May 12, 2021

The Mendoza Line: UT mascot Bevo stages fecal protest against 'The Eyes of Texas'

We understand that in the current political environment it can be really tough to tell the difference between real news stories and satire, which is precisely why we're letting you know that the Mendoza Line is a weekly work of satire.


University of Texas mascot Bevo XV has begun his own form of protest against the playing of “The Eyes of Texas” at university events where he's appearing.

The 1,800-pound longhorn steer is now engaging in projectile defecation whenever the song is played. His diet and exercise regimen haven’t changed, according to a university review. The only variable has been the recent uproar over the song, which has come under fire from critics who say it has racist origins.

Arlo Sprayberry, the self-proclaimed Bevo “whisperer” of the Silver Spurs, the group that cares for animal, said the steer began displaying displeasure with the song last year after the Oklahoma game.

“Originally, we just thought it was because Oklahoma beat our ass again,” Sprayberry said. “But then we noticed Sam [Ehlinger] was the only player singing ‘The Eyes’ with the band 'cause everyone else was protesting. After that, Bevo just cut loose with a giant, watery shit. Damn near ruined a good pair of Lucchese boots.”

Read more: https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2021/05/10/the-mendoza-line-ut-mascot-bevo-stages-fecal-protest-against-the-eyes-of-texas

May 12, 2021

After Plano Rally, Ken Paxton and Conservative Media Lash Out at Marvin Scott III Protesters

On Sunday, May 2, protesters marched to demand justice for Marvin Scott III in Plano. But this weekend, conservative politicians, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and right-wing media made a clip of a confrontation at the rally go viral and lashed out at the demonstrators.

For weeks, some North Texans have demanded the arrest of the officers involved in the death of Scott, a 26-year-old Black man who died March 14 while in custody at the Collin County Jail. After his death, seven officers were fired and another resigned.

Scott’s death was ruled a homicide by the Collin County Medical Examiner’s Office in late April.

In video footage taken at the May 2 protest, a tall white man is seen angrily confronting protesters, who were crossing a busy Plano intersection. Scott supporters demanded the man’s arrest and the firing of a police officer they felt did little to intervene. But some conservatives insist that the protesters were in the wrong for obstructing traffic.

Many have accused right-wing commentators of fomenting misplaced outrage. Rather than being upset by Scott’s horrific death, which his family described as “torturous,” some conservatives seemed more rattled by potential traffic violations.

Read more: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/conservative-politicians-and-journalists-condemn-plano-protest-for-marvin-scott-iii-12018894

May 12, 2021

Inside Pictet, the Secretive Swiss Bank for the World's Richest People

In the mythology of private banking, Banque Pictet & Cie SA stands apart. Over the course of more than two centuries, the Swiss institution has discreetly tended to the assets of the very rich, led by a small crop of partners who form the most exclusive men-only club anywhere outside the Vatican.

In its entire history, only 43 individuals — all men, all white — have risen to the rank of Pictet managing partner, creating a bond more enduring than your typical marriage. From their Geneva perch, they oversee more than 600 billion francs ($662 billion) in assets under management and a level of profitability far beyond larger, publicly-listed peers, often rewarding each of them with more than 20 million francs a year.

But in recent years, an unsettling new trend crept into Pictet, cracking the façade of corporate cohesion: key employees began leaving. Over the course of 2019, a dozen long-tenured relationship managers at the wealth unit departed. Within days in September of that year, four leading bankers from the team looking after Russian clients handed in their resignations. Bankers for Scandinavia and Israel followed, putting billions in assets under management at stake.

At the heart of the exodus lies a culture clash. Longtime employees were bristling at the brash style of the flood of recent hires brought on to manage the money of the ultra rich, particularly the explosive growth of new wealth in Asia that has set off an aggressive race for assets and talent with bigger rivals like UBS Group AG and HSBC Holdings Plc.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-05-11/secretive-swiss-bank-pictet-torn-between-old-money-and-new-risk

May 12, 2021

Too cold to handle? Race is on to pioneer shipping of hydrogen

Hydrogen is touted as an inevitable green fuel of the future. Tell that to the people who'll have to ship it across the globe at hyper-cold temperatures close to those in outer space.

Yet that is exactly what designers are attempting to do.

In the biggest technological challenge for merchant shipping in decades, companies are beginning to develop a new generation of vessels that can deliver hydrogen to heavy industry, betting plants worldwide will convert to the fuel and propel the transition to a lower-carbon economy.

There are at least three projects developing pilot ships that will be ready to test transporting the fuel in Europe and Asia within the next three years, the companies involved told Reuters.

The major challenge is to keep the hydrogen chilled at minus 253 degrees Celsius - only 20 degrees above absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature - so it stays in liquid form, while avoiding the risk that parts of a vessel could crack.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/too-cold-handle-race-is-pioneer-shipping-hydrogen-2021-05-11/

May 12, 2021

Chesapeake Energy posts profit after bankruptcy exit, declares dividend

Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.O) on Tuesday reported a quarterly profit of $295 million in its first earnings after emerging from bankruptcy in February.

Once the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer, the company filed for court protection last June, saddled with more than $9 billion debt from overspending on assets and a sudden decline in oil prices and demand from the pandemic.

Chesapeake on Tuesday also declared an annual dividend on its common shares of $1.375 per share. The first quarterly dividend will be paid on June 10.

Shares of the company were up about 5% at $51.50 in extended trade.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chesapeake-energy-reports-quarterly-profit-after-bankruptcy-exit-2021-05-11/

May 12, 2021

Hospitals in tourist-haven Costa Rica in 'serious' phase as Covid-19 cases surge

Hospitals in the Central American nation of Costa Rica are running out of space for COVID-19 patients amid a new wave of infections, the president of the national doctors' union said on Tuesday.

The sharp rise in coronavirus infections has led to calls for a fresh lockdown by doctors, potentially dealing another blow to businesses, especially in the tourism sector, which were hoping for an influx of American and European tourists.

Costa Rica on Tuesday reported 26 new confirmed COVID-19 deaths, the largest reported daily toll since the pandemic started.

Edwin Solano, president of the national doctors' union, urged the country's leaders to pay heed to the dire situation on the ground as hospitals run out of space in intensive care units.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/hospitals-tourist-haven-costa-rica-serious-phase-covid-19-cases-surge-2021-05-12/

May 12, 2021

Kimmel: MyPillow Mike's Ranting Rally, Jenner's Poll Problems, Tiger on the Loose & Viral Menthol

May 11, 2021

In Exclusive Jailhouse Letter, Capitol Riot Defendant Explains Motives, Remains Boastful

An excerpt of a letter penned by Guy Reffitt, sent to ProPublica from jail.


In a letter sent from behind bars, a key defendant in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol said he and fellow inmates have bonded in jail, and boasted that those attacking the building could have overthrown the government if they had wanted.

The letter is signed “the 1/6ers” and expresses no remorse for the assault on the Capitol, in which five people died. While no names appeared on it, ProPublica was able to determine, through interviews with his family and a review of his correspondence from jail, that it was penned by Guy Reffitt, a member of the Three Percenter right-wing militant group accused of participating in the riot. The letter said the inmates arrested for their role in the attack regularly recite the Pledge of Allegiance inside the Washington, D.C. jail and sing the national anthem “all in unison, loud and proud most everyday.”

“January 6th was nothing short of a satirical way to overthrow a government,” said the letter, written by hand on yellow lined paper. “If overthrow was the quest, it would have no doubt been overthrown.”

The letter sent to ProPublica is believed to be one of the first public statements from a Jan. 6 rioter currently in detention. ProPublica also obtained text messages with Reffitt’s family and was able to ask a few questions of him via text from the D.C. Jail, with his wife, Nicole Reffitt, acting as a relay. Guy Reffitt declined to participate in a fuller interview on the advice of his lawyer, his wife said.

Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/in-exclusive-jailhouse-letter-capital-riot-defendant-explains-motives-remains-boastful

No remorse and still a threat. Lock him up (and all the other inmates that bonded with him) for a long time.

May 11, 2021

Haitians protest their president in English as well as Creole, indicting US for its role in country'

Tamanisha John
Ph.D. Candidate of International Relations, Florida International University


Haitian protesters on the nation’s streets have a laundry list of reasons they believe President Jovenel Moïse should resign.

They blame Moïse for overstaying his term, which should have ended on Feb. 7, for fiscal austerity that has caused rapid inflation and deteriorating living conditions and for sponsoring gang attacks that have killed at least 240 people since 2018, according to human rights groups.

And though very few people in Haiti speak English, Haitian protesters are using English to make their demands known, with viral Twitter protest hashtags like #FreeHaiti and protest signs reading “Jovenel is a dictator.”

My research on imperialism and Caribbean politics suggests Haitians are using English not only to draw Western attention to the crisis there, but also to indict the U.S. for its role in creating that crisis.

Read more: https://theconversation.com/haitians-protest-their-president-in-english-as-well-as-creole-indicting-us-for-its-role-in-countrys-political-crisis-160154

May 11, 2021

Man Accused of Spa Murders of Asian Women Charged With Domestic Terrorism - Jury Could Add Hate

Man Accused of Spa Murders of Asian Women Charged With Domestic Terrorism – Jury Could Add Hate Crime, Death Penalty


A 22-year old white man accused of the murders of eight people, including six women of Asian descent at Atlanta-area spas in March has been indicted on murder, felony murder, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and domestic terrorism charges. A jury could also add hate crime charges and the death penalty.

Robert Aaron Long (photo) was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury in the March 16 killings at two spas of four people: Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; and Yong Ae Yue, 63, the Associated Press reports.

“The indictment only covers those four killings that happened at two spas in Atlanta, and not the attack in Cherokee County in which Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; Delaina Yaun, 33; and Paul Michels, 54, were killed.”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis says she will seek hate crime charges and the death penalty from a jury. Georgia’s hate crime law makes the jury determine if a crime is a hate crime.

Read more: https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2021/05/man-accused-of-spa-murders-of-asian-women-charged-with-domestic-terrorism-jury-could-add-hate-crime-death-penalty/