March 15, 2022

Get Paid Over $2,000 to Get Married in This Iconic Italian Region

You can spend the money on a cake, food, vendors, or anything else for your wedding.

https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/destination-wedding-get-paid-to-get-married-in-italy



Getting married is expensive, no matter where you have your wedding. But, destination weddings can be incredibly pricey and are often considered out of reach for most couples. But the capital region of Italy, Lazio, has an incentive that might tempt even the most budget-minded pairs to think about going abroad for their wedding or civil union.

The region, home to the city of Rome, is offering couples who get married in Lazio €2,000 (about $2,214) that they can put toward wedding expenses. Time Out reports that in recent years, the number of weddings that happen in the region each year has dropped from 15,000 to 9,000. By offering this money for couples to put toward their big day, Lazio officials are hoping it will pay off in bringing more tourist dollars to a region in desperate need of it. After two years of a pandemic that hit Italy particularly hard, this program has a fund of €10 million to bring back businesses to industries most affected.

To take advantage of this offer, you'll have to fill out a form on Lazio's official website. The entire page is written in Italian, so this might be a bit tricky. If you don't have anyone in your life that could help you translate, Google offers a rough translation of the page. Italian couples and foreign couples are eligible to apply. You'll have until January 31, 2023, or when the funds run out to submit your application.

You can use the funds toward any expenses from businesses based in the Lazio region that are relevant to your wedding or civil union. This ranges from cakes and catering to wedding rings and ceremony spaces. The program will basically reimburse you for money spent up to €2,000 as long as you have receipts proving the transaction happened in person at a business in Lazio. If you've been looking for a sign that you should get married in Italy, this is a giant one!

snip

March 15, 2022

Explained: Why isn't Sweden part of the Nato security alliance?

The debate over Nato membership is raging in Sweden following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We look at why Sweden never joined in the first place.

https://www.thelocal.se/20220314/explained-why-isnt-sweden-part-of-nato-and-should-it-join-now/



snip

Why isn’t Sweden part of Nato already?

After the end of the Second World War, Sweden at first attempted to bolster its security in the face of the Soviet Union by creating a Nordic Defence Union with Denmark and Norway, with intense negotiations taking place throughout 1948. After this attempt failed in 1949, Denmark and Norway became two of the twelve founder members of Nato, while Sweden and its eastern neighbour Finland opted to stay outside the new security alliance. Instead, Sweden declared a security policy aiming for “non-alignment in peace with the goal of neutrality in war”.

According to Mikael Holmström, author of The Hidden Alliance – Sweden’s secret ties to Nato, Östen Undén, Sweden’s left-wing foreign minister at the time, did not want to be beholden to the US. “He was sceptical of America and the American capitalistic system, and had a more friendly attitude, or at least a less sceptical one, towards the Soviet Union,” he told The Local.

During the 40 years of unbroken Social Democrat rule in Sweden which ended in 1976, neutrality became part of a broader vision of Sweden taking the “middle way” between the rival systems of the US and the Soviet Union. “We had this blandekonomi [mixed economy] which was neither capitalist nor communist. We had this fantastic mixture in Sweden. It was the Swedish image — economically, politically and militarily — something Sweden projected abroad. And it was also a moral thing, that Sweden in a way was superior to both the East bloc and the West bloc.”

How far back does Sweden’s neutral stance go?

Sweden has maintained a neutral stance since 1814, when its troops invaded Denmark and then forced it to hand over its territories in Norway in the Treaty of Kiel. It stuck to its neutral stance through both the First World War and the Second World War, and was rewarded with rapid industrial development as it supplied the warring powers. “You have to remember that the policy of neutrality had been successful,” Holmström says of the situation in 1949. “All Sweden’s neighbours had been drawn into the war, so they [the Social Democrats] didn’t want to change the policy.”

snip



my add


We are a part of the NATO Response force, as well as being part of:


Press release from Ministry of Defence



Sweden takes part in Joint Expeditionary Force exercise

https://www.government.se/press-releases/2022/03/sweden-takes-part-in-joint-expeditionary-force-exercise/


UK Joint Expeditionary Force

The UK Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) is a United Kingdom-led expeditionary force which may consist of, as necessary, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway.





Finland, Sweden to receive enhanced access to NATO intel over Ukraine

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine extends Moscow’s military power to the borders of several NATO members, NATO partners Finland and Sweden can be part of an intensified exchange of information and NATO’s strategic communication.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/defence-and-security/news/finland-sweden-to-receive-enhanced-access-to-nato-intel-over-ukraine/

“Sweden and Finland may, if they so wish on a case-by-case basis, participate in enhanced contacts with NATO, enhanced information exchange and coordination, information on operations and strategic communications,” Finnish President Sauli Niinistö confirmed to reporters after a virtual NATO summit on Friday (26 February). NATO partners Finland, Sweden and the EU were also invited to participate.

“It is not in itself something revolutionary, but it should be noted that all countries see this as the right arrangement,” Niinistö said, adding this would not equal the possibility of Finland joining NATO. In practice, this means that the two countries could participate in enhanced intelligence-sharing and strategic communications on a case-by-case basis.

Based on the arrangement, Finland could, for example, request confidential information from NATO or vice versa, while the respective holder of the information would decide whether to provide the information. According to diplomatic sources, NATO leaders on Friday discussed the special role of both since “they need to be fully informed because of their strategic position for Russia”.

Finland and Sweden are two of six countries known as ‘enhanced partners’, largely due to their contributions to NATO operations. As such, they have options when it comes to cooperation. In recent months, NATO has stepped up cooperation focusing on security in the Baltic Sea region, which includes political consultations, exchanges of information on hybrid warfare, and joint exercises.

snip


these are some of the military/defence groups we (Sweden, plus Finland) are in

There seems to be a misunderstanding here by some who think Finland and Sweden are all alone, twisting in the wind, simply because we are not full NATO members. I can assure all that that is not the case, we both cooperate deeply with NATO already.


Nordic Defence Cooperation




Nordic Battlegroup




National participation in the principal European and trans-Atlantic defence arrangements









NATO Relations with Sweden

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_52535.htm






Baltic Sea security - a shared priority for 🇸🇪Sweden and NATO

March 15, 2022

How an Electric Truck Factory Became a Lightning Rod in Georgia

The governor hailed the factory as an economic boon that would put Georgia at the vanguard of the green economy. Not everyone liked the idea.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/climate/rivian-georgia-kemp-perdue.html


Former Senator David Perdue at a rally this month in Rutledge, Ga., against a proposed Rivian electric truck assembly plant. Credit...Matthew Odom for The New York Times

It is billed as the largest economic development project in the history of Georgia, an electric vehicle factory that could grow to be five times as large as the Pentagon and produce as many as 400,000 emissions-free trucks a year.

The factory, to be built by the upstart electric automaker Rivian, is being heralded by many as a transformational $5 billion investment that will invigorate the local economy with 7,500 new green jobs and help accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy.

It has also created an unlikely pairing, uniting Rivian, a California company committed to combating climate change, and Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, in a bid to bring electric vehicle production into an area where gas-guzzling pickups rule the road.

But in recent months, the project has gotten tangled in the kind of partisan politics that is pulsing through many aspects of American life. Opponents have been holding rallies, organizing online, dabbling in conspiracy theories and even threatening local officials.

snip

March 15, 2022

First Amendment Scholars Want to See the Media Lose These Cases

Some legal experts say it is time to draw a sharp line between protected speech and harmful disinformation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/13/business/media/fox-news-first-amendment-sullivan.html



The lawyers and First Amendment scholars who have made it their life’s work to defend the well-established but newly threatened constitutional protections for journalists don’t usually root for the media to lose in court.

But that’s what is happening with a series of recent defamation lawsuits against right-wing outlets that legal experts say could be the most significant libel litigation in recent memory.

The suits, which are being argued in several state and federal courts, accuse Project Veritas, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, One America News and others of intentionally promoting and profiting from false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election, and of smearing innocent civil servants and businesses in the process.

If the outlets prevail, these experts say, the results will call into question more than a half-century of precedent that created a clear legal framework for establishing when news organizations can be held liable for publishing something that’s not true.

snip

March 15, 2022

Tory row as law barring import of hunting trophies set to be axed

‘Wealthy peers’ in the party blamed for lobbying against animal welfare measures in case they affect shooting in UK

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/14/proposed-law-banning-import-of-hunting-trophies-to-be-scrapped



Conservatives are blaming a “handful of very wealthy peers” who make up the shooting and hunting lobby over the news that legislation banning the import of hunting trophies is to be scrapped.

The animals abroad bill contained measures including banning adverts for holidays that include elephant rides. It was to be a flagship bill signalling to the world that post-Brexit Britain was a world leader in animal rights, legislating against animal cruelty abroad. Most significantly, it included a commitment to ban the import of endangered animal parts.

But over the weekend it emerged that the bill was no longer likely to be implemented. Government sources said it had been scrapped, and that manifesto commitments including the trophy hunting import ban would no longer take place in this parliament. The government has officially blamed a lack of parliamentary time to implement the bill, elements of which were promised in the 2019 Conservative manifesto.

Ministers have blamed lobbying from the traditional wing of the party for No 10’s change of heart over the bill. A senior government source said: “A handful of crusties have managed to seize control. A handful of very wealthy peers are pressing for all the animal welfare measures to be dropped because they fear eventually it might mean their weekends could be affected.”

snip

March 15, 2022

MSNBC Deletes Michael McFaul's Comment That Hitler Didn't Kill 'Ethnic Germans'

Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, admitted Saturday he did not know his Holocaust and WWII history.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/msnbc-deletes-former-us-ambassador-michael-mcfauls-comment-that-hitler-didnt-kill-ethnic-germans



MSNBC propped up—and then scrubbed—former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul’s false suggestion on Friday that Adolf Hitler did not order the deaths of “ethnic Germans” during the Holocaust while he condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine.

McFaul offered his take on The Rachel Maddow Show Friday night, saying he heard a Ukrainian commentator and a Russian journalist say that Hitler did not kill “ethnic Germans” compared to Putin’s attacks against Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens. McFaul expressed his agreement with the false sentiment, despite people throughout Europe—including in Germany—suffering violent deaths during the Holocaust.

MSNBC later tweeted out McFaul’s statement without attribution Friday night, instead linking to a clip of his comments. “One difference between Putin and Hitler is that Hitler didn’t kill ethnic Germans, German-speaking people,” the tweet, which has since been deleted, read. “Putin slaughters the very people he said he has come to liberate.”

McFaul was promptly bashed on Twitter for believing the statement was permissible in the first place. He initially apologized for the remarks Saturday morning, attributing the ignorance of history, after a career in international diplomacy, to a long day of television appearances.

snip

https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/1502667695745114114

March 15, 2022

Inspired by its dramatic setting, two architects design an urban 'cabin in the woods' in East Berlin

https://www.themodernhouse.com/journal/cabin-the-woods-east-berlin-my-modern-house/











When designing a new project, many architects will hunt for clues in the surrounding landscape as their starting point. Local plants, landmarks and building materials can all inform the design process in wonderful and unexpected ways. For the creators of this family home in Berlin, a city with more green space than most, it was the tall fir trees dwarfing the existing house that provided the first sparks of inspiration. The owners, Oskar Söllner and Insa Wagner, work together as architects at their Berlin practice, Söllner Wagner, which designs a mix of residential and public projects. In 2013, they had found themselves in need of a new home after their rented apartment went on the market, a predicament familiar to many in Berlin.









The oversized fir trees that surrounded the house they found were the initial inspiration for what came to be known as the Waldhaus. Built in just one year, the project was an experiment in hand-building a sustainable timber house without a construction company. With its steep gable roof, black-painted larch walls and rustic setting, the Waldhaus now looks like something out of an urban fairytale. Here the couple share their experience of designing a family home, and the mix of cutting-edge, sustainable materials and traditional German craftsmanship that drove the build.











Oskar: “We weren’t planning to move but found ourselves thinking about a new home unexpectedly when we were told that our landlord wanted to sell up. We were living in an Altbau apartment built in the Gründerzeithaus, or Founders, period (1870-1914) in Pankow, which we had recently renovated. We had the option to either buy the apartment ourselves, or to stay on as tenants, most likely with increased rent. “However, the rent was already high and we wanted a garden and some more living space for our two young daughters.









So we started looking around for either a place to buy, or somewhere to build. We came across this block by chance while out walking one day, and quickly decided to buy it. “We had already designed many houses at our architectural practice, and renovated an old country house. We knew that this time we didn’t want to renovate yet again, but instead to try building a house ourselves from timber, with a garden-side studio. “The block is on a quiet street in Pankow, a characterful suburb in East Berlin with a mix of housing, including old villas, houses from the Thirties and post-war housing, with the Schonhausen Palace and parklands nearby. “The existing house wasn’t worth renovating, as it was very run down, but we liked the huge fir trees that surrounded it. These gave us the idea of designing a cabin in the woods, which we named the Waldhaus.”

snip

March 14, 2022

'Your father is murderer!' Protesters hold demo outside the London flat of the 'stepdaughter' of

Russia's war-mongering minister Sergei Lavrov as campaigners call for her to be sanctioned

Angry crowds and campaigners have called on Polina Kovaleva to be sanctioned
The 26-year-old is the daughter Lavrov's alleged mistress, Svetlana Polyakova

The Russian Foreign Minister is one of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies
Activists say family members of Putin's inner circle need to be targeted as well

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10608219/Your-father-murderer-Crowds-protest-outside-London-flat-Sergei-Lavrovs-stepdaughter.html

Angry protesters have gathered outside the London flat of the stepdaughter of warmongering Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. Polina Kovaleva, has been living a life of luxury in her £4.4 million Kensington property, much to the disgust of people protesting her father's involvement in the war in Ukraine. The 26-year-old is reported to be the daughter of Lavrov's mistress, with activists saying she has benefited from her stepfather's influence.

Yesterday a crowd gathered outside her address with signs proclaiming as 'Polina Kovaleva daughter of Russian war criminal Sergei Lavrov launders his money here'. Others held signs with a picture of her face and the words 'war criminal's daughter' underneath, a reference to her stepfather's role in Vladimir Putin's inner circle.




Land Registry documents show Polina purchased an apartment (pictured above) in Kensington, west London, for £4.4million with no mortgage in 2016, when she was aged just 21













Lavrov (centre) is said to have been in a relationship with Svetlana Polyakova (right) for the past two decades. Polyakova is a powerful member of the Russian foreign ministry and is described as Lavrov's unofficial wife. She accompanies him on foreign trips

March 14, 2022

With discussions about the death penalty, potential hangings & not letting morality stand in the way

Russian state TV is obviously working to desensitize the public for the upcoming atrocities in Ukraine. Case in point, this clip from Sunday's show (warning: sensitive content).

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1503210849166577667

March 14, 2022

Ukraine crisis: US warns China against helping Russia

The US says China will face harsh "consequences" if it aids Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, according to US media reports.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-60732486



Unnamed officials reportedly told multiple US news outlets that Russia asked China to provide military assistance after it began the invasion.

The Chinese foreign ministry described the allegation as disinformation from the US. The exchanges come as top US and China officials prepare to meet in Rome.

US media outlets, citing Washington officials, say that Russia has in recent days asked China specifically for military equipment, including drones.

In a CNN interview, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said they were "communicating directly, privately to Beijing that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them".

snip