Nothing so ingenious than "debating the science"
Thanks, "The queerest place on the internet"
On the 4th of July 2018 some anarchists in Sydney painted a memorial piece for Dan Shersty and Spit Newborn.
Dan and Spit were young anti-fascist skinheads, punk musicians, and founding members of the Las Vegas chapter of Anti-Racist Action.
On the 4th of July 1998 they were lured into the desert on the outskirts of Vegas and gunned down by a gang of 6 white supremacists, only three of whom ever served time for the murders.
Twenty years on, their memory is kept alive in the daily struggle against racism and fascist terror.
Never Forgive, Never Forget
you would almost think that israel has stopped killing palestinians but in the past twenty-four hours i have seen some of the most gruesome images of dead and beheaded human beings in my life, once again, in july of 2024.
israel is banking on nine months of genocide pacifying global outrage, the slow and steady extermination becoming more palatable. however, nine months in this also incriminates them absolutely.
to be committing such heinous crimes nine months in, with a genocide trial, ICC warrants pending, the eyes of the world on them shows that israel is not a state with any system of accountability, nor are its citizens or its supporters capable of mounting a real opposition to its genocidal mandate of palestinians. nine months of unstoppable and unceasing war crimes, and nine months of israel apologists refusing to give an inch as they continue to take lives. nine months of proving that they were never trying to end hamas, nor were they ever capable of it, but they seek nothing except the annihilation of palestinians and the annexation of their lands. nine months of settler colonialism in action.
nine months of palestinians being proven, beyond a doubt, completely right in their assessment of israel. a state that is beyond redemption, a state that is not a partner for peace, a state that has never stopped reproducing the violence of its foundation since the day it was founded.
The Onion pulling zero fucking punches.
With few exceptions, it is more accurate to divide most politicians into two broad categories: Enemies, and Cowards. The enemies are those politicians who are legitimately opposed to your policy goals. The cowards are those politicians who may agree with your policy goals, but will sell you out if they must in order to protect their own interests. Embrace the idea that we are simply pushing to elect the cowards, rather than the enemies. Why? Because the true work of political action is not to identify idealized superheroes to run for office. It is, instead, to create the conditions in the world that make it safe for the cowards to vote the right way. Under this framework, you can set aside the tedious feelings of disappointment that come with holding moral views while also supporting any politician. Will your favorite candidate do something bad? Almost certainly. After all, they are cowards. The onus is on us to give the cowards a soft path to the moral choice. The education necessary to equip citizens with the facts; the persuasion necessary to move public opinion to the right place; the organizing necessary to mobilize people to fight for the right thing. These things are the substance of “politics.” Elections can be seen as just another organizing task, one in an endless procession of efforts necessary to arrange the chess pieces of power in a way that will, eventually, produce the righteous outcome.
-Hamilton Nolan
It's so sad that I am hearing of Bosnian genocide survivors talk about how they are triggered by the genocide denial happening around gaza. That the rhetoric that is being thrown around in the media and the rationalization for killing thousands and the talk of "let's be careful of what we call genocide. Let's wait before we call it that" is repetitive of what they were hearing when they were living through it
And Holocaust survivors who were protesting in DC and feeling the burden of having to come out and protest another genocide being done in their name except the media has completely sidelined them because it does not fit the narrative.
I have no other words except how terrible this is but it feels comforting in a weird way that genocide survivors are standing with Gaza. Who needs the acknowledgement of governments when you have them
Hey y'all, can you do me a favor and sign this petition? The Death Penalty, in my opinion, should be abolished, but regardless no innocent person should be executed.
To reiterate: Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon and other such books, blocked me on Twitter for calling him out about his AI-generated cover.
Tor has admitted he approved this cover and they have been consulting him every step of the way. He is complicit.
It’s honestly so fucking frustrating that this is going to go forward. That the cover to Fractal Noise is gonna be published with AI art that has ripped off other artists. And neither the author nor the publisher give one flying fuck about it.
I don’t think a lot of people really understand what this means. Book cover art is already nearly universally shitty. You go look at fantasy art covers, and they’re all photomanipulations, generally a single girl on the cover doing magic or looking into the distance. There’s no variety. But at least people get paid for them.
With AI art, artists don’t get paid. You know who does? The people who made the dataset. The people who sold the “cover.” Even though it took less than 20 minutes to make.
If this isn’t infuriating you, I don’t know what the hell else to say. Machine learning is coming for everyone’s jobs, and corporate wallets don’t care if it’s safe or not. Certain areas are already experimenting with AI Amazon deliveries, and it’s been hinted that long-haul trucking is next.
This is unacceptable. PLEASE. I’m not going to guilt you into sharing this, but it is CRITICAL that we take a stand now and STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING. If you follow me, I am asking you as a friend to share this, and to find it in your heart to put pressure on people who publish AI art without paying artists.
Tor could change the cover. They’re not, because they’re using Fractal Noise as a test run to see if they can get away with it. Don’t let them. I don’t care how much you like Paolini’s work (although I think Eragon was a boring slog, so I had no qualms about calling him out), you HAVE to do your best to make this stop.
vetted fundraisers from today. please keep sharing and donating as you're able, it really does so much; even if your individual action feels small, you are helping to save lives.
june 29th:
14-year-old Hala El-Hissi, her two siblings (the younger of whom needs hepatitis treatment), and their mother (€8,459/€16,000) - @halaelhissi, @nadasaftawi, verified by @/sar-soor
Muhammad Al-Azayza and his family, including two children, one with Down syndrome (kr6,738 SEK/kr200,000 SEK) - @hamouda-az, verified by @/sayruq
Ahmed Ziad, his siblings, and their sick parents (£2,733/£30,000) - @ahmed-ziad, verified by @/nabulsi
Basel Ayyad and his family of eight, including his daughter who needs urgent treatment to preserve her eyesight (CHF1,506/CHF60,000) - @basel-1995, verified by @/sayruq
Safaa Abd, her husband, and their two young children (€952/€50,000) - @safaabed, verified by @/90-ghost
Wafaa Alnhal's family of 15, including four children and a newborn (€20,277/€50,000) - @wafs-posts, verified by @/nabulsi
Alaa Al Khateeb's family of six, including her mother who needs medical treatment (£25,391/£56,000) - @alaaalkhateeb, #99 on @/nabulsi and @/el-shab-hussein's spreadsheet
Haneen Atya's family of ten, including several young children, a newborn, and her mother who needs urgent treatment for a stroke and bleeding ($38,011 AUD/$70,000 AUD) - @haneenatya34, verified by @/el-shab-hussein
Mohammed Okal's evacuation and education (kr3,228 NOK/kr90,000 NOK) - @mohammedokal-2, verified by @/90-ghost
Mohammed Adly Haboub and his family of four (he turns 20 today) (kr14,191 SEK/kr300,000 SEK) - @mohammedhaboub, verified by @/90-ghost
Siraj Abudayeh, his wife, and their three young children who've lost their treasured home ($1,398 CAD/$82,000 CAD) - @siraj2024, verified by @/nabulsi
Hadeel Adnan Abu Nasser and her family of 12 (they lost her father in a bombing and her brother to malnutrition; Hadeel is responsible for all her family) (€1,126/€20,000) - @hadeelgaza, verified by @/90-ghost
not yet vetted:
Reem Mohamed, her husband, and their two young children (€1,925/€20,000) - @rem096
i know you likely see posts like this every day, but please don't tune them out. every one of these families and individuals deserves to live safely and pursue their dreams. any contribution you make keeps someone's bright future alive
Buildings are easier to defend than outdoor camps AND they can be more disruptive. For anyone ready to escalate for Gaza, check out this re-issue of a text that has been used in previous movements.