#(which doesnt even happen in the saga if you can believe it!)

[hanzajesthanza]

me whenever the short story "something ends, something begins" is mentioned, or not even mentioned, but i have an opportunity to mention it myself

[katerinaaqu]

Hello, anon here about Cleopatra. I didn't mean weird in general, I moved my US sentence in the wrong place. I wanted to say that for a movie happening in the US since the population is extremely heterogenous and in a city like California, New York. Most cities seem diverse, from what I've seen! But yeah, I wouldn't go to a German movie except half of them to be black and 1/3 to be Asian. I didn't mean it like that. Movies often are a reflection of their population after all.

I consume content from a lot of places! And I don't expect to see myself represented. I like to watch JP content for example, and I recently watched a Japanese movie and they were all Japanese and it felt absolutely normal. In Kdramas most people are Korean too.

I watched an anime called Vinland Saga made by Japanese people. And while Anime is very stylized in terms of features, the designs imho showed that they were from another culture. Just wanted to clear that up hehe ~~~~~

So when I said it's a US centric thing, I just feel like a lot of Americans just except the same heterogeneity in other cultures as well and it doesnt sit right with them. But I simply don't get it. I don't get why changing someone's skin color immediately make them so relatable. Why they can't just keep Cleopatra with features more similar to the information we got (coinage, origin, etc)?

I often see the argument color doesn't matter, they can change it (i dont agree especially for historical figures) and they are trying to be more diverse so people could relate to them. But I don't get it. If color doesn't matter, why change it anyway? And why would I need to see a Black Cleopatra with Afro to feel good about myself? And if it's so important why just not tell the stories of people from my culture?

It's getting long but I'm almost done hehe

I've had the same issue with Achilles being black and the arguments justifying it. Like I've read that whole Homer describes Achilles with blonde hair it is a rough translation. And that Greek colors terms are quite strange and don't map out well with ours, etc. Anf that a god is a god and could take any form.

Well, I don't know if I'm alone in this but I don't get the mental gymnastics.

I like your takes btw!!! Sorry for elaborating sm in another message. And I'm a bit shy ig that's why I stay anon. Bye!!

My dear Anon there is no need to panic and write so much I am not accusing anyone I am elaborating. Either way yes I agree. To use an area like a multi-cultural neighborhood in the US and immediately assume that all films regardless of their setting, time or place need to reflect that is just wrong, as you brilliantly said and yes I also believe it is more a US-centered idea (which though seems to spread in other parts of the world as well) and that happens because most high-grossing films and series are US produced. But even UK Productions seem to be trying to fit this recently, at least to my knowledge but yeah it is still, I believe a more US-centered idea.

The funny part is that they hurt their own narrative. Because right now the viewers are so tired of it that once they see diverse cast they don't always feel eager to see it out of fear that the diversity is just made up. And this is sad because genuinely good films are not given the attention they deserve. Or actors that are probably marvelous and do very good job, are doomed to be compared with the actual characters they ellegedly represent and not in a good way so many talented individuals also get dragged down for no reason

Oh yeah I really genuinely loooove it when people bring out excuses such as "there is no clear description of the character" as an excuse and again instead of making them then as what the ethnicity might as well have looked like they just add random stuff and oftentimes as you brilliantly say they do not care; Achilles was described having long, blonde hair (and yeah although the word "xanthos" aka "blonde" in general can be translated in various colors starting from blonde to auburn to light brown still what they gave us makes no sense). Not only did they randomly race-swappped Achilles they also casted a guy that had his hair shaven! Like they didn't even do the courtesy to add the long hair Achilles had in the Iliad (which WAS described and was of outmost importance too given how it was offered to the pyre of Patroclus)

I agree with you Anon. This mental gymnastics is so tiring especially since as I said are so terribly one-sided. Color doesn't matter when it comes to stories set in Europe but it is somehow of vital importance for Africa or Asia; accurate representation doesn't matter for Greek mythology because "they are just entertainment" while somehow it is a matter of life and death when depicting mythologies from other parts of the world because "we must be respectful"

So indeed which is it? And by the way I am with both sides here. OBVIOUSLY I don't want African or Indian or other traditions be swapped with anything. I want to see genuine transfers of myths and legends on big screen or on cartoons etc because all legends deserve it! Greek mythology included. Because myths are representatives of culture and history for every nation and ethnos.

Thank you so much for your takes Anon and yes I understand. Many people feel shy or worried epsecially on the internet and prefer anonymity.

[asoulofatlantis]

you talked about cedric being the reason why shirley leaves the jaeger life like him getting hurt . shirley enforcer number correlates to the star tarot card while cedric correlates to the sun tarot card in trails to azure illya the sun princess got hurt protecting the star princess from the chandelier falling which shirley caused to happen cedric may get seriously injured protecting shirley and this would lead to her leaving the jaeger life realizing its not worth it ( like what happened with randy

except cedric doesnt die

First of all: I would love the irony of history repeating itself for Shirley. Because, despite her character development, I think she never really had a chance to face any real consequences for what she did to Iliya back then. I do believe that these days she understands what she did back then and how cruel it was to use Sully and Iliya as bait for Rixia, given how Shirley herself now knows what it is like to have something to lose. BUT she never got confronted about this whole mess after her character development and the buildup of her relationship with Cedric. So it might be a bit like Crow getting killed by a "shot in the heart" like he did with Osborne. Karma, if you will. Shirley surely needs some of that, she always gets off far too easily.

When it comes to the Tarot-Cards fitting the ones used for Arc en Ciel and the pattern being repeated and that leading to Shirleys stopping being a Jeager, I am not so sure about it. Why per se, I think her relationship with Cedric would be the only way out of a Jeager Corps for Shirley - if there is any at all for her - and I obviously agree that losing/or almost losing someone they love has brought all our former Jeagers away from the battlefield and thus it would make sense for Shirley as well, in that context, chances are that won't happen.

I mean with Shirley, especially there is always a risk of her losing it instead of getting a grip on herself. I can totally see her rage attacking whoever was responsible for Cedric getting hurt, without facing that it was partly her occupation as a Jeager that led to it. Making her go back to the ways that caused her to be called "bloody Shirley" at a young age, out of rage and desperation. (There is of course always the chance she gets a grip on that eventually and then realizes that she was partly to blame for what happened to Cedric.) HOWEVER if we repeat the pattern from Arc en Ciel, we also have the problem that Rixia, even tho her position was the reason for Shirley doing what she did, stayed in her position as an Assasin and decided that this is the best way for her to protect the things and people she loves and cares about. Iliya too, even tho said to be paralyzed, actually returned to be a dancer even tho she had to fight for it very hard. Sully, even tho feeling somewhat guilty also took this as a sign to work even harder for Iliyas sake. So if someone hurt Cedric, while they were actually after Shirley, she just might see that as a reason to go even harder as a Jeager so no one ever again dares to do this.

I do believe that I have overlooked Shirleys borderline insanity when I talked about her getting out of the Jaeger-Bussiness because Cedric gets possibly hurt or even killed because of her being a Jaeger. Shirley was doing much better in CS3 than in the Crossbell-Saga, but she was still slightly insane in that game too. Just a bit more careful with innocent lifes. What grounded her in CS4 was Cedric. This means that technically, losing (or almost losing) Cedric might actually cause exactly the opposite of the reaction Sara, Fie and Randy have shown. Anything happening to Cedric might actually cause Shirley to snap and lose it. And with Cedric out of the picture (even if just temporarily until he recovers) there is nothing holding that girl back anymore. There is of course, as I said before, always the chance that after she finally calms down, she does realize that this was because she is a Jaeger and might still change her mind, but the chance that she snaps first instead of having a change of heart relatively closely to something happening to Cedric is definitely higher. It is also possible that instead of leaving the Jaegaer-life, she actually only leaves Cedrics life, realizing that it might be better and saver for him to stay away from her instead of realizing that if she wants to be with him, she needs to change.

With Shirley... honestly, everything goes.

However, as you were basically saying with your questions, the chances that Cedric actually does get hurt because of Shirley in one way or another (either protecting her or getting attacked because of her) aren't very low if we look at the bigger picture...

Lets take a moment to pray for our Babyfaced Princeyboy. Would be such a shame for him to die after Crow "sacrificed himself" to save his life back in CS2...

At this point I have to say, I honestly don't know what I want for Shirley anymore either. I want her to be with Cedric, but I am not completely against her staying a Jaeger while doing so anymore.

[pics-that-make-you-goku]

The fact that some people hear "Love is Like a Ballad" and think its about Vegebul never ceases to amaze me, like, "Id even die for you and not so long ago you were just an idiot that Id never know" ok we all know Vegeta loves to call Goku dumb so. And that line thats like "but thats not what gives me strength as I make my stand, standing by your side I know you understand" she doesnt fight hes never stood besides her in a fight he stands beside Goku in battle like every saga???? Hello???? Sorry I just felt like going off and ik doing it in the youtube comments is not a smart move lmfao

Anon I want so start off by saying you have opened Pandora's Box with how much I am about to agree, secondly this. All of this is literally on point.

Like saying it's Vegetabull is seriously reaching. It was an extra track on movie 12 aka Fusion Reborn, aka the movie that had Bulma in 1 scene only with no time with Vegeta, and All of Vegeta's screentime being together with Goku.

Also, look, Vegeta as a character is a whole conundrum but he was ultimately turned good due to the kindness Goku and friends took a chance on, which all Only Solely happened because Goku wanted to fight him again. Had it not been for the law of Goku, Vegeta would be dead. And in the song, he questions why, why he was given a chance, why he continues to fight alongside the others, and it is because of the one who the song is about. Which is quite literally Goku since Movie 12 is all about Goku and Vegeta!

Also, one more thing.

Not only is this another example of these two smiling at one another, this is before Vegeta literally ever smiled directly at her. The first time, I believe being in GT. Unless you count the time he threatened her and Krillin but at that point, why, even.

Also, yeah I can see your point about the yt comments unfortunately, but I am seriously imploring you highly to continue to go off because I love this kind of discussion!

[zeta-in-de-walls]

What's the most common misconception you hear about c!tommy?

Hey! Really interesting question, cheers. I’d say that there’s quite a few misconceptions floating around: that he never apologises, that he hasn’t developed, that his exile was his fault, that he’s the main source of conflict on the server, that all he does is steal, and plenty of other stuff.

But the one I probably hear most is how Tommy supposedly values music discs over people.

This one is such a mess of misconceptions. I’ve even heard it said that Doomsday happened because Tommy cared about his discs too much and he was wrong because you shouldn’t value items over human lives. I hate this one because it misunderstands Tommy enough so you can dismiss him because its such a weak position. 

Anyway, I understand why its so messy. Tommy throughout season 2 is frequently in a state of uncertainty and is being driven by emotions and isn’t thinking clearly after so much suffering. He says a lot of stuff he doesn’t mean and is very suggestible. Most of his talking about the discs is done when he’s lonely and thinks his friends don’t care for him anymore, that they’re better off without him.

Now, let’s be clear: music discs are something Tommy’s character loves. His happiness every time he listens to one feels very genuine. He’s had so many emotional moments listening to his discs with others and even considers his bench his happy space. He likes them and invites others to listen with him. These items hold no intrinsic value, they’re of no worth to anyone else besides how much they mean to Tommy. The only reason to take them is to try to control him specifically. That’s the original reason Dream took them in the original disc war - to punish Tommy after he caused some trouble. 

And the original disc war was fun for Tommy. He found the battle to be exciting and enjoyed trying to outplay Dream with his best friend Tubbo and anyone he could get on his side. It was like a fun game to him. One that, while chaotic, no one really got hurt from at all - the only one who really suffered was Tommy himself, who put stuff on the line for it and had his whole base dug up. (And Tubbo who got dragged in and lost items, but he was initially a very willing partner who found the conflict fun too.) 

And then we have Dream, who traded away L’Manburg’s independence for Tommy’s discs, an interesting decision which meant only Tommy really paid the price that day. Everyone remarked on how unusually selfless it was of Tommy. That day was a victory for everyone else, but bittersweet for him. Wilbur consoled him, saying they could get them back and then they’d have even more history and sentimental value attached to them, having been what paid for L’Manburg’s freedom. Tommy was encouraged and so the game continued.

Dream over this time became not just Tommy’s enemy, but his friend. They had fights and conflicts but it was more like a fun game. As they also did stuff like make a church together. Eventually Tommy managed to steal Mellohi back from Dream while Skeppy acquired Cat. At the elections, Tommy gives Mellohi to Wilbur who gives it back again when they’re banished. Months pass and they finally win back L’Manberg and its a wonderful day (until it goes wrong) but Tommy’s not done with his disc war. 

This disc war was always a personal thing for Tommy, he’s never wanted others to be dragged in and hurt by it. He kind of takes Tubbo for granted, but Tubbo’s also always been his partner in crime and Tommy enjoys having a war he can fight alongside his best friend - he and Tubbo against Dream. Dream at this point is still seen as a friendly enemy, in spite of choosing Schlatt and helping Wilbur blow up L’Manberg. Anyway, he rejects Presidency, giving it to Wilbur because he trusts him and also wants to focus on his personal battles after so long ignoring it. He doesn’t want others to be dragged in or for his interests to be divided. He’s leaving L’Manburg in safe hands he can trust. That’s season 1 of the SMP, but season 2 is where things get messier.

After the war, Tommy hears that Tubbo had been suspicious that Tommy might’ve been the traitor. In order to show that he trusts him, Tommy gives Tubbo Mellohi. It’s not just a disc now, its a sign of trust, a sign of their bond - at least in Tommy’s eyes.

Then Dream builds obsidian walls around L’Manburg and we first see Tommy showing that bit of selfishness. He states that he’d wanted to step away, that L’Manburg wasn’t his priority anymore. That he’d left it in safe hands so he could focus on the discs. But it doesn’t matter what Tommy intended. Dream is targeting him and is dragging the rest of L’Manburg into it by threatening to seal them in obsidian forever if they don’t comply. Tommy and Tubbo do have a disagreement here, but its not actually so much about the discs. 

-Tommy believes that fighting Dream is the superior option, if they ask for help from others in the server - because what he’s doing isn’t right - then they could defeat him, show him that he couldn’t just push them around. 

-Tubbo feels like that would get them killed and he doesn’t want to risk their lives. It would be better to appease Dream for now and secretly plot how to take him down later but Tommy’s being too hotheaded. 

Tommy brings up the disc to state how he trusts Tubbo and would consider being exiled a betrayal but Tubbo reminds him that they’re just discs and there’s more on the line and Tommy needs to be more cooperative. Anyway, Tommy’s hurt by Tubbo exiling him and think its a sign that he doesn’t care about him anymore. Tubbo meanwhile found it difficult to do but felt like there was no other option but did still care about Tommy. Tubbo would later come to regret doing it while Tommy would later say that it was the right choice when they finally actually talk. 

The discs here are kind of a symbol but Tommy doesn’t really value them over others, he’s being a little selfish for sure but that is mostly a result of being treated unfairly by Dream and feeling attacked and ganged up on by his friends, not seeing how they were trying to help him. Dream’s the one to blame here. At worst, Tommy’s being irresponsible in thinking he can just step away from L’Manburg - he didn’t value the discs over it, he just wanted to fight a personal battle without L’Manburg being involved for once. But too many things do matter to him and Dream realised he could attack Tommy through his friends. Its also why Tommy says he didn’t want Tubbo to be President, because he wanted him to be free to help him in his personal war too. There were some issues in their friendship that for sure got exploited and blown out of proportion.

So post-exile. Tommy is rather confused. He’s decided he doesn’t want to die and that Dream wasn’t really his friend, but he still feels abandoned by all his other friends. He still believes they didn’t really care about him after his failed beach party and everything else. And his feelings on Dream are mixed because he knows logically he should hate him but emotionally he still feels like he’s his friend.

Tommy at this point, begins clinging to the discs as some sort of tangible goal while feeling so lonely and abandoned. He has no real sense of agency and really wants Technoblade to give him guidance. Technoblade however wants to destroy L’Manburg and reaffirms his thoughts that Tubbo doesnt really care about him. Tommy is still...kinda(?) clear that he doesn’t want L’Manburg to be destroyed but is willing to compromise on minor terrorism. His remaining belief in L’Manburg is being eroded. You can see in his trips into L’Manburg he is rather unaware of the extent of his actions. He’s suffered and now feels right in lashing out. It seems to be the start of a villain arc even. Right at this point, the discs make more sense than people so they are his goal. And yet even in the midst of his uncertainty, he says the one Tubbo has is safe, he wants to get the one Dream has. 

The discs are Tommy’s way of saying he wants to fight Dream. It’s not really about the discs anymore, Dream went way too far with the exile and now Tommy wants to stop him and find it easiest to frame it as going after his music disc.

Then the festival. Tommy finally confronts Tubbo and sees him about to give his disc to Dream. It’s his worst fears confirmed, that Tubbo doesn’t really care about him and that he’s on Dream’s side. They fight and Tommy finally says the line ‘the discs were worth more than you ever were!’

And he regrets it immediately. The statement rang false. They were just discs and Tubbo was his best friend. He immediately tells Tubbo to give up the disc and changes sides then and there. The discs were not more important than people. He was being selfish. And he also remembered how much he cared about L’Manburg and didn’t want it to be blown up no matter what he’d agreed to the day before. He wants to fight for it, choosing his friends once and for all. 

In his argument with Techno on Doomsday, he does bring up his discs and words it kind of awkwardly. He tries to explain that ‘nothing had been taken from you, while the discs were stolen from me’ Tommy believes that Techno is destroying something people loved when he could’ve just walked away, he wasn’t fighting for something he loved like Tommy in his wars. That’s what he’s trying to get at, not that music discs are more important than people. Tommy doesn’t actually believe that and prefers wars that don’t hurt others, as the disc wars was once supposed to be before Dream brought in everyone else. Even saying that, Tommy admits he’d messed up so many times in chasing the discs. That he was wrong.

Tommy talks about going after the discs again but at this point it really means taking down Dream. Dream had expressed that he would not stop, he enjoyed their ‘game’ too much. Tommy has nothing left to lose as far as he’s concerned and needs to take down Dream for everything he’d done. 

During the disc saga finale, again Tommy always chooses Tubbo first. There’s this one moment where he has Mellohi and could run away forever but he stops and gives it up along with all their items before their taken to the vault and almost forced to watch Tubbo die while he gets thrown in prison forever. But he chooses Tubbo. He always does. 

Okay, summary over. I hope that better explains why I dislike the misconception that Tommy chooses his discs over people. He doesn’t really. It’s used to discredit him way too much, I feel. It’s only at his lowest, after being tormented in exile that he even gets close to that position and that’s when he’s on the bring of choosing a dark path and becoming what he hates. At the festival, he rejects that path.

Now that he has his discs, he hasn’t started trouble with them once. They’re safe and he can bring them out to listen to when he’s feeling low, not hurting anyone. They’re just something he loves and its okay to have attachments. 

[lucky-draws]

trueee they really cant escape each other lmao. could you maybe talk a bit more about fate and how it connects to bosselot? just if you want to ofc i love how you explain things :) i think that concept is so interesting to think about in a normal way (is also insane about bosselot)

hello!!!!!! tee hee hee im glad my insane words make some sense 2 you. i can surely attempt 2 talk abt bosselot some more + specifically abt fate. hrm . mission commence.

i guess. i suppose there's an element of fate like in a cruel twist of fate way running through the whole saga of the boss, the sorrow, ocelot, snake etc; like when the boss kills the sorrow, neither of them know the other is involved, she doesn't know it's him until they come face to face etc. and they've no choice but for the sorrow to die. star crossed lovers or whatever the hell.

and then in mgs3 its the fuckin. ocelot doesnt even know who the boss is at the start. much less that she's his mother. and he falls in love/is infatuated with snake whilst being totally unaware that snake is later going to kill his mother. thats not exactly fate ig or is it idk what im saying here but like....u know??? its the cruel irony of it all basically. i suppose there's an element of history repeating itself (which is in the wider series a big element ig. never ending cycles.) one must live and one must die, first with the boss + the sorrow and then with the boss + snake.

i guess also hghgfgfm. have u ever seen that post, its in the bosselot tag i think by captmelbourne and it goes like. 'thinking abt ocelot being born from a snake shaped wound and destiny and shit.' and jhghg listen i think abt that always. idk. ocelot being fated to/born to meet snake or something. idk.

i guess actually rather than any sound analysis here i just like the sort of visuals of it. aesthetically. the scar is just a very tasty element of this all. i like the visuals of the mythological red string of fate where uve each got one end of the red string of soulmateness tied to ur finger and it never snaps etc etc EXCEPT LIKE. with bosselot its in like a bad/tragic/evil/weird way. connected by the red snake of i killed your mom fate. red snake of you were born from a snake wound and. i am a snake (???) therefore um it's ..something? (????) . ALSO. ! connected by the blood-red snake of i was literally born on a battlefield (fated to a life of conflict) and you were shaped into a soldier (fated to a life of conflict) by my mother. ..... u know??

and god like ok. big boss giving himself the boss' snake shaped scar in peace walker...... it's all the mirrors or symmetry or parallels. the repetition. ?

+ on subject of parallels: the way they see themselves reflected in each other in relation to the boss. like big boss starting off as the rookie kid mentored by the boss. and then later he then becomes the mentor to ocelot the rookie kid. oh and ocelot just happens to be the son of the boss. ! and also which i guess maybe links to what i already said before abt the coma + the 9 years bringing them equal ish idk.?

i suppose in a wider non-bosselot way maybe there's some kind of fate or full-circleness about ocelot in mgs4 being killed by solid snake. i.e. he was born from a snake shaped wound + was eventually killed by a snake. hm. ...

i guess there’s probably some other stuff im missing or forgor.,i am a little tired sorry but yeah i hope some of this made sense. and if i think of anything else or think of a better way to articulate it then u can be sure i will be inflicting another post abt it on u lol.

OHHHH before i go omg. another thing on subject of paralells/history repeating. and this isn’t an orginal thought or anything obvs everyone has talked abt this but what the HELL is up with the whole.   the boss in the ocean. (+ strangelove  pulling her out.)  and then falling into a coma.  > big boss in the ocean. (and we could choose to believe ocelot pulled him out if we really wanted to.) and then falling into a coma.     > solid snake in the ocean (and otacon pulling him out.) LIKE THIS SERIES IS JUST THE SAME THING OVER ANDOVER. ourou fucking boros. !!!!

so yes anyway!!!! thank u for indulging and allowing my bosselot insanity i am glad u are also really normal (insane) about these two. :-)))))) thank u for dropping by!! feel free to ask anything else etc etc ! o7

[jjheejz]

Im sorry to crash the party this late(?) but on your fate saga post 3 you mention a the untamed saga, just what happened?? >>

Although this is a JunZhe account, this post is focused on Xiao Zhan and Wang Yi Bo for awhile. :)

//

Hello anon,

No you're not late :)

Before I get to it, have to admit that I've only witnessed this saga in bits and pieces so the information may not 100% depict the whole story/cause.

However, the general takeaway is that, Xiao Zhan (XZ) solo fans, Wang Yi Bo (WYB) solo fans and BoJunYiXiao (BJYX as short form, cpname) cpfans don't get along. The latter is seen as the lowest level. They are viewed as feeding on fantasies and unrealistic ideals because these 2 actors are definitely not together as a couple in real life. There is "no future". (Despite this, on weibo, BJYX is still on a competitive position with JunZhe in the cp chart till now, rotating between top 1 and 2 - tbh, I somewhat only understand that BJYX hardcore fans does the tedious fan chart votes or sth daily rather hardworkingly).

Today (10 August screenshot): No.1 - BJYX, No.2 - LLD. Bonus below, No.11 - JunZhe

Of course, internationally, we dont think being a cpfan is a problem. Sometimes we just like both actors interactions, doesnt matter if they are real or not, but in the Chinese (hardcore) solo fans fandom, to them it's somewhat on this kind of perspective:

1. These 2 are actors = bound to have competition with each other (brand endorsements, sales, roles, show appearances etc), therefore, in order to build their future career, many choose to side one of them rather than both (not sure of the rationale of siding one rather than both). So most cpfans end up diverting to become solo stans. It's a realistic, long-term kind of thing. Some just end up preferring one over another, and some as we all know exists - prefer one of them as their own ideal fantasy boyfriend (the chinese term is 梦女 meng nv - 'dreaming girl'). These are also apparent in Gong Jun and Zhang Zhe Han solo fans.

2. XZ's AO3 saga: In brief, basically this was an extremely huge issue in 2020 (referred to as "227" - the date of seriousness) and was blown up very badly because it innocently involved those who doesnt know XZ and WYB, to a bad end. AO3 is a famous fanfic site, even internationally, but because of a BJYX fanfic, a group of extremely toxic XZ fans blew it up to the point this site was banned in China. Frequent Chinese writers and readers used this site for all kinds of fanfics (drama, anime, general writing etc) had their works and account gone overnight, so this grew an immense emotionally intense hatred on onlookers/passerbys/unrelated to them AO3 users to XZ and his fans.

This technically had something to do with cpfans since the fic was written by one of them, so yea. Imagine the hatred Chinese AO3 users have on XZ. Even now, I still see people hating on him for it despite it being the toxic fans fault. And obviously that group of XZ extremely toxic fans ain't going to self-reflect but push the blame, and they emerged even more hardcore...This saga's magnitude is beyond how my words can express so feel free to look it up - 227. It was just a mega large hurricane.

So, if XZ and WYB are in the same frame/drama again, the media is going to go wild in their articles. Solo fans are going to create even bigger fanwars with each other and it's really damaging to XZ's reputation for onlookers and passer-bys. WYB as well.

//

In the novel and drama, WangXian is always a couple.

But in real life, the actors are only temporarily Wei Wu Xian, and Lan Zhan. The real them is Xiao Zhan, and Wang Yi Bo, of which BJYX is unlike JunZhe.

Note: If anyone has anything to add/amend please feel free to do so! As mentioned, I've only witnessed in bits and pieces but because the magnitude was so big, everyone more or less had an idea about it, just that what I mentioned may not be the full picture.

Bonus: Just last month - July 2021, BJYX toxic fans started a war with JunZhe/LLD (to know the scale, let's just say, it involved photoshopping on to funeral portraits). So this further grew hatred on both XZ and WYB as some of them were AO3 users/onlookers of the 227 incident. Both cpfandom became straight up enemies. 🤦‍♀️

To them XZ knew this 227 issue blew up but he had never made a public apology or addressed it at all [this is going to be another post if I were to state my stand on why - subjectively]. As a general fan of BJYX, was apparently suspected of being a spy and toxic fan of them, entering LLD to create war - simply by following BJYX. So they grew tight on security and because of that last month, was kicked out of 4 LLD groups (not entirely due to following BJYX but somewhat related). 🥲

Anyway, no matter what, BJYX, XZ and WYB is a sensitive topic on weibo. They go by initial references there: XZ, WYB and last month's war, XZ's toxic fan is referred as 🦐 (idk the reason).

BJYX saga is just a prevalent childish hardcore fan issue + non-fans but brainwash lurkers creating chaos and watching this all (they get paid well to do this). The good Chinese weibo fans are really nice but sometimes I feel it's some kind of underground love story for cpfans of both JunZhe and BJYX on weibo.

I believe XZ and WYB themselves are in good terms, just cut apart by their own fandom. No matter what, both actors are hard workers and are nice people, please continue to support them if you are a fan of them too ^-^

Hope you gain some generic insights :)

Bonus bonus images:

Post update record:

[Edited an error, pointed out by Farrowuk] - Thank you :)

[i-want-to-be-manhandled]

just remembered i wrote an embarrassing vent while crying over him yesterday and saved it in the drafts and i wanna give 6pm me a hug lol. im not gonna post it bc my feelings have already evolved but anyways ive decided yall still get updates on the saga as it continues (platonically) bc my life is a shitcom and im serious about what im about to say

so first bad feelings:

yes a lot of my heartbreak comes from him being straight but mostly i already miss the illusion of being desired. i loved believing there was a chance i was being hit on bc as someone who is never hit on and whose crushes never really pan out, i was kind of crushed to learn that there wasnt even a possibility of him ever being into me. it was torturous not knowing if he was into guys but being able to what-if about something positive was so nice lmao. also having to tell everyone i told that the waiting game waw over was just so crushing because i was so excited and my friends were rooting for me. and finally there was something in my life to be rooted for!! something besides an assignment or a depressive episode. something fun. even i was rooting for me. but now theres nothing to root for. classes start today and as we all know i am a fucking workaholic with no social life so odds are there will be nothing else along the lines of this for me until after i graduate.

good feelings:

for the first time in several years i was able to let myself feel things for him guilt-free. i let myself daydream and fantasize to my gay little heart's content which i have seldom let myself do in the past. having been treated like a predator every time i liked someone in the past will kinda make you internalize that you're crossing someone's boundaries by thinking about how nice it would be to kiss them, but that's literally normal human behavior and this is the first time ive just let myself think about kissing him as much as i wanted to. i even let myself flirt with him (after learning that i could even do that lol) and make moves on him not even knowing if he liked guys so it wasnt for nothing. maybe someday i'll find someone who does like guys and they'll reciprocate. or maybe even flirt with me first!! i wish someday was Now but you know. trauma and shit. also im very picky.

bonus: hilarious news

you know. the more i think about it. the more he doesnt even know he picked the perfect wingman. granted he did choose the most socially awkward of his friends (i don't even need to know the rest of his friends to know that tbh just trust me lmao) but he's also socially awkward so he Gets It lol. (me: idk dude i have to be like 3 drinks in to talk to people i dont know but i'll do my best. him: im not that bad but i understand) but also he incidentally chose someone who knows Exactly how great he is. i have literally been telling everyone how great he is for two months. i, as a disaster bisexual, am uniquely qualified to tell some random girl in a bar how hot he is. i can see it now: "so... you and my friend over there were chatting it up earlier? you have good taste i mean dude is hilarious. makes the best worst jokes ive ever heard in my life. plus he is definitely the hottest guy here i mean LOOK at that face. he's dense as fuck though so you're gonna have to get his number first" lmao. y'all will absolutely get this story if and when it happens.

[padawanlost]

i have to admit im still a bit confused as how Vader still carry on the chosen one prophecy through out OT. i know georges said he still is and i trust the man's vision but imo killing out sidious for selfish reasons too (luke) doesnt counterbalance the fact the force was plunged in darkness by 3 decades of genocide. what do you think? (ps: thank you so much for all the wonderful metas)

Hey! Thanks :) The Chosen One prophecy is a bit complicated as is Anakin’s role in everything so I’ll break it all down in parts:

“You have got to remember that this is one movie, and it’s meant to be seen I through VI. So, I think when you watch the actual movie in order, the story will become very clear: that Anakin is the Chosen One. And even when Anakin turns into Darth Vader, he is still the Chosen One.” - George Lucas

The prophecy of the Chosen One

The Chosen One prophecy was made thousands of years before the events of the movies. by the time TPM starts, it’s considered a myth by most so they don���t know *exactly* what it means and how they supposed to deal with it. As we saw with Anakin’s visions, prophecies are tricky. 

Because some Jedi have been able to use the Force to anticipate possible future events, it is not surprising that Jedi records relate various accounts of prophecies. The Great Holocron contains many references to the prophecy of the Chosen One: A Jedi will come To destroy the Sith And bring balance to the Force. Records are unclear about this prophecy’s exact origin, or whether the above words were the actual prophecy or a concise interpretation. Several accounts indicate that the prophecy was the subject of debate as far back as twelve hundred years ago, but it may in fact be much older. However, records do establish that approximately two hundred years before the Battle of Yavin, Jedi Masters became aware of an abrupt change in the shape of the Force, and many believed that a looming sense of dread pointed to the growing power of the dark side; some Jedi suggested that the Sith had returned, while others—maintaining that the Sith were extinct—dismissed this notion. But as time passed without any indication of Sith activity, the Jedi Master Yoda proposed that the gathering darkness was a sign of the coming fulfillment of the prophecy of the Chosen One. According to Master Yoda via the Great Holocron: Fully defeated by just anyone, the dark side cannot be, but only by the Chosen One. And who might be this Jedi? Know I do not, but not yet born is he or she. This much, sense I can. A vessel of pure Force the Chosen One will be, more powerful than any Jedi in history. [Ryder’s Windham’s Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force ]

Another man—even another Jedi—might have resented the rebuke, but Obi-Wan only sighed. “I suppose—he is the chosen one, after all. The prophecy says he was born to bring balance to the Force, but …” The words trailed off. He couldn’t remember what he’d been about to say. All he could remember was the look on Anakin’s face. “Yes. Always in motion, the future is.” Yoda lifted his head and his eyes narrowed to thoughtful slits. “And the prophecy, misread it could have been.” [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

She blinked as though he’d slapped her. “Why—that seems … unlikely, doesn’t it? What about this prophecy the Jedi put so much faith in? Isn’t he the chosen one?” “Very probably. But I have scanned this prophecy; it says only that a chosen one will be born and bring balance to the Force; nowhere does it say he has to be a Jedi.” She blinked harder, fighting down a surge of desperate hope that left her breathless. “He doesn’t have to—?” “My Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, believed that it was the will of the Force that Anakin should be trained as a Jedi—and we all have a certain, oh, I suppose you could call it a Jedi-centric bias. It is a Jedi prophecy, after all.” [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

They knew very little of the prophecy but they *assumed* the chosen one had to be a powerful Jedi and that his role was to defeat the Sith. They didn’t know fro sure what the prophecy said about what balance meant or that this chosen one had to be ONLY a Jedi. but, because they couldn’t fathom the possibility of someone who isn’t a Jedi defeating the Sith, the moment Anakin stopped being a Jedi they automatically dismissed him as the Chosen one in favor of Luke. of course, that doesn’t mean Anakin stopped being the actual Chosen One.

The Balance:

If good and evil are mixed things become blurred - there is nothing between good and evil, everything is grey. In each of us we have balanced these emotions, and in the Star Wars saga the most important point is balance, balance between everything. It is dangerous to lose this.” George Lucas

The one thing everyone seemed to agree on was that the Chosen One was to bring balance but what was balance? It wasn’t 2 Sith//2 Jedi. It wasn’t a world free of evil or conflict. It was a world where good and evil could coexist without one or the other trying to dominate the Force. It wasn’t political, it wasn’t about ending wars and religious/political groups. The balance was about the Force and in this case the Sith were the ones unbalancing the Force so the Chosen one’s job was to defeat the Sith.  

We know the Force was ‘unbalance’ by Plagueis and Palpatine’s experiments but ALSO by the Jedi Order’s inability/unwillingness to prevent the ever growing corrupting in the Senate and all the problems it caused in the rest of the galaxy Surprise and disbelief mingled in Sidious’s blue eyes. 

“The Force?” “Yes,” Plagueis said pensively. “But I failed to exercise due caution. As we attempt to wrest the powers of life and death from the Force, as we seek to tip the balance, the Force resists our efforts. Action and reaction, Sidious. Something akin to the laws of thermodynamics. I have been audacious, and the Force has tested me the way Tenebrous sought to. Midi-chlorians are not easily persuaded to execute the dictates of one newly initiated in the mysteries. The Force needs to be won over, especially in work that involves the dark side. It must be reassured that a Sith is capable of accepting authority. Otherwise it will thwart one’s intentions. It will engineer misfortune. It will strike back.” “The Maladians—” “Perhaps. But in any case this is why the Jedi Order has descended into decadence and is dragging the Republic down with it. Because the Jedi have lost the allegiance of the Force. Yes, their ability to draw energy from the Force continues, but their ability to use the Force has diminished. Each of their actions engenders an opposite, often unrecognized consequence that elevates those attuned to the dark side; that buoys the efforts of the Sith and increases our power. Yet our use of that power requires delicacy. We must be alert to moments when the light side falters and openings are created. Then, and only then—when all the conditions have been met—can we act without fear of meeting resistance or repercussion. “To say that the Force works in mysterious ways is to admit one’s ignorance, for any mystery can be solved through the application of knowledge and unrelenting effort. As we had our way with the Senate, and as we will soon have our way with the Republic and the Jedi, we will have our way with the Force.” [ James Luceno. Darth Plagueis]

Yoda’s reinforces this idea when he says their vision is clouded by the dark side. Everything is muddled so they can no longer see clearly. 

“The first film starts with the last age of the Republic; which is it’s getting tired, old, it’s getting corrupt. There’s the rise of the Sith, who are now becoming a force, and in the backdrop of this you have Anakin Skywalker: a young boy who’s destined to be a very significant player in bringing balance back to the Force and the Republic. George Lucas - from the American ANH VHS tape in the making of Episode II in the 2000 release.

To bring balance is to ‘clear’ the Force. It’s not about eradicating Sith or saving Jedi. The Force is beyond of that. the Chosen One’s job is about cleaning the slate clean, regardless of political agenda. Of course, it doesn’t mean the Jedi *had* to way. Anakin could and should’ve chosen a different path. Nothing was set in stone. but the path he did choose doesn’t mean he stopped being the chosen. The fact he accomplished his mission by making the worst possible choices doesn’t mean he didn’t accomplish his mission as the Chosen One. In the end Anakin’s saved the Jedi, destroyed the Sith and help restore the Republic. And with that, he restored the balance. It’s not about erasing what happened before it’s about making things better from that point on.

Anakin Skywalker

“What the whole story is about” is a mishmash of tales as old as tale-telling: A young boy, plucked from obscurity by elite beings who believe he is somehow blessed, who grows up under their wise tutelage, becomes corrupted by power and evil, and then must finally face his own son – equally trained, equally tempted – in a battle to the death. – George Lucas

Anakin was the chosen but the world of around him didn’t protect him and that influenced his behavior. Anakin didn’t made bad choices because he was born a bad person, he made bad choices because of how he was raised and everything that happened to him. it has nothing to do with his chosen one status. Anakin was born because of the Force but it had no control over how people treated him and how he reacted to their treatment. Everyone had free will, everyone used it and things happened as they did. It’s as true for Anakin as it’s for every other kid in world. The fact a child shows promise doesn’t mean the child shouldn’t be protected and raised right. and if the kid does grow up to do bad things it doesn’t mean the kid never had any talent. 

Also, the prophecy doesn’t say Chosen One had to do anything out of the goodness of his heart. He had to bring balance. How and why he’d accomplished that wasn’t set in stone. The fact Anakin sacrificed himself to save his son doesn’t mean Anakin didn’t save the galaxy. I’d even argue that Anakin’s sacrifice wasn’t selfish. The fact he was thinking about his son doesn’t mean he was only thinking about himself. Personal sacrifice, by definition, is not a selfish act. It doesn’t mean the person is wholly selfless but the act itself is not a selfish one.

TL;DR:

The force wasn’t out of balance because the Sith were evil, because the Jedi were killed or because innocents were dying. People have been killing each other for thousands of years before the Force was considered ‘out of balance’. What changed was the Sith experimenting with it and the Jedi’s withdrawal from the galaxy. To correct that the Force created a child that would eventually fixed that. the child was called Anakin Skywalker and he corrected the situation by destroying the Sith, ensuring the survival of a new and better kind of Jedi and by ending a war that would lead to a creation of new, less corrupt government safe from the influence of the dark side.

So, yeah, Anakin was always the chosen one even when he was Darth Vader and George’s claims are backed by the lore :)

[kingluffy]

It might just be me but I feel like oda is now focusing a little bit on romance since dressrosa, and is nearly like putting endgame ships together but not fully trying to give it away, like with sanji for example I think it’s clear now that his two realistic end partners are either pudding or viola since he’s kissed both of them and generally if we being honest been less of a pervert (well sexually) around them especially pudding, but I think it’s clear pudding would end with him just because they technically got married (an official marriage is complete when the vows are done) their wedding got interrupted when they were about to kiss which they did later on and I think that pudding did that so at least to her they are married.

With ussop I think it���s clearly kaya but you know the more I think about it he might just might have an outside chance with nami but if I’m being honest they give me more of a friends and sibling vibe.and with kaya both her and ussop has shown feelings for each other but you never know this is Oda we are talking about.

For robin I think it’s going to be franky, now hear me out if I’m being honest I didn’t think robin would get an ending partner until very recently, I always heard of zoro and robin but I never really felt that ship like I wasn’t against it but I wasn’t for it. Then the colourspread where she was holding frankys face came like a punch to me 😂 all of a sudden I was like omds how didn’t I see that coming because I started to remember how their interactions where during water 7, Ennis lobby and thriller bark was like we all know how she made him join the crew ouch, when she got her wings she made him blush and only him in thriller bark, they both have sleep on each other or with each other (not sexually) loads of times actually some with brook, however so yeah and in wano you could now see their interactions too, franky offering to give only robin a ride on his motorbike, kinda cliche but hey it it works it does

Next is chopper I think he has two realistic options because most of the others would be beastiality which I highly doubt oda would include in the biggest manga of all time, so anyways I think he’s two options are carrot and the reindeer mink but I think if he was to have a pairing it would hands down be the reindeer mink because number one chopper actually has a crush on her and number two they are both in the same profession with her being a nurse and so on it’s almost as if oda made the mink just for chopper. And for chopper and carrot I get the same vibe as with nami and ussop friends/siblings vibes and the fact carrot calls chopper “chobro” shows she feels it’s like that too but I would rule it out.

Now for zoro there isn’t much to say here I already said my opinion on zoro and robin which is I don’t feel they have had enough moments especially recently too be considered endgame, don’t get me wrong it’s a big ship with loads of fans so I could see it happening I just doubt it same with zoro and tashigi with them I just don’t think they could happen ,because they are on two different sides pirate and marine, like their pairing is heavily reliant on the marines and world gov having a major reshaping. And I’m not gonna lie I thought and still have it in my mind just not as strong that zoro is asexual like I’ve never seen him show interest in other females or anything a prime example of that was the happiness punch in alabasta everyone went to see it even chopper did but zoro was the only one who didn’t and people would say what about luffy isn’t he asexual which I’ll touch on later but no luffy isn’t asexual and there’s evidence for that but none for zoro. That being said can still see zoro ending with someone that being hiyori because let me get this out there I think there’s a 0.1% chance of zoro asking a girl out and I just feel it more likely a girl would like aggressively love him (like be getting them into awkward situations time and time again to express her feeling) and the only girl who I think would do that is hiyori, tagashi is too tsundere to do it and robin is too composed and calm to do it too. I’m just thinking about the personalities with this one because I don’t really think zoro has had a lot of moments with girls apart from tashigi and you know about my problem with that ship so yeah hiyori for me.

Now the last one this one I can go on for literal days on this ship but this post is already long so I’ll try and summarise as best I can and if you want me to go in detail just tell me. So now for luffy. Now with luffy as most of you know I can only see him ending with nami like yeah girls like mageret have an outside chance but I can only really and truely see luffy and nami, let me just talk about personalities not even moments yet, they are the perfect example of opposites attract, ying-yang, definition of completing one another with luffy and nami they are my otp because of this reason mainly because unlike other anime’s and manga you can clearly see this and you could see it develop each arc and saga like for luffy every attribute he lacks like intelligence, craftiness, intimidation, etc nami compensates with him and teaches him about them and for nami her lack of bravery, see people’s true intentions luffy compensates for her teaching her and showing her it let just list a few of this moment : nami showing luffy how normal pirates behave after ussops arc, luffy showing nami his bravery in arlong arc, strong world etc And where we see them develop for nami we saw nami show her bravery for luffy in whole cake island when she fough cracker knowing she had no chance of winning or when she fought big moms army too. For luffy we see him becoming smarter and see his enemies true intentions in arcs like zou where he suspected sanji was taken against his will. Then we got how their goals and personality’s intertwines with each other because luffy wants to become pirate king and nami what’s to map the whole world, one of the things luffy loves the most is adventure and what adventure is bigger than exploring the whole world? Maybe love😂😂 (cringe I know but had too). Now people might say hancock but let me just say this I think the chances of hancock ending with luffy is so low that I believe yamato has a better chance than her and we’ve only seen Yamato for like 6 chapters so let me explain the main reason why I think she doesn’t have a chance is simply because luffy rejected her now to people that might not be a lot but it really is simply based on the fact that in nearly 1000 chapters and 15 movies luffy has never ever changed his mind. When he says something it happens or in this case does’nt for example when he said he’ll get a musician he did, when he said he’ll beat people’s asses he did even when he said he’ll save ace he did do it unfortunately ace went back, so when luffy has numerously told hancock he won’t marry her he really won’t. Now people can say that just means he won’t marry her but that doesnt mean they can’t be together but my response to that is simple what pairing in one piece aren’t married or engaged? So far in one piece every couple have been married or at least engaged. So that’s why I think hancock is out of the runnig or at least has a much less chance than nami does for ending with luffy. I didn’t even go into detail for luffy and nami but I’ll probably do that later. But please remember this is just MY opinion about the pairings in one piece you are free to disagree with it you can even comment to me why you disagree but I don’t want people to start acting toxic please. The reason i didn’t include brook or jimbei is because I don’t see them ending with anyone

[moiynapakhi]

im not sayin julius is a dumbass, but with him thinking charmy was yami’s daughter when in reality she’s just the clover kingdom version of a little person and a straight hustler just speaks VOLUMES of how detached julius has been from his own magic knight brigade, and ultimately, ineffective as a political leader. i know issa joke cuz charmy’s literally two feet tall, but even then, you’d think the WIZARD KING was paying attention to his own roster.

like, if julius put in even HALF a braincell into keeping a close eye on his soldiers, he probably could have figured out on his own that billiam was possessed, but instead, he just let everyone run buckwild to the point where yami was recruiting excons and not offering therapy as a workplace benefit when almost all of his subordinates are mentally ill, purple orcas were STILL acting up, and billiam was literally harboring a terrorist, like i GET julius is incredibly powerful.......... but at the end of the day, he’s also incredibly apathetic to the machinations of his own kingdom and THAT’S why he needs to excuse himself soon, or simply perish and marry zara in the afterlife.

i understand that he KNOWS he’s not really the best king, since he never had any intention of leading people to begin with. the one that wanted change in the world was zara, but he died before he could see his dream come through, and julius only took the bare minimum of that dream and put it into action.

the reason i like to call out that JACK is the one who’s really carrying out zara’s will, is because jack knows that if HE doesnt hire all the common kids with low magic potential and give them a reason to do better for their world, then NO ONE is gonna stand up for the commoner. now, is he actively ignoring people like asta who’re probably the clover version of a mutant? yes, but jack doesnt run his squad to cater to hurt feelings, and i tend to believe his view of asta was similar to father orsi’s, ie asta having no magic was viewed more as him having a disability than a mutation and thus exempt from joining the military brigade. from characters like en ringard and sekke, you understand that jack knows that their world is virulently hateful towards people of lower classes, and YES he sold out when he joined the clover version of a corrupt military, but en ringard’s character makes it clear that this military is one of the few ways people in jack’s and en’s class can thrive in their world..... and when you got bellies to fill, you not gonna give a FUCK who you gotta kill. in a way, as idealistic as zara was, jack parallels that idealism with the staunch realism of being dirt poor.

it’s also why more and more, im inclined to believe that julius WILL die in the end, not bc he’s gonna get one-upped by a ghost elf, but bc he KNOWS that the kingdom will never grow if he and people in his level of power (damnatio, king kira, the noble houses) continue to maintain that control. as MUCH as everyone wanted to wordsmith the goddamn WORDSMITH DEMON to say that humans werent the ones at fault for the elven genocide....... it’s pure and utter bullshit bc zagred could do what he did BECAUSE the nobles of clover were that selfish. lumiere and secre just happened to be the only outlier nobles who WEREN’T dirty, but two people cant change the world, and the elven genocide DID happen, and to this day, the nobles who helped carry out the genocide ARE STILL IN POWER. issa moot point that uwu asta and yuno are now peasant bois in the clover military cuz HELLO, the ones running that damn military are descendants of people who financed and carried out a genocide.

i’d go as far as to say that the elven genocide probably WASN’T the first time a species was wiped out or exiled to make room for humans to exercise their power. bringing it back to charmy, i think about how she was arguably one of the most powerful characters BEFORE her wolf and her heritage was revealed, but the second the wolf showed up, it’s like HIS rage poured into charmy like he was waiting for her to wake the fuck up and smell the music, and it’s not unlike the generational trauma that follows descendants of oppressed minorities, cuz when you snap, you SNAP! what’s worst is that charmy doesnt even really know WHO she is, bc somewhere along the way, she wasnt taught about half her heritage, and i can only believe it’s either bc her parents were trying to protect her, or bc they’re simply dead and that there was no one to teach her about the wolf living in her soul.

which brings me the purpose of this crackheaded rollercoaster... i believe tabata is setting up an interspecies continent-wide war! one of the things i also tend to believe is that not ALL the elves were killed in the genocide, and the few that survived either a) ran to different continents to regroup with different elves of different cultures, or b) integrated with humans and hid their heritage with magic makeup, or c) a lil bit of both! we’re probably another hundred or so chapters from meeting the dwarves, but i suspect we’ll meet them, along with the earth elemental spirit, and of course the rest of the demons. in addition, i also dont think the dark triad are the final villains of the black clover saga. if anything, i believe they’re the gateway to exposing the real villains, which are the clover royalty, and i would NOT be surprised if the story drives all of our main characters to band together against the very institution they’ve been protecting thus far. i see a commoner uprising, a peasant uprising, a fucking dwarven and or elven invasion, i see yami’s people rolling up with their ki-based martial arts and dimensional magic as secondary invaders, and anti magic demon straight SAUNTERING into the chat with booty shorts, a croptop, and a cigarette while proclaiming he’s asta’s wife.

[the-necessary-unnecessary]

uswnt anon here! yeah like you said, i believe there must be a loophole that Press managed to make use of, but i do think that that mightve only been a temporary/short term solution. afterall, she ended up going to utah after 3 months of her second stint at Kopparbergs/Göteborg. i do wonder if Houston didnt trade her rights then, what wouldve happened (the whole Houston debacle is another highlight of how cruel the trade system is, on top of even more recent stories of players like Stengel). (1)

but i completely agree with you about the terms of the NWSL. i think it's been made abundantly clear, by national and international players (ie Asllani, Henry) and pundits alike, that the NWSL's model is doing them in. i know a lot, if not all, of us hate it when people like to chalk up the league to be the best in the world, but i believe that's just misplaced analysis because the players of best (im going off by recent results/rankings here) team in the world play there. 

it's clear that the way things are run, that USSF cares more about maintaining their national team status than the proper maintenance of the NWSL. but i also do think that as long as the NWSL keeps its really weird season schedule, that the USWNT cant (excluding the actual clause that they have to play in the league) find it in their heart to leave the league, knowing how horribly wrong it can all go. 

i think the draft system is also what's affecting the youth teams. the draft system takes in your collegiate athletes, and while great for those athletes, it also screws with whoever cant go to university. which is a whole other conversation about privilege but let's leave it at that for now. i think what we might have missed out on about youth development is that other countries have club academies. the NWSL doesnt have that. their collegiate athletes are their "development/youth" players when compared to other leagues. and i do think in the long run, this will mess with them since other national teams are just getting younger and younger with more investment. Harvey can be seen as the saviour of the youth teams but i do believe the reality is that the problem lies within the NWSL and USSF-USWNT system. and i think, as i believe most of us do, that so long as the system doesnt change, the USWNT/NWSL will suffer. i dont think they'll be dethroned so easily but it's not benefitting them, especially when salary caps (even though recently increased) exist for international players while the transfer market values will keep rising. we'll probably see more and more migrations like the aussies have done this season (probably the kiwis next). 

i'd like to link some articles if you wouldnt mind! and i also do realise how the articles will make me look like a Caitlin Murray fan, which i am but i swear the articles of her i found to send this ask were coincidental (i mean she's one of the USWNT's best journalists so it's probably why they’re from her). (6)

here's the Press saga: amp(.)theguardian(.)com/football/2018/mar/13/christen-press-houston-dash-trade-womens-soccer-uswnt how club academies would benefit USWNT/NWSL: sports(.)yahoo(.)com/amphtml/how-wed-fix-soccer-homegrown-rule-academies-would-be-good-for-nwsl-and-uswnt-180254345(.)html (8)

a piece that highlights how being a USWNT player binds you to the NWSL with the time Horan left PSG: equalizersoccer(.)com/2016/01/04/psg-terminates-contracts-for-horan-asllani/ Hope Solo's piece on privilege of football in the USA: amp(.)theguardian(.)com/football/2018/sep/04/usa-womens-soccer-team-white-hope-solo sorry it got so long again! (9)

once again I couldn’t agree with you more! It’s true that there’s more than just them being contractually bounded to the NWSL, even if they were able to get around this USSF holds more power over them than they hold over USSF when they’re holding trophies, medals and olympics over their heads especially. Plus the summer schedule the league has does nothing to help the situation since it’s very hard to join a winter season European league for a full season or something. Obviously now would be as good a time as any to transition given the shorter nature of the challenge cup, but I don’t see this happening on such short notice for many reasons.

As for the youth team conversation, it’s the case in most of not all places that elite sport is a privileged department, but I particularly see this to be the case in the US where football from a young age, right up to college even if you get a scholarship, is really damn expensive to stay in. So I definitely agree with you that this is a very limiting factor on the pool of athletes they get. Hope Solo’s article about this too is also very insightful, stuff like “Imagine if the next LeBron James played soccer. But I don’t think we’re even looking for players in places like Akron, Ohio” proper puts things into perspective about privilege beyond just paying for training and playing but also scouting location etc. Definitely an uncomfortable and though-provoking must read.

 Youth academies, like both you and that article said, are an important step on the path towards development and yet they’re practically nonexistent and unused in the nwsl. Plus I really like Murray’s point about homegrown talent rule, I think that could be really beneficial on a lot of levels if it is finally put into place. Also she mentions the difference in resources between NCAA unis and nwsl clubs like an anon mentioned here earlier, which tbh is pretty shocking to me. Like how can university facilities be more competent and welcoming than elite club ones?? The fact that some call it the best league in the world when financially it is so on edge is pretty mind-boggling in my opinion. 

Thanks for the link to the Press saga too, a very interesting more indepth insight into all that mess which honestly looks like not much was learnt from. I also like her point between women and men when they are forced to play somewhere they don’t want to, since there are both less viable options and also less mega-large pay checks involved to influence their decisions. With the Horan article being more of the same about being forced back to the US for an uswnt shot, again against what she would have preferred to do in a first instance. Plus it’s interesting that Gulati actually specifically states the contractual binding by saying that “It was actually part of our contractual agreement with the women’s national team that they would play in this [NWSL] league”. I’ll leave it there for now because this is getting way too long but thanks once again for all your resources and points to consider!!

[alienoriana]

About This One

Songs are a very important part in the McLennon experience. But beyond the tunes that each of us can have on our list of evidence about their love / relationship (and believe me, I have a long list), there is only a select group that belongs to the category of "confirmed". And I think we can risk to say with certainty that This One, from the album Flowers In The Dirt (released in 1989, although the demo is from 1986), is part of that small group.

As usual, Paul is not very open about the subject of the song, but he’s much more candid than in other opportunities. When asked if This One refers to a marriage, he quickly replies: "a relationship, yeah". And then he starts talking about John ... although of course, he hurries to shield himself behind the figure of George to express the feeling of remorse for what has not been said or done in time that goes through the song.

Another little proof that the song is related to John, is a snippet of a video when Paul is singing the song and he does a very Lennon thing right after the line: “Did I ever touch you on the cheek / Say that you were mine, thank you for the smile”.

(Thanks to “Undertanding Lennon and McCartney” saga by @sweating-cobwebs​ for this finding)

This One has a structure similar to a conversation, aimed at a specific person, with lines that start with the same formula, repeated over and over again, in the form of questions: "Did I ever...".

What I always found interesting in that way of expressing what could have happened or not between them, is that while Paul ends up answering those questions on the negative with an "If I didnt ...", it does not completely close the possibility that has happened. That is, when he sings "Did I ever touch you on the cheek?", the answer can still be both a yes and a no (and that is a very Paul thing, no doubt).

But what I really wanted to focus in this post was in a particular line, which I find deeply suggestive of the type of relationship they had.

What opportunities did we allow to flow by Feeling like the time it wasn't quite right? What kind of magic might have worked if we had stayed calm, Couldn't I have given you a better life?

That last line is very moving to me, because it doesnt sound as a thing one could say to a friend, not even a really close one. “Couldn't I have given you a better life?”, that’s certainly something one says to a life partner, it sounds like a very couple-y thing to express. Again, the hypothetical answer is still open.

The line before that speaks of what would have happened if they had remained calm, making it clear that, at least from Paul's point of view, what caused the break in the couple was not in any way the lack of love but the tensions, the turbulence that made them lose their patience and perspective.

I think the song is a continuity of Here Today, and it is undoubtedly a step forward in Paul’s effort to exorcise pain and remorse, and even allows him to do something he loves, which is to leave a comforting message and a life teaching: "There never could be a better moment than this one, This One ".

Carpe Diem, dear beatleings

[chikkou]

its still absolutely off the wall to me that we as a community just let hbomberguy get away with covering up/contributing to the manipulation and gaslighting of a trans man who was sexually harassed by one of his friends, all bc he didnt want to get involved.

like fuck everything that leftist ideology preaches about community and honesty and cooperation, right? lets just fucking pretend it didnt happen and move on cause hes such a Woke Internet Funnyman! its all good! after all, it was SOOOO long ago - im sure we can just look past it! why bring up old shit, right?? /s

also before someone says “well he donated $300,000 to a charity for trans people so hes a good ally!” - that literally has no relevance whatsoever to his misconduct. regardless of the good that did, yall know good and damn well that that charity stream was damage control to prevent even more losses after the accusation resurfaced a few months ago. how convenient is it that he gaslit a trans man, and then subsequently had a charity stream that donated specifically to a trans charity after the chat logs started circulating again? come on now, yall.

plus, and tell me if im wrong - but he didnt donate anything out of his own pocket. that was YALLS money. YALL donated to mermaids with YOUR OWN MONEY. YOU helped mermaids directly, not him. he was just the figurehead middle man taking all the credit.

this shit is just so infuriating to see, and it makes me sick when people continue to praise him like nothing happened. the bar is so low for men to begin with, and for those of us in leftist circles, its even lower for men with more left leaning views because theyre so Woke and Unproblematic! but when they do something deeply wrong, all they gotta do is make a half assed apology and suddenly its “welllll, he SAID he was sorry.....”

and speaking of that apology, its absolutely god awful. not only did it take him around a MONTH to respond to the accusation - he says in the post that it was made in early march, and his response is from early april - but instead of just being honest about what he did wrong, HE CONTINUES TO BLAME THE TRANS MAN HE GASLIT THROUGHOUT THE POST FOR HIS OWN ACTIONS!!!

all through that apology, hbomb continues to assert that he didnt believe the victims story and doesnt seem at all sorry for that, as well as bringing up points abt the victim threatening to dox him - which, even if thats true, it has nothing to do with HIS wrongdoing. its just a cheap fucking deflection tactic to avoid any culpability, and its something men use frequently in public apologies for their misdeeds. (the projared saga is a prime example of this, for comparison)

and, really, lets be fucking honest here. if he was really sorry, he wouldnt continue to try and paint himself as a proponent of leftist activism or continue to act in the public sphere. he was already a notable figure in the leftist arena when he had that conversation, so theres no argument that he “didnt know better.” he knew full well what he was doing. once youve made the decision to cover up sexual harassment/assault in order to save your own career, you have already betrayed everything that social justice and leftist ideology in general stand for.

the fact that this guy continues to be well-liked and respected to this day in spite of all this INCREDIBLY damning information actually disgusts me. he is a hypocrite of the highest order, and knowing that hes out here pretending to care about trans people while turning around and villainizing a trans man that HE so blatantly wronged is deeply sickening. we need to be better than this.

[ssj4]

Sorry to bother you, but I keep seeing posts about a future Goten AU and I keep getting really curious! However, when I try to find links to anything about it I end up at some abandoned URLs.

SECOND TIME TRYING TO ANSWER THIS CAUSE MY IDIOT ASS FORGOT I HAD ONE TYPED OUT AND CLOSED EVERYTHING :)

some disclaimers im getting most of this from an old draft i had written about the au, i havent watched the specific scenes in dbz and dbs that these are based on in well over 2+ years so i dont remember the timeline of events that well so im sorry if some of it just straight up doesnt make sense lol

this whole thing did start out as an excuse to replace the romantic scenes with mai in dbs with goten actually so the truten themes are pretty significant but that aside future goten is a very good boy with a much different personality and outlook on things… much like how future trunks is compared to his main timeline counterpart :3c the whole thing was developed by me and my gf together and we never rly posted too much about it and the broken links you did end up finding were probably from like the one or two times we did but here u go im glad u asked 

I HOPE THE READ MORE LINK WORKS ON MOBILE IF NOT IM SORRY

the big change is it starts out with chi chi getting pregnant before goku dies of heart disease or whatever in the android saga instead of the cell saga, so even after he dies in that timeline she still has their 2nd son and he grows up in the future timeline with trunks.

when they were kids (like 10-15) goten was stronger than trunks just bc gohan and chi chi were there to teach him just a little bit. trunks and goten sparred a lot though so he was able to keep up but never really passed him. (that part isnt really important but i figured it was a nice detail that made sense)

thats when history of trunks comes into play, and they both get really serious about gohan training them. the scene in the movie where gohan knocks trunks out before flying off and getting killed is the same except now he just knocks out 2 kids instead of 1 i guess. 

i feel i gotta add that this au was created when the future trunks arc in dbs was airing, and mai was introduced as his love interest, and honestly in my opinion the scenes were written really well but i just wasnt digging the fact that before she was granted a younger appearance she was already middle aged, like she was old enough to be his mom if that makes sense. so it really isnt a dig on mai at all cause i love her and id die for her its just the romantic plot that i didnt like. so when that was airing i thought “WELL what if that was someone else” 

she’s still with them though in this timeline and she still has her younger appearance! 

the future timeline is still progressing the same as it did in canon, the androids still wrecked the place and no one was strong enough to do much about it so trunks is still set up with a time machine to meet with the other timeline. goten stays back and does his best to protect everyone while hes gone just in case

some stuff happens in between here but skip ahead to trunks coming back from the trip after the cell games i guess! lots of stuff happened obviously like trunks literally dying, spending years in the time chamber with his dad, meeting a whole gaggle of clowns that he’d only heard stories about, seeing gohan as a preteen. hes got a lot of stuff to share!!! now hes back and he can take care of the androids + cell + and goten can catch up and lifes pretty good over there! 😇

during the rebuilding period goten would spend a lot of time with chi-chi and ox-king and still slept over there occasionally which she really appreciated, and he invited trunks and bulma over there with him frequently.

despite this he wasnt present when she died as no one really expected goku black to wipe out the landscape so far from the city, but she and ox-king died along with more than half of the population. (ugh god im so sorry queen i love you😓)

as i said before mai is still here and she’s still the leader of the resistance!

events of future bulmas death is the same as well as mai originally intending to go with trunks when they meet up together in an abandoned building. goten is already there as the three of them rest up a bit and start making their way to capsule corp. goten was planning on staying behind anyways but he wanted to see the two of them off. when goku black interrupts them as they arrive, trunks and goten encourage mai to escape, seeing as she only has a gun and everyone already knows bullets arent gonna work. 

this scene is the same as it was in canon, where trunks tries to rush black but gets beaten quickly. mai trying to buy him time to let him escape is replaced with goten actually fighting him and taking a hit for trunks but getting knocked out as mai did. trunks under extreme stress from already losing his mom today assumes hes dead instantly, (he has dumb bitch disease, he didnt even check for a pulse in canon!🤔) and fires a masenko to escape into capsule on his own 

after trunks pops back in time and black is focused on searching for him, mai sneaks back in to retrieve goten (even though they told her to leave she really just ducked behind some rubble and stayed close, because she wasnt just gonna leave them!)

she takes him back to an underground bunker with other members of earths resistance and when he wakes up she tells him that trunks made it to the time machine and that hes presumably in the other timeline now. 

idk if yall remember it well but i rewatched some of the episodes just for this, and trunks in the main timeline believing goten was killed and mai is alone and he wont be able to get back is so sad. and when he spent that day with gohan and his family and cried thinking about how if black hadn’t have shown up, he couldve had a family too… he doesnt deserve to be this sad 😥

skip to when he’s finally able to get back home with goku and vegeta with him and they make their way to the bunker where he sees mai and goten together! the scene in canon where he rushes over and starts spilling his heart out is the same, with him telling goten he thought he died

they get a really sweet hug moment here when theyre both happy to see the other is still safe and it gives both goku and vegeta some Food For Thought, because goku actually didnt know there was a goten in this timeline, and he doesnt really recognize him at first. vegeta has the idea in his head that this is probably goten.

goten never really had any sort of real attachment to his dad. it makes sense hes never met him, hes only ever really heard about him through others, (his mom, his brother, trunks, and probably bulma has mentioned him as well) so he definitely knows OF him its just that, he doesnt know him. so when he sees the real goku standing there for once a lot of thoughts run though his mind, like, “that looks A LOT like goku black!” “thats definitely my old hairstyle” and “holy shit is that my dad?” but the first thing he actually says out loud is “Holy shit its goku orange” and vegeta really almost loses it because cause any doubt in his mind about this kid being related to kakarot just went right out the window cause only someone related to him would say that

and as you probably know a lot happens after that with them all finding a way to defeat zamasu but i dont want to include all of the rest when you can probably just interpret which scenes were changed  

ANYWAYS now instead of trunks surviving the apocalypse its trunks and goten surviving the apocalypse. thats why its not a really super romantic deal like Who has time for dates when goku black Might possibly be hiding in this abandoned olive garden?? so theyre just very close and privately affectionate

the ending where trunks and mai get to live in a new world with their counterparts is the same except gotens there with them of course, dbs left their ending pretty open 

so that takes care of the story changes, heres some additional details and information on gotens character in this au! 

heres his design, drawn by my girlfriend @ssj2 uwu !! 

he kept his natural hairstyle for a while, but i think he changed it sometime during the rebuilding period after the androids and just let it grow out a bunch. up until then he kept his natural style purely to honor the guy he’s heard so fondly of even if it brought him a lot of mixed feelings when people said he looks just like him. a really distinct feature about his new hairstyle is that the spikes look like horns and i love that a lot !!

and the shawl he wears was the same one chi chi wore 

some personality traits for future goten is that he has a habit of bottling up his negative emotions and has trouble taking care of himself, as hes always more focused on the well being of his loved ones. he can be mischievous and cocky but hes not overconfident (or he hasnt been since gohans death) however in some situations he can be charismatic and assertive which works really well imowhen their timeline is erased and theyre temporarily in the main timeline, goten gets to meet a bunch of people like gohan and his family, chi chi, and even his counterpart 

sorry if this post was messy i wasnt really sure how i wanted to make it look and im kinda bad at dumping information out so if any of its confusing just redirect me to it and ill try again gdjfksjdgsfk 😭❤

hmmm anyways thank u for reading!! its an au we made years ago and we love a lot and i hope u do too! be nice pls!! and send asks about it if you’d like cause its fun to think about! 

[patriotsnet]

Are The Republicans Winning The Election

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-the-republicans-winning-the-election/

Are The Republicans Winning The Election

California Recall Lesson: Republicans Believe In Elections Only When They Win

Winning Elections: Why and How the Republicans Win

Republicans,;like totalitarians, believe in elections. But only if they always win.

New case in point? California, where voters on Tuesday appeared inclined to keep Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in a recall election.

Cue Larry Elder, the leading Republican to replace him, who started dropping unsubstantiated claims that the election was;rigged against him.

Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

The only proof Elder offered was the fact that California voters were poised to pick Newsom over him or anyone else on the long list of possible replacements.

How could that be? Republicans can only lose if theyre cheated, right?

I Do Not Buy That A Social Media Ban Hurts Trumps 2024 Aspirations: Nate Silver

sarah: Yeah, Democrats might not have their worst Senate map in 2022, but it will by no means be easy, and how they fare will have a lot to do with the national environment. And as we touched on earlier, Bidens overall approval rating will also make a big difference in Democrats midterm chances.

nrakich: Yeah, if the national environment is even a bit Republican-leaning, that could be enough to allow solid Republican recruits to flip even Nevada and New Hampshire. And then it wouldnt even matter if Democrats win Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

One thing is for sure, though whichever party wins the Senate will have only a narrow majority, so I think were stuck in this era of moderates like Sens. Joe Manchin and Lisa Murkowski controlling every bills fate for at least a while longer.;

sarah: Lets talk about big picture strategy, then, and where that leaves us moving forward. Its still early and far too easy to prescribe election narratives that arent grounded in anything, but one gambit the Republican Party seems to be making at this point is that attacking the Democratic Party for being too progressive or woke will help them win.

What do we make of that playbook headed into 2022? Likewise, as the party in charge, what are Democrats planning for?

With that being said, the GOPs strategies could still gin up turnout among its base, in particular, but its hard to separate that from general dissatisfaction with Biden.

Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger: National Gop Figures Didn’t Understand Our Laws

But Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting system implementation manager, said on Wednesday that the system is working exactly the way it is intended.

“The irony of saying ‘fraudulent votes have been found’ â he has gained in the finding of these votes,” he said.

Raffensperger has said he’s been pressured by top Republicans to find ways of disqualifying ballots that hurt the Trump campaign.

“They say that as pressure builds, it reveals your character, it doesn’t change your character. Some people aren’t behaving too well with seeing where the results are,” Raffensperger told NPR’s Ari Shapiro on Tuesday.

“At the end of the day, I want voters to understand that when they cast their ballot in Georgia, it will be accurately counted. You may not like the results and I get that. I understand how contentious it is. But you can then respect the results.”

Poll workers check voters’ identifications on Election Day at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, Wis. The Trump campaign has announced it is filing for a recount in two Wisconsin counties.hide caption

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Poll workers check voters’ identifications on Election Day at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, Wis. The Trump campaign has announced it is filing for a recount in two Wisconsin counties.

President Trump’s campaign announced Wednesday morning it is filing a petition to formally ask election authorities to conduct a recount in two Wisconsin counties. President-elect Joe Biden won the state by a little more than 20,000 votes.

Recommended Reading: Did Donald Trump Really Say Republicans Are Dumb

Gop Scores An Early Win In 2024 Race

New Census figures show the gap between the popular vote and the Electoral College is widening.

As a result of Census Bureau population figures released Monday, if every state voted the same way in 2024 that they did in 2020, President Joe Biden would win three fewer Electoral College votes than he did in November. |

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President Joe Bidens path to reelection just got a little harder.

As a result of Census Bureau population figures released Monday, if every state voted the same way in 2024 that they did in 2020, Biden would win three fewer Electoral College votes than he did in November, while the Republican nominee would win three more.

The shift is only a marginal one it would only affect the closest of elections.

But that doesnt mean the new state numbers which are used to apportion the number of congressional districts each state gets, and thus the number of electoral votes wont alter the landscape in 2024 and 2028.

Here are five reasons why:

The gap between the popular vote and the Electoral College is widening.

Biden beat then-President Donald Trump by 74 Electoral College votes. A net gain of six votes for Trump wouldnt have mattered.

But in a close race like the one in 2000, where just five electoral votes separated George W. Bush and Al Gore the re-balancing of the Electoral College could tip the scales.

Thats significant for a party whose presidential candidates have won the national popular vote only once since 1988.

But thats right now.

The Numbers Are Grim Republicans Are Winning At Normalizing Voter Suppression

Voter ID laws which are sculpted to make it harder to vote are wildly popular with voters, according to surveys

Voter suppression has been around for as long as the republic. Stories of subterfuge and ballot box-stuffing schemes are such a part of American political folklore, theres an entire book about them. So in one sense, there is nothing particularly novel about Republican politicians efforts to rig the vote, or the important revelations that rightwing groups and corporate officials are coordinating state-level campaigns to make it harder to vote.

However, a new nugget of polling data illustrates that something more fundamental has happened: voter suppression is no longer a plot engineered in the shadows and denied in public, for fear of criticism by a population that considers such measures grotesque. Instead, voter suppression is having its coming-out party because more and more Americans now consider it to be a perfectly legitimate and even laudable campaign tactic.

The data point comes in a new CBS/YouGov survey, buried under the topline finding that almost two-thirds of Republican voters do not consider Joe Biden the legitimate winner of the 2020 election, despite Bidens electoral college and popular vote victories.

Nearly half of Republicans surveyed supported the latter move, with the strongest demographics in support being female Republicans, non-white Republicans and white Republicans with no college degree.

Read Also: Democrats Have Tried To Impeach Every Republican President Since Eisenhower

Biden Avoids The Microscope

Another benefit Biden can enjoy from having his party control both chambers of Congress is that Republican investigatory powers will be greatly diminished. With Democrats in charge of Senate committees, embarrassing and potentially explosive investigations are unlikely to materialise.

Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson will no longer run the Government Oversight Committee, so his planned forays into Hunter Biden’s China dealings and any connections to the incoming president will go away. The same applies to Lindsey Graham and the Judiciary Committee, which was expected to hold more hearings into the 2016 Russia election-meddling investigation and the origins of Robert Mueller’s special counsel probe.

Any new Democratic scandals that crop up should also avoid a full and potential politically damaging airing – a luxury Trump also enjoyed during his first two years in office and sorely missed during his final two.

The Trump-Russia saga in 350 words

Biden Flips Coveted Georgia The Last State To Be Called By The Ap

The full hand recount of the state’s 5 million presidential votes resulted in a narrowing of Biden’s lead over President Trump in Georgia, but not nearly enough to change the result. He started out with a 14,000 vote lead, and now leads by just over 12,000 votes.

The recount, formally known as a risk-limiting audit, is intended to verify the contest’s winner. As Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Stephen Fowler reported, four counties uncovered a few thousand previously uncounted votes, which subsequently cut into Biden’s margin of victory.

Douglas, Walton, Fayette and Floyd counties all experienced issues with missing or unscanned votes related to human error â but the numbers weren’t significant enough to change the outcome of the election.

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There is no mandatory recount law in Georgia, but state law does allow for a recount if the margin is less than .5%. It currently stands at .2%.

Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced the hand audit last week, citing the close margin of the race.

The four counties with new vote totals must recertify their results. Statewide election results must be certified by Friday. The Trump campaign then has until Tuesday to request an additional recount, which would be by machine rather than by hand.

Trump has repeatedly questioned the integrity of Georgia’s vote counting, it both a “joke” and a process that led to “fraudulent votes” being found.

Read Also: Are Any Republicans In Favor Of Impeachment

Redistricting Is The Next Step On A Path To One

The redistricting process kicked off this week in Washington. The Census Bureau released initial data from the 2020 census Monday afternoon, , which means that congressional district boundaries will soon be redrawn to account for changes in population.

These changes will probably tend to benefit the Republican Party, as conservative states will get more seats for instance, Texas will gain two seats, while New York, California, and Illinois will all lose one. Republicans are also certain to use the process to try to gerrymander themselves as many additional congressional seats as possible by leveraging their control of a majority of state legislatures. And that is just the opening tactic in a long-term strategy to abolish American democracy and set up one-party rule.

Today in Michigan, gerrymandering means Republicans enjoy a 3.4-point handicap in the state House and a 10.7-point handicap in the state Senate; in Pennsylvania, it’s a 3.1-point handicap in the House and a 5.9-point handicap in the Senate; and in Wisconsin, a 7.1-point handicap in the House and a 10.1-point handicap in the Senate.

It’s impossible to gerrymander the Senate, of course, but luckily for Republicans that chamber is inherently gerrymandered due to the large number of disproportionately white, low-population rural states that lean conservative. The swing seat in the Senate is biased something like 7 points to the right.

A Late Surge In Latino Voters Helped Newsom Keep His Job

Who is Winning US Election 2020 | Full 360 Analysis | Analysts, Democrats, Republicans on NewsX

For weeks, Democrats openly worried that Latino voters were not going to show up in force for Gov. Gavin Newsom. That might have spelled doom for the party, which has relied on support from Latino voters to rise to its current grip on power in the state.

But early numbers suggest that it might have been history repeating itself: a late investment in Latino voter outreach, and a late uptick in interest and voting among Latinos. Though it was far from unanimous, the majority of Latino voters backed Mr. Newsom, with some Latino-heavy precincts defeating the recall by as much as 88 percent, according to an analysis by the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Early numbers, though, suggest that Latino voters may still not be showing up to the polls at the same rates as white, Black and Asian American voters. As of Tuesday morning, 30 percent of Latino voters who received their ballots by mail had sent them back, compared with 50 percent of white voters and 40 percent of Black voters, according to Political Data Inc., a Sacramento-based research group.

Historically, Latinos are more likely to vote late, and many observers thought it was possible to see a last-minute surge among those voters. Exit polling suggests that Latinos made up roughly 24 percent of all voters in the recall, and that about 60 percent of those Latino voters favored keeping the governor in office.

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Some Republicans Including Trump Make Baseless Pre

As Election Day dawned in California, some leading Republicans were preparing to declare the results marred by fraud.

Elder had already set up a link on his campaign website to a petition asking the state legislature to investigate voting fraud. In recent interviews he encouraged citizens to report voting issues to his campaign and said a team of lawyers was ready to act if needed.

The pre-election efforts to undermine confidence in the results were led by former president Donald Trump, who sent out a statement Tuesday morning warning of rampant voter fraud. In a Tuesday evening interview on Newsmax, Trump repeated his baseless claims, urging viewers to take a look at whats going on right now in California with the mail-in ballots and all the crap that theyre doing.

Shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday outside a voting location at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds in Turlock, Charlotte Dutra, 68, a retired human resources analyst for Turlock Irrigation District, said she is a proud Republican and voted yes to take out.

Dutra said she filled out her recall ballot and dropped it off in person. She said she believes there was fraud in the 2020 election, and shes still skeptical of election integrity in California because the current secretary of state was appointed by the White-privileged Gavin Newsom.

There is no evidence that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Can Pence Affect The Outcome

While Pence has said he welcomes objections to the electoral college count, his role in the processopening envelopes and affirming the victoriesis largely ceremonial.

Last month, Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Republican from Texas, filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to give Pence the authority to overturn Bidens win, but Pence successfully requested the case be dismissed, with an attorney for the Department of Justice arguing he was not the right defendant.

Read Also: Why Do Republicans Want To Take Away Health Care

Newsoms Efforts To Combat Coronavirus Sway Some Voters

In a rapidly gentrifying part of Inglewood, Calif., Gov. Gavin Newsoms imposition of restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic swayed some voters as did Republican Larry Elders statements that children do not need to be vaccinated or wear masks.

Keeping a candidate in office thats going to protect health-care workers, protect children, enforce the mask mandate at this point Im on the front lines. I work at UCLA Health in a hospital setting as a manager and am in the thick of it, seeing children get sick, Jolie Emenike, 41, said about the issue that drove her to vote against the recall Tuesday morning.

I dont want to see the vaccine or mask mandates change, she said.

For Dan Sabin, too, the vaccine rules were top of mind, though his conclusion was different.

I was subject to a vaccine mandate when I was younger in Romania. We overthrew our government, but I still have the lasting effects of that mandate, said Sabin, 33. I definitely recalled Gavin Newsom.

Although he called mail-in ballots a massive risk, the software engineer said he trusts the election process.

Im not really sure. You have to trust the people that do the ballots, he said. Ultimately, the people that work in there are people in the community.

If Rep Liz Cheney Doesnt Have A Home In The Gop Who Does

To be sure, though, Fragas own research has found that white voters, regardless of how easy or hard it is for them to vote, consistently turn out at higher rates than voters of color, so we do want to be careful of not reading too much into this. Jennifer McCoy, a political scientist at Georgia State University who studies the effects of polarization on democracy, told me that she thought the current emphasis on voter restrictions boiled down to Republicans thinking they could appeal to Trumps base by codifying his baseless claims of voter fraud. know they have to attract Donald Trump supporters who now believe there is fraud, said McCoy. So a large part of the current efforts to change voter laws was a direct response to this last election. Large majorities of Republicans continue to believe Bidens win is not legitimate, and a that only 28 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning people agreed that everything possible should be done to make voting easy, a steep drop from 48 percent in October 2018.

The GOPs restrictionist bent sends the message that Republicans dont want Black and brown Americans to vote. In September 2020, 54 percent of Black respondents and 35 percent of Hispanic respondents told FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos they believed Republicans didnt want people like me to vote.

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Why Are Republicans Fighting So Hard For Georgia

While the presidential election results were full of disappointments for Donald Trump, losing Georgia may have been the unkindest cut.

Like Arizona, the state hadn’t been carried by a Democrat since 1992. But unlike that desert state, Georgia wasn’t considered an electoral battleground until the campaign’s final weeks.

That, along with the narrowness of the Biden lead in the state, may be why the Trump team has fought so furiously to flip the state to his column – even if it means going to war with local Republicans overseeing the state’s election.

The president’s efforts to cast doubt on the results in Georgia are complicated by the fact that the state’s two runoff contests in January will decide control of the US Senate. The more he feuds with his own party in the state, the greater the risk division will lead to Republican defeat.

Trump is making Georgia his first presidential visit since the election. The stated purpose is to campaign for the two Republican incumbent senators, but he is sure to continue to call into question the presidential verdict in the state.

Reversing the election results has proven to be a futile battle, but it seems the only thing worse for this president than actual defeat is appearing to accept it.