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lyndztanica · 2 years ago

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In Lieu of Twitter Going Dark Pt. 5

I wasn’t intending on doing this again on Tumblr, but given what could happen with Twitter, and people’s interests, I figured I would do a big charity thread for as much as I can fit in a post. I may have to split them into multiples, at which point I will edit this one to provide links to the others.

If you find this type of information important and want to learn about new charities (or submit others) I have a discord server that I will also link to in this to join. As always, the goal of this is to showcase places to donate your money or other resources to. Again, they might need more than money! Maybe they need a social media manager. Maybe they need someone else to offer rides or information. If you find yourself in a position to do something but you’re broke don’t let the money stop you.

Human Rights

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comittee :: https://www.adc.org/ - [US-centric] Grassroots civil rights organization that defends people of Arab descent by combating stereotypes and discrimination and defending their civil rights in the US.

Hispanic Federation :: https://www.hispanicfederation.org/ - [US-centric] Organization with a number of various grassroots programs designed to support and provide aid to Latines for emergencies, fight hunger, attain financial stability, disaster relief, get healthcare, and improve educational opportunities.

Cultural Survival :: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/ - International group centered on partnering with indigenous communities to help them assert their rights to self-determination and management of their lands and communities.

Abode Services :: https://www.abodeservices.org/ - [California-centric] Organization dedicated on helping low-income, un-housed people find and secure stable and supportive housing while also advocating for removal of the causes of homelessness.

Invisible People :: https://invisiblepeople.tv/ - [US-centric] organization focused on ending homelessness by documenting and airing the stories of the unhoused, followed by a call to action.

Amistad Law Project :: https://amistadlaw.org/ - [Pennsylvania-centric] organization of attorneys and community organizers who are working to end mass incarceration in Pennsylvania.

Greenlining :: https://greenlining.org/ - [California-centric] organization that seeks to combat the racial wealth gap and systemic inequality by investing in those communities and bringing the services themselves as a collective over fighting for them to be provided by someone else.

Thurgood Marshall College Fund :: https://www.tmcf.org/ - [US-centric] TMCF provides scholarships for Black students attending college and also supports K-12 and college education at HBCUs and PBIs through a variety of partnerships and research initiatives.

Equal Justice Initiative :: https://eji.org/ - [US-centric] Organization focused on pursuing racial justice in a variety of ways like criminal justice reform and creating museums and memorials to preserve history.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice :: https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/ - [US-centric] organization with the goal of advancing civil and human rights of Asian-Americans through legal advocacy, ending racial profiling, countering Asian-American hate, and media diversity.

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund :: https://www.pcrf.net/ - [Palestine-centric] organization that works to provide healthcare to children living in Palestine.

United Palestine Appeal :: https://upaconnect.org/ - [Palestine-centric] NY-based charity that operates in Palestinian territories and refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon. Focused on providing relief and development support to Palestinians anywhere.

Bakers Against Racism :: https://www.bakersagainstracism.com/ - International grassroots group of bakers specifically and creatives who organize to fundraise for various causes. No donation link, but there are resources to get involved directly if you enjoy baking.

Mutual Aid Hub :: https://www.mutualaidhub.org/ - [US-centric] website that's doing what I'm doing here -- curating a group of organizations, where they are, and what they're doing to serve their communities! I'd highly recommend checking them out, as they are mutual aid organizations and have a great spread across the states.

Violence Policy Center :: https://vpc.org/ - [US-centric] Basically the biggest organization in the US researching gun violence and gun deaths in all its forms. You've probably heard their name before, or at least you got information from their studies given how limited the NIH is from doing their own.

Brady Campaign :: https://www.bradyunited.org/ - [US-centric] named for Ronald Reagan's press secretary, who was shot during Reagan's attempted assassination in 1981. One of the oldest gun violence prevention organizations in the country and proponents of the Brady Law.

National Bail Fund Network :: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/en/nbfn-directory - [US-centric] national coalition of organizers, advocates and legal providers that use bail funds to help reduce incarceration.

CARE :: https://www.care.org/ - International organization that works to assist people in crisis across the globe. They help by providing food, shelter, access to health care, education and advocacy support.

Anera :: https://www.anera.org/ - [Middle East-centric] organization that provides both emergency and sustained longterm relief to people in Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan.

City of Refuge :: https://cityofrefugeatl.org/ - [Atlanta-centric] organization that helps people in the poorest neighborhoods of Atlanta procure food, housing, job training, to help them climb out of poverty.

Refugees International :: https://www.refugeesinternational.org/ - International organization that advocates for refugees, investigating why they were forcibly displaced and advocating for solutions and demand action on their behalf. Receives no government or UN funding.

Islamic Refuge USA :: https://irusa.org/ - International organization started in the US that provides humanitarian aid to people in crisis both for the short and long term. Originally rooted in natural disasters but expanded to include global poverty and inequity.

Human Rights Initiative :: https://hrionline.org/ - [US-centric] organization dedicated to helping migrants and refugees get everything they need to survive and thrive in the US.

Native American Rights Fund :: https://www.narf.org/ - [US-centric] in light of the recent SCOTUS ruling taking power away from indigenous groups, consider supporting NARF. They provide legal assistance and representation to tribes across the country, in important areas like tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, natural resource protection and education.

Navajo Water Project :: https://www.navajowaterproject.org/ - [US-centric] organization dedicated to providing members of the Navajo Nation access to running water in their own homes, which 30% of the families in the tribe lacks as of 2022. Dig Deep :: https://www.digdeep.org/ - [US-centric] human rights mutual aid group who works to provide indigenous communities, rural communities and BIPOC communities with access to clean running water.

National Council of Nova Scotia :: https://www.ncns.ca/ - [Canada-centric] the self-governing authority for the Mi'kmaq/Aboriginal peoples living off-reserve in Nova Scotia in traditional Mi'kmaq territory.

Mawita’mk :: https://mawitamk.org/ - [Canada-centric] an indigenous non-profit that promotes volunteerism within First Nation communities and offers assistance for Mi'kmaq people with disabilities within their community rather than outside sources.

PRxPR :: https://www.prxpr.org/ - [Puerto Rico-centric] aid fund founded by Puerto Ricans to help Puerto Rican communities most in need on the island.

Post One. Post Two. Post Three. Post Four.

#text post #charity #human rights

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chibiranmaruchan · 1 year ago

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If I can add something 👋🏼 so I was in this zine, but dropped out early because life got too busy for me and tbh at the point the zine started out, I had already felt like an outsider to the sailor moon fandom for quite a while. All those people's experiences working on this zine are their own and I can't add much, as someone who didn't contribute in the end, only heard varying personal accounts of others who contributed. But I can talk about my experience in the online sailor moon fandom, why I don't contribute much anymore and solutions to the issues.

I know the fandom is old af, but it feels as a younger fan, that it's hard to break in with the older fans. I understand the fandom has been around since the 90's and naturally, you do form cliques with the people you talked to from sites from before tumblr, twitter, discord etc. But it honestly feels like younger fans, when they do attempt to positively interact with older fans, are seen as annoyances at best and a coup to take over the fandom at worst. There's also some fandom mom stuff going on, where young people, even if they're in their early 20's are infantalised with how they're spoken to, very much like a parent or teacher telling off a child, which is disrespectful to talk down to a grown adult that way. Naturally fandoms progress (especially when the target demographic doesn't change to age with the original fans) to allow new, younger fans in. Honestly, it can be a beautiful thing when people of different generations work together and bond over a common interest, instead of the hostility I am seeing.

Not only that, but as a black fan, I feel like it's very hard to fit in a lot of online sailor moon spaces, because there's a lack of prominent black voices. I feel like there's a lot of black fans who have been minimised, shut down and chased away, when they voice opinions or contribute fanfictions, fanart, cosplay photos, just because it doesn't fit the American-Eurocentric view of Sailor Moon that's taken root in the fandom. It's hard to want to contribute to the greater online fandom, when I don't feel listened to or wanted around, because people know I'm black. This further creates more issues, because there's not more people who look like me or understand me culturally around, to make me feel understood, more included or wanted around. Sometimes I'm the only or one of the few people in a sailor moon group who is black and it's very apparent, but not in a good way. I shouldn't feel like I'm overstepping in the status quo, because I happen to be a minority in this fandom, but I often do.

As an European fan, it feels like the fandom can be hard to navigate, because it's very American-centric and that leads people expecting everyone to care about the same topics, that in Europe, we simply don't care about. There's no accounting for cultural differences and that makes for some not so pleasant interactions. The world is a big place, so you're going to find variation in how people interpret the same topic or that some people are not as bothered by something that's a big deal in. I've talked to quite a few European sailor moon fans, who feel this way and it causes us to just hang in the background and be nervous to contribute, lest we're chastised.

Lastly, I feel like there's people who take pleasure in intentionally riling others up and take sailor moon way too damn seriously. Like to the point, I have to wonder if some people can separate fiction and reality. There's a lot of fandom etiquette thrown out in this fandom, with people being in spaces dedicated to particular ships, characters, verses of sailor moon etc and saying things that they know is upsetting a lot of people in those dedicated spaces. Ofc people are entitled to like and not like what they want and people can hang where they want. But if you're going to keep being negative about those things, why go into spaces where you know people like a particular thing to always be negative about that thing? There's plenty of spaces dedicated to not liking those things, where you're free to scream to the void to your heart's content.

Fandom shouldn't be negative and it's a dick move to do that to people who are just trying to enjoy it in their own way and quite frankly, if you do this, you're contributing to people feeling like they have to hide their fandom interests out of shame because it's not in the same way as others. There's a lot of people who already get made fun of irl for liking anime/manga, subgenres or anime/manga aimed at particular demographics, for writing fanfics or drawing fanart, for cosplaying etc and they come to those online spaces to feel like there's no judgement, just for people like this to tear it away. Whatever happened to the fandom golden rule of if you don't like something, don't seek it out? There's a lot of intentional seeking to get offended and then taking it out on others. Even sharing some fanart online for the first time got such a comment and made me not want to continue, because of that.

Sailor Moon is cool and all, but it's not worth me getting my knickers in a twist over and happy to die over something that doesn't even matter outside of a fandom context. It's a comic and cartoon at the end of the day, it's not worth me getting upset that I'm going to upset people online who impact zero shit in my irl. Nor should it with anyone else. No one's entitled to anything from me, not my time, energy, a response, nothing.

But as someone who has made the graduation process of being chronically online to actually touching grass by going to irl anime meets, I can say things are so different for me. I don't know if it's a UK thing or irl thing, but I find none of the fandom discourses or cliques that are heavy in the online sailor moon fandom, are a thing irl. No one cares what we ship, which characters we like, if we prefer 90's anime or crystal, manga or musicals etc. The irl anime fandom has its own issues ofc, but not these issues. Especially because I hang in places designed for poc, especially black, to be able to enjoy being blerds. The most we do is dance and pose to the DiC theme, it's like reliving our childhood's all over again. Especially in 2023, with how mainstream anime has got, more groups like this are cropping up. Honestly, I highly recommend them to there's more than the online discourse as your only avenue when it comes to enjoying sailor moon.

the drops of moonlight zine nightmare

hello all, long time no post! you may remember (probably vaguely at this point) that i was participating in a Sailor Moon zine called Drops of Moonlight. you may also be aware that this zine has still not been released.

unfortunately at this point, i feel compelled to share that in addition to the long wait and lack of communication, the zine's organizers have repeatedly insulted and belittled their contributors. i've put together the following Google Doc with information detailing the general poor conduct of the organizers of this zine.

if i could go back and not touch this zine with a 40 foot pole, i sure would! thanks for reading!

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 6 years ago

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Morose Mononokean II 4

Aw, another little fuzzball to steal away my heart? I’m being spoiled, aren’t I?

For some reason, this episode was meant to be really emotional, but I felt pretty restless while watching it. Probably because I was thinking about playing Merc Storia all that time.

Mob Psycho 100 II 4

Didn’t expect Shinra to be back after his previous appearance…

Notably, you’d expect Matsuo’s name to have the kanji for “pine tree” in it, but it doesn’t - it has the kanji for “demon” and then one more.

I loved it when FLCL and SGRS went into manga mode, but for some reason, the transition into manga mode didn’t land as well here…hmm.

“I’ll go inside her…With an out-of-body experience.” - That sounds majorly wronggggggggggg, Mob, y’know? Even with context.

I find it interesting Mob perceives himself to be naked…as in, unguarded. He’s fine as he is and doesn’t need to change…in some ways, anyway. He could probably do with a few more emotions, but you get what I mean.

Wha-wha-wha-whoaaaaaaaaa. You mean, Mogami just got rid of Mob’s powers??? That is a nasty cliffhanger!

My Roommate is a Cat 4

Just seeing Hiroto near Kawase’s armpit…so unfazed…it’s kinda funny, but only mildly.

Tuxedo cat…ergh. The differences between American and British English never ceases to trip me up…I mean, the term makes sense…it’s just the differences between the types of English I’m annoyed at.

If you observe the OP, you’ll see Haru has that collar…I’m not sure if that’s meant to be a spoiler then…

Haru basically has the mindset of Kaguya and Shirogane, which makes this hilarious (and yet it’s still justified due to being a believable mindset for a stray!).

S-Smug dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get out of the way of Haru-chan!

Shield Hero 4

“Draw your swords!” – Wasn’t there a rule saying Naofumi can’t use a sword anyway? Plus, Motoyasu has a spear, not a sword…

Balloon? Now, that’s funny!

Using magic to intervene is the cowardly action, methinks, Myne.

I find it interesting Naofumi sees Raphtalia as a little girl – it’s a perception of vulnerability, potentially weakness – when things are shown through his perspective.

Falling Through Starlight is beautiful, y’know that? Be-a-uuuuuuuuuuu-t-i-ful!

Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka 4

Interestingly, Francine kinda looks like Mami (Madoka Magica).

Wait, is this woman Miura? (Sorry, I’m just wondering why Abigail – the blonde evil magical girl – would choose to use yakiniku to threaten people…)

Oh dear…it’s that train question (save one or save many).

Neding authority before you can actually do anything legal…now that sounds like Double Decker.

“Chef”? I was mortified when it came to the rusalka scene…but I think we already know why Povar is a chef…

CQC? Close quarters combat? Ooh, I’ve never heard it abbreviated before.

Well, I like how Povar and Rusalka Man (can’t spell Russian to save my life) always keep their salaries in mind. Makes them easier to see as evil.

Egao no Daika 5

Oh, this series has two moons? Kind of like Double Decker’s two suns, yeah?

I just realised Lily’s the only one with a skirt on her suit…

Morose Mononokean II 5

I don’t think I’ve seen a Fuzzy-centric episode ever since the first time we met the furball…

That hand on neck thing is apparently a CIA technique if I interpreted it right…just, it’s applied to a purple/white lion, so it’s hard to tell whether it’s the real thing…

Fluffy tadpole is best tadpole. All fluffy things are cute to me, even the lethal ones…I guess.

Seriously, if someone doesn’t call the animation of the Executive sakuga, I don’t know sakuga! That crow is some fancy animation!

Hanae’s mother is scarier than most youkai, given she can give me a nasty jump scare!

Mob Psycho II 5

This episode’s called Discord…which maks me think of the chat program of the same name…weird, huh?

Notably, it’s Dimple’s voice coming from Mob’s mouth…hmm.

That episode was real cool…it’s too bad by turning off the volume at the wrong time, I missed the Sajou no Hana song…

My Roommate is a Cat 5

Roku, Nana, Hachi…haha.

I noticed Haru has smaller eyes than Hachi…aside from the collar of course.

Aw…reunion too cute. I honestly think that this show has a fairly effective use of “filling in the gaps”, as it were, and thus making good use of cuts.

Double Decker! EX 1

Yep, we’re back with Double Decker!!! I’m glad to see it back, really.

Wait…ohhhhhhhhh. So Double Decker! doesn’t just refer to the bus in this show or the system. It means “2 Detectives” in Japanese (in a codeswitching sort of way). It was wordplay all along! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! I get it now!

This Deana assassin stuff must be a lie…

(after the commercial break) C’mon, Kirill, buddy. You’re drunk, y’know that, right…? Right??? Update: Oh, not drunk, dreaming. My mistake.

Oh, I was just saying that My Roommate is a Cat dos a nice job “filling in gaps”. Didn’t realise Double Decker did it as well. Also, how the heck is Doug unpopular with women???

So…Kirill actually got hired based on his feminine looks? Geesh, that Travis…

The thing I missed about this show was not being able to play the ED after an episode, so I’m glad to have it back!

Spec Ops Asuka 5

Having Kurumi fix up Nozomi’s arm kind of erases the consequences…but that’s what Kurumi’s for, right?

Barber Scissors…? Is this what happens when you take Kill la Kill way too seriously?

Wowee. Din’t think Sacchuu was capable of dealing nasty punches as well.

There’s gotta be some sort of parallel between Abigail and the queen vs Asuka and Kurumi…

Post-credits segment. Keep watching.

Shield Hero 5

Headbutt to the nuts! Oof!

When it comes to races, the one tune that comes to mind is one from the Dog Island (track 22 from this YouTube playlist).

I swear there was CGI during the race…on Filo.

Please don��t make jokes about Naofumi liking lolis, people. This is not that type of show…

Mononokean 6

Is it just me, or has this epiode been relying on the use of blue speech bubbles for humour more than normal?

It’s Mononokean: Sports Anime edition!

For some reason, I find the name “trashboat” hilarious. It was probably just “ponkotsu” (piece of trash) in practice, but the variation in English is really something to behold…

Ashiya sleeps like an old man, LOL. It must be cosy in that bed…

Moja is just adorable in whatever scene it appears in! Even Moja being dragged down a stream is cute~!

Relaxing your shoulders, huh? That reminds me that that’s a destress technique I haven’t used in a while. My head’s been spinning while I was trying to watch this episode, so I should probably get back to trying to do that stuff…after this episode, of course.

Price of Smiles 6

You think Spec Ops Asuka looks bad? Look at Price of Smiles melt in this “Yuni! You should recover!” scene.

For some reason, this one dude (I forget his name) being a father surprises me. He looks like the type to be single…

The female version of the name “Noel” is Noelle…get that right, people!

Layla’s right when she says one of the main causes of war is the struggle for resources and wealth.

Mob Psycho II 6

I noticed instead of a Mac or something, the computer is a “One” computer.

The board says something a lot more complicated than Saitama’s routine…which means One likes exercise. Maybe…probably.

“Codomo” phone, LOL.

The last time I heard of tofu in anime that I remember…was Boueibu. Something about Ryuu killing a man with tofu.

Somehow it didn’t occur to me until the eyecatch was over but the block…was tofu!

How do you even get drunk when there’s no alcohol in the drink??? (LOL)

Oh! Shinra again!

…Also Jodo Kirin!

Shield Hero 6

Naofumi is giving 0 f**ks about the dressmaker’s love of Filo.

Why is Filo CGI…? It looks unnerving, to be honest with you.

My Roommate is a Cat 6

Eleventh grade…16? 17? Heck, Yugo looks 27, not 17!

Notably, “Comic Polaris” is the name of the magazine that publishes the manga of this. Hence “Novels Polaris”.

Heck, Subaru. In the internet age in particular, people write to affect others. I should know, as someone who did just that just a few years ago!

Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine movie

Yay, we’re back! Crunchyroll bringing over movies is definitely increasing my workload for these commentaries, so with all the new things I’ve added to my lists of priorities as of late, I wonder if I can keep up…

Hitting us with CGI in the first minute of the movie…oh man, how far does CGI go these days???

Honestly, in my brain Wagner (Classicaloid) = the twins (this movie) = the Beppus (Boueibu LOVE! LOVE!). They’re very similar in terms of personality…

In the same way, Bruno = Schubert from Classicaloid (but swap one’s Sensei for the other’s Senpai).

Licht = Motz.

It seems like someone liked ponytail!Licht enough to keep him here. So it really wasn’t just me, huh?

Seriously, what’s this “God of War” stuff anyway???

Man, vocal exercises? This takes me back to my piano-playing days…I was a sightreader and only had to do one of the two (out of sightreading and vocal stuff), but there was someone else who had to do both.

This piano is bugging me. Its white keys are black and its black keys are white!

Somehow, Heine’s small top hat suits him. It’s probably because he wears a small beret in that same position usually.

More CGI background characters…*sigh*

Hmm…soft power at its finest(?)

Seriously though, why did that evil Duke guy appear in this movie again??? He has zero use plotwise. Sure, he was important in the first season and if we ever get a second he’ll be important there, but here? Nada!

Have you noticed Heine is in all those dance positions a girl would normally be in??? Hmm! Interesting! But still…if there’s one thing I ever missed from the anime’s experience, it would be-oh, scratch that! This is my cue to watch the cheesy live-action dance ending! I missed it so much!

Egao no Daika 7

Seriously…who is Eins talking to??? Whose emperor???

They still haven’t revealed what this new guy’s name is, even after his introduction…well, technically he was introduced at the River Deese, but we still didn’t learn his name then. (Did we?)

Spec Ops Asuka 6

Is Mia just this show’s version of Kyouko (from Madoka Magica, but American of course)???

Oooooookay, that (with the kissing and stuff) is so not what foreigners are like, people…

Oh, goodness. Have I really been living with this stuff (girl x girl teasing, with Kurumi in particular being one of the more extreme examples I’ve seen) in my magical girl anime for years now? I mean, Suite PreCure is laced with the stuff…

If ordinary rigor mortis business is at work, then I’d say the heater is to speed up the rotting of the corpse…

LOL, there’s Halloween-class…and then there’s Voorhees-class…how appropriate for Disas.

“Only one of the Magical Five would’ve known about that phrase.” – My bets are on Peipei, but we’ll find out for sure…someday.

Mononokean 7

As much as I found the pillow fight scene with Fuzzy in it funny, I swear Abeno is a bit too sadistic for my own good. What is it with some women and their sadistic kinks…?

Abeno calling Ashiya “hunk of junk” makes me think Ashiya isn’t much of a Sousuke (from Classicaloid), but they do have a lot of similar character traits, now that I think of it…hmm.

For some reason, I think Abeno knew the conditions of the deal and what the deal entailed in advance, hence the training camp.

Seiza…means sitting on the floor in the position Ashiya was in (knees to the floor etc).

Mob Psycho II 7

“Cheeseburger Tornado”, LOL.

When Reigen got angry at the TV, I was just like, “It’s Shield Hero (Mob Psycho version)!” I.e. you con the conman and not turn the conned into a conman…or something like that.

Those microphones are so obviously CGI, people…

I know I’m a fan of Yuzuru Tachikawa, but episode 5 actually didn’t do too much for me, to be honest (even though it was visual spectacle, which is Tachikawa’s strong suit). However, while episode 7 looked less punchy overall, it was miles better…

“First-press limited edition? That is the absolute best decision.” – What is that referring to??? Update: It’s referring to the BDs...or DVDs...or both.

Update: Forgot to add Double Decker to the title and tags.

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officialsonic06 · 5 years ago

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anyway i wrote 500 words about *vagues at previous posts*

Will violent games get banned? Probably not bc the US military has at a lot to gain from violent games like call of duty having a yearly title to shelf

Secondly is the community surrounding video games. This is not just call of duty, but this is mmos, fgc, esports, as well as forums and places like reddit and 4chan. Chances are, people playing video games are doing so bc they are isolated from their peer group and games which include voice chat or involve playing with other people stimulate what they would otherwise not be able to get an irl friend group for example. Alt right groups exploit this and use online video games as well as the internet [aka an unknown frontier to parents – my mother doesn’t know what skype is, let alone discord or group chats, etc] to groom especially teenage boys into their ideology [the “when will you learn that your actions have consequences” kid? Yeah he made those videos as a child and was subsequently ridiculed for them bc cringe culture and in turn the only people who didn’t laugh at him? Nazis. Literal Fucking Nazis]. They do this bc once people have a sense of belonging it makes it harder for people to break away from them bc once again, they are alone. Not saying these people are entirely victims bc they are ultimately causing more harm to others but there is a reason to their actions but it does not justify them. Not At All.

And honestly, even if you don’t think of yourself as complicit, look at how engrained racism is in these spaces. Cuck as an insult, people being GENUINELY MAD at pepe emotes being banned in owl chat as well as the “Us Versus Them” narrative, this one comes around not only when predominately white rosters play entirely Korean rosters, but also during the overwatch world cup where teams will boast on social media how “this will be the yr we beat team south korea” despite there being like ten other teams – normalised racism in when all Korean roasters have their first loss – for example when titans lost the stage 2 playoffs to sanfran]

As well as people in voice chat suddenly becoming a lot more quiet when racial slurs are thrown about I don’t think I need to explain the link between white supremacy, the alt right [just say nazi], and lack of gun control within America

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vsplusonline · 5 years ago

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Chinese government report warns of armed confrontation with U.S. over coronavirus outbreak

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/chinese-government-report-warns-of-armed-confrontation-with-u-s-over-coronavirus-outbreak/

Chinese government report warns of armed confrontation with U.S. over coronavirus outbreak

An internal Chinese report warns that Beijing faces a rising wave of hostility in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that could tip relations with the United States into confrontation, people familiar with the paper told Reuters.

The report, presented early last month by the Ministry of State Security to top Beijing leaders including President Xi Jinping, concluded that global anti-China sentiment is at its highest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the sources said.

As a result, Beijing faces a wave of anti-China sentiment led by the United States in the aftermath of the pandemic and needs to be prepared in a worst-case scenario for armed confrontation between the two global powers, according to people familiar with the report’s content, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter.

READ MORE: Trump’s barrage against China over COVID-19 aimed at increasing U.S. leverage

The report was drawn up by the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a think tank affiliated with the Ministry of State Security, China’s top intelligence body.

Story continues below advertisement

Reuters has not seen the briefing paper, but it was described by people who had direct knowledge of its findings.

“I don’t have relevant information,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson’s office said in a statement responding to questions from Reuters on the report.

2:57 China asked Chinese nationals to help stockpile PPE

China asked Chinese nationals to help stockpile PPE

China’s Ministry of State Security has no public contact details and could not be reached for comment.

CICIR, an influential think tank that until 1980 was within the Ministry of State Security and advises the Chinese government on foreign and security policy, did not reply to a request for comment.

Reuters couldn’t determine to what extent the stark assessment described in the paper reflects positions held by China’s state leaders, and to what extent, if at all, it would influence policy. But the presentation of the report shows how seriously Beijing takes the threat of a building backlash that could threaten what China sees as its strategic investments overseas and its view of its security standing.

READ MORE: U.S. officials believe China downplayed coronavirus to stock up on supplies: report

Relations between China and the United States are widely seen to be at their worst point in decades, with deepening mistrust and friction points from U.S. allegations of unfair trade and technology practices to disputes over Hong Kong, Taiwan and contested territories in the South China Sea.

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In recent days, U.S. President Donald Trump, facing a more difficult re-election campaign as the coronavirus has claimed tens of thousands of American lives and ravaged the U.S. economy, has been ramping up his criticism of Beijing and threatening new tariffs on China. His administration, meanwhile, is considering retaliatory measures against China over the outbreak, officials said.

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It is widely believed in Beijing that the United States wants to contain a rising China, which has become more assertive globally as its economy has grown.

1:38 Report says China hoarded Canadian PPE in early days of COVID-9 outbreak

Report says China hoarded Canadian PPE in early days of COVID-9 outbreak

The paper concluded that Washington views China’s rise as an economic and national security threat and a challenge to Western democracies, the people said. The report also said the United States was aiming to undercut the ruling Communist Party by undermining public confidence.

Chinese officials had a “special responsibility” to inform their people and the world of the threat posed by the coronavirus “since they were the first to learn of it,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in response to questions from Reuters.

Without directly addressing the assessment made in the Chinese report, Ortagus added: “Beijing’s efforts to silence scientists, journalists, and citizens and spread disinformation exacerbated the dangers of this health crisis.”

A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council declined to comment.

Repercussions possible

The report described to Reuters warned that anti-China sentiment sparked by the coronavirus could fuel resistance to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure investment projects, and that Washington could step up financial and military support for regional allies, making the security situation in Asia more volatile.

Three decades ago, in the aftermath of Tiananmen, the United States and many Western governments imposed sanctions against China including banning or restricting arms sales and technology transfers.

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READ MORE: Canada not drawing ‘firm conclusions’ on theory virus escaped from China lab: Trudeau

China is far more powerful nowadays.

Xi has revamped China’s military strategy to create a fighting force equipped to win modern wars. He is expanding China’s air and naval reach in a challenge to more than 70 years of U.S. military dominance in Asia.

In its statement, China’s foreign ministry called for cooperation, saying, “the sound and steady development of China-U.S. relations” serve the interests of both countries and the international community.

It added: “any words or actions that engage in political manipulation or stigmatization under the pretext of the pandemic, including taking the opportunity to sow discord between countries, are not conducive to international cooperation against the pandemic.”

1:54 Coronavirus outbreak: White House accuses WHO of ‘China bias’

Coronavirus outbreak: White House accuses WHO of ‘China bias’

Cold War echoes

One of those with knowledge of the report said it was regarded by some in the Chinese intelligence community as China’s version of the “Novikov Telegram,” a 1946 dispatch by the Soviet ambassador to Washington, Nikolai Novikov, that stressed the dangers of U.S. economic and military ambition in the wake of World War Two.

Novikov’s missive was a response to U.S. diplomat George Kennan’s “Long Telegram” from Moscow that said the Soviet Union did not see the possibility for peaceful coexistence with the West, and that containment was the best long-term strategy.

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READ MORE: United Front groups in Canada helped Beijing stockpile coronavirus safety supplies

The two documents helped set the stage for the strategic thinking that defined both sides of the Cold War.

China has been accused by the United States of suppressing early information on the virus, which was first detected in the central city of Wuhan, and downplaying its risks.

Beijing has repeatedly denied that it covered up the extent or severity of the virus outbreak.

3:06 Coronavirus outbreak: Trump says China was ‘either unable to, or they chose not to’ contain COVID-19 spread

Coronavirus outbreak: Trump says China was ‘either unable to, or they chose not to’ contain COVID-19 spread

China has managed to contain domestic spread of the virus and has been trying to assert a leading role in the global battle against COVID-19. That has included a propaganda push around its donations and sale of medical supplies to the United States and other countries and sharing of expertise.

But China faces a growing backlash from critics who have called to hold Beijing accountable for its role in the pandemic.

Trump has said he will cut off funding for the World Health Organization (WHO), which he called “very China-centric,” something WHO officials have denied.

READ MORE: Trump says China wants him to lose re-election bid, blames coronavirus handling

Australia’s government has called for an international investigation into the origins and spread of the virus.

Last month, France summoned China’s ambassador to protest a publication on the website of China’s embassy that criticized Western handling of coronavirus.

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The virus has so far infected more than 3 million people globally and caused more than 200,000 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.

(Editing by Peter Hirschberg)

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porchenclose10019 · 7 years ago

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Patagonia's CEO Is Ready To Lead The Corporate Resistance To Donald Trump

NEW YORK ― On a cloudy May morning, Rose Marcario, the chief executive of outdoor retailer Patagonia, stared out a second-story window of a Manhattan restaurant, watching construction workers jackhammer the street below. The workers made her think of her grandfather, an Italian immigrant who, after making it through Ellis Island in the 1920s, got his first job digging the streets of this city. He earned 10 cents a day and had to bring his own shovel. People regularly spat at him and sneered at his broken English.

“He’d tell me, ‘I didn’t mind that, because I knew that someday in the future, you were going to have a better life,’” she recalled.

His sacrifice has been weighing on Marcario lately. She isn’t a parent herself, but she thinks of her young cousins, nieces and nephews. She wants them to inherit a planet with a stable climate and normal sea levels ― a country that still has some pristine wilderness left. Her job ― running a privately held company with roughly $800 million in annual revenue and stores in 16 states plus D.C. ― provides her a much bigger platform to influence their lives than anyone in her family had two generations ago.

It’s also why she’s decided to take on the president of the United States to stop him from rolling back decades of public land protections.

“We have to fight like hell to keep every inch of public land,” Marcario, 52, told HuffPost last month. “I don’t have a lot of faith in politics and politicians right now.”

Ventura, California-based Patagonia has taken on a number of national conservation efforts since environmentalist and rock climber Yvon Chouinard founded it in 1973. In 1988, the firm launched a campaign to restore the natural splendor of Yosemite Valley, which was being destroyed by cars and lodges. The company took on a more consumer-centric approach, launching an ad campaign in 2011 urging customers not to buy its jackets in an attempt to address rampant waste in the fashion industry.

The company was relatively quiet for the first two years after Marcario took the top spot in 2014. But she grew dismayed as environmental and climate issues took a backseat in the 2016 election, despite the stark difference between the two top candidates’ views. She worried the vicious mudslinging of the election would turn off voters.

Instead of turning away from political discord, as many corporate giants have, Marcario ran toward it. In September, the company announced plans to spend $1 million and launch a get-out-the-vote tour of 17 states. On Election Day, the retailer completely closed down its operations in 30 stores to make sure employees and shoppers made it to the polls.

Still, Donald Trump’s November victory caught Marcario by surprise. Trump had campaigned on bombastic promises to revive the coal industry, a top source of planet-warming emissions, and vowed to transform the U.S. into a major fossil fuel exporter. Then he named the CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp. as his secretary of state and picked an oil and gas ally to head the Environmental Protection Agency. He nominated Ryan Zinke, a freshman congressman from Montana who questioned the science behind global warming, to head the Department of the Interior, which controls national parks and 500 million acres of land ― or 20 percent of the U.S. landmass.

And Trump made clear that he plans to roll back the environmental rules issued under Obama ― which he has said constrain businesses and stymie job growth. In a show of postelection defiance, Patagonia decided to donate all $10 million of its Black Friday sales to environmental causes. In a Nov. 28 blog post, the company nodded to the president-elect’s dismissal of climate science and promise to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, though it stopped short of calling Trump out by name.

But Marcario still thought public lands were safe. While Trump, born and raised in New York City, never seemed to care about outdoor excursions that didn’t include 18 holes, his eldest son, Donald Jr., is a big-game hunter who grew up camping in the forests of his mother’s native Czech Republic. During the campaign, Trump signaled plans to buck the Republican Party platform calling for federals lands to be turned over to state control, where they were more likely to be exploited for resource development or sold off. “I want to keep the lands great,” Trump told Field & Stream magazine in January 2016.

That tone changed shortly after the election. One of Obama’s final actions was to set aside 1.35 million acres in southeastern Utah to create Bears Ears National Monument, named by the various Native American tribes whose sacred lands it included. The designation riled the state’s Republican leaders, who condemned the designation as a federal land grab and urged the incoming Trump administration to undo it, and mining interests that were looking to tap uranium and mineral deposits in the region.

Patagonia went on the offensive against Utah’s Republican governor and Washington delegation. In January, the company threatened to pull out of Salt Lake City’s biannual Outdoor Retailer Show, a trade show that brings 45,000 visitors spending more than $40 million each year. Marcario pledged to fight the state’s leadership “with everything that we have.” A month later, she pulled out of the show and put intense pressure on its organizers to quit hosting the event in Utah’s capital until state lawmakers halted their assault on Bears Ears.

In April, Trump directed Zinke to not only re-examine the Bears Ears designation but to to review all national monument designations going back 21 years, calling them an “egregious abuse of federal power.”

Patagonia threatened to sue the Trump administration a day later, vowing to “take every step necessary, including legal action, to defend our most treasured public landscapes from coast to coast.”

“A president does not have the authority to rescind a National Monument,” Marcario said in a terse statement that day. “An attempt to change the boundaries ignores the review process of cultural and historical characteristics and the public input.”

Reversing Obama’s Bears Ears designation would be an unprecedented assault on a presidential prerogative created in the 1906 Antiquities Act. Nearly every president has wielded the act to preserve tribal lands and natural wonders. Only Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush declined to use the law, according to The Wilderness Society. But no White House has ever rescinded a monument, and a 2016 analysis from the Congressional Research Service suggests that presidents can only adjust, not outright abolish, a prior designation.

Zinke completed his review this month, and on Monday submitted an interim report that recommends shrinking the boundaries of Bears Ears. There is some precedent for that: Woodrow Wilson halved Mount Olympic National Monument, which Roosevelt had designated in 1909. The monument was later restored to its full size when Franklin Roosevelt signed a congressional act redesignating the monument as Olympic National Park in 1938, providing it the expanded protections granted under national park status.

Patagonia says it will make good on the threat to sue the administration if they move to alter Bears Ears.

The company has suggested it will take a novel approach to a lawsuit ― arguing that a reversal of those protections would hurt their business, which is structured to make environmental philanthropy a core function. The retailer is registered as a benefit corporation, or B corp, meaning the company has committed to adhering to rigid environmental and charitable standards, submitting detailed annual progress reports, and giving 1 percent of its pre-tax profits to green causes each year. Patagonia donated $800,000 to groups that advocated for Bears Ears to be established as part of that charitable giving. It also sent employees on retreats to the monument and tested products there. In May, the company released a virtual reality film touring Bears Ears.

We have to fight like hell to keep every inch of public land. Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario

“We have such a close connection to the area,” Hilary Dessouky, Patagonia’s general counsel, told HuffPost by phone this week. “That’s part of our argument, that we are directly connected to the area though the work that we’ve done.”

“We have a real economic interest in the preservation of America’s public lands,” she added.

Mark Squillace, a law professor at the University of Colorado, said Patagonia’s claim could hold up in court. “Patagonia probably does have significant business interests that could be affected,” Squillace, who worked under Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt during the last year of Bill Clinton’s presidency, told HuffPost by phone. “The test for standing is not too draconian, so I think most courts would let Patagonia in.”

Anticipated lawsuits from environmental groups and tribes ― whose legal standing to sue would be even stronger ― could also bolster Patagonia’s case.

Trump could attempt to reduce the monument through an executive order, but he could also appeal to Congress to vote to change Bears Ears’ status, which Zinke has suggested they may do.

That would face tough opposition, however. “I don’t believe Trump has the legal authority to rescind or shrink the monument,” Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who has a national monument in his own state under consideration, said on Monday. “If the administration moves forward with that plan, if he puts this plan before Congress, I will fight him every step of the way.”

Patagonia said it would also consider its legal options if Congress acts, but would likely have a tougher time with that. At the very least, the company said it’s already considering putting its efforts behind pro-environment candidates in the 2018 election. Marcario said she had no interest in directly funding individual candidates, but Patagonia employees have given a total of $56,547 to the Democratic Party over the last 27 years, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. (Republicans, by contrast, received just one $500 donation in 1990.)

Marcario is ready for a long fight over something that could become her legacy at the company. Patagonia’s first CEO, Kris Tompkins, spent 12 years at the helm and donated more than 340,000 acres of land in Argentina’s northeastern Iberá wetlands to establish what will become the country’s largest nature preserve. Tompkins and her late husband, billionaire retail mogul Douglas Tompkins, also bought up huge swaths of wilderness in Argentina and Chile in hopes of preserving it.

“She’s a pretty hard act to follow,” Marcario said with a laugh.

Patagonia hasn’t been without its faults. Two years before Marcario took over, internal audits found forced labor and brutal conditions at Taiwanese mills that produced the raw materials for its apparel. Patagonia applied aggressive new standards for monitoring its suppliers in response, but it’s always difficult to monitor every supplier at all times. Marcario said she also wants to make changes at the corporate level to further their ideals ― by converting the firm’s food division, Patagonia Provisions, to purely organic ingredients and investing the employee retirement plans entirely in sustainable, eco-friendly funds and businesses.

But for now, she’s focused on running a major company and keeping Trump from downsizing a national monument in southeastern Utah, a mammoth task unto itself. Progress requires effort, but it takes time, too. She learned that resolve from grandfather and from her childhood summers spent fishing the waters surrounding Staten Island with homemade rods her uncles made. She’s given to quoting Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous line about the long, justice-bent arc of the moral universe.

After wrapping up the interview, Marcario grabbed her Patagonia backpack and prepared to catch her ride outside. She walked a few steps, then turned around.

“Look, I grew up as a gay woman in the ‘80s, watching my friends die of AIDS and Jerry Falwell on TV saying they deserved it,” she said, referring to the far-right evangelical preacher. She paused for a moment, then smiled. “Look how far we’ve come.”

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rtawngs20815 · 7 years ago