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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • For a recent example, they said the president cannot deport people under the Alien Enemies Act and that the government needs to give people a reasonable timeline to get a lawyer and mount a legal defense.

    The federal government lost that one (for now at least… they sent the question of Alien Enemies Act back to lower courts… but not habeus corpus)

    What happens if in a couple of months, the federal government just sends some people to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act- directly ignoring the SC?

    This would fit in with the administration’s strategy. Do legally dubious things to cause chaos. Ie sending troops into LA totally unnecessarily. Why? Cause protests, legal doubts about whether or not federal government has a right to use military against domestic citizens.

    Or the military parade… or the tariffs… defunding NOAA hoping for a destructive hurricane, etc. It’s chaos for the sake of chaos. Same reason they deported the Venezuelans in the first place without habeas corpus.

    It’s a concerted and consistent effort to weaken the public institutions until they feel like enough is enough and deal the final blow. The moment where they finally roll the die and cross the Rubicon.

    The SC is the only one that has the potential to stand up to the administration. I firmly believe there will be a showdown.

    Note- The “official acts” thing has more nuance although that can of worms is not something I have time for. But when that ruling happened, I read the opinions the justices.

    Not everything counts as an official act. For example Reagan’s Iran Contra business would not have fallen under the definition.

    You or I may not agree with the SC on every ruling. But the individuals on there, for the most part, are scholars of the constitution and hold a deep respect for it. It’s why even people like Kavanaugh who was appointed by Trump will sometimes rule against his interests.

    We may disagree on some interpretations but these people genuinely believe in the rule of law. This will inevitably clash with the administration.



  • Systems that have voting mechanisms result in hive minds. It’s an inevitable result.

    1st someone is much more likely to vote something up or down depending on how positive / negative it is. So it snowballs sort of like compounding interest

    2nd the simplest most common denominator takes bubble to the top. Precisely because more people can understand and therefore vote.

    It’s why you’ll always see some screenshot of Twitter much higher than a long in depth article. Even though the article has infinitely more value.


  • not a problem. sometimes i assume everybody knows the history and context because they speak so confidently about the situation but i think a lot of people just get bits and pieces from the mainstream news

    so to summarize

    ukraine has a bit of a history with neo nazis. it goes all the way back to WW2 with famous figures like Stephen Bandera who is a sort of national hero because he was a nationalist who fought for Ukrainian independence. It just happens he also held Nazi views and collaborated with the Nazi government- even though they eventually threw him in jail because the Germans did not consider slavs “white”.

    Anyhow that isn’t to say Ukraine as a whole is Nazi or that Russia’s invasion was justified or whatever. Just some context. There’s always a bit of truth in a lie, so when Russia says they’re invading to “de-nazify” Ukraine that isn’t the real reason but there are some deep-seated undercurrents of white supremacy in Ukrainian society.

    So what about Azov Battalion? In 2014, there was an event called Euromaidan. This event was a series of protests against the then president of Ukraine which was a pro-Russian one. He was democratically elected of course and at that point, there was a split in Ukrainian society between pro-West and pro-Russia mostly divided up by geography. West Ukraine leaned towards West, East Ukraine leaned towards East. This makes sense and you would see very high rates of Russian-language speaking in the East. For example I think in Crimea like 80% of people spoke Russian as primary language even though it was ostensibly part of Ukraine.

    Euromaidan was funded and supported by far-right nationalist / neonazi groups. These protests got more violent (largely due to instigation by neonazi groups) and eventually the president had to flee the country. The legislative body then appointed a temporary government, of which about 1/3rd was comprised of leaders from these far-right groups.

    So why the hell does that matter? There’s a lot more to be said about Euromaidan but I’ll be brief (I can expand if you’d like).

    Before 2014, Ukraine was firmly inside of Russia’s sphere of influence and had been for centuries. After 2014, the new government immediately started pivoting to the West. Essentially- Ukraine declared a war of independence.

    So like 3 or 4 days after that new government appointed, Russia sent tanks into Crimea and sent covert forces into Donbas (they were popularly dubbed “little green men”)

    This essentially started a low-level proxy war. Russia annexed Crimea fairly quickly and the Donbas provinces declared independence and Ukraine was essentially in civil war with the rebels supported by Russia.

    Azov Brigade was a paramilitary organization. Remember the far-right organizations I mentioned before? The leaders of those organizations founded a militia, essentially. I’ll name some examples below and wikipedia links so you can read more

    So Andriy Biletsky, the guy I quoted above, was involved with a lot of these organizations. And in 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea and the civil war started, he and a group of other far-right leaders founded Azov Brigade.

    Also in 2014, he ran as an independent candidate for Ukraine’s congress (called Verkhovna Rada) in district 217 which is the Kiev’s district. He ended up getting 33.75% of the votes and won the election. Consider the implications. 33% of the votes in the nation’s capital were for an open white nationalist. From 2014 - 2019 he was an official member of congress from the Kiev (capital of Ukraine) district.

    Anyhow, he’s a far right nationalist. Hates Jews, wants white supremacy, etc etc. He founded and led many far-right organizations. Back to the Azov Brigade.

    On two separate occasions the US actually blocked military aid to Azov because they were a neo-nazi organization. There were also a couple votes to place them on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list, although the votes failed each time. Mostly because even though they’re Nazis they’re fighting Russia so they’re good enough.

    This group became famous because they helped defend Mariupol and the area around the Azov Sea during the fighting with Russia. This basically caused them to be very popular in Ukraine, so a lot of people volunteered to serve under Azov. The Ukrainian government realized this was a nice way to get recruits and so they actually officially integrated the Azov Brigade into the Ukrainian military. Now the leaders of Azov, which were all extremist neonazis, are now high ranking members of the Ukrainian military.

    For example Denys Prokopenko who is a Podpolkovnik (equivalent to lieutenant colonel).

    Not sure what you know about army ranks but it’s essentially the 7th highest military rank out of 39 ranks

    SO to summarize

    Azov was founded by neo-nazis like Biletsky. Biletsky was elected to Ukraine’s federal legislative body. Biletsky is an outspoken white supremacist. Azov is now an official and integrated part of the Ukrainian military.

    what are the conclusions?

    there is a strong undercurrent of neonazis in Ukraine and they have a disproportionate influence. they are relatively small if you look at the numbers, but they essentially helped overthrow the Ukrainian government in 2014 during Euromaidan, made up 1/3rd of the federal government after Euromaidan, and managed to get integrated into the military.

    Please don’t misunderstand me. Majority of Ukraine is not neonazi. They have a small group of very organized, dedicated, and well-funded far-right extremists. That group of people managed to shift the path of Ukrainian history to what we see today.

    That doesn’t mean Russia’s invasion is justified. That doesn’t mean the average Ukrainian hates Jews. Etc. I’m just going over the context and a little bit of the history. There’s so much more to talk about please let me know if you have any questions

    I think a lot of people don’t understand the history or context of this war whatsoever and just accept mainstream media’s interpretation as fact. Which is wild to me because those same people recognize others lies- for example when the New York Times writes apologist propaganda for Israel. But for whatever reason, this war in particular people have an ideological blind spot for.


  • i wouldn’t fight for the US either

    but I’ll bet you won’t find a federally elected politician that says something this blatantly nazi

    Apart from the question of purity, we must also pay attention to the full value of a Race. Ukrainians are a part (and, at that, one of the largest and most qualitative) of the European White Race. the Race-Creator of a great civilization the highest human achievements. The historic mission of our Nation in this crucial century is to lead the White Peoples of the world in the last crusade for their existence. A crusade against the sub-humanity led by the Semites

    here in the US you have to use dog whistles









  • What was fascinating, or perhaps horrific is a better word, about the article that I didn’t know about is the brief mention of “The Canary Mission”

    Here’s from their about page:

    Canary Mission documents individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond. Canary Mission investigates hatred across the entire political spectrum, including the far right, far left and anti-Israel activists.

    Canary Mission is motivated by a desire to combat the rise in anti-Semitism on college campuses. We pursue our mission by presenting the words and deeds of individuals and organizations that engage in anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry on the far right, far left and among the array of organizations that comprise the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

    Essentially they gather dossiers on private individuals that they claim are anti-semitic. So, I looked up the woman that was taken off the street like a Ukrainian draft-dodger.

    https://canarymission.org/individual/Rumeysa_Ozturk

    Rumeysa Ozturk engaged in anti-Israel activism in March 2024, in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israelis on October 7, 2023.

    Ozturk is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

    What was the anti-Israel activism, you ask? I figured it was some sort of protest. Sort of like the one in New York where they occupied a building.

    Nope

    On March 26, 2024, Ozturk co-authored an op-ed published in the Tufts Daily newspaper titled: “Try again, President Kumar: Renewing calls for Tufts to adopt March 4 TCU Senate resolutions.” The authors urged “President Kumar and the Tufts administration to meaningfully engage with and actualize the resolutions passed by the Senate.”

    The op-ed referred to the passing of anti-Israel resolutions by the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, which demanded the University “…acknowledge the Palestinian genocide, apologize for University President Sunil Kumar’s statements, disclose its investments, and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.”

    At Tufts university, the Community Union Senate (not really sure what this is. a student council or something) passed a 3/5ths majority resolution urging the president of the university to

    1. acknowledge the Palestinian genocide

    2. apologize for some statements, I don’t know what

    3. disclose its investments

    4. divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel

    She co-wrote an op-ed essentially demanding the president follow the resolution that was passed. That’s the “anti-Israel activism” she’s guilty of. I suppose that’s enough to be deported. Be careful out there guys. If you aren’t a citizen, shut up about your political views until you are. Because there are eyes out there watching everything you do. Even if you are… consider what you are doing. You may be making an enemy of a vindictive state that is willing to break the rules.

    Here’s the op-ed, in case you’re interested: https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024/03/4ftk27sm6jkj

    These resolutions were the product of meaningful debate by the Senate and represent a sincere effort to hold Israel accountable for clear violations of international law. Credible accusations against Israel include accounts of deliberate starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide.

    Lock 'em up, I guess. If you believe that Palestinian civilians have a right to life then you are a terrorist-sympathizer in this administration’s opinion.


  • Israeli people and the Palestinian people are victims of their and each other’s respective warmongering hardline governments

    Overwhelming majority of Israelis support the genocide.

    It’s tens of thousands of Palestinians that are dying, not Israelis. It’s the Palestinians that had their airport blown up decades ago. It’s Palestinians that live in an apartheid regime. It’s Palestinians that did not have the right to leave their prison. It’s Palestinians that had to deal with MK84 2,000lb American made bombs blowing up on their homes. It’s the Palestinians that are going without food and water and electricity.

    There is no equality here. This is not a both sides thing. One side is committing a genocide and the other side is being genocided. That’s it. That isn’t an excuse for Oct 7. That isn’t to mean that Hamas is blameless.

    But if you took all the crimes of the Palestinians and put it on one side of the scale and all of the crimes of the Israelis and put it on the other, there is no comparison.


  • They blockaded all of Gaza and destroyed the only airport in Gaza with bombs.

    They wouldn’t allow construction materials in. Limited lumber, steel, concrete, glass.

    In order to leave Gaza, Palestinians needed to apply for a special ID with the Israeli government and needed a “valid reason” which essentially only meant leaving for business.

    Israeli supreme court ruled in early 2000s that Gazans did not have the right to visit West Bank.

    Not even if they left through Egypt, flew to Jordan, and tried to enter from Jordan. They would be denied entry.

    Gaza and West Bank are part of the same country. Yet they did not have the right to visit family in their country.

    Virtually all legitimate organizations, including the EU and the UN considered Gaza to be occupied during the blockade.

    Israel never left. Stop spreading propaganda online. Israel never gave up control of Gaza. They controlled what went in, they controlled what came out. They controlled what buildings can be built and which buildings would be destroyed by bombs. They controlled where Gazans could fish and they controlled what items were considered “legitimate”


  • That’s true although it’s quite impressive regardless.

    First, the Florida state government is actively hostile to solar. Just a couple years back they passed a law that made it so you couldn’t sell your excess power back to the grid- a huge benefit of installing solar.

    This was at the request of FPL (Florida Power & Light) because just like in the federal government, the Florida government is essentially bought and paid for.

    So I don’t know the specifics in CA, but I’d imagine their government is more friendly to renewable energy.

    And we also need to consider CA has a little less than double Florida’s population and a little more than double Florida’s GDP.

    So the fact that Florida surpassed California’s solar usage is actually quite impressive, especially considering CA had a significant head start.

    It’s really a testament to how useful this technology is. Solar is not growing in Florida because it’s renewable or has lower carbon emissions, etc. It’s growing because it’s economically feasible.

    And I think it’s a good sign for the future of renewable energy. Also goes to show Florida is rapidly growing. Few years back we surpassed NY as the 3rd largest state (in terms of population).

    Right now Texas & Florida (and certain states in the SE like S or N Carolina) are the fastest growing states. Meanwhile states like New York, California, and Illinois are stagnating.

    In the next couple decades, Florida and Texas will eventually surpass NY and CA as the two most important states. And I predict they will both turn blue just like what happened to California.




  • The federal government’s countermeasures will come into effect at 12:01 a.m. on March 13. The 25 per cent tariffs will hit steel products worth $12.6 billion and aluminum products worth $3 billion.

    In addition, Canada is hitting another $14.2 billion worth of imported U.S. goods with fresh tariffs, totalling $29.8 billion in retaliation.

    I wasnt aware new ones from yesterday. It was for $30B, though. Combined with the last set of tariffs its $60B total out of $350B of US exports to Canada

    So about 17%. So let’s say Canads is at a conservative 3 generous 4