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atomheartbevo

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by atomheartbevo

  1. And then we are going to find out the files can't be released because they are part of an active investigation that Trump ordered this past week.
  2. Pretty sure she was fired for saying she was closer to Trump than his daughters. And she had her lawyer deny they were banging, but it's interesting that it came up in old emails, and is not some new accusation. Her wikipedia photo is weird as fuck, being cropped from this:
  3. He probably didn't, it's more about making MAGA deny it.
  4. Wonder where Russian air defenses are concentrated
  5. Putin goes after his own war cheerleaders Roman Alekhin ran a fervently pro-war Telegram channel, advised a Russian governor and received military honours for fighting in Ukraine. He was a poster boy for so-called Z-bloggers, self-styled social media war correspondents unflinchingly loyal to the ideology behind Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Then, the Russian state designated him a “foreign agent”. The spectacle of Mr Alekhin’s dramatic rise and fall has spread fear among the online community that for nearly four years has apparently been allowed to critique and criticise the way the war is being fought. While anti-war activists were jailed in their thousands, a growing movement of ultranationalist military bloggers (or “milbloggers”) appeared to be rewarded with money, status and influence. But Russia watchers have long warned that the Kremlin’s tolerance of them would run out – that time might be now. Keir Giles, a senior Russia analyst at Chatham House, is surprised it had not happened sooner. “This is the kind of dissent that, if it was directed at the political system, would have earned reprisals long ago,” he said. The Z-blogosphere “was seen by some as a safety valve, a means by which critics could vent without actually challenging the overall state policy”, Mr Giles told The Telegraph. “That avenue has now been closed off.” Mr Alekhin, who was accused of misusing funds he raised for Russian troops after he flaunted a new sports car and an expensive watch on social media, isn’t the first of the milbloggers to fall foul of the state he so ardently championed, as the regime’s machinery of repression begins to eat it its own. Sergey Markov, a prominent pro-Kremlin pundit, was listed as a “foreign agent” in August, a label with Stalin-era connotations once reserved for Russia’s enemies but increasingly employed at will by the state apparatus to silence any criticism. Experts believe that Mr Markov was punished for his open support of Azerbaijan amid the collapse of Baku’s relations with Moscow. It marked a mighty fall from a once-trusted propagandist for Putin. ---- Markov had been featured on Russian state TV I believe.
  6. 1234 - Francisco and scottsins nailed it - there's now an active investigation that is going to take years, so gotta keep the evidence sealed.
  7. Same. I was extremely pleased with the pacing - I wondered how much time they would put into the build-up to Lexington and Concord and the British retreat (or "World-building" as the kids say) but working through the early years (1750s/60s with Washington and Franklin) and up to those battles in the first episode was well-done. I hope the uneducated masses now know Washington and Franklin didn't spring into existence in the 1770s, and that Sam Adams is a great name for a beer, given how much shit he was constantly stirring up, and that it was truly a civil war. I like the re-enactments as well - lots of showing stuff happening (things being made, hands carrying rifles, etc.) but not fixated on faces (the mobs were in shadows, etc.). I was kind of worried we'd see re-enactments that take us out of the series, but everything blended together well - paintings, illustrations, etc. I'm so used to really bad re-enactments from various History Channel shows, but Ken is not going to let us down. I'm assuming a lot of the watercolors were done recently, since they depict some very specific things being mentioned in the narrative, and the look was very distinctive, making me think they wanted to differentiate those from the various historical paintings they used. I knew of every historian they mentioned except for two, and had read books by several of them, which was cool. They did a good job of building up the tension of the British soldiers being quartered amongst the population and the build-up in Boston and how it was perceived by the locals. I watched it with my middle-schooler, and he's now fixated on the Revolution. Also, Peter Coyote is a national treasure, and while he's still doing well apparently (being in his 80s) I would support future use of AI to recreate his voice for any future Ken Burns series.
  8. We don't talk about the Whiskey Rebellion. Very nice. I had not looked at the credits leading up to tonight, so was very pleased.
  9. And yet Epstein probably would record the rich and powerful to protect himself. Look at how little time he spent in jail, and how long he did this shit.
  10. There is a point where the Russians run out of replacement parts. Where it is, who knows, and dependent upon their ability to manufacture any such parts.
  11. I don’t think he rigged it like LBJ did, I think misinformations and disinformation were spread to get people out for him and suppress/depress voters in certain areas. It’s far easier, cheaper, and safer than outright rigging ballot boxes or voting machines. AI is only going to make it worse.
  12. Remember, she probably knows a lot more than we do about what all is going on. Pete Sessions said there were thousands of hours of video.
  13. It’s getting interesting beyond MTG. There’s blood in the water and the sharks are circling. Massie thinks a shitload of Republicans are going to vote to release the files. I wouldn’t be surprised if a bunch vote to release them. If Pete Sessions is telling the truth when he says there are thousands of hours of bedroom tapes recorded by Epstein, you will see a shitload of people who do not want to be hitched to that wagon and they will be jumping off.
  14. After last night…
  15. I don’t think any of us seriously believed it was Slick Willy. We just wanted MAGA to publicly deny it.
  16. Colombian President: Issue the order to all levels of the public security forces' intelligence to suspend the sending of communications and other dealings with U.S. security agencies. Such a measure will be maintained as long as the missile attack on boats in the Caribbean persists. The fight against drugs must be subordinated to the human rights of the Caribbean people.
  17. Party of small government and personal freedom.
  18. I'm not a big sweater guy, but I sweater gawd I need this. Knitted HIMARS Christmas Sweater – Saint Javelin Knitted BURNING KREMLIN Christmas Sweater – Saint Javelin
  19. Russia is Collapsing - Diane Francis What follows is a 28-minute podcast I did on November 12 with The Times in Britain about Russia's economic meltdown, its war, and Ukraine’s strategy and political situation. The salient developments: Russia’s oil revenues are down 27% due to the effectiveness of sanctions and intense bombing by Ukraine of its refineries and other oil facilities. Petroleum exports finance the war. Ukraine has also embarked on an intense and successful aerial war targeting Russia’s electrical grid. Russia has had to dip into its National Welfare Fund to finance the conflict. In 2022, this “national piggy bank” totalled $100 billion and is down to $34 billion. Russia has also lost access to its $300 billion in foreign-exchange earnings, which were frozen after its 2022 invasion. Allies are close to agreeing to transfer these funds to Ukraine to help rebuild the country.
  20. She's feeling her oats and I'm all for it.
  21. Purely anecdotal, but we know of several churches that have seen declines in their attendance that...while maybe not quite embracing Trump from the pulpit, were clearly favoring things that appeal to his followers. Meanwhile, I look at my wife's and at friends' churches (Presbyterian, Methodist) that are less into politcs and more into Jesus and they seem a lot fuller than they used to be, even packed. Now it's possible they got a bunch of new converts who were not going before, but I have a feeling it's a lot of refugees from the more political churches.
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