Marjins Þridus

Politics
588

It’s well worth studying Seattle, since those protests were well documented and many of the police and accountability review committee records are online at the City Archives. Unfortunately many protester accounts are lost, but some are available from the University of Washington WTO History Project or from the organizers’ history project.

Some mistaken info, some slurs.

http://archives.seattle.gov/digital-collections/index.php/Detail/collections/432

https://www.seattle.gov/archive/wtocommittee/default.htm

Note that the radio recordings show that the police were firing less-lethal munitions by 8:40, while the panel 3 report puts that at about 10:00.

http://depts.washington.edu/wtohist/interview_index.htm

https://www.shutdownwto20.org/shutdownwto20

The protesters were bolder than in many other protests, but there were still negotiations for mass arrests. The police cancelled these due to staffing and budget constraints, and tried to rely on less-lethal weapons instead.

As a general impression from studying Seattle and later protests, and from local experience in DC anti-war protests, there was federal pressure to crack down and try to punish whole protest movements. Regardless of how that affects any single protest. So that led to overwhelming violence on the 2nd day in Seattle, and in Miami, and widespread infiltration and entrapment at St. Paul.

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589

Recurring muscle pain in my left arm and left leg. [Had fallen] on back and right side, scraped up right knee.

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590
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591

When you get a painful pain call for a push poll involving your ptsd triggers. And an earache from the pain call.

592

Bad allergy attack, starting yesterday, continuing.

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593

So yesterday, I accidentally ate something I was allergic too.

And yesterday evening and today I’ve had terrible migraines, and pain everywhere, and itching, and dizziness, and so on.

So today, after taking this over, I planned to get some leftovers I’m not allergic to, but grabbed the ones I am allergic too and had more of that, so I’ll have at least another day of agony.

595

https://marjaerwin.dreamwidth.org/128825.html

The job of the paramilitaries is not to preserve disorder. It is to create disorder.

I’m not in the District of Columbia, or in Portland so don’t know all the details. There’s a good overview here:

But Trump and Barr have forced federal police and paramilitary forces into a task force-- “Pactforce”-- and deployed them into Portland, and are threatening to do the same in Chicago, Albuquerque, and other cities.

In the District, they used thrown bottles, etc. as a pretext to attack protesters, and reporters, and Episcopalian clergy, for his bible photo op outside the Episcopalian church.

In Portland, they’ve used “violent” graffiti as a pretext to attack protesters, and medics.

I think at least 1 reporter was hospitalized and lost an eye from Trump’s violence in the District, and at least 2 protesters have been hospitalized from his violence in Portland.

So they have created a task force for this violence. And the use of generic uniforms without badge numbers, rental cars, rental vans, etc. helps evade accountability. And with groups such as the Proud Boys active in Portland, how are people supposed to know if federal police and paramilitaries are attacking them, or other groups?

I am too disabled to protest these days, but I need to do something about this, so I am trying to speak out.

Now I’ve encountered a few rationales for this violence–

That they needed to enforce a curfew. In the District, at Lafayette Park, they attacked well before curfew. And no curfew is worth maiming people.

That some protesters threw bottles, fruit, etc. So we can’t expect police forces, who screen applicants, can fire people, etc. to police their own. But we have to expect protesters, who come as they are, to do so? No. If it only takes one person to throw a bottle to excuse violence against the rest, someone who opposes the protests can show up, throw a bottle from the back, run, and have the police put down the protest. Especially when protests criticize police or police unions.

That some protesters oppose fascist violence.

That the left have wanted right-wing death squads all along, and we’re finally getting what we asked for. I mean what the frak?

There are plenty on the right who wanted right-wing death squads, but hardly any on the left. For example, many right-wingers use iconography of dropping people from helicopters, or still “joke” about them. Pinochet’s death squads did that.

headdesk

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596

There’s an ambulance outside. It briefly hit me with its “safety” signals, so I am very sick.

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597

Scheduled an eye exam. Neither of the local places takes Medicaid, and I have an extreme prescription, so it’ll be expensive. Hopefully I can get a better set + hypoallergenic frames this time.

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598

The absurdly-high standard-height kitchen shelves are wrecking my shoulders, limiting my range of motion, making them go from painfully hard to reach to impossible to reach.

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600

I don’t usually get auras before my migraines, but today I went from (1) many small blind spots across field of view, to (2) flashing jagged teichopsia in left peripheral vision, to (3) seeming recovery, to (4) severe nausea, to (5) sinus pain. Average about 30 minutes for each stage.

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601

So I was seeing some language learning resources. But they focused on languages which already have enough speakers. I have trouble with language learning, but if I could magically pick any language, I’d be hard-pressed to pick between:

  • Ones which don’t have enough speakers. I’ve studied Gutrazda, but it’s close to English, and well-recorded which makes it a lot easier.

  • Ones which are extinct and unknown but recorded and known to have existed. For example, Etruscan, Minoan, Indus Valley, etc.

  • Ones which are extinct and unknown and unrecorded but known to have existed. For example, Dacian, Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Afro-Asiatic, etc.

  • Ones which are extinct and unknown but recorded and yet not known to have existed. For example, if the Vinca tablets are writing, then their language. If a pre-Sumerian language influenced Cuneiform, then their language.

  • Ones which are extinct and unknown and unrecorded and not known to have existed. For example, proto-Altaic, proto-Amerind, proto-Indo-Uralic, proto-World, etc.

  • Ones which don’t have enough speakers, but are important to lesbian culture. For example, Laadan, which is spoken. Or Old Sarmatian which is no longer spoken but has descendents such as Ossetian and well-recorded relatives such as Old Sogdian.

I’d probably pick Old Sarmatian because of that, even if Minoan would be a lot more revealing.

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602

Had my shoulders x-rayed this afternoon. About 40 furlongs (44 stadia) round trip, and had a terrible exertional migraine on the way back.

603

Signal boosting:

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604

So every day this week, I’ve been getting lots of pain calls. If I can even get to the pain in time, it’s either

  • busy signal, or

  • scammers, or

  • police and related agencies asking for donations

If someone really needs to get through, this isn’t working. And now the construction pain is starting so that’ll further foul up any pain calls.

605

And… I just got a email explaining that if I can’t schedule by pain, then I can just come in and schedule in person. It’s a 5-mile round trip, so I can do that for important appointmrnts, but with my chronic illness, I can’t do that to schedule everything.

606

Really sore all over, so can’t go in today, and given my schedule, can’t try again until wednesday.

607

I can’t be the only one to pronounce cyberpunk as 𐌺𐍅𐌱𐌴𐍂𐍀𐌿𐌽𐌺, or kwberpunk with a soft b, can I?

I mean cyber- comes from κυβερνήτης?

608

Loud helicopter buzzing all last night, loud construction whalesongmimicry all day today, tried to renew Medicaid online, couldn’t due to site accessibility failures. Oh, and the postal delays took 22 of the 30 days available for the renewal.

P.S. Was able to renew yesterday.

609

I thought I‘d take a walk today

I need to regain some strength. I will need to walk to the hospital soon. I figured I could get away from the dogs and the construction noise.

steps outside. 1st dog encounter, panic attack. 2nd through 4th dog encounters. cigarette smoke, asthma attack. 5th dog encounter, chased half a mile while struggling to breathe. 6th dog encounter on way home. saw driver back into 2 people crossing the street, they barely escape unharmed.