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Wednesday, October 02, 2024

Links - 2nd October 2024 (2 - General Wokeness)

Bad investments trigger 10% loss to federal Equality Fund - "Ottawa’s Equality Fund, which was launched with a $300 million taxpayer grant, quickly lost 10% of its value due to poor investments, according to Blacklock’s Reporter... The Equality Fund was supposed to help women in Third World countries and correct “the funding shortfall for women’s rights and feminist organizations in developing countries,” said the audit. “It was meant to provide a sustainable, predictable and flexible source of funding that would enable women’s rights and feminist organizations to advance gender equality and empower women and girls.” Instead, fund managers spent $5 million to start it up and lost a 10th of what was left in bad investments... Income from the fund was supposed to finance Third World programs for the next 15 years."

Venues failing to prepare for terror threats face fines under new law - "Venues that fail to prepare for terror threats could be fined millions under legislation devised following the Manchester Arena attack. Martyn's Law will require all premises with a capacity of more than 200 to ensure they have a plan in place for an attack. The mother of Manchester bombing victim Martyn Hett, after whom the legislation is named, celebrated the 'hugely important' bill's introduction into Parliament."
Of course, they were unable to learn the biggest lesson from the attack, which was that political correctness increases your vulnerability to terrorism

Jamie Sarkonak: Jordan Peterson is right — schools should be unabashedly pro-western - "The sole determinant of a child’s gender in Prince Edward Island schools is self-identification, per ministerial decree. In Edmonton, the public school board has a new policy to “Work towards the removal of institutional and individual barriers related to heteronormativity and cisnormativity.” In New Brunswick, the school curriculum aims to mould students into “reconciliation leaders” who promote equity. The common thread of each education system? They’re all run by conservative governments. Under conservative management is also Ontario, where the government piled requirements for anti-racism training upon schools in 2020 — kneeling to an industry of consultants who advocate for discrimination against the “privileged.” More recently, Toronto District School Board, the largest school board in the province (and country) mandated that its specialty education programs be at least 25 per cent Black and Arab as of last school year. Another board instituted an “Affirming Muslim Student Identities” strategy that aims to “counter the erasure of the Muslim identity in the historically Eurocentric curriculum” by skewing school resources to include more Muslims (regardless of whether it’s warranted) and directing schools to counter “Islamophobic narratives in society.” As for gender, Ontario remains a place where schools will secretly transition troubled children behind their parents’ backs. In a lot of ways, it seems that education in conservative-run provinces is on auto-pilot. That’s not to say they don’t ever make improvements: Ontario, for all its schools’ faults, will be banning phones in classrooms. Though not a panacea, it’s likely to cushion falling grades. In 2021, Doug Ford’s government also rolled back wording in the math curriculum that claimed “mathematics has been used to normalize racism and marginalization of non-Eurocentric mathematical knowledges.” Alberta launched a new social studies curriculum that leans heavier into facts than conceptual learning, though this was less ambitious than the earlier draft, which was allowed to be shouted down by activists. Most noteworthy, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick are all on the path to rolling back some of the gender insanity in schools, specifically mandating schools get consent from, or inform parents of pronoun or name changes, which with any hope will end the stories about children being conditioned by their schools to live as the opposite sex. But on the whole, conservatives have largely remained hands-off, and it’s to the detriment of everyone. Lots of families don’t agree with the progressive chum fed to their children by public schools, and would surely appreciate a moderating counter-force. Their kids deserve a fact-filled education that doesn’t alienate them from their roots. And most importantly, we need them to receive that education because one day they’ll be running the place. Teacher education, for example, remains barely touched. So as conservative policymakers make small adjustments to curriculums and expectations around gender in schools, little is being done to change how those schools are staffed. Faculties of education are still run by people who beat the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) drum, who insist they live on “ stolen land ” and who claim that teachers must offer “redress” for “injustices.” Programming is changing too: the University of Calgary, for example, is re-examining some of its course offerings for “ethical relationality” which “does not deny difference, but rather seeks to more deeply understand how our different histories and position us in relation to each other.” Cultural relativity is a dominant theme in the course of a teaching student’s education. Solutions could involve reforming universities or at very least prying faculties of education from their monopoly on the teacher pipeline, but those remain far-off ideas. Teachers continue to risk persecution if they speak out against DEI-oriented, anti-western education programming for children as their activist colleagues receive honours for their work. The unions that should be defending these teachers’ professional concerns, meanwhile, have instructed members to keep quiet. One Kingston-area teachers’ union told members last December that “Supporting a so-called ‘right-wing’ political view (example: Parental rights)” could result in discipline, according to a True North report . The same was said for expressing the idea that “there are only two genders.” When asked by the publication whether the union would defend a teacher disciplined for doing such things, the union’s representative didn’t respond. Teachers’ unions, however, have been quick to attack rules when it comes to limiting their ability to facilitate social transitions among their pupils. Then there are the glimpses into schoolroom policy that can be found here and there. Ontario schools, it seems, will allow teachers to wear sex props to work as long as they self-identify as transgender. Oakville’s Kayla Lemieux had to be included on staff. Now back to Kerry , retransitioning into a man was as simple as taking off those Z-cups. The assignments are more subtle, but no less concerning. Chanel Pfahl, former teacher and now Canada’s top broadcaster of classroom nonsense, has made public plenty of examples: a Hamilton teacher’s request for “at school” and “at home” pronouns; an LGBT terminology board in a Guelph Catholic school; flag displays for demisexual, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, and polyamourous pride in Kitchener. On both the outside and the inside, there are pressures to attack western culture and the people who come from it... in 2022, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario actually circulated a series of “white privilege” lesson plans for deployment in the classroom. Beyond school walls, complaints are made that Canadian curriculums are too Eurocentric... What’s the alternative? Rigorous, fact-focused schooling that doesn’t force-feed children ideas that were stylish in 2020, and teacher education that suits this end. Respect for and education about other cultures, paired with a confident refusal to denigrate and erase our own in the process. This kind of schooling is delivered in independent bubbles for now, demand for which far outstrips supply (the Alberta Classical Academy in Calgary was only able to enrol 840 students this year, far short of its 3,000 applications)... “They’re so terrified of being demolished by the woke mob, and also of being accused of something approximating social conservatism,” Peterson continued. “They do take refuge in something like neutrality, but I’m not sure it’s time for neutrality anymore.” People on the other side of the political spectrum know that neutrality is a loser — that’s why gender-neutral washroom renovations are all the rage, why pansexual flags can be found on bulletin boards, why land acknowledgements are opening assemblies and school board meetings and why curriculums tend to de-emphasize the importance of learning facts."
Nothing will ever satisfy left wingers, since they will keep pushing society down the slippery slope and demonising their opponents
Unions are only meant to defend workers who don't stand in the way of the left wing agenda

Banishing N-word won't reduce racism or real threats to Black community - "On more than one occasion I’ve used the “N-word” in public, when speaking to a group of strangers. Each time, I was standing in a federal court addressing a jury and quoting a defendant’s own words at his trial. While I always warned the jury at the outset of the trial that I would be repeating direct quotations that included offensive words, I never worried doing so would jeopardize my job or brand me a racist. This is how things worked when I was a federal prosecutor. Because no one with a lick of common sense would think that quoting a racial epithet in this context meant I advocated the bigotry that word carries when it is launched as an insult from a passing car at an African American walking home from the grocery store...  Unfortunately, over the past several decades, nuance has been replaced with sledgehammer politics. And on issues of race, common sense has often been replaced by an insanity that has its genesis in the guilt many white Americans feel for the unforgivable horrors perpetrated by other white Americans against African Americans... At the risk of perpetuating a cliche, as a Jew, feeling guilty is in my blood. That said, I find it difficult to feel guilt for something over which I had no control... misplaced guilt felt by many white Americans has spurred them to irrationality in an effort to absolve themselves of a sin they did not commit. A top aide to a Washington, D.C., mayor was forced to resign after using the word "niggardly" when describing how to manage a budget. The word means stingy, and it has no racial overtone. That was 1999, and it was a precursor to the "woke" movement that now hunts and destroys anyone who makes a comment that can be blow-dried and teased into a perceived racial slur, even though it was not the intention behind the statement.  Last month, a Houston high school English teacher was placed on administrative leave after announcing a writing assignment that asked students to consider how one word can have a dramatically different meaning and effect depending on the background and intention of the user. Instead of using the "N-word," the teacher used the real word - because the assignment related to a specific word and not its neutered stand-in.  Despite the teachable context, all hell broke loose. In a local TV news story, student Karina Rodgerson reacted with: "It was just really shocking ... it was there on the board," as though the chalked word ran the risk of coming to life, leaping from the blackboard and performing a lynching in class.  Recently, during a professor's virtual office hours, a Rutgers Law School student quoted from a 1993 case in which the N-word was included as part of the legal opinion. What followed were angry accusations, petitions to ban use of the word (even in quotations from published legal decisions), a "racial healing session" and a series of agonizing apologies. And last year, the chair of Central Michigan University's Journalism Department was fired for reading a direct quotation from a published court case in which part of the evidence of the case was a statement that included the N-word... The reason one Black person can call another Black person the N-word is because the intention behind the word is not hurtful. We should apply the same reasoning when someone who is not Black uses the word. Words should not be more powerful than the intention of the person speaking them.  Current American sensitivities limit teaching of Mark Twain's masterpiece "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." It is often excluded from classrooms and libraries because the non-euphemized version of the N-word appears over 200 times in the text as a historically accurate epithet used in the mid-19th century South. Even if we were willing to ban "Huckleberry Finn," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Of Mice and Men" and other treasured pieces of classic literature because they include the N-word, what about modern literature, plays and movies that depict slavery or racial bigotry? Must they be sanitized of the language that exposes the brutality of racism, or risk boycotts that silence a call for racial justice because the sound of the cry is not pretty?  The crusade to blast the N-word out of literature, music, legal opinions, newspapers, public discussion and off the face of the planet is a misplaced effort to undo years of systemic racism. It won't work. And there is a danger in whitewashing the vestiges of colonial racism so we no longer feel the discomfort that comes with an unvarnished view. It is the uneasiness - the recognition of what was, what lingers and what could be again - that keeps us vigilant and helps us avoid repeating our mistakes... I recently binge-watched Netflix's "Grace and Frankie." There is an episode that focuses on anti-gay protests at a gay community theater. The protesters carry signs that refer to "fags," and the protest leader uses a far more graphic slur to insult one of the main characters. Being a "G" in the LGBT acronym, I momentarily considered being outraged. But after a second's reflection, I realized that the writers, producers and actors are not homophobes. Instead, they were commendably spotlighting anti-gay discrimination in a real way - a way that made viewers understand the pain it brings.  When I pitched this column to my editor, I told her I wanted to use the actual N- word rather than a made-up word that was designed to invoke the real word in a prettier package. She replied with a hard "no." That probably saved me from public cancellation.  But it should not be this way. Exterminating a single word will not reduce the real threat to the Black community"
Weird. I thought the left were against book bans and pro learning history. But magic words are so powerful they kill, so here we are
Too bad he repeats left wing myths about "the real threat to the Black community"

Matt Walsh on X - "Many on the Left are criticizing the tactics we used to make our film. Notice how they made no such criticisms about Borat. The difference is that Borat was meant to embarrass normal working class Americans. Our film embarrasses DEI grifters, academics, and upper class liberals.
Even Nathan Fielder, who I think is hilarious and brilliant, usually uses these kinds of methods to humiliate average people who haven't done anything to deserve the humiliation. The Left is fine with that too. With our new film, and our last film, we're actually punching up. But somehow we're the "unethical" ones. Interesting."
Andrew Fields 🇺🇸 on X - "If DEI was so good and beautiful they would APPLAUD the coverage and not just FREE but that YOU paid THEM for.  Any valid church would LOVE to have a group come in and video tape them and film them doing what THEY do as part of their main focus and be PAID for that publicity of their message.  DEI activists despise the exposure because EXPOSURE is what they must avoid. They KNOW they are warped and wicked and that when people follow their Dogmas to the Letter it looks like INSANITY.  Because DEI/race hustling IS insane and a GRIFT. And they can’t let that be known."
This is like how left wingers got very upset at the grievance studies project, when it's standard academic practise to send fake job applications to look at response rates and then claim discrimination

Meme - Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog: "As reported by @robbystarbuck , left wing activists are bullying theaters into dropping our film. This theater just issued an apology.   The only way to stop the Left from shutting down the film is to support the theaters that are showing it. Tickets here: http://AmIRacist.com"
"Del Ore Theatre: Dear Patrons, Due to the strong reactions from our community (for and against the film), and concerns for the well-being of our staff, we will not be playing the film "Am I Racist" as originally intended. Please know that it was not our intention to cause such division by playing this film. We noticed that many of the theaters in the Sacramento area were booked to play this film and quite frankly this reaction caught us off guard. The safety of our staff is our number one priority. Please accept our apologies. Sincerely, Prime Cinemas"
Left wingers are so terrified of alternate points of view
Despite left wingers' attempts to equivocate, this is the difference between left wing and right wing "cancel culture" - the right just boycotts, whereas the left tries to prevent everyone from consuming the product

Meme - Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog: "Some of these comments are pretty amazing. These people really believe that conservatives don’t have the moral right to make movies. Film is an art form that belongs to them. That’s truly how they see it."
bigbiblefire: "The right wing fundamentalists wiping their entire ass with the art form and business of film pisses me off even more than any of the other bullshit they do daily."

'White Fragility' author tricked into paying reparations to 'Am I Racist?' producer - "An undercover Walsh, 38, coerced author Robin DiAngelo into paying cash to his producer, Ben, to compensate for so-called sins of the past by offering money himself... Walsh, who was conducting an interview with DiAngelo for a documentary project while feigning anti-racist sentiments and posing as an activist, called on Ben after finishing most of his questions. “This is Ben, a producer on the film. I thought it would be a powerful opportunity to speak directly to a person of colour and confront our racism and also, apologize for the white supremacist systems that oppress Ben,” Walsh began. DiAngelo, 68, followed suit. “On behalf of myself and my fellow white people, I apologize — it is not you, it is us. As long as I’m standing, I will do my best to challenge it.” Walsh announced that he’d pay Ben reparations if he’d accept it, prompting his producer to say, “I mean, I won’t turn it down.” Walsh then handed Ben some cash from his wallet. “That doesn’t make up for 400 years of oppression, but it’s all that I have to give,” Walsh said. Ben, fully in on the trick, explained that he didn’t “know if it’s ever enough,” but praised Walsh for “putting in the work” and acknowledged the “small progress I think we made today.” DiAngelo appeared bewildered. “That was really weird,” DiAngelo gasped... Ben said that wouldn’t “turn down cash.” A solemn-looking Walsh then stressed the need to allow “ourselves to be uncomfortable.” He underscored, “This is something that I can do right now” and asked, ‘Why wouldn’t I do it?’” “I can go get some cash for sure,” she said after. “I don’t mind if that would be something that would be comfortable for you.” After getting Ben’s blessing, DiAngelo walked over to her pocketbook, pulled out roughly $30, and told him, “That’s all the cash I have.” “Thanks,” a smiling Ben replied."

Meme - Tim Skellett @Gurdur: "Huh. A favorite looney, Saira Rao, has deactivated her account @sairasameerarao. A reaction to the exposure of Robin DiAngelo? Saira has a new account, @Race2Dinner , and yet another account, @Race2D_ , both as lunatic as her original account."
Race2Dinner @Race2D_: "Okay lets give white couples stipends.. for euthanasia of the white babies. Less future oppressors/racist/colonizers."

Riley Gaines on X - "They act as if being in the film distorted their argument and misrepresented who they are. It didn't. It only exposed their beliefs to a wider audience. What they're reacting to isn't being "conned", but the uncomfortable reality of their ideas being held up to public scrutiny."
OutspokenSamantha on X - "If Robin DiAngelo, Saira Rao, and everyone else in this film were truly proud of their work - they would be excited about this new wave of attention, and they would jump on the opportunity to set the record straight if they were misrepresented in any way.  But Leftists are always the first to hide from their own depraved ideas. Because they know they are spouting nonsense, and only in it for the money."
Or they are true believers but know that scrutiny would expose their lies

Matt Walsh on X - "Movie theater employees are currently on Reddit plotting ways to prevent their customers from seeing our film"
i will be making the transaction as difficult as possible for anyone seeing the matt walsh movie : r/MovieTheaterEmployees - "Can you take the good seats out of service without anyone noticing? Only sell the creatures that crawl out of the mud to see this thing the crap seats"
Why are left wingers so threatened by other points of view?
It gets better. We are told that "People are just trying to do their jobs" by trying to prevent people from watching a movie that opposes the left wing agenda

Matt Walsh on X - "We are punching up in this film and our first film. I’m a community college dropout podcaster going up against academics, PhDs, and so called “experts” in their fields. If they come out looking like total fools in my movies — which they do — what does that tell you?"
Wilfred Reilly on X - "Much of contemporary leftist social science - Robin D'Angelo and almost everyone from "What Is a Woman?" are tenured Associate or Full Professors - is complete nonsense. It sounds like stupid gibberish to an IQ-115 citizen because it is. I've never seen someone expose this quite as well as Walsh in his two movies. I have generally gone in for debates, but "just let them talk" might be a better model here."

British Woman Arrested After Reporting Sexual Assault To Police - "In a troubling case that has raised serious questions about police handling of sexual assault reports, a woman from Warrington, Cheshire, has revealed how her attempt to report a sexual attack led to her own arrest while the perpetrator remained free to assault others for nearly two years.  Helen Ingham, 48, recently waived her right to anonymity in order to share her harrowing experience with law enforcement after reporting an assault by Ahmed Fahmy, 45, a hotel manager whose reign of terror against women spanned more than 15 years... Ingham and her daughter returned to the hotel. Fahmy, then the manager, escorted them to their room, ostensibly because they had been drinking. When Talmage went downstairs to smoke a cigarette, Fahmy seized the opportunity to assault Ingham.  “He let us into our room, and I thought it was strange when he came in with us,” Ingham recounted. “I had sat on the bed and taken off my socks and shoes, and I thought he would leave at that point. But he sat down at the end of the bed, pulled my foot off the bed, and put my big toe in his mouth.”  Shocked and distressed, Ingham immediately called the police to report the incident. However, what should have been a straightforward process of recording her statement and investigating her claims took a bizarre and disturbing turn.  Upon arrival, the responding officers appeared disinterested in Ingham’s assault claims. Instead, they focused on her agitated state and use of profanity, which she attributes to her anger and distress over the recent assault.  The situation escalated when, according to Ingham, the officers asked Fahmy: “What do you want us to do with her?” to which he allegedly responded, “Take her away.”  In a shocking twist, instead of taking Ingham’s statement or arresting Fahmy, the officers arrested Ingham herself.  A physical conflict ensued during the arrest, resulting in Ingham spending the night in a police cell. Adding to the distress, her daughter was reportedly “dumped at a train station” to make her way home alone.  “They didn’t investigate my claim at the time – they weren’t bothered about what happened to me,” Ingham stated, her voice tinged with frustration and disappointment.  The consequences of this mishandling were severe. Fahmy, left unchecked, continued his predatory behaviour.  And it wasn’t until January of 2024, nearly two years later, that he was finally brought to justice following reports of rape and sexual assault from two more women at another hotel.  The subsequent investigation revealed a pattern of behavior dating back to 2008... Fahmy was found guilty at Hendon Magistrates Court of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, including the assault on Ingham. His sentencing is scheduled for September. – The case has prompted a review of the actions of the two officers who responded to Ingham’s initial report. Both remain under investigation, according to the Metropolitan Police."
Racism and Islamophobia are terrible crimes! How could she have traumatised this poor minority? She should've acknowledged her white privilege

Elon Musk on X - "Atheism left an empty space
Secular religion took its place
But left the people in despair
Childless hedonism sans care
Maybe religion’s not so bad
To keep you from being sad"

Kicking a Nazi out as soon as they walk in : r/TalesFromYourServer - "(transcribed from a series of tweets) - @iamragesparkle
I was at a shitty crustpunk bar once getting an after-work beer. One of those shitholes where the bartenders clearly hate you. So the bartender and I were ignoring one another when someone sits next to me and he immediately says, "no. get out."  And the dude next to me says, "hey i'm not doing anything, i'm a paying customer." and the bartender reaches under the counter for a bat or something and says, "out. now." and the dude leaves, kind of yelling. And he was dressed in a punk uniform, I noticed  Anyway, I asked what that was about and the bartender was like, "you didn't see his vest but it was all nazi shit. Iron crosses and stuff. You get to recognize them."  And i was like, ohok and he continues.  "you have to nip it in the bud immediately. These guys come in and it's always a nice, polite one. And you serve them because you don't want to cause a scene. And then they become a regular and after awhile they bring a friend. And that dude is cool too.  And then THEY bring friends and the friends bring friends and they stop being cool and then you realize, oh shit, this is a Nazi bar now. And it's too late because they're entrenched and if you try to kick them out, they cause a PROBLEM. So you have to shut them down.  And i was like, 'oh damn.' and he said "yeah, you have to ignore their reasonable arguments because their end goal is to be terrible, awful people."  And then he went back to ignoring me. But I haven't forgotten that at all."
Ironic. This is how the woke colonise and take over spaces
Also ironic. This is literally what Popper was talking about with the Paradox of Tolerance - those who refuse to listen to reasonable arguments are the ones Popper said should not be tolerated

Meme - "DEAR GAME DEVS. GAMES ARE A FANTASY WORLD. WE GAME TO ESCAPE. STOP TRYING TO FORCE YOUR WORLD INTO OUR WORLD. SINCERELY, GAMERS <3"

Are Philly Chefs Committing Cultural Appropriation? - "Recently, there’s been an obsession with white-owned restaurants hijacking the language of Japanese culture to sell their menu. One spot recently called their sandwich event a “sammiekase” as a play on an omakase – which is actually a specific Japanese dining experience. Such trends seek to make a mockery of my culture without actually involving people who look like me in the process."
White people are not allowed to cook "minority" food. Why are left wingers so terrified of change and diversity?

Surrey Pride founder and volunteer facing child sex abuse charges - "The founder and former director of Pride in Surrey has been charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse against children. Stephen Ireland, 40, and David Sutton, 26, both from Addlestone, were arrested... Mr Ireland and Mr Sutton face a series of charges including six counts of conspiracy to sexually assault a child, conspiracy to kidnap a child, voyeurism and arranging the commission of a child sex offence. In addition, Mr Ireland is facing a further 22 charges, including rape of a child under 13, sexual assault, making indecent photographs of children, and possession of an extreme pornographic image."
Time to bash the Catholic church

The Atomic Bombs and Japan's Surrender in World War II

Amazingly, some people claim that the dropping of the two atomic bombs did not contribute to Japan's surrender in World War II, and that it was only the USSR's declaration of war that got them to give up.

One even proclaimed that "Despite all of that anti-American propaganda they produced, they still surrendered to us, specifically and unconditionally, and they would have done so without Little Boy or Fat Man getting loaded onto a bomber. You might say thats hindsight 20/20, but there is no argument against the fact that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were spared during the firebombing campaigns that ravaged virtually every Japanese city, and they just so happened to he the most nukeable cities from a devastation/observation standpoint. That level of premeditation isnt military strategy, its showmanship." (this person also claimed that the invasion of the main Japanese islands would not have been bloody; the Battle of Okinawa only saw so many deaths because of the geography of the island, ignoring the fact that Japanese civilians were training to resist the upcoming invasion; and that the Kyūjō incident was not unique and happened because people did not want to lose power)

All this seems to be motivated by anti-American sentiment - if one can reframe the dropping of the atomic bombs as just a way to intimidate the Soviet Union, rather than a way to end the war sooner, the US can be painted as evil.

While historians might disagree over the relative importance of both factors, the overwhelming majority seem to agree that the atomic bomb played at least some role:

"There is no doubt that the double shock of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria were both very important in prompting Japan to surrender...

Robert Butow... argued in 1954 that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet declaration of war created “that unusual atmosphere in which the theretofore static factor of the Emperor could be made active in such an extraordinary way as to work what was virtually a political miracle.”... [Sadao] Asada emphasizes the shock of the atomic bombs on the military’s confidence...

In the end, the reasons for Japan’s failure to respond the Potsdam Proclamation were twofold: first, because Stalin had not signed the Allied ultimatum, Foreign Minister Togo wanted to ascertain the Soviet response to Tokyo’s request for mediation before Japan replied; and second, the overwhelming majority of Japanese military officers, especially in the army, were still in favor of fighting to the bitter end, and the Suzuki cabinet was unable to prevail over their resistance.

Therefore, in the opinion of Emperor Hirohito, Kido, and the peace faction, there was no doubt that the combination of two catastrophic events —the atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9; and the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on August 9— provided the final impetus for Japan’s decision to end the war...

With regard to the question of which had more effect on Japan’s surrender decision, the atomic bombs or Soviet entry into the war, Kido’s postwar statements were fairly consistent. When the investigative team from the US Strategic Bombing Survey asked Kido this very question on November 10, 1945, Kido answered that it was hard to tell exactly which had more impact. During his interview with Japanese historian Oi Atsushi at Sugamo Prison in April 1950, Kido stated...

'I think that the atomic bombs alone could have allowed us to terminate the war.'...

Kawabe [Torashiro] wrote in his memoir, “I felt the atomic bomb struck me hard on one cheek, and immediately afterwards the Soviet declaration of war hit me with full force on the other cheek.” Perhaps, historians will never be able to agree on the exact weight to assign to these two extraordinary events. The recollections of Japanese eyewitnesses suggest that the bombings and Soviet declaration of war happened so close together that it was humanly impossible to separate their psychological impacts...

According to Togo’s memoir, during the morning of August 8, Togo met with the emperor and reported that an atomic bomb had been used against Hiroshima. Togo proposed, “This should be used as an opportunity to decide for the earliest possible termination of the war.” The emperor agreed with the foreign minister and said, “Now that this sort of weapon has been used, it is becoming increasingly impossible to continue the war. I do not think it is a good idea to miss an opportunity to end the war by attempting to secure advantageous conditions. Besides, even if we try to discuss terms, I am afraid we won’t be able to come to an agreement. Therefore, I hope you will take measures that will conclude the war as soon as possible.”

Thus, emphasizing the need to end the war at the earliest possible opportunity, the emperor asked Foreign Minister Togo to convey his opinion to Prime Minister Suzuki. Togo immediately contacted Kido and the prime minister and requested that they convene a meeting of the Supreme War Leadership Council."

--- Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War / Noriko Kawamura

Links - 2nd October 2024 (1 - Haitian Migrants in the US)

Let's call Springfield what it is: Republican-made terrorism | Opinion
The media still hasn't learnt. Of course, he doesn't mention the second assassination attempt on Trump which, by his logic, he is responsible for

Daily Wire reports on severed pig head found in Springfield park - "We covered reports of severed pigs heads in our coverage of Springfield earlier this week. Here is one resident who corroborated this story about pig heads"

Influx of wild-driving Haitian migrants turning streets of Springfield, Ohio, into combat zone - "Forget about the ducks and geese allegedly disappearing from public parks. In this beleaguered city, residents say the biggest problem by far is that wild-driving Haitian migrants — unfamiliar with US road laws — are turning the streets into combat zones.  And the results can be deadly. The family of Springfield grandma Kathy Heaton experienced this firsthand on Dec. 1 — a day after her 71st birthday — when a Haitian migrant ran her down while she was collecting her garbage cans.  And the driver got off scot-free... Kathy was struck so violently that both her socks were left behind on the pavement as her body was thrown across the street. Debris littered the roadway, and clumps of hair were found in the car’s cracked windshield, according to the police report.  But three days later, prosecutors decided that the driver of the car that hit her — 38-year-old Robenson Louis — wouldn’t face charges, even though Mandy said he was driving with expired license plates... Longtime residents say the immigrants are getting temporary driving permits without having to learn how to drive safely in the US — or even knowing how to drive at all.  “There must be eight to 10 accidents a day here,” one resident who asked not to be named told The Post.  “I’ve seen cars drive up into buildings and onto sidewalks. I believe everyone deserves help, but we shouldn’t be providing cars and licenses until people know how to drive here safely.” On social media, residents have posted alarming footage showing cars in ditches, smashed up at intersections, flying across the road into oncoming traffic, and even crashed through homes and businesses.  Such accounts line up with what Mandy and her family say they’re seeing on a regular basis — and has left them “constantly stressed and anxious” to do things as basic as walking through a parking lot, let alone going for a drive with her young twins.  “Haitians are going the wrong way down one-way streets, making unlawful U-turns in the middle of the roadways, damaging property by driving recklessly, there’s been some street signs taken out, people have had their garages wrecked,” she said...   In August 2023, 11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed when a 36-year-old Haitian driving without a US license caused the school bus he was riding in to roll over, crushing him underneath. At least 20 other kids were hospitalized.  The driving problem has attracted such attention that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced this week that in addition to $2.5 million in aid, he would be sending additional State Highway Patrol troopers to Springfield to help maintain order on the roads."

TheBlaze on X - "The parents of Aiden Clark say they wish he had been killed by an older white man, instead of a Haitian, because they say his death has been used to spread hate towards migrants. Aiden’s father asks for Republicans to stop using his death for political reasons."
William Wheelwright on X - "Seems like a good time to remind everyone that parents of children slain by ethnics or migrants receive an immediate visit from a special department of the DOJ who instruct them (coercively, presumably) to make these ridiculous statements"
Good luck if you're the victim of a white man and say you wish someone else had done it so white men wouldn't be the targets of hate and the death wouldn't be used for political reasons

William Wheelwright on X - "In case you were wondering why the script is always the same, grieving relatives of white people killed by non-whites receive visitation and instruction from the Department of Justice’s ‘Community Relations Service’, which is trained to use moral guilt to coerce these statements."
K on X - "Daily reminder that the first thing the US government does if your family gets killed by an imported migrant is send federal agents to your house who “help” craft a PR statement about why mass migration is still good"

Diane Yap on X - "Forget about the geese, the cats and the average IQ of Haiti for a moment. Is Haiti a high-functioning country that you'd be happy to live in. If not, you should be against importing Haitians en masse. The quality of a country is determined primarily by its human capital."
Clearly, Haiti is only wrecked because of colonialism, and when you import Haitians to the First World they magically become unproblematic

Alan Jacoby on X - "Import the third world. Become the third world. Haitians are hunting and eating domestic cats in American neighborhoods. Not because they have to. They are doing it because they want to. Cat meat is a delicacy in Haiti. *Video of people cooking cat over gas stove*"
One or two people are saying this video is fake

Rando Bunchanumbers on X - "He's right that immigrants self select, but not 20,000 of them"
Thread by @wanyeburkett on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "There’s a very sophisticated kind of pro-immigration argument that goes like, “immigrants to the United States perform very well on a number of important key metrics — they have high incomes and commit less crime than natives — because they are from a select group of people who have navigated the difficulties of our immigration process, which is why we need to make that process much easier and allow in many times more people, thereby destroying the very selection effect I’ve just used to argue that immigrants do well here” This is sort of like noticing that an elite university is full of kids with high test scores, so you should let in a bunch of people with low test scores on that basis To be clear, people also make earnest arguments for low-skilled immigration, but the arguments that appeal to statistics showing that immigrants do particularly well here are probably just arguing from selection effects."
People really do think university is magic and makes people smart

Michael Foster on X - "“Well, since I work in the Ohio city that is presently all over the news, I suppose a few words are in order. (When I type in the city name, Facebook seems to be blocking it.)  For those of you not following, two local Catholic charities have contracted with the federal government to relocate "refugees." (I use quotes, because the local Haitians themselves are telling folks they were recruited for work.) This is publicly disputed, but the evidence is overwhelming. Regardless, at present, 20k Haitians now live in an Ohio town of 60k residents.   The results are predictable, and I can confirm the stories are true.   Traffic accidents involving Haitian drivers has skyrocketed -  property damage, hit and runs, and more. One kid was killed when a driver slammed into a school bus filled with kids.  Petty crime is out of control. Stores are locking down merchandise due to rampant theft. Driving without a license is ubiquitous.  The schools are chaotic. The local district has had to spend north of $300k on translators. I spoke with a teacher who said there is not nearly enough room in the existing buildings. The real estate market is also crazy. A friend of mine in real estate said that most of the Haitian families have banks cards from somewhere with $20k ear-marked for buying homes. The market was already tight, but now the prices are soaring.  Don't get me started on the hospitals.   And, yes, the stories about Haitians killing and eating neighborhood cats and ducks from local parks is true.   I know situations like this are complicated politically and culturally, but what I get most frustrated about is when people call this kind of policy compassionate.   There is not an ounce of compassion in this situation for either the immigrants nor the citizens. The citizens are being ignored, and the immigrants are being manipulated by deep pockets somewhere.   It benefits the politically connected elites and business class, and nobody else.” From a pastor friend in Springfield OH"
Of course, we will be told that anonymous reports are unreliable. But they are always reliable when they're leaks to slime Trump

Nick Freitas on X - "ABC: “We called the city manager and he said that’s not happening.” That sentence perfectly describes the modern media. Multiple reports by citizens claiming something is happening and the media “investigation” stops as soon as a bureaucrat tells them what they want to hear."
Cornpopwasabaddude on X - "The Governor of Colorado said the gang issue in Aurora was their “ imagination” too. Then he backtracked."

Meme - Heidi @HeidiBriones: "I've lost cats before, and I haven't filled out one police report. It's pointless. You make posters and door knock. You don't call the police."
"Springfield police say no reports of pets stolen, after viral social media post"

Tayler Hansen on X - "75-year Springfield, Ohio resident speaks on the Haitian Immigrant Influx and how it’s impacted the zip codes insurance rates:    “We have maybe 3-4 (crashes) a day, everyday. The Haitians. Thats not even Americans that’s Haitians. Our insurance rates have went sky high because of it because of our zip code.”   “This one lady that’s in our group they ran into her garage and killed her animals. Demolished her garage; he had no insurance, he was drunk.”  “Maybe I should be like the Haitians and not have insurance. I mean that’s the mindset we end up getting here. Nobody should have to go through that because of people that’s here not obeying our laws.”"

Theo Jordan on X - "I am so tired of living in a nation with captured media. Watch how propaganda works...  Trump repeated the "eating cats" line on the debate tonight. Within minutes, this has shown up from the Associated Press being promo'd across aggregators and news outlets. And whatever, I thought Trump was a trainwreck tonight. I could have disrobed Kamala on that stage easily, and I'm just a dude in Florida. Instead, Donald is talking about eating cats. So if you want to trash Trump, have at it! Our whole damn society has become a tabloid. But that's not what this is. This is being presented as news from what was once a primary source. Consider this language carefully:  "Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday amplified false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets. There is no evidence that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio community are doing that, officials say."  What makes this established as a "false rumor"? I actually think the odds of it logically are higher than not. But I'll get to that in sec.  The even worse line follows: "there is no evidence". What?!? I have seen 2 or 3 pieces of evidence that would be admissible. One is a dude holding a goose on video 45mi from that city a few months ago, and then two separate people testifying on camera to this happening in their community. "No evidence"? Holy shit. 👁 You want to say you don't buy the evidence? Ok. But that's not "no evidence". There is, in fact, numerous pieces of evidence. It's a matter of how you weigh them.  Do I think 10s of thousands of illegals with no homes and no money and no jobs are eating animals? Abso-fucking-lutely. And I think the problem will get worse. How are they to eat? 2-10 MILLION coming per year. And they have children. It's my understanding 50,000 descended on a town of barely that. What other conclusion is it that your mind reaches? I don't get it. That's my take from analyzing. You're welcome to your own. But how dare you say this is false with no evidence. To the contrary, it's likely true with documented evidence. Maybe that evidence has been overblown. Go write that story. But it wouldn't do the same damage against Trump tonight, would it? So who is the AP working for? Who does any of our MSM serve? Not truth and therefore not the American people.   How is it "news" in the middle of the debate that what one candidate said is "false rumors" and "no evidence" when he is referencing the same evidence I reviewed myself this afternoon? Wild. It's straight out of an Orwell novel. This will not end well."

Thread by @JesseKellyDC on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "What you’re seeing right now from the communists is the difference between the two sides. And it’s why the culture has only moved Left for my entire 43 years on this planet.  Let me explain:
The “Haitians are eating house cats” thing is an op. It’s an op from the Right. Doesn’t mean it’s inaccurate. Firsthand accounts from places like Springfield and Queens back up these stories. But it’s an op. It’s being used by the Right to attack the Left about the border. That’s not the important thing. The important thing is to see how the Left responds to an obvious op from the Right.  Notice the talking points today? We’re 24 hours into the news cycle and you can ready article after article today about how it’s a “hoax.” Commie pundit after commie pundit will cast doubt on it. Democrat politicians will cast doubt on it.  In the end, what’s the result of that?
Confusion from the average person. Or even exhaustion. Doesn’t know what to believe so they just walk away from it. And that equals a huge win for the communists since they fought off a successful (and accurate) right wing op.  And guess what you haven’t seen. Not one time…  You haven’t seen a SINGLE commie pundit or politician take part in the right wing op. Not one. Not one lefty tried to prove their virtue to us by doing the, “Well, they do have a point about what’s happening in these communities.” thing.  Not. A. Single. One.  The Left provided no help to the right for their op. So the op won’t have legs and will fade.
Contrast that with the ENDLESS commie ops you’ve seen run over the year. There are honestly too many to name. Pick your op. Saint George Floyd. RIGHT WINGERS ARE FUNDED BY RUSSIA! Doesn’t matter.  Now let me ask you, how many Right wingers helped the Left move their op forward? The answer: a lot. It happens every single time. For whatever reason, the Right feels obligated to do this every single time.  The end result, commie ops have more teeth, last longer, and move the culture in their direction. Stop taking part in communist ops. You’re not helping anyone or anything. You’re being used as a weapon against your own culture and your own values.  Be shrewd as snakes.  That’s all."

J.D. Vance explains what Trump meant when he claimed migrants are 'eating' cats and dogs - "Vance said that the campaign has been contacted by some people 'on the ground' who have given accounts that confirm migrants' suspicious diets. He confirmed that they have gotten 'both first-hand and second-hand reports saying this stuff is happening.' He then took an apparent jab at Collins. 'I think its actually important for journalists to get on the ground and cover this for themselves,' the Republican said. 'When you have a lot of people saying 'my pets are being abducted' or 'geese at the city pond are being abducted and slaughtered right in front of us.' This is crazy stuff,' Vance continued. 'Whether those exact rumors turn out to be mostly true, somewhat true, whatever the case may be, Kaitlan, this town has been ravaged.'... 'The media didn't care about the carnage brought by these [immigration] policies until we turned it into a meme about cats,' Vance said."

Trump's hate is no joke - "As in Springfield, Trump’s baseless claims are harming innocent people in Aurora... Trump and Vance are using the oldest of tyrannical ploys — fueling deep-seated fears by creating an “other” — depicted as subhuman — who “take over” towns and “devour” loved ones. In Springfield, the loved ones are peoples’ pets. But how far is this bogus claim from vicious Nazi claims of Jews devouring children? Substitute “Jew” for “Haitian” in Springfield or for “Venezuelan” in Aurora, and you’re back to the Nazis of the 1930s."
This is rich, given how much hate and fake news the left propagates (Robert Reich being a prime culprit) and its link to the two assassination attempts, as well as how their accusations of fake news usually turn out to be unfounded. As usual, only the left get to compare everything to the Nazis

Twitter - Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski: "I heard a right-wing rumor that migrants are killing ducks." *white guys with hunted ducks*
FreedomToons @Freedom_Toons: "this is actually a perfect distillation of how lefties argue:
1. find two things that are different in nearly every possible way
2. find one superficial similarity between them (this proves they are actually identical)
3. "why are you against one but not the other 😏
I'm not going to answer any particular individual asking what the difference is because they're clearly being intentionally obtuse so that they don't have to admit immigrants can sometimes be guilty of wrong doing.    But for my own sanity, I'm posting this here:
-Hunting with a permit far away from a well populated residential area while the particular animal you're hunting is in season (and conservationists have determined that said animal can be killed without harming the eco system) is normal, civilized behavior.
-Entering residential areas and killing random animals to eat is bizarre and unacceptable, and the people of Ohio are justified and correct to be unwelcoming of this change.
The only reason anyone is unclear about this is because it's being done by a class of people that their religion tells them are not capable of doing anything wrong, and so they need to grasp at straws in order to defend the behavior. "Is it undesirable to have 3rd world migrants hunting geese in one's cul-de-sac? No... of course not... the people complaining about it must be waycist."
To be clear, if white people were doing this, it would be considered the most insane, unhinged, low class, red neck behavior imaginable.  It would be universally and relentlessly mocked.    So you really don't need to explain to people why this is wrong, or why the above scenarios are different.  They already know.  They're just racist and worship anyone who isn't white."
Left wing comprehension skills are awful. See also, "ISIS vs Y'all Qaeda" pickup truck meme

JD Vance on X - "In the last several weeks, my office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who've said their neighbors' pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants. It's possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.   Do you know what's confirmed? That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here. That local health services have been overwhelmed. That communicable diseases--like TB and HIV--have been on the rise. That local schools have struggled to keep up with newcomers who don't know English. That rents have risen so fast that many Springfield families can't afford to put a roof over their head.   Here is Kamala Harris bragging about giving amnesty to thousands of Haitian migrants.  https://x.com/i/status/1833147988765478944  If you're a reporter, or an activist, who didn't give a shit about these suffering Americans  until yesterday, I have some advice:  Spare your outrage for your fellow citizens suffering under Kamala Harris's policies. Be outraged at yourself for letting this happen."

Meme - Cat and Dog holding sign: "Eat more chikin"

BLAIRE WHITE on X - "People who believe the Springfield pet eating story are listening to citizen 911 calls, video testimonies, and city council livestreams. People who say it’s a hoax are listening to a single statement from the mayor who has every reason to lie. People vs government as always."

Insurrection Barbie on X - "The Attorney General of Ohio has come out and backed up claims that people’s pets are being eaten in Springfield, Ohio. This is only the beginning."

captive dreamer on X - "What the fuck man"
Meme - "Haitian shows tutorial on how to properly peel cat for lunch"
"Me koman pou netwaye yon chat nomalma"
"Ernsley Production"

Meme - Carl Benjamin @Sargon_of_Akkad: "We have already arrived at "Haitians eating your pets is a good thing.""
Philip Petrunak @PhilipPetrunak: "Also, like let's be real, if Haitians were cooking up dogs I probably would want to try one.  Haitian BBQ just sounds delicious on its own."

Joel Berry on X - "1) Trump says something true, but in a crude and hyperbolic way
2) The media freaks out, draws national attention to the issue, and fact-checks Trump's claim
3) Within a few hours, Trump's claim is proven true with all the eyes of the nation on it
Repeat and win"

Charles Gasparino on X - "And one other thing: The progressives mocking Trump on the dog and cat thing will wish they didn’t. It’s going to force people to investigate and post on social media the reality of unfettered immigration, the societal and economic upheaval that this country has experienced. Trump is a crude instrument; I wince when he speaks, to be honest. But after the shock of what comes out of his mouth wears off, he seems to make a point"

John LeFevre on X - "(Some) Haitians eat cats.   It's well-documented, and therefore, should surprise no one that it also happens in Ohio.  It’s not racist to say this.   It’s a function of culture. Some cultures are better than others.   Just compare Haiti - a country that has been destroyed by corruption, violence, anti-white racism, and voodoo - to it's considerably more prosperous neighbor, the Dominican Republic.  I’d eat cats too if Chelsea Clinton stole my humanitarian aid to impress Jeffrey Epstein's pimp at her wedding, and Harvard's Claudine Gay’s family ruled Port-au-Prince like the Corleones... especially when the alternative is eating mud cookies."

Julie Borowski on X - "Hypothetical situation:  The Japanese government imports 20K Americans into a small Japanese town of about 50K.  Just like all immigrants, Americans bring their own culture and ideals with them. American culture is very LOUD and individualistic compared to Japanese culture. This causes cultural clashes.  Americans talk loudly everywhere. Even on public trains which the Japanese can't stand. Japanese people can't find peace with the loudness and extroversion of the overwhelming number of Americans. They find them rude and disrespectful.  Americans have a different diet. They miss their big macs and large fries. McDonalds restaurants with americanized food (not the Japanese healthier version) start taking over. Now the Japanese have an obesity problem that they didn't have before.  Japanese culture is very law obeying. They believe in caring about the common good before the individual. American culture is the opposite.  During a bad cold season, the Japanese implement mandatory mask mandates. No Japanese person questions these mandates. But some, not all, Americans refuse to  comply. "It's my body, my right," they argue.  Same thing with vaccines mandates. Some Americans refuse to comply with what the Japanese considers good for the community. The Japanese finds their behavior foreign and selfish. There's now chaos.  The crime rate in this town spikes as some Americans disobey laws that they disagree with. Civil disobedience is not compatible with Japanese culture.   Law enforcement is overwhelmed.  They can't even prosecute all the Americans. They keep having to release repeat offenders because they just don't have the resources.  The Americans do not speak Japanese. This makes it hard for some to find jobs. These Americans have to rely on government assistance. The government gives them free housing, food, healthcare, etc. that the Japanese pay for.   Welfare offices are overwhelmed. The Japanese begin to resent the Americans. They feel that their government is caring more about the needs of the Americans than the Japanese. Their taxes go up to pay for the Americans. The Japanese who need welfare can't get it or get less than the Americans.  Schools are are also overwhelmed. The American kids don't speak Japanese. The schools now have 40% Japanese As A Second Language students. Teachers have to focus on teaching the newcomers the basics of the native language instead of the standard grade level material.   School quality declines. Japanese students are neglected. Many Japanese parents have to homeschool (a sacrifice) or pay for private school (expensive) in order for their kids to get a decent education.  Hospitals are also overwhelmed. They cannot handle the sudden population boom. Emergency room wait times are much longer now. People die.   The housing market is also affected. The population boom means that demand has drastically gone up. This makes prices skyrocket and creates a housing shortage. The Japanese struggle to find affordable housing which didn't use to be a problem.  These Americans are able to become Japanese citizens and vote/run for office someday. They favor individual liberty which is not compatible with what the Japanese want.  The Japanese prefer the way the town was before. When the Japanese confront the government leaders responsible, their concerns are dismissed. They are called xenophobic. Filled with hate. Lacking empathy for the Americans. But where is the empathy for the Japanese?   Hopefully, you can see how sudden American mass immigration would have problems in Japan. Just like sudden mass Haitian immigration is creating problems in Springfield, Ohio. It's too much.
I forgot the most important point: some Americans wear their shoes inside. The Japanese finds this barbaric and uncivilized. Make Japan Great Again.
Another thing I forgot to mention: GUNS. Gun violence is practically non-existent in Japan. Japan has very strict gun laws that Japanese people obey. They don't desire to have guns, anyway. They think that the regular person owning a gun is crazy.   The Americans have a different view. Some, not all, argue that it's their GOD GIVEN RIGHT to own a firearm. The government can't tell them what to do!!!   Illegal guns start popping up in the small Japanese town. This is not what the Japanese people want.   The Japanese see the stats on American gun violence and do NOT want that in their town. They worry that they will soon have mass shootings like in the US. They now live with anxiety about their safety and fear that the Americans will change the gun laws to what they are used to."
Asians are "white-adjacent", so for this to work better she'd need to use a "brown" or "black" country as an example

Tuesday, October 01, 2024

Links - 1st October 2024 (2 - Indigenous Peoples)

First Nations leaders demand end to federal, provincial taxation of their people
They should just declare independence and their country will collapse without all the free money

Aboriginal elder's rogue act after claiming law doesn't apply to him - "Jim Everett-Puralia Meenamatta, 81, was meant to appear in court on Monday to face charges over anti-logging action by the Bob Brown Foundation in Tasmania. But Everett said he had no intention of appearing in a 'colonial court' and claimed it 'doesn't have any jurisdiction over Aboriginal people protecting our country'. 'We've never made any agreements to be citizens,' he said. Former federal Greens leader Bob Brown defended Everett, saying 'Jim's a wise old man'... Everett was arrested and charged with trespassing in March over an anti-forestry protest in the Styx Valley of the Giants in southern Tasmania. His matter was listed in the Hobart Magistrates Court in June, but he did not appear, prompting magistrate Glenn Hay to issue an arrest warrant for the activist... As part of his bail conditions, he has been banned from entering Forestry Tasmania's permanent timber production land, which constitutes over 800,000 hectares of public forest in the state. But Everett said he would continue to protest native logging. 'I have every sovereign right to go there and protect my country, and they have no jurisdiction to stop me,' he said... He said he would refuse to make a plea in 'a colonial court' and instead tell the magistrate they were standing on his sovereignty. 'They'll do as they will. I could be fined for contempt of court, it could be a whole range of things, it doesn't matter,' Everett said... Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre campaign manager Nala Mansell called for the trespass charge to be dropped. 'The power that white people have over Aborigines, our lives, culture and cultural responsibilities has to have some flexibility,' she said in a statement. 'White people can govern and manage themselves but their laws shouldn't apply to Aboriginal people.'"
Sovereign citizens are far right extremists, but "indigenous" people are brave and stunning
Nobody is above the law - unless it pushes the left wing agenda

Toronto schoolchildren taken to protest on grounds it was an Indigenous-themed field trip - "Parents have reported that a contingent of Toronto school kids were taken by their teachers to a downtown political protest on the grounds that they were going on an Indigenous-themed field trip. A smartphone video posted on social media showed several dozen students aged 12 to 14 being ushered through a crowd chanting “from Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime.” “At a (Toronto District School Board) sanctioned field trip,” read a caption by Maya Fitzpatrick. A parent, identified as Melissa, called into AM640 to describe accompanying the field trip. Melissa said teachers dismissed letters from parents saying the excursion was “not a good idea,” and emphasized that children were being taken to a “gathering.” “I’ve been to many protests in my life, and if this was not a protest I will eat my hat”... The protest was part of the Sept. 18 River Run, which culminated in the Walk for Mercury Justice, a demonstration at Queen’s Park regarding extremely high rates of mercury poisoning at the Grassy Narrows First Nation outside Kenora, Ont. But the procession had no shortage of radical elements, including delegations from the Communist Party of Canada , as well as Toronto’s usual coterie of anti-Israel organizers, including the Palestinian Youth Movement, a group that has repeatedly celebrated terrorist attacks against Israel and called for the annihilation of the Jewish state. Amidst posts memorializing the Hezbollah “martyrs” killed by exploding pagers earlier this week, PYM put out an official call for its followers to join the Grassy Narrows demonstration and help “foster Indigenous resistance across Turtle Island.” (Turtle Island being a “decolonized” name often used by activists in place of the word “Canada” or “North America.”) Toronto-area MP Kevin Vuong also weighed in on the field trip during a call to AM640. “TDSB teachers lied; they lied that this would be about Grassy Narrows … they lied that they would be observing and learning – they were made to protest,” he said... The TDSB said in a statement that the “educational experience” was meant to expose students to Indigenous voices... The Wednesday event obtained official backing from teacher’s organizations, including the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, who sent representatives to the march and urged others to show “solidarity” with the cause. Deputizing children to participate in political causes is not unprecedented within the TDSB, if only for the fact that the Wednesday field trip is not even the first time that school children have been mobilized to take up the specific issue of Grassy Narrows. A cursory web search turns up a 2019 event at Toronto’s Mountview Alternative school where elementary school students were enlisted to write letters to the prime minister advocating for immediate action on clean drinking water at Grassy Narrows.”"
Only far right extremist conspiracy theorists think schools are brainwashing children
Time to crack down on parents bringing children to church as child abuse
Good luck if you expose them to indigenous voices that oppose the left wing agenda

Crémieux on X - "In 2020, the Reich lab used genetic evidence to estimate the pre-European contact population of the Caribbean, finding that it was in the tens of thousands rather than the millions historians have estimated."
Ancient DNA retells story of Caribbean’s first people
Damn genocide!

Meme - "Aztecs in fiction
Aztec: Ooga Booga Ima sacrifice you to my gods
Conquistador: Nooo you can't do that, it's barbaric
Aztecs in reality
Aztec: Would you like to visit our highly developed cities? We even have aqueducts...
Conquistador: Oh much better then...
Aztec: And we sacrifice humans to our gods
Conquistador: Wait what?"

Meme - "TRIBES OF THE INDIAN NATION"
Christopher Columbus: "Nice land mass you got there. Be a shame if someone interrupted the endless tribal warfare and... created a functioning country"

Meme - ""The South lost! Get over it!"
Native Americans: *Shifty eyes monkey*"

Meme - "How can a city be renamed with an Aboriginal place name when it didn't exist until the colonists built it?"

Controversial Welcome to Country before AFL semi final sparks bitter backlash - "A Welcome to Country ceremony ahead of an AFL semifinal has sparked anger over its political tone, with some fans calling it a 'disgrace'.  Brendan Kerin, a cultural educator with Sydney's Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, gave an address before the game between GWS Giants and Brisbane Lions game at Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday night, and said such ceremonies were 'not for white people'.   The frequency of such ceremonies has been criticised by some who argue they do not need welcoming to their own country, and Mr Kerin addressed that in his speech rather than just welcome the teams and fans.  'I'm here this evening to perform a ceremony of Welcome to Country... a Welcome to Country is not a welcome to Australia,' Mr Kerin said.  'Within Australia we have many Aboriginal lands and we refer to our lands as 'country'. So it's always a welcome to the lands you've gathered on.  'A Welcome to Country is not a ceremony we've invented to cater for white people.  'It's a ceremony we've been doing for 250,000 years-plus BC - and the BC stands for Before Cook.' Some of the crowd chuckled at the abbreviation, which referred to Captain James Cook arrival in Australia in 1770 prior to the start of European settlement in 1788.  Mr Kerin's timeline was at odds with historical assessments that the ancestors of the Aboriginal people first migrated to the continent between 50,000 and 70,000 years ago... The speech received a round of applause before Mr Kerin played a short piece on the didgeridoo and then Mimi Velevska sang Advance Australia Fair and the game began.."
Time to jail the scientists and historians who say Aborigines haven't always been there for hate speech
If the ceremony is not for white people, why bother having it? Ironically it's precisely to cater to white left wing neuroses

Australia reacts to blunt welcome to country at GWS Giants, Brisbane Lions AFL final - "Judging by the comments often received by news.com.au to Welcome to Country ceremonies, many Australians believe it is an unnecessary for them to be “welcomed” to their own country... “Really good, informative Welcome to Country tonight,” was one comment...  “This welcome to country will have annoyed all of the right people,” wrote another."

Wanjiru Njoya on X - "The Cherokees had 4,600 African slaves. In 1842 their slaves revolted and fled towards Mexico. The Cherokees hunted down the rebel slaves, recaptured them and executed their leaders. When people grieve about slavery they don't tell you about this."

Meme - Wesley H @WesleyHoratio: "The Norse settled Greenland 300 years before the Inuit arrived.  Yet Greenland has been “decolonized” by dropping all its Danish names  Decolonization is simply the elimination of whites and white culture"
"In 1979, when Kalaallit Nunaat (a.k.a. Greenland) adopted home rule, most of its towns dropped their Danish names. The capital, Godthab, became Nuuk ("the cape"), Holsteinsborg changed to Sisimiut ("the fox-den people"), and Jakobshavn adopted the far more appropriate Ilulissat ("icebergs")."
"The Danish name Holsteinsborg was changed to the Greenlandic Sisimiut ("the fox den people") in 1979."
Tom Rowsell @Tom_Rowsell: "This inukshuk statue in Vancouver is in honour of the esquimaux aka Inuit despite the fact they never lived in BC. The Canadian government calls them "indigenous" even though they arrived in North America at the same time as Europeans (Norse), around 1000 AD."

Redskins team name change: What does the logo mean? - "Changing Washington's NFL team logo is bittersweet for the family of the man who originally designed it.  The Washington Redskins announced Monday they will retire the Redskins nickname and logo. They have not yet selected a new name.   Washington's logo has been an Indian chief since 1971. It was designed by Native American Walter “Blackie” Wetzel to depict a member of the Blackfeet tribe.   Wetzel grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana and was eventually elected president of the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C.   He was instrumental in the Redskins franchise logo change from an “R” to the current depiction of a Native American.   According to Wetzel's son, Lance, the logo is not offensive, but rather evokes a sense of pride.  "Everyone was pretty upset (about the change)," Lance Wetzel said. "Everyone understood the name change we were all on board with that. Once they weren't going to use the logo, it was hard. It takes away from the Native Americans. When I see that logo, I take pride in it. You look at the depiction of the Redskins logo and it’s of a true Native American. I always felt it was representing my people. That's not gone" The Redskins logo is a picture of John "Two Guns" White Calf, a Blackfeet Chief who also appears on the Buffalo Nickel...   Over the past few years, the Washington Redskins have brought in Blackfeet tribal hand drum, Blackfeet singers and shared that imagery with the fans."
From 2020. "Representation" and showcasing minorities are only important until the next wave of virtue signalling comes along

'Megafauna' Mystery: Ancient Humans May Have Driven Prehistoric Giants to Extinction, Scientists Claim
Living in harmony with the environment!

World’s rarest whale may have washed up on New Zealand beach, possibly shedding clues on species - "the beached whale was quickly transported to cold storage and researchers will work with local Māori iwi (tribes) to plan how it will be examined, the conservation agency said. New Zealand’s Indigenous people consider whales a taonga — a sacred treasure — of cultural significance. In April, Pacific Indigenous leaders signed a treaty recognizing whales as “legal persons,” although such a declaration is not reflected in the laws of participating nations."
The pro-Science squad is doubtless protesting the obstruction of scientific research

Canada apologizes to nine First Nations after labelling Dakota and Lakota as refugees - "The Dakota and Lakota, who have held land in Canada and the United States, have long had a strong presence in the country. However, the Canadian government never recognized them as Aboriginal Peoples of Canada under the Constitution. Instead, they were viewed as strangers from the United States seeking refuge from the American military. The Dakota and Lakota were defeated in battle by the Americans in the 1860s and 1870s, forcing many to move north. Canada allowed them to stay but ignored their title to land. As a result, the Dakota and Lakota were not invited to sign treaties and received no treaty rights. They received smaller reserves and fewer economic supports than other Indigenous groups. Anandasangaree said Canada's failure to offer recognition hurt generations of Dakota and Lakota. He noted they had pledged their allegiance to the Crown during the War of 1812, when the United States declared war against Britain."
Living on the land for a shorter time than white people makes you indigenous if you have the right skin colour

Group calls for apology from William Shatner, Ryan Reynolds over salmon farming video - "A coalition of B.C. First Nations involved in open-net salmon farming have called on Canadian actors William Shatner and Ryan Reynolds to apologize for a profanity-laced video criticizing the wider industry.  The video was released Thursday by the conservation group Pacific Wild, and features 93-year-old Shatner unleashing a stream of bleeped-out expletives directed at salmon farms – a response to the federal government's recent decision to extend the facilities' licences to operate off the B.C. coast for another five years... the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship released a statement calling the video an "atrocious attack” on the dignity of members who “choose to host salmon farming” in their territorial waters.  "We have been the stewards of our lands, waters, and elements for over 10,000 years, including wild Pacific salmon, the life blood of our people," the statement said. "Due to the impact of colonization on wild salmon stocks, we have had to include salmon farming alongside salmon stewardship to fill the economic gap caused by the decline of wild salmon."...  “Sadly, this response from people like Mr. Shatner and Mr. Reynolds is all-to-common in today’s Canada. This is a classic example of … rich, elite, removed, urban white men overriding the wishes of vulnerable Indigenous communities,” the statement added."
When left wingers forget that indigenous people are more sacred than the environment

FIRST READING: Skulls, scalps and bodies — the stuff in European museums that Canada wants back - "One of the legal roadblocks in artifact repatriation (and there are many) is that it’s sometimes hard to figure out who should receive a returned item. This was one of the complications surrounding Nonosabasut and Demasduit, an Indigenous couple whose skulls had been held by the National Museum of Scotland since the early 1800s. They had gotten there thanks to Scottish merchant William Epps Cormack, who looted their gravesite and sent the contents to the University of Edinburgh. The pair were Beothuk, a Newfoundland Indigenous group considered extinct since 1829. As such, Nonosabasut and Demasduit have no direct descendants. It was a Newfoundland Mi’kmaq nation (a historical rival of the Beothuk) that first led the push for repatriation, with the remains of Nonosabasut and Demasduit ultimately being turned over to the Newfoundland and Labrador government in 2020. For now, the skulls are in a St. John’s archive “until a decision on their final resting place is reached.”"
Indigenous peoples are all the same, so one tribe can speak for all of them. What "belongs" to one tribe belongs to them all

Native title row as locals claim they'll be cut off by 'land grab' - "Residents on K'gari (formerly Fraser Island) are concerned about a 'secretive' land grab after an Indigenous corporation bid for freehold ownership of the two main townships, Eurong and Happy Valley. The Fraser Island Association president David Anderson said if the bids go ahead, residents will effectively be landlocked... Mr Anderson said there were fears non-Indigenous residents and tourists could be locked out of the new area after the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation allegedly said they would be viewed as 'trespassers'. '(Most of) the bushland around Eurong, which is something like 270 hectares of state land, is going to be transferred into Aboriginal freehold and that will be exclusive title.'"

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price slams push for Voice-style Indigenous body - "Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has accused the Greens of ignoring the wishes of Australians for pushing for a new Voice-style Indigenous body. The LNP Shadow Indigenous Australians minister said the proposal to create a Truth and Justice Commission showed the party was 'hellbent on pushing ideology' rather than listening to Australians... 'They would prefer to continue down a path of division within our country, of reinvention of culture.' 'They infantilise Indigenous Australians and are not focusing on meeting the needs of our most marginalised, nor looking at improving economic independence for our marginalised Indigenous Australians.'"

Sarah Fields on X - "Lakota Man aka. John Martin is a fraud, and has been using his account to pose as Lakota, and to twist native culture to cater to left leaning politicians and the Biden administration. He has defended “tr@ns rights” (calling them two spirited) and regularly calls for support for the Biden administration.   For a long time, John Martin had ‘Ista Ska/White Eyes’ in his Twitter bio. In 2022, John’s claim to be of the White Eyes family was heavily questioned. Members of the White Eyes family in Pine Ridge called him out for claiming their family as his.  After years of presenting his relation with the White Eyes as truth, he decided to text his brother and ask if they were related to the White Eyes and if so, did proof even exist? He posted the screenshot of the text to his X account, which he later deleted once people asked him why he had lied this entire time.  (Screenshot of text in thread 1/1)   He then changed his bio to “enrolled in Pine Ridge”, yet he never presented proof of enrollment or showed evidence of his traditional ties to the Lakota.   Lakota man, true to his nature of lying, also lied about his parents. In a tweet, he stated that his father “drank himself to de@th” and was found de@d in downtown LA in 2003.   However, public information that Native Twitter found discovered that Melvin Martin’s location of de@th was in the hospital.  There is much more information regarding his family and the lies he has told which is all included in an article by “ali”, (NTVTWT) I will include this article in thread 1/2.   According to the article, John’s family is allegedly from Nebraska, while the tribe he has claimed is in South Dakota. Even after his claims regarding his father, the gravestone states that his father, Melvin Martin, is actually Santee Sioux. Yet, Melvin’s obituary says Pine Ridge, S.D. (Obituary in thread 1/3).   In every background check I have utilized (using two separate databases), I have been unable to pull John’s criminal record, record of family, work history, alleged military background or voter registration info.  This is incredibly odd. This tells me that he does not live where he states he does, OR he pays high dollar to have his information fully hidden from the public.    Last month, I communicated with the Oglala Sioux Tribe Enrollment Department at Pine Ridge. I asked about LakotaMan aka. John Martin. No one within the office had heard this name. This led me to send an open records request to the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations. According to the response from Department of Tribal Relations, there are no records of John Martin being registered/enrolled at Pine Ridge, South Dakota.   LakotaMan is a liar and a serial blocker.  He blocks anyone who will present evidence against him in order to escape accountability for his grift. He has also been known to bully others who speak against him. He has spoken ill of the de@d and made fun of widows/widowers. (This is not something that true native Americans take lightly. See in thread 1/4).   Lakota Man is not enrolled at Pine Ridge. LakotaMan is Chief Fibs-a-lot, The Great Deceiver of the Plains."

I got a traditional tattoo from a known local Indigenous tattoo artist and it is one of my biggest regrets : r/askTO - "I don't really know who to turn to. For a tl;dr, question in the last paragraph. I'm Cree. I had reached out to him last year about getting finger tattoos after getting a bunch of recommendations to go to him. We would get dots in pre-colonial times to ward off rheumatism, which runs in my family, and I also wanted to be part of the tattoo revival movement. He said he would research it for me, and later seemed to know what he was talking about.  The blowout is unlike anything I've ever seen on anyone. The photos honestly look better than in person. Some dots spread like an inch down my finger. I asked him about it and he said it was just part of the healing process, but I got them done at the end of October and the ink hasn't budged, just faded a bit. People have mentioned thinking I had pen on my fingers and were surprised they are tattoos. I was very careful during the healing period but it looked that way when I left. I think he went too deep, because you can see in the third photo that some of the ink was embedded in my nail. It was in that nail and the finger next to it, and it didn't go away until it grew out.  Additionally, his hygiene practices were a bit suspect. He cut the tape for the arm rest with his teeth and dropped the needle on the floor before using it. Ceremony is sacred and should be done with care, physically and spiritually, and he brought a lot of negativity into the space by calling the mother of his child misogynistic names. He forgot about our appointment until I was at his door and I also think he was hungover (not good for ceremony either - our teachings say the soul leaves the body for four days after drinking so how can you connect while hungover?) He made me pick up and pay for paper towels on the way which I thought was weird.  So, now I'm in this situation where I don't know if it's sacreligious to have them removed and done by another knowledge keeper, if I can find one (or even myself, which some people in the revival movement are doing). I also can't super afford it? I know that some places remove hate symbols for free, do people help make tattoo removal accessible for people who feel exploited by knowledge keepers in their community?"
There're real costs to blind belief in indigenous mumbo jumbo

Meme - Jonathan Kay @jonkay: "Tofino Surfing Day dress code keeps getting more complicated"
Robyn Michaud, M.Ed. @GiwedinAnangKwe: "Please do not use Teachers Pay Teachers for ANYTHING to do with #OrangeShirtDay.  Not only is TPT NOT audited for equity and cultural appropriation, creators are literally making money off of Indigenous trauma.  I will continue to share free vetted resources this month! 🧡🪶"
"Every Child Matters" Why Doesn’t the Charter Apply to All Canadians? - "Old Crow is the hub community of the sprawling Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation (VGFN), covering nearly 8,000 square km in northern Yukon. It is also the focus of a set of recent court rulings undermining the bedrock concept that all Canadians share the same basic rights as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In place of this fundamental doctrine of equality for all, Canada’s court system seems bent on installing a doctrine of race-based laws. In this case, denying Indigenous Canadians on reserves rights that the rest of us take for granted... the VGFN’s local constitution states that only residents living in Old Crow can serve on council... she filed a petition in 2019, arguing the residency requirement violated her Charter rights as a Canadian citizen to be free from discrimination. She lost... The case thus turns on a clash between Dickson’s individual rights as a Canadian citizen to be free from discrimination in pursuing lawful activities such as running for elected office, and the VGFN’s collectivist claim that as an Indigenous government it is allowed to ignore such obligations because of its historical customs and deep connection to the land... Such a finding requires creating a distinction between laws for Indigenous Canadians and those that apply to the rest of us... Previously, academia championed activists such as Nelson Mandela and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in fighting for the principle of race-blind laws applied equally to all individuals in their respective countries. Today, Canada’s liberal voices argue against efforts to do the same here... Despite the popular Romantic image of Indigenous governance as a dreamy exercise in pastoral collectivism, life on the reserve is more often akin to the crony capitalism familiar in other less-advantaged parts of the world. The predominant reason has nothing to do with race or culture. It is the eternal problem of “small democracies.” As well-known Indigenous affairs expert and former British Columbia Liberal leader Gordon Gibson has written, “It is a sad truth that everywhere in the world, small governments with large powers and little accountability tend to become corrupt – not always, but often. The reserve system is the centre of this…Indians are human beings just like the rest of us. But most are burdened by the system.” Aboriginal writer Calvin Helin’s book Dances with Dependency: Out of Poverty through Self-Reliance echoes Gibson’s observation. Helin calls local band chiefs “colonizers of their own people” and life on most reserves “a situation not unlike many banana republics.”... “The individual human being is the ultimate unit of all law…[and his or her] well-being is the ultimate object of all law,” wrote Hersch Lauterpacht (as quoted in Philippe Sand’s 2017 book East West Street), a British professor of international law whose work on crimes against humanity laid the foundation for the 1946 Nuremburg Trials against officials of Germany’s Nazi regime... Amidst endless talk of reconciliation, the most obvious benefit Canadians can offer their Indigenous compatriots is full access to the entire suite of legal protections the rest of us take for granted every day. "
Collective rights triumph over individual ones, once again
Another example of how group rights oppress members of the group

Pregnant Princess / Trans-Mojo / Being your own Sculptor


"r/transtummies
u/TGJessicaBelle
Just wanna be someone's pregnant princess *Fat man's bare stomach with him wearing a wig*"


Jeff O'Bailey @JeffOBailey: "*Trans* women after dialating their poop wound. *Mojo from the X-Men holding some hairs*"


Western Traditionalist @Wes... : "A 23 year old sculpted this. What's your excuse?" *nice sculptures*
Slinger Banksmanwoman PhD @banksmanwoman: "I'm trans. I am my own sculptor, and that's the most impressive thing you can be"
Jan Kostrhun: "The most impressive thing *ugly sculptures*"

Links - 1st October 2024 (1)

Haras Rafiq: British, Canadian 'soft' counter-terrorism tactics have failed - "Canada’s systemic reluctance to tackle extremist ideology is coming home to roost. Two weeks ago, Edmonton gas station employee Khaled Hussein was convicted on multiple charges under Britain’s Terrorism Act alongside radical British preacher Anjem Choudary. Last week, the RCMP announced the arrest of a father and son, Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi and Mostafa Eldidi in Richmond Hill, Ont. on charges that include conspiracy to commit murder for the benefit or at the direction of ISIS. As a British Muslim counter-extremism expert, former advisor to Europol, numerous United Kingdom and United States governments and a current board member of Secure Canada, I am in a unique position to reflect on Canada’s evolving role in global counter-terrorism efforts. These recent events, and especially Choudary’s long career as an international extremist recruiter for terrorist organizations, serve as a poignant reminder of the transnational nature of extremism, the value of international cooperation and the urgent need to take this threat seriously. Choudary’s conviction and life sentence, while welcome, come too late. Having locked horns with him numerous times over the years, I can attest to the fact that his toxic ideology has been poisoning minds and radicalizing vulnerable individuals for decades. The harsh reality is that neither the U.K. nor Canada is winning the battle against extremism and terrorism, with hateful vitriol and intimidation tactics on full display in our streets, our public institutions and classrooms. Our efforts, while well-intentioned, have been marred by bureaucratic inertia, political correctness and a failure to address the root causes of radicalization. For years, Choudary exploited the very freedoms and legal protections that define our democratic societies to spread his message of hate. He walked a fine line, carefully avoiding explicit calls to violence while inspiring countless individuals to embrace extremist ideologies. Our legal systems, designed to protect freedom of speech, became unwitting accomplices to his agenda. Choudary was on the radar of British law enforcement for years and even spent some time in prison, but always found ways to skirt law enforcement by creating dozens of new entities to continue his global indoctrination project, a common tactic for extremist recruiters. In the U.K., we’ve seen the devastating consequences of extremism firsthand — from the 7/7 London bombings in 2005 to the murder of Lee Rigby, an off-duty soldier, in 2013, and beyond. Each tragedy has been followed by soul-searching and promises of reform, yet the fundamental issues remain unaddressed. Canada, while spared the scale of attacks seen in the U.K., is not immune to these threats. The 2014 attacks in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and on Parliament Hill should have been a wake-up call. Instead, the response has been tepid, characterized by half-measures and a reluctance to confront uncomfortable truths about radicalization and extremist ideologies within our communities. Hussein, under Choudary’s tutelage, created digital content that glorified terror groups like ISIS and al-Qaida for a variety of platforms and extremist publications. He had been on the RCMP’s radar since 2019, but was only arrested when he travelled to London to meet with Choudary. When asked by the press why he needed to be arrested in the U.K., an RCMP assistant commissioner stated that travel to Britain presented an opportunity for him to be charged under the U.K.’s terrorism legislation. This raises questions about whether Canada’s legislative framework needs to be strengthened. Canada and the U.K. suffer from similar shortcomings in their counterterrorism approaches. Both are afflicted by chronic underinvestment and lack of systemic coordination on matters of national security, which contributes to inertia and inter-agency rivalries and hampers effective action — even when actionable intelligence is there. Each is hindered by a slow federal terror listing process, which cannot keep up with the proliferation of terrorist groups, domestically and internationally. Both work reactively to stop specific plots, rather than address and counter the ideologies that fuel them. This has allowed extremist ideas to spread, often unchallenged, in both physical and digital spaces. Diffused and misguided “soft” approaches to deradicalization are used in both countries. While community engagement is crucial, many of our counter-extremism and “deradicalization” programmes have proven ineffective because they focus disproportionately on social-emotional and economic factors, neglecting the ideological orientation that pushes individuals towards a certain kind of extremism. We need to be willing to have hard conversations and challenge extremist narratives head-on. It appears particularly difficult for Canadian and British governments and law enforcement to name Islamism specifically. (I am Muslim myself and it is essential to differentiate between Islam and Islamism.) British and Canadian laws often struggle to deal with the sophisticated and nuanced tactics of modern extremists. The Choudary case demonstrates how individuals can promote terrorist ideologies, constantly creating new organizations to evade prosecution for years. Despite efforts, both countries are losing the online war against extremism. Platforms continue to be exploited for radicalization, and our tendency to lean on influencers, PR specialists, psychologists and sociologists who do not understand the ideological drivers of extremism, has failed to move the needle. Finally, both the U.K. and Canada lack political leadership on speech and conduct that promote violence, and their misguided fears of appearing intolerant have even led to a disinclination to work with Muslim groups and individuals willing to name the prevalence of extremist ideologies within our own communities. The path forward requires a fundamental reassessment of our strategies"
Time to crack down on the "far right", because cracking down on Islamism is Islamophobic

National Newswatch on X - "Poilievre is seen leaving a RV with a drawing of the Diagolon flag on the door. According to RCMP, Diagolon is a militia-like network whose supporters subscribe to an "accelerationist" ideology - the idea that a civil war or the collapse of western governments is inevitable and ought to be sped up."
Even for the left, this is pretty impressive grasping at straws. But of course, if you push the left wing agenda and applaud a call to cut the throats of "Nazi fascists" and "get rid of them all", that means nothing

‘Don’t lecture me’: Eamonn Holmes shuts down GB News guest in fiery Union Jack row - "Holmes was leading a discussion about a row engulfing a Norfolk village, where some residents have expressed concerns over the divisiveness of flying a Union Jack over the village hall. Anti-racism activist Imarn Ayton and royal broadcaster and historian Rafe Heydel-Mankoo were invited into the studio to debate the topic, but things got particularly heated as the conversation developed between Ayton and Holmes. Heydel-Mankoo said the Union Flag is “about as British as warm beer” but Ayton made the point that the Union Jack is sometimes associated with far-right symbolism, which is why some people might find it divisive... “Be considerate of other people’s beliefs and views. If you are considerate and sympathetic of everyone and how we perceive the world, you might find yourself leading with equality. Just so you know, I’ll finish it there.”"
We are still told that left wingers don't hate their countries. Since everything the "far right" likes is bad, the "far right" should explicitlt promote life and the left will kill themselves to spite the "far right"
Ironically, left wingers are always trying to deplatform the "far right"

Lisa on X - "24 police officers are being treated after acid was hurled over them by Islamic extremists, during  the pro terrorism rally today  Throwing ACID over police is an act of terrorism  I expect to see the Prime Minister and Head of ASIO on 6pm news tonight explaining this, otherwise the PM is complicit   Never forget on Australia Day the counter terror squad held Nationalists on a train would not let them peacefully meet. The PM told us they were a threat - while these extremists were enabled by the government to protest in our national day"

Warning signs a side hustle job may be a scam - "DeGrippo says to be suspicious of any job that sends you a check before you start work. “That check is fraudulent, but because of the way the banking system works, our victim won’t know the check won’t be fully cashed until they sent that money back,” she said. At point, you have sent your own money out of your checking account to the scammer. DeGrippo says bogus side hustles include:
Secret shopper work
Personal assistant positions
Placing ads on your car to advertise a beverage or other product
Modeling, with no audition required"

Johan de Witt: That time the Dutch people ate their prime minister

How Fast Must You Drive Your Convertible To Stay Dry In The Rain? - "Mike goes on to explain that speed at which you must drive to stay dry depends on the car's shape. Specifically, the angle of the windshield.  Cars like the Mazda Miata that have a steeper windshield can generate enough turbulence to deflect the rain at lower speeds, around 45 miles per hour or so. On the other hand, sleeker cars with windshields that are laid down nearly flat, like the Ferrari Portofino, have to go faster to achieve the same result.  Some Mercedes-Benz convertibles actually employ wind deflectors at the top of the windshield frame that resemble miniature air brakes. They work to maximize laminar air flow while keeping turbulent air flow out of the cabin. In a rain storm, they can also keep you dry."

Meme - Reddit Lies @reddit_lies: "So there's an entire subreddit where Redditors talk about how much they want to r*pe conservative women..."
"Katie Pavlich says Socialism sucks but l...
I'd love to hatefuck this cunt's throat and fill it with salty loads
Make sure she swallows it :)
Right wing whores dont get to say no
So true! Plus it's hard to speak when your gagging on someones cock. Poor Katie Pavlich be tasting your warm cum all the way down her throat ;)
And the cunt will absolutely hate it being force fed cum against her will"
Weird. This is the side of empathy, decency and human kindness
This was from RightwingChicksNSFW: "This is a place for both ladies and gentlemen to talk about all the fun ways they want to punish or pleasure our cute political counterparts on the right ..."

Meme - *Man on fork*
Cow holding fork: "HA HAA! IT SEEMS THE TABLES HAVE TURNED."
Grass holding fork with cow on it: "HA HAA! IT SEEMS THE TABLES HAVE TURNED... AGAIN!"

Thread by @cremieuxrecueil on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "In the U.S., you are legally permitted to sell your blood plasma for money, but it's called "donation".  In recent years, the numbers of places set up for donations has skyrocketed, and the amount they're compensating donors has followed suit.  Let's dig in. Most of the visitors to these donation centers are highly local (A)  People are also more likely to visit donation centers in census block groups (CBGs) that are marked by poverty (B)  Why?
In surveys, donating plasma is predicted by being poor, Black, male, married, having kids, being a student, etc.  In short, people who could really use an extra $150 twice a week for a minimal inconvenience are more likely to donate. We know this is true because we also have survey data indicating people's stated reasons for donating. Few people are donating altruistically. The top categories by far are about money!  Take a look:
Now, before getting to the juicy result, I want to show one more thing: the impact of COVID stimulus checks on plasma donations.  When the checks went out, the number of visits to plasma donation centers cratered. Donations plummeted because people had the cash they needed. Now here's the kicker: When plasma donation centers open up, local inquiries into predatory payday and installment loans falls off.  People are seeking credit and donating blood might be how they get it.  If we stratify these trends by age, we see that those with ages less than or equal to 35 - the less well-established - are the ones deciding to use blood plasma donations to offset the need for quick, dangerously high-interest cash, not those greater than 35 years old. When you look at payday transactions rather than inquiries alone, you get the same picture, albeit with more noise.  Young people really do seem to be defraying the need for credit by selling (sorry, donating!) their blood plasma.
The reasons people sell their are also, evidently, not just to cover essentials.  One of the clearest-cut impacts is that entertainment establishments see an increase in visits after blood plasma donation centers open up. That last part clarifies something: people would prefer not to get risky, high-interest loans, and they really want a little bit of extra cash. So while they will seek out those loans if push comes to shove, they're more likely to frivolously pursue blood donation. And that's good! We need blood plasma donations, so if paying people a bit of money makes that possible, so be it.  If we take away that possibility, we can also see that it would make people's lives worse.  How far can we take this? Maybe we can learn from Iran.
In the U.S., about 0.5-1% of the federal budget goes to dialysis:  In Iran, there is a legal, regulated market in selling kidneys and it's such a good deal that the government even pays for the operations. It beats paying for dialysis! People are more than willing to sell their bodies in different ways that help their fellow citizens, from selling their blood plasma to pawning off a kidney.  Given so many people want to do that, and so many people would benefit from it, the question is, why not? Frankly, I think we should just do it. The blood plasma donation model has been such a success and it's more than evident that organ payments could be too.  Worried about corruption? Then regulate it well!  Sources:"

German warship blasts the Darth Vader theme on the Thames - "Germany’s navy says there was "no deeper message” in the choice to blast the famed Imperial March — Darth Vader’s theme song in the “Star Wars” films — from one of its warships as it cruised down the River Thames through London... "The commander can choose the music freely," the navy said in a statement Thursday. “The choice of music has no deeper message.”  Other video recorded the warship, the Braunschweig, playing “London Calling,” the 1979 hit from British rock band The Clash, upon its arrival in London. The song's title is drawn from the BBC World Service station identification in World War II and its lyrics include the lines, “London calling to the zombies of death/Quit holding out and draw another breath.”... The warship's commander “is a big ‘Star Wars’ fan and an admirer of the legendary musical scores of John Williams,” the embassy said in a statement. “He chooses a different Williams tune whenever his ship is visiting a foreign harbor.”"

Shrek, The Sheep Who Escaped Shearing for 6 Years - "Shrek was a Merino sheep, a castrated male, belonging to South Island, New Zealand, who gained international fame in 2004 owing to his gigantic coat of fleece. Shrek became famous after escaping his enclosure and evading the shearers for six years by hiding in caves. Merino sheep are usually shorn annually but Shrek managed to escape the blade for six years straight. When he was finally caught, the sheep was unrecognizable. “He looked like some biblical creature,” said John Perriam, Shrek’s owner. Primitive sheep shed most of their wool every year, but domestic breed like the Merino - the ones raised primarily for their meat, continues to grow wool year round until sheared. During his cave-living days, Shrek grew a fleece weighing 27 kg, roughly six times the average fleece produced by a Merino sheep. His fleece contained enough wool to make suits for 20 large men."

Crémieux on X - "The anti-fluoride crowd usually relies on studies of extremely low quality to make their case. One example that has stuck with me since I saw it was this: This study suggested that maternal fluoride exposure during pregnancy depressed the IQs of their children later on. There are multiple questionable results in this single graphical display of the study's findings and they throw the whole thing into question.
First, as you can see, the significant decrement they observed in IQs by maternal urinary fluoride concentrations was only observed in males, and not overall or in females. Why? Completely unclear, and marginally significant (p = 0.02). If we take it seriously, then the effect of a small amount of fluoride for those males was enormous. Each mg/L should reduce boys' IQs by 4.49 points. Males are so fragile!  Second, look on the right now and you'll see that the difference in the IQs of kids in fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities was nonsignificant, but at the same time, the impact of maternal self-reported fluoride intake from beverages was significant. What a curious combination of results! And what a curious p-value for this main effect: 0.04.  Third, did you notice the right plot, showing the alleged impacts of fluoride by maternal self-reported intake wasn't split by sex, but instead by something that failed to moderate the association? You could argue they did that to maximize the amount of information they showed in the set of graphs. OK, but I doubt it. More realistically, this happened because the sex interaction by maternal self-reported fluoride intake was nonsignificant.
This combination of results is extremely suspicious. It has all the hallmarks of being the result of a p-hacking expedition, and there are no indications that it should be regarded as a trustworthy finding indicating that we should be deeply concerned about fluoride.  For one, the first result is a marginally-significant interaction with no biological plausibility. For two, this statistically unlikely and biologically dubious interaction fails to replicate. For three, these effects are enormous (yet barely significant despite a reasonable N and variance) for such small exposures. And for all the marbles, an effect that should have been present if the authors wanted us to take their reasoning about all of this seriously just wasn't.  And despite demonstrating nothing, this is one of the better anti-fluoride studies.  If you want to read the only study that has rigorously, causally looked into the impacts of fluoride in the typical range of exposures, check out: https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1826452344881516729
If you want to read this terrible study, first, guess where it was published. If you guessed @JAMAPediatrics , you're right! The link is here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2748634  And if you're interested, I have another thread on a recent, awful study published in JAMAPeds, here: https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1825272744965034061"

Thai man is bitten on the testicles by a python while sitting on the toilet, leaving his bathroom sprayed in blood - "A man was bitten on the testicles by a huge python in Thailand, leaving his bathroom sprayed in blood as he desperately beat it to death with a toilet brush.  Horrifying pictures show the aftermath of Thanat Thangtewanon's exchange with the 12ft reptile hiding in the U-bend of his home toilet... The father immediately went to a hospital to get a tetanus vaccine.   He said doctors told him he would not need stitches as the wound was not deep enough to severe the skin and it would heal in a couple of weeks... Pythons attacking people using toilets have happened several times before in Thailand.  In 2016, a resident Attaporn Boonmakchuay was ambushed by a 10-foot-long python while using a squat toilet in Chachoengsao province.  His wife ran into the room upon hearing him scream, and helped prise the python's jaws from his penis.   He passed out from blood loss, but survived after being treated at the Chularat Hospital.   He replaced the squat toilet with a more modern version following the attack.  In 2020, a housewife Boonsong Plaikaew was bitten on her buttocks by a python while sitting on the toilet bowl in Samut Prakan province.  Volunteers gave her first aid and caught the snake which was later released into the wild."

Meme - "Asian Men Are Creating A Fatherless Africa"
"Glad to see the Chinese are assimilating into African culture."

Meme - "My roads look like this: *Major cracks*
So Pakistan's gender programs can look like this: *missiles*"

Suicide rates are up for Gen Z across the Anglosphere, especially for girls - "Over the last century, global suicide rates have been in decline, especially among older adults and particularly among those living in non-western nations. But this broad historical trend masks a very different story that emerges when we focus on adolescent girls in many Western nations. In all five Anglosphere nations, Gen Z girls and young women had the highest rates of suicide of any recent generation. The same was not true of Gen Z boys and young men... the spike in suicides among adolescent girls is so new and so large that it calls for intense efforts to identify the causes, and for efforts to change whatever is causing it. One of the most important facts about adolescent suicidality is that the motives among young people are often different than those among adults. Adolescents are much more likely to commit suicide as a result of interpersonal problems, while adults have more varied motivations—including illnesses and financial setbacks, as well as interpersonal reasons. There was one seismic shift in how interpersonal relationships work that fits the timing well: the global and simultaneous migration of adolescent social life onto smartphones and social media platforms, which happened roughly between 2010 and 2015. In The Anxious Generation, Jon shows that this evolution fundamentally altered the dynamics of interpersonal relationships, shifting childhood from one that was (generally) in-person, embodied, synchronous, and play-based to one that was (generally) virtual, disembodied, largely asynchronous, and phone-based. Since the early 2010s, stable in-person communities and relationships have rapidly disintegrated, as transient networks of low-investment relationships took their place. Figure 19 shows that American teens and young adults were already socially distanced from each other by 2019, before covid restrictions were imposed on them. The sudden switch from play-based childhood to phone-based childhood is—we believe—the leading candidate for being the major cause of the international collapse of adolescent mental health. The evidence of causation is particularly strong for girls. In fact, nobody has yet put forth an alternative theory—one that can explain why the same thing happened at the same time in so many countries. Jean Twenge recently considered thirteen such theories that have been proposed to explain trends in the U.S., and she showed that they don’t even work in the U.S., let alone internationally."

Meme - Michael / #PolderTheWash @_britmonkey: "Left: Argentine soldiers force a penguin to pose for a photo during the 1982 Falklands war.
Right: Penguin voluntarily stands to attention in the prescence of a British soldier. 🇬🇧🇫🇰🫡"

Sino-Forming South of the Border - "Broadband by itself doesn’t cause economic transformations, however. One gauge of the impact of broadband on economic life is the prevalence of electronic payments. In most of the industrial world, cash payments today are a small fraction of retail transactions; 10 years ago, they were the majority of all transactions. The following chart from the 2020 McKinsey Global Payments Report compares a group of developing and industrial countries:  Among the big developing countries, only China has seen cash payments fall significantly, to just 41% of total in 2020 from 99% in 2010. Elsewhere in the developing the vast majority of transactions remain in cash. In the US, by contrast, cash has fallen to 28% of total from 51% 10 years ago, and in the Netherlands to 14% from 52%.  What keeps Third World consumers in cash isn’t technology. It’s trust. Very few people pay taxes in developing countries. India for example has seven taxpayers per 100 voters, compared to 70 in the United States and nearly 100 in Sweden and Norway. Mexico and Argentina have about five taxpayers per 100 voters, while Turkey has three, according to India’s 2018 Economic Survey.  Businesses remain small and under family management, because the owners trust no-one but blood relatives with the books. Households and entrepreneurs assume that if their corrupt and rapacious government finds out that they are making money, it will find a way to expropriate it.  Most Mexicans work off the books, in the so-called informal economy, where no-one pays taxes, but no-one has access to bank loans or suppliers’ credits from established firms. Mexico doesn’t even have much of an idea where its people work; the last estimate of informal employment available from the government, was 61% of total, and that was back in 2004.  As China demonstrated, you don’t need bank accounts to get people into the electronic payments system. China is one of the world’s least-banked countries, but one of the most advanced in terms of electronic payments. Turkey, where only 3% of voters pay income taxes, is one of the most-banked countries with 1.5 bank accounts per adult.  The outcome is mixed in Mexico. The man with the PowerPoint at Huawei’s headquarters was right that the Chinese telecom giant could spread mobile broadband throughout Mexico at a low cost and improve quality of life. But it takes more than technology to lift people out of the vicious cycle of exclusion from the mainstream of economic life: It takes honest officials, a manageable tax burden and a minimum level of trust between government and governed.  “Sino-Forming” the world through infrastructure is only half a plan. What China has accomplished inside its own borders is unique in world economic history. But miracles aren’t easy to export."

Canada’s productivity issues ‘could require structural change’: chief economist - "According to the report, productivity issues have been “broadly represented” in the goods sector of the economy since 2019.  When looking at Canada’s productivity issues, the report said a “lesser discussed challenge” is Canada’s emphasis on construction investment which consistently experiences weaker productivity when compared to other industries. The report highlighted that although the issue is not a “uniquely Canadian problem,” the effects of construction-related productivity issues are amplified in Canada due to the “disproportionately large amount of resources dedicated to the sector.”  “There are many factors at play outside of the commonly cited barriers associated with over-regulation and complex permitting processes. One of those is the disproportionate share of very small firms, where one-quarter have fewer than 20 employees,” Caranci said.  Smaller firms are frequently slower to integrate new technologies compared to larger firms and often have thin margins that hinder risk-taking activity, the report noted.  “Policymakers would have to think through an incentive structure to reward growth towards becoming larger, which hasn’t been the typical focus in Canadian policy,” the report said.  Over the next five years, Canada’s economy is positioned to allocate more resources to the construction sector, according to Caranci, “which will amplify a weak productivity sector.”"

Frankly, We Do Give a Damn: The Relationship Between Profanity and Honesty - "There are two conflicting perspectives regarding the relationship between profanity and dishonesty. These two forms of norm-violating behavior share common causes, and are often considered to be positively related. On the other hand, however, profanity is often used to express one’s genuine feelings, and could therefore be negatively related to dishonesty. In three studies, we explored the relationship between profanity and honesty. We examined profanity and honesty first with profanity behavior and lying on a scale in the lab (Study 1; N = 276), then with a linguistic analysis of real-life social interactions on Facebook (Study 2; N = 73,789), and finally with profanity and integrity indexes for the aggregate level of U.S. states (Study 3; N = 50 states). We found a consistent positive relationship between profanity and honesty; profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level, and with higher integrity at the society level."

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