#Denis Mandel

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H I N G

[macrolit]

The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.

As voted on by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

NYT Article.

*************

Q: How many of the 100 have you read? Q: Which ones did you love/hate? Q: What's missing?

Here's the full list.

100. Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson 99. How to Be Both, Ali Smith 98. Bel Canto, Ann Patchett 97. Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward 96. Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Saidiya Hartman 95. Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel 94. On Beauty, Zadie Smith 93. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel 92. The Days of Abandonment, Elena Ferrante 91. The Human Stain, Philip Roth 90. The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen 89. The Return, Hisham Matar 88. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis 87. Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters 86. Frederick Douglass, David W. Blight 85. Pastoralia, George Saunders 84. The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee 83. When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamin Labutat 82. Hurricane Season, Fernanda Melchor 81. Pulphead, John Jeremiah Sullivan 80. The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante 79. A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin 78. Septology, Jon Fosse 77. An American Marriage, Tayari Jones 76. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin 75. Exit West, Mohsin Hamid 74. Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout 73. The Passage of Power, Robert Caro 72. Secondhand Time, Svetlana Alexievich 71. The Copenhagen Trilogy, Tove Ditlevsen 70. All Aunt Hagar's Children, Edward P. Jones 69. The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander 68. The Friend, Sigrid Nunez 67. Far From the Tree, Andrew Solomon 66. We the Animals, Justin Torres 65. The Plot Against America, Philip Roth 64. The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai 63. Veronica, Mary Gaitskill 62. 10:04, Ben Lerner 61. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver 60. Heavy, Kiese Laymon 59. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides 58. Stay True, Hua Hsu 57. Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich 56. The Flamethrowers, Rachel Kushner 55. The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright 54. Tenth of December, George Saunders 53. Runaway, Alice Munro 52. Train Dreams, Denis Johnson 51. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson 50. Trust, Hernan Diaz 49. The Vegetarian, Han Kang 48. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi 47. A Mercy, Toni Morrison 46. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt 45. The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson 44. The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin 43. Postwar, Tony Judt 42. A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James 41. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan 40. H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald 39. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan 38. The Savage Detectives, Roberto Balano 37. The Years, Annie Ernaux 36. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates 35. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel 34. Citizen, Claudia Rankine 33. Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward 32. The Lines of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst 31. White Teeth, Zadie Smith 30. Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward 29. The Last Samurai, Helen DeWitt 28. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell 27. Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 26. Atonement, Ian McEwan 25. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 24. The Overstory, Richard Powers 23. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Alice Munro 22. Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo 21. Evicted, Matthew Desmond 20. Erasure, Percival Everett 19. Say Nothing, Patrick Radden Keefe 18. Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders 17. The Sellout, Paul Beatty 16. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon 15. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee 14. Outline, Rachel Cusk 13. The Road, Cormac McCarthy 12. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion 11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz 10. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson 9. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro 8. Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald 7. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead 6. 2666, Roberto Bolano 5. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen 4. The Known World, Edward P. Jones 3. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel 2. The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson 1. My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante

[atopvisenyashill]

DAEMON BALLFYRE THEORY

it’s an unserious name but a serious theory!!!

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT QUENTYN BALL

If Daemon had ridden over Gwayne Corbray . . . if Fireball had not been slain on the eve of battle . .

-small mention from eustace in the sword sword

For his hot head and red hair. Ser Quentyn Ball was the master-at-arms at the Red Keep. He taught my father and my uncles how to fight. The Great Bastards too. King Aegon promised to raise him to the Kingsguard, so Fireball made his wife join the silent sisters, only by the time a place came open, King Aegon was dead and King Daeron named Ser Willam Wylde instead. My father says that it was Fireball as much as Bittersteel who convinced Daemon Blackfyre to claim the crown, and rescued him when Daeron sent the Kingsguard to arrest him. Later on, Fireball killed Lord Lefford at the gates of Lannisport and sent the Grey Lion running back to hide inside the Rock. At the crossing of the Mandel, he cut down the sons of Lady Penrose one by one. They say he spared the life of the youngest one as a kindness to his mother.

-egg says this in the mystery knight, bolded parts mine

Daemon was the name Daena gave to this child, for Prince Daemon had been the wonder and the terror of his age, and in later days that was seen as a warning of what the boy would become. Daemon Waters was his full name when he was born in 170 AC. At that time, Daena refused to name the father, but even then Aegon's involvement was suspected. Raised at the Red Keep, this handsome youth was given the instruction of the wisest maesters and the best masters-at-arms at court, including Ser Quentyn Ball, the fiery knight called Fireball. He loved nothing better than deeds of arms and excelled at them, and many saw in him a warrior who would one day be another Dragonknight.

The king sent the Kingsguard to arrest Daemon before he could take his plans for treason any further. Daemon was forewarned, and with the help of the famously hot-tempered knight Ser Quentyn Ball, called Fireball, he was able to escape the Red Keep safely. Daemon Blackfyre's allies used this attempted arrest as a cause for war, claiming that Daeron had acted against Daemon out of no more than baseless fear. Others still named him Daeron Falseborn, repeating the calumny that Aegon the Unworthy himself was said to have circulated in the later years of his reign: that he had been sired not by the king but by his brother, the Dragonknight.

-these are both from TWOIAF, again bolded and italicized parts mine.

WHAT STICKS OUT TO ME

Quentyn is married, a landless knight, and clearly older than Daena - it’s not just about a man “spoiling” a young, royal maiden but imo also that Quentyn specifically would get in a LOT of trouble because he is low class (see: Bonifer & Rhaella) and married to boot

He was master at arms, which gives him the ability to be in Daemon’s life without arousing suspicion from anyone, and also proximity to Daena to allow for an affair, even with her on the Maidenvault.

He’s name dropped SEVERAL times and he’s clearly very important to the founding of the Blackfyre Rebellion despite being both very lowborn and also dying in a kinda lame way (not even during the battle, just by a lone archer)

He wanted so badly to be on the kingsguard he forced his wife into the Silent Sisters, only to be denied by Daeron

He seemed to be on good terms with Aegon IV

Everyone seems real sure that the daddy was Aegon and we’re not given a reason why

Aegon doesn’t claim Daemon as his bastard until after (presumably) Daena has died

Also, Aegon doesn’t claim Daemon as his bastard until after all of the Great Bastards have been born

EYE think that Aegon IV was purposefully trying to have a bastard that could challenge Daeron, and that his affairs weren’t just like lust, boredom, wanting to disrespect Naerys & Aemon, etc. There is, imo, a shift in his mistresses being just, any woman he has access to - Falena, Bellegere, Cassella, and Meg - to woman who are highborn maidens from powerful families in Westeros - the Blackwoods, Brackens, and Lothstons. Even Serenei fits in here, given that Targ-looking wives from Lys & Volantis are not uncommon before or after Aegon IV. He’s even mentioned as still having a role in Aegor’s life by visiting him, potentially trying to groom him to rebel. But then everything with the Brackens blows up in his face (which is his own fault tbc), and Brynden is an emo fuck with red eyes, and Shiera is a girl. Then Daena dies…..and an opportunity opens up. Daemon looks like a Targaryen, no one knows who the father is, but for some reason everyone already suspects him (imo this is due to Rhaenyra’s boys looking like Harwin - like just a misogyny thing that SURELY Daemon couldn’t get his look from his mother alone, look at Rhaenyra’s kids vs Alicent’s), so publicly claiming Daena’s child at last gives him the perfect rival against Daeron.

ALSO, we have a few times in the story where someone joins the Kingsguard to be closer to a woman they want to protect - Aemon & Naerys, Jaime & Cersei, and Loras & Margaery. I think Lewyn & Elia likely fall under this as well. I think it makes sense Quentyn would see joining the Kingsguard as an opportunity to be closer to both Daena & Daemon especially given his low class status; skilled knights can rise to the Kingsguard even from lowborn or baseborn backgrounds. ALSO ALSO again, our only evidence of Aegon IV being the dad is, ya know, Aegon himself. Daena stayed silent her entire life on the subject. I like to think she had a reason for this - not that she protecting Aegon, but that she was protecting Quentyn.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Wokal Distance

Published: Feb 16, 2023

Recently there was another dust up about what we mean when we talk about “woke.” This was sparked by a Television interview where Bethany Mandel, who I consider a friend, was interviewed about her new book and was asked by the host Briana Joy Gray to define woke. Unfortunately, Bethany had difficulty giving an on the spot definition of the term, and simply responded by saying the Woke was difficult to define.

Predictably, this lead to something of a pile on as a tweet of the moment went viral on twitter. In short, a large number of left leaning accounts proceeded to say words to the effect that when conservatives call things woke, all they are doing is dog-whistling various bigoted sentiments. In other words, “woke” is just a term that conservatives use as a slur.  Here are just a couple of examples:

This is all part of a strategy that is being employed by Critical Social Justice (AKA “woke”) activists in order to protect their ideology and worldview from criticism. As we will see, what they are doing is attempting to prevent us from giving their ideology a name or a label in order to protect it from criticism.

So I am going to explain how and why they do this, and what we can do about it. Let’s begin.

1.      Sketching the problem

No doubt readers of this substack have heard people who claim to fight for Social Justice say things like: "White privilege is a product of systemically racist social structures which center whiteness and marginalize people of color while reproducing white supremacy. This reinforces dominant power structures and a cultural hegemony that benefits cisgendered heterosexual white males at the expense of BIPOC, Latinx, and LGBTQS2+ folx."

We've all seen that jargon coming from people with similar views, politics, and ideas, all demanding sweeping social change from the left. They might be doing advocacy in different areas of society, and with respect to different topics, but the similarity of the language, the overlap of the concepts, and the fact that the arguments are always concerned with oppression, privilege, systemic power, diversity, equity, inclusion, inequality, ability status, sex, race, and gender indicate that here is clearly a coherent worldview at work here. However, every time we try give that worldview a name they say the name we pick is problematic, wrong, incorrect, bigoted, misleading or otherwise problematic.

Many names have been tried, but every time we try to name this ideology: woke, Critical Race Theory, Socialism, neo-marxism, cultural Marxism, Critical Social Justice, The successor ideology, and we are told none of this is appropriate or correct.

This inability to give the ideology in question a name prevents people from being able to talk about the project of social, cultural, and political change coming from the left. They want to agitate, advocate, and demand social change without acknowledging, much less defending, the worldview at the center of their project.

The result is that there is a large number of ideologically connected but formally unconnected social movements which all proceed from the same worldview while all denying that there is a single distinct worldview, mindset, or ideology at work. We have:

BLM

Defund the Police

Critical Race Theory

Queer theory (aka, gender ideology or radical gender theory)

Drag Queen Story Hour

Diversity Equity, and inclusion

And a host of other social and political movements, all of which use similar language, have similar policies, similar concerns, and which work together in “solidarity” with each other, all while claiming that there is no underlying common worldview which can be given a label.

They will tell you that they want to change society, change the world, and change the culture, but if you ask them to put a name to their ideology it always comes up empty. Sometimes they will say “oh, this is just kindness,” or “we call it fairness.” This is absurd. Most people do not think “society is constructed by systemic power which socializes people to accept the legitimacy of a system which reproduces white privilege at the expense of POC and which needs to be decolonized in order to make space for non-binary folx” when they are trying to talk about fairness.

So what exactly is going on here?

2.     The strategy at work.

So I would like to now explain what I think is going on using Zebras as an analogy. This will make sense I promise you.

Many animals have fur, feathers, or skin that blends in to their environment. This acts as camouflage so they can blend in to their environment and hide. This owl is a fine example:

Zebras, however, are different. They use camouflage, but they way they use it is entirely different. Zebra’s are covered in black and white stripes even though the environment they live in is mostly brown and green. If you see a zebra by itself, it's very easy to see.

It's like they have a neon sign over them saying "lions, please eat me." Look at this picture below, this Zebra does not blend into it’s background at all:

So how does Zebra Camouflage work? Well, its simple: Zebra camouflage works by making zebras blend with the herd so that lions can't focus on any one zebra and target it. In order for Lions to kill a zebra they need to be able to pick one Zebra, focus on it, and then go after it. If the lions are unable to pick a target then the Zebras are safe.

What Zebras Camouflage does is to make the Zebras blend into the heard. It makes them all blend in together with each other so that it becomes near impossible for the lions to select any one zebra to attacks. If lions can't pick a target to go after, then the Zebras are safe. And as you can see in the pictures below, when the Zebras are in a single herd it becomes nearly impossible to pick out any one of them:

Scientists discovered this as they studied Zebras and got confused about which individual zebra was which, and that happened because the zebras camouflage causes them to all blend into the herd.

So, they tried to fix this by tagging a zebra with red paint so they could recognize it from the others and keep track of it.

Guess what happened?

The Lions killed the tagged Zebra. A tagged zebra stands out from the herd so lions can tell it apart and focus the hunt on it. The Lions don't catch weak zebras, they catch the *IDENTIFIABLE* Zebras they can focus on. If a Zebra stand out from the herd, or gets separated from the herd it no longer blends in with the rest of the herd and it loses the benefit of it's camouflage, at which point the lions can focus on it, target it, and kill it.

This is a great analogy for the game the woke are playing.

Once a worldview is named and defined, it can then be pointed out, highlighted, and subjected to criticism. Once you can *IDENTIFY* a worldview or set of ideas you can focus on it. Naming an idea lets us separate it from the herd of other ideas and examine it up close. The woke don't want anyone to be able to give a name or label to their ideology because if that happens we can "tag" examples their ideology with a label when we see it. This allows us to highlight it, point it out, and examine it when we see it.

We label and name things to help us "tag" them, so we can point them out and focus on them, the woke are trying desperately to destroy all of our linguistic "tags." Woke activists do not want us to be able to single out their ideas and subject them to criticism. Woke ideas really can't withstand proper rational and logical analysis. The lions of truth: evidence, logic, rationality, etc, will eat the Zebras of Wokeness, Gender Ideology, Critical Race Theory, and Critical Social Justice for lunch. But only if the lions of reason can focus on and identify the Zebras of woke ideology.

This is what the woke want to avoid. The woke think our criticisms are not legitimate and merely an attempt by us to attack them so we can hold on to "power and privilege." For that reason the woke seek to insulate themselves from our "illegitimate" criticism.

So, to avoid getting eaten by the lions of reason the woke want to camouflage their ideology in a way that makes it impossible to it to be seen, pointed out, highlighted, or (in woke parlance) "made visible." They want hide their worldview by making it impossible to focus on and impossible to tag, label, or name. so they can say they are "just doing history" or "just discussing gender," and "blend in" as though wokeness fits right alongside reason, evidence, logic, and rationality.

We need to use labels to be able to point at, highlight, and otherwise tag woke concepts so that they can be seen and then held up and examined for criticism. Using labels like "woke," "CRT," AND "Critical Social Justice," lets us tag woke ideas so we can hold them up to the light and examine them. Labels help us point out wokeness to other people so they can see it too.

This is what the woke want to avoid.

What the woke want is to act like all the bits of woke activism we see are unconnected phenomena spontaneously springing fourth in the name of justice in an organic and decentralized way.  They want to act as though things like BLM, Defund the Police, “Diversity, equity, and Inclusion,” and Drag Queen Story Hour are diffuse and unconnected movements when in fact they are all connected by their adherence to an underlying worldview and ideology.

The formal name of this ideology is Critical Social Justice,1 or in common parlance, wokeness.

3.     What is the solution

Do not let them do this. Do not let them play games and use linguistic and rhetorical sleight of hand to hide their worldview. You do not need to give an exhaustive definition every time they invent a new term, or every time they present you with some new bit of jargon. All you need is a definition of wokeness that communicates its ideas in a clear way so people can examine it.

I would like to provide what I think is an accurate definition of wokeness that even a person who is “woke” would be willing to accept.

Woke: (sometimes called Critical Social Justice) is a type of social justice politics that claims systemic identity based discrimination such as racism, sexism, homophobia, white privilege, and other sorts of injustice are baked into the fabric of society. In short, society is oppressive. They believe this occurs through “systems of power” which were created for the benefit people who are white, straight, and male, at the expense of everyone else. This power operates through cultural hegemony (cultural dominance) and by socializing people into accepting the legitimacy of this oppressive system, and accepting their place in it. Wokeness claims these systems of power warp every element of western culture in a way that harms people, and for that reason all of society must be radically restructured.  Everything, including science, knowledge, truth, beauty, economics, education, sports, music, film, agriculture, justice and everything else on society are full of bigotries, biases and self-interest which are a product of the systems of power which were created by and for straight white males. On this view even such things as math, biology, physics, and chemistry must be radically rebuilt with a focus toward diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, anti-racism, and so fourth.

To give you something that is a little easier to memorize and pull out in conversation, Neil Shenvi has offered a definition of wokeness which fits into a single tweet:

Wilfred Reilly offers and even shorter definition that is excellent for use in everyday conversation:

With a proper definition of wokeness now in view we should now proceed to make sure that we carefully, accurately, and carefully label things as Critical Social Justice or “Woke” when they fit that definition. We should have absolutely no hesitation in doing so.

These woke activists have labelled everyone they disagree with as:

racist

bigot

sexist

white supremacist

nazi

fascist

transphobe

homophobe

ableist

misogynist

anti-black

They absolutely do not get to complain when we label them as “woke.”

Label fairly, use labels from their literature, and label accurately, do not hesitate to label those woke ideas and then subject those woke ideas to the bright light of rigorous criticism and analysis.

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Wokal_distance

--

1 Özlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo, Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education, second edition. Teachers College press. 2017. P.19

==

An alternate approach is to ignore the definitions entirely.

I don't really care what name you want to call it when:

everything is seen through paranoid, invisible power dynamics and emotional abuse and manipulative lies are used to coerce people who have done nothing wrong;

or when the most fragile, most ideologically possessed can, and do, weaponize the worst, most intellectually dishonest reading of a statement or situation and insist you're a bigot if you don't accept it as true;

or when black kids are told that society is structured around "anti-blackness" and white kids are told that they are oppressors;

or when the liberal mainstay of colorblindness (reducing the social signifiance of skin color) is itself regarded as "racist", and the new morality declares the opposite is required;

or when equality and merit are treated as bigotry, and standards must be lowered;

or when racial segregation is rehabilitated as a virtue;

or when objective reality is denied, objectivity itself is bigoted, and truth becomes merely an opinion;

or when gay conversion therapy is being endorsed by supposed LGBT organizations;

or when parents transition their kids because they liked the wrong toys;

or when doctors and hospitals lie about the need for medical experiments on kids, or that they're doing them at all;

or when people keep pretending they don't know how babies are made;

or when organizations are consumed with ideological activism and become incapable of fulfilling their actual mission;

or when our knowledge-producing institutions are tearing themselves apart and dismantling our knowledge-making processes in order to restructure themselves instead for the production of religious piety as ideological convents;

or when words are redefined or eliminated entirely for the purpose of controlling thought and re-engineering society;

or when the most privileged, most entitled people in the world in the freest countries in the world are roleplaying as oppressed victims;

or when people in those countries voluntarily implement defacto blasphemy laws to suppress or punish wrongthink, and even arguing in favor of freedom of speech is recast as a "dogwhistle" for "hate";

or when it's somehow both the case that LiTeRaLLy nO oNe Is DoInG tHiS and you're a bigot for getting in their way.

I don't care what you call this.

It just has to end.

[majormiles]

fic writer asks: 4 & 19

2023 year in review: fic writer asks! (Thanks!)

4. What piece of media inspired you the most?

Well, in terms of what I wrote, Star Trek all the way down. It's on the brain, all the time!

But in terms of what inspired me, any and every book I read this year inspired me in some way, be that with ambition or spite. To name a few: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, Dune by Frank Herbert, Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel...

But really, and I can't deny it, the one piece of media that inspired me the most this year, for my fanfic and non-fanfic writing, was actually another fanfic. Hallmark Moment (Here in the Morning Remix) by unveiled (which is a remix of a fic by BrighteyedJill). It's a 3k Star Trek fic about future!Joanna McCoy bumping into the Enterprise in the midst of time-travel shenanigans and everything I have written this year can be traced back to this. Everything🤣

19. Share your favorite opening line.

I'm quite proud of the opening line for spontaneously ignite, where I give Jim my problems instead of Bones - for once!

The message is from his mother, which is never a good sign.

I kind of popped-off with this fic, ngl. The opening lines says so much about Jim and Winona's relationship in so few words. I'll pat myself on the back for this one 🤣

[rhetoricandlogic]

THE GLASS HOTEL by Emily St. John Mandel

RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2020

A financier's Ponzi scheme unravels to disastrous effect, revealing the unexpected connections among a cast of disparate characters.

How did Vincent Smith fall overboard from a container ship near the coast of Mauritania, fathoms away from her former life as Jonathan Alkaitis' pretend trophy wife? In this long-anticipated follow-up to Station Eleven (2014), Mandel uses Vincent's disappearance to pick through the wreckage of Alkaitis' fraudulent investment scheme, which ripples through hundreds of lives. There's Paul, Vincent's half brother, a composer and addict in recovery; Olivia, an octogenarian painter who invested her retirement savings in Alkaitis' funds; Leon, a former consultant for a shipping company; and a chorus of office workers who enabled Alkaitis and are terrified of facing the consequences. Slowly, Mandel reveals how her characters struggle to align their stations in life with their visions for what they could be. For Vincent, the promise of transformation comes when she's offered a stint with Alkaitis in "the kingdom of money." Here, the rules of reality are different and time expands, allowing her to pursue video art others find pointless. For Alkaitis, reality itself is too much to bear. In his jail cell, he is confronted by the ghosts of his victims and escapes into "the counterlife," a soothing alternate reality in which he avoided punishment. It's in these dreamy sections that Mandel's ideas about guilt and responsibility, wealth and comfort, the real and the imagined, begin to cohere. At its heart, this is a ghost story in which every boundary is blurred, from the moral to the physical. How far will Alkaitis go to deny responsibility for his actions? And how quickly will his wealth corrupt the ambitions of those in proximity to it? In luminous prose, Mandel shows how easy it is to become caught in a web of unintended consequences and how disastrous it can be when such fragile bonds shatter under pressure.

A strange, subtle, and haunting novel.

[justfilms]

Mortuary - Howard Avedis 1983

[vague-humanoid]

Trigger warning for domestic violence, chid abuse and sexual harassment

Sean Parnell suspended his U.S. Senate campaign after his wife successfully got custody of their children. She testified that he had strangled her once so hard that she had to bite his hand. He also reportedly hit one of their children so hard that it left welts on the child's body.

Herschel Walker is running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia against sitting U.S. Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA). Despite his support from Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump, Walker will be forced to explain to voters what happened when his ex-wife alleged that he threatened her life by pointing a gun at her head. Walker also has allegations of threats from a former girlfriend. Walker has denied both.

Eric Greitens is back in an attempt to reclaim his political career in Missouri. He previously resigned after an affair with a hairdresser, who accused him of tying her up and blackmailing her with nude photos. The accusations then spiraled into two additional criminal charges. He's heavily courting Trump's endorsement and leads the field because of his high name recognition.

Josh Mandel is running for the U.S. Senate in Ohio while serving as a boss to his girlfriend. In the #MeToo era, it's generally frowned upon to sleep with your subordinates and pay them through your campaign. Already some of his campaign staffers resigned due to a toxic work environment.

On the House side, Max Miller, a former Trump staffer, was accused by Stephanie Grisham of being physically and emotionally abusive while they were dating. Miller disputes the claims and has sued Grisham.

These Republican candidates come after the GOP put up right-wing radio host Larry Elder for the California gubernatorial race. His former Fiancee, Alexandria Datig, who broke up with Elder in 2015, alleged that when they discussed breaking up, he brandished a .45-caliber revolver.

[bonyassfish]

I don’t think I'm surprised at the results of the depp v. heard trial, but I'm dreading what comes now. for one, amber now has to pay her abuser for the crime of discussing his abuse (without even using his name) in public. millions of dollars she now has to pay to him and therefore will be unable to give to charity. not to mention that, even if her career manages to stay afloat, she will be now be forever seen as “that bitch who defamed uwu man-baby hero Johnny fucking d*pp.” (Never mind that the jury also found that he defamed her too, because we all know none of his supporters will care about that.)

but the implications go so far beyond amber heard. now Marilyn Manson is suing Evan Rachel Wood in a similar bullshit lawsuit. now there is a convinient story for abusers to latch onto. “I'm being framed like my hero Johnny Depp!!”

as for survivors of domestic abuse, there is now a clear and distinct message that if you dare to fight back against your abuser, then the abuse is just as much your fault as theirs. if you hide the abuse you’re a liar. if you document the abuse you’re a liar. and if you dare discuss it publicly, you are responsible for “ruining” your abuser’s reputation. 

perhaps the only solace I can take from this is that despite what d*pp and his supporters desperately want you to believe, this trial victory cannot and will not save his career, because the supposed “defamation” is not what caused his career to flounder, or what caused him to lose most of his money. some of his money may or may not have been lost due to mismanagement, but most of it is gone due to his excessive lifestyle. as per Rolling Stone:

“There was $75 million for 14 residences. He spent $3 million to shoot his pal Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes into the sky from a cannon. A mere $7,000 to buy his daughter a couch from the set of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. He bought some 70 guitars and 200 pieces of art, including Basquiats and Warhols, owned 45 luxury vehicles and spent $200,000 a month on private air travel...There are a few things Depp insists TMG [Depp’s former management company, who sued him in 2016] got wrong – for example, the $30,000 a month the Mandels claimed he spent on wine. ‘It’s insulting to say that I spent $30,000 on wine, because it was far more’...Depp says they got the Hunter S. Thompson cannon story wrong too. ‘By the way, it was not $3 million to shoot Hunter into the fucking sky,’ says Depp. ‘It was $5 million.’... According to TMG’s lawsuit, Depp never had more than six months of savings in the bank. This grew exponentially worse after the Pirates of the Caribbean series began, earning him approximately $300 million...But Depp’s tastes grew wilder, and daily conversations between Mandel and Christi revolved around either trying to stop Depp from buying another house or finding a project that would pay for the new house.”

as to his career, again, this loss is nobody's fault but his own. as detailed in Rolling Stone: 

“There were reports he couldn’t remember his lines and had to have them fed to him through an earpiece. He had split from his longtime lawyer and agent. And he was alone...[Depp] claims he battled with Disney screenwriters repeatedly [about his character Jack Sparrow]...Depp kept a sound engineer on the payroll so he could feed him lines through an earpiece while filming. This Depp does not deny”

(Of course, you might think that the author of that article, Stephen Rodrick, is also trying to vilify Depp. but if that’s the case, why haven’t he and Rolling Stone been sued?)

Additionally, during this trial, Depp’s former longtime agent testified that his chronic lateness, high salary demands, and drug addiction led to his star waning in Hollywood, not Heard’s allegations. At the same time, Disney executive Tina Newman testified that Disney had concerns about his behaviour on the set of Dead Men Tell No Tales and in general

[pomegranates-and-blood]

Headcannon: Modern!AU Baking w/Ivar

My Masterlist

Pairing: Ivar/Reader

Summary: “Hey, doll! Could I request a Modern au! Headcanon of Ivar and the reader baking?”

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: Nope, none than I can think of

A/N: So, I might still be a bit in the holiday spirit, hence the christmas cookies stuff. Anyhow, hope you like this, and thank you so much for reading! Sending you my love!

Taglist: @youbloodymadgenius​ @xbellaxcarolinax​ @1950schick​ @ietss​

·         The first time you get Ivar to help you bake something is near the holidays. You’d be celebrating an early Christmas so the two of you can go to his mother’s house to partake in the Yule celebrations.

·         So, you’d manage to pout your way into having Ivar help you make some cookies.

·         He’d have one condition, if only because he still wants to keep the façade of not liking festive stuff: simple, plain cookies. No Christmas tree shapes, no stocking shapes, no nothing.

·         You’d mutter something about him turning into a Grinch, but accept. Round sugar cookies it is.

·         It’d turn out to be very fun, for the both of you, the making of the cookies.

·         You’d point Ivar in the correct direction, murmuring the correct measurements and guiding his hand through some of the motions, especially when it comes time to make the glaze. And, surprisingly enough, he’d prove to be a model student.

·         You’d admit, the most fun you’d have during the whole thing would be decorating the cookies.

·         Making out over the countertop while you wait for them to finish baking comes a close second, though.

·         Ivar would grow adorably frustrated at his apparent inability to handle the piping bag filled with colored glaze, and though you have to lean over your work table and kiss away the frown between his brows more than once, you’d have the time of your life witnessing all that.

·         At some point, while you’d be arguing absently that he could help you next time you have to make a few batches of cookies or cupcakes for a party, Ivar would stop you with a call of your name.

·         His eyes would be wide and a frown between his brows as he looks at the cookie you’re decorating, the round canvas only working to help you make a little Santa face on it, red hat and all.

·         When he’d ask what that cookie is supposed to be, offering it is an old man victim to the cold, and that Ivar shouldn’t judge him for his choice of has wouldn’t particularly cut it.

·         Ivar would claim because of your betrayal of the terms, that he isn’t obligated to help you anymore.

·         You’d have a feeling it is because he’s awfully competitive and couldn’t stand the thought of you decorating cookies better than he can, but you wouldn’t argue.

·         You’d regret not arguing, not calling him out on it, the next time you ask him to join you in making a fresh batch of cupcakes.

·         He’d use your previous ‘betrayal’ as the reason why that will be the first and last time he helps you bake some sweets.

·         But you are nothing if not resourceful.

·         And, in the time you’ve been dating him, you’ve learned Ivar has a weakness for anything baked, especially if warm and made by you.

·         So, your plan of making your stubborn boyfriend bake with you starts taking form.

·         First, it’s casual. A few times he returns to the apartment to find the characteristic smell of cinnamon rolls in the air.

·         He’d rush to find you -or them-, but after a quick greeting you tell him you had promised Torvi some for the kids’ school baking sale.

·         A lie, but all is fair in war and love, right?

·         Ivar would ask if you can make more, and it is then you’d make use of every dramatic scene you’ve watched.

·         You’d sigh, long and tired, and offer that you are exhausted, but, if you were to have any help, you could make some more.

·         Ivar’s eyes would narrow at you, the hint of suspicion in them, before he’d deny the offer.

·         If you insisted, he’d offer to help you relax after a long day of work on those cinnamon rolls, eyes dark and mouth by your ear.

·         Point for him, because you forget all about baking for quite a while.

·         If the promise of positive reinforcement doesn’t work, you figure negative reinforcement will.

·         So, one evening you’d extricate yourself from his arms, and cut the marathon night short, standing up from the couch with the most innocent claims about wanting to cook something you could muster.

·         Ivar would be already awaiting your next attack on his stubborn insistence not to help you bake anything, so he’d just shrug and tell you to go ahead.

·         But eventually curiosity would win over pride, and he’d grab his crutch and walk after you, standing in the kitchen’s doorway.

·         At your words that you plan on making rosemary muffins, his whole face would scrunch up in a grimace.

·         But you’d realize you had played your cards too quickly when, at your offer that you could make his favorite if he helps you, Ivar gathers his best poker face and wishes you luck with your rosemary muffins before pressing a kiss behind your ear and returning to the living room.

.         Another point for him, and this time defeat isn’t as fun as last time.

·         And, because you are in love with a frustratingly perceptive and intelligent man, each move you make in this silent war of yours fails to grant you victory.

·         And so months would pass, and your efforts would diminish, coming more and more sporadically, if only in the hopes of catching him by surprise for once.

·         Ivar would be the one to surprise you, though.

·         You’d walk into the apartment after a long day (a long week, really), and find Ivar sitting on his wheelchair and moving about the kitchen with ease, the basic ingredients to some baked sweet placed all around him.

·         His eyes would widen when he caught sight of you, and you’d only raise your eyebrows.

·         You’d know that you have the most annoying and smug grin on your face, but you wouldn’t care in the slightest about hiding it.

·         He’d mutter adorably something about wanting to do something that would make you feel better after a long week, mentioning how you seem to cheer yourself up by baking something.

·         Though your first instinct would be to run up at him and kiss him until neither of you can quite breathe normally, which you do, you refuse to be carried away. Victories like these only come once in a lifetime.

·         So, hands joined together and eyes innocently perverse as they gaze up at him, you’d ask him what the two of you would be making.

·         It would take a lot of prodding on your part and a lot of sulking on his part, but you’d eventually get him to accept defeat, and admit he did have fun, that day and the time of your ‘early Christmas’.

·         You’d have a feeling he refused to admit he enjoyed the time he had spent baking with you only out of spite and pride, refusing to give you that one victory.

·         It proves to be as fun as the first time, even more so, now that Ivar is observant to your tricks and insists on looking over your shoulder ever chance he has to make sure all you are making is plain sugar cookies.

·         And, in what you know he calls payback only to refuse admitting he has as much fun as you do, Ivar would insist on making every treat he missed out on in those months you were luring him into accepting defeat.

·         Cinnamon rolls, red velvet cupcakes, caramel fudge, ginger muffins, all of it.

·         And you’d partake every time, enjoying how Ivar grows more and more confident in his actions in the kitchen, almost a natural.

·         You’d come to regret the whole thing soon enough.

·         Ivar proves to be a menace when he gets a hang of what makes the base for most baked goods.

·         He’d try anything. Whiskey cupcakes, cream cheddar cheese cookies, the most obscure recipes.

·         He does manage to surprise you with some fantastic results in old recipes from the Viking Era and before, like Mandel-Eplekake, and Blod Kaker.

·         All in all, your campaign to make him give in and accept he enjoys baking with you proves to be a successful one, you learn a few things on the way, and you even manage to impress the Lothbroks with some traditional Scandinavian baked good next time you spend Yule with them.

___

So, I hope you liked it!! Thank you so much for reading (and for requesting,y ou lovely anon!), hope you have a great day/night! Love you all! 

And yes, I have the recipes for the cakes mentioned, here you go

[iplacedajar]

2021

Here we are again. I spent this year inside my apartment, mostly. I moved to a new apartment on very short notice at the beginning of this year, but now I have a balcony, which helped me feel more in touch with the passage of time/changing of seasons this year compared to last.

There are a few precious bright spots. I adopted the sweetest girl in the world. I had a successful trip home this summer followed by an iconic trip to New Orleans. I was also able to go to NYC in October and see Hadestown on Broadway. I got three jabs of Pfizer and gathered with my friends indoors again.

Books

I did read many good books this year. Here are my favorites:

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

This second-person memoir is so unlike anything else I have ever read. Dark, inventive, and peerless.

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

I picked this up after loving Station Eleven so much last year and it’s one of the only books that I’ve reread immediately.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Lol. I also read his sophomore novel Artemis this year, but this one is much better in my opinion. It’s an interesting inversion of The Martian--the story of one man struggling to save humanity, on a one-way mission in outer space, with the same fast pace and science/disaster-driven plot that make all of Andy’s books exciting to read.

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik

This summer I read nine (9) books re-imagining the Napoleonic Wars if dragons were real and you know what? I had a great time. These books are so fucking good, no notes.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

I read this on my balcony in two days because I couldn’t put it down. In my diary I wrote that it’s “the kind of intimate, detail-focused fiction that I would love to write someday,” so haunting and beautiful.

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

Tbh, I hope John Green sticks with nonfiction! This was really good! And it’s also interesting to read a book written (at least partially) during the pandemic. Very vulnerable and compelling writing on subjects including the Lascaux cave paintings and why we sing Auld Lang Syne, combining thoroughly researched detail and scientific perspective with personal insight. I give The Anthropocene Reviewed 5 stars.

Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

I wanted something to read on the train to New York, and I knew this memoir would be amazing, and I was right. Short and powerful.

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

I don’t read many mysteries, but this one I truly couldn’t put down until it was finished. Also, love books that explore twins’ relationships.

Other Media

Honestly, other media from this year blurs together with few standouts. I adored Bridgerton, predictably. Liesel and I watched the second season of The Witcher when I was home last week and I loved it. Eddy and I finished House. I wanted to love Dune, because I loved the book so much and Denis Villeneuve is one of my favorite directors, but it fell short, for me. The best movie I watched was probably Knives Out, one wintry weekend in February when Eddy and I rented a cabin in the woods. That was also the weekend we beat Wolf Among Us, my favorite game of this year.

In Conclusion

Happy New Year. Let’s keep moving forward.

[eretzyisrael]

As Ken Marcus described:

At this event, students expected to learn how to conduct “armed struggle taking the form of guerrilla warfare at first and developing in the direction of the protracted people’s liberation war” against their “enemies.” Their enemies include the “world Zionist movement,” as well as Israel, Arab moderates and “world imperialism” (read: the United States and its European allies). In other words, they would learn that the proper response to political disagreement is not civil dialogue but “armed struggle.”

Unsurprisingly, Northeastern SJP’s post advertising its event was apparently removed by the powers that be at Instagram for violating “community guidelines”. The event itself, according to SJP, was also reported to the university administration and seems to have been canceled.

Naturally, instead of taking the opportunity to reflect on whether their own behavior led to distateful consequences, NSJP students responded by playing the victim and casting themselves as noble fighters for “social justice”. On November 28th, more than a week after Instagram deleted the group’s controversial post, NSJP published a lengthy rant on Instagram denying accusations of terror glorification; justifying the use of machine gun imagery by pointing to he existence of Northeastern’s ROTC program; attacking pro-Israel groups that objected to the lionization of the PFLP; complaining of how “exhausting” it is to have to “defend [our]selves from terror labels”; and accusing the Israel Defense Forces (oddly and a-historically enough) of the “genocidal invasion of Palestine in 1948”.

You can see screenshots of the entire post below.

[quotes121sworld]

Vanderpump Rules' Raquel Leviss checks into a psychiatric facility

Vanderpump Rules' Raquel Leviss has checked herself into a mental health treatment facility - amid the lingering fallout of her affair with Tom Sandoval.The 28-year-old reality star, whose affair with Sandoval, 39, ended his nine-year romance with Ariana Madix, 36, in March, decided to enter the voluntary facility before their affair was discovered, reports ET. A source said: "Raquel and her family decided before the relationship was discovered that she would enter a voluntary mental health counseling facility."She was supposed to leave before the reunion but decided she wanted to end her filming commitment. Bravo and the production were aware and supportive of her journey to better mental health.Leviss' rep added that she was not in a facility for substance abuse.

Treatment: Vanderpump Rules' Raquel Leviss has checked herself into a mental health treatment facility - amid the lingering fallout of her affair with Tom Sandoval

Love triangle: (LR) Explosive: The 28-year-old reality star, whose affair with Sandoval, 39, ended his nine-year romance with Ariana Madix, 36, decided to enter the voluntary facility before their fling was discovered (pictured November 2022 ).Last month Leviss issued a statement revealing that she analyzed her own behavior and spoke to an adviser after the affair was exposed.She said: "I'm reflecting on my choices, talking to a counselor and learning things about myself like my patterns of codependency and addiction to being loved and feeling loved."I have sought emotional validation through intimate connections that are unhealthy, with no regard for my own well-being, sometimes negative impacts on others, and often I have prioritized the intimate connection over my friendships. I am taking steps to understand my behavior and make healthier choices.”This comes after Sandoval revealed he and Leviss put the brakes on their sexual relationship after their months-long affair was revealed in March.Following the recent end of his nine-year relationship with Madix about his infidelity, the bar owner revealed they are "on a kind of break"."We don't put a label on it," the reality star said on the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast.When asked if they were still friends "with benefits" of the 67-year-old comedian, Sandoval denied they were still romantically involved."Not now," the rocker, who is in cover band Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras, told listeners after insisting he and the former pageant queen are still "good friends." As their relationship blossomed from platonic to intimate, Sandoval opened up about his attraction to Leviss as he and Madix, 37, drifted apart after nearly a decade together."We were at my house and I'm locked out of my house and we were talking and we kissed," he recalled. "It was magnetic. We got closer and as we talked time passed and we talked closer and closer and suddenly we were kissing. I felt something I hadn't felt for so long, emotionally.'He went on to explain how he and Madix had started to live their own lives and the romance between them had sunk. "We were together for nine years and obviously we had built a house and a business together and everything. We were a brand. And like many relationships, it became more of a best friend/family/sometimes roommates situation,” he explained.The Missouri native said their relationship overall "just lacks intimacy" and "connection."He felt they stayed together to maintain the look were solid' for her reality show and other business ventures. “We certainly turned our backs on each other, and that was nice. It had security and stability," he said of Madix. Before he turned 40, he recalled that his life was "looking very bleak" and began to think his "best years were behind him."“I started to lose my optimism in life and my drive. I felt like I had to change something, to feel alive again, to feel motivated, to be upbeat again," Sandoval confessed.Before his affair, he said his "confidence was drained" and that any sexual experience with him would be tantamount to hooking up with "a 19-year-old" "on his second time" when he lost his "game.""I'm not saying that Mistake, we just didn't have that intimacy," Sandoval claimed.After hearing his guest's side, Mandel urged fans to have "empathy and compassion" for Sandoval, who previously said he felt like "one of the most hated people in America" ​​for betraying Madix. "They need to be heard because the narrative is heard by everyone but you," the America's Got Talent judge told the audience. 'I don't understand the hate and irritation.'While the father-of-three declared he would not "condone cheating on a partner," he raised an eyebrow as he said the amount of backlash Sandoval has received has been bewildering. Leviss' life has been turned upside down since the affair was exposed - with an explosive show reunion set to air in the coming weeks.Leviss obtained a protective order against co-star Scheana Shay, who she claims punched her in the face and gave her a black eye. Shay has vehemently denied her co-star's assault allegations. Madix admitted to being "devastated and heartbroken" but grateful for her supporters in a post last month.The reality star took to Instagram to share a stunning snap of herself with a lengthy caption addressing the scandal and thanked her friends, including her castmates, for their support through her "darkest hours".She wrote: "Hello. where to start I want to express my sincerest gratitude for the love and support I've received over the past two weeks from friends, family and people I haven't even met."When I felt like I couldn't even stand, you all gave me the strength to keep going and guided me through my darkest hours. To say I was devastated and heartbroken is an understatement. I know, however, that I am not alone in this.'Since many of her Vanderpump Rules co-stars past and present have publicly supported her, including Scheana Shay, Kristen Doute and even Leviss' ex James Kennedy, she has thanked those who were there for her.Madix continued, So many of my closest friends are grieving this loss right now and reeling from this betrayal on so many levels. I am so damn lucky to have the best support system in the world and I hope I can repay every single person for the love you have shown me.'what doesn't kill me, better run. love, Ariana' Read the full article