#current affairs 2017

[magnusstan]

Nico about Kevin: “I always felt it was the small details that made the difference. He pushed me, and I pushed him. It was a great partnership and a lot of fun.”

Oh my this article: the girls are actually great friends, Netflix was following KMag for the weekend, Haasbands compliments.

Translation below the cut (sorry if it’s rough).

Kevin Magnussen’s Netflix-Staged F1 Farewell: One Last Time with “Balls”

Kevin Magnussen says goodbye to F1 and teammate Nico Hülkenberg: Not only have the two Haas drivers bonded, but so have their families.

By Frederik Hackbarth, Co-Author: Oleg Karpow · 10/12/2024, 6:39 PM

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Kevin Magnussen’s likely final lap in Formula 1 on Sunday was also his fastest—a little reminiscent of Daniel Ricciardo’s swansong in Singapore this past September. The Haas driver bows out of the premier motorsport class with a fastest lap, though it ultimately yielded no points, finishing 16th at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Magnussen downplays the feat, saying, “It’s easy when you’re the only driver on fresh tires with low fuel.” He adds, “I think what I really enjoyed was the first lap.” Indeed, Magnussen managed to gain several positions early on, though his progress was later undone by a botched pit stop and a collision with Valtteri Bottas.

Still, the Haas driver is pleased with his bold final first lap in Formula 1. “I wanted to do something special to make up for qualifying, and I did—just ‘balls to the wall!’” he says with a grin.

From “Suck My Balls” to Friendship

Magnussen’s “balls” catchphrase takes on extra significance in light of his infamous 2017 clash with current teammate Nico Hülkenberg in Hungary. As Hülkenberg reminisces about their relationship, he marvels at the transformation: “From ‘suck my balls’ to good friends—it’s quite the turnaround, but that’s life,” he says with a laugh in Abu Dhabi.

Hülkenberg explains that their bond started to form in earnest in 2022 when he temporarily replaced Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin. By 2023, any lingering tension had vanished. “We were really on the same wavelength, at very similar points in our lives—personally and professionally. We shared a commitment to the team and a common goal,” says Hülkenberg.

A Family Affair

Hülkenberg’s remarks are underscored by the familial atmosphere at the track. After the race, as both Haas drivers give TV interviews, their respective wives and children wait nearby: Magnussen’s wife Louise and daughter Laura stand alongside Hülkenberg’s wife Egle and daughter Noemi Sky, who sports her dad’s #27 in glitter on her back.

Magnussen reveals that even the children have become close friends. “Yes, they’re really good friends! It’s amazing how much my relationship with Nico has evolved over the years. It’s been fantastic to have our families here because there’s a real connection between them. It’s so much fun.”

This dynamic didn’t go unnoticed by the Netflix crew, who shadowed Magnussen throughout the weekend. The farewell scene—Magnussen walking hand-in-hand with his wife and daughter by the marina—was a picture-perfect moment for the next season of Drive to Survive.

Emotional Moments Before the Race

For Magnussen, the most emotional moments came before the race: “It was great to share those moments with my wife and daughter, even just sitting on the grid. My daughter won’t remember it when she’s older, but I’ll treasure it for the rest of my life. She was so excited and proud to be there, supporting me. That means a lot.”

However, Magnussen isn’t overwhelmed by farewell emotions: “I’ve been here before. The emotions get old after a while,” he jokes. He adds, “I’ve already been through this once, so it doesn’t feel like the last time. I’m just grateful and at peace. Coming back to F1 for these past three years was a challenge, but also a privilege.”

On to New Adventures

With F1 behind him, the 32-year-old heads off for a family vacation in the Maldives before embarking on his next chapter in 2025 with BMW in the World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Before leaving, he receives one final compliment from Hülkenberg: “It was so much fun. The stats may look a bit one-sided, but it never felt that way to me. I always felt it was the small details that made the difference. He pushed me, and I pushed him. It was a great partnership and a lot of fun.”

[exyrpf]

Do I even want to know what happened in the last 24 hours 😭 I'm almost afraid to ask but I'm also insanely curious

You probably don't want to know but I'll tell you because you have no choice. This will be long and...awful. But there are sources so that's fun! Please keep in mind that this was all released within 24 hours on Thursday, September 20th, 2024 and that, unfortunately, I haven't mentioned everything.

But! The GOP was certainly having a wild one yesterday.

To start things off:

The first 'Big News' to break was about Mark Robinson.

For those saying 'who the fuck is Mark Robinson', he's the current (R) Lt. Gov of North Carolina that is running for Gov. Before yesterday, he was best known for openly hating LGBT+ and Jewish folks, being a Holocaust denier, being (forcefully) anti abortion, saying it was better when women couldn't vote, anti immigrant, hating the civil rights movement, etc, just being a hateful Evangelical nasty fascist. MAGA to his core. Trump has endorsed him, saying he should be cherished and calling him "MLK on steroids". (Robinson is Black).

So, yeah, that's bad enough right? Yesterday it got even worse. CNN released a report about some comments he made on a porn site forum 12 years ago, the most prominent being 'i'm a black NAZI'. He also commented that he wished slavery was legal and that he'd own a few, and called himself a 'perv' that used to 'peep' on women in public locker rooms when he was a teenager.

Also the tale as old as time that I'm sure you could guess when I mentioned 'GOP' 'loudly transphobic' and 'porn site scandal' - trans porn was a favourite of his. Because of course.

Also of course - the GOP hasn't taken him off the ticket, and he will continue to be the nominee for governor in North Carolina!

Read the article, there's more about him and the situation in general. Mind the warnings.

-

Now on to our favourite worm brained bear eating anti vaxxer conspiracy theorist, Robert F. Kennedy Junior! I'm putting this under a read more now.

The first thing to drop about him yesterday was the news of an investigation after he allegedly cut off the head of a dead whale and took it home 20 years ago. Now I bet you're thinking, wow that's bad! Unfortunately for RFK Jr yesterday got worse. It was then revealed that he (70) was having an affair with right wing journalist Olivia Nuzzi (31) after New York Magazine suspended her.

Everything I learn about RFK Jr I learn against my own will.

-

Saying goodbye to RFK for now, let's move on to Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida! This Matt Gaetz, with the botox if you didn't recognise him.

Scary lookin, right?

This isn't a completely new story (here's an article about how he alledgedly paid for sex with a minor) but new court filings were released yesterday alledging that he attended a drug-fueled sex party in 2017 with the 17-year-old girl at the center of the alleged sex trafficking scandal.

Sure is great to have such trustworthy men representing this country!

OKAY, on to the next.

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This wasn't really breaking news because this is just Trump being Trump but he gave a speech at an ANTI ANTISEMITISM EVENT where he preemptively blamed the Jews for being the reason he'll lose this election, telling them they need to get their head checked if they vote for Harris (that's pretty much part of his stump speech by now though) and saying he'll reinstate his Muslim ban. White fascist blaming Jews? Wow, I did Nazi that coming.

-

I genuinely could go on, I really truly could.

Oh! Kamala Harris went on Oprah and it was really nice and not at all insane and she talked to the family of the first known victim of Trump's abortion ban and it was very touching. Trump's official social media then posted a clip of her talking about her gun and saying 'If somebody breaks into my house, they're getting shot' like it was a snatch when in reality Republicans in the comments are saying 'actually, this would make me vote for her'. Thanks, Trump Team for the free advertising!

Misc:

Chris Rufo (known racist and anti immigration right wing activist) got revealed to have an illegal immigrant wife, and then got revealed to be a user of Ashley Madison (database where people go to cheat on their partners)(Robinson was also on Ashley Madison).

Jasmine Crockett during her thing and ripping white republicans to shreds. (idk this was just fun to me)

Actually Republicans and Project 2025 got ripped to shreds and shut down in general by multiple Congress members.

GOP is on the brink of causing a government shutdown, because of COURSE they are.

Cards Against Humanity sues SpaceX over “invasion” of land on US/Mexico border.

Anyway there's actually MORE believe it or not but I can't remember if it happened yesterday. Thank you for reading, I'm always open to discussing current events. I don't think it's a well known fact that I'm into politics because I don't talk about it on tumblr because people are kinda stupid. Anyway!

[footytea]

disclaimer: these are all romain molina's claims. none of them are mine. romain is an investigative journalist who focuses on exposing corruption, abuse, etc. within the football world. i'm just sharing what he has said over the past few years. some of these claims might sound crazy, but not unbelievable, unfortunately.

trigger warning: his claims mention topics such as rape, abuse, pedophilia, etc. so if those are topics you're not comfortable reading about, please don't continue reading.

one particular topic romain molina has been repeatedly speaking about is the pedophilia and trafficking ring(s) within the football world, involving many (as molina said over half of the) federations, including the spanish federation and the french federation, but also in south & north america, asia, africa. what is happening within these federations is actively being covered up and romain claims that even the french government is involved in the shit happening within the french football federation.

here's a list of a few claims romain molina has made:

more than 400 international players from the premier league, championship, ligue 1 and ligue 2 have been raped multiple times during their youth. some of them had anal injuries and diseases as a result and would go to specialised clinics to be treated. this has been going on for at least two decades.

an international coach was caught raping two 13 year old girls in the middle of an international tournament. his employer covered everything up for him, but still fired him in 2017. romain molina later went on to say that this story was also covered up by a footballer who many idolise and would use as their profile pic on twitter.

a ligue 1 club covered up a pedophilia case, that took place in their training centre. the (foreign) victim was later sent back to his country of origin.

victims of abuse and people who knew about this cannot speak up without facing major consequences. a human rights lawyer who was in the space romain hosted also stated how dangerous it is for the victims to talk about the abuse they have suffered.

an ex-member of the french federation said the following: "when something happens, we keep quiet. they have too much power. the second you speak, it's over."

the ex-director of the french federation said: "at the FFF, everyone talks to everyone. they are all aware of these affairs but they are very quickly buried. it's a policy of silence. they are like ostriches: head in the sand. if you speak, you are eliminated."

didier deschamps apparently claimed he had no idea about the cases of abuse within the french federation, while he was in contact with several people involved these abuse cases and knew about everything happening, but kept quiet for financial reasons.

a lot of molina's work focuses on african football. he has shared stories of female players forced to get abortions (one even died as a result), luring children to their homes, giving children blowjobs and keeping their sperm in jars to perform rituals, academies ran by pedophiles. crazy stuff.

some claims he made unrelated to the pedophilia and trafficking rings:

a current (this was back in 2021, idk if he's still a current player) french international player would organise parties where he would shit in women's mouths and film himself doing it. he forced a girl to participate, who later on issued a formal complaint. molina was also sent a video.

apparently helium balloons are very popular at arsenal and there's a player who even threw a "nitrous oxide balloons"-themed birthday party.

generally, a lot of players smoke shisha. there was a time psg players would bring their shisha/hookah with them on away games. one of the players who would regularly smoke shisha is blaise matuidi.

a few notes:

these are just a few of his claims summarised. if you want more details i would have to deep dive into his work more. romain has written several books and has been doing investigative work for longer than a decade now.

this space was insane, i think there were about 80k listening, even clubs' official twitter accounts were tuning in. the rock was in the space at one point as well 😭 i can't remember who else tuned in as it's been 2/3 years already

these claims simply show how rotten football institutions are and how it isn't surprising that footballers with rape/abuse charges don't have their careers ruined, when the people in charge are doing the same things and even worse.

[ceilidhtransing]

As someone from the UK I'm stunned that there are still people talking about “boycotting” the [US presidential] election in order to “send a message”. No one in politics actually interprets low turnout as some kind of message and that's pretty obvious from the general election we just had over here.

We had crashingly low voter turnout, at 59.9% - down 7.4 percentage points since the last one. But it's worse than that makes it look: 59.9% is just the percentage of actually registered voters who turned up; the proportion of total UK adults who voted was 52%, the lowest since 1928.

Yet Labour still took a massive victory (with fewer votes than in both 2019 and 2017). There has been a little mention in the media of the extremely low turnout, but overall the Story Of This Election as it's being presented by both the media and politicians is not “wow, looks like half the British adult population wanted to send a message that they were dissatisfied with the options” but rather “what an incredible Labour landslide”.

And the fact that Labour won power despite only 52% of adults actually voting is not going to affect the way they run things. They're not going to water down their plans, they're not going to say they have a smaller mandate, they're not going to try to work with smaller parties who took votes from them, they're certainly not going to “move left” to try to scoop up lefties who are decidedly unenthusiastic about the current state of the Labour Party (in fact, if anything they're likely to move even further to the right to try to attract voters who went to the far-right Reform UK). Staying at home and not voting has not “sent anyone a message”. The attitude of politicians towards non-voters is overwhelmingly “why bother trying to appeal to people who aren't inclined to use their political voice”, not “wow we need to enact change right now in order to appeal to people who feel unheard and disenfranchised”. Non-voters are assumed to be apathetic uninterested people who couldn't be bothered voting, not a bloc of highly motivated people with strong views who are refusing to vote in order to make a point. And I'm not saying this is a good thing! Ideally politicians would try to connect with people who don't feel politically represented, especially since non-voters are more likely to be marginalised in some way*. But that's the state of affairs we have. The inaction of not voting is not treated as some special kind of protest action; it's just treated as inaction.

*In this election, turnout was 7% lower in constituencies with the highest proportion of BME people, compared with the lowest, and 10% lower in constituencies with the highest proportion of Muslims, compared with the lowest. Compare this with turnout being 11% higher in constituencies with the highest proportion of >64-year-olds and 13% higher in constituencies with the highest proportion of homeowners.

Trump cannot be allowed to get into power again. And I know that Americans have the horrible quandary of “well how on earth are we supposed to communicate to Democrats that we don't like what they're offering other than not voting for them”. This is one of the many flaws with the US electoral system; it's a simple two-horse race and there's no realistic way to send a message that actually you don't like either option without just making it more likely that the candidate you most hate will win. It's not a great situation to be in, especially since there are very valid reasons not to like Biden and not exactly be hyped to vote for him. But oh my god NOW is not the time to be trying to “send Democrats a message” by not voting (or voting third party). You won't be sending anything and you'll just be handing Trump a second term because that is, very unfortunately, how it works. The best-case scenario of a Trump second term is “merely” an intensification of violence towards people of colour, crackdowns on LGBTQ rights, the further stripping away of reproductive freedoms, heinous crimes at the border and towards migrants and undocumented people, dangerous and apeshit foreign policy that will further endanger vulnerable oppressed groups everywhere, the emboldening of fascism and Christian nationalism not only across America but across the entire world, the list goes on. The worst-case scenario is the straight-up end of the last vestiges of representative democracy the US still has. None of this is a price worth paying in order to “send Democrats a message” and “move them to the left”. And I would feel the same way if Reform UK - a party whose supporters talk about wanting to gun down asylum seekers in the sea - were at the gates of power and the only realistic way to stop them was to vote for the current deeply flawed incarnation of the Labour Party. Some prices are too high.

(And I've seen a few people seem to embrace the notion of a Trump second term with the idea that “then we'll just form the antifascist resistance”. Trust me, you don't want to have to become “the resistance” to a fascist state. That is a last resort. So many people will die if it gets to the point where Trump or some other far-right ghoul is a dictator presiding over an authoritarian one-party state. This stance of “bring on the fascist nightmare so then we can be The Resistance” feels like it comes from people who get their idea of political action from Star Wars rather than from those familiar with the harrowing stories of real-life historical antifascist resistance. It's not hanging out at the secret HQ with your friends and blowing stuff up and having fun; it's being thrown in a camp and executed.)

It's good to want the Democrats to move left, to want to tell them that you're dissatisfied with Biden as a candidate, to want to let them know that you're profoundly furious with their handling of Gaza. But the way the system is set up means that “not voting” is not sending a message at all; it's just handing a victory to their opponents. And again: some prices are too high.

[bfpnola]

Updated version! ID written by @swosheep (it won't let me tag you oof)

ID 1: All images are of an Instagram post by letstalkpalestine2. The first one is titled "Lets Talk. What is Hamas? Answering the basic questions".

ID 2: the second image is titled "What Are Its Origins?". the body text reads: "Hamas is a Palestinian political party and armed resistance movement based in the besieged Gaza Strip. It emerged in 1987, at the start of the First Intifada, as a reaction to intensifying israeli violence and as a religious alternative to the secular Palestinian parties that dominated the scene at the time. Hamas was originally a branch of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood but later cut ties with it and became an independent group. In 1992, Hamas formed a military wing called the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades to resist the israeli occupation. The Brigades carried out several significant operations against Israel during the Second Intifada, which established Hamas as a leading force in the Palestinian resistance."

ID 3: the third image is titled "Who Are Its Leaders?". The body text reads: "Hamas is composed of a political wing and a military wing. They each perform different functions but operate under the same leadership structure." There is a grid with four sections. The first section is titled "Political Bureau", and reads: "- Headed by Ismail Haniyeh from exile - Sets general policy". The second section is titled: "Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades" and reads: "- Commanded by Marwan Issa and Mohammed Deif - Conducts military operations". The third section is titled: "Shura Council" and reads: "- Led by Saleh al-Arouri in the West Bank and Yahya Sinwar in Gaza - Handles affairs in Gaza, the West Bank, diaspora, and israeli prisons". The fourth section is titled: "Gaza Government" and reads: "- Headed by Prime Minister Issam al-Da'alis - Enacts policies and provides social services to people in Gaza".

ID 4: The fourth image is titled: "What Does Hamas Want?" The body text reads: "Its 2017 charter states that its current political program is to: - Implement the right of return for all Palestinian refugees; - Establish a temporary Palestinian state along the 1967 borders (the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip) and arrange a long-term truce with israel. Hamas considers the establishment of a Palestinian state on the '67 borders as a temporary step. It refuses to recognize israel's legitimacy and advocates for the 'full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.' Hamas's 2017 charter states that its struggle is against the israeli state and the Zionist movement due to their occupation of Palestine, not Jewish people, and criticizes israel for associating its actions with Jewish values. Hamas's stated goals for its current operation are to - Free the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by israel, - End the Gaza blockade, - End the status quo where Israel continues its occupation without cost".

ID 5: the fifth image is titled: "Does Hamas Control Gaza?". The body text reads: "Not really. Hamas administers local affairs, while israel controls much of Gaza from the outside through its blockade. israel forcibly controls: - Airspace, - Sea access, - Movement of all goods and people in and out, - Telecoms networks, - Electromagnetic sphere, - Tax distribution, - Population registry, - Water, - Electricity and fuel. Hamas began governing Gaza in 2007, and has since managed: - Healthcare, - Education, - Infrastructure, - Social welfare, - Law enforcement, - Public employment. Hamas is not a sovereign government. israel's blockade prevents Palestinians from independently exercising sovereignty over Gaza's population, development, and economy."

ID 6: The sixth image is titled "Does Hamas Represent Palestine?" The body text reads: "Hamas is one of many Palestinian political parties. On the one hand, Hamas was democratically elected by voters in 2006, garnering a plurality of West Bank and Gaza votes (44%) for its social services and resistance efforts. Today. Fatah and Hamas, the two largest parties, are roughly tied, each enjoying the support of a third of the public. On the other hand, many Palestinians strongly criticize Hamas's political wing due to its corruption and repressive policies, and the last elections were in 2006. 43% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza believe that no party represents Palestine. The other polled Palestinians were split between parties, with no clear winner. We have no statistics for Palestinians in the heartland ("israel") or diaspora. However, Hamas is currently the only major group that pursues armed resistance, which is widely supported. So while most Palestinians might not support Hamas as a party, the overwhelming majority support acts of resistance in general, whether by Hamas or others."

ID 7: the seventh image is titled "Is Hamas a Proxy of Iran?". The body text reads: "No. Hamas is an independent group with a political program and military strategy distinct from Iran. Hamas and Iran are strategic allies, meaning that while Iran provides Hamas with significant financial, military, and political support, Hamas does not act or operate on behalf of Iran. It makes decisions based on its own interests, and independently manages relations with countries like Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt. For example: In 2012, Hamas cut ties with Syria because it opposed the Assad regime's violent crackdown on protesters. It took this decision despite angering Iran, a close ally of Assad. Regarding Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, even israeli officials admit there is no evidence that Iran was in any way involved. Iran was actually surprised by it. Hamas independently coordinated and launched the operation to achieve its own goals."

ID 8: The eighth image is titled "Does Hamas Negotiate with Israel?". The body text reads: "Hamas views armed struggle as only one of several tools to end apartheid & occupation, such as diplomacy. In 2006, in an op-ed for The Guardian, Hamas chairman Ismail Haniyeh revealed that israel refused Hamas's proposal for a truce. In 2008, former Hamas chief Khaled Meshal offered a 10-year truce in exchange for a sovereign Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital." israel rejected the proposal. In 2016, Hamas offered a long-term truce in exchange for simply ending the Gaza Blockade. israel rejected it. In 2018, Haniyeh revived this offer by sending a handwritten letter in Hebrew to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. But israel rejected it again. israel repeatedly rejected Hamas's diplomatic initiatives because israel saw no reason to end the oppressive status quo, which it believed gave it power & privileges over Palestinians with minimal downsides. israel's benefits outweighed the costs. Hamas is trying to change that."

ID 9: the ninth image is titled "Is Hamas Risking Palestinian Lives?". The body text reads: "Westerners often accuse Hamas of risking Palestinian lives by fighting apartheid and thus inviting a deadly israeli crackdown. But the reality is that israel's blockade is slowly killing everyone in Gaza. [quote] 'We have paid a high cost in lives in this conflict. But if that's the price for long-term changes - breaking the siege and obtaining freedom - it's one many of us feel we have no choice but to swallow.' [unquote] -Haytham Besalso, civil engineer from Gaza, 2014. [quote] 'We are bleeding here, anyway [..] The Gaza Blockade crushes any opportunity for peace.' [unquote] -Ismail, anonymous journalist from Gaza, 2021. The argument that Hamas is responsible for israel's killing of Palestinians is malicious. It blames the victims for resisting apartheid and absolves the oppressors of responsibility, treating the mass killing of children as a 'normal' israeli response."

ID 10: the tenth image says: "You don't need to support Hamas as a political party to support Palestine. Most Palestinians don't support it as a party. But Hamas is an effective political player in the struggle against apartheid, oppression, and colonization. It has achieved remarkable success in preventing israeli violence in Jerusalem and freeing Palestinian hostages abducted by israel. Hamas has institutions, ministries, student movements, and women's movements, and employs thousands of doctors, teachers, judges, and aid workers. It is part of the fabric of Palestinian society. So while you don't need to support Hamas to support Palestine, you cannot oppose oppression without supporting the resistance to it. You cannot support freedom while supporting israeli efforts to wipe out those who fight for that freedom, including Hamas, to leave Palestinians defenc Pales". End ID.

the original caption states that @/LetsTalkPalestine2 does not endorse any specific party, including Hamas, and that the last word on the last slide should be *defenseless.

[potato-frend-blog]

Different Types of Propaganda: Part 1

Hello chuckle fucks of Tumblr, it's clear to me that you no fucking clue what propaganda is or how to spot it.

So 1st is what is propaganda?

Definition of propaganda:

the spreading of ideas, information, or rumors to help or injure an institution, a cause, or a person ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one cause or to damage an opposing cause https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propaganda

dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumors, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion. It is often conveyed through mass media. https://www.britannica.com/topic/propaganda

information, ideas, opinions, or images, often only giving one part of an argument, that are broadcast, published, or in some other way spread to influence people's opinions https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/propaganda

Propaganda Techniques Explained

This video does a good job of summarizing the different techniques

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sybo484veJY (you have to copy the link because the video doesn't allow playback.)

Agenda Setting:

Agenda: a secret aim or reason for doing something. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/agenda?q=Agenda)

A situation where critics perceive inexplicit political motives (or an institutional tendency to overlook underprivileged perspectives) to lie behind the choice of topics covered (e.g. in the news, current affairs, and documentaries), their relative importance (inferred from sequence and the relative amounts of space or time devoted to them), how they are presented, and what issues are backgrounded or excluded (see also selective representation). Media agendas are often set by ‘authoritative sources’ in government and industry upon which news organizations rely. The primary concern is that those in power thus call attention to issues that suit their agendas and distract attention from those that undermine them. It is usually argued that this influences or determines the terms and scope of public debate—not by telling people what to think but by telling them what to think about and controlling the salience for them of particular issues. (https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095355782)

Agenda setting means the "ability [of the news media] to influence the importance placed on the topics of the public agenda". If a news item is covered frequently and prominently, the audience will regard the issue as more important. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#:~:text=Bandwagon%20and%20%22inevitable%2Dvictory%22,the%20road%20to%20certain%20victory)

(https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Agenda-Setting-Theory-Model_fig1_307536314)

Fear Appeal:

A psychological and rhetorical strategy in persuasive communication such as advertising that seeks to evoke a response of fear or anxiety in the audience by showing them an undesirable outcome that they can avoid by heeding the warning. This strategy is intended to increase the effectiveness of the message and it is commonly used in health and safety campaigns, such as those warning motorists not to drink and drive. (https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095812722?p=emailAWHA3YEy2eMug&d=/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095812722)

For example, fear can be used to drive votes toward a particular candidate or party—a method that relies on our natural instinct to find safety in numbers. And, a meta-analysis conducted by Albarracin and her colleagues found that messages with fear are nearly twice as effective as messages without fear (Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 141, No. 6, 2015). (https://www.apa.org/news/apa/2020/fear-motivator-elections)

(https://thevisualcommunicationguy.com/2017/09/14/the-fear-appeal-advertising/)

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreversible_Damage)

Appeal to Prejudice

Prejudice: an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/prejudice)

The one who makes the appeal to prejudice attempts to persuade you to act or feel in a certain way by associating his person, product or proposal with a certain one or more of your prejudices, positive or negative – a prejudice being a prejudgment wrapped in emotion and having a history. Not only does he rekindle your prejudice, he also arouses in you warm feelings toward the one (himself) who apparently shares your prejudice. And so it becomes much easier to make you believe or buy whatever he has to offer. (https://agloa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019PropGuidelinesSecD.pdf)

Using loaded or emotive terms to attach value or moral goodness to believing the proposition. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#:~:text=Bandwagon%20and%20%22inevitable%2Dvictory%22,the%20road%20to%20certain%20victory)

Der ewige Jude, a pseudo-documentary directed by Fritz Hippler and influenced by German Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, featured scenes of Jews in Warsaw and Lodz ghettos. The film was popular in Germany and occupied Europe, with notorious sequences comparing Jews to rats carrying contagion. The film also highlighted the alien nature of East European Jews, with "stereotypical" Polish Jews transformed into "western-looking" Jews. The film's crude characterizations and gruesome footage made it a hit with audiences, demonstrating that there was no difference between Jews in East European ghettos and those in German neighborhoods.( https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/der-ewige-jude)

Inevitable Victory + Bandwagon

Inevitable: certain to happen and unable to be avoided or prevented (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/inevitable?q=Inevitable) + Victory: an occasion when you win a game, competition, election, war, etc. or the fact that you have won. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/victory?q=Victory) = Certain to happen and cannot to be stopped or averted occasion when you win a game, competition, election, war, etc.

Bandwagon: an activity, group, movement, etc. that has become successful or fashionable and so attracts many new people. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/bandwagon)

An effort is made to influence you to act in a certain way by asserting or implying that that is what is popular or what the majority is doing (https://agloa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019PropGuidelinesSecD.pdf)

invites those not already on the bandwagon to join those already on the road to certain victory. Those already or at least partially on the bandwagon are reassured that staying aboard is their best course of action. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#:~:text=Bandwagon%20and%20%22inevitable%2Dvictory%22,the%20road%20to%20certain%20victory)

(https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/the-big-question-about-donald-trumps-rise-in-the-polls)

(https://x.com/AHA_tylersgap/status/734961473265373185/photo/1)

Beautiful People

The type of propaganda that deals with famous people or depicts attractive, happy people. This suggests if people buy a product or follow a certain ideology, they too will be happy or successful. (This is used more in advertising for products, instead of political reasons.) Usually for advertising rather than political purposes, sexual arousal may also be used. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#:~:text=Bandwagon%20and%20%22inevitable%2Dvictory%22,the%20road%20to%20certain%20victory)

depiction of attractive famous people or happy people to associate success or happiness with adherence to an idea or cause or purchase of a product. (https://www.dailywritingtips.com/50-types-of-propaganda/)

(https://quizlet.com/855901690/persuasive-techniques-flash-cards/)

Big lie

The repeated articulation of a complex of events that justify subsequent action. The descriptions of these events have elements of truth, and the "big lie" generalizations merge and eventually supplant the public's accurate perception of the underlying events. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#:~:text=Bandwagon%20and%20%22inevitable%2Dvictory%22,the%20road%20to%20certain%20victory)

A big lie (German: große Lüge) is a gross distortion or misrepresentation of the truth primarily used as a political propaganda technique. The German expression was first used by Adolf Hitler in his book Mein Kampf (1925) to describe how people could be induced to believe so colossal a lie because they would not believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously". Hitler claimed that the technique had been used by Jews to blame Germany's loss in World War I on German general Erich Ludendorff, who was a prominent nationalist political leader in the Weimar Republic. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie)

A deliberate gross distortion of the truth is used especially as a propaganda tactic. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/big%20lie)

(https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/big-lie-looms-over-nevadas-legislative-primaries)

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_views_of_Adolf_Hitler#Mein_Kampf)

Black-and-white fallacy

Presenting only two choices, with the product or idea being propagated as the better choice. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#Specific_techniques)

type of cognitive distortion characterized by the tendency to see things in absolutes, with no shades of grey in between. This type of thinking can manifest in various aspects of life, from relationships to work to personal beliefs. (https://www.psychowellnesscenter.com/Blog/how-does-black-and-white-thinking-affects-your-mood-and-behavior)

only two choices are given. You are either for something or against it; there is no middle ground or shades of gray. It is used to polarize issues and negate all attempts to find a common ground. (https://www.cuesta.edu/student/resources/ssc/study_guides/critical_thinking/103_think_logic_errors.html#:~:text=This%20technique%20is%20also%20called,to%20find%20a%20common%20ground)

"“Globalize the Intifada” is a phrase used by pro-Palestinian activists that calls for aggressive resistance against Israel and those who support Israel. The most prominent expressions of intifada have been through violence so this phrase is often understood by those saying and hearing it as encouraging violence against Israelis, Jews, and institutions supporting Israel. While the intent of the person saying this phrase may be different, the impact on the Jewish community remains the same."

(https://www.ajc.org/news/what-does-globalize-the-intifada-mean-and-how-can-it-lead-to-targeting-jews-with-violence)

See when people say "Globalize the Intifada" it implies that there are only two choices in the conflict. One, is the pro-Palestine side, that the aggressive resistance against Israel, and those who support it, and the pro-Israel side is the ones they are against. Without realizing that there is a peaceful option. ( The one I do not know because, one I am not a politician, and international politics is a mess. And two I do not know enough about the conflict to support a peaceful end where everyone is satisfied. )

Cherry picking

suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position while ignoring a significant portion of related and similar cases or data that may contradict that position. Cherry-picking may be committed intentionally or unintentionally. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_picking)

Present only evidence confirming your position, while ignoring or withholding an often more significant portion that contradicts it. (https://www.propwatch.org/category_results.php?cat_id=1&id=29&k=cherry+picking&p=propaganda.php)

Example : “CLAIM: Four recent shootings show there has been an “incredible rise” in transgender or nonbinary mass shooters in the past few years, making the group “by far the largest group committing as a percentage of the population.” Donald Trump Jr. spread the narrative widely on Twitter, claiming the supposed “incredible rise” and later saying there was a clear trend forming. Hundreds of other social media users amplified the idea. Trump Jr. did not respond to a request for comment.” THE FACTS: While specific data on transgender and nonbinary mass shooters can be hard to isolate, available information shows that the overwhelming majority of assailants in mass shootings are cisgender males. In making the claim, social media users are citing four examples over the past five years in which the assailant in a shooting identified as trans or nonbinary: the November killing of five at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado; a 2019 shooting at a Denver-area school by two shooters, one of them a trans man, that left one student dead and eight wounded; a 2018 shooting at a Maryland warehouse that left four dead, including the shooter; and the shooting Monday in Nashville. The number of mass shootings committed by those identifying as trans or nonbinary — and their ratio compared to mass shootings committed by other groups — is hard to quantify. It depends on the database used, how the act is defined, and how gender identity is recorded — for example, transgender males may statistically be counted as just men. But experts agree that the most reputable information still shows a clear pattern that cisgender males are the most likely to commit such an act of mass violence.” (https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-transgender-nashville-shooting-misinformation-cd62492d066d41e820c138256570978c)

(02:15: cherry picking definition: Biden highlights only wage growth in "the bottom 40%," while not mentioning that, due to inflation, real wages actually declined for all other income groups.) (https://www.propwatch.org/category_results.php?cat_id=1&id=29&k=cherry+picking&p=propaganda.php)

Classical conditioning

That is, if A is always present when B is present and B causes a physical reaction (e.g. disgust, pleasure), then when presented with object A in the absence of B, that same reaction will be experienced. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#Specific_techniques)

The behavioral psychological method that systematically transfers feelings, thoughts, or dispositions through relationships. It pairs an object, event, or variable that elicits a particular natural or reflexive response (unconditioned stimulus) with a neutral one to the point that only the presence of the latter is required to induce the originally impulsive and event-specific response. This time, it’s no longer neutral but a conditioned stimulus. (https://www.thecable.ng/classical-conditioning-potent-political-strategy/)

(https://sites.psu.edu/intropsychf19grp7/2019/11/15/classical-conditioning-puppy-training/)

As you can see, the food products in both these ads have been depicted as mouth-watering and delicious, and are designed to cause consumers to feel hungry. (https://www.advergize.com/marketing/classical-conditioning-examples-in-psychology/#Classical_Conditioning_in_Advertising_Examples)

Ad hominem

A Latin phrase that has come to mean attacking one's opponent, as opposed to attacking their arguments. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#Specific_techniques)

attacking the character or motive of the person making an argument, rather than attacking the argument itself. (https://www.propwatch.org/term_results.php?cat_id=1&id=23&k=ad+hominem)

(https://thinkingispower.com/logical-fallacies/)

(35:19: ad hominem definition: Warnock attacks the character of Walker and his allies for making allegations against his church, without addressing any of the specific allegations against his church.) (https://www.propwatch.org/term_results.php?cat_id=1&id=23&k=ad+hominem)

Ad nauseam

This uses tireless repetition of an idea. An idea, especially a simple slogan, that is repeated enough times, may begin to be taken as the truth. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#Specific_techniques)

repeating something over and over again, until it forms a mental association and/or becomes perceived as truth. Based on the "mere exposure effect," is a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they're familiar to them, including things they don't like. This principle for example makes people more likely to prefer listening to a song they've heard before over a new song they've never heard and to believe something they hear repeatedly, even if they know it's untrue.(https://www.propwatch.org/category_results.php?cat_id=1&id=24&k=ad+nauseum&p=propaganda.php)

"Make America Great Again"

(https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-dropped-378000-make-america-great-again-hats-2015s-final-quarter-msna786506)

Appeal to authority

Appeals to authority cite prominent figures to support a position, idea, argument, or course of action. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#Specific_techniques)

(also known as an appeal to false or unqualified authority) plays on people’s feelings of respect or familiarity towards a famous person to bypass critical thinking. It’s like someone is telling us “accept this because some authority said it.” (https://www.scribbr.com/fallacies/appeal-to-authority-fallacy/#:~:text=An%20appeal%20to%20authority%20)

appeal to anonymous authority - insisting something is true because an unnamed expert, study, or generalized group (like 'scientists') says it's true (https://www.propwatch.org/category_results.php?cat_id=1&id=73&k=appeal+to+anonymous+authority&p=propaganda.php)

(09:56: appeal to anonymous authority see definition: There are "those that say" you can test too much, without identifying who those people are.) (https://www.propwatch.org/category_results.php?cat_id=1&id=73&k=appeal+to+anonymous+authority&p=propaganda.php)

Cognitive dissonance

People desire to be consistent. Suppose a pollster finds that a certain group of people hates his candidate for senator but loves actor A. They use actor A's endorsement of their candidate to change people's minds because people cannot tolerate inconsistency. They are forced to either dislike the actor or like the candidate. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#Specific_techniques)

Creates a feeling of mental stress when we encounter ideas or beliefs that conflict with our own. (https://www.propwatch.org/term_results.php?id=99&k=cognitive%20dissonance)

Psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cognitive%20dissonance)

Common man

The approach attempts to convince the audience that the propagandist's positions reflect the common sense of the people. It is designed to win the confidence of the audience by communicating in the common manner and style of the target audience. Propagandists use ordinary language and mannerisms (and clothe their message in face-to-face and audiovisual communications) in attempting to identify their point of view with that of the average person. A common example of this type of propaganda is a political figure, usually running for a placement, in a backyard or shop doing daily routine things. This image appeals to the common person. With the plain folk's device, the propagandist can win the confidence of persons who resent or distrust foreign-sounding, intellectual speech, words, or mannerisms. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#Specific_techniques)

Establishing a connection with an audience based on being just like one of them and being able to empathize with their concerns. (https://www.propwatch.org/category_results.php?cat_id=1&id=30&k=common+folk&p=propaganda.php)

(04:53: common folk see definition) (https://www.propwatch.org/category_results.php?cat_id=1&id=30&k=common+folk&p=propaganda.php)

(https://movieposters.ha.com/itm/movie-posters/war/world-war-ii-propaganda-us-government-printing-office-1944-navy-poster-285-x-40-i-m-proud-of-you-folks-too-jo/a/7132-86871.s)

Cult of personality

A cult of personality arises when an individual uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. The hero personality then advocates the positions that the propagandist desires to promote. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#Specific_techniques)

A situation in which a public figure (such as a political leader) is deliberately presented to the people of a country as a great person who should be admired and loved. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cult%20of%20personality)

“Nazi propaganda often focused on glorifying Adolf Hitler as Germany’s sole savior in order to inspire a sense of personal devotion to him. Many films, books, newspapers, magazines, and other items portrayed Hitler as a strong and self-sacrificing father figure who personally embodied the character traits of the “ideal Nazi.”” (https://perspectives.ushmm.org/tag/cult-of-personality)

(Recently appointed as German chancellor, Adolf Hitler greets President Paul von Hindenburg in Potsdam, Germany, on March 21, 1933. This pose was designed to project an image of Hitler as non-threatening to the established order. This particular image is from a popular postcard. The photo also appeared widely in both the German and international press. Hitler appears in civilian dress, bowing in deference to the heavily decorated von Hindenburg. The March 5, 1933, elections had conferred legitimacy on Hitler's leadership.) (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/making-a-leader)

(https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/30/washington-trump-and-cults-of-personality/)

Demonizing the enemy

Making individuals from the opposing nation, from a different ethnic group, or those who support the opposing viewpoint appear to be subhuman, worthless, or immoral, through suggestion or false accusations. Dehumanizing is also a term used synonymously with demonizing, the latter usually serves as an aspect of the former. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#Specific_techniques)

Psychological process whereby opponents view each other as less than human and thus not deserving of moral consideration. Jews in the eyes of Nazis and Tutsis in the eyes of Hutus (in the Rwandan genocide) are but two examples. Protracted conflict strains relationships and makes it difficult for parties to recognize that they are part of a shared human community. Such conditions often lead to feelings of intense hatred and alienation among conflicting parties. The more severe the conflict, the more the psychological distance between groups will widen.

“During the protracted conflict, feelings of anger, fear, and distrust shape the way that the parties perceive each other. Adversarial attitudes and perceptions develop and parties begin to attribute negative traits to their opponent. They may come to view the opponent as an evil enemy, deficient in moral virtue, or as a dangerous, warlike monster. Such images can stem from a desire for group identity and a need to contrast the distinctive attributes and virtues of one's own group with the vices of the "outside" group…Enemy images are usually black and white. The negative actions of one's opponent are thought to reflect their fundamental evil nature, traits, or motives. One's own faults, as well as the values and motivations behind the actions of one's opponent, are usually discounted, denied, or ignored. It becomes difficult to empathize or see where one's opponent is coming from.”

“Once certain groups are stigmatized as evil, morally inferior, and not fully human, the persecution of those groups becomes more psychologically acceptable. Restraints against aggression and violence begin to disappear. Not surprisingly, dehumanization increases the likelihood of violence and may cause a conflict to escalate out of control. Once a violence break over has occurred, it may seem even more acceptable for people to do things that they would have regarded as morally unthinkable before.Parties may come to believe that destruction of the other side is necessary, and pursue an overwhelming victory that will cause one's opponent to simply disappear. This sort of into-the-sea framing can cause lasting damage to relationships between the conflicting parties, making it more difficult to solve their underlying problems and leading to the loss of more innocent lives."(https://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/dehumanization)

“In Virginia, for example, we are witnessing the most anti-LGBT legislative session in the state’s history. So far, 9 anti-gay and anti-trans bills have been introduced. Some of the bills reveal a fixation with determining the “anatomical sex” of students to ensure that trans students are expelled from communal bathrooms. One goes so far as to impose a $50 civil penalty on any student who uses the “wrong” bathroom. Others seek to prevent trans people from updating their Virginia birth records to match their gender and limit nondiscrimination protections based on sex to people whose gender matches the gender assigned to them at birth.” (https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/legislators-across-country-set-their-sights-transgender-people)

(https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/defining-antisemitism-talking-about-israeli-policy-by-using-classical-antisemitic-tropes)

(https://www.tumblr.com/the-library-alcove/search/zionism)

(https://en.abna24.com/story/1410340)

Demoralization

Propaganda towards an adversary to erode fighting spirit, and encourage surrender or defection. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques#Specific_techniques)

Propaganda in wartime must seek to demoralize enemy morale. A primary objective of propaganda aimed at enemy nations is to break down their will to fight. It seeks to lower the enemy’s will to resist and it does this in several ways. One is to picture the military successes on the propagandist’s side. Another is to picture the armed might and economic power that the enemy has to face. Yet another is to picture the moral superiority of the cause against which the enemy is fighting. It is part of a nation’s strategic plan to intimidate enemy leaders, to separate them from their people, and to break down resistance by producing evidence that the mass of the enemy people have been deceived and misled. (https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/em-2-what-is-propaganda-(1944)/war-propaganda)

(https://x.com/Cluffalo/status/1790011284471083192)

[batsplat]

breaking a blog policy of non-engagement with active discourse unless explicitly asked about it,, below the cut,, I intend this to be a one-off thing, look away

seen some snarking about this article on the race dot com about where marc fits into the current title fight, and specifically this paragraph:

because ofc it's some kind of grievous sin to equate the current two title contenders with the two title contenders in 2015, one of whomst was well past his prime and the other who in many ways had a deeply untidy season. the argument might be that the current spec ducati has a bike advantage over marc, which. you'll never guess how the 2015 yamaha measured up against the 2015 honda. and yeah, it sure is embarrassing how the current title contenders chuck away bucket loads of points through sheer stupidity. after all, when racing in the wet in misano, it's unforgivable to pit at the wrong time and emerge with only one point - why not simply crash and emerge from that weekend with zero points instead? imagine finishing second behind marc in those conditions, when you could instead swap bikes far too late and finish a lowly fifth

it's worth putting that paragraph in context of what the piece was actually saying:

all of this is categorically true. it doesn't mean marc might not still win this year's championship if both jorge and pecco make enough mistakes, but quite obviously those two are closer to the 2015 title contenders than 2017. in the former, marc could not bank on a consistent pace advantage, in the latter he could; this feels like quite a straightforward point to be making. dovi's phillip island stinker did kill his championship momentum - and given the sheer consistency of performances jorge and pecco have put in when it comes to their pace, it would be very surprising to see an equivalent from those two. don't even get me started on whatever the fuck maverick vinales was doing that year after like,, the first five races, which lack of a dominant bike is quite frankly not enough to excuse. the rest of the article assesses marc's chances entirely fairly, essentially expanding on the argument that you just wouldn't expect that kind of consistent performance edge that he would need to overturn the points deficit. (I personally think marc is a little more likely to be a title threat than the author of the article does, though I also don't fundamentally disagree with anything specific being said; mainly I just feel vibes-wise that sprint races have made title fights insanely volatile.) he could still win - but in terms of how he compares to the opposition, there is no argument whatsoever to be made that this is not closer to 2015 than 2017. even if you believe this is only due to bike difference, in which case I think you are possibly giving 2017 dovi and vinales a little too much credit, the points raised in the article still stand up to scrutiny

it is perhaps inevitable that people will deify the greats of the past - even more so if they dislike the top riders of the present and feel that they are undeserving of their current success. it does, however, seem to come along with a skewed understanding of the actual greats in question, of where they were strong and where they faltered. valentino and lorenzo had two title fights, both of which were error-strewn affairs and hardly their best seasons. sprints have helped further distort perceptions of how error-prone these current riders really are, because at the end of the day neither martin nor pecco are on course for a radically different error rate than the title contenders in 2009. lorenzo lost his head in jerez when he was the pre-race favourite and ended up crashing trying to overcompensate for his surprisingly poor pace, valentino had an absolute howler at le mans that makes misano this year from martin look like a paragon of good decision-making and composure under pressure, jorge practically handed the championship to valentino with back-to-back dnf's at donington and brno, valentino incidentally also crashed at donington and got extremely lucky to have a bike that was still rideable to fifth, then proceeded to just chuck it for absolutely no reason at indy with a mistake that was so obviously stupid and needless he showed up to misano with a donkey helmet. valentino followed up misano with a poor fourth in estoril because he got lost with the set-up that weekend - and buddy, if you think the gp24 bike advantage is bad, let me tell you a story about how yamaha/ducati/honda were doing back in the day compared to the field. fourth might as well have been last. (I don't love single manufacturer domination either, but let's not pretend like the gaps between bikes aren't way, way, way smaller than they were in '09.) then jorge, with momentum and opportunity on his side, gets so spooked by valentino's pace in practise he bins it on the very first lap of phillip island, essentially ending the championship fight then and there. neither of them deliver a particularly dignified performance in sepang. during this title fight, there were three instances of crashing out of the lead and one from a very close second. jorge martin and pecco bagnaia eat your hearts out

and 2015? the season that was actually being referenced in the championship? valentino was only in that championship fight due to his relentless consistency, a handful of starring performances and an ability to not completely fuck it when a few rain drops started falling. his pace was flat-out not good enough to be a title contender - if anything, on raw pace he was more competitive for a big chunk of 2016 than he had been the year before. he was qualifying abysmally in an era where the gaps between bikes were considerably larger, reflecting a far poorer performance than equivalent grid positions would nowadays, and certainly would have nothing to counter the consistency in qualifying the two title contenders this year have demonstrated. jorge had to work hard to come as close to losing that championship as he did, going through a bizarre and borderline embarrassing set of helmet visor issues early on in the season that he should never have allowed to happen. he was peak metronome that year, able to dominate and win from the front but otherwise rife with limitations, repeatedly performing poorly when he was put ever so slightly off-balance. in many ways, he got very lucky to not be penalised more for his horrendous silverstone performance. he was also helped by the gap between the factory yamahas and hondas to the field being so large, because otherwise some of his inconsistency would have cost him a hell of a lot more. both of their seasons had laughably obvious flaws that just about managed to offset each other's enough to make a title decider possible - but if you ever so slightly change the formula, if the qualifying format had still been different or the bike disparities larger or smaller or any of that, it would have probably tipped it quite strongly one way or the other. a battle of the titans it was not

none of this is to say that valentino or jorge are shit riders, or that marc is a fraud for letting himself be so thoroughly beaten by them in 2015 on what was ultimately still a competitive bike. at a certain point, however, you are comparing the current athletes with versions of the past greats who quite frankly did not exist 90% of the time. if you are sufficiently motivated, you can come up with pretty decent slander for anyone. it is also presenting an idealised version of the sport in the past that, again, did not exist. while the gp24's advantage over the field is substantial, if we are talking in terms of raw lap times, it is substantially less so than the gap the top few factory teams had in the past. the aliens did not dominate from 2007 to 2015 to the extent that they did because they were just so brilliant - they were performing at a high level, yes, but also nobody else really stood a chance. as hard as it may be to accept, when you have riders who so consistently have a pace advantage as pecco and martin do, including over the fellow riders on the same machinery, it is possible they may simply be doing an actual good job. and the more pecco adds to his resume, the more difficult it will become to not consider him in the same tier of rider as at least some of the aliens. yes, I am talking about lorenzo here - a man who incidentally did not convincingly pass the 'only good with one manufacturer' test that's already being dangled in front of pecco. if we really want to go into the weeds, it's worth pointing out that pecco's luck has also not been particularly fantastic this year, from mechanical gremlins at the le mans sprint to being wiped out by binder at the jerez sprint to the qualifying position at aragon working against him and losing out quite severely in what are at worst 60:40 racing incidents twice this season - sometimes, you do get punished a lot for relatively minor missteps. so yeah, if you want to compare the current trio of title contenders with anyone, then 2015 feels as good a place as any. sometimes the greats of the past did suck, idk what to tell you. they would be a hell of a lot more boring if they hadn't

[evidence-based-activism]

What do you think about this article about domestic violence against men in Afghanistan?

https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-men-domestic-violence/25245858.html

I think it is misleading to the point of inaccuracy.

I cannot find the report they are citing, but in the article they state "the AIHRC [Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission] and the Ministry of Women's Affairs documented nearly 4,000 cases of domestic violence cases nationwide during 2013, whereas the committee's latest report cited only about 20 cases of spousal abuse against men" [emphasis mine]. Please allow me to emphasize that this means that less than 1% of documented cases of domestic violence were against men, and this was in a report published in 2014 before the recent rapid and extraordinary deterioration of women's rights in Afghanistan. The article goes on to suggest that up to 10% of domestic violence may be against men, but they provide no statistical support of this statement (not official reports or victim surveys). They also explicitly indicate that the "majority of the domestic violence against husbands is mental and verbal abuse" with no difficulty escaping the marriage. This is significant in a country where "cases of physical abuse, forced marriages, and honor killings [against/of women] are well-documented, as are the difficulties women have in escaping the abuse and finding refuge."

I would also like to point out that, in the same year that this article was published, a law was passed that "ban[ned] relatives of an accused person from testifying against them". Given that "most violence against women in Afghanistan is within the family" this was a direct attack on women, "allowing men to attack their wives, children and sisters without fear of judicial punishment, undoing years of slow progress in tackling violence in a country blighted by so-called 'honour' killings, forced marriage and vicious domestic abuse." [1]

---

Just to highlight the situation further, a 2008 Global Rights report found that 87% of women reported experiencing at least one form of domestic violence including: 17% who reported sexual violence (a likely underestimate), 52% who reported physical violence, 59% who reported forced marriage, and 74% who reported psychological violence. [2]

A 2017 report [3] recorded men's self-reported perpetration and women's self-reported victimization of various forms of violence. They found:

76% of men reported perpetrating psychological violence and 83% of women reported experiencing psychological violence

65% of men reported perpetrating physical violence and 80% of women reported experiencing physical violence

18% of women reported experiencing partner sexual violence (given social stigma this is almost certainly an underestimate) (men were not asked about their perpetration of partner sexual violence)

Ultimately, 93% of men self-reported perpetrating either psychological or physical violence and 95% of women reported experiencing psychological, physical, or sexual violence.

---

And just in case anyone missed it: the current deterioration of women's rights and increase in violence against women in Afghanistan following the Taliban's takeover is extreme, horrific, and terrifying. These two articles by the Human Rights Watch [4] and the United States Institute of Peace [5] are a good place to start. (Or just google women in Afghanistan.)

References under the cut:

Tisdall, S. (2014, February 4). Afghanistan's new law to protect women from violence 'a landmark achievement.' The Guardian. https://web.archive.org/web/20240820170419/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/04/afghanistan-law-victims-violence-women

Global Rights. (2008). Living with violence: Afghan women and girls. Global Rights. https://web.archive.org/web/20150726022106/http://www.globalrights.org/Library/Women's%20rights/Living%20with%20Violence%20Afghan.pdf

Equimundo. (2022). International Men And Gender Equality Survey (Images): Violence. From https://web.archive.org/web/20240529075046/https://headlines.menandgendersurvey.org/violence/

Human Rights Watch. (2024, February 6). Taliban and the global backlash against women’s rights. From https://web.archive.org/web/20240824010707/https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/06/taliban-and-global-backlash-against-womens-rights

United States Institute of Peace. (2023, December). How the Taliban enables violence against women. From https://web.archive.org/web/20240704125109/https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/12/how-taliban-enables-violence-against-women

[zvaigzdelasas]

Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican embassy in Ecuador’s capital Quito on Friday night to arrest the former vice president, who is seeking asylum there, an escalation of tensions that Mexico decried as “an outrage against international law.”[...]

A rift between the two Latin American countries had been growing since Mexico’s decision to grant political asylum to Glas, vice president under leftist ex-President Rafael Correa between 2013 and 2017.

Convicted twice on corruption charges, Glas says he is the subject of political persecution and had been sheltering inside the embassy.

But on Friday, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on his official X account, said he had been informed that “police from Ecuador forcibly entered” the Mexican embassy and took Glas – who “was a refugee and processing asylum because of the persecution and harassment he faces.”[...]

Mexico plans to lodge a complaint with the International Court of Justice to denounce the Ecuadorian police’s actions, the spokesperson for Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs added.[...]

Adding to current tensions was Lopez Obrador’s apparent criticism of Ecuador’s recent elections, saying the 2023 run-off vote took place in a “very strange” manner and suggesting that presidential candidates had used the media, presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio’s assassination and overall violence in their favor while campaigning.

The rift resulted in a series of diplomatic provocations this week, that also included Ecuador rejecting Mexico’s ambassador to the country, who was declared “persona non grata.”

6 Apr 24

[apricitystudies]

what i read in oct. 2023:

(previous editions)

race, gender, sexuality

the man without a face

they were given iuds as children without their consent. now, they want compensation (greenland/denmark)

japan court rules it is 'unconstitutional' to require transgender sterilization in landmark case

politics & current affairs

the 'false positives' scandal that felled colombia's military hero

'we have a chance to change poland': how young voters shaped the election result

'we thought australia can't be this bad': elders grieve voice referendum result

israel & palestine

expel all palestinians from gaza, recommends israeli gov't ministry*

huwara rampage: palestine's huwara should be wiped out: top israeli minister (march 2023)

israel air strike reportedly kills dozens at gaza refugee camp*

palestinian fears grow amid rising Israeli settler attacks (aug 2023)

israeli settler escalate violence in west bank (nov 2021)

israel's new leaders won't stop "death to arabs" chants, but they will feel bad about them (june 2021)

israeli settlers using 'acts of intimidation' to take over water supplies on palestinian land (march 2012, full un report here)

the occupation of water (nov 2017)

how does international humanitarian law apply in israel and gaza?*

'gaza is being strangled': why israel's evacuation order violates international law*

rocket alert apps warn israelis of incoming attacks while gaza is left in the dark*

israel's security forces are 'complicit' in drastic surge in settler violence, report finds (july 2021)

*published oct. 2023.

[9w1ft]

Re: Carolina Herrera and Karlie. We’ve discussed this before, but a lot of people don’t know that Karlie is not simply the face of a perfume in the same way that Timothee Chalemet is the current face of one of Chanel’s perfumes, or Joe Alwyn did an ad for Tom Ford Beau du Jour one time. Good Girl perfume was created especially in conjunction with Karlie being the face of it. She’s not just the face of it, she is the Good Girl. It’s a whole other level of business partnership and branding. It’s been going strong for 7 years, and Good Girl continues to be one of the best selling perfumes in the world. You can be walking down the street in Slovakia or Shanghai or some place, and there’s Karlie The Good Girl on a billboard. Every airport with a duty free in the world, and most Ulta Beautys and Sophoras in the US have her picture showing. CH also happens to be the first runway she walked at fashion week when she was 15. She absolutely would have influence over what they do and we’ve seen it over and over again, including this year and last (remember Karlie did her pink smoke effect before Taylor filmed hers in the LH MV, and the midnight version of GG was developed and announced well before Taylor announced Midnights, and this stuff goes way back to the first ads which had subtle references to This Is What You Came For, and another one where she said “Don’t call me kid” long before Taylor released Illicit Affairs.) There is absolutely no way anyone will ever convince me these things aren’t pre-referencing Taylor’s work, or Taylor’s work is referencing these ads. And the only way this is possible is if Karlie knows ahead of time what’s coming (usually months ahead) and/or Taylor is referencing Karlie ads later. The only reason the former would happen is if they are on good terms (very good terms and Taylor is ok with it) and the only way the latter happens is if Taylor’s obsessed with Karlie.

thank you for typing this out for me i almost typed it up but was like, i’ve written about this, so i went to find a post and then i couldn’t find it immediately and then i started about my day and such and forgot 😆

i think if you’re new its hard to appreciate or grasp what brands are important to karlie. like i remember distinctly way back when when i first got here in 2018 looking at taymojis and people freaking out about there being a stiletto taymoji and how it was a kaylor reference and the photo people were using to talk about why it was a reference was —to me— just a pic of a carolina herrera ad where karlie was wearing a stiletto and i remember thinking to myself, come on guys it’s a shoe, what’s specific about a shoe?? but i was lacking the context of The Swift Life app being released in late 2017 (meaning it was being built/prepped throughout 2017, likely early 2017 with all the other rep promo) in combination with karlie having been made the face of what was then the new carolina herrera good girl perfume just the year prior (mid 2016), which was a big get for her at the time, and that the perfume bottle is stiletto shaped. now, looking back, i understand what about that taymoji was sus, given all this extra context. karlie now being the face of a perfume was a big achievement for her. and the achievement happened to be shoe shaped. so why not celebrate that? etc.

so anyway, if anon is feeling anything like the way i did, but are somewhat interested in kaylor anyway, i would suggest just sticking a pin in stuff like this and moving on for now and maybe coming back to it a half year or year from now after gaining a little more perspective and seeing if your perspective has changed

[mariacallous]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s Republican candidate for governor, is facing renewed criticism amid revelations that he once called himself a “Black NAZI” and a “perv” online.

Josh Stein, his Jewish Democratic opponent, may be the biggest beneficiary.

Stein had already been leading in the polls before this week’s report, following a prior string of allegations about, and bizarre conduct by, Robinson. Stein would be North Carolina’s first Jewish governor — and a groundswell of support for him could prove to be a potential obstacle for Donald Trump’s bid to retake the White House.

Though the state has a record of electing Democrats as governors while supporting Republicans for president, the turmoil in this year’s race suggests that pattern could be broken and Stein’s popularity could buoy Kamala Harris’ candidacy.

“If Stein continues to dominate and make the broader case that Robinson is tied to Trump and other Republicans on the ballot, it may be helpful” as an additional push for Harris to win “when the margins of victory are so narrow in this state,” said Michael Bitzer, professor of politics and history at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Stein’s consistent lead — between 5 and 14 percentage points, according to recent polls — has been fueled in part by a litany of revelations about inflammatory and uncouth past comments by Robinson, currently the lieutenant governor, about women, LGBTQ people, Jews and others.

In a 2017 Facebook post, before he entered political office, he wrote, “I am so sick of seeing and hearing people STILL talk about Nazis and Hitler and how evil and manipulative they were. NEWS FLASH PEOPLE, THE NAZIS (National Socialist) ARE GONE! We did away with them.”

In a post the following year, he wrote that the hit superhero movie “Black Panther” was “created by an agnostic Jew and put to film by satanic marxist” and was “only created to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets.”

The latest revelations are in a similar vein. A CNN report on Thursday unearthed Robinson’s comments between 2008 and 2012 on “Nude Africa,” a pornographic website with a message board. In the comments, Robinson declared, “I’m a black NAZI!,” said that “some people need to be slaves,” described his arousal as an adult when recalling “peeping” at women as a teen at a public gym, and characterized himself as a “perv” who appreciated transgender pornography. (Robinson opposes transgender rights.) About the Obama administration, he posted in 2012, “I’d take Hitler over any of the sh-t that’s in Washington right now!”

Following the CNN story, Politico reported that an email address belonging to Robinson was registered on Ashley Madison, a website for married people seeking to have affairs.

Robinson, 58, has denied the CNN accusations and his campaign denied that he ever had an Ashley Madison account. He has also said that he apologized for his inflammatory Facebook posts, though he did not do so publicly.

Republican leaders in the state were so concerned about the stories that they pressed Robinson to exit the race — which would potentially have teed Stein up to face a more conventional opponent. But Robinson refused to step aside before the deadline to do so passed on Friday morning.

Now, North Carolina voters will face a stark choice in November — between a Trump-endorsed Republican with a record of expressing affinity for Nazism, and a Democratic state attorney general with a long history of Jewish involvement.

Stein, 52, comes from a family that is well-known among North Carolina liberals. His father, Adam Stein, is a leading civil rights attorney whose firm successfully convinced the U.S. Supreme Court to order desegregation in Charlotte’s schools — and faced a steep backlash because of it. His mother, Jane Stein, is also a lifelong liberal activist.

Josh Stein is often described as a centrist Democrat in Democratic circles. He frequently references his parents’ activism, including in a campaign video.

“It was a couple of hours before dawn, a cold February morning in 1971 in Charlotte’s west end,” Stein says in the video. Naming famous Black civil rights heroes in the state, he adds, “Julius Chambers, James Ferguson, and my dad, Adam Stein, were leading the legal battle against discrimination and for equality when their office was firebombed and burned to the ground.”

The Chambers Ferguson Stein law firm was the first in North Carolina to be integrated. The Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education case was its biggest Supreme Court win, but the firm also made an impact by addressing voting rights, employment discrimination and death penalty defense cases, in coordination with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

LDF attorneys referred to Stein’s firm as “LDF South,” said Rich Rosen, professor of law emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a former law clerk for the firm, who is Jewish. He added, “They really were the most significant locus of civil rights litigation in the country outside of the offices in New York.”

About half the firm’s white attorneys were Jewish. Rosen recalls beach trips where the white and Black attorneys’ kids played together. “That’s what Josh grew up in,” he said.

Raised in Charlotte and Chapel Hill, Stein graduated from Dartmouth College and taught high school English and economics in Zimbabwe for two years. He earned law and public policy degrees from Harvard. His legal career eventually took him to the North Carolina Department of Justice, where he served as senior deputy attorney general for consumer protection. Between 2009 and 2016, he was a state senator before assuming the attorney general’s role.

Stein’s campaign did not respond to JTA’s request for an interview. But people who know him say he has channeled the values with which he was raised.

Stein absorbed his father’s firm’s “values of justice and equity and fairness, but he pursued them from inside the government instead of being outside, trying to force the government to do the right thing,” as his father did, according to Leslie Winner, a Jewish former partner of the firm and former state senator.

Stein’s campaign commercials emphasize what he considers some of his top accomplishments. As part of a group of attorneys general, he negotiated billions in settlements to address the opioid crisis nationwide, including $26 billion from Johnson & Johnson and three prescription opioid distributors. He worked with legislators and officials across multiple jurisdictions to get a backlog of nearly 12,000 rape kits tested that had languished for years, with the hope of resolving cold cases.

Rep. Kathy Manning, a Democrat and the first Jew ever elected to Congress from North Carolina, points to a key Stein environmental victory.

“We had a huge problem with coal ash spill in this state,” she said. Stein “negotiated the largest coal ash cleanup in the country’s history.” Duke Energy agreed to pay for remediation in a settlement, rather than passing more than $1 billion in costs to electricity customers, Stein announced.

Stein has also been “very, very strong on defending women’s access to reproductive health care,” Manning said. North Carolina currently allows abortions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. Robinson’s position on the issue has varied, but he was captured on tape at a September event saying he wants to bring that limit down to six weeks and, ideally, “zero” weeks.

Stein’s admirers describe him as warm, gregarious, kind and someone who exhibits his Jewish values in the way he lives.

“Almost every single time he mentions the fact that his faith is crucial to who he is,” said Steve Schewel, the Jewish former mayor of Durham who is involved in Stein’s campaign and has heard him speak frequently.

“I would say that his Judaism has definitely informed his values,” Schewel said. “Judaism is a religion where justice is at the forefront of everything that we do.”

Stein has not made Israel a centerpiece of his campaigning. Through the year since the war in Gaza began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, he has hewed to the Biden administration’s positions, supporting Israel’s right to self-defense and an ultimate two-state solution while also expressing concern about Palestinian deaths and defending pro-Palestinians’ protesters’ right to nonviolent expression.

Stein, his wife Anna, and their three children have been members for years at Temple Beth Or, a Reform synagogue of about 500 families in Raleigh.

Rabbi Lucy Dinner remembers the Steins at “all of the religious school dinners and parent events and holiday events centered around their kids.” (When Anna Stein updated her Facebook profile to reflect her marriage, 18 years into it, Dinner commented with a joke: “Come to temple and we will set up a chuppah and give you guys a glass to stomp.”) The family joined a congregational trip to a Guatemalan village that the synagogue has supported so that more children there could attend school.

“In our congregation, we teach our families and our children that we’re not only responsible for creating this Jewish community that takes care of one another and worships and studies together, but that we’re responsible to live those values in the world,” Dinner said. Stein has spoken to seniors and other temple groups and participated as an usher and reader during the High Holy Days, she said.

Stein also maintains many friendships at Beth Meyer Synagogue, Raleigh’s Conservative synagogue, according to its rabbi, Eric Solomon, who like Dinner emphasized he was speaking for himself rather than on behalf of his congregation.

Stein has given talks at the synagogue, lit the public menorah at Hanukkah celebrations and been involved in numerous Jewish Federation events. “He’s part of the community in every way,” Solomon said. Stein even coached Solomon’s son on a JCC soccer team.

For North Carolina Democrats, having Stein as governor would mean maintaining a lever of power. The current governor, Democrat Roy Cooper, is a popular, term-limited executive who was for a time on Kamala Harris’ running-mate shortlist. He has been a bulwark against a conservative wave in the state: North Carolina has attracted national attention and lawsuits over gerrymandering, and Republicans currently hold a supermajority in the state legislature, though they may not after November.

An outsized win for Democrats in the state this November could be a major impediment for Trump and his supporters. Polls show the presidential race in a dead heat and analysts say winning North Carolina is almost essential for a national Trump win in the Electoral College. Increased enthusiasm among Democratic voters over the gubernatorial race or depressed turnout among Republicans could potentially tip the balance. Stein is newly touting his support among Republicans.

A new Democratic ad campaign linking Robinson to Trump has already been launched.

Trump, for his part, is distancing himself from Robinson, whom he once endorsed as “Martin Luther King on steroids.” While Robinson has appeared frequently at Trump’s rallies in the state, he has reportedly been dropped from the lineup for one scheduled for Saturday.

The Republican Jewish Coalition is staying out of the state. North Carolina is absent from a list of battleground states where the group says it will “be knocking on doors every Sunday” until Election Day, even though polls show it most deadlocked of all.

Jews in North Carolina could see a Stein victory as an important step for reasons other than state and national political implications.

“I’m hopeful that supporting and electing Josh Stein is an indication of acceptance by many of the Jewish community in North Carolina,” said Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, who is Jewish.

[theculturedmarxist]

Immediately after Joe Biden announced that he would not seek re-election and instead endorsed Kamala Harris, she was anointed as the Democratic Party presidential nominee with little analysis of her record or her program. In fact, her website, KamalaHarris.com , makes no mention of a political program at all. While foolish debates about whether she should be considered Black garner media attention, questions about policy are largely ignored. Black Agenda Report has been writing about Harris for some time, and we share what we and others have noted about her record over the years.

Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report, July 19, 2017 Kamala Harris and America’s Oligarchs Briahna Joy Gray, Current Affairs, September 3, 2017 How Identity Became a Weapon Against the Left Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report, January 16, 2019 Kamala Harris Destroyed Black Lives Teodros Fikre, Ghion Journal, January 16, 2019 Evoking Muckrakers: Hannah Giorgis’s Devastating Critique of Senator Kamala Harris Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report, January 24, 2019 Bernie Sanders vs Kamala the Jailer and Her Corporate Backers Danny Haiphong, Black Agenda Report, January 30, 2019 The U.S. is a Political Prison, Kamala Harris is a Prison Guard Teodros Fikre, Black Agenda Report, January 30, 2019 When Politicians Use Marginalized People As Human Shields

Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report, February 20, 2019 Kamala Harris: The Fix Is In Marjorie Cohn, Black Agenda Report, July 10, 2019 Kamala Harris Has a Distinguished Career of Serving Injustice Danny Haiphong, Black Agenda Report, July 24, 2019 Kamala Harris Embodies the Most Dangerous Myth of American Exceptionalism Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report, August 14, 2019 No Racism, Just Russians

Erica Caines, Hood Communist, August 13, 2020 Political Copaganda and the November Elections

Ahjamu Umi, Black Agenda Report, August 19, 2020 Kamala Harris: Class Struggle and the Illusion of Identity in Capitalism Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report, August 19, 2020 “Feet to the Fire” and Other Lies Nelson Maldonado-Torres, Black Agenda Report, August 26, 2020 Obama, Harris and the Ruse of Racial Representation

Julie Kuttapan, Black Agenda Report, August 26, 2020 "Kamala Auntie": On the Vulgarity of Bourgeois Identity Politics in 2020

Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report, October 15, 2020 The Useful Tool: Kamala “Heartbeat Away” Harris Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report, November 11, 2020 The Real Resistance Begins Tye Salandy,Trinidad and Tobago News Blog, November 13, 2020 Biden-Harris and the Diverse Faces of U.S. Imperialism

Erica Caines, Hood Communist, February 21, 2021 The Caribbean Diaspora Has a SOUTHCOM Problem

Erica Caines, Hood Communist, June 10, 2021 Kamala Harris and the Americas Ready for Revolution, Hood Communist, January 27, 2022 Biden Harris and the Never Ending Commitment to War Gyasi Lake, Black Youth Project, August 8, 2022 There’s No Such Thing as a “Progressive Prosecutor” In a System Designed to Criminalize Blackness Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report, April 7, 2023 Ajamu Baraka Discusses the Zone of Peace and Kamala Harris’ Trip to Africa | Black Agenda Report Salifu Mack, Hood Communist, July 6, 2023 More Than Meets the Silk Press: Kamala Harris and U.S. Imperialism Peoples Dispatch, March 25, 2024 Puerto Ricans Take to the Streets Against Kamala Harris Visit

Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report, July 24, 2024 War, Genocides, and Coups: Biden/Harris and the Irreversible Crisis of Neo-Liberal Fake Democracy Jacqueline Luqman, Luqman Nation, The Coup for the Democratic Nomination, July 26, 2024 Darker Than Blue 7/26/24: The Coup For The Democratic Nomination

[sgiandubh]

La passante de la Place des Vosges/ The Passerby of the Place des Vosges: in praise of Caitríona Balfe

I have recently discussed, in as much detail as possible without becoming completely boring, S's memoir Waypoints. It is, no doubt, an interesting strategic step, aiming to buy much needed time and respite from unwanted fan attention.

But if there is a memoir I would probably read in a very different, almost sentimental way, that would be hers, not his.

We have an enticing idea of the way she writes, with this lesser known essay published by the totemic NYT just a day shy of her birthday, in 2017: The First Time I Left Home (and Fell in Love), which you can read online right here - https://shorturl.at/uTX12. It is a short, dense piece with a deeply personal, even sentimental, view of Paris in autumn and spring. Something very unusual for the feisty, secretive, almost paranoid C we all know and love (admit it, you do: fair's fair). It immediately grabbed both my attention and highlighter.

Writing about Paris, especially from an Anglo-Saxon/American perspective, is a very tricky affair. So much has been said and done, from Janet Flanner's priceless Letters from Paris and Paris Journal, to Anais Nin, to Edmund White, to Hemingway, to Orwell - just to name the ones that immediately come to mind. In this particular case, we'd be dealing with a nice PR fine tuning detail, with a relatively short lifespan, aiming perhaps to reach a more sophisticated demographic than Twitter banter or a three minutes long Q&A about the current season's antics. But a wonderful detail, nevertheless.

The year is 1998. A young 19-year old Irish model wannabe just landed in the chaotic brouhaha of Roissy Airport and the first contact is brutal, language being a considerable barrier. But before that, we are treated to a masterful bistrot snapshot, with a cheeky, self-deprecating sense of humor. I mean how perfect is this?

Quite a contrast to the dream version back home:

Touché. All the moody young Frenchmen are named Pierre, C. All. Of. Them. As for watching far too many French films, there's always been something very Nouvelle Vague about you, Jeanne Moreau and Jules et Jim & all that, and I have to say this is what I found immediately endearing. I am not talking about Claire Fraser: it is you, emphatically you. The kind of impeccably dressed woman one can find pretending to read Le Monde at Le Café de Flore's terrace in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The kind of self-evident, celestial creature whose high heels are never heard on any pavement (what is your secret?). Late Jane Birkin didn't even come close, C., mark me. However, red lipstick stains look way better on the rim of a nervously half drunk cup of noisette coffee: but then, that is me.

It was not at all like that, of course, but then something happened just across the street from the Saint-Eustache church, at Quigley's Point, a long gone Irish pub I vaguely remember. Circa 1998, our own boisterous squad used to play darts and get plastered on cheap draft beer and that undignified, syrupy manzana Basque liqueur (idiots, I am telling you, but it was very cheap) at The Bombardier, on the Place du Panthéon, just across the Seine:

Thick brogue, a quick laugh, kind eyes and blonde hair. An interesting combo, for sure. No further comment except well, this is very personal, isn't it? You've said it yourself: sometimes (fun fact: always) the really important people have nothing to do with fantasies. But we know, C, we know.

And then, suddenly, it all falls into place: Stendhal would talk about a crystallization moment. It is that split-second when everything becomes very clear. A pact of sorts occurs and all barriers are lifted. For C, it happened in one of the perfect places of this planet, spare perhaps the Piazza del Campo, in Siena:

No doubt, by tomorrow evening at the latest, I will be crucified by Mordor, but this made me think of that - different setting and context, same type of seminal moment. Draw your own conclusions:

(SRH, Waypoints, Day Four: The Hard Road)

Important things happen, too, Place du Panthéon and this moved me to bits, even if this was not a happy ending. So shamelessly glad it wasn't, by the way:

For (and forgive me for ineptly tinkering with your words) "It’s true, you never forget your first love". And for that man on that random pavement in LA, that will always be you, passerby of the Place des Vosges. The wonder you are, despite anything else: it is perfectly irrelevant.

Jacques Brel says it best, in what is almost a prayer:

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Theo Moudakis :: @TheoMoudakis :: @TorontoStar

* * * *

MAGAt GROTESQUERIE

TCinLA

Sep 29, 2024

Roseanne Barr: They eat babies. It’s true.

Tucker Carlson: So it’s not just the dogs and cats?

Roseanne Barr: Everybody thinks I’m crazy. I’m not crazy. They love the taste of human flesh and they drink human blood.

Tucker Carlson: I think you have some authority on this.

And also:

Fresh off an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s extremist election tour (above), Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance is set to sit for a Pennsylvania town hall hosted by far-right Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau. Wallnau has pushed a litany of extreme views, including that Vice President Kamala Harris embodies “the spirit of Jezebel,” saying earlier this mont:

“What you’re seeing now is a real Jezebel. When you’ve got somebody operating in manipulation, intimidation and domination — especially when it’s in a female role trying to emasculate a man who is standing up for truth — you’re dealing with the Jezebel spirit. So, with Kamala, you have a Jezebel spirit, a characteristic in the Bible that is the personification of intimidation, seduction, domination and manipulation.”

You cannot make this shit up. Former Republican Peter Wehner wrote about this in The Atlantic this week. All these points need repeated emphasis:

The Republican Freak Show :: By: Peter Wehner

The GOP is a moral freak show, and freak shows attract freaks. Which is why Mark Robinson fits in so well in today’s Republican Party.

Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina, has described himself as a “devout Christian.” But a recent CNN story reported that several years ago, he was a porn-site user who enjoyed watching transgender pornography (despite a history of an anti-transgender rhetoric), referred to himself as a “Black Nazi,” and supported the return of slavery. According to CNN, commenters on the website discussed whether to believe the story of a woman who said she was raped by her taxi driver while intoxicated. Robinson wrote in response, “And the moral of this story….. Don’t f**k a white b*tch!” Politico reports that Robinson’s email address was also registered on Ashley Madison, a website for married people seeking affairs. (Robinson, the current lieutenant governor of North Carolina, has denied all of the claims.)

These allegations aren’t entirely shocking, because Robinson—a self-described “MAGA Republican”—has shown signs in the past of being a deeply troubled person.

Regarding the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, in 2011, Robinson wrote, “Get that fucking commie bastard off the National Mall!” Robinson also has referred to the slain civil-rights champion as “worse than a maggot,” a “ho fucking, phony,” and a “huckster.” During the Obama presidency, Robinson wrote, “I’d take Hitler over any of the shit that’s in Washington right now!” He promoted the conspiracy theory claiming that Obama was born in Kenya. He referred to Michelle Obama as a man and Hillary Clinton as a “heifer.” He compared Nancy Pelosi to Hitler, Mao, Stalin, and Castro and mocked the near-fatal assault on her husband, Paul Pelosi. He is also an election denier, claiming that Joe Biden “stole the election.”

In 2017, Robinson wrote, “There is a REASON the liberal media fills the airwaves with programs about the NAZI and the ‘6 million Jews’ they murdered.” He has used demeaning language against Jews and gay people. He has cruelly mocked school-shooting survivors (“media prosti-tots”). And he supported a total ban on abortion, without exceptions for rape or incest, even though he admitted that he’d paid for an abortion in the past.

Much of this was known before he ran for governor. No matter. Republicans in North Carolina nominated him anyway, and Donald Trump has lavished praise on the man he calls his “friend,” offering Robinson his “full and total endorsement” and dubbing him “one of the hottest politicians” in the country.

SOME REPUBLICANS ARE distancing themselves from Robinson partly because they are worried he’ll be defeated, but also because they’re even more concerned that he will drag down other Republicans, including Trump. But the truth is that Robinson is a perfect addition to the Republican ensemble.

The GOP vice-presidential candidate, J. D. Vance, has been relentlessly promoting the lie that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were abducting and eating pets. In 2021, he said that the United States was being run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs, and “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has blamed wildfires on a Jewish space laser, promoted a conspiracy alleging that some Democratic Party leaders were running a human-trafficking and pedophilia ring, and agreed with commenters who suggested that the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Florida, was a “massive false flag.” Another House Republican, Paul Gosar, has promoted fluoride conspiracy theories and posted an animated video depicting him slashing the throat of a Democratic congresswoman and attacking President Biden. Yet another Republican member of Congress, Lauren Boebert, was ejected from a family-friendly musical for vaping, being disruptive, and groping her date (and vice versa). She also falsely claimed that school authorities “are putting litter boxes in schools for people who identify as cats.”

The Atlantic’s Elaine Godfrey reported that Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, who is under House investigation for having sex with an underage girl, “used to walk around the cloakroom showing people porno of him and his latest girlfriend,” according to a source Godfrey spoke with.

This is not normal.

The GOP is home to a Republican governor, Kristi Noem, who describes in her book shooting her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, in a gravel pit, as well as killing an unnamed goat. A Republican senator, Ron Johnson, claimed that COVID was “pre-planned” by a secret group of “elites” even while he promoted disinformation claiming that Ivermectin, which is commonly used to deworm livestock, was an effective treatment for COVID. (Because people were hospitalized for taking the drug, the FDA tweeted, “You are not a horse. You are not a cow.”)

Earlier this month, Trump attended a 9/11 memorial event in New York City. He took as his guest a right-wing conspiracy theorist, Laura Loomer, who has claimed that 9/11 was an inside job, referred to Kamala Harris as a “drug using prostitute,” and said that Democrats should be tried for treason and executed. (Trump has called Loomer a “woman with courage” and a “free spirit.”)

Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, floated the idea of having Trump declare martial law so that he could “rerun” the 2020 election. He suggested that the president should seize voting machines. He predicted that a governor will soon declare war. He has also warned about the dangers of a “new world order” in which people such as Bill Gates, George Soros, and World Economic Forum Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab “have an intent to track every single one of us, and they use it under the skin. They use a means by which it’s under the skin.”

Tucker Carlson, a keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention and an unofficial Trump adviser, recently hosted a Holocaust revisionist on his podcast. He praised the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as having been “vindicated on everything” and described Jones as “the most extraordinary person” he has ever met. (Two years ago, Sandy Hook families won nearly $1.5 billion in defamation and emotional-distress lawsuits against Jones for his repeatedly calling the 2012 school shooting, in which 20 first graders and six educators were killed, a hoax staged by “crisis actors” to get more gun-control legislation passed. As The New York Times reports, “The families suffered online abuse, personal confrontations and death threats from people who believed the conspiracy theory.”) (TC Note: all of Jones’ InfoWars property is being disposed of by court order to satisfy the judgement against him)

Carlson, one of the most influential figures on the American right, has also peddled the claim that the violence on January 6, 2021, was a “false flag” operation involving the FBI and used to discredit Trump supporters; alleged that former Attorney General Bill Barr covered up the murder of Jeffrey Epstein; and promoted testicle tanning.

Then there’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former Democrat who recently endorsed Trump. The former president has asked Kennedy to be on his transition team should Trump win the election and “help pick the people who will be running the government and I am looking forward to that.” Trump told CNN’s Kristen Holmes, “I like him, and I respect him. He’s a brilliant guy. He’s a very smart guy.”

Sara Dorn of Forbes listed some of the conspiracy theories that Kennedy has promoted—vaccines can cause autism; COVID was genetically engineered and is targeted to attack Caucasian and Black people (and Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people are mostly immune); mass shootings are linked to Prozac; the 2004 presidential election was stolen from John Kerry; the CIA was involved in the death of his uncle John F. Kennedy; and Sirhan Sirhan was wrongly convicted of murdering his father.

In addition, Kennedy, who has revealed that he had a parasitic brain worm, told the podcaster Joe Rogan that Wi-Fi causes cancer and “leaky brain.” He believes that chemicals in the water supply could turn children transgender. He claims that 5G networks are being used for mass surveillance. He’s said that Katherine Maher, the president and CEO of NPR, is a CIA agent. “Even journals like Smithsonian and National Geographic … appear to be compromised by the CIA,” according to Kennedy.

According to Kennedy’s daughter Kick Kennedy, her father chain-sawed the head off a dead whale on a beach in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, bungee-corded it to the roof of their car, and drove it five hours to the family home in Mount Kisco, New York. (The severed head streamed “whale juice” down the side of the family minivan on the trip home. “It was the rankest thing on the planet,” Kick told Town & Country magazine in 2012. “We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us.”) Kennedy has also recently admitted to leaving the carcass of a bear cub in Central Park a decade ago, as a joke.

Donald Trump Jr. has said that he could see Kennedy being given some sort of oversight role in any number of government agencies if his father is reelected, including the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services. “I can see a dozen roles I’d love to see him in.”

Like Mark Robinson, RFK Jr. fits right in.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY today isn’t incidentally grotesque; like the man who leads it, Donald Trump, it is grotesque at its core. It is the Island of Misfit Toys, though in this case there’s a maliciousness to the misfits, starting with Trump, that makes them uniquely dangerous to the republic. Since 2016, they have been at war with reality, delighting in their dime-store nihilism, creating “alternative facts” and tortured explanations to justify the lawlessness and moral depravity and derangement of their leader.

None of this is hidden; it is on display in neon lights, almost every hour of every day. No one who supports the Republican Party, who casts a vote for Trump and for his MAGA acolytes, can say they don’t know.

They know.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, in an essay titled “As Breathing and Consciousness Return,” warned that no one who “voluntarily runs with the hounds of falsehood” will be able to justify himself to the living, or to posterity, or to his friends, or to his children. Don’t surrender to corruption, the great Russian writer and dissident said; strive for the liberation of our souls by not participating in the lie. Don’t consent to the lies. The challenges facing Solzhenitsyn were quite different, and certainly far more difficult, than anything we face, but his fundamental point still holds.

The Trump movement is built on layers of lies. It’s late, but it’s never too late to liberate yourself from them. One word of truth outweighs the world.

[TCinLA]

[omegaremix]

Omega Radio for December 16, 2017; #151.

Slowdive “Star Roving”

Fazerdaze “Lucky Girl (Little Uneasy)"

Hundredth “Hole (Visual)”

Bike Thiefs “Destination Wedding”

Gingerlys “Turtledoves”

Ariel Pink “Feels Like Heaven”

Girlpool “1…2…3…”

Deerhoof “Singalong Junk”

Lee Ranaldo “Circular (Right As Rain)”

Diet Cig “Tummy Ache”

Courtneys, The “Silver Velvet”

Daddy Issues “I’m Not”

Priests “No Big Bang”

Current Affairs “Eyes”

Dame “Lines”

Breakfast Muff “R U A Feminist”

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard “Mr. Beat”

Cende “Don’t Want To”

Idles “Mother”

Naomi Punk “Cardboard”

Protomartyr “A Private Understanding”

Pissed Jeans “Bar Is Low, The”

Institute “Powerstation”

Japandroids “No Known Drink Or Drug”

Sorority Noise “No Halo”

Tasty “La-Dee-Dah”

Taiwan Housing Project “Veblen Death Mask”

Metz “Mr. Plague”

RMBLR “Name Game”

Suspirians “Nocturne”

Downtown Boys “Somos Chulas (No Somos Pendejas)”

Wolf Alice “Yuk Foo”

War Brides “Thyme”

Unstoppable Death Machines “City Lights”

Tunic “Eye Contact”

Unsane “Aberration”

First of two Winners Of '17 broadcasts.