#like covid. hate crimes rose after that

[pwippy]

i originally captioned this as "what do you mean no one really figures life out" but thats not really relevant anymore. i. uh. long rant ahead!

[wiredawake]

All this after allowing thousands of hate crimes to be openly planned and committed by Germans for years, many of which were of antisemitic nature, by the way. Countless Facebook sites filled with agitators who plan to attack refugee camps and immigrants in general, inciting such incidents as the Hanau shootings, the Halle Synagogue shooting, and even the assassination of a politician who was in favor of immigration.

And now liking a "from the river to the sea" post is a crime punishable by deportation, which in many cases is a death sentence. Germany never changed. Still racist as ever.

They like to twist the facts and say that the number of antisemitic crimes rose due to Muslim immigrants and pro-Palestinian protests, when in reality the far right COVID-denying anti-lockdock movement is responsible for the spike in antisemitic crimes and conspiracy theories.

[shjayd]

1st post not via iPhone 🤨

ok... i'm typing this from my laptop. i like you enough to download you to my laptop, Tumblr! 😉 i don't think i can even edit any of my font or anything, so that part sucks (if in reality i can't), so i'd say app via iPhone > Windows when it comes to you, #TUMBLR <- idk if that will even tag in the middle of my post/only at the end.

GOTTA START SOMEWHERE.

previous text complaint: taken back

it's time to get this started ⌚ i heard about you from the Netflix true-crime documentary, Hotel Cecil or w/e, & the thought of posting my thoughts like a social journal (among some other things I've ran across or made self - i like to do calligraphy and hand lettering. i've became creative AFTER getting clean AFTER getting pregnant with my daughter. i always was, i guess the drugs took that part of my imagination away? i'm also obsessed with astrology. if you ask me, i'm a professional astrologer 🔮🌙✨..🤥🫤😤

Taurus Sun, Taurus Moon, and Rising Gemini... i know. a SCARY, yet BEAUTIFUL mEsS. ❤️‍🩹 i'm also very educated in mental health. from personally, to genetics, family and friends, to past work experience. i was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (BPD) after my HORRIFYING encounter with Post-Partum Depression, PPD, (although i've most likely suffered from my BPD since a very young age. my mother and brothers who lived with me all of my life would agree). i just never took, nor wanted to take, what my mom and family dr. told me a/b therapists & referrals to psychiatrists anywhere near serious. i honestly thought everyone felt/acted the way i did with both my lowest of lows & highest of highs 🤯… to me, it was always “this is what everyone has to go through. this is life. this is life… everyday”.

i'm a twin, my mother & i are as close as they come (it’s scary b/c I know she won’t be here forever, & both my daughter i I NEED her. forever). her EVER leaving us is another thing I refuse to even think a/b. NEXT SUBJECT;

yes, DADDY ISSUES 🙄 i was the wildest teenager into my late 20s. that was all until i FINALLY realized my self-worth & left my toxic, to say the LEAST, ex-gf, FOR GOOD, & ended up with my life-long best friend's brother, who i've been close, actually very close with, ever since i met his sister when we were ~10-years-old. he saved me. then our daughter came at the most perfect time to save us, as we started to go down that path holding hands. i'm DEF. not going to go into depth, y'all would drown, if you haven’t already.

*the specifics are overrated with no existing relevant meanings here*

i've been on this Earth for ✨almost✨ thirty whole fucking years. yes, i typed out the word, b/c I now have this BURSTING animosity for the number 3, however, 4 is mine. my best best friend is a 2-year-old, teeny chonk, only 2 years old, more dramatic than me, sassy-ass, genius COVID baby. (she was conceived in 2019, so, that was... a.. normal different?) she's 28, ✨ALMOST✨ 29-months-old. her name isn't important, so I'll just refer to her as 'quack'.. 🦆

..............🥰🥰🥰

we live together with her daddy - minez first 🏃🏼‍♀️🥇😂 - my other best friend. (〃￣︶￣)人(￣︶￣〃) •i also enjoy: "adult" coloring books, THC, journaling, Amazon Prime, the little things, elephants, my vape, bullet journaling, bellly laughing, my dishwasher, baby clothes, wood-burning, doodling, Hulu, ACKNOWLEDGMENT, roses WITH sunflowers 🌹🌻, ORCHIDS, my desk, ear-buds, Aaron Hernandez, my little space on earth instead of the internet - my desk & sketchbook, & ANYTHING organizational/cleaning... •i dislike: Scorpios, fantasy movies/series like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones - sorry, not sorry 🤷🏼‍♀️ - shitty parents, mornings, Karens, uppers, Instagram, judgmental humans, my fingernails when they aren't done, & typos. I have a love/hate relationship with Pisces, both male & female 🐠 i'm as blunt & unfiltered as they come. oh, & you can't hurt my feelings (a big s/o to my past traumas). i'm.. an opened, closed book... if that makes any sense to you? now go ahead & try to break down my walls to get to know the real me! i’m the best friend you could ever have! 🤞🏼😸🥳 OKAY! that's enough for now. follow me, & let's get to learn more about e/o & our little spaces on the internet. if you've made it this far 🙂 i'm going to stfu now. (didn’t lie a/b a thing. told you i tend to start rambling. bad.)

• i want to leave you all something pretty to look @ as a preview of what this journey entails💭

[atlanticcanada]

NDP MP introduces bill to combat online hate speech

Incidents of online hate speech are on the rise and an NDP MP is introducing new legislation to stop it.

Peter Julian hosted a town hall in partnership with the Dalhousie University Student Union on Saturday in Halifax to promote the bill.

Julian said the cause of the problem is social media algorithms.

“The algorithms that are there now are secret, and algorithms have a tendency we’ve seen from numerous studies to push hate-filled content on people.”

Social media companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google are not required to share their algorithms with the public.

Julian tabled a bill in Canada’s House of Commons called Bill C-292, also known as the Online Algorithm Transparency Act.

He hopes the legislation could bring changes to social media platforms.

“It will force big tech companies to actually be transparent about the algorithms they use that often benefit this extremism,” said Julian. “It also increases their profit, but it has a profoundly detrimental effect on society.”

Julian says the purpose of the bill is to ensure that online communication service providers do not rely on algorithms that use personal information in a manner that results in adverse treatments of any person or group based on grounds of discrimination. It would also require transparency with its use of the algorithmic processes and content moderation.

Local groups that participated as panel guests included Dalhousie Student Union President Aparna Mohan, Acadia University Associate Professor Kesa Munroe-Anderson, President of the Mulsim Society at Saint Mary’s University Ammar Shakoor and Nova Scotia MLA Lisa Lachance.

The group said that online hate speech increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Munroe-Anderson also noted that online violence has resulted in an increase in hate crimes, with Nova Scotia seeing some of the highest numbers across the country.

“Statistics show that hate crimes rose per one hundred people in Nova Scotia, increased by 70 per cent, the steepest increase in Canada,” said Munroe-Anderson.

With there being a larger move to more online interactions, sociology and social anthropology experts said the number of media sources to engage with increased, which caused people to join groups with certain ideological beliefs, including some that are extreme.

“It’s increasingly leading people to sort of align themselves with niche groups who are taking very particular views on political matters,” said Matthew Gagne, assistant professor at Dalhousie University.

While forcing tech companies to share their algorithms is a step forward, Gagne said it is difficult to know whether or not this will decrease online hate speech.

“We tend to give algorithms a lot of power because they are so obscure to us. We see these algorithms as a black box where we can see inside them so we just use them to describe and explain the changes that are happening,” he said. “It’s just not enough to just go after the algorithm. There’s obviously a whole set of social issues there.”

Nova Scotia was Julian’s first stop to promote his online algorithm transparency bill. Julian will be making stops across the country over the next few months to garner support to pass the legislation.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/Wvg1rX3

[samballesbian]

THAT DISMISSIVE ASK... people not only forgot abt the chinese massacres by irish ppl (rocky springs and 1871) but also about the us invasions in vietnam and korea? like not only is it erasure of dark skinned east asians but like violence and military occupation of e and se asians happened. we're still occupied by the military. not to mention there are indigenous asians like cham, ainu, papora, hmong, etc people being displaced like...

there's a lot about asian ppl that americans don't know because the only time they acknowledge us is when we provide a service. when we make them food, entertainment, or media that they want to consume, pervert, and rip off.

outside of that, the only time we're acknowledged is when villanizing us in whitewashed history, making our suffering about the white vets who murdered and abused our ppl, who continue to murder and abuse our ppl.

idk about you, but did your us history classes ever teach you about the chinese railroad workers who got little to nothing to work under hazardous conditions? that lead to, yeah, the rock springs massacre, where chinese ppl were murdered and their houses were burned to the ground for "stealing jobs".

did they teach you about vincent chin? a chinese man who was murdered on the night of his bachelor party because two white men blamed him for the japanese automobile industry succeeding and the american automobile industry failing.

what about yuri kochiyama? a japanese woman whose father died as a result of the japanese american concentration camps (not internment camps, concentration camps). she then fought for reparations for the ppl affected by those camps and fought alongside malcom x.

we all know about 9/11, the vietnam war, the korean war, pearl harbor, etc. things you can use to dehumanize and villianize asian ppl w, but only from the white american side. also note how many racial slurs actually originated from these instances.

you know about the vietnam war, but do you know about the bombs still left buried in the ground that vietnamese volunteers risk their lives removing? do you know about operation phoenix? a disgusting and inhumane operation where americans Tortured vietnamese ppl? it was so horrible that i can't even go into detail.

there's so much they're not telling you, that they're not telling us, erasing to keep us in submission and fuel a Lie that if we're compliant, we'll be fine, we'll survive, we'll even succeed, but that's not what history tells us and that's not what modern day tells us either. hate crimes targeting asian americans rose to 100+ (reported cases) per day after covid spread.

[snarkesthour]

Happy St George's Day!

· In the midst of a pandemic when schools are all closed, the government votes to not allow free school meals to schoolchildren during school holidays, despite this being the only meal many of them have each day

· Marcus Rashford, a footballer, led the drive to feed the nation’s children, 49% of which live in poverty, and forced the government to provide food for them during the school holidays

· Instead of previous years when vouchers were given to parents that can only be spent on nutritious food, members of government give contracts to friends to provide a week’s work of food costing £5 to schoolchildren for a price of £30. Food is unhealthy and would not last a week

· Parcels also expect parents to cook two tablespoons of rice at a time in the oven and bake their own bread every day, ignoring poverty-stricken families possible lack of access to such equipment

· Wife of conservative MP attacks poor families for eating unhealthy food when healthy food is cheaper, ignoring the fact that not all families have access to equipment needed to store and cook it

· Nigel Farage, head of the Brexit party came out strongly against the government for their stance on starving schoolchildren. Not a good look.

· Another MP came out and said that poor families should not receive government assistance because the money would be going direct to brothels and crackhouses and the parents would spend it on drink and drugs instead of feeding their kids, a dangerous and persistent stereotype of working class people

· For the first time in its history, UNICEF is feeding kids in the UK – the 5th richest country in the world – and the head of the House of Commons accused them of “playing politics” and said they should “be ashamed of themselves”

· J.K. Rowling came out hard as a TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist), writing a book about a serial killer that dresses up as a Muslim woman, which isn’t subtle when you look at her history of transphobia and other “-isms”

She also publicly supported an author who wrote a book about the destruction of Europe by waves of Muslim immigration

· Speaking of J.K. Rowling, the government’s response to the Gender Recognition Act.

· It is now impossible for under 16s to receive reversible puberty blockers

· Wait times at NHS Gender Clinics, of which there are only 7 in the country, have doubled, with wait times now up to 60+ months (5+ years)

· Keir Starmer, head of the Labour (left wing) party says he doesn’t want to get involved in trans issues

· With the loss of Labour, no major party supports trans rights

· Self ID is no longer allowed, meaning every step of transition is medicalised and involves the trans person having to prove that they are “trans enough” at every stage to panels of cis people

· Government wants to invalidate non-enrolled deed polls, essentially making available a public list of every trans person in the UK

· Hate crimes have quadrupled

· Anti-trans campaigners are now setting their sights on trans adults’ access to hormones

· A petition was formed to counter this and was reviewed by the government, who determined that nothing was wrong with the GRA except that it might have been a bit lax.

· The Guardian newspaper ran child labour and child starvation supporting stories

· Internal border now along the border of Kent and lorry drivers must produce travel papers (Brexit Passport) to cross it, placing the county of Kent in a state of “no man’s land”

· Government fails to lockdown on time, every time

· Government refuses to ban conversion therapy in the UK

· Scotland adopts Human Rights of Children, which requires the government to better support children and families, especially those who are poor, disabled, minorities or young carers. England does not

· The government declared that sleeping rough is now grounds for deportation

· Schools reopened several times despite being warned not safe to do so

· The government banned NHS workers from speaking out about COVID

· Do Not Resuscitate orders proposed for those in care homes, with learning disabilities and who are autistic

· The government cut pensions as the COVID death toll rose

· The government learnt about new South-East COVID strain in September and didn’t come forwards until December

· New COVID strain targets kids, teens, and young adults, and yet none of those groups are allowed vaccination unless a serious pre-existing condition is had, even if they are key workers

· Downing Street says UK should be model of racial equality because government report says no institutional racism in the UK

· Report also says young people are young and foolish for thinking it exists and that minorities are superstitious and irrational and are sabotaging themselves out of success

· It came out that the government was given the independent report and rewrote it to the version that was released to the public – the version that says racism doesn’t exist in the UK

· The rewritten report also refers to the slave trade as the “Caribbean experience”, like those enslaved were on holiday

· Woman in London abducted, murdered and dismembered by off-duty cop and when socially distanced vigil goes ahead, police wait until dark before trapping women, arresting them, using excessive force on them, and also destroying memorial

· Bill passed in government that allows undercover officers to commit serious crimes such as murder, torture and rape

· Plainclothes police to now patrol nightclubs and bars due to aforementioned murder by police officer

· Bill passed that bans any protest at all, no matter how quiet, unobstructive or small it is, including single-person protests. Bill also includes a 10 year sentence for damaging a statue, which is a longer sentence than for rape

· TV programmes critical of the government have been cancelled

· Universities have been told what to platform and schools have been told what to teach, including banning material speaking about BLM and calling for “overthrow” of capitalism

· Voting has been supressed, mainly those who are working class or POC

· During protests in Bristol, press was assaulted and pepper sprayed by police and two legal observers were arrested

· Being Roma/Traveller and living the traditional Roma/Traveller lifestyle is now illegal under that same bill that bans protests. They also have to register as such and receive a licence or risk losing their vehicles

· Hours before Eid, lockdown across the UK with no warning whatsoever, meaning people woke up the next morning after visiting relatives to find themselves “criminals”. The country was opened up specifically for Christmas though

· Conservative (right wing) party blamed BAME (Black And Minority Ethnic) communities for dying of COVID more than white people

· Landlords have been protected extensively and renters blamed for living in close quarters or having to take public transport to work

· Conservatives have launched investigation into possible corruption in Liverpool Council. Liverpool is a Labour stronghold and if corruption is found then the Conservatives can seize control of the council. No evidence of corruption is present as of yet

· Military threatened to stage a coup if Corbyn (then head of the labour party) became Prime Minister

· Government orders all government buildings in England, Wales and Scotland to fly the Union Flag every day to boost patriotism

· MPs call for the curriculum to require teaching the history of the Union Flag rather than Britain’s many atrocities

· The first fortnight of April saw a mini heatwave with temperatures up to 20°C immediately followed by snow, and this is ignored in favour of debating “vaccine passports” in order to visit the pub

· UK allows for international summer holidays despite being warned it will cause a third wave, such as the situation in Germany

· Government placed asylum seekers arriving in the UK in army barracks where they were to sleep 24 to a room with no open windows or air circulation, and when COVID inevitably ran rampant, the Home Secretary accused the asylum seekers of not following COVID protocol, such as social distancing

· Several accounts of self-harm and suicide attempts were reported from the asylum barracks and were dismissed

· UK to deport unaccompanied minor asylum seekers

· UK refuses entry into the UK for radicalised teen failed by system who joined ISIS. Case is difficult and controversial because teen wishes to return to the UK temporarily to fight for her citizenship after the UK broke international law by stripping it from her, despite her not having dual citizenship. Argument given was that her parents were from Bangladesh and so she could apply for citizenship there. Bangladesh refused. Teen is now stateless and living in a refugee camp after losing several children, unable to fight for her citizenship to be reinstated.

· Rioting in Northern Ireland, which included the first use of water cannons in 6 years, a bus being hijacked and burnt, a press photographer attacked, and people throwing bricks, fireworks and petrol bombs at police, not to mention some of the clashes happening over a peace wall in west Belfast, completely ignored in British media and then later drowned out by non-stop news of Prince Phillip’s death, obscuring any important news from being heard. Riots were over Northern Ireland’s being a part of the UK

· MPs take vote on whether China’s treatment of Uighurs constitutes genocide. They decide it does, but that it isn’t their job to do anything further

· Home Office released their spending for the 2020 fiscal year. It’s a mess, including over £77,000 at an eyebrow salon in March alone, and £6,000+ in Pollyanna Restaurant which doesn't appear to exist.

· When people started questioning the spending, the Home Office sent a tweet fact checking themselves

· Country reopened over the summer for Eat Out To Help Out, a scheme to boost the economy. COVID cases rose sharply and the government then blamed people, but mostly working class people, for not following restrictions such as only leaving the house when absolutely necessary, after telling them it was safe

· Foreign NHS workers denied COVID vaccinations

· GCSEs and A-Levels were cancelled due to COVID-19 and expected exam grades were to be used instead. Private school students received grades much higher than they were expecting, and state school students received grades much lower, some grades falling as far as an A to an E. This was because the government couldn’t imagine state school students being smart enough to receive the high grades they were predicted to get; after much uproar the grades were scrapped, and a new method was introduced

· BBC offered staff grief counselling following Prince Philip’s death, but not after having to report on the ever-rising COVID death toll

· The COVID-19 Infection Survey closed in mourning for Prince Philip, with workers to contact participants to reschedule visits for “as soon as possible” when they return to work

· Census workers told to pack up and go home and were placed on immediate unpaid leave due to the death of Prince Philip, but told they must make up the hours later

· Conservative MPs lobbied for a new royal yacht after voting to keep schoolchildren hungry (see first points)

· The BBC’s complaint page crashed over the amount of complaints they got of their coverage of Prince Philip’s death. It was covered non-stop for over 24 hours and the page came in at over 100,000 complaints before going down

· BBC also fast becoming politically biased despite their requirement to be apolitical, after cutting out the audience laughing at Boris Johnson on Question Time, displaying Corbyn as a communist figure in front of a prominent piece of Russian architecture, and providing a platform for a Conservative MP to tell a stage 4 bowl cancer patient that her life wasn’t valuable on live television

· On the COVID-19 pandemic, the BMJ, (British Medical Journal) said about the government that “science was being suppressed for political and financial gain” by “some of history’s worst autocrats and dictators”

· Not only did Boris Johnson launch Eat Out To Help Out when he was warned it was dangerous, lifted lockdowns too early when he was warned it was too dangerous, reopened schools when he was warned it was too dangerous, but when scientists said the second COVID jab should be delivered within 3 weeks he decided that was too tall an order and it should be within 12 weeks – after a period of radio silence, suddenly the science fit his plan. No scientists came forwards to defend it

· The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, blamed protestors for protests that became violent from police attacking protestors, bullied staff members under her, bought members of staff in her department, said it was “disgraceful” to topple the statue of Edward Colson, a slave trader, in Brighton because it undermined anti-racism protests, held treasonous meetings with Israel with the plan to divert aid money, and threatened to starve Ireland in order to get them to agree to Brexit

· She also wants to set up Australian-style asylum processing centres on British islands, but the islands she wants are in the Atlantic ocean and over 4000 miles away from the UK. This is because she wants to help asylum seekers enter the UK legally, completed ignoring or oblivious to all the reasons that asylum seekers might not be able to do that, and for the fact that to seek asylum you must essentially walk up the border and ask for it

· The bungling of the Track and Trace system – the government spent £10bn on a system to track and trace the spread of COVID-19. All data was stored on an Excel spreadsheet which developed a technical glitch and many results were lost before the system was scrapped

· As Autism Acceptance month began, the BBC ran a story saying the autism causes fascism, and that an autistic person who had chosen to embrace the ideology was incapable of seeing that a neo-Nazi group he joined was morally bad because he was autistic

[ohnobjyx]

Plum blossoms in the snow (I)

Part 4: April and May (I)

We have gotten to the mid point of the story. 

Disclaimer: I try to keep things objective (if I include my personal opinion, it’s in cursive and in brackets), but I’m biased because of the XZ friendly content I’m usually exposed to and by my own views of their situation. Open to discussion, but please make sure you’ve enough information to do so.

In March, slowly but surely, the incident was put behind. After the anger comes the aceptance, so to say. With so many people’s inputs, his fans started to let the topic cool down, while giving him their support. 

So everything was coming back to their place and seemed a lot calmer than a month before. This didn’t sit well with some people.

Antis’ attacks

The antis were quite active, trying to spark a conflict one after another, because the topic had been silent for a little bit. Remember: more interactions, more followers, more money so ignore the antis always (unless they attack you, if so, report them). 

To name a few: 

On early April, they placed so many negative reviews on CQL in Douban that the score fell from 7′9 to 7′3. However, people didn’t react as they wanted them to, and instead the score rose steadily back to 7′7 (as of now). 

When a brand of a product that XZ endorses admitted to economic fraud, antis attacked the brand, the product and XZ. Their argument was that because XZ is so popular, more people bought the product he endorses, thus contributing to the fraud. Some fans fell for it, protesting that what the brand does had nothing to do with XZ. 

Some of the antis pretended to be XZ’s fans, and with that “disguise”, attacked other netizens, prompting a statement from XZ’s fans support group. In the statement, they reject this kind of behaviour and insist that everyone should be careful with what they say and how they act.

All of this, along with spreading rumors, was trying to revive the discussion and the fan war to get more attention and followers (people have a short span of attention, especially on the internet), and profit from it.

Around mid April, both w/ibo and bil/bili blocked antis’ accounts, making antis say that XZ’s company must have paid them to do so.

Endorsements

It was positive though that in April he started to appear again in commercials and banners.

(The one on the left is a commercial from February, I couldn’t find another one with a better resolution from April. By the way, from an interview done before New Year’s Eve for that brand, we get these two little moments: 1 and 2). 

You may have noticed that the endorsement for the drink it’s a joined endorsement with another celebrity. Antis tried to pit the two group of fans against one another, but fans didn’t fell for it (the learning process was hard and long, but it was showing results).

Remember the one from the right. That’s a funny one, later in July. 

Plum blossoms and stars

In April, XZ reappeared again in w/ibo with that drawing of plum blossoms from his Oasis account (on 200410). Previously, he had shared a post for the National Mourning Day for the people who’ve died because of the COVID-19, and before that, it was a post from February 22, before 2/27. 

There are 4 main flowers in Chinese culture (one for each season), and each has a widely known meaning attached to them. 

Plum blossoms are one them, and often represent resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity, because it’s a flower that blooms a brilliant red in the middle of winter and snow. It can also be a harbinger of spring. 

So his first message after all of this mess to be one of perseverance and hope。 I personally find it very meaningful as to what his attitude towards the entertainment industry is.

This also calmed a lot of his fans, who had been worried of him succumbing to the antis and retiring from the industry. There had been a lot of rumours saying the he had got depression from all of this conflict, and this update effectively silenced those.

A few days later he sang a cover of the song “The hymn of the red plum blossom” for an online event “Beautiful China”. It’s a classical opera song from a film, very patriotic and well-chosen for such an event, but it could also represent his situation with the “coming of spring”. Musicians later analysed this song and deemed it too difficult for him to sing (he doesn’t have enough range for this kind of songs), but praised him for his spirit to try new, difficult things, and to bring classic songs to young people: “he’s like the plum blossom in winter: persistent against difficulties”.

XZ updated his Oasis again late in April, with a drawing inspired by posters from his university days: “hope”, “perseverance”, “acquisition”.

(This is the picture he updated on 200420, and below is a screeshot from the post in which he explains that those are drawings from his university days).

Reporting to the police 

On 21st of April, XZ’s Studio issued a statement.

3 accounts (among others) had used XZ’s photos and videos to slander his name, so the studio had collected the evidence and had turned it all to the police. The accounts had been spreading rumours about him for months (about him dating other guys, plastic surgery) and insulting him for his acting skills and lack of respect towards women. 

What we find most surprising is that, even in the face of a lawsuit, the antis didn’t relent and kept on trying to “black” (slander) him.

Those 3 accounts were, in their own words, chased and insulted by XZ’s fans, so they wanted to report XZ’s studio in return, for damaging their reputation.

(I don’t know exactly how this ended. I think the lawsuit is still going on, since these things take time, but the general outcome of this seems good for him. Most of the comments I’ve seen goes like “xz was just waiting for the right moment to act”, “staying silent and apologizing while collecting proof of a crime”.)

“Light Spot”

On April 25, XZ released a new song, and remarked that he thanks all well-meaning criticism and guidance, and that he’ll continue to grow from here. The song is Light Spot. There was again some drama related to this song, antis never take a rest it seems.

XZ’s apology

That week, XZ posted on w/ibo, apologizing for the troubles caused and asking people not to hurt others.

The source of the problem this time were rumours of him participating in HJ’s variety show (HJ is the host from Happy Camp with curly hair). Rumours said that he had invited XZ to participate in his new variety show on his own initiative. Haters attacked him for this, in order to prevent XZ from going to the program (remember that some of the antis’ objective is to make XZ retire from entertainment industry).

The TV station had to release a statement saying that XZ won’t participate in HJ’s show. XZ must have seen all the commotion and posted his comment asking people not to hurt HJ because of him.

Tracking down the antis

The leader of all of this commotion with HJ was a w/ibo user (let’s call her “B”) that had been a XZ hater for a long while, and her account was banned soon after this. Along with hers, many others hater accounts were blocked by w/ibo, prompted by XZ’s studio, according to other antis.  

Though their accounts were blocked, B tried to come back (and even with the same username), and attacked XZ again for making “false donations” to Wuhan, and accusing him of being immoral. XZ’s Studio finally posted definite proof that their donation had been real.

B accused him of being a racist and having “abnormal sexual orientation”. She also managed to make her accusations a hot topic on w/ibo quite frequently.

This hater, with others, surprised many people in their tenacity and persistence to defame XZ. People analysed her behaviour and tendencies and extracted conclusions like these about this kind of “professional” antis:

She knows how the entertainment industry works, so she works in it or has sources inside the industry.

She knows what kind of topic will attract attention from other users.

She has good resources and is very intelligent and manipulative at the same time, so she is capable of making two groups unite against a third, for example.

She’s likely to cooperate with XZ’ competitors to spread rumors about him, to allow his competitors to get more endorsements. She incites haters and antis to boycott XZ endorsements in order to do this.

(I was asked previously if YH couldn’t have participated too in the smear campaign, to gain more endorsements for WYB. At the time, I’d been very sure that these kind of things are too much of a hassle, but now I’m not so sure that no one would do this. I mean, I don’t think YH would do this for WYB, since he is very popular and successful on his own, but for other YH’s employees or other companies for their idols... I’m not so sure anymore. But this is all especulation from me).

She often has material that a “normal” fan can’t get access to. Among the fans, there are some that are called fan representatives. They can often access the companies and agencies, so they have more information and images about a star than any other. Of course, they can’t spread it if they stop being their fan, but that doesn’t stop B from buying pictures from them.

There are also “spies” inside the fandom, who get information about a fandom from the inside.

So, in short, a great part of the general public likes the rumours  and the stories she makes up, it doesn’t matter if they are true or not, and that gives her more followers.

Before XZ, she attacked the male leads from The Guardian (ZYL and BY), and used the same tactic. 

(Which confirms our theory that this storm will pass for XZ, most likely because she moves on to attacking another person, but that’s a whole other story).

So at the end of April, w/ibo started to ban all the accounts that spread malicious and hate content, the numerous accounts of B among them, even though all of them had been ticked by w/ibo before (like the blue tick in twitter).

Even after being reported to the police, the account doesn’t seem to stop, making people suspect that there is money behind of this and that it’s not an account managed by one person, but rather a team. They’ll do the same to whoever is popular at the moment, so it’s not even personal, it doesn’t matter who it is, XZ, ZYL, BY, whoever.

(I don’t like conspiracy theories... if there’s no data to back them up, it all remains speculation, and it spreads more information that no one knows it’s true or not. However, this whole thing with the antis is very strange. I suppose will see what happens once XZ comes back to limelight).

Haters are also something every idol has to face.

The haters dig into an idol’s past, and make up rumours based on that. For example, XZ had a gf while he was studyinghis degree, but they broke up. Haters then said that it was because of this that he went to South Korea and got plastic surgery (false, some people do have this kind of amazing genes), and that’s why he’s so good looking. Since lies are mixed in truth, some people, especially those who just know his name, or that he’s an actor, have trouble picking it apart.

Rumours also place idols in a tight position. If they don’t answer, people will think the rumours are true. But if they sue them, haters aren’t afraid either, because the process is long, and in this process they are still getting views and new followers. It may also shift the attention to them, which is exactly what they want.

All in all, the world is complex, but even in the middle of snow you may find a little plum blossom.

←Part 3: Why does it snow? | Part 4 (II): Plums blossoms in the snow (II)→

[dwestfieldblog]

A VERY REMOTE ENGLISH TEACHER

Where meditations, rants, reverie and absent seizures cross over... closer to one gun with one bullet, the rose of ruby and the cross of gold...uff, and MENTACIDE IN THE TIME OF MASQUES. Although I have never suffered from the guilty masochistic torture of ‘pleasure anxiety’, Bacchus hath indeed drowned more men than Neptune.  So I stopped drinking for 18 days to fool myself I was doing something positive and threw away enough things to be minimalist again. Arf. Beauty and/or function uber alles.  

Been treading water for three years and trying not to drown...big round of one hand clapping for the former poet. Meanwhile, in this temporary world and perception I have created of it, I am looking at a very possible exile one way or the other...my ‘plan’...a long phased withdrawal or hasty retreat. My wish is to stay, but once I leave, it might well be very hard to return.  Read as many metaphors as you want into that but in spite of my dislike of the conservatively minded Aristotle’s ‘either/or’ nonsense, there do indeed appear to be only two this time. And appear is the operative word. Appearances can be deceptive and emotions (unless raised and focused) cloud over what should be clear. Pain has a tendency to breed worry and fear too but let’s draw a veil over that for now eh? Suppress, suppress, release comes later...breathe deep and try not to cough, onward we go where the game gets rough...Just like Tom Thumbs Blues 65.  

Remember Roman Protasevich...As Lukasenko himself said...‘Belarus stood at the edge of an abyss and I helped it take a step forward’. Look good on your tombstone that will Al. Fecking outrageous the Indian PM only admitted in May that covid was transmitted in the air. He needs removing... as do two thirds of all the other world leaders East and West. Hello Bollsanaro. People are very easy to manipulate when they’re are scared or angry...and right now the world majority are both. But, ‘there is a crack in everything... that’s how the light gets in’... and ‘things could change’, doesn’t have to be for the worse. It can take decades to realise this as actual truth, but still nice to read and try internalise the following last week.’The odds actually favour the optimists, since dissipate structures are more likely to evolve into more information rich (intelligent?) forms than into primitive or chaotic forms.’ All my friends bar my best one are optimists..Hello you:-)

Ever onward deeper downward with Orban in Hungary and his mission of ‘Christian values’, which involves a familiar routine of arresting, beating and disappearing dissenters in the name of Christ and taking over the universities to replace professors with those who understand on which side their bread is buttered. Decent judges long gone. Nice fascist communism...and ex soldiers in France and the Czech republic warning of civil war...

And now spiraling we go into the black hole vortex of Disaster capitalism, ‘Let the bodies pile high’. There’s gold in them thar ills....ISLAND PARANOIA and PERFIDIOUS ALBION! A country which demands a contract, agrees, signs to it and then refuses to honour it. We look worse than ridiculous, we look deceitful. Gentlemen, your places please. Boris Johnson is a clumsy, inept, disgraceful charlatan, con merchant and LIAR. A blustering master bullshit artist, the only decent thing about his recent secret wedding is that now he legally has one less bastard child.  

Recently I read that British people are displaying signs of Stockholm syndrome...in that they dislike those who hold power over them and make the rules but during the time of pandemic, they are the ones who will release the saviour vaccine and get everything moving again. So rather than rocking the boat and daring to express dissent at the DIABOLICAL handling of the last 18 months, they have mostly kept quiet and voted for the same endlessly failing, corrupt and venal politicians who made a bad situation far worse. (That said, it bears repeating that there are a few million in the UK who didn’t quite understand that that the spread of a highly contagious airborne virus can be slowed by the wearing of masks/applying basic hygiene and even took offence at being told what should have made sense to any adult homo SAPIENS half capable of cogitating for themselves. Morons and scum. Same where you are?

By the way BBC...the colossal dearth of stories about the endless government failures in relation to Covid, death, corruption and the NHS...ever since they blackmailed you with threats of revoking the TV licence fee and got you to change Directors has been noted. Long may Have I Got News For You continue the satire and balance needed in a DEMOCRACY. Obey your public servants? Why, when they do not serve few but themselves? Power OF the people? Which ones...the mob? The same bleating pricks who follow populists?

Four eyed beanpole fop Rees Mogg, with his wonderful line that the benefits of Brexit will be seen ‘over the next fifty years’...well yes, that is why most people vote in democratic elections eh?...So they will be dead or ancient before the change they hoped for comes...and the politicians who lead them now, will have all long moved on to revolving door chairman of the board offshore limited liability company paradise. Bread today jam tomorrow fairytales. What I tell you three times is true.  

O, but the English do so love to be told what to do by dumb posh boys who treat them like dirt. Some are forelock tugging and some are self flagellating middle class upper class wannabes who will never get there but still feel proud they are not street level proles. Doby the house elf alien hamster Michael Gove found guilty of breaking the law. Nothing. Internal inquiries run by those connected to the money changing hands find nothing illegal. Corruption for all to see...and ignore. ‘Well, what can we do?’ The uselessly inept serial failure Dido Harding to be in charge of the National Health Service? (she of the collapsed Woolworths, Talk Talk and the 22 BILLION pound loss of the Covid Track and Trace program where non working consultants/insultants, were paid 1000 pounds a day). American style privatisation is coming where only the wealthy or criminal can afford to be repaired and well. Sick.  

Meanwhile, All our imported nurses out, and all the lobster red fat Spanish costa de la sol criminals back in. Great exchange, fair trade and forward thinking. The Kremlin are manipulating/supporting Scottish independence... I read years ago about their base in Edinburgh for Russia Today (the foul insert in The Daily Telegraph) and they were already encouraging it. Rees Smug has accelerated and supported their freedom with his snobbish utterances on countries in the UK other than England and their ‘foreign languages’. With every patronising, arrogant pronouncement, the Eton trifles fuel the fire in Scotland which has a long bitter history of being tortured, murdered and subjugated by their southern masters. Perhaps the chumocracy in Downing Street believe the Celts to be as easily cowed as the middle and working classes down south. Here’s hoping not. ‘Rebellious Scots to crush’? Not this time pal.

As for the future of Britain? A dystopian open prison where the lower social classes toil only at the pleasure of their masters. The higher caste getting richer and all others cast into a living Hell of debt, crime, and sickness. Serve until you die and be thankful we allow you to exist. Increasing in utter irrelevance to the world, other than as an example of how wrong a former democracy can go. This future started decades ago...its baobab roots truly deep now. Better education and critical thinking for the masses in the UK (or anywhere else) is highly unlikely now. Optimism huh? As long as I am not in England, I will still be able to tap into it, but once enclosed long term in the group mind there...trapped in a grey quagmire. Keep smiling...

Several weeks ago, I watched a video on YT of apparently English protestors running after the police in London, some attacking and throwing things, one pulling off the pandemic mask of an officer and all shouting abuse at the outnumbered cops who had to keep pulling back. As always, to get my caffeine rush of fury going, I read the comments and was surprised to see two or three from Chinese names. Almost all comments were against the government (fair enough) and dumb against the lock down, masks, vaccinations etc. Checking again, I saw the video had been posted by CGTN...a media company owned and run by the communist party in Beijing...and not one author of diatribes had mentioned this, nor speculated with a critical thought as to why such an organisation might enjoy turning people against their own democratically elected government (however mind rippingly foul and corrupt they are).

I copy pasted the Wikipedia paragraph about the company onto the page and hoped someone else would make the connection. I wouldn’t mind so much IF there were a credible and decent alternative other than the diseased populist poison for which the demonstrating goons chant. China really cares about the standard of democracy in Britain eh? Persuade your enemies to weaken themselves. Destroying countries by encouraging their ‘patriots’.

(That was written on the anniversary of Tienanmen Square...a few days later Xi Jinping gave a speech saying ‘...a lovable and respectable’ China must be presented to the world and must ‘expand its circle of friends’. Tell that to your teenage ‘dissidents’, Muslims, Falun Gong and Tibetans being tortured and brainwashed in prisons or being used for organ harvesting. Tell it to Hong Kong and Taiwan.) 

Unholy America...against abortion and the pill, sex education’s not Gods will and in the Name of Christ they kill...if truth be known, we’ve failed the test...but Jesus was a Socialist and Republican conservatives hate them. The founding fathers of America were Very clear about separation of church and state with damn good Reason. Another part time Christian, Mike Pompeo wants to be president. Q Onan deepstorm morons/Kremlin stool pigeons aka POLEZNYYE IDIOTY continue to push for Trump and his Big Lie...He with the brain where ‘In the left, nothing is right and in the right, nothing’s left.’ Arf.

Over the last two decades, the dumb have been finding their voice and are now louder and prouder of their dumbass ignorance. 74 million in the US alone, their egos unable to retreat in the face of endless evidence to the contrary, they all double down. Like children sticking their fingers in their grimy ears sing songing ‘la la la can’t hear you’. 74 million versions of Eric Cartman, loud, proud and wrong. And uuff, Megan Markle,  Majorie Taylor Greene, walking Picasso collage (bad car driver) Caitlin Jenner and Ivana Trump in politics...not exactly holding a proud lantern for women eh? I’d like to buy them for what they are worth and sell them for what they think they are worth. Not very PC?  

That was the point. Could easily been written about all of the men written about here too. Next examples follow...

Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones compete for who can be as mentally ill as trump. The Miami school where the husband and wife directors told teachers not to return if they had HAD their vaccine shots because their proximity to students was interfering with menstrual cycles and uuuufff...The sickness of utter mind buggering stupidity. I had my first shot, now waiting to turn reptilian when the 5G masts triangulate my position. Fnord. Covid appears to be killing more overweight meat eating males than females...perhaps testosterone is not useful for the coming Race of non binary mutant hermaphrodites...and look out for the end of the Y chromosome, coming to a temporary universe near you...in 4.6 million years. Yes, really.  

Glad Netanyahu is out at last, smug corruption is never a good look unless one is a rich criminal. Ha.  The Promised land of Israel...If I was in court for serial murder, breaking, entering and stealing and then defended my actions by saying that God had told me to do it, would the Judge; A. Call for a psychiatric report, B. Disregard the statement as unprovable and pass the appropriate sentence, C, say Ok mate, you’re free to go, good luck to you. ? Moses had a good schtick.

The law is only to punish the poor, do you feel as if you suffer from empathy? Once you know, you no longer need to believe. What does ‘reality’ seem to be? The more certain you are, the stupider you get and belief is the death of intelligence. The machine is running the engineers. What is the definition of rationality...the quality of being based on or in accordance with reason or logic. 

Nothing is, but thinking makes it so. Epicurus.  

EVERYTHING NOT COMPULSORY IS FORBIDDEN.

The glamour illusion of the mass of pointless hot influencers needs a constant renewing of the Banishing Ritual as much as all the pigslop bile coming from Fox News and Sky. Bloody long haired commie liberal faggot they cry against any not identical to them. Some days I have only flamethrowers of hatred for these idiots. Other days...not exactly self doubt, just questions...most of us seem to believe our opinions are more valid when there are emotions connected to them. Including me. Again, this seems like a very weak version of ‘truth’, unless disciplined, channeled and focused to a certain end.

Life appears to exist in order to become via chaos.

Most of us are working only not to be homeless, some because of the joy in our chosen work regardless of finances. Until ‘reality’ kicks in the door...the bondage gets tighter when you struggle. How much hardship is the individual willing to endure these days by choice? Surrounded by a universe of distraction and destruction, Maya mewling for our attention. Five years of Trump, rampant populism and Brexit doing a Hexagram 23 on democracy, compounded by the pandemic...all on top of ‘normal’ daily life. The ego feeds and the immune system breaks down. Hard to ignore without being on a mountain or in a parallel dimension and emotion free other than compassion. But BY GODDESS IT CAN AND WILL BE DONE. Ladies of Life Nin Khursag, Isis, Kali, Aradia...Love one, Love ALL. At very least have respect for thyself but be not thou proud of thine arrogance nor thy suffering.  

Or just Remember where you came from, what you were, seem to be and will become.

Heal, heal, more work to do, more love to give, more love to feel, Heal. Stay in drugs, eat your school and don’t do vegetables. Impose your own reality upon and through yourself, breathe, exhale, repeat, and continue, LOVE UNDER WILL. Experience and absorb but ‘It’s a house of tricks, ignore the world’’.

Stay well, be seeing you:-)

[thebachelordiaries]

Clare seeks HIMBO: ‘The Bachelorette’ cast first impressions

The Covid-19 pandemic has been rough for the entire world, but Bachelor Nation faced some dark days too. Going eight months without a single new episode from The Bachelor franchise is something I would really like to not relive.

Fortunately, those dark days are over. Clare’s season has me sucked back in. 

The quality of this image is atrocious.

Most of these men—presuming they followed CDC’s social distancing guidelines— haven’t seen a woman in months, are touch deprived, possibly unemployed and contemplating moving back to their hometown while stalking the housing market on Zillow. Everyone’s desperate. That makes for some pretty good TV.

This season features men ranging from ages 26 to 41. We’ve got a boy band manager, a grooming specialist, several men who look like they masturbate in front of full length mirrors and even more who probably want me to join their MLM pyramid scheme. 

I’ve never been more ready to roast a bunch of men who have nightmares about going bald. It’s all I’ve wanted to do since March.

Let’s go:

AJ, 28, Software sales

AJ is the kind of guy who writes “Looking for the Pam to my Jim <3″ on his Bumble profile. His bio is generic and probably not reflective of who he is as a person. If I were Clare I’d swipe left.

Ben, 29, Army ranger veteran

“Ben's favorite indulgence is an ice bath.“ Well then.

Alexa, play “Run” by AWOLNATION.

Bennett, 36, Wealth management consultant

Bennett’s profile is the biggest red flag I’ve ever seen. This man says he is the total package but hasn’t always been "this successful and good looking.” But wait, there’s more: “According to Bennett, his high school girlfriend is the only girl he's ever had to work for.“

Can someone tell me what NYC neighborhood he lives in so I can blacklist it?

Blake M1, 31, Male grooming specialist

Blake’s just another stereotypical “29th round draft pick who sat on the bench of the practice team before getting cut, but claims he left the sport due to an injury on his own accord.” 

Blake M2, 29, Wildlife manager

This Blake is an outdoorsy Canadian who seems pretty genuine and cool. Unfortunately, he has the face of someone who’d get sent home on night one. I hope I’m wrong.

Brandon, 28, Real Estate Agent

Just another boring hot person. Nothing to see here.

Brendan, 30, Commercial roofer

Brandan, not to be confused for Brandon, “loves some good true crime, working out and hanging out with his friends.” I can’t even make fun of this man. We have the exact same interests. 

Chasen, 31, IT account executive

The Winklevoss twins are actually triplets and Chasen is their long lost brother. But more seriously, have you ever seen someone who looks more like their name than this man?

Chris, 27, Landscape design salesman

“Chris hopes to find a woman who is sharp and witty but also easygoing.” Chris, sweetheart, have you met Clare? Easygoing...? There’s still time back out of this before it’s too late.

Dale, 31, Former pro football wide receiver

Dale aggressively screams “Bachelor material.” I’d say he’s auditioning for that role but Matt James already scooped it up. Better luck next year, Daley.

Demar, 26, Spin cycling instructor

Demar is a “very popular spin instructor in Scottsdale and says he can get on that bike and spin to any beat thrown his way.” Imagine how many trophy wives Demar has f*cked? 

Eazy, 29, Sports marketing agent

Eazy is very similar to Dale on paper. Except his name is Eazy so he automatically loses that battle.

Ed, 33, Health care salesman

“Ed is looking to find a woman who has natural beauty without looking overly fake.” Ed deserves to die alone.

Garin, 34, Professor of Journalism

Garin’s bio is giving me hubby material vibes. And maybe a little bit of a “gets eliminated on night one” vibe too.

Ivan, 28, Aeronautical Engineer

Ivan, what are you doing here? We’re in a recession. Please go back to your normal job before it’s too late. 

Jason, 31, Former pro football linemen

“He is a former NFL offensive lineman who, after suffering too many concussions on the field, decided to prioritize his health and change the direction of his life.” A big, brawny HIMBO with CTE? I feel like he’s Clare’s type.

Jay, 29, Fitness director

There are too many things about Jay that I dislike and I’m trying to keep this brief. Jay says “it's time to take a break from worrying about others and focus on himself instead.” I am willing to bet money that this man has never made a woman c*m.

Jeremy, 40, Banker

Jeremy is the oldest contestant ever to come on "The Bachelorette,” which may seem like a monuments accomplishment but he’s literally only one year older than Clare. 

He also “hates Instagram models, both male and female,” so he should have a lot of fun here.

Joe, 36, Anesthesiologist

Before I even saw his profession and location, I thought Joe looked like a doctor I’d find on a NYC dating app...and...uh...I probably did see him on there now that I think about it.

Anyway, this man has apparently been through seven stages of hell while on the front lines fighting Covid-19 in NYC so I definitely think he deserves to find love. Someone marry him please.

Jordan C, 26, Software account executive

I can already tell Jordan is going to get the “I’m young but mature” edit which means he’s probably not going to be good TV.

Too bad someone a tad younger (like Tayshia) wasn’t the Bachelorette. I feel like they’d make a cute couple.

Jordan M., 30, Cyber security engineer

I was going to say something mean but Jordan’s into cyber security and I don’t want my blog to be deactivated, so never mind. Cast photos are historically bad so I’m sure he looks much better in real life.

Kenny, 39, Boy band manager

I could go for the obvious drags regarding this man’s profession (or his sh*tty chest tattoo, or his suspiciously boyish face relative to his age), but I like to think I’m more clever than that. 

I’d like to take this time to talk about men, who are obviously difficult people, who rant and rave about how they want an “easygoing” woman. Look into the mirror, bud. No, not the one you use to jerk off to your reflection; the mirror that looks into your soul. Out of respect for the rest of humankind, have some self-awareness. Or maybe just see a therapist.

Mike, 38, Digital media advisor

Mike is seemingly a decent catch, but I can’t help but wonder why he’s still single or how he never (accidentally or on purpose) impregnated a woman in his 38 years of life. 

And now that I’m thinking about it, do any of these men have children? I have yet to see any mention of it in their bios. But there are eight men left to review, so there’s still time.

Page, 37, Chef

I spoke too soon. Page is a father! He also hates football! I’m a fan of this man. I was initially going to drag him for his name and say that Page is not a real name. PAIGE is a real name. PAGE is a piece of paper. I’m allowed to say this because we have the same name except mine is spelled the correct way. Based on my (mostly positive) review of his cast bio, I have decided not to hold his name against him.

Riley, 30, Long Island City

Riley, once married with children, would like to go on a family vacation that consists of touring every single MLB stadium in the country. If i were his wife, I would simply never give this man children.

Robby, 30, Insurance broker

No more Robbys on The Bachelorette. Society has evolved past its need for more Robbys.

This Robby described his dream woman as: “Incredibly athletic and able to throw back a few beers with him after a day of hiking. She has a sweet personality and won't mind that he spends his Sundays on the golf course.”

Someone please give this man a sex doll. He just wants a hole.

Tyler C., 27, Lawyer

“Tyler C. is a badass lawyer who says he is a businessman by day and a cowboy by night.” How does that make him a lawyer? Does this mean he’s into cosplay? I’m confused.

Tyler S., 36, Music manager

Tyler makes an honorable living off riding his brother’s dick success as a country singer. “He just LOVES his job!” Uh yeah, I would too if I had a low-show, high-paying job off the merits of nepotism. It’s the American dream.

Yosef, 30, Medical device salesman

Another dad! He’s totally going to pull the “girl dad” narrative. That saying is kind of sexist to me but the masses generally eat it up, so I’m fairly confident Yosef will get the "sweet guy” edit he’s looking for.

Zac C., 36, Addiction specialist

“He loves Philadelphia sports and dreams of sharing a Philly Cheesesteak with his future wife while watching the Eagles win a Super Bowl.” This man is so South Jersey it hurts. 

On a more serious note, I don’t think anyone in recent history has spoken openly about their personal struggle with addiction on this show, so I hope Zac gets a chance to tell his story. 

Zach J., 37, Cleaning service owner

Zach is seemingly obsessed with Clare already and hopes to introduce her to his mom as his fiancée. Since Zach watched Clare on Juan Pablo’s season, you’d think he’d know that Clare would first meet his mom during the final four hometown dates. Assuming he makes it that far. My prediction is that he won’t.

Final thoughts

After eight long months Bachelor Mondays are back!!!

Uhh....wait.

Actually, we now have the less-exciting Bachelor Tuesdays. Yeah, it definitely doesn’t have the same ring to it. But I’ll take anything at this point.

Here are my final predictions:

First impression rose: Dale. It just looks like he can turn on the bullsh*t charm

Final rose: Jason. Clare wants a HIMBO I just know it.

Bachelor: nobody (Matt James is The Bachelor)

Most likely to get engaged on Bachelor in Paradise: Blake M2

Most likely to get canceled online: Bennett

Most likely to get sent home night one but deserve better: Chris

Who are your favorite men cast on this season?

[reminiscingtonight]

The amount of things I know about you, and still I want you to answer lots. 😂❤️

Part 1: 2, 9, 11, 18.

Part 2: 4, 7, 10

Part 3: 5, 7, 11, 15

Part 4: 2,7, 17, 30

Part 5: 10

Part 6: 2, 4, 7

Pt. 1 1. Do you like the way you look? You know, we all have those days. Sometimes I look in the mirror and I'm like "damn I look good," and other days I think I look like a potato 2. Have you ever cut your hair yourself? Nope. My hair is one of my most favorite things about myself (I spend a ridiculous amount of time and money on it) so I would never subject it to the horrors that would be me with scissors 9. What’s the most embarrassing thing that happened to you? Nothing as embarrassing as you mistaking my psychology paper topic as hammers with eyes 😂 11. Go-to ice cream order? Mint choc-chip 18. Biggest regret Not getting to have a prom or graduation. Like it was nothing I could control (bc fuck you covid) but I definitely wished that I could have had those experiences

Pt. 2 4. Do you think love at first sight is legit? I'm sure it is for some people. I'm more of a "be friends with someone and then a couple months later realize that you're in love" sort of person though 7. Do you believe in witches and/or magic? I think they're pretty cool but nah 10. Do you believe in a God? Nope

Pt. 3 5. What was your first kiss like? Short. And awkward 7. Have you ever had a crush on someone that, now as you look back, is completely embarrassing? I don't think so? At least not to my knowledge 11. Talk about one of your favorite memories you share with a friend. I went out with a group of friends to celebrate one of them quitting their job. At the end, my best friend and I were going to drive home together but we ended up walking around the city at 1am. Let's just say walking around a normally bustling city late at night felt like we were stuck in an alternate reality where we could die at every corner we turned. And maybe it was the sleep deprivation talking but we thought it was so fun and everything we did was so fucking funny (like laugh at the random burger wrapper flying through the wind funny). I'm sure people thought we were high. I honestly had to question if she was high too 😂. But we were having so much fun and didn't get home until a couple hours after that. 15. Where would you want to have your honeymoon? Paris. Hands down Paris. It's on my travel bucket list but is also definitely on my honeymoon list too.

Pt. 4 2. Favorite song from before 2005? Can't Help Falling in Love by Elvis 7. Favorite poem? Well my favorite book of all time is a book of poems called "Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately" by Alicia Cook. Tracks 6, 17, and 34 are probably my favorites (I know it asked for 1 but I love them all equally as much) 17. Favorite sea animal? I hate you. Not even going to answer this one 😂 30. Favorite flower? I have a love and hate relationship with flowers. I think that they're pretty but they all try to kill be with their pollen. Like spring just started and I'm already dying. But roses.

Pt. 5 10. Go to jail for 5 years for something you didn’t do OR Get away with a horrible crime and live with guilt & fear? Well like... how horrible of a crime are we talking? 😅

Pt. 6 2. Ever kissed someone who wasn’t single? Nope. Haven't been a homewrecker yet and don't plan on being one ever 4. Have you ever done anything illegal? Other than a little light underage drinking? Uhh no 7. Have you ever saved someone's life Nope

[quicklyseverebird]

Why I became politically activated (agitated), or why I became a Trump supporter.

All the cards on the table, I doubt anyone will read this, especially anyone to whom it might make a difference or change a mind.  This is a textual equivalent to shouting into the wind, and at the moment of writing these words, I don’t even know if I will post them anywhere.  Yet I find clarity in writing things out, and in light of the state of our country, I want to organize my stream of consciousness to see why and how I got here, to where I stand now, at this point of time.

I used to pride myself on my lack of political involvement.  I used to all but sneer when people got all worked up about political issues.  Such things were distant and had no seeming impact on my life, though I did my civic duty and voted whenever possible, because that’s what you do in a republic, and you have no right to complain about the results if you did nothing to affect them.

So, when Trump first mentioned that he was running for president, I just rolled my eyes and chuckled like anyone else.  He was vain, self-promoting and way too quick on the Twitter finger.  He’s no one I would want to have over for dinner, but now I’m glad he won and I hope he wins again.  I don’t think anyone else’s ego would have been able to weather the storm we’ve gone through over the past 4 years.  Especially not a politician, who survives mainly by going wherever the wind of public opinion blows.

But I’m not a Republican, so I can’t vote in their primaries, so when he rose to the top, I was as surprised as anyone else.  So, who was my other option?

Hillary Clinton, the poster child of political corruption and cronyism, whose scandals and crimes make a bigger volume than all the books she’s written explaining(complaining) about her loss.

2016 is when I had my political awakening and started to really look around at what was happening in the culture around me.  Perhaps it was because I was a parent to a child on the cusp of adolescence who would soon start to be immersed in it.  What I saw terrified me.

America had a rising group of Nazis infiltrating our culture.  And I don’t mean the stereotypical skin heads we all revile and view with disgust.  And I don’t mean the paltry 10-11k white supremacists in our country of 365 million (per Anti-defamation League data).  No one took them all that seriously, because their bigotry was all too obvious, easily exposed, and they were, quite frankly, too few to matter.

No, I mean a real group of extremists who were Nazi’s in all but name.  Who actually made a point of labeling anyone who disagreed with them a Nazi, in fact.  Who with seeming ignorance of the historical irony of their actions, re-enacted every deed performed by the black and brown shirts of pre-WWII fascist Europe.  They worked to shut down free speech (of anyone whose position differed from their own), attacked and intimidated anyone who challenged them with threats physical, verbal, professional and political, advocating literal book burning, public destruction of property, and most sneaky of all, enacting a new form of acceptable racism into a form that some have compared to a state-sponsored cult or religion.  I saw the blossom in 2016, and now I am seeing the fruit.

A couple weeks ago, I watched, in horror, live on television as the Krystal Naught was reenacted in my own city and cities across the country.  Since then I’ve seen these groups claim territory, terrorize and destroy businesses and residents’ homes.  Most often—again in seeming unconscious irony—those belonging to the very people they claimed to be fighting in support of.  The term terrorist is apt, as well as zealot.  They subvert groups of well-meaning people to their own political ends and rain down terror on anyone who disagrees with them, up to and including actual physical harm, and provoking situations that wind up in death.

They are left wing, just as the Nazi’s were, born from a communist/Marxist foundation with an emphasis on race, instead of class, as their dividing point.  It’s not the proletariat and bourgeoisie anymore, it’s <insert minority group> vs white.  The irony that most of these individuals are themselves, white, seems—of course—to be lost on them.  Fascism is socialism with a nationalistic and racial focus.  It was invented by a student of Marx as a way of making socialism feasible.  Apart from the nationalistic bent, this group follows the same formula.  Anyone who disagrees with them is a Nazi or some kind of “-ist” or “-phobic.”  It’s a marvelous rhetorical device.  Say you’re not racist, well that that’s proof that you are!  Try and bring up a factual point that disagrees with them, and they slap you with a label and claim through intersectionality politics that they don’t have to listen to you or any facts you might have to offer because you are from the “wrong group.”  They only have to listen to details or views on an issue from a group appointed and designated by their ideology.  No one else could ever offer a differing position.  And those from the group in question who DO disagree with them?  Well obviously, they are “race traitors” and their views don’t matter either.  After all, a person is only a part of the “right group” if they agree with these people.  If this took place in Nazi Germany, they would have been called “Jew-lovers.”  I’ve literally watched people of color assaulted, abused, called racial slurs, by white people.  (yes, there’s that irony again.)  I’ve watched POC being told by these individuals, unaware of their actual skin color, to check their white privilege because obviously they have to be white if they disagree with their position.  I see this inherent and rampant racism every time I post my own views and watch as people assume I’m a white man because…I hold the “wrong view.”  Why would race even matter to whether or not what is being said is true or accurate, unless you're a racist?  They have all their groups in neat and tidy boxes, with their assigned positions and “proper,” “permitted” viewpoints and anyone straying from the herd must be culled.  I’ve watched them tear down statues of the men who gave them their rights, and statues of the men who freed slaves or died to free them, even black heroes!  They’ve torn down statues built to commemorate abolitionists in the name of…racism…  They paint a street, claiming that it is free speech, but when someone else paints on the same street, it’s a hate crime.

They are, in fact, the most racist people in our country, and they revel in it because they feel it’s justified.  Place any of these people in Nazi Germany and they would be chomping at the bit alongside the Fuhrer at the "outrages" the Jewish race had inflicted on their country and the "privileges" they possessed.  Their racism is “justified!”  It is “right!”  I have no doubt that, if our skin color didn’t already distinguish us from one another, the mobs roaming our cities now would be demanding something akin to pink triangles or stars of David be worn by the designated parties.  We can see their racism clearly wherever they find a position of power and are allowed to organize themselves.  We watched an utterly self-unaware Chaz/Chop re-institute Jim Crow laws and create race-designated locations, parks, gardens, etc.  Whenever they find themselves in power, they organize themselves along racial lines.  Given enough time, they would probably have created separate bathrooms and drinking fountains.

Like the Nazi’s of Germany, they thrive on division and fear.  It gave the Germans a sense of purpose and pride coming out of the Great Depression following WWI.  In today’s world, they never would have risen so far or so fast if not for the economic devastation following Covid-19 and the many frustrated, unemployed, frightened people it left in its wake.

And they do it all in the name of “racial” or “social” justice, and justify their rampant racism that way. They excuse their racism in the name of…racism.  It leaves one wondering if these are either the most historically ignorant and self-unaware people in human history, or if they are literally evil.  And I don’t use the term evil hyperbolically.  I don’t mean mustache-twirling villains in black.  No one really evil believes they are evil.  The Devil himself thought his actions justified.  Evil always justifies itself, masks itself as good, and this allows them to do even greater harm, for no one does more damage than an intellectual fool who believes they are doing the right thing.  The only thing greater than mankind’s tendency towards evil is our ability to convince ourselves that it is good.  And oh, they lie, and they lie, and they lie.  They lie about events where they were the aggressors.  They lie and even post videos of the event proving they are lying, boasting about their lies, because they know that they won't be held accountable, and their lie is being spread faster than the truth, and the people in authority will allow this.  Far from being counter-cultural, they are now a state-sponsored, state-supported non-theistic religion.  The similarities with a cult are creepy.

The truth is, they aren't interested in eliminating racism. In fact, as we can see from these protests, they make racism worse!  And they do so deliberately.  Why?  Because they aren't interested in lives, no matter the color.  They aren't interested in actual justice.  More black lives alone have been killed by these protests, by actual BLM and Antifa people, than unarmed black men were killed by cops across the country in all of 2019.  Perhaps we should defund/disband them.  They are militarizing racism the same way the Nazi's did, to gain power.  It's not about lives, it's not about actual violence or inequality, it's about the Movement. It's about gaining power and influence in society.  And it is working the same way it did back in Germany.  When you have literally white, leftist people attacking and calling black people racial slurs because they don't agree with their positions, and then claiming they are against racism....

So, let’s see here.  We have an international organization born from the German Communist Party, with localized cells but a unified ideology, cooperative networks, shared finances, a common uniform, trademarked logos and merchandise, who ferment racial tensions to gain political power, create divisions between communities, seek to destroy anyone who would stand in their way through threat of violence and intimidation, destroy history, hide in screens of “useful idiots” seeking to be a part of a cause that they stir into “protests” so they can create further unrest and violence, all so they can gain power for their ideology.  And all the while, claiming to be the victims of the people they attack so they can claim the moral high ground.  Self-defense in the face of the mob is “racist.”  Protecting your property is a sign of “privilege” that must be purged, even as they loot, burn, destroy homes and businesses of the people whose lives they claim to want to protect.  

Explain to me how, exactly, they aren’t exactly like the Nazi’s before the rise of Hitler?  They are a socialist organization, with a racial element that use intimidation, threats of violence, doxing, actual violence and harm to anyone who disagrees with them or stands in their way to gain political and social power.  A literally evil ideology that has caused more death and suffering to mankind than any other in history, that has failed everywhere it was implemented.

And all the while the media propaganda praises them, just as they did Hitler (who himself won Time’s Man of the Year award, recall).

If you want to know if you are one of the good guys, then ask, which side supports freedom of speech?  Which supports liberty?  Which side doesn't advocate for violence as a means to their ends?  Which side are literally attacking their opponents?  Are people better off when you are in control, or not?  I think we can look at the smoldering ruins of our cities to decide where these extremists stand.

So, why did I become politically activated/agitated?  It wasn’t some YouTube channel “radicalizing” me.  I am not a MAGA fanatic or Trump fan.  What motivated me was seeing the rise of a new, evil authoritarian power in America.  They wear a different mask, but their actions speak for themselves.  They are the REAL neo-Nazis.  It doesn’t matter what they call themselves now.  You can change your name, but your deeds remain.  Your title doesn’t define you; your actions do.  If it quacks like a duck….  The Right didn’t pull me to their side, you on the left drove me here in fear for my life and the future of this country.  The fear is only growing now as I see official after official bow (sometimes literally) to these groups.  If they gain any more political power, I shudder to think of the world my daughter will inherit.  Will she be the new Anne Frank?  The Right isn’t the one making threats or calling me names if I disagree with them.  You are.  They don’t threaten my life or my family’s future.  You do.  They aren’t the people approaching with devastation in their wake.  You are.  You activated me.  I can only hope enough other people will see you for what you are and be activated as well.  God help us all if you ever gain power.  Some of them are literally already calling for anyone who disagrees with them to be imprisoned in "re-education" camps.  No lie.  This cannot happen.  Never again.

[jordynsportfolio]

about me

(selfie is at the bottom of this post)

Hi there! Welcome to my *professionally* crafted Final Portfolio for ENGL 1120. My name is Jordyn, my pronouns are she/her and I’m a 20-year-old Linguistics major at the University of New Mexico with a minor in Journalism, and my favorite color is yellow. In case you don’t know and would like to know, Linguistics is basically the science of language. I am bilingual (English and German), so I am very interested in language, sociolinguistics, and how they shape our societies. My minor in journalism comes from my love of writing, something I am still chasing and trying to feel fully again. I enjoy telling stories, and I feel as though telling real stories in their full truth is something our world needs very desperately right now. The past four years have both scared and inspired me to step up and get involved in what’s going on in the world, and I want to contribute to the change we need.

My hobbies in life are numerous, and I could probably say that everything is interesting to me. I tend to bounce around with interests a lot because I think it’s exciting and useful to know a little bit of everything. However, my main interests are listening to music, play video games, and I enjoy cooking/baking. My guilty pleasure is definitely online shopping, because there’s no dopamine rush quite like getting a package in the mailbox or at my front door. Pure euphoria, if you ask me. To expand on my hobbies and interests, here are some of my favorite things: My favorite band is The Neighbourhood (The NBHD). Their music is so amazing and I don’t think they have ever, or will ever, release a bad song. My favorite album from The NBHD is called Wiped Out!, I highly suggest you give it a listen if you like indie rock/pop. As for video games (By the way, I am a loyal PlayStation player, you won’t find any Xboxes here), I am currently playing through Persona 5 and replaying Horizon: Zero Dawn, which are both easily some of my favorite games. Both equally as headache inducing but super fun nonetheless. As for baking and cooking, the past year or so I have become really devoted to it, and it’s probably the hobby I do the most. Fun fact but kind of sad fact: I tend to get over-stimulated very easily, so sometimes it hard for me to do certain activities, but I have found that cooking dinner for my family or trying a new baking recipe has helped me stimulate my brain in a way that isn’t overwhelming. It has taught me to problem solve in a way that doesn’t spike my anxiety, and honestly, I am very thankful for it. My favorite recipes to make right now are my (in)famous vegan chocolate cake (my parents get triggered that there are no eggs in it) and my Mushroom Orzo dish (my parents actually like this one).

When it comes to writing, I actually really enjoy it. Creative writing, at least. It used to be a large hobby of mine, and I used to do it quite frequently. I have some writings of mine published sporadically around the internet actually (you will never find them so do not seek them out). However, as I’ve gotten older and as I’ve had to adapt to more academic writing styles, I think I lost my love for it in a way. There used to be something so magical about writing to me. Perhaps it was my way to escape for a while into some fictional reality I created, or maybe I felt at ease when I could translate my thoughts and feelings into words I could never verbally express correctly. However, in this class, I feel as though my love for writing resurfaced a bit, because I felt very interested and invested in my topics and found creative ways to write my writing assignments. One of my favorite things about writing is how certain usages of sentence structure and diction can suck the reader into another headspace, and doing so in academic writing ensures the reader will come out of it with all the information fully absorbed. For a while, that didn’t seem possible through academic writing, such as lengthy essays and presentations, but the past year or so I’ve begun to strengthen my academic writing. Strengthening my skills has helped me get closer and closer to my goal of achieving transformative writing.

The standout part of this course to me personally was our unit on propaganda. Obviously, I understood propaganda and what its intentions are beforehand, but doing my paper on the Jim Crow era in terms of propaganda opened my eyes to the fact that propaganda really is everywhere in our histories, societies, and everyday lives. I think the connotation of propaganda is always tied to war times, because the majority of propaganda discussed is from eras of war, and is never really discusses—at least in my school settings—other forms in depth. I even fell victim to thinking that way. But seeing the ways in which propaganda, which usually manipulates and traps its audiences, it’s kind of frightening that it had managed to wedge itself so tightly into our world. It definitely altered my world view doing this project, but it was also extremely insightful. But I will admit, it is rather scary to see how much of propaganda pertains to the -isms our society claims to be against. So much of propaganda is blatantly racist, sexist, and xenophobic, and while there are many cases where they are pointed out and criticized, there is a whole lot of other things that fly under the radar. Even with COVID this year, propaganda about the virus has antagonized China and people of Asian descent. Hate crimes rose significantly after this propaganda hit America really hard, and it angers me that we have allowed people to think that their racism is justified or okay.

[alexsmitposts]

When the Going Gets Tough, the US Runs to its Criminal Friends Donald Trump’s consistent use of the term “Chinese Virus” when discussing Covid-19 has raised a few eyebrows. Having been locked down and had the foreseeable future taken away, the world has no choice but to defer to his leadership. But rather than leading the world, he leads a chosen part of it against another part of it in every speech, leaving yet more of a legacy of hate and mistrust, as if the US hasn’t done enough of this. Other Great Powers have always had the same problems. Anything associated with former colonial masters is either rejected outright, even when it does not have to have that association, or localised to remove those associations. But this means countries develop by adopting new friends, whoever they may be. Often they are not too discriminating about who those friends are, or what strings are attached to that friendship, as they see it as a “path to independence,” not accepting that it cannot take them there. The former Soviet states provide many examples of this, but so do former colonies of anywhere, who once ran to the Soviet Union to achieve the same ends. So backed into a corner of its own construction, the US is deciding who else should be allowed into that corner. Kim Jong-un was invited, but seems to have been kept out, for now, by exposing that the only global superpower is indeed a helpless prisoner in its corner But there are some states who will always be there, no matter what. Is it because they are also mature democracies which respect freedom, human rights and rule of law? If they were, North Korea would hardly have been invited. Like an addict, the US chooses the friends which justify its crimes. The definition of US values which Washington imposes on the developing world would never be considered acceptable at home. So it seeks friends who play the same game, hoping that will justify this practice – which it would never need to do, if it really believed in the values it claims to have. Double coverage Can you imagine a world in which the US was not a friend of Israel? Many other countries, principally its neighbours, have arguments with the Jewish state, both over how it conducts itself and its very existence. But although there is also a US Arab lobby, based on shared oil interests rather than common political cause, the huge influence of the Israeli lobby in the US is recognised and well-documented. What does Israel actually stand for which other Middle East countries, including democracies such as Lebanon, do not? How is it more consistent with US values to support Israel rather than its neighbours? The usual answers are bound up with “self-determination” and righting historic wrongs, albeit at the expense of others. Why should the suffering Israelites not have their own homeland? Why should all the crimes committed against them over the centuries not be compensated by support for that homeland? Having done all that, should the US not have a reliable ally in this turbulent region? These arguments are of course hypocritical, as they do not apply across the board. Ask, for example, the Kurds, the Serbs, the Catalans, the Native Americans themselves. Israel has another attraction, which is all about the US, not Israel itself. The latest democracy reports by V-Dem and Freedom House, who compete with and do not consult each other, both make sobering reading for Israel watchers V-Dem, run from Sweden, is rather more neutral in its political posturing, whereas Freedom House inclines towards the “socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor” definition of freedom. Yet both reports explode all the claims the US makes about Israel, and about itself. If Belgium were compared to Bolivia as a democratic state, it would be greatly offended. Yet in the V-Dem report, Tunisia, not Israel, is called “the only democracy in the Middle East”. Admittedly this stretches the definition of “Middle East” a little. But who want to be outranked for democracy by a country synonymous with instability, corruption and disregard for human rights? The report paints the following picture: “Tunisia is the star pupil of democratization of the past ten years. Transitioning to democracy in 2012 after mass protests ousted the dictatorial regime of Ben Ali, its score on the LDI rose steeply from 0.11 in 2008 to 0.68 in 2018. However, the data also suggest that the new government is not fully independent from the military and thus potentially vulnerable to interference. Ahead of the election in 2019, political parties are still relatively weak and young people – the driving force of the revolution – infrequently engage in formal political institutions.” Tunisians themselves may feel their country is nowhere near the level of a real democracy, but it is largely being allowed to get there. Democracy exists because sooner or later everybody does it, if left alone to do so. Those who don’t want that are tolerating this expression of freedom, and the US is not vocal in its support of Tunisia and what it is trying to do. Tunisia is 41st on the V-Dem list of liberal democracies, which headed by Norway. Israel is 51st. It is well behind Uruguay and Chile, two countries still struggling to rid themselves of notorious CIA-funded repressive pasts, and just behind Croatia, famous for its discriminatory behaviour towards its Serb population. The Freedom House report includes Israel as one of 25 established democracies where freedom has declined over the past 14 years. The country gets its worst ever overall score of 76, well behind Mongolia and only 6 points ahead of Hungary, which is categorised as only “partly free”. What’s wrong with Israel? This long list provides part of the answer. But the US recognises it as a kindred spirit because the US itself was founded by implanted settlers dispossessing and humiliating the native population. This is what US-Israeli friendship is really about – trying to make two wrongs a right. Other countries have their own sordid histories, but don’t offer the same exculpatory PR opportunity. At a time of global crisis, the US should lead, not try to find excuses for itself. United by the wrong common language US relations with most countries wax and wane, depending on the political direction of the wind vein; the other country it always supports unquestioningly is the UK. Few even want to suspect there is an improper reason for this, but this crisis is indicating that such confidence is misplaced. As the former colonial power, though admittedly long ago, the UK should be seen with much more suspicion by the US. American historiography makes much of the struggle against the British and the principles the American colonies fought for, implying that the UK is not a “land of the free” where “all men are created equal”, so it should be the opposite of what the US wants in a friend. “Special Relationship” However the US and UK have long had a “Special Relationship” – the one which prevented the UK joining the EU and its predecessors for twenty years. Why? For the same reason Australia, which used to describe itself as being the “southern outpost of the British race,” also had a “White Australia” immigration policy for many years? The almost English-speaking White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, WASPs, who founded and have always run the US preserve their privileges by treating the UK as an example, despite deliberately contradicting its political system and developing a very different culture. The British must be racially superior, regardless of their crimes as colonists, or the US would itself be a very different place. This relationship also suited the British, who could regard Americans as the same as them when it suited them. US success was firstly an extension of UK success, then an acceptable alternative to UK decline. But now the “Special Relationship” is coming home to roost in a big way. During the Second World War, despite the tensions and differences in practical impact between the two countries, everyone pulled together. For a generation afterwards, rebuilding was held to require consensus. But for the past forty years both countries have followed a similar trajectory. Regardless of the complexion of government, they have sought to divide people into “good” and “bad” rather than supporter and opponent. The “bad” people – whether they are foreign, Muslim, ideologically unsound or whatever, are responsible for all the ills of their countries, while the “good” are being unfairly disadvantaged by treating those “bad” people the same way as them. These policies have had one inevitable consequence – creating an ever-deepening sense of injustice amongst those who are disadvantaged to begin with, and would be under any sort of policy through no fault of their own. These are the people openly courted by Trump and Boris Johnson to win power. First it was good versus bad, now it is outsiders versus the whole system, because that system, the creation of good versus bad, has failed to deliver what it promised the good. Going down this route will only make things worse, as no one will be satisfied and the sense of injustice will only grow. But having started, both countries are running to each other for help because they can’t stop, or their governments would collapse overnight. The Covid-19 virus was treated by both countries as another dimension of the “liberal elite conspiracy,” something invented to profit the “bad people” who had hurt so many voters. Neither took it seriously, either saying reports were exaggerated or coming up with ridiculous but low cost cures such as Johnson’s “herd immunity.” When forced to realise the extent of the crisis, they have insisted on pursuing racist policies which help no one. Trump reportedly tried to buy up all the cures for the US before nasty foreigners could get their hands on them, and still insists, by classifying his health emergency response meetings, that the virus is about China rather than health. Boris Johnson is refusing to postpone or even delay the Brexit trade deal negotiations because getting away from “foreign control” is considered more important. He refused to either join the EU’s ventilator scheme, a decision later blamed on an error the EU has debunked or boost the UK manufacturers who make them, but then gave the manufacturing contract to a Conservative Party donor, one of the “good people” who can make the problem go away at the cost of the “bad people” who die in the meantime. Johnson also claims to have Covid-19 himself, but gave a post-diagnosis speech at which there was no sign of the uncontrollable cough all sufferers apparently have. It would be entirely in character for this to be another BoJo publicity stunt. Perhaps we will never know, but is this the way to lead his country, or the world, through a crisis to a better future? Rule by the Mob The world’s largest economy and only superpower cannot claim to be the land of the dispossessed, particularly when run by a billionaire. But it has always claimed to be a force for good, which all like-minded nations should want to ally with. The US is not choosing its friends based on how good their values are. It wants ones who will justify its own crimes by being just as bad. When everyone is both a victim and a carrier of a deadly virus, these issues should not matter. But the US is only reinforcing its policy, at the expense of the whole world, because it has left itself with no alternative if it is going to remain the USA. There have been times when gangsters have effectively run cities or whole countries. Democracy is supposed to protect us from this, because at the end of the day, gangsters will serve the interests of their criminal friends rather than the people. This is why career criminals are classified as maladjusted: they cannot survive in a world where people try and act according to biblical precepts, whether aware of doing so or not. The BIGGER the problem, the GREATER the need for both leadership, and some semblance of decency, but we have no choice to trust in our leaders in times of crisis. But the bigger they are, the more they are running to their criminal friends instead of stepping up to resolve the crisis, or stepping down to make way for those who can. This is what a corrupt system throws up, even amongst those who claim to be overthrowing that system. There is an alternative, but it was always going to take a crisis like this to give enough people an incentive to make it real. Human beings are better than those we have set up as examples. This time we should really mean it when we say “never again.”

[erhiem]

Feather muthaland, Bibimutha’s songs play as if she is rebuilding her confidence in real time.

Photo Illustration by Renee Klahr, Aamna Ijaz/NPR; Courtesy of Muthaboard

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Photo Illustration by Renee Klahr, Aamna Ijaz/NPR; Courtesy of Muthaboard

Feather muthaland, Bibimutha’s songs play as if she is rebuilding her confidence in real time.

Photo Illustration by Renee Klahr, Aamna Ijaz/NPR; Courtesy of Muthaboard

NPR Music Turning the Tables A project envisioned to challenge sexist and exclusionary conversations about musical greatness. So far we’ve focused on reversing traditional, patriarchal best-of-lists and popular music history. But this time, it’s personal. For 2021, we’re digging into our own relationships to record the records we love, asking: How do we know as listeners when a piece of music is important to us? How can we break free from institutional pressures on our tastes in keeping with the lessons of history? What exactly does it mean to create a personal canon? Essays in this series will explore our unique relationship with our favorite albums, from unmatched classics by major stars to sub-cultural gamechangers and personal revelations. Because the way some music holds a central place in our lives is not just a reflection of how we develop our tastes, but of how we approach the world.

In April, two days after my partner got his second COVID-19 vaccination dose, a friend sent us an invitation to celebrate his birthday at a bar. “I’m not sure,” I said, citing CDC guidelines to wait at least two weeks before socializing. But I had another idea. While some dreamed of nail salon appointments as a return to normalcy, and others fled to Airbnbs on the outskirts, I suggested making a noise on the phone once again with the crew, three Geminis and Taurus.

Our first time together was in 2019, which we regarded as a rite of passage, playing Kendrick Lamar good kid, maed city (an epic, if not prestige update for the specific soundtrack) as our visions began to blur. More than anything, I noticed how the psychedelic influences calmed the ticking urgency I felt on a daily basis in order to make productive use of my time. That kind of urgency became too much to bear last year: With the world still in a pandemic holding pattern, I was also eyeing my 35th birthday in June, and I needed to answer questions from family incessantly. Didn’t feel closer – to where my career was headed, or whether I would have children, and if so – than it was ten years ago. Naturally, I didn’t tell this to my friend.

While I certainly yearned for pre-pandemic normalcy, or perhaps a time where my age was not nearly as consequential, I was also inspired by muthaland, Chattanooga, Tenn., the first album of 2020 by rapper Bibimutha. muthaland Helping me take myself out of this pressure to live up to everyone’s expectations. The album begins by promising a good time; In the opening skit, a game show contestant swallows an acid tab to enter Bibimutha’s world. This realm of her imagination ends up as a tangle of feelings and thoughts, where not a single factor – not her career or single motherhood – completely defines who she is.

I first heard about Bibimutha in 2016. Not long before artists like art rocker Bj��rk embraced her. Even in this crowded music landscape, it’s hard to forget an artist who names their debut EP after an iconic makeup palette, or whose moniker dates back to their mid-20s as having two sets of twins. The latter is considered a badge of honor. Early singles like “Rules” and “Rose” were the talk of a smoky-eyed relationship that could make women completely in agreement (“I’m not going to waste my waist, my thighs, my time, and all my energy/effort. Can *** * which just not for me”). The ambitious concepts he had in mind for his debut album also looked promising. his first thought, prosperity gospel, as a result of her love-hate relationship with televangelist pastor Joel Osteen (“He can sell any f****** thing and you’ll just spend your money,” she once said). Later, she stated that she planned to call the album Christine; It would be inspired by a relative who killed men who either betrayed her or abused her.

Yet I didn’t really connect with Bibimutha until we were both at the peak of our frustrations with our careers. In July 2020, Atlanta’s NPR affiliate WABE dropped under the map, a Southern hip-hop podcast that I co-host, just as overall podcast listenership began to return to pre-pandemic levels. and until muthaland Arriving last August, BbyMutha was completely disillusioned with the music industry. “After this album I’m never doing it again,” she said. This rap retirement announcement ended prematurely, although at the time, listeners mourned the lost potential. In muthalandLong after that tab swallowed one of the most indulgent rap fantasies of all time, BbyMutha is a next-gen LA chat with wordplay inspired by Gucci Mane, a rare woman who navigates traps and orders sex from across the gender spectrum. But Bibimutha also emphasizes in “Holographic” that the journey is a “rave with roaches” swirling around her house. At the height of her musical talent, she could still find a place where she falls short.

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As the oldest of my cousins, I spent most of my life in Maryland oriented around achievement and success, setting a good example. After graduating during the 2008 recession, the older I’ve gotten, the harder it felt to be, shortly thereafter separated from my first and only 9-to-5 to pursue a culture journalism career. moved to Atlanta for what seemed frivolous or self-indulgent before this “Essential workers” became part of our lexicon. (“My mom actually ran away from the Vietnam War when she was 16, so I could see” My Block: Atlanta For work, I’m not a s***,” i once joked.) I attributed my lack of hustle to this fear of failure which only intensified over the years. and before muthaland, I looked for music that helped me wrestle with or push through those feelings. open mike eagle dark comedy Soundtracked my uncomfortable entry into the gig economy after college. I still turn to trap jeezy songs Let’s get on this: Thug Inspiration 101 Or DouBoys Cashout’s “started out as an activist” for a momentary boost.

In the spring of 2019, I learned that this persistently worrying and ensuing fatigue had a name: generalized anxiety disorder. (I’ve kept it a secret from my family; my uncle once said that Asians “take too much pride in going to therapy,” as statistics following the Atlanta-area spa shooting would show.) As I tracked my sleep and panic attacks in one notebook after another, I learned that perfectionism—my once default answer to job interviews—is, “What’s your biggest weakness?” – not really to be seen in a positive light at all. Still, my mother’s way of asking “How are you?” Keeps “Are you busy?” and “Are you making money?” And I still answer “yes” every time. It has taken me almost all the time in the past two years to accept that self-awareness is still a work in progress.

Last December, my therapist gave me an exercise regimen that I still use today. In a moment of crisis, I write down the first negative thought that comes to mind (“I always make the wrong decisions,” “My career is coming back,” “Christmas is ruined”). Then I write through a reality check, as if interviewing myself: Are all these ideas true? Or is there evidence that this situation is not as dire as I had feared?

I recognize this train of thought muthaland. Songs like “Roaches Don’t Die” become anthemic because when Bibimutha brags and boasts, it’s like “You don’t f*** with who’s who with who’s government stamp and wic, huh?” Like what happens between songs. When she looks in the mirror and longs for the confident woman she once was (“I miss that b**** sometimes”) she descends on a personal statement in the face of “heavy metal”. “They see the truth when they see me / They see they aunt and they mom and grandma, gee,” she raps. “They look in a mirror, it ain’t clear / I’m afraid of everything being b*****.” At the end of “Scam Likely”, Bibimutha mocks the pseudo-awakening, drag race-savvy listeners who insist on having her as a role model (“And she makes me feel so empowered that ****** is empowered – and i up“). I get her reasoning: Role models seem impenetrable. Bibimutha’s songs sound like she’s rebuilding her confidence in real time.

During my last visit, my therapist told me to work on my definition and measures of success. I still don’t have concrete answers that translate into neat life goals, though maybe that’s an answer in itself. muthaland Teaching me to lower expectations that may read as plausible but ultimately prove untenable. Its themes confirm how I felt after my first 2019 visit, which is that scientists should revisit the psychological properties of hallucinations, even after decades of government-imposed stigma. Bibimutha’s lyrics demonstrate that motherhood, as it would be, cannot replace a sense of self. Neither would career ambitions, for that matter: muthalandThe most obvious nod to any kind of rap pantheon is “outro (skit 5).” Game show hosts thanks “sponsors” Boosie, Webby, and Diamond and Princess from Crime Mob — and then in 19 seconds, it’s over. muthaland otherwise completely untouched by discussion about Rap’s Mount RushmoreHow sales and clout factor into greatness. In how its soul-searching slowly unfolds during its hour-long runtime, the album is teaching me that position is not everything, but timing is.

In the flurry of excessive social activity between getting vaccinated and preparing myself for the Delta version, here’s what I’ll remember most:

The post-vaccination journey that finally took place on a Sunday in May. By 6 p.m. the effect was gone, though my partner reading the tarot gave to our friend, the second Gemini, didn’t wrap up until close to midnight.

The first time I heard BbyMutha’s “GoGo Yubari,” a harsh indictment against her baby daddy and the nature of how she became a baby mama: “Another violent story, another self-esteem destroyed.” BbyMutha released it in June, one of several loose and unreleased EPs from this year. muthaland. (Thank god she didn’t actually retire.)

Finally, a passing comment from a friend ahead of her 35th birthday this month. The keyword was “milestone”, with this weighted expectation we had already achieved, suggesting that all this was not enough. “I’m always here to talk about it,” I said, and I meant it. After the past year of working as a stand-in confidant of BbyMutha, I feel ashamed personally, or a shame at all.

christina lee is a music and culture writer living in Atlanta. She co-hosts the podcast under the map.

The post BbyMutha’s ‘Muthaland’ Is Teaching Me That Status Isn’t Everything : NPR appeared first on Spicy Celebrity News.

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COVID AND DEMOCRACY PART 4

https://grahamperryonchina.com/?p=2092 COVID AND DEMOCRACY PART 4 - VACCINATION, INDIA, AND RACE HATE IN THE USA MAY 2021 This is the last in a series of four articles on the topic of Covid and Democracy. Democracy is often used by the US/UK and other countries as the point of significant difference relied upon by the West to undermine and belittle China. The West’s thinking is along with the following; The West is democratic; it has one man, one vote; tyranny has been overcome; the people are in control; they are free to elect their governments; democracy has trumped autocracy. In these articles, I have argued that democracy is about freedom. Still, it is also about governance and the government’s credibility, and when Covid-19 challenged all governments the world over, why did the US/UK perform so badly and, relatively speaking, China perform so well? And in support of my argument, I looked at the death count in the three countries. In the US/UK, with a combined population of 400m, why was the death count as high as 730,000 and in China, with a population of 1.41bn, why was the death count as low as 10,000? One person questioned my personal sense of morality in comparing the figures for loss of life. But democracy is about the ability of governments to look after the safety, health and well-being of their people and by that standard, the US/UK failed, and China succeeded. As China is battered for its reliance on the leadership of the Communist Party and its alleged totalitarian apparatus, which, the critics say, denies freedom to Chinese citizens and condemns them to servitude, hardship and oppression, it is worth asking the question which population was better looked after by its government? One government, after initial hesitancy, took decisive action, imposed a lockdown, closed the streets and the parks and the airports whilst two other governments were indecisive, gave contradictory messages and were, ultimately, casual with the lives of their two peoples. Individuals, CEO’s, heads of schools, parents, hospitals, plants and all organisations are in one way or another put to the test. The question is asked – Can they rise to the occasion and provide leadership when danger threatens? It is for these reasons that reviewing the figures for loss of life is a very correct and relevant format to use in assessing leaders’ abilities to lead. Xi Jinping rose to the occasion. Johnson and Trump fell short. So how do we assess the role of vaccinations in the pandemic? In one sense, Johnson had a big achievement. He was able to secure the jabs and make them available in an organised manner to the UK people. Trump was slower, but Biden has made vaccination the main policy and has provided increased protection to US citizens. And, of course, looking after your constituents is an achievement. It is part of the test of the Government to protect its people, and providing vaccination is evidence that the people have been protected – even if the same government was very slow in imposing lockdown as late as March 2020, causing unnecessary deaths. But UK vaccinations have gone to UK citizens, and US vaccinations have overwhelmingly gone to US citizens. China, with a population of 1.4bn, has pursued a quite different path. First, it attacked the pandemic – relentlessly and aggressively. Contrary to the casual approach of Trump and Johnson, Xi Jinping closed down cities, airports, trains and shops. Citizens were instructed, not asked, to remain indoors on pain of arrest. Two large hospitals were built from scratch with 8 days. The pandemic was beaten back. Strong and decisive action protected the people of China, and deaths have been restricted to less than 10,000 people. Second China, instead of setting about the vaccination of all its people, decided on a dual policy. Vaccinations were necessary for China, and vaccinations were necessary overseas. The numbers tell a story about governance and democracy. 7 May 2021 was a significant date – the WHO added Sinopharm’s vaccine to its emergency use list for the Covid-19 pandemic – the first from a developing country. Sage experts conducted on-site inspections at the production facility in China before approving worldwide distribution. The FT recently reported that Chinese jabs were dominating vaccination campaigns in Latin America. China has shipped more than half of the 143.5m doses of vaccines delivered to the region’s 10 most highly populated countries. China – 75.8m doses; AstraZeneca + Pfizer – 59m doses and Russia 8.7m. The Turkish Health Minister, Mr F Koca, said Turkey prefers China’s “inactivated vaccines” to the technology of Pfizer/Moderna because the latter “require difficult and costly cold-chain handling compared with China’s inactivated vaccines”. The UAE and Bahrein have officially registered the Sinopharm vaccine, and inoculations have already started for residents in Abu Dhabi. Morocco has ordered 10m doses, and Jordan is carrying out Sinopharm clinical trials. Clare Wenham, Assistant Professor of Global Health Policy, said,” We see increased Chinese dominance as a health power”. This reflects Xi Jinping’s Win-Win philosophy – a recognition, like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), that the World prospers if progress is shared. The West will misrepresent China’s policy because the West is challenged by China. Why doesn’t China use all its vaccine for its 1.4bn people? Because of China-controlled Covid-19 by decisive action in February/March 2020. US/UK deaths – 730,000. China deaths – less than 10,000. The numbers matter. They tell a story. Whereas the US and the UK, with one eye on electoral popularity, are gobbling up every jab available without supplying to the rest of the world, China has maintained tight control over Covid-19 at home while distributing considerable doses to the world at large. They also tell another story. China has been represented as a mass manufacturer of soft consumer goods as Western companies piled into China from 2000 onwards – sweaters, trainers, deckchairs, trinkets, fireworks. Now Made in China will be remembered for life-saving vaccinations and drugs. Beijing’s strategic pivot away from low-tech manufacturing to quality construction projects, highways, new ports, and now vaccinations will change how developing countries view China. The West will say that China seeks political leverage and power in political circles. Actually, No. China’s achievement will be the reputational gain – a country fully aware of the vital need to help and assist the world’s countries in achieving mutual prosperity. This is not hegemony but a realisation that the long-term gain to the world community is to facilitate well-being, growth and progress. Past world powers have all been hegemonists and imperialists. The significance of China will be that “Win-Win” prevails over “All-For-Me”. China will not exploit weaker countries for their own benefit. This will only become apparent when historians come to write the history of the current century.  But significant world changes are taking place now that will grow in importance as the Century progresses, as the US settles in at #2 economic power. China champions a new attitude to world development. China and India are often thrown together in comparison. Both have large populations – 1.4bn/1.3bn – both are non-White countries – both became independent at the same time, China in 1949 and India in 1947 – and both countries expelled the British. It was not an accident of history that the British took the opium seeds from the hills of India and converted them into the drug that created addicts the length and breadth of China. The similarities disappear when it comes to the Pandemic as we view the distressing Indian TV footage of families carrying their dead ones to crematorium only to be turned away at the gates; the individual Indians pleading for help with oxygen, hospital beds, and medical treatment. The loss of life is considerable, and on 27 April, India recorded 3,876 deaths according to the Health Ministry – statistics likely to be very under-expressed as they will not include deaths at home or full burial numbers. India is grappling with the world’s worst Covid-19 epidemic as cases on 27 April rose by 329,942. Hospitals are full. Supplies are short, and human misery is on every street corner. On 20 May, India reported 276,110 cases over the last 24 hours and 3,874 deaths, bringing the country total to 25.77 million infections and 287,122 fatalities. Chinese people are not better than Indian people. There is no racial argument here at all.  But Chinese authoritarianism is better than Indian democracy when it comes to governance and the protection of the public. Having “One Man, One Vote” counts for nothing if the government cannot organise oxygen supplies, deliver hospital beds; procure vaccinations; set up vaccination centres; provide emergency crematoria, arrange home visits, organise mourning periods; protect schools; arrange on-the-spot testing.  It is back to the wider question of What Works. When crisis comes, and a Government has to look after its people, the system of Indian democracy failed the Indian population, and as we advance, this lesson will not be lost on developing countries trying to find the right formula for bringing law, order, prosperity, housing and medical supplies to their people. Finally, I want to comment on the surge in anti-Asian racism in the US since the pandemic commenced. On 29 March 2021, 65-year-old Vilma Kari was brutally assaulted on her way to church in New York. The crime made headlines in her home country of the Philippines, where Vice President Robredo and Senator Pacquiao, both prospective presidential candidates, were quick to pick up on video film that showed the assailant, Brandon Elliott, a 38-year-old homeless man, yelling, “You don’t belong here” before kicking and punching the victim in the face. The incident was part of a recent spike in anti-Asian violence across the US. Even as overall hate crimes declined in 2020, it is the case that anti-Asian hate crimes reported to the police rose nearly 150% in 16 of the largest US cities, according to a report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism in California State University, San Bernandino.  The trend was underlined by the 16 March 2021 killing of six women of Asian descent near Atlanta, Georgia, which ignited protests in the US and sent shockwaves through Asia. Specifically, to China, an assault on a 76-year-old woman in San Francisco triggered anger when shown on video in China, which led to a strong narrative about the US abusive treatment of native Indians, African slaves and Chinese labourers. Many blame former President Trump, who appealed directly to white nationalism and stirred anti-China sentiment at home and abroad, often referring to Covid-19 as the “China virus” and attacking China’s trade policies as “economic rape”. And the incidence of hate crimes has not abated under President Biden. Yuen Yuen Ang is a Politics Professor at the University of Michigan. He writes that “It is common to portray US-China relations as ‘a clash of civilisations’ – two cultural opposites with nothing in common. This narrative is unhelpful and misleading. It induces Americans to perceive the Chinese as weird and consequently threatening…While most people avoid overt racism, orientalism creeps in easily and unconsciously as people view China as the land of lanterns and dragons. Imagining an entire race of people as strange and exotic dehumanises them. Once a person ceases to see other people as human, it becomes easy to hate and inflict violence. Racism stalks the streets of US cities. It was there before Trump, but his free-wheeling right-wing US First agenda has fired up racial antagonisms with the last year of his term in office dominated by an anti-China agenda. “Reds Under the Beds” was a term from the Cold War of the 1950s. It has been revived as Pompeo and now Blinken claim that China is a genocidal nation. It is not a surprise that the Ash School of Government at Harvard University found that Chinese students and tourists returning home after a visit to the US had an even greater commitment to China and its style of democracy. Covid-19 is a pandemic that has thrown up many questions about individual well-being, public health policies, government capability and democratic effectiveness. There will be investigations into the origins of the virus, the performance of governments, the policies on vaccination and vaccination distribution. There will be allegations and counter-allegations. Big issues are on the table with important consequences for the long term well-being of the Earth’s inhabitants, and answers will be sought to key questions relating to the ability of democratic and authoritarian governments to handle the demands made upon them by the virus. There is an indication that control of the virus may now be underway. The focus will switch to how governments discharged their primary responsibility to maintain the safety and well being of their populations. GRAHAM  PERRY MAY 2021 - - https://grahamperryonchina.com/?p=2092

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Thursday, February 11, 2021

Arab spacecraft enters orbit around Mars in historic flight (AP) A spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates swung into orbit around Mars on Tuesday in a triumph for the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission. Ground controllers at the UAE’s space center in Dubai rose to their feet and broke into applause when word came that the craft, called Amal, Arabic for Hope, had reached the end of its seven-month, 300-million-mile journey and had begun circling the red planet, where it will gather data on Mars’ atmosphere. The orbiter fired its main engines for 27 minutes in an intricate, high-stakes maneuver that slowed the craft enough for it to be captured by Mars’ gravity.

Chinese spacecraft enters Mars’ orbit, joining Arab ship (AP) A Chinese spacecraft went into orbit around Mars on Wednesday on an expedition to land a rover on the surface and scout for signs of ancient life, authorities announced in a landmark step in the country’s most ambitious deep-space mission yet. China’s space agency said the five-ton combination orbiter and rover fired its engine to reduce its speed, allowing it to be captured by Mars’ gravity. If all goes as planned, the rover will separate from the spacecraft in a few months and touch down safely on Mars, making China only the second nation to pull off such a feat. The rover, a solar-powered vehicle about the size of a golf cart, will collect data on underground water and look for evidence that the planet may have once harbored microscopic life. Landing a spacecraft on Mars is notoriously difficult. Smashed Russian and European spacecraft litter the landscape along with a failed U.S. lander.

World’s second-oldest person survives COVID-19 at age 116 (AP) A 116-year-old French nun who is believed to be the world’s second-oldest person has survived COVID-19 and is looking forward to celebrating her 117th birthday on Thursday. The Gerontology Research Group, which validates details of people thought to be 110 or older, lists Frenchwoman Lucile Randon—Sister André’s birth name—as the second-oldest known living person in the world. French media report that Sister André tested positive for the virus in mid-January in the southern French city of Toulon. But just three weeks later, the nun is considered recovered. “I didn’t even realize I had it,” she told French newspaper Var-Matin.

Canada beckons again for some Hong Kongers (Reuters) A second generation of Hong Kongers is heading to Canada for refuge from political uncertainty, but unlike their parents in the 1980s and 1990s, this time seems for good. Cities such as Vancouver and Toronto are a magnet for those looking to escape as China tightens its grip on the territory of 7.5 million people. Some 300,000 already have Canadian citizenship after many families initially moved there ahead of Hong Kong’s return from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Back then, many families separated, with one parent staying in Hong Kong for work, usually fathers who were dubbed “astronauts” as they soared through the sky on visits. Among those who went to Canada, many eventually returned, lured by the booming economy and what still seemed to be a relatively free environment. With recent pro-democracy protests virtually snuffed out and Beijing enshrining control last year via a national security law, bags are being packed once more. “Staying in Hong Kong is not an option anymore,” said Maria Law, 39, who moved to Vancouver last year with her two girls ahead of her husband. “I’d rather have a free future for my daughters instead of making money while they have to keep their mouths shut.”

US pandemic surge weakens (WSJ) The most severe surge of the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S. has weakened significantly, according to key metrics, though public-health experts and epidemiologists urge caution, given the spread of highly contagious new variants. Newly reported cases have dropped 56% over the past month, based on a seven-day average, marking a significantly steeper fall than the U.S. saw after the spring and summer surges. Hospitalizations have declined 38% since Jan 6. The seven-day average of Covid-19 tests returning positive fell over the past week to 6.93%, the lowest since Oct. 31.

Poll: A third of US adults skeptical of COVID shots (AP) About 1 in 3 Americans say they definitely or probably won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new poll that some experts say is discouraging news if the U.S. hopes to achieve herd immunity and vanquish the outbreak. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that while 67% of Americans plan to get vaccinated or have already done so, 15% are certain they won’t and 17% say probably not. Many expressed doubts about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. The poll suggests that substantial skepticism persists more than a month and a half into a U.S. vaccination drive that has encountered few if any serious side effects. It found that resistance runs higher among younger people, people without college degrees, Black Americans and Republicans. Of those who said they definitely will not get the vaccine, 65% cited worries about side effects, despite the shots’ safety record over the past months. About the same percentage said they don’t trust COVID-19 vaccines. And 38% said they don’t believe they need a vaccine, with a similar share saying that they don’t know if a COVID-19 vaccine will work and that they don’t trust the government.

Facebook to temporarily reduce political content for some users (Reuters) Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it would temporarily reduce political content appearing on New Feeds for some users in Canada, Brazil and Indonesia this week and in the United States within the coming weeks. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in January that he wanted to “turn down the temperature” of political conversations on the social networking site because “people don’t want politics and fighting to take over their experience on our services.” The world’s largest social network, which has received flack for not doing enough to remove hateful content from the platform, last month said it would stop recommending civic and political groups to users. Reducing the frequency of political content will mark initials steps to explore different ways to rank such content in people’s feeds using different signals. Facebook will exempt content from official government agencies and services, as well as COVID-19 information from health organizations from the drill.

For Hungary’s poor it’s wood or food (Reuters) Zoltan Berki usually wakes up before dawn, as his five small children sleep next door, to feed the old iron furnace that stands in a wall cavity to warm up both rooms. This is the only part of his house that he can afford to heat during winter. Come rain or shine, Berki, a stocky 28-year-old Roma man, cycles an hour to work to save on the bus fare, so he is up anyway. But he also has to burn some materials before daylight, to conceal the thick black smoke that billows from his chimney when he uses plastic or rubber. Such household pollution is illegal in Hungary, including in this town near the Slovakian border. People do it anyway. “Firewood is expensive,” Berki said one recent afternoon, as his family played around him, crammed into a small room. “Either I buy wood or food. So I go to the forest, or the junkyard, and if we find plastic or rubber we burn that.” Scavenging for material to burn is common for the poorest people in the small, run-down town of Sajonemeti and those nearby, among the most destitute communities in Europe since Communist-era heavy industry vanished 30 years ago, leaving thousands jobless.

Russia’s vaccine (Washington Post) Not long ago, talk of the Russian-made coronavirus vaccine provoked mockery. “There’s no way in hell the U.S. tries this on monkeys, let alone people,” a Trump administration official told CNN in August, referring to initial reports about Russia’s development of the Sputnik V drug—which bypassed traditional steps in testing before its release. Even at home, where a history of political opacity and bureaucratic incompetence has left a lingering distrust of authority, many ordinary Russians shied away from getting the jab once it was made available to the public in December. But now, Sputnik V—named after the world’s first satellite that saw the Soviets initially outpace the Americans in the space race—is starting to look like it could be a global success story. It got a boost last week after the respected British medical journal the Lancet published a peer-reviewed paper that found the vaccine had 91.6 percent efficacy 21 days after the first shot and 91.8 percent for those over 60 years old, placing it on par with the celebrated Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. Sputnik V is considerably cheaper than its Western competitors and does not require the same sort of ultracold storage infrastructure that would complicate distribution of the Pfizer vaccine in much of the developing world. “It does say something about the quality and integrity of the scientific enterprise within Russia, which a lot of people disparage or dismiss as decayed and obsolete and underfinanced and underpowered,” said Stephen Morrison, director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Russia detains Jehovah’s Witnesses, searches properties in new criminal case (Reuters) Russian law enforcement detained a number of Jehovah’s Witnesses and conducted searches at 16 different addresses in Moscow on Wednesday as part of a new criminal investigation against the group, state investigators said. The Investigative Committee, which handles probes into major crimes, said the people had been detained for organising and taking part in the activities of a banned religious group. It said they had met in a flat in northern Moscow and studied the teachings of the religion despite being aware of the ban on the group’s activities. Russia’s Supreme Court branded the Jehovah’s Witnesses an “extremist” organisation in 2017 and ordered it to disband. Since then the authorities have detained dozens of Jehovah’s Witnesses and convicted them on extremism charges.

What quarantine is like in Olympic-host Japan (AP) What’s it like traveling to Japan, six months ahead of the Olympics? Almost impossible, unless you’re a Japanese national or a foreigner with resident status. A state of emergency for a large part of the country means that even those special cases who are allowed in have to take multiple coronavirus tests and stay holed up in quarantine. And what could the entry process be like for thousands of Olympic athletes scheduled to show up ahead of the July games? Plans now call for the athletes to be tested 72 hours before they leave home; then again when they arrive, and then frequently when they are closed off in a “bubble” in the Athletes’ Village alongside Tokyo Bay. All athletes are being asked to arrive only five days before their first competition and leave two days after. They are being told there will be no tourism and little social contact—even in the Athletes’ Village. These will be an Olympics like no other.

Myanmar protesters back on streets despite police violence (AP) Crowds demonstrating against the military takeover in Myanmar again defied a ban on protests Wednesday, even after security forces ratcheted up the use of force against them and raided the headquarters of the political party of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Fresh protests were reported in Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s two biggest cities, as well as the capital Naypyitaw and elsewhere. The growing protests and the junta’s latest raid suggest there is little room for reconciliation. The military, which held power directly for five decades after a 1962 coup, used deadly force to quash a massive 1988 uprising and a 2007 revolt led by Buddhist monks. In Naypyitaw and Mandalay on Tuesday, police sprayed water cannons and fired warning shots to try to clear away protesters. In Naypyitaw, they shot rubber bullets and apparently live rounds, wounding a woman protester.

More on COVID-19 (Worldcrunch) Ghana parliament shuts down over outbreak that leaves 17 MPs and 151 support staff ill. The U.K. releases new quarantine guidelines that includes possible £10,000 fine or 10 years in prison for unauthorized travelers. South Africa cuts distribution of AstraZeneca after research shows its lack of efficacy on the South African variant. Healthcare workers in Bolivia go on strike to demand stricter lockdown measures, facing an average of 1,000 daily COVID-19 deaths.

Ultrawealthy givers (AP) As the world grappled with COVID-19, a recession and a racial reckoning, the ultrawealthy gave to a broader set of causes than ever before—bestowing multimillion-dollar gifts on food pantries, historically Black colleges and universities and organizations that serve the poor and the homeless, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual rankings of the 50 Americans who gave the most to charity last year. “When I look at the events of the last year, there was an awakening for the philanthropic sector,” says Nick Tedesco, president of the National Center for Family Philanthropy. “Donors supported community-led efforts of recovery and resiliency, particularly those led by people of color.” Giving experts say they think the trend toward broader giving is likely to persist. “I don’t think this approach is just a 12-month moment that started with COVID and continued following George Floyd and is going to recede,” says Melissa Berman, president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, which counsels donors around the world. “There has been change building among private donors.”