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Mark R. Stoneman

Historian, editor, and translator for hire (German to English). Longtime resident of Washington, DC, now in Conway, NH, as a caregiver (he/him).

  2024

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    House Speaker Mike Johnson announces that male Republicans neutered by Donald Trump may continue to use the men’s bathrooms.

    – Radley Balko

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    🇺🇦 “How Russian Forces Hunted People in The Bucha Massacre,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, YouTube, Nov 19, 2024 (29 min)—compelling reporting based on a thorough look at diverse sources.

    This is the exclusive story of Oleksiy Pobihay, a Ukrainian territorial defense fighter whose body was discovered at the site of an abandoned Russian military headquarters in Bucha. With his hands bound and a bullet wound in his head, Pobihay was among hundreds murdered during the Bucha massacre. This atrocity, which unfolded during the Russian military occupation in April 2022, has become emblematic of the war and the brutal killings perpetrated by Russian forces.

    Through phone intercepts, previously unpublished videos, documents, and witness statements, ‪@RadioSvobodaUkraine‬ has pieced together the chilling story of what happened in Bucha.

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    🏳️‍⚧️ From the Church of Sweden via @transworld.bsky.social:

    God, today on Transgender Day of Remembrance, I want to remember everyone who doesn’t get to be called by their right name, everyone who is hated so much that it leaves an imprint on their soul, everyone who needs a place where they can breathe, and where they can be themselves. Amen.

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    “Minneapolis Assault on Transgender Women Sparks Rally,” Transvitae, November 20, 2024. 🏳️‍⚧️

    In Minneapolis, two transgender women were violently attacked, prompting a rally and raising fears within the trans community amid President Trump’s re-election. As concerns over rising transphobia grow, community leaders emphasize solidarity, self-defense, and advocacy to protect the rights and safety of transgender individuals.

    HT @transworld.bsky.social

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    'Digital Vampires': Four-Part Podcast Series

    I highly recommend the following series from Paris Marx’s Tech Won’t Save Us. It underlines the stakes of the podcast’s overarching theme and even sheds light on the extreme right-wing turn among some of Silicon Valley’s ultra wealthy.

    Tech Won’t Save Us challenges the notion that tech alone can drive our world forward by showing that tech is inherently political and ignoring that has serious consequences.

    1. Data Vampires: Going Hyperscale (October 7, 2024)
    2. Data Vampires: Opposing Data Centers (October 14, 2024)
    3. Data Vampires: Sacrificing for AI (October 21, 2024)
    4. Data Vampires: Fighting for Control (October 28, 2024)
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    Two U.S. Public Health Service Posters Warning against Quacks, ca. 1936–41

    Poster: 'Beware the cancer quack / A reputable physician does not promise a cure, demand advance payment, advertise'. Gray, black, white, and red. The red is the face of the quack.
    Poster of man, composed of composites of patent medicine advertisements, taking a spoonful from a red patent medicine. Text: 'No home remedy or quack doctor ever cured syphilis or gonorrhea / See your doctor or local health office'
    1. “Beware the cancer quack / A reputable physician does not promise a cure, demand advance payment, advertise” by Max Plattner, Works Progress Administration – Federal Art Project NYC, for the U.S. Public Health Service in cooperation with the American Society for the Control of Cancer, ca. 1936–38, via Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98518641/.
    2. “No home remedy or quack doctor ever cured syphilis or gonorrhea / See your doctor or local health office” by Leonard Karsakov for the United States Public Health Service, ca. 1941, via Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96502760/.
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    Snapshots from small railroad yard and surroundings in North Conway, NH, between 4:33 and 4:45 p.m., as the sun was rapidly waning. The railway used to bring skiers to town. Now people can tour the area on the Conway Scenic Railroad.

    Old railroad freight car painted 'Conway Scenic Railway'. Slate blue with yellow lettering and yellow side door (partial). The sky is dark blue as the sun is about to disappear. Old yellow railroad maintenance vehicle marked 'New Hampshire Central Railroad' A view of pond, field, and mountain behind railroad yard. The sky has dipped behind the mountain with only a little light breaking through the ridge line and into the sky above.
    Old Boston and Maine Radio freight locomotive 1741. Recently painted and shiny. Blue and black with white lettering Boston and Maine locomotive for passenger train. Maroon with an orange horizontal strip and maroon lettering. Darker because the sun has dipped nearly out of sight, but shiny. Old wooden mustard yellow railroad station with some electrical lighting and a bit coming from behind where the sun has set.
    Tall, thin white 'B' intersecting a wide black 'M' with white outline against the blue background of locomotive 1741. Old red Central Vermont railroad car that seems to be serving as a shed. A small window was added, and a tarp is covering a bundle of something on top. View of some shops and a church across the green in the center of North Conway, opposite the railroad station. It's fairly dark, except for the electric lighting and trace bits of light in the sky. American and New Hampshire flags on a flagpole to the left.
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    1,000 Days 🇺🇦

    One thousand days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. One thousand days, and we still have our heads in our duffle bags. No efforts to lead public opinion on why higher levels of support are necessary. No significant build-up of our industrial base to put paid to Putin’s ambitions. And we’re still hamstringing Ukraine in its ability to strike the Russian war machine where it needs striking.

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    Poster from 1919 Advocating American Citizenship

    'To enjoy American opportunities become an American citizen.' Educational poster showing a group of people---two men, a woman, and three children in rustic European garb carrying their belongings. They are looking looking at where a big hand is pointing, to the sun radiating American prosperity, that is, the words: 'a better place to live / schools, peace, plenty / wealth and work'. The colors are orange, white, and black, with orange making up the greatest share in order to work with the sun motif.

    The notice in the bottom-right corner reads “Copyright 1919, The Stanley Service Co.” According to the Library of Congress Copyright Office’s Catalogue of Copyright Entries for that year, the company in question was the Stanley Industrial Educational Poster Service in Cleveland, Ohio. This provenance suggests to me that employers were being offered this messaging for their workers, even if the artist portrayed the immigrants as fresh arrivals.

    Source: Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95507947/

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    Some of the last hangers-on in this part of Whitaker Woods, North Conway, NH. The trees that aren't bare are pine.

    Brown leaves clinging to a sapling in the woods. Most of the other trees are bare, except for the pines, of course
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    The waves at Moss Beach, California, on May 13, 2018, shortly before 7:00 p.m.

    One of four photos of the waves, the camera held low, which also meant not quite level. Quite a bit of wet sand visible in this picture. Image somewhat dark because of the angie of the sun. Another of four photos of the waves, the camera held low, which also meant not quite level.
    another of four photos of the waves, the camera held low, which also meant not quite level. last of four photos of the waves, the camera held low, which also meant not quite level. Quite a bit of wet sand. Reflections.
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    “How some Texas parents and historians say a new state curriculum glosses over slavery and racism” by Jaden Edison, The Texas Tribune, November 18, 2024.

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    I don’t think there’s a trend towards actual conservatism in the Valley—there’s a trend towards monopoly and corruption, and that’s led a bunch of VCs directly to Trump. Peter Thiel wrote “Competition is for Losers” in The WSJ a decade ago! Here you go, America.

    – Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge, in an interview with Oliver Darcy for Status, November 17, 2024

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    At least, when you knock a fascist out, you will send him to a hospital or observation ward—but when he knocks you out, he sends you to a concentration camp or a crematorium.

    – Frances Fineman Gunther (ca. May 1934 in Vienna), quoted by Deborah Cohen, Last Call at the Hotel Imperial, chap. 8

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    From my experience in fascist countries, I have come to one conclusion. Rules of democratic fair play should be reserved for democrats. Decencies of liberalism should be reserved for liberals. But the only way to treat a fascist is to treat him the way he intends to treat you—first. That means hitting him below the belt before he has a chance to hit you below the belt.

    – Frances Fineman Gunther (ca. May 1934 in Vienna), quoted by Deborah Cohen, Last Call at the Hotel Imperial, chap. 8

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    “One Against All” (animation) by Фріоніс with English subtitles (2:20), youtu.be/8LXEG1mhg… 🇺🇦

    One small soldier on the left, standing on a map of Ukraine, facing Putin and the leaders of North Korea, China, and Iran on a tank.
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    Power lines in foreground, small mountain with ski slopes fills out much of the rest. No snow yet, but the cloudy sky and the light have a wintry feel.

    Mt. Cranmore from Whitaker Woods. I skied there in the second half of the 70s.

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    The bare tree branches form interesting shapes against a white-gray cloud in the sky. A little blue sky is also visible, and the green of pine trees.
    Same concept as the previous picture, but different trees and a bigger patch of blue in the sky.
    Whitaker Woods: Winter is coming.
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    When we walked into school on the morning of 6 November, we exchanged quick glances with the other girls in our social circle – looks filled with uncertainty and dread about the future….

    But as we sat down at our desks, we noticed a very different attitude among our male peers. Subtle high-fives were exchanged and remarks about the impending success of the next four years were whispered around.

    – “The boys in our liberal school are different now that Trump has won,” The Guardian, November 15, 2024.

    This news has hit me harder then any stupid cabinet announcement.

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