Wednesday, November 23, 2022

「讓瑞典再次偉大」與 支持特朗普的奥丁鬥士




 我的信報文章(20221123A13)

刊登後的改良加長版

讓瑞典再次偉大 支持特朗普的奥丁鬥士

https://www1.hkej.com/dailynews/article/id/3306827

                                     劍昭










瑞典優先讓瑞典再次偉大是取得空前重大勝利的瑞典民主黨在20229月議會選舉前高喊的兩大口號。

[Note 1]

1115日,特朗普宣布參加2024年美國總統選舉。兩週前,眾議院議長佩洛西的丈夫保羅遭人以(hammer)襲擊,施暴者曾2020年國會山騷亂時的口號。

[Note 2]

 

倘若瑞典民主黨的口號,教你想起尚未受基督教義影響的維京人;

 

如果保羅佩洛西遭教你記起2011年挪威77人死66人傷事件的行兇者以雷神之鎚(Thor’s Mjölnir) 為其手槍命名;

 

如果你早就注意到《魔戒》2001-3電影三部曲權力遊戲2011-9《雷神》2011-22電影系列這類廣受歡迎的影視,其創作靈感也全是源於前基督時代(pre-Christian era) 剛烈的北歐神話(Norse Mythology),你可能已感到一股暗湧正在形成。

[Note 3]

 

奧丁(Odin)是古北歐文明(大約從公元前 1000年青銅時代到公元 1000年維京時代)的神靈之一。奧丁在神話中代表智慧、戰爭、死亡以長矛(Gungnir) 和指環(Draupnir )作為權力的象

 

雷神是奧丁的兒子鎚為武器被尊為家園的守護神。

 

加州大學古北歐民俗學教授 John Lindow 指出,奧丁雷神可能真有其人,由於在政治軍事上取得卓越成就包括攻佔現時的德國、丹麥、英國、冰島等地並留下部分人在生活而被後代尊為神靈(Odin古英語變成 Wōden, 之後演化出 Wednesday; Thor演化出 Thursday,另Bēowulf 近年演化出Beowulf Trump)

 

Monday        Norse god Máni

Tuesday        Norse god Tyr

Wednesday   Norse god Odin

Thursday      Norse god Thor

Friday           Norse goddess Frigg or Freyja

Saturday       Norse goddess Sigyn

Sunday         Norse goddess Sól

*** 所有這些星期天的命名都與舊約聖經七日創世論無關 ***

[Note 4]

 

奧丁主義是對奧丁北歐諸神的崇敬。雖然有些歐洲人簡單地為另類信仰(有點類似華人供奉土地、天后),但更多人,尤其是那些認為本身屬於雅利安族(Aryan Race)的人,自19世紀始逐漸把它變成種族化(racialized)的教義。這類奧丁主義者深信若非受限於猶太基督教原罪概念(Judeo-Christian Original Sin)白種人早已統治了全球。

[Note 5]

 

為了重振白人的榮耀一些激進分子鼓吹暴力革命推翻當時的社會倫理秩序; 基於他們的犯罪行為暴力傾向,在歐美或被監禁,或被主流媒體禁聲

[Note 6]

 

政治突破在2010年出現,由Gregory Johnson (1971-)領導的白人民族主義(White Nationalist)運動在兩方面進行了改變。

 

首先,隨着對大量非白人移民進入歐美 LGBT問題受到普遍關注,奧丁主義者不再以基督徒為敵; 

相反,他們提出「白人疚」(No White Guilt)將白人民族主義視為一種政治運動,而宗教運動; 最終的政治目標是不同信仰人共享一個排外、自由、安全、豐裕的家園

 

其次,奧丁主義者不再使用早已被主流媒體禁止的仇恨措辭,而是一方面聚焦移民衍生的社會實際問題,另一方面積極地利用社交媒體、網絡平台、影視節目傳播他們的

[Note 7]

 

由於商業或某些不為人知的原因,以北歐神話時代為故事基礎的電影和電視劇從 21 世紀初開始陸續上映;最重要的是,它們在全球吸引了數以百萬計忠實觀眾。

 

不僅前述影視樂節目續集不斷,半官方廣播機構也提供類似節目,例如2013-20 史頻道維京人2018-22 BBC 最後的王國所有這些流行文化作品都被信手拈來成為奧丁主義者在全球用作推廣洗腦的工具。也正因此,在美國曾引發一場關於基督徒應否觀看《權力遊戲》的爭論

[Note 8]

 

20178月,團結右翼集會在美國維吉尼亞州夏洛茨維爾舉行大量參與者攜帶維京盾牌裝飾、炫耀奧丁圖騰(Valknut)紋身

2021與共和黨關係密切保守政治行動會議 舉行大會(CPAC1974 年成立任共和黨總統均出席並發言)更以奧丁符文作為講壇地板圖案

此等現象導致許多中世紀史學家批評他們歪曲騎劫了維京文化,單是在中世紀這個在線史學博客中就有多達45篇長文予以譴責

[Note 9]

 

但宣傳方法的改變確實收效也同樣在2010瑞典民主黨(1988年成立)開始減少政治不正確的公開措辭,轉向擴大在線網絡活動,並參加國會競選獲得的全國選票從 2010 年的 5.7% 增加到 2014 年的 9.7%2018 年的 12.9%、今年的20.5%,成為1017日成立的右翼政府的造王者;黨員分別直接領導四個重要的國會委員會  —  司法、外交、經濟、勞工

[Note 10]

 

亮麗成績是瑞典民主黨及其盟友,尤其是北歐抵抗運動(NMR) 源於芬蘭的Soldiers of Odin2010年後一系列戰略變革的累積結果(後者於澳洲、比利時、加拿大、德國、荷蘭、丹麥、挪威、瑞典、愛沙尼亞、美國、英國、葡萄牙、西班牙已成立分部)

[Note 11]

 

他們一方面加深了主流媒體對移民和街頭犯罪的公眾關注; 

另一方面,利用互聯網擴闊了對千禧一代的影響範圍,全年24小時不停廣播19個網絡電視電台頻道、容包括白人自豪音樂、模仿黨衛軍合唱團視頻、大量漫畫等,觀眾聽眾估計在三十萬以上。

[Note 12]

 

對此,至少有兩點必須予以警惕

 

第一,華盛頓國會山騷亂,示這些高喊「以比武作審判(Trial by Combat,也是源於古北歐時代並通過電視劇《權力的遊戲》廣為流傳) 口號露出臂上奧丁圖騰紋身的特朗普支持者,願意採取實際行動,而不僅僅是空談

[Note 13]

 

但特朗普這次即使獲得黨提名,勝算不高因為民主黨在希拉莉受挫後,通過大量志願者四年的努力,已在關鍵的搖擺州建立了大量人際網絡,獲得過去數十年對投票冷漠的人的支持,以郵寄方式投票今年11月的中期選舉表明這個系統仍然運作良好到特朗普再次敗選之後這些奧丁鬥士將如何反應是一個關注點

[Note 14]

 

第二奧丁主義者在瑞典(人口 1,042)的成功,反映白人民族主義思想,正在通過大眾流行文化的感染

社交媒體網絡的滲透,

迅速擴散儘管西歐和北美地更大人更多,生效果需要更長的時間,但這種趨勢令人擔憂

 

雖然沒有必要譴責白人民族主義,因為其他種族如阿拉伯人、斯拉夫人都有類似的自強意志;假如他們傾向於使用武力來鞏固或擴展霸權而非合作共贏,則防人之心不可無。

  

Notes

 

[Note 1]

2022 0908    Politico

https://www.politico.eu/article/sweden-democrat-far-right-party-cusp-power/

Make Sweden great again.’ Far right on the cusp of power

Support for Sweden Democrats is surging ahead of a general election on September 11.

HELSINGBORG, Sweden — Cheers and applause greeted far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) leader Jimmie Åkesson as he addressed a boisterous pre-election rally in the southern port city of Helsingborg.

A car slowed on the nearby thoroughfare and a man shouted “Go Jimmie” through the open driver’s side window so loudly that Åkesson briefly stopped speaking and laughed.

“It is time for the Swedish people to give us a chance,” Åkesson told the crowd of several hundred on a recent weekday evening. “It’s time to give us a chance to make Sweden great again.”

 

2022 0915  AP News

https://apnews.com/article/steve-bannon-world-news-elections-donald-trump-immigration-777f5be22b9cf01b1e4b588851ba183e

Vowing to put “Sweden first” and to “make Sweden good again,” the slogans of party leader Jimmie Akesson echo those that have resonated with ex-President Donald Trump’s supporters in the United States.

Steve Bannon, Trump’s longtime ally, also hailed the Sweden Democrats’ surge on his “War Room” podcast, calling the shift to the right in traditionally progressive Sweden a “political earthquake.” He praised the Sweden Democrats because “they want their borders, they want their sovereignty.”

Bannon described Sweden as a destroyed society — a right-wing trope that exaggerates the scale of Sweden’s challenges.

 

[Note 2]

2022 1116

www2.hkej.com/instantnews/current/article/3302113/特朗普宣布參加2024年美國總統選舉

美國前總統特朗普宣布參加2024年美國總統選舉


2022 1029

std.stheadline.com/daily/article/2493745/日報-國際-佩洛西丈夫-家中遭闖入者錘擊

(星島日報報道)美國聯邦眾議院議長佩洛西在加州三藩市的寓所周五凌晨遭人闖入,她八十二的的丈夫保羅(Paul Pelosi)遭闖入者以錘子暴力襲擊,頭部和身體受傷,目前在醫院接受治療。施襲男子已被拘捕,警方稱,他是針對佩洛西夫婦的住所犯案,施襲前曾喊:「佩洛西在哪裏?」


 

[Note 3]

2012 0411  Science Norway

“Norse gods in a crusade for Europe”

https://partner.sciencenorway.no/forskningno-gender-and-society-history/norse-gods-in-a-crusade-for-europe/1454302

Anders Behring Breivik, charged with the bombing and mass shooting in Norway last summer, named his gun "Mjolner", after the norse god Thor's hammer.

Breivik also claims to be an “Odinist”.

The terrorist argued in his manifesto that European Christianity has become weak and feminized as a result of modernism and multiculturalism.

He believes Europe is watering down its own cultural traditions and inherited values, turning the other cheek and is thus being invaded and raped by the enemy.

"In pre-Christian Norse belief – which Breivik calls “Odinism” – he finds an alternative strength and masculine aggression, which can be used to defend Europe’s honour and supreme identity," says theology professor Jone Salomonsen of the University of Oslo.

As a result, Breivik calls for a strategic union of Christianity and paganism in order to mobilise Europeans for battle.


 

[Note 4]

p. 19, 22-3 in

John Lindow (2002), “Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heros, Rituals, and Belief”, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 

Wiki, Anglo-Saxon Paganism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_paganism

 

Wiki, Beowulf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf

Beowulf (/ˈbeɪəwʊlf/;[1] Old English: Bēowulf [ˈbeːowuɫf]) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating is for the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025.

 

2015 0917

In the Middle, “Beowulf Trump and Lady Fiorina: GOP Debates and Meieval Rhetoric”

https://www.inthemedievalmiddle.com/2015/09/beowulf-trump-and-lady-fiorina-gop.html

 

2019 Oct 10

https://betterlivingthroughbeowulf.com/beowulf-transcends-tolkiens-racism/

My son Toby Wilson-Bates just alerted me to a Dorothy Kim article about how J.R.R. Tolkien, even as he brought general attention to Beowulf, also circumscribed how people interpreted it. The Oxford don could only see it as a white, male hero story and, more disturbingly, he shut out scholars of other races who might have interpreted it differently.

” Tolkien, she argues in an elliptical and not altogether convincing manner, regarded Grendel as a black man. I’m less skeptical that his concern was “solidifying white Englishness and English identity.” While he “abhorred fascism and antisemitism,” he “upheld the English empire’s white supremacy.”

 


[Note 5]

1998 0315  SPLC  1998 Winter Issue

“New Brand of Racist Odinist Religion on the March”

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/1998/new-brand-racist-odinist-religion-march


p.102-27  Ch. 4 Authentic Whiteness and Protectionism in Racialist Odinism, in

Damon T. Berry (2017), “Blood & Faith: Christianity in American White Nationalism”, New York: Syracuse University Press.


 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race

這個詞在 19 世紀被各種種族主義和反猶太主義作家採用,包括 Arthur de GobineauRichard Wagner Houston Stewart Chamberlain[12] 他們的科學種族主義影響了後來的納粹種族意識形態。 [13] 1930 年代,這個概念已與納粹主義和北歐主義聯繫在一起,[14] 並被用來支持雅利安主義的白人至上主義意識形態,該意識形態將雅利安人描繪成“優等種族”,[15] 而非雅利安人則被視為種族歧視 劣等(Untermenschlit. 'subhuman')和將被消滅的生存威脅。 [16] 在納粹德國,這些思想構成了導致大屠殺的國家意識形態的重要組成部分。

 


[Note 6]

2017 0525  Reveal News

“An ancient Nordic religion is inspiring white supremacist terror”

https://revealnews.org/article/an-ancient-nordic-religion-is-inspiring-white-supremacist-jihad/

 

2017 1006   Journal of Religion in Europe

“Northern Gods for Northern Folk: Racial Identity and Right-wing Ideology among Britain’s Folkish Heathens”

Author: Ethan Doyle White

https://brill.com/view/journals/jre/10/3/article-p241_241.xml

 


[Note 7]

p.183-8 in

Damon T. Berry (2017), “Blood & Faith: Christianity in American White Nationalism”, New York: Syracuse University Press.

 

2017 0904   The Conversation

“Scandinavia: the radical right meets the mainstream”

https://theconversation.com/scandinavia-the-radical-right-meets-the-mainstream-78714

 

2021 0113   CBS News

“No White Guilt”

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/no-white-guilt-signs-causing-big-uproar-in-montgomery-county-community/

 

2021 0205   Ministry Link

“No White Guilt”

https://ministrylink.org/no-white-guilt/

 

[Note 8]

Wiki, History Channel’s Vikings TV

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings_(TV_series)

Vikings is a historical drama television series created and written by Michael Hirst for the History channel, a Canadian network.

 

Wiki, BBC’s The Last Kingdom TV

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Kingdom_(TV_series)

The Last Kingdom is a British historical fiction television series based on Bernard Cornwell's The Saxon Stories series of novels.

 

2021 0115

University of Notre Dame, Medieval Studies Research Blog

“Marauders in the US Capitol: Alt-right Viking Wannabes & Weaponized Medievalism”

https://sites.nd.edu/manuscript-studies/2021/01/15/marauders-in-the-capitol-alt-right-viking-wannabes-weaponized-medievalism-in-american-white-nationalism/

Vikings are a very hot topic right now; there’s no question. Within the thriving genre of medievalism, Vikings have recently proven an especially sexy and profitable subject for contemporary pseudo-historical fiction, particularly in television series like the History Channel’s Vikings (2013) and Netflix’s The Last Kingdom (2015).

 

2013 0604   USA Today

“Can a Christian watch 'Game of Thrones'?”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2013/06/04/game-of-thrones-christianity/2389553/

Christians are debating whether they should watch HBO's hit show

Some say series only virtue is depicting how the world would look without Christ

Others say the show like the Bible finds unlikely heroes among the shunned

The show is certainly entertaining, almost addictively so, and as "Games of Thrones" wraps up its third season on Sunday (June 9), the ratings reflect that popularity: a record of more than 5.5 million viewers have followed the ruthless struggles for power among the teeming clans of Westeros, the medieval-looking world created by fantasy novelist George R.R. Martin.

 

2015 0615   Christian Post

 “Is Game of Thrones anti-Catholic?”

https://www.christianpost.com/news/is-game-of-thrones-anti-catholic.html

Sunday night, viewers witnessed one of the most shocking moments on "Game of Thrones" - a naked Cersei Lannister taking a penitential "Walk of Atonement" through the capital of Westeros. Earlier this season, we also saw religious authorities arrest the queen's brother for sodomy. Author George R. R. Martin has confirmed that he based the Faith of the Seven on the Roman Catholic Church, so all this begs the question, "Is Game of Thrones Anti-Catholic?"

 

[Note 9]

2022 0422   The Guardian

“Norse code: are white supremacists reading too much the Northman?”

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/apr/22/norse-code-white-supremacists-reading-the-northman-robert-eggers

The far right’s love of Nordic lore goes back to the Third Reich and beyond, – and the connection is stronger than ever. The deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 was full of Nordic symbols on banners and shields. Anders Breivik, the Norwegian extremist who murdered 77 people in 2011, carved the names of Norse gods into his guns. The shooter at the 2019 massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, drew Norse insignia on his possessions and wrote “see you in Valhalla” on his Facebook page.

 

2021 0130  The Wild Hunt: Pagan News and Perspectives

“American Heathenry and Cultural Appropriation

https://wildhunt.org/2021/01/column-articles-of-faith-american-heathenry-and-cultural-appropriation.html

After photographs and video from the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol showed one of the participants having tattoos of Thor’s hammer, the World Tree, and the so-called Valknut, American practitioners of Ásatrú and Heathenry who publicly self-identify as “not racist” issued public statements or communicated their responses to members of the media.

 

2021 0227  The Wild Hunt: Pagan News and Perspectives

“Editorial: Yes, that is an Odal Rune”

https://wildhunt.org/2021/02/editorial-yes-that-is-an-odal-rune.html

This weekend marks the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), this year being held in Orlando, Florida. CPAC is a major point in the political calendar for American conservatism, featuring the most powerful members of the Republican party. Donald Trump is expected to speak on Sunday, where he will undoubtedly argue that he remains the leader of the Republican Party and the American conservative movement, despite his loss in the November 2020 elections.

The wings of the CPAC stage lead nowhere – they do not lead to stairs, and the stage’s entrances and exits are in the rear, flanking the back wall. The red triangle toward the rear of the stage similarly serves no apparent functional use. This means that the set was intentionally designed this way, not for its utility, but for its visual appeal – an image that looks, unquestionably, like the odal rune.

 

The Public Medievalist, “Race, Racism and the Middle Ages: Table of Contents”

https://www.publicmedievalist.com/race-racism-middle-ages-toc/

Introduction: Race, Racism, and the Middle Ages: Tearing Down the “Whites Only” Medieval World   by Paul B. Sturtevant    Introducing a new Public Medievalist series: taking on the white-supremacist ideas of the medieval past, and exploring the stories of people of color in the Middle Ages.

Part I: A Brief History of a Terrible Idea: The “Dark Enlightenment”

by Amy S. Kaufman     White supremacists promote a bizarre theory: that the Enlightenment was the real “Dark Ages”.

……

Part XLV: Dear Tolkien Fans: Black People Exist

by Christina Warmbrunn

Tolkien fan communities can be hostile places for Black fans. Just because Tolkien’s work has white supremacy embedded in it does not mean that fans should embrace or replicate it.

 

[Note 10]

2022 Oct 20  The Brussels Times

“New Swedish government with support of far-right party takes on socio-economic problems”

https://www.brusselstimes.com/309825/new-swedish-government-with-support-of-far-right-party-takes-on-socio-economic-problems

……

First, members of their party will head four important parliamentary committees: the judiciary-, foreign affairs-, economy- and labour market committees. Second, and importantly, the Sweden Democrats will have political staff at the Government Offices.

 

Wiki, Sweden Democrats

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_Democrats

 


[Note 11]

2021 0428  European Center for Populism Studies

Kenes, Bulent. (2021). “NMR: A Nordic neo-Nazi organization with aims of establishing totalitarian rule across Scandinavia.” ECPS Organisation Profiles. European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS). April 28, 2021. https://doi.org/10.55271/op0008

https://www.populismstudies.org/nmr-a-nordic-neo-nazi-organization-with-aims-of-establishing-totalitarian-rule-across-scandinavia/

Right-wing extremism and national socialism (Nazism) are not a new phenomenon in Sweden. White supremacists or neo-Nazis have a long history in the country. Nordic Resistance Movement (Nordiska motståndsrörelsen, NMR) rests on this century-long history of Swedish Nazi and Neonazi activism. Including racism, antisemitism, anti-immigration, and anti-globalisation stances with violent tendencies, NMR which aims to overthrow the democratic order in the Nordic region and establish a national socialist state, has become the primary force of white power in Sweden and other Nordic countries.

 

Wiki, NMR

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Resistance_Movement

zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/北歐抵抗運動

 

2021 January   Television & New Media 22(2):166-185

“Affective Practice of Soldiering: How Sharing Images Is Used to Spread Extremist and Racist Ethos on Soldiers of Odin Facebook Site”

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348687515_Affective_Practice_of_Soldiering_How_Sharing_Images_Is_Used_to_Spread_Extremist_and_Racist_Ethos_on_Soldiers_of_Odin_Facebook_Site

Two months after their founding in December 2015, the Soldiers of Odin launched a Facebook group and rapidly gained nearly 50,000 supporters. While the group was founded in Kemi, Finland, it gained international attention and support, mainly through its social media presence. In the following years, subgroups emerged in at least thirteen European countries, including Sweden, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom as well as in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The Soldiers of Odin have also enjoyed political support, especially from The Finns Party, a Finnish national-populist party.

 


[Note 12]

2021 0428  European Center for Populism Studies

Kenes, Bulent. (2021). “NMR: A Nordic neo-Nazi organization with aims of establishing totalitarian rule across Scandinavia.” ECPS Organisation Profiles. European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS). April 28, 2021. https://doi.org/10.55271/op0008

https://www.populismstudies.org/nmr-a-nordic-neo-nazi-organization-with-aims-of-establishing-totalitarian-rule-across-scandinavia/

Increasingly, however, NMR’s media narratives are saturated by other, less explicitly political and militant registers in which violence, violent rhetoric, and openly racist hate speech reside in the background to give way to “lighter,” more civil discourse—and seemingly more harmless forms of propaganda. This is particularly present and potent in NMR’s cultural productions and online entertainment, which includes, for example, television and talk shows, music videos, memes, poems, and podcasts intended to amuse and entertain.

 

A thesis  presented to the University of Waterloo  in fulfillment of the

thesis requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Public Issues Anthropology

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2022    © Kagan Pittman 2022

Pagan Community Online: Social Media Affordances and Limitations in Religio-Political

Sociality     by  Kagan Pittman

https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/handle/10012/17897/Pittman_Kagan.pdf?sequence=5

 

2019 08  George Washington Unversity

SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE OF THE AMERICAN FAR RIGHT

https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Surveying%20The%20Landscape%20of%20the%20American%20Far%20Right_0.pdf

 

Folkish Odinism in the Modern World

https://odinic-rite.org/main/

For those who are interested in consciously re-establishing their link with their natural religion and spirituality, for those interested in following a path to the illumination of the Odin Consciousness. For those anxious to reclaim their unique heritage and play their role in heralding a golden future, we invite you to join the Odinic Rite.

Hail the New Awakening, May Odins Light Illuminate You.

 

2019 Jan 3  USA Today

“’Game of Thrones’ fans point out the irony in Trump’s ‘The Wall is coming’ parody poster”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2019/01/03/game-thrones-fans-point-out-irony-trumps-wall-coming-parody-poster/2477687002/

President Donald Trump has apparently not finished the last season of "Game of Thrones."  The president posted an image of himself on Instagram Thursday, with the words "The Wall Is Coming" in the GoT font, a parody of the ominous House Stark motto, "Winter Is Coming." The slogan is over what appears to be a portion of the existing wall that sits on the border between the U.S. and Mexico.  

His picture has amassed over 700,000 likes.

 

2017 Aug 14   The Root

“Game of Thrones shows us how America treats White Supremacy”

https://www.theroot.com/game-of-thrones-showed-us-how-america-treats-white-supr-1797817865

We have previously discussed how the “army of the dead” (the White Walkers) is a metaphor for the white nationalist movement that seeks to slowly purge this country of everything other than Caucasian Christians.

Although I know this week’s episode was probably written over a year ago, in the wake of Charlottesville, Va.’s version of Wypipo Gone Wild, here’s how episode 4, “Eastwatch,” somehow managed to perfectly capture America’s attitude toward the “alt-right” movement.

 

[Note 13]

2021 0518  Forbes

“Giuliani claims his call for ‘Trial By Combat’ on Jan 6 shouldn’t have been taken literally as legal woes mount”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/05/18/giuliani-claims-his-call-for-trial-by-combat-on-jan-6-shouldnt-have-been-taken-literally-as-legal-woes-mount/?sh=45c93d9c1410

 

2021 0106  The Washington Post

“’Let’s have trial by combat’: How Trump and allies egged on the violent scenes Wednesday”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/06/lets-have-trial-by-combat-how-trump-allies-egged-violent-scenes-wednesday/

 

Game of Thrones: Trial by combat

https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Trial_by_combat

 

[Note 14]

2022 1107  People

“Republicans are trying to disqualify thousands of Mail-in Ballots in key swing state. It’s working”

https://people.com/politics/republicans-trying-disqualify-thousands-mail-in-ballots-swing-states/

Republican officials in three battleground states are attempting to disqualify thousands of mail-in ballots ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections — with states tossing out ballots due to technicalities, like incomplete dates on envelopes or only partially filled-out witness addresses.

The Washington Post reports on three states — Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan — where Republicans already have or are attempting to toss out mail-in ballots for various reasons. Those states have tight elections that could come down to a handful of votes.