Trotsky – The Myth. Ask a Western leftist which communist he admires, and you often get the same answer: Trotsky. The intellectual. The orator. The true revolutionary, betrayed by Stalin. If only he had won… Look at the young Trotsky in the picture: round glasses, wild hair, burning eyes. Many young leftists today would recognize themselves in him. The look hasn’t changed. Neither has the certainty. So let’s look at what he did when he had power. Born in 1879 in what is now southern Ukraine, Trotsky was a brilliant writer and a spellbinding speaker. In October 1917, he played a central role in organizing the Bolshevik seizure of power. Then Lenin made him Commissar for War, and he built the Red Army, directing it from an armoured train that rushed from front to front. Deserters were shot. Military discipline was enforced through executions. Blocking detachments were deployed to stop retreating soldiers, and former tsarist officers recruited into the Red Army were kept under surveillance by political commissars. Their families were sometimes held hostage to guarantee their loyalty. Cruelty knows no limits when you have no doubts. In 1920, the Red Army marched on Warsaw. It was stopped on the Vistula. That same year, Trotsky published an entire book, Terrorism and Communism, explaining why revolutionary terror was necessary. He wanted labour militarized too: workers organized like soldiers, subjected to military discipline and compelled to serve the needs of the state. In 1921, the sailors of Kronstadt – once hailed as the pride of the revolution – demanded free elections to the soviets. Trotsky supported the suppression of the revolt. Thousands were killed in the assault or executed afterwards. Then he lost the power struggle to Stalin. Expelled, exiled, forced abroad. From there, he wrote that the revolution had been betrayed – by Stalin, never by himself. He ended up in Mexico City, where he stayed for a time with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. And so the Western romance took shape: the exiled prophet, the revolutionary betrayed, the road not taken. In August 1940, a Soviet agent who had gained his confidence entered his study and struck him with an ice axe. The machine Trotsky had helped build had come for him too. His killer later received the Soviet Union’s highest honour. Trotsky was not the alternative to Stalin. He was the same machine – only with better prose. He never rejected the terror. He rejected losing control of it. The "good communist" is always the one who lost. Next: Stalin.

Before surgery After surgery

Billie debuts her new hair via Instagram! ❤️ "😚"

Man, #Clayface will go down as the most frustrating film of the year. Frequently (maybe accidentally) brushes up against GENUINELY compelling ideas of societal expectations, repressed identity, queerness in media, gender dysphoria, visibility through art, only to be ignored or arrive at the least interesting version of itself. Everything is as superficial as Hagen's career. You can FEEL Flanagan's more esoteric examination of personhood trying hard to burst out of the confines of what's otherwise a campy B-monster movie, and man, does it suck to see. No idea why they didn't wait for him; it feels like an unforced error. A technically impressive film with some seriously GNARLY special effects, actors making a meal out of scraps, only to be let down by...the (rewritten) script, resulting in a tonally confused, albeit interesting and at times enjoyable, misfire that perhaps exposes Gunn's limitations as the head of the studio.

just remembered that we used to have this insane cast lineup during S31 of SNL

I was mid-hip thrust when I found out @Shanemgillis had called me a whore. Technically I found out four hours later, when I reviewed the footage of Saturday Night Live. My tripod was on the bench, my ring light was clamped to the squat rack and my boyfriend Tanner was holding the back-up phone for the side angle. Tanner films all my content. He is not allowed to look at me. The “joke” was about how women dress at the gym. I know it was about me, because everything is. So I did what any survivor would do. I went to my car and filmed myself crying. It took 11 takes, because the lighting in a Range Rover is unforgiving, and grief is no excuse for a bad shot. In the final cut, you can see a single tear land on my sports bra right over the logo, which clicks through to an affiliate link. My caption: “I’m literally shaking.” Then I put on the shortest shorts I own, went back inside, and filmed my ass from three angles with the caption, “Does this outfit work for you, Shane Gillis?” I wanted to send him a message that my body is not for men. To make sure Shane got the message, I tagged him. Then I tagged every man I follow. Some people say my response proved his point. These people are rapists. ✍️ @BridgetPhetasy Article: spectator.com/article/shane-…

LMAO

Trump administration announces Barbera Thornhill has joined the State Department to lead U.S. efforts to combat human trafficking worldwide

Ambassador Thornhill, welcome to the team. I’m proud to have such a dedicated leader join us as Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Human trafficking is a grave human rights issue and a transnational crime exploiting men, women, and children for profit. We will continue to go after traffickers, protect survivors, and deliver justice for the American people.

did u know that a rib tattoo is one of the most painful tattoo placements which makes him 1230x hotter

this still gotta be the craziest fucking transformation i’ve ever seen

"Lanterns" writer Tom King on Hal Jordan's murder: "We had a big debate. It was like, 'Does Kerry Kane get punished?' Nothing could punish her more than the fact that she did that thing and she has to live with it. There's no, like, jail isn't worse than that."

I am the British whistleblower who reported evidence concerning Howard Lutnick, his links to Jeffrey Epstein, and Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC to the FBI in 2020–21. Listen to the BBC File on 4 documentary about my whistleblower story: bbc.com/audio/play/m002yx47 BBC News: bbc.com/news/articles/c9q28d… I later shared evidence with the House Oversight Committee, which subsequently questioned Lutnick behind closed doors. My disclosures also contributed to regulatory action in the US and UK, including a £96m HMRC tax assessment relating to BGC’s partnership scheme. I believe the true tax exposure is substantially higher. I also reported to the FBI and financial regulators matters involving Cantor Fitzgerald’s Relief Fund and BGC/Cantor’s annual 9/11 Charity Day. The personal consequences of whistleblowing, and the retaliation I say followed, have been devastating for my family and me. Mother Jones previously reported that documents I uncovered revealed a years-long business tie between Howard Lutnick, Cantor Fitzgerald and Jeffrey Epstein through AdFin, including a 2018 exchange in which Lutnick and Epstein discussed the company directly: motherjones.com/politics/202… motherjones.com/politics/202… Follow me here on X and on LinkedIn. I intend to share more of the evidence and the story behind what happened.