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bolverk

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by bolverk

  1. Austria continues to be infested with spies. It's a long story with a bunch of names, so I've tried to clip and bold the basics. The link is to the original AP story if you want to read all of it. An espionage scandal rocks Austria, laying bare alleged Russian spying operations across Europe VIENNA (AP) β€” Austria faces its biggest espionage scandal in decades as the arrest of a former intelligence officer brings to light evidence of extensive Russian infiltration, lax official oversight and behavior worthy of a spy novel. Egisto Ott was arrested March 29. The 86-page arrest warrant, obtained by The Associated Press, alleges among other things that he handed over cellphone data of former high-ranking Austrian officials to Russian intelligence, helped plot a burglary at a prominent journalist’s apartment, and wrote up β€œsuggestions for improvement” after a Russian-ordered killing in Germany. Ott is suspected of having provided sensitive information to Jan Marsalek, a fugitive fellow Austrian wanted on suspicion of fraud since the collapse in 2020 of German payment company Wirecard, where he was the chief operating officer. The warrant says chat messages provided by British authorities link Marsalek directly to the Russian intelligence agency FSB. German and Austrian media have reported that Marsalek is believed to have had connections to Russian intelligence since at least 2014. He is now thought to be in Russia. ***** Ott, a former police officer, was an intelligence officer in Turkey and Italy from 2001 to 2012 before moving on to manage undercover agents at Austria’s now-defunct domestic intelligence agency, the BVT. He was suspended from the BVT in 2017 when allegations emerged for the first time that he could be spying for Russia, but reassigned the following year to work for the Austrian police academy. In 2021, he was suspended pending further investigation into his alleged ties to Russia and taken into custody. Authorities concluded the evidence was too thin and released him about four weeks later. At the BVT, Ott served under Martin Weiss, the former chief of Austrian intelligence operations. Prosecutors alleged that Ott and Weiss have a β€œclose friendship.” In the arrest warrant, they say that Weiss began to work for Marsalek and Wirecard after leaving the intelligence agency in 2018, and that he passed orders from Marsalek and Russian operatives to Ott. According to the arrest warrant, Marsalek said in a text message that he helped β€œevacuate” Weiss to Dubai. ***** Between 2017 and 2021, the Austrian warrant says, Ott collected sensitive information on people of interest to Russia β€œfor the purpose of transmission to Jan Marsalek and to unknown representatives of Russian authorities” by conducting numerous searches in national police databases and making requests to other European police officers, including in Italy and Britain. Ott also allegedly requested data from the information system of Europe’s border-free travel area to ascertain whether suspected Russian operatives and former Wirecard employees were wanted or subject to travel restrictions. The warrant contains a long list of people who were spied on, including Russian dissidents, businesspeople and a former officer who had quit the FSB. ***** Five Bulgarian citizens who allegedly worked as part of a network with Marsalek were arrested last year in Britain and another in February. According to the Ott arrest warrant, chat messages between Marsalek and one of the suspects in that case, Orlin Roussev, that were seized by Britain’s MI5 intelligence agency point to further operations by Marsalek and his Austrian helpers. Just five weeks after Ott was released from custody in 2021, prosecutors say he requested the address of Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev in Vienna and supplied it to Marsalek. They say Marsalek later commissioned a team to break into Grozev’s apartment and steal a laptop and USB stick. Grozev, who tracked down Russian officers allegedly involved in the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in 2018 and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020, relocated from Vienna last year after Austrian authorities told him they could no longer guarantee his security. ***** Investigators also found a lessons-learned analysis on Ott’s mobile phone that contained β€œsuggestions for improvement” for Russian intelligence operations in Europe following the 2019 killing in Berlin of a Georgian citizen of Chechen ethnicity. A Russian man was caught and convicted in that case; German judges said he acted on the orders of Russian authorities.
  2. MAGA = Christian Nationalism = Theocratic Fascism They're all one and the same.
  3. Here's a tidbit of information that I did not know. He had roles in β€œThe Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” (1988), β€œThe Naked Gun 2Β½: The Smell of Fear” (1991) and β€œThe Towering Inferno” (1974). He was considered for the title role in β€œThe Terminator,” but producers feared he was β€œtoo nice” to be taken seriously as a cold-blooded killer. He was working on a film called β€œFrogmen” shortly before the killings.
  4. Famine Has Begun in Northern Gaza, U.S. Official Says Samantha Power, the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, has said that a famine is underway in northern Gaza, which has been devastated by six months of Israeli military operations and is the part of the territory most cut off from aid. Ms. Power is the first senior American official to say publicly that famine has begun in the Gaza Strip, where aid agencies and global experts have warned for months that nearly all 2.2 million Palestinians would soon face extreme hunger. Northern Gaza, which was the first part of the territory that Israeli forces invaded last October, has been heavily damaged by the war and is far from the two open border crossings in the south through which nearly all aid is arriving. Aid agencies say that it has become all but impossible to deliver relief supplies to the north amid continuing attacks. UNICEF said on Wednesday that one of its vehicles waiting to enter northern Gaza had been β€œhit by live ammunition,” and that it had raised the matter with the Israeli authorities. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about the report. Ms. Power’s comments came during congressional testimony on Wednesday, when she was asked by Representative Joaquin Castro, Democrat of Texas, about news reports that staff members from her agency had sent a cable to the National Security Council that said famine had begun in parts of the Gaza Strip. The cable was first reported by HuffPost. β€œDo you think it is plausible or likely that parts of Gaza, and in particular northern Gaza, are already experiencing famine?” Mr. Castro asked. Ms. Power replied that that appeared to be the case, and cited an assessment by the global Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative, whose methodology she described as sound. She did not specify what assessment she was referring to. Last month, the initiative said in a report that the food shortage in Gaza had become so severe that β€œfamine is imminent” for the northern part of the enclave. β€œThat is their assessment, and we believe that assessment is credible,” Ms. Power said. β€œSo famine is already occurring there?” Mr. Castro replied. β€œThat is β€” yes,” Ms. Power said. She said later in her testimony that the rate of severe malnutrition among Gazan children had become β€œmarkedly worse” since Oct. 7, when a Hamas-led terrorist attack prompted Israel to launch its military offensive in Gaza. β€œIn northern Gaza, the rate of malnutrition prior to Oct. 7 was almost zero, and it is now one in three kids,” she said. She added: β€œIn terms of actual severe acute malnutrition for under-5s, that rate was 16 percent in January and became 30 percent in February. We’re awaiting the March numbers, but we expect it to continue.” Ms. Power urged Congress to β€œpress our Israeli partners to actually follow through with the commitments they have made” to allow more humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip. She also said that the United States had seen no evidence from its partner organizations that Hamas was seizing food aid on a significant scale. Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid meant for Gazan civilians, a claim that Hamas officials have denied. In February, the U.S. special envoy for humanitarian issues in the Middle East, David Satterfield, also said Israel had failed to provide evidence that Hamas was stealing aid shipments. β€œWe are not seeing Hamas dictating where food is provided,” Ms. Power said on Wednesday. β€œI can assure you that if the government of Israel saw Hamas doing that,” she added, β€œwe would be hearing about it.”
  5. You must live in Houston for it to take you 9 hours to drive to Lubbock. From Austin and San Antonio, it's usually about a 6-hour drive. From DFW, it's a little over 5 hours. From Houston, only College Station, Baton Rouge, Norman, and Fayetteville are closer than Lubbock. All other opponents Texas will have in the SEC are farther away from Houston. Starkville is 49 miles farther from Houston than Lubbock. Oxford (82 miles), Tuscaloosa (96 miles), and Auburn (167 miles). Every other SEC school is more than 300 miles farther from Houston than Lubbock. That said, only Houston fans of Texas will not be significantly inconvenienced by car travel with this move to the SEC. The average distance from each of Texas's major population centers to opposing schools of the Big 12 before the expansion (yes, this includes Ames and Morgantown): Austin (581 miles), San Antonio (652 miles), DFW (429 miles), and Houston (626 miles). Now, the average distance from each metro to SEC opponents will be: Austin (724 miles), San Antonio (820 miles), DFW (640 miles), and Houston (667 miles). So, on average, Austin fans will have to drive 143 miles further to get to an opposing school in the SEC. San Antonio (168 more miles), DFW (211), and Houston (only 41). In fact, Ames fucking Iowa is closer to DFW, Austin, and San Antonio fans than Athens, Gainesville, Knoxville, Lexington, and Columbia. To make the distance to SEC schools comparable to Austin, San Antonio, and DFW fans, you have to only include the 9 closest schools. All of the above isn't a criticism of the SEC move, but you are fooling yourself if you think it'll be more convenient to travel to away games under the current division-less SEC. Hopefully, when the conference goes to 9 games, we'll get ousux, aggy, and piggy as our three permanent rivals to at least keep the schedule anchored to our region.
  6. Satellites. That's just what "they" want you to think.
  7. I'm out of town. How did things fare in the Cherry Creek area of South Austin?
  8. Y'all see those lighter-colored flakes mixed in with the grounds? Those are Trump's "locally sourced" flavor crystals from the mean streets of South Florida suburbs, aka Adderall.
  9. Always loved that extra schwa for emphasis. It makes the landing a 10, too, if you bombastically add Β« OH BAH Β» before and Β« Γ‡A VA PAS, NON ! Β» Also, CRAPOTEUX works as a wonderful alternative for English speakers, especially if you stress each syllable with a weighty pause.
  10. So, uh, yeah, what was about it about rednecks again? Oh, yeah, this.
  11. Hmm. It seems Earl, here, is a veritable piece of shit. @YGIFS I seem to recall you always wondering why the nutcases on Surly haven't identified themselves. Well, we have one. Let's see what else that account has to say. AGAINST AID FOR UKRAINE. HANGS WITH TRAITOR FLYNN. DEPORT IMMIGRANTS TO A WAR ZONE. FEIGNS WHITE HETEROSEXUAL VICTIMIZATION. TELLS ISLAMOPHOBIC BULLSHIT LIES. ELECTION CONSPIRACIST.
  12. New Mexico is the only bordering state. These maps are from the NYTimes and were updated today at 1pm CDT: Coahuila's also across the border from Eagle Pass (Piedras Negras) and Del Rio (Ciudad AcuΓ±a). None of these options are ideal, obviously, but I just want to get the info out there for anyone who may know someone in need.
  13. John Stewart from last night (roughly 8 minutes): Interview with Amanpour after the above (nearly 15 minutes):
  14. Not a review but just general background on "the making of." I never played the game, so this was a good introduction. Really hoping this is as good as it sounds. β€˜Fallout’ Finds the Fun in an Apocalyptic Hellscape TV’s latest big-ticket video game adaptation, from the creators of β€œWestworld,” takes a satirical, self-aware approach to the End Times. The scream was just right β€” bloodcurdling, if also very funny β€” and the practical effects crew had finally found the proper volume and trajectory of the water cannon. The idea was to film what might happen if you ripped a man from the throat of a mutant salamander, exploding its guts like a giant water balloon. All that remained was to decide what color of bile to slather on the actor (Johnny Pemberton) and on the salamander’s many teeth, which nuclear radiation had transformed into rows of humanlike fingers. Based on observations made during a visit to the Brooklyn set of β€œFallout” in early 2023, Amazon had spared no expense to make the show, the latest genre-bending series from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the creators of β€œWestworld.” So it was no surprise when Nolan, on set to direct that chilly afternoon, was presented with not one but some half-dozen buckets of bile to choose from, in a variety of revolting hues. He settled on a pukey pinkish yellow. β€œThis is the closest thing to comedy that I’ve worked on,” he said later by phone. With writing credits on films like β€œMemento,” β€œThe Dark Knight” and β€œThe Prestige,” Nolan has tended to skew dark. Comically exploding monster guts β€” this was new territory. β€œIt’s a lot of fun,” he said. A fun apocalypse? Amid all the doom and gloom of most sci-fi spectacles and social media feeds? Yes, please. cont'd:
  15. Weird. Looks like they just put a carport or a metal shed on a tank. So having turrets that can swivel isn't important to them anymore? Russians deployed a tank with a new type of protection near Krasnohorivka During the armored assault near Krasnohorivka, the Russians deployed a tank with a new type of drone protection. The video of the repulsion of the enemy attack was posted on the Telegram channel of the Khortytsia operational-strategic group. Recently, Russian invasion forces made another attempt to storm Ukrainian positions in the Donetsk region. The Russian invaders intended to drive Ukrainian forces out of Krasnohorivka and gain a foothold there. For the assault, the Russians used infantry fighting vehicles accompanied by tanks. Ukrainian defenders detected the movement of enemy equipment and struck at it. A tank with a new type of drone protection was also captured in a video from the Ukrainian military. It was a Russian T-72 with a metal canopy covering the top and side projections of the tank. However, it is unclear from the video whether the tank had additional protection in the form of mesh or something similar in the front and rear. This can be seen in this video: According to the photo, the main task of this structure is to protect against FPV strikes. Such a canopy can also protect against UAVs that drop ammunition on vehicles from above. Subsequently, the Russians published a video of how they were preparing this tank for an assault. The T-72 received a trapezoidal steel structure, which increased the vehicle’s dimensions, both in width and height. This tank was also equipped with a knife mine trawl. Ukrainian defenders used artillery, including cluster munitions, to defeat the Russian troops. FPV drones also destroyed enemy equipment. The UAVs with munitions attacked Russian infantry that had landed from an infantry fighting vehicle. According to the video, a Russian T-72 with a steel canopy and several other vehicles managed to escape to the invaders’ positions. It is not clear whether this tank suffered any damage.
  16. Wordle 1,025 4/6 β¬›β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ© πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ© β¬›β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #303 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 πŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺ Daily Quordle 806 6️⃣7️⃣ 5️⃣4️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟩⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ClickWord.org Daily 430: 666 points (top 5% πŸ†) 11 words: βš›οΈβš›οΈπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸ₯πŸŸ₯🟧🟩🟩 πŸ’ͺ Best word: 208 points πŸ”₯ Streak: 6 days #ClickWord #ClickWordDaily430
  17. It's worth reading the comments of Slovaks and Hungarians on this thread in reaction to this pro-Russian candidate getting elected. They sound very similar to us talking about Republicans and the idiots who vote for them. Here's one example: It's kind of impressive if you think about it. An in the closed gay being openly against gay rights won the election by claiming the other candidate would send our soldiers to Ukraine (despite him being against it). He literally claimed he is not a product of marketing, while he exceeded the limit that he can legally spend on a presidential campaign, because third parties campaigned for him (yes it is against the law, but there's minimal punishment for it) I feel sick...im a slovak, but seriously fuck this country
  18. Some Russian State Duma dudes are beginning to talk about Kazakhstan like Ukraine. https://defence-blog.com/leaked-audio-reveals-russian-plan-to-occupy-kazakhstan-territory/
  19. Wordle 1,023 4/6 β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬› β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬› β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬› 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #301 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 πŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺ Daily Quordle 804 4️⃣5️⃣ 7️⃣6️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ClickWord.org Daily 428: 585 points (top 10% πŸ…) 10 words: βš›οΈβš›οΈπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸ₯πŸŸ₯🟧🟨🟨 πŸ’ͺ Best word: 162 points πŸ”₯ Streak: 4 days #ClickWord #ClickWordDaily428
  20. Wordle 1,022 4/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬› β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ©β¬›β¬› 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #300 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 πŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺ Daily Quordle 803 5️⃣4️⃣ 7️⃣6️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ClickWord.org Daily 427: 586 points (top 20% 🎊) 11 words: βš›οΈπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸ₯🟧🟧🟧🟨 πŸ’ͺ Best word: 152 points πŸ”₯ Streak: 3 days #ClickWord #ClickWordDaily427
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