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Author Topic: Non-routine News  (Read 19762 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Non-routine News
« Reply #195 on: June 01, 2019, 06:33:12 pm »

How to Make the Perfect Milkshake for Throwing at Fascists
Combining the public humiliation of racists and one of nature’s most delicious frosty treats is pure poetry in motion.

That fascist, racist bigot Nigel Farage, who absurdly poses as a "champion of democracy", was lucky it was just a milkshake.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Non-routine News
« Reply #196 on: June 03, 2019, 03:46:16 pm »
Agelbert NOTE: Visual USS TRUMP metaphor. :P



Incident Video :o: MSC Cruise Ship Crashes Into Pier in Venice

June 2, 2019 by Mike Schuler

MSC Opera cruise ship is seen after a crash in San Basilio dock in Venice, Italy June 2, 2019. REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri

A large cruise ship allided with pier and smaller passenger vessel in Venice, Italy on Sunday, injuring four people, local officials said.

MSC Cruises said the 2,679-passenger Opera was approaching a terminal on the Giudecca canal when it struck the dock and a nearby ferry due to a technical problem.

Pino Musolino, chairman of the northern Adriatic Sea port authority, said four people had suffered minor injuries in the crash, as reported by Reuters. Emergency workers said the cruise ship appeared to have lost control after a steel cable that tied it to a tugboat snapped, the Reuters report said.

Photos show damage to the ship and concrete pier.

The accident was caught on video from multiple angles:




https://gcaptain.com/incident-video-msc-cruise-ship-crashes-into-pier-in-venice/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

Surly1

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Pud in Piccadilly
« Reply #197 on: June 04, 2019, 04:54:51 am »
Follow the link for embedded tweets. This "Led by Donkeys " group is very resourceful. Projections on buildings-- brilliant. Here's one from the article that doesn't embed:

Hey @realDonaldTrump, we read the story about the sailors on a US warship being ordered to hide from you because you’re triggered by the name on their hats. So we turned Madame Tussaud's into a giant USS John McCain baseball cap. Welcome to London!


Of course if they tried that here, they'd likely get beaten by cops with truncheons busy "keeping the peace."


Video of Boris Johnson saying Trump showed 'stupefying ignorance' over past comments about London was broadcast onto Big Ben during the president’s visit


Video of Boris Johnson calling out Trump's "stupefying ignorance" was broadcast on Big Ben during his state visit on June 3, 2019. Screenshot/Led By Donkeys

  • An anti-Brexit protest group launched a series of new campaigns on Monday, broadcasting controversial messages on famous London landmarks during President Donald Trump's first state visit to the United Kingdom.
  • On Monday, Led by Donkeys utilized some of London's most prominent buildings to broadcast messages of opposition, including broadcasting video of former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson making disparaging comments about the US president onto the Big Ben.
  • The Trump administration has yet to comment on the protests, among many that the president encountered when he touched down in the UK on Monday.

An anti-Brexit protest group launched a series of new campaigns on Monday, broadcasting controversial messages on famous London landmarks during President Donald Trump's first state visit to the United Kingdom.

The stunts were organized by Led by Donkeys, a group known for its use of signs and billboards to undermine politicians who appear to backtrack on previous policy statements.

On Monday, the group utilized some of London's most prominent buildings to broadcast messages of opposition against the US president.

In one public display, the group broadcast video of former making disparaging comments about Trump onto the Big Ben. The video features a clip Johnson gave to the media while he was mayor of London, in which he called out Trump for a "quite stupefying ignorance" and deemed him "unfit" to be president.

The quotes from Johnson came after then-candidate Trump made comments about London in late 2015, as he tried to justify campaign comments about banning Muslims from entering the US. (As president, he instituted a travel ban, the third iteration of which was upheld by the US Supreme Court. It barred travel for several Muslim-majority countries — Syria, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya — along with North Korea and certain travelers from Venezuela.)

Trump recently expressed support for Johnson, who is seeking to replace outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May, saying the politician would make an "excellent" prime minister.

"I like him," Trump told The Sun last week of Johnson. "I have always liked him. I don't know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person."

He also praised Nigel Farage, another pro-Brexit politician vying for May's position.

Read more: Trump appeared to touch the queen's back during dinner, which is a major violation of royal protocol

"Hey @realDonaldTrump, you just endorsed your Brexit buddy @BorisJohnson but he said some VERY NASTY things about you and he doesn't want you to know," the Led By Donkeys group said in a tweet of their latest installation. "So we projected his words onto Big Ben."

The group also broadcast side-by-side UK approval ratings of President Trump versus former President Barack Obama onto the Tower of London, showing Obama more popular among UK citizens with a 50 percent lead over Trump according to a recent YouGov poll

In another display, the group turned the facade of Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum into a projection of a giant red baseball cap featuring a logo of the USS John McCain, a ship which the White House reportedly requested be hidden from sight during Trump's recent visit to Y okosuka Naval Base in Japan, given Trump's fraught relationship with the late Sen. John McCain.

The Trump administration has yet to comment on the protests, among many that the president encountered when he touched down in the UK on Monday.

Trump is currently in London for a three-day visit, which will include visits with members of the British royal family and top British lawmakers. So far, the president has met with Queen Elizabeth II and visited Westminster Abbey, and attended a state banquet that some senior members of Theresa May's government have boycotted.


AGelbert

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Re: Non-routine News
« Reply #198 on: June 26, 2019, 01:12:01 pm »

How Important Is Christianity in Armenia?

Christianity is the largest religious faith in the world , with approximately 2.2 billion adherents across the globe. But while the faith is widespread, it could be argued that Armenians are among its most devout followers, considering the fact that approximately 94 percent of the population belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church. Christianity has been an important part of Armenia's identity for centuries.

In fact, Armenia was the first nation to make Christianity the state religion, in 301 A.D. The faith's influence can be seen everywhere, from the many ancient monasteries to the carved stone crosses known as khachkars that dot the landscape. The Armenian Apostolic Church was named for the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus, who are considered to have been the main impetus for the Christian conversions that started in Armenia in the 1st century A.D.

Inside Armenia:

► Armenia's capital, Yerevan, is nicknamed the "pink city" because many of its buildings were made from pink volcanic rock.

► Armenia boasts a 100 percent literacy rate and includes chess as a mandatory class in public schools.

► A cave in Armenia contains the oldest known winery, which dates back more than 6,000 years.

https://www.wisegeek.com/how-important-is-christianity-in-armenia.htm


Agelbert COMMENT: The largest religion in the world is certainly not Christianity. The largest religion in the world is Capitalism, who's god is the prince of this world. If you are a Capitalist, you are not now, or ever have been, a Christian, PERIOD.

Quote
And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. -- John 14:29-30

« Last Edit: June 26, 2019, 03:26:39 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

Surly1

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Re: Non-routine News
« Reply #199 on: June 27, 2019, 06:02:59 am »
I have been listening to a podcast series on the History of Byzantium, which traces the continuation of the Roman Empire from the fall of Rome through the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453. Armenia plays a huge role in the stability of the Empire and contributes some Emperors, in fact.

I am convinced that George R.R. Martin was influenced in his writing of A Song of Fire and ice vey the history of the Eastern Empire.

Surly1

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Re: Non-routine News
« Reply #200 on: June 27, 2019, 06:05:09 am »
Europeans Discover Prepping.

We spoke to survivalists prepping for disaster: here’s what we learned about the end of the world



We spoke to survivalists prepping for disaster: here’s what we learned about the end of the world

We are all ****. A crude though oft-uttered sigh which tries to encapsulate an intense, but vague anxiety we experience on many fronts. What’s causing it? The possibility of climate-induced population extinction, the development of so-called NBIC (nano-bio-info-cogno-) technologies, global financial collapse and the exponential development of potentially malevolent machine intelligence, to name but a few. The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic gauge of our risk of obliterating humanity, has never been closer to “midnight”.

Of course, the end of humanity is as old as humanity itself – astrologists and religious orders have predicted that the world will end for millenia. But the types of risks we’re concerned by today really are quite distinctive to our era: they are irreversible, they have planetary (and in some cases extra-planetary) reach, and they have new technological textures. These risks have been described as “existential” because they threaten to cause, as the philosopher Nick Bostrom has written: “The extinction of Earth-originating intelligent life or to otherwise permanently and drastically destroy its potential for future desirable development.”

As a result, the phenomenon of “prepping” – a predominantly American phenomenon of storing food, water and weapons, and developing self-sufficiency skills for independently surviving disasters – is on the rise. This can be seen in the increasing amount of literature, podcasts, movies and TV shows on the subject, fictional and “real”, along with the inevitable growth in related consumer markets (such as camping equipment and bushcraft courses) that speak to the anxiety of existential risk. Growing prominence in Europe brought us to research this area.

Beyond tin foil hats

Media accounts tend to focus on the peculiarities of prepping through extreme examples: reports of the Silicon Valley elite buying up bolt holes in remote New Zealand or the tin-foil hat wearing, forest-inhabiting eccentric. But prepping is not a marginal subculture, but a precautionary response people have to permanent crisis, as our research reveals. By analysing and engaging with online forums and speaking at length with a series of self-identified preppers, it became clear that most preppers aren’t so out of the ordinary.

Listening to preppers, you can begin to understand their reasoning. They often talk about their prepper lives as originating from some trigger or turning point – such as an insider seeing financial collapse firsthand and the house of cards it reveals, or the difficulties that come with illness or unemployment. After these realisations, our interviewees explained that they transition from being a woefully under-prepared to a prepared individual.

Our research concentrated on European preppers, who are somewhat differentiated from the American stereotype. We found that the European prepper views the culture of their American counterparts as political, religious, weaponised and misogynistic. They feel that the media attention this receives delegitimises the emphasis on rationality and practicality that is embedded into their practices.

The grid: far from trustworthy. Naufal MQ/Shutterstock.com

Instead, common sense is the most valued currency in European prepper culture. They are profoundly distrustful of the ability of institutions to face crises. And in comparison to some popular accounts, we found that preppers are often more concerned with mundane failures of the system (electricity cuts or pension losses) than the more spectacular apocalyptic aesthetics associated with prepping culture (such as environmental collapse or nuclear fallout).

They know they are ridiculed and stigmatised – a consequence of the American stereotype. Their online forums are filled with warnings: if you are a journalist, keep out. They are concerned with “op-sec” (operational security): concerns about personal privacy and the strategic advantage of withholding information about the location of resources in the eventuality that any “prep” may be put into practice. Again, such practices are framed within the narrative of common sense. Common sense is claimed in order to reject its opposite: paranoia.

Bin bags and radios

Preppers consider people who don’t prepare – the rest of society – as shockingly ignorant of the world around them. It is “we” who are abnormal. The dependent civilian is variously viewed as oblivious, dilettantish, complacent and trusting, while the prepper is watchful. Preparation is seen as a type of foresight that is missing in ordinary consumers.

A prepper looks at the world differently: far from a smart, interconnected and highly functioning infrastructure subject to the rule of law, the city is a jungle where the lone prepper negotiates manifold dangers. This is why they carry “preps” with them at all times – from fire-making equipment to bin bags to radios – in their pantries, in their cars, on their person. One prepper told us:

I always carry two or three bin bags so I can make shelter no matter where I go. One of the bin bags can be used to make a roof and I could fill the others with leaves to create comfort and heat.

Commercial heaven or chaotic hell? TierneyMJ/Shutterstock.com

Preppers pour scorn on consumer-centric technological interfaces such as social media and invest their time in pre-digital technologies like primitive fire and farming. Again, common sense is the most valued currency.

So what will happen to the rest of us? The prepper has trained for a world without a market system and considered what will happen when the dependent civilian comes calling. In common scenarios (such as electricity cuts, council water repairs) preppers tend to depict themselves as generous, helping out dependant neighbours despite the mocking it still often brings.

But in the ashes of a more serious consumer collapse, our conversations revealed an implicit subtext that when the **** does hit the fan, it will be everyone for themselves. And ultimately, it will be your neighbour that presents the biggest threat. Again, this is the common sense reality for preppers living in a world where the majority of people are seen as under-prepared, for whatever disaster we may befall.

Prepper lessons

When we think about escaping the constraints of the capitalistic dominant economy we are often met with utopian connotations of a “sustainable society” that places emphasis on community, cooperation, sharing and caring. The preppers offer a different take on what a “sustainable” world looks like, one grounded in ideologies of protectionism and self-preservation.

This echoes the 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes’s famous suggestion that in the absence of institutions humans would become trapped in a cycle of violence – “a warre of all against all”. In other words, community is dangerous and consumption requires bunkering down.

Such individualistic “prepper” modes of thinking are likely to germinate further within society, particularly in the face of the current climate crisis. And this must be considered when we think of the practicalities of alternative systems to the neoliberal marketplace.


AGelbert

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Re: History of Byzantium and the Preppers story
« Reply #201 on: June 27, 2019, 12:31:04 pm »
I have been listening to a podcast series on the History of Byzantium, which traces the continuation of the Roman Empire from the fall of Rome through the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453. Armenia plays a huge role in the stability of the Empire and contributes some Emperors, in fact.

I am convinced that George R.R. Martin was influenced in his writing of A Song of Fire and ice vey the history of the Eastern Empire.

I wasn't aware of that. Thank you for sharing. It seems things didn't work out for Armenia the way the Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus hoped. But then again, the prince of this world always keeps doing what he does everywhere.

Excellent video about the preppers. 👍 Preparing for short term lack of civilization is prudent. However, I agree with the lady that prepping for total collapse is futile.

Hobbes was an atheist. He basically thought all humans operate under "situational" ethics. IOW, he thought altruistic, caring behavior within a society vanishes under lack of resources collapse. Any, even brief, study of allegedly "uncivilized" indigenous tribes proves that this so-called "war of all against all", which alllegedly ensues when there are not eough resources to go around AND no big dog central authority to keep everyone "civilized", is baloney.

Hobbes' world view was exactly like that of a pirate in those days (and Wall Streeters now). He just added a lot of intellectual doubletalk verbiage to it.

Hobbes erroneously believed, like too many in the USA do today, that carrying capacity is all that matters and CARING capacity is a function of carrying capacity.

Actually, the reverse is the true. Hobbes had it exactly backwards. Carrying Capacity is a function of Caring Capacity. Without sufficient Caring Capacity, we all become pirates in a war of all against all.
 
Quote
"Technical knowledge of Carrying Capacity will not save us; only a massive increase in Caring Capacity will." -- A. G. Gelbert
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

Surly1

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Re: History of Byzantium and the Preppers story
« Reply #202 on: June 28, 2019, 08:12:55 am »
I have been listening to a podcast series on the History of Byzantium, which traces the continuation of the Roman Empire from the fall of Rome through the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453. Armenia plays a huge role in the stability of the Empire and contributes some Emperors, in fact.

I am convinced that George R.R. Martin was influenced in his writing of A Song of Fire and ice vey the history of the Eastern Empire.

I wasn't aware of that. Thank you for sharing. It seems things didn't work out for Armenia the way the Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus hoped. But then again, the prince of this world always keeps doing what he does everywhere.

Excellent video about the preppers. 👍 Preparing for short term lack of civilization is prudent. However, I agree with the lady that prepping for total collapse is futile.

Hobbes was an atheist. He basically thought all humans operate under "situational" ethics. IOW, he thought altruistic, caring behavior within a society vanishes under lack of resources collapse. Any, even brief, study of allegedly "uncivilized" indigenous tribes proves that this so-called "war of all against all", which alllegedly ensues when there are not eough resources to go around AND no big dog central authority to keep everyone "civilized", is baloney.

Hobbes' world view was exactly like that of a pirate in those days (and Wall Streeters now). He just added a lot of intellectual doubletalk verbiage to it.

Hobbes erroneously believed, like too many in the USA do today, that carrying capacity is all that matters and CARING capacity is a function of carrying capacity.

Actually, the reverse is the true. Hobbes had it exactly backwards. Carrying Capacity is a function of Caring Capacity. Without sufficient Caring Capacity, we all become pirates in a war of all against all.
 
Quote
"Technical knowledge of Carrying Capacity will not save us; only a massive increase in Caring Capacity will." -- A. G. Gelbert

You will not be surprised to know the I agree with you.

I have had a couple of instances in my life to put that to the test. For example, during hurricane Isabel, an otherwise inconsequential storm that passed right over Hampton Roads and uprooted many trees. We lived without power for several weeks. What I found was that neighbors pooled their resources together and shared what they had with one another to get by. Those were days when you could imagine reverting to a 16th-century lifestyle. When the sun went down, it got dark, unless you lit a candle. Entertainments consisted of playing musical instruments, singing, or cards by candlelight. or an early bedtime (my favorite.)

Perhaps people were sharing, kind, and civil because they knew the power would eventually come back on. Somehow I doubt it. But I could be wrong; I often am. But I do believe the communitarian spirit is hardwired into all of us, and only the sociopaths (read: capitalists) make it go awry.

AGelbert

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I have had a couple of instances in my life to put that to the test. For example, during hurricane Isabel, an otherwise inconsequential storm that passed right over Hampton Roads and uprooted many trees. We lived without power for several weeks. What I found was that neighbors pooled their resources together and shared what they had with one another to get by. Those were days when you could imagine reverting to a 16th-century lifestyle. When the sun went down, it got dark, unless you lit a candle. Entertainments consisted of playing musical instruments, singing, or cards by candlelight. or an early bedtime (my favorite.)

Perhaps people were sharing, kind, and civil because they knew the power would eventually come back on. Somehow I doubt it. But I could be wrong; I often am. But I do believe the communitarian spirit is hardwired into all of us, and only the sociopaths (read: capitalists) make it go awry.

You are right.

I have observed that even humans who are mentally deficient have a God given knowledge of the difference between right and wrong. Although mentally retarded people have engaged in acts of brutality, they are extemporaneous acts similar to that of a two year old unreasonably lashing out. Treating the mentally deficient with kindness and firm supervison prevents these children in an adult body from harming themselves or others. They are not evil in any way, shape, or form. God's love of children is unconditional.

Mens rea mental activity is exclusively the unethical habit of those with above average intelligence. While it is true that being smart does not necessarily breed unethical behavior, being dumb as a post rarely does. Sure, low to average intelligence people are used as soldiers to fight wars on behalf of the highly intelligent sociopaths among us. But, that is the mens rea result of the clever, and truly evil, twisting of the communitarian spirit in these soldiers, who are lied into killing people "for God and Country".

The Lord Jesus Christ was not whistling Dixie when he referred to humans as sheep lacking a shepherd. IMHO, there is some very important nuance in that statement. That is, the sheep know what doing the right thing is because the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong is already written in their spirit. If we sheep have leaders in our community that guide us improperly, we will embrace doing the wrong thing. In order for we sheep to choose evil as a daily habit, our communitarian spirit must be corrupted in Orwellian fashion.

The communitarian spirit is the firm spiritual knowledge that constant concern and action on behalf of our neighbor's health and well being is the right way to live.

The corollary to that, which is also part of the God given knowledge hardwired in all of us, is that constant concern and action on behalf of the self is detrimental to the self, both in this life and in the next. The utilitarian "greed is good" types, who studiously deny any inconvenient belief in the hereafter or the knowledge that our spirit and consciousness goes on to a reckoning after our body dies, know that, but they choose evil over good because they worship the prince of this world, even if they claim to be "atheists".

The greatest con ever perpetrated on humanity is the Satanic ploy that worship of the self is not worship of the prince of this world. Today, it takes the form of CAPITALISM, but it's been around since the prince of this world has been around.

When the lights go out, I will share what I have until there ain't no more. If no one will help me and my wife out in the event that we lack transportation, food and water, we will not attempt to take anything from anybody. We will fast and hope. I have read that after the first three days of fasting, the hunger goes.

The important thing is to always do the right thing, no matter how difficult that is to do. May the Lord give us the strength to do the right thing until the end, AMEN.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2019, 05:14:17 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

Surly1

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PENTAGON MAY HAVE RELEASED WEAPONIZED TICKS THAT HELPED SPREAD OF LYME DISEASE: INVESTIGATION ORDERED
https://www.newsweek.com/pentagon-weaponized-ticks-lyme-disease-investigation-1449737

BY ARISTOS GEORGIOU ON 7/17/19 AT 11:39 AM EDT

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives quietly passed a bill requiring the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (DoD) to conduct a review into whether the Pentagon experimented with ticks and other blood-sucking insects for use as biological weapons between 1950 and 1975.

If the Inspector General finds that such experiments occurred, then, according to the bill, they must provide the House and Senate Armed Services committees with a report on the scope of the research and "whether any ticks or insects used in such experiments were released outside of any laboratory by accident or experiment design," potentially leading to the spread of diseases such as Lyme.

The amendment was put forward by Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, who was "inspired" by several books and articles claiming that the U.S. government had conducted research at facilities such as Fort Detrick, Maryland, and Plum Island, New York, for this purpose....

more

Surly1

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There are Three Phases of Fascist Collapse. America’s Way Past One. It’s Entering Phase Three.

umair haque

Here’s a tiny question: what stage of collapse is America in? Do you think — like many Americans — that “things aren’t that bad”? Or are you ashamed, furious, and disgusted? How should one feel, anyways — what’s the objective reality of collapse?

First, extremists like fascists capture institutions — they gain power over them. That’s phase one of any proper collapse. Then, they subvert them — they pack them with cronies, flunkies, admirers, and sycophants. That’s phase two. But in phase three, the institutions of a democracy are perverted. They are turned from instruments of freedom, justice, and equality, to weapons of subjugation, repression, fear, and violence.

(Think of how the Nazis used the law itself to oppress and then exterminate Jews. Phase three. But that was after phase two — stacking the branches of government with good Nazis. And phase one — seizing power. That is how social collapses tend to go.)

So where is America on my little scale, or sequence, of collapse? Should we be relieved things aren’t worse — or horrified at how bad they really are? American collapse is further along than you probably think, my friends. It is well past phase one. Even phase two. In fact, phase three — the last one — is beginning. The basic institutions of democracy, having been captured, and then subverted, are now being reshaped and restructured, as weapons of mass subjugation, repression, and violence.

Consider three events that happened just in the last week.

This morning, the Prez told several members of Congress to “go back” to their countries. Now, of course, they’re as American as…the Prez. This tirade was described in the press as “racist.” But the truth is that it is much more than just racist. Racist would be the President demeaning minorities in general. But to attack members of the opposition in this way isn’t just racist. So what is it?

Well, let’s specify the nature of the attack. It says this: Impostors walk among us. The opposition members aren’t “real” Americans. Someone that isn’t real is an impostor, pretending to be a thing they are not. It’s a slur that every minority’s heard countless times. But that very slur is very different when it comes from the head of a state — against members of an opposition. In that case, it isn’t merely obnoxious, foolish, or vulgar.

It is institutional dehumanization. “You aren’t really one of us! You are alive, foreign, other. You are something lesser, beneath us. The true and real volk of the homeland. You are subhuman.” None of that is said explicitly, of course. It doesn’t need to be. “Go back home!”, to another citizen, in a democracy of equals, is a violation of personhood, its negation, absence, removal. It says that some of us are superior, because we are real, and others of us are inferior, because we are not.

But that is the very logic of supremacy. Why is it that some of us are real people, and others of us only impostors? The only answer is that it is in the blood. The real ones among us are authentic by virtue of our bloodlines, our genetic inheritance. Impostors walk among us — the ones pretending to be real, just like us, but they are not. Their blood says so.

So. What do we call people — especially in an official capacity — who institutionally dehumanize others as impostors? They are called fascists, my friends. But these fascists apparently run the country now. They are using the office of the Presidency itself to institutionally dehumanize the opposition. That’s not just the textbook definition of fascist-authoritarianism: it’s phase three, the perversion of democracy, using the institutions of governance as instruments of violence, as weapons.

Let me come to my second event. This one barely seems to have made the news. Did you know that “agents” were checking IDs on the…NYC subway? Does that chill you a little? It should. But if it doesn’t, let me put it another way, so that it does. Papers were being checked on public transport.

Get the context now? What does it say when papers are being checked on public transport? Well, the “agents” must be looking for a specific kind of person. Because in the absence of war or some kind of genuine emergency, the only point to checking papers can be to identify members of an unwanted group. Not, for example, to manhunt individuals.

What kinds of societies check papers on public transport? Certainly not constitutional democracies. Because doing so violates basic constitutional principles. Freedom of assembly, expression, movement, privacy. Checking papers in any public space isn’t just a “violation of civil liberties”, as America’s anodyne public discourse might put it: it’s a violation of the most basic principles of democracy.

That is because if I imagine my papers are going to be checked, I will alter everything about my life, probably. I will avoid those places. I will avoid associating with certain people. I will watch what I say. I will limit what I think. Society will soon come to be defined by an atmosphere of fear, of grim and stone-eyed complicity, of looking the other way.

The “chilling effects” — another American phrase — of paper-checking are vast. Why, though? Because people are not just numbers and categories and files, my friends. In a democracy, people, first, are human beings, with inalienable rights. They are equals in regards to those rights. But when a society begins to check papers, in broad daylight — and it barely even makes the news — it tells us something crucial, vital, and bleak. That society is dehumanizing itself. It is reducing people to objects, numbers, things to control and subjugate and prey upon.

Checking papers, of course, demands the creation of new government agencies who can do the “job.” Later, they will say things like: “we were just following orders!” Of course, of course. But that doesn’t change the point. When a society begins checking papers in broad daylight, it tells us something very, very important, and very, very bleak. It takes Gestapos to check papers, my friends. And that is precisely what America is building now.

That brings me to my third event. The VP recently did something very much like a victory tour of America’s concentration camps. A press junket. He showed them off and flaunted them. “Tough!”, he said, as if to show off just how manly and strong the regime is. Of course, that’s a celebration of violence and cruelty — but that’s so normal in America it’s almost besides the point.

What does it say when a VP is giving tours of concentration camps? Let me remind you that once, not so long ago, concentration camp tours were given to eager journalists. They were shown canteens and cafeterias and gymnasiums and schools. “Why, see”, cried the Nazis. “Look how well we are treating the Jews! Like honored guests!” The world was foolish enough to fall for it. But even that is not the point.

When heads of state are giving tours of concentration camps, it’s even more stark evidence of the answer to my question. The institutions of governance haven’t just been captured. Now they are being perverted, commandeered, rebuilt.

Let me make all that crystal clear. What institutions am I talking about? The Presidency is now an office that institutionally dehumanizes the opposition, speaking the language of supremacy openly in public. The Vice-Presidency, meanwhile, is an office that…gives tours of concentration camps. Needless to say, both of these are offices that build networks of such camps. Meanwhile, new “enforcement agencies” have arisen to fill the camps — the Gestapos of American collapse. They check papers in broad daylight — and nobody much notices.

What kind of a society does all these things? I think the answer to that is very clear. One that is turning fascist-authoritarian at light-speed.

Americans are in a kind of deep, stark, denial. They have been for very long, about very many things. The wars they made on the world, they damage they did, and so on. But the denial they are in now is the most dangerous of all. The way that they treated the world — with contempt, with hate, with scorn — has come home. The fascists are treating Americans just the way they treated the world. But Americans deny — enough of them — that there is a fascist collapse happening in America at all.

Even if they worry, even if they’re concerned — they are unable to use the lexicon of history to describe what is happening to America now. Wait — what is it that we say about people who can’t learn from history?

America’s not just in danger of having a fascist collapse. It’s having one. It’s bang in the middle of one. It’s not in the early phases — but in fact, beginning the later ones. The ones where concentration camps rise, and hatred spews from the head of a state, and papers are checked on public transport. How much more obvious could it get? How many more data points do you need? If this isn’t enough…what could be?

Denial, in the face of fascist collapse this obvious? It’s the bad guys’ best friend. It’s up to you to judge for yourself where you stand on that scale. But don’t kid yourself anymore. When the President is openly dehumanizing the opposition, when the VP’s giving happy tours of the concentration camps, when the NYC subway is a place where papers are checked…my friends, your country is ruled by fascists. The only question is when they will come for you, too.

Umair
July 2019


AGelbert

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Quote
The only question is when they will come for you, too.

Yep. Those weaponized ticks the Pentagon let loose come to mind. I've never met a tick that cared what color or ethnicity you are. 8)
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Do Many Shipping Containers Get Lost at Sea?
« Reply #207 on: July 21, 2019, 04:59:20 pm »

Do Many Shipping Containers Get Lost at Sea? ???

Anyone who's ever gone on an ocean cruise has probably seen some amazing things, like breaching whales and incredible sunsets. Cruise passengers probably won't have seen any lost shipping containers -- but it's not for a lack of them. According to the World Shipping Council, international shipping companies accidentally drop hundreds of containers into the ocean every year. As a percentage of all maritime cargo, though, the number of lost containers is very small, considering that cargo ships transport approximately 130 million containers worth around $4 trillion USD each year. The World Shipping Council estimated that between 2014 and 2016, the average number of containers lost at sea every year was 1,390, with a majority of the losses due to catastrophic events, such as structural failures and collisions.

Shipping on the high seas:

•  Of the approximately 1.5 million employees in ocean shipping, less than 2 percent are women.

•  On average, pirates commandeer two ocean freighters every day.  :o

•  The largest container ship ever built is the OOCL Hong Kong, which can transport more than 21,000 containers.

https://www.wisegeek.com/do-many-shipping-containers-get-lost-at-sea.htm

Agelbert NOTE: Catastrophic events at sea are mostly a function of 🌊 rough seas. It will get worse.

« Last Edit: July 25, 2019, 01:11:09 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

Surly1

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No, he's not "antifa" either. Just another example of home-grown white supremacist hate mongers the the permanent right-wing victim lobby ardently denies. Which is way they so furiously attempt to change the subject.

Iowa Neo-Nazi Arrested for Threats to ‘Slaughter’ Jews: Prosecutors
An Iowa neo-Nazi threatened a Jewish group with disturbing violence over a YouTube video he disliked, prosecutors say.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/iowa-neo-nazi-arrested-for-threats-to-slaughter-jews-prosecutors?ref=home

Kelly Weill
Reporter
An Iowa neo-Nazi has been arrested for allegedly threatening to “slaughter” Jews in messages to a Jewish organization, prosecutors say.


Garrett Kelsey, 31, allegedly left phone and email messages with a New York-based Jewish organization, sometimes threatening violence if they did not remove a YouTube video he disliked. Kelsey’s social media was filled with neo-Nazi references, as well as racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Muslim memes.

Kelsey’s alleged campaign against the Jewish organization began with a video about neo-Nazis. The Jewish organization had made a video about a Scandinavian fascist movement, likely the Nordic Resistance Movement, which has been involved in violent attacks for years.

Kelsey took offense at the video, prosecutors say. He practiced Asatru, a pagan faith that is not inherently hateful, but which has a documented following among white supremacists. On May 23, he allegedly used an email with an Asatru reference to threaten violence against the Jewish group if they did not “remove this video and offer an apology to the Asatru community.”

Asatru draws on some Scandinavian roots, but a video about Scandinavian neo-Nazis is not an attack on Asatru. Nevertheless, Kelsey allegedly made more graphic threats over the phone. He called the organization, spoke to an employee, then called back and left a threatening message with the employee’s name, according to a criminal complaint.

“My people have **** slaughtered your **** people and we will do it again,” he allegedly said. “And right now, you are giving us an incentive to do that.”

Kelsey also allegedly made threats against local anti-fascists.

“I think you better second guess opening your little queer club here in Iowa,” he allegedly wrote on an Iowa anti-fascist Facebook page in May, according to the complaint. “If I ever see any of you **** sucking commie fascist snowflakes, I’m gonna bash your skulls in without warning! White is might!! 1488!! Hail Odin! Hail Asatru!!” (“1488” is shorthand for a white supremacist slogan and “heil Hitler.”)

The anti-fascist group said he left other threats on their page. “The day is coming where these scumbags are finally going to be recognized by our government as the lousy terrorists they are!” read one post, which the group shared with The Daily Beast. “We will kill Antifa for fun! Antifa are just a bunch of degenerates!”

Calling anti-fascists “terrorists” and appealing on the government to criminalize anti-fascism is a popular meme on the far right. Earlier this month, Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Bill Cassidy introduced a bill aimed at designating anti-fascists a “domestic terrorist organization,” despite anti-fascism not constituting an official organization.

Though he accused anti-Nazis of being terrorists, Kelsey’s internet presence was heavy with content that glorified violence. At the time of the criminal complaint, Kelsey’s Facebook header image was a picture of Jews being transferred to a Nazi concentration camp. His profile picture was a meme of a cartoon frog in a clown costume called Honkler (a play on “Hitler”).

Kelsey also maintained presences on extremist-friendly social media sites Gab, Minds, and Bitchute. His profile picture on Gab and Minds was a Sonnenrad, a symbol popular with neo-Nazis. On Minds he encouraged people to join openly Nazi communities, and made repeated attacks on immigrants, Jews, and Muslims.

AGelbert

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No, he's not "antifa" either. Just another example of home-grown white supremacist hate mongers the permanent right-wing victim lobby ardently denies. Which is way they so furiously attempt to change the subject.

Iowa Neo-Nazi Arrested for Threats to ‘Slaughter’ Jews: Prosecutors
An Iowa neo-Nazi threatened a Jewish group with disturbing violence over a YouTube video he disliked, prosecutors say.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/iowa-neo-nazi-arrested-for-threats-to-slaughter-jews-prosecutorse

Calling anti-fascists “terrorists” and appealing on the government to criminalize anti-fascism is a popular meme on the far right. Earlier this month, Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Bill Cassidy introduced a bill aimed at designating anti-fascists a “domestic terrorist organization,” despite anti-fascism not constituting an official organization.

Kelsey also maintained presences on extremist-friendly social media sites Gab, Minds, and Bitchute. His profile picture on Gab and Minds was a Sonnenrad, a symbol popular with neo-Nazis. On Minds he encouraged people to join openly Nazi communities, and made repeated attacks on immigrants, Jews, and Muslims.



I have seen that look every now and then here in Vermont. It was directed at me. It was from complete strangers I had never conversed with and never met before. It is possible that it is because I am ugly and my momma dresses me funny, but I rather doubt it. I do what I can to avoid violence. So, in these situations, I take on a puzzled (i.e. ) look, then look away and walk away.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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