MassePasse

Trying to avoid the temptation of dumping dead bears in parks

[Jonathan Cook @Jonathan_K_Cook]

There are lots of people on here drinking the security services Kool Aid over the sentencing of the Filton Four.

They believe the judge was right to overturn the jury's decision to convict four anti-genocide activists of criminal damage and make it a terrorism offence instead, overturning centuries of legal precedent.

Why? Because, they claim, the four activists broke / smashed / shattered a police woman's spine.

But that obviously can't be the explanation because three of the activists had nothing to do with that incident and yet they were convicted as terrorists by the judge anyway.

Even Samuel Corner, the activist who was convicted over this incident (which left the police woman with a minor fracture, according to the medical authorities who testified), shouldn't have been sentenced as a terrorist for it because that is not what the jury, which heard the actual evidence, decided.

The jury convicted Samuel Corner of grievous bodily harm *without intent*. The prosecution had charged him with GBH *with intent* because they needed that as his conviction to build a public mood in support of the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.

If Corner could be presented as having entered Israel's Elbit weapons factory with intent to commit violence, then the implication would be that the other activists were in on that plan – a conspiracy – and the government would be off the hook of violating fundamental legal norms by proscribing Palestine Action.

By stripping out intent, the jury pulled the rug from under the government's feet.

Judge Johnson's task was put the rug firmly back in place by riding roughshod over the jury's decision and sentencing them as terrorists anyway.

The timing couldn't be more convenient. On Monday, the Appeal Court will be deciding on the government's appeal against the High Court declaring its proscription of Palestine Action unlawful.

If you're peddling the "But they smashed the back of a police woman" line you've been fed by the Daily Mail and BBC, it's because that is exactly what the government needs you spouting as it upends our age-old rights to jury trials, as it stamps out an honourable tradition of direct action dating back to the Suffragettes and before, and as it gives itself cover for continuing complicity in a genocide.

Stop being a cuck. Don't fall for this psy-op.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Fun fact.

The largest funeral in human history wasn't for an emperor or pope.

It was for a Tamil leader Named C.N. Annadurai who died in 1969 and attracted an estimated 15 million mourners, according to Guinness World Records.

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

What an absolute disgrace. A FIFA-certified referee being denied entry to the United States purely because he is Somali.

The World Cup is meant to bring people together. This is racism, plain and simple. Shameful.

https://t.co/rpSgTmmPU4

[WelBeast @WelBeast]

Qatar said it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, you can come to the World Cup, just don’t drink alcohol at the stadium.

USA said you can’t come. Who you are or where you come from matters. We’ll decide who can and can’t participate. This isn’t a sport for everyone.

[MassePasse @MassePasse]

@Glenn_Diesen This post is just not correct.
Three of them are among the most unpopular leaders in the world. But Zelenskyy is rather popular in Ukraine? While Ukraineans have extremely low levels of trust in politicians, surveys show high popularity for the president.

[Melissa Reddy @MelissaReddy_]

Gianni Infantino knocked down all the reporting over visa concerns for this World Cup in August 2025: “I think it’s important to clarify this. There is a lot of misconception out there. Everyone will be welcome in Canada, Mexico and the United States for the FIFA World Cup next year.

“There is a process to go through to get visas and so on. This process will be smooth…

“We want to unite the world and we will unite the world next year. The world needs occasions of unity, of bringing teams together, of bringing people together, of bringing fans together... So again everyone will be welcome, be positive and you will see it will be a great, great celebration of the greatest FIFA World Cup ever.”

No, again we are just meant to look the other way and allow this thing we love so much, that we want to enjoy, that we can map our whole lives around, to be used and abused.

Again we are told about unity and inclusion when division, disparity and denial is the reality.

It is a great, great celebration of getting more money whatever it takes, no matter who has to pay the price. The greatest showpiece of allowing - unopposed! - the man who is meant to protect and grow the people’s game into playing celebrity, massaging his own ego and that of heads of state.

The biggest, most expensive, least accessible World Cup ever. The thing we love and all the beautiful pieces of it we’ve lost.

[MassePasse @MassePasse]

@ragipsoylu It goes via Mecca. Will non-muslims be allowed to travel ?

[MassePasse @MassePasse]

@DRufmeister @DailyMail Maybe because they were concerned that morally bankrupt USA would deny him entry?

[MassePasse @MassePasse]

@DailyMail USA must never be allowed to host a world cup again

[MassePasse @MassePasse]

@PolitlcsGlobal America should never be allowed to host international sport events.
How pity and pathetic

[MassePasse @MassePasse]

@Old_SchoolEddie Because the Clinton-Bush-Obama-Trump scam is all about transferring people's money to the rich and to forever wars. They take your money, but don't provide anything for the Americans.
It works because you think it makes a difference if Clinton,Obama,Bush or Trump win elections.

[Coll McCail @MccailColl]

As Hasan Picker and Cenk Uygur are denied entry to the UK, it’s worth remembering that Isaac Herzog — accused of “direct and public incitement to commit genocide” by the UN Commission of Inquiry report — was welcomed by Keir Starmer on the steps of No10 in September.

[Saad Mohseni @saadmohseni]

Must must watch/listen:

Probably one of the most important podcasts on the Gaza genocide.

The opening 20-minute monologue is one of the most devastating arguments I’ve heard for why this constitutes a genocide. He takes aim at everyone who deserves scrutiny—including Samantha Power, and rightly so.

His guest, Nick Maynard, is exceptional: not only highly credible as a surgeon affiliated with Oxford, but also deeply empathetic as someone who has personally witnessed the devastation in Gaza.
https://t.co/lVji5HULle via @TuckerCarlson

[Sam Dalrymple @SamDalrymple123]

Where the Language of the Gods entered the World of Men

For a Sanskrit nerd like me, Taxila is the coolest place possible. The oldest ruins date from around 1000BC, and it's mentioned in the Mahabharata.

[Sanjeev Kumar, FRASGB @sanjeevku]

Chandragupta I
(AD 319–343)

The is the first gold coin struck by the first Gupta King… not just a King, the Great King of Kings, the Mahārājādhirāja Śrī Chandraguptaḥ

The King and Queen on Couch Type of Chandragupta I is one of the rarest and the earliest types of gold coins in Gupta numismatics.

There are a total of five known specimens of this design known to exist. (2 in Bharat Kala Bhavan, 1 in National Museum, Delhi and 2 in Private Collection).

Under the king’s left arm, we can see the name Chandra, and on reverse we see a Biruda. Starting at 9 o’clock we can see the letters Śrī Vi ---…

On these coins, the legend starts at 11 o’clock and has been reconstructed to read as ‘Prarathamath adhiruhya kshitim abhipata divam jayati’ (“Having ascended his excellent chariot, the preeminent protector of the earth also conquers heaven”).

Obverse: King stands facing left and is wearing Kushāṇas-style clothing, armored tunic, and
trousers. He wears a conical hat reminiscent of headgear seen on late Kushāṇa coinage and is
shown offering oblations to the Agnī kuṇḍa with his right hand. With his left hand he holds the javelin—the spearhead of the inverted javelin can be seen on both the Bharat Kala Bhavan coins below. The National Museum coin does have a rounded bulbous end at the base of the
staff and can be mistaken as a Rājadaṇḍa (Scepter). The two Bharat Kala Bhavan coins below
(nos. 8264 and 8454) with the spearhead confirm that the complete die included a spearhead design at the end of the staff. The king is shown with a halo and is facing the Garuḍa standard.

Under the king’s left arm, we can see his name written in Brāhmī, Chandra. It is important to note here, that no diadem is shown in the designs on either side of these coins.

Reverse: The king and queen are shown sitting on a couch. The queen leans back, and the king offers a ring to the queen. The king’s right leg is folded under him, and his left leg hangs down.
Both king and queen have a halo. The king wears big earrings. He is bare-chested and possibly wears a dhotī, while the clothing of the queen is uncertain, and her hair is tied in a bun.

On the left edge behind the queen’s back are two letters Śrī and vi and similarly behind the king’s back we see the letters kra maḥ: Śrī Vikramaḥ, which is the Biruda of Chandragupta I. Below the couch we can see a spittoon. In the top center, above the king’s hand, which holds a ring,
we see a crescent (or possibly a crescent standard with dhvaja hidden in background). The identification of these two figures has been much debated over the past century. On Gupta gold coins, the reverse was always reserved for divinity and almost always shows a goddess.

Here on the coins of this type, it is not clear if these two figures are in fact a representation of divinity or the king and queen themselves. Hoernle proposed that this was a scene recreating a Lakṣmī Narayna representation of Viṣṇu.

Based on that assertion, sometimes these coins are incorrectly referred to as the Vaikuṇṭha type when in fact if we were to consider this design as
a divine representation, the correct term should be the Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa Type, which was the mint’s way of tying the imagery of royalty with divinity.

… from my book ‘Treasures of the Gupta Empire’

[MassePasse @MassePasse]

@daily_romania Which union leader is this?

[David Graeber Institute @Graeber_social]

"The Labour Party under Keir Starmer will abandon its core idealism and principles and won't even gain tactical advantage.

It will be a party which gives no one a reason to vote for it, and no one will, in fact, vote for it."

- David Graeber (from 2020)

[BoredHistorian @b0red_historian]

Chandni Chowk, Delhi (1860s)

[BoredHistorian @b0red_historian]

Bathing Ghats at Nashik. Late 1800s. Colourized.

[mayank austen soofi—InshaJoyce @thedelhiwalla]

Loner with phone… excerpt from Blue Door Notes