Agent of Chaos

Russian imperialism is a neglected subject in the West. I would like to ask my fellow Westerners to take this chance, if you haven’t done so already, to learn about Ukrainian history, to make supporting Ukraine and opposing Russian imperialism one of your political priorities, and to take pro-Russian rhetoric seriously as the fascist apologism it is.

To that end, I’m going to share some of the resources that helped me to understand Russia’s war on Ukraine. Obviously I’m still far from an expert and this can never hope to be a comprehensive list, so this is just a handful of starting points.

The Making of Modern Ukraine – Lectures from a course on Ukrainian history at Yale University, available on Youtube or as a podcast. The reading list is available on Substack (although not the readings themselves.) This course is long but very worthwhile, and it's a less emotionally taxing option for those who find first-hand news coverage overwhelming.

20 Days in Mariupol – A documentary about the siege of Mariupol, in which Russia is thought to have killed at least 25,000 civilians and deported tens of thousands more. The true number is not yet known.

Stealing Ukraine’s Children – A short documentary about the kidnapping and indoctrination of Ukrainian children by Russia.

Mr Nobody against Putin – A documentary revealing the rapid growth of indoctrination and militarisation in a Russian school since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The same curriculum is used in occupied Ukraine.

There is also currently a lot of news coverage to mark the anniversary, for example by the BBC, the Guardian, and the Kyiv Independent.

If you’d like to donate to support Ukraine, you can find some summaries of the best ways to do so here:

Short list

Medium list

Masterpost

The most widely recommended organisations are World Central Kitchen and United24, but smaller charities would also be grateful for your support.

If you’d like to get involved more directly, the best way to do so will depend on your location, but as an example, some ways to support Ukrainians from within the UK include:

The Ukrainian Welcome Centre – Supporting Ukrainian refugees in the UK, either directly or behind the scenes via web, IT and admin work. (Various locations or remote.)

Ukrainian Action – Collecting and delivering medical and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. (London or remote.)

TEFL UK – Teaching online English lessons for Ukrainian refugees in the UK and Ireland. (Remote.)

ENGin – Teaching online English lessons for Ukrainians within Ukraine. (International, remote.)

1. The court holds Google responsible for statements made by its AI, considering them Google's statements (search engines have limited liability for results in their engine as they're the words of other sites/companies/people), meaning when their AI lies/hallucinates they're liable for the defamation/harm resulting from those statements.

2. Google's defense that customers are generally aware of the lack of reliability and are responsible for fact checking was dismissed. As the court pointed out, that would "significantly diminish" AI Search's stated purpose and it can't be distinguished from Google's business practices/statements as a search tool.

3. Studies have found about 91% of Google's everyday AI responses are accurate, leaving millions of searches per HOUR with potential liability for falsehoods. 56% of correct responses weren't supported by the sources the AI listed. Both of which mean Google is now liable for a LOT more AI "errors."

4. Google was held liable for 80% of court costs in this case and this precedent is expected to reverberate around the world. This is a massive shift from the 3rd-party search provider role Google has previously played and it comes right as they've tied ALL searches to their AI search.

This is a form of backdoor bigotry from both normative facts (there are more straight than gay relationships) and well represented bigoted beliefs (men are superior to women).

he had a career as a country artist, traveled around the US performing, and won an award! his sister considered herself a big fan of his and enjoyed his concerts. he also had spina bifida & used a mobility aids pushed by his sister. PinkNews recently posted this short quoting George on his transition & shows a clip of them talking about respecting one another's autonomy and privacy.

here's some pics of him & his sister Lori:

Transgender lesbian woman tears gender stereotypes apart in viral video

You have probably heard it before: “Wearing a dress does not make you a woman!”

Over at twitter, Eva, a lesbian transgender woman, published this amazing video in response, showing the world what kind of stupid stereotype this is (embedded above).

Eva writes:

Jokes aside, early on in transition I would worry so much about if I wasn’t trans enough because I genuinely enjoyed some of the ways I was masculine before I came out.

Re-contextualizing that through the frame of lesbian masculinity has made me feel so much more at ease, and it’s made me so much more comfortable with those parts of myself than as I ever did trying to express them as a man.

I love my shoulders. I love my arms, my muscles. I love wearing suits. I love being tall. I love having a deeper voice. I love having a strong jawline. I also love having long hair, gentle curves, and painting inch long wings over my eyes. I love being trans