#anyways clearly i am very white so if the use of mexico as an example here is bad and/or badly executed lmk so i can take it down!!

[botanybulbasaur]

there is something so funny to me about campania's traditional clothing being listed as fucking medieval peasant clothes. and listed ONLY as peasant clothes. i search for campania traditional dress? nothing. neapolitan traditional dress (a little specific but okay)? nothing. southern italian traditional dress?? nothing. but as soon as i search peasant traditional dress..

like are you shitting me. of course it's a bastardized n simplified version but STILL. can you imagine if you were like "oh i wonder if there's traditional mexican dress anywhere?" and the only search result was "women puta dress" i would fall off of my goddamn chair

[officialjakotsu]

Fun with Fallacies!!

IMPORTANT NOTE BEFORE WE START. THIS IS MY OFFICIAL REBUTTAL. THIS POST IS FOR FUN BUT THE REBUTTAL IS THE ONE I WANT THE DISCUSSION TO BE ABOUT. LETS GO MY DUDES.

So, many of you who are hip with the officialinuyasha discourse probably know about this post. Now I wanted to pick it apart at the time but the coward blocked me. I have also posted my official rebuttal, but lets have a little fun too, and count the amount of logical fallacies.

Firstly, for those of you who don’t know what a fallacy is, it’s a type of argument that is either illegitimate or lacks relevance to what is actually being argued. For example, if I argue that chocolate ice cream is bad, and you say I’m wrong and people shouldn’t trust me because I once burned down a bank and made off with $20,000 USD (theoretically, of course uwu I would never do that). That’s a fallacy because it doesn’t argue my point, it just makes me look bad. Fallacies weaken your overall argument because even if your point is correct, it is not one that should be made in this context. So leave your fallacies out. Anyway, I’m here today to list off the fallacies in Mr. Takahashi’s post and explain why his argument is, frankly, bullshit in this regard and why it did not make me feel roasted in any way. Not even a little scalded. Ice cream is spicier than his takes.

Fallacy 1: continuum fallacy. “‘American’ consists of every race. So saying that doesn’t mean much. I’m physically Caucasian.” The anon had very clearly implied he was a white American which everyone else seemed to understand. He was nitpicking and attacked the imprecision of the wording, which was irrelevant as everyone else understood the meaning.

Fallacy 2: Red herring. “I heard there is a chance... and Blackfoot.” Your race does not matter in this argument if it is not Japanese.

Fallacy 3/4: red herring. “Why does my race matter when I cosplay....you can cosplay any character” this argument has nothing to do with my original point. I was not talking about cosplaying and my beliefs of who can cosplay what are irrelevant (but I believe you can cosplay whatever as long as you don’t wear something of cultural significance (I.e cultural tattoos) or change your features to look like a different race). This was also a subtle attempt to poison the well to imply I don’t think “black, short, big, or trans” people should cosplay characters outside what they physically resemble. (Also dude I’m short and trans)

Fallacy 5/6/7/8/9: false authority, appeal to authority, false attribution, faulty generalization, and red herring. “My wife is Persian.... that are eastern have no problems with us.” Japanese people living in Japan are not who you should speak to on this matter as they do not face cultural appropriation and people who are friends with you also do not prove that most Japanese people are supportive of you (I am including diaspora). Your wife being Persian and a Shinto priestess has no bearing on my point either.

Fallacy 10: false equivalence. Kyle Killian is not the name of a character. I googled it.

Fallacy 11: poisoning the well. It wasn’t a doxxing attempt but you sure want it to be (however I am sorry for posting what could’ve been where you live. At the time I was thinking it didn’t matter as much because it’s a bigger city. I do take full responsibility and have made sure to not post more like this.)

Fallacy 12/13/14/15/16/17: poisoning the well, appeal to motive, false equivalence, appeal to spite, judgmental language, and tone policing. “You do seem hateful... fictional characters”. None of these are good arguments and none of them even actually apply to me. It also assumes I am likely cisgender and that I “spread hate etc”. These are clear attacks on my person and motives and my anger rather than an argument.

Fallacy 18/19/20/21/22/23: poisoning the well, false authority, appeal to authority, false attribution, faulty generalization, circumstantial ad hominem, courtiers reply. “I doubt you are a part.... “American only means white”. Again, assumptions are made about me. There is also, again, the same exact things I mentioned from these fallacies before. Also my circumstances do not prevent me from calling you out.

Fallacy 24/25/26/27: again. False authority, appeal to authority, false attribution, faulty generalization. This is for the video section. I don’t need to explain this again. Listen to diaspora.

Fallacy 28: false equivalence. “My friend Malay.... say she’s “whitefacing” not too?” This isn’t the same situation, as foreign folk use English names to make life easier for English speakers. Also English =/= white. Asian diaspora also often have asian names. Krystal Jung, who was born in California and is Korean, has the Korean name Jung Sooyeon. This just isn’t the same situation and this does not belong in the conversation.

Fallacy 29/30/31/32: false equivalence, appeal to authority, false authority, false attribution. “Just like when SJWs.... LOVE SPEEDY GONZALES.” A more accurate example would be Mexicans speaking about something like the bastardization of Día De Los Muertos among those who don’t celebrate it. Something with more cultural significance. Also Mexicans have no standing in who can use Japanese names.

Fallacy 33/34/35: appeal to authority, false authority, and false attribution. Your family is one family and does not speak for all of Mexico. Also this argument still doesn’t belong here.

Fallacy 36: appeal to emotion, red herring, special pleading, and I would also argue an etymological fallacy though not in the usual sense. “Before you judge.... Yasha means “to live”.” Cute story but it has no relevance as we all know you named yourself Inuyasha specifically because of the show, as seen by your last name, and your wife’s name having been changed to Kagome. It also has no relevance because, again, you changed your name to a Japanese name on purpose and we all know this.

Also, a couple bonuses! Kettle logic (using multiple, inconsistent arguments to defend a position), faulty generalization (accident; an exception to a generalization is ignored. I realized how many this fit but I don’t want to go back and recount everything AGAIN), appeal to pity (this whole thing), ipse dixit (you consistently imply you’re an expert because of everyone you know or whatever), and straw man fallacy (you broadened my argument to something it wasn’t and then argued that instead).

That leaves us at a grand total of..... 41 fallacies!!!!

Congrats Mr. Takahashi, that’s gotta be a record!

[rebeccaseattle]

Stand and Deliver

I am, practically speaking a math teacher. Technically speaking, I am a mild/moderate special ed teacher, but I teach math, to special ed kids, mostly.   

Growing up, one movie I saw over, and over, and over again in school was Stand and Deliver. It was played almost every day we had a sub or the teacher didn’t have a plan, etc, etc etc. Then, my senior year my school theater program (of which I was highly involved) decided to do the play version. I essentially memorized that film. If you don’t know the movie, is carefully based off a true story of the famous math teacher, Jaime Escalante, an immigrant from Bolivia, whose teaches/coaches/mentors a handful of underserved high school students from a gang-ridden Garfield High School in LA into taking and passing the AP Calculus exam. These students success is so impressive, that they naturally are accused of cheating and the students have to retake a harder version of the test to indeed prove they do know math that well. 

Anyway, now that I am working math students, I asked myself, should I show the movie to my students? Somehow no one in my school seemed to know about the film. I’m sure things have changed in the 15 years since my own high school experience, and I’m in a different demographic. So I researched the movie carefully and how different educators felt about it. 

I ended up reading a lot about Jaime Escalante and the true story the film was based on. It was actually pretty close, a lot closer than your usual Hollywood films, it’s inaccuracies were few and not to dramatic. 

I found one fascinating blog post all about why teachers should not show this film to their students. One major point was, while Jaime Escalante was clearly an amazing educator who lead his kids to success, he was very controversial. Not only at Garfield high school as is portrayed in the film for pushing his kids so hard and setting high expectations for him, but also for later in life as he supported “English Only” movement in education. Many had the opinion that such an outlook is oppressive to students learning English as a second language. Most of the blog readers I read who said this, were like me, white, and native English speakers. I found this fascinating. I don’t necessarily agree with the English only movement, I don’t have an opinion and don’t think it’s my place to form one at this time. However, I think it’s possible to separate one person’s endeavor from another and appreciate one without the other. For example, I do in fact like Einstein’s general theory of relativity, however Albert was a huge jerk to his first wife, Meliva (whose name appears on one of the early drafts as its often said she helped with the math involved) and left her penniless with 3 children he refused to support for over a decade. Still Albert Einstein did do an amazing job of figuring out, testing, and working on this theory and that’s still amazing and inspiring. So I don’t think that was a valid reason to not watch it. 

Another educator wrote that Stand and Deliver was in the same spirit of “Dangerous Minds” which is definitely a movie about white saviorism. That movie, whose title alone offends me, also based on a true story, is about a white lady who comes to a gang-ridden high school and teaches English to underserved populations and like reduces gang violence or something (it’s been a while). That of course is a theme I need to avoid at all costs, savorism is a horrifying myth I seen projected onto my job, more on that later. For more fun we can watch the SNL skit “Pretty White Lady.”

However, Stand and Deliver is not the same as Dangerous Minds. The teacher is not a white person, but an immigrant himself who is technically classified as Latino. Okay, yes Bolivia is a very different country than say Mexico, or the other countries my students, or his, may come from. And I’m sure they don’t speak the same type of Spanish is Bolivia then say other countries, but still he’s an immigrant literally speaking the same language as his students. 

Also, the other factor I had to point out, is the math in Stand and Deliver, is actually very real math. In college I learned an excellent short cut to integration by parts, that my professors learned from the movie. Today things are a lot better, but in that era, the math in movies, was actually quite fake, and bad. The math that is done in SD, is actually quite accurate. It’s real calculus, algebra, and trig. I figured if nothing else I could show it to my kids purely for them to try to recognize the math happening in the movie. 

So I played the movie for my students and kept an open mind. I tried not to lecture or get to preachy toward them, I just wanted to be open to how they responded and then figure out if this was an advantageous movie for them to see. I did tell them to be aware of the various math tricks that happened in the movie. 

Also it was my first time watching the movie since I learned calculus and was very excited to revisit these scenes and examine the math. 

So here is the results:

1. My kids loved the movie. If for nothing else, they liked watching a movie in their math class. They would much rather watch movies then do math. It didn’t matter that the movie was nearly half a century old, still better than doing a worksheet or something. 

2. One thing that I noticed is that a number of my kids liked that the movie was about latina/latino students. A number of my students have a lot of pride in their ethnicity. While there are a number of white people in the movie, they show up in minor supporting roles. Much like the reverse of what we see in Hollywood today. The movie really is about Latin Americans and they seemed to appreciate that they were in the foreground. The minute it started, one of my students who had never spoke to me before then, told me about one of his favorite old movies, that was casted completely by latino actors. 

Furthermore, while Escalante is central, and he is portrayed as a hero, the real heroes of the movie are actually the high school students. It was very much a movie about kids in high school that delved into their family lives, dating issues, career decisions, conflicts with friends, etc. So it’s also a movie about high school kids. 

3. In addition, despite the movie being around 40 years old, there were a couple of cultural elements my students seem to relate to. For example, the way my students greet each other and their particular hand shake (which I can’t do, but am learning, growth mindset) was done in the movie by adults. In the scene when Guadalupe was putting her brothers and sisters to bed, one of my students, who identifies as Mexican, called out, “That’s a Mexican household there. That’s my cousins” My students commented on what food was being cooked in scenes and compared it to their friends and families’ cooking. In the conflict scene where Escalante confronts the college board representatives about the accusations, they were super engaged, predicting, accurately what Escalante would say next and how they would have handled it. They pointed out to me we have the same desks as the students in the movie (facepalm here). They even explained to me, the subtext of the gang violence around Angel in the movie. This is something I didn’t see or understand when I was a kid.  Of course this wasn’t the whole movie. A lot of the scenes culturally didn’t make sense to them, they were outdated, not relatable, or relevant. 

4. They liked that the movie talked openly about racism. Going back to that scene where Escalante confronts the school board, they were super engaged. They got very excited when Escalante confronts the college board representatives, and the fact that they were sent out because of their distinct ethnic backgrounds. They liked that the racism was being called out rather than everyone turning a blind eye and closed mouth. Most of my students, regardless of ethnicity were engaged in that part. 

Some of the kids though just spaced out, or were on their phones. I still have mixed feelings about the film, and would welcome other’s opinions about showing stand and deliver as a math teacher. It could be they were just grateful for a chill day. 

For me, I noticed a few things. 

1. The math is very accurate, and there are a couple of really cool math tricks happening in it. Namely integration by parts and the trick to multiply by nines using the fingers. 

2. I liked that Escalante pointed out the Mayans understood the concept of zero long before europeans did. I personally also like pointing out white people did not invent algebra, middle easterners did. I think the history of math is important, but is often whitewashed to be just about the Greeks and Romans. Often in history, only white history is told and the accomplishments of groups is silenced. 

3. The only math flaw I saw in the movie was when Escalante read ln(x-1) as the words L N. Any Calculus teacher worth their weight would of course read it as “The Natural Log of x minus 1. 

4. There are all sorts of subtext I understand now as an adult, that I didn’t as a kid. The fact the Ana leaves the test early so others won’t be accused of cheating off of her, or that Guadalupe doesn’t have a place or time to study when she’s at home. 

5. There is a honestly, the kids are clearly treated unfair by society and the movie points out this truth. The kids rise above by having to work extra hard to retake the test. I don’t know about the message of having the kids to work extra hard, I don’t want to get to preachy in my profession. But at least it acknowledges the unfair, racist elements the kids deal with, rather than be in denial or victim blaming I often see. It does have the message that the the kids are up to the challenge. They may have to work harder, but they are certainly underestimate by those in power over them. That makes an interesting point, but I’m not sure what it is yet. 

Anyway, I showed the movie this year, and I would love other’s thoughts about it. 

[leftpress]

Meet the McDonald’s Cashier Taking on Her CEO for Climate Change

If raising a family on a McDonald’s salary wasn’t hard enough, Tina Sandoval is working to transform the fast-food industry into one that is good for both people and planet.

Tina Sandoval weeds an Urban Tilth garden in Richmond, California. Photo by Brooke Anderson.

Brooke Anderson | Jun 17, 2016

This article is part of a collaboration between YES! Magazine and Climate Workers that seeks to connect the experiences of workers with the urgency of the climate crisis.

Tina Sandoval is a cashier at a McDonald’s in Richmond, California, and a leader in the East Bay Organizing Committee and the Fight for $15 in the Bay Area. A U.S.-born daughter of Mexican farmworkers, she is fighting to transform the food industry into one that is good for both people and planet, for both her customers and her children.

From farm to plate, warehouse to compost, loading dock to drive-thru, food-chain workers like Sandoval are the scholars of the fast-food system. Their experience places them front and center in efforts to craft solutions to the food, climate, and economic crises. But Sandoval’s worker wisdom goes way beyond her workplace.

Brooke Anderson of Climate Workers talked with Sandoval about her family’s farming background, raising kids on a McDonald’s salary, climate change, and why women are harder workers than men.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Brooke Anderson: Earlier today, we were weeding at one of Urban Tilth’s gardens on the Richmond Greenway. You clearly knew what you were doing. Who taught you how to grow food?

Get your Latest News From The Leftist Front on LeftPress.tk → Help Us Gather News (Click for Details) ←

Tina Sandoval: My mom. She lives in Michoacán on a big piece of land with cows and vegetables. That’s her thing, her passion. Being out there, cutting the plants, killing weeds. She is very skilled. I like it now too. I was born in the United States and grew up in Napa Valley, but I lived with my mom in Mexico for a few years in high school. That’s when I learned to grow things. But also, in Mexico, it’s not like someone teaches you. It’s kind of just called common sense, you know?

I was on my first strike when I was 7 years old.

Anderson: Tell me more about your mom.

Sandoval: My mom is Carmen Mendoza, and my dad Francisco Sandoval. They were born in Mexico, in Michoacán, in the tiny town of Atacheo outside Zamora. My dad came to the United States when he was 16 years old as part of the Bracero Program. He worked on the trains and in the grape fields in Napa. When he married my mom, she came to work in the grape fields too. That is what they did: farm work.

Growing up, my mom was the main support of our family. That’s true of so many households. And on top of that, she was a real fighter in the farmworker struggle led by Cesar Chavez. Some of my early memories are on the picket line. I was on my first strike when I was 7 years old. I didn’t know what I was marching for, but my mom was 100 percent fighting with the United Farm Workers union.

Anderson: And now you are with your daughter at all of the fast-food union events.

Sandoval: Yes, my daughter, Juliana, is 17 and lives here with me in Richmond. And I have a 7-year-old son named Adrian, but he isn’t here. He lives with his dad in Puebla, Mexico. I had to leave him there with his dad years ago. Really, it’s awful. I have some ongoing health problems, and with the pay at McDonald’s, I can only care for my daughter, not even myself. I simply cannot afford to care for both of my kids living paycheck to paycheck. We are stretching as much as we can, struggling for each paycheck, barely making it to the next paycheck—not living.

I always tell my daughter, “We have our documents. Don’t forget how lucky we are. Your grandfather came here first illegally, undocumented.” I mean, except for the Native people, all of us are immigrants. But now only some immigrants are the ones who care for the land, wash the dishes, pick the freaking tomatoes. And no offense, but it’s really not White people doing that, you know? My family, we are spread all across this stupid border, in California and Mexico—when California used to be Mexico. It just doesn’t make sense.

Anderson: Now you’re in Richmond. What’s it like here? How is it to work at McDonald’s?

Sandoval: Richmond is a tough city to live in. And this billion-dollar, messed-up corporation I work for is part of the problem. My shift is 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., five days a week. My paycheck is usually just under $500 for two weeks. Even if I can afford to pay rent with one check, I will have nothing left. And I only rent one room in someone else’s home, which is really hard. Our rent goes up, the bus fare, groceries, our utilities—everything goes up except our salaries. The least McDonald’s could do is let the workers eat their crappy food for free, but we only get 25 percent off.

Tina Sandoval and other fast-food workers hold a McDonald’s in Oakland, California, for several hours in 2016 to demand the reinstatement of a black worker who reported experiencing racism on the job. Photo by Brooke Anderson.

Plus, they throw so much food away, but they don’t care that homeless people are living in their parking lot. If we had a union at McDonald’s, I would put a stop to it, for the workers and the homeless. I should know how important that is because I was homeless in a shelter with my daughter for 16 months while I worked at McDonald’s. I could have been one of the people living in their parking lot.

Anderson: What do you want the McDonald’s corporation to know about the impact of these “McJobs”?

Sandoval: I just want the CEOs from these corporations to see the conditions our kids live in. We are forced to live in bad environments. Our kids get caught up in the wrong crowd, and you know what can happen. We know about the violence in those streets. We know about the police brutality. It’s right here. For me, it’s so hard because I work nights, and I don’t get to be with Juliana. I don’t always know where she is. It’s really scary sometimes. I hate it when people say these annoying things, “But where were the parents?” Please! It’s not that I don’t want to spend time with my daughter. It’s not that I don’t want her to eat healthier food or go out to a nice dinner or get Christmas presents. I just can’t.

Maybe it’s a dream for McDonald’s, but for the workers it’s a nightmare.

Honestly, people think that immigrants come to this country for the American Dream. I was born in this country, and I’ve never seen this dream we are supposed to have. Maybe it’s a dream for McDonald’s, but for the workers it’s a nightmare.

Anderson: If you could, would you grow your own food?

Sandoval: Yes, yes absolutely. I would love that. As I said, my mother, the farmworker, taught me to grow food in Michoacán. But where am I going to grow food now? In my bedroom? I don’t have land, you know. I would plant healthy food in a heartbeat for my family if I could afford decent housing here in Richmond. But I’m broke. Maybe with a living wage, I can get my own yard.

Anderson: You have been working at McDonald’s for almost three years and organizing with the East Bay Organizing Committee. What is the East Bay Organizing Committee?

Sandoval: The East Bay Organizing Committee is the fast-food workers union here in the Bay. We’ve been around for over three years. I am part of the organizing committee locally—a group of workers who lead not just their stores, but the whole organization—and I sit on the national organizing committee of workers from across the country. We coordinate the actions of our workers in all the cities across the country. These brothers and sisters, here and around the country, they are also my family.

Right now the organizing committee is almost all women. I think that’s important to say because women really lead this fight. We are the providers, we are the caregivers, we are the warriors. Like my mom. The men—and don’t get me wrong, there are great men out there—but the men just aren’t strong like we are. Honestly, I think that God didn’t give men the ability to give birth because he knew men wouldn’t be able to handle it. That’s why it’s such crap that men get paid more than women. They take all the credit, but don’t do the work. Sorry dude, but Head of the House is not a staff position.

Anderson: Let’s talk about climate change. What role do you think the East Bay Organizing Committee can play in fighting for climate justice, preparing for climate disaster?

Head of the House is not a staff position.

Sandoval: My mom used to get horrible allergies from the pesticide chemicals they would dump on the grapes. And my godfather, like many other people, he died so young from cancer. My co-workers are the ones who have the asthma, the heart issues, the unhealthy kids. I know about that because every day I have to make the choice between buying good food for my daughter or paying rent. Workers deserve both good jobs and healthy lives. I mean, what’s the point of winning $15 if we just end up dying of disease anyway?

I just think that if we as a union stay together, we can handle whatever comes. Like, for example, right now McDonald’s is trying to replace us cashiers with those stupid ATM-looking machines. To have robots taking customers’ orders! It’s horrible. It’s completely wrong. We don’t need less jobs for workers—we need more jobs, more hours. This union is going to fight for our jobs and against these stupid robots. The only people who benefit from that are the rich people.

Anderson: Tell me about your role in the fast-food strikes.

Sandoval: If I could go on strike every day to make a change, I would do it. For me it’s a big deal, being able to take a stand for my co-workers like this. It’s just in me; it’s what I do. I want to help my co-workers overcome their fear, fight the intimidation of the boss.

All this is why I’m so proud to be part of this fast-food worker movement. We take on McDonald’s and the other greedy corporations. But we also helped shut down Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities in Los Angeles, joined the police brutality protests here, supported the Black Friday 14, marched on International Women’s Day, led an MLK Day weekend shutdown of McDonald’s to say “Black Workers Matter,” and supported restaurant workers fighting wage theft.

We demand immigration reform, #BlackLivesMatter, and affordable housing, alongside $15 and a union for all. Because these are all our people, and we won’t leave nobody behind.

Producing in-depth, thoughtful journalism for a better world is expensive – but supporting us isn’t. If you value ad-free independent journalism, consider subscribing to YES! today.

Related Stories on LeftPress:

► GLASGOW EVENTS SHORT AUTONOMY UPDATE

► STRATEGIES FOR RESISTANCE UNDER NEOLIBERALISM: LESSONS FROM THE ZAPATISTAS AND THE LANDLESS WORKERS’ MOVEMENT

► TRUMP AND THE ALT-RIGHT

[libertariantaoist]

The headline was alarming: “Trump to Mexico: Take Care of ‘Bad Hombres,’ or  US Might.” The Associated Press story went on to report:

“President Donald Trump warned in a phone call with his Mexican counterpart  that he was ready to send U.S. troops to stop "bad hombres down there"  unless the Mexican military does more to control them, according to an excerpt  of a transcript of the conversation obtained by The Associated Press….’You have  a bunch of bad hombres down there,’ Trump told Pena Nieto, according to the  excerpt given to AP. ‘You aren’t doing enough to stop them. I think your military  is scared. Our military isn’t, so I just might send them down to take care of  it.’

“A person with access to the official transcript of the phone call provided  only that portion of the conversation to The Associated Press. The person gave  it on condition of anonymity because the administration did not make the details  of the call public.

“The Mexican website Aristegui Noticias on Tuesday  published a similar account of the phone call, based on the reporting of journalist  Dolia Estevez. The report described Trump as humiliating Pena Nieto in a confrontational  conversation….

“Americans may recognize Trump’s signature bombast in the comments, but  the remarks may carry more weight in Mexico.”

While the denials of the Mexican government were interspersed throughout the  text, the context clearly framed their statements as self-serving: after all,  who wants to admit to being humiliated? Certainly not Nieto, whose approval  ratings are in the mid-teens.

So, is Trump getting ready to invade Mexico?

No way, Jose: the AP story turned out to be fake news, just as I  said it was. As none other than Jake Tapper of CNN, hardly a Trump fan,  reported a  few hours later:

“According to an excerpt of the transcript of the call with Peña Nieto provided  to CNN, Trump said, ‘You have some pretty tough hombres in Mexico that you may  need help with. We are willing to help with that big-league, but they have be  knocked out and you have not done a good job knocking them out.’

“Trump made an offer to help Peña Nieto with the drug cartels. The excerpt  of the transcript obtained by CNN differs with an official internal readout  of the call that wrongly suggested Trump was contemplating sending troops to  the border in a hostile way.

“The Associated Press report said Trump threatened to send  US troops to stop criminals in Mexico unless the government did more to control  them, but both the US and Mexican governments denied details from the story.  Sources described the AP’s reporting as being based upon a readout  –  written  by aides  –  not a transcript.”

Quite a difference between the AP story and the reality.  One wonders how many people still believe the AP version. My guess: quite a  few. Once fake news gets out there, it’s hard to reel it back in. After all,  there are still people who believe Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Which goes to show that fake news isn’t new, and  yet one could make a good case that, ever since Trump won the White House, it’s  turned into a pandemic. Just off the top of my head, here’s five recent examples:

The “news” that Trump had moved the bust of Martin Luther King out of the Oval Office – fake!

Politico’s allegation that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin foreclosed on the home of an elderly widow for 27 cents – wrong!

The much retweeted tweet that had Trump blowing a kiss to FBI director James Comey at a White House reception (the implication being that Trump was thanking him for releasing information on the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails)  – untrue!

The story that a Russian bank was directly connected to the Trump campaign via computer, presumably in order to transmit Putin’s cash (and orders) directly to his “puppet” – debunked!

I could go on, but you get the idea. A veritable  tsunami of unverified (and unverifiable)”news” about Trump and his administration  has spewed forth from the open spigot of the “mainstream” media on a daily basis,  only to be disproved shortly afterwards. The corrections, when they are printed,  often come too late to undo the damage – and that’s the whole point. The effect  is to create a penumbra of disaster and dark menace around the Trump White House,  and one can’t help but think that this is what is intended.

And then there’s a more sinister development, exemplified by the  latest news about the Special Forces raid carried out against an alleged  al-Qaeda target in Yemen, in which a large number of civilians were killed in  addition to one US soldier (four others were injured). What we are hearing now  is that al-Qaeda  had foreknowledge of the raid, either because drones were flying much lower  prior to the raid or for other reasons: in any case, their redoubt was fortified,  and the terrorists were ready and waiting. On the way to their target, the Special  Forces team realized all this, but decided to go ahead anyway. The result was  a slaughter: an entire village was wiped out, we sustained losses (including  a crashed helicopter) and the mission, in retrospect, seems like it was a disaster.  We are also hearing that the mission was disapproved at least twice by the Obama  administration, and that Trump approved it when it was brought up again. Which  raises the question: why was the military reiterating this proposal when it  had already been rejected at least twice? Presidents don’t make these decisions  in a vacuum. One has to assume that the military said they had intelligence  that augured success rather than what actually occurred.

And intelligence is the key word here. Who is responsible for supplying  the President with intelligence in situations like this? Why, it’s the same  “intelligence community” that has been conducting a rather open  war on Donald J. Trump.

Which brings to mind Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s ominous  warning to Trump: “You take on the intelligence community, they have six  ways from Sunday to get back at you.”

In short, this whole incident screams “set up”: do  the Never Trumpers in the CIA have blood on their hands?

From fake news to fake intelligence – this is the  world we find ourselves in. And the problem is compounded by a systematic campaign  against alleged fake news by those who are doing the most to generate it – the  “mainstream” media.

We here at Antiwar.com have been among the targets of this campaign: the professional  witch-hunters  at “PropOrNot” (in  tandem with the Washington Post) putting us on their list of “Russian  propaganda” sites, and the much-touted “fake news” list  put out by Melissa Zimdars, a media professor at Merrimack College in Massachusetts,  which labels us as “biased” and “unreliable.” Marcy  Wheeler does a good job of debunking Zimdars’ methodology, but one has to  wonder how one of the only news outlets to accurately predict that the Iraq  war was based on a lie, and warn that it would turn into an utter disaster could  be dubbed “unreliable.”

This collapse of the journalistic profession couldn’t  have come at a worse moment. We are heading into uncharted waters with the Trump  administration, and the media’s constant barrage aimed at him actually undermines  any real scrutiny: they’ve cried “Wolf!” so many times that when the real wolf  is at the door they’ll have lost all credibility. This is particularly true  in the international arena, where the threat of war is looming large: from the  Persian Gulf (Yemen, Iran) to Ukraine (where Kiev is engaging in dangerous provocations),  to the South China Sea, the arc of crisis is getting bigger and more volatile  by the day.

Yet the “news” media is so busy bickering with the new administration over  such burning issues as the crowd size at the Inauguration that they have little  time or use for such trivial matters as war and peace. And when they do concern  themselves with such questions, their bad case of Trump  Derangement Syndrome prevents them from seeing – and telling us – what’s  really going on.

This presents us here at Antiwar.com with a difficult  problem: we rely on reporting from other media to give our readers an accurate  picture of events as they unfold. However, our job is made much harder if a  large section of the media has simply given up reporting the facts. The solution,  if there is one, is to be very careful about what we report as news: to check  and re-check, without jumping to conclusions, and then check again.

In short, we are doing our best to navigate these  troubled waters, and I can say unequivocally that we are absolutely committed  to reporting the truth rather than merely repeating the conventional wisdom.  I am pledging to our readers right here and now that we aren’t letting our biases  take precedence over factual reporting.

Yes, Professor Zimdars is correct, at least to some  extent: we do have a bias in favor of peace. But that doesn’t mean that  the information we impart to our readers is “unreliable.” The reason for this  is simple: our readers aren’t stupid. Once burned, lesson learned: we  would soon lose all credibility if we took to reporting only what seemed to  conform to our ideological preferences. Our readers would find that neither  convincing nor worth supporting – and we do depend on our readers for the resources  we need to keep this web site going.

We’ve been bringing you the news of the world, from  an anti-interventionist perspective, for over fifteen year now, but I have to  say we’ve never faced challenges quite like this in all the time we’ve been  online. The air is thick with propaganda, and – worse – hysteria, on both sides  of the spectrum. In the face of all this, we are doing our best to pursue the  straight and narrow path of truth before ideology, avoiding both the Scylla  of confirmation bias and the Charybdis of groupthink.

Wish us luck: we’re going to need it.

[thesylvalining]

Recently, an Italian friend of mine noted sharing my recent bicycle tour experience and outlook on life is one of the best things I can do to make my society better. I didn’t even consider enriching society when undertaking this cathartic journey; I did intend to try and comprehend my country — but even more so, I wanted to understand myself.

Pause: just in case any of you were asleep during the last five and a half months (four and a half of which I was dragging my crazy butt, bike and crap from Berkeley, California to St. Augustine, Florida)… well, I just laid out what you missed.

The Southern Tier route — however I started in Berkeley, California and cruised down to connect with the route in San Diego.

Turns out, I undertook a rather timely experience. During the era of “me too” I traveled across the USA as a solo female. Simultaneously, I threaded through areas of our very divided country — like the South — that many Americans view as unfriendly and unwelcoming. However, I discovered a very different America: a kind, welcoming America, across the board.

I also interacted with countless people who cling to “buts.” Not the cute, Italian variety — no, the kind that allows folks to evaluate their own lives and positions. They’d say things like “I always wanted to hike the Pacific Crest trail…but…” or “I wish I was as brave as you are… but,” with Borat-like pauses:

I connected with a whole slew of sympathetic souls — black, white, brown, yellow, conservative, liberal, female, male, somewhere in between — who seemed to be living lives differently than the ones they really wanted to live.

Waiting until dark before (spoiler alert!) I rode through the closed slide in Big Sur, California.

Simply showing up on their doorstep (in a guise not often spotted in rural America), in their section at the restaurant or their checkout isle at the grocery store, I became a mirror. I reflected back their own unfulfilled dreams, desires and fears. And occasionally, I was lucky enough to inspire. For example: meet Freda, a remarkable woman (and Warm Showers host) in Gautier, Alabama. I stayed with her over a weekend; in her listing on Warm Showers, she clearly states she doesn’t host cyclists on weekend — but it’s fine to ask anyway. I asked,  since the weather was wetter than a whale’s back and luckily, Freda didn’t want to turn me away.

But, she wanted me to “know what I was getting into.” Every Friday and Saturday, three more people turned up the chaos dial at her house and one was her friendly daughter, a recovering drug addict. Fred said I’d have to keep a very close eye on my valuables. Her daughter simply couldn’t help it; if something was in plain sight, she’d take it.

Sunset on Dauphin Island, Alabama (my next stop after staying with Freda). Incidentally, Freda was the one who took me to that nationally renowned BBQ joint I mention (The Shed).

I decided to stay. Freda’s honesty won me over — and the fact that staying in the rain would put a real damper on my weekend (pun intended). Freda’s daughter didn’t end up being around but her grand-daughters were. After a refreshing rest day with Freda and the girls (one about eight I believe and the other an early teen), I was reluctant to leave. Freda and I kept in touch and she sent me pictures and once, a video of the girls at a Mardi Gras parade. She said they’d only let her snap away because she was sending them to me — apparently I made an impression on them as a solo girl, adventuring by bike.

So among the other missions I inadvertently signed up for, I think sharing my experience in order to impress upon and inspire people to truly follow their hearts’ desires is one. I know change is difficult and not everyone has a gypsy soul like yours truly; nor is everyone able or willing to literally pick up and move out into the Great Unknown. Society and socio-economic status are powerful enough without adding in drug addictions, hurricanes or wildfires. Or being part of (as some folks I encountered) a struggling family of farmers or ranchers to whom time off is a necessary foreign concept. However, I encountered so many people with regrets and potentially conquerable fears that I can’t help but want to instigate a little change.

Enjoying the h*ll out of Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Below is a video recorded on March 7, 2018 (shortly after the butt crack of dawn) at my dad’s Rotary International meeting in St. George, Utah. Both of my parents are champions of support, not only during this powerful, wondrous chapter of my life but generally speaking. My dad gave weekly updates at his Rotary meetings while I was riding and got enough people hooked on the journey that there were 20-25 Rotarians in attendance.

I apologize as the pictures on the screen aren’t visible in the very low-tech recording I rigged up by leaning my cell phone against a half-full cup of lukewarm coffee. The pictures throughout the blog and in the slide show below the video are the same ones I employed in the presentation. Taking a gander ahead of time may help as I refer to pictures often.

Sometimes when it rains, it pours — like it did when I hid out for three deluges this day on my way to Morganza, Louisiana.

So here’s my little challenge to you: share this post and/or video with someone in your own life who is clinging to a “but.” We never know what will stick, like a patient, helpful bur and someday, cause a great, wonderful change.

This little lady has all the gear she needs for a cross-country bike trip…

On this bike! Just kidding.

My bike is in the bottom of the cart, in pieces. Above is all the crap I carried — which my dad refers to as really heavy 🙂

Awesome, self-explanatory sign south of Santa Cruz, California.

Me hanging out with (left to right) my brother Kyle, his girlfriend Kathy and Uncle Brian in Berkeley, CA.

Meeting the sisters on the ferry from Oakland to San Francisco — Colette, in the purple, offered to put me up in Pismo Beach later if the stars aligned.

A perfect example of guerrilla camping.

That ubiquitous, gorgeous bridge in Big Sur, California.

Schlepping bike and gear up the dirt trail the locals used just south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, California.

Riding the closed road in Big Sur with very little traffic.

Sage and Kiyan and I enjoying the festivities at the bridge reopening party just south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, California.

Nothing to do but ride on through…

After riding through the closed slide, a chance meeting in San Simeon with docent Alan. I stayed with him and his wife Judy for four days in total. Here we are in Morro Bay, California.

Staying with Colette in Pismo Beach, California.

Meeting fellow biker friends like Swiss Phil and Rosy and Canadian Dan (I think that was his name 🙂

Taking the left turn in eastern San Diego.

Heading into the agricultural desert in California’s Imperial Valley.

Discovering the border wall in Jacumba, California.

Making the most of a rest day in Jacumba, California.

The 2500-3000 foot descent after Jacumba, California.

A glorious new friendship with Katherine and her bike, Jonie in Glamis, California.

Meeting up with mom and dad in Phoenix, Arizona.

Salado cliff dwellings near Tonto Basin, Arizona.

Making friends with Alan and Myrna in Globe, Arizona (here we are visiting Besh Ba Gowah Native American ruins).

Simpson Hotel in Duncan, Arizona where I spent Thanksgiving.

My castle in Duncan, Arizona behind Simpson Hotel.

A big climb on the way to Duncan, Arizona.

Fred, the mastermind behind fixing my broken rack with bailing wire, screws and electric tape.

Riding up Mule Creek road after getting help from Fred, almost to…

New Mexico!!

Hanging out with Eleanor, who put me up for a few days near Cliff, New Mexico.

Hiking with Joseph in or near the Gila Wilderness.

The mother of all flats…

Gila Cliff Dwellings with Noel, Susan and company outside Silver City, New Mexico.

Entering Texas, where even the dinosaurs are bigger.

Broken pannier clips in El Paso, Texas.

The Beehive in Marathon, Texas (my home for two nights).

Navigating the Chihuahuan desert in Texas… for a long time…

Christmas in Del Rio, Texas.

Spending Christmas with Lisa and Eoin.

My drinking buddy and awesome uncle Casey.

Christmas at the Cottons, which includes hanging with Beth, who rocks.

Hydroponic lettuce farming in Rockne, Texas.

The infamous Warm Showers host, Carol in Carmine, Texas.

Baby Sylva, born in Richards, Texas.

The awesome crew at Live Oak Nudist Resort in Texas.

Welcome to Louisiana!

Getting marooned in Merryville, Louisiana.

Braving the roads after the winter storm.

Frozen swamps near

Drying everything I own at a Catholic church in Morganza, Lousiana. The secretary, Retta and her husband took me out to dinner, which was an amazing surprise.

Finally arriving in Baton Rouge, sightseeing (here, I am at the top of the Capitol building).

Meeting Mike — LSU’s mascot — with another amazing WS host, Mark.

Heading to New Orleans, sleeping in a garage (another WS accomodation) in Lutcher, Louisana.

Arriving at where I was staying: Tami’s! She’s a friend of a friend but we were instant buddies. Here, we were eating King Cake for breakfast on her sweet balcony.

There was some sightseeing, some voodoo…

And of course food! First, beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde.

Then a seafood boil while it poured outside.

Here I am at the Shed, in Gautier, Alabama.

One of many heavenly sugar sand beaches in Destin, Florida.

A cloudy day to enjoy a different kind of beach beauty in Inlet Bay, Florida (staying with yet another wonderful WS host, Martin).

And then I had to suck it up and ride inland through A LOT of rain…

Staying with John after the WS host never showed at the Pizza Hut in Blountstown, Florida.

Heading further east out of Tallahassee…

Camping behind a church in Wellborn, Florida (night of the sprinkler fight).

Helping with a couple simple farm chores with WS hosts Diane and Maria in Monticello, Florida.

Enjoying Ichatucknee Springs State Park on Priscilla’s recommendation!

And meeting the awesome guys at Amigo’s dive shop, thanks again Priscilla!

Quality time with my new friends Mildred and John in Palatka, Florida.

Celebrating with beach time in St. Augustine, Florida, my ultimate destination.

Meeting up with my bro and going to Universal Studios (thanks to Alycia for the ticket hook up!).

Relaxing by the pool at my friend Chris’ house in Apopka, Florida.

Spring training baseball game with Kyle-bro and Chris.

Still curious? Good! I have an ebook in the works regarding the whole experience, with lots more pictures. Stay tuned and sign up for the blog (if you haven’t already) to receive a notification when the ebook’s ready to download. Grazie, gracias and thanks for reading!

Presenting Roads Less Traveled Recently, an Italian friend of mine noted sharing my recent bicycle tour experience and outlook on life is one of the best things I can do to make my society better.