, ok move on. But that's not "forgiveness" as I understand it. If I get caught speeding and pay my fine, I'm not forgiven for having done it.

Maybe my understanding of it is wrong. In that case, can someone please explain the concept of forgiveness and why it should be considered a virtue?

And don't even get me started on "forgive and forget." You've done me wrong, why should I "forget" that you did that? Again, make the response proportional to the offense, but that doesn't mean you have to pretend it never happened.

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[Continuation] Brexit: Now What? Turning it up to 11

Continued from here. As is usual, the split point is arbitrary and you may freely quote from earlier editions of the thread.

Posted By:Agatha

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aber (Post 13379506) EU has a contract with AZ Sweden, which I assume is the holding company for EU operations. The EU prioritised price per dose and production in the EU.

Production in the EU in the contract also includes the UK though

Quote:

I suspect UK has a contract with AZ plc the overall owner of the group. The UK paid for setting up UK production facilities as AZ did not have any in the UK. A smart biotech venture capitalist would have made sure that they got priority use of any new facilities they were funding.

I thought the AZ factories in UK were EU funded also?

I'm not sure how many smart biotech venture capitalists were involved in the whole process but it looks like AZ have promised priority to both the EU and the UK or at least overpromised what they can deliver to both and are now robbing Peter to pay Paul (probably in both directions) and there is also the question as to whether EU production is being exported to other places.

It's a pity that time and energy is being wasted on a political bunfight rather than all parties co-operating to achieve the best outcome but the 'England First' loons have taken over the asylum what more can we expect?

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NYCCAN'T can can't no more

I found some old stuff about NYCCAN and wondered what they were up to these days, so I checked their old websites.

http://nyccan.org/

and

https://highrisesafetynyc.org/

are both defunct.

Anyone know what Ted Walter is up to?

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BLM Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

This news has caused a bit of an outcry.

Lauren Boebert - notorious for her alleged encouragement of the recent Capitol Hill riots - had this to say on Twitter (hastily deleted):

https://twitter.com/trish_zornio/sta...539854336?s=20

Quote:

Black Lives Matter was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, so Rep. Lauren Boebert tweeted this racist statement for exactly 7 seconds before deleting it. #copolitics

Attached Images

Es_kceoXYAUGhqW (1).jpg (25.9 KB)

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USAnians: When did you leave the Republican Party?

And why, if you wish to specify. I was born and raised Republican, but Watergate moved me away and Reagan finished it off.
ETA: I enabled multi-voting, because as in my case it can take a while.

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Icebot: Robots made of Ice for Space Exploration

This is an interesting idea for building robots from in situ resources for space exploration.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/...-other-planets

Quote:

The IROS paper takes a look at different ways of manufacturing robotic structural components from ice using both additive and subtractive manufacturing processes, with the goal of developing a concept for robots that can exhibit “self-reconfiguration, self-replication, and self-repair.” The assumption is that the robot would be operating in an environment with ice all over the place, where the ambient temperature is cold enough that the ice remains stable, and ideally also cold enough that the heat generated by the robot won’t lead to an inconvenient amount of self-melting or an even more inconvenient amount of self-shorting.

Here's a little prototype icebot:

[yt]kjfDRQWv0x0[/yt]

And here's an interview with the guy researching the idea:
[yt]wnhTXU6oddU[/yt]

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6 dead following liquid nitrogen leak at Georgia food processing plant.

6 people are dead and 10 have been taken to the hospital after a tank of liquid nitrogen suffered a leak at the Prime Pak Foods plant in Gainesville, Georgia.

The building has been fully evacuated. The cause of the leak is currently undetermined. OSHA and the Georgia State Fire Marshal Office are currently both beginning independent investigations.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/us/ga...ths/index.html

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Is it too late for me to buy Game Stop shares?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-...ained/13097982

Quote:

Since January 1, despite no real change in the underlying business, GameStop's share price has surged 1,915 per cent (from $US17.25 to $US347.51). It has now become clear that the surge in demand for GameStop stock has been driven by an enthusiastic bunch of individual investors, many of whom hang out on the subreddit r/WallStreetBets. The excited masses are following their 'king' WallStreetBets is a place where users post their stock holdings and talk about their trades. A year ago, a user by the name of DeepF***ingValue (DFV) posted a screenshot of a position he had taken in GameStop. He had spent about $US50,000 on stock in his initial investment. "This dude should sell now," another user wrote in response. "[Eight-five per cent] of wallstreet thinks [GameStop are] gonna miss earnings and so does earnings whispers. Plus either way [they're] gonna be negative earnings for first time. That ship is sinking." DFV didn't seem phased: "Damn thanks for the advice." Since then, and increasingly in the past few weeks, DFV has been posting his ever-more-valuable position — and demonstrating his uncanny foresight. (Deep F***ing Value has yet to respond to an ABC request for comment.) The subreddit is now electrified. As the stock price rose dramatically, driven by other users wanting a piece of the action, there were desperate calls for regular updates from DFV, now being referred to as "king". By mid-January, DFV's position was worth $5.7 million.

Reddit punters take on Wall Street. Will this end in tears?

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[Art Bell] Area 51 Pilot From 1997 show

http://web.archive.org/web/201506120...d-807fc33b.mp3
(Click 'OPEN' (Unless you wanna save it after listening))

This guy was QUITE STUPID in my opinion flying into Area 51 zone!!!

Anyone remember if the guy was OK????

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Wall Street Bets subreddit leading charge to bankrupt shortseller of Gamestop stock.

For those how haven't noticed, something unusual is happening on the stock market these last few days.

The price of Gamestop shares have been rocketing through the roof. And a massive buying campaign spearheaded by the WallStreetBets subreddit is the reason why.

From Slate:

Quote:

Around this time, institutional investors, apparently including at least one well-known hedge fund, took out massive short positions against the stock, which trades as GME. These investors figured that amateur investors saw Cohen’s big name and ignored the difficult fundamentals facing the business, overvaluing the stock as they bought it up in droves. So the professional investors tried to make money off GME’s decline by borrowing the stock, selling it high, buying it back low, and pocketing the difference, minus the fees to borrow the stock. Lots of investors tried to short-sell the stock. (How many investors have “long” and “short” positions is not difficult to figure out.) As of Monday, 71.2 million shares of GameStop stock involved a short position, per Bloomberg, more than the total amount of publicly tradable shares, something that’s only possible because not all shares of GME are available for purchase.

https://slate.com/technology/2021/01...tbets-gme.html

To overly simplify, traditional hedge funds took out short positions on Gamestop, a video game retail outlet in decline. Members of the wall street bets subreddit noticed this and decided to launch a leaderless, crowd-sourced stock manipulation campaign to boost the price of the shares. Retail investors are buying up GME shares and causing the price to spike sharply upwards.

The goal is to cause massive financial harm to the hedge funds that have taken out large short positions against the stock. If the price can stay high enough, long enough, these firms will be forced to pay out big losses. This is also comingled with the rush of people jumping on to the stock seeing it as a license to print money.

There is no actual business reason for gamestop shares to be priced this way, and eventually the buying spree will have to end and the price will collapse back to a normal value. But the goal of the buyers is to keep the price inflated long enough to bankrupt these funds that made risky short sales.

We're seeing the birth of a new type of stock market manipulation, one that will be difficult to contend with as it is largely crowdsourced and leaderless.

I have no idea what to make of this, but it is objectively hilarious that hedge fund ghouls are looking to lose their shirts to a bunch of keyboard warriors.

You can watch the price manipulation in real time. Stock sign GME. look at the 5 day or 1 month to see the massive buying spree.

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GME

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45 of 50 GOP Senators committ fresh Treason, try to dismiss Impeachment

Wtihout even hearing a single minute of evidence.

They are not Americans. They are not loyal. They must be criminally charged and removed by the DoJ.

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Kellyanne Conway posts child p0rn

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...-a-nude-of-her

Kellyanne Conway's Twitter Account Posted A Nude Photo Of Her Underage Daughter Claudia.

I'd try and precis the story but it's basically a whole neverending stream of what the hell.

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United States Currency/Coinage Redesign

//This is a subtopic that's been brought up and is close to hijacking a couple of political threads, so I figure a thread to discuss it wouldn't be a horrible idea. I also figured here was more appropriate then the economics subforum since it's not about money or economics but design, but if anyone really pushes the issue move it there.//

Like I said in the other threads I think printing tech has advanced to the point that we're not limited to single images on currency and coins so I proposed something along the line of rotating group of images. To expand on that.

1 Dollar Bill - Presidents
5 Dollar Bill - Great American Scientist/Explorers/Inventors
10 Dollar Bill - Great American Social Activists
20 Dollar Bill - ???
100 Dollar Bill - Great American non-President Political Figures

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All Our Energy Problems will be Solved!

Well maybe . . . . eventually.

A New Idea to Harness Energy From Black Holes

https://www.universetoday.com/149716...m-black-holes/

But we'll need an awfully long extension cord. :(

Just you wait.

Quote:

“Thousands or millions of years from now, humanity might be able to survive around a black hole without harnessing energy from stars,” said Comisso. “It is essentially a technological problem. If we look at the physics, there is nothing that prevents it.”

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Tinfoil Hats for the 21st Century!

Do not delay. Get yours today. Protect your cranium and all it holds from harmful 5G electromagnetic radiation.

The Faraday Beanie by Lambs

Only $59! Hurry! Act now! Supplies are limited.

Wait! You need to protect more than just your head? Lambs has the right solution for you. Try their Faraday T-Shirt. It offers the same EMF protection as the Faraday Beanie and includes ultraviolet light protection as well. Amazing!

"Our technology uses the principle of electromagnetic shielding. Radiation cannot reach an object that is fully covered by a tight conductive grid, as it cannot pass through holes in conductive materials that are smaller than its wavelength (picture elephant trying to pass through the holes of a fence). We seamlessly integrated a close-knit of conductive silver fibers all around our T-shirt and created an advanced electromagnetic shield to protect your body blocking 99% of wireless radiation."

But that's not all. For the body parts that require THE MOST protection, you must purchase a pair of EMF-proof Faraday Boxer Briefs. If you can't afford the $45 full price per pair right now, you can pay in four easy installments of $11.25 each.

All items are available in an assortment of special designer colors.

And don't forget - "For every purchase you make, Lambs will donate 5 meals to Feeding America."

Customer Cornelia M. writes - "A company that takes great pride in doing it right: top quality product to protect us from danger that our government hides from us at the behest of mass communication, data hijackers Google Facebook...ATT Verizon Apple, our world going AI, online wireless. In late1970’s people were warned to not jar their heart, an electromagnetic system , by staRead more about review stating Critical to own if using wireless tech, living in 1st world country 21st Centurynding in front of a powered up microwave . Wish I could manage in aFARADAY SUIT like an astronaut. With Lamb’s FARADAY BEENIE at least I can decrease my brain’s exposure, not getting Gioblastoma. Powers-that-be stopped education, stats of this brain cancer related to cell phones."

Customer Victor A. says - "This Bennie is remarkable, Isughested it to some of my friends, and they all bought one."

Isn't that swell?

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Impeachment philosophy thread

Placeholder as I quote a few posts to establish the topic.

ETA: topic is the philosophy of concluding Trump committed an impeachable offense.

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Beatrix Six case

I have mentioned this case in other threads, but it deserves its own. Of the Beatrice, Nebraska Six, only Joseph White maintained his innocence. The other five took plea deals and some actually thought that they took part in the crime. DNA testing many years later identified the true rapist/murderer. The New Yorker has a long read on the case, "Remembering the Murder You Didn't Commit," which discusses the false memory aspects, and John Ferak wrote a book, Failure of Justice.

This case has several aspects worthy of note. For one thing a local therapist, among whom had treated several of the six, also worked in the county sheriff's office as a deputy. Whether or not he should have been part of the investigation is a good question.Joyce Gilchrist, the infamous forensic worker from Oklahoma, apparently made an error regarding the serology of the case that further confused an already troubled investigation. The monetary award in this case is putting great strain on the finances of Gage County. Some in the town still think that the six are guilty, believing that the six killed Helen Wilson and that Bruce Allen Smith, the DNA donor, committed necrophilia.

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Virologists "Gain of Function" (GoF) Research

Quote:

The term gain of function is itself a euphemism; the Obama White House more accurately described this work as “experiments that may be reasonably anticipated to confer attributes to influenza, MERS, or SARS viruses such that the virus would have enhanced pathogenicity and/or transmissibility in mammals via the respiratory route.”

I found the linked article a fascinating and scary read but it is long. The surprises for me were:

1. The connection between American bio weapons programs and research to protect us from viruses.

2. That we intentionally make incredibly dangerous viruses from relatively non-threatening ones.

3. That despite warnings from scientists America continued to fund GoF research even in other countries when safety concerns were known.

4. The tendency of some scientists and journalists, regardless of their persuasion, to spend too little time in the hypothesis analysis phase and jump directly to the conclusion that meets their needs.

Quote:

Hoping to smooth over controversy by showing due diligence, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, founded in the BioShield era under President Bush, paid a consulting firm, Gryphon Scientific, to write a report on gain-of-function research, which by now was simply referred to as GoF. In chapter six of this thousand-page dissertation, published in April 2016, the consultants take up the question of coronaviruses. “Increasing the transmissibility of the coronaviruses could significantly increase the chance of a global pandemic due to a laboratory accident,” they wrote. The Cambridge Working Group continued to write letters of protest and plead for restraint and sanity. Steven Salzberg, a professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins, said, “We have enough problems simply keeping up with the current flu outbreaks — and now with Ebola — without scientists creating incredibly deadly new viruses that might accidentally escape their labs.” David Relman of Stanford Medical School said, “It is unethical to place so many members of the public at risk and then consult only scientists — or, even worse, just a small subset of scientists — and exclude others from the decision-making and oversight process.” Richard Ebright wrote that creating and evaluating new threats very seldom increases security: “Doing so in biology — where the number of potential threats is nearly infinite, and where the asymmetry between the ease of creating threats and the difficulty of addressing threats is nearly absolute — is especially counterproductive.” Lynn Klotz wrote, “Awful as a pandemic brought on by the escape of a variant H5N1 virus might be, it is SARS that now presents the greatest risk. The worry is less about recurrence of a natural SARS outbreak than of yet another escape from a laboratory researching it to help protect against a natural outbreak.” Marc Lipsitch argued that gain-of-function experiments can mislead, “resulting in worse not better decisions,” and that the entire gain-of-function debate as overseen by the NIH was heavily weighted in favor of scientific insiders and “distinctly unwelcoming of public participation.”

The Lab-Leak Hypothesis
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/arti...pe-theory.html

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Google threatens to remove search engine from Australia

One presumes that Google blocking its search engine in Australia will have no affect on Google accounts or emails.

Google says it will pull its search engine from Australia if it is forced to pay news publishers to host their content...
Google insisted during a parliamentary inquiry that it would stop making its search engine available in Australia if the Federal Government proceeded with its planned digital media code.

The code would see digital giants such as Google and Facebook pay local media companies for providing their content in search and sharing their content on social media.

Managing director of Google Australia and New Zealand Mel Silva told a parliamentary hearing into the proposed scheme that it was unworkable and "untenable" for them.

"The principle of unrestricted linking between websites is fundamental to search and coupled with the unmanageable financial and operational risk," she said.

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Trump's letter in the desk to Biden

Does anyone believe Biden's description of the letter, where he said it was generous in it's tone? What does everyone think it was like?

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Orly Taitz Sues VP Kamala Harris, Claims Impeachment Trial Is Unconstitutional

The Birther Queen is back!

https://lawandcrime.com/crazy/dentis...onstitutional/

Quote:

Orly Taitz, the conspiracy theorist, dentist, and attorney who led the “birther” movement’s litigation to contest the reality that Barack Obama was born in the United States, is suing Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in an attempt to stop the U.S. Senate from presiding over a trial connected to former President Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment.

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Cruz and Hawley (Ethics Complaint)

Quote:

A group of Senate Democrats filed an ethics complaint Thursday against GOP Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, over their Jan. 6 efforts to object to the 2020 presidential election results. ... The letter, led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), requests that the panel investigate several issues, including whether Cruz (R-Texas) and Hawley (R-Mo) encouraged the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol; whether they coordinated with organizers of the pro-Trump rally immediately before the riot; whether they received donations from any organizations or donors that also funded the rally; and whether the senators “engaged in criminal conduct or unethical or improper behavior.”

Link

I hope the Democrats are successful here and Cruz and Hawley go down for this.

I don't know if Hawley is very stupid or very dishonest (yes, of course it can be both), but look at what he says:

Quote:

Hawley, in a statement, described the complaint as "a flagrant abuse of the Senate ethics process and a flagrant attempt to exact partisan revenge" and said Democrats appeared "intent on weaponizing every tool at their disposal."

If that doesn't explain Hawley and Cruz's campaign to overturn an election, I don't know what does.

This is like his complaint that a publisher was denying his freedom of speech. Some people are just too stupid to be Senators, or too evil. Hawley is at least one or the other.

As for Cruz:

Quote:

A spokesperson for Cruz said in a statement that “it is unfortunate that some congressional Democrats are disregarding President Biden's call for unity and are instead playing political games by filing frivolous ethics complaints against their colleagues.”

Hilarious!

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Evolution of 'snap' or 'reflex' shooting

This came up in a politics thread, I thought I would start a seperate thread.

There wee comments on some pictures of people carrying AR-15s without sights.
It was speculated that they may have been purchased by people who don't know what they are doing as you are expected to add optical sights these days and irons aren't put on.

SteveAitch posted a link to a wiki page on 'Point Shooting' which is a method of shooting 'reflexively' as favoured by shooters using shotguns after birds etc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_...fle_Quick_Kill

Apart from being illustrated with a picture of a soldier obviously using a reflex sight it made me think of a series of videos made by 'British Muzzle Loaders' on the evolution of the technique by the British Army in WW2.
They are part of his larger series on the use of the Lee Enfield and the evolution of the British 'Manual of Arms' through the war years.

Here is the first of a two parter working through the 'manual of arms' for 'CQB' and it's effectiveness with Lee Enfields on the range.
He's his usual thorough self and joined in Canada by the 'Bloke on the Range'

[yt]zCZ4nK8PVDc[/yt]

Part two

[yt]/zerXIuTW-HA[/yt]

'Advanced' Snap Shooting

[yt]HlqvzM8gMas[/yt]

By the latter half of the war the techniques for 'snap' or 'reflex' shooting in what was called 'Close Quarter Battle' (CQB) had evolved quite considerably.

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The 1776 Commission Report

Have you read it?

https://www.scribd.com/document/4911...n-Final-Report

tl;dr version: Please turn the clock back to 1776.

From apologetics for slavery to teaching children nationalism, it's a superb piece of propaganda, worthy of any Goebbels.

Produced by far-right "academics", no historians were employed to assist in reaching conclusions, and it has rightly been rubbished by actual historians.

I imagine it will make lousy toilet paper, which is a shame, being the only sensible use for it.

Genius touch releasing it on MLK Day!

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What is Justice?

People have disagreed over what justice is for millenia. Or maybe longer.

Some researchers have argued that a sense of justice is a kind of heuristic that humans (and other primates) have evolved to maintain group cohesion.

But does that map onto society as a whole?

Can there be a truly coherent system of justice?

What should the state's role in administering justice be?

Do theories of justice stemming from retribution, protection of society, deterrence or rehabilitation have the strongest claim as an organizing principle of justice systems around the world?

Please argue your pants off...

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China announces crypto-currency as their official coin

From a Forbes article.
China Officially Backs a CryptoCurrency and Establishes it as their Official Coin.

The government of China just informed us that they have chosen a preferred firm for the purchase and marketing of their new coin - YuanPay Group. The sales of China's coin officially started Wednesday, January 20, 2021 and currently these coins can be bought only from YuanPay Group.

In fact, China deputy minister of finance, Liu Kun, informed us that their new official coin starting price is just ¥0.12 cents!

The coin (as at the time of the article) was trading ¥0.33 cents

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"Psychics" and their tricks and how are they performed

Recently I have found that someone made a documentary about a para psychologist that disappeared several decades ago named Jacobo Grinberg and his work. One of the most famous subjects he wrote about was a "psychic" healer named Pachita. I had previously written about this "psychic" in the past on the forum. But the recent mention has gotten me curious about something, how would a stage magician be able to replicate some of her "psychic surgery" there were several photos were there was quite a bit of "blood" how much "blood" could a stage magician palm to use for these kinds of tricks?

Here is an example in the second picture there seems to be quite a bit of "blood" could enough blood be palmed by a magican to make such a mess, and also i think that blood would not flow like that if the "psychic" really did make an actual incision no?
https://image.slidesharecdn.com/losc...?cb=1319979615

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Unity and Justice

Talk about unity sounds good, but it's just talk. I'm not sure how Joe Biden thinks he's going to achieve unity in this country. We are more polarized as a people than any time since the Civil War, and there are many people and entities that have a vested interest in keeping us divided.

You want unity? You need justice first. Trump and a lot those who supported him need to be put in prison first. They need to be broken and economically destroyed, legally, through the courts, of course. There are entities like Fox, Newsmax, OAN, Parler, etc. that need to be reigned in and quieted down or put out of business. There are millions of people who believe their lies, their conspiracy theories, the garbage that is spewed constantly by those who want to keep us divided. How do you reach them? Frankly, I have no idea.

One thing I know is this: I will not budge an inch for unity until there is justice. Not revenge, justice. Those who got us where we are have to pay for what they've done before I'll ever consider reaching out for unity.

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Reforms.

So, Democrats have presidency, house and (barely) senate. You guys have two years. Assume Democrats have ONLY two years! That's important detail.

What reforms would you like to see? Only those possible in principle, so forget about throwing out EC or anything like that. Rethuglican astroturfers need no apply.

I personally would reduce lame-duck period as much as practically possible (ideally, power switch would be instantaneous, but that almost certainly is impractical) and make that period purely caretaker. Emergency allowances must be strictly defined, otherwise it will be ripe for abuse. In fact, if lame duck period was sufficiently short, I would allow emergency powers only in case of act of war against USA (like 9/11).

Pardon powers should be curtailed significantly (in fact, I would do away completely with them, but I know it is unpopular option) and completely forbidden in lame-duck period.

Eliminate possibility of one person being able to prevent bills from vote. *Trump's gesture* I don't know how, make it happen. :p

Unification of how voting is conducted in USA as a whole is probably impossible, but making forays into making voting by mail standard option in more states is probably possible. Generally any way to make voting easier is desired, as is counteracting rethuglican's antidemocratic efforts.

But we cannot be purely reactive and react only to what happened in past (as things above are just reaction to Trump's abuses). As some people noted, Democrats need to give people reason to vote for Dems again on table tilted against them. That's tall order and I think making table less tilted is quite high priority. There are already republican supporters on this forums expressing desire to tilt table even more in favour of authoritarian rethuglican degeneracy.

So, what else?

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CHUDs, TERFs, SJWs, Bernie Bros: Is it okay to insult opponents?

It has been argued in another thread (in an off-topic aside) that using insults for opponents is a) ineffective/counter-productive and b) dehumanizing.

Do you agree with this, and should people refrain from using terms that insult or mock people's views/affiliations?

Please note that this is distinct from terms that insult people for being of a certain gender, ethnicity or sexuality.

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Hypocrisy of Americans leaders decrying political violence.

I love the hypocrisy of American leaders who decry the recent political violence in the US.
My history lessons included something about a bloody revolutionary war that violently overthrew the legitimate government of the 13 colonies in the Americas.
The people and leaders of the United States celebrate this violent revolution that started in 1775 every year. They also hold the leaders of that violent overthrow of their legitimate government as near saints.

IMHO - Violence is not the answer to political problems unless it is to overthrow and stop actual illegitimate violence on the populace by oppressive governments.
A change in political structure that is not violently oppressive to its populace should come about by peaceful means.
Yet the colonials in the Americas that would become the foundation of the United States thought that taxation alone was a reason for violence and that profits were reason enough to start killing representatives of their government.

I won't even bother to list the violent political overthrows or interference in other countries political systems that the leaders of the US have happily and proudly undertaken.

Sadly - it appears violence has and always will be the way the people and the leaders of the United States have chosen to solve problems from street level claims of turf to the world stage.


Note: Do not take this as some sort of support for Trump or the idiots who stormed the capital buildings. Trump is the worst president in history and his followers are slightly above cretinous buffoons. It is a commentary on hypocrisy - something that the United States and its peoples lead the world in.

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Inauguration Day 20 Jan 2021

To commemorate this historical event of a change of the President of the United States of America, that only happens once very eight years or so - except when there is a lousy president who only lasts one term - I have opened up this thread, for people to discuss their thoughts throughout the day.

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Vegan restaurant gets Michelin star

I think that this is clear evidence of Veganism getting mainstream acceptance.

Quote:

A vegan restaurant in south-west France has been awarded a coveted Michelin star, the first of its kind in the country to receive the distinction. ONA - which stands for Origine Non-Animale" ("animal-free origin") - in the town of Arès, near Bordeaux, is run by chef Claire Vallée.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55717253

Yes, the whole Michelin star thing is just a money-making exercise for both the guide and the restaurants featured in it. Yes, it's moved a million miles from its original objective - to guide hungry travellers. Yes, this could just be the guide attempting to make itself relevant but this does seem to be a clear indication that Vegan cuisine can be of the very highest quality.

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CANZUK

[yt]SHglo_N7P_Y[/yt]

In a nutshell - Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are considering forming a union of countries much like the EU to facilitate trade and travel. On the surface, this seems to me like a pretty good idea. But then I see who it is that's supporting this idea - particularly Boris Johnson, Tony Abbott and Eric Abetz, who I believe to be among the most odious of conservative politicians, and I have my doubts.

Any thoughts?

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Scientists shed light on how and why some people report "hearing the dead"

Spiritualist mediums might be more prone to immersive mental activities and unusual auditory experiences early in life, according to new research.

This might explain why some people and not others eventually adopt spiritualist beliefs and engage in the practice of 'hearing the dead', the study led by Durham University found....


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...-ssl011421.php

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Online bookstore using google drive?

My mum alerted me to an offer on a website that she uses to buy books from - they had more than 600 Doctor Who books available for under a tenner, for a very limited time. Although I was sure I'd already have most, if not all of them I figured "why not?" and bought the bundle.

Then the site directed me to a google drive page and I thought "hmm". I mean, I'd been thinking "hmm" anyway because 600 books for under a tenner is an offer that seems too good to be true, but you never rule anything out completely and, if I'm honest, I got very little sleep last night and am extremely dozy today.

It seems unlikely to be legit, though, because surely anybody who has paid can then pass the link on to anybody else without them having to pay for it. And who has an online book store without storing the files that they're selling on their own servers? It's not like these are large files.

But, anyway, I download the files since I've paid for them and they are what they say they are. On a hunch, though, I google one of the file names alongside the word "torrent" and find a torrent (which I won't link to because it likely breaks board rules) with what appears to be the exact same selection of books, all of which have the exact same file names configured in exactly the same way, organised into the same folders which all have the exact same names.

So I'm 99.9999% sure that I've just paid a tenner to someone giving me a link to the contents of a torrent that they've downloaded, but I figured it's worth asking the question - has anybody ever heard of an online bookstore distributing its wares via google drive?

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Could zombies exist on Mars?

First, a disclaimer: I do not actually think that there are zombies presently on Mars.

But, if there were zombies, could they exist on Mars? I mean, if zombies are already dead, do they still need air, water and food? If they don't need these, then zombies could exist on Mars.

I think we need answers to this question before we send people to Mars. If mankind eventually builds colonies on Mars, we need to protect them from the possibility of dead colonists rising from their graves and eating peoples' brains. I don't think NASA is doing the kind of research necessary to answer this, and that President Biden and the Democratically-controlled Congress need to fund the crucially-important research that pro-zombie Republicans have been blocking for years. I for one would not want to go to Mars if I had to worry about being eaten by zombies roaming around the Martian desert and attacking people inside the colony!

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The Next Trump?

There is an opinion piece in today's Observer (part of the Guardian 'empire'), suggesting that Mike Pompeo is lining himself up as the next Republican president, in the Trump mould.

Comments?
Counter suggestions?

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State of Washington paid "hundreds of millions" to Nigerian scammers

‘Hundreds of millions of dollars’ lost in Washington to unemployment fraud amid coronavirus joblessness surge (Seattle Times)

Oh dear. I wonder if other states fell for similar scams.

Quote:

Washington state officials have acknowledged the loss of “hundreds of millions of dollars” to an international fraud scheme that hammered the state’s unemployment insurance system and could mean even longer delays for thousands of jobless workers still waiting for legitimate benefits. Suzi LeVine, commissioner of the state Employment Security Department (ESD), disclosed the staggering losses during a news conference Thursday afternoon. LeVine declined to specify how much money was stolen during the scam, which is believed to be orchestrated from Nigeria. But she conceded that the amount was “orders of magnitude above” the $1.6 million that the ESD reported losing to fraudsters in April. LeVine said state and law enforcement officials were working to recover as much of the money as possible, though she declined to say how much had been returned so far. She also said the ESD had taken “a number of steps” to prevent new fraudulent claims from being filed or paid but would not specify the steps, to avoid alerting criminals. “We do have definitive proof that the countermeasures we have put in place are working,” LeVine said. “We have successfully prevented hundreds of millions of additional dollars from going out to these criminals and prevented thousands of fraudulent claims from being filed.”

Love that last quote, giving herself a pat on the back for preventing additional losses. It's also convenient to not have to explain anything to taxpayers "to avoid alerting criminals". Yes, we gave away your money to Nigerian scammers, but we're not going to tell you how it happened or what we're doing to prevent it in the future to avoid tipping off the people who scammed us.

Quote:

Thursday’s disclosure, which came after state officials had largely refused to discuss the scale of the fraud, helped explain the unusual surge in the number of new jobless claims filed last week in Washington. For the week ending May 16, the ESD received 138,733 initial claims for unemployment insurance, a 26.8% increase over the prior week and one of the biggest weekly surges since the coronavirus crisis began. That sharp increase came as the number of initial jobless claims nationwide fell 9.2%, to 2.4 million, according to data released earlier in the day by the Labor Department.

Quote:

ESD officials have acknowledged that, because of the elimination of the so-called waiting week between the time a claim is filed and the time the benefit is paid, the agency wasn’t always able to get verification from employers about a claim before payment was made.

Pay first, verify later. More details follow. See link for the rest. Apparently some other states were also targeted, including North Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Florida, but especially Washington State.

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post-Trump American insurgency

Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Australian counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen have said the recent incident at the Capitol is a warning sign of a possible impending home-grown insurgency, the culmination of years, perhaps decades of increasing political and social tensions.

We see how the insurrectionists and reenergized private militias recruit from military and law enforcement, a tactic commonly used in Arab countries and Central Asia.

White supremacist militants in particular appear to have ties with European white supremacist organizations, according to counterterrorism experts in the FBI.

I hate to say I think we have some dark days ahead of us. Scary to think a large chunk of the Republican base may sympathize with the insurgents. And it was unthinkable to me that we would find any sympathizers in Congress, but that might become true in the near future.

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what are the chances Julianni turns on Trump?

Word has it that Trump has stopped paying his legal fees and owes him a lot of money. Surely some enterprising prosecutor can seize that advantage and flip him?

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How they do it in the Netherlands

After all the brouhaha in Washington, I was amused to see a little item in the news about how they do it in The Netherlands.

It seems that in a massive bureaucratic messup, they wrongly assessed penalties on about ten thousand poor and immigrant families for welfare fraud which turned out to be untrue. So did they double down on the lies, blame it on someone else, send in the troops, hunker in their bunkers? No, they resigned. The prime minister went personally to the King to tender his resignation...on his bicycle.

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NRA files for bankruptcy, moving from New York to Texas

The National Rifle Association has filed for bankruptcy and announced it is moving from New York to Texas.

The gun rights advocacy group says it is making the move to escape the “toxic political environment of New York.”

Now the organisation, which has been chartered in New York since 1871, says it plans on restructuring as a Texas non-profit.

“Today, the NRA announced a restructuring plan that positions us for the long-term and ensures our continued success as the nation’s leading advocate for constitutional freedom – free from the toxic political environment of New York,” said NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b1788166.html

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Words, unusual and interesting? Favorites?

I love learning new - to me - words and their meanings. It seems that I recall a few years back there was a thread about favorite words, but I couldn't locate them.

Here are two that have caught my eye:

Lalochezia. It is a feeling of emotional relief that comes after a person swears.

Limerence. Now this one I wrote down a few months back so I may be a little off. Limerence is a deep crush on someone, but not love. (OK, I have to look the definitions up again!)

What words are on your list?

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We need a second Reconstruction

Once we put down this insurrection, we need to totally tear down the South on every level (social, political, economic) and rebuild it the way Germany did after WWII. They knew how to deal with their fascist problem, and knocked it back under it's rock for most of a century.

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Recovered Memories

It started when I saw an article about the False Memory Syndrome Foundation. It claimed they were founded by probable child-molesters, had hoodwinked the scientific community into believing that SRA doesn't happen, and had gone underground as the "Gray Faction" of the "Satanic Temple". I did some googling, and I found that:

1. Organizations for child abuse victims all seem to sponsor paranoid ravings about Satanists.
2. Everyone criticizing them for their bull seems to be connected to the same source.
3. This source apparently does call itself the "Gray Faction", and does seem to actually be an operation of the "Satanic Temple", the same troupe that's notorious for the Baphomet statue pranks.

So on one side there's a group promoting conspiracy theories as well as apparently doing brainwashing of their own. And on the other side there's a self-contradictory troll farm with a big whiff of cryptofascism.

Am I really the only one to admit that both sides are up to no good?

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House GOP may have had active roll in planning Capitol attack

The brother of Rep Gozar claims he has first-hand knowledge that his brother was part of planning the "riot". Anoher Congressman says Republicans were guiding groups through the building just days before the 6th. (Source MSNBC).

This is getting serious.

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The Sounds of Mars! - Coming Soon

With apologies to Arthur C. Clarke!

NASA's Perseverance rover is due to touch down on Mars on Feb 18th 2021. It is fitted with a couple of microphones. You'll be able to listen to the sounds from the Red Planet assuming it gets there in one piece. I suppose if it crashes that might make an interesting sound as well. Not one we want to hear, though.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/mars-2...aily20210113-3

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/sounds/

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Clever Monkeys

Nice phone: Bali’s thieving monkeys can spot high-value items to ransom

Quote:

Study finds macaques go for tourists’ electronics and wallets over empty bags and then maximise their profit At the Uluwatu temple in Bali, monkeys mean business. The long-tailed macaques who roam the ancient site are infamous for brazenly robbing unsuspecting tourists and clinging on to their possessions until food is offered as ransom payment. Researchers have found they are also skilled at judging which items their victims value the most and using this information to maximise their profit. Shrewd macaques prefer to target items that humans are most likely to exchange for food, such as electronics, rather than objects that tourists care less about, such as hairpins or empty camera bags, said Dr Jean-Baptiste Leca, an associate professor in the psychology department at the University of Lethbridge in Canada and lead author of the study. ... After spending more than 273 days filming interactions between the animals and temple visitors, researchers found that the macaques would demand better rewards – such as more food – for higher-valued items. Bargaining between a monkey robber, tourist and a temple staff member quite often lasted several minutes. The longest wait before an item was returned was 25 minutes, including 17 minutes of negotiation. For lower-valued items, the monkeys were more likely to conclude successful bartering sessions by accepting a lesser reward.

This seems to me to be quite sophisticated behaviour. Not being very good at searching such things I was unable to find the paper this article cites, even searching the lead author's name in Google Scholar. Can anyone do better than me?

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Is it stupid to let members of congress skip out on their job?

At present, members of congress are often absent from congress during congressional proceedings, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they have other things they'd rather be doing (like engaging in campaign events in order to win votes and/or bring in lots of dollars). Sometimes they want to spend more time with their families or loved ones. Sometimes they're not feeling well and want some time to rest up, or (now that Covid is a problem) feel a need to be in quarantine. And sometimes they'd prefer not to have to cast a vote either way on a controversial matter because whichever way they vote is likely to cost them support and votes come re-election time.

Is it stupid to allow them to do this? Should we instead have some kind of requirement that members of congress have to actually show up for work?

This question came up recently in another thread, where the topic is the upcoming impeachment trial and how many votes are actually needed to convict. It's off-topic there, but it does seem like a topic worth discussing. So as a favor to the person who raised that point I'm starting this thread where he and others interested in the subject can discuss it. I won't have much time at present to take part in this discussion, but I am looking forward to reading what others have to say about it and perhaps taking more part in the discussion.

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Password lost for Google

A friend of mine has lost access to Google. The friend needs it for their Gmail account. I tried to do a password reset, but that did not work. All it did was ask for any password, then for an email address. A code was sent and given to Google, however, Google refused to do anything more. The good news is that they still have access to Gmail on their iPad. They do not have it on their desktop.

Pity they never went here https://myaccount.google.com/security and did the "Ways we can verify it's you steps". Hint: If you have a gmail account do these steps.

Anyone got any ideas on what my friend can do? Or where would be a better place to ask?

Asking for a friend.

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Lori Vallow in court.

https://people.com/crime/prosecutors...id=48682034642

The murderers will be facing more charges.

Just some evidence discussed, like the little boy's red pajamas and signs that he had been bound. Bound by monsters, while wearing his red jammies. It breaks this mothers heart.

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Trump is Impeached

232 Congressmen voted to Impeach Trump for a second time. Sadly 197 Republicans said nay. 5 Congressmen abstained.

I congratulate the 10 Republicans who voted for the Impeachment. Showing at least some real integrity.

What was very pathetic was the "arguments" put forth to excuse not voting for Impeachment. Whatever!!

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Moral dilemma

Imagine there are 5 dying unconscious patients with various organ failures (heart, lung, kidney, etc.). There is a possibility to kill one of them and use his organs to save the other 4. There is no possibility of preference for a victim based on rationality, i.e. we can choose the victim randomly at best.

Is it acceptable to kill someone for the sake of saving others?

Some people might argue that we should leave them to die since we are committing murder which is by itself is very immoral. But what if we were in a similar situation with 100 or even 1000 (both are unrealistic but let's ignore this for the sake of the thought experiment) dying patients instead of 5? Can this number reach to some point where killing 1 person becomes more rational/moral?

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How bad it will get next week?

Pretty damn bad. I think the impeachment will inflame the TRumpers even more.
More people will die, sadly.

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No, it does not require 67 votes in the senate to convict Donald Trump

People keep saying that if the house votes to impeach Donald Trump then 67 votes are needed in the senate to convict him. For example, here's a quote from USA Today:

Quote:

A vote on impeaching Trump is expected to take place late Wednesday – and pass – in the Democrat-controlled House... Once it passes, Pelosi would then decide when to take it to the Senate, where at least 67 of the 100 members would have to support conviction.

That is not correct. It does not require at least 67 members to support conviction, and it would be good for people to stop repeating that inaccuracy.

Ah, you may be thinking, but there are 100 senators, and the constitution says it takes a vote of 2/3 of the senators to convict, so that means it takes at least 67 senators. But that's a careless misreading of what the constitution actually says.

The relevant passage is in article I, section 3 of the US constitution. Here it is:

Quote:

Originally Posted by US constitution The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

People keep saying we need 2/3 of the votes of the senate membership -- i.e. 67 votes -- to convict Trump. That's not what the constitution says. What the constitution says is that it takes 2/3 of the votes of those present.

If every senator were present, that would be 67 out of 100, but it's a mistake to assume 100 senators will be present. In fact, there almost certainly won't be if the impeachment trial occurs immediately, as at present there are only 99 senators, David Perdue's term having expired and Jon Ossoff not having been confirmed yet. So if all 99 members were present it would take 66 votes to convict.

But there is also no reason to assume all 99 members will be present. Very often the senate convenes and does business with less than all members present, which is why senate rules include a quorum requirement. The constitution addresses this in Article 1, Section 5: "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business." So a senate quorum is 50 at the moment, and will go back up to 51 after we return to having 100 senators.

If fewer than 100 senators are present, then fewer than 67 votes are needed to convict. So instead of focusing on trying to win the votes of the Republicans who are determined not to vote for impeachment, I think it would be smarter for those who'd like to see Trump removed from office to focus on trying to convince as many of those Republican senators as possible to boycott the impeachment trial. We refuse to dignify these proceedings by taking any part in them, Republican senators who want to at least appear to support Donald Trump could say, as a way to try to stay on the good side of the pro-Trumpers while allowing them to avoid actually going on record as voting to acquit him.

There are currently 99 senators, which includes 46 Democrats and 2 Democratic-voting indies. Let's assume all of them show up for the trial and all of them vote to convict, and consider how Republican attendance at the trial would affect things.

(a) If every senator showed up it would require 66 votes to convict, so those working for impeachment would need to get 18 Republican votes. That could be very hard to get.

(b) If 9 senators stayed home, those working for impeachment would need 60 out of 90 votes to convict. That means 12 Republican votes would be needed -- which would also probably be very hard to get...

(c) But suppose 18 Republicans could be persuaded to stand firm in opposition to the impeachment by refusing to attend the impeachment trial. Now there'd be 81 senators present, so it would require only 54 votes to convict. That means if 6 Republicans vote to convict, Donald Trump is convicted and removed from office. And that seems like a number the impeachment side might actually be able to attain.

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Major Mafia Trial in Italy

Being The Don, you'd expect me to be against this kind of thing but I think this is tremendously good news.

Quote:

Hundreds of alleged members of Italy's most powerful mafia group are set to face justice in the country's biggest organised crime trial in decades. The 355 suspected mobsters and corrupt officials were charged following a long inquiry into the 'Ndrangheta group. More than 900 witnesses are expected to give evidence, and the charge sheet includes murder, drug trafficking, extortion and money laundering. The trial began on Wednesday and is expected to last more than two years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55633091

Given this history of assassinations of lawyers and prosecutors, I think they're admirably brave.

IMO the Mafia has been one of the main hinderances to the development of Southern Italy.

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Businesses Govern Trump

It seems to me that businesses are stepping into the government vaccuum to rein Trump in:

• Twitter and Facebook have banned him.
• Stripe inc., a credit card processing company, will no longer process card payments for Trump's campaign website. (1)
• Shopify.com took businesses run by Trump's business and campaign off-line. (1)
  
• The Mayor of New York City is considering canceling contracts with the Trump Organization that runs two ice rinks, the Central Park Carousel, and a golf course. (2)
  
• Deutsche Bank, the holder of Trump's largest debt, and the firm that has propped up the Trump Organization for two decades announced it would no longer do business with the president. (3)
  
• "Another of Trump’s key lenders, Signature Bank, said it was closing his two personal accounts, which held a combined $5.3m in deposits." (3)
  
• The US Professional Golfers’ Association said it would no longer hold its championship in May 2022 at Trump’s New Jersey golf club. (3)
  
• Leading firms and banks have said that they will stop donating money to Trump through political action committees (PACs). The companies include Coca-Cola, the Marriott hotel chain, AT&T, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley. (3)

Right now quite frankly I feel relieved that large organizations are doing what they can to make a dangerous man less powerful during a very vulnerable time for our country. I'm not aware of anything llike this being ever being done on such a large scale before. But it also makes me feel a little uneasy. Will this become the new normal and be done to other people who may not be evil but just unpopular or not to the liking of large corporations?

Links
(1) https://www.wsj.com/articles/stripe-...te-11610319116

(2) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/nyregion/trump-golf-course-carousel-ice-rinks.html

(3) https://www.theguardian.com/business...h-donald-trump

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Who Determines Majority Leader in a Split Senate?

We are about to have a 50-50 split Senate and everything I read says McConnell will become the minority leader because Harris is a Democrat. But what if she suddenly went ape feces and declared herself to be an Independent or anything else, and said she would vote whateverthehell way she wanted to? We’ve seen a POTUS go nuts, why not a Veep? I doubt Harris would do so and I look forward to her Presidency should I live long enough, but what if another similar scenario developed?

Would it be proper for the Senate to designate who the majority/minority is in a 50-50 split with a deranged or independently enlightened VP or should they drop the terms temporarily until voting outcome becomes more certain?

https://www.wqad.com/mobile/article/...a-f942d1994683

This was the best article I could find that discussed the subject. Apparently there are no written rules.

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MoscowMitch throws Trump under the bus

Mitch has been cited by the NY Times as approving of the second Impeachment, believing that it will "make it easier to purge him from the Republican party..."

Is this the "Senate goes to Nixon moment of the Trump regime?

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Sheldon Adelson finally croaks

Sheldon Adelson, 87, is dead. He was a huge funder of Trump and the GOP. He's a big part of the reason we're where we are right now. Well, good riddance to the ******* bastard, too bad it didn't happen ten years ago, we might not be in this mess now.

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A Republican that would be worth it as President...

...if only he was allowed to actually run.

[yt]x_P-0I6sAck[/yt]

What a shame that other Republicans aren't willing to put themselves out there and say and do these things.

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Sis pins back Bobby's ears. . .

Recently, in an attempt to ingratiate himself in a new sub-culture and find new suckers, Bobby Menard posted a bit of covid denial propaganda on his Facebook page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...xt4OAr0fMapFS8

Then in a flash back to his childhood his older sister, Sue, chimes into his Facebook page and gives him what for. . .

Quote:

Sue Menard and to reply to this comment, I had never seen or heard of this press conference or comments. I rely on scientists, not politicians. Having said that, I worked with senior civil servants, who likely wrote the comments for the doctors, for years. They are intelligent, dedicated public servants who do their best, are usually right but sometimes make mistakes. Weaponizing this event is an ad hominem logical fallacy and has no place in the topic being discussed.

WOW! Ya, gotta wonder how many Mosseheads Bobby had to choke down to erase those memories?

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Where are we heading as a nation?

I feel like we're at a major turning point in history. We could be on the verge of a "sea change" and it might not be good for this nation and a lot of its people.

This poll contains several possible outcomes, but if you don't agree that any will happen please choose the Planet X option and speak your mind.

For the perpetually undecided, multiple choice is enabled.

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Parler gets owned

https://twitter.com/mattsheffield/st...73748450918402

Quote:

This Parler user explains it quite well here. Because of yet more security flaws at Parler, it's now possible for all that "free speech" to be shared and archived with the world, even if the posters tried to erase their not-at-all innocent videos and GPS data. In slightly more technical terms, it seems as though Parler never closed some of their developer-friendly security holes (sort of the programming equivalent of game cheat codes made by devs) and as a result, their anyone with the right knowledge could have admin access. Parler never actually deleted anything its users posted. And, stupidly, they also kept it accessible to admin users. This meant that anyone with admin access could still download it. Once Parler's two factor authentication feature was disabled, because it was designed for developer convenience rather than security, anyone with the knowledge could become an administrator. And that's how Parler just got owned. People have been downloading the raw videos, photos, and text posts by the gigabyte and archiving it for later public distribution. All that perfect, totally harmless free speech will still be searchable, even now that Amazon locked out Parler from its servers. I haven't confirmed this yet but it's possible that among the not-actually-deleted data might be the archived photos of the state identification cards that Parler invited users who wanted to be verified to upload.

Look forward to massive Wikileaks-type data dumps.

Attached Images

parler data.jpg (48.8 KB)

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Will Trump pardon himself?

I think he will.

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Capitol assault was orchestrated by ANTIFA

https://twitter.com/RepMoBrooks/stat...71347043115008

Quote:

Please, don’t be like #FakeNewsMedia, don’t rush to judgment on assault on Capitol. Wait for investigation. All may not be (and likely is not) what appears. Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics. Evidence follows:

- Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL)

Wow, those ANTIFA sure are clever. They can mind-control Trumpers and make them commit crimes!

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Pardons

Trump's fragrant abuse of his privilege to grant pardons brings this to mind.

I just wonder why a head of state should be given this privilege. How did this come about and what is the reasoning behind it?

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Trump has been banned from at least twelve social media sites

at last count. I'd dance, if I could wallk...

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Bookies have Trump favourite for 2024 Nomination

I find this curious and implausible, but there it is. As of right now Ladbrokes have him at 4 to 1 and Pence second line at 8 to 1 for the 2024 republican nomination. I know there is persistent talk of another go, but these figures are stark and in my view represent an impossible scenario.
This thread may be of lingering interest to watch over the years as he becomes irrelevant.

https://sports.ladbrokes.com/event/p...70/all-markets

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[Split Thread] A second impeachment

Split from: http://www.internationalskeptics.com...ht=Impeachment

Posted By:Darat

And dust this back off....

New Articles of Impeachment coming on Monday, including “incitement of insurrection.”

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/polit...ans/index.html

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Evangelicals and Trump - after the Washington riots

Quote:

With the White House in the background, Pastor Paula White leads a prayer Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, at a rally in support of President Donald Trump called the "Save America Rally." (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) AP Trump supporters clash with police near White House as they protest election results (MarketWatch, Jan. 6, 2021)

I don't think Paula White is one of the White House staffers who have abandoned Trump after the attack on the Capitol Building, and she condemned the violence only after Trump had told people to go home (and that they were right about the election having been stolen): Paula White-Cain on Twitter

But what will the Evangelicals be doing politically now that Trump has lost all power? Will they stick to him after the riots? After he's out the White House?

An op-ed in WP hopes for this:

Quote:

The collapse of one disastrous form of Christian social engagement should be an opportunity for the emergence of a more faithful one. And here there are plenty of potent, hopeful Christian principles lying around unused by most evangelicals: A consistent and comprehensive concern for the weak and vulnerable in our society, including the poor, immigrants and refugees. A passion for racial reconciliation and criminal justice reform, rooted in the nonnegotiable demands of human dignity. A deep commitment to public and global health, reflecting the priorities of Christ’s healing ministry. An embrace of political civility as a civilizing norm. A commitment to the liberty of other people’s religions, not just our own. An insistence on public honesty and a belief in the transforming power of unarmed truth. Trump’s evangelicals were complicit in the desecration of our democracy (WP, Jan. 7, 2021)

But that doesn't really seem to be of this world ...

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Weeping in The Promised Land - John Fogerty

A new anthem for the USA.

[yt]4ODrkRdwb3k[/yt]

John Fogerty. Possibly best known otherwise for "Fortunate Son".

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Trump's troll army is swarming Facebook livestreams

They seem to be energized like never before. I've never seen so many of them, and they're on all the feeds: NowThisNews, Occupy Democrats, etc. Full range of disinfo: Biden/China, Q, the insurrection is a BLM/Antifa "false flag".

Shaking my head dejectedly...we have SO much work to do...

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What did Trump & Supporters expect on Jan 6?

Did he and they really think they could overturn the election results? That threatening Congress would keep him in power? That Pence would declare him the winner? I don't get it.
Oh, I'm certain they had many different ideas -- all of them wrong. But what, especially, did Trump think was going to happen?

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Will the Pandemic ultimately prove the need for UBI?

As much as half the jobs lost during the pandemic are likely permanently gone. Business travel may be permanently cut by as much as a third. The theater industry probably won't recover either.

The pandemic and the associated economic suffering of tying subsistence to labor is set to kick MILLIIONS out of their homes over the next few months.

It's time to ensure a basic standard of living for ALL persons in the US, regardless of age or job status.

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Proud Boys proudly run like wussies from Portland PD

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=...19362859187861

I'd LMAO, but it only shows they were never "pro police".

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Biden taps Merrik Garlnad as AG nominee

Poetic justice, says I.

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Business Insider: US Allies say riot had tacit support from US gov't agencies

https://www.businessinsider.com/trum...2fLH_WEdmKuzgc

All this could have been avoided if Obama had the spine to arrest his Treasonous ass back in 2016...smh...

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Helen Keller - seriously?

WTAF? How is this any sort of a thing? Unless it IS a huge wind up? In which case, just grow the **** up!

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...ning-her-story

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[Continuation] Trump’s Coup - Part 2

Continuation of thread: http://www.internationalskeptics.com...d.php?t=347882

Posted By:Darat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hlafordlaes (Post 13350579) Congress was occupied, legal proceedings halted. No matter how long it lasted, that was an attempted coup, the actions those of terrorists, and the man responsible a White supremacist who repeatedly betrays his oaths of office. There's no sugar coating that, and the Paradise of Infinite Lollipops for White Boys is over. Laughably, pathetically over. Uncle Sam has had yet another very public trouser drop thanks to White boys and their sadly deluded allies. Henceforth, zero grounds to claim adherence to Western values, or any sort of "leadership", let alone a moral voice or intellectual credibility. Trump and his base have ****-canned the USA for generations to come and greatly advanced the forces of totalitarianism around the planet. In light of events, waving a Trump flag this point forward is an act of treason, an intentional declarative blessing of a violent coup against democracy. From now on, no quarter, no respite, no benefit of the doubt, only a hard press up against the wall. Time to finally rewrite the DoI so that it does not take those lazy short-cuts in defining the first principles of democracy which, btw, do not start with "small government". Maybe then prairie dogs and swamp rats will get some learnin'.

Started already: https://www.france24.com/en/live-new...apitol-stormed

Quote:

...snip.... "The United States certainly cannot now impose electoral standards on other countries and claim to be the world's 'beacon of democracy'," the foreign affairs chief in the lower house, Leonid Slutsky, told Russian news agencies....snip...

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Post-Coup Attempt: How is everyone doing?

Yesterday felt like a pretty big event in the history of our country. Like, Challenger explosion big or, maybe, 9/11 big.

How do you feel about all this*? Everyone doing okay?




* for future context, this is an armed insurrection in the US Capital building instigated by currently sitting President Trump.

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Josh Hawley on FB posts about Antifa while GOP terrorists occupy Capital

He really is a treasonous swine...

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Rioters storm and occupy the US Capitol

I thought we should have a dedicated thread for this.

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Van Jones on CNN just now: "This is rebellion. This is Treason."

Bravo, Mr. Jones!

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Okay Democrats, it's time to put up or shut up

In the spirit of bi-partisanship (from abroad, anyways), it's time for a new version of my not-quite-four-years-old thread.


Waking up to the news that it appears the Democrats have won both the Georgia run-off elections, this means that, for the next two years at least, they have control of all of Congress and the Presidency. After 6 years of obstinate refusal by Moscow Mitch to even consider any legislation passed by the Democratic House, the Dems are finally in position to pass laws to make their agenda a reality.

So now's the time to do it, and do it fast. We all know mid-term elections are usually considered to be a referendum on the sitting President and the party in power, so that's the time limit you have to work with. You need to pass enough major legislation, soon enough, that at least some of the 74 million people who still voted for Trump will be willing to switch to voting Democrat in 2022.

So, Democrats, what's the plan? What's the priority? We need specifics, please!

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How Long Before Twitter Bans @realdonaldtrump

Twitter has an excemption for world leaders.

At Jan 20th on 12:01 PM Donald Trump will be an ordinary civilian. How long will it be before Twitter permanently bans @realdonaldtrump?

Relevant Lifehacker article Could Twitter Ban Trump Once He's a Private Citizen?

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