#history of canadian prisons

[theworldofwars]

360th Prisoners of War Company. A goal scored against the British escort at football; 1919.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"The most notorious internee held in any of the Canadian [internment] camps was Leon Trotsky. When news reached North America in March 1917 that the Russian tsar, Nicholas II, had abdicated, Trotsky was living in exile in New York City. He immediately arranged to return to his homeland. On March 27 he boarded the Norwegian freighter Christianiafjord with his wife and two sons, bound for Petrograd. Trotsky had been under surveillance in New York where British authorities took note of his departure. The situation in Russia was confused, but the Allies knew that socialists like Trotsky wanted to withdraw Russian troops from the war. It was widely believed that they were enemy agents funded by the Germans to divide the Allied war effort. At Halifax, the British naval commander received orders to board the Christianiafjord when it arrived and to detain Trotsky and the other Russians with whom he was travelling.

On April 1 the freighter steamed into Halifax harbour. Naval officers marched Trotsky and his comrades to jail cells in the Citadel, the imposing stone fortification overlooking the city. Then, while Natalia Sedova Trotskaya and the boys were lodged with a police employee in town, the men were interned in a prisoner-of-war camp, a converted iron foundry at Amherst near the New Brunswick border.

Trotsky was not cowed by his treatment. Quite the opposite: he defiantly petitioned the Russian government and the British prime minister, protesting his illegal detention. Meanwhile, he began to harangue his fellow prisoners with speeches, in fluent German, proclaiming the need for a revolution in Germany. “That month the concentration camp very much resembled a perpetual mass meeting,” he later wrote. To the dismay of officials, he became a hero to the 800 other detainees. He was “by far the most popular man in the whole camp,” the commander reported. Another officer recalled that Trotsky “gave us a lot of trouble at the camp, and if he had stayed there any longer [...] would have made communists of all the German prisoners.”

Trotsky was a citizen of a country with which Great Britain, and therefore Canada, was an ally in the fighting, and he was travelling with perfectly legal permits and visas. His internment was giving Canada a black eye internationally. At rallies in New York and Russia, speakers denounced Canada as a tyranny, no better than the Tsarist autocracy. Finally, after a month in confinement, he won his release. A crowd of cheering prisoners lined his path as he walked to the gate, followed by an impromptu camp band doing its best to play the Internationale. And with that, Leon Trotsky’s sojourn in Canada ended."

- Daniel Francis, Seeing Reds: the Red Scare of 1918-1919, Canada’s First War on Terror. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2011. p. 17-18.

[genderkoolaid]

https://www.tumblr.com/allthecanadianpolitics/754296573122560000/he-died-in-hamiltons-jail-within-24-hours-of

A Canadian trans man is dead, some news agencies are calling him "she/her" because he still used those with his family.

Thank you for sending this.

If any of y'all for whatever reason want to get extremely angry, check out the article on Jamie from the Hamilton Spectator which bends over backwards to degender this man at every possible turn until halfway through when they drop in that he "identified as male." Then the CHCH article has his family being like "well he identified as male but we prefer using she/her :)"

Idk if this goes against some news reporting rules or whatever but I do not give a fuck about the family's preferences for a dead person's pronouns. I'm not trying to demonize the family but sorry! Their preference for misgendering him does not mean it's right to write articles about his death where you do everything possible to avoid just fucking calling him a man.

I don't think it mentions it in the CBC article that post links but it seems like he died in women's jail too. Also apparently this jail has a history of inmates dying in custody from overdoses.

God it would be nice if prisons stop putting trans people in inhumane solitary confinement to "protect them." Also if prisons stopped being used entirely. Also if people started talking more about how vulnerable trans men are, SYSTEMICALLY.

[hagoftheholler]

Since somebody decided to come into my ask box whining that I'm using a "much more important issue as leverage to demand people care about other bullshit", allow me to give y'all some educational content regarding Indigenous women/two-spirited folk, the history of taking their children away and forced sterilization of Indigenous women/two-spirited folk.

Residential schools were set up by both the Canadian and American governments, and administered by churches. They were used to take Indigenous children from their families to be raised by white Christians as a means to "kill the Indian and save the man". In other words: they wanted Indigenous children dead or abiding by white, Christian standards. If these children did anything "too native", they were punished harshly. They weren't even allowed to speak their native languages without being punished.

The parents of these children had no choice but to give up their children, because they could face prison time or death if they resisted. Many Indigenous children never made it back home, or died trying to find their way back home. The last residential school closed in 1996. Just to give ya an idea on exactly how long ago that is: it is the same year Pokemon debuted.

The Canadian residential school sites are being searched for unmarked graves of Indigenous children, and thousands of these deceased children have been found. Here is a link to a 45 minute long documentary in which a woman talks with her auntie about her experiences living at a residential school.

That wasn't enough, though, because Indigenous women/two-spirited folk were forcibly sterilized for decades without prior knowledge or consent. The reasoning behind these forced sterilizations were based around eugenics and racism. This continued the genocide that has been going on for centuries.

Moving on to what is happening today, the ICWA or Indian Child Welfare Act was established to protect Indigenous children from being displaced from their tribes. It helps ensure that if Indigenous children cannot stay with their parents or extended family, they will be placed in a qualified home and stay connected to their tribe. ICWA is now being targeted by the government, because they think they should have more say in what happens to Indigenous children. This is just continuing the cultural genocide of Indigenous people. Here is a petition for protecting the ICWA. Here is a linktree that has various links on the ICWA and what is currently happening.

Yes, this situation is just as important as roe v wade. I stand by my statement that if you were outraged by the overturning of roe v wade, then you should be equally as outraged by this. Because while Indigenous and other POC were telling us that the overturning of roe v wade was very possible and that we needed to pay attention, many (white) people were twiddling their thumbs thinking "oh, they're overreacting, roe v wade has been established for so long, they would never overturn it". Well, it happened, and now the government is going after Indigenous children for the some of the same reasons they went after roe v wade.

[fdelopera]

When the Jews of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp were liberated on April 20th 1945, they sang Hatikvah. At the end of the anthem, British Army Chaplain Rabbi Leslie Hardman, cried out, “Am Yisrael Chai – the Children of Israel still live!” (x)

Am Yisrael Chai is a very old phrase. Hundreds of years, at least. It states that the Jewish people are still living, despite every attempt that Romans, Christians, and Muslims have made to mass murder us over the last 2000 years of world history.

We are still here.

The Jewish people are still here, despite every attempt that has been made to culturally appropriate our history, our culture, and our religion.

When you read the "Old Testament," you are reading OUR Tanakh. You are reading a JEWISH sacred text. When you read about Joseph, and Moses, those are JEWISH figures. They are Yoseph (יוסף), and Moshe Rabbeinu (משה רבנו). Moshe was not a Christian, and he was not Muslim. Moshe was a Jew. Never forget that.

Am Yisrael Chai: The Story Behind The Bergen-Belsen Recording

by Milad Doroudian (x)

"Am Yisrael Chai!", shouted Rabbi L.H. Hardman who had finished conducting the first pre-Shabbat sermon that many of the Bergen-Belsen camp survivors had not seen for 6 years. Although weakened by hunger, disease, and the death of their loved ones, on the 20th of April, 1945 many whose spirits still remained strong began to sing “Hatikvah” ("The Hope"), so the world can hear that they were there, and they survived.

There is a very good chance that you have heard this emotional recording, but have you ever stopped to truly consider the story behind it? Despite the sadness, yet immense hope in the voices of the singers: Who were they? How did they get there? And perhaps most importantly: What happened to them?

These questions are almost impossible to answer as history does not afford us many recorded accounts. Yet, this was the case in 1945. After the death of 6 million Jews in Europe, and an atrocious war which took the lives of 65 million. Confusion was normalcy. It was those amid the confusion such as Patrick Gordon Walker, a reporter for the BBC, who wanted to record the stories of what happened that managed to collect the few stories that we have left today. Nothing could have prepared him, or the soldiers who liberated the camp days earlier, for the horrors that lay inside.

The Bergen Belsen camp , which was established in 1941 in the middle of Germany served as a death camp for Jews, homosexuals and political prisoners. The exact number of how many people died during those years is not known, however when the British and Canadian 11th armoured Division liberated it, they found 60,000 people, most of which were extremely emaciated and suffering from typhus.

Walker entered the camp five days after its liberation to find people who could no longer possibly function because of hunger, only to be greeted with the sounds of “God Save The King” played on an detuned piano in order to honour the British and Canadian liberators. People were joyous, despite their condition and the fact that many were still dying. In fact, they sang, and talked with their liberators who gave them food, and comforted them by reminding them that they were human beings.

“What I saw there will always haunt me” said Walker in his famous broadcast, and this was the case as there were truly more dead in the camp than living. One soldier’s account of how he saw a mother and child dying of sickness right in front of him, was only one of hundreds when the soldiers first found the abandoned camp.

Yet, perhaps what is more interesting is not simply the survivors who sang the Hatikvah (The Hope) after liberation, but those who did when they were being led to their deaths. The account of Jan Michaels, a Polish Jew who saw a group of Jewish Czechs singing the future national anthem of Israel, while they were on their way to the gas chambers. Michaels said that the SS guards could not stop them from singing, as their hope was unstoppable even in the face of certain death.

Yet, why is this so important to remember?

However melancholic it is to remind ourselves of these horrible stories, it is essential that we remember all those who have perished, as well as those who lived on to sing the Hatikvah after their liberation, as it is was their hope to be reunited with those they loved in Eretz Tsion. Now, today, Israel still faces enemies who want its people abolished, but that will never again be possible.

To answer the first questions:

Who were they? They were just like you and I. How did they get there? Through unbelievable xenophobia, hatred and ignorance. What happened to them? They live on in all Jewish hearts, and more importantly they live on through Israel.

[tobiasdrake]

So, the film opens with the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in WWII. A scene I'd love to hear a Japanese perspective on because it feels weird to me.

So, they see two enemy planes flying towards Nagasaki which is that city across the bay. Immediately, the entire camp goes into a total panic.

Soldiers are fleeing the camp on foot.

The officers all get together to commit seppuku together.

Yashida releases all the POWs from their camp. He does this by slicing off the padlock with a katana. I don't know the physics well enough to know if that would actually hold up, but I do know they're setting him up to be an Anime Warrior Superperson so I'm not going to question it too much.

They also take a moment to note that Yashida made this choice in the heat of the moment. There were no orders to release the prisoners; He's just demonstrating his own kind heart. This is conveyed through a guard in a tower shooting at the escaping POWs until Yashida yells at him to hold his fire.

Logan, down in a pit, apparently knows a lot about atomic bombs. Enough to know that a bomb delivered by a B-29 to Nagasaki will wipe out this military base across the bay. He calls out the type of plane specifically like, "Oh yeah, that's the A-Bomb plane, those deliver A-Bombs".

Logan is a Canadian foot soldier who's been imprisoned in a well for an indeterminate length of this war. Would he be able to see an American B-29 in the distance and go "Yep, that means an atom bomb is incoming; better hide in a well to avoid the blast radius."

Then the bomb goes off.

Yashida looks directly into the flash and is totally fine. Um.

Logan then grabs Yashida and jumps back into the well with him. He can't seal the well, so he grabs a big chunk of metal that I guess was just lying around and throws that over Yashida.

Fortuanately, metal is famous for its ability to remain cold under intense heat. So while Logan gets barbecued by atomic fire, Yashida is safe and sound save for one part of his face where the heat got in through a small hole in the metal plate.

Yashida gets up and watches a smoking husk of meat regenerate back into a man. Reasonably freaked out by this, he tries to exit the well, but Logan stops him.

Logan looks up at the sky and sees all the nuclear fallout in the air. So he makes Yashida stay down here in an open-air hole in the ground where the fallout can't reach them.

Honestly, Logan seems to know a startling amount about nuclear bombs. Was he on the Manhattan Project?

This is all....

I dunno. This is the Nagasaki bombing, so Hiroshima just happened three days ago. So it's not like they wouldn't know what's coming. But I don't know. This whole "OH MY GOD THE AMERICANS ARE COMING KILL YOURSELVES OR RUN LIKE HELL" thing gives me a strong whiff of history written by Americans.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just paranoid due to the lack of any Japanese creatives involved with the making of this film. I have no idea what this moment in history must have been like on the ground. I can't even imagine. But this feels very Hollywood.

I cannot say with certainty that any of this is wrong. I am not a scholar of nuclear physics, nor am I well-versed in Japanese military culture circa-1945.

But this whole scene just feels weird to me. Either I don't know enough to explain why this is all wrong, or I don't know enough to understand that it's actually right. But I'm definitely having the creeping sensation of knowing that I don't have enough information to parse what I'm seeing.

(As an aside, I have seen some people point out that this is a dream sequence to explain away how weird it feels. But I don't accept that explanation. What Logan is dreaming up is clearly meant to be the memory of a real event that he lived through. Yashida is not a made-up giraffe man his brain invented to process his feelings about WWII. The events of this day in Logan's history drive the rest of the film.)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I'm coming to DEFCON! On Aug 9, I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On Aug 10, I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

#20yrsago MSFT buys spam company, sues the competition, silences political activists https://web.archive.org/web/20040803201355/http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/001774.php

#20yrsago Genome of human zit sequenced https://web.archive.org/web/20040803105000/http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996222

#15yrsago Annie Lennox gives her masters to mashup artist DJ Earworm https://web.archive.org/web/20090717083944/http://djearworm.com/annie-lennox-backwards-forwards.htm

#15yrsago High school student suing Amazon over book-deletions which rendered his study-notes useless

#15yrsago Six String Nation, the chronicle of Voyageur, a remarkable, unifying, synthesizing Canadian guitar https://memex.craphound.com/2009/07/30/six-string-nation-the-chronicle-of-voyageur-a-remarkable-unifying-synthesizing-canadian-guitar/

#15yrsago HOWTO make a prison soldering iron https://web.archive.org/web/20090803185647/http://prisonproxy.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-its-made-soldering-irons.html

#15yrsago Canadians vow mass-mooning of US spy-blimp https://web.archive.org/web/20090805142350/http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1680060

#15yrsago Rich NY town tries to shut down children’s library because poor kids might use it https://research.checkpoint.com/2019/cryptographic-attacks-a-guide-for-the-perplexed/

#5yrsago Cop says Amazon told him they had “partnered” with 200 US police forces to sell and tap into Ring surveillance doorbells https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5wyjy/amazon-told-police-it-has-partnered-with-200-law-enforcement-agencies

#5yrsago Affluent parents surrender custody of their kids to “scam” their way into needs-based college scholarships https://www.propublica.org/article/university-of-illinois-financial-aid-fafsa-parents-guardianship-children-students

#5yrsago The darkest SEO: forging judges’ signatures on fake court orders to scrub negative Google results https://web.archive.org/web/20190726010633/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/online-reputation-management-cbs-news-investigation-finds-fraudulent-court-orders-used-to-change-google-search/

#5yrsago Zero Sum Game: action-packed sf thriller about a ninja hero whose superpower is her incredible math ability https://memex.craphound.com/2019/07/30/zero-sum-game-action-packed-sf-thriller-about-a-ninja-hero-whose-superpower-is-her-incredible-math-ability/

#1yrago When the app turns you into a robo-scab https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/computer-says-scab/#instawork

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

[rnp5324]

❖-Corps | Head full of thoughts

Actual story stuff -Magneto governs over the island nation of Genosha, a safe haven for all Mutants, even the ❖-Corps members are welcome here. Currently, he is opposing the rising Fellowship of Humanity organization in the United States, a branch group of the Friends of Humanity with more of a theocratic agenda—based off the Moral Majority in a sense. His focus rests on the politicians like Allison’s father, who wish to push extreme legislation against Mutants in Montana, threatening to take action with his acolytes to put a stop to the impending oppression. -That and, due to Allison being a spokesperson for her dad’s campaign, gets a big stink eye from Magneto after she disappeared; When she manifested her X-Gene. -The Fellowship works in the interests of a broader organization known as Armageddon. They are a terrorist group with the desires of ‘purifying’ humanity on a global scale, but of course, they intend to do this by making imperial forces work in their favor. -Magneto is seeking Allison to make a bargain with Richard Natus: Her safe return in exchange for eliminating his Anti-Mutant legislation, or to be met with forced resistance and Allison kept as a political prisoner. -Yeah, the US/UN ain’t too happy about it. They step up to say they’ll fire on Genosha if Magneto even tries to lay a finger on Richard. -Charles Xavier is in a race against time to reach Allison before Magneto does. He is able to locate her through Cerebro in order to warn her and guide the youth, and Logan is not too happy about being found by Charles after requesting the team leaves him alone in the fallout of his major incident. Ya know, to create more tension. -Logan and Allison had taken refuge in the Canadian wilderness since that’s where Logan was staying inside of his RV. The two butt heads due to their clashing ideologies, but eventually have to suck it up and work together to help her control her new powers, without being disgusted. -Kikyo Mikage works under Magneto as one of his acolytes, but only kills if there is honor in the task he’s assigned. Kikyo is willing to use violence to deliver justice and that’s something he really values in Magneto. Kikyo can finally live as himself in Genosha instead of living in the shadows of Japan’s society. Though he finds it incredibly dishonorable that Magneto would weaponize the wellbeing of a child to achieve his objectives, which ultimately leads him to join Logan. -Oh yeah should mention that Armageddon is running science experiments to artificially create an Omega Class Mutant as a weapon to take down the world’s strongest Mutants, basically what they were trying to do with Deadpool in X-Men Origins Wolverine, but actually cool. The Mutant is called Magnum Opus. I’m a fan of puns, you see.

Side notes -If Wanda and Pietro get involved in this, they are both going to be Mutants and brown skinned. I MAKE THE RULES!!! -Anyway uh still working on who else I want as Magneto’s acolytes lol -Sometimes I refer to Allison as “Allen”. It’s her self-imposed disguise name which Logan makes a joke about it being a boy’s name. -Genosha is definitely stockpiling on weapons, no doubt. -Allison borrows one of Logan’s shrunken down suits to help with her Mutation! It’s blue in contrast to his red. Logan gets his own category -He refers to large sections of Canada as Sectors. It’s likely this stems from his time working under Alpha Flight, and the Canadian Government before joining the ❖-Corps. -He’s managed to keep a majority of his old suits with him, as he believes that it’s the only solid part of his history he can look back on. Perhaps not as himself, but as Wolverine. -Anyway the reason Logan is at a low point in his career is bc the last mission he was on involved him unwillingly going on a Berserker Rage that resulted in a destructive rampage and the stabbing of his teammate and Girlfriend, Storm. During his rage, she took charge of the situation to lure Logan away from civilians and attempt to subdue him with the other ❖-Corps on duty. It worked at a cost. -The best way to protect those he cares about is at a distance, though that doesn’t mean he’s not going through an extreme heartache with likely losing Ororo. -Maybe she shouldn’t have told Logan that if he’s going to use his claws on anyone to them on her. Bad oversight. /HJHJ -I didn’t want her to just be Logan’s love interest in this, she’s a hero too ya know! She was doing her damn best to save whoever she could in the onslaught and even put her own life on the line. -Logan has nightmares about killing the rest of the team, and hates that they don’t put up much of a fight to stop him. -As you can imagine, he’s not too happy to be stuck with some teenager off the side of the road. Worse is that Logan knows exactly who she is as a political figure, and how dangerous he is. The initial thought was to find her somewhere safe and tell her to scram, but outside intervention damns him. -So funny thing, turns out he and Allen have a lot more in common with their struggles than they thought; Runaways who’ve done awful things they can’t take back, while struggling to understand their true nature.

Uh yeah well that ended up being a lot lolol Feel free to leave suggestions, I’d love some outside feedback!!

[historia-vitae-magistras]

oooooh! are you still doing the ask game?? 🔺 🔶 😞 for Matt please? thank you :) :) :)

🔺 RED TRIANGLE POINTED UP — does your oc know how to use any weapons?

Unfortunately, yes. Even as someone familiar with the history of New France, it's still horrifying to read about just how close Quebec got to a 20th-century version of total war before the British Conquest. I think, next to the US, there's this image of Canada as a peaceful place, defined by compromise and protest rather than violence, but uh... not really. He was probably loading and cleaning rifles before he fired them, considering how slight he was at that age, but when the extremely racist British are griping that the French Canadians are worse than their indigenous allies in just how feral they are, especially with prisoners of war I think it's reasonable to say he learned the basics young. It is not, however, a skill that has been taken out of the box in a very long time and adult Matt is probably quite rusty. Most of it is muscle memory. Once taught and used, the arm never forgets how to swing an axe or how to drive a blade under someone's jaw. And without much physical strength on his side, until he was much older, he learned how to get in quick and close and how to withdraw and fight from afar. Sniper rifle or a very sharp edge, he knows how to use it.

🔶 LARGE ORANGE DIAMOND — does your oc know cpr? do they have any other medical expertise?

Oh yeah. He's more of survival and emergency medicine than anything, but he's got decent knowledge. I had the idea once that he got targeted as a foreign agent on accident one time in the 90s by American intelligence services. The sutures he put into an American tourist he had to pry out of the woods one winter while working as a Search and Rescue medic were of a 19th-century style only still standard in the USSR by that point but he knows his shit.

😞 DISAPPOINTED FACE — does your oc attract others, or do they tend to be left alone?

He does attract people, but he does tend to be left alone. He's quite pretty, and he's got that Letterkenny rizz. He knows that he's pretty okay. But he's depressingly realistic. He knows he's not the worst person to be around, but he's so defined by his relationship with Alfred. Either better because he's quieter than Alfred or worse because he doesn't have the influence. He doesn't always think of himself as an individual that way.

He got it into his head so young that he's not worth anything unless he has a specific use that has coloured his perception of himself. He and Jan broke up, and it's 'disappointed but not surprised' because it's been years and years since he was helpful. So he can be very anti-social and duck affection even on the rare occasion it is offered if he feels he hasn't earned it.

[theworldofwars]

Leisure and entertainment at the Front: Two German prisoners of war wearing clown costumes made of sacking for a theatrical entertainment at 360 POW Company, France. Such entertainments were a particular feature of camp life for prisoners on both sides. However, prisoners had to rely almost entirely on their own limited resources for costumes and scenery.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

BOOKS I READ IN 2023 Here's what I read in 2023. What has now become an annual tradition of sorts!

An unusual year in reading for me. The first half of the year was very slow, and I mostly finished two long books I've been trying to finish for years by William Morris and Robert Musil. Then the PSAC strike, and more time to read. After that, I made a reading plan and stuck to it, trying to read every day at least a chapter of a book on the list. I also ended up re-reading several books this year - transcribing notes at first, I ended up going over the entire book a second time. I also tried to take extensive notes on every new book. I also snuck a few theses I read onto the list - it feels weird not to include a several hundred page work I went over with a fine-toothed comb. Mostly academic books, germane to my own research and writing, but some strong forays into topics I don't normally think about much. Plus some genuinely good 'amateur' history, too.

Re-reads are marked by a plus sign and my most enjoyable or interesting reads are marked with an asterisk.

First Row:

Jesper Vaczy Kragh, Lobotomy Nation: The History of Psychosurgery and Psychiatry in Denmark (2021)

William Morris, The Well at the World's End (1896, Ballantine edition 1975)

Robert Musil, translated by Sophie Wilkins, The Man Without Qualities (1930, Picador edition 2017)*

Gavin Walker, ed., The Red Years: Theory, Politics, and Aesthetics in the Japanese ’68 (2020)*

Garrett Felber, Those Who Know Don't Say: The Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State (2020) *

Robin Jarvis Brownlie, A Fatherly Eye: Indian Agents, Government Power, and Aboriginal Resistance in Ontario, 1918-1939 (2003)

Second Row:

Steve Hewitt, Riding to the Rescue: The Transformation of the RCMP in Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1914-1939 (2006)

Maeve McMahon, The Persistent Prison?: Rethinking Decarceration and Penal Reform (1989)+

Rebecca McLennan, The Crisis of Imprisonment: Protest, Politics, and the Making of the American Penal State, 1776–1941 (2007)+

Anne Guérin, Prisonniers en révolte: Quotidien carcéral, mutineries et politique pénitentiaire en France (2013)+

Anson Rabinbach, The Eclipse of the Utopias of Labor (2018)

Scott Thompson & Gary Genosko, Punched Drunk: Alcohol, Surveillance and the LCBO, 1927-1975 (2009)

Third Row:

Erin Durham, "In Pursuit of Reform, Whether Convict or Free: Prison Labor Reform in Maryland in the early Twentieth Century." (2018 thesis)

Chester Himes, Yesterday Will Make You Cry (1998)*

Harvey Swados, Standing Fast: A Novel (1971, 2013 Open Road edition)

Charles Upchurch, "Beyond the Law": The Politics of Ending the Death Penalty for Sodomy in Britain (2021)

Barry Godfrey, David J. Cox & Helen Johnston, Penal Servitude: Convicts and Long-Term Imprisonment, 1853–1948 (2022)

W.J. Forsythe, Penal Discipline, Reformatory Projects And The English Prison Commission, 1895-1939 (1991)

Fourth Row:

Neal A. Palmer, To the Dark Cells: Prisoner Resistance and Protest in Nineteenth-Century Britain (2008)

Frances H. Simon, Prisoners' Work and Vocational Training (1999)

Meera Nanda, Science In Saffron: Skeptical Essays On History of Science (2016)*

Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun (four volumes, 1980-1983, Folio Society edition 2021)+

David J. Rothman, Conscience and Convenience: The Asylum and Its Alternatives in Progressive America (2002)+

Kathryn Cooper, "The Infamous Convict Museum Ship Success : an Archaeological Investigation of Material Culture and Identity Formation Processes." (2014 thesis)

Fifth row:

Barry M. Gough, Gunboat Frontier: British Maritime Authority and Northwest Coast Indians, 1846-1890 (1984)

Edward Jones-Imhotep, The Unreliable Nation: Hostile Nature and Technological Failure in the Cold War (2017)*

Larry A. Glassford, Reaction and Reform: The Politics of the Conservative Party under R.B. Bennett, 1927-1938 (1992)

Don Nerbas, Dominion of Capital: The Politics of Big Business and the Crisis of the Canadian Bourgeoisie, 1914-1947 (2013)

James Naylor, The Fate of Labour Socialism: The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Dream of a Working-Class Future (2016)

Michael Martin, The Red Patch: Political imprisonment in Hull, Quebec during World War 2 (2007)

Sixth Row:

Ruán O'Donnell, Special Category: The IRA in English Prisons, Vol. 1: 1968-1978 (2012)*

Ruán O'Donnell, Special Category: The IRA in English Prisons, Vol. 2: 1978-1985 (2015)*

Cheryl D. Hicks, Talk with You Like a Woman: African American Women, Justice, and Reform in New York, 1890-1935 (2010)*

Clarence Jefferson Hall, A Prison in the Woods: Environment and Incarceration in New York's North Country (2020)

Scott Thompson, "Consequences of Categorization: National Registration, Surveillance and Social Control in Wartime Canada, 1939-1946." (2013 thesis)

H.V. Nelles, The Politics of Development: Forests, Mines, and Hydro-Electric Power in Ontario, 1849-1941 (2005)+

Seventh row:

Chief Thomas Fiddler & James R. Stevens, Killing the Shamen (1985)

Ashley Johnson Bavery, Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America's Northern Border (2020)

Patrick Brode, Dying for a Drink: How a Prohibition Preacher Got Away with Murder (2018)

Hamish Maxwell-Stewart & Michael Quinlan, Unfree Workers: Insubordination and Resistance in Convict Australia, 1788-1860 (2022)*

Victor Serge, translated by Ralph Manheim, Last Times (1946, 2022 NYRB edition)

Christopher Cauldwell, Studies in a Dying Culture (1938)

[everythinglucymaudmontgomery]

A Few Words in Defense of Poor Robin and the Time She Was Living In

It's been really interesting to read everyone's vitriol regarding poor Robin. I remember reading this book through at least twice before and never thinking of Robin as anything other than a fellow prisoner of Jane's. Is she a good mother, by no means, but I've always felt that she's doing the best that she can under the circumstances.

I think that her life is a literal living hell. She has a husband across country that she desperately loves but most likely thinks despises her because I KNOW she despises herself. She is forced to be a social butterfly by her mother and she can't even express her emotions by crying at night in her own room because her mother will be able to tell and will find some new creative way to torture her and, by extension, Jane. Her daughter whom she loves fiercely, evidently looks just like her father and is a constant reminder of what she lost/threw away. She is playing a part in a horrific nightmarish play just to survive because she doesn't know what else to do. At that time, and under those circumstances, I don't doubt that she sees living with her mother's horribleness is her best option for providing for Jane. I can't imagine how many times she has most likely visualized running away with Jane by herself but most likely is more afraid of the two of them starving to death and NO mother ever wants to remotely consider that option.

I'm also pretty sure that the time frame for this book is sometime in the 20s/30s. According to the website for the Canadian Museum of History, Canada was among the most profoundly affected countries. So add that to Robin's fears for their livelihood.

And please let's not forget that, for all of Robin's faults, Jane does not doubt that her mother loves her. I have more to say in defense of her and Jane and their secret ways of expressing love but since I don't want to give away any spoilers to those who haven't read it yet, I will refrain.

Another thing that I have found is very interesting about how Maud wrote both "The Blue Castle" and "Jane of Lantern Hill" is that she writes more strictly from one point of view. As common as that is in many books, one thing I always liked about the Anne books was that you got all of these wonderful insights into the minds of other characters. I have seen it a precious few times so far in Lantern Hill.

The reason I point this out is that most of how we are seeing Jane's life play out is from the perspective of an 11 year old. Don't get me wrong, a very perceptive (at times) and wise beyond her years, 11 year old, but an 11 year old, none the less. They are not known to be the most broad minded of people and have a tendency to color the world with a narrowness that can alter reality to some extent. We do have to take a lot of her experiences and outlooks with a grain of salt giving others the benefit of the doubt at least.

I have often found it very difficult bordering on impossible to read books from other time frames without being influenced by the modern sensibilities and customs I am used to. For example, how could Cinderella's stepmother get away with taking her own house away from her after her father died and treating her like a slave? Oh wait. This was not the 21st century, orphans were not looked at the same. In fact, most people looked at orphans as if it was THEIR own fault that they were orphans, like losing your parents makes you a bad person and not worth time or pity.

Am I excusing Robin's behavior? As a mother, NO. Do I think the grandmother should be excused. HEAVENS NO! But I do try to put myself in their shoes as much as I can and remember that this was a different time and place. Not to mention, as a sufferer of mental health issues and knowing that that was something that was not touched with a ten foot pole back then and good lord knows what genetic predisposition they had in that regards on top of living through WW1 and the Great Depression AND the Spanish Flu Pandemic!!!!

Anyway, I hope this makes some semblance of sense to my dear fellow lovers of L.M.M. It's been so interesting and enlightening getting to hear the different thoughts and outlooks from fresh readers of this little known but wonderful book.

[coochiequeens]

Does Canada ever have good news for women?

By Shay Woulahan. January 14, 2024

A trans-identified male sex offender who was re-arrested just days after his release from prison after being convicted on three charges related to child sex abuse material, one of which involved accessing pornography of infants in diapers, has been ordered to spend one year of his five year long-term supervision order (LTSO) in a community-based facility. New details have also emerged of the child predators deviant lifestyle and extreme addiction to pornography involving babies.

Laverne Travis Waskahat, 47, has an extensive history of possessing, making and publishing child pornography involving male and female infants under three years old. Waskahat had also previously committed sexual offences against children in his care and was known to take voyeuristic photos of infants in public, primarily in bathrooms at malls and grocery stores. See rest of article

By Genevieve Gluck January 17, 2024

CONTENT NOTICE: This article contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault. Reader discretion is appreciated.

A serial sex offender who identifies as transgender has been released to a halfway house in Ontario after having been detained for part of his sentence at the Milton-Vanier Centre for Women. Patrick Pearsall, who also uses the names Tara Pearsall and Passion-Star Royale, was released after being convicted for preying on young girls online by impersonating a paramedic, which afforded him the opportunity to perform vaginal exams on unsuspecting victims.

A repeat offender, Pearsall has 33 convictions related to breach of parole, failure to appear and non-compliance under the Sex Offender Registry. He has repeatedly been classified by authorities as “highly likely” to reoffend, and most likely sexually, while never expressing remorse for his crimes.

Over the past two decades, Pearsall has been convicted on charges related to instances of sexual assault by deception, and nearly all of his victims are underage girls or young women.

Documents were first shared to X by Canadian women’s rights activist Heather Mason which revealed that the decision by the parole board to release Pearsall went into effect on December 20, 2023. A statement from the parole board notes that Pearsall presents a “high risk to reoffend violently or sexually within women’s correctional institutions.” see rest of article

[thealmightyemprex]

IDEAS FOR DC COMICS X-MEN

Storm: Aina Akinrotimi, aYoruba woman born in Nigéria, is a spiritual daughter and reencarnation of the orisha deities Oiá (Iansã) and Xangô, inheriting their powers to control the thunder, lightning, wind and rain.

Can also spit fire from her mouth.

Has great ability with the sword, the dagger and the double ax.

Is claustrophobic due to having been a prisoner of the Shadow King in her childhood.

Phoenix: An Alaskan born doctor in Psychology and Genetics, airplane pilot,  computer comunications officer and lieutenant of NASA, Madeline Jean Grey Pryor was born a mutant with strong telepathic and telecinetic powers. During a mission in space, the spaceship suffered an accident, and Madeline assumed the pilot duties to save the crew, doing an emergency landing that crossed trough the cosmic rays of a solar storm and falling in the planet Mars. As she recovered, Madeline discovered that the survival of her crew and herself was helped by the fact that a cosmic entity named the Phoenix fused itself with her, enhancing her powers beyond telecinetic control and reading human minds, but also reading the minds of animals and the memories of people contained in inanimate objects, flight, building and transforming objects trough the control of invisible molecules, and healing. Assuming the codiname Phoenix, Madeline started acting independently as a superheroine and political activisit for mutant rights, before joining the X-Men.

Wolverine: The 5'3 tall James Logan Howlett , who prefers to be called Logan, is a mutant with the powers of a fast healing factor, longevity, enchanced senses and bone retractible claws in his knucles born in Canada during the mid 19th century. Veteran of the American Civil War, Crimean War, First and Second World Wars and the Korean War, his longevity prowess in the battlefield made him a target of the High Evolutionary, who captured him to make a subject of his experiments, inserting adamantium to cover his bone claws (but avoiding doing the same to the rest of his skeleton, so as not to slow his healing factor and erase his agility).

Logan escaped before the High Evolutionary could furter experiment on him, living for years as a mercenary spy for the Canadian and British inteligences, until befriending and joining the X-Men, who remind him how fight for something bigger than mere survival: an ideal, to help others find freedom, justice and equality.

Nightcrawler: A kind hearted, romantic and adventurous blue fuzzy, point ears, pointy tailed man, looking like a mix between an elph and a demon, is a circus acrobat, aeriealist and trapeze artist who became the founder and leader of the X-Men. Has teleportation powers, and is a fast and graceful swordsman, who can pilot airplanes and zeppelin airships, acting as the captain of a pirate crew.

Archangel: An Earth born descendant of Tanagarians, kidnapped as a baby and raised by Apocalypse to be his Emissary of Death, a young Angel revolted against his adoptive father when he saw the complexity of human lives and how many people are determined to fight in protecting Earth and its inhabitants (even when many humans act prejudiced and ungrateful against metahumans, mutates, mutants and aliens). Behind the brave and stoic Avenging Archangel, is the adventurous archeologist, history and theology professor Warren Hal Warthington.

Dazzler: A competent, graduation diploma aprooved  lawyer, the passion of Alison Blaire always has been performing. Dreaming of becoming an aclaimed singer and actress, she naively signed a contract to perform in an underground theater.

The performance in question was actually  fighting to the death in a gladiator arena against other mutants for the amusement of rich patrons of the Hellfire Club.

Finding the situation revolting, Alison encouraged and led the other gladiators into a huge revolt.

This was the moment in which she decided to adopt the codiname  Dazzler, both as a feisty superheroine, and as a performer who uses her music both to touch listeners with beauty, and to inspire compassion, solidarity and social change.

Colossus: Born and raised in a collective farm in Soviet Russia, Piotr Rasputin is a tall, strong, yet calm and gentle man, with a great talent for drawing, spinning, weaving and sewing. Has the mutant power to transform his skin into a strong, impenetrable organic armour, similar to metal. Captured by agents of the Hellfire Club to become a gladiator, became a great friend of Dazzler after she helped him and the others to fight back and escape. Is the person who makes the clothes for her to perform on stage, as well as all the X-Men's battle uniforms.

Beast: Found trapped like an animal in a zoo cage and rescued by Phoenix, Henry 'Hank' Philip McCoy, is a mutant with long arms of large hands and long legs of large feet, that make him move with great agility, balance and dexterity, gifted with genius level scientific intelect, a healing factor, enhanced senses, super strenght, fangs, an ability to emit mood altering pheromones, and a body fully covered in thick greyish-blue fur, acompanied by black hair with shades of dark-blue and silver over his head.

Is an athlete experienced in American Football and wrestling, an expert in biology, genetics, chemistry, eletrical and computer engineering, always curious to learn speaking new languages, and a lover of classic literature and the arts.

Showing a light hearted sense of humor, overall prefers to behave in a level headed, diplomatic way ... but knows how to use violence when necessary, and his strenght in combat must not be underestimated.

Banshee: An irish woman who has powers of releasing thundering sonar waves with her scream, originally was a sailor before joining the X-Men. Is a great navigator and cartographer, and the person who gives a home for every X-Men to live, in an old Castle fused to a Lighthouse known as Cassidy Keep, located in County Mayo, Ireland.

Rogue: A young woman who survived hiding in the sewers after her parents rejected her for being a mutant. Has the power to take away other people's memories, abilities, energy and powers with the touch of her skin, along with super strenght and the gift to fly. Slowly learns to trust other people, loose her fears and insecutirities and control her powers with the help of her new friends of the X-Men. Loves trains, collecting and playing with trail models, having dreamed in her childhood of being a condutor, and plays folk, blues and rock music in an acoustic guitar that has written over its surface "This Machine Kills Fascists".

This is awesome

[tobiasdrake]

Oh, on the topic of James's birth.

The opening scene takes place in the "Northwest Territories" of Canada in 1845. General knowledge (by which I mean most of the wikis) place Wolverine's birth as Alberta, late 19th century with no specific year.

So they're moving his date of birth back a bit here. But they also don't reference Alberta.

That's actually correct. They shouldn't. Wolverine cannot actually have been born in Alberta. He was born in the territory of Canada that would become Alberta, established 1905. Whether you go with the year the film is set in minus however old he is in this scene or with the "late 19th century" estimation, James Howlett's birth predates the province of Alberta.

So, why did they move Logan's birthyear back? Probably because they had to in order to do this cool bit in the credits.

In which Victor and James travel thousands of miles to go fight in another country's civil war.

That might seem silly but actually tens of thousands of Canadians did, in fact, come south to fight for the Union. Slavery had already been abolished in Canada for about thirty years when the American Civil War happened, and so the cause of fucking up the Confederacy elicited some sympathy from the Union's closely-tied northern neighbors.

Probably goes without saying that, like everyone else, Canadians were in WWI. In fact, WWI is where Canada developed their reputation for being absolutely fucking terrifying. Merciless and brutal combatants who drank the tears of prisoners and pissed out war crimes.

Sending invincible regenerators into enemy trenches is honestly tame compared to the shit Canada was actually doing in the war.

By the way, I love this shot.

Victor gets shot and we cut straight to James like.

"Oh, I think I left the mustard gas on in the other trench."

Oh you better believe Canadians were there in WWII. You think Canada would miss out on a chance to remind Europe that they're the scariest motherfuckers on the planet? Nah.

"Hey, is it weird that my bruh enjoys being here?"

"Bro, it's D-Day. This is a weird fucking time to start hand-wringing about whether I'm too violent. If there is any conflict in history where Canadians' love of war crimes is acceptable...."

"Alright, it's Vietnam. This war historically sucks and our country refused to join it, though tens of thousands of citizens nonetheless enlisted in American forces. Now can we talk about this?"

"Dude, I'm getting my slaughter on. You've waited twenty years to have this conversation. You can wait another day."

Tragically, Logan does wait another day to have this conversation, and the results are disastrous. Victor starts team-killing our own troops because he wanted to do some raping. The famously rapey Vietnam-era U.S. Army opposes Victor's raping so he just starts killing dudes.

And Logan's over here like, "Something seems peculiar about this man. I can't quite put my finger on it.

They're trying to convey so much gradual character development in these two men's relationship in the span of an opening credits sequence, which has to be done entirely in the form of Logan giving Victor increasingly questioning gazes.

Like, I get what they're going for here but it's also hilarious. Their entire military history is a hundred years of Sabretooth and Logan throwing themselves into armed conflicts and then Logan stopping periodically to go, "Pourquoi mon frere?" before I guess resuming the killing.

Like. Even after this scene, they're executed by firing squad and then they're just chilling in their cell.

"Hey man, remember when I got us executed because I'm a rapist and I guess the Americans don't like that this week? Good times."

Like. They don't even talk about it. James gives Victor another Concerned Face

"You know, I'm beginning to think this guy might be problematic. Hm. Food for thought."

And then they're cool.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

One June 20, I'm live onstage in LOS ANGELES for a recording of the GO FACT YOURSELF podcast. On June 21, I'm doing an ONLINE READING for the LOCUS AWARDS at 16hPT. On June 22, I'll be in OAKLAND, CA for a panel and a keynote at the LOCUS AWARDS.

#20yrsago Canadian copyfight hots up: Liberal MPs on the take from copyright industries? https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2004/06/copyright-reform-needs-a-balanced-approach/

#15yrsago Digital TV’s history in America: the DTV transition nearly cost the USA its technological freedom https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/06/dtv-era-no-broadcast

#15yrsago Hundreds of top British cops defrauded the public for millions in phony expense racket https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/jun/14/expenses-fraud-detectives-scotland-yard

#15yrsago $134.5 BILLION worth of US bonds seized from smugglers at Swiss border https://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=15456&size=A

#10yrsago Atheism remains least-trusted characteristic in American politics https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/05/19/for-2016-hopefuls-washington-experience-could-do-more-harm-than-good/

#10yrsago Canadian Supreme Court’s landmark privacy ruling https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2014/06/scc-spencer-decision/

#10yrsago Court finds full-book scanning is fair use https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/06/another-fair-use-victory-book-scanning-hathitrust

#10yrsago Not selling out: Teens live in commercial online spaces because that’s their only option https://medium.com/message/selling-out-is-meaningless-3450a5bc98d2

#5yrsago Porno copyright troll sentenced to 14 years: “a wrecking ball to trust in the administration of justice” https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-lawyer-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-190614/

#5yrsago Ukrainian oligarchs accused of laundering $470b, buying up much of Cleveland https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/how-kolomoisky-does-business-in-the-united-states/

#5yrsago Empirical review of privacy policies reveals that they are “incomprehensible” drivel https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/12/opinion/facebook-google-privacy-policies.html

#5yrsago Beyond lockpicking: learn about the class-breaks for doors, locks, hinges and other physical security measures https://memex.craphound.com/2019/06/14/beyond-lockpicking-learn-about-the-class-breaks-for-doors-locks-hinges-and-other-physical-security-measures/

#5yrsago Hong Kong’s #612strike uprising is alive to surveillance threats, but its countermeasures are woefully inadequate https://www.securityweek.com/surveillance-savvy-hong-kong-protesters-go-digitally-dark/

#5yrago Reverse mortgages: subprime’s “stealth aftershock” that is costing elderly African-Americans their family homes https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/06/11/seniors-face-foreclosure-retirement-after-failed-reverse-mortgage/1329043001/

#5yrsago Maine’s new ISP privacy law has both California and New York beat https://thehill.com/policy/technology/447824-maine-shakes-up-debate-with-tough-internet-privacy-law/

#1yrago How Amazon transformed the EU into a planned economy https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/14/flywheel-shyster-and-flywheel/#unfulfilled-by-amazon