#River Orwell

[womblegrinch]

Matthew Alexander (b.1953) - Sunset at Pin Mill

Oil on canvas. 36.2 x 48 inches, 92 x 122 cm.

Part of a selling exhibition at Messum's, St James's, London 8 May - 31 May 2024.

[thefollyflaneuse]

The Obelisk, Woolverstone Park, Suffolk

On the banks of the river Orwell in Suffolk there once stood a lofty obelisk. It proclaimed to all the filial piety of Charles Berners, who erected it in 1793 in memory of his father, William. At 96 feet tall, and topped with a golden sun, it was a prominent landmark but sadly it came to a sorry end when it was damaged by fire and then demolished in the middle of the 20th century. But as the…

[assortedpov]

When you have to spend a couple of nights away for a wedding you don’t care about but find yourself a good stroll for both mornings.

[violottie]

these were meant to be warnings.

not fucking instructions.

but yall proved you can only be true resistance fighters in theory, in fiction.

so here we fucking are.

[crymeariveronceagain]

thoughts on Orwell's 1984 because it took me 2.5 months but i actually got all the way through it!

oh my gosh this book is going to live in my head for an eternity

Orwell is a fantastic writer, and I really enjoyed his style. It's all very intense, and the vibe is a constant intensity. There are very few moments without a sense of being watched, without a feeling that doom lurks just on the horizon, and when, in the rare moments where that feeling of paranoia fades and peace begins to set in, he subverts it, and that's the moment something leaps out of the shadows. It's masterfully crafted and really well done.

This book is extremely obviously about socialism, and the dangers of moral relativism and historical revisionism. Sure, you can throw in other messages too, about like cult worship, secret societies, whatever. But Orwell put this world together as a criticism of the ideas of socialism and socialist ideology. He's clearly an anti-socialist, which makes complete sense, based on his background, life, and his other works, what we know about him, and even this story.

1984 follows this guy, who literally is just some guy, as he figures out he has a brain and he doesn't want to scream in hatred when he's told to.

Okay, speaking of, the amount of parallels that can be drawn from this book to society is disturbing. Like even if we go off of the idea of the "Two Minutes Hate", which is the daily time in which everyone is organized to basically yell at the person society has chosen to hate, that day, one can easily draw parallels between that and say all of social media electing to hate on this person today, that person tomorrow, ruin their life, and then move on. It's disturbing.

Also, a lot of Orwell's thesis statement in this book is on the idea of language and how it's connected to thought. He has this idea that one can only truly think a thought if one has the words to describe that thought, and if one cannot name the feelings, one cannot really be having the feelings. It's a horrifying concept, but one that basically every person needs to keep in mind. The vocabulary you possess controls how and what you think. What you cannot name, you cannot know, you cannot see, you cannot truly understand.

So like, one thing this book really tries to tell you is to pay attention to the words you use. Why do you use them? How do you use them? Where did you learn them? What are their origins? Etc etc, because, really, whoever controls the language controls the minds of the people who uses it.

I thought the romance was horribly unromantic, and it really drove the point home about the mental state of both Winston(just some guy) and Julia. Their being in a relationship is in and of itself an act of rebellion against those who want to abolish everything.

The whole point of this book really really comes back to, over and over, this idea of power. Who has it, who should have it, how it works, why people want it, blah blah blah. It's done spectacularly. You reach the last page and you sit there like "Dang. What did I just read."

Big Brother, also, is a super interesting concept that's used in the book, and I must say the idea that eyes are always watching you and might be listening to you reminds me of all those "Hello FBI guy who lives in my laptop computer and watches my search histories" memes. But in a trippier way. Anyways. Just a thought.

The total lack of privacy is so prominent in the book. Every private moment sticks out like a breath of fresh air.

If you're going to read this book, like, one thing to remember is that a) nothing is what it seems, and also b) the Party REALLY KNOWS WHAT IT'S DOING. Never think that they just say things. Never think that they don't know what's going on. Never think for even one moment that they don't know what they're doing. Because if you think that, you're making the same mistake as the main character.

The last chunk of the book is really hard to read, honestly, from a reading perspective, just because it's so psychologically intense. It's this sort of conversion process, trying to turn our beloved Winston(just some guy) into the perfect party member before they kill him. The whole torture, interrogation, conversion process is deeply grimy. It feels like walking down a tunnel but knowing there isn't light at the end. But you hang onto your hope. It's all you've got at this point.

You know that there's no way to make it out of this situation. But you keep reading in hope.

Also, the main bad guy starts monologuing. Reveals his whole evil plan. Which makes you grossed out in your own mind and makes you want to throw the book out the airplane window. It's masterfully written, and Winston is so interesting to watch, because he's the perfect person to empathize with. You wonder how long you could hold up. You wonder how long it would take you to crumble. And really, inside, you know you're crumbling with Winston. You go through the horrors of his imprisonment, and you reach the end of the book.

You can tell it's the end. If you're paying attention, you'll catch how they ruin him all the way. You'll see the moment that lets you know he's done. He's exactly where they want him.

He's renounced his beliefs, fallen in line perfectly. He's done exactly what they want. And now, now they could do exactly what they want with him.

He doesn't die. I'm going to tell you that much.

But the end of the book makes you wonder how much you are Winston. How much of your life is spent doing what every party member does. How long you've got before the interrogation starts. How long before they treat you like a heretic who needs to renounce their heresy, spit upon it, curse it, all the way while they walk to their stake.

The end of the book is sad. It is hopeless. But it is very, very real. The realest thing in this book is its ending.

The last line clenches your stomach like nothing else in the entire novel.

[123photographyuk]

Pin Mill, Suffolk #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #suffolk #pinmill #sunset #puddles #reflection #pinksky #boats #river #orwell #riverorwell (at Pin Mill) https://www.instagram.com/p/CrZAZwxMWzM/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Ian McDonald's "The Wilding"

I'll be in TUCSON, AZ from November 8-10: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

Ian McDonald is one of those absurdly brilliant novelists that just leave me wondering the actual fuck he manages it. How does he cover so much ground, think up so many compelling characters, find so many gracenotes, conjure up so many complicated emotions?

McDonald burst on the scene in the late 1980s, with the 1988 novel Desolation Road and then his 1989 Out On Blue Six, a slick, stylized cyberpunk-meets-Orwell tale that overflowed with beautiful prose, technomysticism, and sly jokes that hid sneaky truths that hid even more sly jokes:

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/01/20/out-on-blue-six-ian-mcdonalds-brilliant-novel-is-back/

By my count, McDonald has now published twenty books – mostly novels, but a couple short story collections (and the most amazingly demented, Tom-Waits-inflected teddybear murder comic imaginable, 1994's Kling Klang Klatch):

https://irishcomics.fandom.com/wiki/Kling_Klang_Klatch

McDonald's work is truly globespanning. While he's made his mark on the Martian soil, and overtaken the moon with the Luna trilogy (his definitive rebuttal to Heinlein's Moon Is a Harsh Mistress) he is widely adored and much-awarded for the glittering, futuristic versions of Brazil (Brasyl), Tanzania (the Chaga series), and India (River of Gods).

Indeed, McDonald's imagination has roamed so far over the Earth and the solar system that it's possible to overlook his fantastic reimaginings of Ireland, the land where he was raised. There's his Philip K Dick Award-winning 1991 novel King of Morning, Queen of Day, a swirling, mythopoeic novel of Celtic mysticism:

https://www.baen.com/king-of-morning-queen-of-day.html

And then there's 1992's Hearts, Hands and Voices, which is lowkey one of the best novels I have ever, ever read – a scorching science fictional allegory for The Troubles, but with the gnarliest biotech weirdness you can possibly imagine:

https://archive.org/details/heartshandsvoice0000ianm/mode/2up

McDonald's books cover so much goddamned ground, but one feature they all share is a prose styling wherein every sentence is at least 20% poetry, a fraction that somehow, impossibly, rises to as much as 150% in certain especially shiny passages.

Like this passage, which opens The Wilding, McDonald's new horror novel that marks his first return to Ireland since 1992:

Autumn lay on the great bog in silvers and tans, late purples and duns.

The sun rose above the tall ash saplings and feral sycamore. It called the birds into full voice. Stabbing shrills, tumbles of notes, the flutes of dove-call, frantic ticking hisses, song upon song. In hedgerows and copses, among the pale foliage of the birches, in the weave of deep willow and the bramble fastnesses, each bird called and was heard. In this season the peatland held the day's warmth through the night and on the bright, clear mornings rivers of mist formed, filling the subtle hollow places in the exposed cuttings, the bogs and fields. High sun would dispel it but at this hour half of Lough Carrow lay mist-bound. Each blade of grass hung heavy with dew, the clumps of sedges were already browning, the bracken curling and crisping.

A pair of horns lifted above the willow scrub and out-grown ash hedges of the Wilding. Polished tips caught the low sun and kindled as bright and keen as spears.

https://www.gollancz.co.uk/titles/ian-mcdonald/the-wilding/9781399611503/

Oof.

I would drop everything to read Ian McDonald's grocery lists but after that opening, I wasn't going to put this one down, and I didn't, reading the whole thing on yesterday's flight home from my gigs in Atlanta this week.

The Wilding is (I'm pretty sure?) McDonald's first horror novel, and it's fucking terrifying. It's set in a rural Irish peat bog that has been acquired by a conservation authority that is rewilding it after a century of industrial peat mining that stripped it back nearly to the bedrock. This rewilding process has been greatly accelerated by the covid lockdowns, which reduced the human footprint in the conservation area to nearly zero.

The story's protagonist is Lisa, a hard-case Dubliner who came to the bog to do community service after a career as a crime syndicate driver for hire, a woman who never met a car she couldn't boost and pilot in or out of any tight situation. After years in the bog, she's ready to start a new life, studying Yeats at university, indulging a late-discovered love of poetry that has as much to do with her redemption as her years in the wild.

Lisa's last duty before she leaves the bog and goes home to Dublin is leading a school group on a wild campout in one of the bog's deep clearings. It's a routine assignment, and while it's not her favorite duty, it's also not a serious hardship.

But as the group hikes out to the campsite, one of her fellow guides is killed, without warning, by a mysterious beast that moves so quickly they can barely make out its monstrous form. Thus begins a tense, mysterious, spooky as hell story of survival in a haunted woods, written in the kind of poesy that has defined McDonald's career, and which – when deployed in service of terror – has the power to raise literal goosebumps.

There's a lot of fantasy that deals with Celtic mythology, including McDonald's own King of Morning, Queen of Day, but the vibe of that stuff tends to the heroic and romantic – sure, there's the odd banshee, but in the main, it's mischievous wee people, pookas, and leprechauns. More fey than fear.

But Irish mythology in its raw form is terrifying. The monsters of Irish storytelling are grotesque, mean, remorseless, and come in every shape and size. Some authors have done well by going back to the bestiary for the deep cuts. When I was a kid, I must have read John Coyne's Hobgoblin fifty times (mostly because it was about D&D, which I was obsessed with). I haven't read this one since I was about 12, and I have no idea if it'd hold up today, but it left me with a deep appreciation of the spooky multifariousness of monsters who dwell in Ireland's bogs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobgoblin_(novel)

The Wilding is a suspense novel, which means there's no way to really sum up the plot without spoiling a lot of the affect, but suffice to say that McDonald brings large swathes of deep Irish lore to the surface, and it had me reading as fast as I could and wanting to put the book down and hide.

What a writer McDonald is! The fact that this is the same guy who wrote last year's stunning secret-history/solarpunk/uncategorizable wonder that was Hopeland beggars belief:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/30/electromancy/#the-grace

Read you some Ian McDonald novels, is what I'm trying to say. This one is only available in the UK, if that's not where you are, consider mail-ordering it. Looks like they've got stock at Forbidden Planet for £19 plus £18 shipping to the US. Worth every penny:

https://forbiddenplanet.com/424306-the-wilding-hardcover/

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/25/bogman/#erin-go-aaaaaaargh

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Rejection

Rejection is part of a writer's life. Anyone who wants to make it as a writer needs to learn to face rejection bravely, gracefully, and frequently.

3 tips for coping with rejection

Laugh at your rejections.

Learn from your rejections.

Always have a new project underway, something that will give you hope no matter how many rejections come your way for the previous project.

You may take some consolation in knowing the rejection history of these writers and works:

Dune by Frank Herbert – 13 rejections

Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis – 17 rejections

Jonathan Livingston Seagull – 18 rejections

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle – 29 rejections

Carrie by Stephen King – over 30 rejections

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – 38 rejections

A Time to Kill by John Grisham – 45 rejections

Louis L'Amour, author of over 100 western novels – over 300 rejections before publishing his first book

John Creasy, author of 564 mystery novels – 743 rejections before publishing his first book

Ray Bradbury, author of over 100 science fiction novels and stories – around 800 rejections before selling his first story

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter – rejected so universally the author decided to self-publish the book

From rejection slip for George Orwell's Animal Farm:

“It is impossible to sell animal stories in the U.S.A."

From rejection slip for Norman MacLean's A River Runs Through It:

“These stories have trees in them."

From rejection slip for article sent to the San Francisco Examiner to Rudyard Kipling:

“I'm sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don't know how to use the English language."

From rejection slip for The Diary of Anne Frank:

“The girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the curiosity level."

Rejection slip for Dr. Seuss's And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street:

“Too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling."

Source ⚜ Writing Notes & References

[galerymod]

In a nutshell, but what about the perceived truth or alternative facts? I say bullshit to that.

mod

There are metrics that show who benefits when the Trump cult is in power, and these numbers and facts show that nothing has happened to the prosperity of the entire nation when the Republicans are in power, whether as president or in the states.

It is also a fact that education helps against professional propaganda and the creation of fear scenarios.

Those who can read simply have an advantage.

Top 10 U.S. Literacy Rate Statistics

Nationwide, on average, 79% of U.S. adults are literate in 2022. 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2022.

54% of adults have a literacy below sixth-grade level.

21% of Americans 18 and older are illiterate in 2022.

Low literacy rates end up costing Americans up to $2.2 trillion every year.

34% of the people 18 and older with low literacy proficiency weren't born in the United States.

The state with the highest rate of child literacy is Massachusetts, with over 80% of kids there having good proficiency in reading.

New Mexico has the lowest literacy rate for children, with over 30% of the state's children being illiterate.

New Hampshire has the most people 18 and older that are literate, with over 90% of them knowing how to read and write.

California has the lowest literacy rate in the country, with 23% of them having little to no proficiency in reading skills.

Throughout the US, there were 66% of children in the fourth grade couldn't read well in 2013.

Steven Zauderer

Only the uneducated can be sold hate for politics, division for equality and perceived facts for truths.

mod

Political chaos is connected with the decay of language... one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end.

George Orwell

REBLOG THIS!!

[mutant-distraction]

Jill Andrews

Waterfall Wednesday-Salmon River Falls

Orwell, NY

[palestinegenocide]

The real reason ‘from the river to the sea’ has garnered so much condemnation

The false labeling of Palestinian liberation slogans like “from the river to the sea” as calls for the elimination of Jews reveals an Israeli anxiety over its dispossession of the Palestinians from their land.

[link]

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” -George Orwell

[zenmasterlover]

Some Wildly Specific Zennie Head Canons That Help Me Sleep At Night (when ideas pop in my head, I zoom my way over here to add them to keep my fellow zennies happy so check frequently for new ones!)

Another note… I am not a fanfic writer so these head canons are up for grabs if you want to put them in your story! It would super cool to see!

So on with it!:

Hyde always bites Jackie on the back of her neck during freaky time as a way to mark her as his

Jackie has a grasshopper tattoo that Hyde drew on her hip and every time Hyde goes down on her, he kisses the tattoo

Hyde reads them books (think of Orwell or Steinbeck books)

They both have panic attacks and nightmares due to the trauma their parents gave them and take care of each other when they happen. Hyde usually has nightmares: Jackie kisses all the scars he got from his mom and her boyfriends and tells him affirmations (like “you’re enough” or “it’s not your fault”). Jackie’s are usually sudden outbursts that are so bad where she throws up: Hyde notices her sudden mood change and to protect her “reputation”, he takes her somewhere private, cradles her, and kisses the back of her neck until she falls asleep

Their youngest (a daughter) is Hyde’s everything and has him wrapped around her finger and sobbed when she was born. She’s a mini Jackie, even with the different colored eyes. Hyde calls her, his “babydoll”

They actually met in elementary school when a kid pushed Jackie off the slide and hurt her. Hyde came up and punched the kid in the face but they agreed to never talk about it due to his “bad boy” reputation and her “popular girl” reputation

Hyde always waits for Jackie to fall asleep first and makes sure she’s asleep by kissing her forehead

Jackie is a pillow princess through and through and Hyde is okay with that because he likes to dominate her but makes fun of her because she will never go on top. He once bought her a crown to tease her about it

Jackie’s way of telling Hyde he loves her is through biting. She bites him A LOT

Jackie doesn’t know her limits when it comes to alcohol and weed so Hyde cuts her off

They often go on dates that help heal their inner children like the arcade or even just building Lego sets

Jackie always forces Hyde to slow dance with her in the rain

Hyde is a really good singer and guitar player but nobody knows except Jackie. He even sings her Tiny Dancer by Elton John and Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin

When fighting, Hyde lifts her chin up with his fingers to get important points across

They play chess to see who does the dishes because they both hate it

Jackie gets sick really easily and Hyde never leaves her side when she’s sick because she’s scared of throw up and it doesn’t phase him. Literally she can throw up all over him and he won’t care

Jackie actually loves his fro and does weekly curl treatment on in. Hyde pretended he hated it at first but actually loves it

When they first got back together after Sam’s departure, they went to Chicago for a fancy dinner in the river walk. They stumbled across a dog (think of a silver lab) that was very obviously malnourished and had signs of abuse and neglect. Jackie wanted it, Hyde didn’t because he’s afraid of dogs (something that only Jackie knows). Jackie basically gaslit him by saying, “but he’s like us though, he was abused and neglected. Please Puddin Pop?” with her signature pout. And obviously Hyde gave in. They named him Hippo. Now Hyde and Hippo are inseparable.

When Jackie was a kid, she choked on steak and had to go to the hospital. Hyde ALWAYS cuts her steak now and gets pissed when she doesn’t chew it enough

Hyde has a wall in the shop dedicated for her type of music called “my chick’s picks”. It attracts a lot of teenage girls

Jackie became one of those luxury designers (and of course a model cause she’s gorgeous). She started selling her clothes in Hyde’s shop… when a billionaire was stumbling through town and went into Hyde’s shop, Jackie got recognition and basically took off from there! The billionaire also fell in love with Hyde and his personality as well and gave him some kickstart money to start his own production company. Now, he has a successful record label but still owns the Point Place Grooves :)

Hyde insisted their wedding vows were done in private because he wrote the cutest and most sweetest things and didn’t want his friends to call him whipped

Believe it or not, Jackie is extremely smart and philosophical (obviously Hyde is too) so their pillow talk gets philosophical sometimes

Jackie and Hyde don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Instead they go on trips because neither likes the holiday. Hyde because of the whole meaning behind it (duh!). Jackie because it reminds her of her broken family but she also takes into account the history of the holiday (which Hyde helped her realized ofc)

They skinny dip every time there’s an opportunity to do so

When Jackie was a kid, her mother always pointed out how her eyes are 2 different colors and how she was imperfect and alien like because of it. No one really noticed it but she’s always been insecure about it. Kelso never noticed it nor did any of the gang except Hyde in season 2 when Jackie was trying to get with him. He didn’t tell Jackie he noticed until they started their fling that summer when he pointed it out for her. When that happened, she broke down and told him all about what her mother has done to her and how she always needs to be perfect. Now every time they have an intimate moment together, he always makes sure to tell her how beautiful her eyes are

Hyde LOVES Jackie’s uniforms. The classic cheerleading uniform, the cheese maiden outfit, and even the smock she wears when helping with cars. They do role play in them…

When driving stick shift, he puts Jackie’s hand on the stick and his hand on top of hers

When Jackie was hoped up on drugs after the birth of their first child, Hyde convinced her to name their son Johnathan after John Bonham’s Led Zeppelin. Jackie got him back a few years later when she gave birth to their second son and named him Benjamin after Benny Andersson’s ABBA. Their last baby was a baby girl, they agreed on the name Clara because Jackie knew it meant “famous” and Hyde thought it was a cool name

When Jackie was pregnant with their daughter, Hyde learned how to do girly hairstyles on Jackie’s hair so he can do it on their daughter’s hair. Surprisingly, it was Hyde who came up with this idea because he fell in love with being a girl dad the second he found out that Jackie was pregnant with a girl

When fighting, if it looks like Jackie is about to cry, he will stop the fight right away and comfort her because he hates seeing her cry

They often go on roadtrips with no destination in mind when one of them is having a hard time

Jackie brought home two dogs from the shelter without Hyde’s knowing and named them Captain and Tennille. Hyde was mad at first but it didn’t last long when Hyde found Jackie sandwiched between Captain and Tennille (Hippo is there too dw he was just on the foot of the bed) in bed and thought it was the cutest thing ever

They usually have their own side conversations in the basement/gatherings and ignore the main conversation that’s going on

They have their own circle after sex as a form of aftercare

Jackie wears Hyde’s aviators during circles. Started off with Jackie stealing them off of Hyde’s face and now it’s a tradition. Hyde plops them on Jackie’s face every time without failure

Instead of actually saying aloud how Hyde feels about Jackie, he writes her letters and notes. When they were in high school, Hyde slipped notes in her locker. After high school, he puts notes on her bedside table or work desk

[petalsbleedingbeak2]

This is fascism and it's disturbingly orwellian

(Oct. 17)

Mohammed El-Kurd reports: A Palestinian teacher with Israeli citizenship was just fired from her job for merely *following* Eye on Palestine on Instagram. Soldiers are checking who Palestinians are following/what they have on their phones as they cross military checkpoints. Rabid totalitarianism.

Mariam Barghouti reports: Mass arrests in the West Bank and Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. Lawyers and doctors are even having their licenses revoked and arrested over social media posts.

[eaglesnick]

“He is fiddling while Rome is burning, and, unlike the enormous majority of people who do this, fiddling with his face toward the flames.”― George Orwell

Two days ago many media outlets posted similar headlines to this in the Washington Post

“Sunday was the hottest day ever recorded on Earth, scientists say. The historic day comes on the heels of 13 straight months of unprecedented temperatures and the hottest year scientists have ever seen.”  (23/07/24)

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said:

“… it will not be the last record-breaker, as planet-warming fossil fuel pollution drives temperatures to shocking new highs.”

Paradoxically, record heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and flooding go together. For every 1 c rise in temperature the atmosphere holds 7% more moisture. This causes heavier raindrops, often falling over a shorter space of time, leading to localised flash flooding. At the same time, small differences in average temperatures leads to big differences in heat extremes. The change in weather patterns also leads to longer droughts, not least because as the soil dries out greater demands are put on existing water supplies, which are often themselves depleted, and the drier the conditions the more likelihood there is of wildfires.

In January this year “hundreds of (UK) homes were evacuated after heavy rain.” (BBC News: 05/01/24) In July 2024 the Government paper  “ Water situations: May 2024” informed us that England received 141% of the long-term average rainfall for the time of year. In other words we were close to having nearly 50% more rain as was historically usual. At the same time groundwater levels “had decreased at almost all the sites" used as measuring points.

We have more rainfall but less ground water because the increased intensity of the rainfall means much of it runs off the land into rivers and out to sea before it has time to soak into the soil.

Many scientists and naturalist believe climate change is the “biggest threat modern humans have ever faced". Yet what do we do about it? In this country we lock up those who try to bring the enormity of the situation to our attention.

Priti Patel and the last Conservative government wanted members of environmentally concerned groups to be put on a terrorist list and sent to jail if they dared raise awareness to the threat we face. The Tory government  under Sunak passed the  ‘The Police. Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, whereby anyone “conspiring to cause a public nuisance" can be jailed for up to 10 years.

Last week 5 peaceful environmentalist protestors were jailed for a total of 21 years.  Yesterday, one day after we were told that last Sunday was the hottest day ever recorded on Earth, six more environmental protesters were arrested by the police under the new “conspiring to cause a public disorder" offence”.

The world record for the hottest day on Sunday was broken the very next day.  April saw “significant flooding” in the UK, with 44 flood warnings  being issued together with 201 flood alerts. A new heatwave map shows a 224-mile heat dome about to hit Britain, and we decide to lock up environmental protestors who are trying to alert us to the dangers we face if we do not drastically decrease our reliance on fossil fuels

Some might expect Starmer - once described as "a green activist to his core"- to amend or even repeal the draconian anti-democratic ‘Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act’ but that is highly unlikely. Starmer’s emphasis on “growing the economy” means he cannot do without the oil and gas companies. The oil and gas sector is worth £20bn to the UK economy and supports 200,000 jobs across its supply chain.

So even though Starmer knows the existential threat climate change and fossil fuel consumption means for our planet, he isn’t going to do anything to upset the fossil fuel industry. Couple this to Starmer’s authoritarianism and his total abhorrence of dissent, and you can expect many more peaceful protesters to be sent to our already overflowing prisons. 

[nicklloydnow]

““From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” chant the useful idiots at elite institutions and parades in the West. Who are these people? Atheists who support theocratic lunatics, democrats who endorse medieval tyrants, feminists who defend misogynists who parade with the desecrated corpses of women, gays who defend maniacs who would joyfully hang them or toss them off the roof of a tall building. They talk of a secular, democratic and socialist Palestine. As George Orwell observed: “One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.” But the world has now seen what “from the river to the sea” actually means. It is nothing less than a remake of the Nazi Einsatzgruppen.

Israel expelled its own population from Gaza in 2005 so that Palestinian Arabs could begin building their own state. They instead chose Hamas. The enemies of Israel aren’t in favor of a Palestinian state. They aren’t in favor of anything positive, but only of a negative: the denial of life, especially of Jewish life. The goal is genocide. The method is mass murder of the type Jews haven’t experienced since the Holocaust.

Hence, the West needs to understand that to defend human life and dignity, it isn’t enough to claim to side with Israel. It needs to understand what this means: total, unrestrictive support. That is nothing less than allowing this beleaguered country to defend itself fully. To recognize that Hamas needs to be destroyed for the same reason and by the same method that the Nazis were. Israel is entitled to do whatever it takes to uproot this evil residing next to it. And, more important, that once it begins to proceed in that direction, it won’t be demonized for defending that which is the core of Western civilization and which its enemies hate the most: the love of everyone’s right to human life, dignity and happiness.

In other words, it needs to support a complete, total and decisive Israeli victory. If this implies an overwhelming, unprecedented use of military force, so be it. Hamas is and will be responsible for any civilian casualties. Cause and effect. They created their own destruction, and its consequences.

Mere victory isn’t enough. Israel has won every war it has ever fought. This time, the triumph must be so thorough and conclusive that there will never be any other war for this country. Israel has a moral right to finish the job, and the West has a moral duty to support it. Let Israel do what it must to finish this war in the fastest way possible, with the minimum civilian and military casualties on its side. The consequences of this lie on the group that initiated the causal sequence—the one that must be completely destroyed, Hamas.”

“If “peace” breaks out right now (we are writing on 10/23/23), or, better yet, if it had done so a few days ago, Hamas would have literally gotten away with murder (and torture, and other unspeakable evils too). They would have suffered from no IDF reaction at all.

Is this what the Middle Eastern “peace-niks” really want? If so, they are aiding and abetting sickening attacks on innocent Jews. If that is not their goal, they should cease and desist from their cries for “peace.” That would be the peace of the grave for Israel.

(…)

If Israel disarmed, there would no longer be any such country, and all of its Jewish citizens would be murdered. If Hamas and other such groups, including Hezbollah and their ultimate masters in Iran, deactivated their weaponry there would be peace, real peace, with no scare quotes surrounding that word.

Given that this scenario is extremely unlikely to occur, what is the path to peace in the Middle East, to real peace, to long run peace?

It is at present, paradoxically, war. And not just “lawn-mowing,” a superficial battle as the New York Times recommends. But, rather, precisely what they inveigh against: “Once and for All” war. War to end the need for any further war. War of the sort conducted by the Allies vis a vis Nazi Germany in 1945. Only then will real peace be achieved.

(…)

Yes, the way forward toward peace, real peace, permanent peace, long run peace is to demonstrate that Israel will no longer tolerate the abominations dished out to it with glee by theocratic murderers.

Its motto henceforth ought not to be “Peace”, but “Peace through strength.” Or: “Never Again.” (Where have we heard that before?) But this time, really mean it and act on it. No peace without justice. Without it, the massacre is guaranteed to occur once again. Israel must not let it happen and the West must support it. Otherwise, Israel will be in an existential danger of which what we saw on October 7 is only a prelude. And make no mistake, if such catastrophic scenario occurs, the rest of the West are next.

No justice, no peace!”