#I hate this country and it’s hate campaigns & secret police so much

[r0semultiverse]

blaming “trans people” who aren’t actually trans to create a bunch of mini reichstag fires across the United States, like wow get some new material you absolute bozos

[schraubd]

Israel as Contagion

There's a narrative bubbling in certain areas of the left which seeks to tie American policing abuses to cross-training exchange programs some police departments do with Israeli counterparts. The narrative has its roots in Jewish Voice for Peace's "Deadly Exchange" campaign, which uses the claim as a means of further its campaign to see Israel isolated and ostracized in global society. As the issue of police violence surges to its place at the top of the public's deliberative agenda, the deadly exchange claim likewise attracted those eager for a anti-Israel or antisemitic hook. Just yesterday, new Labour leader Keir Starmer sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey -- a prominent Jeremy Corbyn ally and one-time rival for party leadership -- from her position in Labour's shadow cabinet after she approvingly shared an article where actress Maxine Peake claimed, without evidence, that "The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services." This is not true. Many have cited an Amnesty International report where, they say, it is proven that Israeli police train their American counterparts in human rights violations. But Amnesty has since come out and said explicitly that "Allegations that US police were taught tactics of ‘neck kneeling’ by Israeli secret services is not something we’ve ever reported." This is not surprising, as the content of these exchange programs by all accounts rarely, if ever, focuses on what we might euphemistically call "interpersonal" or "tactical" elements of police activity (it generally concentrates on strategic questions regarding operational responses to mass atrocities -- a subject upon which Israeli security forces sadly carry much expertise). So what is going on? The stock response from those objecting to the link is the simple but truthful observation that American police hardly need Israeli help on the subject of how to harass racial minorities. Some have argued that, because it is true that there are Israeli and American policing exchange programs (and apparently some Minneapolis officers had partaken), it is ipso facto fair to draw a connection between American abuses and those training seminars -- without any regard to what actually is or is not done in those programs. The argument, in effect, a contagion theory: anyone who associates with Israelis, we can assume, is at least partially corrupted by the contact. They're worse off coming out than coming in. In apologizing for her comment, Peake said something very interesting: she said "I was inaccurate in my assumption of American police training and its sources." Assumption is the key word there: she had, presumably, read about Israeli and American police training together, and so she assumed that the bad American practices had Israeli roots. But the only evidence was the bare fact of contact -- that's what's driving the narrative. Hence: contagion. This, I submit, is something antisemitism does. It allows such assumptions to become naturalized. They feel right. American police have done exchange training with counterparts in dozens of other countries, ranging from the UK to Germany to Mexico to Tanzania. Even those who take a dim view of, say, the Mexican police however would likely not jump from mere contacts to causality. If someone said "American police learned chokeholds from Tanzanian police," they'd ask for evidence. If the only evidence is "there are exchange programs between American and Tanzanian police", that likely wouldn't be sufficient. But antisemitism gives a smoother cognitive ride down -- it makes little connections look huge, and implausible leaps seem manageable. It is not accidental that the narrative is about Israeli police exchanges and not German or Mexican or Tanzanian ones. This is an unorthodox but I think ultimately more accurate way of understanding what antisemitism does. We think of antisemitism often as a motive: because I hate Jews, I think or say or do this thing. But antisemitism is as if not more often a force or process. We usually ask "did Burke or Long-Bailey say what they say because they hate Jews?" The answer to that may well be no. But that's not that the right question. The right question is "did a particular way of thinking about Jews render what Burke or Long-Bailey said plausible or resonant in a way it otherwise would not have been?" And there I think it is quite clear that the answer is yes. It is because we think about Jews in a particular way that this contagion theory of Israeli culpability in American policing injustices -- a narrative which objectively stands on such a thin reed -- is plausible when it otherwise wouldn't be. That is the work of antisemitism. via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2CJ9UDi

[what-even-is-thiss]

I’m extremely scared. As a US citizen it’s looking less and less likely that we’ll keep the rights we’ve fought for. What should I even do? Run? Grab a gun and fight? Voting just seems hopeless now.

Voting is not hopeless. This is about the executive branch and the legislative branch now.

If Biden is elected he will effectively create immigration policy. He will also decide how to enforce the laws that congress creates or the precedents that the supreme court sets. Biden is also historically a politician that likes to reach a consensus. In other words, he listens to people and changes his policies depending on what they want. He’s already become more progressive over the course of this campaign.

If we flip the senate they can also create laws that do what the supreme court might overturn. They can make it illegal to ban abortions. They can make gay marriage and anti-discrimination the law of the land. They can also vote to add more supreme court judges. Yes, they can pack the courts. Legally they are allowed to do that and at this point it looks very likely that they will do this. They can also vote to allow Washington DC and Puerto Rico to become states which will give those regions more autonomy and protections and representation.

And state and local elections are always always always important. Local and state governments make voting laws. Local governments can defund the police. State governments control school curriculum and funding. You can vote for sheriff in most counties in this country. Please, please, if your sheriff is up for reelection see if they are decent. Look them up.

All of this is far more complicated than one issue. Don’t fall into despair. And yes, I know there are other ways to affect the government than voting, but it is, in my opinion, the most important thing that we can do. We probably won’t get everything done that we can right away, but if we vote right now then we will put a government in place that is better. A government that we can actually get some stuff done in. Right now we’re focusing almost all of our energy on containing the Republicans. If you vote for Biden, if you vote for Democrats and/or progressives within your local community and state, you can create a world where our fighting creates real change much more easily. Where protests are far less likely to be interrupted by the national guard. Where healthcare will be expanded. Where LGBTQ rights can become the law rather than a precedent.

Truly violent overturning of governments often creates so many more hardships. So much more instability. I know that I personally don’t want to go through that unless it’s absolutely necessary. And if you’re worried about a peaceful transfer of power, let me tell you this. The secret service hates Trump. The army isn’t loyal to the president, but to the country as a whole. For a leader to become a dictator they need the eternal support of the army and their personal guard. Trump doesn’t have that. He is a threat to national security and the intelligence community knows this. His generals know this. American loyalty is to institutions and ideas. Not one man. Vote him out and things will change. Maybe not enough fast enough but they will change. Please don’t pick up a gun. Those are despicable things that never should’ve been born and gun violence has already torn so many families and communities apart. Please don’t add to that.

[kyrievali]

I've been reading your posts and in one of them you mentioned that Iroh in fact is very shady and Azula has every right to hate him, may you explain why?

Sure, I’ll go into it. 

Let me start off by saying that I actually really like Iroh as a character. I think he’s great and well-written. I think the fandom tends to gloss over his flaws and label him as “perfect”, which is not true. One of his greatest failings (aside from making two teenage siblings fight each other for the throne...or really not intervening at all where Ozai is concerned) is his treatment of Azula, and him saying “No, she’s crazy and needs to go down” and essentially writing her off when, if you compare Azula’s personality with Season 1 Zuko, they’re really not all that different. Azula, people tend to forget, is a 14 year old girl who was as much a subject of abuse as her brother. Zuko and Azula were essentially pitted against one another to both gain Ozai’s affection and, more importantly, avoid punishment. The only difference is that she was rewarded and praised by Ozai for her power and cruelty, while Zuko was punished for his “shortcomings”. Zuko’s entire storyline proved how important it is to have a good, guiding parental figure in one’s life, and it’s tragic that Azula didn’t have that.

Now, let’s talk about why Azula probably hated her Uncle.

1. She thinks he’s a failure and, worse than that, weak

And I don’t mean weakness in terms of his firebending skills. Let me explain - Fire Nation citizens are ingrained with Nationalistic pride and complete loyalty to the Fire Lord from a very young age. Iroh, once upon a time, was the heir to the Fire Nation’s throne and the favored son of the notoriously cruel Azulon. He laid a 600 day siege against Ba Sing Se during which his son, Lu Ten, was killed. This tragic event caused him to withdraw his troops, despite having breached the outer wall.   

Upon his return home, his father dies under mysterious circumstances and decrees that Ozai will be the heir to the throne. Instead of contesting it, Iroh leaves the Fire Nation and ostensibly spends his time traveling the world, meeting with the Dragons, and getting in tune with the Spirit World. Doing so gives him the knowledge and wisdom to see the error of his ways, at which point he returns to the Fire Nation and serves as a General in the army. 

Let’s look at this from the perspective of Azula, or really any other citizen of the Fire Nation. Their country waged a nearly 2-year long siege against the Earth Kingdom - and right when they make progress by breaking through the first wall, the Crown Prince gives up because his son died. Countless Fire Nation lives and resources were spent on this 600 day campaign, and they end up with nothing to show for it. If you look at the philosophy of Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai, they likely would have used the death of Lu Ten to galvanize the troops and double their efforts, in an attempt to exact revenge against the Earth Kingdom for daring to spill royal blood - and so that their sacrifices thus far would not have been in vain.

And then, not only does Iroh withdraw from Ba Sing Se, he also abandons his duties and his country completely. Iroh had a reputation as a fearsome Firebender and cunning strategist - and he just leaves. So now not only is he a failure, but he’s also a deserter, one who abandons his nation while it’s reeling from a humiliating defeat and the loss of its Sovereign, Azulon (who, by the way, ruled for about 80 years).

In Azula’s eyes, all of this amounts to weakness, and as we all know from how she was raised by Ozai, weakness is unacceptable. 

2. She is parroting her father’s feelings of resentment

Given that Azula was the favored child of Ozai, it’s likely that she idolized her father and thought he was superior to her uncle, the Crown Prince (for the first few years of her life, at least, Iroh WAS the Crown Prince) and should have been the true heir to Azulon. We don’t see a whole lot of Ozai or his backstory/characterization, but it’s not unreasonable to assume that he, being many years younger than Iroh (it’s never officially stated, but Ozai is around 45 at the time of the show and Iroh appears to be in his late 60’s/early 70’s) had an inferiority complex growing up, and probably some form of sibling rivalry. After all, Iroh is already an adult by the time Ozai is born, and the Crown Prince, who has been groomed from birth to be Azulon’s heir. Ozai is an afterthought; an insurance policy, who at the very moment of Lu Ten’s birth, is outranked by an infant. 

Ozai probably resented Iroh his entire life, so it is not unlikely that Azula would probably feel the same way. 

3. He’s a traitor to the Fire Nation

Azula is a Nationalist and Ozai’s most loyal enforcer. Iroh’s a traitor, and as far as she knows, a corrupting influence to her brother, Zuko. She also probably thinks that he’s committing treason because (she doesn’t know any better) Iroh wants to be the rightful Fire Lord, and she is not going to stand for that. 

4. He reminds her of her mother

Azula is used to being the golden child - a prodigious Firebender, the favored daughter of her father, representative of everything the model Fire Nation child should be. And yet, her own mother does not appear to love her. Her Uncle has stated distaste for her. She thinks she’s doing everything right - because according to Sozin and Ozai’s philosophies and the emphasis of power and loyalty to the Fire Nation - she is; so why do two of her own family members prefer Zuko, the “screw-up” of the family - to her? 

It’s clear that Azula craves the love and adoration of others, but she doesn’t really understand it. I think as she grew older and saw more of the world and how people behaved toward her, she understood on some level that she was considered a “monster” and that people were afraid of her; but that’s how she was raised. Fear was power, and power was everything. And growing up, she was only ever positively reinforced for her ruthlessness and cunning by her father (of whom she is very much afraid, by the way...that is made perfectly clear in her attempts to bring Zuko home and also give him credit for allegedly killing the Avatar. Part of it is actually probably due to some level of affection she has for him, but part of it is definitely motivated by having someone else take the heat off of her in an abusive household) and she witnessed firsthand how perceived weakness was punished - so she did everything she could to achieve the ideal of perfection that Ozai, Azulon, and Sozin had proliferated. So she probably never really understood why her own mother and Iroh didn’t like her. And the fact that they both seemed to prefer Zuko, who she’s been taught to think she’s better than, would only further that resentment.

She thinks she can earn people’s affection by being a perfect Fire Nation soldier, because that’s what works with her father - and when it doesn’t work with Ursa or Iroh, two important adult family figures in her life - she doesn’t understand why and, even worse than that, it makes her feel inferior to Zuko. 

5. My final point is purely speculative, but...He didn’t do anything to directly stop Ozai’s rise to power

In the years after the war, after recovering from her mental break and maybe rehabilitating to become an advisor to Zuko (let’s be totally honest, a Nation whose entire economy for the past 100 years has been built on war and imperialization is not going to have an easy transition into peace, especially when they are expected to give up their colonies and play nice with an equally corrupt government that was controlled by the Secret Police force which has no qualms about brainwashing its own citizens...also the new Fire Lord is a banished Prince who is the apprentice of the Disgraced Prince and who returned to defeat the pride of the Nation, Princess Azula, Ozai’s Chosen Heir and the Conqueror of Ba Sing Se), Azula’s going to be pretty pissed that her supposedly wise and worldly uncle did not intervene in her megalomaniacal and abusive father’s rise to power. 

If my uncle, who never liked me, lost countless Fire Nation lives and resources in a battle that ended with him retreating, abandoned the Crown to go on a sightseeing tour of the world, returned and became a traitor to the nation by foiling the Admiral’s conquest of the Northern Water Tribe resulting in the loss of more Fire Nation lives, escaped from you multiple times and went on to become a tourist and small business owner in an enemy nation, turned your brother against you, did nothing to stop his own brother whom he knew was deeply abusive even after he came back after gaining all this supposed wisdom, and THEN also left you alone with your abusive father while taking your inferior brother under his wing and helping him become an extremely powerful bender who eventually defeats you with the help of a Water Tribe peasant...yeah, I’d be pretty pissed at him, too. 

To be fair, she probably never would have willingly gone with them because they were basically just sent on a wild goose chase at that point...but he never even tried to help her.

Anyway, that’s why I think Azula hates Iroh and honestly, she has every right to hate him. He abandoned her Nation and wrote her off completely, so there��s no reason she wouldn’t do the same.

[whitehotharlots]

Previewing the 2024 Democrat Primary

Within a couple weeks of his being sworn in, just about every person on earth will wish Joe Biden was no longer president. Sure, the few surviving John B. Anderson voters will be thrilled to see 4 years of crushing austerity and half-assed attempts at Keynesian stimulus. But most people will begin dreaming about a brighter future.

Good news! The 2024 Democratic primary field is going to contain dozens of options. Bad news! They are all going to be disgusting piles of shit. 

The “top tier”

While it’s too early to do any handicapping, these are the candidates the media will treat as having the most realistic chances of securing the nomination. 

Kamala Harris

Kamala did not win a single primary delegate in 2020. This is because she dropped out before the first primary, and that was because no one likes her. She has no base beyond a few thousand of twitter’s most violent psychos. Her disingenuousness approaches John Edwards levels: any halfway incredulous person can see immediately beyond her bullshit. She has no principles whatsoever, and while that may be par for the course for Democrats, she lacks even the basic politician’s ability to intuit anything that might, hypothetically, constitute a principle. 

Even better: she is an awful public speaker. She sounds like how a talking dog would speak if he were just caught stealing people food off the kitchen table. She communicates in weird grunts and faux sassy squeaks, which is how she imagines real black women sound like, but something about her is unable to sell the bit. She begins her sentences in halfhearted AAVE, stops and panics halfway through as she realizes that maybe this sounds fake and offensive, and then reminds herself oh wait, no, this is okay since I’m black. This doesn’t happen once or twice per speech. This is how every single sentence sounds. 

Kamala is like Nancy Pelosi in that no sketch show will ever impersonate her correctly, because anything that came close to authenticity would be considered far too cruel. This might benefit her in the primaries, as she exists in the minds of Democrats as someone and something she absolutely is not in reality. Nominating her would be like allowing your child’s imaginary friend to attempt to drive you to the store. 

Andrew Cuomo

Easily one of the 50 worst people alive, Cuomo has a solid chance because Democrats, same as Republicans, are unable to differentiate between electability and self-serving ruthlessness. Cuomo used the deadliest public health crisis in American history as a pretext for cutting Medicaid and firing 5,000 MTA workers, and his approval rating increased. New York Dems are little piggies who love eating shit. If we assume that the political media will continue their habit of refusing to discuss the legislative history of right wing Democrats, Cuomo might well cruise to the nomination and then lose to literally any human being the GOP nominates by an historic margin. 

Joe Biden

The party loves him because he is a right wing racist. “Progressives” tolerate him because black primary voters over 40 supported him, and their opinion is supposedly a magic window into god’s truth. Everyone else can tell he is manifestly senile. I don’t put it above the DNC to pick a candidate who is in horrible health, dying, or even dead--whatever the financial sector wants, they’ll get. But I would be shocked if his approval rating is above 39% by mid-2023, and by that point deep fake technology will be advanced enough they’ll put out a very lifelike video in which the Max Headroom version of Joe explains he’s proud of his accomplishments--that budget’s almost balanced already--but, man, I gotta abd--I gotta abdica--, uhh, I gotta, I, uhh, I gotta move down, man. 

Wild Cards

These candidates would have all have a chance if they ran, but they could all much more easily retire to Little Saint James off of kickbacks they’ve gotten from Citibank and I.G. Farben. 

Rahm Emanuel

Rahm is going to receive some hugely influential post in the Biden administration. Let’s say he becomes Secretary of Education. His signature achievement will be replacing all elementary school teachers with Amazon’s Alexa, which saved the taxpayers so much money we were able to quadruple the number of armed police officers we put into high schools. This will give him several thousand positive profiles on network news programs and the near-universal support of the Silicon Valley vampires who will own 99% of the country by the time Biden’s term ends. They will use their fancy mind control devices to convince geriatic primary voters that Rahm’s the one who will bring Decency back to the white house. His candidacy will be the paragon of wokeness, as expressing concern toward the fact that he covered up the police murder of a black guy will get you called a racist. 

Rahm has a bonus in that Jewish men are now Schrodeniger’s PoC. When they are decent human beings, they are basic, cis white men who are stealing attention from disabled trans candidates of color. When they love austerity and apartheid, they become the most vulnerable people of color on earth and criticizing them in any way is genocide. No one will be able to mention a single thing Rahm has ever done or said without opening themselves to accusations of antisemitism, and that gives him a strong edge against the rest of the field. The good news is that an Emmanuel candidacy would result in over 50% of black voters choosing the GOP candidate--which, I guess that’s not really good but it would certainly be funny. 

Gavin Newsom

Newsom is every bit as feckless as Cuomo, but he doesn’t put off the same “bad guy in an early Steven Segal movie” vibes. He will mention climate change 50 times per speech and no one will bother to mention how he keeps signing fracking contracts even though his state is now on fire 11 months of the year. If anything, this will be spun into an argument about how he’s actually the candidate best suited to handle all the water refugees gathering on the southern border. Look for his plan to curb emissions by 10% by the year 2150 to get high marks from Sierra Club nerds. He’s also a celebate librarian’s idea of what constitutes a handsome man, so he’ll have some support from the type of women who claim to hate all men. 

Larry Summers

I mean, why not? Larry, like most members of the Obama administration, has politics that are eerily similar to those of Jordan Peterson. In normal circumstances, this makes a person a dangerous fascist who should not be platformed. But if that person has a D next to their name this makes them a realistic pragmatist who has what it takes to bring suburban bankers into our tent. If current trends in Woke Phrenology continue apace, Larry’s belief that women are inherently bad at STEM will be liberal orthodoxy by 2023, and his dedication to the Laffer Curve could see him rake in massive donations. Seriously, I’m not kidding: cultural liberalism is now fully dedicated to identity essentialism and balanced budgets. Larry is their ideal candidate. If he were black and/or a woman, I’d put him in the very top tier. 

Jay Inslee

Unlike Newsom, Inslee’s attempt to crown himself the King of Global Warming won’t be immediately derailed, since his state is only on fire because of protestors. This, however, poses a different problem. He’s going to be a good test case for the Democrat’s uneasy peace with the ever increasing share of the electorate who become catatonic upon hearing a pronoun. On the one hand, you need to take their votes for granted. On the other hand, they’re not like black people or regular gays: most voters actively, consciously despise wokies, and associating yourself with them will ruin a campaign even in deep blue areas. There’s still gonna be riots in a year. Biden’s gonna announce the sale of all our nation’s potable water to the good folks at Nestle and some trans freak named Sasha-Malia DeBalzac is going to use that as an opportunity to sell their new pamphlet about how it’s fascist to not burn down small businesses. No matter what Inslee does in response, it’ll end his career. 

AOC

I’m not one of those “AOC is a secret conservative” weirdos, but I am aware enough of basic reality to know she has zero chance of coming close to the nomination. The right and the center both regard her as a literal demon. The party is already blaming her for the fact that a handful of faceless Reagan acolytes failed to flip their suburban districts even though they ran on sensible pragmatic proposals like euthanizing the homeless. The recriminations will only get more unhinged when the Dems eat shit in the 2022 midterms. She will be a Russian, she will be white male, she will be a communist, she will be a homophobe: any insult or conspiracy theory you can name, MSNBC will spend hours discussing. Her house seat challenger will receive a record amount of support from the DNC in 2024 and it’ll be all she can do to remain in congress.

Larry Hogan

Don’t be dissuaded by the fact that he’s a Republican. Larry is the DNC’s ideal candidate: a physically repulsive conservative who owes his entire career to appealing to the most spiteful desires of suburban white people. He’s an open racist in a material sense--if you’re old-school enough to think racism is a matter of beliefs and actions, rather than the presence of cultural signifiers--but his is the beloved “never Trump” style of racism that Dems covet. He’s also a Proven Leader who thinks the role of government should be to finance the construction of investment property and give police the resources they need to run successful drug trafficking operations. Few people embody the Democrat worldview more than Larry. 

The Losers Bracket

These people will have at least a small chance due solely to the fact that the Democrats love losing. They have lost in the past, and in the Democrat Mind that makes them especially qualified.

Joe Kennedy

The man looks like a mushroom-human hybrid from a JRPG. Trump proved that physical hideousness need not doom a presidential bid, but a candidate still needs some kind of charm or oratorical abilities or, god forbid, a decent platform. Joe aggressively lacks all of these things. A vanity campaign would be a good way to raise money and perhaps secure an MSNBC gig, so Joe might still run. 

Mayor Pete 

I am 100% convinced that Pete’s 2020 run was a CIA plot meant to prevent working class Americans from ever having a chance of living decent lives. I am also 100% aware that Democrats are dumb enough to enthusiastically support a CIA plot meant to prevent working class Americans from ever having a chance of living decent lives. If we have some sort of military or terror disaster between now and 2023 the Dems are sure to want a TROOP, and wait wait wait you’re telling me this one is a gay troop? Holy hell there’s no way that could lose!

Stacy Abrams

Never underestimate the power of white guilt. She lost the gubernatorial race to Gomer Pyle’s grandson, and her spiritual guidance of the Dems saw the party lose black voters in Georgia in 2020. Nonetheless, she is regarded as a magic font of fierceness within the DNC. She might stand a chance if she can establish herself as the most conservative non-white candidate in the field, but there’s going to be stiff competition for that honor.

Elizabeth Warren

Liz is probably angry that the party so shamelessly sold her out even after she was a good little girl and sabatoged Bernie’s campaign for them--yet another example of high ranking US government officials reneging on their promises to the Native American community. Smdh. The fact that this woman hasn’t been bankrupted a dozen times over by various Wallet Inspectors genuinely astounds me. So Liz is probably going to run again, and her campaign will be even sadder the second time around. 

It might surprise you to hear this if you don’t work at a college or NGO, but Liz diehards actually do exist. She’ll get even less support this time because there will be no viable leftist in the field for her to spoil, but she’ll still hang in long enough to make sure the very worst possible candidate beats out the second worst possible candidate. Maybe she’ll fabricate a rape accusation against Sherrod Brown. Maybe she’ll spend her entire allotted debate time doing a land acknowledgment. With Liz, anything is possible--so long as it ends in failure. 

Amy Klobuchar 

Amy was the most bloodthirsty of the 2020 also rans. She will double down on the unpopular failures of the Biden administration, explaining that if you weren’t such a selfish idiot you’d love the higher social security retirement age and oh my god are so such a moron you think you shouldn’t go bankrupt to get a COVID vaccine? There’s a non-unsubstantial segment of the Democratic base that’s self-hating enough to find this appealing, but it won’t be enough to make her viable. 

Martha Coakley

She lost Ted Kennedy’s senate seat to a retarded man who was pretending to be even more retarded than he actually was. Then she lost a gubernatorial race to a guy who openly promised Massachusetts voters that he would punish them for electing him. Her record of failure is unparalleled, making her perhaps the ideal Democrat standard bearer for the twenty twenties. 

[aboutanancientenquiry]

somecunttookmyurl and...electronic warfare

I see that somecunttookmyurl has given a bizarre turn to the whole story of the dispute between me and the tumblr egyptologists, trying to spy my computer and taking measures of ...electronic warfare against me, obviously with the help of some of her friends (I was right that they act like a mob). 

So, now I can have absolutely no access to her blog from this computer and I am redirected to something totally irrelevant, which has to do with her obsession that she would be “stalked” by me and other such nonsense. 

I remind here that, despite all this hypocritical nonsense that I would “stalk” her (whereas she has a public blog with a very provocative title -F...k Herodotus- and she is generally very aggressive in her interactions, having provoked me personally many times), some hours ago she was stating that she is proud because she would “bait” me to endless conflicts. 

Of course these latter claims had in fact as aim to cover a ludicrous blunder of hers (she tried to present her ridiculous claim that Herodotus would be the source for the story about the honey-coated and serving as traps for flies Egyptian servants as just a... bait for me !). 

But one cannot at the same time be victim of stalking and bait one’s stalkers to...stalk, isn’t it ?

I remind also that there are many indications pointing to the fact that, while she was accusing me of “hate reading” her blog, she was reading mine, reacting accordingly with -often vulgar- provocations to what I write.

 I have also proofs of coordinate efforts of her group to force me to delete my account through campaigns of trolling and hate anon messages. 

Moreover, I have the suspicion that it was the same group which had tried some months ago to appropriate a former username of mine and use it to create an account with a content which would be compromising for me through the confusion produced by the identity of usernames.

However, this last development with somecunttookmyurl is in a sense a  good one, because I will not have any more to “opportunity” to read her rants about Herodotus, the ancient Greeks, the ancient Egypt, the “incompetence” and “dangerousness” of almost all doctors, the “therapeutical” effects of the use of “recreational’ drugs, and accordingly I will not feel obliged to reply to them.

 It will not be a serious loss that I will be without the internet “company” of a ranting psychotic person with a problem with drugs.

But this woman is obviously crazy. I don’t know what else she and her mobster friends may have tried to do with my computer. 

I will contact the soonest possible a good specialist, but also the anti-cyber crime division of the police of my country (which cooperates with the police of the UK), as I have some indications that some penal infractions may have been committed in this story. 

One thing is sure, such practices are not intimidating me.

Therefore, I will continue my effort through this account to refute the ignorant and vulgar campaign of the tumblr egyptologists against Herodotus and to show the truth about the Father of HIstory.

 I have Truth and History on my side, and this makes me stronger.

PS Some hours before the last development, I had asked somecuntookmyurl to present her titles in Egyptology (if she has any). She did not present anything, but perhaps it was my ask which has triggered her so much that she took the whole dispute to the next level, with internet spying activities and electronic warfare. On the other hand, perhaps she and her mob were preparing this “coup’ some time now. But it is very telling that a person who was willing to start a campaign of electronic spying and warfare against another person living thousands of miles away, was totally unwilling to mention on her blog her degrees, which are obviously a state secret...

[bigenderbefriender]

It’s approaching midnight here in Oklahoma on November 2, 2020, and before election day begins in earnest, I wanted to write out a few of my thoughts.  I don’t know how much analysis I’ll actually do; this is mostly a record of how I feel, how the world is, and how I perceive it.  Maybe a year or two down the line, I’ll be able to look back on this and shore up some memories, though hopefully I won’t ever forget what I’ve seen over the past four years.

Let me start with this, then.  No one knows what’s going to happen.  The perennial discourse about the electoral college is in full swing, and as usual, Republicans are blocking it because they benefit massively from the rampant conservatism (racism) of rural states such as my own.  All the news talks about these days is the election cycle and COVID; I can hardly blame them.  It’s almost all I think about, too.  That said, half of Oklahomans went without power this week due to a massive ice storm, including most of my social circle, and it didn’t even make a blip in the national news.  Likewise, Hurricane Zeta tore a path through Louisiana then up the East Coast last week, and it only got a cursory mention, despite being the fifth such hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana this year.  The destruction there is nigh incalculable.

Texas governor Greg Abbott has been in a campaign to suppress voters in urban areas in this election cycle, his most egregious success being to limit the number of polling places per county to one, meaning large cities that fall under one county must all vote at the same place.  This will inevitably lead to a number of citizens being unable or unwilling to vote, predominantly in those large cities where lines will be several hours long, and the risk of COVID will be high.  Texan Republicans have also tried to throw out drive-thru ballots on the order of 120,000 votes, but this was blocked by Andrew Hanon.  The voter suppression is quite likely because for the first time in several elections, Texas is legitimately competitive this year.  I don’t think it will flip to the Democratic Party, but if it does I would be quite happy.

Other states have also been engaging in voter suppression, but there are people working against it.  Stacey Abrams, after her narrow defeat (1.4%) in the 2018 gubernatorial race in Georgia, has continued her commitment to ending voter suppression there, and she claims that she has done so quite successfully.  I suppose that remains to be seen, but I am hopeful.  Little news is coming out of places like North Carolina, though, and that’s scary, since voter suppression there is so prominent and so ugly.  In addition, Trump has been calling on militias, whom I will not name so as to keep them away from this post, to enact stochastic violence against voters whom they believe will vote Democratic.

In truth, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.  Since the summer, Trump has been questioning the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, certainly in an attempt to provide precedent for his contesting of the election results.  If they go in his favor, I’m sure he’ll love whatever the election says, but much like with Hillary Clinton, it looks like he’ll lose the popular election.  Experts are predicting a “blue shift” over the course of the election cycle.  That is, Republicans by and large are ignoring the threats of the coronavirus, which means they’re much more likely to vote in person on November 3.  This means it will appear that Trump has won the election on Novemeber 3, but as mail-in ballots get counted, the electorate will begin to sway towards Biden.  I may make a prediction here, though it is a grim one.  I believe that Trump will try to call the election on November 3 proper, and he will use his newfound influence on the Supreme Court (aka his nominee and now justice Amy Coney Barrett) to halt the count of mail-in ballots that might prove him wrong.  Many people say our democracy is in crisis, but quite honestly, I think this is a natural conclusion to the way that politics have been going since basically the Clinton era.

What I mean by that is to say that Trump’s presidency has done an excellent job of exposing long-lasting structural issues in American society, and Democrats have made #resist into an aesthetic to win their re-elections rather than actually leveraging the power they do have.  I’d say it must be hard, against someone who’s as much of a political opportunist as Sen Maj Ldr Mitch McConnell (R-KY), but the truth is that all of these people are perfectly content to campaign on decorum rather than on fixing any of the actual issues facing the US.

It’s not all bad; Biden has been pushed quite a bit to the left by the growing progressive wing of the Democratic Party, organized in part by the Justice Democrats and represented by Sen Bernie Sanders (Ind. VT), Rep Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D NY), Rep Ilhan Omar (D MN), Rep Rashida Tlaib (D MI), and Rep Ayanna Pressley (D MA).  The latter four are colloquially referred to as “The Squad,” and they fight alongside others for progressive policies out of the House of Representatives.  I would hate to go through an entire post about my feelings on national politics without mentioning the few good things we do have going for us.  In addition, voters have come out in record numbers this year.  As of this morning NPR reported that four states have had more early voting than total voters in 2016.  In a democracy, one of the major challenges is to stimulate citizen participation in government; citizens are certainly participating this year.

Also, this year has been a year that will be remembered for its social movements.  The Black Lives Matter movement came back into full swing, and the role of the police is now a legitimate question in many people’s minds.  Of course, this is a frustrating thing to talk about, too.  The demands of Black Lives Matter as a movement are so simple, yet over and over again, police show that they are more dedicated to violence than to justice.  In addition, white people across the country have shown that they are more dedicated to law and order than to making a country in which everyone can live.  This seems odd to me, though I know that it is specifically racially motivated.  It’s not like I’m just having this realization now; my grandparents are Party Republicans, and I couldn’t convince them to vote to kick Walmart out of their town, even when they know exactly how it’s screwed them.  To ask them to empathize with a Black person, even a Black neighbor?  Believe me, I’ve tried.  Still, we did see (are seeing) a lot of good from the protests.  Colorado basically ended qualified immunity, which means that police should be a lot more accountable for their actions in the future.  We also saw several experiments in what a society could look like without policing.  The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle was the most famous of these, though it fell apart in part due to its popularity.  Others that did not have the spotlight on them did not fall apart so spectacularly (though I have to speculate that all of CHAZ’s sisters have been disbanded by now).

That said, there’s a lot to fear in the coming days.  The only thing we know about this election is that we won’t know the result for days or even weeks after polling closes.  Because of that, many fear that protests will break out across the country on election day.  The protests themselves aren’t the bad thing, I think.  What’s bad is that the protests will be the targets of white supremacist violence (if the protesters are pro-Biden) or the perpetrators thereof, especially now that Trump has condoned militia violence against citizens.  Over the summer, Trump also used a secret police force (under the Department of Homeland Security, specifically Customs and Border Patrol) against protesters in Portland, Oregon to quell unrest.  Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work, since the protests were against police brutality.  However, the system is now there for him to use, and CBP is only growing bigger by the day.  If protests do break out in the weeks following the election, I have no doubt that CBP will be there throwing people into unmarked vans and jailing them without due process.

I have so much more to say.  I haven’t even gotten into the border wall, or family separation, or the assassination of Iranian dignitaries, or attacks on abortion rights, or Mitch McConnell’s stalling of the Senate, or the individual stages of failure of the COVID-19 response and how I learned about them, or the use of said COVID-19 to grant ICE carte blanche to deport people without trial, or any of the myriad other political issues of which I’ve become aware over the past four years.  I also haven’t even begun to write out my thoughts on my local politics or Oklahoma politics specifically (quite honestly, I think local politics will forever stay offline, seeing as though I’d really rather not give out too much identifying information here).  But I think this post has gone on long enough.  Perhaps I will write more on those other topics in the future.  I am afraid for tomorrow, and I am afraid for the months and years to come.  I do not wish to live in interesting times, but it seems I am cursed to do so.  At least I can say I was a witness.  It is now 12:40 AM, November 3, 2020.  The election is in 6 hours, and I am scared.

[rimalaw]

Why this Non-Trump Voter Thinks Trump Could Win 2020

I am a registered independent and both parties have ideals I agree with, and sadly those I don’t. Therefore, I am always left out and just looking for who will better support some of the more important values that I believe in. I did not vote for Trump, and because I need healthcare (among other things), I cannot support a man who wants to destroy the healthcare plan that I am on, without a real plan in place that will protect people with pre-existing conditions.  Trump says ObamaCare is a horrible program! But what the heck has he offered??? Nothing!  I can't take small talk to the doctor or hospital if and when you take away my health plan, and have to wait for small business enrollment in Florida (1x a year) to kick in and charge me tons of money to cover my pre-existing condition! 

When Bush was President, health insurance was costing me over $1,200/month, and now under the Affordable Care Act (a/k/a Obama Care which is really why Trump hates it... it doesn’t have his NAME!!), I am paying approximately $600.00 a month for a really good plan. Make no mistake, by now my plan would cost AT LEAST $1400.00-$1500.00, since I am 16-20 years older than when Bush was President.  Let me not forget how Obamacare saved the life of my best friend, who would otherwise NOT have gone to the doctor, and not have discovered a life threatening illness, which but for the Grace of God, she did. Because of her health plan, she received the best care and treatment, and thank God survived one of the worst diagnosis one could get.   She got the plan two (2) weeks before she went to the doctor!  This is what Trump wants to take away! Trump wants to take away lifesaving care without a REAL PLAN in place to help millions of Americans.

And make no mistake; sadly, I think people who are on that plan, who rely on this plan, who have family or friends who need that plan, etc. etc. will still NAIVELY and IGNORANTLY vote for Trump. 

Why do I think that enough people would vote for Trump and that he can win?  Well... Let’s think about it:

1-He is campaigning like a high energy Super Bowl Team in all the swing states, bringing with him his own type of electrifying energy, electrifying his base, and those who are still on the fence and can feel some of that electricity as the attendees and media blare their excitement of his visit.  Make no mistake, these visits matter.  When I ran for Judge 14 years ago, I was an unknown an the youngest in my race.  I didn’t have the type of ethnic or Anglo name needed to win in my County.  However, every area that I was able to heavily campaign in, make speeches, meet people, I WON. I didn’t win that election, but I won those areas.  So I realized that meeting people matters, and in this race, make no mistake, these super spreader events excite people.  They don’t care about COVID while they are there, and for the most part have learned to live with it.  They just care that the biggest Super Bowl team came to their town and made them feel GOOD!  I know Biden has toured, but I’m sorry it doesn’t come close. I know he was doing social distancing etc, but the car thing isn’t exciting nor generating the amount of crowds and energy that it needs. 

2-COVID- yes believe it or not, without COVID, Trump might have been up in the polls without issue.  Then COVID happened which threw him down in the polls, and then his apparent lack of handling it, threw him even further down.  Then he got COVID, and believe it or not, even though he didn’t seize the opportunity to come out more contrite, which would have assured him a win, he still earned a lot of points. How: A) because America saw him as human and actually felt scared for their President (even some of the ones that didn’t vote for him); B) America got to see that he BEAT IT!  Yes, he has the best doctors and treatment etc, but America saw that this 74 year old overweight man, who got sick enough to need treatment, still BEAT IT!  So now America sees COVID (foolishly or not) not to be so feared, which deep down everyone wants to believe. These two results of Trump getting COVID actually earned him voters as people felt scared for him and then happy at his beating COVID, signaling the Country and they could too could slay this dragon; and finally C) people are seeing the country economically recover and attributing this to his lack of fear of COVID, and the desire to keep the country out of lockdown which most Americans are fed up with.  

3-Fracking- For the love of God Joe, you don’t denounce fracking like that when you need the swing states in the way that you do.  Instead you CONFIDENTLY say, “don’t worry, our plan is to slowly bring in safe alternate sources of energy while we freely train current workers and so many more (as we will have so many jobs created) to transition into great and even BETTER paying safer jobs. NO ONE WILL LOSE ONE JOB, and I can guarantee even BETTER Jobs for you all.”  But instead, you have Trump in Pennsylvania, and other swing states scaring people that they will lose their jobs.

4-Law and Order-Make no mistake, I believe the police have systemic racism and needs serious training and overhauling.  But Biden and Democrats need to COMPLETELY distance themselves from the anarchist propaganda of defunding the police. That was NEVER a train to ride.  From the first use of those words, BIDEN should have never bitten, not even a nibble. Now with the visual of businesses boarding up, Trump is touting about these rioters and giving the illusion to those voters less capable to comprehend the difference, that this is what the Democrats, i.e. Joe are doing and allowing. From the get go, Dems and Joe should have aggressively, I mean hot tooting crazy like attacked and distances themselves from it. 

5-COVID AGAIN-I wear masks (2), I barely go out, etc, but like most Americans, we are tired of hearing about COVID.  When that is all that you hear, gloom and doom, and Biden talks about dark days, it just doesn’t sit so well.  Strangely enough, to people on the fence now, Trump seems like the guy that wants to give you freedom and a cheery positive outlook of life, while the Democrats, CNN, MSNBC, etc., are painting this bleak picture and more lockdowns, that no one wants to keep hearing about. 

6-The Darn Polls- So many polls tooting a Biden victory whether true or not, are only making on the fence people, the lazy, the unmotivated, the unenergized Democratic voters say, “they don’t need me, ... I’m not so excited.. or Biden will win anyway.” Meanwhile, the Trump supporters are freaking out and making sure they show up in massive droves to help their Super Bowl Team, I mean their guy. Plus, any poll should really discount a lot of points away from Biden, because really, there are a lot of paranoid secretive, conspiracy believing, or seemingly ashamed Trump voters who will not participate.  Remember, a bleeding hard liberal is more likely to be kind to a pollster and answer a poll; and a right winger will say, “I have nothing to say, leave me alone,” hang up, etc...

7-Socialism-Kill this socialism crap- The Dems should have killed this idea long ago, and Biden should have been VERY ASSERTIVE and vocal about how he is for middle of the road values (yes I know this might alienate the Bernie people, but that’s what Bernie is for. And if this party is so crazy to sit out and let Trump win because Biden isn’t left enough, well then the party has bigger issues which no amount of therapy can fix). 

8-The last Debate- Trump basically showed people he is not so crazy, he can have restraint, he wasn’t rude. People who were running away from him after the first debate or on the fence, came back after he showed America and the world that he isn’t so bad. 

9-Strength and POWER- Basically, aside from the fact that Trump often appears to be a bully, lately, more than anything he has shown stamina and strength.  People like that, and want to join the stronger looking team, and the man that never ever seems to stop, and confidently never takes NO for an answer. People, like to support the one that appears to never back down, never accept defeat, never look weak, and never quit!

10-Too many people believe his lies, those of the crazies on Facebook, and the alt right that disseminate the worst of the fake news. Sadly THE DEMS DON'T STRONGLY and DEFINITIVELY ATTACK THEM!! Every talking point should have been hit with a barrage of targeted commercials and aggressive stump speeches. People need to be told for example, “TRUMP brags about the economy, he hopes you have amnesia and forget that OBAMA left him with a booming economy, and only an untrained monkey could ruin it.  All Trump did was NOT destroy it YET, but his tax cuts to the MILLIONAIRES (not you AMERICA making under 400k) will cause us a depression if he is in office four more years because you can only pay so much to help the country without having income we used to rely on coming in.” 

Well, that’s all folks. I hope I am wrong, but if it doesn’t go as the untrustworthy polls show, these are some of the main reasons why. These points are for that small percentage that pick the winner in most Presidential elections, not for the firmly committed of either party. Also, if Biden doesn’t win, then those who protested this summer did not all come out to vote, and that’s shameful! 

[aceticvgina23]

Scary (ending it with a  Narc):

I have lived with a narcissist my entire life.  I was raised by one, and only through the benefit of the police, family court system (namely, restraining orders) and lots and lots of counseling, have I been able to survive, thrive and life my own life.  That said watching Harry and Meghan, I can say that all Narcissists basically follow the same script, the same behaviors, and thus far, Markle has followed them all to a T.

We have seen the love bombing stage prior to marriage, shortly followed by the devaluing stage when she didn’t receive the adoration she felt entitled  to, namely that she wasn’t as held in high esteem as Catherine, who will be queen someday,  and now that the fact has finally hit her that she and Harry will NEVER be equals to his brother and wife, in fact actually losing status as time goes on, it appears she has now moved on to the discarding phase.  It stuck out to me that through her entire scripted documentary, she referred to their married relationship in the past tense, all the way through.  The thing with narcissists though is that they never go easy, and they never give up without a fight.

Narcissist Rage is a very real thing.  Narcissists do not have the ability to feel empathy for others and they are never fully pleased/ satisfied. They are always looking for their next fix of Narcissistic Supply, much as an addict craves their next fix.   This is why they can easily suck the personality and self esteem from their victims.  They NEED this fix.  They are truly emotional vampires. They derive all of their feelings of self worth off making their victim feel bad about them selves.  It is air to them and their life force and what they live for:  destroying others to keep themselves going.  This is what makes them so completely dangerous.

When a Narc does not get their supply, what they want or what they need, they will fly into something called a Narcissistic Rage.  This is not a normal anger where a person gets upset, gets over it and solves their problem.  A Narc rage consumes them, it eats at the person, burning inside until it is the only thing they can focus on.  The punishment for the perceived crime against a narc is always disproportionate and usually quite evil.  They go way overboard out of justification that they were wronged and they have no bottom.  Think of young Greta  with her “how DARE you” admonishment, and multiply that by 1,000, with vengeful actions thrown in.  That is a Narc in a Rage.  The greater the embarrassment they feel, the greater the rage.  Remember, to a Narcissist, how they feel they are perceived is everything.  It’s always all about them, and the slightest perceived humiliation will set them off, right down to if they feel you have asked them a question in the wrong way.  Even more so if this is done in the public eye.

Now I have been following this relationship since before the engagement, as many of you have, and know that many of you have experienced your own dealings with a narcissist in their lives, not all malignant, but at least to some extent.  What I can tell you about a narc is the next step, after the love bombing and idealization, the subsequent devalue and discarding inevitably come, which we are seeing now, comes the end.  But not before the very last, and WORST stage of a relationship with a Narcissist, the time when they know you will no longer be around for them to victimize, and that is the “Going Desperate” phase.  This is truly the worst, where they will pull every last trick to suck every last bit of lifeforce out of you.  Hauling you into court, smear campaigns, employing their flying monkeys to threaten, harass and intimidate you, playing the death card: ”I won’t be around long/ forever” “You’ll never be able to live without me”, “I won’t let you live without me” right into “I will make you wish you were not alive/ never born”  And boy oh boy do they mean it!  They will destroy property, stalk you, have others threaten you, have you tailed, post embarrassing photos/ videos, leak your innermost secrets, take (or try) your children, turn people against you.  You name it and they will do it.  No bottom is too low for these people.  They will destroy you physically, emotionally and financially.  ANY way they can, to hurt you as hard as they can.

This is what will be happening to Harry next.  What worries me is that I’m not sure his family have a clue as to the dark monster that is coming for ALL of them.  Because to a Narc, destroying you is never enough, they have to destroy everything you love, everything you stand for, your family friends, any relationship you have, right along with you.  This includes children, especially children, if allowed to do so.  They are nothing but a pawn to a narcissist, just another means of getting what they want, and the reasons they make such horrible parents, especially if it’s a Malignant Narc with Sociopathic tendencies, the most dangerous subgroup..  

As an American I have always admired the queen as a role model, her commitment to her country, her duty, the pride in her nation and most of all her work ethic which she performs flawlessly thanks to her stiff upper lip, never complaining, never explaining.  I don’t think she has ever encountered someone like Markle and i certainly hope she never does again in her remaining time with us here on earth.  I have not always cared for her sons, particularly Charles and Andy, for various reasons, however she is a 93 year old Head of State who has always had the respect of the world, love her or hate her.  She commands respect.  I have never seen anyone dare disrespect her the way Meghan Markle has.  When you think of the sheer gall, it is actually downright scary.  The queen has been said to have met over a million people in her life, even despots and not one has dared disrespect her the way Markle has.  I don’t think either she, nor her family have a clue as to what is about to hit them.  She doesn’t seem to realize that yes, Meghan Markle has the absolute power to destroy everything she has worked her entire life to build....Harry obviously, but also her entire family,  their lives, their children, the Crown.   God only knows what ammunition her gullible grandson has given Markle during pillow talk when he naively believed she was ever on his side.  A wide awakening is about to come to this family, and when she should be living her final years in peace happiness and pride, it’s going to devastate them all.  This is not an “if” but a “when?”

I cannot stress just how bad it is truly going to be.  She will use everything in her arsenal, everything she has heard them say, seen them do, all their secrets, anything and everything to hurt them and bring them down.  Feeling embarrassed to a Narcissist is the gravest sin committed upon them.  Right now, Markle is probably the most loathed woman in the world, and despite her own actions being the cause of her social demise, she faults them, the press and more importantly the royals.  She is on a tear and since she is so disliked, has nothing and I mean nothing to lose, no friends, no family, no support, no loved ones. Possibly the most desperate Malignant Narc ever.  She is now infamous and hated. She knows she has no future now, is a social pariah on the likes not seen since Casey Anthony, and it’s going to be a vile take down of those she feels have wronged her in her not being able to achieve her goals.  Again, she has been at this a very long time, lazer focused and has NOTHING left to lose.  For the UK’s sake, for the family's sake and mainly for the queen, William, his wife and children’s sake, and even Harry’s sake, I hope they realize just what they are headed for and I truly hope they can solve this problem before this happens.  They are in grave danger as things stand now, and that is no exaggeration.

[sciencenewsforstudents]

The issue of race has been a big topic in the news throughout much of the world over the past few years. In the United States, the issue has really taken off since the start of the U.S. presidential campaign in 2015. In the weeks since the election, public name-calling and taunts from strangers have spiked even more. One group, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), began collecting reports of such events. Within the first 10 days following Donald Trump’s election as president, the group recorded 867 hate incidents. Episodes include taunting people with language, graffiti and hostility. Some hate incidents also can turn violent.

Many cases are clear evidence of racism. That’s a negative attitude toward people of color, usually blacks. But it can include Asians, Latin Americans, Middle Easterners and more. This prejudice is not based on an experience with a particular individual. Rather it’s a bias against people belonging to some particular ethnic group. And what allows racism to go on has been the unpleasant fact that significant swaths of society share this attitude, condone it or refuse to challenge it.

Race is only skin deep. It should not affect who we view as entitled to respect — and our help. CREDIT: Iuaeva/iStockphoto

The incidents described in a new SPLC report “almost certainly represent a small fraction of the actual number” of racist acts, its authors conclude. After all, they note, roughly two out of every three hate crimes go unreported. (That’s based on numbers by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.)

Schools “have been the most common venues for hate incidents,” the November 29 SPLC report finds. And that’s not surprising, it adds. Even before the election, bullying had already become almost epidemic in U.S. schools.

But kids don’t have to take it, scientists say. Indeed, they shouldn’t. Some research actually finds that standing up against such incidents can make people feel better and healthier.

So what can students do?

One: In countering racism and bigotry, make yourself aware that it exists, says Terrence James Roberts. He’s a psychologist who works in Pasadena, Calif. He also confronted stiff racism as an African American teen. Back in the 1950s and ‘60s, some communities were very open in their prejudice against blacks. One high school he attended initially would not let the boy in because of his race.

Sometimes, as in this anti-Trump rally in May 2016, people can join others who have been targeted by racism as a show of support. CREDIT: shakzu /iStockphoto

That was well over a half-century ago. Yet racism still persists. Many people have just learned to hide it, Roberts notes. But it may at times surface, as following Trump’s victory. Unless society accepts that undercurrents of racism still live, Roberts now argues, conditions will not improve.

Contributing to this problem: People in a privileged group might not even realize they enjoy advantages. “It’s like water to a fish,” says Roberts. In other words, people can be so surrounded by racist ideas that they aren’t even aware of them. Roberts encourages all teens to read up on history. “Don’t just take someone’s word” on questions about racism, he says. Instead, he recommends: “Think critically.”

Two: Try to understand how other people see things. “Your world view is influenced by the spaces that you’ve lived in and are a part of,” says Roxanne Donovan. She’s a psychologist at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

For example, she explains, a white, middle-class person might believe the country’s criminal justice system is fair. And in most cases, that’s what this person might see in day-to-day life. But the opposite might appear true to someone of color living in a poor neighborhood. Crime, police relationships and experiences with the prison system may be very different there.

Think about why you hold certain views. Listen, too, to the views of others. “Part of the reason racism is so entrenched in our society is that we don’t really talk to each other about it,” says Alex Pieterse. He’s a psychologist at the University at Albany in New York.

Three: Think ahead. What would you do if someone targets you because of race, religion, gender or some other factor? Coping skills will vary from one person to another, Roberts says. And strategies will depend on the facts of each case.

For example, Christy is a graduate student in New York who comes from a Caribbean island nation. A few days after Trump’s victory, a man threatened Christy while she was at a gas station. Now she is extra careful whenever she travels. And 10-year-old African-American twins Noah and Nida in Georgia walk away from possible arguments at school that they worry could turn into fights. They learned the hard way that some classmates don’t like them based on the color of their skin.  

(By the way, the names of the student victims, here, have been changed to shield their identity.)

Plan what to do, too, if you witness racist behavior towards someone else. If there is a threat of violence, get a teacher or some other responsible adult to step in right away.

Four: If the situation is not violent, speak up, says Donovan. “The most important thing,” she notes, “is not to be a bystander.” After all, she argues, “Silence is support for whatever the act is.”

Consider saying something like: “Hey, that’s out of line.” “Cut it out.” Or, “I can’t believe you’re acting this way. You’ve got to be kidding, right?”

If you witness racism or are the target of such bias, speak up, scientists recommend. Challenging such hurtful incidents may encourage bullies to back down.CREDIT: Cloud-Mine-Amsterdam/iStockphoto

“There’s real power when people who hold privilege challenge others who hold the same privilege,” Donovan notes. So when white teens object to racist comments by other white teens, “it can’t be dismissed as easily.”

Speaking up when you witness a racist incident may help the target of the racism. It will also help you, argues Pieterse. “It’s not a good feeling to see someone else getting hurt and feel that there’s nothing you can do about it,” he points out.

Speak up even if the target of a racist comment isn’t around. The way you act and respond can affect what your group views as acceptable, Donovan notes. People often adjust their behavior based on their group’s norms or standards, she points out.

Five: Don’t downplay racist incidents. If a racist event has happened, take it seriously. “For kids who are the targets, the first and most important thing I would say to them is, 'it is not your fault,'” Pieterse says. “This is something that is happening to you. It’s not something that is happening based on anything you have done.”

Moreover, Pieterse adds, “You don’t have to keep it a secret.” Talk with parents, other family members and people at school or groups in your community. Speaking up helps fight against the feelings of powerlessness and fear that racist people try to make their targets suffer.

Indeed, a recent study in teens showed that sticking up for our beliefs in the face of opposition can become a positive experience.

[dmsden]

Worldbuilding 9 – Gleaning Other Tidbits

Welcome, Gentle Readers. We’re continuing our articles about creating a campaign for D&D 5E. We wandered through the Races & Classes and came up with lots of intriguing details about our world. It’s time to examine some other elements of the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide.

One of my favorite new rule sets in D&D 5E involves adding Backgrounds. This was something that was late to the game in 4E, and I think character backgrounds really add a lot to the game, making a third axis, along with race & class, for defining who your character is, what they can do, and how to roleplay them. In many ways, a character’s background helps define who they were prior to being an adventurer. 

A lot of these backgrounds, while excellent, don’t necessarily offer much we couldn’t have already guessed. The world tends to model on medieval Europe, with Commoners, Nobles, and, presumably, a Merchant Middle-Class (which the Guild Artisan background would fit firmly into.) Some of them, however, make certain facts likely about the campaign world. 

That Merchant Middle-Class includes guilds, reminiscent of those of Germany in the Middle Ages. These guilds are important to both the Guild Artisan background (which includes an ability to seek refuge with your guild if you’re accused of a crime, the ability to seek food and lodging from other guild members, and the need to pay dues) and the Criminal background. As I mentioned in an earlier article, I love the idea of a Guild of Thieves, so this pretty much cements for me that they’ll exist in this campaign setting. 

One other background that immediately suggests story or campaign elements is the Spy background. Traditionally, spies gather information for one country, getting it from that country’s enemies. The write-up for Spy is a little more general, making them people who’re good at collecting information. I like this idea, but it does make me think about the more traditional role of spies, as well. Perhaps one or more of my robber barons and knights will be paranoid enough to hire a spy, or even to keep them in his employ like a secret police? It gets my thoughts working. 

A spin through the magic-item section raises some interesting ideas. I really like the tables for determining things like what culture made an item, quirks it has, and so forth. It makes magic-items more special. It’s fascinating to think about the differences between something forged by elves and something forged by demons. Some items will naturally suggest an origin, but tables are always fun to play with. 

There are plenty of story details in the various magic-items, but several entries bring back a pair of familiar names – Ioun and Vecna. I don’t particularly want to make these two of the deities in my current campaign, but I hate to discard such a wonderful piece of D&D history, so I decide on a new origin for them. 

Ioun and Vecna were brothers, mages who were particularly masterful members of their craft. Both were seekers after knowledge, but, where Ioun generously gave of the knowledge he found, Vecna became more secretive and withdrawn. Despite their differences, Ioun remained loyal to his brother, until the day when Vecna revealed that he sought immortality at any cost…performing an experiment that killed the woman that both brothers had loved. Ioun then became Vecna’s sworn enemy, leading others to try and overthrow him. Vecna, however, withdrew away from the living and eventually found he secrets of a terrible way to cheat death. He became a powerful lich who remains in existence to this day, finding forbidden secrets that remain scattered through the world, seeking some as yet undefined goal. 

I love the section on artifacts, but I’m not ready to write history around them yet. I can come back to this later.

We’ve pretty much made our way through the D&D Player’s Handbook and even poked into the DM’s Guide. It’s clear there’s tons of information there able to inspire ideas for our Beyond the Borderlands campaign. The cultures of Civilization fall into traditional roles of nobility, the peasant class, and a middle class of merchants and artisans, largely ruled by their guilds.  

With these elements gelled, I intend to start thinking about moving forward to create more solid details about the cultures that’ve ruled Civilization in the past. With our next article, we’ll begin to conceive of the history of our setting. For now, please feel free to add any comments. Love to hear from you. 

[hillaryisaboss]

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s essay on why the midterm elections are of dire importance. 

American Democracy Is in Crisis: Our democratic institutions and traditions are under siege. We need to do everything we can to fight back.

It’s been nearly two years since Donald Trump won enough Electoral College votes to become president of the United States. On the day after, in my concession speech, I said, “We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.” I hoped that my fears for our future were overblown.

They were not.

In the roughly 21 months since he took the oath of office, Trump has sunk far below the already-low bar he set for himself in his ugly campaign. Exhibit A is the unspeakable cruelty that his administration has inflicted on undocumented families arriving at the border, including separating children, some as young as eight months, from their parents. According to The New York Times, the administration continues to detain 12,800 children right now, despite all the outcry and court orders. Then there’s the president’s monstrous neglect of Puerto Rico: After Hurricane Maria ravaged the island, his administration barely responded. Some 3,000 Americans died. Now Trump flatly denies those deaths were caused by the storm. And, of course, despite the recent indictments of several Russian military intelligence officers for hacking the Democratic National Committee in 2016, he continues to dismiss a serious attack on our country by a foreign power as a “hoax.”

Trump and his cronies do so many despicable things that it can be hard to keep track. I think that may be the point—to confound us, so it’s harder to keep our eye on the ball. The ball, of course, is protecting American democracy. As citizens, that’s our most important charge. And right now, our democracy is in crisis.

I don’t use the word crisis lightly. There are no tanks in the streets. The administration’s malevolence may be constrained on some fronts—for now—by its incompetence. But our democratic institutions and traditions are under siege. We need to do everything we can to fight back. There’s not a moment to lose.

As I see it, there are five main fronts of this assault on our democracy.

First, there is Donald Trump’s assault on the rule of law.

John Adams wrote that the definition of a republic is “a government of laws, and not of men.” That ideal is enshrined in two powerful principles: No one, not even the most powerful leader, is above the law, and all citizens are due equal protection under the law. Those are big ideas, radical when America was formed and still vital today. The Founders knew that a leader who refuses to be subject to the law or who politicizes or obstructs its enforcement is a tyrant, plain and simple.

That sounds a lot like Donald Trump. He told The New York Times, “I have an absolute right to do what I want to with the Justice Department.” Back in January, according to that paper, Trump’s lawyers sent Special Counsel Robert Mueller a letter making that same argument: If Trump interferes with an investigation, it’s not obstruction of justice, because he’s the president.

The Times also reported that Trump told White House aides that he had expected Attorney General Jeff Sessions to protect him, regardless of the law. According to Jim Comey, the president demanded that the FBI director pledge his loyalty not to the Constitution but to Trump himself. And he has urged the Justice Department to go after his political opponents, violating an American tradition reaching back to Thomas Jefferson. After the bitterly contentious election of 1800, Jefferson could have railed against “Crooked John Adams” and tried to jail his supporters. Instead, Jefferson used his inaugural address to declare: “We are all republicans, we are all federalists.”

Second, the legitimacy of our elections is in doubt.

There’s Russia’s ongoing interference and Trump’s complete unwillingness to stop it or protect us. There’s voter suppression, as Republicans put onerous—and I believe illegal—requirements in place to stop people from voting. There’s gerrymandering, with partisans—these days, principally Republicans—drawing the lines for voting districts to ensure that their party nearly always wins. All of this carries us further away from the sacred principle of “one person, one vote.”

Third, the president is waging war on truth and reason.

Earlier this month, Trump made 125 false or misleading statements in 120 minutes, according to The Washington Post—a personal record for him (at least since becoming president). To date, according to the paper’s fact-checkers, Trump has made 5,000 false or misleading claims while in office and recently has averaged 32 a day.

Trump is also going after journalists with even greater fervor and intent than before. No one likes to be torn apart in the press—I certainly don’t—but when you’re a public official, it comes with the job. You get criticized a lot. You learn to take it. You push back and make your case, but you don’t fight back by abusing your power or denigrating the entire enterprise of a free press. Trump doesn’t hide his intent one bit. Lesley Stahl, the 60 Minutes reporter, asked Trump during his campaign why he’s always attacking the press. He said, “I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.”

When we can’t trust what we hear from our leaders, experts, and news sources, we lose our ability to hold people to account, solve problems, comprehend threats, judge progress, and communicate effectively with one another—all of which are crucial to a functioning democracy.

Fourth, there’s Trump’s breathtaking corruption.

Considering that this administration promised to “drain the swamp,” it’s amazing how blithely the president and his Cabinet have piled up conflicts of interest, abuses of power, and blatant violations of ethics rules. Trump is the first president in 40 years to refuse to release his tax returns. He has refused to put his assets in a blind trust or divest himself of his properties and businesses, as previous presidents did. This has created unprecedented conflicts of interest, as industry lobbyists, foreign governments, and Republican organizations do business with Trump’s companies or hold lucrative events at his hotels, golf courses, and other properties. They are putting money directly into his pocket. He’s profiting off the business of the presidency.

Trump makes no pretense of prioritizing the public good above his own personal or political interests. He doesn’t seem to understand that public servants are supposed to serve the public, not the other way around. The Founders believed that for a republic to succeed, wise laws, robust institutions, and a brilliant Constitution would not be enough. Civic, republican virtue was the secret sauce that would make the whole system work. Donald Trump may well be the least lowercase-R republican president we’ve ever had.

Fifth, Trump undermines the national unity that makes democracy possible.

Democracies are rowdy by nature. We debate freely and disagree forcefully. It’s part of what distinguishes us from authoritarian societies, where dissent is forbidden. But we’re held together by deep “bonds of affection,” as Abraham Lincoln said, and by the shared belief that out of our fractious melting pot comes a unified whole that’s stronger than the sum of our parts.

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. Trump doesn’t even try to pretend he’s a president for all Americans. It’s hard to ignore the racial subtext of virtually everything Trump says. Often, it’s not even subtext. When he says that Haitian and African immigrants are from “shithole countries,” that’s impossible to misunderstand. Same when he says that an American judge can’t be trusted because of his Mexican heritage. None of this is a mark of authenticity or a refreshing break from political correctness. Hate speech isn’t “telling it like it is.” It’s just hate.

I don’t know whether Trump ignores the suffering of Puerto Ricans because he doesn’t know that they’re American citizens, because he assumes people with brown skin and Latino last names probably aren’t Trump fans, or because he just doesn’t have the capacity for empathy. And I don’t know whether he makes a similar judgment when he lashes out at NFL players protesting against systemic racism or when he fails to condemn hate crimes against Muslims. I do know he’s quick to defend or praise those whom he thinks are his people—like how he bent over backwards to defend the “very fine people” among the white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia. The message he sends by his lack of concern and respect for some Americans is unmistakable. He is saying that some of us don’t belong, that all people are not created equal, and that some are not endowed by their Creator with the same inalienable rights as others.

And it’s not just what he says. From day one, his administration has undermined civil rights that previous generations fought to secure and defend. There have been high-profile edicts like the Muslim travel ban and the barring of transgender Americans from serving in the military. Other actions have been quieter but just as insidious. The Department of Justice has largely abandoned oversight of police departments that have a history of civil-rights abuses and has switched sides in voting-rights cases. Nearly every federal agency has scaled back enforcement of civil-rights protections. All the while, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is running wild across the country. Federal agents are confronting citizens just for speaking Spanish, dragging parents away from children.

How did we get here?

Trump may be uniquely hostile to the rule of law, ethics in public service, and a free press. But the assault on our democracy didn’t start with his election. He is as much a symptom as a cause of what ails us. Think of our body politic like a human body, with our constitutional checks and balances, democratic norms and institutions, and well-informed citizenry all acting as an immune system protecting us from the disease of authoritarianism. Over many years, our defenses were worn down by a small group of right-wing billionaires—people like the Mercer family and Charles and David Koch—who spent a lot of time and money building an alternative reality where science is denied, lies masquerade as truth, and paranoia flourishes. By undermining the common factual framework that allows a free people to deliberate together and make the important decisions of self-governance, they opened the way for the infection of Russian propaganda and Trumpian lies to take hold. They've used their money and influence to capture our political system, impose a right-wing agenda, and disenfranchise millions of Americans.

I don’t agree with critics who say that capitalism is fundamentally incompatible with democracy—but unregulated, predatory capitalism certainly is. Massive economic inequality and corporate monopoly power are antidemocratic and corrode the American way of life.

Meanwhile, hyperpolarization now extends beyond politics into nearly every part of our culture. One recent study found that in 1960, just 5 percent of Republicans and 4 percent of Democrats said they’d be displeased if their son or daughter married a member of the other political party. In 2010, 49 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of Democrats said they’d be upset by that. The strength of partisan identity—and animosity—helps explain why so many Republicans continue to back a president so manifestly unfit for office and antithetical to many of the values and policies they once held dear. When you start seeing politics as a zero-sum game and view members of the other party as traitors, criminals, or otherwise illegitimate, then the normal give-and-take of politics turns into a blood sport.

There is a tendency, when talking about these things, to wring our hands about “both sides.” But the truth is that this is not a symmetrical problem. We should be clear about this: The increasing radicalism and irresponsibility of the Republican Party, including decades of demeaning government, demonizing Democrats, and debasing norms, is what gave us Donald Trump. Whether it was abusing the filibuster and stealing a Supreme Court seat, gerrymandering congressional districts to disenfranchise African Americans, or muzzling government climate scientists, Republicans were undermining American democracy long before Trump made it to the Oval Office.

Now we must do all we can to save our democracy and heal our body politic.

First, we’ve got to mobilize massive turnout in the 2018 midterms. There are fantastic candidates running all over the country, making their compelling cases every day about how they’ll raise wages, bring down health-care costs, and fight for justice. If they win, they’ll do great things for America. And we could finally see some congressional oversight of the White House.

When the dust settles, we have to do some serious housecleaning. After Watergate, Congress passed a whole slew of reforms in response to Richard Nixon’s abuses of power. After Trump, we’re going to need a similar process. For example, Trump’s corruption should teach us that all future candidates for president and presidents themselves should be required by law to release their tax returns. They also should not be exempt from ethics requirements and conflict-of-interest rules.

A main area of reform should be improving and protecting our elections. The Senate Intelligence Committee has made a series of bipartisan recommendations for how to better secure America’s voting systems, including paper ballot backups, vote audits, and better coordination among federal, state, and local authorities on cybersecurity. That’s a good start. Congress should also repair the damage the Supreme Court did to the Voting Rights Act by restoring the full protections that voters need and deserve, as well as the voting rights of Americans who have served time in prison and paid their debt to society. We need early voting and voting by mail in every state in America, and automatic, universal voter registration so every citizen who is eligible to vote is able to vote. We need to overturn Citizens United and get secret money out of our politics. And you won’t be surprised to hear that I passionately believe it’s time to abolish the Electoral College.

But even the best rules and regulations won’t protect us if we don’t find a way to restitch our fraying social fabric and rekindle our civic spirit. There are concrete steps that would help, like greatly expanding national-service programs and bringing back civics education in our schools. We also need systemic economic reforms that reduce inequality and the unchecked power of corporations and give a strong voice to working families. And ultimately, healing our country will come down to each of us, as citizens and individuals, doing the work—trying to reach across divides of race, class, and politics and see through the eyes of people very different from ourselves. When we think about politics and judge our leaders, we can’t just ask, “Am I better off than I was four years ago?” We have to ask, “Are we better off? Are we as a country better, stronger, and fairer?” Democracy works only when we accept that we’re all in this together.

In 1787, after the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a woman on the street outside Independence Hall, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin answered, “A republic, if you can keep it.” That response has been on my mind a lot lately. The contingency of it. How fragile our experiment in self-government is. And, when viewed against the sweep of human history, how fleeting. Democracy may be our birthright as Americans, but it’s not something we can ever take for granted. Every generation has to fight for it, has to push us closer to that more perfect union. That time has come again.

Never Forget: this brilliant woman won 3 million more votes than her opponent. 

[canadiangeekgirl]

Photo, Canadian Press.

I’m scared about what’s happening in Canada.

When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, many of us Canadians wagged our fingers smugly at our southern neighbour. “What were they thinking?” we said to one another in line at Tim Hortons. We spent the next year or so glued to CNN, more captivated by American politics than what’s happening here.

We might have wanted to pay more attention.

The tide in the Great White North appears to be shifting right — but not in the way we’re used to. This isn’t a typical liberal-conservative tug-o-war, the ebb and flow we’ve seen throughout election cycles. This new movement is one that has already swept through Hungary, Poland, the U.S., it’s fuelled Brexit in the U.K. and has seen the rise of the far-right party Alternative for Germany, who have been compared to the Nazi regime. And it’s tilted so far to the right that it threatens to upend our democracy and the very liberties we’ve fought for.

While conservatives have historically called for less government regulation, lower taxes and a stronger military, today’s Canadian right-wing politics has rebranded itself to include more visible intolerance. Bigotry isn’t just bubbling under the surface these days, it’s out in the open and proudly displayed for when the guests come over.

This ugly, newfound boldness threatens to dominate the next federal election, impacting not only the world’s view of us a fair, diverse and welcoming country, but also the lives of all marginalized Canadians. That keeps me up at night.

As a gay mother with a trans child in the Ontario school system, and as a human rights advocate who spends a lot of time on social media, I’m on the receiving end of a lot of messages from people who think it’s “about time” politicians start standing up to “special interest groups.” We’ve been coddled for too long, they say, and we don’t deserve special treatment. They mock, namecall and outright threaten those of us who fight for the rights of marginalized people to be preserved. They’ve always done this, of course, but their voices, now embolded by the very politicians and public figures they support, are growing in number and getting angrier. I’ve had to file two police reports after my life was threatened — and those are only the incidents I reported.

This swing to the populist right is both in our face and insidious. Donald Trump might be loud and brash, but his win was unexpected by most. We surveyed the damage from up north, thinking it couldn’t possibly happen here. Surely, Canadians know better. We didn’t.

Modern populism has grown quietly, from the pages of right-wing websites to the birth of new neo-fascist groups such as the Proud Boys, now designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Support for the populism movement gained traction through one protest, one meeting, and one tweet at a time. Now it’s loud and it’s everywhere. It unseated Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Ontario government, with Premier Doug Ford and the Conservatives promising little more than a buck-a-beer and the end of teaching gender identity in schools.

And then, in October 2018, Premier Ford met privately with university professor Jordan Peterson. While the premier openly discussed other meetings that had taken place around that time, the public only learned of this one after the CBC obtained his itinerary through a freedom of information request.

Wildly popular in some right-wing circles, Peterson’s views have been slammed as retrograde, problematic and dangerous. He became well-known after taking a stand against using trans people’s chosen pronouns, claiming being forced to do so is an attack on free speech. He argued vehemently against the federal Liberal government’s now-passed trans rights bill, speaking in front of the senate committee overseeing the bill, and warned his followers about the dangers of “compelled speech.” Peterson has also proposed “enforced monogamy” as a way to reduce male violence and believes “crazy women” can’t be controlled by men because men can’t resort to physical violence against them.

Despite, or, perhaps, because of these views, Peterson, who teaches at the University of Toronto, earns tens of thousands of dollars monthly from his Patreon account, a site where fans can pledge financial support to creators of all stripes. These donations are given to him by admirers, many of them Canadians.

Ford, meanwhile, campaigned heavily on the removal of Ontario’s most current incarnation of the sex-ed curriculum, and followed through — a move that has earned much criticism and more than one lawsuit. However, it was also, in part, what earned his party a majority government. A slew of Ontarians has proudly come out in support of Ford’s policies, including the removal of mandatory student funding for certain college and university services, such as pride centres.

A week before meeting with Premier Ford, Peterson had spoken out in a tweet against the Ontario Human Rights Commission, claiming it to be the most “dangerous” organization in Canada, and calling for the Ford government to abolish it. Peterson has previously said he doesn’t agree with the OHRC’s support of gender identity and gender expression. The OHRC had just joined the legal fight against the Ontario provincial government’s removal of the sex-ed curriculum, which covered LGBTQ+ issues, consent and cyber-bullying.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission does exactly what the name implies: using the Ontario Human Rights Code as its guide, it strives to protect all Ontarians from discrimination and harassment. Those who are fiscally-minded might also appreciate how the OHRC first tries to resolve issues between parties out of court, taking the less-expensive mediation approach. It is not the country’s most dangerous organization, but its dismantling could certainly be very dangerous.

The timing of this secret meeting should ring alarm bells for liberals and conservatives alike. Protecting human rights is, after all, supposed to be a closely-held Canadian value.

Trump’s 2016 victory was a dog whistle for bigotry that reached the ears of Canadians. Doug Ford has proven Ontario will welcome similar politics, while Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada, a federal right-wing party formed in 2018, has over 30,000 members and a social media presence that speaks out against “political correctness” and “diversity nonsense.”

Taking a page from the Yellow Vest movement in France, the Facebook group “Yellow Vests Canada” has more than 100,000 members. What began as a place to organize protests around the country quickly became a spot where anti-Liberal sentiments and memes are circulated around the clock, several going so far as to call for the Prime Minister’s death. Immigration is regularly condemned, and Islamophobia is dismissed as a made-up word.

While some of the most offensive posts have been removed over recent weeks, the views are still crystal clear. This group isn’t just anti-tax and pro-oil, it’s filled to the brim with intolerance. This message is consistent throughout provincial groups as well, such as BC Proud, Alberta Proud and Ontario Proud. With a combined total of hundreds of thousands of members in these groups, cries of fake news and the danger of refugees abound.

These sentiments don’t just live online.

Statistics Canada reported hate crimes had reached historically high levels in 2017, rising 47 per cent over the previous year, with Ontario and Quebec leading the pack on reported incidents. Black, Jewish and Muslim people were targeted most. Quebec saw a 50 per cent increase in hate crimes overall, and crimes against Muslims tripled between 2016 and 2017. In January of 2017, a shooter killed six men and injured several others in a Quebec City Mosque. Meanwhile, Ontario saw a 207 per cent increase in hate crimes against Muslims, and an 84 per cent increase against Black people. Crimes against LGBTQ+ people have also climbed. Swastikas have been spray painted on synagogues and other buildings across the country. Intolerance is growing.

Populism has many sources. Perhaps there are people who are tired of looking inward and are now lashing outward. Maybe, for some, it’s simpler to blame immigrants when they can’t find work than the companies who cut minimum wage jobs and still pay their executives millions in bonuses. Maybe it’s easier to find a scapegoat, to call someone like me a child abuser for supporting my transgender teen, than it is to grow and broaden our ideas of what’s normal.

Societal change can be hard and it can make people uncomfortable, but that’s a flimy excuse for discrimination.

Intolerance has never gone away, it was simply out of fashion for a while. Now it’s back with a fresh new look and a boost from fake news and social media.

We should all care deeply about this frightening political shift and where it could take us.

I know I care, which is why I’m so scared about what’s happening in this country, and what’s yet to come.

Amanda Jetté Knox is an award-winning writer, public speaker and LGBTQ advocate. She is the author of Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family, which will be published in August 2019 from Penguin Random House Canada. She lives in Ottawa with her wife and four kids.

[denebola42-blog]

Clear Sky, 30°F

Errors in Atheism: Some Things Needing Change

Ok, first off, I don't know if there's a God. I just don't. That doesn't mean I believe in Religion. Some of their ideas are correct if you take out the part where they try to force you to believe. See, for example, in the Mormon Religion they teach that we have agency as in freedom to choose, yet I've not often encountered such freedom as to investigating other religions like other members were allowed to. Religion is like that in general and I think that even if there is a God, or even if Mormonism is true, freedom is a stepping stone to truth. You simply can't understand if you're not allowed to think. And you can't think for someone. That's not freedom and certainly telling what they can do or say is just wrong a well and the goes for religion too. Atheism and Religion are two sides to the same coin when it comes to conflict.

Other things Atheism does is nitpick inaccuracies in religion with a fine toothed comb.. Thank you. I actually do appreciate that but I've realized Atheism at least omits some things about their history. There's a popular meme that shows a cartoon of a militant Muslim with a bomb vest, a militant Christian with a gun, and a militant atheist with a MacBook having coffee.. Wrong. That's not always the case. If I recall, in the book “Enemies: a history of the FBI” atheistic Anarchists blew people up. Innocent people and assassinated a couple world leaders. Antifa is historically believed to have propelled Hitler into power by accidentally making his opposition look bad simply by taking the same stance but with violence. Antifa exists today and doesn't just attack Nazis. They attack world summits, civilians, police, nice cars, you name it. Even burning and destroying out greatly damaging businesses of people that have nothing to do with their perceived enemies. Oh and Ayn Rand was atheist and encouraged the same crap that the far right Republicans encourage such as assistance only for the well off.

I'm for LGBTQ rights but atheists omit saying some truths about them. Harvey Milk was a pedo. The leader of the human rights campaign was accused of pedophilia and was a friend of Obama. They say that gays don't rape. They do and they rape a lot and this or the HRC themselves but they add they also get raped a lot as a hate crime. There was a speech I think it was in the 80s where a gay guy said gays were going to take over the USA by basically infiltrating everything and raping people into submission. In the 70s some gays said that the family, families in general as in the family unit, was the enemy of the gay community. Gay pride parades used to include NAMbLA or the National Man boy Love Association. It was basically an organization that promoted and participated in child molestation. What else, oh I've heard them poke fun, no pun intended, at the old movie “Boys Beware” about stranger danger against boys and a similar film called “Girls Beware” about the same danger from lesbians. Two words. The Greeks. That has been around for ages plus did NAMbLA and their associated “Butterflies” group spring up overnight? If so then that makes it part of gay rights? Funny they come out at the same time in pride parades. Oh and there's violent gays like Bash Back and I think there's other Anarchist gay groups. Oh and on an Anarchist website I found a book review of an old book written by an Anarchist speaking for gay rights since he went in prison Straight, but learned to basically enjoy the company of men due to desperation and loneliness. Reverse gay conversion therapy or the original gay conversion therapy because apparently it's pretty therapeutic for him. Oh and the days that still happens. It's pretty common for repeat offenders to do the man booty thing in jail but prefer women outside. Oh and Ice Cube has a rap song about that. Yeah, I know, I shouldn't be listening to that stuff. Moving on. Oh and I own the Richard Dawkins book called “The God Delusion.” In the bibliography there's a note saying that prior to, I wanna say 1935, gay referred to prison rape and now we have “gay pride parades.” The crap? And there's the famous remark where Richard Dawkins basically said that pedophilia wasn't that bad.

Enough of that. Now, there's a video I saw where a conservationist removed 80 hooks from dangerous sharks and made friends with some of them. Yes, they repeatedly come back for nose rubs. They literally act like little puppies and do you know how small a shark's brain is? It's the size of a walnut if that. Ok, so atheists are big on science and there's animal experiments that still happen on dogs for example. Do you know how smart dogs are? They save the lives of their families even without training. I've seen video of a cat saving a toddler from an aggressive dog on YouTube. I've seen video of cows playing with a soccer ball and freeing other cows from their enclosures, and then there's primate experiments. And not all of it is even medical there's a lot done just for makeup or shampoo and stupid shit. Oh and don't get me started on human experiments and I don't mean just Nazis. Americans have experimented on the American and other populations from other countries. Facebook recently did a psychological experiment on us, their customers. And in college I've heard of shrinks doing experiments on anyone from children to adults. And he said they still do and some always will even though it's illegal technically. I don't just mean Facebook. Plus there's sexual harassment and even rape in the science fields and they don't get fired like at Google or other fields. They might get fired less then even religion. That's it for now. I'm tired or I'd write more. That's it for now.

References:

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/tegan-eanelli-bash-back-is-dead-bash-back-forever

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3023834/posts

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/mar/04/ben-carson/ben-carson-many-prisoners-go-straight-come-out-gay/

https://www.truthrevolt.org/news/friend-obama-and-founder-largest-gay-rights-org-charged-pedophile

http://www.revolutionbythebook.akpress.org/anarchism-and-gays/

https://mobile.wnd.com/2002/07/14612/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Milk

https://youtu.be/Wu-jfju5atI

I thought of you when I read this quote from "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins -

"Consciousness-raising again 150 The Oxford Dictionary takes ‘gay’ back to American prison slang in 1935. In 1955 Peter Wildeblood, in his famous book Against the Law, found it necessary to define ‘gay’ as ‘an American euphemism for homosexual’."

Start reading this book for free: http://a.co/5Oqgujk

https://pages.vassar.edu/realarchaeology/2017/03/05/phrenology-and-scientific-racism-in-the-19th-century/

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-secret-experiments/

https://www.onlinepsychologydegree.info/unethical-experiements-psychology/

https://www.bestpsychologydegrees.com/30-most-disturbing-human-experiments-in-history/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States

https://youtu.be/l4AI6T0-isc

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/09/richard-dawkins-pedophilia_n_3895514.html

https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/11/13/rise-gay-bigot

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-liberals-war-on-science/

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/a-clinical-psychologist-explains-how-ayn-rand-seduced-young-minds-and-helped-turn-the-us-into-a-selfish-nation/#.WXE3ms8FoQd.gmail

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand

http://www.hrc.org/resources/sexual-assault-and de-the-lgbt-community

https://zcomm.org/zmagazine/what-happened-to-queer-anarchism-by-michael-bronski/

https://libcom.org/library/paedophilia-and-american-anarchism-the-other-side-of-hakim-bey

https://m.townhall.com/columnists/mattbarber/2011/09/03/sexual-anarchy-n1031230

http://www.loveisrespect.org/is-this-abuse/abusive-lgbtq-relationships/

https://youtu.be/8nkeRvtPmn0

https://timeline.com/antifa-history-violence-nazis-5ccb6231879a

https://youtu.be/6UZxKI5eutg

https://youtu.be/-awkYhtey50

https://youtu.be/_J5bDhMP9lQ

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/blood-rage-history-the-worlds-first-terrorists-1801195.html

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1751204/posts

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/05/sexual-harassment-science-me-too-essay/

https://www.marieclaire.com/career-advice/a14104684/sexual-harassment-assault-in-science-field/

https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/scicurious/fighting-sexual-harassment-science-may-mean-changing-science-itself

I don't mean to knock on just one or two groups and there's good and bad everywhere. Just had to show I'm not just out to get religion/Mormons. I can come up with both good and bad for minorities, Native Americans, cops, military, gangs/criminals, and me. It's not because we're bad and I'm not amoral. I think our main weakness is we're mortal. We have relatively weak bodies with a pretty limited lifespan, much of it spent/"wasted" trying to figure out what's going on while fending each other off/figuring each other out. What could go wrong? Lol there's many factors but honestly I'm tired and have to get up early. And yes I have way too much time on my hands.

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[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to Secret Identity, our regular column on identity and its role in politics and policy.

In the days after Hillary Clinton’s defeat, the two people who seemed like the Democratic Party’s most obvious 2020 candidates, then-Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, hinted that Clinton had gone too far in talking about issues of identity. “It is not good enough for somebody to say, ‘I’m a woman; vote for me,’” Sanders said. Other liberals lamented that the party had lost white voters in such states as Ohio and Iowa who had supported Barack Obama, and they said Democrats needed to dial back the identity talk to win them back.

But that view never took hold among party activists. Liberal-leaning women were emboldened to talk about gender more, not less, after the 2016 election. We’ve had women’s marches and women running for office in greater numbers than ever — all while emphasizing their gender. President Trump’s moves kept identity issues at the forefront, too, and gave Democrats an opportunity both to defend groups they view as disadvantaged and to attack the policies of a president they hate.

The Democratic Party hasn’t simply maintained its liberalism on identity; the party is perhaps further to the left on those issues than it was even one or two years ago. Biden and Sanders are still viable presidential contenders. But in this environment, so is a woman who is the daughter of two immigrants (one from Jamaica and the other from India); who grew up in Oakland, graduated from Howard and rose through the political ranks of the most liberal of liberal bastions, San Francisco; who was just elected to the Senate in 2016 and, in that job, declared that “California represents the future” and pushed Democrats toward a government shutdown last year to defend undocumented immigrants; and who regularly invokes slavery in her stump speech. (“We are a nation of immigrants. Unless you are Native American or your people were kidnapped and placed on a slave ship, your people are immigrants.”)

Sen. Kamala Harris has not officially said she is running in 2020, but she hasn’t denied it, either, and she’s showing many of the signs of someone who is preparing for a run, including campaigning for her Democratic colleagues in key races and signing a deal to write a book. The Californian ranks low in polls of the potential Democratic 2020 field, and she doesn’t have the name recognition of other contenders. (Her first name is still widely mispronounced — it’s COM-ma-la.) But betting markets have her near the top, reflecting the view among political insiders that Harris could win the Democratic nomination with a coalition of well-educated whites and blacks, the way Obama did in 2008.

Whatever happens later, the rise of Harris and her viability for 2020 tell us something about American politics right now: We are in the midst of an intense partisan and ideological battle over culture and identity; the Democrats aren’t backing down or moving to the center on these issues; and politicians who want to lead in either party will probably have to take strong, clear stances on matters of gender and race.

An opportunity

Harris, who went from district attorney of San Francisco to attorney general of California, was a heavy favorite in her 2016 Senate race. But once elected, she was expected to become a virtually powerless freshman senator in Hillary Clinton’s Washington. In fact, she might have been only the second most important person in Washington from her family, since her younger sister, Maya, was a top Clinton policy adviser on the campaign and in line for a senior White House job.

But Clinton’s loss created an opportunity for Harris. The Democrats had the normal leadership vacuum of a party without control of the White House but also a specific void of people who were well-versed in immigration issues and were willing to take the leftward stances on them that the party base wanted as Trump tried to push U.S. immigration policy right. Meanwhile, Biden and Sanders were not natural figures to defend Planned Parenthood when, as part of the repeal of Obamacare, the GOP sought to bar patients from using federal funds at the nonprofit’s clinics. African-American activists went from being deeply connected to the White House to basically shut out of it, as Trump had few blacks in his Cabinet or in top administration posts. And, electorally, while Sanders or Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren were obvious potential presidential candidates for the populist wing of the party that backed the Vermont senator in the 2016 Democratic primaries, the coalition of minorities and more establishment-oriented Democrats1 who had backed Clinton didn’t necessarily have an obvious standard-bearer, particularly with the uncertainty over Biden’s status as a candidate in 2020.

While veteran party leaders like Biden may have wanted the party to move to the center on identity issues, Democratic voters had moved decidedly to the left, a process that was happening under Obama but may be accelerating under Trump. For example, a rising number of Democrats say that racial discrimination is the main factor holding blacks back in American society, that immigration is good for America and that the country would be better off if more women were in office.

“The Democrats are the party of racial diversity, of gender equality — and there’s no going back from that,” said Lee Drutman, a political scientist at the think tank New America, who has written extensively about the growing cultural divide between the parties.

Harris has seized the opportunity. From attending the annual civil rights march in Selma to pushing legislation that would get rid of bail systems that rely on people putting up cash to be released from jail, she has seemed to try to lead on issues that disproportionately affect black Americans and to position herself as their potential presidential candidate. She was one of the earliest critics on Capitol Hill of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies, and her push for a government shutdown over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program delighted party activists (even if the strategy ultimately failed). Harris was among the first Senate Democrats to call for Minnesota’s Al Franken to resign amid allegations that he groped several women, and she has been a strong defender of Planned Parenthood.

A different moment

You might be thinking, “Didn’t we just have a biracial person (who was often described as and embraced being a ‘black’ politician) who was fairly liberal on cultural issues as a major national political figure? Wasn’t he president of the United States?”

Well, yes. But here’s the big difference: Obama didn’t emerge as a presidential candidate by highlighting his strong stands on these divisive, complicated cultural issues, as Harris is attempting to do. In fact, his rise was in large part because he implied that America was not as divided on those issues as it seemed — and that those divides were diminishing. The 2004 Democratic National Convention speech that launched him to the national stage seems, now that we are in the Trump era, almost crazily optimistic. (“There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America; there’s the United States of America,” he said back then. “There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America.”)

Whatever the reality of such statements, the political strategy behind them made sense: It’s hard to imagine that America a decade ago would have embraced a nonwhite politician who wasn’t downplaying cultural divides and emphasizing unity. Back then, someone regularly talking about his or her ancestors being kidnapped and enslaved probably had no chance at being elected president.

But 2018 is much different than 2004 or 2008 in terms of the national debate on identity issues. For example, compared with a decade ago, a much higher percentage of Americans, particularly Democrats, see racism as a major problem. Over the past decade, Americans went through the birther movement, shootings of African-Americans by police captured on video, Black Lives Matter protests, Trump’s racial and at times racist rhetoric and Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” remark. And it’s not just race — think about #MeToo, the legalization of gay marriage and new debates on the rights of people who are transgender.

Harris can’t take the Obama “Kumbaya” route to the White House — I’m not sure at this point that a white Democrat could, either. By the end of his term, Obama didn’t sound particularly hopeful about America getting beyond its cultural divides. Clinton spoke more directly about race and racism in 2016 compared with Obama in 2004 and 2008. Sanders and other white Democrats are already talking taking fairly liberal stances on these issues, and I expect that to continue into next year.

I’m not sure Harris had much choice anyway. She is a Democratic senator from heavily Latino California with Trump as president, so it’s a virtual job requirement for to her to take leftward stances on immigration issues. She is a minority woman at a time when minorities and women are trying to gain more power in national politics, particularly within the Democratic Party — and she is the only black female senator. In other words, Kamala Harris and Barack Obama are, of course, different people. But they also arrived on the national scene at much different political moments.

“When you speak truth, it can make people quite uncomfortable,” Harris told a group of Democratic activists earlier this year in a speech in Henderson, Nevada. “And for people like us who would like to leave the room with everyone feeling lovely, there’s sometimes a disincentive to speak truth.

“But this is a moment in time in which we must speak truth.”

This is a bit longer than our normal Secret Identity column, so let’s skip “What else you should read.” But please contact me at perry.bacon@fivethirtyeight.com for your thoughts on this piece or ideas for upcoming ones.

[isiso8]

STATE OF AFFAIRS

Exposed: Secrets Behind Victoria’s Police State

OCTOBER 4, 2021NO COMMENTS

Exposed: Secrets Behind Victoria’s Police State

By Melbourne National Review

In the state of Victoria, Australia, it’s becoming a little difficult to ignore the fact that some of the harshest virus lock-down measures in the world are being implemented for some of the lowest case numbers and fatalities in that very same world, and that it’s all being enforced by an all to often violent, and sometimes mysterious state police force.

While it goes without saying that elderly lives matter, do a daily handful of elderly deaths really warrant the shutdown of one of Australia’s busiest cities?

Clearly something is rotten in the State of Victoria.

What is the Strong Cities Network (SCN)?

In trying to understand why Australia, and Victoria in particular, seem to be coming under an unusual, and unnecessarily heavy police-state, dig a little deeper, and it becomes obvious as to what’s happening.

In 2018 Victorian state Premier Daniel Andrews sold out Victoria to an initiative called the Strong Cities Network (SCN). Moreover, Melbourne, under Premier Andrews’ leadership, was host to SCN’s 2018 global summit, the same year Andrews signed over the entire state of Victoria to the globalist initiative.

So what is the Strong Cities Network? The SCN is a now five-year-old program that claims;

“The Strong Cities Network is the first ever global network of mayors, policymakers and practitioners united in building social cohesion and resilience to counter violent extremism in all its forms. “

On the surface that sounds great, right? Nobody wants to see violent extremism on the loose, however, the devil is in the details – “violent extremism” is another one of these nebulous terms that can be applied to anything, such as an uprising against tyranny, or those with the ‘wrong’ political views, such as anyone right of Stalin in 2020.

So the focus of these initiatives may appear to be countering dangerous extremism, but their definition of extremism, and their focus, is the populist right, as well as opposition to the globalist agenda. After all, we’ve seen 3 months of some very violent extremism in the States at the hands of neo-marxists, yet the SCN have been nowhere to be seen.

The SCN is governed by global NGO’s, and aims to share policing tactics and intelligence, provide oversight, and essentially establish military-level equipped privatized police forces, all of which they don’t do, according to their myth-busting PDF. The lady doth protest too much.

Victoria is the only state in Australia to have signed on thus far, as can be seen in SCN’s list of member cities. Strangely, The entire STATE of Victoria is mentioned as a member in this list of cities. Victoria is a state, and not a city.

SCN’s influence over Victoria’s police may explain the Police’s response at Melbourne’s Freedom Day Rally, wherein many police acted violently, and with a sense of impunity when beating people. Some police were dressed in black with black riot-squad like vehicles, and didn’t have the Australian police logo on their uniforms. Instead they have a rectangular patch on their backs, easily removed or changed, as it is attached with Velcro. The patches differ in colour, and seem to me to be more for the purpose of tactical identification in the field amongst the different Public Order Response Unit squads.

Victoria police are always dressed in navy blue, with the insignia on the shoulder. The sinister, black dystopian uniforms and vehicles seem to be a new addition to Australia, and they’re known as the Public Order Response Unit. These ‘black shirts’ are SCN.

There are now countless disturbing videos online of Victoria Police going inexplicably to far in their lockdown policing duties, going as far as to kick people in the head, arrest pregnant women at home, harass more pregnant women out for exercise, choking people, kicking down people’s doors, smashing car windows to drag citizens out of their cars, storming the iconic Victoria market in full riot gear, and generally behaving like a certain gang of enforcers in Germany during the 1930’s, drawing attention and serious concern globally.

Who runs the Strong Cities Network (SCN)?

So who runs the Strong Cities Network? SCN is an initiative of London-based think tank; the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) – whose mission statement is to “Power Solutions to Extremism and Polarisation” – again more vague language that can’t be quantified, but can be applied to whatever public activity they choose.

So who’s the Institute for Strategic dialogue (ISD)? From ISD’s site;

“Founded in 2006, ISD is now the leading global ‘think and do’ tank dedicated to understanding and innovating real-world responses to the rising tide of polarisation, hate and extremism of all forms. We combine anthropological research, expertise in international extremist movements and an advanced digital analysis capability that tracks hate, disinformation and extremism online, with policy advisory support and training to governments and cities around the world. We also work to empower youth and community influencers internationally through our pioneering education, technology and communications programmes.“

An archived page that has now been scrubbed from the ISD’s website makes explicit in the language that the SCN belongs to ISD.

Dig a little deeper into the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), specifically their ‘Partners and Funders‘ funding page (whole section now scrubbed – links to archived copies), and then things start to make sense; it’s a who’s who of globalists. Under the ‘Foundations‘ sub-section, you’ll find George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, under ‘NGO’s‘ you’ll find United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and those familiar with the true agenda of the totally corrupt UN will not be surprised to see them involved, and the usual suspects are lurking in the section titled ‘Private Sector‘; Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft, etc.

But perhaps most disturbing for Victorians is that under the section ‘Academic Institutions‘ on the now scrubbed Partners and Funders page on ISD’s website; only 5 academic establishments are listed globally, yet two of them are Australian Universities. And listed in the ‘Governments and Intergovernmental Organisations’ section is ‘Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria, Australia’ – Premier Dan Andrews.

And of course George Soros is involved with his insidious Open Society Foundations, along with nefarious Big Tech, but in addition, among ‘NGO’s and Think Tanks’ on ISD’s partners page is the dubious Brookings Institute, as well as Chatham House, and the UK’s RUSI – all NGO’s with the same mission statements; to influence public debate, and counter ‘extreme dialogue’, ‘hate speech’, ‘far-right extremism’ etc – all euphemisms for anticipated dissent. Of course, trying to find any sort of definition of ‘hate speech’ or ‘extreme dialogue’ on their websites is a fruitless task, as again, the language is deliberately vague so it may be applied when needed.

The SCN riot squad never seem to be around when far-left extremism is on the loose though, such as the ongoing rioting. I’m sure a deep-dive into some of these NGOs would connect Bill & Melinda Gates and the Rockefeller Foundations everywhere. What we’re seeing is the globalists’ parallel governance network and structure at work, undermining the nation state, as they have been doing for a very long time, and as always, on the sly.

So as Australia recently discovered, the curfews and lock-downs in Victoria are not based on the Chief Health Officer’s advice, but rather Premier Andrews put them in place of his own accord.

Andrews has always been very interested in top-down authoritarian style governance – in 2016 Premier Andrews toured the New York Police Department’s ‘Real Time Crime Center‘ surveillance facility during a visit to the United States, tweeting that soon Victoria will have ‘one of our own’;

In 2017 Victoria Police were set to bring in the twenty-four hour system to Australia, with a new $15 million Monitoring and Assessment Centre, modelled on the New York center. In addition to all of this, Andrews allocated almost $600 million AUD as part of a ‘public safety package’ in the 2016-17 budget. This was in addition to the $2 billion already spent on 3,200 new police officers.

What was Andrews preparing for?

The Australian Freedom Alliance, 13/Sept, 2020;

Andrews spent $2.6 Billion of tax-payer’s money on stocking up on surveillance, riot equipment, and 3,200 extra police, then once in place he handed Victoria over to the globalists.

Do you still Stand with Dan and his absolutely remarkable Nostradamus-like foresight?

Commentator Robert Bridge drew attention in his August article; ‘Letters From Melbourne, a ‘Ghost Town Police State’ Under Brutal Covid Lockdown‘, to the fact that cities and countries that have signed on to China’s Belt & Road Initiative seem to be not only hit hardest by the virus, but all enthusiastically followed China’s instruction and embraced heavy lock-downs based on little or no scientific data. Italy would be another prime example.

Michael Spenger details China’s campaign to sell lock-down to the world in his excellent article; China’s Global Lockdown Propaganda Campaign.

Anika Stojkovski, a corporate compliance and governance consultant, based in Melbourne, wrote the following to Robert Bridge in an email;

“I sensed there was something very wrong with all this and predicted what is happening now,”…“I could tell they were lying.”

“I really think there is more to it and it is all about total control and heading towards the agenda for us all to be vaccinated… [Victorian Premier Dan] Andrews says he wants every man, woman and child vaccinated. There is no vaccine!! So will we be kept in isolation till when?”

Speaking on the medical situation in the city, Stojkovski was struck by the fact that; “all consulting rooms in hospitals are closed, and all appointments are conducted by specialists by phone.”

“This still doesn’t add up … they are not admitting to hospital for Covid unless severely ill with life threatening symptoms, while most people cannot be tested for the virus without traveling beyond the 5-kilometer point.”

Andrews has a long and close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), ensuring that it’s China who fills contracts for Victorian infrastructure and manufacturing deals, but yet he has always been very secretive about who he meets with in Beijing, and what is discussed.

Asked why the memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreement between Victoria and Beijing needed to be secret, Mr Andrews said “That’s the way all memorandums of understanding work and we’re not about the change that policy,”.

In terms of geopolitical significance, this is huge; Victoria is the only Australian state to formally sign on to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and as far as Australia is concerned, this contradicts the position of the Federal Government to not join the BRI, as it raised serious geo-strategic concerns.

According to a report by the Australian Institute of International Affairs, the BRI Framework Agreement “places Victoria in an awkward position as Australia has formally signed onto the ‘Blue Dot Network’ with the US to assist in developing infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region to counter the BRI.” The Blue Dot Network is perceived as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

There is talk of the Australian Federal Government cancelling Victoria’s secretive BRI agreement, and in response, Andrews has vowed to double down on Victoria’s commitment to the BRI. At the very least, the timing of an agreement between Victoria and communist China, happening just months before the economic shutdown of Melbourne over a minuscule increase in C19 deaths, is curious.

Victorians should spend less time listening to Andrews on contact tracing, and more time on tracing the contacts of Andrews.

Project Gen V;

But what I missed in November 2017 was the exciting news announced by Premier Dan Andrews in this Facebook post (now deleted);

His post linked to an article behind a paywall that outlined project Gen V, which aims to track the lives of babies from the time they’re born until their old age to identify causes of disease and complete interventional trials and prevention of disease. And guess what; along the way they’re creating a huge database, specifically of baby’s born in Victoria between 2020 and 2021. Coincidently, another government that has accelerated collection of citizens DNA recently is The Chinese Communist Party. (Victorians – I did some digging and it appears you can opt-out of this program, but you must articulate it).

So to summarize; Dan Andrews, with his extended powers of lockdown until late 2021, is turning Victoria into a prison, along with the destroying personal freedoms and liberties, and all before your newborn baby’s foot ever touches the earth, and he stated the intention back in 2017.

For what it’s worth – Victorian police must legally provide you with name, rank, and station, in writing, when requested under the Crimes Act 1958 – SECT 456AA. If they refuse to do so, or provide false information, they are guilty of an offense.

Original Source: https://www.melbournenationalreview.com/state-of-affairs/exposed-secrets-behind-victorias-police-state/