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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 9:30:24 GMT -8
6:30: Best time on the clock, hands down.
They'll Play, But They Won't Sing
Iran declined to sing their national anthem before their World Cup match with England in an apparent expression of support for anti-government protests in their home country.
Some fans shouted and jeered during the anthem and others held up signs saying "Woman, Life, Freedom".
Iran boss Carlos Queiroz had said his players were "free to protest".
There has been a fierce crackdown on protests in Iran sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September.
The 22-year-old Amini was detained by morality police for allegedly breaking the strict rules around head coverings.
Human rights activists have said more than 400 protesters have been killed and 16,800 others arrested in a crackdown by Iran's security forces.
Meanwhile FIFA Does Their Best Avery Brundage Imitation
The 2022 FIFA World Cup kicked off this weekend with a new round of controversies relating to its host country. Qatar got the right to host this World Cup in 2010 amid allegations of corruption and bribery and has spent the years since covering up deaths of migrant workers racing to build the stadiums and roads needed for the massive tournament.
Qatar has been accused of “sportswashing”—using the excitement of the World Cup to cover up its human rights abuses—but as the event finally got started, the country seemed more interested in flexing its muscle in ways that have called attention to exactly how oppressive its regime is. On Monday, seven European nations announced that their team captains had abandoned plans to wear OneLove armbands due to a FIFA threat of severe sanctions against anyone doing so.
The rainbow armbands were intended as a statement of support for inclusion and opposition to discrimination—and FIFA, on behalf of Qatar, came down hard, threatening the players from England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland with yellow cards.
“We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong commitment to wearing the armband. However, we cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play,” the soccer associations of those countries said in a joint statement, adding, “We are very frustrated by the FIFA decision which we believe is unprecedented.”
FIFA is making it clear that it places Qatar’s oppressive anti-LGBTQ policies over any values of or even lip service to inclusion. And the players folded. Yes, the World Cup is the high point of any player’s career, but they caved to a threat of an on-field penalty rather than speaking out against oppression.
Also on Monday, Iranian soccer fans arriving at the stadium with Persian flags were turned away unless they surrendered their flags, which represented a protest against Iran’s theocratic government—the official Iranian flag has an Islamic symbol and message, while the Persian flag does not. For their part, and in stark contrast to the European players who abandoned their OneLove armbands, Iran’s players refused to sing the national anthem, while in the stands some fans booed the government anthem and others sang the Persian national anthem.
Avery Brundage Was the Anti-Semitic Chairman of the US Olympic Committee During the 1936 Berlin Olympics
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 9:33:22 GMT -8
Ukraine War: The IT Factor
The past nine months have been tumultuous for Russia’s IT sector, according to Anastasia, a 24-year-old web designer from Moscow.
After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, her studio was forced to tighten project budgets and deadlines.
Yet the biggest change by far is a feeling of uncertainty about the future.
“No one really knows what tomorrow will hold,” she said.
Following three decades of quiet development, the IT sector has suddenly found itself on the defensive.
Sanctions and the mass exodus of multinational corporations have eroded the industry’s access to foreign capital and technology.
And tens of thousands of Russian IT specialists have left the country since the beginning of the conflict.
President Vladimir Putin has admitted that the Russian IT sector will face “colossal” difficulties as it seeks to contain the fallout from international sanctions.
At the same time, however, some industry insiders argue that the crisis could present an opportunity for Russian tech companies to reconquer the domestic market and ease their technological dependence on the West.
In a world where advanced technologies reign supreme, the ability of the Russian IT industry to adapt to new realities will likely be key in determining whether Moscow can keep up economically and militarily with the rest of the world in the long run.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 9:41:30 GMT -8
How Many Members Does the WNC (Wealthy Narcissists Club) Have?
Two wealthy and self-involved men are seeking the attention they crave.
On the evening of November 17, Elon Musk—the richest man in the world and Twitter’s new owner—posted a poll asking users of the site whether he should “Reinstate former President Trump,” who was banned from the platform after his instigation of the insurrection on January 6. Musk’s followers voted in favor, though there’s no guarantee that the poll wasn’t manipulated by the same bots that Musk has spent the past several months railing against. “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted, and Trump’s account was magicked back into existence.
This entire incident is terrifically stupid. The story revolves around the whims of two wealthy and self-involved men who enjoy nothing more than public attention. It is an enormous waste of everyone’s time, and I resent having to think about it.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 9:42:24 GMT -8
But It Will Give Fox News Tons of Content
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 9:45:19 GMT -8
A Pence for His Thoughts ... On Second Thought
The former VP is adamant about his intent to ensure that abortion bans are national by passing state-by-state laws. Chuck asked the former VP if, as one who does not believe in invasive government if he supported the government forcing women to have a kid they do not want. The former VP did not jump onto the off-ramp Chuck Todd gave him. He did not budge. He would enforce the enslavement of women’s bodies.
Pence’s most dangerous statement was about affording a fetus constitutional rights. This would go beyond the abortion debate. That opens the door for criminalizing women or anyone causing any issues with the fetus.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 9:54:10 GMT -8
The Voepel Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree
Perhaps file this one under the apple does not fall far from the tree. The Colorado shooter who is alleged to have killed five people, and injured twenty-five more is reported to be the grandson of Randy Voepel. Who is Randy Voepel?
Randy Voepel was previously condemned over comments he made where he compared the January 6 riot at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., to the American Revolutionary War.
Just three days after the riot, Randy Voepel told the Union-Tribune: "This is Lexington and Concord. First shots fired against tyranny.
Randy Voepel, who will almost certainly be the next state assemblyman from northeastern San Diego, believes that climate change is good.
“Our enemies are on the equator,” Voepel told a reporter nine years ago, adding that a warmer climate would make it worse for them.
In a television interview two years ago, Voepel blamed homeless residents for stripping copper out of a Santee park. “I served two tours in Vietnam. And I’m getting attacked here by the Viet Cong, stealing my copper, and I don’t like it,” Voepel said, waving a copper bar at the camera.
His grandson, just 22, has a history of his own.
Law enforcement officials said Aldrich’s “interactions with law enforcement” are part of the broader investigation, and they would not say if he’d previously been contacted by police. A man with the same name and matching age was arrested in June 2021 for threatening his mother with “a homemade bomb, multiple weapons and ammunition,” according to media reports at the time. That man was arrested after a brief standoff.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 9:57:11 GMT -8
If You Thought Democracy Was Safe After the Midterms
Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates has been moved to an “undisclosed” location for protection amid safety fears over blowback linked to losers in the midterm elections in Arizona, a local Fox station reported Sunday.
Deputies from the county sheriff’s office have been assigned to guard him in the wake of increasingly disturbing criticism online and in person, according to Fox 10 in Phoenix.
Gates confirmed to the station that he was moved “for his own safety,” the station reported.
The Republican supervisor, the chair of the Maricopa County Elections Department, is a fierce defender of the integrity of the voting system and a harsh critic of knee-jerk complaints that the system is rigged.
There’s no evidence of any significant fraud in the elections. Losing gubernatorial Kari Lake (R), however, has refused to concede to Democratic winner Katie Hobbs, and is urging her supporters to “fight.”
Maricopa County Attorney Tom Liddy told The Washington Post that he reported what he considered to be a threat from the Lake campaign to the local sheriff.
He said an attorney from the Republican National Committee speaking on behalf of the campaign warned Liddy on the phone a week ago that there were “a lot” of Lake supporters who were really “irate” and the campaign was unable to “control” them. Lake was about to be projected as the loser in her race.
Both the RNC attorney and Lake campaign have denied any threat against Liddy.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 10:18:41 GMT -8
So Much Winning? Are You Tired of Winning, Yet?
Democrats have flipped the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives, unexpectedly gaining control of the legislative chamber for the first time in a decade.
The Associated Press confirmed that Democrats had flipped 12 seats, enough to hold a narrow majority in the state House, on Saturday, when it called a final outstanding race for Democratic candidate Melissa Cerrato.
Despite the result, there are three seats that will soon be vacant because two Democratic state House members won elections for other offices in November, while a third died. That could put Republicans back in the majority at least until special elections to fill the seats.
As in Michigan, where Democrats won majority control of both the state House and Senate, the party attributed its wins to fairer legislative maps that limited the power of Republican gerrymandering efforts ― although Pennsylvania does not use the sort of independent redistricting commission that Michigan voters adopted in 2018.
“One thing we’ve seen after decades of gerrymandered maps, that it turns out, 50% of Pennsylvania voters vote Democrat,” state Rep. Joanna McClinton (D), who will likely become the first Black woman to serve as speaker of the Pennsylvania House, said the day after the election, according to local TV station WHYY. “It’s an amazing thing. It’s an amazing thing what a fair opportunity and fair maps and a fair district will provide.”
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 10:20:10 GMT -8
The New McCarthyism
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he’ll keep his word and won’t allow three Democrats on House committees if he serves as speaker next year.
McCarthy told Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.) would be stripped of their committee posts if he becomes House speaker in January.
McCarthy’s comments come less than a week after House Republicans nominated him as speaker in a closed-door session as the party — despite the lack of a “red wave” in the midterm elections — is set to hold a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives during the next Congress.
Earlier this year, McCarthy called for the removal of the three Democrats from committees in a promise that Swalwell said was “purely for retaliation purposes” following House votes to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) from committees in recent years.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 10:23:00 GMT -8
Her Date Dumped Her To Join a Riot. Will There be a Second Date? Will She Visit Him in Jail?
A Delaware man was sentenced to jail time for joining the January 6 Capitol attacks after seeing the violence unfold on a Tinder date’s television.
Jeffrey Schaefer was sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine on Friday after prosecutors argued that he participated in the Capitol attacks after watching the rioting happen on TV while at his date’s house.
According to court filings, Schaefer was initially at the house of a woman he had met on Tinder on 6 January 2021 in Alexandria, Virginia, about 20 minutes outside of Washington DC.
Schaefer then reportedly saw the attack on the Capitol on television and called an Uber to take him there so he could participate.
When Schaefer arrived at the Capitol, prosecutors say that he climbed a short wall and gained access to the Capitol building through a broken window.
Schaefer stayed in the Capitol building for about 28 minutes, chanting with other rioters and taking several photos and videos before exiting.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 10:24:36 GMT -8
Another Member of the WNC Leaves 1 Million Creditors
The collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX owes its 50 biggest creditors nearly $3.1bn (£2.6bn), according to a filing in a US bankruptcy court.
The exchange owes about $1.45bn to its top 10 creditors, it said in a court filing over the weekend, without naming them. The largest creditor is owed $226m.
The collapse of FTX rocked the cryptocurrency industry and reduced the paper fortune of its 30-year-old founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, from more than $15bn to almost nothing in a matter of days.
FTX and its affiliates filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on 11 November, leaving an estimated 1 million creditors, although the extent of the losses is not yet fully known because of alleged poor record-keeping. The company said on Saturday that at least 101 companies around the world were part of the bankruptcy proceedings.
Worse Than Enron
Anew court filing about Sam Bankman-Fried’s bankrupt companies reveals a crypto empire that was colossally mismanaged and potentially fraudulent — a “complete failure of corporate controls” that eclipses even that of Enron.
“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here,” FTX’s new CEO, John J. Ray III, wrote in a court filing Thursday. He previously oversaw Enron’s liquidation in the 2000s, among other bankruptcy cases.
Now, Ray is overseeing an “unprecedented” mess, by his own account, in the collapse of the crypto exchange, its sister hedge fund Alameda and dozens of affiliated entities. Ray, a restructuring specialist, took over as CEO from Bankman-Fried nearly a week ago, when the group filed for Chapter 11.
Ray’s assessment offers one of the first definitive accounts of what went wrong at FTX and Alameda.
Among the many problems the new management has uncovered are unreliable financial statements, the mishandling of confidential data (including using an unsecured email account to manage private crypto keys), and the diverting of corporate funds to purchase homes for employees in the Bahamas.
FTX also lacked centralized control of its cash, according to the filing. The mismanagement of funds was so poor under Bankman-Fried that the new management does not yet know how much cash FTX Group holds. Ray and his team have only been able to approximate the amount of cash available — about $564 million.
That compares with a roughly $8 billion shortfall that Bankman-Fried reportedly told investors last week that FTX would need.
“There are, at best, signs of just absolute non-control and power in the hands of just a couple of people,” said Eric Snyder, head of the bankruptcy department at Wilk Auslander, which is not involved with the FTX case. “At worst, there’s a systemic fraud of billions of dollars.”
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 10:27:33 GMT -8
Anti-Gay Crimes in NYC. The NYPD Yawns.
The police response to a string of attacks on a gay bar in New York City has sparked outrage in the wake of a deadly shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado.
David DeParolesa, the owner of VERS, located on 9th Avenue in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, said someone has thrown a brick at the windows of his bar three times over the span of a week.
The most recent incident, at around Saturday night, was captured on surveillance footage and shows a man hurling a heavy object at the window.
DeParolesa told Gothamist that he has reported each incident to the New York Police Department.
But he said detectives dismissed his suggestion that the incident could be motivated by hate and discouraged him from reporting it to the Hate Crimes Task Force.
"I said, 'We could be targeted because we're a gay bar,'" DeParolesa said. "One of the officers said, 'Well you can't know that.'"
Police also did not ask for a copy of the surveillance footage of the latest incident, he said. The other two incidents, which occurred on November 12 and 15, were not captured on video.
"They weren't seemingly interested in investigating it at the moment. They were really nonchalant," he said.
A spokesperson for the NYPD confirmed to Newsweek on Monday that the department is investigating "a series of criminal mischief incidents" that took place at VERS between November 13 and 19.
The spokesperson did not respond to questions asking for a response to DeParolesa's comments or say if the incidents would be investigated as hate crimes.
Erik Bottcher, a City Councilmember who represents Hell's Kitchen and is gay, said on Twitter that the attacks were "hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community."
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 10:29:48 GMT -8
Hate Is OK. Beer? No So Much.
Ecuador fans made their feelings clear about Qatar's last-minute U-turn on the sale of alcohol at stadiums during the FIFA World Cup.
The South Americans were leading tournament hosts Qatar 2-0 in the opening game of the much-maligned World Cup, when their supporters started chanting "Queremos cerveza, queremos cerveza," which is "we want beer, we want beer."
FIFA has a $76 million sponsorship deal with Budweiser, who has expressed its dissatisfaction at the beer ban, which was announced just two days before the kick-off of the tournament.
The beer giants had already been asked to "tone down" its promotion of the sale of alcohol in Qatar, where it is largely restricted when the World Cup isn't in town.
There has already been uproar about a pint being priced at $14 in the fan zones, where individuals are limited to just four drinks each.
Alcohol is still available in hospitality boxes in the stadiums, for those with deep pockets and want a beer while watching the soccer matches.
After a video of the Ecuadorians singing for beer went viral, Budweiser tweeted the Twitter user who shared the clip, with an offer to those living in the country: "Music to our ears. Buds in Ecuador—we'll double your Buds."
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 21, 2022 10:31:08 GMT -8
The Big Gun is Coming
Former President Barack Obama, reprising his battleground blitz ahead of the midterm elections, will campaign again for Sen. Raphael Warnock as the Georgia Democrat tries to withstand a strong challenge from Republican Herschel Walker before their Dec. 6 runoff.
Obama’s return trip to Georgia is scheduled for Dec. 1, the eve of the final day of early in-person voting that has proven critical to Democrats in recent years, including Warnock’s runoff special election victory nearly two years ago. Obama first appeared with Warnock in late October during the general election early voting period.
Come On Down, Previous Guy!
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