ReadFanon

I love to see LGBTQ representation: Lesbian, Greek, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer

I have zero proof of this but the timing of the corruption scandal and the way it took some of Zelensky's biggest allies off the board, ones who he worked closely with and who were high up in his administration, right when Trump was putting pressure on Ukraine to sign a peace deal as US support was really drying up feels very coincidental in its timing.

I have no evidence to support this but I'd be flabbergasted if Ukrainian intelligence wasn't working hand in glove with the US intelligence apparatus, same for the corruption watchdog.

It feels likely that they have plenty of dirt on Zelensky and they're positioning to get him out of the picture by isolating him from his powerful allies and now installing their own into the upper echelons of his administration.

I think Budanov has been tapped to become the next president, one who will work in lockstep with the US, who will assume the role if Zelensky isn't compliant enough with US demands or if there's a popular uprising due to war weariness.

I bet you Zelensky will flee to Israel, or at least he will attempt to, under a second wave of the corruption scandal right when there are protests or there's a peak in discontent for whatever reason, (e.g. when the government has left Kiev without electricity for over two weeks and the people have had enough of it.)

I really hope this is how it plays out.

I think you did the right thing even if it turns out to be nothing important. Better to get these things checked out (although your bank balance will beg to differ) because if you have a systemic infection then you're at risk of serious organ damage and shit like that. If it was 24 hours after and you had a mild fever then it's probably not a big concern but days after with serious fever is a different matter.

I'd get blood tests just in case. The timeframe is not a match for seroconversion but if you play rough or on the riskier side then it could be an STI of some type (though I'm not sure what else you've been up to or when.) It's probably something like mononucleosis but it's better not to blow it off if it's been persisting the way you've described.

as a rule, I don’t talk about my offline actions/organizing online.

This is the best policy imo, especially when you're dealing with someone hostile who is demanding that you "prove" you actually walk the talk because:

Doxing yourself is bad but at least you have to live with the consequences of you choosing to comprise your pseudo-anonymity whereas compromising an org is really really bad and everyone has to live with the consequences of your poor choices.
If they are demanding proof then that's sketchy and gives fed vibes.
It sets an expectation that we should be openly talking about our organizing efforts (beyond general "I went to an antiwar demonstration in solidarity with Venezuela" type organizing).
Hostile people will either accuse you of bragging or making things up, so it's a catch-22 situation.
Libs especially have no idea what organizing actually looks like.

To elaborate on the last point I went through a whole guac is extra routine with someone on social media quite a while ago. They kept demanding that I tell them on a public social media platform of all the organizing I've done to "prove" that I actually care about causes and that I'm "allowed" to criticize Kamala Harris legitimately in their eyes (might have been a Russian bot come to disturb the peaceful waters of Yankee politics or something) and I explained that there's no point because they won't have a clue about the orgs I'm referring to and that they don't have websites with hotlines you can call and signup pages like some DNC fundraiser or recuperative "grassroots" "activist" group. They kept pushing and I eventually relented and I said that I've been involved in AFA organizing for a number of years. I was intentionally being opaque and I chose that type of organizing for a reason which soon became apparent.

They immediately run to Google and the first hit they get is to a Wikipedia entry for a cold war AFA group from the Netherlands that went defunct in the 90s or something (revealing a lot about their own search bubble that they exist within - not good for opsec btw) and they started grilling me on my nationality and age so I messed with them for a little bit before I called them out on it, saying that I told them that they don't understand what AFA actually means and that I'm not going to reveal my location and that, like I said earlier, even if you had enough info search this up you wouldn't find anything to verify the org, let alone the actions that have been carried out, let alone that I have participated in organizing in that group because there's no website and there's no meeting minutes that get published online or anything like that. From memory, they seemed to be uncertain about AFA referring to antifascist activism in the first place and they also seemed very skeptical that there was any need for this work (in post-war western Europe btw - deeply unserious.)

I think I eventually got through to them but I knew exactly where it was going to end up from the outset. These are the types of people that consider themselves the resistance btw and they don't even understand that orgs can be underground or semi-underground. Imagine if they found themselves in Chile the day after the coup and they were trying to do some actual organizing for resistance then ask yourself if there's one single thing to be gained by seeking the approval of a political naïf like that.

Anyway if your organizing efforts are done for bragging rights or to "prove" the legitimacy of your politics then this is an extremely lib, individualistic mindset that you have and it makes you a hazard.

Wake me up when he passes legislation that permits nationalizing slumlord rentals if the landlords fail to adhere to the contracts and laws that they are bound to

I had a feeling but I didn't want to make assumptions.

Vegan kimchi queso dip sounds so good. Report back if you remember, I'm interested to hear how it turns out.

The fever really concerns me as that's a solid indication of an infection. And we're talking something internal so that worries me more because you can't really see what's going on and it's going to be close to lots of blood vessels... I'm voting strongly in favor of seeking medical attention. It's been days. If you actually can't walk still then that's not a good sign either.

I always switch to hypotheticals "Does that mean...?" or I put words in their mouths "So clearly Hakeem Jeffries will also be calling for..."

If it's veiled in JAQing off or lib-style smuglord irony it doesn't attract too much serious attention imo. I doubt a judge is gonna listen to any charges brought against you because you asked a hypothetical to highlight the hypocrisy of Jeffries' position or because you said something ironic online.

The last line I put in the top comment is completely unnecessary though.

Wait, so if the breakdown of the rule of law and of democracy in Venezuela are legitimate grounds for an illegal invasion of Venezuela by the US, according to Jeffries, and the act of committing war crimes on Venezuela represents the breakdown of the rule of law and of democracy in the US... does that mean Hakeem Jeffries is implicitly advocating for the US head of state to be kidnapped by a foreign military force and for the US to be bombed into submission until democracy and the rule of law is reestablished?

I never knew he was cool like that.

Spoiler alert: the "transition" is neither peaceful nor democratic, nor does it respect international law or the UN Charter.

Thanks! It appears that you've found two of the topics that consistently draw out big responses in me, and all at the same time. If you're as new to the site as your account is then I've been on hiatus longer than you've been here but there's a few things that get me typing out comments like I'm trying to reach the word count and one of them is cooking (especially when it comes to veg substitutes) and the other is mental health/psychiatric disability. If you keep an eye out you'll probably be able to spot a few other topics that are basically guaranteed to prompt these kinds of responses from me.

Vegan cashew queso sounds really good! If you're ever looking to bump up your vegan cheese game then getting your hands on food-grade lactic acid is worth its weight in gold - all cheese has some amount of lactic acid, varying depending on its production methods, and there are lots of higher end vegan cheese recipes that use stuff like lacto-fermented pickling liquid or sauerkraut etc. because those are natural, vegan sources of lactic acid (from memory Miyoko Schinner's recipes usually call for sauerkraut liquid). Honestly those options are healthier for you because they tend to be probiotic but it can be hard to have that stuff on hand and when it comes to lactic acid powder, the tiniest pinch adds a dimension to the flavor profile that is unmistakable and the convenience of it is unparalleled. Less is more though - powdered acids are extremely strong.

First off I cackled my ass off at the Marty seligman hate - I’ve read one of his books (authentic happiness , I believe) and I can’t believe “positive psychology” has gained any sort of legitimacy.

I'm Seligman's #1 hater. The reason why I think he's so popular is because he poses absolutely no threat to the status quo - his advice is really individualistic (typical for psychology) and a government can adopt the language and borrow some of the aura of legitimacy through his work in psychology and his frameworks to act like they're doing something about improving mental health except without actually making any changes to the way that the political economy works. His stuff is very bourgeois oriented too. I know that's a typical communist slur to fling around but what the fuck sort of meaning does a gig worker who can't afford healthcare have the opportunity to create? (Of course, they still have the capacity for making meaning, as we all do, but if you're pulling 20 hour shifts at the ball-crushing factory just to barely cover rent and insulin then you're structurally cut off from meaning making in any significant way by design.)

Second, These couple comments really resonated with me. I’ve struggled with anhedonia since childhood and over the better part of a decade now have been piecing together an understanding of how depression (what I assumed was my main issue) manifested mostly due to being under the autism/adhd/ocd umbrella and never having an idea (until recently). And now that I know, I can be me! And anyone who doesn’t like it can kick rocks!

Anhedonia is really pernicious. I think it's a bit of a silent killer, honestly. On the face of it, it doesn't seem that bad - you don't feel much joy. No biggie. Just keep at it and it'll be fine, right? In reality, serious anhedonia can stop people from eating enough because they don't even get any intrinsic reward from eating. For anyone who isn't really across this experience. anhedonia can feel like how it is to fold laundry except it's every task. Or like every meal is porridge or an unflavored protein shake. It's hard to imagine for a lot of people (blessed) but how long would it take before you snap if every little thing you did in life felt like the weekly meeting on Monday morning at your office job - even the things that you used to enjoy? Anhedonia can be a slow grinding down but when it goes far enough, there is nothing left to grind away. But it never really feels urgent, at least to people on the outside.

I'm really glad to hear that you're making progress on this front. It's a heck of a battle.

I’m finally in relational therapy with my spouse and it’s been a game changer. Just unpacking our luggage with in a facilitated setting and affirming each others value has been amazing.

I'm really glad to hear that. For all of my criticisms of therapy, it comes from a place of wanting it to live up to what it has the potential to be - good therapy saves lives. It's just so, so hard to find good therapy.

One of my closest friends (and groomsmen) drowned a couple months before my wedding - and I was finally able to admit that during the wedding I was only able to think about him and felt more sorrow than joy during that day. And it felt like taking off a weight - since every day since that I’d beat myself up as a bad spouse for having those feelings - but that’s (obviously) in no way how my spouse felt about me.

I'm really sorry to hear about your friend's passing. I can relate to the feelings of inadequacy that lead to self-loathing because, at least in my case, I had a lot of experiences where I was invalidated. (I say a lot but really it was just one long stream of it rather than being discrete events.) It's hard not to learn to feel wrong or broken or inadequate if you've only ever learned that how you feel is wrong and that you need to do better (especially when the "better" is vague and unspecified.)

One of the things that I try to use as a counterbalance to this is to consider how I'd feel about my spouse if they were feeling more sorrow than joy on their wedding because of the recent, tragic passing of a best friend or what I'd say to my best friend if they were in my shoes if I had passed away unexpectedly. Approaching it from that angle can be really helpful to reframe how I relate to myself by encouraging self-compassion and gently highlighting my own hypocrisy but not in a way that aggravates my perfectionism or feelings of inadequacy. Because that's always the trap with feelings of inadequacy - the more you examine it and work on it, the more it can amplify those feelings of inadequacy. Of course there are ways to work through this but it's unhelpful to try and resolve feelings of inadequacy by adding an extra layer by making yourself feel inadequate for being inadequate. And then you start adding another layer by feeling inadequate because you aren't dealing with these feelings of inadequacy "properly"; you can get yourself into one heck of a mess trying to work your way out of that, especially if it's a deep-seated part of how you relate to yourself. Which is where a good therapist can be invaluable.

Now I’m just rambling - but I’ve tried CBT (the behavioral therapy one), ACT (the behavioral therapy one), and others I can’t remember. But in all, what seems to work best is having a community of people who care for you, and knowing they do.

I definitely took a potshot at CBT and ACT and DBT in that comment above, although I didn't name them directly. If they work for you then I'm genuinely happy for that. But I also have some big criticisms of them. CBT in particular is a dirty word for me lol. There's a whole CBT racket running in my country, and I suspect this is probably the case for lots of western countries because it appears to be a model. But that's a story for a different day.

In summary, death to capitalism

Agreed.

Tom Phillips, journalist for The Guardian and aspiring HOA president

There are two rules of jury nullification:

You don't talk about jury nullification
You nullify

This is a really despicable comment from db0.

For context: I'm multiply-neurodivergent and I struggle a whole lot with communication due to being autistic. It's really hard for me to integrate into online spaces, especially irony-heavy ones that are big on their own specific internal discourse with lingo etc. Emojis are like a pragmatics puzzle to me (if you are familiar with my comments you'll notice that I rarely use them myself - there's a reason for that.)

So you'd expect that Hexbear would be a nightmare for someone like me given all of that as context, right?

I'm not gonna lie and say that I've never seen any ableism here or that I've never experienced any. There are occasions where I've almost certainly had my words wilfully misinterpreted before and there are exchanges where I've just disengaged (not disengage-rule disengaged but I've just abandoned replying.) I've had the odd occasions of people mimimizing or denying my experience, although not in an intentionally malicious way.

But what I can say is that my experience of ableism here is very noticeably lower than most other radical space online (not to mention general spaces online) that I've participated in and there's an openness to having discussions and reflecting on addressing ableism through crit/self-crit that I can't say I've experienced elsewhere but of course there's going to be a background level of ableism when the whole world is ableist and we live in a society. That's just how it is and anyone who is marginalized knows exactly what I'm talking about here.

I've also been on the receiving end of users here looking for any opportunity to dunk on me before (haven't we all?) and if you have a genuinely bad take then you do tend to get dunked on. But being ridiculed in the replies by some user (justified or not) is one thing, being subjected to moderator or admin abuse of power that is ableist is something entirely different. I can't think of a time where I've had more than some mean replies occasionally here, but I can tell you in other spaces if I dare to seek clarification on a rule or I ask for an explanation on what I did to violate a rule because I genuinely want understand so I can integrate better and avoid making the same mistake again it almost always ends up in accusations of me being obtuse, in really unhelpful responses, and that sort of thing (e.g. "Read rule number 2. It's not my job to teach you how to read and it's not my responsibility to read the rules to you. Break the rule again and you're banned.") Not that I often break rules in online spaces but you get the picture. I haven't experienced that sort of structural ableism here and I think a lot of that has to do with the commitment to crit/self-crit and improving the culture here.

Imo the mechanisms that make this space less structurally hostile and less ableist are based on the critical discussions that we have about the cultural problems here. It's far easier to just ignore that there are problems and pretend like it's all fine (especially when the dominant group doesn't notice or experience those problems), and this certainly looks better to outsiders, but I'd rather that these problems be openly discussed and addressed than hidden away to fester in the darkness. To weaponize the critical contributions (critical in terms of critique but also in terms of being of fundamental importance) of neurodivergent users here who have potentially put themselves in the firing line in order to speak out about problems of ableism to improve the culture here is really disingenuous. Speaking from personal experience, it's rare that I do this myself because I don't want that smoke and it almost always gets received with hostility. My general experience on social media is that my participation is contingent on how well I integrate, how little I draw attention, and how well I peform obsequiousness especially when someone decides to pick on me; that my welcome in a space is provisional and it will be revoked at any given moment, often without any reason or opportunity for recourse. I know I'm not the only neurodivergent person who feels this way.

If neurodivergent people are saying stuff like "I feel like I'm walking on eggshells here" then that says a lot, but not for the reason that people like db0 think it does. In just about every social media space I feel this way myself. I can't think of a time that I've ever expressed that feeling within a space itself. To express this as a criticism or a complaint requires a level of acceptance from and trust in the space that the ND user feels such that they believe that they aren't likely to be punished or harassed or ostracised for expressing this in the first place. I really wish that people like this would read the Tyranny of Structureless or Dissensus because, ironically, the way db0 is treating dissent is fundamentally in opposition to anarchist principles on a deep level. (But who needs principles when you can have a gotcha instead?)

The internal culture of crit/self-crit here is not something for an outsider to appropriate into a rhetorical bludgeon for them to use to score a point via concern-trolling to "win" an argument. This is layer upon layer of tokenism and it doesn't actually do anything to address ableism here, on other instances (including in db0's), or anywhere else and it doesn't even engage with these criticisms, it just vaguely references that they exist.

I shouldn't let it affect me but this is why I don't do things like criticize figures like Stalin or Mao unless I'm with comrades - I'm not interested in furnishing the people who oppose me with arguments to use against me and in the same vein what db0 is doing in that comment, if left unchallenged, would have a chilling effect for someone like me who doesn't want to furnish a Hexbear outsider who opposes its existence with ammunition to attack the users and the instance. I'm aware that any criticism I make with the spirit of improving the culture here, including the things I've written about in this comment, are liable to be used to attack and erode the culture here by malicious actors and the upshot of this is that as a ND person who has experienced a ton of ableism all my life, I am inclined to be less likely to speak out against ableism in the one online community that is overall been the least ableist in my experience.

With "allyship" like this, who needs enemies?

(I would have put this to db0 if I had any faith that they would actually read it and engage with my criticisms in good faith. It's only right now as I'm writing out this postscript that I've realized that it says a lot that I'm putting this comment here, where it's going to be read by maybe a handful of people that I trust will consider the things I've laid out, who will read this in good faith. There's a reason why I wouldn't bother putting this to db0 directly and that exemplifies what I was saying about the distinction between walking on eggshells in an online space and feeling a degree of safety in openly criticizing a space because it makes you feel as though you must walk on eggshells when you engage with it.)

Folks, at this rate we are mere months away from Alex Jones jumping on the now-defunct Dubai chocolate bandwagon. Prepare yourselves.

Same here. They still do it, and the even claim that it was a "withdrawal" from Vietnam after achieving their goals (??) and not a defeat as well.

They do something similar for Afghanistan too.

When someone is that deep in the trashcan of ideology I don't think there's any reasoning with them tbh. Best to just close the lid and walk away. We can talk about what objectives were achieved in these wars, sure, but if you want me to agree with you that these wars were victories for the US then I'm afraid I'm just not capable of that level of suspension of disbelief.

The question, though, is how badly will this affect Venezuelan resistance?

Very hard to tell and I think it's going to be largely contingent on the Venezuelan military response. The colectivos are armed and trained but they are militias and they aren't likely to be able to resist in a significant way without Venezuelan military support, especially if the military turns on them.

If it was a full-blown Afghanistan style occupation then the colectivos could be expected to be very useful as an insurgent force but I don't think this one is a fight they are big enough to take on so as it stands currently, I think the vast majority of the resistance would come from the Venezuelan military, which appears not to have fired a single shot.

How far in the territory can American aircrafts go before they're in serious trouble?

Honestly, I'm not a military guy I'm a geopolitics girlie so I can't say anything authoritatively in this respect but it's hard to imagine a Venezuelan military with air defence capabilities enough to resist the US. If they went all-in on drones and prepared for a pitched battle then it's possible that there would be strong resistance but I don't know how realistic that would have been.

Venezuela isn't renowned for its military capacity and their military, at least historically, has a tendency towards disloyalty so I'm not that hopeful about their capacity to pose much resistance at this stage.