Owner of Russian Gay Bar Arrested For ‘Propaganda’
A Russian court has ordered the owner of the Pose gay club in the city of Orenburg to be placed in custody for allegedly organizing “extremist” activities associated with spreading LGBT propaganda.
The suspect will remain in custody until May 18 while the investigation is ongoing, according to a statement by the Orenburg Central District Court on Sunday.
The court has not released the name of the suspect, but some media have identified him as Vyacheslav Khasanov, reportedly detained at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on March 28.
According to the investigation, the club owner was conspiring with a group of individuals supporting activities of the banned LGBT movement. He is said to have carried out organizational functions such as renting premises and converting them into a bar, appointing managers, selecting artists, approving performances and events, and subsequently posting photo and video materials promoting non-traditional relations on the club’s Telegram channel, thereby “providing access to this information to an indefinite number of persons.”
Earlier this month the club’s art director Aleksander Klimov, and business executive Diana Kamilyanova, were arrested on similar charges. If found guilty, they could face up to ten years in prison.
Read more Russian gay club managers added to list of ‘terrorists’
LGBT propaganda has been outlawed in Russia since 2022, and in November last year the Supreme Court ruled that the activities of the “international LGBT social movement” are to be recognized as “extremist.” Last week, Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) included the “movement and its structural units” to the list of persons and organizations deemed to be involved in extremist activities or terrorism.
The Pose club case is the first criminal investigation in Russia associated with the Supreme Court’s ruling. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously stated that anti-LGBT legislation should not affect people’s personal lives, provided they “don’t flaunt it” in public and do not involve children.
Watch: Denver Official Caught on Tape Begging Illegals to Leave The City
A top Denver official was caught on tape in a local migrant shelter begging illegals to go to other cities, as Denver – a so-called ‘sanctuary city,’ can’t support them.
“The opportunities are over,” said Mayor Mike Johnson’s political director Andres Carrera, who also serves as the city’s Newcomer Communications Liaison, in an exchange with newly arrived migrants.
“New York gives you more. Chicago gives you more. So I suggest you go there where there is longer-term shelter. There are also more job opportunities there,” Carrera continues in the video obtained by 9News.
A top official in Denver was just caught on tape begging illegals to leave the city:
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 31, 2024
Denver Newcomer Liaison: “Any city. We can take you to the Canadian border, wherever.”
He promises them that there are better stuff awaiting them in Chicago and NY.
Denver is a self-designated… pic.twitter.com/NjsnmlTEHe
“We have received too many migrants and that is why we ran out of resources,” Carrara tells a crowed inside Denver’s primary migrant shelter.
“We are not going to block you if you want to say here,” he continues. “If you stay here you are going to suffer even more and I don’t want to see this.”
To facilitate their departure, Denver is offering to pay for migrants’ onward bus fare to a destination of their choice, which other ‘sanctuary cities’ have decried, 9News reports.
The migrants Carrera is seen speaking to on video arrived in Denver on March 26 on a bus organized by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, according to a city spokesperson.
Abbott has bragged about flooding Denver and other so-called “sanctuary cities” with migrants who have crossed the U.S. border with Mexico.
Denver has implemented strict limits on how long newly arrived migrants are allowed in city shelters; two weeks for individuals and six weeks for families with children.
“You don’t have to walk anywhere, we can buy you a free ticket,” Carrera tells the group, which shows children milling around him as he speaks with their parents. “You can go to any city. We can take you up to the Canadian border, wherever!”
A city spokesperson later said that Denver won’t buy bus tickets to Canadian cities, but will help Migrants get to US cities near the Canadian border if they ask.
Chilly Reception
Wrapping up his remarks, Carrera asks the crowd “Okay, who wants to travel to different cities where there is more work?”
Crickets ensue.
“Who wants to stay in Denver?” he then asked.
“Todos,” a migrant replies – everyone.
Moscow Demands That Kiev Surrender Terrorism Suspects
Moscow has demanded that Ukraine surrender everyone in the country it suspects of terrorism, including Kiev’s domestic spy agency boss Vasily Malyuk, and to immediately stop supporting any related activities such individuals and groups undertake, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday.
The ministry said it had officially contacted Kiev with the demands under the UN-adopted International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. The demands include the “immediate arrest and extradition” of all the suspects which Moscow has identified and linked to the recent terrorist attacks against Russia.
The deadly attack on the Crocus City Hall, which “shocked the whole world is, by far, not the first terrorist attack endured by our country recently,” the ministry noted.
”The investigations carried out by the competent Russian bodies indicate that the traces of all these crimes lead to Ukraine,” it stressed.
READ MORE: Terror mastermind told attack suspects to flee to Kiev – investigators
Apart from the concert hall attack, which left at least 144 people dead and more than 500 injured, the ministry cited such incidents as the assassination of the military blogger Maksim Fomin (best known by his pen name Vladlen Tatarsky), the deadly bombing of the Crimean Bridge, as well as recent cross-border raids into Belgorod Region and elsewhere which have been attributed by Kiev to the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK). The paramilitary unit, advertised as composed of Russians collaborating with Ukraine, has been designated as a terrorist entity by Moscow.
The ministry did not reveal any of the names of those it has demanded due to their suspected involvement, aside from the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Vasily Malyuk. The spy boss “cynically admitted on March 25 that Ukraine organized the bombing of the Crimean Bridge in October 2022 and revealed details on the organization of other terrorist attacks in Russia,” it noted.
Failing to meet Russia’s demands will constitute a breach of Ukraine’s international obligations with respect to fighting terrorism and “entail its international legal responsibility,” the ministry warned.
“Fighting against international terrorism is the responsibility of every state. The Russian side demands that the Kiev regime immediately stop any support for terrorist activities, hand over the perpetrators and compensate for the damage done to the victims,” it stressed.
Researchers Discover Why You Recall Some Memories And Forget Others
The findings, published in Science, pioneered the initial connection between nighttime brain activity and corresponding daytime behavior in the hippocampus – part of the brain involved in emotion, learning, and short- and long-term memory.
Neuroscientists have found that reflecting on life events shortly after they occur increases the likelihood of etching them into long-term memory.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Gyorgy Buzsaki, a Briggs professor of neuroscience at NYU Langone Health, four other NYU researchers, and a data analyst from the Mila-Quebec AI Institute, focused on the hippocampus. Using advanced techniques, they monitored the activity of hundreds of neurons simultaneously in the hippocampus of lab mice navigating a maze for tasty rewards.
The scientists observed that when a mouse paused to savor its reward after successfully navigating a maze, they recorded distinct sharp wave ripples (SWRs) – rhythmic patterns generated by highly synchronized neuronal activity within the hippocampus – numbering about five to 20 each time.
According to the study team, reflecting on an event shortly after it occurs can enhance the formation of long-term memories, even though the brain’s unconscious bursts of electrical activity are responsible for this process.
During the mouse maze experiment, SWRs were detected in the mice’s brains while they slept.
As the mice slept in the lab, neurons in their hippocampus, which had previously activated during daytime maze activities, fired rapidly once more. This activity resembled the animals “playing back” the recorded events repeatedly throughout the night, occurring thousands of times.
Dr. Buzsaki and his team propose that activating hippocampus neurons is responsible for storing geographical information in memory, such as the layout of rooms or the paths taken in a maze.
“Our study finds that sharp wave ripples are the physiological mechanism used by the brain to ‘decide’ what to keep and what to discard,” Dr. Buzsaki told NBC News.
He suggested that a leisurely walk post-activity could significantly boost retention, offering a practical tip for memory enhancement.
Dr. Winnie Yang, one of the study’s co-lead authors, expressed optimism about potential therapeutic applications, particularly for individuals struggling with memory disorders or PTSD. She envisioned future interventions harnessing these insights to enhance memory function or alleviate traumatic memories.
Dr. Daphna Shohamy of Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute (who was not part of the research) highlighted the relevance of their findings to human cognition, emphasizing the link between successful task completion and memory retention.
US Congressman Calls For ‘Hiroshima And Nagasaki’ Solution in Gaza And Ukraine
Michigan congressman Tim Walberg believes Washington should not waste money on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza or Ukraine, and instead focus on supporting Israel and Kiev’s war efforts, to achieve “quick” victories.
Walberg made his remarks during a meeting with members of the public in Dundee, Michigan last week. In a video posted on social media on March 25, the Republican congressman criticized President Joe Biden’s policies, telling a small audience that the US should better spend Gaza aid money on supporting Israel, which he labeled Washington’s “greatest ally, arguably, anywhere in the world.”
“We shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid. It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick,”Walberg could be heard saying.
“The same should be in Ukraine. Defeat Putin quick. Instead of 80% in Ukraine being used for humanitarian purposes, it should be 80-100% to wipe out Russian forces,” he added.
After his statements went viral, Walberg claimed that his words were misreported and misinterpreted, arguing that he was merely speaking metaphorically and did not advocate for the actual use of nuclear weapons.
“In a shortened clip, I used a metaphor to convey the need for both Israel and Ukraine to win their wars as swiftly as possible, without putting American troops in harm’s way,” Walberg said in a statementposted on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.
“The use of this metaphor, along with the removal of context, distorted my message, but I fully stand by these beliefs and stand by our allies,” he added, arguing that the quicker these conflicts end, the “fewer innocent lives will be caught in the crossfire.”
German Establishment Parties Unite to ‘Protect’ Constitutional Court From ‘Extremists’
The German Union parties (CDU/CSU) are again considering backing an initiative by the left-globalist ‘traffic light’ coalition to amend Germany’s constitution in an attempt to keep the anti-establishment Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party from influencing the Federal Constitutional Court.
Negotiations between the Union and the governing parties concerning the latter’s proposed draft law—framed as necessary to ‘protect’ the court from ‘extremists’—began in late January but concluded shortly thereafter when the CDU and CSU stated that they found no compelling reason for the constitutional amendment.
At the time, politicians from the traffic light parties sharply criticized CDU leader Friedrich Merz’s decision to withdraw from talks, accusing him of “naivety,” “negligence,” and failing to take what they regard as the necessary action required to protect Germany’s constitutional state.
The Union, for whatever reason, has since reversed its position, with parliamentary group leader Merz last weekend asking Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) to draft a proposal to ‘protect’ the Federal Constitutional Court from ‘extremists.’
“We are open to talking about anchoring a core of proven structures of the Federal Constitutional Court in the Basic Law,” Merz told the German press.
The Federal Ministry of Justice on Thursday, March 28th, made a draft of the proposal available to the Rheinische Post. According to the 12-page draft law, the following points are to be enshrined in Basic Law: the independence of the court, the existence of two senates, the election of eight judges each by the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, office term limits of twelve years, and an age limit of 68 years.
Most notably, the draft law proposes that changing a judge, which presently requires a simple majority, should only be possible with a two-thirds majority. This would prevent judges from being removed from office relatively easily after a change in government, and make it far more difficult for the AfD to appoint judges.
If implemented, the proposed alterations to the Basic Law would be “exempt from change with a simple majority in the future,” solidifying the party proportional representation system for appointing judges and rendering any further changes to it next to impossible through coalition efforts following the next election.
The Union faction will now scrutinize and assess the draft before further discussions. Negotiations should be finished after Easter, the faction said. Given that amendments to the German constitution require a two-thirds majority in both the Bundesrat and Bundestag, the traffic light coalition needs the Union’s support to push this through.