August 30, 2016

MEANWHILE, in West Palm Beach...

I appreciate the local law enforcement showing the initiative to arrest Putin, but sadly it's the wrong one...




http://cbs12.com/news/local/vladimir-putin-arrested-at-publix
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/30/florida-man-vladimir-putin-arrested-on-trespassing-charges/

August 29, 2016

A Powerful Russian Weapon: The Spread of False Stories

STOCKHOLM — With a vigorous national debate underway on whether Sweden should enter a military partnership with NATO, officials in Stockholm suddenly encountered an unsettling problem: a flood of distorted and outright false information on social media, confusing public perceptions of the issue.

The claims were alarming: If Sweden, a non-NATO member, signed the deal, the alliance would stockpile secret nuclear weapons on Swedish soil; NATO could attack Russia from Sweden without government approval; NATO soldiers, immune from prosecution, could rape Swedish women without fear of criminal charges.

They were all false, but the disinformation had begun spilling into the traditional news media, and as the defense minister, Peter Hultqvist, traveled the country to promote the pact in speeches and town hall meetings, he was repeatedly grilled about the bogus stories.

“People were not used to it, and they got scared, asking what can be believed, what should be believed?” said Marinette Nyh Radebo, Mr. Hultqvist’s spokeswoman.

As often happens in such cases, Swedish officials were never able to pin down the source of the false reports. But they, numerous analysts and experts in American and European intelligence point to Russia as the prime suspect, noting that preventing NATO expansion is a centerpiece of the foreign policy of President Vladimir V. Putin, who invaded Georgia in 2008 largely to forestall that possibility.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/29/world/europe/russia-sweden-disinformation.html?_r=0

August 26, 2016

"Racists Anonymous" Meetings Held at N.C. Church

There’s Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous…and then there’s Racists Anonymous.

According to WCNC, a Concord, N.C. church has been holding Racists Anonymous meetings on a weekly basis for the past month and it’s been picking up new members.

“What Jesus said is, ‘come see,'” Reverend Nathan King of the Trinity United Church of Christ told the news station.

The pastor, apparently tired of the shootings and racial unrest, wanted to do more than just pray.

“It seemed like every week we were coming into worship and we were doing another prayer because someone had been killed in the street,” King said.

And so, Racists Anonymous came into being to “deal with the racism within ourselves and to eliminate the racism within ourselves,” as King puts it.

According to the news station, a sister church in California started holding the “Racists Anonymous” meetings and extended the invitation to 20 other congregations to join them in trying to make social change.

King’s church took them up on that invitation.

WCNC reports that each week about a dozen people from varying backgrounds come to the meetings. Most are reportedly members of the church, but recently some new attendees have been coming in from the neighboring community.

“It’s an anonymous meeting, so there’s safety in that,” King said.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/08/racist-anonymous-meetings-held-at-n-c-church/?utm_content=buffer0bb28&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

August 25, 2016

Iran Warns, Detains 450 Social-Media Users, Citing 'Immoral' Posts

Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it has summoned, detained, and warned some 450 administrators of social-media groups in recent weeks.

The announcement on August 23 was carried on a website affiliated with the IRGC's cyber arm, Gherdab, and said the unspecified number of detained people used social media like the messaging app Telegram, which is popular in Iran.

The announcement said those detained or summoned made posts that were considered "immoral." It said, without elaborating, that the IRGC only took action after "judicial procedures" were completed, and some people will face trial.

"These people were carrying out immoral activities, insulted religious beliefs, or had illegal activities in the field of fashion," said Gherdab.

In May, authorities announced an operation targeting modeling posts on Instagram. Several people were arrested for posting pictures of women without head coverings -- a crime in Iran.

The arrests are part of a larger cultural struggle in Iran between hard-liners and moderates over the country's future.

Despite restrictions, more than half of Iran's population of 80 million is online. Telegram alone has more than 20 million users.

http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-revolutionary-guard-arrests-warns-450-social-media-users-telegram-istagram-citing-immoral-posts/27942522.html

August 25, 2016

Stop me if you've heard this story before:

Black Indianapolis man shot by cops after calling police to report robbery

Few cases typify everything that is wrong with gun rights, police brutality and racial profiling like this one.

Early Tuesday in Indianapolis, an African-American woman was being carjacked in front of her home in her working class neighborhood. She ran back in the house, told her husband, who is also black, and they called the police to report the robbery. That seemed to be the right and safe thing to do.

As the police pulled up, the husband, who was later identified as 48-year-old Carl Williams, opened the garage to their home and was immediately shot in the gut by police.

They claim they believed he was the robber and that because he had a firearm of his own, he was shot in self-defense. Officials identified the officer who shot Williams as nine-year veteran cop Christopher Mills.

He, of course, was not the robber. In fact, police have yet to even say if they caught the robber. Since they dusted the car for fingerprints, it appears that the actual man committing a crime got away and the man who wanted to protect his wife and family was instead shot and currently fighting for his own life in the hospital.

"I think that's really crazy. What do we have, trigger-happy police officers out here now?" asked Angela Parrot, who lives in the neighborhood told the Indy Star.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-black-man-shot-cops-calling-report-robbery-article-1.2762748

August 23, 2016

FBI investigating Russian hack of New York Times reporters, others

Source: CNN

Hackers thought to be working for Russian intelligence have carried out a series of cyber breaches targeting reporters at the New York Times and other US news organizations, according to US officials briefed on the matter.

The intrusions, detected in recent months, are under investigation by the FBI and other US security agencies. Investigators so far believe that Russian intelligence is likely behind the attacks and that Russian hackers are targeting news organizations as part of a broader series of hacks that also have focused on Democratic Party organizations, the officials said.

The FBI declined to comment and a spokesperson for The New York Times would not confirm the attacks or the investigation.
"Like most news organizations we are vigilant about guarding against attempts to hack into our systems," said New York Times Co. spokeswoman Eileen Murphy. "There are a variety of approaches we take up to and including working with outside investigators and law enforcement. We won't comment on any specific attempt to gain unauthorized access to The Times."

The breaches targeting reporters and news organizations are part of an apparent surge in cyber attacks in the past year against entities beyond US government agencies.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/23/politics/russia-hack-new-york-times-fbi/index.html

---

Greenwald, Snowden and Assange were unavail- Yeah, yeah, you know the rest...

Seriously -- Greenwald, Assange and certain DUers here would be having rage orgasms if the U.S. was hacking foreign news orgs, so I heartily await their statements...

August 22, 2016

Voter registration help needed

Volunteering for local Dems, twice I've gone out in public places trying to register new voters, and twice I've gotten nothing but heatstroke for my efforts... Any ideas or suggestions?

August 19, 2016

10 words that sound rude but really, genuinely aren't

1. cock-a-bendy
2. titbow
3. panshit
4. bumfiddlery
5. bumbailiff
6. butt-shaft
7. sexangle
8. skiddy-cock
9. assapanick
10. fanny-blower

And my bonus favorite: Cummingtonite

August 18, 2016

Amnesty International releases their latest report on Syrian prisons (TRIGGER WARNING)

@Amnesty documents *absolute minimum* 17,723 people murdered in #Assad's custody: "anyone who could be perceived to be opposing the gov't".

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/08/harrowing-accounts-of-torture-inhuman-conditions-and-mass-deaths-in-syrias-prisons/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2016/08/syria-torture-prisons/


Choice excepts from the report, thanks to @KyleWOrton:


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https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde24/4508/2016/en/

August 16, 2016

MEANWHILE, in Sweden...

Tiny Insjön in central Sweden isn't known for pig mask-wearing couples shooting lasers at Pokémon hunters before having sex by a waterwheel. But that could be about to change.

It was Friday night in the village of 2,000 souls when two teenage siblings wandered out with their smartphones to play Pokémon Go. But instead of finding Pikachu or Squirtle they soon came face to face in the park with a couple who must have seemed scarcely more real.

The teenagers’ mother, who reported the incident to the police, told newspaper Dalarnas Tidningar:

“They wore rubber masks depicting pigs’ heads and they started screaming and waving a green laser.”

A laser beam hit one of the teens in the face and the children rushed back home, shaken but luckily unharmed. The masked shooters, who also wore T-shirts labeled ‘King’ and ‘Queen’, were next spotted by incredulous motorists as they had sex beside the hamlet’s waterwheel.

Traffic backed up on the highway as some drivers slowed down and others clambered out of their cars to behold the bizarre spectacle, one motorist told the paper. The police didn’t care so much about the traffic jam, she said, but officer Daniel Hagthorpe was concerned about the alleged laser attack and public sex.

http://www.thelocal.se/20160816/pig-mask-pair-enjoy-waterwheel-sex-after-pokmon-hunter-attack


Damn... Talk about kink...