Abraham, the disciple of Abba Agathon, questioned Abba Poemen saying, 'How do the demons fight against me?' Abba Poemen said to him, 'The demons fight against you? They do not fight against us at all as long as we are doing our own will. For our own wills become the demons, and it is these which attack us in order that we may fulfil them. But if you want to see who the demons really fight against, it is against Moses and those who are like him.

#theology #OrthodoxChristian

Abraham, the disciple of Abba Agathon, questioned Abba Poemen saying, 'How do the demons fight against me?' Abba Poemen said to him, 'The demons fight against you? They do not fight against us at all as long as we are doing our own will. For our own wills become the demons, and it is these which attack us in order that we may fulfil them. But if you want to see who the demons really fight against, it is against Moses and those who are like him.

#theology #OrthodoxChristian

The American government should be able to force the Israelis to pause their inhuman bombing campaign which crushes the lives of civilians to save Americans...

But there's no chance of it.

For whatever reason, the progressive, peace-oriented Democrats who hold Congress and the White House won't lift a finger.

Remember that the next time you vote blue (if you happen to be a #Democrat). These people do not share your values - they are Zionists who support terror in the name of their cause.

Acta Populi

2024-01-11 02:47:02

‘I feel fully betrayed by the United States’: an interview with Yasmeen Elagha #Palestine mondoweiss.net/2024/01/i-feel-…

‘I feel fully betrayed by the United States’: an interview with Yasmeen Elagha

Yasmeen Elagha has lost more than 100 relatives in Israel’s attack on Gaza and is now part of a group of Palestinian-Americans in Chicago who are suing the Biden administration over its failure to evacuate their family members.

^{Michael Arria (Mondoweiss)}

Nothing can really go right for these guys.

A crackdown on corruption in Ukraine's Defense Ministry has uncovered violations costing more than a quarter of a billion dollars, according to Kyiv.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that an internal audit of the ministry he heads found financial violations over the last four months worth 10 billion hryvnia—in the Ukrainian currency—or $260 million, as he vowed that authorities would "respond harshly to all cases."

He said that reports about arrests and criminal charges are among changes to how the ministry operates "that will be noticed more and more frequently."

Ukraine has applied to join the European Union and is particularly sensitive to claims of corruption especially given the wrangle on both sides of the Atlantic over its allies' continued financial aid to fight Russia.

In September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Umerov following the resignation of Oleksii Reznikov after scandals involving inflated prices for food supplies and low-quality military jackets for troops fighting against Russia.

They appear to not have a government capable and competent enough to even be trusted with wealth.

Ukraine Military Audit Reveals Total Cost of Violations

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that there were financial violations of $260 million over the last four months.

^{Brendan Cole (Newsweek)}

Flashback to 2012

#korea #racism

K-Pop Songwriter’s Racist Tweets Spark Outrage

Jenny Hyun, the co-songwriter behind Girls Generation’s "How Great is Your Love" and Chocolat’s "One More Day" recently sparked controversy with a slew of racist tweets.

^{Yoojiin (Soompi)}

Wow, super based Modi has his own cyber warriors to counter not just local campaigners, but international ones, and frequently attacks Soros.

The Modi government is notorious for spreading disinformation through its social media campaigns. With over 500 million active users, Whatsapp’s most significant base is India, making it a breeding ground for mis-and disinformation.

Although very little is known about BJP's Whatsapp machinery, it is well-documented that it forms an integral part of its digital campaign, often filled with propaganda to incite hate.

“Other parties in India have tried this. We've seen it in other countries like Brazil. But WhatsApp was really mastered first, and at scale, by the BJP,” Kiran Garimella, a Rutgers University professor who researched WhatsApp's role in Indian politics, told The Washington Post. “It requires resources, planning, investment, and a top-down belief in building this infrastructure. But 99 percent of what's happening in these groups is off-limits. We have no visibility at all.”

Modi government officials, experts said, act like “social media warriors.”

"Each and every BJP volunteer who has a mobile is a social media warrior," Ajith Kumar Ullal, 59, the BJP's social media head in the port city of Mangaluru, told The Washington Post.

Mangaluru, situated in the southern state of Karnataka, falls under what is often called the “Hindutva lab.”

Ullal, who is also a member of some 200 Whatsapp groups, “operates out of a ‘war room’ in the BJP's gleaming downtown office, commanding a social media ‘cell’ of nine volunteers responsible for an area in coastal Karnataka inhabited by 1.5 million people,” The Washington Post reported.

Several BJP groups held their national social media workshops in recent months as the Hindu Party streamlines its social media strategy ahead of the general elections in 2024.

“An important source of BJP said that work of the Narendra Modi-led government of 9 years have to reach the public...through social media and conveying the message to the public through digital means," Asian News International reported. “Social media teams will be made at various levels including district, state and divisional. A team of five to six people will be formed at all fronts with one social media coordinator and two co-coordinators.”

Many campaigns are geared toward improving BJP's image at home and abroad. One such campaign is the “Disinfo Lab,” which claims to be "investigating Info-warfare & Psy-war" and has systematically been targeting the Modi government's critics in the U.S.

In April, the Disinfo Lab published a report criticizing the New York-based Hindus for Human Rights Founder, Sunita Viswanath, a human rights group critical of Modi's Hindutva policies.

The report linked Viswanath to Soros's Open Society Foundations for receiving funding for a nonprofit she launched to help female Afghan refugees.

Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP's social media team, posted on X: “Who is she exactly? She is nothing but a proxy of George Soros, who has committed $1 billion to meddle in India's internal affairs, through a network of opposition leaders, think tanks, journalists, lawyers and activists.”

“In 28 reports it has published so far, the organization has often painted a picture of an India under attack by a sprawling "nexus" of conspirators funded by Pakistani intelligence, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Soros," The Washington Post reported in its recent investigation on lab.

The Disinfo Lab also insinuated that Rep. Pramila Jayapal, an Indian-American Democrat from Washington State who is critical of Modi, received funds via this “nexus.”

The Disinfo Lab has gone after the Indian-American activists who criticized the Modi government for discrimination against Muslims and Dalits, members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms (USCIRF), a bipartisan organization that recommended the state department assign India a “country of particular concern” on account of how the religious minorities are being treated in the country under Modi.

I do not agree with a lot of his domestic policy but the guy sure is not going to take anything lying down in cyberspace.

#India #cyber

Modi Critics Raise Alarms Regarding India’s Persecution Of Religious Minorities

As India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to run for a third term, the country remains on the brink.

^{Manmeet Sahni (Religion Unplugged)}

This is a sharp drop from the 70,000 threshold to the 50,000s in just two years.

The place is rapidly depopulating.

#Korea #fertilitycrisis

Record-low 1st grade enrollment expected amid waning fertility rates - The Korea Herald

South Korea is expecting to see record-low numbers of first graders entering elementary school this year due to knock-on effects from the country's falling birth rate.

^{Choi Jeong-yoon (The Korea Herald)}

Huh, my content is not being syndicated on Mastodon through here.

It says the account has been suspended.

Hasan, who previously worked for Qatari propaganda network Al Jazeera, has compared non-Muslims to “animals” and homosexuals to “pedophiles.” Hasan has also repeatedly defended notorious anti-Semites like Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

Daily Wire just feels so confident branding people anti-Semites.

These are conventionally liberal people who parrot conventionally liberal talking points. We can speculate that they, in their personal lives, harbor dark, anti-Semitic thoughts, but this is overly judgmental... Particularly when a far more obvious answer seems to present itself everywhere: these are naive leftist women.

Their saving grace is that they are generally right about Palestine.

Far-Left Host Mehdi Hasan Out At MSNBC, Slammed For Pushing Disinformation, Anti-Semitism

Far-left host Mehdi Hasan announced on Sunday night that his time at the network is over after it was announced late last year that his show and his streaming series were being canned.

^{Daily Wire News (The Daily Wire)}

Pope Francis on Monday condemned the practice of using a surrogate mother to birth a child and called for a global ban on the practice.

The pope called surrogacy “despicable” during an annual foreign policy address to ambassadors of 184 countries.

“I consider despicable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child,” Francis said.

Absolutely the Pope has a point here and I wish him success in his endeavors.

Pope Calls For Global Ban On Surrogacy

Pope Francis on Monday condemned the practice of using a surrogate mother to birth a child and called for a global ban on the practice. The pope called surrogacy “despicable” during an annual foreign policy address to ambassadors of 184 countries.

^{Mairead Elordi (The Daily Wire)}

I am honestly quite relieved to see that somebody did something about this...

It was weird to see the nanny state swell to such largesse.

New Zealand's new PM to scrap 'generational smoking ban'

The new government of New Zealand has said it will end measures aimed at banning the sale of cigarettes to younger people

^{Times of Oman}

https://www.unz.com/jderbyshire/t%0D%0Ahere-is-partial-and-incremental-hope-on-immigration/

#theology

From St. John Chrysostom's homilies on Romans 11:

Ver. 28. "As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes."

That the Gentile then might not be puffed up, and say, "I am standing, do not tell me of what would have been, but what has been," he uses this consideration to bring him down, and says, "As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sakes." For when you were called they became more captious. Nevertheless God hath not even now cut short the calling of you, but He waiteth for all the Gentiles that are to believe to come in, and then they also shall come. Then he does them another kind favor, by saying, "As touching election, they are beloved for the fathers sakes." And what is this? for wherein they are enemies, punishment is theirs: but wherein they are beloved, the virtue of their ancestors has no influence on them, if they do not believe. Nevertheless, as I said, he ceaseth not to solace them with words, that he may bring them over. Wherefore by way of fresh proof for his former assertion, he says,

Ver. 30-32. "For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they may also obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all."

He shows here that those of the Gentiles were called first. Then, as they would not come, the Jews were elected, and the same result occurred again. For when the Jews would not believe, again the Gentiles were brought over. And he does not stop here, nor does he draw the whole to a conclusion at their rejection, but at their having mercy shown them again. See how much he gives to those of the Gentiles, as much as he did to the Jews before. For when ye, he would say, "in times past did not obey," being of the Gentiles, then the Jews came in. Again, when these did not obey, ye have come. However, they will not perish forever. "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief," that is, hath convinced them, hath shown them disobedient; not that they may remain in disobedience, but that He may save the one by the captiousness of the other, these by those and those by these. Now consider; ye were disobedient, and they were saved. Again, they have been disobedient, and ye have been saved. Yet ye have not been so saved as to be put away again, as the Jews were, but so as to draw them over through jealousy while ye abide.

https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1743073318905790707

Very fair assessment from Andrew Anglin, of all people:

“Islamic terrorist organization” not only means that they are philosophically opposed to raping prisoners of war, but it also means that the organization contains a very strict hierarchical structure, which means members engaged in violations of the religious structure – such as men engaging in rape – would suffer the weight of Islamic law.

For the record, I don’t think Hamas is actually an Islamic terrorist organization, or even an “Islamic group” in the sense that the term is used in the West. The concept is that the group is motivated by Islam. In fact, Hamas is motivated by the fact that Jews stole their land and forced them into an open-air concentration camp. If Jews had done this to Christians, Buddhists, or Hindus, there would be a group identical to Hamas opposing them and using the corresponding religious regalia.

Hamas Found Guilty of Rape in Another Dimension of the Multiverse

Hamas didn’t rape her. However, the guilt of the rape remains, because in another dimension, where circumstances were different, Hamas would have raped her. This is my favorite news story now.

^{The Unz Review}

Who's working American hospitals now?

As many as 10 patients at an Oregon hospital may have died after a nurse allegedly swapped out fentanyl in IVs for tap water, prompting an investigation of the theft of medication.

Officials at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford say they alerted police early last month that they believed a former employee had stolen medication.

Some sources at the hospital told local NBC affiliate KOBI that nine people had died from infections, while other sources said there were 10 deaths in total.

Multiple sources also told the outlet the nurse injected the patients with non-sterile tap water to cover up their misuse of the hospital’s supply of pain medication, namely fentanyl.

Up to 10 hospital patients died after nurse allegedly replaced fentanyl IVs with tap water

Officials at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Oregon say they alerted police early last month that they believed a former employee had stolen medication.

^{Isabel Keane (New York Post)}

This is what happens when people don't have faith in the justice system.

Theaitetos (Рцяэыоод)

2023-09-30 12:25:18

The Kids are All Right

They’re going to be, anyhow. The #youth have clearly grasped that the #older #generations are not going to #defend them or their #nations, and that the #burden of #action is going to fall upon them. And they’ve also observed that #vigilante #justice is the only justice that exists any more.

No doubt the #wicked #Swedish #government that failed to protect this #girl and refused to punish her #rapist will throw its full weight against these young vigilantes. But the #massive #hypocrisy this entails will only accomplish the precise #opposite of its objectives and encourage a wave of similar, but more #silent #reprisals.

I’ve always said that the wars that will bring about the #end of the #UnitedStates would begin when someone from the wrong #family is victimized by one group of #invaders or another. Apparently this may hold true for less heterogeneous polities as well. It will be interesting to learn if this girl is actually Swedish or if she’s also a #foreigner. If she is actually a daughter of the #vikings, it won’t be surprising if one day, after the end of the #mass #repatriations, there are #statues built to #honor her. These are precisely the sort of acts that become #myths and #legends over time.

Consider, for example, the #founding #legends of #Rome, and the #rape of #Lucretia that ended the Roman monarchy.

It’s already beginning in #LatinAmerica too. I won’t link to the report, since it’s worse than the average #horror movie, but a young #African #woman recently learned the very hard way that it’s a #fatal #mistake to physically attack the #daughter of a #cartel #lord.

All across the #West, #people have #lost #faith in their #government to maintain #order. And now they are beginning to realize that there is no cavalry, and that if anyone is going to protect their family, if anyone is going to #protect their #nation, it’s going to have to be themselves.

The Kids are All Right - Vox Popoli

They’re going to be, anyhow. The youth have clearly grasped that the older generations are not going to defend them or their nations, and that the burden of action is going to fall upon them.

^{VD (Vox Popoli)}

You are just not going to have a super successful football team if you can never put pressure on your opponent's quarterback.

You can even be a winning team without this - that is what the Vikes were last year - but like this? Just miserable.

#Vikings #NFL

Apparently, Russia is probing the ground, preparing to campaign for Odessa.

The analysis is also spot on in terms of this:

According to Johnson, the Russian Armed Forces are in a much more favourable position than the Ukrainian formations, as they have a sufficient number of soldiers. In addition, all of them undergo the necessary training, while in Ukraine they grab people right on the street and immediately send them to the front.

Acta Populi

2024-01-03 00:47:10

Russia is capable of liberating Odessa – ex-CIA officer Johnson en.news-front.su/2024/01/02/ru…

Russia is capable of liberating Odessa - ex-CIA officer Johnson

Former CIA officer Larry Johnson believes that the Russian army is capable of liberating Odessa if necessary. “Yes, they may actually try, they have already started, they are now probing the ground,” he said.

^{gromoffaleksa (English News front)}

LOL that smile...

Ob’i-Hahn [WI] 🏴‍☠️

2024-01-01 13:51:30

Pretty much defines a slow news day, doesn’t it?

'Survivor' alum Parvati Shallow comes out as queer, kisses Mae Martin

nypost.com/2023/12/31/entertai…

'Survivor' winner Parvati Shallow comes out as queer, reveals Mae Martin relationship

“We’re here. We’re queer. Happy New Year,” Shallow wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of the couple kissing in a photo booth.

^{Jack Hobbs (New York Post)}

Admittedly I did not feel any animus towards Duterte's all out war on drugs but this isn't a good look.

The Philippine government estimates that more than 6,252 people have been gunned down by the police and "unknown assailants" since former President Rodrigo Duterte declared a "war on drugs" in 2016, when he won the election. Rights groups say the numbers could actually run into the tens of thousands.

Police say the victims were drug lords or peddlers, who they often killed in "self defence" during shoot-outs. But many families claim their sons, brothers or husbands were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

You can almost guarantee that it was not abnormal at all for personal scores to be settled like this and for loads of innocents to be caught in the crossfire.

Philippines: Bone diggers seek justice for dead in Duterte's drug war

A priest and a forensic pathologist are collecting evidence that may one day be used in court.

^{By Linda Pressly (BBC News)}

It's really fabulous that we are reading this in the Biden era:

Trump businesses received millions in foreign payments while he was in office
Countries including China and Saudi Arabia spent $7.8m, ‘often lavishly’, at Trump properties, report by House Democrats finds

Donald Trump “repeatedly and willfully” violated the US constitution by “allowing his businesses to accept millions of dollars from some of the most corrupt nations on Earth”, prominently including China, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee charged on Thursday, unveiling a 156-page report on the matter.

What's also funny about this is that his businesses were in a trust so... what's he even on about?

Trump businesses received millions in foreign payments while he was in office

^{Martin Pengelly (The Guardian)}

This is really a huge oversight fom the coach - and I take no pride in saying this. I respect #17, but this is pretty bad...

For example, KJ Osborn has led the league in drop rate (currently 13.2%) among wide receivers with at least 70 targets. He also has the sixth lowest contested catch rate (25%) and the third worst yards per route run. And this despite eight games without Justin Jefferson. He has the worst overall offense grade from PFF, the second-worst receiving grade, and by far the worst drop grade. His run block grade is also below average. And yet O’Connell has had nothing but compliments for Osborn and hasn’t decreased his role or snaps based on poor on-field performance. It was only due to the injury to Jefferson that we began to see more of Brandon Powell, who has performed better than Osborn but hasn’t been rewarded for it with more snaps, apart from injury to either Jefferson or Addison.

Vikings Off-Season Evaluation Part I: Offensive Overview

The first in a series of Vikings off-season evaluations

^{Warren Ludford (Daily Norseman)}

This is one of those crazy things that seems to always happen - whenever Israel comes up, there's an abundance of people saying crazy shit about Islam.

This is likely because the terror state of Israel is so hard to defend on its own - you have to proactively dehumanize its opponents to give it a chance at legitimacy.

A survey released last month from the Anthropology Group on Islamic and Arab Contexts — an organisation based at the University of São Paulo — found that reports of harassment among Muslim Brazilians have been widespread since the war began.

An estimated 70 percent of respondents said they knew someone who experienced religious intolerance since October 7, when the Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, killing 1,140 people.

‘Outraged’: Brazilian Muslims face growing Islamophobia over Gaza war

A survey released last month suggests approximately 60 percent of Brazilian Muslims experienced religious intolerance.

^{Eduardo Campos Lima (Al Jazeera)}

It is not surprising. Every US administration has its share of banal bureaucrats who, in exchange for an important job with an impressive title, are willing to forfeit their integrity and jettison the truth in the “service” of country.

And so, since early October, the world has seen and heard a lot from Rumsfeld’s hideous heir, National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby.

Like Rumsfeld, the former career naval officer speaks in a high-pitched monotone befitting his dour, monochromatic character.

Like Rumsfeld, Kirby is obliged to spout state-sanctioned bromides in defence of the wholesale destruction of innocent civilians – casualties all of America’s familiar kill-first, think-later foreign policy.

Like Rumsfeld, Kirby is the darling of Beltway pundits who, as a rule, defer to authority and genuflect before power.

On cue, the Washington Post described Kirby earlier this week as a “star” whose skill and experience have translated into “a commanding presence” during press briefings where he keeps the White House’s “messaging” on Gaza “clear”.

Kirby, the Post wrote, is “direct, plain-spoken and unmistakably supportive of the administration’s pro-Israeli policies”.

...

I thought it impossible that Kirby could outdo his doddering boss, US President Joe Biden who, memorably, trafficked in fabrications about beheaded babies, and questioned the number of killed Palestinian children, women and men.

Silly me.

...

“Look, we certainly share the concerns that so many others have … about the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Kirby said last week from a rostrum at the White House flanked by the Stars and Stripes. “Tell me, name me, one more nation, any other nation, that is doing as much as the United States to alleviate the pain and suffering of the people of Gaza. You can’t. You just can’t.”

I should let that astonishing paragraph stand as Kirby’s sorry epitaph since it demonstrates how prepared the Biden administration and its smug surrogates are to disfigure reality to promote a revolting lie.

But Kirby’s deplorable admonition requires a reply. Decency demands it.

Much of Gaza and 18,600 Palestinians – the bulk of them children and women – have been erased and buried in mass graves with the help of America’s lethal largesse.

Thousands more have been maimed, traumatised or remain entombed beneath the pancake-like rubble – the shattered remnants of once-vibrant homes, businesses, schools, mosques and hospitals.

Biden, Kirby and dead, ungrateful Palestinians

Biden and his smug surrogates remain determined to disfigure reality to obscure their complicity in Israel’s crimes.

^{Andrew Mitrovica (Al Jazeera)}

Another alt tech social media site abandoned.

Panos Damelos

2023-12-30 14:03:23

Ugh, I really tried to stay out of #fediverse drama but I guess I have to say a few things. Most of you know me as a #firefish core team member, so I think I owe it to the admins of almost 500 firefish servers out there and to the almost 5000 members of firefish.social.

So, yeah, if you haven't noticed, things aren't looking good for firefish. Its owner, Kainoa, has practically abandoned the project, which had its last stable release out on July. My last message to them was a week ago, and I haven't heard back since. Firefish.social, besides the other severe technical problems it's had due to mismanagement in the last few months, now also has serious federation issues. I hope Kainoa is well irl, but this is irresponsible and unacceptable.

I hear some of you saying "but you're in the core team too, don't try to put the blame elsewhere!". So I have to explain what being a core team member in firefish meant. Kainoa invited me, Namekuji and a few others to be part of the "core team", but kept all decisions and responsibilities. We didn't co-own this. We never shared donations. We were just volunteers, who were honestly trying to make it a great project. This didn't work well due to concentration of power to one person, who didn't keep their promises. I don't mean to be harsh to Kainoa, I mean we knew they were only 19 when they started the project. Still, it's a bummer to anyone who chose to trust and support Firefish. This includes myself.

I don't know if it's early to consider firefish a dead project, but it sure seems like that for a few months now. Maybe it can be resurrected, idk. It's all up to Kainoa.

In the meantime, Namekuji and I are starting #Catodon, which will have some differences with Firefish, and will include many changes I had discussed with Kainoa but were never implemented. If you decide to stick with us, we promise to be serious about this. I strongly believe in the fediverse and its potential, and I want to build a great platform for it. This was my goal when I chose to be involved in Calckey/Firefish. It's still my goal with Catodon, only this time I can stand behind it 100%, as the project will be co-managed by Namekuji and me. If Firefish left you with a bitter aftertaste, we hope we can build a better relationship and prove ourselves worthy of your trust. Catodon will go public in a matter of days, possibly even hours. We'll have more to say about its direction then.

In the meantime, I just wanted to share my apologies for any inconvenience regarding Firefish, as I'm still technically a core team member, whatever that means. But frankly, I tried so hard to make things go differently - but there's only so much you can do when it's someone else's project. I'm really sorry for how things went.

But this is not the end of the fedi journey for me. I'm super excited about the chance to do some things right this time with Catodon. Life goes on, I guess! Hope to see you soon on our #codeberg repo, so we can start a new creative adventure together =)

​​ xx

This is just plain hilarious:

When Karenga was asked to distinguish Kawaida, the philosophy underlying Kwanzaa, from "classical Marxism," he essentially said that, under Kawaida, we also hate whites. (And here's something interesting: Kawaida, Kwanzaa and Kuumba are also the only three Kardashian sisters not to have their own shows on the E! network.)

Happy Kwanzaa! The Holiday Brought to You by the FBI - Ann Coulter

One of this year’s major news stories is how Republicans, like Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, are trying to BAN the teaching of history — which, as everyone knows, consists exclusively of lessons…

^{Ann Coulter}