Polarizing stories spotted in the news

[robkelk]

And people wonder why I don't visit the USA any more. It simply isn't safe.

Canadian man shot and killed in Florida after watching NFL game, police say

[classicdrogn]

Welp, it's a shooting not-offiocially-war in the Middle East again: US and British forces with support from some other allies have conducted air and naval missile attacks on land-based sites in Yemen that were under Houthi control, responding to the pirate attacks in the Red Sea. Drones were also mentioned, but I think only in a recon role, and it doesn't seem like any journalists actually saw the planes or weapons in flight, just the resulting explosions. I also don't think any actual news report has used the word "pirate(s)" in connection with it; I guess the Houthis are being treated as a united, state-level actor? When you proclaim you're a big kid now and try to sit at the big kids' table, you have to be ready to play big kid games, I guess.

aggregate reports by the BBC

CBC coverage

CNN coverage

[Labster]

Yes, well, the Houthis are very much at the “find out” phase of what interrupting global trade looks like. Since the end of colonialism, great power wars have mostly been about preventing bigger headaches. Folks in Yemen decided to expand their civil war to cause headaches for capitalists and consumers in Europe, India, and China, and US-owned companies of course. There are now a distinct lack of great powers contesting intervention in Yemen — light ’em up, boys!

[Jinx999]

I'm getting the impression that they're really hurt that their actions have had consequences. It's hardly unique to them, of course, but the cause and effect is unusually obvious in this case. I'm curious about what they thought would happen.

[hazard]

I'm getting the impression that they're really hurt that their actions have had consequences. It's hardly unique to them, of course, but the cause and effect is unusually obvious in this case. I'm curious about what they thought would happen.

They manage to make the big boys back off from Yemen, probably.

[Labster]

I'm getting the impression that they're really hurt that their actions have had consequences. It's hardly unique to them, of course, but the cause and effect is unusually obvious in this case. I'm curious about what they thought would happen.

They manage to make the big boys back off from Yemen, probably.

It could be that, maybe people start to believe their own propaganda. Or that their own position is stronger than it is. It might be a domestic politics thing too.  Like currently a little northward, Hezbollah does not want to go to war with Israel, but their own people are really upset about Gaza and demand they do something. So Israel and Hezbollah exchange a few rockets now and then and hope that things don't get out of control.  Maybe some similar political process is going on in Yemen, though, I don't know so much about their situation specifically.

[hazard]

Most likely it's a combination of factors that resulted in the Houthis deciding to close the straight, thinking that the big players were too distracted to do anything other than pay them off somehow, that could be spun into a win at home.

Most likely we won't ever know unless the decision makers themselves decide to speak up.

[robkelk]

I am not quite old enough to remember the phrase "Better dead than Red" outside of history books, but maybe it's time to bring it back.

AP: Prosecutors say major Hunter Biden source a liar, tied to Russian intelligence.

If elements in the GOP are taking their cues from Russian disinformation, do you folks really want them in office?

[classicdrogn]

The ones who say "better dead than blue" do, it seems.

[classicdrogn]

John Oliver does a segment on the Supreme Court, ending with a very special offer for Clarence Thomas


non-embedded

[Norgarth]

video unavailable in my country (Canada)

[classicdrogn]

That's on HBO, alas. To summarise, ethics are voluntary for the Stooges of the Supreme Disgrace, so he (John Oliver as a private citizen using his personal money) offered Clarence Thomas a million dollars a year until one or the other of them dies plus a two-and-a-bit million dollar motor-coach immediately in return for a contract to resign from the court and never return to the bench, with 30 days from the air date to accept and sign.

Because that is totally legal and A-Okay by US rules of jurisprudence.

I would be completely shocked if Thomas took him up on it since it woould drastically reduce the opportunities for payola ans hinder his regressionist far-right politics, but it sure does illustrate the point!

[NifT]

That two and a bit million motor coach being the new updated model of the one that Mr. Thomas previously purchased with money borrowed from one of his "friends", who later forgave the loan.

[robkelk]

A bit of explanation of how the Westminster system works: Any Member of Parliament can introduce a motion, but there's no guarantee that the motion will proceed through committee (whichever committee of Parliament usually handles bills of the same sort as the motion) and be voted on by the chamber as a whole. (Motions introduced by Cabinet have a much better chance of getting through committee and going to vote.) And then the bill goes to the other chamber (house or senate) for the same process, but passing through the process once is usually but not always a good sign that it'll clear that hurdle.

The New Democratic Party of Canada has never formed a government.

That said...

An NDP motion puts a big question to the test: Will Canada recognize Palestinian statehood?

This isn't "recognize Palestinian statehood somewhere down the line", this is "recognize Palestinian statehood right now". Needless to say, Arab-descended MPs and Jewish-descended MPs are not in agreement on this motion.

[robkelk]

An NDP motion puts a big question to the test: Will Canada recognize Palestinian statehood?

This isn't "recognize Palestinian statehood somewhere down the line", this is "recognize Palestinian statehood right now". Needless to say, Arab-descended MPs and Jewish-descended MPs are not in agreement on this motion.

Wow. It passed the House of Commons... with amendments.

[classicdrogn]

(moverd from DW General/Images thread)

Irregular Webcomic tries to be topical. Too bad the rumour was quashed before the strip ran.

For folks who don't follow the strip, the guy in the blue shirt really likes the letter X...



Source

In this case, Green has it backwards from what I've seen - it would probably woo back a bunch of the fans who are pissed off about having orks excised for being "coded black" and stat bonuses of the various player species turned into a pick-what-you-want because they're called "races" and having them different from one another is therefore racist, and so on. And apparently some kind of official high school prom type thing somewhere that had people all assmad? I haven't followed D&D beyond being vaguely geek-culture-adjacent since the turn of the century, so I'm not sure.

Going mainstream was good for short term profits, but now the normies have moved in and are diluting the culture instead of assimilating to it. This is what happens when you don't gatekeep your hobby well enough.

[robkelk]

An NDP motion puts a big question to the test: Will Canada recognize Palestinian statehood?

This isn't "recognize Palestinian statehood somewhere down the line", this is "recognize Palestinian statehood right now". Needless to say, Arab-descended MPs and Jewish-descended MPs are not in agreement on this motion.

Wow. It passed the House of Commons... with amendments.

One of those amendments was to dilute the recognition of Palestine. The bill that passed is aligned with the official Canadian position: get a two-state solution in place before recognizing it.

[Jinx999]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world...15077.html

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mar-a-lago...trump-wins

Basically, the Judge (appointed by Trump), in the classified documents case, has ruled that the jury must either be allowed to read the classified documents, or assume that Trump was okay in having them in a toilet.

[classicdrogn]

Both of which directly contradict the text of the relevant body of law, so I'm leaning toward it being likely this is what gets a motion to recuse going, combined with everything else she's done to stonewall for Cheatoman. I also think she's a disgrace to the Bar, but then I'm just a layman without any true knowledge of the standards involved, both legal and within the subculture.

[robkelk]

So-called "free-market" state outlaws an entire market sector before it has a chance to start

In budding battle over lab-grown meat, Florida takes opening stab

Florida this month became the first U.S. state to ban meat created from cell cultures. Alabama is following suit. Other states are enacting softer restrictions. Even in Canada, early whispers of the discussion are stirring.

Posting this one here because the reasons given for the ban are blatantly political.

[Jinx999]

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/07...a-00156680

What's the difference between an honest politician and dishonest judge?

Judge Cannon demonstrates that it's not just lawyers whose job involves solicitation.

[robkelk]

Study examines impact of post Jan 6 Twitter deplatforming

After convicted criminal and twice impeached former president Donald Trump and 70,000 other accounts were booted from Twitter following the January 6 riots, the spread of misleading information on the platform fell.

Perhaps it is common sense, but the finding is backed by a peer-reviewed paper published in the scientific journal Nature this week.

Nature has a paywall up, but the article on The Register appears to have the important bits.

[robkelk]

Oopsie.

Canadian warship sharing an anchorage with Russian vessels in Cuba

Juan Antonio Blanco Gil is a former Cuban diplomat and historian who lives in Miami and has written extensively about Cuba's foreign policy.

"Nothing happens by coincidence and the Russians were planning this with the Cubans," he told CBC News. Had the Cubans been interested in sparing the Canadians from an awkward cohabitation with the Russian flotilla, he said, "it would have been very easy to change the date a little bit before or after the event of the Russians.

"They didn't. So there was a point in trying to bring together these two forces in Havana."

[robkelk]

Mozilla defies Kremlin, restores banned Firefox add-ons in Russia

Mozilla has reinstated certain add-ons for Firefox that earlier this week had been banned in Russia by the Kremlin.

The browser extensions, which are hosted on the Mozilla store, were made unavailable in the Land of Putin on or around June 8 after a request by the Russian government and its internet censorship agency, Roskomnadzor.

Among those extensions were three pieces of code that were explicitly designed to circumvent state censorship – including a VPN and Censor Tracker, a multi-purpose add-on that allowed users to see what websites shared user data, and a tool to access Tor websites.

The day the ban went into effect, Roskomsvoboda – the developer of Censor Tracker – took to the official Mozilla forums and asked why his extension was suddenly banned in Russia with no warning.

[Labster]

Oopsie.

Canadian warship sharing an anchorage with Russian vessels in Cuba

Juan Antonio Blanco Gil is a former Cuban diplomat and historian who lives in Miami and has written extensively about Cuba's foreign policy.

"Nothing happens by coincidence and the Russians were planning this with the Cubans," he told CBC News. Had the Cubans been interested in sparing the Canadians from an awkward cohabitation with the Russian flotilla, he said, "it would have been very easy to change the date a little bit before or after the event of the Russians.

"They didn't. So there was a point in trying to bring together these two forces in Havana."

Remember the Maine?