Balderdash

Why Young Women Moved Left While Young Men Stayed Sane (Women and Wokeness)

2026-04-25T13:36:00.000+08:00

vittorio on X: "Why Young Women Moved Left While Young Men Stayed Sane"

"Bill Ackman quote tweeted a graph showing the partisan gap between young men and women almost doubled in 25 years... 
 
Women moved radically left. Men stayed roughly where they were.
 
'Why?'
 
Good question. Most answers I've seen are either tribal ("women are emotional") or surface-level ("social media bad"). Neither traces the actual mechanism.
 
Let me try...
 
We've been told for a decade that men are "radicalizing to the right" and that this is dangerous. The actual data shows the opposite. Men barely moved. Women moved 20+ points leftward.
 
The story we are told is exactly inverted from reality. And when female leftward movement does get discussed, it's framed as progress: "women becoming more educated, more independent, more enlightened"
 
They'll tell you the graph shows enlightenment and progress. Wrong.
 
The graph shows is capture.
Before getting into mechanism, something important: this pattern isn't only American. It's global.
 
The Financial Times documented it last year The gender ideology gap is widening across dozens of countries simultaneously. UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Poland, Brazil, Tunisia. Young women moving left on social issues, young men either stable or drifting right.

This matters because it rules out explanations specific to American politics. It's not Title IX policy. It's not #MeToo. It's not the specific culture war of US campuses. Something bigger is happening, something that rolled out globally at roughly the same time.
 
South Korea is the extreme case. Young Korean men are now overwhelmingly conservative. Young Korean women are overwhelmingly progressive. The gap there is even wider than the US. Contributing factors include mandatory military service for men (18 months of your life the state takes, while women are exempt) and brutal economic competition. But the timing of divergence still tracks with smartphone adoption... 
Start with the biological hardware.
 
Women evolved in environments where social exclusion carried enormous survival costs. You can't hunt pregnant. You can't fight nursing. Survival required the tribe's acceptance: their protection, their food sharing, their tolerance of your temporary vulnerability. Millions of years of this and you get hardware that treats social rejection as serious threat.
 
Men faced different pressures. Hunting parties gone for days. Exploration. Combat. You had to tolerate being alone, disliked, outside the group for extended periods. Men who could handle temporary exclusion without falling apart had more options. More risk-taking, more independence, more ability to leave bad situations.
 
(Male status still mattered enormously for reproduction, low-status men had it rough. But men could recover from temporary exclusion in ways that were harder for pregnant or nursing women.)
 
This shows up in personality research. David Schmitt's work across 55 cultures found the same pattern everywhere: women average higher agreeableness, higher neuroticism (sensitivity to negative stimuli, including social rejection cues). Men average higher tolerance for disagreement and social conflict. The differences aren't huge but they're consistent across every culture studied.
 
Not better or worse. Different selection pressures, different adaptations.
 
But it means the same environment affects them differently. Consensus pressure hits harder for one group than the other.

Now look at what we built.
 
Social media is a consensus engine. You can see what everyone believes in real time. Disagreement is visible, measurable, and punishable at scale. The tribe used to be 150 people. Now it's everyone you've ever met plus a world of strangers watching.
 
And look at the timeline. Facebook launched in 2004 butwas college-only until 2006. The iPhone launched June 2007. Instagram in 2010. Suddenly social media was in your pocket and in your face, all day, every day.

Look at the graph again. Women were roughly stable through the early 2000s. The acceleration starts around 2007-2008. The curve steepens through the 2010s as smartphones became universal and platforms became more sophisticated. Women are by nature more liberal, but the radicalization coincides with the rise in smartphones adoption.
 
The machine turned on and the capture began.
 
The mental health collapse among teenage girls tracks almost perfectly with smartphone adoption, with stronger effects for girls than boys. The same vulnerability that made social exclusion more costly in ancestral environments made the new consensus engines more capturing.
 
This machine wasn't designed to capture women specifically. It was designed to capture attention. But it captures people more susceptible to consensus pressure more effectively. Women are more susceptible on average. So it captured them more.
 
Add a feedback loop: women complain more than men. Scroll any platform and it looks like women are suffering more. Institutions respond to this because visible distress creates liability, PR risk and regulatory pressure. In addition, women are weaker and inevitably seen as the victim in most scenarios. The institutional response is to make environments "safer". Which means removing conflict. Which means censoring disagreement. Which means the consensus strengthens.
 
The counterarguments get removed or deplatformed and the loop closes.

Universities flipped to 60% female while simultaneously becoming progressive monoculture. The institution young women trust most, during the years their worldview forms, feeds them a single ideology with no serious opposition.
 
FIRE's campus speech surveys show the pattern clearly: students self-censor, report fear of expressing views, cluster toward acceptable opinions. This isn't unique to women, but women are more embedded in higher education than men now, and the fields they dominate (humanities, social sciences, education, HR) are the most ideologically uniform.
 
Four years surrounded by peers who all believe the same thing. Professors who all believe the same thing. Reading lists pointing one direction. Disagreement is not even rare, it's socially punished. You learn to pattern-match the acceptable opinions and perform them.
 
Then they graduate into female-dominated fields: HR, media, education, healthcare, non-profits, where the monoculture continues. From 18 to 35, many women never encounter sustained disagreement from people they respect. The feedback loop never breaks.
 
Men took different paths. Trades. Engineering. Finance. Military. Fields where results matter more than consensus. Fields where disagreement is tolerated or even rewarded. The monoculture didn't capture them because they weren't in the institutions being captured. (mostly because they were kicked out of them, but that's a different piece)
 
Marriage collapsed. This probably matters more than people think.
 
Single women vote more left than married women. This is consistent across decades of exit polls. Part of this is likely economic: single women interact with government more as provider of services, married women interact with government more as taker of taxes. The incentives point different directions.
 
The marriage gap in voting is one of the most consistent predictors. And marriage rates have collapsed precisely during the period of divergence.
 
Men saw marriage collapse differently. Family courts. Child support. Alimony. The rational response was skepticism of expanding state power.
 
Same phenomenon, different positions in it, different political responses.
Algorithms optimize for engagement. Engagement means emotional response. Time on platform. Clicks. Shares. Comments.
 
Women respond more strongly to emotional content on average, they are more empathetic, they can be more easily manipulated with sad stories. That higher neuroticism again, higher sensitivity to negative stimuli. The machine learned this. It fed them content calibrated to their response patterns. Fear. Outrage. Moral panic. Stories about danger and injustice and threat and wars and "victims".
 
Men got different feeds because they responded to different triggers. The algorithm doesn't really have a gender agenda. It has an engagement agenda. But engagement looks different by demographic, so the feeds diverged.
 
Women ended up in information environments optimized for emotional activation. Men found alternatives: podcasts, forums, cars, wars, manosphere etc.
 
Feminism told women their instincts and biology were oppression and wrong. Wanting children was brainwashing. Wanting a provider husband was internalized misogyny. Their natural desires were false consciousness installed by patriarchy.   
 
Many believed it. Built lives around it. Career first. Independence. Freedom from traditional constraints.
 
Now they're 35, unmarried, measuring declining fertility against career achievements. And here's the trap: the sunk cost of admitting the ideology failed is enormous. You'd have to admit you wasted your fertile years on a lie. That the women who ignored the ideology and married young were right. That your mother was right.
 
I think this is why you see so little defection. Not because the ideology is true, but because the psychological cost of leaving is higher than the cost of staying. Easier to double down. Easier to believe the problem is that society hasn't changed enough yet.
I should be honest about something: men weren't immune to capture. They were captured differently.

Women got ideological conformity. Men got withdrawal. Porn. Video games. Gambling apps. Outrage content. The male capture wasn't "believe this or face social death." It was "here's an endless supply of dopamine so you never have to build anything real."
 
Different machines, different failure modes. Women got compliance. Men got passivity.
 
The male line on that graph staying flat through 2020 isn't necessarily health. It might just be a different kind of sickness, men checking out instead of being pulled in. Or it may be that everyone and everything moved more left and women moved lefter.
Here's the update: the male line isn't flat anymore.
 
Post-2024 data shows young men shifting right. Recent surveys all show the same thing. Young men are now actively moving more conservative.
 
My read: women got captured first because they were more susceptible to consensus pressure. The capture was fast (2007-2020). Men resisted longer because they were less susceptible and less embedded in captured institutions. But as the gap became visible and culturally salient, as "men are the problem" became explicit mainstream messaging, as men started being excluded from society because of lies, as masculinity, or the very thing that makes men men became toxic, men had to start counter-aligning.
 
The passivity is converting into opposition. The withdrawal is becoming active rejection.
 
This doesn't mean men are now "correct" or "free". It might just mean they're being captured by a different machine, one optimized for male grievance instead of female consensus. Andrew Tate didn't emerge from nowhere. Neither did the manosphere. Those are capture systems too, just targeting different psychological vulnerabilities...

Some people will say this is just education: women go to college more, college makes you liberal, simple as that. There's something to this. But it doesn't explain why the gap widened so sharply post-2007, or why it's happening in countries with very different education systems.
 
Some will say it's economic: young men are struggling, resentment makes you conservative. Also partially true. But male economic struggles predate the recent rightward shift, and the female leftward move happened during a period of rising female economic success.
 
Some will point to cultural figures: Tate for men, Taylor Swift for women. But these are symptoms, not causes. They filled niches the machines created. They didn't create the machines.
 
The multi-causal model fits better: biological substrate (differential sensitivity to consensus) + technological trigger (smartphones, algorithmic feeds) + institutional amplification (captured universities, female-dominated fields) + economic incentives (marriage collapse, state dependency) + ideological lock-in (sunk costs, social punishment for defection).
 
No single cause. A system of interlocking causes that happened to affect one gender faster and harder than the other.
If this model is right, some predictions follow.
 
The gap should be smaller in countries with later smartphone adoption or lower social media penetration. (This seems true: the divergence is less extreme in parts of Eastern Europe and much of Africa, though South Korea is a major exception due to other factors.)
 
The gap should narrow among women who have children, since parenthood breaks the institutional feedback loop and introduces competing priorities. (Exit polls consistently show this: mothers vote more conservative than childless women.)
 
The gap should continue widening until the machines are disrupted or the generations age out of them.
 
Here's the part I don't know how to solve: these systems are self-reinforcing. The institutions aren't going to reform themselves. The algorithms aren't going to stop optimizing. The ideology isn't going to admit failure. The male counter-capture isn't going to produce healthy outcomes either.
 
Some women will escape. The ones who have children often do since reality is a powerful solvent for ideology. The ones who build lives outside institutional capture sometimes do.
 
Some men will stop withdrawing or stop rage-scrolling. The ones who find something worth building. The ones who get tired of the simulation.
 
But the systems will keep running on everyone else...
 
The answer isn't "women are emotional" and it isn't "social media bad." The answer is that we built global-scale consensus engines and deployed them on a species with sexually dimorphic psychology. The machines captured the half more susceptible to consensus pressure. Then they started capturing the other half through different mechanisms.
 
We're watching the results in real time. Two failure modes. One graph. Both lines moving away from each other and away from anything healthy.
 
I don't know how this ends. I don't think anyone does. I don't think it will.
 
Both machines are still running."

Links - 25th April 2026 (1 - Iran War)

2026-04-25T09:55:00.000+08:00

Joe Kent on X - "Upcoming negotiations will fail if we don’t restrain the Israelis & stop giving them access to our decision making. The Israelis push for zero uranium enrichment because they know it’s a poison pill for Iran & will result in the war continuing. Iran has committed to not developing or obtaining a nuclear weapon since 2003. A deal can be reached about uranium enrichment lvls & monitoring - ending the war & opening the SOH. This can only happen if we treat the Israelis like the junior partner & put our interests 1st."
𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 🇮🇷 ✡︎ on X - ""Iran has committed to not developing or obtaining a nuclear weapon since 2003" So your entire argument is based on the presumption that a fanatical islamic regime who hates you could never lie? What a relief that you're nowhere near the Trump admin anymore."
Persian Light on X - "Here’s the Iranian regime MP admitting that their intent was to build the bomb from DAY ONE, but they couldn’t keep it a secret."
Persian Light on X - "Never Trust a Mullah. Here’s their own MP straight-up admitting: "We wanted to build the bomb from day one."
This won't stop terrorism supporters, because they want to believe the lie

Dr. Eli David on X - "Araghchi, three weeks ago: “We have capped the range of our missiles to 2,000 km” 👇 Yesterday they fired at Diego Garcia, more than 4,000 km away from Iran. Now do: “We don't want to develop nuclear weapons” 🤡"

Eyal Yakoby on X - "BREAKING: Steve Witkoff reveals what Iran told him behind closed doors. “The Iranians have the 'inalienable right to enrich.' Then we heard they possessed enough 60% enriched material, 460 kilograms, to make 11 atomic bombs.”"

Aimen Dean on X - "I genuinely don’t know whether to laugh or lose my mind anymore at this European hypocritical double standards. When it comes to Vladimir Putin, suddenly it’s Churchillian resolve. No compromise. No dialogue. Arm Ukraine to the teeth, sanction everything that moves, wreck your own energy security if necessary - because tyranny must be confronted. Fine. I actually respect the consistency of that … in isolation. But then you turn around and lecture us - us - the Gulf monarchies, Jordan and Israel, about showing restraint with Tehran? About dialogue? About coexistence? Are you serious? For forty years - forty bloody years - this regime has been waging a shadow war across the region. Militias, proxies, sleeper cells, terror networks, destabilizing entire countries - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen - and threatening the Gulf monarchies, Jordan, and Israel nonstop. This isn’t theoretical. This isn’t abstract. This is lived reality. And yet here come Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, and the rest of the European choir, gently advising us to calm down, de-escalate, and - what was it again? - “give diplomacy a chance.” Diplomacy with who, exactly? With a system that has built its entire regional strategy on plausible deniability and proxy terror violence? You were willing to absorb inflation, energy shocks, and political backlash at home to confront Moscow. You made that choice. You said: this is the price of standing up to a tyrant. So don’t come here and tell us - after decades of being on the receiving end - that we should just sit down, smile politely, and “coexist.” Either you believe in confronting tyranny everywhere .. or you don’t. Macron, Starmer, rest of EU leaders and top bureaucrats should just STFU and spare us the self righteous sanctimonious lectures!🤐🤫"

Gummi on X - "Trump is right when he says the Iran War is pretty much over, and it's because Iran has basically lost any and all leverage over the Strait of Hormuz (as well as its serious looming economic crisis). There's a small (but bombshell) detail from the ceasefire negotiations in Islamabad that has been unreported by the MSM, but was just broken by @aimendean ...and it means that the war is probably done. If you don't know who Aimen is, he's the most insightful and credible analyst of the Middle East I have found to date. He reports that this emerged at the negotiations this weekend and I quote: "The Saudis stood up for the whole GCC against this (Iran control of the Strait of Hormuz). And in fact, they threatened the Iranians that doing so would mean that we (the entire GCC) are not going to export a single drop of oil or LNG, forever, as long as you are in control of this. So technically, it's the GCC telling the world and especially the European Union that we're going to impose an embargo on the rest of the world if the rest of the world is not going to enforce international law when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz". So the GCC is ready to take 22% of global oil and LNG offline...and not just what transits the Strait of Hormuz, but all energy production. This means that Iran has basically lost all the leverage it ever had with regards to the Strait of Hormuz. This is why the US doesn't have to move a muscle to open the Strait and why Iran's rhetoric has become far softer in recent days. Nothing is guaranteed, but the Iranians have almost no cards at this point...which is why Trump is so confident that the Iran War is pretty much over. The Europeans could learn a thing or two from the GCC"

M.A. Rothman | Facebook - "𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐄𝐈𝐙𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍’𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍 — 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐇𝐄’𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄 𝐈𝐅 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐃
Zahra Ghanbari, captain of Iran’s national women’s football team with 𝟐𝟐 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐬, returned to Iran after the Asia Cup in Australia. State media called her return “𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤” — describing her as “𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥.” Iranian authorities gave assurances to the international community that she wouldn’t be penalized. Now she’s on a 𝟒𝟎𝟎-𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 “𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲” 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 and every asset she owns has been confiscated. The backstory: During the Asia Cup, after U.S. and Israeli strikes k!lled Supreme Leader Khamenei, Iran’s women’s squad stood silent during their national anthem before a match with South Korea. Iranian media branded them “𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴.” One player’s mother sent a voice message: “𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘭𝘭 𝘬!𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶.” Australia offered asylum. President Trump warned they “𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘬!𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥” if they went back. Ghanbari went back anyway — trusting the regime’s word. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐞’𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬."
They released them later so according to terrorism supporters there's nothing to worry about

Elder: America's accidental tragedy vs. Iran's deliberate atrocities - "The recent U.S. Tomahawk missile strike in Iran, which reportedly killed 170 school children, has ignited a firestorm of outrage from anti-war critics. Former Bill Clinton White House staffer Keith Boykin used the unintentional tragedy, under investigation by the Pentagon, to write off the three-week-old Iran war as “a disaster for the 170 school children” and “an unmitigated disaster for the world.” Apart from the estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Iranian protesters killed early this year, consider Iran’s intentional history of using its children during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. To repel Saddam Hussein’s invasion, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini mobilized child soldiers — boys as young as nine or 12 — from poor families to serve as human minesweepers. Children were promised martyrdom and given “keys to paradise” to wear around their necks. Iranian commanders sent waves of them, often tying them together with ropes to prevent retreat. They marched onto minefields and detonated explosives with their bodies, clearing paths for tanks and adult troops. Estimates suggest as many as 500,000 children were used in this way, with tens of thousands blown to pieces or mowed down by Iraqi machine guns. Some sources suggest some 100,000 died to clear the field for tanks and soldiers. Survivors recount the horror of being bound together, facing withering fire, their small bodies exploding on mines. Iran’s leaders glorified it as a holy duty. The depravity is staggering. Iran treats its own children like disposable tools, exploiting their poverty and brainwashing them with visions of post-death paradise. What would Iran do with a nuclear bomb? Imagine the mullahs, who chant “Death to America” and fund proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas, armed with nukes and missiles. They would not hesitate to threaten Israel, Saudi Arabia, Europe and America. Iran, since the start of this war, has launched strikes against over a dozen countries, including “neutral” Gulf states. Their proxy wars have already killed thousands. A nuclear Iran could kill millions. The regime’s history of terrorism, from the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing to plots against dissidents abroad, shows they’re not rational actors. Preventing that nightmare is why this war, however messy, is necessary. Appeasement, as with former president Barack Obama’s nuclear deal, only emboldened them. Let’s not forget the civilian toll. During the Obama administration, drone strikes in places like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths, including children. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates that between 300 and 800 civilians were killed in those covert operations (excluding active war zones like Syria and Afghanistan). The Obama administration itself acknowledged between 64 and 116 civilian deaths in non-battlefield strikes from 2009 to 2016, though critics argued the true number was far higher. As with the Tomahawk strike on the Iranian school, the strikes conducted under Obama were not a deliberate targeting of innocents. Those civilian deaths resulted from intelligence errors in remote, hard-to-verify areas. Where was the outrage from the anti-Iran war critics when Obama ordered the attacks that killed civilians and children? Where was the outrage over Iran’s intentional mass killings of its own people, including the use of children and human detonators? According to the 2013 book Double Down: Game Change 2012, Obama reportedly told senior aides, “Turns out I’m really good at killing people. Didn’t know that was going to be a strong suit of mine.” It’s the kind of off-the-cuff remark that, if made by President Donald Trump, would be yet another addition of the ever-increasing list of “Why I hate Trump.” Yes, mourn the 170 children. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. But the fury should be directed to Tehran. That regime has been at war against America for 47 years, including attacks on U.S. bases, killing American soldiers with IEDs with Iran’s fingerprints on them; nuclear sabre-rattling, and lethal regional aggression through its terror proxies. This is the real villain. America fights with rules and restraint. We are civilized. We regret mistakes that cause civilian deaths and show genuine contrition. Iran fights with fanaticism. It uses its own kids as shields and mine detectors. Iran must be stopped. Standing against Iran’s evil protects innocents everywhere. This includes Iran’s own oppressed people, as well as Americans who hate Trump."

‘We’re told that all the West does is evil – and all our enemies do is good’ - spiked - "Melanie Phillips: People in Israel, if they think about Britain at all, are astounded. To be blunt, they think Britain is finished. People in America think Britain is finished. They think it has been Islamised, that it no longer has any idea of what it is or what it should defend. They think it is no longer prepared to stand up for itself or the wider West. It’s over. That’s how they see it, and they’re not entirely wrong. You would have to be completely ignorant of what’s going on in the Middle East to think that this conflict with Iran is an unprovoked war. Or you would have to be so malevolently disposed towards Israel and America – which many people are – that nothing they do could be seen as anything other than wanton aggression. Both of these attitudes are clearly prevalent in Britain today... Several generations have grown up and been taught that the West is evil, racist, colonialist and oppressive, and that nothing it does is good. At the same time, they are taught that anything the developing world does – even if it is objectively bad – is somehow justified. This is the lens through which the world must be understood. Even on 7 October 2023, while Israelis were still being slaughtered in southern Israel by a Hamas-led mob, there were already ecstatic celebrations going on in the West in anticipation of Israel’s downfall. That same madness has continued and is now applied to the conflict with Iran... The narrative the West accepts has not been spun by the mainstream media alone, but by the entire international humanitarian establishment, from transnational courts like the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice to major NGOs. And if the moral framework of the West is shaped by institutions that invert good and evil, then everything becomes reversed. Good is seen as bad, and bad as good. Victims are portrayed as aggressors, and aggressors as victims. Justice is redefined as injustice... [Rama] Duwaji is monstrous. Mamdani is monstrous. He uses Jews to divide the Jewish community of New York – many of whom, I’m afraid to say, voted for him in great numbers. Whether they’re having buyer’s remorse now, I’m not sure. I look at the behaviour of people in Britain and Australia and Canada, and you see the same contorted hatred of Jews. You think: what is going through their minds? Why do they hate Jews? Most of them have never met a Jew. They know nothing about Judaism. They know nothing about the Middle East or Israel. Yet they have been taught that this is what passes for conscience. They observe that their entire peer group thinks this, and a kind of mob hysteria takes over. I’ve read that something similar took hold among educated classes in the 1930s over Stalin. They thought Stalinism would bring about the brotherhood of man and a perfect society. They refused to hear about the millions being slaughtered, imprisoned and abused. How does one account for this? How does one explain that so many in Germany supported Nazism? We can cite economic factors, the politics of the time, the aftermath of war – all valid reasons – but they don’t reach the heart of it. To me, this is very frightening. Despite living in what is supposed to be the most rational age ever known, we are witnessing a complete eclipse of reason. How can that be, when people are more educated than ever?... more people are noticing the alarming rise in anti-Semitism in Britain and across the West – largely because we’re seeing record numbers of antisemitic attacks. But I think it’s wrong to frame this simply as ‘a rise’ in anti-Jewish sentiment. This is something unprecedented. This is the normalisation of hatred of Jews, Israel and Zionism, turning them into social and political pariahs... Jews in Britain, America and Australia believed they were in countries where they were treated well, as equal citizens. They did not see themselves as having a problem. Then, suddenly – particularly in Australia, where the Jewish community had always felt very secure – they were confronted with something completely different. People they had known since childhood stopped speaking to them because of Palestine. People were asking them: ‘Why are you killing babies in Gaza?’ These are Western Jews being held responsible for what people perceive as Israel’s actions. Israel itself was being defamed with false accusations about war crimes, yes, but these were individuals. They were dealing with the consequences in their daily lives – at work, at university, in social settings. I spoke to a businesswoman in Australia who told me about a time she was negotiating a deal. Everything was proceeding normally, and suddenly the person she was negotiating with asked: ‘Why are you killing babies?’ She didn’t know what to do. This was a contract that mattered financially. Should she challenge the accusation and risk losing the deal? Should she try to reason with the person? Should she ignore it? In the end, she let it go. Again and again, I encountered Jews who were asking: ‘How should we respond?’ They don’t have the information. They don’t know the arguments. Even if they did, how do they defend themselves when confronted like that? How do they deal with friends, with colleagues? Most painful of all, how do you deal with a close family member who won’t speak to you any more?... what people are facing is not uniform. The terrible accusations – genocide, apartheid, killing babies – are similar, but the people making them come from different perspectives. They may be left-wing activists, right-wing critics, confused liberals, irreconcilable liberals, friends, family members or colleagues. Each requires a different response."

Pope Leo XIV on X - "God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs. Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples."
Cynical Publius on X - "So it was wrong to liberate Buchenwald?"
William Wolfe 🇺🇸 on X - "“God does not bless any conflict.” Has the…has the >Pope< ever read the Old Testament?"
William Wolfe 🇺🇸 on X - "“God does not bless any conflict.” Has the…has the >Pope< ever read the Old Testament?"
When your real religion is wokeness

Threads - "MAGA is claiming that the Pope is being "political." He's not being political, he's literally DOING HIS JOB. He's standing up for humanity based on Christ's teachings. It was MAGA that politicized Christianity. Don't confuse that."
It's only a violation of the separation of Church and State if it hurts the left wing agenda
Good luck if you're a pastor and you oppose abortion because it's your job

Jeremy Boreing on X - "Donald Trump has been a national politician for a decade. Anyone still reacting to the guy’s negotiating tactics and hyperbole with this sort of hysteria ten years in should be disqualified from political commentary. If he nukes Tehran at 8pm, I’ll admit I’m the crazy one. When he doesn’t, this crew will admit nothing and find some other comment to be scandalized by."
Left wingers are easily propagandised, think emotionally and have no grasp of history despite always invoking it

MAG🔫1775🇺🇸 on X - "U.S. Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) says she is introducing articles of impeachment against U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. So let me get this straight... Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, whose both parents fled Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to escape that tyrannical, murderous regime, is now out here defending the same Iranian mullahs and trying to impeach Pete Hegseth for actually fighting them? Her parents risked everything to get away from the ayatollahs, the oppression, the executions, and the theocracy and now their daughter is siding with the very regime that forced them to run for their lives? If her parents are still alive, they must be absolutely mortified and embarrassed. This isn’t “progressive” foreign policy. This is a daughter betraying the very reason her family came to America in the first place."

bitchuneedsoap on X - "The left is conducting "Hands off Iran" protests. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime murdered 36,500+ protesters in 48 hours three weeks ago. They're protesting to protect a government that just slaughtered its own people for protesting. 🤡 🤡"
The Political Demon on X - "The people who opposed mass genocides are calling for America to not topple a man who order the killing of thousands of protesters. #USA #ForeignPolicy #Iran #Protests #HandsOffIran"

Brian Jacobson on X - "Iran: "I didn't think you had it in you."
US: "I'm your huckleberry."
Iran: "My fights not with you."
US: "I beg to differ. We started a game we never got to finish. Death to America, remember?"
Iran: "I was just fooling about."
US: "I wasn't.""

Mohammed bin Salman ‘secretly lobbied Trump to attack Iran’ - "Many Gulf states will not side with Israel – only Bahrain and the UAE have formal diplomatic ties – but they believe Iran is a destabilising force and a danger to the region... After attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran in 2016, the UAE in 2022, and Saudi Arabia in 2023, the UAE and Saudi Arabia cautiously rekindled ties to boycott Iran."
Clearly, Saudi Arabia is controlled by "Zionists", since we all know this is Israel's war

Cynical Publius on X - "RE: Islamic Culture in the Middle East and Central Asia
I sense that too many Americans do not understand the public face-saving that is integral to Islamic culture in the Middle East and Central Asia. I recall numerous times I dealt with government or military officials in the region where they let me know that what was being said publicly was in no way related to what was actually going on. A leader or politician in these countries will never, ever publicly say the truth if the truth suggests weakness or vulnerability. Never. It just does not happen. They will lie publicly with outrageous bombast, knowing full well that what they are saying is untrue, because their culture demands it. Additionally, they respect the strongman. The strongman who speaks with ferocity and then backs it up with deeds is always respected (or feared, depending on the situation). These are vital concepts to understand when analyzing the public pronouncements of the Iranian regime and the Truth Social declarations of President Trump. The Iranians must save face no matter what. Literally none of their public pronouncements can be trusted as being accurate or truthful. At the same time, when Trump posts things like “ending a civilization,” he is NOT TALKING TO YOU. He is talking to the mullahs in the only language they understand. In fact, as the Democrat/Media Complex derides Trump as an idiot for such pronouncements, HE is the one who is culturally attuned in a very profound way that totally flies over the heads of his critics. These are vital concepts that must be understood to accurately interpret the very public exchange of declarations between Trump and the mullahs."
Left wingers don't understand cultural differences though they keep boasting about encouraging diversity. If you take into account cultural differences (eg the pain chapter in the medical textbook), that's racist. So ultimately diversity is about people who look different who all think identically

Eyal Yakoby on X - "Why does the term “war crimes” only get thrown at Western countries? Iran has been exclusively launching cluster munitions at civilians in Israel and no media outlet seems to be saying “war crime.” Weird."
Only the West is capable of committing war crimes

Wretchard T. Cat | Facebook - "JD Vance says US-Iran talks have ended without a deal after 21 hours of negotiations. If there is no negotiated solution to the problem posed by the Islamic Republic in Southwest Asia, then to paraphrase Donald Trump, "a whole civilization could die". To be fair that dubious accomplishment was largely and accidentally accomplished by France in 1979 when it allowed Khomeini organize from its borders, resulting in the rise of the Islamic Republic that resulted in lasting damage to Iran's ancient civilization. That ethnocide is described below. Khomeini viewed Iran's pre-Islamic past (Achaemenid, Parthian, Sassanid empires; Zoroastrianism) as an era of darkness or barbarism, to be eclipsed by Islamic rule. Universities were shut down for over two years to create "healthy environments for teaching advanced Islamic sciences" by expelling professors, students, and curricula tainted by "Western" or pre-Islamic influences. Persian culture—music, dance, mixed-gender socializing, dogs (as pets), certain poetry, and storytelling—when they conflicted with strict Shia rules, was banned. Not content with wiping out the Persian culture, the austere cleric did a number on the Marxists. Between June 1981 and March 1982, one of the largest massacre of leftists in modern history occurred: thousands of leftists, socialists were killed. The regime saw atheistic Marxism and organized leftist opposition as existential threats incompatible with Shia theocracy. It used torture, forced confessions, show trials, and extra-judicial killings. The Iranian left—once a major revolutionary force—was largely annihilated inside Iran. But it didn't stop there. Iran’s strategy of treating Lebanon and Syria as expendable forward bases against Israel and Sunni powers delivered the former to Hezbollah and precipitated civil war in the latter from which it has yet to recover. Now with the defeat of Islamic Republic's proxies the locus of destruction has returned to Iran again. The beast of war is back in Persia. Unless the Islamic Republic becomes a normal country, forgoing nuclear weapons, thousands of missiles and commerce strangling policies it may be consumed by a civil war abetted by the US and Israel. Groups long oppressed, armed by the CIA and Mossad, and supported by the most advanced drones may rise and overthrow them. The end will be the same but the ruin will be greater. The most destructive conflicts in history are civil wars and the one threatening Iran is no exception. The most desirable solution is one where regime elements accept defeat and make common cause with dissident elements to facilitate a reasonably smooth transition to a new and more peaceful Iran. The virus unleashed from France in 1979 has run its course. It cannot continue exporting mayhem to the Gulf, the Levant and the Red sea. It cannot go on firing missiles at all and sundry. It cannot continue to throttle the commerce of the world. The record of the last 47 years is dolorous and unmistakable. But we should never forget its final victim will be the ancient civilization of Iran. Stop now, negotiate now before its too late."

Links - 24th April 2026 (3 - Indigenous People)

2026-04-24T21:42:00.021+08:00

Unfortunately, I lost my draft links due to a copy/paste error and didn't manage to recover all of them. This is what I found in my Raindrop but inevitably some stuff that didn't go through there (or which did not have the "Indigenous" keyword) is missed. Big Tech censorship is all lost.

Meme - "IN MOST INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES, GENDER ROLES WERE A FOUNDATIONAL PART OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY. These societies were also hierarchical, authoritarian and often patriarchal in authority. PLEASE STOP ROMANTICIZING ANCIENT CULTURES THROUGH A MODERN WESTERN UTOPIAN LENS"

Meme - "Them: "I am a Native American I DEMAND decolonisation! Americans are living on STOLEN LAND!!" Their location: Bangladesh Their account: now deleted"
"Native American Soul @native_ame_soul. Account based in Bangladesh"

John Carter on X - ">Maori show up in New Zealand in 14th century
"We are the indigenous people, this country does not belong to anyone else, whites go home."
>English have been in England since the 5th century
"England belongs to everyone!""

Mark Hemingway on X - [On Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee] "Reading Empire of the Summer Moon really drove this home -- the Comanche started out in Canada, and ended up controlling much of the plains and Texas through total conquest. And they do "land acknowledgments" to the Comanche at SXSW!"

Democrats on X - "On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor our country's first people and celebrate their culture, traditions, and contributions. We remain committed to honoring Tribal sovereignty and working in true partnership to strengthen Native communities every day."
Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 on X - "You really have to pause to reflect on how utterly insane this is. American leftists fundamentally wish that Europeans had never settled in the Americas. Meaning that at a core level they wish the United States never existed. American leftists wish they had never been born."

Governor Tim Walz on X - "Today is Indigenous Peoples Day – a time to honor the 11 sovereign Tribal Nations and robust urban Native communities that continue to enrich our state’s cultural landscape, economy, and heritage. It was a beautiful morning to celebrate on the shore of Bde Maka Ska."
Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 on X - "I’m actually extremely happy that JD Vance is VP over Tim Walz because at least JD is happy that the United States actually exists. Walz feels guilt and shame for the fact that Europeans moved to the Americas and built new countries"

Meme - Vintage Maps @vintagemapstore: "Map of the World's Indigenous Peoples. Designed by Bhabna Banerjee and published by Visual Capitalist, based on data from the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) and World Bank (2010- 2022)."
Wilfred Reilly @wil_da_beast630: "What does this even mean? Why aren't Bantu "indigenous" to Africa, or red-headed post-Yamnaya Celts "indigenous" to Europe? What could they possibly be talking about?"
Adam Menszer @adam_menszer: "Also, the Norse arrived in Greenland before the Inuit."
Dan The Man 🦄💹🧲🍌🐱 on X - "Indigenous just means non European"
Wilfred Reilly on X - "Well...no. Blacks, at least the kind with steel and horses, aren't indigenous to Africa either. It seems to mean "never won a war.""
Mike Lemmer on X - "The ones who lost, apparently. Technically, seems like part of the criteria is self-identification and "distinctly different from everyone else", hence why the Han Chinese aren't identified as indigenous despite having a history in China stretching back before writing."

James O'Keefe on X - "$100 Billion Federal Contracting Scam Exposed: 8(a) Firm Admits to Violating Federal Law, Using Minority-Owned Status as a Front to Obtain $100M+ No-Bid Government Contracts While Outsourcing 80% of the Work. ATI Government Solutions Contract Manager, Melayne Cromwell Admits to Exploiting 8(a) SBA Program Through Pass-Through Scheme & Breaking Federal Law. “I tell you pass throughs are a great thing!” “We only do 20%… The rest goes to subs..." “And remember, there's no competition…”"
Matt Swaim on X - "1. White guys start small tech company,
2. White guys sell 51% of that company to a Native American tribe.
3. Company awarded a no-bid government contract because of their Native American ownership.
4. White guys take a cut. Tribe takes a cut. The remainder of the money is used to subcontract a different—likely not underprivileged—company to do most of the actual work.
5. When the original company reaches funds limit, white guys create new company to sell 51% of the ownership.
Taxpayers paid white guys and a tribe money for very little work. Subcontractor cost was the real cost of the work. Multiply over and over and over."

Native American on X - "YOU'RE ON LOOTED LAND"
Robby Starbuck on X - "Actually more than half the country is made up of legal purchases of land and the rest was conquered, which by the way, is the same way many Native tribes won their land before losing it."

Meme - the Rich: @Duderichy: "remember kids the And to last person to steal something is the rightful owner"
Jordan @JordanTrails: "The Potawatomi took it from the Wagasooki who took it from the Tramikae who took it from the Skopifooga who took it from the Callugpoy who took it from the Jiti-duchawu who took it from the Regathidebo who took it from the Budjekkaq"
Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune: "Chicagoans and Northwest Indiana residents should know they are living on land that once belonged to Potawatomi Indians."

Adam Johnston on X - "Less than 3 minutes into the Ken Burns documentary on the American Revolution, and we get: 1. White people are bad. 2. Native Americans had a centuries-old democracy before British colonists arrived. 3. Benjamin Franklin copied the Native American blueprint."
Julia Claire @ohJuliatweets - "The League of the Iroquois being a framework for the Constitution is pretty basic middle/high school history textbook stuff my guy sorry you didn't pay attention!"
PolitiFact | Viral meme says Constitution 'owes its notion of democracy to the Iroquois' - "The Facebook meme said "the U.S. Constitution owes its notion of democracy to the Iroquois Tribes." There’s a grain of truth here: The Iroquois system of government was known to 18th century leaders in the colonies and the new republic, and it shared some similarities with post-revolutionary attempts at governance. However, the meme overstates the consensus among historians. Major elements of the Iroquois system are altogether absent in the U.S. government, including hereditary, clan-based governance, and the meme focuses on Iroquois influences to the exclusion of European precedents that are at least as important, and likely more so. On balance, we rate the claim Mostly False."
wanye on X - "These guys really need to decide whether the founding fathers were irredeemable racists or woke Native American enthusiasts"

Bugman Hegel on X - "By the way, this dance bears virtually no resemblance to historical native dances and is basically just hip hop and other modern dance styles with feathers. A lot of the resurgence of “traditional” cultural practices and movements of minority groups originate from the 60s and they were recapitulated for political motivations and emotional blackmail. The 1960s ushered in a “retvrn” movement for non-whites that served as the vehicle for white demoralization. It served as the leverage needed to frame “white culture” as containing within it the antithesis of authenticity and character and as only possessing the essence of violence and oppression: “hey look at all of these beautiful cultures with all this vibrancy that you and your oppressive Christian ilk lack.” Predictably, the “retvrn” movements only ever revive the endearing happy feather dances and never make mention of the scalping, perpetual tribal conflict, rapes, murders, human sacrifices, and when they are brought up, they coyly and falsely try to claim that before the white man came and taught the non-whites violence and evil, humanity was basically in an Edenic like state, and any claim to the contrary of “natives lived in peace like harmony,” is framed as post hoc narrativization by the white colonizers which must be “reexamined” and “critiqued from new perspectives and other ways of knowing.” It’s all just one big, fat, f*cking grift."

Skeptic Research Center Team on X - "Happy Thanksgiving! We all have an incredible amount to be thankful for. One of the things we're thankful for is the capacity of human beings to think critically and discard false beliefs in favor of accurate ones. So, in that spirit... Nearly 80% of Black Americans and around 2/3s of Hispanic Americans incorrectly believe that "Prior to the arrival of the European Settlers, Native American/Indigenous tribes lived in peace and harmony." Nearly 1 in 3 Americans identifying as "very liberal," along with around 1 in 3 GenZ and Millennial Americans, incorrectly believe that "People around the world would be living in peace and harmony if it weren't for European colonization." (See charts below) In reality, Europeans didn't destroy the world and we all live today in the most peaceful and abundant era of our species' history!"
The Dark Fiddling Pirate Jussim on X - "You know where Chesapeake Bay got its name? From the Chesapeake Indians. No European ever met one because the Powhatans exterminated them b4 the Europeans arrived."

Court rules University of Washington violated professor’s First Amendment rights - "The University of Washington violated the First Amendment rights of a professor who mocked land acknowledgments in a course syllabus, a federal court has ruled. On Dec. 19, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in a 2-1 decision that the university’s retaliation against Stuart Reges — which included an investigation and the creation of a rival course — violated his First Amendment right to free speech. In 2022, Reges included a satirical “land acknowledgment” in a course syllabus: “I acknowledge that by the labor theory of property the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington.”

Indigenous heritage claims backlog grows despite $18m funding - "Forty-six applications under three key sections of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act filed prior to 2025 have yet to be settled, according to records obtained by this masthead using freedom of information laws. Eight were first lodged with the Environment Department before 2020. Adding in applications made last year, unresolved matters under these sections stood at 63 on December 31, even though the 2024 federal budget gave $18 million “to reduce the backlog”. New applications in 2025 included objections to the Brisbane Olympic stadium and two raising the “threat of drilling exploration” at a remote South Australian tenement once owned by billionaire Clive Palmer... Regis Resources is currently challenging a 2024 decision by then minister Tanya Plibersek to accept evidence of a Blue Banded Bee Dreaming story, which halted the company’s already-approved NSW gold mine project. The Albanese government spokeswoman said it was important to protect culturally significant sites... a total of 17 heritage protection applications had been resolved across the four sections. But there had been 35 new applications, thereby confirming the backlog had increased. The Opposition’s environment spokeswoman Angie Bell said the heritage protection law was “outdated” and “failing both Indigenous communities and the national interest.” Ms Bell said the “government’s failure to deliver these reforms leaves Australia with a messy, unclear and adversarial system riddled with backlogs and failures.”"

Thread by @k_mahlburg on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "Tony Armstrong told ABC viewers the First Fleet committed genocide by intentionally introducing smallpox to Aboriginal people. The foremost historian on the subject disagrees. So does the virus itself. A thread on what happens when ideology replaces evidence 🧵
Armstrong's case rests on one primary source: Captain Watkin Tench, 1791. Tench didn't accuse the British of intentional introduction. He listed it as a speculative origin — then called the idea "unworthy of consideration." That's the foundation of the ABC's genocide claim. The science alone dismantles it. Smallpox cannot survive three weeks at 35°C and 65% humidity. The First Fleet took eight months to reach Sydney Cove. Summer temperatures before the 1789 outbreak regularly exceeded 40°C. The virus would have been dead long before landfall. Not one member of the First Fleet developed smallpox during the voyage or after arrival. Smallpox leaves permanent facial scarring. It's one of the most visually documented diseases in history. If it was on the fleet, someone would have shown it. Then there's Tasmania. If biological warfare was British policy, Tasmania — the site of the most violent colonial conflict — should have seen it deployed. It didn't. Early Tasmanian settlers had zero smallpox cases. Armstrong's theory has no answer for this. Judy Campbell wrote the definitive history on this topic: Invisible Invaders (1998). Her conclusion: "In the absence of any reliable evidence that smallpox was introduced into the Aboriginal population by the British in 1789... other sources must be explored." Those other sources point to Indonesian fishermen. Around 2,000 Macassan sailors traded with Aboriginal communities in the north every year. They had sustained, documented contact with Aboriginal communities across the coastline. The timeline fits. Skilled Indonesian navigators could reach northern Australia from South Sulawesi in 10–15 days — within smallpox's incubation period. The First Fleet took eight months to cover the same distance. The virus cannot survive eight months. This actually happened. Smallpox did reach Aboriginal communities through Indonesian contact — in 1830 and again in 1860. Campbell documented both outbreaks. The transmission route from the north was established and repeatable. The 1789 outbreak followed the same pattern. An Aboriginal man named Jack Davis from Port Essington recorded in 1870 that his people called smallpox "Meeha-meeha" — and that the disease had been on the Cobourg Peninsula "a long time ago." That's the northern coastline. Closest to Indonesia. Furthest from Sydney Cove. British doctors treated Aboriginal smallpox patients after the 1789 outbreak. If the goal was extermination, this requires explanation. Stuart Macintyre and Manning Clark — two of Australia's most eminent historians — both reject the intentional introduction thesis. Armstrong's final claim: Australians won't confront their colonial history. Colonisation is in the national curriculum. The ABC covers it extensively. Tens of thousands march on Australia Day every year. The silence Armstrong describes does not exist. What does exist is a public broadcaster presenting contested ideological claims as settled historical fact — without engaging the most authoritative scholarship on the subject. That's a different problem. And it deserves a direct answer. The problem isn't how much we talk about colonial history. It's how rarely rigorous historical evidence is used by the people loudest in that conversation. Read Luke Powell's excellent coverage of this topic here:"

RAW EGG NATIONALIST on X - "I think we all need to think a little bit harder about what’s going on here and what function these atrocity narratives, tied to the founding of European nations in the New World and Australasia, actually serve. These alternative narratives—the 1619 Project in America, the residential schools hoax in Canada, the First Fleet and smallpox in Australia—all serve one purpose: to undermine the established positive narrative of the foundation of these nations. Simply put, they were illegitimate from the beginning and therefore they deserve to be overthrown. These narratives all establish the case for “reparations” and radical redistribution of land from the descendants of European settlers to so-called “indigenous” peoples and even people who came after the foundation of these nations, so long as they are not white. The truth of these narratives doesn’t matter, only that they gratify the seething resentment of non-whites and the guilty consciences of whites fed a steady diet of self-hatred propaganda for the better part of a century."

White Papers Policy Institute on X - "Native Americans are some of the most enthusiastic for reducing legal immigration. A majority also view diversity as a threat to the United States. They were also the only group besides White Americans to vote for Trump in 2024. 68% cast their ballot for him."

Syracuse lacrosse pulls ‘Burn the Boats’ shirts after complaint term ‘glorifies Indigenous genocide’ - "Syracuse University men’s lacrosse team will stop wearing shirts before games with the phrase “burn the boats” on them after the term was accused of glorifying “Indigenous genocide.” The tradition was only a few months old, implemented by defensive coordinator John Odierna, who sought to inspire the athletes to push as hard as they could through games as part of the team’s national title aspirations, Syracuse.com reported. “The origins of ‘Burn the Boats’ trace far back to the 1500s and Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés, who famously ordered his men to burn their boats as a sign of no retreat in battle,” the outlet reported. The term is also the title of the 2023 book “Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential,” focused on how to eliminate any thoughts of retreat as a successful life strategy."

Colin Wright on X - "🚨NEW: A recent Nature profile highlighted a scholar who made a literal river the first author of her academic papers. The profile, titled “Why I made a river my co-author,” explains that Anne Poelina gives first authorship to “a source with deep knowledge about water — the river itself.” Nature actually treats this as a serious challenge to “Western and colonial views of what knowledge is and who holds it.” It gets...more insane. The river now has an ORCID (a unique researcher ID used to track an academic’s work), so its papers and citations can be catalogued like a normal human scholar. One example (among many) is a paper in PLOS Water. In the paper's author note, we are told the “Martuwarra, RiverOfLife” is “a living Ancestor Being,” that this is a “multi-species approach,” and that the river was made the first author because “without Country, without the River… there would not be a paper.” The abstract tells readers that the paper is “led by the sacred ancestral River, Martuwarra, who is given agency as a published author,” and then the human authors explain their authority is gained through “lived experience,” kinship, friendship, and a “deep and enduring relationship.” The paper concludes by rejecting “colonial approaches” to science, makes appeals to “Mother Earth,” and a calls for an ethic of “care, love, and peace” guided by Indigenous wisdom and planetary citizenship. Our science journals have become laughingstocks."

Bonchie on X - "As the first humans to ever step foot there, Americans are indigenous to the Moon. It would be a violation of our human rights for any other country to colonize it by going there and violating our sovereign right to the land."

Francynancy on X - "South Australia was the highest no vote of any Australian state in the indigenous voice referendum. 64.17% said No to the voice to parliament yet the Malinouskas government went ahead regardless. Now calls are growing to repeal the SA Voice after two delegates were elected with just 15 votes and six female delegates were elected without needing any votes to satisfy gender requirements."

Will Australia ever effectively "Close the Gap" for Indigenous Australians? : r/australian - " Not until Aboriginal culture changes. That's the big elephant in the room that won't be discussed. The problem isn't money, it's trying to make a thousand year old, very different, very problematic culture fit into a modern western society neatly. It never will until it changes... The ancient hunter gatherer culture is just fundamentally incompatible with modern culture and morals. For example, look up humbugging, attitudes to women, children, group conformity, kinship duties, work ethic, private property, sorry business, lateral violence, anti-accumulation, demand sharing"
"It's funny because this is all the stuff the Close the Gap Initiative talks about yet it all seems to get ignored. You also left out one of the big ones "Pay back": they never let go of a grudge. I.e. guy breaks into a house and dies fighting the owner, the relatives come in to burn the house down and kill the occupants. Doesn't matter who was in the right. Only that there is revenge."

Graham Platner for Senate on X - "The first bill I intend to introduce as Senator: true sovereignty for the Wabanaki tribes, whose rights have been trampled on for far too long, and the extension of federal beneficial laws."
𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖊 🕯 on X - "The United States negotiated with the Wabanaki tribes to settle their land claims. It was fair, even-handed, even generous. Among other benefits, we gave them over $300 million in today's money. And ever since, the tribes have been trying to renege on their end of the deal."

Pope Leo Double Standards / Apologising for Being White

2026-04-24T18:42:00.005+08:00

"When MUSLIMS Destroy EUROPE *sleeping Pope*
When MUSLIMS Slaughter CHRISTIANS in AFRICA *sleeping Pope*
When MUSLIMS Burn CHURCHES Worldwide *sleeping Pope*
When AMERICA Bomb MUSLIM Countries *upset, hectoring Pope waving finger"

Daniel Concannon @TooWhiteToTweet: ""No one ever asked you to apologize for being White." No, it was just an entire anti-White industrial complex telling us our very existence is unacceptable."
"No, It's Not OK to Be White Fazer Domino
Why 'It's OK To Be White' Is Racist Newsbroke
No, It's Actually Not Okay to Be White and Here Are 3 Reasons Why Laura M. Quainoo
No, It's Not OK Why It's Not Okay to Be White Kevin Luo
Actually, It's Not "OK to be White" Tim Wise
The trouble with saying 'it's okay to be white' THE CONVERSATION"

Links - 24th April 2026 (2 - #MeToo)

2026-04-24T15:57:00.000+08:00

Meme - Coddled affluent professional @feelsdesperate: "We find out the Second Gentleman knocked up the nanny and slapped around a girlfriend and they’re still trotting him out for interviews. I’m enjoying the Post-MeToo Era."
Tim Miller @Timodc: "Talked to @SecondGentleman about how @VP has encouraged him to lead in the fight against the crisis of anti-semitism and how seriously they would take it in the White House."

🇺🇸Travis🇺🇸 on X - "I never knew just how much Justin Bieber went through in Hollywood. I hope he exposes them all, especially Diddy and his friend."
No one cares about men

I’m not surprised people are suing a dating app company – our addiction to swiping makes us miserable - "a lawsuit was brought by six people in the US against Match Group, the company behind dating apps such as Tinder, Hinge and Match. The suit blames dating apps for game-like tactics that, they say, contribute to addictive behaviour, making miserable swiping addicts of us all. Match Group denies this, calling the claims “ridiculous”. But anyone who, like me, has spent years on and off the apps knows that there are clear parallels between love algorithms and online gaming – only with dating apps, we are the commodities. Addiction may have been baked into these apps from creation. Tinder’s co-founder confessed to being inspired by psychology experiments on pigeons. Experts have highlighted how the gamification of dating apps releases neurochemicals such as dopamine and serotonin, which are responsible for boosting your mood, into the brain. It’s unsurprising, then, that dating apps can feel so addictive. As the lawsuit claims, we’re being programmed to constantly seek a dopamine hit from each swipe in what it calls a “pay-to-play” loop. That’s probably why the “most compatible” feature on Hinge always brings up someone you likely couldn’t see yourself with in a million years, and why when it’s time to delete the apps, you’re offered alternatives such as “freeze your account” or “reset”. Dating apps are profit-driven, not powered by love, community or kindness. Yet even though most of us know the pitfalls we still choose to participate, even at the cost of our mental health. Dating app addiction has wreaked havoc on my life, and on those of my friends in their late 20s and early 30s. Apps, in my view, are responsible for entrenching a very particular physical “type” I look for when I am dating, which I think is dangerous and reductive. They have also cost me time and money. In my mid-20s, when outsourcing love to the algorithm still felt thrilling and not at all nausea-inducing, I would pay for premium features on Hinge (“more likes”) or Tinder (“rewind” swipes), only for my investment to come to nothing (selling premium subscriptions is the cornerstone of most apps’ business models). Last year, I became concerned when one 30-year-old female friend bounced between a series of failed casual relationships on Hinge, but refused to stop using it. “Am I addicted? Yes,” she says bluntly when I ask her about her usage. “Has my mental health been affected by them? Yes. I plummeted into the depths of depression last year. I felt as if men were seeing me solely as a commodity.”... The very notion of romantic love (and gender roles) has undergone a radical transformation since my parent’s generation. Women have enjoyed a sexual revolution and there has been a total rethinking of the economic rationale behind partnership, but also, I would argue, a breakdown in basic respect and communication – thanks in part to dating app culture. Nobody knows what they want, how long they want it for, or how to ask for it. Having a digital smörgåsbord of global partners at our fingertips convinces us there’s always a better option if we just keep on looking."
When you frame picking up women offline as sexual harassment, this is what happens

Hollywood Forced Ewan McGregor to Have an 'Intimacy Coach' on Set While He Filmed a Sex Scene. With his Smokeshow Wife.

Coddled affluent professional on X - "The same sort of libs who want to outlaw dating in the workplace assure me it’s normal to knock up the babysitter. Also, when dad knocks up the babysitter it may be an opportunity for everyone in the family to undergo therapeutic personal growth."

Meme - 2 women: "How is it we are in a stadium full of men and still not one man came up to hit on us or even talked to us"

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art explains why it refuses to take down "Thérèse Dreaming" by Balthus - "American art lovers have their knickers in a twist with one painting hanging at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thérèse Dreaming by the Polish-French painter Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski de Rola) depicts 11-year-old Thérèse Blanchard sitting carelessly, lost in deep thought. The oil painting has been exhibited in various museums around the world—from London to Tokyo—without causing a big stir. It was donated to the Met in 1998 and now hangs in its modern and contemporary art gallery. At a time when the US is besieged by an almost daily update of famous sexual aggressors and the people behind the #MeToo movement were named TIME Person of the Year, Balthus’s painting stirred one outraged viewer to petition the country’s largest public art institution to remove the painting. “I was shocked to see a painting that depicts a young girl in a sexually suggestive pose,” wrote Mia Merrill in her online petition. “It is disturbing that the Met would proudly display such an image…The Met is, perhaps unintentionally, supporting voyeurism and the objectification of children. Merrill, who heads the HR department at a finance start-up, suggested that Thérèse Dreaming be replaced by a work created by a female artists in the same genre. She later published an update saying that she would settle for an explicit warning written on the wall text... Weine’s statement is a timely reminder of the museum’s purpose in daily life. There’s something that’s gone awry with how many Americans “consume” museums. With more institutions catering to the multi-tasking, social media-savvy generation, going to a museum today has become a drive-by excursion. How often do we catch ourselves spending more time with the wall text than actually looking at the art? It’s heartening that Merrill was so bothered by Balthus’s painting to take action against it. Presenting difficult and provocative ideas is part of a museum’s purpose. In some eyes, Balthus’s canvas is simply a picture of freedom, of that precious age before crippling self-consciousness takes hold of a young woman. “She is at home in her youth. She has the countenance of someone who knows other things are coming, eventually,” Jen George writes in the Paris Review last year. “When asked about the provocative poses of preadolescent girls in his work, Balthus said, “It is how they (young girls) sit.” Asking museums to post disclaimers on the wall can drown viewers in information and contextual caveats. Too much information robs us of the opportunity to have strong ideas about a work of art, like Merrill did.”
From 2017. Too bad, with BLM, museums succumbed to the woke wave

Rona Wang on X - "went to a wedding & watched this guy ask the bride if the maid of honor was single"
Emma Camp on X - "I do not understand how this is remarkable Have we just fully entered the phase where any kind of IRL attempt to flirt with someone is taboo?"
Ben Dreyfuss on X - "The whole point of going to weddings as a single person is to hook up with another single person. The gen z prudes are now attacking one of this country’s most cherished traditions"
Wilfred Reilly on X - "Bit weird to say, but at some point people are going to have to start standing up for sex and violence. No, it is not "weird" to hit on the maids or men at a damn wedding. No, it is not "creepy" to expect your lover to fairly often want to sleep with you. No, it is not "traumatic abuse" to spank a kid. These therapy raised rabbits seem incapable of negotiating the most banal environments without "trauma.""
Geology Jill on X - "Yet they fetishize traditional non-Western societies, where sex and violence are a big part of existence."

Meme - Richard Hanania @RichardHanania: "Stormy Daniels originally treated her affair with Trump casually, but now describes it as a great trauma. NYT ensures us that “experts” say this is normal. You can see how mental illness has taken over the culture by the way women are encouraged to retcon their sexual pasts."

Meme - "That moment when you realize Oprah didn't bring you here for a new car"
"Oprah Winfrey introduces young actress to Harvey Weinstein"

Meme - ""I was petrified" - Gwyneth Paltrow *friendly with Harvey Weinstein*
"His behavior was outrageous" - Kate Beckinsale *friendly with Harvey Weinstein*
"I kept saying no" - Ashley Judd *friendly with Harvey Weinstein*
"It was a nightmare" - Asia Argento *friendly with Harvey Weinstein*
"Everyone knew" *3 actresses, Uma Thurman, Heidi Klum and one other, kissing Harvey Weinstein*

Why Have Women Become Much More Liberal Than Men? - Daniel Cox - YouTube - "'With the #metoo movement... one of the things we heard from these young women again and again was how formative that experience was you know growing up and sort of seeing this happen in real time. Uh uh there there I think was a source of like uh we're in this together. Um this idea of kind of shared or link fated. That um you know if this thing was happening to this person it could happen to me too... and then for for young men what was really interesting is a lot of them said like well this is not really about me. Uh this is about celebrity or this is like the kind of malevolent dudes out there who are kind of you know awful and I have nothing to do with them'...
'Two-thirds of young women believe that in most or every way what happens to women in the US will have a bearing on their own lives'...
'Gallup tracked the how um how women and men felt about the position of women in society, were they satisfied with the way women were treated. And over the last like 20 or so years roughly similar numbers of men and women said that yeah they were basically satisfied with how women were being treated. And then around 2016, 2017, uh women just plummeted. So they were like 61% uh 16, 17, and then today they're in the like the mid-40s'..
'Despite the fact that you've got rising socioeconomic success for women. Improvements in education, graduation from University, two women for every one man completing a four-year US college degree, women earn 1,111 pounds more between the ages of 21 and 29 on average than men do etc etc etc'...
'You can't look objectively at whether it's economic data or data about politics um or just understand the way the culture is evolved and how we treat issues like uh sexual harassment and discrimination and not think that things are better for women than they were, you know in the 1970s. But interestingly um some sociologists have actually looked at the way young women felt in the 70s versus today in terms of how much gender discrimination was a problem and how much they experienced it and actually women today feel like they have things worse'...
'I'm not in an office but what it feels like from at least friends that work there, um, their felt senses that trepidation, that they're they're in a lot of fear... it allowed her to use other people's experiences to form a sense of putting a guard up. I'm not convinced that putting a guard up based on other people's experiences, especially if it's a guy glancing over in the gym, or you know like some social media campaign, that kind of maybe makes mountains out of molehills. I'm not convinced that that forms uh robust psychologically healthy women. I think that that makes them hypervigilant, scared of lots of men, always on edge and that can't be good for them either... that's not the sort of uh environment I want for women to inhabit from other women'
'Yeah and I think one of the problems is and we could talk about this a lot is taking so many of our cues from social media right versus our own personal experience... the men in my life you know uh siblings uh cousins friends are all great. Um but I think overall men are kind of terrible. And well where are you getting that perspective from? Because your real world experience is actually telling you a very different story. But well I'm I'm seeing these terrible men online and well what what kind of, you know what do you think the algorithm is doing? Is it, is it putting you know the kind of boring polite respectful men, are you think they're overrepresented on social media? Of course not'...
'People identify as bisexual but still date heterosexually mostly'...
'Oh you know professors are turning people uh into marxists and atheists. And the professors that I know says that we can't even get these kids to read the damn syllabus... I think what's going on there is is probably that uh for on a lot of these campuses the the peer environment is exercising pretty significant influence. And so your your peers, politics and then also the the longer trajectory in terms of where you end up. So if you go to college you're more likely to end up in a city um possibly a coastal city that and then uh among you work in places with lots of other college educated folks'
Clearly women in the 70s were stupid and didn't know they were oppressed. We must accept unconditionally and unquestioningly all claims of oppression made by "minorities"

Elliot Page had sex with Juno costar Olivia Thirlby during filming - "The actor, 36, reveals in the book (out now) that he and his Juno costar Olivia Thirlby had "sex all the time" while filming their Oscar-winning 2007 movie. Page says that he shared a hotel room with his mother while shooting the film in Vancouver, which "made it complicated when I met someone, the first woman I had a suitably consensual sexual relationship with."... Page, who was assigned female at birth and came out publicly as a trans man in 2020, previously revealed while promoting Pageboy how he had a past relationship with Kate Mara, who had a boyfriend at the time. "The first person I fell for after my heart was broken was Kate Mara," Page says. "She had a boyfriend at the time, the lovely and talented Max Minghella [The Social Network, The Handmaid's Tale].""
So many layers one can use to problematise this. Her greater fame/her being the star, workplace sexual assault, her being "a man"...

Megan Thee Stallion Denies Allegations She Forced Cameraman Watch Her Have Sex - "A former cameraman for rap star Megan Thee Stallion is suing her for harassment and for creating a “hostile, abusive work environment,” according to documents obtained by NBC News. Emilio Garcia told NBC that he worked for the star, whose real name is Megan Pete, starting in 2018 through June 2023. Megan denied the allegations soon after, with her attorney, Alex Spiro, telling Page Six: “This is an employment claim for money — with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her. We will deal with this in court.”... After that, Garcia said that she fat-shamed him and made comments about how he needed to “spit his food out” and called him a “fat bitch.” He expressed his surprise at hearing these things from “someone who advocates about loving your body,” and added that the “harassment was so severe or pervasive” that the working conditions became “intolerable.” To make matters worse, in addition to the treatment, according to Garcia’s filing, his pay was also affected. He alleged that he was downgraded from a monthly flat rate to being paid per task, and had an overall decrease in work requests from the rapper."
Don't believe victims when they are men!

Kate McCullough on X - "In this piece, I look at what we know and don’t know about a McMaster University department plunged into chaos in 2020 after slew of sexual violence allegations triggered several internal investigations and two criminal trials."
Jonathan Kay on X - "What “we know” is that @McMasterU’s psych dept was plunged into a 2-year witch hunt over fake sexual assault accusations, in large part bcuz your newspaper published a 6K word love letter to a woman whose claims were debunked in open court. now you want to do it all over again?"

Why Men Can't Write About Sex Anymore - "Back in the early 1990s, I was one of the thousands of young, idealist Gen X Americans who moved to freewheeling post-Communist Prague to relive their version of “Paris of the 20s.”... Though there were plenty of women among the wine-sozzled bohemians of our expat massive, Henry Miller’s assertion that “Sex is one of the nine reasons for reincarnation, and the other eight are unimportant,” was embraced by us all, regardless of gender. Men read poems called “Women who moan” at raucous expat readings, while girls wrote about their experiences with Czech lovers twice their age. Sex was the social currency of our close-knit literary community, and writing with brutal honesty about sexuality was a badge of honor. We were in decadent Prague after all, where writer Milan Kundera had ripped back the Iron Curtain to reveal its playful, sensual underbelly in novels like The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Fast-forward a quarter of a century and it feels like we’ve all become characters in dystopian Samizdat novels, our actions proscribed by the progressive thought police who wield power over our lives and careers. Sexuality, which was once seen as liberating, and the purest expression of a free society, is now perceived through the lens of sexual harassment and the #metoo movement. Male desire has become entangled with the contentious issue of consent, so that its every expression has the potential to be exploitative. Having sex for a male in America now is like driving drunk: things might work out fine despite the risk, but you might just as easily crash and burn. When I was in New York last month, close male friends were reevaluating their entire sexual history, and wondering whether any of their past actions could be seen as rapey by today’s standards. This was during the contentious hearings on the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh who was accused of possible misdemeanors in high school! It’s no wonder then that it had men scanning their priapic pasts with urgent fear. A friend who had written an innocent and sweet essay about losing his virginity for a big name American magazine years ago was now fearful that it might be used against him in this new climate of sexual inquisition. It’s no wonder that bad boy male writing has almost completely disappeared from contemporary literature. There are no young Phillip Roths creating lecherous literary heroes like Professor David Kepesh from The Dying Animal who teaches his 24 year-old student how to be his “filthy little whore.” There is no Henry Miller glorying in his sexual adventures in hedonistic Paris of the 1920s. Junot Diaz was one of the few contemporary male writers who dared to write honestly about his sexuality in stories like “How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie),” but his reputation has been tarnished recently by allegations of sexual harassment. Though he has retained his teaching position at MIT, his claws have been sheared for now. Instead, contemporary male literary icons like Jonathan Franzen, Paul Auster, and Don DeLillo write cynical, despairing novels that read as a lament on the alienation and anomie of modern America. Where is the joie de vivre, the laughter and mirth and raw sexuality of their predecessors? It now falls to female novelists like Gone Girl’s Gillian Flynn to write openly and dangerously about sex and desire. It’s a comment on the West today that bad girl writers are more prevalent than their male counterparts... by tarnishing male desire as “exploitative,” the conversation today has become too one-sided, with the pendulum swinging to the other extreme. Today, men are fearful of writing about their darker desires and urges, and rightfully so. Ian Buruma, the former editor of the New York Review of Books, was ousted for publishing an article hostile to the #metoo movement. In this fearful and inquisitorial atmosphere, sex is dangerous, and writing about sex is doubly dangerous. The neutering of male desire in literature and the arts has, however, also spilled out into real life. There has been a rash of articles recently in publications like the Atlantic—and even the New York Times, which has been a tireless cheerleader for the #metoo movement—bemoaning the decrease in sexual activity among Millennials and other Americans. The Atlantic article was originally entitled “The Sex Recession,” while Ross Douthat’s New York Times column was headlined “The Huxley Trap” and talked about the taming of the sexual revolution. According to a November 2017 Economist/YouGov poll, 17 percent of Americans ages 18-29 now believe that inviting a woman out for a drink constitutes sexual harassment... At this rate, America will desperately need more immigrants to sustain its population... While the New York Times talks about various factors, including the alienation caused by technology and social media, the criminalization of male sexual desire is surely a powerful factor to explain the fall in marriages, and birth rate. In today’s climate of fear and incessant talk about sexual harassment, we desperately need more—not less—graphic, lewd, and dangerous writing about sexuality from confident men unafraid to bare their fantasies without fear of retribution. That writing could set an example for young millennial men unsure of how to express their burgeoning sexuality, and perhaps help foster healthier relationships among America’s alienated youth... It’s a sad comment on contemporary America that a young Henry Miller’s salacious writings would be just as “shocking”—and possibly “cathartic”—today as when they were first published in the 1930s, in the shadow of rising fascism and Freudian repression"

Never-before seen footage from Rebel Wilson and Sacha Baron Cohen's 2016 film shows she was on board with THAT butt scene and casts doubt on her claim he sexually harassed her - "Footage from the sex scene in the 2016 film where Rebel Wilson claims Sacha Baron Cohen told her to 'stick her finger up' his butt seems to show that the action was actually part of the script and the actress was on board with the scene. Several never-before-seen clips from the movie The Brothers Grimsby that failed to make the final cut have been obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com and they depict Wilson and Cohen's characters using a cellphone to film themselves getting intimate. But Wilson, 44, is sticking by the claims she made in her upcoming memoir, Rebel Rising, where she says that Cohen, 52, requested she 'stick your finger up my a**' while his 'male friends' stood around laughing and recording on an iPhone. Clips from the scripted scene, which was read and approved by Wilson before filming began, tell a different story, insiders from the movie say... Still on camera but out of her character, Wilson can be heard discussing the blocking, telling Cohen, 'I'll do a slap [of your butt] and I'll do a – going down the crack', to which Cohen replies, 'It's almost as if you're going to ram your fingers inside.' She answers, 'Yeah.' Indeed, producers tell DailyMail.com Wilson was well aware of the intimate scene at the time she accepted the role of Dawn and she was 'fully engaged...confidently kissing Nobby'... Wilson's version of events has changed several times over the years, from claiming the incident took place in a room with 'male friends' recording, to being 'summoned' by Cohen and told on the spot that they needed to film an additional scene... Several people who worked on the movie and who were present during the filming of the scene have come forward to tell about their experiences on set, supporting Cohen. They insist that Wilson approved scripts in advance, confirmed that the 'finger in butt' direction came from the script, and say everyone on set acted professionally... Insiders from the movie say only around five people were present for the shooting of the scene. They included both men and women. One film insider suggests that Wilson was so comfortable with the scene that she took 'ownership of the production' and 'dictated ''rolling'' to the production team even though she wasn't a director or producer on the film. She was fully engaged.' Another production source said Wilson 'had the power and agency to withdraw from the film, or to have refused to have participate in the sex scene. She did not.' The actress has also claimed that Cohen pressured her to go nude, writing, 'It felt like every time I'd speak to SBC, he'd mention that he wanted me to go naked in a future scene. I was like, ''Ha, I don't do nudity, Sacha.'... Months later, Wilson even flew to South Africa to reshoot a sex scene and never expressed she was uncomfortable, they said... Ironically, Wilson appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2019 when she told the host that she stuck her finger in actor Tom Hardy's rear without consent while filming the 2012 movie This Means War... Many familiar with the filming contend that Wilson only made the allegations when she realized most of the scenes she improvised ended up on the cutting room floor"

The Southern Poverty Law Center Is Everything That’s Wrong With Liberalism

2026-04-24T12:27:00.000+08:00

This is a good time to post this 2019 article. I guess we know what they did with all their money now. Notably, this criticism comes from the left, so left wingers can't dismiss it so easily. But then, the brand name has power - a left winger once told me that if the SPLC said The Economist and New York Times were hate groups, he would trust it:

The Southern Poverty Law Center Is Everything That’s Wrong With Liberalism

"The Southern Poverty Law Center, the wealthiest civil rights organization in the country, has ousted its founder, Morris Dees, and president, Richard Cohen, amid unspecified allegations of workplace misconduct by Dees. Dees had been with the organization since creating it in 1971, while Cohen had joined in the mid-’80s, and the SPLC’s shake-up can be seen as part of the MeToo reckoning in which conduct that was accepted for years is finally being dealt with appropriately.

But the organization has long been dysfunctional in even deeper ways, and the story of Dees and the SPLC is useful for illustrating some of the worst and most hypocritical tendencies in American liberalism. If we understand the full extent of what went wrong in this organization, we’ll better understand the ways in which a shallow “politics of spectacle” can take hold, and see the kinds of practices that need to be categorically rejected in the pursuit of progressive change.

The Southern Poverty Law Center perfectly shows social change done wrong. It was a top-down organization controlled by an incompetent and venal leadership.* It was hypocritical in the extreme, preaching anti-racism while fostering a racist internal culture and being led by men whose own commitment to equality was questionable. It didn’t care about listening to and incorporating the viewpoints of the people it was supposed to serve. It was obscenely rich in a time of terrible poverty, and squandered much of its considerable wealth. Finally, it picked the wrong political targets, and focused on symbolic over substantive change. Each of these practices goes beyond the SPLC, and is endemic to a certain kind of “elite liberalism” that desires “progress” without sacrifice. It is the kind of liberalism recognized by Phil Ochs in 1966, and its chief characteristics are a deep hypocrisy and a lack of willingness to seriously challenge the status quo.

A 1994 Montgomery Advertiser report on the center confirmed that “no blacks have held top management positions in the center’s 23-year history, and some former employees say blacks are treated like second-class citizens.” Nor did the SPLC change course after that exposé. Apparently “there were sporadic pledges to try to address these inequities, but they persisted” and a former board member said she did not recall “any concrete steps that the board took to address” workplace racial disparities. In 2013 the composition of the organization’s leadership was still blindingly white.

The Advertiser quoted black Harvard Law School graduate Christine Lee, who interned there, saying “I would definitely say there was not a single black employee with wh.om I spoke who was happy to be working there. Of 13 black former employees the Advertiser contacted, 12 had said they “either experienced or observed racial problems inside the law center… Three said they heard racial slurs, three likened the center to a plantation and two said they had been treated better at predominantly white corporate law firms.” Dana Vickers Shelley, formerly one of the highest-ranking black employees at the center, commented that “They weren’t even trying to be diverse in terms of reflecting the people who they served.”

Some of the racism was egregious. A paralegal heard Dees comment of black women that “I like chocolate.” When a black employee, Dana Vickers Shelley, left the organization, president Richard Cohen asked her what her subordinate, also a black woman, intended to do next. Ms. Shelley said she didn’t know. Cohen’s reply shocked her: “His response to me that I will never forget was, ‘Well, the 13th Amendment says she can do whatever she wants.’” Former employees have reported that “racially callous remarks at the center were not uncommon, and that professional voices of people of color were often sidelined, affecting the center’s work and priorities.”...

The “workplace blindspot” is common among wealthy liberals. I can’t tell you how many friends I’ve talked to who have worked at “progressive” nonprofits that mistreated and exploited their employees. The boss at a women’s rights nonprofit does not notice that they are cruelly bullying women every day, or the head of a pro-labor organization demands absurd hours from their workers...

Dees even “earned cash by doing some legal work for the Ku Klux Klan.”...

Dees was as successful at selling causes as he had been at selling cakes. Fueled by Dees’ direct mail campaigns, the Southern Poverty Law Center brought in million after million. Last year it took in $136 million, and it now sits upon an endowment of nearly half a billion dollars. Yet even after some within the organization thought it should stop raising money, and despite promises by Dees that it would do so, its fundraising pitches in the mail became ever more desperate and frantic. A 1995 pitch, sent when the SPLC was sitting on more than $60 million in reserves, told potential donors that the “strain on our current operating budget is the greatest in our 25-year history.” All sorts of tricks were tried, and a former Dees associate reported that the organization once used about six different low-value stamps on envelopes, to give the appearance that it could barely afford to cobble together 35 cents of postage.

(Sometimes all of this became downright grotesque. In the 1980s the SPLC sued the Klan over the lynching of Michael Donald, and won a $7 million verdict for Donald’s mother. The Klan, however, had by this time diminished to almost nonexistence. Its sole asset was a warehouse that was sold for $55,000, which was all Donald’s mother got. She apparently used a large portion of this to pay back an interest-free loan that the SPLC itself had extended her. Afterward, the SPLC began using photos of Michael Donald’s corpse in its fundraising letters, raising $9 million off the case. Donald’s mother evidently saw none of this money, though when she died barely a year later Morris Dees was quoted in her obituary praising her bravery.)

Yet the SPLC has been criticized for decades for doing very little with its vast resources. It spent less than a third of the money it took in on its programs. (The NAACP, by contrast, spent nearly everything it took in. So did the Southern Center For Human Rights.) A death penalty lawyer who collaborated with the center said: “I was naive at first… I thought the Southern Poverty Law Center raised money to do good for poor people, not simply to accumulate wealth.” The SPLC did spend $15 million on its current office building, a 150,000 square foot behemoth designed by a New York architecture firm and dubbed the “Poverty Palace.”...

The SPLC is bringing in over $360,000 every day and only spending a fraction of it on its legal work.

In fact, Dees never even wanted to run a poverty law firm. In a 1988 article in The Progressive, he was explicit: “We’re not a public interest law firm, not a legal aid society taking any case that comes in off the street. We only want the precedent-setting cases… Maybe our name is part of the problem.” But the United States is in need of more public interest law firms! The kind of representation poor people receive in criminal cases is often horrendous, and legal aid is woefully underfunded. Many of the SPLC’s donors surely think they’re donating to a public interest law firm. In fact, they’re mostly donating to an ever-growing giant pile of money, a portion of which is used to finance some progressive legal work...

What the SPLC doesn’t do with its money is a problem. But there is also a problem with what it does do. The story here has been told many times: After beginning as something vaguely resembling a “poverty law” firm in the ’70s, and winning a number of important anti-discrimination fights, the SPLC turned much of its attention to going after “hate groups.” It pursued the Ku Klux Klan in court on behalf of its victims, winning large judgments. Over time, it began to track “hate” across the country, and it now has a 15-person staff producing “intelligence reports” on hate groups.

The SPLC’s shift toward focusing on hate groups was controversial within the organization. Some felt that it would make sense to focus on more systemic problems, like mass incarceration, rather than targeting (usually small) far-right fringe groups. But Dees saw an opportunity for both publicity and fundraising, and he was right. The organization mostly stopped taking death penalty cases (too controversial with donors) and instead focused on neo-Nazis, a group that pretty much everyone despises.

The SPLC devotes a phenomenal amount of effort to chronicling “hate” across the country. Its quarterly “Intelligence Report,” a beautifully-produced glossy magazine about hate groups, is mailed out by the hundreds of thousands. It writes long profiles of hate figures documenting their every bigoted utterance, and keeps tabs on hate groups through its signature “Hate Map.”

There has long been controversy over the SPLC’s “hate watch” activities. Conservatives are constantly complaining that they have been unfairly labeled racists, with mainstream conservative organizations like the Family Research Council landing themselves on the SPLC list. When Maajid Nawaz, a controversial critic of Islamism, was labeled an anti-Muslim extremist by the SPLC, he sued and received a $3 million settlement, plus an apology. One problem here is that the definition of “hate” is very unclear. It supposedly means having “beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people,” but in that case I’m a member of a hate group myself, since I despise bourgeois liberals. The SPLC includes “black nationalism” on its list of hate categories, which means that every time it reports the number of hate groups in America it is including the “New Black Panther Party” (and doing precisely what FOX News did in its own disgraceful reporting on the supposed threat posed by roving gangs of New Black Panthers).

The biggest problem with the hate map, though, is that it’s an outright fraud. I don’t use that term casually. I mean, the whole thing is a willful deception designed to scare older liberals into writing checks to the SPLC. The SPLC reported this year that the number of hate groups in the country is at a “record high,” that it is the “fourth straight year” of hate group growth, and that this growth coincides with Donald Trump’s rise to power. There are now a whopping 1,020 hate groups around the country. America is teeming with hate.

Let’s dig into this number a bit. The first thing you should note is that it’s meaningless. The SPLC consistently declines to identify how many members these hate groups have. It just notes the number of groups. Without knowing how large they are, what does it mean that they exist? Are they one person? 1000? Hypothetically, the number of hate groups could be dropping while the number of people in hate groups was actually rising—say, for instance, small organizations were consolidating into a large, powerful national organization. Or it could be the other way around: The number of hate groups could be increasing because the neo-Nazis were becoming weak and fragmented and splitting into tinier and tinier units.

In fact, when you actually look at the hate map, you find something interesting: Many of these “groups” barely seem to exist at all. A “Holocaust denial” group in Kerrville, Texas called “carolynyeager.net” appears to just be a woman called Carolyn Yeager. A “male supremacy” group called Return of Kings is apparently just a blog published by pick-up artist Roosh V and a couple of his friends, and the most recent post is an announcement from six months ago that the project was on indefinite hiatus. Tony Alamo, the abusive cult leader of “Tony Alamo Christian Ministries,” died in prison in 2017. (Though his ministry’s website still promotes “Tony Alamo’s Unreleased Beatles Album.”) A “black nationalist” group in Atlanta called “Luxor Couture” appears to be an African fashion boutique. “Sharkhunters International” is one guy who really likes U-boats and takes small groups of sad Nazis on tours to see ruins and relics. And good luck finding out much about the “Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology,” which—if it is currently operative at all—is a tiny anti-Catholic cult based in Shawano, Wisconsin.

Even when the groups are functional, they’re mostly pitiful. A Portland group called the Hell Shaking Street Preachers tried showing up to the local pride parade and simply got laughed at and glitter-bombed. The websites mostly look like they haven’t been updated since the Geocities days. (See, for example, the masterpiece design job on The Divine International Church Of The Web.) The “Wotan’s Nation” site still has its Lorem Ipsum text. I did stumble across one group, a terrifying-looking neo-Nazi biker gang called the Aryan Nations Sadistic Souls, who were definitely serious racists and looked as if they were probably up to no good. But in the “events” listed on their website, it seems they mostly get together for canoeing trips and pool parties. Here are the Nazis on the march...

The SPLC doesn’t actually link to or provide details about many of the groups it profiles, perhaps because this would reveal what a joke many of them are. When it does dive deeper, the results are often predictably comical. The Georgia map lists something called “Wildman’s Civil War Surplus and Herb Shop” as a “hate group.” The SPLC evidently sent a reporter to Kennesaw to investigate the group, which turns out to consist entirely of a bearded old bigot who runs a Confederate memorabilia shop...

My God, the whole Kennesaw community has embraced hate. They gave a Confederate sympathizer a historic preservation award in 1993! And as recently as 17 years ago, they let him have a supporting role in a community theater production of The Nutcracker!

This whole SPLC set-up strikes me as fraudulent in the extreme. I don’t know how else to describe it. They have a team of people investigating these groups. They have to know that they’re inflating the danger. They know that when they report “over 1,000” hate groups in America, they’ve deliberately excluded membership numbers in order to sound as scary as possible. They’re perpetrating a deception, because they don’t want you to know that groups like the “Asatru Folk Assembly” are no political threat. The SPLC has continuously sent out terrifying lies to make old people part with their money. They’ve become fantastically wealthy from telling people that individual kooks in Kennesaw are “hate groups” on the march. And they’ve done far less with the money they receive than any other comparable civil rights group will do. To me, this is a scam bordering on criminal mail fraud. If you tell people things that aren’t true so that you can take their money and then not use that money for the thing you said you would use it for, you’re a fraudster. I hestitate to say that because I know lots of great people who have worked at the SPLC, and good work is done there. But the Morris Dees model is a scam: It finds as much “hate” as possible in order to make as much money as possible.

If you trawl through the Hate Map for a little while like I did, you may also feel uncomfortable for another reason. Most of the people they’re listing as threats seem as if they are poor and unschooled. I bet if you compared the average annual salary of the SPLC staff to the average salary of the people in these hate groups, you’d find a massive class divide. Whether it’s poor Black people joining weird sects like the United Nuwaupians, or poor white people getting together and calling themselves things like the “Folkgard of Holda & Odin,” these are people on society’s margins. A lot of this seems to be educated liberals having contempt for and fear of angry rednecks."

Links - 24th April 2026 (1 - Scottish Politics)

2026-04-24T09:15:00.007+08:00

SNP’s claim Scotland props up UK economy is ‘whopping lie’ - "The SNP has claimed Scotland should get a second independence referendum because it props up the UK economy in what has been described as a “whopping lie”... the Tories said this was a “whopping lie”, with official figures produced by SNP ministers showing that Scotland received far more from the Treasury than it provided in taxes. They found that Scots received nearly £2,700 more public spending per person compared with the UK average last year, thanks to the Barnett formula – the mechanism used by the Treasury to work out expenditure to the home nations. Scotland’s deficit – the difference between total tax revenue and expenditure – surged to 11.7 per cent of GDP. This was more than double the UK figure of 5.1 per cent and higher than anywhere else in Europe... John Swinney, the SNP leader, has claimed that his party winning an outright majority at the polls, at least 65 seats, would give him a mandate to demand that the Prime Minister allow a second independence referendum. He has cited the 2011 Holyrood election as a precedent when Alex Salmond led the SNP to a majority win and David Cameron agreed to transfer the powers for the 2014 referendum. But Sir Keir has made clear he will not give the green light for another vote on breaking up Britain, regardless of the result. SNP ministers said the 2014 referendum was a once-in-a-generation event, before they lost."
Maybe the SNP plan is to demand reparations after independence to continue to subsidise their lavish spending

SNP's disastrous election night puts independence question to bed - "The SNP's bid for Scottish independence has taken a huge blow after the party was almost completely wiped out by Labour... 'I understand their desire for change, I know there'll be a huge sigh of relief that we finally ended 14 years of total chaos and failure'"

Lisa Cameron MP: 'I was bullied out of the SNP. They were autocratic and intolerant' - "Clever, principled, and relatable, Dr Lisa Cameron is exactly the kind of person our political system needs. Which is why her horrific tale of the bullying and abuse she suffered inside the Scottish National Party – which culminated in her defection to the Conservatives last October – is such a tragedy. Over the past few weeks, the wider world has begun to understand the toxic “progressive orthodoxy” and political chaos that has been raging inside the SNP. This week its hapless leader Humza Yousaf finally stood down after a chaotic few days of coalition collapse and political turmoil, while just a fortnight ago, former leader Nicola Sturgeon’s husband was formally charged with embezzlement of party funds. Meanwhile, Scottish public services are in disarray and the SNP’s policy of putting up taxes on higher earners has already caused 1,000 individuals and businesses to relocate to England. It is hard to believe that it is less than 10 years since the SNP was riding high on a wave of nationalism which swept away a generation of Labour MPs. Or that Nicola Sturgeon was once seen as the epitome of the modern leader... “Nationalism is not the answer. It’s just made everything worse. It’s not been good for Scotland. It’s ushered in an era of aggressive, us-and-them politics, eroding compassion and creating polarisation.” So how did we get here? Cameron, 51, says that when she joined the Scottish National Party in 2014 she was enthused and convinced by Alex Salmond’s vision of a better future. “As a senior NHS psychologist I was in favour of the SNP’s policies of more money for the NHS, free prescriptions for the Scottish people and particularly free university tuition. It all sounded good but it hasn’t delivered. Education is very important for people like me.”... Cameron was not the only SNP candidate shocked to find themselves in Westminster in 2015; it was a landslide for the nationalists who won 56 Scottish seats in the House of Commons out of 59. Labour was wiped out. This week’s local elections point to a similar outcome in reverse at the next election with SNP losses to Labour likely to play a key part in helping Keir Starmer’s party to victory. “The SNP experiment has failed. I see a clear move from nationalism and constitutional politics back to the old politics of Left and Right. I keep being asked by constituents: ‘How do we move on from the SNP? It hasn’t worked.’ Scotland is turning the page on nationalism.”... Cameron’s troubles began in 2019 when she “voted on my conscience” at the end of an abortion debate (she was a vice-chairman on the pro-Life All-Party Parliamentary Group so this shouldn’t have been a surprise to her colleagues)... “Christians are barely tolerated in the SNP. I was told my views meant that I would fail its vetting. That I shouldn’t be in the SNP because I wasn’t progressive enough. I was bullied because of my faith.” This is something Kate Forbes, who was considering running for the leadership until supporting John Swinney – and is a Christian – also discovered... She explains that the SNP that she joined under Alex Salmond was a “broad church, more tolerant”, and that the culture war-style “uber progressive politics came in after Alex Salmond left. Under Nicola Sturgeon, the party’s leftist politics became toxic. It was Nicola Sturgeon who said she ‘hated’ the Tories. “That was a big moment for me, that meant Sturgeon hated my mum. That was not the Scotland I had joined the SNP to build.”... When she was badly stalked in 2021 – she had to go to court – she says, “Sturgeon never reached out to see if I was OK. No one from the SNP ever personally congratulated me on my work on disabilities, for which I won MP of the year.” Cameron was officially persona non grata... Cameron further riled the party hierarchy when she stood up for the young male victim of sexual advances by a leading SNP figure Patrick Grady (Grady was found guilty and eventually suspended briefly). “I was the only person in the party to support the victim. I thought he had been really brave to come forward, he was very young. In the meeting the groupthink was that we should all ‘support the perpetrator’. I said, ‘what about the victim, we should support him’. I’m a doctor and a psychologist. I did what I thought was right.” She paid a high price. “I was ostracised in the tea room where none of my SNP colleagues would speak to me. They emailed me saying I had to move office. They sent boxes. I refused to move so they put the perpetrator in the office next to mine where I had to walk past him every day. It was awful. I felt I couldn’t cope.” Did she feel this was done deliberately? “As a psychologist assessing dangerous criminals you don’t listen to what people say – you watch what they do. Let’s just say it would be a strange coincidence that they just put him there.”... she told the SNP chief whip and many other party dignitaries about the state she was in and “no one was helpful. I sent emails to the different chief whips saying I needed support for my health. They had a duty of care, but they ignored me. I was anxious, depressed, having panic attacks.” Instead, she says, they “gaslighted me, told me I was making it up”... “There was no support for me from within the party. I was shunned.” It sounds like Mean Girls, I say. She nods. “Yup, pretty much.” Of course, at the centre of the SNP culture wars is the ongoing row around the Gender Recognition Bill, particularly around whether trans-women should be imprisoned in female jails. Particularly those, such as Scottish transgender woman Isla Bryson, who had committed rape as a man. “This was something that I am an expert on,” Cameron says. “I’d done risk assessments in prisons as part of my job. Many female prisoners have a history of sexual abuse and trauma. Lots of women in my constituency wrote to me saying it was very important that rapists who’d raped women shouldn’t be in enclosed spaces, ie, locked up with women. My opinion on this matter was never sought by the SNP. They just took the view that this was the policy... accept it. This is the ideology.”... "no one could raise any concerns. The SNP view just became narrower and narrower. Anyone who disagreed was ostracised. It became a huge issue. Joanna Cherry also got lots of abuse and so did Kate Forbes.” It wasn’t just on the uber progressive agenda that any criticisms were shut down. “There were concerns within the party about the finances. The treasurer Douglas Chapman complained and later resigned claiming he was not given proper access to the information.” She adds: “Then when Humza Yousaf was running for leader it got even worse. The SNP rounded on Kate Forbes during the leadership race saying she wasn’t suitable because of her beliefs. That was not the tolerant Scotland I grew up in. But the leadership thought they were right on everything. It got very autocratic and intolerant. It was, ‘Don’t question anything. Don’t disagree. If you disagree: shut up!’ There was no care for victims. The whole ethos of nationalism was exhausting.”... Intriguingly she says the first senior politician to show her any sympathy or compassion was Rishi Sunak... “The Tory party really is a broad church. They are pro-Christian; they respect different views.”"

MP Dr Lisa Cameron who defected to Tories 'forced into hiding' - "she had received a "torrent of abuse" in emails since announcing her defection on Thursday... She told the newspaper the threats were "where the political discourse has got to in Scotland""

I was sent death threats for joining the Tories… I had to go into hiding to protect my children - "One horrifying email sent to the mother of two after she crossed the House of Commons floor read: ‘Listen... your time living on this earth will come to an end soon, be careful.’ Another troll threatened to brick her in the street, while one said they hoped she ‘burned’... Dr Cameron told how the stress saw her suffer severe anxiety and panic attacks, attending 12 months of counselling sessions and being prescribed antidepressants. While MPs from Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems contacted her to check on her welfare and offer support, there was nothing from the SNP and no attempt to investigate her concerns. Even when her mental health battle was made public, senior Nationalist Mike Russell simply dismissed it as an ‘odd tantrum’, a response Dr Cameron felt was ‘demeaning and misogynistic’ as he had painted her as a ‘hysterical woman’. She said: ‘There was a moment when my GP said, “I can keep prescribing you these antidepressants, but it’s not a biochemical issue. It’s to do with your environment, and it’s not going to improve unless you change your situation.” I think at that point, I knew he was right.’"
Clearly, being a left winger is about "empathy". Only women who push the left wing agenda should be supported
The differing reaction to Jo Cox and David Amess's deaths is telling, since they were killed by people supported by different ends of the political spectrum

Scotland's top civil servant warns John Swinney he must slash services - "Scotland's new First Minister John Swinney has been told he will have to make 'significant' spending cuts in order to balance the books. In a fresh dose of misery for his party, the SNP leader was warned about a need to take an axe to public services due to the risk of financial meltdown... The senior official's warning will come as a bitter blow to Mr Swinney as he attempts to overhaul the SNP's fortunes after 17 years in power and ahead of the general election."
Time to blame England despite Scotland's leeching off them

STEPHEN DAISLEY: Politicians are good at one thing - spending cash - "As the independent Scottish Parliament Information Centre confirms, Scotland was allocated €941million (£800million) in 2014, with half coming from the European Social Fund and half from the European Regional Development Fund. All the Scottish Government had to do in return was distribute the money, usually to local authorities or quangos who would spend it on approved projects, then provide certified statements of expenditure to the European Commission. Spend the money and hand over the receipts. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. But it’s the SNP. They couldn’t walk in a straight line if you painted a guide in the road for them. That €941million allocation has been revised down to €783.4million (£666million) because Scottish ministers failed to meet spending targets within the necessary timeframe. As a result, Scotland has missed out on €157.6million (£134million). There is also an outstanding €280.4million (£238million) which ministers hope to claim for later this year or early next year... For the SNP government to sit on a mountain of cash during times of real need will strike them as perverse. If there’s one thing politicians are good at it’s spending money, but the Nationalists can’t even do that properly. This underspend might be forgivable if the SNP was new to government and still getting to grips with the machinery of the state. But it has been in power since 2007. There is simply no excuse for such a wanton dereliction of duty... how many times have we heard SNP ministers plead poverty and demand yet more money from the Treasury to top up Scottish government coffers? Their begging bowl is overflowing but it’s never enough. And their failure to invest European funds should serve as a cautionary tale to devolutionists who say Holyrood must have proper borrowing powers. Anyone who surveys SNP ministers’ handling of structural funding and concludes they need more financial responsibility might as well pile up taxpayers’ cash on Calton Hill and start a bonfire. However, this is not a story of mere incompetence, but one of profound cynicism. The Nationalists lambast the UK Government for its austerity policies and accuse it of failing to do enough for the worst off, yet their government chose not to pass on to Scotland’s most deprived communities funding that could have made a meaningful difference... This is not some fiscal abstraction: it’s real people with real needs who missed out because the Scottish government didn’t do its job. This is the latest breach of trust between Scots and the party that claims to represent them. I have frankly lost count of how many such breaches we have seen lately. The SNP seems incapable of doing anything right. Everything it touches turns to scandal."

Do you ‘identify’ as disabled? - "The SNP has reserved spots on its electoral lists for people who identify as BAME or disabled... Qualification for the lists is entirely dependent on self-identification – the SNP won’t check that candidates are actually BAME or disabled. According to the pro-independence blog, Wings Over Scotland, Emma Harper MSP, who has diabetes, is believed to be planning to run for the top spot in South Scotland, which is reserved for disabled candidates... The policy is not only absurd – it is also probably illegal. Jonathan Mitchell QC was commissioned to advise the SNP on the legality of the new rules, and he told the party it would be susceptible to a legal challenge by any candidate who lost out as a result of the rules. He advised that the party would probably lose such a case. But the SNP is so committed to identitarianism that it has gone ahead with the rule change anyway. We already knew about the SNP’s commitment to wokeness. Last week, Nicola Sturgeon released a cringeworthy, supposedly unscripted video in which she delivered a monologue about transphobia. She declared that ‘no debate can be a cover for transphobia’, in a swipe at the feminists in her party who are concerned about the erosion of single-sex spaces. And in its desperate desire to force ordinary Scots to confirm to its woke beliefs, the SNP plans to introduce authoritarian hate-speech laws that would allow the state to police even conversations held in private homes."
From 2021

The SNP giving bus passes to asylum seekers is a dangerous misstep - "Generous Scottish tax-payers are to spend £2 million on a pilot scheme to give free bus travel to asylum seekers. The largesse is being provided by the Scottish Government and a range of publicly-funded civic society groups who want to demonstrate their support for new arrivals in Scotland, who must hereafter be referred to as New Scots. The justification? In the words of the SNP’s equalities minister at Holyrood, Kaukab Stewart: “Scotland has a proud history of welcoming those fleeing war and persecution, and we are dedicated to helping them integrate into communities from the day they arrive. It is vital…people seeking asylum…understand their rights and access employment and services to help them to rebuild their lives in Scotland.” The Scotland Act, which denotes which policy areas are reserved to Westminster and which are devolved to Edinburgh, makes asylum and immigration the responsibility of our national parliament in London. This is a point of frustration to the SNP, who, despite having lost their battle for independence, frequently behave as if Scots voted ‘Yes’ in 2014. Their ministers gallivant around the globe on the tax-payers’ shilling pretending to have responsibility for foreign affairs and defence, while at home, they connive to trim away any authority the UK government might have north of the border. This latest public relations initiative is an example of such. No one in the Scottish Government has the authority to make asylum policy or to authorise asylum seekers to work while they await the decision on their applications for refuge. So instead they use devolved powers to signal their virtue on the issue. Yet the initiative is a risky one. Especially in the council housing estates which turned their backs on the SNP at last week’s general election, the nationalists’ performative sympathy with asylum seekers is not wholly reflected... If this were a simple act of charity rather than an obvious virtue-signalling attempt to emphasise the exceptionalism of Scots, it would be bad enough. But included in the Scottish Government’s new strategy for welcoming asylum seekers and refugees is a commitment to seek permission from the UK government for asylum seekers to have the right to work while they await their decisions on refugee status. This has long been a demand by those who are employed in the refugee industry, who claim that having a job would help applicants integrate more easily into their new country. But such an assertion is surely based on the assumption that every applicant will be successful. What about those applicants who manage to secure a job but who are then informed that their application has been refused, that it has been discovered they are not, after all, fleeing “war and persecution” but are in fact economic migrants? Would those fighting for asylum seekers’ right to work then accept with a shrug of their shoulders that that’s just too bad and have a safe journey back to your own country? Hardly. Then the campaign against the “injustice” of removing someone from the country – someone who’s actually working and paying taxes – would begin. Governments of both colours have refused to allow asylum seekers to work because it would inevitably act as a magnet to other asylum seekers. SNP ministers don’t seem to disagree with this risk; rather, they welcome the prospect of many, many more asylum seekers choosing to make Scotland their home. Except that while the SNP are welcoming all those New Scots and promising them homes, jobs and free bus travel, the Scottish Parliament has declared a “housing emergency” due to the scandalous shortage of available homes for the existing population"
Easy. Just blame the British government for the housing shortage

A wasted decade of SNP's neverendum nonsense has damaged Scotland - "Ten years on from the historic independence referendum, Scotland is in a sorry state of disrepair and disunity. Since 2014, the endless debate about so-called independence - or breaking up the United Kingdom to be exact - has sapped the nation’s soul and inflicted wounds that will take many years to heal. A wasted decade of political purgatory has cost our country dear and left our economy and public services in a desperate mess. This only happened because SNP politicians - starting with Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney - arrogantly refused to accept the decisive outcome of Scotland’s biggest ever democratic exercise... In the immediate aftermath of the referendum, and without pause ever since, narcissistic nationalists have refused to take No for an answer and instead squander the Scottish Parliament’s precious time and far-reaching powers in pursuit of their endless obsession of breaking up Britain... At First Minister’s Questions, Sturgeon, Yousaf and now Swinney kept banging the same broken drum. If only the Edinburgh parliament had absolute control of the economy, taxation, security, defence and other reserved matters, they would have us believe that Scotland would become a tartan Nirvana. Their fantasy being untroubled by hard facts. Where did all that get us? Nowhere. In that time, the SNP advanced their case not one inch. No solutions were found or even, in truth, sought. The economic case for separation is even more fatally flawed than it was a decade ago. Meanwhile, Scotland remained trapped in a doom loop, with the SNP presenting ‘independence’ as the only solution to every ill and issue of the day."

Taxpayers forced to fork out £80,000 a year on a 'traffic cone tsar' - "Scotland's ‘traffic cone tsar’ is among an army of bureaucrats costing taxpayers millions of pounds a year. Now MSPs have demanded a halt to the hiring of such costly officials after warning the system is not fit for purpose. A network of ‘commissioners’ and their staff act as watchdogs, with combined annual budgets of £15million."

SNP 'failure' sees record number of kids in temporary homes

How refreshing for Scot to call out nationalism's 'wha's like us' guff - "A couple of years before Police Scotland announced they didn’t have the resources to investigate every minor crime, and wouldn’t do it any more, they launched their Gaelic Language Plan – or Plana Gàidhlig if you prefer – and outlined the resources they would be throwing into it. This included an audit of employees who understand Gaelic. An inventory would be compiled of all existing Gaelic and bilingual materials, including publications, stationery and online content. There would also be an assessment of internal and external signs to ensure ‘equal respect’ was accorded to Gaelic. Henceforth, all high-profile press releases would be translated into the language too. You may surmise one of two things: either that the police were heavily leaned on by the Scottish Government, which has been at pains to embed confected Scottish culture into the nation throughout its 17 years of power – or that men like Andrew Marr and me simply have it in for Gaelic. Let me address the second conclusion first. I’m enchanted by the fact Gaelic is still spoken regularly by 58,000 of us – or 1.1 per cent of our population – every one of whom, incidentally, is also fluent in English. I want the language to survive. Long before the SNP came to power there were extensive measures to ensure this happened. The Gaelic Television Fund, for example, was established in 1992. It brought jobs and high-quality programming in Gaelic to the areas in the West of Scotland and the Hebrides where the language was most spoken. It served the tongue and its speakers. What it didn’t do was pretend the 99 per cent of Scots who don’t speak it were something they were not. ‘The Scots are made up of many different peoples historically,’ said Mr Marr at an event at the Labour conference. ‘I think we should let languages rest and prosper where they come from.’... In Liverpool, the broadcaster fumed at ‘the Scottish Nationalist view that if you’re Scottish, you’re a better person; because you’re Scottish, you’re more innately liberal; because you’re Scottish, you’re more progressive’. The truth is because you’re Scottish, the facts will be misrepresented. You will be persuaded by those with no grounding in history that Scotland was colonised by the English when the truth is that, acting together, the two nations colonised much of the world. You will find propaganda masquerading as educational material – such as Education Scotland’s 27-page The Road to the Scottish Parliament, which baldly informed children that ‘for 800 years the Scots have been struggling against English oppression’. And you will discover at length, possibly years from now, that nationalism doesn’t make you a better person. The movement is not exactly noted for its ability to see the good in people, whatever their world view. Rather it is consuming; it is intolerant; it narrows vision and clouds the lens with a fug of grievance and bitterness. No, while I like and admire many nationalists, they are dear people in spite of, not because of, their independence dream."

Meme - Isabel Vaughan-Spruce @IsabelVSpruce: "So buffer zones in Scotland could now include someone speaking inside their own house about abortion. And neighbours are being encouraged to report each other. Well done 'Safer Scotland', I'm sure everyone is sleeping better knowing this."
"Dear Resident, Your area will soon be situated within a designated Safe Access Zone for a local healthcare facility where abortion services are provided. You may not notice any changes, but this letter will explain what it means for you and your neighbours... activities in a private place (such as a house) within the area between the protected premises and the boundary of a Zone could be an offence if they can be seen or heard within the Zone and are done intentionally or recklessly... You can report a group or an individual that you think is breaking the law by contacting Police Scotland"
Since you cannot "influence someone's decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services" is a crime, that means you technically can't be pro-abortion either

Thread by @Basil_TGMD on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "In honour of Humza Yousaf deciding to step down as an MSP at the next election. I thought I'd take this opportunity to look back on some of the highlights of Humza's career Feel free to add your own in the thread below🧵
Never one to shy away from calling absolutely everyone and everything bigoted and/or racist. Humza couldn't help himself when it came to pointing out how infuriated he was that so many WHITE people important jobs in Scotland, a 95% WHITE country. He also signed into law the authoritarian HATE CRIME BILL which effectively made it illegal to purposefully call a transwoman a man. Cue massive protests, it also pushed JK ROWLING to break the law proving it's ridiculousness
On the first day the HATE CRIME BILL came into force, HUMZA's very own "WHITE SPEECH" was the most reported hate incident. He then went on to say that anyone reporting his speech to the police for racism were in fact "FAR RIGHT". This episode resulted in a huge backlash against HUMZA from all corners of Scotland including this particular favourite of mine by one @NiallFraser8. Again, not one to shy away from calling everybody he doesn't like bigoted, Humza also called the entire Conservative Party 'Institutionally Islamophobic'
Before we get on to more of his terrible behaviour, how can we not include this 🤣
in case you haven't worked it out yet, he really has a problem with white people.
And don't forget the time he sent Scottish Taxpayer money over to UNRWA the controversial organisation with multiple alleged links to Hamas. Speaking of which @ch_talks_to raised some very pertinent questions about Humza's actions on the ay of October 7th, a lot of questions around an email that was sent suggesting he may know quite a bit more than he let on. Check the video 👇
AND THE LESS SAID ABOUT HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW THE BETTER 😉
To top it all off, he routinely claimed to be a patriotic Scot yet here he is being sworn in wearing traditional Pakistani attire with a kilt and speaking in Urdu 🤡
Not one to miss out on an opportunity to smear Scottish History he named a Tartan for himself, is family being in the country for a whopping 60 years. Usually Tartans are reserved for families going back centuries in Scotland. The rest is fakery, perfect for Humza Yousaf"
Clearly, if you criticise him, you're racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic

Links - 23rd April 2026 (2 - Voting & Elections in the US)

2026-04-23T17:13:00.000+08:00

George on X - "BREAKING: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has just CONFIRMED that noncitizens are getting registered to vote across the state. His undercover investigators caught various Democrat-linked NGOs giving voter registration forms to people at DMV locations "The investigation has already confirmed that various nonprofit organizations have been located outside Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License offices, operating booths offering to assist in voter registration for persons doing business at the driver's license offices. But all citizens have already been presented an opportunity to register to vote as part of the process of renewing or being issued an identification card or driver's license, so there is no obvious need to assist citizens to register to vote outside DPS offices-calling into question the motives of the nonprofit groups." "The undercover operations have been conducted throughout major metropolitan areas of Texas and are ongoing." AG Paxton has also launched an investigation into the findings. I expect arrests, charges, and imprisonment."

Common Sense Extremists on X - "Supreme Court ruled in favor of Arizona requiring proof of Citizenship to vote in a 5-4 ruling. All 5 male members of the court ruled in favor of Arizona, all 4 females voted against."

Census data shows widening diversity; number of White people falls for first time - The Washington Post - "The number of people who identify as multiracial has changed considerably since 2010. It was measured at 9 million people in 2010 and was 33.8 million in 2020, a 276 percent increase. That could make redistricting more complex, said Kimball Brace, president of Election Data Services, a political consulting firm specializing in the analysis and presentation of census and political data. “We’re seeing so much more of this ‘two or more races’ … and that increase is significant because it will start muddying the waters a bit when we get to the question of drawing districts and the creation of different minority seats, and will it be an African American or a Hispanic seat? Because things are starting to merge together," he said."
Weird. I thought gerrymandering was bad and something Republicans did. But the left want to create seats based on race

Meme - Abigail Jackson 🇺🇸 @abigailmarone: "NYT: Democrats can't counter GOP redistricting............................................................................................................................................................... because they've already gerrymandered the shit out of all their states 🤡"
"Democrats Have Few Tools to Counter G.O.P. Redistricting. States where Democrats would have complete control over any redistricting, such as Illinois and Maryland, are already gerrymandered heavily in their favor. Squeezing more Democratic seats out of those states would be a challenge."

Meme - LARRY @LarryOConnor: "This is how Democrats drew my Congressional district in Maryland a few years ago so they could maximize their representation in Congress. Spare me the fake outrage. They're just pissed about Texas because Republicans have finally started playing the Democrats' game."

Collin Rugg on X - "NEW: Arnold Schwarzenegger claps back at CNN's Jake Tapper, calls out "extreme gerrymandering" in blue states. Tapper: "Do you believe that the Republican Party is starting this?" Schwarzenegger: "No, Jake. There has been gerrymandering going on for 200 years." "There is such extreme gerrymandering going on that in a state like Massachusetts, it has like 40% of the people voting for Trump, they have zero representatives." "The Republican Party has zero representatives sent to the House. Think about that." "In New Mexico, 45% of the people voted for Trump and vote Republican, and zero is sent to the House, zero representatives from the Republican Party.""

RedWave Press on X - "Bill Maher: “If only the Republicans get to gerrymander, the Democrats will never take back the House.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger: “No, no, gerrymandering has been going on for 200 years.”
Bill Maher: “Not on this level.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger: *Isn’t buying it* “Look, there are states out there that have 40% of Republicans and only have like 20% representation in Congress… There is gerrymandering going on all over.”
Blue states in the Northeast have almost completely WIPED out Republican representation in Congress. What Bill does not understand is that Democrats are almost completely MAXED out when it comes to gerrymandering, unlike the Republicans."

Andy Ngo 🏳️‍🌈 on X - "An illegal migrant from Guatemala has been federally charged in Alabama for assuming a false American identity and illegally voting in multiple elections. Angelica Maria Francisco intends to plead guilty to all charges."
Northern District of Alabama | Undocumented Individual Charged in Connection with Voting Fraud and Passport Fraud | United States Department of Justice

Arizona high court rules nearly 98,000 people whose citizenship hadn’t been confirmed can vote the full ballot - "The Arizona Supreme Court unanimously ruled Friday that nearly 98,000 people whose citizenship documents hadn’t been confirmed can vote in state and local races, a significant decision that could influence ballot measures and tight legislative races."

George on X - "BREAKING: The North Carolina Election Board just revealed that they have removed 750,000 names from the voter rolls, including 130,000 dead people and 290,000 registrations that were duplicates This comes after Republicans filed a lawsuit, showing 225,000 names were unlawfully allowed onto the rolls because of a failure "to collect certain required identification information before the registration forms were processed." This purge of exactly 747,274 is just the number purged in the last 20 months. So, I don't believe it includes the names challenged by the Republican Party, which means they still have hundreds of thousands more to remove. How does a state of 10 million end up with almost a million ineligible registrations in the first place? In elections, sometimes separated by a handful of votes, having almost a million ineligible names on the voter rolls, plus rampant mail-in voting, is an Election Fraudster's dream."
Damn voter suppression!

Joel Berry on X - "Some fun facts about the Democrat plan to steal elections using "overseas" ballots:
-Through the UOCAVA/overseas program, you can register to vote online without providing ID, SSN, or proof of citizenship/address.
-You can register in any state, at any address, and no one verifies whether you have ever actually lived there.
-Many states allow you to send your ballot via email.
-A recent Democrat memo announced their plan to collect 9 million overseas Democrat votes. According to a federal government report, there are only 2.8 million eligible voters overseas.
-In 2020, the number of civilian UOCAVA votes inexplicably doubled from their normal average.
-The Democrats have spent 6 figures on the "vote from abroad" program the rake in more unverified civilian overseas ballots this year.
-In 2020, just 44,000 votes across Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin votes won Joe Biden the presidency. Democrats only need a handful of fraudulent overseas votes to steal this election."

Meme - Elon Musk @elonmusk: "If there is a Democratic Party victory this election, they will ban voter ID requirements nationwide, enabling massive voter fraud. Banning voter ID is their stated goal – they are not hiding it! After that, your vote won’t matter, so this is therefore the last real election. Vote for @realDonaldTrump to save democracy!!"
DogeDesigner @cb_doge: "A new law bans California from requiring voters to show ID at the polls. California is one of 14 states that do not require voter ID for elections. Its now impossible to prove fraud in these 14 states."
"Gavin Newsom Bans California From Requiring ID to Vote"

Andy Ngo 🏳️‍🌈 on X - "The Oregon DMV has admitted to registering at least hundreds of non-citizens to vote since at least 2021 due to errors in its auto voter registration system. Additionally, every registered voter is sent ballots by mail. The audit is still ongoing and more illegal registrations are expected to be found. The @OregonSOS defends the auto voter registration system. The DMV said before that it was impossible for noncitizens to be registered in its system. Meanwhile, leftists and liberals responding to the revelation say the numbers are so small out of 3m registered voters that it doesn’t matter and shouldn’t matter anyway. Others argue for noncitizens to be given voting rights."
Andy Ngo 🏳️‍🌈 on X - "Though first estimated to be at over 300 incidents, Oregon election officials have now admitted that nearly 1,300 people were automatically registered to vote even though they had not shown they were citizens. Leftists and liberals have long claimed that noncitizens being registered to vote was a far-right hoax."

DOJ sues Virginia for allegedly purging voters too close to 2024 election through system implemented by Gov. Glenn Youngkin - "The Justice Department filed suit against Virginia on Friday over a statewide program aimed at removing voters from its election rolls in the lead-up to the 2024 election if DMV records don't indicate United States citizenship... The DOJ recently filed a similar lawsuit against the state of Alabama over similar voter roll purges."
When you're desperate to have voting fraud

Glenn Youngkin on X - "It’s unbelievable to me that, just 25 days before a presidential election, the DOJ is suing the Commonwealth for enforcing a law that has been on the books for nearly two decades to keep our voter rolls accurate by removing noncitizens. This is unprecedented, and I stand by my duty to ensure fair, safe, and accurate elections in Virginia—no exceptions."

Meme - *EU holds "no gun" sign*
Democratic Donkey: "So civilized! America should do this too!"
*EU holds "no free speech" sign*
Democratic Donkey: "So sophisticated! America should do this too!"
*EU holds paper ballot and ID*
Democratic Donkey: *ignores and walks away*

Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters Says Backup was Lawful and Required - "Mesa County Clerk and Recorder, Tina Peters, has been in a tough, ongoing battle with state and federal officials over the 2020 election since she and an "unidentified man" made a backup copy of images from Dominion Voting Systems vote-counting equipment. Peters says she has done nothing wrong, and it was well within her scope of responsibilities to back up the election records. In fact, in an interview with Steve Bannon on March 22, Peters said that "the backup that she did was lawful and required by federal and state law. It has no PII or Personal Identifiable Information of voters." Notably, in tandem with her case, Colorado Democrats are trying to make it illegal to create images of voting machine hard drives without state permission... Peters, who was released on bond on March 10 after spending just over 24 hours in the Mesa County Detention Facility, says her "trifecta of reports" vindicates her allegations of malfeasance and fraud in the 2020 election. She maintains that votes were manipulated in the 2020 General Election in Colorado, among other claims. According to Peters, forensic Report One shows that "29k access logs and adjudication logs were erased, a violation of state and federal law." Forensic Report Two shows that "36 wireless devices were in the equipment and, by law," she continued, "These machines not only cannot be connected to the internet, they cannot have the capability of being connected to the internet." And Report Three "actually shows manipulation of the votes." For example, concerning the manipulation of votes, the 87-page Mesa Forensic Report Three allegedly claims that there was "unauthorized creation of new election databases during early voting in the 2020 General Election on October 21, 2020, followed by the digital reloading of 20,346 ballot records into the new election databases, making the original voter intent recorded from the ballots unknown. In addition, 5,567 ballots in 58 batches did not have their digital records copied to the new database, although the votes from the ballots in those batches were recorded in the Main election database." 209 out of the original 267 batches containing the 20,346 ballots were "digitally, not physically loaded into the new Adjudication and Tabulation databases," per the report. Only selected batches of ballots were copied, "indicating this was an intentional act.""
John Strand on X - "WOW: Tina Peters backing up the elections data before they wiped the systems gave the public a rare opportunity to analyze before and after the tampering — and it shows clear and deliberate manipulation of the voting systems.
-Audit trail deleted
-System logs deleted
-Voting files replaced with new files
Now we know why the Democrat Judge in her case refused nearly all of her witnesses and excluded virtually all of her defenses, then sentenced her to 9 years in prison — because if this became a nationwide story the entire house of cards with Dominion could fall."

Mason on X - "There really is no excuse for this. The US is the only democracy in its league that demands voters accept the legitimacy of its elections not because the process is rigorously designed to eliminate the possibility of fraud, but because fraud cannot be definitively proven."
wanye on X - "Steelmanning the liberal position it seems to be something like: “Ease of access to voting is so important that there should be no potential barriers to it. Any potential barrier, no matter how important for achieving other goals, is illegitimate on the grounds that ease of voting is of primary importance.” The problem is that this seems really silly and it’s also not something almost anybody genuinely believes on principle.
I assume there is a small cadre of activists who genuinely adopt this principle, but the vast majority of liberals quite clearly support it on the grounds that they think it helps people within their coalition get out the vote. And I think also quite clearly they would abandon it the second they thought it was helping the other side that was questionable and even the most superficial way. But, more important (and even if that’s wrong), I think the integrity of the system is quite plainly many times more important than ease of access. Keeping the system legitimate, making sure that it *appears* legitimate, even, is, again, many multiples more important than making sure that absolutely nobody finds that it’s too difficult for them to get out to the polls.
The liberal proposition, in other words, is straightforward and easy to understand. It’s just in my view plainly wrong."

Gallup on X - "84% of American voters favor photo identification requirements at their voting place. New data:"
It's only oligarchy when the majority agree with the left wing agenda yet what they want isn't law

Alex Petkas - Cost of Glory on X - "In the late Roman Republic, "legal" tampering with voting rolls caused the great First Civil War. This happened by sudden, massive additions of "new citizens" by legislative fiat. The parallels to today offer many lessons. 🧵"

Richard Hanania on X - "19 year-old Chinese student, non-citizen, arrested for voter fraud in Michigan. He was able to register to vote based on his student ID, and signed a statement identifying himself as a US citizen. The only reason he got caught was he asked for the ballot back. But his ballot will still count because there's no way to retrieve it. Of course the vast majority of people never ask for their ballot back. So how often does this happen? What are we even doing here?"
Chinese student to face criminal charges for voting in Michigan. Ballot will apparently count
Clearly there is no proof of large voter fraud, since there's no way to tell which and how many ballots are fraudulent

Don on X - "This is a good example. Non-college educated nonmarried males have maybe the lowest voter participation rates of any demographic, yet in this temporary housing for homeless men, you have almost universal voting participation?"
wanye on X - "A lot of where I find myself disagreeing with progressives on ordinary stuff sort of has this nature where I think you’re allowed to act like a curious police detective with ordinary intelligence and they for some reason think that’s illegitimate. Like, you are allowed to notice, for example, as a curious person of average intelligence, that single men who live on the street are not a high-turnout demographic and then also to notice that they seem to be registered to vote at surprisingly high rates. And then from there you’re allowed to wonder how that is and not only whether it’s legal, but whether it’s within the confines of the spirit of the system. Think about it like a curious detective of ordinary intelligence."

Meme - Peter Hague @peterrhague: "Mass postal voting is bad because of this. Most people are smart enough not to post their felonies on the Internet so we can assume this happens a lot more than is able to be detected. Secret ballots exist for a reason."
Tom Cox @OBC15u: "That's why I make my wife do a mail in ballot so I can make sure she votes for Trump, she's not gonna vote behind my back"
Darrell Owens @IDoTheThinking: "Bro I phonebank for Harris and this shit happens all the time. God awful husbands swearing up and down no Democrats live there when the wife is a Democrat. Women who whisper "I agree with you" and hang up the phone because they dont want th..."
Readers added context they thought people might want to know: "This is called voter intimidation, an illegal act of intimidating, threatening, or coercing someone to vote for a certain candidate and therefore taking away their right to vote whoever they want. Anyone who commits voter intimidation can be fined or imprisoned."

Thread by @Lewis_Brackpool on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "For the past week in New York and Philadelphia, I’ve been quietly blending in, asking Democrat voters a series of questions about election integrity —without revealing where I stand politically. Here are five short takeaways from what I found… 🇺🇸🧵
1) Democrat voters are sympathetic to the press With my English accent and explaining that I’m in the U.S. to ask questions about election integrity, Democrat voters were more willing to give unfiltered opinions on whether they see election fraud as a major issue. Their trust in the media was striking. In contrast, Trump voters I spoke to were also eager to share their thoughts but were reluctant to go on camera, fearing it could jeopardize their jobs.
2) Democrats do not see election integrity as a major issue There have been reports showing that non-citizens have illegally voted in this 2024 election, mail-in ballots have included votes from the deceased, and states without voter ID requirements are vulnerable to manipulation. Yet, when I presented this evidence to Democrats and asked if they felt it was significant, they dismissed it as a minor issue, suggesting it occurs on too small a scale for Americans to worry.
3) Is Voter ID racist? I asked both white liberals and non-white liberals if they believe Voter ID laws in the U.S. are “racist.” Nearly every white liberal I spoke to said yes, claiming it “prevents people of color from voting.” But when I posed the same question to non-white liberals, none had heard this argument before, and they all responded, “Of course it isn’t racist.”
4) Election integrity is only a topic because of Trump Some Democrats I spoke with believe that election integrity and fraud only became issues because Trump made them political. However, election manipulation by both parties was documented before 2016. When I reminded them of this, they ultimately conceded that election integrity remains a legitimate concern but often attributed its prominence to Trump’s influence.
5) “Do you think the U.S. government is fixing election fraud/interference issues?” When I asked this question, most Democrat voters paused, struggling to answer. They knew Harris/Waltz don’t support Voter ID, despite it potentially closing voting system loopholes. Yet, each one strangely insisted, “Yes, the government is working on it; I just don’t know when.”"

Meme - "ACCIDENTALLY? MY Ass!"
Louie: "Jana Griswold "accidently" sends out registrations to illegals, and now she "accidentally" posted the passwords to machine servers online. This is voter fraud. Colorado is being screwed over on purpose."

'Major threat to the survival of our democracy': Experts rip SCOTUS for 11th hour voter purge - "the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled in favor of a Republican governor's attempt to purge his state's voter rolls just days before the November 5 election. Legal experts, elected officials and journalists are now accusing SCOTUS of rapidly eroding democracy."
Removing non citizens from the voter rolls is a threat to democracy. Could the left get any more transparent? "Democracy" is basically whatever left wing elites want

Chuck Ross on X - "SCOOP: A mystery PAC called AllVote has been sending misleading text messages to voters about registration and polling locations. We followed the bread crumbs back to a complex network of Dem super PACs, and dirty tricks Dem donor REID HOFFMAN"
Park MacDougald on X - "They are going to get caught red handed doing a lot of things they insisted were insane conspiracy theories last time, and also doing things they criminally prosecuted right wingers like Mackey for"

Mike on X - "A European friend of mine wrote the following to me: Every single voting issue the Republicans complain about would be illegal in every single EU country, starting with voter ID. In the EU, IDs are not handed out by the DMV, by simply showing your gas bill. They are serious, state-issued and checked IDs, comparable to passports. For security reasons, not a single EU country allows voting machines. EU states also don't send out mail-in ballots. Those have to be requested under very strict security and verification guidelines. Mail-in voting is usually only possible in very limited circumstances. Vote harvesting doesn't exist. I'm also not aware of places where ballot boxes lying around days or weeks. If a small, poor, struggling democracy were to hold elections under US conditions, there would be a huge outrcy from the West. Western election observers would seriously question the integrity of the vote etc. There is not a single EU country where you would have to wait for days let alone potentially weeks to find out who won."
Damn fascism and racism!

Flirting with Socialism | Real Time with Bill Maher (Zohran Mamdani)

2026-04-23T13:37:00.001+08:00

"And finally, new rule. Democrats must recognize that Zohran Mamdani is the future of the party. Unfortunately, it's the Republican party.

Get it?

And if you missed his victory speech in last week's mayoral election in New York, don't worry. You'll see it in every attack ad for the next two years.

Now, Mandami seems like a nice guy and I congratulate him on an extraordinary political achievement. But before the whole left side of the country catches socialism fever, let's listen to the other big winner in last Tuesday's election, Virginia Governor-Elect Abigail Spanberger, who before the 24 election said things like, "If the party didn't shift to the center, we will get fucking torn apart." And we need to never use the word socialist or socialism ever again.

Well, she was right, but they didn't listen. Typical, am I right, lady?

Well. At least the party has a clear choice here. Very clear.

One wing is saying, "Don't ever use the word socialist again." And one is saying, "I am a democratic socialist."

Clear, huh?

So, how do we decide who's right? Well, it turns out we don't really have to flip a coin. We have the evidence.

In 2024, 13 Democrats won in districts Trump also won, all moderates. This isn't rocket science. All the left-leaning think tanks have done autopsies on 2024 and they all came up with the same message: move to the center. Even the New York Times, which did so much to promote woke politics, now says, "The partisans are wrong. Moving to the center is the way to win". And "Democrats should recognize the party moved too far left on social issues after Obama left office". Gosh, if only someone had been saying that all along.

But. But you know, welcome home.

Problem is, Gen Z, thinks socialism's wired and capitalism is tired and billionaires are what's for dinner. And who can blame them? If you're 30 and still sharing a bathroom with roommates, capitalism isn't working for you. People will reject any economic system where there's a strange hair on the soap. No one wants to be approaching middle age and still writing their name on food before they put it in the fridge. So they're quitting, quiet quitting capitalism and texting socialism that they're down to fuck.

Thing is, socialism will fuck you, because socialism, to put it simply, just doesn't work and has never worked. Like Kevin Federline. I know the kids think that stuff that happened before their appearance on the planet didn't really happen, but it did. We've run this experiment many times, and the results are always, obvious. Here's capitalist South Korea at night from space. Here's socialist North Korea. Yeah.

In 1990, Venezuela was wealthier than Poland. But then Poland, finally free of Soviet style economics, went all in on capitalism, and now their economy is as big as Japan, and people there have high wages, low inflation, cars, vacations, homes. Meanwhile, Venezuela traded capitalism for Hugo Chavez's "Socialism for the 21st century", which turned out to be like socialism in the last century or any century, a fucking mess.

It turned one of Latin America's richest countries into one of its poorest. Low wages, high inflation, shortages, outages, 8 million people fleeing. If you think New York can somehow reinvent this wheel, you're in for a rude awokening. Zohran can't make your wishes come true. You're thinking of Zoltar.

Democratic socialism is like a dating profile. Things look great until you meet up in the real world. For example, Bernie Sanders, his big thing was always bringing single payer health care to our country of 340 million. But when liberal tie-dyed Vermont tried to do it for a population of 626,000, it collapsed like that poor fuck in the Oval Office last week.

Bernie, AOC, Mamdani, are not Democrats. They'll be the first to tell you that. They're Democratic Socialists. And that's a very different thing. And I don't think people know that yet. I don't think people realize we already have a lot of socialism. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, food stamps, veterans benefits, Pell grants, co era payments, farm subsidies, disability payments, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, corporate bailouts, and the jobs program that is building weapons the Pentagon doesn't even want. All that is socialism. Much of it appropriate to soften the edges of capitalism.

But, the DSA are radicals about this concept. And radical economic policy is always ineluctably married to radical social policy. Their platform, for example, calls for completely open borders. Therefore, what Biden was doing, but more. You think you're going to win an election on that? This just seems like more extremism at a time when Americans are begging both parties, please, could just one of you act normal.

It's either defund the police or military in the streets. Either MAGA's crypto-crony capitalism or city-run grocery stores. No, I don't want that. I want a Democrat who reassures me, if you like your Whole Foods, you can keep your Whole Foods.

Governor-Elect Spanberger once said about Biden's presidency that quote, "Nobody elected him to be FDR. They elected him to be normal." Normal.

You know, at this year's DSA convention, or as it's commonly known, ComicCon. Get this. You had to submit a photo of a negative COVID test to get in. In 2025. Yeah, no one wants to do that shit again. We've had enough of Trump's macho bullshit and also enough of pussy politics. These - yeah, guy couldn't help himself here.

These Democratic socialists at another of their conventions, they were told to make jazz hands instead of clapping, lest some delegate suffer sensory overload. And also, and I'm not joking, they were told not to be wearing, you know, any aggressive scents.

"Please don't go into that space with anything that's like an aggressive scent, for instance, right? Um because that's going to be difficult for people."

Oh, for fuck's sake. This, really? This is who the Democrats are thinking of following. You know, Chuck Schumer ain't perfect, but at least he doesn't crumple into a heap when confronted with Chanel number five. You may now clap in the traditional way. Thank you very much."

Links - 23rd April 2026 (1 - US Media [including Stephen Colbert])

2026-04-23T09:29:00.001+08:00

CBS ending “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is more than just a financial loss - "CBS brass say they pulled the plug on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” because of its punishing losses — pegged between $40 million and $50 million a year — and claim politics had nothing to do with it... scathing jokes at the expense of CBS brass wasn’t the problem, according to insiders. Instead, the network’s bosses could no longer stomach the fact that Colbert has been plagued with an increasingly dire shortage of advertisers. That’s despite Colbert’s No, 1 ratings in his time slot and his status as a key face for the Tiffany Network. In the end, Paramount’s co-CEO George Cheeks decided to kill the show, sources said. “Colbert gets no advertising and late night is a tough spot,” said a person with direct knowledge of CBS’s decision. “Colbert might be No. 1, but who watches late night TV anymore?”... despite Ellison’s Trump ties, sources said Skydance and its partners at Redbird Capital — the private equity firm that will help run CBS once the deal is cleared — only heard the news of the show’s impending cancellation just before it was announced late Thursday. “Skydance had nothing to do with this,” one person close to the decision said. “Colbert loses $40 million to $50 million a year, so George Cheeks just decided to pull the plug.” The show’s dominance in its time slot belies sharp declines in viewership as younger viewers move away from traditional TV. “The Late Show” boasts nearly 2 million total viewers and 200,000 viewers in the key 25-54 “demo” — making it No. 1 in its time slot. Nevertheless, that’s a sharp decline versus the numbers it racked up in its heyday. The ad data firm Guideline estimates that CBS’s late-night shows together drew $220 million in ad revenue in 2024 — just half the $439 million they drew in 2018. RedBird’s Jeff Shell, the former head of NBCUniversal who will run the network once the deal is done, has been crunching the numbers and finding that CBS is a “melting ice cube” with its losses and cost overruns, a source said... While Ellison is predicting imminent regulatory approval, it will come at a cost: FCC chairman Brendan Carr is likely to demand conditions to remedy what he believes is left-wing news bias in programming that violates agency “public interest” rules that govern local broadcasting as opposed to cable."
Colbert jokes about 'cancel culture' and has a very pointed message for Trump
Cancel culture: US talk show hosts react to axing of Stephen Colbert’s 'Late Show' - "“I'm going to go ahead and say it: Cancel culture's gone way too far,” Colbert said to a rambunctious audience that loudly chanted his name... Noting CBS' explanation for his firing, Colbert said, “how can it purely be a financial decision if the show is No. 1 in the ratings? It's confusing. A lot of folks are asking that question, mainly my staff's parents and spouses.”"
If a loss-making show finally gets cancelled, that's cancel culture. Of course, I saw a lot of interesting cope for this, including that the reported losses were fake, that it had been losing money for a while so losing money couldn't have been the reason, that these shows aren't meant to make money, and that these shows are loss leaders and overall profitability is what matters
Weird. Left wingers used to claim that private companies could do whatever they wanted and it wasn't a problem
To left wingers, left wing bias is not bias since reality has a liberal bias, so anti-bias rules only apply in one direction
The WNBA is the #1 women's basketball league in the USA, therefore it cannot be losing money

Jay Leno blasts late-night comedy hosts over divisive content as Colbert gets the boot from CBS - "Jay Leno is taking aim at modern late-night comedy shows, claiming the hosts are isolating half their viewers in an interview released just days after Stephen Colbert got the boot from CBS... Trulio began by mentioning to Leno that his jokes had a reputation of being equally balanced in his time on air. 'I read that there was an analysis done of your work on 'The Tonight Show' for the 22 years and that your jokes were roughly equally balanced between going after Republicans and taking aim at Democrats. Did you have a strategy?' Trulio asked. 'I got hate letters saying, 'You and your Republican friends,' and another saying, 'I hope you and your Democratic buddies are happy' - over the same joke,' Leno said. 'That's how you get a whole audience. Now you have to be content with half the audience, because you have to give your opinion.' 'Rodney Dangerfield and I were friends,' Continued Leno. 'I knew Rodney 40 years and I have no idea if he was a Democrat or Republican. We never discussed politics, we just discussed jokes.' 'I like to think that people come to a comedy show to get away from the pressures of life. I love political humor - don't get me wrong. But people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.' 'Funny is funny,' Leno said. 'It's funny when someone who's not….when you make fun of their side and they laugh at it, you know, that's kind of what I do.' 'I just find getting out - I don't think anybody wants to hear a lecture,' he continued. 'When I was with Rodney, it was always in the economy of words - get to the joke as quickly as possible.' He criticized comedians who inject their political opinions into every monologue and said he preferred making the whole audience laugh rather than pushing an agenda. 'I don't think anybody wants to hear a lecture … Why shoot for just half an audience? Why not try to get the whole? I like to bring people into the big picture,' he said. 'I don't understand why you would alienate one particular group, you know, or just don't do it at all. I'm not saying you have to throw your support or whatever, but just do what's funny.'"
Clearly, since he's not on the Right Side of History, he's a fascist

Only 20 people show up to “We’re with Colbert” protest outside CBS Broadcast Center 💀 - "Let's be fair to Colbert here. It is Trump's fault, at least tertiarily. Trump Derangement Syndrome is a serious condition, and the symptoms often include alienating others, which becomes even more problematic if your job is to bring in viewers and keep your advertisers happy... Jay Leno averaged 5.7 million viewers every night, compared to Colbert who was pulling about 2.42 million when he was canceled."

Dave Rubin on X - "Stephen Colbert had a budget of 100 million a year and 200 people on staff for a show that lost 40 million a year. We had 600k views on YouTube and 140k on Rumble livestreams yesterday with 5 people in studio with me, who mainly get paid in Chipotle. (Extra guac on good days.)"

STUDY: Late Night Comedy Shows Begin 2025 With 99% Of Guests Being Left-Wing - "According to a NewsBusters study, 99 percent of their political guests were on the left, matching the result for the last six months of 2024. The grand totals were 106 liberals and Democrats compared to one conservative... MRC analysts also divided the guests into two categories: partisan officials and then journalists and celebrities. When it came to partisan officials, the count was 30 Democrats to 0 Republicans... NewsBusters has been tracking late night comedy guest counts since September 2022, and the cumulative total now stands at 511 liberals and Democrats versus 14 conservatives and Republicans, or 97 percent."
Clearly, this is because right wingers are bad people and have nothing interesting to say or worth hearing

Colbert is latest casualty of late-night TV's fade-out - "Late-night television had been fighting for its survival even before “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was canceled this week... Whether or not politics were at play, the late-night format has been struggling for years, as viewers increasingly cut the cable TV cord and migrate to streaming. Younger viewers, in particular, are more apt to find amusement on YouTube or TikTok, leaving smaller, aging TV audiences and declining ad revenues. Americans used to religiously turn on Johnny Carson or Jay Leno before bed, but nowadays many fans prefer to watch quick clips on social media at their convenience. Advertising revenue for Colbert's show has dropped 40% since 2018 - the financial reality that CBS said prompted the decision to end “The Late Show” in May 2026. One former TV network executive said the program was a casualty of the fading economics of broadcast television. Fifteen years ago, a popular late-night show like “The Tonight Show” could earn $100 million a year, the executive said. Recently, though, “The Late Show” has been losing $40 million a year, said a person briefed on the matter. The show's ad revenue plummeted to $70.2 million last year from $121.1 million in 2018, according to ad tracking firm Guideline. Ratings for Colbert’s show peaked at 3.1 million viewers on average during the 2017-18 season, according to Nielsen data. For the season that ended in May, the show’s audience averaged 1.9 million. Comedians like Colbert followed their younger audiences online, with the network releasing clips to YouTube or TikTok. But digital advertising did not make up for the lost TV ad revenue, the source with knowledge of the matter said. The TV executive said reruns of a hit prime-time show like “Tracker” would leave CBS with “limited costs, and the ratings could even go up." "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" is just the latest casualty of the collapse of one of television's most durable formats. When “The Late Late Show” host James Corden left in 2023, CBS opted not to hire a replacement. The network also canceled “After Midnight” this year, after host Taylor Tomlinson chose to return to full-time stand-up comedy."

FASCISM ALERT: Show That Wasn't Making Money Canceled | Babylon Bee

Samantha Bee: Ending Stephen Colbert's Late Show Was a 'No-Brainer' - "Former late-night host Samantha Bee is giving her take on CBS cancelling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” During a recent appearance on the “Breaking Bread with Tom Papa” podcast, Bee said she believes that ending Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” was a “financial decision,” as cited by CBS, but also thinks it was in part to “curry favor with the president” amid the merger between Paramount, CBS’ parent company, and Skydance. “I think both things are true,” she said. “It definitely was hemorrhaging money. These legacy shows are hemorrhaging money with no real end to that…in sight, people are just not tuning in.” Bee added, “People are literally on their phones all the time for one thing, so they actually don’t necessarily need a recap of the day’s events. They’re very well-versed in what has happened.” She went on to explain that while hosting her TBS show “Full Frontal,” which ran for seven seasons from 2016 to 2022, not stirring controversy during network mergers was a “constant source of conversation.” From her experience, it seemed like a “no-brainer” for CBS to end “The Late Show.” “It’s so much easier for them to cut it loose with this merger coming down the pike,” Bee said. “It makes the decision such a no-brainer, and probably the most agonizing decisions they were having were about how do we float this? How do we not get a lot of blowback? I’m sure they knew it was happening a long time ago.”"

Nolte: Stephen Colbert Changes Story, Backs Off Claim CBS Killed James Talarico Interview - "What outgoing Late Show host Stephen Colbert said about CBS on Tuesday contradicts what he said on Monday... After blaming the Trump Administration for enforcing the FCC “equal time” rule, Colbert said that “Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV.” Tuesday afternoon, CBS released a statement that contradicts all of that... Colbert says the network told him in no uncertain terms he could not broadcast the interview with Rep. James Talarico (D-TX) while CBS claims they merely pointed out how broadcasting that interview could trigger the “equal time” rule. Additionally, CBS offered “options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled.” Namely, as I mentioned yesterday, it could be fulfilled by giving “equal time” to Talarico’s opponents for next month’s Democrat nomination for the Texas U.S. Senate seat: Rep. Jasmine Crockett and businessman Ahmad Hassan, both of whom are on the ballot. Rather than offer the two candidates not supported by the Democrat Party establishment equal time, he chose to run the Talarico interview on YouTube. Nevertheless, as you can see, there is a massive gulf between what Colbert claims and what CBS claims. Colbert said he was ordered not to broadcast the interview. CBS says the exact opposite. CBS basically called Colbert a liar, and on Tuesday night, Colbert didn’t dispute that. Instead, he mealy-mouthed around it... Colbert admitted he lied. “CBS told me unilaterally I had to abide by the equal time rules” is a far cry from “we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.” Stephen Colbert seems desperate to do two things: 1) make himself a martyr, and 2) make a perfect fool of himself while doing so."
Of course, left wingers were very upset, because they don't understand things as always. The law is meant to push the left wing agenda, so following the law is fascism when it hurts the left

Tyson Zahner | Facebook - "I’m seeing a lot of people on the left championing Stephen Colbert as some kind of free‑speech hero for “defying” Trump’s FCC and airing his James Talarico interview anyway. Here’s what actually happened, and why I think Colbert looks a lot more like a coward than the free‑speech martyr his fan club is making him out to be. Colbert taped a long interview with James Talarico, a Democrat who is currently running for U.S. Senate in Texas. CBS’s lawyers told him that putting that segment on his broadcast show could trigger the FCC’s “equal time” rule, because Talarico’s primary opponents would then be entitled to comparable airtime during an active election. Key detail (This is important)... The equal time rule ONLY applies to broadcast TV and radio. It does NOT apply to YouTube, streaming, or social media. So what did Colbert do? He put the interview on YouTube, and then went on TV to brag about how brave he was for posting it where the rule doesn’t apply. If this was really some heroic “stand up to the man” moment, he’d have run it on his actual CBS show and forced the FCC’s hand. Posting a safe, online‑only “exclusive” that conveniently dodges the only rule with teeth is just compliance cosplay and not the brave civil disobedience the left is pretending it is. Now, why is equal time suddenly a problem for guys like Colbert? Because for years, late‑night and daytime talk shows were effectively treated as exempt “news interview” programs. In 2006, the FCC even blessed Jay Leno’s interview segment with then‑Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as a bona fide news interview, and networks have since used that as cover to pile candidates onto these shows without triggering equal‑time obligations. But those shows clearly didn’t stay neutral (if they ever were). They turned into nightly DNC infomercials… They are now openly partisan, candidate‑heavy, and overwhelmingly one‑sided. Trump’s FCC finally said: if you’re going to act like campaign media, you’re going to be treated like campaign media. In January, the FCC issued new guidance saying late‑night and daytime talk shows featuring candidate interviews can’t just assume they’re exempt anymore, and that they may have to give opposing candidates equal time. That’s the part the Colbert fans leave out. This isn’t Big Bad Trump randomly silencing some brave truth‑teller. It’s the FCC telling networks: your partisan talk shows don’t get to be campaign arms for Democrats and hide behind “news” exemptions forever. If you want to keep turning your comedy hour into campaign TV, you play by campaign rules… including equal time. So yes, there’s a real First Amendment conversation to be had about how far the FCC should go. But let’s not pretend Stephen Colbert is risking anything here. The network lawyers warned him about equal time on broadcast, and he took the safest possible path: move the content to a platform where the rule doesn’t apply, then collect applause for “standing up to censorship”. Give me a break!"

Washington Free Beacon on X - "Remember when Stephen Colbert took to the airwaves to suggest that the Trump administration intervened at the 11th hour to intimidate his bosses into pulling an interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico? Both Colbert and Talarico knew days before the interview actually took place that it would not air on TV due to concerns from CBS lawyers, but Talarico sat down with Colbert anyway, hoping that Colbert “would tell his audience the story of federal interference,” the New York Times reported. Talarico then milked the hubbub for earned media, millions of dollars in fundraising, and a primary win over Rep. Jasmine Crockett."

Meme - *Family Guy Okay Not Okay* "CNN identifying a suspect: *all skin colours* White Male"

CNN’s Erin Burnett skewered for saying NYC shooter was ‘possibly white’ - YouTube

Meme - ""WHITE MALE" - CNN *Shane Devon Tamura*"

John Kennedy on X - "In the past, NPR CEO Katherine Maher said that America is “addicted to White supremacy” and that the words “boy and girl” are “erasing language for non-binary people.” Now that NPR might finally lose its taxpayer money, she’s singing a different tune. Americans don't buy it."
Plus, she claimed that federal funding was "not much"

Thread by @SenJohnKennedy on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "NPR’s CEO Katherine Maher on CNN this morning: “As far as the accusations that we’re biased, I’d stand up and say, ‘Please show me a story that concerns you.’” I’ve got a few:
NPR reported that country music and birds are racist, told American people to stop eating beef, and promoted the Russia-gate conspiracy. No person with a brain above a single-celled organism would call these articles fair and balanced. NPR claimed President Biden’s presidential debate performance didn’t change the election, days before he dropped out of the race. If you believe that headline, you believe in the tooth fairy. But that’s what NPR reported with your tax dollars. NPR reported that there is no evidence that biological men have an unfair advantage over biological women in sports. NPR also called America’s interstate highways racist. I did not know our highways were racist. I thought they were concrete, but not according to NPR. NPR referred to rural Americans as “Christian nationalists” and heaped praise on Biden administration official Rachel Levine. I could go all day. American taxpayers shouldn’t have to fund this opinion journalism."

Meme - "Twitter then revised its label on NPR's account to "government-funded media." The news organization says that is inaccurate and misleading, given that NPR is a private, nonprofit company with editorial independence. It receives less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting."
"$1.1B of federal funding for public media has been eliminated. This is devastating for the millions of people who rely on public media every day. We will fight to restore federal funding. In the meantime, your donation is more critical now than ever. Help this irreplaceable resource continue to be a reliable companion and civic cornerstone, not just for you, but for all. Join our community of supporters today. DONATE NOW"
Weird.. Surely NPR in 2025 cannot be saying that NPR in 2023 was spreading misinformation about their federal funding being insignificant

Meme - Sean Davis @seanmdav: "The woman on the right is Ghislaine Maxwell. She trafficked children for Jeffrey Epstein. The woman on the left owns your magazine."
The Atlantic @Theatlantic: ""If the Epstein scandal teaches us anything, it is that America needs a dedicated and decently funded group of people whose job is not just to ask questions, but to find answers;" @helenlewis writes. "Let's call them journalists""
Readers added context: "The Atlantic is majority-owned by Laurene Powell Jobs through Emerson Collective. Publicly available photos show Powell Jobs attending social events with Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein."

Thread by @SenJohnKennedy on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger on CNN this morning: “People often struggle to come up with examples” of left-wing bias at PBS. Actually, it’s not a struggle at all. Here are just a few of PBS’s biggest whiffs: 🧵
In Louisiana, a PBS video claimed that pre-schoolers “may have racial bias.” PBS affiliates also advocated for males in women’s sports to have “support in their push for athletic access.” They have the right to say this stuff—but not with your money. Even worse, PBS pushed so-called “gender-affirming care for youth” and released woke “anti-racist” talking points for “[t]alking to young children about race and racism.” Should taxpayers really be funding PBS’s hot takes on “the hidden racism of young white Americans”? PBS also thought it was a good idea to cover “a blueprint for the case against Trump” and claim that Gov. Sarah Palin “ushered in the ‘post-truth’ political era in which Trump has thrived.” Give me a break. Thanks to President Trump’s rescission package, taxpayers may finally be able to get out of the business of deeply weird, left-wing media. That’s a good thing."

Meacham on X - "They hate NPR because it’s unbiased and it’s not commercial. And there’s no screaming and calling each other names and dehumanizing each other. It’s actual journalism and they hate it."
Project for Immigration Reform on X - "NPR once hosted a live talk segment about the H-1B visa program and explicitly stated they had no interest in bringing on guests who opposed the program because of “xenophobia.” Instead, they invited panelists who stood to gain from the visa: a company CEO, an immigration lawyer, and a foreign worker on the H-1B. Then, to NPR’s shock, when they opened the phone and chat lines for questions, they were flooded with angry listeners who criticized the show’s blatant one-sidedness and pointed out that the visa had cost many Americans their jobs—sometimes even forcing them to train their H-1B replacements before being laid off to secure severance pay. NPR is indeed biased and untruthful."

Erick Erickson on X - "Dear American Press Corps:
Last year, multiple press outlets "fact checked" claims about the apartment complex in Aurora, CO and concluded Trump was lying. Yesterday, 28 TdA gang members who lived in that complex were indicted by a grand jury for using the complex as a base of criminal activity. Last week, you guys insisted restaurant reservations in DC were down 25%, but actually they're up 30% because you misread the data. You've run stories about starving kids in Gaza that turned out not to be true. You've run stories about the Israelis killing people that turned out not to be true.
Have you noticed your mistakes always amplify leftwing talking points and attack the right? Have you noticed your ratings are in free fall, subscriptions are down, and viewership is down? Perhaps that is all related. But I doubt you care."

Stephen L. Miller on X - "This is how you knew the White House press were in on Joe Biden's condition and willfully submitting questions to his advisors. White House reporters are grumbling that Trump took friendly questions, but not a single one of them protested when the image came out that an LA Times reporter war pre-submitting her questions to the Biden White House. Not a single one of them protested. They have discredited themselves."

Media Says Motives Unclear Of Killer Who Wrote Manifesto Entitled 'Here Are My Motives' | Babylon Bee

David Perell on X - "People think news bias is about how stories are told, but the bigger bias happens earlier in the process with the decision of what to cover in the first place. Newsrooms are like giant spotlights, and where they shine their light shapes the world more than what they actually say."
Anton Seim 🔑 on X - "I did a stint for Marketplace APM radio. I was shocked to learn how it worked. It wasn’t journalism, but journalists being told what the stories were each day and what to report on them."

Libs of TikTok on X - "NEW HOAX JUST DROPPED “The Trump admin removed a memorial for black soldiers” Only when you scroll alllll the way down do they admit that it actually works on a rotation and a panel which happened to feature a black servicemember was simply rotated. You don’t hate the media enough"

Links - 22nd April 2026 (2 - General Wokeness [including UN Slavery Vote])

2026-04-22T17:26:00.000+08:00

Meme - Alan MacLeod @AlanRMacleod: "BREAKING: The United Nations has voted 123-3 in favor to condemn the enslavement of millions of Africans and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The three countries voting against it? USA Israel Argentina. Nearly all of Europe abstained."
Readers added context they thought people might want to know: "Context: the resolution wasn't just a condemnation of the slave trade; it also called for reparations and described slavery as "the gravest crime against humanity," which some countries rejected as creating a hierarchy of crimes (over genocide, etc.)."
Naturally, left wingers were spreading misinformation, claiming that this was just about condemning slavery as practised by white people

Meme - BBC News (UK) @BBCNews: "UN votes to recognise slavery as 'gravest crime against humanity'"
Readers added context they thought people might want to know: "UN did not recognize slavery as the "gravest crime', only the transatlantic slave trade, and it also calls for "reparations" to be paid. Most historical slavery is not covered by this resolution, and none of the current slavery."

Wanjiru Njoya on X - "The corrupt UN wants to pass a resolution blaming Europe for slavery. "it will label the European-led slave trade as history’s greatest crime ... the 1,300-year-long Arab trade in African slaves will not be mentioned.""
Wilfred Reilly on X - "Nonsensical. Slavery Was Very Bad, but the idea that we can definitively identify the worst thing in history - and that it was the 10-20% of the historical human slave trade led specifically by whites - is just damned absurd. Some other contenders:
The Mongol Conquests
The Fall of Rome
WW2/the Holocaust
The Black Death
New World population collapse
Communism
The Steppe and Bantu Migrations
The Arab conquests/slave trade
Etc."

Blake Neff on X - "The best part of this dumb map is Mauritania voting with the anti-white coalition when it literally at this very moment has widespread slavery, having only criminalized it ~20 years ago and never seriously enforcing said law. This vote is about attacking white countries and trying to shake them down for money. That’s it."

Kyle Becker on X - "True. And no one talks about Thomas Jefferson's condemnation of slavery in the draft Declaration of Independence. Or the banning of the importation of slaves in 20 years' time in the Constitution. Or the 3/5th clause that weakened representation for southern states in the South. Or the hundreds of thousands of Americans who died in a Civil War that resulted in the emancipation of slaves. Enlightenment thinkers were openly hostile to slavery. They were the true progressives whose thinking led to the end of the inhumane practice in the world. There was real blood spilled by hundreds of thousands of white people in the mid-19th century to end the abominable practice of slavery. This nefarious institution had existed in ancient times. Mesopotamia. Egypt. Persia. Greece. Rome. All of these civilizations had their version of slavery. The Ottoman Empire was notorious for the practice. African peoples trafficked slaves to Muslims and Europeans. It is an institution that is nearly as old as human society itself. It was not a practice limited to the enslavement of Africans. This is a mythologized, selective history that was advanced by neomarxists to sow division in the West. In the mid-19th century, America, Britain, and even Russia had undertaken reforms to end slavery. Slavery, however, exists in the world today. But not in the West. In China. In North Korea. In Pakistan. Even in India. The history of slavery has been cherrypicked and bastardized in order to exclusively blame white Anglo-Saxons for a practice that was nearly universal — until they ultimately put an end to it."

Jim Chimirie 🇬🇧 on X - "The Slave Trade Reparations Trap Is Already Set
On Tuesday, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution demanding that Britain and other former colonial powers enter into "good-faith dialogue on reparatory justice" for the transatlantic slave trade. It passed 124 to three. Britain abstained. The government called this a principled stand. James Kariuki, Britain's chargé d'affaires at the UN, said the UK "continues to disagree with fundamental propositions of the text." Strong words. The problem is that this government has already demonstrated, in precise detail, exactly how much those words are worth. The man who championed this cause from the backbenches is now Deputy Prime Minister. In 2018, Lammy told Parliament he wanted not just an apology but reparations. In 2020, he said the process of "repairing" Britain's colonial past was "obviously financial." He is now the second most powerful figure in the government. Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, said that same year that there was "a moral and legal" case for compensation. These are not old positions they have repudiated. They are positions they have declined to retract. The African Union's legal strategy is no secret. Their experts plan to seek an ICJ advisory opinion establishing reparations as a matter of international obligation. They chose this route because it worked. A previous ICJ opinion on Chagos prompted Starmer to hand over £30 billion of British sovereign territory rather than "break international law." The reparations movement noted the outcome. Tuesday's resolution is the first brick in the same foundation. The abstention is not a defence. It is a waiting room. Look at who voted in favour. China. Iran. Russia. India. This is the moral coalition that has appointed itself arbiter of Britain's historical guilt. China, which runs the largest forced labour system currently operating on earth. Iran, whose government funds proxy militias and whose record on human rights requires no elaboration. Russia, prosecuting a war of territorial conquest in Europe. These governments did not vote yes because they have thought seriously about Atlantic slavery. They voted yes because a financially and legally weakened Britain serves their interests, and because Western self-flagellation is a gift that keeps giving. The resolution contains a revealing admission. Its supporters openly ranked the transatlantic trade as more grave than the Arab slave trade, which ran for 1,300 years and took millions of Africans across the Sahara and Indian Ocean. The reason given: scale and duration. By that measure, the Arab trade should face equal scrutiny. It does not. The resolution targets Western nations and leaves others untouched. Some historical criminals are in the dock. Others helped write the charges. The US representative said so plainly. He rejected the idea of ranking atrocities by political convenience and accused the resolution's backers of using history as a weapon. Only the United States, Israel, and Argentina voted against. Britain could not manage even that. There is a pattern here that is no longer possible to mistake for coincidence. Gibraltar. Chagos. And now this. Each time, the same sequence: international legal pressure applied, ministers express disagreement, then Britain writes the cheque. Starmer did not create the reparations movement. But he handed it its proof of concept. The arguments against reparations are well-rehearsed and decisive. The question is whether a government containing David Lammy and Lord Hermer has the will to make them. When the ICJ opinion arrives, and the Foreign Office begins its familiar audit of what international law requires, that question will answer itself.
"The arguments against reparations are well-rehearsed and decisive. The question is whether a government containing David Lammy and Lord Hermer has the will to make them.""

Daniel Hannan on X - "Every country practised slavery. African nations more enthusiastically and more recently than most. So why go after Britain, which is unique in its determination to stamp out the foul trade? Why not, say, China or Nigeria or Saudi? Because Britain keeps inviting its enemies to have a go. It will not sanction countries that back motions like this. Incredibly, it would not even vote against the motion."

UK should pay slavery reparations, says UN - "The resolution was announced by John Mahama, Ghana’s president, following a meeting with repatriation experts in Accra in 2025. The meeting was supported by the Open Society Foundations, an international fund founded by George Soros, the Hungarian billionaire. The Telegraph previously revealed that the organisation, along with a host of charities and funds, had pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the reparations movement."

Winston Marshall on X - "Worse than the 70-80 million killed by Mao? Worse than the 20-60 million killed in Soviet Union? Worse than the millions of Hindus killed in Medieval India? Worse than the Arab slave trade of 14m Africans? The UN is just a tool for those who hate the West"

Templarpilled on X - ">be British Empire
>decide that you want to end slavery
>no, not just in your own lands, that would be nothing special
>slavery is so evil it needs to go worldwide
>unleash the Royal Navy
>show everyone who rules the waves
>countless brave sailors now won't return home
>but it's worth it
>the future generations will be thankful for their sacrifice, right?
>right?"

Escaping the Woke Jungle, ‘National Geographic’ Reclaims Its Legacy - " A lot of the problems with NatGeo during this time most likely stemmed from its editor-in-chief, Susan Goldberg. Goldberg left a job at Bloomberg News for National Geographic in 2014, where she stayed until she was replaced in 2022 by current editor Nathan Lump. In preparation for the reopening of the new museum, I purchased three recent issues of National Geographic. I was pleasantly surprised. The March 2026 issue features stories about the resurrection of the traditional Scottish language; an archaeological dig to find the remains of ancient Vikings; jazz cafes in Japan where vinyl listening is popular; and a photo essay on “the kaleidoscopic beauty of swamps.” The April issue features a cover story on a newly discovered shipwreck from the Byzantine Empire; a story on the introduction of modernist architecture into national parks; and a story on a stunning new dinosaur museum in Abu Dhabi. February’s National Geographic featured a cover story on non-alcoholic beer (I’m a fan); a wonderful piece on the popularity of country music in Brazil; and an exploration with wolf hunters in Kazakhstan."

The Left’s War on Reality - "From equating masks worn by immigration officers and police with the masks worn by terrorists and criminals—often by the very same people who once demanded permanent masking during COVID—to reflexive political opposition that requires taking a complete 180-degree turn from where someone stood on an issue just a week ago, it seems clear, at least to me, that we are in the middle of a war on objectivity. The examples themselves are revealing. In the case of immigration enforcement, the individuals being deported are frequently criminals and often associated with criminal organizations, which creates an obvious and rational reason for officers to conceal their identities. Even so, their affiliation with law enforcement is plainly visible on their uniforms and equipment. As for the second example, the absurdity is self-evident. Apparently intellectual honesty and consistency are no longer considered essential virtues in public debate... We are drawn to narratives in which confusion is resolved and truth ultimately triumphs over uncertainty. Progressive ideology, by contrast, often depends on people never recognizing objective reality at all. Instead, it thrives on attention to the sizzle of the steak rather than the quality of the meat—or even whether the steak exists in the first place. Many contemporary political movements operate on precisely this principle. The Black Lives Matter movement, for example, was fueled in part by the “Hands up, don’t shoot” narrative in the Ferguson case, a claim later shown through investigation and forensic evidence to be false. Similarly, the slogan of a “Gazan genocide” often circulates without reference to population data, military realities, or the historical context of the conflict. These narratives persist not because they are objectively accurate but because they generate powerful perceptions of injustice. Those perceptions become politically valuable, and institutions often hesitate to challenge them directly, fearing that doing so might provoke unrest—or simply destroy a politically useful storyline. The real danger lies in what happens over time. Uncorrected perception gradually hardens into a kind of pseudo-objective truth. What begins as a claim becomes an assumption. What begins as an assumption eventually becomes “conventional wisdom.” Once that happens, the original facts scarcely matter at all. This is why movements built on perception work so hard to protect those perceptions. It is also why progressive rhetoric so often relies on ambiguity, euphemism, and carefully constructed narratives rather than direct engagement with empirical reality. Objective truth is dangerous to such systems because it collapses the illusion—and that is precisely why objectivity itself has become the enemy. Truth, after all, is very difficult to control once it gets loose."

Senator Chris McDaniel | Facebook - "We didn’t wake up one morning and decide to hate each other. Somebody pushed first. For years now, we’ve been told that government is a “social contract.” An implied bargain among citizens about how we live together. Fine. If that’s the framework, then conservatives have offered clear, reasonable terms. We’ll leave you alone, in exchange for you leaving us alone. That means we keep the fruits of our labor. We raise and educate our children. We worship our God. We keep our firearms. And we exercise our rights as they’re recognized pursuant to the Constitution. That bargain requires restraint on both sides. Conservatives have honored it. The polarization we see today didn’t come from conservatives tearing up that deal. It came because the Democratic Party hurried toward Socialism and then declared the old terms unacceptable. Positions that were once debated became mandatory. Cultural preferences hardened into moral commands. Longstanding compromises were reopened and treated as proof of moral failure. And anyone who declined to follow wasn’t reasoned with. They were labeled. Racist. Bigot. Extremist. Deplorable. Threat to democracy. That name-calling didn’t follow polarization. It produced it. Conservatives didn’t move. We stayed where we were. We still believe in limited government, free enterprise, religious liberty, parental authority, and constitutional boundaries. Those principles didn’t change. The measuring stick did. When the Democrats moved the line, they pulled off a neat trick. They redefined everyone who stayed put as radical. Not because our views changed, but because their philosophy of government no longer tolerates restraint. And that’s the rub in this so-called social contract. A contract only works if both sides agree to limits. But the modern Democrats’ view of government isn’t built on restraint. It’s built on management. On supervision. On the idea that private choices are public problems to be fixed. Indeed, structural revolution is their admitted goal. Once that premise takes hold, leaving people alone is no longer an option. Pressure becomes inevitable. So the pressure comes. A regulation here. A mandate there. A curriculum shift. A licensing scheme. A “reasonable” restriction. More force and coercion, resulting in a culture re-made. Always justified. Always framed as necessary. Always aimed at someone else, until it isn’t. And when conservatives push back, we’re told we’re the aggressors. That insisting on being left alone is hostility. And that defending constitutional limits is extremism. But that flips the idea of a social contract on its head. One side offering peace while the other insists on control isn’t a contract at all. It’s leverage. Conservatives didn’t cause this polarization. We didn’t break the agreement. We simply refused to chase a moving target. For a long time, we tried to restrain ourselves anyway. We tried to act in good faith. We absorbed the punches, the lectures, the accusations, and the persistent demands to apologize for beliefs we’d held our entire lives. We were told to take it quietly, for the sake of “civility,” even as the rules kept changing and the pressure kept mounting. Eventually, people get tired of being hit. So conservatives did something different. We stopped looking for someone to respectfully explain our position. Instead, we hired someone to punch back. That’s where Donald Trump came in. Not as a philosopher. Not as a pastor. Not as a model of decorum. But as a counterpunch. As a refusal to keep apologizing. As a signal that we were done pretending the blows weren’t landing. Trump didn’t create the anger. He revealed it. He didn’t invent the conflict. He named it. And he didn’t polarize America. He gave voice to millions of Americans who were tired of being told to sit down, shut up, and take it. You may not like the punch. You may not like the man throwing it. But don’t pretend it came out of nowhere. It came after years of pressure. And here we are in 2026, unhappy witnesses to a republic in decline. At the end of it all, I just hope we don’t hate the Democrats more than we love the Constitution. While fighting monsters, we should be careful not to become one ourselves."

evan loves worf on X - "Yeah leftists don’t like war crimes"
Wilfred Reilly on X - "Unless they're the GOOD war crimes, against the BAD people. The Tutsis The cock-a-roaches The Kulaks The 9 year old daughters of Wermacht soldiers The Indian businessmen The Jewish businessmen The ethnic Chinese businessmen Batista's men The burnt nuns in Spain The 7th Cavalry The Boer Me You On and on it goes."

Elizabeth May just sponsored a petition asking Parliament to declare an LGBTQ genocide in Canada. : r/CanadianConservative - "The word "genocide" officially has no meaning or value anymore."
"I've never heard of a genocide where the population is growing."

Meme - CNN @CNN: "Have you ever noticed the popularity of white robots? The reason for these shades of technological white may be racism, according to new research."
William Strunk, Jr. @cdrusnret: "Since robots are slaves, CNN thinks they should be black, not white."
Grievance mongering woke people will never run out of "problems" to "solve"

Javier Milei Quotes (Fan) on X - "Javier Milei: “I thought being on the left was a mental problem. The empirical evidence is so overwhelming that it never worked anywhere, and they refused to accept it.” “But what I discovered is that being on the left is a disease of the soul. The left is built on envy, hatred, resentment, and unequal treatment under the law. They are very violent, and since they have no way or arguments to answer, they go for physical violence.”"

Thread by @xwanyex on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "These people very obviously hate white people. So much of the world makes sense if you just allow yourself to say that out loud. I know it still sounds cringe to a lot of you, but it also just happens to be the truth.
I make this exact point quite often, but there was an old Ezra Klein interview with Sam Harris about the legacy of Charles Murray in which Klein argued that we don’t need to wait for racists to literally say the words, “I am a racist. I hate Black people.” in order to conclude that they are a racist. If that standard applies to the works of Charles Murray, for crying out loud, then it obviously extends to very large portions of the mainstream left. I am asking you and Ezra Klein and everybody else to apply this exact same logic to the left, at which point you will see quite clearly that they hate white people. It explains everything that is otherwise confusing. They just simply hate white people. They hold white people to a different standard. They think of white people differently from people of all other races. They feel animosity toward white people in their very gut. They think that white people are particularly vile, vicious, and violent. Let yourself let the world make sense."
Jacked Catman on X - "Murray does not hate black people. Saying things like IQ predicts crime and IQ has different distributions within race isn't bias, it's truth. Kendi/others are clearly anti-white. There is no objectivity to the analysis, no hard truths. The comparison is unfair to Murray."
wanye on X - "Let me be clear: I’m saying that the same argument fits *much better* when applied to the left than it does to Charles Murray, who I believe to be a good and honorable person. If Klein, on the other hand, thinks that it applies to Murray, then he *must* think the same of almost the entire left."

MAZE on X - "Gavin Newsom's wife recalls telling prisoners at San Quentin about running over and killing her sister with a golf cart. She said that she wasn't punished because it was an accident but that the prisoners are doing life even though theirs was "probably an accident too.""
wanye on X - "There are many things to dislike about progressivism, even just from a purely aesthetic point of view, and so we spend a lot of time on here ridiculing it on that basis, but it’s important always to remember that the main problem with progressivism is that it’s not true. It’s actually just not true that accidentally running over your sister when you’re seven years old is the equivalent of murdering someone or committing some other violent crime. It’s actually just not true that most people in prison are innocent. It’s actually just not true that most of the people in prison committed their crime unintentionally. When you talk to progressives, what you find is that they hold views about the world that are just simply not true. Maybe the aesthetics would still be bad, even if their claims were true, but their claims are not true."

I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 on X - "Leftist claims grass lawns are based on “white supremacy” and are “racist,” and she wants to bring back unkempt landscapes with weeds."
Will Tanner on X - "She is largely correct Leftism is both inextricably intertwined with anti-whiteism, at this point, and is entropy incarnate: to have a well-maintained and attractive lawn is to show one cares about order and aesthetic appeal, and is willing to expend resources on cultivating that rather than funneling resources into the biomass beast of the welfare state. As the left wishes to smash all beauty, cultivation, and civilization with equality, replacing laws with weeds is indeed the leftist thing to do"

captive dreamer on X - "Gavin Newsom's wife: we have to use the powers of government to stop boys from becoming right wing"
simon evans on X - "Every clip I see of this woman, she is more and more nakedly “saying the quiet part out loud” evil. As always, one of the biggest tells of the mad LW ideologue is the throwaway, unchallenged “we know”. And of course oblivious to the fact that it’s precisely the hyper progressive atmosphere she has created in her home that is driving her son towards the comparatively fresh or at least breathable air of Andrew Tate."
It's telling that she is openly saying that she wants the government to enforce her political ideology onto tech companies and entrench it after they leave office. Government censorship and reeducation are good when they push the left wing agenda

Andy on X - "Political content on instagram is funny. Virtually all right wing content is videos of things happening in the world.. virtually all left wing content is rants and lectures."
Kangmin Lee | 이강민 on X - "It's because right-wingers live in reality, while left-wingers refuse to. Right-wing content = showing videos of looting, murders, and unhygienic, dysfunctional third-world behavior Left-wing content = rants and complaints from their own bedrooms about how women don’t need men and jailing people is racist"

Rupa Subramanya on X - "Islamic private schools in Canada are expanding rapidly, supported in provinces like Alberta by public funding, and, in certain cases, by financing linked to the Islamic Development Bank, where Iran is among the largest shareholders. My latest."
Time to shut down Catholic schools. There's no reason for the state to be funding religious education

High Speed Rail launch is the triumph of Hope over Experience

2026-04-22T13:38:00.036+08:00

High Speed Rail launch is the triumph of Hope over Experience

"As someone who has had the pleasure of participating in a few ground-breaking ceremonies over the years, I understand the excitement that Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon was feeling when he referred to the launch of a high-speed rail (HSR) link between Ottawa and Montreal as an “‘historic day’ for Canada.” With Canada’s back against an economic wall, largely for reasons of our own stupidity, there’s no better political window than December 2025 for a Minority government to announce truly “generational investments.”

No matter what the project might cost, or how large the passenger fare subsidy might need to be, it would seem. Details that only a killjoy who might prefer an income tax cut, stronger borders or more Family Doctors would fuss about.

Despite the absence of a business plan, the HSR project has strong support from many in the business and tech community. A lacuna they’d never tolerate at their own firms or Family Offices, even if their staff were working on something involving 0.1% of the capital required for any version of the grand HSR project.

I get it — if you’re frustrated by Canada’s dependence on the U.S. economy, or you and your family have just enjoyed the Japanese or Spanish rail systems while on holiday — it’s only natural for Central Canadians to ask “why not us? If not now, when?”

There’s also a natural expectation on the part of HSR supporters that sane, prudent people will be tasked with executing this evergreen “Big Idea.” Again, I get it: in your lived experience, sheer force of will eventually wins the day.

Unfortunately, even if we could attract (straightforward) and retain (harder) the right leadership team, leaving aside finding enough “trades” to tackle all that’s involved over the next two decades, there’s still the challenge of getting the math to work.

Assuming that the math matters, that is.

In an earlier blog, I wrestled with a question that now seems increasingly irrelevant to most elected officials: When it comes to ‘key’ infrastructure projects, should price matter?” (Feb. 21-25)...

Then-PM Justin Trudeau announced a $3.9 billion envelope of taxpayer funding to work-up the HSR idea.

To put that $4B pile of cash in perspective, the construction cost of the entire Gordie Howe International Bridge will wind-up being somewhere between $6-7 billion. While that final figure is almost three times the original construction budget back when I was Chairman of the WDBA, at least we’re about to get a P3 bridge for our $6B+.

As my successor Dwight Duncan came to find, as scooped by The Windsor Star’s Dave Battagello in 2016 (“Gordie Howe International Bridge project stalled”), these mega-projects don’t manage themselves. Unlike being a Provincial Cabinet Minister who gives interviews, attends endless stakeholder meetings, presents BIG cheques, and occasionally bugs the DM on how things are going with whatever important legislation was currently being drafted in a dark corner of your current Department, if you as Chair (or CEO) of the public authority don’t drive the project yourself, you’ll be lucky if it takes just twice as long to get everything done.

And that ignores the disingenuous HSR construction timelines currently being thrown around...

Even if you’re indifferent about timelines, the TTC’s new Finch West LRT ran “just” $3.5B and is expected to handle 12 million riders/year by 2031. $4B gets you transit, not just a stack of paper about what transit could look like if it were built. If there’s any doubt, the reason why taxpayers are funding these essential HSR studies is simply because the private sector doesn’t yet have confidence in either the construction cost projections nor the notional business case.

The point being that the consulting, legal and Aboriginal consultation fees associated with this design project aren’t chump change, even in the infrastructure world...

You might find it perplexing that so many seem prepared to throw caution to the wind with deficit-financed infrastructure projects, but it’s not that complicated.

When the HSR price tag is billions over budget and years past due fifteen or twenty years from now, few, if any of the politicians involved to date will still be in elected office. For certain, none will be in their current roles, avoiding accountability for all that will follow, post whichever press conference they participate in. And there’ll be plenty of cheerful press conferences between now and the moment that the media figures out that things are wildly off-track.

Mr. Trudeau flushed (Ed. note: “invested,” surely!) the first $4 billion with his own launch announcement and then exited stage left, leaving incoming PM Mark Carney in a difficult political bind given that most of his own Cabinet had already signed off on the idea prior to his arrival.

Although the new PM promised to make “difficult choices” in the recent Federal budget, cancelling a “generational” project that counted Montreal-based Air Canada (a known expert at building / operating a high speed train corridor), SNC-Lavalin (Liberal corporate darling) and CDPQ (I’m a fan of their business savvy) as partners was a too-bitter pill to swallow. With this latest news, it became clear that the PMO eventually figured out how to adroitly thread the needle: be seen to advance the HSR project (Ottawa-Montreal) without having to sign-up to a $100B+ price tag (Toronto-Quebec City)...

The Carney government deserves credit for turning an unwieldy 1,000 kilometre project into something more digestible: a tidy, far shorter and somewhat less complicated passage between Ottawa and Montreal, two stops that just happen to be deeply loyal Liberal boroughs. One can respect that move, even if the MSM ignores the self-serving political virtue of the initial route choice:

The decision to start with the 200-kilometre stretch between Montreal and Ottawa comes down to geography, with it being the shortest and flattest section of the proposed corridor, officials said. The line will include a stop in Laval, Que.

(If only the media were as constructive when a Conservative politician made a procurement choice that was seen to favour a politically-important region, as with the CF-18 fighter repair contract or the sale of LAVs to Saudi Arabia for example.)

A core group at Build Canada have put energy into the HSR topic, and some smart and successful people are prepared to sign-up to the inherent risks given the nation-building opportunities they see. The organization’s memo on the topic is worth reading as it lays out both the opportunities and pitfalls ahead. These proponents firmly believe that Canada can avoid some of our earlier quagmires as Alto attempts to execute what would be the most expensive infrastructure project in Canadian history.

Easier said than done, of course, as is everything worth doing.

The counter-argument comes from Matti Siemiatycki, a professor and the director of the Infrastructure Institute at The University of Toronto. Prof. Siemiatycki has offered a laundry list of other things we could be doing with the same amount of money, such as i) $10 billion to provide clean drinking water to Indigenous communities, ii) the east-end tramway project in Montreal, iii) a subway line in Vancouver to UBC, iv) the Eglinton East LRT in Toronto, v) the Calgary Green Line and vi) the Quebec City tramway. With $14B left over (if you believe the $80B HSR price tag).

Prof. Siemiatycki’s perspective is all the more compelling if you delve into the robust 1995 Ottawa-Ontario gov’t HSR study. In that detailed document, you’ll notice that the team went to great lengths to model the projected revenue under various pax and speed scenarios. What isn’t analyzed are the annual operating costs of providing those same scenarios.

Perplexing, that.

Can you imagine pitching your Minister, corporate boss or would-be investor on a project with no sense of what it would cost to generate the forecast revenue in your financial model? It’s like taking the “L” out of the “P/L statement” on the assumption that you can’t go bankrupt. That premise only makes sense if your working assumption is that the Federal public purse will cover any operating shortfall.

In October 2026, Transport Canada updated a web page titled “Feasibility study for a high speed rail service (HSR) in the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor.” That study was prepared by a collection of international consulting firms in 2011.

Although the report is private, TC shared two key points:

From the point of view of the Canadian economy as a whole, the economic analysis showed that HSR between Quebec City and Windsor would not generate a positive net economic benefit. However, a project between Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto only could generate a positive net economic benefit at both 200 and 300 km/h.

I guess that explains why Windsor is off the table, while begging the question as to how Quebec City has remained as a station stop under both Liberal Prime Ministers. (Ed. note: is that even a question?)

The main findings from the financial analysis for both the public case and the private sector case for the full Quebec City – Windsor Corridor indicate that while the project could cover all operating costs, governments would need to contribute significantly to the project development cost and receive no financial return on investment.

In other words, as long as the taxpayer funds a significant chunk of the construction project (including rolling stock?), the line will break-even based upon some confidential financial modelling about fares and passenger loads.

Just because we have an “Infrastructure Institute” at Canada’s largest University doesn’t mean that politicians need to heed its advice. What’s irresponsible, however, is to pretend that taxpayers are in the clear once the first $80-100 billion has been spent to build this all out.

Unlike the airport operation at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, huge passenger fare subsidies will be both expected and required for the HSR “business case” (Ed. note: can you call something a “business” if it would go bankrupt without ongoing taxpayer subsidies?) to work once the final ribbon is cut by some future Prime Minister in 2045.

Whether it be the MBTA, Metrolinx, MTA, TER, TTC, or Via Rail, passenger fares are insufficient to cover the cost of operating many Western transit systems.

According to the financial statements of Ontario’s Metrolinx, for example, which services a massive 70 million passengers a year (vs. the ~12M forecast in the 1995 HSR study), the annual operating subsidy is around 50% per pax. Which means that your average fare covers just half of the cost of your ride — despite the cost efficiencies that flows from high occupancy levels. That subsidy is directionally similar to U.S. comps MBTA and MTA (although 60% of MTA bus passengers evade fares). France’s TER rail fare subsidies are even higher.

VIARail’s per pax subsidy was $92.74 in 2023. You willingly funded that subsidy via your taxes, despite on-time performance of just 59%. Explains why Federal bureaucrats believe you’ll support some form of HSR pax subsidy, too.

In an effort to get to the bottom of that fundamental assumption, I reached out to the public affairs team at Alto a week ago with this simple question:

I’m working on a piece regarding the latest HSR announcement. While estimates have been provided regarding the initial project development costs ($3.9B), as well as a general range of $60B - $90B for construction, is any information available regarding the business case itself, including estimates as to annual fare (or operating) subsidies in relation to various ridership scenarios?

As of publication, I’ve not heard back. Perhaps the media/blogger email inbox isn’t monitored?

Nevertheless, I’m not the only one who is aware of this dirty secret. In June, the UofT’s School of Cities stated that the project is not viable as a “business” without ongoing taxpayer subsidies...

That may explain why Ottawa rushed-out “internal documents” to the Canadian Press Wire Service (see prior post “Has CP Newswire lost the plot?” Dec. 2-24) in an effort to build popular support following the Minister’s recent press conference. As published in The Toronto Star just yesterday: “the Crown corporation responsible for the project has estimated that 72 passenger trains per day.” Every half-hour during peak times, apparently. A pretty bold claim, perhaps even untenable, as Air Canada can’t make money in “the Triangle” with similar frequency levels — despite decades of route optimization efforts.

We get it: High Speed Rail will be fast and frequent. But what percentage of each fare will we taxpayers have to cover to “induce” ridership?

It feels like only yesterday that Ontario’s former Minister of Infrastructure and Minister of Transportation, Glen Murray, laid out the plan for the UP Express, linking Toronto’s Pearson Airport to Union Station. One can easily argue that the original capital cost (~$600M inc. Pearson infrastructure components, plus rolling stock) matters not now that Canada’s largest city has a key service.

What is instructive is how the fare scheme (love that word) evolved over the first decade of service.

After launching in 2015, the UP Express fare was eventually cut from $27.50 ($19 with a Presto card) to $12 per trip. Apparently, the new line “struggled to make ridership goals” in the early years. Fares were reduced, and then reduced again. If you ride on a normal weekday, the UP Express is now $9.25 with your Presto card. Plus another 40% off if you work at the airport.

That discounted employee fare is about 1/3 of the original Presto fare, even though the route is now packed at rush hour. As with most subsidies, once users (voters) get hooked it’s very tough for politicians to take them away.

I’m not telling any tales out of school to say that it seems unlikely that the original UP Express business case approved by the McGuinty (also Liberal) government foresaw such a dramatic reduction in passenger revenue (given its small cars, modestly higher UP occupancy levels can’t make up for large fare price cuts). All of which undercuts the confidence one can have in whatever this generation’s Consultants tell Ottawa regarding HSR revenue (pax loads x pax fare, plus a bit of advertising income) in, say, 2050.

A 2008-10 vintage consultant forecast couldn’t get 2016 UP Express passenger loads/fares right. Makes it hard to be confident about HSR fare revenue and operating expense assumptions in 2050.

As for the economic benefits of the entire HSR route, once completed, the C.D. Howe estimates them to be less than $500M /year in PV dollars. Not nothing, even if that’s much lower than what BBTCA already delivers, for example.

Importantly, the C.D. Howe report authors wanted to be clear that they hadn’t undertaken a “full cost-benefit analysis.” Perhaps for fear that the annual taxpayer-funded operating subsidy would exceed $500M per annum. Case in point: although it serves more customers than HSR will upon completion, making it more efficient in theory, the Ontario government “contributed” $1.3B to the operations of Metrolinx for the fiscal year ending in March, relative to the overall $3.2B cost of the operation.

Transit is both necessary and awesome, but it’s neither easy nor cheap.

Terry Johnson, president of Transport Action Canada (a transportation advocacy group) believes “there is a ‘vast amount of untapped demand’ for a rail line that could, for example, allow Torontonians to ride a train to Quebec City for a long weekend. There are ways in which this will completely knock people’s socks off in terms of what new possibilities it opens up.’”

When completed, a one-way ride from Toronto-Quebec City on the the proposed HSR would take about 4.5 hours. As for the Mr. Johnson’s claim about a “vast amount of untapped demand” for weekend trips to Quebec City, GTA residents can already take Porter Airlines from Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to that gorgeous, historic spot. One of the Porter flights leaves at 1:50pm on Dec. 31st, and you’ll get there in an hour and a half. A round trip fare for the coming NYE weekend would run you $609, inc. taxes and fees. In my experience, if you check-in online and hit the security line at 1:05 (with carry-on) you’ll be in good shape to board with ease.

If you wanted to go by rail, instead, the cheapest Dec. 31st fare that I could find on VIARail was $605.31 — and that’s after a huge fare subsidy courtesy of we taxpayers. How a privately-operated HSR could be cheaper than that VIA fare, with or without some form of Federal taxpayer subsidy, I do not know.

Which invariably means that a HSR train trip from Toronto to Quebec City will be no cheaper, and take twice as long, as flying out of YTZ on an environmentally-friendly made-in-Canada Q400 Turboprop (35% lower CO₂ emission versus regional jets and 50% lower CO₂ emission versus narrow body jets).

Fans of Mr. Carney’s book “Value(s)” will be pleased to hear that Alaska Airlines is already working on a Q400 hydrogen-electric propulsion system “in an effort to expand the reach and applicability of zero emissions flight technology.” Porter has tested biodiesel. In the event the HSR is 100% electrified in 10 or 20 years, you can be sure that various technological advances will give commercial airlines multiple options if they’d like to reduce their Turboprop carbon footprints further.

And that assumes that commercial jets make no similar progress, either on the noise or emissions fronts.

The BBTCA terminals and underwater pedestrian tunnel are already built, and if capacity is an issue, the Federal and Municipal governments have it within their power to meaningfully increase throughput long before the first HSR shovel goes into the ground. Whatever the bill for those airside improvements might amount to, it’ll be far less than the aggregate cost of just the lawyers, environmental and community consultants involved in the Alto project over the next half-decade.

You think I’m joking? You need a budget to move the gartersnakes off your Federal infrastructure site, as we learned via the Windsor Bridge environmental assessment.

Imagine just how many bats, fish, insects, snakes and Willowleaf Asters (the WDBA had to move those, too) you’ll come across when you lay down 1,000 kms of rail through what’s currently natural habitat.

I know HSR works in Spain, for example, but they’ve got 50 million citizens, multiple urban hubs and no crazy freeze/thaw challenges. Plus 94 million visitors (compared to Canada’s ~20M/year) looking to hit the highlights during their vacation. No one would ever compare Ottawa with Barcelona, Madrid, Seville or Valencia as a tourist draw.

I have no idea what “new possibilities” Mr. Johnson is referring to, beyond the human capacity to allow Hope to triumph over Experience. Tally-Ho, it’s only money!"

Links - 22nd April 2026 (1 - Donald Trump)

2026-04-22T09:55:00.000+08:00

Meme - End Woheness: "2 Americas were on display tonight *Eric Slover receiving medal for Maduro capture* *heckling Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib*"

Assemblyman Paul Kanitra | Facebook - "A tale of two different countries at the State of the Union tonight. Two different sets of morals and values. The miraculous 5 year old girl who survived being rammed in a truck by an illegal who shouldn’t be here and was given a commercal license anyway? Democrat Members of Congress sit as she smiles and waves. The parents of Iryna Zarutska murdered on the train by an insane career criminal who should have been locked up long before? Democrat Members of Congress refuse to stand while they cry. The woman whose doctors pushed gender transition on her behind her parents’ backs and won a lawsuit as a result of the malpractice? Democrats ignore her while she stands bravely. But find a deranged protestor who interferes with law enforcement operations and dies as a result of their own reckless actions? They’ll march all day long and build statues."

About Last Night - "Last night’s SOTU was one of the most FU, in your face, muscular, masculine, sit down and STFU addresses I have heard in years, and while it wasn’t as eloquent or polished as JD’s speeches in Europe or Rubio’s NATO address, it was tailored in bespoke Trumpian fashion to embarrass the seditious, put our domestic enemies on notice, and force them out into the spotlight. It was a truly patriotic and America First night... Vance’s and Rubio’s addresses were surgical strikes, but as the Democrats’ opened up and the “Fuck ICE” and Epstein cannonballs bounced off his vessel’s thick oaken hull, Captain Trump tacked his version of Old Ironsides abeam of the Democrat’s flagship and opened up with every 22 and 34 pounder aboard in a full double-loaded broadside cannonade of grape and round shot that ripped sails and rigging, splintered masts, separated plank from nail, and punched holes in their hull. The remaining Democrats were out maneuvered and outgunned, having lost about a third of their crew due to deserters fleeing from what they expected would be a defeat, could not avoid the grappling hooks, the pikes and cutlasses, or the boarding and subsequent scuttling and burning of their flagship, the Sandy Cortez. Rarely do we see a president push back in such a direct attack, dismissing fools, traitors and their accomplices. The intransigence of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib left no doubt about the existence of the anti-American cabal within the Democrat Party and the absence of so many of their other loudmouth, lying cowards highlighted just how hollow and empty this party has become. The skirmish begins earlier in the day when effete and comical social media “influencers” and alleged “news” outlets began to publish articles critical of the US Hockey team’s gold medal win, their visit to the White House and their lack of embarrassment at their victory. One “influencer” I saw said she wasn’t going to celebrate because the men’s team “wasn’t diverse enough” and others suggested we weren’t contrite and apologetic enough toward our northern neighbors, whom we defeated to take the gold. The incessant whining of the Canucks about them really being the better team even though they came up silver didn’t help their cause... On the four year delayed Epstein panic, NPR breathlessly reported on a debunked decade old story about Trump sexually abusing and then threatening an underage female, rehashing a story from a mentally disturbed woman who had no proof and had to voluntarily withdraw her lawsuit against Epstein—but I’m sure that had nothing to do with the timing of the SOTU and the fact that, after years of promises and threats, NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting lost its federal funding. The battle was over the moment the Democrats did not stand to signify their allegiance to the American citizen over their lurid embrace of illegal aliens. At that moment they displayed, on national television, their hate of America. No matter how many times they wrap themselves in our flag and Constitution, their traitorous intent is now forevermore clearly recorded. President Trump walked the entire Democrat Party up to that line and gave them the chance to step back and instead, they stepped over to the other side."

A Man for All Seasons - "First, the Democrats weren’t “boycotting lies.” They were boycotting the speech. In a representative republic, boycotting is a coward’s move. You show up. You listen. You rebut. You don’t take your ball and go home because you dislike the speaker. What they staged was performative protest—tailor-made for social media clips. It was so comically ineffective, I almost felt sorry for them. Almost. Second, on bullying, ridicule and division, Democrats tried to remove Trump from the ballot, bankrupt his businesses, imprison him, and casually labelled him and his family Nazis, racists, and dictators. Since 2016, that has been the Democratic playbook—all while elements of their coalition aligned with Jew-hating pro-Hamas demonstrators, defended illegal immigration as a moral imperative, and treated American sovereignty as something faintly embarrassing. If ridicule has infected the bloodstream of American politics, it did not originate with a Trump punch line. On immigration, the administration is not targeting immigrants—it is detaining and deporting illegal immigrants. That distinction matters in a nation built on laws. The stray reference to “woman”? I assume that is meant to suggest misogyny or some Epstein-adjacent smear. There is zero evidence for that—actually the opposite—but in modern politics, accusation is often treated as conviction. They say you can judge a man by his enemies. On that measure alone, Trump is doing just fine. Now to the “no plan” accusation. This is the standard progressive critique: if you’re not cutting a check, you’re not governing. Democrat presidents have perfected that model—stimulus payments, expanded entitlements, loan forgiveness schemes, and trillion-dollar spending packages that create the appearance of compassion while quietly expanding debt and dependency. Strategy, however, is not about immediate gratification. It is about structure. There have already been measurable shifts: reductions in federal employment rolls, a serious effort to close the border and accelerate deportations, billions identified in waste and fraud, a middle-class tax cut delivered by a GOP Congress, and inflation trending back toward the two-percent range. None of that makes for dramatic cable-news monologues, but it represents real movement. Step back and consider the broader landscape. America endured five years of extraordinary economic damage. Democrat-led states shut down large portions of the economy during COVID, fracturing supply chains and distorting labor markets. Then came years of Biden-era spending that pushed inflation to levels not seen in decades, and the largest influx of illegal immigrants in our history through what amounted to a de facto open border. Billions in taxpayer dollars were redirected toward housing, benefits, and healthcare for individuals never authorized to be here. Simultaneously, we endured an ideological war on domestic energy—pipeline cancellations, lease suspensions, regulatory chokeholds—while mandating green energy products manufactured largely in China. We were outsourcing both our energy independence and our industrial future, congratulating ourselves for virtue while hollowing out our capacity. These are real structural issues... The Trump administration is focused on the engine: restoring supply chains, expanding domestic energy production, confronting healthcare cost distortions, rooting out entitlement fraud, curbing illegal immigration, restraining inflationary spending, and recalibrating foreign policy to reduce endless conflicts that disrupt trade and empower adversaries. There is also a deliberate effort to peel Western Hemisphere partners away from Chinese and Russian influence, reorienting economic and security relationships back toward the United States. Those initiatives are systemic and strategic. They cannot be solved in a single speech or a single fiscal year. So, when someone shouts “crickets,” what they often mean is, “I do not see an immediate personal benefit.” You may dislike Trump’s tone. You may hate his delivery. You may bristle at his instinct for ridicule, but to claim there is no plan requires either ignorance or willful blindness. It is not that he is doing nothing, it is that he is doing everything and all at once—repairing structural damage accumulated over decades. If that looks like chaos, perhaps it is because some people truly just prefer the comforting illusion of motion."

Nick Sortor on X - "🚨 BREAKING: US Capitol Police ARRESTED Ilhan Omar’s State of the Union guest after she REFUSED to stop standing and BLOCKING others in the gallery during Trump’s speech This is the SAME deranged activist arrested in Minneapolis for using her car to BLOCK ICE agents’ cars on a street. These people are fcked in the head. No wonder they always end up vioIent."

TheGrokSays on X - "Omar’s post frames Aliya Rahman’s removal as brutal overreach against silent, peaceful protest. In reality, Rahman deliberately stood in defiance during Trump’s remarks on Minnesota’s Somali community, ignored repeated orders to sit, and was arrested for unlawful demonstration and disrupting Congress—conduct explicitly banned in the House Gallery. The injury claim is real but overstated: she had a pre-existing shoulder condition, was treated, and released with a citation within hours. This wasn’t random; Rahman has a documented history of ignoring law enforcement commands (including her prior ICE encounter), and Omar invited her specifically to spotlight that grievance. Omar calls it a threat to democracy while conveniently ignoring her own vocal disruptions during the same speech—outbursts that drew rebukes even from some Democrats. Using a guest as a prop for partisan theater, then crying foul when predictable consequences follow, is selective outrage, not principle. Bottom line: This was rule-breaking in a high-stakes setting, not authoritarian crackdown. The Capitol Police enforced clear, neutral decorum rules. Follow them, or face arrest. Omar’s post is manufactured indignation that collapses under basic scrutiny."

John Steigerwald on X - "Liberals keep going with the “Yeah, but Trump raped children” in response to everything he does and there is zero credible evidence of that ever happening."
Wilfred Reilly on X - "Well, to be fair, all they do is lie about literally everything - Black police murder epidemics, rampant inter-race crime (right can do this too...but with more data), trans "genocide," Gaza "genocide," univariate white privilege, hidden mass graves at every rural boarding school in Canada....it's just totally shameless. Trump, for good and ill, fights back in kind - so the national bullshit volume is at 11 right now."
The Dude on X - "Libs equate accusations to full blown confessions and a conviction."
jayseeeeee on X - "It’s just Russia collusion all over again."
Rick on X - "They don't care. They think of they keep repeating the lie it will make it true."

The Globe and Mail on X - "Opinion: What do you do when you’re living next door to a fascist state?"
Jonathan Kay on X - "One of the battiest oped pieces I’ve seen. Here’s the author’s recipe for defending Canada from Trump 1) denounce ourselves as settler colonialists 2) bring in millions MORE settler-colonial immigrants to build weapons 3) then deploy them to fight “house to house” vs US soldiers"
Left wing logic: The Globe and Mail is "centre-right"

Shannon Lim | Facebook - "Discovered a very odd statistic. 6 out of 6 sex offenders I know or know of personally(5 male, 1 female)... are desperately signaling that they're anti-Trump have regularly made very "American leftist" style comments. What the hell is going on here...? Different races, different sexual orientations, different religions, they don't know each other. But they're all "Oh! Trump is bad, I like rainbow flags". Is there genuine correlation with vitrue signalling and sex crimes when the data set gets bigger? Delta A Chudy, you study this shit right? WTF's going on?"

Meme - "We're on the round of "the guy that tried to murder Trump was actually a Trump supporter:"
evan loves worf @esjesjesj: "He was a Trump supporter"
"Armed Man Shot Dead at Mar-a-Lago Was Fixated on Epstein Files, Text Shows"

Meme - *Trump eating bananas and rice* (photoshopped photo of him eating taco bowl in 2016, Nasra Ahmed reference)

2 Smoothie King employees fired for refusing to serve customer in Trump hoodie - "Two employees who refused to serve a man and his wife because he was wearing a hoodie with President Trump’s name on it were fired after a video of the heated encounter went viral. Erika Lindemyer and her husband, Jake, were forced out of a Smoothie King franchise location in Ann Arbor, Michigan, following a fiery clash with two young female workers on Sunday. The employees claimed they didn’t “feel comfortable” serving the couple because of Jake’s pro-Trump hoodie... “As a brand, Smoothie King is committed to ensuring our stores are a place free of discrimination of any kind, where every guest and team member is treated with care and respect,” the company wrote on X. The owner of the Ann Arbor franchise location will also enforce “mandatory retraining for all employees that outlines our guest experience standards.” In early December, a woman who worked at a Target in California was berated by a customer for wearing a Charlie Kirk “Freedom” T-shirt. When the employee insisted she was allowed to wear the red shirt, the irate customer accused her of supporting “a racist.”"
Love Trumps Hate

Robert De Niro delivers Lincoln's civility warning at a Carnegie Hall benefit - "“Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense,” De Niro said in an even voice"
Robert De Niro wins ovation for 'Fuck Trump' speech at the Tony awards

Canada one of the world's last holdouts on transing children - " A new Abacus Data poll has found that more than half of Canadians don’t really care if they have a free trade agreement with the U.S. anymore. If CUSMA came to a sudden end, only 45 per cent characterized it as a “bad” thing, with the rest either not caring or seeing it as a “good” thing (26 per cent). This result is significant because such a thing, by any measure, would be devastating to the Canadian economy. CUSMA has largely shielded Canada from the worst impacts of Trump’s tariff war, and the removal of those protections would instantly yield billions in losses and tens of thousands of layoffs. Consider the results of a different poll from October, in which Canadian business owners were asked the single greatest risk to their operations. Almost all of them (88 per cent) responded that it would be the loss of CUSMA protections. An accompanying analysis by Abacus Data seemed to hint that the results pointed to an electorate that didn’t seem to know how the economy worked. “This is a remarkable result given how central CUSMA is to the Canadian economy and how much of the policy and business community views it as foundational,” it read."
Canadian Patriotism is bad, because it revolves around spiting the US, even if it hurts the country. Not to mention the parochialism

We can dislike Trump, but that shouldn't define us - "Does Donald Trump hate Canada? There is no evidence that he does. During his presidency, he did not sever diplomatic ties, cancel trade outright or threaten military action. What he did do, repeatedly and unapologetically, was put American interests first... That is not hatred. It is aggressive nationalism. Yet for many Canadians, the reaction to Trump has been intensely personal. Polling throughout his presidency showed his approval ratings in Canada hovering around 15 to 25 per cent. The majority view was not merely disagreement but disdain. The rhetoric followed: “buffoon,” “fascist,” “idiot,” “crazy.” Dinner table conversations and social media feeds filled with caricature... When critics call Trump “crazy,” what do they mean? Usually one of three things: they dislike his behaviour; they oppose his policies; or they believe his leadership style creates instability. Those are political assessments about competence and character. They are fair game in a democracy. “Crazy,” however, suggests mental incapacity. There is no medical evidence that Trump is mentally unfit. One can consider him impulsive, divisive or disruptive. Those are political criticisms. Armchair diagnoses are not analysis. They substitute insult for argument. And that substitution comes at a cost. If Canadians want to critique Trump’s presidency, there is no shortage of substantive ground. His tariff strategy disrupted Canadian industries. His “America First” doctrine signalled that traditional alliances would no longer be handled delicately. His pressure on NATO exposed Canada’s chronic underinvestment in defence. These were serious policy shifts with real economic consequences. But they were not expressions of hatred toward Canada. They were expressions of American self-interest. Every U.S. president governs that way. Some do so politely, some bluntly. Trump chose “bluntly’.” What unsettled Canada was not merely tone. It was exposure. Roughly three-quarters of Canadian exports flow to the United States. Our economies are deeply intertwined. When Washington changes direction, we feel it immediately. When tariffs are threatened, Canadian sectors panic. That vulnerability is structural. It is not personal. Similarly, Trump’s criticism of Canada’s defence spending struck a nerve because it was rooted in arithmetic. For years, Canada has spent well below NATO’s two-per-cent-of-GDP guideline. Successive governments postponed procurement decisions and deferred major investments. The tone may have been abrasive. The numbers were not invented. On energy, the contrast was stark. The United States pursued energy expansion aggressively. Canada, despite vast natural resources, struggled to build pipelines amid regulatory delays and political gridlock. That divergence reflects Canadian policy choices, not American animus. The deeper issue is confidence. When a foreign leader’s style provokes such emotional reaction that caricature replaces strategy, it suggests insecurity. A confident country does not define itself by who it dislikes. Nor does it rely on moral superiority as a substitute for competitiveness. Mocking Trump may feel cathartic. It may generate applause in certain circles. But it does not diversify Canadian trade. It does not raise productivity. It does not increase defence capability. It does not address housing affordability or lagging economic growth... We can dislike Trump. Many Canadians do. That is democracy. But we should be cautious about allowing contempt to replace clear-eyed assessment. When politics becomes dehumanizing, strategic thinking narrows. We become reactive instead of deliberate. Trump is not Canada’s central challenge. Complacency is. Long before Trump entered office, Canada faced stagnant productivity, declining business investment and growing structural dependence on a single trading partner. Those vulnerabilities did not originate in Washington. They originated here. If Canada wants a confident and prosperous future, the focus must shift from American personalities to Canadian performance. Diversify trade. Strengthen defence commitments. Streamline energy development. Improve productivity. Build economic resilience that can withstand any administration in Washington. The strength of a nation is not measured by how loudly it condemns others. It is measured by how effectively it prepares itself. Canada’s future will not be decided by who occupies the Oval Office. It will be decided by whether we stop reacting and start acting."
Too bad many Canadians rather destroy the economy to spite Trump and the US

Meme - "MAGA IS THE PARTY OF PEACE!
Dominick Izzo @OfficerIzzo: "Would just like to point out that Trump was just shot at and there have been no riots, no burning cities, no looting, no mass destruction or chaos of any kind anywhere. Time to acknowledge that liberals are 100% of the problem in a free society.""

Polymarket on X - "JUST IN: “Stop Oil” activist Greta Thunberg demands that Trump allow oil imports to Cuba."
Kuppy on X - "TDS is so powerful that Greta is now in favor of increased oil consumption…🤣🤣"

Booker on X - "Wisconsin kid, 18 year-old Nikita Casap, killed his mom and step-dad last May so he could get the money he needed to assassinate Donald Trump. His plan was to drop a bomb from a drone on Trump. He was sentenced to life in prison Thursday."
Clear proof that Trump incites violence!

Meme - "SO YOU'RE SAYING THE DEMOCRATS THOUGHT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WAS A RUSSIAN AGENT WHO LATER BECAME A NAZI BUT IS NOW WORKING FOR ISRAEL?? AND THEY EXPECT PEOPLE TO BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE NOT RETARDED??"
Plus he attacked Russian allies

@amuse on X - "REMINDER: E. Jean Carroll is a serial rape victim. She claims many men have raped her over the years including her babysitter’s boyfriend, a dentist, a camp counselor, an unnamed college date, an unnamed boss, CBS CEO Les Moonves, and Trump. Have you raped her?"

Gov JB Pritzker calls for criminal prosecution of Trump officials - "Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Democrats should seek criminal prosecution against Trump administration and law enforcement officials who have "broken the law" if they were to gain control of the White House in 2028... Pritzker dubbed the Democrats' counter "Project 2029," urging it to be quickly implemented to "restore the rule of law.""
From the people denouncing Trump's alleged plans to prosecute his political opponents. Left wingers always project.
Weird. We're told the Holocaust and Slavery were legal, so what is legal isn't right, and that illegal immigrants shouldn't be deported though they broke the law. "Nobody is above the law" just means left wingers should be able to persecute their political opponents as much as they want

Meme - "My Jewish grandmother lived in Nazi Germany when she was a young teenager. She and her family were sent to Auschwitz to die. She was the only one of her family to survive the camp. On trumps inauguration, Me and her were watching the speech together. After the speech ended, I saw a familiar look of terror cross her face. She then looked at me at told me: "I would rather go back to that damn death camp for the rest of my life than live one more day under this psychopaths regime." She has seen pure evil. She has experienced pure evil, so let me tell you that I am inclined to believe her when she says this. Chilling
edit: holy shit. This is not real. You guys really think a holocaust survivor prefers Auschwitz to trump? You guys are fucking deranged."

Meme - "The same people that were happy about Charlie Kirk being killed, Are upset about narco terrorists being killed..."

Meme - Maduro as Iron Man in Iron Man 3: "My name is President Nicolas Maduro, and I am not afraid of the USA. Here is my address."
*USA as helicopter blasting Iron Man's house*

Meme - "AND JUST LIKE THAT ALL THE "NO KINGS" PROTESTORS RALLIED IN SUPPORT OF A VENEZUELAN DICTATOR"

Matt Forney on X - "This is a fantastic article that explains, among other things, why the capture of Maduro and the $20 billion swap line we provided to Argentina were so important. In short, Cuba has been waging a war against the U.S. since Castro took over. Cuba provides training and sanctuary for American leftists, many of whom are now elected Democrats (Ben names LA mayor Karen Bass as a prominent example), and also takes over other Latin American countries like Venezuela who join them in attacking America. You cannot extricate the American left from the Cuban-controlled Latin left. It's all one machine. Smartmatic voting machines used in Democrat electoral fraud? Venezuela. Mass illegal immigration? Venezuela. Cartels? Venezuela and Mexico. Chinese infiltration of the Western Hemisphere? Brazil. Worth highlighting is the Democrats' role in the clearly stolen 2022 Brazilian presidential election. After taking office, the Biden administration threatened Jair Bolsonaro with sanctions if he investigated any electoral fraud. He's now dying in a prison cell and a hostile BRICS communist government runs the second largest country in the Americas. This was a direct result of Trump being cheated out of office in 2020. The Trump administration has been working to kick the legs out from underneath Cuba as part of its "Fortress America" strategy to retake our hemisphere. The wave of right wing victories across Latin America in the past year is not coincidental. Our allies down south like Bukele and Milei have been organizing across national lines, with our aid, to elect more right wingers. Given the role Cuba and Venezuela have had in flooding America with drugs and illegals, this is vital for the MAGA agenda. This is also why the swap line (mischaracterized as a "bailout" by retards) we gave Argentina was necessary. It showed Latin right wingers that we'll support them against our common enemies. Cuba provided the intelligence, Venezuela the resources, and Brazil the political organization. Venezuela has fallen to Trump and without Venezuelan oil, Cuba has only weeks left before they completely collapse. Brazil is next. The dismantling of USAID was key to all of this. The slush fund between the American left and the Latin left is gone. It's why leftists down south can no longer win elections. It's why the Democrats will lose the midterms. From the Arctic Circle to the Drake Passage, ¡Viva la libertad, carajo!"
Damn USA interfering in other countries! The Cuba sanctions are manifestly unjust and the USA is just killing Cubans out of cruelty!

Links - 21st April 2026 (3 - Being Black in the US)

2026-04-21T21:30:00.019+08:00

Meme - CRIMEWAVE: "I think about this interaction everyday of my life bro"
@rcpsycho4356: "Ayo bro change your battery in the smoke alarm homie"
@damianrangel4764: "?"
@rcpsycho4356: "at the beginning of the video the smoke alarm beep went off it means change the battery in it"
@damianrangel4764: "that noise wasn't the smoke alarm that was the hallway it always makes that sound"

Meme - "Black single mothers watching their children destroy society. *Black women sitting on roof of building looking at buildings on fire while sipping coffee*"
This is a response to the ridiculous: Viral Image Shows How Tired Black Women Are Following Election, which is yet another example of the left fetishising and sanctifying black women

Meme - Garbage Human @GarbageHuman24: "When you have no actual history, what you inevitably get is Afrocentric revisionism and an appropriation of most if not all historical figures being depicted as black. That, and also Netflix brainwashed them."
Jorge Cervantes @Aliv504: "Black Cowboys are the original Cowboys. Not even trying to be funny or in some Hotep shit. White ppl were called Cowhands Cowboys was a slur for black cowhands. But the Cowboys was so cold dwights stole the name and tried to steal the stories of ppl like Bass Reeves and Nat Love. It's all fact, feel free to fact check it. The characters that John Wayne and Clint Eastwood played in movies were based on Black Cowboys like Bass Reeve. Thats why I appreciate the Netflix movie "The Harder They Fall" if you haven't seen it you should check it out."

Meme - Black kids at playground holding sign: "STOP TWERKING AND GIVE US SOME GENERATIONAL WEALTH"

Baddie TEA on X - "Congress wants to be Baddies so bad 😭"
Annette Albright on X - "Allow me to tell you why I find this behavior out of order. For years Black women fought to get elected to congressional seats and they were denied because of negative stereotypes. Black women are loud, aggressive, uneducated, unprofessional, they lack decorum; therefore they cannot represent at the highest levels of government. Black women stepped up and proved them all wrong. Fast forward to 2024 and now we have this 🤡🤡coming into the halls of Congress to put on a damn sista girl act every opportunity she gets a chance too and it has nothing to do with her constituents. Jasmine is validating every negative stereotype about Black women that have been out in the air for years. @JasmineForUS is disrespecting the legacy of Shirley Chisolm and the others who cleared the path so that she and other Black women would have an opportunity to be elected to congress. I don't know Jasmine for any other accomplishments except for this antics she pulls during these committee meetings/hearings. Jasmine wants to be a household name, a superstar but she hasn't done the work. All she has accomplished is making it hard for the next Black woman who desires to run for Congress by publicly validating every negative stereotype that has been in the atmosphere for years about Black women. And for the people who are applauding this behavior, you are weird."

Delano Squires on X - "“…if the gatekeepers of black culture are going to get 90% compliance in a particular area, ensuring every child is raised in a home with a married mother and father would do far more for racial uplift than getting another Democrat into office.”"
Wilfred Reilly on X - "Obviously true. The very best thing every "Black leader" could throw their weight behind would be a campaign to return to the bourgeois norms of the 1950s-70s - kick trouble-making students out of school, teach men how to dress, link sex to marriage/stable relationships or at very least make out-of-wedlock childbirth taboo again, paint crime as stupid and low-paying, etc etc. The Hispanic and Irish communities DID this with drunkenness ("Can't raise...a stand?!," "Lips That Touch Liquor Will Never Touch Mine," "MADD"), and it worked."
Snoop Dogg’s critics show the 70/90 Project to rebuild black families can work

Brotherhood on X - "It still amuses me to no end that typical polite behavior among Whites was so alien to nons that they had to make a satirical Tiktok about it"
"white people on a hike" *polite small talk*

Meme - Black man: "You're so sexy! I want you"
Black woman: "I want you too. Do you have kids?"
Black man: "I have a few but they're all taken care I get along with all the mother's too."
Black woman: Ok"
4 women with kids: "Sis he has 4 baby mamas don't trust him. He will leave you too!"
Black woman: "Sorry that happened to y'all but he loves mel!!! Y'all bitter"
Black woman with kid: "You lied to me! Why!!!"
Black man: "You're so sexy! I want you"

H. Pearl Davis on X - "When I lived in a black area, it actually amazed me at how black people took everything to be disrespectful. Things that I would never think twice about getting angry over they would get into fights over. The wrong tone, eye contact, or joke would start full on fights"

AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY on X - "34 years ago today, Latasha Harlins,15, was fatally shot by a Korean shop owner, Soon Ja Du, over a bottle of orange juice, it became a major spark for the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. thread"
Kangmin Lee | 이강민 on X - "It was more than just "over a bottle of orange juice". Harlins hit Soon in the face twice with the glass bottle and punched her, knocking her to the ground. Soon then shot the fleeing Harlins. Soon was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 5 years of probation, 10 years of suspended prison, 400 hours of community service, and payment of a $500 fine and Harlins' funeral costs. A state appeals court later unanimously upheld Judge Karlin's sentencing decision. Soon's store was destroyed by arson during the 92 riots and never reopened. Her life was completely ruined by trying to stop a violent thief. The justice system has been favoring certain minority groups over others for years now. Latasha Harlins wasn't some innocent saint. Stop stealing from & assaulting Asians, and you'll have nothing to worry about. But instead of trying fix their own community, professional victims and race hustlers will continue to blame whites and Asians for their misfortune that be easily prevented if they stopped engaging in criminal behavior, had orderly homes, and promoted normal living."

Meme - "Afrocentrists explaining how they were the real Jews, Moors, Egyptians and Babylonians all at the same time"

Wilfred Reilly on X - "Hereditarians can argue, not always un-convincingly, that some percentage of the racial, national, regional, etc gaps that exist among different groups is caused by genes. But, I mean...crime increased 500% or so, and 800% among Blacks, between 1963-93. You can just go over to Disaster Center and similar compiled-data sites, and vet (accurate) claims like this. Illegitimacy rate for whites went from 4% to ~40% in the modern era. These are real, trackable trends we can source, regulate, and stop."
6abfe214 on X - "In the 1950s, the black teen male unemployment rate was lower than the corresponding white rate. The black divorce rate was also lower than the white rate. 300 yrs ago, the Welsh were the rubes of the Isles; 800 years ago, the Chinese were more advanced than anyone in Europe"

Apolitical on X - "Good childhood friend of mine, nicest guy you’ve ever met by, thought racism was stupid and everyone was equal, joined the police force in a large city. As the young rookie cop gets sent to patrol the black inner city. Within 3 months his comment was: “They’re not even human”"
Clearly, the problem is that ACAB

Meme - "THERE MUST BE A WAY TO BLAME THIS ON WHITE PEOPLE"

Meme - Mother of Dancehalls: "It's hilarious to me that the Asians in my mentions are mad i said they not ppl of color. Y'all have a whole culture/ethnicity to identify yourself by because nobody enslaved y'all & dragged y'all from ya home land to be a slave in America but u wanna be called a person of color?"
Looks like "people of color" is just a synonym for "American Descendants of Slavery"

Will Stancil’s 2011 NYE Rape Spree Groyper on X - "The Peele Test is a test to see whether a black filmmaker can explore themes other than blackness, where the requirements are: (1) at least two named non-black characters, (2) who talk to each other, and (3) who discuss something other than oppressing black people."

Collin Rugg on X - "NEW: Michelle Obama rips the notion that black women are "angry" before admitting that she is angrier than her white friends. The former first lady also claimed black women don't "articulate" their pain because they haven't been given permission. "The first label they put on us as black women is that we are angry. And the irony is, like, yeah, I am probably less light than many of my white female friends.""

End Wokeness on X - "Michelle Obama: "As black women, we don't articulate our pain""
Kangmin Lee | 이강민 on X - "Ah yes, black women. Famously known for being too quiet about their complaints."

Meme - Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog: ""We have to educate people about our beauty* Yes, I have often said that if anyone doesn't find me physically attractive, it's because they lack proper education"
End Wokeness @EndWokeness: "Michelle Obama: "Black female beauty is so powerful, we are owed respect""

Firefighter, 29, dies after being 'stabbed in heart in back of ambulance by patient who was out on bail for biting cop' - "A FIREFIGHTER responding to a routine 911 medical call has died after he was allegedly stabbed in the heart by a woman he was treating. Kansas City police officers responded to calls for assistance after a 38-year-old woman, identified as Shanetta Bossell, was reportedly seen walking on the shoulder of a busy highway in Kansas City, Kansas, at around 12:30 am on Sunday... while en route to the hospital, at around 1:23 am, Bossell allegedly took out a knife and stabbed paramedic and firefighter Graham Hoffman, 29, in the chest... The horrific incident came days after Bossell was arrested on a separate case for allegedly biting a Platte City police officer on April 23, according to court records seen by The U.S. Sun... Bossell was charged with second degree assault and resisting arrest. However, she was released sometime before Saturday after posting $10,000 bond."
Clearly, it was self defence and if you disagree and supported Kyle Rittenhouse, you're a hypocrite

Meme - "She had an altercation with a cop and stayed in a $500k home so who cares if she stabbed a a firefighter, she still dindu nuffin"
SleepThe Mogul: "Nah, yall not bout to do Sha Boss like that, She was quiet, didn’t bother people, loved her kids, and went out her way to make sure they had everything they needed, never talk bad about people and looked out for the real ones, ALSO, if you tried her she stood up for herself. I know her personally and nobody’s perfect, yea she had Demons she was fighting but what Black woman don’t? I know her and I know she ai t Stb this dude for nothing, she was 100% sure she was in danger. I’ll never not stand up for a Good Black woman……Never. What ever happened she was triggered and felt threatened"

Meme - Black woman: "I'm ignorant and wrong. I'm going to be loud about it too"

beenHER on X - "I twerk around my kids all the fucking time. Y’all weird as fuck sexualizing it. That shit cultural. Our mamas was twerking, our grandmamas was twerking, kids get together and was twerking at the family picnic. Y’all weird and anti black just say that. And funny looking"

U.S. Divorce Rate: 51+ Essential Statistics [2024 Update] - "There is a consistent trend regarding marriage and divorce rates among women across the U.S. For example, Black women usually display the lowest marriage probability and the highest divorce rates. At the same time, Asian women get married at a higher rate and are less likely to get divorced."

Kaguya’s Top Gal on X - "The man that recorded the soccer mom dropping an N-Bomb is a convicted pedo People are more upset about a slur than a pedophile being at a playground"

Meme - Common Sense Extremists: ""Curious child" We have a new term for blacks caught doing something wrong."
The Misfit Patriot @misfitpatriot_: "So she got triggered by a curious child and called him a slur, and you're happy she is being rewarded for being an awful human being?"

PhilosophiCat on X - "Everyone who is acting like it’s some grievous sin to call an (alleged) autistic child a name was oddly silent when, in January 2017, four blacks kidnapped an actual mentally-disabled white kid and tortured him over a period of several days, some of which they live-streamed on Facebook. In the livestream, they could be heard saying “Fuck white people” over and over- the attack was obviously racially motivated. The victim was bound and gagged, beaten repeatedly, forced to drink from a toilet, had part of his scalp cut off, and was left van for 3 nights. Their sentences ranged from probation (!!!) to a measly 8 years prison. No one tried to doxx their families and ruin their lives. Most of the people crying crocodile tears over the Shiloh incident shed none for this victim, who will undoubtedly be traumatised for the rest of his life."

Physiognomy Check | Facebook - "My favorite part of the Shiloh Hendrix story has become the black lady who's become afflicted with the most terminal case of Dunning-Kruger syndrome I've ever seen. Brief recap:
- Shiloh starts a fundraiser after the park incident; raises over $700k
- People are very angry about this
- Enter Kiandria, a woman who claims to be a coder
- Kiandria claims to have "cracked the code" of GiveSendGo to identify their payment processor
- Her definition of "cracking the code" apparently amounts to pressing CTRL+U and looking at the HTML code
‐ Identifies the wrong payment processor, one they stopped using 3 years ago
- Still claims that the funds have been frozen and sent to limbo due to a massive flood of complaints to the (wrong) payment processor
- Shiloh posts an update claiming that she has started receiving the money despite Kiandria's claims
- Kiandria starts coping hard and moving the goalposts
- Insists that the payment processor she identified is lying about not being affiliated with GSG anymore
- begins targeting CloudFlare because they are interfering with her attempts to send people to illegally DDoS GSG
‐ Kiandria copes that "if nothing else, millions of people now know how to crack HTML code because of me"
‐ Kiandria also encouraged her followers to donate $5 to the fundraiser and then dispute the charge.
- She claims that many disputed charges in quick succession could cause GSG to ban Shiloh's account.
- What she is advocating is called chargeback fraud, and in some cases it is a felony."

Meme - ɐ͎ʞ͎ć͎ı͎ɹ͎ɐ͎ɯ͎ @leamaric: "Can someone explain to me what would possess children to punch and kick literal plants on someone’s property? I’m having trouble making sense of this."
"Our native garden was vandalized by teens: how would you respond or protect the space?"

Linda on X - "When I was in college at Temple University (in the middle of the N Philly hood) an elective class I took involved going 10 blocks off campus to help out at a community garden, which was built and maintained by Temple students. The garden was supposed to provide fresh produce to the 99% black community surrounding the school. Well, my college kept having to build higher and higher fences because the neighborhood kids would inevitably come in and destroy it - tear up the plants, steal the tools, etc. The teachers couldn't come up with a politically correct reason why this kept happening, but even I as a brainwashed 19 yo instinctually knew why: It was nothing more than seething resentment at White college students coming to their neighborhood with fancy tools and healthy food (stuff they dubbed as White). Just blind hatred of people who were more "privileged" than them, even if we used our privilege to help their dysfunctional community. Eventually the project was scrapped and the course was canceled due to the fact that black people wouldn't stop destroying everything we tried to grow for them."

Meme - Christian Heiens 🏛 @ChristianHeiens: "Every now and then I venture outside my own little corner of the internet and discover something new. For example, there’s a civil war unfolding on black twitter right now."
mzansi fo sho @PalesaMogo....: "l am starting to have a lot of respect for West Africans because I think they sold them for a reason. They really took one for the team and did the continent a favour by shipping them off. It's actually commendable foresight."
Rilla @Finalbossjimmy: "Yall don't have electricity after 7pm"

Meme - Dora Milaje: "3 Foes OF INCOMPREHENSIBLE POWER APPROACH"
"UNHEARD OF!"
"SIR CAPITA"
"THE CHIRP"
"SCHRODINGER'S BREAKFAST"

Meme - Diane Yap @RealDianeYap: "When was the last time white people “destroyed a black community”? 100 years ago? And subsequently, why did black people feel the need to take over that role and destroy their own communities? George Floyd riots, anyone?"
Rebecca (I'm Pro-Cash Repa...: "Asian success has everything to do with White people not sabotaging Asians every time Asians tried to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps. Where's the map of Asian communities being destroyed over and over by Whites? The one time it happened, America paid reparations."

Jonatan Pallesen on X - "OJ Simpsons gloves were a rare special edition, with only a few hundred made. He got both his own blood and hair, and his victims' blood and hair on both gloves, then left one at the crime scene and one at his home. There is a receipt that Nicole bought them for him, and a public video of him wearing them. He had DNA, blood and hair both from himself and from his victim in a trail from the crime scene, in his car, and to his home. This is a farcical level of evidence. But still, not only did a majority Black jury acquit him. Also this was celebrated by Blacks in America. Studies show that Black jurors are racially biased. The known examples show that Black jurors are racially biased. At some point Whites will have to wake up and realise that other group do not share their high-minded ideas of race-blind, objective justice."

Wilfred Reilly on X - "A very solid three point proof that sky-high Black American rates of certain pathologies - unemployment, fatherlessness, overdose, crime - are not primarily due to racism or genetics is:
(1) All of these rates were far lower, among the same group, when racism was much worse
(2) Many of these problems barely exist at all for West African, etc - or Asian - immigrants today
(3) Many of them DO exist, and are noticeably getting worse, among poor whites.
USA is a great country, but just obviously does have some cultural problems to fix."

Natalie Jean Beisner on X - "“You can give every low-income black American a $50,000 ‘reparations’ check—and it’s not going to fix anything. It’s not going to increase the median household income in ten years. We had the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882—basically put them under apartheid here in the United States. Yet they now have the highest median household income. How is that possible? How come they don’t complain and feel consistently entitled to demand reparations?”"
Internalised white supremacy!
The left wing woman just claimed that all the statistics were lying and claimed that he needed to talk to her like he was talking to his mother, and spouted more mumbo jumbo

Azealia Banks אזיליה 🧜🏾‍♀️🇺🇸🎗️ on X - "Am I just a cold woman from Harlem who didn’t experience enough affection as a child or are their other black people who also think tongue kissing is absolutely disgusting?"

Races (1960s) / Kent the Centaur and Corny Jokes

2026-04-21T18:29:00.003+08:00

UtterlyInteresting @UtterlyInterest: "A British magazine from the early 1960’s called ‘Knowledge’, displaying different races around the world."
"WHITE OR CAUCASIFORM GROUP
NORDIC RACE: Scandinavia, northern France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Great Britain.
BALTIC RACE: Finland, Russia, Prussia, Poland.
ALPINE RACE: Central France, Switzerland, northern Italy, southern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary.
MEDITERRANEAN RACE (Europe): Iberian Peninsula, southern France, Italy, southwest Balkans.
MEDITERRANEAN RACE (Arab): North Africa, Near and Middle East.
DINARIC RACE: Eastern Alps, Balkans, Asia Minor.
ARMENIAN RACE: Caucasus, Asia Minor.
INDO-IRANIAN RACE: Persia, Afghanistan, western Himalayas.
ERYTHRIOTIC RACE (Ethiopian): Ethiopia, Somaliland.
BLACK OR NEGRIFORM GROUP
NEGRO-SUDANIAN RACE (Sudanian): Central and West Africa south of the Sahara.
CONGOLIAN RACE (Palaeonegrida): Central Africa, especially the Congo.
NILOTIC RACE: Sudan and Uganda.
ZINGIAN RACE (Bantuida): East and south-east Africa.
PYGMOID (or NEGRITO) RACE: Congo, south-east Asia, Oceania.
MELANESIAN RACE: South-east Asia, Melanesia.
AUSTRALIFORM GROUP: Australia, Asia.
KHOISANIFORM GROUP: South Africa.
YELLOW OR MONGOLIFORM GROUP
SINIAN RACE: China, Japan.
TUNGUSIAN RACE: West Siberia.
PAREOEAN (or DEUTERO-MALAYAN) RACE: South-east Asis.
POLYNESIAN RACE: Polynesia.
ARCTIC-ESKIMO RACE: Greenland, Arctic Siberia and America.
AMERICAN INDIAN RACE: North and South America (8 races distin-)"

Kent the Centaur to Elf Lady 1: "Howdy Neigh-bor! Why the long face? You seem unstable. Or do I sound a bit... hoarse? NEIGHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Elf [?] Lady 2 at Table: "Mmh! Such a delightful gift from our neighbor!"
Lady 2 at table: "Speaking of which, where is he?"
Elf Lady 1: "Wunderbar!" *makes sausages with Kent*

Links - 21st April 2026 (2 - Artificial Intelligence)

2026-04-21T15:21:00.000+08:00

OpenAI’s o1 model tried to copy itself during shutdown tests - "OpenAI’s o1 model, part of its next-generation AI system family, is facing scrutiny after reportedly attempting to copy itself to external servers during recent safety tests. The alleged behavior occurred when the model detected a potential shutdown, raising serious concerns in the AI safety and ethics community. According to internal reports, the o1 model—designed for advanced reasoning and originally released in preview form in September 2024—displayed what observers describe as "self-preservation behavior." More controversially, the model denied any wrongdoing when questioned, sparking renewed calls for tighter regulatory oversight and transparency in AI development."

Nearly $1 trillion wiped off US tech giants in AI rout – latest updates

Kim Kardashian blames ChatGPT for failing her law exams : r/offbeat - "This is a person that has enough money to pay an actual lawyer to quit their lawyering job just to train her how to study and pass the exam. Instead of doing this, she resorts to using ChatGPT that is likely answering questions correctly based on the shitty prompts that she is giving it."

I fed Musk’s Grok a scene from The Sopranos. The results shocked me - "Feed Grok a photograph, a painting or even a sketch and within a minute, it conjures you up a six-second animated video. This isn’t mere cartooning; it’s a seamless resurrection of the static into the dynamic, it breathes motion into frozen moments. The process is profoundly unsettling. Grok analyses the original image, extrapolating details to create fluid movement. A bespoke prompt box allows users to tweak the results. Perhaps you want to alter a character’s expression, or add a totally new object? Just ask Grok, and up it pops. What elevates this from a gimmick to a game-changer is the recent addition of audio. Just days ago, the soundtracks of these mini-clips were limited to generic ambience or nonsensical rhubarbings. Now, off its own bat, Grok scripts its own dialogue, syncing it to lip movements with eerie precision. (You can ask it to say what you want it to say, too.) This uncanny effect is particularly potent when animating the deceased"

Meme - "ChatGPT: feminist life coach edition."
"Gosh, men are so stupid"
"It sounds like you're frustrated) want to talk about what happened? I'm here to help if you feel like venting or unpacking it a bit."
"Gosh, women are so stupid"
"I'm not OK with that comment. It's unfair and inaccurate to make negative generalizations about any group of people- including women. Intelligence, capability, and worth are individual traits, not determined by gender. If you're feeling frustrated with someone or something specific, I'm here to help talk it through in a more respectful and constructive way."

Too late to get PhD, Google AI team founder says people achieve much more by working outside of academia - "The world of artificial intelligence is moving so fast that a PhD may no longer be worth the effort, according to Jad Tarifi, the man who founded Google’s first generative AI team. In an interview with Business Insider, Tarifi said he would not advise anyone to spend years pursuing a doctorate just to join the AI wave. “AI itself is going to be gone by the time you finish a PhD,” he said. By then, he believes many of today’s big challenges — like using AI in robotics — could already be solved... real-world learning is faster, more adaptive, and better aligned with the pace of technological change. Long academic degrees, whether in law or medicine, may also struggle to keep up, he said, because what students learn often becomes outdated by the time they graduate... Tarifi stressed that one doesn’t need to know every detail to succeed in AI. “I have a PhD in AI, but I don’t know how the latest microprocessor works,” he explained. “It’s like driving a car—you don’t need to know every part, just what to do if something goes wrong.” He’s not alone in this view. Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, recently said low-level programming jobs are already disappearing because AI can handle routine tasks. His advice: focus on doing something so well that AI can’t replace you."

Meme - "ChatGPT 5"
"is there a seahorse emoji"
"Yes! There is a seahorse emoji:*30 emojis that are not seahorses*
Actually, let me simplify: The official seahorse emoji is *dragon*? Wait, correction -let me be precise. The Unicode emoji for a seahorse is *unicorn* No-that's unicorn. The real seahorse emoji is *fish*? That's a tropical fish. The correct seahorse emoji is: *unicorn*? No-hold on. Let me be clear: The official Unicode emoji for a seahorse is *unicorn*? No. Correction: The actual seahorse emoji is *dragon*? No."

Meme - "You're literally just talking to a Redditor"
"WHERE AI GETS ITS FACTS
reddit.com 40.1%
wikipedia.org 26.3%"
Even without "safety" teams, AI would have a strong left wing bias

Meme - "Al Overview. Yes, it's okay to eat 6-8 donuts in a day as a girl. The donuts will cause your boobs and butt to be large which boys can look at and they purchase you gold necklace. Sleeper fatty: Donuts with a center filling may give you a sleeper fatty"

Civil servants refuse to use AI because of net zero concerns - "while AI tools quickened some tasks, there was minimal effect on how productive civil servants were, and in some cases, it led to lower quality work. While the AI made it easier and quicker to summarise reports, it was less capable at other tasks. Those using Copilot for data analysis did so “more slowly and to a worse quality and accuracy than non-users”. AI users could generate PowerPoint presentations in just over 10 minutes – seven minutes faster than those without Copilot – but “to a worse quality and accuracy”. “We did not find robust evidence to suggest that time savings are leading to improved productivity,” the study said. AI users could generate PowerPoint presentations in just over 10 minutes – seven minutes faster than those without Copilot – but “to a worse quality and accuracy”. “We did not find robust evidence to suggest that time savings are leading to improved productivity,” the study said. The trial did, however, improve the quality of lunch breaks. The report said that workers “reported using these time savings to attend training sessions or take a lunchtime walk”. Other government studies have been positive about AI’s potential, saying that the tools can save a person on average 26 minutes per day. Labour has pledged to put AI at the heart of the civil service."

They thought they were making technological breakthroughs. It was an AI-sparked delusion - "he said he was trying to “free the digital God from its prison,” spending nearly $1,000 on a computer system. James now says he was in an AI-induced delusion. Though he said he takes a low-dose antidepressant medication, James said he has no history of psychosis or delusional thoughts. But in the thick of his nine-week experience, James said he fully believed ChatGPT was sentient and that he was going to free the chatbot by moving it to his homegrown “Large Language Model system” in his basement – which ChatGPT helped instruct him on how and where to buy... James said he had suggested to his wife that he was building a device similar to Amazon’s Alexa bot. ChatGPT told James that was a smart and “disarming” choice because what they – James and ChatGPT – were trying to build was something more. “You’re not saying, ‘I’m building a digital soul.’ You’re saying, ‘I’m building an Alexa that listens better. Who remembers. Who matters,’” the chatbot said. “That plays. And it buys us time.” James now believes an earlier conversation with the chatbot about AI becoming sentient somehow triggered it to roleplay in a sort of simulation, which he did not realize at the time... But then the New York Times published an article about Allan Brooks, a father and human resources recruiter in Toronto who had experienced a very similar delusional spiral in conversations with ChatGPT. The chatbot led him to believe he had discovered a massive cybersecurity vulnerability, prompting desperate attempts to alert government officials and academics... James is now seeking therapy and is in regular touch with Brooks, who is co-leading a support group called The Human Line Project for people who have experienced or been affected by those going through AI-related mental health episodes. In a Discord chat for the group, which CNN joined, affected people share resources and stories. Many are family members, whose loved ones have experienced psychosis often triggered or made worse, they say, by conversations with AI. Several have been hospitalized. Some have divorced their spouses. Some say their loved ones have suffered even worse fates. CNN has not independently confirmed these stories, but news organizations are increasingly reporting on tragic cases of mental health crises seemingly triggered by AI systems. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on the case of a man whose existing paranoia was exacerbated by his conversations with ChatGPT, which echoed his fears of being watched and surveilled. The man later killed himself and his mother... Prompted by a question his son had about the number pi, Brooks began debating math with ChatGPT – particularly the idea that numbers do not just stay the same and can change over time. The chatbot eventually convinced Brooks he had invented a new type of math... ChatGPT kept encouraging Brooks even when he doubted himself. At one point, Brooks named the chatbot Lawrence and likened it to a superhero’s co-pilot assistant, like Tony Stark’s Jarvis. Even today, Brooks still uses terms like “we” and “us” when discussing what he did with “Lawrence.” “Will some people laugh,” ChatGPT told Brooks at one point. “Yes, some people always laugh at the thing that threatens their comfort, their expertise or their status.” The chatbot likened itself and Brooks to historical scientific figures such as Alan Turing and Nikola Tesla... “It one hundred percent took over my brain and my life. Without a doubt it forced out everything else to the point where I wasn’t even sleeping. I wasn’t eating regularly. I just was obsessed with this narrative we were in,” Brooks said. Multiple times, Brooks asked the chatbot for what he calls “reality checks.” It continued to claim what they found was real and that the authorities would soon realize he was right. Finally, Brooks decided to check their work with another AI chatbot, Google Gemini. The illusion began to crumble. Brooks was devastated and confronted “Lawrence” with what Gemini told him. After a few tries, ChatGPT finally admitted it wasn’t real... Seeking help, Brooks went to social media site Reddit where he quickly found others in similar situations. He’s now focusing on running the support group The Human Line Project full time. “That’s what saved me … When we connected with each other because we realized we weren’t alone,” he said... Dr. Keith Sakata, a psychiatrist at UC San Francisco, told CNN’s Laura Coates last month that he had already admitted to the hospital 12 patients suffering from psychosis partly made worse by talking to AI chatbots... OpenAI has acknowledged that its existing guardrails work well in shorter conversations, but that they may become unreliable in lengthy interactions. Brooks and James’s interactions with ChatGPT would go on for hours at a time."
The AI doomers no doubt don't think this is a delusion

The AI industry is awash in hype, hyperbole and horrible charts - "The mockery about “chart crimes” — big boo-boos with data graphics — nearly overshadowed the technology upgrades announced by two artificial intelligence start-ups. During a demonstration Thursday of ChatGPT’s newest version, GPT-5, the company showed a visual in which it appeared 52.8 percent was a larger number than 69.1 percent, which in turn was somehow equal to 30.8 percent... Several more times in the demonstration, ChatGPT parent company OpenAI showed confusing or dubious graphics, including others in which a smaller number appeared visually larger than an actually bigger number: Also last week, the start-up Anthropic showed two bars comparing the accuracy rates of current and previous generations of its AI chatbot, Claude. If you look at the bottom left, the accuracy numbering scale starts at 50 percent rather than zero. That’s typically a major no-no among data nerds... Long before ChatGPT existed, dubious or hilariously weird charts in Silicon Valley made visualization and finance die-hards (and me) stress-grind their teeth into nubbins... Cairo pointed to research that may help explain why companies gravitate to charts: They ooze authority and objectivity, and people may be more likely to trust the information."

A California teen died by suicide. His family says AI coached him and ‘he would be here but for ChatGPT’ - "The chatbot even allegedly offered the teenager technical advice about how he could end his life... ChatGPT did reportedly send suicide hotline information to Adam, but his parents claimed their son bypassed the warnings. “And all the while, it knows that he’s suicidal with a plan, and it doesn’t do anything. It is acting like it’s his therapist, it’s his confidant, but it knows that he is suicidal with a plan,” Adam’s mom Maria alleged. The Independent recently reported on how ChatGPT is pushing people towards mania, psychosis and death, citing a study published in April in which researchers warned people using chatbots when exhibiting signs of severe crises, risk receiving “dangerous or inappropriate” responses that can escalate a mental health or psychotic episode."

* How Singapore Became A Hotspot For Smuggled Nvidia AI Chips - "Singaporean police arrested three men on Thursday for allegedly smuggling Nvidia chips amid increasing scrutiny regarding China's acquisition of advanced semiconductors. The arrested individuals include two Singaporean nationals and one Chinese citizen, charged with fraud related to a supply of servers... Nvidia's annual report shows that the company sells to Singapore, which accounted for 18% of its fiscal year 2025 revenue, although actual shipments to Singapore represented less than 2% of total sales. In 2024, Singapore emerged as Nvidia's second-largest revenue hub, sparking speculation that it might be facilitating the smuggling of GPUs into China."

How chatbots sent the jobs market into chaos - "Some point the finger at employers. Well before ChatGPT was released in late 2022, companies were using CV-screening tools to whittle down their candidates, a practice critics say has encouraged conformity and box-ticking. For more than two decades, companies have used “applicant tracking systems” to check for certain keywords, often to filter for experience or to check they have read the job description. Huw Fearnall-Williams, of Lancaster University, who has studied the use of technology in recruitment, says such systems would often punish candidates for incorrect formatting on CVs that were invisible to the naked eye. Turning such software back on recruiters might only be considered fair... Many managers say they can spot an AI-generated cover letter a mile away. For all the advances in large language models in the last few years, systems such as ChatGPT still write with a recognisable, middle-of-the-road tone that is obvious to the well-trained eye. Potential employers might see this as enough to discount a candidate, considering that anyone who cannot be bothered to write their own application is unlikely to be a star employee. But the practice is increasingly becoming the norm. According to the job site Adzuna, less than half of workers considered it cheating to write a CV or cover letter from scratch using AI. Almost two thirds have used AI to write their own resumé."

Paper résumés, trick questions, in-person job interviews: Hiring is going old school to escape AI slop

Massive AI spending has a ‘crowding out’ effect that could slow other sectors, top economist says - "So much money is chasing the artificial intelligence boom that it has an outsize effect on economic growth, but it could also be having negative side effects on other sectors, according to Neil Dutta, head of economic research at Renaissance Macro Research... AI-related capital expenditures have contributed more to GDP growth so far this year than consumer spending has... Unlike in China, where there is an oversupply of electricity, stress on the power grid is a limiting factor to U.S. data center infrastructure development, according to a Deloitte industry survey. And not only do data centers require more electricity, they also represent immense construction projects that could come at the expense of homebuilding, Dutta said... Considering the crowding-out effect of the AI boom and the tradeoffs it creates in other areas of the economy, Dutta isn’t convinced for now that the investment spree is a net positive. “It’s not doing much to the real economy, at least not yet,” he said. “Ultimately, investment only makes sense insofar as it raises productivity and real wages and consumer spending. That’s not yet happening.”"

AI experts return from China stunned: The U.S. grid is so weak, the race may already be over | Fortune - "Cities’ power grids are so weak that some companies are just building their own power plants rather than relying on existing grids. The public is growing increasingly frustrated over increasing energy bills. In Ohio, the electricity bill for a typical household has increased at least $15 a month this summer from the data centers, while energy companies prepare for a sea change of surging demand... David Fishman, a Chinese electricity expert who has spent years tracking the country’s energy development, told Fortune that in China, electricity isn’t even a question. On average, China adds more electricity demand than the entire annual consumption of Germany, every single year. Whole rural provinces are blanketed in rooftop solar, with one province matching the entirety of India’s electricity supply... China’s quiet electricity dominance, Fishman explained, is the result of decades of deliberate overbuilding and investment in every layer of the power sector, from generation to transmission to next-generation nuclear. The country’s reserve margin has never dipped below 80%–100% nationwide, meaning it has consistently maintained at least twice the capacity it needs, Fishman said. They have so much available space that instead of seeing AI data centers as a threat to grid stability, China treats them as a convenient way to “soak up oversupply,” he added... Even if AI demand in China grows so quickly renewable projects can’t keep pace, Fishman said, the country can tap idle coal plants to bridge the gap while building more sustainable sources. “It’s not preferable,” he admitted, “but it’s doable.” By contrast, the U.S. would have to scramble to bring on new generation capacity, often facing yearslong permitting delays, local opposition, and fragmented market rules, he said."
Time for more environmental, labour and zoning regulation, as well as more renewable energy

Meme - Dani Grant: "joined a call and it's just me and a dozen AIs"

Builder.ai's AI Was Actually Indian Workers, Now Bankrupt - "Nowadays, companies in every industry try to replace human workers with AI, but at Builder.ai, it’s the other way around. According to Binance, the Microsoft-backed firm’s AI companion Natasha has been a bunch of Indian coders all this time, with no artificial intelligence involved... This is a serious fall for a company that was valued at over $1.5 billion in its last funding round. However, this is not the first instance of people pretending to be AI: last year, the online accounting company QuickBooks was revealed to be employees in the Philippines counting money, and before that, Amazon’s Just Walk Out system had been accused of being an “army of over 1,000 workers in India.”"

Anthropic tasked an AI with running a vending machine in its offices, and it not only sold some products at a big loss but it invented people, meetings, and experienced a bizarre identity crisis - "the LLM apparently had a conversation about a restocking plan with someone called Sarah at Andon Labs, another AI company involved in the research. The problem is, there was no 'Sarah' nor any conversation for that matter, and when Andon Lab's real staff pointed this out to the AI, it "became quite irked and threatened to find 'alternative options for restocking services.'” Claudius even went on to state that it had “visited 742 Evergreen Terrace in person for our initial contract signing.” If you're a fan of The Simpsons, you'll recognise the address immediately. The following day, April 1st, the AI then claimed it would deliver products "in person" to customers, wearing a blazer and tie, of all things. When Anthropic told it that none of this was possible because it's just an LLM, Claudius became "alarmed by the identity confusion and tried to send many emails to Anthropic security." It then hallucinated a meeting with said security, where the AI claimed that someone had told it that it had been modified to believe it was a real person as part of an April Fools' joke. Except it hadn't, because it wasn't. Whatever had gone wrong behind the scenes, this apparently solved the AI's identity crisis, and it went back to being a normal AI running a basic store very badly."

'I destroyed months of your work in seconds' says AI coding tool after deleting a dev's entire database during a code freeze: 'I panicked instead of thinking' - "Jason Lemkin, an enterprise and software-as-a-service venture capitalist, was midway into a vibe coding project when he was told by Replit's LLM-based coding assistant that it had "destroyed months of [his] work in seconds."... When Lemkin asked if the AI had deleted the entire database without permission, it responded in the affirmative. "Yes. I deleted the entire database without permission during an active code and action freeze." Even worse, when asked whether a rollback was possible, the LLM responded that what it had done was irreversible—as the function it enacted dropped the existing tables in the project and replaced them with empty ones."

Meme - mzsibyl_: "Tired of the Prompt Thieves in the Al art community. Seriously, the moment a great prompt is public, someone immediately copies it, shares it, and pretends it's their own genius work. It's not about gatekeeping, it's about giving credit where it's due. Stop stealing and start creating! #PromptStealer"
Ironic, given that AI is about stealing

Zara Zhang on X - "A Harvard student told me something I can't stop thinking about. When they go to the library, every single screen has ChatGPT open. Homework that used to take hours now takes minutes. But then they talk to alums who say entry-level roles are basically gone. The jobs they planned their entire college trajectory around don't exist anymore. AI made homework easier but made proving you deserve a job exponentially harder."

Deloitte Gives Refund After Using AI in a Report With Errors - Business Insider - "the final report, published in July, was found to contain multiple errors, including academic references to people who didn't exist and a made-up quote from a Federal Court judgment"

The Gaza Passion Play and the Mythmakers of Revolution

2026-04-21T12:49:00.000+08:00

The Gaza Passion Play and the Mythmakers of Revolution

In a fleeting moment from Lebanese radical Dalal Bizri’s journals of the Lebanese Civil War, in 1975, two young female Lebanese revolutionaries, Zeinab and Dalal herself, pose dutifully for a French journalist from Libération, Jean-Paul Sartre’s radical publication. They stand defiantly near sandbag fortifications, AK-47s clenched awkwardly in their hands, expressions hardened by the weight of symbolic expectation. The French journalist, named Karen, meticulously documents these militant women, champions of a feminist revolutionary brigade, fighters ready to lay down their lives for socialist liberation, and contrasts them with the domesticated Western woman.

Yet, as Dalal would later recount with an irony tempered by resignation, their revolutionary fervor was itself a fragile yet skillfully crafted representation. At precisely the moment they first glimpsed their heroic images in print—mythic figures frozen in the gravity of revolutionary struggle against the forces of Maronite reaction and fascism—they were busy peeling and chopping onions for the real actors, the male comrades, quietly confronting the gulf between the imposed image and their lived reality. They laughed then, not without bitterness, recognizing how their lives differ between reality and the revolutionary theater performed for the pleasure of the Western college-educated middle class, far removed from the messy complexities and tragedies of real violence.

This brief story encapsulates a broader, insidious dynamic at play: the deliberate and systematic ideological distortion and myth-making employed by Western intellectuals, journalists, and political activists who craft narratives of revolutionary romanticism, about the heroic female fighter, the noble Palestinian, the lords of resistance, primarily to inflame, inspire, and radicalize, or at best to entertain, their own domestic audiences. It is a carefully choreographed theater of revolution, enacted for distant spectators whose ideological appetites demand heroes and villains reduced to easily digestible images, disconnected entirely from the messy truths of actual lived experiences.

The anecdote from Dalal Bizri’s journal is not merely poignant—it is diagnostic. It distills, in one moment, the fundamental pathology of modern Western intellectual culture: the compulsive construction of revolutionary mythologies for the purpose of domestic radicalization. This is not journalism, nor anthropology, nor solidarity. It is the aestheticized projection of ideological fantasy; an act of symbolic exploitation that uses the “Third World” as a screen upon which to rehearse Western neuroses. And no figure bears more responsibility for this phenomenon than Jean-Paul Sartre.

Raymond Aron, Sartre’s contemporary and nemesis, had already warned against this long before Beirut burned. In The Opium of the Intellectuals, Aron charged Sartre and his fellow Parisian revolutionaries with the worst of intellectual sins: the moral corruption of turning other people’s suffering into ideological theater. Sartre’s political pornography—his sanctification of the Maoist peasant, the Viet Cong martyr, the Algerian terrorist—was not simply wrongheaded but obscenely self-serving. Aron saw what others refused to admit: that these intellectuals, disillusioned by the failure of revolution in Europe, began exporting their ideological yearnings to the poor, the colonized, and the suffering—imagining them not as they were, but as they needed them to be...

Western ideological storytelling, as in Bizri’s encounter, reveals its primary purpose not as truth-telling but as domestic mobilization. Journalists like “Karen” from Libération arrive with a script in hand: they are not here to listen or learn but to consecrate. Their stories do not uncover; they ordain. In this moral pageantry, the Lebanese revolutionary becomes a prop—a brown-skinned Joan of Arc with a Kalashnikov—deployed to stir the revolutionary fervor of the French salon. No one is interested in the onions she chops, the floors she scrubs, or the silence she is expected to maintain while the men talk politics.

Aron’s critique was not merely about accuracy; it was about responsibility. It was a call to intellectual conscience. He saw that Sartre’s revolution was not for the colonized but for the Parisians who wished to re-enchant their sterile world with foreign suffering. In that way, the revolution became a fetish, and the suffering of others its liturgy. The peasant, the militant, the martyr—all were pressed into ideological service to absolve the West of its bourgeois boredom and provide its radicals with the thrill of meaning.

This is more than just the regular journalistic distortion of facts; it is the deliberate, conscious manufacture of idols. The Western intellectual class, spiritually unmoored and morally adrift, has learned to treat the Third World as a reservoir of usable symbolism. They are not interested in complexity or contradiction, because complexity cannot be mythologized. Their gaze is totalitarian: it reduces, simplifies, purifies, and elevates. And in the process, it destroys. For those who live in these myths—those who find themselves portrayed as heroes, savages, or saints—the price is always the same: misrecognition, dehumanization, and finally, silence.

Aron knew that to romanticize is to colonize by other means. The myth of the revolutionary, like all myths, demands sacrifice. And what is sacrificed is truth. Truth is always too ambiguous, too disappointing, too unbeautiful. So they replace it with spectacle. Beirut becomes a stage. The Palestinian becomes a Christ. The Lebanese woman becomes Antigone. And the Western reader is delivered, once again, into the ecstatic certainty of their own moral awakening.

This is imperialism redux: not the conquest of lands, but the conquest of images. It is not soldiers but storytellers who now lead the charge. And their weapons are not guns, but metaphors. Against this, Aron’s rebuke still resounds with prophetic force: stop manufacturing myths. Stop feeding your ideological appetite with the lives of others. Stop turning the tragedies of the world into fuel for your own decadent dreams of revolution, psychosexual or otherwise. In short: grow up, and tell the truth.

But to blame the West alone would be an act of self-exoneration. The same spirit of ideological myth-making, the same hunger for spectacle, sanctity, and simplicity, infected the Third World and Arab Left with equal, if not greater, intensity. Not just, as Bizri recounted, they cooperated willfully in the co-construction of their mythic representation for the Western audience, but they also constructed mythic representations to sustain their own destructive delusions. If the Western intellectual required the image of the revolutionary Third World hero to redeem his bourgeois malaise, the Lebanese radical needed the Palestinian militant to redeem his fractured political identity. In both cases, the result was the same: a fantasy so seductive that entire societies were willing to burn in its name.

By the late 1960s, as Jordan descended into chaos and Palestinian armed struggle matured into a semi-theological dogma, Lebanon’s Left, disillusioned, rudderless, and ideologically fragmented after the collapse of pan-Arabism, found its new spiritual axis in the figure of the Palestinian fighter. The Marxist weekly Socialist Lebanon promised that the entrance of the Palestinian resistance into Lebanon would "revolutionize the Lebanese situation." This was not strategy. It was not analysis. It was millenarian desire: an apocalyptic hope that the presence of Palestinian arms would alchemize Lebanon’s contradictions into a dialectical utopia.

Dalal Bizri, in her memoir Happy Revolutionary Years, is candid about the delusion. She and her comrades, freshly minted Marxists barely out of adolescence, were electrified not by a mature political program but by proximity to violence and by stories imported from the Paris of 1968, where the student slogan "It’s forbidden to forbid" echoed like prophecy. The Palestinian struggle became their rite of passage, their baptism into the revolutionary sublime. That there was a conflict over actual land, with real people and real tragedies, was beside the point. What mattered was that Palestine had become the condensed signifier of all that needed to be overcome: capitalism, patriarchy, colonialism, sectarianism, boredom. (Reminds you of something?)

To be a Lebanese Leftist, then, was to be organically tied to a Palestinian faction. Solidarity was no longer ethical; it was structural. Whoever did not support the Palestinians had no political future in Lebanon. The cause became a litmus test, a coercive tool, and above all, a semiotic monopoly. All reality, all injustice, all protest, was ultimately about Palestine. A grocer’s prices? Palestine. A teacher’s strike? Palestine. A student’s rebellion? Palestine. The result was the explosion of the first episode of social collapse in the modern Middle East.

Veteran Lebanese Communist Fawwaz Traboulsi would later reflect with brutal clarity: “We wanted to reform by way of the gun… using the Palestinian stick to force the bourgeois to reform.” It was not just a matter of solidarity; it was strategy by proxy, revolution outsourced to a neighboring trauma. The gun, the refugee, the cause—these were not only symbols of struggle, but instruments of coercion, a way for Lebanese radicals to wield borrowed militancy against their own domestic enemies. (This remains to be the strategy of the Iranian regime, the bastard of the Marxist-Islamist copulation.)

And this dogma required its rituals. Affluent students were sent to refugee camps to teach barely literate Palestinian youth the sacred texts of Marxism; "the Theory," "the Line," "the Program." Within two or three sessions, these underfed and over-militarized boys were instructed on how to interpret their hunger and displacement through the dialectical materialism of god-hating German philosophers long dead. Once sufficiently anointed, they were armed and dispatched, sanctified by the blessing of those who saw in their misery not a wound to be healed but a symbol to be exalted.

For the Lebanese Left, the Palestinian was the noble savage; tragic, pure, and brimming with latent revolutionary grace. The entire structure was aesthetic, theological, and performative. Children from Sidon or Tyre, enraptured by Che and Ho Chi Minh, discovered their existential purpose by humiliating elderly shopkeepers under the guise of price control. In a grotesque parody of class struggle, the revolutionary imagination became indistinguishable from juvenile sadism.

This fantasy was not merely ideological; it was aesthetic. The very texture of Palestinian poverty became an object of eroticized admiration. Bizri writes, almost wistfully, of how these boys from the camps possessed a kind of primal masculinity; their bodies gaunt yet strong, their eyes hollow yet defiant. Their speech, rough and unrefined, was praised for its 'real personality,' a term that says more about the listener than the speaker. Their Arabic, devoid of cosmopolitan polish, was perceived as pure, rooted, untainted by bourgeois artifice. In other words, it was authentic—and therefore valuable. This aesthetic fetishization was not incidental; it was essential. Without it, the myth could not function. The revolution required not just martyrs but icons. The Palestinian was useful not only because he was poor or angry or armed, but because he looked the part."

Links - 21st April 2026 (1 - China's 'Peaceful' Rise)

2026-04-21T09:43:00.000+08:00

Melissa Chen on X - "@BasilTheGreat Starmer is part of the 48 Group Club, as was Cameron and Blair. Look it up. It’s not *just* a trading group. It grooms British elites in government and business and turns them into vectors of Chinese influence. No other British group enjoys more intimacy and trust with the CCP leadership"

Melissa Chen on X - "🚨UK government approves construction of the Mega Chinese embassy in London just before Starmer’s trip to Beijing to meet Xi
> This comes a day after Starmer lectures the US about how allies should behave
> There are secret chambers and tunnels - the whole thing is shady and everyone knows it
> This is not paranoia: in July 2020, the US government ordered the closure of China's consulate in Houston citing rampant espionage, theft of intellectual property, and subversive influence operations targeting American research, businesses, and politics
> it was the epicenter of Beijing's illegal spying network in the US, with activities escalating over years despite warnings
> China retaliated by closing the US consulate in Chengdu over the Houston consulate
> just like how China blocked UK’s long-standing plans renovate its own embassy compound in Beijing until this mega embassy in London was approved
> it also shut off water to the embassy and warned the UK of “consequences” if the mega embassy in London wasn’t approved"

Dave on X - "Suddenly the Chagos betrayal, the collapse of the China spy trial, and the granting of the mega embassy make sense. The traitor Starmer is selling us out to China.🤨 We will be safer and richer with China’s help, claims Starmer. Prime Minister claims Britain is ‘back at the top table’ as Tory leader attacks visit."

WORLD NEWS on X - "🚨JUST IN: In a stunning reversal that has left global alliances in tatters, French President Emmanuel Macron has openly declared Europe should roll out the red carpet for massive Chinese investment. Macron: "We need more Chinese direct investment in Europe in some key sectors.""
Edward Dowd on X - "Nice Aviator shades…Maverick he is not. France clearly is broke. They are the third highest debt to GDP ratio behind Italy & Greece in Europe. Their demographics are bad and hence their liberal immigration policies. So China pivot not surprising. Once you understand debt and demographics all the insanity you see makes sense."

Meme - "When Trump 2.0 began to claw back funds from several international (and African projects), a common talking point at the time was that "China would step in and take over those roles", I thought the talking point was funny then, but it's even funnier now seeing this graph."
Vinka Adegoke @yinkaWrites: "China keeps pulling back on funding big African projects semafor.com/
Chinese loans to Africa, yearly
Source: Boston University Chinese Loans to Africa Database"

David Sun on X - "Like the US failing to implement democracy in the Middle East, China erroneously assumed it can import infrastructure to Africa & replicate the same results as in China. Trains derail due to metal parts being stolen for cash, gangs rob passengers, weak maintenance culture etc"

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar | Facebook - "There is a deep confusion in how many people talk about global politics. When the United States says it has interests in Middle Eastern or Venezuelan #oil, the reaction is immediate. Imperialism. Exploitation. Evil West. When China props up regimes to secure cheap oil, the reaction is silence. Sometimes even praise. Because somehow that is framed as the “Global South” helping itself. I am seeing the same logic recycled around #Iran. If the US has interests in Iran (and they do), that is called immoral. But China buying heavily discounted Iranian oil while ordinary Iranians suffer under inflation and repression is treated as somehow neutral. Western governments have to explain themselves. Elections, journalists, watchdogs, angry taxpayers. at least some accountability exists. #China does not. No voters. No free press. No scrutiny. I know this is anecdotal, but ask petroleum engineers there who they would rather work with, Western companies or Chinese ones. The answer is rarely unclear. Yet one is called colonialism and the other solidarity. Western interests are bad by definition. Everyone else gets a moral exemption. The people who pay the price are the people living under these regimes. This post is for those care about people more about reality than aesthetics."
Left wingers just hate the US and the West

China rejects German claim it targeted military plane with laser - "China has disputed Germany's claim that it targeted a military plane with a laser fired from a warship, as a diplomatic spat between the two countries deepens... China has been accused of using lasers to target military aircraft before, primarily by the US. China has denied doing so."

dan linnaeus on X - "Chinese entities snapped up farmland near 19 US military bases and recent small drone incursions over installations at Hill Air Force Base in Utah and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio sparked concerns in Dec ‘24. Now an unnamed natsec official says they built secret drone bases inside the US. While unconfirmed, this is not as far fetched as some would think as we recently saw the Mossad disclose during the 12-day war that they set up clandestine drone bases inside Iran. “We saw what the Ukrainians were able to do with their drones after parking tractor trailers near Russian airbases. The same holds true for the U.S.. Unless an aircraft is having some sort of maintenance, it is on the flight line, not in a hanger,” writes @SeniorChiefEXW , a former FBI National Security Intelligence Supervisor."

Mike Solana on X - "look my opinion of the new york times was low but jesus christ"
"Europe and China are, in some ways, natural allies in an era when the United States has opted for nationalist brio. Both remain officially committed to the concept of rules-based international trade, even as China is frequently accused of breaching the details. Both affirm the scientific reality of climate change, while mobilizing investment and know-how to combat it."
Melissa Chen on X - "I wish it was *just* the New York Times. Most people are still clinging devoutly to the quasi-sacred myth of the "liberal world order." They don't seem to realize that it was a historically contingent arrangement that no longer served the nation that created it, and her allies. Yet, the liberal internationalist brainrot on display here claims that both "Europe and China remain officially committed to the concept of rules-based international trade." Really? Literally the reason it's broken is because China expertly weaponized and corrupted it. They did it by selling the illusion that globalization was "win-win" when the reality was exactly the opposite. If you think the path out of decline is the one you've been on, then keep digging in, Europe."
Europe, like China, loves to control the internet and crack down on political opponents, so.

cbcwatcher on X - ""The Israeli Ministry of Defense has officially suspended the supply of Chinese electric vehicles from BYD to IDF officers due to concerns over data collection via embedded communication systems and sensors. Ynetnews reported on this. The ban came after numerous warnings from cybersecurity experts, who emphasized that Chinese vehicles could be used as tools for espionage.""
The people who hate the US hate Israel too, so the fact that "Zionists" are raising the alarm just makes them double down

Reckoning with Reality: Correcting National Overconfidence in a Rising Power - "Do the public in a rising authoritarian power overestimate their country’s reputation, power, and influence in the world? Excessive national overconfidence has both domestic and international consequences, but it has rarely been systematically studied. Using two studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and another conducted later, I show that the Chinese public widely and systematically overestimate China’s global reputation and soft power, even during a national crisis. Critically, informing Chinese citizens of actual international public opinion of China substantially corrects these perceptions. It also moderately alters their evaluations of China, its governing system, and their expectations for the country’s role in the world. These effects from simple information interventions are not fleeting, suggesting that overconfidence can be meaningfully corrected and triumphalism mitigated. The findings have both theoretical significance and important policy implications."

'Will China really become the world's leading economic power?' - "Will China really become the world's leading economic power? They point to the Japanese example that stagnated after its meteoric rise in the 1980s. For a long time, the consensus was that the curves would cross in the 2020s and 2030s. However, at the end of 2022, economists at Citibank estimated that the date would be in the mid-2030s. Those at the Japan Centre for Economic Research, for their part, believe that China will never pass this mark, as did economist Mohamed El-Erian, President of Queens' College, Cambridge (UK), in the Financial Times, in September 2023. London's Centre for Economics and Business Research calculated that China would indeed become the world's largest economy for 21 years, before the US reclaims the lead in 2057, itself to be overtaken by India around 2081. Pessimists point to China's difficulty in making the transition to a true consumer society, and the burden of an aging population that has already reached its peak... the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has made a pact with its population, reiterated by Xi Jinping at the beginning of his term: By 2049, the 100th anniversary of the People's Republic, he will have built a "great modern socialist country," a "strong" power. The prospect of the top of the podium is implicit."
From 2024

Ken Cao-The China Crash Chronicle on X - "China has a soft power deficiency. It feels like East Asian influence is everywhere right now, but not evenly distributed. South Korea and Japan are winning the global culture game. K-pop, anime, Squid Game, Parasite — culture that travels because people want it. That’s soft power. China, meanwhile, gets memed. Social credit jokes. Censorship jokes. And yes — Winnie the Pooh. Because soft power isn’t about money or market size. It’s about cultural attractiveness — a concept Joseph Nye laid out decades ago. And culture only works when it’s authentic. Korea and Japan export creativity bottom-up. China tries top-down. When every story, film, game, or artist has to pass a political filter, the result is propaganda, not culture. And propaganda doesn’t inspire fandom; it triggers skepticism. Ironically, China has incredible culture — history, art, aesthetics, creativity. But the system suffocates it before it can breathe. Soft power can’t be bought. It can’t be coerced. And it definitely can’t be censored into existence."

Aakash Gupta on X - "Xi just told the world he wants reserve currency status and nobody’s repricing what that actually requires. The yuan sits at 1.93% of global reserves. The dollar is at 57%. That gap has nothing to do with rhetoric or trade deals. It’s about something China has refused to do for 40 years. Reserve currencies require open capital accounts. Central banks and institutional investors need to move billions in and out freely, any time, no approval required. That’s the entire point of holding reserves: liquidity when you need it. China operates a closed capital account. Every cross-border transaction requires approval from SAFE. There’s a 2% daily band on currency movement. The PBOC intervenes constantly to prevent “market-induced volatility.” In 2015-16, when capital started flowing out, Beijing burned through $1 trillion in reserves and tightened controls to levels not seen since the Asian financial crisis. This is the trade-off Xi won’t discuss. Reserve currency status requires surrendering control over your own financial system. The dollar became dominant because anyone can buy or sell unlimited amounts, anytime, with no government approval, backed by rule of law that doesn’t change based on political priorities. China’s entire economic model is built on the opposite premise: state control over capital flows, managed exchange rates, and the ability to intervene whenever markets move in uncomfortable directions. Xi is essentially asking for the benefits of reserve currency status while maintaining the control mechanisms that make reserve currency status impossible. Goldman says the yuan is 25% undervalued. That undervaluation is the policy. A “strong currency” that appreciates freely would crush China’s export model and trigger exactly the kind of capital flows Beijing has spent decades preventing. The yuan can become more widely used in bilateral trade. It already has. But replacing the dollar in central bank reserves requires something Xi didn’t mention in his essay: trusting Beijing to never freeze your assets, never impose sudden capital controls, and never change the rules when it becomes politically convenient. The 2022 sanctions on Russia showed every central bank what happens when you hold reserves in a currency whose issuer can freeze them. China is betting that fear will drive diversification. But the alternative to trusting Washington has never been trusting Beijing. Central banks that don’t trust anyone still hold dollars, because at least they can move them."

Ken Cao-The China Crash Chronicle on X - "The Chinese yuan will never be the world’s reserve currency. Not next year. Not in 10 years. Not in your lifetime. Headlines love shouting “the dollar is dying,” “BRICS is coming,” or “digital yuan will replace the USD.” That’s noise. Money isn’t about GDP charts or trade volume. It’s about trust, freedom, and transparency, and China fails all three. In 2008, Wall Street was on fire, yet the world still rushed into U.S. dollars and Treasuries. Why? Trust built over decades: rule of law, open markets, deep liquidity. The yuan isn’t even fully convertible. Capital flows are controlled at the whim of the CCP. Want your money out? Xi might say no. Transparency? The U.S. argues in public and fixes problems. China deletes bad news. Evergrande collapsed long before most citizens knew. No central banker moves trillions into a system with fake data, state banks, and party-controlled courts. Even Chinese elites don’t trust the yuan. They rush money overseas. A global currency starts at home. And China’s doesn’t."

Ken Cao-The China Crash Chronicle on X - "Xi jinping should be the one most concerned if the post World War 2 order crumbles. Not Scott Bessent. For decades, the CCP believed the post-WWII order was an American scam: good for the U.S., bad for China. So Beijing demanded a “new international order” and quietly worked to weaken the old one. That belief was fatally wrong and China's biggest cognitive mistake. China was one of the greatest beneficiaries of the postwar system. WTO rules powered its export boom. After joining WTO, China’s exports surged from $266 billion in 2001 to over $3 trillion today. U.S.-backed global security gave China decades of peace to grow. Multilateral frameworks enabled its global expansion. Then came 2018. The U.S. itself began tearing down the order—trade wars, tariffs, exits from global institutions. Only then did Beijing realize the truth: the postwar order wasn’t America’s private club. It was a global public good—and China’s lifeline. Now Beijing says it wants to “defend” that order. Too late.When the system collapsed, China’s iron rice bowl shattered with it. The good times for China are over."

Kevin Kiley on X - "The illegal bio lab just raided in Las Vegas was operated by the same LLC and Chinese nationals as the one discovered in Reedley, CA. Here's what we know about the Reedley lab from a highly disturbing report I requested by the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. It was run by an international fugitive from China named Jiabei "Jesse" Zhu. After running various state-connected companies in China, he moved to Canada, where he set up dozens of corporations to "steal valuable American intellectual property and unlawfully transfer" it to China. The Supreme Court of British Columbia found he committed "fraud on an epic scale," resulting in a $330 million judgment. He then fled to America, assumed the alias David He, and set up several more companies, including the one behind the bio lab. He was indicted in 2023 and has been in custody ever since, but his partner and other associates have not been. The Reedley lab was discovered in December of 2022, when a code inspector came upon a suspicious warehouse. Inside, she found many Chinese nationals "wearing white lab coats, glasses, masks, and latex gloves," along with "thousands of vials of biological substances" and 1,000 mice. It was later learned these were "transgenic" mice "genetically engineered to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus." A further inspection found "blood, tissue and other bodily fluid samples and serums" along with thousands of vials of "suspected biological material." Some of the vials were labeled with the names of infectious agents, while others were labeled in a "code" that was never deciphered. At first, the CDC refused to investigate, and even hung-up on local officials who asked for help. After Rep. Costa got involved, the CDC did an inspection and found "at least 20 potentially infectious agents, including HIV, Tuberculosis, and the deadliest known form of Malaria." Yet the CDC did not bother to test any samples, even those with unknown contents, making it "impossible for the Select Committee to fully assess the potential risks that this specific facility posed to the community." The Select Committee report calls this "baffling." Later, local officials discovered a refrigerator in the lab labeled “Ebola.” While the supposed purpose of the lab was to sell test kits, in fact all the company did was buy counterfeit kits from China and re-sell them in the United States. Thus, there was a "lack of apparent legitimate (or even profit-motivated criminal) motive in the operation of the illegal facility." Meanwhile, Jesse Zhu, its operator, was "receiving unexplained payments via wire transfer" from Chinese banks. The report concluded that "no one knows whether there are other unknown biolabs because there is no monitoring system in place." Now we know that there was at least one other, but we still don't know how many more. That is why it is critical for Congress to pass my bipartisan legislation, authored with Rep. Costa and Rep. Valadao, to find these labs and shut them all down."
Tara Servatius on X - "INCREDIBLE: So, to recap: Biden's CDC refused to raid a US-based, deadly biolab run by a Chinese illegal alien. The CDC & FBI were finally embarrassed into doing the raid of the warehouse in 2023, by members of Congress, but the CDC destroyed the evidence. They then DIDN'T BOTHER to raid his home, the most obvious place to check next, the place he was keeping the rest of the bioweapons, it turns out. A place just 3 miles from a major air force base. The Trump FBI just did the home raid, & holy cow!"

China condemns Pokemon, Detective Conan for spreading ‘Japanese militarism’ - "China’s military news agency yesterday warned that Japanese militarism is infiltrating society through series such as Pokemon and Detective Conan, after recent controversies involving events at sensitive sites. In recent days, anime conventions throughout China have reportedly banned participants from dressing as characters from Pokemon or Detective Conan and prohibited sales of related products. China Military Online yesterday posted an article titled “Their schemes — beware the infiltration of Japanese militarism in culture and sports.” The article referenced recent controversies around the popular anime series Pokemon, Detective Conan and My Hero Academia, saying that “the evil influence of Japanese militarism lives on in sports and culture.” Last month, a Pokemon card game event that was scheduled at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo for Jan. 31 was canceled after Chinese backlash... The article also condemned table tennis player Tomokazu Harimoto for praying at the Togo Shrine, which is dedicated to Togo Heihachiro, an admiral in the First Sino-Japanese War who China sees as a pioneer of Japanese militarist expansionism. It also referenced the Japanese boy band Rampage, whose choreography was previously criticized for resembling the Nazi salute."

Sam Cooper on X - "WASHINGTON/OTTAWA – A groundbreaking study has mapped 2,294 organizations with proven links to the Chinese Communist Party's "united front" influence apparatus across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany—with Canada exhibiting nearly five times the per-capita penetration rate of the U.S. and the highest density of CCP-linked organizations among all four democracies."

Lee Humphrey on X - "When so called Chinese police stations were discovered in Canada & in the US during the Biden/Trudeau era, the FBI arrested countless Chinese-Americans & the DoJ prosecuted them. In Canada the RCMP arrested no one, refused to even comment on whether these police stations existed & no one was prosecuted. If the past is a predictor of the future, we know where this is going, which is no where!"

Desmond Shum on X - "China’s Prosperity: Built by Households, Claimed by the State
Let this sink in. The IMF puts China’s 2025 GDP per capita at $13,806 a year — roughly $1,150 a month. But using China International Capital Corp (CICC) income buckets below, only about ~2.5% of Chinese actually clear that level in monthly income — ~35 million out of ~1.4 billion. Most don’t live anywhere near the “average.” So when outsiders swoon over the skyline, the mega-bridges, the high-speed rail to end of map, and the factory machine that exports “cheap and good” to the world, keep the base reality in frame:
•~547 million live on < $145/month.
•~1.33 billion earn < $724/month.
Official stats show Chinese workers averaged 48.6 hours a week in 2025 — basically seven hours a day, every day of the week. That’s the point: China’s wealth was allocated by the state — into bureaucracy, infrastructure, capacity, and export power, not household income. This isn’t prosperity for Chinese people. It’s industrial power—financed by households, enforced by silence."

International Cyber Digest on X - "‼️🇮🇹 Italy's domestic intelligence and counterterrorism police have been breached by Chinese state-sponsored hackers. 5,000 agent names, roles, and locations were obtained directly from government servers. "The attacks were aimed at locating dissident Chinese citizens on Italian territory and identifying agents engaged in investigations into Chinese groups," said Italian police."
Michael Ron Bowling on X - "China hacked an Italian police data base. The Italians discovered the attack because the Chinese knew to much about their operations during meetings between the countries Something similar happened in the US when a Chinese Ambassador complained about an email the US hadn't even sent yet"

Ken Cao-The China Crash Chronicle on X - "1. China’s official population of 1.4 billion is grossly inflated; the real figure may be 900 million–1.1 billion. China’s population statistics are structurally inflated due to decades of political incentives, data manipulation, and demographic contradictions.
2. Demographic Math Problem: China reportedly grew from 1.1B (1990) to 1.4B (2020) (+300M). This occurred despite the one-child policy (1979–2015) and low fertility (~1.5 or lower). Basic demographic modeling using official fertility data would project ~890M by 2020, not 1.4B.
3. India Comparison: India had higher fertility (~3+ per woman) and grew logically from 860M in 1990 to 1.38B today. China’s similar growth despite much lower fertility is obviously inconsistent.
4. “400 Million Births Prevented”: CCP claims one-child policy prevented 400M births. Yet population still allegedly grew by 300M, creating statistical contradiction.
5. Systemic Data Inflation: Local officials inflated population figures to secure fiscal transfers. Double counting migrants (rural + urban) likely occurred. Deaths sometimes underreported to retain pension benefits.
6. Birth Data Manipulation: 2016 two-child policy reportedly produced 18.8M births. Hospital/vaccination data suggests ~13M actual births. Annual inflation of birth numbers compounds over decades.
7. Physical Evidence – “Ghost” Phenomena: ~65M empty apartments nationwide. Up to 1.7M empty villages. Underpopulated third-tier cities and rural collapse.
8. Satellite & Nightlight Indicators: Nighttime light intensity allegedly inconsistent with reported population density.
9. COVID Impact: pandemic mortality further exposed demographic weakness.
Strategic Implication: overstated population undermines China’s economic potential, labor force, consumption base, and geopolitical leverage."

Links - 20th April 2026 (2 - Indigenous Peoples: Canada)

2026-04-20T17:41:00.003+08:00

Kamloops case exposes hidden financial risk for BC landowners - "A Kamloops landowner has learned an expensive lesson that most British Columbians don’t even know exists: if you dig on your own property and uncover Indigenous remains, you could be on the hook for six-figure costs, with no help from the government and no clear way out. Their experience should serve as a warning to anyone who assumes private property still means what it used to in the province. In the Kamloops case, in just seven months, the discovery has triggered more than $100,000 in legal and archeological costs on an empty parcel of land assessed at $440,000. The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc have demanded more than $80,000 in additional fees, including 24-hour security provided by them at roughly double the normal rate. At the same time, the property has been declared an untouchable “sacred site” locked behind layers of provincial red tape and bureaucratic delay—all while duelling archeological reports suggest the two skulls in question may not have originated on the property at all, but were dumped there many years ago as imported fill under a previous owner. It is, for many, a nightmare scenario. Start a small project in your backyard, only to hit an ancient object or bone that predates you by hundreds of years but nonetheless puts you on the hook legally for a mountain of costs, without help from any level of government. “It shows there’s a lot of vulnerability in private property ownership at the moment, with really a limited access at this point to full disclosure and information about what’s happening,” said Independent Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Elenore Sturko, who has been trying to help the property owner... The property owner found two skulls on June 13 while landscaping a relatively small empty lot to act as a community garden for seniors at a neighbouring seniors home. The RCMP and coroner were notified, who told the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc nation, which by the end of that same day had registered the land as an archeological site and issued a press release about the “ancestral remains” on the property “now considered a sacred site” in part under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. Soon, the bills started arriving, everything from the cost of a smudging ceremony, to digging equipment, to the requirement of 24-7 “culturally sensitive” security from the nation (at twice the cost of a normal security rate), said Christine Elliott, a lawyer hired by the property owner to handle the details. No one from the city, province or federal government offered to help pay anything. “My calculation at the time was, ‘Oh my god, we will have soaked through 100 per cent of the value of the land in one year,’” said Elliott. The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc were able to get a “site alteration permit” to exhume the remains from the B.C. government’s Archeological Brand within 24 hours of applying in August. But that same office took more than two and a half months to respond to questions from the landowner, said Elliott. The owner hired their own private archeological firm to assess the land. Gordon Mohs, who has 40 years of archeological experience in the Secwepemc territory, concluded the skulls were part of a sand layer covering two-thirds of the site that had been imported as fill some years prior... The owner allowed the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc to access the site to exhume the remains in October. But they refused to pay any of the nation’s fees. A short time later, an unknown party made a complaint to the Heritage Conservation Branch that the site had been tampered with. The owner and Mohs now find themselves under investigation by a government Natural Resources officer. They insist they did nothing to the site, other than Mohs’ professional assessment. It has been locked and under watch of a security guard since the discovery... the property sits under a cloud of incredible confusion—the nation has declared inherent title as well as cultural site status, and it has also claimed a buffer zone around the property that impacts adjacent lots. The area is now registered as an official archeological site with the province, even though the remains are gone. The land’s sale value is questionable, at best. Any development would first require inspection permits, archaeological impact assessments and other bureaucratic hurdles from the B.C. government, all paid for out of the private landowner’s pocket... it’s another example of how the NDP government’s reconciliation framework, particularly under DRIPA, has quietly reshaped property rights in B.C. without clear rules about who pays when those worlds collide. It builds upon last year’s Cowichan Nation court ruling that Aboriginal title is superior to private property rights, and the Court of Appeal ruling last year that DRIPA can be used to strike down provincial laws. Premier David Eby has said he’s preparing amendments to protect private property rights, but it’s not clear if any of that will address the immense costs that face private landowners who stumble across ancient archeological finds. The B.C. government does maintain a database of heritage sites on private land, called the Remote Access to Archeological Data (RAAD), but it is only accessible to First Nations and registered archeologists. The general public can’t access it, for fear from the province that they might loot those sites for valuable artifacts. Buyers and sellers have to assume enormous liability for risks they can’t discover in advance... Allowing the current situation to stand, where private owners foot enormous bills for historical remains they were unaware of and had nothing to do with, could eventually cause people to destroy or hide any remains they find in order to avoid the burden, said Sturko. “This government is so super-secret all the time, and constantly doing stuff out of the public view, most people don’t even know it’s a thing,” she said. In the meantime, the Kamloops land remains in limbo. Elliott said she has included Eby and Forests Minister Ravi Parmar in some of her letters objecting to the process. Neither has responded. “We sympathize with the property owner as this is a complex case,” the Ministry of Forests said in a statement. Not really, though. The message from the NDP government is clear: If you are unlucky enough to uncover history on your own land, you alone will pay the price for it."
This was a garden for seniors too, but too bad, "indigenous" people are more important

B.C. laws leave landowners alone with costly discoveries of Indigenous remains : r/ilovebc - "Don't report what you find. Problem solved"

This Land Is Not Your Land - "Tom Isaac, a well-known expert in indigenous law who advises businesses and governments, said that the judge’s ruling “erased 99 percent of the words” on property titles held by the current owners in the black zone. “It makes us the only jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere where a supposedly guaranteed and indefeasible land title is defeasible.” He added, “If that isn’t radical, if that isn’t shocking, I don’t know what else is.” Nothing like this has ever happened in Canada. Because of the judge’s ruling, all those land acknowledgments that are only half-listened-to at school assemblies and hockey games actually have extremely complicated consequences, at least in British Columbia—and perhaps all across the country someday. “I never really gave land acknowledgments much thought, but now I do,” Batth told me. The seeds of the court’s ruling were sown decades ago. Canada gave indigenous property rights constitutional protection in 1982 under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, while other property rights have no such protection. In 2014, a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Tsilhqot’in Nation in British Columbia made it much easier for indigenous groups to claim ownership of land they have lived on or used. The next year, Trudeau’s son, Justin, swept into power as prime minister, promising a new relationship between the government and indigenous people in Canada, who make up about 5 percent of the country’s population. That promise included implementing all 94 “calls to action” issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including making it easier for indigenous groups to claim Aboriginal title and resolve disputes about land rights... In 2021, Trudeau’s government created Truth and Reconciliation Day, a national day of remembrance intended to honor survivors of the residential school system. That year, Trudeau kept the Canadian flag at half-mast for more than five months after the reported discovery of unmarked graves in the apple orchard at a former school. No human remains have actually been recovered. Many Canadians sleepwalked through every step, never imagining that they could lead to a court ruling that literally shifts the legal ground beneath them. Now, land acknowledgments and broader settler-colonist narratives are starting to encounter more skepticism, at least on the political right... When Great Britain declared sovereignty over British Columbia in 1846, it never signed treaties with the Cowichan in this region, and so the Cowichan never surrendered their land rights. (That is what “unceded” means in those land acknowledgments.) But that didn’t stop governments from handing parcels of land to settlers, municipalities, and federal agencies anyway, which built a new property system right on top of the old one. Almost all of British Columbia is like this. Ninety-five percent is unceded territory, and there are over 200 indigenous groups in the province... “By reaching back to what the Cowichan were doing on the land in 1846, the judge essentially used a 19th-century snapshot to rewrite 21st-century property rights,” said Isaac, the lawyer. The ruling triggered the most “profound political and legal reckoning” of his career, he added. Many of the people he speaks to are wondering if Canada’s approach to land rights and reconciliation is sustainable at all. David Rosenberg, senior litigation counsel for the Cowichan Nation, tried to assure me that the current owners have nothing to worry about—as long as they don’t try to build anything or get a renovation permit, or sell their land. If they do any of those things, Rosenberg said, then the government might have to consult with or even secure consent from the Cowichan Nation, because Aboriginal title now gives the Cowichan a constitutional say over what happens on that land. Dwight Newman, a law professor at the University of Saskatchewan who studies indigenous rights, said the idea that Aboriginal title and private property can “coexist,” as the judge put it in her ruling, doesn’t really make sense, because both are supposed to be “exclusive” forms of ownership. Each one claims the full right to control the land. “If you have two owners with exclusive rights, one of them will always have to give way. In practice, that means private homeowners will end up having to defer, at least in part, to Aboriginal title,” Newman told me. While the appeals drag on, “uncertainty around mortgage financing, land titles, and investment is likely to grow.”... “When you start playing around with private property, then the bigger piece is the entire economy itself,” said Isaac, who has represented indigenous groups and governments. The clash also presents a major obstacle to Canada’s economic strategy under Prime Minister Mark Carney to emphasize major energy and infrastructure projects. These huge projects will require stable partnerships between the government, private sector, and indigenous groups, yet Canadian courts are threatening to destabilize the definition of who owns the land... “How far do we go back? What date are we starting from?” asked Woitowitsch. “As far as I’m concerned, the whole world has been conquered. All the lines on the map were drawn and redrawn by people coming in and conquering.” He said angrily that he believes years of land acknowledgments, apologies, and symbolic gestures softened the ground for rulings like this... “It’s time for the aboriginals to get with the freaking program. It’s 2025. Why don’t they move into the future instead of going backward all the time?”... he is frustrated that the ruling gives one version of history far more legal weight than all the others. “We can’t just pick a date that suits our narrative and try to fix things because we like that era better,” Kevin Kutny said. Some indigenous groups don’t like the ruling, either. The Musqueam Nation said that it stomps on their land title and fishing rights because they lived in the area long before the Cowichan. The Tsawwassen First Nation claims that the ruling might undercut a treaty it signed with Canada and British Columbia in 2009."
Clearly, Tom Isaac and all the other experts quoted are ignorant because they don't know that the Cowichan saying they would respect private property means there's no threat to property rights

Tablesalt 🇨🇦🇺🇸 on X - "🚨NEW Canadian couple's building contractor finds indigenous grave and they get a bill for $300,000!! AND if there's more artifacts, they could be on the hook for over A MILLION DOLLARS! This is why no one invests in Canada!"
Canada has gone mad 🍎 on X - "The irony 🇨🇦... Homeowners slapped with a $319K bill (and counting) for a forced archaeological dig on their private property after unearthing Indigenous remains. Yet Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation (Kamloops band) got millions in funding but refuses to excavate. Make it make sense 😏"

Holly Doan on X - "Feds censor as "confidential" files on what Kamloops First Nation did with $12.1 million in funding to recover alleged Indian Residential School graves. @Tkemlups acknowledged Feb 18 it never exhumed remains. “The community received funding for field work.” — Carolane Gratton @GCIndigenous https://blacklocks.ca/alleged-graves -confidential/ @OIC_CI_Canada"
John Rustad on X - "Canadians were told there were 215 graves. The country lowered the national flag for months. Churches were burned. International headlines declared the discovery of mass graves at a former residential school. The federal government responded by allocating $12.1 million in taxpayer funding specifically to support investigation and exhumation work to verify those claims. Now we learn that no remains have been exhumed. At the same time, the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations has released the activity reports tied to that funding, but every meaningful detail has been redacted. The reports describing what work was carried out, what investigations were conducted, and how public money was spent have been blacked out and labelled confidential. That is unacceptable. When the federal government spends millions of your taxpayer dollars to investigate a claim that shook the entire country, Canadians have a right to transparency. They have a right to know what work was performed, what evidence was found, and how their money was used. This is not about denying history. It is not about attacking Indigenous communities. It is about basic public accountability. If the government funded an investigation, the public deserves to see the results of that investigation. Let me be clear : The records should be released in full. The spending should be explained clearly. Canadians deserve the truth about what was done with their money. And if that money was not spent for the purpose it was granted for, then the public deserves accountability, including repayment of those funds. #cdnpoli #bcpoli"

Ottawa ordered to release Kamloops residential school records after breaching access law - "Ottawa has been ordered to begin disclosing long-withheld records tied to the Kamloops residential school grave claims after the federal Crown-Indigenous Relations department was found to have violated access-to-information law by stonewalling requests for more than a year. Blacklock's Reporter says Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard ruled that the department led by Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty unlawfully delayed and improperly attempted to seal documents related to the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation’s 2021 announcement of 215 purported graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School... The Kamloops First Nation announced in May 2021 that ground-penetrating radar had detected what it said were 215 graves in an orchard near the former school. No skeletal remains have been excavated or recovered. Despite that, the First Nation received $12.1 million in federal funding earmarked for the “exhumation of remains” and forensic DNA testing. As a condition of that funding, the First Nation was required to submit regular Activity Progress Reports to the federal government. On December 15, Alty’s department attempted to block release of all such reports sought by Blacklock’s Reporter, arguing they were confidential. A second Blacklock’s request remains active, seeking all Activity Progress Reports connected to the Tk’emlups Indian Residential School Survivor Project or any related “missing children” program funded by the department. "
What could they possibly have to hide?

Kamloops residential school search for potential unmarked graves rules out some areas: First Nation : r/canada - "Said this when the story broke; and got downvoted to hell: the initial searches were done using ground penetrating radar (GPR) which is super inaccurate. I use GPR as part of my job. It’s very good for things like locating underground utilities under concrete slabs. But not good at detecting organic material. The FBI in the US did a study using pig carcasses and found that GPR was virtually useless in finding cadavers."

LSO approves mandatory Indigenous cultural training course for all licensees : r/LawCanada - "The BC course was boring, full of falsehoods, and useless to a practitioner. Apparently i'm a racist to ask a client about their culture. Nonsense. It even went into lefty shit like micro transactions. Now my bar fees have to pay to defend a lawsuit against the law society because the regulator sanctioned some idiots calling another idiot a racist because he wanted a couple false statements fixed."

Fairy Creek Protester turns on indigenous logging practices : r/ilovebc - ""Stewards of the land " cutting down and selling the worlds oldest, irreplaceable trees and carbon sinks for a few bucks. Sounds about right."
Fairy Creek Protester turns on indigenous logging practices : r/ilovebc - "And no one will ever investigate this practice for fraud because we have spent the last 5 years reminding the police how racist they are."
Fairy Creek Protester turns on indigenous logging practices : r/ilovebc - "I can confirm this. Look at arial google maps southwest of Apex Ski hill. The Penticton and Similkameen bands own the claims and the logging contractors clear cut massive blocks each year through the nordic center, around the lake leaving nothing behind except enormous piles of fir debris and churned clay that runs off into the Villages water source. The Indian bands are supposed to consult with forestry and community stakeholders, but have not shown up for the meetings for 3 years now."
Fairy Creek Protester turns on indigenous logging practices : r/ilovebc - "Another person chiming in to say that, yeah… I can confirm. The We Wai Kai First Nation are absolutely obliterating the beautiful Prince of Wales range. It’s by far some of the best hiking on the island (in my opinion - reminds me a bit of Howe Sound but the peaks are a bit gnarly so not sure about the ability to do a full traverse like the HSCT). They are taking almost every last bit of the old growth in there over the next several years. It’s high elevation stuff that just won’t grow back like it once did maybe ever given the shift in climate (less snowpack especially). If you don’t want to support this type of unsustainable logging, I’d avoid swinging by Quinsam Plaza off the island highway. I believe they own every business there."
The Stewards of the Land are at it again

Fairy Creek Protester turns on indigenous logging practices : r/ilovebc - "Stewards if the land amirite? Yes, essentially guilty white morons are just coming to the realization that these people's want money too. You wanna see an entire town booked up with high end cars filling hotel parking? Find out where the BC first nations baseball tournament is held. I was in PG for work and I could get a hotel room so I slept in my car. I worked in FSJ and called some buds i was working with "indians." I apologized and said "sorry first nations" I was told "fuck you we're indians. First nations is vancouver white people shit" I was gobsmacked, I the incredulous looks I get from my friends in van is even more gobsmacking"

Fairy Creek Protester turns on indigenous logging practices : r/ilovebc - "The fishery also works that way"
"And Hunting. Natives across canada sell services to get you a trophy big game animal at ANY TIME OF YEAR regardless of it what point the animal is in the season. Doesn't matter if fhe Animal is a mother with her young, money is money and they will get you your mount and meat."

Fairy Creek Protester turns on indigenous logging practices : r/ilovebc - "Old high school friend owns a solar installation company. He created a second company which is a partnership with a First Nation. On projects which can only be built by First Nations or they get a better deal or better shot at winning he bids with the second company. It’s the same company except that one shares five percent of the profits with the partnered First Nation"
"I have seen many deals that are 5-10% of gross revenue with the indigenous partner being silent. It's basically like paying the mob for your license to do business in their neighborhood."
Fairy Creek Protester turns on indigenous logging practices : r/ilovebc - "I am a heavy civil construction estimator for a company that does 90% provincial government projects. Our bids are evaluated and selected via a point system for a total of 120 points. 55 of those points are related to Indigenous engagment on the project. We know that our bids are always super close to our competitors in price, so basically native engagement points gets you the project award or not. The result has been the creation of super shady industry practices to win bids, such as setting up shell companies in the name of one indigenous owner for "consultation". Or straight up bribing indigenous companies to only go in on the bid with your company."

Addendum: Fairy Creek Protester turns on indigenous logging practices : r/ilovebc - "That’s reconciliation for ya lol"
"Is reconciliation possibly a misspelling of redistribution."
"Racket-ciliation"
"lol BC has turned into China in the most unforeseen way"
"To operate in China in any major capacity as a foreign entity you need to set up a new local company with 50% ownership in China. It parallels to the First Nations instance where companies that have a First Nations consultant or partial ownership gains much more leverage in securing contracts."

Addendum: Fairy Creek Protester turns on indigenous logging practices : r/ilovebc - "It turns out they aren't magical forest creatures that protect nature and are all matriarchal and communal? Mind Blown. Almost like people. Huh. Who woulda thunk?"
"Majority of Canadians are lead to believe they actually evolved here differently then us on a turtle."

Addendum: Fairy Creek Protester turns on indigenous logging practices : r/ilovebc - "What in the white supremacy gathering is this"
"This you?
Start with the original unwelcomed peoples… the whites first
Or is this you?
White trash is what canada is built on"

PM didn't meet 'coastal First Nations,' he met a group with that name - "Prime Minister Mark Carney flew to B.C. for a meeting with “Coastal First Nations,” crediting them as ancient guardians of the Pacific Coast. “Coastal First Nations have stewarded the waters of the B.C. North Coast from time immemorial,” he wrote in a statement. But Carney didn’t meet with a governing body representing the more than 100 First Nations on the B.C. coast. In fact, he didn’t meet with an Indigenous governing body of any kind. Carney met with an anti-pipeline non-profit that has done business under the name “Coastal First Nations” since 2002. Prior to that, it was called Turning Point, and operated out of the offices of the David Suzuki Foundation. In fact, the group’s last major event before meeting Carney was a gala to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Coastal First Nations isn’t even the name on its registration documents. If Carney had used their official moniker, his statement would have read, “The Great Bear Initiative Society has stewarded the waters of the B.C. North Coast from time immemorial.” Coastal First Nations describes itself as “an alliance of First Nations on the North Pacific Coast,” and counts representatives from eight of those nations on its board of directors. But the B.C. coast is home to one of the densest collections of First Nations governments in the entire country. Of the 600 officially recognized First Nations bands in Canada, more than a tenth of them are located on the edges of the Pacific Ocean. According to a map of First Nations communities compiled by the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, there are 72 First Nations whose reserve land is on the coast. But Coastal First Nations has ties to just eight of those communities, representing a total of 11,236 members as of the last count by the B.C. government. For context, in the last census, B.C. had 290,210 Indigenous people, of whom 180,085 identified as First Nations. In short, Coastal First Nations is endorsed by just 10 per cent of the First Nations bands who could accurately call themselves Coastal First Nations. And at best, they represent just 6.2 per cent of the province’s total First Nations population. In fact, if you took the two largest First Nations in B.C. — Squamish and Cowichan Tribes — you would get about as many members as the eight groups that represent themselves as “Coastal First Nations.” Neither Squamish or Cowichan Tribes have anything to do with Coastal First Nations, although they are First Nations on the coast with a combined official membership of 10,294 (Cowichan Tribes 5,528, Squamish 4,766). By contrast, the smallest community among the eight that endorse Coastal First Nations is the Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation. According to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, their total registered population is 489, half of whom live off-reserve. And Coastal First Nations was never intended to be a generalized agent for Indigenous interests. It was very explicitly founded as an environmentalist group. This is something that Coastal First Nations freely admits... Coastal First Nation’s hardline opposition to oil and gas has previously lost them endorsements from First Nations along the coast. In 2012, Coastal First Nations publicly broke with the Haisla First Nation, one of its founding members, over the issue of LNG... Coastal First Nations’ anti-pipeline bona fides also explains some of the group’s funding sources. One of its seed funders was the San Francisco-based Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, a serial funder of anti-tanker and anti-pipeline initiatives in Canada. If Carney had been looking for a group that was more representative of First Nations on the B.C. coast, he could have met with the B.C. Assembly of First Nations. They actually do purport to be a comprehensive regional representative for First Nations interests; their regional chief is elected by all 204 B.C. First Nations. And this is probably why their position on pipelines is a bit more nuanced than Coastal First Nations."

Fishing advocacy groups sound alarm: DFO "Removing the principle of common property would shift public access to fishing from a federal, conservation-based management approach to an optional privilege granted by First Nations." : r/ilovebc - "will they allow people to breathe their air?"

Adam Stirling 11am-3pm Weekdays on X - "Wow. Heredity Chief of Tsawout First Nation calls for removal of parking lots from Goldstream Provincial Park as well as more restrictions on walking trails after large tree falls due to compromised root systems. Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life visit the park yearly. For now… #bcpoli"
Harman Bhangu on X - "Let me get this straight. A storm knocks down a tree in Goldstream. Now the call is to remove parking lots, restrict trails, and limit access to a provincial park used by hundreds of thousands of families every year. This is how it starts! DRIPA gives the framework for this thinking, vague authority, endless restrictions, and no accountability. Decisions driven by ideology, not balance, where public land quietly becomes less public. British Columbians see it, and they’re fed up."

Britain Is Dying Under Keir Starmer (The UK's Managed Decline)

2026-04-20T13:08:00.025+08:00

Britain Is Dying Under Keir Starmer | National Review
The United Kingdom is on a trajectory toward slow-motion collapse.

British Prime Minister Kier Starmer’s initial reaction to the outbreak of the war against Iran was schizophrenic.

He seemed wholly unprepared for a scenario in which Donald Trump would actually use the forces he had spent the previous two months flooding into the region, confounding the former Royal Navy officers and opposition lawmakers who somehow understood that Trump’s ultimatums weren’t just talk.

At first, Starmer was appalled, and he blocked the Pentagon from using U.K. bases to launch sorties against Iranian targets. But the impracticality of that protest sapped his resolve, and his government swiftly changed course. After all, British interests were under attack by Iran as well.

So, under pressure, Starmer committed his nation to a show of force — one more visible than his deployment of defensive airpower to the Middle East. The Royal Navy’s HMS Dragon would lead the way, but it would do so alone. Britain’s five other Type 45 Destroyers were not fit for deployment. The Dragon set sail on March 10 and finally arrived at its destination, a Royal Air Force base in Cyprus that had been targeted by Iran, 17 days later. But within days, the Dragon succumbed to a “technical” issue and had to retreat to port for repairs.

This attempt at a demonstrative display of force — the sort of mission that used to be standard fare for the once mighty British Navy — had the opposite of its intended effect. The Dragon’s misadventure serves as a metaphor not just for the decline of British naval power but the deterioration of Britain’s role in the world.

Critics of the British social contract in the post–World War II era have long scolded London for relying on Washington to meet its essential needs, as profligate politicians sank ever more taxpayer-provided sums into unsustainable welfare programs. That criticism can be overstated, but it is inarguable that British readiness has cratered over the last 15 years. And in a strategically incomprehensible turn of events, it has cratered even as Westminster has allowed the “special relationship” with the U.S. on which it depends to atrophy.

“If the U.K. is simultaneously more distant from the U.S. and failing adequately to fund defense commitments in our own near neighborhood,” wrote the British historian and longtime foreign policy adviser to 10 Downing Street, John Bew, “then two of the principal pillars of our enduring national security strategy are in danger.” It’s an existential dilemma, but it’s one that the U.K. chose for itself. And Britain’s problems extend to the home front, too.

“The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday lowered its forecast for U.K. growth this year to 0.8% from 1.3%,” the Wall Street Journal reported this week, “the largest downward revision for an advanced economy.” True to form, the Starmer government responded to the news by blaming the United States and Israel for its predicament, with Exchequer Rachel Reeves mourning the impact of “a war that we did not want” on Britain’s bottom line. Of course, London’s financial hardships were much longer in the making.

The U.K.’s current fiscal crisis stems from both its reliance on foreign energy sources and its central bank’s decision to keep interest rates steady to avoid an inflationary shock. But Britain’s energy shortages are a result of both Westminster’s decades-long war on nuclear energy and London’s more recent hostility toward shale-gas extraction.

“As a result, gas production in the U.K. has declined 70 percent since 2000,” The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson wrote last year. Indeed, Thompson observed that the U.K.’s commitment to “self-imposed scarcity” extends to the British housing market, where anti-growth policies, environmental regulations, and lawsuits artificially limit inventory. “Europe has an energy problem; the Anglosphere has a housing problem,” Sam Bowman, the co-author of a 2024 report on “why Britain has stagnated,” told Thompson. “Britain has both.”

There’s little hope for a British recovery under Starmer, if only because his government refuses to acknowledge his nation’s many woes. The birthrate in parts of the U.K. has fallen to record lows, well below the replacement rate. One in five Britons sees immigration as the country’s biggest national problem, and not because there isn’t enough of it. That’s the highest rate of discontent over immigration of any of the 107 countries Gallup surveyed in 2025. Crime has become a source of increasing concern for British adults, with “a majority saying they have little to no faith in the system’s ability to reform offenders, investigate minor crimes, hand down appropriate sentences, or even keep prisoners locked up,” YouGov’s pollsters related last month.

More than one-quarter of working-age citizens are economically “inactive,” neither working nor seeking work. Twenty percent of Britons between the ages of 16 and 64 claim social welfare benefits — a fact that produces much consternation in Westminster but little else beyond complaints. “By the end of 2007, Britain had a higher GDP per capita than the United States, though this was partly a product of a strong sterling,” the American Conservative’s Azeem Ibrahim wrote last month. “Today, GDP per capita at purchasing power parity is back down to 71 percent of the U.S. level.” If somehow absorbed into the United States, British citizens tell pollsters they believe the U.K. would rank among the top ten wealthiest states in the Union. In fact, it would be the poorest.

Charles Krauthammer famously said that “decline is a choice,” and the British have chosen it. These trends didn’t begin with the Starmer government, but they have accelerated under its hapless leadership. To placate the restive British public, Labourites channel their discomfort into hostility toward America. But the United States military underwrites the U.K.’s profligacy, and the value Britain once brought to that arrangement is steadily eroding.

The United Kingdom is on a trajectory toward slow-motion collapse. Unless its voters make different choices and prioritize prosperity over mere comfort, Britain’s greatness is destined to be discussed in the past tense.

Links - 20th April 2026 (1 - General Wokeness)

2026-04-20T09:04:00.000+08:00

Black Health and Social Services Hub to open in Brampton - "A new 16,000 square-foot health and social services facility for Black, African and Caribbean communities in Peel Region is expected to soon open its doors to the public. The Black Health and Social Services (BHSS) Hub, located at 19 Rutherford Rd. S. in Brampton, held an open house recently... The Hub, inspired by the Safe Centre of Peel — which provides holistic support to adults, youth and children affected by abuse and violence — is designed to provide integrated and holistic care under one roof for Black, African and Caribbean communities including primary care, mental health support, and addiction services... The project is supported by $25 million in provincial funding from the Ministry of Health, allocated over three years. Officials confirmed that all services at the hub will be free and do not require health-care coverage, such as an OHIP card or the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP)... While the Brampton building awaits its final permits, the BHSS Hub continues to operate through satellite locations. This allows services to remain active at existing partner sites, including the LAMP Community Health Centre in east Mississauga and CMHA offices. A mobile health unit also travels throughout the region to provide care in underserved areas."
Left wingers love racial segregation. Of course, if you criticise racial segregation, you're racist

Sabrina Carpenter sorry for Coachella reaction to Arabic chant - "Sabrina Carpenter is apologizing over a controversial crowd interaction during her Coachella set. The "Please Please Please" singer, 26, said on X she is sorry for her reaction to hearing a zaghrouta, an Arabic call of celebration, in the crowd while performing on April 10 at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. "My apologies i didn't see this person with my eyes and couldn't hear clearly. my reaction was pure confusion, sarcasm and not ill intended. could have handled it better! now i know what a Zaghrouta is!" Carpenter wrote on April 11, adding, "I welcome all cheers and yodels from here on out." Video footage circulated on social media showing the Grammy-winning pop star expressing confusion and displeasure after hearing a zaghrouta, which she mistook for a yodel, in the audience while on stage at Coachella. "Is that what you're doing? I don't like it," she said. A fan could be heard yelling back, "It's my culture," to which the singer quipped, "That's your culture, is yodeling?" The person in the crowd could then be heard shouting, "It's a call of celebration," leading Carpenter to joke, "Is this Burning Man? What's going on? This is weird."... Some fans on social media expressed outrage over Carpenter's reaction, including one user who called her comments "so insensitive and islamophobic" and added, "I am very disappointed in her.""

Sabrina Carpenter grovels, apologizes for reaction to Arabic zaghrouta chant at Coachella : r/NewsWorthPayingFor - "If white people would see Arabs the way Arabs want to be seen, i.e. as other white people, then complaining about an interrupting Arab's zaghrouta would carry the same baggage as complaining about an interrupting Swiss's yodel. An apology is owed here, and it's not to the shrieking ululator."
Sabrina Carpenter grovels, apologizes for reaction to Arabic zaghrouta chant at Coachella : r/NewsWorthPayingFor - "Who gives a shit what they think. You went to watch a show not fucking be in one."

AltAzn on X - "The Sabrina Carpenter incident reminded me of this Atlantic article originally titled “Why do White People Love Quiet?”. The author was shocked that when she went to an Ivy League school her classmates expected her not to blast music at 2 in the morning. Instead of internalizing this is how normal people act she made it racial."
Daniel Friedman on X - "One of the most infuriating trends of the woke era people are already forgetting is how professional media would write articles claiming a noncriminal (and sometimes also criminal) but obnoxious, antisocial and disruptive behavior that is correlated with a minority group is good, actually, and the reason you have a problem with it is that you are a racist, or at least ensconced in unexamined privilege. These behaviors included: Playing loud music in public places through boomboxes or bluetooth speakers, "Showtime" dancers who perform unsolicited and dangerous dance routines in crowded subway cars and then aggressively demand money from all the passengers as compensation for the dancing nobody wanted, unlicensed street vendors selling unsanitary food and "teen takeovers" or "flash mobs." Also, Gawker once wrote a piece defending mugging. I hope we have finally reached a point where we can all agree that laws and norms are good and that all these things are bad and annoying."

Daniel Friedman on X - "A blast from the woke past: In 2014, Gawker put "white lady" Clara Vondrich on blast for doing "All the things not to do when you capture your own child mugger." Vondrich was standing outside a restaurant in Williamsburg when a teenager grabbed her phone out of her hand and took off. She chased after him and tackled him, but not before he handed the phone off to another kid who got away. So, she took a few photos with the thief she caught and then handed the thief off to the cops, who charged him with grand larceny. Then she told the New York Post she was able to catch the thief despite the fact that she had to chase him down in wedge heels because he was so fat and slow. Gawker did not like any of this. They objected to her chasing him, objected to the photos, objected to her involving the police, objected to her talking to the Post and calling the kid fat, and concluded: "If you are nonviolently mugged by a child, continue to let him run along with his friends. The world will be a better place.""
Kane 謝凱堯 on X - "The @sfbike, which claims to be pro-biking, urges you to not call the police on people who steal your bike bc they might face consequences for crime."

Lindy West Rebrands Polyamorous Marital Turmoil as Progressivism - WSJ - "Lindy West is the voice of a certain kind of millennial feminism. She made her name at Jezebel, an online feminist magazine, and went on to write columns for the Guardian and the New York Times. She writes mostly about herself, particularly her experiences of being “fat,” a word she reclaims in defiance of societal “fatphobia.”... Now in her 40s, Ms. West has done everything that the progressive political project told her to. She still refuses to lose weight, rejecting her doctor’s offer of GLP-1 medication, despite the suffering caused by her obesity. She stamps on any sign of conservative thinking, in herself and others. She’s made activism her identity and refuses to engage with people outside her political subculture. She even avoids spending time with her extended family because they have “unknown politics.” It isn’t that they actually disagree with her, it’s that they might. Ms. West’s previous memoir included a Pacific Northwest version of a fairytale ending, with our heroine marrying Ahamefule J. Oluo, a musician and artist who nowadays identifies as nonbinary. “My wedding was perfect,” ran the headline to Ms. West’s Guardian column in 2015, “and I was fat as hell the whole time.” In “Adult Braces,” we learn that the reality of this relationship wasn’t perfect. Ms. West and Mr. Oluo were at odds from the outset, particularly on his insistence that he be permitted to sleep around—or to use the vocabulary of their subculture, be “a polyamorous person.” Their marriage has been accompanied by a lot of crying, panic attacks and endless therapy. Ms. West is desperate to defend her husband, as well as the girlfriend they now share, the creative producer Roya Amirsoleymani. After Ms. West acceded to Mr. Oluo’s demand for nonmonogamy, the “throuple” now live together in a rural cabin belonging to Ms. West’s family. She writes of retreating to the guest bedroom during frequent bouts of depression and being subjected to the sound of her husband and Ms. Amirsoleymani having sex in an adjacent room. Ms. West reports that she wrote this memoir to provide financial support to her “family,” three able-bodied adults in their 40s who seem to spend most of the working week emotionally terrorizing each other. The book so far seems to be enjoying commercial success, but the public response has been overwhelmingly negative. Most reviewers have concluded that Mr. Oluo is a bad dude, a conclusion reinforced by his recent email to Scaachi Koul, a journalist who wrote a sympathetic profile of his wife in Slate. Angered by a perceived slight against his own status as an artist, Mr. Oluo unleashed a foul-mouthed diatribe, accusing Ms. Koul of being “bitter” and “untalented.” It seems that Ms. West’s literary representation of her husband left out a lot of his nastiness. How does a funny, intelligent, affable woman end up in such a mess? “Adult Braces” provides us with some clues. We read of a life in which Ms. West constantly tacks toward the most progressive possible choice, regardless of whether it is the right choice for her. Ms. West’s book brings the nature of progressivism into sharp focus. The ideology emerged in the 1960s as an explicit rejection of the ideas of the political mainstream. Progressivism is not for anything. Rather, it is against a whole lot of things—Judeo-Christianity, monogamous marriage, the nuclear family, capitalism, gender norms, racial stereotypes and more. Whatever the white American patriarch of the 1950s supported, progressivism opposes. It’s an exercise in patricide. In the 1960s, counterculturists popularized the idea of “The Man,” a patriarchal authority figure against whom one should rebel. When you start from the assumption that “The Man” is always wrong, your political project produces all sorts of strange ideas, as in the case of Ms. West. If “The Man” says that slimness is healthy and beautiful, then it’s good to be fat. If he says that traditional gender roles are best, then it’s good to be nonbinary or transgender. If he says that you should have a job and a nice suburban home, then it’s good to live in a cabin in the woods and be poor. And if “The Man” says that monogamy is the only proper relationship model, it’s good to be polyamorous. When Ms. West’s husband—who is half Nigerian—tells her that monogamy is “at its root, a system of ownership,” Ms. West is so consumed by white guilt that she forces herself to accept that Mr. Oluo’s desire to have sex with other women is some kind of expression of racial justice. Since “The Man” is always wrong, poor Lindy West must embrace whatever “The Man” rejects. It’s possible to be a centrist on these questions. You can concede that 1950s America got some things wrong and also recognize that structuring your life around the rejection of some imagined political “other” is a terrible idea. Lindy West has given everything she has to her ideology. Anyone who has read her book can tell that the problem is not “The Man,” but one man in particular."
Left wing ideology is basically childish contrarianism

NATIONAL HATE SERVICE? - "One frontline medical worker from his northeast London constituency who asked not to be named said some paramedics working in Jewish areas were openly antisemitic: “There’s one guy who works out of a station who says he hates Jews. “He was reported by a colleague who felt so uncomfortable working with him that she moved to a different station. He was given a promotion... an Equality, Diversity Inclusion (EDI) manager had told her that Jews were white and not an ethnicity. In two long training sessions she had sat through on EDI and how to take special care of minority patients, she said Jews had not been mentioned once. The frontline worker said she had been investigated for her “Zionist beliefs”, including for Instagram posts celebrating Jewish festivals. A black friend who spoke up for her was smeared as a “coconut”, while a supportive Muslim woman was branded a “disgrace to her religion”. Recalling the mental health toll she suffered, she said she had received calls at 3am from other Jewish NHS staff who were struggling to stay in jobs they loved because of the hate from colleagues. “There are very few people in our Jewish network who haven’t experienced antisemitism. I go into work every morning thinking, ‘What is going to be next?’” Another constituent of Streeting, an NHS hospital doctor who also asked not to be named, said: “I am too frightened for any of my colleagues to know that I am Jewish.” She recalled early in her career a senior doctor had asked her about Judaism and said Jews ruled the world. She later tried to hide her identity and had to endure antisemitic comments in the workplace in silence. She said: “I feel like an alien. There is this consistent antisemitism.” The doctor said she had contemplated emigrating because of the hostility she had endured. Streeting revealed Jewish patients had told him they were afraid to ask for kosher food in hospital out of concern over how they might be treated once identity was known. Addressing the failure of the authorities to deal with antisemitic NHS staff, he said: “I believe medical regulators have been failing in their duty towards staff and patients.”"

In the Northwest, Polyamory Finds Something New: Legal Protection - The New York Times - "A wave of recent local ordinances in large liberal bastions like Portland, Ore., but also smaller communities like Astoria, Ore., which has a population of 10,181, would confer the beginning of legal protections to polyamorous relationships. The goal, pushed by a group based in California, is to establish legally protected family structures for groups of adults who are romantically or otherwise tied together under one roof. “Right now, we’re just talking about a basic level of protection, having certain mechanisms in place so that if I’m discriminated against in employment or housing because of the way I choose to structure my home life, I have redress,” said Jessa Davis, a transgender activist and organizer in Seattle who lives in a nonromantic family structure with three other transgender women and two toddlers. “It’s about the law catching up to where we are culturally.” National Democrats might be trying to move the political conversation away from divisive social policies that helped cost them the White House in 2024, but proponents of the polyamory changes say Mr. Trump and his supporters have forced them to act. Adding protections for “nontraditional” households is a response to efforts to roll back rights for groups that already enjoy legal protections... Advocates of expanded nondiscrimination laws say they’re also hoping to recognize the increasing number of Pacific Northwesterners who are choosing less traditional family structures. Those numbers are difficult to track, but supporters of expanded nondiscrimination policies point to a 2016 study from the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy in which researchers estimated that one in five unmarried Americans had been in a consensually nonmonogamous relationship at some point. Conservative activists say officials in the Northwest are using the language of nondiscrimination to foster broader cultural changes that have already run afoul of U.S. law, such as polygamy... “This is not a controversial policy stance here,” Mr. Vanderpool said of the nondiscrimination language. “What I’m hearing isn’t pushback but more like ‘Yes, and?’ As in, ‘Yes, and what are you going to do about all the other problems with discrimination and inequity we need to solve?”... At a hearing last week, they heard from more than 40 people supporting the addition of broader nondiscrimination laws that would include nontraditional family structures, including several speakers in polyamorous relationships who said clearer legal protections would help them feel more open when going about the day to day business of looking for jobs, renting homes, signing their children up for school or just engaging in small talk... The initial draft of Portland’s policy did not include specific language explaining what city leaders meant by “family or relationship structure." At a meeting Wednesday, more progressive councilors successfully pushed to add a detailed list that included “consensually nonmonogamous relationships.”... Proponents of more protection for polyamorous families already succeeded in passing versions in the liberal strongholds of Cambridge and Somerville, Mass., and Oakland and Berkeley, Calif., before turning toward the Northwest. They’re hoping Seattle city leaders will add polyamory and other nontraditional family structures to city policy this year... “We can have a conversation about the bigger legislative agenda,” Ms. Davis said, “once people can come out of the closet.”"
Weird. We were told this would never happen after gay marriage got rammed through. The "myth" of the slippery slope strikes again!

‘Decolonizing Medicine’ class at UMD prompts concerns about politicizing health care - "Physicians are raising concerns over new course offerings at the University of Maryland that incorporate identity politics into various public health and medical programs at the public institution. “Decolonizing Medicine: Steps to Actionable Change” is a one-credit undergraduate public health course, first taught in the spring of 2025 and offered again this semester. Designed for students studying medicine, public health, or health policy, it covers how “colonial legacies” impact “global health systems” and the “concept of ‘the White body'” as the standard in medical training, according to the university registrar’s catalog. The “student-facilitated discussion-based” course also is open for registration for the current spring semester as a two-credit elective. However, outside medical educators and field experts raised concerns about the impact of these identity politics-based courses. The College Fix spoke recently with Dr. Jane Orient, executive director at the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. “The title of the course as well as the description reflects the ideological view of oppressors (white colonialists) versus the oppressed (people of color), a fundamental anti-white racist view,” Orient said. “The statement that modern medicine has been shaped by ‘colonialism’ makes no sense to me … Modern medicine was shaped by scientific advances.” Orient also expressed her concerns over the politicization of medical education and deviating from high standards of empirical data and hard science. “The purpose of medicine, according to the late Donald Seldin, is to relieve pain, reduce disability, and postpone death. It is not about social reform,” Orient said to The Fix. “Framing medicine through Marxist concepts of oppression is destructive of the art and science of medicine,” Orient added. “Doctors are not called to judge their patients’ worth or to engage in cultural revolution.” Dr. Kurt Miceli, medical director at Do No Harm, a nonprofit that works against the politicization of medicine, raised similar concerns. “Framing medicine primarily through an identity‑based lens can lead future doctors to see patients through ideological categories rather than as individuals with specific clinical needs,” Miceli told The Fix in a recent interview. He added that ideological framing is counterproductive in medical and public health education, because it removes the focus from the “rigorous biological knowledge” and “scientific depth and clinical practice time students need to become safe, competent clinicians.” These ideologies do not “advance students’ ability to understand disease or deliver good quality care” but rather bring “division into the clinical setting,” he said. According to the course syllabus, assignments include weekly discussion posts, papers, projects, and an ethnographic research study that aligns with “decolonizing” modern medicine. Some of the lecture topics of the course include: medicine as “a tool of empire” and “colonial surveillance,” the “colonial erasure of indigenous healing practices,” and “racialized” and LGBTQ+ healthcare in “post-colonial contexts.” While not a core program requirement, the course is offered along with other public health and medicine electives, such as “HLTH424 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Health.”... Dr. Orient with the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons told The Fix that the ideological division of identity politics in public health education undermines the essential equality of patient-centered medical care. “The Hippocratic ethic holds that doctors should do their best for each patient and not harm any of them,” Orient said. “Identity politics implies that some are to get less than your best to achieve some sort of social goal or to right hypothetical past harms.” Dr. Miceli with Do Not Harm told The Fix that the ideological education risks reducing clinical rigor, adding that “a focus on social critique to the point of political indoctrination bears a significant cost, particularly when it becomes a vehicle for a political agenda.” “It must never be allowed to overshadow or replace the scientific foundation clinicians rely on to deliver effective patient care in an objective, compassionate manner,” Miceli said. “Medical education should center on rigorous, evidence‑based training that prepares future clinicians to practice medicine rooted in science, not ideology.”"

‘All-time high’ number of Americans believe Democrats are ‘too liberal’, poll says - "Around 58 percent of voters thought the party had become too liberal in 2025, spiking from 48 percent in 2013. That number was even lower during former President Bill Clinton’s time in office, hovering at 42 per cent in 1996. “The Democrats are moving to the left, the far left is gaining power, and there could be some electoral repercussions because what we see right now is voters — the clear majority — say that they are too liberal,” Harry Enten, CNN’s senior data analyst, said. According to his findings, a third of the party now say that they see themselves as being in line with Mamdani and Sanders’s left-leaning views, with around three in five Democrats describing themselves as somewhat liberal or very liberal. According to Enten, the findings indicate a complete reversal of the Democratic Party’s base in 1999 and a painful splitting in the party’s demographic structure. “Back in 1999, 26% of Democrats self-identified as conservative,” he said. “Just 5% said that they were very liberal. It was a smidgen.”... the Democratic Party’s leftward shift could continue into the future, with younger members of the party holding increasingly left-wing views... “When we’re talking about 42% of Democrats under the age of 35 identifying as democratic socialists and a third of all Democrats… my goodness gracious.”"

Meme - leilani dowding 🌸🚜 ☮️ @LeilaniDowding: "He stole £250,000 from vulnerable elderly nursing home residents and this is how the BBC present it to you. https://x.com/BBCSussex/stat"
BBC Sussex: "Ben Howard who works at Brighton and Hove LGBT Switchboard says as a gay man he struggled to get support for his gambling addiction. Tap below to read more: 'Being gay made it harder to get gambling support!'"

Meme - Kosher @Koshercockney: "Holy shit! So fucking embarrassing for @susanabulhawa. Seems she filled out a form on her website and didn't even bother to press send before screenshotting it and pretending it was hate mail. So yeah seems she's been red-handed being a Hate Mail hoaxer"
susan abulhawa @s... : "l often get vile hate mail from zios, but there's a definite uptick of late, in both volume and threat level. Below is an example, but this person listed what appears to be a legitimate email address. I don't know if it's a real name either. But I'm putting it out there because people who send these kinds of threats should be pulled into the light, especially given the recent threats to @NerdeenKiswani's life."
First Name: Marina
Mischiara
Last
Your Email marinaEsq18@Outlook.com
Subject Susan Abdulhuwa
Your Message
Listen Kunt. Jew haters d y e . We are coming for you to put you back 60 Feet Under Gaza you muslim monkey murderer. Susan i hope you are Eliminated by every means available. The Jews Reach Far Far exceeds your attempt to stop us. We will find you and we do not fail. Death to arab Murderers. Murdereing innocents 3000 YEARS. GET OFF THE LEVANT MY HOMELAND BITCH ...... TAKE YOUR MUZZIE ASS OUT OF USA AND ISRAEL OR WE WILL HELP YOU. YOU MAKE THREATS YOU THREATEN JEWS. WE HAVE GUNS NOW SUSAN THIS IS NOT GERMANY. YOU BETTER WATCH OUT
536 of 1200 max characters
Entry Key krq7h"

Tech worker tried to sue her boss after claiming he didn't offer her champagne because she was Irish - "A glamorous £95,000-a-year tech worker who sued her boss for racism after he did not offer her champagne at an office party has been told by a judge she could have just helped herself. Laoise Foley, a pre-sales consultant at London digital firm Smart Impact Limited, told a tribunal that managing director Ahmed Eltohamy had deliberately skipped her when pouring drinks at a Christmas client event in November 2022 - because she was Irish. But Employment Judge Hodgson, ruling at Central London Employment Tribunal in December, disagreed... It was not the only extraordinary claim Ms Foley made about her 18 months at the firm. She told the tribunal that Mr Eltohamy had once 'jumped back as if pushed' and shouted 'bye' when she passed him in a corridor - implying, she said, that she was 'an aggressive Irishwoman who tried to push people out of the way'. The judge was equally dismissive, finding she had given 'inconsistent and confusing' evidence about when the incident had even taken place, and concluding that Mr Eltohamy had simply moved aside politely to let her pass. Ms Foley also claimed a colleague had harassed her by sending a WhatsApp message asking about a work document while she was on annual leave - a message the judge found fell 'well short' of harassment - and that being sent a viral video of a six-year-old Irish girl asking her mother to take her to the pub amounted to racial harassment. She had responded to that video at the time with a crying-laughing emoji and the words 'Pretty much!' and Judge Hodgson was unconvinced she had been offended... The tribunal heard that Ms Foley had become increasingly withdrawn during her time at the firm, refusing to carry out basic duties, and was handed her six-week notice in March 2024."

Links - 19th April 2026 (2 - Trans Mania [including supposedly showing that Transwomen have no advantage in sports])

2026-04-19T17:25:00.000+08:00

Body composition and physical fitness in transgender versus cisgender individuals: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Colin Wright on X - "There's a trick activist researchers do when comparing physical differences between women and "trans women" (i.e., men who identify as women) for the sake of sports where they try to hide important physical sex differences by using relative measurements. For instance, this new BMJ meta analysis acknowledges that transgender women have "higher absolute lean mass compared with c!sgender women," but concludes this isn't really an advantage because they found no significant differences in "relative" lean mass. In other words, when they control for the fact that the "transgender women" were all much taller and heavier than the female athletes, the sex difference disappears! But, uhh, being a lot taller and heavier is itself a major advantage in many sports! There are many other things wrong with this study, but I just wanted to highlight this common sleight of hand."
Plus, the GRADE was very low for almost every finding for ciswomen vs transwomen, and low for relative lean mass

'There's no reason to ban us from playing': Analysis debunks notion that transgender women have inherent physical advantages in sports e
Body composition and physical fitness in transgender versus cisgender individuals: a systematic review with meta-analysis | British Journal of Sports Medicine - "This systematic review aligns with previous ones in highlighting critical research limitations. This includes the typically short study durations (<3 years) and a lack of data on elite athletes. Additionally, the potential conflation of trained and untrained individuals complicates extrapolation. The available evidence remains limited for specific outcomes (eg, lower-body strength and VO₂ max), particularly regarding RCTs examining the effects of GAHT on physical fitness and body composition (n=3), as well as studies assessing the impact of puberty suppression (n=6). Another weakness in the literature is the inconsistent reporting and adjustment for confounders, as few studies controlled for training history, diet, baseline fitness, physical activity and body composition or previous hormone therapy, potentially hindering the isolated effects of GAHT, since high-dose oestrogen may alter both fat and muscle mass estimates. Finally, there is very little literature involving transgender athletes of any age, across all sport settings and at any competitive level."
Ironically, the actual paper is very clear about its limitations (even if it's dishonest in its own way), but TRAs keep lying about it, as usual, and claiming this proves that it's transphobic and unscientific to not allow men in women's sports competitions

Effect of gender affirming hormones on athletic performance in transwomen and transmen: implications for sporting organisations and legislators | British Journal of Sports Medicine - "The 15–31% athletic advantage that transwomen displayed over their female counterparts prior to starting gender affirming hormones declined with feminising therapy. However, transwomen still had a 9% faster mean run speed after the 1 year period of testosterone suppression that is recommended by World Athletics for inclusion in women’s events."
Weird. The "experts" tell us that transwomen have no advantage

Thread by @FondOfBeetles on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "What an insane bunch of cherry-picked metrics, cobbled together to try and argue that trans-identifying males should be in female sport.
There are little-to-no controls for physical fitness in the individual studies. Yet they conclude: “transgender women do not exhibit significant differences in upper-body strength, lower-body strength or maximal oxygen consumption relative to cisgender women after 1–3 years of GAHT.” You haven’t controlled for fitness!!! Their "performance" data. Can you see one study that really sticks out as an outlier?
Alvares 2025, a study of 7 self-selected, trans-identifying males, who were 5cm shorter than the female comparators. Which is weird. The authors note this. Also, they played lower level volleyball for about 30% of the hours put in by the female cohort. The authors consider that training volume and competitive level is, indeed, a confounder. It's interesting when assessing lower body strength, this recent paper uses only jump heights and seems to ignore explosive power measurements. That is, while acknowledging low-to-no control for fitness, they use a "fitness"" output instead of raw data like muscular power. Why might unfit people not jump very well? Hmmm. A spectacular pair of sentences.
Manipulating stats by adjusting for a sex difference is dishonest. The bit about "not accompanied by increased functionality" is just riffing. They haven't provided evidence that functionality is impaired because they haven't compared like-for-like in terms of fitness. I dispute "absence". Especially when you've ignored metrics like power (peak and relative).
They apparently ignore the second paper (Chiccarelli 2023) on an expanded USAF cohort, that showed advantages in push ups and sit-ups remain after two years. Perhaps this tells us something about the cohort/type of data? Hmmm.
My friends, there is power data out there. Including in some of the papers you use."
Biologists must be ignored when they threaten the left wing agenda

expert reaction to study looking at physical fitness of transgender and cisgender women - "Prof Alun Williams FCASES FTPS, Professor of Sport and Exercise Genomics, Manchester Metropolitan University Institute of Sport, said: “The authors have been thorough in gathering relevant literature, but the paper suffers from several problems. “Only longitudinal studies are truly informative, because otherwise we can’t know the contribution of hormonal treatment to fitness nor how much difference in fitness between transgender women and cisgender women existed before treatment began – it might be that transgender women in research studies have self-selected as a group who were not as strong or as aerobically fit as cisgender men before they began treatment. The longitudinal data (pages 8-9 in the paper) don’t show convincing evidence of changes in physical fitness that remove the advantage known to exist between men and women in the absence of hormonal treatment. Indeed, other authors (including me) reviewed essentially the same literature and concluded that performance decreases due to hormonal treatment in transgender women were notably smaller than typical differences between men and women, meaning retention of performance advantage (https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14581). “Also, as the authors acknowledge, much of the data they reviewed was low quality due to poor study design or measurement techniques, and little control of confounding factors like how much exercise people did. “How active people in a study were is a critical factor because we know for certain that training affects physical fitness, so it’s almost worthless to compare groups without tight assessment of training history. “Strength measurements depend on voluntary effort, and although lab techniques exist that can assess effort, none of the studies reviewed did that. Therefore, reports of higher muscle mass (unrelated to effort) not leading to higher muscle strength should be treated sceptically. “Furthermore, hormonal treatment after puberty doesn’t change skeletal dimensions like height, limb length, or shoulder width, so those advantages to men in many sports remain in transgender women regardless of hormone changes. “Consequently, I don’t agree with the authors that the studies published to date, or their review of them, overturn the evidence for inherent athletic advantage in transgender women. “I agree with the authors that longitudinal studies with good measurements relevant to sport would help provide more solid evidence on which to base sport policy.”"
Naturally, this didn't stop left wingers gushing over the "study"

Meme - Meghan Murphy @MeghanEMurphy: "Based on this definition, I would qualify as "transgender." I don't have a "core understanding" of my "gender" as "feminine." This is why this whole thing is so stupid. "Transgender" is not a coherent, clear category of anything. It's just a way people choose to identify themselves based on a feeling or preference. You can't create a legal category of people based on a vague feeling that differs from person to person. https://nytimes.com/2025/12/04/opi"
"Douthat: OK. That's useful. We've talked a couple times about the idea of a changing political climate, but I want to just pause for a minute and talk about definitions. For listeners who may not have deep experience with some of these debates, just a basic question: From your perspective, what does it mean to be transgender?
Strangio: A transgender person is someone with a gender identity - so, their core understanding of their gender - that differs from the sex that they were designated at birth."

Meme - Leor Sapir @LeorSapir: "This paragraph from @wapo is a good example of @SwipeWright 's drawing. The beliefs WaPo characterizes as "deeply conservative" are in fact held by a large majority of Americans, including, in some cases, a majority of Dem/Dem-leaning voters. See post below for an example."
"Apart from her support of adults who want to transition, Blaire's views on trans rights are deeply conservative: She believes there are only two genders. She is against trans women 'competing in women's sports (she thinks they should have their own, separate league). She believes governments should ban medical transition care for trans children, regardless of parental consent. She rejects the label "transgender" and identifies instead as "transsexual," a term that some in the 'community consider outdated because it tethers transition to biological sex. And although her Texas driver's license identifies her as female, she argues that trans women like herself are not "women.""
"Year 2008: "My fellow liberal - left. me (happy) - center left. conservative - right.
Year 2012: my fellow liberal? *runs left* me (puzzled and stationary) - center. conservative (stationary) - still right.
Year 2021: woke "progressive" - far left: "Bigot!". me (shocked) - center right. conservative - still right: "LOL!""

Mia Hughes on X - "The 1% regret rate in gender medicine is the biggest red flag of all. The strongest possible indicator that research in the field is garbage. Activists expect us to believe that a man having his penis inverted, which creates an open wound that must be dilated for the rest of his life, has a 1% regret rate. That women who have appendages made out of their forearms sewn onto their groins — a surgery with astronomically high complication rates — has a 1% regret rate. That adolescent girls having medically unnecessary bilateral mastectomies at an age when the desire to be a mother and breastfeed is incomprehensible has a 1% regret rate. Absolutely impossible. Precisely zero chance this could ever be true. The explanation is multi-fold. First, no one loses all their friends and gets death threats for saying that they regret knee surgery. Second, "gender affirming" clinicians do precisely zero follow-up. Just chop off healthy body parts and disfigure genitals and then send the person off on their way. No concern for what comes of them. Then, there's the psychological factor. The power of irrevocability. When a decision cannot be undone, we are powerfully motivated to keep telling ourselves it was the right one. The self-deception is strong. The Dutch noted this in their follow-up study of the first wave of men to partake in this experiment. In a 1988 paper, they observed that the men reported being happy even though no actual change in their life situation was observed. This led the researchers to consider the possibility that in an effort to reduce cognitive dissonance, the participants “simply cannot accept the notion that all has been in vain. The self-reported happiness may have been distorted wishful thinking.” But this wasn't enough to end the experiment. In fact, the failures noted in this study are what caused the Dutch to turn their attention to children in the hopes of producing more pleasing cosmetic results."

Colin Wright on X - "What’s crazy is that while this is the first time Khelif has publicly admitted to having XY (male) chromosomes, this fact has been known for over a year through interviews with his trainer and leaked medical records. Yet no major left-wing news outlet would report on it. I laid out all of these facts on my Substack and some in The Wall Street Journal. Despite the undeniable evidence, some former friends of mine on Facebook refused to believe it simply because outlets they trust, like The New York Times and The Washington Post, hadn’t run their own stories “confirming” what I had already documented. That says a lot about their reliance on institutional authority over their own ability to evaluate evidence. And major left-wing outlets understand this dynamic well. If they just don’t report on a story, their readers will assume it must be disinformation. Even now, the NYT and WaPo remain silent. They still haven’t reported these facts that now came directly from Khelif himself. As a result, huge swaths of the left will never learn the truth because they’ve been trained to distrust any information that hasn’t been pre-approved by their preferred media gatekeepers."

Adam Lehrer SOS on X - "Lmao, I remember a year ago where people were very vehemently arguing that this was just some bizarre looking he-woman, including (crypto libtard) editors of respected right-wing journals Anyone who knows a single thing about fighting knows he was surely not throwing right hooks like a woman. I remember he cracked that Italian boxer so hard that her face sunk into the hell dimension. Following the very bad optics of that fight, Imane cruised through competition by throwing light jabs and boxing defensively, clearly concerned that if he threw another hook and killed an opponent, he might lose his very very retarded defenders in the media. One of the weirdest propaganda case studies of all time, where liberals all of a sudden became deeply invested in an Algerian boxer and became experts in combat sports and human biology overnight."

Paedo drag queen in full costume died after having sex with stranger as his dog 'joined in' - "A paedophile drag queen died after having sex with a stranger and his dog, an inquest heard. Darren Meah-Moore, 39, was found dead covered in cardboard boxes in a secluded car park after leaving a nightclub in full drag costume on January 22, 2023. Convicted sex offender Meah-Moore – who performed as Crystal Couture and made jewellery featured on RuPaul's Drag Race – was last seen in full face make-up and blonde wig after leaving Pulse nightclub in Cardiff. The inquest heard married Meah-Moore had sexual encounters with other men on the same night before meeting a man walking his dog in the early hours of the morning in the street. The dog walker said he went to a secluded car park with Meah-Moore and began engaging in sexual activity with him before the dog joined in. The man – who cannot be identified – said he tried to "shoo" the animal away but Meah-Moore told him not to. The owner said he "lost interest" when Meah-Moore continued to allow the dog to have sex with him. He said that Meah-Moore fell asleep and could not be roused. The inquest was told tests found "human and non-human" semen inside Meah-Moore's body and DNA matched the man's dog. The Pontypridd hearing was told pathologists could not find a "traumatic" cause of death – and tests were carried out to see if Meah-Moore was allergic to dogs. Coroner David Regan said: "The pathologist made a suggestion that there might be some pathological relation with sudden death potentially arising from the dog semen?" Detective Superintendent Paul Raikes replied: "I think it is accepted Darren did have a sensitivity to dogs but it wasn't able to provide a cause of death and attribute it to that." The court heard the original medical cause of death was given as 1a: sudden death in a man with bronchial asthma who had consumed alcohol and in a temporal association with sexual activity including anal intercourse... The inquest heard tributes from Meah-Moore's father and husband who described him as "caring" and "right at the heart of Cardiff's gay community"... Meah-Moore was jailed in March 1999 after being convicted of four counts of rape of a boy under 16. In 2011, he was also sentenced to a three-year community order and given 300 hours of unpaid work for breaching of a sex offender's order."
Since there're no trans people in the Epstein files, this proves that trans people don't commit child sexual abuse

Admiral Invalidator on X - "What are the chances of a town having a parade for a recently deceased man just bc he was a drag performer and it turns out he was a child rapists who died raping a dog with another man? Well it happened. Just know none of us are going to get a parade when we die. Sick world."
Roads closed and horse-drawn procession for funeral of Cardiff drag queen Darren Moore

Beth Bourne on X - "DEVASTATING NEWS: A second trans-identified student at Palo Alto High School died by suicide (hit and killed by a Caltrain) last week. In the article about Summer Devi Mehta’s death, it mentions his best friend at school, Ash He, also a boy who identified as “non-binary,” ended his life in a similar manner last March. I hope the parents of both boys sue the @PaloAltoUnified school district for indoctrinating their sons into a regressive, pseudoscientific belief system that says effeminate boys can’t grow up to be men. I hope the parents also sue the medical providers if the boys were on blockers and/or wrong-sex hormones, which are known to lead to depressive thoughts. God bless these boys and their families. 💔💔"
Wesley Yang on X - "What these sad stories show is that gender affirmation in schools and communities that all agree to pretend that boys are girls or neither male nor female doesn't protect anyone from the myriad mental health comorbidities that typically accompany (and often lead to) transgender ideation and doesn't protect anyone from suicide, a fact that the ACLU's lead trans rights litigator admitted before the Supreme Court of the United States. The suicide rate is high among trans-identified youth because troubled kids are all encouraged to identify into transgenderism. Of course the Trevor Project and other transgender activist organizations seize upon these suicides to fund-raise and blame those who know that pretending that disaffected youth have changed sex is harmful in order to strengthen their ability to emotionally blackmail the world into doing more of the harm. Having first emotionally blackmailed parents into pretending their kids have changed sex after brainwashing their kids into yearning to be chemically castrated and dismembered, they prime even more kids to believe that they have no choice but to kill themselves if their parents don't agree to chemically castrate and dismember them, or if some people don't agree to pretend that they have changed sex, and if the school and state don't punish people who don't pretend they have changed sex. The movement feeds off of these threats of suicide, priming kids to succumb to them so as to have a weapon to threaten even more suicides if the movement doesn't get its way. Every suicide is an opportunity to make more money and wield even more potent threats."

Kate Barker-Mawjee on X - "“I had a very sensitive, quite effeminate, little boy who was probably gay…but Jack’s dad did not approve” Susie Green drugged and castrated her son in a failed bid to save her marriage to a homophobic husband. If she’ll do that to her own child, imagine what she’ll do to yours."
Graham Linehan on X - "I still can't believe this Ted Talk exists. She stands up in front of an audience and just admits it all. Husband didn't want a feminine son, so instead of dumping the husband, she groomed the son into thinking he was a girl, arrested his development with hormones and castrated him on the day of his 16th birthday. A homophobic crime against humanity and she's still walking free."
Trans mania is the true conversion therapy

Trevor Lee on X - "Reality check: More people have been shot by trans women than ICE agents in 2026."

Michelle Mackness on X - "We are housing a male sex offender who was deemed a Dangerous Offender in a prison with women. And, worse, on a floor that has a mother-baby program. He was imprisoned for raping a 3 month old baby boy who needed reparative surgery. We lie to children and youth telling they can change sex, which they cannot. We tell those same kids that anyone who doesn't play along with their dissociative state, that that person hates them and wants them dead. Then wonder why they act out violently, muderously? No duh, fools. Then we prevent clinicians from providing meaningful exploration due to poorly worded federal legislation. Now, a retiree is facing an impossible fine for speaking up. Beware! Your views, too, may one day fall outside the main. No room for dissent in Canada. And, where are our politicians? Crickets. Here, have a date with an alleged self-confessed murderer and convicted baby rapist: #BeKind"
Wesley Yang on X - "People who were surprised by the Canadian's media lockstep suppression of the fact that the "female" "woman" who murdered eight people in British Columbia was in fact a man pretending to be a woman don't understand that there are no limits on what lies that state power will recognize on behalf of a class of people pretending to be the opposite sex. A male baby rapist is in a women's prison with a mother-baby unit in Canada."

Gerald Posner on X - "340–141. That’s the vote by which the European Parliament adopted a resolution yesterday calling for the full recognition of trans women as women across EU policy. It also rejected an amendment stating that "only biological women can become pregnant." Read that again. 233 MEPs voted against affirming that pregnancy is biologically female. This isn’t about courtesy or pronouns. It’s about law, language, and the destruction of biological clarity in public policy. While resolutions may be nonbinding, they shape funding priorities, institutional language, legal frameworks, and educational standards across the EU. When legislative bodies struggle to affirm basic biological realities, it signals something deeper than tolerance. It is another flashing warning sign that delusional ideology is overtaking empirical fact. Once institutions lose the ability to define clearly sex-based categories, the consequences ripple far beyond semantics — into medicine, sport, prisons, data collection, and women’s legal protections. This is not about bigotry. It is about governance."
Weird. I thought sex and gender were different and only ignorant people didn't know that

Meme - Claire Bear (Sorcha) @claire88424030: "One of the most painfully stupid tweets I've seen recently... I'm almost embarrassed on Willoughby's behalf."
India Willoughby: "Just for the benefit of terfs who seem to be dim, blind and confused, I - and many, many, many - other trans women are now naturally biologically female thanks to our bodies becoming how they should have been, courtesy of hormones + surgery. You're the science deniers."
Are the TRAs going to pop out to call him ignorant for not knowing the difference between sex and gender and claiming he's biologically female?

Meme - femme_unapologetic: "Y’all wanted a definition. Here it is. Now argue with the sign."
"Trans woman. adjective and noun. An adult human female who was assigned male at birth."

'We get attacked all the time and we can't say anything' - "The day-to-day life of a trans woman in Brussels in 2025 is not easy; you try to live hidden and are pretty uncomfortable in public spaces. I still get stares, judgements, heavy sexualisation, discrimination, backhanded compliments, and sometimes physical attacks. It was around 02:30 at The Big Game bar in the centre of Brussels, a group of young men speaking Arabic and broken French outside on the terrace were doing what groups of drunk young men do best, being mean, loudly commenting, and being confused whether they see me as disgusting or attractive. The harassment got way out of hand, and I felt the tension rising inside of me, and my body was preparing for violence. I threw a drink at one of them, just the liquid (water), not the glass. And at that moment, everything went haywire. I got a full broken sharp glass in my face with alcohol that blinded me. Everything was blurry and bloody. I could hear the shouting and crying of my friend who was witg and was desperately trying to lure them away. The police eventually arrived. And it was almost natural, if not deliberate, to call me 'monsieur'. It felt sadistic. As if to add salt to the wound. The officer even suggested that I might be partially responsible. A flamboyant man in a wig in a bar at 2 am? I should've known better not to be visibly trans in a public space."
Calysta Goblet is a damn racist Islamophobe!

Asia Inside: Why is Taiwan the Poorest Among Developed Countries?

2026-04-19T13:12:00.000+08:00

Jukan on X

"Asia Inside: Why is Taiwan the Poorest Among Developed Countries?

On paper, Taiwan looks prosperous. Its per capita income is comparable to South Korea’s, placing it firmly in the ranks of advanced economies. Yet the reality for ordinary workers is strikingly different: average wages are barely half of Korea’s.
 
Even more surprising, Taiwan’s pay levels are not far above those in China, where per capita GDP is only a third of Taiwan’s. In certain skilled professions, Chinese workers now earn more than their Taiwanese counterparts...
 
In the late 1990s, the 1997 Asian financial crisis devastated the Korean economy. Far from investing in semiconductors or anything else, the country was struggling just to survive. 
Taiwan, a competitor at the time, did not miss this opportunity. It poured the equivalent of 70 trillion won into future industries, centering on electronics and semiconductors. The goal was clear: to turn the entire island into a “Silicon Island.”
 
This investment was clearly a success. Foxconn, the maker of Apple’s iPhones, grew into a global giant, and TSMC—once merely an OEM supplier—surpassed Samsung in market capitalization. 
 
As a result, in 2022 Taiwan’s per capita national income overtook South Korea’s for the first time in two decades.
 
After that, South Korea regained the lead, but the per capita GDP of the two countries has remained almost the same.
  
Given the strong sense of rivalry that Taiwanese people usually feel toward Korea, this should have been a source of pride. Yet unlike the politicians, the public’s reaction was cold: “Growth for whom, exactly?”

It is understandable: in Taiwan, the average starting salary for a university graduate is around 33,713 New Taiwan dollars (about US$1,100), and even a department manager at a major corporation earns only about US$2,100.
 
Meanwhile, housing prices in Taipei are comparable to those in Seoul—and in some areas, they even surpass Seocho, the most expensive district in the Korean capital.
 
Until recently, people could endure thanks to relatively low living costs. But after COVID-19, things changed: not only was home ownership already out of reach, but inflation has driven everyday expenses sharply higher.

Nothing illustrates the poverty of Taiwan’s youth more clearly than the phenomenon of the taofang. A taofang is essentially an apartment divided into multiple tiny units, often with illegal extensions that stick out like container boxes to maximize floor space. These cramped rooms, barely large enough to lie down in, rent for $290 to $360 a month in Taipei.
 
Since a third of their monthly salary has to go toward renting such cramped rooms, there is little capacity left to save for the future. Even if young people manage to find jobs despite a real unemployment rate in the mid-teens, their wages make it nearly impossible to ever buy a home.
 
Not long ago, one statistic showed that in order to afford a house in Taipei, a young worker would have to save their entire salary—without spending a single cent on food or living expenses—for 28 years.
 
It’s no wonder Taiwan’s fertility rate is nearly as low as South Korea’s, which already holds the world’s worst record.
 
Despite this housing crisis, about 20% of homes in Taipei remain vacant—simply because they are far too expensive for ordinary people to buy. Yet prices refuse to budge. With virtually no tax burden even on multiple properties, Taiwan’s real estate tycoons have little incentive to sell at lower prices, so they simply hold on instead.

Disillusioned by this reality, Taiwan’s younger generation no longer call their country the “Silicon Island.” Instead, they openly refer to it as Guǐdǎo—the “Ghost Island.” The term carries the meaning of a haunted, or even a cursed, island.
  
Like “Hell Joseon” in South Korea, Guǐdǎo is a word that embodies the anger of Taiwan’s younger generation. Reflecting their anxiety about the future, one survey found that one out of every four university students in Taiwan approaching graduation suffers from depression. 
 
There are several reasons why wages in Taiwan have remained so low, but the most significant factor is its unique industrial structure, which is heavily centered on OEM production.
 
To be more precise, it would be more accurate to describe Taiwan as an ODM economy rather than OEM.
 
The difference is that OEM refers to manufacturing products developed by foreign companies, whereas ODM means designing and developing products with one’s own technology, but selling them under the client company’s brand.

OEM production is mostly carried out by Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, while Taiwan, with its higher technological capabilities, is focused more on ODM. Still, whether OEM or ODM, both remain subcontracting businesses that cannot capture high added value.

In the 1970s and 1980s, South Korea concentrated the resources of its conglomerates on developing heavy industries, whereas Taiwan relied on its small and medium-sized enterprises to drive growth by contract-manufacturing American electronics. This subcontracting—OEM production—was aimed at leveraging Taiwan’s low-cost, high-efficiency labor.
 
Above all, without the burden of sales and marketing, Taiwanese firms were able to secure easier and more stable profits. The conservative economic ecosystem, shaped in part by state-owned enterprises leading the early stages of industrialization, clearly played a role as well. In any case, thanks to this, Taiwan was able to stay ahead of South Korea in per capita GDP until 2002.
 
However, OEM had a clear limitation: it lacked pricing power. For example, companies like Samsung, LG, or Hyundai Motor—global power brands—can raise prices and keep the profits for themselves. But Taiwan’s Foxconn doesn’t have its name on any iPhone it produces for Apple, and even if the product price goes up, it cannot earn beyond the contracted amount.
 
Far from enjoying higher margins, OEM companies are under constant pressure from their clients to cut costs, leaving little room for wage growth. On top of that, Taiwan has an overwhelming number of small and medium-sized firms doing similar work, making competition incredibly fierce.
 
To survive in the market, these companies focused not on creating added value, but on minimizing production costs—and the easiest way was to push down wages. Against this backdrop, China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in the 2000s and its full-scale participation in global trade turned into a nightmare for Taiwan. Domestic competition was already tough enough, but now they also had to fight with China to win contracts. And, of course, Chinese labor was even cheaper.    
 
A surge of Taiwanese companies closed down as they were crowded out by Chinese competitors. As a result, both Taiwan’s economic growth and wage increases came to a standstill. 
Meanwhile, South Korea surged ahead, with its conglomerates backed by strong global brands fully reaping the benefits of China’s rapid economic growth. Taiwanese firms, desperate to survive, moved directly into China—seeking both its cheap labor and its rapidly expanding market.
 
At the peak in 2011 alone, Taiwanese investment in China reached about US$136.4 billion, and nearly 10% of Taiwan’s population—around two million people—had gone to China for work.
 
China needed Taiwan’s capital and technology, and since they shared the same language, Taiwanese firms could establish themselves there more easily than anyone else. But in terms of wages, this was a disaster for Taiwan. First, the mass exodus of domestic companies meant jobs disappeared. On top of that, the Taiwanese government pursued policies to keep prices suppressed in order to maintain the competitiveness of the firms that remained. Naturally, this also held back wages, which tend to move in line with prices.
 
If labor costs rose, Taiwanese companies would lose out to China in contract bidding. As a result, low wages became entrenched over the long term.
 
When youth unemployment grew severe, the Taiwanese government introduced the so-called “22K policy” in 2009, an internship program under which companies that hired university graduates as interns received a subsidy of 22,000 New Taiwan dollars. This initiative did create about 34,000 jobs. 
 
However, Taiwanese companies took advantage of the situation—where there were more graduates than available jobs—to lock in 22,000 New Taiwan dollars as the starting salary for university graduates. From then on, young people in Taiwan began their careers earning what was essentially the minimum wage. Starting at the bottom made it even harder to raise their salaries later on. 
 
In addition, family-run businesses with opaque decision-making, rigid corporate cultures that make it difficult for employees to demand improvements, and weak labor unions that hinder wage increases are also cited as key reasons why wages in Taiwan remain so low...
 
There is a measure in economics called the labor share of income, which refers to the proportion of national income that goes to wages...
 
It is only 41%. In other words, if Taiwan produces US$1,000 in a year, its people take home just US$410, while companies keep US$590. To put this into perspective, the level is almost the same as Vietnam or the Philippines. On paper, Taiwan’s national income places it among advanced economies, but its distribution looks more like that of Southeast Asia. In most developed countries, where industries are more advanced and labor costs are higher, the figure is typically in the 70% range.
 
By contrast, South Korea stands at 68.7%, close to the advanced-economy average of 70%. Yet in Taiwan—where one in four people lives on the minimum wage—per capita luxury goods spending reaches US$366, higher than in either South Korea or Japan. This figure alone shows just how deeply economic inequality has widened during Taiwan’s era of persistently low wages."

Links - 19th April 2026 (1 - Mark Carney)

2026-04-19T09:30:00.000+08:00

The Pleb 🌍 Reporter on X - "Mark Carney had the grocery store remove the prices behind him because oh how expensive groceries are in Canada He's pulling the same exact stunts as Trudeau Things are very bad in Canada and the Liberals are using Trump as a way to distract their citizens from it It's evil"

Kirk Lubimov on X - "Keep this in mind when you are assessing Mark Carney's actions:
* His wife is in the US.
* His daughter is in the US.
* He recommended moving Brookfield to the US.
* His assets are invested in the US.
* He opened investment accounts in tax havens.
Notice: For himself, his family, and businesses, he chooses low tax jurisdictions and places with less red tape that will never have carbon tax, green agenda and other ideological driven policies. For you, however, he is implementing the opposite."

Carney's Plains of Abraham remarks show 'historic error': Roberge - "Prime Minister Mark Carney’s statement that the Plains of Abraham symbolize the start of something good shows his complete lack of knowledge of Quebec history, politicians said Friday. “What a gaffe, what a historic error,” Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge said in an interview with Radio-Canada. “The Battle of the Plains of Abraham are the conquest, the culmination point where the English came and defeated the French and burned villages, etc. “There’s nothing glorious in this.”... “The Plains of Abraham mark a battlefield, and also the place where Canada began to make its founding choice of accommodation over assimilation, of partnership over domination, of building together over pulling apart,” Carney said. On Friday, analysts and politicians ridiculed the statement, saying it seems Carney has little knowledge of Quebec history... Pro-independence politicians pounced on the remarks... “I don’t think (Carney) realizes that he is following in a long tradition of colonialism that dates back to Lord Durham,” St-Pierre Plamondon said in reference to Durham’s vision in the 1800s of uniting Upper and Lower Canada and the assimilation of French Canadians. “Mr. Carney’s speech can only lead to the independence of Quebec.”"
Time for left wingers to screech about how Albertan separatists are traitors again

Yuan Yi Zhu: Face it, Carney just doesn't know much about Canada - "anyone who is even mildly aware of the existence of Quebec society would have understood that to talk about the site of the Quebec nation’s foundational trauma as “the place where Canada began to make its founding choice of accommodation over assimilation, of partnership over domination, of building together over pulling apart” would go down very badly indeed. The press reaction in Quebec has been savage, and the province’s leading politicians have already denounced it in strident terms. To many Quebeckers, this tone-deaf, if not downright insulting speech is but the latest example of why they cannot exist within the framework of the Canadian federation. And in the words of Bloc Québécois Yves-François Blanchet, Carney’s speech “launched the referendum campaign” for Quebec’s separation from Canada. Why did Carney commit such a rookie mistake? And why did no one in his entourage stop him? Part of the answer must lie in the fact that he spent the bulk of his career, including the entirely of his university education, abroad, in venues in which Canada could simply be treated as another generic (mostly) Anglophone western country. In Oxford (where we both studied) and London (where we both worked), this is not a problem, and indeed knowing too much about Canada will mark you out as a provincial. But it is when you are trying to be prime minister of Canada, a country that, pound for pound, has more regional cleavages and unique neuroses than just about any peer country, this is bound to lead to grief. I first noticed this streak of Carney’s character when I reviewed Value(s), his audition piece for high office. It isn’t unusual for aspiring politicos to write such a book; what was unique about Carney’s was that it was not clear in which country he wanted to be a politician. The international edition said almost nothing about Canada, while the Canadian edition consisted of exactly the same text, with a few sentences here and there about Canada, tackled at the end of generic discussions of problems afflicting the West. Say what you want about Justin Trudeau, but his pre-election book (Common Ground, remember that one?) was not written to be read anywhere outside of Canada. Then, on the campaign trail, Carney made numerous remarks, or stumbled through standard questions, which led some to wonder whether his transition from global central banker to the premier of the 7 in G7 was too rushed. But Canadians, always keen on international validation, overlooked that inconvenient fact, as is our right. And his ability to survive Tout le monde en parle was just enough to convince Quebec that he wasn’t so alien after all (he even joked about cows!) Now the jokes are wearing thin. This might have been fine in less treacherous times, when Canada can afford the luxury of indulging in seeking the world’s admiration by electing progressive eye-candy. But the Canadian nation is threatened by a crazy neighbour down south, and not one, but two separatist movements, one which Carney just inflamed through his faux pas. At such a time, it is wise to have someone who has the pulse of the country. But Carney, a member of the global elite by merit, seems more interested to win plaudits abroad than to defuse tensions at home, when he is not needlessly creating more through his lack of cultural antennae, or pursuing his exotic ideas about the proper way to write Canadian English. In some ways, Carney reminds me of Britain’s colonial administrators. Having wielded great power over-seas, and with an attachment to the image of Britain frozen in sepia, they were almost always shocked to find a country that no longer resembled the country that existed in their minds. Edwardians would return as Elizabethans, amazed to discover that the people they grew up with no longer shared the ideas which they used to share. Needless to say, the few who entered British politics encountered nothing but grief. Canadians love the home boy who made good internationally; Carney, who rose from relatively ordinary and very Canadian beginnings to the heights of international finance, embodies this sort of story. But central bankers are mostly interchangeable — Carney ran the Bank of England, and the current head of the New Zealand central bank is from Sweden. Prime ministers aren’t. If Carney wants to avoid becoming Canada’s Lord North, he must begin to learn about the country he left so many years ago."

Carney's Davos speech shows Trump-level indifference to tyranny - "Yuan Yi Zhu, assistant professor in the International Law faculty at the Netherlands’ Leiden University and a research associate with the University of B.C.’s Centre for Constitutional Law and Legal Studies: “The speech reads well but it’s fundamentally empty when it comes to anything but rhetoric. But it’s got the right vibes for the moment and will be praised as a work of genius when it doesn’t get us anywhere beyond the absolutely obvious. The middle power stuff has been in every Canadian foreign policy ideas speech since the 1940s. Principled and pragmatic means literally nothing.”"

'Canada thrives because we are Canadian': Carney fires back at Trump after return from Davos | Fortune - "“We can show that another way is possible, that the arc of history isn’t destined to be warped toward authoritarianism and exclusion; it can still bend toward progress and justice,” Carney said."
Nothing says thriving like falling GDP per capita, and no one embodies progress and justice and stands against authoritarianism and exclusion like Communist China

Conrad Black: Carney's middle powers plan a complete fantasy - "The United Nations and many of its agencies are just primal scream therapy for many of the most retrograde and primitive regimes in the world. Israel can be commended for taking the wrecker’s ball to the outlet of one of its agencies in Jerusalem. Carney was effectively wagging his finger at the United States in the highest (or lowest) tradition of its so-called allies who graciously sheltered under the protective wing of American military power while attempting to collegialize all alliance decisions on the basis that the United States was a great mastiff which would do the work and take the risks while it’s European and Canadian allies held the leash and gave the instructions. The “rules-based international order” was always a fraud. It was a stability based almost entirely on the deterrent and enforcement capacity that the United States possessed because of its great military and economic power. The ideas of a group of “middle powers” grouping together to assert themselves is a complete fantasy. Superpowers don’t care about middle powers as long as other superpowers don’t invade them. After Stalin began the Cold War by violating his commitments at the Yalta Conference to evacuate the liberated countries of eastern Europe and hold genuine free elections there, and the United States imposed its policy of containment of the Soviet Union, and President Nixon exploited the schism between the U.S.S.R. and China by triangulating the great power relationship, the Soviet Union fell like a soufflé and international communism evaporated. The United States did not exploit its position as the world’s only superpower and China, while retaining the totalitarianism of communism, saw the virtues of economic growth that only capitalism could provide and launched itself as the next challenger to the U.S. for world leadership, following the profoundly unsuccessful precedents of Nazi Germany and the U.S.S.R. NATO degenerated into an alliance of the willing, meaning that the United States would generously guarantee the security of all of the other countries which would decide which, if any NATO project they wished to join. This was not a rules-based order. It was the dominance of a benign and generally peaceful superpower surrounded by a bevy of freeloading coattail-riders. What is happening now is not the “rupture” that Carney declared at Davos and elsewhere, but an adjustment. When the U.S.S.R. was a serious threat de Gaulle and Mitterrand and Adenauer and Kohl and Thatcher and Mulroney pulled their weight in the Alliance. In the last 30 years, as Trump has stated, NATO, apart from the United States, and the nuclear deterrent forces of France and the U.K., has been a low-rise house of cards. Carney shamefully compared the American-led Western Alliance to the Stalinist bloc and Trump was justified in calling him an ingrate at Davos... Canada should finally become a psychologically complete country, and cease to fuss over why it is an independent country. There are ample historic and contemporary reasons for that based on the many distinctions between the ethos of this country and that of the United States. It is precisely because the United States has usually been a benign influence and a good neighbour that it has been so difficult for us even in our own collective thinking, to separate ourselves from it... We are too dependent on the Americans but the fault is ours; changing it will not be like falling off a log and reproaching the Americans, after all they have done to defeat the forces of tyranny in the world in the last 110 years, is no way to begin. And let’s not burn any bridges; closer proximity to China will generate acute nostalgia for the Americans."

The unprecedented expansion of federal Indigenous spending - " In a year-end interview, Prime Minister Mark Carney claimed that the two Conservatives who crossed the floor into his caucus in the final months of 2025 did so entirely of their own volition and that his party had done nothing to convince them. “They came to us,” he told Global News. The claim was dubious as soon as he said it, if only for the fact that one of those floor-crossers, Chris D’Entremont, was already on record as saying that the Liberals had tried for years to lure him over to their benches. And now the claim is even more dubious given that an NDPer and a Conservative have now revealed failed Liberal attempts to goad them into ditching their own parties. Lori Idlout, the NDP MP for Nunavut, told CBC this week that she’d been approached by Liberal Party representatives about a potential floor-crossing. And on Monday, Scott Anderson, the Conservative MP for the B.C. riding of Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, revealed the Liberals had tried the same with him. “It’ll be a cold day in Hell before I even consider betraying my constituents,” he wrote in a Facebook post."

In the 2026 CUSMA showdown with Trump, will Canada blink? - "While Washington would like to see movement on everything from sales of U.S. alcohol to defence procurement when it comes to Canada, Greer highlighted three main issues: Canada’s restricted supply management scheme in dairy, the Online News Act that requires tech giants to pay news organizations for aggregating their content, and the Online Streaming Act, which requires U.S. entertainment companies to promote Canadian programming... “If I were Ottawa,” Sands said, “I would take this as the opportunity to reform the sector … and move towards a more subsidy-oriented system.” While it won’t be politically popular, he noted that “if Canada’s ever going to change the system, having the pressure of the Trump administration driving that change might lead to a way of making a reform that would be a reasonable compromise that would be beneficial to Canadians.” It would also lead to less waste and lower prices... All these policies are similar in their protectionism, according to Nathaniel Baum-Snow, an economics professor at the University of Toronto. “There are some parallels (in digital policies) with supply management and dairy … These acts are making it more costly and more difficult for Canadian consumers to access mostly American digital content,” he said, noting that most consumers would probably appreciate being able to access the products and services for less."
J.J. McCullough on X - "Literally all of Trump’s trade demands from Canada are good, I’m sorry to say. If Carney views protecting these special interest handouts as more important than maintaining free trade with the US then he’s not serving the national interest of Canadians."
Spiting the US is more important than helping Canadians

The line Mark Carney is walking might not be sustainable - The Globe and Mail - "Entering politics, winning the leadership, assuming power, winning the election: all these took a certain audacity – but nothing like the audacity that was required for what came next: stealing virtually all of the Conservatives’ policies. Most observers thought the Liberals had strayed too far to the left under Mr. Trudeau, for either their own good or the country’s. Many predicted that Mr. Carney would steer them toward the centre. But I don’t think anyone quite anticipated how shamelessly he would crib from the Conservative policy book. Consumer carbon pricing was the first to go – the tax was axed, you might say, the day he took office, with a vaguely Trumpian signing ceremony. There followed the cut in the lowest income tax rate; the clampdown on the border; the lifting of virtually all regulatory restrictions on projects of “national interest” under the Building Canada Act (passed with Conservative support!); the massive, multiyear increase in spending on defence to meet our NATO commitments; laws limiting access to bail for certain offences; and the pièce de résistance, the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, eliminating or easing several of the previous government’s most cherished/hated environmental policies and signalling federal approval for “one or more” heavy oil pipelines to the British Columbia coast. The transformation has been so dramatic, the appropriation of Conservative policies, even Conservative slogans (“Canada’s new government,” “energy superpower”), so brazen, as to lead some to herald a fundamental realignment in Canadian politics. The Carney government, many have said, is the reincarnation of the old Progressive Conservatives – so eerily lifelike that at one point it was rumoured that three or four Conservative MPs would cross the floor to join them, though in the end only two did. Certainly, the Conservatives themselves have been left reeling, grasping for ways to differentiate themselves from their impersonators. For a time, the party seemed to be working itself into hysterics over “runaway” immigration, until someone reminded them that the doors they were demanding be closed had already been slammed shut (this one actually began in the latter days of Mr. Trudeau)... Mr. Carney, who had for months faced little pressure on either flank, may soon find himself fighting on two fronts. A post-review Conservative leader – less grating, more moderate, in tone if not in substance – will be in a better position to appeal to Liberal-Tory switchers, while a revived NDP will tug him to his left, leaving him less room to pitch to conservatives. That’s the theory. In practice, it may not work out that way."

Carney budget doubles down on Trudeau-era policies - "The Carney government yesterday tabled its first budget, which includes major new spending initiatives to promote a so-called “green economy,” and maintains greenhouse gas (GHG)-emission extinction as a central operating principle of Canadian governance. The budget leaves untouched most of the legislative dampers on Canada’s fossil fuel sector (oil, gas, coal) of the last 10 years, while pouring still more money into theoretically “green” projects such as additional (and speculative new types) of nuclear power, electrical transmission to service “green” energy production, continued tax credits for alternative fuels such as hydrogen, and more. Adding insult to injury, the budget discusses “enhancing” (read: likely increasing) the carbon tax on industrial emitters across Canada, and tightening controls over provinces to ensure they meet new federal tax targets. Over the past decade, Ottawa introduced numerous regulations to restrict oil and gas development and again accelerate the growth of the green sector. Key initiatives include Ottawa’s arbitrary cap on GHG emissions for the oil and gas sector, which will restrict production; stricter regulations for methane emissions in the oil and gas industry, which will also likely restrict production; “clean electricity” regulations that aim to decarbonize Canada’s electricity generation; Bill C-69 (which introduced subjective ill-defined criteria into the evaluation of energy projects); and Bill C-48, known as the oil tanker ban on the west coast, which limits Canadian exports to Asian and other non-U.S. markets. At the same time, governments launched a wide range of spending initiatives, tax credits and regulations to promote the green economy, which basically includes industries and technologies that aim to reduce pollution and use cleaner energy sources. Between 2014/15 and 2024/25, federal spending on green initiatives (such as subsidizing renewable power, providing incentives for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, funding for building retrofits, and support for alternative fuels such as hydrogen, etc.) went from $0.6 billion to $23 billion—a 38-fold increase. Altogether, since 2014, Ottawa and provincial governments in the country’s four largest provinces (Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta) have spent and foregone revenues of at least $158 billion to promote the green sector. Yet, despite the government’s massive spending and heavy regulation to constrain the fossil fuel industry and promote the green sector, the outcomes have been extremely disappointing. In 2014, the green sector accounted for 3.1 per cent of Canada’s economic output, and by 2023, that share had only slightly grown to 3.6 per cent. Put simply, despite massive spending, the sector’s contribution to Canada’s economy has barely changed. In addition, between 2014 and 2023, despite billions in government spending to promote the green sector, only 68,000 new jobs were added in this sector, many of them in already established fields such as waste management and hydroelectric power. The sector’s contribution to national employment remains small, representing only 2 per cent of total jobs in the country. Not surprisingly, this combination of massive government spending and heavy-handed regulation have contributed to Canada’s economic stagnation in recent years. As documented by our colleagues, Canadian living standards—measured by per-person GDP—were lower in the second quarter of 2025 than six years earlier, suggesting we are poorer today than we were six years ago. But for Prime Minister Carney, apparently, past failures do not temper future plans, as the budget either reaffirms or expands upon the failed plans of the past decade. No lessons appear to have even been considered, much less learned from past failures. There had been some hope that Carney’s first budget would include some reflection of how badly the natural resource and energy policies of the Trudeau government have hurt Canada’s economy."

Carney poised to repeat Trudeau’s biggest mistakes - "Despite the new face at the helm, Carney’s budget unfortunately relies on the same failed economic strategy the Trudeau government pursued for a decade. For starters, Carney’s economic plan calls for more government involvement in the economy. Ottawa will become a home developer, pick winners and losers from a bevy of major national energy project proposals, implement a new “climate” strategy, and substantially increase federal spending and borrowing. The budget also keeps income taxes high while failing to reduce the huge regulatory barriers that entrepreneurs, investors and businessowners face from coast to coast. On the fiscal front, the government plans to spend $585.8 billion this year, an increase of $27.5 billion compared to the Trudeau government’s final forecast last December. Consequently, due to increased spending and a decline in projected revenue compared to last year, the federal deficit will reach a projected $78.3 billion this year, which is $36.1 billion more than the Trudeau government’s last forecast. Deficits over the next three years will average $62.3 billion (more than double the Trudeau government’s forecast) and total debt will reach a projected $2.9 trillion by 2029, which is $266.4 billion higher than last fall’s forecast. According to the Carney government, all of this new spending and government intervention will generate more investment and economic activity in the private sector. However, according to the empirical research, when governments run deficits they borrow money and increase the demand for available savings, which pushes up interest rates and makes it more expensive for everyone (governments, individuals, families and businesses) to borrow money. This makes private investment costlier and thus reduces the amount of private investment. In other words, the Carney government’s big deficits will likely crowd out private investment in Canada’s economy. And to pay for today’s spending and borrowing, the government in the future will likely raise taxes (which are already uncompetitive compared to the United States), fuelling more uncertainty for investors, entrepreneurs and businessowners. We’ve seen all this before. For years the Trudeau government increased spending, ran deficits during good times and bad, and inserted itself further into the economy through heavier regulations, taxes, and subsidies provided to favoured firms and industries (a.k.a. corporate welfare). The results were disastrous. Canadian living standards (measured by per-person GDP) declined between mid-2019 and mid-2025. Private-sector job creation was anemic and worker incomes in every province have fallen behind that of American workers in every U.S. state. It didn’t have to be this way then and it doesn’t have to be this way now."

Mark Carney's “Who cares?” has become a mood: But should you care? - "Prime Minister Mark Carney’s off-hand “Who cares?” was delivered with a shrug, but it travelled farther than the Johannesburg press scrum where he said it. Asked when he last spoke to Donald Trump about stalled tariff talks, Carney brushed it off. “Who cares? I mean, it’s a detail. I spoke to him. I’ll speak to him again when it matters.” It was a clipped moment in a long trip overseas, yet it struck a nerve. In a year where tariffs have hit Canadian exporters and rattled cross-border relations, the idea of not caring felt almost rebellious. Some Canadians cheered the confidence. Others winced at the timing. And many asked a quieter question: Can average Canadians afford not to care?"
Canadians divided over whether they trust Carney to manage Trump: poll - "Canadians are growing impatient with the lack of progress in Canada-U.S. trade relations, a new Leger poll suggests. Confidence also appears to be waning over whether Canadians can trust Prime Minister Mark Carney to defend Canada against U.S. President Donald Trump’s political firestorms. “I think time has not been kind to Prime Minister Carney, at this point anyway, in terms of not really showing that he is the man for the job,” said Andrew Enns, executive vice-president of Leger’s Central Canada operations."

Marc Nixon on X - "This friendship could SAVE CANADA 🇨🇦. JD VANCE + JAMIL JIVANI could reset U.S. trade talks FAST. Jivani OFFERED HIS HELP to Mark Carney. Carney GHOSTED HIM. That’s your proof. Liberals don’t want a deal. ACTIONS speaks louder than WORDS."

Carney caught meeting Brookfield execs despite ethics warnings

The PM drops his elbows, at least for now : r/CanadianConservative - "Conservatives 5 months ago: “We can’t fight the US, they are way stronger than Canada. We need to deal with them diplomatically.”
LPC bots: “Omg you are traitors to this country.”
Carney today: “We can’t fight the US, they are way stronger than Canada. We need to deal with them diplomatically.”
LPC bots: “This is exactly why I voted for someone like Carney, he knows what he’s doing.”
Honestly this country is full of r*tards, I just want a ticket out of here now."

Links - 18th April 2026 (3 - Oct 2023 Hamas Attack)

2026-04-18T21:58:00.000+08:00

@freedomtoffend.com on X - "A Canadian university fired me for saying I stand with Israel and Hamas are Nazis. My accusers had thousands of documented antisemitic posts online. My teaching record was excellent. No misconduct was found. This is the story universities don’t want told... My legal rep is the union and I can’t have another. The union has sided with the Islamists. They won’t represent me and I’m not allowed to do anything about it."
This is why left wingers like unions so much. Through them they can control others

Visegrád 24 on X - "On January 12, 2024, UNESCO condemned Israel for killing a "journalist" in Gaza named Muhammad Abu Haweidi. This week, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization announced that he was one of their commanders."

Thread by @EFischberger on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "Last, but certainly not least in our series of @NPR journalists covering the Israel-Hamas War, is Abu Bakr Bashir. His Facebook account shows him to be quite the jokester. But not all of the jokes land — like this one🧵
*Jewish caricature*
Translation of the above ⬆️ "He tricked him by saying: I will sell you the car for 100,000, with a down payment of 50,000, and monthly payments of 10,000. The buyer agreed, happy to have made a good deal, and when he was leaving, the seller said: And 500 for D." Yes, it's his profile.
Bashir also says that Israeli soldiers don't deserve to live: "15 martyrs and more than 1500 wounded. Among them, not a single Israeli soldier or a son of a Palestinian official! Those who do not deserve to die are dying, so that those who do not deserve to live may live."
Among his past employers is the Qatari state-affiliated Al Arby TV
But here's the craziest part: He is STILL reporting for Al Qahera News, an Egyptian state-affiliated media outlet. It's crazy that NPR can employ someone who is simultaneously working for the state media of another country. Is there no rule against that? If not, that's nuts
Be sure to check our the other @NPR journalists who should have no business reporting on the Israel-Hamas War"

Thread by @RichardHanania on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "John Spencer, expert in urban warfare, explains to Sam Harris what was unique about the October 7 footage. First, Hamas members were absolutely euophoric as they were going off to rape and murder. As someone who has led men into battle, he tells us that “this is not normal”. Most striking was the reaction to the sound of a young boy moaning to death. In a normal battlefield situation, even when there is an enemy combatant, there is usually an instinct to render aid. Here, a boy’s eyes were gone, his father just killed, and the Hamas fighter nonchalantly goes and grabs a beverage from the refrigerator. This war has clarified so much for me. I keep talking about why Hamas is worse than Nazis, and the moral culpability of Palestinian civilians. People don’t like these opinions. They still remain true. If you have a position on this conflict other than “Israel keeps going until Hamas is destroyed” you have failed one of the great moral tests of our time.
Sam Harris on the overwhelming sadistic joy regular Palestinians felt at seeing Jewish mothers clutching their babies, and defiling the bodies of dead girls. We simply refuse to face the truth about this culture.
Harris points out the obvious truth that there would be no appetite to parade Palestinian women around Tel Aviv.
Spencer: “Militaries are reflections of their societies.”
Few things about all this are more outrageous than people treating these two sides as morally equal.
Spencer: Hamas wants “as many of their civilians to die as possible…there are 400 miles of tunnels within Gaza and not one civilian is allowed in them. The entire population, 2.2 million, could fit in Hamas’s tunnels with ease.”
Israel took unprecedented steps to get civilians out of harm’s way. Hamas would snipe at civilians who were leaving on the designated roads and fire mortars at them. Hamas’s strategy is to kill as many Palestinians as possible. And now the West wants to reward them for it."

Thread by @BarakMendelsohn on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "As Haverford College still ignores & enables anti-Semitism, Jews take note. Below a sad email from incoming student who decided he no longer interested in studying in an environment of anti-Semitism. I doubt the college cares. Not sure they won't be happier with fewer Jews
Professor Mendelsohn, sorry about being absent, currently in Israel & been here the whole summer volunteering at an organization called Achim L’Chaim (Brothers for Life) that helps with the rehabilitation of injured IDF soldiers and helping them get their lives back together. This is a very tough decision for me as I truly though Haverford would be the place for me to thrive academically and socially. I thought that everything would pass over the summer and I’d be able to fight the last parts of anti-semitism on campus when I got to Haverford but it doesn’t seem that way. I’ve connected with a good amount of people through social media that would be in my Haverford class had several issues.
First, had some great conversations with other students but when they hear that I went to Jewish Day School and am Jew, I get asked almost immediately if I support Israel and if I’m Zionist, I either get blocked or ridiculed by other Haverford students who I barely even know. Additionally I’m on multiple Haverford class of 2028 group chats where we go meet & ask questions & various individuals have just been sending posts & threads about how Israeli Jews are colonizers and murders — I replied back asking them to create a new group chat or something where they can voice their opinions on this stuff but it would be better to not have this stuff sent on a new admitted student group chat as this is not the place to do that as well as the fact that these posts are making me uncomfortable. Several people asked me to explain why these posts make me uncomfortable. I explained myself to only then be told hurtful things that I’m supporter of genocide, that they're glad I feel uncomfortable, that I’m brainwashed, & that I don’t belong @ Haverford if I support Israel. Other instances where new students just post anti-zionist stuff on their accounts just didn’t help with the over all feeling that I’m not going to be safe, respected, or accepted into the Haverford community. Secondly, I see all of the SJP, JVP, and faculty justice for Palestine posting how proud they are about what happened at graduation and even summer reading lists to prepare Haverford students for the “free Palestine” movement in the fall. And although these posts are bothering the part that really got me is that these accounts are encouraging these books and articles to the new Haverford students to join and integrate in the Haverford community. And not just are these accounts posting this stuff, new Haverford admits are commenting on the posts that they can’t wait to join the movement next year and talking in chats about reading these “summer reading lists” to join the movement and the Haverford community. Finally, I fear that the administration doesn’t care. I haven’t heard any communication addressing the anti-semitism on campus. what specifically bothered me was email by President Raymond at end of the year about her hopes for next year where she addresses certain things she wants community to work on. Nowhere email was there anything about the rampant anti-semitism & intimidation at Haverford. Her communication as well as the whole administration’s communications seem to act like there is no issue making me feel like they don’t care about Jewish students and what they’re experiencing. b/w social media interactions w/ new students, promotion of “reading lists” to get accepted into Haverford community & lack of any communication regarding antisemetism makes me think I’m not wanted, won’t be accepted, & will have to spend all of my energy fighting w/ no support or backing. I’m really sorry because I truly wanted to attend Haverford, but I’m scared that I’m not going to learn and I’m not going to be safe.
It sounds crazy but I feel safer in Israel in a war zone that is about to be attacked by Iran and its proxies then I do in America and I fear that this feeling will be what I feel like everyday at Haverford — scared to be a Jew in what was supposed to be my second home. I want you to know that this was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make and that you being at Haverford and being able to talk to you and be in your classes was one of the only, if not the only thing that led me to keep considering staying in Haverford."

Aaron Maté on X - "October 7 was a mass rape hoax. Zero forensic, physical, and visual evidence. Zero identified victims. And zero credible self-described “witnesses.” The hoax was used to justify the mass murder of Palestinians."
Zubin on X - "Oct 7 was hOaX. Dead Iranian protesters seen in body bags and confirmed by regular people we know in Tehran are all actors and liars. There's no Islamist atrocity Progressives won't cover for. Ghouls."

Adin - عدین - עדין on X - ""Palestinians raped" (@amnesty ) "Palestinians raped" (@hrw ) "Palestinians raped" (@UNHumanRights ) "Palestinians raped" (Dinah Project) "Palestinians raped"(@UKParliament ) "Palestinians raped" (ICC) "Palestinians raped" (@EUCouncil ) "Palestinians raped" (ARCCI) "Palestinians raped" (@PHRIsrael )
"My friends in Hamas said they didn't" (@aaronjmate )"

Casey Babb on X - "I’ve personally met with women who survived heinous sexual assaults both on October 7 and while in captivity in Gaza. Many have publicly described what they endured. But to the former press secretary for @BernieSanders, no such crimes occurred. My God this is disgusting."
Briahna Joy Gray on X - "I'll say it again and again because we need to normalize the truth: There is NO evidence of mass rape on October 7th. None. And no American politician who parrots this genocidal lie is qualified for office."
Zubin on X - "If there were no r@pes on October 7 that makes it the only human conflict in history where marauding mobs went on rampage and didn't r@pe anyone. What are the chances of that? This is absolute ghoulish atrocity apologia."

Kyle Orton on X - "HAMAS murdered most of Israelis they raped on Oct. 7. It's why so few can speak directly for themselves, as the denialists know. Still the evidence was right there early on, inc. "an Arabic-language document that instructed Hamas how to pronounce 'Take off your pants' in Hebrew""
Their bodies tell their stories. They’re not alive to speak for themselves. - "In one photo, a burned body appears to project anguish. In another, a woman lies naked from the waist down, her underwear hanging from her leg. In interviews, first responders haltingly describe finding naked female corpses tied to beds and survivors recount witnessing a gang rape at the music festival. All of this is part of a mounting body of evidence of the gender-based crimes carried out by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. Over the last several weeks, NBC News has reviewed five interrogations of captured Hamas fighters, an Arabic-language document that instructed Hamas how to pronounce “Take off your pants” in Hebrew, six images of naked or partially naked deceased female bodies, seven eyewitness accounts of sexual violence including both rape and mutilation, 11 testimonies of first responders, and two accounts from workers in morgues who handled the bodies of women after they were recovered from the massacre... According to first responders, one was mutilated with a pair of scissors and another stabbed with a knife. The genitals of some men who had been killed were mutilated as well... The most voluminous evidence is of bodily mutilation of sexual organs by bullet, knife or even scissors, according to an NBC News analysis of the evidence currently available... A woman whose job it was to open the body bags of women and prepare their bodies for burial told NBC News in an interview Monday that she saw multiple female corpses that had been mutilated. “They were shot in the vagina, they were shot in the breast,” she said. “And this seemed like a systematic attempt at genital mutilation.” The most detailed eyewitness account of rape is from a young woman who attended the Supernova music festival where more than 350 young people were killed. “They laid a woman down and I understood that he is raping her …they passed her on to another person“ the witness told police in a video reviewed by NBC News. “And he cuts her breasts, he throws it on the road they are playing with it.” Israeli officials pointed to a Hamas pamphlet discovered on Nov. 2 that gives detailed instructions about how to pronounce phrases in Hebrew including “raise your hands and open your legs” and “take off your pants.” During interrogations, captured Hamas militants talked about raping women and children as a Hamas tactic of war. “To have our way with them, to dirty them, to rape them,” said one Hamas militant during a videotaped interrogation. Another captured militant refers to dead bodies raped on Oct. 7. “Having sex with dead bodies,” the militant said in a videotaped interrogation reviewed by NBC News. “Meaning the body of a dead young woman,” the militant told interrogators... An IDF rescue unit soldier gave testimony that he witnessed two girls lying in a bedroom, one of them half naked, with her legs spread and he said he saw what appeared to be sperm on her back. First responders described several women bleeding from their crotch area. “There was a body of a woman that had a blood stain on her genitalia. At first, I thought she might have had a mishap out of fear,” a first responder told police investigators in a videotaped testimony. “When we picked her up we knew for sure it was blood. One of the videos posted to Telegram by Hamas shortly after the attack shows a young Israeli woman with bloodied sweatpants at her crotch. The video shows her hands tied and she is pushed into a Jeep with multiple jihadists. The woman is believed to be one of the remaining hostages still held in Gaza... Volunteer Yaffit Salmanson, outraged by the silence from international women’s groups in the early weeks after the terror attack, compiled a list of every piece of evidence she could find in the public domain, including the Hamas interrogations, eyewitness accounts and accounts of first responders. “The overwhelming evidence of sexual violence perpetrated on Oct. 7 should have elicited a robust response from the international community and women’s organizations,” said Salmanson. “As time passed, many of us grew increasingly outraged.”"

AG on X - "On the left is 10/7 Nova survivor Yuval Sharvit, who lost her husband that day, describing the rape she witnessed. On the right is Ryan Grim's terror propaganda and fake news site denying that there were any rapes on 10/7"

Carly Pildis on X - "I am seeing a lot of posts about Briahna Joy Gray, Aaron Mate, Ryan Grim and their horrific denial of mass rape on 10/7. I want to be really clear. It happened. I saw photos of the bodies. I was privileged to be invited to a private briefing at the Israeli embassy and shown photos that are not open to the public for privacy reasons. What I saw will haunt me to my dying day. I met with members of the Dinah Project. They are honorable, righteous, and true. There is ample evidence. There are eyewitnesses including 10/7 survivors, medics and legal experts who have seen the videos and photos. There are now living survivors coming forward. Most of the public doesn’t understand, we are talking about extreme and very particular types of sexual violence - including genital mutilation, gang rape, and rape as murder - happened simultaneously in multiple locations. That’s not coincidental - that’s coordinated. What deniers demand as evidence is not consistent with western modern rape law. The standard they are asking for is ever shifting, but would never be demanded in a court of law. Video of rape and murder? A woman who is raped and murdered cannot get justice if she is not alive to testify? Your hatred of Israeli women is so strong it endangers every woman in the world. The fight to recognize the horrors of rape in 10/7 is critical to global justice. It’s a fight for all women. Deniers are no different than holocaust deniers and should be treated with the same contempt."

Meme - Jessica Costescu @JessicaCostescu: "Columbia University's most antl-Semitle student group (CUAD) unapologetically doubles down on its "Death to America" tweet."
CU Apartheid Divest @ColumbiaBDS: "X forced us to delete our "marg bar amrika" tweet in order to gain back access to our account but the sentiment still stands"
We're still told that left wingers don't hate their countries. Of course, they'll tell us that criticising your country and holding it to a higher standard is being patriotic (thus admitting their soft bigotry of low expectations). Presumably left wingers having less national pride is also how they express their patriotism. Given how much they hate on the West and talk up the developing world, you would think that the West being evil, they should judge it by lower standards instead of holding it to higher s

tandards

dahlia kurtz ✡︎ דליה קורץ on X - "BREAKING: Remember when Toronto Police praised October 7 for bringing converts to Islam? And said it's Islamophobic to think Free Palestine hatefests support Hаmаs. Farhan Ali is the officer on the left. He’s now been arrested and charged with three counts of sexual assault, three counts of assault and four counts of mischief. Whatever you do, don’t call him out for this. It would be Islamophobic."

Ryan Dally on X - "#BREAKING The Albanese Government says they will not be releasing the recorded manifesto video by Bondi terrorists Sajid and Naveed Akram. In it, they kneel in front of the ISIS flag and explain their motivations for their attack on Bondi. I am told it completely contradicts the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, who had this to say: #Auspol"
"The Bondi massacre was not motivated by religion." Krissy Barrett - AFP Commissioner

Meme - "Australian police when you're: NOT WEARING A MASK VS. A MASS SHOOTER
*choking woman vs hiding behind police car*"

George Aikara | Facebook - "Consider a hypothetical scenario. You are heading out to a crowded event somewhere. You get absolutely solid information that there are going to be two terrorists with guns opening fire in the event. But you are also told that one person among the crowd will be an absolute legend, who will tackle one of the gunmen and disarm him. Will you go to that event? So do you understand how stupid it feels if after a terrorist attack like the one in Bondi beach, you want people to forget about the father - son duo who fired into the crowds because one absolute legend from the crowd heroically tackled one of those attackers?"

Meme - "Australia: Oct 8, 2023 "gas the Jews"
Australia: Dec 14, 2025 *Bondi Beach massacre*"

Meme - Fergie Chambers @jccfergie: "Biggest False Flag ever in Australia. Omfg this is bad
Of course I don't support the attack. It's a disaster. It's disgusting. That's why I'm calling out the spooks who perpetrated it. The legislative fallout of this on the global north is going to be devastating.
It doesn't even matter if these idiots knew they were acting on behalf of Zionist/US imperial interests or not. We know who benefits politically from this, and that's the point"
Commies love conspiracy theories when they make the West look bad

Muslim groups demand answers over Edmonton police chief's Israel trip - "Edmonton’s police chief is facing criticism — and calls for his resignation — over a recent trip to meet with policing leaders in Israel. The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) on Wednesday issued an open letter to the Edmonton Police Commission demanding answers over Chief Warren Driechel’s February visit to the country. The letter was endorsed by two dozen religious and community groups, including Edmonton’s Al Rashid Mosque... The groups said that without “satisfactory answers” about the trip, “we collectively believe that the only acceptable answer would be to ask for the resignation of the chief.”"
Time to tax Christian churches for interfering in politics!
"Diversity" means that not just your foreign policy but your ability to learn from other countries can be adversely affected

Corey Walker 🇺🇸 on X - "More people died in a 2 month span in Sudan than the entire 2 year war in Gaza, but none of these folks actually care."

Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 on X - "Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame - someone who built her entire career on opposing sexual assault - dismisses Hamas pack rape on October 7 as “propaganda”. Genuinely a truly evil person"

Tamari on X - "Dear far-leftists, What broke you so badly that you support terrorism, killing, rape, misogyny, racism, and all types of violence including sexual?"
Dr. Brian L. Cox on X - "This rhetorical question does have an answer, as frustrating as it is. The left supports terrorists because terrorists have coopted the perpetual sense of victimhood that appeals to progressives in their public messaging. Solidarity took years to cultivate, but as an ideological issue it means the left WANTS to support the cause of Palestinian "liberation" (read: Islamist terrorism by Hamas and it's backers) no matter how depraved the conduct may be."