Tag: demonization

How can people support Luigi Mangione but vote in droves to deny health care to others?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

How can people support Luigi Mangione but vote in droves to deny health care to others?

Last week was a bizarre time to be queer on social media: Many cishet people voiced enthusiastic support for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, arguing that the health insurer’s denial of claims led to so many deaths that the murder was justified as retaliation. Meanwhile, Congress was passing a bill that would require an insurer (Tricare) to deny claims, and it was hard to get anyone to even pay attention to that.

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Zelensky’s wear and tear

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)2 Comments

Zelensky’s wear and tear (original)

For more than two and a half years, war has been the raison d’être of the Ukrainian state. The budget presented by Kyiv this week allocates more than 50% of the budget to the defence sector – to which must be added the cost of veterans – something that has been repeated since 2022. Maintaining the front, avoiding its collapse and ensuring that there is still enough support to continue fighting until the objectives are achieved is the priority of the government team, which has set aside practically all other obligations of the state, which today depends entirely on foreign subsidies that make it possible to pay salaries and pensions. One of the aspects that has completely disappeared under the cover of the unity demanded by the war is precisely domestic politics. The Russian invasion gave Zelensky’s team the opportunity to create for the president the image of a war leader, the representation of the nation, a savior capable of achieving what he sets out to do, the only person capable of rescuing the country from certain ruin.

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Israel’s boycott of Haaretz is straight out of the authoritarian playbook

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Authoritarians have a playbook when it comes to dealing with the media. It may not be written down anywhere, but the tactics are all too familiar to those with experience of these regimes: Demonize, detain (and if necessary even kill) — and defund. So it should ring alarm bells when supposed democracies engage in these behaviors. Israel’s decision on Sunday tocut funding for Haaretz — an internationally respected news outlet and Israel’s oldest newspaper — is the latest in Israel’s efforts to shut down criticism of its actions at home and to stifle coverage abroad.

Israel’s boycott of Haaretz is straight out of the authoritarian playbook

US Foreign Policy vs. China Continues Under Trump

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The incoming Trump administration is poised to pick up where the Biden administration has left off on the decades-spanning centerpiece of US foreign policy ‒ the encirclement and containment of China.

US Foreign Policy vs. China Continues Under Trump (archived)

Related:

AFPI: America First Policy Institute

Por la Pesca:

The Walton Family Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and a coalition of fishermen’s associations and environmental institutions join forces to promote responsible fishing practices.

Front Organizations

China’s A2/AD (ACE Concept/Joint All-Domain Operations)

Beware of War Hawks in “America First” Clothing

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

For the past eight years, the two major political parties have been gripped by a messy and ongoing realignment. It began with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, which was a major repudiation of the neoconservative-establishment coalition that had dominated the Republican Party since the presidency of George W. Bush.

Beware of War Hawks in “America First” Clothing

Related:

The Return of Peace Through Strength: Making the Case for Trump’s Foreign Policy

Trump Frees Himself From Bolton – but Robert O’Brien Will Be Just as Bad

New national security adviser recently considered war to free prisoners in Iran

Front Organizations

Robert O’Brien – Project 2025

Project 2025 [under construction]

Meet Ukraine’s top fighting unit — at least that’s what their ad says

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

Ukraine’s brigades can recruit their own soldiers, and they compete with each other to craft the best advertising campaigns to sell the war.

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The creative work, Bondarenko said, is done by a team of 20 — 13 military personnel and seven civilians. Their messaging feels impossible to escape, covering more than 1,000 billboards across Ukraine, which she said are largely donated. Digital ads are funded by the profits from their YouTube channel, she said, which has nearly 1.3 million subscribers and generates more than $15,000 monthly. On Instagram, they have another 115,000 subscribers.

Soon, they hope to expand into a new area — merchandising. The brigade envisions it as a one-stop shop where people can purchase T-shirts, patches and other mementos of the war.

Meet Ukraine’s top fighting unit — at least that’s what their ad says

The 3rd Assault Brigade is the Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion rebranded. Andriy Biletsky was its founder.

Related:

Thirst Trap Nation: How E-girls Are Luring Young Boys Into Joining Army, with Alan MacLeod

“Sexualized fascism”: how the taboo nature of Nazi imagery made the alt-right more powerful