April 12, 2021

Absolute Power: The Astonishing Personal Photos Of Nicolae Ceausescu (7 pics)

https://www.rferl.org/a/absolute-power-the-astonishing-personal-photos-of-nicolae-ceausescu/31195461.html


Nicolae Ceausescu, sporting a bandaged trigger finger, watches his wife, Elena, take aim with a shotgun during a New Year’s Eve hunting trip in 1976.


A Romanian diplomat is whipped on the backside by Ceausescu while crouching over the carcass of a hare. The photo was taken during a hunting trip with the heads of Romania’s diplomatic missions in 1969.

This was some kind of ritual that hunters went through. Even his own son was forced to participate at some point.


Elena cuddles with her son, Nicu, the heir apparent to Nicolae Ceausescu.


Crowds gather upon Nicolae Ceausescu's arrival in Pitesti, near Bucharest, in 1966. The photo was taken a year after the former shoemaking apprentice rose to power in Romania.


Women in the northwestern Bihor county, which has a sizable ethnic Hungarian community, welcome Ceausescu. The sign displayed in the background reads like a poem: “Romanians and Hungarians, we are fulfilling our duty; arms stronger, minds more beautiful; the Party, Ceausescu, Romania, are for us the world's most precious things.”


Nicolae (in black jacket) and Elena Ceausescu (with white blouse) on a balcony overlooking Bucharest’s University Square. The pair were welcoming the arrival of Soviet troops to Romania after a coup overthrew the country’s pro-Nazi ruler in August 1944.



Elena and Nicolae Ceausescu at a New Year’s Eve party in 1988. It is one of the last photos of the couple stored in the archive.

I left out the pics of the dead bears

April 11, 2021

Large corporations are already breaking their promises to not donate to Republicans

Just a month after the Capitol attack, AT&T, Intel and Cigna donated $50,000 total to GOP fundraising committees
New FEC filings reveal that several major corporations that pledged in January to stop financially supporting members of Congress who tried to overturn the presidential election results broke their pledge in February.

In early January, shortly after false claims of voter fraud inspired a violent attack on the United States Capitol, Intel announced that it would stop PAC contributions to members of Congress that voted against certifying the Electoral College results. Intel said that vote, which attempted to overturn the results of a fair election, was not consistent with "our company's values."

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But on February 26, Intel sent a $15,000 PAC contribution to the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC).

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Intel's response tacitly acknowledges that it is indirectly backing Republican objectors that it pledged not to support.


https://www.salon.com/2021/04/07/large-corporations-are-already-breaking-their-promises-to-not-donate-to-republicans_partner/
https://popular.info/p/these-corporations-broke-their-pledge

March 30, 2021

Former Tokyo Olympic Officials described by Bugs Bunny

From Japan Times:
Former Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori, who resigned last month amid backlash over sexist remarks toward women, has again opened himself up for criticism after saying Friday a female political staffer was “too old to call a woman.”

Mori stepped down as head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee after coming under fire at home and abroad for saying meetings with women tend to “drag on” because they talk too much.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/03/27/national/mori-sexist-remark-women/

BBC:
Tokyo Games creative head quits over 'Olympig' insult

Tokyo Olympics' creative chief has resigned after suggesting that a female comedian could appear as an "Olympig", in the latest setback for the Games.

Hiroshi Sasaki said plus-size entertainer Naomi Watanabe could wear pig ears at the opening ceremony.

He later apologised and admitted his remarks were "a huge insult" to her. Ms Watanabe has yet to respond.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56438842

March 19, 2021

Wax Statue of Trump Removed

A wax replica of former President Donald Trump currently being housed at Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks in San Antonio had to be moved to storage because visitors kept punching it in the face, the San Antonio Express reports.

https://politicalwire.com/2021/03/18/wax-statue-of-trump-removed/

https://www.expressnews.com/business/local/article/A-battered-Trump-takes-refuge-in-San-Antonio-wax-16031208.php

March 17, 2021

Kentucky lawmakers advance bipartisan election reform bill

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — In sharp contrast to bitter partisan battles being waged elsewhere over election laws, Republicans and Democrats in Kentucky were on the verge Tuesday of joining forces to loosen the state's voting access laws to make limited early voting a fixture.

A measure overwhelmingly approved Tuesday in the state Senate would give Kentucky voters three days of no-excuse, early in-person voting — including a Saturday — before Election Day. But it backed off from the temporary, pandemic-related accommodations made last year that allowed widespread mail-in absentee balloting.

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The legislation passed the Senate by a 33-3 margin, sending it back to the House to consider changes made to it. Republicans dominate both chambers, but Senate Democrats joined in voting for the bill. If it clears the legislature, it would be sent to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.

snip

Kentucky is accustomed to bare-knuckled partisan fights, but its top elections official noted the mild tone in the state, especially compared to the bitter debates on election law changes in other states. It echoed the tone set before last year's primaries, when Beshear and Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams hashed out emergency voting measures during the pandemic that helped Kentucky largely avoid the long lines and other problems encountered elsewhere.

https://news.yahoo.com/kentucky-lawmakers-advance-bipartisan-election-224929166.html

March 16, 2021

Myanmar factories run by Fast Retailing partner set ablaze

Singapore – Two factories run by a Fast Retailing Co. partner in Yangon, Myanmar, were set ablaze on the weekend, the operator of the fast-fashion Uniqlo and GU brands said Tuesday.

The extent of the damage caused to the plants in Myanmar’s largest city on Sunday is not yet known, the company said, adding it is confirming the situation in regard to the fires.

On Sunday, China-linked factories in Yangon were also attacked, leaving many people injured, according to the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/03/16/business/corporate-business/myanmar-fast-retailing-fire/

March 16, 2021

Flags of American Seditious Losers

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March 11, 2021

Brawling Myanmar monks show Buddhist nationalists backing coup

snip

Monks were among a group that used slingshots to injure anti-coup protesters who went to Yangon’s Bingalar Monastery on Feb. 18 in pursuit of men dressed in robes who had earlier beaten up a demonstrator. The mob also used large sticks to smash cars blocking traffic nearby.

The monks and their supporters “couldn’t control their temper,” said Kaythara, the abbot of the nationalist Buddhist group Wirawintha, who knows the attackers but wasn’t present at the melee. He defended the military, known as the Tatmadaw, repeating its theory that now now-detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party stole the November election through mass voter fraud.

snip

The violent incident shows a strain of religious nationalism that Myanmar’s generals are tapping into as they seek to gain legitimacy and quell post-coup demonstrations that have seen more than 60 people killed. That risks reinvigorating a movement with a history of sectarian violence in a nation already split between the military supporters and opponents.

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Pro-democracy monks were instrumental during anti-junta protests in the bloody 1988 uprising, and also helped lead 2007 demonstrations dubbed the Saffron Revolution for the color of their robes. Some of them have been at the forefront of the recent protests, leading demonstrators in major cities and holding posters calling for the immediate release of Suu Kyi and other detainees.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/03/10/asia-pacific/myanmar-monks-military/

March 9, 2021

Detained Russian Protester Uses Current Time Video To Win Legal Battle (Video Link)

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-navalny-protest-detention/31140138.html

Vadim Zabolotskikh was one of thousands of Russians detained during recent demonstrations in support of jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny. But Zabolotskikh succeeded in having his case dropped when he used video of the protests to prove that his police record contained falsehoods.

March 9, 2021

Civilians of a town, Wiemar on a forced visit to the Buchenwald concentration cam...HD Stock Footage

Though short... some parts are not for the weak of stomach