NEW BOOK: GENOCIDE: PERSONAL STORIES, BIG QUESTIONS-EXPLORING 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY GENOCIDE

London, 4th October 2024: Yellow Press has published Genocide: Personal Stories, Big Questions, by journalist and author, Heidi Kingstone. The book tells the story of the last 120 years of genocide, its impact on the world and its relevance today. Kingstone takes the reader on a journey from the Herero and Nama genocide of 1904, through the Armenian genocide, Ukrainian terror-famine and The Holocaust to the Cambodia, Rwanda and Srebrenica genocides of the late 20th century. She also explores the Darfur, Yazidi and Rohingya genocides of the 21st century, starkly illustrating that, while some lessons have been learnt, mankind seems to possess a propensity to dehumanise fellow human beings – all too visible in today’s global conflicts. This human failing, argues Kingstone, is fuelled by fear, greed and propaganda, and the refusal to learn from the past.

	The book builds on Kingstone’s 20 years as a foreign correspondent for national and international media and is informed by survivors, witnesses, academics and activists. It is a collection of vignettes that link one instance of tragedy to another – a compendium of stories centred around people that Kingstone has met, observing connections that weave their way through relationships, cultures, and continents across time, leading to salutary parallels, past and present.

	Kingstone provides us with the origin and definition of the term genocide – it transpires that the word itself did not emerge until the winter of 1944 when Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer born in 1900, coined the term. We learn that in 1945 Lemkin went to Nuremberg to establish the crime of genocide. Ben Ferencz, the youngest prosecutor at Nuremberg – interviewed for the book by Kingstone just before his death, aged 103 in 2023 – was one of the first people to use the term. It wasn’t until 1948, we are told, that the definition was enshrined in the United Nations Genocide Convention.

	Other characters we meet in the book include two remarkable women who spoke to the world - Anne Frank, and Arshaluys Mardiganian who survived the 1915 Armenian genocide, escaped to the USA, and became a global sensation with her story, serialised in the media and turned into a film.

	Having met a woman born in Bergen-Belsen, the former Nazi concentration camp, Kingstone talks about life after liberation and how people can rise from the ashes. Haunted by ghosts, children of survivors talk about their lives and the impact of their families’ legacy. And we learn about the ‘Heart of Auschwitz’ - the amazing story of a purple origami heart made by prisoners that survived the Death March. Kingstone’s work also explores the psychology of a perpetrator – how people justify mass murder – and draws parallels between leaders from Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler to Josef Stalin.

	The book quotes leading authorities on the complex and perplexing history of genocide, including Professor Menachem Z. Rosensaft, former general counsel of the World Jewish Congress and adjunct professor in law at Columbia Law School; Dr Ümit Kurt, the historian whose awakening to genocide took place in his own hometown of Gaziantep, which he discovered was formerly home to a thriving Armenian community; and Dr Jan Ilhan Kizilhan who is a psychologist, psychotherapist, trauma expert and orientalist.

	Commenting on the book, Professor André Singer, President Emeritus, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, stated, “In her beautifully penned and wide-ranging book Genocide - Personal Stories, Big Questions, Heidi Kingstone takes up the challenge of not only reflecting on the Holocaust but on genocides worldwide to paint a fresh and comprehensive picture for the world to learn from.  It is her personalised journey covering genocides in so many countries that makes this such a gripping read and fulfils her ambition to help change things and remind us in such a compelling way that we must never look away.”

	Genocide:  Personal Stories, Big Questions, is published by Yellow Press (www.yellowpress.co) and is available as a download from Amazon: https://a.co/d/02a4feW4

	Heidi Kingstone

	About Heidi Kingstone: Journalist Heidi Kingstone has spent her career covering events around the globe for prominent publications from the Financial Times to the Mail on Sunday. She has interviewed key international figures from Benjamin Netanyahu and HRH Princess Anne to Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind. Her interest in human rights and dictatorships led her to Iraq on four occasions, travelling to Baghdad, Irbil, and Basra before and after the invasion in 2003. She has also reported from Bangladesh, Africa and the Middle East. Arriving in an old Soviet helicopter and a C-130 military aircraft, she reported extensively from Afghanistan. She later wrote her first book: Dispatches from the Kabul Café (2014), a memoir of a country at a tipping point. War and genocide have fuelled Kingstone’s pursuits and informed her work. Like so much in her life, from moving to London from her native Toronto to ending up in Iraq and Afghanistan, serendipity played its part in writing Genocide: Personal Stories, Big Questions.

AH: Sounds like there's lots of stuff worth in this book worth reading. The author sounds like an astounding woman.

FEDS SAY THERE'S NO MONEY LEFT TO RESPOND TO HURRICANES-AFTER SPENDING 1.4 BILLION DOLLARS ON ILLEGAL ALIENS

New York Post

 

Feds say there’s no money left to respond to hurricanes — after FEMA spent $1.4B on migrants

By Steven Nelson

Published Oct. 3, 2024

Updated Oct. 3, 2024, 5:59 p.m. ET

 

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas set off outrage Wednesday when he told reporters that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “does not have the funds” to see Americans through the rest of this Atlantic hurricane season — after the agency spent more than $1.4 billion since the fall of 2022 to address the migrant crisis.

 

“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have,” Mayorkas said during a press gaggle on Air Force One en route to tour damage from Hurricane Helene in South and North Carolina.

 

“We are expecting another hurricane hitting,” he added. “We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what — what is imminent.”

 

Hurricane Helene devastated the Southeast and killed at least 202 people.

 

Critics pointed out that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allocated $640.9 million this year in FEMA-administered funds to aid state and local governments coping with the influx of asylum seekers — though Mayorkas’ office fired back late Thursday, insisting that those funds couldn’t be used for hurricane relief because Congress authorized them specifically for the migrant crisis.

 

“This is easy. Mayorkas and FEMA — immediately stop spending money on illegal immigration resettlement and redirect those funds to areas hit by the hurricane. Put Americans first,” Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Wednesday in response to the DHS chief.

 

“Yeah!” agreed Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

 

Abbott is a top critic of Mayorkas’ mass parole of asylum seekers into the US after President Biden repudiated former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy — with the governor busing migrants to Democrat-led jurisdictions such as New York City, forcing local budget cuts to house them.

 

Over two years, more than $1.4 billion has been committed from FEMA-administered programs to support non-federal entities that are taking care of migrants.

 

DHS allocated $780 million for the migrant crisis last year initially through the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which funds relief not associated with natural disasters, and then through the new FEMA Shelter and Services Program, which was authorized in late 2022 by Congress to respond to the migrant crisis.

 

The $640.9 million spent this year comes solely from the Shelter and Services Program.

 

“These claims are completely false,” DHS said in a statement Thursday to Fox News following the Republican outcry.

 

“As Secretary Mayorkas said, FEMA has the necessary resources to meet the immediate needs associated with Hurricane Helene and other disasters. The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA’s disaster-related authorities or funding streams.”

 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott slammed Mayorkas for spending $640.0 million this year to aid state and local governments housing migrants.

 

It’s unclear if federal officials have the power to redirect migrant-focused funds to natural disaster victims.

 

The original program from which migrant funds flowed aimed to alleviate homelessness — with 1983 legislation setting up the Emergency Food and Shelter Program and calling for “projects and activities in civil jurisdictions with high unemployment, or in labor surplus areas, or in political units or in pockets of poverty.”

 

The December 2022 funding bill authorizing the split-off program for spending on migrants vaguely described the purpose as for “providing shelter and other services to families and individuals encountered by the Department of Homeland Security.”

 

A relatively paltry $4 million has been paid directly to families and individuals in the week since Hurricane Helene ravaged the Southeast, killing at least 202 people and causing severe flooding damage from Florida to North Carolina, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.

 

Those funds are from a $10 million FEMA allocation that allows storm victims grants of $750 for groceries.

 

Biden said Wednesday during an operational briefing on Hurricane Helene in North Carolina that “It’s going to cost billions of dollars to deal with this storm and all the communities affected. And Congress has an obligation to ensure the states have the resources they need.”

 

The lack of available FEMA funds stoked outrage among congressional Republicans, who are not due back in session until after Election Day.

 

“The Biden-Harris administration took more than a billion tax dollars that had been allocated to FEMA for disaster relief and used it to house illegal aliens,” fumed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). “Now, they’ve abandoned American hurricane victims in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee.”

 

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), whose district neighbors the disaster zone, tweeted: “FEMA spending over a billion dollars on illegals while they leave Americans stranded and without help is treasonous. U.S. citizens are dying. Pray for our country folks.”

 

Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) added: “‘The Biden-Harris FEMA spent over $1 BILLION on funding illegal aliens. America LAST.”

 

“Connect the dots, if you can,” wrote Tim Murtaugh, an adviser to former President Donald Trump’s campaign. “DHS says FEMA might not have enough cash to help people through hurricane season. But in 2 years of a new Biden-Harris program, they’ve spent $1 BILLION on housing and other services for migrants.”

 

FEMA did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

PRIVACY CONCERNS AND THE META RAY-BAND SMARTGLASSES

Will these be the end of privacy? Josh Edelson/Getty Images

In a shocking turn of events, someone was able to use a new high-powered tech product for evil. Two Harvard students paired the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses with facial recognition software to rapidly identify strangers and compile their personal information from the internet to highlight the privacy concerns that are getting unboxed with easily accessible consumer tech. In a video posted to X, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio explained how they built I-XRAY. The program uses the glasses to capture images of random people on campus and at a train station, identify them through a publicly accessible facial recognition search site like PimEyes, and then use a large language model (LLM) to trawl the web and compile the person’s information. Nguyen and Ardayfio could access people’s addresses, the names of their parents, and photos in mere minutes, and even approached unsuspecting people using the info they collected to make them think they had met before. The creators said they would not release the code for this program but created it to highlight how it’s possible to build invasive tech with recent advancements like smart glasses and LLMs. When 404 Media approached Meta for comment about the project, it said that similar information gathering could be used with any camera. Meta’s smart glasses have a small light that comes on when the wearer is recording, but many people report it being hard to see in crowded spaces and bright lighting outside. Nguyen and Ardayfio said they chose the glasses specifically for their inconspicuousness.

THE UK WANTS TO LEGALIZE ASSISTED DYING: HERE'S WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT

The UK gov�t wants to legalise �assisted dying�. Here�s what happens next. Kit Knightly Off-guardian.org The Parliament of the United Kingdom is moving forward with a vote on a new bill that will legalise assisted dying for those diagnosed with terminal illness. The bill, proposed by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, has yet to be published in full. According to the BBC: �The details have not been finalised but the bill is likely to be similar to a proposal in the House of Lords, which would allow terminally ill adults with six months or fewer to live to get medical help to end their own lives. This is the culmination of a years-long political, media and entertainment industry wide campaign to normalise euthanasia in the UK�s public mind. In that time we have been told that assisted dying is good for people, good for the NHS and good for the environment. The bill is expected to be formally introduced on 16 October, with the first debate to take place later this year, meaning the vote will likely be held in early 2025. I would stunned if it doesn�t pass. Here is my prediction for what happens next� � For the first year or so it will just be an option, you won�t hear much about it except in articles with headlines like �Assisted dying saved my parent/partner/child from years of pain�. � After a year or two a report will come out claiming success via some tortured invented statistical measure like �assisted dying boosts patient well being scores in surveyed NHS hospitals�. � Another will follow claiming waiting lists have improved due to decreased overcrowding in palliative care wards. They might even claim it�s decreased the NHS�s carbon footprint. � Opinion pieces will appear with titles like �Assisted dying success story shuts down conspiracy theorists�. � The minimum age to be considered for assisted dying will gradually be lowered. And the list of diseases and conditions for which assisted dying is a �recommended treatment alternative� will expand. � Eventually non-lethal diseases will be included, then psychological illnesses too. Then physical and mental disabilities. � Then will come an �emergency� � a fake one, obviously � and the NHS will come out of it shining thanks to resources �freed up� by euthanasia programs. � Next will come the editorials. �Assisted dying is good for patients and saved the NHS during [fake pandemic], it�s time to make it mandatory�. � A backbench MP will introduce a bill forcing anyone diagnosed with a fatal illness to be put on an assisted dying list. � The bill will fail, and most of the press will oppose it, but the government will issue �common sense� compromise regulations where assisted dying is the default, but patients can opt out of if they want. � It will never actually BE mandatory. But it WILL be harder and harder to get out of. If you choose to opt-in and later try to change your mind, you will be said to be mentally incompetent. � Patients who don�t want to sign DNRs or opt for end of life care will be branded �selfish� and �irresponsible�. Studies will claim they are a strain on the NHS�s resources. � Down the line, opting out will incur penalties to your pension payments and mean you are charged for healthcare, making it impossible for many older people to afford to stay alive. � Then they�ll start panels where patients who are �mentally incompetent� have assisted dying recommended by �mercy tribunals�. �and the whole time the establishment will claim there is freedom of choice, and no slippery slope at all.

MADOC'S OPEN MIC THIS FRIDAY OCTOBER 4 6:30 P.M. AT THE LEGION

Dear Friends:

So MUCH looking for to Madoc's Open Mic at the Legion this Friday. (: We rarely know who's coming but it always works out. And usually VERY well!! Somebody new shows up. Good old friends come out and musicians often join up forces to produce a new sound. It's always a pleasure! (:

This October we have 2 sessions on the 4th and 18th. Then we take a break till after Remembrance Day - getting back together on November 15. So mark it on your calendars - NO Open Mic November 1.

Jerry and Robert and I will be there this Friday ready to rock at 6:30 pm. See you then!

Elizabeth and Robert 

REPLY AWL-MCLEAN'S JUNE 2024

Create Refugee Reception Centres: The things the writer proposes are all good ideas but are too reasonable and logical for the government to put in place. Besides, these centres would help stem the chaos out of which the globalists are trying to bring order.

Squeezeplay: Wonder who got the house full of mildew?

I was Floating 100 Thousand Dollars in Debt: Of course ten dollar a day childcare isn't working.

The reason it takes forever to be reimbursed is because its the government. They don't care about deadlines.

One thing socialists don't realize is you can't sell stuff, in this case the cost of caring for a child all day, for less than what its worth.

Private Healthcare is Here: The other axiom about socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money.

The Encampment Wars: The government's response to COVID is what caused this problem to baloon and it is only going to get worse.

Vintage Vista: Sounds like an idyllic life.

MORE ON OUR LEGACY OF COLONIALISM

What else were the Filles de Roy supposed to do if they didn't have the aptitude to become nuns and weren't pawing at the dirt to make their future on their backs?

What were the victims of the Scottish land clearances supposed to do?

What were the landless veterans of the Napolionic wars supposed to do, especially given the horrible economic conditions that would shortly befall England?

What were the victims of the potato famine supposed to do?

What were the runaway slaves supposed to do?

What were the illegally persecuted Huginots supposed to do? 

THINGS IN THE NEWS

Neat Kingston will now have more fresh food market pop-ups.

Ditto that Kingston got a new factory and that its a Canadian company, Royal Milk Canada. Now if they could also get a lactation drugs manufacturing facility...

 The Texas state fair is now a gun free zone. Did they learn nothing from all the other gun free zones and from what happened there last year?

For some, Doug Ford's comments about homeless people needing to work were entirely unhelpful. For others, they were just the kick in the pants they needed.

OUR LEGACY OF COLONIALISM

We sat in a centrally heated restaurant, enjoyed a variety of properly processed and cooked foods and alcoholic beverages from around the world, drank properly treated water featuring California lemon wedges, listened to poetry read into a microphone from sheets of paper printed off computers or from photos taken or emailed to smartphones, then went home to our televisions, computers, showers, and warm beds with quality matresses. 

REPLY AWL-CHATELAINE SPRING 2024

The Green issue seemed like it was mainly written for yuppies in Toronto.

For one thing, a dehumidifier isn't going to do you a bit of good if you have a basement or crawlspace with a dirt floor.

Rather than using expensive Swedish cloths to replace surviettes, just use wet dishcloths or facecloths.

Instead of getting rid of your lawn, just do next to nothing with it, other than cutting the grass. You can't not mow your lawn or you'll get ticks and other nasty things.

As for the article about good fire, people where I live still do this. Also, many people on the right and the alternative side of things have been recommending getting back to something like this for years. In fact, even Donald Trump sent out a Tweet when he was president. However, because they were white, nobody listened to them.

As for the section on pee leaks, again, most women in Canada can't just go into a store at the mall and replace a pair of pants and underwear they've just unexpectedly urinated in. Also, they can't afford a single pair of pee-proof leggings that are over a hundred bucks a pop.

How many of these problems in women go back to potty training or the immediate post-toilet training years?

Also, the section failed to mention that apparently you shouldn't "just in case" pee, like before you run out to the Kwik-E-Mart. Maybe that was good advice when you were five, but it isn't now. It just weakens the bladder.

MEDIA-RELATED STUFF: HEY BUS DRIVER, SLOW DOWN A LITTLE BIT

Was picking up CBC Radio One's 91.5 transmitter from Ottawa Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I see French-language Montreal radio stations keep their Saturday night parties going past midnight into the morning.

Enjoyed Julia on 98 PXY Rochester (and probably a bunch of other stations) Monday talking about movies that scared you really bad as a kid.

Contrary to one of their IDs I heard, I would not define the music K-love plays as fit for a party.

Have been enjoying the daily news updates from Kingstonist on YouTube but Sarah Birch talks way too fast.

Noticed Friday morning that Lindsay Heron on 91x Belleville was also talking fast, swallowing words rather frequently.

I see the Canadian Christian TV program "Tribal Trails" has bought into the woke narrative. What about 1 Corinthians 5 17? Whatever happened to Proverbs 18 17? 

For the last couple weeks now I've been continuing to get good DX from, at various times, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, and upstate New York as well as being able to pick up CKOL Campbellford.

Am looking for episodes of the Canadian old-time radio show "Share the Wealth."