reACTIONary
reACTIONary's JournalKeep on Rockin' in the Free World!
https://wapo.st/4bfWx96Blinken sits in with Ukrainian bar band for ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’
The secretary of state, on a surprise trip to Kyiv to show U.S. support amid intensified Russian attacks, told the crowd “the free world is with you.”
Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity
Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity
They’re delivering solar power after dark in California and helping to stabilize grids in other states. And the technology is expanding rapidly.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/07/climate/battery-electricity-solar-california-texas.html?unlocked_article_code=1.rE0.2ov2.YrHBTPnL5QAm&smid=url-share
Vladimir Putin cut out the heart of a deer and gave it to Silvio Berlusconi
Berlusconi then hid behind a tree to throw up.
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-president-vladimir-putin-cut-out-heart-deer-silvio-berlusconi/
TSF II, or maybe the TSF I
Who believes the most "taboo" conspiracy theories?
Who believes the most "taboo" conspiracy theories? It might not be who you think...The belief "that school shootings like Sandy Hook and Parkland are false-flag attacks ... and that the number of Jews killed by the Nazis has been exaggerated on purpose — these two particular claims are disproportionately held by white graduate-degree-holding men."
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/23780231241237654
NPR Investigation: Many Judges Fail to Report Free Luxury Trips.....
... including Judge Canon.
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1247512187
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/01/1247512187/federal-judges-disclosures-luxury-trips
Dozens of federal judges went to legal seminars at luxury resorts, getting free rooms, free meals and free money for travel, and failed to file the required public disclosures. As a result, the public has been kept in the dark about what some of the country's top legal officials are up to and whether they might have a conflict of interest. That's all according to a new NPR investigation, and NPR investigative correspondent Tom Dreisbach is with us to talk about these findings....
Forget the ticker-tape parade. Mike Johnson is no hero.
Foreign policy commentators and proponents of aid to Ukraine spent days gushing over House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for finally bringing to the floor a bill for aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. Give him credit! He came around! What courage! That praise ignored the immense damage that Johnson and MAGA House Republican pro-Russian propagandists inflicted on America’s beleaguered Ukrainian allies.
When the vote on Ukraine aid finally came, it was overwhelming, 311-112. That raised the question: Why in the world did such a popular measure take so long? It could have been done long ago, when President Biden requested the aid in October, had Johnson simply ignored the histrionics from pro-Putin House members who take their cues from Donald Trump.
https://wapo.st/3vZhk1f
Senate passes $95 billion Ukraine, Israel aid package amid GOP divide
Source: WaPo, no paywall
The Senate passed a $95 billion national security package to aid Israel, Ukraine and other U.S. allies early Tuesday after a months-long debate that has deeply divided congressional Republicans.
Read more: https://wapo.st/3SBl4gA
The Kids Talk Back....
.... as well they should.
Online safety legislation is opposed by many it claims to protect https://wapo.st/47X7UAl
More than 100 human rights and LGBTQ groups have condemned the bill, saying it would endanger minors, especially LGBTQ youth. First Amendment lawyers and organizations focused on protecting free speech also have lambasted the proposal and similar state laws, saying they would place dire restrictions on free speech and expression.
“What we’re seeing is a rash of legislation that both doesn’t do what it thinks it’s going to do, will be used to do bad things specifically, and also will impact the First Amendment rights of adults and minors alike,”
“The whole hearing was a joke; it was a sham,” said May, the 26-year-old Michigan activist who created the Discord server in hopes of rallying opposition to KOSA. She agreed to speak to The Washington Post on the condition that she be identified by first name only. “The way they were attacking political content that they disagree with, it’s obvious they’re using this bill to censor speech.”
“What we are seeing is the same exact thing as when people said comic books were causing kids to commit crime and juvenile delinquency, or when they said TV is melting kids’ brains, or that Dungeons and Dragons is causing an unprecedented mental health crisis,” Cohn told The Post. “Every new form of media has at some point been declared to be destroying the mental fabric of American youth.”
Business Insider story on Harvard antagonist's wife draws owner's scrutiny
https://wapo.st/3vyjdRINeither Ackman nor Oxman, whose companies didn’t respond to requests for comment, have pointed to any factual errors in the articles.
“While the facts of the reports have not been disputed, over the past few days questions have been raised about the motivation and the process leading up to the reporting — questions that we take very seriously,”
In a Sunday afternoon email to employees that was reviewed by The Washington Post, Business Insider global editor in chief Nicholas Carlson appeared to push back on the idea that the stories needed a review. Carlson wrote that he would “welcome” the review but argued for the news value of the stories given Oxman’s position as what he called a “well-known academic” and start-up founder.
An Apple a Day...
A fearless fighter and a man of deep faith, Lai could have fled at any time before his arrest but refused to abandon Hong Kong to save himself.... In June 2020, he was charged with “incitement to knowingly take part in an unauthorized assembly” for lighting a candle in Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil. He wrote to the court: “If commemorating those who died because of injustice is a crime, then inflict on me that crime and let me suffer the punishment of this crime, so I may share the burden and glory of those young men and women who shed blood on June 4 to proclaim truth, justice and goodness.”
Jimmy Lai, founder and publisher of Apple Daily
https://wapo.st/3NvEl1h
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