#In this house we support womens rights and wrongs

[whyohwhydoris]

This is a lovely idea. But four years of policy is not the democratic party. We must remember that this party routinely platforms Bill Clinton - and lets set aside his failings as a human being - who pushed through NAFTA, pushed through PNTR with the PRC, and over saw the repeal of Glass-Steagall. Barack Obama's economic policy bailed out big corporations and banks, but did little for the individuals destroyed by that rampant deregulation, and failed to jail the vast majority of individuals responsible for active financial crimes. When Sanders primaried Clinton, despite his garnering of notable support, and despite him *polling better in polls against Trump specifically* the party actively played favourites. And people will say Clinton would have won regardless- but we don't know because the entire process is tainted. At the same time they played party politics, they sent strong and clear messages to Latinx and young male democrats - the very demographics who have been most willing to move right of late - that they weren't welcome. The party actively promoted rhetoric which placed Black POC in a position of unique privilege in the party, assumed the fealty of other minority groups, and sidelined other POC voices which did not full toe the party line. On the issue of men, the Clinton campaign was *actively* insulting and diminishing of men, frequently targeting male commentators with sexist language and - in essence - telling them to shut up, the women are talking. The Clinton campaign also managed the sexist double whammy by framing Women who sided with Bernie as class-traitors - ignoring that the most common Bernie supporters were women of colour between the ages of 25 and 35. The Clinton campaign was practically a white-girl feminist playbook running for the white house. As for Kamala's run? She did, frankly, brilliantly. She didn't treat any group of people like the free square on the bingo card. She however failed and was failed in two critical areas: The genocide in Gaza and the cost of the bread basket. It is worth noting that support for Palestine is highest among the young, and among racial minority groups. It also happens that the lowest quintile (20%) of Americans by per capita take-home is disproportionately young (the single largest age cohort in the lowest quintile are households with a HOH 24 and under.) and people of colour. They are, definitionally, the core of the working class - and one of their major social issues was literally laughed at by the current DEMOCRATIC administration. But what about the bread basket? Biden nipped inflation in the bud, right? The Democrats beat it? Right? Well, to little, to late. Because dealing with year-on-year inflation doesn't actually reduce the cost of goods. At the same time that a vast plurality of Americans are experiencing serious economic woe, the Administration told them they were flat out wrong and that President Biden had fixed the economy. But that doesn't actually bring down the price of milk and eggs!

But, Harris ran on going after price gougers! Okay, then why didn't she or her surrogates focus on that in their closing weeks? Probably because a bunch of inside the belt-way consultants and a bunch of wall street policy wonks say it wouldn't work! Which, I don't know, sounds an awful lot like the party being captured by special interests. At the same time that the party base and the electorate at large were calling for a change candidate, Harris was saying, point blank, that she wouldn't differ from Biden, and was campaigning with established members of political dynasties because her advisors - many of whom were Biden folks she basically couldn't fire - were telling her to. The Democratic party is failing the working class. And if you don't see that, you're equally part of the problem. Macro-economic policies, large infrastructure bills, great job growth are paper statistics. But when you have a country where you had country with %93+ employment in 2020 and %95+ in 2024, those are talking points for %2 of people, not for the %90 who are struggling. And the party has no plan for those people because it is actively and routinely hostile to individuals who try to platform those concerns and far too reliant on individuals whose own power is defined by that inequality. And while you can say "most pro union" and "most anti-corporate" that doesn't actually help most people. That shit shouldn't be your head line item. That's literally the party's most basic job, and the fact Biden was exceptional is the most thorough damning of the party you can write, because it means that the last 70 years of Democrats have been fucking the working class on those issues. 4 years isn't good enough. And the party is too up its own ass to actually see what the typical *individual* is dealing with.

dropping this here

[hellhound-bxtch-999]

Akeboshi Maria from Maria no Danzai manga panel redraw

[avlenka]

The The Handmaiden trope is The media trope ever

[shesmore-shoebill]

Well I believe her <3 (<- someone who has already watched the entire video and witnessed cheating from all corners)

[homosekularnost]

gaslight gatekeep gblackmailyourboss

[hauntingofhouses]

hot take time about the mizu and akemi ship. y'all can disagree but i said what i said, because again, it's just an opinion!!!!

putting the rest under a cut so y'all are free to ignore this if you want. i'm just rambling anyway and, again, these are just my personal opinions.

okay like i gotta hand it to blue eye samurai like it's genuinely impressive that they've written their characters so well, like each one of them feels so real and fully-realised

and as a consequence of that, it actually. for the first time ever. has me rooting against a sapphic ship becoming canon endgame LIKE LMAO ???? i didn't think that was POSSIBLE but here we are ???

cuz like if you know me at all you know i usually instantly latch onto any femslash ship at any given opportunity. like i don't think yall understand. i was ride or die for korrasami before it was even remotely a thing, like at that point korrasami was still a CRACK SHIP in the fandom and i was gunning for it immediately and begging them both to leave mako's stupid ass!!!

but SOMEHOW this show, with all its gender fuckery galore and all its well written characters, has somehow made me look at the mizu/akemi ship and say "i'll pass." like dont get me wrong i was pinning my hopes on it initially in the first episode, but by the time i got to the end??? NAH.

like don't get me wrong they ARE cute and sexy on paper and i DO definitely see them developing feelings for each other (mizu towards akemi especially, less so the other way around because akemi just does not strike me as the pining type) but for an endgame? nah. it'd be weird and messy for both of them like!!! they'd be bad for each other!!!

they both want and need completely different things in life (mizu wants vengeance but needs acceptance/belonging; akemi wants freedom but needs autonomy and empowerment).

and they don't even share much in common that would help them bond in a romantic way? like not even interests-wise, but like. personality-wise too. their perceptions of life and approaches and experiences all directly contrast each other. like i know that they're narrative foils and all, which is great, excellent really, but romantically? there is no common ground between them.

besides, of course, both being AFAB and struggling with the patriarchy and misogyny, both having a surrogate father figure who raised them (swordfather for mizu; seki for akemi). aside from those things, they diverge in almost every single way?

like i do get the appeal of the "yin and yang" dynamic of opposites attract in ships (i have so many such ships from other fandoms after all), so i do suppose that, if given enough time for a really long and intense slow burn, it could work. but with all the plot plot plot the show's got going on, i don't know if that's going to be possible, especially now that mizu is ??? apparently going to london ????

and what would their endgame even look like? the two of them running off into the sunset together? why? when akemi has everything she wants and needs in edo palace? which, by the way, is completely the opposite of what mizu wants and needs, as mizu needs a place where she is free to be herself and is accepted and loved for who she is. she does not need, nor want, a life of political intrigue. she is not made for it, nor is it meant for her. akemi, on the other hand, is perfectly suited for such a life, while being completely unsuited for a life on the road, travelling, or living on a farm in the middle of nowhere. nor would akemi like or enjoy such a life either! she'd get freedom, yes, but it would hardly be fulfilling, especially now that she has decided that she wants greatness!

i don't know. if they become canon endgame, the show better put in the work. because this is a netflix adult animated show with the freedom to do that (unlike, say, cartoons on nickelodeon and disney where the creators all faced heavy censorship to get some rep in), so if they're taking the sapphic endgame route, they better buck up and put their backs into it because seeing the state of it right now, the chemistry is bone-dry and the prospects are disastrous!!!!

so until further developments prove me wrong and change my mind, every time i see mizu/akemi content somehow escape the confines of the mute function, i just reenact the gengar gay wrongs gif:

[rosietrace]

Live laugh love Alisa Ortega and Thea Calligaris 💓💕

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

odalia gaslit gatekept girlbossed her way into getting a new child to replace the ones she lost in the custody battle. slay queen

[sad-emo-dip-dye]

BEAT HIS ASS!!!

[youunravelme]

i love when the female reader is in the wrong in emotional matters, unpopular opinion.

(not cheating though, never cheating)

[gh-0-stcup]

@aethelflaedel

Oh no, totally understandable! I only said it because I sometimes think of some Targs as Visenya's descendants, forgetting for a moment that she doesn't actually have any. Something feels natural about calling Rhaenyra, Daenerys, and even Stannis "Visenya's descendants".

I do lean more towards liking that her line ended. Makes her feel more...unique, I guess? A matriarch of her dynasty, yet none can claim her as a foremother. This, along with there being no other Visenya Targaryen, makes her fame entirely her own. Unshared by anyone else in her line. (The only exception being the one son she chose to create to stabilize what she had helped build.)

Like there are many Targaryens who can (and do) say, "I am the blood of Aegon the Conqueror, I have his crown, his sword, and his name" to legitimize their reign. Even those who may be nothing like Aegon, who don't share his values or anything close to his accomplishments.

The only way to share a tiny spot in Visenya's legacy is to be like Visenya. To wield the sword she left behind as she would have. To be worthy of claiming dragon she rode. To share her values, to conduct yourself the way she did. It means sharing both the fame and the infamy.

This prevents Visenya from being watered down, white washed, or used as a shallow tool for somone else's personal gain. It keeps everything she was a little purer, because the few individuals who one might truly consider her "descendants" are those Visenya herself might have respected.

And that's pretty cool.

[gameofthronedd]

Going to be controversial and say that I like both book and show versions of both Rhaenyra and Alicent lmao

But my absolute dream would have been to keep most of the elements we see in the show but also include them both being the messy bitches we know and love from the book. I'm talking Vaemond being supper for Syrax and Alicent more involved in the Green Council, so on, so forth...

Let them both do crimes is what I say 🥰

[futurefind]

🙌// for vik and sa....

send 🙌 to grab my muse by the throat // @entwinedreams

Time with Viktoriya is always a bit of a crapshoot, between her spontaneity (compared to Sasume herself) and their respective travels. This does, at least, ensure things are always interesting.

Maybe their friendship itself could— or should— be considered high risk given their clashing lines of work, but...

Familiarity is both a comfort and a rarity for her, so she'll take whatever she can get—

And then there's a manicured hand holding her throat in a vice grip, pushing her back against the brick of inn's exterior. Her blood roars from head to toe in reflex— even as she dares not grip Viktoriya's wrist with anything harder than a firm grip, avoiding causing harm.

She's dizzy with confusion, mind whirling— mind spinning further, still, as her vision starts to blur. Sasume swallows harder, but before she can apply her actual strength the hand's yanking away from her throat with apologies that slide in one ear and falls out the other.

"What?" she blurts out, baffled, flushes, own hand ghosting over where Vik's just was. "What."

The night air is refreshingly cold against her bare face, and with her blood properly flowing back into her head it lets her hear again, too— including the other woman (re)explaining something about being followed/'checked in' on and needing to reaffirm their antagonism.

Or something.

Fuck if she knows.

"Fucking hell, Viktoriya," she groans, dragging her hand down her face. "There are easier ways to pretend to threaten someone, you know. I was about to snap your wrist—"

[reasonsforhope]

THANK FUCKING GOD

"The Supreme Court on Thursday [June 13, 2024] unanimously preserved access to a medication that was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. last year, in the court’s first abortion decision since conservative justices overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.

The nine justices ruled that abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the medication, mifepristone, and the FDA’s subsequent actions to ease access to it. The case had threatened to restrict access to mifepristone across the country, including in states where abortion remains legal.

Abortion is banned at all stages of pregnancy in 14 states, and after about six weeks of pregnancy in three others, often before women realize they’re pregnant.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was part of the majority to overturn Roe, wrote for the court on Thursday that “federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions.”

The opinion underscored the stakes of the 2024 election and the possibility that an FDA commissioner appointed by Republican Donald Trump, if he wins the White House, could consider tightening access to mifepristone, including prohibiting sending it through the mail...

Kavanaugh’s opinion managed to unite a court deeply divided over abortion and many other divisive social issues by employing a minimalist approach that focused solely on the technical legal issue of standing and reached no judgment about the FDA’s actions...

While praising the decision, President Joe Biden signaled Democrats will continue to campaign heavily on abortion ahead of the November elections. “It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states,” Biden said in a statement...

About two-thirds of U.S. adults oppose banning the use of mifepristone, or medication abortion, nationwide, according to a KFF poll conducted in February. About one-third would support a nationwide ban...

More than 6 million people [in the U.S.] have used mifepristone since 2000. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone and primes the uterus to respond to the contraction-causing effect of a second drug, misoprostol. The two-drug regimen has been used to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks gestation...

Biden’s administration and drug manufacturers had warned that siding with abortion opponents in this case could [have] undermined the FDA’s drug approval process beyond the abortion context by inviting judges to second-guess the agency’s scientific judgments. The Democratic administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, which makes mifepristone, argued that the drug is among the safest the FDA has ever approved."

-via AP, June 13, 2024

--

Note: A massive relief and a genuine victory - this will preserve access to the medication used in 2/3rds of abortions last year, for at least another 2 years. (Probably minimum time it will take Republicans to get their next attempt before the Supreme Court.)

Still, with this, a sword that has been hanging over our heads for the last two years is gone. There will be a new one soon, but we just bought ourselves probably at least 2 years. The fight isn't over, but this is absolutely worth celebrating.

[gettingovershame]

“We’re not supposed to have favourites but…” - Me, Azula’s CPS Worker

Congratulations to our Ultimate Problematic Fave: AZULA!!

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

HELL YEAH IM FINALLY ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT MAMADALIA IVE BEEN ROTATING THIS IN MY HEAD FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS

anyway you know what the funniest thing is about odalia being forced to live wtih king and the collector? the last time she and king saw each other she was in an epic divorce battle that ended with king’s sister getting kidnapped. king knows this. ODALIA knows this.

odalia spends every waking moment terrified out of her mind that king is going to tell the collector to turn her into a marketable plush. he doesn’t even have to tell the collector specifically to do that all king needs to say is “odalia tried to kill my friends” and the collector will be like “OMG THATS SO MEAN” and turn her into a squeaky toy anyway. king probably gets ALL the pizza bagels from odie bc she’s trying SO DAMN HARD to bribe him into not spilling.

obviously king isn’t going to tell the collector that because no one deserves to be turned into a puppet. he’s not the type to seek revenge. if anything, the reason odalia’s lasted this long is probably because king saw the collector befriend her and decide he didn’t need to see any more people turned into puppets and kept his mouth shut. his days of turning his mom into the owl beast to maul 5 year olds who were mean to him on the playground are over.

but odalia? odalia blight has never forgiven and forgotten a day in her life. odalia blight wakes up every morning and chooses violence. odalia blight does not understand people can be nice, actually. odalia blight spends every second playing 5D chess and expects everyone around her to also do that. every time king has a chance to get the collector to murder her but doesn’t, she spends the next week in a paranoid spiral wondering why. she thinks king is trying to lull her into a sense of security, and THEN he’ll have the collector turn her into a chew toy as the ultimate comeuppance. meanwhile king has eaten all the chess pieces on the board and just wants to make odalia’s job easier. he’s just a little guy <3