Lurker > Humble_Novice

Slava Ukraini!

HolierThanMao posted...

ukraine will lose unless we get NATO boots on the ground

That sounds like loser talk. Have some faith in both Ukrainians and the West.

Russians need to realize that Ukrainians will never go down without a fight.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/400-current-events/80627435

Foppe posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d89ffd47.jpg
Russia had a military concert in the village of Kumachovo, less than 40 miles from the front lines.
The Russian artist Polina Menshikh was singing and playing the guitar when an Ukrainan missile hit, killing at least 25 and injuring at least 100.
Polina did not survive.

Oh. I see.

https://newrepublic.com/post/176934/giuliani-top-ukraine-allies-charged-putin-agents

https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/18122hr/ukraines_about_to_get_its_new_reverseslipe/

https://twitter.com/HimarsAtacms/status/1726559127756034443

That says a lot more about StarCraft 2 than the whole RTS genre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xx1VYm1n6Y

https://www.yahoo.com/news/moms-liberty-florida-teacher-schemed-094403246.html

The actions of the Southern Poverty Law Center-described anti-government extremist group Moms for Liberty and a Florida English teacher are attracting scrutiny after it was revealed that the teacher allegedly tricked a student into checking out a book that she felt was inappropriate for young people.

On October 25, two members of Moms for Liberty, Tom Gurski and Jennifer Tapley, accused Florida public school librarians of distributing pornography to minors, focusing their allegations on the young adult novel Storm and Fury. This novel, they claimed, was checked out by a 17-year-old student from Jay High School.

A teacher was apparently behind getting the student to go for the book in the first place.

Vicki Baggett, an English teacher in Escambia County, is described by Popular Information as being notorious for challenging books, especially those discussing racial discrimination or featuring LGBTQ+ characters. She was revealed to be the teacher who facilitated the books checkout.

The situation became more complicated when the students mother expressed anger in a news segment by Pensacolas ABC affiliate WEAR.

The students mother said, Im very angry because my daughter was used to doing somebody elses dirty work. She emphasized that her daughter had never read the book and was unwittingly used in this scheme without her or her mothers permission.

Baggetts actions extend beyond this single incident. She has been instrumental in having books she considers pornographic removed from Escambia County schools, leading to a federal lawsuit alleging constitutional violations. Moreover, she has been aggressively campaigning to have Santa Rosa County schools follow suit, engaging in frequent hostile interactions and direct coordination with members of Moms for Liberty.

Last week, a Popular Information video taken from a police officer's body cam shows what went down, highlighting the groups aggressive stance against any educational materials they find objectionable.

Jennifer Tapley, a member of the Santa Rosa County chapter of Moms for Liberty, called the Santa Rosa County Sheriffs Office, saying a crime was being done at a local school.

Ive got some evidence a crime was committed, she told authorities in the video when they arrived.

Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout is a young adult novel that contains some make-out scenes and some sexually-themed content within a fantastical context, according to Popular Information. Despite the objections raised by Moms for Liberty, the book has been endorsed by educational bodies. It's not pornographic.

Its just as serious as if I handed a Playboy to [my child] right now, Tapley told police in the video.

This controversy occurs in the backdrop of significant electoral developments. Last Tuesdays school board elections across the United States saw a sweeping rejection of candidates endorsed by Moms for Liberty. The losses in school board races, such as in Pennsylvanias Central Bucks, Pennridge School Districts, and Virginias Loudoun County, signify a shift towards more inclusive and equitable educational policies.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/400-current-events/80621106

Will TC come back to reiterate his support for Haley?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7O5gI88j80

NightingaleMD posted...

I'll bite. Why is Haley gross?

And it wasn't ~that~ long. The first debate was enough. I somehow completely missed his climate views.

Haley seems OK with abortion rights, or as okay as any republican can get. Hoping for a conservative government that stops prioritizing social issues (specifically religious-based views and restrictions), she seems like my best bet

Republican voters like you are the reason why life continues to suck for all of us.

Oopsy: https://www.rawstory.com/sidney-powell-2666256836/

https://apnews.com/article/inflation-prices-interest-rates-economy-federal-reserve-1f83d45fc6e30c6864d1b02913ec60c6

https://studyfinds.org/work-hours-heart-10-years-younger/

BOSTON Flexible working hours may reduce the risk of heart disease by up to 10 years compared to the traditional 9-5 routine, according to a new study. Researchers found that modifying office hours allowed some workers to lower their cardiovascular risk to a level typically seen among people five to 10 years younger than them.

Employees over 45 and those with a higher risk of heart disease experienced the most significant benefits from this shift in their work schedules, according to the experiment conducted by a team from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Penn State University. Other staff members also enjoyed a reduced risk of heart disease.

This study involved participants from an IT company employing high-tech workers participated in the study, along with a caregiving company employing low-wage caregivers. Supervisors received training to support their employees personal lives as well as their job performance. Employees attended training sessions with their superiors, focusing on enhancing staff control over their schedules and tasks.

The study illustrates how working conditions are important social determinants of health, says co-lead author Lisa Berkman, the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and of Epidemiology at the Harvard Chan School, in a media release.

When stressful workplace conditions and work-family conflict were mitigated, we saw a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease among more vulnerable employees, without any negative impact on their productivity. These findings could be particularly consequential for low- and middle-wage workers who traditionally have less control over their schedules and job demands and are subject to greater health inequities.

The research, published in the American Journal of Public Health, is one of the first to investigate the relationship between a patients professional life and heart disease. In the study, 555 high and moderately-paid male and female technical workers participated from the IT company. Another 973 predominantly female, low-wage caregivers from the long-term care company joined the experiment.

Random units from the two companies were selected to participate, while the rest continued with business as usual, serving as the control group.

Overall, researchers measured the health of the 1,528 participants at the studys commencement and again 12 months later, recording systolic blood pressure, BMI, glycated hemoglobin, smoking status, and cholesterol levels. They calculated each individuals cardiometabolic risk score (CRS), where a higher score indicates greater disease risk.

The researchers noted no significant overall impact on participants CRS due to workplace interventions. However, there was a noticeable reduction in CRS among those with a higher baseline risk of cardiovascular disease.

Participants who saw a reduction experienced a decrease in their CRS equivalent to becoming 5.5 to 10.3 years younger in health terms. Staff members over the age of 45 with a higher CRS saw the most significant improvements.

The intervention was designed to change the culture of the workplace over time with the intention of reducing conflict between employees work and personal lives and ultimately improving their health, concludes co-lead author Orfeu Buxton, professor of biobehavioral health and director of the Sleep, Health & Society Collaboratory at Penn State.

Now we know such changes can improve employee health and should be more broadly implemented.

https://newrepublic.com/post/176895/trump-idiot-lawyers-share-faulty-evidence-fraud-trial

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-police-department-policy-ban-officers-hate-extremist-groups/

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A new policy approved by the city's civilian police oversight agency will ban Chicago police officers from participating in hate and extremist groups.

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) unanimously approved the new policy on Monday. The Chicago Police Department now has 60 days to respond to the policy before it officially goes into effect.

CBS 2 has reported in the past on allegations of Chicago police officers participating in right-wing anti-government extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

CPD general orders already prohibit officers from "membership in or affiliation with criminal organizations and from association with known members of criminal organizations."

The change would widen the net to preclude members and participants in criminal groups from becoming members of CPD. It would add "biased" organizations to the list too.

Such "biased" groups would include any organization that "advocates for systematic illegal prejudice, oppression, or discrimination, including disparate treatment, against an individual or group on the basis of any protected class under federal, state, and local law, including race, color, sex, gender identity, age, religion, disability, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, military status, source of income, credit history, criminal record, or criminal history."

It would also include any group that "commits or advocates for acts of unlawful force or violence to deny others their rights under the Constitution of the United States or the State of Illinois, or to achieve goals that are political, religious, discriminatory, or ideological in nature" or "commits or advocates for acts of terrorism or others activities which seek to overthrow, destroy, or alter the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means."

The policy also reminds officers they are prohibited from using social media to post content "that is disparaging to a person or group based on race, color, sex, gender identity, age, religion, disability, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, military status, source of income, credit history, criminal record, criminal history, or any other protected class." That would include liking, following, sharing, or otherwise redistributing such content "with the intent to promote, support, or otherwise endorse a criminal or biased organization or its activities."

Cities like Washington, D.C., Dallas, and New York have similar policies on the books.

I feel for this woman, but she has to realize that having a pro-life stance can only bring more hardship and suffering for others.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/10/15/missouri-abortion-ban-pregnancy-complications/10496559002/

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. At 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 2, nearly 18 weeks into her pregnancy, Mylissa Farmer experienced what doctors call a preterm premature rupture of membranes her water broke before labor, followed by vaginal bleeding, abdominal pressure and cramping.

She went to Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Missouri, where she'd been just the day before. Everything had been normal then. She and her boyfriend, Matthew McNeill, had already picked out a name for their daughter: Maeve.

But the doctors had devastating news for them.

If Maeve was delivered right then, chances of survival at 17 weeks and 5 days were zero, according to the assessment and plan section of Farmer's medical records outlining the visit. And the outcome wasn't much better if they tried to hold off on delivery.

The doctors recommended terminating the pregnancy but 39 days after the state of Missouri banned abortions, that wasn't an option, at least not in Missouri.

A year ago, the hospital could have offered a chance for the couple to say goodbye and hold their daughter, even though they knew she wouldn't survive outside the womb.

Instead, Farmer and McNeill were left to make a series of trips across three states and countless phone calls.

The couple wanted to be able to grieve the loss of their daughter, not sit at home or in a hospital "with a baby dying inside me," Farmer said.

In the end, Farmer didn't just lose Maeve; she lost her friends and her trust that Missouri would allow medical professionals to do their jobs.

If her vitals plummeted or infection set in, or the fetus' cardiac activity stopped, the doctors could intervene, but not before then.

At 41, Farmer worried that, by the time there was an emergency, it would be too late for both her and Maeve. And even if Farmer did live through it, she worried about what her recovery would be like.

She was already at "risks of maternal thrombosis given her history of (deep vein thrombosis during a COVID-19 infection), infection/sepsis, severe blood loss, hysterotomy, hysterectomy and even mortality," according to the medical record.

Farmer returned to Freeman Hospital on Aug. 3, staying overnight for observation and looking up stories about water breaking early after a nurse mentioned that antibiotics might allow Farmer to carry to term without infection.

But reality came crashing down when more doctors came to advise them.

One newborn intensive care unit doctor "went over the whole baby being deformed because their bones are so soft, she would have permanent disabilities the rest of her life even if she made it," Farmer said. "But he said because my cervix was open, there was no chance for me to even make it 6 weeks."

"The thing he said was, 'There are things worse than death, and I have seen it.'"

Rather than stay at the hospital to wait for infection to set in, Farmer went home to wait, monitoring her temperature and her pain. On Aug. 4, she called her state senator, Bill White, and explained her situation to an aide.

He told her, "Thats not what the law was designed for. Its designed to protect the womans life."

"Its not protecting me. We have to wait for the heartbeat (to stop). Theres no chance for a baby; shes not going to make it. Its putting my life in danger," Farmer said she remembers telling him. "We just want to move on, we just want to grieve."

Farmer describes herself as "pretty pro-life" and Christian. She then did something she never thought she would do: Begin looking for abortion clinics.

Planned Parenthood in Kansas, she said, was overbooked. They couldn't find anyone in Illinois. It was looking like they would have to travel to Colorado.

After reaching out to a couple abortion services that help with finances and facilitating the procedure, one person contacted the Illinois HOPE Clinic for Farmer.

"It did my heart good to know I was doing the right thing," she said, as if her body was telling her that it was OK.

But still, the experience was harrowing. Protesters in front of the clinic echoed the things her friends had told her, "saying we were killing our baby and that we were evil."

"It was awful, you know? We were just going through so much. We didnt want this ... but at the same time, we had no choice," Farmer said.

The loss isn't limited to their child.

The friends who told her she was killing her child have since been cut out of her life.

"I either told them not to contact me or unfriended them, because we were getting judged harshly," Farmer said. "It was just more insult to injury that people are so uninformed and so unsympathetic."

Since their ordeal, Farmer has lost trust. While she still feels her obstetrician at Freeman Hospital in Joplin is a good doctor, she's worried about whether medical professionals in Missouri will be able to offer patients necessary care.

She's lost trust in the politicians who represent her, as well.

Despite reaching out to various legislators, she has yet to receive an answer that satisfies her: Why is this law written this way? If it's to protect women, why did she have to be in danger before she could get care in-state? Why is it such a binary law?

"The world is too nuanced to put such strict rules in place," Farmer said.

epik_fail1 posted...

The "impossible to trigger right winger" crowd everyone.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/2221360f.jpg

I'm going to borrow this image.

https://twitter.com/Ramez05/status/1724532845966967114
https://twitter.com/Vara_Dark/status/1724535184454795460
https://twitter.com/Y3T1_X/status/1724276573384134857

So basically, Univision is turning into the Latino version of Fox News?

Charlie Kirk.

https://twitter.com/CaitSloth/status/1722500630772855150

Oh my goodness, just when I thought pro-Trump cultists couldn't sink any lower...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqNDo4QXNqs

"By the power vested in me... you're all going to jail!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGVOvbZwCT8

I don't get what's so bad about this.

Gwynevere posted...

I've never seen a bigger concentration of "both sides bad, staying home in 2024" posts than I have there. The cognitive dissonance to put BLM, trans rights, whatever in your bio and then say "actually both sides are the same when you think about it" is off the charts

Jesus Christ

It's filled with lots of cynical leftists who've grown sick and tired of supporting Biden for personal reasons. Truth be told, they're not exactly the brightest bunch.

He is going to get a lot of hate from the restaurant industry.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/13/kyrsten-sinema-donors-democrats-00126676

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d0a41aaa.png

Democratic donors have fled Sen. Kyrsten Sinema since she left the party and she hasnt made up the loss with Republicans or independents.

That dynamic encapsulates the challenge the Arizona independent faces as she weighs whether to seek reelection: Sinema quit a party with which she was often at odds, and now she will have to build a base using only her personal brand.

The campaign finance data indicate it will be a daunting task.

A POLITICO analysis of her donors in recent cycles reveals her previous contributors are more loyal to the Democratic Party than they are to Sinema. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who launched a run for Sinemas seat in January, has raised two-and-a-half times as much from Sinemas 2018 major donors as Sinema herself has.

Gallego has supplanted Sinema as the de facto Democratic nominee in Arizonas Senate race and Democratic donors are responding.

The analysis demonstrates the degree to which Sinema placed herself on a political island with her dramatic departure from the Democratic Party. To win a second term, she would have to cobble together a patchwork of independents, Democrats and Republicans both to vote for her and fund her campaign.

Her fundraising is somewhat dried up, said Barrett Marson, a GOP operative in Arizona. There isnt an independent donor base as there is a Republican donor base and a Democratic donor base.

Sinema raised $4.6 million in the first nine months of 2023, less than half as much as Gallegos nearly $10 million haul. Though Sinema still has more than twice as much in the bank ($10.8 million) as Gallego, her fundraising is slowing, and much of that money was raised before she left the party. For comparison: In the first nine months of her 2018 run, which she launched in September 2017, Sinema raised $7.1 million.

But many of those 2018 donors who helped propel Sinema to the Senate do not seem eager to do so again.

Gallego raised $691,000 from Sinemas biggest 2018 donors, while Sinema herself raised only $277,000 from that same group, according to the POLITICO analysis of campaign finance data. And donors who backed Democratic Sen. Mark Kellys campaign in last years high-stakes Senate race in the state have also donated more to Gallego than to Sinema. The analysis includes all large-dollar donors those giving at least $200 through Sept. 30, the latest data available.

Of course, its early in the 2024 election cycle. Candidate fundraising often doesnt fully tick up until the election year, when donors are paying more attention. And Sinema has not decided if she will seek reelection, which stifles her ability to fundraise. (She has until the states April filing deadline.) But donors who give early represent the most engaged part of the electorate a base Sinema seems to have mostly lost.

The Senate Democrats campaign arm and other national Democrats have so far declined to weigh in for Gallego. But many rank-and-file party members have soured on Sinema after she helped stymie their major policy goals in Congress.

Trust me, it hasnt been forgotten, said Rep. Ral Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who has endorsed Gallego.

Sinema has burned through 45 percent of the roughly $4.6 million she raised this year despite not officially running a campaign, a significant off-year burn rate.

Gallego burned through more than $6 million, leaving $5 million in his campaign account thanks to leftover money from a previous campaign.

But while Gallego has been replenishing his coffers raking in money from Democratic donors, Sinema has struggled to pick up new ones. Gallego pulled in 2,900 of the large-dollar donors who helped propel Kelly to victory last year, but Sinema attracted only about 140. Meanwhile, shes nabbed just 19 from Kellys 2022 GOP opponent, Blake Masters.

One way Sinema could quickly make up the funding gap is by relying on super PACs that could boost her campaign with massive investment from just a handful of wealthy donors. No such group currently exists to support her, but her pro-business record could help entice corporate donors.

Both parties are wrestling with what a Sinema candidacy could mean.

She was a Democrat until last year and still caucuses with the party, making her a potential draw for Democrats who want to keep the Senate at all costs and worry that Gallego may be too progressive to win the state. But Republicans fear Sinema may ultimately hurt them more by attracting independents and moderate Republicans who wont go for Kari Lake, a TV-anchor-turned-MAGA darling who has refused to concede her loss in the 2022 governors race.

A Republican survey from late October that was presented last week to Senate GOP chiefs of staff showed that Lake led Gallego by less than 1 point, 37 percent to 36.5 percent, according to a person familiar with the poll. But thats assuming Sinema is in the race. According to the poll, she received 15.4 percent of the vote.

A two-way ballot with Sinema out found Gallego up 3 points over Lake, 46 percent to 43 percent. The Cygnal poll was of 600 likely general election voters and had a nearly 4 point margin of error.

That polling largely jibes with a survey the National Republican Senatorial Committee presented to GOP senators last week that showed Lake losing to Gallego by 4 points, within the margin of error, with Sinema pulling 17 percent of the vote. NRSC said Sinema was drawing more from Republicans than from her former party.

It wouldnt surprise me that she would draw more from the Republicans than Democrats, said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), describing Arizona as a center-right state. That math, he said, would worry me.

Sinema is clearly pulling from donors on both sides of the aisle, perhaps more so than most other Senate candidates. Of her donors this year, about 640 have a donation history on only ActBlue, Democrats online fundraising platform; nearly 200 have a history on WinRed, its GOP counterpart; and roughly 370 have donated on both platforms.

Sinema raised about $53,000 from donors who have also given to the super PAC arm of No Labels, according to the POLITICO analysis. And she shares eight donors with the Senate Leadership Fund, a Minority Leader Mitch McConnell-aligned super PAC that supports Senate GOP candidates.

GOP leaders have somewhat embraced Lakes candidacy, and party strategists feel she will be unbeatable in a primary because of her vice-like grip on the base. That opens a window for Sinema or Gallego to appeal to centrist Republicans in the mold of the late Sen. John McCain or former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake.

Lake memorably told McCain Republicans to get the hell out during her 2022 run. Shes since indicated she wants to make a play for voters who backed moderate Republicans or even President Joe Biden.

Can she also repair some of the relationships in a district like mine? said Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), who represents an affluent and well-educated swath of Maricopa County. They have their own issue sets that on occasion theyd like someone to speak to.

https://www.wcpo.com/news/government/elections-local/lone-republican-ousted-from-cincinnati-city-council

CINCINNATI Cincinnati's city council is now entirely full of Democrats.

Liz Keating, the lone Republican running for reelection, was ousted from her seat.

Anna Albi, the only non-incumbent running, has been elected.

The city council election comes as Cincinnati still tries to overcome the scandal and distrust caused by former council members P.G. Sittenfeld, Tamaya Dennard and Jeff Pastor, who were all arrested on charges related to bribery and corruption.

Oh...

pinky0926 posted...

* Complete lack of compelling candidates on the republican side, so it's trump or nothing

Political trends have shown that Trump scares off moderate voters who are very important in swing states.

* Biden is very old, frail and gives off a sense of impotence. Republicans hate him, fence sitters dislike him, democrats tolerate him. The entire thing feels very weak

And yet Biden's flaws didn't stop Democrats from overperforming in both 2022 and 2023.

* Complete lack of compelling candidates on the democrat side

"Compelling" candidates means the far-right will have an easier time demonizing them.

* Biden losing support over israel/palestine conflict

Most Americans care more about abortion and other liberties than what's going on outside of the country. Also, the leftists who are the most vocal towards Biden were never going to vote for him in the first place.

* Trumps' trials seem to be galvanising right wing support for him rather than hurting it

It's also worsening the far right's trust in the GOP establishment.

* Twitter takeover has created a total breeding ground for right wing propaganda

And yet the far right continues to fail important elections while their opponents are constantly reminded to vote blue no matter what.

It's gonna be another 4 years and the pettiest man on earth will have total power to be as petty as possible. I am not hopeful.

You're free to go doom and gloom if he actually wins. At this point, I really don't see a criminal like him being able to win when Democratic voters know what's at stake.

What has he done to deserve such vitriol? It's not like he pulled a Wendee Lee or something to that effect.

Just because Hunter Schafer wants the role doesn't necessarily mean she'll get it.

True, but the only form of therapy that should NEVER be accepted no matter what is conversion therapy.

We are going to have to arm ourselves for protection if push comes to shove.

TC is the definition of selfish, spoiled, and entitled. I sincerely hope never to live right next to them.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/ronna-mcdaniel-gop-can-win-abortion-1234876160/

That's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off.

Remember this article?

https://hard-drive.net/hd/video-games/fandom-ceo-frustrated-its-impossible-to-lay-off-unpaid-users-who-update-wikias-for-fun/

I sincerely hope this is some kind of ploy to make the GOP waste more money on a red state like Florida because Democrats have little chance winning there now.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/elon-musk-told-spacex-workers-181406484.html

SpaceX employees have accused Elon Musk, the rocket company's founder, of being fast and loose when it comes to safety measures.

Four SpaceX workers told Reuters that Musk discouraged employees from wearing yellow-colored clothes for safety purposes because he does not like bright colors.

The employees also told the news outlet that Musk would play around with a novelty flamethrower during visits that the billionaire made to SpaceX sites.

Three former SpaceX supervisors told Reuters that Musk would have machinery painted in industrial safety yellow repainted to black or blue because of he didn't like how it looked. The ex-supervisors also said that some workers were told not to wear yellow safety vests when Musk was on site.

The investigation by Reuters found that SpaceX has had at least 600 previously unreported worker injuries since 2014, including eight accidents that led to amputations.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider on Friday.

Reuters' report comes after some SpaceX employees wrote an open letter last year criticizing Musk's behavior as a "source of distraction and embarrassment."

Musk has been known to run his companies with a high level of intensity, sometimes calling for work sprints and even sleeping on the factory floor at Tesla.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/book-banning-moms-liberty-just-160958819.html

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pope-forcibly-removes-leading-us-113624334.html

Uh oh, the far right is now going to accuse the Pope of being woke.

People still believe in polls?