#free affiliate articles

[makingqueerhistory]

Okay, so I try hard to cover global queer history, and this isn't marking a stop to that, but I am aware that most of my audience is American, and I want to address them very directly right now.

Google Removed Pride Month From Its Calendar App, and Stonewall National Monument's "LGBTQ" status was changed to "LGB" on the government website. This is the beginning of the erasure of queer history, not the end. I don't know what the future of the United States looks like, as someone who studies queer history and has done so for many years, I want to share some tools with you.

Now is a good time to prioritize local queer history, Making Gay History is a great project, so is the Digital Transgender Archive, but also check your city and see what resources there are.

Read and buy books about queer history. I have an affiliate list with some of the books I personally recommend.

If you use Google Calendar, repopulate that resource with so much queer history with a free queer history calendar plug-in, it has names from queer history that you can also learn more about for free when they come up. As the author of these articles, feel free to save them, print them off, whatever makes them freely accessible as suppression get's worse.

Use your local library. Email the board about book bans, request banned books, request queer books, and make your voice heard.

Make queer art. Share queer art. Protect queer art. Here is some public-domain queer art to use as you wish.

Keep up with queer news, THEM is a great resource.

All of these tools are currently freely accessible with an internet connection. Queer history is a community responsibility, do your part.

[pathologising]

hey y'all! if you're interested in supporting some palestinian artists, a small art publication i work with put together a list of palestinian artists and designers you can support. Purchasing from most of these artists goes towards the Palestinian Children Relief Fund (PCRF). also wanted to note the publication doesnt profit off this article through affiliate links or whatever. feel free to check it out!

[mossy-aro]

Aspec Video Essay Masterpost

This is a resource masterpost intending to compile together the video essays pertaining to asexuality and aromanticism and affiliated topics online! I'm only going to be including videos that are 15+ minutes long (to qualify as a 'video essay') - of course if anyone has suggestions please feel free to contribute! This is a community project!

Compulsory Sexuality, Comphet & Asexual Alienation by Evie Lupine - slightly less of a video essay and more chatty but she does talk about academic articles on compulsory sexuality. She also did a podcast episode with @theacecouple (here: Asexuality and Kink ft. Evie Lupine) which was very interesting!

Amatonormativity by Tara Mooknee - one I've recced on here before! Definitely a bit 101 and aimed at an allo audience but still worth a watch!

The hell of "sad singles" set ups & the need for found family by Bryony Claire - sent to me! I'm afraid I haven't seen it yet.

is love a social construct? by oliSUNvia - recommended to me by a friend! Again, I haven’t watched it yet but I know pertains to the wider discourse around romantic love + amatonormativity.

Are Aromantic and Asexual Representation Queer Enough? (Buddy Daddies) by VIKA - I haven't seen this series but it's an aspec reading / analysis on the main relationship in the show!

How Romance Paths in Games Fail Asexual Players (and How to Fix it) by DarkTeaTime - sent to me! I haven’t seen it yet but it’s about asexual players + gaming :) for some reason it won’t let me embed the url but someone has left a link in the notes down below!!

Rowan Ellis has a few here:

the chronically online state of asexual discourse - I've recced this one before on this blog and I still highly recommend it!

The Rise of Asexual Representation

They've also done an interview with Alice Oseman about aspec representation but it's more of a discussion than a video essay, so I haven't included it.

Spacey Aces (their entire channel is dedicated to discussing aspec topics so check that out if that interests you!) - most of their content is more chat/101 focused and not so much video essay-y but I've picked two which I think qualify:

A-specs vs Amatonormative Media (and the world)

Lavender Marriage | a history of purple and relationship anarchy in the queer community

David J Bradley has quite a few essays, here:

Alone. Not Alive. | A Queer Reading Of Company

Sherlock Holmes: Asexual Icon

That One Time House Cured Asexuality

Maybe You Haven't Met The Right Person Yet | An Asexual Video Essay

Asexuals and Sex - more of an explanatory 101 video but still felt like I should include it!

Meghan Sandor has some here:

Polyamory, Relationship Anarchy & Queerplatonic Partnerships: Are They Really the Same Thing?

Asexuality and Kink: Why Do So Many Aces Love It?

[official-linguistics-post]

this isn't linguistics-specific, but it is very important and deserves to be known:

you don't have to have an institutional affiliation to use @jstor.

there is a free option that lets you read up to 100 articles/month online - which is a lot!! and even the individual subscription is only $19.50/month or $199/year as of july 2024, which is leagues better than having to purchase (or in many cases, "rent") articles individually from the publishers.

the only downside to the free account is that it doesn't allow downloads, which is tragic for those of us who enjoy hoarding pdves, but not necessarily a dealbreaker.

i've seen simply too much lamenting about jstor accessibility for non-affiliates. it's there to use!! go forth and inhabit your research rabbit holes!

[alex51324]

On the other hand, Slate* also did this article about how a new PAC is taking out ads on porn sites, linking Trump to Project 2025's goal of banning pornography.

The ads are scheduled to run in the two weeks before the election, in swing states like Pennsylvania and Georgia.

The article talks about some of the logistics of this campaign, including how it took some effort to find an ad network that handles porn sites, allows political ads, and has the ability to do state-level targeting. They also designed the ad to make sure that the money shot (so to speak) comes in the 5 seconds before the "skip ad" button becomes available.

The PAC is, of course, not affiliated with any campaign.

(*Slate is an x-free-articles-a-month site, but the incognito window trick works, if it says you've hit your limit.)

[technofeudalism]

March 17th:

One week after Hamas’s October 7 attack, thousands rallied outside the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles to protest the country’s retaliatory assault on Gaza. The protestors were peaceful, according to local media, “carrying signs that said ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘End the Occupation,’” and watched over by a “sizable police presence in the area.” The LAPD knew the protests were coming: Two days earlier, the department received advanced warning on Dataminr, a social media surveillance firm and “official partner” of X. Internal Los Angeles Police Department emails obtained via public records request show city police used Dataminr to track Gaza-related demonstrations and other constitutionally protected speech. The department receives real-time alerts from Dataminr not only about protests in progress, but also warnings of upcoming demonstrations as well. Police were tipped off about protests in the Los Angeles area and across the country. On at least one occasion, the emails show a Dataminr employee contacted the LAPD directly to inform officers of a protest being planned that apparently hadn’t been picked up by the company’s automated scanning. Based on the records obtained by The Intercept, which span October 2023 to April 2024, Dataminr alerted the LAPD of more than 50 different protests, including at least a dozen before they occurred.

March 19th:

Dataminr, a data analytics company that counts NATO and OpenAI among its customers, has raised $85 million in a combination of convertible financing and credit, the company announced on Wednesday. It’s chump change for Dataminr, which closed a $475 million round at a $4.1 billion valuation in 2021. But the company has seen its fair share of downs as well as ups. In November 2023, Dataminr laid off 20% of its staff as it raced to fend off economic headwinds and “doubled down” on AI. [ ... ] Bailey added that the new tranche, which was led by security-focused VC NightDragon and HSBC, is “pre-IPO convertible financing” and doesn’t set a valuation. NightDragon also created a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) for an additional $100 million in convertible financing from the VC’s affiliates and partners.

BONUS:

“After investing in more than 25 Israeli companies over the past 25 years, I have been lucky enough to see first-hand the incredible talent and innovation coming out of the region. The opportunity in Israel only continues to grow exponentially and I am thrilled to announce the opening of a NightDragon office in Tel Aviv and to work with Dorin to support the success and international expansion of the next generation of growth stage cybersecurity, safety, security and privacy leaders,” said DeWalt.

it's incredible how you don't even have to dig to find stuff like this anymore. it used to take some work to uncover these kind of blatant abuses of power. now billionaires and foreign states bankroll Venture Capital and private equity firms out in the open and publish articles bragging about it because the fuck are you gonna do?

[globalnewscollective]

AI and Donald Trump Are Watching You—And It Could Cost You Everything

Imagine this: You post your thoughts online. Or you express support for human rights. Or you attend a peaceful protest. Months later, you find yourself denied a visa, placed on a watchlist, or even under investigation—all because an algorithm flagged you as a ‘threat.’ This isn’t a dystopian novel. It’s happening right now in the U.S.

How AI Is Being Weaponized Against Protesters and Online Speech The Trump administration has rolled out AI-driven surveillance to monitor and target individuals based on their political beliefs and activities. According to reports, these systems analyze massive amounts of online data, including social media posts, protest attendance, and affiliations.

The goal? To identify and suppress dissent before it even happens.

Here’s what this means:

Attending a Protest Could Put You on a Government Watchlist – AI systems are being trained to scan for ‘suspicious behavior’ based on location data and social media activity.

Your Social Media History Can Be Used Against You – The government is using algorithms to flag people who express opinions that don’t align with Trump’s agenda.

Expressing Your Opinion Online Can Have Consequences – It’s not just about attending protests anymore. Simply posting criticism of the government, sharing articles, or even liking the ‘wrong’ post could get you flagged.

Dissenters Could Face Harsh Consequences – In some cases, simply supporting the wrong cause online could lead to visa denials, surveillance, or worse.

AI and Student Visa Bans: A Dangerous Precedent Recently, AI was used to screen visa applicants for supposed ‘Hamas support,’ leading to students being denied entry to the U.S. without due process. This is alarming for several reasons:

False Positives Will Ruin Lives – AI systems are not perfect. Innocent people will be flagged, denied entry, or even deported based on misinterpretations of their online activity.

This Can Be Expanded to Anyone – Today, it’s foreign students. Tomorrow, it could be U.S. citizens denied jobs, housing, or government services for expressing their political views.

It Sets a Dangerous Global Example – If the U.S. normalizes AI-driven political suppression, other governments will follow.

Marco Rubio’s ‘Catch and Revoke’ Plan: A New Threat Senator Marco Rubio has proposed the ‘Catch and Revoke’ plan, which would allow the U.S. government to scan immigrants’ social media with AI and strip them of their visas if deemed a ‘threat.’ This raises serious concerns about surveillance overreach and algorithm-driven repression, where immigrants could be punished for harmless or misinterpreted online activity. This policy could lead to:

Mass Deportations Based on AI Errors – Algorithms are prone to bias and mistakes, and immigrants may have no recourse to challenge these decisions.

Fear-Driven Self-Censorship – Many may feel forced to silence themselves online to avoid government scrutiny.

A Precedent for Broader Use – What starts with immigrants could easily be expanded to citizens, targeting dissenters and activists.

What’s at Stake?

The ability to speak freely, protest, and express opinions without fear of government retaliation is a fundamental right. If AI surveillance continues unchecked, America will become a place where thought crimes are punished, and digital footprints determine who is free and who is not.

The Bigger Picture

Technology that was meant to make life easier is now being turned against us. Today, it’s AI scanning protest footage. Tomorrow, it could be predictive policing, social credit systems, or AI-driven arrest warrants.

What Can You Do?

Be Mindful of Digital Footprints – Understand that what you post and where you go could be tracked.

Support Digital Rights Organizations – Groups like the ACLU and EFF are fighting against mass surveillance.

Demand Transparency – Governments must be held accountable for how they use AI and surveillance.

Freedom dies when people stop fighting for it. We must push back before AI turns democracy into an illusion.

Source:

https://www.fastcompany.com/91295390/how-the-trump-administration-plans-to-use-algorithms-to-target-protesters

[middle-earth-press]

A breakdown of Tirion's newspapers & political affiliations btw:

The Tirion Chronicle. Oldest of them all, connected with the library and archives. Tries to be neutral, starts off mildly pro-Fëanorian, switches to mildly pro-Nolofinwëan after Fëanor begins to grow markedly more difficult. Not harsh on the Valar, but allows itself to criticise them. Information from all venues of life, most of it very day-to-day, because Valinor.

Fëanorian Quarter Courier. What it says on the tin, I guess, although it's not as bellicose as one might suspect, just has a Fëanorian slant.

The Eight-pointed Star. If the Courier is Fëanorian... then the Star is far-Fëanorian. Its most involved readers would protest at the paper being described as aggressive, but that word is a pretty mild one for it. Everyone suspects Morgoth submitted something anonymously at least once and it's a bit disconcerting that no one can agree which article of many it could be. (He might have submitted things anywhere else tbh, but the Star was always more belligerent than the others, so it's the one people suspect most. For what it's worth it was also most welcoming of people outside its editorial office writing things for it)

Tirion Review. The name doesn't give it away, but it's markedly pro-Nolofinwëan. Often engages in dramatic back-and-forths with the two above that can last for years.

Journal of the Student Association. A serious publication remarkable for being written and redacted entirely by minors. The Free Journal of Noldorin Youth splits off from it once tensions grow unbearable, and what remains acquires a Nolofinwëan bias.

Independent Monthly. Popularly (and unfairly) known as 'Independent Complaints' because it's main position seems to be "Please stop fighting. Can't we get on with eachother?". Finarfin is rumoured to be a contributor.

Not counting the dozens of scientific journals which probably have a wider readership lol.

[antiquarianfics]

Making Waves

Bucky gives you a pep talk when life’s beating down on you a little too hard.

a/n: unedited as always. this is also just a comfort fic. just bucky making you feel better. this can be read romantic or platonic. whatever floats your boat.

warnings: sexist themes, profanity

note: I do not own the character Bucky Barnes or any other Marvel affiliated characters.

You do not have permission to copy, repost, or translate my work; however, feel free to like, comment, and/or reblog.

»»———-———-———-———-———-———-———-««

“I thought I might find you out here.”

You sigh as you tilt your head up in acknowledgment of your intrusion, unsure if it’s welcome or not. In fact, you’re not sure how you feel about much at the moment. Your mind is swimming in uncertainties and insecurities that you feel a personal obligation to figure out or overcome. Nevertheless, you don’t protest the welcome/unwelcome (pick one, dammit!) company as it sits down next to you, providing a little warmth against the night’s cold to your right.

Your company had found you sitting alone on the beach, right at the shore, knees pulled to your chest, arms wrapped around your legs and holding them close, fingers anxiously fiddling with a ring on your finger, and staring at the waves as they crashed against the shore over and over again. The sea, you’d found, is calming. The repetitive nature of the ocean crashing against the shore and retreating back into itself feels honest to you. You may lie to yourself, the world may lie to you, but the sea? The sea will always find a way to reveal to you a hidden treasure you never knew you were looking for.

“That predictable?” You finally ask, responding to your newfound company.

You turn your head and make eye contact with your friend who’d come searching for you. You’re met with concerned eyes the color you’re certain the sea would be if it weren’t dark—the only light coming from the moon reflecting upon the water.

Your friend gives you a look, raising an eyebrow and pursing his lips. He’d found out the beach had become your favorite spot to run off to early on in your friendship, but he also knew you only ran for the beach when something was troubling you.

“You seemed upset,” is all he says.

“Bucky, I…” You trail off, not really sure what you meant to even say to him. What do you even want to say to him? That you’re upset by some media rumors about you? That you got your feelings hurt because a stupid clickbait article claims you’re dating a man you hate? That you feel like a failure as an Avenger, or a hero, or whatever the fuck you’re supposed to be anymore if all your worth to the public is tied up in who they think you have in your bed? You don’t finish your thought and return your gaze to the ocean.

Bucky is silent for a long while, just sitting and watching the waves with you. He is absolutely no stranger to needing to sit and sift through feelings, and he is also no stranger to unwanted media attention messing with his sanity. So, he lets you sit for a minute, but he also knows the longer that anger and frustration cook up inside you, the worse off you’ll be. You taught him that.

“Doll, you’ve gotta talk about it or it’s gonna eat you alive. You know that,” Bucky says softly. Empathetically.

“Bucky,” you whine, tired and still unwilling to talk.

“Okay, don’t talk. I will,” he says, swallowing nervously. He’s obviously out of his comfort zone, and you can’t help but look at him.

You let your eyes rest on your friend once more, and you take in his worried demeanor. His stormy blue eyes are set on the ocean, watching the waves as he gathers his thoughts. You realize, then, that he isn’t comfortable with what he’s doing—he’d much rather be listening to you talk. He’d much rather offer a small piece of advice after you talk, or maybe give you a hug and hope that fixes you. But he cares about you, and he’s trying to do the same thing you’ve done for him countless times: voice your observations about what might be upsetting your friend so that the problem is out and a solution can be found.

“You’re upset,” Bucky starts hesitantly, “because of a gossip piece that’s circulating the internet right now.”

You don’t argue with him, and Bucky takes that as confirmation.

“The gossip piece claims that you’re dating John Walker and dubs you the new “it” couple even though you hate the guy and punched him the face the last time you saw him.”

You laugh humorlessly.

“Then, that video clip from Walker’s interview started circulations where he all but confirms the rumors.”

You clench your fist in annoyance.

“That about right?”

“Yeah, that’s about it,” you say.

“I’d be angry, too,” he says.

“It’s just…” You trail off, closing your eyes tight trying to fight off tears. “It’s just that it doesn’t matter to them that I was an Avenger! It doesn’t matter that I helped defeat Loki, or Ultron, or Thanos. I’ve done so much for this city, and they don’t care. Not because they don’t care that New York was saved by the Avengers, but because the boy heroes are just better. I’m turned into an unwilling superhero eye candy, and, despite all my accomplishments, they can’t bring up my name without attaching it to a man’s. One of the articles doesn’t even mention my name! The article is really just titled ‘Mrs. Captain America?’ Like, really? I want to hit something.”

Bucky frowns, nodding as you rant and waiting patiently for you to finish. When you do, you’re breathing heavily, obviously worked up.

“You’re more than just ‘unwilling superhero eye candy,’” Bucky says, nose scrunching in disgust as he repeats your words. You can’t help it, but you laugh. The words sound so silly coming from his mouth. He smiles.

“You’re right. It’s really messed up that the public isn’t acknowledging all you’ve actually done to protect them, but you know that you’re more than that. That’s what matters. Because as long as you remember who you are, what you stand for, and what you do, then that person and her accomplishments are going to be noticed by the people who need to notice them. Do you know how many little girls probably saw you and Natasha fighting in all those fights and realized they could do that, too? When I was growing up, my sister didn’t have anyone like you to look up to. I wish she had.”

Bucky reaches up and wipes away the tears that are silently streaming down your cheeks. You reach up and haphazardly wipe away what he missed with the back of your hand. You hadn’t realized you were crying.

“Thank you, Buck,” you say. “I needed that.”

“I mean it, Doll.” He leans forward and presses a kiss to your forehead.

[jstor]

What is JSTOR??

We’re glad you asked 🤩

JSTOR is a digital library for the intellectually curious. We provide access to more than 12 million journal articles, books, images, and primary sources across 75 disciplines to facilitate research and teaching—working with the academic community to make important content discoverable.

Students and alumni at participating institutions may be able to access our content through their school library. But don’t worry! In addition to free, Open Access materials, we provide those without institutional affiliations up to 100 free articles per month OR an individual JPASS subscription.

You can visit our about page for more about our mission and initiatives. Thanks for the ask, stay curious! 🤓

[writing-for-life]

A Message from Katherine Kendall (“Claire”)

From the article:

“It is everyone’s individual choice what to do with Gaiman’s product going forward, but if you want to offer additional support, please consider making a donation to your local rape crisis agency*, or consider a donation to OurVOICE, a rape crisis agency in Asheville, NC.

*If you live in the US and are unsure of the name of your local IPV agency, you can find it using this database.

In 2020, Neil Gaiman committed to making a “hefty donation” to OurVOICE, the agency where I received counseling services in 2013. It was later discovered that he had not made the donation he promised.

I am not professionally affiliated with this agency, but believe strongly in its mission: to inspire hope and healing while ending sexual violence and human trafficking through education, counseling and advocacy.

I am also adding some info for people in the UK if you’d like to support Domestic Abuse or Intimate Partner Violence Helplines/Centres more regional to you, or if you need that support yourself (they usually also have contacts to local centres). Maybe others would like to add something in their countries as well?

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland: Rape Crisis Scotland, Scotland's Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline or Scottish Women’s Aid (donations and other ways to help here)

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales: Rape Crisis, Live Fear Free or Refuge (donations and other ways to help here)

🇬🇧 Northern Ireland (sorry, there’s still no separate emoji flag): Rape Crisis Northern Ireland, Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline or Nexus (donations and other ways to help via Nexus here)

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England and whole of UK: Rape Crisis or Refuge (donations and other ways to help here)

Turn your helplessness and anger into something positive that really makes a difference…

[makingqueerhistory]

Do you have any recommendations of books/ studies/ articles about the representation of queer people in media? Thank you for all the work you do!

Yes absolutely, I would be happy to share. Any discussion like this needs to mention The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies by Vito Russo. Making Queer History does have a set of articles about this as well, with Queen Christina, Queer Codes, and Queer Coding and Different from the Others.

Some more modern books that I can vouch for are:

The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me about (Desiring) Men

Manuel Betancourt

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror

Joe Vallese

Gays on Broadway

Ethan Mordden

Hi Honey, I'm Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture

Matt Baume

We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film

Tre'vell Anderson

(Affiliate links above)

This is just what I have read though, so other's are free to add on!

[aqlstar]

Shout out to this article for covering Druze protests (against Netanyahu's statements regarding demilitarization, which some Druze perceive as an attempt to drive a further wedge between Damascus and the Druze) in Southern Syria in a balanced way.

Israel obviously has good reason not to want an ISIS-affiliated group with strong ties to Turkey bumping up against their northern border, but not all Druze think an alliance with Israel is the best option for securing their safety.

A statement from Netanyahu outlining his respect for the Druze's desire to remain a part of a free, decentralized and secular Syria and his willingness to defer to local Druze authorities concerning military operations within their region of control might be a smart move here.

[mckitterick]

The End Is Near: "News" organizations using AI to create content, firing human writers

source: X

source: X

source: X

an example "story" now comes with this warning:

A new byline showed up Wednesday on io9: “Gizmodo Bot.” The site’s editorial staff had no input or advance notice of the new AI-generator, snuck in by parent company G/O Media.

G/O Media’s AI-generated articles are riddled with errors and outdated information, and block reader comments.

“As you may have seen today, an AI-generated article appeared on io9,” James Whitbrook, deputy editor at io9 and Gizmodo, tweeted. “I was informed approximately 10 minutes beforehand, and no one at io9 played a part in its editing or publication.”

Whitbrook sent a statement to G/O Media along with “a lengthy list of corrections.” In part, his statement said, “The article published on io9 today rejects the very standards this team holds itself to on a daily basis as critics and as reporters. It is shoddily written, it is riddled with basic errors; in closing the comments section off, it denies our readers, the lifeblood of this network, the chance to publicly hold us accountable, and to call this work exactly what it is: embarrassing, unpublishable, disrespectful of both the audience and the people who work here, and a blow to our authority and integrity.”

He continued, “It is shameful that this work has been put to our audience and to our peers in the industry as a window to G/O’s future, and it is shameful that we as a team have had to spend an egregious amount of time away from our actual work to make it clear to you the unacceptable errors made in publishing this piece.”

According to the Gizmodo Media Group Union, affiliated with WGA East, the AI effort has “been pushed by” G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller, recently hired editorial director Merrill Brown, and deputy editorial director Lea Goldman.

In 2019, Spanfeller and private-equity firm Great Hill Partners acquired Gizmodo Media Group (previously Gawker Media) and The Onion.

The Writers Guild of America issued a blistering condemnation of G/O Media’s use of artificial intelligence to generate content.

“These AI-generated posts are only the beginning. Such articles represent an existential threat to journalism. Our members are professionally harmed by G/O Media’s supposed ‘test’ of AI-generated articles.”

WGA added, “But this fight is not only about members in online media. This is the same fight happening in broadcast newsrooms throughout our union. This is the same fight our film, television, and streaming colleagues are waging against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in their strike.”

The union, in its statement, said it “demands an immediate end of AI-generated articles on G/O Media sites,” which include The A.V. Club, Deadspin, Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, The Onion, Quartz, The Root, and The Takeout.

but wait, there's more:

Just weeks after news broke that tech site CNET was secretly using artificial intelligence to produce articles, the company is doing extensive layoffs that include several longtime employees, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation. The layoffs total 10 percent of the public masthead.

*

Greedy corporate sleazeballs using artificial intelligence are replacing humans with cost-free machines to barf out garbage content.

This is what end-stage capitalism looks like: An ouroborus of machines feeding machines in a downward spiral, with no room for humans between the teeth of their hungry gears.

Anyone who cares about human life, let alone wants to be a writer, should be getting out the EMP tools and burning down capitalist infrastructure right now before it's too late.

[irregularincidents]

Many consider a contributing factor to the late Jimmy Carter's 1980 presidential election loss to Ronald Reagan was his seeming inability to resolve the Iranian Hostage Crisis, where between 1979 and 1981 Iranian students seized the US embassy and captured 53 members of staff and civilians.

However, just it turned out that Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger had sabotaged Lyndon B Johnson's peace talks with Vietnam some years previously for political gain, Reagan's allies decided to insert themselves into the Hostage Crisis to aid him the exact same way.

Specifically, former Republican governor of Texas John Connally, who met with leaders in the Middle East in the summer leading up to 1980 election. His goal? Convince the leaders of the various countries he visited to ask the students in the embassy to ignore Carter's attempts to free the hostages, as Reagan would get them a better deal when he won instead.

Carter would go on to loose that election, with voters citing his inability to resolve the Hostage Crisis and a stagnating economy for his loss of support, with the hostages were eventually released on 20 January 1981, the day Reagan took office.

As a Guardian article recounting the statements of Ben Barnes, an assistant to Connally during the 1980 trips, puts it:

“History needs to know that this happened,” Barnes said in one of several interviews with the Times. Barnes said he decided to come forward with his account after news last month that Carter, 98, had entered hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia, after a series of hospital visits. “I think it’s so significant and I guess knowing that the end is near for President Carter put it on my mind more and more and more,” Barnes said. “I just feel like we’ve got to get it down some way.” Barnes – a Democrat who served as lieutenant governor of Texas and was vice-chair of John Kerry’s 2004 election campaign – told the Times that on returning from the Middle East, Connally reported to the chairman of Reagan’s campaign, William J Casey. “Carter’s aides have long suspected that his campaign was torpedoed by Reagan affiliates who wanted to delay the release of American hostages until after the election,” Axios wrote on Monday. It added: “Ronald Reagan’s subsequent presidency ushered in a conservative era that remains a model for Republicans. If Carter had secured the release of the hostages, he might have won instead.”

[technofeudalism]

north korea bad is popping off on reddit again. top post on the CIA-controlled subreddit with 43 million subscribers masquerading as a news community. i was intrigued by the source being NZ Herald but when i clicked on the article, my questions were answered.

now. for those of you unfamiliar. Radio Free Asia is basically a US propaganda organ that masks its intentions by attempting to appear objective.

although many will suggest that they no longer have direct affiliation with the CIA, and that may be true, it does not change the fact that they are funded by the US government and have been spreading blatant lies with literally no source to their extremely over the top claims for many years.

that being said, these perpetual lies happen to include misinfo regarding China's versions of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Some of the RFA articles reviewed lacked key context in describing purported issues with Chinese-made vaccines. This could enable the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation at a time when research suggests that exposure to online misinformation about vaccines can increase rates of vaccine hesitancy.  In one example, a November 10 article on RFA’s Cantonese website, headlined “Clinical trial of Chinese vaccine halted in Brazil after causing serious incident,” lacked important context from local authorities. A serious incident had indeed occurred: the death of a participant in a local trial of the Sinovac vaccine. But Reuters reported November 9 that the death had been deemed a suicide and that an official had denied any link to the vaccine, a detail not noted in RFA’s article.  The article, presented as a news story, also contained editorial comment dismissing China’s approach to vaccines. “This accident not only renews criticism of the ‘Great Leap Forward’-style of vaccine research and development, but also presents a serious setback for China, which is devoting all of its resources to this Covid-19 vaccine competition,”  the first paragraph reads. RFA continued to describe the trial’s suspension as owing to “severe adverse effects,” not mentioning the participant’s reported cause of death, in at least two subsequent articles.

there's a lot more at the source. it's a great read. but there's one more piece to this that is important to understand.

it has also been confirmed that, from spring 2020 to mid-2021, the Pentagon and by extension the US Government itself engaged in misinformation campaigns in Southeast Asia regarding Chinese vaccines.

The U.S. military’s anti-vax effort began in the spring of 2020 and expanded beyond Southeast Asia before it was terminated in mid-2021, Reuters determined. Tailoring the propaganda campaign to local audiences across Central Asia and the Middle East, the Pentagon used a combination of fake social media accounts on multiple platforms to spread fear of China’s vaccines among Muslims at a time when the virus was killing tens of thousands of people each day. A key part of the strategy: amplify the disputed contention that, because vaccines sometimes contain pork gelatin, China’s shots could be considered forbidden under Islamic law. The military program started under former President Donald Trump and continued months into Joe Biden’s presidency, Reuters found – even after alarmed social media executives warned the new administration that the Pentagon had been trafficking in COVID misinformation. The Biden White House issued an edict in spring 2021 banning the anti-vax effort, which also disparaged vaccines produced by other rivals, and the Pentagon initiated an internal review, Reuters found.

what a coincidence that Radio Free Asia just so happened to be engaging disinformation campaigns against the same exact vaccines as the State Department during the same exact timeframe. very strange.

obviously none of this information matters even a little to anyone on the shithole of a website that is reddit. xenophobia is dominating the convo as always. you could post literally anything about north korea on reddit and it will instantly shoot to the top of any decent sized community. but i had to post this somewhere or i was going to lose my mind.