Headline News
The Elf On The Shelf Is Preparing Your Child To Live In A Future Police State, Professor Warns
The Elf on the Shelf is “a capillary form of power that normalizes the voluntary surrender of privacy, teaching young people to blindly accept panoptic surveillance and” [deep breath] “reify hegemonic power.”
For some, the Elf on the Shelf doll, with its doe-eyed gaze and cherubic face, has become a whimsical holiday tradition — one that helpfully reminds children to stay out of trouble in the lead-up to Christmas
For others — like, say, digital technology professor Laura Pinto — the Elf on the Shelf is “a capillary form of power that normalizes the voluntary surrender of privacy, teaching young people to blindly accept panoptic surveillance and” [deep breath] “reify hegemonic power.” I mean, that’s obvious, right?
The latter perspective is detailed in “Who’s the Boss,” a paper published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, in which Pinto and co-author Selena Nemorin argue that the popular seasonal doll is preparing a generation of children to uncritically accept “increasingly intrusive (albeit whimsically packaged) modes of surveillance.”
Before you burst out laughing, know that Pinto comes across as extremely friendly and not at all paranoid on the phone. She’s also completely serious.
“The Elf on the Shelf” is both a book and a doll. The former is a soft pixie scout elf that parents are instructed to hide around the house. The accompanying book, written in rhyme, tells a Christmas-themed story that explains how Santa Claus keeps tabs on who is naughty and who is nice.”
The Elf on the Shelf®: A Christmas Tradition Broadcast Spot
The book describes elves hiding in children’s homes each day during the holidays to monitor their behavior before returning to the North Pole each night with a report for “the boss.”
Because we live in a world grappling with corporate smartphone surveillance,behavior management apps in the classroom and private communication interceptions by various governments, Pinto — a digital technology professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology — sees the Elf on the Shelf dolls as one development among many threatening our collective definition of privacy.
If she’s right, in all likelihood she’s fighting a losing battle. The Elf on the Shelf book sold over 6 million copies and joined the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade last year, according to the Daily Mail.
“I don’t think the elf is a conspiracy and I realize we’re talking about a toy,” Pinto told The Post. “It sounds humorous, but we argue that if a kid is okay with this bureaucratic elf spying on them in their home, it normalizes the idea of surveillance and in the future restrictions on our privacy might be more easily accepted.”
Until the introduction of Elf on the Shelf, Santa’s mythological helpers had always been relegated to the toy workshop, Pinto said. After the story and toy were introduced by Chanda Bell, a onetime Atlanta reading teacher, the traditional narrative changed to include the hiding, surveillance and back-and-forth travel, Pinto said.
“As evidenced by the millions of books and dolls sold,” the Toronto Star writes, “the story has become a cultural phenomenon, with parents littering their social media feeds with photos of the elf in strange places.”
Facebook, in fact, is how Pinto said she originally became aware of the doll. Last December, she began to see her Facebook friends who have kids posting Elf on the Shelf photos.
The more she read about the doll and the rules that accompany it, the more she began to feel like the game that resonated with the purpose of the infamous panopticon, Jeremy Bentham’s 18th Century design for a model prison (a central tower in a circular structure, surrounded by cells that made it impossible for prisoners to know if they were being watched).
She writes:
Elf on the Shelf presents a unique (and prescriptive) form of play that blurs the distinction between play time and real life. Children who participate in play with The Elf on the Shelf doll have to contend with rules at all times during the day: they may not touch the doll, and they must accept that the doll watches them at all times with the purpose of reporting to Santa Claus. This is different from more conventional play with dolls, where children create play-worlds born of their imagination, moving dolls and determining interactions with other people and other dolls. Rather, the hands-off “play” demanded by the elf is limited to finding (but not touching!) The Elf on the Shelf every morning, and acquiescing to surveillance during waking hours under the elf’s watchful eye. The Elf on the Shelf controls all parameters of play, who can do and touch what, and ultimately attempts to dictate the child’s behavior outside of time used for play.
“The whole thing with panopticonism under the Jeremy Bentham structure,” Pinto said, “is that you never quite knew if you were being watched or not and that forced you into behaving in a certain way. The elf is the same way.”
Pinto said she’s not the first person to be troubled by Elf on the Shelf’s surveilling. She’s said parents routinely contact her to say they changed the rules of the game after it made their families uneasy. And many kids, she said, often intuitively feel like spying and being a tattletale is wrong.
“A mom e-mailed me and told me that the first day they read the elf book and put the elf out, her daughter woke up crying because she was being watched by the elf,” Pinto recounted. “They changed the game so it wouldn’t scare the child.”
Emma Waverman, a blogger with Today’s Parent, told the Star that the idea of the elf watching someone all the time is “creepy.”
“It makes the motivation to behave something that’s external,” she told the paper. “If I’m not around or if the elf is not around, do they act crazy?”
Translated into academia-speak, Pinto and Nemorin make a similar point in Who’s the Boss?
“What is troubling,” they write, “is what The Elf on the Shelf represents and normalizes: anecdotal evidence reveals that children perform an identity that is not only for caretakers, but for an external authority (The Elf on the Shelf), similar to the dynamic between citizen and authority in the context of the surveillance state.” source
antisemitism
The Pro-Hamas And Anti-Israel Protest Groups Roiling College Campuses Across America Right Now Are Funded By George Soros And His Far-Left BDS Buddies
Far left BDS groups supporting the Columbia students’ sit-in include a group that supported the Hamas attack of October 7 and a George Soros fund.
It’s an amazing thing to see how all these college campuses across America are now hosting massive anti-Israel, pro-Hamas demonstrations that feature professionally designed and printed signage, pop-up tents, and an endless bevy of transportational vehicles to ferry people to and from the protests. Why, it’s almost as if these ‘organic student-led protests’ had professional backers feeding them money and materials. As it turns out, they do and George Soros is leading the pack.
“The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.” Esther 8:13 (KJB)
You might not have heard of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Movement, BDS for short, but it is a very powerful group of people working to put pressure on Wall Street, Fortune 500 companies and colleges and universities to pull investments and endowments connected with Israel to cripple them financially. George Soros and his Leftist buddies are funding all of what you are watching unfold on the news with the college protests happening right now, just like they funded the furor surrounding the George Floyd event in 2020. George Soros might be biologically Jewish, but he is very much against the state of Israel and the Zionist Movement. You remember he started his career as a teenager in WWII, ratting out his Jewish friends and neighbors to the Nazis who then seized their property and took them away to the camps. In 2024, nothing has changed, Soros is just doing his dirty work globally instead of locally.
The far-left groups funding Columbia’s student sit-in including a group that supported Hamas Oct 7 attack and a George Soros fund
FROM THE DAILY MAIL UK: Tensions continue to escalate at the Ivy League school where hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters are demanding that the institution divest from companies with ties to Israel. So far, more than 100 demonstrators have been arrested at the ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’, which is comprised of a coalition of 116 groups under the umbrella organization Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
Now it has emerged that several of the groups in the coalition have received backing from left wing donors, including one group currently under investigation for allegedly fundraising for terrorist organizations.
One of the key players in the coalition is Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which the Gazette reports came out in support of the October 7 attack which killed 1,200 Israelis. SJP receives funding from American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), according to the Anti Defamation League, which describes AMP as holding ‘extreme anti-Israel views’.
Pro-Hamas protests at the University of Texas spiraling out of control, George Soros money has been very well spent. #Protests #Texas pic.twitter.com/ZyvFGinWH6
— Now The End Begins (@NowTheEndBegins) April 25, 2024
Last year, Virginia’s Attorney General Jason Miyares announced his office was investigating AMP over allegations they may have been fundraising for terrorist organizations. SJP is also an offshoot of the Westchester People’s Action Coalition which supports Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, the Green New Deal, and other left-wing initiatives. WESPAC is named as a ‘fiscal sponsor’ of SJP, according to NGO Watch and has assets over $1,000,000. Several of the groups members are among those who have been barred for participating in the sit in.
Another central player in the encampment is Jewish Voice for Peace, which has received millions from various donors including George Soros’s Open Society Network. Since 2016 the group has netted at least $650,000 from Soros-backed organizations.
Other donors have included the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, whose director, Nicholas Burns, resigned in 2017 over its support for JVP. Both JVP and SJP have been involved in solidarity protests across other universities including NYU, Yale, MIT and Harvard.
Columbia canceled in-person classes, dozens of protesters were arrested at New York University and Yale, and the gates to Harvard Yard were closed to the public Monday as some of the most prestigious U.S. universities sought to defuse campus tensions over Israel’s war with Hamas.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest states on its website that it represents thousands of students across nine schools.
Other groups which make up the coalition include Young Democratic Socialists of America, Columbia Queer and Asian, the African Students Association, Columbia University Students for Human Rights and the Teachers College Abolition Collective.
The coalition began the sit in following Columbia president Minouche Shafik’s testimony before Congress about anti-Semitism on campus. The stunt entered its seventh day today and has already seen billionaire donors including Robert Kraft pull their funding and earned condemnation from the White House.
The coalition’s three demands center around divestment all of Columbia’s finances, including that profit from ‘Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation in Palestine’, severing all ties with Israeli universities and an opposition to ‘to land grabs, whether in Harlem, Lenapehoking, or Palestine’. The group is seeking a ceasefire on Gaza, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory strikes by Israel. READ MORE
Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.
But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)
“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB
Free Bible Program
We Just Sent One Bible For Every Detainee At The 1,400 Bed Karnes County Facility As Chaplain Segunda Tells Us 53 People Just Got Saved
This month we have sent out nearly 5,000 pounds of Bibles, New Testaments and scripture portions to jails, prisons and detention centers across America
Chaplain Segunda wrote to tell us two things the other day. The first was that she was very grateful to have received the 1,400 Bibles we sent to the Karnes County Detention Center last week, the second thing she wrote to tell us was that 53 people had prayed to get saved, and they were overjoyed to receive those Bibles from us. An equal amount of Bibles went out to the South Texas Immigration Detention Center, and 750 King James Bibles were sent to the Floyd County Jail in Georgia.
“But the word of God grew and multiplied.” Acts 12:24 (KJB)
I got a letter yesterday Mark & Margie Beamer who attend the Wooster Bible Church in Ohio, they were writing to send a donation for Bibles Behind Bars and to tell us that the Bibles we sent to that church last year for their jail ministry at the Richland County Jail are still being given out, and that they were excited to help give them out. What a blessing that is for the giver and the receiver!
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
Christian, your prayers and donations are fueling an amazing boots-on-the-ground offensive to put the word of God into as many jails and prisons as the Lord will allow. New requests come in on a daily basis, please keep us in your prayers. And if God has prospered you, please take a moment to click on the donate button to send is a generous financial contribution to keep the supply line of King James Bibles, News Testaments, scripture portions and gospel tracts wide open. Thank you so much…TO THE FIGHT!!!
Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.
But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)
“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB
Artificial Intelligence
Please Give A Hearty End Times Welcome To ‘Thermonator’, The World’s First Flamethrower-Wielding Robot Attack Dog Straight Out Of Revelation
While it may sound like an episode of Black Mirror, Americans can now purchase a flamethrower-wielding robot dog online from Throwflame called Thermonator.
Have you ever spent a hot, summer afternoon at a water park? I have, and it’s one of my favorite things to do. There is this curious moment that takes place after you enter into the water, right before the thundering force of the jets carry you forward. In that brief, little space, you are calm and peaceful, luxuriously basking in the cool water. Then you reach the main current and woosh!! you go at what feels like a million miles per hour. This is where we are right now with the incoming tide of AI and robot technology, in that brief little moment before the avalanche sweeps us inexorably forward into only God knows what’s coming next.
“Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.” Habakkuk 1:5 (KJB)
The opening years of the 20th century was an overwhelming outpouring of information and global travel and exploration, exactly as Daniel had foreseen in chapter 12 of his book. In America, so many new things were being invented that we felt that nothing was out of our reach, and that we were on the verge of create a thousand year reign of peace and prosperity. Many of the Christian scholars were amillennial, secure in their thinking that we were ‘bringing in the kingdom’. Then WWI hit, and the world watch as all that technology we had just invented was now being used to wage war as never seen before in entire annals of human history. Soldiers literally went insane watching the ‘benefits of modern technology’ helping them to live a ‘better and more prosperous life’. Now here in 2024 we have flamethrower-wielding robot dogs named Thermonator here to meet all our flamethrowing needs as Hell continues to enlarge itself. Check your watch, Christian, it’s later than you think.
Meet the Thermonator: First ever flamethrowing robot dog that shoots jets of fire up to 30 feet hits US market
FROM THE DAILY MAIL UK: Ohio-based Throwflame opened sales for its ‘Thermonator’ Tuesday, selling its 37-pound quadruped machine for $9,420 that is legal in all US states except Maryland. A demonstration video shows a Thermonator creeping and jumping through a forest before torching its surroundings with a 30-foot jet of fire spewing from a flame thrower on its back. Throwflame, based in Cleveland, claims to be the oldest flamethrower manufacturer in the US.
The company released the first-ever full-sized, commercially available flamethrower in 2015, which shoots flames up to 50 feet. ‘This unregulated flamethrower sparked a significant media response relating to legality,’ Throwflame shared on its website. ‘However, flamethrowers remain federally unregulated. This means anyone can buy one without background checks or a waiting period.’
Thermonator appears to be designed like most quadruped robots but has one of Throwflame’s devices attached to its back. The robot dog boasts a variety of cameras and sensors, allowing it to autonomously move throughout its surroundings and find targets to set ablaze. The machine is remotely operated – the demonstration video shows a handler controlling it with a smartphone.
Social media users have weighed in on the machine, comparing it to an episode in the fourth season of Black Mirror titled ‘Metalhead.’
The episode explores what could happen if these machines turned on us, revealing the terrifying quest for survival in a world where robo-dogs can outrun and outsmart humans. X user Rob Sheepe posted: ‘Some real-life Black Mirror ‘Metalhead’ terror right here. How is this legal?’
However, Maryland is the only US state that bans flamethrowers – California requires a permit to own one. Possessing or using a flamethrower in Maryland is punishable by a $250,000 fine and up to 25 years imprisonment. In 2015, Congress introduced a bill that would treat flamethrowers like machine guns, but was stalled and later dismissed. READ MORE
The Robot Dog With A Flamethrower | Thermonator
Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.
But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)
“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB
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END TIMES
CHRISLAM
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THE THIRD TEMPLE
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