While much of the world was shocked by the bloody atrocities committed by Putin’s forces in cities like Mariupol and Bucha, for many Chechens none of this came as a surprise.
Now, this shared trauma appears to have formed a bond between Chechens who have flocked to Ukraine to fight against Putin’s invasion and their new Ukrainian comrades, who have agreed that once the war is finished here, they will travel to fight for a free Chechnya.
The current conflict is the result of a perfect ideological storm: the protesters citing the defence of democracy lean on the importance of the balance of powers between the executive (government), legislature (Knesset), and judiciary (Supreme Court), the latter thought to uphold enlightened platonic values of the noble philosopher kings, who rule benignly in the people’s interest.
Meanwhile, the government argues for a Socratic form of democracy in which the majority and their elected representatives have the right to deliver their chosen agenda.
Going forward, we could see more cases where the perceived threat of a firearm becomes the argument for attempting to justify a shooting, as the number of people carrying guns rises — especially those carrying them openly — according to Adam Winkler, a professor at UCLA School of Law and author of Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America. “The law allows you to defend yourself if someone is threatening you, and a lot of people will see someone with a firearm and believe that person to be a threat,” he says. “That’s not to say gun carriers are always the ones who commit the crimes, but it leads to the possibility of more misunderstandings about someone’s intent.”
https://mishpacha.com/of-divorcees-widows-and-orphans/
Can you draw upon the love and caring that I’m confident beats in every one of your hearts? Can you each take a moment to wonder about one single mother and her family that you know, and think: How can I make her life better? How can I take one of the balls she’s trying to keep in the air and relieve her of a bit of her burden?
https://www.salon.com/2022/05/22/social-workers-pedophile-groomer-slur/
The word in question is "pedophile," or perhaps sometimes, "groomer." Amid a bitter culture war, many on the right, from playwrights like David Mamet to politicians like Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, have seized on the word as an evidence-free way to discredit their culture war enemies. It is now being employed as one might use a slur like "idiot," albeit with a far darker connotation. And it has particular currency among believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory, who aver without evidence that a Satanic cabal of pedophiles is running the world.
https://www.vox.com/culture/23025505/leftist-groomers-homophobia-satanic-panic-explained
Attempting to reframe the controversial Florida law, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s press secretary Christina Pushaw described it as “the Anti-Grooming Bill” in early March, tweeting that if you’re against it, “you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children.” Those familiar with QAnon will recognize this bizarre leap in logic. Pushaw adopted language that QAnon conspiracy theory believers and the related #SaveTheChildren crusaders have used to imply that liberals are, if not pedophiles themselves, advocates of pedophilia.
“Democrats support — even Joe Biden the president himself — supports children being sexualized, having transgender surgeries,” Greene responded. “Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children.”
Greene’s response elicited an eye roll from Stahl, who sighed and said “wow,” before asking her next question: whether the congresswoman might fight for what she believed without name calling and personal attacks.
Far-right and extremist voices have launched a significant attack against the LGBTQ+ community in 2021-2022, demonizing people via repeated false claims that LGBTQ+ people are “pedophiles” who are “grooming” children in order to abuse them. This false and malicious narrative has been weaponized to label the LGBTQ+ community as “groomers” and has fueled a slew of hostile legislation and policies aimed at erasing the discussion of LGBTQ+ related issues in schools, removing LGBTQ+ books from schools and public libraries and, especially, to ostracize, defame and harass transgender people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_grooming_conspiracy_theory
Since the early 2020s, members of the far-right and a growing number of mainstream conservatives, mostly in the United States, have falsely accused LGBT people, as well as their allies and progressives in general, of systematically using LGBT-positive education and campaigns for LGBT rights as a method of child grooming. These accusations and conspiracy theories are characterized by experts as baseless, homophobic and transphobic, and as examples of moral panic.
On Thursday afternoon, Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas accused Democratic Rep. Katie Porter of California of having said that “pedophilia isn’t a crime.”
But Porter did not say that. Jackson, like some conservative Twitter personalities, was wrongly describing Porter’s remarks.
https://www.newsweek.com/biggest-bombshell-new-clarence-thomas-report-1793063
According to the report, Thomas and his wife took trips paid for by Crow almost on a yearly basis for over two decades. The report states interviews and documents detailed Thomas traveled on Crow's yacht, as well as his jet. Thomas vacationed with Crow to the Bohemian Grove retreat, a campground in California where powerful individuals are known to gather. Thomas has also traveled to a private resort in the Adirondacks owned by Crow, the report said.
Many of the trips reported by ProPublica were not disclosed by Thomas, which may be an ethics violation. According to ProPublica, a law requires Supreme Court Justices and members of Congress to financially disclose certain gifts they receive, and Thomas did not disclose the trips he took on Crow's yacht or his jet.
The sleuths over at ProPublica have a big old story out Thursday about Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas and his apparently extensive history of taking fully paid-for luxury vacations with a billionaire Republican donor named Harlan Crow. The story quotes experts who say Thomas appears to have broken the law by failing to disclose the numerous free trips he has taken on Crow’s private jet and yacht.
“While it was always the president’s intent to end that war, it is also undeniable that decisions made and the lack of planning done by the previous administration significantly limited options available to him,” Kirby said.
The outline blamed the Trump administration at length for their lack of preparation going into the withdrawal and for what Biden inherited when he came into office, pointing to drawdowns of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and the former president’s consideration of hosting Taliban leaders for negotiations around the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
