World Politics

[Nodack]

Sir Rod Stewart turns down huge Saudi Arabia offer to 'shine a light' on injustices
The star rejected the lucrative deal over its discrimination against women, LGBTQ+ people and the brutal silencing of its critics
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity- ... n-31166159
“I’d like my choice not to go… to shine a light on the injustices there and ignite positive change.” A source close to the 78-year-old rocker said he has used his “moral compass in making the decision”. They added: “Rod was determined to do the right thing and couldn’t accept the offer, no matter how much money was on the table. Some things are more important.” Sir Rod previously told how he rejected £1million to play in Qatar.

[Nodack]

Missiles fired from Yemen toward US warship that responded to attack on commercial tanker.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/27/politics ... index.html

Two ballistic missiles were fired from Houthi rebel-controlled Yemen toward a US warship in the Gulf of Aden, after the US Navy responded to a distress call from a commercial tanker that had been seized by armed individuals, the US military said Sunday.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Monday that under international maritime norms and laws, when there is a distress signal, “all vessels in the vicinity, are required to come and help and support.” Though Ryder added that there were three Chinese Navy vessels in the vicinity that “did not respond.”

“Supposedly, those ships are there as part of a counter-piracy mission,” he said. “But they did not respond.”

The USS Mason, a guided-missile destroyer, and allied ships from a counter-piracy task force that operates in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia responded to the call for help and “demanded release of the vessel” upon arrival, Central Command said.

“Subsequently, five armed individuals debarked the ship and attempted to flee via their small boat,” said the statement posted on social media platform X.

“The Mason pursued the attackers resulting in their eventual surrender,” the statement added.

[Mori Chu]

An interesting ongoing story. In Guatemala they elected a liberal president, but the right-wing government is trying to block their inauguration a la January 6. They're even getting some support from some prominent US right-wing figures like Richard Grenell. As far as I know there's no plausible claim that the election result is incorrect or fraudulent; the liberal candidate clearly won. But the right-wingers nevertheless are trying to obstruct and keep power.

[Nodack]

Trump is a trend setter.

[In2ition]

Zelensky has greatly increased his worth too since he's been in office. What is that saying again?
“Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I'll show you a crook.”
― Harry Truman

These are the people that we are supposed to look up to?

[Nodack]

So what are you saying? The answer is to emulate Russia, Brazil and Hungary because their is no corruption there?

Edit:Not Brazil. Their Trump wannabe lost the election and claimed fraud everywhere and had his cult storm their capital. Apparently the people of Brazil didn’t like that and now Brazil’s Trump wannabe lives in Florida.

[In2ition]

Was it that hard to understand what I was saying? I honestly thought it was obvious.

There should be more statesmen in government leadership positions and less politicians. You shouldn't get insanely rich while you're in office. And these people are obviously crooks.

Is that easy enough to understand?

[Superbone]

Everybody in government is becoming rich and it stinks.

[Nodack]

And you cannot get elected anywhere without spending a lot of money first. That is a big fail for Democracy in the US.

[Nodack]

We talked about this before. Hackers F’ing with our infrastructure. I was told it was a big nothing burger. The FBI director doesn’t think it’s a big nothing burger.

FBI director warns that Chinese hackers are preparing to ‘wreak havoc’ on US critical infrastructure

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday warned that Chinese hackers are preparing to “wreak havoc and cause real-world harm” to the US.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/31/politics ... index.html
“China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities, if or when China decides the time has come to strike,” Wray told the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

[Cap]

We talked about this before. Hackers F’ing with our infrastructure. I was told it was a big nothing burger.

If you’re talking about the Cyber Av3ngers mischief, that was a big nothing burger. A serious coordinated effort by Chinese intelligence to attack our infrastructure is a very different animal.

[In2ition]

Because of course...they get permission for stuff they've been doing for years.

[Nodack]

I saw this article on Tucker Carlson being spotted in Moscow apparently trying to score an interview with Putin. Carlson is very popular in Russia for his positive coverage of Russia’s war against Ukraine. What caught my eye though was the meter at the bottom of the page which allows viewers to rate the bias of the article left right or center. I thought that was an interesting idea since trust in media is at an all time low. Actually trust in anything or anyone is at an all time low, especially with some. I rated the article right in the middle.


Tucker Carlson Being Spotted in Moscow Sparks Frenzied Speculation
https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson ... in-1866669

[Mori Chu]

I saw that about Tucker going to Moscow. I didn't post anything about it because IMO he's a free man who has every right to visit Moscow if he wants to. I don't want to assume there's anything nefarious about it. Plenty of people have visited Moscow / Russia over the years without any ill intent.

[Nodack]

What about the trust meter?

[In2ition]

Is there anything about the article that someone shouldn't trust?

[Nodack]

I found the article trustworthy. The point I was making was the fact that they put a meter at the bottom of the page for viewers to vote whether the article was biased or not. I haven’t seen that before and thought the idea was interesting.

[In2ition]

I don't think they should focus on this kind of thing. It happened in both the 2020 election and 2022 midterms where Dems said there were no problems, and if you say their was, you are downright dirty stinking election denier, insurrectionist and worse.

[Split T]

No one in the US had votes taken away

[In2ition]

No one in the US had votes taken away

We saw the same thing happen, people showing in real time, with videos of the count changing and flipping.
Here is a video of the votes changing during the broadcast on CNN.