This all sounds like Putin slid an envelope across to Trump, and after Trump looked at the pictures inside, Putin asked…“Do we understand each other now, Donald? Good.”

And then the meeting was over.

Ummm…you mean like providing them with a credit card in order to pay for the VPN service? Does anyone actually trust “free” VPNs to not sell your data?

Sleep for 18 hours a day, knowing no one would bother me.

I have a Britta jug in my fridge that hasn’t had a filter in it for years. It keeps my unfiltered tap water cold. I love it.

Well, yeah. It’s upside down. What did they expect?

Is that why it’s getting so downvoted?

LISA…Laser Interferometer Space Antenna.

No one can actually stop Trump from imposing tariffs on his own country.

It is such a stupid thing for Twitter to “deny” this is happening. Of course it’s happening. Everyone knows it’s happening. The problem lies with, what are they expecting Twitter to DO about it? Ban anyone who posts anti-establishment or non-conforming content?

What twitter should be doing, is banning any and all bot users from the platform. This would solve the majority of the problem. No bot armies…no artificially amplified narratives.

Will twitter do this? Fuck no. That’s why Twitter sucks. France should just ban the whole platform, if they want the interference to stop.

If this source is so “pro-Ukraine”, why are they so critical of Ruslan Kravchenko, the new Prosecutor General? They repeatedly call him a “Zelenski loyalist”, and use his anti-Russian sentiments to make that point. They’re basically trying to say this makes him a bad choice for the job.

That seems more like a “pro-Russian” take, rather than “pro-Ukraine”, don’t you think?

Not, “no”. While this does give them the authority to call off an investigation, it also gives them the authority to reassign cases that get closed for no apparent reason.

This details a long list of oddly suspicious activity that both anti-corruption agencies have engaged in over the years. And it has gone both ways…sometimes investigating officials relentlessly, even when no evidence of wrongdoing has been found, or just quietly dropping investigations even when there’s plenty of evidence to support prosecution.

The biggest problem with any of this, is how do you independently investigate an independent investigator without compromising its independence? Where is the oversight, over the oversight agency? If any of those agencies becomes compromised, then any effort to remove that corruption will be seen as a threat to their independence.

Among other new powers, the prosecutor general could also close NABU’s investigations at the legal defense’s request.

That last part seems oddly unnecessary to mention. I would assume the legal defense would always want the investigations against them to “go away”…so is there a specific mechanism in this legislation that would give an official request some kind of unfair advantage?

From what I’ve read, there is currently serious concerns that SAPO has itself been compromised by Russian influence, due to several investigations that have mysteriously stalled. So, the intent behind this legislation is not to “close” cases…but rather to ensure they continue. Even going as far as reassigning the cases to new investigators, should the originals be suspected of being compromised.

This is very typical of how Russian influence campaigns work. Just leave an open offer of financial benefit out there, and eventually someone will accept it and begin undermining the whole system from within. And if you put someone in charge of investigating them, just offer that guy even more money to look the other way. Wash, rinse, repeat until everyone is on the payroll…or at least surrounded by those that are.

Putin learned how to do all this from his time in the KGB. It’s all just old Soviet Cold War tactics. Turns out, Russians have more agency than you give them credit for.

Buddy needs to have a listen to what Russian media is saying about “the West”, then. Hoo-wee. It’s fuckin’ dark, man.

Then you need to fire your accountant…or start taking their advice. Either way, you’re doing it wrong.

No one in the US pays 30% income tax. Only the top 10% have to pay more than 30%…and they’re rich enough to qualify for so many tax breaks at that point, that their effective rate is less than half that.

I am immediately aware of how uncomfortable this makes people…so, I try not to do it very often.

Right on time.

“If you truly want to be considered “tolerant”, you should also embrace intolerance.”

I love how the Constitution means nothing at this point, and how Conservatives have completely abandoned any pretext of following it.