Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The next four years

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  • linger,

    A glossary of technical terms for types of abbreviation.

    Initialisms = words formed from a sequence of initial letters (e.g. RSVP, TLA, WTO, YMMV ). Acronyms are, strictly, more specifically sequences of initial letters creating a pronounceable wordform (e.g. HART, JAFA, WHO ), though acronym is also used more loosely for any initialism.

    Clippings are formed by removing entire syllables, usually leaving just the first syllable (e.g. semifinal > semi, submarine > sub). Clippings may result in ambiguity (there's a few alternative expansions for both semi and sub.)

    Blends are created by combining sound sequences from several words into one wordform (e.g. brunch, frenemy, smog, spam ). Blends usually also have a meaning that combines the meanings of the original words.

    That being said, some abbreviations don't strictly fit any of these patterns (e.g. the written forms govt, intl, qtr .)

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report Reply

  • WH,

    A few years ago North & South magazine ran a piece about New Zealand’s own Temple of Higher Thought and the Order of the Golden Dawn. The article is worth reading in full, but for present purposes it’s enough to note that the leaders of these occult movements infiltrated New Zealand’s Anglican communion and posed as ordinary churchgoers.

    Like any important social lever, magic and witchcraft are inevitably deployed against political targets and other adversaries. As a result, not everything in political life is what it seems to be. Speech and behaviour are impeded and compelled; events are planned and synchronised. Serious crimes are being committed – people do get badly hurt.

    The problem was well known to our ancestors. As Christopher Faraone wrote in An Accusation of Magic in Classical Athens:

    Plato mentions itinerant magicians who crowded the doors of the rich and for a small fee promised (among other things) to harm their political enemies with incantations and binding spells. Plato’s suspicions were not without foundation; in recent years scholars have [shown] that these curses were being used by and against members of the Athenian upper classes, including some prominent Athenian politicians.

    If there’s a pattern in the media’s easy coverage of the witchcraft renaissance, it’s a determined refusal to consider what premeditated attacks on other people must mean for those affected and for society at large.

    May the many victims of these crimes find justice.

    Since Nov 2006 • 797 posts Report Reply

  • WH,

    This is Channel 4’s interview with Richard Kerr, victim of one the UK’s notorious VIP paedophile rings. In this instance, young boys were taken from the Kincora Boys Home in Northern Ireland during the Troubles to service elite paedophiles in London.

    The report outlines that MPs at Westminster were sexually abusing young boys, that British Intelligence and the MI5 were aware of and complicit in these crimes, and that British police threatened the victims with arrest. The case is reminiscent of the British establishment’s involvement in Jimmy Savile’s reign of terror at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.

    Sheryl’s Crow’s revelations about Michael Jackson, Cory Feldman’s recent allegations about Two and a Half Men(!) star Charlie Sheen, and the deaths of Kevin Spacey’s accusers suggest something is very wrong. As Cindy McCain said of Jeffrey Epstein:

    Epstein was hiding in plain sight. We all knew about him. We all knew what he was doing, but we had no one — no legal aspect that would go after him. They were afraid of him. For whatever reason, they were afraid of him.

    There’s a lot that can’t be said in a forum such as this one. Suffice to say, a re-evaluation of the value, meaning and real origins of Aleister Crowley’s magical teachings – that explicitly encourage the sexual exploitation of young people – is long overdue.

    Those who have supported the degradation of the innocent and unsuspecting will one day have to answer for what they done.

    Since Nov 2006 • 797 posts Report Reply

  • WH,

    The role of British intelligence and British police in these matters deserves special scrutiny. The following video discusses the role of MI5 and Special Branch in covering up the serial sex offending of Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith.

    Similar kinds of corruption exist at the highest levels of the British public service and at the most senior levels of the legal profession. The problem extends to members of the English judiciary.

    Lastly, former US Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill died on 18 April. He will be remembered for disclosing that the Bush Administration had been planning the invasion of Iraq and the distribution of its oil fields prior to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

    Since Nov 2006 • 797 posts Report Reply

  • WH,

    Radiohead’s take on the 1973 film The Wicker Man.

    Since Nov 2006 • 797 posts Report Reply

  • WH,

    Attachment

    Above: Ghislaine Maxwell and Kevin Spacey on the Queen’s thrones at Buckingham Palace in 2002

    President Trump has commuted the sentence of former campaign aide Roger Stone, who was convicted of witness tampering, making false statements to Congress and obstruction of justice in 2019. The commutation leaves Stone’s criminal convictions intact.

    Amid renewed criticism from Trump, special counsel Robert Mueller has defended the integrity of the Justice Department’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election that formed the basis of Stone’s prosecution. As Mueller puts it:

    Stone became a central figure in our investigation for two key reasons: He communicated in 2016 with individuals known to us to be Russian intelligence officers, and he claimed advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ release of emails stolen by those Russian intelligence officers.

    We now have a detailed picture of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. The special counsel’s office identified two principal operations directed at our election: hacking and dumping Clinton campaign emails, and an online social media campaign to disparage the Democratic candidate. We also identified numerous links between the Russian government and Trump campaign personnel — Stone among them. We did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its activities. The investigation did, however, establish that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome. It also established that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.

    The story’s replete with Russian spies, the US national security agencies, corrupt campaign officials and an all-in brawl amongst the identitarian left, the pluralist centre, the libertarian right and a depraved cultural elite.

    It’s not easy to interpret the seething mess beneath the thinning veneer of political life – this fashion show of villains, dubious agendas, innocent victims and terrible reprisals. As unsuited to the presidency as Donald Trump finally is, he’s not the only guilty party. The dishonesty goes a lot further than anyone’s going to admit.

    Don't vote for Donald Trump.

    Since Nov 2006 • 797 posts Report Reply

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