#who with the rest of the boston 9 broke into a military building

[whumpfish]

PSA:

I keep my activism mostly on other blogs so that this one is all whump, writing, and chronic pain/illness focused. I don't have a huge dni at the top of my page because I am trying to keep this blog on topic.

But apparently, it needs to be said: I do not want to interact with people who try to justify genocide/promote that shit. I also do not want to interact with people so rotten that they claim to want entire families to suffer trauma and suicide because they want to be 2cool and the most activistest 4evar and make the pointiest point with zero critical thinking or base knowledge.

I am old for this site. I was born in 1984. So a lot of people in the latter category don't have this memory. I'm trying to be cognizant of that. But I grew up hearing "Gays deserve to get AIDS and die, it's what they get for living that lifestyle."

And y'all might not want to hear this, but "Veterans deserve to get PTSD and commit suicide, it's what they get for living that lifestyle" has the same energy. You still are so zealously ignorant in your ahistorical hate and your dedication to not understanding the underlying issues that you want not just individuals but everyone in their lives to suffer trauma and death.

Combat PTSD does not happen in a vacuum. Suicide does not happen in a vacuum. It leaves scars on entire families for generations that last forever. I cannot believe I have to say this. My entire, very antiwar family has suffered the ripple effects of combat PTSD (my very gentle and antiwar uncle was drafted during Vietnam and has night terrors to this day), and suicide (my oldest uncle had bipolar I like me and died of it before I was born).

Entire gulfs opened between my family and our faith. Between generations. Between individuals. I had a hard time engaging with a lot of my family for a long time because subconsciously they were afraid, because nobody knew how to talk to Sam either once the bipolar hit critical mass and look how that turned out. They didn't even notice it was there, the traumatic response of withdrawal was that automatic. We still don't know how to talk to my uncle about the shit he saw, so we don't. It feels considerate, but also not, because I never liked being apart from my family over silence on anything, and I don't know how he feels because we don't ask, and it's this vicious circle under the surface that never goes away. And he never had a choice, just like me, just like my bipolar uncle I never got to meet.

If you think that draftees, and people who wanted to go to college without the crushing student debt they see their peers suffering, and people who were straight up lied to--because recruiters will say literally anything to get warm bodies in the door, they will lie about access to medicine, they will lie about where you're going, they will lie about what your job will be--and their entire families deserve trauma and death for the actions of governments and military-industrial complexes... fuck you. Just. Fuck you.

Family annihilation as punishment for one person getting crossways of a predatory government was supposed to have ended a couple hundred years ago.

[dry-valleys]

“It is a place of great disorder and wickedness, so that for oppression and profaneness I never came in such a place” Elizabeth Hootton, imprisoned here 1654-5.

What is now Lincoln Castle was born to trouble, being on a high escarpment above what is now the town, commanding the junction of the rivers Witham and Till and the access of the Witham to the North Sea, across which countless invading armies have sailed.

(1) by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck on 1743, (4) in 2016, and the rest by me on Wednesday.

The Witham Valley was a sacred site as early as the Bronze Age, and was later settled by Celtic tribes who faced the invasion of Britannia by Romans in the year43 AD, building on the work of Julius Caesar who had visited in 55BC but failed to conquer us.

Using nature and engineering, the Romans chose this site for the city of Lindum Colonia, probably from a Celtic word; this commanded a great height, especially since much of what is now lowland Lincolnshire was then under sea, and much of the land was called the Isle of Axholme.

The Romans thus built two roads, Ermine Street (north-south) and Fosse Way (east-west), which joined at Lindum Colonia, and also the Fossdyke Canal, linking Lincoln to the Trent and Ouse rivers. Excavations in 1836 found baths, an indoor heating system and a fine mosaic here, showing the investment the Romans put into Lindum Colonia.

This was a success as the Romans were here for centuries, but left in 409 and soon the Celts, without their protectors, had to yield to the Anglo-Saxons, forefathers of English people today, who began arriving in the fifth century and formed the kingdom of Lindsey very soon afterwards; a minor kingdom, in 678 it was absorbed into my own homeland, Mercia.

This was settled, or so it seemed, but somewhere so near to the east coast could never relax for long; in 793 the Vikings attacked the monastery of Lindisfarne in neighbouring Northumbria, and were soon besieging eastern Mercia and all lands held by the Anglo-Saxons.

In 886 Alfred The Great, ruler of the strongest Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Wessex, agreed with Danish king Guthrum (whom he had defeated and forced to concert to Christianity, but not destroyed) that Gurthrum would rule a vast land in what is now Eastern England, known as the Danelaw, which included Lincolnshire.

As the Danes became Christianised, ethnic Danes began to fuse with ethnic Angles and Saxons, and many of Danish origin fought for Anglo-Saxon rulers who were forging a united England, against the next waves of Viking attackers; in 937 Athelstan, having defeated a great army of Vikings, Scotsmen and Irishmen (fictionalised in the recent book War Lord by Bernard Cornwell; please read the Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell and watch the Last Kingdom tv series for more) became king of a united England.

Lincolnshire was thus part of an English kingdom which was Christian and multinational, having as many Danish as Anglo-Saxon folk living here, in relative piece, until 1066.

In this year the Normans, from what is now France, conquered England and like all rulers of this land saw Lincoln as an important base; they built a motte-and-bailey castle here in 1068 and a stone castle in the 12th century, which underwent a baptism of fore almost straight away.

Upon the death of Henry I in 1135, the English throne was contested between Henry’s nephew Stephen and his daughter Maud. Count Ranulf of Chester attacked Lincoln in 1140 and in 1141 Stephen and his armies attacked the castle; Stephen was kidnapped but managed to come to terms with Ranulf and rule until 1154 (Maud was driven into exile in France and lived until 1167, but was unable to become ruler of England).

Obviously, this did not bring peace to Lincoln; more strife broke out in 1191 when Richard I (known as Richard the Lionheart), who became king in 1189, lost the support of many, including Lincoln’s constables, Gerard and Nicola de Canville.

The de Canvilles supported a rebellion led by Richard’s brother, John, and faced various ups and downs but won out when John became king in 1199. John then faced a series of misfortunes including the loss of Normandy in 1215; since 1066 rulers of England had also ruled Normandy, and were more French than English, and 1215 marked a very slow decoupling from the French sphere as the Anglo-Norman upper class took on a more English identity.

John was forced to make concessions such as signing Magna Carta in 1215; one of only four surviving originals is held here, and I had the honour of seeing this founding document of English liberties; though cynically signed and reneged on by a weak king under pressure, it has survived and been honoured to this day.

Despite John’s setbacks, Nicola de Canville (Gerard having died in 1214) remained a staunch John loyalist, and after John’s death in 1217 had to fight off a French siege, in which she defeated a French army led by Thomas, Count of Perche.

Later on, Lincoln declined as it was no longer near the frontline of any fighting and in 1353 lost the staple of the wool trade, which the prosperity of the area was based on, to Boston (downstream of Lincoln and where the River Witham meets the sea).

This stagnation was not to last; beginning in 1536, King Henry VII began to fear resistance to his political and religious policies, such as the Pilgrimage of Grace, which sought to rally Catholic and traditonalist opposition to his authoritarian, modernising and Protestant ways; in 1541 he came here and decreed a fortified royal residence. A prison also began to be developed here, holding criminals and political prisoners.

So it was that when in 1642 the Civil Wars broke out, Lincoln was again a battleground; most Lincolnshire folk supported the parliamentary rebellion against King Charles I, but being near to the sea and to royalist forces in Nottinghamshire (especially the garrison at Newark), was heading for trouble.

Lincoln changed hands at least four times before the parliamentarians finally won in 1649, ordering Charles to be executed and setting up a protectorate led by Oliver Cromwell. I say ‘finally’, but nothing is ever final in Lincoln; after Cromwell’s death in 1658 his son Richard took the reins but failed to hold power and in 1660 Charles I’s son, Charles II, became king.

This was the end of Lincoln Castle as a fortress but it continued to be a prison as it had been for the past century, holding criminals and whoever had annoyed the authorities of that time; inmates included Samuel Wesley (father of John and Charles), imprisoned in 1705 for debts, and Jacobites captured in their failed uprisings of 1715 and 1745.

The prison filled up and at this time, John Howard was beginning his campaign for penal reform; after visiting in 1774 and 1776 he spoke out against conditions here, so a new improved prison was built in 1788. The prisoners did not have to go far as they were sentenced in a courthouse also within the castle; built in 1826, it still stands and is seen in (6).

A report of 1842 recommended further prison reform so in 1848, the prison was again rebuilt and can be seen in (7-8), though it was shut in 1877, now forming an impressive museu (the courthouse, by contrast, is still working).

Thankfully they didn’t find me out and I got out of the prison to scale the walls (9), where I looked down on the view, including (10) Bomber Command, which suprvised all the airfields in what became known as Bomber Country, including RAF East Kirkby, which I visited on the same day. This was the last military use of the castle, from which watchmen could look out for enemy attacks on Bomber Command.

Since then tourism has become one of the main uses of the site, as well as research, and the still-working courthouse, and while the STILL ongoing Covid-19 outbreak put most of my plans for this holiday on hold, when I come back I will not only come here, but like the Romans and others will visit all that can be seen from here.

[historyiguess]

The Halifax Explosion

he Halifax Explosion happened on December 6th, 1917 and it was the biggest man made explosion until the use of the atomic bomb in 1945. To understand why the tragedy happened it’s important to understand its history.

           The city is the biggest Canadian city east of Quebec and is the capital of the province of Nova Scotia. The city has always had its roots in the military as it was initially founded in 1749 by the British to be a strategical settlement for future attacks against the French. Time went on and it was not surprising that in WWI Halifax was an essential city for the British, this is because Halifax has one of the biggest and deepest natural harbours in the world (making it one of the best) and geographically it lines up with Britain (not exactly but its pretty close) on the other side of the Atlantic.  Here’s a map for reference:

Thus, by 1917 Halifax Harbour saw ships and convoys constantly coming and going transporting soldiers and goods to and from Europe. In fact, German submarines often sunk ships outside the harbour. Yet, besides the heavy nautical traffic in the harbour, there weren’t many rules and the process of entering and leaving the harbour was not very organized; it was an accident waiting to happen.

On the morning of December 6th 1917 a Belgian relief ship, the Imo, collided with the French ship, the Mont-Blanc and a small fire broke out on the French ship. This was because the Mont-Blanc was carrying over 3 million dollars in US money at the time in explosives. The crew immediately abandoned ship, but due to the language barrier between French and English they could not properly warn the citizens of Halifax of the dangers. Meanwhile the abandoned ship drifted to the docks where the fire spread to some of the buildings. The fire caught the attention of the people who were unaware of the danger, crowded near the docks to see the spectacle, others watched from the ship from their windows at home.

At 9:04 that morning the Mont-Blanc exploded, the ground shook and near every window for miles shattered. This was soon followed by a tsunami caused by the explosion which hit the areas closest to the harbour. Fires broke out all over the city, either directly caused by the explosion or by such things as fallen kerosene lamp or stoves that were being used at the time. Many people who were injured or trapped in their homes and in risk of fire were forced to be abandoned due to a rumour of a likely second explosion was to take place that there was a fire near an ammunition storage in the city. This turned out to be false and there was not a second explosion. Unfortunately, this caused a great deal more tragedy as those who might have been able to be saved were left for dead.

Immediately soldiers in the city took charge by starting rescue parties, and the cities hospitals began to fill. One of the most common injuries were caused by glass, specifically in the eyes as many had been watching the Mont-Blanc at the time of explosion and all the cities windows shattered. There were around 2000 dead, 9000 injured and 6000 homeless, this, all in a small city with a population of about 50 000.

Within the next hours, relief started flooding in coming in from other Nova Scotian towns and from towns of the neighbouring province of New Brunswick. Not as fast but just important all the same were from the rest of Canada and America. Most notably from the state of Massachusetts and actually, to this day Nova Scotia still sends a giant Christmas tree to Boston every year to show thanks for the aid they received.

That night the weather took a turn for the worst as blizzard hit the city making it difficult to find those who were injured and missing that hadn’t already received help. The blizzard continued through the night and the following day, it was yet another trial for the people of Halifax as many were homeless and no windows remained in the city.

It took years to rebuild and some communities that were destroyed never did. For example, the neighbourhood of Richmond which was utterly obliterated because it was the closest to explosion and thus the hardest hit.  Nevertheless, Halifax healed and it continues to thrive today.

 Source: http://www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion/index.html

[ntrending]

Here's what makes ADX Florence the country's most secure prison

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/heres-what-makes-adx-florence-the-countrys-most-secure-prison/

Here's what makes ADX Florence the country's most secure prison

ADX Florence has been called the most secure jail in the world. (Wikimedia/)

Off Colorado’s Highway 67, the U.S.’s highest-security “supermax” prison, ADX Florence sits in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which owns and operates the facility, opened the “control unit” in 1994 for male prisoners deemed unusually violent or likely to escape from other facilities.

The “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” as it’s informally known, is currently home to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of the Boston Marathon Bombing; Theodore Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber; double agents like Harold Nicholson, a CIA spy secretly working for the Soviets; mafiosos Joseph Lombardo and James Marcello; Ramzi Yousef, who planned the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; and Zacarias Moussaoui of the 9/11 conspiracy, just to name a few.

Now, Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman may join their ranks.

On Wednesday, a judge sentenced Guzman to life in prison plus 30 years for drug trafficking and money laundering. Authorities have not yet assigned Guzman to a prison. But given his history of escapes—most notably, he broke out of a Mexican maximum-security prison via a mile-long tunnel—experts speculate he’ll end up in ADX Florence.

But in a nation of 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, and countless other municipal, military, and immigrant detention facilities, what elevates ADX Florence above the rest?

It’s a matter of design.

Alcatraz may have been surrounded on all sides by the frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay, but ADX Florence “is literally built into the side of a mountain, with a robust security infrastructure,” Martin Horn, a criminal justice professor, told Reuters. 12 gun towers surround the compound. Razor wire, guard dogs, and laser beams secure the perimeter.

This sense of isolation and control extends inside the buildings. At all times, prisoners, guards, and other personnel are under surveillance. Every building is equipped with motion sensors; even floors have pressure sensors to track where people are walking. 1,400 remote-controlled doors control movement inside the building.

Each inmate is assigned their own 7-by-12 foot cell, where they spend roughly 23 hours alone each day. The cells (and everything in them, including the sink-toilet, shower, desk, and bed) are forged from concrete. It’s reportedly soundproof; that way, prisoners can’t communicate with others in their block by talking or tapping out codes. A slot in the door allows for meal delivery with little to no interaction between inmates and guards. Psychiatric evaluations, spiritual guidance, and other services are also provided through the door, or via telecommunication. A 2014 Amnesty International report on the facility found “that prisoners routinely go days with only a few words spoken to them.” The report was titled “Entombed—Isolation in the U.S. Prison System.”

One of the things that seems to haunt former ADX Florence inmates is the window design. Each cell reportedly has a 4-inch-wide window. The angled slit cuts through the thick prison walls in such a way that inhabitants can’t understand their own location in the complex. “You can’t see nothing, not a highway out in the distance, not the sky,” Travis Dusenbury, who spent 10 years in the prison’s general population, told The Marshall Project, a non-profit criminal justice newsroom. “You know the minute you get there you won’t see any of that, not for years and years.”

Prisoners spend no more than 10 hours outside their cells each week. Even then, they’re kept in isolation: the yard is sectioned off into a series of individual cages. Often, when an inmate is outside his cell, he’s restrained. These restraints can be severe, according to the Amnesty report, with an inmate’s feet and hands shackled and tied to a belt around his waist. Sometimes, a prisoner’s cuffed hands are further restrained inside a black box.

Lawyers, criminal justice advocates, investigators, former inmates, and even former employees agree: the space is made to detain people who are no longer considered fully human. “It’s not designed for rehabilitation,” a former ADX Florence warden told the New York Times Magazine. “Period. End of story.”

Written By Eleanor Cummins

[somethinginbetween1-blog]

Athlete or Coach

Glen Mills is the head coach and director of Racers Track Club in Kingston, Jamaica. For more than 10 years, Mills has been working in track and field and has produced 71 medals at the International Association of Athletics (IAAF) World Championships and 33 at Olympic competitions. In 2004, he met a young up-and-coming Jamaican sprinter. Mills and the young sprinter agreed they would work together to advance his running career. In 2009, the Jamaican sprinter broke the world record in the 100 meters at the Berlin World Championships with a time of 9:58 seconds. The sprinter’s name is Usain “Lightning” Bolt. He is known as the fastest man in the world. Looking back on Bolt’s historic moment, the question comes to mind: Is it the athlete or the coach that determines one’s success?

Before I had the privilege of working with Josh, I watched YouTube videos on training. Although I had prior experience running in the military, I don’t think running like a horse counts as quality training. If I want to succeed, I have to run smart, not stupid. Let me be honest, I took a chance. I didn’t do any research on my coach’s background. I jumped out of an airplane without a parachute.

At the time, I needed a pair of “watchful eyes” on my training. By hiring a coach, I spent less time with excuses of why I can’t run and switched it to someone-is-watching-me-maybe-I-should-get-off-my ass. It’s amazing how coaches can make you perform without opening their mouths. When you pay money for a service, you’re more likely to ensure you are doing the work. During the first year, we took our relationship week by week. I slowly did my research on his coaching skills and after a few months we made it official.

The demand for running coaches has risen. Runners in the United States spend thousands of dollars a year on a coach to help them fulfill their running goals. Coaching has become a multibillion dollar business. The average cost of a coach can range from $100 to $300 per month. Prior to hiring my running coach, I had no prior knowledge that anyone would train novice runners, who I call the “Something in Betweens.” I always thought that running coaches were for famous athletes or elite runners.

In the past few months, I have learned so much about myself as a runner. I initially started running to become healthy and to get my life back on track. My weight and diet were out of control. Somewhere along the line, I made the decision to see how far I could push myself and decided to try to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Coaches fall into the same category as the runners when faced with other life tasks; coaching is not their primary source of income. Majority of coaches have a full-time career in another field. Unless they are financially supported by a larger entity, they have no other choice but to make ends meet with a second job. 

The mission of BQ or Bust is going to take a lot of patience. It's work. Hard work. Coaches and athletes can make impossible missions happen when there is balance between the two. An open line of communication helps both parties to perform at high standards and builds athletic performance. How an athlete performs falls on both parties.

Balance and communication are key. Take a look at Bolt and Mills relationship, there was balance. Bolt didn’t have all the answers neither did Mills. They worked together and used each other’s strengths to get to the finish line. It’s clear that Mills had the knowledge that Bolt needed to make him a successful athlete. 

Clearly, I have put Josh in a position where he will be judged by my readers. Will Josh be able to get Tina there? Is she running too many miles a week? Can this complete stranger make her a Boston qualifier? These are the questions that you are asking yourself. At the end of the day, both Josh and I will be on the chopping block. So, let’s see what happens. We have nothing to lose, and after all, I love a good challenge.

WEEK 3 TRAINING PROVIDED BY Josh Maio

Monday- Maintenance Run

Tuesday- Fartlek Day

Wednesday- Maintenance Run

Thursday- Hill Day

Friday- Rest Day

Saturday- Maintenance Run

Sunday-Church of the Long Run

Follow me on Strava

2018 Race Schedule 

Next week's Blog: Where are the African American elite female marathoners?