#America's History of Ugly Laws

[lifestyle-hub]

A Crime to be 'Ugly'?: A Look at one of America's Most Cruel Laws

Image Credit: Polina Tankilevitch

Being 'ugly' was indeed a punishable offense in some cities in America for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Imagine walking down the street, minding your business, when a police officer stops you because your appearance doesn't fit societal norms. It sounds absurd, but this bizarre chapter in history reveals a disturbing truth about how society once treated the most vulnerable.

The Origins of the 'Ugly Laws'

The so-called 'Ugly Laws' were first introduced in San Francisco in 1867 and quickly spread to cities like Chicago, Denver, and New Orleans. Officially titled the “Unsightly Beggar Ordinance,” these laws targeted people with disabilities, disfigurements, or other physical differences. The justification? Such individuals were considered “unsightly” and therefore not fit for public view.

These laws were rooted in a complex web of social fears and prejudices. During the late 19th century, America was experiencing rapid urbanization and immigration. The influx of people, coupled with the harsh realities of industrial life, brought poverty and illness into public spaces in a way that was difficult to ignore. Instead of addressing the root causes of poverty and disability, cities chose to hide the symptoms by criminalizing the visibility of those who didn’t meet arbitrary standards of physical appearance.

A Law Enforced With Brutality

The enforcement of the Ugly Laws was often brutal. In Chicago, for example, the ordinance stated: “Any person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, or an improper person to be allowed in or on the streets, highways, thoroughfares, or public places in this city, shall not therein or thereon expose himself or herself to public view.”

Violators were fined or even jailed. But beyond the legal penalties, the real punishment was the stigma and shame imposed on those who were already marginalized. These laws reinforced the idea that certain bodies were less worthy, less human, and less deserving of public life. They institutionalized the belief that beauty equated to value, a notion that still echoes in today's society.

The Real Victims: Who Were They?

The victims of these laws were primarily people with disabilities, but they also included the poor, the elderly, and anyone who did not conform to narrow standards of physical beauty. A person with a visible disability or someone simply aging naturally could be fined, arrested, or shunned. It was a cruel reminder that public space was reserved for those who fit a specific mold, often white, wealthy, and able-bodied.

These laws also disproportionately affected immigrants, who were often viewed with suspicion. In cities where the laws were enforced, the very people who had come to America seeking better lives were often those targeted and harassed under the guise of public decency.

The Slow Path to Repeal

The Ugly Laws did not disappear overnight. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century, as attitudes towards disability and public health began to shift, that these laws started to be questioned. In Chicago, the ordinance remained on the books until 1974, a shocking testament to how deeply ingrained these prejudices were.

The repeal of the Ugly Laws coincided with the rise of the disability rights movement, which fought for the recognition of people with disabilities as full citizens deserving of dignity, respect, and access to public spaces. Activists like Judith Heumann and groups like the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities played a crucial role in shifting public perception and advocating for legal changes that would eventually lead to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.

A Legacy of Exclusion

Although the Ugly Laws are gone, their legacy lingers in the ongoing stigmatization of people with disabilities and differences. Society still grapples with issues of accessibility, representation, and equality. Public spaces are often designed with the “ideal” body in mind, leaving those who don’t fit that mold to navigate a world that wasn’t built for them.

Moreover, the obsession with physical appearance continues to shape social interactions, media portrayals, and even professional opportunities. While we no longer have laws explicitly banning “unsightly” individuals from public spaces, the underlying bias that fueled the Ugly Laws remains in many forms.

Reflecting on the Past to Build a Better Future

The Ugly Laws serve as a stark reminder of the dangers of a society that values appearance over humanity. They reveal how easily prejudice can be codified into law and how those laws can shape public attitudes for generations. As we reflect on this dark chapter in American history, it’s crucial to remember that progress is not inevitable. The fight for a more inclusive, just society requires constant vigilance and a commitment to challenging the biases that still exist.

Signing out, kad

References

1.The Unsightly Beggar Ordinance: The Origins of Ugly Laws - JSTOR

2. Chicago's Ugly Law - Chicago History Museum

[tea-writes19]

brother-in-law | b.b.

pairing: bucky barnes x f!parker!reader

summary: your brother peter tries to find you a boyfriend by posting an ad on instagram

warnings: swearing, fluff, suggestive content

a/n: my first smau + fic!!!! based on this fic by the lovely @pomegranatesarchive. fr it’s one of my fav smau’s and I don’t even follow f1😭

liked by mjjones, nedleeds, and others

peterparker: are you a young hot single in nyc? well meet y/n parker, my VERY single sister!! she enjoys cheap pizza, true crime, and long walks through central park! if you’re interested please comment down below…serious inquiries only!

view comments below

yourusername: peter wtf is this?!?

peterparker: I WANT A BROTHER! is that too much to ask for???

yourusername: NO!! JUST NO!! @/mayparker aunt may please take his phone!!

mayparker: sorry sweetie, but pete’s right. you’ve been really lonely and sad looking recently

yourusername: so the solution is to pimp me out?!?

peterparker: i will not be stopped

user1: i’m interested?

peterparker: no, too ugly

yourusername: PETER PLEASE

peterparker: i need them to at least look good in pics

mjjones: pete, y/n is going to kill you

yourusername: the bitch is hiding behind stark😡

peterparker: @/ me next time🤺

tonystark: please don’t drag me into this

user2: not bro literally selling his sister😭😭

user3: this is hilarious!

nedleeds: can you do this for me next?

peterparker: no you talk to people

user4: i’m interested!

peterparker: nah

yourusername: what’s the point if you’re just going to reject everyone?

peterparker: shhhh…let me work

yourusername: 🙄🙄

steverogers: what is happening?

peterparker: mr. america sir! are you interested?? y/n loves history! you’d be my first choice too!!

steverogers: uh no thanks…i’m too busy right now to think about dating

yourusername: not me getting rejected by CAPTAIN AMERICA in front of the world😭

user5: rip

user6: dude don’t you work with literal superheroes? ask them

user7: aren’t half of them married and in committed relationships?

user6: yeah but that still leaves the rest

user8: hey so this is insane!

user9: it’s kinda cute how much he cares about his sister

user9: weird too, but cute

peterparker: @/samwilson @/buckybarnes @/steverogers @/natasharomanoff @/joaquintorres @/mariahill @/wandamaximoff who’s interested?

mariahill: no thanks

samwilson: i’m good

steverogers: i already said no…

wandamaximoff: i’m dating vision so no

natasharomanoff: parker this is weird

joaquintorres: no thanks

yourusername: kill me now

user10: this was rough to read

user11: #savey/n from this torture

peterparker: okay, fine, i don’t care

tonystark: he cares

peterparker: on a completely different note @/buckybarnes i need help with a history essay. can you come over tomorrow?

buckybarnes: 👍

buckybarnes added to their story—>

[captain: what the fuck is a oligodendrocyte?]

story replies

steverogers: peter set you up didn’t he?

buckybarnes: he pulled the history essay thing

user12: omg is that y/n???

user13: peter’s post worked!?!

samwilson: man that kid got you good

liked by peterparker, buckybarnes, mjjones and others

yourusername: photo dump bc i graduate in a week!!!

view comments below

peterparker: no me?

yourusername: you lost post privileges after that stunt you pulled

peterparker: BUT IT WORKED OUT DIDN’T IT?!

user14: 👀👀👀

user15: who’s hand is that y/n!?!

user16: IS THAT ALPINE???

buckybarnes: the only person who can get alpine to cuddle

yourusername: i’m just chill like that😌

user17: HELLOOOO????

user18: fr like wdym peter was successful??

yourusername added to their story—>

[caption: 💐🤭]

story replies

user17: omg omg omg

user18: AHHHHHHHH

mjjones: peter is fangirling

liked by buckybarnes, mayparker, pepperpotts and others

yourusername: i graduated college!!!

view comments below

buckybarnes: congrats doll <3

yourusername: love you🫶🏻🫶🏻

user19: DOLL!?!?

user20: EVERYBODY STAY CALM IT’S HAPPENING

mayparker: so proud of you y/n!!!

yourusername: couldn’t have done it without you!!!

pepperpotts: congratulations y/n!

yourusername: thank you!!

user21: omg congrats!

user22: i feel like a proud parent rn🥹

peterparker: my favorite college grad

yourusername: bootlicker😐

peterparker: i take it back

peterparker: you’re the worst🖕

yourusername: love you too petey

tonystark: congrats kid

yourusername: thanks…now give me a job

tonystark: get better taste in men first

buckybarnes: that’s fair

steverogers: BUCKY

© tea-writes19 do not repost, translate, or copy

thank you for reading <3

[mariacallous]

This is a gift article

In the final week of this election season, the Republican Party is running two different campaigns. One of them is an ugly and angry but conventional political enterprise. Donald Trump and other Republicans make speeches; party operatives seek to get out the vote; money is spent in swing states; television and radio advertisements proliferate. The people running that campaign are focused on winning the election.

Last night, in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, we caught a glimpse of the other campaign. This is the campaign that is psychologically preparing Americans for an assault on the electoral system, a second January 6, if Trump doesn’t win—or else an assault on the political system and the rule of law if he does. Listen carefully to the words of Tucker Carlson, the pundit fired from Fox News partly for his role in lying about the 2020 election. Warming up the crowd for Trump, he mocked the very idea that Kamala Harris could win: “It’s going to be pretty hard to look at us and say, ‘You know what? Kamala Harris, she got 85 million votes because she’s so impressive as the first Samoan Malaysian, low-I.Q., former California prosecutor ever to be elected president.”

“Samoan Malaysian” was Carlson’s way of mocking Harris’s mixed-race background, and “low-IQ” is self-explanatory—but “85 million” is a number of votes she could in fact win. And how, Carlson suggested, could there be such a “groundswell of popular support” for a person he demeaned as a mongrel, an incompetent, an idiot? The answer was clear: There can’t be, and if anyone says it happened, then we will contest it.

All of this is part of the game: the Trump campaign’s loud confidence, despite dead-even polls; its decision, in the final days, to take the candidate outside the swing states to New York, New Mexico, and Virginia, because we’ve got this in the bag (and not, say, because filling arenas in Pennsylvania is getting harder); the hyping of Republican-early-voter numbers, even though no evidence indicates that these are new voters, just people who are no longer being discouraged from voting early. Also the multiple attempts, across the country, to remove large numbers of people from the rolls; the many claims, with no justification, that “illegal immigrants” are voting or even, as Trump implied during the September debate, that illegal immigrants are being deliberately imported into the country in order to vote; Vance’s declaration that he will accept the election results as long as “only legal American citizens” vote.

At Madison Square Garden, Trump doubled down on that rhetoric. He repeated past claims about the “invasion” of immigrants; about “Venezuelan gangs” occupying American cities, even Times Square; and he offered an instant solution: “On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get these criminals out. I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail.” But he left open the question of who exactly all these “criminals” might be, because he seemed to be talking about not just immigrants but also his political opponents, “the enemy within.” The United States, he said, “is now an occupied country, but it will soon be an occupied country no longer … November 5, 2024, nine days from now, will be Liberation Day in America.”

The insults we heard from many speakers at Madison Square Garden, including the description of Puerto Rico as “garbage” or of Harris as “the anti-Christ” or of Hillary Clinton as a “sick son of a bitch”—insults that can also be heard in a thousand podcast episodes featuring Carlson, Elon Musk, J. D. Vance, and their ilk—are part of the same effort. Trump’s electorate is being primed to equate his political opposition with infection, pollution, and demonic power, and to accept violence and chaos as a legitimate, necessary response to these primal, lethal threats.

As I wrote earlier this month, this kind of language, imported from the 1930s, has never before been part of mainstream American presidential politics, because no other political candidate in modern history has used an election to undermine the legal basis of the American political system. But if we are an occupied country, then Joe Biden is not the legitimately elected president of the United States. If we are an occupied country, then the American government is not a set of institutions established over centuries by Congress, but rather a sinister cabal that must be dismantled at any price. If we are an occupied country, then of course the Trump administration can break the law, commit acts of violence, or even trash the Constitution in order to “liberate” Americans, either after Trump has lost the election or after he has won it.

This kind of language is not being used accidentally or incidentally. It is not a joke, even when used by professional comedians. These insults are central to Trump’s message, which is why they were featured at a venue he reveres. They are also classic authoritarian tactics that have worked before, not only in the 1930s but also in places such as modern Venezuela and modern Russia, countries where the public was also prepared over many years to accept lawlessness and violence from the state. The same tactics are working in the United States right now. Election workers, whose job is to carry out the will of the voters, are already the subject of violent threats and harassment. At least two ballot boxes have been attacked.

The natural human instinct is to dismiss, ignore, or downplay these kinds of threats. But that’s the point: You are meant to accept this language and behavior, to consider this kind of rhetoric “baked in” to any Trump campaign. You are supposed to just get used to the idea that Trump wishes he had “Hitler’s generals” or that he uses the Stalinist phrase “enemies of the people” to describe his opponents. Because once you think that’s normal, then you’ll accept the next step. Even when that next step is an assault on democracy and the rule of law.

[oh-no-its-bird]

Gonna ramble a bit here, sorry in advance for that

With the rise in worry about the permanence of online media (books / music / video content / art / online chat history / etc.) I've been thinking about wanting to print out some of my favorite fics, or catologue some of my longer (months and years long tbh) conversations about ocs. Or maybe try and learn how to burn cds so I can save my music and favorite shows / videos n stuff

Mm,, download a show online and burn it into a cd so I never have to look for it again,, easily accessible physical copy,, I love pirating things

Obviously, with printing out fics I'd want to ask for explicit permission from the author and then keep the printed volume to myself. Gotta be careful to be respectful ab that sort of thing.

I'd also be interested in printing out some of my own shit too, just for fun. Those old conversations about ocs won't last forever, discord will eventually fail and when it does I know I for one will be crushed to lose all that chat history.

Obviously, I'm an American, and like the current political state in America is uhhh. Deeply worrying for all of us over here. So I won't lie, that's also adding a layer of worry from that angle. Things are already looking ugly, and if they get uglier, you know, I for one don't want my information to be completley ripped away from me

Turning back to the fic thing again, there's also a good amount of American fic writers who have / are planning to / are thinking about taking down some of their fics, due to fear of potential laws that threaten to make pornography illegal, and alao laws that classify anything homosexual as pornography.

Now, to be clear, I don't think they'll really do this. I think that even if they try, there're literally no fucking way it would pass. The backlash alone would be insane. But that doesn't change the fact that people are scared— that people got scared, and some have already taken things down

So there's another layer of just, shit man, I don't wanna lose my fics. There's always a risk that even if you download it, you could one day lose it too.

Also printed and bound fics are just cool as hell. What do you mean I have a copy of my very favorite fics, right there on my shelf in physical form, which I can open any time to any page I want without fear of ao3 one day crashing?

The ideal world tbh

Besides that, there's also a sort of time capsule aspect to it.

The other day, my dad whipped out his old tape recordings he made when he was a kid, just of him rambling about shit to mail to a cousin. He put them in to a record player he apparently just had, and I lost my fucking mind seeing it.

Both of my parents were laughing at how excited I was to see both the tapes and the boom box— and to listen to my dad's tinny, muffled voice sounding just like the vintage tapes might be portrayed on TV. Faint static and old timey tv lilt in his voice and all.

To them, it was just a small, slightly nostalgic thing. To me, it was cool as hell and totally retro

The things I save today, that I print, that I burn into cds; Stories I'm scared might get deleted, conversations I dont want to lose, tv shows I could never afford to maintain a subscription to see, playlists of music I worried I'd lose; They may someday be some day be a real relic of the past, however many years in the future. If not for other people, than yeah, for me

So just, I dunno. It's important to save things in a way that they can't be taken away from you.

It's supposed to be the "age of information," isn't it? Well then, let me keep my goddamn information

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Steven Beschloss at America, America:

I know there are many among us who see today as an endpoint. The demise of democracy. The failure of our electorate to commit to self-governance. The willingness to let the richest among us grab power, with the foolish assumption that they would advance the well-being of working people rather than further enrich themselves. Let’s not doubt: The inauguration of Donald Trump is a cruel slap in the face of every lover of democracy, equality, justice and the rule of law. This event offers the terrible odor of billionaires and kleptocrats who see an opportunity to exploit government resources at the expense of taxpaying Americans just trying to get by. The convicted felon mouthing the oath to protect and defend the Constitution? It portends an ugly future, enough to convince some Americans that the democratic project is over, they have lost the battle and there’s nothing they can do now besides turn away. They are wrong. In fact, normalizing the idea that Trump’s return represents the end of democracy is a useful component of his authoritarian playbook. Feelings of resignation and despair are just what the authoritarian ruler wants his opponents to experience. Giving up—or believing that it is beyond our power to sustain America’s democratic values and principles— accelerates his success. This is anticipatory obedience, just as much as billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg handing over millions and bowing down to the Malignant One. This is not a time for silence. This is not a time for resignation or despair. This is not a time to be cynical and insist that it’s all over. This is a time to gather your strength and stay engaged. This is a time to seek out guidance, to be nourished by the wisdom of others, to remember that you are not alone, to keep in mind that we are facing challenges that many Americans have faced throughout our history—and that we can get through this together. This is not a time to give up. This would be a disservice to all the good people who came before us and fought for a democratic future defined by justice and equality of opportunity.

That’s why I’m grateful that this is the day to celebrate the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., rather than dwell on Trump’s inauguration. These days King is rightly seen as a heroic figure, a widely beloved American who lived a life dedicated to justice, equality and the overcoming of racial discrimination. But the truth is that in his own time he was a deeply controversial figure, a truth-teller who said what needed to be said even when it caused terrible blowback. That included his intensifying criticism of racism, income inequality and the Vietnam War. As I’ve written previously, as late as 1968, the year King was killed, nearly 75 percent of Americans rejected him. Following his assassination in April of that year, nearly a third of Americans felt he “brought it on himself.”

[...] I don’t mean to minimize the scale of danger facing our democracy, rule of law and the Constitution with the return of Trump to our White House. We can expect on this Inauguration Day virtually immediate attacks on immigrants and other vulnerable people, efforts to dismantle government agencies, intensified demands to confirm his reckless appointees, pardons of Jan. 6. insurrectionists and targeting of critics. They will release “shock and awe” executive orders to stoke fear. If we previously could anticipate that major media organizations would do their part to push back, we know now that many of these billionaire-led outlets and tech bro-driven platforms have abandoned their democratic responsibility to serve the public and tell the truth. We have yet to see how the courts will respond once Trump’s Justice Department begins carrying out his demands for retribution with lawsuits, firings and other acts of intimidation to silence opposition. That will put more pressure on independent media and everyday Americans to speak out and oppose the lies and vengeful actions that we see and hear. So rather than look at Jan. 20, 2025 as the end of the era of democracy, I urge you to see it as the beginning a new chapter in our collective effort to defend it. Today is an important day to resist despair and refuse to lose sight of the values and principles that have built our nation. It won’t be easy, but the struggle for a better world never is. As Martin Luther King warned from his Alabama jail cell in 1963, “freedom is never given freely by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” His words mirrored those of another great American about a century earlier. “Power concedes nothing without a demand,” Frederick Douglass said in 1857. “It never did and it never will.” We cannot be silent. We cannot give up. We must continue to make demands to create the America that we envision for ourselves and coming generations.

Today is also Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Unlike the man who returned to office today, MLK Jr. was a man of principle.

[deancashorrorfest]

Step right up to another wondrous round of DeanCas Horrorfest! The writers and the artists have collaborated to make this year one for the history books. We've got ghouls, we've got monsters, we've got blood, we've got gay love --- And when I say you shouldn't miss this, I mean you really don't want to miss this collection of spooky stories... you really don't know what could happen if you do 🤡🔪 I'd like to thank all our contributors for keeping the spirit of samhain alive and well. DeanCas Horrorfest would be nothing without enthusiastic cult members participants like you. ❤ So, without further ado...

You Better Not Stay || Rated E

story by @friendofcarlotta with art by @demeters-sketchbook

Recent high school graduates Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak have been friends since childhood, and dating in secret for a little over a year. But their relationship has an expiration date: Cas is leaving town, and Dean… well, Dean isn’t. Not with his dad breathing down his neck and a family business to run. 

For their final date, Dean takes Cas to the old skating rink where they used to spend time as kids. What Dean doesn’t know is that when the rink closed down, something else took up residence there. And it won’t let them go without a fight. Link to Fic || Link to Art

The (After) Life of the Party || Rated M

story by @thebatmandiaries with art by @milfycas

After a fight with Sam one night, Dean wakes up in a world he is unfamiliar with. This world only has one rule: kill or be killed. As a designated Killer, he must kill all the Survivors before they have a chance to complete their task. If he doesn’t, he ruins the risk of becoming a Survivor himself. With the help of Charlie and Benny, other Killers, he slowly finds his footing in the new world he was thrust into. If only there wasn’t a strange blue eyed man to distract him… Link to Fic || Link to Art

Danger In The Mirror || Rated M

story by @dwinchester1979 with art by @keikakudom

Castiel is pulled through the mirror into a nightmare. Now his husband has to cover for his mysterious missing presence as he desperately tries to get Castiel back. Can they figure out the secret of the mirror before time runs out, or will Castiel have to face the girl with the silver dagger all alone?  Link to Fic || Link to Art

The Beginning || Rated E

story by @valleydean with art by @hawkland

One year ago, soon after Lucifer was freed from the Cage, Dean and Sam parted ways. Since then, Dean has been hunting on his own and, along with Cas despite his declining grace, searching for a way to prevent the apocalypse. When the outbreak of the Croatoan virus begins, Dean and Cas head to Bobby’s to plan their next move. On the way, as the contagion rapidly spreads through America, they must contend with the rabid infected, martial law, and humans who will do anything to ensure their own survival. Link to Fic || Link to Art

Clutch || Rated M

story by @dogfishmonger with art by @dolgoyangi

Dean is a normal, stable man in his 20s: He has a job. He has a boyfriend of three years, even if they're on the rocks. He has a little brother in pre-law. There are, simultaneously, things in his upbringing that he simply isn't supposed to question: His father's unexplained, undefined trips out of state. His mother's death. The body he once found in the basement. When Sam runs off in search of answers, Dean and Cas head east to find him. But after catching up with him, something's... different. Wrong. Dean and Cas are at odds—again—with Dean believing that Sam could be in danger, and Cas suspicious that Sam is the danger. Returning to normalcy will involve more digging into forbidden territory than Dean was ever prepared for. In the end, he doesn't even know if it was worth it. They're left with just as many questions as answers, and the answers they do have are ugly, insidious things, glistening oil-spill black and undulating. Link to Fic || Link to Art

The Void Within || Rated E

story by @preetkiran1016 with art by @sketcheun

Dean's still getting used to the ache of loss and grief burning a hole into his chest. Still not used to the empty space where his brothers used to be. His life is a day to day drudgery, the eternal crawl, and since Cas broke up with him, he's not quite sure what he's got left to stick around for. When Jack and Claire go missing, well, he can't just sit back and watch. Digging deeper, Dean finds himself caught in the middle of a complicated web he can't hope to begin to untangle. Missing Kids, Doomsday Cults, and the sudden return of Castiel in his life have Dean spiraling, even with his trusted Service Dog, Miracle, by his side. But the one question remains, above all others- Who were the Men of Letters, and what were they doing in Lawrence? Dean doesn't think he's going to like the answer. Link to Fic || Link to Art

The Crawling Dark || Rated T

story by @sylvanfreckles with art by @cactus-79

Dean was hoping for a straightforward case, something that would let him and Castiel have a little private time together. But what they found in the caves beneath Delving, Colorado was a stinking labyrinth of a death and decay, with an ancient horror at its heart. At the mercy of the darkness around them, Dean and Castiel must face a creature of immeasurable strength and insatiable hunger, with light as their only salvation. After all, it is better to light a candle than to curse the crawling dark. Link to Fic || Link to Art

Apres Moi, Le Deluge || Rated M

story by @folkbloodbaths with art by @an-android-in-a-tutu

Dean and Sam are on a camping trip, and they haven’t been home in a few days. When a sudden rainstorm and an injured ankle have them seeking shelter, an abandoned ranger’s cabin offers an unexpected port in the storm. Except, the abandoned cabin isn’t abandoned. Is its occupant, Castiel, just a recluse, or is he someone — or something — more sinister? Dean can’t help but feel drawn to him, even as he begins to have strange and terrible dreams about rising flood waters and a canopy of billowing black wings. And still, the rain continues to fall. Link to Fic || Link to Art (cw for flashing gif)

For Crying Out Loud || Rated M

story by @rowanspn with art by @solstheimart

Their relationship is perfect. At least, it was once. After a harrowing rescue from the depth of the Empty, a heartfelt reunion, and a breath of reciprocation, Castiel and Dean started to live life as they deserved. However, every Winchester knows that happiness does not stay long, not for that bloodline anyway. One night, following a fight worse than ever before, a terrible accident rips Castiel's life, and heart, in two. The guilt threatens to consume him but there is something far darker hiding in the shadows of his home. Will Castiel find a way to survive the ache in his chest or will the evil within his lonely walls kill him before it gets the chance? Link to Fic || Link to Art

Shall We Begin Again? || Rated E

story by @livingonaprayerstiel with art by @blanchescarlettm

Castiel is rescued from the Empty and wants to pick up where he left off with Dean. But, it is soon revealed that the Empty is not as gone as it seems. Castiel will have to find out who or what can be trusted as he acclimates to his new life. Link to Fic || Link to Art

Tenebrous || Rated E

story by @deancodedcastielenby with art by @hawkland

The war is over, Chuck is done and it's now the time where the Winchesters get peace... or is it. The war against God may be over, but that doesn't mean smooth sailing. Jack promises to be hands off, but there is a storm coming almost 12 years in the making. Sam knows something is wrong with Dean, it started out small, but now.... now it's become a problem so he enlists the aid of Rowena and Eileen, the only ones he can count on, to help him solve the mystery of Dean Winchester before its too late. Link to Fic || Link to Art

Conversion || Rated E

story by @bleuzombie with art by @nickelkeep

In order to avoid a jail sentence trans man Dean agrees to attend religious-based residential treatment for 90 days. Dean fights to maintain his sense of self as he is attacked mentally, and physically, and fights to protect his new friends Charlie and Castiel. Soon the treatment turns to torture. Jail would have been preferable. Link to Fic || Link to Art

The Elevator Game || Rated E

story by @motherofdragonflies with art by @xfancyfranart

The game is simple. Get in an elevator, and follow the rules. If you follow them correctly, the elevator will rise and when the doors open, they will open onto a world that is not your own. When his brother goes missing after investigating the death of a teenage girl in a hotel in St. Louis, Dean Winchester is dismayed to discover it involved an internet legend called “the Elevator Game”. He’s even more dismayed when Castiel—who walked away weeks ago and hasn’t been returning Dean’s calls—shows up, also looking for Sam. Dean doesn’t want to work with Castiel, and Castiel doesn’t seem thrilled about working with him, either. Can they put their differences aside when they discover that Sam disappeared after playing the Elevator Game? Will Dean and Castiel play the game and travel to the Other World themselves? Will they find Sam before it's too late? The choice, dear reader, is yours. You are in control of the story. But choose wisely, for once you play the Elevator Game, things may never be the same again. Link to Fic || Link to Art

Like Ivy || Rated E

story by @abi-cosmos with art by @soloarcana

Dean Winchester was raised to be a killer, but after losing his brother Sam, he could do with a chance to lay low and rest up. Luckily, a 'roommate wanted' advertisement stuck to the window of a coffee shop leads him to Castiel, a professor at a local college who offers him three weeks' accommodation. At first, Castiel gets under Dean's skin, but they soon develop a friendship within the isolated house they're living in. Despite how haunted he is by his past, or how Castiel seems able to read his mind, Dean feels drawn to him and can't help but take things further. But Dean isn't the only one with secrets, and the line between friendship, love, and obsession gets bloody and blurry. Link to Fic || Link to Art

Rough Trade || Rated E

story by @squirrelofcelestialintent with art by @alicetallula

Dean is used to doing what he has to in order to get by, especially whenever his tough, temperamental father kicks him out during one of his rages. Even if it means getting on his knees for a little extra cash. He can take care of himself. He always knew the dangers of a trick going sideways, and he accepted it. What he didn’t expect was for someone to burst out of the darkness and save his sorry ass. Least of all a weird, nerdy little dude who seems to have just as many secrets as Dean and doesn’t know how to use a vending machine. Dean has street smarts and Castiel has (a little) cash. They’re both headed for the west coast to find their families. Teaming up seems like a safe bet. But the more time Dean spends with Cas, the weirder he seems. And the more he suspects that what he saw Cas do to his attacker on the day that he saved him - the terrible, inhuman thing - wasn’t a trauma induced hallucination after all. Screw it. With someone on their tail, Dean’s going to find out who his real enemies are soon enough. Link to Fic || Link to Art

Autumn Obscurum || Rated M

story by @xiejie-liubo with art by @hawaii-shirt-queer

Bartholomew's Bend is a quiet, ordinary place where ordinary people live their ordinary lives. Nothing of note ever happens, and all of the citizens are content to keep it that way. However, their tranquility is shattered when a series of disappearances startles the town's denizens, coinciding with the arrival of the Carnivale Obscurum and its proprietors, Asmodeus and Sands. Inspired by Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes Link to Fic || Link to Art

Can You See Me? || Rated T

story by @kingdumbass with art by @ephemerastardust

Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 1995. After being stowed with their Uncle Bobby for the foreseeable future, Dean and Sam set out to make the most of their summer ‘vacation’. When they aren’t filling warm afternoons splashing in the creek, riding their bicycles, or suffering through old TV reruns, they’re in for cleanup duty.  Namely, sorting through all of Bobby’s old crap.  One day, while rummaging through the long-forgotten attic, Sam discovers an antique spirit board and convinces a skeptical Dean to try summoning a spirit. The results of which turn out to be a little more supernatural than Dean bargained for. Link to Fic || Link to Art

Link to Ao3 Collection

Happy Halloween! 🎃👻

[bopinion]

2025 / 11

Aperçu of the week

"Power to the people, right on."

(John Lennon - nothing more to add here)

Bad News of the Week

I must already assume that the decline of the United States of America under Donald Trump will dominate my bad news this year. Not because there is a lack of other bad news that enlightened people have to deal with. It's simply because so much is going so wrong in our former role model country that it seems more monstrous than so much else. Even in a week in which the civil war in Syria is rearing its ugly head again, the ceasefire in Gaza is becoming more fragile and the Kremlin is still destroying Ukraine.

Donald Trump resembles an ancient god of vengeance who arbitrarily punishes anyone who does not pay him proper homage or question his genius. He clearly suffers from narcissism, which is a serious mental disorder and not just a strange self-image. In his infallibility, he assumes that anyone who doesn't see his personal standards, which are unfortunately anything but democratic, as the ultimate, is simply too stupid. Or malicious or ungrateful. And so he throws his lightning bolts from the Olympus of the Oval Office down on unworthy earthlings.

He is so predictable that he can easily be instrumentalized by those close to him. For example, Elon Musk, who persuaded him to promote Tesla, which was of course not a personal favor, but merely an underlining of the economic policy dogma that a good American must of course drive an American car. Or from JD Vance, who remarked that he had not yet received enough recognition that day and was therefore able to throw Volodymyr Selensky under the bus with a single perfidious sentence about his alleged lack of gratitude. After just two months in office (although you can't really say that about Musk), both of them have been certified as puppet masters.

It is now completely unclear whose interests are behind three seemingly harmless trifles that Trump has initiated in recent days. He puts Bhutan, a tiny peaceful Buddhist country in the Himalayas, on the list of red states, from where nobody is allowed to enter the US - just besides Afghanistan and Yemen. He invokes the Alien Enemies Act from 1798 to deport hundreds to El Salvador - despite a federal judge ruling a restraining order against it. He puts words like “climate crisis” or “indigenous people” on a list of 200 terms that federal authorities are no longer allowed to use. These three bizarre details stupidly represent three fundamental views that are highly questionable.

The example of Bhutan illustrates that literally anyone can be caught in the crosshairs without even suspecting it. While a travel ban for North Corea or Iran is still understandable, it is not for the “Land of Happiness”. Some sources suspect visa overstay rates and security vetting concerns behind that decision, according to recently published Department of Homeland Security data. The fact that this is enough to be lumped together with Libya shows frighteningly clearly that proportionality is not exactly being cultivated in the White House at the moment.

The example of the Alien Enemies Act illustrates that the separation of powers is obviously no longer respected. The law, which has only been used three times in history and most recently during the Second World War for the temporary internment of Japanese in the USA, is per se difficult to reconcile with the rule of law. It is inconceivable that a judicial decision is simply ignored in the process. And when the collaborator in this breach of the law, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, posted the court order with the comment “Oopsie... too late.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio also reposted it. Not even Viktor Orbán has ever allowed himself such a shrugging attitude towards the legal system.

The example of the speech ban illustrates that dissenting opinions no longer even have the right to free expression. Just like the banning of the Associated Press from the White House briefing room - because of the continual use of the term “Gulf of Mexico” - nothing other than censorship is happening. As already practiced in school libraries in Republican-leaning states (where classics such as Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin were banned because they “put slavery in a bad light”), a cancel culture from the right is taking place here. After the demonization of self-determination, inclusion and diversity, in which woke became a dirty word, there is now an arch-conservative furor. This no longer has anything to do with the “land of the free”, but rather with Myanmar.

All in all, this leaves me with a stale aftertaste. And even if Trump and his MAGA heads don't destroy everything in the world because they stay in NATO and don't invade Panama, the damage to the country itself will be immense. With a divided society in which racism and sexism are resurgent, more environmental damage and climate change consequences, an abolished Ministry of Education, a down-top distribution of money, a health minister who recommends cod liver oil against measles, a dysfunctional administration, alienated neighbors and much more - as mentioned: it's not even two months yet. That leaves 46. Ooph...

Good News of the Week

Angela Merkel's comparatively quiet 16 years at the head of the German government were based on four foundations: cheap energy from Russia, outsourcing security policy to NATO and the USA, reduced infrastructure maintenance and the fetishism of the so-called "debt brake". Today we are in dire straits, as the first two foundations no longer exist and the last two are currently blowing up in our faces. In principle, I appreciate Merkel, who has done a lot of things very right. But she also has done some things very wrong.

We now have the energy crisis more or less under control. Thanks to an increasing proportion of renewable energy sources and a significant increase in imports of liquid gas (mainly from Qatar and Norway, but also from the USA). This has caused prices to rise considerably, both for private consumers and for industry. While the former “only” hurts, the latter has become a real location issue. This is a veritable problem, as many industries in which Germany is strong - such as chemicals or mechanical and automotive engineering - are very energy-demanding. Together with high wage costs and social security contributions, this presents us with a fundamental problem that needs to be tackled.

While the state can only create the framework conditions in which companies and entrepreneurs can then operate when it comes to the necessary restructuring of our economy, it is itself the actor when it comes to security policy, infrastructure and the relevant financial budget. It is therefore a major plus that the two probable coalition partners in the next German government - the conservative CDU/CSU and the social democratic SPD - have already addressed this issue in the initial exploratory talks. And as much as I hate to admit it to the future Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whom I consider to be simply from the day before yesterday, he is doing a pretty good job of it.

The first decisive step was the realization that yes, Germany has to spend a lot of money on the necessary investments in security and infrastructure. Which is only possible with debt if you don't want to make massive cuts to the welfare state. However, in order to be able to incur this debt, the debt brake must be reformed, which sets strict limits on financial policy and makes it practically impossible to take on more debt. This is a point that has been under discussion for some time - mainly because Germany can afford it. For comparison: Japan has a national debt of 261% of its gross domestic product, Italy 145%, the USA 122% and Germany 67%. So there is no reason to stand on the brake.

The second decisive step was pragmatic logic: as the debt brake is in the Basic Law (our constitution) you need a 2/3 majority in parliament to change it. The Bundestag elections at the end of February ensured that the far-right AfD and the Left Party represent more than 1/3 of the new Bundestag, i.e. they have a blocking minority. And both do not want the debt brake to be relaxed, albeit for completely different reasons, as they have nothing in common politically. This means that the Greens would have to be persuaded to participate in the amendment to the Basic Law in the old parliamentary composition, in which the Social Democrats were not yet so massively weakened.

This has now been achieved. Since the Greens are still a fundamentally pacifist party, but not idiots who ignore the changed reality. This is why the Greens are now supporting the party alliance that will replace them in government - for the greater good. At the same time, they have negotiated perfectly sensible aspects into the plan. For example, the topics of intelligence services and cyber security in the financial package for defense. Or that sustainable aspects and climate neutrality are not neglected in the infrastructure, which not only includes railroads, highways, bridges, energy grids and digital, but also daycare centers, schools and healthcare.

There are still a few hurdles to overcome - such as the approval of the federal states - but it seems feasible. If you want to put a negative spin on it, you could call Friedrich Merz the biggest election liar in history. After all, he has now slaughtered the sacred cow of the debt brake during the election campaign even before the official coalition negotiations. But on the altar of pragmatism. Germany is thus demonstrating its ability to act in Europe. Which fits in well with the fact that his party colleague and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also becoming clearer in her tone when she refers to Europe not just as an economic area, but blatantly as a geopolitical power. It looks like we've got the message.

Personal happy moment of the week

My Canadian wife and I were at the immigration office again after years. What an awful experience: facilities from 30 years ago, lots of forms, the charm of a hospital with security gates, unfriendly staff... You just don't feel comfortable. Nevertheless, there was one highlight: instead of a date and in line with our wedding vows, we entered “forever” in the “planned duration of stay” field. A small but heartfelt moment of happiness that even elicited a small smile from the strict official behind the glass.

I couldn't care less...

...about the Norwegian ski jumping cheating scandal. If secretly reinforcing seams in a suit really has a significant impact on performance, sprinters should also be banned from eating beans on the eve of the race - after all, they could fart illegal jet propulsion.

It's fine with me...

...that there are sometimes pretty fashionable allusions on the world political stage. First King Charles III wore a Canadian military uniform and then the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas wore the Canadian national colors at the G7 summit in Québec (!). Both wanted to send a stylish message to the USA that they should drop their colonial claims. Baerbock's smug question to Marco Rubio “Do you still enjoy your job?” fits in with this.

As I write this...

...there are snow flurries in Munich at zero degrees Celsius. While at the same time it's eleven degrees plus in Montreal in the middle of the night. Crazy. Yet both my cities can count themselves lucky that they are only suffering from capricious weather and are neither burning nor being flooded.

Post Scriptum

All the media hyperventilation about the USA, Ukraine and Russia as well as the USA, Palestine and Israel, not to mention Europe and Germany, has allowed some things worth mentioning to slip through the cracks. After a lot of posts in the North American media, I actually had to go searching to discover some great news in the German media, namely a courageous uprising for democracy and pro-Europe, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets. No, not in Berlin, Paris or Madrid, but in places where precisely these values have had a hard time recently: in Romania, Serbia and even (drum roll please) Hungary!

This gives me hope, as Poland has also managed to leave a rather dark era behind it and has clearly bought a ticket to the future. In Donald Tusk, our eastern neighbors now have an avowed European as head of government who is increasingly less held back by the shackles of the past. I am therefore very sure that our new Federal Chancellor's first three trips abroad will be to Brussels, Paris and Warsaw - in whatever order. This welcome development was rounded off by similarly oriented demonstrations in Italy and even Georgia. Europeans are fighting not to lose democracy and freedom - or to get them in the first place. A momentum that makes me proud.

[onlytibki]

Straw Hat modern!AU v.1: Jobs and Random Bits of non-plot Headcanons

Yes I know Oda already gave a list and far be it from me to disagree with canon (/s) but hear me out

Jimbei - full-time activist, former soldier/bodyguard. Lorge. Still does work as a bouncer from time to time, this is how he meets Luffy.

(Does karate at the national level. Works out at Zoro's gym, teaches classes sometimes.)

Brook - musician, naturally. Classically trained, accidentally achieved popular fame after the band he was in with his old buddies for fun was scouted out. Lost his bandmates. :( Was depressed for years and just tuned pianos and guitars and other instruments until the Straw Hats brought joy to his life again.

Franky - freelance handyman. Is an engineer, has a engineering degree and certification, but no firm will hire him because he refuses to wear formal clothes (main client is the local university, they asked him only to work at night to avoid students and claims plausible deniability if he chooses not to wear shoes on his own job sites) but he doesn't mind his lot in life because fuck 'em anyway also because trauma and also he's in love with one of the profs

Robin - university professor, teaches history/linguistics/historical linguistics/archaeology. Has like four PhDs. Was wrapped up in some shadiness in Central America while a grad student, but does such high-quality work and is in love with her building's handyman that no one tries to get her in trouble for it

(Robin and Franky meet and bond over keeping the fucking ancient anthropology building both up to livable standards and eligible for the national heritage register. They talk A Lot about historical building materials and methods)

((Note I said 'up to livable standards' and not 'up to code'. Franky's nickname is short for 'Frankenstein' for what he's done to the building's wiring, though somehow it still works))

Chopper - third year med student at 15. Already accepted into the residency program Law is an attending at. Also, he has his driver's license now!! He's the DD for the Straw Hat crew when they go out to bars, and is also self-appointed booze coordinator and hits the brakes for people when he senses alcohol poisoning coming on. Not even Whitebeard Himself can argue when little Dr. Tony gives his super-serious little disapproving pout.

(No, a 15yo cannot legally drive at night, much less operate a car full of drunkards. No one tells him this because he takes the responsibility for the well-being of his friends so seriously, and also no one gives a shit, and also everyone else is drunk anyway.)

Sanji - sous-chef at Baratie (I know, I know, shocker) which is next door to Zoro's gym. He takes classes at the university so that he'll be able to run his own restaurant one day.

(If he finds the FUCKING SHITHEAD who's drawing that Sora, Warrior of the Sea-inspired comic in the school newspaper someone's gonna have to fake an alibi to get him out of murder charges. Even if he does approve of Germa 66's ugly designs and cries over Sora's successful escape and loving words to her lost son)

Usopp - physics major, art minor. Draws a weekly comic for the school newspaper called The Adventures of Sniper King. Picked up boxing due to high school requirements, works out at Zoro's gym.

(Yes it's him. He's got a yellow stripe painted down his back due to the vitriol Sanji spews at his pseudonym daily. He really didn't mean for it to take off! Sanji told them all his story once and Usopp was heartbroken because he lost his mom too and one day he got an itch and he drew a comic about what he thought Sora'd say to Sanji, or what he thought Banchina might say to him, or some weird combination--and then sent it instead of the next installment of Sniper King to his editor ON ACCIDENT and PEOPLE WANTED MORE and HE'S SO SORRY AND HE'S SO SCARED. SANJI'S GONNA KILL HIM AND USOPP WILL DESERVE IT)

((Sanji condemns him into being busboy at Baratie for a month and refuses to speak to him for three days. But he also gives him spicy ginger desserts every night for a week, because Usopp's Sora is truer to life than the original Sora in terms of the love she embodies, and because Stealth Black's rumored escape is shown in the light of triumph. Sanji could hear her in the monologue of Sora's thoughts to her son when she learned he'd escaped Germa 66's clutches. How proud she was that the circumstances of his birth and life hadn't chained him down forever. It was the first time since the age of 9 that he could clearly remember what she had sounded like because, whether through pure miracle or the shared sympathy of orphan-hood, Usopp had gotten her voice exactly right, and it soothed something old and hurting in Sanji to hear it.))

Nami - business/finance, computer science double major. She REALLY wanted to study geography and GIS systems but her family needs the money so she's tilted her dreams--she's going to build the most precise geographic information system in the WORLD and market it to rich assholes while "losing it" to low-income thieves in need.

Stole 50% of her college tuition and negotiated down the other half in a meeting the bursar's office can't actually quite remember fully? But it's their signatures on the papers.

Zoro - business major. Yes, it's as ridiculous as it sounds. No he is not passing any of his classes. But Kuina had been determined to inherit the dojo and keep it flourishing, even if her dad didn't think a woman could. Then she died; and Shimotsuki-sensei died when Zoro was in high school; and now Zoro has two dear friends' dreams on his shoulders, and damn his lack of an MBA or any common sense but he will succeed. Sanji, Nami, and Jimbe are helping.

He did rename the place, from just 'Shimotsuki Dojo' to Kuina's Asskickers, and opened it to all sports. All classes and all tournaments are co-ed, all ages. He tried to get "ASSKICKER" on the gym's competition uniforms/gi but some of his students are toddlers so that wouldn't fly, so he uses 2001 instead. People think it's the founding year and get very confused when the gym is technically 50+years old; 2001 = the number of fights Zoro lost to Kuina.

(Nami asks him why he didn't use "KUINA"; Zoro looks at her funny. "But that's not [male student example]'s name? Why would I put that on his back? Do you want people to get confused??")

((He does have Kuina's name stitched into his gi))

Luffy - biology major. HEAR ME OUT. Garp insisted he go to college for at least a semester and while still an undecided liberal arts major, Luffy discovered a whole BUILDING FILLED WITH COOL BUGS!!! AND PEOPLE GO OUT AND FIND THEM?? AND BRING THEM BACK!! THAT'S A JOB???? SO COOL!!!

So yeah. Technically he's on the road to become an entomologist, but is struggling due to his undiagnosed (but incredibly obvious) AuDHD and a lack of care for statistics (and math in general) and research writing (and reading/writing in general). Robin, Chopper, and Usopp are working HARD to get him to the general area of passing. Luffy also is getting a minor in Portuguese (which is his first language) because he plans on exploring the Amazon Rainforest looking for cool beetles when he graduates.

Ace - fire fighter with shady connections. (more later?)

Sabo - activist with much shadier connections. (more later?)

[cryingoflot49]

Book Review

The Man In the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

In Philip K. Dick’s The Man In rhe High Castle, Nabusuke Tagomi is a Japanese businessman in San Francisco whose consciousness has been changed by the events leading up to a day when he buys a piece of jewelry from an antique store. After contemplating his life while sitting in a park, he walks to the road to hire a pedecab. He is unable to see one even though other people can see them in abundance. He also notices a concrete highway ramp that he has never seen before; when he asks a stranger about it, the man explains that everybody has hated it for a long time because it is so ugly. Tagomi suddenly becomes aware of something that everybody else had known about. But there is nothing wrong with Tagomi. He is like everyone else in that we don’t see everything that is objectively present to us because we aren’t making a conscious effort to see everything. Our perceptions of the objective world come to us in pieces and fragments. We see things that others don’t and they see things that we don’t. Thus this novel poses the question of how we can form a solid moral foundation to guide our actions when our perceptions of reality are haphazard at best.

The story is an alternative history taking place after World War II, examining what American would be like if Germany and Japan had won the war. The USA has been divided into four new countries. The West Coast is part of Japan, the Northeast is part of Nazi Germany, the middle states are what is left of America, and the Southeast is left to rot as a neo-Confederate backwater. Racist hierarchies have been ratified into law and the strictly hierarchical Japanese culture has become the norm on the West coast.

Like Mr. Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, The Man In the High Castle, Hawthorne Abendsen, does not appear until the end. He is the author of a book called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy which is an alternative account of World War II in which he describes what would have happened if America had won the war. So, yes, Philip K. Dick wrote an alternative history novel that revolves around a fictional alternative history novel within the plot. This book is all the rage because most people are familiar with it whether they have read it or not. The irony is that the characters who haven’t read it think they know what happens in the book and they are invariably wrong. This is a brilliant framing device that works on the premise that readers will know how World War II ended before reading Dick’s novel. It takes your mind off into several directions at once and then demands that the reader sort out the mess. This is not literature for shallow people who like being spoonfed entertainment.

But getting back to Mr. Tagomi, the businessman acts as a liaison between two secrets agents, one a Japanese official and the other a German working for the anti-Nazi resistance who has learned that the Nazis have plans to betray their Japanese allies in a catastrophic way. The Nazis are on to the German agent and send some thugs out to kill him in the presence of Tagomi.

The Nazis are also on to a craftsman and businessman named Frank Frink. He runs a fledgling jewelry business with a partner and it is the products they make and sell that act as a link between most of the major characters in the novel. The Nazis want to execute Frink because they think he is an enemy of the state and part of a Jewish plot to dominate the world. In reality, Frink just wants to run a successful business so he can impress his ex-wife and get her to come back to him.

Thus the plot threads are individually easy to follow, but there isn’t one thread that stands out above all the others so saying that there is a plot supported by subplots is a mischaracterization. Even though all the story lines are clearly articulated and the characters mostly cross paths with each other, it is the equal weighting of all the elements that makes the book a bit frustrating to read.

So Frink passes through the life of a store owner named Childan, a dealer in Americana and antiques. Frink comes into the store to alert Childan that some pistols he has in stock are not authentic relics from the Civil War, but are, in fact, forgeries manufactured by a company that Frink once worked for. Frink, the honest businessman, appears to be motivated to sabotage the counterfeit market. Later Childan buys a stock of Frink’s jewelry and sells a uniquely shaped pin to Mr. Tagomi, the same pin that the Japanese man meditates on in the park when his life gets disrupted. Frink’s jewelry is another clever narrative device as the introduction of his products into the collectibles market causes everyone who comes into contact with them to re-evaluate their lives.

Childan carries two important philosophical themes in the narrative. One confronts the meaning of monetary values as well as the value of objects in geenral and the other examines the subjective moral ambiguity a person faces when thrown into an existentially uncomfortable position. Childan and Tagomi play off of each other because they both experience a crisis in their subjective orientation to the world. The former of Childan’s two themes happens when he learns about the counterfeit guns in his store. If a customer believes that a pistol is an authentic artifact from the Civil War, does it matter if that is not the reality? And why would a similar gun made at the same time but not used in the Civil War be of lesser value? The truth is that the value of the item is in the mind of whoever owns it or wants it. The guns have no inherent value of their own and that estimation of their value may be based on illusion, fantasy, lies, or ignorance. So how is it possible to form a moral judgment on how to sell an item when its valuation is based on an inaccurate perception of what it truly is? Philip K. Dick poses this question without answering it.

The latter dilemma involving Childan addresses the issue of maintaining a sense of self-worth in a humiliating situation. When Childan goes to visit some clients, a Japanese couple who are enamored with Americana, he feels as though their attempts to embrace American culture are superficial and patronizing. Even worse, they latch onto aspects of American culture that he despises like jazz. Childan’s problem is that, being American means having lost the war to Japan and Germany so Childan feels ashamed of some things that are authentically unique to America, especially in regards to people who aren’t white. Instead he admires German classical music and opera in an attempt to identify with the Nazis who defeated America. He sees them as being culturally superior because of their victory. The problem isn’t that Childan has any inhrent sympathy for fascism or Nazism; since he lives on the west coast and is subjected to the rigid hierarchies of Japan that have been imposed on California, a small business owner like himself is relegated to a mid-level social status with the wealthier and more powerful Japanese people over him. Because of this he feels humiliated after losing the status he held before the war. In an attempt to compensate for his humiliation, he embraces the cause of fascism in an act of bad faith. He suffers from the dilemma of finding refuge in any available port during a storm. That post just happens to be the Germans. In this way, Dick isn’t justifying Nazism. He is explaining why a confused individual might embrace it under uncomfortable circumstances like during the visit he makes to his Japanese customers’ apartment.

Then Childan agrees to sell Frink and his partner’s jewelry on commission from his store. As the jewelry begins to circulate among the other characters in the book, their perceptions of reality begin to change.

Finally, Frink’s wife Julianna goes on a trip through Colorado to find Abendsen, the author of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. Simply put, she is on a mission to alert him because she learns the Nazis have hatched a plot to assassinate him. The Nazis in this book are reckless, treacherous backstabbers on a path to self-destruction and possibly the annihilation of the world in their quest for power.

One final narrative device worth considering is the presence of the I Ching, the ancient Taoist book of vaguely worded verses that act as an oracle for all the characters in the story. In a world characterized by uncertainty and unpredictability, they turn to it as a means of guidance. Really it acts as a literary chorus to move the plot along like the witches in Macbeth. It also serves as an explanatory device when there is nothing better to rely on which is a weakness in this book. For example, when Julianna meets up with Abendsen, they consult the I Ching to answer a question of importance to the story. They receive an answer but we are expected to accept it as true because the oracle says it us true and no further explanation is given. It seems that Dick had no further explanation to offer so he just used the I Ching as a means of filling in the gap, rendering the meaning of its answer pointless. This is a form of narrative cheating and something that makes the ending almost irrelevant.

In the end, for a novel with so much to unpack and so many significant ideas, it could have been better. The pacing is slow and laborious. The characters all have flat affects. The plot lines become tangled in ways that make the result look like the end of a frayed rope rather than a cohesive work of writing. The pieces of the story just don’t hang together very well. It is an awkward book written by a young writer whose genius would come out in his later works of fiction.

The Man In the High Castle is certainly worth reading. It presents the abstract concept of what it means to live in a world where morality can never be certain since it based on faulty perceptions of reality. All the main characters exemplify this problem in the way they make choices while navigating through the world. In the end, there is no solution to this problem of certainty other than doing what they think is right even though they risk making costly mistakes in the end. It isn’t one of Philip K. Dick’s best works, but it is still good enough to read at least once. Just be patient as you read.

[frostyreturns]

Frosty Ruins The Good The Bad And The Ugly

I don't know what it is about Clint Eastwood westerns but despite the hype, despite that on paper there's a lot I should like about them…I just can't get into them. I've tried this movie previously and never finished it and I've also tried A Fistful of Dollars and couldn't finish it, both movies that are supposed to be the best of the best for the genre. If I didn't love Tombstone I might be fooled into thinking I just don't like westerns.

So what didn't I like…mainly I thought it was boring, it just didn't suck me in. It's one of those movies I put on and then get lost and don't know what's happening because I couldn't pay attention. Part of the problem was it was so hard to identify with anyone because the characterization was so bad. Eastwood is like a video game character in a game before cutscenes where all the plot was on the back cover and he just goes around doing things. Why does he do them…fuck you that's why. He's a badass…why because that's just what he is because that's what he's supposed to be. And all the characters are like that, it's so shallow you have to buy into it pre-emptively or not at all, the title says it all, there's a good guy a bad guy and an ugly guy…it has all the depth of character and plot of two five year olds playing with capguns in the backyard.

What I also don't like about this style of movie is I think they are a form of propaganda in a way most people don't think of them as propaganda. There's the obvious angle of cowboys as real American heroes there to foster patriotism and celebrate American values…but there's another angle. They present a rewriting of history to present the American west as a lawless hellscape of gunfights,murder,rape and total chaos. Thus presenting this more free and independent period of the countries history in a negative light. That way people will assume the relative safety they think themselves to live in they can credit to the government and a more involved state. In reality the old west was a lot more peaceful than what we have now, even controlling for population. The reason incidents like the Ok Corral shootout are so famous is because it was such a rarity. In reality the whole reason America has such prosperity to whittle away at is because of the incredible success story that is the "chaotic" west. I've often heard things said like that liberty is an untested theory…but the old west was largely that test, yes they had government but it was different. It has been tested and proven but we let hollywood tell us what it was like and they have an agenda. Everyone walking around strapped meant a safer more polite society, less government involvement meant better economic growth and prosperity. And yet whenever I argue for things like getting rid of gun laws and taking government out of the economy altogether I hear the propaganda victims reply with horror and disbelief in their voice "but then we'd just have the wild west again."

And that's what is disappointing about this type of western. I'm supposed to love it…I should love it, I love the old west both the reality and elements of the fiction. A time where if someone attacked you, you could shoot them in the face with a gun that all you needed in order to purchase was money. It was in that sweet spot where the government was still there and still evil but knew it had to take a back seat and let people earn and create so it would have something to steal later. And instead what you get from the movie is strangers hassling strangers for no reason and it escalating to a gunfight over insults. Everyone is an NPC and their only setting is be violent, be retarded, be greedy making Clint the hero only by comparison.

One of my other complaints is just the sound, I get that this is more a function of the time the movie was made and not the quality of the movie itself…but all the sound being added in post made the whole thing seem more cartoonish, cheap and hard to listen to. It's an english language film that looks and sounds like a japanese dub. That being said though the music was really good and iconic and is one of the things I actually really liked in the movie.

I also wasn't a fan of the way the movie was filmed, shots seem to jump around and there's parts like the cemtary scene where this dude just seems to appear out of nowhere. My main complaint however is just how thin the plot was, this is a relatively short review mostly because other than general criticisms there's not much to say about the film because there's not really a ton of plot or dialogue, which some people might like, I know some people loved Mad Max Fury road for that reason but to me it just seems pointless.

However the action was good and if there had been more plot and more character development it could have been a great movie and at parts I see why some people really like it…it has good bones but virtually no meat. In the end i'll have to give this genre from this era a pass. I'd rather play Red Dead Redemption or watch Tombstone for my cowboy fix.

C-

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

Unnatural Law

We Must Protect Rich White Guys

Stephen Jay Morris

7/13/2023

©Scientific Morality

In Al Gore’s 2006 documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” he presented factual evidence of an upcoming catastrophe: the climate crisis. Not only did he discuss the urgency of the impending situation, but he offered solutions to prevent it. Solutions such as lowering your carbon footprint and avoiding fossil fuel.

So, what did the oil companies do? They threatened their Republican representatives with ceasing donations to the G.O.P. unless they committed to run a campaign against Al Gore and his “Ecological Army.” Fox News attacked Gore by discrediting him with claims that he used tons of gallons of jet fuel to fly to his speaking engagements. You know? Labeled him a hypocrite. Also in CHUD fashion, they wealth-shamed him and aired aerial photos of his mansion.

You see, to take a left wing view of anything, you must be poor. After all, all leftists must take a vow of poverty, as do Catholic priests and nuns. Donkey shit! If you are going to slander somebody, try not using paralogical arguments.

At any rate, that is a major tactic they use—personal defamation. That way, the focus is taken off the issue and spotlighted, instead, on the individual’s shortcomings. Libel replaces the facts about Big Oil’s destruction of the earth and its atmosphere. Al Gore’s movie was right on the money.

Meanwhile, as the CHUDS are calling Al Gore an alarmist, they are telling the world that transgender people are grooming kids to be homosexuals. These halophiles only want to drink liberal tears. What the fuck are they good for? Sucking off WASP billionaires? Then Trump goes to court and the Newsmax reporters show their ugly, dolorous mugs. They sound almost robotically monotone: “We must protect rich white guys.” “We must protect rich white guys.” “We must protect rich white guys.” Ad-nauseum.

Today, I heard on the radio that Texas hit 110 degrees and two days ago, the state of Vermont experienced unprecedented flooding after nine inches of rain fell in less than five hours. The weekend leading into July 4th saw the highest ever recorded global temperatures. The southern portion of America is experiencing an unrelenting “heat dome,” while the northern portion of the country is seeing tornadoes, hurricanes, violent storms, and other extremes. Any meteorologist will tell you this is not normal for this time of year. If the world unites, we can begin to stop this onslaught of natural disasters. But the conservatives think their money and profit is more important than the welfare of humanity! While farmers’ crops are drying up and blowing away in the wind, the rich are snorting coke off a prostitute’s ass! But leave it to the conservative propaganda machine to spew that these are dignified, American gentlemen who want a clean cut, Christian country.  

 The only way to fight against this crisis is to counter the CHUD propaganda with educational facts to the contrary. When a liar calls you a liar, you are winning the climate struggle. There is a global youth movement and they pissed to the max. They are willing to damage property to give notice of the planet’s destruction, as well as hold nonviolent resistance protests. We should all support their efforts.

Meanwhile, the political Right is in shambles. The Religious Right is living their “End Times” fantasy, the fossil fuel companies are panicking that their great grandchildren will have to get jobs, and the White Power creeps are worried that all food will become kosher. The Republicans will build a giant tomb in Washington D.C. for Trump after he dies from a massive heart attack.

After Florida submerges into the Gulf of Mexico, oil drilling rigs will be above sea level because human remains become dirty energy. It’ll be better than dead dinosaurs!

America has the worst conservative movement in the history of the world!

[autisticsupervillain]

It's Fictional Throwdown Friday!

This Week's Fighters...

Popeye vs Spongebob!

Conditions:

No restrictions.

Scenario:

While going out to buy ingredients for the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs convinces Spongebob not to buy any of Popeye's spinach to save money. This prompts Popeye to pop out of the spinach can and attack the duo.

Analysis: Popeye

Popeye the Sailor Man is many things. An ever faithful boyfriend to his beloved Olive Oil, a combat hardened member of the navy, and the amphibious nonbinary sailor man icon we all deserve. No really, that happened. Look it up. But above all, he is one of classic cartoons all time heavyweight champions, on par with Bugs Bunny himself.

This little sailor had quite humble beginnings. After being born to the horribly named Poopdeck Pappy, Popeye was born horrifically ugly and deformed, prompting his father to run away in horror of what he had created. This caused Popeye to be adopted by the loving Whaler Joe, whom he'd look up for all of his boyhood years. Seeking to emulate his father, Popeye would join the navy, where he would learn to embrace his gift for violence.

Popeye had always been adept at beating the shit out of people, but it's only upon getting embroiled in World War 2, and competing with the loathsome bully Bruto for the fair Olive Oil's affections, that Popeye's skills would truly come into their own. This is because of the mythical miracle herb that Popeye had spent all of his life consuming known only as spinnach. Thanks to that, Popeye has an absurd level of superhuman strength, speed, and power that makes him among the toughest fighters in cartoon history.

Being a rubberhose animation icon, Popeye can freely morph and stretch his body like, well, rubber. He can inflate his muscles to huge proportions, stretch and bounce back at will to absorb blows, and inspire Monkey D Luffy with his cartoon antics. Again, look it up. Furthermore, he can completely break the laws of physics in the palm of his hand with ease. Whether by painting a battleship into existence, shooting fire out of his pipe to fly, flying normally anyways, or by turning completely invisible, Popeye is always capable of throwing out something you won't expect.

For example, one of Popeye's signature abilities is his power to punch so hard, whatever he hits is broken down into smaller elements. An anchor becomes a bunch of fish hooks, an animal becomes a steak stand, and racial stereotypes become even worse racial stereotypes. Use your imagination. That's another benefit to being from a rubberhose cartoon, Popeye's world is even more cartoonishly rascist than ours. Ah, 1940's America, how I loathe thee.

Moreover, Popeye's power may come from spinnach, but he certainly doesn't need it. He's eaten so much over the years, that he can still operate at a baseline superhuman level without it. Like that time God himself turned off the universe to kill Popeye and Popeye just... stood there and took it without blinking. Furthermore, the spinnach has proven to be so powerful that it once made a rocket fly so fast that it traveled backwards in time. And even if Popeye does need spinach for a boost, he can just will some into exist, either by waving his hand, drawing it, threatening the animator to give him some, or just letting the audience in the real world hand him some spinnach when he's in a tight spot.

And if you think you can just kill Popeye before he eats any, you're dreaming. Because even after being completely erased from existence, Popeye's nothingness was able to eat a can of spinnach and come back good as new. Popeye's power is so great, not even his animator is safe, as Popeye is able to not only tear and break his own animation frames, but also beat the hell out of his own animator. Meaning he's more or less beat the shit out of two different versions of God.

So, if you dare choose to mess with Popeye, always remember who you're dealing with. You're fighting one of cartoon's all time heavyweight champions, truly a Sailor Man to be feared.

Analysis: Spongebob

Tell me.... WHO LIVES IN A PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!

Ah, yes, Spongebob SquarePants. We love him, we meme him, and we remember him as the purest essence of childhood cartoon nostalgia. This goofy goober, nautical nincompoop, and asexual icon may seem like a harmless wimp on the surface... and to an extent, he kinda is. His life long dream is to work as a fry cook at a dead end fast food restaurant, he once struggled to lift a glass of water, and he's easily small enough to fit in your hand, regularly getting overpowered by ordinary humans. You'd be forgiven for mistaking Bikini Bottom's best fry cook for a harmless goofball, wing nut, or knucklehead mcspazatron. But just you wait, this fry cook has a lot more up his virtually nonexistent sleeves.

There are three acronyms that one must always remember when discussing Spongebob. E.V.I.L, P.O.O.P., and T.F.I.B. Don't recognize that last one? It stands for Toon Force Is Bullshit.

When Spongebob isn't struggling to lift Teddy Bears, he's effortlessly rotating the entire planet, sucking up the entirety of Earth's oceans, and absorbing enough water to replace the moon in the sky. We're in for some shit now.

As a sea sponge, or, really more of a kitchen sponge I guess, Spongebob is remarkably durable and flexible. He can freely shspeshift into nearly any form he can imagine, regenerate from getting reduced to dust, duplicate himself millions of times, and absorb any liquid or physical attack thrown at him. Like the time he was able to walk around getting punched all week without feeling any of it, or the time he literally laughed off being erased from existence.

Moreover, he's a master of nearly any hobby or job he picks up. He's so good at cooking Krabby Patties that they can become sentient, cancel mind control, and make people romantically attracted to them, while his bubble blowing skills let him create torpedoes, create sentient life, and create entire fuctioning societies out of bubbles. He's such a Rockstar that his music can physically assault you and free you from mind control and one timd he was able to rock out so hard he transformed into the sun.

On top of that, Spongebob can create anything he can conceivably need in any situation, either by drawing it with the magic pencil (which, yes, later seasons show he still has), blowing bubbles, letting his tears come to life to revive him from the dead, or just by willing it into existence with his imagination. And bot only can the pencil's eraser erasing things from reality, but he can even erase reality itself by pulling on a string and unraveling the entire universe.

And then... there's his ability... to break the fourth wall.

Not only can he ride on the scene transitions, not only can he exit the comic book he's in, but he can also rewrite the plot of his own story as it's happening. And that's without the magic book from the second movie. He can just... do that. On his own.

He's strong enough to fuse together with Patrick down to the level of his DNA by hugging him really hard, fast enough to watch Patrick run to the sun in back in seconds, and strong enough to defeat and capture everyone else in Bikini Bottom within a single night (albiet with Patrick's help). This includes Squidward Tentacles, who is not only fast enough to move in a void where time does not exist, but also travel back in time out of that void into a point in time where is time machine still work by smashing a hole through said timeless void. Let me repeat... time did not exist and Squidward could still move.

While this all may sound unbeatable, there is one major issue for Mr. SquarePants. He can only survive out of water for so long and if exposed to extreme heats outside the water for too long, he risks drying up and suffocating to death. But, that's okay, because if that does happen, his tears will come to life and resurrect him from the dead anyways.

So next time you think to underestimate your childhood icon, you'd do well to remember... he's ready.

Throwdown Theme:

Throwdown Breakdown:

I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you... Spongebob pretty handily takes this.

While Popeye should be generally smarter and more experienced and arguably faster depending on how you quantify both of them traveling through time, that's about it. His time in the navy and fighting Bluto should give him more experience fighting Toon Force characters on his own level and military training should beat amateur karate.

Spongebob can match Popeye's regeneration, can easily surpass his shapeshifting, and can just... shapeshift back from Popeye's attempts to transform him into stuff. That alone counters a lot of Popeye's arsenal. And while Popeye can ask the writer for help, Spongebob can leave the fight completely and just politely ask the writer not to do that.

Granted, neither of them can exactly kill each other, but Spongebob does have ways of incapacitating Popeye, either by making him fall in love with a Krabby Patty, or by drawing up something Popeye can't escape from. While Popeye could likely deduce Spongebob's weakness to drying up, given he is a sea creature and Popeye in an experienced sailor, that would require him to not only keep Spongebob on dry land long enough to dry out but also keep him from reviving somehow. Which is easier said than done when Spongebob can just... absorb the ocean. And if Spongebob's cooking is good enough to get Popeye to swear of spinach forever, which it probably is, than, well, there you go. That's most of Popeye's power gone.

While Popeye's toon force shenanigans can let him beat all but the mightiest, he just wasn't ready for this Goofy Goober's Sweet Victory.

This Throwdown's Winner is...

Spongebob SquarePants!

[agoodflyting]

As a former US History teacher, I do an ugly witch cackle every time an American media pundit says 'don't settle political disagreements with violence'.

America only exists because a bunch of people settled a political disagreement with violence. America has solved almost every political disagreement with violence since our inception and IT WORKS VERY WELL FOR US.

See:

The Sons of Liberty - a widespread colonial-era domestic terrorist organization that created the phrase No Taxation Without Representation and then proceeded to tar and feather tax collectors, riot, burn down public buildings, and generally use violence to protest their issues with Parliament.

"Solving issues with words is for pussies! Tar-and-feather your local tax collector!" - Patrick Henry, probably

2. The Golden Hill Riot - (1770) Local mob confronts a bunch of their own country's soldiers who are posting handbills denouncing terrorist activities in a town in New York, and it degenerates into... yep, yep, it was violence.

"Catch these fists, lawful authorities!"

3. Burning of the Gaspee - (1772) In which the government tries to limit illegal smuggling and the local people respond with patient protesting and letter writing which eventually - no, no, scratch that. They set a royal navy ship on fire.

"Limit MY illegal activities will you?" 4. The fighting at Lexington and Concord (1776)- in which a bunch of domestic terrorists responded to their lawful government's attempts to confiscate a cache of illegal weapons with (checks notes) oh look, it was violence. Lots and lots of violence. So much violence that the crown was forced to declare the entire territory to be 'in a state of rebellion'.

"ACAB!" "What is ay-cab, Patrick?" "I don't know, Hezekiah, it just felt right to yell it while firing my musket at the Crown's authorities."

In fact, the entire history of the American Revolution could be accurately summed up with the phrase: "Using violence to protest oppressive government works very well, actually."

And that's not even getting into the POST-REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

Shay's Rebellion (1786) - In protest to an economic system that was destroying the lives of poor farmers, a bunch of Revolutionary War veterans form mobs and force the debtors courts to close in several cities in Massachusetts. It leads to a full-scale insurrection that isn't immediately successful but FORCES THE FLEDGLING FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO RECONVENE TO RECONSIDER ITS ECONOMIC POLICIES WHICH THEN RESULTS IN THE DRAFTING OF THE US CONSTITUTION. Violence? Working.

The Whiskey Rebellion - (1791-1794) Whiskey farmers use violence and intimidation to resist paying federal taxes on the ingredients used to make their product. The rebellion is initially put down by the Federalist government, but the tax is later repealed by Thomas Jefferson.

Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831) - Enslaved man leads an armed slave revolt in Virginia. Massacres 50-60 people in order to spread terror through the white community and to force white people to acknowledge the brutality of slavery. While the rebellion was put down, Turner's revolt achieved its goal. The state of Virginia is so afraid of more slaves catching onto this idea that they pass laws making it illegal for black people (free or enslaved) to learn to read, and requiring a white person to be present at all black-led religious services (Turner used his status as a preacher to help spread word of the rebellion) because they were so afraid of a repeat. Because violence works.

Anti-Rent War (1839) - Large scale riot, rent strike, plus some good old fashioned tarring and feathering of landowners, to protest an unfair system that protected landowners at the cost of renters in upstate New York. The leaders were put on trial, but the overall insurrection successfully forced laws to be written that protected renters from predatory landlords.

Dorr's Rebellion - (1841) A force made up mainly of poor industrial workers and Irish immigrants stage a violent rebellion against the government of Rhode Island, in order to force a repeal of the ancient laws that only allowed wealthy land-owners to vote. Previously, Rhode Island was the only state that still had laws like this and they had no intention of changing them until (checks notes) yep, until violence.

Bleeding Kansas - (1854-1859) For some stupid reason, the citizens of Kansas were being allowed to vote on whether the new state would allow or ban slavery. (Popular sovereignty amirite?) Pro-slavery people from other states started moving into Kansas in order to swing the vote the way they wanted, and they used the time-honored slavers tactic of engaging in terrorism to keep anti-slavery voters down. What started as a war of words between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces escalated to violence but instead of taking the moral high road, abolitionists like John Brown burned buildings, attacked pro-slavery newspaper offices, and even fucking massacred pro-slavery activists by hacking them to death with swords. Kansas was eventually admitted to the union as a Free State. Violence? Working.

John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry (1859)- John Brown is just an icon ok. Brown led a group of black and white abolitionists to steal weapons from a federal arsenal, with the intention of giving the guns to slaves to help them stage a bigger, more widespread rebellion. When the Law tried to stop them, Brown started a shootout. He was caught and executed by the state of Virginia, but after his death he became a massive folk icon and hero to abolitionists, and his death directly contributed to starting the American Civil War. John Brown's Body was a popular folk song among Union forces during the war.

I'm going to stop there because this is so so long already and I haven't even gotten to the 20th century and union wars. This is literally just 100 years of American history that I've got here. Not even half of our (already young) country's existence and we have just... the longest track record of using violence to achieve political goals.

In conclusion? Violence is not the answer. Violence is the question and the answer is Yes.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Christopher Mathias at HuffPost:

In his book “Unhumans: The Secret History Of Communist Revolutions (And How To Crush Them),” MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec argues that Americans with left-wing beliefs are subhuman and praises the murderous right-wing regimes of Francisco Franco in Spain and Augusto Pinochet in Chile for going after the “unhumans” of their respective eras. “President Donald J. Trump is waiting in the wings,” Posobiec said earlier this year while promoting the book at the National Conservatism Conference. “And when he assumes office again, let me tell you, the globalists and their entire regime will be smashed to pieces and scattered to the winds.” He then added: “We don’t negotiate with unhumans because that’s the stakes of this — humanity versus unhuman; populist nationalist versus atheistic Marxist; strength, beauty and genius versus weakness, ugliness and stupidity; civilization versus barbarism; crime and chaos versus law.”

We don’t negotiate with unhumans. It is explicitly fascistic language depicting a wide swath of the American electorate as deserving of redemptive violence. (JD Vance, the Republican Party’s nominee for vice president, praised Posobiec’s “Unhumans” in a blurb, or editorial review.) On Sunday evening, just nine days before the presidential election, Posobiec took a seat in Madison Square Garden and watched as former President Donald Trump lashed out at various political opponents from the stage. As he has throughout the campaign, Trump called Democrats “the enemies from within,” labeled journalists “enemies of the people,” and falsely depicted Latino immigrants as immutably criminal before doubling down on his pledge to mass-deport millions of them when in office. “Best rally Trump has ever done,” Posobiec tweeted after posting a video of himself inside the arena.

Much attention has rightfully been paid to the speakers at Sunday’s rally — the opening speakers who called Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris the “anti-Christ” and who said “her and her pimp handlers will destroy our country.” The comedian who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and made a racist joke about Black people carving watermelons instead of pumpkins for Halloween. Many of the articles about the event noted how its fascist rhetoric and pageantry bore an unnerving resemblance to a swastika-adorned “Pro-America” rally in 1939 at the same arena celebrating the Nazi regime in Germany. Trump later called the event “an absolute lovefest.” But less attention was paid to some of the prominent conservative figures sitting in the audience or among the overflow crowd outside in midtown Manhattan, people whose continued relevance in the MAGA universe underscores just how extreme the Republican Party has become.

Posobiec’s account on X — the social media platform that billionaire Elon Musk, a featured speaker at Sunday’s rally, has transformed into a propaganda arm of the Trump campaign — offers a look at the murderers’ row of grifters, unapologetic bigots and other far-right figures in attendance. Posobiec has nearly 3 million followers on X. During the rally Sunday, he retweeted a photo of himself and his companions for the evening. Among the people in the photo was Michael Knowles, the Daily Wire host who last year at the Conservative Political Action Conference argued that “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.”

Donald Trump’s MSG rally was much more than the controversial “comedian”, but a whole show of fascism.

See Also:

The Guardian: Six racist and bigoted comments you might have missed from Trump’s New York rally

[procrastiel]

I’d like to add some shows and art as suggestions. I don’t know if these are considered problematic? I would call them controversial, and of mature content. What you do on the internet is your business but the intended audience for all of the art I highlighted below is 18+ adults, in my opinion, so enter at own risk. These have all had a profound and long-lasting impact on me.

- Salad Fingers: This animated show gave me nightmares. Topics include insanity, self harm, depression, suicide.

- Zoo station: The Story of Christiane F. An auto-biography. I prefer the book over the movie. Topics include: taking hard drugs & sex work while underaged, self harm, and death.

This book helped me understand my own addictive tendencies and be more mindful of them. I also never took any drugs, not even alcohol or cigarettes, because I felt that by reading the book I had experienced what it was like. The book describes the experiences very vividly. The good, the bad, and the ugly, so to speak.

- Oz. A TV show. Includes a variety of topics, such as prison, concepts of right and wrong, power struggles, male abuse, rape, religion, homophobia, racism, drug use, murder.

- Philadelphia. A movie. It’s about HIV/AIDS, court, racism and death.

- Game of Thrones. A TV show and book series, which the show is based on. Topics include war, violence, incest, feuds, revenge, emotional & physical abuse, murder, manipulation.

- Jessica Jones. A TV show. Focuses on the idea of consent and manipulation. Also includes death.

- 300. A movie. Topics include death, war, revenge, rape, being set in one’s ways and thereby causing more damage than the good or justice one hopes to attain.

- Spartacus. TV show. Lots of sex scenes. Topics include slavery, being used & abused, death, physical pain, infidelity and loyalty VS disloyalty. (Also includes real life death if you’re looking at interviews, BTS stuff etc)

- The Mists of Avalon. A book (also a movie). Topics include incest, magick, scewed perception of reality, manipulation, death, war, loyalty, insanity. Similar to Game of Thrones, except it’s based on the legend of Arthur Pendragon, takes place in somewhat historically accurate Wales & England and doesn’t contain any dragons.

- there’s a lot of music out there as well that tells difficult stories. What popped into my head is Stan by Eminem & Dido. Topics include obsession, parasocial relationships, death, abuse.

- Fish Tank. A movie. Topics include underaged person falling in love with adult. Infidelity. People are human and make mistakes.

- Requiem for a Dream. Movie. Topics include heavy drug use, insomnia, racism, psychosis, sex work, self-harm.

- The Crow. A movie. Topics include rape, revenge, murder, incest. (Includes real life death if you’re looking at interviews & BTS stuff)

- Mysterious Skin. A movie. Topics include drug use, sex work, alien abduction, and child molestation.

- Dallas Buyers Club. Topics include drug use, sex work, death and HIV/AIDS.

- If These Walls Could Talk. A movie about pregnancy, abortion, and death.

- The Color Purple. A movie. Topics include religion/faith, rape, racism, incest, genital mutilation, jealousy, being queer and black in early 20th century America.

- The Boondocks. Animated TV show. Topics include racism, bigotry, breaking the law, growing up, sex work, degradation of women, social commentary, prison, drugs.

- Fight Club. A movie about capitalism, vandalism, mob mentality, and mental illness.

- Blue Is The Warmest Color. A French movie about lesbian love and infidelity. Includes sex scenes that were so intimate it was debated

- Pin. A movie. Topics include schizophrenia, abortion, masturbation, and attempted murder.

- American History X. A movie about neo-nazi cult, white supremacy, racism, in-group mentality, grooming, prison, rape, murder, and American politics. (This is almost 30 years old and still very relevant today.)

- Girl, Interrupted. A movie about mental illness, including schizophrenia, BPD, OCD, anorexia, includes suicide, and plays mainly in a mental institution.

- Patch Adams. A controversial yet uplifting movie, I find. Topics include suicidal thoughts, mental illness, humor, naivety, murder, compassion and spirituality.

- American Horror Story. A TV series. I haven’t watched all of them yet. Includes topics of good and evil, the supernatural, murder, abuse.

- All In The Family. TV show from the 70s/80s. Explores bigotry in all its different aspects.

- finally, this talk by Rowan Atkinson, on free speech and censorship:

PS: one thing I believe to be controversial but haven’t watched yet is Masters of Sex. A TV show.

Honorable mention: The Golden Girls and Queer As Folk.

i recommend being a fan of 1 problematic piece of media at least once in your life

[bllsbailey]

Biden Arrives In Angola, Vows To Provide More Than $1B In American Funds For African Aid

US President Joe Biden (CL) is welcomed by Angola President Joao Lourenco (CR) ahead of their bilateral meeting at the Presidential Palace in Luanda on December 3, 2024.

During a visit to Angola on Tuesday, President Joe Biden reportedly learned of the complex and unpleasant history between the two continents while vowing that the United States was “all in” on developing a new, stronger partnership with Africa.

While speaking at Angola’s National Museum of Slavery on the outskirts of Luanda, the country’s capital, Biden referred to the history of the slave trade and America’s “original sin” of enslaving Africans.

“I’ve learned that while history can be hidden, it cannot and should not be erased. It should be faced. It’s our duty to face our history. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The whole truth. That’s what great nations do,” Biden said.

A “significant number of all enslaved people” who came to America were Angolan citizens, Biden said in his speech. At the ceremony, three people who he claimed are direct ancestors of the first Africans in America to be enslaved joined him as well.

“We’re gathered in a solemn location. Because to fully consider how far our two countries have come and our friendship, we have to remember how we began,” Biden said.

The president praised his administration’s efforts to work with Africa on Tuesday, citing how he had provided more than $40 billion in government investments so far and $52 billion in business agreements between American and African companies in the areas of infrastructure, telecommunications, and solar energy.

During his visit, Biden also pledged an extra $1 billion in U.S. aid for drought-stricken African nations, displaced persons, and more, despite how many American victims of Hurricane Helene are still wondering when they’ll receive more federal assistance, especially being U.S. taxpayers.

“Today, President Joseph R. Biden announced that the United States is providing more than $1 billion in additional humanitarian assistance to address food insecurity and other urgent needs of refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and affected communities in 31 African countries. This funding, announced during President Biden’s visit to Angola, includes nearly $823 million through USAID – of which more than $202 million is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation – and nearly $186 million through the U.S. Department of State,” read a statement by USAID.

Biden began his speech after walking on stage, which was covered by a bullet proof glass casing.

The country of Angola is a mecca for gang activity and “destination for human trafficking, with both Angolan and foreign citizens targeted. The victims include people of all genders and age groups from neighbouring countries as well as Asian and Latin American countries. They are exploited in a wide variety of ways, from forced labour in the construction, agriculture and diamond mining sectors to prostitution in massage parlours,” according to the Global Organized Crime Index. 

“The right question in 2024 is not what can the United States do for the people of Africa, it’s what can we do together for the people of Africa,” Biden continued.

As he gets ready to step down in January, this occasion could be Biden’s last foreign trip as president.

During discussions with Angolan authorities, reporters also questioned Biden about his decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, but the president remained silent and ignored those questions. Biden previously claimed on numerous occasions that he would never pardon his son and that “no one is above the law.”

“As you know, I’m in the final weeks of my presidency. You don’t have to clap for that. You can if you want,” Biden said at the end of his speech. “And although I don’t know exactly what the future will hold, I know the future runs through Angola. Through Africa.”

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