Pussy Galore have released have released their first English language song I Can't Breathe. The song is a tribute to Eric Garner. The death of Garner became a huge civil rights and police brutality issue after Garner died during his arrest.
New York City medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide.
Eric Garner, 43, died after being placed in a chokehold that caused him to suffer neck and chest compressions during his arrest two weeks ago in the Tompkinsville section of Staten Island, according to findings released by the New York City medical examiner’s office. Garner’s weight, chronic asthma and cardiovascular disease were listed as contributing factors.
A grand jury choose not to indict the officers involved in Garner's arrest.
Russian Priest Alexander Shumsky believes the World Cup promotes homosexuality. I believe the World Cup promotes watching a boring sport but opinions differ. The Moscow Times has some gems from Shumsky's blog post.
"Wearing pink or blue shoes, [the players] might as well wear women's panties or a bra," Shumsky wrote, adding that he was also offended by the "unthinkable" hairstyles of some of the players in Brazil.
For a straight guy Shumsky is really obsessed with clothes.
Shumsky channels Ann Coulter and claims that the World Cup is a conspiracy to spread liberalism.
"The liberal ideology of globalism clearly wants to oppose Christianity with football. I'm sure of it. Therefore I am glad that the Russian players have failed and, by the grace of God, no longer participate in this homosexual abomination," the priest wrote in his online column.
I take it this Jesus figurine would not be a good gift for Shumsky.
Vladimir Putin didn't learn how to play hockey until he was 60 years-old. Yet Putin manage to score 6 goals and 5 assists against Sochi. The Russian team Sochi is made of several former NHL players. Putin skated at amazingly slow speed and managed not to get checked once during the game. Can we say fixed?
We are to believe that Vladimir Putin came out onto the ice and suddenly became Wayne Gretzky in his prime. This is hysterical.
It is nice to know Russia has their own version of Bill O'Reilly. Dmitry Kiselev, a host of the Russian news show News Hour told his audience that Russia could reduce the United States to "radioactive ash." It's nice to see that Kiselev is trying to be the voice of reason.
Politisite has the English translation.
“Russia – the only country in the world, capable of transforming the U.S. into radioactive ash ! I do not know whether the match , but Obama called Putin on January 21 , but the next day , literally January 22, as the official organ of the Russian government appears article [ in "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" ], where quite lucidly chewed how our system works guaranteed nuclear retaliation “Perimeter” . In the U.S., call her dead hand – « dead hand .” Even if all the people in our command posts after enemy nuclear attack silenced , invulnerable system will automatically send to our strategic missile flight from mines and submarines in the right direction “, – announced Kiselev , recommending interesting to read in ” Rossiyskaya Gazeta ” , calling it ” extremely interesting . ”
Kiselev is either extremely stupid or a total Russian propaganda tool. Kiselev is discussing nuclear warfare as a viable option to end the diplomatic disagreement between the United States and Russia over the Ukraine. What nuclear war would likely do is kill every single person on the planet.
The good news is Russia has television pundits just as stupid as America's talking heads.
"And that is why, personally, I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin," Wahl said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Wahl told Anderson Cooper that staffers at Russia Today were forced to whitewash the coverage of the international crisis in the Ukraine.
"RT is not about the truth; it's about promoting a Putinist agenda," Wahl told CNN. "And I can tell you firsthand, it's about bashing America."
Russia Today is funded by the Russian government. Wahl is an American journalist. She was formerly employed in the RT Washington bureau.
New Republic Senior Editor Julia Ioffe tore Lawrence O'Donnell to pieces in her column. Ioffe has reported from Russia for three years. O'Donnell doesn't let Ioffe's superior knowledge in Russia politics get in the way of his narrative of Vladimir Putin having Godlike powers. Ioffe explains in her column.
* Vladimir Putin is not omnipotent. He does not control everything that happens in the Russian Federation, a vast and often inhospitable landmass that spans 10 time zones.
* Similarly, Barack Obama does not have total control over the minutiae of the United States of America.
* Putin does not orchestrate, he reacts. Putin is no chess player. He is a knee-jerk, short-sighted little tyrant. Don't give him credit where credit isn't due.
* Americans, especially Americans who have never been to Russia, overestimate the abilities of both Putin and the Russians. Because, I mean, come on. Tank!
* The Russians did not create the Snowden situation; Julian Assange and the U.S. government did. Assange insinuated himself into the situation and sent Snowden to Ecuador (the country granting him asylum) through Russia (his great friend).
* The Obama administration trapped Snowden in Russia. The U.S. unsealed the charges before it had Snowden in custody, revoked his passport, then downed the plane of the president of a sovereign state over other sovereign states because it thought Snowden was on board. The only place, by design, where Snowden could go was back to the U.S. Where he was charged with espionage, for which the maximum punishment is death.
Russia is a brutal place where whistleblowers are harassed and killed, but Russia, unlike the U.S., has no death penalty. And it is only because the Russians made a stink about it, that Eric Holder was forced to come out and assure the Russians that Edward Snowden won't be put to death. This happened over a month after Snowden's arrival in Moscow, and after the charges of espionage were unsealed.
* If a Russian Edward Snowden ended up in JFK Airport, there is no way in hell we'd turn him over to the Russians. Not in a hundred years, and not ever.
* You can't back Putin into a corner and leave him no options. If you are a world leader worth your salt, and have a good diplomatic team working for you, you would know that. You would also know that when dealing with thugs like Putin, you know that things like this are better handled quietly. Here's the thing: Putin responds to shows of strength, but only if he has room to maneuver. You can't publicly shame him into doing something, it's not going to get a good response. Just like it would not get a good response out of Obama.
* The Obama administration totally fucked this up. I mean, totally. Soup to nuts. Remember the spy exchange in the summer of 2010? Ten Russian sleeper agents—which is not what Snowden is—were uncovered by the FBI in the U.S. Instead of kicking up a massive, public stink over it, the Kremlin and the White House arranged for their silent transfer to Russia in exchange for four people accused in Russia of spying for the U.S. Two planes landed on the tarmac in Vienna, ten people went one way, four people went the other way, the planes flew off, and that was it. That's how this should have been done if the U.S. really wanted Snowden back.
* However, the decision to blow off the Moscow summit was a good one. See yesterday's post.
* I am not a Putin apologist. I think he and his people do bad things, like kill people and fleece the country for its wealth. But neither do I think he's oppressing the Russian masses. He is their most extreme and natural, their most post-Soviet manifestation.
There.
European countries view the death penalty differently than the United States. Putin would have received grief domestically if Snowden was sent back to the United States to be executed. Putin cares more about his poll numbers than the United States justice system. Putin doesn't have a love for whistleblowers. Putin just doesn't need the grief.
Ioffe made an important point of the United States forcing Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane to land in Austria is important. Putin would have looked weak if he gave up Snowden after the Bolivia incident. Vladimir Putin never wants to appear weak. Ioffe pointed out that Putin would only give up Snowden if he could save face. The United States never provided that option. It didn't help with the heavy-handed language coming from members of Congress. Of course, Donnell didn't want to hear nuance, so he yelled over Ioffe. That explains why Ioffe will likely never appear on O'Donnell's show again.
My main beef with O'Donnell is not that he wouldn't let me make these 11 points—because, let's face it, that's not what the TV is for—but that he did exactly the same shit Russians did to me when I was in Russia. They assumed that the U.S. and its government was one sleek, well-functioning monolith, that Obama was omnipotent, and that everyone in the world, including other important (and nuclear!) world leaders, act and must act as Russia demands it should, using Russian foreign policy calculus, and with only Russian interests in mind.
Sound ridiculous? Believe me, it sounds just as insane in reverse. The problem is that this was not in the ranting comments section, but was coming from the host of a prime time, national television show. And if you don't have the good sense and education or, hell, the reporting experience to know better, then just let the guests you invited on speak.
Otherwise, don't waste my fucking evening.
In Russia, Edward Snowden held a press conference, in the company of Sarah Harrison of Wikileaks. Snowden made this statement to the media.
Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone’s communications at any time. That is the power to change people’s fates.
It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice – that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.
I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."
Accordingly, I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice.
That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets.
Wikileaks reports that the US Ambassador to Russia told Human Rights Watch that the United States government does not consider Snowden a whistleblower. The Ambassador asked Human Rights Watch to relay this message to Snowden.The United States government considers Snowden a fugitive.
The Russian parliament passed a bill 434-0 that would make it illegal to tell children of the existence of gay people or homosexuals should be treated with the same equality of heterosexuals. You will be less than shocked to learn that Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party is the driving force behind the bill. What is even more important is that bad laws always lead to confusion. Some Russians are wondering if Elton John could be prosecuted under the law.
Fines for breaking the law will be up to £100 for individuals, £1,000 for officials, and £20,000 for organisations. Already there have been doubts about how to define propaganda, with a group of Communists in southern Russia complaining that Elton John’s stage outfits should be considered “homosexual propaganda”.
Putin is doing his best of not addressing Russia's economic woes and corruption. foreign businesses don't want to deal with Russia because of the rampant corruption. Putin's PR campaign isn't going to change perceptions from people in and outside of Russia. Targeting gays with Jim Crow-style laws is a way for Putin to change the subject.
I wonder if Putin is going to push for legislation to officially ignore reality if Russia's economy gets worse.
Update: the Washington Post reports that two dozen protesters were beaten up at Duma. Riot police moved in when the protesters attempted to hold a kissing rally.
