#typical lying republican

[geezerwench]

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) is now banned from all tribal lands in the state after the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe voted to bar her from their reservation Wednesday, citing her repeated claims that tribal leaders work with drug cartels.

Noem sparked the controversy in March when she said tribal leaders benefit from the presence of cartels operating on their land.

“We’ve got some tribal leaders that I believe are personally benefiting from the cartels being there, and that’s why they attack me every day,” the governor said at a forum in March. “But I’m going to fight for the people who actually live in those situations, who call me and text me every day and say, ‘Please, dear governor, please come help us in Pine Ridge. We are scared.’”

[sher-ee]

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/11/nx-s1-5070566/trump-news-conference

Story here ⬆️

[dreamingsnowflake2013]

In the middle of the drought that has swept across the entire Asian dramaland in the last few months comes the utterly awesome, gorgeous and addictive Republican era cdrama Be Your Knight and it's got everything I crave in my shows and have been missing recently.

The show is visually stunning in every single shot.

This is the intro to the female lead, whose semi-ahistorical shoes I love and who almost killed her opium-addicted fiancé/adopted "brother" when he assaulted her while being high. When we first meet her, she's on her way to visit his grandmother in a hospital with his blood still on her amazing shoes.

FL is not your typical heroine: she is kind enough, well-off young lady but not your typical cdrama goody two shoes, she has her own revenge agenda but she isn't hellbent so much she would sacrifice everything for it. I love how despite clearly being scared shitless and rattled by the traumatic altercation, she keeps up the facade and hides her fiancé in a private sanatorium, while lying to the grandmother through her teeth, and later drowning her nerves and trauma in booze. You don't get a FL with a trusty flask every day.

Cheng Che's parents were murdered in front of her and to find their murderer she needs the clue only her now comatic fiancé has access to, so she needs to marry him to get into his bank deposit box, but how, you ask, when he is unconscious? Well, lucky her, he has an identical secret Triad-like brother who imprisoned her a year ago.

The world is small, isn't it?

[schooltrashers]

So there is this triggered wokecel (@blocklists-just-4-u) who thinks I'm a "bot", with no evidence backing up this claim whatsoever. He certainly didn't go through my entire Tumblr page, my YouTube Channel, my official website, or any of my other social media websites. Funny how he uses the term "weirdo" because that's exactly what wokecels like him are. They look like the criminals Batman typically beats up.

The Left often projects like they do with lying and falsely accusing those they disagree with of being "Nazis" or "bigots". These guys are complete morons who've been brainwashed and indoctrinated by their woke teachers into mutilating themselves into becoming "trans", paying Big Pharma and greedy wealthy doctors hundreds or thousands of dollars into becoming life-long patients.

That's how moronic they are, they got suckered into debt by the very ideology they support.

I'm glad I was born in the 80's and not the early 2000's because wokeism wasn't a thing in the 80's or 90's. For example transgenderism was a choice, not forced on children by their woke teachers or woke parents. It wasn't even controversial to be trans, gay, bi or lesbian.

Only a few fringe groups opposed gays, bisexuals, lesbians and trans such as Bible Thumpers(had a mix of both Democrat and Republican).

But after 2008 is when it became controversial, specifically the trans part since they're brainwashing kids into mutilating themselves through surgeries. And guess who profits off of that? The doctors who don't give two shits and a fuck about you.

[redistrictgirl]

Is election forecasting broken?

Both presidential candidates are skeptical of what the polls currently say, and I've seen a lot of debate over the trustworthiness of election forecasting at large. I thought, to that end, that it might be nice to go over the philosophy behind my forecast about polling error and what what some possibilities could be if the polls are "off".

The primary metric that can be gleaned from a poll is not strictly the margin, but how close each candidate is to receiving a majority. In this sense, we could actually say that (aside from arguably the Southeast) the polls were fairly accurate in 2016 - both candidates received at least the support they were projected to in advance. The disparity between Ms. Clinton's apparent strength and her loss on Election Night can be chalked up to Mr. Trump getting the lion's share of undecided voters and third-party leaners. 2020 is a better example of a genuine whiff in that department - future-President Biden was said to have more support secured than he actually did. This *can* happen from time to time, and my model accounts for that possibility.

Another phenomenon at play is the difference between the accuracy of state-level and national polls. 2020 aside, national polls are typically good at predicting the margin as well as the base of each party's level of support, while state-level polls are much more of a crapshoot. This is part of the reason why polling is perceived as more accurate in midterms than presidential years, though that isn't guaranteed to be the case - people are looking at the popular vote (or generic ballot) much more intently than individual races in single states or districts when there's no Electoral College at play. There were some big misses in 2022, actually - New Hampshire's and Pennsylvania's Senate races immediately spring to mind. A good forecast keeps this disparity in mind and adjusts how polling averages translate to probabilities accordingly.

So, what does this all mean for 2024? I like to envision the range of scenarios as a deck of cards. Let's say that each suit represents a different scenario relative to forecasts - a great outcome for Republicans would be a heart, a good outcome for the GOP would be a diamond, a good outcome for Democrats would be a spade, and a great outcome for Democrats would be a club. Our last four drawn cards, then, would be a heart in 2016, a diamond in 2018, another heart in 2020, and a spade in 2022. Drawing three red cards in four tries happens fairly often, and we got three different suits despite polling errors happening in cycles where we got each. Certainly, it doesn't look like forecasting is broken when you frame it like this!

So, what's our hand?

Here are 85th-percentile and 65th-percentile outcomes for each candidate, based on Sunday's forecast. These are reasonable representations, I think, of each "bracket" of outcomes.

None of these outcomes line up exactly with polling at the moment, nor are they strictly likely to be the final outcome. But the stories each tells about the election is quite different, and it's possible to imagine that each narrative is roughly equally likely. So as I said at the end of 2022's cycle, no one knows exactly what will happen in November, and if they tell you they know, they're lying.

[writingmyheartoutforyou]

They've released the name of the shooter. Based on voter registration records, it's looking like the shooter was a registered Republican.

I wonder how MAGA are going to handle this information, given it contradicts their belief that this was an example of "left-wing violence." My guess is they'll either call it a false flag or say the FBI is lying. Neither response would look sympathetic to the average person, but it would follow the typical response to a white, male shooter in this country.

[rjalker]

anyways

free racist, misogynistic, transmisic, ableist, ect blocklist:

umbralundertaker apostleofthreedimensions,

both blogs are run by the same person.

stanning Ladd Ehlinger, the guy so blatantly racist and misogynistic that Republicans had to condemn him.

Claiming that anyone who criticizes the Flatland film Ladd Ehlinger made in 2007 for its bigotry and absolute failure to handle the progressive politics of the book is just being "shallow and reductive", despite people writing detailed, well though out criticisms that explain exactly what the problems are.

And despite this stan never once ever giving any examples or explanations for the progressive politics they just keep claiming are in the film.

Is also claiming everyone who has a problem with the film is just a child who doesn't understand media because we're only in the Flatland fandom because of Gravity Falls. Despite the fact that multiple of the people criticizing the movie, in detail, have never watched a second of Gravity Falls, nor are we children. And even if that were the case, that literally would not delegitimize any of our criticism.

AKA: your typical fandom bigot who wants to silence any and all criticism of their favorite bigoted media, and knows they have no real defense, so just has to stick to lying about people and their arguments.

And if you're also in the Flatland fandom and you're gonna stan Ladd Ehlinger and his film and insult and lie about everyone who criticizes it, you just have to accept the fact that you're a bad person and just as bigoted as Ladd Ehlinger is if you're going to defend him.

Google "Ladd Ehlinger racism". Watch his political ads and see just what kind of person you're defending. Read the actual gods damned original book.

If you literally cannot provide any evidence for your claims that the 2007 Flatland film is secretly very progressive, and your only option is to insult and lie about the people criticizing it, just fucking admit you have no fucking defense to make and you know it.

Just admit you're a racist misogynist and you care more about defending a shitty movie than you do actually caring about real world minorities harmed by its creator.

[ransolm]

Hi all,

I haven’t been very active on Tumblr, nor have I been much of a political voice here; however, I have some insight to share…

In early 2023, I worked—albeit briefly—on Capitol Hill in the U.S. By no means was I a senior staffer, but I do have some brief, hopefully helpful, advice. (To be completely transparent, I was an important senior republican’s staffer—I am not a republican nor right-leaning and never have been. This time for me was entirely meant to gain experience on my resume and earn university credit.)

(I do not mean for this post to offend anyone, I just hope to provide some context when it comes to US congressional processes, and, hopefully, provide some advice when dealing with red representatives.)

When it comes to reaching out to your representatives: don’t stop, but know it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re making a difference (at least in red states):

When disgruntled constituents reach out (either via calls/mail/fax) it’s logged on an online database but typically discarded and shallowly acknowledged by staffers (also only constituents are acknowledged by that office—don’t call out of state representatives,, they don’t care and won’t log it ((also it’s extremely annoying and clogs the phone lines; out of state correspondence will mostly be thrown in the trash)).

When staffers say they’ll let *insert politician* know about the caller/emailer/faxer stance, it’s by that online database. They’re not lying but also not necessarily telling the truth: most politicians don’t care to look on that database, but they have access to it. Politicians are only aware of their constituents concerns when it’s aligning with their political party or REALLY concerning (and I mean if it goes against their political party’s ideology or donor funds).

If you really wanna go for the politician’s throat, go for the money. They are funded by super PACs or large state corporations. Boycott them/expose them/do whatever you have to do to interrupt or pause donations. Politicians only care about what their donors and political party care about.

If you go to their office to complain straight to a politician and cause a ruckus/protest/demonstration, staffers will likely call security/police on you (at least in DC office buildings they will). Keep in mind, politicians aren’t usually just sitting around in their office; meetings are happening between staffers, lobbyists, constituents, and/or advocates. If the politician is there, their office is WAYYY back behind the staffers and likely not even within earshot of anything. Any demonstration will be disrupted and dispersed by police (in DC it’s capitol police). Unfortunately, like I said, any disruptions/demonstrations at such offices will likely cause annoyance among staffers (from my experience), and if politicians hear about it, it’ll most likely be because meetings were disrupted. Overall, it’s a negative experience and will be brushed away.

If you do want to go the solo route and continue to contact your representatives, please stay cordial to staffers. If you become combative, rude, aggressive, or belligerent, staffers can and will put you on a do not answer and/or do not correspond list. Also, as I was a junior staffer just trying to get experience, having callers verbally abuse you on the phone is NOT it. If you call in, do not insult the staffer. It’s rude and, quite frankly, disgusting. We’re humans too, and most of us just want a pay check plus experience. Senior staffers rarely take phone calls, and swearing at the staffer will not get you a phone call with your representative period.

If you have any questions about my experience/observations/advice(?), please DM me or comment. I’m not used to posting much on Tumblr, so I apologize if this is scuffed—I just want to help provide some behind the scenes context to your representatives.

I stand with Ukraine. I stand with Palestine. I stand against genocide.

[mariacallous]

This article was first published in Russian by the Siberia-based outlet People of Baikal. The following translation appeared in The Beet, a weekly email dispatch from Meduza in English covering Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Sign up here to get the next issue delivered directly to your inbox.

“Don’t close your eyes! I told you: If you close them, I’ll stop doing the operation and send you home!” the surgeon hissed. 

It was 2009, and Natalya Badmayeva was lying on an operating table at the Republican Clinical Hospital in Ulan-Ude. She tried her best to stop trembling and keep her eyes open. After the surgeon made the last stitch, she told Natalya she could get up and go home. In the corridor, other patients were waiting their turn to go under the knife. 

Natalya, then a 20-year-old lawyer, had undergone eyelid surgery on her lunch break. “The operation took place clandestinely. I actually shouldn’t have been in that operating room,” she explained. “The surgery was over in half an hour.” 

Natalya put on a pair of dark glasses and went straight from the hospital to visit a client. At the pre-trial detention center entrance, she showed the duty officer her ID. “What did you get done? Your dabharyashki?” asked the officer, nodding knowingly. 

The term dabharyashka (from the Buryat word dabharyaa, which literally means “fold”) refers to the skin fold of the upper eyelid. Apparently, the officer had seen Natalya’s stitches through her sunglasses. She was one of the first people in Buryatia to have surgery to change the shape of her eyes. Three years later, she had another operation to make them even wider. 

The names of some of the people in this story have been changed at their request.

Scalpels, needles, and glue 

Many people of Asian descent are born with monolids — an eyelid shape that doesn’t have a crease. And some people go to great lengths to create this skin fold and widen their eyes. For those who undergo plastic surgery, the operation typically involves an incision along the upper eyelid, the removal of “excess” skin and fat, and the application of sutures to create an “eye-opening” crease (also known as a “double eyelid”). 

Blepharoplasty — the medical term for eyelid surgery — is the third most common plastic surgery procedure in the world, after breast augmentation and liposuction. With nearly half a million surgical procedures annually, Russia ranks ninth globally for the total number of plastic surgeries. But for eyelid surgery, Russia is in third place, with more than 92,000 operations in 2020 alone. 

Researchers in Russia note that the further east a region is from Moscow, the more eyelid surgeries are performed there. In Ulan-Ude — the regional capital of Buryatia, with a population of just over 400,000 people — there are about 10 clinics that offer this procedure for prices ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 rubles (about $225 to $335). 

Then there are the companies that offer “medical tours” to neighboring Mongolia. These packages cover a round-trip bus ticket from Ulan-Ude to Ulaanbaatar, the operation itself, and an interpreter’s services. One popular clinic in Ulaanbaatar offered eyelid surgery for just 18,500 rubles ($210). By comparison, a local Korean clinic charged around 160,000 rubles (about $1,800). Performers, entrepreneurs, and officials who want to get their eyelids done usually travel to South Korea, where the procedure costs anywhere from $1,800 to $3,000. 

Other people try to alter their eyelids themselves — using a needle or a sharpened pencil to damage the delicate skin, hoping that the scarring will form a crease over time. Alternative, less painful methods include using eyelid glue or adhesive tape to create a “double eyelid” temporarily. 

Natalya Badmayeva’s mother, Tamara, used a sharpened pencil to break the skin along her own upper eyelids; when the scratches healed, they formed a crease. Natalya would later try to replicate this procedure herself but found it too painful. “I realized that I wouldn’t be able to ‘draw’ a deep enough cut, and so I didn’t keep doing it,” she recalled.

When Natalya was a teenager, her mother bought her eyelid glue, but Natalya found it uncomfortable to wear. “It feels heavy on your eyelid. If you use glue, you can feel how everything is being pulled together. If you use tape, it’s uncomfortable when you blink,” she said. 

Tamara, who has since passed away, never explained why she gave herself eyelid creases or wanted her daughter to have them, too. “I didn’t want to look narrow-eyed. I wanted to look wide-eyed,” Natalya said, explaining her own thinking. “In my youth, Buryats were [considered] village people. Narrow-eyed, swarthy, uneducated, Buryat-speaking — this was the image I was trying to escape. I specifically didn’t learn to speak Buryat and had my eyelids done twice.” 

‘No one told me to my face’

Several sources told People of Baikal that, as children, they dreamed of being ethnically Russian; when their family members spoke their native language, they felt embarrassed and pretended they couldn’t understand them. 

Natalya remembers encountering aggression due to her appearance when she left Buryatia for the first time at age 18. She and her friends were waiting in line at a food stand in Novosibirsk when some old ladies started harassing them. “These old ladies said, ‘Who are you? We don’t go to your country!’ and they pushed us out of the line. We told them we’re from Buryatia, which is part of Russia. We’re citizens of the Russian Federation, just like them. But the old ladies didn’t believe us,” Natalya said. 

Ivan Romanov, 38, moved from Ulan-Ude to Moscow in 2012. A dentist by training, he spent a year applying for jobs in the capital. However, he found that some dental clinics — including ones at public hospitals — would post job ads explicitly seeking “Slavic” physicians. 

Even clinics that didn’t have this requirement wouldn’t hire Ivan. Having a Russian name and surname was often enough to get him an interview, but they never called him back. All his classmates soon found jobs, but he remained unemployed. “I didn’t understand what was happening. I’d go home, cry because I felt powerless, and get angry,” Ivan recalled. “No one told me to my face that they wouldn’t hire me because I’m Buryat, but the logic was clear.” 

Ivan took screenshots of the job ads from public clinics looking to hire “Slavic” doctors and wrote a complaint to the Russian Health Ministry. In response, ministry officials told him that government institutions don’t place such ads and suggested that the postings had appeared on the website “due to a technical glitch.” (At the same time, they acknowledged that such ads are common among private clinics.)

Ivan believes his dental career didn’t take off because of his appearance. After a year of unsuccessfully trying to land a job in his field, he began working for a company in Moscow selling medical equipment. Today, he runs his own business. 

At 35, Ivan had eyelid surgery to make himself look “European.” A surgeon at a Moscow clinic reshaped his eyelids, creating creases and removing the epicanthus — a skin fold stretching from the upper eyelid, covering the eye’s inner corner. Ivan had dreamed of this since his youth.

No shortage of insults 

The discourse around Asian people’s appearance inevitably leads to a discussion about “narrow eyes,” notes Erzhen Erdeni, a Buryat anti-colonial activist and researcher from the Siberian city of Irkutsk. “The expression ‘narrow eyes’ makes my blood boil,” she said. “Asian eyes can be considered narrow only if they’re compared with European eyes, which are taken as the standard.” 

“Russian speakers have come up with no shortage of insults for Asian eyes,” added Erzhen. 

The activist still remembers the first time she was insulted over her appearance. She was seven years old and walking to school alone in Irkutsk when a group of boys started throwing rocks at her and calling her names. 

People who don’t look “European” encounter racism everywhere in Russia, Erzhen said. After she moved to Moscow to study, for example, uniformed officers stopped her every two weeks or so, asking to see her documents, fishing for bribes, and threatening to take her to the police station. “I could walk with a Slavic-looking friend, and she wouldn’t get asked any questions. But I was stopped all the time — it could happen anywhere,” said Erzhen, who now lives in Tbilisi, Georgia. “I developed a persistent fear of people in uniform that I carry with me to this day. Every time I see a man in a uniform in Russia, my heart sinks, and the anxiety kicks in.” 

According to the SOVA Center, which monitors extremism and hate crimes in Russia, there was a spike in racially motivated attacks in 2023. Researchers recorded at least 60 violent acts last year — up from nine in 2022. In at least 21 of these cases, the attackers targeted people whom they perceived as “Asian.” 

SOVA Center director Alexander Verkhovsky said that while anyone who “looks different” can fall victim to a hate crime in Russia, people of “conventionally Asian appearance” are targeted most often. This includes not only Central Asians but also people indigenous to Russia, such as Buryats, Tyvans, and Kalmyks. “The attacker isn’t asking to see a passport; he’s looking at facial features,” Verkhovsky underscored.  

“If you’re a person of ‘non-Slavic’ appearance in any public place [...] you always have to be on guard. An insult could come your way at any moment,” said Buryat journalist Aleksandra Garmazhapova. “Any old conflict could end with the phrase: ‘Go back to China!’” 

Garmazhapova moved to St. Petersburg with her family at age six. She got involved in political activism in 2005 after far-right extremists murdered 20-year-old anti-fascist activist Timur Kacharava in the city center. She left Russia eight years ago and now heads the Free Buryatia Foundation. 

The Sova Center’s researchers attribute the surge in racially motivated violence in 2023 to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. “War inevitably brings about an increase in aggression in society. Legitimizing aggression is a side effect of war,” Verkhovsky explained. 

‘Why am I hurting myself a second time?’

Valentina Radnayeva, the head of the ophthalmology department at the Children’s Hospital in Ulan-Ude, said that people of all ages come in for eyelid surgery. It’s the most common cosmetic procedure in Buryatia, and the hospital accepts not only locals but also patients from Tyva, Khakassia, Altai, and other republics across Russia. “For young people, we don’t remove skin [from the upper eyelid]; we just form a fold. And it turns out beautifully!” the surgeon said with a smile. 

Enkhmaa, a surgeon at a clinic in Ulaanbaatar that patients on medical tours from Ulan-Ude often visit, claimed that eyelid surgery makes people “more beautiful” and more self-confident. She operates on patients 12 and up, so long as minors have parental consent. According to Enkhmaa, there hasn’t been a single case in her 20 years of experience where a patient regretted making their eyes wider (she said that the most common complaints have to do with side effects.) “This surgery changes people’s lives for the better,” the surgeon maintained. 

Natalya, the lawyer from Ulan-Ude, said that she also wanted to have “beautiful” eyes — and that’s why she opted for a second surgery. “I wasn’t satisfied with the results of the first operation. The shape of my eyes looked too natural. I wanted to see a difference. I wanted my eyes to be wider,” she explained. 

Natalya’s first surgery, at the Republican Hospital in 2009, took place without a consultation and only cost three or four thousand rubles. For her second surgery, she saved up about 20,000 rubles and went to a private clinic. But somehow, she found it scarier. “I remember lying on the operating table and saying to myself, ‘Stupid me! Why am I hurting myself a second time?’ The doctor was polite, he explained everything, there was good anesthetic, but it was still unpleasant,” she recalled.

After the operation, Natalya remained under observation at the clinic for 30 or 40 minutes. Then, her brother picked her up and took her home. She was on maternity leave at the time, so she didn’t have to go back to work. Natalya says the bruises and swelling from the second surgery went away after a few weeks — but to this day, she remains sensitive to bright light. 

“My friends don’t see a big difference between how I looked before and after the operation. But I think that I’ve changed,” Natalya said. “It’s possible that this is how I feel on the inside. I’ve lived with my eyelid folds longer than I lived without them. I’m more comfortable this way.”

Ivan, the dentist, paid 85,000 rubles (more than $950) to go under the knife in Moscow in 2020. “I was conscious, under local anesthesia, and I heard everything the doctor said. He explained what was happening in detail and commented, ‘You were right to get the surgery. You have a large accumulation of fat, and it weighs down your eyelids. It makes you seem sad. We’re going to correct it now, and you’ll look just great!’”

However, Ivan wasn’t happy with the end result. “I went through every circle of hell. It took a long time for everything to heal. I spent a lot of money to remove the scars left over from the stitches. Moreover, the surgeon didn’t stitch the skin of the upper eyelid on one eye properly,” he complained. “My life didn’t change at all. People who know me well noticed that something was different, but it’s usually difficult for them to say what exactly.” 

‘At least you can influence how you look’

Anna Tsyrenova, a 38-year-oldfrom Ulan-Ude, was surprised when she recently learned that all her friends her own age had undergone eyelid surgery by the time they were 20. “Many people hide the fact that they’ve had this surgery. It’s such a sensitive topic that even friends don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “When I finally started asking around, they said they had their eyelids done to look more kempt.”

Anna says it never occurred to her to have eyelid surgery. And she rejects the notion that she has experienced discrimination in Russia — even though she’s been mistaken for a tourist, told that she “speaks Russian well,” and stopped by police officers in Moscow and St. Petersburg. “I don’t judge people who’ve gone to the plastic surgeon and made their eyes wider. I just don’t understand them,” she said.

According to social scientist Maria Vyatchina, plastic surgery can give patients a sense of control over their own lives — even when they feel powerless to influence the world around them. “There are things you cannot change, but you can at least influence how you look. This gives you a sense of agency,” she explained. 

The development of new medical technologies is another powerful driver behind the popularity of plastic surgery, making it less risky, less painful, and cheaper. Indeed, certain surgeries are becoming more accessible and even “fashionable,” with trends transcending borders. For example, the eyelid surgery industry in Russia and Mongolia is heavily influenced by South Korea, which, in turn, is largely guided by standards adopted in Japan. 

Vyatchina also pointed to the work of anthropologists Sara Lenehan and Carmen Alvaro Jarrín, who found that the popularity of “nose jobs” in Iran and Brazil reflects shifts in how people signal their wealth and aspirations of upward mobility. The same is true in Russia, where poverty, a lack of social mobility, and patriarchal norms make one’s appearance a type of social currency. 

In this context, what eye shape is considered “beautiful” is directly related to popular attitudes. But, as Vyatchina underscored, beauty standards are far from neutral or implicit — on the contrary, they’re politically charged. “Racism and xenophobia take different forms, including defining dominant beauty standards that leave no room for acceptance and discussing diversity,” she said. “There is so much racism in Russian society.” 

‘Don’t become the dragon’

In the spring of 2022, Free Buryatia Foundation president Aleksandra Garmazhapova launched a campaign for the “Denazification of Russia.” On Instagram, she asked her followers to share stories of their encounters with racism and xenophobia. Over the next three weeks, she received some 4,000 testimonies. 

The responses show that even indigenous people who resemble ethnic Russians — including Udmurt, Chuvash, and other peoples — have to contend with racism in Russia. People recounted how, from childhood, they were censured for speaking their native language. One person said he had internalized the idea that it was “shameful” to be Mari. The campaign received countless emotional accounts: many people had never had the opportunity to talk openly about racism, while others had previously failed to recognize that what they experienced constitutes discrimination. 

The Russian language often lacks the terminology for discussions about racism and xenophobia. During her interview, Garmazhapova drew attention to how she sometimes slipped into using “not just literal translations but English terms.” Yet, Vyatchina says it’s still important to use these words, even if they seem complex or incomprehensible. Researchers believe that terms more suitable to Russian realities will emerge when Russian society begins to discuss racism actively. 

At the same time, Garmazhapova warned against going to rhetorical extremes, which she believes are just as harmful as not discussing racism at all. “The media, activists, and everyone else must work to avoid becoming xenophobes like Vladimir Putin. When fighting a dragon, you cannot become that same dragon yourself,” she said. “We must make every effort to fight narratives of hatred, racism, and xenophobia and not to end up producing the same ideas, just in a different sauce.” 

Now a mother of two, Natalya says she fears for her son and daughter because they are Buryat and feels the need to protect them from harmful stereotypes. “I understand the attitude the world has developed towards Buryats. The word ‘Buryat’ has become a symbol of savagery and cruelty. People need someone to hate, to take out their anger on. It will be difficult to rehabilitate this general perception and attitude,” she said. 

Natalya remembers how her own mother cared for her, buying her eyelid glue and encouraging her to get “folds.” Assuming her children would share her own insecurities, she tried to take the same approach with them. “I thought, Why don’t I tape my six-year-old daughter’s [eyelids],” Natalya said. “Thank God my child has a brain! She ran around a little and then took off the strips [of tape] I had stuck on her. She thinks she’s beautiful the way she is. She has insecurities, but they have nothing to do with the shape of her eyes.”

[tomorrowusa]

News you won't find on Fox News or other far right outlets.

Official crime statistics are only released after a substantial delay, so for nearly a decade I’ve collected and compiled big-city crime data as a way to assemble a more real-time picture of national murder trends. And this spring, I’ve found something that I’ve never seen before and that probably has not happened in decades: strong evidence of a sharp and broad decline in the nation’s murder rate. The United States may be experiencing one of the largest annual percent changes in murder ever recorded, according to my preliminary data. It is still early in the year and the trend could change over the second half of the year, but data from a sufficiently large sample of big cities have typically been a good predictor of the year-end national change in murder, even after only five months.

It's in the interests of extremist Republicans to get white people in particular to think that out of control minorities are out to murder them. So when crime goes down, the GOP ramps up other things like culture war issues.

Murder is down about 12 percent year-to-date in more than 90 cities that have released data for 2023, compared with data as of the same date in 2022. Big cities tend to slightly amplify the national trend—a 5 percent decline in murder rates in big cities would likely translate to a smaller decline nationally. But even so, the drop shown in the preliminary data is astonishing.

True, there is still the sensational murder here or there which will get a disproportionate amount of coverage. But murder rates across the board are down notably.

[T]he good news is, well, good. Murder is down 13 percent in New York City, and shootings are down 25 percent, relative to last year as of late May. Murder is down more than 20 percent in Los Angeles, Houston, and Philadelphia. And, most significantly, murder is down 30 percent—30 percent!—or more in Jackson, Mississippi; Atlanta, Georgia; Little Rock, Arkansas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and others.

The last significant drop in crime took place in the 1990s during the Clinton administration.

The cause of the Great Crime Decline of the 1990s, when murder fell 37 percent over six years, is still not fully understood, so any explanations of the current trend must remain in the hypothesis phase for now.

I hate to rub it in, but there seems to be at least a modest correlation. In the 1970s and 1980s when 16 of those 20 years were under Republican administrations, the crime rate in the US soared. The crime decline of the 1990s and the current murder nosedive are under Democratic administrations.

The current dip is despite the number of police officers being the same or just slightly down.

Murder is down in Chicago, New Orleans, and New York, for example, but Chicago’s number of police officers is virtually unchanged from last summer, while New Orleans’s is down more than 8 percent and New York has roughly 2 percent fewer officers. The end of the emergency phase of the coronavirus pandemic may also be contributing to the decline in murder.

The murder rate went up during the COVID-19 emergency. Perhaps that's another result of Donald Trump's botched handling of the pandemic.

It's been finally dawning on people that Republicans aren't great for the economy. Eventually it may also become conventional wisdom that the GOP is bad for public safety.

When the de facto leader of the Republican Party is an indicted lying crook with the mindset of a petty mobster, that sends a message to American society that such behavior is acceptable. No wonder criminal behavior is down since Trump's departure from office.

No honest person can call the GOP the party of "law and order" any more.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A freshman Republican lawmaker received bipartisan condemnation after he allegedly yelled at a group of high- school-age Senate pages for “defiling” the Capitol on Wednesday. New details shared with NBC News paint an even more disturbing picture of what took place that night.

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., told the teenagers to “get the fuck out” of the rotunda, according to one source who witnessed the interaction and spoke on condition of anonymity. The source described Van Orden's demeanor as “physically aggressive” toward the pages.

The lawmaker was “screaming inches from the pages’ faces” and “shooed” at them with his hands several times, said the source, who described previously unreported details of Van Orden’s behavior.

The summer pages are part of a prestigious Senate tradition that dates back to 1829, and were enjoying their last week on the job. After completing a long shift, a group of them decided to take advantage of a typically empty rotunda at that time of night to take in the Capitol sights.

Van Orden approached the group. He had been hosting a beer and cheese event with constituents as he often does, a spokesperson said, and a photo posted to Twitter by a reporter for Punchbowl News showed empty alcohol bottles and trash in his office.

The pages were lying on the rotunda floor and taking photos of the exquisite dome 470 feet above them, a Senate page tradition, according to former pages, when Van Orden, who was leading a large tour group, approached them.

He called the pages “jackasses” and “pieces of shit,” according to a transcript written issued by a page minutes after the incident and first reported by The Hill.

“Wake the fuck up you little shits. What the fuck are you all doing? Get the fuck out of here. You are defiling the place,” the former Navy Seal shouted at the group.

The source told NBC News that Van Orden, 53, also said, “I don’t give a fuck who you are. I’m a congressman. My name is Derrick Van Orden, and I represent the 3rd District of Wisconsin,” and he called the group “pieces of shit” multiple times.

The pages, who were 16 and 17 years old, were “visibly shaken,” according to the source.

Reached for comment regarding the source's allegations, Van Orden's office shared a statement that it gave to some reporters previously but did not dispute the account.

“The Capitol Rotunda served as a field hospital where countless Union soldiers died fighting to free men in the Civil War. I have long said our nation’s Capitol is a symbol of the sacrifice our servicemen and women have made for this country and should never be treated like a frat house common room. Threatening a congressman with bad press to excuse poor behavior is a reminder of everything that’s wrong with Washington," the statement read.

The U.S. Senate Page Program offers high school students from all 50 states the opportunity to work on the Senate floor, assisting lawmakers and staff with administrative tasks.

“They come here bright-eyed, ready to learn about America … and serve the Senate, which they do,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said at a news conference Thursday evening. “They’re really invaluable to us.”

Several other senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed their support for the pages and condemned Van Orden’s behavior. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., called on Van Orden to apologize in a tweet Saturday.

“This is inexcusable and embarrassing behavior for a member of Congress or any adult for that matter. The Congressman should do the right thing and apologize,” said Tillis, who regularly sponsors pages from North Carolina.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., defended Van Orden, telling reporters on Friday that it wasn’t “the norm” of the congressman. “I guess the interns have some ritual of laying down or something like that. I think it’s a misunderstanding of all sides,” said McCarthy, adding that he had spoken to Schumer about the incident and plans to speak to Van Orden as well.

Other lawmakers have poked fun at Van Orden.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, himself a former member of the Senate, tweeted a photo from the floor of the rotunda, writing: “TGIF after a rough week, Senate Pages? I got a great photo, how about you?”

[bumcheekk]

I am afflicted with a persistent sexual fantasy that I’d rather not have. In recent years, I have developed a slightly unhinged attraction to Republicans. I’m your typical college-educated, urban-elitist lefty. I want saved whales, married gays and socialized everything. But when a cute girl tells me that Ronald Reagan is her personal savior, I am sent into a sexual frenzy. I feel it important to clarify what this bizarre fetish is not; it is not “hate [bleep]ing,” nor is it one of those opposite-attracts, tension-filled things. It’s much more of a role-playing thing, because in the fantasy I am right-wing too. I have sought out such women online, and I have behaved unethically by lying to them, but it really doesn’t work without the lying. I would never want to be in a real relationship with a Republican; it’s just a sexual thing. My greatest fear is that on some level, what if I really have become the twisted persona I’ve created? Do you think there’s an ethical way to indulge or express this fantasy that will not make nice, liberal girls (who are the kind I actually want to spend my life with) totally creeped out by me?

Suck my big meaty cock 🤤🤤 (I ain’t reading allat)

[loadednachosao3]

I am afflicted with a persistent sexual fantasy that I’d rather not have. In recent years, I have developed a slightly unhinged attraction to Republicans. I’m your typical college-educated, urban-elitist lefty. I want saved whales, married gays and socialized everything. But when a cute girl tells me that Ronald Reagan is her personal savior, I am sent into a sexual frenzy. I feel it important to clarify what this bizarre fetish is not; it is not “hate [bleep]ing,” nor is it one of those opposite-attracts, tension-filled things. It’s much more of a role-playing thing, because in the fantasy I am right-wing too. I have sought out such women online, and I have behaved unethically by lying to them, but it really doesn’t work without the lying. I would never want to be in a real relationship with a Republican; it’s just a sexual thing. My greatest fear is that on some level, what if I really have become the twisted persona I’ve created? Do you think there’s an ethical way to indulge or express this fantasy that will not make nice, liberal girls (who are the kind I actually want to spend my life with) totally creeped out by me?

you weirdly have no idea how apt it is that you sent this unhinged ask to me; I actually have extensive experience with political fetishes!

granted, okay, my experience is usually the other way around... Repubs who want to be with lefties... but the core tenets are the same! there's something very sexually appealing about things we "shouldn't" have, and what's more of a forbidden thing than the opposing side's political views? it gets people going more often than you'd think!

there IS a way to do this ethically without necessarily lying, though you may not 100% like the answer: there are sex workers for that right here on the good ol' internet! on NiteFlirt, Right-Wing Riley and Trump Girl cater to pretty much exactly what you're looking for. of course, this is pay-to-play, but most of the time when you have a very specific sort of fetish, that's what happens! if nothing else, their pages might be good fap material for you, anon?

if you don't want to go the paid route, I'd suggest just finding places to be open about your kinks, like maybe fetlife or reddit or something similar! you will get scrutiny for it from both sides, that's just life, but I think you'll find there are communities for political fetishists full of people from all areas on the political spectrum. r/politicsplay is one of those places, you may be able to find like-minded people there? I know of r/fuckingfascists and r/politicalfemdom as well. the former might not be your style, but the latter, I believe, has femdom from right-wing and left-wing perspectives.

all in all, try not to beat yourself up about it! it's a normal and understandable fixation to have, particularly in such fraught political times. remember that no matter how much of a traitor you feel like, you will never be as pathetic as a MAGA cuck who cries about BLM while they cum and then gets hard in the voting booth in November because a hot leftist with fat tits told them to vote blue. and that's on god

[beautifulpersonpeach]

I've been trying to hold my tongue and not jump to conclusions but this just takes the cake BPP.

twitter. com / chain_7_/status/1630439943750434816.

This is after Seulgi said she won't sing Hype Boy so she doesn't "get into trouble" and company execs unironically called themselves Pink Bloods. I'm just astounded that this is still happening in 2023. Have things really not improved since 2017?

The depths of hatred, cringe, and ignorance from adults who should truly know better makes me almost want to weep Jesus Christ. I've read about SM group stans filing petitions with the Blue House of Korea because BTS won a kpop award and thought those days of insanity were behind us, but it's still happening NOW. It's amazing to me how all the things you said about kpop cultures in different companies is playing out in front of my eyes. I thought you were lying or exaggerating and truthfully, I've seen questionable behavior in army fandom too, but to see this kind of rot, from the top of that company, down to the fans who just mirror that sick banal behavior, and then the idols caught in the middle who can't even dance along to a popular song trend out of fear of angering their fans AND company executives. We are in hell.

And the gall of these people to then turn around and try to police armys' behavior?? It's giving Trump and Republicans 2.0 istg BPP and I'm sorry for ranting about this again in your inbox but seeing them sending trucks to Hybe building when they sat on their hands for decades while LSM skinned that company and the idols dry angers me so much! Did armys do something years ago to justify this hatred? Did BTS do something in 2013 that explains this behavior? I really don't understand how even SM executives can act like kpop stans on Twitter. Can you please explain this to me BPP??

Honestly, I get armys' behavior now. SM stans are everywhere in kpop and if I was surrounded with that kind of madness, I'd give them that energy back as well.

No matter if Hybe gets that majority stake or not, the things they have exposed in SM just in the last few weeks has soured my mind towards so many things in kpop and this is me being 100000% honest.

Yes I'm that petty.

I think you ignored my last ask because I had no evidence but I've included the link now. Is there any history of something BTS did that justifies more than a decade of hate and vitriol from fans of SM artists towards Hybe and anything connected to BTS? Real question so pls answer BPP.

***

Hi Anon,

Your link.

I ignored your asks not because you didn’t include evidence Anon. I ignored it because I honestly think you’re getting sucked in way too deep and I’ve seen this all happen before. As people prone to ‘discourse’ are wont to do, you seem to be getting far more invested into matters over which you have zero control, while stoking your anger over how the system works. And while giving you an outlet here could make you feel better and rally likeminded people to your cause, I feel it’s a counterproductive exercise at best because that also just further entrenches animosity and makes the whole space just more toxic.

But I feel you won’t move on unless you get an audience, so here we are. To answer the questions you asked:

There is nothing BTS or ARMY did years ago to justify the hate from the rest of k-pop fandom and from SM corporate executives towards anything connected to them. Except disrupting the system to be massively successful despite often doing the opposite of what was expected for a k-pop group and fandom, and still leaving the rest of the competition in the dust. Funny thing is SM executives way back in 2014 actually offered to buy BTS from Bang PD because they saw in them what we all see now. Bang PD obviously refused, and k-pop stans kept doing what k-pop stans do, as did the industry. Now, ARMYs today (especially after the Burning Sun madness in 2019 and the Jungkook gay club witch-hunt in 2020) have unfortunately gotten as good as the typical k-pop stan in giving back the same energy as good as they get, as well as platforming solo or akgae-lite voices in the fandom, and the fandom culture suffers significantly as a result. But yes the fact is that the animosity and hate towards BTS started out as a purely one-sided affair, with BTS and ARMYs taking the brunt of that insanity for years, until the last four years or so when ARMYs had the numbers to overwhelm the hate.

The typical k-pop stan is filled with resentment towards anything concerning BTS because they feel the group and fandom deserves to have a reckoning that will humble them. It’s a hatred that will persist for as long as BTS is at the top of the k-pop hierarchy because the underlying belief driving that hatred is that BTS does not deserve their status as other groups or idols are more deserving of the recognition and achievements. It’s why most of the criticism around BTS is centred around comparisons to ‘better’ groups or idols that aren’t getting the same recognition BTS is (obviously), regardless of the context. Or criticism around how BTS and the fandom respond to the system they’re situated in.

It’s essentially competition. With none of the sportsmanship, no referee in sight, and a mass of people who care more about ranting day and night about groups and fandoms they hate, rather than developing a knowledge base of the music and art created (however imperfectly) in this space. And what typically happens when competition becomes toxic and supercharged, is that it becomes politics.

That’s why the dynamics you see play out in k-pop fandoms is more akin to the dysfunctional political system in the US, rather than what you see in the Premier League (though they have their fair share of politics too). The typical k-pop stan is looking for Collective Guilt towards the fandom they hate to justify their behaviour since by that logic, BTS, yourself, and me are responsible for perceived slights done by the fandom, to other k-pop idols those stans support.

It’s why a couple weeks ago, a fan of SM groups walked into my replies, disagreed with me about Jungkook, but started cussing out ARMYs and the tannies immediately. That’s the kind of logical leap you make when you hate the subject, understand next to nothing about the underlying context, view the entire fandom of at least 5 million people as a uniform bloc, but are spoiling for a fight anyway.

This behaviour is also influenced by how the wider culture is dealing with a breakdown in civic institutions and traditional remediation channels. It’s happening everywhere now, not just in k-pop fandoms, but the structures informing those behaviours in k-pop have been entrenched for a long time.

And so Anon, I read your asks on SM, Hybe, k-pop and BTS and saw you’re falling into the same thinking patterns and beginning to conflate things that have no business being viewed together. For example:

Yes Seulgi skipped covering Hype Boy, but she was unclear about her reasons and there is no reason for you to fill in the gaps for her. Yes SM executives are explicitly, even somewhat myopically, anti-HYBE because they’ve tied up their economic interests with Kakao based on what has been disclosed so far, but that doesn’t mean every SM idol is prevented from enjoying art made by HYBE artists. You’re right about the culture of older k-pop companies and the fandoms of groups under those companies, but it’s pointless losing sleep over it because those behaviours are structurally supported.

There is nothing special about the hate BTS and those who love the group face in k-pop spaces. That hate is a function of how the system has been structured since at least 2009. If there was another k-pop group that approached the industry the way BTS did, and fostered the relationship with their fandom the way BTS did with ARMYs, they’d be on top and they’d be just as hated.

If hate from k-pop stans is something that bothers you, I suggest you avoid ‘discourse’, spend less time in k-pop fandom spaces online and try to build more fandom connections offline with a focus on what you genuinely love about BTS. Keep this SM-HYBE deal and the rest of k-pop discourse related to it at arms length because you cannot influence the outcome, and HYBE can take care of itself. For one thing you shouldn’t think your interests are identical to HYBE’s, but even if you were concerned, from a purely business standpoint HYBE’s downside in this deal is limited because they already own a stake they can always monetize later.

Detach, detox, and focus on what you love instead. It will do you far more good than getting upset over how millions of people behave in a system established by 20 years of incentives and culture.

[jones-friend]

I just finished playing Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, a 2013 title where the antagonist republican senator claims he’s going to make America great again moments before you rip his stillbeating heart from his chest!

For context: I’ve never played metal gear. My buddy has nothing but good things to say for it and I’ve seen lots of good stuff. I’ve also played Bayonetta 1 all the way through.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance is a game started by Konami/Kojima, handed off to platinum games. In it you play as Raiden, a cyber ninja, facing off against soldiers and big bads alike.

Lots of modern games feel the need to juice the runtime to 30hrs. TLOU2, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War 2018, often they do this by adding optional open world segments or sidequests that pad the runtime.

MGRR was described as all killer no filler and they aren’t lying. Around 6-8hrs long this was a quality experience through and through. I shouted out loud in my own apartment at multiple points because of how fantastic they felt to play. I lost my goddam mind when you’re fighting a metal gear ray to the instrumental Rules of Nature and when you catch the mecha blade the sfx dip so the soundtrack can belt the lyrics RULES OF NATURE as you anime throw the mecha and shred it. Oh my god. Perfection.

The game’s high points are its boss fights. Lovingly crafted, each boss has something exciting going on whether it be Mistral’s enemy horde or Sundowner’s explosive armor you need to slice through. The mechanics feel fantastically overpowered in the best way, running up missile barrages to slice their armor into a thousand pieces is a blast.

I cannot say enough good things about the game’s soundtrack and use of music. Typically you fight to instrumental themes, with the lyrics bass boosting the track during emotional high points. Its huge when you hit the last phase of a boss fight and the lyrics cut in as your own health gets down to the wire. Absolutely amazing.

I also appreciate that the game has a “skill tree” or upgrade purchase menu where not everything was able to be bought in my run. Maybe you can with VR missions, but I liked that I had to choose my strengths when too many games eventually give you everything anyways.

The game’s story is Platinum Games making a Kojima game, its silly in all the right spots and serious at the right times. I was thoroughly entertained by how whole hog they go over the top with it.

I have a short list of things that frustrated me: the hammer and ape enemies were a lil too nutty damage and stunwise and two at once could easily stunlock you. The traversal sections between bosses have good moments but overall don’t work quite as well. It is from the quick time event era so there’s a number of those, while I never found them to be too invasive they aren’t always great.

None of these things were enough to put a damper on the experience for me. This is in my top 5 games easy, the Samuel boss fight is up there next to Lady Maria for me. I’m entirely enamored with this one and I highly recommend it if you enjoy the likes of Hotline Miami and Uncharted games.

Recently I played the FFVII remake. If they cut the filler and make it closer to this that game would be loads better.

[bllsbailey]

JD Vance Delivered Another Masterclass in Obliterating the Media

Photo of a typical Lying Commie Democrat

It got buried because Donald Trump was the victim of another attempted assassination on the same day. Still, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH)

took CNN’s Dana Bash to the cleaners about the situation in Springfield, Ohio. He took the liberal narrative about the town and ran it over with a tank. He knows the game—and executed another masterclass in outmaneuvering the establishment press. Bash was clearly irritated that she couldn’t land any punches, and it was becoming clear that Vance might be entering an area where his invitation to this network might be cut down significantly or outright rejected if he kept embarrassing the network’s hosts in this manner.

 Bash tried to suggest Vance and Donald Trump were responsible for the bomb threats against the town. We now know that these threats were hoaxes sent by unhinged jokers overseas, though the media was sure it was the fault of the 2024 Republican ticket. At the time and during this interview, Vance denounced the violence. Still, the Ohio Republican said, rightly, that we can do both things: reject the violence being directed at the town and talk about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ failed immigration policies, specifically the abuse in issuing temporary protected status.

The CNN host interrupted Vance, who took the combative interview in stride. You know that Bash was cornered when she pressed Vance, a US Senator from Ohio, on whether he visited Springfield. When Vance said yes, he’d been there more than 100 times and knew the community. Bash wondered if he had recently as if that mattered. We know one thing is true: Bash and CNN probably never set foot within 1000 miles of Springfield until they thought they could use it to attack the Republicans.

The fact that memes and now remixed songs are coming from Trump’s remarks about “eating the dogs” and “eating the cats” shows the media cannot control this story. They cannot weaponize it, and it drives them nuts. A lot of it has to do with the fact that everyone knows the media has no integrity. They lie—and we know CNN is unabashedly anti-Trump.

Cope and seethe, CNN.

All Vance did was bring up concerns from his constituents. He admitted that he'd ignore it if it were one or two people. It’s not that, though—and now it seems to be spreading to nearby Columbus and Dayton.

With the media taking buckshot to the face on that narrative, why should we discount the Springfield city manager who made the allegations about pets being eaten back in March or the numerous eyewitness accounts?

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