https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/12/09/cher-son-chaz-bono-coming-out-transgender-parents-advice/

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked oligarch known as “Vladimir Putin’s chef,” appeared to admit to Russian interference in US elections in a Telegram post on Monday.

Prigozhin said that Russia has interfered, is interfering and will continue to interfere in US democracy, in response to a journ*list’s question about Russia potentially interfering in US congressional elections on November 8.

“I will answer you very subtly, and delicately and I apologize, I will allow a certain ambiguity. Gentlemen, we interfered, we interfere and we will interfere,” Prigozhin said.

“Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how. During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once,” he added.

It was not immediately clear how serious Prigozhin was being in his comments, which appeared to have been made somewhat sarcastically. But the US has sanctioned Prigozhin for funding the Internet Research Agency, a notorious Russian troll farm accused of meddling in several recent US elections.

In September, Prigozhin also admitted to founding the Wagner Group – a private mercenary group accused of war crimes in Africa, Syria, and Ukraine – after years of denying involvement with the shadowy outfit.

Only major post so far https://old.reddit.com/r/UkrainianConflict/comments/yomc2n/putins_billionaire_ally_and_founder_of_wagner_pmc/

In 2017, Danica Roem made history as the nation's first out transgender representative elected to a state legislature and ran alongside a group of 20 other trans candidates. Now, five years later, the number of trans and nonbinary people running for office has nearly quadrupled to 72, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund.

Leigh Finke is among this historic group and if elected, she will become Minnesota's first out trans person in the state legislature. She is running to represent District 66A in Minnesota, which encompasses part of Minneapolis. Finke is a journ*list, and filmmaker who focuses largely on civil rights and LGBTQ issues.

Finke said her desire to run for office built up steadily as she watched politicians around the country attack LGBTQ people through legislative proposals and harassment campaigns online. One of things that pushed her decision was the 2021 proposed bill that would ban trans girls in youth sports in her state.

"I realized that we're just one election away from having the whole legislature flip and this legislation becoming law," Finke said in an interview with the Washington Blade. "That really scared me and made me nervous, not just for myself but for the community."

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, at least 191 anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed in state legislatures around the country in 2022. 168 of these bills specifically target trans people.

Victory Fund spokesperson Albert Fujii said in an email that the political attacks have fueled a "record-breaking Rainbow Wave" for the midterms.

"These candidates showed tremendous grit in the face of unrelenting bigotry on the campaign trail from transphobic bigots like Ron DeSantis," Fujii said. "While we are confident they will perform well on Tuesday, their impact is already visible --- we are seeing a new wave of trans and nonbinary candidates considering a run for office themselves. Voters' voices are loud and clear: enough is enough."

Alicia Kozlowski, a two-spirit and nonbinary candidate for Minnesota state house district 8B, said they are standing on the backs of other history-making figures like Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, and U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.).

"When you elect queer folks and people of color to office, you change entire conversations, which leads to different results," Kozlowski said in an email. "As a state representative, I won't leave my powerful identities at any door to make others comfortable."

Jessica Katzenmeyer, a candidate for the Wisconsin state Senate, said seeing trans people win elections creates a snowball effect, encouraging others to run. Roem's 2017 victory inspired her own run for office.

"When you see other trans folks who are successful, it kind of makes you go 'oh, maybe I can do this too' and it just brings more encouragement to the rest of the community," she said. "Even if I don't win my race, I hope people see me and realize that they can do this too."

Katzenmeyer, a longtime Wisconsin resident, Teamsters leader and LGBTQ activist ran in 2020 for the State Assembly but fell just short of winning. This time, she is running for state senate with the chance of becoming Wisconsin's first out trans legislator and the nation's second out trans person elected to a state senate.

"It's been hard to really consider it because I've been so busy," Katzenmeyer said of her historic run. "But to be the first trans person in the legislature would mean a lot to me and a lot to the community, not just in my district but also statewide. So, there's a lot of responsibility with that."

Another candidate who has been driven by the increase in anti-LGBTQ legislation is Emily Dievendorf, who is running to represent Michigan's 77th House District. As attacks have ramped up from Republican politicians, Dievendorf said she has become increasingly frustrated at how members of her own party are responding.

"In Michigan, trans and nonbinary people are the butt of the joke for Republicans. We are also the community that is taking the blame for supposed threats to children and the public," Dievendorf said in an interview. "And we have the other party whose main strategy seems to be silence."

If elected, Dievendorf would become the state's first nonbinary state legislator and said she wants to be a voice to call out bigotry in both parties.

"We're seeing that Democrats in general want to stick to mild conversation to make sure that no one feels pushed out but what that actually does is condone extreme hate towards marginalized folks, making it easier to pass legislation that furthers the disposal of human lives," she said. "So I'm excited --- and a little scared --- to be able to stand on the house floor and make my colleagues across the aisle see me be my authentic self."

As an example of trans representation working to stop discriminatory legislation, Finke pointed to an anti-trans bill in Utah which was vetoed by the governor after he met with trans people and their families.

"I don't think [representation] is enough to change the trajectory of the country right now but it means something to have a voice in those rooms and make them at least have to look you in the eye when they say they're taking away your healthcare or punishing your kids because they're trans," Finke said.

The "Rainbow Wave" in the 2022 midterms will only be the beginning as communities push to change the demographic makeup of their leaders, Kozlowski said. If elected, they said they plan to fight for the civil rights of every community.

"Everything we do is interconnected --- LGBTQ rights, climate justice, reproductive freedom, economic justice, racial justice --- our liberation and sovereignty on all these issues are braided together," they said. "This is more than one person stepping up to run for office, more than one election cycle, it's about a movement about having a government that has our backs, it's a movement for our shared future that's at stake."

Article is about Taiwan but other East Asian countries like China, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan aren't much better. Why do 's hate kids, and why do 's love them?

It'll be interesting to see how Asia evolves over the next fifty plus years. My /h/the_ivory_tower take is that some of these countries might end up guinea pigs for what happens when such a large chunk of the population is old and out of work. Western societies are looking at some of the same issues too.

This is brutal and all of this town belong in prison. Must watch. Frick pigs

Edit: Everyone here who hates my posts can DM personally if you object to it so much.

Pretend I'm this sites Hermes.

In the Case of the Dead Dog, Police Say They ‘May Have Dropped the Ball’

Three months after a highly publicized attack in a Brooklyn park left a dog dead, no arrests have been made as the local precinct finds itself in turmoil.

By John Leland

Nov. 4, 2022

It seemed like an easy case: A woman told the police that a man had attacked her and her dog in Prospect Park, in Brooklyn, striking the dog with a stick so hard that he later died. Park users regularly spotted the attacker, in the same area, in the morning hours, cursing at women with dogs.

The attack led to debates about policing and liberal orthodoxy in the face of violent crime, and at least 11 articles in the city’s three daily newspapers. The Daily Mail also weighed in — three times — from England. The American Conservative took aim from the right.

But three months later, the attacker is still at large, despite regular reported sightings by people in the park, raising a different question: How can the New York Police Department, with a budget of more than $5 billion, be stymied for three months by a man who seems to live off redeemed soda cans?

Last week, at a contentious virtual town hall meeting, Capt. Frantz Souffrant, the commanding officer of the 78th Precinct, which includes Park Slope and the park itself, apologized to angry residents, admitting, “We may have dropped the ball,” according to the local news site Patch.com. Several residents, including Jessica Chrustic, whose dog was killed, complained that they had spotted the man and called 911, only to wait half an hour or more for a police car to show up. After 40 minutes, the meeting abruptly ended in the middle of a resident’s sentence.

Soon after, Captain Souffrant told Patch that he was going to try moving his patrols to different positions to catch the man.

But Lt. Kamala Roper, the platoon commander in the 78th Precinct responsible for the area of the attack, said there was one reason for the lack of an arrest: Captain Souffrant. Lieutenant Roper, a 22-year veteran, is one of three officers in the precinct currently suing the captain over his management practices.

“In the precinct, all we’ve been talking about is that there’s no directives there by the C.O.,” Lieutenant Roper said in an interview, using the abbreviation for commanding officer. “The cops are coming to me complaining, ‘We don’t know what to do.’ If we encounter this guy in the park, nobody says how to proceed.” She said that communication was so bad within the precinct that if she wanted to know what was going on with the case, she read the newspaper.

“That’s how I get information,” she said. “Call any police officer and ask them what’s going on with the dog incident. I’m going to be embarrassed, because they don’t know.”

Her lawyer, John Scola, shared an email she sent to Captain Souffrant last Thursday, asking for a brief meeting to discuss the case. He still has not answered, Mr. Scola said.

In September, Lieutenant Roper, who is Black, sued Captain Souffrant, along with another captain in the precinct and the City of New York, claiming sexual and racial discrimination and retaliation. Among her charges: that Captain Souffrant favored female officers with whom he had personal relationships, and that when she complained about this, he retaliated against her. Captain Souffrant is also Black.

Two more officers from the 78th, Aron Baksh and Berland Prince, filed a similar discrimination suit against Captain Souffrant on Oct. 21 that included charges of pervasive bullying and racial insults.

Now the precinct is flailing under Captain Souffrant’s command, Lieutenant Roper said.

“Morale is low,” she said. “The officers are stressed out. They’re being bullied every single day.” She added: “Somebody’s going to get hurt.”

Captain Souffrant, who took over the precinct in January 2021, was one of four officers sued in 2014 on charges of falsely arresting a Brooklyn man who recorded them arresting another man. The suit was settled for $20,000 without admission of fault.

The department’s public information office did not make Captain Souffrant available for an interview and declined to comment on Lieutenant Roper’s charges or pending litigation. In a statement, it said: “The N.Y.P.D. has dedicated significant resources to this investigation to bring the individual responsible to justice. The N.Y.P.D. has conducted canvasses of the park with the victim and witnesses, had the victim sit with a sketch artist, and posted the images of the suspect in the park and increased patrols in the park. We continue to work with the victim, and when a positive identification can be made, an arrest will be made.”

Among parkgoers, frustrations with the police continue to build, as more people share their experiences, often on social media. Major crimes in the precinct are up 52 percent from two years ago, though still a fraction of their 1980s highs.

Adding to the theater, the Guardian Angels last month announced that they would send patrols into the park to — as founder Curtis Sliwa told his radio audience — “save the park and save the women and save the little doggies.”

Diana Poveromo, 50, who lives near Ms. Chrustic, said that when she went to the precinct to ask about the case, the officer at the front desk told her that even if the police arrested the man, “it’s very likely he’ll just be released the next day.”

More than 11,000 people have signed a petition advising Mayor Eric Adams that “the N.Y.P.D. have done virtually nothing to apprehend this man.”

For Ms. Chrustic, it has been a three-month ordeal. At one point she said she was summoned to the precinct to identify a suspect, then arrived to find no suspect. Instead an officer told her to exhume her dog’s two-month-dead body for future forensic evidence, she said.

But the quintessential frustrating experience came on Oct. 21, when she was woken in the early morning by a friend, Mary Rowland, who said she saw Ms. Chrustic’s attacker walking along the park, rifling through garbage cans for empties. Both women called 911.

Hoping to keep an eye on the man until the police arrived, Ms. Chrustic dressed quickly and started following him in the predawn morning, carrying a can of mace for protection. As she went, she made repeated calls to 911 and to individual officers to update her location.

“I thought, The police are going to be here any second,” she said.

But they weren’t. Finally, the man turned and rushed toward her, carrying what she thinks was mace and the stick that she said he used to kill her dog. Ms. Chrustic ran.

“I’m screaming at the top of my lungs for someone to help me,” she said. “I was not prepared.”

The man gave up the chase after a block. Ms. Chrustic and Ms. Rowland, who had caught up with her, lost sight of him.

Thirty-six minutes after Ms. Chrustic’s first call to 911, she called the police for at least the 10th time that morning, according to a log of her calls. By the time the police arrived, the man was gone.

Hours later, Ms. Chrustic was still audibly shaken. “I did exactly what the police have told me to do,” she said. “Keep him in my sight until they arrive. And this was the cost.”

Finally on Saturday, Oct. 29, there appeared to be a break in the case. The police had picked up a man and called Ms. Chrustic to come in for a lineup. Five men were presented, seated and wearing hats.

None was the right man, she said. She left the precinct questioning whether the police would ever call her in again.

“This is a heavy weight to carry,” she said.

And she was doubly frustrated that the police had taken so long to respond a week earlier. “I had him in my sights for 40 minutes,” she said. “And no one showed up.”

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