Politics & Stuff

[Vesper 28,807]

2 hours ago, KEVINAA said:

 

The Pentagon fails its seventh consecutive financial audit, unable to account for $824 billion of its budget.

the replies to another X thread from the same X poster are disgusting

 

[robsblubot 3,504]

On 15/11/2024 at 15:59, cosmicway said:

After J6 we expected Trump was over and done with.
Later he announced his intention to carry on, so we thought he was going for a Ross Perot like third party, no rep after trying to lynch his own vice president and all that.
Later again we expected he could not win the nomination for the republican ticket.
All these expectations proved wrong and by late 2022-23 he was really back.
So the Dems should have tried to adopt a rep agenda on domestic issues by as much as possible but they did the opposite.

That was an easy "fix" and the republicans, some of which hate Trump, dropped the ball.

Trump should've been forbidden from running again early on.

I'm not a big fan of big pharma in the USA, so a little disruption wouldn't be so bad. 

[Vesper 28,807]

let this sink in (and remember it was TRUMP who forced the timetable for withdrawl, giving the Taliban all the time in the world to prepare)

Many on the Trump team want to execute the officers if they are found guilty in the court-martial.

 

[Vesper 28,807]

https://globalextremism.org/post/new-forms-of-online-misogyny/

Warning: This analysis contains highly offensive and potentially triggering language and imagery. Where possible, slur words are marked with asterisks, but in cases where that may make the content unclear, offensive language is cited.

Violent misogyny is thriving in a new way on hate sites since Donald Trump’s election. Over the past week, commenters on the hate-filled 4chan forums have been calling for “Trump rape squads,” J.D Vance to conscript “incels into the first rape squads,” and invoking the dystopian book and television series The Handmaid’s Tale, which depicts a horribly misogynistic future in which women are dehumanized and threatened.

Following the election of Trump on November 5, worrying indications of growing hate and bigotry in online spaces became apparent. With male supremacy and “incel” (i.e., involuntary celibate, a misogynistic ideology which has inspired numerous mass casualty attacks) culture becoming mainstream, misogyny, which has long been a part of the fabric of society, frequently showing up in mainstream pop culture and politics, is quickly escalating into the glorification of violence against women and the celebration of the possibility of women’s rights being stripped away. 

New research by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) has uncovered numerous violent misogynistic trends which are gaining traction on fringe platforms like 4chan and spreading on platforms popular with far-right extremists, such as Twitter and Telegram, since Trump’s election. Misogynistic rhetoric ramped up on 4chanon 4chan from the end of September 2024 through November 5, Election Day, when instances reached a year-high of 1,278 posts, and remained high in the week after the election.

Misogyny is a mainstay on 4chan, an incredibly hateful forum that has a history of originating misogynistic trends, such as the “DignifAI” hate campaign, which digitally altered women’s bodies and appearances to fit a “traditional” (i.e., sexist) mindset. 4chan is filled with calls to repeal the 19th amendment, which gives women the right to vote, threats of rape, and other derogatory comments.

 

However, emboldened extreme misogynists spurred by Trump’s election have found new ways to spread hate and violence against women. Hateful and violent rhetoric existing on 4chan is particularly concerning, as the platform has a longstanding connection to racially-motivated and antisemitic mass shootings, such as the racist Buffalo murders in 2022.This growth is of grave concern given 4chan’s history with real-world violence including mass shootings motivated by bigotry and extremism and the celebration of far-right terrorists like the El Paso shooter. It is home to the worst of the worst when it comes to violent rhetoric and the inspiration of violence.  

One of the new misogynistic trends gaining momentum on 4chan was inspired by neo-Nazi online commentator online commentator Nick Fuentes, who once had dinner with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort, whose tweet directed at his 441,000 followers, “Your body, my choice. Forever” targeting women’s reproductive rights went viral with more than 90 million views. 4chan users were quick to spread their newfound hate slogan and escalate the rhetoric to encourage violence. 

Mentions of “your body, my choice” on the platform saw a staggering 5,150 percent increase from November 5, the day Fuentes tweeted the phrase, to November 9. Several posts attempted to justify physical assault and rape, such as “Your body my choice is making cu*ts wet, thats why they are seething so hard. They are upset that it makes them horny i.e ragegasm…,” and “So it’s cool if I rape you, right? What am I saying, of course it’s cool. Your body, my choice, after all.” One comment, referencing the fact that Fuentes maced a woman who approached his door, celebrated his aggressive actions by saying “Your body, my choice. Your face, my mace. Go be jewish somewhere else.” Others tied Trump’s victory to the phrase, saying “Hows it feel knowing Trump won and its your body, my choice? LOL.” Some put the onus on women for Trump winning, as they believed “Women shot themselves in the foot” by wanting abortion rights and simply told them to “cope harder r*tard” after gloating about Trump being “practically free to do whatever he wants to women’s abortion rights as man.”

Another heightened trend on 4chan is invoking scenes and imagery from the book and television series The Handmaid’s Tale to advocate for violence against women. Mentions of receiving “handmaids,” who in The Handmaid’s Tale are women forced to give birth via sexual assault, and fantasizing about being part of “rape squads,” spiked 126 percent between November 4 and November 6, 126 percent between November 4 and November 6, and are remaining consistently higher compared to before the election.

 

4chan users are fantasizing about “minority-killing handmaid’s tale rape squads,” which they believe “women fantasize about,” including “being taken and raped constantly.” These violent and twisted fantasies include wishing for “handmaid sex slave[s]” and wondering how to purchase them (“What is the going rate for a handmaid right now?”). Similarly to the “your body, my choice” trend, users invoked Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance as their providers of sex slaves, with users looking forward to “Vance [conscripting] us incels into the first rape squads to enforce Handmaid’s tale rule of law,” counting down to the “Trump Rape Squad” being deployed, and calling for “roasties” (i.e., incel terminology for sexually active women) to get “Handmaid’s Tale’d” (i.e., raped). 

Handmaid’s Tale memes and even merchandise based on the term “rape squad” are making the rounds on other platforms like Twitter and Telegram. A post by an account called “FACELESS” depicts t-shirts targeting the use of Intrauterine Devices (IUDs), a form of birth control, and advertises the violent hashtag #RAPESQUAD2025. Another user, “NotUnclePepeloni,” fantasized about being selected by Trump to be part of a “Project 2025 Rapenought.”

The Proud Boys of Columbus posted a misogynistic image on Telegram using The Handmaid’s Tale as reference. One image features Elizabeth Moss, who plays main character June Osborne in the television series, saying “sisters arise” followed by Trump responding with “and go make me a Sandwich!” “Go make me a sandwich” is a long-standing derogatory phrase used to portray women as subservient to men and only belonging in domestic spaces, like the kitchen. As previously reported, other Proud Boys chapters, such as Proud Boys Ohio and the Proud Boys of Columbus, posted memes referring to “rape squads” and The Handmaid’s Tale.

Following the election and Fuentes’ “your body, my choice” tweet, there has been discussion among some women in the United States about the Korean “4b” movement, which represents the Korean words bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae and bisekseu, which translate to no marriage, no childbirth, no dating and no sex with men.representing the Korean words bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae and bisekseu, which translate to no marriage, no childbirth, no dating and no sex with men. Misogynists across the internet, and 4chan in particular, took exception to their choice, and responded with derogatory comments and threats of rape. Mentions of the 4b movement, including calls for rape and derogatory language against women, rose 2,579 percent from November 4 to November 9.

 

On 4chan, users ridiculed women participating in the movement as “ugly, dramatic whores,” “batshit crazy [women] who hates children,” looked forward to them “[dying] of suicide or alcoholism,” and comparing them to “anti-white negroes.” The derision escalated into threats, with one commenter threatening that their “answer to the 4B movement” is “the 1R movement (The R stands for rape).” 

A Telegram page dedicated to the white supremacist National Justice Party, many of whose founding members attended the deadly 2017 “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., made a post negatively commenting on the appearances of women discussing the 4b movement on TikTok, saying they “look like they’re going to be extremely successful with it”, saying they “look like they’re going to be extremely successful with it”

The Proud Boys Upstate NY called women who announced their participation in the 4b movement “sluts,” and claimed that they are “already going through withdrawal from lack of dick.”

Some users on Twitter spread hateful comments about women taking part in the 4b movement, including common insinuations that women who advocate for bodily autonomy, including abortion, only do so to be promiscuous. One post by “Declaration of Memes” combines The Handmaid’s Tale imagery with Barbie along with “4b” rhetoric to claim that abortion rights only exist to serve women without “discipline.” At the time of publishing, the post has over 2.5 million views on Twitter.

There is a major cause for concern as new ways of spreading violent misogyny continue to fester in both the fringe and on  mainstream online platforms. We should be especially concerned about those referencing Trump, who was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming journalist E. Jean Carroll, and Trump’s and J.D. Vance’s derogatory comments about women, to justify the mass rape of women in the United States. Many of these online actors believe they have been given permission, or will face few consequences, because their views seem to align with those of the president and vice-president elect. 4chan’s connection to real-world violence combined with the ever-growing emboldened extremists’ calls for violence against women online may serve as an indicator for both continued, and escalating, offline misogynistic violence.

[Vesper 28,807]

Oklahoma State Department of Education Supt. Walters Announcement Regarding the Department of Religious Freedom and Patriotism

 

[Vesper 28,807]

"Makes us look like Nazis": Trump allies asked to stop talking about mass deportation "camps"

The president-elect's advisers worry about how the word "camp" plays as they plot mass deportation schemes

https://www.salon.com/2024/11/16/makes-us-look-like-nazis-allies-asked-to-stop-talking-about-mass-deportation-camps/

Donald Trump’s allies have been told to stop saying the quiet part out loud.

Rolling Stone reports that MAGA associates have been asked to stop using the word “camps” to describe potential facilities that would be used to house people rounded up in a massive deportation operation.

“I have received some guidance to avoid terms, like ‘camps,’ that can be twisted and used against the president, yes,” one Trump ally told the outlet. “Apparently, some people think it makes us look like Nazis.”

Advisers have cautioned surrogates and allies to keep the charged term out of their remarks, Rolling Stone claims, to avoid “the concentration camps framing” that dogged Trump's campaign. Coupled with Trump's heated rhetoric comparing undocumented immigrants to “animals” and saying they are “poisoning the blood of our country,” detractors didn't need to reach too far to find parallels to Nazi Germany. 

Former House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn took it a step further on Saturday morning, agreeing that Trump was "another Hitler” in an interview with Fox News.

The “camps” language is one Trump’s team had embraced during the election cycle. Stephen Miller, who Trump tapped to be his deputy chief of staff of policy, specifically used the word “camps” to describe holding facilities that he hoped the military could put together.

Trump's prospective "border czar," Tom Homan, shied away from the camp talk late last month in an interview with "60 Minutes."

“It’s not gonna be a mass sweep of neighborhoods," he said. "It’s not gonna be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous."

As the second Trump term approaches, however, Homan's become a little more forthright about his deportation plans. He likened the early days of the Trump administration to the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“I got three words for them – shock and awe,” he said in an interview with Donald Trump Jr. earlier this week. "You’re going to see us take this country back."

[Vesper 28,807]

Trump just fell under 50% of the popular vote (obviously this has no official bearing on the results, but it takes away a major RW talking point).

He will continue to fall as almost all of the remaining votes left to count (2.1 % or so of the total vote nationally is still not counted) are in Democratic heavy west coast states.

Harris has a fighting shot at losing by less than 2 million votes.

All the RW media is still claiming she lost by 8 million or more, which is a pure lie.

 

Even newer update

https://decisiondeskhq.com/results/2024/General/President/

Harris

73,846,238 votes

Trump

76,498,296 votes

2,652,058 difference, and getting closer

tracking atm to be just under under a 2 million vote diffrence given the way the remaining votes are breaking

still over 3.5 or so million votes to count

 

[Vesper 28,807]

3 simple reasons (there are others as well) why some of Trump's major initiatives (if he actually does them, and about which I see no reason to think he will not) will RAISE consumer prices, not lower them.

Tariffs will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices (especially goods made in China, which will have the highest tariffs and represent a massive part of US imports).

Allowing more monopolistic practices (ie weakening antitrust enforcement) by predatory large corporations will increase costs as it removes downward pricing competition forces.

Substantially lowering the amount of workers will increase labour costs, which will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher end-pricing structures.

 

[cosmicway 1,323]

I don't know what sort of Chinese stuff people buy.
I would n't buy because they are communist products, but I don't always look.
My sister wanted an luminous alarm clock.
First we went to a Swedish shop, not Ikea some other name. But they had ran out of clocks.
Then on the way back there was another shop with electronic gadgets and we went in and it was Chinese.
As she was looking around the various types of clock I said "huh Chinese" and one of the Chinese employees turned around and gave me a brief murderous look.
She bought one in the end.
But suppose those become expensive due to tariffs.
Then we have to wait for the Swedish shop to bring clocks.
Is it necessary to buy something Chinese, other than bamboo sticks ?
Or will the Sewdes also increase their prices ?

[Fernando 6,463]

7 hours ago, Vesper said:

3 simple reasons (there are others as well) why some of Trump's major initiatives (if he actually does them, and about which I see no reason to think he will not) will RAISE consumer prices, not lower them.

Tariffs will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices (especially goods made in China, which will have the highest tariffs and represent a massive part of US imports).

Allowing more monopolistic practices (ie weakening antitrust enforcement) by predatory large corporations will increase costs as it removes downward pricing competition forces.

Substantially lowering the amount of workers will increase labour costs, which will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher end-pricing structures.

 

I get everything except that last one. How is deporting people will increase the cost? Don't really understand that part. If anything company will have more vacancy? 

But the other thing is if China moves to Mexico and start bringing stuff from there. Will trump still put a tariff? 

Last this is the same as raising the minimum wage, everything goes up as well and we are seeing that. 

So yes I agree as well that tariffs will increase our prices. Maybe another country will jump and take advantage and sell to us? Mexico again? India? Etc etc? 

[Fernando 6,463]

16 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

The UN have highlighted how they tell people to move to 'safe' area then bomb the civilians. This has happened many times. So I think you are wrong about this.

 

Is that rhetorical ? I dont believe in evil, but its basically a land grab and to save Netanyahus arse. he has zero intention of saving or caring about peace or the 'hostages' Dont forget he bolstered Hamas to annul the chance of a two state solution.

Maybe they are =but there were 350 lorries a day of aid, now reduced to 29 a day 

A supplementary question for you - why are there no IDF videos of them actually fighting with Hamas ?? None at all. But there are plenty of videos of them wearing Palestinian womens underwear, smashing up kitchens and schools and destroying every building ?? That is not 'war' it is genocide.  And dont forget no International journalists have been allowed into Gaza for one year

War usually involves  TWO armies

On numerous occasions people have been warned to go to another area, then slaughtered. Mostly women and children. To me and most normal people that is disgusting

Apparently China is the biggest emission culprit because of their size, but on the positive they have done the most out of nations to reduce pollution, eg they produce by far the most electric vehicles

Well if you look it like that, that they intentionally warned these people to go to some place that they later bomb then you are right. That doesn't look good. 

But in regards to video. This is something you don't see in the regular news about Hamas. Maybe it's the news that you are getting that is so biased that wants to always talk bad about Israel and no mention of Hamas like this one

 

[Vesper 28,807]

2 minutes ago, Fernando said:

How is deporting people will increase the cost? Don't really understand that part.

low labour supply equals higher wages, higher wages means the companies will pass most or all of that additional cost on to the consumer

IF Trump was to actually remove even half of the undocumented workers, there will be a HUGE labour shortage in the hellhole types of lowest jobs

meat production, food harvesting, etc

the type of jobs that native yanks would NEVER do for the wages the undocumented do

 

imagine one of those chubby, weak, incel, wannabe gangsta troll MAGA beta-boy keyboard commandos climbing out of mummy's basement and going and getting knee-deep in hog intestines at an Iowa meat plant for $7.25 an hour

they would not last a week, hell probably not a day

[Fulham Broadway 16,849]

34 minutes ago, Fernando said:

Well if you look it like that, that they intentionally warned these people to go to some place that they later bomb then you are right. That doesn't look good. 

But in regards to video. This is something you don't see in the regular news about Hamas. Maybe it's the news that you are getting that is so biased that wants to always talk bad about Israel and no mention of Hamas like this one

 

yes so much media has a bias slant, especially the ones owned by billionaires. 

Your Christian news above also is pretty high on bias -which is why its always good to have as many sources as possible, and the more 'independent' the better.

That video above, I am sorry is pure Israeli propaganda and I am no fan of Hamas or islamic Jihad they do shitty things however- they have both been fostered and created by isarels policies and imprisonment of children who had no trials. The occupation, the apartheid system and the fact they cant go anywhere. add to the mix when you have had all your family killed it is a recipe for resistance

Independent assessment of CBN here

Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check

[Vesper 28,807]

smdh

 

[Vesper 28,807]

[Vesper 28,807]

2 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

 

Independent assessment of CBN here

Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check

CBN founder

Pat Robertson

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 13:41 by Vesper

[Fulham Broadway 16,849]

Understanding the Christian Broadcasting Network, the force behind pro-Trump TV

 

Pat Robertson has been the driving force behind CBN since its inception

 Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

 

When the news broke earlier this week that several senior members of the Cabinet were holding weekly prayer meetings, few noticed the exclusive source behind the scoop: Jennifer Wishon of Faith Nation, a new Facebook Live news magazine — and arguable mouthpiece for Trump propaganda — from the Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN.

While Faith Nation may be new, CBN is anything but. With a long and controversial history particularly when it comes to its founder, Pat Robertson, CBN has been at the forefront of the culture wars since the network’s inception in the early 1960s.

The network that would ultimately become CBN was founded in 1960 by 30-year-old Marion Gordon Robertson (he chose to go by “Pat,” disliking the feminine connotations of his birth name), son of former US Sen. Absalom Willis Robertson.

Pat Robertson, then a recent born-again Christian, began broadcasting religious programming in late 1961. He funded his project through small-scale individual and local church donations in the Portsmouth, Virginia, area where the station was based.

The funding appeals were initially unsuccessful, and Robertson held a telethon, setting a goal of convincing 700 viewers to each donate $10 a month: enough to keep the station going. The appeal worked — and the name for Robertson’s faithful, “the 700 Club,” became the name of the network’s flagship show: a Christian religious variety show that blended preaching, interviews, and religious music, including hymns and gospel.

The 700 Club became increasingly political in the late 1970s, and news segments were added to the purely devotional program. Meanwhile, CBN brought in enormous revenue with wider family programming, including CBN Cable. Rebranded as the Family Channel in 1998, the channel was later sold in a package with Robertson’s other media properties for $1.9 billion to News Corporation and renamed Fox Family, then was bought by Disney and renamed ABC Family in 2001; the channel is now known as Freeform.

Yet as part of Robertson’s savvy original conditions of sale, which required the channel’s new owners keep the show in syndication, The 700 Club remains an integral part of the programming, even though the branding now tends more toward Pretty Little Liars than Protestant evangelicalism.

This means that today, The 700 Club, and Robertson, remain wildly popular. CBN estimates that a million people a day watch The 700 Club either in syndication or in its current format on CBN.com.

But CBN itself is entering the Trump administration in a new format. Unlike the staid, older-leaning 700 Club, its latest political show, Faith Nation, is more obviously geared to younger, social-media-savvy viewers. It airs on Facebook Live, one of its on-camera anchors is a self-described social media expert, and the show frequently exhorts viewers to like or tweet their support. It represents a new era for CBN: one in which the network actively seeks to mirror and respond to the secular world’s influencer-led, highly curated internet landscape.

CBN is helmed by Robertson, a household name for his controversial views and a bold sense of conservative activism

Throughout his tenure with CBN, Pat Robertson, now 87, has proven a controversial figure, one whose rhetoric helped kindle the culture wars of the ’80s that have carried into the 21st century. Alongside other prominent televangelists and conservative media personalities like Jerry Falwell and Phyllis Schlafly, Robertson has been integral in both using the media to galvanize a Christian evangelical voter base and advocating for a more direct role for his understanding of Christian values in (conservative, Republican) politics.

Among them, however, Robertson has remained particularly inflammatory.

His most infamous statements include a claim that gay people wear sharp-edged rings to deliberately cut strangers to infect them with AIDS, a prediction that God would send hurricanes to punish Disneyland Orlando for hosting special days for LGBTQ families, and that a series of 2012 tornadoes that raged through the Midwest was the result of Americans’ failure to pray enough. Still, Robertson’s popularity was sufficient to propel him into politics; in 1988, he launched a failed bid to win the Republican nomination for president, ultimately losing to George H.W. Bush.

Robertson has since channeled his political aims into advocacy for conservative policy influenced by his reading of Christian doctrine. In 1988, after losing the Republican primary, Robertson used the remainder of his campaign funds to establish the Christian Coalition, a voter mobilization effort for conservative Christians based on the mailing lists of Robertson’s original campaign. That coalition devolved into a number of state chapters, the Texas branch of which gained tax-exempt status as a social welfare charity.

After the initial coalition lost its tax-exempt status as a result of its political campaigning, the Christian Coalition of Texas rebranded as the Christian Coalition of America, which still functions as a grassroots advocacy group for what they call “pro-family” policies, which include anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ platforms. Robertson is also the founder of the ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice), which advocates in court on issues it sees as threats to religious liberty.

Robertson and his organizations have increasingly become associated with Trump and his administration. One of Trump’s personal lawyers advising on the Russia scandal, Jay Sekulow, is the chief counsel of the ACLJ. Robertson himself has interviewed Trump sympathetically several times since his inauguration, and was Trump’s choice for an exclusive sit-down interview shortly after the Russia scandal intensified.

Robertson’s perspective has specific political implications

Theologically speaking, Robertson is associated with a particularly American evangelical reading of the Bible known as premillennial dispensationalism. This means he subscribes to the idea that human history is divided into particular “eras” according to God’s plan, culminating in a second coming of Christ and a thousand-year reign of peace. This is particularly important insofar as it means that, to a far greater extent than Christians of other persuasions, Robertson and his followers are likely to see the particular shape of geopolitics as a manifestation of God’s divine plan (and, as I have argued previously, to see potential political chaos as an ultimate “good” because it helps to bring about the end of days).

Understanding Robertson’s theology helps contextualize some of his more extreme-seeming statements. The idea that gays cause hurricanes may make more sense to people who see world history and divine action as a constant, active dialogue.

But it also spells an uncomfortable conflation of faith with facts. It’s difficult, when it comes to hybrid news-religion shows like The 700 Club and Faith Nation, particularly in today’s unstable political climate, to separate analysis from theology. The 700 Club’s longstanding pro-Israel stance, or even Faith Nation anchor Richard Brody’s reminder to viewers that “those who stand with Israel are blessed,” aren’t opinions that are based on political analysis from either a conservative or liberal perspective. Rather, they’re based entirely on theological analysis, even as the news format (present in The 700 Club but an even bigger part of Faith Nation) suggests to viewers that what they’re getting is actual reporting, however slanted.

Instead, CBN operates within its own cross-genre paradigm of “faith news,” offering viewers not predictions or analysis, but prophecy. And because it uses the lens of faith to cast doubt on the mainstream media more generally — implicitly playing into the idea that all news is, to an extent, “fake news” — it makes it all the easier for CBN to abandon traditional standards of journalism, or to justify conflating reporting with theological opinion.

(AP News from 2018)

 

[Fulham Broadway 16,849]

• 17 November 2024, 00:03 GMT

“I’m a veteran of the special military operation, I’m going to kill you!” were the words Irina heard as she was attacked by a man in Artyom, in Russia’s far east.

She had been returning from a night out when the man kicked her and beat her with his crutch. The force of the strike was so strong that it broke the crutch.

When the police arrived, the man showed them a document proving he had been in Ukraine and claimed that because of his service “nothing will happen to him”.

The attack on Irina is just one of many reported to have been committed by soldiers returning from Ukraine.

Verstka, an independent Russian website, estimates that at least 242 Russians have been killed by soldiers returning from Ukraine. Another 227 have been seriously injured.

Like the man who beat Irina, many of the attackers have previous criminal convictions and were released from prison specifically to join Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The BBC estimates that the Wagner mercenary group recruited more than 48,000 prisoners to fight in Ukraine. When Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash last year, Russia’s defence ministry took over recruitment in prisons.

These cases have severely impacted Russian society, says sociologist Igor Eidman.

"This is a very serious problem, and it can potentially get worse. All the traditional ideas of good and evil are being turned upside down," he told the BBC.

"People who have committed heinous crimes - murderers, rapists, cannibals and paedophiles - they not only avoid punishment by going to war, the unprecedented bit is that they are being hailed as heroes."

There are numerous reasons why Russian soldiers lucky enough to return from the war would think they are above the law.

Official media call them "heroes," and President Vladimir Putin has dubbed them Russia's new "elite". Those recruited into the army from prisons either had their convictions removed or they were pardoned.