Showing posts with label Crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crime. Show all posts

Thursday, July 17, 2025

PACT OF FORGETTING: WHY THE #MAGA BASE, AND THE PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONS OF THE FORMER UNITED STATES IN GENERAL, WILL NEVER ALLOW TRUMP AND ASSOCIATES TO FACE JUSTICE FOR (IN ALL LIKELIHOOD) VISITING EPSTEIN’S PAEDOPHILE ISLAND

Getty Images

Whilst some of them are grumbling, waiting for the #MAGA faithful to break permanently with their cult leader is a fool’s errand. I submit unequivocally: even if there were incontrovertible, undoctored video evidence of Trump sexually assaulting minors, 90% or more of his constituency would maintain their allegiance, provided he continues to sanction their licence to hate fellow Americans.

If disclosures of Russian electoral manipulation on his behalf in 2016 failed to unseat him, if his lamentable handling of this century’s gravest public health crisis proved insufficient, if his mendacious claims of electoral fraud and the January 6 insurrection they incited could not bring him down—then this matter certainly will not. ‘Teflon Don’ has never been a truer moniker.

Close enough to half of the populace in the former United States—the ruling plurality holding roughly 85% to 90% of the guns, and most of the political power—has declared this man infallible, and they will cling to that belief until the bitter end (and beyond, if any of us remain by then). Yes, humans really are this depraved. The past decade has proven we must grow up and confront this reality. The sooner we do, the sooner we might begin fixing this infernal mess. Or maybe not.

Expecting Congress to act on this in earnest—barring a few rogue figures—is as naïve as believing the American public will demand accountability. Given that countless such miscreants, alongside elites across commerce, religion, entertainment, sports, and media, likely frequented Little Saint James, exposing Trump would force them to expose themselves—and the fallout could theoretically collapse the entire system, obliterating everything Americans thought they knew.

Yet even if the full client list were made public, I doubt the American public could bear the sheer scale of it—the revelation that so many idolised figures were complicit in these horrors. Most would retreat into denial, attack the evidence, then ultimately demand their own Pact of Forgetting, much like Spain’s after Franco’s death and the collapse of Fascist rule in the mid-1970s.

Yes, it is that grave. Many are now too jaded to feel shock, having lost all faith in humanity (your correspondent leans decidedly this way, in case it wasn't obvious). The world's horrors come so thick and fast they've become a blur.

Democratic societies, when faced with truths too monstrous to bear, typically choose collective amnesia over painful moral reckoning. Here, it would simply occur on an unprecedented scale. Justice shall not be served—abandon all hope.  —Arthur Newhook, 17 July 2025.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 on X-TWITTER, and at the same handle on FACEBOOK. BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. REDDIT - https://www.reddit.com/r/StopTheIdiocracy/new/. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Saturday, June 14, 2025

A state lawmaker and her husband have been murdered in what authorities have deemed a targeted, politically motivated assassination. It is now open season in the former United States on anyone who opposes the Trump regime

Reuters

{BBC News 14 June} Democratic state politician and husband shot dead in targeted attack, Minnesota officials say.

Open season now in the former United States on anyone opposed to the Trump regime. The blood of Melissa Hortman and her husband is on the hands of every single rank-and-file Trump voter, whether they like it or not; a nation held hostage by violently ill sociopaths at all levels. Whatever performative and half-hearted condemnations Trump, other elected Republicans, and right-wing media figures may be giving at this moment to the contrary, this is the inevitable result of #MAGA rhetoric.

Can anyone who has been paying attention genuinely doubt this has always been the intended outcome? To systematically inflame the heavily armed, anti-intellectual portion of the populace long steeped in racial, cultural, religious, and economic resentments against the rest of the nation — a very large percentage of the overall population, far larger than most care to admit. While Trump, the GOP, and its allies in the halls of power are giving lip service to being outraged, and the sort of Republican voters who are not rabid #MAGA probably are legitimately shocked and dismayed, most of the rank-and-file #MAGA crazies are celebrating the murders in Minnesota. Further violent copycat acts are inevitable for as long as this violent and outsized, Christofascist personality cult holds a death grip on the country. —Arthur Newhook, 14 June 2025.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 on X-TWITTER, and at the same handle on FACEBOOK. BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. REDDIT - https://www.reddit.com/r/StopTheIdiocracy/new/. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Two dead in Israeli embassy massacre. As the gunman screamed 'Free Palestine' during his arrest, America's moral bankruptcy has been laid bare

AFP/Getty
VIDEO VIA BBC NEWSthe moment the Washington DC Jewish Museum shooting suspect is detained

Every remaining reasonably minded individual in the former United States who continues to value Israel and the Jewish people as friends—Democrat, Republican, or otherwise, all dwindling in number—must, at this very instant, forcefully reaffirm their unwavering solidarity. Antisemitism is running rampant across the political spectrum, and it is rapidly becoming perilous for Jews to merely exist in this dying nation. The West as a whole is being consumed by the same ancient hatred that birthed the Holocaust. Europe has been gradually succumbing to its Islamised hordes for the past two decades, yet until very recently America offered a safe haven, its populace overwhelmingly in support of Israel’s right to exist. A dramatic shift has undeniably occurred: a dark energy has taken root in hearts and minds. 

Increasingly, America’s useful idiots applaud as antisemitic mobs, or lone gunmen as was apparently the case in this incident, render the streets unsafe for Jews. It is 1938 replaying before our eyes. God will ensure that the former United States and its people are punished as severely as ordinary Germans were in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War; not solely for betraying the Jewish people, but for abandoning every value and tenet they ever purported to hold dear. Judgement invariably befalls nations that forsake the guardians of civilisation. —Arthur Newhook, 22 May 2025.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 on X-TWITTER, and at the same handle on FACEBOOK. BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. REDDIT - https://www.reddit.com/r/StopTheIdiocracy/new/. THREADS - @arthurnewhook. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Friday, April 25, 2025

Educator essentially forced to flee across state lines following far-right intimidation: a requiem for New Hampshire's lost peace and beauty

Ellen Edersheim/New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism Development

The Guardian 24 April: Meet the new American refugees fleeing across state lines for safety

A New Hampshire educator has fled to Vermont after being doxxed and intimidated by far-right extremists—a disgraceful outcome for a state I once cherished. My childhood memories of the White Mountains and Lakes Region paint it as the safest, most idyllic place imaginable. Yet on recent visits—no more than five times in the last decade, despite living about 30 miles south of the state line—I’ve found its natural beauty enduring and some of the trappings remaining, but its social fabric increasingly reminiscent of Tennessee or West Virginia.

Historically conservative but tolerant, New Hampshire once welcomed all comers without celebrating ignorance. That seemed to change when a certain orange demagogue injected himself into national life, compounded by fentanyl and opioid crises ravaging this rural jurisdiction. Though it narrowly backed the Democrat in 2024’s presidential election, the trend is clear: another Democratic victory is improbable—assuming the party even gets the chance, and regardless of how catastrophically Trump and the GOP govern.

How tragic to witness New Hampshire—my childhood sanctuary of granite peaks and glassy lakes—degraded by opioid epidemics and performative bigotry. That an educator must flee newly emboldened extremists speaks volumes.

I shall state plainly: rural America (the decisive majority of it, do not come barking at me if one is a free-thinking liberal in Buttf**k, Arkansas, or Pigs**t, Oklahoma) must be held accountable for enabling an aspiring autocrat and his Christofascist movement. Their perpetual victimhood narratives—blaming others for crises mostly of their own making—can no longer be indulged. This ‘silent majority’ act has festered too long.

Rural white America’s cultural collapse is almost completely self-inflicted, yet its consequences are national. History shows our weakness: after the (first) Civil War and during the Civil Rights era, we prioritised false unity over justice. The reactionaries were contained for a few decades, but that was never going to hold. The second Civil War is coming, and if the Confederates are to lose again, this time they must be forever eradicated and never allowed to reemerge as they were with the end of Reconstruction and the dawn of the Jim Crow era. I am not convinced the Confederates will lose the next time, though, and I’ll leave it at that. Rest in Peace, New Hampshire as I knew it.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 on X-Twitter, and at the same handle on FACEBOOK. BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Monday, April 14, 2025

Pennsylvania governor’s residence torched by arsonist following Passover weekend

AP Photo/Marc Levy

AP: Suspect arrested in arson fire that forced Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, family to flee residence

As far as I am concerned, this is what the majority of the American people voted for and approved, no matter how hard they may protest otherwise, and trying to pretend otherwise is futile at this point. A broken empire in severe economic decline, probably too large and unwieldy for its long-term survival, and one which is inhabited by millions of dangerous and resolutely ignorant lunatics who have embraced far-right governance even after their specific cult figurehead had already proven himself an abject failure the first time he was granted the office of the presidency, shall produce mass violence and depravity. For the record, while VP Vance has issued a generic statement condemning the attack, as of this hour I do not see that either the tawny marionette Trump or the shadow president—the South African—has said anything at all. And maybe that is just as well. With every act of homegrown terrorism, the blood of these acts is on the hands of all those who have nurtured and fostered the revival of a culture of grievance, self-pity, white supremacy, Jew-hatred, and anti-intellectualism run amok.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Friday, January 24, 2025

Off with his head: the preeminent responsibility of Alex Jones in forging the present, fascistic state of affairs in what were once the United States of America

photo: Mike Segar/Reuters

The springing up of our present societal rot in the former United States can be traced to the 2000s, wherein the figure of Alex Jones emerged as a pivotal architect of mass delusion. Through personal introspection, I must confess a season of susceptibility to his rhetorical wiles, specially from 2006 through approximately 2010. His discourse did ever boil down to reductionist notions positing that the government is out to poison your bloody cornflakes, and all of our leaders are Satan worshipping child molesters holding Black Mass in every town hall basement from coast-to-coast.

The subsequent vicennial period witnessed the spread of such intellectual toxicity throughout the American consciousness, ensnaring not merely those predisposed to violent proclivities and superstitious predilections, but furthermore corrupting previously rational actors within the societal framework. We may now see why we live in a post-truth age, and we deny not the truth that the majority of the American people are primal and wicked in their ways. 

Resolving this societal schism shall require catastrophic bloodletting and the ultimate dissolution of the current political system. The sole worthy idea ever to come from the execrable Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene is her proposition regarding ‘national divorce’—allowing the bifurcation of the republic into separate sociopolitical entities. One such entity, likely to predominantly encompass the South and Midwest, shall pursue its backward and deranged vision, whilst the other shall preserve higher learning, clean water, first-world medical facilities, and other hallmarks of actual civilisation.

As for the aforementioned Jones, it is no hyperbole when I say he ought to be swinging from the gallows for having poisoned the collective well as he has. Few have wrought more harm upon this former constitutional republic in all its history, and I would not care to be in his place on the day of judgment for all the riches in the world. I’d rather face the Spanish Inquisition with a hangover. - Arthur Newhook, 24 January 2025.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Friday, October 18, 2024

US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan releases 1,800 pages of evidence in the election conspiracy case. Trump calls her ‘the most evil person’ for doing so and accuses her of election meddling

Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Trump calls judge 'evil' for releasing case files before election. {BBC 18 October}

Donald Trump knows, as well as we do, that nothing has or will change anyone’s mind. His legions of supporters shall show up in sufficient numbers, even if he were to ‘shoot a man on Fifth Avenue’. No revelations, not even the long-rumoured ‘pee tape’ supposedly in Putin’s possession, are going to tear #Murica away from their beloved god-king. So why not just keep his mouth shut instead of spewing such foolish and self-harming words? (How wise is it to call a judge presiding over your case an ‘evil person’?) Impossible, I grant—shutting up would require the self-discipline he so utterly lacks. The endless wailing, whining, and casting of blame we have long witnessed have only bound him closer to that large swath of the American people comprising #Cult45, and emboldened his Christofascist allies and enablers. Thus, he shall not change his course—expect more name-calling and tantrums to follow.

Recent headlines

Trump, at 78 years old, is now cancelling interviews, citing exhaustion - So, when will the American people, the media, the GOP, and (especially) his own Democratic Party apologise to President Biden for throwing the most pathetic mass tantrum in US political history this past summer after the 81 year old President had a less than ideal debate performance? Yet Trump can be 'exhausted', and even many of his detractors are deluded into thinking he still has some vigour left. I know—no apology to President Biden will be coming from any of them. What absolute f**king hypocrites and liars polluting this country. {Politico 18 October}

President Biden arrives in Germany to meet with Scholz, Macron, and Sir Keir. {DW 17 October}

Homicides committed by minors soared by 65% between 2016 and 2022, even as overall juvenile crime declined - Is anyone (outside of #Cult45) shocked that this is happening against the backdrop of a Trump-poisoned country, where violence and ignorance are celebrated to a greater degree than at any point in US history? {USA Today 18 October}

The online reaction from fans to the apparent suicide of a former ‘boy band’ star—expressed through emojis and reaction gifs—reveals a younger generation that is ‘incapable of feeling anything other than snide detachment.’ {Ryan Coogan 17 October}

Rest in Peace, Mitzi Gaynor: the actress and dancer of ‘South Pacific’ fame departs at age 93. {The Guardian 17 October}

Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Sunday, October 6, 2024

The American people (far too many of them, at least) continue to blatantly and deliberately emulate Nazi Germany, with antisemitic incidents soaring to a record high.

Photo: Neo-Nazis on a highway overpass on the I-40 near St. Louis, Missouri. Shared by Reddit user rojowro86 in the r/StLouis subreddit on 5th October 2024. (https://www.reddit.com/r/StLouis/comments/1fwx5n0/nazis_on_i40_wtf/)

‘Antisemitic incidents in the US surge to a record high’ {BBC 6 October}

Whether it was before (a debate for another day, obviously we weren’t always saints), America in 2024 is undeniably becoming a blatantly and openly evil, repressive, and antisemitic nation. Beyond being a bloody outrage and a national disgrace, it personally repulses me to the point of feeling physically ill. It is also terrifying beyond the comprehension of those of us who grew up in times of greater peace, prosperity, and personal liberty (pre-9/11). For years, I have endured intense prophecies of a neo-Nazi state, and it is all coming together just as I envisioned. People continue to so gravely disappoint me. Remember, the numbers cited by the ADL are just what has been reported. Think of how many more incidents that have not been reported, likely multifold. #Murica is rapidly becoming the new Nazi Germany, to be made official on November 5.

Recent headlines:

East Coast dockworkers have suspended their strike until January and are returning to work - Those who hoarded toilet paper now appear rather foolish, especially since paper goods were not among the affected commodities. {AP 3 October}

Residents in areas devastated by Helene still scrambling for drinking water and basic necessities, a week after the storm. {AP 4 October}

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘They can control the weather.' - She’ll be re-elected to her seat in a landslide, and a great many Americans immediately and without question buy into any right-wing conspiracy theory, no matter how implausible. MTG is the face of #Murica in 2024. {Mediaite 4 October}

President Biden during press room briefing appearance, on the upcoming election: ‘I’m confident it will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it'll be peaceful.’ - It will not. {NPR 4 October}

Trump returns to Butler County, PA: the site where his ear was so badly wounded (yet now miraculously healed) back in July. {BBC 5 October} 

Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Saturday, July 13, 2024

Shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally is being investigated as an attempt on his life

Gene J. Puskar/AP

One can only run their mouths and threaten their political enemies, piss on our allies while praising America’s enemies, and domineer over all media for so long before someone pushes back. Of course, this all could have been staged, as well. Never put it past those who are constantly crying 'conspiracy' to engage in a conspiracy. Projection is an estimated 75% of their fascist playbook. Either way, #Cult45 must be watched more carefully than ever, as a retaliation attempt on President Biden is likely to follow. {AP 13/7}

Recent headlines:

Ivan Raiklin, Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’, vows to have ‘Deep State’ figures killed. Ordinary citizens are next. {Thom Hartmann 11/7}

Trump asks NY judge to overturn guilty verdict in ‘hush money’ case, citing Supreme Court’s immunity decision - Mark my words, this knave shall prevail in eluding justice. The most cosseted, pampered, and self-entitled man in US history. {NBC News 11/7}

Israeli strike targets a mastermind of the 7 October terrorist attacks, unconfirmed if the bastard is among the dead. {BBC 13/7}

UN estimates that the global population shall reach a peak of 10.3 billion by the 2080s - Naturally, it is the poorest citizens in the most impoverished countries who will not stop breeding like rabbits. It is inhumane to continue allowing this. {AP 11/7}





Alabama GOP chair: ‘The mainstream media wants us to think of ourselves as a democracy because that leads to socialism. - To quote the author of this article: ‘When someone tells you they don’t believe America is a democracy, you can stop right there. They don’t want America to be a democracy’. {Kyle Whitmire 11/7}





Russians launch a fresh missile assault on Ukrainian cities, targeting a children’s hospital in Kyiv - I defy any American in Putin’s fan club to defend this outrage. I am enraged. {AP 08/7}


‘What Trump 2.0 would mean for Ukraine’ - #Cult45 have become so rabidly Ukrainophobic and pro-Putin that even Trump risks their wrath (and Putin’s) if he ever stops talking out of both sides of his mouth and pivots towards Ukraine. {Cathy Young 06/7}


Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Saturday, May 18, 2024

One in three NCAA men's and women's basketball players faced abuse from bettors, including death threats, during this year’s tournaments

Angel Reese. Photo: Getty Images

NCAA: 1 in 3 star athletes receive abuse, threats by bettors {ESPN 5/18}

Methinks I am not sufficient of a constitutional scholar to know if the federal government hath any legitimate authority to regulate gambling, and I generally do despise any nanny state tendencies I detect in others. All said, I really do hate gambling. Years ago, I laboured in gas station convenience stores and felt like a glorified drug pusher with all the scratch tickets I did sell to Massholes. Most of the folk buying them were downright pathetic, but I digress. Furthermore, I have long turned a blind eye to gambling in my waning enthusiasm for horse racing, knowing that it hath always been the lifeblood of the industry. Yet, for the life of me, I shall never understand why any individual would desire to play with money. It maketh absolutely no sense.

Absolutely nothing of goodly import is emerging from the explosion of legalised sports betting currently taking place. When combined with the endemic, regressive, and all-pervading hatred raging in the United States at this time, it doth create a deadly combination. The ESPN article notes that female collegiate basketball players are about thrice more likely than their male counterparts to receive abuse. One day, somebody is going to get killed, but it will not matter to the puissant interests invested in the commons casting away coin they cannot afford to lose. It ought to go without saying, this is beyond shameful and yet another sign, among thousands, that the people of #Murica are, in laymen’s terms, losing their s**t.

Alito J6 controversy ‘another blow for Supreme Court under fire’ - Lifetime tenure for Justices was a huge error of foresight by our nation’s founders. {AP 5/17}

President Biden signs a significant aviation safety and airline reform bill into law. {Reuters 5/16}

Cost of living crisis. Suze Orman warns ‘If you don’t have at least $5 million or $10 million, don’t retire early’. {Yahoo! 5/16}

Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social, and @arthurnewhook on POST. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Thursday, May 16, 2024

Law enforcement in the U.S. seized over 115 million fentanyl pills in 2023, up from 71 million in 2022, and only 50,000 in 2017

Darwin Brandis/iStock

Fentanyl, with potency exceeding fiftyfold that of heroin, is primarily manufactured in laboratories in India and China before clandestine entry into the U.S., typically via Mexico. According to this DW article, opioid addiction is far less rife in European nations endowed with robust and functioning healthcare systems, evidenced by a mere forty-nine (49) recorded fentanyl overdose deaths in the European Union in all of 2021. In stark contrast, the U.S. witnessed more than 200 deaths per day in 2022, and that may be a conservative estimate.

Nearly every solution enacted at federal, state, and local levels to combat the opioid crisis has been punitive and counterproductive. I dread America will persist in this approach for years to come, reflective of a society divided and politicians, particularly on the right and within the GOP, increasingly keen to exacerbate hardships for those their respective factions deem as societal outcasts. More needless suffering, deaths, and imprisonment shall ensue, and #Murica will become more and more of a s**thole country.

Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social, and @arthurnewhook on POST. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

DOJ recommends downgrading marijuana from Schedule I to III, does not endorse federal legalisation

A poster advertising ‘Reefer Madness’, 1936. Public domain.

Full legalisation nationwide, and the neutering of moral busybodies who routinely treat adults as mere children, are the only acceptable outcomes. Our lives should not be subject to the whims of those yearning for 1950s America; nor should there be a crime if there are not any victims. {AP 5/16}

Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social, and @arthurnewhook on POST. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Monday, April 15, 2024

History to be made today: Trump becomes first former U.S. POTUS to stand trial on criminal charges

Getty Images

Thirty-four felony counts against him, and still the GOP nominee to face President Biden this fall. Consider this post a daily reminder, #Murica, that what is unfolding is far from normal or proper. It never has been, and despite efforts by all of the tentacles of #Cult45 to normalize it, it never will be. {BBC 4/15}

Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social, and @arthurnewhook on POST. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

#OTD 1923: The infamous Beer Hall Putsch unfolded in Munich, a foreshadowing of what is happening to #Murica today

Bundesarchiv

#OTD 1923: The infamous Beer Hall Putsch unfolded in Munich, a Nazi coup d’etat bid against the Weimar government, quelled by the next day. Yet, its chief plotter, Adolf Hitler, was foolishly sentenced to but five years in prison, and freed after a mere nine months. No need to recount what followed, for we all ken the horrors that came to pass when this madman seized power in 1932. Or do we? For in our dear #Murica today, a leader who, in office, too led a failed coup, yet faces no true justice for his sedition and treachery, at most, a mere slap on the wrist. Clearly, America and much of this world hath not well heeded the lessons of history. Willful ignorance and malice that led so many in Germany to embrace Hitler, and the same holds true today in America with Donald Trump and his adherents. In 2024, cast thy vote as if thy lives and nation hang in the balance, for truly, everything is at stake this time.

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and @arthurnewhook on POST and THREADS.

Friday, September 15, 2023

Has anything changed? Thoughts on the 60th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing

AP

#OTD 1963: KKK terrorists perpetrate a bombing upon the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, which resulted in the death of four children and inflicted injuries upon others. Sadly but tellingly, particularly since a certain Donald J. Trump entered the political arena with his venomous rhetoric, it hath been irrefutably demonstrated that the kind of mindset that impelled these Klansmen to commit such a heinous deed still persists; and is far more widespread than most of us have been willing to acknowledge or confess.

We all do recall the terror of June 17, 2015, when a white supremacist did slay nine congregants at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. America has scarcely progressed any further in terms of enlightenment regarding matters of race, and is just as prone to violence and deliberate ignorance as it was in 1963. If anything, in the era of Trump, we appear to be regressing, which is a genuine affront to the memory of all those innocent souls who suffered torment and perished solely due to the color of their skin. {CNN 9/15 - 60 years after 4 little girls were killed in a KKK attack on the 16th Street Baptist Church, memories of the lives that were taken live on

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on TWITTER, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and POST - @arthurnewhook.

Monday, May 22, 2023

‘A Massachusetts father and son were sentenced Monday in federal court to prison time after being found guilty of what prosecutors called a "ten-percenting" scheme involving dozens of convenience stores’

Jesse Costa/WBUR

As one who used to sell lottery tickets, the Massachusetts State Lottery is far more trouble than it has ever been worth. Sure, the schools get extra money, yadda yadda yadda, but the Lottery creates enough crime and addiction to offset whatever positive benefits it brings. Gambling ruin lives, and I saw and heard of some horror stories. The same, of course, can be said of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, television, pornography, and so forth, and we all (should) know that just banning things has never been a feasible solution. Yet while the state government regulates those other vices, the Lottery is unique in that it is a wholly state-run ‘sin stock’ enterprise. State and local governments have no place policing the morals of private individuals and enterprising, but what legitimate place do they have in actively promoting vice and enabling people to recklessly burn money? {WCVB 5/22}

MORE

Fulton County, GA: Inmate digs hole into wall; not to escape but to assault another inmate in a separate cell, using a makeshift weapon ‘from parts of the dilapidated building infrastructure.’ {ABC News 5/22}

Startup venture to give away 500,000 ‘free’ TVs, with a second screen that displays non-stop advertising and cannot be disabled by the user - It has long been a chore in the United States to avoid advertising, and soon it will be rendered unlawful for anyone to opt out of being advertised to. That is where we are heading. {Variety 5/15}

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on TWITTER, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and POST - @arthurnewhook.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

School avoidance: Students refusing to go to school a growing crisis post-COVID

AI generated image via Hotpot API

'School avoidant behavior, also called school refusal, is when a school-age child refuses to attend school or has difficulty being in school for the entire day. Several mental health experts told USA TODAY it has become a crisis that has gotten worse since the COVID-19 pandemic.' The only reason I was not one of these kids was out of extreme fear of authority (most of all, my parents), along with outright ignorance that I even had any option of opting out. Back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s - at least in my area - even the most rotten kids still did not dare cut classes on any sort of regular basis. One time, late in senior year, we took off in some kid’s car to eat lunch at a local pizza joint, and were relieved that we didn’t get caught. I may have snuck out of a pep rally or two, but that was about the extent that I would ever dare ‘play hooky.’ In retrospect, I should have just said ‘f**k it’ and not have cared. For all the good earning decent grades, dutifully following the rules, and dealing with my a**hole peers ultimately did me; I may have even turned out a more healthy person than the one I became. Still, I would not want to be a kid today for anything, and I do not blame these ones for pushing back against the hellscape they were born into. {USA Today 5/15}

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Colorado man attempted to evade DUI arrest by switching seats with his dog. {BBC 5/16}

Total jackasses caught on camera riding their bicycles inside Boston’s Tip O’Neill tunnel during Friday rush hour, forcing drivers to slam on their brakes. {WHDH 5/16} 

Self-checkout kiosks are now asking customers for tips, prompting some to ask if ‘tipping culture’ has gone too far. {Deseret News 5/16}

Twenty percent of Canadians polled say medically-assisted suicide should be legal to any adult, for any reason. {National Post 5/16}

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on TWITTER, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and POST - @arthurnewhook.

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

DHS issues memo to government and law enforcement agencies warning that violent threats against gays, lesbians, and transsexuals are on the rise

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America has never really been the ‘live and let live’ country most of us would like to believe that we are. Perhaps some of us are seeing this truism more clearly now, in this post-COVID, post-Trump, and post-truth hellscape we are navigating; where large portions of our fellow Americans are violently rejecting liberal democracy, and liberal democratic values. A renewed moral panic has been whipped up against the LBGTQ community, and I would have to advise that many of us who are not in that community will nonetheless be targeted (or already have been) by extremist homophobes. Think of the witchcraft hysteria that my Puritan ancestors shamefully engaged in during the 17th century (a great-grandmother of mine was actually hung in early Hartford, CT, after accused of being a ‘witch’ because the community did not approve of her remarrying at age 72; her husband was also hung right alongside of her.) #Cult45 is eager to punish anybody not standing with them, and I have a feeling a lot of us are about to be deemed ‘witches’ of sorts (or ‘groomers,’ or any number of aspersions) in our new 1692. {ABC News 5/15}

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Russian authorities will launch construction of a village outside Moscow for conservative-minded Americans and Canadians next year, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday.’ {The Moscow Times 5/11}

David Smith: As Trump’s lies and scandals deepen, the GOP responds as usual - with silence. {The Guardian 5/13}

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman delivered a sobering account of ways artificial intelligence could “cause significant harm to the world” during his first congressional testimony, expressing a willingness to work with nervous lawmakers to address the risks presented by his company’s ChatGPT and other AI tools.’ {WP 5/16}

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on TWITTER, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and POST - @arthurnewhook.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Justice Clarence Thomas reversed his long-held position on ‘Chevron defense doctrine’ after his wife was bribed by a far-right special interest group

Diego Radzinschi/ALM

Do not let any of this go down the memory hole. Uncle Thomas and his friends on the high court represent at least as serious a threat to liberty as Trump, DeSantis, any Republican congressman, or any of the myriad of assorted nationalist populists compromising #Cult45. {The Lever 5/09}

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on TWITTER, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and POST - @arthurnewhook. 

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Spineless Speaker Kevin McCarthy still will not call on proven fraud George Santos to resign from the House, even after Santos is indicted on federal charges

Andrew Harnik/AP

Republicans appear poised to stop at nothing in their war with President Biden over the debt ceiling limit. Cutting aid to veterans, and Social Security and Medicare recipients, trumps (pun intended) any ethical considerations. FTA: ‘While an association with Mr. Santos may be a political drag on Republicans, the impact of his resignation would pose a challenge for leadership. With a slim majority in the House and a fight over the debt ceiling looming, Mr. McCarthy cannot afford to lose Mr. Santos’s vote. The speaker only narrowly passed a bill last month to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts, with no Republican votes to spare and Mr. Santos in the “yes” column.’ {NYT 5/10}

Florida: ‘Conservation groups across the Southeast United States are urging Gov. DeSantis to veto a bill that would allow the use of radioactive fertilizer waste in road construction across the state.’ {WFTV 5/08}

Louisville, KY: U.S. Labor Department fines three McDonald’s franchises for child labor violations. {AP 5/03}

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on TWITTER, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and POST - @arthurnewhook.