#Law of the Border

[nando161mando]

[the-eyespy]

🇵🇸 Amidst the rubble of his destroyed home, Ashraf Nafedth burns a book he once treasured—a guide to international law. He now sees it as a lie, failing to protect people like him. The unfair treatment of countries like Palestine by powerful nations like the US shatters his trust in these laws. His burning of the book symbolizes his loss of faith in international law's ability to keep him safe and reflects the struggles of many in similar situations.

🇵🇸 وسط أنقاض منزله المدمر، أحرق أشرف نافذ كتابًا كان يعتز به ذات يوم - دليل للقانون الدولي. وهو يرى الآن أنها كذبة، وفشل في حماية الأشخاص مثله. إن المعاملة غير العادلة لدول مثل فلسطين من قبل الدول القوية مثل الولايات المتحدة تحطم ثقته في هذه القوانين. إن حرقه للكتاب يرمز إلى فقدانه الثقة في قدرة القانون الدولي على الحفاظ على سلامته ويعكس نضالات الكثيرين في مواقف مماثلة.

[rooolt]

guy whos sooooo normal abt the Mountains of Chaos fantasyhigh. Like, the fact that Brennan establishes it as this classic adventure location full of monsters and dungeons for learning adventurers to explore and gain xp, and it’s also the site of kalvaxus’ lair and the temple of the earth defiant its a very fantastical place. BUT, it’s also the place where riz’s grandparents immigrated from, and it’s the place where the cultures worshipping gods like ruvina and ankarna originated from, and the fact that solace literally has a border patrol for the mountains of chaos that the Applebees are literally apart of. It’s something about these fantastical elements that are so often focused on by the people in solace, so completely glossing over the people and cultures that live there and originate from there. I’m so regular about it and I think about it a normal amount

[justacynicalromantic]

In early 2014, Ukraine was a neutral country, with a pro-Russian president, and with 70% of Ukraine's population against NATO membership. Yet Russia bluntly violated Ukraine's neutrality and annexed Crimea, then launched a covert invasion of Ukraine in the east.

Petro Poroshenko won the presidential election later in 2014 having promised a settlement with Russia, keeping a special status of the Russian language in Ukraine. He was initially sceptical regarding NATO accession, underlined Ukraine must rely on its own strength to provide security.

Did Putin meet Poroshenko halfway? Not at all. The regular Russian army entered the Ukrainian territory in mid-2014 to fight the Ukrainian troops, which led to the Minsk-1 agreement signed in September 2014.

Further text - down under the cut, or you can follow the Twitter link to the original post:

Few weeks later, Ukraine's parliament adopted a law that would guarantee the then Russia-controlled part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions additional economic, financial and cultural powers.

How did Putin react? Russia staged sham local elections in the occupied Donbas, and then sent the regular army again to Ukraine in early 2015, which led to the Minsk-2 agreement signed in February 2015.

Zelensky was even more sceptical regarding NATO accession. Asked about NATO, he once famously said he never pays anyone a visit if he has not been invited. He won the presidential election promising to compromise with Russia - to stop shooting, sit down with Putin and talk.

Did Putin meet Zelensky halfway? Not at all. He actually raised the stakes by issuing the Russian passports on the occupied territories of Ukraine even before Zelensky assumed the office, putting him in a difficult political position since the start.

Zelensky was ready to drop Ukraine's NATO bid in an exchange for the Russian troops withdrawing from Ukraine. The talks were held already before 2022. What did Putin do? He launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In the first weeks of the invasion, Zelensky was yet again ready to drop Ukraine's NATO bid. But he wanted to obtain international security guarantees. What did Putin do? He demanded that Russia must be consulted before any aid would be given to Ukraine in the event of aggression.

To sum up, Ukraine has consistently tried to reach a deal with Russia over the last decade, and was open to giving up on its NATO bid in exchange for the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Ukraine. Russia never reciprocated, never showed a good will, kept raising the stakes.

Both Poroshenko and Zelensky were initially sceptical regarding Ukraine's accession to NATO. Both wanted to get a deal with Putin. And Putin himself pushed both of them to seek NATO membership out of no other viable alternatives.

Up till now, Putin has shown absolutely no willingness to compromise with Ukraine. His war aims remain maximalist - subjugating Ukraine and changing its regime. He seeks Ukraine's partition, and will turn what is left of Ukraine into Russian protectorate.

Russia's imperial self-conception is that of Russian elites at large, and not just Vladimir Putin. The Russian leadership simply cannot reconcile with the existence of a sovereign Ukrainian statehood.

Therefore any sustainable Ukrainian-Russian compromise is currently not possible unless the Russian cost-benefit calculus changes. Only credible risk to the stability of the Russian regime would impact this calculus. The easiest way goes through defeating Russia in Ukraine.

[ms-boogie-man]

Too, think about this,

If your government does not use deadly force to protect your borders, but does use deadly force to collect taxes and enforce its unconstitutional laws, traitors have taken over your government

Angie/Maddie🦇❥✝︎🇺🇸🍭

[alwaysbewoke]

[wen316]

No mean comments please , if you don’t agree , pass on by , you have your right but respect my rights , also . Thank you . 😊

Assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump , July 13th , 2024. A miracle from God , the bullet missed by milliseconds with just a slight turn of the head at just the right moment and the bullet hit his eat rather than going thru his head .

[blood-orange-juice]

Yet another Childe post, inspired by a reddit discussion this time.

In the Chinese voiceover he switches to a flat PTSD voice after he declares you a friend. Early Liyue interactions are warmer and more cordial.

He puts a lot of effort into pretending he's a normal person in front of strangers and most people never get to see anything even resembling the real him.

This is why I don't really agree with headcanons about him making friends everywhere he goes (people often use it as a proof that he's Normal and Sweet and only does morally questionable things because of the Fatui). He's superficially friendly and charming because he wants something from people or as a precaution measure, but that's all there is to it. It's a skill. 

I don't think he cares about making friends.

(I actually wonder if Yoimiya and Xinyan friendly reactions to him is being able to see his real somewhat decent self or just giving our boy the benefit of the doubt.

I don't think these two can be fooled by superficial things so it's probably just them being kind and him not being actively malicious)

When he actually considers someone a friend he becomes... rather unpleasant. Like in that line about rain and fishing.

For a similar reason I don't really buy the idea of three guys in Meropide being Childe's friends. The story they tell heavily implies that they tried to bully him until he snapped, wiped the floor with them and returned to whatever he was doing at the moment. Then they suddenly began to adore him. It's not friendship, it's fawning and it's not worth much. I'm sure Childe knows it.

So he got himself a bunch of henchmen, shrugged and used them for his goals (I'm sure he was nice about it, the guy is generous when someone helps him). He then probably forgot they ever existed.

It's not what you normally call "making friends". He just makes sure he's liked while he still needs it.

The boy has manners though, I'll give him that.

[anistarrose]

I think when a lot of queer people who aspire to marriage, and remember (rightly) fighting for the right to marriage, see queer people who don't want marriage, talking about not entering or even reforming or abolishing marriage, there's an assumption I can't fault anyone for having — because it's an assumption borne of trauma — that queers who aren't big on marriage are inadvertently or purposefully going to either foolishly deprive themselves of rights, or dangerously deprive everyone of the rights associated with marriage. But that's markedly untrue. We only want rights to stop being locked behind marriages. We want an end to discrimination against the unmarried.

We want a multitude of rights for polyamorous relationships. We want ways to fully recognize and extend rights to non-romantic and/or non-sexual unions, including but not limited to QPRs, in a setting distinct from the one that (modern) history has spent so long conflating with romance and sex in a way that makes many of us so deeply uncomfortable. And many of us are also disabled queers who are furious about marriage stripping the disabled of all benefits.

We want options to co-parent, and retain legal rights to see children, that extends to more than two people, and by necessity, to non-biological parents (which, by the way, hasn't always automatically followed from same-gender marriage equality even in places where said equality nominally exists. Our struggles are not as different as you think). We would like for (found or biological) family members and siblings to co-habitate as equal members of a household, perhaps even with pooled finances or engaging in aforementioned co-parenting, without anyone trying to fit the dynamic into a "marriage-shaped box" and assume it's incestuous. We want options to leave either marriages, or alternative agreements, that are less onerous than divorce proceedings have historically been.

I can't speak for every person who does not want to marry, but on average, spurning marriage is not a choice we make lightly. We are deeply, deeply aware of the benefits that only marriage can currently provide. And we do not take that information lightly. We demand better.

Now, talking about the benefits of marriage in respective countries' current legal frameworks, so that all people can make choices from an informed place, is all well and good — but is not an appropriate response to someone saying they are uncomfortable with marriage. There are people for whom entering a marriage, with all its associated norms, expectations, and baggage, would feel like a betrayal of one's self and authenticity that would shake them to their core — and every day, I struggle to unpack if I'm one of them or not. If I want to marry for tax benefits, or not. If that's worth the risk of losing disability benefits, in the (very plausible) possibility that I have to apply for them later in life. If that's worth the emotional burden of having to explain over and over, to both well-meaning and deeply conservative family members, that this relationship is not one of romance or sex. (Because, god, trying just to explain aromanticism or asexuality in a world that broadly thinks they're "fake" is emotional labor enough.)

Marriage is a fundamental alteration to who I am, to what rights an ableist government grants me, and to how I am perceived. I don't criticize the institution just because I enjoy a "free spirit" aesthetic or think the wedding industry is annoying, or whatever.

[fjordfolk]

My two greatest character flaws are that I'm cranky and lazy.

My third greatest character flaw is the acute lack of compassion for people who smuggle exotic animals (like a serval) into a country where they are illegal (like norway) because keeping one as a pet is 'their dream' and then throw a pity party when said animal is seized and at risk of euthanasia. I'm sorry pal but you did that.

[akelafang]

A nobleman talking about how he hates his wife and would much rather be with his mistress but was obligated to marry his wife: You know how it is Arthur who fell in love with a servant and changed multiple laws so that he could be happily married to him: No I don't

[democratthatlovesguns]

Alexis Nungaray

It was Alexis' choice to politicize the devastatingly senseless murder of her daughter, to support Donald Trump and, in particular, stopping immigration from Latin American countries.

In her own words, paraphrased, she wants more restrictive border policies to save American children in the future. I agree, let's do that. Accordingly, in the interest of protecting children, she must concede she also wants the following:

Stronger gun control laws.

Reimplementing government regulation of the food industry: to prevent the poisoning and indirect murder of children and adults.

Reproductive rights for women: saving thousands of children from growing up without their mothers due to preventable deaths.

I am calling for Alexis Nungaray to put out an ad immediately, as all these policies are equally as urgent, in which she supports strongly these other three political and social goals that will save future American children.

[reality-detective]

So what took the governor's so long to stop the madness at the border?

Maybe nobody knows constitutional law 🤔

[xraiyax]

[nando161mando]

"Workin' a lotta hours..."

Mhm, yes.

"...for not a lotta pay"

yep, can relate

"Strugglin' to put food on the table..."

yep, the struggle is real.

"all because of those DAMN FORIEGNERS"

Ah... you were so close.

[blackoutunit]

I don’t normally make posts like this but I wanna spread awareness to this topic

Cats in China are being brutally tortured and killed maliciously by various groups of people around - young people, ones who should know better.

They adopt cats and then murder them, often putting them through hell beforehand. Doing things such as chopping off all their limbs and hanging them up as “cat bugs”, skinning them alive, putting them in blenders, and many, many other cruel things.

It’s due to the lack of animal protection rights in China is why these people can get away with these things so easily.

They use live footage of cats eating from local feeders in order to capture them, and they’ve already gotten over millions of innocent felines - one of which was a kitten known as Mr. Wink, who was found frozen solid after one of them had drowned him.

These people also go about live streaming footage of themselves torturing and killing kitties that’ve done NOTHING WRONG for views, money and fun. And they gain more and more followers and views everyday.

This shit is not okay at all. They are still out there targeting these creatures, and even had set up a bounty to both find and kill Mr. Fresh (orange cat shown from a live feeder famous for his “side eye”), the money ranging from about $500-600.

Although Mr. Fresh is thankfully safe and in the care of a vet/new guardian. However, there are still many other animals, not just cats themselves, being tortured in China.

I highly recommend visiting and following @feline_guardians on Instagram and to sign their petition for animals to gain more rights in China.

Thank you for listening.

Plus I’m adding a picture of my cat that I redrew cuz he’s silly (and all kitties deserve both love and respect)

Save cats yall!! Every sign counts.