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lepartidelamort · 8 days

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Cocksucking Four-Eyed Faggot Johnson Condemns Russians and Chinese People as Evil, Demands Ukraine Money

By Andrew Anglin

Well, that didn’t take long.

RT:

In a dramatic break from his party’s hardline conservative base, US House Speaker Mike Johnson this week praised the country’s deep state, called Russia, China, and Iran an “axis of evil,” and vowed to put his job on the line to funnel more than $60 billion to Kiev. For months, Johnson has resisted bringing a $95 billion foreign aid bill to a vote, arguing that neither he nor his fellow Republicans could support the bill – which would give $14 billion in military aid to Israel and $60 billion to Ukraine – without it being tied to an overhaul of US border security. However, after a series of recent meetings with US intelligence chiefs, Johnson has changed his tune. “This is a critical time right now, a critical time on the world stage,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. “I think providing lethal aid to Ukraine right now is critically important. I really do. I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we’ve gotten.” “I believe [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping] and [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and Iran really are an axis of evil,” he continued. “I think they’re in coordination on this. I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed.”

Oh, fuck you, faggot.

Ironically, the fact that these people keep saying that in order to justify attempting to destroy Russia actually justifies Russia marching through Europe.

What sort of adult says people are “evil”? What does that even mean?

Does he mean they are possessed by demons and/or worship Satan? What is an “evil person”?

In case anyone isn’t aware, let me tell you: this guy took this Speaker position from Kevin McCarthy on the promise of not funding the Ukraine. McCarthy was an extremist war shill, and was removed because he was out of control, just funding everything Brandon wanted.

Now, it turns out, Johnson is the exact same thing. This cocksucker came down from his Speaker seat to break a tie on an amendment to FISA which required the government to get a warrant before spying on people, voting in favor of no warrant.

Democracy is always tyranny. It doesn’t matter what you want. It doesn’t matter who you vote for. The people you vote for will just continue doing the things you don’t want. First they will lie to you, and try to convince you that you actually do want these things, and if that doesn’t work, they just do it anyway.

Neocon Jew David Frum coined the term “Axis of Evil” to describe a series of Islamic countries the US wanted wars with more than 20 years ago. Now here we are, yet again, with a completely unregulated government obsessed with wars for the Jews.

The Ukraine money doesn’t actually mean anything. It’s a long story that many people have already broken down in detail, so I won’t do it here, but the short story is that this is just a payout to people in Washington and to arms manufacturers. They don’t have the weapons to send.

“Funding Wars Good for the Economy”

The fact that they are actually saying “this is good for the military industrial complex and therefore the American economy” is still incredible. I heard this the first time a few months ago from some Jew promoting this bill, or maybe it was Mitch McConnell, and I was shocked. For the longest time, people would complain about US war projects and say “this is just a payout to the military industrial complex,” and now the government just says “yeah, you’re right – and that’s good!”

Biden just made a statement about the bill, saying it is going to build American jobs manufacturing weapons. I don’t think it will actually do that, but even if it did, how is “we should fight wars to help our economy” something that is justifiable?

War is horrible. Look at the videos from Gaza and the Ukraine. This is a nightmare. People should not be promoting war. It is psychopathic to have a national policy that says “we need more wars because it’s good for our economy.” It’s not good for the economy. There is some weird myth about how World War II ended the Great Depression. Insofar as that is true, it’s because the entire economy was shut down and turned into a war machine.

There is no specific profit for a nation in fighting wars. Especially not in the current year. Living space is not an issue because people are willing to live in midrise condos. Furthermore, global trade makes stealing people’s resources pointless, especially in light of how expensive modern war machines are. Faggots used to say that the war with Iraq was “about oil,” which is so retarded it makes your skull numb to try and think about it. Saddam was selling oil very cheap. US spent trillions of dollars fighting a war against Iraq – orders of magnitude more than they could ever spend on Iraqi oil (and then didn’t even keep control of the oil fields anyway).

Chinese people are obsessed with money, and they are also obsessed with avoiding wars. It’s because wars are bad for business. Look at the difference between China’s economic growth and US economic growth over the last 50 years. It’s a ridiculous thought to even compare the two.

The reason the US wants wars is that they can’t think of anything else. Yes, the US has a very powerful “economy,” but it is an absurd monstrosity that is not capable of real world honest competition. The US has to maintain the position of global military superpower, or the dollar fails and the US economy and therefore the state fails. The only way to do that is through war.

The Trump 2016 platform was an actual plan to shift the US into a mode of actually being competitive economically and ending the wars. That could have worked back then. It wouldn’t work now. Now, America is very doomed, and their only remaining idea is to light the whole world on fire and hope their enemies are the ones who suffer the worst burns.

All of these government people are morons and lunatics and they all belong in jail.

#dailystormer

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evilelitest2 · 9 months

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So, where do you fall on Leftism spectrum? I sure hope not believing in left armament or successful uprising disqualifies me from being futher left than a liberal.

oh this is a complicated question, but in short not wanting a violent revolution doesn't make you not a leftist, it just makes you not an idiot. My view of leftism is that it is about protecting human rights, which is my first priority. I think my leftism boils down to the following points

Liberalism: Negative Freedoms, aka Civil Liberties, protections against government tyranny

Examples: Right to free speech, Freedom of religion, equality before the law, right to a fair trial, habitus Corpus, innocence until proven guilty, warrant any sort of limit on state power

Socialism: Positive freedoms, aka things the government needs to provide to all citizens

Examples: Free education, Free housing, Free Healthcare, free food, land redistribution, free clothing, free lawyers, free support ect

Progressivism, aka Civil Rights, things to protect citizens from other Citizens, mostly in terms of opposing bigotry. So policies that fight back against racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, xenophobia, nativism, religious intolerance, anti Semitism and antiquated cultural norms.

Democratic Republican (not the political party like pro Democracy) Pro Democracy: Democracy is the best government system that we have and the more proportional a democracy the better, we need to remove most authoritarian power structures. democracy should be designed to resist corruption and graft form the ground up

Examples: Ranked Choice voting, abolish the Senate, lower the voting age, popular election of Presidents, term limits, abolish gerrymandering, limit the Supreme Court

Green: Oh dear god, please make the environment less horrible we are going to die

Examples: AHHHHHHHHHHH

I generally think that leftists must balance all 5 of those, if not, its not leftism i want, intersectionality is the name of the game

now within Leftism I am a huge statist, I think the State is the most effective tool for implementing these policies, and the most powerful tool for the left (i also have a low opinion on human nature) I am anti utopian, I am pro intellectual and anti conspiracy theory

So I think that makes me a Progressive Social Democrat, since "humanist" isn't a political party (except in disco Elysium)

#Ask EvilElitest #Leftism #Liberalism #Socialism #Progressivism #Social Democrat #Republican #Democrat #progressivism #Moralist #Humanism #Positivism #Politics

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yourreddancer · 2 years

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Heather Cox Richardson

August 27, 2022 (Saturday)

In a speech Thursday night, President Joe Biden called out today’s MAGA Republicans for threatening “our personal rights and economic security…. They’re a threat to our very democracy.” When he referred to them as “semi-fascists,” he drew headlines, some of them disapproving.

A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee called the comment “despicable,” although Republicans have called Democrats “socialists” now for so long it passes as normal discourse. Just this week, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) called Democrats "radical left-wing lunatics, laptop liberals, and Marxist misfits." (THEY CAN DISH IT OUT BUT CAN’T TAKE IT)

Biden’s calling out of today’s radical Republicans mirrors the moment on June 21, 1856, when Representative Anson Burlingame of Massachusetts, a member of the newly formed Republican Party, stood up in Congress to announce that northerners were willing to take to the battlefield to defend their way of life against the southerners who were trying to destroy it.

Less than a month before, Burlingame's Massachusetts colleague Senator Charles Sumner had been brutally beaten by a southern representative for disparaging slavery, and Burlingame was sick and tired of buying sectional peace by letting southerners abuse the North. Enough, he said, was enough. The North was superior to the South in its morality, loyalty to the government, fidelity to the Constitution, and economy, and northerners were willing to defend their system, if necessary, with guns.

Burlingame’s “Defense of Massachusetts” speech marked the first time a prominent northerner had offered to fight to defend the northern way of life. Previously, southerners had been the ones threatening war and demanding concessions from the North to preserve the peace. He was willing to accept a battle, Burlingame explained, because what was at stake was the future of the nation. His speech invited a challenge to a duel.

Southerners championed their region as the one that had correctly developed the society envisioned by the Founders. In the South, a few very wealthy men controlled government and society, enslaving their neighbors. This system, its apologists asserted, was the highest form of human civilization. They opposed any attempt to restrict its spread. The South was superior to the North, enslavers insisted; it alone was patriotic, honored the Constitution, and understood economic growth. In the interests of union, northerners repeatedly ceded ground to enslavers and left their claim to superiority unchallenged.

At long last, the attack on Sumner inspired Burlingame to speak up for the North. The southern system was not superior, he thundered; it had dragged the nation backward. Slavery kept workers ignorant and godless while the northern system of freedom lifted workers up with schools and churches. Slavery feared innovation; freedom encouraged workers to try new ideas. Slavery kept the South mired in the past; freedom welcomed the modern world and pushed Americans into a new, thriving economy. And finally, when Sumner had spoken up against the tyranny of slavery, a southerner had clubbed him almost to death on the floor of the Senate.

Was ignorance, economic stagnation, and violence the true American system?For his part, Burlingame preferred to throw his lot with education, morality, economic growth, and respect for government.Burlingame had deliberately provoked the lawmaker who had beaten Sumner, Preston Brooks of South Carolina, and unable to resist any provocation, Brooks had challenged Burlingame to a duel. Brooks assumed all Yankees were cowards and figured that Burlingame would decline in embarrassment. But instead, Burlingame accepted with enthusiasm, choosing rifles as the dueling weapons. Burlingame, it turned out, was an expert marksman.

Burlingame also chose to duel in Canada, giving Brooks the opportunity to back out on the grounds that he felt unsafe traveling through the North after his beating of Sumner made him a hated man. The negotiations for the duel went on for months, but the duel never took place. Instead, Brooks, known as “Bully” Brooks, lost face as a man who was unwilling to risk his safety to avenge his honor, while Burlingame showed that northerners were eager to fight.

Forgotten now, Burlingame’s speech was once widely considered one of the most important speeches in American history. It marked the moment when northerners shocked southerners by calling them out for what they were, and northerners rallied to Burlingame’s call.

President Biden’s Twitter account has recently been taken over by new White House's Deputy Director of Platforms Megan Coyne, who garnered attention when she ran the official New Jersey Twitter account with attitude, and it seems as if the administration is taking the new saltiness out for a spin. “All the talk about the deficit from the same folks that gave an unpaid-for $2 trillion tax cut to the wealthy and big corporations. It makes you laugh,” the account said tonight. “Under my Administration, the deficit is on track to come down by more than $1 trillion this year.”

MY COMMENT:

not one Democrat is defending Nancy Pelosi's husband's DUI, but the whole raft of Christofascists keeps defending the Mango Mussolini and clutch their pearls and cry "foul" when they get called out. They can go bite it!

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misfitwashere · 2 months

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The apocalypse we choose

Mike Johnson's record as Speaker of the House

Timothy Snyder

Mar 3, 2024

In four months as Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson has given Russia a chance to win its war in Ukraine, and thereby turn the world towards tyranny.

Johnson's term of office consists of stratagems to avoid funding Ukraine. He and a minority of Trumpist Republicans have left Ukrainians without the means to defend themselves, and enabled Russian aggressors to retake Ukrainian territory. As a result, troops are killed and disabled every day.

Around the world, Johnson's behavior is seen as betrayal and weakness. We tend to focus on the details of Johnson's various excuses, rather than seeing the larger pattern. Johnson's success in making the war a story about him exemplifies the American propensity to miss the big picture.

Alive? Thank a Ukrainian. The great American capacity is to take others for granted, and our specific form of hubris blinds us to the great services others perform for us. The resistance of the Ukrainian armed forces and Ukrainian civil society is holding back every form of modern catastrophe. Ukrainians are preserving an order established after the Second World War, but also pointing the way towards a brighter future. Their tremendous daily efforts have pushed the world toward a set of better alternatives we would all lack without them. But they need us at their back.

An elementary form of apocalypse is genocide. Russia is making war on Ukraine with the genocidal goal of eliminating Ukrainian society as such. It consciously fights its war with its own national minorities, and takes every opportunity to spread racist propaganda (including about African-Americans). Russian occupiers deport Ukrainian children, rape Ukrainian women, castrate Ukrainian men, and murder Ukrainian cultural leaders with this purpose in mind. They keep children out of school and force families into emigration, all with the goal of putting an end to a nation. Ukrainian resistance, though, has put the backbone into "never again." Where Ukraine holds territory, and that is most of the country, people are saved. Ukrainians have shown that a genocide can be halted -- with the right kind of help. When we cut off that help, as we have done, we enable genocide to proceed. This is not only a horror in itself, but a precedent.

A great fear of our age is nuclear war, and Russia has used nuclear blackmail against Ukraine. Russians want Ukraine (and the rest of us) to give up because Russia has nuclear weapons. Russian propaganda instructs that a nuclear power cannot lose a war. This is of course untrue. The U.S. lost in Vietnam, the USSR lost in Afghanistan. Nuclear weapons did not hold the British and French empires together, or bring Israel victory in Lebanon. Had Ukraine submitted to Putin's nuclear blackmail, this would have incentivized every country to build nuclear weapons: some to intimidate, some to prevent intimidation. Ukrainian resistance has saved us from this scenario -- thus far. Should America abandon Ukraine, we can expect nuclear proliferation and nuclear jeopardy.

Another traditional worry has been a Russian attack upon a European country that triggers the collective defense provision of the NATO alliance. For now, Ukraine is making this all but impossible. Ukraine has absorbed an attack by Russia. At horrible cost, Ukraine is fulfilling the entire mission of NATO, thereby sparing all other NATO members any risk of loss of territory or of life. The NATO economies are about two-hundred and fifty times as big as the Ukrainian economy. If they exploit a tiny fraction of their economic power, they could easily sustain the Ukrainian armed forces. Unfortunately the largest by far of these NATO members, the United States, is doing nothing. Should this continue, and should Russia win its war in Ukraine, then further war in Europe becomes not only possible, but likely.

For the past two decades, the main concern in Washington, D.C. has been a war with China in the Pacific over Taiwan. Never was this concern more pressing than in February 2022, when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin had just received China's blessing for his adventure. Had Ukraine fallen, as so many expected, it would have been a signal that other such adventures were possible. Ukraine's endurance has made clear that offensive operations are unpredictable and costly. Ukrainians are achieving what we could not, as Americans, achieve ourselves: sending a counsel of caution to China without in any way antagonizing the Chinese. Of course, should Ukraine be abandoned by its allies, and should Russia win, our earlier fears would return, and rightly so.

Russia is testing an international order. The basic assumption, since the Second World War, is that states exist have borders that war cannot alter. When Russia attacked Ukraine, it was attacking this principle. Russia's rulers expected that a new age of chaos would begin, in which only lies and force would count. The consensus in Washington, we should remember, was the same. In the beginning, the American leadership expected the Ukrainian president to flee and for the country to fall in three days. Every day since the fourth day is one in which Ukrainian blood has bought for us a future that we ourselves did not think we had. After two years, too many of us take this for granted. But if we decide not to help the Ukrainians, disorder will ensue, and prosperity will collapse.Albrecht Dürer, “Apocalypse,” (third panel), 1498

For the past half century, people have been rightly concerned about global warming. Whether we get through the next half century will depend upon a balance of power between those who make money from fossil fuels and lie about their consequences and those who tell the truth about science and seek alternative sources of energy. Vladimir Putin is the most important fossil fuel oligarch. Both his wealth and his power arise from natural gas and oil reserves. His war in Ukraine is a foretaste of the struggle for resources we will all face should Putin and other fossil fuel oligarchs get the upper hand. Precisely because Ukraine resisted, important economies have accelerated their green transition. Should Ukraine be abandoned and lose, it seems unlikely that there will be another chance to hold back fossil fuel oligarchy and save the climate. More broadly, Putin's idiotic nation that there is no Ukraine is an example of the kind of oligarchical fantasy wastes time and destroys life as we try to confront the world's actual problems.

Global hunger is an important scenario for catastrophic global suffering in an age of drastic inequality and resource strife. Here no country is more important than Ukraine. For more than two thousand years, since the ancient Greeks, the fertile soil of Ukraine has fed neighboring lands and civilizations. Ukraine today is capable of feeding something like half a billion people. Russia's war against Ukraine has also been a hunger war. Russia has mined farms, flooded others by destroying a critical dam, targeted grain-storage facilities, and blockaded the Black Sea to prevent exports. In 2023, Ukraine was able to win an astonishing victory, clearing the western Black Sea of the Russian navy, and opening lanes for export of grain. Because the Ukrainians did this on their own, it has hardly been covered in our press. But it is a huge achievement. People in the Near East and Africa are being fed who might otherwise starve. If Ukraine is allowed to fall, all of this can be reversed, and suffering and war will spread to those vulnerable and critical areas.

From a different perspective, people fear that our world can end as a result of artificial intelligence, digital propaganda, and the collapse of the human contact needed for political decency. For a decade now, Russia has been in the forefront of digital manipulation. Its first invasion of Ukraine, in 2014, was successful chiefly as a hybrid war, in which it found vulnerable minds in the West and inserted useful memes -- ones which are still in use today. And Russia does find backers today among the digital oligarchs, most notably Elon Musk, who has bent his personal account and indeed his entire platform to become an instrument of Russian propaganda. That said, the Ukrainians have, this time, shown how this can be resisted. Volodymyr Zelens'kyi and other Ukrainian leaders, by taking personal risks in time of danger, have reminded us that there is a real world. And Ukrainian civil society has this time taken a playful approach to new media, deconstructing Russian propaganda and reminding us of the human side -- and the human stakes.

Perhaps the most insidious calamity we face is one of doubt: we cease to believe in ourselves, as human beings with values, who deserve to rule themselves in the system we call democracy. For most of this century, democracy has been in decline, and this decline has been accompanied by a discourse of passivity and a lack of resolve. Russia's attack on Ukraine -- the rare event of an armed autocracy seeking to destroy a peaceful democracy by military force -- was a turning point in this history. Which way we will all turn remains to be seen. By resisting on the battlefield, Ukraine has, for the time being anyway, preserved its own democracy, and given new hope to democracies in general. There is nothing automatic about democracy. People have to believe that they should rule. And this will always involve some risk. By taking great risks for the right values, Ukrainians can and do encourage others around the world. If Ukrainians are killed, maimed, and forced to retreat as a result of U.S. policy, everyone is demoralized -- including us.

If Americans let Ukrainians down, it will be a blow, perhaps a fatal one, to the "spirit of freedom," as a Ukrainian veteran put it in a speech I heard at the Munich Security Council. We need that spirit, in part to oppose those who lack it. The people who block aid for Ukraine today wish our own democracy ill. In the last few days and weeks we have witnessed, again and again, the overlap between Russian influence in American politics, opposition to aid to Ukraine, and hostility toward the American constitutional system. Putin knows that his only route to Kyiv passes through Washington, D.C., and he has acted accordingly.

The people working to assure the destruction of democracy in Ukraine also oppose democracy in America. We have just experienced a bogus impeachment proceeding against President Biden, where the chief accusation (long ago discredited by Ukrainian and other journalists, incidentally) arose from a Russian agent. Mike Johnson is in a submission chain that passes through Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin. Trump presents himself as an admirer of Putin and had been his client, in one form or another, for a decade. He has succeeded in conditioning the media by teaching his followers to shout "Russia hoax" whenever the subject comes up: but, all the same, Russia has backed him in every campaign and is backing him in this one. Johnson's 2018 congressional campaign, for that matter, took laundered funds from a Russian oligarch, and Johnson was one of the congressmen most deeply implicated in Trump's attempted coup in 2021.

Ukraine should and can win this war. To do so, it needs arms and funds. The amount needed of both is tiny on an American scale, not anything we would even notice. It is the choices of certain Americans that have brought the Ukrainians to this cruel pass, and brought the world to the edge of multiple catastrophe. Should we fail to assist Ukraine, we will be inviting the worst of catastrophes. We will put the security of the world at risk, and betray what is best about ourselves. Americans can enable Ukrainian victory. If we fail to do so, we will face an apocalypse Americans have chosen. And, in particular, an apocalypse Mike Johnson has chosen.

#ukraine #timothy snyder #republican inaction #makes me want to fucking scream

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mariacallous · 1 year

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Roman Popkov dabbled in Russia’s far-left and far-right political scenes before devoting himself to the armed overthrow of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the name of democracy. In 2011, he moved to Kyiv after getting imprisoned in Russia for taking part in anti-Putin protests. His greatest success may have come last month, on April 2, when a noted Russian propagandist, Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed in a St. Petersburg cafe. Popkov is rumored to have recruited the assassin on behalf of Ukraine’s intelligence service and to have helped plan the killing.

In a lengthy chat with Foreign Policy via encrypted messaging, Popkov remembered Darya Trepova, the alleged recruit, as one of the “best people” he had ever known and described her as a “hero” for opposing Russia’s Ukraine invasion. He neither confirmed nor denied that he had personally played a role in the attack but admitted that the rebel network he works for, Rospartizan, was involved in the “liquidation of Putin’s propagandist and war criminal Vladlen Tatarsky.” He added that other Russian partisan groups collaborated as well. National Republican Army (NRA), another partisan group represented by former Duma deputy, Ilya Ponomarev, has also claimed to have carried out the attack.

It is hard to verify Popkov’s claims, but his commitment and self-righteousness were impossible to deny. Popkov expressed his conviction that a Russian-led guerrilla movement will be the only way to dispose of Putin, dismissing the nonviolent protestations of Russian exiles in Europe as ineffective, short-sighted, and even immoral. He did little to dispel the notion that the Russian opposition has deep strategic divides.

“We in Ukraine live under rocket attacks. Our comrades in Russia are risking their lives and freedom in the fight against tyranny. And the Russian political emigration in Europe sits in cafes and talks,” he said. Popkov added he wanted the West to “recognize the right of free Russians to fight evil. And treat it with respect.”

Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, mysterious attacks have occurred across Russia. Explosives have derailed trains, blown up power lines, and damaged a bridge connecting Crimea to Russia. Arsonists have also thrown Molotov cocktails at military enlistment centers. Russian opposition groups later claimed credit for these attacks as part of a larger armed rebellion.

But who are these groups? How strong are they, and do they receive Ukrainian and Western support, as Russia has claimed? “Ukrainian special forces and their Western curators have launched an aggressive ideological indoctrination and recruitment of our citizens,” Alexander Bortnikov, the chief of the notorious Federal Security Bureau (FSB), or Russia’s interior intelligence agency, said last month.

The United States has rejected accusations of involvement and said it had no previous knowledge of any of the attacks that took place inside the Russian Federation, with intelligence officials whispering to reporters that their ally, Ukraine, may have kept them in the dark. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement, securing plausible deniability yet allowing rumors of a Mossad-style competence to linger.

Conventional wisdom says that, in the secretive game of covert warfare or undercover resistance, the full truth may come out only later, depending on who wins, but the theory of deduction could be deployed to try to make some sense of these events.

Foreign Policy’s conversations with Russian dissidents and open-source information indicate that some groups appear to have received some sort of support from Ukraine. But that seems not to detract from the sincerity of their commitment to the anti-Putin cause.

Ponomarev, the only Russian lawmaker who voted against Crimea’s annexation, told Foreign Policy that he is personally connected to about half a dozen Russian partisan groups inside Russia and was channeling Ukrainian support to help the groups in carrying out their missions. “I am helping them,” he said, elusively adding, “with certain things.” When asked if he was sending across weapons or explosives, he said, “I think it is pretty obvious what partisan groups need.”

There is determinable evidence of the presence of several such groups, including the Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists (or BOAK, an acronym of its Russian name), Stop the Wagons (STW), Freedom of Russia Legion, and the far-right Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC). There are some doubts over the existence of the NRA, politically represented by Ponomarev, as it seems to be either operating in the shadows for security reasons or is simply nonexistent.

Among the more active groups is BOAK, whose co-founder, Dmitry Petrov, also known as Ilya Leshy, had also fought in Syria. BOAK carried out several attacks of sabotage including an explosion that damaged a section of the Trans-Siberian Railway in Krasnoyarsk in early January. Last year this month they blew up a railway line that regularly transported military equipment to a Russian military base north of Moscow, leaving their initials on the track. The group is on the list Ponomarev mentioned as receiving Ukrainian support. The group, nonetheless, is a genuine partisan entity that existed before the war started and fought at home for basic freedoms.

Petrov recently died in Bakhmut fighting for Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces, a Ukrainian military reserve force. In his obituary his associates described him as a Russian anarchist active since the 2000s who fought for workers’ rights, the environment, and alongside the Kurds in the Syrian war. In a farewell note he left behind, he wrote, “I did it for the sake of justice, protection of Ukrainian society and liberation of my country, Russia, from oppression.” These are words that indicate independent agency rather than coercion by or influence from another state to undertake subversion.

Denis Nikitin, the leader of the far-right RVC who is also known as Denis Kapustin, has been active for more than a decade. Nikitin roamed around in far-right circles in several European countries after moving to Germany in 2001 and befriended German soccer hooligans. He launched a white nationalist fashion brand called White Rex with Nazi symbols imprinted on clothing items.

On March 2, Nikitin’s men slipped into the Bryansk region of Russia through Ukraine and carried out a raid in which Russian officials said two civilians were killed. A video made available online shows two of their men, impressing on their compatriots that they came as liberators and not saboteurs and called upon fellow Russians to take up arms and fight against Putin, adding “death to the Kremlin’s tyrant” toward the end of the message as shots were heard in the background.

Nikitin told the Financial Times that the operation had been given the go-ahead from Ukrainian authorities to expose the weaknesses of Russia’s border security—and evidently also to encourage rebellion among Russians. Ukraine has denied providing any direct support to the group, aware that it could be used by Putin to strengthen his de-Nazification argument.

Popkov said that neither RVC nor BOAK is connected with Rospartizan, but that one should not be surprised that the far left and far right were both part of the resistance. Putin’s regime, he said, “is an absolute evil” and has “united a wide variety of people against itself.”

Among other partisan Russian groups is STW, which has no known links to Ukraine. It has derailed a number of freight trains supplying war material to Russian troops and perhaps slowed them down.

Popkov and Ponomarev—who sometimes appear together on the latter’s newscast, February Morning—both believe that peaceful methods have run their course and it is time for armed resistance. It is true that Russians who challenge Putin politically are often found dead, jailed, or exiled. (According to some estimates, at least 70 cases of treason have been launched since the start of the war, a major uptick even by Russian standards.)

But the potential for success of an armed resistance in a society tightly controlled by security forces is debatable. Alexandra Garmazhapova, the head of the Free Buryatia Foundation, a dissident group representing an ethnic minority in Russia, was declared a foreign agent by the Russian government and forced to flee to Czechia. Speaking to FP from Prague, Garmazhapova said she is “against violence,” and in any case didn’t think much of the armed resistance since, she feared, the FSB is very much “in control” of the situation. “No one can just carry out a bombing in Russia,” she said. “It is much more difficult than it seems.”

Changing the course of Russian politics is even harder than that. For all the attacks that have already taken place, the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine has not yet noticeably changed.

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drewstahhh · 2 years

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Musical Theme

The Men Behind The Wire - The Wolf Tones

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Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2

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Don't Tread On Me - Metallica

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Fuck Tha Police - NWA

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Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash

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Game Over - Playaphonk

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The theme of my playlist is all about resistance. My father’s side of the family is Northern Irish. During a period of history known as The Troubles, my father and his parents fled from North Ireland. In 1992, they decided they were done being in a country with an outstanding amount of civil conflict. Even though they are Catholics, they still felt unsafe.

It wasn’t until 1992 when they were able to save money and be able to flee North Irealand. During Operation Demetrius, Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) had broken into their home and arrested my grandfather. They believed that he was working with or a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). While it was a completely false accusation, he ended up going to jail for a month without trial.

My family’s story in America comes from the escape of tyranny in religious and civil conflict. Having Northen Irish heritage I feel that it is necessary to sympathize with my history. Not only that, but the USA also had to fight the British Empire in order to live in a free country.

The Men Behind The Wire- The Wolfe Tones

Begging with this song, my grandfather was arrested during Operation Demetrius. This song represents the time my grandfather served jail time for simply living in an area where many insurgents lived (Belfast). It describes how all Northern Irish people were encouraged to stand up and support the men who were falsely imprisoned. The line, “armored cars and tanks and guns, came to take away our sons,” perfectly describes what happened that day.

Sunday Bloody Sunday- U2

This song, with its somber instrumentals, actually refers to a very violent part of North Irish history. The song describes an event during The Troubles in which the British were violent belligerents. In the city of Derry, 20+ protesters were shot while fleeing from the British soldiers. Unfortunately, my grandfather’s best friend took a bullet as he was fleeing and died seconds later.

Don’t Tread on Me- Metallica

The heavy and lingering guitar of the intro of this song is very interesting. This is one of my dad’s favorite songs as the album shares the name of the song. It was released in 1991 close to the time they fled to the United States. This album and specific song were particularly popular in my dad’s part of the neighborhood.

Fuck Tha Police- NWA

While this one is relatively self explanatory, it has a deeper meaning to my family’s history. NWA’s song describes how black men are treated unfairly by the police. Similar to Northern Irish citizens, the mem were routinely beaten and arrested for little to no cause.

Folsom Prison Blues- Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was my grandfather’s favorite American musician when he was still alive. He had mentioned before his passing that this song really resonated with him. The lyrics, “I aint seen the sunshine since I don’t know when.”

He had described the atmosphere and conditions of the jail he was in. They had no windows in the jail and they were rarely allowed outside. It seems as though when he was alive, being imprisoned never left him.

GAME OVER- Playaphonk

The melody and bass in this song is absolutely incredible. The name of the song itself ties back to my heritage. We all feel that the UK is unjustifiably using North Ireland as their toy. While in modern times we’ve gained more autonomy, the country is yet to be 100% independent. Because it is an EDM song, the idea that once the British finally let us be, their games they’ve played are over.

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rabbitcruiser · 2 years

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Independence Day

Americans come together on July 4 to celebrate the nation’s birthday and Independence Day. On this day, most Americans enjoy grills in their backyards, at beaches, or in parks. Some partake in parades or marches and enjoy the fireworks that are often launched at dusk. We kick off the festivities with details, trivia, and anything else you need to know about Independence Day. Happy Fourth!

When is Independence Day 2022?

The American glory of Red, White, and Blue, is celebrated on Independence Day on July 4.

History of Independence Day

Although most of us already had this history lesson in school, we probably weren’t really paying attention as the clock ticked closer to recess or the end of the day. But we can’t fully appreciate our freedoms if we don’t know how we got them — and, more importantly, how close we came to losing them. The story of America’s independence is truly fascinating with more historical twists and turns than we can possibly get into here. But at least we can get you started with the basics.

In the 1700s, America wasn’t really a nation of ‘united states.’ Instead, there were 13 colonies with distinct personalities. From 1763 to 1773, Britain’s King George III increasingly placed pressure on the colonies as he and the British Parliament enacted a succession of draconian taxes and laws on them. Excessive taxes on British luxury goods like tea and sugar were designed to benefit the British crown without any regard for the hardships of the colonists. By 1764, the phrase “Taxation without representation is tyranny” spread throughout the colonies as the rallying cry of outrage.

The more the colonists rebelled, the more King George doubled down with force. Imagine if enemy soldiers not only had the right to enter your home but the soldiers could demand that you feed and house them. The Quartering Act of 1765 allowed British soldiers to do just that.

But the Stamp Act of 1765 became the straw that broke the colonists’ backs. Passed by Parliament in March, this act taxed any piece of printed paper, including newspapers, legal documents, ships’ papers — and even playing cards! As the colonial grumbling got louder and bolder, in the fall of 1768, British ships arrived in Boston Harbor as a show of force. Remember, the British Navy dominated the seas all over the world due to the far-reaching presence of the British Empire.

Tensions boiled over on March 5, 1770, in Boston Harbor during a street fight between a group of colonists and British soldiers. The soldiers fired shots that killed 47-year-old Crispus Attucks, the first American and Black man to die along with three other colonists in the Boston Massacre.

In 1773, the Boston Tea Party (from which today’s Tea Party Republicans get their name) erupted when colonists disguised as Mohican Indians raided a British ship, dumping all the tea overboard to avoid paying the taxes. Continued pressure led to resistance and the start of the Revolutionary War in the towns of Lexington and Concord when a militia of patriots battled British soldiers on April 19, 1775. Conditions were ripe for American independence.

When the first battles in the Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, only a handful of colonists wished for total independence from Great Britain, and those who did were considered extremists.

However, halfway through the following year, many more colonists had come to lean more toward independence, as a result of growing hostility towards Britain and the spread of revolutionary views like those conveyed in the bestselling pamphlet published in early 1776 by Thomas Paine — “Common Sense.”

On June 7, 1776, the Continental Congress met at the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall) in Philadelphia and Richard Henry Lee, the Virginia delegate, introduced a motion calling for the independence of the colonies. Amid heated debate, Congress rescheduled the vote on Lee’s resolution but appointed a five-man committee — including Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, and Robert R. Livingston of New York — to draft a formal statement justifying the defect from Great Britain.

On July 2, 1776, in a virtually unanimous vote, the Continental Congress voted in favor of Lee’s resolution for independence, and on July 4th, it formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, which had been written largely by Jefferson. Ultimately, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence was a contentious process. After much debate over what to include and what to leave out, Thomas Jefferson, tasked with pulling the document together, envisioned a nation where “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness” crystallized the very meaning of being an American. The document proclaimed the 13 American colonies’ liberation from Britain and reaffirmed their rights as free men — declaring that they were no longer subject (and subordinate) to the monarch of Britain, King George III, and were now united, free, and independent states.

John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that July 2 “will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival” and that the celebration should include “Pomp and Parade…Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”

By an extraordinary coincidence, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the only two signatories of the Declaration of Independence later to serve as presidents of the United States, both died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration. Although not a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, James Monroe, another Founding Father who was elected as president, also died on July 4, 1831, making him the third President who died on the anniversary of independence. The only U.S. president to have been born on Independence Day was Calvin Coolidge, who was born on July 4, 1872.

Independence Day timeline

1763–177 3A Taxing Time

Britain’s King George III subjects colonial America to harsh taxes and laws, which benefits the Crown, not the colonists.

1765 Stamp Act

British Parliament's so-called Stamp Act taxes the colonists on any piece of printed paper including newspapers, legal documents, ships’ papers, and even playing cards.

1770 Shots Heard

British soldiers fire shots that kill 47-year-old Crispus Attucks, the first American and black man to die along with three other colonists in the Boston Massacre.

1773 Boston Tea Party

Disguised colonists take over a British ship and dump all the British tea overboard to avoid paying the taxes for it.

July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence

After spending two days on revisions, the Continental Congress approves the historical document's final wording.

1941 Declaration of a Holiday

Independence Day becomes a federal holiday.

1950 Establishing Independence Day Traditions

Barbecues, parades, flag-raising ceremonies, and fireworks become the norm on Independence Day.

1976 Bicentennial

Americans celebrate the country's 200th birthday — the U.S. Mint issues a special Bicentennial quarter — with new designs featuring all 50 states.

INDEPENDENCE DAY TRADITIONS

American Independence Day parades go way back. By the summer of 1776, Americans celebrated the ‘death’ of British rule with mock funerals, revelry, and feasting. Americans still love to celebrate — and if you’re seeking a truly authentic experience, travel to Bristol, Rhode Island, home of America’s oldest Independence Day parade since 1785. Watch fife and drum corps marching bands, cartoon characters, and celebrities in vintage cars.

On Independence Day, we haul out family recipes for chili, barbecue ribs, chicken, and even tofu. We savor Louisiana gumbo and Maine lobster boils. There are zesty potato salads and delicious sweet corn roasted on the cob. Pies and cakes are laid out. Independence Day lets you get your patriotic grub on.

They chirp, whiz, and bang. Fireworks originated with the ancient Chinese, spread to Europe, and later added colorful displays to early American Independence Day events. Both Boston and Philadelphia launched fireworks on July 4, 1777. John Adams told his wife, Abigail, that Independence Day “ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, bonfires and illumination.” This year, enjoy your Independence Day finale with a phantasmagorical fireworks display!

INDEPENDENCE DAY BY THE NUMBERS

2.5 million – the estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation in 1776.

327 million – the estimated population of the country in 2018.

56 – the number of signers of the Declaration of Independence.

1st – signer was John Hancock.

70 – the age of the oldest of the signers, Benjamin Franklin.

$4.0 million – the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags in 2013.

$781,222 – the dollar value of U.S. flags exported in 2013.

$302.7 million – the annual dollar value of shipments of fabricated flags, banners, and similar emblems by the country’s manufacturers.

1 in 4 – the number of people who will set off their own fireworks.

150 million – the number of wieners consumed on the holiday nationwide.

Independence Day FAQs

What does the 4th of July mean?

The 4th of July is America’s Independence Day, and the annual celebration of the nation.

How old is America today?

As of 2021, the United States of America is 245 years old.

What is the most famous text in the Declaration of Independence?

The best-known part of the Declaration of Independence is “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness … “

Independence Day Activities

Read the Declaration of Independence

Watch fireworks

Visit a national landmark or historical site

Most Americans have never actually read the Declaration of Independence. But if it weren't for this short but historically significant document, they may not have been able to spend the day grilling or lighting fireworks, and definitely wouldn't have had the day off.

It's a blast — in more ways than one. Gazing at fireworks on the Fourth is a tradition that goes back centuries. In fact, John Adams alluded to this type of celebration in a letter he wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776.

America is full of fascinating historical landmarks and sites. No matter where in the country you live, there is almost certainly a site of historical importance nearby. Some ideas could include a Native American reservation, a Civil War battleground, a government building, or a war memorial.

5 Fascinating Facts About The Declaration Of Independence

John Adams refused July 4

Technically…

Edits and revisions

Independence wasn’t the only reason

It’s not a map, but…

Because the actual vote for independence took place on July 2, 1776, John Adams refused to recognize celebrations for July 4.

The Declaration of Independence was finalized on July 4, but most of the signers actually signed the document on August 2, 1776.

There were a total of 86 edits made to the original draft written by Thomas Jefferson.

The Declaration of Independence was penned down formally so that colonies seeking foreign allies could legally declare themselves free from the British.

There isn’t a treasure map as shown in the movie “National Treasure,” but there is actually something written on the back of the Declaration of Independence — “Original Declaration of Independence dates 4th July 1776.”

Why We Love Independence Day

It's the most delicious day of the summer

We're all in this together

You can wear whatever you want — as long as it's red, white, and blue

There are few days of the year that offer as much food variety as the Fourth of July. Steak? Check. Chicken wings? Yep. Fresh strawberry pie? Absolutely. Macaroni and cheese? You got it. No matter what you're craving, it's sure to be available on Independence Day.

Admit it, the Fourth of July makes you feel giddy. Maybe it's the parades, the BBQs, or, most likely, the fireworks. This is the one night of the year you can watch the sky light up, while surrounded by children laughing, dogs barking, and patriotic music playing.

That bandana you never get to wear? That decades-old T-shirt with an American flag on it? Those are all fair game on Independence Day — as long as they're red, white, and blue.

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