Polarizing stories spotted in the news

[Dartz]

I need a Flight to Cuba, some dynamite, and a dozen novelty plastic Russian flags.

I just had the idea to do the funniest thing ever.

[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."

Remember the Maine?

Maybe. The government is now saying that Canada asked to be allowed to show the flag.

And of course the reactions to this statement are split along party lines.

EDIT: I really hope that the intelligence we're getting by simply looking at Russian ships in a public place is worth the reputation hit.

[Jinx999]

You see a controversial or shocking story? Check again.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c72ver6172do

Also an honorless, lying cowardly traitor.

[robkelk]

Truck-convoy organizer banned from a festival that he implied was a fundraiser for his legal fees. It isn't, and he was banned because "It seems he was using this to increase his popularity, potentially."

Not that it matters – he's in jail for violating his bail conditions – so this is the festival organizers making a statement.

[robkelk]

No, I'm not going to comment on this. Posting it in Politics is comment enough.

Disney Pulls Transgender Storyline from Pixar’s ‘Win or Lose’ Streaming Series

[Jinx999]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-...rcna184820

Trump wants to eliminate the debt ceiling. Apparently he hates financial conservativism.

[Labster]

I hate to say it but Trump is 100% right here.  The debt ceiling is really dumb, and only exists to create crises in Washington that force some sort of compromise.  Congress authorizes spending, then tries to blame the President for spending the money they authorized.  And then we play a game of chicken with the global economy.

Trump being Trump, I'm pretty sure he would feel totally fine about minting a trillion-dollar coin to ignore the debt ceiling.  And being a Lupin III fan, I'm totally down with this plan.  (Also, The Simpsons had a $1T bill so it has been foretold.)  Don't expect conservatism from Trump, especially not when there's money to be made.

[classicdrogn]

What else do you expect from a man who went bankrupt running a casino?

[Jinx999]

The official purpose of the Debt ceiling is to prevent short sighted idiots from taking massive loans and using them to pay for tax cuts/massive spending and screwing over the country in the long term. Whether it's the best mechanism for doing this is a separate question.

For a lot of politicians, they're unnecessary bureaucracy.

For Trump? Yeah. I wouldn't trust him with an unlimited credit card.

For most cases, safety regulations are more work. But when you need them, you NEED them.

[Jinx999]

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-healt...ti-vaccine

Louisiana forbids public health workers from promoting COVID, flu and mpox shots.

[classicdrogn]

Viruses have a right to life too, apparently.

[robkelk]

How did we miss this when it happened ten days ago?

Black church in DC that was vandalized by the Proud Boys gains control over the group’s trademark

[robkelk]

Bob Ezrin (who produced The Wall and Get Your Wings among dozens of other albums) has renounced his US citizenship.

"In the last few years, it seems as if America is split in half," Ezrin told The Globe. "The voices of a radical right have become so much louder. Conspiracy theories abound, people are armed to the teeth, and it's just a different place than the place I went to."

[robkelk]

Legal definition of a woman refers to ‘biological sex’, UK Supreme Court rules

The UK’s highest court has ruled that the definition of a “woman” in equality legislation refers to someone who is born biologically female, in a blow to campaigners for the rights of transgender people.

[nemonowan]

Legal definition of a woman refers to ‘biological sex’, UK Supreme Court rules

The UK’s highest court has ruled that the definition of a “woman” in equality legislation refers to someone who is born biologically female, in a blow to campaigners for the rights of transgender people.

Now they are going to have to get to work defining exactly just what "born biologically female" means, beyond "I know it when I see it"

[robkelk]

Legal definition of a woman refers to ‘biological sex’, UK Supreme Court rules

The UK’s highest court has ruled that the definition of a “woman” in equality legislation refers to someone who is born biologically female, in a blow to campaigners for the rights of transgender people.

Now they are going to have to get to work defining exactly just what "born biologically female" means, beyond "I know it when I see it"

I doubt anybody was even thinking about intersex people when they made that decision.

[Labster]

Now they are going to have to get to work defining exactly just what "born biologically female" means, beyond "I know it when I see it"

I doubt anybody was even thinking about intersex people when they made that decision.

Lol no one ever thinks about intersex, why would they start now?

At least JKR had a good night

[classicdrogn]

Lol no one ever thinks about intersex, why would they start now?

The popularity of futa hentai would seem to suggest otherwise... though admittedly that has only the most superficial connection to RL intersex physiology, not that other porn is usually any better about it.

[Labster]

Okay, correction: no one thinks from the waist up about intersex

Honestly, intersex is where almost everyone's theories about both sex and gender fail, so they don't like to think about it.

[Bob Schroeck]

Well, the obvious simple solution would be to criminalize being intersex. Then we just thrown those babies into jail as soon as they're born and then everyone's happy. </SARCASM>