#Dy. Chief Minister

[rightnewshindi]

मुख्यमंत्री हेमंत सोरेन का बड़ा दावा, कहा, कोरोना महामारी के दौरान लगाई खराब वैक्सीन के कारण मर रहे लोग

Jharkhand News: झारखंड के मुख्यमंत्री हेमंत सोरेन ने बुधवार को आरोप लगाया कि कोरोना महामारी के दौरान लगाई गई खराब कोविड-19 वैक्सीन के कारण लोग अब भी मर रहे हैं। उन्होंने दावा किया कि वैसे तो एक विशेष वैक्सीन को दुनियाभर में प्रतिबंधित कर दिया गया था, ��िर भी भारत में उसकी आपूर्ति की जा रही थी और वह जनता को लगाई जा रही थी। सोरेन की यह टिप्पणी हाल ही में राज्य में आबकारी कांस्टेबल भर्ती के लिए…

[elbiotipo]

So, remember the 5000 TONS OF FOOD that were supposed to go to community kitchens that Milei's administration refused to give (even though legally the Argentine state should?) Here's the very, very abridged story so far:

When Milei was inagurated, because of his anti-state spending fanaticism, he concentrated the ministries of education, health, science and technology and others into a single mega "human capital" ministry. The name is dystopian enough, but he also put his personal "friend" Sandra Pettovello in charge. Pettovello has just a 2-years degree in "family science" and no experience at all with administration and she was left with all that. Predictably, things are turning to shit, universities and science are defunded (which as you can imagine has affected me very personally), cancer patients have already died because of lack of medicine, and basically everything related to education health and social justice in Argentina is being defunded and in crisis.

The Human Capital (literally 1984) ministry was also supposed to support community kitchens (comedores) which provide for poor people are often administered by popular associations. These associations, being left-leaning and anti-Milei are often hit with accussations of corruption, which are sometimes true, but never to the extent that they're accussed of. So Milei and Pettovello retained, again, 5000 TONS OF FOOD that were supposed to feed hungry people until they 'investigated' these popular associations. Of the hundreds and hundreds of acussations, less than two dozens are currently being investigated. Pettovello insulted the people who said they were going hungry saying that they could queque in the Human Capital ministry and she'll recieve them (and they did as a sort of protest).

Many activists like Grabois (the evil leftist zurdo kirchnerist) demanded through the justice that the food was released. The government and its trolls called them thieves, corrupt, etc. etc. and they started lying (as in the official spokesman, the puppet Adorni) that the food was reserved for emergencies (it was requested for recent emergencies and denied) then that it was of poor quality (it wasn't), and Grabois and other denounced that the food was going to expire, and it should be released NOW. Even pro-Milei right-wing journalists had to recognize that Grabois was right, and hell is freezing over. Meanwhile the chief of cabinet, head of ministers, whatever the translation, was fired for spying and likely insulting Milei's sister. How did Milei respond to this political crisis? He went in honeymoon with his sister to visit some shitty tech CEO forum. He cannot stop visiting shitty right-wing forums.

Finally Pettovello and the government (not Milei, he's busy sucking CEO cock in the US) admited that the food, especially powdered milk, was about to expire and should be distributed by the army (which has no idea what to do but that's how the right thinks), and to cover herself, she threw one of her secretaries, De La Torre, to the anti-corruption office. However, she cannot save herself because everything that De La Torre did was under HER signature, and what's worse it was recently discovered De La Torre had over 100 employees that were cashing millions of pesos without a single day of work, and THAT was also approved by Pettovello. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg of the corruption in Milei's government, which has been just a circus of personal friends and incompetents. What's funny is that people like Grabois were acussed to be corrupt wasters of state money, by De La Torre, and now HE'S likely going to prison for being a corrupt waster of state money.

Speaking of which, Pettovello, by all accounts, is not capable or ready to holding the ministry, she often breaks down crying (too bad, but people are dying because of her incompetence), and most of her subordinates are resigning in droves. Milei remains ironclad in his support for her, though. In fact, he might have REJECTED her resignation when she presented it. Why? Well, when you look at the register of visits to the presidential residence, Pettovello has spent several nights there. It might be that she's really Milei's 'therapeutical companion' with her 'reiki sessions'. At least it's not his sister Karina? Well, while his government and the country is in flames, Milei was taking selfies with Mark Zuckerberg and now is visiting Bukele while Karina (again, his sister) acts like the first lady, and is basically treated as such by libertarians.

It would be all so chaotic and funny if people weren't deprived of education, health and food because of this.

Milei has been president for 6 months, by the way.

[lineith]

A piece I made last year for @onceuponzine a Miraculous Ladybug SFW charity fanzine featuring fairytales, legends, myths, and folklore. Leftovers Sales open June 01, 2023! "Romance of the Western Chamber" is a classic Chinese play written by the dramatist Wang Shifu in the Yuan dynasty.

The story is set during the Tang Dynasty. It follows a young couple- Zhang Sheng, a young scholar, and Cui Yingying, the daughter of a chief minister of the Tang court- and their secret affair in a Buddhist monastery.

I don't think I've ever made a piece that's required this amount of research on my part. Of course all accuracy went down the drain when I had to take some artistic liberties when it came down to their bangs and Luka's dyed hair orz

|Check my Miraculous Ladybug tag for redesigns and lukanette content| |DO NOT REPOST MY WORK|

[jollmaster]

is It alright if i ask to get some information about how Sheol work? Like the holidays, the royal duties, how the aristocracy work and the different types of Spheres?(Like how the wives work in different things like Naamah working on music, Eisheth her Temple ecc.)

Love your work♥️

hello and thank you! 🖤

sorry for late, but finally I gathered and translate all information you want!

royal duties

• Lucifer fulfills the classic role of ruler-guardian (he monitors the order of all lands and sometimes travels around them; however, in recent times it's much more common for guests to come to him rather than for Lucifer to leave own manor)

• his wives are in charge of global spheres: co-rulership, religion, war, arts

• roughly speaking, they are sort of like chief ministers who are actively involved in their duties

• Lilith helps with state affairs, Eisheth is in charge of temple management and spiritual practices, Agrat leads own cohort and commands the army of spirits and demons, Naamah organizes festivals and patronizes musical art

aristocracy

• Ars Goetia are in fact the greatest feudal mages, like tevinter magisters or evanuri in Dragon Age

• they borrowed titles from humans: demons have own words and definitions, but for convenience in communicating with mortals Ars Goetia uses something familiar since early Middle Ages

• in fact, the aristocracy in Sheol are younger gods/deities

• they are prayed to, worshipped, asked for help, and offered gifts (something connected with their spheres of patronization); kings and princes, in turn, protect their subjects and assist them

• for example, Sabnock is responsible for towers and fortresses, Crocell patronizes bathhouses, Ose is the lord of madness and sanity at the same time

• their spheres of influence sometimes overlap due to various aspects

• younger demons consider it an honor to serve them and to be their sacrificers; imps almost fight over the mere right to feed lord's dogs or sweep their yards

holidays and festivals

• once a year, during the period of greatest influence of one of the higher demons in the underworld, a fierce festival is organized

• of course, only after solemn ritual processions and temple services; the main celebration is held in the Eishet Zenunim's temple

• everyone is allowed to have fun together, sinners too ofc

• type of event depends on the Ars Goetia demon in whose honor it is held: there will be no mass heavy drinking at the festival in honor of Gaap (only beer!), for obvious reasons, and at Zepar' festival it's practically forbidden to come without a lover/spouse/just a couple

• when the festival is dedicated to one of warlord demons, like Agares, there's a big tournament

• tournaments participation is allowed for all, and death is considered an act of honor, like sacrificing oneself in the name of gods (if no one died, there was no tournament)

• no one looked on in amazement at count-governor Glasya-Labolas when he chose a fighter who had lost half of fights in a tournament, took into service and eventually made him his chief huntsman because this fighter tamed hellhounds: everyone was surprised with the fact that fighter was a young imp

• the most important person at these festivals is the king/prince/governor in whose honor they're held

• they also invite the best protégés of Goetia nobles (Velvette never misses an opportunity to go out in public when Ose wants to break his recluse)

• festivals are held alternately for each of the higher demons, over seventy years a complete cycle is formed

• also underworld celebrates temporary events on an ad hoc basis; it's usually timed to coincide with the end of some mass shitstorm like plague epidemic (finally those mortal assholes are getting sick and dying less often)

• the Governor's hunt in the forest of self-murderers is held when the constellation Sagittarius is at its most influential; count-governor Glacya-Labolas takes the lead of a big hunt

• during this holiday demons and imps hunt sinners who were turned into beasts during the process of decay

• don't forget about beginning and end of fertile season: yes, they live underground, but they have local harvest periods too

• cannibal town holds a mass feast every year after Extermination (hurray, a lot of meat)

• for obvious reasons Sheol don't celebrate human or christian holidays

• when Charlie was young, she was at one of the festivals, and prophet Camio told her that she would become a holy virgin goat-mother

• Charlie laughed for a long time

[perpetualprocrastinationisme]

So, this is probably a stretch but I have a theory for why the books are named like they are:

The Last King of Faerie

The Last Prince of Hell

The Last Shadowhunter

What if the huge thing that completely changes life in the Shadowhunter Universe forever is the fact that all of the groups in TSC unite, as in Shadowhunters and the different Downworlder groups stop acting as completely separate entities and unite under one governing body/as one people. The Clave, Faerie royalty, the Spiral Council, and all the other councils over the separate groups are dissolved.

The strict borders around Faerie that make it almost impossible and highly dangerous for anyone other than faeries to enter are completely opened, every group moves freely about it. Idris is opened so that all Downworlders can move about freely in it. Shadow Markets become a place where you see an even mix of every group and where Shadowhunters aren't treated with high suspicion. Shadowhunters, Faeries, Werewolves, Vampires, Warlocks, and every group start living closer together, they become literal neighbors. They also all unite under one government so that their "Congress" or "Parliament" is made up of Shadowhunters, Faeries, Warlocks, every group. They all vote on their President/Prime Minister/Consul/Chief that could come from any group. It would make sense for TWP #1 to be named The Last King of Faerie because there would be no more kings or queens, just an elected official from one of the groups.

I also personally believe that either all the Princes of Hell will someone die or be banished eternally by the end of TWP, unable to escape their imprisonment ever. All demons would be banished as well. This would also explain TWP #2's title because there would literally be no more Princes of Hell. As for TWP #3, I believe that similar to the predicament with Faeries, Shadowhunters won't really be Shadowhunters anymore. They'll still have all their abilities but they will no longer need to fight demons so that part of their lives will be gone. They will just be another member of this new, united group Downworlders and Shadowhunters. To fill the loss of not fighting demons anymore, I believe that they will be wholeheartedly devoted to building this new society that they have with the different Downworlder groups.

This also honestly seems to fit with the main characters of TWP. Kit is the heir to both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. I truly cannot see him desiring to rule at all and would be extremely favorable of a new united society. He also strikes me as someone who absolutely would not stand to see others mistreated. I think he would be disgusted by how people like the Cohort treat Downworlders and how some Downworlders treat Shadowhunters. I think he would see this new unification as something that could end all of that hate. As for Kieran, we already know that he is not the King of the Unseelie Court because he wants to be, it's just his duty. I think he would also be favorable of this new government if he knew his people would be treated well and could prosper under it. Ash Morgenstern is a bit of a wild card, but I think by the end he will also be accepting of it.

I don't know, this is just what my mind is picturing because I honestly don't want to think about the alternatives (like Shadowhunters turning completely into mundanes or Kings like Kieran dying). It also just seems to fit with how things have gone in past books, like with the Council in the Clave that has Downworlders on it, the Shadowhunter-Downworlder Alliance that Alec built, etc.

What are your takes on this?

[cringefailvox]

Personally, for Hazbin Hotel, I'm dying to know more about the angelic hierarchy. I know bible lore well enough to know that they're hiding something:

Sera says that she's the highest ranking angel, directly below the Metatron. Except she's a seraph. There should be an angelic rank between them that doesn't quite translate into English. I want to find out where Michael (canonically the highest ranking angel and archenemy of the Devil) and the other Princes of Heaven went lmao. The rank for them in Hebrew is "sārīm" but I think Christianity just uses 'Archangels' with a capital A to differentiate from typical low ranking archangels.

MAYBE they cameo'd? I'm assuming they're the six Tall Imposing Angels we see looking down on Lucifer and sentencing him during 'More Than Anything'. And the New Testament specifically refers to Michael as being the one to cast him out of Heaven. There are seven Princes in total and, hey, adding Samael/Lucifer to those Six Tall Imposing Angels would make that number work! Plus Paradise Lost claims that he was a Prince before Falling.

i'll be honest, i know comparatively little about christian angelology or mysticism, so i can't weigh on this very much. i will say though that in judaism, there's no formal angelic hierarchy until maimonides, a middle ages torah scholar that derived ten angelic ranks from a variety of biblical verses, but it doesn't translate 1:1 to any christian interpretations of those same texts since jews discount the new testament and apocrypha. sarim in hebrew can be rendered as princes, extremely vaguely, but it more accurately translates to ministers or chiefs, denoting leadership in general rather than any specific royal status. it also only refers to angels in the book of enoch, which is a very controversial text to say the least and not considered to be scriptural canon in any religion but the ethiopian & eritrean orthodox churches, so i'm not sure how relevant it'll be with hazbin specifically

also, seraphim are considered the highest ranking angels in traditional catholic angelology, there's no class higher than them. the archangel thing is weird in general too since the most influential christian angelic hierarchy, put forth by pseudo-dionysus the areopagite in the fifth century, lists them as second-to-lowest, yet most media places them at the top for some reason. idk! i truly have no idea where hazbin will go with any of this since we're already playing in a sandbox universe that's more like a subversive mishmash of paradise lost & dante's inferno rather than a loyal adaptation of christian canon, so i really doubt that any attempts to read angelic rankings into the lore of hellaverse will go anywhere useful

still an interesting idea though and there's a lot of fun ways to toy with these theories! my main point is that i personally don't think the actual show will engage very much with these concepts, or will only do so selectively, because that's not the kind of story hazbin seems interested in telling

[tomorrowusa]

This is a good idea...

Ban fossil fuel ads to save climate, says UN chief

Tobacco ads were banned on TV and radio in the early 1970s in the United States. That began a process of denormalization of tobacco which has continued in the years since then.

Climate change likely played a role in India's national election.

The hidden story behind India’s remarkable election results: lethal heat

The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), led by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has won more seats than the opposition alliance, and yet its victory tastes of defeat. Why? In the days leading to the election, the BJP’s main slogan had been Abki baar, 400 Paar, a call to voters to send more than 400 of its candidates to the 543-member parliament. This slogan, voiced by Modi at his campaign rallies, set a high bar for the party. Most exit polls had predicted a massive victory for the BJP – and now the results, with that party having won only 240 seats, suggest that the electorate has sent a chastening message to the ruling party and trimmed its hubris. [ ... ] People in Patna voted on 1 June, the last day of the seven-phase polling schedule. In Patna, the temperature had hovered above 40C. Local newspapers carried government ads exhorting voters to exercise their franchise, as well as half-page ads from the health ministry offering advice about how to avoid heatstroke. In the days leading to the voting in Patna, there were reports of personnel at polling stations dying from the heat. In the nation’s capital, Delhi, there were protests over water shortages. Last week, the temperature in Delhi hit 49.9C.

For the Celsius-challenged, 49.9° C = 121.8° F. That's just 0.2° F short of the all time record high temperature in Phoenix, Arizona which reputedly has "dry" heat.

As it turned out the ruling BJP did win the election but will be able to govern only with the help of electoral allies. The BJP had been boasting about getting 400 seats in the 543 seat Lok Sabha - the lower house of parliament. It ended up with just 240 with its allies winning 53 for a total of 293 seats. It is a modest working majority but is way down from the 353 seats won by the BJP & allies in the previous election.

Climate was certainly not the only issue in the election but experiencing a severe heat wave in which people were dropping dead at polling places is bound to have an impact. Politicians in India may now be more open to moving away from fossil fuels. The opposition would be wise to make climate change a bigger issue.

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … November 6

1494 – Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman Sultan,  was born (d.1566); the tenth and longest‐serving Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, reigning from 1520 to 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the Islamic world, as the Lawgiver, deriving from his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system. Within the empire, Suleiman was known as a fair ruler and an opponent of corruption.

As well as being a capable goldsmith and distinguished poet, Suleiman was also a great patron of artists and philosophers, overseeing the golden age of the Ottoman Empire's cultural development.

Historians claim that Suleiman, in his youth, had an admiration for Alexander the Great as he wanted very much to learn how he had managed to unite the peoples of the east and the west.

Pargali Ibrahm Pasha was the boyhood friend of Suleiman. Ibrahim was originally Greek Orthodox and when young was educated at the Palace School as a devshirme (the systematic abduction of young boys from conquered Christians lands by the Ottomann sultans as a form of regular taxation in order to build a loyal slave army).

As the Sultan's male favorite, he shared Suleiman's quarters and his tent while at home and on campaign. Suleiman made him the royal falconer, then promoted him to first officer of the Royal Bedchamber. Eventually, Ibrahim Pasha became the Grand Vizier in 1523 and commander in chief of all the armies. Suleiman also conferred upon Ibrahim pasha the honor of beylerbey of Rumelia, granting Ibrahim authority over all Turkish territories in Europe, as well as command of troops residing within them at times of war.

According to a 17th century chronicler, Ibrahim had asked Suleiman not to promote him to such high positions, fearing for his safety, to which Suleiman replied that under his reign no matter what the circumstance, Ibrahim would never be put to death.

Ibrahim would eventually fall from grace with the Sultan. During his thirteen years as Grand Vizier, his rapid rise to power and vast accumulation of wealth had made Ibrahim many enemies among the Sultan's court.

Reports had reached the Sultan of Ibrahim's imprudence committed during a campaign against the Persian Safavid empire, in particular his adoption of the title serasker sultan was seen as a grave affront to Suleiman. Suleiman's suspicion of Ibrahim was worsened in a quarrel between the latter and the Minister of Finance Iskender Chelebi. The dispute ended in the disgrace of Chelebi on charges intrigues against the Sultan, with Ibrahim convincing Suleiman to sentence the Minister to death. Before his death however, Chelebi's last words were to accuse Ibrahim of conspiracy against the Sultan. Since these were his dying words, Suleiman became convinced of Ibrahim's disloyalty and on March 15, 1536, Ibrahim's lifeless body was discovered in the Topkapi palace.

1730 Hans Hermann von Katte  (1704 – 1730) is executed in Prussia. Prince Fredrick II of Prussia (aka Frederich the Great) was thought to be lovers with, Katte. They planned to escape Prussia together, but were discovered. The court sentenced Katte to life in prison but refused to judge the prince. Fredrick’s father thought this too lenient and ordered Katte executed and Fredrick imprisoned. Frederick was awakened at 5:00 AM and told to look out his prison window at the execution of Katte. He called out to him "My dear Katte, a thousand pardons." Katte called back, "My prince, there is nothing to apologize for" just before he was beheaded.

1949 – Brad Davis, American actor, best known for his role in the 1978 film Midnight Express, was born on this date (d.1991).

Davis was born Robert Creel Davis in Tallahassee, Florida to Eugene Davis, a dentist whose career declined due to alcoholism, and his wife, the former Anne Creel. His brother Gene is also an actor. According to an article in The New York Times published in 1987, According to an article in The New York Times published in 1987, Davis suffered physical abuse and sexual abuse at the hands of both parents. As an adult, he was an alcoholic and an intravenous drug user before becoming sober in 1981. Davis was known as "Bobby" during his youth, but took Brad as his stage name in 1973.

At 17, after winning a music talent contest, Davis worked at Theatre Atlanta. He later moved to New York City and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, as well as studied acting at the American Place Theater. After a role on the soap opera How to Survive a Marriage, he performed in off-Broadway plays. In 1976 he was cast as Sally Field's love interest in the television film Sybil. He played the lead role in Larry Kramer's play about AIDS, The Normal Heart (1985).

His most successful film role was as the main character in Midnight Express (1978), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actor. He also had a small role in Roots. The steamy shower scene in Midnight Express and Davis' portrayal of the sexy Gay sailor in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film adaptation of Jean Genet's Querelle (1983) made him a Gay film icon.

Davis was married to Susan Davis, who later became an Emmy Award-winning casting director. They had one child, Alexandra (now Alex, he's a transman).

Diagnosed with AIDS in 1985, Davis kept his condition secret until shortly before his death. Although it was announced he died of AIDS in 1991 in Los Angeles, he actually died of an intentional drug overdose. Near death and in severe pain in a hospital, he opted to return home and end his life on his own terms. With his wife and a family friend present, he committed assisted suicide. Susan Davis continues to campaign to combat AIDS.

1952 – Michael Cunningham is an American writer, best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999.

Cunningham was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and grew up in Pasadena, California. He studied English literature at Stanford University where he earned his degree. Later, at the University of Iowa, he received a Michener Fellowship and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. While studying at Iowa, he had short stories published in the Atlantic Monthly and the Paris Review. His short story, "White Angel", was later used as a chapter in his novel A Home at the End of the World. It was included in "The Best American Short Stories, 1989," published by Houghton Mifflin. A Home at the End of the World, a gay love story, was also made into a 2004 movie with Colin Farrell, Dallas Roberts and Robin Wright.

Cunningham is currently professor of creative writing at Yale University.

Although Cunningham is gay and has been in a long-term domestic partnership with psychoanalyst Ken Corbett, he dislikes being referred to as a gay writer, according to a PlanetOut article. While being gay greatly influences his work, he feels that it should not be his defining characteristic.

1955 – Wolfgang Busch, born in Heppenheim, Germany, is a two time Humanitarian award winner, was inducted into the Queens Business Hall of Fame for his company Art From The Heart Films, was inducted into the LGBT Hall of Fame and is a multiple award winning documentary filmmaker, director, producer, cinematographer and editor, including a humanitarian award for his documentary "How Do I Look". He also received a "Keep The Dream Alive" Martin Luther King Humanitarian award for his social and artistic activism for the Black and Hispanic LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Ballroom community, aka Harlem Drag Ball community.

He is an entrepreneur, grass-root organizer, motivator, inspirational and touches people life's from all walks of life. His Art In Education Documentaries are screened worldwide. He lectures about Artistic Empowerment and HIV/AIDS education at the most prestigious universities, Yale, NYU, Penn State, not for profit organizations The Door, LGBT Community Center in New York City and Chicago, the Gay Mens Health Crisis, community-based organizations and Churches across the United States; London, Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin.

From 1990-2000 he produced New York New Rock, a weekly TV show highlighting cultural and educational aspects of various communities such as the local New York City Rock and R & B communities, LGBT, arts, sports, politics and fashion reaching 500,000 Manhattan households. The show was a successful outreach tool for artists and not for profit organizations and Busch was able to sign national and international record and licensing deals for several artists.

As an openly gay artist, he has been embraced by a wide range of LGBT organizations to produce high level events including GLAMA (The Gay and Lesbian American Music Awards), SAGE (Senior Action in a Gay Environment) Lifetime Achievement Awards ceremonies and events for LifeBeat, Center For the Media Arts and Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center.

1957 – Cam Clarke is an American voice actor and singer known for his work in animation, video games and commercials. Among his notable roles are Leonardo and Rocksteady in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, Shotaro Kaneda in the 1989 original Streamline Pictures English dub of Akira, and Liquid Snake in the Metal Gear series. He often serves as a voice double for Matthew Broderick.

Clarke was born Cameron Arthur Clarke in Burbank, California, to actor Robert Clarke and singer Alyce King.

Clarke is the nephew to guitarist Alvino Rey and pianist Buddy Cole, cousin to actress Tina Cole and writer Chris Conkling, half brother to musicians Ric and Lex de Azevedo, and uncle to voice actress Emilie Brown and actress Rachel Coleman.

Clarke began his acting career in The Hollywood Palace as The King Family Show. He continued to perform with his family on various television specials until the 1980s when he got his first voice acting roles in Snorks and Robotech. He was taught by Michael Bell.

To date, Clarke has voiced over four hundred titles. From 1987 until 1996, Cam Clarke would most notably portray Leonardo, the leader of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well as Rocksteady, one of the show's antagonists. Clarke would reprise the role of Leonardo in non-musical spoken portions of the first show of the "Coming out of their Shells" concerts designed around the Ninja Turtle characters held at Radio City Music Hall, though the later VHS tape released of the event leaves him uncredited.Clarke is openly gay, and his experiences inspired his album Inside Out, which changed pronouns in lyrics of classic songs and his one-man autobiographical play Stop Me If I Told You This.

1988 – Tom Neuwirth, better known by his drag stage persona Conchita Wurst, is an Austrian singer. Wurst came to international attention when winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix".

Born in Gmunden, Neuwirth moved to Graz to do his Matura with a focus on fashion, before embarking on a singing career through the 2007 casting show Starmania. He subsequently became a founding member of the short-lived boyband Jetzt Anders!.

In 2011, Neuwirth began appearing as Wurst – a drag persona noted for her beard – and came second in the Austrian preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. Wurst was successfully selected to represent Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, where she proved victorious.

Wurst's entry and victory courted controversy, being condemned by some of the continent's social conservatives and right-wingers who saw her performance as a promotion of LGBT rights. Conversely, it brought her international attention and established her as a prominent LGBT icon, resulting in invites to perform at various LGBT pride parades and the European Parliament.

Neuwirth describes himself as a gay man and uses female pronouns to describe his Wurst character, but male pronouns when referring to himself.

1991 – Paul Poirier is a Canadian ice dancer. With Piper Gilles, he is the 2021 World bronze medallist, as well as a three-time Four Continents medallist (silver in 2014 and 2020, bronze in 2019), three-time Skate Canada International champion (2019, 2021–22), and two-time Canadian national champion (2020, 2022). Gilles and Poirier competed for Canada at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics.

With earlier partner Vanessa Crone, he is the 2010 Grand Prix Final bronze medallist, 2011 Four Continents bronze medallist, 2008 World Junior silver medallist, and 2011 Canadian national champion. Crone and Poirier competed for Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Paul Poirier was born in Ottawa, Ontario, to Debra Mendes de Franca and Marc Poirier. In 2015, he graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in linguistics. He continues graduate studies in linguistics part-time. He speaks English, French, Japanese, and Spanish. His brother played in the Ontario Hockey League.

Poirier is gay and has spoken about "perhaps [being] a role model for...younger queer athletes."

2012 – Washington State voters approve Referendum 74 legalizing same-sex marriage.

[ukrfeminism]

The number of women dying from alcohol-related diseases has soared in recent years, new figures show, with experts blaming the rise on brands deliberately targeting marketing at women.

The latest data reveals the number of women who lost their lives this way in the UK increased by 37 per cent in five years – surging from 2,399 to 3,293 between 2016 and 2021 and marking the highest levels since records began.

While more men than women still die from alcohol-related diseases, the Office for National Statistics figures show deaths are rising substantially quicker for women than for men, with the latter seeing a 28 per cent in the same period – from 4,928 to 6,348.

Professor Debbie Shawcross, a professor of hepatology and chronic liver failure at King’s College London’s Institute of Liver Studies, said liver disease was a particular problem in female patients. 

“Women tend to present with more severe liver disease, particularly alcohol-related hepatitis, and do so after a shorter period of excessive drinking and at a lower daily alcohol intake than men,” she said. “This can be accounted for by differences in body size and composition – less muscle mass.”

Richard Piper, chief executive of the charity Alcohol Change, claimed the main factor causing the surge is the “incessant marketing of drinks towards women” as he called for stricter regulation of alcohol advertising.

Abigail Wilson, from WithYou, a drug, alcohol and mental health charity, described the rise in women dying from alcohol-related liver disease as “very concerning” as she argued alcohol was as damaging as heroin and crack cocaine. “Women generally are less likely to die of alcohol-related causes than men. There is always a gap there but the gap is closing, and that is really concerning.”

The Independent can also report that:

The number of deaths among women attributed to alcohol-related liver disease in England increased from 1,533 to 2,190 deaths between 2015 and 2021 – a 42 per cent rise

The total number of male deaths linked to alcohol-related liver disease climbed by 34 per cent to 3,870 deaths in the same timeframe

Recent research from 33 countries found that British women are the biggest female binge drinkers

Exclusive polling from WithYou shows almost two-thirds of those who seek support online are women, with more than half seeking support for their alcohol use

Roxanne Knighton, who lives in Staffordshire, told The Independent of the pain of losing her mother Melanie to alcohol-related liver disease in March 2022. She was diagnosed with the illness in her late forties.

“All the earliest memories were mum drinking,” the 34-year-old recalled. “She was alcohol dependent – it made her function.”

Ms Knighton said her mother never went to the doctor and was in denial about her drinking. So Ms Knighton made the call instead. 

“It was me who called the doctors as she couldn’t get up off the sofa – she was full of fluid,” she added. “It had gone into her belly, she had to be drained, they got 12 litres from her.

“I was looking after her each day. It was four years until she died. It still hurts. I didn’t just lose her, I lost her to the alcohol first. You lose them twice.”

Raising concerns about the “feminisation” of alcohol marketing, Dr Piper highlighted annual reports of major alcohol brands which reveal they are deliberately targeting women.

“This is leading to deaths,” he said. “The second reason would be pricing – alcohol is more affordable now than it has been at any point in the last 20 years so people are drinking more.” 

He called for ministers to introduce tighter rules on alcohol marketing and roll out minimum unit pricing for alcohol to make drinks with higher alcohol content more expensive.

Other campaigners warned it is harder for women to get support for alcohol misuse due to services often being tailored towards men. Women routinely do the lion’s share of childcare, meaning they cannot physically find the time, they say.

Helena Conibear, chief executive of the Alcohol Education Trust, attributed the rise in women dying from alcohol-related liver disease to a significant increase in binge drinking in the late Nineties and early 2000s.

Meanwhile, Prof Shawcross argued women who struggle with alcoholism endure greater “cultural stigma” than their male counterparts, which may deter women from pursuing help. 

Alcohol-related liver disease often has no symptoms for many years, she added, while women also have lower levels of the enzyme which breaks down alcohol.

Vanessa Hebditch, of the British Liver Trust, said: “With alcohol becoming increasingly accessible and affordable, as well as more ingrained in our culture, more women are drinking to levels that put their health at risk.”

Siobhan Herbert, a project manager, told The Independent she started drinking a bottle of wine a night – and sometimes two bottles on weekend evenings – around 20 years ago.

“When I went out, I drank less,” the 52-year-old added. “I was a bit of a closet drinker. At home, there would be nobody around to witness me getting trollied. My mother was an alcoholic, she was exactly the same. You would have thought growing up, seeing all that through my teenage years, it would stop you, but it is very addictive.”

Ms Herbert said she eventually stopped drinking in June 2022 due to growing fed up with the impact alcohol was having on her physical and mental health.

She added: “I wasn’t putting Baileys on my cornflakes but every day I felt awful. I felt tired and anxious. 

“I am a whole new woman now. I feel alive. I have more energy. I am sharper. I do not have anxiety. My depression is gone and all of the problems I was blaming on the menopause have massively improved.”

Sandra Parker, a self-professed “classic binge drinker”, said she would struggle to know how much alcohol she had consumed due to blacking out and would sometimes be in bed for two days afterwards.

The 54-year-old, who stopped drinking in 2018, now coaches women to help them stop or cut down on their alcohol consumption, describing her clients as successful professional middle-class women who are secretly drinking harmful amounts of wine at home.

“They may have a single drink when they are out with people from work, or they may not even drink, but they come home and they have a bottle of wine,” she added. “They have learnt that when they have a drink, they feel less stressed, and it becomes a dependency where they really crave that feeling each night.”

A Department of Health spokesperson said. “Alcohol misuse can ruin lives and destroy families, which is why we are acting to support those most at risk.

“We’ve published a 10-year plan for tackling drug and alcohol-related harms and are investing an extra £532m between 2022 and 2025 to create places for 50,000 people in drug and alcohol treatment services. We are also funding specialist alcohol care teams at one in four hospitals in England, based on those with the greatest need.

“Our 10-year women’s health strategy sets out our plan for improving care and support for women.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Bethan McKernan at The Guardian:

The Israeli politician and former military chief Benny Gantz has followed through on a threat to resign from Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet, leaving the prime minister more reliant than ever on far-right elements of his coalition government. Gantz, a major Netanyahu rival, former defence minister and leader of the centre-right National Unity party, joined the three-man war cabinet as a minister without portfolio in the aftermath of Hamas’s 7 October attack, a move he said was for the sake of the country’s unity. But as Israel’s war effort in Gaza dragged on, disagreements over strategy and how best to bring the 250 Israeli hostages home spilled into the open, culminating in Gantz accusing the prime minister of pushing strategic considerations such as a hostage deal aside for his own political survival. Last month, he gave Netanyahu an ultimatum of 8 June to present concrete “day after” plans for the Gaza Strip.

Gantz delayed his resignation speech by a day after the unexpected rescue of four Israeli hostages in an operation that the health ministry in Gaza said killed 274 people and injured another 696. The withdrawal of his party also means Gadi Eisenkot, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) general and war cabinet observer, and the minister without portfolio, Chili Tropper, are also stepping down. “Netanyahu is preventing us from progressing towards a true victory,” Gantz said in a televised address on Sunday night. “For this reason we are leaving the emergency government today, with a heavy heart, yet wholeheartedly.”

Gantz also called on Netanyahu to set a date for elections, adding: “Do not let our nation tear apart.” The move does not immediately pose a threat to Netanyahu, as the prime minister still controls a majority coalition in parliament. It does, however, affect the Israeli government’s respectability on the international stage; centrist Gantz is well liked in Washington, where he was seen as a useful brake on Netanyahu, and his absence means the prime minister’s far-right allies are likely to now have more sway over the trajectory of the war in Gaza and the growing threat of war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right finance minister, slammed Gantz, saying “there is no less stately act than resigning from a government in time of war” as “the kidnapped are still dying in the Hamas tunnels”, and the extremist national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has already asked Netanyahu for Gantz’s seat on the war cabinet. Both ministers have repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the coalition if Israel makes any concessions to Hamas in a hostage and ceasefire deal.

[...] Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, are the only two remaining members of the war cabinet, and also often do not see eye to eye. The prime minister is now said to be considering shuttering the war cabinet and reverting to a former model in which security issues are first discussed in a limited forum before being presented to regular cabinet meetings, in which he seeks ministerial approval. The longtime prime minister, facing corruption charges as well as scrutiny over the security failures that led to 7 October, is widely believed to see staying in office as his best chance of escaping prosecution. He also needs to parry an internal challenge from the two ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition over the issue of military conscription.

Benny Gantz resigns from Israel’s war cabinet.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 4 Himatsubushi pt. 1

One last chapter to set up the mysteries before it all gets explained perfectly away in Chapter 5: Meakashi. The other five or so chapters and games are just going to open up a text document that just says Pranked LOL. Incidentally, did you know there was one more Higurashi related game released in late 2023? And that as of this writing it's not available on GOG, and only on Steam? Why yes I did consider rebuying the entire franchise on Steam just because it annoys me that I can't have all of one series on one platform.

You know, come to think of it, outside of it coming up right near the end of the first chapter, and the second half of the second, the characters don't seem particularly bothered about solving the mystery. But I figure that could be handwaved away because Rena and Mion know who's behind it in the first chapter, and in the third Keiichi is more obsessed with killing Teppei than trying to come to understand his new curse killing powers.

"He just didn't have anything to do after everyone in Hinamizawa died." Also hey, good for him defying the official death report and not actually dying two years ago. Also also, his given name being Kuraudo amuses me, because I'm pretty sure that's close to the romanization of the pronunciation of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII's name.

I like the idea fact we're not in Hinamizawa 1983 again. It's only been going about five minutes and I'm on board.

For readability sake I want you to know you go to "it was a year that had been strangely hot even though it was only June..." The Early Summer, title card, then back to the dialogue.

Just like with Tatarigoroshi we're starting off quick, with a kidnapping. Hope they meet a better fate than the inciting element of Tatarigoroshi.

You know, I'm gonna tempt fate here. Since our narrator this time is a police officer working a kidnapping case I would like to think this won't get slowed down with the usual gaming club antics, and it'll keep a pretty brisk pace. "Akasaka, let's play mahjong!" Me: "noooooooo..."

Our guy Mamoru Akasaka here (I just know at some point I'll make a crack about him actual being an Arasaka, and make a lame Cyberpunk joke) is one of a bunch of Tokyo Metropolitan police officers who is investigating the kidnapping of the Minister of Construction's grandson. They're keeping it quiet because of the notion that if the general public knows a government officials relative got kidnapped it could ruin their career. Also to keep in mind the idea that the kidnapping could be a communist plot.

Honestly, up until this line I forgot this was set in the midst of the Cold War. Given that the rest of the series had been set in a small rural town in Japan it makes sense, but suddenly seeing the Chief there go on about the Commies was a bit of a shock.

Mamoru, since he's a rookie agent I'd assume, is being shunted off to go investigate the Hinamizawa Dam protests. A no doubt small occurrence that won't be involved with the kidnapping at all.

I'm sure this is all just going to be a wild goose chase.

Since this has gone back in time to 1978 this means there's a pretty good chance we'll get to see the first of the Watanagashi murders. Well... "first" you know what I mean, the dam foreman who gets killed and chopped into bits. I wonder if we'll get to see young hooligan Mion? That would be neat seeing a wildly different, more aggressive/violent Mion. Given the time I know it's pretty unlikely a young baby Keiichi or Rena will be there, but young punk Mion is a definite possibility.

[stephensmithuk]

Garter and Silk

No, not the name of a pair of detectives with red hot chemistry solving murders, but two items somewhat relevant to this story.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Thornaby, K.G. is the holder of two very important titles in the UK. Right Honourable means he is a Privy Counsellor, a title given to high-ranking politicians and which gives them access to highly secret information. You retain membership for life unless you resign or do something really stupid.

But I'm going to talk more about a organisation with a somewhat silly name. K.G. stands for "Knight of the Garter", which means Thornaby is a member of the Order of the Garter. Covering England and Wales, this is the highest state honour you can get that does not involve the serious possiblity of dying getting it; the two above it being the Victoria and George Crosses. Scotland has the Order of the Thistle, just below it in precedence. Ireland had the Order of St Patrick; with no new member added since 1936 and the last surviving member dying in 1974, it is essentially defunct.

Tradition has it that the order was founded by Edward III in 1348, but records suggest it was actually slightly early. The most popular version of the name is that a woman at a dance in Calais had her garter fall down. As courtiers sniggered at the wardrobe malfunction, Edward picked up the garter, returned it and said "Honi soit qui mal y pense!", which is generally translated as "Shame on him who thinks evil of it". The story comes from the 1460s and may well have been conocted to explain why the order was named after what was then a feminine garment.

As you can see from the link, the blue belt has a prominent role in the royal coat of arms used outside of Scotland. The Scottish version has the Order of the Thistle's motto Nemo me impune lacessit or "No-one provokes me with impunity", which definitely sounds more stereotypically Scottish!

It also features in the simplified version of the arms used by the British government, featuring on all British passports.

Membership is limited to the monarch (of course currently Charles III), the Prince of Wales (Prince Williams) and 24 living members. There are also Royal Knights and Ladies, basically members of the Royal Family like Queen Camilla, the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Edward) or the Duke of Kent (the other Prince Edward). In addition, there are Stranger Knights and Ladies, covering a good proportion of Europe's monarchs, active or retired. Both the former and current Japanese Emperors are there; Hirohito was thrown out in 1941 for obvious reasons, but reinstated in 1971.

The latter two do not count towards the total.

The current membership gives you an idea of the sort of people who get this honour. For example:

Former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler of Brockwell, also known for the Butler Inquiry into intelligence used to justify the Iraq War.

Sir John Major and Sir Tony Blair, former Prime Ministers.

Lord King of Lothbury, former Governor of the Bank of England.

Marshal of the Royal Air Force The Lord Stirrup, former Chief of the Defence. Or Jock Stirrup.

Lord Lloyd-Webber. Yes, the musicals guy.

The 7th Marquess of Salisbury, also a former Cabinet minister. Descended from the PM at the time of "Knees of the Gods" and all the way back to William Cecil, chief minister to Elizabeth I; the Cecil family have long been friends with the royals.

There are currently three vacancies.

Until 1946, appointments to the Order were made by the monarch on advice from the government... with all the potential for patronage that would involve. Edward VII threw a major tantrum in 1902-1903 over giving it to Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, the Shah of Iran, because the guy wasn't a Christian. An alternative design for the badge minus the Cross of St George was drawn up... and Bertie literally threw it out of the porthole of his yacht. He eventually had to back down though.

However, in 1946, Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill, at the time Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition respectively, agreed that the honour would go back to the monarch. Elizabeth II would make them both Knights of the Garter.

****

So, onto the Silk part. "Kingsmill, Q.C." is a "Queen's Counsel", meaning he is a highly experienced lawyer appointed from the profession. You'd want one of these if you were up on a charge in the Old Bailey.

As a QC, he would have the right to wear a silk gown when in court, hence the nickname of "silks". At the time they were appointed by the monarch on advice from the government; since 2004 a selection panel makes the decision and it's a formality from there on in.

This story is set in 1893 when Queen Victoria was on the throne. When the reigning monarch is male, like at the moment, these people are known as King's Counsel or KC. The changeover is immediate; when Elizabeth II died in 2022, the head of the Bar Council signed off his tribute with "KC", causing some moderate confusion and necessitating a clarification on that matter:

The current Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer is a KC by virtue of having made a silk in 2002 as a barrister; he would later head the Crown Prosecution Service. His knighthood is the Order of the Bath. Others may make the jokes.

Sitting MPs who were barristers were made silks automatically until the 1990s; the top law officers of the government get the title as well. This is not necessarily a popular decision with other lawyers, especially if the person has little recent legal experience.

There was a BBC TV series that ran from 2011 to 2014 called Silk about a chamber of lawyers in London; including some QCs. The first season features Natalie Dormer before she joined the cast of Game of Thrones.

****

It is entirely possible to be a Silk Garter i.e. have both honours. There is currently one in fact - Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, former President of our Supreme Court.

[thedudleywomen]

ON THIS DAY - 24 October 1537

On This Day (24 Oct) in 1537, Jane Seymour died at Hampton Court Palace, 12 days after giving birth to her only child, Prince Edward (later Edward VI).

Jane had retreated to Hampton Court from London in mid-September 1537 for her 'lying-in', having escaped from the plague spreading throughout London at that time. Despite no reports of a complicated pregnancy, difficulties began once Jane went into labour on 09 Oct. Her labour was prolonged, lasting approx 30 hours; a solemn procession and prayers were said for her on 11 Oct due to concerns regarding the wellbeing of herself and the child. However, at 2 in the morning, on 12 Oct, Jane delivered a highly-anticipated baby boy, named Edward. Her husband, Henry VIII had been with his own household at nearby Esher Palace, Surrey, and on the news of the birth of his son, rode the 4 miles north directly to Hampton Court.

Edward was christened on 15 Oct in a midnight ceremony at the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace. Due to the risks of plague, attendance at the ceremony was 'limited' to 400 attendees; these included the young prince's godparents Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and the Lady Mary; courtier John Dudley (and likely his wife Jane Guildford), and the prince's uncle Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp, who was known to have carried the young Lady Elizabeth into the chapel. As was tradition, the parents did not attend the ceremony, but rather greeted the guests in the Queen's apartments prior to the procession to the chapel, and then following the completion of the ceremony. Jane participated as expected, with no signs that she was to become so unwell so soon after.

Jane started to become unwell the following afternoon on 16 Oct. She initially suffered from diarrhoea, although stated that she felt better later on. However, during the night her condition worsened, and it became clear that she was suffering from puerperal fever; Alison Weir speculates that it was likely as a consequence of a tear in her perineum during delivery. However, at the time, there were accusations that she had been 'over-indulged' by her attendants, as the understanding of childbirth and hygiene was misunderstood at the time.

Jane's condition worsened so rapidly that she was given last rites by her confessor the Bishop of Carlisle on 17 Oct; however, she appeared to improve, and so celebrations regarding Edward's birth continued. Tragically, Jane quickly became unwell again, entering into a state of delirium, before further deteriorating. On 22 Oct, Thomas Cromwell, Henry's chief minister was informed that she was dying.

At 8pm on 23 Oct, Henry was called to Jane's bedside, and remained with her throughout the night. Last rites were again delivered to her by the Bishop of Carlisle, and she passed away in the early hours of 24 Oct.

Following Jane's death, Henry 'fled' to Windsor Castle, entering into seclusion due to his grief. Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was placed in charge of Jane's funeral and burial arrangements. Her body was embalmed on 25 Oct, with her entrails being removed and buried in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace. Her body was dressed in golden robes, wearing jewels and a crown, and lay in state in the presence chamber at Hampton Court, before being moved to Windsor in Nov, which was to be her final resting place.

Jane's ladies-in-waiting at this time included Mary Brandon, Lady Monteagle (Charles Brandon's daughter from his first marriage, and elder half-sister to Frances Brandon), Anne Parr, Countess of Pembroke (younger sister of Katherine Parr), and Jane Parker, Viscountess Rochford (widow of the ill-fated George Boleyn, who had been executed in May 1536 on charges of high treason), Whilst it is not known if Jane Guilford, Lady Dudley was one of her attendants, Jane is likely to have had a place in the new queen's court, as her husband's status rose. What is known is that she one of the women who accompanied Jane's coffin from Hampton Court to Windsor.

[goodqueenaly]

Having recently read Thomas Costain’s The Black Rose, I have now also finished another Costain historical fiction novel, The Moneyman. To (very) briefly summarize, The Moneyman is the story of a real-life figure, Jacques Cœur, a merchant raised to the nobility by King Charles VII of France and made the king’s chief finance minister and one of his closest advisors, only to be disgraced and exiled after a false accusation of murder is laid against him by that same king. As I mentioned in my last post, The Moneyman is supposedly GRRM’s favorite of Costain’s works, so I was very intrigued to see if GRRM would borrow any ideas or character models from The Moneyman for his Westerosi works.

Unfortunately, once again I find very little to parallel with ASOIAF. The titular Moneyman himself might be as rich as Littlefinger, but the charges of embezzlement falsely levied against Cœur would be all too accurate if laid at Littlefinger’s door. Indeed, Cœur's deep, honest, but not sycophantic loyalty to Charles VII - a willingness to tell the king the truth coupled with a desire to look out for the best interests of the kingdom - could not be more alien to Littlefinger, whose selfishness and dishonesty are central to his personality. (In fact, the closer parallel to the Moneyman might be someone like Enguerrand de Marigny of The Accursed Kings.) I suppose you could compare Cœur to say, Davos Seaworth - the honest common man raised to the nobility by a grateful king - but Cœur is, well, defined by his substantial personal fortune in a way Davos obviously is not (because he has none, of course), nor can Charles VII’s petty jealousy of Cœur's wealth (and his subsequent willingness to condemn his devoted servant on trumped-up charges) be compared to anything in the relationship between Davos and Stannis. 

Now, is it possible that GRRM took a bit of inspiration from Cœur's trial at the end of the book for Tyrion’s trial at the end of ASOS? Maybe. Just as Tyrion was falsely accused of poisoning Joffrey, Coeur is falsely accused of poisoning Lady Agnes Sorel, the beloved mistress of King Charles. In both cases, the author makes very clear that the accused was not in fact guilty of the crime by setting the reader in the accuser’s point of view at the time of the supposed poisoning, while simultaneously using circumstantial and/or outright fabricated evidence to make the case against the accused seem that much more damning. (Nor, indeed, is an explanation lacking in either case: the author makes clear many times, through Cœur as well as other characters, that Agnes Sorel is too sickly to live long, while Littlefinger explains the Joffrey poisoning plot to Sansa in pretty plain terms after the Purple Wedding.) Just as Tyrion’s physical proximity to and post-murder handling of Joffrey’s wedding cup helped sell the testimonies to his guilt at his trial, so Coeur’s administration of medicine to the dying Agnes Sorel is used by the prosecution to portray Coeur as a fiendish poisoner. Too, much as Taena Merryweather falsely testified that she had seen Tyrion pour poison into Joffrey’s cup, followed by Shae's false testimony as to Tyrion and Sansa’s allegedly conspiracy, so on the stand at Cœur's trial Jeanne de Vendôme fabricates an elaborate story of poisoning which she supposedly witnessed firsthand. Additionally, just as Pycelle (correctly) reported that Tyrion had taken poisons from his stores in order to falsely suggest that Tyrion gave poison to Joffrey, so one witness at Coeur’s trial - a doctor whom Cœur privately derides as a “great windbag … pedantic and opinionated and yet at the same time servile to all forms of authority”, not too far off the mark from Pycelle himself - seizes on Cœur's real, though harmless, mercantile association with the East to falsely link Cœur to the “Eastern poison” which supposedly killed Agnes Sorel. Cœur also offers to confess to a crime he knows he did not commit, in order to save his alleged co-conspirator (though he later rescinds this proposal); somewhat similarly, Kevan offered, in vain, to have Tyrion confess in exchange for permanent exile at the Wall (an offer that I think was genuine on Tywin’s part). 

Now, while Cœur is not allowed to offer any defense on his own part (much as Tyrion was not at his trial), Cœur, unlike Tyrion, actually gets exonerated for the poisoning allegation, thanks to the testimony of an honest doctor who identifies the flaws in the case against Cœur. (Though Cœur is convicted of what Costain asserts were equally ludicrous charges and forced into permanent exile.) Of course, Costain didn’t invent the idea of trumped-up charges and patently untrue accusations in a legal trial (and Costain himself clearly states in his introduction and epilogue that he has, so he believes, adhered as closely to the real history of Cœur's downfall as possible), so it’s not that I think GRRM is uniquely indebted to Costain for Tyrion’s trial. Rather, while I think both are borrowing the same old tropes for similar stories, I can also acknowledge that this specific usage of those tropes may have been part of the inspiration for GRRM. 

[nordleuchten]

September 3, 1824

On the morning of September 3, 1824, La Fayette arrived in Lancaster and was greeted by a large crowd that had congregated in front of First Church of Lancaster Unitarian Universalist. There he was addressed by the towns minister, the Reverend Dr. Nathaniel Thayer. His speech (but sadly not La Fayette direct reply) are noted in History of the Town of Lancaster. The book was written some 50 years after the visit and there is at least one small mistake – La Fayette visited the town in 1824 and not in 1826 as the book states. By this time the Marquis was long back home in France.

Dr. Thayer was a fine public speaker. He was large in person, and had an imposing presence. Though pleasant in speech, he was grave, dignified and impressive. He had a voice of great power and compass, which filled the largest hall or church with ease. He was thus fitted to speak on special occasions, as well as in his stated ministry. When Lafayette was passing through the country, on his triumphal tour, in 1826, he tarried for a night at the hospitable mansion of Mr. Sampson V. S. Wilder, in Bolton, and in the morning gratified the citizens of Lancaster with a reception. It was assigned to Dr. Thayer to address him on that occasion. Standing on the Common, near the Brick church, and surrounded by an immense multitude from this and neighbouring towns, he spoke as follows:

“General Lafayette. — In behalf of the inhabitants of Lancaster, I offer you their cordial congratulations on your arrival in a country whose wrongs you felt and resented; whose liberties you valiantly defended; and whose interests and prospects have been dear to your soul. We all unite with the few surviving veterans which were with, loved and respected you on the high places of the field, in giving you a welcome to this village, once the chosen residence of savages, and the scene of their boasted triumph; and rejoice that you visit it under the improvements of civilized life, in prosperity and peace. It gladdens us that we and children may behold the man, whom we have believed, and whom we have taught our children to believe, was second only to his and our friend, the immortal Washington. We participate in your joy, on beholding our institutions in vigor, our population extended, so that since you left us, from a little one we have become millions, and from a small band a strong nation; that you see our glory rising, our Republic placed on an immovable basis, all of which are in part, under Providence, to be ascribed to your sacrifices, dangers and toils. We wish you health and prosperity. We assure you that wherever you shall go, you will be greeted by our fellow- countrymen as one of the chief deliverers of America, and the friend of rational liberty and of man. It is especially our prayer, that in that day in which the acclamations and applauses of dying men shall cease to reach or affect you, you may receive from the Judge of character and Dispenser of imperishable honors, as the reward of philanthropy and incorruptible integrity, a crown of glory which shall never fade.”

It is said that when these closing words were uttered, “the veteran Lafayette trembled with emotion,” and that he was often afterwards “accustomed to refer with pleasure to the beautiful scenery of the banks of the Nashua, and the heartthrilling address of the venerable minister of Lancaster.”

History of the Town of Lancaster by Rev. Abijah P. Marvin, Lancaster, 1897, pp. 474-475.

Celebration and Reenactment of the speech at Lancaster.

[beardedmrbean]

The Swedish army is stepping in to support police in tackling a recent surge in gang killings, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has announced.

He said that from next week the army would start providing assistance with analysis and logistics, as well as in handling explosives and forensic work.

Mr Kristersson added that Sweden's laws also needed updating to enable more military involvement.

So far this month, 12 people have been killed in gang violence in the country.

This is the highest number since December 2019, according to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

On Wednesday night alone, two young men were shot dead in Stockholm, and a woman - who police say had no links to gang crime - was killed in blast at home some 80km (50 miles) north of the capital.

The 24-year-old woman, named as Soha Saad by local media, was a newly qualified teacher and thought to be a neighbour of the target of the explosion.

Mr Kristersson made the announcement after crisis talks on Friday with Sweden's army chief Micael Byden, police chief Anders Thornberg and Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer.

He said the government would ask the army to help the police "in cases where the armed forces' specialist skills can help".

"This could be many things: help with explosives and helicopter logistics, analysis skills... IT forensic analysis."

The prime minister added that the country's current legislation had to change to address "grey-zone situations where it's not obvious what kind of threat Sweden is facing".

Swedish media have connected the recent surge in deaths to a conflict involving a gang known as the Foxtrot network, which has been rocked by infighting and split into two rival factions.

On Thursday, Mr Kristersson said Sweden had not seen anything like it before and that "no other country in Europe" was experiencing this kind of situation.

Children and innocent bystanders, he stressed, were increasingly being caught up in such violence.

Last year, more than 60 people died in shootings in Sweden - the highest on record - and this year is set to be the same or worse.

An official government report published in 2021 stated that four in every million inhabitants were dying in shootings each year in Sweden - compared with 1.6 people per million across Europe.

Police have linked the violence to poor integration of immigrants, a widening gap between rich and poor and drug use.

Mr Kristersson's centre-right minority government, which came to power last year with the support of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, has not yet been able to stem the violence.

He has vowed to push ahead with more surveillance, harsher penalties for breaking gun laws, stronger deportation powers and stop and search zones - insisting that "everything is on the table".

Some critics have argued the measures fail to address underlying social issues such as child poverty and underfunded community services.