Jump to content

bolverk

Certifiably Surly
  • Posts

    11890
  • Joined

  • Days Won

    2

Everything posted by bolverk

  1. From a month ago and not included in figures posted above. Good interview with the new Latvian foreign defense minister. She is the first official to have publicly acknowledged, in this interview, that Ukraine has received Western weapons with permission to hit Russia. She insists that strikes on Russia are legitimate. And that ultimately, the Russian army "must stop in Russia". Snippet from interview:
  2. https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3859024-russia-lost-more-than-24000-soldiers-and-308-tanks-in-east-in-april.html
  3. Both of these are pretty dang satisfying
  4. I like this idea, but maybe World Central Kitchen.
  5. You think I don't cheer for the support provided by other countries? What Macron just stated was part of a much larger point about the need to clearly state what actions should be taken to deter Russian aggression. In fact, he freely admits that France and the rest of the EU have not done enough. He's got domestic battles to fight, too, with opposition from a political party that supports Putin and has received funding from the Kremlin. Read the relevant portion of the interview yourself. It's rather long and in-depth so I'm only going to post a portion of it and am bolding the specific question and the answer he gave. To be honest, you're taking one small quote from a single tweet and commenting on it without the necessary context. I do hope you read the whole thing though, because he's not being critical of anyone other than Russia. https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/05/02/emmanuel-macron-in-his-own-words-english https://archive.is/l05rh Interview segment in spoiler: Now, let's not get sidetracked and muddy up this thread with unnecessary bullshit, because we can easily slide into criticizing all sorts of individuals and groups that would like to see Ukraine, NATO, and the EU fail.
  6. Here's the chart that shows both. I didn't say they were leaders, but as a share of their GDP, they've given more than the UK and the US as of the end of February. Yes, they can do more, but I don't understand why you always like to single out France to shit on. https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/
  7. Your chart only shows "bilateral aid," meaning direct aid from France to Ukraine. The majority of their financial support has come through the EU.
  8. Insomnia Wordle 1,048 3/6 🟩🟩⬛⬛🟩 🟩🟩⬛⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #326 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 Daily Quordle 829 5️⃣4️⃣ 7️⃣6️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ClickWord.org Daily 453: 552 points (top 30% 🎉) 10 words: ⚛️⚛️🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟥🟧🟨 💪 Best word: 112 points 🔥 Streak: 6 days #ClickWord #ClickWordDaily453
  9. Now THAT is a wonderful sight. It's exactly what we need to see to fill up the lakes. (Sorry about your campers.)
  10. I agree, in large part, that the protests themselves have become the main spectacle. Some of it is just plain silly, and I think that's by design to raise awareness about their grievances. The problem is that they've drawn attention to themselves, which could also be part of individual/organizational strategies to build social legitimacy among their peers. From the other side, of course, there's also the over-the-top response by the cops and colleges in some cases, which could also be a specific strategy on their part to divert attention away from Gaza. So now the public focus has become the protests themselves, testing the boundaries of freedom of speech and assembly from two angles: activists vs. authorities. Edit: What I mean by the bolded is that the organizations and their leaders want to build clout and reputation. This, obviously, also applies to politicians and police chiefs, so the dynamic becomes a test of wills about what's allowable in conveying a particular message and/or how to discredit that message.
  11. She's adorable and delightful
  12. Answer: CHILDLORE A few months ago, I read this kinda interesting article about it. I love the graphic they used. (spoilering because almost completely tangential)
  13. 🎶 A message to you, Rudy! 🎶 Giuliani’s Spending: $43,000 a Month and a Lot of Credit Card Bills Rudy Giuliani promised a bankruptcy court that he would limit his spending, but it didn’t take long before he broke that pledge, and by a lot. Besieged by creditors and with his income drying up, Rudolph W. Giuliani laid out an austerity program of sorts in January for a federal bankruptcy court. He would stick to a $43,000-a-month budget, he said in court filings, roughly in line with the income he drew from his retirement accounts and Social Security. That amount would cover, among other expenses, $5,000 in alimony payments to his ex-wife Judith Giuliani, $1,050 for food and housekeeping supplies and $425 for “personal care products and services.” He was also obliged to cover $13,500 in monthly nursing-home expenses for his former mother-in-law; she died in March. Suggesting that he was mindful of the $153 million he owes to creditors, including two Georgia election workers he defamed in the aftermath of the 2020 election, he budgeted nothing for entertainment, clubs and subscriptions. It did not take him long to blow his budget. In another bankruptcy filing, he said he actually spent nearly $120,000 in January. The accounting of his spending that he provided to the court was spotty and incomplete. He later provided more information to the creditors’ lawyers, listing 60 transactions on Amazon, multiple entertainment subscriptions, various Apple services and products, Uber rides and payment of some of his business partner’s personal credit card bill. It is not clear whether he has pared back his spending to within his budget in the months since January, because he has failed to submit required disclosures to the bankruptcy court. But his spending, and his inability or unwillingness to give the bankruptcy court a fuller look at his financial status, have left his creditors suspicious and angry. “These superfluous court filings are simply part of a larger effort to bully and intimidate the mayor through lawfare and a public smear campaign,” Mr. Giuliani’s spokesman, Ted Goodman, said.
  14. Colombia’s president says country will break diplomatic relations with Israel over war in Gaza
  15. @MagicSoccerSpray Not a lot of news out of Gaza right now. Here's a couple of quick stories on the obstacles of getting aid to people on the brink of starvation.
  16. Ukraine's new ATACMS could make Crimea 'militarily worthless,' war expert says Long-range ATACMS provided by the US to Ukraine have the potential to make Crimea "militarily worthless" to Russia, according to one military analyst. Last week, The New York Times reported that the US had secretly shipped about 100 Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMS, to Ukraine, which has reportedly already put them to use. The US has previously sent ATACMS with a shorter range, which aided Ukraine's fight last fall. But the versions sent recently can travel about 190 miles — which puts higher-value targets in Ukraine's crosshairs. This includes Crimea, occupied by Russia in 2014 and crucial to its military strategy in Ukraine. Philip Karber, a military analyst with expertise on Ukraine, told Radio Free Europe that "the delivery of ATACMS is a big breakthrough." He said the weapons "could basically make Crimea militarily worthless." Crimea has been heavily fortified since President Vladimir Putin's forces occupied it, and it serves his military by both land and sea. It's home to the advanced port of Sevastopol, the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. It also serves as a crucial logistics hub and military supply route to occupied southern Ukraine, and has been the launchpad for a series of devastating Russian missile and drone attacks. Ukraine has landed many blows on Crimea before — vastly weakening Russia's Black Sea Fleet, the port of Sevastopol, and periodically targeting the strategic Kerch Bridge that connects the peninsula to Russia. These have been variously conducted by weapons including air and naval drones, and likely the UK- and France-supplied Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles. But ATACMS have a key advantage over Storm Shadows, Radio Free Europe reported, in that they travel much faster. In mid-April, Ukraine claimed to have struck the Dzhankoi military base, in northern Crimea, including a prized S-400 air defense launcher, without elaborating on the weapon used. A senior US official later told the Times that it was among Ukraine's ATACMS targets. Last month, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Congress to agree on an aid package for Ukraine, he pointed to ATACMS as a key weapon for targeting Crimean airfields. "When Russia knows we can destroy these jets, they will not attack from Crimea," Zelenskyy told The Washington Post. "It's like with the sea fleet," he added. "We pushed them from our territorial waters. Now we will push them from the airports in Crimea."
  17. This is not the rosiest of assessments from Kofman in the aftermath of Avdiivka and Bakhmut with ongoing assault on Chashiv Yar. Russians continue to make incremental gains as Ukraine struggles with manpower strength and training and an ammo shortage. But Chashiv Yar: Russia throws soldiers into battle unarmed, forcing them to acquire weapons in battle. If so, fuck'em. Posting this because I'm a hopeful homer.
  18. Alleged aftermath of the ATACMS strike on the training grounds. Geolocated.
  19. Brown and Johns Hopkins are trying to work it out, too.
  20. Lies, Violence and Far-right Ideology: The ultra-Orthodox IDF Unit the U.S. Is Set to Sanction The Netzah Yehuda Battalion has a long history of bad behavior, driven by an ideology imbibed from the settler movement At around 9 P.M., a Palestinian family was driving down a road near the entrance to the settlement of Ofra in the West Bank. Soldiers ordered the driver to pull over. "They pulled him out of the car and beat him like crazy," said a soldier from a different unit who witnessed the incident. "At some point there on the road, the driver started to shake, and they saw that he was passing out." The soldiers in question were from the Netzah Yehuda Battalion. But this story isn't about Omar Abdalmajeed As'ad, the 78-year-old Palestinian who died last month after members of the battalion handcuffed him, gagged him and forced him to lie on his stomach in the cold. The incident on the road took place in April 2022, and this time it didn't end in death. But it also didn't end in any punishments for the soldiers. It was just one more "operation" initiated by a battalion seemingly beyond the army's control - a battalion that the U.S. is planning to sanction due to its involvement in human rights violations in the West Bank, as reported by Haaretz on Saturday. If the decision is implemented, it will be the first time that the U.S. government takes such a step towards a specific unit in the IDF.
  21. We really do treat the IDF with kid gloves.
  22. Blumenthal sucks. I didn't comment on the post because I keep Taco Bell on ignore.
  23. Quick overview of the rescheduling implications from the NYTimes Business page's "Deal Book": The Cannabis Industry Hopes for New Highs The Justice Department’s recommendation that restrictions on marijuana be lifted has revived expectations for a business that has waited years for such a change. A flicker of hope for the weed business For years, the dreams of the cannabis industry looked like they might go up in smoke, with the U.S. government classifying marijuana as a drug as dangerous as heroin. But the multibillion-dollar industry now has some hope that could change. Shares in cannabis-related companies are soaring, as the Biden administration weighs easing federal restrictions on marijuana, though not completely decriminalizing it. The bet is that this will give the industry a new lease on life — though it shouldn’t expect big changes immediately. What’s happening: The Justice Department said on Tuesday that it had recommended changing marijuana’s classification from a Schedule I drug (highly addictive with no medicinal use) to a Schedule III one (more like Tylenol with codeine). While the department can still prosecute offenders, it has already said doing so isn’t a high priority. The news bolstered cannabis stocks. Shares in Tilray, a giant in the industry, jumped 39 percent on Tuesday, while those in Canopy Growth leaped nearly 79 percent. That’s welcome news for investors in both companies: Canopy Growth’s stock is down 97 percent over the past five years, while those in Tilray are down 95 percent. New rules could unleash tax breaks that are unavailable for businesses that deal in Schedule I or Schedule II substances, possibly leading to lower prices and more hiring. It could also bolster investment: “We anticipate a surge in liquidity as sidelined capital enters the market, drawn by the potential for legal businesses to thrive,” Morgan Paxhia of Poseidon Asset Management said. A big change would be whether financial giants will start working with cannabis companies. Service providers including Mastercard and brokerages don’t want to be involved in transactions involving federally prohibited substances. The re-entry of traditional financial services would be a huge boon for such companies. It’s a decision that has been years in the making. President Biden ran for office in 2020 pledging to decriminalize marijuana and ease convictions over its use. It’s also not without controversy: Anne Milgram, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s administrator, raised concerns about the move. The cannabis industry has also pushed back against existing federal laws. A group of companies has sued the Justice Department, arguing that the federal government was overstepping its constitutional authority over interstate commerce by restricting companies that operate entirely within states. David Boies, the famed litigator representing those companies, said the Biden administration’s move was overdue. “It recognizes, as we have alleged, that there is no legitimate national interest in criminalizing marijuana legalized by the states,” he told DealBook. Don’t expect big changes overnight, however. The Justice Department’s recommendation sets off a lengthy rule-making process including a public comment period, meaning final changes are far-off.
×
×
  • Create New...