onthedarkside

A spy at Berlin's British embassy, who sold secrets to Russia and was caught in an undercover MI5 sting, has been jailed for 13 years and two months. David Smith, 58, tried to damage Britain's interests by passing on details of the embassy and its staff for cash payments, a judge found after the spy pleaded guilty. Sentencing him, Mr Justice Wall said Smith had "put people at maximum risk". https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64669885

CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors Thursday asked a judge to give singer R. Kelly 25 more years in prison for his child pornography and enticement convictions last year in Chicago, which would add to 30 years he recently began serving in a New York case. The 56-year-old wouldn't be eligible for release until he was around 100 if the judge agrees both to the 25-year sentence and another government request that Kelly begin serving his Chicago sentence only after the 30-year New York sentence is fully served. In their sentencing recommendation filed late Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, prosecutors described Kelly's behavior as "sadistic," calling him "a serial sexual predator" with no remorse and who "poses a serious danger to society." https://www.npr.org/2023/02/17/1157789300/u-s-prosecutors-ask-for-25-more-years-in-prison-for-r-kelly

Fox News stars and executives privately trashed Trump’s election fraud claims, court document reveals The most prominent stars and highest-ranking executives at Fox News privately ridiculed claims of election fraud in the 2020 election, despite the right-wing channel allowing lies about the presidential contest to be promoted on its air, damning messages contained in a Thursday court filing revealed. The messages, included in a legal filing as part of Dominion Voting System’s $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News, showed that Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham brutally mocked lies being pushed by former President Donald Trump’s camp asserting that the election was rigged. In one set of messages revealed in the court filing, Carlson texted Ingraham, saying that Sidney Powell, an attorney who was representing the Trump campaign, was “lying” and that he had “caught her” doing so, Ingraham responded, “Sidney is a complete nut, no one will work with her, ditto with Rudy [Giuliani].” https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/16/media/fox-news-stars-executives-court-documents/index.html

In the days and weeks after the 2020 elections, the Fox News Channel repeatedly broadcast false claims that then-President Donald Trump had been cheated of victory. Off the air, the network's stars, producers and executives expressed contempt for those same conspiracies, calling them "mind-blowingly nuts," "totally off the rails" and "completely bs" - often in far earthier terms. The network's top primetime stars - Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity - texted contemptuously of the claims in group chats, but also denounced colleagues pointing that out publicly or on television. https://www.npr.org/2023/02/16/1157558299/fox-news-stars-false-claims-trump-election-2020

While the research suggests that natural immunity could be just as good as vaccines at preventing serious illness from COVID-19 infection, the study's authors encourage people to still get vaccinated, to avoid any complications from any initial infections. Previous COVID infection boosts long-term immunity and lowers the risk of hospitalisation and death at the same level as vaccination, new peer-reviewed research shows. The study, led by the University of Washington and published by The Lancet medical journal, is said to be the "most comprehensive study to date" on the impact of natural immunity for the disease. https://news.sky.com/story/past-covid-infection-as-good-as-vaccines-at-preventing-severe-illness-12812415

The watchdog said Tesla's software allows a vehicle to "exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner", increasing the risk of an accident. The recall covers 2016-2023 Model S, Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles equipped with FSD Beta software. It was unclear, currently, whether the alert had implications for Tesla's cars in other countries including the UK. https://news.sky.com/story/tesla-recalls-362-000-cars-in-us-over-fears-full-self-driving-software-may-cause-crashes-12812624

An unsubstantiated fear mongering troll post has been removed

A post has been removed. Any alleged factual claims must be supported by a valid link to an approved credible source. Known conspiracy and fake news websites are not credible.

A Ukrainian attempt to retake Crimea would be a red line for Vladimir Putin that could lead to a wider Russian response, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Zoom call with a group of experts Wednesday. The Russian president sees Crimea as fully part of Russia, not Ukraine, and would be loath to see the peninsula ripped from his clutches — even though that’s precisely what he did to Ukraine nearly a decade ago. Republican and Democratic administrations have since then said repeatedly that “Crimea is Ukraine.” https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/15/blinken-crimea-ukraine-putin-00083149

An off topic unsubstantiated baiting post has been removed. Carry on and face a suspension

Off topic comment and reply removed

A "bigger discussion" is needed in British sport following allegations of sexism, homophobia and racism within the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), according to the chair of a sporting body. Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, chair of Sport Wales, was giving evidence to a Senedd (Welsh Parliament) committee on Wednesday morning. The WRU was the subject of a BBC Wales Investigates programme in January which revealed accusations of sexism, misogyny, homophobia and racism within the organisation. https://news.sky.com/story/tanni-grey-thompson-bigger-discussion-needed-in-british-sport-after-welsh-rugby-union-allegations-12811823

The president of the World Bank will step down from his post in June, leaving the organisation almost a year before his term was due to end. David Malpass announced his decision on social media, without providing a specific reason for his departure. The pick of former US President Donald Trump, he has been criticised as a climate change denier. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64657711

The clear interpretation it does give is that it is not vaccine related. Despite your insinuation that it may be. Disinformation at best.

Comment on moderation has been removed.

Out of context edited quote removed and replies 28. You will not make changes to messages quoted from other members posts, except for purposes of shortening the quoted post. Do not shorten any post in a way that alters the context of the original post. Do not change the formatting of the post you are quoting.

An off topic post and reply has been removed.

A federal judge may rule later this month on a lawsuit seeking to block the use of medication abortion nationwide, in the biggest abortion-related case since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. The lawsuit, filed in November by anti-abortion advocates against the US Food and Drug Administration, targets the agency’s 20-year-old approval of mifepristone, the first drug in the medication abortion process Medication abortion, which now makes up a majority of abortions obtained in the US, has become a particularly acute flashpoint in the fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision last year overturning Roe v. Wade. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/10/politics/fda-medication-abortion-lawsuit-mifepristone/index.html

Joe Lycett, Sir Rod Stewart, Alex Scott and Harry Styles are among the stars nominated for this year's British LGBT Awards. Lycett made headlines ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal, in November, when he publicly urged David Beckham to pull out of a reported £10m deal with the host nation - threatening to destroy £10,000 of his own money should the football star fail to do so. Stewart also spoke out against Qatar's human rights record in an interview with The Sunday Times, agreeing it "would have been good" to play his song The Killing of Georgie, about the murder of a gay man in the 1970s, at the opening ceremony as a protest. https://news.sky.com/story/british-lgbt-awards-joe-lycett-harry-styles-rod-stewart-and-alex-scott-among-2023-nominees-12810874

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian private military company Wagner, admitted on Tuesday to founding the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a notorious troll farm that the US government has sanctioned for interfering in American elections. A Wagner Telegram channel on Tuesday published a statement from Prigozhin, asking him to react to the suggestion that he was the founder of the agency. “I react with pleasure,” Prigozhin said in the statement, “I’ve never just been the financier of the Internet Research Agency, I invented it, I created it, I managed it for a long time. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/14/europe/russia-yevgeny-prigozhin-internet-research-agency-intl/index.html

Russia has begun deploying tactical nuclear weapon-armed vessels in the Baltic Sea for the first time in the last 30 years, the Norwegian Intelligence Service said in its annual report. “The key part of the nuclear potential is on the submarines and surface ships of the Northern Fleet,” the Norwegian intel noted. The Northern Fleet warships regularly went to sea with nuclear weapons during the Cold War era, but this is the first time the modern Russian Federation has done the same, the report added. https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-nuclear-ships-norway-ukraine-war/

Early in the 2023 legislative session, at least 26 bills have been introduced in 14 states by Republican legislators taking aim at drag events — an abrupt movement that has emerged this year amid a wider conservative backlash to expanded LGBTQ rights. There’s no recent precedent for the bills, which seek to ban children from drag performances, block the shows from public venues or force locales that host drag events to register as “adult-oriented businesses,” according to LGBTQ advocacy groups. A Washington Post analysis of state legislation dating to 2015 shows the first bill in that period seeking broad restrictions on drag shows was pre-filed in November for this year’s legislative session. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/14/drag-shows-republican-bills-bans/

A troll post and a misinformation post have been removed

A judge in Fulton County, Georgia, will make public some parts of a report from a special grand jury that investigated Donald Trump’s actions after the 2020 election in the state, but not specific charging recommendations. In his order on Monday, Judge Robert C.I. McBurney said that the special grand jury’s introduction and conclusion as well as concerns the panel had about witnesses lying under oath will made be public on Thursday, some of the information in those sections still may be redacted, the judge noted. Prosecutors in Georgia have aggressively investigated whether Trump or any of his associates broke the law while trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the closely contested state. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/13/politics/fulton-county-trump-grand-jury/index.html

unsubstantiated covid vaccine claims have been removed, persist and you will recieve a warning