An opinion is right. The author is only noticing the rehab of Stalin now?

It’s been going on piecemeal since at least, 2005. Perhaps even earlier. In the mind of a vast majority of Russians, Stalin represents the apogee of Russian power and influence. Following Stalin’s death in 1953, Soviet power steadily declined and culminated in the dissolution of the USSR and the chaos that followed until Putin was handed the Presidency. Putin, being the populist autocrat he is, champions the societal ethos of the Stalinist image of power and greatness. It is quite irrelevant whether Stalin was a more murderous tyrant than Hitler or that people in the West should be outraged that Stalin’s image is being rehabilitated in Putin’s Russia. To Russians, Stalin means not a flawed person or a bloodthirsty tyrant, but rather Stalin is the sum total of Russian power and determination to raise itself from the ashes of destruction and achieve greatness. Stalin the man is merely an imperfect icon reflecting the greatness of Russia.

This would hopefully be a learning moment for our culture - but I suspect quickly forgotten.

A 100% lethal virus won't stay that way, but how many people does it kill before it starts to mutate?

@Jolly I think it already does, having no perspective on joining the European Union.

@Jolly said in Yep, it's an election year.:

The Resident plays Uncle Sugar...

https://creditnews.com/policy/biden-is-fast-tracking-his-student-loan-forgiveness-plan/

This is nothing new and not a bad plan. This is a specifically targeted relief to students that were in a poorly run Government repayment plan (but I repeat myself). The recipients of this relief have more than paid their loan amounts and any reasonable amounts of interest. Consumer finance is not allowed to do what the government loans have allowed, and for good reason.

This is reasonable relief. His original plan was not.

You get a dime bag, and you get a dime bag, and you get a dime bag...

Wow.

@Axtremus said in Iowa:

Also makes you wonder, if Vivek gets 7-Eleven, what will Nikki get?

The Dunkin’, duh.

An article about old women with money in the Wapo. Yep that’s their readership.

Kate is going to be hospitalized for 10-14 days. Supposedly the surgery was "successful" and is not cancer-related.

Perhaps @bachophile can chime in, but there are precious few abdominal procedures that require hospitalization for that long after surgery.

The interesting part was at the end. Supposedly, Russia has 6-7 of these AWACS-like planes.

However, only 2 are airworthy at the moment, and you have to wonder if they want to put them online considering the risk.

There are rumors that a high-positioned general was on the airplane when it became a submarine.

@Doctor-Phibes

Yes, there’s a chance….

So what is dimethyl sulfide? It's an organic compound that you may have smelled if you've ever cooked cabbage.

….that there may be cooking cabbage present.

That just means the Russians got there first.

"With a pillow, until it stops moving."

They told me this would happen if I voted for Mr. Trump.

And here it is.

Respond to the FOIA...

https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-sues-loudoun-schools-for-misusing-privacy-protections-to-hide-wrongdoing

The Daily Wire on Tuesday sued the Virginia school system at the center of a rape coverup, stating that Loudoun County Public Schools is violating public records laws by refusing the news outlet’s requests for documentation on legal settlements.

Loudoun, like other school districts throughout the country, has abused “privacy” laws to refuse to turn over basic information under the guise of protecting children’s identities, even if children’s identities would not be exposed. The reference to inapplicable privacy laws suggests the school district’s real purpose may be to hide embarrassing conduct by administrators.

The Daily Wire’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asked for a list of legal settlements by LCPS. That essentially amounts to a list of times the school district did something it could have been sued for, and how much taxpayer money it spent to make it go away. Out-of-court settlements allow the district to avoid a public trial, and settlements can require the other party to agree to certain terms — perhaps even a stipulation preventing them from talking about the school’s misconduct — in exchange for the money.

On October 2, 2023 The Daily Wire requested “copies of all legal settlements entered into between May 1, 2023 and the present,” specifying that it was “not seeking the name of the student or the parents, and you should redact those names.”

LCPS first claimed the request was too broad – suggesting it had entered into so many settlements that it would be burdensome to produce them. Then it claimed that “even if the student’s name is removed,” settlements would still be a private academic record “given that the requestor (or others) could discern the identity” of a student involved.

The Daily Wire then requested just a financial ledger showing the dollar amounts spent on legal settlements. LCPS claimed, without explanation, that it had “no records that are responsive to your request,” suggesting the unlikely situation that the school system does not keep financial records.

The Daily Wire “filed a valid FOIA request seeking information on the amount of money the School Board and Administration has spent to cover-up and avoid responsibility for their actions,” the lawsuit filed by America First Legal said.

From Wiki:

Preston pleaded guilty to "wrongful appropriation and breach of the peace" in the plea bargain at his court-martial. He was sentenced to one year in prison, six months of which was time served, and a fine of US$2,400 (equivalent to $14,241 in 2022). After his release, Preston received a general discharge from the army, then lived a quiet life, married, and died of cancer in 2009.

Not much of a sentence for that antic. I loved that he was laughing.

I stopped using Outlook years ago, as it kept refusing to see my Verizon account mails after they got taken over by everybody's favourite provider, AOL.

Hopefully, somebody gets assigned the job of reading my work email, so I won't have to.