Tuesday Open Thread

Posted on May 29, 2018 by rikyrah

The Kanneh-Masons: The family that plays together…

Inspiration-new album

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114 Responses to Tuesday Open Thread

  2. eliihass says:
    May 29, 2018 at 10:21 pm

    “…When Chelsea, the London soccer team, defeated Manchester United to win Britain’s FA Cup 10 days ago, the club’s billionaire Russian owner, Roman A. Abramovich, was nowhere to be seen among the celebrants, prompting speculation that the government was holding up his application for a visa extension.

    On Monday, Mr. Abramovich finally surfaced — in Israel, where he apparently immigrated under the law of return, which guarantees citizenship to any Jew wanting to move here.

    The British authorities have not publicly commented on Mr. Abramovich’s visa issues, but Prime Minister Theresa May has blamed Moscow for an attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in England. She threatened to take action against wealthy Russians who benefit from their ties to President Vladimir V. Putin.

    Russia has denied any involvement in the March attack on the retired spy, Sergei V. Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal. The two were poisoned in Salisbury, England, with the nerve agent Novichok, a chemical weapon developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.

    Upon his arrival in Israel, Mr. Abramovich instantly became Israel’s wealthiest man. The Russian oligarch, with a fortune estimated at more than $10 billion, would have advantages in retaining that title: The Times of Israel reported that as a new citizen, Mr. Abramovich is exempt from taxes on income earned abroad for 10 years. He also is not required to declare the sources of that income for 10 years.

    Those advantages, which may have also encouraged Mr. Abramovich to become an Israeli, come thanks to a controversial 2008 law. Proponents said it was intended to encourage immigration to Israel by Jews, but critics said would entice oligarchs and others to move to Israel with their ill-gotten gains, no questions asked.

    His arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport was not so typical: He landed in a private Gulfstream jet, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The Interior Ministry confirmed only that he had entered the country, saying citizenship applications were a private matter.

    Mr. Abramovich had already acquired an atypical residence in Israel. In 2015, he paid about $28 million for a former hotel in the wealthy Neve Tzedek section Tel Aviv. He bought it from two brothers, one of them the husband of the actress Gal Gadot, star of “Wonder Woman.”

    In Britain, Mr. Abramovich had an investor visa — valid for three years and four months and normally extended every two years — which expired at the end of April.

    But diplomatic relations between Britain and Russia plummeted after the Skripal poisonings, which Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said had probably been personally ordered by Mr. Putin. The poisonings prompted more than 20 countries to expel more than 100 Russian diplomats and intelligence officers. In return, Russia expelled an equal number of foreign diplomats.

    Mr. Johnson suggested last week that the British government might take further action “to crack down on people close to Putin who may have illicit or ill-gotten wealth.”

    Mr. Abramovich is seen by many as a Putin friend. Mr. Putin, who has ravaged businesses of critical Russian tycoons, has not touched Mr. Abramovich’s Russian businesses, which include oil and other interests…”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/28/world/europe/roman-abramovich-israel.html

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      May 29, 2018 at 10:38 pm

      “…The sudden immigration to Israel of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich makes him the latest in a string of Jewish Russian oligarchs who have made a home in the country in recent years.

      Abramovich received his Israeli citizenship Monday upon arriving in Israel on his private jet, immediately becoming the country’s richest person, with an estimated net worth of more than $11 billion. Israel grants automatic citizenship to anyone of Jewish descent.

      The Chelsea football club owner made the move after his British visa was not renewed, apparently as part of British authorities’ efforts to crack down on associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

      Britain has pledged to review the long-term visas of rich Russians in the aftermath of the March poisonings of Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury. Britain blames Russia for the pair’s exposure to a nerve agent, an allegation Moscow denies.

      It’s not clear yet how much time Abramovich will spend in Israel. He owns an upscale home in the trendy Neve Tzedek neighborhood of Tel Aviv that he bought several years ago from Yaron Versano, the husband of Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot. His representative would not respond to questions about his plans, calling it “a private matter.”

      Abramovich is perhaps the most high-profile Russian oligarch to relocate to Israel, but hardly the first.

      Alex Kogan, a journalist who has covered the Russian oligarch phenomenon in Israel for the local Russian-language press, said that some 30 to 40 tycoons have taken Israeli citizenship or residency, with most staying only part-time or temporarily because of scrutiny over their affairs.

      He said the oligarchs — businessmen who accumulated massive wealth in the privatization process that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union — were motivated by various interests. Some fled Russia because of financial irregularities or dramatic fallouts with Putin that could put them at risk of incarceration.

      Others were closer to the government and sought the advantages of an Israeli passport, such as visa-free entry to the European Union. Some were drawn by tax breaks for new immigrants to Israel. They are also more protected in Israel against the threat of extradition, for real or trumped-up charges. Israel was created in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust as a haven for Jews escaping persecution.

      Here’s a look at some of the others who have made the move and immigrated to Israel, at least temporarily:

      LEONID NEVZLIN:
      Nevzlin is the most high-profile of the oil executive associates of Mikhail Khodorkovsky who fled Russian arrest warrants in 2003. Khodorkovsky, the onetime head of the Yukos oil giant, was jailed for several years after clashing with Putin. Nevzlin and his associates, Mikhail Brudno and Vladimir Dubov, lobbied for Khodorkovsky’s release from Israel. His daughter Irina is married to Yuli Edelstein, the speaker of the Israeli parliament and himself a former political prisoner in the Soviet Union.

      ARKADY GAYDAMAK:
      Politicians lined up for the lavish parties he threw and he was a fixture in the local tabloids. However, his stay was clouded by controversy over an international arrest warrant involving the alleged smuggling of weapons to Angola. After a failed attempt to run for Jerusalem mayor, Gaydamak left the country in 2008 amid financial scandals in Israel and Europe.

      SHALVA CHIGRINSKY:
      A former business partner of Abramovich, Chigrinsky initially headed to Israel to hide from Russian prosecutors investigating his business interests, including the construction of huge Moscow malls and plans to erect the largest building in Europe. He fled Russia in 2009 after a power struggle with rival businessmen and the mayor of Moscow.

      VALERY KOGAN:
      Kogan, who is believed to be a Putin ally, owns Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport — the largest in Eastern Europe. Israeli media reported that he invested at least $100 million to build the most luxurious mansion in Israel in 2013, designed in a style resembling the White House, before selling the plot. He then reportedly set an Israeli real estate record when he bought a 1,000-square-meter (nearly 11,000 square foot) apartment in Tel Aviv for a reported $31 million. Just last year, he was reported to have paid millions for Mariah Carey and Elton John to sing at his granddaughter’s wedding.

      https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/abramovich-latest-russian-oligarch-seek-move-israel-55507298

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      May 29, 2018 at 11:23 pm

      “…Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea football club, who has faced difficulties obtaining a new UK visa, will not be allowed to work in Britain if he travels here on his new Israeli passport, Downing Street has said.

      It emerged on Monday that the formerly Russian-based billionaire, a regular presence in Britain since he bought Chelsea in 2003, had been granted Israeli citizenship and was moving to Tel Aviv.

      Abramovich, who had reportedly faced delays in renewing his UK visa, will be allowed to visit the UK visa-free for up to six months at a time with his Israeli passport, but cannot work in the country, Theresa May’s spokesman said.

      While stressing he could not comment on individual cases, the spokesman outlined the general situation, saying: “Those with Israeli passports are non-visa nationals, which means they do not need a visa to come to the UK as a visitor for a maximum period of six months.”

      He added: “Israelis are required to obtain a visa if they want to live, work or study in the UK.”

      The spokesman said it was up to immigration authorities to monitor how these conditions were adhered to, and the Home Office would have more details on what could constitute work in such instances. The Home Office was contacted for details.

      Israel’s interior ministry confirmed the offer of citizenship on Monday. “Roman Abramovich arrived at the Israeli embassy in Moscow like any other person,” an Israeli government spokesperson said. “He filed a request to receive an immigration permit, his documents were checked according to the law of return, and he was indeed found eligible.”

      Abramovich has not commented on recent developments. However, it is believed he could have been asked to explain the source of his wealth before he could be granted a new UK visa.

      His previous tier-1 visa, which allows anyone who invests more than £2m in the British economy to stay for 40 months, was granted before tighter regulations were introduced in April 2015.

      Last week Downing Street said that while it could not comment on individual cases, it was the “logical conclusion” that some wealthy individuals who had applied under the investment visa route before the changes would no longer be eligible.

      The government launched a further crackdown on wealthy investors coming to the UK after the Salisbury poisoning, increasing tensions between Britain and Russia.

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/29/roman-abramovich-cannot-work-in-uk-israeli-passport-chelsea-fc

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      May 29, 2018 at 8:25 pm

      Bill Cassidy is one of those mostly faceless 2nd tier crop of evil GOP that has been very much part of this corrupt evil that’s befallen our country..

      May God swiftly punish him and the rest of the lot of them..

      Reply
  16. Ametia says:
    May 29, 2018 at 6:34 pm

    Ain’t NOBODY got time for playing up McCain, ALSO TOO

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      May 29, 2018 at 8:19 pm

      They’ve been at it for years..

      And my historic FLOTUS, more than any, has been at the receiving end of much it and worse, for years.. And it continues to this day almost 2 years after they left the White House..

      She’s been their number one target, and their endless obsession with her, and their ubiquitous and unrelenting malicious dehumanization of her is unparalleled..

      They have never missed a beat and remain laser-focused on her..

      ‘Actors’ James Wood, Scott Baio, Dennis Miller; Dinesh D’Souza, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Tammy Bruce, Michael Medved, Neal Boortz, Ben Shapiro, self-loathing coon Larry Elder, now out of work Milo Yiannopoulos, and the entire Breitbart crew, Mike Huckabee, Ann Coulter, the faux-mainstreamed lightweights, Megyn Kelly, SE Cupp, Megan McCain, self-loathing and confused Amy Holmes etc…

      Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    May 29, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    Zerlina Maxwell
    ‏Verified account @ZerlinaMaxwell
    5h5 hours ago

    If you are a white journalist and you are using “racially charged” to describe an incident where a white woman called a black woman an ape you should probably seek out a new profession. Words aren’t your thing.
    113 replies 2,520 retweets 10,870 likes

    Zerlina Maxwell
    ‏Verified account @ZerlinaMaxwell

    I sometimes wonder what white people would consider racism because we’re always told [insert description of the incident] isn’t racist and that Black people are overreacting.
    10:21 AM – 29 May 2018

    Reply
  24. rikyrah says:
    May 29, 2018 at 5:20 pm

    Folks like Roseanne…

    THey do not want

    Freedom of Speech

    They have FREEDOM OF SPEECH

    what they want is FREEDOM FROM CONSEQUENCES OF SAID SPEECH.

    They wanna party like it’s 1948.

    And nobody has time for that.

    Reply
  25. rikyrah says:
    May 29, 2018 at 5:15 pm

    Grocery Store Cashier Shames Woman on WIC, Won’t Allow Customer to Help Pay: ‘They Keep Getting Handouts’
    Yesha Callahan
    Today 7:30am

    A woman at an Albertsons store in Gresham, Ore., attempted to help out a fellow shopper when she came up short at the register. But according to Jacki Carroll, a white woman, the cashier refused to let her help the African-American woman who was using WIC (federal food stamp benefits specifically earmarked for women, infants and children) to pay for her items, and said the cashier made some pretty racist comments in the process.

    “[I] said, ‘I will pay,’ and she said, ‘No!’ Very abruptly,” Carroll said in an interview with KATU. “Literally, she raised her voice and said, ‘No, you don’t need to do that.’”

    Carroll was only offering to pay the $12 the unidentified woman was short, but she said the cashier, identified only as Debbie, went classist and racist at the same time.

    “I go, ‘Well I don’t mind, just let her have her stuff,’” Carroll said she told the white female cashier, who then responded, “‘No! You’re not going to do that. She has WIC. She gets her free stuff.’”

    Eventually, the woman left the grocery store with only the items she could afford, and when Carroll continued her conversation with the cashier, she wouldn’t let up on her stank racist attitude.

    https://www.theroot.com/grocery-store-cashier-shames-woman-on-wic-wont-allow-c-1826381401

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    May 29, 2018 at 5:13 pm

    @maggieNYT
    1h1 hour ago
    More
    Ivanka Trump is leading a call on a WH event on sports tomorrow. First question is related to her business trademarks in China. WH aide on call declines to answer and redirects. A few q’s later, aide says Ivanka Trump had to go to another meeting.

    Reply
  32. rikyrah says:
    May 29, 2018 at 4:58 pm

    https://twitter.com/CapehartJ/status/1001547247836979200

    Valerie is too classy, because I would go all kinds of OKOP on Roseanne..

    Something like…
    “While her ancestors were dirt farming wherever the hell they are from, mine was being the first Black to graduate from MIT. I guess that’s what apes can do.”

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    May 29, 2018 at 4:57 pm

    From The Root comment section:

    Dear White People & Trump Supporters:

    This isn’t The 60’s. You will not talk to or treat us like this
    anymore. You will not mock us without consequence be it professional, financial or physical. I know you think that Trump’s election has awakened some type of primal scream in disgruntled white people, but it also awakened an anger and resolve in the communities this sack of shit and his collection of scumbags have decided to target.

    Get this straight right fucking now, you come for us or step to us with any of your ‘economic anxiety” and you will be dealt with. The only thing to be decided is will it be in a court room, board room or out in the street which where some of you need to be dragged and get your asses beat.

    Sincerely,

    Deez Black & Fed Up Nuts

    Reply
  43. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 29, 2018 at 3:05 pm

    I told y’all these kids were a force to be reckoned with. They are the ones we’ve been waiting for. The young people will win! #Parkland #MSDStrong

    https://twitter.com/CBSMiami/status/1001509983010377728

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      May 29, 2018 at 2:07 pm

      Should never have been rebooted.. that most of these folks tried to justify hanging with Roseanne out of greed…

      Everyone knew what Roseanne Barr stood for.. And no amount of scrubbing her Twitter timeline just before she began making her tv promo rounds, could gloss over the fact that the woman is a cruel, ignorant, brazen racist..

      I remember reading a virulently racist twitter convo between her and Alana Stewart (Rob Stewart’s ex), and a fellow horrid racist and ignorant twerp, targeting my historic FLOTUS.. I knew all about Roseanne Barr, but had no idea about Alana Stewart..

      Now to see what cast and production crew follow Roseanne to FOX…because you know Fox will be picking it up..

      And this time, Sara Gilbert won’t be able to feign ignorance, or put out empty platitudes.. or excuses..

      Let’s see what their souls are worth..

      Reply
  53. Ametia says:
    May 29, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    ‘Roseanne’ is canceled, ABC Entertainment says. The news comes after TV show star Roseanne Barr went on a racist Twitter rampage.

    ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said in a statment, “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repungnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,”

    The star of a family-friendly network sitcom went on a Twitter rant Monday, spewing false conspiracy theories, going after former first daughter Chelsea Clinton and attacking a former adviser to President Barack Obama with what many perceived to be a racist insult. After intense backlash and calls for ABC to fire the comedian and cancel her show, Barr issued a blanket apology and said she was giving up the social media platform. “I apologize. I am now leaving Twitter,” she wrote hours after the tweetstorm began.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2018/05/29/roseanne-went-on-a-vitriolic-and-racially-charged-twitter-rampage-now-shes-apologizing/?utm_term=.51047a2122ac&wpisrc=al_news__alert-entertain–alert-national&wpmk=1

    Reply
  54. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 29, 2018 at 1:01 pm

    KARMA came swiftly. #Roseanne tweeted herself out of a show. She got too comfortable with her racist hate but folks were NOT having it!

    Reply
  55. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 29, 2018 at 12:55 pm

    Breaking News: ABC: Cancelling Roseanne after “Abhorrent” comments.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      May 29, 2018 at 12:39 pm

      May God have mercy on their souls.

      But they were AMERICANS, THO!

      Criminal what this country and that oragne POS has allowed, a natural disaster to consume the lives of its citizens, because of the vile RACISM that has festerd and now come to full-blown daylight for the world to witness

      Reply
    • rikyrah says:
      May 29, 2018 at 1:45 pm

      I told you that they were trying to kill those American Citizens 😠😠

      Reply
  60. Liza says:
    May 29, 2018 at 11:40 am

    The story about what has really happened in Puerto Rico needs to see daylight. Now!
    https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/1001501801806487552

    Reply
  64. Ametia says:
    May 29, 2018 at 10:24 am

    Liza, where are you? Your next POTUS!

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      May 29, 2018 at 11:09 am

      Ha ha, that’s true. Looks like Jeff might go for it in 2020. The problem he has is that if he’s trying to appeal to the conservative intelligentsia, it’s a mighty small slice of the electorate.

      But for all his yammering, something he seems to be doing constantly these days, he never votes against the GOP agenda. Just another toe the line Republican.

      Reply
  71. rikyrah says:
    May 29, 2018 at 8:46 am

    Coon👏on👏the👏pole👏

    Reply
  72. rikyrah says:
    May 29, 2018 at 8:03 am

    They are an amazing family 👏👏🙌🙌

    Reply
  73. rikyrah says:
    May 29, 2018 at 8:03 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😄 😄😄

    Reply

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