Random Political/Social Posting

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[Schmidt Meister]

UK Anti-Terror Programme Lists Reading Orwell’s 1984, Huxley’s Brave New World as Signs of Extremism.
Reading George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World among dozens of classic books and television shows is a sign that you could be a far-right extremist, a leaked document from a UK anti-terrorism programme reportedly claims.
A 2019 document said to have leaked from the UK’s much-criticized Prevent anti-terrorism programme has claimed that someone reading George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World should be viewed as potential warning signs of extremism, with the internal paper listing a wide range of other seminal pieces of media as being red flags indicating someone may hold radical views.
The leak comes shortly after a government investigation into the programme found it to disproportionately focus on alleged right-wing extremists at the expense of dealing with the very real problem of Islamic fundamentalism in Britain.
According to an article by Douglas Murray in The Spectator, the alleged document created by Prevent’s ‘Research Information and Communications Unit’  (RICU) lists a wide range of films, TV shows, novels and non-fiction texts that may indicate someone is being radicalized if they chose to watch or read them.
Many of these texts are classic works of British fiction, such as the aforementioned anti-authoritarian Brave New World and 1984, but also the likes of John Milton’s Paradise Lost as well as the complete works of William Shakespeare.
The list also includes a number of seminal works of philosophy, including Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, as well as Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France.
The inclusion of this latter text is particularly notable considering its importance to modern-day British conservatism, whom Edmund Burke is widely credited as being the founder of.
Not all of the works indicating someone could be an extremist in Prevent’s eyes are classic works of fiction or philosophy, however, with the counter-terror org’s document also claims that an individual’s viewing of a number of mainstream films and comedy shows could betray their latent extremist beliefs.
Such problematic productions include the classic BBC sitcom Yes, Minister, which satirises the power dynamics at the heart of British government.
Also listed as a potential red flag is The Thick of It, a far more modern comedy detailing the lives of politicians, as well as the cut-throat political advisors who stalk the halls of Westminster making sure they do not step out of line.
No doubt the most puzzling inclusion in the list of potential extremist programmes though is Great British Railway Journeys, a gentle and affectionate BBC documentary series involving former Conservative Party Minister Michael Portillo travelling around the British countryside and enjoying Britain’s historic train network.
Other pieces of media that also made the extremism list include classic films The Bridge Over the River Kwai, The Dam Busters and The Great Escape.
Many netizens and political commentators have responded to the leaked list with a combination of outrage and bemusement, with one historian, Andrew Roberts, telling the Daily Mail that the document was “truly extraordinary”.
“This is the reading list of anyone who wants a civilized, liberal, cultured education,” he remarked. “It includes some of the greatest works in the Western canon and in some cases, such as Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent, powerful critiques of terrorism. Burke, Huxley, Orwell and Tolkien were all anti-totalitarian writers.”
One netizen meanwhile remarked that the compiled list of possible extremist texts was “unironically a very good reading/watching list”.
Regardless of the level of upset the document has caused, it leaking represents the kind of PR disaster that officials at the Prevent programme likely do not want right now, with the anti-terrorism organization already under fire for allegedly focusing on the comparatively low threat of the far-right at the expense of dealing with the repeatedly proven threat of Islamic extremism.
According to a report into the programme commissioned by the UK government, Prevent disproportionally focused on alleged extremism on Britain’s political right, even going so far as to allegedly conflate “populist conservative voices” with violent extremists.
“Yet when it comes to Islamism only the most violently fascist jihadist groups appear to be identified,” the report complained.
Such bias appears to have impacted the programme’s effectiveness, with over half of the terror attacks carried out in Britain since 2016 who had previously been referred to the programme.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/02/21/uk-anti-terror-programme-lists-reading-orwells-1984-huxleys-brave-new-world-as-signs-of-extremism/

[Schmidt Meister]

[pipedreams]

[Schmidt Meister]

BREAKING: Multiple rockets fired toward US military base in Syria from Iraq.
MOSUL, Iraq, April 21 (Reuters) - At least five rockets were launched from Iraq's town of Zummar towards a U.S. military base in northeastern Syria on Sunday, two Iraqi security sources told Reuters.
The attack against U.S. forces is the first since early February when Iranian-backed groups in Iraq stopped their attacks against U.S. troops.
The attack comes one day after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani returned from a visit to the United States and met with President Joe Biden at the White House.
Two security sources and a senior army officer said a rocket launcher fixed on the back of a small truck had been parked in Zummar border town with Syria.
The military official said the truck caught fire with an explosion from unfired rockets at the same time as warplanes were in the sky.
"We can't confirm that the truck was bombed by U.S. warplanes unless we investigate it," said a military official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the incident.
Iraqi security forces were deployed in the area and launched a hunt for the perpetrators who fled the area using another vehicle, said a security official who is based in the town of Zummar.
An army officer said the truck was seized for further investigation and initial investigation shows that it was destroyed by an air strike.
"We are communicating with the coalition forces in Iraq to share information on this attack," the officer added.
The attacks came one day after a huge blast at a military base in Iraq early on Saturday killed a member of an Iraqi security force that includes Iran-backed groups. The force commander said it was an attack while the army said it was investigating and there were no warplanes in the sky at the time.

A view of the base, known as Tower 22, which is operated by US troops as part of an international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, near Jordan's border with Iraq and Syria in the northeastern Rwaished District.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-798177

[Silentpoet]

Oddly popped up on my feed on youtube.  My shoulders do somewhat suck, but I am able to bench without pain. It is here in politics because RFK Jr.

[ChuteTheMall]

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[Schmidt Meister]

Happy Earth Day 2024

[tous]

The hippie's must be pissed that the Hamas rioters are overshadowing their two most important holidays:

4/20 and Earth Day.

 

<--- was at the first Earth Day

<--- has ignored it ever since

 

[gwalchmai]

I was on Earth for the first Earth Day. 

[pipedreams]

Last week we learned about Joe Biden’s latest foreign policy disaster.  The situation in Niger could top the Afghanistan withdrawal – if that is possible.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) totally embarrassed the US Army Secretary and exposed Joe Biden’s latest foreign policy catastrophe during questioning this week in the US House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee hearing.

Gaetz exposed the latest Biden foreign policy failure – this time in Niger, Africa.

US troops are trapped in the country allegedly without water and medicine. The Army was likely hiding this to protect itself from embarrassment. Deployed Americans are in limbo and unable to do their jobs and the Biden State Department is completely outmaneuvered once again.

US Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, a potential DEI hire, was stunned and speechless when Matt Gaetz confronted her about the trapped US soldiers in Niger a country in tremendous turmoil.

It now appears the US has a trade offer from the military junta in Niger.  The Russian-backed military junta in Niger will release the 1,000 US soldiers trapped at the base in exchange for the keys to the $100 million  American airbase in the country.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/04/another-major-biden-disaster-nigers-russian-backed-military/