#Ben Appel | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mariacallous · 2 months ago

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American neo-Nazi Robert Rundo’s six-year “battle with the feds”—a fight that spans two dismissals, three appellate reversals, and an extradition and deportation from at least two countries—concludes today with his sentencing to federal prison for attacking ideological opponents at political rallies across California in 2017.

Along with several members of the Rise Above Movement, a fight club-cum-street gang Rundo cofounded with fellow extremist Ben Daley in Southern California during the peak of the alt-right movement, Rundo was convicted on 2018 charges of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act for training and planning a series of attacks on political opponents at rallies across California and Unite the Right in Virginia the year prior. While Rundo may be locked behind bars for years, the movement he created is running wild around the globe.

In the interceding years since his initial arrest, indictment, imprisonment, and flight from the US after his case was initially dismissed in 2019, Rundo helped mastermind an international network of RAM clones known as “Active Clubs.” A transnational alliance of far-right fight clubs that closely overlap with skinhead gangs and neofascist political movements in North America, Europe, the Antipodes, and South America, the Active Club network is proliferating internationally. There are dozens of Active Clubs in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Holland, Scandinavia, Australia, and Colombia, according to the groups’ presence on Telegram and extremism researchers.

Seemingly harmless from the outside, Active Clubs are small groups of young men who go on hikes, train in combat sports, weight-lift, and build camaraderie—all part of the Rise Above Movement’s original program. But the darkness is in the details: The groups’ membership often overlaps with other extremist organizations like Patriot Front, criminal skinhead groups like the Hammerskins, and other violent extremists in foreign nations. Some US-based Active Clubs are branching out into political intimidation and violence, like the Rise Above Movement before them.

“I definitely do believe that in the future there needs to be a mass movement, a mass organization, but when it comes for that, do you really want a bunch of guys coming strictly from the online world to come join a mass movement without having any experience or skills?” Rundo said in a video posted online shortly before his March 2023 arrest in Bucharest, Romania. “Active clubs are a great local way to start guys off as they come from the online world into the real world, to learn actual skills.”

Hannah Gais, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center who has long researched Rundo and his associates, says the Active Club model stands out for its low barrier to entry, emphasis on positive community building to draw new blood from outside of extremist circles, and a ready-made international network. “The model has really made it easier to facilitate those transnational connections,” Gais says. “If you’re not an organization, then you can network with whoever you want.”

The Active Club network is seeing expanded breadth and growing significance in street politics (American members appeared alongside foreign counterparts at extreme right-wing demonstrations in Paris this May and Warsaw this fall), a fact emphasized by US prosecutors in their filing seeking prison time for Rundo. Federal attorneys scoured Rundo’s media output—which is considerable, ranging from a series of far-right “influencer” Telegram channels to the Media2Rise propaganda outlet that he ran in conjunction with stateside followers and members of Patriot Front—for their explanation of how seemingly innocuous fitness organizations like Active Clubs serve as vehicles for radicalization.

In a November 26 sentencing memorandum, prosecutors flagged Rundo’s description of the Active Cub network as “brush fire effect” that will be difficult for authorities to stamp out “because these clubs are generally small and local, helping to shield it from infiltrators and broader law enforcement actions.”

The Active Club ideology also leans heavily on young male grievances against a world that supposedly singles them out in favor of people of color and LGBTQ+ youth. “Defendant lamented that ‘[b]oy scouts no longer teach boys how to be men, instead softening them up, discouring [sic] any forms of competition, accepting girls, and promoting LGBT values,’ and encouraged Active Clubs to ‘put out propaganda’ to ‘let[] our own know the fight is not over,’ the government’s filing reads.

The Active Club network was not Rundo’s creation alone: He came up with the idea along with Denis Nikitin, a German-Russian neo-Nazi who started out as a soccer hooligan before moving into combat sports as a fighter, promoter, and organizer of far-right tournaments. According to exhibits filed by US prosecutors, Nikitin counseled Rundo on how to flee the US in 2018 while dodging what he believed to be his first arrest warrant, and sought to smuggle him into Ukraine with the assistance of the Azov Movement (a neo-Nazi political movement that has its own paramilitary forces integrated with the Ukrainian military and organizes with other similar extremist groups across Europe) and its allies in that country’s security services. Nikitin is not currently charged with an offense by the United States government.

Nikitin, whose legal surname is Kapustin, is one of Europe’s most influential neo-Nazi activists, starting out small with fight club events held in backwater Russian cities among amateurs from soccer hooligan and skinhead groups. In 2012, Nikitin’s MMA tournament promotion vehicle, White Rex, ran its first tournament outside Russia, in Kyiv. Soon Nikitin was hosting tournaments in Italy, Hungary, France, Germany, Greece, and elsewhere.

Nikitin also got his hands dirty. He allegedly participated in the hooligan riot during Russia’s 2016 European Championship clash with England in Marseille and trained British Nazis in armed combat tactics in 2014 at camps in England and Wales, as well as Swiss extremists in 2017. In 2019, he was reportedly banned from the European Union’s Schengen Zone for promoting extremism in several countries.

Nikitin currently leads a volunteer combat battalion of far-right wing extremists in association with Ukrainian command that spearheaded a surprise assault on Russia’s Kursk region earlier this year.

Since Rundo and Kapustin coined the concept of an Active Club in 2021 on an eponymous podcast, the neo-Nazi fight clubs have proliferated throughout Western Europe, Australia, and the United States, and are currently the preeminent organizing model for far-right streetfighters. Their members have been involved in political violence in the US and France, have been banned and arrested in Germany, and are a growing concern for UK and Irish law enforcement as the place of their recruiting has skyrocketed following this summer's riots.

Michael Vandelune, a research fellow at the American Counterterrorism Targeting & Resilience Institute, has long studied transnational networking by neo-fascist groups, including Rundo’s relationship with Nikitin. “Rundo was building on the Eastern European emphasis on hypermasculinity and physical fitness, and in many ways, he was a perfect Western mouthpiece for Nikitin and similar peoples’ ideas,” Vandelune says. Rundo’s devotion to Nikitin is apparent: While getting RAM off the ground, he repeatedly cited Nikitin’s white-nationalist clothing brand and MMA promotion company White Rex as inspiration, and got the company’s logo tattooed on his shin in 2018.

Along with members of the Azov Movement’s 3rd Assault Battalion who have been integrated into the regular units of Ukraine military intelligence directorate (HUR), Nikitin hosted a September conference in Lviv that gathered representatives from extreme right-wing organizations across Europe for a strategy conference. Italian fascist organization Casapound, which Rundo visited in 2018 and views as an exemplar, sent a representative, as did Germany’s openly neo-Nazi party Dritte Weg (Third Way).

Patrick Macdonald, a Canadian known as ‘Dark Foreigner’ who allegedly produced the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division’s eyecatching signature far-right propaganda at the end of the last decade, did the same work for the Active Club network, according to testimony given during his trial in Ottawa this month (Macdonald has plead not guilty to several charges, including participating in terrorist activity). Last year, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network identified Macdonald as a participant in Canada’s Active Club.

Outside of North America, the Active Clubs have proliferated most widely in France, the first European country to start such an organization. There are currently at least 50 such organizations in operation across the country, from Normandy to Provence and the Swiss border.

Sébastien Bourdon, a French journalist with Le Monde’s video investigations unit who authored a forthcoming book on that country’s far-right, says Active Clubs are the fastest-expanding facet of far-right militancy in France.

“When they launched the first Active Club in France in early 2022, within a few months they had 10 to15 groups. That’s already quite a lot. The fact that within two years they’ve grown from 15 groups to 50-plus groups throughout the country is mad,” Bourdon says. “Historically, most far-right groups in France have been active in big cities like Paris, Lyon, but if you look at some of the places they claim, some of them I’ve never heard of before.”

In France, where far-right street violence has a decades-long history despite authorities’ attempts to ban and dissolve organized groups, Bourdon says Active Clubs have proved effective at dodging legal crackdowns while appearing to have carried out acts of violence including an attack on an asylum center near Nantes last year. At least one founding member of the Active Club in Lyon has gone on to fight in Ukraine alongside other far-right volunteers.

As for Rundo, he will likely spend years in prison—a place he’s been before. He previously served nearly two years for stabbing a rival gang member in Flushing Queens in 2009. While he did radicalize during his stint at New York’s Greene Correctional Facility, starting a small white power gang, Rundo’s forthcoming prison term will mark his first federal term as a certified domestic extremist. But it remains unlikely that federal lockup will change his ideologies.

Rundo “has not renounced the violent extremist ideology that motivated that conduct,” US prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. It’s also likely that Rundo will hold out for help from a friendlier government.

Prior to the US election in November, Rundo urged his supporters to vote for Donald Trump specifically in the hope that the Republican president-elect would pardon him and other extremists who plead guilty to federal crimes. Since the election, there has been a sustained pardon campaign from corners of the far-right internet, which is a possibility since Rundo will be serving time in a federal prison when the incoming administration is sworn in this January.

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thatbiologist · 2 years ago

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G’eth Character Name Bank

First Names

Masculine Names

Alfred, Andrew, Arlo, Arthur, Balthazar, Barry, Ben, Benedick, Bernard, Burchard, Cedric, Charibert, Crispin, Cyrill, Daegal, Derek, Digory, Drustan, Duncan, Edmund, Edwin, Elric, Evaine, Frederick, Geffery, George, Godfreed, Gregory, Guy, Harris, Harry, Horsa, Hugh, Humphrey, Iago, Jack, Jeremy, John, Kazamir, Kenric, Lawrence, Leoric, Lorik, Luke, Lynton, Lysander, Madoc, Magnus, Maukolum, Micheal, Miles, Milhouse, Mordred, Mosseus, Ori, Orvyn, Neville, Norbert, Nycolas, Paul, Percival, Randulf, Richard, Robert, Roderick, Stephen, Tennys, Theodoric, Thomas, Tristan, Tybalt, Victor, Vincent, Vortimer, Willcock, Willian, Wymond

Feminine Names

Adelin, Alice, Amelia, Beatrix, Beryl, Bogdana, Branwyne, Brigida, Catalina, Catherine, Claudia, Crystina, Deanna, Desdemona, Elaine, Elinora, Eliza, Enide, Eva, Ferelith, Fiora, Freya, Gertrude, Gregoria, Gueanor, Gwen, Gwendolyn, Hannah, Hegelina, Helen, Helga, Heloise, Henrietta, Igraine, Imogen, Jacquelyn, Jane, Jean, Jenny, Jill, Juliana, Juliet, Katie, Leela, Lettice, Lilibet, Lilith, Lucy, Luthera, Luz, Lyra, Malyna, Margherita, Marion, Meryl, Millie, Miranda, Molle, Morgana, Morgause, Nezetta, Nina, Novella, Olwen, Oriana, Oriolda, Osanna, Pamela, Petra, Philippa, Revna, Rohez, Rosalind, Rose, Sallie, Sarra, Serphina, Sif, Simona, Sophie, Thomasine, Tiffany, Ursula, Viola, Winifred, Yrsa, Ysabella, Yvaine, Zelda, Zillah

Gender-Neutral/Unisex Names

Adrian, Alex, Aiden, Arden, Ariel, Auden, Avery, Bailey, Blaire, Blake, Brett, Breslin, Caelan, Cadain, Cameron, Charlie, Dagon, Dana, Darby, Darra, Devon, Drew, Dylan, Evan, Felize, Fenix, Fernley, Finley, Glenn, Gavyn, Haskell, Hayden, Hunter, Jace, Jaime, Jesse, Jo, Kai, Kane, Karter, Kieran, Kylin, Landon, Leslie, Mallory, Marin, Meritt, Morgan, Nell, Noel, Oakley, Otzar, Paris, Peregrine, Quant, Quyn, Reagan, Remy, Robin, Rowan, Ryan, Sam, Samar, Sasha, Sloan, Stace, Tatum, Teegan, Terrin, Urbain, Vahn, Valo, Vick, Wallace, Waverly, Whitney, Yardley, Yarden, Zasha

Surnames

Surnames, Patrilineal - First Name (Patrilineal Surname)

Ace, Allaire, Appel, Arrow, Baker, Bamford, Barnard, Beckett, Berryann, Blakewood, Blanning, Bigge, Binns, Bisby, Brewer, Brickenden, Brooker, Browne, Buller, Carey, Carpenter, Carter, Cheeseman, Clarke, Cooper, Ead, Elwood, Emory, Farmer, Fish, Fisher, Fitzroy, Fletcher, Foreman, Foster, Fuller, Galahad, Gerard, Graves, Grover, Harlow, Hawkins, Hayward, Hill, Holley, Holt, Hunter, Jester, Kerr, Kirk, Leigh, MacGuffin, Maddock, Mason, Maynard, Mercer, Miller, Nash, Paige, Payne, Pernelle, Raleigh, Ryder, Scroggs, Seller, Shepard, Shore, Slater, Smith, Tanner, Taylor, Thatcher, Thorn, Tilly, Turner, Underwood, Vaughan, Walter, Webb, Wilde, Wood, Wren, Wyatt, Wynne

Surnames, Townships in G’eth - First Name of (Location)

Abelforth, Argent Keep, Barrow Springs, Barrowmere, Bedford, Brunhelm, Bumble, Casterfalls, Dunbridge, Falmore Forest, Folk’s Bounty, Frostmaid, Fulstad, Heller’s Crossing, Hertfordshire, Humberdale, Inkwater, Little Avery, Marrowton, Mistfall, Mistmire, Morcow, Necropolis-on-Sea, Otherway, Parsendale, Piddlehinton, Port Fairwind, Redcastle, Ransom, Rutherglen, Saint Crois, Tanner’s Folly, Tavern’s Point, Wilmington

Surnames, Geographical Locations in G’eth - First Name of the (Location)

Cove of Calamity, Deep Woods of Falmore, Eastern Isles, Eastern Mountains, Foothills, Frozen Peak, Lakes, Maegor Cobblestones, Northern Mountains, Southern Isle, Tangle, West Coast, Wild Wild Woods, Woods of Angarad

Surnames, Nickname - First Name the (Something)

Bald, Bastard, Bear, Bearded, Big, Bird, Bold, Brave, Broken, Butcher, Bruiser, Careless, Caring, Charitable, Clever, Clumsy, Cold, Confessor, Coward, Crow, Cyclops, Devious, Devoted, Dog, Dragonheart, Dreamer, Elder, Faithful, Fearless, Fey, Fool, Friend, Generous, Giant, Goldheart, Goldfang, Gouty, Gracious, Great, Hag, Handsome, Hawk, Honest, Huge, Humble, Hungry, Hunter, Innocent, Ironfist, Ironside, Keeper, Kind, Lesser, Liar, Lionheart, Little, Loyal, Magical, Mercenary, Merchant, Messenger, Old, Orphan, Pale, Polite, Poet, Poor, Prodigy, Prophet, Proud, Reliable, Romantic, Rude, Selfish, Sellsword, Scab, Scholar, Shield, Shy, Singer, Sirrah, Slayer, Slug, Small, Stoneheart, Swift, Tadde, Talented, Tart, Tenacious, Timid, Tiny, Tough, Traveller, Trusted, Truthful, Viper, Wizard, Wolf, Wyrm

#oxventure #DnD 5e #character creation #name bank #5e

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 1 month ago

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By: Ben Appel

Published: Jan 20, 2025

In March 2024, the Community Education Council for District 2—the largest school district in Manhattan—passed a resolution to review the NYC Department of Education’s 2019 Gender Guidelines, which had replaced the category of sex with “gender identity” in all areas, including school restrooms, locker rooms, and athletics.

“Resolution #248” authorized a review committee to “propose amendments, changes and additions” to the guidelines once “an inclusive, evidence-based process” had determined their impact on female athletes. The resolution specified that the review committee must include those who were excluded from the process in 2019, such as female athletes, parents, coaches, relevant medical professionals, and evolutionary biology experts.

On the day of the vote, eight voted in favor of the resolution and three voted against it. One member was absent.

After the resolution passed, backlash was swift. Trans activists and their allies began showing up in droves at school board meetings to protest. They shouted down council members, screamed obscenities, and, if anyone dared to speak favorably about the resolution, stood up, turned their backs to the council, and hummed loudly in unison. In May, eighteen New York Democrats, including Rep. Jerry Nadler, called on the council to rescind the “hateful, discriminatory, and actively harmful” resolution, alleging in their public letter that it could lead to an increase in suicide attempts among transgender youth.

And all of this because a school committee council had voted to merely conduct a review of the existing guidelines.

Maud Maron, one of the four council members who sponsored the legislation (and who is now challenging Alvin Bragg in the 2025 Manhattan District Attorney race), contacted me in December, inviting me to speak on a panel about this topic at an official council meeting. The other panelists would be my friends (and Informed Dissent cohosts), Cori Cohn (who also cohosts the Heterodorx podcast) and the journalist Lisa Selin Davis. We set the date for Monday, January 13.

In the days leading up to the event, Maud texted the three of us with details. She said that the audience might be hostile, adding that some parents had emailed the superintendent, demanding that the meeting be shut down for promoting “hate speech.”

Maud also alerted us to a list of instructions trans activists had posted online for fellow protesters. The list, titled “This Week’s Jazzy Tactics,” advised comrades to enter the room “with pizzazz,” “wear white and/or keffiyeh,” and, “during transphobic testimony,” “take care of ourselves and one another” with things like “headphones, fidgets, coloring books, bubbles, snacks, treats.”

Oh, and “Macarena.”

The meeting, live streamed on YouTube, was held in a school auditorium on the Lower East Side. In the end, only about 20 people showed up. I assume this is because the activists knew they’d be confronted with logic and reason, and, as we all know, even the slightest bit of scrutiny causes their entire house of cards to tumble down. Thus, I only got a small taste of the hostility that Maud, her fellow council members, and other people who care about women and girls and the wellbeing of gender-nonconforming kids have had to endure over the last year.

When Maud opened the meeting around 6:45, she asked each of the panelists to share a little bit about ourselves and why we agreed to come here.

Cori suggested that, before we begin, we should probably clarify what we mean by “gender ideology,” since it’s become such a loaded term. He proposed a definition. “I would say that gender ideology is the idea that we can self-identify our sex based on our internal insights instead of relying on material indicators of sex, like what gametes your body produces or what your genital configuration is. So, it’s the idea that you can substitute gender identity for sex.”

No one objected, so Cori continued with his story.

In the eighties, as a young kid, Cori was relentlessly bullied for being different. He prayed to be a girl, thinking that would solve a lot of his troubles. When he was 15, his parents took him to a psychologist, who suggested he was transexual. At 18, Cori socially transitioned and started cross-sex hormones, and at 19, he underwent vaginoplasty. The surgery left him sexually dysfunctional.

Around 2010, the radical trans movement really began to kick off. Whereas previously, a male had to medicalize with cross-sex hormones and undergo castration surgery to enter female spaces, now activists were demanding that any male, no matter his medical history or appearance, be able to claim a female identity. Even worse, policymakers and legislators were obliging them. This, Cori noticed, was seriously compromising women’s rights and privileges.

After a lot of reflection, Cori eventually concluded that, if we think there’s a need for sex-segregated spaces—and Cori believes there are many reasons why we need them, particularly for women and girls—then that separation must be based solely on sex. Further, by demanding that one take hormones, have surgery, and become infertile in order to access a space, the state is creating a mandate for people to surgically and medically modify themselves.

“That’s not fair,” he said. “So, the conclusion is that, one, these spaces have to be sex-segregated, and two, they have to be safe for all users. Boys who want to present in a feminine way, have long hair, take a feminine name—they have to be safe in male spaces. There cannot be any tolerance at all for any abuse of somebody based on their gender presentation. That has to be protected. But you cannot substitute gender identity for sex and at the same time have safe, single-sex spaces.”

Cori then passed the mic to Lisa.

Lisa’s kids attend District 2 schools. One of those kids is a masculine daughter. When her daughter was little, Lisa noticed people responding very oddly to her daughter’s gender-nonconformity. They would ask what her pronouns were, and if she was a “trans boy.” Lisa was mystified. Since when did it become unacceptable for girls to be tomboys? Why were people (liberal people) suggesting her daughter needed to identify as male in order to be herself?

In 2017, Lisa wrote an op-ed about this issue for The New York Times. Soon came the vitriol. People threatened to kidnap her daughter for not “affirming” her as trans. Before long, most of the news outlets to which Lisa had contributed for years deplatformed her.

Since then, not much has changed about Lisa’s perspective, other than that she’s collected a heck of a lot more information (she’s currently working on a book about what she’s learned). For her, the desistance literature was particularly enlightening. This consists of a series of studies on gender dysphoric young children, which all came to the same conclusion: if not socially transitioned, the bulk of the children desisted in their distress and grew up to be gay.

Lisa accepts that some people have a belief system she doesn’t share, and she recognizes their right to live according to that belief system. But she objects to the idea that we all must accept the idea of gender identity as fact, and she worries about the imposition of this idea on gender-nonconforming children.

“Education can’t be, ‘There is one way to think about this and if you don’t think this way, you’re a bad person,’” said Lisa. “It has to be, ‘There are a lot of ways to think about this, and let’s try to create an environment in which multiple viewpoints and understandings can be heard.”

In a normal world, a statement like that might draw at least a smattering of applause from an audience of supposedly liberal New Yorkers. But no one made a sound.

Then the mic came to me.

I started by speaking about my own gender-nonconformity in childhood—the lessons I was taught by my religious teachers about homosexuality, and being relentlessly bullied by my peers. I told the audience about how I coped, which was to “defeminize” myself in order to become what a boy is “supposed to be.” I spoke about my battles with anxiety, depression, drugs and alcohol, my eventual recovery, and my foray into activism.

“This was very grandiose of me,” I said, “but I wanted to create a world where there’s more space for gender-nonconforming boys and girls. Where little boys and little girls who are really different—yes, they might not be the norm, and the majority of young kids might act like your typical boys and girls—but there are going to be gender-nonconforming kids that are inherently that way. And rather than saying, ‘There’s something wrong with you,’ we protect them from the bullies. We safeguard them. We tell them, “Yes, you are different, and that’s perfectly OK.”

That vision, I found, was not very popular in the world of “LGBTQ” activism. Gender-nonconforming kids were not natural variations of their own sex. Instead, they were “trans” and therefore “born in the wrong bodies.” Thus, in order for feminine boys to behave the way they wanted—in order for them to openly like pink and wear dresses and grow their hair long—they needed to identify out of their sex category, and then medically and surgically modify their bodies to fit properly into society.

Soon, like Lisa, I became really hungry for knowledge about this issue. After I learned that youth transition began not so long ago, with the medicalization of a small cohort of young people, nearly all of whom were homosexual, I became really concerned. And then I started meeting gay people who had been harmed by these treatment protocols.

Maud asked me if, at age 12, I may have thought transition was an option if I had been exposed to the idea that I was perhaps born in the wrong body and actually a girl.

I said, “If the adults I trusted—the guidance counselors, teachers, whoever—had intervened and stopped the bullying and then told me, ‘This is not a spiritual malady. This is not something evil about you. This is a medical defect that can be fixed.’ My god, would I have thought, ‘Hallelujah, I’m saved. Sign me up.’ I would have finally fit in. I would have been allowed to express myself in the way that I wanted to—to be gender-nonconforming, so long as I identified as a girl. But that would mean that there would also be folks saying, ‘There’s a medical protocol that you follow.’”

So, there you have it. There’s our “hate speech.” Our “transphobic” screeds.

Pretty reasonable, right?

Apparently not. After that, things got spicy. Maud asked each of us to speculate about how we had gotten to a place where the only way to “protect kids”—something we all want—is to silence whoever disagrees with you.

Lisa took this one. She explained how our understanding of the concepts of “harm” and “safety” have changed over time. When anti-bullying measures were first developed in the 90s, they were a response to the extreme violence that gender-nonconforming kids endured. “How did we get from that to, ‘If you don’t use the pronoun I want, I’m in danger of suicide’?” Lisa said.

Which was a great segue into a very important point.

“The bottom line is,” continued Lisa, “as Chase Strangio admitted to the Supreme Court, the suicide statistics you’re hearing are not true. There are not increased suicides among unaffirmed trans youth. There is nothing in the history of this research that suggests that we need to only treat people in a specific way or they are in imminent risk of harm.”

A woman sitting near the back of the audience interjected. “Why would you not treat someone the way they want to be treated?!” she yelled. “It doesn’t make sense!”

“Well, we can talk about compelled speech,” said Lisa. “We did try to explain that there is a belief system around gender identity that we do not share. And I respect your right to believe in it, but I don’t. The curriculum requires us to bow to a belief system we don’t share, and it includes lessons that we have concerns about, as former gender-nonconforming children and as a parent of a gender-nonconforming child.”

“What curriculum are you referring to?” yelled an audience member.

“We’re gonna take questions,” Maud reminded the audience. In the meantime, she asked them not to shout out questions.

A woman in the audience became irate. “This was publicized as a parent-led discussion, and this is not….!”

Maud put her foot down, saying she would close the meeting down if people don’t follow the rules.

The woman continued yelling. “This was falsely advertised!”

“I’ve raised four kids and I know how to shut down temper tantrums,” said Maud. “You guys have five more seconds to stop interrupting me and then the meetings over.”

“Heads down! Heads down!” a man in the audience shouted. He put his head in his arms and leaned against the chair in front of him. This, apparently, is one of the “jazzy tactics” the activists use to signal their collective disapproval of whatever is being said. This time, though, none of the other audience members put their heads down.

By now, my heart was about to pound out of my chest. I just don’t fare all that well when adults are yelling at each other. Not to mention that Cori, Lisa, and I had just shared some really vulnerable stuff with a bunch of strangers, so to quickly be met with hostility was disorienting, to say the least.

“There are people in the audience who have been really respectful, and I want to acknowledge you,” said Maud. “Also, I’ve had 10 months of rude protesters at our general calendar meetings, so my fuse is a little shorter than it usually is.”

Two audience members yelled something I didn’t make out.

Soon after that, the question-and-answer portion officially began. The first person to speak was named August. She appeared to be a female who had masculinized with testosterone. August introduced herself as a trans person, a Trevor Project representative, a crisis counselor, and “someone whose life was saved by my community.” She said she was saddened that we would come there and “smear” kids “who were so vulnerable and so sad.” She accused Lisa of misquoting Chase Strangio (Lisa did not misquote Strangio), then said, “There are so many people who are dead. Who are dead!”

Finally, August got to her question. She asked Cori to define what a woman is.

“Can we talk about female, or do you want woman?” Cori said.

“You were like, ‘There needs to be women’s spaces,’” said August.

“I think I said ‘sex-segregated,’” Cori responded. “What do I mean by sex-segregated? It’s your biological plan. So, if your body was developed to produce eggs, you’re female.”

August proceeded to interject with an activist talking point so clichéd, any of us could have predicted it.

“So, it’s just if you have eggs,” August gibed. “So, people who are infertile…”

“No,” Cori said. Clearly, he too was expecting this exact response. “If your body’s development plan is to produce eggs, you’re female. If your body’s development plan is to produce sperm, you’re male.”

August called this “hypothetical.”

“It’s not hypothetical,” said Cori. “It’s observable. If you believe in science, then you know that there’s instruments that can be used to determine which body plan…” He paused, frustrated that he needed to explain the birds and the bees to an adult. Or maybe I was just projecting. “Even in the extremely odd case where the chromosomes are XY, that female development pattern is still female. So, we have these really weird corner cases…”

“Those people are intersex, they’re not really weird,” sniped August.

“I'm gonna ignore you for a minute,” said Cori, “because that's really rude to twist…”

“Well, you said ‘really weird.’”

“I didn't say individuals were weird.”

“Can you have a seat?” Maud asked August.

“I thought this was a dialogue,” August said.

So, Cori dialogued. “It's sort of dirty to say that a difference of sexual development is unusual or weird, and then for somebody to say you're saying the people are weird. No, it's an unusual condition. So, you are a woman if you are an adult and your body follows the female development, and you're a man, like I am, like some other people in the audience are. Some people are male but look more feminine, some people are female but look more masculine. But you're a man if you're an adult human male and you're a woman if you're an adult human female. There's nothing wrong with that, there's nothing shameful about that. And if you're like me, and you've done something unusual with your body so that you've modified your sex traits, your sex characteristics, you may have some of the outward appearances of the opposite sex, but that doesn't make me not a man and it wouldn't make somebody like Buck Angel not a woman.”

August returned to his seat.

Maud asked Lisa if she wanted to add anything to that. “Sure,” she said, adding how distracting it is to have to argue that a woman is an adult human female. She then spoke briefly about two very rare intersex conditions, which, when it came to sex-segregated spaces, would probably be the edge cases we need to consider.

“How does this show up in the curriculum?” came a question from the audience.

Lisa said, “On the first day of fourth grade, my daughter was asked to create an identity web and put whether she was cisgender, transgender, or nonbinary on it. So, there are lessons about gender identity, and they are, again, taught as fact. You can look up the New York City DoE regulations, they say exactly what you have to do. There’s a lot of compelled speech. I don’t know how that works with the First Amendment…”

“It doesn’t,” said Maud.

A man sitting in the front row spoke up. He introduced himself as a D2 parent and a father of two daughters, “one trans and one not.” He asked how he could keep his trans kid safe from experiencing gender dysphoria if everything is sex-segregated.

Cori thanked the man for coming and for sharing his story with us. He said he can imagine that, over the years, a lot of “good-hearted people” have given him “the worst possible advice at the worst possible time.” He told the father that a lot of doctors and therapists are not telling parents the real risks of these treatments. The surgeries aren’t great, and if his child was on puberty blockers, there’s a good chance he won’t be able to have a normal sex life. Earlier, Cori recounted for the audience an op-ed he had written for The Washington Post in 2022, in which he admitted that, as a result of his vaginoplasty at 19, he has never been able to orgasm with a partner.

“That’s crushing, actually,” said Cori. “Because in order to partner with people, a healthy sex life is really important.”

“I have made post-op girls cum, just for the record,” August shouted. “It’s not…”

“We’re gonna let them answer, please,” said Maud.

Cori continued. He advised the father to think about his child in the future, and that he will have to live for many years with the decisions that his parents made for him.

“I promise you they will come for answers,” said Cori. “They’ll say, ‘What was I really like? Was there anything else that I could have done, were there any other treatments?’ And you’ll be able to say, ‘No, the doctors didn’t give me any other options,’ because institutionally talk therapies and [cognitive-behavioral therapy] have been recategorized as conversion therapy.”

At some point, as Cori spoke, August stood up from his seat and walked to the front row. He had the father stand up so that he could give him a hug in front of everyone.

Next, it was a mother of a nonbinary child who has chronic health conditions. The mother is a volunteer facilitator for PFLAG. She called Cori arrogant for projecting his own experience onto everyone else’s. She said we’re facing “a tsunami of anti-LGBTQ policy coming our way.” She asked him if he supports Trump’s proposal of eliminating X gender makers for adults who identify as nonbinary.

“You’re so articulate, I appreciate the question,” Cori said. “PFLAG no longer stands for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, right?”

The woman said no, it’s just the acronym.

Cori proceeded to answer her question. “If there’s a marker that’s supposed to list your sex, it should be male or female, and there’s no need at all for your gender marker to reflect your gender identity.”

Next came a question for me. A woman sitting in the back asked why I think there’s not a space for gender-nonconforming kids right now. She said she’s not understanding the debate.

I reiterated that I object to the reductive way that gender expression is talked about in schools, which I fear will lead gender-nonconforming children to think they might’ve been born in the wrong body simply because they behave more like the opposite sex. If, as a child, I had been asked which sex I “feel” like, I certainly would have said I “felt” like a girl. While I can acknowledge there are some people whose gender dysphoria will persist into adulthood, and that those adults might make decisions to modify their bodies in order to appear more like the opposite sex, I believe that every kid has a right to grow up with their bodies intact and healthy.

Lisa spoke next. She thanked the woman for her question and said she had one of her own. “Why are so many people here so hostile to incorporating our ideas?” She added that most of the questions have assumed that gender identity is a fact, while we see it as a kind of religious belief. She doesn’t believe that everyone has a separate gendered soul that can be “excavated and revealed.”

“It’s fine if you believe that,” she said. “What we are asking for people to consider is that some people don’t, and it doesn’t make them bigots.”

Lisa then mentioned a book often seen in schools, I Am Jazz, in which the protagonist says he has a girl’s brain in a boy’s body because he likes pink and mermaids, and that makes him transgender.

“Therefore, what many children learn, if they’re a boy who likes pink and mermaids, is that they’re in the wrong body,” said Lisa. “And it needs to be OK for us to raise our concerns about that.”

After that came a question from a woman wearing a mask, who identified herself as a “cis queer woman” with some kind of LGBTQ certificate from NYU. She said she’s gender-nonconforming because she has short hair and sometimes wears pants. She told Lisa that, actually yes, Lisa does have a gender identity.

When it appeared she was just going to keep rambling, Maud asked if she had a question.

“MAUD!” shouted the irate woman. “Can you actually show some respect for the people asking questions?!”

Maud gave the masked woman a few more chances. She continued to ramble, but never got to a question. Finally, she passed the mic to a very tall man wearing a blue cardigan. It was the same man who had ordered everyone to put their heads down.

The man stood up. Along with the blue cardigan, he wore a dress. His question was for Cori. “I’m a trans mom, I’m a transwoman,” he said. “I’ve got two kids, and I’m at the airport, and I’ve got ‘F’ on my passport. And I think, in the universe that you’re creating, that would not fly—excuse the pun. Then what happens? Like, what would happen to me and my family?”

“Well, depending on how you were presenting yourself…” Cori began to answer.

“I’m in a dress. I’m wearing a fucking dress.”

Maud asked him not to curse, since it was a school committee meeting.

“Oh, I can’t say ‘fuck?’ Fucking fuck fuck fuck,” he said.

Cori went on. “I use men’s spaces, and it’s OK. It’s a little uncomfortable. But you know what? Men just wanna pee.”

“What does that mean?” the man said.

“It means, if you use the men’s room, they’re not interested in what you’re doing, they’re just there to pee.”

“Are you calling her a man?” said August.

“I’m saying that, if you use the facility that accords to your sex, you don’t have to worry about the men that are in there mistreating you, because they’re just there to pee.”

“I think you are suggesting that I have to go to the men’s room,” the man said.

Cori replied, “You should use the sex space that’s accorded for your sex.”

Shortly thereafter, the man in the blue cardigan gathered his things and stomped out of the room. The mother of the nonbinary child with chronic health conditions followed him.

Finally, we made it to the last question. A person in the audience asked what kinds of policies we would propose to replace the existing ones.

Cori answered, “Sex should be treated as sex, and what we consider ‘gender’ should be protected as gender expression. Boys should be able to wear female-coded clothes, females should be able to wear masculine clothes, they should be able to adopt nicknames, they should be safe in school always and not targeted for violence or bullying because of their gender expression. If all of the energy that went into gender identity instead went into just how we express ourselves, I think that would be the best way to help these kids.”

I concurred. I said that there are males and females and rare intersex cases, and that people can express themselves however they want. I said that the way gender is currently being talked about in schools might actually be priming gender-nonconforming children to become gender dysphoric as they grow up. If a young boy says he “feels like a girl,” and all of the adults in his life affirm him as one, then, as his body matures, reality will betray what everyone has been telling him. He’ll become dysphoric, and medicalizing will seem like the most viable option.

After me, Lisa made a plug for viewpoint diversity when it comes to creating policy. She said we need to hear people who have been helped by existing policies, but we also need to hear from people who have been harmed.

“We cannot make good policy if we do not acknowledge the cost,” she said.

And with that, the meeting was adjourned.

Later that night, Maud realized she left behind some of the recording equipment. She emailed the school principal about it, and also thanked him for allowing us to use the space for our meeting. He responded by saying that his mother, who once represented the KKK when she worked for the ACLU, taught him that “suppressing hate speech is counterproductive, making martyrs of bigots.” He hadn’t watched the program, but he thinks he would have vehemently disagreed with a lot of it.

Maud responded, “You would likely learn a lot from, be impressed by, and find yourself agreeing with the panelists last night. Defending the 1st A and viewpoint diversity, as your mom did, is at its most robust when you do more than just begrudgingly allow speech but when you actually listen to other points of views. And here those points of view included multiple D2 parents.”

She pasted a link to the live stream and thanked him again.

To the principle’s credit, he followed up with Maud after he watched the video. He thanked her for suggesting he watch it and was glad he did. He said he still disagreed with a lot of what was said, particularly the underlying assumption that schools are pushing a particular ideology. He wondered whether the “fear mongering and scapegoating of trans people during the election made people pay attention and think there is a crisis.”

Isn’t that always the way?

These people are bigots.

OK, they’re not necessarily bigots, but they’re overreacting. This stuff isn’t happening. Besides, it’s probably all because of Trump.

Eventually, down the road:

OK, this stuff is happening.

And finally:

It’s good that it’s happening…. Bigot!

As of now, Resolution #248 is dead in its tracks. The former schools chancellor, David Banks, who retired in December after having his house raided as part of the federal corruption investigation into Mayor Eric Adams’s administration, said last year, “We will not be entertaining changes to that [2019 gender] guidance.” To my knowledge, the new chancellor, Melissa Aviles-Ramos, has not commented on the resolution.

Regardless, it’s now very clear how deeply gender identity ideology has embedded itself within our schools and communities. As a result, we no longer speak the same language. Maud, Lisa, Cori, and I acknowledge the material reality of sex. We’re run-of-the-mill liberals who believe in things like free speech and viewpoint diversity. But not these folks.

In his final email to Maud, the principal did mention that he doesn’t see a lot of this occurring in his school. And that very well might be true, since his school has a lot of low-income and immigrant students, which are not the primary demographics in which gender ideology metastasizes. I only hope it stays true.

But what we all must realize is that this is occurring in schools. Widely occurring. Right now, in the most advanced nation in the world, kids are being taught that sex isn’t real. They’re being taught that they can choose their sex, and that that choice rests upon the most regressive ideas of what it means to be a boy and what it means to be a girl. Girls are being taught to simply accept the presence of boys in their sports and private spaces. They’re being told that it’s their problem and that they might be in trouble if they object to a boy who claims to be a girl coming into their locker room.

Right now, in America.

Perhaps that’s okay for some people. But I’m worried about the consequences of an entire generation being taught a pseudoscience. And I don’t think it’s wise for kids to be told to disregard their personal boundaries.

And I know I’m not alone. A New York Times poll has revealed that the majority of Americans disapprove of trans-identified males in women’s sports and do not believe that gender-distressed minors should have access to puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.

The majority of Republicans and Democrats.

We must end it now.

Full video:

youtube

As always...

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lolochaponnay · 3 months ago

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Une ville française et une ville américaine de 50000 habitants chacune se sont jumelées. Au bout d’un an, les Américains invitent les Français pour célébrer le premier anniversaire du jumelage. Au cours d’un banquet, le maire Ricain dit au maire Français : - J’ai eu une idée formidable. J’ai demandé à un ami architecte de faire des plans pour un centre de loisirs afin d’accueillir les jeunes et les personnes âgées en difficulté. L’idée serait de bâtir le même centre dans nos deux villes. Le projet a séduit mon ami, qui m’a fait les plans bénévolement. On pourrait baptiser ces deux centres du même nom, par exemple : « centre de solidarité franco-américaine », ou autre, bien sûr ! Qu’en dites vous ? - Cela me semble être une bonne idée. Vous me donnez une copie de ces plans, et on s’appelle dans quelques mois. Six mois plus tard, le maire américain appelle le maire français : - Hello, cher ami ! Dans quinze jours, notre centre sera achevé. Nous voulons vous inviter pour son inauguration. Et vous, où en êtes-vous ? - Ben …nous, dans quinze jours nous devrions recevoir les formulaires et les dossiers à remplir afin d’obtenir le permis de construire dans les six mois. Mais pour l’instant, nous n’avons toujours pas de nouvelles des subventions !

#le maire Ricain dit au maire Français :#par exemple : « centre de solidarité franco-américaine »#ou autre #bien sûr ! Qu’en dites-vous ?#et on s’appelle dans quelques mois.#Six mois plus tard #le maire américain appelle le maire français :#- Hello #cher ami ! Dans quinze jours #où en êtes-vous ?#- Ben …nous #nous n’avons toujours pas de nouvelles des subventions !

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offender42085 · 2 years ago

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Post 0584

MIchael Keith Humphrey, Missouri inmate 1264642, born 1984, incarceration intake in 2022 at age 38, sentenced to life with parole

Murder

In January 2023, the man convicted of helping kill a prominent snake breeder in Montgomery County sought for a new trial.

Attorneys for Michael Humphrey filed his appeal on Jan. 26 in the state's Eastern District Court of Appeals. The appeal says Judge Jason Lamb should not have allowed a key witness to testify about what a co-defendant in the murder case of Ben Renick told him about who did it.

A jury convicted Humphrey in October 2021 of first-degree murder and armed criminal action for killing Ben Renick at his farm in 2017. Prosecutors changed his charge to second-degree murder and recommended a life sentence with parole in exchange for his testimony against Renick's wife, Lynlee Renick.

Lynlee Renick was convicted in December 2021 of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. She was sentenced to the jury's recommendation of 16 years in prison.

Special public defender Kevin Schriener said in his only point that Brandon Blackwell should not have been allowed to testify at Humphrey's trial. Blackwell told Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators that Lynlee Renick told him about the shooting when they started dating after Ben's death. Blackwell claimed Lynlee recruited Humphrey to help her get a gun and kill Ben as the couple struggled with their marriage.

Schriener said courts can't allow statements made about a defendant's possible participation in a crime after the fact without that person being present when made.

"Mr. Blackwell’s testimony that Ms. Renick had told him everything that she and Mr. Humphrey did was inadmissible hearsay as it was not in furtherance of the conspiracy and there is no evidence that Mr. Humphrey was present when Ms. Renick made it to Mr. Blackwell and acquiesced in its making," Schriener said. "Even without trial counsel objecting to this testimony, the trial court should have recognized its inadmissible nature and taken action to correct it."

Humphrey's attorneys did not object to Blackwell's testimony at trial, nor did they file a motion for a new trial. Appellate judges will need to find that Lamb committed plain error in allowing Blackwell to testify, which attorney Jennifer Bukowsky said is a higher bar than if the issue had been raised at trial.

Blackwell was in the Boone County Jail at the time of his 2020 interview with the patrol on accusations he violated a protection order Lynlee Renick had against him. A judge had ordered no bond for him, but lowered it following his talk with investigators. Those criminal charges were dropped following Lynlee Renick's sentencing. Lynlee Renick sued Blackwell for defamation in 2022.

Blackwell did not testify in Lynlee Renick's trial. Her attorneys said Blackwell invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during depositions before the case.

Last reviewed October 2024

#inmate

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lepartidelamort · 9 months ago

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Allemagne occupée : l’héroïque Ursula Haverbeck, 95 ans, à nouveau persécutée par les tribunaux du régime juif !

Malgré la prison, l’héroïque Ursula Haverbeck, 95 ans, défie les menteurs juifs avec le sourire !

J’avais presque oublié que la démocratie en Allemagne est une infâme fistule sémitique.

C’est rectifié.

Bild :

C’est une vieille femme têtue et incorrigible : à 95 ans, la négationniste Ursula Haverbeck persiste dans ses opinions haineuses ! La vieille dame a de nouveau dû répondre de ses actes devant la justice : Haverbeck, très populaire dans les milieux néonazis, avait été condamnée en 2015 par le tribunal de Hambourg à dix mois de prison sans sursis pour incitation à la haine dans deux cas. Elle avait fait appel de cette décision. En 2015, en marge du procès de l’ancien SS Oskar Gröning, cette femme de 95 ans aurait déclaré devant des journalistes qu’Auschwitz n’était pas un camp d’extermination, mais un camp de travail. De plus, lors d’une interview télévisée avec le magazine « Panorama » de la NDR, elle a nié qu’il y ait eu une extermination massive d’êtres humains à Auschwitz.

Ben oui.

Il faut reparler de la porte en bois ?

Lors du procès en appel devant le tribunal régional, Mme Haverbeck a été conduite au tribunal vendredi midi par une entrée latérale, assise dans un fauteuil roulant. Vêtue d’un tailleur bleu foncé, elle a étudié de nombreux documents apportés par son avocat Wolfram Nahrath. Lorsque la juge a interrogé Haverbeck sur sa déclaration selon laquelle le camp de concentration d’Auschwitz n’était pas un camp d’extermination, mais un camp de travail, la femme de 95 ans a clairement souligné : « Je maintiens ma position ! » Pourtant, la femme de 95 ans, qui s’est présentée au tribunal de manière claire et ordonnée, n’a jamais été à Auschwitz, comme elle l’a indiqué. Reconnaissance ou repentir ? Aucune trace !

C’est ce qu’on appelle le courage et l’élégance.

Plusieurs dates de procès ont dû être reportées à plusieurs reprises pour diverses raisons (notamment surcharge de la chambre, Corona, cas de maladie), de sorte que le nouveau procès n’a eu lieu que près de neuf ans plus tard. Depuis des années, les tribunaux se penchent régulièrement sur les déclarations antisémites de Haverbeck. En 2004, elle a été condamnée pour la première fois et a reçu une amende. Haverbeck a également passé plus de deux ans en prison à l’établissement pénitentiaire de Bielefeld (Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie) pour avoir nié l’Holocauste. En 2022, elle a de nouveau été condamnée par un tribunal berlinois à un an d’emprisonnement sans libération conditionnelle pour incitation à la haine. Le jugement est définitif.

Imaginez être flic et embastiller une nonagénaire pour faire plaisir aux juifs tandis que l’Afghanistan viole des gamines allemandes dans toutes les villes du pays.

À part les juges et les journalistes, il n’y a pas pire engeance que les flics.

Quand un régime est terrorisé par une mamie de 95 ans parce qu’elle dit quelque chose, c’est que ce quelque chose est de nature à faire s’effondrer ledit régime.

Il n’y a évidemment jamais eu de chambres à gaz à Auschwitz. Le plus énorme mensonge de l’histoire finira par être connu du plus grand nombre, au niveau planétaire.

Quand ce sera le cas, la colère des goyim arnaqués qui va s’abattre sur les têtes de ces juifs n’aura pas d’équivalent dans l’histoire.

Démocratie Participative

#dempart #oy vey !#Simillions #Savonnette #abat-jour #Saucisse #Soap #lamp shade #Sausage

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iwanttobepersephone · 1 year ago

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So, sometimes, there are certain words or sentences that kinda just play on loop in my mind when I have nothing to think about. It's always been a thing that happens

Usually, it's a fun word to say like taquito or molcajete. But, after I started learning more languages, there has been more variety in the words

After I started learning Japanese, a phrase that translates to "are the 7 pizzas tasty" would just pop into my head at random times and refuse to leave. After adding Irish lessons, the word sneachta likes to hang out in there. But, there's not been a phrase in Dutch yet

Until just now

I have had the phrase "ik ben een lul appel" stuck in my head for 30 minutes now. I don't even know if it's proper grammar. But it won't leave me alone. HELP.

#funny #learning languages #learning dutch #rambles

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maitresse-des-tempetes · 2 months ago

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I'm baaaack, et on en est au chapitre 17 d'Erylis (tome deux des Mondes).

- oooh Duom est trop sympa (il faut oublier le petit texte d'intro au plus vite ça sent pas bon du tout tout ça).

- première fois que l'imagination est complètement inaccessible ? Pire que le verrou ? Et ben dit donc ça se gâte en plus la situation avec la légion noire ou la la oh non

- en fait il faudrait que je me mette sérieusement à imaginer à quoi ressemble l'imagination car jusque-là ça a l'air d'être un endroit qui ressemble à quelque chose tout en étant pas matériel, ça fait des noeuds au cerveau.

- oooouuuu c'est le multivers carrément

- se déplacer physiquement dans l'imagination...ça donne de plus en plus d'idées

- Le dragon (qui ne les calcule pas)

- Putain la bourde d'Illian c'est trop mignon (à deux doigts de dire qu'il épousera Ewilan quand il sera grand lol)

- ou ou la la quel gros retournement de situation (tout un tas de choses à dire là dessus vraiment) sur Eléa ril'Morienval

- En fait vrai parallèle à faire entre la méduse qu'Illian appelle "Amour" et le sentiment amoureux obsessionnel qu'Elis a pour Éléa, qui le pousse au pire. Elle s'est infiltrée dans l'imagination comme lui dans la confidence d'Ewilan et les secrets de son groupe, pour détruire de l'intérieur.

- Ah donc Elis et Éléa sont en ligue avec la Méduse ? Et ben.

- tout autour de la blessure d'Ewilan...oh ça vous fait monter les larmes aux yeux (et elle a montré ça à personne !! 😭)

- ahhh, c'est l'heure de la trahison ! Enfin

- ils l'appellent toujours commandant alors qu'il ont choisi de le trahir omg

- quand on pense qu'Elis & Éléa auraient pu utiliser la loyauté des légionnaires comme ça, contre l'empire...damn non mais ils pensent qu'il va se passer quoi après ils vont déposer l'empereur ou devenir des hors-la-loi comme les mercenaires ?

- ah donc le gant d'Ambarinal possède aussi le don d'amnésie ?

- j'aime quand les pieds fusent il faut tout le temps ça Bottero ça doit être un tic d'écriture de combat lol

- oh no

- non mais quand j'y pense la légion noire entière est un peu compromise ils sont tous suspects maintenant

- bon ben adios Chiam & Erylis j'imagine

- Oh encore un deus ex machina. Bon ils en avaient bien besoin

#relecture #les mondes d'ewilan #tome 2

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meilas · 2 years ago

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Phantom of the Opera Wine List

Your wine sommeliers:

@meilas: Concept, Graphics, Layout, Project Manager, Hadley, Barbara the Mannequin

@gwalchmedi: Franc D’Ambrosio, Norm Lewis, Drew Sarich, Peter Joback, Bronson Norris Murphy, Hugh Panaro, Michael Crawford, Jonathan Roxmouth, Jeremy Stolle, Barbara the Mannequin, Ethan Freeman, Peter Karrie, Dmitry Ermak, Earl Carpenter

inspired by @mxbuster: Uwe Kroger

inspired by @petittneko: Saulo Vasconcelos, Thiago Arancam

@devilswalkingstick: Cooper and triptychs

@when-it-rains-it-snows: Ben Lewis

DocTy: Alexander Goebel

Tina: Gina Beck

@from-aldebaran: Derrick Davis and proof-reader

@therosenpants: proof-reader and taste-tester

@box5intern: Christopher Carl

This wine list could not have turned out so well without the loving dedication of everyone involved. Thank you everyone for putting up with this silly project for so long!

D’Ambrosio Vintage Vintage 1962, best run 1998 Other nicknames: Cabernet Franc; Franc D’Amn that’s good!

Slither yourself down somewhere comfortable and loosen a few buttons while you steal a taste, slowly swirling your tongue around a luscious mouthful of this full-bodied, ambrosial red. Every note stays with you while you are distracted by its elegant looks, get reeled in by a silvery touch, and feel it gliding along your throat. As you swallow, a slow leisurely piquancy reveals a muscular body and delivers a prominent, long, full finish. A total god of a wine. Keeps giving satisfaction long after you have embraced your last glassful.

Bottling notes: The reddest of red wines in the bluest of containers, and the perfect precursor to pants-less pastimes. Comes in our most prominent bottle.

Saulo Vasconcelos, vintage 1999

An epic year for Brazilian wines, this timeless choice has performed in many a fine vintage bottle. A few tastings will assure you that this wine leaves you anything but Miserable, being a bit of a beast in disguise. Delightfully playful, sensuously hands-on with its flavour, and encasing you in its warm, chocolate tones, you’ll find yourself helplessly succumbing to its embrace. A proper, stern Daddy of a wine, this is one for those who like their types mature and commanding. De Nada!

Crémant NormLew Château Tallahassee

A first for a Crémant from this region of Florida, you’ll be getting a plethora of orchard fruits here with delightful baritone notes! Up there with the finest of champagnes, just enjoy how this Crémant gives such a unique expression of its appellation.

Peter Jöback

This fiery Scandinavian grape is a notoriously difficult one to grow well, but prolific once it takes hold, which makes this lovely drop of sleek Swedish red even more impressive! The acidity has a true, tenor register, a light note that is just right for pairings with other Swedish delicacies, I'd say. Very quaffable indeed.

Drew Sarich

With a very young feel to this Veltliner grape, it actually delivers a surprise that is a decade ahead of itself. This wine has a long taste on the tongue, sitting there like a kitten purring in your lap. Delightfully complex, this is a New York socialite of a vintage with a phantasm of aromatic perfume on it which is absolutely phenomenal. It’s fascinating how the acidity is so high that it somewhat devilishly disguises the wine’s natural sweetness.

Dreamclimber from the House of Derrick Davis Two pressings, 2016-2017 and 2019-2020

An astonishingly underappreciated vintage, Dreamclimber will make you abandon your defenses from the very first sip. A potent mix of smooth deep notes of dark oak ranging upward to a soaring sunshiney sweetness, the positive energy in every bottle offers sweet intoxication and will fundamentally alter your outlook on life. The dynamic and passionate essence of Dreamclimber elevates everything around it, so if you need to restage a meal, add this bold and muscular yet soft and sensual wine to your table. Want to stay one step ahead of the crowd? Catch a Broadway-bound dream of a wine and you can say you were among the first to realize its genuine and soul-stirring star power. Dreamclimber has the uplifting soulfulness to take you and your guests to where you long to be!

Bronson Norris Murphy Variety: Babygrapes

The very youngest of our vintages, this wine has brought out excitingly different comments from our patrons. Respected Voices talk knowledgeably either about its Wheel of Flavours, or enjoy a genuine Laugh about how this rush of taste almost knocks them over; still others amongst the cognoscenti talk about its delightfully Icie youthfulness and endearing features, or how a glassful taken at bedtime would counter a Snowy cold evening. One Purist anonymously chuckled that a grape as vigorous as this could be put in more than one setting and still retain its delightful, child-like boyish charms. Two stunningly dressed patrons, in Rose and Cora(l), admitted they’d been given a taste of this wine secretly, a sort of cameo appearance before its launch, and had felt the vibes of the overt rosehip and petal flavours long before it had become popular. The pair’s general consensus was that this vintage was young enough to Make It on the scene, although the coquettish undertones about vinicultural size and handspan were elusively enticing. The Vast Glassy Orangery was agog with gossip about some Baguette-wielding youth (and their noteworthy tailoring) having hugely overdosed on the tasting previously, almost knocking their socks off with its pale beauty and fragrant scents. Their partner in crime, a clear Persephone of a beauty, was wearing delicious couture from the House of ChristineGrrl, and the effect of this duo almost matched the effect of the wine’s heady aroma on the delightfully younger crowd. Suffice to say the vintage was a resounding success and its aura of vinicultural adolescence bursting into manhood held everyone in its attractive grasp. One worth keeping.

Panaro Prosecco

The elevation that every note in this charismatic, versatile Prosecco provides ensures that the bubbles in this Panaro Prosecco are so much lighter than in the flatter and usually insipid Chagny Champagnes to which they are unfairly compared. For me, there is no contest; crystal clear delivery, in a bottle with movie star good looks, this vintage delivers a deliciously singing bouquet, with beautifully crisp notes of apple to finish.

Michael Crawford, vintage 1986

Oh yes, this most venerable of English sparkling wines has a well-rounded palate with a hint of the most delicate, sweetest of orchard fruits giving way to deeper notes of Parisian brioche, with a hint of French kisses. French, I hear you ask - but did you know that English winemakers use the same traditional method that the French use to produce Champagne?

Jonathan Roxmouth, vintage b.1987, run 2011-2012, 2019

Not an easy Chenin Blanc grape variety to like on first encounter, this South African powerhouse has a drawn-out tingle which stays on your tongue, and wanders high into your head. The yearning feel to break out in full fruit mode is hidden beneath the complex mix of earthy, graveyard depths. You may feel the emotional and smoky hint of stalk, but a flash of strength beneath its velvet glove packs a punch like no other. Rox your Sox.

The St(r)olle

The smoothest of our wines, this will simultaneously quench your thirst and leave you begging for more. In parts of America, this vintage used to be obscure, yet when you taste it, you’ll wonder why. This wine takes a confident, sassy stroll across your palate, its taste coiling a lasso around you as rock solid as Henry Cavill’s abs. Achingly rich and smooth, sporting lush, sweet toned, deep throated berry notes tinged with vanilla, it has suave yet elemental flavors pushing out from a deep, muscular centre. One not to be trifled with.

Barbara the Mannequin, vintage 1988

Wooden and oaky, this wine is perfect for poorly-thought-out proposals. We’ve all known at least one weird, dorky guy who somehow engineered a vision of a hot chick. This wine is that chick. Barbara is also known for its thin, acid nature, bolstered with a dressing that feels domineering, but sadly is only a foreshadowing of a disappointingly textured mouthfeel, with little middle, and an abrupt finish.

Hadley Fraser, vintage: 2 weeks old

A light dessert wine that sometimes forgets how it is supposed to taste. It’s not its fault. Really. We just didn’t give it enough time before bottling it.

Alexander Goebel Der Goebel Veltliner - Vintage 1988

Often overlooked and replaced by the Freeman, its direct descendant, the Goebel is the true original flavour of Vienna's best vineyards, planted and cultivated by the same London vintners that originated the Crawford. Since 1988 the deep rich tones of Dunkelheit in this wine have melted the heart and palate of real connoisseurs around the globe, who also appreciate the high Skan-da-lös and Maskenball notes that follow the first taste. Best served in the Original Cast environment (especially accompanied with a side dish of Nistler and Pfeifer) to highlight its most recognizable qualities, it is also recommended in its "boot" version where its taste is sublimated by visual experience to heighten each sensation.

Peter Karrie

Vintage with a distinctive voice. A commanding flavour, this is a wine both dangerous and elegant, one a chivalrous soul would offer to another, with a heart-rending tone, and an unparalleled physicality and wealth of detail. This grape makes the wine totally in a class of its own, with a wandering taste yet, by some rare and strange alchemy, with a touch of the rock band too. A bit of The Wolf in this bottle.

Ermak Syrah

Our only Slavic wine to date. Once phans sneak a taste of Ermak, they become avid for this imposing Russian grape. Its notes are powerful and bright, dominated by scents of ripe rich raspberry, and a touch of smoke that either comes from barrels toasted over a hickory flame or all that sexy heat. The Eastern European earthy touch, common in ‘Old World’ Syrah, is always present on the back of the palate, but bright succulent flavours mingle with those of hazelnut and chocolate. The tannins swirl like Rusalki across your taste buds, as smooth and alluring as Ermak himself.

G. Beck, vintage 2010

A silken, dry, red English wine with a strong note of blackcurrant. There’s a hint of youthfulness in its complexities. A wine so lovely it will bring tears to your eyes, as the taste conjures up the image of wistfully walking through a graveyard while crying about your father. Perfect after a day of tired feet from wearing heels and heavy gala dresses for too long, and with dark chocolate… or perhaps even Marmite on toast, if you’re feeling adventurous? It has also been blessed by a certain soprano’s tuxedo cat, because why not.

Tested and reviewed by: Tina, who was definitely in a country where the legal age of drinking is 17 at the time. She immediately bought nearly the entire stock and gave it a 6 out of 5 stars rating.

Thiago Arancam, vintage 1982

A total Batata Bonita, this wine from a little-known grape has been successfully transplanted from 13,000 feet up at Insosso Opera’s vineyard to the less stratospheric Sem Sal Palco Musical’s estate. You might call it a vinho on a budget mais fácil. With an early unmasking of a distinct brasiliaro flavour, this is one wine which ought to know how to show its range of notes, but sometimes just pales into insignificance.

Earl Carpenter

A strong bold grape should produce an overbearing wine. Instead, what we have here is viniculture’s version of a smooth Movie Star. Nuanced, sensual and gentle on the palate, it has a buttery feel, although on occasion this vintage’s notes are somewhat uncertain. Building up towards a taste explosion, too much enthusiastic sampling will find you too far gone to stop at the final reveal.

BEN BEN BEN Shiraz 2011

BEN BEN BEN is most curious; the 2011 is one of just two Phantom varietals that are easily acquired, yet rarely is it recommended. Best suited to the mad friends of Dionysus, this Australian Shiraz is a magic show as run by the white tigers: absolutely beautiful, but whose idea was this? It cannot possibly end well… No amount of familiarity with the Brilliant Original will prepare the palate for this Absolute Beast. Expect to be dragged from delicately smoky baritone lows to peppery near-tenor highs; you may feel a little wide-eyed as you study the legs and ponder what that cheekbone is doing to the mouthfeel. Swooning is fine, this glass will pick you up from the floor, it is broad shouldered and surprisingly sweet.

A word to the wise: don't finish the bottle. Pour out that last twenty minutes in memory of the rare 2018 vintage, BEN! KELLY! BEN! KELLY!, of which no complete bottles exist.

Uwe Kroger, vintage 1964, 2006

Ye little gods, here was a tone with an unsettling quirky tongue to it, cutting right through the sweet fruit; an acidity, quite at odds with its vinicultural opulence. This lick of minerality which is just a fingertip’s distance away, is a bit old hat. Been done to death. Somewhat late to the party and overdressed too. It is easier to define what it is not – that is, it is not richness, nor fleshiness, nor texture, it is just there, this odd mineral flavour bringing neither a sense of purpose nor a sense of depth, fashionably unpopular, kookier and saltier than a bag of KP nuts, changeable without letting you know where it is going. And in any case, minerals, rocks and stones have no flavour at all. In Kresowy Slavic folklore, the “flavour” of stones is caused by an invisible substance called petrichor, which, according to my Russian-Greek-English thesaurus (what? It’s the only one I’ve got! Give me a break!) is “constructed from petra (πέτρα), meaning ‘stone’, and īchōr (ἰχώρ), the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods of Russian mythology.”

Gary Mauer

Are you married to your job? Just the wine for you! With a hint of sexy Dionysian wildness in its overtones, this sexy, vastly diverting and deliciously deep flavoured wine hits up hard on the brain. A sparkling good character with a touch of flair on its first taste, under all that joie de vivre, subsequent contact may make you come unhinged in the final analysis. Touted by wine snobs as 100% clean and wholesome in taste, those of us in the know greedily drink up the wicked taste and flavour, both of which provide a powerhouse duo, giving an amazing almost Elizabethan scent to the final mouthful. Having dashing good looks, this wine has a lovely tenor to its middle notes. While fairly standard from a non-specialist standpoint, it is sprinkled with touches of genius throughout; the distant whispered scent of a bridal bouquet of roses: so romantic. All in all, a great wine with a hugely masculine edge.

Ethan Freeman

A Viennese delight, this unexpected Rosé has distinct European notes, yet a brash American aroma. Moreover, it has a singing finish on the palate. A demanding Jekyll and Hyde of a wine, the duality of the fresh flavour of Oberhaüsen strawberries combined with the descending chill of the faint ghost of basement scents have resulted in a complex type of legerdemain that can be almost felt, not just tasted. Best experienced on hot summer nights.

Cooper, vintage 2014

Far too many notes for our taste, and most of them about this wine. Just read this review left by a customer! (We would like to remind everyone that we card any customers who appear to be younger than 21.) “A delightful wine, positively wonderful, just the perfect stubbly lad. Anytime is Coopertime. Also sweet.”

Christopher Carl

Looks like a meme but also 100% legit like a stock image of STOIC MAN (TM) sold by Hasbro. (Wine bottle and fine horses sold separately.)

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