Mark Williams

The Origins of Culture Wars How is the concept of culture wars rooted in the social and political struggles of nineteenth century Germany? Robert D. Priest explores.

How is the concept of culture wars rooted in the social and political struggles of nineteenth-century Germany?

Robert D. Priest explores these little-known origins.

Following the killing of AFGE Member Alex Pretti and the subsequent slanderous rhetoric that followed from top Trump administration officials, AFGE National President Everett Kelley issued the following statement: “Yesterday, AFGE brought together labor and faith leaders from Minneapolis and across the nation to mourn our fallen brother from Local 3669, Alex Pretti. We honored his life and legacy and lifted up his family, his friends, his union, Minneapolis, and our nation in prayer. “Today, we demand accountability. “In the immediate aftermath of Alex’s killing, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem betrayed the public trust by slandering the good name of our union brother and calling him a “domestic terrorist.” Alex Pretti was a patriotic ICU nurse at a VA hospital who devoted his life to serving America’s veterans. That claim was reckless, defamatory, and unsupported by the facts. Noem was preceded in this false statement by Stephen Miller, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, who is also the architect of the chaotic and failed immigration policy in Minnesota. “Our demand is clear: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was responsible for carrying out the policy that led to Alex’s needless killing, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of that policy, must resign immediately. If they refuse, President Trump must dismiss them.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents border patrol officers at the National Border Patrol Council, calls on Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller to resign or be fired

The Legislation Upon winning a general election, a Reform government under Prime Minister Nigel Farage will: 1) Leave the ECHR 2.) Repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights. 3.) Pass The Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill: This Bill will: Create a legal duty to remove illegal migrants for the Home Secretary The Bill opens with a blunt obligation for the Home Secretary: "The Secretary of State shall ensure the removal from the United Kingdom of each person who does not have extant leave to remain and is not an Irish citizen or otherwise protected by regulations made under this Act." The following parts of the legislation are introduced on an emergency basis, with an in-built sunset clause after 5 years: Disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture, the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention (ECAT) Derogation is justified under the Vienna Convention doctrine of state of necessity: Britain faces a national emergency in which uncontrolled illegal migration undermines public order. These treaties will otherwise be used by activist judges to frustrate deportations, even after the repeals of the HRA and ECHR. Create Detention Power Without Hardial Singh Constraints This means illegal migrants can be detained until they are deported. Activist lawyers routinely use Hardial Singh to secure their client's bail, after which the client absconds. If you came to the UK illegally, you are ineligible for asylum. End of story All asylum claims will become inadmissible if made by a person within the Act's scope. If you came to the country illegally, you are ineligible for asylum in the UK. This strips the Home Office, the immigration tribunals and the higher courts of jurisdiction to even consider claims. A claim that cannot be considered cannot suspend removal and therefore, cannot delay a flight. Re-entering after deportation and destroying ID becomes a serious criminal offence Re-entry after deportation will be…

The Operational Plan We will create an enforcement unit called UK Deportation Command, including an Illegal Migrant Identification Centre - harnessing cutting edge data fusion A Reform government will create a cutting edge enforcement data centre to relentlessly identify and detain all illegal migrants in the UK. Using powers granted by the new legislation, it will automatically share data between the Home Office, NHS, HMRC, DVLA, banks and the police. It will power bulk warrants, including mandatory biometric capture during any police encounter. Each power addresses a failure mode observed over the past decade - for example, banks and GP surgeries unaware of a customer's status, or overstayers slipping through because a warrant covered only a single property. Secure Immigration Removal Centres (SIRC) will be built rapidly to detain up to 24,000 Detention capacity for up to 24,000 will be created within 18 months. The Home Office will build Secure Immigration Removal Centres. This will be modular accommodation built in remote parts of the country. Conditions are basic but not punitive: prefabricated two-person rooms, canteen catering, on-site medical suites. Robust perimeters and internal movement controls prevent escapes. This enables detention-on-arrest: no more bail. This capacity would allow for up to 24,000 illegal migrants to be deported per month. Initial Voluntary Return Window A six-month Assisted Voluntary Return window precedes large-scale raids. Illegal migrants will be offered a financial incentive to self-deport. An app will be launched to facilitate this. The Deportation Flights The Home Office will scale up charters to 5 flights per day. To guard against last-minute aircraft unserviceability, the RAF will keep one Voyager aircraft on six-hour 'hot-spare' readiness. If a commercial charter breaks down, detainees can still be flown out that night, preserving operational integrity. The legal reset will mean activist lawyers will no longer be able preven…

The UK version of “Project 2025” by the Reform party includes a British ICE, a concentration camp for 24,000 people, mass surveillance and withdrawing from refugee, anti-torture and anti-trafficking conventions.

It’s on their website. That’s how comfortable fascists are in the UK today.

The potential asylum accommodation the fash are protesting is actually in Rhosllanerchrugog, but they're calling it "Wrexham Unite" presumably so the Patriotic Alternative Anglos can pronounce it / don't make fun of them / go "oooh I like Ryan Reynolds"

Now I want to know which CNN reporter or producer doesn't know the word "sycophant."

BURN'EM, Will!

The original Large Language Model.

This is the single funniest excuse he could have come up with for not wanting to be booed in public

The hard truth about AI at work? It won’t tell you Automated office companions cut out the mess of human interaction, but convenience isn’t everything

A smart piece, looking beyond the hype to the humans.

NRA accidentally forgets to rise up against tyrannical government

All of this is fucking senseless. Minnesota did not have an immigration problem. Trump sent his Nazi thugs here because he's racist against Somali people and to own libs like Tim Walz. Now two Minnesotans are dead and Minneapolis is on the verge of going up in flames. None. Of. This. Was. Necessary.

I can’t imagine this administration thought this would go any other way. They’re creating people who are willing to be killed by the feds purely because the feds have invaded their city and are terrorizing their neighbors. The Trump admin created this.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey: "I just saw a video of more than 6 masked agents pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death. How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?"

Sayre: "My background is in international humanitarian response in conflict zones in Yemen, Haiti, Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine. What I've seen here is what I've seen there. A powerful entity violently and intentionally terrorizing people."

Robert Jenrick pictured with former Nazi terror chief at Epping anti-refugee protest Robert Jenrick pictured with Eddy Butler, former member of Nazi terror group Combat 18 EXCLUSIVE Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has attended a

Reform UK’s new ‘shadow chancellor’ Robert Jenrick attended a protest organised by Homeland and posed for photos with on of Eddy Butler, one of the founders of neo-Nazi Combat 18.

You’ve got to question his motives and judgement.

Epidemiological ICE.

ICE begins arresting ministers saying their public prayer is offensive. bsky.app/profile/domi...

Any song can be made a #Traitors song if sung slowly ominously enough

🎵 Baa baa

Black ... sheep ...

Have you .... any ...

Wooooool 🎵

c. 1530 painting of the cloth market in s'Hertogenbosch, with market stalls stretching away from the viewpoint across the town square and town buildings forming the background against a cloudy blue sky. Source: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Lakenmarkt_van_%27s-Hertogenbosch

Very taken by this c. 1530 painting of the cloth market in s'Hertogenbosch. The (anonymous) artist seems to have heard of perspective, but not quite to have got the hang of it. Apparently it was commissioned by the cloth-sellers guild, and Hieronymus Bosch lives in the 7th house from the right.

Former Tory councillor admits drugging and raping wife over 14-year period Philip Young, who served on Swindon borough council, pleads guilty to offences against ex-spouse Joanne Young

"... he simultaneously announces he'll now be joining the top ranks of Reform UK."

You have to listen til the end, but yes.

I don't even want them to be Vous, let alone Nous.

Posted without directed comment.

Photo d’une statue de Lénine couverte de neige d’une manière qui évoque une personne qui lui fait un câlin par derrière

Need une personne qui me fait fait un câlin comme la neige fait un câlin à Lénine

If 'The memes will continue' isn't a pithy summary for our age I don't know what is.

White House posts digitally altered image of woman arrested after ICE protest Guardian analysis shows images are the same, with Nekima Levy Armstrong looking composed in original but sobbing after alteration

I know some people are cynical about everything now and just say “eh, what do you expect” at every new low, but really this is just astonishing and outrageous, and I don’t think we should shrug at that www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

The Name Of The Rose — Background Ambience Generator A sonic tribute to Umberto Eco.

For whoever else needs this today, a reminder that there's still a 'The Name of the Rose' ambient noise generator. Great for all sorts of work (perhaps also plotting).

mynoise.net/NoiseMachine...

#skystorians #earlymodern

Longwall Library exterior in the early evening. The sky is light blue and the library's and courtyard lights are on, shining a bright yellow. In the sky, white text reads: "But we're a university! We have to have to have a library!" said Ridcully. "It adds tone. What sort of people would we be if we didn't go into the Library?" - Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent

We like to think it's more than 'tone' but we enjoyed this library love in 'The Last Continent' by Terry Pratchett.

We’ve officially reached the "Mean Girls" stage of international diplomacy.

'If I didn't know better l, PM Carney, I'd think you don't want to be in Post-Genocidal Vulture Club like all the Proper Cool Kids.'