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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2022 10:55:02 GMT -8
AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has dropped dead.
A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.
How Out Of It Are You? Do You Know What "Goblin Mode" Is?
The first Oxford word of the year to be chosen by public vote has been announced.
The winning word, "goblin mode", is a slang term describing "unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy" behaviour.
It was one of three potential choices selected by Oxford lexicographers.
Thousands managed to drag themselves out of goblin mode to vote, as the phrase won by a landslide with 318,956 votes, making up 93% of the total.
So, what does goblin mode mean exactly?
According to Oxford University Press, which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary, it is a slang term often used in the expressions such as "I am in goblin mode" or "to go goblin mode".
It went on to explain it as "a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations".
I Didn't
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2022 10:56:59 GMT -8
Oodles of RublesIt has been nine months since the Russian army launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. What was intended as a quick military operation to topple the Ukrainian government has now turned into a protracted war that has claimed tens of thousands of military and civilian lives. Although the war is being fought on Ukrainian territory, which is suffering the heaviest human and material losses, Russia has also faced severe challenges that are affecting its economy. The European Union, the United States and their allies have imposed a series of sanctions on Moscow, targeting government officials, imports and exports, heavy industry and oil and gas revenues. Many experts believe the sanctions will significantly affect the Russian economy and thus force the Kremlin to halt its war of aggression. However, my analysis of the Russian state budget shows that such assumptions do not reflect reality. Moscow will not experience significant economic constraints in the short term that could force it to change its policy. Does Russia have enough money for war?
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2022 11:11:59 GMT -8
The Power is Out and You Know Why
Tens of thousands of North Carolinians are without power Monday and under a state of emergency after two substations were reportedly damaged “intentionally” by gunfire. The outage is being investigated by authorities as a “criminal occurrence,” but there may be more to this story, and it has to do with hatred and intolerance.
During a press conference Sunday afternoon, Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said of the incident, “It was targeted, it wasn’t random. The person, or persons, who did this knew exactly what they were doing,”
The power was initially knocked out Saturday, leaving 40,000 homes and businesses without electricity. By Sunday, that number fell to 30,000, CNN reports, and police began finding evidence of gunfire at two substations. At one location, a gate was torn off its hinges.
"This appears to be an intentional, willful and malicious act," North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis told officials. "And the perpetrator will be brought to justice and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Probably not coincidentally, power in the state went out at the same time as a significant number of protestors arrived at a drag show in downtown Southern Pines, North Carolina. The show finished early due to the outage, The Pilot reports.
Emily Grace Rainey, a drag show protestor who claims to be the head of the Moore County Citizens for Freedom (MCCF), according to WRAL News, posted about the outage on social media, saying, “The power is out in Moore County, and I know why.”
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2022 11:15:39 GMT -8
Ukraine Options. Here's My VOte  This is the highest value approach on the entire map.  Svatove/Starobilsk and Kreminna/Severodonetsk are currently complementary efforts (Svatove and Kreminna are only 50 kilometers apart), as liberating Kreminna will open up a southern approach toward Svatove. And once Svatove is liberated, Ukraine will aim for the real prize—Starobilsk, perhaps the most strategic towns in Ukraine still under Russian occupation. Take a look at the map, every road in northeastern Ukraine runs through Starobilsk. And that dark red line running north to south? That is the rail line from Belgorod, Russia, the aggressors’ main logistical hub for the entire war. At the moment, that rail line is out of range of all Ukrainian artillery, including HIMARS. Starobilsk is particularly important given Ukraine’s stunningly successful destruction of the Kerch bridge rail line connecting the Russian mainland to Crimea. Russia claims the roadway will be back in service in March, but no mention of the rail portion. It appears completely dead. That means nearly all of Russia’s supplies are currently running through Starobilsk. Cut that, and Russia’s supply operation will descend into utter chaos, on top of the dysfunctional mess we already see today. Obviously, Russia knows this very well, and it has larded up the area with conscripts and defensive entrenchments. They may be poorly trained speed bumps, but they have been effective in slowing any advances and chewing up Ukrainian ammunition stocks. When Ukraine reaches Starobilsk, all that Russian-held red territory in northeastern Ukraine will turn liberated yellow overnight. It is mostly empty, flat agricultural steppe. It’s the Nebraska of Ukraine.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2022 11:17:31 GMT -8
An Extreme Moderate
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2022 11:21:16 GMT -8
This is Great News, But ...
New Polling Shows Democracy Mattered In The 2022 Midterms
The findings indicate that concerns about protecting democracy helped Democrats beat expectations in November’s elections
The press and some Democratic Party allies panned the president’s remarks. His speech was “head-scratching,” according to CNN’s Chris Cillizza. It was “important” but “puzzling,” said Politico’s Playbook newsletter. “[As] a matter of practical politics, I doubt many Ds in marginal races are eager for him to be on TV tonight,” tweeted David Axelrod, former President Barack Obama’s top political aide.
The results of the election, however, speak for themselves. The predicted Republican “red wave” disappeared before it reached shore, with the GOP only picking up 8 seats to narrowly take control of the House. It could still lose one seat in the Senate. Democrats flipped control of more governorships and state legislature chambers than Republicans. And, most importantly, nearly all high-profile election deniers lost their races, including competitive secretary of state competitions in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Nevada and gubernatorial contests in swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Now, one poll of the 71 most competitive House districts backs up the importance of the democracy issue in Democrats’ midterm success. Concerns about threats to democracy motivated Democrats and independents to turn out while also helping independents decide to vote for Democrats, according to a voter survey from Nov. 11-16 by Impact Research, a Democratic polling firm.
Shouldn't ALLL Americans Care About Democracy?
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2022 11:23:52 GMT -8
Come Mothers and Fathers Throughout the Land, and Don't Criticize What You Can't Understand. Your Sone and Your Daughters Are Beyond Your Command. Your Old World is Rapidly Aging
And yet, if we wish to understand why Republicans aren’t notching more victories, we should consider the Right’s continuing struggles with Millennials and Generation Z.
Political-data types disagree about the impact of the youth vote on the midterms. On the one hand, some say young voters surged in their turnout and that this blocked a red wave. John Della Volpe, the longtime chief of youth polling for the Harvard Institute of Politics, projected that the jump in young-voter turnout seen during the 2018 #resistance midterm would continue. He found that 40 percent of voters under age 30 said they would “definitely” vote in the midterms, a figure similar to findings in the blue-wave year of 2018. Similarly, Anthony Salvanto, the head of elections and surveys at CBS News and one of my favorite analysts, touted youth turnout as decisive.
Supporting his analysis are the scholars at Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, who projected that young voters would have an outsize influence in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, critical swing states that have kept the Senate in Democratic control. Stories from campuses such as that of the University of Michigan add images to the data, with reports of lengthy lines to vote.
This, paired with the network exit polls’ estimates that voters under age 30 broke for Democratic candidates by a two-to-one margin — roughly the same margin by which they broke for Democrats in the 2018 midterms — all paint a picture of a generation that behaved the same way they did in a blue-wave year, even as the rest of the electorate shifted rightward. (Voters in their 40s, for instance, broke for Democrats by six points in 2018 but swung to vote Republican by seven points this time around.)
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2022 11:27:31 GMT -8
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2022 11:31:57 GMT -8
Did Previous Guy Have 19.8 Million Reasons to Like Kim Jong Un?
Donald Trump failed to disclose a $19.8 million loan from a company with ties to North Korea while he was president, Forbes reported Sunday, citing documents uncovered by the New York attorney general’s office.
Trump owed the money to L/P Daewoo while he was campaigning in 2016 and into his presidency, according to records. He didn’t list the debt in financial disclosure filings, as candidates and presidents are expected to do, Forbes reported.
The loan was paid off just over five months into his presidency. Forbes said the documents don’t specify who satisfied it.
Daewoo is a South Korean conglomerate that partnered with Trump on a development project near the United Nations headquarters in New York City and on several other projects over the years. The company has ties to North Korea, Forbes reported, and was the only South Korean company allowed to operate a business in North Korea in the mid-1990s.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 5, 2022 11:33:54 GMT -8
Good News For All Of You With a Kanye Tattoo
A London tattoo removal studio is offering free sessions to people who no longer want Kanye West inked on their bodies.
Naama Studios first posted the offer last month, saying it would remove tattoos of the rapper, who has changed his name to Ye, free of charge.
The business later shared videos of two happy clients who had taken advantage of the deal, promoted with the tagline “Yeezy come, Yeezy go.”
“When you have a tattoo inspired by someone you admire and they end up making headlines for all the wrong reasons...” the post read.
“We understand that tattoos can be triggering for some people and not everyone can afford to remove their tattoos,” the business told The Washington Post. According to the Post, several people had already started to process of getting Ye tattoos removed, and around ten more had reached out to Naama for consultations. The procedure reportedly costs up to 2000 pounds (roughly $2400).
Of Course, You Have to Travel to London
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