The sarin gas attacks were among the most shocking crimes in modern Japanese history. I can’t believe that the number 13 seems small to me now because of all the larger massacres we’ve seen in the US.
1. I just saw the footage that’s being spread around from a protest in Portland on Saturday that people are claiming shows antifa directing traffic and yelling a drivers who won’t comply.
2. I spent 5 minutes Googling and reading news articles to find out that the protesters seem to have been part of a protest following a fatal police shooting on 9/30/18 in which some claim the man was unarmed. Police say he was armed.
3. One of the videos going around doesn’t show that the elderly white driver who was chased down the street did so after driving through a crowd of protesters with one directly in front of his car.
1. Kept my friend company in line at the #HelloKitty Cafe Truck East today. It’s basically a store on wheels.
2. My friend got in line around 9:45. We still had to wait more than an hour to get to the front. When we left the line was to the end of the building. #HelloKitty
3. Finally made it to Southern Kin for brunch. My eggs were over-poached but I would go back. My friend said the biscuits & gravy were delicious. Eggs Benedict came with cheddar grits.
1. A friend was on a jury that tried to convict people who may or may not have been guilty (a doctor and nurse practitioner). She was the lone hold out that resulted in a hung jury despite tremendous pressure from fellow jurors to change her vote.
2. But she’s a mathematician and highly analytical and said the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they were guilty of the charges. At a 2nd trial they were acquitted. If my friend had been more susceptible to peer pressure they would be in jail.
3. She told me it completely changed her view of our “justice” system. Jurors engaged in vote trading and changed their votes because they were tired of being in court and wanted to go home to their families, jobs, or go on vacation.
1. I saw an old tweet from a white feminist today that said something to the effect that she was totally willing for “some” men who haven’t done anything to go down in pursuit of dismantling the patriarchy.
2. I am not linking or screencapping since I want to discuss this idea, not encourage harassment of her. She is far from the first/last/only feminist to express this idea.
3. I often wonder—would these women be willing to sacrifice their:
husbands
boyfriends
fathers
brothers
sons
uncles
nephews
grandfathers
grandsons
male friends, neighbors & coworkers
1. A bunch of people have asked me if I’ve taken a look at the Data & Society report, “Alternative Influence: Broadcasting the Reactionary Right on YouTube”. datasociety.net/output/alterna…
2. People familiar with the work of some of the YouTubers included in the infographic are calling foul, as are some of the “influencers" who have been included.
3. I saw the infographic floating around last night and at a quick glance thought it was so bad that I didn’t bother to look at the report, but I did see a tweet from someone replying to Tim Pool that he had been on a show Tim was claiming he hadn’t been on.
1. Poll has closed! Thanks to everyone who voted & participated in the discussion. I found it really interesting. I'm actually a little surprised by how close the yes & no results are.
2. Of the people I heard from it seemed like there were some who felt that belief in ghosts was incompatible with reason & skepticism and therefore incompatible with atheism, which should have skepticism at its root.
3. Others seemed to feel that belief in a higher power(s) was separable from belief in something supernatural or whatever you want to think of the phenomenon of ghosts as. Ghosts have not been definitely proven not to exist so they’re still something of an unknown realm for some.