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title:
Ottawa Black Bears: Everything you need to know about Ottawa&amp;#039;s new men&amp;#039;s lacrosse team

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<p data-sanitized-class="article-subtitle">What's with the logo? How can you get tickets? What's the vibe of a professional lacrosse game? We've answered all your Black Bears questions in one stop.</p>
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<p><span data-sanitized-class="published-date__since">Published Dec 21, 2024</span>  •  <span data-sanitized-class="updated-date__since">Last updated 1 day ago</span>  •  <span data-sanitized-class="published-date__word-count">8 minute read</span></p>

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<figure data-aqa="featured-image" data-sanitized-class="featured-image"><picture data-sanitized-class="featured-image__ratio"><source media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/webp"><source media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/jpeg"><source media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/webp"><source media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/jpeg"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" type="image/webp"><img alt="Jeff Teat Ottawa Black Bears" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-5.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;h=216&amp;sig=PyXYDYkaABMa06GWBDsePw" height="750" width="1000" data-sanitized-class="featured-image__image type:primaryImage"></picture><figcaption data-sanitized-class="featured-image__caption image-caption"><span data-sanitized-class="caption">Ottawa Black Bears captain Jeff Teat leads an attack against Toronto Rock defender Phil Mazzuca in a National Lacrosse League game at Ottawa on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.</span> <span data-sanitized-class="credit">Photo by Freestyle Photography</span> /<span data-sanitized-class="distributor">HANDOUT</span></figcaption></figure></div>
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<h4><strong>Who are the Ottawa Black Bears?</strong></h4>
<p>Ottawa’s professional lacrosse team, the national capital’s franchise in the National Lacrosse League (NLL).</p>
<h4><strong>How are the Black Bears doing this season? Did they win their last game?</strong></h4>
<p>Yes, and that 13-5 decision against the host Philadelphia Wings improved the Black Bears’ season record to 7-8 with three games remaining.</p>
<p>Jeff Teat led the offensive outburst again, scoring four goals and setting up five others, while Taggart Clark notched four goals and three assists.</p>
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<p>Their next contest will be on on the evening of Saturday, April 5, at Rochester against the Knighthawks. The last home game of the season is on Saturday, April 12, against the Las Vegas Desert Dogs (7 p.m., Fan Appreciation Night).</p>
<h4><strong>Will the Black Bears make playoffs?</strong></h4>
<p>With three games remaining in the regular season, the Black Bears shared ninth place in the standings with their 7-8 record. Only eight teams qualify for the postseason, so that’s not great, but going into action for other NLL clubs on March 29-30 the Black Bears were only a half-game out of a tie for seventh and just one full game out of a share of sixth.</p>
<p>Last season, as the New York RipTide, the team finished 8-10 and in a five-way tie for eighth, but New York and three other clubs lost out to the Rochester Knighthawks for the final postseason berth on a tiebreaker.</p>
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<h4><strong>How did the Black Bears land in Ottawa? Are they related to the Senators?</strong></h4>
<p data-async>The Black Bears used to be the New York RipTide, but on Feb. 21, 2024, <a data-evt-val='{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": " it was announced the NLL club would relocate to Canada\u2019s capital", "target_url": "https://ottawasun.com/sports/other-sports/ottawa-returns-to-national-lacrosse-league-as-the-black-bears", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}' data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click" href="https://ottawasun.com/sports/other-sports/ottawa-returns-to-national-lacrosse-league-as-the-black-bears">it was announced the NLL club would relocate to Canada’s capital</a> for the 2024-25 season.</p>
<p data-async>The franchise owners are GF Sports and Entertainment and Senators Sports &amp; Entertainment, the same group that owns the National Hockey League’s <a data-evt-val='{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": "Ottawa Senators", "target_url": "https://ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa-senators-cheo-christmas", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}' data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click" href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa-senators-cheo-christmas">Ottawa Senators</a>.</p>
<p data-async>All home games this season will be played at the <a data-evt-val='{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": "Canadian Tire Centre", "target_url": "https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/putting-the-sens-arena-on-and-off-the-map", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}' data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click" href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/putting-the-sens-arena-on-and-off-the-map">Canadian Tire Centre</a>.</p>
<p>“I know when GF was looking for a new home Ottawa was actually at the forefront,” says Chelsea McDermott, the Black Bears’ vice-president of business operations.</p>
<p>“I think with the Rebel, albeit a team that did fold (in 2003), there’s definitely a market for lacrosse here in Ottawa. When we launched our search for Junior Black Bears, which was teams of kids that were U13, U15 and U17, we had an absolutely overwhelming response. Lacrosse is in this market and we are excited to be part of it, to say the least.”</p>
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<h4><strong>Is this Ottawa’s first professional lacrosse franchise? </strong></h4>
<p>No. The Ottawa Rebel was unveiled on Oct. 16, 2020, following the purchase of the former Syracuse Smash franchise.</p>
<p>The Rebel’s first NLL game at the Corel Centre (now Canadian Tire Centre) was a 16-7 loss against the Toronto Rock before a crowd of 12,193.</p>
<p>Victories were hard to come by for the Rebel, with just nine overall and never more than four in a season, compared to 37 losses.</p>
<p>After two seasons in the home of the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators, the Rebel shifted to the Civic Centre (now TD Place Arena) for its final season. On July 30, 2003, the NLL announced a one-year suspension of the Rebel franchise and a redistribution of its players to the other 11 clubs.</p>
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<p>The Rebel never resurfaced, though, with the franchise moving to Edmonton to become the Rush and then moving again to Saskatoon in 2015.</p>
<p>Post-Rebel, on Dec. 5, 2015, the Lansdowne LAX Showdown brought an NLL exhibition matchup between the Toronto Rock and the Saskatchewan Rush to Ottawa’s TD Place Arena. Toronto won 14-8, led by Brett Hickey’s five goals.</p>
<h4><strong>What’s with the logo and the jersey?</strong></h4>
<figure data-aqa="embed-image" data-sanitized-class="embedded-image"><picture data-sanitized-class="embedded-image__ratio"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=564&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=uVIiKibPnu6O3F3EwL7Opg, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1128&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=we9EBb_eKwxlqDCmvSstpw 2x" media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/webp"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=564&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=nUHvdhoKcwOxbUkGLukdHg, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1128&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=FaIYbOGbp-b2V5AC8KGlXA 2x" media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/jpeg"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=472&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=VP649SYa2nBQzjp0dUDbdw, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=944&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=2hOs2tis2jiJS7IDjOeSCw 2x" media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/webp"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=472&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=BqJFYrjWmhdfVGD4IKO-yg, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=944&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=NBEjDty2j5zpbXFQWArqLQ 2x" media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/jpeg"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=VgDP-BeyacXmmpAWq6Gsuw, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=576&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=4esTQI-6TxNf__qUXzcPdA 2x" media="(max-width: 767px)" type="image/webp"><img alt="Ottawa Black Bears jerseys" data-src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;sig=CekvGPuNVB4QrxscdMFiKw" data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;sig=CekvGPuNVB4QrxscdMFiKw, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=576&amp;sig=w_8TP-Pn-4NJmobUyP-kzQ 2x" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/uniform.jpg?quality=5&amp;strip=all&amp;w=100&amp;sig=b9ryUavvJNW2m2PLpSdjzw" height="750" loading="lazy" width="1000" data-sanitized-class="embedded-image__image lazyload"></picture><figcaption data-sanitized-class="image-caption"><span data-sanitized-class="caption">Home and away versions of the Ottawa Black Bears National Lacrosse League team jerseys. Take note of the motif wrapping around both sleeves and the waist featuring a chain of figures holding hands.</span> <span data-sanitized-class="credit">Photo by Freestyle Photography</span> /<span data-sanitized-class="distributor">Handout</span></figcaption></figure><p>Featured colours are deep red, gold and black. The Black Bears’ logo sits on the front of the jersey, and there are bear claw logos on both shoulders. According to the team, the motif wrapping around both sleeves and the waist of the jersey features a chain of figures holding hands.</p>
<p>Black Bears forward Larson Sundown, it adds, suggested incorporating that design along the arms and waist.</p>
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<p>“I thought it was really important, given the area we’re moving into, to highlight the Indigenous communities in the surrounding areas, such as the Akwesasne, the Kanesatake, the Kahnawake and the Tyendinaga, but also make sure that we highlight the rich lacrosse community and rich history that is in Ottawa and eastern Ontario,” Sundown, a member of the Tonawanda Seneca people from Basom, N.Y., said on the team website.</p>
<h4><strong>Tell me more about the National Lacrosse League</strong></h4>
<p>The National Lacrosse League has 13 other clubs:</p>
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<p>All teams play 18-game regular-season schedules, with the top eight in the standings qualifying for single-elimination playoff quarterfinal contests. The semifinal and final rounds will be best-of-three series, leading to the crowning of the NLL Cup champions.</p>
<p>Incorporated under the name Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse on March 13, 1986, with Chris Fritz as president and Russ Cline as executive vice-president, the NLL initially had four teams: Washington Wave; Baltimore Thunder; Philadelphia Wings; and New Jersey Saints.</p>
<p>The Saints won the inaugural regular-season contest 11-8 over the Wings before a crowd of 5,976 at New Jersey’s Meadowlands Arena.</p>
<h4>Is there a women’s lacrosse league?</h4>
<p data-async>Yes. Announced in November 2024, the <a data-evt-val='{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": "Maybelline Women\u2019s Lacrosse League", "target_url": "https://thewll.com/", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}' data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click" href="https://thewll.com/">Maybelline Women’s Lacrosse League</a> made its debut with a seven-day round-robin and championship tournament in February involving four U.S.-based teams: Boston Guard, California Palms, Maryland Charm and New York Charging.</p>
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<p>The Feb. 11-17 event at Springfield, Va., just outside Washington, was capped by the Guard’s 22-17 victory against the Charging.</p>
<h4><strong>What’s the vibe fans can expect at an NLL home game?</strong></h4>
<p>It’s a jam. Expect non-stop music and a lot of fast-paced action, says Chelsea McDermott, the team’s vice-president of business operations.</p>
<p>“Unlike hockey, where the music stops during play, lacrosse is more similar to the NBA, where there’s constantly entertainment and action and music. I feel like lacrosse, because of how fast it is, is almost like the equivalent of scrolling on Instagram. There’s something new happening every 15 to 20 seconds. We have a 30-second shot clock, which forces the game to keep moving, change possessions and run the other way.</p>
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<p>“It is a fast-paced game, so, whether you are there for the atmosphere and lively entertainment, or you’re there for the sport, or you’re there just as a parent looking to take your kid out for the night, there’s something for you there.”</p>
<figure data-aqa="embed-image" data-sanitized-class="embedded-image"><picture data-sanitized-class="embedded-image__ratio"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=564&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=iuN4TUF0Z-NqmrdR2fR__A, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1128&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=vhBmCQ5NJuDiJJCbggOqZg 2x" media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/webp"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=564&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=WdyfPbV_SZ1aWh0PvbnANg, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1128&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=Qq1wJDPfboyYo1xi9cfRJA 2x" media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/jpeg"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=472&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=TBynwRDRp_lYXDc3dtZWUg, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=944&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=12r1O8BbEpcu1v7ZSWGnYA 2x" media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/webp"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=472&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=k_QiP8__gueUOdZ9M4nlvw, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=944&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=GcPb0LXl8TusoFjbhp2obw 2x" media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/jpeg"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=EEwbMBtiUbQDf9sHFTIwbw, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=576&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=yJUsAXTkVuF_wY96ZpEsfQ 2x" media="(max-width: 767px)" type="image/webp"><img alt="Cubby Ottawa Black Bears Mascot" data-src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;sig=gdZR2KMuJSF3mleQ4IFy4A" data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;sig=gdZR2KMuJSF3mleQ4IFy4A, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=576&amp;sig=l09_j1N9jBNJPWbY94YjhQ 2x" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cubby.jpg?quality=5&amp;strip=all&amp;w=100&amp;sig=tF6I7-qdsVJ8ScgYCm5RbQ" height="750" loading="lazy" width="1000" data-sanitized-class="embedded-image__image lazyload"></picture><figcaption data-sanitized-class="image-caption"><span data-sanitized-class="caption">Cubby the mascot scoots across the turf during the Ottawa Black Bears’ home opener against the Toronto Rock on Nov. 29, 2024.</span> <span data-sanitized-class="credit">Photo by Freestyle Photography</span> /<span data-sanitized-class="distributor">HAND</span></figcaption></figure><h4>Are there for activities for kids at the arena?</h4>
<p>Well, first, there’s a mascot. His name is Cubby.</p>
<p>There are also pre-game activities primarily geared toward young lacrosse players, but available to any child who wants to participate:</p>
<ul><li>Turf Time on the NLL playing surface before the opening faceoff</li>
<li>Bench Warmers: Sit on the bench (while wearing helmets) during pre-game warmup for the two teams</li>
<li>Anthem Buddies: stand beside an NLL player as national anthems are performed</li>
<li>Be a Ball Kid: stand at the centre line during warmup and gather up lacrosse balls as they fly and bounce around the turf</li>
<li>High Five Tunnel: Greet the NLL greet players as they head onto the turf before the game</li>
<li>Cheer Team performances</li>
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<p data-async>The key is that arrangements must be made with the team in advance. Here’s how: Send an email to tickets@ottawablackbears.com or visit the team website: <a data-evt-val='{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": "https://ottawablackbears.com/grouptickets/", "target_url": "https://ottawablackbears.com/grouptickets/", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}' data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click" href="https://ottawablackbears.com/grouptickets/">https://ottawablackbears.com/grouptickets/</a></p>
<p>Chelsea McDermott, the vice-president of business operations, says the Black Bears are targeting groups such school or community sports organizations.</p>
<p>The plan is for those activities to be in place for all regular-season home contests, though there could be changes according to the theme for a particular game. As well, there may be post-game activities for the two afternoon games in March, McDermott says.</p>
<figure data-aqa="embed-image" data-sanitized-class="embedded-image"><picture data-sanitized-class="embedded-image__ratio"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=564&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=ptyOwjxU3RQ8CdOL4tBk0w, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1128&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=1xSfZtL0LjpJrhWVLVRqaw 2x" media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/webp"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=564&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=biCLeHFlh8apssb1ZvdhNw, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1128&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=pdsKCyHe4Wp2qf2XfwiIkQ 2x" media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/jpeg"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=472&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=-T0zpB9QinQbN5pLQzieEA, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=944&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=WpP4xcQObtRV7L7Z_HuYDg 2x" media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/webp"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=472&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=yPvJAjMiE7Cpe0dCuHEwDg, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=944&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=R8Lymbm5q81_OBDEdVj2iA 2x" media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/jpeg"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=wGCPq-QejJLtY3eMsZuQjQ, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=576&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=vcGgaH_ByKSY5Ei3LvWOBA 2x" media="(max-width: 767px)" type="image/webp"><img alt="Taggart Clark Ottawa Black Bears" data-src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;sig=Czf3VctpwnpmDMIBZUYcGA" data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;sig=Czf3VctpwnpmDMIBZUYcGA, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=576&amp;sig=h87yGDX5voe_bnBgLxwe4Q 2x" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-3.jpg?quality=5&amp;strip=all&amp;w=100&amp;sig=t-xUD6unn6vKnnDwY4UmPA" height="750" loading="lazy" width="1000" data-sanitized-class="embedded-image__image lazyload"></picture><figcaption data-sanitized-class="image-caption"><span data-sanitized-class="caption">The Ottawa Black Bears’ Taggart Clark scores a goal against the Toronto Rock’s Nick Rose in a National Lacrosse League game at Ottawa on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.</span> <span data-sanitized-class="credit">Photo by Freestyle Photography</span> /<span data-sanitized-class="distributor">HANDOUT</span></figcaption></figure><h4><strong>How do I get Black Bears tickets and what’s the price point?</strong></h4>
<p data-async><a data-evt-val='{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": "Tickets can be purchased online.", "target_url": "https://ottawablackbears.com/tickets/", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}' data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click" href="https://ottawablackbears.com/tickets/">Tickets can be purchased online.</a></p>
<p>Single game tickets:</p>
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<ul><li>$34 for the Party Zone</li>
<li>$38 for 100- and 200-level seats at the ends of the playing surface</li>
<li>$48 for 100- and 200-level seats along the sidelines of the playing surface</li>
<li>$92 for Club Bell, where pub food buffet and non-alcoholic beverages are included with each ticket.</li>
<li>Additional Ticketmaster fee ($4.10) applies to each ticket order.</li>
</ul><p>Season tickets:</p>
<ul><li>$299-$799 based on location in arena and services provided, taxes and fees included.</li>
</ul><h4><strong>What’s the 2024-2025 Black Bears home game schedule? Are there theme nights?</strong></h4>
<p>The last home game of the season is <strong>Saturday, April 12</strong> against the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, starting at 7 p.m. It will be Fan Appreciation Night.</p>
<figure data-aqa="embed-image" data-sanitized-class="embedded-image"><picture data-sanitized-class="embedded-image__ratio"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=564&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=s3ENvHKo8iseEGM8nqbUyw, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1128&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=4CdaPe_cajo657Ra9wgZYg 2x" media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/webp"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=564&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=cHuJzGJTs8XvgOa1uo1t_w, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1128&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=zI8otDYpjIpiVBa7BXH_GQ 2x" media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/jpeg"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=472&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=2w5d9XXu-2VIcI_juazUaw, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=944&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=P6j6gqRtLuVps0kqGOxbsw 2x" media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/webp"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=472&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=ddmlrXR7lr7fawW2nOwOxA, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=944&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=sFo2dE8QKgu3cVSVamecYQ 2x" media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/jpeg"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=YL-J82s3_zT5LCX4FTzZuQ, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=576&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=iqx2SoeS0T_xg5zKLTYSfg 2x" media="(max-width: 767px)" type="image/webp"><img alt="Ottawa Black Bears" data-src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;sig=9P-Dwmh0S-8h7TZMstwOGA" data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;sig=9P-Dwmh0S-8h7TZMstwOGA, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=576&amp;sig=0ks-0ndFUjVYJ2vUVAy3Ig 2x" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240222-nll-ottawa-black-bears-logo.jpg?quality=5&amp;strip=all&amp;w=100&amp;sig=t_xLetxUBCE7U1Fi1pfr7Q" height="750" loading="lazy" width="1000" data-sanitized-class="embedded-image__image lazyload"></picture><figcaption data-sanitized-class="image-caption"><span data-sanitized-class="caption">Ottawa Black Bears</span> <span data-sanitized-class="distributor">SUPPLIED</span></figcaption></figure><h4>Bet you didn’t know that…</h4>
<p>Ottawa’s Jay Thorimbert is the NLL’s all-time leader in faceoffs won, and by a big margin. The 38-year-old defender from Whitby, Ont., whose career began with a Boston franchise in 2009, is credited with 3,375 faceoff wins, approximately 800 more than the next-best total for the Georgia Swarm’s Jeremy Thompson.</p>
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<p>Jeff Teat is definitely the top gun. The 27-year-old left-shooting forward from Brampton, Ont., led the RipTide last season with 131 points, including 58 goals. That ranked third in the league, four points off the leading total, and Teat finished third in voting for the NLL’s MVP award, which was presented to Calgary Roughnecks goaltender Christian Del Bianco.</p>
<p>Teat’s also coming off a summer-season MVP campaign with the Premier Lacrosse League’s New York Atlas, featuring league-best totals of goals (28), assists (36) and points (64) in 10 regular-season games.</p>
<p>Before becoming a professional, he played at Cornell University, leading the Big Red in assists and points in all four seasons between 2017 and 2020.</p>
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<p>His father, Dan Teat, played in the NLL between 1997 and 2010, including stints with Rochester, Albany, San Jose, Buffalo, Edmonton and Philadelphia.</p>
<h4><strong>What can I get to eat at a Black Bears game?</strong></h4>
<p data-async><a data-evt-val='{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": "Legacy Bar &amp; Social", "target_url": "https://www.canadiantirecentre.com/plan-your-visit/restaurants/chek-point/", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}' data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click" href="https://www.canadiantirecentre.com/plan-your-visit/restaurants/chek-point/">Legacy Bar &amp; Social</a> &amp; <a data-evt-val='{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": "Bert\u2019s Bar", "target_url": "https://www.canadiantirecentre.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Berts-Menu-2023-2024.pdf", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}' data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click" href="https://www.canadiantirecentre.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Berts-Menu-2023-2024.pdf">Bert’s Bar</a> are open at the Canadian Tire Centre for Ottawa Black Bears games, and there are also regular in-arena concession outlets. If you’ve ever been to an Ottawa Senators NHL game, you’ll know what to expect.</p>
<figure data-aqa="embed-image" data-sanitized-class="embedded-image"><picture data-sanitized-class="embedded-image__ratio"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=564&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=ZfOQeYrX9NcFMFxeTKle7w, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1128&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=pDAS6agP4TIpDXrrSCz0WA 2x" media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/webp"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=564&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=j_QUDAQCJHSN9O0G1XYkiw, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1128&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=92yPh6olnzsBZgCo-08AlQ 2x" media="(min-width: 1200px)" type="image/jpeg"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=472&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=1s6VGjapPr8UzCfNDlykrQ, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=944&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=kB9EjYEP5WTmXgVvhBID1w 2x" media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/webp"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=472&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=q0ImOh-9i99pfofCwxKd_g, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=944&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=8lkLSXWy_Pr7GAze2R9g4A 2x" media="(min-width: 768px)" type="image/jpeg"><source data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=m3meYhO2wdvzBtcH9JHqZA, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=576&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=RwBSHFHvvC0KXg-fd1F0CA 2x" media="(max-width: 767px)" type="image/webp"><img alt="Ottawa Black Bears Toronto Rock" data-src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;sig=HP90CykgJy14k6FX9LsGxQ" data-srcset="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;sig=HP90CykgJy14k6FX9LsGxQ, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=576&amp;sig=3kbTR1hw0RB8NT3-UQ3x8g 2x" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/ottawacitizen/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/black-bears-2.jpg?quality=5&amp;strip=all&amp;w=100&amp;sig=4-KcaKQWK75dtJZ33xfBuA" height="750" loading="lazy" width="1000" data-sanitized-class="embedded-image__image lazyload"></picture><figcaption data-sanitized-class="image-caption"><span data-sanitized-class="caption">Ottawa Black Bears players Kiel Matisz and Taggart Clark, right, celebrate a goal against Toronto Rock goaltender Nick Rose (66) in a National Lacrosse League game at Ottawa on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.</span> <span data-sanitized-class="credit">Photo by Freestyle Photography</span> /<span data-sanitized-class="distributor">HANDOUT</span></figcaption></figure><h4><strong>How can I watch games from home?</strong></h4>
<p data-async>Every remaining game this season is available for Canadian fans to watch online on <a data-evt-val='{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": "TSN+", "target_url": "https://www.tsn.ca/subscribe?cid=ps%3A47584&amp;EXT=TSN_PDL_Google_kwid=p80050079853&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsvmvvf2ligMVvUlHAR1wDjnnEAAYASAAEgKUb_D_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}' href="https://www.tsn.ca/subscribe?cid=ps%3A47584&amp;EXT=TSN_PDL_Google_kwid=p80050079853&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsvmvvf2ligMVvUlHAR1wDjnnEAAYASAAEgKUb_D_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds" data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click">TSN+</a>.</p>
<p data-async>As well, the National Lacrosse League offers an online streaming service called <a data-evt-val='{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": "NLL+", "target_url": "https://plus.nll.com/", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}' data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click" href="https://plus.nll.com/">NLL+</a>. All games will be available for viewing here except for those shown on TSN cable channels.</p>
<p>The league says NLL+ will be free for subscribers for the 2024-25 season.</p>
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guid: https://canadianpatriotreview.substack.com/p/davos-billionaires-want-to-save-the
title: Davos Billionaires Want to Save the Planet… Why Don’t Developing Countries Trust Them?
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<h2>By Matthew Ehret</h2><p>A miracle appears to be happening, as the multibillionaires of the World Economic Forum (WEF) appear to have grown consciences.</p><p>As if by magic, it appears that these gold collar elites no longer yearn for profit and power as they once had. As COP26 closes up its 12 day annual ceremonies, leading WEF-connected figures like Prince Charles, Jeff Bezos, Mario Draghi, Mark Carney and Klaus Schwab have announced a new system of economics that is based on virtue over profit!</p><p>According to the COP26 website, <em>“95 high profile companies from a range of sectors commit to being ‘Nature Positive,’ agreeing to work towards halting and reversing the decline of nature by 2030.”</em></p><p>Prince Charles has boasted that he has coordinated 300 companies representing over $60 trillion to get on board with a global green transition, and after <a href="https://www.hola.com/us/royals/20211103306098/prince-william-prince-charles-meet-jeff-bezos-scotland/">meeting with the Prince on November 2</a>, Jeff Bezos announced his new $2 billion Earth Fund to protect nature’s ecosystems with a focus on Africa. Even Mario Draghi has joined Mark Carney on this new green path, as both men have moved beyond their old Goldman Sachs money worshipping days and embraced a better destiny. </p><p>The Prince himself (who also happens to be the nominal <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8384549/Prince-Charles-launches-Great-Reset-project-amid-coronavirus-pandemic.html">creator of the Great Reset Agenda launched</a> in 2020), spoke as an enlightened statesman saying to the world’s leaders <em>“as the enormity of the climate challenge dominates peoples’ conversations, from news rooms to living rooms, and as the future of humanity and Nature herself are at stake, it is surely time to set aside our differences and grasp this unique opportunity to launch a substantial green recovery by putting the global economy on a confident, sustainable trajectory and, thus, save our planet.”</em></p><p>Among the new array of financial mechanisms which we see being brought online in this war against humanity involve Bezos’ new Earth Fund, and Sir Robert Watson’s Living Planet Index (unveiled in 2018 at the World Economic Forum) and the new Rockefeller Foundation-sponsored Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG) which seeks to turn global ecosystems worth an estimated $4 quadrillion into financial equity controllable by new private corporations (dubbed “natural asset companies”).</p><p><a href="https://www.intrinsicexchange.com/">On its website</a>, the IEG stated: <em>“In partnership with the New York Stock Exchange, IEG is providing a word-class platform to list these companies for trading, enabling the conversion of natural assets into financial capital. The NAC’s equity captures the intrinsic and productive value of nature and provides a store of value based on the vital assets that underpin our entire economy and make life on earth possible… In 2021, we began seeking regulatory approval to bring the first natural asset transactions to the capital markets. Our vision is to bring to market hundreds of Natural Asset Companies representing several trillion dollars’ worth of natural assets.”</em></p><p>These new companies will become the stewards of new protected zones across the globe which the UN demands encapsulate 30% of the earth’s surface by 2030 and much more by 2050.</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc82d3e0d-4161-4de4-b311-cab1fa1649e9_1200x756.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc82d3e0d-4161-4de4-b311-cab1fa1649e9_1200x756.jpeg" width="1200" height="756" data-attrs='{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/c82d3e0d-4161-4de4-b311-cab1fa1649e9_1200x756.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":756,"width":1200,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":"","type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":true,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="high" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Is this time to rejoice, or is something darker at play?</p><p>To answer this question it is worth asking: Does this new virtue-driven order have anything to do with lifting people out of poverty or ending economic injustice?</p><p>Sadly, it is designed to do very much the opposite.</p><p>As we are coming to see, and as statesmen around the world are beginning to point out, this new order has more in common with oligarchical obsessions with controlling human cattle, and less to do with actually preserving the environment. The thousands of tons of CO2 <a href="https://thebiblefiles.com/2021/11/02/bezos-and-prince-charles-fly-in-private-jets-to-meet-for-a-cup-of-tea-and-complain-about-you-emitting-too-much-co2/">emitted by private jets</a> at Davos and COP26 represents on small aspect of this disingenuity.</p><h3><strong>Obrador Calls out the Rigged Game</strong></h3><p>On October 30, 2021 Mexico’s Former President Lopez Obrador called out this new virulent form of colonialism while presiding over a ceremony in celebration of the ongoing construction of the $6.7 billion high-speed Maya Train now being built in the southern regions of Mexico. </p><p>The project which would dramatically uplift living standards in Mexico by driving the growth of industrial and infrastructure production has fallen far behind schedule due in large part <a href="https://www.macaubusiness.com/court-halts-mexicos-maya-train-over-indigenous-health-rights/">to vast legal battles</a> led by indigenous groups who have been used as proxies by foreign interests to defend Mexico’s ecosystems. In many of the legal cases opposing the project, the argument has made that since several species of insect, fauna and even some leopards will be affected by the new railways, then the project must be ground to a halt and buried.</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1e64776-a082-4a6b-9e57-779b03907031_1127x848.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1e64776-a082-4a6b-9e57-779b03907031_1127x848.jpeg" width="1127" height="848" data-attrs='{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a1e64776-a082-4a6b-9e57-779b03907031_1127x848.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":848,"width":1127,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":"","type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>In his remarks to a journalist inquiring into the rail project, Obrador <a href="https://www.arout.net/feminism-environmentalism-and-animal-protection-were-created-by-neoliberals-to-hide-looting-amlo/">said</a>:</p><p><em>“One of the things which they [the neoliberals] promoted in the world, in order to loot at ease, was the creation or promotion of the so-called new rights. So, feminism, ecologism, the defense of human rights, the protection of animals was much promoted, including by them. All these causes are very noble, but the intent was to create or boost all these new causes so that we don’t remedy—so that we don’t turn around and see that they were looting the world, so the subject of economic and social inequality would be kept out of the center of debate….The international agencies which supported the neoliberal model, which is a model of pillage where corporations grab national property, the property of the people—these same corporations financed, and continue to finance, environmentalist groups, defenders of ‘liberty.’ ”</em></p><p>Many people have been confused over these remarks since they cannot conceptualize how neoliberal monetarists that have parasitically driven the new age of pillage under globalization would also support such ‘new rights’ groups outlined by Obrador.</p><p>For nations of the global south who feel resentment that their rights to support their people by having their lands and resources kept off limits, they are told not to worry, since streams of money will be showered upon them from on high. Hundreds of billions of dollars worth of monopoly money will be sprayed onto the developing sector as rewards for remaining undeveloped. If that isn’t sufficient, then carbon exchange markets will be set up so that poor nations can sell their un-used carbon quotas to private polluting companies (perhaps the same companies controlling the African cobalt mines which seek a monopoly in controlling the renewable energy sector). That is another way they can make money which at least can keep them warm at night as kindling since the world’s poor will not have to worry about having nature-killing hydro electric dams mucking up their pristine environments.</p><p>As President Obrador has alluded to, today’s billionaire-funded conservation movement simply seeks to take earth’s ecosystems out of bounds of any human economic activity under a new global feudal system of controls.</p><p>Even the indigenous populations which such billionaires profess to admire as role models for global “good behavior” are being monetized by these new green indices, with monetary values being placed not only on keeping land and water untouched, but also the very cultural ecosystems of indigenous groups around the world receiving dollar values which wealthy green financiers will somehow be able to invest into. To the degree that such immutably fixed patterns of indigenous lifestyles remain unchanged by the toxic pollution of modern technology or infrastructure, the more these eco-assets will be worth for whomever professes to invest in them. This may not be scientific but it is sick.</p><p>The term ‘feudal’ is in no way used for hyperbolic purposes, as we can see a stark parallel to the 12th century Europe, except that today’s aspiring feudal lords manage such companies as Blackrock, Vanguard, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and State Street and seek to punish all serfs from infringing on properties which only the nobility may control. Blackrock alone manages over $9 trillion in assets and $21.6 trillion in technology platforms and along with Vanguard <a href="https://strangesounds.org/2021/07/blackrock-is-buying-up-us-homes-like-no-tomorrow-real-estate-market-housing.html">is fast becoming</a> one of the largest real estate owners in the USA with Bill Gates having recently become the largest owner of American farmland.</p><h3><strong>The Deeper Imperial Roots of Conservationism</strong></h3><p>With this vast imperial land grab in mind, one should not be surprised to discover that the modern conservation movement actually finds its origins not in Greenpeace activists fighting poachers as myth makers have cooked up, but rather in the bowels of the British Empire. It was this empire that innovated “nature conservation” regions in India during the late 19th century specifically to keep the poor of India under control after having destroyed India’s once powerful textile sector. The practice was applied across India during the greatest density of famines struck southern India in 1876 killing tens of millions. It was amidst this darkness that British Imperial overlords took the opportunity to create “The Imperial Forestry Department’ in 1876 putting two fifths of India’s lands under “protection” and off limits to humans. This ensured no starving subject could use the protected zones which they had relied upon for survival for decades for food, or water.</p><p>The Nazi embrace of both Anglo-American funded science of eugenics on the one side and the Reich’s embrace of nature conservationism were also not unconnected. Herman Goring, who served as Minister for German Forests believed in a poisonous worldview that held that: 1) nature is pure and thus good due to its pure unchanging natural order while 2) humanity is impure and thus un-natural due to our aspirations for progress. This dangerous equation resulted in seemingly innocent programs launched by the Fuhrer and Goring to cleans the German ecosystems of all foreign and thus un-natural fauna and flora in order to return the forests of Germany to their supposedly pure pre-industrial states. The worship of nature was an integral part of the new master race and the weeding out of impurities extended itself to human genetics following racial theories advanced by British eugenicists and anthropologists.</p><h3><strong>Julian Huxley’s New Eugenics Revolution</strong></h3><p>Upon Hitler’s defeat, the repackaging of eugenics took the form of British Eugenics Society Vice President Julian Huxley’s outline in the founding Manifesto for UNESCO <a href="https://ia801704.us.archive.org/25/items/huxley-unesco-its-purpose-and-philosophy/huxley%20unesco%20its%20purpose%20and%20philosophy.pdf">where he said</a>:</p><p><em>“At the moment, it is probable that the indirect effect of civilization is dysgenic instead of eugenic, and in any case it seems likely that the dead weight of genetic stupidity, physical weakness, mental instability and disease proneness, which already exist in the human species will prove too great a burden for real progress to be achieved. Thus even though it is quite true that any radical eugenic policy will be for many years politically and psychologically impossible, it will be important for UNESCO to see that the eugenic problem is examined with the greatest care and that the public mind is informed of the issues at stake so that much that is now unthinkable may at least become thinkable.”</em></p><p>Putting this new eugenics into practical action <a href="https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/05/24/how-the-unthinkable-became-thinkable-eric-lander-julian-huxley-and-the-awakening-of-sleeping-monsters/">took on many heads of a hydra</a> in the post WWII years. The particular hydra head most relevant to the thrust of this article took the form of another project Julian created in 1948 called the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) followed soon thereafter by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 1961 which he co-founded alongside two misanthropic princes named Philip Mountbatten and Bernhardt of the Netherlands.</p><p>Between 1959 and 1962 Julian had risen to become president of the British Eugenics Society and had put the finishing gloss on a new field of scientific misanthropic theology which he dubbed ‘Transhumanism’ alongside a Jesuit collaborator <a href="https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/10/26/pierre-teilhard-de-chardins-transhumanism-and-the-cult-of-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/">named Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.</a></p><p>If you haven’t guessed, Transhumanism was merely another form of re-packaged eugenics serving the spiritual needs of a new priesthood of elitist social engineers that would be expected to manage the gears of a new technocratic feudal machine. This neo-paganism is not intrinsically different from the cultish beliefs of the <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/thule-society">Nazi Thule society</a> of the past which gave spiritual direction to the members of Hitler’s government.</p><p>The neo-Malthusian revival that these eugenicists would spearhead through the end of the 1960s took the form of a new array of international <a href="https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/05/31/from-russell-and-hilbert-to-wiener-and-harari-the-disturbing-origins-of-cybernetics-and-transhumanism/">organizations which incorporated systems analysis, and cybernetics</a>, which aimed to control nation states and ecosystems alike. This took the form of the World Economic Forum’s early embrace of the Club of Rome’s computer models outlined by Aurelio Peccei (<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/12/world-economic-forum-davos-at-50-history-a-timeline-of-highlights/">and incorporated into Schwab’s second official Davos meeting in 1973</a>). These new models aimed to impose fixed immutable limits to humanity’s growth potential beyond which no technology or scientific discovery could ever penetrate. The fact that these same multibillionaires managing the overhaul of the world economy as it transitioned into a neo-liberal looting operation were simultaneously funding the growth of this new array of “new rights” groups led by a growing armada of non-governmental organizations, ecology protection and human rights groups is not a coincidence.</p><p>Today’s involvement of both Julian Huxley’s WWF and IUCN (no renamed Conservation International) as partners with the Intrinsic Exchange Group should not make any honest lover of nature in any way comfortable.</p><p>Much more obviously remains to be said both about the history of conservationism, and how it is being used once again to conduct a new age of population control, or how it has been used to disrupt large scale infrastructure projects across the world for over 120 years, or how nature reserves across the global south have supported <a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/study-shows-colombian-guerrillas-were-guardians-of-the-forest">narco terrorist groups</a>.</p><p>However, for the time being, it is sufficient to note that the world’s developing sector is generally not going to accept being sacrificed on the altar of a new Gaia cult managed by a priesthood of Davos billionaires. </p><p>Based on the momentum we see being driven by the Greater Eurasian Partnership, the Belt and Road Initiative and ambitions from Latin American and African leaders to finally break free of centuries of imperial manipulation, it is becoming increasingly obvious that COP26’s utopic computer models are increasingly breaking down when confronted with the reality of humanity’s creative power to leap outside of the fixed rules of imperial games when a true crisis moves us into action.</p><p>The author delivered a presentation on this topic which <a href="https://youtu.be/HXAfP2-iyPU">can be viewed here.</a></p>

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guid: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/22/
title: PSA: Stop using the title attribute as tooltip!
author: ;Manuel Matuzovic
link: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/22/
hash: �0�im��݂��F�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
by Daniela Kubesch<br><p>It's almost 2025, so it's time to stop using the <code>title</code> attribute everywhere. Images, text, buttons, ... you name it, devs really like to put it on any element in sight. Most of the time, people actually want to create a tooltip. You know, that little bubble of information designed to clarify the purpose of otherwise unclear elements, that pops up attached to an element when its receives focus or a user hovers their mouse over it.</p>
<p>The identifying thing about tooltips is that they contain no interactive elements (aka. only plain text), and are always attached to existing interactive elements.<br>
Whenever you want to add interactive elements inside your information bubble, it's not called <em>tooltip</em>, but <em>toggletip</em>. Toggletips can contain semantic markup, rich content and interactive elements, and usually only appear when an element is clicked. The great thing about toggletips is that they're accessible on touchscreens and easier to find and recognise for users with low vision.</p>
<p>So depending on your use case, you need to implement a tooltip or a toggletip.</p>
<p>But let's circle back to the <code>title</code> attribute. Often, people use it to create a tooltip. However, this is not the recommended way to go.</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="but-why-i-love-my-title!?">But why, I love my <code>title</code>!?</h2>
<p>It's simple. The <code>title</code> attribute is inaccessible. Users of mobile phones and tablets, users of assistive technologies, and keyboard only users cannot interact with it.<br>
If you want a tooltip, a much better, and accessible, option is using the <code>popover</code> attribute.</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> The only place where you should (&amp; must) use the <code>title</code> attribute is on an <code>iframe</code>! See <a href="https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2021/08/26/named-and-framed/">Steve Faulkner's post</a> for more information.</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="how-to-use-popover">How to use <code>popover</code></h2>
<p>Firstly, before we get started, it is always better to display clear, permanently visible information. So, if space permits, do not use tooltips. Instead, provide clear labels and sufficient text. This is particularly important for forms!</p>
<p>However, if you wanna go down that path, the <code>popover</code> attribute provides a starting point for building popover-like interactions on the web. Its purpose is simply to add 'popover/tooltip behaviour'. So we'll use it to create our custom plain-text tooltip.</p>
<p>To start, we just need an interactive element (like a button) which is used to trigger the tooltip, even when navigating with a keyboard only, and a <code>&lt;div&gt;</code> containing the tooltip content.</p>
<p>The <code>&lt;button&gt;</code> is linked to the tooltip with <code>aria-describedby</code>.<br>
The <code>&lt;div&gt;</code> receives the <code>popover</code> attribute and an <code>id</code>.<br>
As the <code>popover</code> attribute just adds behaviour, not semantics, we need to <a href="https://hidde.blog/popover-semantics/">add our own role when it makes sense</a>. Therefore we add <code>role='tooltip'</code> to the <code>&lt;div&gt;</code>.</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>p</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  There is a</span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>button</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>button<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">aria-describedby</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>tooltip<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>secret<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span> to accessible</span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  HTML!</span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>p</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">popover</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">role</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>tooltip<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>tooltip<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>a div is not a button ✨<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<h3 data-sanitized-id="lets-make-it-interactive">Let's make it interactive</h3>
<p>If we would want to create a <em>toggletip</em>, which opens <code>onClick</code>, we could simply add <code>popovertarget="ID"</code> to the <code>&lt;button&gt;</code>, with the <code>id</code> of the toggletip.</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">There is a </span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>button</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>button<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">aria-describedby</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>toggletip<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">popovertarget</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>toggletip<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  secret</span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">to accessible HTML!</span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">popover</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>toggletip<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>a div is not a button ✨<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<div data-sanitized-class="demo-toggletip">
<p>There is a <button type="button" aria-describedby="toggletip" popovertarget="toggletip" data-sanitized-class="popoverbutton togglebutton">secret</button> to accessible HTML!</p>
<div popover="" data-sanitized-id="toggletip">
  <div data-sanitized-class="tooltip-content">a div is not a button ✨</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>However, if we want our <em>tooltip</em>, that is triggered when the interactive element is hovered or focused, we need JavaScript.<br>
We can display the tooltip by using <code>.hidePopover()</code> and <code>.showPopover()</code>.<br>
If <code>showPopover()</code> is called on an element with the popover attribute that is currently hidden, the element is added to the top rendering layer.</p>
<p>A tooltip usually disappears when hitting the Escape key or when the mouse is moved away from the interactive element.<br>
But it's also important to make sure that the tooltip content is reachable with the mouse pointer. That way, users can copy the text or read it with magnification software.<br>
That's why, with the help of JavaScript, we show the tooltip on <code>mouseover</code> of the interactive element and keep it visible when the tooltip itself is hovered (by also listening to <code>mouseover</code>).<br>
With <code>mouseout</code> we can hide the tooltip as soon as the mouse leaves either the tooltip or the interactive element that triggered it.</p>
<p>To open or close the tooltip with keyboard navigation, we must listen to the <code>focusin</code> and <code>focusout</code> events of the button.<br>
The tooltip must be easy to dismiss (e.g. by pressing the Escape key).<br>
It's also worth noting that tooltips don't actually get the focus themselves. The focus stays on the element that triggered the tooltip.<br>
However, it's content is still read to screen reader users and is accessible by the screen readers virtual cursor.<br>
But remember, in general, if we're showing content automatically when an element receives focus, it's important not to suddenly change context and confuse users.</p>
<h4>Wait, is this new attribute supported?</h4>
<p>Good news! The <code>popover</code> attribute is <a href="https://caniuse.com/?search=popover">supported by all modern browsers</a> with versions released between mid-2023 and 2024 (starting with Safari 17.0, Firefox 125, Chrome 114 and Edge 114).</p>
<h3 data-sanitized-id="looks-bad-though">Looks bad though</h3>
<p>That's why the last thing to do is use CSS to style the tooltip.<br>
If you want to change how the tooltip looks when it's displayed, you can use the <code>:popover-open</code> pseudo-class.</p>
<p>We also need to make sure the tooltip is correctly positioned.<br>
We can use <code>position-anchor</code> and <code>position-area</code> for Chrome and Edge, but they're still in the experimental phase, so we need an alternative for other browsers. The simplest option would be to use a library like <a href="https://floating-ui.com/">Floating UI</a>.</p>

<p>
  There is a
  
  <button type="button" aria-describedby="tooltip" data-sanitized-class="popoverbutton js-button">
      secret
  </button> to accessible HTML!
</p>

<div popover="" role="tooltip" data-sanitized-id="tooltip" data-sanitized-class="js-content">
  <div data-sanitized-class="tooltip-content">
    a div is not a button ✨
  </div>
</div>

<p>And that's it, you just created a custom tooltip!<br>
Find the detailed code in this <a href="https://codepen.io/dnikub/pen/PwYqwJE">CodePen</a>.</p>


guid: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/23/
title: The devil is in the &amp;lt;details&amp;gt;
author: ;Manuel Matuzovic
link: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/23/
hash: ��f��jI��W�uF8
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
by J. Pedro Ribeiro<br><p>Not too long ago, building an accordion component would require you to use a combination of JavaScript and CSS. If you've been around for as long as I have, you might have used a library like <a href="https://jqueryui.com/accordion/">jQuery</a> or <em>Mootools</em>.<br>
If you went <em>"vanilla"</em>, your code would look something like this:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>my-js-accordion<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>span</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Learn more about accordions<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>span</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>p</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>hidden<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Accordions encapsulate content under a heading.<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>span</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-css"><code data-sanitized-class="language-css"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token selector">.hidden</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">display</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> none<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span> </span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span></code></pre>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-js"><code data-sanitized-class="language-js"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">document<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">.</span><span data-sanitized-class="token function">querySelectorAll</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">(</span><span data-sanitized-class="token string">".my-js-accordion"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">)</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">.</span><span data-sanitized-class="token function">forEach</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">(</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">(</span><span data-sanitized-class="token parameter">accordion</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">)</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">=&gt;</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  accordion<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">.</span><span data-sanitized-class="token function">querySelector</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">(</span><span data-sanitized-class="token string">"span"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">)</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">.</span><span data-sanitized-class="token function">addEventListener</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">(</span><span data-sanitized-class="token string">"click"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">,</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">(</span><span data-sanitized-class="token parameter">e</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">)</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">=&gt;</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    accordion<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">.</span><span data-sanitized-class="token function">querySelector</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">(</span><span data-sanitized-class="token string">"p"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">)</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">.</span>classList<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">.</span><span data-sanitized-class="token function">toggle</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">(</span><span data-sanitized-class="token string">"hidden"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">)</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">)</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">)</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span></code></pre>
<p>And it would work as you expected:</p>




<div data-sanitized-class="my-js-accordion ex1-js">
  <span>→ Learn more about accordions</span>
  <p data-sanitized-class="hidden">Accordions encapsulate content under a heading.</p>
</div>
<div data-sanitized-class="my-js-accordion ex1-js">
  <span>→ This one was built with JS and CSS</span>
  <p data-sanitized-class="hidden">We needed JavaScript and CSS to make this work. Click the heading again to close it.</p>
</div>
<div data-sanitized-class="my-js-accordion ex1-js">
  <span>→ Each accordion on this example works independently</span>
  <p data-sanitized-class="hidden">For any other advanced feature, more JavaScript will be needed.</p>
</div>

<p>The more adventurous would hack together some <code>input</code> and <code>label</code> elements together. With the help of <code>:checked</code> and some clever<br>
CSS selectors, you could achieve the same visual representation as the one above but without the need for JavaScript.</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>my-css-accordion<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>input</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>checkbox<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>accordion1<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>label</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">for</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>accordion1<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>→ Learn more about accordions<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>p</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Accordions encapsulate content under a heading.<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>p</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-css"><code data-sanitized-class="language-css"><span data-sanitized-class="token selector">.my-css-accordion input[type="checkbox"],<br>.my-css-accordion p</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">display</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> none<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token selector">.my-css-accordion input[type="checkbox"]:checked + label + p</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">display</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> block<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span></code></pre>
<p>And it would be visually the same as the previous example:</p>



<div data-sanitized-class="my-css-accordion my-js-accordion">
  
  <label for="accordion1">→ Learn more about accordions</label>
  <p>Accordions encapsulate content under a heading.</p>
</div>
<div data-sanitized-class="my-css-accordion my-js-accordion">
  
  <label for="accordion2">→ This one was built without JavaScript</label>
  <p>Only CSS and HTML!</p>
</div>
<div data-sanitized-class="my-css-accordion my-js-accordion">
  
  <label for="accordion3">→ Same looks, same behaviour</label>
  <p>However, the code is slightly harder to maintain</p>
</div>
<p>These techniques work but there have some disadvantages: not only they're hard to maintain, they're also not accessible, and their reliance on JavaScript makes them not the ideal candidate for a modern web application.<br>
In summary, another case of <a href="https://www.htmhell.dev/">HTMLHell</a>.</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="here-comes-a-new-challenger">Here comes a new challenger</h2>
<p>Since 2020, all major browsers <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/details#browser_compatibility">support</a> the <code>&lt;details&gt;</code> and its companion <code>&lt;summary&gt;</code> elements. Combined, they replace the need for JavaScript and CSS hacks to create an accordion component.<br>
We use the following syntax:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>details</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>summary</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Your heading goes here<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>summary</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>p</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Any content you like goes below the summary tag.<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>p</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>p</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>As many elements as you need.<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>p</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>details</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>And it will work just like the previous examples, but with some added benefits:</p>
<ul>
<li>Less code ✅</li>
<li>Fully accessible ✅</li>
<li>Works without JavaScript ✅</li>
<li>No need for hacks ✅</li>
<li>Fully stylable ✅</li>
</ul>
<p>As seen below:</p>



<details data-sanitized-class="styled">
  <summary>Your heading goes here</summary>
  <p>Any content you like goes below the summary tag.</p>
  <p>As many elements as you need.</p>
</details>
<details data-sanitized-class="styled">
  <summary>This is the second heading</summary>
  <p>Any content you like goes below the summary tag.</p>
  <p>As many elements as you need.</p>
</details>
<details data-sanitized-class="styled">
  <summary>And the third entry it's here</summary>
  <p>Any content you like goes below the summary tag.</p>
  <p>As many elements as you need.</p>
</details>
<p>On the example above, each <code>&lt;details&gt;</code> element works independently of each other. But what if you want them to behave like true accordions, where only one can be opened at a time?</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="one-more-thing-exclusive-accordions">One More Thing... Exclusive Accordions</h2>
<p>Not too long ago, the <code>name</code> attribute was added to the <code>details</code> element.<br>
Similarly to the usage in the <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/radio">radio input</a>, it allows you to group multiple elements together. This means we can have <em>exclusive</em> accordions: when only one can be opened at a time.</p>
<p>Here is an example of the usage:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>details</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">name</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>my-accordion-group<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>...<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>details</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>details</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">name</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>my-accordion-group<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>...<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>details</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>details</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">name</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>my-accordion-group<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>...<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>details</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>Give the same <code>name</code> attribute to all the <code>details</code> elements you want to group together and they'll work as expected:</p>



<details name="group" data-sanitized-class="styled">
  <summary>3 separate entries</summary>
  <p>First block content.</p>
  <p>End of first block.</p>
</details>
<details name="group" data-sanitized-class="styled">
  <summary>Only one can be opened at a time</summary>
  <p>Second block content.</p>
  <p>End of second block.</p>
</details>
<details name="group" data-sanitized-class="styled">
  <summary>Still, no JS needed!</summary>
  <p>Third block content.</p>
  <p>End of third block.</p>
</details>
<p><strong>Note</strong>: It's worth highlighting that exclusive accordion come with some <em>drawbacks</em>, including poor UX on keyboard navigation and reduced usability for screen readers. Eric Eggert wrote about <a href="https://yatil.net/blog/exclusive-accordions">these issues</a>, offering some solutions and insights that are worth reading.</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="take-it-to-the-next-level">Take it to the next level</h2>
<p>Recently, Chrome 131 <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/blog/styling-details">added support</a> to new ways you can style both <code>&lt;details&gt;</code> and <code>&lt;summary&gt;</code> elements. Still early days but the future looks bright!<br>
Combine these features with some creative styling and you can create really complex components with accessibility and scalability built-in.</p>
<p>Further reading and examples:<br>
<a href="https://codepen.io/jpedroribeiro/pen/YzmxNYx">Code snippets</a> | <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/details">MDN</a> | <a href="https://caniuse.com/details">Can I use</a> | <a href="https://web.dev/learn/html/details">web.dev</a></p>


guid: https://antonchaitkin.substack.com/p/a-history-guide-for-american-nationalists
title: A History Guide for American Nationalists
author: ;Anton Chaitkin
link: https://antonchaitkin.substack.com/p/a-history-guide-for-american-nationalists
hash: ��=z�~�� �݀�{�
content:
<div><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1200,h_600,c_fill,f_jpg,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb526e061-61bd-43c3-a3b6-83a1ca331ddf_1113x583.png" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><h3 data-sanitized-class="subtitle">By Anton Chaitkin; Copyright Anton Chaitkin.</h3><div dir="auto" data-sanitized-class="body markup">
<h3 data-sanitized-class="header-anchor-post">A History Guide for American Nationalists</h3>
<div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-alignItems-center pc-position-absolute pc-reset header-anchor-parent">
<div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-contents pc-reset pubTheme-yiXxQA">
<div data-sanitized-id="§a-history-guide-for-american-nationalists" data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset header-anchor offset-top">
<h3 data-sanitized-class="header-anchor-post"><button tabindex="0" type="button" data-href="https://antonchaitkin.substack.com/i/153453947/a-history-guide-for-american-nationalists" data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft iconButton2-DvFP7w iconButtonBase-dJGHgN buttonBase-GK1x3M buttonNew-KfJF0Q size_sm-G3LciD priority_secondary-S63h9o"><path d="M10 13a5 5 0 0 0 7.54.54l3-3a5 5 0 0 0-7.07-7.07l-1.72 1.71"></path><path d="M14 11a5 5 0 0 0-7.54-.54l-3 3a5 5 0 0 0 7.07 7.07l1.71-1.71"></path></button></h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>By Anton Chaitkin; Copyright Anton Chaitkin.</p>
<p>The American people await the incoming presidency with hopes and fears.</p>
<p>Supporters hope Donald Trump will avert nuclear war, stop censorship, and restore the economy.</p>
<p>Opponents fear he will destroy civilization.</p>
<p>The new President can meet the needs of the whole people only…</p>
</div>

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guid: 6165d5e4ab2c8b5f79b5d82e:6165f805cc4a70035862ada3:67697efab1fe3a469fdf00a2
title: The new Alberta Bill of Rights won't protect much
author: ;Lisa P
link: https://www.rightsprobe.org/read/the-new-alberta-bill-of-rights-wont-protect-much
hash: �_a�.K����2�d�
content:
<p data-sanitized-class="">By Bruce Pardy | Special to the National Post</p><p data-sanitized-class="">In late November, the Alberta legislature <a href="https://www.assembly.ab.ca/assembly-business/bills/bill?billinfoid=12046&amp;from=bills"><span>passed</span></a> its newly improved Bill of Rights. The bill is a signature <a href="https://x.com/ABDanielleSmith/status/1851011932087783519"><span>plank</span></a> of Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative government. New provisions purport to guarantee rights to hold property, own firearms and prohibit vaccine mandates. Unfortunately, the bill may not do any of those things. In the end, it’s not likely to amount to a hill of beans.</p><p data-sanitized-class="">First enacted in 1972, the Alberta Bill of Rights has never been a bulwark against state action. Much like the Canadian Bill of Rights, courts have largely <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abkb/doc/2023/2023abkb453/2023abkb453.html"><span>sidelined</span></a> it. Contrary to what some Albertans may expect, their newly amended Bill of Rights does not grant ironclad rights. At least four problems stand in the way.</p><p data-sanitized-class="">First problem: Like the Canadian Bill of Rights, the Alberta Bill of Rights is a statute and not a constitutional enactment like the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. No statute can limit the power of the legislature to pass new legislation that overrides, amends or repeals it. Future governments can explicitly breach the Bill of Rights. In fact, that’s what it <a href="https://docs.assembly.ab.ca/LADDAR_files/docs/bills/bill/legislature_31/session_1/20230530_bill-024.pdf#page=6"><span>says</span></a>: “The Legislature may expressly declare in an Act that a law of Alberta operates notwithstanding this Act.”</p><p data-sanitized-class="">That could at least pose a political impediment. Governments don’t like to announce that they are breaching rights. But transparency might not even be required. Under the Canadian Bill of Rights, courts have upheld statutes merely on the grounds that they had a “<a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1986/1986canlii24/1986canlii24.html"><span>valid federal objective</span></a>,” which is not a difficult threshold to meet. Only constitutions can “entrench” rights against future legislative action.</p><p data-sanitized-class="">The UCP could have made the provincial Bill of Rights part of the Alberta Constitution. Under Canada’s <a href="https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-13.html#h-59"><span>Constitution Act of 1982</span></a>, provincial legislatures can amend their constitutions unilaterally. (Yes, Canadian provinces have their own constitutions.) A future Alberta legislature, of course, could amend it in turn, so nothing can be written in stone. But it would be trickier to legislate around a provincial constitution than a mere statute.</p><p data-sanitized-class="">Second problem: Some of the amendments don’t mean much. Rights protect against the law’s interference. But one section says that people have the right to possess firearms “in accordance with the law.” What’s the point of that? Not to mention that the federal government, to which the Alberta Bill of Rights does not apply, has jurisdiction to impose restrictions on guns. Another section says that people have the right to property “except to the extent authorized by law and except by due process of law.” That is, you have property rights until the law takes them away, which isn’t saying much.</p><p data-sanitized-class="">During COVID, courts held that measures like lockdowns and vaccine requirements did not violate Charter rights — or if they did, that they were permissible under the Charter’s reasonable limits clause. Smith has <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/proposed-changes-to-alberta-bill-of-rights-would-prohibit-vaccinations-without-consent-1.7366062"><span>said</span></a> that the unvaccinated were “the most discriminated-against group” she had seen in her lifetime. She had proposed to amend the <a href="https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/alberta-s-premier-wants-vaccine-status-to-be-a-human-right-critics-concerned-about-problems-it-could-pose-1.6113308"><span>Alberta Human Rights Act</span></a> (not the Bill of Rights) to prohibit private businesses and the government from discriminating on the grounds of vaccination status. But the UCP instead decided to amend the Bill of Rights, which applies to government only. They may have gotten cold feet about preventing discrimination in the private sector.</p><p data-sanitized-class="">The Alberta Bill of Rights includes a section on vaccines, but it may not change much. It <a href="https://docs.assembly.ab.ca/LADDAR_files/docs/bills/bill/legislature_31/session_1/20230530_bill-024.pdf#page=6"><span>says</span></a> that everyone has the right “not to be subjected to, or coerced into receiving, a vaccine without the consent of that individual.” The right to refuse medical treatment already exists, along with the right to give informed consent. “Not to be subjected to” doesn’t add anything. If you went to get a vaccine, signed the page and stuck out your arm, you gave legal consent. You may have done so reluctantly, but that does not vitiate your consent. (Whether your consent was informed is another question, but that is between you and the health-care practitioner who gave the shot.)</p><p data-sanitized-class="">What does “coerced into receiving” mean? Does it mean that governments can’t create vaccine requirements for spaces, services, schools or employment? Maybe, but maybe not. Coercion means being made to do something by force or the threat of force. Imprisonment is coercive. Being held down on a gurney is coercive. COVID authorities insisted that vaccine mandates and passports were not coercive because people had choices, even if those choices were bad. At best, the section is not clear. Even Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery, at a <a href="https://x.com/TrueNorthCentre/status/1851307491088290107"><span>press conference</span></a> in late October, was unwilling to say whether under the Bill of Rights no one would be required to get a vaccine. The bill could instead have said that everyone has a right to be unvaccinated to access any space, service, school or employment. Of course, even if it had, future governments could still get around it because the Bill of Rights is a statute, not part of a constitution.</p><p data-sanitized-class="">Third problem: The UCP chose to subject all rights protected by the Bill of Rights to “reasonable limits.” They included a clause that resembles the infamous “reasonable limits” clause in the <a href="https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-12.html"><span>Charter</span></a>, upon which courts have relied in numerous cases to uphold legislation that breaches Charter rights.</p><p data-sanitized-class="">Fourth problem: Courts, not legislatures, control what rights mean. Bills of rights appear to give rights to the people, but what they really do is give power to courts. The rights have “internal limits” not identified in the text, especially where language is sparse and vague. No one knows where the line is in practice until the courts say. If the experience with the Charter is any indication, the rights set out in the Alberta Bill of Rights may not mean what its drafters intended.</p><p data-sanitized-class="">Smith deserves credit for her aspiration to give Albertans rights to resist state intrusions. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating. In this era of the hyperactive administrative state, keeping government at bay requires bold action that disrupts the prevailing order. The new Alberta Bill of Rights is more likely to be just one more signpost on the road to perdition.</p><p data-sanitized-class=""><a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/bruce-pardy-the-new-alberta-bill-of-rights-wont-protect-much" target="_blank">For the original version of this commentary, see the publisher’s website here</a>.</p>





















  
  



<hr>


  <p data-sanitized-class=""><em>Bruce Pardy is the executive director of </em><a href="https://www.rightsprobe.org/" target="_blank"><span><em>Rights Probe</em></span></a><em> and a professor of law at Queen’s University.</em></p><p data-sanitized-class="">Follow our journey.</p><p data-sanitized-class="">Subscribe to our newsletter: <a href="mailto:rightsprobe@protonmail.com?" target="_blank">rightsprobe@protonmail.com</a></p>

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guid: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/24/
title: The search input: They almost got it right
author: ;Manuel Matuzovic
link: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/24/
hash: mȍ�g���5�<xbP�a
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content:
by Steve Frenzel<br><p>This example is a classic - in a bad way - and can cause quite some confusion for users of assistive technology (AT). But it's also very easy to fix! It's the <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> element missing its dear friend, the <code>&lt;label&gt;</code>... 😭</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="bad-code">Bad code</h2>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>input</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">placeholder</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>Search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">/&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>It's not relevant for this article, but here's the "button" to submit the content of the <code>&lt;input&gt;</code>:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>_icon_1f3oz_44<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>span</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">title</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>gl-icon__wrapper<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">role</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>img<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>svg</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>gl-icon<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">      <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>use</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name"><span data-sanitized-class="token namespace">xlink:</span>href</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>#search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>use</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>svg</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>span</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>The cherry on top: It's not even wrapped inside a <code>&lt;form&gt;</code> element, so it's very likely that the submit is handled via JavaScript. 🍒</p>
<p>So what's the issue with this <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> element? In theory, having a <code>placeholder</code> instead of a <code>&lt;label&gt;</code> element is only a temporary solution! Once you've typed something, the placeholder gets replaced with whatever you've typed.</p>
<p>This could be a big issue for screen reader users. Let's check how different screen readers handle this kind of situation with different browsers.</p>
<p>You can do it yourself here: <a href="https://codepen.io/stvfrnzl/pen/jENPqxb">The search input: They almost got it right (bad code example)</a></p>
<p>What I checked was if the placeholder value still gets announced after typing something. I tested with macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 on December 1, 2024 using the latest versions of screen readers and browsers.</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th>Google Chrome</th>
<th>Mozilla Firefox</th>
<th>Microsoft Edge</th>
<th>Apple Safari</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>JAWS</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>n/a</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>NVDA</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>n/a</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Narrator</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>n/a</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>VoiceOver</td>
<td>No</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>No</td>
<td>No</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Only VoiceOver had issues announcing announcing the <code>placeholder</code> attribute (except when using Firefox), which might be a bug! This issue has been mentioned back in 2017 for iOS at <a href="https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=170334">WebKit Bugzilla</a> and I wonder how long it's been present again on MacOS since then...</p>

<h2 data-sanitized-id="advantages-of-using-lesslabelgreater-instead-of-placeholder">Advantages of using <code>&lt;label&gt;</code> instead of <code>placeholder</code></h2>
<p>Even though almost all screen readers in this list seem to handle a missing <code>&lt;label&gt;</code> and a present <code>label</code> attribute well, there are still many reasons why you should do it the other way around:</p>
<h3 data-sanitized-id="reduce-cognitive-load">Reduce cognitive load</h3>
<p>Having a form with many inputs, no labels and only placeholders will make it very hard to remember the required information. This lacking clarity can place a huge burden on people having trouble to recall many things at once.</p>
<p>It will also make it harder to check against the requirements of the inputs, as the placeholder acting as a hint has been replaced with what you've typed. Therefore errors will be harder to fix, as you can't easily check against the requirement anymore.</p>
<p>Using a descriptive <code>&lt;label&gt;</code> can avoid these issues, as it's persistent.</p>
<h3 data-sanitized-id="avoid-flaky-browser-and-screen-reader-support">Avoid flaky browser and screen reader support</h3>
<p>Some older browsers might hide the placeholder text once the input is focused. And as you read earlier, some screen readers might have issues with a <code>placeholder</code> instead of a <code>&lt;label&gt;</code>.</p>
<p>Using a descriptive <code>&lt;label&gt;</code> can avoid these issues, as it has <a href="https://caniuse.com/mdn-html_elements_label">great browser support</a> and will be <a href="https://a11ysupport.io/tech/html/label_element">recognized by screen readers</a> as well.</p>
<h3 data-sanitized-id="increase-touch-target-size">Increase touch target size</h3>
<p>A <code>placeholder</code> is inside the text input. When using a mouse, this will be the only area you can click to focus this input. People with tremors might have a hard time doing that, depending on the size of the inputs and how close they're to each other.</p>
<p>Using a descriptive <code>&lt;label&gt;</code> can avoid these issues, as clicking it will focus the input.</p>
<p>For more reasons why, check out Adam Silver's article listed under <a href="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/24/#further-reading">Further reading</a>.</p>
<p>Enough of the theory, let's check out some working examples! You can find them here: <a href="https://codepen.io/stvfrnzl/pen/VYZLjLR">The search input: They almost got it right (good code examples)</a></p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="1-good-code-with-explicit-label">1. Good code with explicit label</h2>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>label</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">for</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search-input<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Search:<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>input</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search-input<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">name</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">/&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>This common approach provides a visual cue for the <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> element and can be processed by AT.</p>
<p>The <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> is now of <code>type="search"</code>, which should expose it as "searchbox" in the <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Accessibility_tree">accessibility tree</a>.</p>
<p>Clicking the label will also focus the input. This is a nice helper for sighted users and people with motor disabilities, as the target area for clicking has been increased.</p>
<p>Additionally, you can target this input now with CSS! This way you can check yourself that you implemented semantic and accessible HTML:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-css"><code data-sanitized-class="language-css"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token selector">input[type="search"]</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token comment">/* Your code */</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span></code></pre>
<p><code>for="search-input"</code> of <code>&lt;label&gt;</code> is referencing <code>id="search-input"</code> of <code>&lt;input&gt;</code>, so they're now "connected", if you will. AT should always announce the label of this input, no matter what you've typed.</p>
<p>The <code>name</code> attribute is useful when submitting the form, so you know which <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> contains what information.</p>
<p>If, for whatever reason, you don't want to show the visual label, you could also do it this way:</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="2-good-code-using-aria-label">2. Good code using <code>aria-label</code></h2>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>input</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">aria-label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>Search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search-input<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">name</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">/&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>button</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>submit<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Search<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>There's no direct connection between <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> and <code>&lt;button&gt;</code>, but it is still of <code>type="search"</code> and has the accessible name "Search", which should give enough clues for AT users.</p>
<p>However, the only visual clue here is the button. So make sure it's close to the input, in order for people to make the mental connection. Not a fan of it though, as I would rather connect the two elements with each other:</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="3-good-code-using-aria-labelledby">3. Good code using <code>aria-labelledby</code></h2>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>input</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">aria-labelledby</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search-input<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">name</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">/&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>button</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search-input<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>submit<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Search<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>Still no visual cue, but whenever we change the <code>&lt;button&gt;</code> name, the accessible name of the <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> will change accordingly. The power of the <code>aria-labelledby</code> attribute! 💪 There's one more approach:</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="4-ok-code-with-implicit-label">4. OK code with implicit label</h2>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  Search:</span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>input</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">name</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">/&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>As the <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> is wrapped inside the <code>&lt;label&gt;</code> element, they are both connected now. However, AT support for this solution might not be as good as an explicit label (see <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/forms/labels/#associating-labels-implicitly">Associating labels implicitly</a>).</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="going-the-extra-mile-using-landmarks">Going the extra mile using landmarks</h2>
<p>To make it even easier for AT users to access the search functionality on your website, you could add <code>role="search"</code> to your <code>&lt;form&gt;</code> element, or wrap it inside the <code>&lt;search&gt;</code> <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/blog/aria-accessibility-html-landmark-roles/">landmark</a>:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>form</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">role</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>label</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">for</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search-input<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Search:<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>input</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search-input<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">name</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">/&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>form</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>This should announce the container as "search" in the accessibility tree, same goes for this approach:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>search</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>label</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">for</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search-input<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Search:<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>input</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search-input<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">name</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>search<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">/&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>search</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>When people are traversing the <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document_Object_Model">DOM</a> using landmarks, this could help them find the search input on your website much quicker. And even if it's not announced as "search", you'd still have a very descriptive <code>&lt;label&gt;</code> element and a user input of <code>type="search"</code>.</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>All in all, this wasn't a very complex or time consuming fix and it will help people a lot to locate and use the search input on your website. Different approaches are possible, like using an implicit or explicit label, or even no visual label at all!</p>
<p>I personally like to use an explicit label, as it's a common pattern AND it's something you could target with CSS. Don't use an <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> element without a <code>&lt;label&gt;</code> or <code>aria-label</code>, as it comes with plenty of benefits for you and your users.</p>
<p>And wrapping an input inside a <code>&lt;form role="search"&gt;</code> or the <code>&lt;search&gt;</code> landmark will provide an extra hint for them, which could make it even easier to get there. So don't forget to always pair <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> with a <code>&lt;label&gt;</code>, they belong together and are the ultimate couple! ❤️</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="further-reading">Further reading</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/search"><code>&lt;input type="search"&gt;</code></a></li>
<li><a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input"><code>&lt;input&gt;</code>: The HTML Input element</a></li>
<li><a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/search"><code>&lt;search&gt;</code>: The generic search element</a></li>
<li><a href="https://a11ysupport.io/">Accessibility Support: Will your code work with assistive technologies?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://adamsilver.io/blog/the-problem-with-placeholders-and-what-to-do-instead/">The problem with placeholders and what to do instead</a></li>
</ul>


guid: https://canadianpatriotreview.substack.com/p/anglotopian-dreams-the-ideational
title: Anglotopian Dreams: The Ideational Relationship Between Science Fiction and the Anglophile Milieu
author: ;Canadian Patriot Review
link: https://canadianpatriotreview.substack.com/p/anglotopian-dreams-the-ideational
hash: �~s��M6"�(��Ǥ
content:
<h2>By Paul &amp; Phillip Darrell Collins</h2><h2><strong>The Waking Dreams of Sci-fi “Prophets” and Sociopolitical Utopians</strong></h2><p>There is an interesting ideational nexus where sociopolitical Utopianism and the science fiction literary genre intersect. While science fiction has not always been taken seriously as a literary genre, it has acted as a repository for several of the ideas espoused by serious sociopolitical Utopians. The ideational relationship has been largely a reciprocal one where Utopian theoreticians influence sci-fi authors and vice versa. This ideational relationship is partially attributable to a shared spiritual heritage. Nowhere is this shared heritage more demonstrable than with Cecil Rhodes’ Anglophile network and the “prophets” of British science fiction.</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc3c0a288-4d82-44f9-b3f7-7b4a1d7a88c8_389x303.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc3c0a288-4d82-44f9-b3f7-7b4a1d7a88c8_389x303.jpeg" width="389" height="303" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/c3c0a288-4d82-44f9-b3f7-7b4a1d7a88c8_389x303.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":303,"width":389,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":true,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" fetchpriority="high" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a><figcaption data-sanitized-class="image-caption">Cecil Rhodes</figcaption></figure></div><p>Both were deeply tinctured by a Gnostic cosmological resentment and autotheism. Dissatisfied by the established facts of reality, both inhabited dream worlds where their Utopian fictions reigned supreme. While the likes of Wells, Stapledon, and Clarke rendered this dream world as attainable with colorful prose, the Anglophile network invested its vast reservoirs of political, financial, and social capital in the tangible enactment of that world. Ultimately, both the Anglophile network and the British sci-fi “prophets” maintained the same eschatological hope: an Anglotopia.</p><h2><strong>Fiction’s Revolt Against Fact</strong></h2><p>Traditionally, the binary of fact and fiction has been understood as a dichotomy. On the simplest level, fact can be defined as “that which is” while fiction can be defined as “that which is not.”</p><p>The two conditions are mutually exclusive and never shall the twain meet. Yet, there are those who are so thoroughly seduced by the enticements of their Utopian fictions that they actually attempt to re-sculpt reality to reflect their fantasies. These fantasies are inspired by a virulent cosmological resentment. The fantasizers conflate the cosmos with the postlapsarian ills that afflict it, thereby maligning the created order and lapsing into the same docetistic cosmological attitude espoused by the ancient Gnostics. They only deviate from their ancient antecedents in regards to how they deal with their present habitation.</p><p>Where the ancient Gnostics sought to escape the world, the new Gnostics seek to recreate it. They intend to supplant the facts of established reality with the fictions of their docetistic minds. Because these new Gnostics loathe the cosmos, they reject facts in favor of Utopian fictions. They actively demolish “that which is” in hopes of enshrining “that which is not” as the ultimate reality. They have no desire to believe what they see. Instead, they see what they believe, which is a vaporous schematic for their Utopia. Such a revolt against reality is exemplified by the principles of Hegel’s dialectical logic. Herbert Marcuse condensed these principles into a single relativistic aphorism: “That which is cannot be true” (qutd. in Katsiaficas and Emery, “Critical Theory and the Limits of Sociological Positivism”). Elaborating upon this dictum, Marxist academicians George Katsiaficas and Mary Lou Emery write:</p><p>“In other words, our existing society of racism, genocide, and possible nuclear holocaust cannot be the “truth” of human existence. Truth must lie somewhere else, not in the facts of the given reality, but in the negation or transcendence of those facts. Truth lies in the attempt to go beyond this reality to a better world. Thus, truth lies in our attempt to change the world, in our critique of the established reality.” (Ibid)</p><p>Just as the ancient Gnostics confused the consequences of the Fall with the very act of creation, Katsiaficas and Emery erroneously conflate “racism, genocide, and possible nuclear holocaust” with reality. Instead of recognizing “racism, genocide, and possible nuclear holocaust” as the products of man’s own disordered will, they ascribe such evils to the cosmic order itself. This Gnostic proclivity to associate extraneous evils with the otherwise good creation underpins the Marxist attempt to “go beyond this reality to a better world.” Instantiation of the Marxist fiction, namely a classless Utopia, stipulated the negation of the “facts of the given reality.” Because the “facts” (genocide, racism, and nuclear holocaust) were allegedly inseparable from reality, all that constituted reality had to be negated. The negation of reality typically entailed the imprisonment and/or extermination of any opposition. Again, the Hegelian aphorism declares: “That which is cannot be true.” On the Hegelian view, truth could be found not in established reality, but in the “attempt to change the world.” Once established reality was negated, the Marxists were free to populate the world with simulacra, bodied forth by grotesque parodies of once legitimate institutions.</p><p>This anti-reality crusade also underpins the massive Utopian project of the global oligarchical establishment, which, incidentally, created communism as an instrument for the consolidation of their power. Like their Marxist progenies, the global oligarchs uphold the Hegelian mandate: “That which is cannot be true.” For the global oligarchs, that which is (a world of sovereign nation-states) cannot be true. On the globalist view, evil is imputed not to man’s disordered will, but to the social cosmos. Because the sovereign nation-state is the chief unit by which the social cosmos is ordered, it must be swept away. Truth is found in the globalist attempt to change the world, which involves amalgamating nations into a single supra-national entity. Such a global arrangement has been euphemistically dubbed a New World Order.</p><p>It is a foregone conclusion that such anti-reality crusades are doomed to failure. After all, the crusaders reject the structure of reality. This rejection compels the crusaders to create a second reality or, as Eric Voegelin has called it, a “dream world.”</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F26770e15-cef2-444d-8207-eda15bf14a6a_750x281.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F26770e15-cef2-444d-8207-eda15bf14a6a_750x281.jpeg" width="750" height="281" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/26770e15-cef2-444d-8207-eda15bf14a6a_750x281.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":281,"width":750,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a><figcaption data-sanitized-class="image-caption">Eric Voegelin</figcaption></figure></div><p>The dream world is a Utopian schematic that the anti-reality crusader strives to impose upon reality through various forms of activism and political programs. For the globalists, building the dream world includes the enacting of economically deleterious trade agreements, reversing growth in industrialized nations, culling “surplus populations” through various Malthusian schemes, imposing technological apartheid on developing nations, and eroding national sovereignty through dubious international treaties. It is the globalist’s eschatological conviction that these programs operating in an alchemical synergy will expunge this ontologically deficient world’s chief aberration: heterogeneity.</p><p>Charlie Skelton summarizes the globalist aversion to heterogeneity: “The ideology of globalization perceives otherness as an evil to be overcome. Constantly merging and acquiring, dominating and consolidating, to the point of singularity” (“Silicon Assets”).</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d92327a-35bd-4174-a99d-a8f678e57e9d_750x374.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d92327a-35bd-4174-a99d-a8f678e57e9d_750x374.png" width="750" height="374" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0d92327a-35bd-4174-a99d-a8f678e57e9d_750x374.png","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":374,"width":750,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>The dream world envisioned by the globalists is one bereft of differentiated beings. For the globalist, “otherness” is a corruption. Whether conveyed tacitly or explicitly, this animus toward differentiation stems from a distinctly monistic normative conviction: All must be one. Through the eyes of the oligarchs, differentiation is symptomatic of a cosmic corruption. The Eschaton envisioned by humanity’s aspirant hegemons is “pure” because it is undifferentiated. It is, in essence, an immanentized version of the Gnostic <em>Pleroma</em>.</p><p>On the globalist view, an outward expression of the cosmic corruption allegedly afflicting humanity is political and economic differentiation. Differing political and economic systems confound the elite’s efforts to amalgamate nation-states into a single, interdependent system. For the elite, such a world order would constitute a new Eden. Supposedly, under such Utopian conditions, man will undergo a glorious transfiguration and achieve apotheosis. To that end, the globalists have created several organizations and agencies devoted to promoting world government.</p><h2><em><strong>Pax Britannia</strong></em><strong>: The Dream World of Cecil Rhodes</strong></h2><p>Arguably, this crusade was, to a sizable extent, inspired by a 19<sup>th</sup>-century Anglophile network. In support of this contention, one needs only to cite the origins of one particular globalist think tank. Chief among the various globalist organizations actively pursuing the homogenization of otherwise disparate political and economic systems is the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).</p><p>The CFR was merely a stateside branch of the Royal Institute for International Affairs (RIIA) (Quigley 132-33). In turn, the RIIA was founded by the Round Table Groups (132-33). These Round Table Groups owed their existence to a directive presented in the last will and testament of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes. This directive mandated the formation of a secret network committed to the imperialist objectives of the British Empire. Rhodes’ <em>Weltanschauung</em> was inspired by a speech delivered by John Ruskin at Oxford in 1870.</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F03de0d6c-e4cd-4195-bd55-08adbc9e1d74_750x445.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F03de0d6c-e4cd-4195-bd55-08adbc9e1d74_750x445.png" width="750" height="445" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/03de0d6c-e4cd-4195-bd55-08adbc9e1d74_750x445.png","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":445,"width":750,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Embedded within the body of this speech was the clarion call of a new imperialism. This new imperialism, unlike earlier imperialist models, possessed a foundation of pseudo-morality and social reform. Ruskin was a true believer in this new imperialism and preached its tenets with the fervor of a missionary evangelizing on behalf of the Gospel. Ruskin used his professorship chair of fine arts at Oxford as a pulpit for his evangelization effort. Carroll Quigley elaborates:</p><p><em>“The new imperialism after 1870 was quite different in tone from that which the Little Englanders had opposed earlier. The chief changes were that it was justified on grounds of moral duty and social reform and not, as earlier, on grounds of missionary activity and material advantage. The man most responsible for this change was John Ruskin.</em></p><p><em>Until 1870 there was no professorship of fine arts at Oxford, but in that year, thanks to the Slade bequest, John Ruskin, was named to such a chair. He hit Oxford like an earthquake, not so much because he talked about fine arts, but because he talked also about the empire and England’s downtrodden masses, and above all because he talked about all three of these things as moral issues. Until the end of the nineteenth century the poverty-stricken masses in the cities of England lived in want, ignorance, and crime very much as they have been described by Charles Dickens. Ruskin spoke to the Oxford undergraduates as members of the privileged, ruling class. He told them that they were the possessors of a magnificent tradition of education, beauty, rule of law, freedom, decency, and self-discipline but that this tradition could not be saved, and did not deserve to be saved, unless it could be extended to the lower classes in England itself and to the non-English masses throughout the world. If this precious tradition were not extended to these two great majorities, the minority of upper-class Englishmen would ultimately be submerged by these majorities and the tradition lost. To prevent this, the tradition must be extended to the masses and to the empire.”</em> (130)</p><p>For a group of Oxford undergraduates, Ruskin’s message was a source of inspiration, similar to the way the Torah, the Koran, and the Bible inspired their respective devotees. For better or worse, Ruskin’s new imperialism won disciples.</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd20a917b-8180-45b9-a188-479ec0dc80cb_750x972.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd20a917b-8180-45b9-a188-479ec0dc80cb_750x972.png" width="750" height="972" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d20a917b-8180-45b9-a188-479ec0dc80cb_750x972.png","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":972,"width":750,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a><figcaption data-sanitized-class="image-caption">“Race Patriot” Cecil Rhodes from Punch Magazine lording over Africa</figcaption></figure></div><p>Undergraduate Cecil Rhodes appears to have been the most fanatically devoted of these disciples. Just as the Pope is regarded as the head bishop over the church by Roman Catholics, Quigley regards Rhodes as Ruskin’s chief disciple and the primary minister of the new imperialism. Ruskin’s message of salvation, which permeated the ruling class tradition, inspired Rhodes to undertake several imperialist projects. The fortune generated by these projects would serve as the early financial backbone of the new imperialism. By realizing Ruskin’s utopian vision, Rhodes hoped to see the creation of a world dominated by the English ruling class. Quigley writes:</p><p><em>“Ruskin’s message had a sensational impact. His inaugural lecture was copied out in longhand by one undergraduate, Cecil Rhodes, who kept it with him for thirty years. Rhodes (1853-1902) feverishly exploited the diamond and goldfields of South Africa, rose to prime minister of the Cape Colony (1890-1896), contributed money to political parties, controlled parliamentary seats both in England and in South Africa, and sought to win a strip of British territory across Africa from the Cape of Good Hope to Egypt and to join these two extremes together with a telegraph line and ultimately with a Cape-to-Cairo Railway. Rhodes inspired devoted support for his goals from others in South Africa and in England. With financial support from Lord Rothschild and Alfred Beit, he was able to monopolize the diamond mines of South Africa as DeBeers Consolidated Mines and to build up a great gold mining enterprise as Consolidated Gold Fields. In the middle 1890’s Rhodes had a personal income of at least a million pounds sterling a year (then about five million dollars) which was spent so freely for his mysterious purposes that he was usually overdrawn on his account. These purposes centered on his desire to federate the English-speaking peoples and to bring all the habitable portions of the world under their control. For this purpose Rhodes left part of his great fortune to found the Rhodes Scholarships at Oxford in order to spread the English ruling class tradition throughout the English-speaking world as Ruskin had wanted.”</em> (130-31)</p><p>Rhodes was not the only convert to Ruskin’s Anglophilic evangel. Several other adherents became associated with Rhodes. This network of Ruskin disciples would establish a secret society devoted to the cause of British imperialism and, ultimately, global government. Quigley elaborates:</p><p><em>“Among Ruskin’s most devoted disciples at Oxford were a group of intimate friends including Arnold Toynbee, Alfred (later Lord) Milner, Arthur Glazebrook, George (later Sir George) Parkin, Philip Lyttelton Gell, and Henry (later Sir Henry) Birchenough. These were so moved by Ruskin that they devoted the rest of their lives to carrying out his ideas. A similar group of Cambridge men including Reginald Baliol Brett (Lord Esher), Sir John B. Seeley, Albert (Lord) Grey, and Edmund Garrett were also aroused by Ruskin’s message and devoted their lives to the extension of the British Empire and uplift of England’s urban masses as two parts of one project which they called “extension of the English-speaking idea.” They were remarkably successful in these aims because of England’s most sensational journalist William Stead (1849 – 1912), an ardent social reformer and imperialist, brought them into association with Rhodes. This association was formally established on February 5, 1891, when Rhodes and Stead organized a secret society of which Rhodes had been dreaming for sixteen years. In this secret society Rhodes was to be leader; Stead, Brett (Lord Esher), and Milner were to form an executive committee; Arthur (lord) Balfour, (Sir) Harry Johnston, Lord Rothschild, Albert (Lord) Grey, and others were listed as potential members of a “Circle of Initiates;” while there was to be an outer circle known as the “Association of Helpers” (later organized by Milner as the Round Table organization). Brett was invited to join this organization the same day and Milner a couple of weeks later, on his return from Egypt. Both accepted with enthusiasm. Thus the central part of the secret society was established by March 1891. It continued to function as a formal group, although the outer circle was, apparently, not organized until 1909-1913. This group was able to get access to Rhodes’ money after his death in 1902 and also to funds of loyal Rhodes supporters like Alfred Beit (1853-1906) and Sir Abe Bailey (1864-1940). With this backing they sought to extend and execute the ideals that Rhodes had obtained from Ruskin and Stead. Milner was the chief Rhodes Trustee and Parkin was Organizing Secretary of the Rhodes Trust after 1902, while Gell and Birchenough, as well as others with similar ideas, became officials of the British South Africa Company. They were joined in their efforts by other Ruskinite friends of Stead’s like Lord Grey, Lord Esher, and Flora Shaw (later Lady Lugard). In 1890, by a stratagem too elaborate to describe here, Miss Shaw became Head of the Colonial Department of the Times while still remaining on the payroll of Stead’s Pall Mall Gazette. In this past she played a major role in the next ten years in carrying into execution the imperial schemes of Cecil Rhodes, to whom Stead had introduced her in 1889.” (131-32)</em></p><p>When Rhodes died, the continuation of his imperialistic mission fell upon the shoulders of chief Rhodes Trustee Alfred Milner. It is with this development that the Anglophilic origins of the CFR come into focus. Under Milner’s coordination, the Rhodes network would establish the stateside surrogate organization that would adopt the appellation of the CFR. Quigley continues:</p><p><em>“As governor-general and high commissioner of South Africa in the period 1897-1905, Milner recruited a group of young men chiefly from Oxford and from Toynbee Hall, to assist him in organizing his administration. Through his influence these men were able to win influential posts in government and international finance and become the dominant influence in British imperial and foreign affairs up to 1939. Under Milner in South Africa they were known as Milner’s Kindergarten until 1910. In 1909-1913 they organized semisecret groups, known as Round Table Groups, in the chief dependencies and the United States… In 1919 they founded the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) for which the chief financial supporters were Sir Abe Bailey and the Astor Family (owners of The Times). Similar Institutes of International Affairs were established in the chief British dominions and in the United States (where it is known as the Council on Foreign Relations) in the period of 1919-1927.” </em>(132-33)</p><p>The CFR would eventually transmogrify itself into a <em>de facto</em> appendage of the United States government in 1939 with a project known as the War and Peace Studies Project. James Perloff describes this penetration of the halls of officialdom:</p><p><em>“In September 1939, Hitler’s troops invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany; World War II had begun.</em></p><p><em>Less than two weeks later, Hamilton Fish Armstrong, editor of Foreign Affairs, and Walter Mallory, the CFR’s executive director, met in Washington with Assistant Secretary of State George Messersmith. They proposed that the Council help the State Department formulate its wartime policy and postwar planning. The CFR would conduct study groups in coordination with State, making recommendations to the Department and President. Messersmith (a Council member himself) and his superiors agreed. The CFR thus succeeded, temporarily at least, in making itself an adjunct of the United States government. This undertaking became known as the War and Peace Studies Project; it worked in secret and was underwritten by the Rockefeller Foundation. It held 362 meetings and prepared 682 papers for FDR and the State Department.”</em> (64)</p><p>The CFR used its temporary position as a government adjunct to spread its members throughout the government. The State Department was particularly infested. In fact, the CFR’s influence over State led to what can only be described as the privatization of foreign policy. American foreign policy became little more than a vehicle for the agendas of bankers, corporations, globalists, and elitists. Thus, the origins of this major purveyor of globalism were distinctly Anglophilic.</p><p>This Anglophile network may have found its origins in the pages of fiction. Duncan Bell, the University of Cambridge Professor of Political Thought and International Relations, observes that Rhodes’ “most innovative contribution to racial utopian discourse” was the suggestion “that a secret society was necessary to undertake the epic task” of uniting the world under Anglo-Saxon rule (Bell 134). This secret society, of course, became a reality and produced the Anglophile constellation described earlier. Bell describes the secret society envisioned by Rhodes:</p><p><em>“[Rhodes’] model was the Society of Jesus. Its members scattered throughout the Anglo-Saxon world, such a society would spread the gospel of racial superiority, recruiting the best and the brightest of each generation to further the unionist cause. It would have two interwoven objectives: bringing the “whole uncivilized world under British rule” and the “recovery of the United States.”</em> (134)</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0eabc2b-983a-4ccb-9202-50ea6aca6323_750x481.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0eabc2b-983a-4ccb-9202-50ea6aca6323_750x481.jpeg" width="750" height="481" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a0eabc2b-983a-4ccb-9202-50ea6aca6323_750x481.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":481,"width":750,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Where did Rhodes derive the idea of such a secret society? The source of inspiration may have been identified in a recommendation made by Rhodes to fellow Anglophile network participant and journalist W.T. Stead. Bell writes:</p><p><em>“Rhodes encouraged Stead to read An American Politician, an1884 novel by the popular American writer F. Marion Crawford. The reason is clear. Very loosely based on the election of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877, the tale focuses on a politician driven by an overriding sense of duty and aided by an Anglo-America secret society.” </em>(134)</p><p>According to Bell, Crawford “was best known as a writer of ghost stories” (134). Crawford, however, demonstrated a knowledge of how covert power works in his 1897 novel <em>Corleone</em>, which has been called “the first major treatment of the Mafia in literature” (Francis Marion Crawford”). Crawford also concluded his 1900 novel <em>Rulers of the South</em> with a chapter about the Sicilian Mafia (ibid). Given Crawford’s comfort with topics such as secret societies and organized crime, it seems fitting that his literary work would inspire Rhodes to establish covert political circles dedicated to the realization of Anglotopia.</p><h2><strong>Envisioning Anglotopia: Rhodes’ Dream World Distilled as Sci-fi</strong></h2><p>The very same Anglophile milieu that gave rise to the CFR also carried on a reciprocal exchange of ideas with the science fiction literary genre. For several years, science fiction authors would draw inspiration from Anglophile theoreticians and vice versa. It is difficult to determine with whom this exchange began. Did it begin with the Anglophile theoreticians or the science fiction authors? While the answer remains elusive, it is a well-established fact that the progenitor of the Anglophile network, Rhodes, was inspired by a “universal history” penned by William Windwood Reade. Reade authored <em>The Martyrdom of Man</em>, a secular theodicy advancing the neo-Darwinian contention that man could be perfected through the painful, yet necessary evolutionary process. Robert Rotberg synopsizes <em>The Martyrdom</em> as follows:</p><p><em>“William Windwood Reade, the then-obscure British Darwinian, influenced Rhodes’ search for understanding. An unsuccessful novelist, Reade visited West Africa twice in the 1860s, the second time while Rhodes was in Natal, and published The Martyrdom of Man in 1872. Begun as an attempt to revise England’s accepted and critical view of the contribution of Africans to human civilization, The Martyrdom became a universal history of mankind, with long sections on Rhodes’ favorite mysteries: ancient Egypt, Rome, Carthage, Arab Islam, and early Christianity. The Martyrdom consisted of the kind of late nineteenth-century pseudo-science that appealed to Rhodes. It was larded with philosophically impressive arguments about the true “meaning” of man based on the post-Hegelian as well as neo-Darwinian notion that man’s suffering on earth (his martyrdom) was essential (and quasi-divinely inspired) in the achievement of progress. Man was perfectable, but only by toil. He could not be saved, nor would his rewards be heavenly, for Reade was a pre-Tillichean Gnostic who believed in God’s existence but, at the same time, not in deism and certainly not in the accessibility of an anthropomorphic Christian God. The rewards of man were in continuing and improving the human race. “To develop to the utmost our genius and our love, that is the only true religion,” </em>wrote Reade. (99-100)</p><p>While <em>The Martyrdom</em> doesn’t quite qualify as a piece of science fiction, Rotberg does liken Reade to Jules Verne because he:<em> “prophesied a locomotive force more powerful than steam, the manufacture of flesh and flour chemically, travel through space, and the discovery by science of a destructive force which would be so horrible as to end all wars” </em>(100). Such “prophesying” would become commonplace among science fiction authors. James Herrick explains:</p><p><em>“In a Saturday Review interview, influential science-fiction editor John Campbell argued that the genre’s principal social role was as “prophecy”—by which he did not mean simply foretelling the future, but also preparing its audiences to embrace a particular vision for the future. The man who shaped the careers of such science-fiction greats as Asimov, Heinlein, van Vogt, and Doc (E.E.) Smith assigned to science fiction an essentially moral or spiritual role.</em> (<em>Scientific Mythologies: How Science and Science Fiction Forge New Religious Beliefs</em> 30)</p><p>Campbell’s contention that “prophecy” constituted science fiction’s chief social role underscores the genre’s imposing normative potential. Affirmation of this potential can be found in a May 2005 <em>New York Times</em> article entitled “Sci-Fi Synergy.” Therein, author Edward Rothstein states:<em> “A genre that 80 years ago was on the margins is now, at least in its cinematic incarnations, at the very center of culture”</em> (qutd. in Herrick, <em>Scientific Mythologies: How Science and Science Fiction Forge New Religious Beliefs </em>22). Elaborating on the normative impact that the sci-fi genre wields in its cinematic incarnations, Herrick writes: <em>“Science fiction has emerged as a formidable social force with a worldwide reach and an international audience in the hundreds of millions. Seven of the twenty most profitable movies ever produced fall within the science fiction genre”</em> (22). Given its undeniable influence upon culture, science fiction clearly possesses the potential to affect audiences in a normative capacity.</p><p>In her essay over science fiction’s normative power, Martha A. Bartter makes it clear that science fiction does not necessarily “make people behave in ways they otherwise would not” (Bartter 169). This perception of science fiction typically engenders “either the tacit justification for propaganda, or the reverse, the explicit justification for censorship” (169). However, it is through the presentation of possibilities that the normative power of science fiction is most effectively demonstrated. Bartter explains:</p><p><em>“[F]iction can represent possibilities for action to a large number of people in such a way that they can more clearly perceive possible choices and the various socio-cultural sanctions attached to those choices. The very act of considering choices irrevocably alters our assumptions about ways we may act, and since actions derive from assumptions (in the sense that both doing and choosing not to do must be considered actions), fiction can indeed endanger the status quo. The censors are right—for the wrong reasons.”</em> (169)</p><p>Indeed, considering various choices and their concomitant socio-cultural sanctions can call the <em>status quo</em> into question. The propositional content of a fictional work can either partially or completely conflict with the dominant cultural conventions of any given society. Audiences that are exposed to such propositional content will invariably consider choices that could potentially revise the <em>status quo</em>. A prescription can be rendered more tenable within the body of an imaginative narrative. Once fiction starts making such prescriptions, it becomes normative in character.</p><p>Yet, Bartter discerns an “inherent ambiguity” to normative fiction (169). As products of specific time periods, fictional tales tend to uphold some of the cultural norms of their respective historical eras. Yet, simultaneously, fictional tales can present possibilities that are rendered feasible through elements such as characters, settings, themes, etc. When audiences are presented with these fictional devices, they tend to suspend their critical faculties and accept fantastical propositions. In so doing, audiences entertain alternative ideas and values. Propositions are tangibly enacted and a “new consensus” is considered. Bartter elaborates:</p><p><em>“On the one hand, every fiction arises from a particular time and place; it demonstrates to its hearers/readers a tacit consensus regarding cultural norms. On the other hand, and at the same time, it can introduce to its readers possibilities that they previously did not know or had not considered, and make these possibilities vividly “real” by fictional devices such as plot, character, setting, etc. Through a “willing suspension of disbelief,” readers conduct socio-cultural gedankenexperimente: they test how such ideas might work out in reality and what effects they might produce, and consider the possibility of a new consensus.” </em>(169)</p><p><em>Gedankenexperimente</em> is the German word for “thought experiment.” The famous science fiction writer and editor John W. Campbell proposed that sci-fi presented an “unparalleled opportunity for socio-cultural thought experiments” (183). Through such experiments, the ideas of a particular fiction are tested and aspects of the current culture are called into question. As the experiment progresses, revisions in the <em>status quo</em> might be entertained or even enacted. If certain cultural norms happen to be amended or jettisoned along the way, then the dominant culture could witness the emergence of a “new consensus.” Thus, the question is not whether science fiction can change society, but how? The nature of the cultural shifts induced by sci-fi depends upon the nature of the normative claims that inspired them. The more dubious an author’s normative claims, the more ominous their existential consequences.</p><p>While <em>The Martyrdom</em> is not really considered a work of science fiction, the book is replete with the same sort of fanciful technology forecasts that one finds in the pages of the fantastical genre. More significantly, it explored a theme that pervaded British science fiction: humanity’s inexorable evolutionary advancement toward perfection. Of this theme, Herrick writes:</p><p><em>“Inevitable human progress through evolutionary processes is a theme in some of the most imaginative and persuasive science fiction. It is particularly important to the works of three pillars of British science fiction: H.G. Wells (1866-1946), Olaf Stapledon (1886-1950), and Arthur C. Clarke (b. 1917). That Wells would have devoted attention to human evolutionary advancement is not surprising considering that he was a student at Huxley’s London School of Science</em>. (<em>The Making of the New Spirituality: The Eclipse of the Western Religious Tradition </em>145)”</p><p>Arguably, Reade is responsible for popularizing the evolutionary theme that would preoccupy the “three pillars of British science fiction.” Yet, it is with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that one finds the clearest example of Reade’s influence upon British sci-fi scribes.</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc69aedd7-b855-46a7-b84c-4c1ca356b002_750x549.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc69aedd7-b855-46a7-b84c-4c1ca356b002_750x549.jpeg" width="750" height="549" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/c69aedd7-b855-46a7-b84c-4c1ca356b002_750x549.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":549,"width":750,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Doyle wrote several pieces of science fiction, including <em>The Lost World</em> and his Professor Challenger stories. Doyle’s second Sherlock Holmes novel, <em>The Sign of Four</em>, features a glowing reference to Reade’s <em>The Martyrdom</em>. While discussing the literary quality of some letters with Watson, Holmes states: “Let me recommend this book, —one of the most remarkable ever penned. It is Winwood Reade’s ‘Martyrdom of Man.’” Clearly, Doyle was familiar with Reade and he may have even expressed some affinity for <em>The Martyrdom</em> vicariously through the beloved character of Holmes.</p><p>As for Rhodes, the impact of <em>The Martyrdom</em> upon the Ruskinite imperialist was unmistakable. Rotberg states: <em>“Rhodes read Reade only shortly after its publication and later said that it was a ‘creepy book.’ He also said, mysteriously, that it had ‘made me what I am’” </em>(99-100). <em>The Martyrdom’s</em> impact on Rhodes makes a great deal of sense when one considers its anthropological proposition that humanity is perfectible. This was a commonly held anthropological assumption among sociopolitical Utopians. After all, changing the world stipulated a fundamental change within man first. Evolutionary theory dignified the anthropological assumption of perfectibility. Darwinism was the theoretical outgrowth of an older belief system known as transformism. On transformism, organisms were infinitely mutable and could alter themselves on the essential level through a mere act of will. Pat Shipman explains:</p><p>“<em>Transformism was a rather Lamarckian view of the mutability of species that preceded Darwinian evolution in Germany, France, and elsewhere. What connected the two theories was the essential belief that life-forms had changed over time; what separated them was the proposed mechanism, which for Darwin was natural selection and for transformists was a vaguely described will or yearning of the organism for self-improvement. However, transformism was the scientific equivalent of the French Revolution: a dangerous doctrine of the possibility of change in social as well as biological spheres. (91-92) “</em></p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f5aed5a-3485-4cf7-9595-0409f2aac415_750x422.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f5aed5a-3485-4cf7-9595-0409f2aac415_750x422.jpeg" width="750" height="422" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1f5aed5a-3485-4cf7-9595-0409f2aac415_750x422.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":422,"width":750,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Indeed, such a view could be compared to the French Revolution, which was also underpinned by the anthropological proposition of human perfectibility. That which transformism advanced in the sociological sphere would be affirmed in the realm of biology by Darwinism. Darwinism is a variety of transformism that challenges the ontological fixity of species by advancing a process in which simple life-forms metamorphose into complex life-forms through random mutations. Suddenly, organisms were divested of any determinate properties and rendered as boundlessly malleable.</p><p>This was especially true for humanity, which the Darwinian transformist believed to be just an intermediary species migrating towards a glorious developmental terminus. Nick Bostrom reiterates:<em> “After the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859), it became increasingly plausible to view the current version of humanity not as the endpoint of evolution but rather as an early phase”</em> (“A History of Transhumanist Thought” 3).</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fad7643bb-0f5e-4048-ad2e-c2172aecd819_750x422.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fad7643bb-0f5e-4048-ad2e-c2172aecd819_750x422.jpeg" width="750" height="422" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ad7643bb-0f5e-4048-ad2e-c2172aecd819_750x422.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":422,"width":750,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>For Rhodes, such a biological <em>tabula rasa</em> could be eventually shaped into the sort of citizen suitable for his dream world.</p><p>Darwinism also advanced the distinctly Manichean binary of the fit and the unfit, which accommodated Rhodes’ brutal enslavement of Africans in his quest to monopolize the continent’s diamonds. In this regard, Darwinism shares more in common with Gnosticism than its chronocentric proponents care to admit. John C. Wright states: <em>“Ancient Gnosticism shares a contempt for the Benighted that modern Darwinians share for those races of mankind fated to fail the test of the survival of the fittest” </em>(“C.S. Lewis, H.G. Wells and Arthur C. Clarke”).</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd35545cf-a5f2-4e7e-920f-3fe29b29db2a_750x410.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd35545cf-a5f2-4e7e-920f-3fe29b29db2a_750x410.jpeg" width="750" height="410" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d35545cf-a5f2-4e7e-920f-3fe29b29db2a_750x410.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":410,"width":750,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a><figcaption data-sanitized-class="image-caption">Arthur C. Clarke</figcaption></figure></div><p>In fact, Dr. Wolfgang Smith has characterized Darwinism as a “Gnostic myth” because it dignifies the soteriological claim of self-salvation with the metaphysical claim of self-creation (242-43). Of course, the metaphysical claim of self-creation inexorably segues into autotheism, which is the tacitly espoused religion of Rhodes’ globalist progenies. Yet, in a world ruled by earthbound gods, not everyone can be a deity. Such was the case with Rhodes’ Africa, where those whom Darwinism had declared “unfit” were either enslaved or eugenically expunged through colonial warfare. For Rhodes and his imperialist adherents, the categories of deity and mortal were demarcated according to race.</p><p>Notions of a deific race were tacitly promoted through British science fiction, as is evidenced by the work of English occultist Baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Baron Lytton “practiced ceremonial magic and was claimed by Madame Blavatsky to be a Theosophist” (Sklar 65).</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcbe761cd-808f-4953-9dd5-33b94ee1b3c9_519x362.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcbe761cd-808f-4953-9dd5-33b94ee1b3c9_519x362.jpeg" width="519" height="362" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/cbe761cd-808f-4953-9dd5-33b94ee1b3c9_519x362.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":362,"width":519,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a><figcaption data-sanitized-class="image-caption">Baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton and his book ‘The Coming Race’</figcaption></figure></div><p>Presumably, Baron Lytton believed that he was the keeper of a psychic energy dubbed “vril” (65). Supposedly, vril was an “electricity whose properties were the same as ‘the one great fluid’ with which all of life was pervaded” (65). According to Baron Lytton’s racial myth, an elite race of “Vril people” harnessed this divine energy through physical and mental practices similar to yoga (65). Baron Lytton promulgated this racial myth with the publication of the novel <em>The Coming Race</em>, which Dusty Sklar synopsizes as follows:</p><p><em>“Written in the nineteenth century, The Coming Race details a superhuman subterranean race of beings living in huge caves in the bowels of earth, who have developed a kind of psychic energy—vril—with which they are made the equals of the gods. They plan, one day, to take control of the earth and bring about a mutation among the existing human elite, subjugating, of course, the rest of slavish humanity.”</em> (65)</p><p><em>The Coming Race</em> inspired a transcontinental movement devoted to studying and harnessing Lord Lytton’s chimerical psychic energy. In fact, some elements of that movement would play a role in the development and rise of the Nazis.</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd321d2b9-82c6-473f-8913-2d6623697d73_575x307.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd321d2b9-82c6-473f-8913-2d6623697d73_575x307.jpeg" width="575" height="307" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d321d2b9-82c6-473f-8913-2d6623697d73_575x307.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":307,"width":575,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Ominously enough, Lord Lytton referred to the deific race who mastered vril as “Aryans,” thereby adopting an appellation “already employed in European intellectual circles to identify a supposed master race of the past” (Herrick, <em>Scientific Mythologies: How Science and Science Fiction Forge New Religious Beliefs </em>170). Commenting on the transcontinental influence of <em>The Coming </em>Race, Herrick writes:</p><p><em>“George Edward Bulwer-Lytton used The Coming Race as a forum in which to advance his theory of a spiritually evolved master race destined to rule or destroy all other races. And his theories proved quite popular with his Victorian reading audience. Vril societies formed in England and on the European Continent, lasting well into the twentieth century. The Vril Society of Munich attracted several members who would later become prominent figures in Hitler’s National Socialist Party.”</em> (<em>The Making of the New Spirituality: The Eclipse of the Western Religious Tradition </em>147)</p><p>Baron Lytton’s <em>The Coming Race</em> “cemented 1 May 1871 as the formative moment of British science fiction” (Bell 207). Bulwer-Lytton’s literary work influenced many writers who used their fiction to promote global Anglo-Saxon dominion. Among them was Arthur Bennett. In his 1893 work <em>Dream of an Englishman</em>, Bennett provides a fictional account of the United States’ reabsorption into a revived British Empire, referred to as the United Empire of Great Britain (Bell 225). The rest of the world’s geopolitical power blocs eventually realize that they are inferior to the United Empire of Great Britain and submit to its rule, resulting in the creation of a world federation ruled by the Anglo-Saxons (226). Bennett then tips his hat to Bulwer-Lytton, asserting that the boldest members of “the coming race” were fixing their gaze upon the stars, preparing to expand Anglo-Saxon rule beyond the planet’s boundaries (226).</p><p>Of course, a world federation ruled by Anglo-Saxons would stipulate the reconciliation of the British with their racial cousins in the United States. Needless to say, there had been a considerable amount of ill will between the British and Americans since the Thirteen Colonies had achieved independence in 1783. However, an attitudinal reorientation towards the United States would eventually result in the mending of this racial rift. The attitudinal shift is literally written into the pages of British and American science fiction. The thematic shift, according to Duncan Bell, occurred in the1890s (211). Before the shift, American literature largely voiced the hostility Americans felt towards their former British rulers. Bell elaborates:</p><p><em>“The American choice of enemy was…. revealing. Numerous texts published during the 1880s and early 1890s portrayed a war between the United States and the British Empire, dramatizing the simmering animosity between the two countries and reflecting the deep-seated Anglophobia of large swathes of the population.”</em> (210)</p><p>The 1890s witnessed writers radically rethinking the relationship between America and the British Empire. A drastic overhaul to the roles of villain and hero took place in order to accommodate a desire for reconciliation and reunion among the Anglo-Saxons. Many British writers envisioned an Anglo-Saxon world power where the Americans were junior partners. American writers tended to imagine the inverse, with the United States taking the reins of an Anglo-Saxon world order while the British played a secondary role. These two styles of science fiction writing share the theme of a racial union leading to a worldwide racial utopia. Bell explains:</p><p><em>“Many novels, both British and American, imagined the United States and the British Empire as cooperative partners, allies, or parts of a reintegrated racial-political community. They supplied cultural currency to the push for rapprochement, though symptomatic differences remained, perhaps above all in the way that the way that the relationship between the two powers was emplotted. Unlike [Andrew] Carnegie and Stead, many British authors were unwilling to yield leadership of the Angloworld – and hence the planet – to Washington, and the kin across the sea” were typically cast as an enthusiastic though immature junior partner. This attitude was mirrored across the Atlantic, where in an act of familial role-reversal Britain was usually granted a supporting role alongside a newly dominant United States. This signified both a transformation in the balance of geopolitical power and an intraracial transfer of authority, with the old idea of translatio imperii given new science fictional form.” </em>(211; italics in original)</p><p>In his work <em>Dreamworlds of Race: Empire and the Utopian Destiny of Anglo-America</em>, Bell looks at a number of literary works that exhibit the unionist and Anglotopian thematic threads, starting with Frank Stockton’s successful 1889 novel, <em>The Great War Syndicate</em>. In Stockton’s popular tale, a heated argument regarding fishing rights touches off a war between Britain and the United States (211). A group of 23 “great capitalists” intervene in the conflict, sidelining impotent politicians who have failed to bring peace between the belligerent parties (211). Stockton’s capitalistic cabal calls to mind both plutocracy and technocracy. It will not the last time that these concepts emerge in Anglotopian science fiction.</p><p>Stockton’s story includes a plot device found in many Anglotopian science fiction pieces: destructive weapons that are used to coerce one or more belligerent parties into accepting a universal peace imposed by the Anglo-Saxons (211). In this case, the superweapons are used to force the British into surrender (211). The British are defeated, but not vanquished. The war facilitates the reunion between racial cousins, the British and the Americans (211). Bell explains:</p><p>“In an age of privatized warfare, the business leaders devise fearsome weapon systems capable of pulverizing the British, but rather than fighting their racial kin, the Americans instead demonstrate to them this newfound destructive power. Suitably apprised of their diminished status in the Anglo-American relationship, the shocked and awed British agree to serve as loyal lieutenants in “The Anglo-American Syndicate of War,” an alliance that eventually pacifies the Earth”. (211)</p><p>Stockton’s novel would become the source of inspiration for British author George Griffith’s <em>The Pirate Syndicate</em> (212). Griffith’s work ends with the establishment of an Anglo-Saxon federation (212). George Danyer’s 1894 novel entitled <em>Blood Is Thicker Than Water: A Political Dream</em> concludes with a similar union between the Americans and the British (212). The theme of racial union was taken up yet again by James Barnes’ <em>The Unpardonable War</em> (212). Barnes’ literary offering presents readers with yet another war between the British and Americans (212). An American victory is secured by the work of a character described by Bell as an “Edisonian inventor” (212).</p><p>The end result is an Anglo-American union (212). Roy Norton’s work <em>The Vanishing Fleet</em> possesses many of the unionist themes employed by Stockton, Griffith, Danyer, and Barnes. Norton imagines the Americans ushering in an Anglo-Saxon world through the deployment of superweapons, which swiftly defeat British, Japanese, and Chinese adversaries (212). The Americans, however, do not seek the total destruction of their racial kin.</p><p>Instead, the Americans extend an olive branch to the British and ask them to assist in establishing world peace (212). This results in the two Anglo-Saxon powers “pledging their formidable combined power to a new commission established to maintain international order” (212). All of these stories seemed to capture a burning desire held by Anglophile political circles. That desire was to see the divorce of 1775 successfully reversed. Bell writes: “Such texts fictionalized the debate over the possible benefits of an Anglo-American union being played out in the journals and clubrooms of the North Atlantic world” (212).</p><p>All cultural trends reach their zenith, and American science fiction with Anglotopian and unionist themes is certainly no exception to that rule. Bell states: “The American literature of racial union reached a crescendo of sorts in 1898” (212). The crescendo coincided with America’s war with the Spanish, a conflict that many regard to be a manifestation of American imperialism (212). This period of time produced Benjamin Rush Davenport’s <em>Anglo-Saxons Onward!,</em> a work whose title makes no attempt to hide its author’s unbridled Anglophilia (212). In Davenport’s novel, America spearheads “a ‘semi-alliance’ of the Anglo-Saxon nations to crush the Spanish empire and ultimately control the world” (212). Davenport, it seems, was exploiting the animosity that existed between America and Spain to promote Anglo-Saxon dominance. Another work authored during this time period was S.W. Odell’s <em>The Last War; or, the Triumph of the English Tongue,</em> which “identified genocide as a means to racially purify the earth” (212). Odell’s offering takes place in the 26<sup>th</sup> century and casts the Russians as the villains, thus capturing the anti-Slavic sentiments that seem to permeate Anglophile circles (213). An Anglo-American alliance determines that it is necessary to conduct a war of extermination against the Russian Czar and his racially intermingled empire (213). Bell writes: “Fusing racial millenarianism with the pornography of violence, millions of people are slaughtered before Anglo-American triumphs, completing the conquest of the planet” (213).</p><p>The year 1898 saw the publication of <em>Armageddon: A Tale of Love, War and Invention</em> (213). The novel was written by Stanley Waterloo, described by Bell as “the most famous American writer to pen a future-war narrative” (213). The novel follows the pattern found in most racial union literature, with an unprecedented crisis facilitating and alliance between America and Great Britain. Bell writes:</p><p><em>“Like so many novels of the future, it opens with a telescopic account of geopolitical turmoil, the Spanish-American war heralding the predestined entry of the United States onto the world stage. Yet confusion reigned and the nineteenth century, we are informed, “flickered out in something like racial warfare.” It was as if Charles Pearson’s grim predictions of global race conflict had come true. As the planet is engulfed by violence, the Americans and the British recognize their true affinities and shared interests: “the idea of an Anglo-Saxon alliance had grown and broadened.” This vision had been “fostered by thinking men of both Great Britain and America,” those who could “best foresee the future of races.” Ultimately, though, “a tentative alliance, at least, it was evident, must come.” It would form the basis of a majestic racial order.”</em> (213)</p><p>A war ensues, with the reunited Anglo-Saxons fighting alongside the Japanese and Northern European states “against a combination of the southern ‘Latin’ races, dominated by the French and Italians (with lukewarm German support), and the ‘Slavs,’ directed by Russia” (215). Again, the old Slavic bogeyman of Anglo-Saxon fever dreams rears its ugly head.</p><p>The Anglo-Saxon alliance secures a decisive victory during “a great naval battle in the Atlantic” (215). They are assisted in their endeavor by a brilliant inventor who hails from “an isolated farm on the Illinois prairie” (213). According to Bell, this Illinois-based inventor creates “a flying machine, a cigar-shaped aluminum tube able to mount a devastating array of weapons” (213-14). Employment of this new weapon results in the destruction of the enemy armada (215). Victory is followed by a Peace Conference in Amsterdam, where the “French, Spanish, and Portuguese empires are dissolved, their territories transferred to the more deserving Anglo-Saxons” (216).</p><p>Many writers of science fiction with racial union themes entertained the notion of an imperial federation ushering in a racial utopia. Julius Vogel, asserts Bell, “wrote the most interesting novel on the subject” (218). Regarding Vogel, Bell writes:</p><p><em>“Vogel was an ardent supporter of the imperial federation movement, arguing that without formal consolidation the British Empire would ultimately dissolve, reducing the mother-country to the status of a second-rate power and leaving the colonies at the mercy of larger predatory states”</em> (218).</p><p>Vogel’s 1889 work, <em>Anno Domini 2000</em>, reflects the desire of some Anglophile circles to facilitate the rise of an Anglotopia through imperial federation. In Vogel’s literary universe, a waning British Empire’s very existence is imperiled in the 1920s by a dispute centered around Ireland (221). The empire resolves the problem through the federation of the empire (221). There is a reconfiguration of the empire “as power drains away from the old imperial center without precipitating the dissolution of the whole” (221). Bell elaborates:</p><p><em>“Decline is followed by rebirth rather than Fall. Vogel’s Anglo-imperium is figured immune to traditional causes of degeneration, at once too large for external assault and too internally robust for corruption to corrode it from within. Imperial federation thus allows the reconciliation of grandezza and libertas – imperium could permanently escape the vicissitudes of historical time. Vogel can present London as partially corrupted by luxury, its inhabitants “chartered sybarites” and “luxurious to the verge of effeminacy,” but rather than serving its classical role as the primary agent of decline, such hedonism is rendered harmless, even comic, because of the dispersal of political authority and economic might. The British dominions have been consolidated into the empire of United Britain; and not only is it the most powerful empire on the globe, but at present no sign is shown of any tendency to weakness or decay.”</em> (221-22)</p><p>Vogel’s Anglo-Saxon empire is also strengthened through the adoption of technocratic practices. This transformation of the empire into a technocracy leads to unprecedented technological progress and the ascendancy of the Anglo-Saxon race. Bell writes:</p><p>“Political unity was predicated on technoscientific progress. Following the wise intervention of the Prince of Wales, the citizenry is no longer distracted by having to learn useless dead languages, but are instead given an intense practical scientific training, with the result that “each person was more or less an engineer.” More typically American than British, this Wellsian mode of subject formation further accelerated technological progress. The novel is studded with inventions – “phonograms,” force fields, aluminum air cruisers. At one point, people are rendered immobile by a mysterious but devastating weapon that harnesses the power of electricity. Portable silent “hand telegraphs” allow journalists to stream live accounts of political debate across the polity, creating a powerful sense of instantaneity and communal identity. Vogel’s novel exemplifies the fascination with infrastructural space, racial informatics, and communications systems that suffused the discourse of Angloworld unification. It imagines the Anglo-Saxon race as a cyborg assemblage, knitted together by a dense communications network pulsating with information. The transformative potential of communications technology is reinforced by new modes of aerial transport. Global geography is rewritten. “A journey from London to Melbourne was looked upon with as much indifference as one from London to the Continent used to be.” Confined to use by the government – in contrast to many American novels of the era – this airpower underwrites British military superiority over other states. We are informed that these mighty sentinels “made easily a hundred miles an hour” across the skies of the future.” (222)</p><p>Vogel pits the British Empire, reinvigorated by a federation model of management and technocratic practices, against the United States (223). This conflict is touched off by “dynastic dispute between the British Empire and the United States” (223). Vogel’s fictional war, however, is not meant to bring about the destruction of America. It, instead, acts almost like a Hegelian dialectic, synthesizing the two belligerent parties and giving rise to a reunified federated empire. Bell provides a summary of the contest between racial cousins and the end result:</p><p>“The Americans launch an impetuous attack on Canada only to be swatted aside like flies, before a vast British armada is sent across the Atlantic to punish them. The expeditionary force captures Washington and proceeds to outflank the American army in Canada. They demonstrate their abiding sense of kinship by refusing to massacre the brave but ineffectual American soldiers – presumably a fate reserved for the hapless “natives” that the empire continues to govern. The forlorn President is whisked aboard the advanced air-cruiser <em>The British Empire</em>, and the British celebrate “a triumph which amply redeemed the humiliation of centuries back, when the English colonies of America won their independence by force of arms.” The injustice of history redressed, the door is opened to reuniting Anglo-America. The terms of the subsequent peace deal include a plebiscite in New England, where the inhabitants vote overwhelmingly to (re)join the British Empire, with New York anointed the new capital city of the Dominion of Canada. The democratic empire is extended democratically. In a mirror image of many American tales, the United States – or at least the authentic “Anglo-Saxon” element – is simultaneously reincorporated into the Angloworld and assigned a subordinate position within it. It has been transfigured from a powerful independent state to a region within British imperial jurisdiction.” (223)</p><p>Vogel and scores of other unionist science fiction writers emphasized the reunification of racial cousins and the revival of empire. Other writers in the bizarre Anglotopian genre, however, stressed a supposed racial salvation found in the Anglo-Saxon race. Authors like George Chetwynd Griffith and Louis Tracy “posited the Anglo-Saxons as redemptive saviors of civilization” (226). In <em>The Angel of the Revolution</em>, Griffith envisioned the Anglo-Saxons saving humanity with “socialist Anglo-future” (227). Tracy, on the other hand, wrote <em>The Final War</em> in 1896, which saw the Anglo-Saxons’ salvific power wrapped in “the existing imperial capitalist order” (227). Through the medium of literature, Anglo-Saxons acquired a messianic mystique. The apotheosis of the Anglo-Saxon elite had been realized through the power of the pen.</p><h2><strong>Fact Abolished and Fiction Made Flesh</strong></h2><p>It is not surprising that the sociopolitical Utopians of Rhodes’ tradition carried on such an extensive reciprocal relationship with British sci-fi authors. Both adhered to a hermeneutical tradition steeped in a cannibalizing epistemic incredulity. The British sci-fi authors were deeply mistrustful of the cosmos because, according to the Baconian formulation of modern science, the universe was nothing more than a standing reserve of malleable material (<em>Bestand </em>as Heidegger put it). Ergo the cosmos was an ontologically suboptimal simulacrum. Meanwhile, Rhodes’ imperialist progenies were deeply suspicious (and forthrightly contemptuous) of the social cosmos because its inherent heterogeneity violently conflicted with their dream world of political, economic, and racial homogeneity. Ergo the social cosmos was an ontologically suboptimal simulacrum. This shared hermeneutical tradition was merely an echo of the cosmological resentment espoused by the ancient Gnostics.</p><p>Yet, Rhodes’ disciples and their fellow travelers in the literary world parted ways with their ancient antecedents concerning their response to the cosmos. While the ancient Gnostics sought to escape the world, Rhodes’ imperialist progenies sought to transform it. Envisioning an Eschaton in history, Rhodes and his Anglophilic crusaders adopted the Hegelian rallying call: “That which is cannot be true.” The facts of established reality had to be abolished so that the Utopian fiction of Rhodes’ mind could be made flesh. British sci-fi scribes merely committed Rhodes’ Utopian fiction to paper. Years later, the globalist offspring of Rhodes would continue to incarnate some variant of that Utopian fiction. Predictably, many modern science fiction authors continue the tradition of their British precursors by rendering the globalist dream world as an inescapable inevitability. Jutta Weldes elaborates:</p><p>“The neo-liberal discourse of globalization dominating public discussion is a self-fulfilling prophecy that rests on a well-rehearsed set of narratives and tropes, including an Enlightenment commitment to progress, the wholesome role of global markets, a rampant technophilia, the trope of the “global village,” and the interrelated narratives of an increasingly global culture and an expanded pacific liberal politics… this discourse displays striking homologies to American techno-utopian SF [science fiction]… These homologies help to render neo-liberal globalization both sensible and seemingly “inexorable.” (Weldes, “Popular Culture, Science Fiction, and World Politics” 3)</p><p>In light of these homologies, it is not difficult to understand why the popularization of certain sci-fi myths is so advantageous to the global oligarchical establishment. These myths both propagate and affirm “a well-rehearsed set of narratives and tropes” that undergirds global governance. Through the sci-fi literary genre, the power elite’s fanatical eschatological vision for world order is not only rendered tenable, but inexorable. Yet, the globalist dream world is neither tenable nor inexorable because it does not comport with the structure of reality. Reality will continue to relentlessly assert itself, rudely awaking the inheritors of Rhodes’ Anglotopian dreams.</p><h2><strong>Sources Cited</strong></h2><p>Bartter, Martha A. “Normative fiction.” <em>Science Fiction, Social Conflict, and War</em>, Philip John Davies, ed. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1990, 169-85.</p><p>Bell, Duncan. <em>Dreamworlds of Race: Empire and the Utopian Destiny of Anglo-America</em>. New Jersey: Princeton UP, 2020.</p><p>Bostrom, Nick. “A History of Transhumanist Thought.” <em>Nick Bostrom’s Home Page</em> 21 February 2006 &lt;<a href="http://www.nickbostrom.com/papers/history.pdf">http://www.nickbostrom.com/papers/history.pdf</a>&gt;</p><p>Doyle, Arthur Conan. <em>The Sign of Four</em>. 1890. Project Gutenberg. Web. Aug. 2023 &lt;<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2097/2097-h/2097-h.htm#chap02">https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2097/2097-h/2097-h.htm#chap02</a>&gt;</p><p>“Francis Marion Crawford.” <em>Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia</em> 29 April 2024 &lt;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Marion_Crawford">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Marion_Crawford</a>&gt;</p><p>Herrick, James A. <em>The Making of the New Spirituality: The Eclipse of the Western Religious Tradition. </em>Downer’s Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2003.</p><p>—. <em>Scientific Mythologies: How Science and Science Fiction Forge New Religious Beliefs</em>. Downer’s Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2008.</p><p>Katsiaficas, George and Mary Lou Emery. “Critical Theory and the Limits of Sociological Positivism.” <em>Transforming Sociology Series</em>. 1978. Red Feather Institute 2008 &lt;<a href="http://www.tryoung.com/archives/176krkpt.htm">http://www.tryoung.com/archives/176krkpt.htm</a>&gt;</p><p>Quigley, Carroll. <em>Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in our Time</em>. New York: Macmillan, 1966.</p><p>Rotberg, Robert. <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195049683/conspiracyarc-20/102-5485159-1789706?%5Fencoding=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;link%5Fcode=xm2">The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power</a></em>. New York: Oxford UP, 1988.</p><p>Shipman, Pat. <em>The Evolution of Racism</em>. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994.</p><p>Skelton, Charlie. “Silicon Assets.” <em>Flaunt Magazine</em> 22 September 2015 &lt;<a href="http://www.flaunt.com/content/art/silicon-assets&amp;gt">http://www.flaunt.com/content/art/silicon-assets&amp;gt</a>;</p><p>Sklar, Dusty. <em>The Nazis and the Occult</em>. New York: Dorset Press, 1977.</p><p>Smith, Wolfgang. <em>Teilhardism and the New Religion: A Thorough Analysis of the Teachings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin</em>. Illinois: TAN Books, 1988.</p><p>Weldes, Jutta. “Popular Culture, Science Fiction, and World Politics.” <em>To Seek Out New Worlds: Science Fiction and World Politics</em>, Jutta Weldes, ed. NY: Palgrave, 2003, 1-27.</p><p>Wright, John C. “C.S. Lewis, H.G. Wells and Arthur C. Clarke.” <em>Live Journal </em>21 April 2009</p><p>&lt;<a href="http://johncwright.livejournal.com/243016.html">http://johncwright.livejournal.com/243016.html</a>&gt;</p><h2><strong>About the Authors</strong></h2><p><strong>Phillip D. Collins</strong> acted as the editor for <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/140336799X/conspiracyarc-20/">The Hidden Face of Terrorism</a></em> and co-authored the books <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1419639323/conspiracyarc-20/">The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship</a></em> and <em>Invoking the Beyond: The Kantian Rift, Mythologized Menaces, and the Quest for the New Man</em>. Both books are available at </p><p>http://www.amazon.com</p><p>. Phillip has also written articles for <em>News With Views</em>, <em>Conspiracy Archive</em>, and the <em>Vexilla Regis Journal</em>.</p><p>In 1999, Phillip earned an Associate degree of Arts and Science from Clark State Community College. In 2006, he earned a bachelor’s degree with majors in communication studies and liberal studies along with a minor in philosophy from Wright State University.</p><p>Phillip worked as a staff writer for a weekly news publication, the <em>Vandalia Drummer</em>, between late 2007 and 2011. During his tenure with the paper, he earned several accolades.</p><p>In 2011, he was inducted into the Media Honor Roll by the Ohio School Board Association for his extensive coverage of the Vandalia-Butler School District. That very same year, the Ohio Newspaper Association bestowed an Osman C. Hooper Newspaper Award upon Phillip for Best Photo. In addition, the City of Vandalia officially proclaimed that November 7, 2011 would be known as “Phillip Collins Day.” This honor was bestowed upon Phillip for his tireless coverage of the City and community.</p><p>Shortly after bringing his journalism career to a close, Phillip received another Osman C. Hooper Newspaper Award in the category of In-depth Reporting. This award was given to Phillip for his investigative work over the death of U.S. Marine Maria Lauterbach and the resultant Department of Defense reforms concerning sexual assault and rape. The case drew national attention and received TV coverage by major media organs.</p><p><strong>Paul David Collins</strong> is the author of <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/140336799X/conspiracyarc-20/">The Hidden Face of Terrorism</a> </em>and the co-author of<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1419639323/conspiracyarc-20/"> </a><em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1419639323/conspiracyarc-20/">The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship</a> and Invoking the Beyond: The Kantian Rift, Mythologized Menaces, and the Quest for the New Man</em><strong>.</strong> In 1999, he earned his Associate of Arts and Science degree from Clark State Community College. In 2006, he received his bachelor’s degree with a major in Liberal Studies and a minor in Political Science from Wright State University. He worked as a professional journalist for roughly four years.</p><p>From 2008 to 2012, Paul covered local news for several Times Community News publications, including the<em>Enon Messenger, the New Carlisle Sun, the Tipp City Herald, the Kettering/Oakwood Times, the Beavercreek News Current, the Vandalia Drummer, the Springboro Sun, the Englewood Independent, the Fairborn Daily Herald</em>, and the <em>Xenia Daily Gazette.</em></p><p>Paul also wrote for other local papers, including the <em>Enon Eagle</em>, the <em>New Carlisle News</em>, and the Lusk Herald. In addition to his work in the realm of mainstream, Paul has published several articles concerning the topics of deep politics and elite deviancy. Those articles have appeared in Terry Melanson’s online <em>Conspiracy Archive, Paranoia magazine, Vexilla Regis Journal</em>, and <em>Nexus magazine</em>.</p>

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guid: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/25/
title: Preloading fonts for web performance with link rel=&quot;preload&quot;
author: ;Manuel Matuzovic
link: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/25/
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by Alistair Shepherd<br><p>Web performance is incredibly important. If you were here for the advent calendar last year you may have already read many of my thoughts on the subject. If not, read <a href="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2023/14/">Getting started with Web Performance</a> when you’re done here!</p>
<p>This year I’m back for more web performance, this time focusing on my favourite HTML snippet for <strong>improving the loading performance of web fonts using preloads</strong>. This short HTML snippet added to the <code>head</code> of your page, can make a substantial improvement to both perceived and measured performance.</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>link</span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">rel</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>preload<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">href</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>/nova-sans.woff2<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">as</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>font<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>font/woff2<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">crossorigin</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>anonymous<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></code></pre>
<p>Above we have a <code>link</code> element that instructs the browser to preload the <code>/nova-sans.woff2</code> font. By preloading your critical <em>above-the-fold</em> font we can make a huge impact by reducing potential flashes of unstyled or invisible text and layout shifts caused by font loading, like here in the following video:</p>
<figure>
  <video controls="controls" width="904" height="680" preload="none">
    <source src="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/25/no-preload.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  </video>
  <figcaption>Recording of a page load illustrating how a font loading late can result in a jarring layout shift</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="how-web-fonts-are-loaded">How web fonts are loaded</h2>
<p>To explain how preloading fonts can make such an impact, let’s go through the process of how web fonts are loaded. Font files are downloaded later than you may think, due to a combination of network requests and conservative browser behaviour.</p>
<p>In a standard web page, there will be the main HTML document which will include a CSS file using a <code>link</code> element in the <code>head</code>. If you’re using self-hosted custom fonts you’ll have a <code>@font-face</code> rule within your CSS that specifies the font name, the <code>src</code>, and possibly some other font-related properties.</p>
<p>In other CSS rules you specify a <code>font-family</code> so elements use your custom font.</p>
<p>Once our browser encounters our page it:</p>
<ol>
<li>Starts streaming the HTML document, parsing it as it goes</li>
<li>Encounters the <code>link</code> element pointing to our CSS file</li>
<li>Starts downloading that CSS file, blocking the render of the page until it’s complete</li>
<li>Parses and applies the contents of that file</li>
<li>Finds the <code>@font-face</code> rule with our font URL</li>
</ol>
<p>Okay let’s pause here for a moment —  It may make sense for step 6 to be <em>“Starts downloading our font file”</em>, however that’s not the case. You see, if a browser downloaded every font within a CSS file when it first encountered them, we could end up loading much more than is needed. We could be specifying fonts for multiple different weights, italics, other character sets/languages, or even multiple different fonts.</p>
<p>If we don’t need all these fonts immediately it would be wasteful to download them all, and doing so may slow down higher priority CSS or JS.</p>
<p>Instead, the browser is more conservative and simply takes note of the font declaration until it’s explicitly needed. The browser next:</p>
<ol start="6">
<li>Takes a note of our <code>@font-face</code> declarations and their URLs for later</li>
<li>Finishes processing CSS and starts rendering the page</li>
<li>Discovers a piece of text on the page that needs our font</li>
<li>Finally starts downloading our font now it knows it’s needed!</li>
</ol>
<p>So as we can see there’s actually a lot that happens between our HTML file arriving in the browser and our font file being downloaded. This is ideal for lower priority fonts, but for the main or headline font this process can make our custom font appear surprisingly late in the page load. This is what causes the behaviour we saw in the video above, where the page starts rendering but it takes some time before our custom font appears.</p>
<figure>
  <img src="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/25/no-preload.webp" width="1480" height="886" alt="A waterfall chart with type, url, and time columns. Listed below are assets that are loaded including an html document, CSS and JS files, a couple of images and a font file 'lobster.woff2'. It's all fairly standard and expected but the font doesn't even start loading until after the JS is complete at 2.0s, and doesn't finish until 3.0s" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>A waterfall graph showing how our custom ‘lobster.woff2’ font doesn’t start being downloaded until 2 seconds into the page load and isn’t available until after 3 seconds</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is an intentional decision by browser makers and spec writers to ensure that pages with lots of fonts aren’t badly impacted by having to load many font files ahead of time. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be optimised!</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="preloading-our-font-with-a-link">Preloading our font with a link</h2>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>link</span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">rel</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>preload<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">href</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>/nova-sans.woff2<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">as</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>font<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>font/woff2<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">crossorigin</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>anonymous<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></code></pre>
<p>The purpose of my favourite HTML snippet is to inform the browser that this font file will be needed with high priority, before it even has knowledge of it. We’re building our page and know more about how our fonts are used — so we can provide hints to be less conservative! If we start downloading the font as soon as possible then it can be ready ahead of when the browser ‘realises’ it’s needed.</p>
<p>Looking back at our list above, by adding a preload we move the start of the font download from step 9 to step 2!</p>
<ol>
<li>Starts streaming the HTML document, parsing it as it goes</li>
<li>Encounters our preload and starts downloading our font file in the background</li>
<li>Encounters the <code>link</code> element pointing to our CSS file</li>
<li><em>Continues as above</em></li>
</ol>
<p>Taking a closer look at the snippet, we’re using a <code>link</code> element and <code>rel="preload"</code> to ask the browser to preload a file with the intention of using it early in the page load. Like a CSS file, we provide the URL with the <code>href</code> attribute.</p>
<p>We use <code>as="font"</code> and <code>type="font/woff2"</code> to indicate this is a font file in <code>woff2</code>. For modern browsers <code>woff2</code> is the only format you need as it’s universally supported.</p>
<p>Finally there’s <code>crossorigin="anonymous"</code>. This comes from the wonderfully transparent and clear world of Cross Origin Resource Sharing. I jest of course, CORS is anything but transparent and clear!</p>
<p>For fonts you almost always want <code>crossorigin="anonymous"</code> on your link element, <strong>even when the request isn’t cross-origin</strong>. Omitting this attribute would mean our preload wouldn’t be used and the file would be requested again. But why?</p>
<p>Browser requests can be sent either with or without credentials (cookies, etc), and requests to the same URL with and without credentials are fundamentally different. <strong>For a preload to be used by the browser, it needs to match the type of request that the browser would have made normally.</strong> By default fonts are always requested without credentials, so we need to add <code>crossorigin="anonymous"</code> to ensure our preload matches a normal font request.</p>
<p>By omitting this attribute our preload would not be used and the browser would request the font again. If you’re ever unsure of how your preloads are working, check your browsers’ devtools. In Chrome the Network pane will show a duplicate request, and the Console will log a warning telling you a preload wasn’t used.</p>
<figure>
  <img src="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/25/chrome-devtools.webp" width="1480" height="536" alt="Screenshot of Google Chrome devtools 'Console' pane. There are two warnings: 1. 'A preload for 'http://localhost:3000/lobster.woff2' is found, but is not used because the request credentials mode does not match. Consider taking a look at crossorigin attribute.'; 2. 'The resource http://localhost: 3000/lobster.woff2 was preloaded using link preload but not used within a few seconds from the window's load event. Please make sure it has an appropriate `as` value and it is preloaded intentionally.'" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Screenshot showing the Chrome devtools Console pane, with warnings for an incorrect font preload</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="result-and-conclusion">Result and conclusion</h2>
<p>By preloading our critical fonts we ensure our browser has the most important fonts available earlier in the page loading process. We can see this by comparing our recording and waterfall charts from earlier:</p>
<figure>
  <video controls="controls" width="1808" height="680" preload="none">
    <source src="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/25/side-by-side.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  </video>
  <figcaption>Side-by-side recording of the same page loading in different ways. ‘no-preload’ shows a large layout shift caused by the font switching and finishes loading at 4.4s. ‘preload’ doesn’t have a shift and finishes loading at 3.1s.</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
  <img src="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/25/side-by-side.webp" width="1480" height="440" alt="A side-by-side of two waterfall charts including type, url and time columns. On one side is 'no-preload' and the other is 'preload'. The key difference is that in 'no-preload' a font doesn't start loading until way after everything else at 2.0s. In 'preload' it loads very early, alongside other assets. Because of this the page finishes loading much earlier." loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Side-by-side comparison of two waterfall charts of the same site with font file `lobster.woff2`. For the ‘no-preload’ document the font loads after all other assets and finishes at 3s. The ‘preload’ document shows the font loading much earlier, in parallel with other files and finishing at 2s.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As I mentioned in <a href="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2023/14/">Getting started with Web Performance</a>, it’s best to use preloads sparingly so limit this to your most important font or two. Remember that it’s a balance. By preloading too many resources you run the risk of other high-priority resources such as CSS being slowed down and arriving late. I would recommend preloading just the heading font to start with. With some testing you can see if preloading your main body font is worth it also!</p>
<p>With care, font preloads can be a simple and impactful optimisation opportunity and this is why it’s my favourite HTML snippet! This is a great step to improving font loading, and there are <a href="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2023/14/#6-be-bold-optimise-your-fonts">plenty of other web font optimisations</a> to try also!</p>


guid: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/26/
title: The underrated &amp;lt;dl&amp;gt; element
author: ;Manuel Matuzovic
link: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/26/
hash: �S�Y�0 �i�%�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
by David Luhr<br><p>The <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/dl">Description List (<code>&lt;dl&gt;</code>) element</a> is useful for many common visual design patterns, but is unfortunately underutilized.</p>
<p>It was originally intended to group terms with their definitions, but it's also a great fit for other content that has a key/value structure, such as product attributes or cards that have several supporting details.</p>
<p>Developers often mark up these patterns with overused heading or table semantics, or neglect semantics entirely. With the Description List (<code>&lt;dl&gt;</code>) element and its dedicated Description Term (<code>&lt;dt&gt;</code>) and Description Definition (<code>&lt;dd&gt;</code>) elements, we can improve the semantics and accessibility of these design patterns.</p>
<p>The <code>&lt;dl&gt;</code> has a unique content model:</p>
<ul>
<li>A parent <code>&lt;dl&gt;</code> containing one or more groups of <code>&lt;dt&gt;</code> and <code>&lt;dd&gt;</code> elements</li>
<li>Each term/definition group can have multiple <code>&lt;dt&gt;</code> (Description Term) elements per <code>&lt;dd&gt;</code> (Description Definition) element, or multiple definitions per term</li>
<li>The <code>&lt;dl&gt;</code> can optionally accept a single layer of <code>&lt;div&gt;</code> to wrap the <code>&lt;dt&gt;</code> and <code>&lt;dd&gt;</code> elements, which can be useful for styling</li>
</ul>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="examples">Examples</h2>
<p>An initial example would be a simple list of terms and definitions:</p>
<p><img src="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/26/terms-and-definitions.jpg" alt="Example design with bold text terms followed by regular text definitions."></p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dl</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Compression damping<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Controls the rate a spring compresses when it experiences a force<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Rebound damping<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Controls the rate a spring returns to it's extended length after compressing<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dl</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>A common design pattern is "stat callouts", which feature mini cards of small label text above large numeric values. The <code>&lt;dl&gt;</code> is a great fit for this content:</p>
<p><img src="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/26/stat-callouts.jpg" alt="Example design with 3 groupings of small label text above large, bold number values."></p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dl</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Founded<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>1988<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Frames built<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>8,678<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Race podiums<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>212<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dl</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>And, a final example of a product listing, which has a list of technical specs:</p>
<p><img src="https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/26/product-details.jpg" alt="Example design a large placeholder image next to a product title and a key/value list of product details."></p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>h2</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Downhill MTB<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>h2</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dl</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Front travel:<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>160mm<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Wheel size:<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>27.5"<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Weight:<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dt</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">		<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>15.2 kg<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dd</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">	<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>div</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>dl</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="accessibility">Accessibility</h2>
<p>With this markup in place, <a href="https://a11ysupport.io/tech/html/dl_element">common screen readers will convey important semantic and navigational information</a>. In my testing, NVDA on Windows and VoiceOver on MacOS conveyed a list role, the count of list items, your position in the list, and the boundaries of the list. TalkBack on Android only conveyed the term and definition roles of the <code>&lt;dt&gt;</code> and <code>&lt;dd&gt;</code> elements, respectively.</p>
<p>If the design doesn't include visible labels, you can at least include them as visually hidden text for assistive technology users. But, I always advocate to visually display them if possible.</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="wrapping-up">Wrapping up</h2>
<p>The <code>&lt;dl&gt;</code> is a versatile element that unfortunately doesn't get much use. In over a decade of coding, I've almost never encountered it in existing codebases. It also doesn't appear anywhere in the top HTML elements lists in <a href="https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2024/markup#element-diversity">the Web Almanac 2024</a> or <a href="https://www.advancedwebranking.com/seo/html-study">an Advanced Web Ranking study of over 11.3 million pages</a>. The next time you're building out a design, look for opportunities where the underrated Description List is a good fit.</p>
<p>To go deeper, be sure to check out this <a href="https://benmyers.dev/blog/on-the-dl/">article by Ben Myers on the <code>&lt;dl&gt;</code> element</a>.</p>


guid: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/27/
title: Misleading Icons: Icon-Only-Buttons and Their Impact on Screen Readers
author: ;Manuel Matuzovic
link: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/27/
hash: �fa�f{ː�˗Y��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
by Alexander Muzenhardt<br><h2 data-sanitized-id="introduction">Introduction</h2>
<p>Imagine you’re tasked with building a cool new feature for a product. You dive into the work with full energy, and just before the deadline, you manage to finish it. Everyone loves your work, and the feature is set to go live the next day.<br>
A few days later, you receive an email from a user who can’t access the new feature. The user points out that they don’t understand what the button does. What do they mean? You review your code, locate the button, and start digging into the problem.</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>i</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>icon<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>📆<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>i</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="the-problem">The Problem</h2>
<p>You find some good resources explaining that there are people with disabilities who need to be considered in these cases. This is known as accessibility. For example, some individuals have motor impairments and cannot use a mouse. In this particular case, the user is visually impaired and relies on assistive technology like a screen reader, which reads aloud the content of the website or software. The button you implemented doesn’t have any descriptive text, so only the icon is read aloud. In your case, the screen reader says, “Tear-Off Calendar button”. While it describes the appearance of the icon, it doesn’t convey the purpose of the button. This information is meaningless to the user. A button should always describe what action it will trigger when activated. That’s why we need additional descriptive text.</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="the-challenge">The Challenge</h2>
<p>Okay, you understand the problem now and agree that it should be fixed. However, you don’t want to add visible text to the button. For design and aesthetic reasons, sighted users should only see the icon. Is there a way to keep the button “icon-only” while still providing a meaningful, descriptive text for users who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers?</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="the-solution">The Solution</h2>
<p>First, you need to give the button a descriptive name so that a screen reader can announce it.</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>span</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Open Calendar<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>span</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>i</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>icon<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>📆<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>i</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>The problem now is that the button’s name becomes visible, which goes against your design guidelines. To prevent this, additional CSS is required.</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-css"><code data-sanitized-class="language-css"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token selector">.sr-only</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">position</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> absolute<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">width</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> 1px<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">height</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> 1px<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">padding</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> 0<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">margin</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> -1px<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">overflow</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> hidden<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">clip</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token function">rect</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">(</span>0<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">,</span> 0<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">,</span> 0<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">,</span> 0<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">)</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">white-space</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> nowrap<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token property">border-width</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">:</span> 0<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span></code></pre>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>span</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>sr-only<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Open Calendar<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>span</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>i</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>icon<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>📆<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>i</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>The CSS ensures that the text inside the span-element is hidden from sighted users but remains readable for screen readers. This approach is so common that well-known CSS libraries like TailwindCSS, Bootstrap, and Material-UI include such a class by default.</p>
<p>Although the text of the buttons is not visible anymore, the entire content of the button will be read aloud, including the icon — something you want to avoid.</p>
<p>In HTML you are allowed to use specific attributes for accessibility, and in this case, the attribute <strong>aria-hidden</strong> is what you need. ARIA stands for “Accessible Rich Internet Applications” and is an initiative to make websites and software more accessible to people with disabilities.</p>
<p>The attribute <strong>aria-hidden</strong> hides elements from screen readers so that their content isn’t read. All you need to do is add the attribute <strong>aria-hidden</strong> with the value “true” to the icon element, which in this case is the “i”-element.</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>span</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>sr-only<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Open Calendar<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>span</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>i</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>icon<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">aria-hidden</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>true<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>📆<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>i</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="alternative">Alternative</h2>
<p>An alternative is the attribute <strong>aria-label</strong>, which you can assign a descriptive, accessible text to a button without it being visible to sighted users. The purpose of <strong>aria-label</strong> is to provide a description for interactive elements that lack a visible label or descriptive text. All you need to do is add the attribute <strong>aria-label</strong> to the button. The attribute <strong>aria-hidden</strong> and the span-Element can be deleted.</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>button</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">aria-label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>Open Calendar<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>i</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>icon<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>📆<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>i</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>button</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<p>With this adjustment, the screen reader will now announce “Open calendar,” completely ignoring the icon. This clearly communicates to the user what the button will do when clicked.</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="which-option-should-you-use?">Which Option Should You Use?</h2>
<p>At first glance, the aria-label approach might seem like the smarter choice. It requires less code, reducing the likelihood of errors, and looks cleaner overall, potentially improving code readability.</p>
<p>However, the first option is actually the better choice. There are several reasons for this that may not be immediately obvious:</p>
<ul>
<li>Some browsers do not translate aria-label</li>
<li>It is difficult to copy aria-label content or otherwise manipulated it as text</li>
<li>aria-label content will not show up if styles fail to load</li>
</ul>
<p>These are just a few of the many reasons why you should be cautious when using the aria-label attribute. These points, along with others, are discussed in detail in the excellent article "<a href="https://ericwbailey.website/published/aria-label-is-a-code-smell">aria-label is a Code Smell</a>" by <a href="https://github.com/ericwbailey/ericwbailey.website">Eric Bailey</a>.</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="the-first-rule-of-aria-use">The First Rule of ARIA Use</h2>
<p>The “<a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/using-aria/#firstrule">First Rule of ARIA Use</a>” states:</p>
<p>If you can use a native HTML element or attribute with the semantics and behavior you require already built in, instead of re-purposing an element and adding an ARIA role, state or property to make it accessible, then do so.</p>
<p>Even though the first approach also uses an ARIA attribute, it is more acceptable because <strong>aria-hidden</strong> only hides an element from screen readers. In contrast, <strong>aria-label</strong> overrides the standard HTML behavior for handling descriptive names. For this reason, following this principle, <strong>aria-hidden</strong> is preferable to <strong>aria-label</strong> in this case.</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="browser-compatibility">Browser compatibility</h2>
<p>Both <strong>aria-label</strong> and <strong>aria-hidden</strong> are supported by all modern browsers and can be used without concern.</p>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>Ensuring accessibility in web design is more than just a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity. By implementing simple solutions like combining CSS with <strong>aria-hidden</strong>, you can create a user experience that is both aesthetically pleasing and accessible for everyone, including those who rely on screen readers. While there may be different approaches to solving accessibility challenges, the key is to be mindful of all users' needs. A few small adjustments can make a world of difference, ensuring that your features are truly usable by everyone.</p>
<p>Cheers<br>
Alex</p>
<h1>Resources / Links</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+1F4C6">Unicode Character “Tear-Off Calendar”</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/">comport Unicode Website</a></li>
<li><a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility/ARIA/Attributes/aria-label">mdn web docs aria-label</a></li>
<li><a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility/ARIA/Attributes/aria-hidden">mdn web docs aria-hidden</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/aria/">WAI-ARIA Standard Guidlines</a></li>
<li><a href="https://tailwindcss.com/docs/screen-readers">Tailwind CSS Screen Readers (sr-only)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ericwbailey.website/published/aria-label-is-a-code-smell">aria-label is a Code Smell</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/using-aria/#firstrule">First Rule of ARIA Use</a></li>
</ul>


guid: https://canadianpatriotreview.substack.com/p/be-released-from-the-bond-age
title: Be Released from the ‘Bond’ Age
author: ;Canadian Patriot Review
link: https://canadianpatriotreview.substack.com/p/be-released-from-the-bond-age
hash: Bۭ7 |�� �̚�$qR
content:
<h2>By David Ward [<a href="https://wdavidward.substack.com/p/be-released-from-the-bond-age">Originally published on David’s Substack</a>]</h2><p>In this postmodern world, the meanings of words (as I’ve mentioned many times before) continue to shift. If you don’t have an old dictionary, you might want to find one, and keep it on hand; because the debasement of our language, along with our currency (and culture), is bound to continue — for a while yet. An online search now will yield an entirely different interpretation of the word ‘bondage’ — you might even call it a ‘fetish’ given every reference to this now leads to a porn site. <em>This </em>from the sadomasochist psychopaths who run the world, of course, who are determined to teach you to<em> love your bonds</em> – just as they want you to ‘own nothing and be happy.’</p><p>And even now, when more and more people understand the power elite’s plan for a new technofeudal world, we will be powerless to do anything about it, because the nature of money (and thus power) is not understood.</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa29d99cc-df52-4dae-93e3-5c4e3ed675dd_749x159.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa29d99cc-df52-4dae-93e3-5c4e3ed675dd_749x159.jpeg" width="749" height="159" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a29d99cc-df52-4dae-93e3-5c4e3ed675dd_749x159.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":159,"width":749,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":true,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" fetchpriority="high" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Not only is there an almost total lack of knowledge about how our monetary system currently works (please revisit my earlier ‘<a href="https://wdavidward.substack.com/p/bank-heist">Bank Heist</a>’ post) or even how it worked historically (<em><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Making-Money-Currency-Coming-Capitalism/dp/0198709587">Making Money: Coin, Currency and the Coming of Capitalism</a></em>), a dangerous misunderstanding has been fostered — <em>intentionally</em>, it would seem. I would even go so for as to call this real ‘malinformation’ — a new term that we hear on occasion (which definitely won’t be in your our old Webster’s Dictionary). As a result, the actions we take (in the hope of fixing our economy) are likely to have precisely the opposite effect. This is the inevitable — and anticipated — final stage of that Great Reset transition, <em>however</em> things unfold.</p><p><strong>Whether the system collapses of its own accord (as Ponzi Schemes do)</strong>, or is <em>intentionally</em> collapsed at an opportune moment (as those bankers have often done) — or is <em>unintentionally</em> collapsed, the result of actions taken by well-meaning yet uncomprehending politicians — the results will be (essentially) the same: a massive contraction of the money supply and an equally massive transfer of assets from those without money to those with money.</p><p>Again, in any of the above situations, those with money (or a grasp of these concepts at least) will win. In an inflationary scenario, those with cash on hand will likely buy assets (these may or may not appreciate in value, <em>depending</em>, but that’s another story). In a deflation (as in the depression, where the Fed reduced the money supply by 33%) every dollar held actually gained purchasing power. <em>Spuriously </em>attributed to Thomas Jefferson:</p><blockquote><p><strong>“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered. . .”</strong></p></blockquote><p>You can read more about this on the <a href="https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/private-banks-spurious-quotation/">Monticello</a> website, but I share these words because (like so many of those quotations floating around the monetary universe), ‘spurious’ or not, this analogy perfectly describes the reality of our current situation:</p><p>First expand the money supply and encourage debt; then contract the money supply, and strip those who cannot find a chair (when that proverbial music stops) of their assets. <strong>The game is elegant in its simplicity, and diabolical in design</strong>. No surprise of course, these characters have been at it for thousands of years — since Jesus got pissed off and kicked those moneylenders out of the temple. All these years later we are really no wiser (it would seem). The moneylenders / money creators must belly laugh over their cigars every time they pull this off, and here we are again. That old ‘capital adequacy’ (0% reserve) system (introduced 1991-1994) is no longer ‘adequate’ (the <em>capital</em> is no longer adequate that is) because <em>who knows</em> the <em>real value</em> of anything anymore, starting with the dollar?</p><p><strong>A new system is coming in </strong>(must come in), whether we like it or not. We hear conservatives everywhere today, repeat the same solutions to this problem: <strong>“balance the budget and pay off the debt.”</strong> This wasn’t an option, even in the <em>old</em> fractional reserve system, because Ponzi Schemes, as a friend at the Isle of Man Treasury once told me, “eventually hit the wall.”</p><p>Calling out this fact is undoubtedly going to ruffle a few feathers, since balancing budgets, and paying off debts (in most situations) isn’t a bad idea — and most conscientious people will see this is a prudent idea. <strong>But the system is not designed this way.</strong> In a debt-based money system, the money <em>is</em> debt. More precisely, the money is backed by debt — mostly bonds and other government securities. If all the debt were to be paid off, there would be no money in circulation. Further to this, deficits are new money coming into circulation (or they should be). <em>Too much </em>money has been created, misallocated and/or misappropriated. There is certainly wasteful spending, and bloated bureaucracies too, all of which should be cut, but these are a separate issues. For now we must stay focused on the nature of our monetary system.</p><p>As our friend, the 21st Century <a href="https://understandingcanada.ca/">Adam Smith</a> always says: the economy is like a car with no brakes. You can accelerate and change direction a little — but there’s no slowing down, and there’s no stopping (in this analogy too) until you hit a wall (or steer into the guardrail). Kate Raworth, in her <em>Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist</em>, uses the analogy of an aircraft that has taken off, but has no plan to land: ‘locked on autopilot, expecting to cruise at around 3% growth forever.’ If that 3% can’t be maintained, we have a problem; and we have a problem anyway, as eventually the dead weight of all this accumulating debt makes it impossible to maintain altitude.</p><p>Until 2020, most of the money circulated was created by commercial banks, in the form of loans. I’ve shared the graphic below before, from the Bank of Canada.</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F931a07ac-2d56-48ce-b70b-e5aa0075f86e_749x256.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F931a07ac-2d56-48ce-b70b-e5aa0075f86e_749x256.jpeg" width="749" height="256" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/931a07ac-2d56-48ce-b70b-e5aa0075f86e_749x256.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":256,"width":749,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>If you check <em>The</em> <em><a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/banking">Canadian Encyclopedia</a></em><a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/banking">’s</a> page on banking, the first paragraph (and the first line here) will give you the impression that banks lend out deposits, however:</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ccb0163-62b7-401d-bf5e-3d814d2a6d36_750x105.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ccb0163-62b7-401d-bf5e-3d814d2a6d36_750x105.png" width="750" height="105" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5ccb0163-62b7-401d-bf5e-3d814d2a6d36_750x105.png","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":105,"width":750,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>From the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, <em><a href="https://archive.org/details/modern-money-mechanics">Modern Money Mechanics</a></em> Publication:</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd71cddf7-2477-4c0e-95bb-7dd733cf547f_749x104.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd71cddf7-2477-4c0e-95bb-7dd733cf547f_749x104.png" width="749" height="104" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d71cddf7-2477-4c0e-95bb-7dd733cf547f_749x104.png","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":104,"width":749,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>The commercial banks too create money ‘out of thin air,’ just like central banks, but central banks always get the blame when there’s too much money sloshing around in the economy and inflation becomes a concern. The trend of commercial bank created money accelerated (encouraged by falling interest rates) from the 2008 Great Financial Crisis until 2020, when ‘emergency’ money created by <em>central banks</em> flooded the world’s economies. Since interest rates have risen (although this was coming anyway), commercial bank money can no longer be created <em>in sufficient amounts</em> to keep the bubble inflated, so central banks must continue their money creation. I explained this in more detail in my <em><strong><a href="https://wdavidward.substack.com/p/monetary-machinations">Monetary Machinations</a></strong></em> Substack. To see a graphic representation of this, please revisit the above page (scroll to bottom).</p><p>We are in a ‘debt trap’ of course. It can play out in various ways, and be extended to some degree, but there isn’t an easy way out of this. The government’s preference will (as always) be an attempt to inflate the debt away. Hence, those recent, token, interest rate reductions; but we’re talking about <em>unprecedented</em> amounts of debt now, and an alternative plan is required. This is why central banks and governments have been talking about Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). I’ve written a lot about this already (if you want to check some of my earlier Substack posts).</p><p>It’s going to be difficult to clear balance sheets of the massive amounts of money that have already been created. Assets have been inflated in price, but the money used to purchase them doesn’t actually exist now. This is what the financialisation of our economy had done, and a major revaluation will likely be required. So <em>there is</em> a way forward, which will seem unpalatable to some, but no more unpalatable (I’m sure) than the alternatives being put forward by those BIS and WEF authoritarians, who lust for absolute control over your life.</p><p><strong>We must take a trip back into history now, to see how this system evolved.</strong> If you feel your eyelids getting heavy at this point, and your mind is suddenly drifting off, you’ve probably been conditioned to respond this way. It’s the reason monetary reformers everywhere have so much trouble communicating these ideas. One day I must write a piece on this phenomena. Sometimes is almost seems like a kind of <strong>black magic</strong>, and if you read the history of those old banking families, that actually wouldn’t be surprising. <strong>For now, suffice it to say, the powers that be would rather you didn’t think about this subject at all. </strong>So grab another cup of coffee, and stay with me 🙂</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1bea62c5-8f9c-42f4-a893-32d1062a33f6_749x422.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1bea62c5-8f9c-42f4-a893-32d1062a33f6_749x422.jpeg" width="749" height="422" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1bea62c5-8f9c-42f4-a893-32d1062a33f6_749x422.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":422,"width":749,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h6>‘Bonded Labour.’ Feudal serfs and their ‘tax farmer’ in the fields — What’s old is new again, and I like the hoodie. Just for laughs, here’s a look at an alternative model, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7qT-C-0ajI">anarcho-syndicalist commune</a> — Monty Python.</h6><p><strong>Coins, of course, date back thousands of years</strong>, to the silver “Shekel of the Sanctuary”<strong> </strong>and beyond. This ‘commodity’ money was originally a material with <em>inherent</em> value, and its form has hardly changed in 3000 years. But we must skip over this interesting early history, to the second millennia, with its tally sticks, and the first bonds. Bonds, in fact, replaced the ‘stock’ and ‘stub’ (foil) ‘tally stick’ system that has been used (successfully) since they were introduced by King Henry I in the 1100s. This system (of wooden sticks with notches cut in them, split down the middle) was so effective it functioned right up until 1826. Tallies were largely supplanted though, during the reign of Charles I and Charles II in the mid-1600s, with the introduction of bonds, which, soon thereafter, led to paper money. Perhaps the most interesting point here is the transition from private money (with coin), to public money with tally sticks (created by the crown), to bonds (which represented private money borrowed by the crown). Coins were not debt, tally sticks were not debt — one was a commodity, the other <em>represented</em> a commodity — but bonds <em>were</em> debt.</p><p>To quote from Christine Desans’ <em>Making Money: Coin, Currency and the Coming of Capitalism</em> (pg 235):</p><blockquote><p><strong>‘[R]efracted through the new and oddly narrowing lens of liberalism, coin looked more like commodity, pure and private, than it ever had before. As to tallies, their demise generated the conditions for a new kind of circulating credit: government bonds traveled hand to hand as had the older tallies but [they] bore interest from the beginning and operated to borrow money instead of compensating people for illiquid resources and services.’</strong></p></blockquote><p>She continues:</p><blockquote><p><strong>‘Bonds offered unprecedented opportunity to reach a large pool of popular lenders. The Change would make investors out of a broad swath of citizenry for the first time. Bonds also furnished the English with a new kind of liquidity: circulating credit that the government paid individuals to hold.’</strong></p></blockquote><p>It is true that the private Bank of England was founded on a subscription model (an original £1.2 million pounds in gold) paying 8% to the first 1268 investors, but bonds would allow for much greater participation in this process. The important thing here is that banking, at this stage, was more about attracting already existing ‘wealth’ (usually in the form on gold and silver) from ‘investors.’ Gold and silver, as commodities, did not pay interest; but now, as ‘money stock’ (backing for the new paper money) they could. The same could be said for tally sticks, which in the end were absorbed and phased out (in part) as a component of the initial funding of the Bank of England.</p><p>Without getting too far into the details of this evolution, tallies, in effect, became ‘Tallyes of loan,’ which were ultimately replaced by ‘Treasury Orders,’ and these early ‘bonds’ circulated as a kind of paper money. They were not quite money, because they could not be cashed on demand, but these ‘private bonds’ led to ‘Promises to Pay’ a ‘fiduciary instrument’ that really was paper money (and even, in the original form, paid interest dividends).</p><p>This paper money became separated from the underlying bond however, to circulate (publicly) while the bond still represented a private contractual agreement, paying interest to its owner. Tax revenue made possible by economic activity stimulated <em>by</em> new money in circulation (in one form or another) guaranteed interest on the bonds.</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db4cab2-0fd6-48b1-982d-1d8599555fd2_749x313.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1db4cab2-0fd6-48b1-982d-1d8599555fd2_749x313.jpeg" width="749" height="313" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1db4cab2-0fd6-48b1-982d-1d8599555fd2_749x313.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":313,"width":749,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Anyone reading this far will likely know the introduction of income tax in the United States, through the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913, made the private, for-profit Federal Reserve (founded that same year) a viable business venture. </strong>The ability of the government to levy taxes in this manner (and on a permanent basis) is what made it possible to pay the 6% dividend on shares in the Fed (to this day), held by its member banks. These shares (which you and I cannot own) represent the capitalization, ‘the stock’ – the ‘base money’ — upon which this enterprise is based. The Fed (in the U.S. at least) is why taxes, which were not needed before, now can never go away. It is also the reason the debt is as large as it is, in the U.S., and almost everywhere else in the world.</p><h4><strong>So how do we turn this around?</strong></h4><p><strong>Some might say</strong> ‘<strong>nationalize the banks’</strong> and ‘<strong>monetize the debt</strong>.’</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48cd3dff-1cab-4989-b093-7f6718c7266a_670x393.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48cd3dff-1cab-4989-b093-7f6718c7266a_670x393.jpeg" width="670" height="393" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/48cd3dff-1cab-4989-b093-7f6718c7266a_670x393.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":393,"width":670,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>This has been done in various places, with central banks too. The Bank of England, was nationalized in 1946 and the Bank of Canada in 1938. Did this help. We’ll yes, arguably, for a time. Central Banks shouldn’t be privately owned, but if the public doesn’t understand the basics of how the system works, these banks are still likely to work against the peoples’ interests (public or private), led by the <em>private</em> Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the <em>private</em> Federal Reserve.</p><p>When you hear someone say, usually with a note of disapproval,<strong> </strong><em><strong>they’re going to monetize the debt</strong></em>; you might reply, <strong>the </strong><em><strong>debt is already monetized. That’s what our money is: debt.</strong> </em>What they mean by this though, is that instead of banks purchasing and holding the interest-paying debt (in the form government bonds and securities), these will be held by the central bank. I explained some of these technicalities already: <em><strong><a href="https://wdavidward.substack.com/p/monetary-machinations">Monetary Machinations</a></strong></em>.</p><p>What politicians need to know (if they plan to do the right thing) is that there will be immediate repercussions for trying to do <em>two things</em> that are effectively impossible to do. Even cutting the ‘deadwood’ in government bureaucracy will yield apparent savings at first, but the wages that are cut, represents money that now isn’t circulating in the economy. Of course, those who are dismissed from their government jobs will not be happy with the administration that does this. Others will be effected though as their business slows, in time, because of fewer dollars circulating. These people might feel the government is on the right course (<em>and it would be</em>), but if things get tougher, the government in power <em>will</em> take the blame<strong>. . . DOGE Days Trailer:</strong></p><blockquote><p><strong>“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmleMzR5CcY">There’s a whole forest of deadwood out there, we’ve gotta get chopping, buddy!</a>”</strong></p></blockquote><p>No politician can fix this problem without <em>systemic</em> change — without <em>real monetary reform</em>. The Ponzi Scheme is too far along and the only real question now is: can the old system be unwound without a collapse? Politicians don’t understand the current system at all (apparently), and they certainly don’t have the knowledge to design a replacement. <strong>So again, this falls to the people</strong>, because politicians will, for obvious reasons, let their banker friends design the new system; and you don’t have to be a genius to guess <em>who </em>will benefit from the system these folk come up with.</p><p><strong>As I’ve said before, the monetary system is going to be reformed; if we don’t demand a system that works for us, we’ll be given another system, that works for the bankers.</strong></p><p>A great example of a now popular politician who doesn’t understand the monetary system, is Javier Milei. First he was going to use the U.S. dollar, then he was going to use Bitcoin, then he invited in BlackRock (following through on the invitation extended in Davos). Every one of these monetary ‘plans’ serve only to undermine the sovereignty of the nation. He was going to cut, cut, cut. (<strong>“</strong><em><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QejTtxekdTw">afuera, afuera, afuera</a>”</strong></em>). This got him into power, and this is what he’s been doing, but Milei’s earlier <em>monetary</em> plans (to have even suggested these options) shows he has little to no understanding of money mechanics. BlackRock, however, brings in capital that will mask the impact of his other policies (for a time), and make it seem as if he’s doing a great job; but the multinationals are there for one reason: to extract a profit.</p><p>In that <strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z44XP4u9Xs">speech to the WEF</a></strong> in Davos, Milei looked all bad ass and in command — telling those socialists off — but then pleaded for the WEF member multinationals to come to Argentina. This was all theatre of course, and the nation is now pretty much own by BlackRock (if it wasn’t already). This isn’t a victory, it is another neoliberal coup, in the place where neoliberalism was born (<strong><a href="https://wdavidward.substack.com/p/neoliberalism">neoliberalism Part I</a></strong>); except that neoliberalism has morphed into something else now. Since the late 70s, early 80s, neoliberalism served elite well. As the money supply was expanded, and business activity artificially stimulated, <em>real</em> wealth was extracted by means of the offshore banking world — which also sprang up, in earnest, in the late 70s and early 80s. This isn’t a coincidence; these Offshore Financial Centres (IFCs) are an essential component of the neoliberal scheme. But this is a separate story, to which I must return later.</p><p>The system BlackRock is bringing in now is technocracy — ‘techno-feudalism’ might be a more appropriate description. You’ve heard those WEF control-freaks talk about their vision of the future for so long now, and you’ve also heard Larry Fink describe how he sees it working. I’ve shared the Larry <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSVpth7uqb4">Fink link</a> before. Capitalism is in the process of destroying itself (with its own capital), as Marx said it would.</p><h4>So what do we do?</h4><p>We can’t pay off the debt (there isn’t enough money in existence) and yet we must get rid of the debt. <em>Now there’s a conundrum</em>. The debt shackles us, but also, a lot of people depend (directly or indirectly) on the interest from bonds. Anyone who owns bonds at the moment (and must now hold them to maturity to avoid selling at a discount) certainly doesn’t want to see bonds defaulted on. We must return to this too.</p><p>The bond in itself isn’t a problem, but a system built on bonds is; depending on who owns them, and what they do with them. Bonds denominated in other currencies can be a big problem (because of changes in the relative value of these currencies), bonds held by foreign countries too (because they ultimately extract wealth from economies). Unless you have the world reserve currency, like the U.S. (for the moment), you are subject bond vigilantes who can control nations by controlling their bonds (as Rothschild first cornered the British bond market after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815).</p><p>Syndicates of lenders organized as early as 1640, and still exist, buying, among other things, municipal debt; which now feels a little like getting a loan from the mob. Bonds held by banks are particularly problematic, as they facilitate the multiplying up of money, while they draw wealth out of the economy <em>in two ways</em>: as dividends collected on the underlying bond, then as interest received from loans issued. Recently a third way was added, when banks started to be paid interest on reserves at the central bank (again, I talked about this in <strong><a href="https://wdavidward.substack.com/p/bank-heist">Bank Heist</a></strong>).</p><p>Importantly, the interest extracted from loan payments becomes, in a sense, tangible; it becomes permanent (some use the expression ‘everlasting’ money). This is added to the bank’s profit (and capital stock); while the loan itself (which was issued as ephemeral bank ‘fiat’ money) is written off the books as the loan is paid back. This ‘money’ actually disappears; money creation, money destruction. <strong>The end result of creating money ‘out of thin air’ is that, ultimately, all real value gradually accrues to the banks</strong> — in the form of interest, at the current rate of interest.</p><p>The banks (and those in the know) do not sit on cash, they convert it into hard assets, or purchase more bonds — upon which more ephemeral money can be ‘spirited’ into existence, just long enough to extract <em>more</em> real ‘sovereign’ money from the economy. As a result, at the end of the neoliberal period, we have asset bubbles in all areas, real estate especially, and not enough money in circulation for everyday people.</p><p>Clearly, I’ve only scratched the surface here, and I cannot present all of the possible solutions in one short, introductory post, but let me quote once more (for now) from <em>Making Money</em>. As Tallies diminished under Charles I,<strong> they ‘were quickly converted. . . into a liquid advance; they acted as a request or channel for a money loan rather than as a method of creating a non-interest-bearing public credit currency.’</strong></p><p>I am not advocating a return of tally sticks of course, but I would suggest the return of <strong>non-interest-bearing public credit currency</strong>, and a system that could (hopefully) endure for centuries — to keep the moneylenders / money creators at bay. It was Henry I who began the dismantling of feudalism with his <strong>Charter of Liberties</strong> (forerunner of the Magna Carta), and a democratic money (as Christine Desan would call it) is essential if we are not to descend, nearly a thousand years later, into technocratic <em>neofeudalism</em>. How fitting that <em>our</em> new money should be inspired at least by that Great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England">Plantagenet King</a> (if not <em>of</em> the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_York">House of York</a>, <em>from </em>the<em> </em>House of York) and his enduring ideas around the subject of money.</p><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd1717eea-e63e-4518-89ed-d9508f20ca7d_749x361.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd1717eea-e63e-4518-89ed-d9508f20ca7d_749x361.jpeg" width="749" height="361" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d1717eea-e63e-4518-89ed-d9508f20ca7d_749x361.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":361,"width":749,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" loading="lazy" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h6><strong><a href="https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/view/4-9K4DVX/norman-henry-i-1100-1135-ar-penny-21mm-139-g-10h-double-inscription-type-bmc-xi-hereford-mint-ravenswert-moneyer-struck-circa-1115-vf">Henry I. </a></strong><a href="https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/view/4-9K4DVX/norman-henry-i-1100-1135-ar-penny-21mm-139-g-10h-double-inscription-type-bmc-xi-hereford-mint-ravenswert-moneyer-struck-circa-1115-vf">1100-1135. AR Penny (21mm, 1.39 g, 10h). Double Inscription type (BMC xi).</a></h6><p>Now, as then, wealth is concentrated in (and controlled by) a small percentage of the population. These folk would be happy to lend their money at interest, and profit from our collective labour. In part, this is what those public-private partnerships are all about, but there’s an easy solution to this. As monetary reformers everywhere have said, many times before, a monetarily sovereign nation does not need to borrow it’s own money, and pay interest on this money, when it has the ability to create it’s own money. This is pure folly.</p><p>There would still be a roll for bonds of course, as they once existed — for specific projects — whereby investor’s money could serve a <em>productive</em> purpose. They should not be used to enable a private currency (as in the giant public-private partnership that is our system now); benefiting a few, invisibly, at the expense of the many, and enriching the bankers beyond measure. The people who once pretended to be capitalists, misused capital, destroying capitalism in order to bring in a strange technocratic fusion of communism and fascism.</p><p>An honest, <em>sound money</em> is required, if capitalism and democracy are to survive. There are so many alternative models and variations on themes to explore, and now is the time for monetary reformers (<em>who have essentially been talking to themselves for the past few decades</em>) to be front and centre. If we are not actually part of the conversation, we’re going to get whatever crazy scheme the technocrats can dream up to keep us all in bondage.</p><p>I hope you’ve enjoyed this very brief the history of money, and I look forward to continuing this conversation. Thank you for your continuing interest, and support.</p>

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guid: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/28/
title: Boost website speed with prefetching and the Speculation Rules API
author: ;Manuel Matuzovic
link: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/28/
hash: dT��=������!
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
by Schepp<br><p>Everybody loves fast websites, and everyone despises slow ones even more. Site speed significantly contributes to the overall user experience (UX), determining whether it feels positive or negative. To ensure the fastest possible page load times, it’s crucial to design with performance in mind. However, performance optimization is an art form in itself. While implementing straightforward techniques like file compression or proper cache headers is relatively easy, achieving deeper optimizations can quickly become complex.</p>
<p>But what if, instead of solely trying to accelerate the loading process, we triggered it earlier—without the user noticing?</p>
<p>One way to achieve this is by prefetching pages the user might navigate to next using <code>&lt;link rel="prefetch"&gt;</code> tags. These tags are typically embedded in your HTML, but they can also be generated dynamically via JavaScript, based on a heuristic of your choice. Alternatively, you can send them as an <a href="https://www.debugbear.com/blog/resource-hints-rel-preload-prefetch-preconnect#resource-hints-in-http-headers">HTTP <code>Link</code> header</a> if you lack access to the HTML code but can modify the server configuration. Browsers will take note of the prefetch directives and fetch the referenced pages as needed.</p>
<aside data-sanitized-class="info">
<p><em><strong>⚠︎ Caveat:</strong> To benefit from this prefetching technique, you must allow the browser to cache pages temporarily using the <code>Cache-Control</code> HTTP header. For example, <code>Cache-Control: max-age=300</code> would tell the browser to cache a page for five minutes. Without such a header, the browser will discard the pre-fetched resource and fetch it again upon navigation, rendering the prefetch ineffective.</em></p>
</aside>
<p>In addition to <code>&lt;link rel="prefetch"&gt;</code>, Chromium-based browsers support <code>&lt;link rel="prerender"&gt;</code>. This tag is essentially a supercharged version of <code>&lt;link rel="prefetch"&gt;</code>. Known as "<a href="https://developer.chrome.com/blog/nostate-prefetch">NoState Prefetch</a>," it not only prefetches an HTML page but also scans it for subresources—stylesheets, JavaScript files, images, and fonts referenced via a <code>&lt;link rel="preload" as="font" crossorigin&gt;</code> — loading them as well.</p>
<h3 data-sanitized-id="the-speculation-rules-api">The Speculation Rules API</h3>
<p>A relatively new addition to Chromium browsers is the <strong>Speculation Rules API</strong>, which offers enhanced prefetching and enables actual prerendering of webpages. It introduces a JSON-based syntax for precisely defining the conditions under which preprocessing should occur.</p>
<p>Here’s a simple example of how to use it:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>script</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>speculationrules<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token script"><span data-sanitized-class="token language-javascript"><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"prerender"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">[</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"urls"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">[</span><span data-sanitized-class="token string">"next.html"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">,</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"next2.html"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">]</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">]</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span><br></span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>script</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></code></pre>
<aside data-sanitized-class="info">
<p>Alternatively, you can place the JSON file on your server and reference it using an HTTP header: <code>Speculation-Rules: "/speculationrules.json"</code>.</p>
</aside>
<p>The above <code>list</code>-rule specifies that the browser should prerender the URLs <code>next.html</code> and <code>next2.html</code> so they are ready for instant navigation. The keyword <code>prerender</code> means more than fetching the HTML and subresources—it instructs the browser to fully render the pages in hidden tabs, ready to replace the current page instantly when needed. This makes navigation to these pages feel seamless.</p>
<p>Prerendered pages also typically score excellent Core Web Vital metrics. Layout shifts and image loading occur during the hidden prerendering phase, and JavaScript execution happens upfront, ensuring a smooth experience when the user first sees the page.</p>
<p>Instead of listing specific URLs, the API also allows for pattern matching using <code>where</code> and <code>href_matches</code> keys:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>script</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>speculationrules<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token script"><span data-sanitized-class="token language-javascript"><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"prerender"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">[</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"where"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"href_matches"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"/*"</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">]</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span><br></span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>script</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></code></pre>
<p>For more precise targeting, CSS selectors can be used with the <code>selector_matches</code> key:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>script</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>speculationrules<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token script"><span data-sanitized-class="token language-javascript"><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"prerender"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">[</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"where"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"selector_matches"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">".navigation__link"</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">]</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span><br></span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>script</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></code></pre>
<p>These rules, called <code>document</code>-rules, act on link elements as soon as the user triggers a <code>pointerdown</code> or <code>touchstart</code> event, giving the referenced pages a few milliseconds' head start before the actual navigation.</p>
<p>If you want the preprocessing to begin even earlier, you can adjust the <code>eagerness</code> setting:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>script</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>speculationrules<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token script"><span data-sanitized-class="token language-javascript"><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"prerender"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">[</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"where"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"href_matches"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"/*"</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">,</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"eagerness"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"moderate"</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">]</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span><br></span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>script</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></code></pre>
<p><strong>Eagerness values:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><code>immediate</code>: Executes immediately.</li>
<li><code>eager</code>: Currently behaves like <code>immediate</code> but may be refined to sit between <code>immediate</code> and <code>moderate</code>.</li>
<li><code>moderate</code>: Executes after a 200ms hover or on <code>pointerdown</code> for mobile devices.</li>
<li><code>conservative</code> (default): Speculates based on pointer or touch interaction.</li>
</ul>
<p>For even greater flexibility, you can combine <code>prerender</code> and <code>prefetch</code> rules with different eagerness settings:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>script</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>speculationrules<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token script"><span data-sanitized-class="token language-javascript"><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"prerender"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">[</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"where"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"href_matches"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"/*"</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">,</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"eagerness"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"conservative"</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">]</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">,</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"prefetch"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">[</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"where"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">{</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"href_matches"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"/*"</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">,</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"eagerness"</span><span data-sanitized-class="token operator">:</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token string">"moderate"</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">]</span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">}</span></span><br></span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>script</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></code></pre>
<h3 data-sanitized-id="limitations-and-challenges">Limitations and Challenges</h3>
<p>While the Speculation Rules API is powerful, it comes with some limitations:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Browser support:</strong> Only Chromium-based browsers support it. Other browsers lack this capability, so treat it as a progressive enhancement.</li>
<li><strong>Bandwidth concerns:</strong> Over-aggressive settings could waste user bandwidth. Chromium imposes limits to mitigate this: a maximum of 10 prerendered and 50 prefetched pages with <code>immediate</code> or <code>eager</code> eagerness.</li>
<li><strong>Server strain:</strong> Poorly optimized servers (e.g., no caching, heavy database dependencies) may experience significant load increases due to excessive speculative requests.</li>
<li><strong>Compatibility:</strong> Prefetching won’t work if a Service Worker is active, though prerendering remains unaffected. Cross-origin prerendering requires explicit opt-in by the target page.</li>
</ol>
<p>Despite these caveats, the Speculation Rules API offers a powerful toolset to significantly enhance perceived performance and improve UX. So go ahead and try them out!</p>
<p><em>I would like to express a big thank you to the Webperf community for always being ready to help with great tips and expertise. For this article, I would like to thank Barry Pollard, Andy Davies, and Noam Rosenthal in particular for providing very valuable background information. ❤️</em></p>


guid: CCAL-118hcal-2024-12-31
title: House Calendars, DAILY - House Calendars for December 31, 2024 - 118th Congress, 2nd Session
link: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CCAL-118hcal-2024-12-31
hash: �{3� �!��6��I
tags: #Proceedings of Congress and General Congressional Publications
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
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guid: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/29/
title: datalists are more powerful than you think
author: ;Manuel Matuzovic
link: https://htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/2024/29/
hash: 2�ohj��1x�Y�}�b
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
by Alexis Degryse<br><p>I think we all know the <code>&lt;datalist&gt;</code> element (and if you don’t, it’s ok). It holds a list of <code>&lt;option&gt;</code> elements, offering suggested choices for its associated input field.</p>
<p>It’s not an alternative for the <code>&lt;select&gt;</code> element. A field associated to a <code>&lt;datalist&gt;</code> can still allow any value that is not listed in the <code>&lt;option&gt;</code> elements.</p>
<p>Here is a basic example:</p>
<iframe height="400" scrolling="no" title="Demo textual datalist on Codepen" src="https://codepen.io/twogrey/embed/preview/QwLEwvG?default-tab=result" frameborder="no" loading="lazy" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"></iframe>
<p>Pretty cool, isn't it? But what happens if we combine <code>&lt;datalist&gt;</code> with less common field types, like <code>color</code> and <code>date</code>:</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>label</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">for</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>favorite-color<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>What is your favorite color?<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>input</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>color<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">list</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>colors-list<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>favorite-color<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>datalist</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>colors-list<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>#FF0000<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>#FFA500<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>#FFFF00<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>#008000<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>#0000FF<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>#800080<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>#FFC0CB<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>#FFFFFF<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>#000000<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>datalist</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<iframe height="400" scrolling="no" title="Demo color type field with datalist on Codepen" src="https://codepen.io/twogrey/embed/preview/YPKWPao?default-tab=result" frameborder="no" loading="lazy" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"></iframe>
<p>Colors listed in <code>&lt;datalist&gt;</code> are pre-selectable but the color picker is still usable by users if they need to choose a more specific one.</p>
<pre data-sanitized-class="language-html"><code data-sanitized-class="language-html"><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>label</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">for</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>event-choice<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">class</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>form-label col-form-label-lg<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>Choose a historical date<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>input</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">type</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>date<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">list</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>events<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>event-choice<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>datalist</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">id</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>events<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>Fall of the Berlin wall<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>1989-11-09<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>Maastricht Treaty<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>1992-02-07<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">    <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>option</span> <span data-sanitized-class="token attr-name">label</span><span data-sanitized-class="token attr-value"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span>Brexit Referendum<span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span>2016-06-23<span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>option</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span><br><span data-sanitized-class="highlight-line">  <span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token tag"><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>datalist</span><span data-sanitized-class="token punctuation">&gt;</span></span></span></code></pre>
<iframe height="400" scrolling="no" title="Demo date type field with datalist on Codepen" src="https://codepen.io/twogrey/embed/preview/XJrKJyB?default-tab=result" frameborder="no" loading="lazy" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"></iframe>
<p>Same here: some dates are pre-selectable and the datepicker is still available.</p>
<p>Depending on the context, having pre-defined values can possibly speed up the form filling by users.</p>
<p>Please, note that <code>&lt;datalist&gt;</code> should be seen as a <strong>progressive enhancement</strong> because of some points:</p>
<ul>
<li>For Firefox (tested on 133), the <code>&lt;datalist&gt;</code> element is compatible only with textual field types (think about text, url, tel, email, number). There is no support for color, date and time.</li>
<li>For Safari (tested on 15.6), it has support for color, but not for date and time.</li>
<li>With some screen reader/browser combinations there are issues. For example, <a href="https://a11ysupport.io/tests/tech__html__datalist/html__datalist_element/convey_role/vo_macos/safari">suggestions are not announced in Safari</a> and it's not possible to navigate to the datalist with the <code>down arrow</code> key (until you type something matched with suggestions). Refer to <a href="https://a11ysupport.io/tech/html/datalist_element">a11ysupport.io</a> for more.</li>
</ul>
<h2 data-sanitized-id="find-out-more">Find out more</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://demo.agektmr.com/datalist/">datalist experiment</a> by <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/agektmr.com">Eiji Kitamura</a></li>
<li><a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/datalist">Documentation on MDN</a></li>
</ul>


guid: https://canadianpatriotreview.substack.com/p/on-the-trail-of-the-treasonous-part
title: On the Trail of the Treasonous Part 1 - Canada and the Threat of Northern Secession
author: ;Canadian Patriot Review
link: https://canadianpatriotreview.substack.com/p/on-the-trail-of-the-treasonous-part
hash: 5��X�)T��� ��
content:
<h5><strong>The following is the first chapter of Gerald Therrien’s The Unveiling of Canadian History, Volume 5. Access to Gerald’s substack and purchase his books (all info available at the end of this post)</strong></h5><blockquote><p><em>When trying to uncover the British Empire’s plot of secession for the United States, one impulsively turns one’s eyes to their use of the ‘southerners’, of the so-called ‘slave’ states, as the originators. But au contraire, the secessionist movement can be traced back to ‘northerners’, to New England, and to a failed so-called ‘federalist’ Timothy Pickering – Colonel, Senator, and former Secretary of State, who was part of the ‘Essex Junto’ - that Anglophile faction of slave-traders and opium-traders of Newburyport and Salem, Massachusetts (as told so well by Anton Chaitkin in ‘Treason in America’). Aaron Burr would become a part of this ‘Essex Junto’ conspiracy – whose plan would be stopped by one of our ‘unsung heroes’, Alexander Hamilton.</em></p></blockquote><div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2154abf7-fcae-4d8c-b214-5b7b36ce2848_432x527.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2154abf7-fcae-4d8c-b214-5b7b36ce2848_432x527.jpeg" width="258" height="314.7361111111111" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2154abf7-fcae-4d8c-b214-5b7b36ce2848_432x527.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":527,"width":432,"resizeWidth":258,"bytes":null,"alt":"","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":true,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false}' alt="" title="" fetchpriority="high" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><blockquote><p><em>Timothy Pickering</em></p><blockquote><p>‘Although the end of all our Revolutionary labors and expectations is disappointment, and our fond hopes of republican happiness are vanity, and the real patriots of ’76 are overwhelmed by the modern pretenders to that character, I will not yet despair: I will rather anticipate a new confederacy, exempt from the corrupt and corrupting influence and oppression of the aristocratic Democrats of the South. There will be – and our children at farthest will see it – a separation. The white and black population will mark the boundary. <strong>The British Provinces, even with the assent of Britain, will become members of the Northern confederacy</strong> …’</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>[Timothy Pickering’s letter to Richard Peters on December 24<sup>th</sup> 1803.]</p></blockquote><p>To find out where this treasonous plot to break up the American Union came from, one must look back in time, to the election year of 1800 – and to the election for president of the United States.</p><p>In the previous election in 1796, John Adams had been elected president by a mere three votes over Thomas Jefferson, as the ‘federalist’ party had swept the New England states, plus Delaware, New Jersey and New York. Jefferson and his ‘republican’ party supporters set out to win the next presidential election – by winning over New York to their side.</p><p>This unholy alliance of Virginia and New York – of Thomas Jefferson and George Clinton – was consummated in 1791. In May and June of that year, Jefferson and James Madison took a trip to northern New York state – supposedly to study the local flora and fauna (!?!) but, in reality, they went there to meet with Robert Livingston, George Clinton and Aaron Burr – to seek their support in opposing the policies of the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Livingston and Clinton would join forces to defeat Philip Schuyler, Hamilton’s father-in-law, and to elect Burr as the next United States Senator from New York.</p><p>Also, while on their trip to New York, Madison and Jefferson met with Madison’s former college room-mate at Princeton, Philip Freneau, to convince him to come to Philadelphia and launch a newspaper - the <em>National Gazette</em>, that would express their mutual fear and detestation of Hamilton’s attempt to shape the federal government, by attacking Hamilton’s policies as ‘British’ and ‘monarchist’ – the same policies that Madison had earlier agreed on with Hamilton, during the Constitutional Convention in 1787!!!</p><p>It was also during that summer of 1791 (quite suspiciously) that Hamilton became seduced into having an affair with Maria Reynolds – James Reynolds had been renting his stylish wife to various gentlemen, and then blackmailing them. Mrs. Reynolds would later file for divorce from her husband, hiring Burr as her lawyer!</p><p>Six years later, in July 1797, James Callender would publish documents that implicated Hamilton in this affair, but he would charge that Hamilton, with James Reynolds’s help, was speculating on government securities for his own personal gain. Hamilton almost fought a duel with James Monroe over Hamilton’s suspicion that Monroe was implicated in the leaking of these documents to Callender.</p><p>Hamilton wrote a pamphlet ‘<em>to place before the public an exact detail of the affair in all its circumstances accompanied with the written documents which explain unequivocally its true nature</em>’. While Hamilton was willing to sacrifice the reputation of his private life, he fought to preserve his public honor and the integrity of President Washington and his administration – identifying his true enemy as ‘<em>the Jacobin Scandal Club</em>’.</p><p>In regards to the presidential electors of 1800, the Constitution gave each state the right to choose its own method for selecting its presidential electors – Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina and Tennessee chose their electors by voters in each district; Rhode Island and Virginia chose their electors by voters statewide; all other states (including New York) had their state legislature appoint their electors.</p><p>On May 1<sup>st</sup> 1800, elections were held for the state legislature in New York. Hamilton organized the ‘federalist’ ticket, while Burr organized the ‘republican’ ticket, using an efficient political machinery to win – the Saint Tammany’s Society.</p><p>Burr felt that if he could deliver New York into the ‘republican’ camp, it would ruin Adams’s chance for re-election and throw the outcome to Jefferson – <strong>and</strong> Burr could parlay that feat into a claim for second spot on the ‘republican’ ballot under Jefferson. Burr had been on the ballot in 1796, but was 1 of 3 ‘republican’ candidates, receiving only 30 votes.</p><p>After 3 days of balloting, the ‘republicans’ had swept the city of New York, and now controlled the state legislature, while the ‘federalists’ still controlled the state senate. But the ‘republican’ gains were enough to give them a majority of the combined houses – <em>by one vote</em> – that would allow them to choose all 12 of the (‘republican’) presidential electors. Jefferson could now count on 12 electoral votes from New York, where he had received none in the 1796 election.</p><p>For the upcoming presidential election, the ‘federalist’ party had previously agreed that all of their Electors would vote for John Adams and for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, except that one Elector in Rhode Island would vote for Adams and John Jay, and thus avoid a tie vote (between Adams and Pinckney).</p><p>Jefferson had been assured that one Elector in South Carolina would cast a vote for George Clinton instead of Burr – ensuring that Jefferson would have one more vote than Burr. But somehow (?!?) this did not happen.</p><p><strong>Note: </strong>One wonders if this had anything to do with the future governor of South Carolina, Joseph Alston, who was one of the wealthiest planters in South Carolina, and who would soon marry Burr’s daughter, Theodosia.</p><p>And while the ‘republicans’ defeated the ‘federalists’ in the presidential election, Jefferson and Burr were tied in the number of their electoral votes.</p><p>According to the original Constitution (before the twelfth amendment), the Electors of each state were to meet and cast two votes for two persons – not having to show which vote was for president and which vote was for vice-president. When the Senate met to tally these votes, the person having the greatest number of votes would be the president, and the person with the next greatest number of votes would be the vice-president – the framers of the constitution had not foreseen the rise of parties or factions in the presidential elections. And also, according to the Constitution, in case of a tie vote, the election would be decided by the House of Representatives – as each state would cast one vote, and a majority of states (at least 9 votes) would be needed to elect a president.</p><p>But this election would be decided by the outgoing House of Representatives (where the ‘federalists’ had a majority) and not by the incoming House of Representatives (where the ‘republicans’ had a majority). On the first ballot taken, the votes of 8 states were given for Jefferson, the votes of 6 states for Burr, and the votes of 2 states were equally divided – as ‘disgruntled federalists’, in their disgust at the thought of Jefferson becoming president, preferred an alliance with Burr.</p><p>Hamilton wrote letters to his ‘federalist’ friends urging them that although he strongly disagreed with Jefferson’s economic and foreign policies, he was infinitely preferable to Burr.</p><p>Finally, on the 36<sup>th</sup> ballot, the ‘federalist’ members in the states of Delaware and South Carolina abstained, taking their votes away from Burr, and the ‘federalist’ members in the (tied) states of Vermont and Maryland abstained, giving their votes to Jefferson. Hamilton’s work in stopping Burr had finally succeeded, and Jefferson became President!</p></blockquote><div><hr></div><blockquote><p><strong>Note:</strong> Hamilton’s distrust of Burr originated in Hamilton’s life-long admiration and dedicated defence of General Washington. When General Washington court-martialled General Lee in 1778, Burr wrote a letter to the court-martial defending Lee, and he became associated with a minority of the officers who disliked and disparaged General Washington’s ability and leadership. In November 1783, after the British had finally evacuated New York, General Washington said farewell to his officers – but Burr was not invited to attend the event. In December 1783, when General Washington was elected President of the Society of the Cincinnati, some officers refused to join – including Burr. In 1798, during the Quasi-war with France, Burr was nominated as brigadier-general, but was rejected by General Washington who considered him as too prone to intrigue. General Washington may also have heard the rumors of Burr’s private opinion of him as ‘a man of no talents’ who ‘could not spell a sentence of common English’.</p></blockquote><div><hr></div><blockquote><p>But, because Burr did not withdraw from the contest and concede the election to Jefferson, he lost any confidence he might have had with Jefferson, and any influence he might wish to have within his administration – and also, he knew that he would not become a future ‘republican’ candidate for vice-president (or for president).</p><p>In June 1802, the Clinton faction of the ‘republican’ party in New York turned against their former ally, and published a pamphlet ‘<em>A View of the Political Conduct of Aaron Burr</em>’, accusing Burr of having secretly schemed to steal the presidential election away from Jefferson in 1800, and of plotting to gain ‘federalist’ support to run against Jefferson in 1804. This was done to ostracize him from the party and also, to secure the future ‘republican’ vice-presidential nomination for Clinton.</p><p>The ‘federalist’ party had continuously opposed the policies of President Jefferson, but especially opposed the purchase of Louisiana in 1803 – fearing that this acquisition would shift the balance of power away from the northern ‘federalist’ states.</p><p>A number of New England ‘federalists’ in Congress, called the ‘Essex Junto’, disillusioned from their defeat over ratification of the Louisiana treaty, and with no hope of the ‘federalists’ regaining the presidency, began discussing the idea of the northern states seceding from the Union. But, for their plan to work they needed the support from New York and so, they sought out the participation of Burr as part of their treasonous plan. With ‘federalist’ support, Burr would run for governor of New York, against the ‘republican’ candidate, and with his victory, Burr could then throw New York behind New England’s secession plot.</p><p>Proof of the participation of Burr in the plot is seen in an excerpt from the journal of Senator William Plumer (New Hampshire). In the winter of 1803-04, Pickering, Hillhouse and Plumer dined with Burr, and Hillhouse ‘<em>unequivocally declared that it was his opinion that the United States would soon form two distinct governments</em>’; and ‘<em>Burr conversed very freely on the subject … and the impression made on his mind was, that Burr not only thought a separation would not only take place but that it was necessary</em>’.</p><p>Proof is also seen in the following letters from Senator Timothy Pickering:</p><blockquote><p>(to George Cabot, January 29<sup>th</sup> 1804) – “But when and how is a separation to be effected? … (if) federalism is crumbling away in New England, there is no time to be lost, lest it should be overwhelmed, and become unable to attempt its own relief. Its last refuge is New England; and immediate exertion, perhaps, its only hope. It must begin in Massachusetts. The proposition would be welcomed in Connecticut; and could we doubt of New Hampshire? But New York must be associated; and how is her concurrence to be obtained? She must be made the centre of the confederacy. Vermont and New Jersey would follow of course, and Rhode Island of necessity …</p></blockquote><blockquote><p><strong>We suppose the British Provinces in Canada and Nova Scotia, at no remote period, perhaps without delay, and with the assent of Great Britain, may become members of the Northern League</strong>. Certainly, that government can feel only disgust at our present rulers. She will be pleased to see them crestfallen. She will not regret the proposed division of empire. If with her own consent she relinquishes her provinces, she will be rid of the charge of maintaining them; while she will derive from them, as she does from us, all the commercial returns which her merchants now receive. A liberal treaty of amity and commerce will form a bond of union between Great Britain and the Northern confederacy highly useful to both …”</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>(to Rufus King, March 4<sup>th</sup> 1804) – “The Federalists here in general anxiously desire the election of Mr. Burr to the chair of New York; for they despair of a present ascendancy of the Federal party. Mr. Burr alone, we think, can break your Democratic phalanx; and we anticipate much good from his success. Were New York detached (as under his administration it would be) from the Virginia influence, the whole Union would be benefited. Jefferson would then be forced to observe some caution and forbearance in his measures. And, if a separation should be deemed proper, the five New England States, New York, and New Jersey would naturally be united. Among those seven states, there is a sufficient congeniality of character to authorize the expectation of practicable harmony and a permanent union, New York the centre ...”</p></blockquote><p>It must also be seen that Pickering would not have openly asserted that Britain would assent to ceding her North American colonies to a northern confederacy, unless he had prior assurances that this would occur. It must be assumed that the meetings among the New England congressmen (beginning no later than December 1803) must have included Anthony Merry, the British minister to the United States.</p><p>However, Hamilton had stood out from the majority of his own party when he supported the Louisiana purchase, although he attributed it to pure luck on the part of Jefferson –</p><blockquote><p>“Every man, however, possessed of the least candor and reflection will readily acknowledge that the acquisition has been solely owing to a <strong>fortuitous concurrence of unforeseen and unexpected circumstances</strong>, and not to any wise or vigorous measures on the part of the American Government.”</p></blockquote><p>He had also spoken out against the campaign of Burr for governor, that</p><blockquote><p>“Col. Burr has steadily pursued the track of democratic policies. This he has done either from principle or from calculation. If the former he is not likely now to change his plan, when the federalists are prostrate and their enemies predominant. If the latter, he will certainly not at this time relinquish the ladder of his ambition and espouse the cause or views of the weaker party ...”</p></blockquote><p>And he touched on his real reason for opposing Burr – his fear of secession of New England from the Union, that</p><blockquote><p>“the ill opinion of Jefferson and jealousy of the ambition of Virginia is no inconsiderable prop of good principles in that country. <strong>But these causes are leading to an opinion that a dismemberment of the Union is expedient</strong>. It would probably suit Mr. Burr’s views to promote this result to be the chief of the northern portion and, placed at the head of the state of New York, no man would be more likely to succeed.”</p></blockquote><p>In the New York election for governor on April 24<sup>th</sup> – 26<sup>th</sup>, Burr carried New York City, but he could not carry the northern counties of the state, losing the election – with 28,000 votes to 35,000 votes for Morgan Lewis, the ‘republican’ candidate. Hamilton’s work had again stopped Burr from succeeding, and the threat of northern secession was set back, for now.</p><p>But this secessionist plot was to become the future plan of the British Empire for Canada – to use Canada as part of the plan to split the United States. The British Empire was in favour of a confederation of the northern states into Canada – but not the other way around – not of the annexation of Canada into the American Union.</p></blockquote><div><hr></div><blockquote><p>[next week - chapter 2 - Canada and the Threat of Western Secession ]</p></blockquote><h5><em><strong>For those who may wish to support my continuing work on ‘The Unveiling of Canadian History’, you may purchase my books, that are available as PDFs and Paperback (on Amazon) at the <a href="https://canadianpatriot.org/gerry-therriens-history-files/">Canadian Patriot Review </a>:</strong></em></h5><ul><li><p><em>Volume 1 – The Approaching Conflict, 1753 – 1774.</em></p></li><li><p><em>Volume 2 – Forlorn Hope – Quebec and Nova Scotia, and the War for Independence, 1775 – 1785.</em></p></li><li><p><em>Volume 3 – The Storming of Hell – the War for the Territory Northwest of the Ohio, 1786 – 1796.</em></p></li></ul><h5><em><strong>And hopefully,</strong></em></h5><ul><li><p><em>Volume 4 – Ireland, Haiti, and Louisiana – the Idea of a Continental Republic, 1797 – 1804,</em></p></li></ul><h5><em>may also appear in print, in the near future, while I continue to work on :</em></h5><ul><li><p><em>Volume 5 – On the Trail of the Treasonous, 1804 - 1814.</em></p></li></ul><h5><strong>Merci, et amusez-vous, mes amis.</strong></h5>

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