Tag: Protests

More Russian Antiwar

I recently wrote a post about the Russian antiwar movement (something the US is too indoctrinated to have)….since I am antiwar for the last 50 years I like to see people taking to the streets to protest….

I am updating the Russian antiwar news….

This Russian father is imprisoned because his daughter made an antiwar drawing….

There are both hopes and fears for a Russian dissident sentenced to two years in a penal colony after his daughter drew anti-war drawings at school, as he now appears to have fled house arrest and can’t be found. Aleksei Moskalyov, a single father from Yefremov, was separated from his daughter at the start of this month. He was placed under house arrest, while she was moved to a state-run orphanage and “forbidden to communicate with her father,” per the New York Times. Moskalyov came to the attention of police last April when Masha, now 13, “refused to participate in a patriotic class at her school,” reports the Guardian. She also drew an image of missiles being fired at a Ukrainian family, along with the words “No to war” and “Glory to Ukraine!,” per Reuters.

The next day, Moskalyov and Masha were “taken away from the school by police officers,” per the Times. “For three and a half hours they told me that I was providing inappropriate parenting for my child,” Moskalyov, 54, told OVD-Info. “They said she’d be taken away from me and I’d be put in jail.” He was initially fined. He’d allegedly described the Russian regime as “terrorists” and the Russian army as “rapists” on social media, per the Guardian. Months later, however, Moskalyov said authorities raided his home and detained him. “They locked me in a room for two and a half hours, turned on the Russian national anthem [at] full volume, and left,” he told OVD-Info.

Moskalyov was ultimately convicted of discrediting the armed forces and sentenced Tuesday to two years in a penal colony. But the Federal Penitentiary Service later said he’d removed his ankle monitor and fled his apartment shortly before 5am that day. Moskalyov’s lawyer couldn’t confirm that but said he last saw his client on Monday, per Reuters. Vowing to appeal the verdict, Vladimir Biliyenko appeared in court with new drawings from Masha, whom he’d visited in the orphanage. He also carried a photo of a letter she’d written to her father. “Dad, you are my hero,” it reads in part. Russian human rights group Memorial, which is banned from the country, says it considers Moskalyov to be a political prisoner. Police say they’re continuing to search for him.

Updated….the “heat” caught with this dad in Belarus….

Aleksei Moskalyov, an anti-war Russian father who fled house arrest hours before he was sentenced to two years in a penal colony Tuesday, has been arrested in Belarus, his lawyer says. Dmitry Zakhvatov tells Reuters that Moskalyov’s arrest in Minsk, more than 400 miles away from his hometown south of Moscow, was most likely the result of him turning his phone on and giving away his location. Earlier this month, the 54-year-old single father was separated from his 12-year-old daughter and reported to authorities after she drew anti-war drawings at school. He was convicted of discrediting the army after authorities found he had made anti-war remarks on social media. It’s not clear whether he will now face more charges.

Remember Pussy Riot?

One of the members has been in trouble with the Putin government for years and now one of the members is in deep dodo for her antiwar stance….

Russian authorities have put a member of the Pussy Riot punk group on a wanted list for criminal suspects as the Kremlin works to stifle political dissent. Russian news outlet Mediazona discovered an entry for Nadya Tolokonnikova in the Russian Interior Ministry’s database of wanted individuals on Wednesday. The entry, also reviewed by the AP, said Tolokonnikova faces criminal charges, but it didn’t specify what the charges are. Tolokonnikova became widely known for taking part in a 2012 Pussy Riot protest inside Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. She spent nearly two years in prison.

Earlier this month Russia’s top human rights lawyer, Pavel Chikov, said a criminal case had been launched against Tolokonnikova on the charge of offending religious believers’ feelings, which became a criminal offense in Russia after the 2012 Pussy Riot protest. Tolokonnikova left Russia and reportedly lives in the US. In 2021, the Russian government designated her as a “foreign agent,” a label that brings additional government scrutiny and carries pejorative connotations that can discredit the recipients. Russian authorities have applied the designation to independent media outlets and opposition activists.

It is good to see people that are committed to ending war and not just whiners.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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Disturbing News About The 06 January Riot

Slowly but slowly some of the defendants are getting their time in jail and others are getting fined….all that is good news but some of the news is disturbing on another front.

You know how the Dems are going on about the protest and yet not all Dems think it was a bad idea.

More than a quarter of Republicans now approve of the Capitol riot, according to a new poll—and, puzzlingly, almost a fifth of Democrats agree. “Do you approve or disapprove of the Trump supporters taking over the Capitol building in Washington, DC on January 6th, 2021 to stop Congressional proceedings?” the Economist/YouGov poll asked 1,500 American adults, Some 27% of Republicans, and 19% of Democrats, said they either “strongly” or “somewhat” approve. The poll also found that 54% of Republicans believe “people participated in a legitimate public discourse” on Jan. 6, compared to 21% of Democrats, the Hill reports.

Some 71% of Democrats, and 27% of Republicans thought “people participated in a violent insurrection” was a more fitting description of the day’s events. Among Democrats, 90% thought former President Trump had at least some responsibility for the riot, while 43% of Republicans—and 52% of Trump supporters—thought he had none whatsoever. The poll also found that 42% of Americans, including 61% of Republicans, approved of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to release tens of thousands of hours of Jan. 6 footage to Tucker Carlson, the Guardian reports.

More result from the poll….Biden, Ukraine, etc….

The poll was taken between March 11 and March 14. Some 34% of respondents, including 63% of Republicans, said they wanted Trump to run for president in 2024. Only 26%, including 45% of Democrats, wanted President Biden to seek a second term. The numerous other issues pollsters addressed included aid for Ukraine. Some 77% supported sending the country food and medical assistance, 53% supporting sending tanks, 44% were in favor of sending fighter jets, and 26% were in favor of sending US troops.

These results are very disturbing….19% of the Dems agreed with 06 January riot….seriously?

Those are not Dems they are probably so-called ‘centrist’ that think the center is the place to be.

I have been saying that Dens were not much better than the GOP….this does not change my mind in the least.

Does anyone else see a disturbing issue here?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Wounded Knee–50 Years On

Yep a little slice of American history that most young people have NO idea ever occurred.

50 years ago last month the Native Americans started their protest at Wounded Knee, the site of a US cavalry massacre of American natives….

The 1973 Siege at Wounded Knee is the longest “civil unrest” in the history of the US Marshal Service. For 71 days, the American Indian Movement (AIM) and members of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) nation were under siege in a violent standoff with the FBI and US Marshals equipped with high powered rifles and armored personnel carriers.  Two people were killed, over two dozen wounded.  At stake, sovereignty and self-determination guaranteed through treaty rights.

Fifty years have passed but for American Indians the struggle for recognition of the nation-to-nation treaties continues to be seen as survival.  At the end of February, young Indian leaders joined older activists to gather at Wounded Knee to commemorate the violent events that began on February 27, 1973, and renew their call for self-determination and recognition of their treaties.

For older Wounded Knee veterans, this Fiftieth Anniversary year is a time for a ritual passing on of the struggle.  “You are the seventh generation. It’s your time to stand up and protect your water, defend your land,” proclaimed Vic Camp, son of Wounded Knee AIM leader Carter Camp, “Remember your treaty rights, protect those treaties . . .  we have to remind the United States government that this is our land.”

Bill Means, a veteran of the 1973 siege urged people to be clear on the purpose, “Remember, we came here for the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty. We didn’t come here just to raise hell. We had to make a statement, to tell the world that Indians are still alive, that this is still our land, and the Black Hills are not for sale!”

For the Lakota this fight for self-determination, the preservation of their nation and its land, were the central demands of the siege at Wounded Knee.  It was a fight for survival. During the negotiations in 1973 the local Oglala leaders were frustrated with the Justice Department’s refusal to grasp the central issue of the Treaty.  Gladys Bissonette, a revered Oglala elder admonished the Government negotiators, “In the past there were a lot of violations of the sacred treaties . . . This is real. We’re not playing here. So all you people that go back to Washington, think real good, because our lives are at stake. It concerns our children’s children, the unborn.”

Much has been written about the aftermath of the 1973 siege, including the murders of 60 AIM sympathizers and activists in the following year, known as the Reign of Terror, carried out by a local vigilante group self-titled “Goons” (Guardians of the Oglala Nation). U.S. District Court Judge Fred Nichols viewed this as the FBI colluding with vigilantes to target AIM sympathizers. The continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier despite universal calls for clemency – even by the prosecutor – demonstrates the truth of the FBI’s intent to eliminate Indian activists even at the cost of truth.

Siege at Wounded Knee 50 Years Later: the Fight for Self-Determination Continues

I remember those days and thinking ahead…..the Native Americans are still trying to gain some sort of respect from this government and the nation at large….slow go and little has changed…..they still do not get the respect they deserve from either the government or the nation at large.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Is There A Russian Anti-War Movement?

Speaking of antiwar protesters….

I do go on and on about the evils of war and the war in Ukraine….I try to explain why the anti-war movement in the US is a limp dick.

That aside do the Russians have the nuts to stand up and protest this god awful war?

The easy answer is ….yes they do!  And it is more vocal than the Americans.

Given the Russian government’s brutal repression of dissent, the level of Russian resistance to the Putin regime’s war on Ukraine is quite remarkable.

Beginning on the evening of February 24, 2022, the date of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many thousands of Russians, defying threats from the authorities, staged nonviolent antiwar demonstrations across their nation. On the first night alone, police made 1,820 arrests of peace demonstrators in 58 Russian cities. Over the ensuing weeks, the mass protests continued, with the intrepid demonstrators chanting or holding up signs reading “No to War.” As the authorities viewed any mention of “war” as a crime, even elementary school children were arrested when they said the forbidden slogan. Some peace demonstrators took to holding up blank signs, but they, too, were arrested. By March 13, according to OVD-Info, a Russian human rights group, the police had made at least 14,906 arrests of these and other Russian peace demonstrators.

Russian war resisters also engaged in numerous other activities. Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One Russia, disrupted the station’s main news program by holding up a sign reading: “NO WAR. Stop the war. Do not believe the propaganda.” Prominent cultural figures and politicians spoke out publicly against the war. By March 1, an online petition protesting the invasion had drawn a million supporters. Signers of open letters that called for stopping the war included 30,000 technology workers, 6,000 medical workers, 3,400 architects, more than 4,300 teachers, more than 17,000 artists, 500 scientists, and 2,000 actors and other creative figures. Other activists posted antiwar stickers in neighborhoods, replaced supermarket labels with protest statements, and even wrote peace messages on currency. Most startlingly, Russian soldiers began refusing to fight in Ukraine.

Naturally, the authorities were infuriated by this resistance and determined to crush it. Demonstrations were brutally suppressed through arrests, huge fines, and violence against activists. To bolster the legal basis for repression, the Russian parliament passed laws that provided 10 years imprisonment for spreading “fake” news about the armed forces and 5 years imprisonment for “discrediting the army.” In mid-March, Vladimir Putin publicly denounced “the scum and the traitors” who opposed his war policy and promised that the Russian people would “spit them out” like insects who had flown into their mouths. This “necessary self-cleansing of society will only strengthen our country,” he promised.

Homage to Russian War Resisters

I am glad to see that there are those with principles and nuts that will stand up to the policies of Vlad the Invader….

Maybe the US will find its guts and take to the streets….that is if they can back away from the game console or Twatter or Tki Tak long enough to make a difference.

I have my doubts.

Any thoughts that you would like to share?  (Please make it about antiwar protesters)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

War, It’s Dark Is Worst Than It’s Light

Finally there is a call to arms over Ukraine….Sunday 19Feb23….a protest.

I was one of those ‘pinkos’ as we were called back in the day……when I returned from Vietnam I got deeply into the antiwar scene and since those days I have never wavered from my belief that war is a last result.

Step back into history for all those that have short memories….

Consider just one long-gone date in the world of give-peace-(not-war)-a-chance: January 27, 1973. On that day, the United States, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the South Vietnamese rebel forces signed an agreement initiating a cease-fire during which the U.S. would withdraw its troops and dismantle all its bases in the South. On that very same day in this country, the draft was ended, launching what would become America’s all-volunteer military. Richard Nixon was still president then. He had long been convinced, as Andrew Glass wrote at Politico, that “ending the draft could be an effective political weapon against the burgeoning antiwar movement. He believed middle-class youths would lose interest in protesting the war once it became clear that they would not have to fight, and possibly die, in Vietnam.”

Though it was already too late for Nixon to test out that thesis in terms of America’s disastrous war in Vietnam, almost half a century later, it seems as if he was onto something. I was in that “burgeoning antiwar movement” of the late 1960s and early 1970s; turned in my draft card in protest; was often in the streets demonstrating against the war; and worked as an antiwar journalist at a time when, among others, both rebellious students and antiwar soldiers demonstrated repeatedly, often in significant numbers, against a first-class horror thousands of miles away.

In this century, we haven’t exactly lacked Vietnam equivalents. After all, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the administration of President George W. Bush launched its Global War on Terror and, with it, two fiercely destructive distant conflicts that could have been considered Vietnam-competitive. I’m thinking, of course, of the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. The devastating war in Iraq following that invasion continued for years, while the one in Afghanistan only ended (disastrously) in August 2021. And yet here was the odd thing: though there were large antiwar protests in February 2003 against the coming invasion of Iraq and more followed after that war began, unlike in the Vietnam era, they died out all too soon, while this country’s conflicts went grimly on (and on and on).

Originally posted at TomDispatch.

I see that I am one of a very few these days that opposes war…..so what happened to us antiwar people?

This is the American Conservatives take on my question….

On Feb. 15, 2003, 14 million people poured into the streets of 800 cities worldwide to oppose the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. It was a preemptive response to the preemptive war hatched by Bush administration, and according to the Guinness Book of World Records, it was the largest protest ever in human history. Yet the 2003 protest was also a swan song of sorts: the movement that gave rise to it is now all but defunct—namely, the antiwar left.

Two decades later, as U.S. hawks press for relentless escalation against nuclear Russia, and as European leaders unfailingly toe Washington’s line, there is no major movement of the left to channel dissent. Nor are there commanding antiwar figures comparable in stature to the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Labour M.P. Tony Benn, who spoke for the movement in 2003. Old antiwar groups, like the ANSWER Coalition, are either silent or struggling to be heard.

Some two-dozen House progressives on Monday called for diplomacy, but antiwar leftists who championed the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders and The Squad must surely be disappointed, as the few elected socialists on Capitol Hill dutifully voted “Yes” on one massive Ukraine military-aid package after another. Some veteran left-of-center restrainers, meanwhile, such as former Ploughshares Fund boss Joe Cirincione, sound downright Kristolian, what with the calls to smoke out a “pro-Putin axis.”

Whatever Happened to the Antiwar Left?

I have been saddened by the lack of concern for our propensity for endless war…..but that could change (he said with fingers crossed)….

On February 19, Washington, DC, will witness a protest against the war in Ukraine that marks a sharp departure from past demonstrations. The lead demand is simple and direct, “Not One More Penny for war in Ukraine.” It is a demand that emphasizes what we in the US can do to end the war, not what others can do. After all, the only government we have the power to influence is our own.

Above and beyond that demand, the potential power of this unique and promising movement arises from the nature of the sponsoring organizations – The Peoples Party, a progressive new Party, and the Libertarian Party. It is in fact what much of the press would term a “right-left” Coalition, spanning a spectrum broad enough to actually bring the proxy war in Ukraine to an end. Fittingly, the organizers are calling the protest “Rage Against the War Machine.” With the war in Ukraine putting us the precipice of nuclear Armageddon, “rage” might be considered a mild reaction.

The Peoples Party is probably the lesser known of the two sponsoring organizations, because it’s newer. Its founder and National Chair is Nick Brana, a lead organizer of the protest. Brana was National Coordinator of the Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign, but has turned his back on the Democrats in disgust over the failure progressive Democratic pols to fight for the promises they made. Among the speakers at the Party’s founding convention in 2020 were Cornel West, Chris Hedges, Jimmy Dore and Nina Turner (co-chair of the Sanders 2020 campaign).

The Libertarian Party is better known. It has been around longer and, though small, is the third largest political party in the US by voter registration. The present National Chair, Angela McCardle, is the other lead organizer of the DC protest. In American political life, probably, the best known representative of libertarian values, most notably a principled anti-interventionist stance in foreign policy, is Ron Paul.

Right and Left To Join in D.C. Protest: ‘Not One More Penny for War in Ukraine’

Will this make a difference?

I wish I could be more positive but the American people do not have the capability of understanding the consequences of war anymore.

It is sad.

This country needs a “Rage against the war machine”

Feb. 19: We Need a Huge Rage Against the War Machine

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Capital Riot Has Consequences

I have reported on the fines and penalties handed out by the courts on those that participated in the 06 January insurrection…..and now there is a new consequence possible.

Democratic lawmakers in a handful of states are trying to send a message two years after the violent attack on the US Capitol: Those who engage in an attempted overthrow of the government shouldn’t be allowed to run it. New York, Connecticut, and Virginia are among states where proposed legislation would prohibit anyone convicted of participating in an insurrection from holding public office or a position of public trust, such as becoming a police officer, per the AP. While the bills vary in scope, their aim is similar. “If you’ve tried to take down our government through violent means, in no way should you be part of it,” New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal said.

  • New York: Hoylman-Sigal is sponsoring a bill that would bar people convicted of engaging in an insurrection or rebellion against the United States from holding civil office, meaning they would not be able to serve as a judge or member of the Legislature.
  • Virginia: A state lawmaker introduced a bill this month, on the second anniversary of the Capitol riot, that would prohibit anyone convicted of a felony related to an attempted insurrection or riot from serving in positions of public trust—including those involving policymaking, law enforcement, safety, education, or health.
  • Connecticut: A proposed bill would prohibit people convicted of sedition, rebellion, insurrection or a felony related to one of those acts from running for or holding public office. Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, who introduced the measure, said he wants the legislation eventually to bar them from holding state or municipal jobs.

Some Republicans say the legislation is unnecessary. In New York, Republican Assemblyman Will Barclay, the minority leader, called the bill there a “political statement,” saying it is “more political than it is a concern about public policy.” He said existing rules already apply to people in certain positions who are convicted of crimes and that those laws “should be sufficient.” The legislation is another example of how the Capitol riot has become a political Rorschach test in the country.

Stellar ideas in my book…..there has to be consequences for their actions….this should include anyone convicted of any charge pertaining to the riot.

Is there more news about the others involved?

More “Oath Keepers’ learn their fate….

A federal jury on Monday convicted four members of the Oath Keepers militia of seditious conspiracy, deciding they’d plotted to use force to keep former President Donald Trump in office. Roberto Minuta, 38; Joseph Hackett, 52; David Moerschel, 45; and Edward Vallejo, 64, also were found guilty of obstructing and conspiring to obstruct lawmakers and Congress in general, the Washington Post reports. “They claimed to wrap themselves in the Constitution, but they trampled it,” said prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler in the trial’s closing arguments. “They ignored the will of the people” while having “the audacity to claim to be oath-keepers.”

The four men’s case was split from the trial of Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers, and others because of limited space in the courtroom. In November, Rhodes also was found guilty of seditious conspiracy. Prosecutors said these four ranked lower in the far-right militia group than those in the other trial, more like troops than organizers. Hackett and Moerschel forced their way into the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with a dozen others, the government said. Minuta came behind them with another group that fought officers inside, and Vallejo, an Army veteran, stayed with a stash of guns in a hotel in Virginia. Prosecutors said he repeatedly texted fellow conspirators that he was ready to join them at the Capitol but received no response.

When officers pushed Minuta and others out of the building, prosecutors said, he shouted “All that’s left is the Second Amendment!” The Oath Keepers met for dinner after the riot at an Olive Garden in Virginia and began planning their next move, per the Post. But they scattered, one member said, when they heard federal agents were looking for them. The jury deliberated for about 15 hours over three days before returning its verdict Monday, per the New York Times. Hackett and Moerschel were acquitted of damaging Capitol doors. US District Judge Amit Mehta allowed all four to await sentencing while under house arrest.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Resurrection Of “COINTELPRO”

Keeping with the protest angle…..

Back in my younger days I was a victim of the federal government’s master plan, COINTELPRO.

I tried to let my readers know a little of the history of the 1960-70s…..

The program never truly went away…..but is being resurrected to the point of the protests of the past.

Elon Musk has opened the floodgates to expose the FBI’s latest war on Americans’ freedom of speech.  The FBI massively intervened to pressure Twitter to suppress accounts and tweets from individuals the FBI disapproved, including parody accounts.  The FBI and other federal agencies also browbeat Facebook, Instagram, and many other tech companies.

Thus far, most of the American media has ignored or downplayed the story, known as the Twitter Files. Since many of the individuals who the FBI got squelched were pro-Trump, the violation of their rights is a non-issue – or a cause for quiet celebration.  At this point, it is difficult to know whether the scant reaction to the Twitter Files is the result of political bias, collective amnesia, or simply a total ignorance of American history.

The history of the FBI provides perhaps the best guide to the abuses that may be now occurring. From 1956 to 1971, the FBI carried out “a secret war against those citizens it considers threats to the established order,” a 1976 Senate report noted. The FBI’s Operation COINTELPRO involved thousands of covert operations to incite street warfare between violent groups, to get people fired, to portray innocent people as government informants, to destroy activists’ marriages, and to cripple or destroy left-wing, black, communist, white racist, and anti-war organizations.  The FBI let no corner of American life escape its vigilance; it even worked to expose and discredit “communists who are secretly operating in legitimate organizations and employments, such as the Young Men’s Christian Association and Boy Scouts.”

While many people are aware of how the FBI hounded Martin Luther King, Jr., and pressured him to commit suicide, that was not even the tip of the iceberg of the FBI’s racial persecution. Almost any black organization could be targeted for illegal wiretaps. One black leader was monitored largely because he had “recommended the possession of firearms by members for their self-protection.” At that time, some southern police departments and sheriffs were notorious for attacking blacks who stood up for their civil rights.

FBI Cointelpro is Back and Worse Than Ever

Keep this in mind when you decide to enter into the world of protests.  Big Brother is watching!

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Free The Nipple”

Before I am accused of being a dirty old man, that this movement is more about equality than just flashing one’s breasts…I would be a liar if I said that it is not enjoyable for me…there is so much more to this than you would think……

There have been many women’s movements….like
“Ban The Bra”…..the push for acceptance of public breast feeding…..of course the Puritan wing of the GOP have always been afraid of women’s breast in one form or the other….

Before I go on and make it look like I am that dirty old man your mother warned you about……

“Free the nipple” has made headlines yet again, this time over Instagram’s public apology to director Pedro Almodovar for censoring the poster for his latest movie Madres Paralelas. The image, designed by artist Javier Jaen, features a lactating nipple cropped to appear as a crying eye, and it was widely removed on the platform for violating Instagram’s guidelines. The apology issued by Instagram resulted in Almodovar proclaiming victory over the algorithm, and an abundance of media attention including the New York Times’s article.

The body-equality slogan “Free the nipple” is so ubiquitous that it sounds as though it belongs in the annals of history alongside “Make love not war” and “Votes for women,” but actually this international rallying cry is barely a decade old. Born into the Instagram-age and made infamous through it, “Free the nipple” has regularly popped up on social media accounts, despite the fact that #FreeTheNipple itself is invisible on the platform: Type in “#FreeTheNipple” in the Instagram search bar and it will direct to a stark notice: “This Hashtag Is Hidden.” Alternatively, add a year to the slogan such as #freethenipple2021 and it works, effectively rendering the movement a yearly trend rather than the full-voiced campaign for change that it is.

Free the Nipple: A History of a Hidden Movement

Personally I do not understand the fixation of women’s breast…..I would be lying as a man if I said it did not matter….but let’s be real….I am a man and I am not dead yet….the concern should be for the 300+ mass shootings this year so far and less about what breasts are doing.

This is the story I read that got me to thinking about the movement…..and of course the trolls on social media that attack the young woman….

Who would have thought that a sheer hot pink dress worn by an award-winning actress on the red carpet of a fashion show could have the power to send the internet into such a tizzy?

But it was never really about the dress, was it? It was about what’s under the dress and, more specifically, what exists just under the surface of society. The sheer fabric of a Valentino dress not only revealed Florence Pugh’s breasts, but shone a spotlight on the thinly veiled misogyny that remains rampant 2022.

This past Friday, Midsommar star Florence Pugh walked the red carpet at Valentino’s haute couture show in Rome wearing a fuschia tulle gown designed by the brand’s artistic director, Pierpaolo Piccioli. A nod to the emerging Barbie-core trend, the ensemble was all pink and featured a gauzy halter bodice that exposed the actress’ breasts and oh-so controversial nipples.

“Technically they’re covered?” Pugh wrote on Instagram, a platform known for its censorship of the female form. Posting these beautiful images to her following of 7.6million, it wasn’t long until the trolls crawled out of the woodwork.

https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2022/0714/1310146-a-sheer-double-standard-why-are-womans-nipples-still-taboo/

It is the 21st century in real time but still Victorian in some eyes…..I do not understand the taboo-ness of nudity these….I mean one click on the PC and anyone can see all they want and much more graphic than some woman’s nipples.

I am old but I would to think that I have matured with time….I try to keep my thinking moving forward….I refuse to let it go in reverse.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–21Jul22

I have always admired Iceland for their governmental leadership…..like they jailed the bank execs that helped cause the worldwide economic crash of 2008…..that should have been the policy in this country as well but instead we gave them a free ride to do it again.

Sorry I digress.

Iceland has erected a monument to those that have helped the nation through civil disobedience…..

A huge piece of rock sits in front of the Alþingishús parliament building, barely heeded by tourists, with a black cone of a noticeable size calmly stuck atop it, cracking it in half. It bears a plaque that contains a quote from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, originally drafted by the Marquis de Lafayette during the French Revolution: “When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is for the people and for each portion of the people the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties.”

Created by Spanish artist Santiego Sierra as a monument to civil disobedience, the design of this sculpture was inspired by a medieval tradition during the Inquisition, in which the condemned were forced to wear black cone-shaped hats as a sign of humiliation. Commemorating the so-called Kitchenware Revolution or the Pots and Pans Revolution, the monument caused a bit of controversy among city council members at the time of its installation.

The protests took place between 2009 and 2011 in the wake of the Icelandic financial crisis and the government’s poor handling of the situation, calling for the resignation of the right-wing Independence Party officials and for a new election. Considered the largest-scale protests in Icelandic history at the time, thousands of people gathered before the parliament and demanded changes to the old system.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-black-cone-monument-to-civil-disobedience

This is a great idea for this country…. we have monuments for individuals but there was more to our civil disobedience than one person….we should celebrate the masses that were the protests.

This country was founded by those that participated in the disobedience……and we have a long history of civil protests………

Top 5 Acts of Civil Disobedience in American History

This is a great idea from a great country…..someone needs to think like the Icelandic people.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine Is Not A Brothel

That was the name of a documentary that was showing the protest by the group known as Fremen challenging the ideas that Ukrainian women were escorts and hookers…..I wrote about these protesters many years ago….

https://lobotero.com/2012/02/03/a-better-protest/
 
If you would like to watch the documentary then IMdB has your chance to do so…..
 
 
I revisit this post and film from the past because of something I read.
 
Ukrainians are selling photos of their nude bodies in support of the military and their conflict with Russia.
 
 
TerOnlyFans
Screenshot from TerOnlyFans’ website.
TerOnlyFans
  • A Ukrainian group is selling their nudes online to raise money for their country’s troops.
  • The project, named “TerOnlyFans,” has already raised more than $700,000 since March.
  • Its founder, Nastassia Nasko, told Insider she feels proud to have found a unique way to help Ukraine

Nastsassia Nasko says she came up with the idea by accident.

A few days after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, she had posted on Twitter asking if someone with a car could help evacuate an acquaintance out of the Kharkiv, one of the first Ukrainian cities to be besieged by Russian troops.

When nobody responded to her, the 23-year-old tweeted, half-jokingly, that she would send a nude picture of herself to whoever was able to help.

The experience sparked an idea and several days later — on International Women’s Day — Nasko and her friend, Anastasiya Kuchmenko, launched “TerOnlyFans.” (“Ter” is short for territorial defense.)

The project has a similar model to OnlyFans, the subscription-based social platform which has become a lucrative way for adult content creators to earn money. (It has no connection to OnlyFans, and the company did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.)

But on TerOnlyFans, the money goes straight to the Ukrainian army, rather than to the creators. Three months on, the group has raised more than $700,000, Nasko told Insider.

The majority of the donations go to Ukraine’s Territorial Defense, although Nasko, said the project had also sent some money to refugee or animal-shelter organizations.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-women-selling-nudes-raise-money-troops-2022-6

I applaud their attempt to help raise cash for their forces…..but does it not fly in the face of the message that Fremen tried to instill in the world?  Is this not some form a sexploitation of Ukrainian women/men?

Your thoughts here please

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