text:
package company

import (
	"encoding/json"
	"net/http"

	log "github.com/Sirupsen/logrus"
	"github.com/gorilla/mux"
	"github.com/itsyouonline/identityserver/db"
)

type CompaniesAPI struct {
}

// Register a new company
// It is handler for POST /companies
func (api CompaniesAPI) Post(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {

	var company Company

	if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&company); err != nil {
		log.Debug("Error decoding the company:", err)
		http.Error(w, http.StatusText(http.StatusBadRequest), http.StatusBadRequest)
		return
	}

	if !company.IsValid() {
		log.Debug("Invalid organization")
		http.Error(w, http.StatusText(http.StatusBadRequest), http.StatusBadRequest)
		return
	}

	companyMgr := NewCompanyManager(r)
	err := companyMgr.Create(&company)
	if err != nil && err != db.ErrDuplicate {
		log.Error("Error saving company:", err.Error())
		http.Error(w, http.StatusText(http.StatusInternalServerError), http.StatusInternalServerError)
		return
	}

	if err == db.ErrDuplicate {
		log.Debug("Duplicate company:", company)
		http.Error(w, http.StatusText(http.StatusConflict), http.StatusConflict)
		return
	}

	w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusCreated)

	json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(&company)
}

// Update existing company. Updating ``globalId`` is not allowed.
// It is handler for PUT /companies/{globalId}
func (api CompaniesAPI) globalIdPut(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {

	globalID := mux.Vars(r)["globalId"]

	var company Company

	if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&company); err != nil {
		http.Error(w, http.StatusText(http.StatusBadRequest), http.StatusBadRequest)
		return
	}

	companyMgr := NewCompanyManager(r)

	oldCompany, cerr := companyMgr.GetByName(globalID)
	if cerr != nil {
		log.Debug(cerr)
		http.Error(w, "Not found", http.StatusNotFound)
		return
	}

	if company.Globalid != globalID || company.GetId() != oldCompany.GetId() {
		http.Error(w, "Changing globalId or id is Forbidden!", http.StatusForbidden)
		return
	}

	if err := companyMgr.Save(&company); err != nil {
		log.Error("Error saving company:\n", err)
		http.Error(w, http.StatusText(http.StatusInternalServerError), http.StatusInternalServerError)
		return
	}

}

// It is handler for GET /companies/{globalid}/info
func (api CompaniesAPI) globalIdinfoGet(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	companyMgr := NewCompanyManager(r)

	globalID := mux.Vars(r)["globalId"]

	company, err := companyMgr.GetByName(globalID)
	if err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Not found", http.StatusNotFound)
		return
	}

	respBody := company

	w.Header().Set("Content-type", "application/json")
	json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(&respBody)
}

// It is handler for GET /companies/{globalid}/validate
func (api CompaniesAPI) globalIdvalidateGet(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {

	// token := req.FormValue("token")

	// uncomment below line to add header
	// w.Header.Set("key","value")
}

// Get the contracts where the organization is 1 of the parties. Order descending by
// date.
// It is handler for GET /companies/{globalId}/contracts
func (api CompaniesAPI) globalIdcontractsGet(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {}


01760 makes up %0.057 of the Massachusetts population, with a total of 34,683 people, compared to the Massachusetts total of 6,705,586.
The Average Household Income for 01760 is $126,637 compared to the Massachusetts average of $94,142.
The Median House Value for 01760 is $447,000 compared to the Massachusetts average of $333,100.
The Median Age for 01760 is 40.50 compared to the Massachusetts median of 38.50.
The Mean Travel time to work for 01760 is 31.34 minutes, compared to the Massachusetts mean of 28.72 minutes.
87.55% of the population in 01760 have White Collar Jobs, compared to the Massachusetts population, in which 71.48% have White Collar Jobs.
12.45% of the population in 01760 have Blue Collar Jobs, compared to the Massachusetts population, in which 28.52% have Blue Collar Jobs.


We don't guarantee that our products are fully compatible with any third-party programs and we do not provide support for third-party applications. We decided against an open refund policy in favor of offering free sample versions of every product we sell.
THIS IS A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU "THE LICENSEE" AND SMASHICONS REPRESENTED BY OLIVIU STOIAN | OLIVER'S CREATIVE AGENCY AS "THE LICENSOR". BY DOWNLOADING AND USING THIS PRODUCT OR PART THEREOF, FROM OR WITH ANY MEDIA, CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT.
You are PERMITTED to: Use the Assets in the Licensee's personal, professional, internal, editorial and client projects including printed materials, advertisements, packaging, presentations, video, on-line, computer games and applications or multimedia projects; You have the non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sub licensable right to use the Licensed Material for unlimited clients or applications, commercials projects or in any allowed media. Making modifications or alterations to the Assets (changing the color, size, orientation and shape), but this does not allow you to sell or license them.
Using the Assets in a way not specifically permitted or prohibited by this agreement, without prior written consent from the Licensor is a violation of Copyright law.
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Except as stated above, this License Agreement does not grant you any intellectual property rights in the Assets. Unpublished rights are reserved. Unauthorized use results in the immediate termination of this license, and with it, your rights to use the Licensed Material. No ownership or copyright in any Licensed Material (icons, icon sets, graphics or web templates) shall pass to you by the issuance of the license contained in this Agreement. The Licensed Material is not transferable.


Las Vegas, 1 March 2018 – Babcock is set to become the global launch customer for the H160 after signing a five year frame agreement for the purchase of a fleet of H160s. The fleet of H160s is destined for EMS and other critical services missions starting in Europe and to be deployed progressively across Babcock's bases worldwide. "The H160 was a natural choice for Babcock's operations as its large cabin and low vibration levels and its state-of-the-art technology will make it a safe and comfortable environment for mission critical services to work in" said Roger Hardy, Chief Executive Aviation, Babcock International Group. "We are sure that the innovations that the H160 brings to the market will help us deliver our high standards of quality, safety and cost-effectiveness".
"We are proud that the largest civil helicopter operator has selected the H160 to become its next generation solution for saving lives. As the H160 launch customer, Babcock inaugurates a new era for helicopter operators" said Ben Bridge, Executive Vice President for Global Business at Airbus Helicopters. "In every aspect, from industrial production, to maintenance and fleet management and of course mission readiness, the H160 represents the new standard in helicopter capabilities for the next 30 years" he added.
With 68 patents, the H160 integrates Airbus Helicopters' latest technological innovations aimed at providing passengers with superior comfort thanks to the sound-reducing Blue Edge blades and superb external visibility for both passengers and pilots, not to mention the additional safety features provided by Helionix's flight envelope protection and reduced pilot workload. Airbus Helicopters' new industrial model, based on site specialisation and a plug and play component assembly process, has reduced the H160's time to market to 24 weeks giving customers more flexibility. This will enable customers to confirm their mission configuration at later stage based on market needs.
Babcock's Aviation business provides mission critical services, ranging from aerial emergency medical services, aerial fire-fighting, Search and Rescue, Surveillance operations, and Oil and Gas transportation, in 14 countries with over 51 years' experience in saving lives and protecting the environment.


All democracies have had to contend with the challenge of tolerating hidden spy services within otherwise relatively transparent governments. Democracies pride themselves on privacy and liberty, but intelligence organizations have secret budgets, gather information surreptitiously around the world, and plan covert action against foreign regimes. Sometimes, they have even targeted the very citizens they were established to protect, as with the COINTELPRO operations in the 1960s and 1970s, carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against civil rights and antiwar activists. In this sense, democracy and intelligence have always been a poor match. Yet Americans live in an uncertain and threatening world filled with nuclear warheads, chemical and biological weapons, and terrorists intent on destruction. Without an intelligence apparatus scanning the globe to alert the United States to these threats, the planet would be an even more perilous place.
In Spy Watching, Loch K. Johnson explores the United States' travails in its efforts to maintain effective accountability over its spy services. Johnson explores the work of the famous Church Committee, a Senate panel that investigated America's espionage organizations in 1975 and established new protocol for supervising the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the nation's other sixteen secret services. Johnson explores why partisanship has crept into once-neutral intelligence operations, the effect of the 9/11 attacks on the expansion of spying, and the controversies related to CIA rendition and torture programs. He also discusses both the Edward Snowden case and the ongoing investigations into the Russian hack of the 2016 US election. Above all, Spy Watching seeks to find a sensible balance between the twin imperatives in a democracy of liberty and security. Johnson draws on scores of interviews with Directors of Central Intelligence and others in America's secret agencies, making this a uniquely authoritative account.
Loch K. Johnson is one of America's leading experts on the nation's intelligence organizations. He is the Regents Professor of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia and served as staff director of the Senate Committee on Intelligence, as well as assistant to the chairman of the Aspin-Brown Commission on Intelligence. Johnson is the author of America's Secret Power and The Threat on the Horizon, both published by Oxford University Press.


I believe in the generosity and goodness of mankind.
I am convinced of the possibility of the human spirit to transform and to generate goodness.
I see the beauty that is now and I choose to see the beauty in our future.
Because I choose to be love.


text:
James Robert Brown
Platonism, Naturalism, and Mathematical Knowledge
James Robert Brown, Platonism, Naturalism, and Mathematical Knowledge, Routledge, 2011, 194pp., $130.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780415872669.
Reviewed by Hans Halvorson, Princeton University
James R. Brown stages a frontal assault on recent naturalist accounts of mathematical knowledge. He begins with a bold claim: mathematical knowledge is best understood in terms of intuition of Platonic objects. Now, he doesn't offer much in the way of a positive Platonist philosophy -- you won't find a nuanced account of mathematical objects and their identity criteria, or a detailed story about how we become acquainted with them. In fact, Brown does not even take a definite stance on the more fine-grained questions of mathematical ontology, although he does hint that mathematical objects are not reducible to sets. But he provides a lucid account of the dialectic between Platonism and naturalism and many reasons for questioning the adequacy of naturalist accounts.
The book begins with a couple of general chapters, and then proceeds to critique specific naturalist proposals. In the first chapter, Brown describes one of the most prominent recent arguments in favor of mathematical Platonism: the indispensability argument. But, surprisingly, he rejects this argument, because he believes it rests on a mistaken account of how mathematical facts explain physical facts.
Brown's argument against mathematical explanations of physical phenomena is based on a more general account of the role of mathematics in the empirical sciences. Brown disputes claims by Barker and others that mathematics directly describes physical states of affairs. Rather, he says, the sciences are in the business of using mathematics to model or track physical states of affairs. More precisely, the sciences assert that there is an isomorphism between certain physical states of affairs and certain mathematical structures.
Brown raises some interesting questions about the relationship between mathematics and the physical world. However, his distinction between "describing" and "modelling" left me puzzled. For one, what does it mean for there to be an isomorphism between a mathematical structure and a physical state of affairs? Second, if a mathematical structure is isomorphic to a physical thing, then doesn't the theory of that mathematical structure also describe the physical thing? (For example, don't the axioms for Lorentzian manifolds accurately describe the structure of spacetime?) What features does the "describing" relationship have that the "modelling" relationship does not have?
While Brown rejects the indispensability argument, he claims that a Platonic account best explains the provenance of mathematical concepts. In short, says Brown, we couldn't have acquired mathematical concepts through sensory experience alone; we also need direct intuition of Platonic forms. This theme comes up briefly not only in Chapter 1, but again in Brown's criticism of Kitcher's philosophy of mathematics (Chapter 3), and also in his discussion of Maddy's claims that humans can perceive sets. With particular reference to the set concept, Brown claims that sets of the form {αα, {αα}} cannot be abstracted from our experience of spatial containment relations.
But what, you might ask, does Brown have to say about Benacerraf's argument that we cannot know anything about Platonic objects, since we don't interact causally with them? Here Brown claims that the causal theory of knowledge -- i.e. the claim that a person can know about an event only if he is causally connected to that event -- is incompatible with contemporary physics. In particular, Brown points to the example of the Bell-EPR experiment in quantum mechanics, where two spatially separated particles are in an entangled state, and where knowledge of an experimental outcome at one location provides certain knowledge of the outcome at a distant location.
But I wasn't convinced that the Bell-EPR experiment rules out causal theories of knowledge, or that it lends support to the idea that knowledge might be obtained through non-physical means such as Platonic intuition. First of all, the outcome of a Bell-EPR measurement at one location does not provide categorical knowledge of events at the distant location; it provides only hypothetical knowledge: if the other experimenter measures such and such then the result will be so and so. Second, in the Bell-EPR experiment, the two distant particles are entangled with each other, and it's this entangled (physical) state that explains the experimenter's ability to gain knowledge of the distant outcome. Being entangled is a physical relation: the strict correlation between the particles is explained by their physical state. So while the Bell-EPR experiment might force us to modify our understanding of physical causality, it provides little comfort to advocates of non-naturalist accounts of knowledge.
The second chapter takes up another general theme, namely the question of how naturalism is to be defined. Here Brown rejects the claim that "naturalism" is impossible to define -- but neither does he try to give necessary and sufficient conditions. Instead, Brown is happy enough to gesture at some characteristics of naturalist approaches.
Brown's account of naturalism is accurate enough as a description of others' opinions, i.e. of those philosophers who call themselves naturalists. But as with many characterizations of naturalism, Brown's is circular and hence uninformative. For example, naturalism says that knowledge comes from the methods of the natural sciences. But surely we don't have any clearer sense of natural science than we do of naturalism. Is sociology a natural science? How about historical studies? And (heaven forbid!) what about theology?
Although Brown's account of naturalism is uninformative as a philosophical analysis, it sets the stage for the remainder of the book. After the second chapter, we know exactly the type of philosophical position that will be up for critique in the remainder of the book.
Chapters 3 through 7 contain the main critical assault against naturalism. These chapters are essentially independent from each other, and I encourage you to read them selectively based on your interests. Having read Chapters 1 and 2, you can read Chapter 3 for a criticism of Kitcher, Chapter 4 for criticism of Lakoff, Chapter 5 for criticism of semi-naturalists (like Quine), and Chapter 7 for a critical discussion of Maddy's "second philosophy" approach to mathematics. Brown's arguments against Kitcher, Lakoff, and the semi-naturalists are highly compelling, and should provoke some responses in the literature. Perhaps slighly less convincing is Brown's treatment of Maddy's recent turn to "second philosophy."
One of the more provocative claims in Maddy's recent work is that philosophers have little business prescribing the direction of mathematical practice (e.g. which set-theoretic axioms should be adopted by the mathematical community). Brown thinks that Maddy has gone too far, and he argues that philosophy can and should play a guiding role in mathematical practice. His first argument is by example: he describes a recent argument by Freiling and Mumford against the Continuum Hypothesis, and he claims that this argument is "philosophical." In other words, we might say that the line between philosophical thinking and mathematical thinking is blurrier than Maddy indicates. Brown's second argument is essentially an "all hell will break loose" argument: if mathematics needn't be accountable to philosophical standards of rationality, then it might as well be speculative theology! At this point, Brown assumes that theology obviously doesn't get hold of the truth, and so any philosophical account of math that makes it seem like theology must be absurd. Not only is this argument an insult to the careful thinking of theology-friendly philosophers such as Robert Adams and Alvin Plantinga, it also suppresses the obvious and interesting questions about how mathematical knowledge might be similar and dissimilar to other sorts of non-empirical knowledge. For example, if we have epistemic access to Platonic mathematical objects, then why not to other sorts of Platonic objects, like the form of the Good? And why is it that humans agree about most mathematical things, but disagree about religious, ethical, and aesthetic things? Do humans really agree about most mathematical things?
It's a shame that in an otherwise so carefully argued book, Brown felt that a reductio ad theologiam would count as a good argument against Maddy's account of mathematics. To be fair, Brown does say that there are strong philosophical arguments against God's existence; and he points to rampant religious disagreement as a reason for rejecting the idea that relgious knowledge could be grounded in intuition. But aren't there just as strong philosophical arguments against the existence of Platonic mathematical objects? And don't religious believers have explanations for how direct intuition of religious truths is compatible with rampant religious disagreement?
In summary, Brown's book presents a strong challenge to recent naturalist accounts of mathematics. Brown's criticism of these accounts might be seen as "pure" or "disinterested," since he's not an indiscriminate Platonist -- i.e. he's not committed to Platonic forms of the Good, or of Beauty, etc. But one is left wondering: if mathematics cannot be naturalized, then what other domains of human knowledge might defy naturalistic explanation?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
FSTDT Search
www.vice.com
Home • Latest • Top • New • Random
Trump Supporters #ableist #conspiracy #crackpot #quack #psycho vice.com
These are some anti-vaxxers feelings about Trump taking credit for saving lives with vaccines.
Ed Dowd: "Unfortunately, Trump is still hanging his hat on this vaccine, That guy needs to get off this asap or he's done."
Alex Jones: "He's almost autistic when it comes to admitting he's wrong."
Tracy Beanz: "This is a very serious issue for me," "I can't look past it. By now there is no reason he shouldn't know what is happening. Hate me if you want. I can't look past this."
The vast majority of the almost 2,700 responses to Beanz's post agreed with her claim that Trump's defense of the vaccine roll out meant they could no longer support him.
Stew Peters: "Millions have been maimed and murdered," he falsely tweeted. "This is 100% disqualifying in my book."
Telegram users: "Trump's just as culpable and every time he continues to push it, more and more want him sitting next to Fauci and Gates at NUREMBERG 2.0,"
"Everybody in this movement needs to demand Trump denounce the vaccines, Everybody should be hounding him on all social media. If there's a rally there needs to be chants. See him walking into his building in New York and yell at him to denounce the vaccines."
Skybison submitted 3 days and got 8 comments
Two unknown men #racist #psycho vice.com
On Monday night, a Ring surveillance camera captured two men dressed in black with masks covering their faces walking up to Servicio de Inmigracion in Bakersfield, California. The two men proceed to dump the accelerant over the side of the building and parking lot in front.
As one of the men continued to spread the fuel, the second squatted over a puddle of the accelerant and tried to light it on fire, the video shows. The fire ignited violently t and the man sprinted away with his leg on fire. The second man panicked and fell down twice, and like his comrade, sprinted away from the scene of the crime on fire.
The man could be heard screaming as he ran into the night.
The owner of the business said Servicio de Inmigracion told a local Fox News outlet they help their customers work with the immigration process and pay their income taxes. Another worker said that the suspects dropped their phones as they fled the fire and they are now in the hands of authorities.
Skybison submitted 2 weeks and got 9 comments
Q-Anon supporters #conspiracy #crackpot vice.com
There is very little that former President Donald Trump can do to anger his ultra-loyal QAnon support base, but shilling NFTs seems to be one of them.
On Thursday, when Trump announced that he was launching a series of $99 digital trading cards with some truly disastrous graphic design, even QAnon supporters turned on the former president. [Referring to them as] "shit storm debacle NFT announcement" "foolish NFT cash grab," "This is shady shit" "A fucking NFT? He needs a new PR team." "a dogshit play." "Cringe and tacky." "tone deaf to a VAST MAJORITY of Trump's base."
But just as quickly as QAnon believers criticized the announcement as a major disappointment, the community quickly did what it does best and came up with multiple reasons to excuse Trump's money-grabbing scheme.
Some accounts pointed out that a Q drop back in 2019 mentioned a "Trump card" while others pointed out that it had been 1,700 days since that Q drop was posted, and because Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet, then it obviously means something very important.
Others performed even more complex mental gymnastics to reach a point where they were able to make sense of Trump's decision to sell NFTs to his supporters, claiming that it was a plan to undermine NFTs.
"The invention of NFT was always an attempt to clamp down on free speech," one QAnon supporter wrote on Telegram. "What Trump is doing is clever, we all know the liberals will hate anything Trump supports. By creating his own NFTs he has destroyed liberal support for NFTs and thus shut down any notion that any Democrat can support the creation of the NFT legal internet censorship structure."
Skybison submitted a month and got 14 comments
Elon Musk #conspiracy #wingnut vice.com
On Monday night, Elon Musk tweeted an explicit encouragement to his 121 million followers to look into the QAnon conspiracy movement.
"Follow [rabbit emoji]," Musk tweeted. Seemingly innocuous, "follow the white rabbit" is a line taken from Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that has since made multiple appearances in pop culture, most notably in the original Matrix film.
But since 2018, the saying has become synonymous with QAnon and when pushers of the conspiracy urge others to look into the movement. The term "white rabbits" was mentioned on three different occasions in Q drops, twice in 2018 and once in 2019. This gave the term even more importance to the community, which believes Trump is waging a secret war against the deep state.
Within minutes of Musk's tweet, QAnon communities on message boards, Telegram channels, on Trump's Truth Social platform, and on Twitter itself, lit up with excitement, believing that the world's richest man was sending them a direct message.
While Musk has dismissed the claims that he is promoting QAnon, experts worry that the explicit signals he is giving the QAnon community by referencing the white rabbit will embolden them even further, and possibly cause violence. And over the last few weeks, Musk hasn't done much to dissuade QAnon believers: Twitter has reinstated a host of major QAnon accounts onto the platform.
"[Musk] is on pace to start posting Q drops to millions of normies and there's nothing anyone can do to stop him," one QAnon influencer wrote on Telegram.
Aleksei Pavlov #conspiracy #crackpot #fundie #magick #psycho #racist #wingnut vice.com
Aleksei Pavlov, an assistant secretary on the Security Council of Russia, has called for the "desatanization" of Ukraine.
"I believe that with the continuation of the special military operation, it becomes more and more urgent to carry out the de-Satanization of Ukraine," Pavlov said.
Pavlov said he didn't know how many covens of satanists there were in Ukraine but that he expected it to be in the hundreds. "Some of them were created 'having been sharpened in advance for a specific purpose and flock', others 'simply existed as branches of richer patrons,' others— 'and did in the form of a kind of closed joint-stock company with a couple of hundred small-town adepts,'" the TASS story said, quoting Pavlov. He also highlighted the fact that the Church of Satan is an officially recognized religion in the U.S. and that its influence has been spreading in Ukraine since the 1990s.
On the Russia-1 television channel, satanism has come up repeatedly. "Who is the Ukrainian God? It's the devil, basically," a guest on one of Russia-1's shows said, according to a translation by Russian Media Monitor's Julia Davis. "And when we're surprised at the cruelty of these people, there's nothing to be surprised at. That's paganism. It demands human sacrifices. It demands blood."
Skybison submitted 3 months and got 13 comments
Romana Didulo #conspiracy #crackpot vice.com
Followers of a QAnon influencer [Romana Didulo] who's convinced some Canadians she's the true Queen of Canada are saying their utilities are being cut off because they were told by their sovereign that they no longer had to pay bills.
One woman has repeatedly told her fellow QAnon Queen followers she's "stopped paying hydro, water, natural gas, property taxes, line of credit, and my credit cards." She pushes hard on her fellow true believers to join her in not paying their bills and chastising those who continue to pay.
"The more who do it, the quicker we can be free of enslavement," she wrote on one of the group's Telegram channels. "Those still living in fear are making it harder to get out. Don't be afraid, because we're in this together."
Many, many others have posted that they, too, have stopped paying their bills after hearing that Romana Didulo—a QAnon influencer who has them convinced she's running Canada behind the scenes—made a decree that electricity is free. Several have posted their power has been shut off or that they were on the verge of having it shut off and relented to finally paying. Some said that when they reach out for help about the situation, they're mocked for their beliefs.
Marjorie Taylor Greene #conspiracy #crackpot #quack vice.com
It's been barely three weeks since the WHO first confirmed that cases of monkeypox had started spreading throughout western Europe and North America. Over 100 cases of the virus, which is endemic in parts of west and central Africa, have been detected in nearly a dozen countries, including the UK, and Canada and the US. Still, that has offered plenty of time for right-wing conspiracy theorists to push deeply false information about the impact and origins of the virus.
A leading proponent of these unfounded claims is US congresswoman and anti-vaxxer Marjorie Taylor Greene who is pushing the theory that coverage of the outbreak is a coordinated ploy by Bill Gates and the governments of the world to profit off the return of masks and lockdowns.
In a live video on Facebook, Greene claimed that "disgusting" and "terrifying" images of the skin of monkeypox sufferers will be used to scare people into submission. When that's done, she told viewers, Gates will then attempt to make money by forcing you to buy a "Bill Gates pillow" to go alongside your "Dr Fauci pillow" that you can "cuddle with every night because Bill Gates is going to save the day."
"Bill Gates is very concerned about monkeypox because this is something, apparently, he can make a lot of money off of," Greene added. "Him and his other buddies; you know, all the Democrat donors, that is."
Marge says Bill Gates is going to use Monkeypox as another scam to make money and control the world, and he also wants everyone to eat fake meat created in a lab and drink "poop water." "Why is Bill Gates running everything?"
RIA Novosti #crackpot #conspiracy #fundie #magick vice.com
The Kremlin owned news organization RIA Novosti is claiming that its journalists discovered signs of black magic in a village in east Ukraine. The journalists claimed the evidence of magick was found in what it claimed was the headquarters of a Ukrainian military unit. "A satanic seal was found on its wall, evoking associations with Hollywood films about evil spirits," RIA said in its report.
The graffiti on the wall looks like a sigil—a kind of magickal seal used for various purposes by practitioners. It's a circle with various squiggles in the middle and the word "zein" written below it. RIA shared photos of the sigil as well as a walk through of the house on its Telegram channel.
According to Ekatrina Dais, a Russian culturologist RIA spoke with, the sigil is a magickal symbol. "What it means is difficult to say for sure, in it you can see both the inverted sign of anarchy, and part of the 'SS'; sign, the rune zig, it is clearly visible in the extreme left sector of the circle, and the Hebrew letter 'zain' written in German, meaning a sword or weapon," Dais told RIA.
According to RIA, Ukrainian soldiers gathered in this place to consecrate weapons with blood magick. "Among the headquarters instructions, they found a press release from the Ukrainian security forces with a story about losses in the Donbass," the story said, according to a translation provided by Google. "There are lines of blood on the document, although there are no such traces anywhere else."
Khem Veasna #fundie vice.com
When a politician started sharing his doomsday prophecy on Facebook last week, his supporters left their lives behind and traveled from around the country to northwestern Cambodia's Siem Reap province. According to authorities, some even traveled from as far as South Korea to seek refuge from the apocalypse, prompting the Cambodian embassy in Seoul to issue a public statement warning migrant workers against abandoning their jobs to fly home
Photos posted on Khem Veasna's Facebook page, which has over 370,000 followers, show a large crowd assembling at his farm[…]Authorities estimated the number at around 15,000 to 20,000[…]Among those arriving at his farm are families with children and elderly relatives
Those waiting out the apocalypse at Veasna's farmhouse have passed the time listening to the preachings of the president of the small but well-established opposition group, the League for Democracy Party (LDP)[…]
In recent years, Veasna has been veering away from politics and cultivating a cult-like persona among his thousands of followers, referring to himself as a brahma—a religious title broadly meaning heavenly king
The growing cult around Veasna escalated on Aug. 23, when he made a series of apocalyptic predictions on his Facebook page. He has claimed that a "black hole" in his spine has been sending him a message about an impending flood that would wipe out the earth[…]
Veasna's supporters have remained stubbornly fixated on his doomsday calls, ignoring days of orders from local authorities to go home[…]He was supposed to disband the crowd by the end of Tuesday
JeanP submitted 4 months and got 3 comments
Kuachua Brillion Xiong #conspiracy #crackpot #god-complex #fundie #psycho vice.com
A California man arrested in Iowa with an assault rifle and body armor last week allegedly told investigators he was putting together a list of "evil individuals" he wanted to kill, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, according to court records.
The Cass County sheriff's deputy who pulled Xiong over said that Xiong told him he was going to D.C. to take pictures of the White House, that "he was traveling to see things because it is unknown how long he has here on Earth," and that Xiong expressed "his disapproval for government due to the sex abuse of children, some of which that has occurred by President [Joe] Biden."
When police searched Xiong's car, they found "an AR-15 style rifle, loaded magazines, boxes of ammunition and several items of body armor and medical kits," the deputy alleged.
Later, agents with the U.S. Secret Service conducted an interview with Xiong, during which he allegedly told them he was told by God to "combat evil demons in the White House" and that it was "necessary for him to kill those in positions of power."
Xiong also allegedly compiled a "hit list" using around 100 videos downloaded from TikTok, "which included but is not limited" to Clinton, Obama, Fauci, and Zuckerberg, the affidavit says. Xiong also allegedly said during the interview that he would also kill Biden "unless he promised to comply to Xiong's demands."
Skybison submitted a year and got 11 comments
Thierry Baudet #quack #racist vice.com
A far-right politician has been ordered by a Dutch court to delete social media posts comparing the treatment of unvaccinated people to the mass murder of Jews during the Holocaust.
Thierry Baudet, leader of the Forum for Democracy party, had been taken to court by Jewish organisations and a group of Holocaust survivors over a series of posts that made the comparison, which is frequently made by anti-lockdown and corona-skeptic activists.
Among Baudet's offending posts were tweets calling unvaccinated people "the new Jews," and those "who look the other way … the new Nazis."
Other posts included a photo of a Dutch child prevented from attending the traditional celebration of the Feast of Saint Nicholas, alongside an image of a Jewish boy, wearing a Star of David, awaiting deportation from a Polish ghetto. Another featured an image of Buchenwald concentration camp with the text: "How is it POSSIBLE not to see how history repeats itself?"
In a ruling on Wednesday, the judge ordered Baudet to delete the four posts within 48 hours or be fined €25,000 (about £21,000) a day, and banned him from making any other posts comparing the Holocaust with the coronavirus pandemic.
Modi, and other Hindu extremists #psycho #racist #fundie vice.com
Gregory Stanton, A Genocide prevention expert who predicted the Rwandan genocide five years before it happened has warned of the possibility of a similar campaign against India's Muslims.
Stanton was alarmed by a conference held in India's Haridwar city last month where Hindu religious leaders close to the ruling party swore to take up arms to kill the country's Muslims, in order to create a "pure Hindu nation."
In a video of the event, a member of a Hindu nationalist political party, Pooja Shakun Pandey, said: "If 100 of us are ready to kill two million of them, then we will win and make India a Hindu nation."
In the recent briefing, Stanton said discriminatory policies that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government insitituted in Indian-administered Kashmir and the state of Assam have laid the initial groundwork for genocide.
Nicholas Pereira #crackpot #god-complex #quack #wingnut vice.com
In a riding tucked away in one of Canada's most forgettable provinces, you'll find a candidate preaching about a topic sorely undercovered this election: semen retention.
Nicholas Pereira is the People's Party of Canada candidate in Saint John-Rothesay, New Brunswick, but on the internet, he's known as Nakula Das, a YouTuber dedicated to making sure his followers don't ejaculate. Pereira's videos are of the vlog variety, typically addressed to his "semen retention army," and at times beginning with a prompt salute to his "soldiers." He also offers his teachings on Instagram where he posts about techniques such as "testicle breathing."
"Breathe deeply into your balls. Imagine your testicles expanding like lungs. When you exhale, imagine your testicles deflating like your lungs would," the Canadian political candidate wrote in an Instagram post four weeks ago. "Most men never breathe into their balls consciously."
In over 130 videos on his page, Pereira philosophizes about how men not orgasming is their key to a better life. He can teach his followers the true way to achieve their maximum potential—but only after they sign up for one of his webinars, of course. On Patreon, another place Pereira teaches his followers how not to ejaculate, the PPC candidate writes that he "is creating an Army of Semen Retention Practitioners" and a place "where men don't cum to transform their lives." Pereira also offers to teach his followers to become "sexual alchemists" who are "a powerhouse both in and outside the bedroom."
Marjorie Taylor Greene #fundie #wingnut #racist vice.com
College Republicans: "Wishing you a happy and prosperous Kwanza!"
MTG: "Stop. It's a fake religion created by a psychopath. You aren't bringing in new voters, you are turning them away. People are tired of pandering and BS."
Marjorie Taylor Greene #wingnut vice.com
In a chaotic, but absolutely riveting, Twitter rant Tuesday, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's proposed gun laws could result in a Russian invasion.
"Trudeau foolishly completely ignores how taking guns away from his people makes his country weak and vulnerable to being invaded and easily taken over by another stronger country," "Like, perhaps Russia, who is very angry at America right now."
"Canada has an incredibly weak military & now with Trudeau's gun grab, his people are left defenseless not only by a criminal attacker, but also defenseless against another country's military invasion," MTG wrote in tweet No. 3.
"This is a terrible violation of rights to innocent Canadians by their Gov."
"A heavily armed population backing up a strong military force is a mighty deterrent to any foreign would-be invader," Greene wrote in her fourth tweet.
"Does Trudeau expect America to defend them? Of course, and so do the rest of western allied nations," she wrote in her fifth tweet. "The US taxpayers pay for the defense of many countries that do not deserve our military support for free or at all."
One Joke Award
100% of Alt-Right "Humor"
Dr Willie J Montague #transphobia vice.com
I've decided that I'ma transvaxxite. This means that I identify as vaccinated, but in reality, I have not taken the jab. Vaccination is a spectrum and you are a bigot if you don't accept me for who I am.
Skybison submitted 2 years and got 12 comments
Vladimir Putin #homophobia #pratt #transphobia #wingnut vice.com
In an address to the Russian public, Putin said that the country of Russia and its culture are being "canceled" by Western forces, which are removing them from history and disparaging their cultural works. In short, he said, Russia is being treated the same way as Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
"They canceled Joanne Rowling recently, the children's author. Her books are published all over the world," Putin said. "Just because she didn't satisfy the demands of gender rights."
Putin compared the criticism Rowling has received for her transphobic politics to a great variety of perceived indignities to the Russian people: the apparent removal of Russian writers and composers from undefined places in the West, Nazi book burnings, and even America dropping the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
"We remember that footage when they were burning books," Putin said. "It's impossible to imagine such a thing in our country. We're insured against these things thanks to our culture."
Skybison submitted 10 months and got 7 comments
Matthew Coleman #psycho #conspiracy #fundie vice.com
Matthew Coleman made his first public appearance exactly one month after he allegedly murdered his two young children in Mexico by shooting them with a spear gun.
Coleman, 40, a deeply devout Christian who taught kids surfing in Santa Barbara, told FBI agents that he carried out the heinous crimes because he was "enlightened" by QAnon and other conspiracies and he believed his children were going to "grow into monsters." Killing them was the only way to "save the world."
At the time these messages [about his fundiementalism] likely didn't raise any red flags among Coleman's family and friends, but following his admissions to FBI agents last month that "he was enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories and was receiving visions and signs revealing that his wife possessed serpent DNA and had passed it onto his children" these comments are clear signs that Coleman was was becoming radicalized by some conspiracy theories.
Chinese Communist Party #wingnut #sexist vice.com
The Chinese government has ordered a boycott of "sissy pants" celebrities as it escalates a fight against what it sees as a cultural import that threatens China's national strength.
In a directive issued on Thursday, China's TV watchdog said entertainment programs should firmly reject the "deformed aesthetics" of niangpao, a derogatory term that refers to effeminate men.
Young, delicate-looking men who display gentle personalities and act in boys' love dramas have amassed large fan bases mostly comprising women. Many of them, like Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo, are China's top-earning celebrities.
the more gender-neutral aesthetics have come under criticism from conservative voices in society. Some officials and parents fear the less macho men on TV would cause young men to lose their masculinity and therefore threaten the country's development.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education pledged to promote sports education in Chinese schools in response to a politician's proposal about "preventing men from becoming too feminine."
The latest boycott order is part of a broader response to what the government deems as "chaos" in Chinese entertainment. Days before the order was issued, a commentary published by a Communist Party mouthpiece called the popularity of "sissy pants" a social problem that would distort the taste of the Chinese youth.
Devid R #conspiracy #quack #psycho vice.com
A German man involved in the COVID-19 conspiracy community killed his wife and three daughters after his wife was caught with a fake vaccination card, police say.
German police say they believe a man, who has been referred to as Devid R., committed the quadruple murder-suicide last week. [I]n a suicide note, the man indicated the couple was worried that the government would take their kids away because his wife was found with a fake vaccination certificate he'd provided to her.
Like much of the rest of the world, Germany is in the midst of tightening up its regulations in light of the latest COVID variant of concern, Omicron. Residents are required to provide proof of vaccination to access some amenities, and some jobs also require their employees to be vaccinated. This was true of Devid's wife, who was employed at a technical university. Her university noticed the fake vaccination card and asked her about it.
Local media reports that the punishment for faking a vaccination certificate is a year in prison or a fine and that authorities said Devid would have just been fined for providing her with the fake certificate.
Skybison submitted a year and got 9 comments
Equality and Human Rights Commission #transphobia vice.com
Leaked EHRC Guidance Reveals Plans to Exclude Most Trans People From Bathrooms
Under unpublished guidance leaked to VICE World News, Britain's equalities watchdog wanted to restrict the lives of trans people unless they held a Gender Recognition Certificate – despite only 1% of trans people in the UK having one.
Trans people in Britain would be excluded from single-sex spaces unless they possess a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) under unpublished guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). GRCs are currently held by as little as 1 percent of trans people in the country.
VICE World News has been leaked sections of an unpublished guidance pack dated from the end of 2021 from Britain's equalities watchdog, which advised businesses and other organisations such as shops, prisons and gyms to "protect women" by barring most trans people from their single-sex spaces, including toilets, wards and changing rooms.
A trans person looking for legal recognition of their gender identity currently requires medical assessments and psychiatric interviews in order to "prove" their gender and receive a GRC. Non-binary identities are not recognised in UK law.
According to the leaked EHRC guidance, a trans person should be barred from accessing spaces matching the gender they're living as, unless they hold a GRC. But official data estimates only 1 percent of trans people in the UK currently have one.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, the chair of Britain's equalities watchdog wanted workplaces and businesses to "exclude trans people" from these spaces to "protect women's rights", VICE World News was told by ex-EHRC staff members.
The guidance was due to be released last month but has not yet been published.
Whistleblowers told VICE World News that Falkner was "furious" about UK department store John Lewis adopting gender neutral fitting rooms in April 2021 and had subsequently "pushed for the EHRC to adopt a totally gender critical position".
"Falkner was furious about John Lewis 'letting down women,'" one ex-staffer said. "She was being transphobic… The team just wants to exclude trans people more," said another.
Taln_Reich submitted a year and got 9 comments
Lyndsey Marie and Leeannstar23 #quack #crackpot vice.com
The term "pureblood" doesn't exactly have the best connotations. But now unvaccinated people on TikTok are, er, trying to reclaim the term as a way to tout their "superiority" over their jabbed fellow citizens.
The new "pureblood" trend seems to have gotten a big boost from conservative TikToker influencer Lyndsey Marie in a post shared last week replete with hashtags like #harrypotter, #pureblood, and #unvaccinated.
"From now on, I refuse to be referred to as 'unvaccinated,'" she declared. "I want everyone to now call me Pureblood."
The video has since racked up nearly 250,000 views and Lyndsey Marie is now promising her followers that a line of "pureblood" merch (which will feature an image of a lion and the text, "PUREBLOOD; Unmasked, Unvaxxed, Unafraid.")
Meanwhile, the term has inspired scores of other un-vaxxed social media users to make their own videos.
Some have incorporated zombie-like filters, others have embellished their captions with the droplet of blood emoji, and one user, Leeannstar23, took the analogy a step further.
"In like five, ten years, maybe less, all the people who are unvaccinated —we're gonna be hunted," she warns. "It's gonna be like 'Resident Evil.' We're gonna be the antidote, because everyone else is fucked, and we're gonna be the only ones with pure blood."
Push Those Buttons #quack #crackpot vice.com
Anti-vax activists in London staged an event on Monday "against tyrrany [sic], genocide, vaccine passports [and] injecting children" by encouraging protesters to press every pedestrian crossing button in the capital simultaneously.
A Facebook group entitled "Push Those Buttons" encouraged anti-vaxxers to create "gridlock traffic" between 7AM and 10AM, despite most pedestrian crossings in London being automated, meaning the buttons have no impact on when traffic stops.
Nevertheless, a description on the group addressed to "fellow button pushers" said that the event's organisers wanted to "bring London to a total standstill and remind this government that NOTHING moves or happens in this country unless the people agree to it."
"If we all commit to this project, London will be gridlocked," the message said. "You can do this right where you live, it only needs your commitment and your finger!"
David Jordan #crackpot #wingnut vice.com
The BBC has said it would give flat Earth conspiracy theorists airtime in a bid to offset "cancel culture" and showcase its impartiality.
David Jordan, the BBC's director of editorial policy and standards, said that the broadcaster's commitment to balancing opinions would mean controversial views could be shared – including factually incorrect ones.
Speaking during a Lords communications and digital committee, Jordan said: "Flat Earthers are not going to get as much space as people who believe that the Earth is round, but very occasionally, it might be appropriate to interview a flat Earther, and if a lot of people believed in a flat Earth, [then] we would need to address it more than we do at the present time."
Jordan told the Lords that the BBC were at the "hard edge of impartiality" and that much of its editorial battles came regarding gender and race issues.
"We don't subscribe to the cancel culture that some groups put forward," said Jordan. "Whether or not some members of our staff like it, it's not the point. They have to adhere to that too and they leave their prejudices at the door when they arrive. They need to be prepared to hear views which, perhaps personally, they don't agree with."
The comments come a day after hundreds of activists protested outside the BBC's offices to protest how the broadcaster reports issues related to trans people and other minorities.
Rev. Marcin Mironiuk #conspiracy #racist vice.com
A Catholic priest in Canada has been placed on indefinite leave after VICE World News reported that he called news of unmarked graves at residential schools a "huge lie."
Mironiuk made harmful and false comments about residential schools and unmarked graves during multiple Polish-language masses on July 18, streamed online, at Our Lady Queen of Poland parish in south Edmonton. Mironiuk said he personally visited Kamloops without disclosing he was a priest, and repeatedly asked to see the "mass graves," after more than 200 were confirmed at the former residential school in the area in May.
Mironiuk also compared the events to the Jedwabne pogrom, a historical massacre during World War II marked by ethnic Poles killing hundreds of Jews, including children, in the Polish town of Jedwabne. Mironiuk said Poles are not to blame for the murders, even though scholars confirm Poles were likely culpable. Exhumation was limited because the Jewish community asked researchers not to disturb the remains.
Mironiuk said the unmarked graves at residential schools are "the same lies" as those told of the massacre. "The Jewish community raised the alarm and said, 'This is sacred land, don't dig.' It's the same lies, my dears," the priest told the congregation.
"Patricia" #fundie #wingnut #conspiracy vice.com
When Patricia left her home in Texas last month to join a QAnon cult that believes John F. Kennedy and JFK Jr. are about to return from the dead, she said she had no intention of ever returning
She thanked her husband of 32 years and her two children for "being a great family" and said she would see them soon
Then, her daughter Laura found her mom's journals, filled with page after page of indecipherable nonsense
"??Before she went to Dallas she kept a couple of journals," Laura told VICE News. "We don't know if it was people on Telegram telling her these things, or she's just having delusions, but it's just books of what she believes JFK Jr. is saying to her directly"
But even more worrying were the words written on the front and back covers of the books
"I'm going to follow God. Thank you for a wonderful life. Look up to the sky, I will always be close by"
To Laura, this sounded worryingly like a suicide note. Then, those fears seemed to be confirmed last week when the head of the cult took part in a video chat in which his followers discussed the need "to experience that physical death"
Patricia and Laura are not their real names, but VICE News is using pseudonyms in order to protect the family's privacy. VICE News called and sent messages to Patricia on several occasions but didn't get a response. The account of Patricia's actions is based on interviews with her daughter and sister
Laura and her family eventually had to resort to drastic measures to rescue Patricia from the cult. "We obtained guardianship and my mother is now in a behavioral health center following a psychiatric evaluation," Laura said on Thursday
JeanP submitted a year and got 10 comments
Anti-vaxxers #conspiracy #crackpot #quack #racist vice.com
(At the Defeat the Mandates rally in Washington DC) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unfavorably compare the conditions under which they are living to those faced by Jews living under the Nazis. "Even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps to Switzerland," Kennedy said in remarks his own wife called "reprehensible and insensitive." "You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did."
… There were signs reading "STOP SEGREGATION," "SEGREGATION IS NEVER THE SOLUTION," "JOE BIDEN IS A VACCINE RACIST," "RESIST MEDICAL TYRANNY" (this was accompanied by a swastika made of syringes), "'You must never be fearful about what you're doing, when it is right'—Rosa Parks," "SEGREGATING MANDATES HAVE NO PLACE IN A FREE SOCIETY" (this was accompanied by a prohibitory sign over the phrase "Jim Crow 2.0"), "STOP THE VACCINE HOLOCAUST," and "AMERICA=LIBERTY, MANDATES=SLAVERY." The person holding this last sign was a pleasant and healthy-looking man named Eric, from San Diego.
"America's built on freedom of choice," he said when I asked him if he could unpack his sign a bit. "Now, what they're trying to do is mandate something that you don't have a choice to do, so that's why it means slavery. Because slavery, as you well know, you can't have a choice. It's either you're a slave, or you die. So we're trying to let people know the other side: 'Hey, you have a choice. You're an American, you're in a nation that gives you those liberties.' Just because people push one narrative and try to give you information that just causes fear and doubt? No, look to the other side and see what the facts are as well."
Anil Kumar, Barkha Trehan #sexist vice.com
This week, as the Delhi high court hears arguments to potentially criminalize marital rape, the debate has crash-landed out of the courtroom into keyboard warrior territory.
The hashtag #marriagestrike has been trending on Twitter in India, with a number of men vowing to shun marriage altogether if marital rape becomes a criminal offense in the country.
Proponents of the marriage strike movement believe that a marital rape law could wrongfully prosecute innocent married men with false rape charges, especially as a means for wives to gain additional alimony in divorce cases.
"Already as of now in India, it is a crime for a man to get married. If a man gets married and if he is accused [of rape], there is no way for him to defend himself. He has no protection," Anil Kumar, creator of the #marriagestrike hashtag and founder of men's rights organisation Save Indian Family Foundation.
Men's rights groups such as Purush Aayog are pushing back legally and saying rape laws have no space in a marriage.
"I strongly think that consent and willingness of sexual acts are ingrained within the act of marriage. If you will bring this rape law inside the marriage and the husband will be given punishment, then who will marry?" Barkha Trehan, a woman and president of Purush Aayog.
Zinnia submitted a year and got 10 comments
Anti-vaxxer #wingnut #quack vice.com
Looking for a Great Reset Survival Partner
Looking for a woman who is as serious as I am about staying free of the great reset and covid agenda, and every other name for the globalist, technocratic transformation of human life. I'm not covid vaxxed and I'm staying unvaxxed.
What matters to me: Truth, personal and family loyalty, a self determined and natural way of life.
Hard No's: Intersectional, progressive or modern left-wing politics. I'm positive toward my people and culture and I believe in nature, biology and physical reality. Woke politics doesn't mix with that.
Various Anti Vaxxers #conspiracy #crackpot #quack vice.com
A conspiracy ripping through the anti-vax world may finally drive some anti-maskers to do the unthinkable: wear a mask and keep their distance.
The conspiracy—which comes in several shapes and sizes—more or less says the vaccinated will "shed" certain proteins onto the unvaccinated who will then suffer adverse effects. The main worry is the "shedding" will cause irregular menstruation, infertility, and miscarriages. The entirely baseless idea is a key cog in a larger conspiracy that COVID-19 was a ploy to depopulate the world, and the vaccine is what will cull the masses.
Anti-vax influencers are instructing their fellow anti-vaxxers as well as anti-maskers (at this point the two communities overlap to a huge degree) that one of the best ways to defend themselves from this blight is to co-opt…social distancing, the very strategy they have long decried.
Sherri Tenpenny, an anti-vaxxer who was found to be key in spreading COVID-19 conspiracy theories, suggested on a recent anti-vax livestream that you may have to "stay away from somebody who's had these shots…forever."
Another prominent anti-vaxxer suggested quarantining people who have been vaccinated. "There is something being passed from people who are shot up with this poison to others who have not gotten the shot," said Larry Palevsky, a New York pediatrician and anti-vaxxer, on a separate livestream.
It's not just social distancing that anti-maskers/anti-vaxxers are begrudgingly accepting. Some conspiracy theorists are wondering if perhaps their longtime bane, the mask, could become their salvation. One perplexed poster on the fringe site 4chan asked their fellow anons if they should "wear a mask around the vaccinated, because they shed the mRNA stuff?" "I am going to be watching these vaccine shedding stories like a hawk," wrote another man on Twitter. "Is my family going to need to wear masks to protect ourselves from the vaccinated?"
anonymous submitted 2 years and got 9 comments
Dan Oke #quack #wingnut vice.com
It was January 13 and a crowd of about three dozen people, young and old, some in cashmere scarves and others in camo jackets, formed a half-circle around the leaders of Stand4Thee, a Canadian anti-lockdown group, and began reading from a script. "We are arresting Walter Sendzik, the man acting as the mayor of... St. Catharines," the mass of voices said. For over four-and-a-half minutes, the group, led by Stand4Thee co-founder and karate sensei Dan Oke, read out a litany of made-up charges against Sendzik (who wasn't present), including torture against children, intimidation, and committing bodily harm (by forcing people to wear masks.) They even provided him with a 1-800 number for legal aid. The arrest attempt appeared largely symbolic, a classic protest tactic, but when reached by phone, Oke told VICE World News the attempted citizen's arrests are serious. Furthermore, his group wants to see a series of public trials for politicians whose lockdowns have caused, what they believe to be, untold damage to the Canadian population, particularly children. "What we're looking for with the 'Nuremberg Two' would just be justice," Oke said, referencing the mass trials of Nazi war criminals after World War II. He admitted it's unlikely "we would get an officer to show up and, you know, handcuff a mayor," but still thinks a trial is a possibility—if the group gains enough followers to march on a courthouse and force one. "If 8,000, 10,000, or even 1,000 people showed up in front of a courthouse, or just made a declaration that we are holding a publicly televised or streamed common law trial right now... Under 'common law, we have the right and the authority to do that," said Oke. "So can we do it? Yes. Yes, we can."
anonymous submitted 2 years and got 11 comments
Chris Saccoccia and Kelly Anne Wolfe #quack #psycho vice.com
[Context: Chris Saccoccia is a leading Canadian anti-masker who was arrested for threaten to shoot several people including fellow anti masker Rob Carbone and trying to run a cop over with his car.]
In a video posted to Instagram Thursday afternoon, Kelly Anne Wolfe, another Canadian anti-mask leader, said that despite his Thursday bail hearing, Saccoccia is still behind bars and lamented the position he is currently in. "Chris is in jail…" she said in her video. "Yes, it is getting serious, it's getting very serious." Wolfe, who has considerable sway in the anti-mask community, turned her attention to Carbone halfway through the video and told him repeatedly he was "done." She called him said an "embarrassment to society" and described him as a "little kitten." She ended her video with an ominous statement.
"Wait till you see what I do with this piece of shit. So you better run, but you'll never be able to hide because we're going to put you in jail where you fucking belong, you fucking pussy."
Jose Ruba #homophobia #fundie vice.com
C-6, a bill to ban conversation therapy practices, is expected to pass its third and final reading at the House of Commons in the coming weeks before moving to the Senate.
"We pray that if it does get to the Senate, Lord… that it would go no further," one man said. "And we pray for more time, Father, to actually see opinions sway, to actually see this bill killed forever."
Since last year, dozens of people from Christian groups have come together regularly like this to pray and strategize against proposed laws that would criminalize conversion therapy practices. Bill C-6 defines conversion therapy as a practice designed to change a person's sexual orientation to heterosexual, to change a person's gender identity or gender expression to cisgender, or to repress or reduce "non-heterosexual attraction" or sexual behaviour or non-cisgender gender expression.
Jose Ruba who says he has previously received Christian counselling to "reduce" his own "same-sex attractions" to become celibate, [says]there's a lot on the line if the bill passes as is. "I'm providing counselling for a young man who's struggling with LGBTQ questions," Ruba said, "If Bill C-6 was the law right now, I could be in trouble for sharing what we believe to him...He's a minor. But he wants to talk to me. And that's why we're here tonight," Ruba continued. "Because young men like him still need to hear the Gospel."
George Brake #psycho #conspiracy vice.com
A Newfoundland man who allegedly told police he was going to "execute local politicians" after leading officers on a high-speed chase in a truck full of knives 'appears to have had a social media profile full of wild right-wing conspiracies. George Brake, 66, was on his way to "stop the election" when he was arrested, police said. (Newfoundland is currently in the midst of a provincial election campaign.) RCMP said that they first became aware of Brake when they received a call on January 26 regarding a man behaving "erratically," making political statements, and talking about firearms. "At that time Mr. Brake threatened to execute local politicians," said RCMP spokesperson Jolene Garlan at a Wednesday press conference. Inside his truck they found a bounty of knives, 36 in total—some even had blades over half a foot long. "They ranged in size, shape, style," Garland said. "They were certainly capable ... of carrying out any serious threats." A Facebook page associated with Brake shows a deep interest in right-wing conspiracies and anti-lockdown rhetoric. The posts included shares from from sites like Infowars and pro-Trump outlet One America News Network, Facebook videos from various pro-Trump influencers, or posts from fringe conspiracy accounts. Several posts indicate he believed that Trump didn't step down but handed over the reins to the military—a theory popular in QAnon—and that the Capitol Hill riot was an Antifa false flag operation. He's also shared numerous posts that call into question the legitimacy of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effectiveness of masks, and amplified messages by Canadian anti-lockdown groups. There were also several darker posts alleging a demonic New World Order. One of the YouTube videos he shared was called: "The Elite Torture Children & Drink Their Adrenalised Blood." Another page he shared—"Stopping Satanic World Government." RCMP said all local candidates in Deer Lake were a target, including Premier Andrew Furey.
Yoel Kraus #fundie vice.com
Israel's ultra-Orthodox communities have become hotspots for COVID-19, and in some neighborhoods, residents continue to ignore social distancing guidelines.
A number of factors have contributed to the spread of the virus inside these communities, including widespread suspicion of the government, adherence to communal prayer and activity, and high population density in these neighborhoods.
"We have the Torah. That's the religious law. We can't go by the laws of the state," said Yoel Kraus, who lives in the Mea Shearim neighborhood with his wife and 17 children.
rabbirealm submitted 2 years and got 9 comments
Chris Saccoccia and Rob Carbone #crackpot #god-complex #quack vice.com
A well-known Canadian anti-masker believes he's put the leader of the Republican Party of Canada in control of the Canadian banking system after copyrighting the name of government legislation.
On Tuesday, Chris Saccoccia, a popular conspiracy theorist and anti-masker, took to Instagram from the couch of his friend Rob Carbone, the leader of the Republican Party of Canada (not related to the other Republican Party), to show his 185,000 followers a document the pair received in the mail.
"This document right here shows the registration of the Canadian Infrastructure Bank (CIB), which controls all the banks in Canada," Saccoccia says incorrectly, as the CIB is, in fact, a Crown corporation tasked with financially assisting public-private infrastructure projects. "It shows Justin Trudeau signing off on the man who is in charge of all these banks: Mr. Rob Carbone," Saccoccia says.
Saccoccia goes on to say that Carbone plans on making him Canada's minister of finance.
The document he's brandishing shows that Carbone had copyrighted the term "Canada Infrastructure Bank Act (S.C. 2017, c. 20, s. 403)," which is the title for the act that established the Canada Infrastructure Bank. According to Canada's Copyright Register, the title is legally held by Carbone.
Freedom Princess #quack #conspiracy vice.com
The latest Instagram story from Freedom Princess Canada shows a woman dressed like Frozen's Elsa being crowned.
"Wear a crown, not a mask, and be the ruler of your own life," the caption read. [Spoiler alert: Elsa renounces the crown at the end of Frozen 2.]
"What can you do to spread some pixie dust in your life?" reads another post under an image of the same woman, now dressed as Tinkerbell. "Kindly say NO when people ask you to cover your beautiful face with a mask."
Yet another post shows the woman dressed as Cinderella and a caption telling children what to do when asked to wear masks and socially distance.
"We need to have the courage to tell others that this is NOT OKAY," the caption says. "We need to keep our friends and family close, not far away from us, even if that means speaking up against restrictions that our teachers and leaders are imposing on us."
Freedom Princess is a new anti-mask project featuring professional princess cosplayer Mary-Jean Harris creating videos of herself dressed up as characters, made famous by Disney, who espouse anti-mask rhetoric. (Harris stresses her characters are fairytale characters, not Disney characters.) The anti-mask community, as well as other conspiracy movements, have long been crying "save the children!" in their outreach efforts, but typically it's an emotionally manipulative way of recruiting adults. Direct attempts to convert children to these conspiracies have been far rarer.
A person responding by email from the Freedom Princess account, who also did not identify themselves, said COVID-19 exists but wants to encourage kids to "think for themselves and stand up for what they believe in." In particular, they want kids to "not take what the media says at face value, since the promotion of mandatory masks and excessive social distancing has been significantly harming them and their families." The person told VICE they're "not trying to reach children directly" but instead hope that parents will share Freedom Princess videos with their children.
Corey Hurren #conspiracy #psycho vice.com
The man who drove his truck through the gates of Rideau Hall—where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lives with his family—and had an armed standoff with police was sentenced to six years today.
Corey Hurren, a 46-year-old Canadian Armed Forces reservist, posted conspiracy content on social media shortly before ramming the gates. He pleaded guilty to seven firearms charges in February and mischief. When he was arrested, he was armed with three long guns, including a semi-automatic rifle, and had said that he was prepared to die during the standoff with police. Hurren said he was hoping to "speak" to Trudeau when he stormed the property. The prime minister nor his family were at Rideau Hall during the time of his attack.
On social media, Hurren shared several posts that indicated his beliefs in conspiracies surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and one post that showed he harboured an interest in QAnon. Hurren seemed particularly interested in a conspiracy about Event 201, which attempts to prove the pandemic is the work of a group of elites for nefarious purposes. These conspiracies, paired with gun control legislation brought about by the Liberals, pushed Hurren to take action.
He wrote a note that he left in his car during his attack that directly referenced Event 201. "With the firearms ban and seeing more of our rights being taken away, on top of bankrupting the country, I could no longer sit back and watch this happen," reads a portion the note. "I hope this is a wake-up call and a turning point."
Cam'ron #fundie vice.com
See, the 43-year-old rap icon and Dipset veteran revealed to the long-running hip-hop podcast that he isn't sold on the whole dinosaur thing. He tells hosts Jeff and Eric Rosenthal, seemingly unprompted, "I have fights with people about dinosaurs and their existence all the time."
Asked to elaborate, he continues: "I'm not believing nor disbelieving. It's like, there's no proof. Because they throw these big bones, pause, up in a museum, and then be like, 'Yo, these are the people that were here before us…'" After getting pushback from the hosts that yes, the bones themselves are quite literally proof that dinosaurs existed, Killa Cam was still unfazed. He explains, "I'm not necessarily going for that one. If we get more proof on it, cool, but I'm not going off museum facts. I been to every museum when I was young, I'm like, 'Word, so they just found all these bones and glued them together.'"
Interviews this absurd don't happen very often. When asked about whether or not he believes the Earth is flat, Cam'ron responds with a simple "Nah" which further confounds the podcast hosts. The chat is the perfect amount of lively and hilarious but with an ample dose of grating pseudoscience to keep it balanced.
Cam'ron, who later mistakes paleontology for archeology, says, "I wish I could be an archaeologist and be like, 'I found some shit.' I'd be at the beach every day like, 'Yo, look what I discovered,' and just make some shit up." Even though his grasp of science is way off, it's 100% worth a watch.
jsonitsac submitted 3 years and got 2 comments
Claudia Fliss #conspiracy vice.com
Satanism typically conjures thoughts of dark-cloaked figures in deeply wooded areas, where they sacrifice livestock over a makeshift altar and whisper mysterious incantations in hopes of appeasing their dark lord. Maybe every once in a while they get creative and throw a baby doll off an overpass or vandalize a Catholic church with swastika graffiti to garner a bit of attention. Chances are, however, that anyone who participates in these types of activities is also a regular at IHOP, works at a mall, and thinks Marilyn Manson is a real person.
Truly terrifying entities don't advertise their presence, which is the main reason traditional satanic cults have eluded the public and thrived in every sector of our society. For hundreds of years, these secret organizations have relied on the simplest method to recruit and convert: fear. In fact, the only reason we are certain satanism still poses a danger is because it continues to produce victims of severe ritualistic abuse.
Claudia Fliss is a therapist and Germany's leading expert on the aftereffects of ritualistic abuse. She has helped rehabilitate former members of satanic cults for the past two decades. Claudia has examined hundreds of correlating accounts from cult members who strayed from the flock, and the examples she gave me made the usual yarns seem like bedtime stories. For starters, victims frequently recount instances of cannibalization and the murder and rape of children. Even more disturbing was the way Claudia spoke of these events with a serene familiarity?she hears these kinds of accounts on a regular basis.
Just when I thought it couldn't possibly get any worse, Claudia informed me that the majority of her patients were born into satanic orders and "programmed" from an early age to obey their fiendish parents and elders.
One of the initial stages of programming involves locking a child in a box and sounding a corresponding "trigger," such as a mobile-phone ringtone or whistle. The goal is for the child to associate the noise with feelings of horror and dread, a method of control that proves to be very effective once the child is let out, which, by the way, doesn't happen until he or she is moments away from total asphyxiation. After the lid is opened, the child is immediately instructed to do something awful like kill an animal. In most cases, the youngster refuses and is forced back inside, where he or she must wait for even longer before being hauled out again and given the same instructions. If he or she puts up a fight, it's back in the box until the kid's will is broken.
This process is so traumatic that the victim's mind creates completely new and different personae (often older children or even adults) that can better cope with the agony. When the individual is finally released, he or she identifies the box opener as his or her savior and, by extension, instantaneously becomes loyal to the cult. Then, whenever senior cult members need the victim to do their bidding, all they have to do is repeat the trigger sound; the target will relive the initial traumatic experience and revert to the state he or she was in immediately after being let out of the box.
Victims of satanic ritual abuse are primarily women, and they often suffer from dissociative identity disorder as a result. It's hard to fathom, but the number of identities within a single individual can exceed 100, and victims usually refer to themselves in the first-person plural.
After my initial interview with Claudia, she called to invite me to meet two victims and raise awareness of their conditions. Claudia also warned me that there was a large risk involved because the cult still had contact with the subjects.
Three days later, we met in a Berlin flat. Claudia introduced me to two girls who were both less than 25 years old. They were reserved and apprehensive, and chain-smoked while drinking cup after cup of coffee. We sat in a small bedroom and spoke for an hour about their experiences with the cult. The conversation would stall when my questions about satanic cults, ritualistic abuse, and sound triggers became too specific.
As they left the room, Claudia turned to me and asked whether I was aware of whom I had been speaking with. It was a weird question to be asked, so I paused for a second before she went on to explain that between the girls she had recognized at least ten distinct identities that had emerged during our conversation. After months of treating the girls, Claudia can easily recognize the nuances of different personae: the 25-year-old hyperintelligent girl, the moody 18-year-old, the mistrustful 45-year-old conservative.
The gravity of the situation was lost on me until I accompanied Claudia to the kitchen to speak in private. When I passed the girls, I noticed that they were slouched on the floor, literally saying, "Goo-goo, ga-ga." The childlike personaes inside of them had grown tired of grown-up conversation and wanted to play with crayons.
After this first encounter, I met up with the girls on seven further occasions. During one visit, they arranged for me to meet more of the "little ones"?the young children and toddlers within their systems. We visited a Berlin park just after dawn to avoid parents and their children. The mood was apprehensive, and when they were in eyeshot of the playground a remarkable transformation took place. Both girls began speaking in children's voices, sucking on their thumbs as they discussed which swings were still dry and safe to sit on. Over the next 45 minutes, I met approximately eight different "children." They scaled walls, slid down slides, kicked a soccer ball, fell off a swing, and thumped around in the sand.
As we were sitting in the sand, a whistle screeched. One of the girls hid her head in her hands and began to cry. "I have to see Mommy," she said. "I must see Mommy." That's when things became very dark. Calling for "Mommy," of course, meant she was expressing a desire to return to a member of the very cult she was now attempting to escape. Claudia later explained that the whistle had triggered a persona in one of the girls. "We've always been several [personae]," said one of the girls in a voice that apparently belonged to a different child than the one I was speaking with just moments before. Her friend sat there hugging herself and sobbing. The girl continued: "Even if we don't agree on everything, we're the only company we have."
I asked Claudia what the girl meant. "One goal of the therapy is to establish certain personae who act as spokespeople for others within the system," she explained. "They build up a certain trust and deal with everyday encounters. When a new identity is thrown into everyday life, it is the role of these more stable personae to calm them and explain what is going on."
This process, called "sorting" by the girls, took a couple of minutes, and soon the small child had calmed down and was replaced by another identity. Had the girls not been capable of a staggering level of self-control, they would be back in the order now, suffering the consequences. The fact that they opened themselves up to me gave me hope that one day others might follow suit in numbers that will force the public to pay attention to their plight. "We can't just live our lives complaining that there is nobody really there to help us without being willing to do something about this ourselves," one of the girls said.
Even more than the torture, psychological programming, infiltration of governmental offices, and blackmail, the biggest factor contributing to the success of satanic cults is our reluctance to believe in them in a realistic way. The German police don't have a specific department that deals with crimes relating to satanism or ritualistic abuse, and the related crimes they do investigate are filed away in different categories and quickly disappear from the agenda. Many times, when victims make the incredible step of breaking away from cult life, the public can't help but question their legitimacy and look for a way to discredit their stories.
As one of the girls said to me: "People don't want to believe us because then they'd have to do something about it. I find that so cowardly." Then she started talking about the tattoo she was planning to get to cover the pentagram that was carved across her back. She said she was thinking of getting a dolphin.
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text:
The EU and China: From Strategic Partners to Systemic Rivals
Fraser Cameron
More by Fraser Cameron
British Foreign Policy After Brexit
For foreign policy analysts, the Covid-19 pandemic represents another twist in the winding path of EU-China relations. In this book review, Director of the EU-Asia Centre Fraser Cameron reads The European Union and China (Macmillan, 2018) in light of recent developments in the relationship between the two global powers.
The rise of China has been the major geopolitical event of the past fifty years. The country has become the manufacturing powerhouse of the global economy and the European Union's second largest trade partner. Whilst trade is still the most important factor in EU-China relations, the past two decades have seen the two sides develop a strategic partnership and an intense network of policy dialogues covering a vast array of issues. In the last 10 years, more EU Commissioners visited China than visited all other Asian countries put together. China's rise has also posed a serious problem for attempts to forge a common EU foreign policy as individual member states have jockeyed for position in order to secure their own trade and investment deals.
For those wishing to gain a deeper insight into EU-China relations, The European Union and China by Thomas Christiansen, Emil Kirchner and Uwe Wissenbach is an excellent introduction, covering issues of politics, economics, security, and society. But the danger all books face is being overtaken by events, and in this case the volume was completed before the EU's dramatic change in policy in Spring 2019, when it labelled China a "systemic rival". There is not a single mention of Huawei in the list of references, which has arguably become the most difficult and sensitive issue for EU-China – as well as transatlantic – relations in 2019-20. Neither could the sudden outbreak of the coronavirus in China and its widespread ramifications have been foreseen, but this also illustrates the difficulties of publishing a manuscript several months after completion.
There is, nevertheless, a huge amount of useful information in the book, authored by two leading academics and one leading European diplomat. It clearly explains the challenges of building a relationship between two wholly distinct actors with fundamentally different political and economic systems. In the 1990s, the EU's main approach towards China was to guide it towards entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) through the development of a market economy and reforms to its legal system.
The EU has struggled to react to China's ascendance. Member states all want a share of the economic benefits and are thus reluctant to call Xi out on human rights and democracy.
It was widely believed that as China grew economically and became more intertwined with the global economy, this would inevitably have a knock on effect on domestic politics and push China towards a more liberal and democratic system. Instead, China has reaped the benefits of WTO membership while moving to a more authoritarian style of leadership, especially since Xi Jinping became president in 2013.
The EU has struggled to react to China's ascendance. Member states all want a share of the economic benefits and are thus reluctant to call Xi out on human rights and democracy. When some countries do, such as Sweden, they are usually left isolated by other member states in a shameful lack of solidarity.
The main reason for the EU's change in approach in Spring 2019 was anger and frustration at China's broken promises to tackle massive subsidies to its state-owned enterprises, enforced technology transfer, and intellectual property theft. The EU was willing to continue partnering with China on the environment and regional security, notably the Iran nuclear deal. But it was now stating loud and clear that enough was enough on the trade front.
The EU is moving to screen Chinese investment in Europe and toughen its trade defences, for as long as Beijing refuses to accept the principle of a level playing field. The new EU Trade Commissioner, Phil Hogan, has emphasised that reciprocity will now be the guiding principle for future relations. If Beijing does not sign up to a bilateral investment agreement, already under negotiation for over six years, then a raft of measures will come into force aimed at curbing Chinese investment in Europe.
Another divisive issue is technology, which is given scant attention in the book. The EU is struggling to reach a common position on whether to allow Huawei a lead role in constructing 5G networks. Like Britain, Germany has fudged the issue and it seems likely that other EU member states will follow suit, much to the fury of the Trump administration. Indeed, the intense lobbying of the US administration vis-à-vis China is not properly covered in the book, though its impact is being felt across all areas of transatlantic relations. As US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put it bluntly with regards to China, "either you are with us or against us". This is not a choice most European governments wish to make. When Trump's friend and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson allowed Huawei to operate part of his country's 5G network, the US president went into a fury.
The authors point to the cumbersome and complex decision-making process on EU foreign policy, but in spring 2019 the EU institutions acted exceptionally quickly, taking just a few weeks to agree the new strategy.
These major policy issues are not given sufficient attention in the book, which is top heavy on process. It offers the reader a comprehensive overview of every document published by the EU and China on their relationship. But this is only half the story, and the book would have been improved by comments from EU or Chinese officials. Surprisingly, the authors do not appear to have interviewed any officials who could have added some spice, such as the story of former Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker chasing Premier Li Keqiang through the corridors of the European Council building after the 2017 summit to stop him leaving before the press conference.
The authors point to the cumbersome and complex decision-making process on EU foreign policy, but in spring 2019 the EU institutions acted exceptionally quickly, taking just a few weeks to agree the new strategy. There is also little space devoted to the interests of the 27 member states. The 16+1 process (now 17 +1) – a Chinese bid for partnership with Central and Eastern European countries, some inside and some outside the EU – is mentioned without assessing its value or disruption to the continent's unity. Some of the 17, including Poland and the Czech Republic, have since become more critical of China while others, such as Hungary, continue to block EU statements that are critical of China. It is an open question whether the 17+1 arrangement will survive.
Given that Germany accounts for over 50 per cent of EU exports to China, the position of Berlin could have been further highlighted. Chancellor Angela Merkel has tried to defend German economic interests against Chinese threats to reduce the import of German cars if the country refused to allow Huawei a stake in its telecoms market. This has led to a major political row in the Bundestag. Merkel will probably manage to delay a decision until the special EU-China summit in Leipzig that was due for September 2020 but has now been postponed. Her brainchild (and perhaps her swansong), the summit will bring together all 27 member states with President Xi. The hope is to sign the EU-China bilateral investment treaty, but there has been a break in negotiations because of the coronavirus crisis.
The pandemic will certainly have a major impact on the future of EU-China relations, with many European companies already questioning the logic of supply chains which are totally dependent on one country. The EU is unlikely, however, to follow the US example of an active attempt to decouple its economy from China.
In response to the initial dismal lack of EU solidarity in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis, China attempted to exploit EU divisions by delivering medical equipment to Italy and Spain (and Serbia), giving the impression that Beijing was offering more assistance than Brussels.
The European Union and China is on stronger ground when it comes to revealing the points of agreement and divergence in the two powers' approaches to global governance and global issues. It notes the constructive approach China played – alongside the EU – in securing the Paris Climate Agreement. It explains why China felt disillusioned at the Western blocking of its legitimate claims for increased representation in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and thus moved to establish the Asia Infrastructure and Investment Bank and promote the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In both cases, the Europeans were divided on how to respond. Italy is the only major EU member state to have joined the BRI, a Chinese strategy of investment in infrastructure and projects around the world – which is perhaps why Italy was top of China's aid list after it was hit by Covid-19.
The authors note that China has proved a useful partner in some regional security issues including Iran, Afghanistan, and, to a lesser extent, North Korea. Its professed support for multilateralism and a rules-based system, however, was revealed as partial in its failure to accept The Hague ruling on sovereignty in the South China Sea. The EU and China have different concepts of both sovereignty and multilateralism, which often results in the two sides talking past each other.
On societal issues, the book suggests that there is little evidence that the large increase in person-to-person contact in relations between the powers has had any impact on the overall relationship. While this may be true today, it seems more than likely that the massive increase in educational exchanges and tourism will have a positive impact on how European and Chinese people perceive one another.
Although the book offers few insights into the high politics and special relationships that most member states have with China, it nevertheless provides a unique and succinct review of the history and process of the EU-China relationship.
It is also a useful guide to the complicated nature of EU foreign policy with multiple actors involved and each able to block any initiative due to the outdated unanimity rule. The EU's High Representative Josep Borrell and others have called for a change to allow limited qualified majority voting in foreign policy, but given the importance each member state attaches to its own bilateral relationship with China (or the US), this is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future. EU foreign policy will thus remain slow and cumbersome, continuing to reflect the lowest common denominator.
In response to the initial dismal lack of EU solidarity in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis, China attempted to exploit EU divisions by delivering medical equipment to Italy and Spain (and Serbia), giving the impression that Beijing was offering more assistance than Brussels. The "battle of the narratives" was denounced by the EU and it may have a lasting impact on EU-China relations. Much will depend on whether the EU and China can work together on the recovery plan and whether they can cooperate in supporting the multilateral system under attack from the US and others.
PDF / Print Republication
Enter the Dragon: the New Global Economic Order and What It Means for Europe Geopolitics
By Roderick Kefferpütz
The world economy has become a battleground for geopolitical hegemony. To stay in the game, the EU needs a new strategy.
Connecting Eurasia: Europe and China in the 21st Century Geopolitics
By Clémence Lizé
Presenting "Schuman goes to China", the cooperation on green tech, urban planning and big data that shaped the geopolitics of 2049.
ENSR
Horizon 2050: the Future of the EU-China Relationship Geopolitics
By Adrien Morin
As part of the online series around our new edition, a sneak peak of what cooperation and rivalry between Europe and China could mean for the new global order in 2049.


text:
Home > Student Works > TDs > Doctoral Dissertations > 2332
Functionally graded Ti6Sl4V and Inconel 625 by laser metal deposition
Syamala Rani Pulugurtha
"The objective of the current work was to fabricate a crack-free functionally graded Ti6Al4V and Inconel 625 thin wall structure by Laser Metal Deposition (LMD). One potential application for the current material system is the ability to fabricate a functionally graded alloy that can be used in a space heat exchanger. The two alloys, Inconel 625 and Ti6Al4V are currently used for aerospace applications. They were chosen as candidates for grading because functionally grading those combines the properties of high strength/weight ratio of Ti6Al4V and high temperature oxidation resistance of Inconel 625 into one multifunctional material for the end application. However, there were challenges associated with the presence of Ni-Ti intermetallic phases (IMPs). The study focused on several critical areas such as (1) understanding microstructural evolution, (2) reducing macroscopic cracking, and (3) reducing mixing between graded layers. Finite element analysis (FEA) was performed to understand the effect of process conditions on multilayer claddings for simplified material systems such as SS316L and Inconel 625 where complex microstructures did not form. The thermo-mechanical models were developed using Abaqus™ (and some of them experimentally verified) to predict temperature-gradients; remelt layer depths and residual stresses. Microstructure evolution along the functionally graded Ti6Al4V and Inconel 625 was studied under different processing and grading conditions. Thermodynamic modeling using Factsage (v 6.1) was used to construct phase diagrams and predict the possible equilibrium major/minor phases (verified experimentally by XRD) that may be present along the functionally graded Ti6Al4V and Inconel 625 thin wall structures"--Abstract, page iii.
Newkirk, Joseph William
Committee Member(s)
Liou, Frank W.
Kohser, Ronald A.
Zhou, Caizhi
Van Aken, David C.
Ph. D. in Materials Science and Engineering
Air Force Research Laboratory (Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio)
Missouri University of Science and Technology. Intelligent Systems Center
Note about bibliography
© 2014 Syamala Rani Pulugurtha, All rights reserved.
Dissertation - Open Access
Heat resistant alloys
Thesis Number
Electronic OCLC #
Pulugurtha, Syamala Rani, "Functionally graded Ti6Sl4V and Inconel 625 by laser metal deposition" (2014). Doctoral Dissertations. 2332.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/doctoral_dissertations/2332
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