#not to mention the damage done to democracy

[hedgehog-moss]

(TW POLICE VIOLENCE)

France has been feeling like a police state this week, there were 5000 cops deployed in Paris yesterday (watch this video and tell me this is a normal amount of cops and they're behaving normally) and they keep acting like they have total immunity*, to beat up protesters, to arrest protesters, or just random people walking in the vicinity of a protest. My 70+-year-old dad tried to go to a peaceful protest and had to abandon the idea because of all the tear gas being used by police.

*Which they do—as Le Monde pointed out, the cops who are violent risk nothing because they can't be identified because almost none of them wear their identification number even though it's supposed to be mandatory. They're not being penalised for not wearing them, so why should they?

If you can stomach it, please have a look at the photos and videos on this Twitter account documenting French police brutality against protesters—as I write this, the most recent tweet is about a journalist who was beaten up by a BRAV-M cop* using his steel baton; he had his head cracked open and his hand broken.

(* BRAV-M is a motorised repression corps—cops on bikes—a unit that was dissolved in 1986 after some of them beat a student to death, who wasn't even attending a protest but walking near one. Macron changed the unit's name, from Voltigeurs to BRAV-M, and reestablished it to suppress the Yellow Vests protests. This week, a BRAV-M cop deliberately drove over a 19-year-old's leg at a protest after chasing him on his bike. The victim said he heard a cop say to others "Smash him." Another BRAV-M punched a protester unconscious on March 20. And today Le Monde published an article about BRAV-M cops being recorded bragging about "breaking elbows and faces.")

In Paris last week the CRS arrested a 14-year-old kid because they took him for a dangerous black bloc protester I guess?? A child spent a night in police custody without knowing why. They've also arrested several 15 / 16 year-olds. Let's teach the youth what happens when you exercise your right to protest!

On March 16th in Paris, within one evening, they arrested 292 people, and 283 were released without charges, which means they're mass-arresting people for peaceful protests as a strategy of intimidation. The student I mentioned in my post the other day, who spent 48 hours in custody and was eventually charged for refusing to have his DNA samples taken and filed, asked the cops why they were arresting him + 4 other people who were walking down the same street and they said "Because you look like fucking leftists."

The government tells us "We fully support our brave police forces" when the cops are arresting people for "looking like leftists." How are we still a democracy? The guy also mentioned that during the time he spent at the police station, the police was mostly arresting Maghrebis, though they made an exception for him, a Black guy. There are videos from the past week of cops beating up women, tear gassing protesters in the face from 20cm away, kicking protesters in the face when they're already on the ground, crushing their heads under their boot, brutalising a homeless man and old ladies, tear gassing crowds with young children in them. I'm having trouble finding links to these specific incidents I remember because there are so many videos circulating.

Look at this video, they're violently striking the back of people's heads with steel batons even when the protesters are already going in the direction they're told to. The little old lady shoved around and trying to protect her head from the strikes is breaking my heart.

Surely at the point when enforcers of state authority are arresting middle schoolers, beating up citizens for exercising their rights and gassing and pepper spraying elderly people, children and babies in strollers, the government might want to make some sort of statement condemning this state of affairs, but instead they have been telling us they're proud of & grateful for their police forces, which of course angers people and makes protests more violent. The Minister of the Interior, who supervises the police, praises them wholeheartedly and excuses all instances of deliberate brutality as 'isolated incidents' due to 'tiredness'.

Here's a thread in English describing a protester's experience—"Yesterday (March 23) the level of arbitrary police violence clearly leveled up. I was tear gassed three times without being able to move in a very dense crowd; policemen took advantage that people were unable to move more than 20cm to pounce on us and bludgeon us in a totally arbitrary manner." (you can see an example of this behaviour in this video from a different protest)

Yesterday, after a day of nationwide protests that brought a fresh new wave of video evidence of cops beating up protesters and making reckless use of tear gas—at the end of a day when a special ed teacher at a protest got her thumb torn off by a tear gas grenade—this is what the French Prime Minister said:

They're not even trying to play it off like "both sides made mistakes" they're telling us they condone everything the police is doing, that this is what they're deploying them for:

(screencap from this video)

(this is from this video, in which you can hear a woman screaming "Stop it! You're strangling him! You have no right! I'm filming you!" The cops don't seem to care about being filmed. They're beating up citizens with the government's full blessing after all.)

Macron's government is trying to intimidate people into giving up their right to protest, by deploying cops in huge numbers and publicly voicing complete support for their behaviour, by allowing them to beat and arrest hundreds of people and to use tear gas indiscriminately. Tear gas has been completely normalised as a means of state violence, it's very practical that it doesn't leave traces of blood or broken bones I guess, but it's still violence, it burns, it's a chemical whose effects on people's health we don't know a lot about.

^ Paris (from this vid; caption: "one tear gas grenade after the other")

Macron condescendingly told us there's no "magic money" which is why the pension reform is needed, but he did find the money to stockpile these apparently unlimited amounts of tear gas grenades to suppress protests against his reform to make poor people work longer.

^ Nantes (screencap from a vid in which the cops throw three or four grenades at once and you can hear people say "oh come on, seriously? this is crazy. Why? go fuck yourselves" in a tired tone)

We've also found out yesterday that three Corsican MPs were pressured not to support the Assembly's no-confidence vote against the government—by being told if they didn't vote it, a teaching hospital would be built in Corsica.

The island of Corsica is the only region of France that doesn't have a teaching hospital; due to lack of medical resources Corsicans often have to travel to mainland France for healthcare. Just last month the Minister of Health said sorry, still no teaching hospital for Corsica, it's just not possible right now. Then last week some "magic money" was apparently found to build it but only if the Corsican MPs didn't support the no-confidence vote. I know this kind of thing isn't exactly unique in politics but Macron has been slashing hospital budgets to the point that 20% of French hospital beds are closed due to lack of staff, and he used the health of 340,000 French citizens as a bribe to save his ass. The three Corsican MPs ended up voting in favour of the no-confidence vote despite of that, as it was what their constituents wanted (honour to them). Macron's government survived the no-confidence vote by only 9 votes.

Whatever legitimacy Macron has as a President right now is being clung to by MP corruption and police repression. How do we move forwards knowing that, I don't know. How does he have legitimacy to govern on any issues after the way he handled this reform and the following protests? His police forces are drowning city centres in tear gas, a chemical whose effect on birds and other fauna is not known, and we're supposed to listen to him talk about the environment? They're wasting thousands of litres of water using water cannons to disperse protesters, and we're supposed to listen to him talk about low groundwater levels and how we need to save water? I was going to say, what about his legitimacy abroad but other Western governments don't seem too bothered so far by his handling of the protests—though I'm grateful that Amnesty International did condemn it, and that a Belgian deputy made a speech in Parliament this week asking his government to condemn Macron's use of violent police repression.

[Wait, I just saw that as I was writing this post, the Council of Europe condemned the "excessive use of force" in France. Saying that 'sporadic acts of violence' of some protesters can't 'justify the excessive use of force by agents of the State' or 'deprive peaceful protesters of their right to freedom of assembly'. This is the opposite framing as the one our government is standing by—sporadic acts of violence by cops that are either justified or excusable—it's refreshing.]

Between that and Charles III cancelling his visit (and lots of tourists cancelling trips to Paris which is bound to piss off the tourism industry) and our own media waking up and starting to talk about the government's brutality, I hope Macron starts being held accountable. He has been fanning the flames of this crisis at every turn, by telling us that the crowds protesting in the street have 'no legitimacy', by sending cops to break strikes even though striking is a Constitutional right (but the only part of the Constitution he cares about is the one that starts with 49.3), by condemning the protesters when asked to condemn police violence—saying "When [protesters] use violence, unregulated, absolute, we're no longer in a Republic." I agree, but he's describing himself.

When you resort to using article 49.3 to bypass the National Assembly for the 11th time this term to impose a reform that 70% of the country is against (and 93% of working people) that will force the poorer classes of the population to work longer, and your only response to people's distress at being told to work until they die is to force them to accept it by allowing your police forces to beat up protesters, to arrest them and to gas them, you have failed as a democratic leader.

The next organised protest and strike is next Tuesday (if you want to give something to the strike solidarity fund, here it is); in the meantime spontaneous protests are still erupting pretty much every day and cops are getting burnt out (good! There are fun videos from yesterday's protests of cops accidentally tear gassing one another, or a police car accidentally running into another as people laugh and clap.) And yes some protesters are getting more extreme and destructive, but Macron is the one choosing to stand by his reform at all costs and let this country burn. And when I look at what we're being expected to tolerate and to normalise, I'm kind of proud that French people's gut reaction was "burn it all."

Some popular Twitter hashtags for the protests:

#ToutCramer - Burn everything #CensurePopulaire - People's no-confidence vote #MacronDémission - Macron resign #OnLâcheRien - We won't cede an inch.

#frpol #i know french people who aren't following this closely aren't aware of how bad things got #as i said our media is finally commenting on CRS and BRAV-M behaviour but seeing the videos #for the protests is kind of necessary i feel to see how omnipotent the police feel thanks to macron #his ''fuck you i've already passed the reform idgaf about your protests'' attitude in the face of all this is unforgiveable #even if he somehow sees the light it won't erase all the violence and destruction that he caused #and that he doesn't care about #not to mention the damage done to democracy

[qqueenofhades]

I understand how important it is to be able to criticize the President, and am not at all of the belief he should be beyond critique, but the critiquing of Biden makes me so nervous. (That's not to say I agree with every decision he's made - I absolutely do not). But I feel like people see things he's done wrong and decide they won't vote for him because of it. I'm not sure if enough people have the ability to see that he's done things wrong but also is our only hope of staving off literal fascism.

So many people talk about how sick they are of it constantly being a lesser of two evils situation, constantly having to vote for a candidate they hate because the other side is worse (I heard it in 2020, 2022, etc), and I guess I just- I don't really get it? We're here because they didn't do that in 2016. All of this could've been avoided had the result been different then. I just feel like people don't comprehend how different of a place we'd be in if Hillary won and engage in all this cognitive dissonance to make themselves feel better about being part of the reason she didn't.

Like.... this has been a long-running topic of discussion on my blog, not least because it is so inexplicable and maddening. It also shows how terribly shallow most people's understanding of the American political process is, and how toxic the "I can only vote for a candidate if every single personal belief/position of theirs matches mine" belief is, as well as how much damage it has done to American democracy even (and indeed, especially) by people who technically don't identify as right-wing. Yell at Republicans all you like (God knows I do, because they're the worst people on earth) but they vote. Every time. Every election. Every candidate. Whereas the Democratic electorate still holds out for Mister Perfect, and it very definitely is Mister Perfect. The amount of "evil HRC!!!" Republican-poisoned Kool-Aid that so-called progressives drank in 2016, and then afterward when they insisted they could have voted for someone like Elizabeth Warren and then didn't do that in 2020, is... baffing.

Frankly, I don't care if Hillary Clinton's personal positions on XYZ issue were the most Neoliberal Corporate Centrist Shill to Ever Shill (and Online Leftists' intellectual skills being what they are, I seriously doubt that they were using any of those words correctly and/or accurately). American policy is not made by "personal dictate of the ruler," or at least it shouldn't be, because we are not an absolute monarchy. We rely on the operation of a system with input from many people. As such, if Hillary had been elected, we would have 2-3 new liberal justices on SCOTUS and have secured civil and environmental rights for the next generation. Roe would be intact, and all the other terrible rulings that SCOTUS has recently handed down wouldn't have happened. We wouldn't have had January 6th, the attempt to stage a coup, all the tawdry scandals, our national security being at risk because of Trump stealing classified documents and probably selling them to Russia and/or Saudi Arabia, etc etc. If you think that's in any way an equivalent amount of evil to what would have happened if Hillary was elected, or if she was "still evil!!!," then I honestly don't know what to tell you. She could fucking murder puppies in her spare time if she had preserved SCOTUS for us, WHICH SHE WOULD HAVE, BECAUSE SHE WARNED US EXACTLY WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.

(Hoo. Sorry. Still steamed. 2016 war flashbacks, again.)

In short, Hillary would have been a solid continuity Democrat and she would have signed whatever legislation a Democratic House and Senate passed, not to mention been hugely inspiring as the first female president. But because it's so important to the Online Leftists' moral sense of themselves that BOTH PARTIES ARE THE SAME!!!, they can't possibly acknowledge that ever being a factor, and/or admit that they have any culpability in not voting for her in 2016. It's like when you read the British press about any of the UK's equally numerous problems, and they BEND OVER BACKWARD to avoid mentioning that Brexit might be a factor. They just can't mention it, because then that means they might have made the wrong choice in pulling for it as hard as they did, and blah blah Sovereignty.

Basically, if HRC had been elected president, everything would be so much less terrible and terrifying all the time, we would be talking about her successor in 2024 as someone else who could be the "first," we could explore handing the reins over to Kamala as a Black/Asian woman, we could promote Buttigieg as the first gay president, etc etc. But because 2016 was so catastrophically fucked up, we are in damage control mode for the immediate future and every election is just as pivotal. And yet, because people think that the only thing that matters is a presidential candidate's personal views, we're stuck having the same old arguments and desperately begging people over and over to please vote against fascism, since that somehow isn't self-evident enough on its own. Yikes on Bikes.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts #hillary clinton was right about everything: the redux redux redux

[tammyoshanter]

A few months ago I wrote a post about how we need to vote for Biden because Project 2025 was pretty bad. I now see (and have seen for a while) that this was a mistake. The initial shock of Project 2025 was strong enough to blindfolded me into advocating for the wrong course of action (probably the intention). It really does feel like one party holds us hostage saying if we don't vote for them then they'll let the other party fuck us over twice as much. But that's the thing. The right has always been an aggressor and the Dems have always just sat there and let the country inch rightward. They are not cowards for this, they are not too timid. They are downright complicit. We've lived in Biden-run America for about 3+ years now and things are so much worse than we could've imagined. Yes, Trump did bring a lot of fuckers out of the wood work. But Biden has sat on his hands while they have continued to eradicate protections for certain identity groups, reproductive rights, destroyed public health, denied much needed relief from debt, and priced basic necessities out of reach for SEVERAL working-class people. All of this under the party that swore to protect us from the right if we voted them in. And that's just SOME of the damage done in America. Of course the Dems are actively helping to commit the genocide of Palestine and several other peoples worldwide. We don't have the money to pay people a living wage or even provide basic healthcare for our people. BUT we can send money to other countries that do if it means we get oil, more stolen land, or turn human lives into fodder. Not to mention it's OUR industries and lack of regulation which are leading to the murder of our planet. How blind of me to not understand the only difference between the parties is that one at least pretends to be your friend before stabbing you in the back. Because I thought I did! I've felt that way for years! But I also still hoped the Dems would protect us from the right. They can, they just won't. Democracy is dead, don't vote for them!

#fuck the us #fuck joe biden #2024 ele #us politics #israel #palestine #genocide #climate change #fuck the us government #anti zionism

[theprinceandthewitch]

Seeing Darius show visible concern for Hunter after hearing he's trapped in Belos' mind makes my brain rot lol. Like I don't get why people think they are just going to drop Darius' and Hunter's future mentor/protégé relationship.

"Darius doesn't care about Hunter because he was mean to him in Any Sport in a Storm" Like yeah of course he was mean to him.

Darius believes Hunter will do whatever Belos says, regardless of how it hurts people. He doesn't think this kid has a shred of kindness in him. He knows Hunter is good at doing exactly what he told to do. Darius is clearly comparing Hunter to his mentor, which is why when Hunter asks him: "I can wear this [the symbol of Hunter's predecessor] proudly now. Right?" Darius responds with: "Can you?"

Unlike Darius, we know Hunter has a good heart. Hunter's introduction episode shows us that despite his loyalty to Belos, he is willing to help out Eda and Luz with their financial situation by letting them keep their Selkiedomus kill. We also see this kindness show itself in Hunting Palismen where he protects Luz from Kikimora's attacks. He even tells Luz his name because he felt bad about disappointing her. But more shockingly - he actually let's her go, despite being fully capable of teleporting to her. He could have also flown to her with the speed he shows us in Separate Tides to catch up to her and restrain her.

Hunter, without realizing it, stood up to Belos in Hunting Palismen. He doesn't go back to steal the palismen, even though he knows where they are and knows Luz would be too exhausted to fight back. He knows Belos needs these palismen to keep his condition manageable, but he doesn't go back to the school to get them nor does he send any scouts to get them. He knows the spell used to protect the palismen is gone and they're are completely defenseless since the Bat Queen is not around to protect them. Yet, he never tries to take them again, because he doesn't want to completely break his connection with Luz. [And as a reward for his kindness, he is given Flapjack. Who is his greatest source of emotional support when Luz isn't around]

Darius has no idea Hunter has gone against Belos' direct order in Hunting Palismen. He has no idea Hunter was willing to risk personal injury from a man he knows is violent and merciless for the protégé of a notorious wild witch. Darius thinks Hunter is Belos' obedient little hunting dog, so of course he's going to dislike him.

He's also part of a resistance movement dedicated to dethroning Belos. This would include removing any "ineligible" heirs to the throne. Again, since Darius is comparing his mentor to Hunter, he believes Hunter isn't worthy to be The Prince of the Boiling Isles. Since Hunter has now proven to Darius he isn't completely devoid of kindness, he has become an eligible heir to the throne.

It's going to take years to heal all the damage Belos' rule has done. I'm not sure if Hunter would propose democracy as a new system of governance, but changing a way an entire civilization is governed is also something that will take years to complete. Even for a civilization as small as The Boiling Isles. Hunter has the set-up to take on this responsibility with Darius guiding him as his mentor [and possibly as his father].

But yeah, even if Darius gives him the opportunity to bail, Hunter is still going to want to help repair the damage his family caused. And ya know... Hunter makes no indication that he loves the human realm so much so that he'll be willing to live there for the rest of his life:

Hunter: "You know what I'd like, Belos? I'd like to leave the Emperor's Coven and never step in that throne room again. I'd like to study wild magic and learn how to carve palismen. I'd like to attend Hexside as a regular student and play flyer derby with my friends. But most of all, I'd like to make sure you never hurt anyone again!"

Do you see any mention of the human realm in the above dialogue? You can also clearly see there are things he wants to do that can't be accomplished in the human realm. Yeah, Hunter LIKES the human realm, but he doesn't love it. He doesn't love it so much to the point where he wants to completely abandon the demon realm. He WANTED to go back, but he was too scared to because people are going to recognize him and seek justice from him. If he goes back, his friends will be put in danger trying to protect him. Hunter's enemies aren't just your run of the mill witches, they are Coven heads and other high ranking members of the coven.

But yeah, I just... don't see them completely dropping this set-up with Darius and Hunter just to have Hunter live a carefree life in the human realm. Firstly, Hunter doesn't even want to stay in the human realm. Secondly, the point of Flapjacks death was to give Hunter the push he needed to return to TBI and take responsibility for the actions of his family. It would be out of character for Hunter to ditch the mess his family caused just to live a carefree life in the human realm.

Hunter is a 16 year old boy, so he technically doesn't have to clean up his adult brother's mess. But he would WANT to clean it up, because whether or not he likes it, he is Belos' brother. He's his family, so he'd want to take responsibility for the suffering his family caused. This is much more in character for Hunter than him ditching the demon realm to go live a "carefree" life in a realm he can't learn wild magic in or play flyer derby in.

And ya know... with the way the human realm is set-up, Hunter would not be able to have a decent future. Unless Hunter finds a way to forge a birth certificate and wears a concealment stone for the rest of his life he cannot participate in human society. Constantly pretending to be human or else people will kill him or send him off to the government like that creepy museum guy almost did to Vee doesn't sound like a very fulfilling way to live. He's going to be constantly stressed out about people finding out what he actually is. This is why this fanbase is fucking braindead for actually believing Hunter would get adopted by Camila lmao.

Not only does he just not WANT to live in the human realm for the rest of his life, he will have no chance at a happy future if he decides to. In the demon realm, even if there are power hungry people who want to hurt him, he still has his friends and Darius. They are always going to have his back no matter what. And while he may not be able to attend Hexside as a regular student and play flyer derby with his friends can still learn wild magic.

So do you see why it makes no fucking sense for Hunter to ditch Darius and his friends to go live in the human realm?

#toh rambles #Darius being the former prince's protégé is so interesting to me #because what exactly did Darius need to accomplish to receive training from a member of the royal family? #How influential is Darius' family? #But yeah people who think Hunter would actually be able to live carefree in the human realm are legitimately braindead

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s surprise arrival in Washington on Wednesday for a meeting with President Joe Biden and a speech before Congress has unhinged the always-seething anti-Ukraine Trumpian right, triggering a deluge of snark and grievance. For instance, after the Washington Examiner’s Byron York tut-tutted that Zelensky was about to tell Congress that U.S. aid to Ukraine so far was not enough, the former First Son weighed in with this:

“National conservative” pundit and Newsweek opinion editor Josh Hammer, who played the “obviously Putin is a thug and Ukraine is the victim here, but . . .” game in the early days of the war, went full Putin this time around.

To top it off, Hammer, who shares Zelensky’s Jewish heritage, also accused the Ukrainian President of being a bad Jew—unseemly under any circumstances, but all the more so considering that only a few days earlier, Hammer had been spotted at a New York Young Republicans’ Club Gala in the company of various alt-right types with, shall we say, a complicated relationship to anti-Semitism. (Among them: Rep. Marjorie “Jewish Space Lasers” Taylor Greene, the founders of the white-nationalist website VDARE, and erstwhile Jew-baiting troll Jack Posobiec.)

Hammer’s deputy op-ed editor, progressive-turned-populist Batya Ungar-Sargon (for whom, I must mention, I used to write during her stint as an editor at the Forward), at least made an effort to stay classy while making a de facto pitch for throwing Ukraine under the bus:

That’s more than can be said for the vast majority of the “no money for Ukraine” crowd, from the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh (“Get this grifting leech out of our country please”) to Tucker Carlson, who referred to Zelensky as a “Ukrainian strip club manager”—apparently because he was dressed in a olive-drab sweatshirt—and asserted that “it may be impossible to imagine a more humiliating scenario for the greatest country on Earth.” He also insisted that Zelensky is seeking not just to “push the Russian army back to pre-invasion borders,” which even Carlson conceded “sounds reasonable,” but to topple Vladimir Putin and bring about “regime change” in Russia. After Zelensky’s speech to Congress, Carlson brought on former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, the “maverick” Democrat from Hawaii, to sing along with his assertions that Zelensky was actually an autocrat muzzling critical media outlets, jailing opposition politicians, and now trying to shut down an entire church because he finds it insufficiently loyal.

(In reality, the situation involving the Moscow-affiliated branch of the Orthodox Church—one of the two Orthodox denominations in Ukraine—is massively complicated; in wartime, there are legitimate security concerns about its clergy’s reported activities in support of the invaders. However, a quote Carlson attributes to Zelensky, threatening “economic and restrictive sanctions [on] any Christian caught worshiping in unapproved ways,” does not seem to have any source other than Carlson himself.)

Then there was this from Red State commentator Brandon Morse, asserting that Zelensky has done much more damage to the United States than the January 6th rioters:

A few other right-wing pundits, including career plagiarist-turned-conspiracy-theory-peddler Benny Johnson and Turning Point USA grifting leech Charlie Kirk, homed in on the really important stuff: Zelensky’s outfit.

Of course Zelensky’s clothes were meant to visually convey the fact that he’s in the middle of a brutal war. When you’re just back from a visit to the front lines in an area that looks like a ghost warscape from World War I come back to life, you’ve earned the right to make that particular fashion statement—even on a visit to Washington, D.C.

But wait, is it a military outfit or a mafia one? The American Spectator’s Melissa Mackenzie has got the goods:

I could go on and on. But perhaps this parade of indecency should come back full circle to a literal obscenity from Don Jr.: a photoshopped image that put a naked Hunter Biden next to Zelensky on the podium addressing Congress. (Warning: this tweet may be hazardous to your eyes.) It’s vile, of course. It’s also the sort of thing you post when you have no substantive way to attack someone.

* * *

The extent and purpose of U.S. military aid to Ukraine is certainly a legitimate subject for debate. Right now, there is a powerful consensus in the United States and Europe that Ukraine, for all the flaws and imperfections of its still-young democracy, is fighting for freedom against an authoritarian Goliath and that its fight is also a fight for the free world and its values.

The question of why the Trumpian populist right is so consumed with hatred for Ukraine—a hatred that clearly goes beyond concerns about U.S. spending, a very small portion of our military budget, or about the nonexistent involvement of American troops—doesn’t have a simple answer. Partly, it’s simply partisanship: If the libs are for it, we’re against it, and the more offensively the better. (And if the pre-Trump Republican establishment is also for it, then we’re even more against it.) Partly, it’s the belief that Ukrainian democracy is a Biden/Obama/Hillary Clinton/”Deep State” project, all the more suspect because it’s related to Trump’s first impeachment. Partly, it’s the “national conservative” distaste for liberalism—not only in its American progressive iteration, but in the more fundamental sense that includes conservatives like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: the outlook based on individual freedom and personal autonomy, equality before the law, limited government, and an international order rooted in those values. Many NatCons are far more sympathetic to Russia’s crusade against secular liberalism than to Ukraine’s desire for integration into liberal, secular Europe.

Whatever the reason, the anti-Ukraine animus on the right is quite real and widespread. (When journalist Bari Weiss, who has a largely “anti-woke” following, retweeted a Hanukkah greeting from Zelensky, the responses from her followers in the thread were mostly hostile.) But right now, it also smells of desperation. Ukraine’s cause is still massively popular in the United States, with two-thirds of Americans supportive of sending money and arms. Disingenuous laments about the poor Ukrainians exploited by American and European globalists ring hollow and false when the vast majority of Ukrainians are so clearly determined to resist the invasion. And Zelensky, as the smarter among the aid opponents, like Ungar-Sargon, can see, is a genuine hero: patriotic, incredibly courageous and charismatic, and a speaker so compelling that even congressional right-wingers who initially refused to join in the standing ovations (including Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, and Andrew Clyde) finally rose up during the last portions of his speech.

There’s a nineteenth-century Russian fable called “The Elephant and the Pug” in which a pug yaps furiously at an elephant to get attention and show off how tough it is, while the elephant simply ignores it. Zelensky would obviously be the elephant in this scenario; but that would make the Zelensky haters the pugs—and that’s frankly a hideous insult to pugs.

#us politics #news #the bulwark #2022 #republicans #conservatives #gop #volodymyr zelensky #ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky #ukrainian crisis #ukriane #stand with ukraine #russo ukrainian war #russia #valdimir putin #fuck putin #twitter #tweet #Byron York #donald trump jr. #Josh Hammer #newsweek #Batya Ungar-Sargon #tucker carlson #Orthodox Church #benny johnson #charlie kirk #Melissa Mackenzie

[dicapiito]

🎆🇺🇸US Democratic informational post🇺🇸🎆

The sooner people stop listening to doomsday leftist neoliberals and realize they’re just as much of Hp huge ass grifters as the GOP; the more people will realize that those leftists are mad because eventually it’ll be President Harris and we know that the world hates a Black President.

Plus…I’d think that the past two would’ve woken up people to how much damage the GOP has and continues to do. Or are these anti laws ‘ not your problem’.

🩷Roe v Wade? Damn…all those judges Trump packed in the court and since people can’t take a moment to research how fucked we are. Other overturns have happened and it’s not just the federal SCOTUS who’s fucking around and having long term damage

🇺🇸 Other federal judges in various courts. Trump got to appoint over 200, while Biden is at nearly 200. Oh and for those who bitched about why doesn’t Feinstein step down? Yeah see, McConnell said he’d block her replacement on the judicial committee. Ya know, so the GOP with their leader McConnell playing games again.

🇺🇸Student Debt Forgiveness is up to the SCOTUS to either uphold or stay overturned. Biden never said everyone gets their debt completely forgiven. NO Biden can’t Executive Order this, because ya know, due to checks and balances.

👿　Judge Alieen Cannon. This is the judge who is going to preside over the Trump case in Florida. Will she actually recuse herself? It’s a Trump appointed judge ! You think she’s going to step down?

🌺I don’t need to mention the overturns and the state bans of abortion rights, 🏳️‍🌈 rights, 📚 bans due to the fact that Trump got to appoint judges while he was acting like a buffoon in the media. Which is why it’s always best to keep researching your local politicians because Biden isn’t a damn king ( thank fuck). Biden and Harris have democracy rules to follow.

So anything that you thought you hated about Biden, and Harris as well since she did not lock up a bunch of Black and brown people, then you might need to look at your social media algorithms because frankly, it’s likely screwed because too many can easily lie about Biden since the Main stream Media wants to be up the GOPs’ assholes.

And hell, this is coming from a former leftist who’s Twitter has a bunch of people I follow with receipts about US politics and the receipts on what Biden and Harris HAVE done even though it doesn’t seem like alot due to having such fucking chaos since 2015.

And all because too many yts were and are mad the US had a Black President and we will have one again in 2028.

Don’t listen to the these chaos agents of :

The Squad

Katie Porter

Ro Kanna

Marianne Williamson

Tuisi Gabbard

Bernie Sanders

Liz Warren

Nina Turner

Susan Sarandon

Jamie Lee Curtis

And the fuckhead Cornel West who’s pulling a Jill Stein

Receipts, that’s for another day or if you know my Twitter, there’s a bunch of likes there as well.

🎆🇺🇸And as always, I encourage research, research and more research. The GOP has their voters and they don’t research shit. And vote in your local elections 💙🩵 🇺🇸🎆

#us politics #long post #reblogs welcome #us presidential election

[thesheel]

The rise of the progressive faction of Democrats resulted in the emergence of many leaders on the national emblem. Rick Krajewski is one of those progressives furthering the Democrats’ agenda in Philadelphia, which became a nail-bitter in deciding the results of the 2020 presidential elections. Rick Krajewski took office as the Representative of the 188th District of Philadelphia. He managed to defeat three opponents in the Democratic Primary, including the 35-years incumbent Jim Roebuck, and accordingly came into the limelight. Although there was no challenger in November’s general election for him, it was still a long and tiring journey.  Rick Krajewski won the 188th District of Philadelphia on a progressive agenda, promising that he would try his best to revolutionize the system, for which he is trying hard in Pennsylvania. How is he advancing his progressive agenda in the United States, and how is he an emblem of the Democrats’ progressive agenda in Pennsylvania? Let’s see.   Progressive Wave in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Amid the pervasive progressive wave going on in the United States, led by Senator Bernie Sanders, seven Progressives won the Democratic primary for state legislators in Pennsylvania last year, and nearly all of them defeated long-term incumbents. Philadelphia is no different in terms of this progressive revolution.  On the Southern front, Nikil Saval defeated an incumbent in the state senate election. The western front was conquered by Rick Krajewski, who ousted a 35-years incumbent in the Democratic Primary. Amid this progressive wave, many small progressive groups also managed to get their candidatures elected in state and local level legislative bodies. This includes Shanna Danielson from Cumberland, not to forget Enid Santiago and Nicole Miller, who lost by a small margin of votes. Rick Krajewski described this progressive revolution as an indication by people that they are done with the status quo that has been prevailing for a long time in US politics. [caption id="attachment_6880" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Rick Krajewski, Pennsylvania state representative[/caption] Mass Liberation: The motto of Rick Krajewski’s Progressive Agenda Rick Krajewski campaigned on a progressive agenda of mass liberation. He fought for the future of democracy and a vision of justice. Krajewski, an erstwhile bright student, hailed from a low-income family. This made him understand the importance of education, which is why he supports public funding in the educational sector for students unable to bear the expenses so that they can enjoy the perks the same way as they are enjoyed by the rich students. Krajewski is also an advocate of affordable housing for every American, not to mention his advocacy for other rights for every American in general and people of color in particular.  Healthcare was one of the defining features of Krajweski’s campaign, as he was willing to fight against the rising costs of healthcare. He wants a healthcare system that is accountable to patients and not to the pharmaceutical and insurance companies that are driven by profits. Drug addiction is also one of the pressing issues of West Philadelphia, decrying for urgent attention of the concerned authorities. However, the government’s inept strategy of the war on drugs is even more damaging, especially for Black and brown families, who are the most affected ones from this war in West Philadelphia.  Rick has seen this during his childhood and now is committed to permanently altering how the authorities address the crime. Through Rick, the people of West Philadelphia can now hold the government accountable for the crisis that the war on drugs brought for Black and brown families. [caption id="attachment_6882" align="aligncenter" width="1500"] Reclaim Philadelphia logo[/caption] Reclaim Philadelphia: A Landmark for Rick Krajewski’s Success Even before starting his campaign, Rick Krajewski was working as a community organizer for Reclaim Philadelp

hia. This activist group marked the beginning of the politics of Rick Krajewski, who would, later on, defeat James Roebuck Jr., a 35-years incumbent. Reclaim Philadelphia has been working to support and restore the working people helping to fight the status quo created by the rich corporations. Krajewski supports and endorses the need for progressive policies aiming to improve the racial wealth gap in West Philadelphia. While running for the state representative, Rick showed his full support for progressive policies such as the Green New Deal and disinvestment from the fossil fuel industry. Working people and people of color are the worst affected ones due to the devastations from climate change, as environmental racism is pervasive in the United States. Philadelphia needed a leader who has the capability to stand up against the corporations that are destroying the environment with the rapid fossil fuel consumption while at the same time opposing the Green New Deal.   Final Thoughts The far-right politics of Republicans gave enough reasons for Rick Krajewski to initiate his progressive policies. While on the federal level, the likes of AOC were fighting for people’s rights, on the state level, the presence of Rick Krajewski did everything in favor of Americans. However, for these types of people, Republicans blame Democrats for promoting socialism in the country, for which Democrats failed to make a vibrant strategy to tackle this propaganda.  Democrats should count on these types of progressives across the country so that they can find a dependable leader in almost every state.

[citizensaul]

Chapter 16 Stealing Top Secret docs from the White House

So many things that Trump has done to undermine our Democracy and so much of his hate filled rhetoric to energize his racist base of White Supremacists,Neo Nazis and other misfit losers in our society have been well documented in this work,"The United States of Russia 2016-2020. " These are the Ugly years when Donald J Trump with the help of the Russian Intelligence agency assumed the title of POTUS # 45 . As bad as anything he had previously done, nothing measures up to his stealing highly classified intelligence documents from the White House destined for the National archives, instead he had them transported to his private place in Palm Beach Florida. Some of the documents were so highly classified they were listed as Top secret meaning they could not be viewed except in the most secure place, under Guard and viewed only by a specific person or persons yet they went unguarded and vulnerable to anyone wanting to steal them or photograph them to eventually harm our country.One of those documents listed the names of Covert CIA Agents and their Covers as well as the names of their on site eyes and ears . We have no idea the extent of the damage Trump may have already done  or who he disclosed this info to,but it's no coincidence that the CIA has reported Since October of 2021 dozens of their undercover officers and their assistants on the ground have been ambushed and murdered.  The FBI was told by the National Archives that documents the Trump White House was charged with forwarding to them never arrived so the FBI was given permission for a raid on Trump's place,Mar A Lago where they retrieved 15 boxes of files but they found the contents of some files EMPTY ! Where are they,where did they go that's the question. This act by Trump is without question an act of Treason and he must be brought to justice soon.The American people deserve nothing less than to know that No one is above the law especially a Traitor like Trump !   Some people say they should not prosecute an ex president it would set a bad precedence, let's take that chance for the sake of the Rule of Law and our  fragile Democracy. 

Can you imagine if anything remotely resembling anything Trump has done but by a Democrat. The Fox people would be yelling and screaming LOCK him  or HER UP !  Traitor,traitor ,traitor ,sold out our country. It would be relentless 24/7 by every Right Wing Conservative Extremist media outlet but Trump, GET OVER IT as Mick Mulvaney mentioned over the Phone call by Trump to Zelensky "I need you to do us a favor"! It is incumbent upon AG Merrick Garland to prosecute not just Trump for possible violation of the Espionage act as well as obstruction of justice but every person who was complicit in anyway with Trump's instigated Insurrection and attempt to overturn Biden's victory in 2020. That includes people in his administration,his family,members of Congress and others like Guiliani ,Roger Stone,Michael Flynn,Paul Manafort and any others. We have heard AG Garland tell us that No one is above the law and now is  the time to give those words meaning ! We came so very close to losing our Freedom and our Founders Experiment in a government  OF,BY and most important FOR the people.We must be assured that that government does not perish from the earth. No one would have thought America would transform itself into a form of Fascism but that was the direction of Donald J Trump,a traitor like no other in the history of the nation. Richard Nixon resigned because he he was corrupted by the power of the Presidency but he wasn't evil ,he did not betray the nation,Trump did. He was a Russian asset and puppet of Putin and we have no idea what he has divulged about National Security. We have no idea with who else he may have shared Highly Classified documents including Top Secret Intelligence' Trump must pay the price a traitor should pay,Life at a Federal prison in total Isolation never to be heard from again until the notice of his death,alone abd penniless !  Chapter 17 to follow, stay tuned .

[sunflowersupremes]

I think I've made like, two sarcastic comments about how I'm glad the Finarfin you've mentioned isn't the Finarfin from my stories (or at least in the splinters like jewel shards verse) but I don't think I've asked, do you have any headcanons on Finarfin? I'm interested if you'd like to share any!

-@outofangband

@outofangband

Yes!!! I remember that comment. I also hope he’s a bit nicer than the Finarfin from Return in Chains, one of my fics (although that Finarfin isn’t evil… just… makes questionable decisions out of desperation, which is basically the Finwean Family Pastime).

I LOVE FINARFIN.

He thinks “Finarfin” (aka Finwe-Ara-Finwe) is a terrible name and can’t believe his brother would have done such a stupid thing. (He also thinks “Fingolfin” is a terrible translation).

After all his relatives took off and left them, he got put in charge of not only the country, but also literally everyone’s CRAP. Meaning, as the only remaining member of the house of Finwë, he had to figure out what to do with all the houses and possessions they left behind. He ended up boarding them up and leaving them, in the hopes that they would come back one day (elven possessions don’t rot or decay, after all).

The only time he used one of his relatives homes after they left was gifting Maglor’s house to Celebrían when she arrived. By that time he had accepted that Maglor would never return, and he figured she had the best claim to it (and it had the largest garden, which he knew she would like, and it was in the artist’s district which she loved). When Elrond actually managed to drag Maglor back with him, Arafinwë was SHOCKED. Thankfully, Maglor was fine with him gifting it to her and just moved in with them.

He just generally seems like he wants the best for everyone. I don’t think he’s a coward, I think he’s just very cautious (and he has a bit of foresight, which means he probably saw that the future would be WORSE if he went as well). I also like the idea that part of his reason for staying was ‘get on the Valar’s good side so I can eventually convince them to help’ not realizing that by the time they helped his entire family would be dead.

He has a great sense of humor and is generally a fun guy to be around. His assorted relatives know they’re always welcome at either of his homes (he has one in Tirion and one in Aqualonde) even if he’s not there himself. Half the time he gets back from vacation to find at least two random nieces/nephews chilling in his house.

He and Maglor both have a similar grasp of emotions and Osanwe. Maglor uses his gifts to fuck with people; Finarfin tries to use his to help people. He spends a lot of time going around fixing all the people Maglor has screwed with.

Arafinwë annoys Maglor precisely because he can see through Maglor’s attempts at manipulation. Maglor tried to trick him into doing something once and Finarfin calmly said ‘if you wanted attention you only had to ask’ (that, of course, was HIGHLY OFFENSIVE as far as Maglor was concerned).

Arafinwë does not want the crown. It is a running joke in Tirion that whenever someone from the line of Finwë is reborn or sails, he tries to give them the crown (it is true, actually, but no one else wants the thing either). He even tries to give it to Maglor once he turns up.

His attempt at inventing democracy backfired when he was elected.

Nerdanel becomes very close to him during the First Age while they bond over missing their children.

He keeps a memorial in the palace garden, with markers - made by Nerdanel - for every fallen member of the house of Finwë. They even add a marker for Gil-Galad after the Last Alliance even though no one has any idea who the fuck he is or if he’s related. The memorials are kept even after the dead are re-embodied, as a reminded of ‘that dumb thing you did that one time’

He makes annual trips to the Halls of Mandos just to ‘chat’ with Namo (and subtly inquire as to when he’s going to be getting his relatives back). Finrod’s release was, in part, to try to appease Arafinwë, but all it did was make him more determined that he COULD get the rest of his family back.

He informs Namo that no, no you will NOT be keeping my brother and his children until the Second Music, thank you very much. (Namo points out that their Fëar are very badly damaged, Arafinwë asks why the fuck Namo thinks that he - as a Vala - is best equipped to heal people who hate his guts)

Fëanor gave him a pet swan when he was five because Fëanor thinks swans are assholes and expected it to terrorize his younger brother. Instead Arafinwë befriended the swan and trained it to bite Fëanor on command.

Arafinwë typically doesn’t eat meat, the only exception is fish.

He can’t figure out why the Valar put Eönwë in charge of the host. I mean, he’s a great guy and a terrifying fighter, but he seems to have a few screws loose.

Elrond and Elros’ return to Gil-Galad was only because of Arafinwë. Maedhros and Maglor didn’t trust the host of the Valar, but Arafinwë sent them a letter promising to personally watch over the twins and arguing that they would be safer with the Host. Because of this, Elrond and Elros resented him for a long time, blaming him for taking them away from their adopted family.

Arafinwë spent a good chunk of the War of the Wrath keeping Eönwë from accidentally causing Diplomatic Incidents or Other Minor Catastrophes. The rest of the War was spent trying to work how the the fuck he’s related to Gil-Galad. He still isn’t sure, he’s pretty sure Fingon might have just picked up a random kid somewhere. Or he might be a Fëanorian, but he kind of hopes NOT. He loves his half-brother, but holy fuck.

It was his idea to turn Morgoth’s crown into a collar, because he was fucking pissed off by that point. It was mostly a joke, but Eönwë, being a himbo, went with it.

He was attempting to negotiate either the return of the Silmarils OR a different way to end the Oath when Maedhros and Maglor stole the Silmarils from Eönwë’s camp. One of the guards they killed was a childhood friend of Arafinwë. Arafinwë already had rooms waiting for Maedhros and Maglor back in Tirion, because as soon as he got them on a boat he was planning to take them straight home, whether that was the Valar’s plan or not.

Arafinwë had managed to arrange a pardon for Galadriel, but she was still angry and proud and announced that she didn’t want it, thus resulting in her getting a personal ban.

He knew Galdalf before he went to Middle Earth and gave him a very long list of things to tell Galadriel, most of which amounted to ‘get over yourself and apologize to the Valar so you can come home you fucking idiot (and please tell Elrond hello, he’s a lovely child, really)’

He adores the Hobbits and can’t believe Elrond managed to bring them. Gandalf who? He gives his grandson-in-law all the credit, thank you very much.

#finarfin #;; answered #finwean #Arafinwë #Fëanor #silmarillion #maglor #feanorian #one of these days i will write my ‘Maglor as a vegetarian hanging out in Arafinwë’s house for meals because Fëanor loves meat’ fic #its been rattling around in the back of my head for ages #look Feanor doesn’t know his son wants to be a vegetarian and he is HORRIFIED once he realizes hes been accidentally starving his son

[the-desolated-quill]

People are quite rightly blaming Republicans for allowing and encouraging this insurrection to happen, and I’m glad to hear Democrats are taking this seriously and are considering terrorism and impeachment charges, but don’t let’s forget the elephant in the room here. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter allowed this alt-right parasite to grow unchecked and refused to clamp down on hate speech and fake news for years. By their inaction, they helped facilitate the rise of Trumpism and put American democracy in jeopardy. And their response has been frankly pathetic. Locking Trump’s Twitter account instead of outright banning him is just cowardly. Not to mention it’s a bit like shutting the stable doors after the horses have bolted. Would have been handy if you fact checked the President BEFORE he was elected in 2016. But most embarrassing of all, it took a literal fascist coup for them to finally take some fucking responsibility. That’s a disgrace.

Biden will be the 46th President of the United States. Trump will leave the White House on the 20th January. But the damage has already been done. America will have to tackle the ramifications of this for years to come. And the sad truth is all of this could have been avoided. Big Tech should be fucking ashamed of themselves.

#anti donald trump #us politics #domestic terrorism #facebook #twitter #social media #antifa

[ohsalome]

Dear Victoria,

Hi. Italian/German here. I hope you are doing alright despite the dire times. I am just wondering if I got this right, I always had the impression that Ukrainian policies towards human rights in general is very near to the point of view of the EU and that's why it is since some years being considered as a candidate new member. I admire your people's courage a lot and wish the EU would have acted earlier against Putin. Some friends of mine are actively involved in debunking, have done so for years and I am appalled by all the evident government-level misinformation caused by Russia that has been underestimated in the EU, despite damaging EU itself. I hate this situation.

I honestly had hoped for Ukraina to become a EU member before this whole mess, that way Putin couldn't have done what he's doing. He would have actively caused a WWIII if he tried, but alas, here we are and all I can do is show my support through donations.

I wish you peace and your country restored as soon as possible. I also hope Russia will get a blow they won't recover until they drastically change their ways.

We'll hopefully may drink together soon to your country.🍻

Thank you for the kind words. And thank you even more for the support with the propaganda debunking to you and your friends. I hope more people would understand that it isn't simply russia's war against Ukraine, it is attack on the democratic world in its entirety, and all the countries need to stand up for themselves if we want to keep authoritarianism at bay.

As for your question, I find that just talking about "policies toward human rights" is too vague, as it omits a lot of important analytical points. In general, yes, there is a huge request towards bigger transparency and democracy from the population, especially the generation that was born after the fall of the soviet union. At the same time, a lot of our political institutes are corrupt, the structures of power are remnants of soviet era and the promised european reforms are failed. This criticism is fair, and many (maybe most?) politicians are not interested in making meaningful change because it would cut their access to money and power. However, EU diplomats often quote Ukraine's failure to fight corruption as a reason for not inviting us to EU, but I find this argument disingenious. Firstly, it is not their place to judge us about corruption when so many european parties, institutions and companies lay in bed with Kremlin (god, do I even need to mention Schröder? What a hypocricy). Secondly, it ignores the economical and political aspects of the question, like Europe appeasing Putin for the sake of gas trade, pro-Russian Hungary veto-ing our presence, etc. Basically, I believe that our abscence from the EU is not due to the failure from our side, but from the Russia-orchestrated opposition within Europe and EU's political impotence. Is that what you meant by "EU damaging itself"?

Also a different question would be what you mean while talking about human rights. I have a strong suspicion that in Western and Eastern Europe we might have very different priorities. E.g. being more culturally conservative, we lag behind severely with LGBT+ rights (although we still manage to hold the biggest Pride events in Eastern Europe, which I am immensely proud of). But topics like freedom of press, police brutality, local autonomy are extremely important and are topical in ukrainian activist community - well, were topical. Culturally we have a very strong strive for freedom and dignity, but due to our high individualism and generational trauma from soviet times, we don't always act

Regarding the EU partnership... The following is going to be my personal opinion, so please do not interpret it as a representation of any ukrainian collective or whatever. But at this point, why would we need EU? It has proven itself to be weak, corrupt and useless. Experience has proven that Ukraine's closest allies are our western neighbours - Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, etc. Not only a political-economical union with them would be more mutually benefitial, frankly, it would be more trustworthy. EU has damned itself by letting Putin slide during these 20 years, but much worse is its refusal to learn from the mistakes and change. To quote a popular joke in Ukr spaces, after this war EU would have to apply for a membership in Ukraine 💅.

In short, today we are bleeding for the whole Europe, and I don't know what will happen tomorrow. But my faith in ZSU stands unshaken. Once we kick this bile out of our land, you are invited to Kyiv for a drink 🥂

#response #notyourusualvet #i hope i understood your question right... pls correct me if i misunderstood anything

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Tuesday 16 January 1838

8 ¾

11 55

very fine clear hard frosty morning F26° at 8 ¾ am sun shining now at 9 ¾ breakfast but A- had Mr. Hartley whom Edward had 1st shewed into the north parlour and then into the breakfast room to us thinking him perhaps an acquaintance of A-‘s! came about a power loom shed which ended in a building 3 stories high 22 yards x 11 for which H- would pay A- 7 ½ pc.! A- would give no answer at present but would not build for less than 10 p.c. – H- a constitutional whig – answer to be returned thro’ Mr. Parker – I would not have the gentleman at any price to swell the majority of Messrs. Protheroe and Wood – breakfast and sat talking a little – then read a few pages Rae Wilson – then had Hemingway (Abraham) of Southowram – nothing to be done about a road at present – Mrs. Thompson cannot sell ground – entailed upon her youngest son – wants A.H. to pay an acknowledgement to her for the road he now uses – yes! but she must pay ditto for using the road thro’ my Southowram land – the wood adjoining mine entailed – cannot be sold – all very well – but A.H. wanted leave to fell and ash tree (4 or 5ft. of wood in it) to make a little ground and get the old [stone] out of the old wall race to help to do up the damage the flood did in the brook – then with A- at luncheon an d till after 1 – then read a few pages forwards to p.313 – A- starved with the cold and poorly – off to Cliff hill a little before 2 and back at 4 – from 2 to 4 wrote to Lady S. de R- and Lady Stuart then near an hour with A- got her hot wine and water and biscuit and made her lie down on the sofa in the north parlour and a little sleep refreshed her – from a little before 5 to 6 wrote 3 pages to M- chitchat – received her letter on the 3rd instant so no reproach could lay at my door for delay in writing – begrudged the journeys she would be obliged to take to Leamington merely on account of the Victoria school there – better go to the Rhine next summer (see both sides) – a month would take them to Geneva and Mt. Blanc and back and she and Mrs. Milne would do it for £60 if they liked – for my own part afraid of growing to the place here – began to think of Daphne sprouting into laurel-life – M- if she came would find us here ‘sometime hence’ – feared we could not get off ‘very immediately’ – blotted quite out do as to be illegible (at A-‘s suggestion) the 8 or ten weeks I had written that we should be here – chitchat to Lady S. de R- mention architect and clerk of the works being confined to their bed each 3 weeks and only slowly convalescent could get nothing settled and it would be too imprudent to be far away till myself had seen all outstanding accounts settled – said this also to lady S- and that I had awaked from my dream of spending next Easter at Rome – ask Lady S. de R- if she had seen Bernards’ book on the constitution – ‘not fit for every eye, and for on elective monarchy and state-religion he seems a visionary – a madman – but he is strong and clever against democracy – a person like Lady Stuart de Rothesay or such as she has taught me to believe Lady Hardwicke might read this book, cull out the good, and be interested and instructed? the duke of Wellington would merely smile at the curious mention of himself – against his rock-built house of fame, poor Bernards’ pen is harmless quite’ – A- came and read my letters – sent off this evening my letter to ‘the Lady Stuart de Rothesay’ 4 pages of ½ sheet and 1 p. of envelope and to ‘the honourable Lady Stuart, Whitehall’ 3 pages undercover to ‘Lord Stuart de Rothesay, Carlton-house terrace, London’ § - wrote all the last p. till dinner at 7 10 – A- read French – tea – read the newspaper – Lord Eldor died on Saturday aetatis 87 of old age vid. Herald of yesterday p. 3 col. 2 – fine clear hard frosty day tho’ a little flying about snow shower between 4 and 5 this afternoon - §and sent off also this evening my letter t3 pages and ends to ‘Mrs. Lawton, Lawton hall, Lawton, Cheshire’ – F24° now at 10 20 at which hour came up to bed

the gardener returned today (vid. 5th instant)

[thankskenpenders]

Everyone’s favorite royal bishie Elias is throwing protestors in prison next to all the literal supervillains now, huh? Again, the politics of this issue have not aged well (not that they were ever particularly good)

I am well aware that a lot of people hate Amadeus and see him as a conniving politician who’s only interested in his own power, and I’ll admit that we’re still early in this story and he could easily tip his hand later, but like... I’m totally, 100% on his side right now. Everything he says about the Acorn family is true

Max was a terrible leader who fucked everything up, and Elias didn’t even want to be a leader for the longest time. He struggled with the position until he literally ran away and tried to be a lumberjack. Sonic only brought him back to stop Sally’s political marriage with Antoine’s evil twin. (If mentioning that story doesn’t remind you of how much damage the royal lineage shenanigans have done in this story then I don’t know what will.) Elias was also unable to stop the destruction of Knothole, and he has nothing whatsoever to do with their newfound safety in New Mobotropolis, which was all Nicole’s doing

Like yeah, I don’t know if Amadeus is completely on the up and up here, but I’m totally on his side when he says that New Mobotropolis should be run as a democracy

#StH 178 #tkp post

[uk-news-talking-politics]

Lockdown hangover: Threat to the right to protest

By Sam Grant

Since the prime minster announced his roadmap out of lockdown, the national mood has changed. After a year of home-haircuts and no pub, any sign of an end to these restrictions would be greeted with joy and jubilation. But buried under this wave of optimism there are signs that those in power are seeking to retain some of these restrictions – and erode our ability to hold them to account in the process.

The right to protest is the lifeblood of a democracy. Yet it is under threat and the pandemic has super-charged the attack currently underway by the home secretary, who has made clear her disdain for public displays of dissent. Protest is an important way in which we can change and fight for a fairer, more just society. For many – particularly those who can’t be heard because they’re not allowed a voice (or a vote if this government has its way with Voter ID) – it might be the only way to stand up to power and demand change.

Since the first lockdown Liberty has warned that radical State powers ushered in during emergencies create the opportunity for our rights to be permanently undermined. Parliament must see this danger for the reality it is.

This also isn’t random opportunism or a direct response to an emerging threat. In fact, this move fits neatly into a long-term campaign to undermine the right to protest. The Metropolitan Police unlawfully banned protest in the capital for a month in 2019, and climate activists have faced injunctions obtained by companies to prevent them from protesting. The Stansted 15 activists were charged under counter-terrorism laws – the Court of Appeal found they had no case to answer, but the purpose of the charges were clearly intended to stifle dissent.

For all that this government talks about free speech, when it comes to protesting on the streets it is very keen on muffling the noise.

While criminalising protest should be concerning enough, it’s more worrying when understood to be only a small part of the story when it comes to this government’s approach to accountability.

While the pandemic has raged, this government has been quietly making plans to weaken the ways people can challenge government decisions and remove vital safeguards on accountability, whether through the overseas operations bill or via its bid to limit access to judicial review and the Human Rights Act, the consultation on which closed this week (Wednesday 3 March).

Those who are unconcerned by such plans should take another look at how this pandemic has panned out in England.

When the virus hit, the government drafted and passed the Coronavirus Act in days – the biggest limitation on civil liberties in a generation. The act gave the police sweeping new powers which saw a spike in discriminatory policing. It lowered care standards and made it easier for the government to spy on us; it enabled the postponement of elections. It also typified how this government acts. It prioritises criminal justice, punishment and control, while failing to support those most at risk.

This approach has already caused untold damage.

Under the lockdown regulations that accompanied the act, hundreds of people have been threatened, arrested and fined for exercising their right to protest, and many of the most marginalised have had to cancel protests for fear of being arrested or fined.

State power is currently at an all-time high. The ability to keep this power in check has never been more important. Yet in the much-trumpeted announcement of the road out of lockdown, no mention was made of what is happening with regards to protest. It remains under threat – certainly if the Coronavirus Act remains on the statute books. In the coming weeks, MPs must vote on whether to renew this law.

We’re all well aware that we’re not in the same place we were a year ago, but it’s not good enough for parliament to renew the act because they haven’t thought of an alternative. The government has had 11 months to learn from its mistakes and create something better. With no sign they intend to do so, we’ve done it for them.

The protect-everyone bill, which Liberty has drafted in partnership with dozens of charities and front-line organisations, as well as lawyers and academics, is a blueprint for building a pandemic strategy we can trust and that keeps us all safe.

If parliament votes through the Coronavirus Act again, they are doing so knowing the damage it has caused. Yet there is clear reluctance by some in the cabinet to let some of these powers go.

Over the coming months, protest is no doubt going to be an important part of how the public voices its concerns on everything to Brexit to the impact of lockdown and Black Lives Matter. Whatever those concerns are, they deserve the right to be heard. How able people are to take to the streets now hangs in the balance, and if the Coronavirus Act is passed for a third time, that balance very much tips in the favour of government.

#Protest #right to protest #coronavirus

[imagitory]

Why do so many people hate AOC? My (Republican) teacher called her crazy, but she seems nice. I thought she was a waitress or something so she had to climb her way up so she knows what it’s like to be a struggling minority.

I don’t know if you’re the same Anon who asked for my political opinions before, but if so...hi! Good to hear from you again! :)

Okay, so first off...I frankly don’t know why your Republican teacher called her “crazy,” for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is anything but. I find her an incredibly intelligent, articulate, and brilliant young Congresswoman, and I think we could use a lot more representatives like her, instead of some of the lobbyist-funded, decrepit old fossils we currently have in office like Mitch McConnell.

Most of the hostility against AOC comes back to her -- like Bernie Sanders -- being a democratic socialist. As I mentioned in that other post, socialism has been a “Boogeyman” in this country for decades now, even though a lot of people truly don’t even understand what it is. Socialism is an economic system that can be applied to a political system, whether it’s communism or a democracy, and in this case, democratic socialism is a philosophy that argues that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the ideas of freedom and equality. Therefore democratic socialists generally believe that the government’s role is to protect ordinary people from predatory capitalist practices...and as you can imagine, Republicans most definitely don’t agree with that. They believe that we should give corporations and the aristocracy complete freedom to do as they will, with the (misguided) thought that their success will “make its way back down” to the lower classes. (A philosophy championed by Ronald Reagan as “trickle-down economics,” which may I just add has been proven to be utter bull sh** more than once. The best analogy I can make for it is to give someone a glass of water and then argue that that water will “trickle down” to someone else standing under that first person with their mouth wide open.) In short, democratic socialists are the GOP’s complete opposite -- not just because of their differing attitudes toward wealth and the corporate system, but because of whose policies have actually proven to be beneficial to the common man and the economy as a whole historically.

AOC champions a proposal called the Green New Deal, which is based off of FDR’s New Deal from the 30′s and 40s, which helped end the Great Depression. We had a thriving middle class thanks to FDR’s so-called “socialist” policies...while the two most recent Republican presidents we’ve had have overseen dramatic economic recessions. Even Obama, who is not a democratic socialist but is a mainstream Democrat, saved us from Bush’s disaster. So I’m still kind of stunned that any Republican can try to lecture us about how good they are with money and the economy as a whole -- but hey, it wouldn’t be the first time that Republicans tried to rewrite history to serve their own agenda. The Green New Deal also advocates environmentalist reforms, and many Republicans have stock and financial interest in the oil and coal industries, which would be impacted by Americans giving a sh** about the environment and about the damage we’ve done to it.

Admittedly as well, when discussing what Republicans don’t like about AOC, one can’t completely ignore that this is a charismatic young Latina woman who was a member of the working class and yet is a graduate of Boston University. You can’t lambast her for being “too young and inexperienced,” when she’s running intellectual circles around her older colleagues, and yet you can’t call her a “snobby elitist” when she was waiting tables and bartending before joining Congress. She also is pretty damn fearless when it comes to making her positions known and fighting for those positions -- like Obama, she can’t be bribed or intimidated by those who disagree with her. To top it all off, she is also very active on social media and in engaging with her constituents, making her incredibly popular not just among the people she represents, but among young progressives as well. In short, AOC represents -- I believe -- to a lot of establishment politicians the fact that they are on their way out and that their politics and way of doing things are antiquated and out-of-step with what many Americans want. Again, though, this is just my take.

#I'm still kind of surprised anyone wants my political takes but...hope my opinion helps at all? #please make sure you're doing your own research and getting other perspectives too though! #I no doubt have my own biases and blind spots as do we all #and of course as always we currently live in a free country so if you disagree with me that's cool #unless you're an alt-right racist in which case kindly go away #excuse me politics coming through #alexandria ocasio cortez #opinion #oh boy here i go

[duchessofostergotlands]

I just read your version of KP’s caption and realized that Just B was not a way of annonymizing a person, and that it’s a help line. As someone who read the caption without the picture for context, is see what you mean. The captions are god awful. They don’t answer who, what, why, and how... and it’s ridiculous considering that KP has the money and can hire someone competent. Or. Just google how to write a good caption!!

Hey :) I’m glad you get what I’m talking about! haha. Yeah I think a caption should make you want to read more but it shouldn’t be a necessity. We shouldn’t have to be visiting other sites and doing background research to know what the meeting was about and who it was with. And it does them a disservice too because they didn’t mention the Royal Foundation’s support which was an easy way to make themselves look good and remind people what they’ve done over the last year. It’s really frustrating to me because their captions used to be good and really informative. They have definitely improved in some ways - posting more personal or family photographs and adding extra touches like the illustration they got for the Royal Train Tour - but their captions are just really not up to par. And I know there will be people who think I’m being pedantic or negative but if you’re working for a charity and you have this valuable opportunity to talk to the couple and you know will reach millions of people - and then they don’t explain what you do or really add any useful information about you? You’d be upset and annoyed. People always argue that the royals are worth the money and the damage to democracy because they raise valuable awareness of charities so if they aren’t doing that what’s the point? 

#ask #anon #british royal family #social media