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Created
Wed, 18/10/2023 - 01:30
Broadcast radicalization You’ll recall the hissy fit conservatives threw at the FBI’s suggestion post-Jan. 6 that domestic terrorism by “white supremacists, militias and other extremists” was a growing threat in this country. Some years earlier, the Department of Justice was focused on foreign terrorists’ efforts at “online radicalization.” As in “Online Radicalization to Violent Extremism” (2014): Using a combination of traditional websites, mainstream social media platforms, YouTube, and other online services, extremists broadcast their views, provoke negative sentiment toward enemies, incite people to violence, glorify martyrs, create virtual communities with like-minded individuals, provide religious or legal justifications for violent actions, and communicate individually with new recruits to groom them for violent activities I’m wondering today (again) when the DOJ will turn its attention to the threat of broadcast radicalization.
Created
Wed, 18/10/2023 - 00:33

One of modern history’s major empires is falling apart right now, right before our eyes. Yet precious few in the media have reported on this extraordinary event, much less offered any analysis of its implications for the fast-changing shape of global power. Over the past 60 years, France has used every possible diplomatic device, overt and covert, fair and foul, to incorporate some 14 African nations into a neocolonial imperium called “Françafrique” — a vast region covering a quarter of Africa and stretching for nearly 3,000 miles from Senegal on the Atlantic coast to Chad in the continent’s center. While the rest of that continent frequently suffered from wars, coups, and chronic instability, Françafrique long enjoyed comparative peace. By dispatching... Read more

Created
Wed, 18/10/2023 - 00:00
“an absurd and dangerous choice” The Washington Post is posting live updates of Jacketless Jim Jordan’s quest to be Speaker of the House and second in line for the presidency. Really. The House begins business today at noon, “two weeks to the day since former House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted.” “The next speaker should not be someone we already know is willing to manufacture  disputes and support groundless claims to overturn an election to install the president he wants,” Jill Lawrrence writes at The Bulwark. She offers a detailed list of why the Ohio congressman is “an absurd and dangerous choice for that reason and too many others to count.” Among them is former House Speaker John Boehner’s assessment of his fellow Ohioan: “Jordan was a terrorist as a legislator going back to his days in the Ohio House and Senate. . . . A terrorist. A legislative terrorist.” Not to mention being an election denier and Trump co-conspirator, Jeffrey K. Tulis and William Kristol remind Bulwark readers. Jordan has Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Created
Tue, 17/10/2023 - 23:00

Dear Colleagues,

The University will soon announce plans to overhaul the gen ed program recently adopted by the Faculty Senate. The new program, which emphasizes post-apocalyptic survival skills rather than traditional academic content, will be implemented fall semester. We remain hopeful this is not too late.

We realize this may seem like an abrupt shift, especially since the gen ed program we just adopted took seven years to research and implement. But those seven years have featured floods and fires, political chaos, economic crises, and a global pandemic. In the aftermath, there is an urgent need to meet the region’s demand for graduates prepared to succeed in a territory soon to be governed by natural law and vigilante justice. For our future students to meet the challenges of post-apocalyptic life, we must shift our focus from “careers that don’t yet exist” to “careers that haven’t existed for quite some time,” like blacksmiths and town criers.

Created
Tue, 17/10/2023 - 22:14
Palestine and Ukraine Updated Commentary

In the Ukraine, Russia is advancing, and while it’s slow, it’s steady and a lot better than Ukraine did in its complete flop of a counter-offensive. Weapons and aid from America are now flowing to Palestine, and most Western countries are reluctant to send more arms and munitions, not least because the shelves are almost bare and production has not been significantly ramped up.

Russia, on the other hand, has vastly increased its ability to produce key munitions, and is importing from North Korea and Iran (though Iran may soon become more reluctant.) The Russians have more artillery, more missiles and more drones, and plenty of artillery shells. Ukraine is so desperate for manpower it is trying to force Ukrainian who fled to other countries to return so they can be conscripted, and it has expanded conscription among women.

Created
Tue, 17/10/2023 - 20:30
This Tuesday report will provide some insights into life for a westerner (me) who is working for several months at Kyoto University in Japan. The 1970s struggles go on in Kyoto The University apartment we live in here is next door to and overlooks the now (in)-famous – 吉田寮 – or Yoshida Dormitory or Yoshida-ryo,…