#Ape Loves Haiti

[nedison]

Give Me Your Water - The Clubmen (2010)

13(!) years after Andy Partridge, Jen Olive, and Stu Rowe gave us this first taste of what has become The 3 Clubmen, their first official single drops later this week, Aviatrix:

Color me excited!!

[gryficowa]

Boycott!

Now that I have your attention:

[wakandaiscoming]

About M'Baku and the challenge

Maybe I am just reading too many articles by really dumb people, but they seem very confused by Winston Duke's statement that M'Baku is King of Wakanda at the end of the film.

... I thought that was clear from him challenging for the throne without any challenger? You guys got that, right?

But I also think this is a reward for a character who has always kept Wakanda's interests ahead of his own. In the first film, he believes Shuri's technology is ruining Wakanda and that is why he challenges T'Challa.

T'Challa could have killed him, but instead asks M'Baku to yield after Ramonda shouts "show him who you are".

M'Baku goes back to Jabari-Land defeated, but when Ramonda, Shuri and Nakia come to HIM to become king and take the Heart-Shaped Herb--which is what he wanted at the beginning of the film--instead he tells them that T'Challa is alive, knowing T'Challa can unite Wakanda in that situation better than he can.

He pretends to be above helping T'Challa fight Killmonger, but he does show up at the end. The fate of Wakanda is important to him, even if he pretends to only care about the Jabari. He even shows up for Infinity War and Endgame. (He is even there running at Thanos when everyone else has magic weapons and armor. He just has wood.)

He becomes an adviser to the Throne, and though his "bald-headed demon" line is obviously a joke, it's clear that M'Baku always says what he believes, like when he tells Shuri her mother would not want her to go to war with Talokan. In that scene, he is more connected to Ramonda than Shuri is. (And it could be seen as Shuri's reliance on science and technology that keeps her from seeing things the way M'Baku does.)

And the final fight with Namor is a mirror of T'Challa's fight with M'Baku. Killmonger asked Shuri if she was going to be like her brother or take care of business like him.

She chooses to be like her brother. She choses to let Namor yield (and that's when she does hear Ramonda shout "Show him who you are!" from the Ancestral Plane. The same thing she said to T'Challa in the first film.)

Who Shuri and T'Challa are is unifiers and protectors of Wakanda.

I see Shuri's choice to NOT challenge for the Throne (indeed it must be her choice because M'Baku would not have a Royal Talon Fighter to arrive in without her giving it to him--it may he Sunbird, Shuri's personal plane, that he arrives in now that I think about it. I have to see it again) as a way of acknowledging that she is not ready to be Queen yet. She still has healing to do in Haiti with Nakia. And also, that she almost made the WRONG choice and nearly got every Wakandan on that boat killed by Talokinil. If she hadn't brought Namor back alive, they would be dead.

And rather that worrying that M'Baku will become King of Wakanda and cause destruction, she knows that he will keep the country together, as he has done since the first film despite all his protests.

In a way, it's very hopeful that M'Baku becomes King because it suggests that Namor can also learn from this conflict with the Black Panther as M'Baku did. But it remains to be seen if he will make better choices in the future.

ETA: I just can't express how much I love what has been done with this character. When they first announced M'Baku would be in the film, I remember being disappointed because the character has traditionally been a stereotypical villain called "Man Ape". He's backwards thinking in regards to technology. He's big and dumb.

But the writers and especially Winston Duke have brought such lovely humor and heart to him that he has become a favorite and I am HAPPY he is King. I don't for a second worry what he will do (thought he might say some inappropriate things).

[beardedmrbean]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were freed Wednesday, nearly two weeks after they were kidnapped in Haiti’s capital, according to aid organization El Roi Haiti.

The Christian group founded by Dorsainvil’s husband asked that neither she nor her family be contacted: “There is still much to process and to heal from in this situation,” the group said in a statement.

The group added that it confirmed the safe release “with a heart of gratitude and immense joy.” No other details were immediately available, including whether any ransom was paid.

The U.S. State Department said it welcomed news that the two had been freed and thanked its Haitian and U.S. interagency partners for facilitating the release.

“We have no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” the agency said. “As you can imagine, these individuals have been through a very difficult ordeal, both physically and mentally.”

Officials provided no other details.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that armed men had seized the New Hampshire native and her young daughter in late July from a clinic in a gang-controlled area of Port-au-Prince where Dorsainvil works.

The Christian group has offered medical care, education and other basic services to people in the country’s poorest areas.

Gang warfare has increasingly plagued Haiti since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Gang members regularly kill, rape and hold residents for ransom. A local nonprofit has documented 539 kidnappings since January, a significant rise over previous years.

On July 27, the U.S. State Department had ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Haiti, which remains under a “do not travel” advisory.

In a video posted on the El Roi Haiti website, Dorsainvil describes Haitians as “full of joy, and life and love,” people she was blessed to know.

In a blog post, El Roi Haiti said Dorsainvil fell in love with Haiti’s people on a visit there after the devastating 2010 earthquake hit the Caribbean nation.

Dorsainvil graduated from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, where a program supports nursing education in Haiti.

[newstfionline]

Monday, May 20, 2024

Accustomed to Disasters, Houston Didn’t See This One Coming (NYT) The storm that hurtled through Houston late Thursday surprised a city long accustomed to bouts of serious weather. The Astros kept playing baseball, even as rain and wind whipped into the team’s closed-dome stadium. Many people, following their evening routines, were caught unaware on bikes or at the gym. By Friday, all across town—but particularly in the dense and verdant inner loop neighborhoods that radiate from the city’s skyscrapers—Houstonians confronted a cityscape of debris left by winds of up to 100 mph, as strong as some of the hurricanes that have hit the city in recent years. Decades-old oak and pecan trees were ripped in two or knocked over at the roots, flattening fences or blocking roadways. Stop signs leaned at sharp angles. Highway billboards buckled. Residents spoke of horizontal rain and detritus swirling into the air, and wondered whether a tornado had passed through. “It was like we were in the middle of a blender,” said Martha Rosas.

Mexico City Has Long Thirsted for Water. The Crisis Is Worsening. (NYT) The groundwater is quickly vanishing. A key reservoir got so low that it is no longer used to supply water. Last year was Mexico’s hottest and driest in at least 70 years. And one of the city’s main water systems faces a potential “Day Zero” this summer when levels dip so much that it, too, will no longer provide water. Mexico City, once a water-rich valley that was drained to make way for a vast city, has a metropolitan population of 23 million, among the top 10 largest in the world and up from 15 million in 1990. It is one of several major cities facing severe water shortages, including Cape Town; São Paulo, Brazil; and Chennai, India. Many are the consequence of years of poor water management compounded by scarce rains. And while Mexico City’s problems are worsening, they are not new. Some neighborhoods have lacked adequate piped water for years, but today, communities that have never had shortages are suddenly facing them.

As killings surge, Haitians struggle to bury loved ones (AP) Dressed in black and white, the crowd of teenagers squeezed into a narrow street in Haiti’s capital carrying a coffin with their 16-year-old friend, Joseph, killed by a stray bullet during a gang attack. Finding closure for loved ones killed by gangs on a relentless rampage through Haiti’s capital and beyond is growing harder day by day in a country where burial rituals are sacred and the dead venerated. More than 2,500 people were killed or injured in just the first three months of the year, according to the United Nations. Victims of gang violence are increasingly left to decay on the street, prey to pigs and dogs, because a growing number of areas are too dangerous for people to go out and retrieve the bodies. Some bodies are never seen again, especially those of officers with Haiti’s National Police who are killed by gangs. Still, there are those like Joseph’s friends and family who brave the streets despite the danger of whizzing bullets so they can give their loved ones a proper burial.

Brazil sees aid measures from floods hitting its budget by at least $2.6 bln (Reuters) Brazil estimates aid measures taken by authorities after deadly floods in its southernmost state will cost at least 13.4 billion reais ($2.6 billion) from its budget, according to finance ministry data compiled by Reuters. Heavy rains, which have battered Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state since late April, caused historic floods that killed over 150 people, while nearly 100 residents are still missing and more than 500,000 have been displaced, official data shows.

Anger, anxiety, acrimony: Slovaks weigh what led to Fico shooting (Reuters) Slovak opposition party leader Michal Simecka, who described an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico this week as an attack on democracy, said on Friday that he, his wife and child had received death threats. His experience is not uncommon, a measure of the extreme political and personal animosities in Slovakia and across Europe that formed the backdrop to the shooting of Fico, who was still in intensive care, two days after being shot at close range. Slovaks like Lubos Oswald, a 41-year-old councillor in Handlova, Slovakia, where the shooting took place, felt a tragedy may have been in the making following years of deepening splits within the population and toxic political debate. “It can’t go on like this anymore: two neighbours hating each other for not having the same political opinions,” he told Reuters outside the shopping mall in the town where the assailant, a former security guard, fired five shots at Fico as he greeted supporters after an off-site cabinet meeting.

Russians Poured Over Ukraine’s Border. There Was Little to Stop Them. (NYT) Russian troops punched across Ukraine’s northern border with such speed and force last week that Ukraine’s meager fortifications offered almost no obstacle. Some Ukrainian soldiers, caught totally by surprise, fell back from their positions, and villages that had been liberated nearly two years earlier suddenly came under relentless shelling, forcing hundreds to flee in scenes reminiscent of the early days of the war. The stunning incursion into the Kharkiv Region lays bare the challenges facing Ukraine’s weary and thinly stretched forces as Russia ramps up its summer offensive. The Russian troops pouring over the border enjoyed a huge advantage in artillery shells and employed air power, including fighter jets and heavy glide bombs, to disastrous effect, unhindered by depleted Ukrainian air defenses. But the biggest challenge for Ukrainian forces is people. Ground down over more than two years of war, Ukraine’s military is struggling to come up with enough soldiers to effectively defend the 600-mile front line, even as Russian forces have swelled with thousands of newly mobilized troops.

Iran’s President Raisi and foreign minister die in a helicopter crash (AP) Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and others have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash after an hourslong search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported. Raisi was 63. State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. With Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

An airstrike kills 20 in central Gaza and fighting rages on (AP) An Israeli airstrike killed 20 people in central Gaza, mostly women and children, and fighting raged across the north on Sunday. The airstrike in Nuseirat, a built-up Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza dating back to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, killed 20 people, including eight women and four children, according to hospital records. Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Program says a famine is underway. The Civil Defense says the strikes hit several homes near Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya, killing at least 10 people. Footage released by the rescuers showed them trying to pull the body of a woman out of the rubble as explosions echo in the background and smoke rises.

Israel’s Wartime Government Frays as Frustration with Netanyahu Grows (NYT) Benny Gantz, a centrist member of Israel’s war cabinet, presented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an ultimatum on Saturday, saying he would leave the government if it did not soon develop a plan for the future of the war in Gaza. While Mr. Gantz’s departure would not topple the country’s emergency wartime government, the move would further strain a fragile coalition that has provided Mr. Netanyahu’s far-right government with a boost of international legitimacy, and it would make the prime minister even more reliant on his hard-line partners. “If you choose the path of zealots, dragging the country into the abyss, we will be forced to leave the government,” Mr. Gantz said in a televised news conference. “We will turn to the people and build a government that will earn the people’s trust.” Mr. Gantz’s ultimatum was the latest sign of pressure building on Mr. Netanyahu to develop a postwar plan. The prime minister is increasingly being squeezed—externally from Israel’s closest ally, the United States, and from within his own War Cabinet—to clarify a strategy for Gaza.

DRC army says it stopped attempted coup involving US citizens (Reuters) The leader of an attempted coup on Sunday in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been killed and some 50 people including three American citizens arrested, a spokesman for the Central African country's army told Reuters. Gunfire rang out around 4 a.m. in the capital Kinshasa, a Reuters reporter said. Armed men attacked the presidency in the city centre, according to spokesman Sylvain Ekenge. Another attack took place at the nearby home of Vital Kamerhe, a member of parliament who is tipped to become speaker, Kamerhe's spokesman, Michel Moto Muhima, and the Japanese ambassador said in posts on X. Ekenge named Christian Malanga, a U.S.-based Congolese politician, as the leader of the attempted coup. He said Malanga first attempted and aborted a coup in 2017 and that one of the American citizens arrested was Malanga's son.

Former South Africa leader Zuma promises jobs and free education as he launches party manifesto (AP) Former South African President Jacob Zuma Saturday lamented the high levels of poverty among black South Africans and promised to create jobs and tackle crime as he launched his new political party’s manifesto ahead of the country’s much anticipated elections. He told thousands of supporters who gathered at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg that his party would build factories where many people would be employed and provide free education to the country’s youth. He has also pledged to change the country’s Constitution to restore more powers to traditional leaders, saying their role in society has been reduced by giving more powers to magistrates and judges. In 2018, Zuma was forced to resign as the country’s president following wide-ranging corruption allegations, but he has made a political return and is now seeking to become the country’s president again.

Working the 5-to-9 Before the 9-to-5 (WSJ) Melissa O’Blenis rises by 4:30 a.m. for prayer and Peloton time before starting her job at the digital consulting firm Argano. “I just love checking things off my list,” she says. “I need that focus time away from Teams messages, email notifications and text alerts.” A mother with two sets of twins, O’Blenis, 48, often breaks for her kids’ afternoon sports without feeling guilty or judged. Colleagues jokingly call her Granny because her 9 p.m. bedtime makes the early starts possible. But Granny got the last laugh when she was promoted to a director-level role in March. Other professionals take a similar approach to their desk jobs, starting their workdays with a 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. shift. They are up before the sun to get a jump on the workday. Workflow software maker Asana reports that 21.4% of users are logging on between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. this year, up from 19.8% in 2021. About 12% of work tasks are completed before 9 a.m., the company says.

[bitchineering]

Guess I’m back with more note tips?

So, for the 30 of you who were on here, I’m back. I was sick and it put me out for months. Not a really fun experience but I think I got better. With it being break yes I’m working hard because I got finals next week :) and literally have to teach myself a subject in class. But that’s alright I don’t think any of you guys came here for that. Let’s go into my study sessions: How to study from things?

I also did not care to read this so yea... enjoy the none beta version

first things first, I’ve already talked about scheduling, but summary just make sure you have enough time to actually study and by that I mean review your materials so that you understand the concepts. I think about 50 minutes is a good time however you might need more or less. 

- If studying for a unit test a good idea might be to use this idea of writing all the topics that are going to be in the exam and your comfort level (I got this idea from someone else on tumblr btw, I didn’t save the post sorry). You could have the hardest things be more than 90 minutes (or however long you think they need to be) then the medium hard stuff can be 45-90 minutes, and then the topics you feel good/okay on are less than 45 minutes. This all depends on how many things you have to learn, how much time you have, and etc because other factors always stop us from studying. 

So you figured out your scheduling now we need notes. I really hoped you took notes in class but if you didn’t I guess we can work with that. I would suggest to try and find something similar, probably asking a friend for notes (and dont ask them to send pictures, you need to take your own pictures especially if that class if a humanities course). You could also look up powerpoints online if your teacher doesn’t publish them. (some websites I know others use is this: https://www.appracticeexams.com/ just click your class and then go to notes. Usually they have notes available and sometimes study guides. This is for AP Classes. For IB/A level courses my friend recommended this https://app.senecalearning.com/courses but they also have AP and American coures). Also textbooks are amazing resources, usually you can find someone who has a pdf on reddit or that one website which I can’t name but its that gen lib rus thing... besides that all you really need is a brief knowledge of what you will be studying. Maybe look up some youtube videos that talk about it or you have your notes and some idea of what is going on. Now we can start studying. 

1. Building relationships with the material. I’m not saying you need to proclaim your undying love for your calculus homework (I could never) but I do think it is important to find similarities and bring material together so that they connect and have overarching ideas (think of yourself like Aphrodite who will stop at nothing to get her OTPs cannon). 

- for example, in World History we know that the success of the American Revolution started the age of revolutions in many nations, like France’s revolution and in Haiti. Some could argue all revolutions go back to the American revolution and how it sparked that uprising from a controlling government. It was was the Confederate Americans did. Another example is that when Germany lost the 2nd World War, they basically ended facism- why? because all political leaders and nations saw that facism lead to complete failure. Creating these connections really helps people retain information. Many study channels I see always say to use mindmaps with this, but I don’t know if Mindmapping is everyones direction. I do like mindmaps, I just don’t do them much myself. Honestly I like lecturing and having discussions with my material. That way others could ask questions and it really helps me prove I know this material/ can effectively teach it to others. 

2. Finding what is important. I don’t know how many of you like to study for fun or do it because you’re graded but I think it is still important to figure out what exactly you need to study. If you’re studying for a quiz/test from your teacher then you need to find materials your teacher provides. I think this is a little easier for IB/AP/ any large test company that has practice exams out there. Get the teacher to give you practice quizzes and tests/ ask for your old ones back. If they don’t give you anything back then make questions yourself. You might struggle with this the first few times, but if you pay attention to your teachers enough, I think any dedicated student can find how the teacher writes questions and answers them. Also you could work with a friend or other study buddies to make questions. 

While only two steps, I think this really can show to students how you just need the right mind to study. I know it can be hard, especially if questions are worded confusing and you feel like your professor/ teacher would rather see you fail than succeed however, that isn’t always the case. Most definetly you will have to teach yourself and two of my hardest classes this semester are classes I have to teach myself. Just finding your way through may be able to help. Becoming the best student you want to be will take time and I know everyone basically learns for eternity. Find methods that work for you, people who will always encourage you, and know that you are a smart and dedicated student. For some high schoolers I know the university/college applications are being wrapped up and for some early applicants they are being released. Its honestly a terrible process some kids aren’t allowed to go to higher education when they deserve it and I’m sorry if you happen to not make the cut. We all find our places somewhere and think of what amazing future you’ll have. Also, just make the ivies your slut when you’re rich and powerful, f*** em up. 

[walkthroughtheword]

Reading for May 3rd                       Job 22 In Job 22, Eliphaz begins his third and final speech to Job. He makes several erroneous claims, accusing Job of taking advantage of the needy, living as if God is oblivious to his sins and putting God on such a high, distant plain that He is too exalted to be concerned with the affairs of mankind. And then Eliphaz, starting in verse 21, starts offering what appears to be very sound advice: “Submit to God . . .” “Accept [His] instruction . . .” “[R]eturn to the Almighty, you will be restored. . .” “[P]ray to Him, and He will hear you . . .” Sounds good, right? The counsel of Job’s friends are cautionary examples that should cause Christians to stop, pause, and reflect. When counseling and comforting hurting Christian brothers and sisters, we can often say the right things devoid of proper context, lacking wisdom and love, and miss the boat entirely. Formulaic, canned Christianese responses and advice to people suffering in difficult and hurtful circumstances often miss the mark. Many times, the best counsel is to just be fully present with them, be in prayer for them, and listen.” Trust the Holy Spirit to do the heavy lifting. Shifting gears . . . When reading the Bible (particularly the OT), unfamiliar names, references and terms pop up and most modern readers haven’t a clue as to their significance. Well, I’m sure those references meant something to the original writer and his intended audience. Taking a pause and digging a little deeper can provide context and color, adding richness to the text. Let’s pause and dig . . . So, what of the “gold of Ophir” mentioned in verse 24? As it turns out, this particular gold was renowned for being the highest quality and Eliphaz uses the term rhetorically as hyperbole to goad Job to give up his most precious things to follow God. The gold of Ophir is the stuff of legend. King Solomon imported literally tons of gold from Ophir on ships, so much so that silver was regarded as worthless (1 Kings 10:21). In present-day dollars, the value of the gold was in the billions, if not trillions, of dollars. Where is Ophir? That has been a question that has vexed treasure seekers for millenia. If you find Ophir, you’ll be very rich, right? Have you heard of the legend of King Solomon’s Mines? That is Ophir. There have been many theories as to where this fantastical place must be. The ships’ deliveries were on a 3-year cycle, so the distance likely took 3 years, round trip. It probably wasn’t a short trip across the Mediterranean. Almugwood (sandalwood?), ivory and various apes were also in the cargo (1 Kings 9:26-28, 10:11, 22) so that helps narrow down the place. Present-day Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, Solomon Islands, Peru, and even Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic) have been proposed as possible places. You can thank Columbus for the Hispaniola idea. He had Ophir on his mind as he “sailed the ocean blue in 1492.” We still don’t know the location of Ophir, but many fantasize about it still. The picture attached to this story is that of an 8th century BC ostracon (piece of pottery used as a receipt) found in an archeological dig outside of Tel Aviv in 1946. In paleo-Hebrew script, it documents the receipt of ”Gold of Ophir for Beth-Horon–30 Shekels.” Ophir is a real place!

[sou-ris]

boo! dènye fwa, mwen te di "m vle pale parans mwen lang matènèl" konsa... mwen isit!

premye, m pa bon ak kreyòl ankò konsa m ap itilize Tumblr pou plis aprann aprantisaj e etidye plis.

dezyèm, m pral itilize Tumblr pou ekri nòt yo sou kreyòl. m a ekri toujou apropo santiman mwen yo e panse mwen yo — pafwa kèk pòs yo pral nan lang angle ak yon tradikyson.

m te vle pale ak mwen menm sou bagay yo, pou egzanp : non mwen, fanmi mwen, bagay yo m renmen, etc.

konsa.. kite m kòmanse.

bonjou. m pa ban bay non mwen reyèl (reèl?) men rele mwen souris (oswa sou-ris) :) parans mwen soti Ayiti e m fèt nan Etazini ak de sè mwen yo. pi bonè m t ekri yon pòs (nan angle) ki li te di “m te vle aprann kreyòl pou pale ak parans mwen” konsa donk se pou sa a m ap ekri tout sa — pou yo (e mwen menm paske mwen renmen lang yo!).

kèk bagay yo renmen : lang etranje yo, sit la “twitch.tv”, mango yo, kouri, epi koulè wouj.

m t etidye franse men m te rete nan desanm lè klas mwen yo te fini. youn klas mwen te franse e li te fè m santi san motivasyon. m te li ankò nan franse pafwa.

m espere sa yo pòs yo ede mwen ak kreyòl. mwen renmen ap wè pòs yo nan lang etranje yo e m vle fè sa li tou!

m espere pòs la sa a fè sans :)

pi ti nòt pou koulè yo:

mo yo nan koulè wouj: sa se vle m te gen tò.

mo yo nan koulè vèt: sa se vle m te fè yon koreksyon. sa se vle m t ajoute youn mo tou.

mo yo nan koulè ble: sa se vle m te bezwen chache pou mo yo ki m pa te konnen ankò.

(wi, m te fè koreksyon tankou m t ap tipe trandiksyon la an)

———————————————————————

Translation (Tradiksyon)

boo! last time, i said “i want to speak my parent’s native language” so... i’m here!

first, i’m not good with creole yet, so i’m using Tumblr for learning and studying more.

second, i will use Tumblr for writing notes on creole. i’m still writing about my feelings and thoughts — sometimes some posts will be in english with a translation.

i wanted to talk with myself about things, for example : my name, my family, things, things i like, etc.

so... let me start.

hello. i’m not giving my real name, but call me souris (or sou-ris) :) my parents are from Haiti and i was born in the United States with my teo sisters. earlier, i wrote a post (in english), which said “i wanted to learn creole to talk with my parents,” so that’s why i’m writing all of this —for them (and myself because i love languages!)

some things i like : foreign languages, the site “twitch.tv”, mangoes, running, and the color red.

i studied french, but i stopped in december when my classes finished. one of my classes was french and it made me unmotivated. i still read in french sometimes.

i hope these posts help me with creole. i love seeing posts in foreign languages and i want to do it too!

i hope this post made sense :)

small notes for the colors:

the words in red: this means i was wrong.

the words in green: this means i made a correction. this means i added a word, too.

the words in blue: this means i needed to search words for which i didn’t know yet.

(yes, i corrected this as i was typing the translation)

[god-help-me-pls]

Thomas Jefferson, was a bad person. 

Sure, he did some good things for the Colonies, but that's really all he did. He also raped his slave, Sally Hemings. A 14 year old child. Meaning that he impregnated her, leading her to give birth to his son. Although people often say there is no proof that he raped Sally, there is evidence of the crime. In 1784 to 1789, Jefferson lived in France as he was the US Envoy and Minister to France. Whilst moving there, he took a few of those he enslaved, including James Hemings.

Two years after moving to France, Jefferson had requested that his daughter Polly was sent there as well, so that meant Polly would bring her enslaved chamber-maid, 14 year-old Sarah “Sally” Hemings - James’ younger sister. The siblings were both off-spring of Jeffersons’ father-in-law, John Wayles. This means that the two Hemings were half-siblings to Jeffersons’ late wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. So Thomas, after raping Sally a multitude of times impregnated her in Paris. Her first child had died after her return to America.

She had six other children of Thomas’ in Monticello.

January of 2000, a report done by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundations’ Research Team had managed to conclude that through DNA studies, both primary and secondary documents, as well as oral histories of Jefferson and Hemings descendants and nationally renowned scholars, that there is in fact, a “high probability that Thomas Jefferson fathered Eston Hemings and that he most likely was the father of all six of Sally Hemings’ children appearing in Jefferson’s records.”

As a result of Thomas’ perverted lust for a black child, many during the time period were confused on why he promoted the “Back to Africa” movement. Most who truly knew him as a person knew that he didn’t enjoy the idea of black people going back to their motherland, and gaining independence. The only reason he promoted it was to cover up Hemings’ children, who were, as he called them- his “Shadow family.”

Thomas’ criminal lust after a child of color doesn’t truly affect his character, as in 1776, the time period he wrote the Declaration of Independence, he held 175 black men, women, and children in his ‘custody.’ That number grew to 267 by 1822. Jefferson wasn’t just a slave-holder racist, he was also a legislative racist (legislative - having the power to make laws). As it was pointed out by Joyce Oldham Appleby, Professor Emerita of History at UCLA and former President of the Organization of American Historians and the American Historical Association, as well as Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., former Professor of History at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus at CUNY Graduate Center. It is said that Jefferson had opposed the practice of slave-holders freeing their slaves as it would incite ‘rebellion.’ Though as pointed out by John E. Ferling, after Thomas had been elected to the Virginia House of Burgess in 1769, he had proposed a law to make it so free people of color were banned from entering and exiting the state, and banish children whose fathers were of African descent. He had also attempted to expel white women who had had children with black men.

Going through all this information, you would think that it couldn’t get much worse than this. Apologies, but it does. As Jefferson was an international racist as well. In his cabinet position as Secretary of State in 1795, he gave 40,000 dollars as well as one thousand firearms to colonial French slaveholders in Haiti as an attempt to thwart Toussaint L’Ouverture’s slave rebellion. Later on as president, lending the French 300,000 dollars “for relief of whites on the island,” as he supported their plans to resume power.

Along with being an international, perverted, and legislative racist, Jefferson was also an ignorant racist. In his book written in 1785, labeled “Notes on the State of Virginia,” he had written “the preference of the ‘oran-outan’ (i.e., an ape-like creature) for the Black women over those of… (its) own species.” He then went on to say that blacks had “a very strong and disagreeable odor” and that they “are inferior to the whites....”

The mistake I made in this is the fact that I am only showing one side of this argument, I am not giving a chance for the other side to make their case, so I will let them. On March 4th, 2018 10:20 AM, a Guest commented on an article that exposed Thomas, they said “What is the point of accusing someone over 200 years ago of being a pedophile? We know that slavery existed, we also know that it was written out of law in 1863. Even with Sally being a slave, who is to say that she did not care for Thomas? Do we have Sally's diary or other written documentation as to how she truly felt about her circumstances? Why are you assuming the status of their relationship (when it is even a crime to assume someone's gender in present times lol)? What is the true purpose of this slanderous article, if only to poke at people who lived over 200 years ago, and to drag Sally and Thomas' descendants through the mud? I'd encourage you to live your life for *today* based on upon your own critical research. Would you want people in 2200 to look back on your life and call you a racist, ignorant, intelligently inferior snowflake - because that's exactly what they are going to do after reading your comments!”

Another guest commented on August 22nd, 2018 at 2:20 AM, “During that time it was common for 14 year olds to marry and have children. So knock off the pedophile bullshit. You assume that Sally and Thomas were not in love with one another, yet have no proof. Twisting bits and pieces of history to suit your pathetic needs. Truly the act of a Coward a.k.a. Coar. Perhaps you should do a bit more research about slavery in Africa and note that the first slave owner in the Americas was black. Perhaps you could also acknowledge the whites who died fighting against slavery during the Covil War and the many whites that marched and died during the civil rights movement. But no, none of that would suit your Racist needs.”

Wow, okay, saying that we don’t acknowledge the whites who died in the ‘Covil War,’ is not true. It is more likely that we acknowledge them more than we do the actual slaves who died during the time period, or the 100 year gap that took place after the war when organizations such as the KKK began. And yes, although it was common for 14 years olds to already be married and have children, it doesn't make it better. We have evolved from that time and have finally realized that kids shouldn’t have sex with adults. 

“Who is to say that she did not care for Thomas?” She was a slave to his daughter, even if she did have some sort of positive feelings for him - which as you said we have no proof that she felt any feelings towards him, as we don’t have her diary, but we do have excerpts from her son, Madison Hemings book, Life Among the Lowly. In which he said “He wished to bring my mother back to Virginia with him but she demurred. She was beginning to understand the French language well, and in France she was free, while if she returned to Virginia she would be re-enslaved. She refused to return with him.”

But, as you said random commenter, we obviously don’t know how she felt. But, one could assume that due to the fact that she refused to return with him, her feelings towards him were negative.

[fishoutofcamelot]

Zombie symbolism in media? Body snatchers? That sounds extremely interesting 👀👀👀

OOOOOOOOOOH ARE YOU READY FOR ME TO RANT? CUZ I’M GONNA RANT BABY. YALL WANNA SEE HOW HARD I CAN HYPERFIXATE???

I’ll leave my ramblings under the cut.

The Bodysnatchers thing is a bit quicker to explain so I’ll start with that. Basically, Invasion of the Body Snatchers was released in 1956, about a small town where the people are slowly but surely replaced and replicated by emotionless hivemind pod aliens. It was a pretty obvious metaphor for the red scare and America’s fear of the ‘growing threat of communism’ invading their society. A communist could look like anyone and be anyone, after all.

Naturally, the bodysnatcher concept got rebooted a few times - Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978), Body Snatchers (1993), and The Invasion (2007), just off the top of my head. You’re all probably very familiar with the core concept: people are slowly being replaced by foreign duplicates. 

But while the monster has remained roughly the same, the theme has not. In earlier renditions, Bodysnatchers symbolized communism. But in later renditions, the narratives shifted to symbolize freedom of expression and individualism - that is, people’s ability to express and think for themselves being taken away. That’s because freedom of thought/individuality is a much more pressing threat on our minds in the current climate. Most people aren’t scared of communists anymore, but we are scared of having our free will taken away from us. 

The best indicator of the era in which a story is created is its villain. Stories written circa 9/11 have villains that are foreign, because foreign terrorism was a big fear in the early 2000s. In the past, villains were black people, because white people were racist (and still are, but more blatantly so in the past). 

Alright, now for the fun part.

ZOMBIES

Although the concept has existed in Haitian voodooism for ages, the first instance of zombies in western fiction was a book called The Magic Island written by William Seabrook in 1929. Basically ol Seabrook took a trip to Haiti and saw all the slaves acting tired and ‘brutish’ and, having learned about the voodoo ‘zombi’, believed the slaves were zombies, and thus put them in his book.

The first zombie story in film was actually an adaptation of Seabrook’s accounts, called White Zombie (1932). It was about a couple who takes a trip to Haiti, only for the woman to be turned into a zombie and enchanted into being a Haitian’s romantic slave. SUPER racist, if you couldn’t tell, but not only does it reflect the state of entertainment of the era - Dracula and Frankenstein had both been released around the same time - but it also reflects American cultural fears. That is, the fear of white people losing their authoritative control over the world. White fright.

Naturally, the box office success of White Zombie inspired a whole bunch of other remakes and spinoffs in the newly minted zombie genre, most of them taking a similar Haitian voodoo approach. Within a decade, zombies had grown from an obscure bit of Haitian lore to a fully integrated part of American pop culture. Movies, songs, books, cocktails, etc. 

But this was also a time for WWII to roll around and, much like the Bodysnatchers, zombie symbolism evolved to fit the times. Now zombies experienced a shift from white fright and ethnic spirituality to something a bit more secular. Now they were a product of foreign science created to perpetuate warmongering schemes. In King of Zombies (1941), a spy uses zombies to try and force a US Admiral to share his secrets. And Steve Sekely’s Revenge of the Zombies (1943) became the first instance of Nazi zombies. 

Then came the atom bomb, and once more zombie symbolism shifted to fears of radiation and communism. The most on-the-nose example of this is Creature With the Atom Brain (1955).

Then came the Vietnam War, and people started fearing an uncontrollable, unconscionable military. In Night of the Living Dead (1968), zombies were caused by radiation from a space probe, combining both nuclear and space-race motifs, as well as a harsh government that would cause you just as much problems as the zombies. One could argue that the zombies in the Living Dead series represent military soldiers, or more likely the military-industrial complex as a whole, which is presented as mindless in its pursuit of violence.

The Living Dead series also introduced a new mainstay to the genre: guns. Military stuff. Fighting. Battle. And that became a major milestone in the evolution of zombie representation in media. This was only exacerbated by the political climate of the time. In the latter half of the 20th century, there were a lot of wars. Vietnam, Korea, Arab Spring, Bay of Pigs, America’s various invasions and attacks on Middle Eastern nations, etc. Naturally the public were concerned by all this fighting, and the nature of zombie fiction very much evolved to match this.

But the late 1900s weren’t just a place of war. They were also a place of increasing economic disparity and inequal wealth distribution. In the 70s and 80s, the wage gap widened astronomically, while consumerism remained steadily on the rise. And so, zombies symbolized something else: late-stage capitalism. Specifically, capitalist consumption - mindless consumption. For example, in Dawn of the Dead (1978), zombies attack a mall, and with it the hedonistic lifestyles of the people taking refuge there. This iteration props up zombies as the consumers, and it is their mindless consumption that causes the fall of the very system they were overindulging in.

Then there was the AIDS scare, and the zombie threat evolved to match something that we can all vibe with here in the time of COVID: contagion. Now the zombie condition was something you could get infected with and turn into. In a video game called Resident Evil (1996), the main antagonist was a pharmaceutical company called the Umbrella Corporation that’s been experimenting with viruses and bio-warfare. In 28 Days Later (2002), viral apes escape a research lab and infect an unsuspecting public.

Nowadays, zombies are a means of expressing our contemporary fears of apocalypse. It’s no secret that the world has been on the brink for a while now, and everyone is waiting with bated breath for the other shoe to drop. Post-apocalypse zombie movies act as simultaneous male power fantasy, expression of contemporary cynicism, an expression of war sentiments, and a product of the zombie’s storied symbolic history. People are no longer able to trust the government, and in many ways people have a hard time trusting each other, and this manifests as an every-man-for-himself survivalist narrative. 

So why have zombies endured for so long, despite changing so much? Why are we so fascinated by them? Well, many say that it’s because zombies are a way for us to express our fears of apocalypse. Communism, radiation, contagion - these are all threats to the country’s wellbeing. Some might even say that zombies represent a threat to conversative America/white nationalism, what with the inclusion of voodooism, foreign entities, and late-stage capitalism being viewed as enemies.

Personally, I might partly agree with the conservative America thing, but I don’t think zombies exist to project our fears onto. That’s just how villains and monsters work in general. In fiction, the conflict’s stakes don’t hit home unless the villain is intimidating. The hero has to fight something scary for us to be invested in their struggles. But the definition of what makes something scary is different for every different generation and social group. Maybe that scary thing is foreign invaders, or illness, or losing a loved one, or a government takeover. As such, the stories of that era mold to fit the fears of that era. It’s why we see so many government conspiracy thrillers right now; it’s because we’re all afraid of the government and what it can do to us.

So if projecting societal fears onto the story’s villain is a commonplace practice, then what makes zombies so special? Why have they lasted so long and so prevalently? I would argue it’s because the concept of a zombie, at its core, plays at a long-standing American ideal: freedom.

Why did people migrate to the New World? Religious freedom. Why did we start the Revolutionary War and become our own country? Freedom from England’s authority. Why was the Civil War a thing? The south wanted freedom from the north - and in a remarkable display of irony, they wanted to use that freedom to oppress black people. Why are we so obsessed with capitalism? Economic freedom.

Look back at each symbolic iteration of the zombie. What’s the common thread? In the 20s/30s, it was about white fright. The fear that black people could rise up against them and take away their perceived ‘freedom’ (which was really just tyrannical authority, but whatever). During WWII, it was about foreign threats coming in and taking over our country. During Vietnam, it became about our military spinning out of control and hecking things up for the rest of us. In the 80s/90s, it was about capitalism turning us into mindless consumers. Then it was about plagues and hiveminds and the collapse of society as a whole, destroying everything we thought we knew and throwing our whole lives into disarray. In just about every symbolic iteration, freedom and power have been major elements under threat.

And even deeper than that, what is a zombie? It’s someone who, for whatever reason, is a mindlessly violent creature that cannot think beyond base animal impulses and a desire to consume flesh. You can no longer think for yourself. Everything that made you who you are is gone.

Becoming a zombie is the ultimate violation of someone’s personal freedom. And that terrifies Americans.

Although an interesting - and concerning - phenomenon is this new wave of wish fulfillment zombie-ism. You know, the gun-toting action movie hero who has the personality of soggy toast and a jaw so chiseled it could decapitate the undead. That violent survivalist notion of living off the grid and being a total badass all the while. It speaks to men who, for whatever reason, feel their masculinity and dominance is under threat. So they project their desires to compensate for their lack of masculine control onto zombie fiction, granting them personal freedom from obligations and expectations (and feminism) to live out their solo macho fantasies by engaging in low- to no-consequence combat. And in doing so, completely disregarding the fact that those same zombies were once people who cruelly had their freedom of self ripped away from them. Gaining their own freedom through the persecution of others (zombies). And if that doesn’t sum up the white conservative experience, I don’t know what does.

So yeah. That’s zombies, y’all.

Thanks for the ask!

[rockofeye]

I have spent the last few weeks in Haiti. It hasn’t been my usual sort of trip as there has been no ceremony, no going to the beach, and no gathering with chosen family of friends. Instead, I’ve taken care of some pressing business that couldn’t be avoided and otherwise sheltered in place with my husband in our favorite spot in the capital. It’s been quiet and lovely in the middle of the global chaos of this completely avoidable pandemic. I am lucky, but I also got on a plane with a respirator and a whole lot of hand sanitizer.

With business taken care of, we stay in. When it’s shady, we sit on the small balcony that looks down in Pétion-ville, with Gwo Mòn on one side and Jalouzi on the other. S points out the soccer stadium that is lit up each night for an ongoing tournament, and Legliz Sen Thérèse, a tall triangle against the short buildings around it, and the buildings that past president Martelly was responsible for. We negotiate the air conditioning, as 75 feels cold for him and the 95+ outside is too hot for me. It’s quiet and slow, and that’s alright.

In the morning, S makes us coffee and pours it between two cups like every Haitian ever to dissolve the absurd amount of sugar that many Haitians like in their morning wake-up. Later, S gnaws on goat and I eat endless amounts of lanbi boukannen/grilled conch, piled high with pikliz echalot. We play the same clicky games on our cell phones (it’s true love...) and occasionally turn on the TV to watch the news, the French overdubbed telenovelas (El Diablo! La Doña!), and the occasional American movie. You have not lived until you’ve seen Mrs. Doubtfire in French.

We talk a lot about the dichotomy we can see from the balcony; the affluence to the left and the poverty to the right. Jalouzi is called a slum because it is packed full of people, many of whom fled the valleys of Haiti when their homes were destroyed in the 2010 goudougoudou. It became a focal point of a government striving to appease the more privileged when an artist was hired (with PetroCaribe funds....) to paint all the houses in Jalouzi a bright and cheerful color. It was floated as a way to beautify and raise morale in a really difficult place to live, but it was really about appeasing the more affluent folks who were looking out their window at a wide gray swatch of concrete and metal homes and shacks.

Today, Jalouzi has faded back to muted colors and gray buildings again and people continue to struggle to make it through the day. There is no electricity to speak of though the soccer stadium less than a quarter mile away is lit up every single night as are the houses in the more affluent surrounding areas. It’s strategic and it does it’s job; folks who are more poor are isolated to their neighborhoods where the folks who are more affluent don’t have to see. If you don’t have the money to buy a better life, my husband says, you are not just waiting for something better to come along but are pase mizè, or sort of waiting in your misery like other might pass time. Each day is a careful balance that results in the sun rising the next day.

One of the things I find most difficult to write about is the intrinsic balance that must be struck by folks who are learning Vodou and, by extension, learning Haiti. It is easy to enchant what is really the result of a lack of exposure to other cultures in the world, and yet it is equally easy to miss the thing that Haiti has achieved that the West has not: the absolutely seamless lived experience of a cultural religion, which certainly looks like enchantment from the outside. You can’t have Vodou without having your feet in the dirt in Haiti, and you can’t have Haiti without Vodou.

But..it’s a risky balance that we all walk on our journey to seek the lwa where they live. With the explosion of the internet, it’s easy to see narratives about how Haiti is essentially this mythical vacuum where everything is sort of twee and picturesque way. People inevitably come away saying that they found the only ‘real Vodou’ on the island and want to package that for sale and distribution, but it is clear to anyone with eyes to see that they have not yet grasped the reality of what they stood in the middle of.

And--since pendulums swing both ways--there is the other side, where folks discount the importance of Haiti and discount the significance of having your feet in the same dirt that the lwa rise up out of. In similar ways, that experience is packaged for sale with things like the idea of a ‘kanzo’ in the United States and the sale of items called kolye or asson, without really caring or understanding how these are made in context or why someone who is not a legitimate asogwe cannot make them for other people. It is a similar lack of grasping as above.

Who knows the right way out? Probably not me. The lwa take a longview and watch, and we know where the lwa live by the spiritual fruits produced (versus material fruits...’stuff’ and capitalism is never the answer). For me, I just do my work and remember that when I come here, I am both coming home to the lwa in their various homes and I am also arriving to where people live and die and do their work in between. Balance in a difficult place.

Today marks 229 years since the ceremony at Bwa Kayiman that began the uprising that birthed the Haitian Revolution. This was a beginning that has never really finished on the island; the French colonizers were expelled and life moved forward in a different way, but the struggle is still ongoing. Haiti has kept fighting under totalitarian regimes, political corruption, numerous pandemics, hunger, bigotry from across the border, economic famine, and continual foreign occupation.

And yet, the dust is the same. When we are on the island, our feet touch the same dirt that Boukman stood on when he called for the lwa. We stand on the same ground that Mèt Feray Aleman and Metrès Ezili Danto were born from when enslaved Africans said ‘enough’. The revolution lives here and not anywhere else, and that’s why it’s important to come. When we are lifted from the djevo, we are lifted with that revolution born within us to carry into the world.

With all these things in mind, I am listening the murmur of folks living out their lives over the rustle of the palms. The drums are pounding hard today all over the country, and I am seeing the tendrils of smoke from cooking fires that no doubt have some manje lwa on them. My heart lives here part-time or full-time or all the time, and it beats a little stronger when I can put my feet on the dirt and feel the ground still reverberate with the fire of Bwa Kayiman. These things are especially poignant in this time of becoming in the world, where we look at what our global systems of inequality and capitalism has birth while we struggle with this illness that takes what we love most.

Papa Boukman o, nou ap we ase

Each and every blessing is counted today, tomorrow, and always, and I hope the same for all of you: may you find your blessings abundant in this time of upheaval and be able to count them with a full heart. 

[4hnyc]

Sak ap fet! We know due to unforeseen circumstances Haitian Flag Day will be a little different this year. This doesn’t mean you can’t still show your 🇭🇹 love and pride! Get your #4HNYC merchandise yet? Help us achieve our goal of providing the children in Haiti with their educational supplies for their upcoming school year! 100% of the proceeds will be going to make sure we keep those smiles on their faces and supplies in their bags. 🇭🇹 https://www.instagram.com/p/B_xKyfaAjTp/?igshid=z05oa5o5xblh

[rootsooman]

How can we Vegans employ moral relativity when dealing with carnist cultures?

I am a vegan from a trod-on background. I come from people who were herded, bred, farmed, and killed with impunity because (even today) we were and are considered non human animals (beasts of the field). And as carnivores feed on herbivores, likewise us human omnivores ate both plants and animals. The difference here is that, in ancient times, animal life was sacred. So were the lives of trees, yams, forests, rocks, stones and water bodies.

Killing was not taken lightly, and heavy superstitions and tribal law ensured that extinction was not possible. Even when slash and burn techniques were used for farming and planting, the jungles were still thick and the lower population density and the lack of money (we used cowrie shells or traded) meant that massive land destruction was unnecessary because eating and feeding our families was not a corporate enterprise. We had no need to import or export food. We farmed, we gathered, occassionally we hunted. Humans are of course, majority practicing omnivores despite our very frugivorous biology.

Now we are all in the 21st century. Us wild folk and us industrialized folk. And now, thanks to decades of progressive thought, vegans can be found among us all. But a big problem with mainstream vegans and purely animal rights vegans is a tendency to forego moral relativism when dealing with omnivorous/carnist people. This is a grave mistake that not only is ethnocentric, speciesist in itself, ableist, classist and downright wrong, but it further isolates all creatures from the cause of veganism REGARDLESS of how the fate of non human animals is tied in with human animals and the environment. Using arguments like health, aesthetic and the frugivore theory do not help veganism either. A first world, educated, westernized/industrialized person can not begin to understand the complexity of the relationship between peoples and their food and their beliefs if they grew up in a society and world that offered them CHOICES at every turn.

Choices are not something that comes freely and easily to individuals who were moulded and shaped by an environment that has existed for thousands of years longer than veganism. Change has never been a quick or easy process. Evolution of thought may be quicker, but not by much. When approaching populations who sustain themselves on hunting, just imagine how absurd it would be to stop lions from hunting. Lions do not kill for sport. They have been seen in the wild saving the lives of helpless prey animals. Their carnivorism is biological. You may say, well, humans, we have a choice because we are not carnivores. True, but the illusion of a choice is relative to your society and sustainability. Some tracts of land are very dry and NOT abundant in adequate plant foods. Thus, patterns of eating are highly dependent on historical, geographical and cultural eco systems.

Importing corn to a desert could very well cause digestive issues or make indigenous farmers poor. Look what happened in Haiti when Monsanto flooded it with FrankenRice, causing native farmers to lose their entire food security and independence, and how Big Government made the native (tropical adapted) Haitian pig go extinct over a swine flu scare. Now there is HUNGER that is virtually irreversible. This same patronizing attitude is being adopted by vegans: "Why can't they just grow kale and wheat and almonds to make almond milk? We can just send it there! Presto!".

And watch a country starve?

As vegans we have to accept the FACT that the world will not be vegan ANYTIME soon. It is up to us to decrease as much as practically possible, the suffering of our fellow animals (human and non human) and our environments. It is not as simple as forcing people to give up eating meat.

Also consider Food Deserts. When all you have ever been exposed to for generations are cheap, calorie dense packs of Oscar Meyers bologna and other awful scrap cuttings leftover by the privileged, plus, being ridiculed and debased for enjoying fruits like watermelon (cheap, filling, healthy, abundant) there is no way you can safely just go vegan without first reversing years of (psych+phys) damage and relearning everything, yes, everything you know about food. Some populations' relationship to their foods has been damaged beyond recognition and it will take time, patience and understanding to help fix that. We have to wear their shoes to understand how to approach their change. You have to wear our shoes.

You have to put on that skin, and see yourself made out by society to be a monkey, ape or beast for enjoying a f***ing fruit. Imagine having to show up to a job interview and the employer thinking, "I'm supposed to hire and pay a comical creature like this, when I can hire a person to do the job?" All because of decades of damaging imagery. If you can't feel what it's like to wear the pelt, don't discourage anyone from wearing the belt.

The lowest cancer rates in the world are found amongst us "primitives". We also lack the eye, dental + heart issues, high blood pressure and lactose-caused diseases of our Westernized breeds. Our populations in modernity tend to die from DIET based disease rather than environmental ones like malaria. Yes, meat plays a large role in that, but the root cause itself isnt general meat consumption but industrialized meat consumption. Meat was never the largest portion on the plate for "primitive" people. It was the smallest.

While modernization can alleviate some of those problems, we have to understand too that most of these "gifts" from the elite (yes, that includes all 1st world beneficiaries of 1st world perks) come with a catch and are built on centuries of exploitation: human, environmental and non human.

"I'll feed you, clothe you and cure you if you eat like me, talk like me, sh!t like me, sit like me, do this for me, and live like me" and that is NOT the answer. Building American toilets instead of squat toilets? The gift is double edged: better sanitation and, as a bonus? colon cancer. Likewise, veganism in its current mainstream form cannot simply be applied to any given people or place. It has to be bio-suitable and enviro-suitable. Acknowledging unique needs is not politically incorrect, it is necessary. Tarzan is not the answer. Grassroots is.

I am lucky to come from a population that is 90% lactose intolerant. But that doesn't mean going vegan was easy, but I am glad for every single one of the 6 years that I have been and won't be turning back. However, being that I and the cows are one and the same in our plight, I know what it feels like to be so domesticated and severed from my instincts as to be heavily reliant on the elite (which yes, does include you vegans of privilege as much I love you and thank you). For a while, cows were fed other cows. It hurt them but they were hungry and it was what they knew. Likewise, severing reliance on our breeders requires an overhaul of identity that moves away from the corporate (national) to the environmental (natural).

Please approach cultures armed with knowledge AND understanding before proposing Veganism. Transitions can only be relative, and the world will never be 100% vegan. It was pristine before veganism. The culprit is western civilization, not carnism. And we have to reimagine "civilization" (colonial elite corporate hegemony) before we can reimagine carnism.

I'd like to end this piece by saying thank you to all the western vegans who use so much of their time and power to further the vegan cause. Your work is valuable wonderful and is making waves in the push for a safer, more sustainable, more beautiful world. Just remember that being a savior should never be the goal. A savior has a position of power and we do not need any more of those. We need grassroots level change.Meaning, learn from us, do what you can, then move on.

A creature that cannot feed itself is a PET.

[beardedmrbean]

The kidnapping of an American nurse and her young daughter in Haiti last week has impacted aid efforts in the impoverished nation devastated with ongoing gang violence. 

Alix Dorsainvil, originally from New Hampshire, was reportedly abducted Thursday from the campus of faith based non-profit El Roi Haiti in Port-au-Prince amid gang warfare wreaking terror in the local populace. Nearly a week after her and her daughter’s kidnapping, details on their fate remain scarce.

Aid providers are concerned that the kidnapping will result in fewer services being made available to the Haitian people.

"(The kidnapping) is definitely going to have a chilling impact on the work that particularly smaller aid groups do in the country," Renata Segura, International Crisis Group’s deputy director for Latin America and Caribbean, told The Associated Press. "People are going to be thinking about it twice before returning to those communities."

AMERICANS KIDNAPPED IN HAITI: NON-PROFIT ASKS PUBLIC ‘TO PRAY WITH US’ AS DETAILS ON FATE REMAIN UNCERTAIN

Doctors Without Borders last month announced that it was suspending services in one of its hospitals because some 20 armed men had burst into an operating room and snatched a patient.

"There is such contempt for human life among the conflicting parties, and such violence in Port-au-Prince, that even the vulnerable, sick and wounded are not spared," Mahaman Bachard Iro, the organization's head of programs in Haiti, wrote in a statement. "How are we supposed to be able to continue providing care in this environment?

Dorsainvil was working in a small brick clinic when armed men burst in and seized her, witnesses told AP. The captors have reportedly demanded $1 million in ransom, a standard practice used by the gangs to get money to fund operations.

HAITIANS PROTEST AMERICAN NURSE'S KIDNAPPING: ‘SHE IS DOING GOOD WORK’

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller would not provide details Monday on what was being done to locate and recover Dorsainvil and her daughter.

"Obviously, the safety and security of American citizens overseas is our highest priority. We are in regular contact with the Haitian authorities," Miller said in a statement. "We’ll continue to work with them and our US government interagency partners, but because it’s an ongoing law enforcement investigation, there’s not more detail I can offer."

Dorsainvil, who is married to the program’s director, Sandro Dorsainvil, has been working at the organization as a school nurse since 2020, according to the non-profit. She first traveled to Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake and "fell in love with the people," the group said.

"Please continue to pray with us for the protection and freedom of Alix and her daughter," the organization said Monday in a statement. "As our hearts break for this situation, we also continue to pray for the country and people of Haiti and for freedom from the suffering they endure daily." 

[newstfionline]

Sunday, May 19, 2024

In Canada, bodies go unclaimed as costs put funerals out of reach (Reuters) Some Canadian provinces have logged a jump in unclaimed dead bodies in recent years, with next of kin citing funeral costs as a growing reason for not collecting loved ones' remains. The phenomenon has prompted at least one province to build a new storage facility. Demand for memorial fundraisers has surged. The overall cost of a funeral in Canada at the top end has increased to about $8,800 from about $6,000 in 1998, according to industry trade group estimates. In Ontario, Canada's most populous province, the number of unclaimed dead bodies rose to 1,183 in 2023 from 242 in 2013, said Dirk Huyer, the province's chief coroner. In most of those cases, next of kin were identified but unable to claim the body for a variety of reasons, the most common being money.

Mexico’s cartel violence haunts civilians as the June 2 election approaches (AP) Tailed by trucks of heavily armed soldiers, four caskets floated on a sea of hundreds of mourners. Neighbors peered nervously from their homes as the crowd pushed past shuttered businesses, empty streets and political campaign posters plastering the small Mexican town of Huitzilac. Days earlier, armed men in two cars sprayed a nearby shop with bullets, claiming the lives of eight men who locals say were sipping beers after a soccer match. Now, fear paints the day-to-day lives of residents who say the town is trapped unwillingly in the middle of a firefight between warring mafias. As Mexico’s expanding slate of criminal groups see the June 2 election as an opportunity to seize power, they have picked off more than 100 people in politically-motivated killings, including about 20 candidates this year, and warred for turf, terrorizing local communities like Huitzilac. “The violence is always there, but there’s never been so many killings as there are today,” said 42-year-old mother Anahi.

As Haiti Crumbles, Its Neighbor Is Thriving With a Tourism Boom (Bloomberg) The Dominican Republic is having a moment. Ten million tourists a year are flocking to its beaches, helping drive one of the region’s best performing economies. Poverty is near a record low, and investment at an all-time high. Even Fast & Furious star Vin Diesel wants to build a movie studio there. Its success stands in stark contrast to the country on the other side of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, Haiti, where spiraling crime and violence are ruining the nation.

Subway commuters in Buenos Aires see fares spike by 360% as part of austerity campaign in Argentina (AP) Commuters in Buenos Aires on Friday were hit by an abrupt 360% increase in subway fares, one of the most dramatic price hikes in libertarian President Javier Milei ‘s harsh budget austerity campaign in Argentina. Public transportation fares are a sensitive issue across Latin America, where inequality is deeply entrenched and outrage triggered by subway price hikes have sparked social unrest in the past, such as Chile’s 2019 mass protests. Overnight, the price of a single ride in Buenos Aires more than tripled from 125 pesos (14 cents) to 574 pesos (64 cents), exacerbating a painful cost of living crisis in Argentina. Some commuters complained they were suddenly paying triple for a network that was only deteriorating. “It obviously affects me because it means more money disappears from my salary every day, but the worst part about it is that there is zero investment in the service,” said 35-year-old Sofía Acosta. “We commute in terrible conditions, cramped, delayed, and now we are paying more.”

Struggling on Front Lines, Ukraine Strikes Harder at Russian Energy (NYT) Struggling to contain Russian advances on the battlefield, Ukraine is increasingly taking the fight to Russia beyond the front lines in an effort to disrupt its military operations and put pressure on its economy—targeting airfields, logistics hubs and critical energy facilities with missiles and drones. That strategy was on full display early on Friday when a series of explosions struck fuel depots, oil facilities and a power station in southwestern Russia and Crimea, the Russian-occupied Ukrainian peninsula. Just a day before, Ukrainian missiles hit an airfield in Crimea, destroying at least three jets. Although the full extent of the damage was unclear, the Russian authorities reported that an electricity substation was hit in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, leading to rolling blackouts.

Parts of northern India scorched by extreme heat with New Delhi on high alert (AP) Parts of northwest India sweltered under scorching temperatures on Saturday, with the capital New Delhi under a severe weather alert as extreme temperatures strike parts of the country. On Friday, parts of New Delhi reported up to 47.1 degrees Celsius (116 degrees Fahrenheit). The nearby states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan also saw temperatures soar and are likely to stay high over the next few days, said Soma Sen Roy, a scientist at the India Meteorological Department. Roy cautioned people against going outdoors under the afternoon sun, drink lots of water and wear loose-fitting clothes while who are especially vulnerable like the elderly should stay indoors.

Putin’s China Visit Highlights Military Ties That Worry the West (NYT) President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia attended a trade fair on Friday in a northeastern Chinese city and toured a state-backed university famous for its cutting-edge defense research, highlighting how economic and military ties between the countries have grown despite, or perhaps because of, Western pressure. Mr. Putin’s visit to Harbin, a Chinese city with a Russian past, is part of a trip aimed at demonstrating that he has powerful friends even as his war against Ukraine—a campaign that he is escalating—has isolated him from the West. The visit followed a day of talks between him and President Xi Jinping of China that seemed orchestrated to convey not only the strategic alignment of the two powerful, autocratic leaders against the West, but a personal connection. The show of camaraderie was the final touch in talks that culminated in a joint statement that took aim at the United States, which Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi have accused of seeking to suppress their countries. The statement pledged that Russia and China would work more closely in critical sectors like energy, space and the military.

As Japan’s yakuza weakens, police focus shifts to unorganized crime hired via social media (AP) Police agents who were busy dealing with thousands of yakuza members just a few years ago have noticed something new: unorganized and loosely connected groups they believe are behind a series of crimes once dominated by yakuza. Police call them “tokuryu,” anonymous gangsters and tech-savvy young people hired for specific jobs. They often cooperate with yakuza, obscuring the boundary between them and making police investigations more difficult, experts and authorities say. “It’s a crime carried out like a part-time job,” Taihei Ogawa, a former police investigator and crime analyst, said on an online talk show. “Tasks are divided, making it difficult for police to track down where instructions come from.” Yakuza crackdowns have driven many members to quit and sent others underground. But they also prompted younger generations to join “tokuryu” groups rather than the traditional criminal structures, Noboru Suetomi, a criminologist and expert on yakuza, said. The National Police Agency describes “tokuryu” as “anonymous and fluid” groups that repeatedly form and disband via social media to carry out swindling, illegal betting, prostitution and other crimes often remotely.

Australians stranded in New Caledonia ‘running out of food’ amid civil unrest (Reuters) Australians stranded in New Caledonia are rationing food as they wait for a way out of the Pacific island territory, after unrest that has killed six people, a traveller from Sydney said on Saturday. “The kids are definitely hungry because we don’t really have much option of what we can feed them,” Joanne Elias told Reuters by phone from a resort in the capital Noumea, where her family has been holed up since the unrest in the French-ruled territory broke out this week. The riots have been sparked by anger among indigenous Kanak people over a constitutional amendment approved by lawmakers in Paris that would allow French people who have lived in New Caledonia for at least 10 years to vote in provincial elections, which some local leaders fear will dilute the Kanak vote. Three nights of upheaval have resulted in burnt businesses, torched cars, looted shops and road barricades, cutting off access to medicine and food.

American doctors in Gaza see up-close toll of war weapons on children (Washington Post) Battle wounds and grisly injuries don’t often faze Adam Hamawy. The 53-year-old reconstructive plastic surgeon and U.S. Army veteran who served as a combat trauma surgeon in Iraq has seen the burned skin of children after a firework exploded, and a soldier whose legs were blasted away by a rocket-propelled grenade. Two weeks at the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis have brought together a harrowing combination of the two as Hamawy and a skeleton crew of doctors on a volunteer mission with the Virginia-based Palestinian American Medical Association see a steady stream of child patients wounded by weapons of war. “Think of the injuries that you see in war, with blood everywhere, with shrapnel that’s supposed to kill soldiers and military personnel and take out tanks and bunkers,” Hamawy said. “Now think about that going through a child’s body.”

What to do when facing extended summer power outages (AP) Texas officials say power outages could last weeks in parts of Houston after thunderstorms with hurricane-force winds tore through the city and killed at least four people. The storm knocked out electricity to nearly 1 million homes and businesses in the region as temperatures hover around 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 Celsius). What should you do to stay cool and safe at home when summer power outages prevent you from using fans and air conditioners? To avoid overheating, it’s key to stay hydrated. If your home is without water during a power outage, be sure to stock up on bottled water. When it’s hot, the body cools off by sweating. Soaking T-shirts or other clothing with water, or frequently spraying your skin with water, can help boost this effect. If the power goes out, the food that’s in your refrigerator can keep cold for about four hours, and what’s in your freezer can keep cold for up to two days. People should seek out nonperishable foods, such as canned goods, that don’t require refrigeration. If using camp stoves or charcoal barbecues to cook, make sure to use them outside and at least 20 feet away from windows. Officials recommend unplugging electronics in your home so as to avoid damage from electrical surges. And battery-powered flashlights and lanterns should be used for lighting instead of candles, which can be a fire hazard.

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