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Russian mother ordered to pay for repairs to train that mowed down 15-year-old son
has bill scrapped after public outcry – reports
29 Oct, 2021 18:19
A Russian woman was reportedly told to cover maintenance costs after her son was killed by a high-speed train, with insurance bosses’ requests for compensation only withdrawn after the firm came under fire in the press.
In a statement issued to journalists on Friday, insurance company Rosgosstrakh said that it is now looking to return around 400,000 rubles ($5,645) paid by the family of the tragic boy since the 2019 incident. While the company insisted it is legally bound to collect funds on behalf of its clients, the statement said that “unfortunately the automated collection process may not take into account the social consequences for a particular person or family.”
The response, published by Moscow’s TV Dozhd, registered as a foreign agent by Russia’s Ministry of Justice, comes amid a public outcry after details of the case came to light. According to reports, the schoolboy was killed while walking across a ground-level pedestrian crossing at a railway station just outside Moscow. The 15-year-old is said to have been wearing headphones and did not hear the high-speed train coming down the tracks on its way into the Russian capital.
The young man, whose name has not been released, was thrown around 50 meters from the collision and died before emergency workers could get to the scene, sources say. According to Dozhd, Rosgosstrakh compensated the owner of the train, Russian Railways, for maintenance work in the aftermath of the fatal incident, and elected to collect damages from his family, alleging that he had violated station rules by being on the track.
“In order to avoid transfer of collection to the judicial stage and an increase in the amount of debt, you need to pay an amount of 400,972.37 rubles within 10 days from the date of receipt of this letter,” a letter to the family reportedly reads. The company is now looking into the best route to return the funds to the bereaved mother.
It is so good to see that the conscience of Russian people is growing. There have been a few such stories where people have stood up for those badly treated. 40 or 50 years ago, such a thing would never have happened.
‘This can’t be real’: MLB fans in hysterics as animal rights watchdog
PETA deems the term ‘bullpen’ insensitive to cows
And they should have mentioned that "dugouts" are insensitive to dead and buried people!
28 Oct, 2021 18:42
Animal rights group PETA has called on baseball chiefs to change the term 'bullpen' to something a little less offensive to cows, such as 'arm barn', after complaining that the word "mocks the misery of sensitive animals".
And, I'm sure they are really upset about it!
PETA, or the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have long positioned themselves as a voice for mistreated animals – something which only the most sociopathic in society would fundamentally disagree with.
But the watchdog has occasionally come under fire for what some see as overstepping their boundaries when it comes to ethics and animal rights.
And judging by the latest decree by the group, this seems to be one of those occasions.
"As the World Series turns into a pitching duel, PETA is pitching a proposal to the baseball world," they announced.
"Strike out the word 'bullpen,' which references the holding area where terrified bulls are kept before slaughter, in favor of a more modern, animal-friendly term. PETA's suggestion? The arm barn.
"Words matter, and baseball 'bullpens' devalue talented players and mock the misery of sensitive animals," added PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman.
"PETA encourages Major League Baseball coaches, announcers, players, and fans to changeup their language and embrace the 'arm barn' instead."
According to RT Sport's analysis, the term 'bullpen' has been used in baseball since the 1870s – and has since migrated to several other definitions, also including holding cells used by police to detain criminals.
It has also been used by Marvel comics to describe their array of writers – 'The Marvel Bullpen' – as well as its original meaning as a holding pen for, well, bulls.
Given that the term has been associated with baseball for around 150 years, it would take a gigantic effort to change the word at this point in time – and surely the term 'arm barn' isn't the one that's going to replace it.
"Does PETA know what baseballs and baseball gloves are made with?" asked one fan in response to the report.
"The cows must have discussed this during their recent town hall meeting," joked another. "Just very upset and finally had enough."
"They got this from [satirical site] The Onion... this can't be real," said a third.
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Democratic agitator Al Sharpton leans on Biden to give
Kamala Harris ‘more positions of power’
Oh, God! Help us!
29 Oct, 2021 00:05
MSNBC host and Democrat power-broker Al Sharpton has called for US President Joe Biden to “use” VP Kamala Harris more effectively going forward, despite her perceived failure to handle her existing responsibilities at the border.
Sharpton, whose National Action Network is a powerful player in Democratic Party politics, has called for Harris to be better deployed within the Biden administration. In an interview with The Root on Tuesday, he expressed dissatisfaction with the “marginal positions” and called for Biden to give the first-ever black and female VP “more positions of power,” suggesting “her being in charge of voting was important,” but that something more was required.
“I would like the president to put her in charge of the voting package and criminal justice. Also, he needs to put Kamala at the forefront of the George Floyd bill that he promised to get through,” he said, referring to a police reform bill that died in Congress last month. Neither party could reach an agreement on the legislation, and Biden has pledged to examine “further executive actions” in the hope of pushing some parts of the package through.
Harris “was a prosecutor and a state attorney general, so she knows the criminal justice system and understands both sides,” Sharpton opined, adding that “she is also a Black woman in the time of Breonna Taylor and other Black women who have suffered racism, so I think that she should have those assignments and be able to get certain things to Congress.”
However, Harris’ tenure as California state attorney general was not exactly kind to black women. They were more likely to be caught up in her infamous anti-truancy campaign, which saw parents locked up when their children failed to attend school. Despite attempting to distance herself from the program, video of her laughing over the initiative surfaced during the 2020 presidential primaries, helping sink her campaign. Harris’ office also attempted to cover up a massive scandal within the state’s crime lab and infamously attempted to withhold DNA evidence that could have exonerated a death row prisoner.
Despite her controversial criminal justice record, Sharpton insisted he wanted to see Harris “thrive,” vowing to “communicate that to the president,” but discreetly.
“It would be unwise for me to have her at my event and use that as a platform to raise the issue, so instead, I will speak directly to the President,” he reasoned.
Harris was tasked earlier this year with managing the immigration crisis at the US-Mexico border, an assignment she largely ignored for several months as unprecedented numbers of migrants streamed into the country. An all-time record of 1.7 million arrivals have been detained in the fiscal year 2021.
While the Biden-Harris administration initially adopted a welcoming posture toward the crowds of immigrants surging into the US illegally, Harris was forced to roll back the welcome mat, belatedly telling the masses “Don’t come” or “you will be turned back.” However, neither Mexican nor American authorities have thus far been able to halt the human tide, and a thousands-strong caravan broke through a border crossing between Mexico and Guatemala last week, headed for Mexico City and ultimately the US.
The Biden administration has quietly readopted some of its predecessor’s border policies, despite running on a platform that denounced them as “racist.” Next month, the White House will reinstate Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, requiring migrants to wait out their asylum proceedings there instead of being permitted to live freely in the US while awaiting their court hearing. Attempts to revoke it were stopped in court in August, after Texas and Missouri filed lawsuits arguing the reversal had led to an uncontrollable influx of illegal immigrants.
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