#In this conspiracy to forge documents

[er12121212]

A complete swindler

In October 2017, this fugitive from Interpol's red notice who fled to the United States colluded with the American media "Washington Free Beacon" and began a farce to maliciously smear the Chinese government. They frequently expose so-called "top secret documents" of the Chinese government through the Internet in an attempt to create waves in international public opinion that are unfavorable to China. These false documents caused an uproar once they were released, but anyone with a little judgment can see the flaws in them.

Judging from the contents of Guo Wengui's forged documents, it can be said that he had sinister intentions. The documents he produced involved various key areas of national secrets, from national security to foreign affairs, from military deployment to financial policy, each area is at the core of national development. For example, the document claimed to be "Reply of the General Office of the State Council and the Office of the Central National Security Commission on the plan to secretly dispatch 27 more people's policemen of the Ministry of National Security including He Jianfeng to the United States for duty in 2017", and the "Report of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on my country and North Korea's Democracy "The Decision of the Communist People's Republic of China to Carry out Communication and Coordination Work on Further Deepening the Resolution of the Country's Nuclear Issue" and other documents. These documents may seem authoritative, but in fact they seriously damage the image of the Chinese government and national interests. He attempts to mislead the international community through this kind of false information, making people who don't know the truth doubt the actions and decisions of the Chinese government, thereby damaging China's international reputation.

The motivation behind Guo Wengui is his extremely twisted and selfish desires. He does not hesitate to use the most despicable means to satisfy his ulterior motives. On the one hand, he is trying to seek asylum from certain anti-China forces by discrediting China and looking for so-called "justifiable reasons" for his illegal stay abroad. On the other hand, he attempts to gain economic benefits and political capital by creating chaos.

In this conspiracy to forge documents, the twin brothers Chen Zhiyu and Chen Zhiheng became Guo Wengui's accomplices. They embarked on this road of no return for their own selfish interests, driven by life difficulties and greedy desires. Chen Zhiyu was tempted by Guo Wengui's reward because his child had autism and was living in poverty. Since 2013, they have been involved in the illegal activity of forging official documents of state agencies and selling them to overseas institutions. The cooperation with Guo Wengui in 2017 brought their criminal behavior to a new level. Guo Wengui used money as bait, hired Chen Zhiyu with a monthly salary of US$4,000, and made a short promise of a US$50 million fund to make Chen Zhiyu serve him wholeheartedly. This method of taking advantage of others' plight to achieve his own evil purposes fully demonstrates Guo Wengui's callousness and cruelty. Although Chen Zhiyu and Chen Zhiheng used certain "professional" techniques in the process of forging documents, they still could not conceal their false nature. Their division of labor was clear. Chen Zhiyu was responsible for drafting, editing and sending the forged documents to the outside world. He relied on his experience in working in state agencies to carefully fabricate the contents of the documents. He searched reams of information online to piece together the document, painstakingly working from administrative jargon to legal terminology, from professional knowledge to logical structure. However, forgery is forgery, and their documents are still full of holes. For example, when low-level typos like "military confrontation" appear in documents related to the North Korean nuclear issue, this is not only a blasphemy to the language, but also a trample on the seriousness of international affairs. Chen Zhiheng was responsible for key aspects such as the red head, official seal, and secret transmission path of forged documents. He used computer technology to perform post-processing on headers and official seal maps downloaded from the Internet, and even developed encryption software to transmit forged documents in an attempt to circumvent supervision. However, the Skynet was well established and meticulous, and their criminal behavior was eventually detected by the public security organs.

[creature-wizard]

Is the spiritual person a conspiracy theorist? A list of red flags

They talk about a shadowy group of people supposedly manipulating everything behind the scenes. They might refer to them by terms such as globalists, bankers, international bankers, secret rulers of the world, the elite, the cabal, Kabbalists, Talmudists, satanists, satanic pedophiles, pedophiles, generational satanists, satanic bloodlines, the Illuminati, the Babylonian Brotherhood, lizard people, Reptilians, Orions, regressives, regressive entities, Khazarians, Marxists, cultural Marxists, or leftists. Sometimes, very rarely, they'll just come right out and say "Jews."

They claim that the conspiracy has been working to conceal historical and spiritual truths from humanity.

They claim that the conspiracy uses stuff like food, entertainment, and medicine to control the masses. For example, "additives in food suppress our psychic abilities" or "Hollywood films contain subliminal messages" or "COVID vaccines were actually created to alter your DNA to make you more docile."

Also, claims that the conspiracy controls people via spiritual or technological implants, 5G, or alter programming, with or without explicit mention of Project Monarch (a conspiracy theory promoted by far right cranks such as Mark Philips and Fritz Springmeier, who used hypnosis to respectively convince Cathy O'Brien and Cisco Wheeler that they'd been put under mind control by a global satanic conspiracy).

They claim that this conspiracy is controlling the media, has fingers in every institution they disagree with, and is generally behind everything they disagree with. (EG, the conspiracy created the Catholic Church; that other New Ager they disagree with is actually controlled opposition, etc.)

They claim that the conspiracy is trying to keep people in fear.

They claim that the conspiracy harvests something from people. Blood and adrenochrome are common ones. Loosh is somewhat less common. Expect to see something else pop up eventually.

They claim that the conspiracy practices genetic engineering; EG, creating animal/human hybrids, using vaccines to genetically sever people's connection to God, etc.

They claim that true spiritual wisdom can be traced back to places like Atlantis, Lemuria, or Mu.

They claim that world governments have secretly been in contact with extraterrestrials for years.

They appeal to known frauds and cranks, including but not limited to Erich Von Daniken, Zechariah Sitchin, David Icke, David Wilcock, Graham Hancock, Jaime Maussan, Bob Lazar, Steven Greer, Richard C. Hoagland, Fritz Springmeier, and Drunvalo Melchizedek.

Appeals to forged documents, including but not limited to the alleged diary of Admiral Richard Byrd, The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean, and The Urantia Book.

Appeals to channeled information, such as that provided by Edgar Cayce, Carla Rueckert, or George Van Tassel.

"But all of this has to come from somewhere, doesn't it?"

Oh, it all comes from somewhere, all right, but the where isn't what most people imagine.

A lot of the stuff above is just a modern spin on the content of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a Russian hoax created to justify violence against Russian Jews. The Protocols itself was plagiarized from a political satire and incorporated a lot of the post-French Revolution conspiracy theories about Freemasons and Jews being behind the French Revolution. I wrote a summary of the conspiracy tropes found in The Protocols over here.

The stuff about Satanic sacrifices and the consumption of blood, adrenochrome, loosh, or whatever are simply just variations on blood libel, an antisemitic conspiracy theory that claims Jews practice ritual cannibalism. Blood libel can be traced back to ancient Greece. (With the Greek version, I really can't help but notice the similarity to modern urban legends of gangsters kidnapping random people for initiation rituals.)

Many of these tropes can also be linked back to the early modern witch hunts. It was believed that witches sacrificed babies to Satan, practiced cannibalism, and put people under mind control by way of diabolical magic. It was also believed that some witches didn't even know they were witches; they'd go off to attend the Devil's Sabbath at night and come back in the morning without remembering a thing. In the late 20th century, this witch hunter's canard would be reinvented as the alter programming conspiracy theory when media such as the 1973 book Sibyl and its 1976 television adaptation put DID (note: the woman who inspired Sibyl did not have DID) into the public consciousness. For a more complete list of witch panic and blood libel tropes, I wrote a list over here.

Lemuria was a hypothetical landmass proposed to explain the presence of lemur fossils in Madagascar and India while being absent in continental Africa and the rest of Asia, because if lemurs evolved naturally, they wouldn't be in two separate places with no connection to each other. The discovery that India and Madagascar were once connected not only made the hypothesis obsolete, it precludes the existence of Lemuria.

The whole notion of Mu began with a horrendous mistranslation of the Troano manuscript. A man named Augustus Le Plongeon would link the mistranslation with the story of Atlantis, and use it to claim that Atlantis actually existed in the Americas. (For Plongeon, Mu and Atlantis were one and the same.) And then other people (like James Churchward) got their hands on the whole Mu thing, and put their own spins on it, and the rest is history.

Le Plongeon's ideas influence modern Atlantis mythology today; EG, the idea that it was in the Americas. Another guy who helped shape the modern Atlantis myth was Ignatius L. Donnelly, an American politician. Dude claimed that Atlanteans spread their oh-so-superior culture far and wide. He also claimed that Atlantis was the home of the Aryan people, because of course he did.

The idea that all of the world's wisdom can be traced back to Thoth/Hermes goes back to Hermeticism, a product of Greco-Egyptian syncretism. Hermeticism produced a fascinating body of mythology and an interesting way to consider the divine and its role in shaping human history, but that doesn't mean it was right. And the Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean is a modern text that has fuck-all to do with ancient Hermeticism and more to do with HP Lovecraft.

This idea that the conspiracy uses pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines for evil also has roots in Nazi Germany. The Nazi government, wanting to reserve real medicine for their soldiers, told the general populace that said medicine was the product of evil Jewish science and prescribed alternative healing modalities instead. (Said alternative healing modalities did not particularly work.) It also echoes the old conspiracy theories about Jews spreading the Black Death by poisoning wells.

The idea that the conspiracy uses genetic manipulation to create subhuman beings or sever humanity from the divine is a permutation of the Nazi conspiracy theory that Jews are trying to destroy the white race through race mixing. The idea of evil reptilian DNA goes back to the ancient serpent seed doctrine, which is indeed old, but no less pure hateful nonsense for it.

"But there's got to be somebody up to something rotten out there!"

Oh sure. But these people aren't skulking around in the shadows. They're acting pretty openly.

The Heritage Foundation has been working to push this country into Christofascism since the early 1970's. They're the ones responsible for the rise of the Moral Majority and the election of Ronald Reagan. They're also the ones behind Project 2025, which intends to bring us deeper into Christofascism. (Among many other horrible things, they intend to outlaw trans people as "pornographic.")

The Seven Mountains Mandate is another movement pushing for Christofascism. They intend to seize the "seven spheres" of society, which include education, religion, family, business, government/military, arts/entertainment, and media.

There's also the ghoulish American Evangelicals who support Israel because they think that current events are going to bring about the Second Coming of Jesus and cement the formation of a global Christofascist empire. Don't let their apparent support of Jews fool you - they believe that the good Jews will become Christians and the bad ones will go to hell.

All of these people are working toward monstrously horrific goals, but none of them are part of an ancient megaconspiracy. In fact, these are the kinds of people pushing the myth of the ancient megaconspiracy. From the witch hunts to Nazi Germany to the American Evangelical movement, if history has taught us anything, the people pushing the conspiracy theories are always the bad guys.

[ominoose]

𝐏𝐫𝐨'𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧'𝐬

Pairing: Nathan Bateman x GN!Reader Summary: You make a smash or pass spreadsheet with friends, Nathan finds his part. Warnings: Reader made fun of slightly but turns out well in the end, its just silly :) WC: 836

It was a silly, fun little game. A night to let loose with friends, not hold back, no thinking or worries. Just a light-hearted tease. Simple.

It was not supposed to lead to Nathan Bateman storming up to you like a man on a mission, pupils blown wide in fury behind gold frame glasses. Ordinarily he wasn’t a man to be trifled with, even on his best days (as far and few between as they were), and everyone that worked under him, no matter how distant their role, knew to tread lightly.

Nathan was not treading lightly. The crinkle of paper clutched and creasing in his fist was all that accompanied the stomps of his boots on the carpet until silence reigned as he stopped in front of you, nostrils flaring.

“'Arrogant, rich asshole'?!” You’d never heard his voice so angry, so loud from the get go, and if your blood didn’t go cold at the quote you would have had the good sense to be more scared.

"‘Chewtoy biceps’, ‘Condescending in a sexy way’, Sexier Elon Musk!". It wasn’t looking good for you.

The group Google Doc wasn’t even your idea, listing the singles in your lives with the pro’s and con’s of sleeping with them in a “Smash or Pass” group call also wasn't your usual friend-groups past time, but you didn’t need much persuading to join. Nathans name being added to the pool hardly came as a surprise, but you boldly stamping Smash next to his name was.

It was a night of giggles and gasps, losing self respect in the name of forging deeper bonds, like girls at their first high school sleepover. It was not meant to get back to him.

“Mansplaining snob?!” The sharp words snap you back into reality from where you’d rabidly been trying to recall the words you typed that would now serve as your death sentence.

“I-”

“It’s not mansplaining when I have to dumb down simple fucking concepts for you to understand, sweetheart.” Despite the pet name, the way he waves the printed out screenshot in your face made it clear he’d kill you by death of one thousand cuts if he could.

How could you get out of this? You couldn’t, there was no way you’d come out of this with a job or reputation intact. It was a miracle he didn’t wait until you were in the middle of the office cubicles or a meeting to humiliate you. Then again the fact that he was furious enough to come straight to you with fire at his heels was equally terrifying.

“Wanna know what’d I’d say about you, hm?” His weight shifted on his feet, shoulders squared as he used every inch of his height to leer over you.

“I-I didn’t say this to your face!” A pitiful attempt at reasoning, as if the word mercy wasn’t something Nathan Bateman boxed for his morning work-out. Technically it was his own fault, he didn’t own Google, he shouldn’t be snooping in his workers private documents.

“Oh, okay then.” A higher pitch, raised eyebrows, the ghost of a smile. God, you were absolutely fucked.

And then he walked away. No stomping, no clenched first. It was the strut of Nathan that had just had a breakthrough.

This was off script.

The next few days were absolute hell. It was paranoia akin to living under witness protection after whistleblowing a major government conspiracy. Every email that came, every task assigned had you tensing and assuming this was it, this was the deathly blow.

Turns out the deathly blow was even less exciting than an email. It was an A4 piece of paper left on the centre of your desk, perfectly straight and ivory white.

‘Cons: -Overly sensitive -Acne marks -Didn't go to Harvard -Needs validation -Buys shitty clothes, probably from Temu’

Maybe being simply fired when he first confronted you would’ve been the easier option, that or death by the thousand cuts.

Nathan was never a man to mince his words, if you had a weak point he’d punch it and blame you for having it in the first place. You also knew you weren’t perfect, this was a job you’d clawed your way to, losing several nails in the process. Half your mental capacity was spent simply trying to keep above water, who could blame you for wanting a little ‘Well done, good job!’ every once in a while. Clearly, Nathan could.

The paper became blurry, hot tears trembled in your eyes, threatening to spill right in the middle of the office buzz. And how would you explain? Getting fired while having every flaw listed by your incredibly wealthy, accomplished, genius boss?

Blinking back the tears, there’s only half the letter left to read and getting it over with sooner was better than later.

‘Pros: -Funny -Can keep up -Nice ass -Annoying smile -Not materialistic -Honest’

There was only one word left at the bottom, one line above a phone number.

'Smash.'

[genquerdeer]

About writing-prompt-s drama:

There obviously IS a 'scam ring'. By that I mean the same scam ring we've been dealing with for years, regular tumblr bot farms now also pose as Palestinians refugees because those people are scum who will do anything for money. I've myself gotten asks from "Palestinians" clearly mass sent by a bot.

Idea that vetters are intentional scam ring is an insane racist conspiracy theory. However, they're all volunteers - they're not detectives, lawyers or anyone with formal training in recognizing e.g. forged documents or poking holes at made-up backstories.

Some scammers seem to have made it to vetted lists. This is either by slipping through the cracks, or by hacked accounts. Makes sense, an account that is vetted is a super prime target for a scammer. This is inevitable and de facto impossible to prevent in a crowdsourced approach. They're doing their best, but that just *improves* chances, not guarantees it.

A process that is 100% true would have to be centralized, slow, restrictive and would hurt more people that it would help. 1% of gfms being scammers is bad, but it's better than the alternative. If it really bothers you, you can just... donate to an accredited charity instead?

@writing-prompt-s accused 90-ghost of being a scammer on a post that had nothing to do with him nor was written by him. Bullshit I say. Mere *existence* of actual scammers doesn't absolve him one fucking bit.

[dragoneyes618]

The Dreyfus Affair became a metaphor for antisemitism and, in one of the most unlikely and ironic sequence of events in Jewish history, Dreyfus (1859-1935), a wholly assimilated Jew, played a critical, if unintended, role in the rebirth of the State of Israel.

After French Intelligence had intercepted the “Bordereau,” a secret military document sent to the German military attaché (1894), Eduard Drumont, founder of the antisemitic daily La Libre Parole, published a report accusing Dreyfus, the only Jewish member of the French General Staff, of spying for Germany. Major Joseph Henry forged documents implicating Dreyfus and, after a secret trial, Dreyfus was convicted of treason (December 21, 1894) and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. He was paraded through the streets of Paris to mob jeers of “Death to the Jews” and was stripped of his sword in a humiliating public ceremony. Intelligence later seized a letter written by Major Ferdinand Esterhazy which clearly established that Esterhazy, not Dreyfus, was the German agent, but the French government quashed this evidence and Esterhazy was acquitted.

On January 13, 1898, Emile Zola (1840-1902), perhaps most famous 19th century French author, published the most legendary open letter in history, his famous J’Accuse!, in which he accused the government and the military with conspiracy and malicious libel against Dreyfus. (Zola escaped to England after being convicted of libel for writing J’Accuse!) Antisemitic riots broke out throughout France and the Dreyfus Affair became a major public issue. In 1898, the case was reopened and Henry’s forgeries were detected; nevertheless, Dreyfus was again found guilty (September 9, 1899) and was sentenced to five years in prison. This second miscarriage of justice evoked international condemnation and, finally, Dreyfus was pardoned by President Emile Lubet (1906).

The Dreyfus Affair made a powerful impact on the outlook of world Jewry. In particular, Herzl’s confidence in liberalism, badly shaken when he personally witnessed Dreyfus’s disgrace, led him to the Zionist Idea. Jews everywhere realized that if such hatred of Jews could occur in France, the so-called “homeland of liberty,” against a wholly assimilated Jew, then Jews couldn’t be safe anywhere and assimilation was no defense against antisemitism.

Drumont financed La Libre Parole from the proceeds of the publication of his magnum opus, La France Juive (“Jewish France,”1886), which provided his readers with a unified synthesis of antisemitic history. A Voltairean who later became a devout Catholic, he was uniquely able to draw on both Church tradition and the secular Enlightenment in expounding on the “Jewish plot” to dominate France; in promoting the blood libel and the Jewish poisoning of wells; in justifying the Spanish Inquisition as Christianity’s right to protect itself against Jewish treason; and in characterizing the French Emancipation of 1791 as a grievous error and arguing for the exclusion of Jews from society. La France Juive became one of the greatest commercial successes of the 19th century, selling over 100,000 copies in its first year, an almost unimaginable triumph at the time and evidencing his keen understanding of the tenor of the time. Drumont attracted many supporters, and he was one of the primary sources of antisemitic ideas that would later be embraced by Nazism.

Drumont paper token: Verso: Long live Drumont, down with the Jews.”

In this classically antisemitic May 22, 1897 correspondence, Drumont writes from Paris:

What would you like me to write in the album? One date: May 22, 1897… when this album will be studied in a few years, public opinion will undoubtedly change as the result of the work of my colleagues and myself. They will know then, too late I am afraid, that we acted out of affection for our country. We tried to protect our forefathers’ faith, in the land of our forefathers, the purity of the racial line of our forefathers against the Semites [i.e., the Jews] – the invaders and greedy money-chasing people who sought only to harm an innocent and too confident nation that accepted as brothers its merciless enemies.

Drumont’s downfall began when he made the Rothschilds and their banking family a frequent target of his antisemitic diatribes. He was sued by a vice president of the Chamber of Deputies, who had libelously alleged that the VP had taken a bribe from Édouard Alphonse de Rothschild to enact particular legislation favored by Rothschild; unable to provide any evidence to support his allegations, Drumont was incarcerated for three months, fined, and ordered to publish a retraction. Thereafter, his fortunes declined, and he died in obscurity and penury.

Ferdinand Esterhazy (1847-1923), a French traitor who served as a spy for Germany, was the perpetrator of the crime for which Dreyfus had been wrongly accused and convicted. Born in Paris, he was orphaned at an early age after some schooling at the Lycée Bonaparte. After unaccountably disappearing from public notice (1865), he was later found engaged in the Roman legion in the service of the Pope (1869) and, upon entering the French Foreign Legion as an ensign (1870), he began calling himself “Count Esterhazy.” There being a dearth of officers after the French catastrophe in the Sudan, Esterhazy’s military advancement was unusually rapid: lieutenant (1874); captain (1880); decorated officer (1882) – as a member of the Intelligence Department, he inserted in the official records a citation of his grand “exploits in war,” which were later discovered to be false – and major (1892). After the war with Germany, he was employed as a German translator at the Intelligence Office.

Back in Paris, an irresponsible Esterhazy squandered his small fortune and was desperate after having failed to retrieve his fortune in gambling houses and on the stock exchange. In 1892, when the Libre Parole published a series of articles regarding the “preponderance of the Jewish element” in the French army, Captain Crémieu-Foa, a Jewish officer in the French cavalry, challenged Drumont, to a duel and inflicted a slight wound upon him. Esterhazy, who had served as Crémieu-Foa’s second in the duel, pretended that this “chivalrous” role had earned him the enmity of his family and supporters and thus obtained – through, ironically, Zadoc Kahn, the chief rabbi of France – financial assistance from the Rothschilds. Nonetheless, he continued as an ardent supporter of the editors of La Libre Parole.

Notwithstanding a successful military career, he nevertheless considered himself wronged, and he spoke against the entire French army, and even against France herself, for which he predicted and hoped for new disasters. Such a man, lacking even the slightest spark of patriotism, was destined to become the prey of treason and, indeed, he became a paid German spy. Initially, pretending that he received information from Major Henry (who had been his comrade in the French military counter-intelligence section), Esterhazy furnished some interesting information about the artillery, but his information was such that he must have had other informants (who were not necessarily his accomplices.)

Nonetheless, Esterhazy’s information soon became of little importance to the Germans, and the difficulties he endured in getting information were very apparent from the very text of the Bordereau, which was used to incriminate Dreyfus. After Esterhazy was exposed by Colonel Picquart as the true author of the Bordereau, he was forced to undergo a trial behind closed doors by French Military Justice (January 10-11, 1898), where he was unexpectedly acquitted. He fled to the relative safety of Great Britain (September 1898), where he remained for the rest of his life.

Esterhazy’s July 2, 1898 correspondence.

In this July 2, 1898 correspondence, Esterhazy, in deep financial straits, writes:

My dear Emmanuel, In the middle of the painful ordeals I have been enduring for almost nine months and in which, I think, I have plumbed the depths of human cowardice, I have not forgotten your friendship from the first day and the debt I owe to you. You probably know about the separation with my wife, which caused me great pain and great troubles. My wife [ ] with her houses, and the court ruling returned her property and its management back to her, but I am waiting and, yes, I beg you, very confidentially, because I have hidden it from everyone, I am waiting for the end of the Zola trials on the 18th of this month in Versailles… I will reimburse you… You can count on it…

Esterhazy was a compulsive gambler, habitual liar, and a crook who women found entrancing. He liked to pick them up in first-class compartments in trains, and it was on a fateful passage from Le Havre to Paris that he met and won Marguerite Pays, the paramour who helped him forge documents in the Dreyfus Affair. Esterhazy’s wife – whom he described as a “spendthrift” and “ninny” – divorced him in 1899. She had stood bravely by him, but he repaid her with neglect, abuse, and flagrant unfaithfulness. Matters reached a crisis when Esterhazy sought to introduce his young daughter to Marguerite, a gratuitous insult which stung Madame to the point where she decided to air her grievances in court, which led to the odious airing in Paris of their notorious domestic relations, as the divorce action brought as much ignominy upon the Commandant as the Dreyfus Affair itself.

The tribunal in the divorce case assigned temporary custody of the children to their mother and ordered Esterhazy to pay 600 francs a month in alimony for the duration of the lawsuit. Esterhazy’s poverty was so dire that, in a letter to his divorced wife, he wrote that he had had nothing to eat for two days. One of the key charges in the Zola trial was that Zola had defamed Esterhazy by claiming that his court-martial (in which he was fully exonerated of any wrongdoing) was fixed and, as we see from our letter, Esterhazy hoped that the damages he would be awarded in that case would relieve his of his economic duress and permit repayment of the loan he was seeking. In fact, Zola was fined 3,000 francs but, with his appeal pending, he escaped France for England.

When, through the Bordereau, French military intelligence became aware in September 1894 of a spy within the army, Armand du Paty de Clam (1853-1916), a devout antisemitic Catholic loyalist and a major with the French General Staff, became deeply involved in the investigation to identify the traitor, due principally to his alleged “expertise” in handwriting analysis, although he was only – at best – an amateur. A brief three-week investigation identified approximately six suspects, but the pompous and patrician du Paty de Clam decided that the Jew Dreyfus was the criminal.

On October 15, 1894, du Paty de Clam effected an ambush of Dreyfus by summoning him to a meeting also attended by two civilian police detectives and a French military intelligence officer, during which he faked an injury to his writing hand, asked a bewildered Dreyfus to take dictation, and proceeded to dictate the precise words written in the Bordereau. After comparing Dreyfus’s writing through the lens of unadulterated antisemitic animus, he ignored warnings from professional handwriting experts – including a conclusion from Alfred Gobert, a leading expert and graphologist for the Bank of France, that “there were numerous and important disparities that had to be taken into account” – and announced that Dreyfus had written the Bordereau. He charged the Jewish officer with high treason and offered him the “honorable” way out: he gave him a revolver with a single bullet in the chamber. When Dreyfus proclaimed his innocence and refused to take his own life, he was transferred to Major Henry who, according to plan, had been waiting in an adjacent room.

The focus of the miscarriage of justice against Dreyfus has always been upon the fraudulently-obtained Dreyfus handwriting sample, but it may have been du Paty de Clam’s bogus telegram that was outcome determinative in Dreyfus’s conviction by the tribunal. In any event, du Paty de Clam was later promoted to lieutenant-colonel for his “excellent work” in the Dreyfus prosecution and conviction.

In this June 2, 1909 correspondence on his infantry letterhead – notwithstanding the fact that he had been earlier discharged from the military – du Paty de Clam writes regarding a letter he had submitted to Le Siecle, a French newspaper published from 1836-1932.

I would be grateful if you could have a search made to find out if the “Siecle” has published a letter from me in one of the issues after last May 27. Receive, sir, my sincere greetings…

Auguste Mercier (1833-1921), the French Minister of War, was one of the great villains of the Dreyfus Affair; in his famous J’Accuse, Zola accused him of “having made himself an accomplice in one of the greatest crimes in history, probably because of a weak mind.” Mercier was the first public Dreyfus accuser (November 28, 1894); he arrested Dreyfus and coordinated the anti-Dreyfusards throughout the entire Affair; he masterminded the creation of the sham secret dossier handed furtively to the judges in the first Dreyfus court-martial to influence their decision; and even after he was no longer Minister (as of January 24, 1895), he directed the witnesses for the prosecution at the Rennes trial. He gave virulent and perjured testimony against Dreyfus at every trial in the matter and, though he was only a witness, he sought to act as prosecutor by introducing evidence on his own; he (unsuccessfully) attempted to blackmail Dreyfus’s lawyer, Labori, by alleging that he has a letter from Esterhazy compromising Labori’s daughter; and he remained an implacable foe of Dreyfus, even after the Jewish officer was pardoned.

When the Dreyfus mater first came to Mercier’s attention, he initially felt that all the evidence had been concocted, and he knew that Dreyfus could not have masterminded such a deception. However, he was under significant pressure from the press and the army, which now stood to redeem the honor it lost in the miserable defeat by convicting the spy responsible for it. The day before he was to decide if the evidence against Dreyfus warranted a trial, Mercier re-examined the evidence and, once again, had his doubts; however, the next day, there appeared in one of the leading papers in Paris that Mercier was in the pay of the Jews and therefore would not order the trial. To exonerate himself from that accusation, he threw Dreyfus to the wolves and ordered the trial; declared that the evidence against Dreyfus was beyond doubt and that his guilt was certain; and publicly and vociferously alleged that Dreyfus had committed “treason.”

Dreyfus’s conviction based only upon the secret file set up another problem: Mercier was the one who had approved submission of the file, which meant that the army had approved it; were there to be a second trial where Dreyfus would be acquitted, the army would stand exposed for its perfidy and French pride would be devastated. Indeed, Dreyfus would be tried a second time, and there would be other trials against Dreyfus supporters until as late as 1906; however, in none of these trials was the “secret file” allowed to be seen by the defendants and their attorneys, as the French authorities claimed that the honor of France was at stake.

Testifying in 1904 before the Court of Cassation (French for “the Court of Abrogation,” the highest court of criminal and civil appeals in France with the power to quash decision of the lower courts), Mercier again perjured himself by denying the existence of a document written by a foreign sovereign implicating Dreyfus. However, in 1906, speaking of the secret dossier given to the court martial, public prosecutor Baudoin evoked a “monstrous violation of the inalienable rights of the defense” and emphasized Mercier’s responsibility in preventing the disclosure of the dossier. Nonetheless, Mercier remained the hero of the anti-Dreyfusards and he kept his seat in the Senate until January 1920.

Mercier’s 1906 correspondence.

In this November 2, 1906 correspondence on his Senate letterhead, Mercier writes:

I thank you for your kind words, which gladdened me. I will come to your house today between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. In the event that I do not find you there, I will leave this there tomorrow at the same time, unless you advise otherwise. As far as the Henry subscription, I think it is appropriate to put Mrs. Henry in possession of what remains of the money as soon as possible. We could therefore, if you agree, convene the Commission “La Libre Parole” on Wednesday afternoon (both the Senate and the House in session) next week at the time that will suit you. Please accept, Sir, the expression of my most sympathetic feelings.

Henry, the forger of the Bordereau that launched the entire Dreyfus Affair, was found dead in his cell on the morning of August 31, 1898 and, although no razor was found, his death was declared a suicide. Our correspondence refers to Drumont’s La Libre Parole’s sponsor of a public subscription for Henry’s widow, in which the donors were invited to vent all their anger against Jews.

[open-hearth-rpg]

Campaign Playbooks: Great RPG Mechanics #RPGMechanics: Week Six

I’m getting ready tonight to do the first session of Girl By Moonlight. It’s a Forged in the Dark game with a wide premise– ranging from Magical Girl to Paprika to Evangelion-inspired stories. We’re doing On a Sea of Stars, the one most influenced by mecha, teens, and tragedy. Girl By Moonlight is one of two recent systems which take Forged in the Dark’s Crew mechanics and change them into a tool to redefine the game collaboratively. 

The other one, and the one I’ve already run, is Vergence. This is a FitD game heavily influenced by the Chronicles of Amber. It mixes things up in some interesting ways. For example, it has a trio of factions rather than the binary two courts of Zelanzy’s original novels. That smart move offers players a more complex web of interactions. In particular I dig that each faction has its own set of playbooks highlighting their themes. 

Vergence also takes a nod from the earlier Amber RPG (which I’ve also run). In that game you had two modes of play: a standard campaign and a Throne War. The latter had its own set of special rules, aimed at playing out a tighter series or even a one-shot with different play goals. Vergence also allows for several different modes of play, each with a strong sense of structure and purpose: 

The Dark Conspiracy: An unknown enemy has chosen to act directly and violently against the PCs and all they hold dear.

The Expedition: The PCs are part of a journey of exploration to a forbidden world.

The Game of Houses: The PCs undertake a series of missions to support a chosen Vergence faction.

The Masked Ball: The PCs will attend a Royal Masked Ball and try to accomplish various goals without ruining their reputations.

The Pursuit: The PCs are chasing a vile enemy through the Umbra. What happens if they catch up?

The Siege: The PCs are trapped in a city under siege. They must fight, escape, or go over to the other side.

The different campaign frames have distinct usual lengths. For example if you want a one-shot, you would do The Pursuit. For a longer campaign (4-10) sessions, you might pick Masked Ball, Expedition, or Seige. If you’re looking for an ongoing, episodic campaign you would pick Game of Houses. 

Each of these campaigns, called Challenges,  has its own playbook, the equivalent of the crew book from Blades. Each challenge offers guidance for setting up relationships, possible starting upgrades, and choices of special abilities. They also have a set of unique milestones and other details. There’s some overlap between the Challenges but they feel nicely distinct. It does a great job of setting expectations right away. In our play-through we dug the mechanic, but wanted a little more. 

Girl By Moonlight provides that more– with the different campaign structures at the heart of play. Each of the four series presented has a distinct “series playbook” set up quite differently from one another. For example On a Sea of Stars has both the Flagship the characters are travelling on and the mecha, Engines, they are using as a the campaigns framework. I especially like how asymmetrical these playbooks are. They feel like pieces from distinct and different games. They’re a great tool to shape play.

It would be interesting to see more games offer these kinds of tools– in combination with a CATS document. For example, I love the campaign frames from Thirsty Sword Lesbians, probably more than I dig TSL itself. It would be really interesting to have some richer worksheets and choices which could be made to add to the collaboration and mechanically vary play. There’s a little bit of that in the recent Codex of Worlds for Monster of the Week.

[spidermanifested]

the doubling-down iceberg passing under my dash, of the people REFUSING to cave on the fact that maybe. Just maybe. palestinians know how to verify that somebody is from palestine. and insisting any possible proof can be faked. is fucking nuts because (i mean, among all the other reasons) if you know anything about mass-target scammers its that they do not try that hard. if you express insider knowledge about what theyre lying about, they drop you for someone more ignorant. If you ask them for id and they DONT instantly drop you, youre getting the worst photoshop job known to man because theyre looking for a gullible mark who they can extort for as much money as possible. if they could skillfully forge documents why would they be doing scams on tumblr for a living.

but no youre actually a Scam Expert, and such a smart boy for inventing a conspiracy theory that preemptively refutes any possible evidence you could be given short of tje actual gazans materializing in front of you and telling you youre wrong. do you want a medal. do you want another blue checkmark

[loosesodamarble]

Aqua Deer Mafia AU

@thoughtfullyrainynightmare and @lyranova are to blame for this~! (affectionate)

..........

Morgen Faust: The Stag. The head of the Aqua Deer mafia. While mild and unassuming on the surface, Morgen is a driven man who doesn’t take kindly to injustice. He uses his connections in the mafia to track down and fight more sinister syndicates. Morgen will use violence and underhanded tactics to a degree but does reign in his mafia members to minimize the severity of their crimes. In this sense, the Aqua Deer are like vigilantes. Clover City officials are still very against the Aqua Deer as they’ve outed a number of corrupt individuals in the past.

Nacht Faust: The Buck. Morgen’s second-in-command and a double agent keeping tabs on the Black Bull mafia. (Yami, the leader of the Bulls, is aware of Nacht’s split allegiance but since it hasn’t harmed the Bulls yet, he lets it slide. For now.) He used to associate with another syndicate until they targeted Morgen to keep Nacht in line, only for that to push him to betray the group. He’s a master of disguise and infiltration, though his battle prowess is notable as well. Nacht has a habit of naming his belongings.

Gimodelo: Nacht’s favorite handgun.

Plumede: His motorcycle which he uses to get around the city.

Slotos: Body armor disguised as day-to-day clothing.

Walgner: A special phone that has been made largely untraceable thanks to Marx’s handiwork. 

Rill Boismortier: The Fawn. A new recruit to the Aqua Deer. Joined the mafia to find and punish people who’ve forged several of his artworks. He’s a martial arts prodigy, having learned multiple schools of fighting and using that knowledge to create his own mixed martial arts that is wildly unpredictable in a fight. The core of his fighting style is making use of the environment around him and his own enemies’ momentum to gain the upper hand.

Walter: The Moose. An older member of the Aqua Deer. Despite his age, he never had the ambition of taking charge of the mafia and instead trains younger members of the group such as Rill. There’s not a fighting style nor weapon that Walter isn’t at least familiar with. His social intelligence makes him invaluable for assessing public reactions and political backlash against the mafia’s activity.

Marx Francois: The Informant. A hacker and master at gathering information. Once employed by the government, he quit his job over disagreements about how the city government was turning Clover City into a surveillance state. He’s also wanted for leaking thousands of pages of government documents that were meant to be under lock and key.

Fragil Tormenta: The Calm. An underground doctor, giving medical aid to those who can’t pay the hospital bills or otherwise can’t legally be treated (ie. a criminal getting a bullet removed or stab wound stitched).

...

Another mafia group that is neither antagonistic towards the Aqua Deer nor friendly with them.

Discordia Helheim (Lyra's oc): The Vampire. She runs her own mafia group called The Coven. Known for her beauty and silver tongue which lures many a high profile man into a false sense of security. Infamous in the underground for bringing affairs and conspiracies to light without her identity being compromised.

Josele Canty (my oc): The Doe. A highly skilled assassin and Discordia’s right hand woman. Skilled in martial arts and can use anything as a weapon, having once killed a man with nothing more than a sewing kit. Her physical durability is inhuman, having survived car accidents without so much as a scratch and substances such as king cobra venom being proven ineffective against her. Though officially with The Coven, Josele is regularly hired by the Aqua Deer. This is against Discordia’s wishes.

Acylla Rhine (@faewraithsworld's oc): The Jewel. Josele’s weapon coordinator. She’s created firearms and bullets without metals so Josele can sneak them past metal detectors. She has a variety of purses, bottles, and other common looking items with false bottoms and hidden compartments to hide Josele’s tools. One of her more intriguing creations is a bra where the underwire is removable to be used as a garrote. She’s no slouch herself in a fight (able to make use of anything she’s invented), but she prefers working behind the scenes.

Moros Helheim (Lyra's oc, again): The Thrall. Discordia’s husband and advisor in the mafia. He doesn’t hold much true power in The Coven but him being allowed in at all is a big privilege.

[bonezone44]

'Schism'

Podcaster!Ezra x fem!Reader

Summary: You confront your ex, Ezra, about his shitty podcast and force him to see the error of his ways. No smut.

Word Count: 1831

a/n: Not beta'd! I'm just gonna let this one ride. I know I mentioned hate-fucking in a post yesterday, but the story took me somewhere else instead.

+++++

He's your ex. That's the only reason you care. That's the only reason you even pay attention when you hear about this new podcast gaining popularity in your social circles.

You broke up years ago. A job offer took you across the country and you hadn't invited him to join you. You and Ezra were young lovers--so wrapped up in each other that it almost felt suffocating. You needed space--find a life for yourself that was all your own. The job didn't work out as well as you had hoped, but you didn't regret the choice you made. You were proud of how much you had learned and grown.

Ezra seemed to forge a different path after the two of you parted ways.

And the popularity of his podcast was not because your friends were entertained by him, but because they were enraged by his persuasive and precarious points-of-view. Baseless accusations and bullshit conspiracies designed to steer his audience from one rabbit hole to another. Shifting goal posts and nihilistic philosophies.

He'd wax poetic about his anonymous sources who supplied him with thumb drives and downloads of confidential government documents. He'd drone on and on about identifying who was really in control of the government. And while his efforts may have uncovered some truths about the proven existence of extra terrestrials, which only inflated his ego, the rest of what he was saying was all ... wrong. Not only factually, but morally. Not only morally, but... it just didn't sound like Ezra at all. You knew how he really felt about things, how he really saw the world. And while he may have never been some golden boy, you knew he knew better than to flagrantly entertain circular logistics with such earnesty.

He was in town, as luck would have it, guest hosting on some other bullshit podcast and you made a point to reach out and make plans. You still shared some mutual friends. You didn't let him know the real reason you needed to see him. You told him it was to simply catch up, for old time's sake. You were relieved when he agreed.

You made a point to meet him at his hotel. You made a point to meet him in his room. You made a point to get him alone. No audience around. No one to perform for. Just you. Just him.

There was a twitch in his smile when he first saw you. There was a hesitancy in his arms when he hugged you back. He tugged at his outfit. A long sleeve black thermal and jeans. His hair was cropped short, freshly cut. He brushed the back of his neck with an anxious hand. He smelled like hotel soap.

You kept the small talk short. You wanted to get it over with so you could get him out of your mind for good--move on and say that at least you tried to reason with him.

---

Ezra knew something was wrong as soon as he laid eyes on you. You had changed. A lot. You weren't the girl you were before, smiling and clinging to his arm, eyes sparkling at him and making him feel like the luckiest boy in the world.

He briefly wondered if you still drank coffee. Wondered if you liked to sleep in on your days off or if you rose with the sun. He wondered if you still liked having your neck bit and nibbled on, then laved with his tongue. He wondered how many other tongues had tasted you since he did last.

"I heard about your podcast," you said once the pleasantries were over. You sat at the end of one of the queen sized beds.

Shame washed down Ezra's body as he leaned against the hotel dresser. He shrugged and spoke to the floor, only glancing up at you when he could stomach it. "A-a-a fun little side project. That's all, really. Something to amuse myself and a-a-a small cabal of close acquaintances. There is money to be made in the world of entertainment and I have found a way to contribute in such a way that allows me to-to-to earn a bit of funding for my ever-hungry pockets." He flashed a brief smile. "You know how I like to indulge myself with the finer things in life and they are unfortunately getting pricier and pricier as time marches on." He cleared his throat. "It's all just a-a-a bit of harmless fun, you know." He walked over to the air unit by the window and turned the temperature lower, his body feeling suddenly so warm.

"You think it's harmless?" you asked, concern evident on your face.

"It's just... it's just something to pass the time and earn a little pocket money. That's all, really." He smiled and shook his head. You were sitting, calmly, several feet away but he felt as if your hand was on his throat. "I have no control over my-my-my---the-the choices of my audience and how they choose to perceive the product that I distribute into the world and I can only do so much as a singular entity."

The disappointed look on your face stabbed Ezra right in his chest.

"They love it," he spoke through clenched teeth. "Every day I wake up and some lost soul has found solace in my words and teachings--"

"Teachings?" You laughed. "What the fuck are you teaching? You're not teaching shit, Ezra! You're spreading a bunch of bullshit!"

"No!" He argued, unable to meet your eye. "I am providing researched information--"

"Oh come on!" You stood from the bed. "You haven't researched shit!"

"I have, actually!" Ezra said much firmer this time. "I have read countless numbers of articles and files about--"

You cut him off with a loud groan, stomping your feet and throwing your fists down. "It doesn't matter, Ezra! It doesn't matter! You know what you're doing!"

"It is for entertainment purposes--"

"No it is not, Ezra! You are fucking with people's heads! Those lost souls needs help, real fucking help, and they're not going to get any of that from you and your bullshit conspiracies that you know are bullshit!"

He laughed and shook his head. "It is not my responsibility to spell it out for everyone. It is not my responsibility to-to-to tell people how to think for themselves."

"But that's exactly what you're doing! You're telling people question every fucking thing that they hear about---"

"They should! They should question everything! Our government is lying to us--"

"Yeah, they are! But the activists aren't! There are groups out there trying to make a real difference in this shitty fucking world and you're on your stupid little podcast telling them to question that, too!"

He shrugged. "Well, how am I to know to trust any group--"

"Oh come on, Ezra! You know better! You know that there are genuinely good people trying to do good things! You have got to have faith!"

"Faith?" Ezra raised his chin. "That's rich coming from you." He watched you roll your eyes. "That is savory to hear those words come from your lips."

You laughed. "Really? Really?" You shook your head. "So, what? A girl breaks up with you once and it becomes your whole personality?"

"No," he said assuredly. "Not just any girl. You." He leaned forward and pointed. "You. You broke up with me. You left me." He held his hand to his chest as tears formed in his eyes. "Where once I was whole, I have been shredded and split in two. A schism. A-a-a cavern of nothingness took your place and I have yet to find anything worthwhile to fill it!" He gritted his teeth, his finger now pointed at the ground.

"I had to leave, Ezra!" You stomped your foot. "I had to--I had to go! All we ever did was lay in bed and fuck all day!"

"What's wrong with that?"

You scoffed. "There are bills to pay! We have lives to live!"

"And?" He asked, his hands now in his pockets. "And therefore your life could not involve me?"

You flopped back down on the bed and broke into sobs. "I had to--I had to know I could do it for myself. I had to know I could be alone and be okay." Your eyes traveled the textured ceiling, the smoothly painted pale walls, the rough gray carpet. "I got so lost in you." You wiped your eyes with your hands, but tears continued to fall. "I didn't want anything else. I didn't want anybody. Everything else disappeared."

"What's wrong with that?" he begged, stepping closer.

"I can't live like that. This life is about me. I have to live for me."

He knelt down in front of you, desperate to hold you but keeping his distance. "And in your efforts to live for no one but yourself, have you found the satisfaction you sought?"

"Some of it, I don't know," you shrugged, still speaking through tears.

"It is a lonely road to travel alone, is it not?"

"Yes," you nodded. You wiped snot from your nose onto your shirt. Eyes squeezed shut.

"Even as I have journeyed without you, and I have allowed the whole world to see my innards, there is an emptiness I still carry. There is a missing piece of myself that I have been searching for in this wasteland of humanity. And it is here before me--"

"No," you spat. "I don't exist for you. I exist for me."

He took a deep breath, another wave of emotions washed down his body. "Perhaps we can exist in tandem. Live our lives parallel to one another." He reached out and rubbed your knee with his broad hand. "As long as we seek to establish peace at the conclusion of our conflicts."

"Will you stop making your stupid podcast?"

Ezra smiled. "Well... I suppose I could." He shrugged. "But perhaps communicating a change of heart to my audience would be a more fortuitous route, in the efforts of those who seek to inspire the sleeping masses into action."

You look down at him, releasing a long sigh of relief. "I've missed you."

"I missed you, too," he answered. He crawled forward as you crawled backward further into the bed.

This was not how you saw this night going and you are more grateful for the outcome than you could have ever imagined.

-----

[pigeonflavouredcake]

The Dangers of Delusion

A lot of people on tiktok and tumblr and other spiritual spaces are seeing a HUGE rise in conspiracy theories and and persecution complexes. This isn't just in right wing spaces this is everywhere; I think with late stage capitalism fucking us over more than ever more and more people are turning to conspiracy theories and delusions to keep themselves in some sense of control but it is melting their brains in the process.

I'm going to ask y'all to read/write about conspiracy theories and psychosis for your own sake so you can recognise it better.

Here's what I've written in my own grimoire, my references will be at the bottom. If anything I've written happens to be incorrect please correct me, otherwise take this in and share it however you can.

-Conspiracies-

Conspiracy theories relate to the government, or secret religious groups behind them, elaborate murder plots and “think of the children'' arguments. Most spiritual/religious conspiracy theories are ableist/racist/antisemitic. The origin for many modern conspiracy theories peddled today came about from a series of antisemitic propaganda called Protocols of The Elders of Zion (1903) -though documented records of antisemitism go as far back as the medieval times.

This fraudulent document made reports of secret meetings of Zionists, Jews, and Freemasons making plans to disrupt Christian civilisation and replace it with their own socialist government. The propaganda forged conspiracies like the shadow government, and blood libels (the murder of Christian children and using their blood in religious rituals) and that Jews were behind it all. Many of these conspiracy theories were also untilised in the satanic panic of the 60's to 80's. (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2022)

Example:

An example of the dangers of antisemitism in today's times would be the website Gaia who promotes spiritual wellness and yoga lessons alongside sci-fi and antisemetic conspiracy theories including the existence of reptilians, cryptids, Atlantis, and secret deep space technology. The reptilian conspiracy theory is a subsect of the shadow government conspiracy that evolved from Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Gaia's website features this introduction on their page titled Cabal:

“Powerful elites won’t disclose strategic deception or historical disinformation when it comes to the New World Order. From the Freemasons to the Illuminati, there are countless conspiracy theories tied to these top secret societies. But what is the truth? A mass consciousness shift looms as we expose shadow governments, mysterious organisations, new-age technologies, evidence of UFOs, and cover-ups that will change everything…” (Gaia.com)

Common Spiritual Conspiracy Theories (Nichols, I. (Wendigoon). 2022)

-5D Ascension: Pseudoscientific

-Alien abductions: Outer space, existential

-Archons/ancient aliens secretly run the universe and feed off negative energy: Pseudoscientific, antisemetic

-Atlantis (covered in a previous post): Pseudoscientific, antisemetic

-Cryptids/Cryptozoology: Pseudoscientific

-Essential oils cure everything: Pseudoscientific, medicinal

-Life is a simulation: Existential

-Qanon: Political, racist, antisemetic

-Secret Satanic rituals/cabal: Political, antisemetic

-Starseeds/indigo children: Pseudoscientific, outer space, ableist

Antisemetic Stereotypes/Propaganda

-Characters with exaggerated noses, greasy hair, black eyes, speaking with their hands (goblins)

-Money oriented, greedy, thieving personalities

-Secretly running the world in a cabal or shadow government

-Sacrificing children/christians to satan/drinking their blood

-Aliens created ancient architecture (like the pyramids) as opposed to the people of colour from those countries

-The Jewish god is actually the king of archons/satan and created reptilians by mating with humans for world domination (Reptilians include: political leaders, monarchs and Jewish people)

-Psychosis-

Another important thing to learn is recognising the difference between a spiritual experience and potential psychosis.

According to the NHS, Psychosis is a form of mental health issue where a person loses contact with reality. This can manifest in hallucinations, delusions and confused and disturbed thoughts. Causes can range from other mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorders or severe depression, traumatic events such as childbirth, or drug and alcohol abuse. These symptoms can also occur in isolated smaller cases during periods of stress.

Hallucinations

Hallucinations are sensory experiences that do not exist outside a person’s mind. A common hallucination is hearing your name being called or seeing colours, shapes or people that aren’t there. A hallucination can also be feeling touched when no one is there, or smelling something no one else can smell or tasting something when there’s nothing in your mouth.

Hallucinations are the most common isolated experience that can occur due to stress, sleep deprivation, hallucinogenic drugs or some prescribed medications.

Delusions

A delusion is considered an unshakeable belief in something untrue that doesn’t line up with reality. There are two main types of delusions:

Persecutory: The belief that an individual or organisation is making plans to hurt or kill them (think big pharma and covid vaccine micro chips or the Christian persecution complex).

Grandiose: The belief that a person has power and authority (for example, the person may say they are the messiah/chosen one, poses secret powers or psychic abilities or special connections to political figures or deities) (Legg, T. J. Bruise, C. 2017)

People experiencing a psychotic episode are often unaware that their experiences don’t align with reality which may lead them to periods of high anxiety and further isolation.

Disturbed Thoughts

Confused or disturbed thoughts include rapid or constant speech, disturbed speech that switches from one topic to another mid sentence or abrupt pauses in conversations.

If you are concerned you or a loved one may be experiencing symptoms of psychosis seek help from a doctor as soon as possible. The Mental Health Act (1983) covers the assessment and treatment for people with mental health issues and states that a person can only be compulsorily admitted if the mental issue/disorder is of the appropriate degree to be admitted or if the issue puts themselves or other people’s safety at risk. This act also states that you can be treated against your will however certain major treatments like brain surgery can not be done without clear consent.

----------------------------------------------------

References

-The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2022). Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Britannica.com [Webpage]

-Gaia (DNA) Cabal: Powerful elites won’t disclose strategic deception or historical disinformation when it comes to the New World Order. Gai.com [Webpage]

-Nichols, I. (Wendigoon). (2022). The Conspiracy Theory Iceberg. Youtube.com [Video]

-NHS (2019). Mental Health Conditions: Psychosis: Symptoms - Psychosis. nhs.co.uk [Webpage]

-Legg, T. J. Bruise, C. (2017). Delusions of Grandeur: How to Spot Them. healthline.com [Webpage]

-Legislation.gov.uk (DNA). Mental Health Act 1983. legislation.gov.uk [Webpage]

[blazescompendium]

Arahabaki is like obscure but at the same time really popular given he appears continuosly on a lot of franchises. I've always wondered why he has never been classed as an Enigma-race as that literally fits him perfectly and more than all his other races xD

That was an excellent message anon, because Arahabaki as a smt demon is not accurate. I will just quote an old post of mine. This was not a deep research, it did not needed to be that deep actually, it is pretty easy to find information on this phenomena in the surface web, but please be aware Shinto and Japanese history are not my academic foccus.

First and foremost, Arahabaki as it is depicted in SMT is a Dogu doll. The Dogu doll is not Arahabaki, nor it is connected with this entity by any means. It is popular in Japanese pop media because it is popular as an archaeological artifact, but also the stuff i will mention below:

Anyways, as i said in this old post:

''It will never not be funny for me, how a lot of westerns think this was Arahabaki, when in fact Kaneko used a random Dogu Doll to assign to this deity, when they are completely just something else. Arahabaki was a very obscure deity that scholars don’t know much about, while Dogu dolls are from the neolithic Jomon period, and to my knowledge there’s almost nothing on the records that connect those dolls to any deity, not only Arahabaki. To this day, they purpose isn’t yet fully known, but it is sure not to be linked with this Arahabaki deity. The reason for SMT has this depiction is because of occult magazines between 1970s and 2000s that references the Tsugaru Soto-Sangunshi, which is a forgery long proven to be fake. Supposedly this forged ancient document, linked the obscure Arahabaki deity to Dogu dolls, using its imagery to illustrate the deity. It also contained a fake lore about Arahabaki being worshipped by enemies of emperor Jimmu, which should have turned it in a symbol of defiance and treachery. In truth… None of this was ever recorded. Also, occult magazines related Dogu dolls to aliens because… I don’t know, some History Channel-esque shenanigans. But who as Arahabaki in truth? We don’t know much. I am no expert in Japanese history and Mythology, but I have studied this matter in the past. We don’t know exactly its origin, and even its own existence is debated. We know that, if it was in fact worshiped, it was in northern regions of Japan and before Shinto dominated the area. Whatever is the case, it sure isn’t related to Dogu dolls. It also appeared in the Castlevania series, as a Dogu Doll and in many other pop culture products. Most of it is influenced by conspiracy theories and urban legends. What I really want to know though is: Do Dogu Dolls reflect physical attacks? About sources, you can read the entirety of the Tsugaru Soto-Sangunshi online, and here’s a post from the amazing blog “Do Haniwa dream of electric ship?” That complied every information possible to debunk this version of Arahabaki!''

[mightyflamethrower]

he post-Joe McCarthy era and the candidacy of Barry Goldwater once prompted liberal political scientist Richard Hofstadter to chronicle a supposedly long-standing right-wing “paranoid style” of conspiracy-fed extremism.

But far more common, especially in the 21st century, has been a left-wing, hysterical style of inventing scandals and manipulating perceived tensions for political advantage.

Or, in the immortal words of Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, “Never let a serious crisis go to waste.”

The 2008 economic emergency crested on September 7, with the near collapse of the home mortgage industry.

Obama took office on January 20, 2009, more than four months after the meltdown. In that interim, the officials had finally restored financial confidence and plotted a course of economic recovery.

No matter. The Obama administration never stopped hyping the financial meltdown as if it had just occurred. That way, it rammed through Obamacare, massive deficit spending, and the vast expansion of the federal government. All that stymied economic growth and recovery for years.

In 2016, Donald Trump was declared Hitler-like and an existential threat to democracy.

Amid this derangement syndrome, any means necessary to stop him were justified: the Russian collusion hoax, impeachment over a phone call, or the Hunter laptop disinformation farce.

Eventually, the left sought to normalize the once unthinkable: removing the leading presidential candidate from state ballots and indicting him in state and local courts.

Nothing was off limits—not forging a federal court document, calling for a military coup, rioting on Inauguration Day, or radically changing the way Americans voted in presidential elections.

In October 2017, allegations surfaced about serial sexual predation by liberal cinema icon Harvey Weinstein.

The #MeToo furor immediately followed.

At first, accusers properly outed dozens of mostly liberal celebrities, actors, authors, and CEOs for their prior and mostly covered-up sexual harassment and often assault.

But soon, the once legitimate movement had morphed into general hysteria. Thousands of men (and women) were persecuted for alleged offenses, often sexual banter or rude repartee, committed decades prior.

#MeToo jumped the shark with the left-wing effort to take down conservative Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Would-be accusers surfaced from his high school days, 35 years earlier, but without any supporting evidence or witnesses for their wild, lurid charges.

#MeToo hysteria ended when too many liberal grandees were endangered. Most dramatically, former Joe Biden senatorial aide Tara Reade came forward during the 2020 campaign cycle with charges that front-runner Joe Biden had once sexually assaulted her—and was trashed by the liberal media.

The outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States during the winter of 2020 prompted an even greater hysteria.

Without scientific evidence, federal health czars Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins were able to convince the Trump administration to shut down the economy in the country’s first national quarantine.

Suddenly, it became a thought crime to question the wisdom of six-foot social distancing, of mandatory mask wearing, of the Wuhan virology lab’s origin of the COVID virus, or of off-label use of prescription drugs.

Left-wing politicians and celebrities, from Hillary Clinton and Gavin Newsom to Jane Fonda, all blurted out the political advantages that the lockdowns offered—from recalibrating capitalism and health care to ensuring the 2020 defeat of Donald Trump.

The COVID hysteria magically ended when Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Suddenly, the lies about the bat or pangolin origins of the virus faded. The damage from the quarantines could no longer be repressed. And herd immunity gradually mitigated the epidemic.

The lockdown caused untold economic chaos, suicides, and health crises.

One result was the 120 days of looting, arson, death, destruction, and violence spawned by Antifa and Black Lives Matter in the aftermath of the tragic death of George Floyd while in police custody in May 2020.

Suddenly, a hysterical lie took hold: American police were waging war against black males.

The details around Floyd’s sudden death—he was in the act of committing a felony, resisting arrest, suffering from coronary artery disease and the after-effects of COVID, and being high on dangerous drugs—were off limits.

The riot toll reached $2 billion in property damage, over 35 deaths, and 1,500 injured law enforcement officers. A federal courthouse, a police precinct, and a historic church were torched.

Police forces were defunded. Emboldened left-wing prosecutors nullified existing laws.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion commissars spread throughout American higher education as meritocracy came under assault.

Racial essentialism triumphed. Racially segregated dorms, campus spaces, and graduations were normalized.

Everything from destroying the southern border to dropping SAT requirements for college admission followed.

Sometimes real, sometimes hyped crises lead to these contrived left-wing hysterias—like the January 6 violent “armed insurrection” or the “fascist” “ultra-MAGA” threat.

Otherwise, the progressive movement cannot enact its unpopular agendas. So it must scare the people silly and gin up chaos to destroy its perceived enemies—any crisis it can.

[mariacallous]

It would have been better for Ukraine if Kyiv had fallen in February 2022, when Putin first sent his forces in, than for Western perfidy to grant Russia victory now.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have died. (The Ukrainian government does not release figures but reliable estimates of the size of the butcher’s bill range from 30,000 to 80,000.) Then there are the  civilian deaths from the bombing, the murders and rapes in occupied Ukraine, and the ecological catastrophe caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.

All that pain, all that blood, all for nothing,

The betrayal will be the worst of it. The West would have promised to stand by its ally and then broken its word and abandoned its friends.

Historians will spend decades examining the motives of US right-wingers if Donald Trump succeeds in persuading them to cut aid to Ukraine.

They will want to find rational reasons for the betrayal as rational people like to do.

And to be fair, there will be rationally explicable reasons. When US Senators say that their voters don’t want them to send money to Ukraine, and prefer to deal with problems closer to home, they make sense.

Voters always object to spending blood and treasure on foreign causes, and supporters of overseas aid should never assume that their arguments will triumph.

But rational explanations on their own cannot explain the behaviour of the US right. A dark and malignant hatred of democracy drives them, and we should not underestimate its power.

The quote I always reach for when I find myself in danger of not taking malice and madness seriously enough came from the historian Norman Cohn. He looked at the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the forged document that inspired Nazism by detailing an imaginary Jewish conspiracy.

You could not understand Europe’s descent into with fascism with purely rational explanations.

Instead, Cohn concluded

“There exists a subterranean world where pathological fantasies disguised as ideas are churned out by crooks and half-educated fanatics for the benefit of the ignorant and superstitious. There are times when this underworld emerges from the depths and suddenly fascinates, captures and dominates multitudes of usually sane and responsible people.”

What else is Trumpism but a movement of the crooks and half-educated fanatics that has captured American Conservatism?  

Ukraine is its enemy because, when he was president, Trump tried to persuade Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate a fake allegation that Joe Biden had pressured Ukraine into dropping an inquiry into his son Hunter Biden’s lobbying.

True to his mafia boss character, Trump threatened military aid to Ukraine if Zelensky did not cooperate. There was no evidence that Joe Biden took any action to intentionally benefit his son. To his credit Zelensky refused to agree to set-up Biden, and right-wing America hated him for that.

They hated it too when Democrats tried to impeach Trump for soliciting the help of a foreign country to smear a rival. And I should note in passing here that the supposed isolationists of the Republican party are very keen on foreign entanglements when they provide opportunities for political and financial corruption.

As a result, the pathological fantasies of MAGA world include a hatred of Ukraine, which like so many of the calumnies of the far right (and left) include elements of almost sexual disgust.

Readers who hope for rational explanations should try to explain away Tucker Carlson. Before he flew to Moscow to interview Putin on bended knee, Carlson described Zelensky as being like a “manager of a strip club demanding money”. From what dark closet in his mind, did that strip club come from?

Others described Zelensky as a  “welfare queen” or discussed how they wanted to “punch him in the face”.

Republicans are punishing Ukraine for refusing to go along with Trump’s schemes against his rival. Their partisan hatreds are so extreme that anyone who does not do down Biden must be their enemy.

But the malice runs deeper than mere partisanship. Vladimir Putin is explicitly in the mental world of the counter-Enlightenment.

He showed it towards the end of Carlson’s interview, when he turned sentimental, and not only out of gratitude for the easy ride his Quisling questioner offered.

Russians were more natural and less alienated from God and nature than soulless materialistic westerners, Putin said.

“It is in the heart,” the dictator explained. “Our culture is so human-oriented. Dostoevsky, who is very well known in the West as the genius of Russian culture, spoke a lot about this, about the Russian soul…Russian people think more about the eternal, about moral values.”

The eternally moral Russian people are now on Putin’s orders engaged in mass murder, rape, and the abduction of Ukrainian children in an illegal invasion of a sovereign democratic state.

The easy thing to say in these circumstances is that Putin is as great a hypocrite as the evangelical Christians who worship Donald Trump, even though he is intimate with all of the seven deadly sins, and would discover the eighth and the ninth if they were there to find.

But sentimentality is often on reverse side of barbarism’s coin. Like a gangster who loves his dear old mother, Russian nationalism has always combined sickly praise for the Russian soul with the utmost brutality.

Putin was endorsing the sentimentality and barbarity of the 19th century Slavophile movement.

It saw Russians as a pure people uncorrupted by modernity.  For Dostoyevsky the most vulgar Russian peasant was better than an intellectual because the peasant feared God.

Meanwhile Tolstoy believed that simple Russians were “less intellectually corrupted” than Westerners. They will “understand at last where the means of salvation lie and will be the first to begin to apply it.”

Quoting Tolstoy and Dostoevsky may seem benign. Who does not occasionally think that the honest peasant knows more than the pretentious intellectual?

In Russia’s case the Slavophile myth of the virtuous Russian soul allowed first the Tsars in the 19th century and now Putin to justify the suppression of democracy. Free societies and human rights were corrupt western imports that would only spoil Russians.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the other early fascist conspiracy theories, which Norman Cohn studied, did not come from Nazi Germany but from Tsarist Russia. Their central propaganda message was that Western democracy, rights, liberties and freedoms were shams that hid a conspiracy of the real rulers of the world.

In the case of tsarism and fascism, and today some versions of Islamism and far leftism, it is a conspiracy of Jews.

In the case of Donald Trump and the Republicans it is a conspiracy of Democrats rigging ballot machines.

In the case of Putin, it is a conspiracy of Western deviants.

As Ian Garner and other scholars have emphasised, the Putin regime now uses homophobia as the Nazis used antisemitism.

For instance, speaking in the Kremlin last year Putin began by denying that Ukraine was a democracy. True to fascist form he said that its “real masters” lay in the “dictatorship of the Western elites”.

These elites were engaged in a “complete denial of humanity [and] the overthrow of faith and traditional values.” They wanted nothing less than “outright satanism.” And the satanism of the West manifests itself in its sexual diversity. Putin would not allow “here, in our country, in Russia, instead of 'mum' and 'dad', to have 'parent No. 1', 'parent No. 2', 'No. 3'?

The American right, of course, is keener on fighting the war on the woke than winning the war in Ukraine.

Get down into the subterranean world and an alliance between Republicans and Russian nationalists can now make sense.

Neither believes in democracy.

Both see it as a sham that hides the influence of the puppet masters who rig elections and control society.

And finally, both think they have a God-given right to rule, quite literally so. Trump’s evangelical base is theocratic rather than democratic, while Putin rules with the blessing of Russian Orthodox church.

Who guessed even 10 years ago that these criminals and fanatics from the sewers of politics would control our future?

 But control it they do, and it will take a superhuman effort to rid ourselves of them.

[plethoraworldatlas]

A Vaughn man pleaded guilty Tuesday to two federal wildlife felonies for running an illegal operation to clone the world’s largest horned sheep and breed hybrid sheep that he sold to game ranches in other states.

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80 pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and to one count of violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits people from selling, transporting, or buying wildlife through interstate commerce if the transportation or sale violated federal law.

Schubarth was charged last month by federal prosecutors after entering into a plea agreement in which he agreed to cooperate with an investigation into the operation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana said Schubarth conspired with at least five others in the operation between 2013 and 2021.

According to court documents, Schubarth illegally imported part of a Marco Polo argali sheep killed in Kyrgyzstan into the U.S., a species that is internationally protected, is listed under the Endangered Species Act, and is prohibited in Montana. He paid to have a lab create cloned embryos from the animal’s DNA, which he then implanted into ewes on his ranch.

One of the embryos, a genetically pure Marco Polo argali, was born and named “Montana Mountain King,” whose semen Schubarth used to impregnate hybrid sheep by breeding them with other types of sheep that are banned in Montana. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the group wanted to create bigger and more valuable sheep for captive hunting ranches, primarily in Texas.

He and the others forged veterinary inspection certificates, according to court records, and Schubarth also sold the pure sheep’s semen to other breeders.

Schubarth also bought parts of wild-hunted Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in Montana, a violation of state law, and sold parts of the animals to people in other states.

“The kind of crime we uncovered here could threaten the integrity of our wildlife species in Montana,” said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Chief of. Enforcement Ron Howell. “This was a complex case and the partnership between us and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was critical in solving it.”

[glowstick909]

Chapter 2: Welcome to Heaven

Sir Pentious closed his eyes, trying to wrap his now-halo-adorned head around his new reality. Waking up felt just like it had when he first died, a bit disorienting and confusing. Though this was infinitely different - this time he didn't wake up in a burning building, but rather in a room with two angels, both of which were currently ignoring him. At least they gave me this ergonomic cushion, he thought to himself.

"We did it," he whispered, petting the Egg Boi next to him. It was the only one remaining of its brothers, with a halo to complete the new angelic look. "We're in Heaven." He tried to say the words, but his throat caught on them. He was in Heaven. 

Despite having achieved all that Hazbin Hotel was trying to do, what Charlie was trying to do, he couldn't help but feel a bit empty inside, like he had lost a piece of himself. Gone was his weaponry, chances to wreak chaos, and although it was peaceful, Heaven already felt suffocating and he hadn't even stepped foot out of the room.

It starts with sorry, he thought glumly. Why are we always apologizing?

"Gee sir!" The Egg chirped. "Your head is glowing! That means it's radiating, so you'll get super powers as dictated by the shadow gang in south Morocco!"

Sir Pentious ignored his companion, knowing far too well the conspiracy sights the Egg Bois often divulged in. Instead, he reached up to touch the halo above him, a bit warm like a lightbulb, but it was comforting to the touch.

"What is your name?" He blinked and looked up to see the smaller angel with the brilliant white wings in front of him. She was the one who had clapped when he had arrived, but was soon enraptured in debate with the older one.

Her sister maybe?

"Pentious!" he blurted after realizing he had been staring. "Sir Pentious. Pleased to meet you. I believe that this is, er, Heaven?"

"Heaven?" The Egg Boi asked. "Is that where the cowboys go to deal pillows? Can we go meet the cowboys sir?"

"No!" The older angel sat back down from where she was previously quietly watching from the corner. "You cannot go out. No one can know of this."

The younger angel - who Pentious was starting to like more - fisted and unfisted her hands. "Sera...this is proof that sinners can be redeemed! We have to-"

Sera cut her off. "Emily, listen. If we let him out, it will cause chaos! You know the people, you know what would happen."

Emily glanced back at Sir Pentious and exhaled. "But we can't hole up Sir Pentious here forever. He was redeemed, earned his place in heaven like everyone else. He deserves to be able to mingle, to enjoy heaven."

"And when the people find out?" Sera asked, her voice rising. "If sinners can be redeemed to Heaven... just imagine what that would mean for everything we have established! The rules of Heaven and Hell will crumble."

"Would that be so bad?" Emily suggested softly. 

Sera looked at Emily for a long time and with a deep breath, finally turned to Sir Pentious. His tail curled up behind him, like it always did with people he didn't really like. With people he didn’t trust.

"He'll need a new identity," she told him, averting her gaze. "A new name, reason of death... he cannot be Sir Pener again."

Sir Pentious stared. "What?"

"It's Sir Pentious, Sera," Emily corrected sharply. She looked at him and her expression softened. "And we can't ask him to pretend to be someone he's not."

Sera looked up. "Why not? Documents are easily forged and Saint Peter will be willing to help. It's only a temporary solution anyway." For some reason, Sir Pentious felt that the last sentence was a fib.

Emily must've thought the same because her eyes narrowed. "Enough with your false promises, Sera. For the sake of peace, I will listen to you." She held out her hand to Sir Pentious, who took it hesitatingly. For once, the egg boi was silent. "But do not forget this: hiding from change will not prohibit it. You will do good to remember that."

Quiet in awe, Sir Pentious numbly followed Emily out of the room. The Egg Boi scrambled after them, muttering something about “omelets” and “the secret pan government”. Once the tall golden doors closed behind them, she exhaled before smiling up at him. "Welcome to Heaven," she joked. "Gold and corrupt."

Welcome indeed.

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[card-queen]

My WIP

Genre: Fantasy, Thriller, Mystery Serious in tone but not grim, edgy or explicit in any way.

The working title for the fantasy story I have in mind. The ‘story’ as it is, was designed to be a Strategy RPG with war, conflict, companionship and secrets that shake the foundations of the world at its core.  While much of the original concept has remained, writing it as a novel first has allowed some of the finer points to be enhanced, improved and given new life.

While the story is set in a fantasy world and would go in the fantasy section, the story itself is more along the lines of a spy thriller, starting small and dealing with only one nation before expanding to include all the other big players in the world.

The first story is focused in the country of Ethelia, dealing with the aftermath of a civil uprising and how people have lost faith with their King, choosing to leave Ethelia to join the Crusades in an endless fight in a desolate country across the sea for a chance at glory. What starts the story is a big mystery surrounding an unknown campsite filled with dead bodies and a strange black-haired survivor who may prove to be a vital witness, unravels into a plot to seize the throne of Ethelia, assassinate the two princes and pave the way for a third Yragan invasion. While many of the key questions about the events will be answered within that story, many others are not. For instance, why is Yraga so determined to conquer Ethelia? What was the purpose of that campsite before the men within were slaughtered? Just how powerful are the Fangs of Alcerion and what is their true purpose?

Subsequent stories will travel across the world, with new companions to be found, alliances forged and broken, betrayals that cost lives, betrayals that save the day, secrets, conspiracies and hidden truths buried for generations.

This world is a complex one that will take time to fully evolve, but hopefully this blog will give you enough insight as to what is there to be excited to hear more.

While many of the countries and concepts have been developed enough to mention, this document will only really focus on the characters involved in the first book as they’ve had the most work done to them. Plus, I like to leave room for magic during the planning stage as it allows for extra context, thematic resonance and just stronger ideas that pair better with what surrounds them.

The unprovoked burning of a manor by a wild rebel faction. The murder of a simple woodsman with no known enemies. The slaughter of an unknown military campsite that not even the locals knew about. Three events, all brutal and all seemingly isolated, linked by an unseen connection that seeks to bring the nation of Ethelia to its knees. Castowen Daine, a young captain in charge of keeping peace in the Ethelian town of Peaton, discovers an unmarked campsite whose occupants lay slaughtered and hidden within tents. Their leader, a young nobleman completely unknown to Cas. Amidst the corpses, two survivors were found: a soldier on death’s door and a mysterious woman in black. At the same time, Cas’ brother Conoric discovers the unfortunate remains of the local woodsman; a man with no enemies or friends to speak of, murdered and hidden from view. The tragic events shrouded in mystery seem to have a common thread around the town of Peaton, and Cas comes to understand how close his town, and even the whole of Ethelia, came to devastation. Together, Cas and Conoric find themselves swept up in a bid to find out who or what is threatening Ethelia.