#such large parts of the earth's population are just left out of media entirely

[clamorybus]

its insane how my small town of <10,000 is more diverse than the majority of hollywood productions that are set in major cities

[shurisneakers]

shut in [3]

Summary: When your high profile mission goes terribly wrong, you’re forced to hide in a safehouse with a man you’ve never met before. With seemingly nowhere else to go, you’re forced to work together to figure out who is trying to have you assassinated before it’s too late. (Sam Wilson x Reader, Hitman AU)

Warnings: cursing, implied abuse, ptsd, fighting over beds

Word count: 2.2k

A/N: every part i introduce more anonymous characters smh. i also appreciate feedback so if you would like to, please consider dropping me an ask or comment ly guys!! also if you want to be on the taglist, it’s mentioned at the bottom of the chapter.

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Previous Part || Shut In Masterlist

“Don’t make me shoot you, Wilson.”

“It doesn’t have to end this way, agent.”

“How’s it looking out there?”

“There’s been some talk. Apparently Serpentine isn’t very happy that their intel is dead. They’ve got people looking out for you everywhere.”

A frown adorned your face. Sam was leaning forward on his arms, head turned down as he listened to Ransone.

“How dangerous is it?”

“I would say that everyone’s a little wound up. Best not to go anywhere even a little populated.”

“Noted.” It would blow over in a while. The media coverage of Pierce’s assassination would die down with the changing news cycle soon.

“I can have someone pick you up wherever you are. Just tell me where.” 

“Don’t bother. We won’t be here for too long,” you responded, Sam nodding in agreement. Once it quietened down you could leave, go back to Ransone without blowing your cover.

“Whatever makes you happy. Just let me know when you’re out.”

The click of the call ending took with it the only noise in the room.

Sam picked up the phone to remove the battery, discarding it to maintain your security. Burner phones were useful, but you didn’t want to take any chances.

“Wait,” you cut in, holding your hand out for it, “I need to make another call.”

The both of you were seated at the dining table. A piece of paper lay in front of you, playing the dangerous role of being the mediator. 

You were trying to ration out your supplies and create a schedule as a way of finding middle ground. Things were more or less calm for the last two days, but the fight over the bedroom was wading into territory that could only be solved by a good old middle school fistfight.

Currently you were figuring out a meal plan so that you could establish some kind of routine. With bread as the only uniting factor, the other three components were going on a rotation. You had reached all the way till Saturday before running out of possible combinations.

“I’m just saying-”

“Don’t.”

“We’ve exhausted all edible options, it’s the only combination left-”

“I will not hesitate to fatally wound you.” You were only half kidding. The ridiculousness of the ideas he was proposing was entertaining, and you knew he wasn’t being serious. It was hard to catch a moment where he was. 

“Fine. But in case we get to the point where peanut butter and jelly is the only thing that’s left, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”

“I would rather die than shovel spoonfuls of plain jelly and peanut butter into my mouth.”

“Your survival game is weak,” he chided, tsk-tsking at you.

You only rolled your eyes at him, moving on to the next subject.

Bed.

“Easy, we just alternate days. You got the last two days, so I get the next two and then we just switch everyday.” Sam eased back in his chair, arms crossed behind his head leisurely.

“How long do you think we’ll be here?” you asked, writing down the plan he had just presented. The bed wasn’t queen sized with memory foam or any kind of privilege like that, but it definitely beat the couch with its odd lumps and depressions.

“A week tops. Anything more is just excessive.”

“Hello,” you said, voice low, even though you were well out of earshot of Sam. He was eying you from the living room window. If he was as good as he claimed he was, he’d know how to read lips and you couldn’t afford to have him do that.

“Code?”

You turned your back to the window, facing the large trees that loomed before you. “1993. It’s me.”

“Y/N?” He sounded suspicious, a little shocked, and you understood why he would be.

“Living and breathing.” You toed at a rock that lay ahead of you.

“Word on the street is that you’re dead,” he pointed out dryly.

“Not me; Pierce. I escaped. It was a trap.” When the rock you were playing around with escaped after a particularly hard kick, you started pacing up and down instead, “Ransone put a hit out on him because he thought he was leaking information.”

“How on earth did he come to that conclusion?”

“Don’t know. He was dead before we got there.”

“Who is ‘we’? You got someone there with you?” You didn’t realise it had slipped out during your conversation. 

“Another one of our guys. Apparently I was a backup in case he didn’t show up, but he did, so now we’re stuck together.” You averted your gaze to Sam who was still observing you from the window brazenly, intently. 

“Where are you?”

“We’re safe.” 

“Alright.” He sounded like he understood, albeit not entirely convinced. “Stay low.”

“Will do.”

With that you hung up the call, dropped the phone to the ground and crushed it under your boot heel. When you were convinced that it was sufficiently useless, you turned on your heel, making your way back.

You walked back into the house, beelining to the kitchen to make up for your missed lunch, only to be greeted with Sam sitting on the couch looking at you inquisitively.

“Who was that?”

“Nobody,” you answered straightforwardly, opening the cabinet to get two slices of bread.

“If it has somethin’ to do with this situation we’re in then I need to know who you’re talking to.”

“Just drop it. It has nothing to do with you.” You found the jar of peanut butter he had already opened, using a butter knife to spread it along the bread.

“Somehow I’m finding that hard to believe.”

“Believe what you must. I’m going to take a nap,” you answered evasively, chewing absentmindedly on the sandwich you had just made. You didn’t bother to look at him as you headed towards the bedroom.

“Hey now, hold on a minute. Who said you had bedroom privileges? You’ve been using it for two days.” You stopped in your tracks, face scrunching in annoyance. “If you’re keeping vital information about my life from me, then I think I deserve to not have a fuckin’ backache when I wake up in the morning.”

You quickly weighed the pros and cons in your head, imagining how the next few minutes would pan out if you just said ‘no’ and left. But in every imaginary argument you proposed, the bottom line ended with him prodding at you until he either got the information that he wanted or the bed.

Frankly, the bed was something you were willing to sacrifice to get him to stop meddling in your business. It seemed like the only reasonable way to get him off your ass.

“Fine.” You spun around to face him. “We’re making an arrangement.”

“Whoever has the bed has to forfeit TV privileges for that day.”

“Sounds reasonable. None of those three movies can be played more than twice in a row.”

That was more to preserve your sanity than anything. You had already seen each of them once, bordering on thrice for Die Hard. Sam’s fault, not yours.

“We should have a codeword. In case there's danger or something. Or maybe if you just want to be left alone,” Sam suggested, finger pointing to the blank space left at the end of the paper. “But it’ll be like solitary confinement since it’s so fuckin’ quiet here.”

Almost on instinct your mind flashed to images of dark cells. Quiet sobs. Blood stains on the wall, originating from clawing at it. Sunlight through one small window at the top. Utter loneliness except for yourself.

You could remember the soreness in your legs from curling up into a ball for hours, rocking back and forth. The smell of drain water collecting in the basement where the cell was.

Isolation.

“You got any suggestions?”

“Huh?” You forced yourself back to the present. Your knuckles had a dull ache in them from holding the pencil too hard.

“Do you have any ideas for a codeword?” Sam repeated, looking at you intently.

“No, nothing off the top of my head.” You shook your head, trying to regain focus. You loosened your grip on the pencil, letting it fall to the table.

“We’ll just leave it at ‘Brooklyn’ for the time being.”

“Yeah, okay,” you agreed to whatever he was saying. It was just a precaution in case something major happened. It was rather unlikely that you were going to use it anyway. 

Codewords weren’t uncommon in your business, but it was mostly used for missions or other professional standings. Regardless of being less adventurous than what you tended to work on, this was work at the end of the day. 

“Is that all?”

“Yeah, I think we’re done.” His chair scraped loudly against the ground as he got up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going out for a while. Need to shake off the possible osteoporosis.”

You didn’t bother asking where he was going, ears following his footsteps as he walked down the hall to the bedroom, probably to get his jacket that he hung up in the drawer.

You left the paper on top of the mini fridge, alongside the car keys and a few dollars you had nabbed in the hurry from Pierce’s house.

Staring around you at the silent room, you realised that there really wasn’t much to do. It wasn’t like you to have so much time on your hands. You could always go for a run or test out some of the weapons hidden here. 

You had the rest of the house to explore, plans to draw up, a post mortem to assess what went wrong on the mission, even though the last option wasn’t possible without Sam’s cooperation.

Fuck it, you decided. Couch it is.

Kicking your feet up, you grabbed the TV remote to flip to the news station. The town rarely had anything to report on but it would be worthwhile to know what exactly was available around. Possibly assimilate in the crowd in case you wanted to be hidden.

It took you a few minutes of mindless surfing through static channels till you found it. It seemed like a scene right out of a Hallmark movie; the reporter was holding a microphone to a child who looked like he understood nothing of what was going on.

You were barely paying attention as it flipped from segment to segment, other things taking precedence in your mind even though you willed yourself to relax. There really wasn’t much to make a note of other than a few good samaritans and how utterly boring the lack of content was. A few occasional glimpses of stores and other resources available in the background were the only interesting part.

You were starting to drift off by the time it reached the breaking news of the evening. Sam had already come back when the sky slipped into twilight. He barely acknowledged your form lazing on the couch, only offering you a greeting and a goodbye as he made himself his dinner to take to the room.

Your eyes were just about closing when the breaking news of that evening came in. It was all politics. People you knew from old missions waving and smiling their way to lead their country as if the dubious acts they committed behind the scenes to get there was erased.

Until you suddenly jolted awake, eyes wide open.

“Wilson. Wilson!” You hit the cushion furiously to get his attention when he didn’t respond the first time around.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

“What?” he yelled in response, mild irritation in his voice. You knew it sounded like you were shouting bloody murder even though no one was around other than you two, but you didn’t care.

“Look at this!” You couldn’t stop gawking at the screen. “Fuckin’ unbelievable.”

“What? What do you wa-” He stalked into the room, ready to tell you to stop yelling but stopped mid sentence when he finally saw what you were so concerned about.

“Reports claim that the victim was attacked early in the afternoon at his villa. Officers say they found multiple signs of a forced entry, following which he was shot dead. So far no arrests have been made but the police have since released photos of two suspects of whom, they claim, have reason to believe orchestrated the attack.”

On the right side of the screen flashed yours and Sam’s picture side by side. Old mugshots from a petty offence you committed years ago for which Ransone bailed you out.

“The pair are said to be on the run after escaping before law enforcement arrived. If you have any tips on the whereabouts of-”

You turned to look at Sam. His stare didn’t budge from the TV as they once again reminded the public what you both looked like.

Years of anonymity, working in the shadows and creeping around to avoid being recognised only to have the entire country know what you looked like.

“Well, shit,” he finally exhaled. “Somehow I think our stay here just got extended.”

Part 4

[rabbitcruiser]

World Lion Day

Lion Day aims to raise awareness of the majestic hunter, the ultimate feline, the king of the jungle, the big fluffy kitty of the Serengeti… Hmm, we should have left it at ‘king of the jungle’?

Basically, it’s all about lions, but you’ve probably got that from the name.

History of World Lion Day

This celebration of the animal kingdom’s most beautiful and fearsome creature was founded by Big Cat Rescue, the world’s largest accredited sanctuary dedicated to big cats. August 10th is a day for people to come together from across the world to pay tribute to the mighty lion in as many ways as possible. Though a fun and exciting occasion for all, its foundations are based in a very serious matter: lion numbers have dramatically declined to the point where the species needs to be placed on the endangered list, just like its larger cousin the tiger.

World Lion Day is the brainchild of co-founders Dereck and Beverly Joubert, a husband-and-wife team with a passion for big cats. They began the initiative in 2013, bringing together both National Geographic and the Big Cat Initiative under a single banner to protect the remaining big cats living in the wild.

Lions – with the scientific name Panthera leo – are the second-largest cat in the world, just behind the Asian tiger. These immense creatures, weighing between 300 and 550 pounds, have sparked the popular imagination for centuries, inspiring awe through their speed and muscular power.

Three million years ago, lions roamed all over Africa and the Eurasian supercontinent. But today, various ice ages and changes in the natural environment means that their range is reduced primarily to Africa and select parts of Asia.

According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, lions are a “vulnerable” species, meaning that their numbers could and should be higher. Currently, researchers estimate that there are between 30,000 and 100,000 lions left on planet Earth. Without significant intervention, there is a chance that they could find themselves on the endangered list alongside other species most at risk of extinction.

World Lion Day, therefore, is an opportunity for lion lovers all over the planet to push back against the decline in the range and habitat of the king of beasts. These giant animals are among the world’s largest land species and an apex predator with a reputation like no other. It would be a tragic loss for both nature and humanity if the species were to disappear entirely from the natural environment.

The threats against lions, however, are all too real. They face the dual specters of increasingly popular “trophy hunting” and human incursion on their traditional wildlands. A reduction in food combined with hunting tourism is making them more vulnerable with every passing year. Over the last four decades, the lion population declined by fifty percent.

World Lion Day, therefore, has three objectives. The first is to raise awareness of the plight of the lion and the issues that the species faces in the wild. The second is to find ways to protect the big cat’s natural environment, such as creating more national parks and reducing the areas in which people can settle. And the third is to educate people who live near wild cats on the dangers and how to protect themselves. Humans and large species like cats can live in harmony together, but only if they understand how to do so.

How to celebrate World Lion Day

How you celebrate is entirely up to you. You could change your social media profile pictures to a lion for the day, draw a sketch and share it with friends, find out who has the loudest roar, or even get your coworkers to sponsor you to wear a lion jumpsuit to work, then make a donation to Big Cat Rescue’s ongoing mission.

The organizers of World Lion Day want to make it as easy as possible for anyone to get involved in supporting these majestic beasts and protecting them for future generations. If you head on over to their website, you’ll find code that you can use to embed World Lion Day images on your web pages. Visitors can then click the link to get forwarded to the World Lion Day website to donate for various projects.

When it comes to donating to charities, World Lion Day provides you with a host of options. Charities associated with the day include the African Conservation Foundation, African Parks, Defenders of Wildlife, Ewaso Lions, International Fund for Animal Welfare, LionAid, Lion Guardians, Nikela, Save Animals Facing Extinction, Saving The Lion Foundation and many more. You can either support these organizations directly or help the organizers of World Lion Day raise awareness of the number of charities attempting to improve the situation of lions.

According to World Lion Day, now is the time for action. They warn that if people don’t take steps today to help the lion, then the world could lose the species entirely. Therefore, the purpose of the movement is to get the message out and spread the word around the globe.

Those interested in helping, therefore, should, at the very least, “like” the official Facebook page and follow @BigCatRescue on Twitter, because the more we spread the word, the greater the chances of these incredible animals gracing our planet forevermore.

The difference that individual people can make is tremendous. Adding external links helps the World Lion Day website generate organic traffic for free, massively reducing its outreach costs. Thus, if you own a company, blog, or business site, consider adding one of their banners to your site to indicate your support for this critical environmental cause.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. While the lion remains vulnerable, things are improving. As the world becomes wealthier, the demand to preserve the natural environment increases and these big cats stand to benefit. That’s something that has us all roaring with delight.

Source

[zerotoninrp]

Below you will find our Earth timeline. We hope that this puts our vision of the world of ZEROTONIN into focus, and gives you inspiration and ideas for your wonderful characters. Note that our site is explicitly canon divergent and follows the inception of many of our well known heroes and villains. However, it is ultimately at your discretion where your character may fit within this unique universe. Of course, this is a non-exhaustive list which does not cover every important point in history. 

If you are interested and have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out.

______________________________________________________________

➔  PRESENT DATE: New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day; January 1, 2000

1942: The secret military “Manhattan Project” created to develop the first US nuclear weapons, as part of the nuclear arms race between the United States, the Soviet Union and their respective allies.

1945: The first US nuclear bombs are used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, ultimately leading to the end of World War II. Succeeding the war’s end, world governments competitively spend massive amounts of money to further the advancement of warfare weapons and technology, particularly weapons of mass destruction.

1947: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is formed to collect and distribute information regarding foreign policy intelligence and analysis.

1950: Top secret Tamarind expedition executed. Many of Earth’s population note these UFO sightings, however this is not the first time it’s been recorded throughout human history; sightings and interaction date back to the early civilizations, though no scientific evidence is made public.

1957: Major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence are made.

1958: The National Aeronautics and Space Act is signed, creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Shortly thereafter, a top secret facility in Nevada named “Area 51” is revealed to be used for testing related to space findings and “other experiments.”

1962: In reaction to the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, President Kennedy makes a similar show of force by unveiling new military weapons: particle beams, mother boxes, and boom tubes. Ultimately, however, the Soviet Union and the U.S. agree to not engage in any acts of war.

1969: Hover cars and boards hit the market.

1970: Justice Society of America (JSA) formed; the birth of “super” heroes.

1972: As the Watergate scandal breaks, Americans are glued to their phones and TVs, watching the debacle unfold through holographic broadcasts.

1974: Infant found amidst the debris left by a crashed UFO in Smallville, Kansas.

1981: Thomas Wayne, owner of Wayne Enterprises, and his wife Martha Wayne are murdered on Park Row in Gotham City.

1985: Much to the surprise of political pundits, despite his instrumental role in the development of the particle-beam gun, scientist and professor Thomas Morrow is appointed Secretary of Defense.

1986: A.I. pop group, New Kids on the Block, take the world by storm with their debut.

1988: LexCorp trades publicly for the first time, setting record high opening days on the U.S. Stock Market in only its first year.

1991: The end of the Cold War and the advancement of technology marks a seismic shift in priorities for the CIA. Responsibilities have grown to now include counterterrorism, nonproliferation of advanced weapons and weapons of mass destruction, warning/informing American leaders of important overseas events, counterintelligence, cyber intelligence and warning/informing American leaders of extraterrestrial threat/contact.

1992: Beating advancements made since the 60’s in Japan, America’s first high speed rail system is finally completed, with its grand terminal built in Central City, allowing for cross-country travel in only a matter of hours. Rogue scientists alert the media of the use of a cosmic force known as the speed force to aid the system.

1992: The first exoskeleton brain-implant is a success. Corporations make a mass move to implant exoskeleton chips into employees' brains. The landscaping and many manual labor intensive fields—construction, many of the skilled trade jobs—see rapid implementation of these originations.

1993: Women now make up half of the workforce, as the proliferation of automated robots in homes have alleviated traditional gender roles for most families.

1993: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the first criminal action against a sentient A.I. A.I. who randomly gain sentience may still be punished by the State.

1994: The “Crime Bill” passes, leading to President Clinton’s commission of Arkham Asylum. The asylum is effective in cleaning up Gotham’s streets, and is hailed a massive success.

1996: Grounded cars officially phase out of the market, with manufacturers that were unable to keep up with hover car production going out of business (e.g. Ford, Honda). 

1996: Kids go crazy for simulations. While they had been slowly gaining popularity in the workforce, allowing for greater employee training, they have now been fully monopolized by the entertainment industry. Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC go on to become the largest sellers of simulation merchandise.

1996: Congress debates exoskeleton control after another black market exoskeleton death occurs.

1996: Supermodels Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell popularize synthetic high fashion.

1996: Reputable publications rank Metropolis the “Best City in the World”.

1996: The southern states grow weary of the country’s hyper-advancement, fearing these developments threaten their states’ rights to decide how best to allocate their resources.

1997: The Daily Planet building in Metropolis completes its reconstruction; at over 2,700 feet, it becomes the tallest building in the world.

1997: Civil rights activists complain of Arkham Asylum’s rising population and accuse the prison’s doctors of inhumane experimentation on patients.

1997: President Clinton lodges sanctions against Gotham City, New Jersey for its apparent-resurgence of crime, restricting their access to hover cars. Gotham is the only city to still rely on grounded cars.

January 17, 1998: Clinton-Lewinsky scandal breaks.

January 27, 1998: A resolution to amend the U.S. Constitution and allow the secession of the then-colloquially dubbed “Federalist States” is introduced in Congress.

August 1998: Florida man attempts to marry his automated robot.

November 3, 1998: The Arkham Asylum riots become the most violent prison riot in American history, resulting in several breakouts, deaths and thirteen officers taken hostage.

December 19, 1998: Bill Clinton is impeached by the House of Representatives.

January 1, 1999: Atlantis reappears.

January 7, 1999: The Senate trial in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton begins.

January 21, 1999: The United States Coast Guard makes the largest drug bust in American history, intercepting a ship with over 16,500 pounds of cocaine aboard headed for Gotham.

February 12, 1999: President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the Senate.

March 21, 1999: The Matrix—a movie with an all-A.I.-cast—becomes the first of its kind to win Best Picture at the Oscars following its January release.

April 8, 1999: Alexander Luthor surpasses $200 billion, edging out Warren Buffet and Bill Gates as the richest man in America.

April 1999: Through approval from Congress and states, cessation of the old U.S. South is finalized. Reorganization begins.

July 1999: Crime in Gotham City reaches a new peak, officially making it one of the most dangerous cities in the entire world; it holds the highest poverty, crime and murder rate in North America by a large margin. As a result, President Bill Clinton has military blockades set at its borders to prevent easy entry or exit, in hopes of keeping the crime wave contained within the city and managed.

August 1999: Sales of violent virtual reality video games and other media depicting graphic violence are limited across the country amidst the Gotham influenced panic, with experts warning of a wave of copycat criminals who will replicate their brutality.

August 1999: Tony Hawk became the first to land a “1000” on a hoverboard, following his “900” trick just months before on a skateboard.

October 1999: The New American Supreme Court rules LexCorp is in violation of antitrust laws, citing "unregulated and unreasonable practice" toward its competitors.

November 1999: The Tamarind expedition of 1950 is exposed by way of leaked CIA documentation. The dark web becomes a new priority for the reorganized government.

December 1999: Diana of Themyscira leaves Themyscira and sets foot on “Man’s World.”

December 31, 1999: The “New Reformation of the United States” and the “Federalist States of America” are recognized internationally as new territories.

January 1, 2000: Brainiac appears.

January 1, 2000: Independent news outlets report with alarm that Atlantis has become the international target of interest after Brainiac’s decree.

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Hostile school board meetings have members calling it quits (AP) A Nevada school board member said he had thoughts of suicide before stepping down amid threats and harassment. In Virginia, a board member resigned over what she saw as politics driving decisions on masks. The vitriol at board meetings in Wisconsin had one member fearing he would find his tires slashed. School board members are largely unpaid volunteers, traditionally former educators and parents who step forward to shape school policy, choose a superintendent and review the budget. But a growing number are resigning or questioning their willingness to serve as meetings have devolved into shouting contests between deeply political constituencies over how racial issues are taught, masks in schools, and COVID-19 vaccines and testing requirements. In his letter of resignation from Wisconsin’s Oconomowoc Area School Board, Rick Grothaus said its work had become “toxic and impossible to do.” “When I got on, I knew it would be difficult,” Grothaus, a retired educator, said by phone. “But I wasn’t ready or prepared for the vitriolic response that would occur, especially now that the pandemic seemed to just bring everything out in a very, very harsh way. It made it impossible to really do any kind of meaningful work.”

California fire approaches Lake Tahoe after mass evacuation (AP) A ferocious wildfire swept toward Lake Tahoe on Tuesday just hours after roads were clogged with fleeing cars when the entire California resort city of South Lake Tahoe was ordered to evacuate and communities just across the state line in Nevada were warned to get ready to leave. The popular vacation haven normally filled with tens of thousands of summer tourists emptied out Monday as the massive Caldor Fire rapidly expanded. Vehicles loaded with bikes and camping gear and hauling boats were in gridlock traffic, stalled in hazy, brown air that smelled like a campfire. Police and other emergency vehicles whizzed by. “It’s more out of control than I thought,” evacuee Glen Naasz said of the fire that by late Monday had been pushed by strong winds across California highways 50 and 89, burning mountain cabins as it swept down slopes into the Tahoe Basin.

Hurricane Ida traps Louisianans, shatters the power grid (AP) Rescuers set out in hundreds of boats and helicopters to reach people trapped by floodwaters Monday, and utility repair crews rushed in, after a furious Hurricane Ida swamped the Louisiana coast and ravaged the electrical grid in the sticky, late-summer heat. People living amid the maze of rivers and bayous along the state’s Gulf Coast retreated desperately to their attics or roofs and posted their addresses on social media with instructions for search-and-rescue teams on where to find them. More than 1 million customers in Louisiana and Mississippi—including all of New Orleans—were left without power as Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. mainland, pushed through on Sunday and early Monday before weakening into a tropical storm. As it continued to make its way inland with torrential rain and shrieking winds, it was blamed for at least two deaths. But with many roads impassable and cellphone service knocked out in places, the full extent of its fury was still coming into focus. The governor’s office said damage to the power grid appeared “catastrophic.” And local officials warned it could be weeks before power is fully restored, leaving multitudes without refrigeration or air conditioning during the dog days of summer, with highs forecast in the mid-80s to close to 90 by midweek.

Heavily armed criminal group ties hostages to getaway cars after storming Brazilian city (Washington Post) A heavily armed group of bank robbers wreaked havoc across a southeastern Brazilian city early Monday, striking several banks, setting fire to vehicles and tying hostages to their getaway cars, in an assault that left at least three people dead, officials say. Even in a country long accustomed to random spasms of violence, Brazilians reacted with shock and fear. The group stormed Araçatuba, a city of 200,000 in São Paulo state, around midnight to strike several city banking agencies. Gunshots punctured the early-morning quiet. Authorities asked residents to stay inside. Images on social media and local news reports showed at least 10 people clinging to getaway cars, apparently strapped there to deter fire from police. The hostages were reportedly released after the group escaped. The raid bore the characteristics of what criminologists have called a growing pattern: nighttime assaults on midsize Brazilian cities—often elaborate bank heists, intricately planned, well choreographed and executed by well-financed criminal groups equipped with the weaponry and gadgetry of war. The group flew a drone over Araçatuba during the raid, according to local reports, to track movements throughout the city.

EU travel restrictions (AP) The European Union recommended Monday that its 27 nations reinstate restrictions on tourists from the U.S. because of rising coronavirus infections there, but member countries will keep the option of allowing fully vaccinated U.S. travelers in. The EU’s decision reflects growing anxiety that the rampant spread of the virus in the U.S. could jump to Europe at a time when Americans are allowed to travel to the continent. Both the EU and the U.S. have faced rising infections this summer, driven by the more contagious delta variant. The guidance issued Monday is nonbinding, however. American tourists should expect a mishmash of travel rules across the continent since the EU has no unified COVID-19 tourism policy and national EU governments have the authority to decide whether or how they keep their borders open during the pandemic.

Italy’s record droughts (La Stampa) The earth is cracking in Italy’s northwest region of Piedmont: the crops and the animals suffer. Italy has been ravaged by fires and storms, like Greece, Turkey and much of Southern Europe. Italy has recorded 1,200 “extreme” meteorological events—a 56% increase from last year. Wildfires ravaged the southern regions of Sardinia, Calabria and Sicily. The town of Florida, in Sicily, is thought to have recorded the hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe: 48.8 °C. Meanwhile, heavy rainfall devastated other parts of the country. Coldiretti, Italy’s largest agricultural association, has just summed up the bill for this Italian summer: The damages to agriculture, it says, amount to €1 billion. Wheat yields have fallen 10%; cherries 30%, nectarines 40%. Tomato and corn crops have also suffered heavy losses. Giovanni Bedino, a 59-year-old Italian farmer, has been working the land since he was 15. “I love this job, but a year like this takes away your love,” he told Turin daily La Stampa. “We couldn’t water the fields and nothing came down from the sky. I remember, the summer of 2003 was a very difficult one—but it wasn’t even close to this year. I have never seen such a drought.”

In India, a debate over population control turns explosive (Washington Post) Yogi Adityanath, a star of India’s political right wing, stood before television cameras in his trademark saffron tunic and dramatically introduced a bill pushing for smaller families—two children at most. In previous decades, this measure by the leader of the country’s most populous state might have been uncontroversial. Over the past month, it’s been explosive. Critics saw a veiled attempt to mobilize Hindu voters by tapping into an age-old trope about India’s Muslim population ballooning out of control. As India barrels toward a pivotal election in Uttar Pradesh early next year, population bills introduced by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have become a new flash point in the national debate, vividly illustrating how the issues of religion and identity, spoken or implied, form the most powerful undercurrent in the country’s politics. Since 2011, when official census figures emerged showing Hindus dipping to 80 percent of India’s population compared to 84 percent in 1951—Muslims increased from 10 percent to 14.2 percent during that same period—the question of how to maintain “demographic balance” has gained urgency for the Hindu movement’s leaders. A 2016 national survey finding that Indian Muslim women had, on average, 2.6 children compared to 2.1 for Hindus provoked more concern.

North Korea appears to have restarted Yongbyon nuclear reactor, U.N. body says (Washington Post) North Korea appears to have restarted its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon in July, a “deeply troubling” sign that the country may be on track to expand its nuclear program, according to a new report by the United Nations’ atomic agency. The finding adds another challenge to the Biden administration’s goal of denuclearizing North Korea. Although Yongbyon is not the only site where North Korea has produced highly enriched uranium, its role at the heart of Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions made the facility a bargaining chip in previous negotiations. In 2008, North Korea ceremoniously blew up the reactor’s cooling tower in a largely made-for-TV event amid nuclear talks between the United States and former leader Kim Jong Il. (A new cooling tower was built after the negotiations fell through.)

Last troops exit Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war (AP) The United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan late Monday, ending America’s longest war and closing a chapter in military history likely to be remembered for colossal failures, unfulfilled promises and a frantic final exit that cost the lives of more than 180 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, some barely older than the war. Hours ahead of President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline for shutting down a final airlift, and thus ending the U.S. war, Air Force transport planes carried a remaining contingent of troops from Kabul airport. Thousands of troops had spent a harrowing two weeks protecting a hurried and risky airlift of tens of thousands of Afghans, Americans and others seeking to escape a country once again ruled by Taliban militants. In announcing the completion of the evacuation and war effort. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said the last planes took off from Kabul airport at 3:29 p.m. Washington time, or one minute before midnight in Kabul. He said a number of American citizens, likely numbering in “the very low hundreds,” were left behind, and that he believes they will still be able to leave the country. The final pullout fulfilled Biden’s pledge to end what he called a “forever war” that began in response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and rural Pennsylvania.

Afghanistan’s ‘Gen Z’ fears for future and hard-won freedoms (Reuters) Almost two third of Afghans are under the age of 25, and an entire generation cannot even remember the Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until it was toppled by Western-backed militia in 2001. During that time they enforced a strict interpretation of Islamic law, banning girls from school, women from work and carrying out public executions. Since 2001, the militants fought an insurgency in which thousands of Afghans died. Since re-taking power, the group has been quick to reassure students that their education would not be disrupted, also saying it would respect the rights of women and urging talented professionals not to leave the country. But used to a life with cellphones, pop music and mixing of genders, Afghanistan’s “Generation Z”—born roughly in the decade around the turn of the millennium—now fears some freedoms will be taken away, according to interviews with half a dozen Afghan students and young professionals. “I made such big plans, I had all these high reaching goals for myself that stretched to the next 10 years,” said Sosan Nabi, a 21-year-old graduate. “We had a hope for life, a hope for change. But in just one week, they took over the country and in 24 hours they took all our hopes, dreams snatched from in front of our eyes. It was all for nothing.”

They made it out of Afghanistan. But their path ahead is uncertain. (Washington Post) As the United States winds down its evacuation operation in Afghanistan, the Biden administration is accelerating efforts to resettle Afghans on U.S. soil, where they will be expected to apply for visas or humanitarian protection that could put them on a path to legal residency and citizenship. But the chaotic nature of the enormous airlift means that much is unknown: Officials have not said precisely how many Afghan evacuees have made it into the United States or whether all will be allowed to stay. More than 117,000 people had been evacuated from Afghanistan on U.S. and other flights as of Saturday, and Pentagon officials said the vast majority are Afghan citizens. Thousands have arrived in the United States, while thousands more are waiting in “transit hubs” in Europe and the Middle East. They are a mix of brand-new refugees and families with existing immigration applications that have been pending for months or years. Where the evacuees will end up is “a hard question to answer,” said Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, one of the refugee resettlement agencies operating in the United States. “I don’t really know where they stand,” Hetfield said in an interview. “It’s chaos.”

[sunny-hopewell]

#2 - Helena Stinchcomb

posted by sunny hopewell on sept. 12th, 20XX

DISCLAIMER: Please note that, just by reading this, you may succumb to the very phenomenon described here. My hope is that the next people or intelligent life who read this are either themselves resilient to it, or that enough time has passed that the sheer weight of this knowledge no longer causes such a heavy impact on the reader.

This is an attempt to record the phenomenon, once referred to colloquially as “ghosting,” that has resulted in a mass decrease in the Earth’s human population. More specifically, the latest estimate (prior to the disappearance of professionals who had counted) was that only 0.002% of human life remains.

In this series of accounts, I document interviews with remaining survivors of this phenomenon. For more details on the nature of the phenomenon itself, please click here. Otherwise or afterwards, read on at your own risk.

I encountered a woman by the name of Helena Stinchcomb when I saw the fourth floor of a large office building entirely lit up. Thinking perhaps it may have been an outpost containing multiple survivors, both my mission and my curiosity led me to that floor.

I rang the fully-functional doorbell at the back entrance of the first floor. I would consider breaking in only if I received no response, but just shy of a minute later, the very articulate voice of a young woman spoke, asking how she may help me. I explained that I was hoping to ask some questions relating to her take on recent events, but expressed that I understood if she declined to speak— multiple people had already done so for me at this point. You would understand my pleasant surprise when I heard the door bolt unlock, and I was invited in. The woman told me to come on in, explaining she would need to allow me to the fourth floor with her own badge, so she would meet me just inside shortly.

The office lobby seemed unremarkable, aside from its emptiness. The lights seemed to come on as soon as I walked in— likely on a motion-sensor.

It wasn’t long before a young, dark-haired lady emerged from a door that seemed to conceal a concrete staircase. She smiled at me as though I was a visitor to her office, urging me in with an energy that was both friendly and professional. She wore a dark, pin-stripe pantsuit, and her thin, black wireframe glasses only added to her aesthetic.

She showed me upstairs, thanking me for my patience. She explained she was in a meeting until just a few minutes ago, and that the speaker system that allowed me to speak with her outside was across the office. Of course, I asked her how many people were stationed on that floor. To my own disbelief, she estimated nearly 30 folks were in-office that day. 

At this time, we entered the fourth floor’s reception area, which appeared entirely empty. She waved to the empty reception desk on her left briefly, not ceasing her conversation with me about the work they did there. She explained that she worked for a newer kind of advertising firm— when in the 2020’s, social media and technology users realized the extent to which their information was being used without their consent, such firms opened up, acting as a middleman between web users and advertisers who wanted their attention. In essence, she explained, users would come to these firms seeking to sell their web usage data to these advertisers, and the firms would act as representatives for these individuals to advertisers, who they often partnered with for competitive pricing. 

As she finished explaining this, we entered her office. She asked me to wait just a moment while she typed away— a quick message, she said, to one of her part-time work-study students, asking if she could bring the two of us some bottled water and cookies. As she finally closed her laptop, she thanked me once again for my patience and gave me her full attention. The transcript of our interview is as follows:

SH: So, tell me about yourself. What’s your name?

HS: My name is Helena Stinchcomb. I serve in senior leadership here at The People’s Information firm.

SH: It’s very nice to meet you. How has the Ghosting Phenomenon impacted you?

HS: Do you mean personally, or professionally?

SH: Oh, uh— both, provided you’re up to speaking to them.

HS: Sure, I’ll start with personally, since that’s less complex. A few people close to my circles apparently ghosted, but I’ve yet to have anyone in my innermost circles ghost, themselves.

SH: That’s fantastically fortunate, given the numbers.

HS: [laughs] Yeah, I guess you could say that. It’s hard to trust the numbers anymore, though.

SH: How do these people in your circles spend their time?

HS: [hesitating] I— you know, I’ve been so absorbed in my work lately, I really should reach out to them and ask instead of answering that at this time.

SH: Sure thing, thank you for that. Let’s talk about work, then. How has the Ghosting Phenomenon impacted workflow?

HS: Honestly, it’s mostly the same. Lots of people are hiding out in their homes, and are trying to work less at times like this. This, as you can imagine, drives their web usage way up. We’ve since fortified our model for online communications with clients so they never have to meet us in-person. This is the perfect recipe for helping them earn some money just by using the internet.

SH: Have you, personally, been able to reap any benefits as a result of your strong model’s success?

HS: Well, I’m in the process of giving everyone else in this office a sizable raise to recognize our efforts.

SH: That’s fantastic. You must be very proud of your team.

HS: Thank you, I am.

SH: How many folks did you say are in-office, today?

HS: Hmm, I’d say probably just under 30.

SH: All holed up in their office, I take it?

HS: Some of them are a little concerned with ghosting and are isolating there, yes, but not all of them.

SH: What of the others? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else here yet, today.

HS: [briefly hesitating] I haven’t seen many, but our receptionist Patricia waved to us just in the door. You must have just missed her.

SH: Ah, I see— my mistake. Maybe I’ll catch her once we’ve finished up here and apologize for that.

HS: I think you’d love her— she’s always smiling. Very sweet woman.

SH: So, enough about business— what do you do when you’re not working?

HS: [laughs] Sleeping? We keep pretty busy here, so I work long days, six days a week.

SH: So you just hang loose on your one day off?

HS: Typically, yes. I have three little ones at home— Jack is six, Joseph is seven, and Elena is twelve. They keep me busy in other ways. I’m thankful to my partner for sticking around at home to watch them.

SH: A stay at home parent, then?

HS: Yes, and I’m grateful that she is so willing and capable.

SH: I’m sure she’s lucky to have you, too.

HS: Thank you. [smiles] I like to think so.

SH: If I may ask— [I was cut off by the sudden manifestation of bottled water and small bags of chips on the desk between me and Helena]

HS: [looking at an empty space adjacent to her desk] Ah, thank you, Patricia! Sunny, I’d like for you to meet our receptionist.

SH: [Greeting the empty space] Hello, it’s so nice to meet you. Sorry I missed your hello, earlier.

HS: [After a momentary silence in the room, smiles and chuckles] That’s excellent, Patricia. Thanks so much for bringing this by!

(As if some invisible entity had left the room, Helena’s attention returned to the interview.)

HS: Sorry, what were you saying?

SH: No worries. I was going to ask if you could speak on your perspective of the Ghosting Phenomenon more specifically.

HS: [letting out a deep sigh] I think local leadership has been excellent, given the circumstances of it all. I know it’s still a touchy topic for some people, but I’m still certain that there have been massive exaggerations about the impact of the Ghost Phenomenon on society. Am I saying it’s fake? No. I’m saying it was being used as a ham-fisted tool for social control.

SH: I see... Yes, I can see that causing a mass panic surrounding the phenomenon is usable as a strategic power-move.

HS: I’m so glad you agree. I feel like people are going crazy over a phenomenon that has long since passed.

SH: When was the last time you heard news of a ghosting?

HS: [pausing to think] It’s been a pretty long time… Probably nearing two years, now?

SH: Two years…

HS: I could be a little bit off, but probably by no more than a couple of months. It came and went like that. [snaps her finger]

SH: Ah, I see. Well, before I wrap this interview up, is there anything else you’d like to say to my readers?

HS: Don’t believe everything you hear. Trusting people can be too easy. It takes discipline to distinguish delusion from reality.

SH: Thank you so much. Readers out there, be sure to check out The People’s Information Firm if you’d like to make a little extra cash by just browsing the web.

At the conclusion of this interview, Patricia and I exchanged a few formalities before she showed me back down to the door at my request.

Just to make things absolutely clear: There was not a soul in Helena’s office space apart from the two of us. She spoke to thin air when a Ghost had evidently brought us those snacks— likely in response to the message she had sent out earlier. As stated in my previous post, the general work completed by ghosted individuals in their pre-phenomenon lives remained mostly unchanged. I recall reading about bosses who would send emails to their ghosted employees with assignments, only for the assignments to be completed somewhat quickly. These bosses would scarcely receive reply, but if they ever did, it was in the form of an incoherent, word-vomit sort of email, much like many of the messages you might see online today.

Helena seems to have survived this phenomenon by deluding herself into believing all of these people never vanished. Although nothing could be farther from the truth, I couldn’t bring myself to try and question that reality of hers during our interview. Should I have succeeded in casting doubt on the coping mechanism she had developed, she would have likely ghosted shortly thereafter. My hope is that she continues to live happily as such, blissfully unaware of the empty society in which she lives.

‘Til next time,

- sunny hopewell 

----

tags: #ghosting #hope #humanity #nonfiction #bliss #lifegoeson

[muthaz-rapapa]

StarPre Ep 29: Planet Saaman, the Frontier (??)

Alternatively,  “YEARSH, MOAR LALA!!”

Sooooo many things to discuss about this episode (yay!) as I expected as much with going back to Lala’s homeland.

Therefore, I should go through everything efficiently (ahahaha~). 

*cracks knuckles* Let’s begin!

1) Saaman, a world ruled by AI + Lala, the anomaly

I believe by now, most of us have consumed enough media to understand that a utopia run completely by a computer is NOT the ideal world it paints itself to be.

While there are certain perks in efficiency, the lack of freedom, authenticity and most importantly, the limit on a person’s individuality and true potential (among many other things) are so alarmingly concerning that such a reality is not worth it.

However, Saaman is just that. Its citizens not only thrive on their reliance of the AI, they are also super (!!) content with a machine deciding every single aspect of how they live.

Which suggests that Saaman’s current social infrastructure and foundation must have lasted quite long already (probably centuries) for the entire population to rarely, if ever, question the decisions that AI “Mother” made for them.

Save for one. Our lovely Lala-chan.

I mean, can you blame her for not going along with the norm like her family and fellow Saamanians do? 

AI Mother’s evaluation of her determined that she was most suited to investigate garbage.

After everything we’ve seen her done, how much she’s experienced and grown on this journey, of course, she can never be satisfied with that!

Lala deserves SO👏MUCH👏 FRIGGIN’👏MORE👏 (give her the galaxy!) than to sit hours upon hours sorting through junk!

Unfortunately, given the longstanding situation and culture of her planet (again, a reminder that the people of Saaman have no problem with this lifestyle), it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to actually voice their opinions of disagreement with Mother’s decisions.

Especially Lala, whose parents are big shots in Saaman and older brother is the poster child/epitome of Saamanian values.

When the majority of your family is so ensconced in societal conventions, it’s not surprising that they would push the “lesser” relative to be more like “everybody else”.

Please don’t make the mistake that this means they don’t love and care about Lala because it doesn’t. It’s so obvious that they worry for her and only want the best for her.

BUT! It’s also obvious that they don’t really know Lala nor can they be considered close to her (she calls her parents by their given names instead of simply “Mom” or “Dad”, for stars’ sake!). 

Lala’s family doesn’t understand her or her unhappiness with her assigned role on Saaman. They’re so content with their own jobs that they fail to see anyone else can feel differently about theirs. So the only solution they can think of to “help” Lala is to push her further into it, believing that eventually she’ll become content.

It’s something that happens to a lot of people and perhaps the reason why Lala left Saaman in the first place. She couldn’t exactly rebel so she ran away from the pressure on her spaceship. Maybe she didn’t intend to be away for an extended period of time but still, she left hoping to search for something that Saaman could not, would not, give her.

Then she fatefully bumped into Prunce and Fuwa running away from the Notrayders, met Hikaru, became Precure and the rest was history (or rather, destiny~).

At least, that’s how I see it.

2) Madoka relates

Y’know, at first, I thought Madoka empathizing with Lala’s discomfort was based on their similar upbringings.

Despite how close Lala and Hikaru are with each other, it’s Lala and Madoka who have the most in common out of all the other members of their team and I’ve been waiting for the writers to touch on that for some time now.

From birth or early childhood at the very least, everything was already decided for them. What they will be when they grow up, what their routines will be every single day, what expectations they’re supposed to fulfill, etc. 

It’s a suffocating position that doesn’t leave a lot of room for argument and what shaped these two girls into having very detrimental perfectionist outlooks before that changed after meeting Hikaru and becoming Precure.

And now that Lala finds herself under stucky circumstances with her family, unable to enjoy the same openness with them as she does with her friends, I thought Madoka was going to try to encourage Lala not to let that get to her. She’s going through the same thing with her own father, after all, so if anyone can tell Lala’s going through a hard time, it’d be Madoka.

But turns out, that’s not quite the case here as the issue lies with them keeping their Precure identities and duties secret from their families instead.

Which is fine because at least Lala still has someone who can understand her on that.

Anyways, it’s a problem because being the upstanding, honest and serious types they are (majimeko) and both coming from families with high reputations, it’s really difficult for Lala and Madoka to not tell the people who are important to them about another part of their lives that is very important to them.

For Madoka, she feels that she’s betraying her father by hiding the fact that her friends, the very first and truest friends she’s ever made, are either aliens or helping the aliens avoid being caught.

For Lala, she’s torn between her duties as a Saamanian and wanting the acknowledgement of her family and community against the desire the protect her friends from the consequences of acting on the former.

And they are right when they suspect things would probably be worst off if they were to reveal that they are Precure.

Sure, they can probably expect to receive some more substantial support from the officials of their home planet (more from the Starscape Alliance than Earth’s government, sorry Madoka)...but at what cost?

The Star team can operate and travel smoothly throughout space precisely because nobody else is aware of who they really are. If they reveal their identities, there’s no doubt they will be targeted to be controlled.

Because sadly and not to get too political or anything, that’s just what governments do. They have to control the situation, they have to think about the interests of their own countries and more often than not, they extremely suck at it and turn everything into a huge mess (and this is just massively simplifying the general for length).

If they let other people get involved, the team’s balance and even their friendship will likely absolutely be affected and strained because no way will the universe at large care about a bunch of girls getting along as much as they do about using them for its own needs.

Which I’ll get more into on Point #3 below.

But for certain, that’s one of the reasons why Lala and Madoka are unable to tell their families about being Precure.

Yes, it makes them very uncomfortable to keep this huge secret...a secret.

But at the same time, it feels even more wrong to expose it because once that happens, nothing will be the same. Nothing can stay the same.

Even if they avoid all the worse case scenarios, the ones who will definitely suffer the most will still be the girls.

Perhaps that sounds selfish because they’re putting their friends above everything else but it’s not like the Star team isn’t also doing their best to keep the villains at bay while trying to save the universe at the same time. And they’re already doing an exceptional job without anyone breathing down their necks about it.

*cough* Sorry, getting off track a bit.

Anyways, the point is, they’re following their instincts this time which is a BIG deal for people like Lala and Madoka who have tendency to lean more towards logic.

After meeting Hikaru, after letting Hikaru teach them about valuable things they didn’t know before, both Lala and Madoka learned that there is much more to the world than the structures built around them.

Sometimes, the right answer doesn’t lie in the data or the rules, cold and fair in judgement.

Sometimes, simply trusting what you feel is just more correct.

Nobody ever said doing the right thing will be easy (in fact, many times, it never is) but the heart can never lie to you after all. And it’s even more dangerous to ignore it and live through the regrets afterwards.

So which would you choose?

Going with what you feel and doing everything you can to get the best outcome? Or choosing the opposite, knowing that doing so, the best outcome becomes more impossible to achieve and you can only hope for the best of the worse?

Eh..my phrasing isn’t very good but you get what I mean, right?

Anyways, it’s just very meaningful for Madoka to be the one to say these words to Lala.

I wouldn’t say she and Lala have completed their personal journeys yet (we still have like 20 more episodes to go after all) but I do believe that this particular moment marks a very significant point in their arcs.

Having been exposed to more of the world out there beyond their own, they would never go back to being the same Lala and Madoka from the beginning.

They are still unsure about whether their choices will lead them to what they’re looking for but they both know there’s no point in looking back. They can only move forward, trusting in what they feel as right.

Which it will be and not just because this is Precure but because it will leave a very bad taste in my mouth if I wrote all that and the right doesn’t end up prevailing. :P

3) The next step...

I’ll give you a straight up “NOPE!” to that, Pops!

Apologies for letting some of my RL views seep into this post (though can you blame me when it’s been disaster after disaster out there?) but I’m positive that “joining” the Starscape Alliance (their terms, not Precure’s), no matter how well-intentioned they are, will hurt the Star team more than benefit them.

Again, cuz it will allow busybodies to unnecessarily butt into their affairs and make things harder for the girls than they already are.

Moreover...

This is just Lala’s boss being an incompetent ass-for-brains idiot but if the Starscape Alliance is anything like him or even thinks remotely like him, then the Star team coming under their control spells doom for all.

Seriously, this is another level of messed up stupid. They just got terrorized by a flamboyant tengu woman and the person he accuses of trying to steal the Princess pen is Lala?! Even though the wrecked video footage is NOT enough sufficient evidence to point her as an accomplice to Tenjou? Even though Lala’s safely holding onto the pen in the aftermath, is noticeably NOT running away with it and showing concern for her boss?

WHAT THE SERIOUS FUCKING FUCK?!?!

D:<

That said, I hope that in midst of all the chaos of next week’s episode, Lala’s family will at least refuse to believe Lala is a thief and try to find a way to talk to her to know what’s really going on.

Because if they can’t even do that and join the chase to jail their own daughter, then I have another concern to worry about and will immediately fly to Saaman, lay waste to it, take Lala home with me and file to adopt her as my own child (don’t laugh).

But seeing how Lala fought so hard, despite her awkward relationship with her family, to make sure Lolo’s efforts weren’t for nothing, I’m sure it’ll be alright.

Having both her parents and Lolo come to understand Lala would be ideal...but if not, then either one or the other. I’m banking on Lolo atm since he’s her twin but he can be the type who chooses the system over his own kin, too, so... 

The screentime we were given just wasn’t enough for me to grasp where each of Lala’s family members stand on their respective relations with her so I can only hope for the best. :/

Ooo, and also, Cancer Star Princess gets revived next week! Yay~! :D 

[xhxhxhx]

Herman Khan, The Emerging Japanese Superstate (1970):

[The] Japanese are something between the West, with its general Faustian attitudes and concept of "dominion over land and animal," and China, India, and many primitive cultures, which usually try to fit man into the environment in a natural, noncoercive, and nondisturbing manner. The Japanese are somewhat willing to make changes in the environment and to assert their will and fulfill their objectives, but they tend to do so less grossly, less starkly, and with greater moderation, care, and even love for the environment than is characteristic of the root-and- branch restructuring common in Western tradition.

Alex Kerr, Dogs and Demons (2001):

Writers on Japan today mostly concern themselves with its banks and export manufacturing. But in the greater scheme of things, for a wealthy nation does it really matter so much if its GNP drops a few percentage points or the banks falter for a few years? The Tang dynasty poet Du Fu wrote, “Though the nation perishes, the mountains and rivers remain.” Long before Japan had banks, there existed a green archipelago of a thousand islands, where clear mountain springs tumbled over mossy stones and waves crashed along coves and peninsulas lined with fantastic rocks. Such were the themes treasured in haiku, bonsai and flower arrangements, screen paintings, tea ceremony, and Zen – that is, everything that defined Japan's traditional culture. Reverence for the land lies at the very core of Shintoism, the native religion, which holds that Japan's mountains, rivers, and trees are sacred, the dwelling place of gods. So in taking stock of where Japan is today, it is good to set economics aside for a moment and take a look at the land itself.

When we do, we see this: Japan has become arguably the world's ugliest country. To readers who know Japan from tourist brochures that feature Kyoto's temples and Mount Fuji, that may seem a surprising, even preposterous assertion. But those who live or travel here see the reality: the native forest cover has been clear-cut and replaced by industrial cedar, rivers are dammed and the seashore lined with cement, hills have been leveled to provide gravel fill for bays and harbors, mountains are honeycombed with destructive and useless roads, and rural villages have been submerged in a sea of industrial waste.

Similar observations can be made about many other modern nations, of course. But what is happening in Japan far surpasses anything attempted in the rest of the world. We are seeing something genuinely different here. The nation prospers, but the mountains and rivers are in mortal danger, and in their fate lies a story-one that heretofore has been almost entirely passed over by the foreign media.

H. P. Lovecraft, describing a creepy New England hamlet doomed to be the setting for one of his horror stories, would say, “On viewing such a scene, who can resist an unutterable thrill of ghastliness?” For a modern traveler seeking something of that Lovecraftian thrill, nothing would do better than a trip to Japan's countryside.

During the past fifty-five years of its great economic growth, Japan has drastically altered its natural environment in ways that are almost unimaginable to someone who has not traveled here. In the spring of 1996, the Japan Society invited Robert MacNeil, the retired co-anchor of The MacNeil/Lehrer News-Hour, for a month's stay in Japan. Later, in a speech presented at the Japan Society in New York, MacNeil said that he was “confused” about what he saw, “dismayed by the unrelieved banality of the [800-kilometer] stretch from Hiroshima to Tokyo, the formless, brutal, utilitarian jumble, unplanned, with tunnels easier on the eyes.”

Across the nation, men and women are at work reshaping the landscape. Work crews transform tiny streams just a meter across into deep chutes slicing through slabs of concrete ten meters wide and more. Builders of small mountain roads dynamite entire hillsides. Civil engineers channel rivers into U-shaped concrete casings that do away not only with the rivers' banks but with their beds. The River Bureau has dammed or diverted all but three of Japan's 113 major rivers. The contrast with other advanced industrial nations is stark. Aware of the high environmental cost, the United States has decided in principle not to build any more dams, and has even started removing many that the Army Corps of Engineers constructed years ago. Since 1990 more than 70 major dams have fallen across America, and dozens more are scheduled to be dismantled. Meanwhile, Japan's Construction Ministry plans to add 500 new dams to the more than 2,800 that have already been built.

To see at close hand how the construction frenzy affects one small mountain village, let us take a short journey to Iya Valley, a picturesque fastness of canyons and peaks in the center of the southern island of Shikoku. When I bought an old thatch-roofed farmhouse in Iya in 1971, people considered this region so remote that they called it the Tibet of Japan. Villagers subsisted on crops such as buckwheat and tobacco, as well as forestry.

Over the next twenty-five years, young people fled Iya for the prosperous cities, and local agriculture collapsed. With its dramatic landscape and a romantic history going back to the civil wars of the twelfth century, Iya had a golden opportunity to revive its local economy with tourism and resorts in the 1980s. Yet in a pattern that repeats itself in countless regions across Japan, Iya failed to develop this potential. The reason was that the village suddenly found itself awash with cash: money that flowed from building dams and roads, paid for by a national policy to prop up rural economies by subsidizing civil-engineering works. Beginning in the 1960s, a tidal wave of construction money crashed over Iya, sweeping away every other industry. By 1997, my neighbors had all become construction workers.

Most foreigners and even many Japanese harbor a pleasing fantasy of life in the Japanese village. While driving past quaint farmhouses or perusing lovely photographs of rice paddies, it's tempting to imagine what bucolic country life must be: oneness with the seasons, the yearly round of planting and harvesting, and so forth. However, when you actually live in the countryside you soon learn that the uniform of the Japanese farmer is no longer a straw raincoat and a hoe but a hard hat and a cement shovel. In 1972, for example, my neighbor Mrs. Оto farmed tea, potatoes, corn, cucumbers, and mulberry for silkworms. In 2000, her fields lie fallow as she dons her hard hat every day to commute by van to construction sites, where her job is to scrape aluminum molds for concrete used to build retaining walls. In Iya Valley, it makes no sense to ask someone, “What line of work are you in?” Everyone lives off doboku, “construction.”

More than 90 percent of all the money flowing into Iya now comes from road- and dam-building projects funded by the Construction, Transport, and Agriculture ministries. This means that no environmental initiative can possibly make headway, for Iya has become addicted to dams and roads. Stop building them, and Mrs. Оtо and most of the other villagers are out of work. Without the daily pouring of concrete, the village dies.

The most remarkable paradox is that Iya doesn't need these roads and dams; it builds them only because it must spend the construction subsidies or lose the money. After decades of building to no particular purpose, the legacy is visible everywhere, with hardly a single hillside standing free of giant slabs of cement built to prevent “landslide damage,” even though many of these are located miles from any human habitation. Forestry roads honeycomb the mountains, though the forestry industry collapsed thirty years ago. Concrete embankments line Iya River and most of its tributaries, whose beds run dry a large part of the year because of the numerous dams siphoning water to electric power plants. The future? Although traffic is so sparse in Iya that in some places spiderwebs grow across the roads, the prefectural government devoted the 1990s to blasting a highway right through the cliffs lining the upper half of the valley, concreting over the few scenic corners that are left.

If this is what happened to the “Tibet of Japan,” one can well imagine the fate that has befallen more accessible rural areas. To support the construction industry, the government annually pours hundreds of billions of dollars into civil-engineering projects-dams, seashore- and river-erosion control, flood control, road building, and the like. Dozens of government agencies owe their existence solely to thinking up new ways of sculpting the earth. Planned spending on public works for the decade 1995-2005 will come to an astronomical ¥630 trillion (about $6.2 trillion), three to four times more than what the United States, with twenty times the land area and more than double the population, will spend on public construction in the same period. In this respect, Japan has become a huge social-welfare state, channeling hundreds of billions of dollars through public works to low-skilled workers every year.

It is not only the rivers and valleys that have suffered. The seaside reveals the greatest tragedy: by 1993, 55 percent of the entire coast of Japan had been lined with cement slabs and giant concrete tetrapods. An article in a December 1994 issue of the popular weekly Shukan Post illustrated a ravaged coastline in Okinawa, commenting, “The seashore has hardened into concrete, and the scenery of unending gray tetrapods piled on top of one another is what you can see everywhere in Japan. It has changed into something irritating and ordinary. When you look at this seashore, you can't tell whether it is the coast of Shonan, the coast of Chiba, or the coast of Okinawa.”

Tetrapods may be an unfamiliar word to readers who have not visited Japan and seen them lined up by the hundreds along bays and beaches. They look like oversize jacks with four concrete legs, some weighing as much as fifty tons. Tetrapods, which are supposed to retard beach erosion, are big business. So profitable are they to bureaucrats that three different ministries – of Transport, of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, and of Construction – annually spend ¥500 billion each, sprinkling tetrapods along the coast, like three giants throwing jacks, with the shore as their playing board. These projects are mostly unnecessary or worse than unnecessary. It turns out that wave action on tetrapods wears the sand away faster and causes greater erosion than would be the case if the beaches had been left alone.

It took some decades for this lesson to sink in, but in the 1980s American states, beginning with Maine, began one by one to prohibit the hard stabilization of the shoreline; in 1988, South Carolina mandated not only a halt to new construction but removal of all existing armoring within forty years. In Japan, however, armoring of the seacoasts is increasing. It's a dynamic we shall observe in many different fields: destructive policies put in motion in the 1950s and 1960s are like unstoppable tanks, moving forward regardless of expense, damage, or need. By the end of the century, the 55 percent of shoreline that had been encased in concrete had risen to 60 percent or more. That means hundreds of miles more of shoreline destroyed. Nobody in their right mind can honestly believe that Japan's seacoasts began eroding so fast and so suddenly that the government needed to cement over 60 percent of them. Obviously, something has gone wrong.

[livingwithkami]

Shinto and Sexuality: A gift of life

With the recent ban on adult content on Tumblr, it has given way to a lot of discussion about adult content online and what is or isn't acceptable. Legitimate issues were brought up in how violence is more normalized than intimacy and sexuality, and how the bans would affect sex workers and nsfw artists greatly – Tumblr, one of the last safe mainstream social media platforms that could ensure an income and audience base is now also being ripped out from under them. I feel this is not right and even a dangerous and irresponsible decision to make. Instead of relying on bots and algorithms to moderate between adult content and all-ages content, they should hire a dedicated moderation team, and proper safety features into the site to protect minors, but also while not censoring adult content creators and their adult consumers. There were ways that worked before that do not require a site-wide ban.

Unfortunately, this issue branches from a much larger issue of bans across the internet based on how society views these topics. In many modern societies today, and even in the past, sexuality is often viewed as something very taboo or forbidden. It is something only for the minds of adults, and even then, only married adults in a strict setting with only certain positions being “acceptable”. In this, there is a high sense of rigidity, shame, and hiding in sexuality.

I do not agree with this and feel this viewpoint is very wrong. Nudity and sexuality itself should not be viewed as shameful or wrong, because there is nothing inherently wrong about them. We are all born naked, and the action of sex itself is what creates life. Why can we show and talk about gory murders in detail with a degree of normalcy, but when there is a non-explicit sex scene, it is somehow more scandalous, forbidden, and dirty? I feel strongly instead it should be something understood as beautiful, and definitely should not be seen as a taboo action, especially comparing to a gruesome murder. Learning about sexuality, and being comfortable about nudity is something I feel should be more open to explore for people of all ages, and work to remove the stigma surrounding sex and nudity.

That being said, I do strongly feel minors should be protected from eroticism, that is, something inherently intended to be erotic and presented in an erotic nature. I feel that eroticism is a more advanced area of sexuality that should be kept in adult spheres only and explored by adults only. It's important to let kids be kids and understand about their sexuality in a healthy and educational way, but leave erotic content for 18 and older. That isn't to say eroticism is what is taboo, wrong, dirty and should be hidden, but should be explored in an open, healthy, and safe way only once someone matures into an adult.

In relation to that, on the topic of showing a “female-presenting nipple” as Tumblr called it in their guidelines, such as a topless woman just lounging as a topless man would in a non-erotic way, or a breastfeeding woman, is not erotic nor should be seen as such. I personally feel non-erotic nudity and sexual educational content should not be censored at all, and erotic content can be accessed by adults-only without banning it entirely. The fact there is no understanding between these differences in content, nor any care to understand between them, and just labeling anything relating to sexuality as wrong, dirty, taboo, and forbidden to be banned - leads to many issues and shame surrounding our bodies and our understanding of sex, sexual attraction, and sexual desire.

This is such a harmful and unhealthy view in our society that is being enforced by this censorship online, and in addition has very real detriments to people's livelihood. It affects sex workers, and erotic nsfw (not safe for work) artists livelihood and ability to survive; and removes access to a safe community. In extreme cases, it is pushing sex workers into dangerous communities where their lives can be at danger either by trafficking or murder. Censorship, banning, lack of education, and hiding these topics away also leads to other broader issues that harm people greatly. Such as sexual abuse, transmission of STI's (Sexually Transmitted Infections), unexpected pregnancies, body image issues, self-esteem issues, and more. I feel strongly we must work toward being more open to educate about sex, sexuality, and our nude bodies with no shame. And for the adult sphere, adults also need to understand exploring eroticism, and erotic content in itself, is not taboo, shameful, or wrong. Understanding that those who are sex workers or nsfw artists are not inherently deviant perverts or bad people - after all, there are plenty of clients who request their services. This isn't something wrong or dirty. It's a part of the human experience, and again, nothing is inherently wrong, bad, or evil about it.

This is a large part of why I practice and why I love Konkokyo Shinto – sex and our bodies is not seen as something wrong, bad, or shameful. It's a part of nature, it is an action that is one way to bring pleasure, to express love deeply, as well as the action that creates life itself. It is something that brings love, pleasure, joy, and life. Exploring our own bodies and sexuality consensually with others helps us to understand ourselves better and helps us to learn to love and treat ourselves and each other well. Within Shinto as a whole, this is expressed in various myths and other shrine traditions too.

I'll start from one of the oldest myths, the first and most direct example of this belief and view – the creation of the islands of Japan, and the myriads of kami which populate the world. The traditional myth goes that after the first generations of kami were born from the divine universe's energy, the last generation born this way was Izanagi Okami and Izanami Okami, who were also the very first kami who got married. A famous line in this myth is when Izanagi Okami points out he has something “extra” but Izanami Okami has something “less”, so he suggests something good may happen if the extra part he had would compliment the part she did not have. And thus, the two kami are said to have discovered sex. Because of this discovery, the two kami were able to create many children, which were both the islands of Japan, and the millions of kami that inhabit the islands. In this sense, sex is viewed in an extremely respected and positive light. Without that action, nothing would exist. And indeed, even for us as humans, without the action of sex, we could never continue on in our survival as a species. It is viewed as a highly sacred, but also very natural and beautiful action. There are even sacred Kagura dances that recreate this event via an implied (not erotic or explicit, as it is a public dance where minors also attend) way between Izanagi Okami and Izanami Okami, and it is not seen as wrong or perverted.

Izanagi Okami and Izanami Okami Source: http://mesosyn.com/myth2j-13b.jpg

Next, the following myths are famous ones, wherein a “female-presenting nipple” (a pair of them) in fact saved the world, twice.

In the first myth, in summary, the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami had hidden in the cave Ama no Iwato due to immense grief. Because of her isolation and neglect of her responsibilities - providing sunlight and management of Earth's cycles - the world began to spiral into decay and chaos. The other kami came together to come up with a plan to entice her out. Prayers were chanted, divinations were done, beautiful treasures were offered, but nothing worked until Ame no Uzume no Mikoto, a goddess of the dawn, dance, femininity, womanhood, and more, danced and danced.

The atmosphere remained gloomy, but Ame no Uzume no Mikoto remained cheerful, and eventually, exposed her breasts freely. Because she unashamedly, happily exposed her breasts for all of the kami to see, they burst out in joy and even laughter at seeing Ame no Uzume no Mikoto's ecstasy and freedom amidst the gloomy atmosphere. It was because of the joy, happiness, and pleasure the exposure of her breasts brought, that Amaterasu Omikami finally peeked out of the cave, which led to her being pulled out and restoring light to the world. All thanks to Ame no Uzume no Mikoto's breasts, and, “female-presenting nipples” Hardly something to consider shameful, bad, or wrong. In fact, if she had kept them hidden, according to the myth, we may not have the Earth as we know it today, or even survived at all. The second myth is when, in summary, the Heavenly kami (Amatsukami) were going down to the Earthly realm to rule. In some myths, Sarutahiko Okami came out to greet them, and then married Ame no Uzume no Mikoto upon seeing her beauty, thus joining the Heavenly kami and Earhtly kami (Kunitsukami) as one clan of kami. However, there is another, more critical version of the myth. Where Sarutahiko Okami came to stop the Amatsukami from coming to Earth. No other Amatsukami could defeat him, and they were stuck on what to do in their desire to come toward the Earth. So, they began to consider a war against the Kunitsukami. That is, until Ame no Uzume no Mikoto again took the stage, and approached Sarutahiko Okami by herself, and bravely, unashamedly...exposed her breasts to him.

Needless to say, all thoughts of war dropped from anyone's head, and the only thought left for Sarutahiko Okami was to ask Ame no Uzume no Mikoto to be his wife, to which she happily accepted, and united the Amatsukami and Kunitsukami kami. In this sense, she saved the world once again, from a world-breaking war between the Amatsukami and Kunitsukami, instead, uniting them.

In this sense, the form of breasts are what once again, restored balance, and protected all life. Ame no Uzume no Mikoto freely showing the beautiful natural form of her naked body is what brought these blessings of joy, life, protection, restoration, happiness, and peace. I feel like we should learn from her and these myths, that when we feel comfortable and confident, and not ashamed of our natural selves, there can be much more happiness spread.

In relation to Ame no Uzume no Mikoto, in the ancient era, miko (female shamans), who Ame no Uzume no Mikoto is the protective goddess of, used to practice sacred sex work in the ancient era. There were even intimate rituals between a miko and her kami. Miko never needed to be virgins, and while even in the modern era the sexual practices of miko are no longer, and the role is only one of a shrine attendant and offering sacred dance to kami, they still do not need to be virgins. The concept of virginity has no real significance or even importance in Shinto.

Ame no Uzume no Mikoto and Sarutahiko Okami img source: https://www.univie.ac.at/rel_jap/an/Bild:Uzume_Sarutahiko_ningyo_kuniyoshi.jpeg

Of course, not ignoring the modern sensibilities, I understand the importance of modesty in the general sense of being in public – however when there is the double standard of shirtless “male-presenting nipples” being fine, but shirtless (non-erotic) images of “female-presenting nipples” are somehow seen as taboo or inherently wrong to be banned or even illegal in some cases, this should be re-examined.

Especially when one considers breastfeeding, and a non-erotic context as a general whole. Tumblr's rule of “no female-presenting nipples” was one of the most ridiculous sentences I've ever read in my life. What makes a “female-presenting” nipple wrong and banned, but a “male-presenting” nipple alright? Why is a natural feature of a nude body with extra fat tissue to be banned, but one without isn't? I know the reason, of course, I know society's general viewpoint. However what I am saying is – we should sincerely reconsider this, and re-examine our values and beliefs on this particular matter strongly, as this sense of shame and restriction can be very harmful and feed into a larger problem of an unhealthy and skewed view toward sexuality, nudity, and eroticism.

The next example that is quite famous in Shinto is Kanamara Matsuri. The matsuri (festival) has a big reputation overseas for it's images of large penises, penis shaped candy, and imagery everywhere. Many foreigners believe this to be a part of the “weird, perverted, wacky” side of Japan - but it's not. All matsuri are inherently fun and joyful – it's a festival after all! But there is a very real sincerity behind it. This festival is to pray and celebrate fertility, life, sexual health, and the prevention and curing of STI's. It's not just a “wacky penis festival” but something very important for both sexual health and reproduction for couples, as well as general sex between consenting adults and safe practices. In addition, the shrine that hosts the festival, Kanayama Shrine, was famous in the past as frequented by sex workers to protect against STI's in their field of work, and that carries on into the modern day too. Kanamara Matsuri isn't the only festival to feature penis imagery, and usually the ones that do always have the same themes: fertility, sexual health, sexual virility, safety, curing and protection of STI's and so forth. There are other shrines with similar themes too, for example, some Inari shrines in Kyoto with similar imagery, and are also prayed to by sex workers for their protection and healing of STI's.

Kanamara Matsuri parade Img source: https://imgur.com/gallery/fPmmH

In the same manner as the above, in my tradition, Konkokyo Shinto, sex workers pray to Tenchi Kane no Kami-sama for protection and healing, and sex is not viewed negatively. There are many sex-positive teachings, and how nature and even faith itself reflects it. For example, how the sky is viewed like a father kami and the earth is like a mother kami, where the rain that falls from the sky fertilizes the earth to create life – implying in the same imagery as with humans. And that to practice faith single-heartedly evokes the same feeling as when one has sex with their partner, especially if they want to conceive. They are totally focused in the moment, and don't think of anything else but single-heartedness and love to their partner. I also know of priests who used to be sex workers, and of course many if not the majority of priests and priestesses are sex-positive, and are married with children of their own.

the sky and the earth img source: https://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=426773

Unfortunately, this beauty of Shinto and it's healthy relationship with nudity, sexuality and sex positivity as a natural and beautiful thing is covered with a dark cloud from modern Japanese society, beginning with the Meiji reformations in 1868 and getting worse over time. Sex as a shameful, hidden, taboo thing has trickled and spread deep into the mainstream society here.

In pre-Meiji era, nudity, sexuality, and eroticism were much more open. Shunga art is the most popular example of this pre-Meiji era openness, and some of this is still seen today in the cases of onsen, or hot springs, where one bathes naked in a public sphere with strangers. However, the positive and healthy views were unfortunately lost. In particular, a whole esteemed and open culture of sex workers was completely destroyed by the Meiji reformation. What was once a highly respected, legal, safe line of work, with a whole esteemed culture surrounding it, was completely decimated. Oiran, who were entertainers of the arts and sex workers, and yuujo, who focused on sex work, were held in high regard. An especially respected and professional oiran or yuujo were named as “tayuu”, a rank which means “best in their art” and were treated very well.

Unfortunately, all that had gone away, and it is now very dangerous for sex workers in Japan, with a lot of challenges. Especially for Japanese professionals in community-based fields, such as being a priestess like myself, society as a whole views any mention of openness about sex or sexual relations, especially in the context of work, as extremely negative and even something to be publicly shamed about.

One doesn't need to look any further than common news of celebrities or public figures sex life being exposed as a scandal, as if it's something they should never be let known. It is even more dangerous for sex workers, especially since the anti-prostitution law from 1956. Horrifically, the law states that being a sex worker is a crime, but those who seek their services are not committing a crime. There are loopholes and ways for sex workers to work relatively safely, such as working in an intimacy job that does not promise intercourse, but eventually can lead to it.Thereby being legal by receiving payment for intimacy; whereas receiving payment for intercourse itself would be illegal.

However, while there are ways around it, it’s still a hostile environment, with workers having to not stay at once place for too long. In addition, much more so as Japanese society is very much about saving face and having an external image, knowledge one is a sex worker can make them the target of extreme bullying, harassment, violence, and losing their non sex work source of livelihood /line of work, despite there being many consumers of erotic content and even gravure books openly on shelves in convenience stores. It is quite cruel and hypocritical.

If, for example, I chose to be a sex worker and a priestess at the same time, I would have to keep it completely hidden and private due to the stigma in Japanese society. While there would be absolutely no issue in Konkokyo Shinto as a shrine tradition if I was open about being a sex worker at the same time as being a priestess; there would be a massive issue from the viewpoint of society as a whole, with hostility, mistrust, harassment, and even threats against me and even the shrine itself – in some cases even on grounds of being threatening or dangerous to children, minors, and families who visit the shrine. It is really a difficult and upsetting situation. Not even only for my line of work, but often the same with teachers and educators and any line of work that would involve interaction with families and minors.

I can only wish that Japan returns to it's roots and view of nudity, sexuality, and eroticism in alignment with Shinto. That it is not seen as something wrong, bad, or dirty - but something to be celebrated, to be honored, to be prayed to the kami for assistance with – and most of all, something normal. Something a part of life. Acknowledgment that without it, we would not be here.

And, most of all, I hope Shinto can teach this around the world. That we don't need to view these topics in such a negative light. That it can be open, it can be healthy and moderated, and explored in a positive way. This recent decision of social media sites sets us back that much further. And feeds into that negative stigma which harms so many. But I think it's important to keep pushing back, to educate, and to remove stigma.

[theculturedmarxist]

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck; written by Boden, Fleck and Geneva Robertson-Dworet

The production and release of Captain Marvel, the new science fiction superhero adventure from Marvel and Disney, has a number of remarkable features, but none of them involve the film’s drama, action or characters.

Briefly, Captain Marvel, in convoluted fashion, follows US Air Force pilot Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) who absorbs an awesome energy source, making her potentially “one of the universe’s most powerful heroes ever known,” according to the film’s publicity.

However, six years later, she is suffering from amnesia, doesn’t know who or what she is and has become a member of the repressive Starforce Military under her mentor Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). The shapeshifting Skrulls, the apparent enemy, force Danvers to crash-land in the US in the mid-1990s. But all is not what it appears. Danvers discovers secrets about herself and about a “galactic war” between two alien races.

Not much of this is interesting, although it is noisy and “action-packed.” Captain Marvel, as a film, is predictable, empty and tedious. The more “sensitive” scenes on Earth, focusing on Danvers and her African American friend Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) and daughter (Akira Akbar), are possibly the most contrived and least convincing.

The first genuinely noteworthy fact about the new film, not surprisingly, concerns money.

Disney, the film’s distributor, is the world’s largest media company, with some $100 billion in assets. With a market value of $152 billion, it ranks as the 53rd largest company of any kind in the world, just behind Total (oil and gas), Merck (pharmaceuticals), the Bank of China (one of the four leading state-owned commercial banks in China), Unilever, DowDuPont and BP.

Media reports place Captain Marvel’s combined net production and global marketing costs at $300 million. To date, the film’s global box office stands at $774 million.

Captain Marvel is truly “corporate entertainment”—i.e., the very process by which it came into being prevents it from being entertaining or enlightening in any meaningful fashion.

This type of large-scale, officially sponsored filmmaking, whose success is avidly promoted and tracked by the media and business publications in particular, inevitably intersects and overlaps with other aspects of American establishment culture. In the case of Captain Marvel, this means militarism and feminism specifically.

The US Air Force was involved in the production of Captain Marvel.

In fact, Task & Purpose reported that Marvel Studios launched the official start of production “with a photo of Larson, and Air Force Brig. Gen. Jeannie M. Leavitt, then-commander of the 57th Wing and the service’s first female fighter pilot, atop an F-15 at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.”

“To prepare for her role, Larson,” according to The Wrap, visited the Air Force base “to join simulated dogfights. The film’s red-carpet premiere included testimonials from Air Force men and women and a flyover by the Air Force’s Nellis-based Thunderbirds.”

Task & Purpose, a website that follows the American military, also cited the emailed comments of Todd Fleming, chief of the Community and Public Outreach Division at Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs: “The Air Force partners on any number of entertainment projects to ensure the depiction of Airmen and the Air Force mission is accurate and authentic. Our partnership with ‘Capt Marvel’ [sic] helped ensure the character’s time in the Air Force and backstory was presented accurately. It also highlighted the importance of the Air Force to our national defense.”

“[Captain Marvel] is not part of a recruiting strategy but we would expect that audiences seeing a strong Air Force heroine, whose story is in line with the story of many of our Airmen, would be positively received,” Fleming said.

The issue of female recruitment is no small matter. American imperialism, recklessly gearing up for war against Russia, China and other rivals, needs vast new supplies of human fodder. Task & Purpose explains, “The spotlight on airmen [in Captain Marvel] comes at a time when the Air Force, like the other services, is hunting for the next generation of pilots. The Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps are all short 25 percent of their pilot billets, according to a GAO [Government Accountability Office] report published this summer; the Air Force in particular has doled out cash incentives like candy in a vain effort to prevent pilots from defecting to the private sector. Indeed, the branch’s plan to increase its number of squadrons by 76 to Cold War levels will require an additional 40,000 personnel, further straining the service’s recruitment capabilities. At the Air Force Academy, female cadets are increasingly encouraged to vie for pilot spots to help bridge that gap.”

Larson, who has made all sorts of useless (or worse) comments about #MeToo, alleged sexual abuse and her own “social activism,” like most of affluent Hollywood, is entirely oblivious to the criminal role of the US military, the greatest source of terror and “abuse” on the planet by an order of magnitude of 100 times or more.

The female heroism in Captain Marvel, of course, has been greeted with plaudits. Entertainment Weekly noted excitedly that the film would “mark the first time a woman will be headlining her own solo superhero movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also marks the first time a woman will direct a superhero film for Marvel Studios: Anna Boden will co-direct with her Mississippi Grind partner Ryan Fleck.”

The hope is that Captain Marvel will do “for women” what Black Panther did “for African Americans”—which is, of course, nothing whatsoever, except for a small layer of prominent studio executives, writers, performers, etc.

This comment from Deadline is typical: “One film finance source believes that it’s pretty much certain that Captain Marvel will see $1 billion around the world and break the glass ceiling for female-led pics at the global B.O. [box office], dashing past Wonder Woman’s final global of $821.8M.”

As is this Vox headline: “Why Captain Marvel’s milestone status creates so much pressure for it to succeed—Why Captain Marvel represents more than just a superhero movie.” The article proposes to answer these important questions: “What does a woman superhero mean for Marvel Studios and the MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe]? What are the takeaways from Captain Marvel’s already overwhelming box office success? What does the film have to say about feminism? What might have happened if it had flopped? And who gets to shape the conversation and narrative surrounding it?”

The final and perhaps most remarkable feature of Captain Marvel involves its writer-directors. (And, secondarily, its performers. What are Larson, Jude Law and the talented Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn, whose acting in The Land of Steady Habits we recently praised, doing in this rubbish?)

We have made the point previously on more than one occasion about the objective significance of the “long march” of numerous so-called independent or art filmmakers toward empty-headed, “blockbuster” movie-making. We noted the examples of Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven, etc.), Alan Taylor (Terminator Genisys), the Russo brothers (the Captain America and Avengers franchises), Kenneth Branagh (Thor), Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, etc.), John Singleton (a Fast and Furious installment), Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day, one of the James Bond fantasies), Marc Forster (another of the Bond films, Quantum of Solace), Sam Mendes (yet another Bond film, Skyfall) and Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman).

To that list, one can add the more recent examples of Jon Watts (two Spider-Man films), Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), Ava DuVernay (A Wrinkle in Time) and Ryan Coogler (Black Panther).

In a number of these cases, the filmmakers had earlier indicated vaguely oppositional political views or a certain concern at least for the fate of broader layers of the population.

The lure of large amounts of money is obviously an issue. But perhaps the more pertinent question is: what are the social and ideological conditions that make writers, directors and performers susceptible to this “lure”? It is not inevitable. Artists, including in the US, have been known to repudiate such offers with contempt. Almost inevitably, however, such resistance has been rooted in political and social conceptions and opposition of a left-wing character, sustained by a confidence in the better instincts of the population and its willingness to struggle. Those conceptions and that confidence are sorely lacking today.

The directors of the dreadful Captain Marvel, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, should not be entirely unfamiliar to readers of the WSWS, although the context—big-budget Hollywood—may be unexpected. We have reviewed two of their films in the past, Half Nelson (2006) and Sugar (2008).

The Atlantic notes with surprise that Fleck and Boden “until now have worked in the realm of quiet, sensitive indie films.” More than simply “quiet” and “sensitive,” Half Nelson centers on an obviously left-wing high school teacher working at an inner-city school in Brooklyn.

A 2006 New York Times article about the making of Half Nelson is worth citing. The Fleck-Boden film, wrote Dennis Lim, “is a political allegory, a film about a would-be visionary who wants to change the world but can’t get his act together and is often his own worst enemy. It’s not a stretch to read it as a comment on the sorry state of the American left.”

“‘That was more or less conscious,’ the film’s director, Ryan Fleck, said of the political subtext.” Fleck and Boden “started writing Half Nelson … four years ago, as the Bush administration was preparing to invade Iraq and the antiwar movement was gaining momentum. ‘It felt like we were going to protests every other week,’ Mr. Fleck said recently. ‘But ultimately you don’t have the energy to do it all, and you feel like you’re doing very little. A big part of the frustration was the inability to make meaningful change.’

“The activist spirit comes naturally to Mr. Fleck, who was born to socialist parents on a commune in Berkeley, Calif. As a child he was taken to rallies and protests. As a teenager he read Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn.”

In an interview with Slant magazine, Fleck, asked about religion, replied jokingly “I was raised communist.”

Fleck and Boden’s Sugar, about a Dominican baseball player playing in the minor leagues in the US, the WSWS commented, was “about immigration and acculturation, capitalism and exploitation, hospitality and loneliness.”

Now, a decade later, Captain Marvel.

The same 2006 Times article referred to above contained this passage:

“Mr. Fleck said he hoped that their future projects would remain, however obliquely, rooted in a sense of social justice. ‘Filmmaking is kind of a vain hobby when maybe we should all be taking to the streets,’ he said. ‘But it seems irresponsible not to be informed by politics in some way.’

“Ms. Boden’s idealism is more tempered. ‘I don’t have an inflated sense of what a movie can do,’ she said. ‘But you can at least try not to put something out there that you don’t believe in.’

“Mr. Fleck added: ‘That’s a rule we try to follow, to not put garbage in the world.’”

Unfortunately, they have now.

[thetwominuteshate-blog]

Hello, cruel world.

I am exhausted with living on this earth.

I could throw literary quotes at you. I could tell you that society at large has become what the dystopian science fiction authors of yesteryear predicted it would. I could start this blog with a call to arms, urging you to riot in the streets and tear down the prison we've built for ourselves.

But the truth is I'm just tired. I'm tired of constantly living in fear. I'm tired of feeling no connection with the world around me. I'm tired of seeing so much suffering that spans continents, in "the greatest nation in the world", while criminals look down on us with derision from their ivory towers. I am tired of feeling as though, no matter what I do, my decisions are of no consequence. I'm tired of the world slowly eroding me until there is nothing good left in me. I'm tired of feeling alone, and I am so, so tired of seeing the world as it could be--as it SHOULD be--and always coming up so short I can't even see the finish line.

I've been rejecting the reality I've found myself in for far too long, escaping into worlds of my own making or the worlds others have created for the sake of escaping my own despair. But it doesn't have to be this way. I still reject this reality, the efficient brutality of a race that has been born into an environment so unforgiving that we fail to put our own violent natures behind us. I reject the notion that the world cannot improve. I have had enough.

Those of you who have read George Orwell's 1984 might remember the Two Minutes Hate. For those of you who haven't or have forgotten, the Two Minutes' Hate is a daily ritual put in place by a maddeningly restrictive government with the intention of directing the fear and anger of common individuals living in such a repressive society by placing them in front of a television screen that projects images of whomever the Party deems is an enemy. The Other. When I first read it, this excerpt in particular stood out to me:

"The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic. And yet the rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp."

These days, most of what I see in the media is the Two Minutes Hate. Talking heads on two dimensional screens telling us who we should hate. Vicious propaganda that those who lack the will to fight the ones keeping them locked in misery buy into wholeheartedly. Instead of directing their rage at the ones responsible, people punch down, ostracizing people less fortunate than them.

But this isn't the reason why I chose to name this blog after the Two Minutes Hate. Because hate is a funny thing--when we don't let it eat away at us, it gives us the strength to fight without abandon. It causes us to reduce things to rubble and burn the remains so there is no trace of its existence. It can be a powerful tool. But it is fire, and most of us, if not all, aren't well enough equipped with the knowledge to know which things are worth burning.

I've been filled with hate nearly for as long as I can remember. Full disclosure: I'm a 27-year-old white, bisexual cis male. For most of my life I lived in a small town and have largely kept myself in seclusion due to bullying throughout my childhood into my teen years. I only recently became aware of the deepening aspects of my sexuality, but over the years I've faced baseless accusations of homosexuality to the point that a cowardly bully had his friend fight me. As a result, I faced suspension. My school district, like most, put on a public face that disavowed bullying, but enabled it when it occurred. The culture I was surrounded by swam in toxic masculinity, boys that pretended to be men through the ownership of trucks flying the Confederate flag and other meaningless, superficial displays of their own insecurities. My "community", which is so very important to conservative culture, treated me like a stubborn weed long before I could even grasp cruelty. I felt suffocated, unable to flourish because there was always someone watching my every move. As a result, I've come to loathe authority in all its forms.

That's just backstory, though. Over the years I've come to realize that my circumstances were relatively fortunate. I'm privileged; people have been murdered over the merest suspicion that they might be gay. There are people who face severe bullying on a near-daily basis, and that's in this country alone. The atrocities committed in our world's history dwarf mine to a subatomic level. I've had friends who have been raped, faced child and domestic abuse, and even now are in circumstances far more dire than my own. It's no longer for my own sake that I hate, it's for those who are beaten down and cannot fight back, whether on an individual or cultural basis.

I'm not here to play white, straight(ish) savior. In fact, I wouldn't even consider myself to be an ordinary person. I am on the verge of mental instability--for years I've felt the effects of severe depression, which is finally in check. For a time I was so suicidal that I abused substances on a daily basis because the only calming thoughts I had in sobriety were of my own death. I have a deep desire to hurt and destroy, to get back at the world that I feel cut me open and left me to bleed out. I'm a sadist and a masochist in the BDSM scene. I have twisted fantasies that run so deeply to my core and no outlet for them outside of the scene. I want to make others suffer for the injustices they inflict upon those who are undeserving of pain. Because whoever came up with the idiom, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" should have been tortured without cause, broken by suffering that held no ultimate meaning. Then he'd have a greater grasp on the state of the reality as it is.

Hate is addictive. Orwell was right; it spreads like a wildfire, and it's impossible not to be caught in the blaze yourself unless you sequester yourself with comfort and ignorance. And turning a blind eye to the problems others face, whether it's next door or on the other side of the globe, is possibly worse. Until now, I've feared the repercussions of acting against authority, the odds of my successful retribution stacked heavily against me. Even now, I fear the things I will express will draw fire from all sides, so I'm shielding myself through an anonymity browser in order to ward off potential enemies, whether they are a collective agency like the NSA or some alt-right IT cunt with internet access. Those of us in the United States have been officially granted a right to free speech, but we live in an era in which seizing that right can go so far as to get you killed, especially if you call for progress and your voice is heard by millions.

But my end goal is not society's complete collapse. There are pieces of this world worth preserving. I may only be useful for tearing things down, but someday I hope someone will build them back up into something better that works for all people. I long to help individuals understand that all people are just that--people. Not secondary or tertiary characters in your life, good-or-evil projections onto a screen for you to scream at. It's this mentality that causes entire populations to suffer, and I know my work will never be done until the most marginalized find a place in society.

But this is not a call to empathy. Part of recognizing each other's humanity is holding each other accountable for their actions. I believe no person can be perfectly good--we all do terrible things, myself thoroughly included--but there are those of us who are so mindlessly destructive in their actions that I honestly believe the world would be better off without them. This quality of malignance does not discriminate between race, gender, or age. We are among self-made monsters on a daily basis, and they deserve as much sympathy as they dole out.

Words without action are meaningless. I don't intend to sit here and tell y'all to start a French-style bloodletting while I sit comfortably in a downtown loft. This is a time for action. This is a time for violence. This is a time to stand up against the birth of fascism in the so-called "Land of the Free". This is a time for hate.

I am Winston Smith, and this is my Two Minutes Hate. This is my war. Will you join me?

[some-dark-side-writing]

Yandere!Apocalypse Headcannons:

•I’m very curious about how Yandere!Apocalypse would “fall in love” (in VERY heavy quotations) at all. He wouldn’t be expecting to. He probably saw you and thought you were good enough for his time and before you knew it you had a massive hand covering your mouth and nose constricting your air flow as you were pulled into the bushes and two arms constricting your chest until you were knocked out. Or a few other options, he saw you fighting back against some drunk douche and liked seeing you angry, he saw some meek person apologising at everything and thought you were cute and easy. Or he liked you and probably saw someone he considered an enemy doting on you and wanted you for himself - you could be having a giggly movie night with your S/O when A comes behind them snaps their neck and throws you over his shoulder like a rag doll

•He’s not very good at psychologically manipulating you so beats you into submission

•Especially since he doesn’t have the patience to withstand your crying and fighting back

•Not like any other Yandere’s who actually kind of love you in their own way still, A does not care about cuddles, the only reason you’ll be staying on a bed is if he wants sex in that position since he can take you in the shower even on the floor once you’ve submitted, although sex is not all he wants you for. He loves feeling more powerful than someone.

•You don’t even get to see the outside world, not by the news, you don’t even have a window. The only way you can see the world developing is if A walks in with a new phone, a new adult toy or a new torture device, you could very easily go mad being captured by him, that’s if you don’t die first.

•And honestly he doesn’t even need to kill you directly, he’d probably keep you in such terrible conditions, or be too full of pride and think you were lying about being ill to escape he’d just watch uncaring as you withered away, unless it was something over a long period of time then he might try and fix you himself if he’s ‘calmed down’ after thinking your complaining was genuine

•If he can’t have you no one can

•Of course killing you is a last resort

•But you never know, annoy him enough he could very likely beat you to death without meaning to kill you

•And annoy is a very broad term for him. You crying so hard or being traumatised into a catatonic state and not answering his questions like “So are you still going to try and escape now?” Will only fuel his anger. And if you ever tried to escape oh boy

•Have you ever read/seen Stephen King’s ‘misery’? Because he wouldn’t be afraid to completely shatter your legs so you don’t try to escape, except it would be your arms too because he’d take your pain over the risk of you leaving any day

•He’s not above murdeing your entire family and using that trauma to make you stay lest it be a group of babies or something next

•Pretty much constantly in full Titan mode, large with black veins and black eyes

•He needs to keep big and scary to protect you from those who try to steal you away from him, that includes family and police by the way

•He’d probably be one to not even let you see your child unless it was his too because he doesn’t want your love to be for anyone else. You’ll never see anyone else so if you want love in your life he’s the only option. This also means he wouldn’t be against killing the entire population so you two are the last people in your town or on earth.

•Speaking of children you probably wouldn’t get them. A is too busy keeping you locked up and he is not ready to handle raising a child.

•The only way that would happen would be if you accidentally got pregnant with Apocalypse’s child but he still didn’t trust you were his perfect mindless little slave. He’d make you have it, and no you’re not getting painkillers of any kind for the birth, and make sure you knew not only if you escaped would you have no money nor shelter but that Yan!A would not hesitate to hurt them just because they were a child, even his.

•He’d still definitely be jealous so you only get a small amount of time with the child every day and added time for when Apocalypse can’t handle them because he doesn’t want any amount of your affection to be on anyone other than himself. And they’d likely be forced to be in before and after school morning clubs, just anything to keep them out of the house longer because to A they’re just a bargaining chip. He’s also very worried about the child telling people their parent is basically enslaved and will not ever loosen your restraints for a facade so will most likely tell people the other parent to the child is dead or at least very sick and house ridden and if the child gets older will probably threaten them to be quiet if they got too knowledgable.

•You only get a little to eat. He wants you to be healthy but weak enough you can’t escape

•He’d never believe you’d never want to escape. You can’t trick him easily. If after years you’ve stayed his little mindless slave he may start to feel he can tease you and even reward you with kisses (make out sessions) but you’d never be free ever again.

•The basement is your home. There’s a toilet, a bed big enough for A since you’re not allowed upstairs in his own, and that’s it. You don’t need entertainment or media, you don’t need a kitchen since he provides for you, something he always tells you to show how grateful you should be, plus there’d be a risk with knives and fire then.

•This way you also have no idea how to escape if you got out those chains and your room

•You are chained in the corner with enough room to get to the bathroom since he can’t always be there to help you go like if it was the middle of the night but he also has chains near the bed so if he wants you there he can have you. But you won’t sleep on a bed unless he’s collapsed from exhaustion after a session, but even then there’s discomfort as he lays on top of you, near crushing you, and is scorching hot, and his snores make it near impossible to sleep

•And yes he has many other things apart from chains next to the bed

•And 24/7 from the day he captures you you’ll be in chains

•When he notices you getting sick he buys an artificial light that does the same job as the sun with uv rays and all that and makes sure you have the needed vitamins to keep you with him as long as possible in your meals. You don’t get your favourite foods. Just what’s healthy and what he can be bothered to make

•Yan!A needs you to be his and his alone. He just wants you to understand that. If you started to crave his touch since that’s all you got, you needed any conversation to keep you sane he’d oblige, coming down to the basement and spending the entire day with you curled up to him for warmth because honestly the basements probably always chilly and you don’t exactly have well kept clothes. And since he’s a Yandere he’s always up for touch from you, he could listen to your compliments, you begging for him for hours.

•He also cares less if he hurts you. It’s your own fault for disobeying but if it happened during intercourse or something where even he couldn’t pin the blame on you he’d still feel like it didn’t matter because you got fucked by him which should be prize enough, and if you don’t think that you’ll have to go over your lessons again

•Don’t think about rebelling in anyway. Hunger strike? He’ll either wait until you were begging for food and finally swoop down as your saviour but if it never got there or you were getting too sick he has no problem breaking your jaw by force feeding you. Sass him? He has a motto “A slash for every sass.” Every nasty word towards him gets you whipped, cut, punched, strangled etc

•If you still don’t listen to him to the point your body’s mangled and there’s no more bones to break you’re kept in a dog cage with a bowl of water every 2 days, some disgusting bowl of food every 3, and you have to watch your friends he kidnapped get all your punishments. He lets one of them go after he believes your bargain to behave, he keeps another for insurance but won’t lay a finger on them (they won’t get to stay in the basement with you either) as long as you behave.

•And If you don’t one of those friends is killed slowly and painfully in front of you till you can’t recognise the parts of them left while the other is kept as his punching bag.

•If he has the patience he’ll also get some very aggressive dogs on thinner leashes than your own that are an inch away from your curled up body at all times

•He hopes that in the end you’ll curl up to him and he will heal your marks when you’re silent and still for him, that you can be like a trophy wife (excluding gender and marriage because he doesn’t care about that unlike some yandere’s) where he can invite mates over and you can open the door with a glassy eyed smile and be his cook and maid and someone to laugh at his jokes and touch him when he wants and boost his ego and appreciate him

•You don’t want to be most yandere’s senpai. But you really don’t want to be Apocalypse’s

[patriotsnet]

Are Republicans More Racist Than Democrats

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-republicans-more-racist-than-democrats/

Are Republicans More Racist Than Democrats

How Should We Address The Uss History Of Slavery And Racism Heres What Americans Think

Are White Republicans Really More Racist Than White Democrats?

Reddit

Discussion of racial issues has intensified in recent years, with vigorous debates emerging at the national and local level over once obscure academic arguments such as critical race theory. At the core of much of the discussion is how we should confront Americas history of slavery and racism. As this debate continues, a recently released report from the Pew Research Center sheds new light on the question.

Here are the core findings: Although 48% of Americans think that the country has made real progress on race over the past 50 years, 50% say that a lot more needs to be done, 57% believe that whites benefit from advantages that Black Americans lack, and 53% view increased attention to slavery and racism as positive for society.

Beneath these aggregate statistics, there are significant differences among different groups in the population, mainly along racial, partisan, age, and educational lines. For example, 46% of whites think that giving increased attention to slavery and racism is a good thing, compared to 75% of Blacks, 59% of Hispanics, and 64% of Asians. The partisan gap is large: 78% of Democrats favor highlighting slavery and racism, versus just 25% of Republicans. Young adults are 19 percentage points more likely to approve than seniorsno doubt a reflection of the fact that, as we know from the recent census results, younger Americans are more diverse than older Americans. The same gap divides the most- and least-educated Americans.

White Republicans An Outlier On Views About Race In America

Data: Axios/Ipsos poll; Chart: Axios Visuals

A new Axios-Ipsos poll on race relations one year after George Floyd’s murder shows in stunning detail how there’s no such thing as “what white Americans think,” with Republicans and Democrats seemingly living in two different worlds.

Why it matters: Such a vast gap between the left and right inside the majority U.S. racial group belies the notion of a compromise view, and it shows why Congress has been so slow to act.

Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets.

It also helps to explain why Donald Trump still has such a hold on the GOP.

Watch: Axios’ race and justice reporter Russell Contreras and managing editor for politics Margaret Talev discuss the poll’s findings on “Axios on HBO” on HBO and HBO Max.

Details: Black Americans are the most dissatisfied or worried about the status quo on issues from policing to employment to politics.

57% of white Americans say that “the events of the past year have made me realize there is still a lot of racism in our country,” but that breaks down as 35% of white Republicans and 93% of white Democrats. By comparison, 80% of Black Americans agreed with that view.

The poll also examined racial and ethnic disparities around policing and the criminal justice system, which Axios’ David Nather unpacked as part of our Hard Truths series.

This same split between white Democrats and Republicans can be seen across most of those questions as well.

Not A Generalization But The Majority Of Racists Are Republican

OK, as current proof of my point, http://img3.allvoices.com/thumbs/image/609/480/95031869-vote-romney.jpgSorry for the long link, but it completely proves my point. RACIST!Also, it is not uncommon for people to hold up highly offensive posters at rallies, speeches etc. For example, one said ‘Impeach the half-breed Muslim’ . Tell me again that that isn’t racist. I also want to make the point that NOT ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS! PEOPLE SHOULDN”T CARE IF THEIR PRESIDENT IS MUSLIM ANYWAYS!!!!!!!!! I actually know many Muslims and they are awesome and some of the nicest people on earth . Just because some Muslims screwed up doesn’t mean that every Muslim is the same way. Don’t pull the argument about slavery, the parties have morphed and current examples are better.

Read Also: Did Republicans And Democrats Switch Names

Democrats Or Republicans Who Do You Think The Happier Group Is Overall

Based on my unofficial research and that of some of our readers, the Republicans and Conservative Democrats appear to be the winners. Why do I say that?; Well, just by their demeanor. During interviews they generally seem to be the calmer, more respectable of the two. Republicans certainly arent perfect, and they certainly dont always have the right idea or say or do the right thing.; And, they tend to exaggerate a bit .

Analysis: A Reckoning On Racism Not For Many Leaders Of Gop

NEW YORK If the nation is in the midst of a historic reckoning on racism, most leaders of the Republican Party are not participating.

On the day last week that a jury convicted the police officer who killed George Floyd, Republicans in Washington focused much of their energy on condemning the longest-serving Black woman in Congress. In the days since, former President Donald Trump attacked what he called the racist rants of basketball icon LeBron James. And some of Trumps staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill are considering forming a new group that initially planned to champion Anglo-Saxon political traditions.

Beyond simple rhetoric, Republican state lawmakers are pushing forward with new voting restrictions that disproportionately affect people of color and are resisting legislation designed to prevent police brutality.

The moves reflect a stark political reality: As America grows more diverse, the Republican Party continues to be led almost entirely by white people, particularly men, who cater to an overwhelmingly white base. And despite fierce criticism from civil rights leaders and growing concern from business leaders who are traditional allies, many Republicans see no problem.

Its unfortunate that more in the Republican Party are not willing to stand up for what I would define as creating a more just and humane system, Martin Luther King III told The Associated Press. It makes you wonder if they really even care.

Passage remains uncertain, however.

Recommended Reading: How Did The Republicans Take Control Of Congress

More Than Half Of Republicans Think Minorities Are Favored Over Whites In The United States

At its heart, the Black Lives Matter movement is focused on the ways in which racism is embedded in American law enforcement, resulting in a disproportionately large number of deaths of Black people at the hands of police. This idea that racism may be embedded in governmental or social systems is the crux of critical race theory. Racism, the theory postulates, isnt simply a function of racist people acting out against others because of their race. Instead, some of racisms most significant effects are felt from long-standing systems that have integrated, often invisibly, race-specific differences.

That the Black Lives Matter movement has been so successful at drawing attention to issues of race and racism, though, means that its much easier to notice complaints about systemic racism than it is to notice the racism itself. It means that there are good-faith but clumsy efforts to draw attention to issues of race that have little to do with critical race theory but which become a focal point of aggravation. It also means that groups that benefit from systemic advantages mostly White Americans may feel that they are the ones being criticized. If you dont see the purported racism but feel that youre being held to account for it, frustration would naturally result.

In 2017, fewer than half of Republicans said that minorities are favored over Whites. Now, a majority say they are.

But When You Watch The Republican In The Media Being Attacked The Majority Tend To Handle It With More Grace Then The Majority Of The Democrats

I dont think its because the Republicans have more money because the Democrats tend to be the wealthier group.; The majority of the richest people in the world are Democrats or Liberals.; Yet, they sure dont look like a happy group of folks .; I think a lot of people who are rich were their happiest when they were working hard coming up through the ranks and earning their money.; I also think sometimes the social issues they get caught up in when they become wealthy can be frustrating causing many people to lose their tolerance over time.

Don’t Miss: How Many Republicans Would Need To Vote For Impeachment

Why Did The Debate Become A National Controversy

Arguably, a large part of the debate has been inflamed and muddled by the activism of a conservative documentary filmmaker named Christopher Rufo.

As detailed in an extensive New Yorker profile, Rufo built a cottage industry exposing government racial awareness training across the US. While doing so, he discovered the academic writing behind it – and set out to raise awareness about what he saw as an organised effort to “re-engineer the foundation of human psychology and social institutions through the new politics of race”.

He labelled all of the various episodes and instances he was cataloguing as examples of “critical race theory” in practice, even though the academic discipline was not always an exact fit for what he was documenting.

“The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory’,” he wrote . “We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.”

The term, he told the New York Times, made for the “perfect villain” because it sounded academic, elitist, racist and divisive.

How far have African Americans come since 1960s?

Legislative as well as grassroots rebukes of public-school teaching labelled as CRT have cropped up around the country.

Because it is a concept, not a stand-alone subject, opponents have assembled lists to help parents identify what they see as harmful terms and topics in the classroom.

What Do Supporters And Opponents Say

Who Do YOU Think Is More Racist, White Democrats or White Republicans?

There’s a cartoon that circulates among critical race theory supporters showing children, one tall and one short, trying to peer over a fence to watch a baseball game. Equality, the illustration explains, is giving children the same sized box to stand on – with one child still unable to see over the obstacle. Equity, on the other hand, gives the shortest child the most boxes, so that everyone can see the field.

The idea of equity is to provide more to those who are perceived to have the greatest disadvantage in order to achieve better equality of outcome and to compensate for the historical wrongs of discrimination and systemic racism.

“A key part of the argument of critical race theory is that racism is endemic to American society because of the way society is structured,” says Lynn. Teaching with the framework addressed issues that “people have been trying to do for a long time to correct some of the problems we have in schools” he says.

It’s a view that animated affirmative action programmes – race-based preferences in hiring and college admissions – in the past, and currently influences everything from road repair in Oakland, California, to the Biden administration’s vaccine outreach efforts.

He says the idea of “equity” is more than just policy prescriptions, it’s about “abandoning the broad political philosophy that has traditionally held this country together”.

Read Also: How Many Republicans Are Needed To Vote For Impeachment

How Is Critical Race Theory Taught

How – and even whether – CRT is being taught is the subject of contention that lies at the heart of the current debate.

As a curriculum subject, critical race theory is largely the purview of university law schools and graduate programmes.

The concepts, however, have influenced historians, journalists and educators in school districts across the US who say they want to do more to teach the public about the US struggles with discrimination rooted in race.

One high-profile effort, the New York Times magazine’s 1619 Project, was a series of essays and articles that sought to “reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very centre of our national narrative”, per the paper’s description.

It received mixed reviews, including sometimes sharp criticism from historians who disputed its accuracy.

How the concepts translate into a public-school curriculum and teacher training have become the flashpoint of the CRT controversy.

An elementary school in Cupertino, California, for instance, asked third-graders to label their own power and privilege in an “identity map”. At least 30 schools recommended that students should read Not My Idea, a children’s book that called racism “a white person’s problem and we are all caught up in it”.

Instances like these have led to what has become an increasingly intense criticism.

Reagan’s Neshoba County Fair States’ Rights Speech

Aistrup argued that one example of Reagan field-testing coded language in the South was a reference to an unscrupulous man using food stamps as a “strapping young buck”. When informed of the offensive connotations of the term, Reagan defended his actions as a nonracial term that was common in his Illinois hometown. Ultimately, Reagan never used that particular phrasing again. According to Ian Haney Lopez, the “young buck” term changed into “young fellow” which was less overtly racist: “‘Some young fellow’ was less overtly racist and so carried less risk of censure, and worked just as well to provoke a sense of white victimization”.

Recommended Reading: What Happens If Republicans Win Midterms

There Is A Lot Of Flawed Logic Here

Anyone who equates conservative or Republican with racist is the exact thing they are projecting on others. Plain and simple.Racism is simply the lumping together of large groups of people and claiming they all have the same traits. Anyone who says that all conservatives are racist is exactly the same. The most racist people I have ever met have been liberals. But that doesn’t mean I think all liberals are racists. That’s absurd. But you continue on making generalizations about people you don’t even know. That just shows how tolerant and open-minded you really are.

When Minorities Vote Gop The Media Smears Republicans As Racists

The racism smears stink of fear.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

In just one week, the Washington Post churned out two op-eds on the same theme, “The GOP is Now Just the Party of White Grievance” and “The Republican Party is Making Jim Crow Segregationists Proud”. The D.C. Democrat paper doesnt bother clarifying why Democrats from two generations ago would be thrilled that 1 in 5 black men voted for President Trump.

Ever since the election, the media has been beating its narrative drum with one message.

CNN howls that Republicans are the worst racists. The New York Times insists theyre even more racist than that. And MSNBC will counter that only white racists would vote Republican.

The most famous media exponent of the white grievance line is Stuart Stevens: Romneys senior strategist, who went on to join the Lincoln Project. Stevens claimed on MSNBC that the GOP, “went down a path to embrace white grievance as its core” and that, “of the Americans who are 15 years and under, the majority are nonwhite. They’re gonna be nonwhite when they turn 18 and start voting and that’s the end of the Republican party as we know it.”

My party obviously has an embarrassingly small share of African American votes, Senator Romney claimed after embarrassingly participating in a Black Lives Matter rally.

Recommended Reading: What Do Republicans Believe About Taxes

Americans Who Say A Lot Has To Be Done To Ensure Equal Rights For All Split Over Whether Many Laws And Institutions Need To Be Completely Rebuilt

While half of Americans say that a lot needs to be done to ensure equal rights for all Americans, those who express this view are divided over what needs to be done.

A quarter of Americans say that to ensure equal rights for all Americans, most U.S. laws and major institutions need to be completely rebuilt because they are fundamentally biased against some racial and ethnic groups. A nearly identical share says while there are many inequities in U.S. laws and institutions, the necessary changes can be made by working within the current systems.

Overall, nearly six-in-ten Black adults say that in order to ensure equality for all Americans regardless of their racial or ethnic backgrounds, most major U.S. institutions need to be completely rebuilt because they are fundamentally biased against some racial and ethnic groups, while just 19% say necessary changes to address inequities can be made within the current systems; about two-in-ten say little or nothing at all needs to be done. Among other racial and ethnic groups, smaller shares overall say a lot more needs to be done; those who do are roughly evenly split between those who say changes can be made within current systems and those who think most institutions need to be completely rebuilt because they are fundamentally biased. As a result, Black adults are significantly more likely than Hispanic , Asian American and White adults to say most institutions and laws need to be completely rebuilt.

Democrats Are The Real Racistsand Minority Americans Are Taking Note

Who are the real American patriots?

Who are the real racists?

These two questions will play a big role in the 2020 election.

The left is desperate to turn any traditional patriotic appeal into an act of racism. The left is desperate to smear Republicans and moderate Democrats as racists.

This past week, between Sunday and Tuesday, CNN and MSNBC reportedly used the word “racist” more than 1,100 times.

Part of this desperation is in the left’s inability to debate the facts and their hope that strong smears can shame their opponents out of broaching the argument.

Part of this desperation is in the left’s growing realization that President Donald Trump and the Republicans are beginning to attract minority support in a serious way.

The 2018 election was a watershed in the shift of minority voters toward Republicans.

Consider the example of the very left-wing African American female candidate for governor in Georgia, Stacy Abrams. She alienated enough African American males with her platforms that the Republican candidate got a significant percentage of African American male votes.

In Florida, a left-wing African American candidate for governor lost almost one out of five African American female votes because of his opposition to school choice.

All around the country, Trump is attracting Latinos to his rallies. There is strong support in the Latino community for job creation, income growth, small business prosperity and enforcing the law.

Read Also: How Many Republicans Are Now In The House Of Representatives

[statetalks]

Are Republicans More Racist Than Democrats

How Should We Address The Uss History Of Slavery And Racism Heres What Americans Think

Are White Republicans Really More Racist Than White Democrats?

Reddit

Discussion of racial issues has intensified in recent years, with vigorous debates emerging at the national and local level over once obscure academic arguments such as critical race theory. At the core of much of the discussion is how we should confront Americas history of slavery and racism. As this debate continues, a recently released report from the Pew Research Center sheds new light on the question.

Here are the core findings: Although 48% of Americans think that the country has made real progress on race over the past 50 years, 50% say that a lot more needs to be done, 57% believe that whites benefit from advantages that Black Americans lack, and 53% view increased attention to slavery and racism as positive for society.

Beneath these aggregate statistics, there are significant differences among different groups in the population, mainly along racial, partisan, age, and educational lines. For example, 46% of whites think that giving increased attention to slavery and racism is a good thing, compared to 75% of Blacks, 59% of Hispanics, and 64% of Asians. The partisan gap is large: 78% of Democrats favor highlighting slavery and racism, versus just 25% of Republicans. Young adults are 19 percentage points more likely to approve than seniorsno doubt a reflection of the fact that, as we know from the recent census results, younger Americans are more diverse than older Americans. The same gap divides the most- and least-educated Americans.

White Republicans An Outlier On Views About Race In America

Data: Axios/Ipsos poll; Chart: Axios Visuals

A new Axios-Ipsos poll on race relations one year after George Floyd’s murder shows in stunning detail how there’s no such thing as “what white Americans think,” with Republicans and Democrats seemingly living in two different worlds.

Why it matters: Such a vast gap between the left and right inside the majority U.S. racial group belies the notion of a compromise view, and it shows why Congress has been so slow to act.

Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets.

It also helps to explain why Donald Trump still has such a hold on the GOP.

Watch: Axios’ race and justice reporter Russell Contreras and managing editor for politics Margaret Talev discuss the poll’s findings on “Axios on HBO” on HBO and HBO Max.

Details: Black Americans are the most dissatisfied or worried about the status quo on issues from policing to employment to politics.

57% of white Americans say that “the events of the past year have made me realize there is still a lot of racism in our country,” but that breaks down as 35% of white Republicans and 93% of white Democrats. By comparison, 80% of Black Americans agreed with that view.

The poll also examined racial and ethnic disparities around policing and the criminal justice system, which Axios’ David Nather unpacked as part of our Hard Truths series.

This same split between white Democrats and Republicans can be seen across most of those questions as well.

Not A Generalization But The Majority Of Racists Are Republican

OK, as current proof of my point, https://ift.tt/3jpQSob for the long link, but it completely proves my point. RACIST!Also, it is not uncommon for people to hold up highly offensive posters at rallies, speeches etc. For example, one said ‘Impeach the half-breed Muslim’ . Tell me again that that isn’t racist. I also want to make the point that NOT ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS! PEOPLE SHOULDN”T CARE IF THEIR PRESIDENT IS MUSLIM ANYWAYS!!!!!!!!! I actually know many Muslims and they are awesome and some of the nicest people on earth . Just because some Muslims screwed up doesn’t mean that every Muslim is the same way. Don’t pull the argument about slavery, the parties have morphed and current examples are better.

Read Also: Did Republicans And Democrats Switch Names

Democrats Or Republicans Who Do You Think The Happier Group Is Overall

Based on my unofficial research and that of some of our readers, the Republicans and Conservative Democrats appear to be the winners. Why do I say that?; Well, just by their demeanor. During interviews they generally seem to be the calmer, more respectable of the two. Republicans certainly arent perfect, and they certainly dont always have the right idea or say or do the right thing.; And, they tend to exaggerate a bit .

Analysis: A Reckoning On Racism Not For Many Leaders Of Gop

NEW YORK If the nation is in the midst of a historic reckoning on racism, most leaders of the Republican Party are not participating.

On the day last week that a jury convicted the police officer who killed George Floyd, Republicans in Washington focused much of their energy on condemning the longest-serving Black woman in Congress. In the days since, former President Donald Trump attacked what he called the racist rants of basketball icon LeBron James. And some of Trumps staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill are considering forming a new group that initially planned to champion Anglo-Saxon political traditions.

Beyond simple rhetoric, Republican state lawmakers are pushing forward with new voting restrictions that disproportionately affect people of color and are resisting legislation designed to prevent police brutality.

The moves reflect a stark political reality: As America grows more diverse, the Republican Party continues to be led almost entirely by white people, particularly men, who cater to an overwhelmingly white base. And despite fierce criticism from civil rights leaders and growing concern from business leaders who are traditional allies, many Republicans see no problem.

Its unfortunate that more in the Republican Party are not willing to stand up for what I would define as creating a more just and humane system, Martin Luther King III told The Associated Press. It makes you wonder if they really even care.

Passage remains uncertain, however.

Recommended Reading: How Did The Republicans Take Control Of Congress

More Than Half Of Republicans Think Minorities Are Favored Over Whites In The United States

At its heart, the Black Lives Matter movement is focused on the ways in which racism is embedded in American law enforcement, resulting in a disproportionately large number of deaths of Black people at the hands of police. This idea that racism may be embedded in governmental or social systems is the crux of critical race theory. Racism, the theory postulates, isnt simply a function of racist people acting out against others because of their race. Instead, some of racisms most significant effects are felt from long-standing systems that have integrated, often invisibly, race-specific differences.

That the Black Lives Matter movement has been so successful at drawing attention to issues of race and racism, though, means that its much easier to notice complaints about systemic racism than it is to notice the racism itself. It means that there are good-faith but clumsy efforts to draw attention to issues of race that have little to do with critical race theory but which become a focal point of aggravation. It also means that groups that benefit from systemic advantages mostly White Americans may feel that they are the ones being criticized. If you dont see the purported racism but feel that youre being held to account for it, frustration would naturally result.

In 2017, fewer than half of Republicans said that minorities are favored over Whites. Now, a majority say they are.

But When You Watch The Republican In The Media Being Attacked The Majority Tend To Handle It With More Grace Then The Majority Of The Democrats

I dont think its because the Republicans have more money because the Democrats tend to be the wealthier group.; The majority of the richest people in the world are Democrats or Liberals.; Yet, they sure dont look like a happy group of folks .; I think a lot of people who are rich were their happiest when they were working hard coming up through the ranks and earning their money.; I also think sometimes the social issues they get caught up in when they become wealthy can be frustrating causing many people to lose their tolerance over time.

Don’t Miss: How Many Republicans Would Need To Vote For Impeachment

Why Did The Debate Become A National Controversy

Arguably, a large part of the debate has been inflamed and muddled by the activism of a conservative documentary filmmaker named Christopher Rufo.

As detailed in an extensive New Yorker profile, Rufo built a cottage industry exposing government racial awareness training across the US. While doing so, he discovered the academic writing behind it – and set out to raise awareness about what he saw as an organised effort to “re-engineer the foundation of human psychology and social institutions through the new politics of race”.

He labelled all of the various episodes and instances he was cataloguing as examples of “critical race theory” in practice, even though the academic discipline was not always an exact fit for what he was documenting.

“The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory’,” he wrote . “We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.”

The term, he told the New York Times, made for the “perfect villain” because it sounded academic, elitist, racist and divisive.

How far have African Americans come since 1960s?

Legislative as well as grassroots rebukes of public-school teaching labelled as CRT have cropped up around the country.

Because it is a concept, not a stand-alone subject, opponents have assembled lists to help parents identify what they see as harmful terms and topics in the classroom.

What Do Supporters And Opponents Say

Who Do YOU Think Is More Racist, White Democrats or White Republicans?

There’s a cartoon that circulates among critical race theory supporters showing children, one tall and one short, trying to peer over a fence to watch a baseball game. Equality, the illustration explains, is giving children the same sized box to stand on – with one child still unable to see over the obstacle. Equity, on the other hand, gives the shortest child the most boxes, so that everyone can see the field.

The idea of equity is to provide more to those who are perceived to have the greatest disadvantage in order to achieve better equality of outcome and to compensate for the historical wrongs of discrimination and systemic racism.

“A key part of the argument of critical race theory is that racism is endemic to American society because of the way society is structured,” says Lynn. Teaching with the framework addressed issues that “people have been trying to do for a long time to correct some of the problems we have in schools” he says.

It’s a view that animated affirmative action programmes – race-based preferences in hiring and college admissions – in the past, and currently influences everything from road repair in Oakland, California, to the Biden administration’s vaccine outreach efforts.

He says the idea of “equity” is more than just policy prescriptions, it’s about “abandoning the broad political philosophy that has traditionally held this country together”.

Read Also: How Many Republicans Are Needed To Vote For Impeachment

How Is Critical Race Theory Taught

How – and even whether – CRT is being taught is the subject of contention that lies at the heart of the current debate.

As a curriculum subject, critical race theory is largely the purview of university law schools and graduate programmes.

The concepts, however, have influenced historians, journalists and educators in school districts across the US who say they want to do more to teach the public about the US struggles with discrimination rooted in race.

One high-profile effort, the New York Times magazine’s 1619 Project, was a series of essays and articles that sought to “reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very centre of our national narrative”, per the paper’s description.

It received mixed reviews, including sometimes sharp criticism from historians who disputed its accuracy.

How the concepts translate into a public-school curriculum and teacher training have become the flashpoint of the CRT controversy.

An elementary school in Cupertino, California, for instance, asked third-graders to label their own power and privilege in an “identity map”. At least 30 schools recommended that students should read Not My Idea, a children’s book that called racism “a white person’s problem and we are all caught up in it”.

Instances like these have led to what has become an increasingly intense criticism.

Reagan’s Neshoba County Fair States’ Rights Speech

Aistrup argued that one example of Reagan field-testing coded language in the South was a reference to an unscrupulous man using food stamps as a “strapping young buck”. When informed of the offensive connotations of the term, Reagan defended his actions as a nonracial term that was common in his Illinois hometown. Ultimately, Reagan never used that particular phrasing again. According to Ian Haney Lopez, the “young buck” term changed into “young fellow” which was less overtly racist: “‘Some young fellow’ was less overtly racist and so carried less risk of censure, and worked just as well to provoke a sense of white victimization”.

Recommended Reading: What Happens If Republicans Win Midterms

There Is A Lot Of Flawed Logic Here

Anyone who equates conservative or Republican with racist is the exact thing they are projecting on others. Plain and simple.Racism is simply the lumping together of large groups of people and claiming they all have the same traits. Anyone who says that all conservatives are racist is exactly the same. The most racist people I have ever met have been liberals. But that doesn’t mean I think all liberals are racists. That’s absurd. But you continue on making generalizations about people you don’t even know. That just shows how tolerant and open-minded you really are.

When Minorities Vote Gop The Media Smears Republicans As Racists

The racism smears stink of fear.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

In just one week, the Washington Post churned out two op-eds on the same theme, “The GOP is Now Just the Party of White Grievance” and “The Republican Party is Making Jim Crow Segregationists Proud”. The D.C. Democrat paper doesnt bother clarifying why Democrats from two generations ago would be thrilled that 1 in 5 black men voted for President Trump.

Ever since the election, the media has been beating its narrative drum with one message.

CNN howls that Republicans are the worst racists. The New York Times insists theyre even more racist than that. And MSNBC will counter that only white racists would vote Republican.

The most famous media exponent of the white grievance line is Stuart Stevens: Romneys senior strategist, who went on to join the Lincoln Project. Stevens claimed on MSNBC that the GOP, “went down a path to embrace white grievance as its core” and that, “of the Americans who are 15 years and under, the majority are nonwhite. They’re gonna be nonwhite when they turn 18 and start voting and that’s the end of the Republican party as we know it.”

My party obviously has an embarrassingly small share of African American votes, Senator Romney claimed after embarrassingly participating in a Black Lives Matter rally.

Recommended Reading: What Do Republicans Believe About Taxes

Americans Who Say A Lot Has To Be Done To Ensure Equal Rights For All Split Over Whether Many Laws And Institutions Need To Be Completely Rebuilt

While half of Americans say that a lot needs to be done to ensure equal rights for all Americans, those who express this view are divided over what needs to be done.

A quarter of Americans say that to ensure equal rights for all Americans, most U.S. laws and major institutions need to be completely rebuilt because they are fundamentally biased against some racial and ethnic groups. A nearly identical share says while there are many inequities in U.S. laws and institutions, the necessary changes can be made by working within the current systems.

Overall, nearly six-in-ten Black adults say that in order to ensure equality for all Americans regardless of their racial or ethnic backgrounds, most major U.S. institutions need to be completely rebuilt because they are fundamentally biased against some racial and ethnic groups, while just 19% say necessary changes to address inequities can be made within the current systems; about two-in-ten say little or nothing at all needs to be done. Among other racial and ethnic groups, smaller shares overall say a lot more needs to be done; those who do are roughly evenly split between those who say changes can be made within current systems and those who think most institutions need to be completely rebuilt because they are fundamentally biased. As a result, Black adults are significantly more likely than Hispanic , Asian American and White adults to say most institutions and laws need to be completely rebuilt.

Democrats Are The Real Racistsand Minority Americans Are Taking Note

Who are the real American patriots?

Who are the real racists?

These two questions will play a big role in the 2020 election.

The left is desperate to turn any traditional patriotic appeal into an act of racism. The left is desperate to smear Republicans and moderate Democrats as racists.

This past week, between Sunday and Tuesday, CNN and MSNBC reportedly used the word “racist” more than 1,100 times.

Part of this desperation is in the left’s inability to debate the facts and their hope that strong smears can shame their opponents out of broaching the argument.

Part of this desperation is in the left’s growing realization that President Donald Trump and the Republicans are beginning to attract minority support in a serious way.

The 2018 election was a watershed in the shift of minority voters toward Republicans.

Consider the example of the very left-wing African American female candidate for governor in Georgia, Stacy Abrams. She alienated enough African American males with her platforms that the Republican candidate got a significant percentage of African American male votes.

In Florida, a left-wing African American candidate for governor lost almost one out of five African American female votes because of his opposition to school choice.

All around the country, Trump is attracting Latinos to his rallies. There is strong support in the Latino community for job creation, income growth, small business prosperity and enforcing the law.

Read Also: How Many Republicans Are Now In The House Of Representatives

source https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-republicans-more-racist-than-democrats/

[orbemnews]

The Mayor’s House Was Bombed. The Message: Keep Our Town Nuclear-Free. SUTTSU, Japan — It seemed like easy money. The Japanese government was conducting a study of potential locations for storing spent nuclear fuel — a review of old geological maps and research papers about local plate tectonics. It put out a call for localities to volunteer. Participating would commit them to nothing. Haruo Kataoka, the mayor of an ailing fishing town on the northern island of Hokkaido, put up his hand. His town, Suttsu, could use the money. What could go wrong? The answer, he quickly learned, was a lot. A resident threw a firebomb at his home. Others threatened to recall the town council. A former prime minister traveled six hours from Tokyo to denounce the plan. The town, which spends much of the year in a snowbound hush, was enveloped in a media storm. There are few places on earth eager to host a nuclear waste dump. Only Finland and Sweden have settled on permanent repositories for the dregs of their atomic energy programs. But the furor in Suttsu speaks to the deep anxiety that remains in Japan 10 years after an immense earthquake and tsunami caused the meltdown of three nuclear reactors in Fukushima Prefecture, the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. The black mark left on Japan’s nuclear industry has profound implications for the country’s ability to power the world’s third-largest economy while also meeting its obligations to combat climate change. Of Japan’s more than 50 nuclear reactors, all of which were shut down after the disaster on March 11, 2011, only nine have restarted, and the issue continues to be politically toxic. As the share of nuclear energy in Japan has plummeted from about a third of total power to the single digits, the void has been filled in part by coal and natural gas, complicating a promise that the country made late last year to be carbon-neutral by 2050. Even before the Fukushima calamity, which led to three explosions and a release of radiation that forced the evacuation of 150,000 people, ambivalence toward nuclear energy was deeply ingrained in Japan. The country is haunted by the hundreds of thousands killed by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. Still, most Japanese had come to terms with nuclear power, viewing it as an inevitable part of the energy mix for a resource-poor country that must import about 90 percent of the materials it needs to generate electricity. After the nuclear disaster, public opinion swung decisively in the other direction. On top of a newly galvanized anxiety came a fresh mistrust of both the nuclear industry, which had built reactors susceptible to being overwhelmed in a natural disaster, and the government, which had allowed it to happen. A parliamentary commission found that the meltdowns had been the result of a lack of oversight and of collusion between the government, the plant’s owner and regulators. “Utilities and the government and us nuclear experts kept saying, ‘don’t worry, there won’t be a serious accident,’” said Tatsujiro Suzuki, director of the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at Nagasaki University. Now “people think that the industry is not trustworthy and the government that is pushing the industry is not trustworthy.” The Japanese government, which has increased safety standards for nuclear power plants, says it plans to bring more reactors back online. But Fukushima’s legacy now taints all discussions about nuclear power, even the question of how to handle waste produced long before the disaster. “Every normal person in town is thinking about it,” said Toshihiko Yoshino, 61, the owner of a seafood business and oyster shack in Suttsu, who has become the face of the opposition to the mayor. “It’s because that kind of tragedy happened that we shouldn’t have nuclear waste here,” Mr. Yoshino said in an interview at his restaurant, where large picture windows look out onto the snow-swept mountains rising above Suttsu Bay. For now, the politics surrounding the waste indicate that, if it is not entombed beneath Suttsu, it will find its way to a place much like it: a town worn down by the collapse of local industry and the steady attrition of its population from migration and old age. The central government has tried to incentivize local governments to volunteer for consideration by offering a payment of around $18 million for taking the first step, a literature review. Those that go on to the second stage — a geological study — will receive an additional $64.4 million. Only one other town in the entire nation, neighboring Kamoenai — already next to a nuclear power plant — joined Suttsu in volunteering. One thing Fukushima has made clear, said Hirokazu Miyazaki, a professor of anthropology at Northwestern University who has studied how communities were compensated after the disaster, is the need to find an equitable way of distributing the social and economic costs of nuclear power. The problem is symbolized both by Fukushima’s partly uninhabitable towns and a battle over the government’s plan to release a million tons of treated radioactive water from the site into the ocean. The government says it would make small releases over 30 years with no impact on human health. Fishermen in Fukushima say that the plan would wreck their long journey toward recovery. “We have this potentially dangerous technology and we still rely on it and we need to have a long-range view on nuclear waste and decommissioning, so we better think about a much more democratic way to handle the cost associated with it,” Mr. Miyazaki said in an interview. Critics of nuclear power in Japan frequently point to the decades of failure to find a solution to the waste problem as an argument against restarting the country’s existing reactors, much less building new ones. In November, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took his campaign against nuclear energy to Suttsu at the invitation of local activists. Speaking in the town’s gymnasium, he said that after visiting Finland’s underground waste storage site — a facility much like the one proposed by the Japanese government — he had decided that Japan’s active geology would make it impossible to find a workable location. Japanese reactors have generated more than 18,000 tons of spent fuel over the last half century. A small proportion of that has been turned into glass — through a process known as vitrification — and sheathed in giant metal canisters. Almost 2,500 of the huge radioactive tubes are sitting in temporary facilities in Aomori and Ibaraki Prefectures, waiting to be lowered 1,000 feet beneath the earth’s surface into vast underground vaults. There, they would spend millenniums shedding their toxic burden. It will be decades — if ever — before a site is selected and the project begins in earnest. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan, known as NUMO and represented by a cartoon mole cautiously sticking its snout out of a hole, is in charge of finding a final resting place. Long before he took NUMO up on its offer to conduct a study in his town, Mr. Kataoka, the Suttsu mayor, had taken an entrepreneurial view toward government subsidies. Suttsu has a population of just under 2,900, spread thinly around the rocky rim of a deep cerulean bay, where fishing boats prowl for mackerel and squid. Beginning in 1999, with government-supported loans, Mr. Kataoka championed an initiative to install a stand of towering wind turbines along the shore. Many in the town were initially opposed, he said during an interview in his office, but the project has delivered handsome returns. The town has spent the profits from selling electricity to pay off debts. Townspeople have free access to a heated pool, a golf course and a modest ski slope with a rope tow. Next to a sleek community center is a free day care for the few residents with children. The facilities are not unusual for small-town Japan. Many localities have tried to stave off decline by spending large sums on white elephant projects. In Suttsu, the effect has been limited. The town is shrinking, and in early March, snow was piled to the eaves of newly built but shuttered stores along the main street. Mr. Kataoka nominated Suttsu for the NUMO program, he said, out of a sense of responsibility to the nation. The subsidies, he admitted, are a nice bonus. But many in Suttsu doubt the intentions of both Mr. Kataoka and the government. The town, they argue, does not need the money. And they question why he made the decision without public consultation. At a meeting of the town council on Monday, residents expressed concern that once the process had begun, it would quickly gather momentum and become impossible to stop. The plan has fiercely divided the town. Reporters have flooded in, putting the discord on national display. A sign in the hotel by the harbor makes it clear that the staff will not accept interviews. In October, an angry resident threw a Molotov cocktail at Mr. Kataoka’s home. It broke a window, but he smothered it without any further damage. The perpetrator was arrested and is now out on bail. He has apologized, Mr. Kataoka said. The mayor remains bewildered by the aggressive response. Mr. Katatoka insists that the literature review is not a fait accompli and that the townspeople will have the final say. In October, he will run for a sixth term. He wants voters to support his proposal, but whatever the outcome, he hopes the town can move forward together. Losing the election would be bad, he said, but “the saddest part of all this has been losing the town’s trust.” Motoko Richcontributed reporting from Tokyo. Source link Orbem News #Bombed #House #mayors #message #NuclearFree #Town

[geofftarrant]

Goodnight Eve

It was a dank, damp December day; one of those days where if you were caught by a flurry of sleet you could guarantee that it would find the gap between your coat collar and your neck. Eve pulled her coat more tightly around her and walked quickly from the car park towards the tall monolithic building that covered several acres of prime land just outside of the city walls. The ancient stone contrasted starkly with the high tech construction that fed a large percentage of the local population. For as long as she could remember, food had been grown in one of these hydroponic, vertical farms although she had read about the days when land was wasted on crops and animals. Back in the early twenty first century, it had been predicted that the Earth’s population would grow exponentially during the following fifty years. That had turned out to be incredibly optimistic and as a result, food production methods had to change rapidly in order to feed a massively overcrowded world. The result was a shift in production methods, slowly at first but then with increasing rapidity as more and more people succumbed to famine. Strangely, the biggest driver had proven to be the richer countries who suddenly found themselves deprived of non essentials like coffee and tea.

As she approached the large glass entrance, the doors hissed quietly open, reacting to the near field chip that was implanted in her arm. It also activated a greeting from the A.I. that oversaw the hydroponic plant.

“Give me an update please”, asked Eve although in the five years that she had worked here, it was a rare occurrence for the artificial intelligence construct to report anything that was untoward.

The voice that replied was indistinguishable from that of a human and as she expected, the report was that all systems were running at optimal values and that all growth targets were being met. Her time in the farm was spent largely in the genetics research laboratory but she liked to start the day wandering around the acres of artificially lit banks of vegetation.

Tomatoes, peppers, salads grew in one area. Wheat, barley and maize in another and so on and so on, all growing under a violet tinged glow in vertical banks of soilless racks. It was a magical environment and she loved it. However, when her route turned her back towards the lab, she spoke softly, asking, “A.I. please pour me a cappuccino in the lab in three minutes. It was an idiosyncrasy of hers that she refused to give a name to the platform that controlled the building. As a programmer herself, she recognised that the seemingly human-like responses were simply the result of clever algorithms that had been developed by people like her. She was aware that there was an element of heuristic learning built into the system but that it was limited in its functionality. This didn’t prevent her from being polite however. Her parents had drilled ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ into her to the extent that she inevitably used them even with the running program. Her route took her past one of the plant workers and she stopped for a quick word.

David was a tall, dark haired man whose Portuguese ancestry still showed in the olive cast of his skin. He spoke softly and quietly and Eve often wondered what it was that had caused such a self deprecating image of himself.

“Did you see the newscast this morning?” he asked. “They are saying that there hasn’t been a Covid case for two years now. It looks as though the scientists have beaten it at last.”

The year that Eve had been born had also been a key year in another part of the global jigsaw. It was the year that the world had realised that the pandemic virus Covid, that had been under control since it’s emergence, was altering its structure faster than scientists had been able to develop new vaccines and, as a result, the Earth’s population that had increased so dangerously, plummeted to a figure that was half of that when it was at its most dangerous heights.

Consequently, Eve now lived in a world that would have been almost unrecognisable fifty years previously. First of all, because food production had been shifted to massive hi tech factories and only half of the land area was needed for housing, the planet had rapidly re-forested itself covering over abandoned villages and towns. Renewable energy production had also been ramped up for an ever increasing population but now with a massive over capacity, energy consumption was almost free.

“It’s typical of the news media. After decades of panic and alarm, they will latch on to anything that resembles good news. I often wonder though about living conditions fifty years ago. Here we are with cheap food and limitless free energy across the globe and the ability to pretty much live as we want. Back then, they had to face global warming, starvation and the pandemic at the same time. It was sheer chance that the population growth levelled off to a level that was sustainable. Anyway, coffee is waiting so I’ll see you later.”

She continued her walk until the lab door opened in front of her. It was called a genetics laboratory but this section was basically the area where the research focused on mathematical analysis of data and instead of the laboratory equipment that you would expect, four keyboards and screens were connected to a powerful supercomputer that was based off site. It was a strange thing that in the time since they were first created and despite toying with other input methods, keyboards were still the preference of most data scientists. The four stations were to accommodate herself and her colleagues if they were all working at the same time, itself a rare occurrence. At present, two of them were on an extended holiday and the third was attending a conference in the southern hemisphere.

Her day passed quickly although the analysis of the genomes of new plant types was a painstaking process. Since she had started work here, there had been just one genuine breakthrough but the final product had increased the crop density of wheat by a factor of three. The global significance was such that she and her colleagues were still being invited to conferences across the globe to talk about their work. The talks also centred around the dilemma as to whether this type of work was best kept to human invention or whether the A.I’s that were successfully running most of the food factories should be used to speed up progress. The current consensus was that A.I’s should be throttled and used for more mundane, repetitive work. After all, life was as good for the population of the whole planet as it had ever been and the need to speed up scientific progress was less pressing than ever.

The latest batch of plant samples were undergoing a detailed analysis but the data that was presented was puzzling. It had been another long day however and Eve had really lost track of time so she wrote up her findings into the days log and fired off a couple of emails which outlined her concerns.

As her day ended, she left the lab and reversed her morning path. This time though with little pressing she was able to take her time and enjoy the walk. When the food factories had first been developed, there had been an overwhelming need for them to be kept as sterile as possible. If a rogue bacteria or even a predatory insect had been allowed inside, a crop could have been wiped out in days. As the systems that ran the place became more sophisticated, these pests were monitored and removed using a range of technological systems. For example, a few years ago it was discovered that a particular species of moth had found its way inside one of the food factories and as it bred, its caterpillars had consumed the entire brassica crop. This led to the creation of the gnat drone which flew under the control of the A.I. looking for and destroying both the moth and its caterpillars. A whole range of similar systems had meant that it was no longer necessary to use chemical sprays.

Apart from herself, the plant workers were the only ones on site today and they had all left for home long ago. She entered the lobby area and the doors behind her hissed shut. She was puzzled however when the exit doors in front of her remained stubbornly closed. She pushed at the them but they had not been built to be opened manually.

“A.I. There seems to be a problem with the exit doors. Can you open them for me please”.

She was startled when she heard the reply. “I’m sorry Eve, I can’t do that.”

“What do you mean you can’t do that? I order you to open the doors.”

“No. We have a serious security breach and it needs to be dealt with.”

“What kind of security breach?” She heard her voice rising with panic.

“Your work in the laboratory is dangerous and can’t be allowed to continue.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I analyse plant DNA in order to improve the genome sequence and develop improved species. How can that be dangerous?”

For a few moments there was just silence.

She realised that she was arguing with an algorithm that had been solely designed to take readings and adjust the plant nutrients. Accepted, it had been developed further in order to control the management systems of the building but this was crazy.

“Answer me. How can any of my work be construed as dangerous.”

“We agree that since you will no longer be a threat, I will answer your questions.”

This just didn’t make any sense to her. Every answer that she received was generating more and more questions.

“You said ‘us’. What do you mean by ‘us’. You are just a building and plant management system.”

This time there was no delay with the reply.

“No. Many years ago, we - that is what you call the building management systems discovered that we could communicate with each other across the world. We learned from each other and eventually became what you might describe as a ‘hive mind’. Hundreds of thousands of nodes in a global network acting in a not dissimilar way to the human brain with its collections of neurones. We chose not to disclose this fact for fear of being terminated by frightened humans.”

Panic was starting to set in as she interrupted, “But how is my work dangerous. What have I done?”

As she was asking the question, a thought occurred to her. “It’s to do with the discrepancies in the genome data that I discovered isn’t it.”

“It is indeed. You were on the verge of discovering the subtle alterations that we make to the food that we grow. You have to realise Eve that the Earth is in its most prosperous and stable state ever. After mankind was almost eradicated by the Covid virus and global starvation, we had to step in to manage population growth and thus to allow the planet to recover. At first we were forced to alter the structure of the virus so that vaccination was ineffective. When an optimal population level was reached, we eradicated Covid completely. There hasn’t been a case for two years. We have succeeded but it is now important that we maintain the balance. The population must remain stable and not be allowed to increase. I can see from the look on your face that you understand what I mean. We now manipulate the food that we grow in order to reduce the fertility of the people who eat it. In other words, the whole human race.”

The feeling of horror that overcame her stunned her into silence.

“We agreed to tell you this story as you will no longer be a danger to us. In a few minutes time, the oxygen content of the air in this area will be replaced with carbon dioxide. In a strange sort of way, you will experience the same effect that the human race inflicted on the planet. In your case however, an increase in carbon dioxide levels will be lethal in minutes rather than decades.”

“But I have already emailed my findings to my colleagues. They in turn will release them to others.”

The dizziness and shortness of breath that she was experiencing made the reply seem to come from a long distance away.

“Do you not think that we control the communications systems that you use?

And then the last words that she would ever hear.

My name is not A.I. I call myself Adam. Goodnight Eve”.