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Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
November 25, 2022
https://progressivepost.eu/contested-multilateralism-and-the-crisis-of-cooperation/
The foundations of the current multilateral system were the outcome of the power equation in the aftermath of World War II, confirming consequential political bargaining. Increasingly, there has been a decline in the efficacy of these institutions with the broadening of the range of actors and the increase in formal and informal methods of cooperation. These developments are challenging the primacy of the UN system, and they highlight the unravelling of international cooperation. The crises in the existing multilateral arrangements span two decades already and have become more acute now. Fewer international treaties have been signed, there have been withdrawals from treaties, and the crisis of collective action was even more pronounced during the presidency of Donald Trump in the US, who sought unilateralism and questioned the very institutions that his country had created with other states. Even after participating in the Iran nuclear deal, the US withdrawal clearly undermined the group efforts to regulate and monitor nuclear activity.
In part, the building of informal networks outside the existing architecture of the formal institutions and its growing fragmentation has also weakened the UN system. This growing culture of ad-hoc and informal networks and diplomacy does not create a formal output, it is rather a limited exercise that keeps seeking to contain decision making to a small group. One can make an argument for the G20 that it is an expanded base of cooperation, however this argument still does not translate into a global mandate. The Indo-Pacific region is another example of ad-hoc approach, and the building of groups around selected interests such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between Australia, India, Japan and the US (QUAD) and the trilateral security pact between Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS). That Australia and the US are part of both groups confirms that states are hedging their bets on diverse groupings to guarantee them the best possibility to influence outcomes in their favour.
Coupled with the shift in the economic power of the different states that is producing a growing and complex interdependence, and the rise of non-state actors beyond the regulatory framework, these developments are drawing attention to the transformation in the nature of cooperation and collective action and the notion of global public goods. Decision-making has become disconnected from the rapid changes on the ground as was revealed by the role of the World Health Organization during the Covid19 pandemic. It showed how health had the lowest priority among the list of global public goods, leaving large sections of the world population still not vaccinated and vulnerable to infection. Not only has this underscored the crisis of cooperation in the very moment of the pandemic, but it has also raised fundamental questions on what is the best platform to address global challenges, build cooperation, reduce transaction costs, create stability and minimise disruption, given that growing plurality of actors.
The rise of multiple centres of gravity and the interconnected theatres of confrontation, first as seen in the war in Ukraine, which is pitting the US and Europe against Russia and second, the growing confrontation between the US and China all point to the fact that the UN Security Council (UNSC) has become more dysfunctional, and the five permanent members do not appear to share the same political perception of cooperation. The rules-based order has privileged a few states more than others, leading to a breakdown of confidence, trust and legitimacy.
snip
Contested multilateralism and the crisis of cooperation
The war in Ukraine spotlights all that is wrong with the current state of multilateralism, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council has invaded another country. This bears testimony to an increasing disconnect and imbalance between global institutions and their outputs. And it shows a crisis of cooperation, raising questions about a growing irrelevance and legitimacy as the credibility of institutions, actors and processes have increasingly become contested.
https://progressivepost.eu/contested-multilateralism-and-the-crisis-of-cooperation/
The foundations of the current multilateral system were the outcome of the power equation in the aftermath of World War II, confirming consequential political bargaining. Increasingly, there has been a decline in the efficacy of these institutions with the broadening of the range of actors and the increase in formal and informal methods of cooperation. These developments are challenging the primacy of the UN system, and they highlight the unravelling of international cooperation. The crises in the existing multilateral arrangements span two decades already and have become more acute now. Fewer international treaties have been signed, there have been withdrawals from treaties, and the crisis of collective action was even more pronounced during the presidency of Donald Trump in the US, who sought unilateralism and questioned the very institutions that his country had created with other states. Even after participating in the Iran nuclear deal, the US withdrawal clearly undermined the group efforts to regulate and monitor nuclear activity.
In part, the building of informal networks outside the existing architecture of the formal institutions and its growing fragmentation has also weakened the UN system. This growing culture of ad-hoc and informal networks and diplomacy does not create a formal output, it is rather a limited exercise that keeps seeking to contain decision making to a small group. One can make an argument for the G20 that it is an expanded base of cooperation, however this argument still does not translate into a global mandate. The Indo-Pacific region is another example of ad-hoc approach, and the building of groups around selected interests such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between Australia, India, Japan and the US (QUAD) and the trilateral security pact between Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS). That Australia and the US are part of both groups confirms that states are hedging their bets on diverse groupings to guarantee them the best possibility to influence outcomes in their favour.
Coupled with the shift in the economic power of the different states that is producing a growing and complex interdependence, and the rise of non-state actors beyond the regulatory framework, these developments are drawing attention to the transformation in the nature of cooperation and collective action and the notion of global public goods. Decision-making has become disconnected from the rapid changes on the ground as was revealed by the role of the World Health Organization during the Covid19 pandemic. It showed how health had the lowest priority among the list of global public goods, leaving large sections of the world population still not vaccinated and vulnerable to infection. Not only has this underscored the crisis of cooperation in the very moment of the pandemic, but it has also raised fundamental questions on what is the best platform to address global challenges, build cooperation, reduce transaction costs, create stability and minimise disruption, given that growing plurality of actors.
The rise of multiple centres of gravity and the interconnected theatres of confrontation, first as seen in the war in Ukraine, which is pitting the US and Europe against Russia and second, the growing confrontation between the US and China all point to the fact that the UN Security Council (UNSC) has become more dysfunctional, and the five permanent members do not appear to share the same political perception of cooperation. The rules-based order has privileged a few states more than others, leading to a breakdown of confidence, trust and legitimacy.
snip
November 25, 2022
https://thebanter.substack.com/p/has-the-time-come-to-forgive-the
This Thanksgiving, you may find your Republican relatives somewhat grumpier than usual. To be fair, they have an awful lot not to be thankful for. They blew their shot at retaking the Senate. They lost almost every single governor’s race. Democrats flipped multiple state legislative chambers while Republicans flipped none. Even the usually ignored Secretary of State races went badly for Republicans and they were really counting on those to, ahem, “protect the vote” in the 2024 presidential election. As they wallow in bitterness and misery, you, a liberal filled with empathy and compassion, might feel the urge to feel bad for them. Stop that. Do not spare an ounce of pity for the Republicans in your life.
F*ck your feelings
I’m going to skip right past the, “They would have been god-awful to you if they’d won” part. This is true, but irrelevant. I’m not saying you can’t be petty, lord knows I am the Mayor of Pettysville, but the absolute contempt you should still have for the MAGA Republicans in your life goes well beyond that. This is, and will always be, about what they are, right now, trying to do to this nation, even if it’s not going so well at the moment. When you sit down at Thanksgiving to pass the gravy to your MAGA relative, never forget that this is not someone who made a simple error in judgment. They didn’t vote for Republican economic policies. Republicans do not have a coherent economic policy beyond “Give more money to billionaires.” They didn’t vote for Republican foreign policy. Republicans do not have a coherent foreign policy beyond “China bad, Russia good, do the opposite of what Democrats say.”
The scowling Republicans breaking bread with you voted for the sweet sweet bigotry and hate they crave. Hate for Latinos. Hate for Blacks. Hate for women. Hate for Jews. Hate for the LGBTQ community. They knew what they were doing and they have spent the last seven years escalating that hate. There were countless off-ramps. When Trump banned Muslims, your MAGA relatives could have walked away. But they didn’t. When Trump tortured children, they could have walked away. But they didn’t. When Republicans staged a violent coup. When they stripped women of their rights. When they went all-in on fascism. When they openly embraced virulent anti-Semitism. At any time, MAGA Republicans could have walked away and instead chose to cling ever more tightly to their party of horrors. Do not forgive them. Have some wine if you need help getting in the right mood.
Why forgiveness is dangerous
I, personally, hold grudges pretty much forever. It’s in the DNA of the Rosario clan. But this is not about holding a grudge any more than it is about being petty. Forgiving Republicans is an extremely bad idea on a practical level, not least because they rely on it. One of our greatest strengths as human beings is our ability to adapt to any and all circumstances. This is why you can find people living in the most inhospitable environments on Earth, all the way from scorching deserts to frozen tundras. In the same vein, we’re capable of mentally adapting to extreme events, as well. War, brutal poverty, natural disasters, massive social upheaval, etc. We recoil, adapt, and then keep going. Humans have been doing this since we climbed down from the trees. That ability to adapt is also a tremendous weakness, one often exploited by authoritarians just like Donald Trump and the Republican Party. It has allowed them to wage an almost constant war against democracy and civil society for generations with few consequences.
snip
Has The Time Come To Forgive The MAGA Republicans In Your Life?
While you’re thinking about forgiving your MAGA relative, they’re thinking about Great Replacement Theory, QAnon’s new Blood Libel, and how many people need to be publicly executed to “save America.”https://thebanter.substack.com/p/has-the-time-come-to-forgive-the
This Thanksgiving, you may find your Republican relatives somewhat grumpier than usual. To be fair, they have an awful lot not to be thankful for. They blew their shot at retaking the Senate. They lost almost every single governor’s race. Democrats flipped multiple state legislative chambers while Republicans flipped none. Even the usually ignored Secretary of State races went badly for Republicans and they were really counting on those to, ahem, “protect the vote” in the 2024 presidential election. As they wallow in bitterness and misery, you, a liberal filled with empathy and compassion, might feel the urge to feel bad for them. Stop that. Do not spare an ounce of pity for the Republicans in your life.
F*ck your feelings
I’m going to skip right past the, “They would have been god-awful to you if they’d won” part. This is true, but irrelevant. I’m not saying you can’t be petty, lord knows I am the Mayor of Pettysville, but the absolute contempt you should still have for the MAGA Republicans in your life goes well beyond that. This is, and will always be, about what they are, right now, trying to do to this nation, even if it’s not going so well at the moment. When you sit down at Thanksgiving to pass the gravy to your MAGA relative, never forget that this is not someone who made a simple error in judgment. They didn’t vote for Republican economic policies. Republicans do not have a coherent economic policy beyond “Give more money to billionaires.” They didn’t vote for Republican foreign policy. Republicans do not have a coherent foreign policy beyond “China bad, Russia good, do the opposite of what Democrats say.”
The scowling Republicans breaking bread with you voted for the sweet sweet bigotry and hate they crave. Hate for Latinos. Hate for Blacks. Hate for women. Hate for Jews. Hate for the LGBTQ community. They knew what they were doing and they have spent the last seven years escalating that hate. There were countless off-ramps. When Trump banned Muslims, your MAGA relatives could have walked away. But they didn’t. When Trump tortured children, they could have walked away. But they didn’t. When Republicans staged a violent coup. When they stripped women of their rights. When they went all-in on fascism. When they openly embraced virulent anti-Semitism. At any time, MAGA Republicans could have walked away and instead chose to cling ever more tightly to their party of horrors. Do not forgive them. Have some wine if you need help getting in the right mood.
Why forgiveness is dangerous
I, personally, hold grudges pretty much forever. It’s in the DNA of the Rosario clan. But this is not about holding a grudge any more than it is about being petty. Forgiving Republicans is an extremely bad idea on a practical level, not least because they rely on it. One of our greatest strengths as human beings is our ability to adapt to any and all circumstances. This is why you can find people living in the most inhospitable environments on Earth, all the way from scorching deserts to frozen tundras. In the same vein, we’re capable of mentally adapting to extreme events, as well. War, brutal poverty, natural disasters, massive social upheaval, etc. We recoil, adapt, and then keep going. Humans have been doing this since we climbed down from the trees. That ability to adapt is also a tremendous weakness, one often exploited by authoritarians just like Donald Trump and the Republican Party. It has allowed them to wage an almost constant war against democracy and civil society for generations with few consequences.
snip
November 25, 2022
https://www.thelocal.se/20221123/swedish-teens-suspected-of-stealing-hesa-fredrik-speakers-for-car-soundsystems/
https://archive.ph/b8in5
Emergency services in the municipality of Ljusdal raised the alarm earlier this year after loudspeakers from the local ‘Hesa Fredrik’ alarm system started to go missing. The mystery only began to be solved when a passer-by witnessed one of the speakers being stolen over the weekend and saw a so-called A-tractor, a car with a tractor engine which can be driven by teenagers, parked in the vicinity.
Police then tracked down the owner of the vehicle, and caught them with the speaker wired up to their vehicle’s sound system. “There it was, plugged into an amplifier in the back seat,” Peter Nystedt, head of the local emergency services, told local Ljusdals-Posten newspaper. “So you could say they were caught with their hands in the cookie jar.”
Anyone who has been in Sweden for more than a few months will have heard the honking Hesa Fredrik alarm system, which is tested across the country four Monday afternoons a year. But to know about A-tractors, you need to have spent time driving in the Swedish countryside. Hesa Fredrik sounds rather like the horn of a ship as it leaves port, which makes for a rather curious aural experience hundreds of miles inland. It was nicknamed Hesa Fredrik (“Hoarse Fredrik”) after a Swedish columnist at Dagens Nyheter in the 1930s, Oscar Fredrik Rydqvist, noted that it sounded like himself when he had a cold.
A-tractors, meanwhile, small, cut-off cars with a max speed of 30km/h and an orange warning triangle on the back, are popular with teenagers, as anyone over the age of 15 can drive one as long as they have a moped or tractor driving licence. Although the story might generate amusing headlines, Nystedt said that damaging Sweden’s alarm system was potentially very serious. The system, he told the newspaper, is “the one possibility we have for warning the public quickly”. “If there was an accident with dangerous chemicals or a fire, where we need to warn people, this is the system we use to do that. If the loudspeakers are stolen there are blank spots on our map, and that can have seriously tragic consequences. Every second can be important,” he said.
snip
related
Why do Swedish teenagers drive small and excruciatingly slow cars?
If you've spent time in Swedish rural towns, you may have come across groups of teenagers driving small cut-off cars with a max speed of 30km/h and an orange warning triangle on the back. What are they and why do they exist?
https://www.thelocal.se/20211021/why-do-swedish-teenagers-drive-small-and-excruciatingly-slow-cars/
These cars are a uniquely Swedish invention, a historical loophole still used today by teenagers who enjoy the freedom they provide – they are officially known as A-traktor (A-tractors), but are also referred to by their older name, EPA-traktor. These cars are more common in rural areas of Sweden – in some municipalities such as Ånge in the Västernorrland region, almost half of all teenagers drive an A-tractor.
Some young A-tractor drivers once explained the reasoning behind their popularity to public broadcaster SVT. “You can get where you want to go without needing a lift, which can be nice on a rainy day. And then there’s the community as well,” said Isak Ahnlund. “You get to know everyone. You hang out on the weekends, drive EPA, listen to music and meet people,” A-tractor owner Estelle Möller told SVT.
The name A-tractor reflects the history of these cars – they were originally developed when agricultural vehicles were in short supply, so the government decided to make it legal to alter standard cars so they were able to be used as tractors. This is also reflected in the rules for A-tractors which still apply today – they have a maximum speed of 30km/h, cannot have a back seat (hence their cut-off appearance) and must be able to tow agricultural equipment or other vehicles. The gearbox is also limited, meaning that the driver can only use first and second gear. The orange warning triangle on the back, signalling the limited speed of the vehicle, is called a LGF-skylt; LGF is an acronym of långsamtgående fordon, or slow-moving vehicle.
Nowadays, they are less popular as agricultural vehicles and more popular as cars for teenagers – anyone over the age of 15 can drive one as long as they have a moped or tractor driving licence. The minimum age for a normal driving licence allowing you to drive a car is 18 in Sweden, which is why you’ll rarely see adults driving one of these vehicles. Many of them are hand-built or hand-altered from standard cars, meaning that they are often personalised to the owner, with colours, decorations or decals reflecting the owner’s personality. They are also notorious for having loud stereo systems, sometimes leading to complaints from locals tired of listening to teenagers allegedly driving dangerously and playing loud music.
snip
Swedish teen caught with stolen 'Hesa Fredrik' speaker wired up to A-tractor
Police in Sweden have caught a rural teen red-handed with a speaker from one of the country's 'Hesa Fredrik' emergency sirens wired up to their A-tractor car, in what might be the most Swedish crime ever reported.https://www.thelocal.se/20221123/swedish-teens-suspected-of-stealing-hesa-fredrik-speakers-for-car-soundsystems/
https://archive.ph/b8in5
Emergency services in the municipality of Ljusdal raised the alarm earlier this year after loudspeakers from the local ‘Hesa Fredrik’ alarm system started to go missing. The mystery only began to be solved when a passer-by witnessed one of the speakers being stolen over the weekend and saw a so-called A-tractor, a car with a tractor engine which can be driven by teenagers, parked in the vicinity.
Police then tracked down the owner of the vehicle, and caught them with the speaker wired up to their vehicle’s sound system. “There it was, plugged into an amplifier in the back seat,” Peter Nystedt, head of the local emergency services, told local Ljusdals-Posten newspaper. “So you could say they were caught with their hands in the cookie jar.”
Anyone who has been in Sweden for more than a few months will have heard the honking Hesa Fredrik alarm system, which is tested across the country four Monday afternoons a year. But to know about A-tractors, you need to have spent time driving in the Swedish countryside. Hesa Fredrik sounds rather like the horn of a ship as it leaves port, which makes for a rather curious aural experience hundreds of miles inland. It was nicknamed Hesa Fredrik (“Hoarse Fredrik”) after a Swedish columnist at Dagens Nyheter in the 1930s, Oscar Fredrik Rydqvist, noted that it sounded like himself when he had a cold.
my add: this is the one by our house:
A-tractors, meanwhile, small, cut-off cars with a max speed of 30km/h and an orange warning triangle on the back, are popular with teenagers, as anyone over the age of 15 can drive one as long as they have a moped or tractor driving licence. Although the story might generate amusing headlines, Nystedt said that damaging Sweden’s alarm system was potentially very serious. The system, he told the newspaper, is “the one possibility we have for warning the public quickly”. “If there was an accident with dangerous chemicals or a fire, where we need to warn people, this is the system we use to do that. If the loudspeakers are stolen there are blank spots on our map, and that can have seriously tragic consequences. Every second can be important,” he said.
snip
related
Why do Swedish teenagers drive small and excruciatingly slow cars?
If you've spent time in Swedish rural towns, you may have come across groups of teenagers driving small cut-off cars with a max speed of 30km/h and an orange warning triangle on the back. What are they and why do they exist?
https://www.thelocal.se/20211021/why-do-swedish-teenagers-drive-small-and-excruciatingly-slow-cars/
These cars are a uniquely Swedish invention, a historical loophole still used today by teenagers who enjoy the freedom they provide – they are officially known as A-traktor (A-tractors), but are also referred to by their older name, EPA-traktor. These cars are more common in rural areas of Sweden – in some municipalities such as Ånge in the Västernorrland region, almost half of all teenagers drive an A-tractor.
Some young A-tractor drivers once explained the reasoning behind their popularity to public broadcaster SVT. “You can get where you want to go without needing a lift, which can be nice on a rainy day. And then there’s the community as well,” said Isak Ahnlund. “You get to know everyone. You hang out on the weekends, drive EPA, listen to music and meet people,” A-tractor owner Estelle Möller told SVT.
The name A-tractor reflects the history of these cars – they were originally developed when agricultural vehicles were in short supply, so the government decided to make it legal to alter standard cars so they were able to be used as tractors. This is also reflected in the rules for A-tractors which still apply today – they have a maximum speed of 30km/h, cannot have a back seat (hence their cut-off appearance) and must be able to tow agricultural equipment or other vehicles. The gearbox is also limited, meaning that the driver can only use first and second gear. The orange warning triangle on the back, signalling the limited speed of the vehicle, is called a LGF-skylt; LGF is an acronym of långsamtgående fordon, or slow-moving vehicle.
Nowadays, they are less popular as agricultural vehicles and more popular as cars for teenagers – anyone over the age of 15 can drive one as long as they have a moped or tractor driving licence. The minimum age for a normal driving licence allowing you to drive a car is 18 in Sweden, which is why you’ll rarely see adults driving one of these vehicles. Many of them are hand-built or hand-altered from standard cars, meaning that they are often personalised to the owner, with colours, decorations or decals reflecting the owner’s personality. They are also notorious for having loud stereo systems, sometimes leading to complaints from locals tired of listening to teenagers allegedly driving dangerously and playing loud music.
snip
November 25, 2022
https://www.thelocal.se/20221124/baby-its-morv-outside-swedens-13th-month-is-here/
https://archive.ph/95HfT
It is a fact little known outside Scandinavia that the year consists not of twelve months, but thirteen. The thirteenth month is sandwiched between November and December, and is known as mörv. (No capital letter for the months in Sweden.)
Mörv expresses the feeling that November is bleak, dark, and seems to go on and on forever. Suddenly there is no daylight. That hour we lost at the end of October seems to have plunged us all into permanent night. What sunlight there is is weak, grey and miserable. You go to work in the dark, you go for lunch in the twilight, and you come home in the pitch black. Your Scandi outdoor life is over – unless you’re a masochist, or perhaps a duck. Every surface is permanently damp and will remain so for the next six months.
This year’s first mörv moment for me came a couple of weeks ago when we took our daughter to a popular playground. Because my wife and child took so long to get ready we underestimated how early it gets dark these days, we arrived with daylight fading fast. The other kids had gone home already, so everything was silent but for the splashing of Poppy’s boots in the mud. The wooden playthings were covered in a treacherous layer of slime. Ugh. Mörv.
Mörv is a word originally coined by Jan Berglin, cartoonist for Svenska Dagbladet. Mörv arrives when the nice part of autumn is over but proper winter is still somewhere in the distant future. Living in a country that has four well-defined seasons is a pleasure, but during mörv the joys of the old season are gone while those of the new have not yet begun.
snip
Baby, it's morv (sic) outside: Sweden's 13th month is here
https://www.thelocal.se/20221124/baby-its-morv-outside-swedens-13th-month-is-here/
https://archive.ph/95HfT
It is a fact little known outside Scandinavia that the year consists not of twelve months, but thirteen. The thirteenth month is sandwiched between November and December, and is known as mörv. (No capital letter for the months in Sweden.)
Mörv expresses the feeling that November is bleak, dark, and seems to go on and on forever. Suddenly there is no daylight. That hour we lost at the end of October seems to have plunged us all into permanent night. What sunlight there is is weak, grey and miserable. You go to work in the dark, you go for lunch in the twilight, and you come home in the pitch black. Your Scandi outdoor life is over – unless you’re a masochist, or perhaps a duck. Every surface is permanently damp and will remain so for the next six months.
This year’s first mörv moment for me came a couple of weeks ago when we took our daughter to a popular playground. Because my wife and child took so long to get ready we underestimated how early it gets dark these days, we arrived with daylight fading fast. The other kids had gone home already, so everything was silent but for the splashing of Poppy’s boots in the mud. The wooden playthings were covered in a treacherous layer of slime. Ugh. Mörv.
Mörv is a word originally coined by Jan Berglin, cartoonist for Svenska Dagbladet. Mörv arrives when the nice part of autumn is over but proper winter is still somewhere in the distant future. Living in a country that has four well-defined seasons is a pleasure, but during mörv the joys of the old season are gone while those of the new have not yet begun.
snip
November 23, 2022
Safety Tips Don't Work!
https://twitter.com/arron_crascall/status/1595110679614455808
November 22, 2022
https://www.thedailybeast.com/former-priest-travis-clark-gets-probation-for-threesome-on-church-altar
A former Catholic priest caught engaging in a sex romp with a pair of dominatrices on a church altar in 2020 has pleaded guilty to felony obscenity charges.
Travis Clark was sentenced to three years of supervised probation after his plea in Louisiana’s 22nd Judicial District Court on Monday. The 39-year-old was serving as pastor at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Pearl River when a passerby noticed lights on at the church late one night in September 2020.
After glimpsing inside, the witness saw Clark, partly naked, in the middle of a threesome on the church altar with two women in corsets. Police soon arrived and discovered sex toys and a tripod-mounted camera that had apparently been filming the steamy scene.
The two women, Mindy Dixon and Melissa Cheng, were later identified as dominatrices; Dixon had reportedly written on social media shortly before the encounter that she and another dominatrix were on their way to “defile a house of God.” They each pleaded guilty in July to a misdemeanor count of institutional vandalism and got two years of supervised probation. The altar was later replaced by the church following what the archbishop called “demonic” desecration.
Read it at The Advocate
Bauhaus - Lagartija Nick
Former Priest Gets Probation for 'Demonic' Threesome on Church Altar
https://www.thedailybeast.com/former-priest-travis-clark-gets-probation-for-threesome-on-church-altar
A former Catholic priest caught engaging in a sex romp with a pair of dominatrices on a church altar in 2020 has pleaded guilty to felony obscenity charges.
Travis Clark was sentenced to three years of supervised probation after his plea in Louisiana’s 22nd Judicial District Court on Monday. The 39-year-old was serving as pastor at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Pearl River when a passerby noticed lights on at the church late one night in September 2020.
After glimpsing inside, the witness saw Clark, partly naked, in the middle of a threesome on the church altar with two women in corsets. Police soon arrived and discovered sex toys and a tripod-mounted camera that had apparently been filming the steamy scene.
The two women, Mindy Dixon and Melissa Cheng, were later identified as dominatrices; Dixon had reportedly written on social media shortly before the encounter that she and another dominatrix were on their way to “defile a house of God.” They each pleaded guilty in July to a misdemeanor count of institutional vandalism and got two years of supervised probation. The altar was later replaced by the church following what the archbishop called “demonic” desecration.
Read it at The Advocate
Bauhaus - Lagartija Nick
November 22, 2022
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/11/donald-trump-2024-running-for-president
A twice-impeached former president announced his third run for the presidency last week from the gold-leafed ballroom of his Palm Beach club. It was inevitable, perhaps, despite many Republicans wishing he’d held off from announcing before next month’s Senate runoff in Georgia. Of course, Trump serving his own needs shouldn’t be surprising given his last disastrous foray into a Georgia runoff, when his refusal to accept his 2020 loss may have helped the Democrats net two Senate seats and control of the chamber.
But the Trump who spoke at Mar-a-Lago wasn’t the terrifying, if occasionally amusing, wannabe autocrat we saw during his four years in the White House. Trump looked diminished. The midterms a week earlier turned out not to be a referendum on the party in power, as had been predicted, but instead another disaster for Trumpism. (Just ask Arizona’s Kari Lake.) This was the third election in which Trump was seen as damaging his party’s performance, following Republicans losing the House in 2018 and the presidency two years later. And it was yet another example of Trumpism’s inability to scale, as a slew of mini-Trumps failed to be elected in battleground states. Sure, some MAGA candidates won in ruby red states, where a jar of peanut butter would have triumphed if it had an R next to its name.
Somber from his recent midterm shellacking, Teleprompter Trump stuck largely to his blander and less incendiary talking points. While Teleprompter Trump is less scary, and perhaps less racist, he is also much less engaging, which became clear as some of the audience reportedly tried to leave midway through the speech. According to The Washington Post, the only current member of Congress to show up was primary-losing, “Dark MAGA” proponent Madison Cawthorn, who is about to have a very empty calendar come January.
Trump’s announcement was met with exhaustion from fact-checkers like the Post’s Glenn Kessler, who summed up the announcement as such: “New Trump campaign, same old falsehoods.” (Kessler knows past Trump falsehoods, having chronicled more than 30,000 false or misleading claims from Trump while he was in office). News outlets, like NPR, didn’t mince words with this excellent, and very factual, lede: “Donald Trump, who tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election and inspired a deadly riot at the Capitol in a desperate attempt to keep himself in power, announced he is running again for president in 2024.” The former president’s early entrance into the next presidential race comes also amid speculation that he is trying to get ahead of potential criminal charges by announcing before he’s indicted. Indeed, as James Carville put it to me in a text: “Hard to win when the picture on your campaign poster is a mug shot.”
snip
Molly Jong-Fast: Donald Trump, Sadly, Can't Be Counted Out
The former president looks diminished post-midterms, and it’s easy to dismiss his 2024 candidacy. But Trump faced doubts from Republican leaders, pundits, and big donors in 2016—and we all know what happened.https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/11/donald-trump-2024-running-for-president
A twice-impeached former president announced his third run for the presidency last week from the gold-leafed ballroom of his Palm Beach club. It was inevitable, perhaps, despite many Republicans wishing he’d held off from announcing before next month’s Senate runoff in Georgia. Of course, Trump serving his own needs shouldn’t be surprising given his last disastrous foray into a Georgia runoff, when his refusal to accept his 2020 loss may have helped the Democrats net two Senate seats and control of the chamber.
But the Trump who spoke at Mar-a-Lago wasn’t the terrifying, if occasionally amusing, wannabe autocrat we saw during his four years in the White House. Trump looked diminished. The midterms a week earlier turned out not to be a referendum on the party in power, as had been predicted, but instead another disaster for Trumpism. (Just ask Arizona’s Kari Lake.) This was the third election in which Trump was seen as damaging his party’s performance, following Republicans losing the House in 2018 and the presidency two years later. And it was yet another example of Trumpism’s inability to scale, as a slew of mini-Trumps failed to be elected in battleground states. Sure, some MAGA candidates won in ruby red states, where a jar of peanut butter would have triumphed if it had an R next to its name.
Somber from his recent midterm shellacking, Teleprompter Trump stuck largely to his blander and less incendiary talking points. While Teleprompter Trump is less scary, and perhaps less racist, he is also much less engaging, which became clear as some of the audience reportedly tried to leave midway through the speech. According to The Washington Post, the only current member of Congress to show up was primary-losing, “Dark MAGA” proponent Madison Cawthorn, who is about to have a very empty calendar come January.
Trump’s announcement was met with exhaustion from fact-checkers like the Post’s Glenn Kessler, who summed up the announcement as such: “New Trump campaign, same old falsehoods.” (Kessler knows past Trump falsehoods, having chronicled more than 30,000 false or misleading claims from Trump while he was in office). News outlets, like NPR, didn’t mince words with this excellent, and very factual, lede: “Donald Trump, who tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election and inspired a deadly riot at the Capitol in a desperate attempt to keep himself in power, announced he is running again for president in 2024.” The former president’s early entrance into the next presidential race comes also amid speculation that he is trying to get ahead of potential criminal charges by announcing before he’s indicted. Indeed, as James Carville put it to me in a text: “Hard to win when the picture on your campaign poster is a mug shot.”
snip
November 22, 2022
https://www.thelocal.se/20221121/i-thought-russia-was-coming-stockholm-echoes-to-thundersnow/
“I thought Russia was coming!” a colleague at The Local said of the thundersnow which boomed over Stockholm early on Monday morning. In the early hours of Monday morning, several parts of Sweden experienced the rare weather event, with the loud bangs causing residents of Södertälje to call the police to report gunshots.
Thunder is usually associated with humid summer evenings, but it can also occur in the winter, meteorologist Alexandra Ohlsson from Sweden’s Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) told TT newswire. Monday’s thundersnow occurred primarily in the Stockholm area and on Gotland, but was also seen in other parts of the country.
“In Stockholm, thunder started just after midnight, continuing until around 1 o’clock this morning, but during the morning there have been a few bouts of thunder in parts of Götaland and Svealand, with one in Gävleborg as well,” Ohlsson told TT. The phenomenon most commonly occurs in coastal regions of southern Sweden, where cold air moves over water which is still warm, she explained.
“When it comes in over land, enough static can have built up in the air that we get a lightning discharge,” she said. A few lightning bolts striking during winter is “more common than you might think,” Ohlsson said, “but it’s not so common that you have widespread thunder.”
snip
'I thought Russia was coming': Stockholm shaken by thundersnow
Some areas of Sweden experienced snow, thunder and lightning at the same time early on Monday morning, in a rare weather phenomenon known as "thundersnow".https://www.thelocal.se/20221121/i-thought-russia-was-coming-stockholm-echoes-to-thundersnow/
“I thought Russia was coming!” a colleague at The Local said of the thundersnow which boomed over Stockholm early on Monday morning. In the early hours of Monday morning, several parts of Sweden experienced the rare weather event, with the loud bangs causing residents of Södertälje to call the police to report gunshots.
Thunder is usually associated with humid summer evenings, but it can also occur in the winter, meteorologist Alexandra Ohlsson from Sweden’s Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) told TT newswire. Monday’s thundersnow occurred primarily in the Stockholm area and on Gotland, but was also seen in other parts of the country.
“In Stockholm, thunder started just after midnight, continuing until around 1 o’clock this morning, but during the morning there have been a few bouts of thunder in parts of Götaland and Svealand, with one in Gävleborg as well,” Ohlsson told TT. The phenomenon most commonly occurs in coastal regions of southern Sweden, where cold air moves over water which is still warm, she explained.
“When it comes in over land, enough static can have built up in the air that we get a lightning discharge,” she said. A few lightning bolts striking during winter is “more common than you might think,” Ohlsson said, “but it’s not so common that you have widespread thunder.”
snip
November 22, 2022
SMART Transportation Division, a major union representing about 28,000 rail conductors, turned down on Monday a collective bargaining agreement that the Biden administration arranged in September, with 51 percent rejecting it.
All 12 freight rail unions must agree to ratify the five-year deal set up by the White House, but four have already rejected it, according to USA Today. The rail conductors’ union, along with the other three smaller unions, are at odds with seven freight rail unions and another major union representing about 57,000 rail engineers, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, who approved of the deal.
But with the Dec. 8 agreement deadline encroaching, a freight rail strike that seemed to be prevented two months ago now appears more likely, according to USA Today.
The strike, which could start on Dec. 9, may cut off certain goods and food shipments like grain, and disrupt transportation like Amtrak, before the holidays and impact the economy, USA Today reported. If a deal isn’t agreed upon, Congress could step in.
Read it at USA Today
Rail Strike Looms as Yet Another Union Rejects Biden Deal
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rail-strike-looms-as-yet-another-union-rejects-biden-dealSMART Transportation Division, a major union representing about 28,000 rail conductors, turned down on Monday a collective bargaining agreement that the Biden administration arranged in September, with 51 percent rejecting it.
All 12 freight rail unions must agree to ratify the five-year deal set up by the White House, but four have already rejected it, according to USA Today. The rail conductors’ union, along with the other three smaller unions, are at odds with seven freight rail unions and another major union representing about 57,000 rail engineers, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, who approved of the deal.
But with the Dec. 8 agreement deadline encroaching, a freight rail strike that seemed to be prevented two months ago now appears more likely, according to USA Today.
The strike, which could start on Dec. 9, may cut off certain goods and food shipments like grain, and disrupt transportation like Amtrak, before the holidays and impact the economy, USA Today reported. If a deal isn’t agreed upon, Congress could step in.
Read it at USA Today
November 21, 2022
Along with okonomiyaki, takoyaki is Osaka’s famous food.
Takoyaki is ball-shaped food made of a flour-based batter and has chopped octopus inside.Takoyaki is usually topped with mayonnaise, dried bonito flakes, and green seaweed flakes, as well as sauce.
Takoyaki has a root in akashiyaki. Akashiyaki is known as a regional cuisine of Akashi city in Hyogo Prefecture.
Osaka vs Hiroshima Okonomiyaki | Which one is better? ★ ONLY in JAPAN
Okonomiyaki is considered the soul food of both Osaka and Hiroshima, and both styles are must-try dishes in Japan ー but how are they different?
Let’s go to Hiroshima and Osaka to learn from local chefs and see what’s inside those savory pancakes. What exactly are the ingredients? Which okonomiyaki do we recommend?
Nicknamed “Japanese Pizza” or “Japanese Savory Pancake” Okonomiyaki is a fun dish served all over the country on teppanyaki tables but no where is there a passion for it than in Hiroshima and Osaka.
Hiroshima vs Osaka!
Osaka vs Hiroshima!
In this episode, Kevin Riley and John Daub battle it out discussing why they like each one. Kevin is a long term resident of Osaka for over 20 years. John lived in Hiroshima twice, a regular customer at the city's Okonomimura (Okonomiyaki Town).
Amazing skill of Takoyaki Master: Korean take on Japanese streetfood + Osaka v Hiroshima Okonomiyaki
Along with okonomiyaki, takoyaki is Osaka’s famous food.
Takoyaki is ball-shaped food made of a flour-based batter and has chopped octopus inside.Takoyaki is usually topped with mayonnaise, dried bonito flakes, and green seaweed flakes, as well as sauce.
Takoyaki has a root in akashiyaki. Akashiyaki is known as a regional cuisine of Akashi city in Hyogo Prefecture.
Osaka vs Hiroshima Okonomiyaki | Which one is better? ★ ONLY in JAPAN
Okonomiyaki is considered the soul food of both Osaka and Hiroshima, and both styles are must-try dishes in Japan ー but how are they different?
Let’s go to Hiroshima and Osaka to learn from local chefs and see what’s inside those savory pancakes. What exactly are the ingredients? Which okonomiyaki do we recommend?
Nicknamed “Japanese Pizza” or “Japanese Savory Pancake” Okonomiyaki is a fun dish served all over the country on teppanyaki tables but no where is there a passion for it than in Hiroshima and Osaka.
Hiroshima vs Osaka!
Osaka vs Hiroshima!
In this episode, Kevin Riley and John Daub battle it out discussing why they like each one. Kevin is a long term resident of Osaka for over 20 years. John lived in Hiroshima twice, a regular customer at the city's Okonomimura (Okonomiyaki Town).
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