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It’s Worse Than It Appears

From Greg Fallis:

A few more semi-quick thoughts about the Comrade Trump indictments. First, I’m a criminal defense guy. I spent several years as a private investigator specializing in criminal defense work. So I’m in the habit of looking at criminal cases brought by the State and trying to find weaknesses. This may be the most solid indictment I’ve ever seen, largely because Trump is such a reckless, unthinking criminal.

Second, there’s a discrepancy between the number of classified documents seized during the search of Mar-a-Lago and the number of documents listed in the indictment. There are at least a dozen documents identified as top secret that were seized but not included in the indictment. The assumption is that the information in those documents was too sensitive to even be mentioned in passing in a public trial. That suggests Trump’s crimes were even worse than those included in the indictment.

Third, what isn’t being discussed (or at least isn’t being discussed enough) is the actual harm brought by Trump’s crimes. This isn’t just a matter of Trump taking classified documents he had no right to take, and lying about them, and hiding them from the FBI. It’s an actual matter of national security AND of human lives.

Having seen how cavalier Trump was with highly sensitive information provided to the US by the intelligence agencies of our allies, those allies have NO reason to ever trust us with sensitive information again. That’s especially true if Trump isn’t held accountable for this. Our credibility in the international intelligence community has turned to shit.

Beyond that, there’s the very real risk to the intelligence agents and/or assets who have risked their liberty, safety, and lives to gather and collect the information contained in those documents. We KNOW that some of the Mar-a-Lago material was classified as HCS (HUMINT Control Systems). We’re talking clandestine human intelligence, serious spy stuff–the activities, capabilities, techniques, processes, and procedures spies use. If our enemies know WHAT information we have, they can start figuring out WHERE that information came from, and WHO provided it.

We also KNOW that a few months after Trump took that material to Mar-a-Lago, there was a ‘covcom’ breach. Covcom refers to the classified covert communications systems used by the CIA. The breach exposed a number of agency assets, especially in China and Iran. A number of informants had to be extracted; others were reportedly captured and executed. US counterintelligence officials warned every CIA station about the breach. Back in October of 2021, the London Times reported the suspicion that there was a ‘super mole’ in the US government betraying CIA assets. We have no way of knowing if that ‘covcom’ breach was a result of Trump’s egregiously lackadaisical treatment of classified material. But it’s possible.

The thing is, this scandal is far worse than it appears in news coverage. The actual harm to our intelligence community is severe and will be long-lasting. The damage will be even worse if Trump isn’t held accountable.

Also? Why is there a fucking chandelier in that bathroom? I mean…why?

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You Know What’s Missing…

…from this Pantheon of multi-hued striped variations on a theme?

THE FUCKING LEATHER FLAG!

FURTHERMORE…from the dozens of images that were returned via an online search, only a very small percentage of them included it.

And while we’re on the subject, if every variation of sexual expression wants to be included in the pride flag, why not just go for this?

It’s got a full spread of colors and a nice, neutral background. Oh wait…the front color is orange which (at least in the hanky code) traditionally means “anything, anywhere, anytime.” We can’t have that. Some might be offended by the blatant implication of licentiousness. And oh yeah…that’s a caucasian hand. Can’t have that either; it will probably offend some as a symbol of white supremacy holding all others in their grip.

How about this one?

Oh wait…that one has distinct lines. Someone may feel left out and unrepresented. How about this one?

Nope, that’s not gonna fly either. Doesn’t include white, black, gray, or brown.

What about this one?

It’s got white, black, brown and pretty much every color you can think of, with no distinct lines. You should be able to find your own, unique spot in there. But remember, the human eye can only perceive about one million colors, so don’t go micromanaging your sexual identity too much otherwise there won’t be a color for you.

 

 

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Remember When the Pride Flag Made Sense?

Remember when the pride flag made sense?

It was designed by an American Artist called Gilbert Baker in 1978. It was originally an eight-stripe rainbow but was soon refined into the six-striped version that was the norm for many decades.

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At a time when gay people couldn’t hold hands with their partners on the street, this flag served a useful purpose. It meant that you could easily find gay pubs or other places where no one had to pretend to be something they weren’t. The rainbow symbol was a simple and effective concept that conveyed positivity and unity.

And then some activists came along and said hang on a minute, why are there no black or brown stripes in the rainbow flag? See, for some reason they were under the impression that the gay flag was a literal representation of the range of skin colors that are acceptable in the community. And so we got this.

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Okay then, I mean, well, there weren’t any white stripes in the original one either. But most people understood that it was symbolic with that we were all included already, irrespective of our race.

But then after this, trans activists came along and said, why aren’t we in there? So we got this one. And this was the chevron with the pink white and blue, which was based on the trans flag.

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But surely this eyesore couldn’t get any worse, could it? Well, it could, because activists were then concerned that it was excluding intersex people, so they added this symbol.

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Okay, it’s getting a bit out of control now. But then last year, some bright spark added a red umbrella to represent sex workers.

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Now, if you thought this was getting out of hand, last year then we had Microsoft. They designed a new version to incorporate all the other multiple sexualities and genders that have been invented over the past few years. Let’s have a look at that.

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I mean, what the hell is it? It looks like a space ship going at warp speed through a Care Bear’s bum hole.

Identity politics in its current form is an ever expanding beast. Pride used to be just one day. Then it was a month. And now Pride events have been scheduled all the way from March through to September. As one sign in a shoe shop pointed out Pride never stops. If only it would.

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The initialism as well that’s expanded too. First we had LGB, and then it became LGBT, then LGBTQ, then LGBTQIA. The Canadian government currently favors 2SLGBTQIA+, although even its prime minister finds that a bit of a mouthful.

Similarly, Pride started out as an important protest against injustice. When the original Pride March took place in London in 1972, homosexuality had only been legal for five years, and the prospect of gay marriage or even an equal age of consent, seemed impossible. Only 2000 people turned up to these protests.

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But by contrast, the Pride parade in London in 2022 attracted over a million. And of course, most of those people aren’t even gay. It’s become a family day out, a huge party.

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And what’s so wrong with that, you might ask. And that’s a fair question. If people are celebrating and having a good time, that’s great. Except that’s not necessarily what’s going. Increasingly, gay people no longer feel welcome at Pride. I spoke to a representative from a lesbian group on this show last year who had been moved along by police when trying to protest at Pride. But isn’t Pride meant to be a protest, not a party? What’s going on?

The answer is that pride has been hijacked not once but twice.

First by avaricious multi-billion dollar corporations who are able to pose as virtuous by posting the pride flag. Only, they don’t do it in the branches in countries where homosexuality is still illegal. After all, you wouldn’t want to fly the flag anywhere which might actually make a difference.

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I’m old enough to remember that corporations were certainly not celebrating Pride quite so openly before section 28 was repealed in 2003, or before the age of consent was equalized in 2001, or before the decriminalization of homosexuality in Scotland in 1980. So, these corporations’ commitment to LGBT rights apparently only manifests itself when it’s likely to make them a profit.

And then there’s the second hijacking. See, whereas the original Pride was about agitating for equal rights for gay people, it’s now been taken over by activists who are obsessed with group identity and who believe that gender is more important than sex.

That’s why the British library, to celebrate the advent of pride month this week, posted a thread on Twitter about the sex life of fish, and how some species have been known to change from male to female.

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I mean, what’s that got to do with Pride? Why have Librarians seemingly forgotten that human beings aren’t the same as fish? Now, they’ve since deleted those tweets, because well, you know they’re bonkers. And although we might laugh at that kind of nonsense, the ideology it promotes is actually rather sinister, particularly for gay people.

See, in her book, “Time to Think” by Hannah Barnes, she found that between 80 and 90% of adolescents referred to the Tavistock pediatric gender clinic were same-sex attracted. Studies have long confirmed a correlation between gender non-conformity in youth, and homosexuality in later life. At the Tavistock, staff used to joke that “soon there would be no gay people left.” Somehow the medicalization and sterilization of gay people has been reframed as progressive.

Even Stonewall, the UK’s foremost LGBT charity has redefined the word “homosexual” on its website and promotional materials to mean “same gender attracted.” Its CEO, Nancy Kelly, has claimed that women who exclude trans people from their dating pool are akin to sexual racists. There’s been an intense resurgence of old homophobic tropes online from gender ideologues that believe that “genital preferences are transphobic” and that lesbians who don’t include men in their dating pool must be suffering from trauma.

Gay rights were secured by recognizing that a minority of people are instinctively attracted to members of their own sex. And the new ideology of gender identity rejects this notion entirely, and actively shames gay people for their orientation.

So, when you see this flag, try to understand that many gay people consider it to be a symbol of opposition to gay rights, Women who are concerned about their rights consider it a symbol of misogyny, because it promotes an ideology that denies the reality of sex-based oppression, and yet most people, gay people included, haven’t even noticed this transition from the pro-gay rainbow flag to this anti-gay imposter.

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And that’s because it all happened so quickly, and activists are playing on good intentions of a public who don’t want to be seen to be on the wrong side of history. Well, I would suggest that upholding the rights of women and gay people and protecting gender non-conforming children and opposing the hypocrisy of corporations is the truly progressive approach.

Anyone who spends any time on social media would have seen that homophobia is clearly on the rise. It’s coming from the reactionary elements of the right, who are now holding gay people responsible for sexualized drag shows for children, and the proliferation of sexually explicit books in school libraries. But of course, they’ve fallen for the trick. This isn’t gay people. That’s gender ideologues who’ve convinced everyone that the LGBTQIA+ movement is one big happy family, when it isn’t.

And we know this because homophobia is also on the rise among gender ideologues themselves, who frequently go online to tell gay people to kill themselves. Some of them have said that they celebrate AIDS as a good thing. And this isn’t just a few mad activists, there are thousands of examples of this if you’ve got the stomach to look them up.

So whether it’s coming from those who consider themselves right wing or left-wing, anti-gay sentiments are back in fashion. And the best way to combat this is to remind everyone that that Progress Pride flag, and the corporate orgy that accompanies it, is not in the interests of gay people.

And if it’s too late to reclaim the original Pride flag, we can at least ditch the new one.

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Source: twitter.com

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Book of the Day

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

    • Amazon: 4.2
    • Goodreads: 3.95

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is poetic. The title, Fahrenheit 451 symbolizes the temperature at which paper burns. This minor detail holds the premise of this dystopian novel.

Guy Montag is a fireman in a world where literature is in danger of extinction. Television is glorified and books are the source of all unhappiness and chaos. Traditionally speaking firemen usually banish fire, but in Montag’s society, firemen start fires to burn books. Every printed book, as well as the house in which they are concealed in, must be obliterated.  Escorted by helicopters, and equipped with deadly hypodermic, The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department takes their job lethally serious.  They are ready to hunt down any individual who defies the rules to conserve and read books.

Back at home, Montag has a standard life. He has a wife named, Mildred, who is obsessed with television. He retreated home with a clear mind and never questions his actions. One day he meets an interesting young neighbor, Clarisse. She becomes responsible for introducing him to a time, where books were vital: the past and the future. She teaches him the significance of ideas in books, as opposed to the senseless act of watching television. This is where Bradbury shines. His commentary on the censorship of literature is straightforward but unique. In Montag’s world trivial information is accepted, whereas knowledge and ideas are an evil. Fire Captain Beatty explains it best:

“Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs…. Don’t give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.”

Ultimately Montag questions his actions and profession when his wife puts herself in danger and Clarisse mysteriously disappears. He does the unthinkable: he begins to hide books.

The beauty of Bradbury’s prose is found within the questions he indirectly raises: Why is literature important? is it of any danger? How does it influence our minds?

Some may say that Fahrenheit 451 is outdated, but the truth is that uttering such statement is narrow-minded. Fahrenheit 451 is less about how technology is infiltrating our lives, but more about Western society’s blind faith in the media and government. The symbolism in this book is pure and grandiose. Reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, Bradbury created a world where the mind is caged. No original ideas are consumed or fed; society is dormant and submissive. Ray Bradbury’s vision is prophetic and poetically satirical as well as melancholic.

If you are a lover of literature, this book will puncture your heart. It is not far from the truth, which can be distressing at moments. Unlike other dystopian societies in literature, Bradbury’s novel has become a historical act; it is one of the truer book in science fiction and life.

Read excerpts from the book here!

Source: theliteraryjournals

Farenheit 451 reached in and tore at my heart when I happened upon the 1966 film adaptation on television in early 70s. It prompted me to seek out the novel, which then led me to other dystopian narratives like 1984 and Animal Farm. All were potent reminders of what happens when society turns against its own people—and eerily prophetic of the times we currently find ourselves in. As I’ve written many times before, this is not the future I envisioned when I was a teenager.

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