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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:04:56 GMT -8
The only thing flat-earthers have to fear is sphere itself GI Ivan Wasn't Happy (If He Was Alive)Thousands of intercepted calls made by Russian soldiers in Ukraine and obtained by the New York Times (NYT) newspaper appear to reveal new evidence of widespread atrocities committed by Moscow’s forces and anger within their ranks over President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade. The calls, exposed in a new report published on Thursday, were made in March by dozens of troops stationed in and around the town of Bucha on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv. “Mom, this war is the stupidest decision our government ever made, I think,” the NYT quoted one soldier named Sergey as telling his mother. Using 22 shared phones, the troops called hundreds of phone numbers in Russia over a period of several weeks, dialling home to wives, relatives and friends, despite having been ordered not to do so. Their conversations, initially intercepted by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies before being passed on to the newspaper, shed new light on the disarray of the early stages of Russia’s offensive, and reference civilian killings that may amount to proof of war crimes. Soldiers report being thrown into the war with no notice, sustaining mounting losses as their bid to seize Kyiv falters and being given orders to “kill everyone we see”. One bluntly denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “fool” for ordering the invasion. The calls indicate that within weeks of the offensive beginning on February 24, Russian forces were sustaining heavy losses. Among the ranks, a realisation that capturing the Ukrainian capital would prove impossible also appeared to have set in. The NYT, which published only the first names of the soldiers in order to protect their identities, quoted Sergey as telling his mother only 38 of a group of 400 paratroopers deployed by Moscow had survived. Other soldiers reported losing up to 60 percent of their regiment, while loved ones back in Russia warned that “the coffins keep arriving”. “We are burying one man after another, this is a nightmare,” the unnamed partner of one soldier told him. In other conversations, troops laid out the orders given by commanders in Bucha, where Russian forces are accused by Kyiv of having committed a litany of war crimes, including the execution of hundreds of civilians. Moscow denies the allegations. “They told us that, where we’re going, there’s a lot of civilians walking around. And they gave us the order to kill everyone we see,” Sergey said in a call with his girlfriend. The conversations also reveal that soldiers quickly began to report a mounting death toll. Aleksandr is quoted as telling a relative there are “bodies lying on the road” in Bucha with “limbs scattered around”. “They’re not ours, they’re f*cking civilians,” he said. Meanwhile, Sergey told his mother there is a “mountain of corpses in the forest”. In a call to his girlfriend, he also confessed to having been ordered to execute three men who were “walking past our storehouse”. “We detained them, undressed them and checked all their clothes. Then a decision had to be made whether to let them go. If we let them go, they could give away our position … So it was decided to shoot them,” Sergey said. details of Russian soldiers’ calls |
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:08:06 GMT -8
Scientists Are A-Gas-t
Methane leaking from yet-to-be explained damage on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines is likely to be the biggest burst of the potent greenhouse gas on record, raising new fears of the effect on the climate emergency.
The Nord Stream pipeline from Russia to Germany on Thursday was pumping huge volumes of methane into the Baltic Sea as well as the atmosphere – as much as five times more than escaped in the Aliso Canyon disaster – the largest known terrestrial release of methane in US history.
The leakage could be equivalent to one-third of Denmark’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions, head of the Danish Energy Agency Kristoffer Böttzauw said. Danish emissions in 2020 were about 45 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Russia and the US and European allies have accused each other of deliberately sabotaging the gas pipeline as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine intensifies.
“Whoever ordered this should be prosecuted for war crimes and go to jail,” said Rob Jackson, a Stanford University climate scientist.
The worst-case scenario is estimated to be 778 million cubic metres of gas leaked, according to the Danish government.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:14:19 GMT -8
Truss Insist on Driving the Car Off the Cliff
Liz Truss has insisted her government’s economic policy is on the right course despite the need for emergency intervention from the Bank of England, saying she is “prepared to take difficult decisions” and will not change policy.
In a round of interviews with BBC local radio stations, her first public statements since warnings from the International Monetary Fund and the bank’s intervention to prevent a run on pension funds, the prime minister said people would feel the benefits in the longer term.
“This is the right plan that we have set out,” Truss told BBC Radio Norfolk. “Of course there will always be people who will oppose a particular measures. And it’s not necessarily easy. But we have to do it.”
Pressed repeatedly by the presenters about why her government had cut taxes primarily for richer people in Friday’s mini-budget despite inflationary pressures, prompting a decline in the pound and a rise in the cost of government debt, Truss rejected any idea of error.
They Don't Trust Truss
With the United Kingdom’s economy in turmoil and questions swirling about her future as its leader, Prime Minister Liz Truss might have been expected to try and reassure an anxious country Thursday.
Instead, she spent the morning fielding angry, mostly written, questions on a list of local radio phone-in shows — a full hour of being berated in different regional English accents.
“Are you ashamed of what you’ve done?” one listener on BBC Radio Kent asked. “What on earth were you thinking?” a second from the coastal town of Birchington-on-Sea asked. “Have you taken the keys to the country and crashed the economy?” another said.
Truss spoke to eight radio stations in all, spending between five and 10 minutes with each. It was part of what was supposed to be a regular round of media appearances before party conferences — it just happened to land in the midst of a national economic crisis.
The new prime minister did not answer many of the questions directly; instead, she gave the same semi-scripted answers, often punctuated with notable pauses and silences.
“People like it when politicians are honest,” Sarah Julian, the presenter on BBC Radio Nottingham, said as she opened her segment. “Why don’t you just hold your hands up and say, ‘This is a mess, we got it wrong and we’re going to do something different?’”
“This is like a reverse Robin Hood,” she added, contrasting Truss’ tax cuts for the wealthy to Nottingham’s folkloric hero who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:18:20 GMT -8
The Circle is Closing
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said to expect good news from the front very soon. Telegram is full of Ukrainian sources barely containing themselves, claiming the same, but under strict operational silence. So while not much has officially moved around Lyman, things are certainly happening.
Meanwhile, Further North
The Ukrainian advance east of Kupyansk is exciting. Russia spent several days trying to force Ukraine back to the western side of the Oskil river splitting the city in half. Russia’s efforts were happily for naught, as Ukraine is now expanding that bridgehead.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:22:47 GMT -8
Could It Be That She Insisted on Sleeping With Her Guns?
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s husband, Perry Greene, filed for divorce on Tuesday, according to court documents published online.
The petition, filed in the Floyd County, Georgia, court, said the marriage was “irretrievably broken” and indicated that the couple, who have been married for 27 years, had been separated for some time.
I'm Guessing He Won't Be Shooting Wild Hogs From a Helicopter With Her
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:24:45 GMT -8
Meet the New PAC. (Almost) Same as the Old PAC
Donald Trump’s new super PAC, ostensibly created to help Republican candidates in the coming midterm elections, in reality can boost only one candidate his existing “Save America” committee cannot: Donald Trump himself.
The former president’s Make America Great Again Inc., registered last week with the Federal Election Commission, is being sold as a cavalry to help Republican Senate and House candidates, many of whom are being outspent by Democrats in races that will determine which party will control Congress for the next two years.
“President Trump is committed to saving America, and Make America Great Again, Inc. will ensure that is achieved at the ballot box in November and beyond,” Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich told Politico.
What Trump’s staff does not point out, though, is that Trump is already able to spend however much he wants to help those candidates out of the $105 million he has available in his Save America “leadership PAC” ― the identical ability the new super PAC will have.
The only thing that Save America, which to date has spent more money on Trump’s legal bills than it has on helping GOP candidates, can’t do that his new super PAC will be allowed to do is boost Trump as a candidate for federal office. That includes running for president in 2024, which Trump appears likely to do despite being under criminal investigation for his attempted coup to remain in office and his removal of top secret documents from the White House.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:26:57 GMT -8
Puerto Rico Didn't Get Wall-To-Wall News Coverage. Apparently None of the Networks Realize.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:36:42 GMT -8
In 2021 Mercedes Made Over €9.5 Billion. Porsche Earned Less Than €900 Million.
Porsche stock moved higher Thursday on the first day of its initial public offering stock trading -- Germany's largest IPO in more than 25 years. The sports car maker's parent company Volkswagen offered 911 million outstanding shares, referencing Porsche's most iconic model.
Share prices steadied atnearly $82 Thursday morning, providing a market cap of roughly $73 billion.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Porsche's public stock offering transformed the company into the top five biggest automakers, ahead of Mercedes-Benz.
Explain to Me How the Stock Market is Efficient
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:40:49 GMT -8
It's Amazing That No One Went There for 84 Years.An ancient Buddhist temple and various other structures have been found in a tiger reserve, during the first expedition to the area for 84 years. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) revealed pictures of the ancient caves and temples on social media, showing the remains of Buddhist structures with mural inscriptions on them. The temples were found in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, the largest state in central India. The reserve is located around 300 miles from the Madhya Pradesh state capital, Bhopal. "An ASI team covered nearly 170 sq km [66 square miles] falling in the area of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve over months-long exploration of the region which was undertook for the first time since 1938," the The Archaeological Survey of India wrote in a tweet. "In an exploration 26 temples, 26 caves, 2 monasteries, 2 votive stupas, 24 inscriptions, 46 sculptures, other scattered remains & 19 water structure are recorded," another tweet said. 
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:42:09 GMT -8
The Wrong Way to Get Kids to Eat Vegetables
A Dallas man will spend his life behind bars after accepting millions worth of methamphetamine concealed in cauliflower, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Texas said Wednesday.
A U.S. District judge handed down the sentence of life in federal prison to 48-year-old Joaquin Salinas on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Plea papers show that in August 2021, Salinas received a shipment of about 247 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed inside boxes of cauliflower. Federal agents assessed the street value of the drugs at about $3.7 million, the office said.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:42:52 GMT -8
If Only, ...
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:45:18 GMT -8
Only One Stumbling Block to an Iranian Nuclear Deal
Iran's demand that the International Atomic Energy Agency close its investigations into its alleged past undeclared nuclear activity is the last "huge obstacle" to restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a senior European diplomat tells Axios.
Behind the scenes: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi focused his address to the UN General Assembly on the need for guarantees that the U.S. won't abandon the deal again. But in private meetings on the sidelines of the summit, his only demands concerned the IAEA probe, according to a senior European diplomat.
That was confirmed by a senior U.S. official who was briefed on Raisi’s meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Charles Michel.
The European official said the Iranians are convinced the U.S. could simply tell the IAEA to make the problem go away, but both IAEA chief Rafael Grossi and the Biden administration are adamant that the agency's concerns must be adequately addressed before the probe can be closed.
Those concerns relate to uranium particles found at sites by UN inspectors. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had publicly flagged those sites after Israel's Mossad stole the Iranian nuclear archives.
Behind the scenes: "At midnight on Aug. 15, we thought we had a deal," the European diplomat told Axios, describing a back-and-forth between Iranian and U.S. proposals that had narrowed in on a few technical issues.
But as they worked to close those issues, the Iranians for the first time made closing the IAEA investigations a precondition of the deal.
“Something happened in Tehran. Maybe the highest authority in Iran decided it doesn’t want a deal without being sure the investigations will be closed," the European diplomat said.
State of play: The European officials who met Raisi and other Iranian officials in New York explained that the investigations will be closed only if Iran provides reasonable explanations about the sites to the IAEA, the diplomat added.
The Iranians pushed back, claiming that Israel planted the uranium particles and that the U.S. and European powers could solve the issue politically.
"As long as they think [Secretary of State Tony] Blinken can just pick up the phone and tell Grossi to drop it, we won't get a deal," the European diplomat said.
The European diplomats told their Iranian counterparts that this wasn't the case, noting that immense political pressure from China on another UN agency had failed to prevent it from releasing a report into human rights violations in Xinjiang.
The U.S. and the European signatories to the deal are totally aligned on the need for Iran to give answers to the IAEA, and even China and Russia don't want to see the credibility of the nuclear watchdog undermined, the diplomat said.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 29, 2022 8:47:47 GMT -8
How bad was Hurricane Ian? So bad that at least 35 Florida Waffle Houses closed
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