Stephen Colbert on the Emmys, His Wife Hating His Beard & Gifting Jimmy His Captain America Shield

YouTube video by Jimmy Kimmel Live

youtube.com

Legends of Arilland (Woodcutter Sisters)

* Once upon a time, all of the famous fairy tales came from one family: the Woodcutters. Well, almost all of them. After the Wizard War, dragons went extinct. Faerie rose and fell and rose again. The ...

amzn.to

Freezing Feral Cat Needed a Home – He Built One Just in Time

After Barna met a special feral cat, he knew he had to build him his own little heated house to keep him warm during winter 💙 Barna told us how Domino brought his cat girlfriend along too, and the bit...

thedodo.com

Gentle Dog Who Can’t Go In The Sun Has Been Waiting 3 Years For A Home

All she wants is love.

thedodo.com

fiftyplusone.news

The ‘Exciting Business Opportunity’ That Ruined Our Lives

Amway sold my family a life built on delusion.

theatlantic.com

September 25 Friday roundup

Links to the podcast! Also: what we talk about when we talk about Mao.

degenerateart.beehiiv.com

Pressure Drop

YouTube video by Toots & The Maytals - Topic

youtu.be

Family of Texas pregnant woman who died sues Texas AG Ken Paxton, alleges denied abortion led to death

The family of a pregnant woman who died sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and others on Tuesday, claiming she was denied an abortion that could have saved her life.

abcnews.com

Republican state legislative candidate marched alongside neo-Nazis, adding to pattern

As a rule, state House candidates’ backgrounds tend not to generate national headlines, but once in a while, there are important exceptions.

ms.now

Federal Employees Were Paid $9.5 Billion Not to Work in 2025 Under DOGE Effort

As part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s program to shrink the federal work force, paid administrative leave costs rose by 435 percent.

nytimes.com

EU calls elections in Russia a sham

Germany and the European Union have criticized the start of parliamentary elections in Russia, pointing to what they described as their “staged nature” and repression against opposition figures. “Unfortunately, we will have to prepare once again for the results of a staged electoral ritual, which we will have to discuss next week,” a spokesperson for Germany’s Foreign Ministry told journalists at a briefing in Berlin on Friday, September 18. The European Union accused the Kremlin of using repression to deny voters “a real choice about the future of their country.” “The way elections to the State Duma are being conducted demonstrates the ongoing and deepening erosion of democracy in Russia,” European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand told reporters. According to Wigand, Russian authorities have continued to intensify “systematic and institutionalized repression” to bar democratic opposition forces from participating in the elections. Ukraine has called on the international community not to recognize the results of the Russian State Duma elections being held on occupied Ukrainian territories. “No so-called 'vote' organized by Russia at gunpoint changes the internationally recognized status of these territories,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The statement emphasized that Kyiv does not recognize the voting or its results on Ukrainian territory. Officials in Kyiv also warned that including deputies from Russia-occupied parts of Ukraine casts doubt on the legitimacy of the entire State Duma. The ministry added: “Any election in today’s Russia is nothing more than a farce,” describing the voting as “a spectacle designed to create the illusion of support for the Kremlin among the Russian population.” The Foreign Ministry also stressed that Russia has no democracy, no freedom of speech, and no pluralism of political parties, and that basic civil rights are not respected. Parliamentary elections for a new convocation began across Russia from the morning of September 18. This is the first State Duma election since the launch of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Voting will take place over three days, spanning 11 time zones. There is little doubt that President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party will be officially declared the winner. Aside from United Russia, only parties loyal to the Kremlin were allowed to contest these elections. The anti-war party Yabloko was banned from participating last month. Regional and municipal elections are also being held at the same time. Voting is taking place in Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia as well. Already at the opening of voting, Yabloko and other groups reported the first violations of election law. Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov called on Central Election Commission chair Ella Pamfilova to intervene. Rybakov reported serious pressure on the party’s election observers working across 20 regions. In Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and many other cities, observers were barred from polling stations despite having the right to monitor voting, according to Rybakov. In Tambov, all Yabloko observers were summoned to speak with the police and were warned—without grounds—of alleged unlawful activity. Rybakov also accused Russian authorities of violating voters’ rights. The Communist Party also said many of its observers were prevented from accessing polling stations. The human rights platform OVD-Info reported several hundred similar cases. According to OVD-Info and Yabloko, there were numerous incidents of employees of state institutions and enterprises being transported to polling sites in large buses. It was also alleged that government employees faced pressure to vote for United Russia. In Moscow, many people complained that they were denied the right to vote at polling stations because they had been automatically registered for remote e-voting from home without their knowledge or consent, so no paper ballot was issued to them. Meanwhile, the Kremlin published a video showing President Vladimir Putin casting his vote on a computer by clicking a mouse. The screen displayed the message: “Thank you, you have successfully voted”. There were also reports of disruptions with online voting in some Russian regions. Human rights advocates have repeatedly criticized internet voting in Russia, warning that it is vulnerable to manipulation.

uawire.org