#global threat

[noaluvs]

Iran is a global threat !

People need to wake up NOW !

[whats-in-a-sentence]

The psychology professor and author of The Psychology of Terrorism John Horgan warns that the next big threat by 2025 could be a reflection of the global resurgence of far-right extremism.

"Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists" - Julia Ebner

[ladyvaderpixetc]

Jon Stewart, hitting the nail on the head once again.

[mayapapaya33]

I'm rewatching Exu: Calamity and I think they made a mistake with the name. The real title should be Exu: Actually, Vasselheim has good reasons for how it operates, even if they're dicks about it sometimes. Maybe it was too long, so they went with the snappier CALAMITY! Instead lol.

The end of the Calamity was only 840 something years ago. With Elves and dragons running around, some of them are definitely old enough where, if they didn't live during the Age of Arcanum themselves, their parents or grandparents would have and they would have been told a thousand stories of the fuck heads in flying cities who destroyed the world and were super annoying and dangerous long before they did that. Many more would be born during the latter part of the Calamity or raised by people who survived the Calamity who passes on those stories. Depending on the race we are talking anywhere from direct witnesses (Like the Bright Queen and Ludinus) to like 2-5 generations removed. Even humans with our short lifespans, it's really not THAT long, especially if you've got a bunch of old ass elves around teaching history class from a first person pov for like 500 years lol.

Intellectually people know that Critical Role, the world of Exandria is a post apocalypse story. Exandria is a scarred landscape that is just beginning to bounce back from the brink. But because it is recovering, it's easy to forget sometimes that it IS POST APOCALYPTIC. So people looking at Vasselheim in the modern day are like, 'bro, you really need to chill, everything's fine.' And Vasselheim is like... 'Chill? I do not understand the meaning of this word. And everything is fine... for now. We will be a bastion of civilization when the end times come once more. Fare thee well traveler.'

Then everyone rolls their eyes and moves on with their day. But if you really think about Vasselheim's isolationism and strength and distain for arcane magic in historical context, you can't really blame them. Are they over the top about their dislike of arcane magic? Sure. Is it quite possibly the most understandable over reaction in the history of over reactions? Also yes! They haven't made it illegal, they are just going to keep an eye on you, so you don't pull a Vespin Chloras and doom the planet to another few centuries of choked skies and sundered landscapes, that's all. Vespin was IN Vasselheim! Of COURSE they have strong feelings about it. The (Almost) End of the World began in Vasselheim due to arcane magic. If they had been stricter, maybe it wouldn't have happened at all!

And it really does paint their actions in Campaign 1 in a different light as well. Their isolationism can come across as shortsighted and selfish, until you view it from their point of view. Which is that they are constantly under threat, they know for a fact that Asmodeus wants their city destroyed, they are a bastion for the Prime Deities in a world filled with many heathens (lol that's where the dickishness comes in) and the Betrayer Gods would take any sign of weakness in their defenses and attack with glee. Hearing it in C1 it sounds like an excuse not to help against the Chroma Conclave, but it is literally just the truth from what I can tell. In BOTH Calamity and Downfall they have mentioned destroying Vasselheim being on the Betrayer God's to do list lol. If I was on a Betrayer God's to do list specifically, by name, I too would be somewhat paranoid and would not really want to disarm any portion of the city to go do something else. No matter how important the something else might be.

Vasselheim was basically like; Look, I'm very sorry to hear about your Dragon problem, that sucks, truly, but if we go out all willy nilly and leave this city undefended, it'll be fucked when we get back. When you have a real plan, come back and get us and we'll join you for the big fight. Until then, it's up to you, here you can have Kima as well, she's been desperate to get out of here anyway, and here's some supplies. We have larger concerns than one continent being attacked by four ancient Dragons. We are the seed bank for civilization for when shit inevitably hits the fan. We are the doomsday bunker for the Apocalypse, four Ancient Dragons are terrible, but they are not the Apocalypse. And they are right. Looking at it all in context, The Chroma Conclave are small potatoes. Horrific, monstrous, life destroying, but compared to the threat Vasselheim is preparing for, nothing.

They are the doomsday preppers of Exandria, except the threat is real and they are only letting their collective trauma and ptsd inform their decisions a little bit. They are actually fairly rational all things considered. This city withstood the entire Calamity. The stewards of the city must feel an enormous weight and responsibility to keep it safe going into the future. Imagine the pressure. Are you going to be the one to fuck it all up, after thousands of years? Sounds like a nightmare to me. The level of devotion and conviction required to keep something like that going is incredible.

[lowqualityonepiece]

sniper king wouldn't have missed.

[proudzionist]

[osarina]

well that might've been one of the most embarrassing things in american history

[snailpaste]

Hi to any and all americans who may see this.

Please please please remember that no matter how fucking terrible Biden is, you must vote for him in order to stop Trump and the fascist Republican "Project 2025" from being implemented.

Yes, this proves the country is not a democracy, but in order for you to ever have a chance of seeing a free america, you have to stop Trump.

The fact is that Trump and the republican party are now an authoritarian fascist party. This is not fear mongering. Even if the alternative is terrible, he is not as bad. You have to vote against this new Hitler for your sake and for the world's.

[goodobservationshirley]

thomas jolly is insane for this

[drumlincountry]

The election is in 10 days.

This weekend I heard an anti-fracking activist say "so long as there is gas in the rocks below us, and people in the world who want it, our land isn't safe."

I can't bear it. I really can't bear it. We banned fracking in this country. Then the green party were elected on the basis of banning fracked gas imports (no fracking here, no fracking anywhere). Which they did, for four years. Then the talk turned to "energy security in europe" and right before leaving office they signed a law which will expediate the construction of a facility for importing (mostly fracked) gas from the USA.

I watched 10 different politicians campaigning for votes, in front of a room full of climate activists. Every one of them said: ok we're going to build this facility but we won't use it. it's for energy security. in case of emergencies.

Even the socialists said this. Even the greens.

Four years was all it took! Four years and they are speaking the language of imperialism and capitalism. Four years, in a fight that won't end until the world doesn't need gas.

So long as anyone in the world needs gas, our land isn't safe. So long as anyone in the world wants gas, our fight is not over. So long as we don't have sovereignty of our lands. So long as any authoritarian anywhere has a long enough lever to pressure us. We are not safe.

The anti-fracking activist didn't seem stressed. We got fracking banned! We even got the importing of fracked gas banned! We are networked with people fighting fossil fuel extraction all over the world. We are part of a broad social movement. That movement is largely led by people who know degrowth and decolonialism is the only way to make all of our lands safe.

I want degrowth anyway. I want decolonialism anyway. But its painful to feel how much I need them. This place is stitched into me by a million threads. It would kill me to see it destroyed.

I can't accept a world where our land is not safe. I live in a world where our land is not safe.

Almost no one in that room was under 30 years old. Is my generation strong enough to shoulder the fight? How about the next one? Will my grandchildren be able to relax about it? Will anyone, ever?

The answer is: no. The fight may be easier at times but it will never be over. We go on.

[eloquentsisyphianturmoil]

In the country where your cousins live, the head of state of an ethnic minority has been assassinated and his people’s greatest assets stolen or destroyed. They are forced to beg your cousins for help, who refuse, and they fall to fighting and a pyrrhic victory.

They are exiled and seek asylum, coming through political turmoil in two separate and suffering hosts to your country. Do you a) offer them aid and unite against a common threat, or b) bar many entrance to your realm (the only politically stable area), restrict the places they’re allowed to go, and ban their native language?

Thingol wants to make Doriath great again.

[exdivine]

white supremacy and misogyny work hand-in-hand to keep patriarchal power systems in place, if you fail to acknowledge this you’re not a radical feminist

[bitchfitch]

help people are mistaking the opening chapter of my psych horror story about a man getting trapped in a demented game of house with a personification of the US Military's rot for a cute gay romcom about veterans relaxing after achieving glory

[allthegeopolitics]

Bomb threats prompted the evacuation of schools and government buildings for a second day on Friday in an Ohio community that has been the focus of unwanted attention after former President Donald Trump amplified false rumours that Haitian immigrants are abducting and eating pets. An emailed threat said bombs had been planted in the homes of Springfield's mayor and other city officials, said Karen Graves, a city spokesperson. A second email said that bombs would be detonated at locations including Springfield City Hall, a high school, a middle school, two elementary schools, a local office of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and a licensing bureau.

Continue Reading.

[canichangemyblogname]

Israel ignoring Egypt's warnings, Israel's chaotic "recovery" (a.k.a. their explicit non-recovery and bombing of hostages), and the IOF's chaotic engagement with Hamas fighters on Oct. 7th and 8th that caught hostages and civilians in crossfire should be proof enough that Israel cannot and will consistently fail to provide for the security and welfare of Jewish people. It should also be proof enough that Netanyahu's government doesn't give a shit about Israeli lives unless they can be weaponized to serve his political and regional goals.

The argument that the only way for Jewish people to have safety and comfort is through a Jewish ethnostate ignores how the violence necessary to establish an ethnostate breeds extremism and a cycle of violence. It ignores how Israel consistently fails to protect and provide for its citizens, how vulnerable the Israeli state would be without US support, and how politically and numerically insecure settler-colonial populations are without ethnic and genocidal violence to reproduce their position in the social hierarchy. This argument also allows countries in the Global North to wipe their hands of their own country's antisemitism. For them, Israel is the solution to their country's "Jewish Question."

Some of Zionism's basic assumptions about Jewish people and the need for a Jewish state come from antisemitic assumptions. Advocates for a Jewish state frequently invoke antisemitic stereotypes to make their case. Like... literal fucking fascists in the US support Zionism because they want to empty their country of Jewish people and then watch them die in Israel.

The largest group of Zionists in the US are Evangelical Christians. Not just in sheer numbers, but as a percentage of their population. And you know what they believe? They believe that all Jews need to return to the Holy Land to be massacred and raptured so Jesus can return. The majority of Zionists in the US are Zonists because they're antisemitic. Their antisemitism informs their support for Zionism, and their belief in Zionism informs their antisemitism.

It boggles me how the US government, literal fascists, and Evangelicals have so many of you legitimately believing that critiquing a man and a government that throws their lot in with Holocaust deniers is antisemitic.

There are experts out there who attest that Zionism encourages and spreads antisemitism around the globe and that it is a contributing factor to increases in antisemitism in the Global North. Some have gone so far as to say it is a literal threat to the well-being of Jews worldwide and a roadblock in the fight against antisemitism.

[cbirt]

Scientists from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) recently employed high-performance computing on the H5N1 virus and its interaction with existing antibodies. Avian influenza, or H5N1 influenza as often called, has long been a concern for poultry farmers and public health officials. H5N1 infections affecting birds can also be passed to humans, resulting in severe illnesses across species. As there is currently no specific vaccine available to protect against this strain of flu, researchers are continuously searching for new methods of responding to this mutating virus. This blog will discuss key findings from this research and explore their implications for future vaccine development and pandemic preparedness.

Wild birds serve as natural repositories of the flu viruses, including H5N1. These viruses mutate when they pass on to domestic animals or even mammals, thus posing great danger. Humans tend to have serious respiratory illnesses caused by the H5N1 strains, specifically in some instances leading to death during outbreaks.

Continue Reading