Spasiba, tovarisch!

Wow:

Four members of the now-defunct REvil ransomware operation have been sentenced to several years in prison in Russia, marking one of the rare instances where cybercriminals from the country have been convicted of hacking and money laundering charges.

Russian news publication Kommersant reported that a court in St. Petersburg found Artem Zaets, Alexei Malozemov, Daniil Puzyrevsky, and Ruslan Khansvyarov guilty of illegal circulation of means of payment. Puzyrevsky and Khansvyarov have also been found guilty of using and distributing malware.

...

REvil, which was once one of the most prolific ransomware groups, was dismantled after Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced arrests against several members in an unprecedented takedown. 

They aren't just going to prison, they're going to a Russian prison.  More of this, please.

 

 

Anarcho-Tyranny in the UK

Paging George Orwell:

A journalist with the London Telegraph has been visited unannounced at her home by police in the UK who told her they are investigating a “non-crime hate incident” over a tweet she posted a year ago.

...

Allison Pearson relates what happened on Sunday in an article, noting that police will not tell her which post is the subject of the investigation, nor will they tell her who her accuser is or what they feel offended about.

Well okay, then.  But the UK Plods seems to have forgotten the old saying to not mess with someone who buys ink by the barrel:

Way to shine a spotlight on your policy, dumbasses.  Streisand Effect much?

I've just caught up with this by @AllisonPearson. Fortunately, she is a member of the Free @SpeechUnion, but I hope the @Telegraph will also be vigorously defending her freedom of expression. The ‘non-crime hate incident’ industry is a malignancy.https://t.co/iLsuNX4MgQ pic.twitter.com/yf0Cr2f0Vr

— Adrian Hilton (@Adrian_Hilton) November 12, 2024

And the Leonid Brezhnev Memorial Award goes to ...

So UK Prime Minister Keir "Two Tier" Starmer has decreed that people saying hateful things will be jailed because their speech is actually violence, and he's making room for them in His Magesty's prisons be releasing violent criminals because their violence is actually speech, you guys.

Some big shot police constable has even said he was going to go all 1775-Bunker Hill on Americans for their speech, which is totally violence.  Ooooh kaaay,

All this totalitarianism reminds me of a joke from the Soviet Union, back in the day.  It was said about Leonid Brezhnev (and likely others).  I've somewhat rewritten it for modern times.  See if you can tell the difference.

So this guy goes to Red Square Hyde Park Speaker's Corner and yells "Leonid Brezhnev Keir Starmer is a senile fascist old fool!"  Of course, the police swarm him and drag him off to Ye Olde Gaol.  He is sentenced to ten years and ten days in durance vile - ten days for slander and ten years for revealing State Secrets.

Maybe I gave away my edits right there ...

And so the Leonid Brezhnev Memorial Award for Totalitarianism goes to Brit PM Keir Starmer, for fascism above and beyond the call of duty.  Well done you dirty commie bastard.

Now this seems like an interesting opportunity

So some self-important English Plod said he was going to criminally charge and extradite US citizens for exercising their first amendment rights on US soil.  Interesting.

Quite frankly, this seems like a golden opportunity for political candidates here to get a "gimmie" issue.  Sticking up for the first amendment seems like a layup.  And if as I suspect the Democrats are institutionally incapable of sticking up for free speech, then this is a gold plated opportunity to paint them as the party of censorship - not to mention being weak on foreign policy.

Like I said, this issue looks like it's 100% upside.

Britain's National Health Service throws away confidential medical information

And then blames the medical student who had to take out the trash:

A data protection gaffe affecting the UK's NHS is being pinned on a medical student who placed too much trust in their bin bags.

An investigation was launched following the discovery of confidential medical data sprawled across a back alley in Jesmond, a pricier suburb of Newcastle in the North East of England.

The medical student is thought to have thrown the documents into their domestic waste, which was placed outside for collection, but through one means or another, the documents escaped to the freedom of an alleyway off Lonsdale Terrace only to be found by a passerby.

So what can we say about the NHS from this?  Well, they have a terrible process for sensitive waste disposal.  They may actually not have any process at all.  Certainly the evidence does not suggest rigorous training and enforcement.

Also, we see Yet Another circling of the wagons, with a hopelessly weak excuse that blames the lowest guy on the totem pole.  That does not suggest that their process will be improved next week, or next month, or next year.  Remember, the Organs of the State do not self-correct.

But socialized medicine is awesome, amirite?

 

The scaffolding is coming down on Notre Dame de Paris

This is pretty cool.  I think this is the first time I've linmked to something from the "Today" show, but it is cool.

Dad Joke CCCXVI

I asked a Frenchman if he played video games.   

He said Wii.

S.S. United States to be evicted from its pier?

The Queen Of The World sent me this sad story:

The ship's remarkable speed earned it the coveted Blue Riband award from Great Britain upon its maiden voyage in 1952. Partially sponsored by the U.S. government during the Cold War era, it was designed as a potential rapid troop carrier if geopolitical tensions escalated, according to the website for the SS United States Conservancy, the nonprofit organization that has overseen the vessel since 2011.

Despite its high level of regard and rich history, the ship faces an uncertain future as it languishes at Pier 82 in south Philadelphia. Its retirement has been fraught with challenges, including the recent threat of eviction due to a lawsuit from Pier 82's landlord, Penn Warehousing, according to an NPR report on Monday, March 11.

The lawsuit alleges the SS United States Conservancy owes between $700,000 and $800,000 in back rent, Warren Jones, one of the conservancy's board members, told the radio station. He said the organization entered into the agreement more than a decade ago, and during the pandemic, the rent was unjustly doubled.

This story is of interest to TQOTW, since she actually was a passenger on that ship.  Her dad was in the Air Force and posted to the UK in the early 1960s; they returned from PCS on this.  It's sad to see what the ship has become from what it used to be.  TQOTW watched this with me and remembered all sorts of things, like the signal flags at the swimming pool.

That was a different world, and people would rather spend 8 hours on a plane than 5 days on a ship, even one as grand as the United States.

 

Notre Dame de Paris on track for complete restoration later this year

This video is somewhat light on details but it's impressive just how many people are involved in the project.

This video is more in depth on what has happened over the last 90 days or so.

Vandals cut down most famous tree in UK

This tree:

Voted Tree of the Year in 2016 by the conservation charity Woodland Trust, the Sycamore Gap Tree was one of the most photographed trees in the United Kingdom. It’s also known as the “Robin Hood Tree” because it appeared in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, despite Hadrian’s Wall being some 130 miles north of Sherwood Forest.

According to the National Trust, this iconic sycamore tree was planted in the late 1800s by John Clayton, the saviour of Hadrian’s Wall, to be a feature in the landscape. 

So why would someone cut it down?  Tik-tok views:

Why would anyone do this? A question we are all confused over. Police officers are looking into claims that the tree was felled to be posted online and carried out as part of a TikTok stunt

Dumbass Tik-tockers.  Hang em.  From a tree.  As a warning to others.

Facebook's new "Threads" app not available in the EU

It seems that it doesn't comply with consumer data protection laws there:

Upcoming data privacy regulations are preventing Meta's new microblogging app "Threads" from launching in European Union (EU) markets. Experts say this is only the beginning of the privacy battle facing the Twitter clone.

Meta's attempted coup d'etat against the Twitter kingdom launched on Wednesday in over 100 countries, earning tens of millions of users in only its first day live. That, despite being unavailable to major markets within the EU.

The holdup has to do with "complexities with complying with some of the laws coming into effect next year," Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri hinted on July 5. Mosseri's statement may refer to the new antitrust-oriented Digital Markets Act, but experts also expect Threads to collide head-on with consumer privacy regulations, thanks to its wanton collection of just about every kind of personal data imaginable.

Well, Facebook has given regulators every erason to think they violate the privacy directives.

Has WWIII already started?

Very in-depth and thoughtful post at E.M. Smith's place.  The comments are thoughtful, too.

For the life of me, I can't see what compelling interest the USA has in war with Russia.  I can see what the US Military Industrial Complex has with a war like that.  And as they say, "War is the health of the State". 

But I don't see what's in it for us.

UPDATE 31 January 2023 11:18: Chuck Pergiel has a related and very interesting post about who the chief clowns running US foreign policy are.

Update 31 January 2023 15:35 : Link corrected

The "French Haircut"

E.M. Smith has a typically thoughtful post about what is happening in Europe right now:

Do note that at present the EU & UK are having about a 10% to 20% reduction in their natural gas flows. This is about 5% to 10% reduction in their “Carbon”. Now both currencies have dropped about 1/3 of their value vs the $ US (that is also losing value fast to inflation….). They also have a political revolution in the starting phases, governments being turned out, and massive marches in the streets. It isn’t even winter yet… With that small a step toward the WEF “Decarbonization Goal”, this is what you get. What do you think will happen with a double of that “decarbonization”?

He then goes on to point out that the EU's "accomplishments" to date are only about 10% of the decarbonization goal and that to meet these goals each of the next ten years will have to do even more than what the last year has seen.  He points out:

Street Protests in the EU / Europe writ large are the prelude to riots that are the prelude to insurrections and revolts. I’ve often said these Elite need to remember “The French Haircut”. Yet they do not.

A lot of folks in Europe are going to die this winter.  We'll see what things look like in March, but I wonder how many of the EU governments will still be in power by then.

 

Rest In Peace, Elizabeth II Regina

Dead at 95, the second longest reigning monarch in modern history (behind Louis XIV).  She now rejoins her beloved Prince Philip who no doubt has a gleam in his eye and a prank readied for the reunion.

Her type will not be seen again - wiser and tougher than younger heads of state.  Remember, she learned to shoot at 14 by using Winston Churchill's tommy gun.

May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.

What on earth is going on in the UK.Gov?

Boris Johnson on the way out?

Anyone been following this and can explain in the comments?  I know that BJ is pretty unpopular but it seemed that he weathered the PartyGate scandal.  This must be something new.

Jubilee

I have been remiss in not posting this week about Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee.  She is now #3 on Wikipedia's list of longest reigning monarchs, and in a week will move into the #2 slot. I do not know the protocol on whether to offer congratulations to Her Majesty but there is no doubt at all that her reign has left the monarchy stronger.  In an era of globalization she remains wildly popular to her subjects.  That's quite an achievement, perhaps unique in the history of royalty.

I think that more than a little of this is due to things like this (from Some It's Just As Well, via Chris Lynch):

Prince Philip once pranked her by dressing as a palace guard.  The expressions on both their faces are quite endearing.  Royalty is a difficult game to play, a tension between the remote and mysterious vs. the human face.  Queen Elizabeth managed that better than any monarch that I can think of.

It must be bittersweet for her to have this celebration without her beloved Philip.  Any while the moniker "Widow of Windsor" was taken by a Queen Victoria grieving for her lost Prince Albert, it's not hard to imagine that it applies in spades to Good Queen Bess as well.  And yes, that one was taken as well but you know what I mean.

And so Congratulations to Her Majesty (protocol be damned).  We here in the Colonies decided on our relationship with monarchy these two hundred years ago, but if you were to have a Sovereign you could do much, much worse than Elizabeth Regina.  And you would be most unlikely to do better.

100 years of Gummi Bears

Haribo introduced Gummi Bears 100 years ago:

The first production plant was a copper kettle in his kitchen and his first employee was his wife Gertrud. He’d make hard candies and she’d deliver them on her bicycle. In 1922, Riegel invented a new confection: the Tanzbären, or Dancing Bear. It was a soft fruit-flavored candy shaped like a bear sitting on its hind legs, inspired by the sad performing bears that were so popular at the time.

 Interesting article which includes a bit on where the name "Haribo" came from.

About that NATO expansion

So Finland and Sweden have applied for NATO membership, which would make them the first NATO partners to share a border with Russia.  Well, ignoring Kalingrad aka Konigsburg which is basically occupied and ethnicly cleansed East Prussia and not contiguous with Mother Russia herself. So NATO would be literally on Russia's doorstep.

This strikes me as exceptionally unwise.  It's hard to see how international relations will be more stable after this.  On the contrary.

But politics ain't beanbag, and neither are international politics. Turkey has had a rocky relationship for some time with the USA, NATO, and the EU.  But they are a full member of NATO, and so have veto power over any expansion.  It looks like they're exercising that option.

Maybe it's just to work a better deal with the US, NATO, and EU.  Me, I hope they hold out and make it ridiculously painful for Sweden and Finland to join.

I would ask full EU membership for Turkey in return of Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership if I were Erdogan.

Fair and neat.

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) May 18, 2022

How the Ukraine war propaganda sausage is made

Interesting. 

Note that this is published in Germany's Deutsche Welle.  Glad to see some analysis of some of the stories.

Vladimir Putin is the worstest ever!!!!11!!!eleventy!!

There is a *ton* of propaganda about what's happening in Ukraine right now, maybe 80% of it from the Ukranian side.  This makes it hard to know what is actually, you know, happening there.  This is a very long and very interesting analysis of (a) current situation, (b) Ukraine.Gov motives, (c) Russia.Gov motives, and (d) US.Gov/NATO motives.

Highly, highly recommended.

And this part seems to me to hit center mass:

In my analysis, the Ukrainians are mass mobilizing their civilian population to use them as human shields, and then parade their bodies on Western media. These forces will be poorly armed and trained, and have little military usefulness. They will make it more costly for Russian forces to enter Ukrainian cities, but as I mentioned previously, the Russian solution to this problem is the simply level the city. In the end, all of these armed civilians will die, their cities destroyed, with nothing gained. I believe this is in fact the goal of the Ukrainian leadership, who are being cheered on towards this end either consciously or not by Americans and other Westerners. I think Ukrainian leadership is hoping for Russia to flattened cities and inflict mass deaths among the civilian population for PR purposes. With their mass mobilization of urban populations, the Ukrainian leadership is putting the Russian forces in a similar position that Hamas puts Israel’s IDF in. What Hamas does, is hide their forces in dense urban centers from where they stage attacks on Israel. The Israelis are faced with a dilemma, either they tolerate Hamas’s attacks, or they shoot back which will inevitably inflict civilian casualties. The Palestinians in turn show dead civilians and destroyed building on Western news media with the intention of ruining Israel’s international reputation. Both Hamas and Ukraine are using their civilians as human shields. Civilians throwing Molotov cocktails at Russian tanks will achieve nothing, other than getting themselves killed. This should be obvious. As America is weaponizing its “cancel culture” for foreign policy objectives, Russia will be endless maligned in Western media if the Ukrainian strategy succeeds. Personally I find it quite sick that Westerners are cheering the Ukrainians on with this strategy. What they are doing, whether consciously or not, is to sacrifice endless Ukrainian lives all for a narrative to be built of Ukrainian martyrdom.

Take a half hour to read the whole thing which is best described as (ahem) Borepatchian in length.  Or maybe even longer.  But there's a ton of food for thought, at least for folks who don't appreciate being manipulated by increasingly transparent propaganda.

And when I say "increasingly transparent propaganda" I really, really mean increasingly transparent propaganda.  For example, the "New York Times" journalist who was just killed.  The headline?  

BREAKING: Award-Winning AMERICAN Filmmaker and Journalist Shot Dead By Russian Troops...Here Are The Details

Wow, just wow.

Except, not so fast.  Here's the interesting graf from that very article:

Daily Mail reports – Initially, he was thought to have been on assignment for The New York Times because he was carrying a press badge that listed the newspaper as his publication but it has since emerged he was working on a global film about refugees.

So was he or wasn't he covering things for the NYT?  Like I said, increasingly transparent propaganda that is increasingly disconnected from facts.  Certainly this is a tragedy for him and his family - actually the whole damn war is a tragedy for millions and their families - but wartime journalism is known to be a dangerous profession.  Remember the 15 journalists killed in the opening weeks of the Iraq war?

Like I said, I would love a higher caliber of news reporting from Ukraine.  It feels like the original link to Alexander's Cartographer is providing what used to be provided by regular journalists.  Is it, or is it a more subtle and less obvious propaganda?  Who can say?

But it seems that most of what you read is clearly drivel.  I'd like a higher caliber drivel, please.  Go read the whole thing which does not feel to me like drivel, but rather reasoned discussion.