March 12, 2022

How 'Saint Javelin' raised over $1m for Ukraine

A Canadian marketer who had planned to raise a humble few hundred dollars for a charity helping relief efforts in Ukraine has found himself the creator of a viral marketing campaign that has so far earned well over C$1m ($783,000; £600,000) using the unlikeliest of images - a rocket-armed saint.

Christian Borys helped develop the image - known as "Saint Javelin" - which depicts the Virgin Mary cradling a US-made FGM-148 anti-tank weapon. These missiles are among the arms being sent by Western allies to Ukrainian forces to aid in their fight.

The marketer and ex-journalist said the response to the campaign, which sells the image on everything from tote bags to sweatshirts, flags and stickers, has been "overwhelming", with thousands of orders coming in each day.

He now plans for the "Saint Javelin" campaign to become a full-time effort and hopes to hire permanent staff so it can continue to support reconstruction efforts for decades after the current conflict ends.

The Toronto-based Mr Borys, 35, is no stranger to Ukraine and its people, and is of Ukrainian heritage.

From 2014 to 2018, he freelanced for a variety of media outlets - including the BBC - from the country, where he says he was particularly moved by the plight of widows and orphans from the conflict in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, which began in 2014 when separatists, backed by Moscow, seized parts of the region.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60700906

March 11, 2022

Texas judge hears case on state's transgender care investigations

A Texas judge is holding a hearing Friday on whether to prevent state officials from investigating reports of transgender youth receiving gender-affirming care as child abuse.

The hearing comes the same day that dozens of major companies — including Apple, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Meta and Microsoft — criticized the Texas directive in a full-page ad in the Dallas Morning News.

“The recent attempt to criminalize a parent for helping their transgender child access medically necessary, age-appropriate healthcare in the state of Texas goes against the values of our companies,” read the ad, which used the headline “DISCRIMINATION IS BAD FOR BUSINESS.”

District Judge Amy Clark Meachum will hear Friday from attorneys for the state and the parents of a 16-year-old girl who were being investigated by the Department of Family and Protective Services over such care.

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/texas-judge-hears-case-transgender-child-abuse-investigations-n1291628

March 11, 2022

Conservatives Try to Hold Up Ukraine Aid for Bulls**t Reason

Just days before Russia invaded Ukraine, a small group of Republican lawmakers seized on Russia’s buildup of troops on the Ukrainian border to make a tenuous point about a situation 6,600 miles away: President Joe Biden needs to do something about the southern border of the United States.

The conservative group of lawmakers introduced legislation tying military assistance to Ukraine with the status of the U.S.-Mexican border.

You may think conservatives would abandon their politically performative legislation after Russian President Vladimir Putin actually mounted his attack: His forces have been killing civilians and attacking Ukrainian cities for two weeks now. Just this Wednesday Russian forces bombed a Ukrainian maternity hospital.

But in spite of the carnage, many of these Republicans are doubling down.

Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), one of the original cosponsors of the bill, said he “absolutely” still wants to move the proposal forward, even though aid to Ukraine is needed now more than ever.

“I do support aid for Ukraine. However, I support this,” Good told The Daily Beast this week.

He confirmed he thinks the Biden administration should handle the southern border first before Ukraine, and said the greatest responsibility of the federal government is the safety and security of the United States

https://www.thedailybeast.com/conservatives-try-to-hold-up-ukraine-aid-for-bullshit-reason?ref=home
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Bob Bad and Gooser are examples of "what's wrong with this picture?"

March 11, 2022

Heartless Text Sent Days After AG Killed Man With His Car

Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg ran down and killed a pedestrian on Sept. 12, 2020. This week, South Dakota Department of Public Safety Secretary Craig Price said Ravnsborg received a text message from an unnamed political consultant less than two days after the crash that commented on the political party of Joe Boever, the 55-year-old man that Ravnsborg, a first-term Republican, had killed.

“Well, at least the guy was a Democrat,” the message read.

Price, in a letter to Speaker of the South Dakota House of Representatives Spencer Gosch, said a study of text messages between the Attorney General and advisers and staff members reveal “disparaging and offensive statements regarding other law enforcement officers, judges, a Supreme Court justice, a legislator, prosecutors, staff members, a former attorney general, and a United States senator.”

Price posted the letter on Twitter Wednesday and also issued a press release, as Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration continues to apply pressure in an effort to remove the attorney general.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/south-dakota-attorney-general-jason-ravnsborg-got-vile-text-about-joe-boever-days-after-he-was-killed?ref=home
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All of these people are scum

March 11, 2022

How an Election Conspiracy Theory Led Back to Georgia Cops

An election conspiracy that went viral on right-wing news sites and was promoted by former President Donald Trump has been debunked by security footage obtained exclusively by VICE News.

In May 2021 in Fulton County, Georgia, an alarm was triggered in an election warehouse that stored ballots and voting machines from the 2020 presidential election. A photo taken of an open door at the warehouse was used by conspiracy theorists and right-wing media to claim that the 2020 election was, indeed, insecure. But through a series of interviews and Freedom of Information Act requests, VICE News found that it wasn’t election workers who opened that door—it was off-duty police officers.

The warehouse had become a site of contention earlier that year, as lawyers and pro-Trump activitsts sued Fulton County multiple times to review the absentee ballots. As part of the fourth lawsuit brought against the county, a judge ordered that Fulton County Sheriff's department provide round-the-clock watch of the warehouse to ensure no one was tampering with ballots.

That protection was not enough for Bob Cheeley, one of the lawyers who filed suit against Fulton County. Cheeley decided to hire off-duty sheriff’s deputies from neighboring Douglas County to do their own surveillance of the warehouse. The deputies were hired through T&T Security, a private security company. They were tasked with sitting across the street from the warehouse and monitoring any potentially unusual activity.

Election workers at the warehouse, already on high alert after being subject to months of violent threats from Trump supporters who believed the election was stolen, were uneasy about the off-duty sheriffs watching them exit and enter the building.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjbnyd/georgia-fulton-county-election-conspiracy

March 10, 2022

South Dakota AG impeachment committee meets amid new claims

A South Dakota House committee examining whether Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg should be impeached for his conduct after killing a pedestrian with his car in 2020 will meet Thursday to plan how to wrap up its investigation, with fresh allegations from one of Gov. Kristi Noem's top officials.

Lawmakers planned to meet in a closed-door session to discuss how to deliver a report on their investigation and whether to recommend impeachment charges to their House colleagues. Speaker Spencer Gosch, a Republican overseeing the committee, said lawmakers will focus on what their “next step is.”

That discussion may be complicated by a letter the committee received Wednesday from Craig Price, Noem’s public safety secretary who oversaw the crash investigation. The letter said Ravnsborg had been pulled over for traffic offenses eight times between taking office in 2019 and the fatal crash, including five in which he either identified himself as the attorney general or displayed a badge.

Although he wasn’t ticketed for any of those eight stops, Ravnsborg previously accumulated eight traffic tickets since 2014, including six speeding tickets.

The letter irked some members of the committee as an intrusion into their deliberations, even as it raised new allegations about Ravnsborg's conduct beyond the scope of the crash.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/south-dakota-ag-impeachment-committee-meets-amid-claims-83368541

March 10, 2022

Madison Cawthorn Calls Ukrainian President Zelenskyy A 'Thug'

Rep. Madison Cawthron (R-N.C.) broke from his party’s support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and told supporters the embattled leader is a “thug,” newly released footage of the remarks shows.

“Remember that Zelenskyy is a thug,” Cawthorn, 26, says in the clip obtained by North Carolina TV station WRAL on Thursday. “Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”

Cawthorn, who is running for reelection in November’s election, made the comments while speaking with supporters in Asheville over the weekend, according to commentary in The Wall Street Journal by Karl Rove, who served as former President George W. Bush’s deputy chief of staff.

The extremist lawmaker said on Twitter after the video of his comments surfaced that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions are disgusting. Still, he took another dig at the Ukrainian president, saying he “should NOT push misinformation on America.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/madison-cawthorn-zelenskyy-thug_n_622a3c6de4b029615838316a
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Drunk driver/seditionist calls hero president a thug. Funny not funny

March 10, 2022

Police Bodycam Footage Shows "Black Panther" Director Ryan Coogler Being Mistakenly Detained

Police Bodycam Footage Shows "Black Panther" Director Ryan Coogler Being Mistakenly Detained As A Bank Robber

The Atlanta Police Department released bodycam footage Wednesday that showed them detaining Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther, after they mistook him for a bank robber in January.

Police showed up to a branch of Bank of America after Coogler requested to withdraw $12,000 from his bank account on Jan. 7, according to an incident report also released Wednesday.

The 35-year-old director showed his California ID, his bank card, and gave his PIN number, but the bank teller became suspicious when Coogler wrote on the back of the deposit slip to be discreet with the money.

"My stomach started turning," the bank teller, who was pregnant, told police in the bodycam footage. “I have to protect myself. I have to protect my child," she added.

Coogler was wearing sunglasses, a hat, and a COVID-19 face mask. Both Coogler and the bank teller are Black.

The bank teller told police on the video that Coogler's account showed an alert indicating it was a "high-risk transaction." That's when she told her manager that she was uncomfortable. She called 911.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/paigeskinner/ryan-coogler-detained-bodycam

March 10, 2022

After weeks in Russian custody, questions remain on Brittney Griner's whereabouts

The American basketball star who was arrested in Russia on allegations of drug smuggling was detained February 17, a US congressman's office said Thursday, providing the most detailed public account yet of how long Brittney Griner has been in custody.

And US efforts to get Griner out of Russia are complicated by strained relations between the two countries -- a deterioration exacerbated by Russia's war with Ukraine, the lawmaker, US Rep. Colin Allred, told ESPN a day earlier.

"I do think that it's really unusual that we've not been granted access to her from our embassy and our consular services," Allred, D-Texas, told ESPN on Wednesday.

"The Russian criminal justice system is very different than ours, very opaque. We don't have a lot of insight into where she is in that process right now, but she's been held for three weeks now, and that's extremely concerning," Allred said.

News of Griner's arrest broke in the US last weekend, with Russian media reporting she was detained at a Moscow airport on some unspecified day in February. Allred's office has been working with the US State Department and learned she was detained February 17, he told ESPN. His office confirmed that date to CNN on Thursday.
Many details still are in question, including precisely where Griner is now.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/world/brittney-griner-arrest-russia-thursday/index.html
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Please lay off "She shouldn't have been" etc. and focus on what Russia is doing to a Black gay American woman. They are using her as a political hostage and won't even say where she is.

March 10, 2022

Judge orders Speaker Robin Vos to produce deleted emails

A Wisconsin judge on Thursday ordered Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to produce deleted emails in response to an open records request filed by the liberal watchdog group American Oversight seeking documents related to an investigation into the 2020 election.

Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn also ordered Vos to search his private email accounts and text messages for any relevant deleted messages.

“If there is a reason why they can’t be produced, I want to know,” she said.

The case is one of three seeking records from Vos and the investigator he hired, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who is leading a probe into the 2020 election won by President Joe Biden. Gableman released his most recent report last week, and this week Vos extended his contract through the end of April.

Vos signed that contract the same day that a different judge released more than 700 pages of emails and documents Gableman produced in response to another American Oversight lawsuit.

Vos and American Oversight have been fighting for five months over what records he has in response to numerous open records requests filed by American Oversight. The group wants to ask questions of a former Vos employee who was in charge of his email accounts, but who has since left the office.

https://www.channel3000.com/i/judge-orders-speaker-robin-vos-to-produce-deleted-emails/