A Timely Reminder from Pussy Riot.

Nadya Tolokonnikova (Facebook).

Nadya Tolokonnikova (Facebook).

Nadya Tolokonnikova — the Russian artist, activist and Pussy Riot member — warned Americans not to grow complacent after the election of Donald Trump, who she said has the power to reshape political norms to his own benefit.

She said many Russians, including the wealthy oligarchs who helped engineer his rise to power, failed to appreciate the threat Vladimir Putin posed to the nation’s fledgling democratic institutions until it was too late, reported the New York Times.

“It’s important not to say to yourself, ‘Oh, it’s okay,’” Tolokonnikova said. “It’s important to remember that, for example, in Russia, for the first year of when Vladimir Putin came to power, everybody was thinking that it will be okay.”

[…]

Trump has frequently praised Putin and said his killing of critical journalists makes him a “strong leader,” and Tolokonnikova warned Americans that their democratic institutions are vulnerable to the same threats.

“It is a common phrase right now that ‘America has institutions,’” Tolokonnikova said. “It does. But a president has power to change institutions and a president moreover has power to change public perception of what is normal, which could lead to changing institutions.”

Full story here.

Ware the Talking Toys.

toys

Kids say a lot of random, unsolicited, or just plain personal things to their toys while playing. When that toy is stuffed with just fluff and beans, it doesn’t matter what the kid says: their toy is a safe sounding board. When their playtime companion is an internet-connected recording device that ships off audio files to a remote server without even notifying parents — that’s a whole other kind of problem.

[…]

A lot of parents will skim the above, shrug, and think it’s no big deal, because isn’t everything connected now? There’s a big problem with these particular toys though, and that’s a third party, Nuance, who happens to be a defense contractor. You might want to think twice about inviting them into your house to listen to every word.

Nuance is a giant company best-known — to consumers, at least — for its Dragon-branded suite of speech-to-text dictation software. The company also has a significant presence in healthcare dictation, and is — like more large corporations than you’d think — a defense contractor that sells products, including “voice biometric solutions,” to military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies.

And here’s where it starts to get more complicated: both toys are also governed under Nuance’s general privacy policy, which says, “We may use the information that we collect for our internal purposes to develop, tune, enhance, and improve our products and services, and for advertising and marketing consistent with this Privacy Policy.”

It continues, “If you are under 18 or otherwise would be required to have parent or guardian consent to share information with Nuance, you should not send any information about yourself to us.”

Yes, it’s very interesting, that warning being on toys marketed to 4 year olds and up. There’s a lot to this story, and if you’ve found these items on your sproggens’ wish list, you might want to find alternatives. Full story here.

The New Government, A Family Affair.

With his son, Michael Flynn Jr. walking behind him, retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn gestures as he arrives at Trump Tower, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016, in New York. CREDIT: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster.

With his son, Michael Flynn Jr. walking behind him, retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn gestures as he arrives at Trump Tower, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016, in New York. CREDIT: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster.

Trump doesn’t seem to care that there are reasons nepotism is frowned upon in government, and this extends to his new “team” as well. Michael Flynn has been appointed national security adviser, which is bad enough, but it seems Flynn Jr is along for the ride, and he’s an open white supremacist who posts on Gab, the fascist version of Twitter. I won’t be linking any of his, um, gabs here, you can look at them over at Think Progress.

Flynn Jr.’s unabashed conspiracy mongering — something his dad has also engaged in recently — hasn’t prevented him from forging close ties with President-elect Trump. On Monday, CNN reported that Flynn Jr. “has an official government transition email address,” which indicates he has a role on Trump’s transition team.

Foreign Policy reports that Flynn Jr. “has assisted in personnel vetting, managing his father’s schedule, and fielding transition-related emails for the general, according to a person close to the Trump transition team.” The unnamed source told Foreign Policy that Flynn Jr. also “accompanies his dad to a ton of meetings.”

On Twitter, Flynn Jr. has posted images of himself with his dad at Trump Tower and walking with Trump. His bio links to the Trump transition team’s official webpage.

[…]

As Twitter has cracked down on white nationalist accounts in recent weeks, many adherents of the movement have instead started using the social platform Gab, which bans users from engaging in illegal activity but nothing else. As the New York Times recently detailed, the platform — which uses a frog for its logo — “has emerged as a digital safe space for the far right, where white nationalists, conspiracy-theorist YouTubers, and minivan majority moms can gather without liberal interference.” Several white nationalists who have been banned from Twitter — including Milo Yiannopoulos, Richard B. Spencer, and Ricky Vaughn — have resurfaced there.

Flynn Jr.’s Twitter bio actually includes a link to his Gab page. On Gab, Flynn Jr. follows white nationalists and posted that he hopes to convince his dad to switch to the new platform.

Yikes. The full story is at Think Progress. You can also read about the ongoing nepotism and refusal to divest among the Trumps here.

Nipsters.

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IDENTITY EVROPA Nipsters.

You’ve probably seen it for a while now. Statistically speaking, there’s a good chance you’re even wearing it. The high-and-tight. The side-fade. The haircut that is has been colloquially referred to, as a recent article in The Washington Post pointed out, as the “Hitler Youth.” Sadly, though, the colloquial moniker—once used jokingly—is starting to ring a little too true lately.

Promoters of white nationalism have recently made an effort to reclaim the haircut, in part due to its historical connection to Hitler’s Germany. According to the Post article, it’s now even being referred to as a “fashy,” short for “fascist.” (Supes cute, you racist fucks.) Needless to say, for hipsters who have long sported the ‘do, it’s a troubling turn of events.

As to the genesis of the haircut’s cultural significance, part of it has to do with Nazi propaganda posters of the 1930s and ’40s—where Hitler Youth were shown sporting the cut—and part of it has to do with basic utility. World War II-era German soldiers had an easier time wearing and removing their helmets when they had it.

Since around 2010, the haircut was popularized by non-fascists thanks in large part to the nostalgia-laden aesthetic of hipster Brooklyn, as well as its adoption by pop cultural figures like Macklemore and David Beckham. Since then, the hairstyle has skyrocketed in popularity. As the Post article points out, “The tidy, chic lines that appealed to the Nazis became the choice of fashionable young men, gay and straight, because it’s both business-like and brash.”

[…]

As Long Nguyen, co-founder of Flaunt magazine tells the newspaper, however, it’s likely not a coincidence. “We call them ‘nipsters’—neo-Nazi hipsters,” says Nguyen. “It’s really important for them to make inroads into young people’s culture, in order to expand their base. It’s a lot easier to do that when they’re stealing the look of a familiar hipster style.”

Basically it’s a warning to us all then: The next time a good-looking guy in a high-and-tight offers to sell you a craft beer, make sure he isn’t trying to also sell you a dose of unabridged hate.

Nipsters. It’s a great word, with wonderful, crisp, mocking snark. I suggest this gets used. A lot. Via Esquire.

And A Very Merry to You, Ms. Bigot.

Lexi Magnusson of Seattle's Christmas lights display (Facebook.com)

Lexi Magnusson of Seattle’s Christmas lights display (Facebook.com)

Lexi Magnusson — who lives in a small town outside of Seattle — recently met her new neighbor, a woman who stated outright that she and her family had moved away from Oregon because schools there were “making it okay” for students to be openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.

[…]

“She’s Mormon and heard that we were, too. My guess is that she thought we were still believers, even though my husband told her we no longer attend,” she told Huffington Post. “I imagine she thought we still held the same belief about LGBTQ issues as the Church does. We absolutely do not. It’s why I left the Mormon church.”

“I responded only with, ‘Your kids are going to be exposed to this no matter where you take them. Kids these days get it. They know not to be horrible to other kids based on how they were born,’” Magnusson recounted. “Then I walked inside [my house] and rage-ate a bowl of nachos.”

Magnusson then decided to decorate her lawn with a giant, glowing rainbow flag make of 10,000 Christmas lights.

“Our new neighbors are bigots,” she posted on Reddit. “Since regular aggression leads to assault charges, I went with passive aggression. 10,000 lights later.”

“I felt good the entire time I put them up,” she told HuffPost. “I sent a text to my cousin who loves Christmas lights like I do, and who is also gay. His approval was everything.”

You can read Ms. Magnusson’s FB post at the link. All I want to say here is thank you, Lexi Magnusson, you make this world a better, shining place.

Continuation 13.

No catchy title this time around, just a quick round up of all the continuing awful in Trumpistan. I’m tired. I expect everyone else is too. Just one day, I’d like to bask in all good things, people being good, for a change.

Fake hunting license -- (KDKA screen grab).

Fake hunting license — (KDKA screen grab).

An unidentified high school student in Pittsburgh was booted from his school after posting a hunting license allowing the bearer to hunt down and kill “n****rs” on his Snapchat account, reports KDKA.

Via Raw Story.

‘I will cut your throat!’: Muslim ‘hero’ cop harassed and threatened in New York for wearing hijab.

Ohio interracial couple’s home trashed with swastikas and ‘white power’ slogans painted on it.

‘Santa is WHITE. BOYCOTT Mall of America’: Online racists are having a meltdown over mall’s black Santa.

Internet of Shit.

I’m busy laughing, and happy to be a semi-dinosaur on the technological front. The only thing I want wi-fi on is my computer and tablet. That’s it.

The Internet of Shit. Have fun!

NoDAPL: It’s Not Over.

Photo by Tod Seelie for Jezebel.

Photo by Tod Seelie for Jezebel.

Yes, there was a celebration over having some breathing room at last. But if anyone knows not to trust government, it’s Indians. There’s even less reason to trust oil companies who are already bursting with billions of dollars. All that money means power, and they do not like being thwarted. They have engaged in an ongoing smear campaign, spreading lies and propaganda, openly purchasing the Morton County Sheriff’s department, with the approval of long ago purchased Governor Jack Dalrymple. The Army Corps of Engineers has asked ETP to stop digging before, and what happened? They went out on a holiday weekend and kept working, destroying sacred sites. ETP does not care what anyone says, they do not think they are obligated to listen or obey in any sense. Their sense of 1% entitlement is even bigger than their pockets. Their hatred of the Indians attempting to protect the land and water, for all peoples, has infuriated them from the start, and that start was in 2012.

It didn’t take long for them to lash out in absolute fury and defiance, in a lie and propaganda filled piece of bile, and their insistence they will indeed complete DAPL as planned. The people at the Oceti Sakowin camp aren’t going anywhere yet.

The White House’s directive today to the Corps for further delay is just the latest in a series of overt and transparent political actions by an administration which has abandoned the rule of law in favor of currying favor with a narrow and extreme political constituency.

As stated all along, ETP and SXL are fully committed to ensuring that this vital project is brought to completion and fully expect to complete construction of the pipeline without any additional rerouting in and around Lake Oahe. Nothing this Administration has done today changes that in any way.

So, keep those donations coming, people, and help in any way you can, because this is far from over. Those of us here in nDakota have already seen what ETP is willing to do, and it’s not pretty. All the veterans pouring into camp helped beyond measure, because even Kirchmeier can figure out that assaulting veterans is likely to result in much media coverage, and negative coverage at that, so they’ve stood down for now, but that won’t last. No one at the camps can afford to leave until ETP leaves, completely.

“We don’t trust anything they say,” Castaneda explained pleasantly. He first arrived at Standing Rock in October, and stayed through most of November before returning home for a spell. He returned this week. Cunningham and a friend, social worker Kyla Ferguson, had been here since mid-November. All three noticed a sudden absence of law enforcement drones hovering over the camp on Sunday. The peace and quiet, they pointed out, coincided with an influx of media and celebrity supporters, not to mention thousands of veterans who arrived to support and defend the water protectors. All three worried that ETP and law enforcement were merely behaving themselves for now.

“Once the media and the vets leave, they’ll start acting out,” Cunningham said. That’s what happened in late October, when seven different police agencies converged on the 1851 Treaty Camp, which stood in the pipeline’s path. The three friends watched as tipis and tents were destroyed. People were sprayed with rubber bullets or dragged from where they were praying in a sweat lodge and arrested. Some 140 people were taken into custody in all. It was a scene he found hard to forget.

“Native Americans have been sold a bill of goods a million times,” he added. “There’s a lot of mistrust.”

Via Jezebel. * #NoDAPL. * The Verge has covered the ETP response. * Then there’s this.

To every single person who has supported us and helped, whether spreading the word, getting the signal boosted, donations of any kind, lila wopila – very many thanks. Thank you all so much. Thank you for standing up for what is right, for standing up for a healthy planet, healthy water, for the wealth that truly matters, family, friends, and a sustainable, healthy ecosystem. The fight for these things is going to get much harder, all over the planet. Let’s keep that love going, and keep standing up.

Tardigrade Porn!

Scanning electron micrograph of Tardigrada, or water bear. Image Credit: Rick Gillis and Roger J. Haro Department of Biology University of Wisconsin - La Crosse.

Scanning electron micrograph of Tardigrada, or water bear. Image Credit: Rick Gillis and Roger J. Haro Department of Biology University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.

PZ has an irresistible post up at Pharyngula about Tardigrade sex. There’s a video, and helpful aids to explain what you just saw. Who doesn’t love water bears?  Now, if I could just figure out if I liked water bears or moss piglets better…