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At the Pennsylvania statehouse, I met an apostle named #Abby #Abildness,
whom I came to understand as a kind of Kingdom diplomat.It was the spring of 2023,
and she had recently returned from Iraqi Kurdistan,
where she had met with Kurdish leaders she believed to be descended from King Solomon,
and who she said wanted
“holy governance to go forth.”I watched YouTube videos of prophets broadcasting from their basements.
I watched a streaming show called "FlashPoint",
where apostles and prophets deliver news from God;guests have included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
because another dimension of the NAR is that the movement is a prominent advocate of Christian Zionism.I came to understand how the movement amounts to a sprawling political machine.
The apostles and prophets,
speaking for God,
decide which candidates and policies advance the Kingdom.The movement’s prayer networks and newsletters amount to voter lists and voter guides.
A growing ecosystem of podcasts and streaming shows
such as FlashPoint
amounts to a Kingdom media empire.And the overall vision of the movement means that people are not engaged just during election years but,
like the people at Gateway House of Prayer, 24/7.As November’s election neared,
I watched the whole juggernaut crank into action to return Trump to the White House.Wallnau, in partnership with the Trump-aligned "America First Policy Institute",
promoted an effort called "Project 19",
targeting voters in 19 swing counties.He also launched something called the "Courage Tour", which similarly targeted swing states,
and I attended one event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.It looked like an old-fashioned tent revival,
except that it was also an aggressive pro-Trump mobilization effort.Wallnau dabbed frankincense oil onto foreheads,
anointing voters into God’s army.Another speaker said that Kamala Harris would be a
“devil in the White House.”Others cast Democrats as agents of Lucifer,
and human history as a struggle between the godless forces of secular humanism and God’s will for humankind.
A march called
“A Million Women” on the National Mall
drew tens of thousands of people
and culminated with the smashing of an altar
representing demonic strongholds in America.With the Capitol dome as their backdrop,
people took turns bashing the altar
as music surged and others prayed,
and when it was rubble, the prophet Lou Engle declared,“We’re going to point to the north, south, and east, and west, and command America!
The veil has been ripped!”
The NAR movement was a major source of the “low-propensity voters”
who backed Trump.🔸Frederick Clarkson,
a senior research analyst with Political Research Associates,
which tracks antidemocratic movements,
has been documenting the rise of the NAR for years,
and warning about its theocratic goals.He believes that a certain condescension,
and perhaps failure of imagination,
has kept outsiders from understanding what he has come to see as the most significant religious movement of the 21st century,
and one that poses a profound threat to democracy.“Certain segments of society have not been willing to understand where these people are coming from,”
Clarkson told me.“For me, it’s part of the story of our times.
It’s a movement that has continued to rise, gathered political strength, attracted money, built institutions.
And the broad center-left doesn’t understand what’s happening.”
Which leaves the question of what happens now.
-
At the Pennsylvania statehouse, I met an apostle named #Abby #Abildness,
whom I came to understand as a kind of Kingdom diplomat.It was the spring of 2023,
and she had recently returned from Iraqi Kurdistan,
where she had met with Kurdish leaders she believed to be descended from King Solomon,
and who she said wanted
“holy governance to go forth.”I watched YouTube videos of prophets broadcasting from their basements.
I watched a streaming show called "FlashPoint",
where apostles and prophets deliver news from God;guests have included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
because another dimension of the NAR is that the movement is a prominent advocate of Christian Zionism.I came to understand how the movement amounts to a sprawling political machine.
The apostles and prophets,
speaking for God,
decide which candidates and policies advance the Kingdom.The movement’s prayer networks and newsletters amount to voter lists and voter guides.
A growing ecosystem of podcasts and streaming shows
such as FlashPoint
amounts to a Kingdom media empire.And the overall vision of the movement means that people are not engaged just during election years but,
like the people at Gateway House of Prayer, 24/7.As November’s election neared,
I watched the whole juggernaut crank into action to return Trump to the White House.Wallnau, in partnership with the Trump-aligned "America First Policy Institute",
promoted an effort called "Project 19",
targeting voters in 19 swing counties.He also launched something called the "Courage Tour", which similarly targeted swing states,
and I attended one event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.It looked like an old-fashioned tent revival,
except that it was also an aggressive pro-Trump mobilization effort.Wallnau dabbed frankincense oil onto foreheads,
anointing voters into God’s army.Another speaker said that Kamala Harris would be a
“devil in the White House.”Others cast Democrats as agents of Lucifer,
and human history as a struggle between the godless forces of secular humanism and God’s will for humankind.
A march called
“A Million Women” on the National Mall
drew tens of thousands of people
and culminated with the smashing of an altar
representing demonic strongholds in America.With the Capitol dome as their backdrop,
people took turns bashing the altar
as music surged and others prayed,
and when it was rubble, the prophet Lou Engle declared,“We’re going to point to the north, south, and east, and west, and command America!
The veil has been ripped!”
The NAR movement was a major source of the “low-propensity voters”
who backed Trump.🔸Frederick Clarkson,
a senior research analyst with Political Research Associates,
which tracks antidemocratic movements,
has been documenting the rise of the NAR for years,
and warning about its theocratic goals.He believes that a certain condescension,
and perhaps failure of imagination,
has kept outsiders from understanding what he has come to see as the most significant religious movement of the 21st century,
and one that poses a profound threat to democracy.“Certain segments of society have not been willing to understand where these people are coming from,”
Clarkson told me.“For me, it’s part of the story of our times.
It’s a movement that has continued to rise, gathered political strength, attracted money, built institutions.
And the broad center-left doesn’t understand what’s happening.”
Which leaves the question of what happens now.
-
At the Pennsylvania statehouse, I met an apostle named #Abby #Abildness,
whom I came to understand as a kind of Kingdom diplomat.It was the spring of 2023,
and she had recently returned from Iraqi Kurdistan,
where she had met with Kurdish leaders she believed to be descended from King Solomon,
and who she said wanted
“holy governance to go forth.”I watched YouTube videos of prophets broadcasting from their basements.
I watched a streaming show called "FlashPoint",
where apostles and prophets deliver news from God;guests have included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
because another dimension of the NAR is that the movement is a prominent advocate of Christian Zionism.I came to understand how the movement amounts to a sprawling political machine.
The apostles and prophets,
speaking for God,
decide which candidates and policies advance the Kingdom.The movement’s prayer networks and newsletters amount to voter lists and voter guides.
A growing ecosystem of podcasts and streaming shows
such as FlashPoint
amounts to a Kingdom media empire.And the overall vision of the movement means that people are not engaged just during election years but,
like the people at Gateway House of Prayer, 24/7.As November’s election neared,
I watched the whole juggernaut crank into action to return Trump to the White House.Wallnau, in partnership with the Trump-aligned "America First Policy Institute",
promoted an effort called "Project 19",
targeting voters in 19 swing counties.He also launched something called the "Courage Tour", which similarly targeted swing states,
and I attended one event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.It looked like an old-fashioned tent revival,
except that it was also an aggressive pro-Trump mobilization effort.Wallnau dabbed frankincense oil onto foreheads,
anointing voters into God’s army.Another speaker said that Kamala Harris would be a
“devil in the White House.”Others cast Democrats as agents of Lucifer,
and human history as a struggle between the godless forces of secular humanism and God’s will for humankind.
A march called
“A Million Women” on the National Mall
drew tens of thousands of people
and culminated with the smashing of an altar
representing demonic strongholds in America.With the Capitol dome as their backdrop,
people took turns bashing the altar
as music surged and others prayed,
and when it was rubble, the prophet Lou Engle declared,“We’re going to point to the north, south, and east, and west, and command America!
The veil has been ripped!”
The NAR movement was a major source of the “low-propensity voters”
who backed Trump.🔸Frederick Clarkson,
a senior research analyst with Political Research Associates,
which tracks antidemocratic movements,
has been documenting the rise of the NAR for years,
and warning about its theocratic goals.He believes that a certain condescension,
and perhaps failure of imagination,
has kept outsiders from understanding what he has come to see as the most significant religious movement of the 21st century,
and one that poses a profound threat to democracy.“Certain segments of society have not been willing to understand where these people are coming from,”
Clarkson told me.“For me, it’s part of the story of our times.
It’s a movement that has continued to rise, gathered political strength, attracted money, built institutions.
And the broad center-left doesn’t understand what’s happening.”
Which leaves the question of what happens now.
-
At the Pennsylvania statehouse, I met an apostle named #Abby #Abildness,
whom I came to understand as a kind of Kingdom diplomat.It was the spring of 2023,
and she had recently returned from Iraqi Kurdistan,
where she had met with Kurdish leaders she believed to be descended from King Solomon,
and who she said wanted
“holy governance to go forth.”I watched YouTube videos of prophets broadcasting from their basements.
I watched a streaming show called "FlashPoint",
where apostles and prophets deliver news from God;guests have included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
because another dimension of the NAR is that the movement is a prominent advocate of Christian Zionism.I came to understand how the movement amounts to a sprawling political machine.
The apostles and prophets,
speaking for God,
decide which candidates and policies advance the Kingdom.The movement’s prayer networks and newsletters amount to voter lists and voter guides.
A growing ecosystem of podcasts and streaming shows
such as FlashPoint
amounts to a Kingdom media empire.And the overall vision of the movement means that people are not engaged just during election years but,
like the people at Gateway House of Prayer, 24/7.As November’s election neared,
I watched the whole juggernaut crank into action to return Trump to the White House.Wallnau, in partnership with the Trump-aligned "America First Policy Institute",
promoted an effort called "Project 19",
targeting voters in 19 swing counties.He also launched something called the "Courage Tour", which similarly targeted swing states,
and I attended one event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.It looked like an old-fashioned tent revival,
except that it was also an aggressive pro-Trump mobilization effort.Wallnau dabbed frankincense oil onto foreheads,
anointing voters into God’s army.Another speaker said that Kamala Harris would be a
“devil in the White House.”Others cast Democrats as agents of Lucifer,
and human history as a struggle between the godless forces of secular humanism and God’s will for humankind.
A march called
“A Million Women” on the National Mall
drew tens of thousands of people
and culminated with the smashing of an altar
representing demonic strongholds in America.With the Capitol dome as their backdrop,
people took turns bashing the altar
as music surged and others prayed,
and when it was rubble, the prophet Lou Engle declared,“We’re going to point to the north, south, and east, and west, and command America!
The veil has been ripped!”
The NAR movement was a major source of the “low-propensity voters”
who backed Trump.🔸Frederick Clarkson,
a senior research analyst with Political Research Associates,
which tracks antidemocratic movements,
has been documenting the rise of the NAR for years,
and warning about its theocratic goals.He believes that a certain condescension,
and perhaps failure of imagination,
has kept outsiders from understanding what he has come to see as the most significant religious movement of the 21st century,
and one that poses a profound threat to democracy.“Certain segments of society have not been willing to understand where these people are coming from,”
Clarkson told me.“For me, it’s part of the story of our times.
It’s a movement that has continued to rise, gathered political strength, attracted money, built institutions.
And the broad center-left doesn’t understand what’s happening.”
Which leaves the question of what happens now.
-
Windowsill moth #orchid (Phalaenopsis) and christmas #cactus (Schlumbergera) are both blooming in white at the same time. The latter clearly didn't get the memo Christmas was over a month ago!
Lenses used were #Nikon E 100mm f/2.8 and #Soligor C/D 60-300mm f/4-5.6 MC, both with attached #Vivitar MC7 2x Macro Focusing #teleconverter on a #Canon body with #Godox X2T in control of two external V860II #flash guns (both with a white diffuser attached).
#macro #photography #vintage #Adaptarian #adapted #VintageLenses #FlashPhotography #Unprocessed #SooC
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Windowsill moth #orchid (Phalaenopsis) and christmas #cactus (Schlumbergera) are both blooming in white at the same time. The latter clearly didn't get the memo Christmas was over a month ago!
Lenses used were #Nikon E 100mm f/2.8 and #Soligor C/D 60-300mm f/4-5.6 MC, both with attached #Vivitar MC7 2x Macro Focusing #teleconverter on a #Canon body with #Godox X2T in control of two external V860II #flash guns (both with a white diffuser attached).
#macro #photography #vintage #Adaptarian #adapted #VintageLenses #FlashPhotography #Unprocessed #SooC
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#Serbia’s prime minister resigns as #AntiCorruption #protests sparked by deadly collapse swell
By JOVANA GEC
Updated 3:12 PM EST, January 28, 2025BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — "Serbia’s populist prime minister, #MilosVucevic, resigned Tuesday in an attempt to calm political tensions stoked by weeks of massive anti-corruption protests that started after the deadly collapse of a concrete overhang at a recently renovated train station.
"The November collapse at the central station in Novi Sad, one of Serbia’s largest cities, killed 15 people and happened months after it reopened, fueling accusations that the construction was unsafe. The tragedy has become a flashpoint for broader dissatisfaction with Serbia’s #AuthoritarianRule and has led to growing public demands for transparency in the #Graft-plagued country that has carried out a quick series of large infrastructure projects, mostly with Chinese companies.
"'It is my appeal for everyone to calm down the passions and return to dialogue,' Vucevic said at a news conference announcing his resignation, which was followed hours later by Novi Sad’s mayor stepping down.
"The #protests, including one Tuesday evening in Novi Sad that drew thousands of people, have spread to streets and university campuses throughout the country of roughly 6.6 million people, as citizens from all walks of life, including actors, farmers, lawyers and judges, have thrown their support behind the student movement that has rattled the country’s most powerful figure, President #AleksandarVucic."
https://apnews.com/article/serbia-protests-vucevic-resigns-b71e3a0aacf5d0368b2bd1f4500170f5
#PeopleHaveThePower #ResistTyranny #Resistance -
#Serbia’s prime minister resigns as #AntiCorruption #protests sparked by deadly collapse swell
By JOVANA GEC
Updated 3:12 PM EST, January 28, 2025BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — "Serbia’s populist prime minister, #MilosVucevic, resigned Tuesday in an attempt to calm political tensions stoked by weeks of massive anti-corruption protests that started after the deadly collapse of a concrete overhang at a recently renovated train station.
"The November collapse at the central station in Novi Sad, one of Serbia’s largest cities, killed 15 people and happened months after it reopened, fueling accusations that the construction was unsafe. The tragedy has become a flashpoint for broader dissatisfaction with Serbia’s #AuthoritarianRule and has led to growing public demands for transparency in the #Graft-plagued country that has carried out a quick series of large infrastructure projects, mostly with Chinese companies.
"'It is my appeal for everyone to calm down the passions and return to dialogue,' Vucevic said at a news conference announcing his resignation, which was followed hours later by Novi Sad’s mayor stepping down.
"The #protests, including one Tuesday evening in Novi Sad that drew thousands of people, have spread to streets and university campuses throughout the country of roughly 6.6 million people, as citizens from all walks of life, including actors, farmers, lawyers and judges, have thrown their support behind the student movement that has rattled the country’s most powerful figure, President #AleksandarVucic."
https://apnews.com/article/serbia-protests-vucevic-resigns-b71e3a0aacf5d0368b2bd1f4500170f5
#PeopleHaveThePower #ResistTyranny #Resistance -
#Serbia’s prime minister resigns as #AntiCorruption #protests sparked by deadly collapse swell
By JOVANA GEC
Updated 3:12 PM EST, January 28, 2025BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — "Serbia’s populist prime minister, #MilosVucevic, resigned Tuesday in an attempt to calm political tensions stoked by weeks of massive anti-corruption protests that started after the deadly collapse of a concrete overhang at a recently renovated train station.
"The November collapse at the central station in Novi Sad, one of Serbia’s largest cities, killed 15 people and happened months after it reopened, fueling accusations that the construction was unsafe. The tragedy has become a flashpoint for broader dissatisfaction with Serbia’s #AuthoritarianRule and has led to growing public demands for transparency in the #Graft-plagued country that has carried out a quick series of large infrastructure projects, mostly with Chinese companies.
"'It is my appeal for everyone to calm down the passions and return to dialogue,' Vucevic said at a news conference announcing his resignation, which was followed hours later by Novi Sad’s mayor stepping down.
"The #protests, including one Tuesday evening in Novi Sad that drew thousands of people, have spread to streets and university campuses throughout the country of roughly 6.6 million people, as citizens from all walks of life, including actors, farmers, lawyers and judges, have thrown their support behind the student movement that has rattled the country’s most powerful figure, President #AleksandarVucic."
https://apnews.com/article/serbia-protests-vucevic-resigns-b71e3a0aacf5d0368b2bd1f4500170f5
#PeopleHaveThePower #ResistTyranny #Resistance -
#Serbia’s prime minister resigns as #AntiCorruption #protests sparked by deadly collapse swell
By JOVANA GEC
Updated 3:12 PM EST, January 28, 2025BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — "Serbia’s populist prime minister, #MilosVucevic, resigned Tuesday in an attempt to calm political tensions stoked by weeks of massive anti-corruption protests that started after the deadly collapse of a concrete overhang at a recently renovated train station.
"The November collapse at the central station in Novi Sad, one of Serbia’s largest cities, killed 15 people and happened months after it reopened, fueling accusations that the construction was unsafe. The tragedy has become a flashpoint for broader dissatisfaction with Serbia’s #AuthoritarianRule and has led to growing public demands for transparency in the #Graft-plagued country that has carried out a quick series of large infrastructure projects, mostly with Chinese companies.
"'It is my appeal for everyone to calm down the passions and return to dialogue,' Vucevic said at a news conference announcing his resignation, which was followed hours later by Novi Sad’s mayor stepping down.
"The #protests, including one Tuesday evening in Novi Sad that drew thousands of people, have spread to streets and university campuses throughout the country of roughly 6.6 million people, as citizens from all walks of life, including actors, farmers, lawyers and judges, have thrown their support behind the student movement that has rattled the country’s most powerful figure, President #AleksandarVucic."
https://apnews.com/article/serbia-protests-vucevic-resigns-b71e3a0aacf5d0368b2bd1f4500170f5
#PeopleHaveThePower #ResistTyranny #Resistance -
The Holiday Odor Trap
Filed Under: Odor Politics
Most people assume the holiday rush is measured in miles, delays, and crowded kitchens. The truth is uglier. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve, the country sees a spike in traffic stops that begin with the same old claim, that an officer “smelled marijuana.” Courts have spent years separating odor from impairment, yet the loophole stays wide open. It gives law enforcement a way to turn ordinary travel into a fishing expedition.
Some states have ruled that smell alone cannot justify a search, while others treat it as fair game. The public rarely knows the difference. Drivers heading to see family pass through counties where a scent on a jacket is enough to escalate a stop. Officers use it because it works. It softens the ground for questioning, it expands their authority, and it moves the conversation away from what actually matters, which is whether the driver is safe.
Most holiday travelers are not impaired. They are tired, stressed, and trying to get where they are going. cannabis lives in homes and clothes the same way kitchen spices do. A single smoked joint on Thanksgiving Eve can leave a jacket scented for days. Officers know this. Courts know this. Yet people still get pulled aside because the scent is treated like a confession.
The pattern is predictable. The officer leans in, mentions odor, then asks questions that have nothing to do with driving. People feel cornered and start explaining things they never needed to explain. That is the moment a simple stop becomes a long delay on the side of the road.
Holiday traffic and police practice collide in a way that punishes normal life. The country is filled with legal markets. People buy edibles and flower for the same reason they buy wine. They visit friends. They share a moment on the porch. The plant is legal in half the country, but its scent is still treated like probable cause.
The holiday season should not require a legal strategy, yet that is where the country stands. Smell is treated as suspicion even in states that claim to respect legalization. People drive through a patchwork of laws that shift from town to town. What protects a driver in one county is ignored in the next.
The courts may eventually close the gap. Legislatures may force consistency. Until then, drivers are left with common sense and preparation. The safest choice is to remove the excuse entirely. Officers cannot prove what they cannot smell, and they cannot escalate what they cannot justify.
Practical Tips For Holiday Drivers Who Want To Avoid The Odor Trap
Keep jackets and bags outside the smoking area. Most odor claims come from clothing, not the person.
Use clean gear during travel days. People who vape during the holiday tend to switch to something low profile. This is where PAX vaporizers fit naturally because they keep the ritual clean and contained.
advertisement
F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
New York’s cannabis market suffered a public collapse after regulators dropped a major case against Omnium Canna and forced out acting executive director Felicia A. B. Reid. The scandal revealed a system unable to enforce its own rules and a legal market left vulnerable to illegal competition, political pressure, and structural failure.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 10, 2025December 9, 2025WHY WEED SHOPS DON’T HIRE HEADS
Weed shops profit from cannabis culture while refusing to hire the people who shaped it. Insurers, compliance officers, and corporate rules punish cannabis users even in legal states. Testing myths, background screening, and liability fear filter out anyone with real experience. The result is a workforce designed to exclude the culture that keeps the industry…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 9, 2025December 8, 2025advertisement
Do not store old flower containers or ash in the car. Empty jars and forgotten tubes hold scent long after they are cleaned.
Seal anything with a smell. A simple airtight pouch prevents the easiest excuse an officer can use.
Travel clear headed. Some readers prefer relief without impairment during long drives. Endoca CBD has become a steady choice because it stays consistent.
Know the rules in the state you are driving through. Odor is not probable cause in some states, yet it remains a tool in others.
Keep conversations simple and respectful. You do not need to explain your holiday habits.
Remember that odor is not evidence of impairment. Courts have split them apart. Officers blend them because it expands their authority.
©2025 Pot Culture Magazine. All rights reserved. This content is the exclusive property of Pot Culture Magazine and may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical reviews.
Affiliate Disclosure: Pot Culture Magazine may receive commissions from purchases made through affiliate links such as Cheech & Chong and Endoca. This helps support our independent journalism without affecting our editorial standards.
F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
Federal lawmakers quietly inserted language into a budget bill that could criminalize countless cannabis seeds based solely on the THC profile of the parent plant. The move threatens growers, breeders, medical cultivators, and the genetic diversity that built modern cannabis culture. This seismic shift puts control of the plant’s future in the hands of federal…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 8, 2025December 7, 2025Reefer Report Card Vol. 26: Nov 29-Dec 06
This week’s Reefer Report Card exposes the scromiting panic, Washington’s latest hemp crackdown, and the Supreme Court inching toward a decision that could rewrite prohibition. Patients and veterans stayed stuck in outdated systems while global reform moved forward with hesitation. Panic got headlines. Weed got scapegoated. The world kept smoking anyway.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 6, 2025December 6, 2025American newsrooms turned a simple overuse incident into a nationwide scare. Scromiting headlines exploded overnight, burying real CHS facts under panic and misinformation. Pot Culture breaks down what actually happened, why the media keeps confusing overuse with syndrome, and how fear travels faster than truth when cannabis is involved.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 5, 2025December 4, 2025Omaha Tribe Legal Cannabis vs Nebraska Prohibition
Nebraska still criminalizes cannabis, yet the Omaha Tribe has built a legal system with real rules, licensing, and a working industry on sovereign land. This update shows how the Tribe keeps moving forward while the state stays rooted in prohibition. The border is now the flashpoint. Step across it with cannabis and everything changes.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 4, 2025December 3, 2025Virginia just greenlit its long-delayed cannabis market. But is the launch plan built to last, or is it already showing cracks? The blueprint promises equity, protection from corporate takeover, and sustainable access. Advocates say it could be the first real test of Southern legalization. Pot Culture breaks it all down with facts, receipts, and no…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 3, 2025December 2, 2025Holiday Survival with Cannabis, Not Chaos
The holidays hit harder than they should. Travel turns messy, families spark arguments, and the season demands cheer nobody actually feels. Cannabis becomes the counterweight, steadying people through the noise while alcohol keeps causing wreckage. This feature cuts through the lies, the pressure, and the culture, showing how the plant helps people survive December without…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 2, 2025December 1, 2025#blackFriday #cannabis #cannabisCommunity #cannabisCulture #cannabisRights #cannabisSmell #cannabiscommunity #carSearches #civilLiberties #consumerSafety #courtRulings #crime #holidayTravel #lawEnforement #legalMarkets #marijuana #marijuanaNews #odorLaws #odorPolitics #police #policeStops #potCultureMagazine #roadsideEncounters #search #searchPractices #smell #thanksgiving #trafficStops #travelPrep
-
The Holiday Odor Trap
Filed Under: Odor Politics
Most people assume the holiday rush is measured in miles, delays, and crowded kitchens. The truth is uglier. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve, the country sees a spike in traffic stops that begin with the same old claim, that an officer “smelled marijuana.” Courts have spent years separating odor from impairment, yet the loophole stays wide open. It gives law enforcement a way to turn ordinary travel into a fishing expedition.
Some states have ruled that smell alone cannot justify a search, while others treat it as fair game. The public rarely knows the difference. Drivers heading to see family pass through counties where a scent on a jacket is enough to escalate a stop. Officers use it because it works. It softens the ground for questioning, it expands their authority, and it moves the conversation away from what actually matters, which is whether the driver is safe.
Most holiday travelers are not impaired. They are tired, stressed, and trying to get where they are going. cannabis lives in homes and clothes the same way kitchen spices do. A single smoked joint on Thanksgiving Eve can leave a jacket scented for days. Officers know this. Courts know this. Yet people still get pulled aside because the scent is treated like a confession.
The pattern is predictable. The officer leans in, mentions odor, then asks questions that have nothing to do with driving. People feel cornered and start explaining things they never needed to explain. That is the moment a simple stop becomes a long delay on the side of the road.
Holiday traffic and police practice collide in a way that punishes normal life. The country is filled with legal markets. People buy edibles and flower for the same reason they buy wine. They visit friends. They share a moment on the porch. The plant is legal in half the country, but its scent is still treated like probable cause.
The holiday season should not require a legal strategy, yet that is where the country stands. Smell is treated as suspicion even in states that claim to respect legalization. People drive through a patchwork of laws that shift from town to town. What protects a driver in one county is ignored in the next.
The courts may eventually close the gap. Legislatures may force consistency. Until then, drivers are left with common sense and preparation. The safest choice is to remove the excuse entirely. Officers cannot prove what they cannot smell, and they cannot escalate what they cannot justify.
Practical Tips For Holiday Drivers Who Want To Avoid The Odor Trap
Keep jackets and bags outside the smoking area. Most odor claims come from clothing, not the person.
Use clean gear during travel days. People who vape during the holiday tend to switch to something low profile. This is where PAX vaporizers fit naturally because they keep the ritual clean and contained.
advertisement
F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
New York’s cannabis market suffered a public collapse after regulators dropped a major case against Omnium Canna and forced out acting executive director Felicia A. B. Reid. The scandal revealed a system unable to enforce its own rules and a legal market left vulnerable to illegal competition, political pressure, and structural failure.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 10, 2025December 9, 2025WHY WEED SHOPS DON’T HIRE HEADS
Weed shops profit from cannabis culture while refusing to hire the people who shaped it. Insurers, compliance officers, and corporate rules punish cannabis users even in legal states. Testing myths, background screening, and liability fear filter out anyone with real experience. The result is a workforce designed to exclude the culture that keeps the industry…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 9, 2025December 8, 2025advertisement
Do not store old flower containers or ash in the car. Empty jars and forgotten tubes hold scent long after they are cleaned.
Seal anything with a smell. A simple airtight pouch prevents the easiest excuse an officer can use.
Travel clear headed. Some readers prefer relief without impairment during long drives. Endoca CBD has become a steady choice because it stays consistent.
Know the rules in the state you are driving through. Odor is not probable cause in some states, yet it remains a tool in others.
Keep conversations simple and respectful. You do not need to explain your holiday habits.
Remember that odor is not evidence of impairment. Courts have split them apart. Officers blend them because it expands their authority.
©2025 Pot Culture Magazine. All rights reserved. This content is the exclusive property of Pot Culture Magazine and may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical reviews.
Affiliate Disclosure: Pot Culture Magazine may receive commissions from purchases made through affiliate links such as Cheech & Chong and Endoca. This helps support our independent journalism without affecting our editorial standards.
F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
Federal lawmakers quietly inserted language into a budget bill that could criminalize countless cannabis seeds based solely on the THC profile of the parent plant. The move threatens growers, breeders, medical cultivators, and the genetic diversity that built modern cannabis culture. This seismic shift puts control of the plant’s future in the hands of federal…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 8, 2025December 7, 2025Reefer Report Card Vol. 26: Nov 29-Dec 06
This week’s Reefer Report Card exposes the scromiting panic, Washington’s latest hemp crackdown, and the Supreme Court inching toward a decision that could rewrite prohibition. Patients and veterans stayed stuck in outdated systems while global reform moved forward with hesitation. Panic got headlines. Weed got scapegoated. The world kept smoking anyway.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 6, 2025December 6, 2025American newsrooms turned a simple overuse incident into a nationwide scare. Scromiting headlines exploded overnight, burying real CHS facts under panic and misinformation. Pot Culture breaks down what actually happened, why the media keeps confusing overuse with syndrome, and how fear travels faster than truth when cannabis is involved.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 5, 2025December 4, 2025Omaha Tribe Legal Cannabis vs Nebraska Prohibition
Nebraska still criminalizes cannabis, yet the Omaha Tribe has built a legal system with real rules, licensing, and a working industry on sovereign land. This update shows how the Tribe keeps moving forward while the state stays rooted in prohibition. The border is now the flashpoint. Step across it with cannabis and everything changes.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 4, 2025December 3, 2025Virginia just greenlit its long-delayed cannabis market. But is the launch plan built to last, or is it already showing cracks? The blueprint promises equity, protection from corporate takeover, and sustainable access. Advocates say it could be the first real test of Southern legalization. Pot Culture breaks it all down with facts, receipts, and no…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 3, 2025December 2, 2025Holiday Survival with Cannabis, Not Chaos
The holidays hit harder than they should. Travel turns messy, families spark arguments, and the season demands cheer nobody actually feels. Cannabis becomes the counterweight, steadying people through the noise while alcohol keeps causing wreckage. This feature cuts through the lies, the pressure, and the culture, showing how the plant helps people survive December without…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 2, 2025December 1, 2025#blackFriday #cannabis #cannabisCommunity #cannabisCulture #cannabisRights #cannabisSmell #cannabiscommunity #carSearches #civilLiberties #consumerSafety #courtRulings #crime #holidayTravel #lawEnforement #legalMarkets #marijuana #marijuanaNews #odorLaws #odorPolitics #police #policeStops #potCultureMagazine #roadsideEncounters #search #searchPractices #smell #thanksgiving #trafficStops #travelPrep
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The Holiday Odor Trap
Filed Under: Odor Politics
Most people assume the holiday rush is measured in miles, delays, and crowded kitchens. The truth is uglier. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve, the country sees a spike in traffic stops that begin with the same old claim, that an officer “smelled marijuana.” Courts have spent years separating odor from impairment, yet the loophole stays wide open. It gives law enforcement a way to turn ordinary travel into a fishing expedition.
Some states have ruled that smell alone cannot justify a search, while others treat it as fair game. The public rarely knows the difference. Drivers heading to see family pass through counties where a scent on a jacket is enough to escalate a stop. Officers use it because it works. It softens the ground for questioning, it expands their authority, and it moves the conversation away from what actually matters, which is whether the driver is safe.
Most holiday travelers are not impaired. They are tired, stressed, and trying to get where they are going. cannabis lives in homes and clothes the same way kitchen spices do. A single smoked joint on Thanksgiving Eve can leave a jacket scented for days. Officers know this. Courts know this. Yet people still get pulled aside because the scent is treated like a confession.
The pattern is predictable. The officer leans in, mentions odor, then asks questions that have nothing to do with driving. People feel cornered and start explaining things they never needed to explain. That is the moment a simple stop becomes a long delay on the side of the road.
Holiday traffic and police practice collide in a way that punishes normal life. The country is filled with legal markets. People buy edibles and flower for the same reason they buy wine. They visit friends. They share a moment on the porch. The plant is legal in half the country, but its scent is still treated like probable cause.
The holiday season should not require a legal strategy, yet that is where the country stands. Smell is treated as suspicion even in states that claim to respect legalization. People drive through a patchwork of laws that shift from town to town. What protects a driver in one county is ignored in the next.
The courts may eventually close the gap. Legislatures may force consistency. Until then, drivers are left with common sense and preparation. The safest choice is to remove the excuse entirely. Officers cannot prove what they cannot smell, and they cannot escalate what they cannot justify.
Practical Tips For Holiday Drivers Who Want To Avoid The Odor Trap
Keep jackets and bags outside the smoking area. Most odor claims come from clothing, not the person.
Use clean gear during travel days. People who vape during the holiday tend to switch to something low profile. This is where PAX vaporizers fit naturally because they keep the ritual clean and contained.
advertisement
F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
New York’s cannabis market suffered a public collapse after regulators dropped a major case against Omnium Canna and forced out acting executive director Felicia A. B. Reid. The scandal revealed a system unable to enforce its own rules and a legal market left vulnerable to illegal competition, political pressure, and structural failure.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 10, 2025December 9, 2025WHY WEED SHOPS DON’T HIRE HEADS
Weed shops profit from cannabis culture while refusing to hire the people who shaped it. Insurers, compliance officers, and corporate rules punish cannabis users even in legal states. Testing myths, background screening, and liability fear filter out anyone with real experience. The result is a workforce designed to exclude the culture that keeps the industry…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 9, 2025December 8, 2025advertisement
Do not store old flower containers or ash in the car. Empty jars and forgotten tubes hold scent long after they are cleaned.
Seal anything with a smell. A simple airtight pouch prevents the easiest excuse an officer can use.
Travel clear headed. Some readers prefer relief without impairment during long drives. Endoca CBD has become a steady choice because it stays consistent.
Know the rules in the state you are driving through. Odor is not probable cause in some states, yet it remains a tool in others.
Keep conversations simple and respectful. You do not need to explain your holiday habits.
Remember that odor is not evidence of impairment. Courts have split them apart. Officers blend them because it expands their authority.
©2025 Pot Culture Magazine. All rights reserved. This content is the exclusive property of Pot Culture Magazine and may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical reviews.
Affiliate Disclosure: Pot Culture Magazine may receive commissions from purchases made through affiliate links such as Cheech & Chong and Endoca. This helps support our independent journalism without affecting our editorial standards.
F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
Federal lawmakers quietly inserted language into a budget bill that could criminalize countless cannabis seeds based solely on the THC profile of the parent plant. The move threatens growers, breeders, medical cultivators, and the genetic diversity that built modern cannabis culture. This seismic shift puts control of the plant’s future in the hands of federal…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 8, 2025December 7, 2025Reefer Report Card Vol. 26: Nov 29-Dec 06
This week’s Reefer Report Card exposes the scromiting panic, Washington’s latest hemp crackdown, and the Supreme Court inching toward a decision that could rewrite prohibition. Patients and veterans stayed stuck in outdated systems while global reform moved forward with hesitation. Panic got headlines. Weed got scapegoated. The world kept smoking anyway.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 6, 2025December 6, 2025American newsrooms turned a simple overuse incident into a nationwide scare. Scromiting headlines exploded overnight, burying real CHS facts under panic and misinformation. Pot Culture breaks down what actually happened, why the media keeps confusing overuse with syndrome, and how fear travels faster than truth when cannabis is involved.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 5, 2025December 4, 2025Omaha Tribe Legal Cannabis vs Nebraska Prohibition
Nebraska still criminalizes cannabis, yet the Omaha Tribe has built a legal system with real rules, licensing, and a working industry on sovereign land. This update shows how the Tribe keeps moving forward while the state stays rooted in prohibition. The border is now the flashpoint. Step across it with cannabis and everything changes.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 4, 2025December 3, 2025Virginia just greenlit its long-delayed cannabis market. But is the launch plan built to last, or is it already showing cracks? The blueprint promises equity, protection from corporate takeover, and sustainable access. Advocates say it could be the first real test of Southern legalization. Pot Culture breaks it all down with facts, receipts, and no…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 3, 2025December 2, 2025Holiday Survival with Cannabis, Not Chaos
The holidays hit harder than they should. Travel turns messy, families spark arguments, and the season demands cheer nobody actually feels. Cannabis becomes the counterweight, steadying people through the noise while alcohol keeps causing wreckage. This feature cuts through the lies, the pressure, and the culture, showing how the plant helps people survive December without…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 2, 2025December 1, 2025#blackFriday #cannabis #cannabisCommunity #cannabisCulture #cannabisRights #cannabisSmell #cannabiscommunity #carSearches #civilLiberties #consumerSafety #courtRulings #crime #holidayTravel #lawEnforement #legalMarkets #marijuana #marijuanaNews #odorLaws #odorPolitics #police #policeStops #potCultureMagazine #roadsideEncounters #search #searchPractices #smell #thanksgiving #trafficStops #travelPrep
-
The Holiday Odor Trap
Filed Under: Odor Politics
Most people assume the holiday rush is measured in miles, delays, and crowded kitchens. The truth is uglier. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve, the country sees a spike in traffic stops that begin with the same old claim, that an officer “smelled marijuana.” Courts have spent years separating odor from impairment, yet the loophole stays wide open. It gives law enforcement a way to turn ordinary travel into a fishing expedition.
Some states have ruled that smell alone cannot justify a search, while others treat it as fair game. The public rarely knows the difference. Drivers heading to see family pass through counties where a scent on a jacket is enough to escalate a stop. Officers use it because it works. It softens the ground for questioning, it expands their authority, and it moves the conversation away from what actually matters, which is whether the driver is safe.
Most holiday travelers are not impaired. They are tired, stressed, and trying to get where they are going. cannabis lives in homes and clothes the same way kitchen spices do. A single smoked joint on Thanksgiving Eve can leave a jacket scented for days. Officers know this. Courts know this. Yet people still get pulled aside because the scent is treated like a confession.
The pattern is predictable. The officer leans in, mentions odor, then asks questions that have nothing to do with driving. People feel cornered and start explaining things they never needed to explain. That is the moment a simple stop becomes a long delay on the side of the road.
Holiday traffic and police practice collide in a way that punishes normal life. The country is filled with legal markets. People buy edibles and flower for the same reason they buy wine. They visit friends. They share a moment on the porch. The plant is legal in half the country, but its scent is still treated like probable cause.
The holiday season should not require a legal strategy, yet that is where the country stands. Smell is treated as suspicion even in states that claim to respect legalization. People drive through a patchwork of laws that shift from town to town. What protects a driver in one county is ignored in the next.
The courts may eventually close the gap. Legislatures may force consistency. Until then, drivers are left with common sense and preparation. The safest choice is to remove the excuse entirely. Officers cannot prove what they cannot smell, and they cannot escalate what they cannot justify.
Practical Tips For Holiday Drivers Who Want To Avoid The Odor Trap
Keep jackets and bags outside the smoking area. Most odor claims come from clothing, not the person.
Use clean gear during travel days. People who vape during the holiday tend to switch to something low profile. This is where PAX vaporizers fit naturally because they keep the ritual clean and contained.
advertisement
F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
New York’s cannabis market suffered a public collapse after regulators dropped a major case against Omnium Canna and forced out acting executive director Felicia A. B. Reid. The scandal revealed a system unable to enforce its own rules and a legal market left vulnerable to illegal competition, political pressure, and structural failure.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 10, 2025December 9, 2025WHY WEED SHOPS DON’T HIRE HEADS
Weed shops profit from cannabis culture while refusing to hire the people who shaped it. Insurers, compliance officers, and corporate rules punish cannabis users even in legal states. Testing myths, background screening, and liability fear filter out anyone with real experience. The result is a workforce designed to exclude the culture that keeps the industry…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 9, 2025December 8, 2025advertisement
Do not store old flower containers or ash in the car. Empty jars and forgotten tubes hold scent long after they are cleaned.
Seal anything with a smell. A simple airtight pouch prevents the easiest excuse an officer can use.
Travel clear headed. Some readers prefer relief without impairment during long drives. Endoca CBD has become a steady choice because it stays consistent.
Know the rules in the state you are driving through. Odor is not probable cause in some states, yet it remains a tool in others.
Keep conversations simple and respectful. You do not need to explain your holiday habits.
Remember that odor is not evidence of impairment. Courts have split them apart. Officers blend them because it expands their authority.
©2025 Pot Culture Magazine. All rights reserved. This content is the exclusive property of Pot Culture Magazine and may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical reviews.
Affiliate Disclosure: Pot Culture Magazine may receive commissions from purchases made through affiliate links such as Cheech & Chong and Endoca. This helps support our independent journalism without affecting our editorial standards.
F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
Federal lawmakers quietly inserted language into a budget bill that could criminalize countless cannabis seeds based solely on the THC profile of the parent plant. The move threatens growers, breeders, medical cultivators, and the genetic diversity that built modern cannabis culture. This seismic shift puts control of the plant’s future in the hands of federal…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 8, 2025December 7, 2025Reefer Report Card Vol. 26: Nov 29-Dec 06
This week’s Reefer Report Card exposes the scromiting panic, Washington’s latest hemp crackdown, and the Supreme Court inching toward a decision that could rewrite prohibition. Patients and veterans stayed stuck in outdated systems while global reform moved forward with hesitation. Panic got headlines. Weed got scapegoated. The world kept smoking anyway.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 6, 2025December 6, 2025American newsrooms turned a simple overuse incident into a nationwide scare. Scromiting headlines exploded overnight, burying real CHS facts under panic and misinformation. Pot Culture breaks down what actually happened, why the media keeps confusing overuse with syndrome, and how fear travels faster than truth when cannabis is involved.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 5, 2025December 4, 2025Omaha Tribe Legal Cannabis vs Nebraska Prohibition
Nebraska still criminalizes cannabis, yet the Omaha Tribe has built a legal system with real rules, licensing, and a working industry on sovereign land. This update shows how the Tribe keeps moving forward while the state stays rooted in prohibition. The border is now the flashpoint. Step across it with cannabis and everything changes.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 4, 2025December 3, 2025Virginia just greenlit its long-delayed cannabis market. But is the launch plan built to last, or is it already showing cracks? The blueprint promises equity, protection from corporate takeover, and sustainable access. Advocates say it could be the first real test of Southern legalization. Pot Culture breaks it all down with facts, receipts, and no…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 3, 2025December 2, 2025Holiday Survival with Cannabis, Not Chaos
The holidays hit harder than they should. Travel turns messy, families spark arguments, and the season demands cheer nobody actually feels. Cannabis becomes the counterweight, steadying people through the noise while alcohol keeps causing wreckage. This feature cuts through the lies, the pressure, and the culture, showing how the plant helps people survive December without…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 2, 2025December 1, 2025#blackFriday #cannabis #cannabisCommunity #cannabisCulture #cannabisRights #cannabisSmell #cannabiscommunity #carSearches #civilLiberties #consumerSafety #courtRulings #crime #holidayTravel #lawEnforement #legalMarkets #marijuana #marijuanaNews #odorLaws #odorPolitics #police #policeStops #potCultureMagazine #roadsideEncounters #search #searchPractices #smell #thanksgiving #trafficStops #travelPrep
-
The Holiday Odor Trap
Filed Under: Odor Politics
Most people assume the holiday rush is measured in miles, delays, and crowded kitchens. The truth is uglier. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve, the country sees a spike in traffic stops that begin with the same old claim, that an officer “smelled marijuana.” Courts have spent years separating odor from impairment, yet the loophole stays wide open. It gives law enforcement a way to turn ordinary travel into a fishing expedition.
Some states have ruled that smell alone cannot justify a search, while others treat it as fair game. The public rarely knows the difference. Drivers heading to see family pass through counties where a scent on a jacket is enough to escalate a stop. Officers use it because it works. It softens the ground for questioning, it expands their authority, and it moves the conversation away from what actually matters, which is whether the driver is safe.
Most holiday travelers are not impaired. They are tired, stressed, and trying to get where they are going. cannabis lives in homes and clothes the same way kitchen spices do. A single smoked joint on Thanksgiving Eve can leave a jacket scented for days. Officers know this. Courts know this. Yet people still get pulled aside because the scent is treated like a confession.
The pattern is predictable. The officer leans in, mentions odor, then asks questions that have nothing to do with driving. People feel cornered and start explaining things they never needed to explain. That is the moment a simple stop becomes a long delay on the side of the road.
Holiday traffic and police practice collide in a way that punishes normal life. The country is filled with legal markets. People buy edibles and flower for the same reason they buy wine. They visit friends. They share a moment on the porch. The plant is legal in half the country, but its scent is still treated like probable cause.
The holiday season should not require a legal strategy, yet that is where the country stands. Smell is treated as suspicion even in states that claim to respect legalization. People drive through a patchwork of laws that shift from town to town. What protects a driver in one county is ignored in the next.
The courts may eventually close the gap. Legislatures may force consistency. Until then, drivers are left with common sense and preparation. The safest choice is to remove the excuse entirely. Officers cannot prove what they cannot smell, and they cannot escalate what they cannot justify.
Practical Tips For Holiday Drivers Who Want To Avoid The Odor Trap
Keep jackets and bags outside the smoking area. Most odor claims come from clothing, not the person.
Use clean gear during travel days. People who vape during the holiday tend to switch to something low profile. This is where PAX vaporizers fit naturally because they keep the ritual clean and contained.
advertisement
F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
New York’s cannabis market suffered a public collapse after regulators dropped a major case against Omnium Canna and forced out acting executive director Felicia A. B. Reid. The scandal revealed a system unable to enforce its own rules and a legal market left vulnerable to illegal competition, political pressure, and structural failure.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 10, 2025December 9, 2025WHY WEED SHOPS DON’T HIRE HEADS
Weed shops profit from cannabis culture while refusing to hire the people who shaped it. Insurers, compliance officers, and corporate rules punish cannabis users even in legal states. Testing myths, background screening, and liability fear filter out anyone with real experience. The result is a workforce designed to exclude the culture that keeps the industry…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 9, 2025December 8, 2025advertisement
Do not store old flower containers or ash in the car. Empty jars and forgotten tubes hold scent long after they are cleaned.
Seal anything with a smell. A simple airtight pouch prevents the easiest excuse an officer can use.
Travel clear headed. Some readers prefer relief without impairment during long drives. Endoca CBD has become a steady choice because it stays consistent.
Know the rules in the state you are driving through. Odor is not probable cause in some states, yet it remains a tool in others.
Keep conversations simple and respectful. You do not need to explain your holiday habits.
Remember that odor is not evidence of impairment. Courts have split them apart. Officers blend them because it expands their authority.
©2025 Pot Culture Magazine. All rights reserved. This content is the exclusive property of Pot Culture Magazine and may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical reviews.
Affiliate Disclosure: Pot Culture Magazine may receive commissions from purchases made through affiliate links such as Cheech & Chong and Endoca. This helps support our independent journalism without affecting our editorial standards.
F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
Federal lawmakers quietly inserted language into a budget bill that could criminalize countless cannabis seeds based solely on the THC profile of the parent plant. The move threatens growers, breeders, medical cultivators, and the genetic diversity that built modern cannabis culture. This seismic shift puts control of the plant’s future in the hands of federal…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 8, 2025December 7, 2025Reefer Report Card Vol. 26: Nov 29-Dec 06
This week’s Reefer Report Card exposes the scromiting panic, Washington’s latest hemp crackdown, and the Supreme Court inching toward a decision that could rewrite prohibition. Patients and veterans stayed stuck in outdated systems while global reform moved forward with hesitation. Panic got headlines. Weed got scapegoated. The world kept smoking anyway.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 6, 2025December 6, 2025American newsrooms turned a simple overuse incident into a nationwide scare. Scromiting headlines exploded overnight, burying real CHS facts under panic and misinformation. Pot Culture breaks down what actually happened, why the media keeps confusing overuse with syndrome, and how fear travels faster than truth when cannabis is involved.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 5, 2025December 4, 2025Omaha Tribe Legal Cannabis vs Nebraska Prohibition
Nebraska still criminalizes cannabis, yet the Omaha Tribe has built a legal system with real rules, licensing, and a working industry on sovereign land. This update shows how the Tribe keeps moving forward while the state stays rooted in prohibition. The border is now the flashpoint. Step across it with cannabis and everything changes.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 4, 2025December 3, 2025Virginia just greenlit its long-delayed cannabis market. But is the launch plan built to last, or is it already showing cracks? The blueprint promises equity, protection from corporate takeover, and sustainable access. Advocates say it could be the first real test of Southern legalization. Pot Culture breaks it all down with facts, receipts, and no…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 3, 2025December 2, 2025Holiday Survival with Cannabis, Not Chaos
The holidays hit harder than they should. Travel turns messy, families spark arguments, and the season demands cheer nobody actually feels. Cannabis becomes the counterweight, steadying people through the noise while alcohol keeps causing wreckage. This feature cuts through the lies, the pressure, and the culture, showing how the plant helps people survive December without…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 2, 2025December 1, 2025#blackFriday #cannabis #cannabisCommunity #cannabisCulture #cannabisRights #cannabisSmell #cannabiscommunity #carSearches #civilLiberties #consumerSafety #courtRulings #crime #holidayTravel #lawEnforement #legalMarkets #marijuana #marijuanaNews #odorLaws #odorPolitics #police #policeStops #potCultureMagazine #roadsideEncounters #search #searchPractices #smell #thanksgiving #trafficStops #travelPrep
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CW: The police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were sparks that reignited smoldering fury against authorities across the globe. One of the most watched locations has been Seattle, where protestors barricaded off a cop-free zone, drawing outsize attention and, in the process, forming a new case study in the uses of technology both to […]
♲ @[email protected]:For Seattle’s cop-free protest zone, tech is both a revolutionary asset and disastrous liability
The police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were sparks that reignited smoldering fury against authorities across the globe. One of the most watched locations has been Seattle, where protestors barricaded off a cop-free zone, drawing outsize attention and, in the process, forming a new case study in the uses of technology both to advance a cause and to drown it in disinformation.
From the actual recording of Floyd’s killing and the protests and riots that followed, to documenting the police’s brutal response and sudden withdrawal, to the establishment of and widespread commentary on an improvised community, technology has played a crucial role throughout. But to center things properly, it is how people are using technology, not the technology itself, that has become more important.
More than ever before, information truly is power, and imbalances in who holds that power have been both reinforced and challenged in the course of events here. It’s heartening to see live streaming and instant distribution of video lead to accountability, but it’s also sickening to see deliberate campaigns to manipulate and subvert reality — and I say reality because it’s what I’ve seen with my own eyes. As a brief preamble, I should disclose some things.
First, I support the causes being advanced by protestors in Seattle. It would be useless to deny that I have taken sides here — partly because claims of objectivity are little more than a fig leaf for editorial decisions in matters of grave injustice and obvious abuses of power; but my presence at the protests has unavoidably been documented whether I like it or not, so there’s no sense in denying it.
Because second, I live on Capitol Hill, just blocks away from the zone. I’ve been eyewitness to important events, (with a built-in tech angle at that) and it would be irresponsible for me not to use the privilege of this platform to share aspects of them that have been only sporadically covered.
And third, these protests have been organized and led by people of color, and I am a white guy who, comparatively, has only barely taken part. On issues of race, policing, and inclusion I will defer to others better equipped to educate: writers like Ijeoma Oluo (whom we recently interviewed), researchers like Joy Buolamwini, and publications like Blavity.
With that out of the way, this article will focus on three topics: The collection and use of digital media on both sides of police clashes; the use of social media and battle of information versus disinformation in the cop-free zone; and the emergence of live streaming as an indispensable medium for this and future movements.A matter of perspective
techcrunch.com/wp-content/uplo…
Image Credits: JASON REDMOND/AFP / Getty Images
The initial protests in Seattle in late May, which devolved in some locations into riots involving the despoliation and destruction of police cruisers (somehow left unattended and filled with weapons), are difficult to track because they were full of movement and chaos. But they were thoroughly, if haphazardly, documented by attendees with the presence of mind to record what they were seeing.
It’s telling that there has been little or no attempt at a counter-narrative from Seattle authorities when their officers were repeatedly (and continually as of this writing) filmed employing plainly excessive force against unarmed, often unresisting protestors, or indiscriminately firing tear gas, pepper spray, and flashbangs into crowds. One woman’s heart stopped three times after being struck by a blast ball that appeared to be deliberately aimed at her, while thousands watched.
Where, one wonders, is the exonerating footage from the police side showing the protestors being described as aggressive, or non-compliant, or whatever key words officers use to justify brutality during a melee of their own creation? And yet the police are at a loss. Presented with innumerable examples of bad behavior, the force seems to have decided day after day to stand fast and let it blow over.
But it’s hard to do that when you have something like a video going viral of a child who’s been maced:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/uKdqmBN744U?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent
This image, which came to represent the Seattle PD’s inhumane treatment of protestors (they stand by wielding batons as the crying kid is treated), was taken by a local named Evan Hreha. It’s hard to erase such a powerful image — so they arrested him.
Hreha was arrested a week later by a dozen officers and booked into jail for, supposedly, pointing a laser at police. It hardly needs to be said that this account strains credibility. For one thing, Hreha says he was running a hot dog stand with friends at the time of the alleged offense. But it is absurd that police would or could identify one person in a crowd at a distance, then investigate and arrest them — for anything, let alone a fleeting non-violent laser use. And it just happens to be the man behind a viral video that makes the cops look bad.
This seems to be plainly a case of retaliation, but the police have made themselves unaccountable by controlling the information available. I contacted the records department to ask for anything related to the investigation and arrest of Hreha (among others), but it will be months before the police will release anything, if indeed they ever do.
Hreha was released two days later with no charges filed. But the chilling effect of intimidating someone who caught police in an act of brutality on camera had been accomplished. The officer who maced the kid, incidentally, has yet to be officially identified or disciplined.Does tech have the guts to deploy its resources against police brutality?
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/09/does-tech-have-the-guts-to-deploy-its-resources-against-police-brutality/embed/#?secret=gdf5qC5tCH
This is exemplary of the power imbalance in conflicts of this type: On one side, voluminous documentation from people on the ground that is disorganized and difficult to bring to bear; on the other, documentation that is carefully organized and tightly controlled, allowing the exertion of authority using that control as leverage. Police have also begun the process of repurposing news and protestor footage for their own purposes.
But this story doesn’t always play out the way the cops would prefer.
In the first week of June, protestors were marching up Pine to confront the police for this and other acts, after which they would have, like many similar protests, moved on to rally in Volunteer Park and then gone home, to do it again another day. But police blocked them at 11th and Pine with a barricade and line of police in riot gear.
techcrunch.com/wp-content/uplo…
SEATTLE, WA – JUNE 08: A person holds flowers as demonstrators clash with police near the Seattle Police Departments East Precinct shortly after midnight on June 8, 2020 in Seattle, Washington.
The group did not disperse as ordered, saying they would stay and protest peacefully until the police moved out of the way. Predictably, when curfew came, the police were liberal in their deployment of tear gas and flashbangs, causing serious harm to some protestors and terror across the entire neighborhood. This continued and grew in intensity for several days and nights. (In many cities these clashes are ongoing.)
The justification for using their “less lethal” tools with such gusto was predictable: The crowd was violent, throwing bricks and even improvised explosives at officers. But these claims were repeatedly and firmly dismantled, because these encounters were filmed in high definition from multiple angles, practically from start to finish.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/D5sQt_bQS4A?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent
One particularly revealing video was shot by a person on a roof directly over the barriers. It quite clearly shows a peaceful crowd chanting and definitely not throwing rocks and bottles. Anyone can review it and see that there was not only no violence on the part of protestors, but that the flashpoint moment occurred (documented in other videos as well) when a cop tore a now-famous pink umbrella from the grip of a person, who in offering any resistance provided the excuse for the police to retaliate — indiscriminately and utterly disproportionately.
Huge volumes of evidence of police brutality have resulted almost solely from the oft-mocked habit of young people to always have their phone in hand. (We’re not far from the always-recording situation I posited nearly 10 years ago.)
“They picked the wrong generation to pull this shit on,” said TK, a protest organizer I spoke with. “Because governments didn’t create this power — this was created by normal, regular-smegular people just like all of us. The only people that can stop it is the people that created it.”
Rarely have the police released images or footage of their own, and when they do it is often a brutal self-own. They posted images of the aforementioned “improvised explosive” on Twitter shortly after one group assault on protestors, and within seconds people had pointed out it was a prayer candle, probably from a nearby memorial smashed during the melee. The police revised their reference to it as an “incendiary device,” which, while technically true, exposes the type of willful obscuration of the truth that was frequently to be found in the department’s communications.
Following another incident, body cam footage was released to support the narrative that a “violent crowd” had prevented the police from reaching a shooting victim in the protest zone and were therefore culpable in his death. People soon pointed out that timestamps visible in the video show that the cops arrived 20 minutes after the shooting, and after the victim had been taken to the hospital in a private car — because EMTs (for good reason) would not enter the scene before police secured it.We now know that the public statement put out by Seattle Police following the shooting at CHOP on Friday night, was mostly fictitious, as revealed by their own bodycam footage. They showed up 10 minutes later than they claim, after the victim had been transported to Harborview. pic.twitter.com/wN62gQxX8c
— Spek the Lawless (@spekulation) June 22, 2020
When the police chief made claims of rape and violence in the protest zone, it was pointed out that the SPD’s own crime reports system showed no such thing. Then her claim that armed gangs were extorting local businesses was quickly put down as well, by the businesses themselves — embarrassingly, the source of that claim was a totally invented account on a right-wing blog. (Ironically, once the police retook the zone, businesses quickly complained that their presence had forced them to close.)
And of course there are the innumerable videos, here as elsewhere, of extreme force being used on unresisting protestors, frequently with the apparently now requisite knee on the neck. These will hopefully prove useful later as counterbalance to police claims, and while officers still obscure their badges and refuse to identify themselves, the quality of the video makes identifying them by other means trivial.Cops attack peaceful protestors at Broadway and Pine. 5:30pm July 2nd. Dive tackled the kid next to me, put a knee on his neck. Can’t stress enough he did nothing.
Please share.#SeattleProtests #SeattleProtestComm #Seattle pic.twitter.com/mI5DTASEI4
— eli (@sre_li) July 3, 2020
The digital record has resulted in officers, the department and the chief being caught in lie after lie after lie. These are not misunderstandings or honest mistakes but misrepresentations deliberately crafted to discredit protestors and shield the department. It’s clear that if others were not carefully documenting every encounter, and critically investigating police statements and evidence, the lies would have shortly become the only, and therefore the true, record of what happened.
What I’ve described took place in Seattle, but others have compiled abuses in L.A., New York, Portland, and Chicago — where cops have just been caught in another type of large-scale manipulation of the record.
Now in many cities these departments are facing cuts or total defunding, as much as the result of their failure to successfully falsify the narrative as their more fundamental failures as institutions.
“This generation is not dumb, as much as they want to believe that. ‘You guys are just a bunch of dumb kids.’ Okay, well, this bunch of dumb kids is about to get the city to take half of your budget,” said TK. “So we ain’t that dumb, apparently.”
A last example of the power of social media in the pursuit of problematic police came late in the writing of this piece. After two protestors were struck and one killed on a closed highway after a driver circumvented police barriers, a detective from the King county Sheriff’s office made several brutally offensive posts on Facebook — public ones.
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These were spotted by concerned citizens, who took screenshots not just of the content but also the list of people who had liked or commented positively on the posts, looking them up, as well. This proved to be a shrewd tactic, for when the posts began to make waves online, Brown’s entire Facebook page was deleted.
Turns out Detective Brown is not only Governor Jay Inslee’s cousin, but reportedly also the head of county executive Dow Constantine’s security detail and his sometime driver; a 40-year veteran of the force who has been accused of abusive behavior before. Within 48 hours Detective Brown was on leave and being investigated. One hopes that the officers and public officials who publicly endorsed Brown’s behavior will soon be confronted, as well. But how quickly this avenue of recourse would have disappeared had they been tipped off.
Keeping the cops honest is a welcome application of what might be termed citizen forensics, but social media would soon provide a counter-example of technology being deployed to discredit the protestors and mislead millions.In the Zone
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A rally at the cop-free zone on Capitol Hill on June 10.
Believe it or not, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone wasn’t anyone’s idea.
The now infamous cop-free area barricaded off by protestors has been profiled frequently and, almost without exception, incompletely and inaccurately, in mainstream news and on social media. It’s an instructive but deeply frustrating example of how, as the old saying goes, “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.”
A very brief origin story is as follows: On June 8, following a particularly violent yet ultimately unsuccessful attempt to purge the area of protestors the previous night, the police abruptly announced they would be leaving the East Precinct building, taking all valuables, weapons, and sensitive documents with them.
Protestors were astonished. They had not asked for this and had no reason to — their demands were about defunding the police, investing in the community, and releasing jailed protestors. Incredibly, even now no one has taken responsibility for ordering the abandonment; the mayor and police chief have both denied doing so. But abandon it, they did.
Protestors immediately continued marching, some continuing to Volunteer Park and others remaining behind, citing the need to protect the precinct from anyone who might want to damage it, for days on end if necessary and at all hours. If you’re skeptical, remember: This is all on video. People learned early on that many people only believe what they have seen, and even then only sometimes.
Since a car had nearly plowed through protestors the previous day and the driver actually shot someone (before being gently taken into custody by police), and hearing reports of right-wing agitators in the area, the protestors redeployed the barriers to make a safe zone at the ends of nearby streets. Someone spray painted “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” on one, inadvertently branding the whole movement.‘Welcome to Free Capitol Hill’ — Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone forms around emptied East Precinct — UPDATE
https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2020/06/welcome-to-free-capitol-hill-capitol-hill-autonomous-zone-forms-around-emptied-east-precinct/embed/#?secret=qUJTj18w53
What followed in the CHAZ (later the CHOP) was several days and nights of compelling events, speakers and tributes to lost lives, attended by thousands, including myself.
But what followed online was a nonstop deluge of wild exaggerations, manipulated media, racist vitriol and, of course, innumerable death threats. It would be impossible to list even a fraction of the information online that I could contradict with what I saw with my own eyes, but here are a few examples.
The most glaring one has to be, of course, Fox News photoshopping a gunman into multiple unrelated scenes of destruction and dishonestly using those as evidence of chaos in the zone. This was done so poorly it would be comical if it were not part of a larger, continuing narrative seeking to discredit the protests and zone as an antifa-run separatist state.
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One of the images run by Fox News, a combination of one by David Ryder (whose photos for Getty illustrate this piece) with two by Karen Ducey.
The separatist narrative, which persists even today, was invented and amplified by lazy or traffic-hungry outlets and pundits with little evidence besides the tongue-in-cheek name.
There was not always the need to invent controversial imagery (indeed, the gunman Fox used really existed). Video of one person handing out rifles to his crew quickly made the rounds and, combined with the police chief’s irresponsible rumor-mongering, word of a “warlord” emerged.
Without getting into the complex and largely improvisational politics of the zone, this character and his heavily armed presence were generally not approved of. But for the weeks following this event I saw the image, his name and the warlord trope posted thousands of times, coming up every single day.
It’s tempting to say it’s hard to misconstrue a guy distributing assault rifles from the back of his car. But it is testament to the fractured narrative presented online that crucial context was almost always left out or substituted by falsehoods. Not only had a gunman actually shot a protestor after driving his car into the crowd the previous day, but at the very moment of the video, the police were suspected to have been engaged in a disinformation campaign intended to provoke conflict.
Public police scanner frequencies that night (which it was known protestors were monitoring) were full of reports of a group of 20-30 armed “Proud Boys” (a far-right group) moving toward the protest zone. Bike police on scanners said they followed the group for blocks, asked where they were headed (the CHAZ), tried to dissuade them from going there, and eventually reported that they spontaneously dispersed before reaching their destination.
Now, a large group of armed men working their way up from Downtown to Capitol Hill would be a rather conspicuous sight even in those days when record numbers of armed men walked the streets. Yet none of the thousands of protestors and allies spread throughout the city watching for them saw anything matching that description during or after. No communications from known Proud Boys (some of whom would in fact show up later to attack a protestor on video) indicated a presence. More directly, police descriptions of the group crossing certain intersections were contradicted by live traffic cameras showing those intersections, which showed no such thing.
But once again the apparent police intention of provocation via misinformation had been achieved. People at the CHAZ, already justifiably worried about violence, were put on high alert and armed themselves, producing a spectacle that even now persists on social media as a way to paint the entire protest with one brush.
The repeated amplification of individual images had some troubling commonalities, in particular the barely veiled parlance of racism. People in the protest zone and especially Black men, images of whom frequently accompanied these tweets and other posts, were invariably described as “thugs,” “savages,” “animals,” “feral,” and all the rest. Tellingly, those employing this vile lexicon were seldom Seattle or Capitol Hill residents; Twitter is very efficient at importing hate.
Indeed it did not take long for the CHAZ, having achieved the dubious distinction of attracting what is called national interest, to become the target of coordinated interference, harassment and disinformation campaigns by people all over the country. The resulting mess is a concise illustration of the incredible promise and complete inadequacy of online platforms in times like these.
The number of people and groups involved in these protests had made Twitter, with its accessibility and relative permanence, an invaluable tool for the dissemination of important information. While private groups on Signal, WhatsApp and Discord were also used, it was clearly better for things like police positioning, march updates, attacks on protestors and other crucial live communications to make the information as prominent and public as possible.“There was a lot of momentum being built up, people learning and educating themselves. So this was the chance to finally put everything we’d learned into action.”
TK and her fellow organizer Tatii explained that social media was at the heart of their work, though the end result of taking to the streets was always the ultimate goal.
“Social media is a huge part because without it, we can’t do shit,” Tatii said bluntly. “When it comes to finding the information that we need and finding resources to help Black people, all of that is through technology. That’s how we network with people, that’s how people reach out to us. That’s how we get people telling us about police scanners. There are a lot of group chats, like with our medics, our car brigade, our bike brigade. It’s all through social media.”
“Scouts let us know if like there’s 30 bike cops coming down Broadway. It’s crucial when you are trying to strategically plan around that type of stuff, to keep from being cornered and boxed in,” said TK.
“At least on the Black side of social media, it’s constantly been talked about, Black Lives Matter,” added Tatii. “There was a lot of momentum being built up, people learning and educating themselves. So this was the chance to finally put everything we’d learned into action.”
It’s easy to take Twitter for granted, so we should be sure to give the platform due credit for the fundamental capability it provides. Many I’ve spoken to here emphasized that they trusted what they read from accounts with a verifiable track record more than what they saw in the perennially out-of-date local news. In fact, as Tatii and TK noted, many of their fellow organizers came to Seattle specifically to learn for themselves the truth behind mainstream reports that didn’t pass a gut test.
But the choice to publicly organize via hashtag, for all that it made important information available quickly to as many people as possible, had two major consequences.
First, it fragmented that information almost to the point of usability: One never knew whether it was #seattleprotest or #seattleprotests, #seattleprotestcomms, #seatleprotest (yes), plain old #seattle, #defundSPD, or a handful of others. This was only exacerbated with the creation of the CHAZ, which birthed a dozen new hashtags of varying quality and population. Instagram provided powerful amplification effects but little verification or network building.
Twitter also exposed this stream of important information to eager antagonists across the country, who flooded those hashtags with abuse and misinformation. Posts with images from other or past protests were used to mislead or misrepresent the present ones, and pictures of police around the area from other times were used in an attempt to spook those who had learned to be wary of SPD’s presence. Fake names and events were publicized, fake demands issued and met, and fake accounts claiming to represent protestors or the zone.
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This post, though seen by many, was heeded by few.
The ownership of one particular account was hotly contested, and confused by such tantalizing hints as it following Huawei leadership (you can imagine the theories this spawned), and for an “official” statement ending with what appeared to be a few stray pixels from a Biden presidential campaign graphic.
Later, when attempting to provoke a “mission accomplished”-style early exit from the zone after the Mayor cut million from the police budget, the account exhorted its readers to vote for Biden. Needless to say this was not among the commonly agreed-upon demands or positions of the protests. Unless whoever was behind this strange yet prominent account exposes themselves, we may never know if it was a government plant, an agent provocateur or a practical joker, or what their intentions really are.
The enduring, chaotogenic myth that the CHAZ was an attempt to secede and form a socialist, anarchist utopia led to rebranding efforts. The misconception had become so widespread that it was decided to “officially” (as far as that concept existed in the space) change the name to the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest — then, noting the fact that Seattle itself is an “occupation” of native land, change the O to Organized.
This led to a further fragmentation of information channels: No one on the ground wanted to use #CHAZ and its relatives because it was no longer what organizers wanted to call it. But the name had entered the common parlance. So posts now needed to be #CHAZ, #CHOP, #CHOPCHAZ, and others like #CHAZSeattle and so on. It became very difficult to track an event — be it positive, like a march or speaker, or negative, like a fight or shooting — never knowing where to look or how to parse the information there.
It’s hard to overstate how effective the fractured narrative and opposing efforts were at shaping the national and global understanding of events surrounding these protests.
As they say you can never step into the same river twice, so it was on social media around the protest and the zone. The ever-shifting flow of Twitter sometimes produced absolutely vital data unavailable anywhere else, but always polluted with incomplete or premature judgments, ignorance, racism and false reports.
When I asked what digital tools were needed to better organize and avoid interference, protestors I spoke with generally said some sort of centralization and interoperability. Being able to colocate multiple feeds, authors, videos, images and static links in a dynamic, accessible way would save them huge amounts of time and effort. Certainly it would have helped to alleviate some of the problems noted above.Stream of conscience
“Live streaming and having our phones out every single day is our best form of self defense.”
Despite the shortcomings of social media at large, one digital medium that has proven itself truly indispensable to this protest and others to come is live streaming.
Although the technology has risen to mainstream popularity as a new form of passive entertainment on Twitch and other live platforms, it quickly became clear that it was the technology of choice for documenting these and other protests and social movements.
As TK put it: “People are visual learners; until they see it for themselves they don’t really believe it. And when it’s live, it’s live. You’re not seeing the cut, clipped and edited version. You can’t dispute what you see in raw live footage. You can’t ignore it.”
In Seattle, two people have become familiar faces, or voices, as they have doggedly documented every step of the protests this way, from before the CHOP to well after: Omari Salisbury and Joey Wieser.
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Image Credits: Jake Gravbot
Salisbury runs Converge Media, an independent web-distributed news organization. He comes from a broadcast and networking background, and when the CHOP emerged literally outside his doorstep — the studio door opened onto the police line before officers left — he took the opportunity to share the story, as objectively as possible. To him, the only tool that fit the bill was live streaming.
“The viewer needs to be able to see the context, because if the viewer can’t see the context, then it becomes something else,” he said. “People appreciate us because the stream is long, we keep the camera there and we let people make their own decisions.”
He was there not just for the controversial or terrifying moments, like clashes between provocateurs and protestors, or the shootings that occurred later on, but for the huge number of peaceful hours when people would share their own experiences at Salisbury’s prompting. The result is an incredibly valuable archive of hundreds of hours of live footage, ground truth from inside the zone that has been watched by millions.
Joey Wieser has no media background, but rather just a passing familiarity with the systems and social media methods that can grab people’s attention. Yet his stream came to be relied on by many, and the events he captured also racked up millions of views, simply because he decided to take advantage of the tools at his disposal.“It's not that we don't have umbrellas. We just never met a storm worthy of one.
Until this week.” -Seattle pic.twitter.com/STGnwIc3sZ
— Joey Wieser (@itsjosephryan) June 8, 2020
“Live streaming and having our phones out every single day is our best form of self defense. Every day that I walk out my doorstep, I hold my phone as if it is my ultimate shield, my ultimate weapon,” he said. “Without it, I feel like I don’t have a role in this movement. It’s not like I’m some prolific live streamer, or that I know what Black communities need best. I’m just some white guy and I happen to work in tech. Having an understanding of what social media best practices look like, understanding analytics and social amplification — that combined with my community activism allowed me to come out here and do this.”
For Wieser, having the right connections or network was less important than being in the right place at the right time, even if it put him in danger. (He and Omari were both tear gassed multiple times and near shootings and other altercations.)
“I think it really puts the viewer at home in the driver’s seat,” he said. “Because they’re able to not only watch an uninterrupted stream, but to engage and have a real live conversation with somebody that’s there on the ground. You know, they can say, hey, turn to the left. What was that? It’s a participatory experience in a way watching the news doesn’t allow.”
One such incident I saw play out almost defies belief. Wieser was streaming the protest when a truck blasted through, nearly hitting several people. Minutes later, a person watching the stream was surprised when that very truck pulled up outside their apartment — it was their DoorDash driver, who announced proudly that they had just run down some protestors. (The driver’s plates and info were quickly sent through the proper channels.)THE PLOT THICKENS: The man in this truck is a driver for @DoorDash and was making a delivery. The customer was literally watching the livestream as the silver truck pulled up outside their home. pic.twitter.com/di1eI9bQjE
— Joey Wieser (@itsjosephryan) July 1, 2020
Being a two-way medium, it provides new opportunities for interference as well as engagement. Both Salisbury and Wieser experienced repeated attempts to pollute their comment sections or attack them personally.
“It’s not lost on me that this amplification can be used against us, but I think one of the important things about live streaming is that you can inject your own narrative, rather than let it be to the whim of, you know, Fox News or Sinclair,” said Wieser. “Regardless of whether or not the trolls take it over in the comment sections or in the hashtags, if you’re actually listening to the content, and if you’ve got someone out here who has the right heart and the right passion and the right analysis, you can reclaim that narrative.”“The citizen journalist has always existed. They just never had the tools to be on equal footing with national news.”
Salisbury, for his part, expressed that it is not always sufficient to simply document — one has to report, and that’s what he does.
“People rock with me because just turning on the camera and streaming, it’s not enough. Knowing the history of Seattle, the history of the neighborhood, understanding political positions… and you got to put paint where it ain’t, you know what I’m saying? The citizen journalist has always existed. They just never had the tools to be on equal footing with national news,” he said.
“People underestimate the tech that’s out there, especially the free stuff,” he continued. “I know people have their views about platforms and privacy. And I think that’s a different discussion. But I will say that what’s going on here allows for citizen journalists to touch the world. I used to build OTT and streaming platforms in Europe and across Africa. So understanding the actual technology that goes into this, man, I really don’t take no stream for granted. I’ve got people in Australia who’ve been on since day one. What if I had to cultivate that through my own contacts, do my own server, do my own everything? How would I reach them? It doesn’t work that way.”
He credits live streaming with putting pressure on local and national outlets to up their game, as well — being showed up by one person with a phone doesn’t look good for a major news organization.
“Citizen journalists and streamers came out here and forced the local media to change their whole game,” he said. “I mean, a guy with a cell phone didn’t get no respect back in the day. But I had my interviews with the mayor before anybody, my interviews with Chief Best before anybody. You see what I’m saying? I’m just a guy with a phone. Now the Seattle Times has a streamer out here. This situation has made the media adapt new technology.”
While live broadcasts have been part of local and national news for decades, it was in truth a totally different medium. But it’s now difficult to imagine coverage of events like these without modern live streaming, and legacy media have begun to recognize that. Technology has always been a double-edged sword. The events in Seattle and across the country have illustrated this powerfully, and it seems unarguable that whatever happens in terms of policy and politics, the nature of protesting and the power dynamic that has defined it for decades has begun to change.
Ultimately, though, the power does not belong to the tech, but to the people.
“Technology plays a big part in all this, but I’m gonna be real with you, what you need is more old fashioned beating your feet to the streets,” concluded TK. “It’s not that the technology is insufficient, but that people are choosing not to use technology to understand.
“We’ve proven it time and time again that the only ones that really got our back is us.”
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Unlawful Deportation, Judicial Defiance, and Project 2025: The Case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the Future of American Rule of Law
Comments by DrWeb, Analysis by Perplexity AI
Comments: I awoke this morning again seeing the disturbing Oval Office visit with a dictator. It was a shameful idea of American presidency, actions, and democratic principles. I thought this seemed a pattern, this ICE-Deport-Anyone-Not-Ours-Anymore. So, with AI assistance, I went back to look at the parts of Project 2025 that may be correlated to these events. It is a constitutional crisis. The Supreme Court (“You’re our only hope, Obi-Wan!”) and all of us face a moment ahead, when all of America’s future hang in the balance. May we survive… – DrWeb
Executive Summary
In March 2025, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident and Salvadoran national, was unlawfully deported to El Salvador and detained in the CECOT mega-prison, despite a standing U.S. immigration court order protecting him from removal. This action, carried out by the Trump administration, was executed without criminal charges and in direct violation of multiple federal court and Supreme Court orders. The case has become a flashpoint for concerns about executive overreach, the erosion of due process, and the future of American democracy under policy frameworks like Project 2025.
Narrative Summary of the Abrego Garcia Case
- Unlawful Deportation:
Abrego Garcia was arrested by ICE in Maryland in March 2025 and deported within days, despite a 2019 court order granting him protection from removal due to credible fears of gang persecution. The government justified the deportation with unsubstantiated claims of gang affiliation, relying on circumstantial evidence such as his clothing and a single informant’s testimony. - Defiance of Judicial Authority:
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the government must “facilitate [his] release” and treat his case as if the deportation never occurred. Despite this, the administration refused to comply with federal court orders to repatriate him, citing El Salvador’s “sovereign authority” over his detention and failing to provide any timeline or plan for his return. - Human Rights Concerns:
Abrego Garcia remains in CECOT, a facility notorious for harsh conditions, forced shaving, shackling, and reports of torture. His U.S.-citizen wife and three children with disabilities have had no contact with him since his removal. - Political Context:
The deportation occurred alongside a $6 million U.S.-El Salvador agreement to detain migrants in CECOT, reflecting a broader strategy to outsource immigration enforcement and circumvent domestic legal protections.
Project 2025: Policy Framework and Parallels
Project 2025 is a comprehensive policy blueprint developed by The Heritage Foundation and allied organizations to guide a future conservative administration. Its core pillars include expanding executive power, streamlining deportations, reducing judicial oversight, and outsourcing detention to foreign partners.
Key Parallels
Project 2025 PillarManifestation in Garcia CaseProject 2025 Excerpts (PDF)Centralized Executive PowerDefiance of Supreme Court and federal court orders, citing “sovereign authority”“The next President must immediately assert constitutional control over the administrative state…” (p. 15)Streamlined DeportationsRapid removal based on unverified gang allegations“ICE must prioritize rapid removals… using all available evidence, including circumstantial indicators…” (p. 142)Reduced Judicial OversightRefusal to comply with court-mandated repatriation, undermining judicial authority“Limit judicial review of deportation orders… courts have no constitutional role…” (p. 148)Foreign Detention PartnershipsDetention in El Salvador’s CECOT under U.S. funding agreement“Partner with foreign governments to establish regional detention hubs…” (p. 153)Politicized Immigration AgenciesUse of unsubstantiated informant testimony to justify enforcement“DHS should codify gang affiliation criteria to include associations, symbols, or locations…” (p. 141)Erosion of Humanitarian ProtectionsIgnoring court-ordered protection from removal“Revise ‘credible fear’ standards to exclude claims based on generalized gang violence…” (p. 150)Systemic Implications
The Abrego Garcia case operationalizes Project 2025’s vision of unchecked executive authority in immigration policy, including:
- Rapid Deportation Mechanisms: Bypassing courts to expedite removals, even for individuals with legal protections.
- Expanded Enforcement Criteria: Using subjective or non-criminal factors to justify detention and removal.
- Defiance of Judicial Orders: Treating courts as advisory rather than binding, as Project 2025 proposes for DHS and immigration enforcement.
Project 2025 explicitly advocates for these measures as part of a broader strategy to “resume the Trump administration’s success in restoring control over immigration” (p. 137). The Garcia deportation exemplifies how such policies, when implemented, risk violating due process and international human rights standards.
Appendix: The Supreme Court and the Future of American Democracy
The Supreme Court remains a critical bulwark against executive overreach. In the Garcia case, the Court unanimously ordered the administration to repatriate the unlawfully deported individual, affirming that “no presidential administration is above judicial review.” This echoes historic checks on power, such as Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) and United States v. Nixon (1974).
However, Project 2025’s proposals to “limit judicial review of deportation orders” (p. 148) and treat courts as “advisory rather than binding” directly challenge the judiciary’s constitutional role. The Garcia case demonstrates that the Supreme Court, for now, stands as a last line of defense for the rule of law. Whether it will continue to resist sustained attacks on judicial authority and executive overreach remains a defining question for the future of American democracy.
Sources
- Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership – The Conservative Promise. The Heritage Foundation, 2023.
- Supreme Court Ruling: Garcia v. United States, 603 U.S. ___ (2025)
- “Maryland Man Deported to El Salvador Despite Court Order.” The Washington Post, April 2025.
- “Trump Administration Defies Supreme Court on Deportation.” The New York Times, April 2025.
- “CECOT Mega-Prison: Human Rights Concerns.” Human Rights Watch, 2024.
- “U.S.-El Salvador Migrant Detention Agreement.” Reuters, March 2025.
- “El Salvador’s Mega-Prison and U.S. Immigration Policy.” Amnesty International, 2024.
- Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952).
- United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974).
Prepared April 15, 2025 by Perplexity AI.
Below is the complete PDF document, if needed.
Narrative Summary of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Case (1)Download#AmericanDemocracy #Future #JudicialDefiance #KilmarAbregoGarcia #Project2025 #RuleOfLaw #SupremeCourt #UnlawfulDeportation
- Unlawful Deportation:
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"Songs for Good: The Sudden Resurgence of the Protest Song
Beginning in the middle of 2025, politically-minded (or just fed up) musicians slowly began making their rage and frustration known. Below is a loose timeline of the recorded protest music thus far in Trump’s final(?) term.
A common refrain during the first Trump presidency was 'With so many people upset, where are the protest songs?'
By no means did musicians remain totally silent, there were a handful of scathing and biting songs like 'Tiny Hands' by Fiona Apple, 'Million Dollar Loan' by Death Cab for Cutie, and the incendiary 'Nobody Speak' by DJ Shadow and Run the Jewels, but nowhere near the creative outpouring of previous generations.The Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam movements in the late ’50s and ’60s spawned dozens of classic protest anthems, some as pleading as Marvin Gaye‘s 'What’s Goin’ On' and few as eviscerating as 'Mississippi Goddam' by Nina Simone. Even the sneering punks of the anti-Thatcher/Reagan ’80s gave us underground anthems from D.R.I., Dead Kennedys, The Ramones, Billy Bragg, and the obligatory Sex Pistols, not to mention slightly more refined Cold War statements from U2, Sting, Nena, and Bruce Springsteen (even if the majority of the people didn’t fully understand that one).
Something began stirring in Trump’s second term, however. Beginning in the middle of 2025, politically-minded (or just fed up) musicians slowly began making their rage and frustration known. Much like Kent State served as a flashpoint for activism in 1970 (famously captured in CSNY‘s 'Ohio'), the brutal and horrific escalations of I.C.E. in Minneapolis in early 2026 acted as fuel to the fire for this emotion and we started to see a real outpouring of pointed, accusatory, and just plain angry music from some of the sharpest pens. Below is a loose timeline of the recorded protest music thus far in Trump’s final(?) term."
https://www.amherstindy.org/2026/04/03/songs-for-good-the-sudden-resurgence-of-the-protest-song/
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Someone once said that it’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.
Even so, I’m going to give it a try.
There could be signs (or rumblings, or rumblings of signs) that District Judge #Aileen #Cannon is on her way out.Why do I suspect this?
🔸First, because the New York Times recently reported that Judge Cannon was warned more than a year ago by two judges,
one unnamed, the other chief judge #Cecilia M #Altonaga,
that she should pass on adjudicating Donald Trump’s documents trial.
In her famous wisdom, Cannon ignored them.
Both judges were and remain staunch Republicans, so their warnings were probably not politically motivated.
In other words, they sincerely meant their advice on the face of it.🔸Second, this kind of thing seldom gets leaked by accident.
The deliberate leak, if that indeed is what it is, could be intended as a specific warning to Cannon.
In other words, it’s possible that Judge Cannon has just been given a very public opportunity to step down gracefully
— or be thrown out disgracefully.
If that is indeed the choice, my money is on her being thrown out disgracefully.
After all, Cannon isn’t exactly known for taking advice, especially when it’s good advice.It seems the advice came in tag team form.
The unnamed judge first came to her in confidence and quietly laid some home truths on her.
First, that she is fantastically underqualified to handle the case.
Second, that she is clearly deeply biassed, and her bias would quickly become a scandal if she took the position.
When she ignored that advice, the more senior chief judge Altonaga stepped in and warned her with a little more authority.
No good. Cannon remained, and her record has been one of mounting absurdities.
Cannon might have even pulled it off.
Had she played it cagey and created the appearance of fairness and wisdom, two qualities she lacks to a degree I did not think possible,
she could have done what she clearly intended to do from the very first.
She could have helped Donald Trump.
When it actually mattered, during the actual trial, she might have helped him in ways that were subtle enough for her to get away with it but effective enough to get Trump acquitted.
But because Cannon is stupid she took the Stupid Road all the way.I’ll stick my neck out a little further.
I think Cannon will be removed, if she is removed at all, after the #debate.That way it will keep her removal from becoming an all-consuming feature of the debate.
We shall, of course, see.
Speaking of the debate, there is already a move to provide Donald Trump with an excuse for losing.Believe it or not, there are rumours that Joe Biden will be replaced by a #doppelgänger.
You read that right.
Photos are already circulating on Twitter (or “X,” as it’s known among the glassy-eyed idolaters of the new owner) and other social media flashpoints showing the subtly “different” Biden out there.If you think that’s silly, remember that there are people alive today who actually believe that #Paul #McCartney died in an automobile accident in the 60s and was replaced by a musical genius who just happened to look exactly like him, for some reason.
I forget the reasonhttps://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/is-aileen-cannon-on-her-way-out/56719/
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🚨 The State Department’s Font Flip:
A Step Back from Accessibility 🧑🦯❌♿
—ditching accessible Calibri as "woke."Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department announced its decision to abandon Calibri—the sans-serif typeface adopted under the Biden administration—in favor of Times New Roman. The internal memo framed this as a "return to consistency," but I see it as something deeper: a symbolic retreat that elevates tradition above accessibility, inclusivity, and the promise of open standards. As someone who values thoughtful design in public institutions, I find this choice disheartening, yet it compels us to examine what typography truly demands in a digital age.
Typography transcends mere aesthetics; it fundamentally shapes how we read, perceive authority, and feel included in vital conversations. When a government agency alters its typeface, that shift signals its core priorities. The reversion to Times New Roman, a serif font rooted in print-era conventions, risks turning typography into another cultural flashpoint. I sincerely hope this does not herald a broader precedent, but instead sparks a return to evidence-based decisions that serve every one.
From Courier to Calibri: A Brief History of State Department Fonts
The State Department’s typography has mirrored the evolution of bureaucratic communication. For decades, Courier New—a monospaced font introduced in 1955—reigned as the default, embodying the analog world of mechanical typewriters, carbon copies, and precise diplomatic cables. Its uniform spacing delivered egalitarian functionality, aligning every character perfectly for legal drafts and official forms.
In the 1980s and 1990s, as computers reshaped offices, Times New Roman took over. Crafted in 1931 by Stanley Morison for The Times of London, this serif typeface excelled in dense newspaper columns and fine print, projecting the conservative professionalism suited to diplomacy. Yet it was engineered for ink on paper, not the glowing pixels of screens that define our era.
By the early 2000s, legibility studies championed sans-serifs like Arial and Calibri for digital dominance. In 2023, the Biden administration embraced Calibri precisely for its superior on-screen clarity, accessibility, and visual ease—aligning with best practices from the GSA and Department of Education. Part of the humanist grotesque family (think Helvetica's lineage, tracing back to Akzidenz-Grotesk in 1898 or Highway Gothic on U.S. road signs since 1948), Calibri marked genuine progress. The sudden pivot back to Times New Roman strikes me as nostalgia over necessity, undermining hard-won advances in inclusive design.
The Return to Times New Roman: Symbol Over Substance
Officials tout this revert as tradition preserved, but I contend tradition must yield to accessibility. Serif fonts shine in print, yet on modern screens—especially low-resolution or small displays—they falter for those with low vision or dyslexia. The British Dyslexia Association and Bainbridge Group on Visual Legibility affirm that sans-serifs, with their clean, uniform strokes, ease reading and curb fatigue across diverse users.
Consider Times New Roman's subtle distinctions between "I," "l," and "1"—they blur digitally, inviting confusion. Bainbridge and MIT’s AgeLab research underscores how uniform strokes and open apertures accelerate comprehension in electronic documents. By clinging to this proprietary relic, the State Department bypasses free, open-source gems like IBM Plex, Source Sans, or Lato, which offer transparency and adaptability. Thailand’s 2006 font competition, producing 13 national standards, proves governments can innovate boldly. This choice feels like a step backward, favoring the familiar over forward momentum.
The Science and Soul of Accessible Typography
Accessible typography is human-centered design at its core, backed by decades of research into font shapes, spacing, and character clarity for all readers, impaired or not. Fonts like OpenDyslexic, with weighted lower halves to prevent letter inversion, and Atkinson Hyperlegible, which sharpens distinctions between confusable characters like 0/O or 6/b, lead the way. Developed by the Braille Institute of America with Applied Design Works, Atkinson enhances accuracy and speed for dyslexic and neurotypical alike, all without aesthetic compromise.
Here’s my personal preference: Atkinson Hyperlegible is my favorite—it captures the open, modern inclusivity government design demands. Best of all, its SIL Open Font License makes it free and available for public, governmental, and educational use, unlike the corporate shackles of Calibri or Times New Roman.
Why Accessibility Matters in Public Typography
For institutions like the State Department, clarity is no luxury—it's a democratic imperative. Diplomats, journalists, and citizens alike deserve documents free of strain, legible across aging eyes, reading differences, and global devices. Times New Roman, born for 1930s newsprint, dismisses these truths, broadcasting detachment from digital realities. Accessibility isn't political posturing; it's practical humanity, the bedrock of public-spirited communication.
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References- British Dyslexia Association. Dyslexia Style Guide 2022: Creating Dyslexia-Friendly Content.
- Braille Institute of America. Atkinson Hyperlegible Study. (2021).
- Bernard, M. et al. “A Comparison of Popular Online Fonts: Which Size and Type is Best?” Usability News, Wichita State University (2003).
- Morison, S. A Tally of Types. Cambridge University Press (1939).
- MIT AgeLab. “Typography and Visibility on Digital Displays.” (2014).
- Shaikh, A. (2007). “Impact of Typeface Design on Legibility and Reading Comprehension.” Behavior & Information Technology.#InclusiveDesign #StateDepartment #Courier #TimesNewRoman #Calibri #A11y #Typography #Accessibility #A11yMatters #DesignForAll #WebA11y #StateDeptFontFail #FOSS
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The Everywhere Insiders 6: Gaza Aid, Iran’s Nuclear Program, and Global Diplomatic Challenges
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/07/09
Irina Tsukerman is a human rights and national security attorney based in New York and Connecticut. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in National and Intercultural Studies and Middle East Studies from Fordham University in 2006, followed by a Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of Law in 2009. She operates a boutique national security law practice. She serves as President of Scarab Rising, Inc., a media and security strategic advisory firm. Additionally, she is the Editor-in-Chief of The Washington Outsider, which focuses on foreign policy, geopolitics, security, and human rights. She is actively involved in several professional organizations, including the American Bar Association’s Energy, Environment, and Science and Technology Sections, where she serves as Program Vice Chair in the Oil and Gas Committee. She is also a member of the New York City Bar Association. She serves on the Middle East and North Africa Affairs Committee and affiliates with the Foreign and Comparative Law Committee. She argued that Gaza aid site deaths result from broader insecurity and militant interference, not U.S. distribution, cautioning against politicizing humanitarian efforts. On Iran, she noted that the likely relocation of uranium stockpiles under intelligence watch complicates nonproliferation. Discussing regional unrest, she warned of Russian impunity and criticized the selective application of the UN Charter. She lauded Israel’s internal war crimes probe, questioned Trump’s diplomatic and financial tactics, condemned Southeast Asian torture networks, and urged focus on substantive solutions.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: UN Secretary-General António Guterres has criticized a U.S.-backed humanitarian aid initiative in Gaza, reportedly describing it as “inherently unsafe.” This criticism followed incidents where civilians were killed at aid distribution points in the Gaza Strip. According to AP News, Guterres linked the danger not directly to the aid initiative itself but to the broader insecurity and lack of coordination around humanitarian access in Gaza, where ongoing conflict and airstrikes have endangered civilians.
Irina Tsukerman: Civilian deaths at aid sites were not directly caused by the distribution initiative but rather by the broader security situation—particularly the conduct of warring parties. Hamas has been accused of undermining various aid efforts, sometimes through interference or by asserting control over distribution. There have also been reports, including from Israeli and U.S. sources, that Hamas has confiscated aid or interfered with its delivery.
Despite these challenges, the U.S. and Israel have cooperated to deliver millions of aid packages to Gaza. Initially, many of these efforts were successful, including airdrops and the construction of a temporary maritime pier by the U.S. military. However, these efforts have faced logistical difficulties, including damage to the dock and reports of aid not reaching civilians due to chaos on the ground and potential interference from local factions.
One controversial element of Israel’s broader strategy has included attempts to support or arm local factions that could act as rivals to Hamas. These efforts, which some sources describe as covert or indirect, aim to weaken Hamas’s grip. However, critics argue that empowering local militias or clans—some of whom may be secular but authoritarian and violent—risks replacing one problematic actor with another. Historical accounts suggest that Hamas initially gained political traction in Gaza in part because many residents distrusted the existing factions tied to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, who were widely seen as corrupt or ineffective.
The main issue, then, is the conflation of humanitarian and political objectives. By blending aid delivery with attempts to reshape local power structures, the initiative became vulnerable to political manipulation. This gave Hamas both the motive and the justification to intervene.
Guterres’s criticism may reflect frustration with the breakdown of neutrality in humanitarian delivery. However, critics argue that his comments risk misplacing blame—targeting a relatively successful U.S.-led aid effort rather than the militant interference that disrupted it. There is also concern that some UN-affiliated agencies in Gaza have been compromised or politicized over time, which complicates coordination.
It is fair to criticize elements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political strategies. However, one must also acknowledge that certain aspects of the aid initiative were practical—until political entanglements and local militant control undermined them.
As for recent developments related to Iran and the movement of uranium following Israeli airstrikes, Reuters has reported that Iran has threatened retaliation over the assassination of senior IRGC commanders and military strikes targeting its regional proxies. There have also been concerns in Washington about Iran’s nuclear program. However, there is no verified public report stating that the U.S. moved Iranian uranium after airstrikes, nor that President Trump warned Iran to relocate its stockpiles ahead of strikes. These claims appear to conflate multiple timelines or rely on unofficial sources.
What is known is that Iran continues to enrich uranium beyond the limits set by the now-defunct Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). U.S. officials are closely monitoring these developments. Discussions in Congress include possible additional sanctions or deterrence measures in response to Iranian escalation.
But you have to admit—once you give the Iranians advanced warning, of course, they are going to move their uranium stockpiles. The question is: where did they go? These trucks carrying enriched uranium cannot just vanish. They have to be somewhere. If the uranium was relocated, and it most likely was, then that new location is probably known—at least partially—by intelligence agencies, as it has been under discussion for some time. So why has there been no initiative to intercept it before it was moved so deep underground that there is now practically no chance of recovering it?
This also means that Iran could potentially restart its nuclear program almost immediately without needing to wait for reconstruction or to retrieve buried stockpiles from damaged sites like Fordow or Natanz. All of this creates a highly intractable situation. The U.S. is attempting to bring Iran back to the negotiating table. But without conditions that prevent Iran from continuing its nuclear development covertly, those negotiations are likely to fail. Iran currently has no incentive to negotiate, as it believes it still holds strategic leverage.
And now it might. If Iran has managed to preserve or relocate even part of its uranium, the threat remains. Furthermore, if some of the recent intelligence is correct—that Iran was closer to developing a nuclear weapon than previously thought—then it is possible that components or even completed weapons were smuggled out of the country before these discoveries were made public. Iran has had longstanding exchanges with China, Oman, North Korea, and various non-state actors. It is conceivable that nuclear materials, or even fully assembled devices, could have been moved alongside other weapons, oil, or gas shipments.
In such a scenario, Iran may not need to build a new weapon on its soil; it could have outsourced the final stages of production or even stored weapons abroad, perhaps in North Korea. This would mean Iran has retained a strategic deterrent without openly violating its commitments in a traceable way. While these possibilities remain speculative, they are not being discussed widely in public discourse. Yet the implications are profound: incomplete strikes that leave Iran’s leadership intact and its infrastructure only partially damaged may serve as motivation for Tehran to accelerate its nuclear ambitions. It could even lead to a weapons test shortly if Iran believes the geopolitical window is closing.
Jacobsen: The United Nations’ peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, has stated that the conflict in Sudan is beginning to impact the Central African Republic. This was highlighted following an attack on a UN peacekeeper. What are your thoughts on the potential for this conflict to expand regionally? And if it does, what are the appropriate international responses to prevent escalation?
Tsukerman: I don’t expect a large-scale confrontation in the immediate future. The tensions have not yet reached that threshold. However, the fact that there is already spillover—and that incidents like attacks on UN peacekeepers are occurring—shows that destabilization efforts are underway. These are not isolated accidents. There are actors, including Russia and regional factions, who benefit from instability and may be encouraging it.
The more Russia sees no consequences for its actions elsewhere, the more it is emboldened to provoke unrest in additional regions—just because it can. This creates a dangerous precedent. We are already seeing troubling signs: for instance, former President Trump has publicly pushed to end U.S. funding for democracy-promoting initiatives abroad. That means Russian dissidents, Ukrainian civil society groups, and other vulnerable actors are losing critical support.
Additionally, there is a reported recommendation from the White House to end investigations into Russian war crimes in Ukraine. If that happens, it further signals to Moscow and others that international norms are optional. Such policies not only weaken Western influence but embolden authoritarian regimes to act without fear of accountability.
All of this is signalling to Russia that it can commit war crimes, provocations, invasions, and acts of aggression with impunity. Suppose Moscow can get away with a direct, full-scale invasion of a sovereign country like Ukraine. In that case, smaller-scale proxy attacks will likely proliferate. That is basic geopolitical logic. Russia’s aim appears to be creating as many flashpoints and destabilizing incidents as possible, forcing the U.S. and its allies to spread their attention thin—monitoring too many regions at once. This reduces the ability to respond effectively to any one crisis and weakens global coordination.
Jacobsen: The U.S. has recently threatened to boycott the upcoming UN Development Finance Summit. What are your thoughts?
Tsukerman: There has been much inflammatory rhetoric surrounding that summit. It is no secret that Trump has little regard for multilateral international gatherings, especially those organized by the UN. He has had longstanding issues with the UN—some of which involve its perceived interference with U.S. sovereignty, particularly when it comments on or critiques U.S. constitutional matters.
However, Trump’s more profound concern is the growing influence of China in these international arenas. He wants the United States to maintain dominance without contributing more financially, yet is simultaneously frustrated that other powers—especially China—are using diplomacy, lobbying, and funding to advance their influence in the vacuum left by the U.S. retreat.
So, now, the U.S. is attempting to withdraw, hoping that other countries will follow or that the absence of American participation will delegitimize the summit. The U.S. still holds a permanent veto at the Security Council, but walking away from other UN platforms only diminishes its soft power and influence.
And that is the irony: by not offering viable alternatives or engaging bilaterally with summit participants, the U.S. ultimately isolates itself. It is not setting up new channels, building alternative coalitions, or pursuing a replacement strategy. It is simply boycotting—thereby appearing more like a spoiler than a global leader.
Jacobsen: The UN Charter is now marking its 80th anniversary. Secretary-General Guterres has warned against countries engaging with the UN in a “à la carte” fashion—selectively adhering to Charter obligations. He cited violations tied to multiple conflicts. While it is unclear whether he referred to historical, ongoing, or both kinds of breaches, the criticism seems valid in all three cases. What are your reflections on this anniversary and the selective adherence to the Charter?
Tsukerman: It is painfully apparent that the UN and other international organizations are falling short of their founding missions—especially in the realm of human rights. With the global rise in authoritarianism and widespread human rights abuses, many of the Charter’s commitments now feel hollow.
States responsible for gross violations of human rights are not being sanctioned or isolated; instead, they are welcomed at international gatherings, given platforms, and in some cases—such as with permanent members of the Security Council—granted veto power. That creates a system in which enforcement is nearly impossible.
When we mark anniversaries like the 80th anniversary of the UN Charter, it is primarily symbolic. Such milestones only hold weight if the member states genuinely uphold the values they signed on to. Selective engagement, or “à la carte” adherence, undermines the entire structure. If countries only follow the rules when it suits them, the system collapses into moral relativism and strategic opportunism.
The fact that selective treatment of international law and standards occurs is, from a practical standpoint, not surprising. Of course, states will cherry-pick the benefits that benefit them and push their agendas when given the opportunity. That is precisely where international consensus is supposed to function—where other member states and institutional partners are expected to hold each other accountable. But they do not. The disparity across nations is so stark that it is astonishing that any human rights are respected at all, anywhere.
What is needed is a clear and enforceable human rights charter. But enforcement begins at the national level before it can be applied internationally. And frankly, without mechanisms to hold global powers like China and Russia accountable—both of whom routinely use their positions on the UN Security Council to block scrutiny of their own human rights violations—it is challenging to envision meaningful global enforcement.
These powers often collaborate within the Security Council to prevent serious consequences for their actions. Without structural reforms or independent enforcement mechanisms, international human rights law becomes performative. At present, it risks becoming a global punchline.
Jacobsen: Reuters recently reported that Amnesty International and others uncovered 53 scam compounds operating out of Cambodia. These centers reportedly traffic and torture victims, including children, to run global cyber fraud schemes. Any thoughts?
Tsukerman: Honestly, I should be more shocked than I am. The proliferation of scam networks in certain parts of Southeast Asia is not a new phenomenon. What is new—and truly alarming—is the evidence that these criminal enterprises are increasingly partnering with human traffickers and other organized crime groups to expand their operations.
Why target children? First, because they can. Children are vulnerable, easily manipulated, and powerless. Second, it is significantly more challenging for authorities to investigate or prosecute such abuses, especially in areas where corruption is rampant or law enforcement is complicit. Third, there are well-established trafficking networks in the region that can easily supply these criminal syndicates with child victims.
Why torture them? Because these groups are utterly ruthless. People often underestimate the severity of financial fraud, but these operations are not bloodless crimes. Victims are usually elderly, isolated, or vulnerable individuals who are deprived of their life savings. These groups also engage in ransomware, extortion, and blackmail. There have been suicides linked to their scams, and many victims lose their homes, pensions, or basic livelihoods.
So, the objectives are predatory, and the methods are equally brutal. Unfortunately, prosecution is difficult. First, because these operations are transnational, requiring cooperation among countries with vastly different legal systems, political agendas, and law enforcement capabilities. Second, because many of the details of how these groups operate have only recently come to light, they had long operated in near-total secrecy.
While the existence of such scams in Southeast Asia has been known for years, how they function—the forced labour, the torture, the human trafficking pipeline—has only recently begun to be exposed in full detail. That exposure is critical if international law enforcement is ever going to catch up.
There has been a fundamental lack of attention, lack of resources, and low prioritization when it comes to tackling these transnational scams and trafficking networks. In addition, there is a clear deficit in training and preparedness for this type of complex, hybrid criminal activity. Now that these operations have crossed into open physical violence and abductions, perhaps the international response dynamic will shift. But it should not have taken this long.
Jacobsen: Israeli forces have reportedly launched an internal war crimes investigation concerning the deaths of 500 civilians in Gaza. Any thoughts on this?
Tsukerman: That is a very encouraging sign. It is precisely what should happen when credible allegations of grave violations are raised. The fact that Israel is conducting a self-policing investigation shows that the mechanisms of accountability are functioning, at least to some extent.
Yes, one can—and should—criticize certain government officials or political leaders for using inflammatory rhetoric that may contribute to a dehumanizing environment. However, the rule of law requires that credible allegations are investigated and, where warranted, punished. That is the mark of a functioning democracy and an ethical military code of conduct.
I hope that some of Israel’s harshest critics in the region take this as a lesson—not just as an opportunity to issue more condemnations. Instead, they should focus on adopting similar transparency and internal accountability mechanisms. Criticism is easy. Facing international and domestic pressure while investigating your actions is much harder—and that is what Israel is doing here.
Jacobsen: Shifting to another topic, Australia’s defense outlays are about 2.0% of GDP, with a forecast to reach 2.33% only by 2033–34. As you know, NATO’s minimum spending guideline is 2%. Canada, by comparison, remains around 1.4% and is projected to reach 2% in the coming year. What are your thoughts on Australia’s case and the broader implications of this American pressure?
Tsukerman: Australia faces its own set of unique security challenges, with China representing the most significant concern. While I do not believe China will launch a direct attack on Australia shortly, asymmetric threats—like cyber warfare, influence campaigns, and economic coercion—are real and growing. Australia needs to be prepared for these contingencies, which are part of NATO’s evolving doctrine.
Moreover, Australia is a crucial ally in the Indo-Pacific and a member of strategic alliances like AUKUS and the Quad. With mounting instability in the region, it is in everyone’s interest that Australia is well-resourced and strategically positioned.
That said, this issue is not just about raw budget numbers. Spending 2% of GDP is a baseline, but what truly matters is how that money is used—whether it is being invested in modernization, joint operations capacity, cyber defence, intelligence, and other force multipliers. Budgetary compliance alone does not guarantee security or alliance strength. Strategic clarity and efficient use of funds are just as important.
Correctly allocating a defence budget means more than just hitting a spending target. It requires ensuring that deliveries are made on time, that procurement processes are transparent and efficient, and that priorities are coordinated with allies in a way that addresses shared strategic challenges. All of these factors matter just as much as the actual size of the budget.
Simply throwing money at a problem does not guarantee responsible use. It often leads to the opposite. The U.S. Department of Defence, for example, has one of the most significant budgets in the world. Yet, it has consistently failed audits and has persistent issues with oversight, inventory tracking, and cost control. This shows that even with near-unlimited funding, mismanagement is possible—and, in some cases, systemic.
Jacobsen: One of the significant developments this week was a minor update to the investigation into strikes in Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu has publicly denied claims that Israeli forces were ordered to shoot Palestinians seeking aid. Strikes reportedly continue to impact aid convoys and distribution points. So, the core issue remains the distinction between inadvertent harm and deliberate targeting. Any thoughts?
Tsukerman: I have not seen any verified evidence that supports the claim of a deliberate shoot-to-kill order against civilians seeking aid. Most of these allegations come from anonymous sources unwilling to go on record or from individuals who are openly opposed to the war effort and Israeli military conduct. That does not automatically invalidate their concerns, but it does raise red flags about reliability and motive.
There is a crucial distinction between legitimate critiques—such as concerns over proportionality, civilian safety, or strategic missteps—and fabricating or exaggerating claims to score political points. Some of these reports, in my view, may cross that line. When people insert intent where there is no clear evidence, they undermine the credibility of real, evidence-based human rights monitoring.
Suppose these accusations are being made solely to bolster a political case without the backing of forensic data or credible firsthand testimony. In that case, we risk turning war crimes allegations into tools of political warfare—rather than instruments of justice. That can inflame tensions, damage prospects for peace, and create misinformation that further destabilizes the region. It is crucial to demand transparency and accountability from all sides—but also to uphold rigorous standards of evidence in how these allegations are reported and evaluated.
Jacobsen: I would like to bring up one last issue—Trump’s recent comments criticizing negotiations with Canada. This seems to be getting very little coverage. What are your thoughts?
Tsukerman: Yes, that’s the elephant in the room. Trump’s remarks were not only dismissive but also based on a bizarre justification. He claimed that the breakdown in negotiations was due to Canada’s proposal to tax large tech companies—many of which are based in the United States.
Look, it is entirely reasonable to disagree over taxation and digital trade policies. But walking away from broader diplomatic and economic talks over a specific tax proposal—especially one that is being considered or adopted by several democratic nations—is disproportionate and counterproductive.
It sends a message that the U.S. is unwilling to engage in difficult but necessary negotiations with close allies. And it weakens the kind of cooperation that is needed to address global challenges—whether in trade, defence, climate, or digital regulation. Canada has consistently been a constructive partner in multilateral forums. Undermining that relationship over a policy disagreement risks not only damaging bilateral ties but also eroding the broader credibility of U.S. diplomacy.
The problem is that Trump has framed the dispute as some nefarious, ill-intentioned attack on Americans by the Prime Minister and the Canadian government. That is so absurd that it is hard to know where to begin. There is no logical reason why the talks should have collapsed over what was, in essence, a standard policy disagreement. That is precisely why such negotiations exist—to resolve these differences.
If a policy gap exists, the next step is to work out compromises—introduce a give-and-take model or create a new structural framework to meet the goals of both parties. Instead, it appears that the administration either lacked the creativity to move forward constructively or never intended to negotiate in good faith in the first place. Perhaps Trump, now that the Iran issue has faded somewhat, felt the need to return to this anti-Canada narrative as a distraction from domestic challenges.
There are ongoing crises at home—from legal troubles to economic uncertainty—and posturing against a neighbour like Canada might seem, to him, like an easy win for his political base. He may resume the talks at a later date. Still, suppose he continues to treat every reasonable disagreement as an existential threat. In that case, he will rapidly alienate traditional allies and lose valuable diplomatic capital.
This is incredibly self-destructive behaviour. Turning minor disagreements into full-scale diplomatic breakdowns erodes trust, credibility, and the long-term ability to negotiate anything meaningful.
Jacobsen: On a different note, Reuters has reported that a UAE-based fund purchased $100 million worth of Trump’s “World Liberty Coins,” a cryptocurrency initiative associated with his brand. Do you have thoughts on this?
Tsukerman: I mean, let us be honest—it is not a massive sum for the UAE. They spend significantly more on arms, infrastructure, and influence-building globally. But the optics here are blatant. It is a strategic move to curry favour with Trump. The logic seems to be: if other governments and actors are buying access and goodwill through symbolic or frivolous means, why not them, too?
Unfortunately, we are witnessing what appears to be open bribery. These cryptocurrencies have no demonstrable utility or value in global markets. Yet, they are being bought in bulk—not as an investment, but as a means to gain favour. That is the core issue: Trump has created an ecosystem in which foreign states feel empowered to participate in pay-to-play schemes with virtually no oversight.
This is not about diplomacy or even soft power. It is about personal enrichment in exchange for political leverage. That creates an immediate and dangerous conflict of interest between Trump’s role as a private businessman and his potential or actual role as head of state. This is behaviour that would be outright illegal under most standard interpretations of conflict-of-interest law.
In a functioning democracy with adequate enforcement mechanisms, something like this would be prohibited entirely. There would be immediate investigations. But the current political climate allows him to get away with behaviour that, under normal circumstances, would be grounds for serious legal action. It is not just unethical—it is potentially criminal.
This is an impeachable offence. But until the Democrats retake Congress, I do not see anyone making such a move—or even seriously raising the argument in public.
Jacobsen: Anything else worth bringing up?
Tsukerman: Mamdani’s election by the Democrats in New York.
Jacobsen: Let’s do Mamdani. He got elected—what are your initial thoughts?
Tsukerman: Mamdani’s election is significant, but what is troubling is how Republicans are handling it. They are focusing heavily on his alleged religious identity, framing it in a way that makes him seem like a threat. In doing so, they are turning him into a sympathetic figure for many observers, even those who might disagree with him on policy. By reducing everything to religious insinuations, they’re undermining legitimate critique and giving him political cover.
Instead of dismantling Mamdani’s hypocrisy and lack of political substance—his performative rhetoric, his privileged background, and his shallow understanding of complex policy issues—his critics are going after his alleged religious identity. That is a strategic mistake. He will not bring socialism; he will profit from socialist talking points while maintaining personal privilege. That is the argument they should be making. He is yet another political opportunist using ideological branding to build a platform. He is, frankly, a scammer.
Jacobsen: Any final thoughts for this week?
Tsukerman: Yes. There are severe issues in play right now. Unfortunately, many prominent figures seem more interested in hijacking these discussions—turning procedural matters into personal soapboxes, dramatizing secondary concerns, and diverting attention from the urgent issues that need resolution. That is the real takeaway from this week’s events: manufactured controversy continues to eclipse real solutions.
Jacobsen: Irina, thank you as always.
Last updated May 3, 2025. These terms govern all In Sight Publishing content—past, present, and future—and supersede any prior notices. In Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons BY‑NC‑ND 4.0; © In Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen 2012–Present. All trademarks, performances, databases & branding are owned by their rights holders; no use without permission. Unauthorized copying, modification, framing or public communication is prohibited. External links are not endorsed. Cookies & tracking require consent, and data processing complies with PIPEDA & GDPR; no data from children < 13 (COPPA). Content meets WCAG 2.1 AA under the Accessible Canada Act & is preserved in open archival formats with backups. Excerpts & links require full credit & hyperlink; limited quoting under fair-dealing & fair-use. All content is informational; no liability for errors or omissions: Feedback welcome, and verified errors corrected promptly. For permissions or DMCA notices, email: [email protected]. Site use is governed by BC laws; content is “as‑is,” liability limited, users indemnify us; moral, performers’ & database sui generis rights reserved.
#geopoliticalStrategy #HumanRights #HumanitarianAid #NationalSecurity #NuclearProliferation
-
HT @btschumy
And this is why we need to #RethinkNotRestart and #ShutDownAllNuclearPlants -- especially the aging ones! This article outlines a very possible #Doomsday scenario -- but it could be a number of things, including a large #SolarFlare...2030 Doomsday Scenario: The Great #Nuclear Collapse
A timeline of the #EndGame for human civilization
"Humanity has constructed a doomsday Deadman switch that threatens civilization. Climate destruction will make it increasingly difficult to avoid the looming global nuclear catastrophe we've created.
"Here's how our future might unravel:
Late 2020s: Climate Red Alert and Infrastructure Strain"By the late 2020s, Earth’s climate is in unprecedented turmoil. Global average temperatures are consistently 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. Each year brings record-breaking heatwaves, “freak” floods, and droughts that batter infrastructure. Coastal cities flood more frequently, roads buckle in extreme heat, and power grids strain under surging demand for cooling.
"This cascade of climate disasters sets the stage for a systemic collapse: as societies grapple with runaway warming, the resilience of #Criticalnfrastructure (power, water, transit) erodes.
"Energy systems enter a crisis even before 2030. Nuclear power, which in 2025 still provided about 9% of the world’s electricity from ~440 reactors, becomes increasingly unreliable. Many nuclear plants struggle with climate stresses: cooling water sources heat up in summer, forcing reactors to reduce output or shut down to avoid unsafe temperatures. For example, a 2028 European #heatwave pushes river and sea temperatures above 25 °C, triggering emergency shutdowns at multiple reactors that cannot be cooled effectively.
"At the same time, stronger storms and floods threaten reactor safety. Dozens of reactors worldwide are unprepared for #ExtremeFlooding, meaning a dam failure or #StormSurge could lead to a Fukushima-scale accident. Worrisome reports emerge of power plants in #floodplains and #coasts where defenses are overtopped by #RisingSeas and torrential rains.
"By 2029, global carbon output remains high, and natural feedback loops are kicking in. In the Arctic, permafrost thaws and releases methane creating a vicious warming cycle where initial warming triggers more emissions, leading to even more warming. Scientists caution that a tipping point is near, beyond which climate change becomes self-perpetuating (a true “runaway” scenario).
"Society approaches 2030 in a precarious state: aware of looming catastrophe yet unprepared for its speed. The stage is set for the coming collapse, with power grids and nuclear facilities - the backbone of the industrial world - already under severe strain.
Early 2030s: Blackouts and the First Reactor Crises
"2030 marks the breaking point.
"A confluence of climate catastrophes collapses power grids across multiple continents. A severe global heatwave in the summer of 2030 brings record electricity demand while many power plants (nuclear and coal alike) are derated or offline due to overheating coolant water.
"Then powerful Category 5 storms strike in succession: one hurricane inundates the U.S. Eastern seaboard, while an unprecedented typhoon swamps Southeast Asia. These #disasters knock out transmission lines and flood key substations, leading to prolonged blackouts in dozens of major cities. Emergency systems are overwhelmed. With communications down and transportation paralyzed, manpower shortages become acute - many operators and engineers cannot reach their stations.
"Nuclear power plants are among the first to feel the emergency. Grid failure triggers automatic reactor SCRAMs (rapid shutdowns) at plants from Florida to France. Control rods halt the fission reactions, but decay heat in reactor cores still needs cooling for days to prevent meltdown.
"Normally, backup diesel generators would power the cooling pumps, but the scale of the #blackout means diesel resupply is uncertain and some generators fail in flooded facilities. In a grim reflection of 2011’s Fukushima disaster, several coastal reactors lose all power as storm surges drown their backup generators.
"Within hours to days, the first meltdowns occur.
"In 2031, a reactor in South Asia becomes a flashpoint: its cooling pumps falter after the grid collapse, leading the core to overheat. The reactor’s heart melts through containment in a matter of days, releasing a plume of radioactive steam and debris.
"Nearby, an even greater danger unfolds: the plant’s spent fuel pool, packed with years of highly radioactive spent rods, boils dry without cooling. Exposed to air, the zirconium cladding of the fuel ignites, triggering a fire that belches long-lived radioisotopes directly into the atmosphere. This nightmare scenario - once narrowly avoided at #Fukushima by heroic ad-hoc measures - now plays out in full."
Read more:
https://www.collapse2050.com/2030-doomsday-scenario-the-great-nuclear-collapse/#NoNukes #RenewablesNow #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Radiation #NuclearMeltdowns #Polycrisis #NoMoreFukushimas #NoNukesForAI #CivilizationCollapse #NuclearFuture #ARadioactiveWorld
-
HT @btschumy
And this is why we need to #RethinkNotRestart and #ShutDownAllNuclearPlants -- especially the aging ones! This article outlines a very possible #Doomsday scenario -- but it could be a number of things, including a large #SolarFlare...2030 Doomsday Scenario: The Great #Nuclear Collapse
A timeline of the #EndGame for human civilization
"Humanity has constructed a doomsday Deadman switch that threatens civilization. Climate destruction will make it increasingly difficult to avoid the looming global nuclear catastrophe we've created.
"Here's how our future might unravel:
Late 2020s: Climate Red Alert and Infrastructure Strain"By the late 2020s, Earth’s climate is in unprecedented turmoil. Global average temperatures are consistently 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. Each year brings record-breaking heatwaves, “freak” floods, and droughts that batter infrastructure. Coastal cities flood more frequently, roads buckle in extreme heat, and power grids strain under surging demand for cooling.
"This cascade of climate disasters sets the stage for a systemic collapse: as societies grapple with runaway warming, the resilience of #Criticalnfrastructure (power, water, transit) erodes.
"Energy systems enter a crisis even before 2030. Nuclear power, which in 2025 still provided about 9% of the world’s electricity from ~440 reactors, becomes increasingly unreliable. Many nuclear plants struggle with climate stresses: cooling water sources heat up in summer, forcing reactors to reduce output or shut down to avoid unsafe temperatures. For example, a 2028 European #heatwave pushes river and sea temperatures above 25 °C, triggering emergency shutdowns at multiple reactors that cannot be cooled effectively.
"At the same time, stronger storms and floods threaten reactor safety. Dozens of reactors worldwide are unprepared for #ExtremeFlooding, meaning a dam failure or #StormSurge could lead to a Fukushima-scale accident. Worrisome reports emerge of power plants in #floodplains and #coasts where defenses are overtopped by #RisingSeas and torrential rains.
"By 2029, global carbon output remains high, and natural feedback loops are kicking in. In the Arctic, permafrost thaws and releases methane creating a vicious warming cycle where initial warming triggers more emissions, leading to even more warming. Scientists caution that a tipping point is near, beyond which climate change becomes self-perpetuating (a true “runaway” scenario).
"Society approaches 2030 in a precarious state: aware of looming catastrophe yet unprepared for its speed. The stage is set for the coming collapse, with power grids and nuclear facilities - the backbone of the industrial world - already under severe strain.
Early 2030s: Blackouts and the First Reactor Crises
"2030 marks the breaking point.
"A confluence of climate catastrophes collapses power grids across multiple continents. A severe global heatwave in the summer of 2030 brings record electricity demand while many power plants (nuclear and coal alike) are derated or offline due to overheating coolant water.
"Then powerful Category 5 storms strike in succession: one hurricane inundates the U.S. Eastern seaboard, while an unprecedented typhoon swamps Southeast Asia. These #disasters knock out transmission lines and flood key substations, leading to prolonged blackouts in dozens of major cities. Emergency systems are overwhelmed. With communications down and transportation paralyzed, manpower shortages become acute - many operators and engineers cannot reach their stations.
"Nuclear power plants are among the first to feel the emergency. Grid failure triggers automatic reactor SCRAMs (rapid shutdowns) at plants from Florida to France. Control rods halt the fission reactions, but decay heat in reactor cores still needs cooling for days to prevent meltdown.
"Normally, backup diesel generators would power the cooling pumps, but the scale of the #blackout means diesel resupply is uncertain and some generators fail in flooded facilities. In a grim reflection of 2011’s Fukushima disaster, several coastal reactors lose all power as storm surges drown their backup generators.
"Within hours to days, the first meltdowns occur.
"In 2031, a reactor in South Asia becomes a flashpoint: its cooling pumps falter after the grid collapse, leading the core to overheat. The reactor’s heart melts through containment in a matter of days, releasing a plume of radioactive steam and debris.
"Nearby, an even greater danger unfolds: the plant’s spent fuel pool, packed with years of highly radioactive spent rods, boils dry without cooling. Exposed to air, the zirconium cladding of the fuel ignites, triggering a fire that belches long-lived radioisotopes directly into the atmosphere. This nightmare scenario - once narrowly avoided at #Fukushima by heroic ad-hoc measures - now plays out in full."
Read more:
https://www.collapse2050.com/2030-doomsday-scenario-the-great-nuclear-collapse/#NoNukes #RenewablesNow #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Radiation #NuclearMeltdowns #Polycrisis #NoMoreFukushimas #NoNukesForAI #CivilizationCollapse #NuclearFuture #ARadioactiveWorld
-
HT @btschumy
And this is why we need to #RethinkNotRestart and #ShutDownAllNuclearPlants -- especially the aging ones! This article outlines a very possible #Doomsday scenario -- but it could be a number of things, including a large #SolarFlare...2030 Doomsday Scenario: The Great #Nuclear Collapse
A timeline of the #EndGame for human civilization
"Humanity has constructed a doomsday Deadman switch that threatens civilization. Climate destruction will make it increasingly difficult to avoid the looming global nuclear catastrophe we've created.
"Here's how our future might unravel:
Late 2020s: Climate Red Alert and Infrastructure Strain"By the late 2020s, Earth’s climate is in unprecedented turmoil. Global average temperatures are consistently 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. Each year brings record-breaking heatwaves, “freak” floods, and droughts that batter infrastructure. Coastal cities flood more frequently, roads buckle in extreme heat, and power grids strain under surging demand for cooling.
"This cascade of climate disasters sets the stage for a systemic collapse: as societies grapple with runaway warming, the resilience of #Criticalnfrastructure (power, water, transit) erodes.
"Energy systems enter a crisis even before 2030. Nuclear power, which in 2025 still provided about 9% of the world’s electricity from ~440 reactors, becomes increasingly unreliable. Many nuclear plants struggle with climate stresses: cooling water sources heat up in summer, forcing reactors to reduce output or shut down to avoid unsafe temperatures. For example, a 2028 European #heatwave pushes river and sea temperatures above 25 °C, triggering emergency shutdowns at multiple reactors that cannot be cooled effectively.
"At the same time, stronger storms and floods threaten reactor safety. Dozens of reactors worldwide are unprepared for #ExtremeFlooding, meaning a dam failure or #StormSurge could lead to a Fukushima-scale accident. Worrisome reports emerge of power plants in #floodplains and #coasts where defenses are overtopped by #RisingSeas and torrential rains.
"By 2029, global carbon output remains high, and natural feedback loops are kicking in. In the Arctic, permafrost thaws and releases methane creating a vicious warming cycle where initial warming triggers more emissions, leading to even more warming. Scientists caution that a tipping point is near, beyond which climate change becomes self-perpetuating (a true “runaway” scenario).
"Society approaches 2030 in a precarious state: aware of looming catastrophe yet unprepared for its speed. The stage is set for the coming collapse, with power grids and nuclear facilities - the backbone of the industrial world - already under severe strain.
Early 2030s: Blackouts and the First Reactor Crises
"2030 marks the breaking point.
"A confluence of climate catastrophes collapses power grids across multiple continents. A severe global heatwave in the summer of 2030 brings record electricity demand while many power plants (nuclear and coal alike) are derated or offline due to overheating coolant water.
"Then powerful Category 5 storms strike in succession: one hurricane inundates the U.S. Eastern seaboard, while an unprecedented typhoon swamps Southeast Asia. These #disasters knock out transmission lines and flood key substations, leading to prolonged blackouts in dozens of major cities. Emergency systems are overwhelmed. With communications down and transportation paralyzed, manpower shortages become acute - many operators and engineers cannot reach their stations.
"Nuclear power plants are among the first to feel the emergency. Grid failure triggers automatic reactor SCRAMs (rapid shutdowns) at plants from Florida to France. Control rods halt the fission reactions, but decay heat in reactor cores still needs cooling for days to prevent meltdown.
"Normally, backup diesel generators would power the cooling pumps, but the scale of the #blackout means diesel resupply is uncertain and some generators fail in flooded facilities. In a grim reflection of 2011’s Fukushima disaster, several coastal reactors lose all power as storm surges drown their backup generators.
"Within hours to days, the first meltdowns occur.
"In 2031, a reactor in South Asia becomes a flashpoint: its cooling pumps falter after the grid collapse, leading the core to overheat. The reactor’s heart melts through containment in a matter of days, releasing a plume of radioactive steam and debris.
"Nearby, an even greater danger unfolds: the plant’s spent fuel pool, packed with years of highly radioactive spent rods, boils dry without cooling. Exposed to air, the zirconium cladding of the fuel ignites, triggering a fire that belches long-lived radioisotopes directly into the atmosphere. This nightmare scenario - once narrowly avoided at #Fukushima by heroic ad-hoc measures - now plays out in full."
Read more:
https://www.collapse2050.com/2030-doomsday-scenario-the-great-nuclear-collapse/#NoNukes #RenewablesNow #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Radiation #NuclearMeltdowns #Polycrisis #NoMoreFukushimas #NoNukesForAI #CivilizationCollapse #NuclearFuture #ARadioactiveWorld
-
HT @btschumy
And this is why we need to #RethinkNotRestart and #ShutDownAllNuclearPlants -- especially the aging ones! This article outlines a very possible #Doomsday scenario -- but it could be a number of things, including a large #SolarFlare...2030 Doomsday Scenario: The Great #Nuclear Collapse
A timeline of the #EndGame for human civilization
"Humanity has constructed a doomsday Deadman switch that threatens civilization. Climate destruction will make it increasingly difficult to avoid the looming global nuclear catastrophe we've created.
"Here's how our future might unravel:
Late 2020s: Climate Red Alert and Infrastructure Strain"By the late 2020s, Earth’s climate is in unprecedented turmoil. Global average temperatures are consistently 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. Each year brings record-breaking heatwaves, “freak” floods, and droughts that batter infrastructure. Coastal cities flood more frequently, roads buckle in extreme heat, and power grids strain under surging demand for cooling.
"This cascade of climate disasters sets the stage for a systemic collapse: as societies grapple with runaway warming, the resilience of #Criticalnfrastructure (power, water, transit) erodes.
"Energy systems enter a crisis even before 2030. Nuclear power, which in 2025 still provided about 9% of the world’s electricity from ~440 reactors, becomes increasingly unreliable. Many nuclear plants struggle with climate stresses: cooling water sources heat up in summer, forcing reactors to reduce output or shut down to avoid unsafe temperatures. For example, a 2028 European #heatwave pushes river and sea temperatures above 25 °C, triggering emergency shutdowns at multiple reactors that cannot be cooled effectively.
"At the same time, stronger storms and floods threaten reactor safety. Dozens of reactors worldwide are unprepared for #ExtremeFlooding, meaning a dam failure or #StormSurge could lead to a Fukushima-scale accident. Worrisome reports emerge of power plants in #floodplains and #coasts where defenses are overtopped by #RisingSeas and torrential rains.
"By 2029, global carbon output remains high, and natural feedback loops are kicking in. In the Arctic, permafrost thaws and releases methane creating a vicious warming cycle where initial warming triggers more emissions, leading to even more warming. Scientists caution that a tipping point is near, beyond which climate change becomes self-perpetuating (a true “runaway” scenario).
"Society approaches 2030 in a precarious state: aware of looming catastrophe yet unprepared for its speed. The stage is set for the coming collapse, with power grids and nuclear facilities - the backbone of the industrial world - already under severe strain.
Early 2030s: Blackouts and the First Reactor Crises
"2030 marks the breaking point.
"A confluence of climate catastrophes collapses power grids across multiple continents. A severe global heatwave in the summer of 2030 brings record electricity demand while many power plants (nuclear and coal alike) are derated or offline due to overheating coolant water.
"Then powerful Category 5 storms strike in succession: one hurricane inundates the U.S. Eastern seaboard, while an unprecedented typhoon swamps Southeast Asia. These #disasters knock out transmission lines and flood key substations, leading to prolonged blackouts in dozens of major cities. Emergency systems are overwhelmed. With communications down and transportation paralyzed, manpower shortages become acute - many operators and engineers cannot reach their stations.
"Nuclear power plants are among the first to feel the emergency. Grid failure triggers automatic reactor SCRAMs (rapid shutdowns) at plants from Florida to France. Control rods halt the fission reactions, but decay heat in reactor cores still needs cooling for days to prevent meltdown.
"Normally, backup diesel generators would power the cooling pumps, but the scale of the #blackout means diesel resupply is uncertain and some generators fail in flooded facilities. In a grim reflection of 2011’s Fukushima disaster, several coastal reactors lose all power as storm surges drown their backup generators.
"Within hours to days, the first meltdowns occur.
"In 2031, a reactor in South Asia becomes a flashpoint: its cooling pumps falter after the grid collapse, leading the core to overheat. The reactor’s heart melts through containment in a matter of days, releasing a plume of radioactive steam and debris.
"Nearby, an even greater danger unfolds: the plant’s spent fuel pool, packed with years of highly radioactive spent rods, boils dry without cooling. Exposed to air, the zirconium cladding of the fuel ignites, triggering a fire that belches long-lived radioisotopes directly into the atmosphere. This nightmare scenario - once narrowly avoided at #Fukushima by heroic ad-hoc measures - now plays out in full."
Read more:
https://www.collapse2050.com/2030-doomsday-scenario-the-great-nuclear-collapse/#NoNukes #RenewablesNow #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Radiation #NuclearMeltdowns #Polycrisis #NoMoreFukushimas #NoNukesForAI #CivilizationCollapse #NuclearFuture #ARadioactiveWorld
-
HT @btschumy
And this is why we need to #RethinkNotRestart and #ShutDownAllNuclearPlants -- especially the aging ones! This article outlines a very possible #Doomsday scenario -- but it could be a number of things, including a large #SolarFlare...2030 Doomsday Scenario: The Great #Nuclear Collapse
A timeline of the #EndGame for human civilization
"Humanity has constructed a doomsday Deadman switch that threatens civilization. Climate destruction will make it increasingly difficult to avoid the looming global nuclear catastrophe we've created.
"Here's how our future might unravel:
Late 2020s: Climate Red Alert and Infrastructure Strain"By the late 2020s, Earth’s climate is in unprecedented turmoil. Global average temperatures are consistently 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. Each year brings record-breaking heatwaves, “freak” floods, and droughts that batter infrastructure. Coastal cities flood more frequently, roads buckle in extreme heat, and power grids strain under surging demand for cooling.
"This cascade of climate disasters sets the stage for a systemic collapse: as societies grapple with runaway warming, the resilience of #Criticalnfrastructure (power, water, transit) erodes.
"Energy systems enter a crisis even before 2030. Nuclear power, which in 2025 still provided about 9% of the world’s electricity from ~440 reactors, becomes increasingly unreliable. Many nuclear plants struggle with climate stresses: cooling water sources heat up in summer, forcing reactors to reduce output or shut down to avoid unsafe temperatures. For example, a 2028 European #heatwave pushes river and sea temperatures above 25 °C, triggering emergency shutdowns at multiple reactors that cannot be cooled effectively.
"At the same time, stronger storms and floods threaten reactor safety. Dozens of reactors worldwide are unprepared for #ExtremeFlooding, meaning a dam failure or #StormSurge could lead to a Fukushima-scale accident. Worrisome reports emerge of power plants in #floodplains and #coasts where defenses are overtopped by #RisingSeas and torrential rains.
"By 2029, global carbon output remains high, and natural feedback loops are kicking in. In the Arctic, permafrost thaws and releases methane creating a vicious warming cycle where initial warming triggers more emissions, leading to even more warming. Scientists caution that a tipping point is near, beyond which climate change becomes self-perpetuating (a true “runaway” scenario).
"Society approaches 2030 in a precarious state: aware of looming catastrophe yet unprepared for its speed. The stage is set for the coming collapse, with power grids and nuclear facilities - the backbone of the industrial world - already under severe strain.
Early 2030s: Blackouts and the First Reactor Crises
"2030 marks the breaking point.
"A confluence of climate catastrophes collapses power grids across multiple continents. A severe global heatwave in the summer of 2030 brings record electricity demand while many power plants (nuclear and coal alike) are derated or offline due to overheating coolant water.
"Then powerful Category 5 storms strike in succession: one hurricane inundates the U.S. Eastern seaboard, while an unprecedented typhoon swamps Southeast Asia. These #disasters knock out transmission lines and flood key substations, leading to prolonged blackouts in dozens of major cities. Emergency systems are overwhelmed. With communications down and transportation paralyzed, manpower shortages become acute - many operators and engineers cannot reach their stations.
"Nuclear power plants are among the first to feel the emergency. Grid failure triggers automatic reactor SCRAMs (rapid shutdowns) at plants from Florida to France. Control rods halt the fission reactions, but decay heat in reactor cores still needs cooling for days to prevent meltdown.
"Normally, backup diesel generators would power the cooling pumps, but the scale of the #blackout means diesel resupply is uncertain and some generators fail in flooded facilities. In a grim reflection of 2011’s Fukushima disaster, several coastal reactors lose all power as storm surges drown their backup generators.
"Within hours to days, the first meltdowns occur.
"In 2031, a reactor in South Asia becomes a flashpoint: its cooling pumps falter after the grid collapse, leading the core to overheat. The reactor’s heart melts through containment in a matter of days, releasing a plume of radioactive steam and debris.
"Nearby, an even greater danger unfolds: the plant’s spent fuel pool, packed with years of highly radioactive spent rods, boils dry without cooling. Exposed to air, the zirconium cladding of the fuel ignites, triggering a fire that belches long-lived radioisotopes directly into the atmosphere. This nightmare scenario - once narrowly avoided at #Fukushima by heroic ad-hoc measures - now plays out in full."
Read more:
https://www.collapse2050.com/2030-doomsday-scenario-the-great-nuclear-collapse/#NoNukes #RenewablesNow #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Radiation #NuclearMeltdowns #Polycrisis #NoMoreFukushimas #NoNukesForAI #CivilizationCollapse #NuclearFuture #ARadioactiveWorld
-
Master of Superpits: the thread about Egon Riss, who fled the Holocaust and reconstructed Scottish mining in monumental concrete
On March 20th 1964 – exactly 58 years ago when this thread was first written – a man named Egon Riss died at his home in Colinton, in suburban Edinburgh. A name relatively unknown outside modernist design and industrial architecture circles, much of his life’s work has been unceremoniously demolished. So let’s try and raise his profile just a little bit, particularly in the city he came to make his home in.
Riss was born into a Jewish family in 1901, in Lipnik Beilitz in what was then Austrian Galicia (now Lipnik Bielsko-Biała in Poland). His parents were Isidor Riss and Ernestine Itzkowitz. He had an older brother, Erwin. The young Riss studied at the Weiner Technische Hochschule in Vienna – not at the Bauhaus as is sometimes written – but he was clearly influenced by the latter.
The Weiner Technische Hochschule, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Peter HaasHe became a rising star in modern architecture and, with his partner Fritz Judtmann, managed to win an important public health commission to build the Arbeiterkrankenkasse (workers’ health insurance clinic) building in Vienna. This lead to further success in design competitions for major public health buildings, e.g. a new public health asylum.
Riss & Judtmann’s 1928 public health asylum in ViennaAnd a new Tuberculosis Sanatorium for the city. Both buildings strikingly modern in both their appearance and their construction, heavy on the reinforced concrete and glass. But also with well considered function – a theme that will recurr.
Riss & Judtmann’s 1931 tuberculosis Sanatorium at the Lainz hospital in ViennaBut all was not well in Europe and the clouds of Nazism were gathering around Austria. The Riss brothers fled the rising anti-Jewish sentiment to Czechoslovakia in 1937, the year their father Isidor died, ahead of the Anschluss the following year. Their mother Ernestine did not leave. She was deported in 1942 to Auschwitz from where she never left. In March 1939 the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia, and once again the Risses had to flee. Egon made it to England where he was classified as an “enemy alien”. However through an association with furniture designer Jack Pritchard, Riss was fortunately exempted from internment.
Riss’ “Enemy Alien Exemption from Internment” card, 1939Jack and his wife Molly were directors of the Isokon Company and if you’re a real modernism anorak you will recognise Egon Riss’ address on his registration card (Lawn Road Flats) as Wells Coates’ iconic Isokon Building.
Lawn Road Flats, CC-BY-SA JustincLawn Road Flats, CC-BY-SA SciencefishEgon worked with Jack Pritchard for Isokon for a short but very period productive period. This collaboration bore fruit of several iconic (yes, that word merits being reused) pieces of modern design; the Penguin Book Donkey. Perfectly sized to take new and popular Penguin paperbacks (themselves now a classic of modern design). It was simple in form, made from a few plywood parts. The side “panniers” held the Penguins, the central slot, magazines and papers.
The Egon Riss’ Penguin Book DonkeyAllen Lane of Penguin put leaflets in every book advertising it and it could have become the must have piece of Modern British furniture had not war intervened and only a few hundred were produced before bent plywood became a strategic material used in the construction of war-winning aircraft.
Plywood goes to war, the remarkable De Havilland Mosquito aircraft. CC-BY-SA Tony HisgettAn original Book Donkey will set you back around £5-10 thousand pounds if you are lucky enough to find one. More affordable is its little brother, the Gull. Again formed from a few plywood pieces, it holds books and newspapers and can be table or wall mounted.
The Egon Riss’ book Gull. Picture from Isokon Gallery website.A cocktail cabinet called the “Bottleship” (which I cannot find a picture of) and the Pocket Bottleship, based on the Gull and with holders for bottles and glasses. Again this was could be table or wall mounted (📷 Isokon Gallery)
Egon Riss’ Pocket Bottleship. Picture from Isokon Gallery website.Riss left his partnership with Jack Pritchard and Isokon to join the British Army, first the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps (a reserve for the Pioneers, the army’s builders) and later commissioned into the Royal Engineers. In 1943 he married Margaret Jones, the couple would have 2 daughters before later divorcing. At the wars end he worked briefly in London for Robert Furneaux-Jordan and at the Architectural Association and was elected as a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
But he did not linger long in London and in 1946, or there abouts, took a job with the Miners Welfare Committee as an architect in Scotland. The MWC was a government body funded by industry levy to provide social, recreation and working condition improvement for miners. It was a pioneer of modern industrial architecture in the UK through its provision of pithead baths. Their clean, elegant, modern structures stuck out like modernist beacons against the backdrop of the Victorian collieries they served.
Polkemmet in West LothianArniston in MidlothianCardowan in LankarkshireMichael in FifeIt’s obvious from these buildings why Riss might have taken the decision to join the MWC. The combination of relative carte blanche to design striking modern structures and also to balance their form and function would have appealed. And so Riss came to Edinburgh; but his time with the MWC would be very short lived (indeed he may never actually have worked for them), because on January 1st 1947, “vesting day”, the British coal industry was nationalised under the National Coal Board; the NCB.
The British coal industry faced any number of crises; outdated working practices, a chronic lack of investment in modern techniques and equipment, labour shortages, wartime ossification, and a huge number of old, small pits approaching the end of their working lives. The NCB had a huge consolidation, modernisation and reconstruction task facing it – at the same time as maintaining and increasing existing production to keep the nations’ lights on and home fires burning. Riss himself describes it in his own words;
900 to 1,000 independent collieries had to be integrated into a single organisation. Divisions and Areas required accommodation for their staff. The offices of old coal companies were found to be most inadequate… New and better methods of material control and machine maintenance demanded Modern and spacious workshops, stores, stockyards…
Egon Riss, quoted in “Mountains and Megastructures” by Kakalis, Beattie and Ozga-LawnAnd in Scotland, it was Egon Riss who was made Chief Production Architect to the National Coal Board’s Scottish Division, headquartered at Greenend House in Gilmerton, a pit village on the outskirts of Edinburgh. The Production Architect was responsible for all the above ground buildings of a colliery. Riss was a man with a mission to use modern architecture to revolutionise Scottish coal mining. I’d like to focus this thread mainly on Riss’ work, but I do unfortunately need to stray a little bit into the early history of the nationalised coal industry in Scotland to put it in context.
The coal industry in Scotland at the time was vast, but troubled. It had suffered from a chronic lack of investment; relied heavily on manual labour and old practices; there were too many small pits with declining output; profitability and productivity were relatively low. Its old coal seams were being worked out – they were nearer the surface and easier to access and work with the older technology. There was plenty coal there, but the reserves were unproven and lay much deeper than had hitherto been exploited in Scotland. They would need the application of the most modern mining technology and methods to exploit them.
The NCB had to juggle both increasing (or maintaining) the existing output from the old, existing pits in the short term; maintaining overall production in the medium term as old pits were worked out; and planning for the bright, modern future in the long term (10+ years). It is apt that the NCB’s motto was E Tenebris Lux (“out of the darkness, light)”, as the nation was almost entirely dependent on coal for domestic and industrial heat, light and power. Without coal, and more of it, postwar reconstruction and couldn’t happen.
Arms of the National Coal Board, from Heraldry WikiMuch of the work needing done was deep underground, hidden from view of all but the men undergroun; mechanisation, reorganisation, automation, investment in new machines and techniques, exploring and exploiting new seams. But it was on the surface where Riss and his department came in. Some of his earliest work was on buildings to improve surface arrangements at existing pits, to both increase productivity but also to better the working conditions for the men. I think there’s a recurring theme in Riss’ work for the NCB that he considered the miners at all times, and how they would move around and make use of the surface buildings of the pit. He really tried to make that journey as smooth, economical and comfortable as possible. An example of this is some of his earliest work; covered walkways at the Newbattle collieries to allow miners to get between the pithead baths and the pithead, under cover and with the luxury of heating.
The remains of Riss’ concrete walkway at Newbattle in the snow, which it would have protected miners coming on and off shift from. CC-by-SA Alan Murray RustSimple improvements like this made miners lives just a little bit more comfortable and saved them a bit of time; they could get directly from the baths (where they started and ended work) to the pitheads at Lady Victoria and Lingerwood under cover, without stops, to start work.
The NCB quickly shut down the least productive (usually the smallest and oldest pits) and made investments like this at the bigger and more profitable ones as they set about trying to consolidate and rationalise the Scottish industry. But these rearrangements were piecework to tide the industry over. It was the vast new schemes, which were coined as “Superpits“, that were to be a renaissance for the industry and allow Riss to stamp his style and ideas into the landscape in towers of concrete and steel.
The NCB had a radical plan to get Scottish mining to a profitable production of 30 million tons per year by 1965, and to do this it would need 15 million tons of brand new, efficient and profitable production output from new pits. This was Riss’ challenge. These new mines would have to do something that had never been done before in Scotland; Go deep – really deep! Most of the unexploited coals lay in the deep limestone group and this meant going down to 3,000 feet before hitting the coal measures. And so Riss set to work. From his office on Eglinton Crescent in a grand Victorian villa in central Edinburgh, he worked upstairs at his easel, sketching out his ideas in charcoal, which were then taken down to his team to be turned into the technical drawings.
The National Coal Board production architect’s offices on Eglinton CrescentThe first scheme was Rothes. Planned by the Fife Coal Company prewar (one of the more learned and modern of Scottish coalmasters), this is a scheme that promised so much employment and profitability, but was killed by treacherous underground geology and a blind failure to accept that fact. It’s hard to overstate the optimism that surrounded Rothes. It was to be the showpiece for the Scottish industry – a new town was prepared for its workers at Glenrothes. And Riss prepared appropriately monumental and modern surface buildings for it. His Rothes was beautifully stark and elegant. Two giant concrete, steel and glass towers held the modern “Koepe” winders, connected by a vast car hall ( concrete, steel and glass. Surface buildings were carefully arranged, like that fanhouse with its flared ventilation scoops.
Rothes. Picture from RibapixRiss’ charcoal sketches survive with Canmore. With a literal clean sheet, everything could be arranged on the surface for maximum efficiency. The flow of men, machinery and coal was carefully planned and considered. True to the principles of the Bauhaus, form balanced function.
A Riss’ sketch for RothesThe first Superpit was opened in a blaze of publicity and optimism in 1958. The Queen performed the ceremony and even went 1,600 feet underground in pristine white overalls
The queen handing over her check token before going underground. From Fife TodayBut all was not well at Rothes behind this official veneer. Infact, it was catastrophic. The geological conditions were appalling. Water pressures of 1,000 PSI were encountered, the shafts flooded and cracked quicker than they could be dug and lined. Long story short, Rothes was beset by poor planning and an over-optimistic, over-enthusiasm to get going on unproven geology. Heroic efforts were made above and below ground by the miners and management to make a go of it, but it was a pit for nothing but money. The NCB called it quits in early 1964 and Rothes was unceremoniously closed, its monumental surface buildings left to rot for the next 30 years as a bitter reminder of its failure. Rothes’ towers came down finally in March 1993. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Riss’ part in this grand scheme, but it was an ignominious start for the revitalisation of the Scottish mining industry.
The demolition of Rothes’ towers. From The CourierFortunately the administrative building, some of the surface workshops and the fan house survive at Rothes.
Surface workshopsPithead offices and walkwayFan houseThe surface remains at Rothes. © SelfRothes had a close architectural sibling in another Superpit – Killoch in Ayrshire. That was a bit of a happier story, it was the first Scottish colliery to hit a million tons output per year – in 1965. It survived the miners strike but closed in 1988, its towers demolished. For quite some while after closure of the shafts, the coal processing facility at Killoch remained open to treat opencast coal, and much survives of the former workshops and administrative buildings on the surface as far as I’m aware.
KillochClose-by Killoch was another colliery at Barony. This was not a Superpit but was a vast reconstruction and reorganisation scheme of an existing, older mine. No. 3 shaft and its surface buildings are one of Riss’ enduring monuments.
Barony No. 3The vast A-frame that held the winding gear at Barony remains as a monument to the now-gone industry. Barony survived until 1989, linked underground to Killoch. These pits were perhaps the most successful in the post-war Scottish industry.
The Barony A-frame. CC-by-SA ScottAnother Riss reconstruction scheme was at Kinneil in Bo’ness. The old colliery was systematically modernised and rebuilt in a style which, unusually for Riss, made heavy use of brick as a feature.
Kinneil. Tom Astbury via Falkirk Community TrustKinneil closed just before the Miners’ Strike, in 1983, its expensive reconstruction never really bore the expected fruits. It is remarkable for being linked by a 5.5km tunnel, under the Forth, to Valleyfield Colliery in Fife. Nearer to home, for the Lothian coalfield, Riss laid out out his designs for two brand new Superpits. The first was in Loanhead, to replace the existing, older pits at Burghlee and Ramsay. This scheme would become Bilston Glen. Riss would work upstairs, sketching his ideas out, before taking them down to his draughtsmen to turn into technical drawings. He did not tolerate individualism on the part of his subordinates or their attempts to ornament his designs; woe betide any junior who tried to rearrange the regular and evenly spaced windows in a long façade in some sort of pleasing pattern.
Riss sketch for Bilston GlenAlthough it was never as profitable as was hoped, Bilston Glen was a productive and relatively successful pit. Nothing like as monumental as Rothes or Killoch, on the surface it was quite unobtrusive, more like a modern factory than the vast, statement cathedrals to mining. Sinking commenced in 1952 and production began 11 years later in 1963. By 1970 it employed some 2,300 and produced almost 1,400,000 tons of coal per year. Although a relatively productive and profitable mine, Bilston Glen had an unhappy end. It became a flashpoint for the Miners’ Strike of 1984 in Scotland and the site of some of its bitterest scenes, first between police and strikers and later between strikers and strike breakers. Attempts were made to restart production after the strike, but it suffered badly from flooding during the period of enforced dormancy and never really got going again. It shut in 1989 and no sign of it remains today under a modern industrial estate.
Bilston Glen during the miner’s strikeNearby Bilston Glen in the Lothian Coalfield was Monktonhall; another showpiece and another monumental Riss design. Monktonhall was to be bigger and deeper than Bilston Glen. It was sunk between 1954 and 1967, with coal production peaking almost immediately at 1.8 million tons per year, most of it getting straight on a train for the few miles down to its assured customer at the SSEB’s new power station at Cockenzie.
Monktonhall No. 1 shaftMonktonhall survived the Miners Strike in better shape than Bilston Glen, but it was always a struggle to keep it profitable. Attempts to merge the two together into a single operation centred at Monktonhall came to naught.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/74165767@N05/50259761503
Monktonhall closed with Bilston Glen, but that was not the end. In 1992 it was reopened by a few hundred laid off miners who clubbed together their redundancies and made the extraordinary bold decision to restart production. However heroic their struggle, without the millions in capital needed to drive and equip new seams, it was not to be. The men toiled 3,000 feet underground for 2 years against the floodwaters, but the end came again in 1994, with final demolition in 1997.
The demolition of Monktonhall in 1997And so we return to Fife for the last of Riss’ Superpits. At Seafield outside Kirkcaldy. Appropriately for its name, it was sited in a field and was to work the coal reserves out under the sea, deep below the Forth. The sinking of Seafield was troubled and took 12 years from 1954-66. But it was not the first difficult Fife mine to be sunk under the sea and the miners persevered and in the end succeeded. However it was always a difficult mine to work, with steeply inclined roadways and faces – and in coal mines, difficult means unprofitable.
Seafield CollieryGeological difficulties, flooding and “heating” (spontaneous combustion in the coal seams) plagued Seafield and although it also survived the Miners’ Strike, it shut in 1987 when the government refused to fund the millions needed to open new production faces. Like the other Scottish Superpits, Seafield had tens of millions of tons of untapped coal reserves, it was just too expensive to get them out. It was demolished in 1989. Seafield is often better remembered for its most famous ex-employee, the late Jocky Wilson.
The demolition of Seafield. From Fife TodayThe five Superpits were Riss’ masterpieces. It is sad that none of them had especially successful or long-lived stories to tell. This was no reflection on anything but the realities of geology, economics and politics. From an architectural and surface organisational point of view they were triumphs of design. Another Riss scheme at Airth came to nothing when sinking had to be cancelled when it dawned on the NCB that they would never hit coal no matter how hard they dug for it. Things proceeded further at nearby Glenochil, with Riss laying out modern surface arrangements for a drift mine under the Ochils.
GlenochilAgain Glenochil was to have an assured future thanks to being tied to a guaranteed customer in the SSEB’s new power station at Kincardine; but it turned into another frustrating failure for the NCB’s Scottish Division. It was to have been the UK’s largest drift mine and was to have given employment to thousands of Lanarkshire men, brought in to work it as their pits shut. Sinking started with enthusiasm in 1954 but the project was abandoned in 1964, again poor planning by the NCB had the miners chasing riches that just weren’t there to be won. The land was turned over to the Scottish Prison Service who built HMP Glenochil, infamous for the 1988 “dirty riot” protests. But again, that is no reflection on Riss or his work.
Egon Riss was praised in his time from the unlikely source of The Times’ architecture correspondent; a late 1950s article complimented Riss on how he worked and how he had his team organised to work together in their common goal of creating modern, efficient collieries. His attention to the details of improving miners’ working lives was singled out. Particularly, comfortable and generous pay-halls were designed “where the miner can queue up for his pay in comfort“; no more queuing in the cold and rain to be handed your packet at the side door.
Riss’ Superpits should have provided steady employment for 10,000 men, and families and communities an order of magnitude greater, and should have been producing 10 million tons of coal a year. He sadly died at home at 1 Munro Drive of a heart attack at the age of 62 in 1964 before it could be realised that this would never happen.
1 Munro DriveRiss’ obituary praised his creations for “their strictly functional design combined with an elegance of line that could only be achieved by a creative artist who was a master of his craft“. It noted “he had an inquisitive mind that ranged over many interests, antiques, objets d’art, science and religion, backed by a wide reading in German, French and Hebrew… he was always a fascinating conversationalist who enjoyed argument as an end to logical eduction. His good company, charming manners and not least his dignified presence will be remembered and missed by his many friends“.
So let us remember and miss the late Egon Riss, 1901-1964. From Austria to the Scottish coalfields via Isokon.
Egon Riss at work. unknown credit, via Anibou.Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
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#Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret -
Some thoughts on house fires (having had one).
I see right now they're saying over 5000 buildings burned in one of the LA fires, and 1000 from another. But the the number will increase.
In some respect having your house reduced to ashes is easier. You just build a new one. Assuming the money is available of course.
But a lot of people will find that they didn't insure the contents of the house for enough. And they didn't have riders for particularly unique items. Check yours; even if you rent.
Others won't have documentation of what they had in the house, and the insurance will want proof they don't have. Video your house while talking about stuff. Save receipts in the cloud for major items.
But there will also be homes that survived the fires, and maybe they don't even look too bad. But it's not that simple. The plus, you can document what you lost, and you don't need to start the house from scratch. The minus, rebuilding has complicated decisions. And what survived is not as clear as you might think.
A few decades ago we had a house fire when we were away. Halogen torchère lamp without a wire cover. Some papers fell onto it from a bookcase. Lamp was on a timer.
A neighbor spotted the smoke. The fire department got there quickly. The house was just a few minutes from the flashpoint where everything in the house would have gone up at once. The microwave melted. The finish on the newer furniture upstairs melted. The thermostat upstairs melted. It was very close.
- An insurance adjuster came and spent a week inventorying everything in the house. He produced a 100 page spreadsheet. We had to put values on all of it.
- I hired a friend to help me in the library. We went through every book, keeping those lower down that survived, tearing the covers off the upper ones so we could see what they were, and recording title and author of everything. My original US copy of The Hobbit looks like someone found it in Smaug's treasure pile.
- Every piece of clothin,Cloth, rugs.... had to be treated for smoke. Only about a third survived the treatment. Leather was hopeless; it came out brittle.
- Newer furniture with cheap finishes was hopeless. Some of the antique wood ones we had refurbished. They'd super lightly sand the grime off. But one of my dressers still smells like smoke on hot days.
- And the smoke was the issue. We had two choices. Tear it down. Or remove all the interior paneling, and coat the framing in a sealant that would keep any smoke smell from escaping. Because that smell was embedded in every piece of unprotected wood in the house. We went with the latter, and it worked. But wow that was a lot of work.
- Rebuilding took about six months. We had to rent a house. Friends donated furniture. Our kids were still able to go to the same schools. With a fire like this that's going to be much harder. Where are those folks going to stay? Where are they going to get contractors? Richer folks are going to be in a bidding war for contractors, prices will be insane.
I will say, USAA insurance was a dream. They even went to bat for us when the contractor tried to cut corners. Not sure if they are still that good though. And of course a lot of insurance companies have left CA, and this fire might bankrupt some. The current insurance (and the "you have to rebuild to get the money") model are not going to survive climate change.
We were very lucky. We ended up with a home that was even more personalized. I ran Ethernet to every room! (Just in time for wifi to make it unnecessary) And we lost very few things that were irreplaceable. It's going to be a lot harder for these people, and it's going to impact many many people who didn't even lose anything.
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#China #WWII #FalseFlags #history
"On the night of September 18, 1931, Japanese forces from the Kwantung Army staged an explosion along a section of railway under their control near Liutiaohu in the northern suburbs of Shenyang, China. They then falsely accused Chinese troops of sabotage and used it as a pretext to launch a sudden attack on the Beidaying barracks of the Northeast Army and the city of Shenyang. This marked the beginning of Japan's invasion of Northeast China and became known as the September 18 Incident.
The September 18 Incident was the inevitable outcome of Japan's continental policy of aggression against China, particularly its so-called Manchuria-Mongolia policy. After World War I (WWI), while Japan appeared to uphold international cooperation on the 'China question' under the framework of the 'Washington System,' it nonetheless spared no effort in northeastern China to defend and expand its alleged special interests in Manchuria and Mongolia.
In 1927, the Tanaka Giichi cabinet convened the Eastern Conference, which formally adopted a policy of using the 'separation of Manchuria and Mongolia' as both the starting point and focus for Japan's step-by-step strategy of invading China and expanding its influence globally.
When the global capitalist system was rocked by the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, Japan plunged into economic turmoil. Amid this domestic crisis, the previously marginalized militarist forces regained prominence. They aggressively promoted the idea that China's resource-rich northeast was Japan's 'lifeline' and 'vital interest zone' necessary for overcoming its national crisis. After Japan's Kwantung Army launched its war of aggression against China, Emperor Hirohito took no action to stop it, and the Japanese government subsequently endorsed and supported the military's actions. Within less than half a year, Japanese forces had occupied all three northeastern provinces of China and set up the puppet state of 'Manchukuo' to impose colonial rule.
The September 18 Incident thus marked not only Japan's open defiance of the post-WWI international order, but also the beginning of its unilateral bid to dominate China through war. It was from this point that Japan became the principal origin of fascist military aggression in the East.
(. . .)
In February 1932, a League of Nations investigative mission, headed by Victor Bulwer-Lytton and composed of representatives from Britain, the United States, France, Italy and Germany, arrived in China to conduct an investigation. The resulting Lytton Report, released on October 2, condemned Japan's military aggression but simultaneously acknowledged Japan's so-called special interests in Manchuria. The report characterized the incident as the culmination of 'years of conflict'" between China and Japan.
(. . .)
The September 18 Incident was not merely the beginning of Japan's large-scale war of aggression against China; it also marked the first flashpoint of localized warfare that would ultimately escalate into the broader conflict of World War II (WWII).
By launching the September 18 Incident, Japan swiftly created an irreversible fait accompli of territorial aggression in China. This brazen move not only shocked the international community but also emboldened fascist forces elsewhere in the world.
Japan's rapid and unpunished seizure of Northeast China sent a powerful and instigative signal to other authoritarian powers. Benito Mussolini was reportedly encouraged by Japan's aggression to pursue his own invasion of Ethiopia. Likewise, Adolf Hitler repeatedly cited the situation in the Far East in internal discussions, using Japan's unchecked aggression as evidence of Western weakness. The Japanese example provided him with both the confidence and the strategic template to openly violate the Treaty of Versailles and remilitarize the Rhineland."
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GOWERTON: Persimmon’s Fairwood Terrace plans dealt massive blow as Welsh Government orders full environmental assessment
Campaigners fighting Persimmon Homes’ proposed 216-home development at Fairwood Terrace in Gowerton have won a landmark ruling after a Welsh Government planning inspector ordered the scheme to undergo a full Environmental Impact Assessment – directly accepting their argument that the developer cannot treat each planning application in the area as if the others do not exist.
The ruling, issued by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), reverses previous decisions on the Fairwood Terrace site and represents a significant setback for Persimmon Homes, which had been appealing Swansea Council‘s 2024 refusal of the scheme on traffic grounds. The inspector has ruled that the 216-home proposal cannot be looked at in isolation – it must be assessed alongside the wider strategic allocation, including a 460-home site and a 600-home scheme also promoted by Persimmon in the same corridor.
Save Gowerton from Gridlock, the community group led by Carl Jones which has fought the development for years, described the ruling as incredible news. The group said the inspector’s acceptance of what they call the “salami-slicing” argument – the practice of breaking a large strategic site into separate applications to avoid cumulative scrutiny – was a “massive victory.”
The ruling also found there was “insufficient certainty” that pollution and nutrient levels in the Burry Inlet could be mitigated, triggering what campaigners describe as the precautionary principle – meaning the law now demands the highest level of environmental scrutiny before any decision can be made.
Persimmon Homes now have 21 days to decide their next move. They can accept the ruling and commission the full Environmental Impact Assessment – a process expected to take between six and twelve months and involving expensive, large-scale environmental studies covering traffic, flood risk, pollution and ecological impact. Alternatively, if they refuse to provide the required report, the inspector can effectively dismiss the appeal entirely.
Save Gowerton from Gridlock say they have already contacted PEDW to ensure the group is formally consulted on the scoping of the new studies, giving them the opportunity to ensure that every traffic bottleneck and flood risk is included in the environmental workload.
The Fairwood Terrace site has been at the centre of one of Swansea’s most fiercely contested planning disputes. Plans were first drawn up in 2022, when Persimmon proposed around 230 homes on land between the River Llan and the railway line beside Gowerton station. The scheme also included a new station forecourt with a potential park-and-ride, a bus-only link eastward toward Waunarlwydd, upgraded traffic lights at Fairwood Terrace’s junction with Victoria Road, and a walking and cycling connection through to the neighbouring development site.
The proposal attracted nearly 900 objection letters and a 300-signature petition from residents who feared it would overwhelm already-congested junctions, increase flood risk and damage the character of the village. Swansea Council rejected the scheme on traffic grounds in 2024, despite planning officers advising that refusal would be difficult to defend at appeal. Persimmon subsequently appealed to the Welsh Government, and the case has been with PEDW ever since.
The Fairwood Terrace story so far
December 2022 – Persimmon first drew up plans for 230 homes at Fairwood Terrace, beside Gowerton station, as part of the Waunarlwydd North LDP allocation.
2024 – Swansea Council refused the application on traffic grounds despite officer support for approval, after nearly 900 objection letters and a 300-signature petition from local residents.
October 2025 – Persimmon unveiled a separate 600-home scheme south of the A484, directly opposite Bellway’s Parc Mawr development in Penllergaer, designed to link via an active travel route into Fairwood Terrace – raising fears of a continuous ribbon of housing along the entire A484 corridor.
April 2026 – Barratt and David Wilson Homes submitted a planning application for 430 homes on the Fforestfach/Waunarlwydd site – part of the same wider 716-home strategic allocation – further intensifying pressure on the corridor.
April 2026 – Welsh Government inspector rules the 216-home appeal must undergo a full Environmental Impact Assessment, accepting the “salami-slicing” argument. Persimmon now have 21 days to decide whether to commission the studies or walk away.
The backdrop to the dispute is a proposed continuous ribbon of housing stretching from Penllergaer through Gorseinon, Waunarlwydd and Gowerton along the A484. Persimmon’s separate 600-home scheme sits directly opposite Bellway’s Parc Mawr development in Penllergaer, designed to connect via an active travel route westward into Fairwood Terrace. Further along the same wider 716-home strategic allocation, Barratt and David Wilson Homes have now submitted a full planning application for 430 homes at Fforestfach.
If all the schemes along the corridor proceed, close to 3,000 new homes would be built in a continuous stretch – an amount campaigners say amounts to a new town stitched together along the A484. Today’s ruling that the Fairwood Terrace appeal must be assessed alongside those neighbouring sites is precisely the argument Save Gowerton from Gridlock has been making since the campaign began.
In February, Cllr Dai Jenkins told residents the fight was far from over as the appeal process stretched weeks beyond its original timetable. Jenkins had been pressing PEDW and Natural Resources Wales not to grant further extensions to Persimmon while the developer still owed information on nutrient neutrality and flood risk, and had called for a face-to-face hearing rather than a virtual process.
A montage showing the Fairwood Terrace and Victoria Road junction in Gowerton, with Cllr Dai Jenkins pictured in an inset as he updates residents on the ongoing planning appeal.
(Images: Google Maps / Dai Jenkins)Today’s ruling vindicates that position. The inspector has accepted that the cumulative impact of the Fairwood Terrace scheme alongside the 460-home and 600-home sites must be formally assessed, and that the environmental uncertainty around the Burry Inlet is too significant to be set aside.
Carl Jones said the group had not yet won the war but had won a “massive battle.” He added that campaigners would continue to monitor the 21-day window closely and push for full consultation rights over whatever environmental studies Persimmon choose to commission, to ensure that every traffic pinchpoint, flood risk and pollution concern is properly included in the scope.
The decision is likely to be studied closely by communities facing similar large-scale planning applications across Swansea and the wider region, where cumulative development pressure along key arterial routes has been a recurring flashpoint.
More updates will follow as the 21-day deadline approaches.
Related stories from Swansea Bay News
Gowerton housing row: ‘We’re still fighting’ says councillor as Fairwood Terrace appeal enters decisive phase
Cllr Dai Jenkins’ February update as Persimmon faced pressure to provide nutrient neutrality and flood risk information.Continuous ribbon of housing could stretch from Penllergaer to Gowerton as new 600-home scheme unveiled
How Persimmon’s linked schemes could create close to 3,000 homes along the A484 corridor.Fforestfach: Planning application put in for major housing development
Barratt and David Wilson Homes’ 430-home application on the wider Waunarlwydd North strategic allocation.Plans drawn up for 230-home development near Gowerton train station
#BurryInlet #Environment #EnvironmentalImpactAssessment #FairwoodTerrace #Gowerton #PEDW #PersimmonHomes #planning #PlanningAndEnvironmentDecisionsWales #planningApplication #SaveGowertonFromGridlock #Swansea #SwanseaCouncil
Where it all started – Persimmon’s original 2022 proposals for the Fairwood Terrace site.