USCE 2024: Macklemore Is The New Michael Moore

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USCE 2024: Macklemore Is The New Michael Moore

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Discendo Vox posted:

Arizona Company and CEO Sentenced for Illegal Distribution of Tianeptine and Other Drugs and Ordered to Forfeit $2.4 Million

He's posting through it. No, I don't get why they are forfeiting so much less than they've made.

I used to read about nootropics on reddit and that account was very prominent in advertising products and giving advice on what people should consume and how. I read the worst stories about phenibut there; it is supposed to be terribly addictive in the same manner as benzodiazepines and alcohol.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2024 18:16

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 18:44

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Staluigi posted:

Meanwhile trump doesn't even know what day it is and rambles about magnets, gotta love America stuff

He was criticizing the electromagnetic aircraft launch system on board an aircraft carrier, as he has done so for years. The system is indeed unreliable, and maybe it really would short out and stop working if it got wet.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2024 20:06

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Raenir Salazar posted:

Isn't there no evidence for this?

Which part?

# ¿ Feb 10, 2024 20:10

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Raenir Salazar posted:

You seem to be implying Trump was correct in his criticisms, but of the reports I can find at a glance seem to say that the system is generally working fine, it may not be meeting certain reliability standards but it doesn't seem to be infringing on the Navy's capability, so if this is your meaning I could be wrong I don't think the reality matches Trump's opinion here.

I got my information from this recent article:
Trump's weird rant about magnets recalls Insane Clown Posse meme

www.businessinsider.com posted:

"They want to use magnets to lift up the elevators," Trump said in a July 2021 interview with a Princeton professor. "I said magnets will not work. Give me a cup of water, throw it on the magnets, you totally short out the system. They said, 'How did you know that?' I said, 'Because I know that.'"

It's unclear where Trump might have got the idea that magnets don't work underwater, but it is a common myth that results in numerous debunking articles after a simple Google search.

To his credit, however, Trump was right that the electromagnetic catapults on the aircraft carrier would be unreliable.

An oversight report released in 2019 by the Defense Department's operational test office showed that the catapult system repeatedly failed to launch and land an aircraft. In 2020, Navy officials said they were unsure what was causing the system to malfunction. And the Pentagon still appears to be working out its kinks, The Maritime Executive reported in February.

It sounds like it's not very reliable.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2024 20:56

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Before getting lost in the weeds about the relative merits of magnetic vs. kinetic aircraft launch systems, the more relevant thing is that magnets do not stop working under water and that "taking any magnet and dropping a glass of water on it" is not an experiment you can do at home to prove that water breaks magnets.

Even being extremely generous to Trump and assuming he was talking specifically about electromagnets and not regular magnets at home... electromagnets still work under water because magnetic fields are not the same thing as electric currents.

I am inclined to believe he is using a theatrical manner in pointing things out, and the point he is trying to make isn't the literal one. I have family members, also narcissists, who have always done this. I guess it's a little too subtle for some folks to appreciate, but I don't think Trump's statements on magnets come from a deteriorating state of mind.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2024 21:11

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Xiahou Dun posted:

Then what does he mean by saying that water stops magnets from working?

As I already mentioned, it has to be evaluated in the context of his umbrage vis-a-vis the well-known reliability issues for a system that is operating on water.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2024 21:18

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Xiahou Dun posted:

Sure but no matter how theatrical his delivery, that particular phrase is supposed to convey meaning and I�m asking you what it is. Seeing as you are volunteering yourself as someone who speaks narcissist, this seems like an obvious follow-up question.

I don't know! It's pretty clear to me that it's the kind of stuff that, as Leon points out, he has always done. The issue was brought up by someone whatabouting about the former president with the implication (in the context of the discussion in the thread) that it is Trump who is having cognitive issues due to advancing age:

Staluigi posted:

Meanwhile trump doesn't even know what day it is and rambles about magnets, gotta love America stuff

# ¿ Feb 10, 2024 21:30

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

are you disputing that Trump does in fact have massive cognitive deficits? Because if you are I have some hydroxychloroquine to sell you

Could you please read these last few words again? Thank you

quote:

cognitive issues due to advancing age

# ¿ Feb 10, 2024 21:38

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Angry_Ed posted:

Or we could evaluate it based on other, similar statements he's made vis-a-vis technology such as:
1. Clean Coal exists
2. The F-35 is literally invisible.

OK. Do you think when he said those it was due to age-related cognitive impairment?

# ¿ Feb 10, 2024 21:54

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Angry_Ed posted:

That's immaterial to the point you're making that "magnets get wet = magnetic catapult stop working = trump is somehow correct"

It's not immaterial because the reason for this fork in the discussion is that someone introduced it as a whataboutism in the context of a discussion on age-related cognitive impairment, but you can't seem to see any further than this straw man "point" you have built up in your head.

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

# ¿ Feb 10, 2024 22:06

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

New paper today on this topic
Sexualized culture on livestreaming platforms: a content analysis of Twitch.tv

Anciones-Anguita, K., Checa-Romero, M. Sexualized culture on livestreaming platforms: a content analysis of Twitch.tv. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11, 257 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02724-z posted:

The Twitch.tv livestreaming platform, with 3 million daily viewers internationally, has become a space for online digital culture and entertainment. Given the current concern regarding the exposure of sexualized content on social networks and its consequences for adolescence, the objective of this study is to analyze, from a gender perspective, whether women become more sexualized than men during their livestreams. Using a content-analysis design, an ad-hoc scale was developed to analyze the frequency and intensity of sexualization based on context variables and streamers� behavior such as clothing, posture, or evocation of a sexual act, among others. After analysis of the livestreams (n = 1920), our scale made it possible to distinguish three levels of intensity: non-sexualized, sexualized, or hypersexualized. Statistically significant evidences was found in the level of sexualization between men and women in different categories of livestreaming. The results show that women are self-sexualized more and in greater intensity than men; there are also differences in the behavior and context of their livestreams. The sexualized representation of women in the media shapes gender attitudes, dehumanizes women, and legitimizes violence against them, and so it is essential to understand the role of media platforms in self-sexualization and the consequences to show women as sexual objects, principally for young people.
�
In the first descriptive analysis, and with the objective of contrasting H1, we analyze the frequency and intensity with which streamers sexualize according to gender. In terms of frequency, there is a higher percentage of men (61.2%) than women (38.8%) livestreaming (Fig. 1 and Table 5). However, these differences are exacerbated depending on the category in which the livestream is located. Thus, categories such as Just Chatting or Games have a higher frequency of male streamers (86.75% and 92.10% respectively), while in the categories of ASMR and Pools, Hot Tubs & Beaches, there is a higher representation of female streamers (98.75% and 97.19%, respectively), demonstrating a clear division by sex.

Regarding the intensity of sexualization, 87.4% of streamers grouped within the non-sexualized level are male, while 97.2% and 99.7% of the remaining two levels of cognitive subjectification, sexualization and hypersexualization, respectively, are composed of females.

The individual results for the intensity of sexualization for each of the livestreams indicate that there are descriptive differences within the female sex (n = 745). While the Games and Just Chatting categories place the intensity of sexualization at a low or non-sexualized level, the ASMR and Pools, Hot Tubs & Beaches categories have the highest amount of hypersexualized and sexualized livestreams. Women, who make up the vast majority of these categories, are more sexualized in general, reaching high levels of sexualization or hypersexualization in approximately half of the livestreams.

Meanwhile, no men are hypersexualized in the categories of Games, Just Chatting, and ASMR, and only one man is hypersexualized in the category of Pools, Hot Tubs, & Beaches. The same is true for medium intensity, in which only 10 men out of the entire sample (n = 1174) are sexualized. In addition to showing different results for each category in relation to the different levels of sexualization, it is observed that women (n = 745) are not only found mostly in the less popular and, therefore, less visited categories, but also that these categories show the highest percentages of sexualization and hypersexualization.
�

# ¿ Feb 13, 2024 06:11

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Kchama posted:

Every single president in the past 30 years has been the most historically unpopular president than the last. They declared this about Trump, about Obama, about Bush, about HW Bush (Okay, so one escaped the curse). But the thing is, Obama and Bush won reelection. Obama�s wasn�t even close. I�ll be scared if Biden is still under 40% in September, but until then he�s nowhere near the historically unpopular president.

Those goalposts look pretty heavy. Need help?

# ¿ Feb 13, 2024 17:48

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

zoux posted:

You got both sides (>_>) saying it's something so it's probably not the Fentanyl MS-13 Spec Ops Zetas coming to perform illegal abortions in south Texas

https://twitter.com/alexbward/status/1757824018000888047

Last time there was an "it," it became "Ginger," and then it killed its inventor. It was not supposed to be destabilizing.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2024 19:52

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

haveblue posted:

Ukraine did recently claim that Russian forces had access to Starlink. That doesn't necessarily mean SpaceX knowingly sold it to them for that purpose. Starlink terminals are just specialized telecom devices and could easily be stolen or bought under false pretenses. SpaceX is probably smart enough not to intentionally violate sanctions even if Musk personally may not be

FWIW they have tried to use sanctions enforcement against their rivals. Not sure they wouldn't intentionally violate sanctions though, they are pretty cavalier about following rules and regulations.
Flip-Flopping in Russia Sanctions Blocked Entity Guidance?

ofaclawyer.net - Tue, 17 Jun 2014 posted:

Originally Published May 27, 2014.

An interesting Russia sanctions revelation was made in the most recent chapter of the SpaceX bid protest lawsuit against United Launch Alliance (ULA).� The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) appears to have backtracked on its own�blocked entity guidance�in an�opinion letter�penned by the Chief Counsel (Foreign Assets Control).

The Chief Counsel states that unless and until some �affirmative determination� by the Treasury that an entity is �owned or controlled� by a blocked person no blocking of that entity is required by law.[1]� In contrast, OFAC�s written guidance states that �[t]he property and interests in property of [an entity owned by a blocked person] are blocked regardless of whether the entity itself is listed in the annex to an Executive order or otherwise placed on . . . [the SDN List].�[2]

That opinion letter was submitted to Judge Braden of the United States Court of Federal Claims as part of the Government�s motion to dissolve a preliminary injunction prohibiting ULA from buying rockets made by a Russian state-controlled entity thought to be controlled by a person listed in the Annex of�Exec. Order 13661.� This situation arose because SpaceX utilized the often broad (and also vague) language found in OFAC�s regulations, orders, and opinions to privately enforce U.S. economic sanctions against its competitor in a bid for a valuable U.S. Air Force contract.

At issue were ULA�s Atlas 5 rockets, which use engines purchased from a Russian state-controlled company called NPO Energomash.� SpaceX was able to convince the court to issue a preliminary injunction on April 30, 2014 prohibiting the U.S. Air Force and ULA from �making any purchases from . . . NPO Energomash . . . unless and until the court received the opinion of the . . . Treasury that any such purchases or payments will not directly or indirectly contravene Executive� Order 13661.�[3]

Exec. Order 13661�blocked the property of additional persons contributing to the situation in Ukraine. �The annex to this order lists Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, the official in charge of Russia�s space effort. �NPO Energomash, however, was not specifically targeted by the order. �Nevertheless, SpaceX questioned whether the proposed engine purchases would violate economic sanctions levied against Rogozin.

The position taken by SpaceX was not unreasonable.�When OFAC rolled out its webpage for Ukraine-related sanctions it posted guidance entitled �Guidance on Entities Owned by Persons Whose Property and Interests in Property are Blocked.� �In that guidance OFAC broadly states that the property and interests in property of an entity is blocked if that entity is at least 50% owned by a blocked person. �Such an entity is blocked �regardless of whether the entity itself is [listed].�[4]� In accordance with this guidance, the fact that�NPO Energomash is not explicitly listed does not, in and of itself, mean that U.S. persons are authorized to transact with it.

Further confusing the issue is OFAC�s vague guidance that in �certain OFAC sanctions programs (e.g., Cuba and Sudan) there is a broader category of entities whose property and interests in property are blocked based on, for example, ownership�or control.�[5]��However, the guidance fails to specify whether this broader category of unlisted blocked entities applies to the Ukraine-related sanctions program. �At this point SpaceX could have reasonably believed that U.S. persons are prohibited from transacting with NPO Energomash for being either�owned�or�controlled�by Rogozin.
�

# ¿ Feb 14, 2024 20:21

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Dapper_Swindler posted:

wow, hur is a loving hack if thats true and honestly it wouldnt shock me if hur lied about more.

What part of the article are you responding to? It sounds like Biden just blew up at Hur, who was trying to do his job, and lied about it.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2024 17:21

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

zoux posted:

https://twitter.com/DylanByers/status/1758160387206443456

Maybe I have dementia because the entire press is pretending like they haven't been on Biden's age since 2020.

The author is specifically talking about the White House press corps and claims members of it have told him they did avoid raising the issue. I have read many of the transcripts of White House press conferences over the years and I don't recall very much of it, but my memory may be faulty. If you want to confirm you could search relevant terms with site:whitehouse.gov inurl:press.

Here is the article text:

quote:

Swift fly the years, and it�s hard to believe it�s been almost two turns of the calendar since David Axelrod earned the ire of the president, the White House, and the Democratic establishment by warning, in the pages of The New York Times, that Joe Biden�s age would be a liability in 2024. In a June 2022 interview with the paper, the famed chief strategist of Obama�s victorious presidential campaigns made the rather obvious point that �the presidency is a monstrously taxing job,� and the very rational observation that Biden, �who looks his age and isn�t as agile in front of a camera as he once was,� would be �closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue.� For his sins, White House surrogates chastised Axelrod while Biden privately called him �a prick.�

Last Thursday, after Robert Hur�s report clearing Biden of wrongdoing in the classified materials investigation was subsumed by his commentary on the president�s acuity, I texted a producer at CNN to gauge their coverage plans for the evening. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Axelrod had been booked for the majority of primetime. Of course, his attempts to underscore the political significance of the report, which he described as �a shiv� into Biden�s reelection campaign, contended with the president�s loyalists, who sought to direct attention elsewhere. These pals, true believers, and surrogates criticized Hur�a Republican with an agenda!�for cosplaying as a neurologist and reiterated the familiar Trump-inflected whataboutism�juxtaposing Biden with another elderly, misremembering man who also happens to be an aspiring fascist facing 91 felony charges. These arguments were even more audible over on MSNBC.

And so it went in subsequent days. Biden advisers and surrogates also tended to utilize another familiar, imperfect argument: Behind closed doors, where it matters, the president is sharp, detail-oriented, on top of it, and in full control of his faculties, they insist. This talking point has become an exhausting refrain: I heard it Sunday on Meet the Press from Biden senior adviser Mitch Landrieu (�This guy is tough, he�s smart, he�s on his game�) and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (�He is sharp, intensely probing, and detail-oriented and focused�). And I heard it again over breakfast on Monday morning from a source very close to Biden.

And while this depiction of Biden may be true, it�s an impossible argument to win because it inherently contradicts what many Americans just watched, themselves. As Jon Stewart astutely pointed out in his return to The Daily Show on Monday, why can�t the White House put that sharp, focused, and on-top-of-it version of Biden on camera? Of late, the White House has avoided every opportunity to do so, even opting out of the traditional Super Bowl pregame interview.

I�m not here to validate a cable news disagreement. Of course, both arguments are flawed. The presidency is an office, and Biden is surrounded by brilliant and capable people who help guide his decision-making and have led the country out of Covid, aligned NATO against Russia, passed historic infrastructure, manufacturing, gun-safety, and inflation-reduction legislation, and facilitated economic growth of 3.3 percent in the most recent quarter. And yet, this isn�t�or shouldn�t be�a binary issue. Just because Biden defeated Trump in a once-in-a-lifetime election, which featured mail-in voting during a pandemic, doesn�t mean he alone can defeat him now. The Republican Party establishment seemed to do everything in its power to line up contenders as alternatives to Trump. The Democratic machine is openly hostile to any contemplation of another option and, as the Axelrod affair demonstrates, gets seriously pissed at anyone with the temerity to break rank.

That all now appears to be shifting. For better or worse, it is now open season on the question of Biden�s age. And that is largely because, as Axelrod himself pointed out, �the most damaging things in politics are the things that confirm people�s pre-existing suspicions.� Only in this case, it�s not so much a suspicion as a perceptible and audible fact. The president obviously looks and sounds like he�s lost a step�understandably so!�and neither the gratuity of Hur�s report nor the myriad threats posed by a second Trump presidency can negate it. And this all has a number of journalists covering the president second-guessing some of their reporting decisions and looking at their subject with fresh eyes.

Behind Closed Doors

This week, I surveyed members of the White House press corps�reporters, on-air correspondents, photographers, etcetera�and they all emphasized that the symptoms of Biden�s age had become more noticeable in recent months and a frequent discussion topic at the desks behind the Brady briefing room. �Anyone who covers this White House knows he�s showing the signs of his age�he whispers, he shuffles, he misremembers,� one White House reporter told me. �Anyone with an elderly parent knows what this is.�
Since the beginning of Biden�s term, many White House journalists have reported on, or alluded to, concerns surrounding Biden�s age in often gentle or euphemistic ways. Nevertheless, several of the journalists I spoke with said the true significance and importance of that issue, as they observed it, was not reflected in the coverage�often due to the sense that it was sensitive or unseemly, or because there was no obvious evidence that it had affected his performance as president beyond optics. Or, left unsaid, perhaps because they didn�t want to ruin their relationship with the White House by being the lone wolf to speak up.�It was something that felt indelicate to talk about,� one member of the White House press corps told me. In retrospect, some journalists felt like it probably warranted more coverage: �The amount of time we spent talking about it versus the time we spent reporting on it was not the same,� one of the reporters said. �There should have been tougher, more scrutinizing coverage of his age earlier.�

The Hur report has obviously given the press corps greater license to cover the issue�in the same way, one journalist noted, that the Monica Lewinsky scandal gave the White House press corps greater license to talk about the flirtatious behavior they�d witnessed Bill Clinton exhibiting toward some women, but never felt like they had the freedom to write about in their pages. And, as one reporter noted, the problem with the age issue is that it only moves in one direction: �It�s not just the next nine months,� this reporter said. �It�s potentially the next five years.�

Whatever the case, Biden�s age is now a thing, an enduring thing, a challenge for the administration and campaign, and a test for news organizations trying to be honest brokers without losing sight of the fact that, yes, Trump�s myriad things�the criminal charges, the demagoguery, the disregard for the electoral process, and his own age-related verbal peculiarities�are national risks of a whole other magnitude. Still, as Stewart noted on The Daily Show, �The stakes of this election don�t make Donald Trump�s opponent less subject to scrutiny; it actually makes him more subject to scrutiny.�

Stewart explained his logic with a rather amusing Conan the Barbarian analogy, but it effectively amounts to this: If you�re among those who support Biden and believe that Trump presents an existential threat to American democracy, you should be even more concerned about the vigor of the one man who stands between him and the White House. At the very least, you certainly shouldn�t be pretending like the conversation is unwarranted. Time does fly, and it�ll be November before you know it.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2024 19:12

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

DaveWoo posted:

So, do the press have the same concerns about coverage of Trump's agility and mental acuity, or is this one of those "we only hold Democrats to this standard" kind of deals?

What reason would the White House press corps, which the article is about, have for covering the former president? You read the article, correct?

# ¿ Feb 15, 2024 19:59

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

zoux posted:

Let's check the pages of the paper of record

https://twitter.com/SER1897/status/1756441569190989897

I see.

I think that is a bit tongue in cheek and is actually meant to make fun of Trump.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2024 20:09

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

DaveWoo posted:

Oh come on.

It is the New York Times, isn't it? I don't think they're that well known for lauding Donald Trump. For the first 100 days, at least, their coverage was overwhelmingly negative, according to a 2017 report from Harvard Kennedy School�s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy:

It could be that coverage shifted later. Do you know of any newer studies covering the latter part of his administration that show the New York Times changed its tone?

# ¿ Feb 15, 2024 20:19

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Main Paineframe posted:

Sorry, but unfortunately it's 100% serious:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/10/us/politics/biden-trump-aging.html

It sounds like the article is attributing the physical difference to cosmetics. I don't know why you didn't bold this part, too:

quote:

Mr. Trump has also faced questions about his health and fitness for office. He is prone to long, incoherent remarks and slip-ups. He has suggested that he defeated Barack Obama, not Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 presidential election, and has warned that the country is on the verge of World War II. In office, he was seen walking haltingly down a ramp and struggling to hold a water glass.

If someone wrote an article pointing this out about you while calling you fat and done up with makeup and hair dye, would you find it laudatory?

# ¿ Feb 15, 2024 20:25

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Lemming posted:

Everyone was negative after he was elected. But just like 2016, this is the election year, when they were all much more positive to enforce the horse race

The coverage encompassed in the chart is from 2017, which was not an election year.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2024 20:37

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Lemming posted:

That's why I said everyone was negative after he was elected. It's not a good comparison to today. A better comparison would be if it was 2016, which was an election year. I'm saying I think it would show they downplayed the trump criticisms like they're doing now

Ah, got it, thanks.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2024 20:41

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Shut up and JAM! posted:

I'm appalled anyone could willingly be part of a fascist machine that denies some of the most vulnerable parts of society their unalienable human rights to healthcare and try to justify it by casually condemning it as "poo poo sucks" all while drawing a paycheck while people are, by their own words, 100% dying.

If you're condemning OP's job, I think there are a lot of jobs where you might end up explaining those things to people without being part of the for-profit healthcare system.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2024 07:57

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Shut up and JAM! posted:

Having fellow travelers does not absolve an individual of their complicity.

IDK what op does but I hope they are not one of the social workers who are fellow travelers with Rick Scott.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2024 09:10

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Civilized Fishbot posted:

You think she just fell out of s coconut tree? She exists in the context of all in which she lives and what came before her.

Speaking of which, I was wondering... does anyone here know what the bolded part means?

Remarks by Vice President Harris at the Munich Security Conference | Munich, Germany | The White House

www.whitehouse.gov - Fri, 16 Feb 2024 posted:

Hotel Bayerischer Hof
Munich, Germany

2:38 P.M. CEST
�
AMBASSADOR HEUSGEN: Thank you. Thank you very much. Last question.

After Munich last year, you remember, we discussed about the Global South and how important it is. You actually traveled to Ghana, to � and we just had the president here, too � Tanzania and Zambia. What was your impression? There seems to be a growing transactional mindset. How do we react to this? How can we � the U.S. and Europe � win them over?

VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: Well, I�m going to challenge the premise of your question. That for � on behalf of the United States, I will tell you that I believe that we must think differently about the relationship between the United States and the continent of Africa. And I�m frankly very excited about what is happening on the continent and my trip being further reinforcement of that point.

We look at the � the future of the continent and how it will affect the future of the world: It is indisputable, there will be a direct impact.

The median age on the continent of Africa is 19. By 2050, it is estimated that one in four people occupying place on Mother Earth will be on the continent of Africa.

So, when we think of it in terms of the future, we must see the innovation that is currently happening there and partner with African leaders and nations and change the way we are thinking in a way that it is not about aid, but about partnership; not what we do for the continent, but what we do with the continent and its leaders.

When I was there, I was in � at Ghana, for example, meeting with a number of business leaders � leaders in the clean energy economy. Afrobeats and what culture of Africa is doing to impact the world in terms of how it thinks about the arts is profound. So, the future has to be about partnership and investment.

To your point about tran- � the transactional issue, certainly, when I was there, the press asked me almost every day: Are you here because of China? And my answer was, �No, we are here because of the Afri- � the people on the Af- � continent of Africa and what the partnership will mean.�

And let�s not forget ever the interconnected history between the United States and Africa and what that means in terms of how we should think about the relationship and how we should think about our commitment to the African nations.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2024 23:41

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Uncle Boogeyman posted:

Did Biden oppose moving the embassy to Jerusalem? It doesn't seem like it from what I've been able to find but maybe I'm wrong.

Not in 2020, but he was opposed moving it back
Biden says he'll keep US embassy in Jerusalem if elected

www.france24.com - Thu, 30 Apr 2020 posted:

Democratic presidential hopeful Joe�Biden�said Wednesday that he would keep the US embassy in Israel in Jerusalem if elected -- even though he disagrees with Donald Trump's controversial 2017 decision to move it out of Tel Aviv.

The former vice president said the embassy should never have been moved without that decision being part of a wider Middle East peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

"But now that it's done, I would not move the embassy back to Tel Aviv,"�Biden�told a virtual fundraising event.

# ¿ Feb 20, 2024 23:16

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Additionally, Biden voted "yeah" on the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act. This was the act that was supposed to move the embassy in 1999 but it was deferred by all presidents until Trump (thereby implementing what Biden voted for)

mawarannahr fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Feb 20, 2024

# ¿ Feb 20, 2024 23:18

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Madkal posted:

There were claims from less then reputable sources days after 7th October that said soldiers opened fire on people but those claims have been debunked but still get repeated.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/oct/13/instagram-posts/reports-of-260-deaths-at-israeli-music-fest-are-no/

I don't see the debunking of the claim "that said soldiers opened fire on people" there.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2024 03:11

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Dapper_Swindler posted:

yeah, most of CNN is about biden and nalvaney aftermath and sanctions. a couple on the IVF stuff. some on gaza, mostly random stuff because friday.

No Navalny in the first 10,000 pixels.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 18:15

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

I feel like the cnn international edition homepage used to be markedly better and less tabloid-y than the US one, but it seems about the same now in that regard :rip:

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 18:26

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Shoutout to https://lite.cnn.com

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 18:40

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

socialsecurity posted:

The dog thing is such a weird aspect of his presidency, like is it an intentional distraction, huge needlessly forced error, weird plot by the secret service? It's just such a dumb thing I can't help but think there is more to it, when there probably isn't.

A really busy guy is probably not the best person to be the owner of a type of dog that requires a lot of attention, and the SS are not dog whisperers.

Personally, I think it indicates poor judgment and selfishness that he would adopt a new dog while serving as president.

mawarannahr fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Feb 23, 2024

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 20:06

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Main Paineframe posted:

The dog thing is entirely inconsequential and not part of anyone's political schemes except for bored reporters and right-wingers desperate to find something, anything to criticize about Biden that doesn't sound completely insane.

I do not think all criticism of Biden necessarily sounds completely insane and it's bizarre to say so.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 20:38

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Depends on what breed of dog. The concept of dog years isn't really sound because different breeds have vastly different life spans.

My wife and I have been fostering elderly, sick, and behaviorally difficult dogs for 11 years and I could not disagree more. The amount of behavioral euthanasia among shelter dogs is shocking and depressing. My wife and I are technically fostering these dogs, but almost all of them end up with us for the rest of their lives because nobody wants a dog over 6 years old or one that was surrendered for "behavioral reasons."

If you can afford it and you aren't going to abuse it, then you should adopt a dog. Don't buy from a breeder and be sure to check out senior dogs and dogs with "behavioral" or "health" issues. Sometimes, it is as simple as just giving them medicine and going to the vet once every 6 months, but that "health issue" stigma drives people away and those dogs end up euthanized. It's a huge bummer.

Commander is a purebred that was given to Biden as a gift by his brother (dick move imo). Not sure why they wouldn't do the same as they did for Major.

Bidens add to their family with new first puppy

www.cnn.com - Mon, 20 Dec 2021 posted:

�After consulting with dog trainers, animal behaviorists, and veterinarians, the first family has decided to follow the experts� collective recommendation that it would be safest for Major to live in a quieter environment with family friends,� LaRosa said, noting the decision to move Major was not a reaction to a specific incident, but comes on the heels of �several months of deliberation� by the Biden family and �discussions with experts.�

If you can afford the money but you can't afford the time, can you really afford it? Then you end up with the behavioral issues that you mention.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 20:47

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Other Presidents have had dogs and they lived perfectly fine lives even if the President wasn't the one feeding them or walking them all the time.

It might be a bad place to raise a dog in general... tense environment
Sunny Obama bit a White House guest's face (2017)

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 20:59

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Nissin Cup Nudist posted:

Did Florida just ban these forums

Are under 16 allowed on the forums?

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 21:05

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

There is some new information about the attack that is hitting pharmacy infrastructure.
Exclusive: Cyberattack on Change Healthcare was an exploit of the ConnectWise flaw

www.scmagazine.com - Fri, 23 Feb 2024 posted:

Security experts have warned for the past couple of days that the two flaws recently uncovered in ConnectWise�s ScreenConnect app could become the major cybersecurity story of 2024 � and that the healthcare and critical infrastructure sectors were especially vulnerable.

Today, we�re inching closer to that reality as SC Media has learned that the recent cybersecurity incident at UnitedHealth's Change Healthcare that led to slowdowns at pharmacies was caused by a strain of LockBit malware that was used to exploit the vulnerabilities in ConnectWise ScreenConnect.

Toby Gouker, chief security officer at First Health Advisory, stressed that while it was a LockBit strain of malware, it doesn�t mean that the recently taken down LockBit gang was responsible. Gouker said the two flaws were discovered as part of a crowdsourced team for the ConnectWise bugs on Feb. 15 and that the vulnerability notifications went out on Feb. 19.

And that�s where the problems started.

�As many of you know, malicious actors watch for these announcements to come out,� said Gouker. �They prey on the timeframe between the announcement and when an organization is able to apply the patch. So from the get-go, these actors are working to figure out a way to exploit the disclosed vulnerability and capitalize on it.�

News of a cyberattack on the healthcare company broke on Feb. 21 when United Healthcare, the parent company of Change Healthcare, reported the incident in an 8-K filing. In the filing, United Healthcare said they �identified a suspected nation-state associated cyber threat actor� had gained access to some of Change Healthcare�s IT systems. This was reportedly the second subsidiary of Optum -- a division of UnitedHealth -- to disclose a suspected cybersecurity attack in the past four months. Change Healthcare delivers software systems to clinical services used by medical professionals. It also runs a membership platform for patient services where it has access to tens of millions of patient records.

First Health Advisory�s Gouker said while Optum has a strong security team, they only officially acquired Change Healthcare this past October. They in essence inherited this vulnerability as part of the acquisition, said Gouker, pointing out that why a cybersecurity audit has become an important part of the M&A process in healthcare � to avoid purchasing �zero�days�.

�This incident has nothing to do with Optum having shoddy services,� said Gouker. �In fact, they discovered the anomaly quick and did exactly what they were supposed to do according to their clearly practiced playbook: Disconnect to stop the spread because after the vulnerability opened the door, the actors deployed LockBit ransomware. Even though the government or whoever says they took it down, there�s still at least one active version of LockBit ransomware out there.�

Ritu Gupta,�senior product manager at Menlo Security, added that the cyberattack on Change Healthcare, coupled with its connection to UnitedHealth, raises concerns about the vast amount of patient data potentially at risk. Gupta said the impact has already been felt with prescription processing outages in Michigan, pointing to the substantial operational disruptions such an attack can cause across the nation.

�The probability of this becoming a much bigger deal hinges on several factors, including the duration of the system outages, the effectiveness of the response measures, and the sensitivity of the compromised data,� explained Gupta. �Given the suspected nation-state involvement and the exploitation of a flaw in the ConnectWise ScreenConnect app, there�s potential for significant escalation, especially considering the critical nature of the services provided by Change Healthcare. The involvement of LockBit ransomware, albeit indirectly, underscores the sophistication and potential severity of the attack.�

The impact is very frustrating!

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 21:19

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

I saw the news on this when it hit the other day, but this is a good article for a quick summary of how it happened.

Health IT security at all levels (hospital, doctors, medical companies, etc.) seems to be incredibly weak and prone to exploitation. It's kind of wild that the health sector in particular has been so far behind most other sectors in IT security.

The article seems to imply it was primarily impacting Michigan, but I can't find a solid source saying exactly what areas were most impacted.

I am impacted in Washington via Safeway, according to pharmacy staff in the phone today

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 21:25

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

A federal judge has reversed the previous order allowing Alexander Smirnov to remain free while awaiting trial and is now requiring him to be detained until criminal proceedings finish after his attorneys were suspected of petitioning for his release to help him flee the country (allegedly to Russia).

https://twitter.com/AP/status/1762174865744822342

Has Israel responded to the detention of their citizen?

# ¿ Feb 26, 2024 20:38

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 18:44

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

We are all angels :dings:

. However, there are alternative explanations that have so far gone unmentioned: Could aliens and UFOs be manifestations of demonic activity? Some say they are, and the US government is somewhat aware of this but also uses the popular idea of UFOs to cover things up.

quote:

As Orthodox Christians we know that some of the UFOs are actually demons. This reality will not have been overlooked by the many government investigations into the phenomenon, even if they do not fully understand the demonic nature. We can only guess at how those in power try to conform this knowledge to their own beliefs, but what we can be sure of is that they will be using the phenomenon in any way that favours their own agenda. The military invests unimaginable amounts of money developing and testing advanced aircraft, and maintaining the belief in UFOs creates a perfect cover story for when one of them is seen or photographed. With yet more footage of UFOs being released by the U.S. Navy in 2021, we see this second deception continuing, perpetuating the sense that something big is just around the corner.

You can read more about Fr. Spyridon's ideas in his book, The UFO Deception (2021), available for free on the Internet Archive. :angel:

# ¿ Mar 2, 2024 00:45

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