Weird News ε' - The fifth column

Moderator Action: At CFC, we expect all posts to be in English and all non-English-language sources to have translations provided. It should not be on your fellow posters to do your work for you.
 
Food regulators celebrate a victory over the food industry with the banning of red dye no 3 from food products. A food additive that had been under the spotlight for 50 years, but still has no study links to cancer in humans? Based on studies of cancer in rats, caused by a mechanism not present in humans, under statutory language that bans chemicals that cause cancer in humans or animals?

Am I actually getting this correctly? It seems too stupid to be true this way?
 

Straight woman's 'reverse' discrimination case goes to US Supreme Court​

WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider on Wednesday an Ohio woman's claim that she was denied a promotion and demoted because she is straight in a case that could make it easier for people from "majority backgrounds," such as white or heterosexual people, to pursue workplace discrimination claims.
The justices are scheduled to hear arguments in a bid by the plaintiff, Marlean Ames, to revive her civil rights lawsuit against her employer, Ohio's Department of Youth Services, after lower courts threw it out.

Ames, 60, has argued that she was discriminated against because she is heterosexual in violation of a landmark federal anti-discrimination law. Ames said she had a gay supervisor in 2019 when she was passed over for a promotion in favor of a gay woman and demoted in favor of a gay man - both of whom, she asserted, were less qualified than her.
At issue is the requirement by some U.S. courts that plaintiffs from majority groups provide more evidence than minority plaintiffs to show they faced discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, national origin and sex - including sexual orientation.

These courts have said the higher bar is justified because discrimination against those workers is relatively uncommon.
The Cincinnati, Ohio-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded in 2023 that Ames had not shown the required "background circumstances" indicating that a defendant accused of workplace bias is "that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority."
The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and other civil rights groups told the Supreme Court in a legal filing that Ames is asking the justices "to interpret Title VII in a way that ignores the realities of this country's persisting legacy of discrimination in evaluating disparate-treatment claims." They said the "background circumstances" inquiry lets courts account for the reality of historical and present-day discrimination "against certain minority groups like Black and/or LGBTQ people, and the virtual absence of widespread discrimination targeting certain majority groups like white people and straight people."

A ruling in favor of Ames could bolster the growing number of lawsuits by white and straight workers claiming illegal bias - often called "reverse discrimination - amid a backlash by conservatives and Republicans against initiatives promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in the workforce.
On his first day back in office last month, Republican President Donald Trump ordered the dismantling of such policies in federal agencies and encouraged private companies to follow suit.
Ames started working in the Department of Youth Services, which oversees Ohio's juvenile corrections system, in 2004, and was promoted in 2014 to administrator of the department's program aimed at complying with federal standards for preventing sexual abuse in its facilities.
In 2019, Ames interviewed for a newly created "bureau chief" position, but was not offered the job. It was filled by a gay woman who had not applied for the post. Department leaders said Ames lacked the vision and leadership skills needed for the new position, according to court filings.

Around the same time, Ames learned she was being demoted to her previous secretarial role, resulting in an annual pay cut from about $100,000 to $60,000. A gay man was selected to take her place.
Ames sued in federal court in 2020 seeking monetary damages. The office of Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in court papers defended the employment actions concerning Ames as part of a department restructuring.

The 6th Circuit ruled against Ames, concluding that she could not show the required "background circumstances," including that a gay person made the employment decisions in favor of gay people. The two people who had authority in those personnel decisions, the 6th Circuit noted, were straight.
Click to expand...
 

Bank customer sent £64,000,000,000,000 instead of £200 in 'fat finger' mistake​

One of the US’s biggest banks accidentally transferred more than $80 trillion (£64 trillion) to a customer’s account in a ‘fat finger’ mistake.

The employee at Citigroup had meant to credit the account with $280 (£220).

Two co-workers even approved the astronomical sum – more than 20 times the UK’s GDP – before it was sent to the client’s account the following morning.

It was only flagged when a third spotted problems with the Wall Street giant’s overall balances and managed to reverse the payment.

No funds left Citi, which disclosed the ‘near miss’ to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Financial Times reports.

A Citi spokesman said: ‘Our detective controls promptly identified the inputting error between two Citi ledger accounts, and we reversed the entry.

‘Our preventative controls would have also stopped any funds leaving the bank.’

The bank’s spokesman added that ‘a payment of this size could not actually have been executed’.

There were 10 near misses of $1 billion or more at Citi last year, down from 13 the year before, according to an internal report seen by the FT.

Citi declined to comment on this report.

Last month, Citi CFO Mark Mason said the bank is investing more to address its compliance issues, referring to regulatory penalties for risk management and data governance.

‘We saw the need to invest more in the transformation on data, on technology, on improving the quality of the information coming out of our regulatory reporting,’ Mason said.

Last July, Citi was fined $136 million for insufficient progress in tackling those issues.

In 2020, it was fined $400 million for some risk and data failures.
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/top...S&cvid=96f117c073c94a21ea852801a64ed61e&ei=41
 
Damn, my plan almost worked.....
 
www.abc.net.au

N Korea seeks $75 trillion in compensation

Cash-strapped North Korea has demanded the United States pay almost $75 trillion in compensation for six decades of hostility.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

2010 but who cares . Let us see if the offer enables the sabotaging of North Korean intervention in , you know , somewhere .
 
Even with the 00 key on some financial keyboards, how do you input twelve zeroes accidentally??
 
you don't .
 
Arakhor said:
Even with the 00 key on some financial keyboards, how do you input twelve zeroes accidentally??
Click to expand...
what do you mean how? it's a slippery slope!
 
without the deletion of 6 zeros from the Turkish lira , a $ would be something like 36 millions . Meaning the account they were turning over would be slightly above 2 million dollars in actual worth . It is one single stroke out of habit , pressing $ , not something else which might have to be written from a webpage by the help of a mouse .
 

Canadian brewery selling pack of 1,461 beers to cope with Trump's presidency​

Moosehead's Presidential Pack includes 1 can a day for the next 4 years ​

A beer a day keeps the chaos at bay.

OK, maybe not. But a long-running Canadian brewer hopes a massive crate of beer will help customers deal with the exhausting news cycle under U.S. President Donald Trump.

Moosehead's Presidential Pack contains 1,461 beers, in 473-millilitre cans — marketed as "just enough Canadian lagers to get through a full presidential term."

That works out to one can per day for the next four years, including the leap year.

Moosehead's marketing director Karen Grigg told CBC News Network the company wanted to tap into the Canadian pride it was seeing, and has received a flood of interest.

"We had no idea what would happen when we actually launched it, and the response has been overwhelming," she said.

Grigg said Moosehead initially made just five Presidential Packs, each priced at $3,490 plus tax and deposit.

The first one sold within 11 minutes on Friday, and all five sold within 24 hours. The company then made another five, which also sold out.

By late Tuesday afternoon, more than 100 people were on a waiting list for more.

Based in Saint John, N.B., Moosehead was established in 1867 — the same year as Canada's confederation — and bills itself as the country's oldest independent brewery and the largest fully Canadian-owned brewer.

Grigg says the company has been getting positive messages from people across Canada and the U.S. in response to the Presidential Pack.

Many have expressed amusement on social media, as well, though some have joked that one beer a day is not enough to cope.

Customers buying for Canada Day, other large events​

Grigg says purchasers have so far indicated they plan to share the suds anyway, buying them for Canada Day celebrations and other big community events.

"There's parades, there's campgrounds, each one has a unique story."

That might be a better plan than spreading them out over four years, as beer connoisseurs say the drinks would start to decline in quality before a year is up.

The patriotic marketing tactic has also highlighted some complications with attempts to boost the country's economy in light of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canadian goods.

The Presidential Pack is currently only available to residents of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario. Grigg says that's because those are the only three provinces Moosehead can retail in, due to interprovincial trade restrictions.

"We would love to have done this Canada-wide," she said.

That could soon change, however. Ottawa reached a deal last week with all provinces, except for Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, to remove obstacles preventing their alcohol from being sold in other jurisdictions.

The provincial governments are expected to seal the agreement in a framework within weeks. Internal Trade Minister Anita Anand told CBC News the move was part of an "unprecedented action to reduce trade barriers in Canada."

Meanwhile, provinces have been ditching U.S. booze.

B.C. and Ontario have pulled all U.S. alcohol from the shelves at government stores in response to tariffs, while Alberta has halted imports of American alcohol products.

Moosehead's final obstacle is actually delivering the massive crates of beer to individual customers.

Grigg says the company will make it happen one way or another.

"We are up to the task of getting this case of beer to every single location," she said. "It may be a different means each way, but we're going to get it there."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/moosehead-presidential-pack-1.7480762
 

'We can't even leave our house': Waterloo students terrorized by 'angry' nesting Canada geese​

Nesting sites 'can sometimes surprise us,' Guelph Humane Society says​

The screams were picked up on the doorbell camera.

The video shows Jory Harris and her roommates rushing to get inside their Waterloo, Ont., home as a Canada goose flies at them.

Harris, a student at Wilfrid Laurier University, has shared a compilation video to TikTok of a pair of "angry" geese attacking people.

"We can't even leave our house. He's so angry. There's now a nest there. So we actually, we just don't know what to do anymore," she said of one of the geese.

Harris said that earlier this month, she was coming home from class when she noticed two geese on her lawn. She speculated with her roommates about what would happen if the geese started a nest, but they all assumed the front lawn of a home wouldn't be an ideal spot for one and the geese would move along.

They were wrong.

"He's still outside right now, just on our front lawn," Harris said.

'The croissants were flying'​

Harris's video shows one friend carrying a box of 20 croissants from Costco that he ends up dropping after a goose runs at him.

"The croissants were flying and then the geese started eating them," she said.

She said she and her roommates sneak out their side door and into the backyard to avoid the geese, but Harris said they've also made popcorn and watched their Ring camera footage as unsuspecting people walk by and are accosted.

"One girl, like, fell into a bush," Harris said. "They're all falling and just, they just get right back up and keep running."

Harris said they have asked local animal control for help to remove the geese, but they've been told to be patient and not much can be done.

Geese 'especially protective' during nesting season​

The issue of aggressive geese in Waterloo isn't new.

In 2015, a turkey was bullied by geese on the University of Waterloo (UW) campus. The turkey flew into a third-floor window of a building and died.

That same year, some students dubbed a particularly aggressive goose the "spawn of Satan" and for several years, someone else at UW created a goose watch map to help others on campus avoid the angry birds.

The Guelph Humane Society recently put out guidelines on how people should deal with Canadian geese in the spring.

The humane society noted that nesting season lasts only a few weeks, but geese can be "especially protective" during that time.

"Geese often choose nesting sites that offer wide, open views to help them spot potential predators. While their choices can sometimes surprise us, these locations offer the safety and visibility they need to successfully raise their goslings," the society said.

The humane society also shared tips to share space with geese this spring, including:

  • Give them space by giving them a wide berth or taking an alternative route.
  • Keep dogs on a leash around nests to keep the geese from being stressed.
  • Watch for families of geese on the move. They will walk their young to nearby water.
  • Be patient, as most nests are active for under a month before geese move along.
The humane society noted Canada geese are protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, which means it is illegal to disturb or move a nest.

Lisa Veit, the humane society's executive director, said it's important to remember geese follow their instincts each spring.

"Returning to the same places, building nests and raising their young — it's a remarkable reminder that nature is all around us, even in busy, urban spaces."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitc...rloo-tiktok-videos-chasing-students-1.7506039
 

Unsecured penguin caused helicopter crash in South Africa​

An "unsecured" penguin in a cardboard box was the cause of a helicopter crash in South Africa, a report into the incident has found.

The penguin, which had been placed in the box and on the lap of a passenger, slid off and knocked the pilot's controls just after take-off from Bird Island off the Eastern Cape on 19 January.

The South African Civil Aviation Authority said the impact sent the helicopter crashing to the ground. No-one on board, including the penguin, was hurt.

The authority said that "the lack of secure containment for the penguin" was responsible for creating the "dangerous situation".
According to the report, released this week, the flight had been conducting an aerial survey of the island in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape province.

After completing the survey, the helicopter landed, where a specialist then requested the transport of one penguin back to Port Elizabeth.

The report did not say why they had picked up the penguin.

The aviation authority said the pilot conducted a "risk assessment" but omitted to include the transport of the penguin on board which "was not in accordance with the Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR) 2011".

When the helicopter was about 15m (50 feet) above ground, the cardboard box slid off the lap of the specialist to the right and caused the cyclic pitch control lever to move to the far-right position causing the aircraft roll, the report determined.

Unable to recover, the main rotor blades then struck the ground and the helicopter ultimately crashed on its starboard side approximately 20m from the point of lift-off.

While the helicopter sustained substantial damage, both the pilot and passengers were uninjured and the penguin was unharmed.

The report said all situations should be subject to "established safety protocols" and compliance with aviation safety procedures.

It also said that a proper evaluation of the situation and potential hazards (such as cargo shifting) should have been conducted.

"The absence of a proper, secured crate meant that the penguin's containment was not suitable for the flight conditions," it said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn5xx036p4vo
 
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The original veto I guess is old news, but hadn't heard about it until the recent Wisconsin State Supreme Court decision ruled the veto was legal.

Using creative line item veto, governor extends per student school funding increases from 2 years to 402 years.
1000000220.png

civicmedia.us

State Supreme Court upholds governor's 2023 partial vetoes on school funding - Civic Media

Governor Tony Evers' partial veto creating 402 years of increases for school funding was upheld by the state Supreme Court.
civicmedia.us
 
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