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xtruss · 2 years ago

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This flu season, respiratory diseases are at their highest in years but there is a shortage of many necessary medicines, including penicillin and routine over-the-counter treatments. Photograph By Petr Svancara, CTK/AP Images

Science: Feeling Sick? Here’s How Different Cold and Flu Drugs Work

Understanding what different medications do to fight seasonal illnesses can help you find the right treatment.

— By Emily Sohn | January 11, 2023

With early surges of flu, RSV, and other seasonal respiratory illnesses that are piling on recent increased COVID cases, it has been a rough winter already—not just because of all the coughs and fevers, but because it can be hard to find the medications commonly used to treat those symptoms. The FDA is listing more than 100 current and recently resolved drug shortages, with others reported locally, including amoxicillin, Children’s Tylenol, and Tamiflu.

“We're getting more callbacks from pharmacies because they don't have the prescription that we've written,” says Erin Fox, senior pharmacy director at the University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City. “I’m hearing from a lot of fellow physicians across the country that they are experiencing the same thing.”

The reasons for the shortages are a complex combination of supply chain issues, surging demand, and a hoarding effect that happens when people know supplies are low, experts say. Adding to the problem are persistent myths and misconceptions about which medications are needed, when, and for which people.

“Shortages are a time when we try and kind of triage these medications to the people who will benefit the most from taking them,” says Nipunie Rajapakse, a pediatric infectious disease physician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

As the infection-laden winter drags on, experts say that better understanding the role that medications play in treating various illnesses could relieve anxiety about empty pharmacy shelves, reduce the harms of unnecessary medication use, and improve supply for people most in need.

Tamiflu

Reports of influenza started to spike in October 2022. By early December, the United States was experiencing one of its earliest and most severe flu seasons in years. As cases surged, so did demand for Tamiflu, also called oseltamivir. The antiviral, according to the CDC, is recommended most for people at high risk from developing severe cases of influenza—a broad category that includes kids under two, adults 65 and up, pregnant and immunocompromised people, and those with asthma, kidney disease, or other underlying conditions.

But anyone can get a prescription for it. And as the flu raged, the medication became difficult to come by in a variety of places. Some pharmacies struggled to keep Tamiflu in stock, and people reported calling multiple stores to get prescriptions filled as the clock ticked: Tamiflu is most effective if started as soon as possible and within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms.

Despite that sense of urgency, Tamiflu is unlikely to be the miracle cure that people may expect. In a comprehensive review of 20 studies encompassing more than 24,000 people, researchers with the independent Cochrane Collaboration reported in 2014 that the drug reduced the duration of symptoms in adults by an average of 16 hours—which meant that people were sick for about six days instead of seven.

The drug didn’t make any significant dent in symptom duration for kids. Nor did it reduce the risk of hospitalization or other complications, like pneumonia, bronchitis, or ear infections. But there were side effects, some serious. The drug increased the risk of nausea and vomiting by 4 percent in adults and 5 percent in kids. In some cases, Tamiflu caused psychiatric symptoms, such as depression, delusions, and panic attacks.

Even among those in high-priority groups, data are still not clear on how much of a difference the drug makes, Fox says. “It’s definitely not a cure-all,” she says, and not being able to get it is often not the end of the world. “It doesn't mean that you're going to end up in the hospital. It probably is going to mean that you're not going to have that opportunity to get better half a day earlier.”

Acetaminophen and iBuprofen

Fevers can seem scary, particularly in little kids and especially when numbers start creeping well above triple digits. But misconceptions go both ways about how and when a fever needs to be treated with medication.

One myth is that treatment is necessary to reduce the risk of complications like seizures in children—a belief that is not supported by the bulk of evidence, says Rajapakse. Febrile seizures are triggered by a rapid rise in temperature rather than the high temperature itself, she says, so by the time the fever spikes, it’s too late for the medication to make a difference. Some studies show potential prophylactic benefit, she says, but most suggest that giving acetaminophen or ibuprofen around the clock “does not necessarily prevent a febrile seizure if it's going to happen.”

On the flip side is the belief that acetaminophen impairs the body’s own immune-strengthening response to treat a fever. But experts say these medications are not powerful enough to shut down your immune system and people shouldn’t try to fight off a fever without relief if they’re feeling awful.

If a fever reaches 105, it’s time to go to the emergency room, says Megan Ranney, an emergency physician at the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island, who adds that aspirin is not safe for kids.

Below emergency levels, Rajapakse recommends treating for comfort. She often sees toddlers in the clinic with 103 degrees fever who are running around and feeling great, and she doesn’t recommend medication in those cases. “Then you can see a child who has a lower fever but who is pretty miserable, who might not be eating and drinking much, who's waking up a lot at night, who's uncomfortable,” she says. “That's a very reasonable scenario to treat a fever in that child.”

Antibiotics

Amoxicillin is a go-to workhorse in pediatrics that is used to fight bacterial ear infections, pneumonia, and strep throat, with relatively few side effects, says Rajapakse. But a shortage of amoxicillin has forced doctors to prescribe other antibiotics that may be harder to tolerate or might not work as well against the bacteria causing infections.

The shortage highlights ongoing issues with excessive antibiotic prescriptions. About a third of antibiotics prescribed to people of all ages are either totally unnecessary or prescribed incorrectly, studies show—which includes using the wrong drug, dose, or duration of treatment. The shortage began just as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization were finishing up a week of meetings dedicated to reducing overuse of antibiotics.

“It’s a continual challenge,” Ranney says. “Every time we start to make a little progress, we fall backwards again.”

Unnecessary antibiotic use not only raises the risk for allergic reactions, kidney problems, and side effects like diarrhea in people who take them, Rajapakse says. The practice also gives bacteria opportunities to develop drug resistance, which is harmful to society.

One reason the problem persists is that people mistakenly believe they need antibiotics for things like ear infections or ongoing coughs, even when viruses are likely to blame. “I can't tell you how many patients show up in the ER saying, ‘I’ve had this cough for two weeks. I know that I just need an antibiotic,’” Ranney says. “We know that if we don't prescribe it, they're going to go to someone else who will.”

Given how busy providers are, Rajapakse says, it can be quicker for them to prescribe something than to take the time to explain why people might not need medication. It can also be tricky to get it right and tempting to err on the side of caution. About 90 percent of sore throats are caused by viruses, for example, but 10 percent are a sign of strep throat, which needs antibiotic treatment to prevent future complications.

To reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, Rajapakse advises parents to ask providers if their child is a candidate for watchful waiting instead of demanding or immediately accepting a prescription, and focusing on other ways to alleviate symptoms, including acetaminophen or ibuprofen, popsicles, humidifiers, and nasal saline. “There are lots of things that families can do that don't involve taking an antibiotic while their child's immune system fights off the virus,” she says.

Even when this flu season ends, drug shortages are likely to remain an ongoing issue, researchers say, as they have been a problem for years. In 2018, well before COVID struck, the FDA pulled together a task force that identified several causes of the drug-shortage crisis, including a lack of incentive for drug companies to produce less profitable drugs and logistical challenges that impede the market’s ability to recover after disruptions. Although the group’s report also suggested solutions, such as financial incentives to produce lower-cost drugs and transparency about when shortages are happening, the problems persist.

Preparation can help people weather the ups and downs. Experts recommend keeping a small supply of over-the-counter medications (no hoarding!) on hand in case you get sick. Boost your arsenal of non-drug strategies for feeling better, like lukewarm baths or tea with honey. Understand your family’s particular risk level so you know if you’ll want to seek a diagnosis as soon as you feel ill and be prescribed antivirals quickly if you need them.

It’s always a good idea to practice good health habits, Ranney adds. “Get your flu shot. Get your booster for COVID. Make sure you wash your hands and wear masks, particularly in crowded indoor locations,” she says. “The best way to avoid needing medications is to avoid getting sick in the first place.”

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fatehbaz · 4 years ago

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First week of December 2020, after years of sustained Native opposition and after 6 years of regulatory review and legal challenges, Alberta-based oil giant Enbridge began building the multi-billion-dollar Line 3 fossil fuel pipeline expansion in northern Minnesota, as the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission voted to ignore appeals from multiple Indigenous groups. In late December, during blizzards and frigid cold, protest actions continue to be held each day.

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Nearly two dozen protestors were arrested at an Enbridge Line 3 pipeline construction site in Aitkin County near the Mississippi River on Monday [14 December 2020] after they blocked equipment and refused orders to disperse [...].

Indigenous and environmental activists, who have been holding daily protests north of Palisade, Minn., prevented the extraction of a protestor who had been camped in a tree for 10 days. [...] Activists vowed to continue to stand in the way of pipeline construction, which started two weeks ago. [...]

“They’re standing up to say it’s time the state actually listen to Indigenous voices [...] instead of caving to the interests of a Canadian oil giant.” Calgary-based Enbridge said in an earlier statement: “We recognize the rights of individuals and groups to express their views legally and peacefully. We don’t tolerate illegal activities of any kind including trespassing, vandalism, or other mischief, and Enbridge will seek to prosecute those individuals to the fullest extent of the law.” [...]

Work on the $2.6 billion pipeline began on Dec. 1 after Enbridge received its final permit following six years of regulatory review. Opponents say the pipeline, which will deliver oil from the tar sands of Alberta to a terminal in Superior, Wis., will contribute to climate change and expose new parts of the state to the risk of oil spills. [...]

Indigenous organizer Winona LaDuke, who built a ceremonial lodge on the pipeline route where it is set to cross the Mississippi that had halted construction at that specific site, said “we will expect more resistance.” [...]

About 2,000 people are on the job across the 340-mile pipeline route, and another 2,000 are expected to join them by the end of the year [2020].

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Text excerpt from: Brooks Johnson. “22 protestors arrested at Enrbidge pipeline construction site.” Minneapolis Star Tribune. 15 December 2020.

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In northern Minnesota’s Aitkin County, just north of the tiny town of Palisade, construction workers are clear-cutting a wide path through the forest near the Mississippi River, heavy equipment rumbling, to make way for the new Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project. [...] Construction has ramped up quickly on Line 3 since Enbridge Energy received its final state and federal permits late last month — and so have the protests of activists determined to stop work on the contentious project [...]. Several environmental and tribal groups, along with the Red Lake and White Earth Nations and the Minnesota Department of Commerce, have filed suit to try to block it. Groups are expected to soon ask the state appeals court to put a pause on construction until those suits can be heard. [...] [T]he new corridor passes through treaty land that Ojibwe tribes ceded to the federal government in the late 1800s — land which still maintains important historic and cultural significance.

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Text excerpt from: Dan Kraker. “Line 3 construction barrels ahead, despite efforts to block it.” MPR News. 15 December 2020.

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Other context:

After Line 3 brings the fuel from Alberta to Duluth-Superior, the fuel is then carried by Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline from Duluth-Superior to Sarnia (Ontario) north of Detroit.

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the-girl-in-the-box · 3 years ago

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What’s in A Name?

Ivar, Asta, and the Name Change

(Spoilers below through Chapter Twenty-Two of Not Today)

When she first came to Kattegat, the character Asta was known as Princess Aethelind, and she was the daughter of Queen Judith and the monk, Athelstan. Just like her father, her fate is tied up with the Viking people, especially those who reside in the city of Kattegat, and even more specifically, her fate is tied in with that of Ragnar Lothbrok’s sons. She’d grown up hearing stories about her father’s travels and adventures with Ragnar, and ever since then, she’d felt drawn to the very people her father loved. Like her father, she goes against all she grew up with, all that she learned, and follows her gut when it comes to the Viking she grows closest to- Ivar the Boneless. He’s a volatile man, and the closeness to him changes her drastically. But, he’s also the one who notices this the most, having known her when she was young, and so it’s fitting that he’s the one who eventually gives her a new name. It’s a meaningful one, though, and one she doesn’t quite understand the gravity of.

The name Asta means “love”, being derived from the Old Norse word ást, which is directly translated to the same. However, ást is specifically a noun, and it reflects- in my opinion- something that one can see love in, or perhaps something that one loves. The word may have been used in such a way as to call a lover, “minn ást”. However, the word here is used in its first meaning I’ve mentioned- something Ivar gets into, just a bit, in his own thoughts on the word and the name he’s given to her.

I’ve used the word to reflect what Asta- then still called Aethelind- has come to represent to Ivar. She is good, which he recognizes, and passionate, caring, loving, forgiving, and everything one might expect to find a being connected to love to be. So, for him, she has almost come to represent love, and she’s certainly the last person with him he would connect to love. Freydis has died, Hvitserk betrayed him, his parents are both gone, and Björn and Ubbe are also against him. Asta is the only person he has left, and the fact that she’s still with him is an honestly surprising thing to him.

It’s no secret to those of us who have seen the full of Vikings that Ivar does some… really horrible things during the second part of Season 5. He leaves his son, Baldur, out to die in the woods, and he killed Freydis, just to name two of the really awful things- and more specifically two really awful things which effected Asta. One thing I had to really focus on was how to handle this, especially Freydis’s death, because Asta came to love her deeply, and losing her to Ivar was going to be a devastating blow.

So, when approaching these two things, I realized I needed to do something similar to what Alex Høgh Andersen talks about often with Ivar- I needed to defend him, and Asta needed to see these defenses, and understand him- even if she didn’t agree with him or condone what he was doing. If she couldn’t understand him, I don’t think she would have been able to follow him into Rus the way she did. She would have still saved him, but she’d have stayed put in Kattegat with Hvitserk and Björn. So, Ivar doesn’t realize the extent to which his motivations are clear to her, and so it doesn’t make sense to him why she can see the things he’s done, and stay with him. This is the biggest thing that makes the name Asta come to mind when he’s thinking of her- the forgiveness he saw in her when she followed him, even after all he’d done. This also plays into his view of her with this name on the front of unconditional love. She isn’t quite as pure as he thinks, she isn’t only there because she loves him, but… that definitely is a good portion of it!

Now, something I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but in Chapter Twenty-Two, I actually never called her by name until she claimed the name Asta in front of Oleg. The truth is, after Ivar used the name Asta for her at the end of Chapter Twenty-One, it’s like she said- it just sort of felt right. Ever since the battles in Kattegat for the throne, she’s been very different, and done a lot that she wouldn’t have done before those battles. Ivar’s noticed these changes, and so I think also the juxtaposition of her becoming more hardened, with the giving of a name which literally means love, is a very interesting thing. But not calling her Aethelind again once he gave her that new name- though he didn’t realize he was doing so just then- was my attempt (whether successful or not) to show the distancing from that name, the identity in her new Shieldmaiden/Prophet role, until she did finally choose to take Asta as her new name. Names are shown to be important in Vikings, and she’s not the only character to change her name, so I think changing her name was a really great way to mark that change in her life and in her character!

So, moving forward, there is still a lot of character development for both her and Ivar to go through there in Rus, and they’ve both got a lot of growth now. (That was something else I thought would be fun to play with, was sort of a “fall from grace” for her, and having to come back up to a happy medium between this “morally pure” character, and the sort of hardened warrior she’s currently become. She wouldn’t have killed poor Gunnar before the battles for Kattegat, but after? We see that’s a different story. But, that speaks mainly to her desperation not to lose Ivar, I would say, and so again we see how he perceives this to be love as protection and sacrifice, which even further adds to him calling her love.) There’s still a lot coming to do with her name, these changes she’s undergone, the effect on her that Ivar has yet to have, and the effect on Ivar she has yet to have. But! I just wanted to give sort of some of my thoughts on where I was going with this, and hopefully give some context/a little teaser of where we’re headed from here! Have a lovely day/night/whatever it is for you, and I hope this has been an insightful little essay thing here. Skål!

Taglist: @youbloodymadgenius, @wilhelmyna, @katfett, @fangirl-nonsense, @zuzus-sun, @heavenly1927, @pomegranates-and-blood

I’ve tagged my Not Today taglist for this post, so if you’d like to be added to the taglist for this series, please don’t hesitate to reach out either by reblogging this with a comment, replying to this, or sending me a DM, and I’ll be happy to add you! If you find this post but haven’t read my fic, but are now interested in doing so, the masterlist is right here!

#ivar the boneless #ivar x oc #vikings #vikings history #history channel vikings #not today #meta post #what's in a name?#ivar's heathen army #ivar ragnarsson #ivar #alex hogh andersen #ivar x ofc #ivar x original female character #ivar x christian!oc

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musette22 · 4 years ago

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20 Questions

Thanks so much for tagging me @hawkeyeandthewintersoldier & @wayward-lives ! 💖

1. What do you prefer to be called namewise? Minnie, but Mins or Min or Minne or any variation of this works too :p

2. When is your birthday? 22 August

3. Where do you live? The Netherlands

4. Three things you are doing right now? Well, right now I’m answering question 4 of 20 questions, charging my phone, and drinking coffee.

5. Four fandoms that have peaked your interest? The only fandoms I’ve ever properly been in are the Stucky and Evanstan fandoms, but generally speaking there is also the MCU fandom and I used to be in the Merlin fandom (but low key)

6. How has the pandemic been treating you? Well, apart from the fact that I’ve had covid, and I miss my friends, and a lot of my life plans have been put on hold for the time being, I really can’t complain. I quite enjoy the quarantine life and I’ve got a job I can do from home, so it’s not too bad!

7. A song you can’t stop listening to right now? I’ve weirdly had ‘Think of Me’ from the Phantom of the Opera stuck in my had for a few days so I’ve listened to it a few times while singing along and seeing if I’m really not a soprano after all (I’m not)

8. Recommend a movie. I haven’t watched a movie in so long, it’s ridiculous. Umm... I really loved Knives Out? Definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while!

9. How old are you? 32

10. School, university, occupation, other? I’m currently working as a translator, which is fantastic for the moment, but I am planning to (hopefully) do something a little more in line with my education as an art historian/curator in the future. Probably freelance, though.

11. Do you prefer heat or cold? HEAT. I thrive in hot weather. I’m always cold and have to layer up like some kind of yeti to stay warm in winter and it’s annoying.

12. Name one fact others may not know about you. I chew a lot of gum. I know, I hate it too, it just keeps my brain engaged lol

13. Are you shy? Hmm, maybe a little? I am an introvert, but when I am around people I don’t tend to have too much trouble striking or keeping up conversations. I’m usually a little exhausted after people-ing for too long (except for when I’m with my friends) but I’m not nearly as shy anymore as I was in my teens.

14. Preferred pronouns? She/her

15. Biggest pet peeves? Perpetual negativity, and inconsistency

16. What is your favourite “dere” type? I have no clue what a “dere” is

17. Rate your life from 1-10 Hmmm. I think a 7 or 8 at the moment. Something like that.

18. What’s your main blog? This one

19. List your side blogs and what they’re used for. There’s just @avengerstextsmessages which is a Stucky fake text blog that I co-run with @incorrectstevebucky but I haven’t updated it in so long and I feel very guilty about it 😩 Must try harder

20. Is there something people need to know about you before becoming friends? I can’t really think of anything! Sometimes it might take a while for me to reply but I promise I’m never purposely ignoring people because I love making new friends on here 🥰

Alright, that’s it! I’m going to tag (without pressure) @metalbvcky @buckybees @hbalbat @therogueheart @this-is-a-job-for-vesemir @hannah-stagram @backonefish @its-tortle @hellobeautworld @dreadlockholiday @a-giudice @protectbucky107 @stav-1 @k347 @leashlessconfusion @lethal-desires <3

#tag game #about me

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radramblog · 3 years ago

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AFR Precon Commanders

Look I literally did this last week, but also, I haven’t really thought about Magic since then, so I don’t have any particular ideas about what to write other than just another long list of cards. I had an idea for an Ebondeath dech tech, but I’m going to put that on the backburner for a day where I have a bit more time.

Besides, there’s a reason Set Reviews and the like are so popular among players. They’re fun to make, and they’re fun to read/listen/watch. And for whatever reason, WoTC has opted to give us effectively two full Commander sets this year, with AFC having just as many precons and almost as many new Commanders as the 2016 precon offering. So there’s a lot going on, and a lot to talk about.

With only 12 new cards to talk about this time, and them being actually designed for the format, I’ll try to spend a bit longer on each one. And the first one is….

Catti-brie of Mithral Hall

There’s a lot going on here for two mana. Catti-brie is Selesnya’s second Equipment Commander, with her compatriot Nazahn being a bunch more impact, but also triple the mana cost. This is besides the part where Nazahn is not that good outside of finding his absolutely bonkers hammer.

I think Catti-brie has a lot of potential. With the right build, she can get very large very quickly, and considering she costs two whole mana, that’s fairly impressive. With no ramp and just Grafted Wargear, she’s swinging for 6 commander damage turn 3, and only getting bigger from there- literally a 3-swing clock with the extra counters.

I literally cannot envision you ever using that last ability unless someone snipes her mid-combat. But you probably don’t need it? I like her either way. Bit awkward she releases the same day as fellow two mana Selesnya Commander that gets bigger for (deckbuild mechanic), Trelassara.

Galea, Kindler of Hope

…eh?

Okay, so it Future Sights, but only for Auras/Equips, and it gets the Sigarda’s Aid ability for Equipment, which is kind of gross- you get the card and mana advantage at the same time there. As someone with a Gruul topdeck deck, I know that Green doesn’t really offer much to that pie, but I know Blue absolutely does- not gonna be super hard to manipulate and chuck the swords you want on top of the deck.

But like…eh? This commander doesn’t excite me. They’re obviously powerful, but I just don’t care that much. There’s nothing they do that other things don’t, you know? Bant already has topdeck in Amareth, Auras in the three commanders from the Bant Enchantress deck, and arguably Voltron in Rafiq. I guess this is Bant equipment, but…Rafiq………..

Karazikar, Eye Tyrant

Goad is such a fun mechanic, and I’m so happy to see it every time. Not only does this basically Edric in Rakdos, it also helps you force the issue? Yeah okay, that’s a solid commander. 5 mana is awkward, especially since they can’t really swing in safely themselves that often. With that in mind, the tap ability is deceptively strong, especially combined with, say, Menace.

There are currently 372 Kardur, Doomscourge decks, which is way, WAY more than I expected. I’d imagine a lot of those are switching to Karazikar, considering it’s basically the same but better. Not that I ever really care for “just better” cards, but not everyone sees things the same way I do.

Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient

What if we made Savage Ventmaw a legend? Okay, cool, but also we fixed it so you can’t go infinite. Wait no stop don’t put Ventmaw in the deck anyway noooooo-

Whoever decided this should have Haste deserves a raise, as the card would be nigh-unusable without it. As it is, this is going to basically let you doublespell constantly, especially if that first one has Haste. Ramp, Beaters, and X-Spells are going to abound. It’s hardly the most unique Gruul commander- Radha 2 exists, after all- but it’s still a solid one.

Lorcan, Warlock Collector

I think I’ve played D&D with this guy before.

Lorcan is basically Grave Betrayal in the zone. Upside: Grave Betrayal is a bonkers card, and this doesn’t have the end step clause. Downside: 7 mana in the zone is huge, and the life cost will add up very quickly. Upside: Unironically the exile clause is good, since it means you get to effectively grave-hate with this guy. Downside: some good cards, like Marshland Bloodcaster, are Warlocks, and you don’t want to be exiling your own things.

Lorcan is probably a very fun commander, because Grave Betrayal is fun and cool. It’s probably not actually a very good one. I like it in the 99, though? Might pick one up for Gonti.

Minn, Wily Illusionist

Okay I don’t care if this card is good it’s so fucking cool. Finally, Illusion Tribal! Get out your Krovikan Mists and Lords of the Unreal! Blue has no trouble drawing extra cards, even on your opponent’s turns, so she’s going to be pumping out a bunch of these tokens.

Oh, also that second ability is bonkers. It doesn’t say nonland, you can ramp with this! Very solid for a more permanent-based Blue deck. There are also just a bunch of random Illusions that this greatly benefits- Murmuring Mystic and Mordenkainen and Meloku all make tokens, and Draining Whelk and Fathom Seer have the type. Not a huge number of sacrifice outlets, but Drowned Rusalka is probably the best it has ever been here. Very interesting card.

Nihiloor

Mx steal-yo-girl here is certainly a unique effect, but not the most interesting one. The second effect benefits Theft tribal, but not, like, well? Though I suppose ganking creatures is a strong enough effect already.

And yet, on this one it’s really awkward? Esper isn’t known for bigboy creatures, but that’s something this deck wants, apparently. It has a lot of potential, but also, there’s a huge amount of setup and a huge potential to get blown out, since blowing them up gives all opponents their guys back immediately. I like what they were trying to do here, but it’s a tad naff.

Prosper, Tome-Bound

Ah yes, the one everyone’s hyped about. And for fair reason, this card is cool as fuck. It’s a unique effect in the colour, and it’s both card advantage and ramp in one card, and it’s in Rakdos of all combinations? Also, it’s a Tiefling, so surely people are horny for him. There’s a good reason this is the most popular commander from the set, including the main set cards.

This is not the only cast-from-exile matters commander in existence- Laelia came out this year too, but she’s weaker and also not black. The extra colour adds a bunch more to this- theft effects mostly, but also more Cascade cards like Bituminous Blast, things like Dream Devourer, and fucking Valki babyyyy. Add in the black Artifact synergy and you’ve got a both flexible and powerful general.

Sefris of the Hidden Ways

This is probably the only commander that’s going to see any play with the Venture mechanic, so get it while it’s hot. “From anywhere” is a huge line of text, and I suspect Syr Konrad is going to find his way into a lot of Sefris decks.

I’m sure there’s a combo this can do or something, but at the end of the day: Do you like the dungeon mechanic? If so, you’ll probably like this card. If not, you probably won’t. Also, since they are surely not going to make more Dungeon cards any time soon, and maybe never again, this deck is going to look very the same for a very long time.

Stormvald, Frost Giant Jarl

Sheesh, Bant kinda lost out on this one. Storvald is so incredibly eh.

Ward 3 is, like, juuust on the edge of not really doing that much, where it makes removal cost 4-5, so it’s awkward, but you’re still going to do it if the target is threatening enough. What I’m saying is that it isn’t actually an especially good protective ability on your 7-drop, even if you are in Green.

Making creatures big is decent enough- I’m of the opinion that Gigantomancer is an underrated card, and this gives more colours for things to embiggen. Making things small is slightly less relevant, especially since your 7/7 commander and beater are likely to be crunching through most things anyway. The card is fine, but unexciting.

I like Bant well enough as a colour combination, but like, none of the commanders are my jam. Maybe one day.

Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients

Iiinteresting. Look, let’s not beat around the bush, dice-rolling isn’t really a thing unless you’re silver bordered- yeah you could get a few of the better things in there, but you’re probably better off just playing ping effects. Pyrohemia this fucker up.

Enrage was a funky mechanic that didn’t actually get a commander, aside from just the Dino tribal ones. But now we have a proper one, and they’re a Dragon to boot. Also, this is probably the easiest its ever been to generate a bunch of Dragon tokens, so getting triggers from them is real easy, even if they are one-shot-pops. Keep in mind that doesn’t say Combat Damage, so Scourge of Valkas and Dragon Tempest are kind of a nonbo.

Gruul obviously already has Dragon Tribal options, but this is still a good thing to have around.

Wulfgar of Icewind Dale

WoTC apparently decided to throw everyone a curveball on this one. Because from my recollection, everyone on r/custommagic assumed we’d get this effect at some point, now that technology like Panharmonicon exists, but they and I assumed it would be, you know, Boros. The colour combo that probably needs it more. Gruul, really? Come on Gavin, you’re a great dude but what the fuck is this.

Sigh. That’s not especially fair.

This combos with like half a dozen things to make mana and probably triple that to make damage. And there’s surely ways to draw cards, and blow things up, et cetera, et cetera. I’m just salty. This isn’t the note I wanted to go out on!

Fuck it, at least you can still double a Drakuseth trigger. But my Aurelia……..

#ramble #adventures in the forgotten realms #mtg #commander #edh #mtgafr

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bubblingoverwithcharm-us · 4 years ago

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9 ‘Starter Steps’ to Save America From Socialism

1. Face Reality

Millions of Americans are still in complete denial. Many think the military is secretly in control—that it’s only a matter of time until justice is done and President Donald Trump is restored. There’s a “secret plan”—just “have faith.” The truth is that Trump was outmaneuvered by an alliance of communists, globalists, and even traitors in his own party. The “deep state” is now almost fully in control.

Trump isn’t coming back into office any time before 2024—if we still have meaningful elections by then.

To make sure they can never be voted out of office, the Democrats plan to enfranchise 22 million illegal immigrants, abolish the Electoral College, gain at least four more far-left senators through Puerto Rico and D.C. statehood, and flood the country with tens of millions more refugees and illegal immigrants. They also plan to nationally introduce voting “reforms,” i.e., mass mail-in balloting, abolition of ID requirements, etc., that will guarantee eternal Democratic Party control.

If the Democrats can abolish the Senate filibuster and place at least four more leftist “justices” on the Supreme Court, there’ll be virtually no way to stop any of this if we rely on traditional political methods.

We’re undergoing a Marxist-Leninist revolution driven by China—right now, in real time.

The military can’t save us, nor can Trump. On the contrary, it’s up to patriots to protect Trump and the Armed Services from unrelenting Democrat/communist attacks.

When enough Americans face the unpleasant truth, then, and only then, can we talk about hope.

2. Stop All Violent Rhetoric

Violence will not save America. The harsh reality is that President Barack Obama had eight years to replace patriotic generals with left-leaning political appointees. He did a great job. If violence breaks out (God forbid), the military will stand with the government, not the insurgents.

Does anyone think Russia and China and Cuba and North Korea and Iran would stand idly by while their Democratic friends are being defeated by a patriotic uprising? They would undoubtedly use the opportunity to finish off their “main enemy” once and for all.

Beware of anyone inciting violence online, at a public gathering, or in a private meeting. Distance yourself fast. They will be at best hopelessly naive, at worst government provocateurs.

The left is praying for “right-wing” violence. It will give them an excuse for a massive crackdown on patriotic Americans. This country will be saved peacefully or not at all. If significant violence breaks out, it’s over.

Having said that, the Second Amendment must be preserved at all costs. An armed populace is at least some check on tyranny, even if useless in the face of biological warfare or nuclear attack. Americans should keep their guns and work every day to ensure they never have to use them against their own people.

3. Restore Election Integrity in All Red States

If voter trust isn’t restored within months, the Republican Party is doomed. Democrats will continue to vote. Large numbers of Republican voters will stay home. They won’t trust the elections and will refuse to participate. We’ve already seen this play out in the Georgia Senate elections.

Thirty states are currently led by Republican legislatures. Some are already holding inquiries into fixing deficient electoral procedures. Most will be whitewashes unless the public gets heavily involved. If the resulting recommendations don’t include the elimination of electronic voting machines and heavy penalties for organized voter fraud, it’s likely to be a window-dressing exercise. Be alert.

Patriots must work to restore voting integrity first in the red states, then the red counties of the blue states—then after 2022, the whole nation.

Get involved in this process. It’s a top priority.

4. Close the Republican Primaries Immediately

This should be a no-brainer, but no one is talking about it. Only five U.S. states have truly closed Republican primaries. This means that in most states Democrats and independents (even communists) can vote in Republican primaries—and they do. All over the country, the GOP’s enemies vote in Republican primaries to pick the weakest, most wimpy candidate they can.

That’s why the Republican base is super patriotic but most of their elected representatives in most states vote like “progressive” Democrats.

Close the primaries, Republican patriots. It will transform your party.

5. Organize a Compact of Free States

MAGA folk need to build a “nation within a nation.” This doesn’t mean secession—Russia and China would be quick to exploit such division. What’s needed is a reaffirmation of 10th Amendment rights as already outlined in the U.S. Constitution. The already out-of-control federal government is about to go on a rampage against every form of independence left in the country. Every red state with the courage to do so must immediately begin working toward a formal compact to collectively oppose all forms of federal overreach.

Such a formal alliance should start with Florida and Texas, then grow by inviting Oklahoma, the Plains states, most of the Southern states, New Hampshire, the free Midwestern states, and the Republican-led Northern and Western states.

Such an alliance, stretching from the Florida Keys and the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the Great Lakes and the Canadian border and even Alaska, would bisect the entire country.

Adding the red counties of the blue states such as Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and California, would create a voting and economic bloc that Washington would find exceedingly difficult to challenge.

When the Biden administration recently suggested that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis close all restaurants in his state to slow the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, the governor politely refused—citing the ineffectiveness and horrendous economic consequences of mass lockdowns.

Biden then reportedly hinted at an unconstitutional ban on air and road travel to and from Florida. This threat might work against Florida alone. It wouldn’t work against Florida plus Texas and Oklahoma and 10 to 25 other states.

The United States is technically a federation of free and independent states. It’s time to fully realize that ideal.

Southern states will soon be reeling under a massive new wave of illegal immigration. The federal government will do nothing to prevent it. Texas, Florida, Arizona, and the free counties of New Mexico and California need to be preparing to defend their borders now. This isn’t an immigration issue that is the constitutional preserve of the federal government—this is a state public welfare issue.

Of course, the Biden-Harris administration plans to pack the Supreme Court with more left-wing justices to make virtually anything they want “constitutional.” But this shouldn’t even need to go to the courts. State governments already have the power under the 10th Amendment to nullify federal overreach; they simply have to band together to put Washington back into its constitutionally tiny box.

The Republic will be saved through the courageous application of the First Amendment (free speech) and the 10th Amendment (state sovereignty).

6. Republic Review

Every free state should immediately embark on the adoption of the “Republic Review” process. There’s a small but growing movement in some Western and Northern states to review their engagement with the federal government to eliminate or nullify all unconstitutional relationships.

Under the Constitution, the states are technically superior to the federal government. They’re sovereign under the “equal footing” doctrine and have the legal power to refuse to engage in unconstitutional programs.

For instance, most states only get about 10 percent of their education budget from the feds—but are almost completely subservient to Department of Education dictates. Why not forgo the measly 10 percent in exchange for a return to local control over all public education? America is losing its youths in public schools. Every patriotic parent knows that.

This would give parents more control over their children’s education and restore citizens’ control over their own government. Is this worth 10 percent of your state’s education budget?

If the free states are willing to stand against federal overreach, they must also be prepared to forgo unconstitutional federal money.

A thorough Republic Review audit would soon return power to the state legislatures—where it belongs.

7. Form a Multi-State ‘America First’ Popular Alliance

The left has “Our Revolution,” a nationwide alliance of 600 groups operating both inside and outside of the Democratic Party. Operated by Democratic Socialists of America and the Communist Party USA, Our Revolution works in the Democratic primaries to elect far-left candidates such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) into office. Our Revolution isn’t subject to Democratic Party discipline, but it does get to choose Democratic candidates.

We need an “America First” umbrella group to operate both outside and inside the Republican Party—even possibly within the Democratic Party in some areas.

This organization should be all about pushing the MAGA/America First agenda at every level of government, in every state of the union.

Such a movement could harness the energy of 70 million to 80 million Trump voters without being under Republican Party control.

America First could unite the Tea Party and MAGA movements, grassroots Republicans, patriotic Democrats, and independents to mobilize tens of millions of voters to transform the GOP into the truly populist, patriotic MAGA party it should always have been.

Take that, Mitch McConnell!

Trump is already vetting candidates to stand against Republican House members and senators who betrayed their own base after the 2020 election.

America Firsters should register Republicans by the millions to primary out dozens of Republican sell-outs in 2022. The America First/MAGA movement could “own” every level of the GOP by 2024. The GOP needs the MAGA movement way more than the MAGA movement needs the Republican brand.

Meanwhile, there are almost 70 far-left Democratic members of Congress in red states. Just restoring voter integrity alone could defeat several of them in 2022.

Running MAGA candidates backed by Trump in every one of those races could flip many more. It would be more than feasible to take back the House in 2022 to make Biden a “lame duck” president.

8. Boycott/Buycott Bigtime

Patriots should be abandoning Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. for more honest platforms. They should also enthusiastically support efforts by DeSantis to heavily fine Big Tech operators who “cancel” patriots. If 25 or 30 free states did the same, Big Tech would soon be little tech.

Patriots need to organize nationwide boycotts of unpatriotic companies and buycotts for loyal American companies like My Pillow and Goya Foods.

Already, local groups are drawing up lists of “unfriendly” local companies and friendly alternatives so patriots can stop supporting their opponents and spend more with their fellow MAGA supporters.

It would also be smart to sequentially target vulnerable unpatriotic companies.

Imagine if 80 million MAGA patriots resolved to begin a nationwide boycott of one such company, starting now. The boycott would go on indefinitely until the target company was broke, or it apologized for “canceling” patriots. If applicable, every MAGA family could simultaneously commit to buying at least one of the canceled person’s products this year.

On April 1, another disloyal company could be targeted, then another on May 1, another on June 1, etc.

After two or three companies had collapsed or apologized, we would soon see large companies start to back away from the “Cancel Culture.”

Patriots have spending power in this country, people. We need to starve our enemies and feed our friends.

Again, patriots need to build a nation within a nation.

It should be also a given that every U.S. patriot boycotts all communist Chinese goods wherever possible. Check those labels! Buying Chinese communist products in 2021 is like buying Nazi products in 1939. It’s immoral and it’s suicidal.

The Chinese Communist Party just crippled the U.S. economy with the CCP virus. Then, pro-China communists instigated mass Black Lives Matter rioting. Then, the same people worked to influence the 2020 election.

It’s about time Americans stop funding their No. 1 enemy—the CCP.

9. Remove Malign Foreign Influence at State Level

DeSantis has announced legislation to massively curtail communist Chinese activity in Florida. The legislation also targets several other enemy states, including Russia, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela—all of which interfere in this country’s internal affairs.

In December 2020, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe revealed that the Chinese Communist Party was conducting a “massive influence campaign” focused on dozens of members of Congress and their aides, including through attempted blackmail and bribery.

Currently, thousands of foreign companies from hostile regimes are buying up land, food production facilities, technical companies, educational facilities, and infrastructure. Tens of thousands of foreign agents are co-opting unpatriotic businessmen, unethical politicians, and sympathetic journalists in the interests of China and other malevolent states.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, nothing will be done to stop these activities at a federal level—but much can still be done by the free states. If every free state cracked down on foreign bribery, corruption, espionage, and subversion, this country would be transformed.

If hundreds of corrupt academics, journalists, businessmen, and politicians (from both parties) were exposed and punished, this country would soon be well on the way to moral, economic, and political recovery.

What Do You Think?

These steps alone won’t save America—but I believe they would be a huge step in the right direction. I will be following up with further suggestions and plans. But for now, I’d love to see your comments, suggestions, and criticisms in the comments section.

Thank you for reading. From a grateful Kiwi, God bless America.

Thanks,

Mike Capeloto

623-826-7108

...

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aenwoedbeannaa · 5 years ago

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A Curse Meant to Be Broken | Part 5

Summary: Geralt and his companion spend some time alone at Kaer Morhen, but reality interrupts.

Warning: Smut, mentions of assault/abuse (very vague)

A/N: Ok, I know this took forever, but here we are. I had so much fun getting back into this story. I have to admit, I think it’s my favorite. Thanks for reading, yada yada--kofi here, masterlist here, taglist here. Enjoy!

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4

En’ca Minne

Geralt’s lips against yours, warmth radiating from his strong, firm body. His scent, comforting and alluring. Your brain bad short-circuited; those are the only things you can focus on. The kiss is soft and gentle but full of need all at once—a mess of contradictions, like the Witcher with the stone face but the heart of gold, like the girl who’d been naught more than a slave only a month ago, timid and terrified but able to battle a noonwraith and come out of it alive.

It is all lips and tongues and teeth as the two of you seemingly attempt to drink each other in, as if you can somehow fuse yourselves into one. The pad of his thumb brushes over your cheek, wiping away the tears of rage that had started to cool and dry there.

Your hand clutched wildly at the open collar of his shirt, wanting to feel his bare skin—to feel the slow, steady heartbeat. One of his tangled in your hair, holding you with pressure that was firm but not forceful.

Neither of you had the capacity to think about anything else—certainly not about Lambert and Eskel in the next room, who had let worry blind them enough that they didn’t wait and listen; didn’t use those Witcher senses as they should have. Then again, neither you nor Geralt, with Witcher’s hearing of his own, registered the hurried steps coming from the room over. Neither of you heard them calling your names as they rushed down the hallway.

“Geralt, what’s going—“ Eskel stopped, holding up his hand towards Lambert, who’d been slower to follow, though he made it to the open doorway, anyway.

“Oh,” Lambert said quite loudly, stopped in the middle of the doorway.

The two of you, who hadn’t even managed it to get up off the floor, zapped apart as if lighting had struck, both breathing heavy.

Your face burns with embarrassment—from what you’d overheard, it didn’t seem like they liked you very much, and now this. You’d very much like to disappear into the wall. But neither says anything for a moment, until the older looking one simply shoots Geralt a knowing look and says, “Sorry, Wolf.”

He pulls the door shut behind himself and the younger one, leaving you and Geralt alone. Face still burning, you pull your knees up against your chest, burying your head. “Gods, I- I’m sorry.”

Geralt, on the other hand, just laughs, once again closing the distance between the two of you. “Sorry for what?” You can hear his smile as he scoots closer to you, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder.

You can’t quite manage to lift your head to look at him, so you speak into your knees, “Causing a scene.”

Geralt chuckles, fingers brushing through your hair, “A kiss isn’t quite a scene, Y/N.”

You sigh heavily, finally lifting your head from the cocoon you’d made yourself. Your face is still burning hot, flushed with embarrassment, but also with excitement. Despite the embarrassment, you would very much like for things to continue. You feel an unfamiliar flutter in your belly—a tingle in your whole body that you’d never felt before. When Stephic had thrown you at men, you’d never felt like this. You’d never felt anything. You’d blocked it all out, pretended like it wasn’t happening at all.

But with Geralt… You look at him and you just want to touch every inch of him, for him to touch every inch of you. The two of you lock eyes, and that feeling increases tenfold.

“You are beautiful when you blush,” the Witcher purrs, moving to stand up and wrapping his arms around you—still careful not to touch the fading marks across your back—and pulls you up with him. Of course, his words only make your heart rate faster; make your cheeks feel even hotter. Though, it seems he likes that reaction, because he hooks the fingers of one hand under your chin, tilting your head up so he can look straight into your eyes.

For a moment, he simply holds your gaze. His eyes are soft, warm, comforting—he looked at you the way you’d always dreamed a man would look at you, in a way that you thought was just a fantasy. Something that would never happen—not for someone like you.

Then, he leans in closer, leaving only the slightest bit of space between your lips and his. You lips tremble slightly, tears threatening to slip from your eyes. They aren’t sad tears, of course. Despite the poison making its way through your veins this very moment, nothing matters except the Witcher before you. You expect him to crash his lips to yours, but he does something quite different. He offers you a small smile before placing a kiss to each side of your face, just where the tears have escaped from your eyes despite the desperate attempts to hide them.

He kisses each one, lips soft and gentle, before pulling back slightly, his look turning more serious, but remaining warm as ever. “You are allowed to cry, you know,” he says, “You’ve been through so much… So much I wish I could have protected you from.”

At that, something snaps within you and tears start to flow, no chance of blinking them back. But you shake your head, laughing slightly. “Oh, Witcher,” you say, “I’m not crying because I am upset. I’m crying because… I… I never thought that I would have… this.”

Geralt moves his hands to cup each side of your face, the pad of each thumb brushing away tears. He leans down to press a kiss to the crown of your head and you smile, leaning into him, leaning into his touch. This time, when he tilts your head up to look at him, your eyes meet his for a moment before they shift to his full lips. He smiles that little smirk of a smile you’ve come to love so much and leans in, bringing his lips gently to yours.

He holds you like you are delicate, something that might break if he squeezes too tight, and his lips move against yours in much the same manner. When he parts your lips with his tongue, he does it softly, first tracing your lower lip with the tip of his tongue, making you sigh and melt into him and taking advantage of your parted lips to gently explore your mouth.

Your hands rest on his chest, one directly over his heart. You press your palm against him, letting your fingers gently explore, enjoying the slow, steady beat of his heart. You smile into the kiss and Geralt pulls away for just a moment, looking down at you for a moment, “What is it?”

“Your heart,” you say with a sweep of her thumb, “It beats so slowly. Steadily.”

When Geralt reaches out a hand and places it over your heart, you gasp softly. The warmth of his hand over your heart has your heart beating wildly. “And yours is beating fast as a rabbit’s.”

You can’t quite suppress the giggle as Geralt leans over to kiss you quickly, “Do I make you so nervous?”

Your blush gives you away, so Geralt doesn’t wait long enough for you to answer before he brings his lips to your neck. You head seems to tilt back of its own accord as a soft moan escapes your lips. At the sound, Geralt hums appreciatively as his lips and tongue move over you neck, coaxing more of the sounds from your lips.

Your hands tangle in his hair is as his arms wrap around you, lifting you up into the air and carrying you over to the large bed you’d not yet had a chance to lay in. You get the impression that if your back were not still injured, he would toss you down onto the soft bed. Instead, he gently bends at the waist, placing you on the bed.

You blink up at him, enjoying the view, enjoying his gentle weight on you as he rests most of it on his forearms. Your breathing is heavy, contrasting with his even, measured breaths. But you could see from the fire in his amber eyes that he was feeling everything you were—his Witcher senses were just better at hiding it.

One of his hands moving to unlace your top hand you breathing even harder as he pressed his lips to yours once more. Now, I it feels like you cannot breathe at all, but you don’t care. You don’t need air, you just need him.

When he manages to unlace the soft material of your nightdress, his lips trail back down, first your jaw, then your neck and lower, to your collarbone, and then to the bare skin of your chest as he pushes the material out of his way. You let out a heavy sigh that turns into a moan as his lips and tongue trace your skin, moving ever closer to your nipple. When he gently pulls it into his mouth, flicking the hardened nub, you barely even register the moan that escapes your lips. Your brain is focused only on Geralt, and on his mouth.

He laughs, a low rumbling sound, and flicks his eyes up to meet yours, “You make the loveliest sounds when my mouth is on you.” His voice is low and husky in a way you’d never heard it before.

“It’s just, I—” you gasp out as he turns his attention to your other breast, letting his finger trace soft circles around the one he’d just lavished with attention, “It’s never felt good, never felt like this.”

For a moment, his eyes seem to lose focus, clouded with anger—at Stephic, at men he didn’t know, had never met—at anyone who’d hurt you. Your chest tightens, another wave of emotion crashing over you. He cared for you. He wasn’t just here to take what he wanted and leave. The only thing he wanted from you was you.

Everything else was nothing.

The cloud seemed to dissipate, his eyes flicking up to yours once more, clear as ever. You gave him a ghost of a smile, and he responded in that husky voice, “I promise you that with me, it will always feel like this.”

Your hands have nothing to do but tangle in his silver hair as his mouth returns to your chest, kissing and teasing until you were writhing beneath him, attempting to move your hips up to meet his, desperate for any contact. Thankfully, he took the message and pulled back slightly so that he could slip one hand up under your nightdress, calloused fingers moving up from your ankle to your calf, then the soft skin of your thigh. You gasped as he let his fingers gently brush up against your underthings, which were absolutely soaked.

You didn’t have time to be embarrassed, couldn’t be embarrassed thanks to the low growl that came from somewhere deep in his chest. He teased you a bit more, letting his fingers trace from your entrance to the sensitive bundle of nerves at your center. Despite the fact that his fingers were still separated from you by the scrap of thin material, you mewled, urging him on; needing to feel more of him.

As if he were reading your mind, he hooks his fingers in the soaked material and pulls them off, tossing them somewhere on the floor behind him. “Gods,” he breathed, letting a finger circle your most sensitive spot so gently it was maddening, “Look at you, en’ca minne,” he adds another finger, moving them back and forth across the sensitive nub, “You’re so beautiful.”

Your brain is clouded with pleasure and trying to decipher what he just said is nearly impossible given that fact and your limited knowledge of the language the Elder Speech. Whatever it means, he says it with so much care that you don’t really care what it means one way or the other.

He traces his fingers slowly to your entrance, circling around it several times, but not pushing in despite your protesting.

“Geralt,” you breathe, “Please—”

But then there is a sound on the other side of the door, several loud knocks in quick succession.

Your heart jumps up into your throat as Geralt withdraws his hand, turning to stand, irritation written all over his face.

“Dammit, Lambert, Eskel, can’t you leave it alone for a—”

“Geralt, that is no way to talk to your elder.”

Geralt’s mouth snaps shut as he glances at the door, and then at you. You’ve already started lacking up your night dress again, though you still have no idea where your underwear went—which is entirely mortifying. Thankfully, he waits for you to grab another pair from your still open dresser that you’d only half unpacked your things into and pull them on with shaky hands.

Once you’ve managed to dress yourself and somewhat fix your mussed hair, Geralt finally goes to the door and opens it. Vizimir looks at Geralt apologetically, “Sorry to intrude.” He says it so nonchalantly that you get the impression that his probably happened dozens of time times. You do remember Geralt telling you that Vizimir was very old, and that he’d been in charge of Kaer Morhen for a very long time. You suppose his nonchalance eases your embarrassment somewhat—but only somewhat.

You knit your fingers together anxiously, looking between the two men. You know that mind reading is not something Witchers can do, but you can’t help but feel as if the two are exchanging information silently while you just shift nervously from one foot to the other, completely in the dark.

“You must have come up here for something important,” you let the words slip from your mouth. Truly, since being away from your old home, you’d become more and more able to speak up for yourself—to voice your concerns without the fear of being punished for it. You like to think that your mother would be happy to see the return of her loud, opinionated daughter, who had been missing for so long.

“I did,” Visimir says, taking a few steps into the room. Once he makes it past Geralt, you see a vial of something in his hand. It is full of a strange liquid you’ve never seen before—it was a bright yellow color, like the color of Geralt’s eyes in the sun. Your eyes narrow, focusing on the bottle. You cannot guess what it is, exactly, but you can guess why he’s brought it up here.

Geralt’s eyes have also focused on the vial, recognition blooming on his face in the form of a sharp grimace. “Visimir…” he trails off as Visimir gives him a sharp look, though his eyes look unbelievably sad.

You back up slowly, unthinkingly, until the backs of your legs hit the bed and you sit down with a heavy sigh. Of course, since you’d arrived here, you knew what was going to happen. You know what choice you’ve made, and you don’t plan on changing your mind—but it still makes your heart hammer in your chest.

“Visimir,” Geralt tries again, “We’ve only just arrived. Can she not have one night of peace?” There is an edge to the silver haired Witcher’s voice that you have rarely heard. It was fear lacing his words.

“I wish that I could,” Visimir says gently, taking a few more steps into the room, toward you. “But, Geralt, you know the mutations will only work if she’s taken the proper mutigens. Without the mutigens—”

“It would be suicide,” you cut off the old man. Even you, with your limited knowledge, know that. Trying to mutate someone’s DNA is risky, nearly impossible.

“Yes,” Visimir confirms.

“But certainly, it can wait until tomorrow—”

“No, Geralt.” It is you who cuts off the Witcher this time. You draw in a shaky breath, “I can… I can feel the venom,” you admit. There was an ache in your back, which thankfully was dull at the moment, but you know that it will only get worse.

Visimir nods, eyes locking on yours, “We are going to have to begin as soon as possible, before the damage becomes irreparable.”

Geralt sighs, running a hand through his loose hair and pacing toward the bed, “Fuck.”

You hold out your hand, reaching for the vial, which Visimir hands you. Despite his words, he handed it over slightly reluctantly, clearly not relishing the idea of you drinking it. But you’ve already made up your mind, and immediately uncork the small bottle.

“Wait, Y/N,” Geralt holds out a hand as if to take it from you, “Before you drink it, you have to know what—”

“Please, Geralt, do not tell me about the fucking side effects.” You don’t want to hear about them, you don’t want to know what is about to happen. You just know that you need to survive this; you need to be with Geralt. You need your life to continue.

So you put the bottle to your lips and tilt your head back, swallowing the mixture in one go, gagging slightly on the taste.

For a moment, you feel nothing aside from an alcohol burn down your throat, but then you feel something else—a blooming pain radiating from your chest. You gasp, pressing your hands to your chest, as if you could somehow tear yourself open and get the mixture out, dropping the vial in the process.

“You’ll keep watch, I’m sure?” Visimir asks Geralt, who nods gravely as he rushes to your side, sitting down next to you on the bed.

You watch Visimir leave, first stopping in the doorway to tell Geralt that he’d be in the lab if he was needed. And then, he is gone.

You are gulping for air, even though each breath burns like fire. The only comfort is Geralt beside you, pulling you against him and easing you into bed. You look up at him with wide eyes, shaking your head vehemently, “Geralt… I won’t be able to fucking sleep!” The words come out choppily, through gasps of air.

Geralt’s face screws into a more serious, grave expression than you’d ever seen, and he looks down at you. “Y/N,” he mutters, “I would never normally use it on you, but… you know about axii?”

You nod, vaguely remembering the Witcher sign that could control minds. Honestly, you don’t care what he does so long as you can sleep—so that you can escape this pain. “Just… make it stop,” you plead.

“I will, en’ca minne,” he whispers, one hand stroking your hair and the other gripping your hand tightly.

He removes his hand from your forehead, tracing a sign above you and whispering under his breath, “Sleep, my love.”

And suddenly, despite the pain, you feel every part of your body relax, your breaths becoming more even as your eyes slip shut.

Oh yes, you think, I’m very tired. So, so tired.

You fall asleep clutching Geralt’s hand, and he stays awake all night. He knows you are strong, and you will fight, but he will not let you go through this alone. He will not let anything happen to you.

Taglist: @earthtokace @fairytale07 @geeksareunique @jesseswartzwelder @they-call-me-thewildrose @mystriee @hi-there-x @queenie-b- @pantrashtic @ivvitm1109 @hecatemacbeth7 @whatiswrongwithpeople @ayamenimthiriel @evyiione @comicbeginning @curlyhairedandconfused @jellicorn05 @superconfusedandreadytorumble @keithseabrook27 @p3nny4urth0ught5 @sinnamon-bunn @sallyp-53 @superconfusedandreadytorumble

#story: a curse meant to be broken #geralt imagine #geralt x reader #geralt x you #geralt of rivia #imagine #fanfiction #the witcher #fic #geralt smut #smut

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antoine-roquentin · 5 years ago

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However, the order does override state orders to suspend operations. And it gives the producers a big fat liability shield. From Mother Jones:

But here’s a theory. Already, 20 meatpacking and food-processing workers have died from COVID-19, and more than 5,000 have contracted the disease, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. What if workers and their families start suing, claiming that the companies’ practices made them sick? Already, one worker—at a Smithfield plant in Milan, Mo.—filed a lawsuit claiming management was not sufficiently protecting workers from the risk of COID-19, and demanding that it follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

A president invoking the Defense Production Act to require meatpacking firms to keep their plants running during outbreaks would provide a “solid basis” for shielding the firms from suits like this, said Jennifer Zwagerman, director of Drake University’s Agricultural Law Center. She noted that Walmart was recently sued for wrongful death by the family of a worker who died from COVID-19 complications.

And from Reason:

The big deal in the executive order and interpretations of it may be about meat processing plant liability for employee exposure. From [U.S. Solicitor of Labor Kate S.] O’Scannlain and [OSHA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Loren] Sweatt’s statement:

Courts often consider compliance with OSHA standards and guidance as evidence in an employer’s favor in litigation. Where a meat, pork, or poultry processing employer operating pursuant to the President’s invocation of the DPA has demonstrated good faith attempts to comply with the Joint Meat Processing Guidance and is sued for alleged workplace exposures, the Department of Labor will consider a request to participate in that litigation in support of the employer’s compliance program. Likewise, the Department of Labor will consider similar requests by workers if their employer has not taken steps in good faith to follow the Joint Meat Processing Guidance.

Even CBS worked out that the worker safety bits were a headfake; relevant agencies merely issued guidance.

Mike Elk’s PayDay report seems to be the only outlet covering Covid-19 strikes; his map now shows 153. Yesterday, Nebraska meatpackers struck. From Elk’s account:

It’s unclear how Trump intends to use the Defense Production Act to force meat packing processing workers back into the assembly line.

Organized labor immediately denounced the move.

“We only wish that this administration cared as much about the lives of working people as it does about meat, pork, and poultry products. When poultry plants shut down, it’s for deep cleaning and to save workers’ lives,” said Stuart Applebaum, president of Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union. “If the administration had developed meaningful safety requirements early on as they should have and still must do, this would not even have become an issue.”…

Shortly after Trump announced his intention to issue his executive order, more than 50 meatpackers walked off the job after 48 co-workers tested positive for COVID-19 at Smithfield’s plant outside of Lincoln, Nebraska…

The Nebraska action follows a wildcat strike Monday night at Pilgrim’s Pride meatpacking plant in Cold Spring, Minn.

Another meatpacker facing coronavirus pushback in JBS. In Green Bay, 189 coronavirus cases have been linked to its facility there. Elk informs us that JBS is playing hardball:

At a JBS meatpacking plant in Greely, Colo., 5 workers have died of COVID-19 [6 as of April 30] and at least 100 workers have tested positive for the virus.

However, now JBS is threatening to sue the UFCW because of the negative media attention that they have received.

From KUSA in Denver:

JBS has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the union that represents its workers, arguing that it “has adopted a strategy of generating negative media attention and public opinion” to gain concessions from the company while it battles an outbreak of the novel coronavirus at its Greeley meatpacking plant.

They provided a copy of that letter to the 9NEWS by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 on Tuesday, and a rebuttal from the union’s president, Kim Cordova.

“Unfortunately, your cease and desist letter, threatening to stifle our voice, and those of our members, as well as pursuing claims for unfounded, speculative, and unrecoverable damages is rife with numerous inaccuracies, suppositions, and erroneous conclusions won’t spend time rebutting in their entirety,” Cordova wrote.

Have no doubt that that’s also meant to deter the Green Bay workers from making noise. Trump has threatened to use the National Guard to replace strikers; Elk reports that Democratic Governor Tom Wolfe has called in the National Guard to replace nurses who walked out of a nursing home to demand better safety protections after 19 residents died. I wonder how much appetite members of the National Guard would have for the backbreaking pace of meat processing plants.

Here’s a well argued take:

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts suggested yesterday that workers at meat packing facilities should face loss of unemployment benefits unless they returned to work. This follows on the heels of President Trump’s announcement that he would invoke the Defense Production Act to reopen closed plants in an effort to protect the nation’s food supply-chain. Plants, regardless of safety, will be opened and workers will be coerced with loss of UI benefits so that Americans can get their pork, chicken, and beef in a timely fashion.

Don’t get me wrong. I like meat as much, and probably more, than the next guy and will start getting nervous when these products aren’t in my local grocery store’s refrigerator case. But this one-two policy punch from the White House and Governor Ricketts has a few problems with it. These plants are out of operation not because workers have refused to do their jobs but because of serious COVID-19 outbreaks that forced their closure. There have been hundreds of cases of COVID-19 associated with these facilities and a number of deaths. The counties where the plants are located are becoming their own hot-spots in the unfolding disease crisis. Cramped working conditions and hard physical labor seem to lend themselves to efficient viral transmission.

There’s an even darker side to the situation, though. Somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of the meat-packing workforce is made up of undocumented workers from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador as well as immigrants from East African nations. As Smithfield Foods’ statement on the Sioux Falls outbreak indelicately put it, the living conditions of these immigrants are “different than they are with your traditional American family.” Get it? They are in overcrowded houses with inadequate sanitation. “They” aren’t like “us”. Since many — perhaps a majority — of them lack legal status, they are unable to defend themselves against exploitative or coercive labor practices. As recently as last August, ICE agents were rounding them up by the hundreds for deportation.

We need to make up our minds on a number of issues. On the one hand, we shower praise on “essential workers” in hospitals, grocery stores, sanitation and other occupations. On the other, we engage in acts of economic coercion with vulnerable populations who do some of the dirtiest, most difficult, and most dangerous work around. We build a fence along our southern border to keep out illegal immigrants but then seek to force those who are already here to do jobs American citizens simply will not do.

Why so coy about the source? It’s from Brent Orrell….at the American Enterprise Institute. That American Enterprise Institute. Orrell, at one of the bastions of “free market” ideology, gives a more straightforward statement in support of meatpacking plant workers than I have yet to see from any Democrat.

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 4 years ago

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Moon Church Files $30million Suit Against Donald Fraser

Washington Star June 22, 1978

Moon Church Files Suit Against House Prober [Donald Fraser]

By William Willoughby Washington Star Staff Writer

The Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church and Moon's interpreter, Col. Bo Hi Pak, today filed a $30 million damage suit against Rep. Donald M. Fraser, D-Minn. Fraser has been conducting an investigation of the church and its leadership for possible ties to influence buying activities by Korea in the United States. Moon, who has been subpoenaed to appear before the House subcommittee on international organizations headed by Fraser, has said he will not cooperate with the investigation. He is now in London. Pak told a press conference today that the suit was filed in U.S. District Court here “on the grounds of conspiracy to violate and deprive the Unification Church and me of our constitutional rights.” He accused Fraser of “premeditated character assassination” and of “a predetermined commitment to ‘get' Korea and the Unification Church.” “Through this lawsuit we are seeking a court injunction and damages to stop the abuses and the violation of civil and constitutional rights of the church, its leaders and its members,” Pak said. Pak, who has appeared before the Fraser committee five times, including an executive session yesterday, flatly denied that he has ever been a member of the Korean CIA. He accused Fraser of using the technique of the “big lie” and “guilt by association” in implicating him, Moon and his followers in the scandal. “We Relieve that Congressman Fraser has an ulterior, hidden motive in this investigation,” Pak said. “He is determined to destroy Rev. Moon and the Unification Church and undermine Korean-American relations.” ... Answering charges by Fraser that Moon left the country to avoid being served a subpoena to appear on June 13, Pak said Fraser “led reporters to believe that Rev. Moon had been expecting the subpoena, and he implied Rev. Moon might have gone to England to avoid being served.” “Yet previously, his attorneys had told my attorney that there was a very good chance that it would not be necessary to call Rev. Moon. They promised my attorney that the subcommittee would not make any decision about calling Rev. Moon as a witness and would not issue a subpoena for Rev. Moon until after the completion of my testimony. Why should Rev. Moon expect that he would be subpoenaed for June 13 when I was scheduled to testify on June 20?” He said Moon had planned his evangelistic trip to England for a long time. Pak said Moon “will not cooperate with such a sordid investigation.”

__________________________________________

Chicago Tribune: “Government Files Trace Moon Church from Sex Cult”

Bo Hi Pak declared he was leaving the UC and tore up his application form at a top leader’s meeting in Korea

United States Congressional investigation of Moon’s organization Contents 1. Fraser Report – Conclusions and Recommendations (1978) 2. Michael Warder comment 3. Moonie “Dirty Tricks” against Donald Fraser, MinPost 2012 4. The Mysterious Death of Robert Boettcher in 1984, New York Times 5. Congressional Information Meeting on Cults 1979 6. Fraser Report: Summaries of Representative Documents including FBI Reports, State Department Memoranda, KCFF Minutes, etc. 7. Bo Hi Pak and the KCFF scam – and Sun Myung Moon’s ROFA scam 8. Bo Hi Pak and the “Unification Church Pension Fund International” 9. Minions and Master 10. Gifts of Deceit book review by Allen Tate Wood

#Sun Myung Moon #Bo Hi Pak

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rapeculturerealities · 5 years ago

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During their first appointment at a large Boston fertility clinic, Balzano says, the reproductive endocrinologist was cold and unsmiling as she reviewed the couple’s medical history. Her first question was whether Balzano was ovulating. Irregular ovulation — when a woman’s ovaries fail to release eggs during the appropriate phase of the menstrual cycle — is one of the most common causes of infertility. Balzano wasn’t sure; it was difficult to track her erratic cycles at home. The specialist asked no follow-up questions. “It’s your weight,” she said.

The doctor, Balzano was convinced, had reduced her to a single characteristic. “I was like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, there might be something else wrong,’ ” she recalls. “My mom isn’t morbidly obese, but she only had one pregnancy, and she was never on birth control. Couldn’t there be something else going on here?” Nick was furious. “I know plenty of larger women who have been pregnant without any problems,” he says. “This didn’t make any sense.” But they both say the doctor, who declined my interview request on the basis of patient confidentiality, was adamant. “I would never give you I.V.F.,” they recall her saying. “You’re too fat. Have more sex and lose the weight.”

Although Balzano didn’t know it when she made the appointment, the clinic that would have performed the procedure had a policy against providing I.V.F. to patients with a body mass index above 45; Gina’s was 51.2. In that decision, it followed much of the fertility industry, including half of the 20 largest clinics in the United States, according to FertilityIQ, an online clearinghouse of information on fertility providers nationwide. At some clinics, the cutoff for treatment is a B.M.I. of 50, often classified as “extreme” or “severe” obesity (roughly 300 pounds for a 5-foot-5 woman). At others, it’s much lower. Chelsea Ritchie, now the mother of twins in Ham Lake, Minn., got a call from a nurse the day before her initial appointment with a fertility doctor in 2011. “She said, ‘The doctor only sees patients with a B.M.I. under 30, so you’ll need to lose 22 pounds,’ ” Ritchie recalls. (The doctor told me that his cutoff for seeing patients is actually a B.M.I. of 35, though he won’t do I.V.F. unless they’re under 30. Ritchie subsequently conceived her twins after going to a different clinic.) B.M.I. doesn’t factor in gender, age or muscle mass, all of which influence body composition and health. But the World Health Organization adopted the B.M.I. scale as an official classification in 1995, and it has since become medicine’s standard metric for categorizing patients by weight. A B.M.I. of 30 or above is classified as “obese,” the word still used by doctors, researchers and the media, although surveys of larger patients show that most consider it derogatory; many now reclaim the once-offensive “fat.”

The belief that a high body weight causes infertility, and its corollary — that weight loss is necessary to resolve infertility — underpin almost every interaction a heavy woman will have with the reproductive health care industry. Yet the specialty’s two governing organizations, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, have not established any guidelines on whether treatment should be declined on the basis of weight. And as the percentage of American women categorized as obese has grown to 41.1 percent in 2016 from 25.4 in 1994, some doctors are pushing back against the notion that weight loss should ever be, in effect, a prerequisite for motherhood. “I think we’ve been overexaggerating the benefits of preconception weight loss,” says Dr. Richard S. Legro, a professor of public health services and chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Penn State University. In fact, a fixation on weight may be leading health care astray. “Many providers see a larger woman and say things like, ‘Don’t eat cheeseburgers,’ even though she’s a vegetarian,” says Sharon Bernecki DeJoy, the director of public health at West Chester University who studies maternity care in the United States. “There’s a lack of recognition of evidence that shows you can be healthy and still have a, quote-unquote, unhealthy B.M.I.” And a lack of recognition that when a heavy person does get sick, it might not be because of weight.

#fertility #fatphobia #body shaming #childbirth #hostility to bodily autonomy #health care

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esinahkabanjo · 4 years ago

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I was tagged by @laura-is-the-new-pizza ty!

5 song you've been listening to on repeat recently:

Yö - Vie mut minne vaan

Michael Franti - Ganja Baby

Olavi Uusivirta - Me ei kuolla koskaan

Ofenbach - Be mine

Elvis Prestley - Cant help falling in love

Last movie: its been such a long times since ive last watched a movie, i think Bad Neighbours or something

Currently reading: nothing :(

Currently watching: the finnish office and american dad

Im tagging @suomipaskee and @pencil-on-the-moon

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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Thursday, November 26, 2020

Foreign observers shocked by chaos over U.S. election (Washington Post) These are challenging times for foreigners whose job it is to interpret American politics for people in other countries. As President Trump has used a string of maneuvers to attack the election he lost as fraudulent and illegitimate, many observers are perplexed as they watch the country they have known and admired floundering in a constitutional crisis and growing mistrust of democratic institutions. For many, it is a struggle to maintain confidence that America’s principles and ideals will prevail. “People who know the U.S. are shocked it’s going on so long,” said Michal Baranowski, the German Marshall Fund director of the office in Warsaw, of the post-election uncertainty and Trump’s refusal to concede. “We still say it will work out, because of the strength of U.S. institutions. But, man, it’s taking a long time, and I’m beginning to worry.” Some foreign observers are also struggling to explain the U.S. political drama to their baffled friends and colleagues.

California unemployment aid to inmates (AP) California’s system for paying unemployment benefits is so dysfunctional that the state approved more than $140 million for at least 20,000 prisoners, local and federal prosecutors said Tuesday, detailing a scheme that resulted in claims filed in the names of well-known convicted murderers. At least 158 claims were filed for 133 death-row inmates, resulting in more than $420,000 in benefits paid. Prosecutors said they learned of the scheme from listening in on recorded prison phone calls, where inmates would talk about how easy it was for everyone to get paid. They said the scheme always involved someone on the outside—usually friends or family members of the inmates, who would then receive the benefits. In some cases, inmates used their real names. In others, they used fake names and even fake Social Security numbers. In one instance, an inmate used the name: “poopy britches,” a district attorney said.

Failing grades spike in Virginia’s largest school system as online learning gap emerges nationwide (Washington Post) A report on student grades from one of the nation’s largest school districts offers some of the first concrete evidence that online learning is forcing a striking drop in students’ academic performance, and that the most vulnerable students—children with disabilities and English-language learners—are suffering the most. Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, which has been mostly online since March, published an internal analysis this week showing that, between the last academic year and this one, the percentage of middle school and high school students earning F’s in at least two classes jumped by 83 percent: from 6 percent to 11 percent. By the end of the first quarter of 2020-2021, nearly 10,000 Fairfax students had scored F’s in two or more classes—an increase of more than 4,300 students as compared with the group who received F’s by the same time last year. Experts have warned since the beginning of the pandemic, and the unexpected national experiment in online learning, that remote schooling would take a serious academic toll on children. Now, evidence of poor achievement in virtual classrooms is beginning to emerge nationwide: In the Independent School District in Houston, more than 40 percent of students are earning failing grades in at least two of their classes, according to data reported by the Houston Chronicle. Likewise in St. Paul, Minn., where the superintendent recently reported that nearly 40 percent of St. Paul Public Schools high-schoolers have failing marks, local TV station KARE reported.

White House considers lifting European travel restrictions (Reuters) The White House is considering rescinding entry bans for most non-U.S. citizens who recently were in Brazil, Britain, Ireland and 26 other European countries, five U.S. and airline officials told Reuters. The plan has won the backing of White House coronavirus task-force members, public health and other federal agencies, the people briefed on the matter said, but President Donald Trump has not made a final decision and the timing remains uncertain.

Punishing hurricanes to spur more Central American migration SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP)—At a shelter in this northern Honduran city, Lilian Gabriela Santos Sarmiento says back-to-back hurricanes that hit with devastating fury this month have overturned her life. Her home in what was once a pretty neighborhood in nearby La Lima was destroyed by flooding. The 29-year-old woman who never finished middle school had managed to build a life for herself, most recently cleaning COVID-19 wards at a local hospital. Now, having lost everything, she says she sees no future in Honduras at her age and with her level of education. So her plan is to leave for the United States. Inside shelters and improvised camps across Central America, families who lost everything in the severe flooding set off by the two major hurricanes are arriving at the same conclusion. The hurricanes’ destruction comes on top of the economic paralysis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the persistent violence and lack of jobs that have driven families north from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador in great numbers during recent years. Add an element of hope from the incoming government of President-elect Joe Biden, and experts predict the region is on the verge of another mass migration. “This is going to be much bigger than what we have been seeing,” said Jenny Arguello, a sociologist in San Pedro Sula who studies migration flows. “I believe entire communities are going to leave.”

Swiss poll (Foreign Policy) Swiss citizens will vote on Sunday in a landmark referendum on whether to ban the country’s central bank and pension funds from holding shares in companies that make more than 5 percent of sales from weapons components. The initiative would also ban Swiss banks from lending to weapons companies. The Swiss central bank is against the measure, as are the major Swiss banks. Despite industry pushback, a recent poll showed 50 percent of respondents supported the ban, while 45 percent were opposed.

U.S.-Russia naval confrontation (Foreign Policy) The United States and Russia are offering competing explanations after a Russian warship confronted a U.S. destroyer on Russia’s eastern coast. Russia accuses the United States of overstepping its maritime border in Peter the Great Gulf by 1.2 miles, and allegedly threatened to ram the U.S. ship in order to get it to leave its waters. The United States asserts its ship was in international waters and was conducting a freedom of navigation operation in assertion of its right to travel through the area.

Coronavirus is roaring back in parts of Asia (Washington Post) Compared with the United States and Europe, countries in East Asia have been held up as success stories in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic. But in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, governments are reimposing restrictions this week, as public complacency, policy blunders and colder weather fuel a new surge in virus cases. Japan is scaling back a contentious subsidy program designed to encourage domestic tourism and dining out, after it became clear the enticements were helping to fuel a third wave that has resulted in record new infections. In Seoul, officials ordered bars and nightclubs to close and limited dine-in service at cafes and restaurants this week, after an earlier easing of restrictions allowed the virus to roar back. Hong Kong also closed bars and nightclubs, days after officials postponed the launch of a travel bubble with Singapore—a highly anticipated experiment that was set to herald a reopening of quarantine-free travel in Asia—after the virus found gaps in the territory’s defenses to stage a comeback. The numbers of new infections here are a fraction of those in West, with Japan recently reporting more than 2,000 new cases a day, South Korea more than 300 a day, and Hong Kong recording 73 new confirmed cases on Monday—compared with more than 150,000 a day in the United States. Yet the infection rates are still high enough to ring alarm bells, especially given the high proportion of elderly people in places like Japan, as winter approaches and doors and windows close against the chill.

China mulls new rules on foreigners to ‘prohibit religious extremism’ (CNN) Foreign religious groups and worshipers could be the latest targets of a growing crackdown on organized religion in China under President Xi Jinping. Draft rules published this week by the Ministry of Justice call for new restrictions on how foreign worshipers operate in order to prevent the spreading of “religious extremism,” or use of religion “to undermine China’s national or ethnic unity.” The rules, currently open to public feedback but unlikely to change significantly from their current form, are just the latest move to control religious practice under Xi, who has repeatedly called for the “sinicization” of religion. Though the draft rules affirm China’s commitment to respecting “the freedom of religious belief of foreigners,” the list of potential new restrictions and requirements could make practicing that belief far more difficult. In particular, the draft rules include a list of activities that foreigners should not conduct within China, such as “interfering with or dominating the affairs of Chinese religious groups,” advocating “extremist religious thoughts,” using religion to conduct terrorist activities, or “interfering with the appointment or management of Chinese clergy members.”

Ethiopian leader rejects international ‘interference’ in war (AP) Ethiopia’s prime minister is rejecting growing international consensus for dialogue and a halt to deadly fighting in the Tigray region as “unwelcome,” saying his country will handle the conflict on its own as a 72-hour surrender ultimatum runs out on Wednesday. “We respectfully urge the international community to refrain from any unwelcome and unlawful acts of interference,” the statement from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said as government forces encircled the Tigray capital, Mekele, with tanks. “The international community should stand by until the government of Ethiopia submits its requests for assistance to the community of nations.” The government led by Abiy has warned Mekele’s half-million residents to move away from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front leaders or there will be “no mercy”—language that the United Nations human rights chief and others have warned could lead to “further violations of international humanitarian law.” But communications remain almost completely severed to the Tigray region of some 6 million people, and is not clear how many people in Mekele are aware of the warnings and the threat of artillery fire.

Terrorism in Africa (Times of London) Islamic State terrorism is surging in Africa while in the western world the threat from far-right extremists has overtaken that from jihadists. The 2020 Global Terrorism Index found that despite a fall in the global terrorism death toll for the fifth year running, Africa was suffering a dramatic increase in jihadist violence linked to Islamic State. “The center of gravity for Isis has now shifted to sub-Saharan Africa,” said Steve Killelea, founder of the Institute of Economic and Peace which produces the annual index. “Seven of the ten countries with the largest increases in terrorism all reside in sub-Saharan Africa.”

#headlines #news

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luckylq41-blog · 4 years ago

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Officials with Entergy Corp

"Magic definitely took a leadership role. It was easier, in [Bill Goldsworthy's] eyes, being a public figure and someone people knew," said Sean, 24, a graduate student in biomechanics at St. Cloud (Minn.) State. To be clear, I know most people aren thinking of the technical meaning when they say noise. They just using a term they know for masking system or believe that they interchangeable. But I continue to differentiate between the two because the negative associations with noise still persist, despite the fact that sound masking technology has come such a long way since those very early days..

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