All posts tagged: humiliation

Trump’s humiliation deepens: In court, he can’t hide from his tabloid roots

Trump’s humiliation deepens: In court, he can’t hide from his tabloid roots

Published by skeptic

While this falls far short of the punishment he deserves, there was considerable satisfaction to be gained from reports that Donald Trump spent much of the first week of his first criminal trial sitting in silence listening to mean tweets about him read aloud in court. For hours at a time, potential jurors in his New York “hush-money” trial were interviewed to determine whether they could judge the ex-president with an open mind. In the process, both past social media posts and in-the-moment honest opinions were made public. Trump is such a famous narcissist that he literally has a woman who follows him around with a wireless printer to feed him a steady supply of online praise. Hearing what people outside the paid shills have to say was, all reports suggest, very upsetting for the former president. He glowered and eventually tried to leave the courtroom so quickly that he had to be told to sit down by the judge.  The whole thing is a harsh reminder, to his face, that Trump is more suited to …

Russia says deeper US hybrid war using Ukraine will end in Vietnam-style humiliation

Russia says deeper US hybrid war using Ukraine will end in Vietnam-style humiliation

Published by skeptic

MOSCOW: Russia said on Sunday (Apr 21) that US lawmakers’ approval of US$60.84 billion more in support for Ukraine showed that Washington was wading deeper into a hybrid war with Russia that would end in humiliation on a par with Vietnam or Afghanistan. President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine has triggered the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, according to Russian and US diplomats. The US House of Representatives on Saturday with broad bipartisan support passed a US$95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, over bitter objections from some Republicans. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that it was clear that the United States wanted Ukraine “to fight to the last Ukrainian” including with attacks on Russian sovereign territory and civilians. “Washington’s deeper and deeper immersion in the hybrid war against Russia will turn into such a loud and humiliating fiasco for United States as Vietnam and Afghanistan,” Zakharova said. She said that ordinary Ukrainians were being “forcibly …

Russia says deeper U.S. hybrid war using Ukraine will end in Vietnam-style humiliation

Russia says deeper U.S. hybrid war using Ukraine will end in Vietnam-style humiliation

Published by skeptic

In this pool photograph distributed by Russia’s state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the country’s Labour and Social Protection Minister in Moscow on April 10, 2024.  Gavriil Grigorov | AFP | Getty Images Russia said on Sunday that U.S. lawmakers’ approval of $60.84 billion more in support for Ukraine showed that Washington was wading deeper into a hybrid war with Russia that would end in a humiliation on a par with Vietnam or Afghanistan. President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine has triggered the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, according to Russian and U.S. diplomats. The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday with broad bipartisan support passed a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, over bitter objections from some Republicans. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that it was clear that the United States wanted Ukraine “to fight to the last Ukrainian” including with attacks on Russian sovereign territory and civilians. “Washington’s deeper and deeper immersion …

Chris Wilder accuses Sheffield United players of giving up after Burnley humiliation

Chris Wilder accuses Sheffield United players of giving up after Burnley humiliation

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Chris Wilder accused his Sheffield United players of giving up after Burnley turned the battle of the Premier League’s bottom two into a Bramall Lane stroll. The Blades manager, who admitted afterwards his battered side are effectively relegated, took issue with their resolve after another humiliating 4-1 home defeat. Hollowed out by a harrowing season, they played like dead men walking. “I won’t name names but there were a few players out there who wanted to get out there when the fourth went in. I can’t accept that,” said Wilder. “When they smelt blood and were big enough to go for it, we went under. There has been a catalogue of really poor goals during the season. At the moment, there is pain going through pain in every department of the football club – especially the supporters. But we can’t turn it in.” The boos from those that remained at the final whistle reinforced Wilder’s observations. By then thousands of supporters had already streamed out. It was hard to blame them – a fan can …

Cybertruck recall completes Tesla’s humiliation

Cybertruck recall completes Tesla’s humiliation

Published by skeptic

The Tesla Cybertruck was supposed to stop bullets. Turns out its owners should be more afraid of a bit of soap. An “unapproved lubricant” used on the Cybertruck’s accelerator pad caused it to slip off and get trapped in a bit of trim above the pedal, according to a recall report [PDF] by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. If you’ve been on TikTok this week, you might have seen what that can mean, thanks to a viral video of a Cybertruck owner whose accelerator jammed in the “pedal to the metal” position. Result: Every single driver who paid for a Cybertruck, all 3,878 of them, now has to haul their extremely angular EV to their local dealer in Tesla’s biggest recall to date. And as with a lot of news these days, how you react to the recall likely depends on whether you’re an obsessive fan of Elon Musk. The “masterful gambit, sir” crowd can easily play it down. After all, no one died. Nobody has even crashed, that we know of, as a …

Deep Fake Videos Can Upgrade Political Humiliation and Rule by Fear

Deep Fake Videos Can Upgrade Political Humiliation and Rule by Fear

Published by skeptic

Show trials were originally made famous by genocidal dictator Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) in the Soviet Union. They were widely publicized trials of his political opponents where they were accused as “enemies of the state.” The accusations inevitably produce convictions. The convicts were then paraded in front of cameras and crowds to “confess” their “crimes,” beg for forgiveness (never granted), and praise the regime for capturing and correcting them. Long prison terms in forced labor camps or speedy executions would follow. How would AI help produce victims? “Deep fake” video technology. We previously saw, in “Human Impersonation AI Must be Outlawed,” how extortion videos could target millions of individuals worldwide simultaneously every day. The vast potential for such crimes of fraud and aggression at the “micro” level justify outlawing human impersonation AI systems. Such technology can readily rocket tyranny to the stratosphere. Booming Business of Forced Confessions For example, China under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been forcing accused people to publicly confess to serious crimes, and then shaming and humiliating them nationwide on videos. In We Have Been Harmonized: Life in …

Russia’s tragedy, Putin’s humiliation – The Atlantic

Russia’s tragedy, Putin’s humiliation – The Atlantic

Published by skeptic

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Terrorists struck deep inside Russia on Friday, and the conspiracy theories are already spinning. First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic: Three Realities If you are trying to figure out who attacked a Russian rock concert and why they slaughtered and wounded dozens of people, your confusion is understandable. In an era when social media spews chaff and deception during every crisis, some fairly straightforward issues get obscured in all the drama. As we untangle the ghastly attack just outside of Moscow, bear in mind three realities about politics in Russia. First, some terrorist groups have a long-standing hatred of the Russians, and mass-casualty attacks in Russia’s cities are not new. Americans, scarred by 9/11, often think that they are the prime target of Islamist extremists, but over the past two decades, Russia has endured more mass-casualty …

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle enter ‘next stage of humiliation’ after Royal Family snub | Royal | News

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle enter ‘next stage of humiliation’ after Royal Family snub | Royal | News

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have entered the “next stage of their humiliation” after the Royal Family dropped the couple’s position on its official website. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were dealt a savage blow by the Royal Family shortly after the Duchess launched her new brand American Riviera Orchard on Instagram. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex split with the Firm in 2021, but the couple remained high on the Royal Family’s website until just days ago. Royal expert Richard Eden savaged Meghan and Harry after the Firm’s decision, noting that, as King Charles’s second son, Prince Harry would typically have a top spot on the family’s site. He said: “Obviously Prince Harry, as King Charles’s younger son, would have a very prominent position. But he dropped down after quitting royal duties.” Speaking on Palace Confidential, Mr Eden continued: “Now, it’s the next stage of their humiliation. They’ve been pushed pretty much down to the bottom. Just given a joint entry of Duke and Duchess of Sussex.” Meghan and Harry split with the …

‘If you’re anointed tonight, you can be dumped on tomorrow’: Steve Martin on fame, failure and TV humiliation | Documentary films

‘If you’re anointed tonight, you can be dumped on tomorrow’: Steve Martin on fame, failure and TV humiliation | Documentary films

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I didn’t expect Steve Martin to be funny. Sure, it was his skewwhiff sensibility that made The Jerk, The Man With Two Brains, LA Story and Bowfinger so deliriously inspired. And he was comedy’s first double-platinum-record-selling, stadium-touring megastar; he began wearing a white suit on stage only so that he could be seen by fans in the cheap seats several postcodes away. He crafted riotous slapstick crescendos in All of Me and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and displayed a literary flair even at his silliest. No one who has seen Roxanne, the modern-day interpretation of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac that found Martin investing his comedy with emotional weight for the first time, will dispute the Edward-Lear-like genius of the line “earn more sessions by sleeving”. But when he isn’t starring in the crime-comedy series Only Murders in the Building, which he co-created, he is a serious sort. He writes plays, makes bluegrass records, collects art – knows everything about art, in fact. (He once sold an Edward Hopper for almost $27m.) Now, he is the subject …

Restaurant Creates Wall Of Shame Reprimanding Servers For Not Getting 20% Tips From Customers

Restaurant Creates Wall Of Shame Reprimanding Servers For Not Getting 20% Tips From Customers

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A restaurant has come under fire after mandating that their servers make a certain amount of tips or risk being publicly reprimanded. In a TikTok video, a content creator who goes by the username @officialbw and makes content about the restaurant industry shared one of the worst restaurant policies he’s ever seen.  The restaurant created a ‘wall of shame’ where servers are reprimanded for not getting 20% tips from customers. The man explained that a restaurant in Florida, which he generously didn’t name, has a mandate where all of the servers are required to make at least 20% tip averages. If they don’t, the servers end up on what is called the “wall of shame” and risk losing out on shifts. The TikToker showed a photo of the wall, where the names of the servers were written with the percentage of tips they’d made next to them. Those who hadn’t reached 20% were highlighted. “Like Katie here… she’s only at 19%. You better get your act together,” he joked. “Harley, she only has 19%! Harley, you’re on the edge!” RELATED: Server Explains Why …