#forced birth extremist

[rad-fire-vixen]

“abortion is a form of eugenics!!” (this is not an exaggeration this is what i was told to my face and what some people honestly believe and i HATE it and them and want to hit them with a chair)

if abortion is eugenics then literally all animals are eugenicists cuz female animals all have ways of either delaying pregnancy or stopping from getting pregnant until they want to. and that’s if they actually want to make babies. cuz many times, if the offspring are unhealthy or weak or the mom is stressed, she will straight up EAT them. reuse those nutrients to make better offspring.

also eugenics is not a woman freely choosing to get an abortion it is usually an ‘undesirable’ person like an indigenous woman getting sterilized. usually without her knowledge or consent. or it’s a woman being forced to abort a pregnancy that she wants because the offspring would be ‘undesirable’. learn what eugenics actually is.

shut the fuck up and choke on your misogyny, forced birth extremists.

[spacelazarwolf]

Hey there! I’ve really appreciated your posts and perspective over this past month, I’m having a hard time (as so many Jews are) and your voice helps.

I’m hoping you can help me with reliable resources. A friend of mine condemned the Hamas attacks etc (as they should, to my relief) but is under the impression that Israeli govt is doing genocide to the Palestinians. I’ve no idea how to approach that to verify (or not), I don’t even know where to start looking. Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you.

thanks! this is a really tough question, but i'm going to do my best to break it down. also if anyone's thinking of clowning on this post without reading it, inb4 "omg ur denying genocide!!!!!!" bc this post is literally outlining, in detail, all the ways the israeli government is, by definition, committing genocide.

this is really long, just a heads up.

a big frustration i have with a lot of progressive or leftist spaces is the tendency to throw around words like genocide without being able to define the term or properly apply it to the situation in question. this isn't just a semantics issue. if all you're doing is repeating the buzzwords you've heard on social media, your "activism" is going to be less than useless. it is crucial that if you are going to talk about the current genocide in gaza, you must be able to define exactly what a genocide is and how it applies to what's happening in gaza.

i'm paraphrasing from this article by the united nations. the word "genocide" was coined in 1944 by raphael lemkin in his book "axis rule in occupied europe." it was developed partly in response to the shoah, but also to previous instances of what we would now define as genocide. it was recognized as a crime under international law in 1946, and codified as an independent crime in the 1948 convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide.

the definition of genocide

(from article II of the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide):

in the present convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

a. killing members of the group; b. causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c. deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; d. imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; e. forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

the 10 stages of genocide

a model created by gregory stanton, the founding president of genocide watch

classification - people are divided into "them and us"

symbolization - when combined with hatred, symbols may be forced upon unwilling members of pariah groups.

discrimination - law or cultural power excludes groups from full civil rights: segregation or apartheid laws, denial of voting rights.

dehumanization - one group denies the humanity of the other group. memmbers of it are equated with animals, vermin, insects, or diseases.

organization - genocide is always organized... special army units or militias are often trained and armed...

polarization - extremists drive the groups apart... leaders are arrested and murdered... laws erode fundamental civil rights and liberties.

preparation - mass killing is planned. victims are identified and sepaarated because of their ethnic or religious identity.

persecution - expropriation, forced displacement, ghettos.

extermination - it is 'extermination' to the killers because they do not believe their victims to be fully human.

denial - the perpatrators... deny that they committed any crimes.

application to the crisis in gaza

to start with the first definition from the united nations:

a. killing members of the group - YES

the death toll in gaza has risen above 8,000 according to the associated press. as far as i know, as of writing this post, there has been no ceasefire so the death toll will continue to rise.

b. causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group - YES

over 20,000 people in gaza have been injured, and gazans - particularly children - suffer incredibly high rates of ptsd.

c. deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part - YES

the israeli blockade of gaza has had devastating consequences for gazans. they are running out of food, water, fuel, and medicine, and this is costing additional lives.

d. imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group - unclear but leaning toward YES

whether or not it is the explicit goal, the current bombardment of gaza has put the lives of 50,000+ pregnant women in gaza at risk, along with their babies. babies who need incubators are also in danger as generators begin to run out of fuel.

e. forcibly transferring children of the group to another group - as far as i am aware, NO

according to the us embassy in israel, the palestinian authority ministry of social development is the only authorized entity regarding adoption of palestinian children. this doesn't mean it isn't happening, it just means i was not able to find any credible sources.

the 10 stages of genocide

classification - YES there is a long history in israel of othering palestinians, both socially/culturally and legally. former israeli minister of interior and minister of justice ayelet shaked shared a racist quote from netanyahu's former chief of staff explicitly framing palestinians as "the enemy."

symbolization - not yet there are no overt symbols palestinians, even within israel, are required to wear to outwardly identify themselves, but there are identifying features on their ids. in fact, the opposite has been happening, with far right members of the israeli government attempting to pass legislation making it illegal to publicly display palestinian flags.

discrimination - YES there is, again, a long history of discrimination against palestinians within and by the state of israel. it is difficult for palestinians from the west bank or gaza to gain status in israel, israeli work permits are used as a form of control, and often forcibly separate palestinian families.

dehumanization - YES former israeli deputy minister of defense eli ben dahan said of palestinians, "to me they are like animals, they aren't human."

organization - YES israel is currently carrying out an organized and brutal attack on gaza.

polarization - YES from extremist groups like hamas, to the corruption in the likud party in israel, there are very clear signs of extreme polarization. israel's siege against gaza has caused polarization across the entire globe.

preparation - YES gazans in particular are unable to leave gaza without a permit, and now with the blockade from both israel and egypt they are essentially trapped.

persecution - YES gaza in particular could absolutely be likened to a ghetto. as stated above, (in "usual" circumstances) they are unable to leave without a permit, and since hamas took control it is nearly impossible to get an israeli work permit.

extermination - GETTING THERE if the siege continues and gazans are unable to get out of gaza, there will be catastrophic casualties.

denial - YES i often hear that "israel has a right to defend itself" but i cannot possibly find a way to frame the current siege as "self defense."

so in conclusion, israel is - by multiple definitions - committing genocide against gazans. and it's very important to be able to identify specifics, especially if you are planning on having discussions about it. and i've said it in the past, but if you are not directly affected by what's happening - palestinians in particular, but israeli citizens and jews and muslims in the diaspora are also getting hit hard - it is IMPERATIVE that you are able to talk about this with a level head. escalating tensions and pushing away potential allies is only going to make things worse. find common ground, form connections, and then have a productive discussion.

[ghostlythunderbird]

The Pack ~ First Impressions

Pairings: Alpha!Konig, Alpha!Simon “Ghost” Riley, Alpha!Keegan P. Russ X Omega!Fem!Reader

Warnings: 18+ Minors/Ageless Blogs DNI, Omegaverse, Mentions of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence, Extremist views, The UN exists here

Words: 2,784 (wow I wrote all that?!?!)

Author’s Notes: Please do not repost, edit, or translate my work. This blog and all content will be marked 18+ even if there is no NSFW content, if you are underage or have no age I don't want to deal with you. This is my first ever series so it will be updated whenever I can, due to my difficult work schedule. But please sit back and enjoy this series! Special thanks to @l-lend, @kelpiesummer, and @photogirl894 for all the help!

“Breaking News: Omega populations continue to fall.”

With recent all-time highs of Omega trafficking and high numbers of Domestic Abuse against Omegas worldwide, Omega birth rates are dwindling by the thousands in the last few years. While Omega numbers fall, other secondary gender numbers have begun to rise, with Beta birthrates rising to a staggering 84% over the last 5 years. Are omegas in danger of dying out?~

“The fall of the Omega second gender; A modern extinction?”

Over the last decade, the number of omegas of age has drastically fallen. Omegas were once considered roughly 20% of the world population and contributed to approximately 70% of birthrates worldwide; their current population barely comes to 7% across the globe, and their birthrates are almost non-existent. Could this result from unregulated access to this world bearing second gender? Will the UN seek to restabilize their population, or will omegas be at the mercy of those around them?

What had become of the world before you were born? It was a nearly lawless land, people turning on one another. The fight for breeding rights or access to an omega led Alphas into utter madness, their biology overriding common sense. Your Dam had told you stories of her childhood, how she saw the fall of an entire second gender. How awful the world indeed became, and how it rose from those ashes carrying new hope and protection to those who seek it. She remembered how fearful her Sire and Dam were during those years, but that was before new laws were established. New laws ensured the ability to return Omegas to their higher numbers to provide their protection.

During the years of the Modern Extinction, the UN scrambled to place laws worldwide to protect and nurture omega numbers. However, many early regulations did nothing to buffer the steady decline. It wasn't until an organization was formed: The Global Omega Protection and Population Program (GOPPP) was introduced. The Program had only a few essential purposes, to Pair off omegas to ensure total protection; to free and rehabilitate omegas who were victims of Trafficking and Domestic Violence. And finally, it is a form of Breeding operation to help nurture omega populations to where they were years before. Omegas who had become legal adults would be admitted to the Program to soon be matched with compatible Alphas.

The only downside to this Program was many omegas were often treated as broodmares and were often left emotionally neglected. Reduced to their primary duties of bearing Alpha and Omega children with occasional betas to be their legacy. Omegas were unable to work, much less be able to leave their dens without an Alpha to accompany them. While many Alphas believe it would be better for their mates to be allowed to do certain things without them around, the Program often overlooked their words. Over time, however, newer generations believed these precautions were beyond necessary and soon revised or added new laws to accompany them. Their latest law is; Omegas who are in public must wear protective full-length collars even with their Alphas present.

Those laws were added when you were just a pup and still living simply, unknowing of the world around you. Soon you were forced to acknowledge the dark reality you were born into when you presented; An Omega. Your parents, who were born Betas, cried when your first heat started. They had prayed you would be a Beta or even an Alpha, but it seemed their prayers fell upon deaf ears from the higher power.

Unfortunately, the Program soon discovered your presentation at 16 years old. While you were still too young to be entered into the Program, It didn't stop them from preparing for that day. You remembered those late nights hearing your parents downstairs talking about you, about your soon-to-be future. Your Dam was terrified, talking to your Sire about the stories from other omega parents. For some, they ranged from fairytale endings, but a vast majority were nothing short of horror-made flesh. Omegas were emotionally manipulated and abused by the very alphas they were entrusted to.

As you grew older, your parents decided to wait a few more years for you to enjoy life before you became tied to your future mates. You were incredibly thankful they pushed back against the Program to allow you to enjoy your young adult years. But as your Sire would say, "Whether good or bad, everything must come to an end."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The room was bare as you and your parents waited for the Omega Protection program representative to enter. You wished you were never born as an Omega; you wouldn't have to go through this Program if you weren't. Facing the fact that you would be removed from your parent's home only to be moved in with alphas you've never met before, and said Alphas were already selected for you. These alphas were being forced on you without knowing how they acted towards you or the other alphas; their past, what they looked like, and their personalities were beyond wrong to you. You were slowly being drowned in uncertainty; so many things could go wrong, hell you didn't even know if your alphas were good.

Your Dam grabbed your hand, sensing the rising anxiety in your scent. "It will be ok dear; these alphas will protect you. There is nothing to fear from this." You knew her words were supposed to feel comforting, but you couldn't help but think bitterly, 'well, it isn't you being fed to the wolves.' Before you could say anything, the door began to creak open, causing your Sire and Dam to straighten to greet the person walking in. You, however, just sunk into the couch, begging for it to open and swallow you whole.

As the door opened fully, it revealed two Betas entering, one male and one female. Their scents were almost non-existent as they stepped further into the room before sitting on the couch across from your family. "Good Morning, Mr. and Ms. (L/N); we're delighted you're here. My name is Matthew, and my partner is Hannah." The male beta spoke as he gestured to the woman beside him. "We will handle your daughter's case and pack introduction today." At the brief mention of you, the Betas locked onto your form. Noticing your rising anxiety, the female beta spoke up to clear the air.

"And you must be (y/n); I'm sure this is very overwhelming for you, but rest assured we have made plenty of healthy matches over the years," Her voice was quiet yet soft as the words fluttered from her lips. You could only briefly smile; she wanted you to trust her and her judgment. But even with that, you couldn't help but dread your matches. The fact you had to blindly trust two strangers who picked your lifelong mates was beyond unnerving.

Hannah leaned back into the couch, making herself comfortable. "now, before we introduce you and your parents to your new pack, we have a few things to discuss before we bring them in, ok?" The tension in the air was heavy as Matthew and Hannah shared a look before continuing. "Well, you know our priority is to pair all omegas with a pack of alphas to ensure their safety and increase omega birthrates. That being said, the pack selected for you is not exactly regular by our standards." That wasn't what you expected; you couldn't decide if you were more worried or curious about this confession.

This pack may be more interesting than you had initially thought. The dark-headed male cleared his throat, continuing, "This pack was already together before their application to our Program; these alphas are also active military with clean records. Two originate from Europe while the other is from the US; along with that, one of these alphas just so happens to be an uh...Apex alpha." Upon hearing this, the air in your lungs evaporated in mere seconds as a chill ran down your spine. This pack had seemed almost too good to be true, but with information, it only made you dread your initial meeting. Apexes were often found to be extremely dangerous, unable to control themselves in high emotional and hormonal situations.

Your Sire drew in a breath. "So what does that mean for our daughter? Why in the hell was she assigned to an Apex?" His growl filled the air. Also, being a beta, your father was not at threatening as an alpha could be, but with a protective Sire, anyone would be cautious with their following decisions. Matthew grew stiff. "With all due respect, sir, we've gone through an extensive background check with this apex. The alphas packed with him are his fellow service members who can fully vouch for him." Your eyes widened, a packed apex with people who know how he works; this pack was unusual and rare. 'Well, from what it sounds like so far, they don't seem like bad people. Maybe this is one of those lucky matches.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He couldn't stand; still, the chairs were far too small for him, and standing in the quiet room only made his nerves light up more than they already were. König paused to look at the door; it was closing to an hour since the three alphas were left in the room. The beta Hannah had told them to wait a few minutes, and they'd bring in their omega and her family. His body responded to the thought; after so many years of rejection letter after another, this felt like some sick prank to the Austrian apex. He was so nervous that he couldn't stay still, pacing back and forth and wiping his palms along his jeans.

His companions couldn't help but tease the anxiety-ridden giant. "König, relax, man. If you keep pacing, you might carve out a path in the floor." The dark-headed alpha joked as he shifted in his chair. While König was the most visibly anxious of the trio, Keegan attempted to keep himself calm, even with the bubbling excitement growing in his gut. Keegan's eyes traveled across the room, glancing between furniture and the small window. 'Not much cover, but at least it would be difficult for a potential sniper.'

"At least he's standin' up, be less of a shock to 'er." Ghost's voice echoed through the small room, breaking his zoned-out stare for a split second. The alpha had taken the only viable spot and backed into the furthest corner facing the doorway. Keegan snorted at the other alpha's remark; he knew it was true. König was massive on a human scale, but more so because he was an apex alpha. Before he could respond to the blonde-haired alpha, he heard two pairs of footsteps coming down the hall. Leaning up in his chair, Keegan sounded a low chuff to gain the other's attention before nodding towards the door.

Ghost made no move to his form; König, however, rushed to fix his messy hair to appear somewhat presentable. Keegan gave König a reassuring nod right before the door opened, and the heavenly scent of an omega swept through the small space. First, the Program's beta entered but then appeared their soon-to-be omega mate. 'Jesus, she's so.....small compared to us.' You ducked your head as the alphas zeroed in on you once you passed the threshold. Looking towards the blonde and black-haired alphas, you couldn't help but think that this wasn't as bad until you turned to look at, by far, the largest alpha you'd ever seen. His size had taken you aback, and the previous thought of being able to handle this pack was thrown entirely out the window.

Hannah gently rested her hand on your shoulder to regain your attention "(Y/N) meet your pack; first, we have Keegan Russ." Pointing to the smallest alpha, his eyes caught your attention first. They were a beautiful grey-blue that seemed to freeze you in place but also held a hidden sadness underneath them. Even with him being the smallest of the three, he knew he had a certain charm. His stature, eyes, and confident yet arrogant attitude had people flocking to him no matter their presentation. "Next, we have Ghost; that is his preferred name for now." The alpha in the corner made no attempt to move as his eyes raked over you before giving a slight nod. While his face was covered by a black medical mask, it didn't take away from his rugged beauty much; a mop of blonde hair with hooded brown eyes that slightly shined. Turning toward the last alpha, you could feel the tension between the betas and him. "Finally, we have the apex, König." She didn't seem too keen about him being here. A wave of well-maintained anger for what he was seemed to drive her not to acknowledge him; you couldn't help but feel a twinge of hurt toward him.

Although he had a large size, he seemed to fold in on himself, attempting to appear smaller to not scare you away. Unfortunately, you couldn't see much of him other than his eyes, a blue that reminded you of the ocean. "well, we will leave you all to get acquainted while we finish the paperwork and have her parents gather her things." With a final look over her shoulder, Hannah closed the door behind her leaving you with your new pack. Looking towards the alphas whose gaze tore into you, you could only give a slight grin "u-uh, hi there!"

Before you knew it, they all moved at once; while it wasn't swift, it still caused you to reel back slightly. You knew you couldn't just leave, so you forced yourself to stay still as Ghost reached towards you to grab your wrist in a firm hold. He brought your wrist close to his nose so he could capture your scent adequately, only releasing a deep chuff before slowly letting your wrist fall back to your side. The large apex released his own chuff before drawing in a breath. "H-Hallo omega, or (Y/N) w-which ever you want us to call you. If you even want us to use your name." His stuttering surprised you; how could this large apex even stutter? There was no reason for his nervousness, or so you thought.

Keegan stepped forward, touching the larger alpha's enormous bicep. "Take it easy, König; I doubt she's gonna bite you, right, Doll?" His joking tone helped ease the remaining tension in the room. 'At least these guys could take and make jokes,' You thought as you gave Keegan a toothy smile. "Only if you want me to, big guy." Giving the apex a wink, sending his gaze to the floor in embarrassment, and driving a laugh out of Ghost and Keegan.

The new-found atmosphere dissipated once a knock sounded on the other side of the door. Matthew and Hannah were soon looking in to check in on the four of you. "Well, everything is in order; I'm sure you are ready to head home. So we will allow Ms.(Y/N) to say her goodbyes to her parents before you all leave." Oh, that's right; you had forgotten you were being moved out of your parent's home and into your shared home with these alphas. Looking back at your parents, you caught sight of your Dam trying to clean up her remaining tears. While your Sire attempted to keep a stone face for you. Lunging towards them, your Dam and Sire tangled you up in their arms, whispering, "It will be ok little love; you'll see us again." "Please text us at least so we know your adjusting, ok?"

It broke your heart to leave them, but you all knew this was in your best interest. Drawing back from them, you reached to wipe away a few stray tears on your cheeks. "I love you guys. I'll try and stay in touch, I promise." Your words catch slightly in your throat. Stepping away from your parents, you looked towards the three alphas who stood off to the side, not wanting to rush your goodbye.

Stepping towards them, you stopped when Keegan and König took their places on either side of you. Ghost had left to pull their vehicle around, and as you started walking towards the main entrance, König offered his hand to you. "Don't worry Schatz, we will all die for you as long as it means you are safe." His words send a wave of heat through your body by his bold declaration. With a final look back toward your parents, you offered them a bright grin as you were guided away.

'Everything will be ok."

Tag list: @l-lend, @kelpiesummer, @wintersnnowie, @operatorinvestigatesco, @marytvirgin

Once again this is my first ever series so I apologize if somethings need work, am still a wee babe in the writing world XD

Translations: Schatz (German) - Treasure

[documentationofcorruption]

I'm exhausted. 2 whole days of compiling zionist statements for y'all. Please reblog.

(LONG POST: TW- genocidal rhetoric, anti-palestinian hate, additions welcome)

-

#1 - ALARMING STATEMENTS FROM ISRAELI LEADERS:

"This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle."

-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deleted tweet

“You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. 1 Samuel 15:3 ‘Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass’," 

-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 

“We are striking our enemies with unprecedented might,” … “I emphasize that this is only the beginning.”

-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 

“We're in complete compliance with international law. I think in many ways, we're setting a different standard. We seek to minimize civilian casualties, and Hamas seeks to maximize it.”

-Benjamin Netanyahu tweet 

“The civilized world must unite to defeat Hamas,”

-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible says that 'there is a time for peace and a time for war.' This is a time for war. A war for our common future,"

-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 

“We will hold Gaza after the war too, we will not trust international forces”

-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 

"Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electric switch will be turned on, no water tap will be opened, and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home,"

-Israeli minister of energy, Israel Katz

"Each country should take a quota...We need all 2 million to leave. That is the solution for Gaza."

-former Israeli Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked

"The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages. Only then will Israel be calm for 40 years."

-former Israeli interior minister, Eli Yishai (2012)

"After we turn Khan Younis too into a soccer field […] we need to take advantage of the destruction [to tell] the countries that each of them should take a quota, it can be 20000 or 50000 […] We need 2 million to leave. That's the solution for Gaza."

-former Israeli interior minister, Eli Yishai 

"King David cut off another 100 foreskins of Philistines as revenge for clogging up the wells with dirt. Our soldiers, who have gone to war to protect their homes and to avenge the terrible massacre that these Nazi terrorists carried out, will cover them in their tunnels with dirt, and will return to peace with the abductees only after they have cut off all these accursed foreskins.”

-Israeli minister Shlomo Karhi 

“We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly,”

-Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant

“We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza,” 

There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything will be closed.”

Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant

“There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language.”

-Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich (March 2023)

 "It is natural that my wife would not want to lie down next to someone who just gave birth to a baby that might want to murder her baby in another 20 years."

-Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, on segregating maternity wards (2016)

(Israel must) “create sterile security areas around Jewish communities and roads and prevent Arabs from entering them, including for the purpose of olive harvesting.”

-Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich 

"[Hilltop Youth] are heroes and righteous people, and I admire their love for the people, for the land, for the Torah. Their dedication. But like young people in other domains, sometimes they struggle to hold complexities, make mistakes, and we must know where to draw the line."

-Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich (referring to the extremist religious group “Hilltop Youth” notorious for illegal settler violence 

“It is an entire nation out there that is responsible,”

-Israeli president, Isaac Herzog

“It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’etat.”

-Israeli president, Isaac Herzog

(long chunk of text)

“1. This war is not only against Hamas.

2. This war is first and foremost about the future of the State of Israel and the future of the Zionist project.

3. Any scenario other than a complete and unequivocal defeat of the enemy, at any cost, condemns us and our descendants to a bleak future that will not allow our existence here as a free people.

4. If we do not convey the message to our foes now about the price they will pay for hurting us, they will continue to hurt us mercilessly. 

5. Only strength - military, political, economic, social - will ensure the victory of Zionism and the State of Israel.”

-Tweet from Israeli Foreign Minister Emmanuel Nahshon

“if it is one Israeli mother crying, or a thousand Palestinian mothers crying, then a thousand Palestinian mothers will cry.”

-Israeli Lawmaker, Zvika Fogel (2022)

“We are too merciful. It’s time for us to stop being so. It has nothing to do with racism.”

-Israeli Lawmaker, Zvika Fogel (2022)

“Gaza should be wiped off the map.”

-Knesset Member, Galit Distel Atbaryan

“All of this preoccupation with whether or not there is internet in Gaza shows that we have learned nothing. We are too humane. Burn Gaza now no less!”

-tweet from Israeli deputy speaker Nissim Vaturi

“Your fear will kill us. Stop being humane.”

- Israeli deputy speaker, Nissim Vaturi

“In 1967 we held them by force. We cannot repeat this mistake. As a democratic state we must allow them to leave to other countries, far from here.”

-Israeli deputy speaker, Nissim Vaturi tweet 

"We need to put them (the Palestinians) on boats and send them to wherever will be good for them. They're wanted in Scotland? We'll hand them over."

- Israeli deputy speaker, Nissim Vaturi

“"we can leave one old man (alive) there - he will tell everyone"

-Nissim Vaturi tweet regarding Gaza

(The Palestinians) “They can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves”,

-Currently suspended minister Amichai Eliyahu, who proposed nuking Gaza as “an option”

When you go to prison and put a prisoner there you restrict his rights, is that apartheid?"

-Amichai Eliyahu

“Right now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 48. Nakba in Gaza and Nakba to anyone who dares to join! their Nakba, because like then in 1948, the alternative is clear.”

-Knesset member, Ariel Kallner

"Occupation [of the Gaza Strip] is a must. Every time our enemies lost territory, they lost the war. We need to be in full control - that's what will deter our enemies, convey a message of victory.”

-minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir

“My right and the right of my wife and children to move around freely on the streets of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) is more important than the freedom of movement of Arabs. Sorry Muhammad.”

-minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir

“The only thing that should enter Gaza as long as Hamas doesn’t release the hostages it holds is not a gram of humanitarian aid, but hundreds of tons of explosives from the Air Force.”

-minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir

“If the international media is objective and shows both sides, it serves Hamas.”

-former Israeli prime minister, Yair Lapid

"This is Gaza's Nakba 2023."

-agriculture minister, Avi Dichter

“We are now rolling out the Gaza Nakba”

-agriculture minister, Avi Dichter

“Human animals must be treated as such. You wanted hell, you will get hell.”

-general of the Israeli army, Ghassan Alian

“The children of Gaza have brought this upon themselves.”

-Knesset member, Merav Ben-Ari

“I am very puzzled by the constant concern which the world is showing for the Palestinian people and is actually showing for these horrible inhuman animals.”

-former Israeli U.S. Ambassador, Dan Gillerman

“99% of hilltop youth don’t cause any harm to anyone - not to the army and not to others. There’s no such thing as ‘settler violence’.”

-tweet from head of IDF Central Command, Yehuda Fuchs (regarding an extremist group)

“...And the thing I most enjoyed was seeing the Israeli flags they put up in every corner, and the amplifier playing the national anthem, HaTikva, at full volume on a loop from morning to night. May their names and memories be eradicated.”

-media advisor, Ariel Elharar, describing treatment of Hamas-affiliated POWs in prison.

“As you will have seen in the last couple of weeks, the fighting is very surgical. It is slow. It is very methodical. We are trying not to reach any of the non-combatant population in the Gaza Strip. And I think that there is no way that we can eradicate the Hamas without dealing with most of its forces that have been— that have fled to the south. Now, again, one little note, “the non-combatant population in the Gaza Strip” is really a non-existent term because all of the Gazans voted for the Hamas, and as we have seen on the 7th of October, most of the population in the Gaza Strip are Hamas.”

-former Mossad chief, Rami Igra

#2 ALARMING STATEMENTS FROM AMERICAN LEADERS:

"What they say to me is I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I'm sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,"

-president Joe Biden regarding Gazan death tolls

“…I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.”

-president Joe Biden regarding Gazan death tolls

 “Anyone that is pro-Palestinian is pro-Hamas.”

-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

“Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians?!?!?!” You mean the Palestinians who decapitate babies, rape women and dismember children? Or those who hand out candy in celebration? Or those who provide the terrorists aid, comfort, safe passage and a place to hide? Israel doesn’t oppose their ethnicity, it’s their barbarity that is the problem!”

-former ambassador David Freidman

“If you look at how they behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they are all antisemitic,”

-Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Palestinians

“I’m sick of hearing the media, I’m sick of hearing other people blame Israel just for defending itself,”

-Florida governor Ron DeSantis on criticism of Israel

“I don’t even want to call it the Palestinian flag because they’re not a state, they’re a territory, that’s about to probably get eviscerated and go away here shortly, as we’re going to turn that into a parking lot,”

-Rep. Max Miller (who thinks Israel doesn’t need to follow rules of engagement)

“...Israel is not trying to wipe the Palestinian people off the map. Israel’s not trying to wipe Gaza off the map. Israel is trying to defend itself against a genocidal terrorist threat … If we’re gonna start using that word, fine. Let’s use it appropriately.”

-National Security Spokesman, John Kirby

If we killed 4,000 Palestinian children, you know what? It wasn't enough!"

-Stuart Seldowitz, former advisor to Barack Obama

“All of them!”

-Rep. Michelle Salzman (enthusiastically) in response to a colleague asking how many more Palestinians have to die before it is deemed enough

“We’re in a religious war here. I am with Israel,” 

-Senator Lindsey Graham

“Do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself. Level the place.”

-Senator Lindsey Graham

“Gaza is going to look like Tokyo and Berlin at the end of world war two when this is over. And if it doesn’t look that way, Israel made a mistake,”

-Senator Lindsey Graham

“Hamas is creating these casualties, not Israel,”

-Lindsay Graham’s statement which contradicts about everything else here

“As far as I’m concerned, Israel can bounce the rubble in Gaza,”

-Senator Tom Cotton

"Israel must respond DISPROPORTIONATELY to this and any future attacks." 

-Senator Marco Rubio

“I don't think there's any way Israel can be expected to coexist or find some diplomatic offramp with these savages. I mean, these are people, as you have been reporting and others have seen, that deliberately targeted teenage girls, women, children, the elderly, not just for rape and murder, but then dumping their bodies off in the streets of Gaza, where the crowds can then defile their lifeless bodies.

I mean, just horrifying things. And I don't think we know the full extent of it yet. I mean, there's more to come in the days and weeks ahead. You can't coexist. They have to be eradicated. And you've pointed out the very difficult challenge ahead—this is going to be incredibly painful. This is going to be incredibly difficult and it's going to be horrifying—the price to pay.”

-Senator Marco Rubio 

“Finish them. Finish them,”

-Nikki Haley after being asked about a humanitarian pause

“This is not just an attack on Israel—this was an attack on America. Finish them, @b.netanyahu. They should have hell to pay for what they have just done.”

-instagram caption from Nikki Haley 

“I don’t know how you can have a ceasefire, a permanent ceasefire, with an organization like Hamas, which is dedicated to turmoil and chaos and destroying the state of Israel,” 

-senator Bernie Sanders

“The calls for a ceasefire are outrageous.”

-house speaker Mike Johnson

“there are very few innocent Palestinian citizens”

-rep. Brian Mast

(terrorism is) “absolutely supported by the Palestinian people from elementary school all the way up into the elderly,” 

-rep. Brian Mast

“I would encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of innocent Palestinian civilians, as frequently said,” … “I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ during World War II.”

-rep. Brian Mast

“Rashida Tlaib has alleged ties to Hamas.

Based on these allegations, it’s sadly not surprising she’s calling for a genocide against the Jewish people.”

-an accusatory tweet from senator Marsha Blackburn regarding lone Palestinian congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib

“I don’t have any malice towards Palestinians. I have Muslim friends, believe me.”

-rep. Ryan Zinke regarding criticism of his Palestinian ban 

“I don't trust the Biden Administration any more than I do the Palestinian Authority to screen who is allowed to come into the United States. This is the most anti-Hamas immigration legislation I have seen and it's well deserved.”

-also rep. Ryan Zinke claiming his Palestinian immigration ban is ‘well deserved’

#3 VIRAL STATEMENTS FROM EVERYDAY ZIONISTS:

(long chunk of text)

“On the Gaza beach the autumn night is descending

Planes are bombing, ruin follows ruin

See the IDF crossing the borderline

To annihilate the Swastika carriers

In one more year

There won’t be anything left there

And we’ll return safely to our home

In one more year

We’ll eliminate them all and go back to plowing our fields”

-Video on Kan News, sung by several 6-12 year olds

"After the war, Israel should handle Gaza like China handles Xinjiang. Full surveillance state. Re education camps. Sterilizations. It's warranted and the only way to pacify the jihadi population."

"They reproduce like rabbits and raise them to be terrorists, creating more poverty, misery, and terrorism. Why should we allow that. The world would be a much better place if they didn't reproduce."

-tweets from cofounder of Oyster Ventures, Kenneth Ballenegger

“These are the Palestinians. Blood thirsty morally depraved animals who want nothing short of every inch of Israel and all Jews dead.”

“Lots of sand for Palestinians in Sinai which Israel gave to Egypt. Give them all 48h to get there…”

-tweets from pediatrician at John Hopkins, Darren Klugman

(long chunk of text)

“Listen carefully you leftists,

We don’t do reconciliation.

And the chorus stays the same:

May your village burn down.”

-Sung by IDF soldiers in the West Bank 

“No ceasefire!”

-chants from March For Israel crowd in response to Van Jones wanting no more deaths

“I wish they will rape you alive.

They will film you.

And if your mother be alive.

They will send the video for your mother to see how you burn.

That’s what I wish.”

-March for Israel protester

“Let me say the unsayable. I’m not endorsing this but it’s a possible solution which is simply to expel them from Gaza. You might call that ethnic cleansing and so forth but the fact is that at the end of the second world war there were a million Germans kicked out of Poland. There were Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia,"

-Breitbart editor, Joel Pollak

“That’s an option, I think, after all this … If it comes down to ethnic cleansing, you want to cleanse my people. I’ll cleanse yours first.”

-Breitbart editor, Joel Pollak

“There will never be a Palestinian state. It’s over.”

-Breitbart editor, Joel Pollak

#4 A FEW ALARMING CELEBRITY STATEMENTS:

“Gazans rape Jewish girls only in self defense,”

-a line from a comic posted by Amy Schumer

“You either stand with Israel or you stand with terrorism”

-Noah Schnapp 

“Many are saying that it’s inhumane that Israel is cutting off water/electricity to Gaza. Israel made it pretty simple — ‘release the hostages and we will turn it back on. Instead of pleading with Hamas to release CIVILIAN hostages which include BABIES and TODDLERS there are politicians (cough cough AOC) calling Israel inhumane. If that isn’t enough for you: ISRAEL DOES NOT NEED TO SUPPLY GAZA WITH THESE RESOURCES (which they do, for FREE),”

-deleted Sarah Silverman story she said she made because she was “stoned”

[robot-roadtrip-rants]

Uriel Ventris handles forced birth extremists by setting daemons on them. Be like Uriel and fight for the right to choose!

[tamamita]

whats the difference between the groups of Muslims? what are they fighting about.

In short, there are three major denominations of Islam, and various sub-branches, but I won't go into the latter.

Sunni, literally standing for those who follow the traditions of the Prophet, are Muslims who believe that politically, the Prophet's companions, Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman were successors of the prophet, and the ones to establish the Rashidun Caliphate. Sunni Muslims base most of their traditions on various companions of the Prophet. The concept of Adalat al-Sahaba maintains that any companion that was present during the Prophet's time is a reliable person in terms of how they narrate traditions, thus establishing a multitude of hadiths from them. Although Sunni Islam (as a separate branch) didn't exist at that time, it became the standardized version of Islam when the Shi'as and Khawarijs rebelled against the Umayyads and the Abbasids, seeing the birth of the four schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence to counter their theological principles.

Shi'a, literally partisans of Ali, hold that through traditions and scriptural basis, Ali, the brother in law to the Prophet had chosen him to be the leader of the Muslims upon the latter's death, as a result of various events that took place, the Prophet's household were treated unfairly and the repercussions of these events subsequently led to their martyrdom, which is an essential pillar of Shi'a Islam. Due to their rejection of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and various other companions, they do not accept their chains of narrations in hadiths. Shi'as ultimately reject the concept of Adalat al-Sahaba, because traditions can not be accepted from unjust people. Most Shi'a Muslims (Twelver and Ismailis) put extreme emphasis on the Prophet's family and the line of Imamate through Ali and the Prophet's daughter, Fatimah, believing that only the Imams have the right to interpret the Qur'an in its esoteric and exoteric nature due to their infallibility, thus giving them absolute authority over the Muslims. Ali's tenure as the caliph saw much turmoil and ultimately led to his martyrdom. The subsequent death of Ali marked the end of the Rasidhun caliphate and transitioned into a monarchy with many of the Shi'as experiencing centuries of oppression.

Ibadism, a branch of Islam stemming from an extremist group called the Khawarij, they are a group of Muslims who did not agree with Ali's agreement to engage in arbitration with an opposing force that waged war against him over the caliphate. This led to a group of Muslims in Ali's army to defect, believing that judgment belongs to God alone, thus separating themselves from the rest of the Muslims. This group is known for their extremist approach and theology of Islam, but was quickly surpressed as they harassed innocent Muslims. The only remnants of the Khawarijs are the Ibadis and are relatively peaceful, albeit with some strict religious beliefs. They have their own collection of hadiths, but much of it is very close to the Sunnis corpus of traditions. They make up the majority of Muslims in Oman.

[odinsblog]

Make no mistake: No matter how much they deny it, SCOTUS, Republicans and their Evangelical “Christian” supporters are coming for birth control and contraception next. God help us if Republicans win the House and the Senate in November. America is about an inch away from becoming an extremist religious theocracy — and they don’t even care if someone is pregnant from rape, incest, or if it endangers the mother’s health — all they care about is forcing births and inflicting their cruelty; and they will gleefully force a 10yr old child to give birth and also give the rapist visitation and parental rights. Republicans are evil.

[sh0rtins0mniac]

Israeli films with female protagonists.

Zero Motivation (2014) dir. Talya Lavie

A unit of female Israeli soldiers at a remote desert base bide their time as they count down the minutes until they can return to civilian life.

Cinema Sabaya (2021) dir. Orit Fouks Rotem

Eight women, Arab and Jewish, take part in a video workshop hosted by Rona, young filmmaker. With each camera take, the group dynamic forces the women to challenge their beliefs as they get to know one other.

Jellyfish (2007) dir. Shira Geffen & Etgar Keret

Jellyfish tells the story of three very different Israeli women living in Tel Aviv whose intersecting stories weave an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life. Batya, a catering waitress, takes in a young child apparently abandoned at a local beach. Batya is one of the servers at the wedding reception of Keren, a young bride who breaks her leg in trying to escape from a locked toilet stall, which ruins her chance at a romantic honeymoon in the Caribbean. One of the guests is Joy, a Philippine chore woman attending the event with her employer, and who doesn't speak any Hebrew (she communicates mainly in English), and who is guilt-ridden after having left her young son behind in the Philippines.

Blush (2015) dir. Michal Vinik

Trying to escape her tumultuous home life, Naama, 17, indulges in alcohol and drugs, but everything changes when she meets a sexy, free-spirited new girl at school and the two become more than fast friends.

Atomic Falafel (2015) dir. Dror Shaul

Two girls from nuclear towns in Israel and Iran spill their countries most valuable secrets on Facebook while trying to prevent a nuclear crisis.

Kiss Me Before It Blows Up/Kiss Me Kosher (2020) dir. Shirel Peleg

When two generations of Israeli women fall for a German woman and a Palestinian man, chaos follows. What happens with lovers who don't fit--but do belong together?

Red Cow (2018) dir. Tsivia Barkai

Red Cow is a coming-of-age film that takes place in the days leading up to the assassination of Rabin and depicts the life of Benny, 16, orphaned from mother at birth and the only child of Joshua - a religious, right-wing extremist, in those critical junctures when she is forming her sexual, religious and political awareness.

Sand Storm (2016) dir. Elite Zexer

A Bedouin village in Northern Israel. When Jalila’s husband marries a second woman, Jalila and her daughter’s world is shattered, and the women are torn between their commitment to the patriarchal rules and being true to themselves.

[rad-fire-vixen]

So you’re a biologist? So you agree, life begins at conception? And that fetuses are human babies who should live? You’re a “griffindoor” so you care about justice and what’s right, am I correct? So it means that you wouldn’t be rude to someone over there beliefs? I must’ve seen the wrong blog insulting me. In which case, someone impersonating you.

pfft, life doesn’t begin at conception, dipshit. for humans, life is defined as the presence of complex brain activity, something that doesn’t happen until the 30th week of gestation. even if it did start at conception, which it doesn’t, here’s a little fact for you to try and wrap your tiny, smooth brain around:

no one has the right to use another person’s body to sustain themselves against that other person’s will. meaning, if my mother was dying and the only way to save her was if I gave her my blood, you literally cannot make me donate my blood unless i give my enthusiastic consent. and even then, i can revoke my consent at any time.

so even if an embryo/fetus was a person (spoiler alert: they’re fucking not), it would be subject to all laws and rights we as a species have, which includes a woman’s right to revoke her consent to sustain the parasitic clump of cells any times she fucking pleases, and remove that clump whenever she wants.

and another little factoid for you religious freaks:

forcing a woman to gestate an unwanted pregnancy is a form of sexual torture and slavery as defined under the Geneva Convention of 1947, which states that forcing a woman to gestate a pregnancy against her will is a form of sexual torture as it is taking away her autonomy and could easily kill her, sexual slavery as women bear the reproductive burden in humans, just like all mammals, and renders her vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, and is actually a war crime. so congrats, you forced birth extremists are literally the lowest humans on earth and should choke on your misogyny and die 🙂🙂

literally a screenshot from my Campbell biology textbook, 12th edition.

[eretzyisrael]

by Michael Rubin

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), New York's millennial congresswoman, believes herself the barometer of progressive morality. But by reframing Jesus as akin to Palestinian terrorists fighting Israel, she instead cloaks herself in a mantle of ignorance and moral confusion.

Conflating political and religious fervor, AOC took to Instagram on Christmas Eve to opine, "In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in the mass genocide of innocents. He was part of a targeted population being indiscriminately killed to protect an unjust leader's power," she wrote. "Thousands of years later, right-wing forces are violently occupying Bethlehem as similar stories unfold for today's Palestinians, so much so that the Christian community in Bethlehem has canceled this year's Christmas Eve celebrations."

"The entire story of Christmas and Christ himself is about standing with the poor and powerless, the marginalized and maligned, the refugees and immigrants, the outcast and misunderstood, without exception," she added.

Where to begin?

Christians have little say about whether Bethlehem holds Christmas celebrations. In 1950, Christians made up approximately 86% of the population of Bethlehem and its surrounding villages. That share of the population stayed relatively steady until Israel handed the Palestinian Authority control over Bethlehem, and then the proportion of Christians plummeted. Today, barely 13% of Bethlehem's residents are Christian. At issue was the Palestinian Authority's deep discrimination against Christians. When Muslim families moved to Bethlehem and forcibly took over Christian property, for example, the Palestinian Authority did nothing to evict the Islamist squatters, even when judges sided with the Christians.

Palestinian terrorists in Bethlehem developed the tactics that Hamas later applied in Gaza. In 2002, for example, Palestinian terrorists seized the Church of the Nativity, barricading themselves in the holy site and stealing the priests' and nuns' food and water. They essentially sought to use the sensitive, civilian site as a shield to wage war. The Palestinian gunmen desecrated the church during the six-week siege. An Israeli sniper killed one, a most-wanted terrorist, after he began firing an automatic weapon from within the church. Terrorists then set fire to a neighboring building. The siege ended after six weeks with the evacuation of some terrorists to Gaza and the remainders to Europe.

Christians in Gaza fared even worse under Hamas. Just like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Hamas imposed its extremist interpretations on Christians. It forced women to veil, banned alcohol, and sought forcibly to convert children. While Islamist propagandists note that Islam, unlike Judaism, considers Jesus a prophet, they punish Christians who suggest Jesus to be the son of God who died for mankind's sins. In 2006, 5,000 Christians lived in Gaza. Within a decade, that number declined by 80%.

Put aside her whitewashing of terror. AOC and her fellow travelers lack basic understanding of history. Jews were the indigenous population of the territory Romans renamed Palestine. Jesus was born a Jew, his last supper was a Passover Seder, and he died a Jew. Therefore, when progressive pundit Cenk Uygur posts, "If Jesus returned to the place of his birth, could he survive the night? Or would he be just another Palestinian casualty?" he is half right. Should Jesus reappear today in Bethlehem, he likely would not survive the night because, as a Jew, he would be subject to Palestinian lynching.

If AOC truly understood Christianity, she would realize that Jesus would not stand for the rape of girls and women, or the beheading and burning of children. Jesus preached love and compassion, not hostage-taking and terror. She would pray for the release of hostages and the end to terror, not peace under Hamas's yoke. If AOC understood history, she would realize Israel is the nation of migrants and refugees. While Jews are indigenous and always lived in the territory, it was the slaughter of Jews in Europe and the mass expulsion of Jews in Arab lands that led to a population influx, and that many Palestinians migrated from Syria as Jews transformed the land.

Politics should never trump principle. Unfortunately, for AOC they do. Embrace of Hamas principles condemns Jews, Christians, and moderate Muslims to pay the price.

[trans-girl-nausicaa]

Radicalization and Deradicalization

Prelude:

The New York Times, Sunday, December 21, 1924:

BERLIN, Dec. 20 — Adolph Hitler, once the demi-god of the reactionary extremists, was released on parole from imprisonment at Fortress Landsberg, Bavaria, today and immediately left in an auto for Munich. He looked a much sadder and wiser man today than last Spring when he, with Ludendorff and other radical extremists, appeared before a Munich court charged with conspiracy to overthrow the Government. 

His behavior during imprisonment convinced the authorities that, like his political organization, known as the Völkischer, was no longer to be feared. It is believed he will retire to private life, and return to Austria, the country of his birth.

The United States of America is a cannibalistic nation. 

Its businesses consume their workers, its extractive industries consume its natural resources, its prisons consume their prisoners, its “law” enforcement agencies consume their jurisdictions, its military-industrial complex consumes the available budget of its nation, its borders consume prospective refugees & immigrants, its occupying forces consume their protectorates. Its economic policies are eating up civil society’s ability to reproduce itself. Food, housing, education, medical care, bodily autonomy: The share of the US population who can access these basic necessities is shrinking.

As an empire it is running out of frontiers. Its ability to wield power on the world-stage to consume other countries’ economies through economic-imperialism seems to be rapidly coming to an end.

When the current political-economic order loses legitimacy in the eyes of civil society, or rather, loses its material ability to reproduce civil society, alternate forms of power rush to mind, and counter-establishment groups rush to grab power. When a dynasty loses the Mandate of Heaven, peasants revolt and warlords rise up.

In the USA, the prospective warlords already have established subcultures and power structures and many of them are eagerly awaiting “their day.” They have many names for it, including The Day of the Rope, when Shit Hits The Fan (SHTF), Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo, Racial Holy War (RAHOWA). But even before “their day,” and even if “their day” never comes, and even outside of formal groups, some people become “radicalized” and adopt a white supremacist “extremist” ideology that results in violence against innocent people. 

Definitions within this text:

Legal: According to the de jure, or by the letter, laws of the United States of America, even where they contradict international laws.

Terrorism: The use of violence or the threat of violence against a population to instill fear, especially for ideological or political purposes.

Extremism: Any ideology where extralegal violence or terrorism against one’s political enemies is acceptable. This includes cases where one wishes to legalize violence or terrorism against certain people. 

Radicalization: The process by which someone adopts an extremist ideology.

Deradicalization: The process by which someone rejects an extremist ideology.

Desistance: The process by which a person ceases extremist activities, regardless of whether they have an extremist ideology or not.

Former: A former member of an extremist group.

Left-wing extremism will not be addressed by this essay. The author is a Communist and opposes all false equivalences drawn between right-wing violence and left-wing violence. Violence can be used to terrorize and oppress, but it can also be used to defend and liberate.

Fundamentalist Islamic extremism (Salafism et al.) will largely not be addressed as it is beyond the scope of this essay. In the US, post-2001 it has been associated in far fewer acts of violence than white supremacists, hence it is considered to be less of a threat domestically.

Further uses of the word “extremism” and “radicalization” should be assumed to apply to white supremacist groups and ideologies unless otherwise specified.

Part 1: Radicalization

When Americans commit acts of extralegal terrorism, it is not because of a particular mental illness. There is no mental illness described in the DSM-V where becoming a Nazi and murdering people is a symptom. Certain mental illnesses can be one of many possible risk factors for radicalization, but it is radicalization itself that is required for acts of terrorism.

Radicalization is a process based on material circumstances. 

Some of these circumstances can be understood through studies on former members of extremist organizations.

Brown, Ryan Andrew, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt, What Do Former Extremists and Their Families Say About Radicalization and Deradicalization in America? Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2021:

Who Is at Risk of Joining Violent Extremist Organizations?

The interviews suggest that there is ultimately a wide range of factors, such as family dynamics and social backgrounds, that put some people at risk of radicalization. Three factors were mentioned most frequently.

Financial instability (noted in 22 of the 32 cases) Seven individuals noted that financial challenges pushed them into extremist beliefs. Interviewees also mentioned that they faced financial challenges when they participated in extremist organizations, which prompted some to work in jobs tied to the organization itself. This involvement led to delays in leaving the organization. Mental health (noted in 17 of the 32 cases) Mental health challenges were cited as obstacles that individuals had to cope with throughout their lives. Some interviewees identified overwhelming anger and other symptoms as drivers of joining an extremist organization. Trauma or posttraumatic stress disorder, substance use, and physical health issues were also mentioned, but less frequently. Victimization, stigmatization, marginalization (noted in 16 of the 32 cases) Many interviewees described how they felt one or more of these when growing up and that those experiences contributed to their radicalization. Most often, individuals mentioned feeling isolated and lonely in institutions (e.g., schools) or communities in which they were the minority race. Former white supremacists cited this factor, as did one former Islamic extremist. Only a few interviewees noted that their families held radical beliefs.

Pauline G. M. Aarten, Eva Mulder & Antony Pemberton (2018) The Narrative of Victimization and Deradicalization: An Expert View, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 41:7,557-572, DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2017.1311111:

…experiences, perceptions, and narratives of victimization frequently inspire perpetrators’ behavior. Retaliation for past victimization often underlies violence, where a sense of entitlement caused by victimization can provide adequate justification for one’s own acts. This seems particularly true of group-based violence, such as in political violence and terrorism: narratives of victimization ranging back through the years can still provide motive and cover for violence and bloodshed in the present. As Volkan shows in his book Bloodlines, these so-called chosen traumas form a moral nucleus for politically motivated action, including violence. The experience of being righteously aggrieved is a particular strong motivation for morally motivated violence, particularly if this sense of historical victimization can be connected to a present-day threat. The link between victimization experiences and radicalization can be direct, with victimization experiences serving as a causal factor in the development and extremity of religious and political views that may motivate political violence and terrorism. For example, McCauley and Moskalenko describe how personal victimization is one of the pathways, and one of main explanations given by suicide terrorists, to individual radicalization.

These risk factors must combine with another ingredient to radicalize people: Ideology.

From The Narrative of Victimization and Deradicalization: An Expert View:

Ideology as Meaning-Making Ideology is a way of making meaning: it is a way of explaining the causes of the event, the consequences on him or herself and the further development of their story. In other words, ideology is the narrative attention that is needed in certain events—such as victimization—to help construct the radical’s life story. Indeed, the way that a person responds to these key personal event memories is important to the way the person subsequently defines his or herself. An ideology becomes part of someone’s identity, but is also a means to incorporate victimization experiences in a manner that does not denote passivity and helplessness. In other words, victimization as such is often rejected as being part of the radical’s narrative identity. Instead, the victimization experience itself is transformed through embracing ideology as a way to give meaning to and deal with such negative events.

Ideology is introduced to potential extremists through various means. In some cases, they are radicalized before joining an extremist group, and in other cases they directly recruited and are radicalized via their membership in such a group.

From What Do Former Extremists and Their Families Say About Radicalization and Deradicalization in America?:

How Are Individuals Recruited into Extremist Groups? Research shows that online propaganda and recruitment are key pathways to joining extremist groups. Interviewees participating in this project cited these and other paths that led them in. "Reorienting" event (noted in 17 of the 32 cases) Most interviewees described a dramatic or traumatic event that prompted them into reconsidering previously held views and considering alternative perspectives. These included a gun possession charge, rejection by the military, a friend's suicide, and an extended period of unemployment. Some white supremacists discussed events involving black individuals. Direct and indirect recruitment (noted in 25 of the 32 cases) The cases of four white supremacists and three Islamic extremists involved top-down recruitment—that is, recruiters from extremist organizations formally and proactively recruited them. The cases of 15 white supremacists and three Islamic extremists involved bottom-up entry, in which the individuals radicalized on their own and then sought membership in an extremist group. Propaganda (noted in 22 of the 32 cases) Individuals described consuming online materials, as well as music and books, during the time of their radicalization. Social bonds (noted in 14 of the 32 cases) Interviewees described how they were motivated to join a group by the social bonds they experienced with the group. Most noted feelings of family and friendship among group members, and some discussed how they felt a new sense of power as a member of a group. Some noted how they felt rewarded for contributions to the cause and group. Several cases were identified in which individuals "graduated" from one organization to a more extreme organization.

There is no mystery of where people are being directed in their path of radicalization. 

A list of some of these groups has been collected by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Part 2: The Failure of The Conventional Response

In a liberal democracy a governed population expects the State to maintain “order” as the State necessarily maintains a monopoly on the use of force and violence. 

The history of US foreign policy yields many cases of support for extremism abroad. One can refer, for example, to Operation Gladio, Iran-Contra, Operation Condor, Operation Cyclone, the 1953 coup in Iran, and US support for General Suharto. 

The U.S. government continues to grapple with this issue today.

James Carden, The Nation, January 14, 2016:

Congressmen John Conyers of Michigan and Ted Yoho of Florida drew up an amendment to the House Defense Appropriations bill (HR 2685) that “limits arms, training, and other assistance to the neo-Nazi Ukrainian militia, the Azov Battalion.” It passed by a unanimous vote in the House.

And yet by the time November came around and the conference debate over the year-end appropriations bill was underway, the Conyers-Yoho measure appeared to be in jeopardy. And indeed it was. An official familiar with the debate told The Nation that the House Defense Appropriations Committee came under pressure from the Pentagon to remove the Conyers-Yoho amendment from the text of the bill.

Fortunately, Congress was able to ban sending arms to the Azov Battalion in 2018. 

However, the fact that the Pentagon was opposed to such a restriction raises serious questions. Why was the Pentagon opposed to such a restriction? Did the US military provide arms or training to the Azov Battalion before 2018? Given the fact that the US has sent billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine, has the Azov Battalion acquired any American weapons? What will the consequences of a well-armed Azov Movement be for postwar Ukraine?

Only time will tell. 

The U.S. government itself has apparently done an abysmal job of preventing extremist ideology among its own personnel as well.

Meghann Myers and Leo Shane III, The military knows it has a problem with domestic extremists, white supremacists, Jan 14, 2021

…a Military Times poll found that about one-third of all active-duty respondents said they saw signs of white supremacist or racist ideology in the ranks.

This tendency applies not only to ideology, but also to acts of terrorism.

Olivia Rubin, Number of Capitol riot arrests of military, law enforcement and government personnel rises to 52, April 23, 2021

At least 52 active or retired military, law enforcement, or government service employees are among the over 400 suspects arrested for their alleged actions at the Capitol, according to an ABC News investigation based on military records, court records, interviews, and publicly available news reports. The arrests include over half a dozen ex-police officers and multiple former elected officials -- and represent some of the most significant and violent charges brought in connection with the deadly insurrection.

Former military and law enforcement are valuable recruits for extremist groups, as they can provide combat training to the rest of the group. 

From White Supremacists Speak:

As was also shown in the Capitol Hill riots, some white supremacist groups recruit from both active duty and retired members of the military and police hoping to benefit from their weaponry knowledge and skills which can be imparted to the group, possible access to weapons and for their already developed sense of discipline. 

Similarly, both active duty and retired military and police recruits serve to lend an air of prestige and legitimacy to such groups, reinforce the idea that the groups are patriotic in nature and these members are also good recruiters as a result.

The police and military are dismal at preventing extremism, and the FBI is also dismal at investigating extremism. 

The FBI has a trend of engaging in entrapment, particularly against vulnerable individuals.

The practice can be seen in this especially egregious case:

Murtaza Hussain, THE FBI GROOMED A 16-YEAR-OLD WITH “BRAIN DEVELOPMENT ISSUES” TO BECOME A TERRORIST, June 15, 2023

…according to the government’s own criminal complaint, Ventura had never actually funded any terrorist group. The only “terrorist” he is accused of ever being in contact with was an undercover FBI agent who befriended him online as a 16-year-old, solicited small cash donations in the form of gift cards, and directed him not to tell anyone else about their intimate online relationship, including his family.

The arrest has shaken his family, who denied allegations that their son was a terrorist and said that he had been manipulated by the FBI. Ventura’s father, Paul Ventura, told The Intercept that Mateo suffered from childhood developmental issues and had been forced to leave his school due to bullying from other students.

“He was born prematurely, he had brain development issues. I had the school do a neurosurgery evaluation on him and they said his brain was underdeveloped,” [Paul] Ventura said. “He was suffering endless bullying at school with other kids taking food off his plate, tripping him in the hallway, humiliating him, laughing at him.”

Other than baiting innocent people into terrorism, the FBI also engages in domestic spying programs so incompetently that their own informant was reported for being suspicious.

Nina Totenberg, Supreme Court to hear arguments on FBI's surveillance of mosques, November 8 2021

It all started in 2006, in Orange Country, Calif. A home-grown terrorist on the FBI's most-wanted list had come out of a mosque there, and relations between the faithful and the FBI had become so fraught that the head of the Los Angeles FBI office, Stephen Tidwell, decided he should do a town hall at one of the Orange County mosques.

He picked the Islamic Center of Irvine, and repeatedly sought at the meeting to assure the audience that the FBI was not monitoring them. If the bureau is going to come to the mosque, he told them, "We will tell you we're coming for the very reason we don't want you to think you're being monitored."

But even as he was saying that, the FBI was recruiting an undercover informant to infiltrate the mosque and catch anyone who might be recruiting and training terrorists. The informant was named Craig Monteilh, a trainer at a local gym who had a checkered past. He posed as a Muslim convert at the Irvine mosque, one of the largest in southern California.

As Sam Black reported for This American Life, "The FBI later confirmed in court that Craig was an undercover informant. A district attorney also stated in court that Craig did work with Agent Kevin Armstrong and that Craig had given the FBI 'very very valuable information.'"

The bureau also has confirmed that Monteilh secretly recorded tons of audio and video of the people he was making friends with at the mosque.

'You're doing the right thing'

Soon he started pummeling his new friends with questions about jihad, Black reported, to the point that some people from the mosque started to hear complaints about it.

Monteilh would subsequently confirm that he eventually did much more than ask questions about jihad.

"I said we should carry out a terrorist attack in this country," he told This American Life. "We should bomb something."

Monteilh said that to two of the men he'd been hanging out with, and they freaked out. They wanted to report what they had heard, but they didn't know how to go about it. So they contacted Hassam Ayloush, director of the Council on American Islamic Relations in Southern California.

"I told them, 'Calm down...you're doing the right thing. You're calling authorities. So even if the guy is planning on anything, you have nothing to worry about. You're not accomplice,'" Ayloush recalled.

Now, Ayloush was the person who had arranged that earlier town hall with Los Angeles FBI chief Tidwell, so he called Tidwell to report Monteilh's threats. But oddly, Tidwell, after thanking him for the tip, didn't even ask for the alleged terrorist's name.

In case you didn’t catch that, Tidwell didn’t ask for the alleged terrorist’s name because he already knew that it was his own informant who was being reported. 

It is obvious that white supremacist extremists should not receive leniency in investigation or sentencing for acts of violence and terrorism, but suffering state violence can also serve as re-radicalizing experiences for them.

Incarceration of those at risk of recruitment by white supremacist extremists feeds into another huge problem: white supremacist prison gangs.

Anti-Defamation League, White Supremacist Prison Gangs: 2022 Assessment, October 24 2022:

There are currently more than 75 different white supremacist prison gangs in at least 38 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, as well as in major county jails. They range from relatively small local gangs all the way to multi-state gangs with a thousand or more members.

Today, white supremacist prison gangs are one of the most active and violent segments of the white supremacist movement in the United States. Most states have at least one organized white supremacist prison gang; many have more. Such prison gangs are typically larger than other types of white supremacist groups, with memberships that often are in the hundreds, with a few, like the Aryan Circle and Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, reaching 1,500 or more members. Moreover, most prison gangs have substantial numbers of associates (including women) and hangers-on in addition to formally admitted members.

White supremacists are responsible for the majority of extremist-related murders in the United States almost every year—and members of white supremacist prison gangs commit a substantial number of them.  In the last decade alone, as noted in the COE report Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2021, white supremacist prison gang members were responsible for nearly a third (76) of white supremacist-related killings. Moreover, because murders behind prison walls are not always well reported, the true number is likely higher still.

Over the years, prison officials have tried breaking gang members up across different prisons—or even different prison systems—only to see such tactics result in gang spread. Other officials have tried to segregate gang members in a particular facility or to put documented gang members in administrative segregation—i.e., solitary. These tactics have had some success but are less feasible now due to lawsuits and administrative decisions limiting solitary confinement. More progressively, some prison systems have instituted gang exit programs, but though they may benefit individuals, they do little to hinder the overall operations of such gangs. 

The original Aryan Brotherhood, based primarily in the California and federal penal systems, has illustrated the extreme resiliency of such groups, surviving despite every tactic used against it, from racketeering indictments to solitary confinements. Members still found ways to communicate and, using proxy gangs, to continue their operations. Authorities have not yet figured out the best ways to combat white supremacist prison gangs.

From White Supremacists Speak:

Gang and prison-based white extremist groups were the most violent and, in some cases, follow a “blood in, blood out” recruitment strategy meaning one can expect to only exit the group by dying.

The US Government’s efforts at reducing white supremacist (and Islamic fundamentalist) extremism have been inadequate at best and counterproductive at worst.

Part 3: The Endgame

There are various methods by which extremist groups maintain their hold on their members. 

Anne Speckhard & Molly Ellenberg, White Supremacists Speak: Recruitment, Radicalization & Experiences of Engaging and Disengaging from Hate Groups, May 17, 2021

Tattooing permanent markers of white supremacy on one’s body is common and makes it more difficult to re-enter society as these marks of hatred are feared and reviled by others.  Hence tattoo removal may be an integral part of rehabilitation and reentry.

Of those white supremacists who turned to psychotherapy for help exiting and rehabilitating from white supremacy groups, some found their therapists afraid of them and lacking relevant knowledge. Others deeply benefitted from addressing both the adverse traumatic experiences that had led them to being vulnerable to join in the first place as well as those they encountered in the group.

Reciprocal radicalization plays an important role in further radicalizing white supremacists and keeping them involved in their groups. Many referenced violent interactions with Antifa as further radicalizing events that influenced them.

Doxxing has a serious effect on white supremacists causing some to leave their groups for fear of losing jobs, being arrested, etc. Likewise, the effect of significant others threatening to or actually leaving their white supremacists partners caused some to reevaluate the worth of staying with their group.

White supremacist extremists have to maintain psychological investment in the group, a sense of belonging, a sense of unity against perceived persecution. Getting in fights with antifa reinforces their ingroup-outgroup dynamic and allows them to bond through shared trauma. 

Clearly, getting beaten, however badly, does not cure someone of their extremism. The “Fourth Degree” rank for members of the Proud Boys is earned by “get[ting] arrested or get[ting] in a serious violent fight for the cause.” 

From White Supremacists Speak:

Lukas Bals, a former member of the German group Die Rechte, similarly articulates,

The reason why I stayed so long in [the] far right after it, they give me a reason, an identity. I know where I belong. If you have an enemy, you know who are your friends. My comrades are my friends, we have the same enemy. From one day to another, you have so many friends, I like it […] Being told I have worth, Lukas, you are worthy, you are worthy by birth. I didn’t have to do something first, I’m just German.

Killing a member of an extremist group could potentially make the rest of the group tighter-knit through shared trauma. Furthermore, it is natural for an escalation of violence to be reciprocated. 

However, I am not advocating for pacifism. Certain people, such as members of certain religious orders, are strict pacifists, but these people should be considered especially vulnerable and in need of protection from extremists. 

Rather, certain social dynamics are inevitable. Just as a white person with a certain background, with childhood trauma, with substance abuse issues, or other risk factors may be more likely to join a white supremacist group if recruited, being a white supremacist is a risk factor for getting attacked. Engaging in a white supremacist gathering is a direct provocation to violence. It’s the principle of “talk shit, get hit.” 

White supremacist marches and gatherings are preludes to violence in and of themselves. Certain extremists, and groups of extremists, attack peaceful counter-protesters and innocent bystanders, particularly persons who are part of marginalized demographics. Therefore it is advantageous for extremist gatherings to be prevented, such as through doxxing and information leaks, or dispersed as quickly as possible, such as through overwhelming force. 

Acts of violence and subterfuge against white supremacist extremists are only one aspect of a necessary socio-political struggle that must be undertaken against them.

Beyond the fact that apparatuses such as law enforcement agencies, the prison-industrial complex, and US border security are functionally white supremacist, a growing number of government officials explicitly espouse white supremacist extremist ideologies.

Part 4: Desistance and Deradicalization

The ideal outcome in any case of an individual white supremacist is that they can be deradicalized, that is, that their mind is changed and they reject white supremacist ideals. Failing that, the minimum positive outcome is desistance, that is, that they cease all white supremacist activities and separate themselves from any white supremacist groups they are a part of.

But how is this accomplished?

From What Do Former Extremists and Their Families Say About Radicalization and Deradicalization in America?

Why and How Do People Deradicalize and Leave Extremist Organizations?

To date, there is no standard model of how people turn away from or reject previously held extremist views or why they leave extremist groups. Interviewees cited many reasons and ways they turned away, but two in particular stood out in the study.

Disillusionment and burnout (noted in 14 of the 32 cases) These feelings were noted in cases concerning 13 white supremacists and one Islamic extremist. All interviewees expressed that former members felt disappointment. Hypocrisy or other negative behaviors were cited as reasons for these feelings and, ultimately, for leaving. Individual or group intervention (noted in 22 of the 32 cases) Interventions were typically conducted intentionally in the study sample. Individuals who helped people exit extremist groups were acquaintances, life partners, other former radicals, friends, journalists, children, other family members, religious authorities, current radicals, therapists, and school officials. The interventions consisted of diverse cultural and demographic exposures, emotional support, and financial or domestic stability. Some cases highlighted noxious or negative impact from radical individuals, which could be described as an inadvertent intervention. In 11 cases, the intervention was orchestrated and conducted by an institution, such as religious groups, law enforcement, and secular nonprofits. Twenty-two of the 32 cases also described processes of self-driven exiting from extremism. Deradicalization processes (noted in 20 of the 32 cases) Interviewees discussed how they or their family members or friends had undergone psychological or social processes of deradicalization. Twelve of these 20 cases were activists, currently engaged in helping others deradicalize. Six cases concerned individuals who had formally exited a radical organization but were still undergoing cognitive and emotional deradicalization. Failed interventions (noted in 19 of the 32 cases) When interviewees indicated that some interventions had failed, these cases most often involved family members who tried to intervene. Punitive interventions by law enforcement also often led to increased extremism. Upon leaving extremist organizations, six cases described feeling drawn back to organizations or ideologies. These interviewees discussed how they or their family members and friends missed the thrill and feelings of belonging, as well as other psychological benefits experienced by being part of an extremist group.

There are many activists, especially former white supremacists, who are engaged in deradicalization efforts, focusing on one individual at a time. However noble, these efforts are dwarfed in scale by the problem they are facing. I do not know of any existing program focusing on desistance or deradicalization that could be scaled up to meet the challenge. Even if they had infinite funding, there are a comparatively small number of formers and other activists who are able and willing to engage in such efforts. We must keep in mind that these processes can be long and painful, and each white supremacist who has the potential to be deradicalized is different, with their own unique history and needs. On that note, what percent of white supremacists even have the potential to be deradicalized? That number is unknown, and may be impossible to determine. 

Christian Picciolini, a former neo-Nazi and cofounder of the deradicalization organization Life After Hate, offers a different view.

The process of deradicalizing youth needs an overhaul. A former white supremacist explains how, Callum Borchers and Allison Hagan, December 6, 2021:

After 20 years of working one on one with hundreds of people trying to leave hate movements, Picciolini is calling for a shift in focus.

“If we don't switch focus to focus on prevention, the process of radicalization is quickly overcoming us,” he says. “And we're seeing too many people line up at our door for help disengaging when we really should be focusing much more heavily on prevention so future generations aren't moved toward that movement.”

Young people are most at risk for radicalization because they’re searching for “a sense of identity, community and purpose” — but older generations need help too, he says.

People in the U.S. need to get to the source of what’s pushing people toward extremism and shut off what he calls the “bigot spigot,” he says.

“Until we fix that,” he says, “there's no amount of de-radicalization or disengagement work that can put a dent in the number of people that are becoming radicalized.”

Trauma — which Picciolini refers to as life’s “potholes” during speaking engagements — leads people to find toxic identities and communities, he says.

Social media campaigns won’t fix this deeply ingrained cycle, he says: People need resources like access to mental health care, education and job security to fill these voids instead of finding harmful alternatives.

When people deeply immersed in hate groups approach Picciolini for help, he connects with professionals in the communities such as therapists, counselors, life coaches, teachers or even parents, he says.

“We have to learn to utilize the professionals that already exist in our communities,” he says.

Since announcing the end of the Free Radicals Project, Picciolini says he’s received support because people understand the need for a shift toward prevention to cut off the pipeline to radicalization.

“But also, people recognize that doing this work is traumatic,” he says. “Sitting in front of people to discuss their traumas, the things that happen to them in life, can also be a traumatizing effect on the people who listen.”

Poverty, mental health treatment, child welfare, social alienation, substance abuse issues, mass incarceration, far-right propaganda in mass media & social media, underlying structural white supremacy, environments saturated with casual racism and bigotry… All of these issues and more not only raise the risk of far-right radicalization in certain individuals, but they are also general social ills that harm all of us. 

It is possible that one of the most effective things we could do to combat radicalization would be good for all of us: Focusing on reducing these risk factors.

But reducing these risk factors relies on broad social, political, economic, and even religious change.

Do you believe that the prevalence of these risk factors is going to decrease or increase in the near future?

If they increase, then the general rate of far-right radicalization should be expected to increase as well. 

I'm not going to take the liberal stance and merely state policy recommendations that will never be adopted by the aged capitalists in our government while the culture war threatens to transition into a civil war.

If a civil war is imminent, then we should become ready to defend ourselves from white supremacist extremists with lethal force.

Even if you don't think a civil war is imminent, then you should at least have a plan for what you're going to do in the case that you're present at the scene of a hate crime or an act of stochastic terrorism from a white supremacist extremist.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jess Piper at The View from Rural Missouri Substack:

When I scanned the code, it took me straight to a Google drive. I was hesitant immediately. The first folder in the drive is titled, “Arkansas Abortion Amendment Myth vs. Fact” and that was pretty much a dead giveaway; the lady stopping folks headed to an event intent on signing the abortion petition was going to hit them with disinformation first.

Another folder in the Google drive was something called “Decline to Sign.” This graphic included bulleted points. Among them: *No licensing for healthcare professionals at abortion medical facilities. *No ultrasound required before an abortion to determine fetal age and location. *Would make it harder to combat sex trafficking and child abuse. *No health and safety standards imposed on abortion clinics. Wow. That was a lot of weird and incorrect information. I would think a doctor would know the location of a fetus, and forcing a person who has been sex trafficked into delivering a pregnancy is just about the most disgusting and cruel act I can imagine. The rest of the points are at least stretching the truth if not flat out lies. Was the woman standing in that parking lot just some solitary extremist trying to dissuade voters from signing a petition? Some woman who got a crazy idea, created a Google drive, printed up cardstock with a QR code, and decided to lie to folks on their way to sign a petition in a small town in Arkansas?

No. “Decline to Sign” is a coordinated movement and we saw it in Missouri as well. It is well-funded and not at all grassroots. They have signs, sites, and lawmakers who are bought and paid for to do their dirty work. I noticed “Decline to Sign” popping up on social media from Missouri GOP State Senators and Representatives. The messaging was exactly the same. Some Reps even started tweeting out videos of themselves, sitting on the same couch in front of the same bookcase, reading a script about “out of state” folks coming to Missouri to gather signatures and steal identities or allow abortions up to birth. It was creepy because it was so scripted and the deliveries were so automated. The politicians also had those dead eyes you need to straight up lie to someone. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you it is Orwellian. Nearly the exact same words were seeping from the dry mouths of several extremist Missouri lawmakers.

There were nearly a dozen who were recruited for the videos, but here are just three examples: Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman, Representative Doug Richey and Representative Justin Sparks. Each one took their time to stare into the camera and lie about the abortion petition. The videos gave me chills and let me know we are up against a machine that wants to take away bodily autonomy from everyone, and keep us from fighting back with ballot measures to return bodily autonomy. The good news? Missourians had just over 90 days to gather 180,000 signatures to put abortion on the ballot. Friends, we collected 380,000 signatures! Read that again…we gathered over 200k more signatures than we needed to put the measure on the ballot in November. We still have obstacles to returning bodily autonomy to Missourians, though. The GOP is planning to take away one person, one vote and strip us of the ability to pass Constitutional amendments. They are planning to take away a simple majority vote to pass amendments. That will be a disaster for Missourians and I’ll write more on it in another post.

Jess Piper writes on her Substack the deceptive "decline to sign" movement touted by anti-abortion extremists.

[lady-corrine]

But somehow it is Rhaenyra — Rhaenyra who was forced into her marriage with a gay man, Rhaenyra whose sons were recognized and accepted by Laenor and Corlys as true Velaryons, Rhaenyra whose sons were, above everything else, her heirs, through her and her alone — that is the villain and the monster, and unworthy to rule.

That's it. Right there.

Greenies don't seem to get (or just ignore) that Laenor was A GAY MAN. Not straight. Not bi. But GAY. He had ZERO attraction to women. And Rhae knew and accepted that and CONSENTED for Laenor to have his lovers while she had her own, which LAENOR ALSO CONSENTED AS WELL.

As heir, Rhaenyra NEEDED to have kids. Regardless on if she was traumatized by child birth to her grandma and mom BOTH dying in childbirth. (Greenies also seem to forget that Nyra NEVER wanted kids as well. They make excuses for Alicent that she was a teen mom and probably didn't want kids, esp at 15 or 16 which is why she is so bad at parenting while Nyra is shown to be loving while previously never wanting marriage or motherhood) and since Laenor didn't desire her, she found a LITERAL plan b.

She couldn't trust anyone else bc the court was already hostile toward her for being a female heir so whose to say one day the bio dad would get tired and claim them????

Sorry for replying so late 💜

They just ignore it to fuel their hatred for Rhaenyra. Because just like you said, Laenor was a gay man, and, even more, the book makes it clear that Laenor never showed any interest in women:

This brings into discussion two separate, albeit very much connected, things:

First is how the whole council (and Viserys first and foremost, of course, since his word was final) was an idiotic group of idiotic men that placed Rhaenyra in an impossible situation from the very beginning. This wasn't a case of not knowing Laenor's sexuality, of some plot trying to keep the truth hidden until after the wedding, of pretense or lying — no, Laenor's sexuality was known to everyone. It was known he didn't express any interest in any women, it was known he was gay and had male lovers.

And yet the whole council simply went: you know what would be completely ideal for Rhaenyra? What would make her position so much easier? A man that loves her and is in love with her and actively asked to marry her and sought her hand in marriage? No. They decided that, somehow, the perfect answer is Laenor.

Which brings us to the second point of all this: for Rhaenyra to have those silver haired children that the Greens and Velaryon extremists cry about like they are some medieval peasants, it would have meant for her to rape Laenor. To not care at all about Laenor's feelings and desires and just repeatedly, robotically, force him and herself to sleep together until they produced a child.

But above all else, they hate that Rhaenyra actively sought to have pleasure herself when having sex. To not just sit there and endure it and count the seconds until it was finished.

They would rather see Rhaenyra as this monstrous gorgon that abuses her husband to fulfill her "duty" (someone take away this word from the greens). As this robot that clenches her mouth and suffers sleeping with her gay husband. And somehow this, for the Greens, is the better decision that proves a better character. This makes a better heir to the throne in their vision 🥴

Rhaenyra did the best she could with the horrible circumstances she was given. She allowed Laenor freedom, she allowed him to be with whoever he wanted. Jace, Luke and Joffrey were raised with love and not wanting for anything in terms of affection. And, mind you, the scrutiny was never on Laenor for his lovers. It was still always on Rhaenyra.

[hillaryisaboss]

“If it is your personal belief, based on whatever, that there is no legitimate basis for abortion — even if you're in the hospital and you're bleeding out, even if you're told that you have cancer and chemotherapy is necessary and therefore an abortion is necessary — no matter what, you get to make that decision. I might not agree with it, but you get to make that decision.

But you, and those who support your particular point-of-view, cannot dictate that decision to every other woman.

In a pluralistic democracy like ours, the court in Roe v. Wade said the government is not going to make this decision.

If these Supreme Court justices and the very extreme Republicans who support them really cared about children, why don't they support health care for every pregnant woman in our country? Why do they let a big state like Texas deny health care, because they won't expand Medicaid, to mothers who want to have their children? And they therefore have the highest rate of maternal mortality in America.

Why don't they support child care, so that, if a mother is going to be forced to give birth to a child, that mother will be able to support herself and her child because she will be able to go out and work. And the list goes on.

This is not, at the end of the analysis, about anything other than controlling women with some kind of patriarchal view of society that they want to impose on the rest of us.

Democrats need to be willing to point out the extremism that has captured the Republican Party and to make it clear this is not about special interest groups. This is not about one group of Americans vs. another. This is about the rise of authoritarianism within our own country.

This is a direct attack on our democracy.

Americans took for granted that, despite opposition to reproductive choice, it would not go away.

There was a complacency, an acceptance.

During the 2016 campaign, I gave speeches about this. I talked about the dangers that would be posed to this right and other rights if my opponent were elected, because of the promises he'd made to the extreme factions within the Republican Party.

And, honestly, people didn't believe me.

Their attitude was, oh, that sounds really farfetched. That will never happen.

Oftentimes, in politics, the entrenched status-quo position is not as vigorously defended as the opposition position. And so those who wanted to overturn Roe, those who wanted to turn the clock back, were very motivated. And those who said, oh, well, that's settled law, including people sitting on the court, when asked in their confirmation hearings, gave every reason to reassure the American public — telling us they follow past precedent.

Either they have had some kind of brain change, or they were deliberately misleading the American people.

So, yes, the energy was on the side to overturn. Now I hope that energy will shift to the side of those of us who want to protect the progress we have made.

This is a direct assault on the dignity, rights, and even lives of American women.

It is heartbreaking to see this court dominated by extremists who do not represent the majority of Americans, men and women, who believe that this is a right that women should have — doing all they can to set the clock back.

This is the first time, perhaps, that I'm aware of, that a right will actually be taken away.

So, what can be done?

There has to be a recognition that, as horrible assault as this is on women's rights, it is perhaps only the beginning of this court trying to undo so much of the progress of the last 50 years.

Now saying there is no right to privacy — that Roe was decided wrongly.

Roe followed a case called Griswold, which struck down a law prohibiting married heterosexual couples from having access to contraception.

It served as the basis of decriminalizing consenting sexual behavior between gay people who were adults and able to express their own feelings toward one another. It certainly underpins gay marriage. So, this is a real threat to our democracy, not just to the rights of women.

I don't care what political party or religion you are — the question is, who decides?

Is the government going to be in your bedroom?

Is the government going to be making these decisions?

We're only at the beginning of this terrible travesty that this court has inflicted on us.

The ultimate goal of the decision is truly to erase the progress that women have made from the last 150 years.

There are so many things about it that are deeply distressing, but women are going to die.

Women will die.

These justices were selected for this very purpose.

You’ve got to give the other side lots points for their relentlessness, their total commitment to getting what they want done, regardless of who is hurt by it and regardless of who is stripped of rights.

Everybody now understands that this is not necessarily the only effort that we're going to see this court undertake to turn back the clock on civil rights and gay rights and women's rights beyond abortion.”

—Hillary Clinton

[birdlord]

This brings us to the most troubling suggestion made by the natural childbirth movement: that giving birth is what women are for—their bodily destiny, their logical purpose, and in some sense their highest reason for being. It is here, in its rapturous faith in women’s reproductive role, that the movement begins to sound like the anti-choice zealots whose regressive and sexist ideas about pregnancy and childbirth now carry the force of law. As Yarrow asserts in a chapter called “Childbearing Hips,” women “[need] more stories that acknowledge the truth: we were born to birth.” Although Yarrow is pro-choice, how different is this contention from the one offered by the anti-choice extremist Laura Strietmann, who argued that pregnancy is not really dangerous even for little girls impregnated as the result of rape, because “a woman’s body is designed to carry life”? Women are not “designed” objects; they are not mere vessels for the reproduction of humanity or animals marching toward their natural destiny. They are people—thinking, feeling, and intelligent human beings, even while they give birth. The natural childbirth movement is responding to a real concern: the justified distrust of the medical establishment by women and their reasonable discomfort with many of the ways that labor and delivery are—and historically have been—mismanaged and misunderstood. But practitioners like Dick-Read and Gaskin do not alleviate the suffering of women in labor. They simply deny it, burying it under layers of romanticizing naturalization, like so many paisley scarves.

[icedmetaltea]

Welp Alabama just passed a bill that makes it so embryos are seen as humans and IVF patients can't get treatments now. This is absolutely a stepping stone law that will lead to more things like taking away all forms of birth control from AFAB people and possibly forced pregnancies down the line… I want to get out of this fucking state as soon as possible. My parents don't get back till the 30th and I'm just here vibrating with anxiety, I just want to be back in VA. Yes it was scary living alone but it's even scarier living here and knowing if I got raped I'd probably be forced to carry some rapist's baby

How long before periods are seen as "killing potential babies" and forcibly impregnating anyone who gets a period?? It sounds outlandish but seeing the theocracy gradually take over ever since Roe v Wade was disbanded I'm not gonna say it's out of the realm of possibility. Conservatives want any excuse to fuck kids anyway Besides the children of raped women usually end up poor and uneducated, who are easier to indoctrinate into their cultish views and become minimum wage slaves, or end up in prison and become literal slaves (they're in the process of making homelessness illegal fyi, which is also absolutely bc you can force someone in prison to work for literal pennies) the judge who ruled in favor of this is also a far-right extremist, which comes to the shock of nobody