World News nkat2112 • 2 weeks ago • 100%

www.theguardian.com

This article is remarkable and I highly recommend reading it. Three notable paragraphs from it are very telling: >Sheffield crown court heard that Birley, a painter and decorator from Swinton, was involved in many of the worst incidents on that Sunday afternoon, including adding wood to a fire in a large industrial bin that had been pushed against an exit, and helping to place another bin on top of the one ablaze. > >Birley was also filmed throwing missiles at police, squaring up to officers while brandishing a police baton and throwing a large bin that crashed into a line of police with riot shields. > >He is the first person to be sentenced for arson with intent to endanger life after the 12 hours of violence in Manvers that left 64 police officers, three horses and a dog injured.

politics nkat2112 • 3 weeks ago • 97%

www.theguardian.com

This article makes a great read. Some notable quotes follow. First the recap from the last week: >Robert F Kennedy Jr made the announcement to suspend his independent presidential campaign on Thursday. He soon appeared with Trump at a political rally in Arizona where he formally backed the former president, who clinched the Republican nomination despite his conviction on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, among various other legal problems. And this is particularly telling - in case anyone had any doubts. Emphasis in bold is mine: >Kennedy said **he planned on removing his name from the 2024 presidential election ballot in swing states to boost Trump’s chances of retaking the Oval Office**. But Kennedy said he would remain on the ballot in other states that are not expected to decide the presidential race. The history: >Kennedy’s presidential bid and subsequent endorsement of Trump has drawn sharp criticism from the rest of his family. And, before its suspension, his campaign was replete with controversies, including a sexual assault allegation made against him by a former staffer and the proliferation of numerous conspiracy theories over vaccine safety, Covid 19, wireless internet, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and antidepressants. The article closes with junior's brother, Max, quoted as saying: >“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be motivated to write something of this nature. With a heavy heart, I am today asking my fellow Americans to do what will honor our father the most: Ignore Bobby and support vice-president Kamala Harris and the Democratic platform. It’s what is best for our country.”

politics nkat2112 • 2 months ago • 96%

jacobin.com

This article is noteworthy for the historical track record of Cori Bush's challenger, Wesley Bell. It covers how Bell betrayed the BLM movement despite the widespread support he received from it. Also noteworthy are these two paragraphs that explain how Bell has incredible funding from the genocide enabling Israeli-aligned AIPAC lobby. >But rather than build his campaign against Hawley, Bell dramatically shifted his priorities, pivoting to mount a challenge against a left-wing Missouri politician instead. Last June, Bell called Cori Bush to promise he wouldn’t run against her. Then, after the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 and the outbreak of Israel’s assault on Gaza, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) “let it be publicly known that a challenger to Bush would have effectively bottomless fundraising support,” writes Ryan Grim. Bell subsequently dropped out of his race against Hawley and turned around to challenge Bush. This opened the floodgates for the Israel lobby, which has spent a staggering $7 million on Bell’s run to capture Bush’s seat. > >As of July 2024, AIPAC’s massive donations only account for 62 percent of Bell’s contributions — in part because Missouri Republicans have lavished Bell’s coffers. The Huffington Post reported that Bell’s campaign filings included donations “from notable sources such as Steven Tilley, a GOP former Missouri House speaker who’s now a lobbyist,” and “Daniel Loeb, the billionaire founder of the hedge fund Third Point, who has donated millions to Republican causes.”

News nkat2112 • 4 months ago • 98%

www.theguardian.com

>Atlanta police have been carrying out around-the-clock surveillance in several neighborhoods for months, on people and houses linked to opposition against the police training center colloquially known as “Cop City”. > >The surveillance in Georgia has included following people in cars, blasting sirens outside bedroom windows and shining headlights into houses at night, the Guardian has learned. > >While no arrests have been made, residents said they’re at a loss as to what legal protections of privacy and freedom from harassment are available to them. Chata Spikes, the Atlanta police spokesperson, did not respond to requests for comment.

politics nkat2112 • 5 months ago • 93%

>Although it was not the only factor in the race, the Israel-Hamas war undoubtedly hovered over the contest. > >Democratic Rep. Summer Lee, the first member of the progressive “Squad” to face a primary challenger this cycle, successfully fended off her opponent in her Pittsburgh-based district on Tuesday. > >Although it was not the only factor in the race, the Israel-Hamas war undoubtedly hovered over the contest. Lee has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s actions in its war with Hamas and was among the first lawmakers to call for a cease-fire. She was seen as potentially vulnerable to a primary challenge when pro-Israel groups began to threaten heavy outside spending.

World News nkat2112 • 5 months ago • 100%

>Three men accused by the Crown of helping lead and coordinate the COVID-19 protest blockade at Coutts, Alta., in 2022 have been found guilty of mischief. > >Jurors deliberated for three hours Tuesday night before finding Alex Van Herk, Marco Van Huigenbos, and Gerhard (George) Janzen guilty of one count each of mischief over $5,000. > >Gasps of surprise were heard in a courtroom packed with supporters of the trio when the verdict was announced.

World News nkat2112 • 6 months ago • 95%

www.theguardian.com

This is a noteworthy article. Here follow a few select paragraphs: >A group of students at McGill University have spent more than three weeks on hunger strike in an effort to force the Canadian college to divest from “companies supporting the Israeli military”. > >The move follows months of protests and sit-ins at McGill and at universities around the world, as students and faculty members have protested against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. Then there's this paragraph that might beg the question why an academic institution would invest in the military industrial-complex: >Documents on McGill’s website show that it held investments in companies including Lockheed Martin, a defense contractor which has sold fighter jets to Israel, and Safran, a French air and defense company. It would appear McGill University initially agreed to a public forum - and the reneged on that agreement: >Amine said the McGill administration had acknowledged the strike, and agreed to a public forum on the issue, before cancelling the meeting. The school proposed a private meeting in early March, the students said, which was turned down.

politics nkat2112 • 6 months ago • 98%

www.theguardian.com

A few initial paragraphs follow: > > > The accusation by the UN and other humanitarians that Israel may be committing a war crime by deliberately starving Gaza’s population is likely to significantly increase the prospect of legal culpability for the country, including at the international court of justice. > > > > Amid reports that the Israel Defense Forces are hiring dozens of lawyers to defend against anticipated cases and legal challenges, the charge that Israel has triggered a “man-made famine” by deliberately obstructing the entry of aid into Gaza is backed by an increasing body of evidence. > > > > Already facing a complaint of genocide from South Africa at the ICJ, the UN’s top court – including an allegation that senior Israeli political officials have incited genocide in public statements – Israel is also the subject of a provisional emergency ruling by the court ordering it to admit life-saving aid to Gaza. > > > > On Wednesday, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, underlined the growing sense of crisis as he warned that all of Gaza’s 2 million people were experiencing “severe levels of acute food insecurity” – the first time an entire population of Gaza has been so classified. > > > > Unlike other issues related to Israel’s conduct in its war against Hamas in Gaza, which has claimed more than 30,000 lives and displaced more than 85% of the population amid widespread destruction, the human-made famine occurring in the Palestinian territory appears more straightforward. > >

politics nkat2112 • 6 months ago • 95%

From the top of the article, we come to discover that the MyPillow person is asking us all to foot his legal bill: >MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell doesn’t seem to be so confident in his election conspiracies these days. > >The floundering businessman took to Steve Bannon’s podcast on Monday to push his latest theory that the U.S. needs to outlaw electronic voting machines. The current suit, led by failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, is being underwritten by the pillow salesman. After admitting the effort is a total longshot and his evidence did not “shock the world,” as he had promised, Lindell decided to ask supporters if they could foot his legal bill. The article closes with these further challenges that this MyPillow individual has had to face: >The former millionaire spent months using every platform at his disposal to seed conspiracy theories following the 2020 presidential election, including against Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, claiming the electronic voting companies were complicit in a scheme to keep Donald Trump from retaking the White House. That, however, cost Lindell $5 million, and put him on the line in a $1.3 billion defamation suit brought by Dominion, in which he’s being sued not just for spreading the lies but also attempting to profit off of it. Lindell, of course, has a plan for that—he’s going to use the Supreme Court to defend himself with his new crowdfunded legal fund. > >“But Steve, all this evidence, this new evidence is gonna be used far and wide,” he told the far-right host. “There’s cases out there, as you know, Mike Lindell and MyPillow getting sued for billions of dollars.”

News nkat2112 • 6 months ago • 98%

www.theguardian.com

> > > A 25-year-old Missouri man says he mistook his mother for an intruder before shooting her to death at their home’s back door. > > > > Prosecutors have charged Jaylen Johnson with manslaughter and armed criminal action in connection with the shooting death on Thursday of his mother, Monica McNichols-Johnson. > > > > McNichols-Johnson’s shooting death came less than a year after another shooting in Missouri saw Ralph Yarl, then 16, get shot on 13 April by 84-year-old Andrew Lester after ringing the wrong doorbell while picking up his siblings. > >

World News nkat2112 • 6 months ago • 96%

www.theguardian.com

**Aaron Bushnell, who died last month, ‘sacrificed everything’ for Palestinians, says mayor of Jericho** A few of the initial paragraphs for context follow - but the article is worth reading fully: >The Palestinian town of Jericho has named a street after Aaron Bushnell, the US air force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington to protest against the war in Gaza. > >The 25-year-old, who died on 25 February, “sacrificed everything” for Palestinians, said the mayor of Jericho, Abdul Karim Sidr, as the street sign was unveiled on Sunday. > >“We didn’t know him, and he didn’t know us. There were no social, economic or political ties between us. What we share is a love for freedom and a desire to stand against these attacks [on Gaza],” the mayor told a small crowd gathered on the new Aaron Bushnell Road. > >Bushnell livestreamed his self-immolation on the social media platform Twitch, declaring he would “no longer be complicit in genocide” and shouting “free Palestine” as he started the fire. Law enforcement officials put out the flames, but he died in hospital several hours later. > >Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 31,000 people, the majority of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The war was triggered by the cross border attack on 7 October when Hamas killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 250 people. > >Even as governments in Europe and the US have largely continued to back Israel’s campaign in Gaza as part of the country’s right to self-defence, Palestinians have taken heart from popular protests held from Michigan to Madrid.

News nkat2112 • 6 months ago • 99%

www.theguardian.com

**Christian evangelical institution punished victims ‘for violating the student code of conduct’ as ‘assailants were left unpunished’** Some of the initial content - the article is well written: > > > Liberty University fined $14m over ‘culture of silence’ around sexual assault > > > > Liberty University has been hit with a $14m Department of Education federal fine for creating “a culture of silence” around sexual assault, failing to support victims of violence and then failing to properly report them correctly under the law. > > > > Announcing the fine on Tuesday, the department said in a statement that the Christian evangelical institution had punished sexual assault victims “for violating the student code of conduct”, while “their assailants were left unpunished” – a violation of federal law. > > > > Liberty was founded in 1971 by the television preacher Jerry Falwell Sr, the Baptist minister who, eight years later, created the Moral Majority movement that mobilized the Christian right to the cause of the Republican party. The university was notified two years ago by the department that it would be conducting a review of the institution under the Clery Act, which requires the disclosure of campus security information. > > > > Students of the university, which is located near Lynchburg, Virginia, are required to follow The Liberty Way, a student honor code that prohibits sexual relations outside of “a biblically-ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman”. > > > > But signs that aspects of the code – and law – were failing came in 2021 when Liberty spokesperson Scott Lamb was fired for standing up for 22 female students represented in a lawsuit that claimed the university “enabled on-campus rapes” and suppressed complaints of sexual assault and rape, a violation of federal Title IX statutes, in what it said was “the weaponization of the ‘Liberty Way’”. > >

Linux nkat2112 • 7 months ago • 99%

www.phoronix.com

>Linus Torvalds just issued Linux 6.8-rc7 as we close in on the Linux 6.8 stable release in the next week or two. > >With prior weekly release candidates there were concerns raised by Torvalds that this might be a cycle needing to go with an extra "-rc8" candidate before declaring the stable kernel. But this week Linux 6.8-rc7 did tick on the smaller side and in turn Linus expressed the possibility of not needing 6.8-rc8, in which case the Linux 6.8 stable release would happen next Sunday on 10 March. But if things don't go smoothly, Linux 6.8-rc8 would come then and then v6.8 the following Sunday.

Linux nkat2112 • 7 months ago • 97%

www.neowin.net

>Statcounter, a website that tracks the market share of web browsers, operating systems, and search engines, is reporting that Linux on the desktop has over 4% market share for the very first time (Statcounter records ChromeOS as a separate operating system despite being based on Linux). Statcounter doesn’t provide any explanation about why the market share has increased but we can speculate what’s going on. > >Linux’s march to its 4.03% market share has been a steady process ever since the final months of 2020 when Linux held just 1.53% of desktop market share. One of the biggest contributors to the growth of Linux is likely the stringent hardware requirements of Windows 11.

News nkat2112 • 7 months ago • 98%

arstechnica.com

> Overall, the analysis, released as a pre-print, found that RTO mandates did not improve a firm's financial metrics, but they did decrease employee satisfaction. > > Drilling down, the data indicated that RTO mandates were linked to firms with male CEOs who had greater power in the company. Here, power is measured as the CEO’s total compensation divided by the average total compensation paid to the four highest-paid executives in the firm. This is an interesting metric. And the research outcome makes a lot of sense. Also, RTO policies are garbage - but I'm stating the obvious.

CanadaPolitics nkat2112 • 8 months ago • 96%

edmontonjournal.com

Some context from the top of the article: > Journalism and human rights organizations are calling for police to drop criminal charges against a reporter arrested in Edmonton this month. > > On Jan. 10, award-winning Indigenous journalist and author Brandi Morin was arrested and charged with obstructing a peace officer during the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) clearing of an Indigenous encampment at Rowland Road and 95 Street. The criminal charge carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison upon conviction.

World News nkat2112 • 8 months ago • 94%

Desperate state of health system means unnecessary amputations being done on kids as young as 1, surgeon says Before the war started in Gaza, Moustafa Ahmed Shehda would run around and play with his friends. Now, the 12-year-old is one of a growing number of Palestinians in the territory who've lost a limb in a bombing. Moustafa is from Jabalia in northern Gaza, which has been hit particularly hard in the fighting. Early on in the war between Israel and Hamas, he was visiting his uncle when the apartment building was bombed. "I was under the rubble. I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't breathe," Moustafa told Mohamed El Saife, a freelance journalist in Gaza working for CBC News. His uncle was killed, and Moustafa was pulled from the rubble. Because of the extent of his injuries, his right leg had to later be amputated below the knee. "Before the war, I used to play with my friends," he said. "I can't play because of my injury. I can't play, and I don't have friends, and I don't have anything." Palestinian health officials said on Saturday that 26,257 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began bombing the small enclave of 2.3 million people in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas-led militants while nearly 65,000 have been wounded.

The Onion nkat2112 • 8 months ago • 98%

www.theonion.com

An oldie, but a goodie - in honor of the news with that Max model losing its Window at high altitudes. It turns out engineering is important. Who could have known? /s

politics nkat2112 • 12 months ago • 97%

www.theguardian.com

Signs touting ‘auto workers for Trump’ at Michigan rally found to be fake – report At least two people holding signs saying ‘union members for Trump’ and ‘auto workers for Trump’ turned out to be neither Martin Pengelly in Washington @MartinPengelly Thu 28 Sep 2023 10.48 EDT When Donald Trump gave a speech in Michigan on Wednesday, seeking to capitalise on the United Auto Workers strike, at least two crowd members holding signs saying “union members for Trump” and “auto workers for Trump” turned out to be neither. The Detroit News reported: “One individual in the crowd who held a sign that said ‘union members for Trump’ acknowledged that she wasn’t a union member when approached by a reporter after the event. “Another person with a sign that read ‘auto workers for Trump’ said he wasn’t an auto worker when asked for an interview. Both people didn’t provide their names.” The paper said between 400 and 500 people attended the event, at a non-unionised automotive parts supplier in Clinton Township. Trump skipped a Republican debate in California to visit Macomb county. Politico pointed out why, saying Macomb “occupies a unique role on the political map. “Of the more than 3,000 counties in the US, it’s hard to find one that’s a better barometer of the atmospheric conditions affecting the 2024 election [than] Macomb county, with its high percentage of UAW workers. “… The blue-collar suburb is often referred to as a bellwether, though … it’s more like an indicator species in biology, offering important clues on the environmental health of an ecosystem.” One attendee at Trump’s speech who was an auto worker, Doug King, 55, told the Detroit News: “The four years under Trump were the best years that we had in the auto industry.” Trump told workers negotiations between the UAW and Ford, General Motors and Stellantis “don’t mean as much as you think”. Railing against the shift to electric vehicles, he added: “You can be loyal to American labour or you can be loyal to the environmental lunatics. But you can’t really be loyal to both. It’s one or the other.” A spokesperson for Joe Biden, Kevin Munoz, called Trump’s speech “incoherent”, “pathetic” and “recycled”. Trump went to Michigan a day after Biden. On Tuesday, in a historic moment in neighbouring Wayne county, Biden joined a UAW picket line and expressed support for striking workers. The president did so at the invitation of the union president, Shawn Fain. Fain did not meet Trump, telling CNN the former president, the Republican presidential frontrunner, “serves the billionaire class”. “I see no point in meeting with him because I don’t think the man has any bit of care about what our workers stand for, what the working class stands for,” Fain said. “He serves the billionaire class and that’s what’s wrong with this country.”

The Onion nkat2112 • 12 months ago • 97%

www.theonion.com

WASHINGTON—In an effort to address voters hurt by recent actions that resulted in her being thrown out of a theatrical performance, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) announced Friday that she would personally jerk off any constituents she offended. “In the past week, I’ve heard from many supporters who were concerned by my behavior in recently released footage, which is why I’m offering to make things good between us by jacking you off,” said Boebert, instructing supporters to contact her office with proof of Colorado residency and she would personally travel to their home to deliver an on-the-house tugjob. “As a disclaimer, I will be wearing a latex glove and you need to wipe yourself off afterwards. I’m not going to do that. I’m serious about making amends, however, so feel free to rest your hand on my breasts, if necessary. Just know that this a one week only deal. So get in touch soon.” At press time, Boebert also warned her constituents that she planned to vape the entire time.

World News nkat2112 • 12 months ago • 92%

www.bbc.com

While India waits for the Supreme Court's verdict on legalising same-sex marriage, an LGBTQ couple's recent wedding in the northern state of Punjab has made headlines - and also created controversy. Dimple, 27 - who uses the pronoun he - and Manisha, 21, married in Bathinda city on 18 September with the blessings of their families - something that's highly unusual in a conservative country like India. But what was even more unusual was that their marriage was solemnised in a gurdwara - a Sikh temple - with the bride and groom performing all traditional rituals. The wedding has been criticised by some religious leaders, including Sikhism's highest priest Giani Raghbir Singh who declared that "same-sex marriage was unnatural and contrary to Sikh ethics". The marriage of two women in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib - the holy Sikh scripture - was "a severe moral and religious violation", he said, and instructed the Bathinda gurdwara committee to suspend priest Hardev Singh, who conducted the marriage, and three others from their duties until further notice. Hardev Singh has since been removed from his position. In his defence, he said that he couldn't figure out that both the bride and the groom were female as one of the women was wearing a turban. Dimple has questioned the claim, saying that they had provided copies of their identity proof to the gurdwara so there was no reason for confusion. Dimple is from Mansa district while Manisha is from Bathinda - both are remote areas where LGBTQ+ rights are rarely ever discussed in public. Dimple, an upper-caste Jatt Sikh, and Manisha, a Dalit Hindu, met at a garment factory in Zirakpur, a town near Punjab's capital Chandigarh, where they both worked. When I met them a few days after their wedding, they looked like any happy newly-wed couple. The couple told me that their Anand Karaj (or Sikh wedding ceremony) was attended by nearly 70 relatives. In their wedding photographs and videos, Dimple appears dressed as a traditional Sikh groom with the customary garland of flowers tied to his maroon turban, while his bride Manisha is wearing a maroon and gold tunic, salwar bottoms and a silk scarf and both her arms are covered with red bangles. Dimple, who mostly dresses in a shirt and trousers and keeps his hair short, says when he told his parents that he had no interest in boys, they understood and "extended their support, expressing joy in his happiness". An only child, he once contemplated gender reassignment surgery and even consulted a doctor, but decided against it as his parents were concerned about the procedure's outcomes. It was in 2017 after he moved to Zirakpur for work that he became more aware of LGBTQ+ issues. "There, I met like-minded friends who understood my situation and I also gained awareness from YouTube," he says. Manisha, says Dimple, wasn't his first love. "I was in a relationship with a girl for five years. Earlier this year, we broke up. Then I dated another girl for three-four months, but that also didn't work out." Manisha, who was then a co-worker and a friend, often helped him resolve his differences with his girlfriend. "That's when I realised that Manisha could be a better partner for me. She also enjoyed my company, we grew closer and had long chats. So, we officially became a couple a month ago," says Dimple. Manisha says he proposed to her over the phone just three or four days after they began their relationship, adding that she readily accepted. "A women needs a life partner who understands her, respects her, showers her with love, and treats her like a child." But it did take some effort to convince her parents that she wanted to marry Dimple. "My mother told me it's not possible to marry a girl. Eventually, I convinced her that if she wanted my happiness, then she had to let me marry who I wanted. Once she agreed, she also persuaded my father." Their parents then met and the wedding date was finalised. As Dimple is a practising Sikh, his parents say he wanted to marry following Sikh rituals so they approached the gurdwara priest. The couple insist that they never hid their identities and show the marriage certificate Bathinda gurdwara committee has issued them. India decriminalised gay sex in 2018, but same-sex marriages still lack official recognition. The Supreme Court recently heard a slew of petitions seeking marriage equality and judgement is due soon. So at the moment, a same-sex marriage is not legal in India which means that Dimple and Manisha cannot access rights enjoyed by heterosexual married couples, but at the same time, experts say it is not considered a felony. But the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, the apex religious body of Sikhism says it is investigating if there have been any violations of religious codes.

World News nkat2112 • 1 year ago • 90%

www.bbc.com

Alongside a daily ration of gruesome videos of drone strikes and false claims about Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, they share ads for anything from cryptocurrency to fashion. Known in Russia as "Z-Bloggers" because of their support for a war often symbolised by the letter Z, they are often embedded with the Russian army and post footage from the front line where they call on young Russians to enlist. Since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, pro-war influencers have gained millions of followers on Telegram, the social media platform many Russians turned to after President Vladimir Putin banned Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. That explosion in users has led to a surge in Telegram's advertising market. War influencers have taken advantage of this. They sell ad spaces for companies looking to reach their young audiences. To find out how much they charge, members of the BBC's Global Disinformation Team posed as hotel owners interested in posting ads on their channels. We reached out to some of the most prominent players. One of them was Alexander Kots, a veteran correspondent for a pro-government newspaper who became a war influencer, with more than 600,000 followers on his personal Telegram channel. Alexander Kots said it would cost 48,000-70,000 roubles (£440-£680) per post on his channel, depending on how long the ad was kept at the top of his Telegram feed. WarGonzo quoted us the equivalent of £1,550 per post. Top war influencers post at least one ad per day, so their potential income dwarfs Russia's average monthly wage of 66,000 roubles (£550). An advertising agent working with Wagner-linked channels quoted us the equivalent of £260 per ad in Grey Zone, a Telegram channel with exclusive access to Wagner and over 600,000 followers. To advertise on the channel of Alexander Simonov, a correspondent for the Ria Fan website founded by late mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, the agent quoted £180 per post. Another Ria Fan reporter, Alexander Yaremchuk, has fewer followers so his rates are lower, at £86 per post. While some of the Z-bloggers have significant experience of war reporting for state-run media, others like Maryana Naumova have no professional training. A former powerlifter, she took a reporting course on a Wagner mercenary base and now presents her own show on national TV. The BBC tried to interview prominent war-bloggers, but Alexander Kots was the only one of them who agreed to talk. Speaking from the occupied Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, he described himself as a reporter in an information war. Nevertheless he understood Russia's propaganda depended, in part, on people like him. "The Ministry of Defence often listens to us, and we have a direct channel to privately communicate information to them. It's all behind the scenes, and I do that," he said. The growing market for the Z-bloggers' material is sustained by a steady stream of exclusive videos. The footage brings them a diverse following, from domestic pro-war audiences to Western and Ukrainian analysts trying to understand what is really going on in the Russian trenches. However, some of the videos posted by the pro-war bloggers are fake. Last March, prominent influencers including Alexander Kots posted a dashcam video that purported to show two Ukrainian soldiers stopping a car with a woman and a small child. The gunmen in the video call the woman "a pig" for speaking Russian and threaten her. Z-bloggers said the video was a perfect example of how Ukraine treated civilians. But we have geolocated this video to Makiivka, a town near Donetsk. This area of Ukraine has been occupied by pro-Russian proxy forces since 2014. It is impossible that a uniformed Ukrainian soldier could have operated in this occupied territory. Added to that, the use of dashcams is illegal in Ukraine. The ban was imposed after the full-scale Russian invasion to keep troop movements secret. And the cross on the vehicle is different from the one used by Ukraine's armed forces. All these elements suggest the video was staged. It is one of many fakes spread by Z-bloggers to encourage young Russians to support the war, and there is evidence they are succeeding. In one video a mobilised Russian man says he went to a recruitment centre after watching a number of videos from Vladlen Tatarsky, one of the most vocal bloggers. Tatarsky was killed in April 2023 at a meeting with his fans. Another Russian man who volunteered to fight in Ukraine told a blogger he did so after watching a lot of WarGonzo reports. "I follow all the military news and analysis on Telegram," he said, referring to the Z-bloggers. Asked to respond to the rise of pro-Putin war bloggers on the platform, Telegram said it was the "last platform through which Russians can access independent media outlets like Meduza, uncensored international news like the BBC or [President] Zelensky's speeches". A spokesman said while all parties were "treated equally", Telegram respected international sanctions and blocked Russian state media "where laws forbid it". Over the course of the war, President Putin has shown his appreciation of the Z-bloggers' efforts. He appointed Alexander Kots to the presidential human rights council and made Semyon Pegov and several other bloggers members of a working group on mobilisation. In June, he invited pro-war influencers and state media reporters to the Kremlin for a two-hour long conversation. "The fight in the information space is a battlefield. A crucial battlefield," he told them. "And I really count on your help."

News nkat2112 • 1 year ago • 100%

**Patrick Gordon Macdonald charged with terrorism-related and hate propaganda offences** An Ottawa man who has been charged with terrorism offences for promoting a far-right group has been granted bail. Patrick Gordon Macdonald, 26, was charged in July with participating in the activity of a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity and wilfully promoting hatred for a terrorist group. The RCMP say he helped make propaganda material for the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi organization that has been listed as a terror group in Canada since 2021. Macdonald's parents put up $40,000 in sureties at a hearing on Wednesday and he is now under conditions that require him to stay in his parents' home. He can only leave home with one of his parents or to attend legal, counselling or medical appointments. He's not allowed to have weapons and he cannot use any computers or devices that access the internet without supervision from one of his parents. **First to be charged in Canada** Macdonald was the first to be charged in Canada with terrorism-related and hate propaganda offences because of his alleged association with a violent far-right ideology. His bail conditions also ban him from contacting a list of 10 people and require him to give up his passport. Police allege he operated under a screen name online, and was known as "Dark Foreigner." The U.S.-based Southern Poverty Law Centre says that "Dark Foreigner" made graphic designs for the Atomwaffen Division. Public Safety Canada says the group calls for acts of violence against racial, religious, and ethnic groups, as well as informants, police and bureaucrats, to prompt the collapse of society. It has held training camps where members receive combat and weapons training, and its members have carried out acts of violence before, including at a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017. The American co-leader of the group was banned from Canada after the Immigration and Refugee Board determined he was a member of a terror group. Macdonald is expected back in court on Sept. 19. The allegations against him have not been proven in court.

News nkat2112 • 1 year ago • 95%

www.theguardian.com

The widely held stereotype that people experiencing homelessness would be more likely to spend extra cash on drugs, alcohol and “temptation goods” has been upended by a study that found a majority used a $7,500 payment mostly on rent, food, housing, transit and clothes. The biases punctured by the study highlight the difficulties in developing policies to reduce homelessness, say the Canadian researchers behind it. They said the unconditional cash appeared to reduce homelessness, giving added weight to calls for a guaranteed basic income that would help adults cover essential living expenses. Researchers at the University of British Columbia described in a report for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences how they tracked the spending of 50 people experiencing homelessness after they were given C$7,500. The study built on a previous US survey of 1,114 people that tracked “public mistrust” in unhoused people’s ability to manage money, where participants predicted that recipients of an unconditional $7,500 cash transfer would spend most of it on “temptation goods” such as alcohol, drugs and tobacco. The Canadian researchers followed up by actually giving that amount to 50 people who were homeless in Vancouver, and compared their spending with a control group of 65 homeless people who did not receive any cash. They found the cash recipients each spent an average of 99 fewer days homeless than the control group, increased their savings more and also “cost” society less by spending less time in shelters. “The impact of these biases is detrimental,” Jiaying Zhao, an associate professor of psychology at UBC who led the study, said in a statement. “When people received the cash transfer, they actually spent it on things that you or I would spend it on – housing, clothing, food, transit – and not on drugs and alcohol.” Researchers ensured the cash was in a lump sum “to enable maximum purchasing freedom and choice” as opposed to small, consistent transfers. Zhao said the study did not include participants with severe levels of substance use, alcohol use or mental health symptoms, because researchers felt those groups did not reflect the majority of homeless people. “Rather, they are largely invisible. They sleep in cars or on friends’ couches, and do not abuse substances or alcohol,” said Zhao. The study comes as lawmakers in Canada are under mounting pressure from advocacy groups to implement a universal basic income project that would help ease a cost-of-living crisis. In 2017, the most populous province unveiled the Ontario basic income pilot, meant to study the effects of a universal basic income on 4,000 participants. The program was subsequently shut down by the province’s Progressive Conservative party after an electoral victory, with one minister calling the guaranteed funds a “disincentive” to work. A bill is currently before the country’s senate to require Canada’s minister of finance to examine the idea of a nationwide basic income project and report on possible benefits.

News nkat2112 • 1 year ago • 97%

www.theguardian.com

*(Including the initial portion of the article. It gets very graphic after this portion.)* Ron Hunter is taking us on a trip down memory lane – or more precisely, 42nd Street in Manhattan. He is showing us the spots where, half a century ago, he was repeatedly molested, sexually assaulted and raped from the age of 13. All because of the Boy Scouts. He leads us to the block that for four years in the early 1970s was his patch. It was here that he was brought by the Boy Scout leader who groomed him, then sex-trafficked under his street name “Angel” for five bucks a trick. Hunter stands beneath the awning of the former Selwyn Theatre, which in 1972 was a movie house showing pornographic films like Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones. That’s where in the winter he sheltered from the rain and driving snow. Next door is a now defunct sporting goods store where Hunter was trained to ply the trade. He would pretend to be window shopping, then catch the eye of a potential john reflected in the glass. “They would say, ‘Those are pretty nice sneakers, aren’t they?’ and I would know I was going to make contact. Then we’d negotiate a price, and go from there.” Across 42nd Street on the opposite sidewalk is the place where the Boy Scout leader, Carlos Acevedo – Charlie, as everyone knew him – would stand watching and waiting for the 13-year-old to bring back the cash. “I’d signal to him so he knew how much and how long,” Hunter said. “Right hand was for the price – three fingers, 15 dollars, five dollars apiece.” On one level, the story of Ron Hunter – Ronnie in his teenage years – is just a grain of sand in a vast mountain of abuse. Now aged 63, he is one of more than 80,000 men who have made bankruptcy claims against the Boy Scouts of America on grounds they were violated by troop leaders in incidents spanning decades. It is the largest case of child sexual abuse involving a single organization in US history. Amid that epic mass of suffering, Hunter stands out. Not just because of the severity of the abuse that he endured, or its longevity. But also because of his determination to speak out, to tell his story, in order to advance his own healing and to ensure that others are spared his ordeal. He is suing the Boy Scouts of America and his now defunct local Scouts chapter in Brooklyn in federal court for failing to protect him from Acevedo’s clutches. The lawsuit takes advantage of the 2019 Child Victims Act that opened a window for abuse victims to seek justice long after the statute of limitations had closed. The legal complaint points out that the Boy Scouts of America was aware for at least a century that adult volunteers were infiltrating the organization in search of vulnerable children – but did too little to stop it. Hunter is also claiming compensation. The Boy Scouts entered bankruptcy in 2020, but emerged from it this year. Even though a $2.4bn settlement fund for victims has been set up, he has yet to receive a penny and his lawsuit remains on hold. Fifty years after the tragic events that shattered his life, he is in limbo, waiting for justice. He’s not waiting quietly. He’s written a book, Angel Finally Found His Wings, which vividly recounts the world of blackmail and sex trafficking into which he was lured. It took him 12 long years to finish writing it. The memoir makes for some unbearable reading. It describes through the eyes of 13-year-old Ronnie the gradual step-by-step process through which his innocence was stripped from him as he was drawn, scared and confused, into Acevedo’s orbit and on to the streets. Taken together, the book and the lawsuit provide an extraordinary insight into the trust that the Boy Scouts betrayed. “Be prepared” is the institution’s motto, but as the lawsuit points out, the Boy Scouts of America itself was woefully unprepared, and until recently arguably unwilling, to address the rampant sexual abuse of children in its care by its own adult volunteers. The book is extraordinary for another reason: it is the account of a man who has prevailed against the odds. As Hunter’s therapist once told him: “Ron, you shouldn’t be here. You should be dead, or in jail, or strung out.” Instead, the Ron Hunter who gives us a tour of his childhood patch on 42nd Street is dapper, eloquent and poised. “That’s how I see it – Angel gets his wings,” he said. “Because I was able to escape.” He lists the emotions that to this day he strives to control in his daily struggle to overcome the past. “I won’t be angry. I won’t be bitter. I won’t be hurtful or hateful. I won’t let what happened to me change who I ultimately am. Yes, I’m a victim. But more importantly I’m a survivor. I won’t let Charlie win. He will not define me.” It’s a truism of child abuse that predators tend to prey on vulnerable and wounded kids. They make easier pickings as they have weakened self-preservation instincts and scant support networks to protect them from outside attack. As such, Ronnie made a perfect target.

World News nkat2112 • 1 year ago • 97%

www.bbc.com

**Police in India are investigating a video that shows a school teacher telling her pupils to slap their seven-year-old Muslim classmate.** The boy is filmed in tears as he is slapped, allegedly for getting his times tables wrong. The video went viral on social media, and has triggered widespread dismay and condemnation. India's opposition leader Rahul Gandhi blamed the government for stoking religious intolerance. The incident happened on Thursday at a private school in Uttar Pradesh, a northern state. "Why are you hitting him so lightly? Hit him hard," the teacher is heard telling the children, as the boy stands crying. "Start hitting him on the waist... His face is turning red, hit him on the waist instead," she added. Authorities in India confirmed the video was real, and said they would take action. The victim's father reported the incident to police in the Muzaffarnagar district, and has pulled him out of the school. But he did not press charges. Rights groups have warned that hate crimes and violence against India's large Muslim minority have increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014. Uttar Pradesh has been governed by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2017. Mr Gandhi said the party had contributed to religious tensions felt across India. "Sowing the poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children, turning a holy place like school into a marketplace of hatred," he posted to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "This is the same kerosene spread by the BJP that has set every corner of India on fire." In June during a visit to the US Mr Modi told journalists that there was "absolutely no space for discrimination" in India.

World News nkat2112 • 1 year ago • 94%

www.theguardian.com

(Subtitle and first few paragraphs follow below.) **Revealed: Charles Haywood, creator of the Society for American Civic Renewal, has said he might serve as ‘warlord’ at the head of an ‘armed patronage network’** The founder and sponsor of a far-right network of secretive, men-only, invitation-only fraternal lodges in the US is a former industrialist who has frequently speculated about his future as a warlord after the collapse of America, a Guardian investigation has found. Federal and state tax and company filings show that the Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR) and its creator, Charles Haywood, also have financial ties with the far-right Claremont Institute. SACR’s most recent IRS filing names Haywood as the national organization’s principal officer. Other filings identify three lodges in Idaho – in Boise, Coeur d’Alene and Moscow – and another in Dallas, Texas. SACR’s public-facing presence is confined to a slick one-page website advertising the organization’s goal as “civilizational renaissance”, and a society “with strong leadership committed to family and culture”. The site claims SACR is “raising accountable leaders to help build thriving communities of free citizens” who will rebuild “the frontier-conquering spirit of America”. It condemns “those who rule today”, saying that they “corrupt the sinews of America”, “[alienate] men from family, community, and God” and promising to “counter and conquer this poison”. It also prominently features SACR’s cross-like insignia or “mark” which it describes variously as symbolizing “sword and shield” and the rejection of “Modernist philosophies and heresies”.

World News nkat2112 • 1 year ago • 96%

www.cnn.com

Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia are in possession of text messages and emails directly connecting members of Donald Trump’s legal team to the early January 2021 voting system breach in Coffee County, sources tell CNN. (... further below to some notable details...) Together, the text messages and other court documents show how Trump lawyers and a group of hired operatives sought to access Coffee County’s voting systems in the days before January 6, 2021, as the former president’s allies continued a desperate hunt for any evidence of widespread fraud they could use to delay certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory.  Last year, a former Trump official testified under oath to the House January 6 select committee that plans to access voting systems in Georgia were discussed in meetings at the White House, including during an Oval Office meeting on December 18, 2020,  that included Trump.  Six days before pro-Trump operatives gained unauthorized access to voting systems, the local elections official who allegedly helped facilitate the breach sent a “written invitation” to attorneys working for Trump, according to text messages obtained by CNN. That includes these text messages and others like it that were originally unearthed as part of a long-running civil suit focused on election security in Georgia. Investigators have scrutinized the actions of various individuals who were involved, including Misty Hampton, a former Coffee County elections official who authored the letter of invitation referenced in text messages and other documents that have been turned over to prosecutors, multiple sources told CNN.

www.businessinsider.com

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/news@lemmy.world/t/343323 > Giuliani went from RICO charge prosecutor to a defendant in Fulton County DA Fani Willis' RICO case over Trump's alleged 2020 election interference.

World News nkat2112 • 1 year ago • 97%

www.bbc.com

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/2916091 > Former US President Donald Trump has been charged with attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state of Georgia. > > He and 18 others have been indicted on counts that include racketeering in a 41-charge document issued by a Fulton County grand jury. > > The indictment marks the fourth time Mr Trump has been criminally charged this year. > > He has denied the accusations in all cases. > > Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis launched an investigation in February 2021 into allegations of election meddling against Mr Trump and his associates. > > The list of defendants indicted late on Monday night includes former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former White House lawyer John Eastman and a former justice department official, Jeffrey Clark. > > The indictment says the alleged co-conspirators "knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump". > > The charge sheet also refers to the defendants as a "criminal organization", accusing them of a number of crimes, including: > > False statements and writings > Impersonating a public officer > Forgery > Filing false documents > Influencing witnesses > Computer trespass > Conspiracy to defraud the state > Theft and perjury. > > The most serious charge, violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (Rico) Act, is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison. > > The act - designed to help take down organised criminal syndicates like the mafia - helps prosecutors connect the dots between underlings who broke laws and those who gave them marching orders.

World News nkat2112 • 1 year ago • 97%

www.cnn.com

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/2893782 > The Fulton County grand jury that is hearing the prosecution's presentation of evidence ahead of potential charges against Donald Trump and others for 2020 election interference appears to be moving faster than initially anticipated. > > Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan is now testifying today after being told to appear tomorrow initially, a person familiar tells CNN. Duncan is also a CNN contributor. > > Earlier, CNN reported another witness, independent journalist George Chidi, who was scheduled for Tuesday will now be coming in on Monday instead.