By Slava Tsukerman

One of the unexpected results of the Moscow WWII Victory Parade is a scandal concerning some supposed war veterans that took part in the celebration widely covered by Russian Internet

The scandal began with the publication of the photos of some especially familiar characters who appear each year in the crowd of veterans traditionally gathering on the V-day in the center of Moscow. The chests of many veterans are covered with military orders and medals, which easily can be purchased on flea markets.

Here is a photo of a person who sports on the right side of the chest a badge of “Special Department of KGB” and on the left side of his chest two stars of Hero of the Soviet Union and a star of Hero of Socialist Labor and 7 Orders of Lenin. (!)

In the history of the USSR there were only 154 twice Hero of the Soviet Union. According to recent data only 27 of them are alive today. Of these, 24 are cosmonauts and three are pilots. In the history of the Soviet Union there were only eleven Hero of Socialist Labor receivers who were also Heroes of the Soviet Union. The only one survivor, Vasily Holovchenko – not a general, just a sergeant, now is a director of a collective farm.

There are many photos of a strange woman in the uniform of Major General awarded with two stars – the ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ and ‘Hero of Socialist Labor’. During the parade she was standing on the Red Square podium very close to President Putin.

Here is the photo of the same woman made in 2010. There were insignia of colonel on her shoulder straps. And there was only one star of the ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’.

A year later in 2011 the woman miraculously became a general and ‘received’ second star of Hero of Labor.

It’s known that the last person was awarded this star in 1991.  Since then this award ceased to exist. And the only woman in the entire history of USSR who was awarded both stars was a famous aviator Valentina Grizodubova, who died in 1993.

The woman on the previous photos also sports three Orders of the Patriotic War.

The only female who has such three awards was another famous aviator, at 21 Deputy Squadron Commander of the 46th Guards Regiment of Female Night Bombers 4th Air Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’, Nadezhda Popova, a major, now 91 years old.

How come that the obviously fake general, whose fakeness was obvious in 2011, was placed in 2013 on the podium not far away from Vladimir Putin?

Many Russian bloggers think that Putin, organizing grandiose Victory Day campaign, fueled the need for “veterans”. The bloggers suspect that the presence of the fake veterans is not a result of their own activity but a government planned action.

Apparently there was an order to organize a number of “heroic veterans.” The authorities need such faithful “veterans”. They will not complain about the miserable pensions and expensive drugs they cannot afford, they do not say a word about the fact that there are more and more government’s unfulfilled promises to veterans, and there are less and less veterans alive. Fake veterans will symbolize Russian victory.

Popular blogger with a nickname “Drugoi” wrote in his blog:

“I want to ask the all-powerful Federal Security Service, the protocol service of the Kremlin and others – how come that on the central podium of the Victory Parade there were such individuals? On the Victory Day in Moscow one could not walk in the streets – there were numerous fences; thousands of police and trucks blocked the alleys. In fact, the center of the city was under siege, and those carnival clones were sitting in the Red Square. What a humiliation for real veterans! “

HARRISBURG (May 20) – A federal judge will issue a ruling within a few weeks on the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s request to toss out Gov. Tom Corbett’s lawsuit that seeks to overturn sanctions imposed against Penn State University.

U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane gave no indication at the close of the two-hour proceeding Monday how she would rule on the NCAA’s motion to dismiss the suit. But the arguments offered by the two parties were so disparate, she said: “I feel like we’re not in the same stadium.”

Corbett’s lawyers argued that the NCAA acted beyond its authority and conspired to impose the sanctions that would wreak havoc on Pennsylvania’s economy and weaken the university’s standing, while polishing the organization’s enforcement reputation.

Scott Ballenger, who argued on behalf of the NCAA, contended the organization simply acted on its rules that focus on honesty, conduct and sportsmanship, and they won’t damage the overall market of top athletic talent or higher education.

“Penn State football is an economic power source for the commonwealth and its citizens,” Jim Schultz, general counsel for the governor, said during the proceedings. The state’s economy would be “seriously damaged” if the sanctions remain in effect, he added.

The NCAA sanctions include a $60 million fine, post-season bowl bans, and reduced athletic scholarships. The organization imposed the penalties last summer following what they called “an unprecedented failure of institutional integrity,” which allowed former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky to prey on children. He was convicted on 45 counts stemming from a child sexual abuse investigation and sentenced to 30-60 years in prison. Penn State agreed to the penalties and is not party to the lawsuit.

Corbett’s lawsuit says limiting scholarships makes it difficult to attract top Division-I athletic prospects, hurts the university’s brand as an athletic program and a higher education institution, and also negatively impacts Penn State’s ability to sell apparel. The NCAA called those claims “absurd and speculative.”

The judge asked pointed questions to Corbett’s general counsel and, at one point, suggested the lawsuit might be more appropriate as a civil rights claim or a breach of contract.

Kane noted the governor’s complaint claiming that the sanctions were a result of a conspiracy among members of the NCAA doesn’t name who participated in the alleged conspiracy. Corbett’s lawyers said those would be the result of discovery process, where members of the NCAA would give depositions.

She also asked whether the governor’s case in undermined by Penn State president Rodney Erickson agreeing to the sanctions undermined the governor’s case.

Melissa Maxman, of Cozen O’Connor and outside counsel for Corbett, said members of the NCAA “ganged up on” Penn State, which had sanctions “crammed down their throat” under the threat of an all-out ban on athletics. She also noted the university’s Board of Trustees did not sign-off on Erickson’s decision to accept the sanctions.

The NCAA also argued whether Corbett has the authority to bring the action on behalf of Pennsylvania taxpayers. Schultz argued that only Corbett has the authority to file an anti-trust lawsuit on behalf of the commonwealth’s residents.

NEWSMAX:  …The number of poor people living in suburbs rose 64 percent between 2000 and 2011, reaching 16.4 million, it showed. The number of poor people living in urban areas increased 29 percent to 13.4 million….

Many U.S. anti-poverty programs are based on the 1960s “War on Poverty,” which focused on poor urban neighborhoods. The federal government spends $82 billion a year on more than 80 programs, with most centered on improving the physical and economic environment in poor urban areas, the study said.

“None of these types of programs was built with suburbs in mind,” the study found. “Poverty in suburbs tends to spread over larger areas that are a poor fit for neighborhood improvement programs, which often fail to encourage collaboration among fragmented suburban jurisdictions.” …  (more)

NEW YORK TIMES Column: … “At some point you have to say, a law that people don’t obey is a bad law,” [Mark]  Kleiman told me when I asked how his views had evolved. He has not come to believe marijuana is harmless, but he suspects that the best hope of minimizing its harm may be a well-regulated market.

The biggest shadow hanging over this project is the Department of Justice. Federal law still makes felons of anyone who trades in cannabis. Despite the tolerant drift of the polls, despite evidence indicating that states with medical marijuana programs have not, as opponents feared, experienced an increase in use by teenagers, despite new moves toward legalization in Latin America, no one expects Congress to remove cannabis from the list of criminal substances any time soon. (“Not until the second Hillary Clinton administration,” Kleiman says.) But federal authorities have always left a lot of room for local discretion on marijuana enforcement. They could, for example, declare that they will prosecute only drug producers who grow more than a certain amount, and those who traffic across state lines. Attorney General Eric Holder, perhaps preoccupied with scandal management, has been slow to come up with enforcement guidelines that could give the states a comfort zone in which to experiment…  (more)

HUFFINGTON POST:  After years of debate, Vermont became the fourth state in the country Monday to allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medicine to terminally ill patients seeking to end their lives…

Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Harry Chen said he expects doctors to write between 10 and 20 lethal prescriptions a year, with a smaller number of patients actually using the drugs.

He based his figures on the experience in Oregon, the first state to legalize assisted suicide in 1997. Washington state and Montana followed later, with Montana’s coming by way of a court order…  (more)

ALJAZEERA:  India and China will study new ways to ease tensions on their ill-defined border after an army stand-off in the Himalayas, Chinese premier Li Keqiang has said during his first official foreign trip.

The number two in the Chinese leadership has offered India a “handshake across the Himalayas”, saying the world’s most populous nations could become a new engine for the global economy if they could avoid friction on the militarised border.

“Both sides believe that we need to improve the various border-related mechanisms that we have put into place and make them more efficient. We need to appropriately manage and resolve our differences,” Li said at a joint news conference in New Delhi on Monday with Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister…  (more)

FINANCIAL TIMES: …The Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations released a 40-page report on Apple’s international tax structure ahead of a hearing that will shine a harsh political spotlight on the US technology group…

“Apple sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance,” said Carl Levin, the Democrat who chairs the panel and will lead the hearing. “It has created offshore entities holding tens of billions of dollars, while claiming to be tax resident nowhere.”

The Senate report said Apple’s elaborate use of loopholes for international profits allowed it to save US tax on $44bn in “otherwise taxable offshore income” in the past four years. But the committee said there was no indication Apple had done anything illegal in attempting to minimise its tax bill …   (more)

PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS Column:  PENNSYLVANIA Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille isn’t on tomorrow’s ballot, but a grassroots group with experience in judicial elections is calling for his ouster come fall.

Castille faces voters in November in a yes-or-no retention election, an exercise almost always resulting in judges getting new 10-year terms.

…Harrisburg-based Rock the Capital scheduled the releasetoday of an 87-page “report” on why Castille should not be retained…  (more)

HUFFINGTON POST:   President Barack Obama, in a soaring commencement address on work, sacrifice and opportunity, told graduates of Morehouse College Sunday to seize the power of their example as black men graduating from college and use it to improve people’s lives.

Noting the Atlanta school’s mission to cultivate, not just educate, good men, Obama said graduates should not be so eager to join the chase for wealth and material things, but instead should remember where they came from and not “take your degree and get a fancy job and nice house and nice car and never look back.”

“So yes, go get that law degree. But if you do, ask yourself if the only option is to defend the rich and powerful, or if you can also find time to defend the powerless,” Obama declared. “Sure, go get your MBA, or start that business, we need black businesses out there. But ask yourself what broader purpose your business might serve, in putting people to work, or transforming a neighborhood.” …  (more)

NEWSMAX:  Venezuela’s recent designation of an acting head of its diplomatic mission in the United States shows the OPEC nation’s desire to restore full diplomatic relations, the foreign minister said in an interview broadcast on Sunday…

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua suggested in a televised interview that the move to name government ally Calixto Ortega as charge d’affaires in Washington could be a prelude to restoring ambassadors.

“This is a message for U.S. politicians so they understand Venezuela’s desire to normalize relations . . . via the designation of the highest diplomatic authorities,” he said. “Why? Because the United States remains our top trade partner.” …  (more)