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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 9:45:22 GMT -8
What pronouns does a bar of chocolate use? Her/she.
Who Wouldn't Want to Work for a Conspiracy-Spouting Anti-Semite?
The labour dispute between Tesla and its repair workshop mechanics that originated in Sweden on October 27 has escalated to include Denmark, Finland and Norway. As the stakes rise, Elon Musk's electric vehicle manufacturer continues to resist signing a collective agreement with its Swedish employees.
Tesla majority-shareholder and CEO Elon Musk faces growing resistance in Scandinavia's social democracies after refusing to sign a collective agreement determining the minimum wage of his employees.
The dispute, which initially involved only 130 mechanics at ten Tesla repair workshops across seven Swedish cities, has ballooned into an international strike movement.
"The mistake [American multinational] Tesla made was challenging the collective agreements that set sector-specific minimum wages in Sweden, a country where 70% of the population is unionised, compared with only 8% of private sector workers in France," says Yohann Aucante, a political scientist and Scandinavia specialist at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris.
Concerned about safeguarding collective agreements, which cover nearly 90% of all employees in Sweden, 15 Swedish unions have joined the strike at the request of the powerful IF Metall union since it kicked off on October 27.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 9:48:21 GMT -8
How Do You Say "Oops" in Hebrew?
Three Israeli hostages who were mistakenly shot by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip had been waving a white flag and were shirtless when they were killed, an Israeli military official said Saturday.
Anger over the mistaken killings is likely to increase pressure on the Israeli government to renew Qatar-mediated negotiations with Hamas over swapping more captives for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. Hamas has conditioned further releases on Israel halting its punishing air and ground campaign in Gaza, now in its 11th week.
The account of how the hostages died also raised questions about the conduct of Israeli ground troops. Palestinians on several occasions reported that Israeli soldiers opened fire as civilians tried to flee to safety.
The military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to brief reporters in line with military regulations, said it was likely that the hostages had been abandoned by their militant captors or had escaped. The soldiers’ behavior was “against our rules of engagement,” the official said, and was being investigated at the highest level.
The three, all young men in their 20s, were killed Friday in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah, where troops have engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas militants in recent days. They had been among more than 240 people taken hostage during an unprecedented raid into Israel on Oct. 7 in which Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The attack sparked the war.
Hundreds of protesters blocked Tel Aviv’s main highway late Friday in a spontaneous demonstration calling for the hostages’ return. The hostages’ plight has dominated public discourse in Israel since the Oct. 7 attack. Their families have led a powerful public campaign calling on the government to do more to bring them home.
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Three Israeli hostages killed mistakenly in Gaza by Israeli forces were shirtless and one of them was holding up a white flag, according to an initial inquiry into the incident, a military official has said.
The incident took place in an area of intense combat where Hamas fighters operate in civilian attire and use deception tactics, the Israeli official said on Saturday.
A soldier saw the hostages emerging tens of metres from Israeli forces in the area of Shujayea, the official added.
“They’re all without shirts and they have a stick with a white cloth on it. The soldier feels threatened and opens fire. He declares that they’re terrorists, they [forces] open fire, two are killed immediately,” said the military official.
The third captive was wounded and retreated into a nearby building where he called for help in Hebrew.
“Immediately the battalion commander issues a ceasefire order, but again there’s another burst of fire towards the third figure and he also dies,” said the official. “This was against our rules of engagement.”
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 9:52:55 GMT -8
Ye Still Has It...Whatever "It" IsKanye West Goes Off On Another Anti-Semitic Rant: ‘Jesus Christ, Hitler, Ye!’Rapper Kanye West is at the center of more controversy following the release of a 10-minute video showing the rapper making several anti-Semitic remarks while name-dropping some of his peers in the entertainment industry. No one seemed to be spared from West's tirade as he blasted several of his business associates, including Balenciaga's creative director, Demna. This comes amid a delay in the release of his new album, "Vultures." West is back to making anti-semitic comments. In a very heated video showing the rapper addressing a crowd in Las Vegas, he made several claims while referencing the backlash he faced last year when he lost major deals, including his contract with Adidas, which saw him lose his billionaire status. In the clip shared online, West makes several claims, slamming people for not standing up for him after he made anti-Semitic comments. "A lot of people had s--- to say about my Jewish comments, but ain't nobody in the motherf----- room and none of y'all entertainment n----- ever said nothing when I was praying to see my kids." The rapper said he called Tory Lanez to pray about seeing his children. His tirade included pointed accusations at Trump, saying the presidential hopeful won't get his support unless he gets rid of certain people, and verbal attacks on Demna, Drake, Jay-Z, and Adidas. He also made mention of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, their divorce and custody battle. West stated that a lawyer told him that he wouldn't get to see his kids if he didn't stop making "anti-Semitic comments." "Who makes the hospitals, though, these are zionists n----. This is what I'm trying to tell you. Jesus Christ, Hitler, Ye! Third-party sponsor that. Bring your sponsorship today because there's gonna be some n---- that feel exactly like me," the rapper yelled. West continued, attacking big fashion names, "The head of Louis Vuitton, Bernard Arnault, f--- you. Alexander Arnault, f--- you... Demna f---- you, f--- Balenciaga. F--- Cedric from Balenciaga. F--- GAP and F--- Adidas n---." At some point in the video, West yelled at the crowd to "shut the f---- up," claiming he was by himself. When a person from the crowd confronted him that he was "not God," the rapper threatened to have them thrown out of the room.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 9:58:25 GMT -8
The Week in Fake News
US Senate candidate spreads false claims about migrant aid
CLAIM: The federal government gives people who enter the U.S. illegally a cell phone, a domestic plane ticket to a location of their choice and a $5,000 Visa gift card.
THE FACTS: People who enter the U.S. illegally do not receive such assistance from the federal government, immigration experts told The Associated Press. Immigration and Customs Enforcement gives some immigrants phones, but they can only access a monitoring app called SmartLink. Those who cross the border illegally do not receive gift cards.
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Claims that pizza listings on Etsy are selling child pornography are baseless
CLAIM: Listings on Etsy selling downloads of pizza photos for thousands of dollars are just a disguise for pedaling child pornography.
THE FACTS: Etsy investigated the claims and found them baseless, a representative said. While no threat to child safety was established, the posts were removed from the online marketplace because they did not appear legitimate and had what seemed to be unreasonably high prices. The false claims now spreading about Etsy are reminiscent of a baseless conspiracy theory from 2020, which alleged that retail giant Wayfair was using pricey storage cabinets to traffic children.
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Video footage from the 2023 Army-Navy game was altered to add anti-Biden chant
CLAIM: A video shows the crowd at this year’s Army-Navy football game chanting “F--- Joe Biden.”
THE FACTS: The video was edited to add the chant, which occurred at a concert in 2021. Unedited footage of the game shows the crowd, including a large contingent of Army cadets, singing and bouncing to an EDM song oftenplayed at Army football games and other sportingevents. The audio added to the video currently spreading online is from a 2021 concert in Scranton, Pennsylvania, featuring the rock band Staind.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 10:01:15 GMT -8
Has the Fat Big-Boned Lady Sung?
What the Fed's rate policy pivot means for the economy
Why it matters: The end of the war on inflation is in sight. Barring some unpleasant economic surprises, the central bank is now prepared to take its foot off the brakes and move to a stance in which it is no longer actively trying to slow growth.
Importantly, the majority of policymakers are now envisioning significant rate cuts in 2024, while also envisioning the economy remaining basically solid, with low unemployment and steady growth.
In other words, rates will probably be coming down next year even in the absence of a severe downturn. That's a sweet spot both for financial markets and for families and businesses.
The cycle of monetary tightening that has whipsawed markets and the economy for the last two years is, for all intents and purposes, over.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 10:03:21 GMT -8
You Probably Don't Want to Spend 80 Minutes Learning More About Polling, But If You Do, Here's the Other Nate ...
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 10:07:04 GMT -8
Muslim Civil Rights Group Condemns GOP Senators' Treatment Of Muslim Court Pick
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the country, on Friday denounced three Republican senators for their treatment of President Joe Biden’s historic judicial nominee Adeel Mangi during his recent confirmation hearing. GOP Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Tom Cotton (Ark.) and Josh Hawley (Mo.) berated and interrupted Mangi in his Wednesday hearing in the Senate judiciary committee, demanding that Mangi, who is Muslim, share his personal views on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel and the Israeli-Hamas conflict in general. Mangi, if confirmed, will be the nation’s first ever Muslim American appeals court judge, and only the third Muslim American federal judge. Biden nominated him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, based in Philadelphia. “We strongly condemn Senators Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley for subjecting Mr. Mangi to irrelevant, hostile questions about Israel and Palestine,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR’s national deputy director, said in a statement. “Singling out a Muslim judicial nominee and forcing him to answer ‘gotcha questions’ about the Middle East simply because of faith or because of his tangential connections to Muslims who comment on the Middle East is Islamophobic and un-American,” Mitchell said. “So is raising the hateful trope that presumptively assumes that Muslims are antisemitic.” Mitchell called on all senators “to reject this nonsense and start assessing Muslim American judicial nominees based on their expertise and qualifications, like all other nominees.”
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 10:08:07 GMT -8
Is That $148 Million More Than Rudy Has?A Washington, D.C., jury has awarded $148 million to the two Georgia election workers defamed by Rudy Giuliani. Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, testified that Giuliani, supported by former President Donald Trump, “terrorized” the two by spreading lies about their activities as election workers in Fulton County during the 2020 election. The eye-watering sum breaks down to $33 million for defamation (more than $16 million each), $40 million for emotional distress ($20 million each), and $75 million in punitive damages. Michael Gottlieb, one of the attorneys representing the two women, had asked for $48 million in damages for the pair ― $24 million per person. What to know about the $148M defamation verdict against Rudy Giuliani
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 10:13:01 GMT -8
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 10:14:19 GMT -8
No Word on What Happened to Romney's "Binders Full of Women", Either.
A binder holding top-secret intelligence that contributed to a U.S. assessment that Russia tried to help throw the 2016 U.S. election to Donald Trump has been missing since the last days of his presidency, a source familiar with the issue said.
The Russia intelligence was included with other documents in a binder that Trump directed the CIA to send to the White House just before he left office so he could declassify materials related to the FBI probe of Russian interference in the 2016 vote, the source said.
The Russia materials included highly classified raw intelligence gathered by the U.S. and NATO allies, fueling fears that the methods used to collect the information could be compromised, the source added.
Trump's presidential campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 10:15:32 GMT -8
No Exit
Congress this week approved a measure aimed at preventing any U.S. president from unilaterally withdrawing the United States from NATO without congressional approval. Passage came amid long-standing concerns that Donald Trump may try to exit the alliance if he returns to office.
The provision was included in the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual bill detailing defense policy, which was passed by the House on Thursday and is awaiting the signature of President Biden.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 10:16:58 GMT -8
Crime is Down. Ignorance About Crime is Up.Crime in the United States has declined significantly over the last year, according to new FBI data that contradicts a widespread national perception that law-breaking and violence are on the rise. A Gallup poll released this month found that 77% of Americans believe crime rates are worsening, but they are mistaken, the new FBI data and other statistics show. The FBI data, which compares crime rates in the third quarter of 2023 to the same period last year, found that violent crime dropped 8%, while property crime fell 6.3% to what would be its lowest level since 1961, according to criminologist Jeff Asher, who analyzed the FBI numbers. Murder plummeted in the United States in 2023 at one of the fastest rates of decline ever recorded, Asher found, and every category of major crime except auto theft declined. Yet 92% of Republicans, 78% of independents and 58% of Democrats believe crime is rising, the Gallup survey shows. Most people think the U.S. crime rate is rising. They're wrong.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 10:19:36 GMT -8
Are You Interested in Interest-Only? You Should Find this Interesting.
With home prices and mortgage rates sky high, potential homeowners — even those with deep pockets — are looking for ways to ease the cost burden.
Some Americans who are high earners, but not rich yet, known as HENRYs, are opting for unusual interest-only mortgages that boost affordability, at least in the short-term. These loans allow the borrower to pay just interest and none of the principal for a certain number of years. The loans are generally reserved for more affluent buyers of higher-end property who can afford a sizeable down payment and have sufficient money saved.
There are some attractive benefits of this kind of loan. They offer lower monthly payments at first, which allow borrowers to invest the money they would otherwise spend to pay off their house on other, higher-return investments. They also allow borrowers whose incomes are expected to rise in the future to buy more expensive homes than they otherwise would be able to afford.
There are also higher risks than a conventional mortgage. Borrowers won't gain equity in their home, beyond the down payment they made. They're on the hook for potentially higher mortgage payments in the future, and if their home value declines, they could lose the equity they have or the ability to refinance. Some interest-only loans require borrowers to pay off the entirety of the principal once the interest-only period ends.
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Post by mhbruin on Dec 16, 2023 10:21:35 GMT -8
When It Comes to Kids Food, Get the Lead Out.
The lead contamination in recalled cinnamon applesauce pouches that potentially poisoned at least 65 children may have been intentional, the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday.
The FDA has been investigating the lead contamination in the cinnamon-flavored applesauce products from Florida-based food manufacturer WanaBana since October.
The agency has homed in on the cinnamon specifically as the source of the lead.
A spokesperson for the FDA said that one of the agency’s current theories is that the cinnamon contamination was the result of “economically motivated adulteration.”
Politico first reported the contamination theory.
WanaBana did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Economically motivated adulteration, or “food fraud,” can occur when a cheaper ingredient is added to a product to enhance it or bulk it up, but is not disclosed, according to the agency. One example, the agency said, is when lead-based dyes are added to spices to give the product a certain color.
“As this is an ongoing investigation, the FDA can only confirm this is one of the theories at this time,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “Additional investigation needs to occur before FDA reaches any conclusions. The FDA will continue to keep the public updated as the investigation unfolds.”
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hasben
Resident Member
Posts: 1,023
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Post by hasben on Dec 17, 2023 12:26:13 GMT -8
How Do You Say "Oops" in Hebrew?
Not sure it was an oops. The IDF routinely shoots unarmed boys or men in Gaza even with a white flag. In combat areas they shoot everyone they see even knowing there are civilians mixed in with Hamas. They deny this and keep doing it with Netanyahoo's blessing
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