‘Where Is the Money?’ Military Graft Becomes a Headache for Ukraine

The removal of the defense minister highlights the enduring challenge of corruption in Ukraine, which has emerged as a rare area of criticism of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership.

The removal of Ukraine’s minister of defense after a flurry of reports of graft and financial mismanagement in his department underscores a pivotal challenge for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wartime leadership: stamping out the corruption that had been widespread in Ukraine for years.

Official corruption was a topic that had been mostly taboo throughout the first year of the war, as Ukrainians rallied around their government in a fight for national survival. But Mr. Zelensky’s announcement Sunday night that he was replacing the defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, elevated the issue to the highest level of Ukrainian politics.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia"

Elon and the ADL

The ADL are a left wing hate group who have long ago squandered their former public goodwill.

Rather than fight anti-semitism they censor opinions they don’t like, consistently “right wing opinions.”

They are in same category as the SPLC or Bernie. Not to be trusted.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inAnti-Defamation League

Israel Should Back the Right to Burn the Quran in Europe

Denmark’s government has announced a bill seeking to ban the public burning of the Quran. Expected to pass by the end of this year, the law prescribe a two-year jail-term, and a fine, for the
“inappropriate handling of objects with essential religious significance for a religious community.”

The move comes amidst rising terror threat levels after a string of Quran-burning incidents in Denmark and Sweden, with the latter, too, under pressure to take action.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and violence, Islamization of the West

An honest debate about gun violence statistics

I doubt there’s a more maligned character in the debate over gun rights than Dr. John Lott. Just ask any gun control activist. They can’t stand him. His research often refutes their favorite narratives. His command of the data often leaves them little refuge. I’ve had the opportunity to meet and talk with Dr. Lott on occasion since 2018. I’ve found him knowledgable, willing to test a hypothesis, willing to have his ideas and research challenged. In short, when I look back at his work, I’m convinced it’s less about defining gun policy and more about getting to a set of facts that should influence gun policy. Hence the animus.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inGun Control, Gun Rights

Burning Man festivalgoers on the mood from the mud

More than 70,000 people have been waiting to leave the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert after heavy rain turned the ground into a swamp.

Although some people have been able to leave the site as conditions improve, others have found it impossible to drive away – with stranded vehicles spinning their wheels in the mud.

The event’s finale – the burning of the man – has been postponed until Monday.

Some revellers need to get out while others are going with the flow. Here’s what some of them had to say.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Dystopia At Last"

India: The Land of Deprived Childhood

The welfare of children has long been a concern in India. Aware of this need, the founding fathers of independent India in 1949 wrote a Constitution that prohibits employing children under the age of 14 in factories and other hazardous work (Article 24).

India’s Parliament has also tried to safeguard children’s rights by passing legislation . The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 makes employing a child a criminal offence.[1] Parliament has also enacted other laws to prohibit, identify and prosecute child labour.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inChild Abuse, India

Electric Vehicles Exposed to Saltwater Can Burst Into Flames, Authorities Warn

Hurricane Idalia and subsequent floods have created an electric vehicle (EV) fire risk in Florida as batteries exposed to saltwater become susceptible to combustion, based on statements from one of the fire departments in the state.

“WARNING. If you own a hybrid or electric vehicle that has come into contact with saltwater due to recent flooding within the last 24 hours, it is crucial to relocate the vehicle from your garage without delay. Saltwater exposure can trigger combustion in lithium-ion batteries. If possible, transfer your vehicle to higher ground,” Palm Harbor Fire Rescue (PHFR), Florida, said in an Aug. 31 Facebook post.

Few Are Trading In Dangerous E-Bikes for Safer Ones, Despite Fire Risk

After a spate of deadly lithium battery fires in New York City, an e-bike trade-in program began to offer brand-new e-bikes certified to industry safety standards at discounted prices to delivery workers who brought in their old ones.

But the pilot program — which initially asked $1,900 for the new e-bikes — has yielded just three trade-ins since July: two e-bikes and an e-scooter.

The meager result illustrates just how difficult it will be to get uncertified e-bikes away from the public and put safer ones into the hands of their heaviest users, the city’s 60,000-plus delivery workers.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"EV's - Electric Vehicles"

Chinese Gate-Crashers at U.S. Bases Spark Espionage Concerns

WASHINGTON—Chinese nationals, sometimes posing as tourists, have accessed military bases and other sensitive sites in the U.S. as many as 100 times in recent years, according to U.S. officials, who describe the incidents as a potential espionage threat.

The Defense Department, FBI and other agencies held a review last year to try to limit these incidents, which involve people who officials have dubbed gate-crashers because of their attempts—either by accident or intentionally—to get onto U.S. military bases and other installations without proper authorization. They range from Chinese nationals found crossing into a U.S. missile range in New Mexico to what appeared to be scuba divers swimming in murky waters near a U.S. government rocket-launch site in Florida.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State", USA

He’s Wanted in a 1970 Bombing. The F.B.I. Aged His Photo to Seek Tips.

The suspect, Leo F. Burt, has evaded capture since the anti-Vietnam War bombing at the University of Wisconsin, which was considered the largest act of domestic terrorism at the time.

In the more than 50 years since a bomb ripped through a mathematics center at the University of Wisconsin, killing a graduate student and injuring several others in what was considered an attack protesting the Vietnam War, the F.B.I. has received hundreds of tips about the whereabouts of one of the suspects, Leo F. Burt.

Just weeks after the attack on Aug. 24, 1970, a waitress in Cleveland was convinced that she had seen him. Years later, another tipster thought he had spotted Mr. Burt at a homeless shelter in Denver. One man said he had seen the fugitive working at a resort in Costa Rica. But Mr. Burt was never found.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime

CHARLEBOIS: The bitter truth of a sugar tax

In today’s world, there is an undeniable push for the imposition of sugar taxes.

A study published in June by the Journal of the American Medical Association has shed light on this issue, revealing the existence of 118 sugar taxes worldwide, including 105 national taxes and 13 subnational taxes, impacting 51% of the global population. It’s worth noting that this approach receives substantial support from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Taxes in Canada have long passed the “for the public good” threshold.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, WTF?

Pope acknowledges his Russia comments were faulty

Sept 4 (Reuters) – Pope Francis acknowledged on Monday that his recent comments on Russia, seen by Ukraine as praise for imperialism, were badly phrased and said his intention was to remind young Russians of a great cultural heritage and not a political one.

Speaking to reporters aboard the plane returning from Mongolia, Francis also said he wanted to assure China, with which the Vatican has difficult relations, that the Catholic Church has no ulterior motives and should not be seen as a foreign power.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inPope Francis