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Post by mhbruin on Mar 20, 2024 8:15:46 GMT -8
I was at the bank, there was a short line. There was just one lady in front of me, an Asian woman. She was trying to exchange yen for dollars. It was obvious she was very irritated .. She asked the teller, "Why it change? Yesterday, I get two hunat dolla fo yen. Today I only get hunat eighty? Why it change?" The teller shrugged his shoulders and said, "Fluctuations." The Asian lady says to him, "Fluc you banking people too!" Meet the Republicans who voted against condemning Putin’s illegal abduction of childrenIn a rare, massively bipartisan vote on Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Russia's illegal abduction of thousands of children from Ukraine, and holding Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible. The final tally was 390-9. All nine "no" votes were by Republicans. Sponsored by Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Susan Wild, HR 149, "Condemning the illegal abduction of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation," had been introduced in February of 2023 and made its way to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where it sat for nearly nine months before being passed unanimously and sent to the full House for a vote. It is symbolic and does not order any funds or any actions. The resolution gives a timeline of Russia's actions, including stating that "Russian Forces attacked a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of 3 individuals and injuries to 17 other individuals," in March of 2022. Also in that month, it notes, "the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry announced that the Russian military had forcefully and illegally kidnapped 2,389 Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine." It adds that "on June 2, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that 200,000 children are among the Ukrainians who have been forcefully resettled in Russia," and states that "forcibly transferring children of one group to another group is a violation of Article II(e) of the Genocide Convention," of which Russia is a signatory. |
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 20, 2024 8:18:12 GMT -8
No Abortion in Louisiana, But More Dead Babies
Louisiana's strict abortion ban is having spillover effects across women's health care in the US state, leading doctors to turn away patients for routine prenatal visits and perform unnecessary Cesarean sections, according to a report released Tuesday.
Conservative Louisiana, in the Deep South, joined a dozen other states in implementing a near-total ban on abortion after the US Supreme Court overturned the federal right to the procedure in 2022.
But a joint fact-finding mission conducted from May to November last year by four medical NGOs charges that Louisiana's abortion ban has led to practices that "degrade long-standing medical ethical standards, and, worst of all, deny basic human rights to Louisianans seeking reproductive health care in their state."
In one case, a woman was denied a prenatal appointment until she had passed the first trimester of her pregnancy. She ended up having a miscarriage before she was able to receive an appointment, she told the report's investigators.
In the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, miscarriages are more common -- so prenatal appointments are being "purposely delayed to avoid the risk of miscarriage care being misconstrued as an abortion in violation of the bans," according to the report, from the groups Lift Louisiana, Physicians for Human Rights, Reproductive Health Impact and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Doctors specifically cited the abortion ban in refusing to see the patient, the report said.
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 20, 2024 8:19:54 GMT -8
I Don't Agree With Mike Pence. It's Not "Unfortunate".
It is Disgusting!
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 20, 2024 8:21:13 GMT -8
The QOP Presumptive Nominee is for Sale
Trump’s Empty Pockets Make Him an Overseas Mark
The financial squeeze on the former president, who says he can’t come up with the cash to appeal his $454 million civil fraud judgment, intensifies his threat to national security.
Trump’s predicament is also the latest reminder that his financial challenges make him a national security threat — something that has been a reality ever since he was elected president in 2016. He’s always been willing to sell his name to the highest bidder. There’s no reason to believe that Trump, whose businesses collected millions of dollars from foreign governments and officials while he was president, won’t have a for-sale sign out now that he’s struggling with the suffocating weight of court judgments.
Here's How He Can Get the Money
The Mega Millions jackpot has climbed to a whopping $977 million after there were no big winners Tuesday night.
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 20, 2024 8:22:08 GMT -8
And the Money Keeps Rolling In
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 20, 2024 8:27:24 GMT -8
Unstable Racist
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 20, 2024 8:31:15 GMT -8
Birken Hearts
Birkin bags, long a status symbol for the wealthy, are so difficult to purchase that a pair of Californians just sued the company over its sales practices.
Forty years after Hermès introduced its iconic leather handbag, consumers still scheme about how to purchase enough luxury goods from the French retailer that a salesperson will sell them a Birkin — the commonly understood way to purchase the bag. The handmade accessory starts at $10,000 but can easily run into six figures, even on the resale market.
On Tuesday, two California residents sued Hermès in the Northern District of California, proposing a class-action lawsuit against the Paris-based luxury retailer. The complaint said Hermès unlawfully tied the purchase of Birkin bags to buying the company's other products.
The case highlights a long-standing practice among luxury retailers that requires long-term purchasing relationships for specialty items.
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 20, 2024 8:32:13 GMT -8
American Ignorance is a Crime
Newly released data from the FBI shows crime in the U.S. declined between the last quarter of 2022 and the last quarter of 2023, a pattern that runs counter to the common narrative that crime is increasing nationwide.
On Monday, the FBI released data from 2023′s final quarter (October to December) based on the data from nearly 80% of law enforcement agencies in the U.S.
According to the data, violent crime decreased by approximately 6% across all U.S. regions in the final quarter of 2023 compared to the final quarter of 2022. Murder, a subcategory under the violent crime category, decreased by 13%, while rape decreased by 12% in the same time frame across the U.S. Robbery and aggravated assault each decreased by 5%.
Property crime decreased by 4% from the final quarter of 2022 to the final quarter of 2023 as well. Arson decreased by 8%, burglary by 10% and larceny-theft by 6%. By contrast, motor vehicle theft increased by 11%.
Violent crime, particularly murder, increased during 2020 and 2021, but has since declined to pre-pandemic levels, The Associated Press reported in October 2023, citing the FBI’s annual report on crime in 2022.
Despite these numbers, data has shown that 77% of Americans believed that crime had worsened in the past year, according to a Gallup poll published in November 2023.
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 20, 2024 8:33:48 GMT -8
Birds of a Feather Go to Prison Together
AWashington state man accused of helping kill thousands of birds is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to shooting eagles on an American Indian reservation in Montana and selling their feathers and body parts on the black market.
The prosecution over golden and bald eagles killed on the Flathead Indian Reservation underscores the persistence of a thriving illegal trade in eagle feathers despite a law enforcement crackdown in the 2010s that netted dozens of criminal indictments across the U.S. West and Midwest.
A grand jury indictment last December quotes defendant Travis John Branson saying in a January 2021 text that he was going on a “killing spree” to obtain eagle tails. Branson and a second defendant, Simon Paul, killed approximately 3,600 birds, including eagles on the Flathead reservation and elsewhere, according to the indictment. Federal authorities have not disclosed how all the birds were killed, nor where else the killings happened.
Branson, of Cusick, Washington, sold an unidentified purchaser two sets of golden eagle tail feathers — highly prized among many Native American tribes — for $650 in March 2021, according to court documents.
Less than two weeks later, law enforcement stopped Branson on the reservation and found in his vehicle the feet and feathers of a golden eagle he had shot near Polson, Montana, according to filings that included a photo of the bird's severed feet with their massive talons. The bird's carcass had been “cleaned” by the second defendant, Simon Paul, and was found in a nearby field, prosecutors wrote.
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hasben
Resident Member
Posts: 1,023
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Post by hasben on Mar 20, 2024 12:23:15 GMT -8
the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Russia's
A resolution? As worthless as the paper it's recorded on. What a total waste of time and money for absolutely no reason other than to try to make themselves appear important.
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 20, 2024 20:20:22 GMT -8
the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Russia's A resolution? As worthless as the paper it's recorded on. What a total waste of time and money for absolutely no reason other than to try to make themselves appear important. And yet 9 Republicans chose to go on the record in favor of Russian kidnapping. |
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