#Trump wished Kim Jong

[tomorrowusa]

Never mind the 22nd amendment. Some Trumpsters are already talking about a THIRD Trump term.

The American Conservative magazine published an article last week in which the author, Peter Tonguette, argued that Trump should be able to run for a third term in office in 2028. This drew some attention in non-Trump circles as a potential trial balloon by Project 2025, the authoritarian policy agenda that is guiding Trumpworld right now. Tonguette argued that Trump’s victory in the GOP primary contest this year shows that voters still support him—and that they should be allowed to do so indefinitely. “As the primary season has shown us, the Republicans have not moved on from Trump—yet the Twenty-second Amendment works to constrain their enthusiasm by prohibiting them from rewarding Trump with re-election four years from now,” he wrote, perhaps getting ahead of himself a bit. I do not doubt that Trump would run for a third term if he could. He has addressed the possibility before, suggesting in 2020 that he should get to run for one “because they spied on my campaign,” referring to his political opponents. And at a closed-door fundraiser in 2018, Trump also favorably referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping for eliminating the two-term limit in that country. “He’s now president for life, president for life, and he’s great,” he reportedly told his supporters. “And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday.”

Maybe Trump's campaign slogan for 2028 should be: Make America Belarus. The dictator of Belarus, a Putin satellite, has been using rigged elections to remain in power since 1994.

Never mind the US Constitution. Trump's trained seals on the US Supreme Court will gladly find some loophole allowing him to be president in perpetuity.

If somebody says he wants to be a dictator, believe him – especially if he's already a big fanboy of despots like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, and Xi Jinping.

It's almost always easier to prevent a dictator from taking power than it is to get rid of one who is already in power.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Stephen Robinson at Public Notice:

A persistent theme at any Trump rally is MAGA’s utter contempt for America, which Donald Trump has repeatedly called a “garbage can for the world.” The MAGA movement is actively hostile to the America that currently exists — a diverse, inclusive multicultural democracy (even if it’s hanging by a thread). So on Election Day, it’s worth unpacking the ways in which Trump offers his supporters the promise of an America that’s eerily similar to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, a white male-dominated kleptocracy with rampant cronyism and corruption where a not-so-free press submits to the will of an authoritarian ruler.

Trump openly admires Putin, a thuggish dictator with a long history of killing his political opponents and critical journalists. At his hate rallies, Trump repeatedly refers to the media and non-MAGA politicians as “enemies within” that might need to be suppressed with force. It’s increasingly obvious that MAGA and Putin’s goals are closely aligned. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Elon Musk, a close Trump ally, has been in regular contact with Putin and other Kremlin officials since late 2022. This was around the same time that Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which he later renamed “X” and transformed into an online suppository for hate speech, disinformation, and pro-authoritarian content. Musk’s critics have described the billionaire CEO as a “useful idiot” for Putin, but that supposes Putin has manipulated a clueless Musk. In reality, Musk’s fondness for Putin is just as sincere as Tucker Carlson’s. Carlson, you might remember, earlier this year went on a grand tour of Russia, which he described as superior in every way to modern American society.

[...]

No Kompromat needed

Trump is the leader of a personality cult, so it stands to reason he’d relate more to strongmen rulers. He’s wished that “his people” would stand at attention the way North Koreans do for dictator Kim Jong Un, and he’s called himself a “big fan” of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Trump said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who our European allies rightly shun, is “a great man, a great leader.” Orbán respects the rule of law about as much as Trump does. Putin has received considerable praise from Trump, who’s called him a “genius” and savvy” after he invaded Ukraine. “They say, ‘Trump said Putin’s smart.�� I mean, he’s taking over a country for two dollars’ worth of sanctions,” Trump said at a 2022 fundraiser. After his January 6-related indictments, Trump literally quoted Putin, who said the charges against Trump revealed “the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.”

Russian elections are more like predetermined “events” than a true democratic process, but it’s possible that Trump is both gullible and stupid enough to buy the Russian propaganda that Putin commands high approval from voters (particularly women) because of his dominant masculinity. MAGA finds strongmen rulers appealing because they don’t answer to a democratic society that they consider weak and overly feminized. A recent Turning Point Action event illustrated this. Tucker Carlson described America as “a two-year-old smearing the contents of his diapers on the wall” and “a hormone-addled 15-year-old girl slamming the door and giving you the finger.” “There has to be a point at which Dad comes home,” Carlson said, referring to Trump’s possible re-election. “Dad comes home and he’s pissed … and when Dad gets home, you know what he says? You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now. And no, it’s not going to hurt me more than it hurts you."

[...] MAGA men are greatly disturbed at the possibility that women voters will deny Trump a second term. Charlie Kirk and Jesse Watters have both complained about (presumably white) women defying their husbands and voting for Kamala Harris. This is the sort of concern one would typically associate with countries like Russia, which has a patriarchal, overtly misogynistic government. Russian women are underrepresented in parliament and earn 30 percent less than their male counterparts. They’re barred from supposed “strenuous” occupations like aircraft repair, construction and firefighting. One in five Russian women face domestic abuse every year, and in 2017, Russia’s legislative body decriminalized domestic violence that does not require hospital treatment.

[...]

The blurry line between Putinism and Trumpism

Musk is a born again member of the Trump cult, and and his personal political radicalization fits seamlessly with Russia’s extremist policies. Musk has argued that the “woke mind virus” is a threat to “modern civilization.” According to his biographer Walter Isaacson, “Musk’s anti-woke sentiments were partly triggered by the decision of his oldest child, then 16, to transition.” Thus, Musk’s purchase of Twitter was both personal and political. He’s vowed to destroy the “woke” ideology that he believes cost him his child, who no longer speaks to him. He believes “wokeness” has “infected” America, and that the former Twitter suppressed rightwing and “anti-establishment” voices.

It might seem absurd that a billionaire would not consider himself part of the establishment, but MAGA has long coded the “establishment” as overly feminine and minority-driven. After California passed a gender identity law, Musk announced that he was moving SpaceX and X to Texas. Trump’s campaign has spent millions on anti-trans ads that air in battleground states on NFL and college football games. Meanwhile, Trump keeps repeating the absurd, sick lie that schools perform ad-hoc gender-reassignment surgeries on students. “You know, they take your kid,” he said on Fox & Friends last month. “There are some places, your boy leaves the school, comes back a girl. Without parental consent. What is that all about?" 

Putin shares Musk and Trump’s contempt for trans people. He’s personally rails against what he describes as the West’s “degradation and degeneration,” specifically trans people, and his rhetoric wouldn’t stand out at a Trump rally. Putin’s transphobia is unchallenged law in Russia, which actively persecutes transgender people. Parents can lose their children simply because they’re trans. Russia’s Supreme Court ruled last year that the “international LGBTQ movement” is an “extremist organization” that incites social and religious discord. Russia’s gay propaganda law bans all public information or activities that support LGBTQ rights or display non-heterosexual orientation. There’s no exception for the arts or education. Indeed, Putin has promoted Russia as a sort of “anti-woke” haven. The Moscow Times reported in September that Putin had approved “an extension of temporary residence permits to those disillusioned with the identity politics and militant wokeism rampant across the West.” In this regard, Putin sounds like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who claims his state is where “woke goes to die.” (Musk originally supported DeSantis’s face-planting presidential run.)

Will America remain free, or will it become like Hungary and Russia? Find out.

See Also:

Vox: It’s not alarmist: A second Trump term really is an extinction-level threat to democracy

[vote-democrat-president-congress]

Washington Post:

How Trump is already damaging U.S. national interests

Assuming they do end up facing each other in November, Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump will offer voters a stark choice between the former’s support for the network of alliances and international institutions the United States helped create after World War II and the latter’s “America First” approach. In that sense, U.S. voters will not be choosing a direction for their country alone but for the world as a whole.

The assumption underlying such institutions as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the mutual defense agreements that bind the United States with Japan and South Korea is that security is not a zero-sum proposition. By committing resources over extended periods and combining them, taking mutual advantage of differing capabilities, countries can make themselves far safer than would have been possible if they acted unilaterally or in temporary concert. Mr. Biden believes this is still a workable model, which is why he is trying to apply and expand it to deter the challenge to NATO posed by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Mr. Trump, by contrast, has repeatedly depicted security alliances not as prudent long-term investments but as free rides for allies who get U.S. protection but do not shoulder their fair share of the defense burden. This is why Mr. Trump is pushing to end America’s support for Ukraine and hinting at a separate peace of some kind with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. His campaign website promises “fundamentally reevaluating NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission.”

Self-absorbed and easily swayed by honeyed words and calculated attention from autocrats such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, he inconsistently directs venom at China’s predatory trade practices and admiration for that country’s leader, Xi Jinping. This sows uncertainty not just in Taiwan but also the wider range of allies and partners that includes Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia and India. The Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy, has warned that a Trump return would raise foundational questions about America’s trustworthiness as well as “the credibility of its commitments to foreign partners, and the durability of its role as the [linchpin] of the global security order.” We wish it were exaggerating.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/05/trump-world-global-reaction-tariffs/

[pakeithpsy]

FUCKING FUCK OFF WITH YOUR SHIT TWITTER

For context, I replied to someone asking why female-led projects in Hollywood get cancelled by pointing out how important people still live in their “girls are icky and gross and have cooties” phase only for Twitter to throw up a “tHiS iS oFfEnSiVe AnD pEoPlE dOn’T wAnT tO SeE rEpLiEs LiKe tHiS” message, and my SHITTY FUCKING COMPUTER THAT IS INCAPABLE OF ACCOMPLISHING THE MOST BASIC OF TASKS failed to screenshot it, so I tried posting deliberately offensive shit to try and trigger it again to no avail, and lo and behold I can’t use Twitter for the next 12 hours.

I hate social media so fucking much. I hate this corporate, fascist, hypocritical dystopia we live in. I GUARANTEE you it absolutely does NOT show any message of the sort whenever some alt-right nutcase unironically tweets about how all the Jews, blacks, and LGBT deserve to be gassed and Hitler did nothing wrong. If “hateful content” isn’t allowed on Twitter, then how come The Quartering is still allowed on Twitter? Why is Scott Adams still on Twitter? Why are Dinesh D’Souza, Tucker Carlson, and half of Fox News’ staff still allowed on Twitter? Why is DONALD GODDAMN TRUMP, OUR EMBARRASSMENT OF AN EX-PRESIDENT WHO OPENLY BOASTED ABOUT HOW MUCH HE WANTED TO EXTERMINATE THE MEXICANS AND GRAB UNDERAGE GIRLS BY THE PUSSY AND NOT TOO LONG AGO TWEETED ABOUT POTENTIALLY GENOCIDING ALL TRANS PEOPLE SHOULD HE GET RE-ELECTED, STILL ON THE SITE?

Oh, I know why, it’s because they’re all dick-kissers who pay that disgusting shriveled manchild Elon Musk $8 a month for a meaningless blue checkmark. As long as you simp for that immature, snowflake hack who leeches off of other peoples’ success, you’re allowed to tweet whatever you goddamn please.

Just fuck this entire internet, fuck this country, fuck this PLANET even. I wish Putin or Kim-Jong or anyone would just nuclear bomb this disgusting hell planet and put this vile, hypocritical species out of its goddamn misery already. Letting corporations control the world and giving millionaires free passes to do whatever the fuck they want is what destroyed this species. We’re a virus with shoes and this planet would be a million times better if we would all just die off already.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[Steve Brodner]

* * * * *

[From Wall Street Journal :: Peggy Noonan]

Peggy Noonan: As to soft Trump supporters, the charges do nothing to keep them in his camp. They reinforce the arguments of former Trump Republicans now backing other candidates: He was our guy but in the end he’s all danger and loss. What were Mr. Trump’s motives? Why would he refuse to give the documents back, move them around Mar-a-Lago, mislead his own lawyers about their status and content?

Because everything’s his. He is by nature covetous. “My papers” he called them. Because of vanity: Look at this handwritten letter. Kim Jong Un loves Trump. See who I was? Look at this invasion plan. Because he wished to have, at hand, cherry-picked documentation he could deploy to undercut assertions by those who worked with him that he ordered them to do wild and reckless things.

My fear is that Mar-a-Lago is a nest of spies. Membership in the private club isn’t fully or deeply vetted; anyone can join who has the money (Mr. Trump reportedly charges a $200,000 initiation fee). A spy—not a good one, just your basic idiot spy—would know of the documents scattered throughout the property, and of many other things. All our international friends and foes would know.

Strange things happen in Mar-a-Lago. In 2019 a Chinese woman carrying four cellphones, a hard drive and a thumb drive infected with malware breezed past security and entered without authorization. She was arrested and jailed for eight months. Another Chinese woman was arrested soon after; a jury acquitted her of trespassing but convicted her of resisting arrest. In 2021 a “Ukrainian fake heiress and alleged charity scammer” gained access, according to the Guardian.

Who else has? Mar-a-Lago isn’t secure. Those documents didn’t belong there. It is a danger to our country that they were. This story will do Mr. Trump no good with his supporters. It will hurt him—maybe not a lot but some, maybe not soon but in time. I mean the quiet Trump supporters, not big mouths and people making money on the game, but honest people.

[bennett2112]

26 November 2024 - Trip to the DMZ (a one off post by Phoebe)

I’m a fiction reader so I can probably count on one hand how many non fiction books I’ve made it to the end of. One such book is In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park which is her story around life in North Korea before escaping and enduring a harrowing journey across China and the Gobi Desert and finding freedom in South Korea. It is a deeply interesting book and I knew if the opportunity ever arose, I was keen to learn more about the war - hence, I dragged Luke to the DMZ!

We started the day at Imginjak which was built with the purpose of unification between the north and south, where everything is named with peace in mind I.e. peace bridge, peace gondola etc. Here we saw the Bridge of Freedom, which South Koreans crossed when they came back to their home country from North Korea after the signing of the Armistice Agreement. Mangbaedan Alter, which stands opposite Imjingak, is famous as the place where Korean’s separated from their families in the North visit to perform ancestral rites by bowing toward their hometowns every New Year’s Day and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). Interestingly they also had a small amusement park which looked out of place but it was built for entertaining young children who don’t understand the significance of the DMZ and the need to visit. Here we also went on the peace gondola which takes you on a ride across literal land mines! On the other side of the gondola track, we were able to tie peace ribbons where some wrote their wishes and prayers down.

Did you know Kim Jong-un made everyone who had the same name as him legally change their names when he became dictator? Madness. Although that’s really the tip of the iceberg.

We then went across the Unification Bridge, also known as the Cow Bridge on the way to the Dora Observatory. The founder of Hyundai, Chung Ju Yung was from North Korea and escaped to South Korea by stealing a cow from his family and selling it in order to fund his trip. After getting rich with Hyundai, Chung Ju Yung, rebuilt a bridge within the DMZ that had been damaged during the conflict. According to the tour guide, this bridge is known as the “cow bridge” because when it was rebuilt, Chung Ju Yung crossed over to North Korea and took along with him 1001 cows in order to amend his transgression of stealing a cow from his family when he left home for South Korea.

Before getting to the Dora Observatory, Chloe (our tour guide) mentioned that we would no longer be able to a) use the rooftop and b) go and visit the Joint Security Area. For the rooftop, I had already seen this in the news (and of course my mother had shared panicked instagram reels of this with me) of North Korea sending bags of rubbish and poo over to South Korea by balloons and apparently this is still an ongoing threat so no rooftop access allowed! The JSA is the only “open” area (ie. no barbed wire/gates etc.) along the border where the North and South Korean guards face each other and its owned by the United Nations and it’s where people like Trump would meet with North Korean officials. This was included in tours until a US Soldier, Travis King, who was on this DMZ tour ran across the demarcation line and into North Korea. You can see the whole story in the news but I just can’t personally fathom the motivation for doing that.

The Dora Observatory is the one place you can literally look out into North Korea and it was just an unbelievable sight. There’s a lot I could mention here so I’ll stick to the highlights:

1. There’s a giant GPS blocking tower which is taller than the surrounding mountains. This is to stop any kind of signal from South Korea getting through to North Korea. This doesn’t stop South Korea from blasting out KPOP music and other news announcements in the hope someone might hear them.

2. Daeseong-dong is a South Korean village within the DMZ. Daeseong-dong is only 1.6 km from Kijong-dong, a village in North Korea's portion of the DMZ. Here Korea's division is starkly apparent: rival national flags can be seen on gigantic flagpoles that have been erected in the two villages with North Korea’s being 60m higher as a result of intense competition. What makes this extra interesting is that whilst the South Korean village is real, the North Korean village is a propaganda village designed to show everyone how great life is in North Korea. The reality is no one lives there, not all the buildings have roofs and the windows have been painted on.

3. There’s around ~100 people who live in that DMZ village and they get checked to make sure they’re ok by the military every single day and you can only live there if you were there during the Korean War or had ancestors who did.

4. In the mountains there are giant missiles pointed at South Korea with the capability of reaching as far as Seoul.

The next stop was to the Third Tunnel of Aggression. This is one of 4 known tunnels between North and South Korea, built for the purpose of invading the south. When the south discovered the tunnel, North Korea denied making it and said it was for coal mining and actually painted the walls with coal dust. When we visited, Luke showed me the coal dust on the walls and you could see actual granite, making this tunnel impossible to be used for coal. The tunnel now has a military demarcation line followed by 3 concrete blockades, of which we were able to walk all the way until the 3rd blockade and look through a hole to see the 2nd one. For context, this meant we were standing a mere 170m away from North Korea! I’ve got a whole leaflet on this in my scrapbook and a pin badge as it was a real physical effort to get there (358m of pure intense hill, it’s a deep tunnel).

Finally we finished the tour with a visit to the market in Tongilchon Village which is a civilian control zone near the DMZ. This ties into the want for peace at the beginning of the tour with it known as the Unification Village. As they live in a strict military zone, they also have strict curfews of sunset. If they’re outside of the zone after sunset, they won’t be able to return till sunrise. The people that live there do so rent free and provide unique products to the market.

I could say a whole lot more on this, we learnt a lot of interesting facts and Chloe did actually briefly tell us about Yeonmi Parks story but let’s leave it here (if you made it this far that’s a miracle!).

[darkmaga-returns]

Joseph Addington

Oct 30, 2024

In one of her final campaign appearances, at a Tuesday campaign rally in Washington, DC,  Kamala Harris attacked the Republican candidate Donald Trump for his actions on January 6 and asserted that the former president seeks “unchecked power.” Harris warned the crowd that Donald Trump would use the military on American citizens in order to get revenge on those who opposed him, pointing to his statements that he has a “list of enemies.”

She also took the opportunity to criticize his political platform, asserting that Trump wishes to ban abortion, IVF, and restrict access to contraception on a national level, repeal the Affordable Care Act, and cut taxes for billionaires by raising taxes on middle-class families.

In contrast, she promoted her political platform as one that will benefit the American middle class by lowering costs and increasing housing affordability. She pledged to cut taxes on middle-class families, enact a federal ban on price gouging, restrict prices on insulin and drugs, and create a program to assist new homebuyers with down payments and increase the number of homes being built.

Harris also drew a strong distinction between the two candidates’ foreign policy platforms. While Trump, she warned, is the favored candidate of Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, she declared her determination to strengthen America’s status as a champion of liberty around the world. This includes strengthening the American military and maintaining our system of foreign alliances. She argued that this was the means to maintain the safety and security of American citizens at home and abroad.

In a concession to continued confusion over her relation to the accomplishments of the Biden administration, Harris argued that she was proud of her work as Biden’s vice president, but that her presidency would be different because the challenges facing the nation are different.

[cordialsilence]

I really like this point per letter breakdown system but anyways

(rebuttal is below for anyone who doesn't want to scroll past the whole thing, its long.)

A) An article from The Atlantic quoting trump admitting to giving away nuclear secrets - And if you want to google it there are many other articles from different new sources

B)

Anti Trans:

Trump Promises to Go After Trans People if Re-Elected - Vice ,

Trump Administration Doubles Down on Trans Discrimination - Human Rights watch

Trump Administration Erases Transgender Civil Rights Protections in Health Care - New York Times

Anti Immigrants:

A review of trumps immigration policy changes by Forbes

An article talking about how trump anti-immigration rhetoric is so bad it's stopping parents from seeking healthcare for their children

Let's not forget the whole "build a wall" policy that trump used in his election campaign.

However you did get me on this one, there is a reason trump is so anti-immigrant, and it starts with r ends with acism. One could also say the reason for trump's anti trans policy is transphobia. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a leader should not be racist, transphobic, or hold any other negative bias in order to govern their country fairly.

What I should have said is trump does not have any valid reason to target these minorities. There is no valid reason to deny trans people healthcare, and no valid reason to behave so violently towards immigrants.

Lastly, if the former president had said "I'm doing it for no reason to be cruel to them" like a 5 year old, it would not even come close to being the most childish thing he has said or done. (watch some of his debates)

C) Medicare helps Americans afford healthcare, and trump wanted to take that away. Yes, american healthcare is bad, but trump was trying to make it non existent for the people that couldn't afford it. Cutting back on healthcare would definitely hurt the people who can't afford privatized healthcare.

D)

Firstly, A leader should not hold any biases towards their own people if they are to govern fairly. There is no source for this, it's just common sense and critical thinking. A leaders job is to rule their people fairly and improve their country to the best of their ability. You can't rule a country fairly if you already hate groups of that country who have not done anything to warrant hate. Donald Trump openly holds very extreme baises, whereas Joe Biden does not. This does not automatically make Joe Biden a good leader, but it makes him (more of) a fair one.

Secondly, Trump is also anti Gaza/pro Israel. he literally wants to bar Gaza refugees from the US. (Source) He also said that "Sometimes you have to let things play out" when referencing the Gaza genocide. (Source). Don't think he wouldn't support Israel if he was currently in office.

Additionally, don't you remember him meeting with Kim Jong Un? The leader who is under investigation for committing ten of eleven crimes against humanity against his people? (Source) Trump wished him happy birthday and showed off the letters between them in his book. (Source)

'Generally bad guy' is not worse than 'illegally bankroll genocide' but 'generally bad guy who cannot fairly govern a country, seeks to oppress victims of genocide (and thereby supports genocide), states that you just have to let genocide "play out", and befriends world leaders guilty of committing crimes against humanity against their citizens' is.

Lastly, when I said that biden was americas "best option", I meant best option of the last election. Neither trump or biden are good people, or good presidents for america. Biden is just barely not worse than trump. My original statement was not meant to support biden, it was meant to criticize the american political system.

[southkoreaandjapan]

Escaping from North Korea....

June 25, 2023

We spent the morning at the DMZ and then had lunch at a place near the DMZ. Lunch was - AGAIN - absurdly wonderful and too much food. Below is a pic BEFORE they brought out the meat.

One of the many things I forgot to say about the DMZ is that there are villages within the DMZ. The people who live and work there are given special tax incentives to stay. I was kinda's surprised about that.

Additionally, I wanted to talk about the average Korea's take on the US. Yong was adamant that we understand that although there are some people who wish the US would pack up and leave, they are a tiny, tiny , tiny minority. Most Koreans believe that the only thing that is keeping North Korea from invading is indeed the US presence and they hope that will never end.

In doing my research about the Korean War, the DMZ and current events, I came over many articles written from the Korean point of view during the Trump years when it looked as if the treaties and agreements that had been in place since 1953 would be trashed. They did not appreciate Trump and his lack of understanding of the Korean/US Alliance, nor did they appreciate when Trump and Kim Jong Un "fell in love." I knew how many of us in the US felt about this - but I had not considered the South Korean perspective. If you believe your very existence is based on the strength of your treaties it must have been terrifying! FYI - they are much more comfortable with Biden.

After we returned to Seoul we took a city bus to the Seoul Tower and vistas were simply gorgeous.

We were lucky to be able to catch a genuine performance of the traditional Korean instrumental performance “Samul nori" while high above the city. This is the performance art that Nanta is based on and I thought it was pretty cool!

We returned to the hotel in order to meet with an interesting young man, Park Yusung, who defected from North Korea 14 years ago at age 19. My mind was blown. (In Korea, the surname is first and the given name second, so my name would be Dybdahl Gayl - FYI)

Here is the back story: His father defected when he was 10 and got himself settled in South Korea. The authorities harassed the family consisting of himself, his mother and extended family of both mother and father. His father was labeled a spy and a traitor. BUT - they were poor family from a small village and eventually the official harrassent faded. The plan was always to get out and join father - but this can only be done with money, so father saved. At age 19, Yusung received notification that he was to report for his 10 years of mandatory military service - and the time to leave was at hand.

It is not illegal to send money TO North Korea - but one can expect to receive only about 1/3 of the amount sent. You know - "handling charges..." It is illegal to send money FROM North Korea, however. His father send enough money to bribe a bridge guard and arranged for a "Broker" to meet them once they were in China. And he and his mother were off in the middle of the night. They carried what they needed - and nothing more.

Yusung had MANY factors in his favor but the journey was still horrific. The first and most important factor was the location of his village, Hoe Pyenog City - on the Tumen River. (upper right on the map below). The citizens for North Korea are not permitted to visit locations other than their own city UNLESS they apply for permission to do so. You may visit for a family emergency or for work - but the process is long and the denial rate is very high. Yusung's village was on the banks of the Tumen River with China lying on the other side.

The second major advantage was he had a sponsor (his father) making arrangements, funneling money, etc. BUT what Yusung and his mother were doing was illegal in North Korea and in China. He and his mother had no papers and had to hide, bypass or bribe officials at the all the numerous check points. To be sent back to North Korea meant prison or death.

Yusung and his mother traveled with many people fleeing North Korea and worked with many different "brokers". 7 months later he and his mother were in a refugee camp in Bangkok - more than 3,000 miles from their village.

Prior to this Yusung had been arrested on the Mekong River and sentenced to 40 days in prison. He served his time with hardened criminals - his crime was "no papers." When he was released - he was simply released on the street. (I want to point out the the men and women were separated - so although he occasionally caught a glimpse of his mother - he was not traveling as her companion.)

Finally, almost a year after he and his mother bribed the guard to cross the Tumen River they were reunited with his father. 14 years later, he is a college educated man who speaks prefect English, a film maker and he works with an NGO called Freedom Speakers International. The goal of the organization is to raise awareness of human rights violations.

Here are some things that he told us that shocked me. There in NO Internet in North Korea. Citizens have cell phone - but they will only call within the country. People know things are different outside of the country because there are smuggled DVDs and SIM cards. BUT the penalty for possession of these items is death. He told us he saw a smuggled DVD of Titantic - and then he grinned. It was cute.

We asked him if his family had been bothered after he and his mother escaped. They were for a little bit - but he reminded us his family are little fishes in a big pond.

To excel in South Korea you must know English. English - he had been taught - was the language for his enemy so he knew not one word. Part of the Freedom Speakers International services are instruction in English.

He is a citizen of South Korea and we discovered that the constitution of South Korea states if you are born on the Korean peninsula, you are a citizen of South Korea because the land above the DMZ belongs rightfully to South Korea but has been taken illegally. It isn't quite that easy though. He had 3 different interviews answering many, many questions. The 3 interviews were then analyzed and because they matched he was given full citizenship.

He is speaking in DC and I'm hoping to see him when we ( two grandkids and me!) are there from July 15-22.

Below is the video about his journey. I'm not really done with this - but I'm posting it while I have good Internet in our Seoul hotel. We are leaving in a few minutes to go to the airport to head to Japan. So - let the digital info flow. I might pick this up again soon.

Yes, I'm WAY behind.

Stay tuned!

[swldx]

BBC 0420 10 Mar 2023

9915Khz 0358 10 MAR 2023 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from TALATA VOLONONDRY. SINPO = 55434. English, dead carrier s/on @0358z then ID@0359z pips and newsroom preview. @0401z World News anchored by Moira Alderson. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was charged on Friday with abuse of power and money laundering over projects launched under his premiership, accusations that he said were politically motivated. Manhattan prosecutors have signaled to former President Donald Trump that he could face criminal charges relating to his alleged role in hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing four unnamed sources. The former president was told he could appear before a Manhattan grand jury next week if he wished to testify, the newspaper said. It said such invitations almost always mean an indictment is close. A number of people have been killed in a shooting at a Jehovah's Witness meeting hall in the north German city of Hamburg. Police say the gunman acted alone and is thought to be dead. It is unclear if the attacker is among the six or seven fatalities reported by German media. As yet, "there is no reliable information on the motive", police say. A judge in Peru has lengthened the duration of former President Pedro Castillo’s pre-trial detention from 18 months to 36, as the disgraced head of state faces charges stemming from his attempt to dissolve Congress and rule by decree in December. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a live-fire artillery drill simulating an attack on a South Korean airfield and called for his troops to be ready to respond to the enemies’ “frantic war preparation moves”, apparently referring to the recent series of military drills between the United States and South Korea. China's leader Xi Jinping has secured a historic third term as president from the country's rubber-stamp parliament. It follows a consolidation of power that has made Mr Xi, 69, China's most powerful leader in generations. Mr Xi has tightened his grip on power as China reopens from his bruising zero-Covid policy that has fuelled anti-government protests. Actor Robert Blake, whose long career was overshadowed by accusations that he murdered his wife, has died. He was 89. @0406z "The Newsroom" begins. Backyard fence antenna, Etón e1XM. 250kW, beamAz 315°, bearing 63°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 15359KM from transmitter at Talata Volonondry. Local time: 2158.

[itsistanbulnotconstipation]

What do you mean “against voter’s wishes”? His voters were desperately hoping he would stand down. And wasn’t it Trump who said he’s going to act like a dictator on day one if he’s re-elected? His admiration of Kim Jong Un and Putin have told us all we need to know. More conservative projection.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Chauncey DeVega at Salon:

Donald Trump is a dictator in waiting. Like other dictators, he is threatening to put his "enemies" in prison – and to do even worse things to them. These are not idle threats or empty acts of ideation: Donald Trump is a violent man who is a proven enemy of democracy and freedom. These threats of violence against his enemies are part of a much larger pattern of violent and dangerous behavior that is only growing worse as he faces criminal trials and the possibility of going to prison for hundreds of years.

In the most recent example, Donald Trump told Glenn Beck during an interview last week that he is going to put President Biden and other "enemies" in prison when he takes by the White House in 2025. In a Sunday evening post on his Truth Social disinformation social media platform, Trump was even more explicit with his threats of violence and harm, threatening that he would treat Biden and the other "enemies" like they do in "banana republics":

[The Crooked Joe Biden Campaign has thrown so many Indictments and lawsuits against me that Republicans are already thinking about what we are going to do to Biden and the Communists when it's our turn. They have started a whole new Banana Republic way of thinking about political campaigns. So cheap and dirty, but that's where America is right now. Be careful what you wish for!]

In "banana republics" the enemies of the leader and the regime are usually imprisoned, tortured, executed, and face death squads and mass executions. Trump himself has publicly expressed his admiration for murderous dictators and autocrats such as Vladimir Putin and N. Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. The corporate news media — with MSNBC being a notable exception — as is their policy, mostly ignored Trump's most recent threats to kill and imprison President Joe Biden and the other "enemies" of the MAGA movement. Ignoring the danger will not make it disappear or otherwise go away; moreover, to ignore Trumpism and neofascism is to normalize them.

[...]

These lies are part of a right-wing disinformation campaign in service to the Big Lie that Trump won the 2020 presidential election and that it was stolen from him by Biden and the Democrats. No evidence exists to support such claims. The reality: Law enforcement and other experts have repeatedly warned (and documented) that the greatest threat to the country's domestic safety is from right-wing extremism. One such right-wing terrorist, a neo-Nazi terrorist, murdered three black people at a Dollar General Store in Jacksonville, Florida two Saturdays ago. The "enemies" that Trump and his next regime want to put in prison or worse, include not just President Biden, the Democratic Party's leadership, and the members of law enforcement who are prosecuting Trump for his crimes, but all people who he and the Republican fascists and MAGA movement deem to be "the enemy" and "un-American".

Here are some specific examples. If you do not support Donald Trump and the Republican fascists and the MAGA movement (or are deemed insufficiently loyal) you will face prison or worse. The American right-wing wing has been trained for decades by their news media and other political leaders and influentials to believe that Democrats, liberals, progressives, feminists, progressives and others who are not "real Americans" are to be eliminated and subjected to other genocidal violence.

If you are a black or brown person, a Muslim, Jewish, an atheist, not a White Christian, a members of the LGBTQI community, believe in women's reproductive rights and freedoms, are deemed to be "Woke" or tainted by the "Critical Race Theory Mind Virus" or otherwise deemed to be the Other you will also be targeted by Trump's next regime and movement. Dictators and other authoritarians expand the category of "the enemy" in response to political necessity and the whims, grievances, and others mercurial needs and impulses of the leader(s). This dynamic is even more powerful in a political personality cult such as Trumpism. Even more so in personality cult such as Trumpism. No American, not even Trump's MAGA supporters and other Republican voters, will be safe from being put in prison or targeted for violence by the next Trump regime.

Trump and his advisers are actively creating the infrastructure for him to follow through on his plans to be a dictator when/if he retakes the White House in 2025. Trump's Agenda 47 is a plan to radically remake the presidency and American government (and American society) in service to his neofascist vision that includes such goals as ending birthright citizenship, criminalizing migrants and refugees, putting homeless people in camps, instituting national stop and frisk laws, restricting freedom of the press, ending academic freedom at the country's universities and colleges and other institutions of higher education, replacing quality public education that teaches critical thinking and the country's real history with a form of fascist "patriotic" indoctrination, ending environmental regulations, more gangster capitalism and power for the richest Americans and corporations, reversing the progress of the civil rights movement and the Black Freedom Struggle, taking away the rights of gays and lesbians and other queer people, further restricting women's civil and human rights, and ending US support for Ukraine. Project 2025 is a strategy that has been developed by right-wing think tanks and interest groups such as the Heritage Foundation. The main focus of Project 2025 is to launch a blitzkrieg assault on the American government by ending career civil service and replacing it with Trump loyalists with the goal of eliminating any internal opposition to the Trump dictatorship. In essence, these Trump loyalists will place his vision above the Constitution and the rule of law.

[...] The most foolish and dangerous example of wish-casting is the argument that "Trump can't win anyway" or that he will be in prison or disqualified under the 14th Amendment. Trump is a symbol and leader of a movement. The decades-long neofascist campaign to end multiracial pluralistic democracy will continue without him and will likely become even more effective and dangerous if a committed and disciplined ideologue in the mold of Ron DeSantis were to become its leader.

Or perhaps those members of the news media, political class, and among the general public who want to ignore or downplay Trump's escalating dictatorial threats would heed the warnings of former Republicans, the same people who helped to create the circumstances for Trump and the MAGA movement's rise to power? As a group those Never-Trumpers and other pro-democracy voices from the "conservative" movement are sounding the alarm, almost screaming, that Donald Trump means everything that he says about becoming a dictator for life and getting revenge on those people who dare(d) to oppose him. Those same people are also warning, repeatedly, that Trump's chances of winning the 2024 Election are much higher than the mainstream news media and pundit class want to admit. If Donald Trump was a private citizen and he was threatening his neighbors with violence and other harm, he would likely be put in jail or otherwise removed from society. But Donald Trump is not a regular person. He is a former president who commands the loyalty of tens of millions of people. When a person tells you who they are believe them. That wisdom and warning most certainly applies to Trump and his MAGAites and the other neofascists and members of the white right. Denial will not save you no matter how much you wish it would.

This Salon piece from Chauncey DeVega on Donald Trump becoming a dictator who will tear apart our Constitution if he gets back in is so spot-on: "Denial will not save you no matter how much you wish it would." America CANNOT afford four more years of Trump!

[few-favorite-things]

Us Trump On Reports Of Kim Jong Un Health Says, I Wish Him Well

Us Trump On Reports Of Kim Jong Un Health Says, I Wish Him Well

উত্তর কোরিয়ার শাসক কিম জঙ উনের স্বাস্থ্য নিয়ে আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদমাধ্যমে বিভিন্ন ধরনের খবর প্রকাশিত হচ্ছে। এরইমধ্যে মার্কিন প্রেসিডেন্ট ডোনাল্ড ট্রাম্প কিম জঙের সুস্বাস্থ্যের কামনা করলেন।

By : ওয়েব ডেস্ক, এবিপি আনন্দ | 22 Apr 2020 11:27 AM (IST)

ওয়াশিংটন:উত্তর কোরিয়ার শাসক কিম জঙ উনের স্বাস্থ্য নিয়ে আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদমাধ্যমে বিভিন্ন ধরনের খবর প্রকাশিত…

[aahsoka]

fuck ‘I dont wish death on anyone’ like yes I would NEVER send a death threat to anyone on the internet that shit is messed up but its not morally wrong to wish a man who’s caused an insane amount of suffering and death would die......like would you wish Hitler a speedy recovery?? Kim Jong Un???? No you wouldn’t.

[the-fugly-duchess]

What the absolute fuck, Wish?! This... is superb. No complaints, this on the other hand...

This shit is what fucking nightmares are made of.

[itsjustme-lola]

What in the world is this t-shirt😂