Author: HP McLovincraft

Seeker of rabbit holes. Pessimist. Libertine. Contrarian. Your huckleberry. Possibly true tales of sanity-blasting horror also known as abject reality. Prepare yourself. Veteran of a thousand psychic wars. I have seen the fnords. Deplatformed on Tumblr and Twitter.

Navalny Scam Sells Empty Concrete Shell As ‘Putin’s Luxurious Palace’

In 2010 some minor Russian businessman, Sergei Kolesnikov, who had pissed off people above his pay grade, resettled from Russia to Estonia. To make himself interesting, and likely to get financial support, he made up a story. David Ignatius, the CIA’s resident writer at the Washington Post, picked it up:

You can see the sprawling, Italian-style palace on the Black Sea in satellite photos. There’s a fitness spa, a hideaway “tea house,” a concert amphitheater and a pad for three helicopters. It’s still under construction, but already the cost is said to total more than $1 billion.

And most amazing of all, according to a Russian whistleblower named Sergey Kolesnikov, it was predominantly paid for with money donated by Russian businessmen for the use of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The funds have come “mainly through a combination of corruption, bribery and theft,” charges Kolesnikov, a businessman who until November 2009 worked for one of the companies he alleges was investing money for Putin.

In 2012 BBC Newsnight again picked up the story and made it into a nine minutes long anti-Putin segment.

Putin’s palace? A mystery Black Sea mansion fit for a tsar

On a thickly wooded mountainside overlooking Russia’s Black Sea coast, an extraordinary building has gradually taken shape. It is alleged to be a palace built for the personal use of Vladimir Putin, with massive and illegal use of state funds.

Originally conceived, it is said, as a modest holiday house with a swimming pool, it now boasts a magnificent columned facade reminiscent of the country palaces Russian tsars built in the 18th Century.

The massive wrought-iron gates into the courtyard are topped with a golden imperial eagle. Outside are formal gardens, a private theatre, a landing pad with bays for three helicopters, and accommodation for security guards.

At the end of 2020 the ‘Putin’s palace’ story was recycled to promote the rightwing Russian nationalist and anti-corruption campaigner Alexey Navalny. Navalny was at that time in Germany’s Black Forrest area where he recovered from an alleged poisoning. A studio was needed to produce a video about the ‘palace’.

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Who is Alexei Navalny? Behind the myth of the West’s favorite Russian opposition figure

Compressed into a two-minute soundbite, the story of Alexei Navalny and the recent protests that have erupted across Russia seems simple enough. The Russian opposition figure who recently survived an attempt on his life — an alleged poisoning delivered via Novichok-laced pants — was arrested and convicted of breaching his bail conditions in a process that can be fairly described as unjust. In response, his supporters took to the streets across the country in protest.

Ask a Russian, like Katya Kazbek, and they will tell you something different: things are way more complicated than they seem. Katya is a writer, translator and the editor-in-chief of arts and culture magazine Supamodu.com who today lives in New York by way of Moscow and Krasnodar Krai in the North Caucuses. In an effort to give some nuance to Navalny and what has been happening overseas, they recently put together a widely shared Twitter thread that served as a highlight reel of Navalny’s political career — and the picture it painted was not pretty. Having read this, I contacted them to ask more about a man whose treatment has been unjust, but who — it turns out — is no hero.

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UC Riverside Professor Jane Ward: Heterosexuality Is ‘Tragic’

University of California, Riverside professor Jane Ward called heterosexuality “tragic,” adding that it encourages men to objectify women, and pulls them into “toxic” masculine culture.

“It really looks like straight men and women don’t like each other very much, that women spend so much time complaining about men, and we still have so much evidence of misogyny,” said UC Riverside professor Jane Ward to Insider.

“From an LGBT perspective, [being straight] looks actually very tragic,” added Ward, who is a professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the university.

Ward goes on to say that she feels sorry for straight women, who she says report some of the lowest sexual satisfaction in society. The professor adds that she also feels sorry for straight men, who she claims are pigeon-holed into a “toxic” masculine culture that tells them they need women, but that they also need to demean them.

The article also cites an uptick in divorces and “lackluster sex” among straight couples since the coronavirus pandemic began.

“I think in some ways the pandemic is revealing the tragedy of heterosexuality to people who might not have otherwise paid attention to it,” said Ward, who has also authored a book, titled The Tragedy of Heterosexuality.

The article also lists Ward’s criticisms of heterosexuality, which include, “straight women are the least likely to orgasm during sex,” “rituals like weddings and gender reveals have resulted in literal disasters,” and “heterosexual men are encouraged to objectify women and smother their own feelings.”

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Twelve dead and 51 infected in care home Covid outbreak

Twelve people have died following a coronavirus outbreak at a care home that had administered the first round of vaccine.

Thirty residents and a further 21 staff members have also tested positive for Covid-19 at West Park Care Home in Leslie, Fife.

NHS Fife’s health protection team and the Fife health and social care partnership have joined forces with the council’s environmental health service to support the home’s management to reduce further transmission of the deadly virus.

The health board said visiting has been suspended and the care home has been closed to new admissions.

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CDC says travelers must wear masks on all forms of public transportation

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced an order late Friday that will require people to wear a face mask while using any form of public transportation, including buses, trains, taxis, airplanes, boats, subways or ride-share vehicles while traveling into, within and out of the US.The order goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. Monday.Masks must be worn while waiting, boarding, traveling and disembarking, it said. The coverings need to be at least two or more layers of breathable fabric secured to the head with ties, ear loops or elastic bands — and scarves and bandanas do not count, the order says.People can remove their masks briefly to eat, drink or take medication; verify their identity to law enforcement or transportation officials; communicate with hearing impaired people; don an oxygen mask on an aircraft; or during a medical emergency, the CDC’s website says.The CDC said it reserves the right to enforce the order through criminal penalties, but it “strongly encourages and anticipates widespread voluntary compliance” and expects support from other federal agencies to implement the order.

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