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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 10 months

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By: Wilfred Reilly

Published: Jun 28, 2023

Former president Barack Obama no longer believes that non-white Americans can be successful in the US.

I am being a bit glib, but only a bit. During a podcast interview last week with former Democratic Party apparatchik David Axelrod, Obama criticised Tim Scott, black Republican senator for South Carolina and 2024 presidential candidate. Scott is well-known for his optimism and belief in the American Dream, previously stating that ‘I know America is a land of opportunity, not a land of oppression’. Taking a clear swipe at Scott, Obama said: ‘I think there’s a long history of African American or other minority candidates within the Republican Party who will validate America and say, “Everything’s great, and we can make it”.’

According to Obama, that belief is untrue. Noting several elements of America’s racist past, Obama declared: ‘We can’t just ignore all that and pretend as if everything’s equal and fair. We actually have to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.’ Before signing off from the show, he went on to describe black and other ethnic minorities as ‘rightly sceptical’ of positive racial messages like those of Senator Scott.

Beyond the sheer bizarreness of a former national leader describing his own country as a racist hole, Obama is just plain wrong. Evidence shows that it is simply not true that non-white Americans can’t make it in the US.

This claim is quickly disproven by a look at the Census Bureau’s lists of household income by ethnicity. The wealthiest population group in the US is not white Americans, but rather Indian Americans. This group brings in a median household income of $142,000 annually, in comparison to just under $75,000 for Caucasians. The second-richest group is Taiwanese Americans, who pull down $119,000 per year for each household. In fact, most of the top 10 highest-earning groups (and all of those consistently averaging six figures per year) are racial minorities – Indians, the Taiwanese, Filipinos ($101,000), Pakistanis ($102,000), Sri Lankans ($97,000), Iranians ($96,000) and Chinese Americans ($93,000).

In contrast, one of the poorer groups listed is white Appalachian Americans, at $50,000 per home per year. On the other hand, black immigrants tend to do fairly well, with the Guyanese, Ghanaians, Barbadians, Trinidadians and Nigerians all coming in at above the $70,000 per year mark. Jamaicans ($66,000) and other West Indians ($64,000) also come close. Nigerian immigrants are one of the best-educated groups in the US, ahead of both Asian and white Americans.

African Americans do quite a bit worse. However, the median black household income as of 2021 – an Appalachia-like $47,000 – still ranks higher than the median household incomes for the UK, Austria and Italy. In any case, the high earnings of African and Caribbean immigrants demonstrate that African Americans’ low performance cannot be due to racism. Rather, it is largely down to the fact that black households tend to have fewer people in them.

The black single-motherhood / father-absence rate, at least at the time of birth, currently sits at a staggering 77 per cent. Simply put, a family consisting of a single mother and infant will earn less lucre than one that includes a husband, wife and employed teenagers. While this situation is far from ideal, there are still many individual black Americans, whether they come from stable families or not, who are extremely successful by any global or historical standard. Tim Scott was himself born into a poor, single-parent household and yet nonetheless managed to rise to the position of senator.

Obama’s ‘cannot succeed’ claim is strange given the reality of modern America, and given his own background and path through life. Simply put, Obama is not a descendant of American slaves. His mother was an upper-middle-class white woman from Kansas and his father was a prominent Kenyan economist. Obama grew up primarily in well-off enclaves, such as in upscale districts of Hawaii’s Honolulu and Indonesia’s Jakarta. Young Obama was surrounded by other wealthy non-white groups and expats. While this might be a little politically incorrect to say out loud, watching him try to explain the US black experience to Scott, a scion of the Carolina cotton country, borders on the surreal.

Interestingly, attitudes like Obama’s (although he didn’t always talk like this) seem to be getting more common among first- and second-generation minority immigrants to the US. This is despite the fact that most of these people have never had a ‘back of the bus’ experience in their lives. To give one typical example, writer and race activist Saira Rao started a fracas on Twitter last week by saying:

‘White people love to say “not everything is about race”. This from the people who committed genocide of Indigenous people, genocide and enslavement of African people. Those behind the Chinese Exclusion Act, Operation Wetback and the Muslim ban. You made everything about racism.’

The remarkable thing about this claim is that even those events on Rao’s list that did happen (US black genocide and a national ‘Muslim ban’ are simply made up) will not have impacted her in any way. Rao is a second-generation Indian American. Only the Exclusion Act might have been potentially relevant to a legal immigrant from Asia. And even then, the act was passed in 1882 and formally repealed 80 years ago. Attitudes like Rao’s are part of a broader trend of post-1965 migrants making embarrassing attempts to link themselves to historical slavery or Jim Crow.

However silly they may sound, the beliefs held by the likes of Obama and Rao can have serious negative impacts. Imagine being told for almost all your life that you are unlikely to succeed. That every social interaction is rigged against you. That the people who seem like your closest football and lunchroom buddies are likely liars and secret racists. How might this affect you?

Hard data give a clear answer. A 2021 study found that these demoralising takes have a real, measurable impact on people. Simply reading a typical despairing passage about ‘systemic racism’ from woke authors like Ta-Nehisi Coates resulted ‘in a significant, 15-point drop in black respondents’ belief that they have control over their lives’. Worse still, we now teach precisely these ideas in schools, colleges and workplaces across the US, often in mandatory classes or training.

At the heart of this discussion is what Thomas Sowell once called ‘a conflict of visions’. The US faces a choice about what to tell new and aspiring citizens about our society. Are we a flawed but ultimately good country, where people of all colours and persuasions can thrive? Or is the US a genocidal racial-caste state, which should be constantly trying to atone for its historical sins?

Let us sincerely hope that we choose to embrace the first vision over the second.

Wilfred Reilly is a spiked columnist and the author of Taboo: 10 Facts You Can’t Talk About, published by Regnery. Follow him on Twitter: @wil_da_beast630

Remind me again... in which direction do people migrate, as far as western countries are concerned? To or from? /s

#Wilfred Reilly #Barack Obama #systemic racism #victimhood culture #victimhood complex #victimhood #wokeism #woke #cult of woke #wokeness #wokeness as religion #antiracism as religion #antiracism #religion is a mental illness

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xtruss · 9 months

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Infographic: It’s Actually Common to Indict Leaders of Democracies

Trump is just one of 78 political leaders in democratic nations who have faced criminal charges since the year 2000.

— July 18, 2023 | By Ashley Ahn and Brawley Benson | Foreign Policy

A photo collage illustration shows indicted leaders from around the world including U.S. President Donald Trump 🇺🇸, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi 🇮🇹, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan 🇵🇰, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 🇮🇱, South African President Jacob Zuma 🇿🇦, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner 🇦🇷 , and South Korean President Park Geun-hye 🇰🇷. Transparent handcuffs swing in the background against a tick-mark lineup texture. Jon Benedict Illustration For Foreign Policy/Getty Images

When Donald Trump became the first former United States president to face federal criminal charges on June 9, it set the scene for a legal battle that could test the U.S. judicial and political systems. The charges—37 in total—are related to Trump’s storage of highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

While Trump has pleaded not guilty, the American public will closely follow his case to see what it reveals about America’s ability to hold its most powerful citizens to account. Trump is already claiming the indictment is a “witch hunt” and a “hoax” by the Biden administration.

“They are also going after me as RETRIBUTION for the Republicans in Congress going after them,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, days before the indictment. “The difference is, they have created major crimes, I have created none!”

Many Republicans are similarly questioning the motivation and timing of the indictment release. Sen. Ted Cruz called it “political persecution,” while former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker called it the “stuff of a banana republic.”

But despite claims that prosecuting Trump means a slide into autocracy, the indictment and conviction of former leaders in democratic and semi-democratic countries around the world is, in fact, quite common.

A Foreign Policy analysis found that at least 78 leaders in 53 democratic or semi-democratic countries—the vast majority of which have successfully held democratic elections following the indictments—have been indicted since 2000. Countries and territories with a “partly free” or “free” score on Freedom House’s global freedom ranking, a total of 143, were included in this analysis.

Where Leaders Have Been Indicted Since 2000. A world map shows the 53 free or partly free countries where leaders have been prosecuted for crimes since 2000. Included are the United States (Donald Trump), France, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, and dozens of other democracies.

Note: Freedom House gives a total of 210 countries and territories a score of 0 to 100 based on their political rights and civil liberties scores, which examine freedom of expression, electoral process, government functionality, and more. The combination of these two scores determines a status of free, partly free, or not free.

Some of the richest and most influential nations in the world have not only indicted but convicted former leaders on serious charges. In the past five years alone, South Korea has convicted two of its former presidents on corruption charges: Lee Myung-bak, who served as president from 2008 to 2013, and his successor, Park Geun-hye, who was impeached in 2017. Both have since been pardoned by sitting presidents while serving their approximately two-decade-long sentences.

South Korea suffers from a history of collusion and corruption between politicians and giant firms, known as chaebol. This old way of doing business helped put two other Korean leaders behind bars just before the turn of the century, bringing the tally of Korean leaders convicted to four in the past 30 years.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was similarly found guilty of bribery in 2021 and sentenced to three years in jail. Two of those years were suspended, and the remaining year will be served under house arrest as upheld by a Parisian court this May. And just last year, former President of Bolivia Jeanine Añez—who stepped forward as a proposed interim president in 2019 following the resignation of her predecessor, Evo Morales—was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She was accused of illegally taking over the presidency.

Trump’s criminal cases are unlikely to fall to the same political pressures that exonerated him in his two prior impeachment trials, but if acquitted, he wouldn’t be the first. Charismatic, recently deceased Italian statesman Silvio Berlusconi had a storied passage through his home country’s volatile judicial system. He was only convicted once in more than 30 court cases and acquitted in 10 for charges ranging from bribery to paying for sex with a minor. Two former Taiwanese presidents, Lee Teng-hui and Ma Ying-jeou, were also acquitted of embezzlement in 2013 and leaking confidential information in 2019, respectively.

The International Criminal Court (ICC)—a legal institution that lacks any enforcement mechanisms of its own—has charged numerous leaders with crimes, for which they’ve been prosecuted in the organization’s judicial divisions. Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta and the Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo both faced ICC charges of crimes against humanity; Kenyatta’s charges—initiated before he was president—were dropped, while Gbagbo was acquitted. Gbagbo’s charges are related to a five-month period of chaos and violence following his loss in the country’s 2010 presidential election.

Prosecutions Can Destabilize Democracies…

Police fire tear gas toward supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan during a protest against his arrest in Karachi on May 9, 2023. Asif Hassan/AFP Via Getty Images

To be sure, prosecuting a former leader can also ignite political tensions and destabilize domestic politics. One of the most contemporary examples is Israel, where the charges of corruption against Benjamin Netanyahu sparked a political crisis in 2019 that continues to run its course. It resulted in a tumultuous power swing that saw five elections in four years with Netanyahu returning as prime minister in December 2022 despite his legal troubles. It’s unclear whether he’ll be found guilty, or whether the courts could enforce a guilty verdict.

Now back in power, Netanyahu has proposed a sweeping judicial overhaul that would give him final say over judge appointments and his government the power to overturn Supreme Court decisions. The proposal led to mass protests this year, and opponents call it a conflict of interest as Netanyahu remains a criminal defendant.

Former leaders have also taken extreme measures to avoid serving time after conviction, as several have done in El Salvador. Since a brutal civil war that ended in the 1990s, many of the country’s presidents have faced legal troubles, often corruption. Two presidents, Mauricio Funes and Salvador Sánchez Cerén, both fled to Nicaragua, where they have avoided jail time. Francisco Flores Pérez, president in the early 2000s, died awaiting trial in 2016. The only leader of the country who has served a sentence since 2000 is Antonio Saca—again, on corruption charges.

And in countries that have yet to establish a strong democracy and where the military wields considerable power, political leaders who have fallen out of favor with the army are more vulnerable to indictments and imprisonment. A slew of prime ministers has been either indicted or imprisoned in Pakistan, the latest being cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan. Khan’s brief arrest in May sparked nationwide protests and a more intense military crackdown on other party leaders ahead of general elections this fall.

…or Help Restore Democratic Legitimacy.

A protester shouts slogans in front of a caricature of South Korean President Park Geun-hye during a rally urging her impeachment in Seoul on December 7, 2016. Jung Yeon-Je/AFP Via Getty Images

But the indictments of leaders are not always a bad thing for democracies. They can help restore democratic legitimacy and serve as a way to reckon with past injustices from dictatorial regimes, as seen in the trials of former Argentine presidents Jorge Rafael Videla and Reynaldo Bignone and former Uruguayan presidents Juan María Bordaberry and Gregorio Conrado Álvarez. Similarly in South Korea, the imprisonments of military dictator Chun Doo-hwan and former President Roh Tae-woo for their part in the fatal crackdown of the 1980 pro-democracy Gwangju Uprising served as a victory for the young democracy.

There is no blueprint for how the Trump cases will play out. In some settings, the trial of a former president has been a major test for democracy, while in others it’s demonstrated the independence of judicial institutions. One thing is certain: Whatever happens in the United States will likely do more to cement opinions of the country’s institutions rather than of the former president himself.

— Editing and fact-checking by James Palmer and Drew Gorman. Graphics and Creative Direction by Lori Kelley. Photo research by Brooks Robinson.

#Infographic #The World 🌎#Indicted World’s Leaders #Democracies #Democratic Nations #Political Leaders #Criminal Charges #Foreign Policy #Ashley Ahn | Brawley Benson

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mariacallous · 10 months

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The U.S. military retreated from Afghanistan two years ago, leaving behind weapons that are now turning up in far-flung trouble spots where terrorists are fighting and killing America’s allies. In markets that have sprung up across the southern and eastern badlands, where the hottest fighting of the war took place, merchants with Taliban permits are offering U.S.-made automatic assault rifles and handguns for sale alongside hardware from Russia, Pakistan, China, Turkey, and Austria. Business, like terrorism, is thriving.

Under weather-beaten tarps slung across wooden poles, in isolated strip malls deep in the desert, or laid out on dusty carpets along bumpy tracks off the major highways, these ad hoc weapons bazaars are offering rockets and bombs, shoulder-fired grenade launchers, night vision goggles, sniper rifles and scopes, and ammunition. The wares are priced in afghanis, rupees, and dollars; recent price increases reflect the business acumen of one of the world’s richest criminal cartels that has sought to keep tight control on supply.

Left-behind American assault rifles command a premium: an M4 in good condition can fetch up to $2,400, a status symbol with as much cachet in the Himalayan tribal belt as a luxury handbag in Manhattan. In contrast, a Pakistan-made knock-off of an AK-47, the world’s most ubiquitous killing machine, can go for as little as $130.

It’s a new arms race—and it’s threatening global security. The Taliban, allies of if not quite affiliates of al Qaeda, are at the center of a global smuggling web that earns billions of dollars from heroin and meth. Now they appear to be funneling small arms to like-minded extremists inspired by their victory, not least next door. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Pakistan’s torn northwest tribal regions and separatists in restive Balochistan are using made-in-America weapons to kill police and soldiers in an escalating war against the Pakistani state.

Dramatic TTP videos show apparent attacks on Pakistani police and army outposts by militants armed with American weapons and using night vision and thermal sights, which Afghan Peace Watch said in a new report are “highly sought-after accessories supplied to Afghan Special Forces.” The report quotes a Taliban fighter in Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan, as saying night vision items sell for $500 to $1,000.

“The proliferation of such arms has not only made it difficult to combat terror networks regionally, the night vision equipment, in particular, is used to target Pakistani security personnel and police on a daily basis,” said Iftikhar Firdous, editor of the Khorasan Diary, an independent organization based in Pakistan that monitors non-state groups.

U.S. assault weapons have reportedly been used in recent attacks by non-state groups in Kashmir, bitterly divided between India and Pakistan, and in Israel’s Gaza Strip. Yasin Zia, formerly a general with the Afghan Army and now leading the opposition Afghanistan Freedom Front, said weapons are also likely going to TTP operatives relocated, in a deal between the Taliban and Pakistan, to northern Afghanistan. “They won’t be welcome and will need to defend themselves” against hostile locals, Zia said.

For the Taliban, who’ve made so much money from other illicit trades, arms deals are just another source of income: The Taliban likely control and tax the new black market, said Asfandyar Mir, a South Asia expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace. And as the Taliban (and allied terrorist groups) seek new recruits, few things talk more eloquently than fancy, deadly kit.

The ubiquitous AK-47 flooded into the Afghan mujahideen for their 1979-1989 war against the Soviets. Easy to maintain, easy to use, lethal, and manufactured more widely than any other gun in history, the AK-47 became the symbol of insurgents everywhere. But it’s still a low-end weapon. Terrorists who are moving on up trade up. TTP and Islamic State propaganda shows “a general trend toward the gradual replacement of Kalashnikov rifles with NATO weapons,” Firdous said. Militants are shown “armed with M24 sniper rifles; M4 carbines with Trijicon ACOG scopes; M16A4 rifles with thermal scopes; M249 machine guns, AMD-65 rifles, M4A1 carbines, and M16A2/A4 assault rifles,” he said.

Thanks to both American largesse and Taliban smuggling networks, those arms are going everywhere. Experts say the same routes that proffer drugs, gems, and assorted other contraband get weapons to Islamist terrorists like al-Shabab in sub-Saharan Africa and Islamic State affiliates in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and the same Persian Gulf countries that produced Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda in the first place. Apart from Afghanistan, where the insurgency ended in victory in August 2021, the number of people killed in terrorist attacks is rising, according to the Global Terrorism Index. The Taliban, who funded their war with drugs and other contraband, continue to reap the profits of death.

And the American largesse that created the Taliban’s boon in the first place was staggering. The U.S. Department of Defense estimated that left-behind stockpiles of arms and vehicles were worth $7.12 billion of the $18.6 billion spent from 2002 on arming the Afghan security forces. “This included roughly 600,000 weapons of all calibers, nearly 300 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, over 80,000 vehicles of several models, communications equipment, and other advanced materiel such as night vision goggles and biometric systems,” according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). After the military exit in the summer of 2021, SIGAR quoted a Taliban official as saying, “The group took possession of more than 300,000 light arms, 26,000 heavy weapons, and about 61,000 military vehicles.” That’s on top of what they already had.

Much of this could have been predicted. U.S. material was used by the Taliban for years before the republic collapsed, sold by corrupt, impoverished, or demoralized Afghan forces. The Pentagon never got a handle on exactly what went where.

“What happened in Afghanistan is probably the largest case of diversion in modern history, with the huge quantities of weapons and ammunition that the Taliban received,” Justine Fleischner, a war and weapons expert and head of research at Afghan Peace Watch, told Foreign Policy. “You had a system whereby, of course they know what went into Afghanistan, but there’s no record of what was used, what was broken, what was lost, what needed to be repaired, what was in service, what was out of service. Diversion was happening for the entirety of the U.S. engagement in Afghanistan.”

Research by Afghan Peace Watch and the Small Arms Survey found that weapons markets are proliferating in southern and eastern Afghanistan and in neighboring Pakistan, offering weapons and other equipment from the Afghan battlefield. Clandestine factories are churning out counterfeit guns, like AK-47s. Workshops set up with U.S. funding are back in business, servicing small arms and light weapons as U.S.-trained specialists are invited back to work for the Taliban regime, said Habib Khan Totakhil, Afghan Peace Watch’s founder. Efforts to disarm civilians and demobbed Taliban supporters have fizzled, as it’s just too difficult to keep track of them, and many former fighters regard their guns as their own, rather than the state’s.

The Taliban, Firdous said, have ostensibly banned weapons exports, with much the same energy as it has tackled opium production. The clampdown has led to tighter supply and higher prices—but little more.

“There is much evidence to suggest that these weapons will continue to flow from Afghanistan, making it more difficult for nation-states to combat non-state actors,” Firdous said.

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leepace71 · 4 years

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Amazing women/girls who have changed the world:

1.Rosie The Riveter: Rosie the Riveter was a cultural icon of World War II, representing the women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II. 2. Michele Obama: The first African American first lady of the United States Of America. She energized the White House and promoted health & equality during her husbands administration. 3. Marie Curie: Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, in Physics, and with her later win, in Chemistry, she became the first person to claim Nobel honors twice. 4. Oprah Winfrey: Became one of the richest, most popular and most influential talk show hosts in television history. She used her influence to fight for girls rights including opening a girls school in Africa. 5. Susan B Anthony: Susan B Anthony became an advocate for women’s suffrage, women’s property rights, and the abolition of slavery. 6. Malala Yousafzai: Is a Pakistani advocate for girls education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. In October 2012, a gunman shot her and two other girls as they were coming home from school. She fought on and became a symbol of anti Taliban women’s rights. 7. Gabby Giffords: Was an American politician and gun control advocate who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives. She and eighteen others were shot during a constituent meeting held in a supermarket parking lot. Giffords was critically wounded but survived and continues to fight for gun control. 8. Dr. Mae Jemison: An American physician, is the first African American female astronaut. She became the first African American woman in space as a science mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. 9. Anne Frank: Annelies “Anne” Marie Frank was a writer and one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. While Anne and her family hid in an annex for two years while the Nazi’s ravaged Germany, Anne kept a faithful diary of her thoughts and experiences during that time. Eventually her family was caught and Anne was sent to Bergen-Belsen camp where she eventually died. Her diary was later published by her father Otto who was the only member of his family to survive the camps and Anne became the voice of the Holocaust. 10. Rosa Parks: Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was a civil rights activist who refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Its success launched nationwide efforts to end racial segregation of public facilities.

Happy International Women’s Day!

#rosie the riveter #michelle obama #marie curie #oprah winfrey #susan b anthony #malala yousafzai #gabby giffords #dr. mae jemison #anne frank #rosa parks #international women's day

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mcnuggyy · 4 years

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last anon again, if you have the energy i was wondering how you think some of these issues could have been avoided? do you think just posting/asking questions on social media beforehand to get fan feedback could've solved it? i'd fear that white fans might drown out the conversation. i'd like to be a content creator and i'd like to avoid doing white lib shit.

Heya anon! Well there’s many ways that content creators can avoid problems like these, and of course it also depends on your platform, how big it is, your resources, media presence, etc etc. And you might find that some of these don’t work at all for you but work for others! But here’s some of the concepts me and my own friends have talked about on how to be good allies as content creators.

1) This one is the first and most important in my opinion but, have non-white friends!!!!! This shaped a big part of my life and the way I tell stories and design characters and overall how i interact with the world around me. It kind of helps that I grew up in a poor mexican household and the schools I went to weren’t “technically” the richest, but they were still fantastic schools with a wideee variety of students. I loved my high school for its diversity, and all the friends i made there still inspire some of my character designs today! Every chance I get I make a Filipino char design as a shoutout to my old best friend, all the sweet nerdy black friends I had, all my funny latino friends, my pakistani friend, etc. etc. ((but what’s also important is that you’re not just friends because of these factors, genuinely get to know them and love them, have non-white friends, and LOVE them!!!!)) You’ll be introduced to new culture, music, ideas, etc! AND you’ll have a new friend <3 so if you notice that all your current friends are really only white, think about who it is you’re talking to and WHY is it the case? Is it simply a coincidence, or is something holding you back? etc. etc.

2) This is a bit easier if you have a smaller following like I do, but engage with your supporters!! and not just your white supporters!! This is a good time to see okay, what does my fan base look like? Am I alienating certain people? How come? What are the people I attract like, and are they the kind of people I imagined as my audience? etc. etc.

3) Which brings me to 3. If you do have a bigger audience, It might not be easy to screen this but maybe it’s worth a try to do polling or surveys? Like “Hey, we would love to hear feedback on x,y,z, from our Filipino and Filipino-American supporters! etc. etc.” This could be complicating because ya know the internet, but I think it’s worth a shot! And if not well...

4) If you’re big enough, well now it’s time to start HIRING artists, writers, and creatives of color. In the industry this can change everything. And make sure you don’t just have a token employee, hire a variety of folks and let them take charge and offer up ideas etc! Like for the GN for example, (I think it’s called sensitivity testing or something like that??) why not hire a few POC to read ur comic, look at the art work,, even better if it’s people who have listened to the podcast, but certainly not required! And you can have different folks check in along the whole comic process!! It would be a lot of work and time but guess what, If you really believe in making work that is truly inclusive, well it’s time to start listening to what POC have to say!

5) Listen to feedback from fans of color!!!! I’ve heard some unfortunate things with Travis blocking people who bring up certain issues on his twitter and that is... not great. When this happens to me (tho again I am a much smaller creator) I take the time to dm these people, talk with them, discuss. And often we both come out of it with a new understanding and appreciation <3 Like if you take the time to seriously listen to fans of color and hear them out well? good things happen!!! Don’t let your fear of offending others, or “starting drama” keep you from taking the opportunity to learn and grow from your mistakes. Privileges exist, I certainly have them as a white passing mestizo, so it’s always important to acknowledge them and use them to help out others!! The McElroys have the opportunity to not only educate themselves but their white listeners, and for the most part they’ve done that okay!! (especially Sydnee with her BLM discussions on Sawbones) But they are in no way perfect. And I think they still have a lot of listening to do.

But yeah!! I hope this helps a bit!! I’m sure there’s more ways but again, I think the most important and impactful thing is having friends from a variety of cultures and backgrounds! If all your friends are like... super rich, 98% white, and famous people... well that’s going to affect the way you think about certain groups... You’ll get stuck in an unavoidable circle jerk and well... ya know what happens next...

#replies #callate guero #hope this helps aaa #sorry it got kinda long lmaoo #Anonymous

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menalez · 4 years

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I mean at least a bi woman/lesbian smashing her female relatives can't create mutant incest babies? But also just WHAT. The. Fuck. I... had no idea that was a thing in the Middle East, ty for the info.

the thing is,, so many people here marry their first cousins! like that’s normal in the Middle East, at least in the gulf. it’s also normal in places like Pakistan. its most common among rich & royal families but still 💀 in my senior year i went to this rly expensive rich kids school which was a free & public school for US military kids (why i ended up having to go there is a whole other story) and i met this guy whose parents are both members of one of the richest families in the region and *he* told me that he’s got a lot of deformities and issues *because* his parents are first cousins and his grandparents etc before that were all first cousins as well 😬😬 my teacher back then is a Pakistani-american and she’d constantly bang on & on about how she’s married to her first cousin as well. it’s... not great.

#anonymous

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newstfionline · 5 years

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Headlines

Scientists Confirm July Set New Global Heat Record (AP) July was the hottest month measured on Earth since records began in 1880, the latest in a long line of peaks that scientists say backs up predictions for man-made climate change.

Americans skipping vacation because of cost (Bloomberg) Nearly half of Americans (42%) have skipped a vacation this past year because of cost, according to a new Bankrate survey cited by Bloomberg. And a third of those surveyed consider themselves less able to afford a vacation now compared to five years ago. It’s not just vacations, either: More than two-thirds of adults have missed out on a recreational activity because of cost. Americans are “crippled by debt and seeing signs of a slowing economy,” notes Bloomberg.

Flooded Mississippi a threat as hurricane season heats up (AP) The river that drains much of the flood-soaked United States is still running higher than normal, menacing New Orleans in multiple ways just as the hurricane season intensifies. For months now, a massive volume of water has been pushing against the levees keeping a city mostly below sea level from being inundated. The Mississippi River ran past New Orleans at more than 11 feet (3.4 meters) above sea level for a record 292 days, dropping below that height only Monday.

Mexico Finds 65 Lost Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan Migrants (AP) Mexican authorities say federal police found 65 severely dehydrated and hungry migrants from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka wandering on a highway in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.

Cuban Government Imposes Price Controls as It Seeks to Keep Lid on Inflation (Reuters) Communist-run Cuba has imposed price controls on goods and services ranging from lemons and pork to haircuts and taxi fares in what it says is an effort to tame inflation as it increases state wages and pensions.

Gibraltar releases Iran supertanker that US sought to seize (AP) The British overseas territory of Gibraltar released a seized Iranian supertanker Thursday over last-minute objections from the U.S., potentially easing tensions between London and Tehran, which still holds a British-flagged vessel. Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the U.S. could still begin a new legal procedure for seizing the Grace 1, but that provisions under the European Union’s sanctions regulations were ending Thursday after the Iranian government assured him in writing that the ship will not send its 2.1 million barrels of crude to a sanctioned entity in Syria.

India’s Modi defends Kashmir policy amid clash with Pakistan (AP) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday used an Independence Day speech to defend his decision to strip Kashmir of its special status as about 7 million residents of the disputed region endured an unprecedented security lockdown and communications blackout for an 11th day. Pakistan’s security forces, meanwhile, said “unprovoked firing” by India along the militarized Line of Control in the region killed three Pakistani soldiers and two civilians in separate incidents. Pakistan said it returned fire, killing five Indian soldiers. The Indian Army said there were no Indian casualties.

Indian business ties underpin muted Arab response to Kashmir (AP) Gulf Arab countries have remained mostly silent as India’s government moved to strip Indian-administered Kashmir of its limited autonomy, imposing a sweeping military curfew in the disputed Muslim-majority region and cutting off residents from all communication and the internet. This muted response is underpinned by more than $100 billion in annual trade with India that makes it one of the Arabian Peninsula’s most prized economic partners.

UN Says 2nd Attempt to Return Rohingya to Myanmar Planned (AP) Myanmar and Bangladesh are making a second attempt to start repatriating Rohingya Muslims after more than 700,000 of them fled a security crackdown in Myanmar almost two years ago, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.

Oops... (Foreign Policy) Tencent, China’s biggest video-streaming platform, has apologized after sending an erroneous push alert stating that Typhoon Lekima had killed the whole population of Shandong province. The province is home to close to 100 million people.

Hong Kong Tycoon Li Ka-Shing Urges Love in Response to Growing Protests (Reuters) Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, urged people to “love China, love Hong Kong and love yourself” on Friday in a bid to calm the city’s escalating crisis as pop concerts and public events were canceled in response to anti-government protests.

North Korea Fires Missiles, Derides South Korea’s Moon as ‘Impudent’ (Reuters) North Korea launched at least two short-range ballistic missiles on Friday, South Korea’s military said, shortly after Pyongyang described South Korea’s president as “impudent” and vowed that inter-Korean talks are over.

Indonesia President Proposes to Move Capital to Borneo (Reuters) Indonesia’s president on Friday proposed to move the capital from Jakarta, a crowded, polluted city of 10 million people, to the island of Borneo, though he left Indonesians guessing as to the exact location.

Sydney’s Water Supply Falling at Fastest Rate on Record Due to Drought (Reuters) Australia’s biggest city Sydney is running down its water supply at the fastest rate on record with dams expected to fall below half maximum capacity due to the worst drought on record, the government said on Friday.

Israel bars visit by U.S. Democratic lawmakers Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib (Reuters) Israel will bar a visit by U.S. Democratic Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump called on Israel not to let them in. The pair, the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, are members of the Democratic party’s progressive wing and sharp critics of Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians.

Palestinian youths stab Israeli policeman, one youth shot dead (Reuters) Two Palestinian youths stabbed an Israeli policeman in Jerusalem’s Old City on Thursday and were shot by officers, killing one of them, police said.

#headlines

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in4mativevideos · 4 years

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youtube

"Shahid Khan" The Richest Pakistani American | The Richest Person Of Pakistani Origin

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msgates · 4 years

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Pakistani-American Billionaire Shahid Khan Makes it to Forbes 400 Richest Americans List Click here for articles September 12, 2020 at 12:35AM

#BillGates #English

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gharanapk · 4 years

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Pakistani-American Shahid Khan featured by Forbes as the 66th richest man. More at www.gharana.pk #Pakistan #Forbes #ShahidKhan #American #GharanaPK — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2ZplTOU

#Instagram #IFTTT

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inkyardpress · 7 years

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Our Top 10 Unlikeliest Couples in YA

When it comes to a good read, there’s not much better than a story all about the undeniable and electric chemistry between two incredible characters. Except maybe a story about a love that just doesn’t seem meant to be…at least at first. Whether it’s clashing personalities, impossible distances, or insurmountable obstacles, we love it going along for the ride when absolutely nothing can stand in the way of love!

When It’s Real by Erin Watt

Popstar sensation Oakley Ford needs a girl-next-door to fix his bad boy image, fast! When “ordinary girl” Vaughn Bennett agrees, she has no idea what she’s in for. They’re from entirely differently worlds, and he’s definitely not the kind of guy she’d go for. But when ordinary rules no longer apply, there’s no telling what your heart will do…

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

This second book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series delivers an unlikely—and steamy—romance between Feyre and Rhysand. Because of her deal with the cruel High Lord of the Night Court, Feyre is forced to spend time with Rhysand in exchange for his help. And she might discover a side of him that she simply can’t resist. #Feysand

That Thing We Called a Heart by Sheba Karim

A young Pakistani-American teenage girl named Shabnam faces a boring and friendless summer. That is, until she meets Jamie, a white college student, who helps her get a job at his aunt’s pie shack. Love is definitely in the air, but Shabnam is still trying to figure out who she truly wants to be.

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Get ready to squeal! The fanfiction that stole our hearts in Fangirl lives on in this spinoff novel! Simon Snow is the Chosen One. Baz is an evil vampire. Somehow, love blossoms between the two—and we can’t get enough!

Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman

Swashbuckling pirates plus amorous glances make for an epic tale on the high seas! This reimagining of the Blackbeard’s origins brings together Teach Drummond, son of Bristol’s richest merchant, and Anne, a penniless maid. Craving escape, fate will bring them together and love will set sail!

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

This breathtaking coming of age story features a six-foot-tall heroine with luscious blue hair—the titular Ramona Blue. Ramona knows she likes girls, but with her childhood friend Freddie back in the picture, Ramona starts to have doubts about her sexual identity. Could their romance unravel everything she thought she knew about herself? Or will she discover that, for her, life and love are more fluid than they seem.

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

Bailey’s online flirtation with a fellow film geek, named Alex, is suddenly IRL when she moves to his California town to live with her Dad. There she meets the irritating Porter Roth, who moonlights as Alex. You won’t regret getting caught up in this mistaken identity plot!

By Your Side by Kasie West

Accidentally getting locked in a library for an entire weekend might not seem so bad at first, but Autumn Collis begs to differ. Amongst the shelves of books, troublemaker Dax is locked in the library with her. With nothing to do but read, their forced conversations will develop into a serious case of the butterflies!

Get It Together, Delilah! by Erin Gough

Ever wonder about your barista’s secret life? Delilah Green is managing her Dad’s café, trying to finish high school and avoiding mean girls, while also crushing hard on one of her regulars, Rosa. Rosa’s a dancer from across the street, whose smile will rock Delilah’s hectic life. Double shot of adorable with whip, anyone?

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

One kiss changes Flora Banks life forever. Somehow, despite having no short-term memory, the memory of that kiss manages to stick. So Flora embarks on a quest to the other side of the world to find the boy, Drake, and find out why. Never mind that he happens to be her best friend’s boyfriend. Will his love be the key to helping her discover the truth about herself?

#When It's Real #erin watt #ya books #ya reads #bookworm

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loudlytransparenttrash · 7 years

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9 Reasons Why Blacks Aren’t Owed Reparations Today

1. There is no single group clearly responsible for the crime of slavery Black Africans and Arabs were responsible for enslaving the ancestors of African-Americans and most people around the world - including white people. Only 6% of African slaves were taken to North America, most slave imports were overwhelmingly taken to South America and the Caribbean. In 1830 there were almost 4000 blacks who owned about 13 thousand black slaves. Are reparations to be paid by the descendants of Africans, South Americans and Arabs too? Or are we just going to keep pretending whites are to blame for it all?

Another argument is that even though a tiny fraction of white Americans were slave owners, all whites still benefited from slavery and still owe reparations. Here’s the problem though: Do you enjoy your phone, your Nike shoes, your clothes, your chocolate or anything battery operated such as electronics or cars? Well you are benefiting from slavery and it’s about time you start paying up reparations. Unless you want to stop being a hypocrite, of course.

2. There is no one group that benefited exclusively The claim for reparations is premised on the false assumption that only whites have benefited from slavery. If slave labor created wealth for Americans, then obviously it has created wealth for black Americans as well.

Black buying power is expected to reach $1.2 trillion this year, and $1.4 trillion by 2020. That is so much combined spending power that it would make Black America one of the largest economies in the world in terms of Gross Domestic Product, the size of Mexico based on World Bank data.

Black people earning $75,000 or more per year are growing faster in size and influence than whites in all income groups above $60,000. American blacks on average enjoy per capita incomes in the range of up to fifty times that of blacks living in any of the African nations from which their ancestors originated. Is it time to check that little thing called privilege?

3. America today is a multi-ethnic nation and most Americans have no connection to slavery We already know only a small fraction of whites owned slaves so expecting every white person 200 years later to provide a black guy with a free sandwich or gift him a job for being black makes zero sense.

Also, let’s remember a lot of “white people” today are recent immigrants. The two great waves of American immigration occurred after 1880 and then after 1960. What rationale would require Russian refuseniks, Armenian victims of the Turkish persecution, Jews, Greeks, Polish, Hungarian to pay reparations to American blacks? Are we supposed to track the ancestry of every white person until we find the ones who had ancestors here in the time of slavery?

4. The historical precedents used to justify reparations do not apply, it is supposed to be based on injury, not race Reparations were meant as payments to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, Japanese-Americans and African-American victims of racial experiments in Tuskegee, or racial outrages in Rosewood and Oklahoma City.

But in each case, the recipients of reparations were the immediate family or direct victims of injury caused by injustice. This would be the only case of reparations to people who were not immediately affected and whose sole qualification to receive reparations would be racial. It's never been about giving free shit to black people a century or two later and neither should it ever be. That’s just trying to rip off the system and you know it.

5. The reparations argument is based on the unfounded claim that all African-Americans suffer from the economic consequences of slavery No evidence-based attempt has been made to prove that living individuals have been adversely affected by a slave system that was ended over 150 years ago. But there is plenty of evidence the hardships that occurred were hardships that individuals could and did overcome.

The black middle-class in America is a prosperous community that is now larger in absolute terms than the black underclass. Does its existence not suggest that economic adversity is the result of failures of individual character rather than the lingering after-effects of racial discrimination and a slave system that ceased to exist about 130 years before most of Black Lives Matter members were even born?

Look at the earliest Asians to immigrate to America. The “coolies” were imported by the power brokers to work on major infrastructure projects such as railroads and dams. If a coolie was worked to death, employers would unceremoniously toss him aside and bring in another. However, there is no lingering legacy of the coolie system because Asian-Americans have worked hard to put that era behind them. Asian-Americans are now the most successful and wealthy people in the country.

If America is such a white supremacy (well besides the fact it’s been run by a black guy for the past 8 years) then why are minorities such as Filipino, Taiwanese and Indian doing far better than any white person? Why are Iranians and Japanese earning more than British Americans? Why are Syrians and Chinese earning more than English or German or Canadian Americans? Why is Pakistanis, Egyptians, Indonesians and Nigerians earning more than French and Dutch Americans? Everyone has history of slavery and injustice, why are blacks the only ones refusing to move forward and progress after 150 years?

What Asian-Americans have proven is that privilege in America is based not on race but on merit. People of any race can succeed in America if they emulate the approach of Asian-Americans: take education seriously, develop a positive work ethic, obey the rules, respect the laws, and stay together as families. Maybe it’s about time BLM start preaching these principles for once.

6. The reparations claim is one more attempt to turn African-Americans into victims The renewed sense of grievance and victimhood which is what the claim for reparations inevitably creates is neither a constructive nor a helpful message for black leaders to be sending to their communities and to others. To focus your entire mindset and narrative on the past instead of the future probably answers my earlier question about why blacks aren’t progressing forward enough.

Spending all your efforts demanding others to pay you for doing nothing and to give you things for doing nothing, instead of wanting to pay for it yourself or earn it yourself is lazy and regressive. Do blacks really want to take away the reparations from the millions of refugees escaping tyranny and genocide today just because some blacks can't seem to locate the ladder of opportunity that others, many who are far less privileged, seem to be able to find and climb?

7. Reparations To African-Americans Have Already Been Paid Since the passage of the Civil Rights Acts and the advent of the Great Society in 1965, trillions of dollars in transfer payments have been made to African-Americans in the form of welfare benefits and affirmative action programs (employment and education admissions) - all under the rationale of redressing historic racial grievances.

It is said that reparations are necessary to achieve a healing between African-Americans and white people. If trillion dollar restitutions and a wholesale rewriting of American law in order to accommodate racial preferences for African-Americans is not enough to achieve a "healing," what ever will?

The answer is nothing will ever be good enough because if it ever were, then the excuses for personal failure and shortcomings and blaming whites for everything will have to stop. In return, something called accountability will take its place, which even just mentioning the word makes reparation-pushers wince and feel uncomfortable.

8. What About The Debt Blacks Owe To America? Slavery existed for thousands of years before the Atlantic slave trade was born, and in all societies. But in the thousand years of its existence, there never was an anti-slavery movement until white Christians (Englishmen and Americans) created one.

If not for the anti-slavery attitudes and military power of white Englishmen and Americans, the slave trade would not have been brought to an end. If not for the sacrifices of white soldiers and a white American president who gave his life to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, blacks in America could still be slaves.

If not for the dedication of Americans of all ethnicities and colors to a society based on the principle that all men are created equal, blacks in America would not enjoy the highest standard of living of blacks anywhere in the world, and indeed one of the highest standards of living of any people in the world. They would not enjoy the greatest freedoms and the most thoroughly protected individual rights anywhere.

9. The reparations claim is a separatist idea that sets African-Americans against the nation that gave them freedom For all America's faults, African-Americans have an enormous stake in their country and its heritage. It is this heritage that is really under attack by the reparations movement. The reparations claim is one more assault on America, conducted by racial separatists and the political left. It is an attack not only on white Americans, but on all Americans - especially African-Americans.

African-American citizens are the richest, equal and most privileged black people alive - a bounty that is a direct result of the heritage that is under assault. The American idea needs the support of its African-American citizens. But African-Americans also need the support of the American idea. For it is this idea that led to the principles and institutions that have set all of us free.

Our ancestors of all races and ethnicities all played their part in history, none are innocent and all have gone through hell and back. The best part about it? It’s over now, we aren’t slaves, we aren’t slave masters, we aren’t oppressed and we aren’t oppressors. If one is owed reparations, then all of us are owed reparations. Alternatively, we can let go of the victimhood and guilt from the past and continue building the most harmonious, fair and revolutionary future.

That doesn’t mean we should ignore or forget our history, we just need to learn from it, never repeat it and stop using it to profit and get free shit from it.

#BLM #black lives matter #anti blm #anti black lives matter #SJW #anti sjw #social justice #social justice warrior #feminism #feminist #anti feminism #blm1 #racism #blackout #Trump #Donald Trump

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impossiblelibrary · 7 years

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Recommendation from Geek and Sundry’s Twitch stream: The Wednesday Club

Hello, I’m the Sorceress of Pens (aka SorcPenz), from the Twitch Chat.

I wanted to give ya’ll a nice list of all the titles thrown at us each Wednesday by the amazing Amy Dallen, Taliesin Jaffe, and Matt Key and the mythical Chatroom, creating a thirst for a comic store trip each week. It's a long list. Here's as many as I could catch from just Episode 1.

If you can’t wait for the titles from last week’s horror episode, be sure to check out Geek and Sundry’s articles on The Wednesday Club.

From the hosts:

Comixology as an online place to get sales on comics

Rumiko Takahashi- one of the richest women in Japan because of comics. Inuyasha horror and comedy. Strangers in Paradise America Chavez solo comic Patsy Walker Hellcat- for awesome Letters column with fans' cat pics.

Comics that changed you:

Tal- Invisibles-by Grant Morrison published by Vertigo

Promethea

Jack Kirby anthology, early DC stuff

Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow

Amy- Sandman, Funhouse, High Cost of Living, V for Vendetta

Matt- Nightcrawler- for a Catholic superhero that talks about god

Squirrel Girl, Dr. Strange, X-men

X-men Legacy 2012 run, Volume 2 (or 2nd run) The Last Boy on Earth by Jack Kirby Adam Warlock Generation X

Squirrel Girl The Wicked and the Divine Grant Morrison's Dune Patrol- psychotropic nightmare fuel Grant Morrison's Filth- gave nightmares to @erikredin Y the Last Man- same writer of Saga Runaways Avenger's Arena- Marvel's take on Battle Royale, horrifying, you have been warned DC Bombshells Gotham Academy Champions-where Ms. Marvel goes once parting from the Avengers Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel- tumblr girl with superpowers, Pakistani-American Muslim who writes fanfic Vision Kids Man Thing- swamp monster, RL Stein will be doing new run Secret Wars Ironheart- Female Iron Man East of West by Jonathan Hickman

Videos and other non-comic book recommendations: Legion TV show *!! Japanese 90s X-men intros !!* *!! The LARPosal (and trailer) !!*

From the chat:

@figure_04: Pathfinder, Rat Queens- medieval comics for beginners @Quaraxkad1: Fables, Y the Last Man, Alias, The Pulse, Powers @chaoticcloony: Avengers Annual #16 (1987), TMNT, Elf Quest @JJ_Dane: Superman Annual #11, Divinity @CosmicVoyagerX: Superman Peace on Earth- for idealistic inspiring stories @mogodontsocialize: Dark Horse Star Wars @Sorin_ Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-men, Man Without Fear (1993 run) @starpilotsix: Marvel 1602, Brian K. Vaughn @Readrlady: Allstar Superman @sorcpenz:Books of Magic, Tanpopo @Lwnasidh: No prize book @Toonimator: She-hulk #21 by Dan Slott- first talk on the A-holes @Serenitywake: Grifter, Godeater @niconico666420ni: Panorama Island, noir bySuehiro Maruo @chuckytheclown11: Blackest Night @TenguBruxo: Old Man Logan @bluelinnet: Finder by Carla Speed McNeil @Ser0nionKnight: Avenegrs Academy after Avengers Arena, All New Wolverine @charlierose11: Mockingbird 2016, Princeless, Lady Castle @esweed3: Unworthy Thor @Triamas: New Mutants Asgard Adventures, Warren Ellis's Moon Knight @RiskyPixels: Uncanny X-men, Wolverine Unleashed @jrobie_1970: Hulk #180 @Darthpapas: Iron Fist #14 @JodyHouser: Narbonic, start into webcomics @WDM1262: American Alien

Comics that changed them: @JodyHouser: Things from another world, Mad Love @HonoroableDiscord: Neil Gaiman's Death, Alan Moore's Kingdom Come @ThatNerd: Watchmen @niconico666420ni: Shoko Tsubaki @alanmac9: Doctor Fate by JM Dematteis, late 80s run @Greekheat: Paul Dini's Dark Knight: A True Batman Story @rhammpy: Logicomix: An Epic Search for the Truth, made them love philosophy again @0606evan: A History of Violence @kalrany: Order of the Stick changed D&D for them

#comic books #the Wednesday club #geek and sundry #critters #taliesin jaffe #amy dallen #matt key

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